Extinction Angels
| Extinction Angels | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Battle Cry | None | |
| Origin | Unknown | |
| Warband Leader | Unknown | |
| Base of Operations | Unknown | |
| Strength | Unknown | |
| Specialty | Insurgency | |
| Allegiance | Unknown | |
| Colours | Purple with Copper trim | |
"Nor law, nor duty bade me fight, Nor public man, nor cheering crowds, A lonely impulse of delight drove to this tumult in the clouds; I balanced all, brought all to mind, The years to come seemed waste of breath, A waste of breath the years behind In balance with this life, this death."
- – William Butler Yeats, "An Irish Airman Foresees his Death"
While there are a great many minor Chaos warbands that accomplished some major wins during the 13th Black Crusade, others went not for quantity of accomplishments, but for quality, and few are better representations of this mindset than the Extinction Angels. This Warband is unusual for its main strategy - instead of simply overrunning an area, the Extinction Angels dig in for extended operations. Often, long after all other Chaos forces have been driven from an area, a handful of their marines will still be found operating well behind enemy lines, continuing to cause major headaches for the worlds they visit, sometimes for years.
They normally hire themselves out to other, larger Chaos forces.
Little has been established about their character beyond their emblem (a red-cloaked reaper with a scythe) and a lone piece of lore: That they go into conflict seeking a proper, worthy death in battle. This goes a long way towards explaining their tactics, which often come across as suicidal for the marines that stay behind when the rest of the Chaos renegades retreat, though this has, in and of itself, made the warband the subject of speculation for years.
Origins[edit]
The Extinction Angels' origins are unclear. Their tactics show signs of the same methods favored by the Night Lords and Alpha Legion, but the propensity for staying behind to continue to slaughter foes until put down is something unique to them alone. There is some fan theories that they may be tied to the Dark Angels, though, due to their tendency to martyr themselves for Chaos in their protracted insurgency operations.
Notable Exploits[edit]
- 13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - The Extinction Angels joined the Black Legion for a major assault on Deimos Primary, where traitors and saboteurs deactivated the world's orbital defenses immediately prior to the assault. While the Black Legion went about destroying the Skitarii Legions, the Extinction Angels went about crippling the world's manufactorums and production facilities. While the Adeptus Mechanicus did manage to force the bulk of the Chaos forces off-world by deploying the Legion Astorum, the loss of the Forge World's production capabilities crippled the Imperial war effort. The real threat of the attack would not become known for almost a solar month later: Extinction Angel units had remained hidden within the depths of the facilities, and when the Adeptus Mechanicus attempted to get them back online, their forces were slaughtered. Eventually an entire Black Templars Crusade Fleet was mobilized to hunt down the surviving Extinction Angels on the planet.
Gallery[edit]
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Extinction Angels marine (second from the left), but with the symbol of the Invocators.
