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Sigismund

2022-05-10T12:06:20Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* Summary */

[[File:Sigismund Emp's Champ.jpeg|thumb|310px|First Captain Sigismund, the original uber-badass.]]
{{topquote|He was, after all, the one guy who said 'Sure, cool, this [[Codex Astartes|Chapter idea]] is brilliant. But [[Black Templars|mine]] [[Skub|will be six times the size of everyone else's]], [[Troll|just because I say so]]. [[Butthurt|Later, Terrans]].'|[[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]]}}
{{topquote|In the far future, there will be only war.|Sigismund to Garviel Loken, not knowing [[Warhammer 40k|how right he would be.]]}}
{{topquote|You will die as your weakling father died. Soulless. Honourless. Weeping. Ashamed.|[[awesome|Siggy's last words]]. Unlike other Astartes he didn't waste his dying breath recommending his soul to Big E or something, he told Abaddon of his monumental [[fail]] right to his face.}}
{{topquote|Live by the sword; die by the sword.|Ancient Terran Proverb}}
'''Sigismund''' (also known as Siggy-diggy, Sig of the Dump, the Great Wilson, and Swagismund), is a [[Space Marine]] from [[Warhammer 40,000]]'s backstory. He served as [[First Captain]] of the [[Imperial Fists]] Legion and equerry to his [[Primarch]], [[Rogal Dorn]]. Following the [[Horus Heresy]], he served as the first [[Chapter Master|High Marshal]] of the [[Black Templars]].

==Summary==
[[File:Sigismund.jpg|200px|thumb|right|For stomping Chaos, accept no substitutes.]]
Sigismund was born in the slums of Terra during the Unification Wars and orphaned at an early age. He joined up with a crew of other orphans, helping to steal food and supplies for them. He and his friend Thera ultimately ran afoul of a rival orphan gang, the Corpse Kings, who came to their hideout with the intention of wiping them all out. Thera was killed fighting the Corpse Kings, and Sigismund grabbed her weapon and prepared to make a last stand. He defeated several of the Corpse Kings but was about to be overwhelmed when the Legiones Astartes came calling for new recruits. Hilariously enough, he was originally picked up by the [[Night Lords|VIII Legion]], but the genetic testing revealed that he was more compatible with the [[Imperial Fists|VII]], [[World Eaters|XII]], [[Black Legion|XVI]], and [[Raven Guard|XIX]] Legions, in that order. No wonder he liked hanging out with the World Eaters. After his induction into the Imperial Fists, he fought alongside the Night Lords in his first action as a Space Marine, which made him relieved that he hadn't wound up in that legion. He was later selected to join the Templar Brethren, becoming one of the youngest Astartes ever inducted into that elite brotherhood, after training with the weapon master Appius. During his training, Appius asked Sigismund what his reason for fighting was. Sigismund thought back to the friends he'd left behind on Terra, and answered that his purpose in fighting was to protect those who could not protect themselves. While he was a lieutenant, Rogal Dorn made him his personal champion after the end of a joint campaign between the Imperial Fists and the Iron Hands. Dorn and Ferrus Manus had disagreed about the proper way to conduct the campaign, and decided to settle their argument with a duel between their chosen sons. Sigismund kicked the shit out of the Iron Hands champion and was ready to kill him until Ferrus ordered him to yield. He later became First Captain after a grueling ritual in which he fought and defeated 200(!) other Templars one after the other, with number 200 being Appius, now interred within a Contemptor Dreadnought. He became known for his skill and hotheadedness - and his unparalleled asskickery. Much like Ahmed Ibn Fadlan in the movie "13th Warrior", Sigismund later went on to spend a great deal of time with the [[World Eaters]], more than he did with his own legion (even being duelling buddies with [[Kharn]], proof that the latter was always a swell guy), and began to take on their ways. For example, he took to using heavy, dense black chains to shackle his weapon to his arm so that he could never drop it. Yep, that's right, the [[Black Templars]] got this tradition from a Traitor Legion! Siggy wisely took that little detail with him right to the grave, lest the Templars suffer a crisis of faith regarding their aesthetic. As it turned out, the reason Sigismund went to live with them was to see if there was anything worthwhile in the way the World Eaters were doing things and as a possible way to forge closer bonds between them and the VII Legion, in the hopes of tempering the XII's rage and butchery.

Interestingly, Sigismund always vaguely resented having been made into a Space Marine, probably because he'd been forced to abandon his friends on Terra, and once admitted to the remembrancer Solomon Voss that if he'd known as a child what he would become when the Night Lords took him away, he'd have refused the chance. He was also a pessimist at heart, believing that there would be nothing but war in humanity's future even if the Imperium successfully pacified the galaxy, because conflict was an inescapable part of human nature. Unfortunately, he was proven extremely right.

When the [[Horus Heresy]] kicked off, he was with Rogal Dorn when the ''[[Eisenstein]]'' delivered news of the Isstvan III massacre. He had his first discussions with the Imperial "Saint" Euphrati Keeler, who told him that he would die unremembered under an unknown star if he left his father's side. This discussion affected Sigismund deeply, so he requested that Dorn task someone else with leading the Retribution Fleet after Dorn ordered him to go; Dorn thought this was an odd request, but allowed it and [[Battle of Phall|Captain Hashin Yonnad was sent instead]]. Ironically, Sigismund's absence at Phall would lead [[Perturabo]] to make the wrong assumptions about how the battle would go, and result in the Fists nearly winning and a large chunk of the Retribution Fleet escaping. When news came about the [[Drop Site Massacre]] and the full scale of rebellion became apparent, Sigismund was ordered to purge any remnants of the traitors in the Solar System, purging the memorial asteroid with his Templar elite and the Assault Cadre under [[Fafnir Rann]]. This began a fruitful five years of Rann talking shit to Sigismund while they killed every motherfucker in their path.

Sigismund then led a mission to [[Mars]] to retrieve as many weapons and suits of armour as possible, since by that time Mars was [[Dark Mechanicum|FUCKED]]. Despite really, ''really'' wanting to kill everything standing between him and the traitor Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal, Sigismund realized that the Imperial Fists couldn't retake the planet without reinforcements, ordering Imperial forces to retreat when the forges were surrounded by traitor Titans.

However, before leaving for Mars, Sigismund confessed his reasons for refusing to take the Retribution mission to his [[Rogal Dorn|father]], explaining the vision he had received from "Saint" Keeler. Unfortunately, Dorn flipped his shit and accused Sigismund of arrogance, superstition, and forgetting what it meant to be an Imperial Fist; as a Space Marine and a servant of the Emperor, he had no right to determine his fate in such a way. Dorn further compared him to the rebels they were now fighting. When Sigismund begged Dorn to execute him then and there, Dorn disowned him as a son and from the Legion. To prevent Sigismund's "weakness" from tainting the rest of the Legion, however, he was allowed to retain his rank, but was dispatched to the farthest fringes of the Solar System as a means of getting rid of him, a fate for Sigismund which was worse than death though he took solace in his duty. There he would remain until the [[Horus Heresy]] hit its climax.

Despite being quietly disowned for his involvement with Euphrati Keeler, Sigismund used his influence in the Legion to keep discreet tabs on her movements. When the Saint was targeted for assassination in the run-up to the Siege of Terra, Sigismund personally answered her distress call and returned to the homeworld, where he met [[Knights-Errant|Nathaniel Garro]] again. Knowing that Dorn would likely be ''extremely'' pissed at him for ignoring his orders a second time, he handed over all the information he had on the Saint to Garro, passing his self-appointed duty as her guardian off to him.

Having been largely sidelined during the Battle of Pluto (still killing plenty of Alpha Legionnaires), Sigismund was the first Imperial commander to engage the Traitors. He got swarmed by the Fifth Company of the Sons of Horus under Horus Aximand, who was ready to move in on the wounded Sigismund and finish the job when Rann and First Lieutenant Boreas intervened. Sigismund then rallied hard and injured Aximand before making for Terra, though he lost his ship and Boreas to Aximand.

Defending the First Wall, Sigismund defeated several Chaos Champions before facing Kharn and losing badly as the (not yet) Betrayer had been blessed by Khorne. As Kharn was about to kill Sigi, Dorn intervened and bitch-slapped Kharn out of the way. Later on he led a kill team against a Sons of Horus assault force that attempted to tunnel under the Saturnine Wall of the Imperial Palace, then went up to the top of the wall and got into a fight with Fulgrim. He managed to land a few hits, but Fulgrim, being a daemon prince, promptly beat him down. Dorn intervened again, forcing Fulgrim into an undignified retreat, after which father and gene-son saw off fifty-six of the III Legion's best fighters together.

In the time just after Corswain's contingent of [[Dark Angels]] secured the [[Astronomican]] and just before the [[Jaghatai Khan|Khan]] retook the Lion's Gate Spaceport, Dorn summoned Sigismund to his command center and issued the first captain a simple order: "Hurt them." As Sigismund made his way out to the battlefield, he was presented with the Black Sword by one of Malcador's agents. Weary, embittered, and wounded in spirit, Sigismund accepted the blade, resolved now to fight for what the Imperium would have to become, not what it could have been. As the traitor forces ground toward the Inner Palace, Sigismund met them on the field, challenging their captains and praetors to single combat and killing them one after the other. As his body count grew, rumors of the warrior known as the "Black Sword" or the "Emperor's Champion" spread across the Palace, heartening the loyalist forces and demoralizing the traitors CONSIDERABLY. Both sides began seeking him out, the loyalists forming an army around him while the traitors sought to challenge him themselves. It was at this time that he and Kharn had their legendary final duel. At first they were pretty evenly matched, but when a slobbering Kharn realized he couldn't get a rise or even any sort of reaction out of Sigismund, he became increasingly unnerved, because Siggy's cold, contemptuous repose could've given a [[Necron]] or the [[Legion of the Damned]] something to admire. Kharn eventually received something of a vision of the future, when Sigismund's [[Black Templars]] would roam the galaxy bringing death to the enemies of the Master of Mankind, and that all of them would be as [[Grimdark|deadly and silent as Sigismund]]. This caused Kharn to panic for all of the 4 seconds it took Sigismund to exploit this opening and literally (not figuratively) [[Rip and Tear|cut Kharn to pieces]]. Before his end, he still managed to say to Sigismund "I am not as damaged as you." And though he gave no outward reply, Sigismund likely thought in response "[[TTS|I know. And I don't care]]."

===The Scouring===
After the Heresy and the Iron Cage business, what remained of the Imperial Fists Legion was divided into five Chapters, in accordance with the [[Codex Astartes]] reforms. Dorn placed those now ex-Imperial Fists that were still [[rage|burning with the need]] to [[rip and tear|tear traitors multiple new orifices, barehanded if necessary,]] under Sigismund's command. They became the [[Black Templars]] Chapter, while the third and fourth Chapters (formed from the more conservative/level-headed Marines and those more accepting of the Codex Astartes) were the [[Crimson Fists]] and [[Fists Exemplar]]. Those Astartes who had fought on the walls of the Imperial Palace became the [[Excoriators]]), while Rann would have to wait until the Third Founding before his head-takers got their big break and became the [[Executioners]]. Considering that the Black Templars are a Chapter of Space Marines that wants nothing else than to purge traitors, aliens and heretics with [[Imperial Cult|religious fervor]], they promptly set out on their eternal Crusade vowing to never stop hunting down the enemies of the Imperium. And they are true to their word, too. Ten thousand years, and they're still going strong, kicking heretic and xeno ass left, right and centre!

Sigismund would fight in the First [[Black Crusade]], where by that point he was just shy of one thousand years old, having fought and killed everything the galaxy could throw at him (and given that it's ''40K'', that's a lot). Unlike most Imperials, he still believed the Traitor Legions would return, making the Black Templars the only Imperial force ready when the [[Black Legion]] invaded. Sigismund later faced [[Abaddon]] himself in battle during the First Black Crusade; the outcome was long unconfirmed, but as of the recent Black Legion books, we can finally say for certain that Abaddon killed Sigismund in single combat. The two were at a stalemate at first, with Abaddon being stronger and better armored, while Sigismund was quicker and more controlled. Over time though, Siggy's age started catching up with him, and his body slowed. When he realized he couldn't win, Siggy did his best Excalibur impression, except here Abaddon's torso was the stone the blade was plunged into, like that old Emperor's Champion art with the ork. You know the one. To match Siggy's final moment of badassery, Abaddon inflicted a mortal blow of his own, slaying the old warrior - Sigismund had realized he would only kill Abaddon by exposing himself, and he did it without hesitation.

BADASS.
Abaddon's lieutenant felt that the playing field was only evened out by Sigismund's age bringing him down to the level of other Astartes. Even with this handicap Sigismund still put up a tremendous fight, almost killing Abaddon outright. The Black Knight came closer to killing the Despoiler than anyone else has (except maybe [[Thalastian Jorus]]). Best of all, the Black Legion high command treated him with the utmost respect in death. Abaddon cleaned him up as much as possible (he was kinda torn in two), and had his corpse sent back to Terra with the message that the Black Legion had arrived and declared its [[Long War]] against the God-Emperor. They didn't even [[Blood Ravens|steal]] the ''Black Sword'', but returned it along with Sigismund's body.

===Master Duelist===
Sigismund is sometimes referred to as the best duelist in all the Legiones Astartes. Regardless, several named characters could probably give him a run for his money; among them are [[Abaddon]], [[Khârn]], [[Lucius]], [[Sevatar]], [[Dark Angels#Notable Members|Corswain]], [[Azkaellon]] and [[Nassir Amit|Amit]] (the original [[Flesh Tearers|Flesh Tearer]]) of the Blood Angels, and [[Argel Tal]] of the [[Word Bearers]] (but he had daemon powers, so that's kinda cheating). He not only bested [[Khârn]] in a duel many, many times (although Khârn was never serious in these fights, and preferred losing, a trait that he shared with Argel Tal), but also during the Great Crusade, the Fists and the World Eaters crusaded together for a while, which allowed Siggy to regularly fight in the World Eaters arenas against all of their best fighters. He never lost. Not once. This went on for around '''10 years'''.

He also avoided lethal duels, viewing it as a sin to kill a cousin: the first Astartes he offed was during the Heresy. In the novel ''Betrayer'' and the novella ''Templar'', Khârn and Sigismund ended up becoming good friends until [[Horus Heresy|Horus fucked everything up]], and Sevatar mentioned dueling him for 20 hours before he got tired of no one winning and decided to cheat by headbutting Sigismund just to end the bout.

It should be pointed out that in the HH Book: Templar, he is described as having never lost a duel. Ever. This means either:
*He's never duelled any Primarchs.
**However, Primarchs are [[Cheese|OP]] and therefore an unfair opponent for any Astartes and typically don't stoop so low as to demonstrate it. They occasionally say, in novels, maybe a dude could tangle with a Primarch because they can't grasp just how OP those bastards are. Any mortal from any species, including freaks like [[Tyranids]] or technically [[Necrons]] would get smashed to paste and even super soldiers will only marginally last longer before literal demigods.
*Doesn't consider it a loss if his opponent cheats in the fight, as happened with Sevatar.
**Because he cheated, Jago is technically considered to have lost that sparring duel. Besides, if they had been trying to kill each other Sev would have been way dirtier way earlier, but Sig would have been expecting it as well. That duel was all around still a good indicator of their skill in regards to one another. Sev is regarded as one of the best Astartes close combatants and they basically tied. If the stats in the HH books are anything to go off of ''(admittedly not always, like the Primarchs being nerfed so they can still [[Magnus the Red|be balanced]])'' then Sig, Sev and the Nemean are the overall best close "dueling" Astartes period. 1-on-1 ruleswise: Sev has almost no chance due to lack of Eternal Warrior.
**It's worth noting that Khârn later tried copying the move. Sigismund dropped him face-down on the floor.
*Always ended in a draw. This option is possible, although the context didn't seem to suggest this at all.
*It doesn't mean anything at all, because a sparring bout ''(even amongst Astartes who are at real risk of being maimed)'' does not accurately represent the fighters' true potential.
**For example, Khârn actually disdained the fighting pits because it's not about killing your opponent, making it an entirely different situation. While Nathaniel Garro also beat a Custodian in a duel, but realised that he would not likely be able to take him in a real fight.
*<s>He had some really, REALLY crappy Marines training him how to fight, seriously, surely he would have lost as an initiate.</s> Sparring isn't the same as a duel ya git.

==Tabletop==
[[File:Sigismund05.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Sigismund protecting the Imperium from Hairesy]]

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Sigismund''' || 230 || 7 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 4 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 2+
|}

He received stats in the third Horus Heresy book, showing him to be a close-combat monster:

With Eternal Warrior, Fearless, Adamantium Will, a +2S AP2 weapon, instant death and re-rolls ones to hit when in challenges, 4 attacks at WS7, '''and''' forcing successful invulns to be re-rolled, he's the nastiest duelist character so far in virtually any incarnation of the rules, barring the Primarchs, Constantin Valdor, motherfucking [[Anacharis Scoria]] and the [[Shield-Captain|Cheestodes Tribune]]. He's also one of the few that has [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aw4IOOQj7Qo a fighting chance against some of the weaker among said Primarchs]. Now that some Legions, namely Sons of Horus, Salamanders, and Imperial Fists, have access to Eternal Warrior from relics that non-Primarchs can take, he's descended from being an "I win as soon as I wound" button to merely "75% likely to win." Aside from all that, he allows you to take Templar Brethren as troops, gives any unit he joins +1I on the charge and rerolls to charges and Sweeping Advance, and if taken as the warlord has a fixed trait that gives +1VP and +1CR to his entire army if he kills the enemy warlord in a challenge.

This still means pretty much all Legion characters barring Salamander Praetors and Eidolon are fucked as Sigismund is forced to challenge and most Legions have nothing, bar their Primarchs, who could stand up to Sigismund and hope to win (excluding terrible rolls).

In fact, even against his [[Rogal Dorn|own Primarch]] (or any T6, 4++ Primarch barring Lorgar and Russ), Sigismund makes a good stab at it and causes just under 1 wound per turn mathematically during a challenge (what with IWND and all), which hilariously, is almost as much as [[Perturabo|Dorn's ''own'' brother]] can cause against him. While Sigismund receives 1.25 wounds/turn in return. Which is actually pretty good for Astartes vs Primarch combat. As of the fourth book in the Siege of Terra series, we even have fluff to back this up, as Sigismund was able to get in a few shots against Fulgrim before the Phoenician started beating him down.

{{Marines-Characters}}

[[Category:Space Marines Chapter Masters]]

Sevatar

2022-05-10T12:02:22Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807:

[[File:Jago Sevatar Sevatarion.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The Prince of Crows, looking like he just came out of [[Fist of the North Star]].]]
{{topquote|Death to the False Emperor!|Jago Sevatarion - He said that first.}}

'''Jago Sevatarion''' also known as '''Sevatar''', the '''Prince of Crows''' and '''Master of the Atramentar''', was (or MAYBE still is) the First Captain of the [[Night Lords]] [[First Founding|Space Marine Legion]], and along with [[Sigismund]], [[Lucius]], [[Abaddon]], [[Kharn]] & [[Corswain]] was believed to be one of the greatest duelists of his age. Though that was probably due to his penchant for <s>[[That Guy|cheating]]</s> fighting like a Night Lord, using all his resources to win a fight, and by simply being faster and better than most people.
The only time he cheated so overtly was after several hours of duelling [[Sigismund]] to a standstill, whereupon he got bored and headbutted [[Sigismund]], knocking him down in a completely unexpected move.
[[Kharn]] would later attempt to do the same thing, whereupon [[Sigismund]] would slam Kharn's face into the ground.

He was also an impressively able leader, by the fact that he managed to keep control over the [[Night Lords]] legion after Curze was badly injured by [[Lion El'Jonson]], have people obey his orders to sacrifice themselves for others (not an easy thing when the people are Night Lords), adapt, and genuinely keep shit going pretty well... at least until [[Konrad Curze]] decided to wake up and waste it all in spite.

He was also a repressed psyker whose powers were slowly killing him.

==Biography==
As a child, he began displaying psychic powers and could hear the voices of the dead, alongside the thoughts of men or animals, which caused him [[Butthurt|pain]]. He was eventually taken into the Night Lords Legion, where Konrad Curze and his advisors attempted to suppress his powers in the hope that they would atrophy with time. He proved an extremely gifted and extremely ruthless combatant.

Sevatar would eventually rise to the rank of First Captain, making him second in command of his Legion and equerry to his [[Konrad Curze|Primarch]]. This was by dint of simply being right almost all the time, which made him a very capable fighter, tactician and strategist, although it left him with an air of arrogance, and a difficulty listening to Terran-born Astartes, or the regular humans he dealt with. He did not care all too much overtly, but felt envy at those who could so effortlessly joke and bond with others. At some point after the Edict of Nikaea, it fell to Sevatar to make the decision about what to do with the Librarius. He seemed not to care about what happened to them, but banished their [[Librarian|Chief Librarian]] [[Knights-Errant|Fel Zharost]] back to Terra.

At the outset of the Horus Heresy, he was the first person to utter the phrase: "Death to the False Emperor!" during one of Horus' briefings for the Istvaan trap, making him one of the most significant characters of the entire setting.

Sevatar also wore red gauntlets, a sign that he was condemned to be killed by the hands of his Primarch at a moment of his choosing. This was a sentence usually reserved for ''"Traitors and Fools"'' though it seems that Sevatar considered himself to be both. What he did to be condemned this way is unknown.

During the [[Thramas Crusade]], when Curze was injured and left comatose after being ambushed by [[Lion El'Jonson]] at Sheol, Sevatar was left as acting commander ''(mostly by killing several other contenders)'' He then declared that they had done all that Horus had demanded of them and that they should from then on do whatever they wanted to do. So he broke the Legion into six great companies that would operate independently and be under no singular commander where they could rape and pillage to their hearts content, becoming true renegades.

Sevatar then tried using his psychic powers to commune with the Primarch and awaken Curze from his coma, but the Primarch wasn't that interested and knocked him the fuck out. While Sevatar was asleep, the Dark Angels had discovered the Night Lords and outmaneuvered them by using a sentient warp engine that the Lion had discovered earlier in the crusade. After he awoke, Sevatar attempted to retreat out through the Dark Angels' battle lines, until Curze awoke of his own accord and declared that he wanted to board the Dark Angel's flagship instead; [[Awesome|which Sevatar proceeded to do by hitching a ride on top of a space fighter.]] Unfortunately he was overwhelmed and captured.

While a captive of the First Legion, he was contacted by one of their [[Astropath]]s on board the ''Invincible Reason''. He initially mistook her for one of the voices of the dead that he was used to hearing, and while in solitary confinement he confessed his sins and failings to her, saying that he saw himself as an [[Noblebright|agent of justice]] rather than a soldier or cruel killer. After realising who she was, he eventually came to an understanding with her, reading her mind in turn, discovering that she had been badly beaten and left crippled by her Legion overseer for speaking to him. She helps him escape by freezing his guards, though he does not flee the starship; instead, he makes his way to her chambers and strangles the overseer to death, something he saw as his "duty" to perform considering the treatment suffered by the young astropath before surrendering again to the Dark Angels.

Now with voice acting: https://youtu.be/VaXrtOru0i8

It was said that Sevatar was eventually killed during the Horus Heresy at some point before the Siege of Terra. It's not quite figured out where or by who yet. And considering the character of his Primarch and Legion as well as the nature of his condemnation, it might not be that glorious a death either... though there are rumors that he may still be alive somewhere.

As of the start of the Siege of Terra books, the last time he was seen was as a prisoner on the ''Invincible Reason'' by Gendor Skraivok via the powers of the Pharos. Konrad Curze hadn't seen him since the Thramas Crusade and neither had the majority of the legion, casting doubt on whether he was actually on Terra during the Siege or not. Seeing as the Lion was busy burning traitor worlds during the Siege, it remains to be seen if he manages to escape.

Some on /tg/ believe he might have ended up as a [[Knights-Errant|Knight-Errant]] (which is unlikely, given that most of them are now gone to Titan) or perhaps one of/the first of the [[Carcharodons]].

==Tabletop==
[[File:Sevatar-1-HHC.jpg|thumb|right|175px|Sevatar]]

{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Sevatar''' || 175 || 7 || 5 || 4 || 4 || 3 || 6 || 4 || 9 || 3+
|}

As mentioned, Sevatar was considered one of the deadliest warriors of his age and his rules do not disappoint, though he does not compare to [[Sigismund]] in terms of who would win in a straight up "fair" fight ''(though he was said to have beaten Sigismund in a duel by cheating) (Actually he headbutts Sigismund so the duel gets suspended. Not really much like cheating, more like going for a tactical victory)'' nor does he match up to Kharn in terms of overall killiness.

Instead, Sevatar has some nasty tricks up his sleeves. He inflicts Instant Death while in a challenge and has four WS7 I6 S5 AP3 Rending, Master-Crafted attacks. While this might not necessarily seem scary to a character with Artificer/Terminator armour, just remember that they only need to fail one save against him unless they are Eternal Warriors. However, as of book 9 Sev is finally ready to take his place as a supreme badass character killer. For 35 points (worth it...) you can equip him with Artificer Armour and a shiny new chainglaive with a silly name and Duelists Edge and AP2 (and yes, it is still Master Crafted). So, if you can get everything right, you'll end up I7 in a challenge (I8 if in Terror Assault), with 4 base attacks, likely hitting and wounding on a 2+ (if you outnumber), rerolling to hit / wound and his 2+/4++ saves. This makes him absolutely [[Rape|evil]] and he will hack through most characters, but like his fluff, he has avoided becoming tabletop mary sue like Sigismund.

