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Phoenix Lord

2017-12-20T15:10:56Z

2601:147:4200:6280:4584:BFB5:9AB2:398A: /* Maugan Ra */ added snark, some grammar fixes

The '''Phoenix Lords''' are the founders of the [[Eldar]]'s [[Aspect Warrior]] shrines, and are ''the'' authorities on what it means to practice their respective Aspects. They embody their Aspects so completely that their students often get trapped in that Aspect and become [[Exarch]]s. Think of them as legendary (im)mortal heroes of [[Khaine]].

As of the 41st Millennium, the Phoenix Lords are not properly alive any more; their spirits have integrated themselves into their armor, so if they do fall in battle, they can be resurrected by having someone new don the suit, and they're vicariously back in action, though the unfortunate Eldar who dons the suit gets overwritten by the original Phoenix Lord's personality and memories. Believe it or not, it's not as bad as it sounds. The Eldar who take up the Phoenix Lord's armor are always [[Exarch|Exarchs]], so they're committed to their Aspect for life. By the time an Eldar becomes an Exarch, they eat, sleep, and breath their Aspect. Due to the way the Eldar mind works, at that point they'll never be able to change occupations, so becoming the host body for a Phoenix Lord's spirit isn't much of a change for them. Whether you see this as [[grimdark|a tragic loss of what little personality the Exarch had managed to retain]], or [[noblebright|the ultimate sacrifice made by a noble warrior]] is [[skub|up to you.]]

On the battlefield, they wield upgraded versions of their Aspect's weapons and have all of the powers available to their Aspect's Exarchs (unsurprising, considering that they taught their Aspect everything) and strike a variety of fantastic battle poses. It has been years since the models have been updated though, so come on GW; tear yourself away from the new [[Ultramarines]] for a moment and give us some kickass new Phoenix Lord models!

Supposedly, these Lords will be heavily involved in the final battle against [[Chaos]]; given that Phoenix ''King'' is one of [[Asuryan]]'s titles, there may be something to this rumor. Yet for being such rumoured big characters in the endgame, [[GW]] continues to underuse them in the [[fluff]], which is a crying shame.

It's generally agreed that the Phoenix Lords' stats are distinctly unfitting of their background and more suited for very experienced Exarchs rather than the embodiments of each Aspect. But barring [[Forgeworld]] making a Phoenix Lord line, this isn't likely to change any day soon.

==List of Phoenix Lords==

=== Arhra ===
[[File:Arhra - Father of Scorpions.jpg|150px|thumbnail|left|This guy mentored Karandras and probably [[Drazhar|everyone's favorite Incubi]]...or, he is the latter.]]
'''Arhra, the Father of Scorpions,''' (also called '''the Fallen Phoenix''' and '''the Dark Father'''), is a shady one, as two stories of his life exist and [[Alpha Legion|no one is sure which (if any) is true]]. Craftworlders teach that he founded the Striking Scorpions Aspect. Somewhere along the way, he fell to [[Chaos]], and left the [[Craftworld]]s. [[Dark Eldar]] [[Incubi]] tell a different story in which Arhra founded the Incubi from the start and was not corrupted, but just angry and eager to fight Chaos, so he recruited from all Eldar factions, but mostly [[Commorragh|Commorites]], since they fit his brutal standards better. When the other Phoenix Lords decided to focus their attention on Craftworlders only and to defend the status quo rather than fight Chaos, Arhra pretty much said "fuck it" and started fighting his anti-Chaos war by himself, until he was eventually corrupted, as all things tend to be after being exposed to the Ruinous Powers for too long. To make things even more complicated, Craftworlders ''also'' have a story about Arhra fighting his pupils, but rather than teaching them the valuable lesson that everything can be corrupted and should be killed if it is, he's just somehow "tricked" into doing this by Karandras, who fought him for three weeks straight while taunting him, before getting the last laugh by cloaking and watching his enraged master kill all his Incubi students. Some suggest that Arhra survived or was reincarnated as a [[Dark Eldar]] character named [[Drazhar]], Master of Blades and Hierarch of the Incubi (a title he got by killing the previous Hierarch and his bodyguards), though Drazhar may well be the Dark Eldar equivalent to Karandras, who was trained by Arhra. Nobody knows what is true or not in his case.

=== Asurmen ===
[[File:WhatAPimp.jpg|220px|thumb|right|Hat? Hat.]]
'''Asurmen, the Hand of [[Asuryan]]''', was the first Phoenix Lord, and the one who led the flight of the Craftworld Eldar from the collapsing Eldar empire, and later founded the [[Aspect_Warrior#Dire_Avengers|Dire Avenger Aspect]] and the [[Paths of the Eldar|Path of the Warrior]] system as a whole, earning him the title of The Denier from the Daemons of Slaanesh for leading Eldar away from She Who Thirsts. Originally named '''Iliathin''', he was just an average Eldar who lived an ordinary life on one of the Eldar homeworlds. When the pleasure cults started wreaking havoc, his brother, a anti-pleasure cult vigilante named Tethesis, wanted to leave with the Exodites but stayed as he didn't want to leave his brother (who saw them as foolish doomsayers). Then the Fall of the Eldar happened & the two brothers somehow survived & tried to survive a post-apocalyptic world. Unfortunately his brother got possessed & he had to kill him. Feeling depressed, he almost commits suicide by jumping off a balcony until a young brat named Faraethil interrupted. Originally annoyed by her, he takes up the name Asurman after rescuing her from some Dark Eldar. After renaming himself and her, they settled on a moon they renamed Asur and the rest is history. He later sealed his brother's soul to his sword hilt to keep it being Slaanesh's junk food. To the Eldar he's seen as the paragon of what a warrior can be, and many of his protégés went on to found Aspects of their own. Before the [[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]] Asurmen led the Craftworlds away from the Eldar homeworlds. We know he's a humble fellow, as he named himself Asurmen, which means "hand of god", and after the fall he renamed his newly chosen homeworld Asur. After the Fall, he spent all his time traveling between the Craftworlds, teaching any who would learn the Path of the Warrior and kicking the ass of any who threatened the Eldar. Asurmen was killed during the fall of Asur when the world was overrun by the daemonic legions of a certain [[Slaanesh|rapey god]], though like a boss Asurmen shouted "Fuck death!" and started the Phoenix Lord tradition of keeping their souls in their armor. He's also responsible for the massive fetish all Eldar have for huge pimped out hats.

'''On the Tabletop'''

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Asurmen:''' || 175 || 7 || 2+ || 2+ || 4 || 4 || 6 || 5 || 10 || 2+/4++(ranged)/3++(melee)
|}

In-game, Asurmen is a good all-rounder; like all Dire Avengers, he hits on Overwatch on a 5 or 6, and functions like an Exarch with two Avenger Shuriken Catapults, and a melee weapon on steroids which combines a power glaive with a diresword, then improves the AP by 1 and the mortal wounds output to 1d3: S+1 AP-3 d1d3, and wound rolls of 6+ cause an additional 1d3 mortal wounds. He provides ''all'' {{W40Kkeyword|aspect warrior}}s within 6" a 5++, increased to a 4++ for {{W40Kkeyword|Dire Avengers}}s, also letting him outperform an Exarch's Shimmershield (and completely overlapping with the Exarch's native 4++). For some reason, he doesn't carry Plasma Grenades, even though all Dire Avengers do.

=== Baharroth ===
[[File:Spess Bird.jpg|230px|thumb|right|Did someone say laser tag?]]
'''Baharroth, the Cry of the Wind''', was the founder of the [[Jump Pack|jump infantry]] Aspect: the Swooping Hawks. Noted by Asurmen as the best of all his students, and noted by everyone else as an evasive motherfucker. He reflects the [[Creed|tactical genius]] of his teacher more than the other Asurya—not that you'd know that from his performance on the table, but more on that later. Baharroth is the fastest Eldar to have ever lived, and is the most "youthful and vibrant" of the Phoenix Lords, and his appearance is seen as a good omen by the Eldar. He apparently specializes in [[Sanguinius|flying around, looking pretty, and inspiring people]]. No lore exists about his original death, so it's possible he's still in his first body, not having passed into his armor. If so, this would make him one of the oldest still-living beings in the galaxy, save [[Eldrad|one]] [[Asdrubael Vect|or]] [[Cegorach|two]] [[C'tan|others]].

'''On the Tabletop'''

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Baharroth:''' || 110 || 14 || 2+ || 2+ || 4 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 9 || 2+
|}

In-game, Baharroth is the cheapest of the Phoenix Lords, and for good reason. His melee is a copy of Asurmen's weapon (S+1 AP-3 d1d3), but at -1A due to Baharroth's inferior statline, and instead of dealing additional mortal wounds, any unit he wounds suffers -1 to hit rolls until the end of the turn - meaning it's only useful on the charge, as it will expire before your opponent's turn starts. He has a completely standard Hawk's Talon like any Swooping Hawks Exarch can take, and can deep strike and skyleap the same way, although his grenade pack is upgraded - not only can he throw 3 of them, not just 1, but he deals mortal wounds on a 4+, not a 6+. Unlike most Phoenix Lords - including Asurmen - his buffs actually work on an entire unit of his associated Aspect Warriors, stacking with (and applying to) the Exarch: he supplies +1 Ld to all {{W40Kkeyword|aspect warrior}}s within 6", which will stack with the Exarch's +1, and he instead adds +2 to the Hawks (which also stack, giving them a net +3 with an Exarch), in addition to giving them re-rolling 1s to hit (which he does not have himself, ironically making Hawks near him under the effects of Enhance ''more'' accurate than he is in melee.

=== Drastanta ===
'''Drastanta, the Tempest of Starlight,''' was the Phoenix Lord of the Shining Spears. Drastanta was really full of himself and liked to go on needless solo battles. This backfired horribly during the Fall, when because of this, it got Asurmen killed for the first time. After blowing up the Keeper of Secrets who did it, Drastanta went on to found the Shining Spears and then went into self-exile, leaving his weapon behind. His lance is currently with [[Craftworld Iyanden]].

Living proof that Matt Ward can add a character without canon rape. Guess even a broken clock is right twice a day.

=== Fuegan ===
[[File:fuegan.jpg|230px|thumb|right|Is his codpiece a skull?]]

'''Fuegan, the Burning Lance''', is the founder of the Fire Dragons Aspect and the patron saint of overkill. His students can often be heard talking about how the enemy should be [[exterminatus|utterly annihilated]] so that their survival is impossible; they think that carefully applied annihilation is necessary for harmony, and that destruction can be a force of creation. In reality Fuegan is just a misunderstood fellow. He just likes popping holes in tanks. Given his great love of fire, axes, and overkill, he's actually a [[Kharn|pretty fun guy to be around]]. He and Kharn would get along pretty well if it weren't for that whole business about [[Chaos|Kharn's boss]]. For some reason, he keeps a skull over his dick. Like most Phoenix Lords he is annoyingly mysterious.

'''On the tabletop'''

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Fuegan:''' || 150 || 7 || 2+ || 2+ || 5 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 9 || 2+/5+++
|}

In-game, Fuegan is pretty much a berserker with a melta gun, and he plays about like it sounds like he would. No, really, that's pretty much how he works. Okay, fine. He rolls with the typical Phoenix Lord stat line (with +1 Strength), and he's tied with Karandras for being the third most expensive Phoenix Lord. He wields a Firepike - the 18" meltagun Fire Dragon Exarchs have - with the same re-rolling wound rolls of 1 against monsters and vehicles, but, like most Phoenix Lords, supplies a buff that overlaps with the Exarch's, allowing them (and him, unlike with Baharroth) to re-roll 1s to hit with ranged weapons while within 6" of him. He carries his aspect's grenades (unlike Asurmen) - melta bombs - and a very souped up Power Sword, hitting at SUser AP-4 D1d3 (or, relative to a normal Phoenix Lord, S+1 AP-4 D1d3), which starts off inferior to pretty much any other Phoenix Lord in melee in practice, until you unlock his berserker mode: at the end of the first Fight phase in which he lost at least 1 wound, he permanently gets S+2 and A+2, taking his melee statline to A6 WS2+ S7 AP-4 D1d3, which is about where he needs to be to compete with Asurmen's output against hordes (he can't compete with Asurmen against very heavy targets, like a Land Raider, where Asurmen's mortal wounds output is just too good to compete with).

=== Irillyth ===
[[File:Irillyth I hope..jpg|250px|thumb|right|The derplord himself!]]
'''Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight,''' is the long-lost creator of the Shadow Spectres Aspect shrine and the Phoenix Lord with the [[Derp|derpiest]] backstory. Supposedly, after being lost for millenia, Irillyth and his warriors returned from Craftworld Mymeara, but it's really fucking dumb to suggest that the Eldar, a species that live for thousands of years, [[FAIL|somehow forgot about an entire aspect shrine within a few generations!]] How the flying fuck do you lose knowledge about something that your neighbor down the street is old enough to remember? No, that's just too dumb to believe. I do, however, have [[Blood Ravens|my own theory.]] Stupid idea? Yeah, it is, but it's more likely than what [[Games Workshop|Forge World]] came up with. Anyways, Irillyth, like most of the Phoenix Lords, was trained by Asurmen. Midway through his training with the OG, Irillyth had a vision of a mysterious craftworld being destroyed. Vowing not to allow another craftworld to fall ([[FAIL|which worked out so well for him]]), he set out into the [[Webway]] to look for the Shadow Spectres he'd somehow lost already while he trained up his first generation of Shadow Spectres (in case I wasn't clear, the lore surrounding this guy is fucked). [[FAIL|After searching for hundreds of years]] Irillyth found a [[Keeper of Secrets]] breaking down the Webway's wards to allow more daemons to inflitrate. After a mighty struggle with the daemon, Irillyth was pretty tired, so he [[FAIL|laid down for a quick nap and didn't wake up for a few thousand years.]] When he woke up he fucking finally found and saved Mymeara by taking half their forces and going on a suicidal campaign against the prophesied reptile aliens who would wipe them out. And he didn't get resurrected since all the Eldar he led were busy being dead and Mymeara couldn't find his armor until M41. [[Derp]]. This guy makes [[Abaddon|Failbaddon]] look like [[Creed]]. It would have been so much easier and more intelligent to just say a daemon flung him into the future like Aku from Samurai Jack.

'''On the Tabletop'''
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Irillyth:''' || 160 || 12 || 2+ || 2+ || 4 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 9 || 2+
|}

In-game, Irillyth's quick, hits hard, [[Dakka|is good at range]], and has one of the sexiest models the Eldar can field. He knows how to deep strike, unlike his aspect, making him faster than his statline implies. His gun is, in true derp fashion, better than his aspect's basic gun, at +6" and +1D relative to the Prism Rifle fired in Coherent mode, but completely lacks the Assault Heavy Flamer profile they have, presumably because he just assumes he won't be charged, even though he wants to stay within 18" of the enemy - his fear aura is like his Exarch's, but dialed up to 11; it has an 18" range ''and'' stacks with the Exarch's, ''and'' taking him means all friendly {{W40Kkeyword|Shadow Spectres}} emit his aura (so with an Exarch, they emit both). On the other hand, he re-rolls wound rolls of 1 with his gun against {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}. Due to his improved BS over his aspect's, he expects to hit 2.11 times during the Shooting Phase, rather than their 1.61 times - a bigger improvement than his BS implies, due to how their guns work - but remember, he's ''drastically'' worse at Overwatch than they are. His melee weapon is better than Baharroth's at murder, at S+1 AP-3 D2 (which is better against 2-wound targets), but doesn't inflict a to-hit penalty; instead, on the charge, it increases to D1d3+1, which is usually useless - most targets with enough wounds to notice the damage uptick aren't particularly impressed by S5. Because neither his shooting nor his melee are worth his cost, the reason to take him is his aura, which he doesn't need to be on the table or even alive to provide, since all of your Shadow Spectres will emit it once he's in the army, in addition to their own. He also has the same -1 to being hit as his aspect.

Irillyth (along with the Shadow Spectres) was created and sculpted by [[Forge World]] for [[Imperial Armour#Volume Eleven - The Doom of Mymeara|Imperial Armour Volume Eleven: The Doom of Mymeara]].

