Sonoziel and by extension the Celestial Host had a healthy trade relationship with the Alliance at large before the war. They had a low native tech base – the planet was settled by a conservative religious movement that eschewed most technological advancement – but they accepted some of what was offered by the Alliance. By the standards of the modern Alliance, Sonoziel was on par with a low-tech backwater like Halcyon.
Weapons
Smallarms
Sonoziel’s technological base was such that the majority of personal weapons were chemical-propellent slugthrowers. They were cheap, reliable, and the troops understood them on a basic level; natives of Sonoziel brought plenty of conventional guns with them from Earth.
Low-end troops mostly used the cheapest, most easily manufactured guns available. They were disposable cannon-fodder, so their gear was disposable too. The majority of smallarms were pistols or burst-firing submachine guns or carbines, but some lucky troops were issued bolt-action or semi-auto hunting rifles. These rifles tended to be scoped.
Electromagnetic slugthrowers were entirely absent from the Celestial Host armories. They weren’t ever able to achieve the combination of reliability, accuracy, power, and efficiency that modern electromag guns have. All things considered, the Host preferred lasers, which had superior accuracy, reliability, and a much simpler ammunition supply chain.
Lasers were mostly reserved for elite units, and even then they were somewhat rare. Part of this was because of availability, both of the weapons and spare parts. Another just as real part was a belief that lasers were inferior to a good, old-fashioned slugthrower; Sonoziel’s culture was conservative, and the more fanatical troops were especially so.
Plasma-based flamethrowers were a perennial favorite of Host troops, the better to cleanse the infidels of their sins. The standard plasma-thrower was carbine-sized and capable of setting fires and melting armor at a hundred yards or more. A much bigger, heavier model was used by power-armored troops. Some were equipped with a backpack power feed for obscene endurance. Some especially fanatical squads were equipped with nothing but these flamethrowers and unleashed in an orgy of pyromania. They entered use long enough ago that they weren’t new and exciting anymore, but just a really useful alternative to napalm flamethrowers or incendiary rockets like the ancient FLASH system from Earth.
Despite the existence of plasma-based flamethrowers, napalm grenades (both launched and thrown) were extremely common, for obvious reasons.
Heavy Weapons
The Celestial Host, like other armies, also employed crew-served and vehicular weapons. They could be broken down into X main types: chemical projectile weapons, unguided and guided missiles, lasers, and plasma weapons. The crew-served weapons consisted mostly of the usual suspects – general-purpose and heavy machine guns, mortars, various rocket and missile launchers, heavy plasma flamethrowers, and the occasional tripod-mounted light direct-fire cannon. They also fielded a few heavy laser weapons, but they tended to be reserved for the elite Battlesuit troops.
Melee Weapons
To the Celestial Host, a good blade wasn’t just a tool or backup weapon, it was an Instrument of God. Every single Host soldier carried at least a good-sized knife, usually about the size of a Bowie knife, and they were proficient in its use. Machetes and sabers were common among officers and NCOs, who honestly believed their blades were the literal Sword of God. Depending on how prestigious and fanatical the individual unit was, these knives could be simple utilitarian carbon steel knives, good sword steel, or even monomolecular-edged or vibroblades in the best units; the most fanatical battlesuit Crusaders used their armor’s immense strength to take full advantage of a two-meter vibroblade.
Armor and Defensive Systems
It isn’t armor per se, but the Celestial Host wore battledress utilities in light gray and red. The gray represented man’s sinful nature, while the red symbolized the blood of Jesus. It was made of a hard-wearing synthetic fabric that was resistant to chemical weapons. Host ceremonial uniforms were similar, but of a different cut and their pattern featured red stripes and patches over the light gray.
BDUs issued to recon units sometimes had special dyes that blurred the outline of the wearer, making them harder to detect if they didn’t move very fast. While it wasn’t a full chameleon system, it was better than standard dyed camouflage.
Oddly enough, the Celestial Host never fielded hard chameleon armor. It took the Patrol and defense forces years to figure out why. It was obvious in retrospect, but it still didn’t make much sense. Hard armor (which would support a full chameleon surface) wasn’t typically used by untrustworthy troops, and recon duties were assigned to those same troops. In short, the troops that would get the most use out of it, were expressly forbidden from using it for purely ideological reasons.
Armor issued to low-end cannon-fodder was mostly ballistic cloth, basically a more advanced Kevlar with extra thicknesses over the torso, with light helmets with polarized faceshields or goggles, and basic radio communicators.
Elite Celestial Host forces wore some of the best armor that was available at the time, ranging from hardened alloys over a high-strength woven undersuit to full power armor. As a general rule, it was all red and gray, with the grays becoming lighter as the troop quality increased, and the true elite troops had gold highlights on their armor.
There were other markings of various colors, but they were too boring to discuss at length unless you have a member of the Host handy. In that case, it would quickly become the most hair-splitting, nitpicky three hour lecture essentially amounting to “what color is the invisible man?”
Suicide Bombs
In the Battle of Sonoziel suicide bombers were rampant. The most common method of delivering explosives was the tried and true suicide vest, a simple fabric vest stuffed with explosives and either detonated by the wearer or a coded radio signal. Yield ranged from a couple of grenades worth to an artillery shell.
As the PDF got better at “neutralizing” vest-wearing bombers, the Host started surgically implanting devices into people (willing or not) and remote detonating them. The yield wasn’t much, usually equivalent to a grenade or two – which the majority of them were, they would simply hut the bomber open, shove a couple of grenades into their guts, and sew them up – but they had the advantage of being very difficult to detect without a medical exam or body scanner.
“Invisible” implanted suicide bombs can’t be confirmed to exist, but it seems likely. The destruction of the Lao Tzu points to a suicide bomber, but all refugees were scanned before boarding. However, in those chaotic, rushed days mistakes were made. It is entirely possible someone slipped through the screening process. It is also entirely possible a sufficiently motivated engineer got his hands on lightweight sensor-damping materials, wrapped a charge in them, and crammed it into a host. Certainly modern Alliance tech is up to the challenge.