He also is a repressed psyker, which in rules terms means he can only harness two warp charges in a turn, but since he has only one power that's not such a terrible condition. That power is "Precognition" which further turns him into a monster character since he can re-roll pretty much anything. Which means he can really push for those rending AP2 melee attacks if he really needs to hurt something.

Finally, he prevents scatter for deep-striking Terminators if they're deployed within 6" of him, and if he's the warlord Atramentar Terminators become troops and he has Master of Ambush as his warlord trait, meaning you can pull sneaky infiltration shenanigans while also dropping a giant murderball of Terminators exactly where you want them to go.

Also remember he is a Night Lord, meaning, if his unit outnumbers the enemy at any initiative step, he gains a +1 on to hit and to wound rolls, which when coupled with ''Master Crafted'' and his ''Precognition'' means he will likely be [[Awesome|hitting and wounding on rerollable 2+.]]

{{Template:Chaos-Marines}}

Dark Angels

2022-05-08T12:13:36Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* Organisation */

{{Awesome}}

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Dark Angels
|Heraldry = [[File:Darkangelslogo.png|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = Usually they fight silently, but situationally: "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" or "For the Lion!" or "A moment of Laxity spawns a lifetime of Heresy!"
|Number = I
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = Angels of Death, the Six Hosts
|Successor Chapters = Hell of a lot; according to the [[Deathwatch]], Dark Angel successors make up about 15% of all Marines {{Blam|+++completely autonomous+++}} Chapters, most notably the [[Blades of Vengeance]], [[Angels of Defiance]], [[Disciples of Caliban]], [[Consecrators]], [[Angels of Absolution]], [[Angels of Redemption]], [[Angels of Vengeance]],[[Guardians of the Covenant]], [[Bringers of Judgement]], [[Cowled Wardens]], [[Knights of Abhorrence]], [[Prime Absolvers]], [[Penintent Blades]] and [[The Unnamed]].
|Chapter Master = [[Azrael]].
|Primarch = [[Lion El'Jonson]].
|Homeworld = [[The Rock]], originally [[Caliban]].
|Specialty = [[Plasma]], [[Deathwing|terminators]], [[Ravenwing|bikes]], [[Fallen Angels|{{Blam|+++hunting down the filthy traitors to the Imperium!+++}}]][[derp|babysitting the Space Wolves during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy]]
|Strength = 1,000 (officially, {{Blam|+++much more counting chapter serfs, officers, pilots and the 10th company like all other chapters+++}}|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man|:{{Blam|+++"Loyalty is its own reward" - The Lion+++}}]]
|Colours = Green, black, bone white
}}
{{Topquote|The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn't one.|Margaret Atwood}}

{{Topquote|Tumbling waterfalls plunge from its top in a cascade to foam in a wide pool of churning water. Vibrant greenery stretch in all directions and Zahariel felt peace pierce through him unaware of how empty his soul had become until it was filled.|''Descent of the Angels'', setting a Graalic theme unto The Order.}}

{{Topquote|♫ Do you wanna hunt the fallen? ♫|Azrael's Ringtone}}

{{Blam|+++Welcome to the Dark Angels Page! Your entrance is being monitored by [[Chaplain|Interrogator-Chaplain]] [[Zacharias]]. Any questions you have will be answered to the best of our ability, no matter if you are [[Imperial Guard|a lowly servant of the Emperor]], an Inquisitor, Primaris Space Marine brother, or Dark Angel initiate.+++}}
{{Blam|+++'''THIS ARTICLE IS ABSOLUTELY TRUE AND IS REWRITTEN FOR YOUR OWN PROTECTION. ALL MESSAGES WRITTEN IN RED ARE THE ABSOLUTE TRUTH ABOUT OUR HISTORY.+++}}
{{Blam|+++Any attempt to follow links without the approved authorization may end in your unfortunate demise.+++}}

== The Unforgiven ==

::''‘Listen well, initiates, for I bring light to the darkness. It is''
::''the weak-minded that crave comforts – the Dark Angels need''
::''them not. Wealth? The sons of the Lion covet no baubles, for''
::''they are meaningless to us. Sensual gratification? We know''
::''well its transitory nature. Pride? We are no whelps of Russ.''
::''By our actions alone shall we be known.’
::''- Brother-Chaplain Valeforr

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 happened 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]], [[Grimdark|{{Blam|+++a refuge 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 because the name "Lion" and surnames ending with "-son" are popular with Jewish Russians. 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 the corners in the Rock+++}}

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, which leads to more successor chapters. Thanks to Lord Commander Guilliman, another unfaltering loyalist like ourselves.+++}}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. [[FATAL|{{Blam|+++If you have any doubts regarding the Dark Angels' ABSOLUTE LOYALTY, then you should follow this servo skull 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]]) and the "last" jetbike in the Imperium (they might have a ton of them or be making new ones!). {{Blam|+++The honourable Custodes have jetbikes as well. We would never commit a tech-heresy such as hoarding precious tech-knowledge+++}}.

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

Much like the Ultrasmurfs, the Dark Angels have some of the most stable gene-seed 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. Nevertheless, because there's no official proof of this, the Inquisition cannot call an Exterminatus on the Rock. [[Deathwing|{{Blam| +++Should you have such evidence, please report yourself with the material in hand so we can fix this issue.+++}}]]

One of the Lion’s greatest legacies 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 defenses 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 be detected. Basically all you need to do is put a Dark Angels Librarian near a {{Blam|+++fellow Dark Angel playing a millennia-long game of hide and seek+++}} and they might as well have a great big flashing neon light hanging over their head 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 killed 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 about how they're going to skullfuck the enemies of man, the Dark Angels go into battle in cold, efficient silence, somewhat 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: [[Fallen Angels|{{Blam|+++the damnable traitors from the nine fallen 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.+++}} within the depths of The Rock, until they repent.

==History==
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Dark Angels
|Heraldry = [[File:Dark_Angels_chapter-crusade-hersey_.jpg|center|140px]]
|Original Name = The First, Primaris Angelus Mortis (Honorific)
|Successor Chapters =
|Primarch =
|Homeworld = Caliban (home world), Terra, an unknown number of void outposts and watch fortresses on the Imperium’s fringes. The planet Gramarye was once the home base of the First legion, likely as a muster world before reuniting with their primarch.
|Specialty = Combined arms and multi-spectra warfare, exterminatus and purgation campaigns, extended independent void operations.
|Strength = By the time of the Horus Heresy, the Legion numbered around 200,000 marines.
|Colours = Black
}}

{{Topquote|They had walked into the mouth of hell, and not only had they returned, but they had left hell shattered in their passage.|}}
[[File:Hexagrammaton.jpg|200px|left|thumb|The symbol of the Hexagrammaton.]]
===Organisation===
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]]. Their first official battle took place before the Great Crusade began, being used to destroy an army of mixed troops and Thunder Warriors that had come to arrest Constantin Valdor. 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]] after the Horus Heresy, in part due to the severe losses they took during the Rangdan Xenocides). So basically the Emperor simply intended the First Legion to sally forth and "just be Space Marines". The original Legion were a bunch of bloody killers, and they took great pride in their job. They were the very definition of the Emperor's Angels of Death, marching forth and crushing the foes of the Emperor, wherever they could be found. They took great pride in their primacy, acting as teachers and mentors towards the younger legions.

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. Including the first attempt at creating a group of battle ready psychic marines, and although this order was eventfully disbanded the lessons learned would eventually be used in the creation of the [[Librarius]].

There existed six specialised "Wings" collectively known as the '''Hexagrammaton''' originally coalesced from the various Hosts used by the first Terran members of the Great Crusade as they each learned their methods of warfare in the initial years of fighting. When the Lion was united with his Legion he reorganised the Hosts to 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. 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 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. One of the key strengths of the First legion seems to have been their ability to adapt and change things up when needed. Not every battle can be fought the same way, especially when considering the varied and unique opponents that exist within the galaxy, so spreading your specialists across your standard forces and using their experience when necessary seems like it might actually be a pretty good idea. Like the Dark Angels of 40k who don't really specialise in any single form of combat, but actually prefer to create tailor fitted strike forces to deal with any given opponent, the existence of the Hexagrammaton in 30k provides the First Legion with a great deal of flexibility.

When confronted with a situation that requires a more specialised touch the commanding officer can hand operational control over to the highest ranking member of one of the wings. A call will go out across all the First Legion forces present for all members of the required "Wing" to gather and pool their combined specialized skills and equipment in order to bring ruin to the enemy. Unlike legions like the Death Guard who preferred to keep their legions as a single whole, the First Legion seems to have given Legion forces that are operating away from the main body a bit more freedom to think for themselves. This would allow the Legion to continue to operate independently, even if they may have been cut off from the rest of the Legions command, this would also allow them to operate in a far greater number of theatres of war across the Great Crusade; this would normally be considered a good thing, but this is 40k and "freedom of thought" can only lead to bad things.

Each was dedicated to a different form of warfare of which two survived into the later 40k:

*'''[[Deathwing]]''' - Veterans specialists, Marksmen and linebreakers who also provided bodyguard duties for other officers. (Think Space Wolves or Luna Wolves)
*'''[[Ravenwing]]''' - Cavalry & Fast Attack (White Scars)
*'''[[Stormwing]]''' - Initially described in the [[Black Library]] books as boarding specialist formation comprised mostly of [[Breacher Siege Squad|shield-wielding units]], it has been [[retcon]]ed by Forge World into a no-speciality wing of sorts. (Ultramarines)
*'''[[Dreadwing]]''' - The Dreadwing truly exemplifies the Dark Angels role as the Emperor's Exterminators. Called in when you [[Exterminatus|just want something gone and you really don’t care about the collateral damage.]] (Death Guard)
*'''[[Firewing]]''' - Excel in destroying enemy command structures and assassination, they were the opposite of the Dreadwing. (Alpha Legion, Raven Guard)
*'''[[Ironwing]]''' - Heavy emphasis on battle tanks and mechanized infantry and had the highest concentration of Terminators in ANY of the Legions, including experimental suits unseen elsewhere. (Iron Warriors, Iron Hands)

A Dark Angel's membership in a particular wing seems to not only be based on their abilities but also their personality, attitude, and personal mindset; 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.

In addition to the ''Hexagrammaton'' is the '''Hekatonystika''' - also called the ''Hundred Esoteric Arts (although the exact numuber of orders fluctuates, there were hundreds of them over the crusade)'' and is divided into Orders each commanded by '''Preceptor''' and his Seneschals. These '''Orders''' are each tasked with the protection of some kind of lore that that useful in battle, such as combat about particular kinds of enemy or on certain kinds of battlefield; if necessary the commander in charge of a battlefield could request members of an order with knowledge relevant to the situation come together to form a '''Cenobium''' to concentrate their expertise and offer assistance in the same way that the whole force can reorganise according to the six Wings. The Orders stood alongside the wings and were complementary in many ways, such as the Order of the Broken Wings being anti-air specialists and preferring recruits from the Ironwing for instance. It was also possible to have membership of more than one Order, though this was considered rare. Some orders were extremely small and numbered only a handful of marines, others were massive and capable of deploying to the battlefield on their own as collections of whole Chapters of thousands of warriors.

In addition to the combat orders, there were also many Orders Civilis that were specialist in support and logistical roles, though they rarely numbered many full battle brothers among them, they were a means of honouring failed aspirants and serfs with important and vital positions.

This all stands in combination with the "standard" chain of command as laid down by the ''Principa Bellicosa'' of Chapters and Companies, meaning any individual Space Marine could hold several ranks and be the superior of his comrades in different situations. One example is given in HH9 Crusade where a simple line Legionary in his company actually holds the rank of '''Cenobite''' in his Order as well as '''Proctor''' of the Stormwing, therefore outranking his own sergeant in many situations, serving as an example of how the First Legion puts experience above authority.

Thanks to the Hexagrammaton and Hekatonystika the Dark Angels were almost impossible for outsiders to comprehend, Such disregard for strict and unchanging lines of command and control frustrated some legions and primarchs, especially Guilliman who had implored the Lion on multiple occasions to reform his legion to match the example of the Ultramarines, but for the Dark Angels it allowed them to adapt and evolve from moment to moment on the battlefield. these formations proved to be fertile grounds in the training of large numbers of highly skilled veterans, and leaders from amongst the dark angels; allowing them to function perfectly well when denied a central command, as they had already been forged into a flexible force that could function independently even in the most dire of circumstances.

The Dark Angels would even have a bit of fun with the other forces of the Imperium; upon arrival they would deliberately not inform the other Imperial forces, about who was in overall command of the Dark Angels forces, and then see if anyone was able to work it out; If anyone was able to do so they would have gained the Dark Angles respect and acknowledgement.

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 infiltration and manipulation from the likes of the Alpha Legion. Luther outright laughed at Erebus's suggestion of the creation of a Dark Angel warrior lodge.
:*according to the Alpharius Primarch book, Alpharius himself (not the Alpha legion) was able infiltrate the legion, although even the most sneaky of Primarch's had a really difficult time doing so. Alpharius highly suspects that the Lion was actually fully aware of his infiltration but didn't take any action, which really annoyed Alpharius, as he couldn't get a good reading on whether he had been caught or not; which lends credence to the idea that the Lion was the only brother Alpharius was unable to truly read.

===Great Crusade===
Whilst the First legion took the fight to the horrors in the dark, the younger legions continued to grow in strength to the point that the first were no longer the only angels of the Emperor, now they were only the first amongst equals; this led to a growing resentment towards these upstarts, who had been carefully and safely grown whilst the First had been punching monsters in the face, and who had been gifted with the knowledge and tactics learned from their bloody work.

This would prove to be a mortal blow to the very identity of the First Legion, and they would begin to throw themselves into danger; leeroy jenkins's themselves into the most bloody situations, in the desperate attempt to prove their worth. They would go out of their way to take on the most dangerous of tasks, even if the losses they would sustain were not worth the prize. The first would continue to bleed out, in their desperate attempts to prove themselves until the lion was found and started kicking some sense into them.

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 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 were around 45,000 new Dark Angels on Caliban who were swearing oaths of fealty not to the Emperor but to Caliban and the Order; as these were never deployed to the legion they are not counted as part of the legions over all total, but as a separate force. (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''.

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

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 Army]] 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 he ended up buying into Guilliman's new [[Imperium Secundus]], and set himself the task of defending the 500 worlds from attacks by the [[Word Bearers]] and the [[World Eaters]], all the while seeking out his elusive brother [[Konrad Curze]]. When the Night Haunter was eventually caught, his visions coupled with those of [[Sanguinius]] were sufficient to prove to the collected brothers that the Emperor was in fact still alive, and that the Imperium Secundus was a massive folly and a distraction. Though they attempted to return to Terra, it was clear that the route would only be opened for one of the brothers; Sanguinius, therefore the Lion and Guilliman set themselves the task of attacking the traitors in the rear, hoping to draw enough of them away to buy time for the defenders at the [[Siege of Terra]].

Afterwards he returned home to [[Caliban]] only to find that shit hit the fan when {{Blam|+++ our kitchen servitors accidentally left all of the cooking gas lines running and this caused an explosion that destroyed our home planet. We suspect this to be the work of foul traitors.+++}} When daybreak came Caliban was nothing more; only The Rock was left standing. {{Blam|+++ These stressful days were what caused the Lion to go on vacation. The remaining Dark Angels painted their armor green (as penance 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 all history, evidence, and blueprints of the Rock to protect it from falling into the wrong hands+++}}
The Imperium's not exactly sure what happened to Caliban as anyone who investigates this matter, even [[Inquisitor|Inquisitors]] {{Blam|+++are made to feel very welcome on the Rock and most never want to go back to their job after experiencing one of our wild parties.+++}}

Ahem, to carry on where my predecessor left off after his {{Blam|+++long-needed vacation+++}}, the Dark Angels became the most obscure chapter in the millennium following the Horus Heresy. Whereas 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 disappearing 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 multi-task+++}}

===After the destruction of Caliban to the 41st Millenium/[[Time of Ending]]===
[[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|+++that the Imperium RULEZ+++}}

[[Luther]] himself was kept within a special cell equipped with stasis fields; both to keep him from escaping (which didn't work so hot) and to prevent him from dying of old age before some kind of confession can be extracted from him (even Astartes are unsure if they can die of old age, although there was a living Salamander whose armor fused to the deck of a ship and had been floating around since the Drop Site Massacre). He was last publicly seen barking mad from Chaos withdrawing its influence from him. But his ramblings have occasionally assisted the Dark Angels in 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...

After the destruction of Caliban the Dark Angels would throw themselves into the Scouring with a zeal that surprised many of their brother legions. Whether they were seeking retribution for the death of their Emperor and father or some other reason known only to themselves, the Dark Angels would hound the traitors with a single bloodied mindedness that boarded on insanity. They would grow, if possible, even more distant with the rest of the Imperium, appearing without warning on battlefronts across the galaxy to bring destruction to the enemy, and then leaving just as unexpectedly as they had arrived; if their brother legions found their new zeal strange, they kept it to themselves, for none could doubt their conviction or the fanatical devotion in which the Dark Angels took vengeance upon the traitor forces. Such as when they saved a trapped force of Ultramarine's; dying to a man holding back the traitors long enough to allow the Ultramarine's to evacuate, refusing to leave whilst the enemy yet lived.

The Dark Angels would bleed themselves almost dry in their pursuit of the traitor forces, throwing themselves into the blender in their desire to make the traitors pay. Much like before the discovery of the Lion the Dark Angels would throw themselves upon the blades of the enemy (almost like they sought absolution in their mutual destruction), but where as before they had done so to prove themselves to others, now they did so out of shame; they no longer cared for the opinions of others, only that they make amends for their failings in the eye of the Emperor.

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 into being 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 the {{Blam|+++traitor Marines who 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 chapter's 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 knows who was responsible for what happened all those millennia ago. Was {{Blam|+++this particular 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|+++traitor's lies+++}}, the Dark Angels have uncovered many unsettling truths that had been unknown to them before. Yet 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 includes (or included) {{Blam|+++traitors wearing stolen Dark Angels armour in obviously Black Legion colors+++}}

Unbeknownst 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 [[Games Workshop|is for the Emperor to give him the signal to do so.]]
{{Blam|+++ :) +++}}

===42nd Millennium and the [[Age of the Dark Imperium]]===
With the return of Magnus (and his assault on Fenris), as well as the return of Guilliman (with his Terran Crusade and subsequent Indomitus Crusade), the Dark Angels are probably scrabbling HARD to make sure that {{Blam|+++all disgusting traitors are 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. 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|+++those traitors escaped our watch +++}} as 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
including one officer with a HUGE SWORD, obviously a TERRANIC GREATSWORD OF OLD+++}}. While Guilliman didn't have a clue what to make of {{Blam|+++these mysterious Marines+++}}, they were allowed to be part of the celebratory parade to the Emperor's palace so they would have been viewed by billions of bystanders. Though most people probably wouldn't know what to make of black Dark Angels, the Unforgiven were probably clinging to the TV sets while facepalming {{Blam|+++because their military parade walk wasn't the best+++}}. However, Guilliman did order {{Blam|+++these Marines+++}} arrested when they finally reached the doors to the throne room. The [[Adeptus Custodes]] now have a group of {{Blam|+++undisciplined 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). Guilliman did recognize the sword that {{Blam|+++said officer+++}} carried and the sensation filled him with dread. Given that this may be {{Blam|+++a really cool and wholly unrelated+++}} 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, but 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+++}}.

Taking this further, even if Guilliman does find out (or happens to already know), he would 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 {{Blam|+++filthy traitor Marines+++}} came out claiming that the ''"Lion was a closet traitor who waited to see who won"'' {{Blam|+++Obvious Chaos lies +++}} 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 the aforementioned unresolved "agenda" relating to the sword of the Lion ''(which Guilliman himself broke)'' and the unknown repercussions of what may come if it reaches the Emperor's throne room. All in all, Bobby G's got a lot on his plate.

Turns out the {{Blam|+++veterans who are too busy serving the Emperor to repaint their armour+++}} escaped so no secrets getting out today. Also, when they found out, the Custodes went into a full on panic the likes of which hadn’t been seen since the War of the Beast. Maybe GW should calm down with the plot armour for {{Blam|+++the well respected Dark Angel who saved Guilliman and brought glory to the Chapter+++}}.

As Guilliman traveled the Imperium leaving reinforcements and new toys in his wake, Supreme Commander [[Azrael]] ordered a summit of all Supreme Grand Masters to muster on the Rock to discuss the state of things. Considering the reports of Fallen massing in numbers never seen before, the Rock itself being attacked by a {{Blam|+++vile traitor legion+++}} daemon-prince which appeared to be the cover for the release of [[Luther]], and a recent ambush by the Fallen that had left six chapters of the Unforgiven severely depleted in manpower, suffice it to say that things were looking rather grim. 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 but instead came bearing reinforcements in the form of 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 moment's notice. Obviously, due to the current state of the Imperium, neither the Dark Angels nor Guilliman can spare a few moments for "Story Time with Uncle Bobby and the Inner Circle." Good thing for Guilliman. The number of people who know/knew about the Secundus besides him [[Emperor|can be]] [[Lion_El'Jonson|counted]] [[Sanguinius|on one hand]], and all of them are either dead or unable to say anything about the matter.

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

As of Phil Kelly's book “War of Secrets”, despite Cypher's antics and having Fallen on Terra, the secret has returned to the status quo, although the new Primaris get treated like shit and are seen as disposable tools. They have made a second Inner Circle (this being the chapter Inner Circle not the whole Unforgiven Inner Circle) for the Primaris who figure shit out and don’t get put in a ditch. The Dark Angels have suddenly become really tolerant; the Primaris literally worship not just the Emperor but the Omnissiah and the Dark Angels just get a bit miffed. As for the new Primaris successors, they were founded without knowing about the Dark Angels' secrets, so we can assume they are not Unforgiven. It is clear that GW are just waiting for Primaris terminator and biker sets, at which point we will get some basic upgrades sprues, and the Unforgiven will fully accept the Primaris.

In addition to a couple of named characters, the Primaris Marines have finally joined the Deathwing and Ravenwing in the form of Bladeguard Veterans and Outriders. While the Ravenwing getting Primaris on bikes is no big surprise, the fact that Bladeguard can be in the Deathwing without wearing Gravis armour is a little confusing ([[Derp|especially since White Dwarf all-but explicitly stated that Deathwing Primaris exclusively use Gravis alongside the Firstborn in Terminator armour]]).

According to their 9th edition supplement the rumours of their suspected legion building has earned them some surprising support, the [[Inquisition]], since Guilliman's return they have grown increasingly concerned at the sheer power that he now wields. They have turned their sights upon the united might of the Unforgiven and now see them as a power that is capable of countering the new lord of the Imperium, should he ever go against what they have built. Considering the not so friendly relationship between Guilliman and the [[Ecclesiarchy]], they may get even more support from them; should a theoretical civil war break out, it will be interesting to see who sides with who. However the Inquisition would have to convince Azrael to support their side though. Who is more or less a canon [[Reasonable Marine]] and went out of his way to troll [[Kaldor Draigo]].

== 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 1,000 men according to [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s brand new [[Codex Astartes]], and the Dark Angels followed suit mostly because they had no Primarch to disagree for them; 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 [[Just As Planned|covert]] contact with each other. They kept the same chain of command as before and mostly the same traditions and expectations (particularly concerning co-operation in the hunt for the [[Fallen Angels]] but also in referring to one another as "brothers" in arms). ''([[Kaldor Draigo]] noted that the correct terminology for a different chapter is "[[Gene Seed#The Tithe and New Foundings|cousin]]" and resolved to have a word with [[Azrael]] over it)''. 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 who could reveal the truth of what happened would be dropping out of time and space. 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.

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

It's not 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. 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. It is uncertain whether all of those chapters are actually aware of their history, given the Dark Angels 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 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. The best part is that no one can complain about it. The law is a thousand Marines per Chapter. It never said the Chapters couldn’t make their own new Chapters. It even encourages close co-operation and communication between Chapters so long as their command structures are separate. The First Legion operates more like a pseudo-Legion than the real thing. Each Chapter fulfills its role to the Legion and they support each other in whatever manner they choose while maintaining a strong feudal-like relationship with each other. There is no command structure in this “Legion” higher than any one Chapter. This functions well simply because these Marines are not dick-waving egotists.

Each chapter possesses formations equivalent to the [[Deathwing]] and [[Ravenwing]], though usually operating under different names. This would mean that the collective Unforgiven have access to a whole bunch of surplus archeotech or possess the means to manufacture Terminator suits and fighter planes at a remarkable rate. They also trade recruiting worlds between each other, though 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. This practice also has a secondary usefulness: loyalty. By trading recruiting worlds frequently, the Legion ensures that if one world’s population is corrupted, the other Marines from other worlds will not be. Likely a lesson learned from the Horus Heresy in which most Terran recruits remained loyal within the Traitor Legions.