=== Jain Zar ===
[[File:Jain Zar Sword of Silence.jpg|220px|thumb|left|[[Rape|Bend over, Abaddon.]]]]
'''Jain Zar, the Storm of Silence''', was Asurmen's first student, loyal companion, and hot space-elf eyecandy. Or maybe not. She never takes off her armor, so fuck if I know. She's the founder of the [[Aspect_Warrior#Howling_Banshees|Howling Banshees Aspect]]. Originally <strike>a feral Eldar child</strike> named '''Faraethil,''' <strike>she was too young to remember the glories of the Eldar Empire (not that that helped them much due to their fall). She was originally raised by her brother before he was killed some Daemons.</strike> ([[Retcon]]! ''Jain Zar: Storm of Silence'' reveals that Faraethil lied about her origin. She was actually a [[Wyches|Wyche]] who
got fed up with her old way of life and ran away. More specifically, she was disgusted in how the fights in the arena had devolved into nothing but sport and spectacle. On the other hand, she did mention she had a brother before the fall. So that story still could have much truth too it). She eventually encountered a survivor named Iliathin and interrupted his suicide attempt. He shunned her until she is attacked by some Dark Eldar (probably not too happy about her running away). He manages to save her though she lost control and managed to kill some herself. Realizing he needed to discipline her, he renamed them both before they left. They then settled on a moon they renamed Asur and the rest is history. Even among the greatest Eldar warriors, her skill and blinding speed were noteworthy. In the true Phoenix Lord way, she spent most of her time in life wandering around the [[Webway]] with her students, perfecting her skills and skullfucking the occasional [[Dark Eldar|Deldar]] or daemon, occasionally coming forth to wreck shit. She is noted for being an acrobatic fighter<strike>, so it's likely she trained with the [[Harlequins]] or, considering her age, maybe she trained them</strike>, equaling if not surpassing the Harlequins, though her eponymous book makes clear she knew only a little of them, and was disturbed by what she knew. Of all the Phoenix Lords, Jain Zar is the most active. She can regularly be seen leading Eldar warhosts against the forces of [[Chaos]]. Lately she's been hunting Night Lords, as she heard from a [[Eldrad|mysterious prophet]] that Talos Valcoran would unite the assorted warbands and lead them against Ulthwé. After getting his ass handed to him, Talos pulled the pin on a krak grenade and gave her a big hug. She died. For now. Confirmed to have "reincarnated" already, as she is playable in [[Dawn of War III]]. Confirmed to still be alive as of Gathering Storm II: Fracture of Biel-Tan.

'''On the Tabletop'''

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Jain Zar:''' || 140 || 8 || 2+ || 2+ || 4 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 9 || 2+
|}

She has your typical Phoenix Lord stat line, with both the standard Banshee abilities of +3 to charge rolls and maximum charge distance, and immunity to Overwatch; in addition, she has the Exarch ability of inflicting a -1 to-hit penalty on attempts to hit her during the Fight phase. She's less accurate than a Mirrorswords Exarch in melee, as she wields an up-gunned Executioner with +1S and Shred (S+2 AP-3 D1d3, Re-rolling all failed wounds), but re-rolling wounds is better than re-rolling misses against almost everything, so she shouldn't worry too much about that. She supplies herself and nearby Howling Banshees with Always Strikes First, and at the beginning of every Fight phase, she can choose an enemy {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}} model within 1" and roll 1d6; on a 3+, one weapon of her choice on the model cannot be used during the phase, which is particularly brutal against anything that goes for pure dakka, as she will disable their default melee weapon, and they won't be able to swing at all. Against anything carrying a listed melee weapon, all this will do is knock them down to using their default that all models carry (SUser AP0 D1). Her gun is no slouch, either - 12" Assault 4 SUser AP-3 D1, i.e. 12" Assault 4 S4 AP-3 D1, which is easily enough to give Asurmen gun envy, which is good, since he's better than she is in melee - what she's good at, especially, is tarpitting.

=== Karandras ===
[[File:what a badass.jpg|220px|thumb|left|Mysterious fucker could be [[squats|anything]] under that mask.]]

'''Karandras, the Shadow Hunter,''' is the Phoenix Lord of the Striking Scorpions Aspect. He started out not as the pupil of Asurmen, but of Ahra, and no one knows anything else. Even among Phoenix Lords, this guy is mysterious. Seriously, there isn't any lore on this guy, which is actually rather appropriate for a space ninja. What little we know is that he was once crushed to death by a dreadnought and promptly possessed another Striking Scorpion instead of waiting for someone to put on his armour.

'''On the Tabletop'''

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Karandras:''' || 150 || 7 || 2+ || 2+ || 4 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 9 || 2+
|}

In-game, Karandras is a [[awesome|ninja with a powerfist and a chainsword]]. He comes to battle with the typical Phoenix Lord stat line, and his Aspect's abilities to deep strike and gain +1 to hit targets in cover, although he's already WS/BS 2+. He has drastically up-gunned mandiblasters that shoot 4 times, not once, and inflict a mortal wound on a 5+, not just 6, giving him ''8x'' the total output from them (just remember they only work on {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}); his melee weapon proper is a standard Scorpion's Claw (Sx2 AP-3 D1d3), but he provides himself and his aspect within 6" with exploding 6s in melee (on a 6+ to hit, generate another attack that cannot generate additional attacks), completely overlapping with their Exarch. For ranged, he remembered his Plasma Grenades, unlike Asurmen, or can shoot his Claw, with its standard Shuriken Catapult profile. Unfortunately, he didn't get the Striking Scorpions memo that Jain Zar exists, so he carries a scorpion chainsword, rather than a biting blade, but outside of her shutting down your Claw, that won't ever matter. He'll usually hit ''everything'' in melee harder than Jain Zar does, but he's the best Phoenix Lord, period, at meleeing {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}, due to his incredible mandiblasters, which usually deal 1.33 mortal wounds before the fight even starts.

=== Maugan Ra ===
[[File:Maugan-Ra.jpg|260px|thumb|left|8.1/10, too much skulls]]
'''Maugan Ra, the Harvester of Souls,''' is allegedly "the founder of the Dark Reapers Aspect", though looking at his chosen heraldry and the gun that he carries, it is more likely that he's a DeathJester that partied waaay to hard and is now stuck pretending to be a Phoenix Lord. Originally a child on Biel Tan, Maugan Ra is the lone survivor of the craftworld of Altansar. Altansar itself escaped the birth of Slaanesh but was [[grimdark|pulled into the Eye of Terror by its gravity well]]. This slightly annoyed Maugan Ra. Having nothing else important to do, he packed up and shipped off to join the Asurya and train under the OG himself. Among Asurmen's students, he was that kid that always dressed in black and didn't talk much or get along with other students. While his fellow students were learning the ways of the blade with Asurmen, Maugan Ra fashioned devastatingly powerful long-ranged weapons to surgically destroy his opponents from afar. The focus on ranged combat makes him less of a [[Mary Sue]] than the other Phoenix Lords. After perfecting the art of ranged combat, 'ol Maugie fashioned himself the Maugetar, which loosely translates to Harvester (which makes one wonder what his name translates to. Reaper, perhaps? Subtle, GW). This "baroque relic of destruction" was more or less a pimped out Shuriken cannon with a big fucking power scythe stuck on the bottom. All jokes aside, Maugan Ra is...different. Whereas the other Phoenix Lords exemplify the specific combat and tactical arts of their shrine, Maugan and his followers exemplify destruction itself, delivered by the most efficient and devastating method possible. Rather than perfect the means, as do the other Phoenix Lords, Maugan perfects the ends. While he's technically one of the Asurya, he more or less did his own thing while learning from Asurmen. Apparently the A-man's teaching sucked balls because at some point Maugan got bored and decided to rape a hive fleet on his own (well with his BFF dark reaper students but nobody gives a shit about them). During the [[13th Black Crusade]] of [[Abaddon|Failbaddon The Armless]], he managed to seize the initiative and drag Altansar out of the Warp. Needless to say, the other Craftworlds reacted with utter distrust, and in some cases with hostility, towards Ra's kin because no Eldar can live so long in the Warp without being altered. Yet nobody, not even the most arrogant and powerful Eldar even dare to think about badmouthing Altansar when Maugan Ra is around in fear of being...well, harvested. Grim Destroyer-of-All or angsty edgemaster? You decide!

'''On the Tabletop'''
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Maugan Ra:''' || 140 || 6 || 2+ || 2+ || 4 || 4 || 6 || 4 || 9 || 2+
|}

In many ways the strangest Phoenix Lord, Maugan Ra bears remarkably few similarities to his aspect, although he is slow, like they are, and he has their accuracy, only scaled up to his BS - he always hits on a 2+ during Shooting, regardless of modifiers. That's applied to his weird gun, the Maugetar, which has two profiles, both modified Shuriken Cannons: 36" Assault X S6 AP-1 D1, and 6+ to wound increases to AP-3. One of the profiles is just X=4, while the other is X=1, and if it kills an {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}} model, the model's unit suffers 1d3 mortal wounds, which is utterly useless, because his first shot has to get through normally in order to produce the excess wounds, meaning against absolutely any target in the game, it will deal less damage in practice. He can shoot the gun twice, which is the only reason he can out-shoot Jain Zar, and he re-rolls misses of 1 with his gun, which he extends to Dark Reapers within 6", overlapping their Exarch's ability, and he himself re-rolls wound rolls of 1 against {{W40Kkeyword|chaos}} with both his gun and his melee weapon, since he didn't get the Dark Reapers memo about sticking to guns. Said melee weapon is a pretty boss S+2 AP-2 D1d3, plenty for chopping through GEQ. Because he's still faster than his aspect - he can shoot after Advancing, unlike them - he really hates having to slow down to support them.

=== The Unknown Crimson Hunter Phoenix Lord ===

As [[Crimson Hunter]]s are so new, even less is known about their Phoenix Lord than the Warp Spiders', owing to a lack of [[fluff]] about them.

=== The Unknown Warp Spider Phoenix Lord ===

Bizarre as it is, while most Aspect Warriors know the identity of their Phoenix Lord, or at least who he or she might be, the Warp Spiders don't have a known Phoenix Lord, though there is speculation. Moreover, there are a lot of Eldar that believe the Warp Spider Phoenix Lord [[Omegon|never existed]]. It is theorized that the legendary warrior of Craftworld Kaelor, '''Lhykosidae the Wraith Spider''', may be the Phoenix Lord of the Warp Spiders. This is quite possible as ''Lycosidae'' is the scientific classification for a Wolf Spider, and GeeDubs, being anything but original, does this name-borrowing [[Corvus Corax|often]]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_spider Wolf Spiders], if you have not experienced their joy, are quick and stealthy. If you blink, you will miss them, much like you will miss a Warp Spider when he teleports.

One probably should not believe Kaelor's account, considering the fact that for some reason they forgot most of their history (not to mention that even ''they'' aren't completely sure if Lhykosidae was actually a Phoenix Lord or not, and he may not even be an Eldar). Although, they do have a copy of ''The Arc of Destiny'' that describes the Craftwars against [[Saim-Hann]] being won by them, thanks to the arrival of the Wraith Spider [[Legion of the Damned|at the right place, at the right moment, at the right time]].

From Kaelor's point of view, the whole Wraith Spider thing is probably just a spiritual awakening that manifests itself exclusively in the Warp Spider Exarchs, supercharging them to the point that they are similar to the Phoenix Lords in power and capabilities. Others suggest that this Wraith Spider entity may be connected to the small [[warp]] critters in the [[webway]] after which the Warp Spider Aspect Warriors are named. The actual Warp Spiders maintain the systems of Eldar [[Infinity Circuit|Infinity Circuits]] and keep the Webway clear of non-Eldar psychic energies, and the Wraith Spider appears when the craftworld suffers from great impurity.

Another theory is that the Wraith Spider may even be a wraith construct that is an organic personification of the Warp. Most Eldar and Imperial experts on Eldar don't actually believe in this and take it with a giant pinch of salt. Thus the truth will probably remain unknown for a very long time...

==Why the Phoenix Lords are Badasses==

;Asurmen, the Hand of Asuryan
:He is the start of all this Aspect Warrior stuff and personally led the first Craftworld Eldar out of their doomed worlds, so the entire reason the [[Eldar]] still exist is due to him.
:Kinda like the [[Ultramarines|Smurfs]], they wear the hat of tactical adaptability. Unlike them, however, they don't lord themselves over the rest of the shrines like chumps. And they especially don't slave themselves over [[Codex Astartes|an oversized book.]]
:He is SO BADASS that even lesser races have legends about him. We don't know what these feats are, but they must be impressive if people OTHER than eldar are talking about them.
:Apparently at some point he defeated a C'tan shard [[AWESOME|by simply stabbing it to death with his sword]].

;Jain-Zar, the Storm of Silence
:She's considered the second-oldest of the Phoenix Lords, so she's definitely got a ton of experience and respect under her belt (...in her pants).
:Head of perhaps the most populous of the Aspect Shrines, a bunch of sword-and-spear swinging ladies, and unlike some of the others, still teaches her students the ways of the shrine.
:In [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]]'s novel ''Void Stalker'' she actually makes [[Night Lords]] feel a mild reaction of fear.
:Her mask liquefies brains. That is all.

;Baharroth, the Cry of the Wind
:Fastest fucker in the known galaxy. No [[Tyranid|'Nid]], no [[Doomrider|Warp-cocaine addict]], no [[White Scars|White Scar]] on some super-bike, could potentially capture him.
:Dude was considered the best of Asurmen's students, and considering the responsibilities these Aspect Warriors hold, that's a high expectation that they have to live up to.
:Unlike most of the other Phoenix Lords who live on through their armor, Maugan Ra and this evasive bastard are still alive.

;Fuegan, the Burning Lance
:He and his shrine have probably the most brutal of guns, capable of cooking holes in fortress walls and turning tanks into puddles.
:Has soloed a Greater Daemon and lived to tell about it, [[AWESOME|more than once]].
:Soloed a Gargant. OK, a steam Gargant, but still...
:Is prophesied to be the last of the Phoenix Lords to go down during the Eldar's sparkly-elf-pocalypse, so to keep that up, he's gotta be the most ruthless of bastards; and with a gun like his, expect to see everything you know and love reduced to ashes.

;Arhra, the Fallen Phoenix
:You know those fancy Incubi everyone with a [[Dark Eldar]] army uses? Well, he's the granddaddy to those elite face-stompers. Have fun with that.

;Karandras, the Shadow Hunter
:Considering that Arhra got fucked up, it's a miracle he's able to hold on to his job, considering the grudges Eldar hold.
:Dude at one point fought Drazhar (who may or may not be Arhra) for almost three weeks before deciding to piss him off so royally that he just decided to let the bastard [[RAGE]] at anything he found in his way, most of it being his own students. Reports heard him laughing all the way back about how it was all [[just as planned]].
:Kinda was hit by a Dreadnought, killing him. That might sound like [[FAIL]], but he was holding up one of the Dreadnought's feet. A dreadnought's. Foot/claw/whatever.

;Maugan Ra, the Reaper of Souls
:Maugan Ra dragged Altansar, his Craftworld, out of the Eye of Terror.
:He defeated an entire Tyranid invasion swarm by himself.
:Killed a [[Trygon]] by fucking standing beneath it and shooting it in half.
:Forging his badass scythe/gun by dicking around in the Eye of Terror (Even had an Exarch to morph into an avatar of Khaine and stab its heart to have his scythe tempered).
:He had the harlequins publish his story to all Eldar kind so they would piss themselves every time the story was told.
:He cut down (in)famous daemonprince Periclitor the Foresworn. Thus he also unintentionally avenged Howling Griffons Space Marines chapter.
:Unlike most of the other Phoenix Lords who live on through their armor, Baharroth and this motherfucker are still alive.

;Irillyth, the Shade of Twilight
:Has a very damn fancy concept for a shrine: Mini stealth battlesuits with enough weaponry to make the Tau's stealth suits blush.
:Guy had to be seriously patient if he was able to survive decades, if not centuries, stuck in his armor, just waiting, ''waiting'', for the time he'd get out and then just go back to fighting when he does.

;Drastanta, the Tempest of Starlight
:Killed a Keeper of Secrets, stabbing it so hard its soul exploded.

{{Eldar-Characters}}

Dark Angels

2017-12-20T02:19:03Z

2601:147:4200:6280:4584:BFB5:9AB2:398A:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Dark Angels
|Heraldry = [[File:Darkangelslogo.png]]
|Battle Cry = "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" or "For the Lion!"
|Number = I
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = None
|Successor Chapters = Hell of a lot of Chapters:{{Blam|+++Completely autonomous+++}}, most notably the [[Blades of Vengeance]], [[Angels of Defiance]], [[Disciples of Caliban]], [[Consecrators]], [[Angels of Absolution]], [[Angels of Redemption]], [[Angels of Vengeance]] and [[Guardians of the Covenant]].
|Chapter Master = [[Azrael]].
|Primarch = [[Lion El'Jonson]].
|Homeworld = [[The Rock]], originally [[Caliban]].
|Specialty = [[Plasma]], [[Deathwing|terminators]], [[Ravenwing|bikes]], :{{Blam|+++Hunting down the filthy traitos to the imperium!+++}}
|Strength = 1,000 (officially, :{{Blam|+++Much more counting chapter serfs, officers, pilots and the like+++}}|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man|:{{Blam|+++Loyal since day one+++}}]]
|Colours = Green, black, bone white
}}

{{editwar}}

{{Topquote|The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.|Margaret Atwood}}

{{Topquote|Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you'll save! Better lock it in your pocket, taking this one to the grave.|The Pierces, Secret}}
:{{Blam|+++Welcome to the Dark Angels Page, your entrance is being monitored by [[Chaplain|Interrogator-Chaplain]] [[Zacharias]], any question you have will be answered the best we could, doesn’t matter if you are a lowly servant of the emperor, an Inquisitor, Primaris Spaces Marine brother or Dark Angel Initiate.+++}}
:{{Blam|+++'''THIS ARTICLE IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE AND IS REWRITTEN FOR YOUR OWN PROTECCTION. ALL MESSAGES WRITTEN IN RED ARE THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH ABOUT OUR HISTORY.+++}}
:{{Blam|+++Any intent to follow links without the approved authorization may end in your unfortunate demise.+++}}
== Frequently asked questions==
• Why are you called the Unforgiven?
:{{Blam|+++For failing to protect the emperor in its darkest hour +++}}
• Why is your rank Interrogator Chaplain?
:{{Blam|+++The rank comes with the responsibility of seeking the repentance of the heretic astartes, traitors, etc.+++}}

• I recall that in the index astartes your armor is black, why is green now?
:{{Blam|+++Contrary to some heretic rumors, our armor is green so we don’t be confused with our raven guard brothers, the only Dark Angels wearing black are the operatives and pilots of our Ravenwing company, if you see some Astartes wearing Ancient gear with Dark angels iconography please report them to the nearest dark angel officer so they be put in line with the codex astartes reglamentation.+++}}
• I have seen some little beings with Dark Angels Carring some relics, what are these?
:{{Blam|+++Worry not, these are just chapter serfs, not associated with xenos In any way+++}}
• What happened to Caliban your home world?
:{{Blam|+++We have seen more convenient to convert us to a fleet based chapter, in this manner we can bring the emperors justice where is needed, Caliban was adapted to be the now AWESOME SHIP KNOW AS THE ROCK+++}}
• What happened to your primarch, where is Lion El Jhonson?
:{{Blam|+++Whit a heavy heart we tell you he is lost, maybe killed by the forces of Chaos, no proof of is LOYAL body to be found, like all evidence of his whereabouts buried under a rock, someday he will return to guide us again +++}}.
• What happened to the allies that where fighting alongside the Dark angels and suddenly they have Disappeared?
:{{Blam|+++We inform you we dont know, only bolt shells and plasma burns were encountered, we suspect an ambush from the despised traitor legions.+++}}
'''The '''Dark Angels''' (also known as the '''"The Unforgiven"''' are amongst the most accomplished and powerful [[Space Marine]] Chapters in the Imperium. Their grim determination and relentless persecution of their foes are legendary, and their combat record tells a long tale of selfless heroism. :{{Blam|+++One of the most loyal chapters in the Imperium+++}}
== Litany of the Dark Angels: Space Hulk Deathwing ==
'''Heralds of the coming Doom, by cry of Raven, we are drawn.'''

