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Helbrutes are antagonists in Warhammer 40,000, where they are one of the Chaos Space Marine versions of Imperial Dreadnoughts. While being chosen to continue service as a Dreadnought for a Loyalist Space Marine is considered a great honor, becoming a Helbrute is the polar opposite, and is considered one of the most horrible fates possible in the grimdark galaxy. Equal parts mangled Chaos Astartes, machine, and pure Chaos corruption, Helbrutes are utterly insane behemoths who only exist to destroy anything and everything in front of them.
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When a Space Marine is mortally wounded but rescued in time before death, if the damage is too severe to repair, they can be chosen to continue their eternal service to The Imperium as a Dreadnought. The Dreadnought from then on serves as both their coffin and their life support system, and enables the Astartes to keep fighting alongside his brethren almost indefinitely provided they aren't destroyed. However, the extremely claustrophobic and haunting existence has been known to slowly but surely drive Astartes insane, and for this reason, after a certain point of time of continued service, they can elect to be put into stasis sleep, and only awoken in times they are needed. This helps preserve the fallen Marine's sanity and keeps them mentally sharp.
For Space Marines in service to the Ruinous Powers though, becoming a Dreadnought is usually forced onto a Chaos Space Marine as punishment. While there are Chaos Dreadnoughts capable of preserving their Chaos Astartes without corruption, for most, the evil power of Chaos seeps into their machine and begins the horrific process of slowly merging the Chaos Marine with their mech, an excruciating process that takes an equally excruciatingly long time to complete. The process is so traumatic and irreversible that they are rendered insane, mindless abominations more akin to a feral beast. Once the Chaos Astartes has lost his mind and is merged with his Dreadnought, they are officially considered Helbrutes and are among some of the most dangerous members of the forces of Chaos.
Helbrutes cannot think or ration in any shape or form. Their mind brutally crazed by the physical torment of their ruined and merged bodies and the corruption in their souls, the only thing a Helbrute is capable of anymore is destroying everyone and everything around them, often not even able to differentiate ally from foe. It is because of this that Helbrutes are generally kept locked away and only released during battle, another twisted, warped opposite of a Loyalist's stasis respite, as they are kept fully awake in their miserable tortured existence every second they are chained away.