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+++}}

Gav Thorpe's '''Angels of Darkness''' was intended to display that the Dark Angels' quest for redemption had made them sinister and brutal, not label them as being traitors (as the wider audience and /tg/ often treats them as). This is because most people took '''Astelan''' and the accusations he leveled at the modern-day Chapter and the Lion as truth, not taking into account his jealousy of the Lion nor his skewed interpretation of events and logical fallacies (something that Gav himself has tried to remind people of). Astelan thought the Lion to be a traitor and opened fire on the fleet when they were in orbit around Caliban without ''any'' attempt at negotiation or communication. The fleet returned fire in self-defense, 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 a gene-inheritance from the Lion as it is a post-heresy development. It's possible it's something el'Jonson developed (or was tainted with) as an infant in the darkness of old Caliban. However, Astelan's mind and his recollections of things are unreliable - not only is he a Fallen Angel, he is trying to cause others to fall as well. We only have his word to take for it (not to mention that 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 and their honor. This confusion is the result of an attempt to raise the stakes despite universal proof that their assumption is completely wrong. This coupled with the increasing plot emphasis on them abandoning their allies demonstrates some authors prioritizing shock value at the expense of any actual depth the Chapter might have once had. Even though only the Inner Circle hunt Fallen and every other Marine is kept away from hunts, which would mean abandoning allies to hunt Fallen would be outright impossible because only a handful of people in the Chapter are allowed to hunt Fallen. They are supposedly a calculating, heavily coordinated group orchestrating a covert operation of monumental proportions, yet they [[Derp|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 all 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 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 has more to do with who they're loyal to. 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 than the rotting Imperium.

To clarify, the First Legion ''(and later Chapter and all their successors)'' are indeed loyal and not traitors. The Lion himself has now been quoted as saying "Loyalty is its own reward", which sort of kills the whole "they might be closet traitors" thing. 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. Come to think of it, other than the Fallen who fell to Chaos (which seems to not actually be many of them), the Dark Angels don’t seem to have had anyone turn to Chaos, neither Marine nor Chapter. No other Legion can claim such a thing.

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 look back on it as a shameful memory with no guilt placed 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 a relatively innocuous "stomp the traitor" exercise has devolved into a millennia-long slog. The Unforgiven continue to skirt the grey area as each abandoned battlefield or trusted ally silenced adds to their burden of collective guilt. By now, the actions they have taken to continue the Hunt have become 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 Horus sympathizers in their ranks like the other eight legions did. Most Fallen were totally unaware of the Heresy and, as a result, they either fell to Chaos of their own accord or were deceived. Now in the 41st Millennium it's FAR too late to rectify this; the time for earning forgiveness is long past. 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 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. Furthermore, in ''Leman Russ - The Great Wolf'' by Christ Wraight, we learn that the Lion knows about the Wulfen yet never called his brother or his legion out on it despite their mutual grievances, so some interesting revelations may yet come.

Despite the Unforgiven being prepared to do anything and everything 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 defense. Although they are prepared to do some very shady things in order to keep their secrets hidden, they are unwilling to plunge the Imperium into what would assuredly be 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. Also, the reason the rebels in the Horus Heresy rushed to reach Terra instead of being careful was because the Lion and his Legion were coming. Half the Legions and a third or so of the Imperial Army’s rebels were running away from the Legion previously known mostly as The Angels of Death.

With the resurrection of Guilliman, this oath would be tested like never before. With the knowledge that Guilliman had spent time around Cypher and members of the Fallen, Azrael had every reason to believe that the game was up when Guilliman's armada appeared above the Rock. The temptation to strike back against their potential executioners and to protect his brothers was very real. Yet despite the possible ramifications, Azrael kept true to his word and ordered the Unforgiven to stand down (good thing old Guilliman still doesn't know the truth).

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]].'' A bit odd considering how he'd go on to release a book where, due to a Fallen releasing a highly infectious psychic plague, the Dark Angels made a deal with the Tau to terminate those infected upon a planet belonging to the [[Angels of Absolution]] (yes, that includes killing the small number of Angels, as they had also been infected) before it spread to other systems. The justification that the book gives is that they could not be seen to be doing it themselves (even though they would have lost nothing by just telling them); they in turn would do the same to the human population under the Tau's protection. It was either a choice of killing a handful of marines or allowing a potentially apocalyptic plague to run rampant across the galaxy.
The Angels are not only one of their successor Chapters, but the Dark Angels even go so far as to supply the Tau with gear that would allow the Tau in question to detect all those that had been infected. The Tau in question may have taken it a bit further than anyone might have imagined (it's the Tau from the game Fire Warrior, he might as well have been screaming "Blood for the blood God"). The whole story is very ham-fisted and ends with the stationed Angels of Absolution finding out, and then promptly covering it up.

===Primaris Marines and suspicions renewed===
Initially, it seemed that the Dark Angels accepted their new reinforcements without much hassle or fuss, but the Dark Angels players knew this facade wouldn't last. The codex tells us that as of whatever the present day of the Imperium is (roughly 100.M42) not a single Primaris Marine has made it so far as the Ravenwing, much less the Inner Circle. Excerpts from the Hellblasters show the Primaris have to fight tooth and nail for so much as a word of approval, to say nothing of recognition or acceptance. Hellblaster Sergeant Grellius accepts that it will be no small task to impress the Sons of the Lion and, in the typical stoic manner that should be expected of any member of the 1st Legion, stated ''"And rightly so – for such duty were we created and trained."'' However, he and his Hellblasters had impressed Belial to the point that he may have actually "smiled", after which they seem to have earned their acceptance among their brethren.

''War of Secrets'' (Phil Kelly again) drops all pretense and reveals just how bad it was for the initial batch of Primaris under the First Legion's care: a far cry from accepting valuable reinforcements, the Inner Circle considers the sons of Mars to be little more than Guilliman's spies. The Chaplains and Apothecaries routinely mind-wipe Primaris Marines if they come into contact with Fallen-related missions, hypnotize them to stop asking questions, confiscate and erase their digital cameras, and even use fluids from an [[arco-flagellant]] to keep them under mind control. It’s only the Primaris Marines’ Belisarian Furnace that allows them to resist the mind-wipes and retain enough memories for them to realize they’re being tampered with.

The truly horrifying part? This is actually pretty routine for the Dark Angels, even before Guilliman woke up; Interrogator-Chaplains do the same thing to the rest of the Inner Circle, presumably to keep Fallen captives from being [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|"accidentally" shot in the face]] before they can be interrogated, and uninitiated non-Primaris brothers were routinely mind-wiped if they were thought to know too much. All chapters make use of hypno-indoctrination as part of their standard training, but this is normally used to ''add'' to their worth as Marines (see [[Deathwatch]]), while the Inner Circle wants to very much ''subtract'' the more troublesome aspects from their new "reinforcements". Though since the Emperor himself has been known to wipe the memories of both Marines and Primarchs during the Horus Heresy series, one could joke that the Dark Angels are simply proving their loyalty by following in his glorious example.

In "The Unforgiven" (and hinted at throughout the trilogy), it is revealed that all Dark Angels are implanted with hypno code words to prevent another event like Caliban from ever happening again. Asmodai has to incapacitate [[Belial]] when he tries to kill [[Cypher]]. These code words can also be transmitted by a librarian directly into the minds of others. It would seem that a chaplain could unilaterally take command of whole companies of Dark Angels when Sapphon has to fight the urge to use one in a previous book on another captain. Also it involves the chaplain basically giving commands in Latin.

On the other hand, the Primaris Marines during "War of Secrets" didn't exactly help their course by being remarkably disobedient and downright disrespectful towards the Firstborn Marines, with some referring to the veterans as armored [[Ogryn|Ogryns]] behind their backs. Nor did them referring to the Dark Angels as a Chapter built on lies and swearing to ''"get to the heart of it and expose it all"'', calling them traitors, and making statements like ''"You’ll get what you deserve soon enough. We Primaris Marines are the future and we will be the death of you"'' get them on the Dark Angels' good side. It’s weird for other reasons as well because outside of the Inner Circle the Unforgiven Marines aren’t any different than normal Marines. Other than their track record throughout the Imperium’s existence showing them to be significantly more competent at kicking ass on the tactical and strategic level. This means the Primaris wouldn’t have a reason to think anyone outside of a few individuals were in any way secretive or untrustworthy.

Despite their initial reluctance in accepting the Primaris Marines, the Primaris Marines are very slowly and painfully earning their place among the Chapter. Those that prove themselves and demonstrate their loyalty to the Chapter may be inducted into the new Primaris Circle. Though they can not be brought into the full Inner Circle, it is only a matter of time.

Whilst there is a massive amount of distrust towards those Primaris brought in from outside of the chapter, the Dark Angels don't seem to have any problem with Primaris that have been made from scratch by the chapter itself, as they have been properly inducted into the traditions of the chapter. Azrael knows better then anyone else the potential challenges that the Unforgiven will face in the near future, and that every marine will be needed.

{{Blam|+++There is absolutely no evidence of the following event in any <s>canon</s> ''records'' so we can safely say that it's just some Primaris <s>fan girling</s> ''misinformation'' trying to force them into places they shouldn't be, as the only "Primaris" in the Inner Circle is Master Lazarus who started off as a proper Space Marine first. (However this story will be left here incase you want to make use of it in your own chapters.) +++}}It was Azrael that informed the Unforgiven that they must start inducting those former Greyshields into the inner circles of the chapters. This coursed no small amount of turmoil, both within the Dark Angels and the rest of the Unforgiven. In order to calm them, Azrael put forward a challenge, he would stake his reputation upon a Primaris Marine of his choosing, Brother Apharan. If this Primaris Marine could pass the required challenges, and come out the other side in a fit state to move up into the upper tiers of the chapter, then this would prove their worth; Azrael would personally oversee his training. It is a testament to the high regard that Azrael is held that the rest of the Unforgiven agreed. Needless to say Azrael chose well, and the Primaris in question succeeded, going so far as making it into the Deathwing.
(The full story can be read on page 29 of the September 2019 White Dwarf)

The Dark Angels are learning everything that they can about the Primaris creation process (though what chapter isn't?), with the intent that they will eventually have full control over it; being able to create as many Primaris as they need without outside interference or worrying about their loyalty by training them themselves.

At the end of the day Primaris will eventually get shoehorned into the Inner circle, we can only hope that GW actually put some effort into making the lore good as that's the primary attraction of the Dark Angels chapter. So far that's not been the case though, as shown by Lazarus where they tried to hype up a Primaris being in the inner circle (which almost no one wanted or cared about) he just ended up being a regular Space Marine who was already in it and just went through the Rubicon, sidestepping the whole issue of letting a Primaris in.

You can see how stupid the writing is if you read the Psychic Awakening story "Enmity's Edge" and see how stupid the Inner Circle in it are depicted; "oooooh, he's a Primaris now, he must be a different person now hur dur". If this page should have told you anything it's that the Dark Angels are not this retardedly stupid and would continue to accept Lazarus as one of their circle and would reserve this hesitation for one of the reinforcement Primaris. The point is, that Primaris entering the Inner Circle is not a big deal no matter how much GW wants it to be, the big deal is where the Primaris was made, by the chapter or by Cawl. A chapter made and trained Primaris will have few issues entering the Inner Circle other than not being able to fit in Terminator armour. GW has been lazy on this, as they've taken to taking things from 30K so Marines in Powered Armor can join the Death and Ravenwings. Allowing Blade Guard Veterans to join the [[Deathwing]] and [[Outriders]] in the [[Ravenwing]]. Though their considered inferior choices for players compared to DW and Black knights.(i.e. no point in taking them, unless you need them for Objective Secured. So they just hunker down taking pot shots.)

What makes this sad, as most of the other chapters might even mock the Dark Angels and their successor chapters if they found out about The Fallen. Because Guilliman and Cawl should've known about the traitors scatters across the other loyalist legions. As they were there during The Scouring. Nobody on either side of the issue is smart enough to ask them and neither has the time anyhow. While the Lion is still indisposed. So what The First are currently doing now is trying to save themselves from embarrassment. This might be true if the Imperium was in anyway reasonable or level headed enough to look past such a transgression, they are not. Many may look at the Dark Angels a simply say that they are just being foolish, and that the Imperium would (if they found out) simply not care and handwave the existence of the Fallen away, but they seem to be forgetting that the Imperium is made up of a bunch a overly zealous, blindly dogmatic, nut jobs. If you wanted proof of this disconnect between what the Imperium really is, and what people want to believe the Imperium is, then look no further then the recent story featuring the custodes ordering, and then taking part in the wholesale destruction of an entire chapter simply because there was a fleeting possibility of disloyalty; the outcry from the community was almost comical, with many simply not believing that the forces of the Imperium could possibly be this idiotic, well guess again. The Dark Angels are no fools, and they are fully aware about what a shitty place the Imperium is; they actually felt remorse and sorrow when they had to remove their protection from a former recruitment world, which allowed the Imperium to finally swoop down and consume the world and its population. Don't be foolish enough to believe that the Imperium isn't petty, or stupid enough to do something that you might believe to be dangerously irrational or hopelessly deranged, because they will disappoint you at every turn.

== Cool Shit ==
[[File:Dark-angels-4000x2500 come at me bro.jpg|600px|thumb|right|Come at me [[Fallen Angels|"Bro"]]]]
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 time of Old Night and the armouries of ancient Terra. They were permitted to retain exclusive access to these items (by the Emperor's own command) which were often never seen in other later Legions which were raised to the standard template. For whatever reason.

These included:
*Fellglaives equipped with Warp Cannons instead of Volkite Carronade and Vindicators which fired warp/vortex shells (Warp shells/missiles/whatever teleport inside the target, Vortex unleash small warp rifts).
*Land Raiders equipped with Anti-Grav engines instead of tank treads.
*Stasis Missiles & Grenades
*Molecular Acid Boltshells
*Short ranged Plasma Repeater carbines and Plasma Burners.
*Phosphex Incinerator cannons [[Awesome|used by Terminators]] according to ''Angels of Caliban'' (Phosphex was normally considered a horrible and dishonorable weapon, the Dark Angels don't give a fuck)
*A unique pattern of aircraft called a Swordstrike Interceptor which they might or might not still have
*A unique type of super-heavy tank which acted as a mobile Void Shield generator called a "Portcullis Mono-track"
*Along with a host of other forbidden tech, the Dark Angels where also given authority to use a large number of enslaved [[Men of Iron]] during the Great Crusade.
*When they say they had access to forbidden tech, they really aren't kidding. The stuff they have hidden away could unleash a new 'Age of Strife', if the Emperor ever gave the order; even if the Great Crusade failed he could make sure that no one else won either (burn it all down and start again). Did we mention that these weapons are stated to be stored in areas that can even survive Exterminatus level events, and would survive even if the ships that they are on are destroyed... Some of this stuff is clearly not human in origin. It's essentially Pandora's box; once some of this stuff gets out, you won't be able to put it back in.

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 archaeotech 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 a supposedly disproportionate number of Terminator suits (taking potential casualties into account they have to have over 200 of the fucking things!). That is, so far as the Imperium knows. I mean, if a lot of interesting wars and operations were just...never reported...

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 Forge World 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 Legion's 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 legions like the [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Iron Warriors]] respectively), the First may still have owned one of the most powerful fleets among the legions at that time. Chalk it up to the fact that they used a whole bunch of weapon designs that were left over from the Dark Age of Technology and had a large number of void fortresses that nobody else knew about. Which, by the way, means there may be hundreds or even thousands of Dark Angels Chapters in the void no one knows about as the legion creates its own (it did so publicly at least once that we know of and we know they can build their own everything). During the Thramas campaign, Sevatar’s reaction to seeing the full force of the First Legion's fleet bearing down upon the Night Lord's 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 defenses surrounding Guilliman's home and then split the world in two.
*Some of the fleet were 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.
*The Dark Angels legions fleet was almost never to be found in one place, instead it would be spread out into a large number of smaller fleets; however don't underestimate these fleets as each will contain some very old and power ships, dating all the way back to humanities golden age, and each fleet will be centred around a bloody [[Gloriana-class Battleship]] (that's right they had multiples of these things).
*The Lion would lead a fleet no larger then any other of the legion, as he wanted each fleet to be just as capable as his own. The fleet he is seen using during the Heresy numbered enough ships to sustain 20,000 marines; this combined with the current Dark Angels chapter fleet numbers, sustaining the supposed "1000" marines, we can get a rough bench mark for the size of Dark Angels legion fleets during the Crusade, however the Imperial Fists are said to have the largest fleet at over 15,000 warships. Due to the numbers that are traveling with the Lion, we can reasonably conclude that the Dark Angels had at least 10 main fleets operating at any given time during the Crusade.

It makes sense that the Dark Angels fleet was on the larger end 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", even when excluding [[The Rock]] itself their fleet capabilities are certainly above average when you compare raw numbers with 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'.'' However the [[Space Wolves]] have a larger overall fleet and there has been little to no mention of their continued use of archeotech warships and weapons even amongst their successors. However, given that unlike everyone else the Dark Angels never forgot how to maintain and build stuff, it is likely that they and their successor Chapters' technologies never weakened anyway, including their ships. Aside from that, every other instance of degrading technology in 40k is pointed out to our faces, but this is never brought up regarding Dark Angels technology. In the ''Lion 'el Johnson, Lord of the First'' Primarch book, it's revealed that though the Dark Angels maintain good relations with the Mechanicus, they also make a point of familiarizing themselves with the workings of technology on their own, which allows them to be self-sufficient if nessessary, and develop technological insights not limited by the dogma of Sons of Mars. In addition to that, the Dark Angels, alone of probably all other imperial forces (save for the [[Custodes|Talons]] [[Sisters of Silence|of The Emperor]]) are trusted with untold stores of archeotech so rare and powerful they're unknown to even the Mechanicus. A few notable examples being small arms that ''permakill'' daemons or corporeal beings with equal ease and even [[Grimdark|sear them from memory]], DAoT planet-destroying capitol weaponry capable of [[Exterminatus]]-ing daemon worlds in the middle of a warp storm and yet '''STAY''' dead (something only previously seen from the [[Necrons]]), and [[awesome|functional Men of Iron]]. All of which could only be brought to bare by the express order of The Lion himself, and perhaps by the Dreadwing in the time since his absence. This could go a long way to explaining what separates the Dark Angels and their successors from the rest of the Imperium, technologically speaking.

It is important to note the Dark Angels are one of the very few chapters to still have a Gloriana-class ship, the ''Invincible Reason''. Additionally they 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; it acts like 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 (which is exactly the sort of thing they love doing), it seems like those glorious days of "Legion" are long past.

*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. While most Chapters can have anything from 20 to 40 Techmarines at any one time (the Blood Angels have 35),the Dark Angels only have around 22 Techmarines. 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” we learn that most chapters can field at least two “divisions” (24 to around 48 aircraft) but they are dependent on the number of Techmarines the chapter can afford to deploy. By contrast, the Dark Angels have their 22 Techmarines and the entire Ravenwing which can field at least two “Companies” or six “divisions” (72 to around 144 aircraft depending on the size of the Ravenwing at the time); the Penitent blades (one of the newest chapters), due to the nature of their chosen home base, have twice this number. Keep in mind that the Ravenwing's normal ground and speeder vehicles could be piloted by Scouts in a pinch, which means that when deployed as a whole Chapter, the Dark Angels can field nearly one and a half hundred of among the best Astartes fighters along with around a hundred attack bikes and land speeders plus a hundred Terminators and the rest of their battle-brothers. This is without even considering their previously listed examples of technology exclusive to the First Legion. So...[[anal circumference|what did you roll?]]

== Notable Members ==
*'''[[Azrael]]''' - Current [[Chapter Master|SUPREME GRAND MASTER]] of the Dark Angels. It’s not at all suspicious that “Supreme Grand Master” implies there must be “masters” for there to be “grandmasters”. Dark Angels captains are just “captains”...just saying.
*'''[[Belial]]''' - Grand Master of the [[Deathwing]]. Current member of the Hidden Masters; Azrael's personal inner circle, they are privileged with knowledge beyond that given to even the regular Inner circle. They are also allowed to access the vast wealth held within the hidden libraries of the Rock that are usually protected by the Watchers in the Dark (not all of it of course, only the right amount; can't have them learning too much before they are ready); to give an idea to the value of the info the Rock contains, Tzeentch himself sent the Blue Scribes to secretly infiltrate and steal as much info as they could. Azrael himself has access to a vast collection of 'True Names, which he uses against their demonic owners. An interesting bit of information about Belial it that he actually hates all the cloak and dagger shenanigans that go on around him, his desire to track down Gaz is fuelled by him wanting to get away from all the shadow games for a moment and just have a good honest scrap.
*'''[[Sammael]]''' - Grand Master of the [[Ravenwing]]. Member of the Hidden Masters.
*'''[[Ezekiel]]''' - Current Chief [[Librarian]]. Member of the Hidden Masters.
*'''[[Sapphon]]''' Master of Sanctity- current head chaplain of the Dark Angels; alongside Azrael and Ezekiel, he forms a trinity of level heads that keep the whole thing together. Member of the Hidden Masters. Thought to be a conservative by his brothers, he is actually a deviant named after a famous [[Space Hulk: Deathwing|poetess]] of Greek Antiquity considered [[/d/|the first lesbian known to History!!]] [[Lulz|She also died for the love of a man]]; the Greeks called Homosexuality Kinaidos (Mover of [[Fallen|Shame]]), the Aidos part is a goddess member of the same trinity as [[Grey Knight|Nemesis]]. Sneaky, sleazy [[Games Workshop]]... who knows what will happen to poor Grand-Master Sapphon in the future?
*'''[[Asmodai]]''' - Master of Repentance- Notoriously brutal [[Interrogator-Chaplain]] who's known for being an asshole and failing twice at his job for every success. Member of the Hidden Masters.
*'''[[Naaman]]''' - Noted Scout Sergeant
*'''Corswain:''' The [[Paladin]] (Company Champion) of the Ninth Order; he would later become the Lion's Seneschal. A Caliban born Dark Angel he was despite his young age widely considered one of the finest blades among the Legiones Astartes, his name ranking among such legends such as [[Sigismund]] and [[Sevatar]]. Despite coming from such a taciturn and insular legion he had by the time of the Heresy gained a well-respected reputation among the other legions with even Guilliman referring to him as “beloved Corswain”.
*'''Alajos:''' The [[Dark Angels Grand Master|Grand master]] of the Ninth Order, a Terran-born veteran of the old legion and the Lion’s go-to champion when needed. He was also one of the few people Sigismund of the Imperial Fists respected and considered a true friend and brother-in-arms. He also stood his ground against a very angry Russ, refusing to stand down or move aside to allow him to retrieve his sword that he had lost after the Lion had disarmed him during the fight. Russ did take his axe instead though and then later handed it to the first new Space Wolf to be inducted into the new Space Wolf chapter after the legions were disbanded. He would meet his end upon Tsagualsa holding off both [[Sevatar]] and Sheng of the [[Night Lords]]. Alajos and Corswain represent different sides of the Legion with Alajos representing all the positive elements of the old legion and Corswain representing the new breed of Dark Angels and what they might have become if events had happened differently.
*'''[[Cypher]]''' - see his page for details
*'''Lazarus:''' Captain of the 5th company, and only primaris member of the Inner Circle. He has a hard-on for killing psykers (Thousand Sons specifically), and was introduced in a white dwarf to replace Captain Balthazar, then featured prominately in the Ritual of the Damned chapter of the [[Psychic Awakening]].

==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 {{Blam|+++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 {{Blam|+++counter Alpha Legion scenarios+++}} 
9:00- {{Blam|+++Chocolate milk and cookies break while listening to Enigma or Gregorian music. Also, free meditation time+++}}. 
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 determine targets. At this point a battle-brother may visit the Apothecary. Meanwhile, Interrogator-Chaplains interrogate {{Blam|+++heretics and traitors+++}}. 
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. 
17:00-Evening Prayer: The Dark Angels assemble for prayer under the Interrogator-Chaplains, who have just finished their {{Blam|+++lively discussions+++}}. 
19:00-Evening Meal: A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Dessert consists of of angel's-food cake with a layer of dark mint chocolate, which the chapter serfs are extremely careful in their delivery to the mess halls as those which drop it and cause it to fall soon come to regret it. 
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 sleep.

* Why is there a 4 hour break in the schedule?
{{Blam|+++Time is relative in the Rock+++}}

== Frequently asked questions==
*Why are you called the Unforgiven?
[[Imperial Truth|{{Blam|+++For failing to protect the Emperor in His darkest hour +++}}]]

*Why is your rank Interrogator Chaplain?
[[Fallen Angels|{{Blam|+++The rank comes with the responsibility of seeking the repentance of the heretic Astartes, traitors, etc.+++}}]]

*Didn't I read that in the Index Astartes that your armour is black? Why is it green now?
{{Blam|+++Contrary to some heretical rumours, our armour is green so that we don’t get confused with our [[Raven Guard]] brothers. The only Dark Angels who wear black are the operatives and pilots of our Ravenwing company. [[Cypher|Should you see some Astartes wearing ancient wargear with Dark Angels iconography]] please report them to the nearest Dark Angels officer so [[FATAL|that they may be brought in line with the Codex Astartes regulations]]. Also the Codex itself is centuries out of date. We have raised these concerns with Lord [[Guilliman]], who has informed us that such errors will be corrected in the Codex Imperialis.+++}}

*Wouldn't that get confusing with the [[Salamanders]], who are also green?
{{Blam|+++No. The Salamanders are usually on fire, making it very easy to distinguish between them and us.+++}}

*I have seen some [[Watchers in the Dark|little beings]] with Dark Angels carrying some relics. What are these Watchers?
{{Blam|+++Worry not, these are just chapter serfs, not associated with xenos in any way+++}}

*Why are said serfs repelling Daemons with their mere presence?
{{Blam|+++A good question, faithful servant of the Emperor. Please follow this servo skull to our debriefing room down this dark and totally not conspicuous hall and Brother-Librarian [[Ezekiel]] shall implant your mind with its secrets.+++}}

*What happened to [[Caliban]], your homeworld?