'''This oath of war and vengeance, on blade of exalted iron sworn, with blood anointed swords aloft, advance we, into Dread’s dark shade.'''

'''Punishment divine unleashed with hate, a wrathful storm of bolt and blade.'''

'''Purge with plasma, fist, and shell, bring cleansing fire’s righteous breath.'''

'''For the Emperor, Knights of Caliban! The Lion’s anointed Angels of Death!'''

'''No forgiveness'''.

'''No retreat.'''

== The Unforgiven ==

Their [[Primarch]] is [[Lion El'Jonson]] a.k.a The Lion. As a result, the Dark Angels are totally :{{Blam|+++Awesome and without a fault +++}} their Primarch happening to be named after a [[Wikipedia:Lionel_Johnson|homosexual poet]] who wrote a poem called "The Dark Angel" and might've dated [[Fulgrim| Oscar Wilde]]. Oh, and their homeworld is called [[The Rock]], :{{Blam|+++A rufege for peace and meditation where nothing sinister ever happens +++}} (it's actually a mobile Space station that can take out most of Battlefleet Solar on its own.). They were the posterboys for both [[6th edition|6E]] and [[Citadel Miniatures|Citadel's]] "new" line of paints. Fuck yeah, we guess? Russian fa/tg/uys believe that Dark Angels are Jews for whatever reason (it's because ALL DA names are in Hebrew, silly). Interestingly, they also employ retainers known as the [[Watchers in the Dark]]. These :{{Blam|+++Adorable sword hugging beings are chapter serfs, they are so small because they need to be that small for cleaning those corners in the rock more easily.+++}}

When dealing with the Dark Angels it is important to bear in mind that they are the very embodiment of the phrase [[Vindicare|“the end justifies the means”]] and they will go to any lengths and do anything that they need to in order to :{{Blam|+++protect the Imperium from the perils of the universe.+++}}

The new Codex heavily implies that they may be at Legion strength, :{{Blam|+++As we have now more reinforcements from the Ultima Founding, leading to more sucessor chapters, thanks Lord Commander Guilliman.+++}}The lack of clarification on this matter and the suspiciously close cooperation between the Dark Angels and their successor chapters hasn't gone unnoticed by the [[Inquisition]], although their attempts at exposing the Dark Angels' secrets [[Abaddon|haven't met with much success]] thus far. However, one reason they and their successors work together so well is likely due to the fact that the pre-heresy Dark Angels Legion was already assembled out of chapters. After the heresy, they merely needed to give the chapters names instead of numbers and have the chapters adopt different heraldry and colors; as such, the Dark Angels and their successor chapters might still be (functionally and unofficially) a (more-or-less) cohesive Legion.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByQ7L5aRu1A Their theme] by [[HMKids]],which SHOWS THEIR ABSOLUTE LOYALTY. :{{Blam|+++If you have any doubts regarding the Dark Angels ABSOLUTE LOYALTY then you should follow this servoskull down this totally not in any way dark and ominous corridor towards room 42 where brother Asmodai will be waiting to answer any questions you might have.+++}}
They have apparently also become the love-chapter of some of GW's writers, since they now have the best motorcycle squads around (yes, apparently even better than the [[White Scars]]), the "last" (they might have a ton of them or be making new ones!) jetbike in the Imperium, and [[Watchers in the Dark|invulnerable "Chapter Serfs"]].

=== Gene-Seed ===

[[File:Penance by majesticchicken.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Dark Angels, the flagbearers of grimdark gothic design.]]

Much like the Ultrasmurfs, the Dark Angels have some of the most stable gene-seeds of all the progenitor chapters, with no significant mutations documented. Due to this and the fact that they were the first Legion produced by the Emperor, they remain one of the most favorable ones to use for founding successor chapters. Although, the High Lords are supposedly iffy about using the DA's gene seed due to the rumors that all Dark Angel successors stay in one command structure, with the Dark Angels still calling the shots, effectively all of their descendant chapters still act as part of a legion. Never-the-less, because there's no official proof of this, the Inquisition cannot call an Exterminatus on the Rock. {{Blam|+++Or if you have, please report yourself with the material in hand, so we can fix this issue.+++}}

One of the Lion’s greatest legacy’s to his sons is his [[Perturabo|strategic]] [[Roboute Guilliman|genius]] – a quality passed on to his sons through the Chapter’s gene-seed. This trait manifests exponentially as a Dark Angel ascends toward the rank of Company Master. Such officers can plan a campaign to the last detail, execute faultless assaults, and assemble impenetrable defences instinctively. Central to this ability is the deployment of the correct mix of squads, vehicles and support elements. To this end, the Dark Angels form strike forces – self-contained armies assembled to prosecute a specific campaign or defeat a particular foe.

According to the :{{Blam|+++Words of brother Ezekiel+++}}, Librarians from the Unforgiven can pick up the unique psychic signatures of those who bear traces of their shared Primarch. Even the most spliced or tainted gene-seed of Lion El’Jonson emits a distinct signal powerful enough to detect. Basically all you need to do is put a Dark Angels Librarian near a :{{Blam|+++A Fellow Dark Angel playing a millenia game of hide and seek+++}} and they might as well have a great big flashing neon light saying “SON OF THE LION HERE COME AND GET ME”. (This has precedent in earlier fluff, such as the battle for [[Rynn's World]], where the death of 600 [[Crimson Fists]] nearly kills a nearby librarian)

=== Battle Cry ===
Unlike more warlike chapters like the [[Space Wolves|Space Corgis]] or the [[Black Templars]], who would go into battle screaming on how they're going to skullfuck the enemies of man, the Dark Angels go into battle in cold, efficient silence, almost similar to that of [[Angry Marine]] Terminators, who are so enraged that they march into battle with stone hearts and steel faces. In fact, their "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" is less of a battle cry and more of a foreboding proclamation against their real targets :{{Blam|+++The damnable traitors from the nine legions+++}}. This makes more sense, the more you realize what the Chaplains do to the [[Cultist-chan|Dark Angels' greatest obsession]] :{{Blam|+++Teach them to love the imperium and the real fiasco of following chaos.+++}} in the depths of The Rock, until they repent.

==History==
[[File:Dark_Angels_chapter-crusade-hersey_.jpg|200px|right|thumb| Dark Angels Crusade/Horus Heresy symbol]]

The original Dark Angels had black armour, back in the days of the [[Beakie|Corvus pattern helmets]]. Modern Dark Angels instead use a dark green colour, except for the [[Deathwing]] and [[Ravenwing]] companies, which are composed entirely of bone-white Terminators and black Fast Attack units respectively. They were introduced in the Deathwing expansion to 1st edition ''[[Space Hulk]]'' with a spiffy background story by Bill King.
*To paint your armour black was to show that you served the emperor directly in the same way Sigismund did when he was chosen to serve as the first Emperor's Champion.
*It could be that one of the reasons for swapping the black for the green was because they no longer felt worthy of it. The Dark Angels are literally wearing their shame for all to see but no one else knows it.

Due to a slight mutation in their [[gene-seed]], the Dark Angels had a slight predisposition to be [[Grimdark|shy]], but other than that, they are cool.

Veterans wear robes and capes and such on the field of battle representing any number of ritualistic ranks and titles that are mostly unknown to those outside of the Chapter but harken back to the traditions of "The Order", plus they look pretty [[awesome]].

===Great Crusade===
[[File:Lance Decurion.jpg|200px|right|thumb| Dark Angels Lance Decurion]]

[[File:Luther.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Luther, :{{Blam|+++If you see this man in your sector report inmediately to the Inner Circle+++}}]]

:{{Blam|+++For the eyes of Dark Angels Commanders only, skip until you see the :) sign.+++}}

*Numeration: the 1st Legion
*Primogenitor: Lion El'Jonson
*Cognomen: The First, Primaris Angelus Mortis (Honorific)
*Observed strategic tendencies: Combined arms and multi-spectra warfare, Exterminatus and purgation campaigns, extended independent void operations.
*Noteworthy Domains: Caliban(home world), Terra, an unknown number of void outposts and watch fortresses on the Imperium’s fringes.
*Allegiance: Fedelitas Tenebrae(Latin for shadows/darkness or “to the”/”from, out of” the shadows/darkness; seeing as GW use dog-Latin, you could theoretically say that it could mean something like 'Questionable' or ‘Obscured Loyalty’).

Not simply a [[First Founding|Legion]] numbered "one", they were quite literally the First legion created by the Emperor and in their earliest incarnation fought as the personal army of the Master of Mankind in the dawning years of the [[Great Crusade]]. HH: Extermination tells us that as the prototype Legion the Dark Angels served as the template for all the Legions that would follow after which the Emperor decided to make the following legions more specialised and engineered their development towards different roles, and as a standard by which these successors would be measured (however they would eventually get supplanted by the empire-building [[Ultramarines]] when [[Codex Astartes|times changed]]). So basically the Emperor simply intended the First Legion to sally forth and "just be Space Marines".

That meant the Dark Angels had to figure out warfare all on their own, and the techniques they developed would have entire Legions built upon those principles when they were raised later on. By the time of the Heresy, there existed six specialised "Wings" or “Hosts”; each acted as an independent formation that was both a part of the main body of the legion but also separate from it at the same time. Each was dedicated to a different form of warfare, of which two survived into the later 40k:
*[[Ravenwing]] - Cavalry & Fast Attack. The Ravenwing protocol originated from the early Legion's rapid moving search and destroy formations. These formations were revived and expanded upon as they offered a form of rapid strike warfare that the Knights of Caliban both understood and had perfected over many generations.They also act as the First Legions infiltration, information gathering and espionage specialists ([[Alpha Legion]] says hi) (Or do they?)
*[[Deathwing]] - Veterans in Artificer Armour and Terminator Armour. There is an elite Deathwing unit called the Secta Mortis. According to the Angels of Caliban novel. The Secta Mortis had gold helmets and wore Terminator Armour. They took over as Sanguinius's bodyguards after Konrad Cruze killed members of the Invictus and [[Sanguinary Guard]].
*'''Stormwing''' - Boarding Assault Marines. Possible void warfare specialists.
*'''Dreadwing''' - Were apparently the 1st Legion's "dirty tricks department" with all sorts of secret and very nasty gear that they really shouldn't have - really shocking stuff. The commander wields a big axe. They are called in when you [[Exterminatus|just want something gone and you really don’t care about the collateral damage.]] '''“We have come. We are death.”'''
:*despite the devastation caused by the Dreadwing upon Macragge, [[Laurie Goulding]] has hinted that this was actually them showing restraint and “you should see what they COULD have used…”
*'''Ironwing''' - Heavy emphasis on Battle tanks and mechanised infantry. <s>'''Iron'''ically</s> Interestingly, the '''Iron'''wing protocol was used as the template for the '''Iron''' Warriors and the '''Iron''' Hands when it came time to raise those Legions, despite the fact they hadn't been named yet.
*'''Firewing''' - Because as we (and every Ork in existence) all know putting flames onto something automatically makes it better. (Why the actual fuck did they not call it the Flamewing? Firewing sounds fucking stupid) WRONG-Fire refers to dakka, as aevery ork knows is better, they probably provide fire support (from here on I support the changing of the name to the Dakkawing).

The wings were originally organised into six hosts, collectively known as the hexagrammatron and run across and through the normal Dark Angels structure of orders, chapters, and companies (similar to how the DA company veterans work in 40k) and every Dark Angel from the lowest to the highest is a member of one of the wings. They were made this way so they could fight in any conceivable situation. Each of the wings/hosts is commanded by an officer known as a Voted-Lieutenant and several Voted-Successors who are outside of the normal legion command structure.
* Holguin - Voted-Lieutenant of the Deathwing, wields a 9 ft greatsword (as of Angels of Caliban is now in possession of the broken shards of the Lion Sword)
* Farith Redloss - Voted-Lieutenant of the Dreadwing (takes out a World Eaters Leviathan Dreadnaught with his axe)
* Griffayn ‘The Spear-Cast’ - Voted-Lieutenant of the Firewing (For some reason his rank is held in abeyance) *his legion rank is held in abeyance not his Firewing rank*

A Dark Angels membership to a particular wing seems to not only be based on their abilities but also their personality, attitude and personal mind set; for example the Dreadwing are made up of the most brutal, destructive and warmongering members of the Dark Angels whilst the Ravenwing (if they are anything like their 40k counterparts) are made up of the most impulsive, wild (by DA standards) and inquisitive members (being a speed freak helps). How they are designated into each wing is unknown perhaps they are given extensive physiological evaluations or maybe they just have some sort of [[Harry Potter]]-esque sorting hat.
The main body of the Legion seems to have been made up of at least 30 Orders(the 30th is the highest mentioned so far) each with a grand master and a paladin(Champion) in command of around 5000+ warriors split up into an yet unknown number of chapters each led by its own Chapter Master.

Guilliman noted that there were also many secret orders and mysterious hierarchies within the ranks of the Dark Angels; hierarchies of knowledge, trust and authority invisible to outsiders. Alongside the Orders, secret Hosts and Wings there was also mention of Thrones and Powers, whatever the hell they were. (It’s very likely that these are named after the Nine Choirs of Angels which consist of 1. Seraphim, 2. Cherubin, 3. Thrones 4. Domininations, 5. Virtues, 6. Powers. 7. Principalities, 8. Archangels, 9. Angels, with the lowest "Angels" being the standard battle brother)
*It has been hinted that because of the Dark Angels’ highly traditional and sectarian nature it made them ‘immune’ to the intrusions of the warrior lodges and acted as a similar buffer to infiltrations and manipulations from the likes of the Alpha Legion. http://gavthorpe.co.uk/2015/09/23/more-dark-angels-secrets-revealed/
*This is no longer "hinted": Luther laughed at Erebus's suggestion of the creation of a Dark Angel warrior lodge.

In this fashion, acting all on their own without support from the other legions that followed they killed lots of [[Orks]] and other xenos scum for great justice and were the most successful Legion during the early years of the Crusade.

Once the most numerous and powerful of the legions, their numbers would be depleted by decades of savage warfare, particularly in the wars of the [[Rangdan Xenocides]] where their numbers fell below 166,000 after they lost almost 50,000 marines preventing the destruction of the entire northern Imperium by an unknown menace from the outer darkness. The scars of these battles would change them, as would their reunification with their Primarch and his adopted world of Caliban. Unyielding, technologically capable, ruthless and insular the Dark Angels by the time of the Heresy were once again a powerful and highly independent Legion used to operating on its own to conduct large scale campaigns and compliance actions. When the Legion was first reunited with their Primarch, the massive influx of warriors into the Legion following the rediscovery of Caliban was able to provide the First with an additional 20,000 new Dark Angels. However, this would not last as just before the Heresy started Luther, who had by then decided Caliban should be free of what he saw as the Imperium’s tyranny, began to starve the legion of any new legionaries, armour, weapons and ammunition. He began by cancelling the deployment of 4212 new recruits to the Legion, he would also reduce the time it took to implant and train new legionaries to about two years, so by mid heresy there was around 45,000 new Dark Angels on Caliban who were swearing oaths of fealty not to the Emperor but to Caliban and the Order. (Not everyone was pleased with this, especially those who had originated from Terra.)