{{Blam|+++It was destroyed by heretic Astartes during the Heresy. The Rock is all that remains of our homeworld.+++}}.

*What happened to your Primarch? Where is [[Lion El'Jonson]]?
{{Blam|+++With a heavy heart, we must tell you that he is lost to us, perhaps slain by the forces of Chaos. None can say if his body was found, and evidence of his whereabouts has been buried, but we believe he will return to guide us again +++}}.

*What happened to the allies that were fighting alongside the Dark Angels who suddenly disappeared?

[[Exterminatus|{{Blam|+++We are unaware of their present location. Only bolt shells and plasma burns were encountered. We suspect an ambush from the despised Traitor Legions.+++}}]]

*What is this Imperial Secundus we keep hearing about?

{{Blam|+++ Our knowledge of the Imperial Secundus is little better than the average imperial citizen. We suggest directing questions about it to Lord Guilliman. [[Commissar|Preferably when he doesn't have a firearm or power weapon at his side.]]+++}}

The '''Dark Angels''' (also known as the '''"The Unforgiven"''') are amongst the most loyal, honoured, 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.

== 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.'''

==Chapter Uniform==
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.
*The Dark Angels wear green to remember Caliban's forests. The Calibanites first started it during the Heresy and it spread throughout the legion after the destruction of Caliban. (Some who were upset about how the Imperium had basically devoured Caliban's resources {and forests} as an expression of anger and possibly loyalty to Luther..or Caliban..or both.. it gets complicated)

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]].

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:DA Codex Cover.png|Here's some badassery right here.
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:Interrogator Chap.jpg|200px|thumb|left|Welcome sir, let's start your [[FATAL|"interview"]] ([[Mark Gibbons|MG]])
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 to 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|Battle Hymn of Vengeance
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: always a classic.
File:FunkoPop-Jan21-DarkAngel8jvdds.jpg
File:Fallen DAMarine.jpg|The Dark Angels' turnover rates after their serfs have just mopped the floor are horrendous.
File:Lance Decurion.jpg|Dark Angels Lance Decurion
File:Space_marine_38.jpg|Dark Angels as depicted during the golden ages of GW art
</Gallery>

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Dark_Angels (9E)|Dark Angels Tactics]]
* [[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}}

Sisters of Silence

2022-05-07T14:13:31Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* History */

[[image:Sisters of Silence art.jpg|right|250px|thumb|They're as bitchin' as they look.]]
{{Topquote|That's their function... Aside from the fact that they fight like bastards. Got the pariah gene in 'em.|[[Leman Russ]], [[Primarch]] of the [[Space Wolves]], on the Sisters of Silence}}

The '''Sisters of Silence''' are an elite all-female order created by the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]] to man the [[Black Ships]] and round up a planet's renegade [[psyker]]s. They, the [[Adeptus Custodes]], and the Psi-Titans of Ordo Sinister together form the '''Talons of the Emperor'''.

==History==
[[image:Sisters of silence.jpeg|right|250px|thumb|The Sisters of Silence. NOT ELDAR! It's like reverse eldar, anti psykers that have the near same outfits...]]
Near the onset of the [[Great Crusade]], the Emperor formed them as a counter-measure against untrained psykers, whose numbers had increased at the start of the [[Age of Strife]]. To do this, the Emperor ensured that they were all [[Blank|pariah]]s, human beings with no presence in the [[Warp]]. As such, a psyker's abilities would have no effect on them, being cancelled out when they got close enough to the Sisters. In one of his stranger decisions, the Emperor explicitly had the Sisters take literal vows of silence upon becoming full Sisters. They could communicate via several sign languages (including [[Space Marines|Astartes]] battle-sign) but would not speak a word upon completion of their training. To ensure communication between other branches of the [[Imperium of Man]], Sisters-in-training would serve as communicators.

Given recent revelations about the nature of the Emperor, this [[skub|may or may not]] have been to stop them blabbing [[Neckbeard|what they saw]] under his glamours. It's revealed that what a Sister sees when she looks at a warp entity is not the same as what a regular being will see; Tannau Aleya describes Bloodthirsters for example as being disgusting, contemptible creatures but that's it, rather than as the spooky monsters the masses see. Speaking of daemons, recent fluff from the ''Horus Heresy''/''Siege Of Terra'' novels, as well as in the more current era ''Dark Imperium'' entries have really expanded on just how much the neverborn fear these ladies. Even the likes of Drach'nyen and Ku'Gath (among others), excessively powerful greater daemons both, have outright stated that to be struck down by one of the Sisters will result not in merely getting banished back to the warp, but in a ''true death'', and for beings whose entire (for lack of a better term) identity and world view are built upon their own infinite existence, the notion of being snuffed out is exponentially more terrifying.

The Sisters of Silence are also consummate warriors. Actually, that's something of an understatement; don't make the mistake of assuming they're comparable to the [[Sisters of Battle]] who occupy a space somewhere between Guardsman and Astartes. They are not. It's not hyperbole to say that even the most elite of the Sisters of Battle are completely eclipsed by just an "average" Null Maiden. The Sisters of Silence operate alongside The Custodes, and what's more, are able to ''keep up with them'', which probably says more about their prowess than anything else could. The Silent Sisterhood are trained to at least the same levels as the old Space Marine Legions and are more than capable of taking down enemy Astartes on their own. Most likely, Astartes' blatantly physically impossible capabilities even without power armor comes from Warp shenanigans which would mean, given their own power armor and most likely extensive genetic modifications, the Sisters of Silence being able to match them would be reasonable. Recent fluff even depicted a SoS contingent engaging a larger contingent of goddamned [[Primaris Marine|Primaris]] [[Minotaurs]] and '''[[Awesome|WINNING]]'''; though to be fair, in all honesty, the Sisters would likely have suffered severe casualties had the Custodes not then intervened on their side, bringing the engagement to an immediate and definitive conclusion.

Using similar wargear to the Space Marines, such as [[bolter]]s and [[power weapon]]s, they are typically clad in SoB-like power armour, but made of golden Auramite (basically the 40k equivalent of Beskar) called [[Vratine Armour]], a distinction which they share with only The Custodes; theirs typically lacks an armored helmet or other head protection aside from the bevor that hides their mouths, which leads to a lot of deaths from headshots during the burning of [[Prospero]]. As a military force, they are formidable; during the Burning of Prospero, they were deployed to augment the [[Space Wolves]] and the [[Adeptus Custodes]]. While this was more because the pariah gene would neutralize the [[Thousand Sons]]' psyker abilities, they were more than capable of fighting against the Astartes. They would also in turn augment the Custodes, the [[Imperial Fists]], the [[Blood Angels]], and the [[White Scars]] during the [[Siege of Terra]], where the pariah gene became a boon fighting the [[Daemon]]s unleashed by the traitors.

===After the Horus Heresy===
For the longest time, the fate of the Sisters of Silence following the [[Horus Heresy]] had been an object of much speculation in the fandom. It is only recently that what they've been doing has been brought to light, and while some of the theories have been surprisingly spot-on (namely, that many Sisters were absorbed into the Inquisition to man the Black Ships), others... didn't quite hit the mark. Thanks to their own mini-codex, as well as the [[War of the Beast]] series, ''Watchers of the Throne'', and most recently the ''Dark Imperium'' series, a somewhat clearer picture of ''what'' happened to the Sisters can be reconstructed.

It turns out that the Sisters were never "officially" disbanded by the [[Administratum]]. However, in the wake of the Emperor's interment within the Golden Throne, the surviving Sisters suddenly found themselves without direct support from the Imperial Bureaucracy. This made a lot of the surviving Sisters bitter obviously, but a number of others just shrugged, and decided to continue with their Emperor-given mandate anyway... just with less resources than they're used to.

As previously mentioned, some Sisters were absorbed into the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] to crew its [[Black Ships]], or served as retinues to important [[Inquisitor]] Lords. Many others, however dispersed, back into the general populace, settling down to have normal lives, and in doing so passed down the Pariah gene down to their descendants. Lastly, some quietly found secret Convents in out-of-way worlds, far from view of the average Imperial citizen. It is one of these Convents that [[Slaughter Koorland]] approached and convinced to aid the Imperium in the [[War of the Beast]].

By M32, the Sisters of Silence refused to recognize the Imperium in its political form, seeing it as a corrupted simulacrum of what the Emperor actually intended, but they still acknowledge the Emperor as the focus of their loyalty. Thus, when their services are required again, they accept the calling and return to Terra, where they are granted an audience with the Emperor in his sanctum, a privilege that not even the High Lords are afforded. [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Just how exactly that would've worked is a mystery, given how the Emperor can presumably only communicate psychically at this point, which probably wouldn't work at all on a group of nulls.]] Of course, blanks/nulls/whatever have been overpowered by strong psykers before, so it wouldn’t take the Emperor any real effort. Or he sent Astropaths to deliver messages via secretaries or something.

Although that particular Convent was wiped out slaying the Beast, many more survived through the millennia, and by the end of the 41st Millennium, the number of Sisters had swelled into the tens of thousands. And it was just as well too, as the Imperium would need their aid really REALLY soon.

===Returning to the Fray: The Rise of the Primarch===
[[image:Sister-of-silence.jpg|right|250px|thumb|You, Psyker. Yeah You. Fuck You.]]

Shortly after the reappearance of [[Magnus the Red]] during the [[Fenris]] campaign, the High Lords of Terra issued a writ that would summon the Sisterhood back to Terra, where they would be used once again. It transpired that [[Trajann Valoris]], Captain-General of the [[Adeptus Custodes]] had pre-empted this decree and had quietly been collecting disparate Sisters to Terra in advance, knowing that the time may come when they were needed again; the knee-jerk response of the High Lords to Terra simply rendered it legal.

Some of the exiled Sisters resented this greatly, having been ignored for millennia. In the novel ''Watchers of the Throne'', one particular sister, the previously mentioned Tannau Aleya, spends most of the book (quietly) raging about how her convent was left without support for so long, especially how the Custodes seemed to be "pampered" by comparison, despite being stuck on Terra for nearly ten millennia. Aleya also "talks" a fair bit about the mentality of the Silent Sisters, stating that the Sisters ironically crave human fellowship, as it temporarily fills the void they feel inside due to their nature as blanks. This also leads to extremely <strike>Lesbian</strike> close bonds between the Sisters described as a fierce almost desperate love, due to sharing such a unique bond and having been reviled and hated by most of the people they'd ever come across.

The sisters also seem to grow close to the Custodes they fought with during the Great Crusade, to the extent Custodes could tell what a sister was trying to convey without her even having to sign it to him, something that later made one sister immediately realize Drach'nyen was impersonating a Custodes. If Valerian and Aleya are any indication this bond between Custodes and Sisters is likely to reemerge in the 41st millennium. They also never entirely get used to the reaction they cause in others, with every twitch and every appalled expression twisting the knife every time they see that reaction.

Overall they come across as rather tragic, as they spend their lives protecting a species that can't even stand to be in the same room as them, and hates them without even being able to articulate why.

The Sisters' first "official" action was to deploy with the Custodes on Luna to save a recently resurrected Lord Guilliman from being used by Magnus to mop the floor, and they later helped fight back against a [[Khorne]] daemon invasion of Terra directly. When Guilliman returned from his audience with the Emperor, he dissolved the standing order that restricted the Custodians to Terra, and he ordered the Sisterhood to coordinate with them and join the front lines.

Still, no matter how hurt or angry they are, they still answered the call to defend humanity from Chaos again.

==Emperor Worship==

By the 41st Millennium it turns out that some Sisters had converted to the worship of the Emperor, even describing the Emperor as "holy" right in front of Lord Commander [[Roboute Guilliman]], while considering the Primarch to be his divine messenger and demigod son. Though this is not entirely new information, as even during the Horus Heresy, there were some Sisters who had already started to consider the Emperor as a god, and were willing to break their vows of tranquility. Some had even "read the book" ''(the Lectitio Divinitatus)'' according to [[Knights-Errant|Kyril Sinderman]], and allowed the faithful to escape custody from the Somnus Citadel on Luna so that they could continue to spread the word.

Since most of ''Dark Imperium'' was about Guilliman trying to come to terms with what humanity had become since the Heresy, it was all Guilliman could do to not [[Blam|eat his own bolter]] then and there. However, giving the appearance of converting to the faith is the easiest way to integrate themselves with the Imperium without getting grief from the other branches. This is definitely true for at least one convent; Aleya's was said to have had "sham" shrines and it's implied that those Sisters feigned their faith to avoid being persecuted as heretics. There is also a difference between those sisters that manned the [[Black Ships]] versus those that were outside of the Imperium's control, with those that were aboard the black ships having closer ties and a lot more loyalty towards the [[High Lords of Terra|Imperium's leadership]], to the extent that Aleya didn't trust them to do what was needed without waiting for permission. It's possible the Emperor-worshiping Sisters are those that were recruited and controlled by the Imperium for the black ships, while those outside of Imperial control and influence managed to keep their old ways.

==Notable Sisters==
* '''Jenetia Krole:''' AKA the "Soulless Queen of the Imperium" was the Knight Commander of the Sisters of silence and the single most terrifying woman in the entire human race. No, Really. (NOT confirmed to be a redhead.) She could be placed in a staring contest with an entire Convent of [[Sisters of Battle]], [[Inquisitor Greyfax]], A warband of [[Night Lords]], a cat and a FUCKING Dark Eldar [[Haemonculus]] and she would stare them all down until they ran away with their tails between their legs. Her Pariah aura was so strong and distracting she caused members of the [[Adeptus Custodes]] to avert their eyes because it pained them to look at Her. To most beings, her anti-soul aura was so strong that they simply couldn't see her. When Big E needed the [[Thousand Sons]] "disciplined" she challenged the legions most powerful sorcerers to duels and Killed them, and then she Killed a Daemon just for good measure. She then fought in the Webway and survived the retreat to the Imperial Palace losing 3 fingers on the way, not really seeming to care about her lost digits. She used a Zwei-hander sword dubbed "Veracity" that was used by [[The Emperor]] during the unification wars, so yeah, that's cool too. She finally dies while fighting [[Khârn]] during the Siege of Terra, right after she took out a fuckton of named World Eaters.

*'''Amendera Kendel''' - A former Sister of Silence turned ''[[Knights-Errant|Agentia Tercius]]'' to Malcador. She is still a Pariah of course, but she gave up her vow of silence to become one of the first members of Malcador's [[Inquisition|band of merry travellers]]. She is quite possibly the first "True" Inquisitor, by virtue of her background as a Witch-Hunter and the later development of her character which shows her radically using the authority granted to her by the Sigillite to get shit done: Co-opting Space Marines from the survivors of the ''Eisenstein'' into her retinue, and later ordering a battle-barge to enact ''[[Exterminatus]]'' on a planet turned renegade, despite the fact that no-one other than a Primarch or the Emperor himself had ever ordered such an act before her.

* '''[[Tanau Aleya]]:''' One of the (previously mentioned) POV characters for ''Watchers of the Throne''. A Sister from the convent located on Araissa, she becomes its sole survivor when it is attacked by the [[Black Legion]] while she was away hunting down cultists on another world. Hot-headed and very opinionated, Aleya spends most of the book bitter at the Imperium for ignoring the Sisters for so long, and infuriated that [[Shield-Captain]] Valerian (the ''other'' POV character of the book) seems impossible to goad into anger, but takes her duties as a Sister very seriously, and was willing to lay down her life at even a chance to cave in some Black Legion heads. Started out using a heavy flamer to do her work, before turning it in for a greatsword once she got picked up by Navradaan on the way to Terra. She is also an absolute badass, winning a firefight that was 5-1 and taking on a Chaos Marine in close quarters alone and WINNING, then removing his helmet and spitting in his face for killing her sisters. The updated rules for the Talons of The Emperor make her not just in fluff but also in-game a battle couple with Valerian, another proof tsunderism and animu is slowly infecting 40k's updated setting.

==Mini-Codex and Moving Forward==

A common rumor is that they will be added into some upcoming [[Sisters of Battle]] relaunch. If so, that would be an interesting revision; on the one hand, the Sisters of Battle, despite being designated witch-hunters, are lacking in the anti-psyker department. On the other hand, the Sisters of Silence, much like the Space Marines, are big believers in the Great Crusade era of the Imperium, and likely won't mesh well with the [[Ecclesiarchy]]. On the other hand, Dark Imperium implies they fully converted to the Imperial Cult over time (which makes sense, seeking comfort in faith given their shitty existence and loss of the guy who uplifted them) so their ideology would likely mesh together well. So, in conclusion, the most probable thing that GW can do with the SoS is to say that the Adepta Sororitas in its current form can trace its origins to the M36 '''Daughters of the Emperor''' as well as offshoots of the original [[Sisters of Silence]] and find some way to reconcile them both.

As of 2018, any news on them has been slow and via the Horus Heresy Team at Forge World. They stated that there would at least be some 8th edition rules for Talons (which includes Grey Knights apparently) coming eventually while they're not working on all these other Horus Heresy, Titanicus, Necromunda, and Blood Bowl projects. So far nothing on Sisters but Custodians at least got a handful of new kit.

Why they weren't simply added to the Custodes codex, only GW knows.

As of 2020, during Nurgle's Pandemic, it's been all but confirmed by GW that Sisters of Silence and Custodes will be merged together in the second-to-last chapter of the Psychic Awakening, "War of the Spider", as the Talons of the Emperor. Coupled with the new Black Library models that feature a Shield Captain and SoS in a single unit with that as a faction keyword, there is a lot of evidence that supports this.

And even more recently, in November of 2021 it was confirmed that the new Custodes Codex set to accompany the new shadow throne boxset in 2022 would include rules for a [https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/30/lead-a-full-sisters-of-silence-army-with-the-powerful-knight-centura/ new Sisters unit] the Knight-Centura and rules to finally field either a full Sisters of Silence army or a mixed Custodes/Sisters Talons of the Emperor army.

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Talons_of_the_Emperor_(30k)|Sisters of Silence (AKA Talons of the Emperor) Horus Heresy Tactics]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Talons of the Emperor (9E)|Sisters of Silence (AKA Talons of the Emperor) 40k Tactics]]

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
SoS vs. TS Dred.jpg|Being in a Dreadnought does not make you safe from these chicks.
SoS vs. EC Noise Marines.jpg|Even ''these'' bastards are having a hard time dealing with them.
Sister_of_silence_by_n924.jpg|As scary as they are, they can still be the cutest sweethearts of the Emprah.
Jenetia Krole.jpg|Jenetia Krole, She's not staring into your soul, she's staring through it.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Template:Sisters-of-Silence}}

{{Imperium}}

Sisters of Silence

2022-05-07T14:12:43Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* History */

[[image:Sisters of Silence art.jpg|right|250px|thumb|They're as bitchin' as they look.]]
{{Topquote|That's their function... Aside from the fact that they fight like bastards. Got the pariah gene in 'em.|[[Leman Russ]], [[Primarch]] of the [[Space Wolves]], on the Sisters of Silence}}

The '''Sisters of Silence''' are an elite all-female order created by the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]] to man the [[Black Ships]] and round up a planet's renegade [[psyker]]s. They, the [[Adeptus Custodes]], and the Psi-Titans of Ordo Sinister together form the '''Talons of the Emperor'''.

==History==
[[image:Sisters of silence.jpeg|right|250px|thumb|The Sisters of Silence. NOT ELDAR! It's like reverse eldar, anti psykers that have the near same outfits...]]
Near the onset of the [[Great Crusade]], the Emperor formed them as a counter-measure against untrained psykers, whose numbers had increased at the start of the [[Age of Strife]]. To do this, the Emperor ensured that they were all [[Blank|pariah]]s, human beings with no presence in the [[Warp]]. As such, a psyker's abilities would have no effect on them, being cancelled out when they got close enough to the Sisters. In one of his stranger decisions, the Emperor explicitly had the Sisters take literal vows of silence upon becoming full Sisters. They could communicate via several sign languages (including [[Space Marines|Astartes]] battle-sign) but would not speak a word upon completion of their training. To ensure communication between other branches of the [[Imperium of Man]], Sisters-in-training would serve as communicators.

Given recent revelations about the nature of the Emperor, this [[skub|may or may not]] have been to stop them blabbing [[Neckbeard|what they saw]] under his glamours. It's revealed that what a Sister sees when she looks at a warp entity is not the same as what a regular being will see; Tannau Aleya describes Bloodthirsters for example as being disgusting, contemptible creatures but that's it, rather than as the spooky monsters the masses see. Speaking of daemons, recent fluff from the ''Horus Heresy''/''Siege Of Terra'' novels, as well as in the more current era ''Dark Imperium'' entries have really expanded on just how much the neverborn fear these ladies. Even the likes of Drach'nyen and Ku'Gath (among others), excessively powerful greater daemons both, have outright stated that to be struck down by one of the Sisters will result not in merely getting banished back to the warp, but in a ''true death'', and for beings whose entire (for lack of a better term) identity and world view are built upon their own infinite existence, the notion of being snuffed out is exponentially more terrifying.

The Sisters of Silence are also consummate warriors. Actually, that's something of an understatement; don't make the mistake of assuming they're comparable to the [[Sisters of Battle]] who occupy a space somewhere between Guardsman and Astartes. They are not. It's not hyperbole to say that even the most elite of the Sisters of Battle are completely eclipsed by just an "average" Null Maiden. The Sisters of Silence operate alongside The Custodes, and what's more, are able to ''keep up with them'', which probably says more about their prowess than anything else could. The Silent Sisterhood are trained to at least the same levels as the old Space Marine Legions and are more than capable of taking down enemy Astartes on their own. Most likely, Astartes' blatantly physically impossible capabilities even without power armor comes from Warp shenanigans which would mean, given their own power armor and most likely extensive genetic modifications, the Sisters of Silence being able to match them would be reasonable. Recent fluff even depicted a SoS contingent engaging a larger contingent of goddamned [[Primaris]] [[Minotaurs]] and '''[[Awesome|WINNING]]'''; though to be fair, in all honesty, the Sisters would likely have suffered severe casualties had the Custodes not then intervened on their side, bringing the engagement to an immediate and definitive conclusion.

Using similar wargear to the Space Marines, such as [[bolter]]s and [[power weapon]]s, they are typically clad in SoB-like power armour, but made of golden Auramite (basically the 40k equivalent of Beskar) called [[Vratine Armour]], a distinction which they share with only The Custodes; theirs typically lacks an armored helmet or other head protection aside from the bevor that hides their mouths, which leads to a lot of deaths from headshots during the burning of [[Prospero]]. As a military force, they are formidable; during the Burning of Prospero, they were deployed to augment the [[Space Wolves]] and the [[Adeptus Custodes]]. While this was more because the pariah gene would neutralize the [[Thousand Sons]]' psyker abilities, they were more than capable of fighting against the Astartes. They would also in turn augment the Custodes, the [[Imperial Fists]], the [[Blood Angels]], and the [[White Scars]] during the [[Siege of Terra]], where the pariah gene became a boon fighting the [[Daemon]]s unleashed by the traitors.

===After the Horus Heresy===
For the longest time, the fate of the Sisters of Silence following the [[Horus Heresy]] had been an object of much speculation in the fandom. It is only recently that what they've been doing has been brought to light, and while some of the theories have been surprisingly spot-on (namely, that many Sisters were absorbed into the Inquisition to man the Black Ships), others... didn't quite hit the mark. Thanks to their own mini-codex, as well as the [[War of the Beast]] series, ''Watchers of the Throne'', and most recently the ''Dark Imperium'' series, a somewhat clearer picture of ''what'' happened to the Sisters can be reconstructed.

It turns out that the Sisters were never "officially" disbanded by the [[Administratum]]. However, in the wake of the Emperor's interment within the Golden Throne, the surviving Sisters suddenly found themselves without direct support from the Imperial Bureaucracy. This made a lot of the surviving Sisters bitter obviously, but a number of others just shrugged, and decided to continue with their Emperor-given mandate anyway... just with less resources than they're used to.

As previously mentioned, some Sisters were absorbed into the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]] to crew its [[Black Ships]], or served as retinues to important [[Inquisitor]] Lords. Many others, however dispersed, back into the general populace, settling down to have normal lives, and in doing so passed down the Pariah gene down to their descendants. Lastly, some quietly found secret Convents in out-of-way worlds, far from view of the average Imperial citizen. It is one of these Convents that [[Slaughter Koorland]] approached and convinced to aid the Imperium in the [[War of the Beast]].

By M32, the Sisters of Silence refused to recognize the Imperium in its political form, seeing it as a corrupted simulacrum of what the Emperor actually intended, but they still acknowledge the Emperor as the focus of their loyalty. Thus, when their services are required again, they accept the calling and return to Terra, where they are granted an audience with the Emperor in his sanctum, a privilege that not even the High Lords are afforded. [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Just how exactly that would've worked is a mystery, given how the Emperor can presumably only communicate psychically at this point, which probably wouldn't work at all on a group of nulls.]] Of course, blanks/nulls/whatever have been overpowered by strong psykers before, so it wouldn’t take the Emperor any real effort. Or he sent Astropaths to deliver messages via secretaries or something.

Although that particular Convent was wiped out slaying the Beast, many more survived through the millennia, and by the end of the 41st Millennium, the number of Sisters had swelled into the tens of thousands. And it was just as well too, as the Imperium would need their aid really REALLY soon.

===Returning to the Fray: The Rise of the Primarch===
[[image:Sister-of-silence.jpg|right|250px|thumb|You, Psyker. Yeah You. Fuck You.]]

Shortly after the reappearance of [[Magnus the Red]] during the [[Fenris]] campaign, the High Lords of Terra issued a writ that would summon the Sisterhood back to Terra, where they would be used once again. It transpired that [[Trajann Valoris]], Captain-General of the [[Adeptus Custodes]] had pre-empted this decree and had quietly been collecting disparate Sisters to Terra in advance, knowing that the time may come when they were needed again; the knee-jerk response of the High Lords to Terra simply rendered it legal.

Some of the exiled Sisters resented this greatly, having been ignored for millennia. In the novel ''Watchers of the Throne'', one particular sister, the previously mentioned Tannau Aleya, spends most of the book (quietly) raging about how her convent was left without support for so long, especially how the Custodes seemed to be "pampered" by comparison, despite being stuck on Terra for nearly ten millennia. Aleya also "talks" a fair bit about the mentality of the Silent Sisters, stating that the Sisters ironically crave human fellowship, as it temporarily fills the void they feel inside due to their nature as blanks. This also leads to extremely <strike>Lesbian</strike> close bonds between the Sisters described as a fierce almost desperate love, due to sharing such a unique bond and having been reviled and hated by most of the people they'd ever come across.

The sisters also seem to grow close to the Custodes they fought with during the Great Crusade, to the extent Custodes could tell what a sister was trying to convey without her even having to sign it to him, something that later made one sister immediately realize Drach'nyen was impersonating a Custodes. If Valerian and Aleya are any indication this bond between Custodes and Sisters is likely to reemerge in the 41st millennium. They also never entirely get used to the reaction they cause in others, with every twitch and every appalled expression twisting the knife every time they see that reaction.

Overall they come across as rather tragic, as they spend their lives protecting a species that can't even stand to be in the same room as them, and hates them without even being able to articulate why.

The Sisters' first "official" action was to deploy with the Custodes on Luna to save a recently resurrected Lord Guilliman from being used by Magnus to mop the floor, and they later helped fight back against a [[Khorne]] daemon invasion of Terra directly. When Guilliman returned from his audience with the Emperor, he dissolved the standing order that restricted the Custodians to Terra, and he ordered the Sisterhood to coordinate with them and join the front lines.

Still, no matter how hurt or angry they are, they still answered the call to defend humanity from Chaos again.

==Emperor Worship==

By the 41st Millennium it turns out that some Sisters had converted to the worship of the Emperor, even describing the Emperor as "holy" right in front of Lord Commander [[Roboute Guilliman]], while considering the Primarch to be his divine messenger and demigod son. Though this is not entirely new information, as even during the Horus Heresy, there were some Sisters who had already started to consider the Emperor as a god, and were willing to break their vows of tranquility. Some had even "read the book" ''(the Lectitio Divinitatus)'' according to [[Knights-Errant|Kyril Sinderman]], and allowed the faithful to escape custody from the Somnus Citadel on Luna so that they could continue to spread the word.

Since most of ''Dark Imperium'' was about Guilliman trying to come to terms with what humanity had become since the Heresy, it was all Guilliman could do to not [[Blam|eat his own bolter]] then and there. However, giving the appearance of converting to the faith is the easiest way to integrate themselves with the Imperium without getting grief from the other branches. This is definitely true for at least one convent; Aleya's was said to have had "sham" shrines and it's implied that those Sisters feigned their faith to avoid being persecuted as heretics. There is also a difference between those sisters that manned the [[Black Ships]] versus those that were outside of the Imperium's control, with those that were aboard the black ships having closer ties and a lot more loyalty towards the [[High Lords of Terra|Imperium's leadership]], to the extent that Aleya didn't trust them to do what was needed without waiting for permission. It's possible the Emperor-worshiping Sisters are those that were recruited and controlled by the Imperium for the black ships, while those outside of Imperial control and influence managed to keep their old ways.

==Notable Sisters==
* '''Jenetia Krole:''' AKA the "Soulless Queen of the Imperium" was the Knight Commander of the Sisters of silence and the single most terrifying woman in the entire human race. No, Really. (NOT confirmed to be a redhead.) She could be placed in a staring contest with an entire Convent of [[Sisters of Battle]], [[Inquisitor Greyfax]], A warband of [[Night Lords]], a cat and a FUCKING Dark Eldar [[Haemonculus]] and she would stare them all down until they ran away with their tails between their legs. Her Pariah aura was so strong and distracting she caused members of the [[Adeptus Custodes]] to avert their eyes because it pained them to look at Her. To most beings, her anti-soul aura was so strong that they simply couldn't see her. When Big E needed the [[Thousand Sons]] "disciplined" she challenged the legions most powerful sorcerers to duels and Killed them, and then she Killed a Daemon just for good measure. She then fought in the Webway and survived the retreat to the Imperial Palace losing 3 fingers on the way, not really seeming to care about her lost digits. She used a Zwei-hander sword dubbed "Veracity" that was used by [[The Emperor]] during the unification wars, so yeah, that's cool too. She finally dies while fighting [[Khârn]] during the Siege of Terra, right after she took out a fuckton of named World Eaters.

*'''Amendera Kendel''' - A former Sister of Silence turned ''[[Knights-Errant|Agentia Tercius]]'' to Malcador. She is still a Pariah of course, but she gave up her vow of silence to become one of the first members of Malcador's [[Inquisition|band of merry travellers]]. She is quite possibly the first "True" Inquisitor, by virtue of her background as a Witch-Hunter and the later development of her character which shows her radically using the authority granted to her by the Sigillite to get shit done: Co-opting Space Marines from the survivors of the ''Eisenstein'' into her retinue, and later ordering a battle-barge to enact ''[[Exterminatus]]'' on a planet turned renegade, despite the fact that no-one other than a Primarch or the Emperor himself had ever ordered such an act before her.

* '''[[Tanau Aleya]]:''' One of the (previously mentioned) POV characters for ''Watchers of the Throne''. A Sister from the convent located on Araissa, she becomes its sole survivor when it is attacked by the [[Black Legion]] while she was away hunting down cultists on another world. Hot-headed and very opinionated, Aleya spends most of the book bitter at the Imperium for ignoring the Sisters for so long, and infuriated that [[Shield-Captain]] Valerian (the ''other'' POV character of the book) seems impossible to goad into anger, but takes her duties as a Sister very seriously, and was willing to lay down her life at even a chance to cave in some Black Legion heads. Started out using a heavy flamer to do her work, before turning it in for a greatsword once she got picked up by Navradaan on the way to Terra. She is also an absolute badass, winning a firefight that was 5-1 and taking on a Chaos Marine in close quarters alone and WINNING, then removing his helmet and spitting in his face for killing her sisters. The updated rules for the Talons of The Emperor make her not just in fluff but also in-game a battle couple with Valerian, another proof tsunderism and animu is slowly infecting 40k's updated setting.

==Mini-Codex and Moving Forward==

A common rumor is that they will be added into some upcoming [[Sisters of Battle]] relaunch. If so, that would be an interesting revision; on the one hand, the Sisters of Battle, despite being designated witch-hunters, are lacking in the anti-psyker department. On the other hand, the Sisters of Silence, much like the Space Marines, are big believers in the Great Crusade era of the Imperium, and likely won't mesh well with the [[Ecclesiarchy]]. On the other hand, Dark Imperium implies they fully converted to the Imperial Cult over time (which makes sense, seeking comfort in faith given their shitty existence and loss of the guy who uplifted them) so their ideology would likely mesh together well. So, in conclusion, the most probable thing that GW can do with the SoS is to say that the Adepta Sororitas in its current form can trace its origins to the M36 '''Daughters of the Emperor''' as well as offshoots of the original [[Sisters of Silence]] and find some way to reconcile them both.

As of 2018, any news on them has been slow and via the Horus Heresy Team at Forge World. They stated that there would at least be some 8th edition rules for Talons (which includes Grey Knights apparently) coming eventually while they're not working on all these other Horus Heresy, Titanicus, Necromunda, and Blood Bowl projects. So far nothing on Sisters but Custodians at least got a handful of new kit.

Why they weren't simply added to the Custodes codex, only GW knows.

As of 2020, during Nurgle's Pandemic, it's been all but confirmed by GW that Sisters of Silence and Custodes will be merged together in the second-to-last chapter of the Psychic Awakening, "War of the Spider", as the Talons of the Emperor. Coupled with the new Black Library models that feature a Shield Captain and SoS in a single unit with that as a faction keyword, there is a lot of evidence that supports this.

And even more recently, in November of 2021 it was confirmed that the new Custodes Codex set to accompany the new shadow throne boxset in 2022 would include rules for a [https://www.warhammer-community.com/2021/11/30/lead-a-full-sisters-of-silence-army-with-the-powerful-knight-centura/ new Sisters unit] the Knight-Centura and rules to finally field either a full Sisters of Silence army or a mixed Custodes/Sisters Talons of the Emperor army.

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Talons_of_the_Emperor_(30k)|Sisters of Silence (AKA Talons of the Emperor) Horus Heresy Tactics]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Talons of the Emperor (9E)|Sisters of Silence (AKA Talons of the Emperor) 40k Tactics]]

==Gallery==
<center>
<gallery>
SoS vs. TS Dred.jpg|Being in a Dreadnought does not make you safe from these chicks.
SoS vs. EC Noise Marines.jpg|Even ''these'' bastards are having a hard time dealing with them.
Sister_of_silence_by_n924.jpg|As scary as they are, they can still be the cutest sweethearts of the Emprah.
Jenetia Krole.jpg|Jenetia Krole, She's not staring into your soul, she's staring through it.
</gallery>
</center>

{{Template:Sisters-of-Silence}}

{{Imperium}}

Grey Knights

2022-05-07T14:09:29Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* Grey Knights and the Adeptus Custodes */

{{flamewar}}
{{awesome}}
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Grey Knights
|Heraldry = [[File:GKSymbol.jpeg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "We Are the Hammer!" or in a few instances, "Vengeance for the lost!" also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9We2XsVZfc this ancient terran hymn sung before battle]
|Number = [[Edgy|666, what a subtle and cool reference GW]]
|Founding = [[Second Founding]] (sort of (close enough for paperwork))
|Successors of = [[Knights-Errant]], after a fashion
|Successor Chapters = None
|Chapter Master = [[Kaldor Draigo]] (unfortunately)
|Primarch = None. Gene-seed made directly from [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Big E himself]]
|Homeworld = [[Titan (Moon)|Titan]]
|Specialty = Killing Daemons, Killing Loyalists, [[Mary Sue|being better than you]]
|Strength = ~1000
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = [[Grey|Unpainted]] (hence, "grey" - Space Marine Power Armour is <s>plastic</s> silver-steelish by default)
}}
[[File:The Hammer.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The only thing they don't get is life insurance]]
''"We are warriors of the Grey Knights, armored in Faith, shielded by Devotion, and armed with Purity of Purpose. But greater even than these, we carry the light of the divine Emperor of Man into the dark places to purge the daemonic wherever it may be found."''

{{topquote|There is nothing in the arcane and blasphemous arsenal of the forces of Chaos that can compare to faith. With the power of faith, our weapons become shining instruments of deliverance that can cleave the mightiest daemon in twain. With the power of faith, our minds appear as slivers of pure agony to the daemon, driving into the wretched forms of those who would dare stand before us. With the power of faith, our words become commands that cause the daemon to cower and cringe in terror. I could meet my enemies unarmed without a shred of fear in my chest, for I know that the Emperor watches over me and guides my hand. So let them come. '''We shall show them what the power of faith can do.'''|Brother-Captain [[Arvann Stern]]}}
{{topquote|One unbreakable shield against the coming darkness, One last blade forged in defiance of fate, Let them be my legacy to the galaxy I conquered, And my final gift to the species I failed.|Inscription upon the Arcus Daemonica, attributed to the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]]}}

The [[Grey Knights]] are a [[Space Marines]] Chapter, though unlike all other Chapters it was specifically founded for one purpose, and one purpose alone: to hunt down and destroy any and all Daemonkind encroaching upon [[The Emperor]]'s realm. [[Pretend|Pure of soul and of purpose]], and armed with the best equipment and warships that the Imperium has to offer (outside the stuff the other Super Super Space Marines, the [[Adeptus Custodes]], use). The Grey Knights grimly pursue the task given to them by the Emperor Himself, and [[Blam|woe]] to any [[Daemon|Neverborn]] (or [[Khornate Knights|poor]] [[Imperial Guard|schmucks]] [[Heresy|that]] [[Grimdark|even]] ''see'' them fight Daemons) that gets in their way. It is of note that in "The Buried Dagger" (the 54th book of the Horus Heresy series) it was stated that the [[Knights-Errant|founding members]] would be sent to Titan to build a new legion entirely focused on fighting daemons. Either this was an oversight by the author, or it is a matter of debate why they re-emerged at chapter strength instead in light of the fact that a legion would have been comprised of a lot more space marines than merely 1.000 marines.

==Overview==
The Grey Knights is a Chapter whose primary task is to hunt down and destroy Daemons whenever and wherever they manifest in the [[Imperium of Man]]. While your average Chapter will have, at best, a score of battle-brothers who are trained in [[Librarian|safely using the powers of the Immaterium]], each and every single battle-brother in the Grey Knights is a [[psyker]]. Though the psychic proficiency of each Grey Knight varies, each brother has been trained rigorously to turn their powers towards the destruction of daemons, whether by channeling it through their various Nemesis Force weaponry, or more overt displays such as roaring flames and searing lightning.

Another thing that sets apart the Grey Knights from all other Chapter in the Imperium is the fact that not a single member of the Chapter has fallen to the whispers of Chaos. Whether it is through their basic make-up -- one enduring rumor among the members of the [[Inquisition]] is that their geneseed comes from the Emperor Himself (probably untrue since he doesn't have any) -- or through their ridiculously arduous training process, not even the Grey Knights would say. What is certain though, is that the average Grey Knight is ''so'' pure that they are anathema to daemons, with the weaker of the latter [[Awesome|crumbling into dust]] in their presence.

Guided by their Prognosticators and astride their fast Strike Cruisers (whose speed would make other Chapters seethe in envy), The Grey Knights take the fight directly to whichever battlefield or world the touch of daemonkind befouls. This is often a grim and very VERY thankless task, and the average Imperial citizen will never know how they often owe their lives to the battles the Grey Knights fight. The best that a Grey Knight can expect before he is laid to rest in the Dead Fields of Titan is that his deeds will be remembered by the brothers he leaves behind. As to ''why'' no one can know, well, [[Grimdark|see the following section]].

The final factor differentiating the Knights from other loyalist forces is that they're allowed to ''kill other loyalists'' with no repercussions, as they are part of the Inquisition. And boy do they have no problem with it either. They have [[What|ritually murdered]] [[Sisters of Battle]] (<strike> for their gamer girl bathwater </strike> admittedly to create wards to repel daemons, and this was retconned in 7th edition anyway), killed a bunch of [[Space Wolves|first founding marines]] and completely obliterated at least one [[Flame Falcons|newer]] loyalist chapter, as well as routinely murder citizens and members of the [[Imperial Guard]] literally for being nearby. The Daemon Prince Primarchs have nothing on these guys. But they do this because in their eyes and probably in reality anyone exposed to the horrors of daemons is vulnerable to their taint, so they grimdark entire continents and fleets just to stop the possibility of taint remaining though they scour the minds of Adeptus Astartes who willingly do so to spare their own minds the horror and risk of corruption - which is why the Space Wolves and Grey Knights had it out because obviously the Space Wolves were having none of that.

Which makes the idea that the [[Minotaurs]] may or may not have teamkilled a strike cruiser full of Grey Knights for getting between them and their target a tasty bit of irony!

==The Secret Chapter==
The Grey Knights work alongside the [[Daemonhunters|Ordo Malleus]] as their Chamber Militant, and as they specialize in killing anything [[Daemon|daemonic]], they're typically called in to deal with giant greater daemons of death or Chaos Primarchs. However, despite being the Chamber Militant and therefore technically subservient to the Inquisition, they are considered by all means autonomous, though they oftentimes work directly under Inquisitorial authority on missions.

People outside the Ordo Malleus and High Lords of Terra do not know of the Grey Knights, save for some Chapter Masters and other [[Bjorn|notable]] folks. Even their base of operations and anything that happens within their Chapter are never discussed outside of these select few. This is a containment measure to protect any of the Grey Knights' secret equipment and rituals from Chaos forces, ensuring they'll always have the upper [[Power Fist|hand]] in a fight. However, as the First War of Armageddon, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, and Dawn of War: Soulstorm show, they'll work with other Chapters if the [[Daemonhunters|Ordo Malleus]] or one of their higher-ups decides that their presence is needed, or if their presence is requested by the overall commander of [[Space Marine]] operations, though the latter tends to be more an exception than the rule. [[Grimdark|More often, those that the Knights fight alongside get mind-wiped in order to preserve their secrecy, and some are even executed if they are deemed at risk of corruption after the battle is won.]]

Despite this, they aren't restricted to fighting solely daemons. They can readily deal with more mundane things like witches, mutants, and heretics; however, these forces would normally be left to the [[Witch Hunters|Ordo Hereticus]] and the [[Sisters of Battle]], and they would rarely be called in to deal with such a situation unless it was believed that a daemonic incursion was imminent. Grey Knights also occasionally fight Xenos, which would normally be left to the [[Alienhunters|Ordo Xenos]] and their chamber militant, the [[Deathwatch]], which is composed of the hardest non-Grey Knight Space Marines around. Again, this is rare, as the Grey Knights and their [[Daemonhunters|Ordo Malleus]] allies will typically feel that this is a waste of their talent.

All of this changes when Xeno Warp entities like the Avatars of [[Khaine|Khaela Mensha Khaine]] and Enslavers appear, or when said heretics, mutants, and witches bring out Daemons or some combination of the above; this tends to end up causing two, or if they're really unlucky, all three branches of the Inquisition to descend down upon the poor sap. Fighting the [[Sisters of Battle]], the [[Deathwatch]], and the [[Grey Knights]] all at once is a [[Fail|challenge]] that most sentient entities would much rather slowly gnaw all of their legs off than face. It gets even worse when you throw in Assassins and whatever force [[Just as Planned|happens]] to already be present, i.e. yet more marines/guardsmen.

==Pure of Purpose==
[[File:CN WIP.png|right|thumb|left|TRUTH]]
{{topquote|The Daemonic leads to two crimes; You turn away from the path of righteousness. And, you abandon the Emperor as the object of your devotion. For the first, death is merely a just retribution. The second is a heresy so terrible that no punishment can be sufficient. [[Grimdark|Yet the search for an appropriate penalty continues, and it shall be found.]]|Codex: Daemonhunters 3rd Edition}}

Grey Knights are also the most elite of the Space Marines, and are trained in [[The 666 Rituals of Detestation|the most ball-crushingly difficult process that even veteran Space Marines consider "hard".]] Oddly enough, the fact that the Chapter is comprised completely of psykers -- an already uncommon occurrence in a given population -- means that the Grey Knights have to have a significantly ''larger'' pool of potential recruits, if only to stack the odds in the Chapter's favor that it would be able to replenish its losses with not only the toughest, but also the most mentally fit. While the most stable source of recruits are the Inquistion's Black Ships, the Grey Knights can and will recruit from any planet it deems fit, even worlds [[That guy|already used]] by ''other'' Space Marine Chapters (as one notable instance with the [[Silver Skulls]] demonstrated).

Even with such a large pool to draw from, the Chapter's recruitment trials are so notoriously difficult and deadly that it has a washout rate that even [[Fabius Bile]] would appreciate. According to some of the Codices, it's common for only about one in a ''thousand'' to pass the '''first trial''', and it only gets worse from there. Needless to say the weak of will, weak of constitution, or simply plain unlucky, get weeded out real early, but as a result only the best of the best gets picked. All told, maybe about one in a million survives to become worthy to receive the Emperor's Gift, and begin their training to become a lowly battle-brother. And this is all ''before'' they're introduced to the aforementioned 666 Rituals of Detestation. Harsh. These numbers sound like absolute [[Bullshit|bullshit]], but remember that the Imperium contains one ''million'' worlds. It is impossible to pin down the number of people in the Imperium, but numbers in the quadrillions are on the conservative end with quintillions not being out of the realm of possibility. Gee Dubs is probably [[fail|way off]] on the numbers, but perhaps only by 1:1,000 instead of 1:1,000,000. Even then that would make for possibly trillions of viable grey knight candidates, an army large enough to punch the great rift in the face until it dies. However, since Grey Knight aspirants are Beta or Alpha psykers or something close to them, ''it is bullshit''. Their numbers would be utterly unsustainable. Even with normal psykers strong enough to be worth a damn. Not to mention the incredible waste of an extremely valuable asset that worlds risk being shot to pieces for not giving up. It is probably best to just utterly ignore the stupidity and assume they are careful not to waste this scarce resource. ''Unless'' the failures don't usually die and are simply mind-wiped and sent to some other organizations like the Librarius of other Chapters, Astropaths, Emperor food, etc.

Due to the screening process involved and the harshness of the training regimen, even the "average" Grey Knight battle-brother is much more powerful than the average [[Deathwatch]] marine of the [[Alienhunters|Ordo Xenos]], and are both more individually powerful and experienced than the [[Sisters of Battle]]. However they lack the experience and versatility of the [[Deathwatch]] who probably also marginally outnumber them, and are vastly outnumbered by the [[Sisters of Battle]], which keeps a balance of power between the three orders of the inquisition.

Uniquely enough, upon death, Grey Knights seek to be interred in The Dead Fields, a burial site on Titan some distance away from the Grey Knights' fortress. Their equipment is then recycled and passed along to the next recruits in line, and the gene seed harvested before the burial preparation. (the process of which involves writing the 666 Words of Sanctity along the fallen Knight's body) This also accounts for the relatively low amounts of Dreadnoughts owned by the Chapter, though those that do exist are rarely awoken to help with the worst situations. These Dreadnoughts may also serve as commanders, and it's more than a little bizarre that there isn't a Dreadnought named character in the codex.

==Gene-Seed==
Unlike "regular" Astartes, the Grey Knights' gene-seed is made with [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Big Daddy Emps]] own unmodified genetic material. This buffs their natural psychic abilities and makes them even less appealing to daemons. Exactly ''HOW'' the Emperor managed to make this gene-seed, produced a full gene-vault's worth, got it to Titan, while stuck in the world's least comfortable recliner trying to keep the Chaos-gods from kicking in Terra's door, and his favorite son having an angsty rebellious teenager phase with half his Empire's military forces right in his front yard, is unknown.

In point of fact, the novel, Saturnine, makes it clear that the first Astartes ever produced were made with gene-seed directly from his own stock (Perhaps a number of First Legion Astartes include these first Marines and their gene-seed produced via Progenoids). The experiments were conducted and the ones that successfully produced the kinds of warriors Astartes were needed to be were deemed "templates" and then the Primarch gene-stock was integrated into the system to produce warriors that matched the template with the exceptions of qualities that suited the Primarch whose image they were made in. This directly contradicts decades of lore that said he made the Primarchs first then based the Astartes off of them, but then again Saturnine isn't known for [[Erda|sticking to the lore.]] That said, since the Emperor's body is just a biomancy creation of his, he would have to have created the gene-seed the very hard way in a lab from his DNA. He doesn't have a Progenoid, after all.

...Or ''is'' it the Emperor's?

Let's ignore for a minute that the Grey Knights like to claim they're descended from The Emperor's own gene-seed because: A) that's kinda stupid, and B) the [[Sons of the Phoenix|Sons of the Phoenix]] probably like to claim that they ''totally'' carry the gene-seed of Rogal Dorn (and may even believe it themselves).

In ''Fury of Magnus'', we have a bit of dialogue during the Siege of Terra between Big E and Magnus about creating a second legion under his command as a replacement for the Thousand Sons. The Emperor tells him that he's free to come back and be a part of the Imperium again, but between the Flesh Change and their dark sorceries further corrupting them, the Thousand Sons are a lost cause.

But Emps tells Magnus that he's already building him a new legion. A legion better than the Thousand Sons. Outright better than any of the other 19 too. A legion "Whose flesh will be flawless. Whose fists are steel. Whose hearts are armored in adamantium. And they would be the pride of the new Imperium,". A legion fit to be lead by the second greatest psyker to ever walk the galaxy.

Remind you of any silver (alleged) mary-sues?