Some time during the Crusade some planetary ruler insulted [[Leman Russ]] and he got all pissy about it. Then Lion ended up killing the leader and Leman was like "Whatchu do that fo' fool?" because ''he'' wanted to take the bitch-ass out. And Lion was like "fuck off, furry," despite his own furtastic name and his dickish kill-stealing. Leman, never being good with words, reason, or sobriety, megaton punched the Lion. The two of them fought for a day or two, an epic struggle between cool-headed tactician and hot-blooded barbarian, douchebag and bro-tard. Then Leman said "this is stupid" and started laughing... then the Lion knocked him out.

In true [[anime]] fashion, after Leman regained consciousness and was less-inebriated, the two eventually became best buds and treated it as water under the bridge; their respective chapters still carry on the friendly rivalry, a pair of champions engaging in sacred and [[Derp|non-fatal]] honour duels whenever the Spess Lions and [[Space Wolves|Space Corgis]] meet. One particular incident during the Heresy had a member of the watch-pack that had been sent to keep an eye on Guilliman being paired off against the Lion himself after the wolves pushed the issue. The Lion who had more important things to do and wanted it over as quickly as possible stepped forward and nominated himself, the fight (if that’s what you want to call it) was as predictably hilarious as you would imagine it would be. And a couple of light years away, the [[Tyranids]] eat a planet while two of the most important Space Marine chapters waste time on this Nerf-chainsword-duel-honour-bullshit because ''that's how they roll''.

:{{Blam|+++ :) +++}}

=== Horus Heresy ===
Much of the history of the First Legion during the events of the Horus Heresy are largely unknown to the Imperium at large, thus you will find that :{{Blam|+++Paper records are highly flammable, thus we put here all we could have recover.+++}}

During the [[Horus Heresy]] Lion El'Jonson rushed to come to the aid of the [[Emperor]], fighting his way through the [[Night Lords]], [[Death Guard]] and [[Lost and the Damned|traitor guard]] to reach [[Terra]]. Stopping off at [[Macragge]] to kick [[Roboute Guilliman]] out of inaction and start actually paying attention to the Horus Heresy. In fact, despite all of the mystery surrounding the intentions of the First Legion, the Emperor still had complete faith in them. A discussion between Him and [[Malcador the Sigillite]] during [[Graham McNeill]]'s Vengeful Spirit proves that even the Emperor expected Guilliman to procrastinate and start building his own Empire and they were somewhat relieved when Russ told them that the Lion had intervened.

Despite all this he didn't make it to Terra in time because :{{Blam|+++Warp troubles.+++}}.Afterwards he returned home to [[Caliban]] only to find that shit hit the fan when :{{Blam|+++ Servitors where behind Schedule to finish the most awesome battle station ever.+++}} When daybreak came Caliban was nothing more.:{{Blam|+++ This stressful days was the cause the lion went on vacation, the remaining Dark Angels painted their armor green, as pennance and because green was the shit back then, all of this caused one battle brother to say"I hate mondays"+++}}

Because Caliban was far away from many Imperial Worlds, the core leaders of the Dark Angels known as the :{{Blam|+++Inner circle Because that band rocks, decided to destroy every history, evidence and blueprint of the rock, to protect it from fallen in the wrong hands+++}}
The Imperium's not exactly sure what happened to Caliban as anyone who investigates about this matter, even [[Inquisitor|Inquisitors]] :{{Blam|+++Who are most welcome never come back to their job, after our wild partys.+++}}

Ahem, to carry on where my predecessor left off after his :{{Blam|+++Natural vacation+++}}, the Dark Angels became the most obscure chapter in the millennium following the Horus Heresy. Where as Imperial officials can try to order around chapters like the Space Corgis and Black Templars, the Dark Angels can never be approached because they can't be found 90% of the time. They are known for mysteriously appearing out of nowhere to aid Imperial forces and disappear just as fast, even if the forces they were aiding were still in need of their help. This has led to much complaint from Imperial commanders, who are often understandably pissed off.:{{Blam|+++We sincerely apologize, but we try to be multi tasking+++}}

===After the destruction of Caliban===
[[File:The rock-Fenris.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Dark Angels arrive in style.]]
Ever since that fateful day ten thousand years ago, the Dark Angels have striven to prove to the Emprah and their Primarch that they are still cool guys to hang around with, despite :{{Blam|+++Their grim nature+++}}. To this end they have acquired toys like plasma cannon jetbikes, more suits of Terminator Armour than most chapters can shake their chainswords at, and a mini-[[Wikipedia:Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp|Gitmo]] in a flying chunk of planet to :{{Blam|+++Capture enemies of the Imperium from the nine traitor legions+++}}, in order to prove :{{Blam|+++The Imperium RULEZ+++}}

:{{Blam|+++INNER CIRCLE ONLY+++}}
[[Luther]] himself was kept within a special cell equipped with stasis fields (both to keep him from escaping something that didnt work, and to prevent him from dying of old age before some kind of confession can be extracted from him). Last seen he was barking mad from Chaos withdrawing its influence from him. But his ramblings have occasionally assisted the Dark Angels in and locating lost relics within the Rock. Recently, he's been claiming that the time for the Lion to return and absolve the Chapter of its past is growing closer...

:{{Blam|+++Watcher in the dark office memo+++}}

Unknown to the Dark Angels, Lion El'Jonson is alive and well- after his duel with Luther, we the Watchers in the Dark brought him to a hidden chamber in the depths of the Rock so he could be healed of his wounds. He is fully healed, and now all that is needed for the last loyal Primarch to return is for the Emperor to give him the signal to do so.
:{{Blam|+++ :) +++}}

It’s important to bear in mind that the Dark Angels themselves do not have the whole story regarding :{{Blam|+++The traitor marines from other legions+++}} and Caliban's :{{Blam|+++Upgrade in the most AWESOME SHIP+++}}. When the legion first arrived back at Caliban during the Scouring they would have been unaware of the events that had led up to Astelan ordering the attack on the fleet. After the destruction of Caliban they would have found themselves in a position where they had not only lost their Emperor and their Primarch but their home world as well. The legion had been tarnished beyond repair by those that they had once considered sworn brothers and worst of all they didn’t know why. All they had left was the Legion and so the assembled masters of the Dark Angels decided to cover up what had happened in order to protect and preserve what was left of the once mighty First; they had been under the impression that :{{Blam|+++Traitor marines that like to wear black+++}} had all been slain during the planet's destruction. Once :{{Blam|+++Said traitors+++}} began to reappear it would prove to be a decision that would eventually end up damning them and all those that would follow. The present day Dark Angels are forced to shoulder the burdens and consequences of those decisions made so long ago, that they themselves had taken no part in. Where in other chapters the ascension into the higher ranks is a thing of justified pride and honour within the Unforgiven it is a soul crushing experience as their delusions of honour and false glory are systematically torn down around them as the chapters dark secrets are revealed to them one by one.

The Dark Angels and their successors have spent the past 10,000 years hunting down :{{Blam|+++Said traitors+++}}, slowly and painstakingly piecing together the pieces of an elaborate jigsaw of lies and deceit. Who knew what and who was responsible for what all those millennia ago, was this particular:{{Blam|+++Traitor and heretic.+++}} one of the architects of the betrayal or was he just an unwitting pawn who was just following orders and if so then who gave that order. As they have slowly filtered the lies from the truths and sifted through the many different contradicting :{{Blam|+++Traitors lies about+++}} the Dark Angels have uncovered many unsettling truths that had been unknown to them before but still the masters of the Unforgiven are aware that they do not have the full story and that there are still many dark revelations to come. Not least that the Black Legion counts (or counted) a :{{Blam|+++Traitors wearing stolen Dark angels Armours in obviously Black Legion colors+++}}
===42nd Millennium===
With the return of Magnus and his assault on Fenris, then the return of Guilliman, his Terran Crusade, then the subsequent Indomitus Crusade; the Dark Angels are probably scrabbling HARD to make sure :{{Blam|+++Said traitors be captured+++}}.

Firstly, with the return of Magnus; the Dark Angels were duped by Tzeentch into leading their own crusade to bring the Space Wolves to account for their protection of the mutated Wulfen. While this was eventually resolved with the intervention of the Inquisition who said they would raise their own conclave to deal with the matter. Unfortunately for the Dark Angels :{{Blam|+++Said traitors escaped our watch +++}} the Inquisition had :{{Blam|+++Given Zero fucks +++}}

It would get worse for them later with Guilliman's return, as the reborn Primarch's return to Terra was assisted by :{{Blam|+++Ravenwing Dark Angels and a officer with a HUGE SWORD, obviously a TERRAN SWORD OF OLD+++}}. While Guilliman didn't have a clue what to make of them, they were allowed to be part of the celebratory parade to the Emperor's palace when he finally got there, so they would have been viewed by billions of bystanders. Though most people probably wouldn't have an idea what to make of black Dark Angels either, the Unforgiven were probably clinging to the TV sets while facepalming :{{Blam|+++Because their military parade walk wasnt the best+++}}. However, Guilliman did order :{{Blam|+++Said Marines+++}} arrested when they finally reached the doors to the throne room, the [[Adeptus Custodes]] now have a group of :{{Blam|+++Indiciplined Dark Angels Wearing non codex colors+++}} in their custody and it may be only a matter of time before they and Guilliman have some idea of what the Unforgiven have been up to, if they didn't know already. While Guilliman recognise the sword that :{{Blam|+++Said Oficcer+++}} carried and the sensation filled him with dread. Given that this may be the Lion's own sword, Guilliman may have some inkling as to what might happen if the sword ''(or whatever psychic imprint contained within)'' comes into contact with the Emperor, and as yet has not decided to reveal or act upon that information.
Bear in mind that having some knowledge directly from the mouths of :{{Blam|+++Space Marine Traitors+++}} does not automatically provide the whole story on the actual :{{Blam|+++Building of the rock+++}} (the Dark Angels were still trying to figure that out after 10,000 years)'' so can't immediately condemn them when [[White Scars|other Legions]] had similar internal conflicts during the Horus Heresy, though it would explain why the Unforgiven would be hunting them. Nor does it provide damning details of the activities of the Unforgiven during enactment of their Hunt; since that would be a huge catalogue of offenses spread over 10,000 years, such information would more likely come from an actual Dark Angel rather than a <s>Fallen Angel</s> HERETIC PSYKER THAT LIKES TO LIE.

Taking this further, even if Guilliman does find out or happens to know already, he may have to be very careful with that information because of his own prior association with the Lion and the Dark Angels during [[Imperium Secundus]] and his own attempts at burying it ''(see the formation of the [[Scythes of the Emperor]] and his sealing of the Library of Ptolemy)'' he might not be aware of how much the descendants of the First Legion know about this ''"off the record"'' version of history. Even if some Fallen Angels came out claiming that the ''"Lion was a closet traitor who waited to see who won"'' and sincerely believed it, Guilliman is one of the few people who actually knew what the Lion was doing for much of the Heresy, even if the Dark Angels don't know themselves. This is on top of having to contend with some unresolved "agenda" relating to the sword of the Lion ''(which Guilliman himself broke when condemning the Lion and casting him out for causing massive collateral damage while capturing Curze)'' and the unknown repercussions of what may come if it reaches the Emperor's throne room. Where the High Lords ''may'' have just declared the Unforgiven traitors and been done with them, Guilliman is armed with more knowledge and information than they would have been privy to, and is connected to his brother's Legion in a much more personal way, resulting in a decisive deadlock.

Sufficed to say, by the current state of the Imperium, after the [[Ultima Founding]] was declared; Guilliman traveled the Imperium leaving reinforcements as he went. At the same time, Supreme Commander [[Azrael]] ordered a summit of all Supreme Grand Masters to muster on the Rock to discuss the state of things, considering that there were reports of Fallen massing in numbers never seen before and the Rock itself was attacked by a Fallen Angel daemon-prince which appeared to be the cover for the release of [[Luther]]; coupled with a recent ambush by the Fallen that had left six chapters of the Unforgiven severely depleted in manpower, sufficed to say that things seemed to be changing for the worse. Coincidentally, the summit was gate-crashed by the arrival of Guilliman's fleet who demanded to board the Rock. The collected Chapter Masters were no doubt concerned by the arrival of an Imperial fleet when the Unforgiven had gathered together as a single Legion, and considered shooting them down. Luckily, it turned out that Guilliman was not there to censure the Unforgiven host and instead was there to reinforce them, granting them thousands of Primaris Marines. Guilliman also permitted them to retain their [[Deathwing|1st Company]] and [[Ravenwing|2nd Company]] organizations as an exception to his amendments to the Codex Astartes based on their "excellent service records", only stipulating that they continue to serve the Emperor well, suggesting he is willing to put up with their unorthodox methods for the sake of his brother.

Moreover as a "[[Creed|tactical genus]]" Guilliman isn't dumb enough to risk losing the unique capabilities that only the Dark Angels and their Successors are able to deploy at a moments notice. Obviously neither the Dark Angels nor Guilliman can spare a few moments for "Story time with Uncle Bobby and The Inner Circle." Due to the current state of the Imperium. Good thing for Guilliman. The number of people who know about the Secundus besides him [[Emperor|can be]] [[Lion_El'Jonson|counted]] [[Cypher|on one hand.]] So there is much hypocrisy all around.

It is also stated that the Inner Circle alone are aware of the ''[[Fallen Angels|very specific prey]]'' that they seek. Therefore while tit-bits of information may be held by others outside of the chapter, they may not understand the significance or know what to make of it. Either way they haven't acted upon that information, so the Hunt still continues as normal.

== The Legion with "Dark" in its name ==
[[File:DA-Scouts.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Their scouts are never to be underestimated. Also this is probably the best scout artwork so far. And it's not new.]]
After the Horus Heresy, the remaining Legions were forced to split into chapters of around 1000 men according to [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s brand new [[Codex Astartes]] and the Dark Angels followed suit mostly because they had no Primarch to disagree; not that it mattered by this point anyway.

Where [[Rogal Dorn]] [[RAGE|RAGED]] against the idea of splitting his legion, but eventually relented on the threat of civil war, the Dark Angels quietly split themselves up but maintained in [[Just As Planned|covert]] contact with each other. Keeping the same chain of command as before, and mostly the same traditions and expectations. Particularly with <s>co-operation in the hunt for the [[Fallen Angels]]</s> CHILLIN' OUT MAXIN' RELAXIN' ALL COOL, but they also refer to each other as "brothers" in arms. ''([[Kaldor Draigo]] noted that the correct terminology for different chapter is "[[Gene Seed#The Tithe and New Foundings|cousin]]" and resolved to have a word with [[Azrael]] over it)'' and the Supreme Grand Master of [[The Rock]] is deferred to as the [[Spiritual liege|highest authority]] on the secrets of the newly formed Inner Circle.

It transpires from Gav Thorpe's 2015 novel '''Unforgiven''' that the Inner Circle was in fact formed decades AFTER the [[Second Founding]] when [[Cypher]] revealed himself at [[The Rock]] and made it evident that survivors from Caliban would be dropping out of time and space who could reveal the truth of what happened. So the Grand Masters of the '''Twelve''' Second Founding chapters held a council and formed the Inner Circle to make sure their collective honour remained intact. Previous to that we must have assumed that the descendants of the First Legion were just relieved to have weathered the Horus Heresy and followed Guilliman's commands quietly.

Therefore the Dark Angels and their successors still function unofficially as a Legion, and this gets the [[Inquisition]] and the [[High Lords of Terra]] particularly worried, though they can't prove anything, since from the outside, each chapter has its own distinct chain of command and adheres to [[Codex Astartes|codex]] requirements.

It's not quite known how large the collective Unforgiven actually is; [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Statistics]] indicate that the Dark Angels successors make up around 15% of the total space marine chapters at large in the Imperium, and while this does not seem like a massive amount ''([[Ultramarines|Ultramarines]] make up around 50%-66%, depending on which author you ask)'' that would still be around 150 chapters. Though it is uncertain whether all of those chapters are actually aware of their history, given the Dark Angels would presumably prefer to have as few people with the damning knowledge as possible. Yet GW has never presented us with any Dark Angels successors who know of their heritage and yet who are ''not'' part of the Unforgiven ''(the [[Astral Claws]], [[Relictors]] and [[Star Phantoms]] are all "maybes")'' so we can only assume that once you're in the club, you're in balls deep or you get erased.

What is known is that the Unforgiven are not beyond drafting new chapters without official sanction ''(like the [[Consecrators]])'' or outright blackmailing the seal of approval out of the High Lords ''(as with the [[Disciples of Caliban]])''. These chapters are raised with specific purposes in mind, and fill either supporting roles to the collective or are tasked with special missions that the others aren't prepared for. The officers of the successors also hold unique ranks and titles in the Inner Circle relevant to their Chapter's function or position within the Unforgiven.

Each chapter shares formations equivalent to the [[Deathwing]] and [[Ravenwing]], though usually operating under different names, meaning that the collective Unforgiven have access to a whole bunch of surplus archeotech, or the means to manufacture Terminator suits and fighter planes at a remarkable rate. They also trade recruiting worlds between each other; although each Chapter routinely has more than one anyway, they regularly transfer ownership between them for the specific purpose of ensuring that the Administratum's records become unreliable and get lost.

So far ''(and for ten thousand years)'' these indiscretions have passed as little more than quiet rumours, since the Unforgiven go to [[Ophidium Gulf Crusade|extreme lengths]] to protect their honour, plus they mostly keep to themselves so no-one knows what they're actually up to.