Obviously Magnus turned it down. But, according to Emps, the new legion was already in the process of being created anyway. And it's not like founding a chapter [[Carcharodons|from]] [[Blood Ravens|traitor]] [[Shadow Wolves|legion]] [[Minotaurs|stock is]] [[Silver Skulls|unheard of]], [[Red Scorpions|either]]. This could also lend itself to better explaining the Grey Knights' resistance to chaotic corruption. The Rubric which would turn the vast majority of the Thousand Sons into dusty suits of armor also had an effect on the surviving members. Any psyker strong enough amongst the legion had their psychic powers supercharged and were untouched by any (unwilling) mutations. With the Grey Knights recruiting exclusively from already powerful psykers, and unlikely to willingly give into the gifts of chaos, perhaps the spell that became the ruin of the first sons of Magnus was also a bulwark protecting his second sons.

==Organization==
Since they exist outside the normal structure of the Adeptus Astartes, the Grey Knights have an organization similar yet distinctly different from [[Codex Astartes|Codex]] Chapters. Instead of the Codex-standard ten companies, the Knights are organized into 8 "Brotherhoods", whose lineages harken back to the original 8 founders of the Grey Knights by Malcador himself. Each of these Brotherhoods is known for their specialty; for example, the 1st Brotherhood is home to most of the chapter's pilots and vehicles, the 7th best maintains relations with the Inquisition and stores all the information on them, while the 8th is generally where most of the recruits are first sent.
The ranks are as follows:

*'''Supreme Grand Master''': The Chapter Master of the Grey Knights, elected by the eight Grand Masters unanimously. [[Kaldor Draigo]] serves as the current Supreme Grand Master. While he can assume command over any current Grand Master command or mission, he normally only does this if a Conclave Diabolus (the 101 daemons on their most wanted list) or a Daemon Primarch shows up (of course it's hard to assume command when you have been stuck in the warp for a undisclosed amount of time).

*'''Grand Master''': The leader of a Grey Knights Brotherhood, this Grey Knight has seen centuries if not millennia of combat. There are only [[Khorne|eight]] in total, in remembrance of the eight Space Marines [[Malcador the Sigillite]] recruited for the task. While each also manages the brotherhood fleet, manage recruits etc., they normally just give these task to a Chapter serf so they can go kill daemons. A better explanation for their limited number would be that their the Star of Chaos has 8 points, and that the Grey Knights need to counter Chaos on all of its aspects: if special mystical rituals, more than experience and a "political office" as in how Draigo was appointed (in the original status of the Knights Templar, the Grand-Master (articles 24 to 55) received the additional dignities of Primat, Patriarch and Sovereign, and received the powers to bless, forgive and retain his forgiveness, in addition to "supreme eminence, supreme authority and fullness of sovereign universal authority upon [[Dark Angels|the Order]]") were required to appoint them, then the Grand-Masters could maybe be embodiment of, say, the virtues listed in the ''Canticle of Absolution''... but [[Games Workshop|Gros Wotour]] has yet to fly around the idea since third edition.

*'''Brother-Captain''': Just like each Brotherhood has a Grand Master to lead it, so too is there a corresponding Brother-Captain to further delegate orders through the chain of command. Similar to the old Legion Astartes rank where Captains could also be squad commanders, except for the fact that they are ''always'' referred to as Brother-Captain. Grey Knight Brother-Captains ''can'' command larger groups the way a captain in a typical Codex Chapter would (this happened at the First Battle of Armageddon, for example), but the Knights only assemble in such numbers in response to the direst of threats, so most of the time they're left to run just a squad, albeit an elite one. In the modern version, the Captains are all lieutenants of the Grand-Masters, which does not makes much sense; in the Daemon Hunters codex, Brother-Captan was a title bestowed upon all Terminator squad leaders, since, at the time, the Grey-Knights were not at all Codex compliant, and had numbers allowing them to be much more logically spread over the Imperium albeit in small groups (this also served to explain the numbers of miniatures used on the tabletop wargame).

*'''Brotherhood Champion''': Similar to a Company Champion, the Brotherhood Champion has renounced all forms of combat save for the sword. Given that all Grey Knights are psykers wielding Nemesis-force weapons, this means that a Brotherhood Champion will be charging a daemon with a flaming sword, evening the odds a little. Admittedly one of the cooler (in fluff) units, though on tabletop they're little more than one-trick ponies.

*'''Justicar''': Similar in function to a Sergeant, a Justicar leads squads in battle, answering immediately to a Brother-Captain. The major difference between a Sergeant and a Justicar is that a Justicar may wear personal heraldry. They also often serve as a focus for the squad's psychic powers.

*'''Purifier''': Purifiers are battle-brothers who are especially pure of spirit, possessing high psychic ability that can allow them to wreath themselves in holy flame that will burn anything Chaos tainted while leaving the Purifier untouched. So basically yo dawg we heard you like warriors of purity so we put extra purity in your extra purity so you can be extra pure while you're extra pure! Cool thing about them is that they aren't chosen based on combat abilities or heroics, but their psychic fortitude and purity of soul (how this is actually assessed remains a closely guarded secret) - For this very reason, there's only about 40 Purifiers at once anywhere in the galaxy. They hold some pretty bad secrets on Titan, stuff that they'll ''beat up'' other Knights if they ever try and take a hold of.

*'''Paladin''': Paladins are a special group like the Purifiers, but whereas the Purifiers focus on spiritual purity, the Paladins are much more martial, serving as bodyguards to the Grand Masters. Membership is acquired when an Aspirant completes eight separate quests establishing his character and nobility. These things push them to the limit of what is super-humanly possible, both in their psyké and their physical power. Despite this there's a lot of Paladins compared to Purifiers, with about a hundred of them existing at a time. Note that virtually every Paladin is on the books to be promoted to Brother-Captain, though Justicars can also be promoted if they earn it through some appropriately heroic feat and prove they can lead well enough.

*'''Prognosticar''': Think, Space Marine [[Farseer|Farseers]]. These guys serve as the mission control for the chapter and inform the Grand Masters about serious shit that might be going down, and they're often Knights that've been injured badly enough such that they can't serve on the frontlines. Groups of them sit around all day in psychic echo chambers to divine the return of powerful daemons before they actually show up, allowing the Grey Knights to mobilize in time to put a stop to the enemy's plans. This helps to minimize the damage wrought, sometimes even halting the summoning rituals before their completion. They are also probably the most powerful psykers in the whole imperium bar the emperor, other grey knights describe them as blinding when they are suppressing their power.

===The Grey Knight's Super Secret Box===
Deep within the core of Saturn's moon, Titan, which had been hidden in the Warp during the Horus Heresy, in the heart of the Grey Knights fortress lies a super secret box containing something so super secret that only Supreme Grand Master [[Kaldor Draigo]] and nobody else is allowed to know it exists, and even he doesn't know what is inside. Known only as the Terminus Decree, it is unknown what lies within the box, but it is believed that if it is opened that untold horrors would spill into the material world. That said, fucking anything could be inside the box, even a piece of string, a secret compartment within the actual secret box that holds one of the deepest and darkest secret of the Imperium that's triggered by pulling said piece of string, a good piece of Matt Ward fluff, or [[Troll|another secret box.]] It might even contain an embarrassing photo of the emprah from the Christmas party. On a serious note, it should be noted that the box is inscribed with the exact same insignia as that of the Golden Throne and it has instructions only to open it if all hope for humanity is lost.

The Horus Heresy novel Old Earth coincidentally has Vulkan install a Doomsday Device in the Golden Throne that when activated would destroy Terra to ensure that even if the Imperium fell the homeworld of mankind would be denied to the Ruinous Powers.

Of course, we'll never know since the box will only be opened when "All is lost", although the 8th edition codex does mention that Kaldor Draigo has asked the Grand Masters to consider opening it for the first time in their recorded history (which is fucking dumb since [[Derp|only Draigo knew the Terminus Decree exists]]. Then again, it's somewhat understandable, since Draigo's brain can be seriously frayed after all time he spent in the warp.). Given [[The End Times|what happened]] the last time GW decided to [[Advancing the Storyline|move things forward]], it may be best if we don't learn what's inside.

==5th Edition, /tg/, and how [[Matt Ward]] Bungled Shit Up==
[[File:Rape knight.png|200px|right|thumb|"FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK FUCK!"]]
{{MattWard}}
{{Plot Armour}}
When the 5E Grey Knights Codex was announced, there was considerable discussion amongst /tg/; finally, an army that needed it was going to get an update. Anticipation turned to balls-out [[Warp|horror]], however, when it was discovered that [[Matt Ward|Matthew "Spiritual Liege" Ward]] was going to do the codex. Matt was notorious for fucking up the [[fluff]] of the [[Blood Angels]] (turning them into necrophiliacs) and [[Ultramarines|Space Smurfs]] (turning them into ''[[Indrick Boreale|SECOND TO TEH EMPRAH]]'' marines, simultaneously infuriating those who actually liked the Ultramarines fluff in which they took their lumps but fought on (I.E. the manly route) and those who already disliked Ultramarines.) Considering that Matt had placed so much ascended fanboy wankery on the Ultramarines, many, especially on /tg/, were wondering how, exactly, he was intending to handle the fluff of the Grey Knights, who were trained to be the best of the best. The face-palm-worthy answer came in the form of leaked information regarding the Codex:

Grey Knights now roam around the warp, carving their names in the daemon hearts of daemon primarchs - you know, the ones that single-handedly destroyed empires and have ascended to daemonhood. That any man would be capable of this, given that the [[Warp]] is the very essence of the Daemonic and ergo their numbers are limitless and their powers inviolate and also is a realm that is in itself anathema to the laws of physical existence hence why the fucking ships have to use Geller Fields so they don't un-exist by entering the Warp, and the 10+ years of canon regarding just that was completely disregarded - because Matt Ward said so. So they have one guy (who is such a bit of lunacy that 1d4chan has given him [[Kaldor Draigo|his own article]]) running around the warp, killing Slaanesh's chosen handmaidens, burning down the gardens of Nurgle, and though it wasn't expressly stated in his fluff article, heavily implies figuring out Tzeentch's Infinite Labyrinth. True to all Matt Ward fluff, how Draigo managed to escape going insane from warp exposure, become Slaanesh's buttsex-slave after setting eyes on [[Slaanesh|She who thirsts]], being popped like a Zit by [[Khorne]], not catching [[Nurgle|space daemon]] [[AIDS]] from being in the plaguefather and Mortarion's presence (let alone carving anything on his heart), or simply being drowned in bodies that make his armor/invulnerable saves irrelevant (the usual way to deal with Grey Knights on the tabletop) is never explained. This is Ward we're talking about, and he shows as much grace as [[C.S.Goto|black Irish lepers]] when handling fluff. Who knows, maybe Ward decided this guy is the Grey Knight's Primarch. At least that might make ''some'' sense...a primarch version of a living saint... mmmmm, why didn't Emps do that to begin with!? Oh right, the [[Imperial Truth|Imperial]] [[fail|Truth]].

Not content to [[FATAL|rape]] canon with just one codex entry, he then made it so that Daemonhosts could be taken by a Grey Knights army. For the uninitiated, this was, again, another slap in the face of 10+ years of canon, since in literally ''every fucking work put out by [[Games Workshop]]'', has had them view Daemonhosts as the darkest form of [[Heresy]] and dealing with those that harbor them [[Exterminatus|the same way they deal with anything daemonic]]. Not content to leave well enough alone, they can now work with radical Inquisitors, who, again, now harbor the [[Daemon|daemonic]] in the form of Daemonblades.
[[File:Space Hulk.jpg|400px|left|thumb|Remember the good ol' days?]]
Then he gave most of the [[Sisters of Battle]] special characters to the Grey Knights, such as [[Witch Hunters|Lord Krazypantsoff]], since - y'know, that army hadn't been [[-4 Str|brutalized enough]] for Matt's taste. Which is why he then included the Bloodtide. Look up [[Khornate Knights]] if you want to learn more about this...incident.
He then proceeded to give the Grey Knights an absolutely-ridiculous-looking (and widely mocked by [[/tg/]]) walker called a [[Dreadknight]] that counts as a monstrous creature, can do a huge personal teleport to get where it needs to be, and which basically is a Grey Knight Terminator hooked into a bigger armor suit - yes, <strike>it's every bit as insane and retarded as it sounds</strike> just kidding, it's even worse than that because not only does it have no frontal armor, it leaves the head of the Grey Knight [[Blam|completely exposed]]. But hey, to be fair, it was designed for the purpose of fighting greater daemons 1 on 1, not to protect from bullets. These guys fight daemons in melee combat, and any extra protection against a greater daemon's weapon past termie armor and force fields would be redundant. As one clever Ultramarines player, fed up with Matt Ward's shit, put it:

''"Yo dawg, we heard you like powered armor so we put powered armor in your powered armor so you can go to war while you go to war"'' [http://qkme.me/3set87]

Inexplicably, despite the fact that you could snipe the Grey Knight out of the Dreadknight, since apparently armoring the head is for losers, the rules don't display this. Exactly why Ward thinks that bullets are somehow less damaging against the Knight's head when it's put in a suit of armor that mostly covers its body and limbs is a mystery. (Although the codex does say something about there being an invisible shield of ridiculous strength protecting the pilot, without any regard to what kind of implications Super-Strength Force Fields have, simply because Matt Ward wanted to make the DreadKnight look like the Power Loader from Aliens) What he really got from it was a baby carrier attached to a chicken that got beaten by an ugly stick.

Throw in a ton of extra cheese, a commander that out-Creed's [[Creed]] (it can Scout more units than Creed can with '''Tactical Genius''') by a sizable margin, throw in a ton of retarded violations of fluff like the aforementioned, and several other bits of flaming stupid (such as the oversight which allows players to take entire ''armies'' of [[Jokaero]], which, depending on [[Lulz|who]] [[Troll|you]] [[Furry|are]], could be a bad thing or a funny thing), and you have the 5th Edition Grey Knights Codex in a nutshell.

tl;dr a shitstorm happened.

===Hauling Things Back on Track===
Needless to say, when GW announced that the Grey Knights would be getting an update for 7E, people were far less than enthused. After all, nobody was exactly thrilled by the last codex, but the only way they could get any worse was to have someone illiterate write.

That said, the 7E Codex saw a massive cutback in terms of both fluff and crunch.
Gone was the aforementioned incident with the Sisters, as was any mention of [[Vorth Mordrak]] the Ghost-Master and [[Anval Thawn]] the Possibly-Perpetual Paladin (and one of Ward's few good ideas from 5th ed.) <s>Similarly, that bullshit story about Draigo forging a sword from a daemonic weapon was gone.</s> It's still there, and you have to be retarded to consider this canon-rape as both Logan Grimnar's axe and Papa Smurf's gauntlets are both reforged trophies taken from Chaos (which is still canon-rape).
In terms of crunch, though, a lot more was cut, and the codex as a whole was beaten with the nerf bat pretty hard. First off, they were finally excised from that tumor that was the old Inquisition List. However, that removal did also mean that the Knights now lacked much in the way of anti-armor. Similarly, Thrawn and Mordrak were banished from the codex because they never had models. A lot of the more cheese options for the Grey Knights (Grand Strategy and allotment of psychic powers mostly) were also removed, as were the beloved Psybolts. In fact, the only unit that got buffed in the codex was the Dreadknight, who got a major price cut and was forced to be the only good unit, with the runner-up being the Librarian by virtue of his psychic variety. Oh, and Draigo got shoved into Lords of War while losing all the rules that made him OP.

In short, there were some price changes to units, a few units were switched into different slots, and there were nerfs all around with very, very little to compensate for the loss, save for a formation and a few relics.

==Grey Knights and the [[Adeptus Custodes]]==
Shield Captain Valerian provides a telling perspective about how the most elite warriors in the Imperium views their silver-armored cousins. Shield-Captain Valerian thinks it possible that M41 Custodians are individually '''more skilled''' than their Great Crusade era counterparts, owing to ten thousand years of extra experience and information gathering on mankind's enemies. However, in the book ''The Emperor's Legion'', while working with and fighting alongside a Grey Knights company, Valerian does acknowledge to himself that while each individual Custodian is more than a match for their Grey Knight counterparts, the Custodes are not a self-contained army the same way as Space Marine Chapters are, since that was never their intended function. Nor are they possessed of any prescient gifts or supernatural abilities that would assist them against the Great Enemy. In this way, he further compares the Custodians to the Grey Knights, both being descended from the Emperor (in different fashions), were incorruptible and immune to the temptations of Chaos; the key difference is that the Grey Knights are a weapon of singular purpose against the Warp while the Custodians had been intended to be the guardians of mankind in a future without the Warp. Valerian privately speculates that it might be the Grey Knights who more faithfully embody the Emperor's final legacy considering how the Imperium eventually turned out, and isn't so sure about which agency is the finest or most faithful; and while he never says that he himself actually agrees with this sentiment, he acknowledges that a reasonable argument could perhaps be made. This is a shared sentiment that skulks around the other Custodians like a foul odour.

The missing element in the Custodes deployment has always been the [[Sisters of Silence]], a force that most commanders very easily forget about, especially when faced with the awesome fighting prowess of the Custodes themselves. But it is worth noting that they were always intended to fight together. Sister Tanau Aleya believes that there is no physical opponent that the Custodians could not destroy [the [[Swarmlord]] recently being killed by a single, no-name Custodian without even a whole lot of fuss seems to support this assessment, [[RAGE|irksome as Tyranid players may consider it]]] and that it was the role of the untouchable Sisters of Silence to anchor supernatural or warp tainted enemies into the physical realm where they can be wounded and destroyed by the golden warriors or by the Sisters themselves, whose null effect causes any daemons they strike down to be killed ''permanently''. Thus, they act on the opposite end of the scale to the Grey Knights, who fight against the warp on its own terms, whereas the Talons of the Emperor deny the warp any purchase in reality to begin with.

Which method is more effective, it is actually difficult to say. From the Grey Knights' end, while superlative warriors even amongst the astartes, they are not the peerless physical combatants that the Custodes are; but then, nobody is. However, they were also never meant to be, and the Grey Knights ''are'' peerless psykers, which offsets the discrepancy somewhat. While certainly fighting creatures of the warp using harnessed warp energy is not so foolishly sounding as first appears, as it has real precedence; The God-Emperor himself does so, and the [[Eldar]] do it almost routinely. This is where it's also important to point out that there's a difference between Chaos and The Warp; Chaos needs The Warp to exist, but not vice-versa. If that's still not clear, then as an analogy, in Star Wars, there's a distinction between The Sith and the Dark Side of the Force, even if the two are sometimes thought of as interchangeable; The Sith are reliant on the Dark Side, but the Dark Side exists irrespective of the existence of The Sith. Not a perfect analogy certainly, but hopefully conveys the gist. But returning to the point, for perspective's sake, it is better to understand that it is '''Timing''' that is the main factor. When the Grey Knights arrive on the scene, it is already too late for everybody else: the great enemy already has all the cards, the dark gods have now found purchase into the material realm, [[exterminatus|the battle is effectively lost, and no number of battle tanks or titan god-machines will reverse the inevitable]]... and that is where the Grey Knights are forced to begin their fight.

So, [[skub|regardless of what anybody else says]], be proud of your silver dudes. For while they may be sometimes deployed as a preemptive force, Grey Knights are more often typically wrestling victory from the jaws of not only certain-defeat but a point where defeat has already happened. ''To win even when everything is already lost.'' They're the last prayer, they're final hail mary, the last roll of the dice. Don't be surprised if they lose, because everything is so stacked up against them. But when they actually win, [[Nobledark Imperium|that's something]].

==Notable Members==
* [[Kaldor Draigo|Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo]]
* [[Vorth Mordrak|Grand Master Vorth Mordrak]]
* [[Aldrik Voldus|Grand Master Aldrik Voldus]]
* [[Arvann Stern|Brother-Captain Arvann Stern]]
* [[Castellan Crowe|Castellan Garran Crowe]]
* [[Hyperion|Librarian Hyperion]]
* Justicar Alaric
* [[Anval Thawn]]

==Daily Rituals of the Grey Knights==
04:00 - Rousing from their deep sleep. The Grey Knights emerge from their purity sealed, ceramite-plasteel composite beds.

04:30 - The Grey Knights initiate Morning Prayers. These are extra long to make the Grey Knights extra faithful.

06:50 - Morning Meal. A light meal is prepared by the Grey Knight's uber secret serfs. Each meal is blessed with holy water and purity seals.

07:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Grey Knights begin target practice on captured [[Heretics]] and bound [[Daemons]].

09:00 - Purity Checks. The Grey Knights are inscribed with new protective wardens and are checked for their pureness.

10:00 - Battle Practice. The Grey Knights resume practicing on ways to kill daemons via Daemonhosts and ''even more'' Heretics.

11:00 - Midday Prayer. The Grey Knights initiate a prayer just as long as in the morning. This time on why the Emprah kicks ass and the Chaos Gods suck monkey cock.

13:00 - Midday Meal. A medium meal is prepared again by the secret serfs. More holy water and blessed ingredients are used to prepare the food.

13:30 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Grey Knights are informed on the latest daemonic incursions.

15:30 - Battle Practice. The Grey Knights pay a visit to a random <s>heretical</s> planet to hone their <s>heretic</s> killing spree skillzzzz.

17:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Grey Knights continue their target practice on captured Daemons and Heretics after returning from their daily heretic slaughter.

18:00 - Evening Prayer. A prayer is hosted in the evening to further indoctrinate the Grey Knights as to why they're 'special'.

20:00 - Evening Meal. A huge feast is prepared by the serfs. Not only are the food decorated in purity seals, dressed in holy water and blessed ingredients but is also cooked in holy Prometheum mixture, the same fuel used to fire up Purgation Squad's Incinerators. Usually the feast is celebrated by a successful [[Grey Knight Paladin|Paladin]].

22:00 - Purity Checks. More checks on the Grey Knights purity. Failure in filling up the daily purity quotient will lead the particular Grey Knight to go on a penance crusade to slaughter a million Daemons by himself. This is a minor nuisance as all of them succeed due to their plot armor. Of course, nobody failed in the first place, so they just draw sticks over who gets to waste 5 minutes of the free period slaughtering Daemons.

23:00 - Free Time. The Grey Knights have their free time. Those sent on a penance crusade came back with a bucket load of captured and slain daemons and heretics to be later used for tomorrow's target and battle practice. The rest of the Grey Knights use their time to worship the Emperor, honing in their psychic potential, blessing their equipment or [[The 666 Rituals of Detestation |reading their special 666 paged booklet of purging daemons.]] Techmarines spend the time preparing [[Blood Ravens|borrowed]] Xeno tech for general use. Additionally various recreational facilities are made available to Grey Knights; most notable of these is an ancient piece of archeotech called MS-DOS which runs a program from M3 known as "[[Doom]]" in which what is assumed to be a proto Grey Knight running around slaughtering daemons. This is of great entertainment to the Grey Knights as it reminds them that killing demons isn't just their emperor given duty, it can be fun too.

24:00 - The Grey Knights goes back to their deep sleep in their purity approved beds.

==Badass Quotes==
'''Short version'''

I am the hammer, I am the mail about His fist. 
I am the Spear in His hand. 
Though we are lost, I am the shield on His arm. 
I am the flight of His arrows. I am the hammer. 
I am the sword. I am the shield. 
I am a soldier at the battle at the end of time.

'''Full version'''

I am the Hammer, 
I am the edge of His Sword, 
I am the tip of His Spear, 
I am the mail about His Fist, 
I am the flight of His Arrows, 
I am the right hand of my Emperor, 
I am the instrument of His Will, 
I am His sword as He is my Armor, 
I am his Wrath and He is my Zeal, 
I am the Bane of His Foes and the Woes of the Treacherous, 
Let us be His Shield, 
Let us speak His Word as He fuels the Fire of Devotion, 
Let us fight His Battles, as He fights the Battle at the end of time, 
And let us join Him there, for Duty ends not in Death, 
In Vengeance be true, In Valor be Strong,

I am the Hammer, 
I am the Sword, 
I am the Spear, 
I am the Shield, 
I am the soldier at the End of Time.

'''Lord Inquisitor version'''

I am the Hammer, 
I am the point of His spear, 
I am the mail about His fist, 
I am the bane of His foes and the woes of the treacherous, 
I am the End.

'''~~ Justicar Alaric, Grey Knights'''

===Canticle of Absolution===
Praise the Emperor for his sacrifice, 
as He endures so shall we. 
We who are Hunters of Daemons, 
shall strive in his name eternally.

We the Order of the Hammer, 
shall delve into the Dark Shadows. 
We shall seek out the Tainted, 
we shall pursue the Vilest Evil.

It is we who stand guard, 
our Eternal Watch shall not fail. 
For we are the Ordo Malleus!

We Grey Knights are the Hammers, 
we slay the Darkness without fear. 
Founded in great mystery we were, 
Chapter six hundred and sixty six.

Though on Titan we be hidden, 
yet our eyes encompass the Galaxy. 
No Devil shall elude our gaze, 
no Daemon shall elude its Fate.

We shall be the Keepers Immortal, 
all Secrets shall be our Knowledge. 
We are the Guardians of Mankind!

Caution and secrecy are our code, 
watchfulness and patience are our way. 
Hidden from the Eyes of Chaos, 
we strike without warning or dread.

Though we find ourselves in Shadows, 
no Blackness will enter our Hearts. 
No treachery will touch our souls, 
no pride will sully our thoughts.

We shall be Pure amongst Impurity, 
we shall be Innocence amongst Guilt. 
We are the Imperium’s Hidden Saviours!

We are spread across the Heavens, 
our watch is untiring and ceaseless. 
The Emperor shall guard our Souls, 
as we Guard those of others.

Our will shall be our weapons, 
our faith shall be our armour. 
Our minds will be secure fortresses, 
no Temptation will weaken our resolve.

Though unnumbered lurking perils await us, 
our blades will ever be ready. 
For we are the Emperor’s Vengeance!

Masters of all weapons are we, 
no defence exists against our wrath. 
With the Nemesis shall we fight, 
with an Aegis to shield us.

In bloodshed shall we save Mankind, 
Death shall be our Everlasting Creed. 
War Unending shall be our Fate, 
in battle shall we be steeped.

We shall be unstinting in Hatred, 
we shall hunger for Holy War. 
For we are Swords of Justice!

When all flee in hideous disarray, 
strong and sound shall we stand. 
Cowardice is wholly unknown to us, 
our courage comes from the Emperor.

Unbowed and unshaken against all foes, 
we shall claim victory with blood. 
Steady and surely we hunt them, 
those who dare oppose our wrath.

Death stalks us in many forms, 
the grotesque and the utterly inhuman. 
We are the Bringers of Hope!

Bloody battles unending constantly await us, 
redemption the reward for our vigilance. 
When Possession rears its unspeakable head, 
ours is the blade that descends.

When Empyrean Horrors invade our realm, 
our Exorcisms shall hurl them back. 
There is no Chaos spawned horror, 
which can resist our indomitable anger.

With undaunted courage we shall prevail, 
no arcane magicks shall overcome us. 
We are the Bearers of Victory!

No corruption shall blemish our Galaxy, 
no Immaterial Fiend shall be spared. 
No Malevolent Spirit will oppose us, 
no Creation of Sin shall survive.

No Unholy Deed shall go Unpunished, 
all Blasphemous Acts shall be Atoned. 
No Spawn of Misrule shall avoid us, 
all are banished to the Void.

Nothing shall evade our Cleansing Fire, 
not Daemon or Spawn or Renegade. 
For we are Mankind’s Divine Blade!

Heavenly Blessings are laid upon us, 
the Warp is ours to Tame. 
Though Sorceries shall be against us, 
no Witchcraft will bring our Doom.

Though Spell or Incantation blocks us, 
the Emperor shall see us Victorious. 
No Hex can overcome our determination, 
our resolve is strong as steel.

Sigils and wards shall watch over us, 
prayers shall serve as our Guide. 
For we are the Emperor’s Chosen!

There is much darkness awaiting us, 
yet the Emperor lights our path. 
Falsehood surrounds us at every turn, 
yet no Traitor shall confound us.

No despicable trickery will thwart us, 
No Damnation shall bring us low. 
There is no peace for us, 
for an eternity we will strive.

Though mere mortals in His service, 
everlasting shall be our True Duty.

'''~~ Codex: Daemonhunters 3rd Edition'''

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:GreyKnightPose.jpg|Holy, righteous, and daemon-killy.
File:Grey Knight3.jpg|We do have to admit that the new Purgation Squads are pretty cool
File:BroCaptain.jpg|
File:GKBattleColor.jpg|So, um... WHY IN THE NAME OF BUGGERY WASN'T ''THIS'' USED FOR THE DREADKNIGHT MODEL?!?
File:CroweInColor.jpg|Castellan Crowe, the leader of the Purifiers. He uses the daemon sword as a regular blade because he's too badass to let it corrupt him. This doesn't stop him from tearing holes in heretic and daemon asses.
File:Typical_Grey_Knight_Players.jpg| We must remember, however, that many players have embraced Ward's Grey Knights. And they are, to a man, [[that guy|insufferable]].
File:The sacred rose by celeng-d57pms2.jpg| Disregard [[Khornate Knights|the Ward]]. The Knights and Sisters are the best of bros.
File:RealDreadknight.jpg| This Dreadknight, made with a DAKKADAKKA conversion kit, looks as it should have. Field one and watch [[TWINS THEY WERE|nude Bolter Bitches]] jockey to [[Slaanesh|polish]] your armor. Obviously Forgeworld took note when designing the [[Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought]].
File:GKStormbolter.png|Just another day on the job.
File:GreyKnightLean.jpg|Shhhh, I'm hunting Daemons.
File:GreyKnightBattleColor.jpg
File:GreyKnightBattle.jpg
File:GKProfile.jpg
File:GKProfile4.jpg
File:Grey-knight.jpg
Grey Knight1.jpg
Grey Knight5.jpg
Grey Knights5.jpg
Grey Knights4.jpg
Grey Knights6.jpg
Emperors-gift.jpg
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[The 666 Rituals of Detestation]] - All Grey Knights initiates must pass these trials before they become a full-fledged battle brother.
*[[Daemonhunters]]
*[[Exorcists]], who totally are not budget Grey Knights.
*[[The Ultimate Grey Knight Cheese List]] The Ultimate (in Cheese!) Grey Knight Army for 6E right at the start of the edition, before things were updated. Seriously, though...don't play it or your opponent will murder you in real life.
*[[Grey Knight Brotherhood Creation Table]] - Create your own Brotherhood with anons or otherwise.
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Grey_Knights (9E)|Grey Knights Tactics]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjaYW5Cnr5k Watch a Grey Knight get armored up in Aegis Terminator Armor] IN OVER 1080p!

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
{{Grey Knights}}

Grey Knights

2022-05-07T14:06:59Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* Grey Knights and the Adeptus Custodes */

{{flamewar}}
{{awesome}}
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Grey Knights
|Heraldry = [[File:GKSymbol.jpeg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "We Are the Hammer!" or in a few instances, "Vengeance for the lost!" also [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m9We2XsVZfc this ancient terran hymn sung before battle]
|Number = [[Edgy|666, what a subtle and cool reference GW]]
|Founding = [[Second Founding]] (sort of (close enough for paperwork))
|Successors of = [[Knights-Errant]], after a fashion
|Successor Chapters = None
|Chapter Master = [[Kaldor Draigo]] (unfortunately)
|Primarch = None. Gene-seed made directly from [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Big E himself]]
|Homeworld = [[Titan (Moon)|Titan]]
|Specialty = Killing Daemons, Killing Loyalists, [[Mary Sue|being better than you]]
|Strength = ~1000
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = [[Grey|Unpainted]] (hence, "grey" - Space Marine Power Armour is <s>plastic</s> silver-steelish by default)
}}
[[File:The Hammer.jpg|thumb|300px|right|The only thing they don't get is life insurance]]
''"We are warriors of the Grey Knights, armored in Faith, shielded by Devotion, and armed with Purity of Purpose. But greater even than these, we carry the light of the divine Emperor of Man into the dark places to purge the daemonic wherever it may be found."''

{{topquote|There is nothing in the arcane and blasphemous arsenal of the forces of Chaos that can compare to faith. With the power of faith, our weapons become shining instruments of deliverance that can cleave the mightiest daemon in twain. With the power of faith, our minds appear as slivers of pure agony to the daemon, driving into the wretched forms of those who would dare stand before us. With the power of faith, our words become commands that cause the daemon to cower and cringe in terror. I could meet my enemies unarmed without a shred of fear in my chest, for I know that the Emperor watches over me and guides my hand. So let them come. '''We shall show them what the power of faith can do.'''|Brother-Captain [[Arvann Stern]]}}
{{topquote|One unbreakable shield against the coming darkness, One last blade forged in defiance of fate, Let them be my legacy to the galaxy I conquered, And my final gift to the species I failed.|Inscription upon the Arcus Daemonica, attributed to the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]]}}

The [[Grey Knights]] are a [[Space Marines]] Chapter, though unlike all other Chapters it was specifically founded for one purpose, and one purpose alone: to hunt down and destroy any and all Daemonkind encroaching upon [[The Emperor]]'s realm. [[Pretend|Pure of soul and of purpose]], and armed with the best equipment and warships that the Imperium has to offer (outside the stuff the other Super Super Space Marines, the [[Adeptus Custodes]], use). The Grey Knights grimly pursue the task given to them by the Emperor Himself, and [[Blam|woe]] to any [[Daemon|Neverborn]] (or [[Khornate Knights|poor]] [[Imperial Guard|schmucks]] [[Heresy|that]] [[Grimdark|even]] ''see'' them fight Daemons) that gets in their way. It is of note that in "The Buried Dagger" (the 54th book of the Horus Heresy series) it was stated that the [[Knights-Errant|founding members]] would be sent to Titan to build a new legion entirely focused on fighting daemons. Either this was an oversight by the author, or it is a matter of debate why they re-emerged at chapter strength instead in light of the fact that a legion would have been comprised of a lot more space marines than merely 1.000 marines.

==Overview==
The Grey Knights is a Chapter whose primary task is to hunt down and destroy Daemons whenever and wherever they manifest in the [[Imperium of Man]]. While your average Chapter will have, at best, a score of battle-brothers who are trained in [[Librarian|safely using the powers of the Immaterium]], each and every single battle-brother in the Grey Knights is a [[psyker]]. Though the psychic proficiency of each Grey Knight varies, each brother has been trained rigorously to turn their powers towards the destruction of daemons, whether by channeling it through their various Nemesis Force weaponry, or more overt displays such as roaring flames and searing lightning.

Another thing that sets apart the Grey Knights from all other Chapter in the Imperium is the fact that not a single member of the Chapter has fallen to the whispers of Chaos. Whether it is through their basic make-up -- one enduring rumor among the members of the [[Inquisition]] is that their geneseed comes from the Emperor Himself (probably untrue since he doesn't have any) -- or through their ridiculously arduous training process, not even the Grey Knights would say. What is certain though, is that the average Grey Knight is ''so'' pure that they are anathema to daemons, with the weaker of the latter [[Awesome|crumbling into dust]] in their presence.

Guided by their Prognosticators and astride their fast Strike Cruisers (whose speed would make other Chapters seethe in envy), The Grey Knights take the fight directly to whichever battlefield or world the touch of daemonkind befouls. This is often a grim and very VERY thankless task, and the average Imperial citizen will never know how they often owe their lives to the battles the Grey Knights fight. The best that a Grey Knight can expect before he is laid to rest in the Dead Fields of Titan is that his deeds will be remembered by the brothers he leaves behind. As to ''why'' no one can know, well, [[Grimdark|see the following section]].

The final factor differentiating the Knights from other loyalist forces is that they're allowed to ''kill other loyalists'' with no repercussions, as they are part of the Inquisition. And boy do they have no problem with it either. They have [[What|ritually murdered]] [[Sisters of Battle]] (<strike> for their gamer girl bathwater </strike> admittedly to create wards to repel daemons, and this was retconned in 7th edition anyway), killed a bunch of [[Space Wolves|first founding marines]] and completely obliterated at least one [[Flame Falcons|newer]] loyalist chapter, as well as routinely murder citizens and members of the [[Imperial Guard]] literally for being nearby. The Daemon Prince Primarchs have nothing on these guys. But they do this because in their eyes and probably in reality anyone exposed to the horrors of daemons is vulnerable to their taint, so they grimdark entire continents and fleets just to stop the possibility of taint remaining though they scour the minds of Adeptus Astartes who willingly do so to spare their own minds the horror and risk of corruption - which is why the Space Wolves and Grey Knights had it out because obviously the Space Wolves were having none of that.

Which makes the idea that the [[Minotaurs]] may or may not have teamkilled a strike cruiser full of Grey Knights for getting between them and their target a tasty bit of irony!

==The Secret Chapter==
The Grey Knights work alongside the [[Daemonhunters|Ordo Malleus]] as their Chamber Militant, and as they specialize in killing anything [[Daemon|daemonic]], they're typically called in to deal with giant greater daemons of death or Chaos Primarchs. However, despite being the Chamber Militant and therefore technically subservient to the Inquisition, they are considered by all means autonomous, though they oftentimes work directly under Inquisitorial authority on missions.

People outside the Ordo Malleus and High Lords of Terra do not know of the Grey Knights, save for some Chapter Masters and other [[Bjorn|notable]] folks. Even their base of operations and anything that happens within their Chapter are never discussed outside of these select few. This is a containment measure to protect any of the Grey Knights' secret equipment and rituals from Chaos forces, ensuring they'll always have the upper [[Power Fist|hand]] in a fight. However, as the First War of Armageddon, Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, and Dawn of War: Soulstorm show, they'll work with other Chapters if the [[Daemonhunters|Ordo Malleus]] or one of their higher-ups decides that their presence is needed, or if their presence is requested by the overall commander of [[Space Marine]] operations, though the latter tends to be more an exception than the rule. [[Grimdark|More often, those that the Knights fight alongside get mind-wiped in order to preserve their secrecy, and some are even executed if they are deemed at risk of corruption after the battle is won.]]

Despite this, they aren't restricted to fighting solely daemons. They can readily deal with more mundane things like witches, mutants, and heretics; however, these forces would normally be left to the [[Witch Hunters|Ordo Hereticus]] and the [[Sisters of Battle]], and they would rarely be called in to deal with such a situation unless it was believed that a daemonic incursion was imminent. Grey Knights also occasionally fight Xenos, which would normally be left to the [[Alienhunters|Ordo Xenos]] and their chamber militant, the [[Deathwatch]], which is composed of the hardest non-Grey Knight Space Marines around. Again, this is rare, as the Grey Knights and their [[Daemonhunters|Ordo Malleus]] allies will typically feel that this is a waste of their talent.

All of this changes when Xeno Warp entities like the Avatars of [[Khaine|Khaela Mensha Khaine]] and Enslavers appear, or when said heretics, mutants, and witches bring out Daemons or some combination of the above; this tends to end up causing two, or if they're really unlucky, all three branches of the Inquisition to descend down upon the poor sap. Fighting the [[Sisters of Battle]], the [[Deathwatch]], and the [[Grey Knights]] all at once is a [[Fail|challenge]] that most sentient entities would much rather slowly gnaw all of their legs off than face. It gets even worse when you throw in Assassins and whatever force [[Just as Planned|happens]] to already be present, i.e. yet more marines/guardsmen.

==Pure of Purpose==
[[File:CN WIP.png|right|thumb|left|TRUTH]]
{{topquote|The Daemonic leads to two crimes; You turn away from the path of righteousness. And, you abandon the Emperor as the object of your devotion. For the first, death is merely a just retribution. The second is a heresy so terrible that no punishment can be sufficient. [[Grimdark|Yet the search for an appropriate penalty continues, and it shall be found.]]|Codex: Daemonhunters 3rd Edition}}

Grey Knights are also the most elite of the Space Marines, and are trained in [[The 666 Rituals of Detestation|the most ball-crushingly difficult process that even veteran Space Marines consider "hard".]] Oddly enough, the fact that the Chapter is comprised completely of psykers -- an already uncommon occurrence in a given population -- means that the Grey Knights have to have a significantly ''larger'' pool of potential recruits, if only to stack the odds in the Chapter's favor that it would be able to replenish its losses with not only the toughest, but also the most mentally fit. While the most stable source of recruits are the Inquistion's Black Ships, the Grey Knights can and will recruit from any planet it deems fit, even worlds [[That guy|already used]] by ''other'' Space Marine Chapters (as one notable instance with the [[Silver Skulls]] demonstrated).

Even with such a large pool to draw from, the Chapter's recruitment trials are so notoriously difficult and deadly that it has a washout rate that even [[Fabius Bile]] would appreciate. According to some of the Codices, it's common for only about one in a ''thousand'' to pass the '''first trial''', and it only gets worse from there. Needless to say the weak of will, weak of constitution, or simply plain unlucky, get weeded out real early, but as a result only the best of the best gets picked. All told, maybe about one in a million survives to become worthy to receive the Emperor's Gift, and begin their training to become a lowly battle-brother. And this is all ''before'' they're introduced to the aforementioned 666 Rituals of Detestation. Harsh. These numbers sound like absolute [[Bullshit|bullshit]], but remember that the Imperium contains one ''million'' worlds. It is impossible to pin down the number of people in the Imperium, but numbers in the quadrillions are on the conservative end with quintillions not being out of the realm of possibility. Gee Dubs is probably [[fail|way off]] on the numbers, but perhaps only by 1:1,000 instead of 1:1,000,000. Even then that would make for possibly trillions of viable grey knight candidates, an army large enough to punch the great rift in the face until it dies. However, since Grey Knight aspirants are Beta or Alpha psykers or something close to them, ''it is bullshit''. Their numbers would be utterly unsustainable. Even with normal psykers strong enough to be worth a damn. Not to mention the incredible waste of an extremely valuable asset that worlds risk being shot to pieces for not giving up. It is probably best to just utterly ignore the stupidity and assume they are careful not to waste this scarce resource. ''Unless'' the failures don't usually die and are simply mind-wiped and sent to some other organizations like the Librarius of other Chapters, Astropaths, Emperor food, etc.

Due to the screening process involved and the harshness of the training regimen, even the "average" Grey Knight battle-brother is much more powerful than the average [[Deathwatch]] marine of the [[Alienhunters|Ordo Xenos]], and are both more individually powerful and experienced than the [[Sisters of Battle]]. However they lack the experience and versatility of the [[Deathwatch]] who probably also marginally outnumber them, and are vastly outnumbered by the [[Sisters of Battle]], which keeps a balance of power between the three orders of the inquisition.

Uniquely enough, upon death, Grey Knights seek to be interred in The Dead Fields, a burial site on Titan some distance away from the Grey Knights' fortress. Their equipment is then recycled and passed along to the next recruits in line, and the gene seed harvested before the burial preparation. (the process of which involves writing the 666 Words of Sanctity along the fallen Knight's body) This also accounts for the relatively low amounts of Dreadnoughts owned by the Chapter, though those that do exist are rarely awoken to help with the worst situations. These Dreadnoughts may also serve as commanders, and it's more than a little bizarre that there isn't a Dreadnought named character in the codex.

==Gene-Seed==
Unlike "regular" Astartes, the Grey Knights' gene-seed is made with [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Big Daddy Emps]] own unmodified genetic material. This buffs their natural psychic abilities and makes them even less appealing to daemons. Exactly ''HOW'' the Emperor managed to make this gene-seed, produced a full gene-vault's worth, got it to Titan, while stuck in the world's least comfortable recliner trying to keep the Chaos-gods from kicking in Terra's door, and his favorite son having an angsty rebellious teenager phase with half his Empire's military forces right in his front yard, is unknown.

In point of fact, the novel, Saturnine, makes it clear that the first Astartes ever produced were made with gene-seed directly from his own stock (Perhaps a number of First Legion Astartes include these first Marines and their gene-seed produced via Progenoids). The experiments were conducted and the ones that successfully produced the kinds of warriors Astartes were needed to be were deemed "templates" and then the Primarch gene-stock was integrated into the system to produce warriors that matched the template with the exceptions of qualities that suited the Primarch whose image they were made in. This directly contradicts decades of lore that said he made the Primarchs first then based the Astartes off of them, but then again Saturnine isn't known for [[Erda|sticking to the lore.]] That said, since the Emperor's body is just a biomancy creation of his, he would have to have created the gene-seed the very hard way in a lab from his DNA. He doesn't have a Progenoid, after all.

...Or ''is'' it the Emperor's?

Let's ignore for a minute that the Grey Knights like to claim they're descended from The Emperor's own gene-seed because: A) that's kinda stupid, and B) the [[Sons of the Phoenix|Sons of the Phoenix]] probably like to claim that they ''totally'' carry the gene-seed of Rogal Dorn (and may even believe it themselves).

In ''Fury of Magnus'', we have a bit of dialogue during the Siege of Terra between Big E and Magnus about creating a second legion under his command as a replacement for the Thousand Sons. The Emperor tells him that he's free to come back and be a part of the Imperium again, but between the Flesh Change and their dark sorceries further corrupting them, the Thousand Sons are a lost cause.

But Emps tells Magnus that he's already building him a new legion. A legion better than the Thousand Sons. Outright better than any of the other 19 too. A legion "Whose flesh will be flawless. Whose fists are steel. Whose hearts are armored in adamantium. And they would be the pride of the new Imperium,". A legion fit to be lead by the second greatest psyker to ever walk the galaxy.

Remind you of any silver (alleged) mary-sues?

Obviously Magnus turned it down. But, according to Emps, the new legion was already in the process of being created anyway. And it's not like founding a chapter [[Carcharodons|from]] [[Blood Ravens|traitor]] [[Shadow Wolves|legion]] [[Minotaurs|stock is]] [[Silver Skulls|unheard of]], [[Red Scorpions|either]]. This could also lend itself to better explaining the Grey Knights' resistance to chaotic corruption. The Rubric which would turn the vast majority of the Thousand Sons into dusty suits of armor also had an effect on the surviving members. Any psyker strong enough amongst the legion had their psychic powers supercharged and were untouched by any (unwilling) mutations. With the Grey Knights recruiting exclusively from already powerful psykers, and unlikely to willingly give into the gifts of chaos, perhaps the spell that became the ruin of the first sons of Magnus was also a bulwark protecting his second sons.

==Organization==
Since they exist outside the normal structure of the Adeptus Astartes, the Grey Knights have an organization similar yet distinctly different from [[Codex Astartes|Codex]] Chapters. Instead of the Codex-standard ten companies, the Knights are organized into 8 "Brotherhoods", whose lineages harken back to the original 8 founders of the Grey Knights by Malcador himself. Each of these Brotherhoods is known for their specialty; for example, the 1st Brotherhood is home to most of the chapter's pilots and vehicles, the 7th best maintains relations with the Inquisition and stores all the information on them, while the 8th is generally where most of the recruits are first sent.
The ranks are as follows:

*'''Supreme Grand Master''': The Chapter Master of the Grey Knights, elected by the eight Grand Masters unanimously. [[Kaldor Draigo]] serves as the current Supreme Grand Master. While he can assume command over any current Grand Master command or mission, he normally only does this if a Conclave Diabolus (the 101 daemons on their most wanted list) or a Daemon Primarch shows up (of course it's hard to assume command when you have been stuck in the warp for a undisclosed amount of time).

*'''Grand Master''': The leader of a Grey Knights Brotherhood, this Grey Knight has seen centuries if not millennia of combat. There are only [[Khorne|eight]] in total, in remembrance of the eight Space Marines [[Malcador the Sigillite]] recruited for the task. While each also manages the brotherhood fleet, manage recruits etc., they normally just give these task to a Chapter serf so they can go kill daemons. A better explanation for their limited number would be that their the Star of Chaos has 8 points, and that the Grey Knights need to counter Chaos on all of its aspects: if special mystical rituals, more than experience and a "political office" as in how Draigo was appointed (in the original status of the Knights Templar, the Grand-Master (articles 24 to 55) received the additional dignities of Primat, Patriarch and Sovereign, and received the powers to bless, forgive and retain his forgiveness, in addition to "supreme eminence, supreme authority and fullness of sovereign universal authority upon [[Dark Angels|the Order]]") were required to appoint them, then the Grand-Masters could maybe be embodiment of, say, the virtues listed in the ''Canticle of Absolution''... but [[Games Workshop|Gros Wotour]] has yet to fly around the idea since third edition.

*'''Brother-Captain''': Just like each Brotherhood has a Grand Master to lead it, so too is there a corresponding Brother-Captain to further delegate orders through the chain of command. Similar to the old Legion Astartes rank where Captains could also be squad commanders, except for the fact that they are ''always'' referred to as Brother-Captain. Grey Knight Brother-Captains ''can'' command larger groups the way a captain in a typical Codex Chapter would (this happened at the First Battle of Armageddon, for example), but the Knights only assemble in such numbers in response to the direst of threats, so most of the time they're left to run just a squad, albeit an elite one. In the modern version, the Captains are all lieutenants of the Grand-Masters, which does not makes much sense; in the Daemon Hunters codex, Brother-Captan was a title bestowed upon all Terminator squad leaders, since, at the time, the Grey-Knights were not at all Codex compliant, and had numbers allowing them to be much more logically spread over the Imperium albeit in small groups (this also served to explain the numbers of miniatures used on the tabletop wargame).

*'''Brotherhood Champion''': Similar to a Company Champion, the Brotherhood Champion has renounced all forms of combat save for the sword. Given that all Grey Knights are psykers wielding Nemesis-force weapons, this means that a Brotherhood Champion will be charging a daemon with a flaming sword, evening the odds a little. Admittedly one of the cooler (in fluff) units, though on tabletop they're little more than one-trick ponies.

*'''Justicar''': Similar in function to a Sergeant, a Justicar leads squads in battle, answering immediately to a Brother-Captain. The major difference between a Sergeant and a Justicar is that a Justicar may wear personal heraldry. They also often serve as a focus for the squad's psychic powers.

*'''Purifier''': Purifiers are battle-brothers who are especially pure of spirit, possessing high psychic ability that can allow them to wreath themselves in holy flame that will burn anything Chaos tainted while leaving the Purifier untouched. So basically yo dawg we heard you like warriors of purity so we put extra purity in your extra purity so you can be extra pure while you're extra pure! Cool thing about them is that they aren't chosen based on combat abilities or heroics, but their psychic fortitude and purity of soul (how this is actually assessed remains a closely guarded secret) - For this very reason, there's only about 40 Purifiers at once anywhere in the galaxy. They hold some pretty bad secrets on Titan, stuff that they'll ''beat up'' other Knights if they ever try and take a hold of.