=== LOYAL? Or Traitor? ===
:{{Blam|+++INNER CIRCLE ACCESS GRANTED+++}}

Due in no small part to Gav Thorpe's divisive novels, '''Angels of Darkness''' was intended to display that their quest for redemption had made them sinister and brutal, not proof of them being traitors as the wider audience and /tg/ often treats them as. This is because most people took '''Astelan''' and his accusations leveled at the modern-day Chapter and the Lion as truth, never taking into account his jealously of the Lion nor his skewed interpretation of events and logical fallacies (something that Gav himself has tried to remind people of), as he thought the Lion to be a traitor, and then opened fire on the fleet when they were in orbit of Caliban without any attempt at negotiation or communication - in defense, the fleet returned fire, so Astelan drew the [[FAIL|perfectly logical and sound]] conclusion that the Lion had betrayed them. It doesn't seem to matter as much as people think it does, however, as Gav himself said that it wasn't an objective view of what happened on Caliban, but a character study on a member of the Fallen.

Admittedly, though, some of Astelan's theories do make just a little too much sense to be easily dismissed, like his belief that the Dark Angels' paranoia and obsession with secrecy is just as much an gene-inheritance from the Lion as it is a post-heresy development, something that El'Jonson developed (or got tainted with) as an infant in the darkness of old Caliban. However, Astelan's mind and his recollections of things are unreliable - not only he is a Fallen Angel, he is trying to make others fall as well. We only have his word to take for it, not to mention he ended up consorting with [[Typhus]] against the loyalist Dark Angels over the course of The Unforgiven.

Another factor that hasn't helped the First Legion's tainted reputation was the implication that the Unforgiven would be destroyed in their entirety if their secret went out - skewing the Dark Angels from ultra-loyalists trying their damnedest to reach some sort of absolution for their wrongdoings and mistakes, into a bunch of cowardly extremists concerned only with self-preservation. This confusion is the result of an attempt to raise the stakes; coupled with the increasing plot emphasis on them abandoning their allies demonstrates prioritizing shock value at the expense of any actual depth the Chapter might have once had. They are supposedly a calculating, heavily coordinated group orchestrating a covert operation of monumental proportions, yet they clumsily attract the attention of the very people they are trying to keep their secrets from.

About the only positive thing that can be said about this is that it at least provokes discussion - as it stands, it's simply lazy writing. The writers at GW could do a lot with what the Unforgiven would be willing to do or what to sacrifice in the name of their hunt for the Fallen, but right now it's demonstrative of just how threadbare DA fluff has become in recent years. As fun as it is to hypothesize whether or not they're loyal or traitor, the truth probably lies more in the middle - at least the Dark Angels themselves are more like the [[Soul Drinkers]] rather than full on Chaos Marines, more devoted to Emps and humanity as a whole rather than the Imperium itself.

To add to what is said above or rather to clarify is that the First Legion ''(and later Chapter and all their successors)'' are indeed Loyal and not Traitors. With the Lion having been quoted "Loyalty is it's own reward." sort of kills the whole "they might be closet traitors". There is even an example where the Dark Angels encounter a Consecrators Marine that had fallen to Nurgle. When he was captured, the Loyalists explained that there would be no taking him back to the Rock to be interrogated. They did not consider him "Fallen" since he was not deceived by [[Luther]] who led astray the Angels on Caliban. This traitor was considered weak for allowing Chaos to get to him and was promptly executed and his body left in the dust.

In conclusion, the sons of the Lion are ostensibly Loyal, albeit with a massive guilty conscience that ''(unlike the [[White Scars]] who resolved their internal issues at the time and can look on it as something shameful, but has no bearing on the modern descendants of the Legion)'' the Unforgiven cannot let go of, because the sins of the past are '''not''' ancient history as long as these Fallen Angels keep falling out of space and time to remind them of it. So, what might have begun as something relatively innocuous, the Unforgiven continues to skirt the grey area; with each abandoned battlefield or trusted ally silenced, adding to the burden of their collective guilt while they enact the Hunt, to the point that the Hunt is now more shameful than the original crime. Therefore rather than the shame fading with the passage of time it only becomes more imperative for them to complete their task.

This is spelled out bluntly by [[Troll|Cypher himself]] in ''The Unforgiven''. While every legion took part in the [[Great Scouring]], the Dark Angels did so in secret, never admitting to having traitors and <s>Horus sympathizers</s> (Most Fallen were totally unaware of the Heresy, and as a result they either fell to Chaos all of their own accord or were deceived) in their ranks like the other eight legions did. Now in the 41st Millenium it's FAR too late to rectify this; the time for earning forgiveness is long passed. However, perhaps the Dark Angels' true redemption is near, despite their long-running record of questionable actions. The [[Iron Hands]] have been recovering from their fatalistic attitude and their repressed emotions in the wake of the Gaudinian Heresy, perhaps the Dark Angels can finally get past their shame, especially since the recent Horus Heresy books and other lore have explicitly made the Lion's loyalties very clear, and with ''Leman Russ - The Great Wolf'' by Christ Wraight showing that he knows about the Wulfen and never called his brother or his legion out on it, despite their mutual grievances may show some interesting revelations to come.

Despite the Unforgiven being prepared to do anything and everything that they need to do in order to keep their secrets hidden, Supreme Grand Master Azrael has stated that should the day ever arrive when the Imperium discovers their dark history and turns its fury upon the sons of the Lion then the Unforgiven will refuse to raise arms against the Imperium. Not one shot will be fired or blade drawn in their own defence for although they are prepared to do some very shady things in order to keep their secrets hidden they are still unprepared and unwilling to plunge the Imperium into what would be assuredly a very costly civil war that the Imperium really can’t afford to fight. '''They will not be responsible for a second Horus Heresy, or a Badab 2.0'''. The recent lore has really hammered home that, in spite of how suspicious and shady the Dark Angels are, they have never been ''delusional.'' They know what they are doing is wrong, but they have a ten-thousand-year promise to fulfill.
With the release of the new Codex Phil Kelly himself said on Twitch TV the full recount of the events on Caliban,short history Dark Angels Good, Fallen Bad, just kill the [[Troll|joke]], [[Luke|its not funny anymore]].

== Cool Shit ==
As the very literal "First" Legion, they were equipped with gear that predated the pacts with Mars, and were supposed to have inherited much of their equipment from the Old Night and the armouries of ancient Terra, and were permitted to retain exclusive access to these items by the Emperor's own command. Much of which was never seen in other Legions which were raised to a standard template that followed afterward.

These included:
*Fellglaives equipped with Warp Cannons instead of Volkite Carronade and Vindicators which fired warp/vortex shells.
*Land Raiders equipped with Anti-Grav engines instead of tank treads.
*Stasis Missiles & Grenades
*Molecular Acid Boltshells
*Short ranged Plasma Repeater carbines.
*Phosphex Incinerator cannons
*A unique pattern of aircraft called a Swordstrike Interceptor
*A unique type of super-heavy tank which acted as a mobile Void Shield generator called a "Portcullis Mono-track"

Much of this gear would not see use in the 41st millennium ''(or the tabletop)'' and the chapter adheres to a slightly more "codex-equivalent" loadout, probably because GW re-uses the same space marine range for most chapters. Though it is strongly implied that the Rock still contains a hoard of archeotech within its dungeons from the old days.

So far, all they've got to show for themselves is bikes with plasma-guns and cool pick-axes, some sturdy but mediocre flyers, some minor Land Speeder variants and supposedly a disproportionate number of Terminator suits (taking potential casualties into account they have to have over 200 of the fucking things!).

Here's hoping that GW/FW remembers that the Emperor sent these guys out on Crusade before he sat down and actually made the other Legions, so they can get their act together and make Dark Angels distinct.

=== The Dark Angels Fleet ===
Both forgeworld and the black library books have hinted quite a bit at the Dark Angels Legion having had a very prominent void presence. They are noted to specialize in extended independent void operations and the 1st Legions artificers were known to create the distinctive 'Paravane' sub-type armour: ''"an idiosyncratic variant of the widely issued Mark II which was renowned for its enhanced void endurance and systems."'' Though this never really gets mentioned in later 40k, but there's no stopping you using the conversion kits to represent "Void Hardened" Armour in Zone Mortalis games, if you ever play those. This would also explain why they would have a crap ton of [[Terminator]] Armor.

Although they didn’t have the largest fleet nor have the largest number of capital ships, those honours belonged to other legions like the [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Iron Warriors]] respectively. The First may still have owned arguably one of the most powerful fleets among the legions at that time, considering they used a whole bunch of weapon designs that were left over from the Dark Age of Technology, plus having a large number of void fortresses that nobody else knew about. During the Thramas campaign Sevatar’s reaction to seeing the full force of the First Legion's fleet bearing down upon the Night Lords legion can be summed up as “well we're fucked, time to run away” (place obligatory Monty Python joke here). Even when the Lion headed towards Macragge leaving the largest part of his fleet in the hands of Corswain the fleet assets he took with him were still described as being enough to casually wipe out the defences surrounding Guilliman's home and then split the world in two.
*Some of the fleet where armed with something similar to the Rift Cannons on the Dark Angels 40k Dark Talons but on a massive scale; such weapons would be devastating in a void combat environment.

It makes sense that the Dark Angels fleet was on the larger size given that the majority of their successor chapters are Fleet based ''(the fact that being fleet based means that they are harder to keep track of and monitor is of course completely accidental and in no ways intended after all what could they possibly have to hide right?)'' However, by the time of 40k and their diminished status as a "Chapter". Discounting of [[The Rock]] itself, their fleet capabilities are certainly above average when you compare raw numbers to other chapters ''(with 8 battle barges, 16 strike cruisers and 21 rapid strike vessels they are twice the size of the Ultramarines fleet and almost three times the size of the Blood Angels)'' but by no means overwhelming ''(the [[Space Wolves]] have a lot more)'' and there has been little to no mention of their continued use of archeotech warships and weapons even amongst their successors.

However, the Dark Angels do make almost exclusive use of the '''Hunter-Class Destroyer'''. Other chapters have access to the template, but the Dark Angels prefer it because they don't like getting their new fleet assets from the same sources as the Imperial Navy. So the Hunter is like a naval Cobra Destroyer; acting as a small torpedo boat, but is a bit more maneuverable and armoured.

Despite this, unless you believe that the Unforgiven are purposefully concealing the fact that they have a whole bunch of leftover cool shit, it seems like those glorious days of "Legion" are long passed.

*In most Chapters all their aircraft from the sleek [[Stormhawk]] Interceptors to the hulking [[Stormraven]] Gunships are piloted by the Techmarines of their Chapter's armoury. Most Chapters can have anything between 20 and 40 Techmarines at any one time with the Dark Angels only having around 22 Techmarines compared to the likes of the Blood Angels that have 35. The low numbers of Techmarines within the Dark Angels can be put down to their distrust of their [[Adeptus Mechanicus|dual loyalties]]. While this lack of specialists would normally be a problem for most Chapters, the Dark Angels are somewhat unusual amongst the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes in that their unique aircraft the [[Nephilim Jetfighter]] and the [[Dark Talon]] are not piloted by the Techmarines of their armoury. Instead, these agile hunting craft are flown into battle by the expert operatives of the Dark Angels 2nd Company, the [[Ravenwing]] - which gives them a whole (oversized) company that is capable of taking to the skies if they are needed. From “Death from the Skies” most chapters can field at least two “divisions” (24 to around 48 aircraft, but is dependent on the number of Techmarines the chapter can afford to deploy) where the Dark Angels have their 22 Techmarines and the Ravenwing which alone can field at least two “Companies” or six “divisions” (72 to around 144 aircraft dependent on the size of the Ravenwing at the time)

==Daily rituals==

04:00-Morning Prayer: The Dark Angels are roused from their cells to begin prayer at the leadership of the Interrogator-Chaplain. Prayer is extra long compared to most other Chapters due to DARK ANGELS BEING SO LOYAL THAT THEY WANT TO SHOW THEIR DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR AND THE LION. 
06:00-Morning Firing Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice. 
07:00-Battle Practice: The Dark Angels descend to the Battle Cages to practice in close-combat. Members of the Ravenwing will practice with their bikes and land speeders, while members of the Deathwing will practice <s>counter-Fallen scenarios</s> ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE ENEMIES OF THE EMPEROR, WHICH MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT INCLUDE ANY OF THE SONS OF LION EL'JONSON. 
9:00-[[Fallen Angels|Torturin]]-{{Blam}} CHOCOLATE MILK AND COOKIES BREAK . 
12:00-Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Chapter Serfs. 
12:30-Tactical Indoctrination: The Dark Angels will engage in tactical briefings on opponents they will be facing in the future. Members of the Inner Circle will determine targets such as <s>traitors from the First Legion</s> THE NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS WHICH REBELLED AGAINST THE EMPEROR, BECAUSE THERE ARE ONLY '''NINE''' TRAITOR LEGIONS. At this point a battle-brother may visit the Apothecary, while Interrogator-Chaplains will interrogate <s>Fallen Angels they have been assigned to</s> HERETICS WHO ARE AIDING THE EMPEROR'S ENEMIES, ALL FROM DIFFERENT LEGIONS AND CHAPTERS. 
14:00-Afternoon nap with dimmed lights and soft instrumental music playing in the background.
 16:00-Evening Fire Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice. They usually use black-colored targets to better hone their skills at shooting <s>Fallen Angels in the dark</s> FOUL TRAITORS WHO ARE NOT FROM THE FIRST LEGION WHO USE BLACK ARMOR AND THE COVER OF DARKNESS LIKE COWARDS. 
17:00-Evening Prayer: The Dark Angels assemble for prayer under the Interrogator-Chaplains, who have just finished <s>torturing Fallen Angels</s> SHOWING THEIR UNDENIABLE DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR WHICH TAKES MANY FORMS. 
19:00-Evening Meal: A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs. 
20:00-Maintenance Rituals: The Dark Angels will tend to the maintenance of their wargear, while also washing their robes. Members of the Ravenwing will perform maintenance of their attack bikes and land speeders. 
00:00-The Dark Angels will retire to their cells for '''CO-ED''' sleep <s>with their non-human retainers, because [[Heretical Love|that's what the Dark Angels do to ensure their silence about the Fallen]]</s> BECAUSE THEY ARE PLAYERS. 

<strike>Why is there a 3 hour break in the schedule? Would they be torturing the Fallen in that time?</strike> WHAT FALLEN? THERE IS NO 3 HOUR BREAK, THAT'S HOW NUMBERS WORK ON <strike>CALIBAN</strike> THE ROCK.

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:DA Codex Cover.png|Here's some badassery right there.
File:Lulz.jpg|Happens quite often.
File:Dark-Angels-warhammer-40000.jpeg|Funnily enough, the angrinator-pattern helmet utilized by the Angry Marines was actually pioneered by the Dark Angels.
File:Dark Angels awesomeness.jpg|Always recognizable with their beautiful artworks and <s>amazing aesthetics.</s> FUKKEN DUALWIELDING FLINTLOCKS.
File:DA-Chaplain.jpg|Their chaplains tend to be the most badass
File:Unforgiven.jpg|The Dark Angels and most of their confirmed successors
File:Beakie da fe ft.JPG|On the left: Dark Angel trooper in the glory days of the Legiones Astartes.
File:The_truth.jpeg|The true secret of the inner circle
File:Eternal-Crusade-Dark-Angel.jpg|Just a friendly reminder too all Dark Angels currently playing “Eternal Crusade” every time the phrase “YOU HAVE FALLEN” appears on your screen brother Asmodai will kill a puppy.
File:-spacehulk-parchemin.png
File:20171125 150941.jpg|November 25, 2017—a date which will live in infamy—
File:FB_IMG_15118378317321618.jpg|Chicks dig Dark Angels
File:Space-Marine-Veteran-Print.jpg|Robes allways a classic.
</Gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Dark_Angels(8E)|Tactics/Dark Angels]]
* [[Azrael]]
* [[Cypher]]
* [[Deathwing]]
* [[Ravenwing]]
* [[Dark Angel Shoulder Pad]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwZISypgA9M Unofficial theme song for the Dark Angels]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckom3gf57Yw Unofficial theme song for the Unforgiven]

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]]
[[Category:Dark Angels]]

Dark Angels

2017-12-20T02:18:08Z

2601:147:4200:6280:4584:BFB5:9AB2:398A: /* 42nd Millennium */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Dark Angels
|Heraldry = [[File:Darkangelslogo.png]]
|Battle Cry = "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" or "For the Lion!"
|Number = I
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = None
|Successor Chapters = Hell of a lot of Chapters:{{Blam|+++Completely autonomous+++}}, most notably the [[Blades of Vengeance]], [[Angels of Defiance]], [[Disciples of Caliban]], [[Consecrators]], [[Angels of Absolution]], [[Angels of Redemption]], [[Angels of Vengeance]] and [[Guardians of the Covenant]].
|Chapter Master = [[Azrael]].
|Primarch = [[Lion El'Jonson]].
|Homeworld = [[The Rock]], originally [[Caliban]].
|Specialty = [[Plasma]], [[Deathwing|terminators]], [[Ravenwing|bikes]], :{{Blam|+++Hunting down the filthy traitos to the imperium!+++}}
|Strength = 1,000 (officially, :{{Blam|+++Much more counting chapter serfs, officers, pilots and the like+++}}|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man|:{{Blam|+++Loyal since day one+++}}]]
|Colours = Green, black, bone white
}}

{{editwar}}

{{Topquote|The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.|Margaret Atwood}}

{{Topquote|Got a secret, can you keep it? Swear this one you'll save! Better lock it in your pocket, taking this one to the grave.|The Pierces, Secret}}
:{{Blam|+++Welcome to the Dark Angels Page, your entrance is being monitored by [[Chaplain|Interrogator-Chaplain]] [[Zacharias]], any question you have will be answered the best we could, doesn’t matter if you are a lowly servant of the emperor, an Inquisitor, Primaris Spaces Marine brother or Dark Angel Initiate.+++}}
:{{Blam|+++'''THIS ARTICLE IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE AND IS REWRITTEN FOR YOUR OWN PROTECCTION. ALL MESSAGES WRITTEN IN RED ARE THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH ABOUT OUR HISTORY.+++}}
:{{Blam|+++Any intent to follow links without the approved authorization may end in your unfortunate demise.+++}}
== Frequently asked questions==
• Why are you called the Unforgiven?
:{{Blam|+++For failing to protect the emperor in its darkest hour +++}}
• Why is your rank Interrogator Chaplain?
:{{Blam|+++The rank comes with the responsibility of seeking the repentance of the heretic astartes, traitors, etc.+++}}

• I recall that in the index astartes your armor is black, why is green now?
:{{Blam|+++Contrary to some heretic rumors, our armor is green so we don’t be confused with our raven guard brothers, the only Dark Angels wearing black are the operatives and pilots of our Ravenwing company, if you see some Astartes wearing Ancient gear with Dark angels iconography please report them to the nearest dark angel officer so they be put in line with the codex astartes reglamentation.+++}}
• I have seen some little beings with Dark Angels Carring some relics, what are these?
:{{Blam|+++Worry not, these are just chapter serfs, not associated with xenos In any way+++}}
• What happened to Caliban your home world?
:{{Blam|+++We have seen more convenient to convert us to a fleet based chapter, in this manner we can bring the emperors justice where is needed, Caliban was adapted to be the now AWESOME SHIP KNOW AS THE ROCK+++}}
• What happened to your primarch, where is Lion El Jhonson?
:{{Blam|+++Whit a heavy heart we tell you he is lost, maybe killed by the forces of Chaos, no proof of is LOYAL body to be found, like all evidence of his whereabouts buried under a rock, someday he will return to guide us again +++}}.
• What happened to the allies that where fighting alongside the Dark angels and suddenly they have Disappeared?
:{{Blam|+++We inform you we dont know, only bolt shells and plasma burns were encountered, we suspect an ambush from the despised traitor legions.+++}}
'''The '''Dark Angels''' (also known as the '''"The Unforgiven"''' are amongst the most accomplished and powerful [[Space Marine]] Chapters in the Imperium. Their grim determination and relentless persecution of their foes are legendary, and their combat record tells a long tale of selfless heroism. :{{Blam|+++One of the most loyal chapters in the Imperium+++}}
== Litany of the Dark Angels: Space Hulk Deathwing ==
'''Heralds of the coming Doom, by cry of Raven, we are drawn.'''

'''This oath of war and vengeance, on blade of exalted iron sworn, with blood anointed swords aloft, advance we, into Dread’s dark shade.'''

'''Punishment divine unleashed with hate, a wrathful storm of bolt and blade.'''

'''Purge with plasma, fist, and shell, bring cleansing fire’s righteous breath.'''

'''For the Emperor, Knights of Caliban! The Lion’s anointed Angels of Death!'''

'''No forgiveness'''.

'''No retreat.'''

== The Unforgiven ==

Their [[Primarch]] is [[Lion El'Jonson]] a.k.a The Lion. As a result, the Dark Angels are totally :{{Blam|+++Awesome and without a fault +++}} their Primarch happening to be named after a [[Wikipedia:Lionel_Johnson|homosexual poet]] who wrote a poem called "The Dark Angel" and might've dated [[Fulgrim| Oscar Wilde]]. Oh, and their homeworld is called [[The Rock]], :{{Blam|+++A rufege for peace and meditation where nothing sinister ever happens +++}} (it's actually a mobile Space station that can take out most of Battlefleet Solar on its own.). They were the posterboys for both [[6th edition|6E]] and [[Citadel Miniatures|Citadel's]] "new" line of paints. Fuck yeah, we guess? Russian fa/tg/uys believe that Dark Angels are Jews for whatever reason (it's because ALL DA names are in Hebrew, silly). Interestingly, they also employ retainers known as the [[Watchers in the Dark]]. These :{{Blam|+++Adorable sword hugging beings are chapter serfs, they are so small because they need to be that small for cleaning those corners in the rock more easily.+++}}

When dealing with the Dark Angels it is important to bear in mind that they are the very embodiment of the phrase [[Vindicare|“the end justifies the means”]] and they will go to any lengths and do anything that they need to in order to :{{Blam|+++protect the Imperium from the perils of the universe.+++}}

The new Codex heavily implies that they may be at Legion strength, :{{Blam|+++As we have now more reinforcements from the Ultima Founding, leading to more sucessor chapters, thanks Lord Commander Guilliman.+++}}The lack of clarification on this matter and the suspiciously close cooperation between the Dark Angels and their successor chapters hasn't gone unnoticed by the [[Inquisition]], although their attempts at exposing the Dark Angels' secrets [[Abaddon|haven't met with much success]] thus far. However, one reason they and their successors work together so well is likely due to the fact that the pre-heresy Dark Angels Legion was already assembled out of chapters. After the heresy, they merely needed to give the chapters names instead of numbers and have the chapters adopt different heraldry and colors; as such, the Dark Angels and their successor chapters might still be (functionally and unofficially) a (more-or-less) cohesive Legion.

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByQ7L5aRu1A Their theme] by [[HMKids]],which SHOWS THEIR ABSOLUTE LOYALTY. :{{Blam|+++If you have any doubts regarding the Dark Angels ABSOLUTE LOYALTY then you should follow this servoskull down this totally not in any way dark and ominous corridor towards room 42 where brother Asmodai will be waiting to answer any questions you might have.+++}}
They have apparently also become the love-chapter of some of GW's writers, since they now have the best motorcycle squads around (yes, apparently even better than the [[White Scars]]), the "last" (they might have a ton of them or be making new ones!) jetbike in the Imperium, and [[Watchers in the Dark|invulnerable "Chapter Serfs"]].

=== Gene-Seed ===

[[File:Penance by majesticchicken.jpg|thumb|left|400px|The Dark Angels, the flagbearers of grimdark gothic design.]]

Much like the Ultrasmurfs, the Dark Angels have some of the most stable gene-seeds of all the progenitor chapters, with no significant mutations documented. Due to this and the fact that they were the first Legion produced by the Emperor, they remain one of the most favorable ones to use for founding successor chapters. Although, the High Lords are supposedly iffy about using the DA's gene seed due to the rumors that all Dark Angel successors stay in one command structure, with the Dark Angels still calling the shots, effectively all of their descendant chapters still act as part of a legion. Never-the-less, because there's no official proof of this, the Inquisition cannot call an Exterminatus on the Rock. {{Blam|+++Or if you have, please report yourself with the material in hand, so we can fix this issue.+++}}

One of the Lion’s greatest legacy’s to his sons is his [[Perturabo|strategic]] [[Roboute Guilliman|genius]] – a quality passed on to his sons through the Chapter’s gene-seed. This trait manifests exponentially as a Dark Angel ascends toward the rank of Company Master. Such officers can plan a campaign to the last detail, execute faultless assaults, and assemble impenetrable defences instinctively. Central to this ability is the deployment of the correct mix of squads, vehicles and support elements. To this end, the Dark Angels form strike forces – self-contained armies assembled to prosecute a specific campaign or defeat a particular foe.

According to the :{{Blam|+++Words of brother Ezekiel+++}}, Librarians from the Unforgiven can pick up the unique psychic signatures of those who bear traces of their shared Primarch. Even the most spliced or tainted gene-seed of Lion El’Jonson emits a distinct signal powerful enough to detect. Basically all you need to do is put a Dark Angels Librarian near a :{{Blam|+++A Fellow Dark Angel playing a millenia game of hide and seek+++}} and they might as well have a great big flashing neon light saying “SON OF THE LION HERE COME AND GET ME”. (This has precedent in earlier fluff, such as the battle for [[Rynn's World]], where the death of 600 [[Crimson Fists]] nearly kills a nearby librarian)

=== Battle Cry ===
Unlike more warlike chapters like the [[Space Wolves|Space Corgis]] or the [[Black Templars]], who would go into battle screaming on how they're going to skullfuck the enemies of man, the Dark Angels go into battle in cold, efficient silence, almost similar to that of [[Angry Marine]] Terminators, who are so enraged that they march into battle with stone hearts and steel faces. In fact, their "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" is less of a battle cry and more of a foreboding proclamation against their real targets :{{Blam|+++The damnable traitors from the nine legions+++}}. This makes more sense, the more you realize what the Chaplains do to the [[Cultist-chan|Dark Angels' greatest obsession]] :{{Blam|+++Teach them to love the imperium and the real fiasco of following chaos.+++}} in the depths of The Rock, until they repent.

==History==
[[File:Dark_Angels_chapter-crusade-hersey_.jpg|200px|right|thumb| Dark Angels Crusade/Horus Heresy symbol]]

The original Dark Angels had black armour, back in the days of the [[Beakie|Corvus pattern helmets]]. Modern Dark Angels instead use a dark green colour, except for the [[Deathwing]] and [[Ravenwing]] companies, which are composed entirely of bone-white Terminators and black Fast Attack units respectively. They were introduced in the Deathwing expansion to 1st edition ''[[Space Hulk]]'' with a spiffy background story by Bill King.
*To paint your armour black was to show that you served the emperor directly in the same way Sigismund did when he was chosen to serve as the first Emperor's Champion.
*It could be that one of the reasons for swapping the black for the green was because they no longer felt worthy of it. The Dark Angels are literally wearing their shame for all to see but no one else knows it.

Due to a slight mutation in their [[gene-seed]], the Dark Angels had a slight predisposition to be [[Grimdark|shy]], but other than that, they are cool.

Veterans wear robes and capes and such on the field of battle representing any number of ritualistic ranks and titles that are mostly unknown to those outside of the Chapter but harken back to the traditions of "The Order", plus they look pretty [[awesome]].

===Great Crusade===
[[File:Lance Decurion.jpg|200px|right|thumb| Dark Angels Lance Decurion]]

[[File:Luther.jpg|200px|right|thumb|Luther, :{{Blam|+++If you see this man in your sector report inmediately to the Inner Circle+++}}]]

:{{Blam|+++For the eyes of Dark Angels Commanders only, skip until you see the :) sign.+++}}

*Numeration: the 1st Legion
*Primogenitor: Lion El'Jonson
*Cognomen: The First, Primaris Angelus Mortis (Honorific)
*Observed strategic tendencies: Combined arms and multi-spectra warfare, Exterminatus and purgation campaigns, extended independent void operations.
*Noteworthy Domains: Caliban(home world), Terra, an unknown number of void outposts and watch fortresses on the Imperium’s fringes.
*Allegiance: Fedelitas Tenebrae(Latin for shadows/darkness or “to the”/”from, out of” the shadows/darkness; seeing as GW use dog-Latin, you could theoretically say that it could mean something like 'Questionable' or ‘Obscured Loyalty’).

Not simply a [[First Founding|Legion]] numbered "one", they were quite literally the First legion created by the Emperor and in their earliest incarnation fought as the personal army of the Master of Mankind in the dawning years of the [[Great Crusade]]. HH: Extermination tells us that as the prototype Legion the Dark Angels served as the template for all the Legions that would follow after which the Emperor decided to make the following legions more specialised and engineered their development towards different roles, and as a standard by which these successors would be measured (however they would eventually get supplanted by the empire-building [[Ultramarines]] when [[Codex Astartes|times changed]]). So basically the Emperor simply intended the First Legion to sally forth and "just be Space Marines".

That meant the Dark Angels had to figure out warfare all on their own, and the techniques they developed would have entire Legions built upon those principles when they were raised later on. By the time of the Heresy, there existed six specialised "Wings" or “Hosts”; each acted as an independent formation that was both a part of the main body of the legion but also separate from it at the same time. Each was dedicated to a different form of warfare, of which two survived into the later 40k:
*[[Ravenwing]] - Cavalry & Fast Attack. The Ravenwing protocol originated from the early Legion's rapid moving search and destroy formations. These formations were revived and expanded upon as they offered a form of rapid strike warfare that the Knights of Caliban both understood and had perfected over many generations.They also act as the First Legions infiltration, information gathering and espionage specialists ([[Alpha Legion]] says hi) (Or do they?)
*[[Deathwing]] - Veterans in Artificer Armour and Terminator Armour. There is an elite Deathwing unit called the Secta Mortis. According to the Angels of Caliban novel. The Secta Mortis had gold helmets and wore Terminator Armour. They took over as Sanguinius's bodyguards after Konrad Cruze killed members of the Invictus and [[Sanguinary Guard]].
*'''Stormwing''' - Boarding Assault Marines. Possible void warfare specialists.
*'''Dreadwing''' - Were apparently the 1st Legion's "dirty tricks department" with all sorts of secret and very nasty gear that they really shouldn't have - really shocking stuff. The commander wields a big axe. They are called in when you [[Exterminatus|just want something gone and you really don’t care about the collateral damage.]] '''“We have come. We are death.”'''
:*despite the devastation caused by the Dreadwing upon Macragge, [[Laurie Goulding]] has hinted that this was actually them showing restraint and “you should see what they COULD have used…”
*'''Ironwing''' - Heavy emphasis on Battle tanks and mechanised infantry. <s>'''Iron'''ically</s> Interestingly, the '''Iron'''wing protocol was used as the template for the '''Iron''' Warriors and the '''Iron''' Hands when it came time to raise those Legions, despite the fact they hadn't been named yet.
*'''Firewing''' - Because as we (and every Ork in existence) all know putting flames onto something automatically makes it better. (Why the actual fuck did they not call it the Flamewing? Firewing sounds fucking stupid) WRONG-Fire refers to dakka, as aevery ork knows is better, they probably provide fire support (from here on I support the changing of the name to the Dakkawing).

The wings were originally organised into six hosts, collectively known as the hexagrammatron and run across and through the normal Dark Angels structure of orders, chapters, and companies (similar to how the DA company veterans work in 40k) and every Dark Angel from the lowest to the highest is a member of one of the wings. They were made this way so they could fight in any conceivable situation. Each of the wings/hosts is commanded by an officer known as a Voted-Lieutenant and several Voted-Successors who are outside of the normal legion command structure.
* Holguin - Voted-Lieutenant of the Deathwing, wields a 9 ft greatsword (as of Angels of Caliban is now in possession of the broken shards of the Lion Sword)
* Farith Redloss - Voted-Lieutenant of the Dreadwing (takes out a World Eaters Leviathan Dreadnaught with his axe)
* Griffayn ‘The Spear-Cast’ - Voted-Lieutenant of the Firewing (For some reason his rank is held in abeyance) *his legion rank is held in abeyance not his Firewing rank*

A Dark Angels membership to a particular wing seems to not only be based on their abilities but also their personality, attitude and personal mind set; for example the Dreadwing are made up of the most brutal, destructive and warmongering members of the Dark Angels whilst the Ravenwing (if they are anything like their 40k counterparts) are made up of the most impulsive, wild (by DA standards) and inquisitive members (being a speed freak helps). How they are designated into each wing is unknown perhaps they are given extensive physiological evaluations or maybe they just have some sort of [[Harry Potter]]-esque sorting hat.
The main body of the Legion seems to have been made up of at least 30 Orders(the 30th is the highest mentioned so far) each with a grand master and a paladin(Champion) in command of around 5000+ warriors split up into an yet unknown number of chapters each led by its own Chapter Master.

Guilliman noted that there were also many secret orders and mysterious hierarchies within the ranks of the Dark Angels; hierarchies of knowledge, trust and authority invisible to outsiders. Alongside the Orders, secret Hosts and Wings there was also mention of Thrones and Powers, whatever the hell they were. (It’s very likely that these are named after the Nine Choirs of Angels which consist of 1. Seraphim, 2. Cherubin, 3. Thrones 4. Domininations, 5. Virtues, 6. Powers. 7. Principalities, 8. Archangels, 9. Angels, with the lowest "Angels" being the standard battle brother)
*It has been hinted that because of the Dark Angels’ highly traditional and sectarian nature it made them ‘immune’ to the intrusions of the warrior lodges and acted as a similar buffer to infiltrations and manipulations from the likes of the Alpha Legion. http://gavthorpe.co.uk/2015/09/23/more-dark-angels-secrets-revealed/
*This is no longer "hinted": Luther laughed at Erebus's suggestion of the creation of a Dark Angel warrior lodge.

In this fashion, acting all on their own without support from the other legions that followed they killed lots of [[Orks]] and other xenos scum for great justice and were the most successful Legion during the early years of the Crusade.

Once the most numerous and powerful of the legions, their numbers would be depleted by decades of savage warfare, particularly in the wars of the [[Rangdan Xenocides]] where their numbers fell below 166,000 after they lost almost 50,000 marines preventing the destruction of the entire northern Imperium by an unknown menace from the outer darkness. The scars of these battles would change them, as would their reunification with their Primarch and his adopted world of Caliban. Unyielding, technologically capable, ruthless and insular the Dark Angels by the time of the Heresy were once again a powerful and highly independent Legion used to operating on its own to conduct large scale campaigns and compliance actions. When the Legion was first reunited with their Primarch, the massive influx of warriors into the Legion following the rediscovery of Caliban was able to provide the First with an additional 20,000 new Dark Angels. However, this would not last as just before the Heresy started Luther, who had by then decided Caliban should be free of what he saw as the Imperium’s tyranny, began to starve the legion of any new legionaries, armour, weapons and ammunition. He began by cancelling the deployment of 4212 new recruits to the Legion, he would also reduce the time it took to implant and train new legionaries to about two years, so by mid heresy there was around 45,000 new Dark Angels on Caliban who were swearing oaths of fealty not to the Emperor but to Caliban and the Order. (Not everyone was pleased with this, especially those who had originated from Terra.)

Some time during the Crusade some planetary ruler insulted [[Leman Russ]] and he got all pissy about it. Then Lion ended up killing the leader and Leman was like "Whatchu do that fo' fool?" because ''he'' wanted to take the bitch-ass out. And Lion was like "fuck off, furry," despite his own furtastic name and his dickish kill-stealing. Leman, never being good with words, reason, or sobriety, megaton punched the Lion. The two of them fought for a day or two, an epic struggle between cool-headed tactician and hot-blooded barbarian, douchebag and bro-tard. Then Leman said "this is stupid" and started laughing... then the Lion knocked him out.

In true [[anime]] fashion, after Leman regained consciousness and was less-inebriated, the two eventually became best buds and treated it as water under the bridge; their respective chapters still carry on the friendly rivalry, a pair of champions engaging in sacred and [[Derp|non-fatal]] honour duels whenever the Spess Lions and [[Space Wolves|Space Corgis]] meet. One particular incident during the Heresy had a member of the watch-pack that had been sent to keep an eye on Guilliman being paired off against the Lion himself after the wolves pushed the issue. The Lion who had more important things to do and wanted it over as quickly as possible stepped forward and nominated himself, the fight (if that’s what you want to call it) was as predictably hilarious as you would imagine it would be. And a couple of light years away, the [[Tyranids]] eat a planet while two of the most important Space Marine chapters waste time on this Nerf-chainsword-duel-honour-bullshit because ''that's how they roll''.

:{{Blam|+++ :) +++}}

=== Horus Heresy ===
Much of the history of the First Legion during the events of the Horus Heresy are largely unknown to the Imperium at large, thus you will find that :{{Blam|+++Paper records are highly flammable, thus we put here all we could have recover.+++}}

During the [[Horus Heresy]] Lion El'Jonson rushed to come to the aid of the [[Emperor]], fighting his way through the [[Night Lords]], [[Death Guard]] and [[Lost and the Damned|traitor guard]] to reach [[Terra]]. Stopping off at [[Macragge]] to kick [[Roboute Guilliman]] out of inaction and start actually paying attention to the Horus Heresy. In fact, despite all of the mystery surrounding the intentions of the First Legion, the Emperor still had complete faith in them. A discussion between Him and [[Malcador the Sigillite]] during [[Graham McNeill]]'s Vengeful Spirit proves that even the Emperor expected Guilliman to procrastinate and start building his own Empire and they were somewhat relieved when Russ told them that the Lion had intervened.

Despite all this he didn't make it to Terra in time because :{{Blam|+++Warp troubles.+++}}.Afterwards he returned home to [[Caliban]] only to find that shit hit the fan when :{{Blam|+++ Servitors where behind Schedule to finish the most awesome battle station ever.+++}} When daybreak came Caliban was nothing more.:{{Blam|+++ This stressful days was the cause the lion went on vacation, the remaining Dark Angels painted their armor green, as pennance and because green was the shit back then, all of this caused one battle brother to say"I hate mondays"+++}}

Because Caliban was far away from many Imperial Worlds, the core leaders of the Dark Angels known as the :{{Blam|+++Inner circle Because that band rocks, decided to destroy every history, evidence and blueprint of the rock, to protect it from fallen in the wrong hands+++}}
The Imperium's not exactly sure what happened to Caliban as anyone who investigates about this matter, even [[Inquisitor|Inquisitors]] :{{Blam|+++Who are most welcome never come back to their job, after our wild partys.+++}}

Ahem, to carry on where my predecessor left off after his :{{Blam|+++Natural vacation+++}}, the Dark Angels became the most obscure chapter in the millennium following the Horus Heresy. Where as Imperial officials can try to order around chapters like the Space Corgis and Black Templars, the Dark Angels can never be approached because they can't be found 90% of the time. They are known for mysteriously appearing out of nowhere to aid Imperial forces and disappear just as fast, even if the forces they were aiding were still in need of their help. This has led to much complaint from Imperial commanders, who are often understandably pissed off.:{{Blam|+++We sincerely apologize, but we try to be multi tasking+++}}

===After the destruction of Caliban===
[[File:The rock-Fenris.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Dark Angels arrive in style.]]
Ever since that fateful day ten thousand years ago, the Dark Angels have striven to prove to the Emprah and their Primarch that they are still cool guys to hang around with, despite :{{Blam|+++Their grim nature+++}}. To this end they have acquired toys like plasma cannon jetbikes, more suits of Terminator Armour than most chapters can shake their chainswords at, and a mini-[[Wikipedia:Guantanamo_Bay_detention_camp|Gitmo]] in a flying chunk of planet to :{{Blam|+++Capture enemies of the Imperium from the nine traitor legions+++}}, in order to prove :{{Blam|+++The Imperium RULEZ+++}}

:{{Blam|+++INNER CIRCLE ONLY+++}}
[[Luther]] himself was kept within a special cell equipped with stasis fields (both to keep him from escaping something that didnt work, and to prevent him from dying of old age before some kind of confession can be extracted from him). Last seen he was barking mad from Chaos withdrawing its influence from him. But his ramblings have occasionally assisted the Dark Angels in and locating lost relics within the Rock. Recently, he's been claiming that the time for the Lion to return and absolve the Chapter of its past is growing closer...

:{{Blam|+++Watcher in the dark office memo+++}}

Unknown to the Dark Angels, Lion El'Jonson is alive and well- after his duel with Luther, we the Watchers in the Dark brought him to a hidden chamber in the depths of the Rock so he could be healed of his wounds. He is fully healed, and now all that is needed for the last loyal Primarch to return is for the Emperor to give him the signal to do so.
:{{Blam|+++ :) +++}}

It’s important to bear in mind that the Dark Angels themselves do not have the whole story regarding :{{Blam|+++The traitor marines from other legions+++}} and Caliban's :{{Blam|+++Upgrade in the most AWESOME SHIP+++}}. When the legion first arrived back at Caliban during the Scouring they would have been unaware of the events that had led up to Astelan ordering the attack on the fleet. After the destruction of Caliban they would have found themselves in a position where they had not only lost their Emperor and their Primarch but their home world as well. The legion had been tarnished beyond repair by those that they had once considered sworn brothers and worst of all they didn’t know why. All they had left was the Legion and so the assembled masters of the Dark Angels decided to cover up what had happened in order to protect and preserve what was left of the once mighty First; they had been under the impression that :{{Blam|+++Traitor marines that like to wear black+++}} had all been slain during the planet's destruction. Once :{{Blam|+++Said traitors+++}} began to reappear it would prove to be a decision that would eventually end up damning them and all those that would follow. The present day Dark Angels are forced to shoulder the burdens and consequences of those decisions made so long ago, that they themselves had taken no part in. Where in other chapters the ascension into the higher ranks is a thing of justified pride and honour within the Unforgiven it is a soul crushing experience as their delusions of honour and false glory are systematically torn down around them as the chapters dark secrets are revealed to them one by one.

The Dark Angels and their successors have spent the past 10,000 years hunting down :{{Blam|+++Said traitors+++}}, slowly and painstakingly piecing together the pieces of an elaborate jigsaw of lies and deceit. Who knew what and who was responsible for what all those millennia ago, was this particular:{{Blam|+++Traitor and heretic.+++}} one of the architects of the betrayal or was he just an unwitting pawn who was just following orders and if so then who gave that order. As they have slowly filtered the lies from the truths and sifted through the many different contradicting :{{Blam|+++Traitors lies about+++}} the Dark Angels have uncovered many unsettling truths that had been unknown to them before but still the masters of the Unforgiven are aware that they do not have the full story and that there are still many dark revelations to come. Not least that the Black Legion counts (or counted) a :{{Blam|+++Traitors wearing stolen Dark angels Armours in obviously Black Legion colors+++}}
===42nd Millennium===
With the return of Magnus and his assault on Fenris, then the return of Guilliman, his Terran Crusade, then the subsequent Indomitus Crusade; the Dark Angels are probably scrabbling HARD to make sure :{{Blam|+++Said traitors be captured+++}}.

Firstly, with the return of Magnus; the Dark Angels were duped by Tzeentch into leading their own crusade to bring the Space Wolves to account for their protection of the mutated Wulfen. While this was eventually resolved with the intervention of the Inquisition who said they would raise their own conclave to deal with the matter. Unfortunately for the Dark Angels :{{Blam|+++Said traitors escaped our watch +++}} the Inquisition had :{{Blam|+++Given Zero fucks +++}}

It would get worse for them later with Guilliman's return, as the reborn Primarch's return to Terra was assisted by :{{Blam|+++Ravenwing Dark Angels and a officer with a HUGE SWORD, obviously a TERRAN SWORD OF OLD+++}}. While Guilliman didn't have a clue what to make of them, they were allowed to be part of the celebratory parade to the Emperor's palace when he finally got there, so they would have been viewed by billions of bystanders. Though most people probably wouldn't have an idea what to make of black Dark Angels either, the Unforgiven were probably clinging to the TV sets while facepalming :{{Blam|+++Because their military parade walk wasnt the best+++}}. However, Guilliman did order :{{Blam|+++Said Marines+++}} arrested when they finally reached the doors to the throne room, the [[Adeptus Custodes]] now have a group of :{{Blam|+++Indiciplined Dark Angels Wearing non codex colors+++}} in their custody and it may be only a matter of time before they and Guilliman have some idea of what the Unforgiven have been up to, if they didn't know already. While Guilliman recognise the sword that :{{Blam|+++Said Oficcer+++}} carried and the sensation filled him with dread. Given that this may be the Lion's own sword, Guilliman may have some inkling as to what might happen if the sword ''(or whatever psychic imprint contained within)'' comes into contact with the Emperor, and as yet has not decided to reveal or act upon that information.
Bear in mind that having some knowledge directly from the mouths of :{{Blam|+++Space Marine Traitors+++}} does not automatically provide the whole story on the actual :{{Blam|+++Building of the rock+++}} (the Dark Angels were still trying to figure that out after 10,000 years)'' so can't immediately condemn them when [[White Scars|other Legions]] had similar internal conflicts during the Horus Heresy, though it would explain why the Unforgiven would be hunting them. Nor does it provide damning details of the activities of the Unforgiven during enactment of their Hunt; since that would be a huge catalogue of offenses spread over 10,000 years, such information would more likely come from an actual Dark Angel rather than a <s>Fallen Angel</s> HERETIC PSYKER THAT LIKES TO LIE.

Taking this further, even if Guilliman does find out or happens to know already, he may have to be very careful with that information because of his own prior association with the Lion and the Dark Angels during [[Imperium Secundus]] and his own attempts at burying it ''(see the formation of the [[Scythes of the Emperor]] and his sealing of the Library of Ptolemy)'' he might not be aware of how much the descendants of the First Legion know about this ''"off the record"'' version of history. Even if some Fallen Angels came out claiming that the ''"Lion was a closet traitor who waited to see who won"'' and sincerely believed it, Guilliman is one of the few people who actually knew what the Lion was doing for much of the Heresy, even if the Dark Angels don't know themselves. This is on top of having to contend with some unresolved "agenda" relating to the sword of the Lion ''(which Guilliman himself broke when condemning the Lion and casting him out for causing massive collateral damage while capturing Curze)'' and the unknown repercussions of what may come if it reaches the Emperor's throne room. Where the High Lords ''may'' have just declared the Unforgiven traitors and been done with them, Guilliman is armed with more knowledge and information than they would have been privy to, and is connected to his brother's Legion in a much more personal way, resulting in a decisive deadlock.

Sufficed to say, by the current state of the Imperium, after the [[Ultima Founding]] was declared; Guilliman traveled the Imperium leaving reinforcements as he went. At the same time, Supreme Commander [[Azrael]] ordered a summit of all Supreme Grand Masters to muster on the Rock to discuss the state of things, considering that there were reports of Fallen massing in numbers never seen before and the Rock itself was attacked by a Fallen Angel daemon-prince which appeared to be the cover for the release of [[Luther]]; coupled with a recent ambush by the Fallen that had left six chapters of the Unforgiven severely depleted in manpower, sufficed to say that things seemed to be changing for the worse. Coincidentally, the summit was gate-crashed by the arrival of Guilliman's fleet who demanded to board the Rock. The collected Chapter Masters were no doubt concerned by the arrival of an Imperial fleet when the Unforgiven had gathered together as a single Legion, and considered shooting them down. Luckily, it turned out that Guilliman was not there to censure the Unforgiven host and instead was there to reinforce them, granting them thousands of Primaris Marines. Guilliman also permitted them to retain their [[Deathwing|1st Company]] and [[Ravenwing|2nd Company]] organizations as an exception to his amendments to the Codex Astartes based on their "excellent service records", only stipulating that they continue to serve the Emperor well, suggesting he is willing to put up with their unorthodox methods for the sake of his brother.

Moreover as a "[[Creed|tactical genus]]" Guilliman isn't dumb enough to risk losing the unique capabilities that only the Dark Angels and their Successors are able to deploy at a moments notice. Obviously neither the Dark Angels nor Guilliman can spare a few moments for "Story time with Uncle Bobby and The Inner Circle." Due to the current state of the Imperium. Plus he also has [[Imperium_Secundus|shit]] he'd rather not talk about as well. Good thing for Guilliman. The number of people who know about the Secundus besides him [[Emperor|can be]] [[Lion_El'Jonson|counted]] [[Cypher|on one hand.]] So there is much hypocrisy all around.

It is also stated that the Inner Circle alone are aware of the ''[[Fallen Angels|very specific prey]]'' that they seek. Therefore while tit-bits of information may be held by others outside of the chapter, they may not understand the significance or know what to make of it. Either way they haven't acted upon that information, so the Hunt still continues as normal.

== The Legion with "Dark" in its name ==
[[File:DA-Scouts.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Their scouts are never to be underestimated. Also this is probably the best scout artwork so far. And it's not new.]]
After the Horus Heresy, the remaining Legions were forced to split into chapters of around 1000 men according to [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s brand new [[Codex Astartes]] and the Dark Angels followed suit mostly because they had no Primarch to disagree; not that it mattered by this point anyway.

Where [[Rogal Dorn]] [[RAGE|RAGED]] against the idea of splitting his legion, but eventually relented on the threat of civil war, the Dark Angels quietly split themselves up but maintained in [[Just As Planned|covert]] contact with each other. Keeping the same chain of command as before, and mostly the same traditions and expectations. Particularly with <s>co-operation in the hunt for the [[Fallen Angels]]</s> CHILLIN' OUT MAXIN' RELAXIN' ALL COOL, but they also refer to each other as "brothers" in arms. ''([[Kaldor Draigo]] noted that the correct terminology for different chapter is "[[Gene Seed#The Tithe and New Foundings|cousin]]" and resolved to have a word with [[Azrael]] over it)'' and the Supreme Grand Master of [[The Rock]] is deferred to as the [[Spiritual liege|highest authority]] on the secrets of the newly formed Inner Circle.

It transpires from Gav Thorpe's 2015 novel '''Unforgiven''' that the Inner Circle was in fact formed decades AFTER the [[Second Founding]] when [[Cypher]] revealed himself at [[The Rock]] and made it evident that survivors from Caliban would be dropping out of time and space who could reveal the truth of what happened. So the Grand Masters of the '''Twelve''' Second Founding chapters held a council and formed the Inner Circle to make sure their collective honour remained intact. Previous to that we must have assumed that the descendants of the First Legion were just relieved to have weathered the Horus Heresy and followed Guilliman's commands quietly.

Therefore the Dark Angels and their successors still function unofficially as a Legion, and this gets the [[Inquisition]] and the [[High Lords of Terra]] particularly worried, though they can't prove anything, since from the outside, each chapter has its own distinct chain of command and adheres to [[Codex Astartes|codex]] requirements.

It's not quite known how large the collective Unforgiven actually is; [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Statistics]] indicate that the Dark Angels successors make up around 15% of the total space marine chapters at large in the Imperium, and while this does not seem like a massive amount ''([[Ultramarines|Ultramarines]] make up around 50%-66%, depending on which author you ask)'' that would still be around 150 chapters. Though it is uncertain whether all of those chapters are actually aware of their history, given the Dark Angels would presumably prefer to have as few people with the damning knowledge as possible. Yet GW has never presented us with any Dark Angels successors who know of their heritage and yet who are ''not'' part of the Unforgiven ''(the [[Astral Claws]], [[Relictors]] and [[Star Phantoms]] are all "maybes")'' so we can only assume that once you're in the club, you're in balls deep or you get erased.

What is known is that the Unforgiven are not beyond drafting new chapters without official sanction ''(like the [[Consecrators]])'' or outright blackmailing the seal of approval out of the High Lords ''(as with the [[Disciples of Caliban]])''. These chapters are raised with specific purposes in mind, and fill either supporting roles to the collective or are tasked with special missions that the others aren't prepared for. The officers of the successors also hold unique ranks and titles in the Inner Circle relevant to their Chapter's function or position within the Unforgiven.

Each chapter shares formations equivalent to the [[Deathwing]] and [[Ravenwing]], though usually operating under different names, meaning that the collective Unforgiven have access to a whole bunch of surplus archeotech, or the means to manufacture Terminator suits and fighter planes at a remarkable rate. They also trade recruiting worlds between each other; although each Chapter routinely has more than one anyway, they regularly transfer ownership between them for the specific purpose of ensuring that the Administratum's records become unreliable and get lost.

So far ''(and for ten thousand years)'' these indiscretions have passed as little more than quiet rumours, since the Unforgiven go to [[Ophidium Gulf Crusade|extreme lengths]] to protect their honour, plus they mostly keep to themselves so no-one knows what they're actually up to.

=== LOYAL? Or Traitor? ===
:{{Blam|+++INNER CIRCLE ACCESS GRANTED+++}}

Due in no small part to Gav Thorpe's divisive novels, '''Angels of Darkness''' was intended to display that their quest for redemption had made them sinister and brutal, not proof of them being traitors as the wider audience and /tg/ often treats them as. This is because most people took '''Astelan''' and his accusations leveled at the modern-day Chapter and the Lion as truth, never taking into account his jealously of the Lion nor his skewed interpretation of events and logical fallacies (something that Gav himself has tried to remind people of), as he thought the Lion to be a traitor, and then opened fire on the fleet when they were in orbit of Caliban without any attempt at negotiation or communication - in defense, the fleet returned fire, so Astelan drew the [[FAIL|perfectly logical and sound]] conclusion that the Lion had betrayed them. It doesn't seem to matter as much as people think it does, however, as Gav himself said that it wasn't an objective view of what happened on Caliban, but a character study on a member of the Fallen.

Admittedly, though, some of Astelan's theories do make just a little too much sense to be easily dismissed, like his belief that the Dark Angels' paranoia and obsession with secrecy is just as much an gene-inheritance from the Lion as it is a post-heresy development, something that El'Jonson developed (or got tainted with) as an infant in the darkness of old Caliban. However, Astelan's mind and his recollections of things are unreliable - not only he is a Fallen Angel, he is trying to make others fall as well. We only have his word to take for it, not to mention he ended up consorting with [[Typhus]] against the loyalist Dark Angels over the course of The Unforgiven.

Another factor that hasn't helped the First Legion's tainted reputation was the implication that the Unforgiven would be destroyed in their entirety if their secret went out - skewing the Dark Angels from ultra-loyalists trying their damnedest to reach some sort of absolution for their wrongdoings and mistakes, into a bunch of cowardly extremists concerned only with self-preservation. This confusion is the result of an attempt to raise the stakes; coupled with the increasing plot emphasis on them abandoning their allies demonstrates prioritizing shock value at the expense of any actual depth the Chapter might have once had. They are supposedly a calculating, heavily coordinated group orchestrating a covert operation of monumental proportions, yet they clumsily attract the attention of the very people they are trying to keep their secrets from.

About the only positive thing that can be said about this is that it at least provokes discussion - as it stands, it's simply lazy writing. The writers at GW could do a lot with what the Unforgiven would be willing to do or what to sacrifice in the name of their hunt for the Fallen, but right now it's demonstrative of just how threadbare DA fluff has become in recent years. As fun as it is to hypothesize whether or not they're loyal or traitor, the truth probably lies more in the middle - at least the Dark Angels themselves are more like the [[Soul Drinkers]] rather than full on Chaos Marines, more devoted to Emps and humanity as a whole rather than the Imperium itself.

To add to what is said above or rather to clarify is that the First Legion ''(and later Chapter and all their successors)'' are indeed Loyal and not Traitors. With the Lion having been quoted "Loyalty is it's own reward." sort of kills the whole "they might be closet traitors". There is even an example where the Dark Angels encounter a Consecrators Marine that had fallen to Nurgle. When he was captured, the Loyalists explained that there would be no taking him back to the Rock to be interrogated. They did not consider him "Fallen" since he was not deceived by [[Luther]] who led astray the Angels on Caliban. This traitor was considered weak for allowing Chaos to get to him and was promptly executed and his body left in the dust.

In conclusion, the sons of the Lion are ostensibly Loyal, albeit with a massive guilty conscience that ''(unlike the [[White Scars]] who resolved their internal issues at the time and can look on it as something shameful, but has no bearing on the modern descendants of the Legion)'' the Unforgiven cannot let go of, because the sins of the past are '''not''' ancient history as long as these Fallen Angels keep falling out of space and time to remind them of it. So, what might have begun as something relatively innocuous, the Unforgiven continues to skirt the grey area; with each abandoned battlefield or trusted ally silenced, adding to the burden of their collective guilt while they enact the Hunt, to the point that the Hunt is now more shameful than the original crime. Therefore rather than the shame fading with the passage of time it only becomes more imperative for them to complete their task.

This is spelled out bluntly by [[Troll|Cypher himself]] in ''The Unforgiven''. While every legion took part in the [[Great Scouring]], the Dark Angels did so in secret, never admitting to having traitors and <s>Horus sympathizers</s> (Most Fallen were totally unaware of the Heresy, and as a result they either fell to Chaos all of their own accord or were deceived) in their ranks like the other eight legions did. Now in the 41st Millenium it's FAR too late to rectify this; the time for earning forgiveness is long passed. However, perhaps the Dark Angels' true redemption is near, despite their long-running record of questionable actions. The [[Iron Hands]] have been recovering from their fatalistic attitude and their repressed emotions in the wake of the Gaudinian Heresy, perhaps the Dark Angels can finally get past their shame, especially since the recent Horus Heresy books and other lore have explicitly made the Lion's loyalties very clear, and with ''Leman Russ - The Great Wolf'' by Christ Wraight showing that he knows about the Wulfen and never called his brother or his legion out on it, despite their mutual grievances may show some interesting revelations to come.

Despite the Unforgiven being prepared to do anything and everything that they need to do in order to keep their secrets hidden, Supreme Grand Master Azrael has stated that should the day ever arrive when the Imperium discovers their dark history and turns its fury upon the sons of the Lion then the Unforgiven will refuse to raise arms against the Imperium. Not one shot will be fired or blade drawn in their own defence for although they are prepared to do some very shady things in order to keep their secrets hidden they are still unprepared and unwilling to plunge the Imperium into what would be assuredly a very costly civil war that the Imperium really can’t afford to fight. '''They will not be responsible for a second Horus Heresy, or a Badab 2.0'''. The recent lore has really hammered home that, in spite of how suspicious and shady the Dark Angels are, they have never been ''delusional.'' They know what they are doing is wrong, but they have a ten-thousand-year promise to fulfill.
With the release of the new Codex Phil Kelly himself said on Twitch TV the full recount of the events on Caliban,short history Dark Angels Good, Fallen Bad, just kill the [[Troll|joke]], [[Luke|its not funny anymore]].

== Cool Shit ==
As the very literal "First" Legion, they were equipped with gear that predated the pacts with Mars, and were supposed to have inherited much of their equipment from the Old Night and the armouries of ancient Terra, and were permitted to retain exclusive access to these items by the Emperor's own command. Much of which was never seen in other Legions which were raised to a standard template that followed afterward.

These included:
*Fellglaives equipped with Warp Cannons instead of Volkite Carronade and Vindicators which fired warp/vortex shells.
*Land Raiders equipped with Anti-Grav engines instead of tank treads.
*Stasis Missiles & Grenades
*Molecular Acid Boltshells
*Short ranged Plasma Repeater carbines.
*Phosphex Incinerator cannons
*A unique pattern of aircraft called a Swordstrike Interceptor
*A unique type of super-heavy tank which acted as a mobile Void Shield generator called a "Portcullis Mono-track"

Much of this gear would not see use in the 41st millennium ''(or the tabletop)'' and the chapter adheres to a slightly more "codex-equivalent" loadout, probably because GW re-uses the same space marine range for most chapters. Though it is strongly implied that the Rock still contains a hoard of archeotech within its dungeons from the old days.

So far, all they've got to show for themselves is bikes with plasma-guns and cool pick-axes, some sturdy but mediocre flyers, some minor Land Speeder variants and supposedly a disproportionate number of Terminator suits (taking potential casualties into account they have to have over 200 of the fucking things!).

Here's hoping that GW/FW remembers that the Emperor sent these guys out on Crusade before he sat down and actually made the other Legions, so they can get their act together and make Dark Angels distinct.

=== The Dark Angels Fleet ===
Both forgeworld and the black library books have hinted quite a bit at the Dark Angels Legion having had a very prominent void presence. They are noted to specialize in extended independent void operations and the 1st Legions artificers were known to create the distinctive 'Paravane' sub-type armour: ''"an idiosyncratic variant of the widely issued Mark II which was renowned for its enhanced void endurance and systems."'' Though this never really gets mentioned in later 40k, but there's no stopping you using the conversion kits to represent "Void Hardened" Armour in Zone Mortalis games, if you ever play those. This would also explain why they would have a crap ton of [[Terminator]] Armor.

Although they didn’t have the largest fleet nor have the largest number of capital ships, those honours belonged to other legions like the [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Iron Warriors]] respectively. The First may still have owned arguably one of the most powerful fleets among the legions at that time, considering they used a whole bunch of weapon designs that were left over from the Dark Age of Technology, plus having a large number of void fortresses that nobody else knew about. During the Thramas campaign Sevatar’s reaction to seeing the full force of the First Legion's fleet bearing down upon the Night Lords legion can be summed up as “well we're fucked, time to run away” (place obligatory Monty Python joke here). Even when the Lion headed towards Macragge leaving the largest part of his fleet in the hands of Corswain the fleet assets he took with him were still described as being enough to casually wipe out the defences surrounding Guilliman's home and then split the world in two.
*Some of the fleet where armed with something similar to the Rift Cannons on the Dark Angels 40k Dark Talons but on a massive scale; such weapons would be devastating in a void combat environment.

It makes sense that the Dark Angels fleet was on the larger size given that the majority of their successor chapters are Fleet based ''(the fact that being fleet based means that they are harder to keep track of and monitor is of course completely accidental and in no ways intended after all what could they possibly have to hide right?)'' However, by the time of 40k and their diminished status as a "Chapter". Discounting of [[The Rock]] itself, their fleet capabilities are certainly above average when you compare raw numbers to other chapters ''(with 8 battle barges, 16 strike cruisers and 21 rapid strike vessels they are twice the size of the Ultramarines fleet and almost three times the size of the Blood Angels)'' but by no means overwhelming ''(the [[Space Wolves]] have a lot more)'' and there has been little to no mention of their continued use of archeotech warships and weapons even amongst their successors.

However, the Dark Angels do make almost exclusive use of the '''Hunter-Class Destroyer'''. Other chapters have access to the template, but the Dark Angels prefer it because they don't like getting their new fleet assets from the same sources as the Imperial Navy. So the Hunter is like a naval Cobra Destroyer; acting as a small torpedo boat, but is a bit more maneuverable and armoured.

Despite this, unless you believe that the Unforgiven are purposefully concealing the fact that they have a whole bunch of leftover cool shit, it seems like those glorious days of "Legion" are long passed.

*In most Chapters all their aircraft from the sleek [[Stormhawk]] Interceptors to the hulking [[Stormraven]] Gunships are piloted by the Techmarines of their Chapter's armoury. Most Chapters can have anything between 20 and 40 Techmarines at any one time with the Dark Angels only having around 22 Techmarines compared to the likes of the Blood Angels that have 35. The low numbers of Techmarines within the Dark Angels can be put down to their distrust of their [[Adeptus Mechanicus|dual loyalties]]. While this lack of specialists would normally be a problem for most Chapters, the Dark Angels are somewhat unusual amongst the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes in that their unique aircraft the [[Nephilim Jetfighter]] and the [[Dark Talon]] are not piloted by the Techmarines of their armoury. Instead, these agile hunting craft are flown into battle by the expert operatives of the Dark Angels 2nd Company, the [[Ravenwing]] - which gives them a whole (oversized) company that is capable of taking to the skies if they are needed. From “Death from the Skies” most chapters can field at least two “divisions” (24 to around 48 aircraft, but is dependent on the number of Techmarines the chapter can afford to deploy) where the Dark Angels have their 22 Techmarines and the Ravenwing which alone can field at least two “Companies” or six “divisions” (72 to around 144 aircraft dependent on the size of the Ravenwing at the time)

==Daily rituals==

04:00-Morning Prayer: The Dark Angels are roused from their cells to begin prayer at the leadership of the Interrogator-Chaplain. Prayer is extra long compared to most other Chapters due to DARK ANGELS BEING SO LOYAL THAT THEY WANT TO SHOW THEIR DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR AND THE LION. 
06:00-Morning Firing Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice. 
07:00-Battle Practice: The Dark Angels descend to the Battle Cages to practice in close-combat. Members of the Ravenwing will practice with their bikes and land speeders, while members of the Deathwing will practice <s>counter-Fallen scenarios</s> ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE ENEMIES OF THE EMPEROR, WHICH MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT INCLUDE ANY OF THE SONS OF LION EL'JONSON. 
9:00-[[Fallen Angels|Torturin]]-{{Blam}} CHOCOLATE MILK AND COOKIES BREAK . 
12:00-Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Chapter Serfs. 
12:30-Tactical Indoctrination: The Dark Angels will engage in tactical briefings on opponents they will be facing in the future. Members of the Inner Circle will determine targets such as <s>traitors from the First Legion</s> THE NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS WHICH REBELLED AGAINST THE EMPEROR, BECAUSE THERE ARE ONLY '''NINE''' TRAITOR LEGIONS. At this point a battle-brother may visit the Apothecary, while Interrogator-Chaplains will interrogate <s>Fallen Angels they have been assigned to</s> HERETICS WHO ARE AIDING THE EMPEROR'S ENEMIES, ALL FROM DIFFERENT LEGIONS AND CHAPTERS. 
14:00-Afternoon nap with dimmed lights and soft instrumental music playing in the background.
 16:00-Evening Fire Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice. They usually use black-colored targets to better hone their skills at shooting <s>Fallen Angels in the dark</s> FOUL TRAITORS WHO ARE NOT FROM THE FIRST LEGION WHO USE BLACK ARMOR AND THE COVER OF DARKNESS LIKE COWARDS. 
17:00-Evening Prayer: The Dark Angels assemble for prayer under the Interrogator-Chaplains, who have just finished <s>torturing Fallen Angels</s> SHOWING THEIR UNDENIABLE DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR WHICH TAKES MANY FORMS. 
19:00-Evening Meal: A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs. 
20:00-Maintenance Rituals: The Dark Angels will tend to the maintenance of their wargear, while also washing their robes. Members of the Ravenwing will perform maintenance of their attack bikes and land speeders. 
00:00-The Dark Angels will retire to their cells for '''CO-ED''' sleep <s>with their non-human retainers, because [[Heretical Love|that's what the Dark Angels do to ensure their silence about the Fallen]]</s> BECAUSE THEY ARE PLAYERS. 

<strike>Why is there a 3 hour break in the schedule? Would they be torturing the Fallen in that time?</strike> WHAT FALLEN? THERE IS NO 3 HOUR BREAK, THAT'S HOW NUMBERS WORK ON <strike>CALIBAN</strike> THE ROCK.

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:DA Codex Cover.png|Here's some badassery right there.
File:Lulz.jpg|Happens quite often.
File:Dark-Angels-warhammer-40000.jpeg|Funnily enough, the angrinator-pattern helmet utilized by the Angry Marines was actually pioneered by the Dark Angels.
File:Dark Angels awesomeness.jpg|Always recognizable with their beautiful artworks and <s>amazing aesthetics.</s> FUKKEN DUALWIELDING FLINTLOCKS.
File:DA-Chaplain.jpg|Their chaplains tend to be the most badass
File:Unforgiven.jpg|The Dark Angels and most of their confirmed successors
File:Beakie da fe ft.JPG|On the left: Dark Angel trooper in the glory days of the Legiones Astartes.
File:The_truth.jpeg|The true secret of the inner circle
File:Eternal-Crusade-Dark-Angel.jpg|Just a friendly reminder too all Dark Angels currently playing “Eternal Crusade” every time the phrase “YOU HAVE FALLEN” appears on your screen brother Asmodai will kill a puppy.
File:-spacehulk-parchemin.png
File:20171125 150941.jpg|November 25, 2017—a date which will live in infamy—
File:FB_IMG_15118378317321618.jpg|Chicks dig Dark Angels
File:Space-Marine-Veteran-Print.jpg|Robes allways a classic.
</Gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Dark_Angels(8E)|Tactics/Dark Angels]]
* [[Azrael]]
* [[Cypher]]
* [[Deathwing]]
* [[Ravenwing]]
* [[Dark Angel Shoulder Pad]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwZISypgA9M Unofficial theme song for the Dark Angels]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ckom3gf57Yw Unofficial theme song for the Unforgiven]

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[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]]
[[Category:Dark Angels]]