*'''Paladin''': Paladins are a special group like the Purifiers, but whereas the Purifiers focus on spiritual purity, the Paladins are much more martial, serving as bodyguards to the Grand Masters. Membership is acquired when an Aspirant completes eight separate quests establishing his character and nobility. These things push them to the limit of what is super-humanly possible, both in their psyké and their physical power. Despite this there's a lot of Paladins compared to Purifiers, with about a hundred of them existing at a time. Note that virtually every Paladin is on the books to be promoted to Brother-Captain, though Justicars can also be promoted if they earn it through some appropriately heroic feat and prove they can lead well enough.

*'''Prognosticar''': Think, Space Marine [[Farseer|Farseers]]. These guys serve as the mission control for the chapter and inform the Grand Masters about serious shit that might be going down, and they're often Knights that've been injured badly enough such that they can't serve on the frontlines. Groups of them sit around all day in psychic echo chambers to divine the return of powerful daemons before they actually show up, allowing the Grey Knights to mobilize in time to put a stop to the enemy's plans. This helps to minimize the damage wrought, sometimes even halting the summoning rituals before their completion. They are also probably the most powerful psykers in the whole imperium bar the emperor, other grey knights describe them as blinding when they are suppressing their power.

===The Grey Knight's Super Secret Box===
Deep within the core of Saturn's moon, Titan, which had been hidden in the Warp during the Horus Heresy, in the heart of the Grey Knights fortress lies a super secret box containing something so super secret that only Supreme Grand Master [[Kaldor Draigo]] and nobody else is allowed to know it exists, and even he doesn't know what is inside. Known only as the Terminus Decree, it is unknown what lies within the box, but it is believed that if it is opened that untold horrors would spill into the material world. That said, fucking anything could be inside the box, even a piece of string, a secret compartment within the actual secret box that holds one of the deepest and darkest secret of the Imperium that's triggered by pulling said piece of string, a good piece of Matt Ward fluff, or [[Troll|another secret box.]] It might even contain an embarrassing photo of the emprah from the Christmas party. On a serious note, it should be noted that the box is inscribed with the exact same insignia as that of the Golden Throne and it has instructions only to open it if all hope for humanity is lost.

The Horus Heresy novel Old Earth coincidentally has Vulkan install a Doomsday Device in the Golden Throne that when activated would destroy Terra to ensure that even if the Imperium fell the homeworld of mankind would be denied to the Ruinous Powers.

Of course, we'll never know since the box will only be opened when "All is lost", although the 8th edition codex does mention that Kaldor Draigo has asked the Grand Masters to consider opening it for the first time in their recorded history (which is fucking dumb since [[Derp|only Draigo knew the Terminus Decree exists]]. Then again, it's somewhat understandable, since Draigo's brain can be seriously frayed after all time he spent in the warp.). Given [[The End Times|what happened]] the last time GW decided to [[Advancing the Storyline|move things forward]], it may be best if we don't learn what's inside.

==5th Edition, /tg/, and how [[Matt Ward]] Bungled Shit Up==
[[File:Rape knight.png|200px|right|thumb|"FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK FUCK!"]]
{{MattWard}}
{{Plot Armour}}
When the 5E Grey Knights Codex was announced, there was considerable discussion amongst /tg/; finally, an army that needed it was going to get an update. Anticipation turned to balls-out [[Warp|horror]], however, when it was discovered that [[Matt Ward|Matthew "Spiritual Liege" Ward]] was going to do the codex. Matt was notorious for fucking up the [[fluff]] of the [[Blood Angels]] (turning them into necrophiliacs) and [[Ultramarines|Space Smurfs]] (turning them into ''[[Indrick Boreale|SECOND TO TEH EMPRAH]]'' marines, simultaneously infuriating those who actually liked the Ultramarines fluff in which they took their lumps but fought on (I.E. the manly route) and those who already disliked Ultramarines.) Considering that Matt had placed so much ascended fanboy wankery on the Ultramarines, many, especially on /tg/, were wondering how, exactly, he was intending to handle the fluff of the Grey Knights, who were trained to be the best of the best. The face-palm-worthy answer came in the form of leaked information regarding the Codex:

Grey Knights now roam around the warp, carving their names in the daemon hearts of daemon primarchs - you know, the ones that single-handedly destroyed empires and have ascended to daemonhood. That any man would be capable of this, given that the [[Warp]] is the very essence of the Daemonic and ergo their numbers are limitless and their powers inviolate and also is a realm that is in itself anathema to the laws of physical existence hence why the fucking ships have to use Geller Fields so they don't un-exist by entering the Warp, and the 10+ years of canon regarding just that was completely disregarded - because Matt Ward said so. So they have one guy (who is such a bit of lunacy that 1d4chan has given him [[Kaldor Draigo|his own article]]) running around the warp, killing Slaanesh's chosen handmaidens, burning down the gardens of Nurgle, and though it wasn't expressly stated in his fluff article, heavily implies figuring out Tzeentch's Infinite Labyrinth. True to all Matt Ward fluff, how Draigo managed to escape going insane from warp exposure, become Slaanesh's buttsex-slave after setting eyes on [[Slaanesh|She who thirsts]], being popped like a Zit by [[Khorne]], not catching [[Nurgle|space daemon]] [[AIDS]] from being in the plaguefather and Mortarion's presence (let alone carving anything on his heart), or simply being drowned in bodies that make his armor/invulnerable saves irrelevant (the usual way to deal with Grey Knights on the tabletop) is never explained. This is Ward we're talking about, and he shows as much grace as [[C.S.Goto|black Irish lepers]] when handling fluff. Who knows, maybe Ward decided this guy is the Grey Knight's Primarch. At least that might make ''some'' sense...a primarch version of a living saint... mmmmm, why didn't Emps do that to begin with!? Oh right, the [[Imperial Truth|Imperial]] [[fail|Truth]].

Not content to [[FATAL|rape]] canon with just one codex entry, he then made it so that Daemonhosts could be taken by a Grey Knights army. For the uninitiated, this was, again, another slap in the face of 10+ years of canon, since in literally ''every fucking work put out by [[Games Workshop]]'', has had them view Daemonhosts as the darkest form of [[Heresy]] and dealing with those that harbor them [[Exterminatus|the same way they deal with anything daemonic]]. Not content to leave well enough alone, they can now work with radical Inquisitors, who, again, now harbor the [[Daemon|daemonic]] in the form of Daemonblades.
[[File:Space Hulk.jpg|400px|left|thumb|Remember the good ol' days?]]
Then he gave most of the [[Sisters of Battle]] special characters to the Grey Knights, such as [[Witch Hunters|Lord Krazypantsoff]], since - y'know, that army hadn't been [[-4 Str|brutalized enough]] for Matt's taste. Which is why he then included the Bloodtide. Look up [[Khornate Knights]] if you want to learn more about this...incident.
He then proceeded to give the Grey Knights an absolutely-ridiculous-looking (and widely mocked by [[/tg/]]) walker called a [[Dreadknight]] that counts as a monstrous creature, can do a huge personal teleport to get where it needs to be, and which basically is a Grey Knight Terminator hooked into a bigger armor suit - yes, <strike>it's every bit as insane and retarded as it sounds</strike> just kidding, it's even worse than that because not only does it have no frontal armor, it leaves the head of the Grey Knight [[Blam|completely exposed]]. But hey, to be fair, it was designed for the purpose of fighting greater daemons 1 on 1, not to protect from bullets. These guys fight daemons in melee combat, and any extra protection against a greater daemon's weapon past termie armor and force fields would be redundant. As one clever Ultramarines player, fed up with Matt Ward's shit, put it:

''"Yo dawg, we heard you like powered armor so we put powered armor in your powered armor so you can go to war while you go to war"'' [http://qkme.me/3set87]

Inexplicably, despite the fact that you could snipe the Grey Knight out of the Dreadknight, since apparently armoring the head is for losers, the rules don't display this. Exactly why Ward thinks that bullets are somehow less damaging against the Knight's head when it's put in a suit of armor that mostly covers its body and limbs is a mystery. (Although the codex does say something about there being an invisible shield of ridiculous strength protecting the pilot, without any regard to what kind of implications Super-Strength Force Fields have, simply because Matt Ward wanted to make the DreadKnight look like the Power Loader from Aliens) What he really got from it was a baby carrier attached to a chicken that got beaten by an ugly stick.

Throw in a ton of extra cheese, a commander that out-Creed's [[Creed]] (it can Scout more units than Creed can with '''Tactical Genius''') by a sizable margin, throw in a ton of retarded violations of fluff like the aforementioned, and several other bits of flaming stupid (such as the oversight which allows players to take entire ''armies'' of [[Jokaero]], which, depending on [[Lulz|who]] [[Troll|you]] [[Furry|are]], could be a bad thing or a funny thing), and you have the 5th Edition Grey Knights Codex in a nutshell.

tl;dr a shitstorm happened.

===Hauling Things Back on Track===
Needless to say, when GW announced that the Grey Knights would be getting an update for 7E, people were far less than enthused. After all, nobody was exactly thrilled by the last codex, but the only way they could get any worse was to have someone illiterate write.

That said, the 7E Codex saw a massive cutback in terms of both fluff and crunch.
Gone was the aforementioned incident with the Sisters, as was any mention of [[Vorth Mordrak]] the Ghost-Master and [[Anval Thawn]] the Possibly-Perpetual Paladin (and one of Ward's few good ideas from 5th ed.) <s>Similarly, that bullshit story about Draigo forging a sword from a daemonic weapon was gone.</s> It's still there, and you have to be retarded to consider this canon-rape as both Logan Grimnar's axe and Papa Smurf's gauntlets are both reforged trophies taken from Chaos (which is still canon-rape).
In terms of crunch, though, a lot more was cut, and the codex as a whole was beaten with the nerf bat pretty hard. First off, they were finally excised from that tumor that was the old Inquisition List. However, that removal did also mean that the Knights now lacked much in the way of anti-armor. Similarly, Thrawn and Mordrak were banished from the codex because they never had models. A lot of the more cheese options for the Grey Knights (Grand Strategy and allotment of psychic powers mostly) were also removed, as were the beloved Psybolts. In fact, the only unit that got buffed in the codex was the Dreadknight, who got a major price cut and was forced to be the only good unit, with the runner-up being the Librarian by virtue of his psychic variety. Oh, and Draigo got shoved into Lords of War while losing all the rules that made him OP.

In short, there were some price changes to units, a few units were switched into different slots, and there were nerfs all around with very, very little to compensate for the loss, save for a formation and a few relics.

==Grey Knights and the [[Adeptus Custodes]]==
Shield Captain Valerian provides a telling perspective about how the most elite warriors in the Imperium views their silver-armored cousins. Shield-Captain Valerian thinks it possible that M41 Custodians are individually '''more skilled''' than their Great Crusade era counterparts, owing to ten thousand years of extra experience and information gathering on mankind's enemies. However, in the book ''The Emperor's Legion'', while working with and fighting alongside a Grey Knights company, Valerian does acknowledge to himself that while each individual Custodian is more than a match for their Grey Knight counterparts, the Custodes are not a self-contained army the same way as Space Marine Chapters are, since that was never their intended function. Nor are they possessed of any prescient gifts or supernatural abilities that would assist them against the Great Enemy. In this way, he further compares the Custodians to the Grey Knights, both being descended from the Emperor (in different fashions), were incorruptible and immune to the temptations of Chaos; the key difference is that the Grey Knights are a weapon of singular purpose against the Warp while the Custodians had been intended to be the guardians of mankind in a future without the Warp. Valerian privately speculates that it might be the Grey Knights who more faithfully embody the Emperor's final legacy considering how the Imperium eventually turned out, and isn't so sure about which agency is the finest or most faithful; and while he never says that he himself actually agrees with this sentiment, he acknowledges that a reasonable argument could perhaps be made. This is a shared sentiment that skulks around the other Custodians like a foul odour.

The missing element in the Custodes deployment has always been the Sisters of Silence, a force that most commanders very easily forget about, especially when faced with the awesome fighting prowess of the Custodes themselves. But it is worth noting that they were always intended to fight together. Sister Tanau Aleya believes that there is no physical opponent that the Custodians could not destroy [the [[Swarmlord]] recently being killed by a single no-name Custodian without much fuss seems to support this assessment, [[RAGE|irksome as Tyranid players may consider it]]] and that it was the role of the untouchable Sisters of Silence to anchor supernatural or warp tainted enemies into the physical realm where they can be wounded and destroyed by the golden warriors or by the Sisters themselves, whose null effect causes any daemons they strike down to be killed ''permanently''. Thus, they act on the opposite end of the scale to the Grey Knights, who fight against the warp on its own terms, whereas the Talons of the Emperor deny the warp any purchase in reality to begin with.

Which method is more effective, it is actually difficult to say. From the Grey Knights' end, while superlative warriors even amongst the astartes, they are not the peerless physical combatants that the Custodes are; but then, nobody is. However, they were also never meant to be, and the Grey Knights ''are'' peerless psykers, which offsets the discrepancy somewhat. While certainly fighting creatures of the warp using harnessed warp energy is not so foolishly sounding as first appears, as it has real precedence; The God-Emperor himself does so, and the [[Eldar]] do it almost routinely. This is where it's also important to point out that there's a difference between Chaos and The Warp; Chaos needs The Warp to exist, but not vice-versa. If that's still not clear, then as an analogy, in Star Wars, there's a distinction between The Sith and the Dark Side of the Force, even if the two are sometimes thought of as interchangeable; The Sith are reliant on the Dark Side, but the Dark Side exists irrespective of the existence of The Sith. Not a perfect analogy certainly, but hopefully conveys the gist. But returning to the point, for perspective's sake, it is better to understand that it is '''Timing''' that is the main factor. When the Grey Knights arrive on the scene, it is already too late for everybody else: the great enemy already has all the cards, the dark gods have now found purchase into the material realm, [[exterminatus|the battle is effectively lost, and no number of battle tanks or titan god-machines will reverse the inevitable]]... and that is where the Grey Knights are forced to begin their fight.

So, [[skub|regardless of what anybody else says]], be proud of your silver dudes. For while they may be sometimes deployed as a preemptive force, Grey Knights are more often typically wrestling victory from the jaws of not only certain-defeat but a point where defeat has already happened. ''To win even when everything is already lost.'' They're the last prayer, they're final hail mary, the last roll of the dice. Don't be surprised if they lose, because everything is so stacked up against them. But when they actually win, [[Nobledark Imperium|that's something]].

==Notable Members==
* [[Kaldor Draigo|Supreme Grand Master Kaldor Draigo]]
* [[Vorth Mordrak|Grand Master Vorth Mordrak]]
* [[Aldrik Voldus|Grand Master Aldrik Voldus]]
* [[Arvann Stern|Brother-Captain Arvann Stern]]
* [[Castellan Crowe|Castellan Garran Crowe]]
* [[Hyperion|Librarian Hyperion]]
* Justicar Alaric
* [[Anval Thawn]]

==Daily Rituals of the Grey Knights==
04:00 - Rousing from their deep sleep. The Grey Knights emerge from their purity sealed, ceramite-plasteel composite beds.

04:30 - The Grey Knights initiate Morning Prayers. These are extra long to make the Grey Knights extra faithful.

06:50 - Morning Meal. A light meal is prepared by the Grey Knight's uber secret serfs. Each meal is blessed with holy water and purity seals.

07:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Grey Knights begin target practice on captured [[Heretics]] and bound [[Daemons]].

09:00 - Purity Checks. The Grey Knights are inscribed with new protective wardens and are checked for their pureness.

10:00 - Battle Practice. The Grey Knights resume practicing on ways to kill daemons via Daemonhosts and ''even more'' Heretics.

11:00 - Midday Prayer. The Grey Knights initiate a prayer just as long as in the morning. This time on why the Emprah kicks ass and the Chaos Gods suck monkey cock.

13:00 - Midday Meal. A medium meal is prepared again by the secret serfs. More holy water and blessed ingredients are used to prepare the food.

13:30 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Grey Knights are informed on the latest daemonic incursions.

15:30 - Battle Practice. The Grey Knights pay a visit to a random <s>heretical</s> planet to hone their <s>heretic</s> killing spree skillzzzz.

17:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Grey Knights continue their target practice on captured Daemons and Heretics after returning from their daily heretic slaughter.

18:00 - Evening Prayer. A prayer is hosted in the evening to further indoctrinate the Grey Knights as to why they're 'special'.

20:00 - Evening Meal. A huge feast is prepared by the serfs. Not only are the food decorated in purity seals, dressed in holy water and blessed ingredients but is also cooked in holy Prometheum mixture, the same fuel used to fire up Purgation Squad's Incinerators. Usually the feast is celebrated by a successful [[Grey Knight Paladin|Paladin]].

22:00 - Purity Checks. More checks on the Grey Knights purity. Failure in filling up the daily purity quotient will lead the particular Grey Knight to go on a penance crusade to slaughter a million Daemons by himself. This is a minor nuisance as all of them succeed due to their plot armor. Of course, nobody failed in the first place, so they just draw sticks over who gets to waste 5 minutes of the free period slaughtering Daemons.

23:00 - Free Time. The Grey Knights have their free time. Those sent on a penance crusade came back with a bucket load of captured and slain daemons and heretics to be later used for tomorrow's target and battle practice. The rest of the Grey Knights use their time to worship the Emperor, honing in their psychic potential, blessing their equipment or [[The 666 Rituals of Detestation |reading their special 666 paged booklet of purging daemons.]] Techmarines spend the time preparing [[Blood Ravens|borrowed]] Xeno tech for general use. Additionally various recreational facilities are made available to Grey Knights; most notable of these is an ancient piece of archeotech called MS-DOS which runs a program from M3 known as "[[Doom]]" in which what is assumed to be a proto Grey Knight running around slaughtering daemons. This is of great entertainment to the Grey Knights as it reminds them that killing demons isn't just their emperor given duty, it can be fun too.

24:00 - The Grey Knights goes back to their deep sleep in their purity approved beds.

==Badass Quotes==
'''Short version'''

I am the hammer, I am the mail about His fist. 
I am the Spear in His hand. 
Though we are lost, I am the shield on His arm. 
I am the flight of His arrows. I am the hammer. 
I am the sword. I am the shield. 
I am a soldier at the battle at the end of time.

'''Full version'''

I am the Hammer, 
I am the edge of His Sword, 
I am the tip of His Spear, 
I am the mail about His Fist, 
I am the flight of His Arrows, 
I am the right hand of my Emperor, 
I am the instrument of His Will, 
I am His sword as He is my Armor, 
I am his Wrath and He is my Zeal, 
I am the Bane of His Foes and the Woes of the Treacherous, 
Let us be His Shield, 
Let us speak His Word as He fuels the Fire of Devotion, 
Let us fight His Battles, as He fights the Battle at the end of time, 
And let us join Him there, for Duty ends not in Death, 
In Vengeance be true, In Valor be Strong,

I am the Hammer, 
I am the Sword, 
I am the Spear, 
I am the Shield, 
I am the soldier at the End of Time.

'''Lord Inquisitor version'''

I am the Hammer, 
I am the point of His spear, 
I am the mail about His fist, 
I am the bane of His foes and the woes of the treacherous, 
I am the End.

'''~~ Justicar Alaric, Grey Knights'''

===Canticle of Absolution===
Praise the Emperor for his sacrifice, 
as He endures so shall we. 
We who are Hunters of Daemons, 
shall strive in his name eternally.

We the Order of the Hammer, 
shall delve into the Dark Shadows. 
We shall seek out the Tainted, 
we shall pursue the Vilest Evil.

It is we who stand guard, 
our Eternal Watch shall not fail. 
For we are the Ordo Malleus!

We Grey Knights are the Hammers, 
we slay the Darkness without fear. 
Founded in great mystery we were, 
Chapter six hundred and sixty six.

Though on Titan we be hidden, 
yet our eyes encompass the Galaxy. 
No Devil shall elude our gaze, 
no Daemon shall elude its Fate.

We shall be the Keepers Immortal, 
all Secrets shall be our Knowledge. 
We are the Guardians of Mankind!

Caution and secrecy are our code, 
watchfulness and patience are our way. 
Hidden from the Eyes of Chaos, 
we strike without warning or dread.

Though we find ourselves in Shadows, 
no Blackness will enter our Hearts. 
No treachery will touch our souls, 
no pride will sully our thoughts.

We shall be Pure amongst Impurity, 
we shall be Innocence amongst Guilt. 
We are the Imperium’s Hidden Saviours!

We are spread across the Heavens, 
our watch is untiring and ceaseless. 
The Emperor shall guard our Souls, 
as we Guard those of others.

Our will shall be our weapons, 
our faith shall be our armour. 
Our minds will be secure fortresses, 
no Temptation will weaken our resolve.

Though unnumbered lurking perils await us, 
our blades will ever be ready. 
For we are the Emperor’s Vengeance!

Masters of all weapons are we, 
no defence exists against our wrath. 
With the Nemesis shall we fight, 
with an Aegis to shield us.

In bloodshed shall we save Mankind, 
Death shall be our Everlasting Creed. 
War Unending shall be our Fate, 
in battle shall we be steeped.

We shall be unstinting in Hatred, 
we shall hunger for Holy War. 
For we are Swords of Justice!

When all flee in hideous disarray, 
strong and sound shall we stand. 
Cowardice is wholly unknown to us, 
our courage comes from the Emperor.

Unbowed and unshaken against all foes, 
we shall claim victory with blood. 
Steady and surely we hunt them, 
those who dare oppose our wrath.

Death stalks us in many forms, 
the grotesque and the utterly inhuman. 
We are the Bringers of Hope!

Bloody battles unending constantly await us, 
redemption the reward for our vigilance. 
When Possession rears its unspeakable head, 
ours is the blade that descends.

When Empyrean Horrors invade our realm, 
our Exorcisms shall hurl them back. 
There is no Chaos spawned horror, 
which can resist our indomitable anger.

With undaunted courage we shall prevail, 
no arcane magicks shall overcome us. 
We are the Bearers of Victory!

No corruption shall blemish our Galaxy, 
no Immaterial Fiend shall be spared. 
No Malevolent Spirit will oppose us, 
no Creation of Sin shall survive.

No Unholy Deed shall go Unpunished, 
all Blasphemous Acts shall be Atoned. 
No Spawn of Misrule shall avoid us, 
all are banished to the Void.

Nothing shall evade our Cleansing Fire, 
not Daemon or Spawn or Renegade. 
For we are Mankind’s Divine Blade!

Heavenly Blessings are laid upon us, 
the Warp is ours to Tame. 
Though Sorceries shall be against us, 
no Witchcraft will bring our Doom.

Though Spell or Incantation blocks us, 
the Emperor shall see us Victorious. 
No Hex can overcome our determination, 
our resolve is strong as steel.

Sigils and wards shall watch over us, 
prayers shall serve as our Guide. 
For we are the Emperor’s Chosen!

There is much darkness awaiting us, 
yet the Emperor lights our path. 
Falsehood surrounds us at every turn, 
yet no Traitor shall confound us.

No despicable trickery will thwart us, 
No Damnation shall bring us low. 
There is no peace for us, 
for an eternity we will strive.

Though mere mortals in His service, 
everlasting shall be our True Duty.

'''~~ Codex: Daemonhunters 3rd Edition'''

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:GreyKnightPose.jpg|Holy, righteous, and daemon-killy.
File:Grey Knight3.jpg|We do have to admit that the new Purgation Squads are pretty cool
File:BroCaptain.jpg|
File:GKBattleColor.jpg|So, um... WHY IN THE NAME OF BUGGERY WASN'T ''THIS'' USED FOR THE DREADKNIGHT MODEL?!?
File:CroweInColor.jpg|Castellan Crowe, the leader of the Purifiers. He uses the daemon sword as a regular blade because he's too badass to let it corrupt him. This doesn't stop him from tearing holes in heretic and daemon asses.
File:Typical_Grey_Knight_Players.jpg| We must remember, however, that many players have embraced Ward's Grey Knights. And they are, to a man, [[that guy|insufferable]].
File:The sacred rose by celeng-d57pms2.jpg| Disregard [[Khornate Knights|the Ward]]. The Knights and Sisters are the best of bros.
File:RealDreadknight.jpg| This Dreadknight, made with a DAKKADAKKA conversion kit, looks as it should have. Field one and watch [[TWINS THEY WERE|nude Bolter Bitches]] jockey to [[Slaanesh|polish]] your armor. Obviously Forgeworld took note when designing the [[Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought]].
File:GKStormbolter.png|Just another day on the job.
File:GreyKnightLean.jpg|Shhhh, I'm hunting Daemons.
File:GreyKnightBattleColor.jpg
File:GreyKnightBattle.jpg
File:GKProfile.jpg
File:GKProfile4.jpg
File:Grey-knight.jpg
Grey Knight1.jpg
Grey Knight5.jpg
Grey Knights5.jpg
Grey Knights4.jpg
Grey Knights6.jpg
Emperors-gift.jpg
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[[The 666 Rituals of Detestation]] - All Grey Knights initiates must pass these trials before they become a full-fledged battle brother.
*[[Daemonhunters]]
*[[Exorcists]], who totally are not budget Grey Knights.
*[[The Ultimate Grey Knight Cheese List]] The Ultimate (in Cheese!) Grey Knight Army for 6E right at the start of the edition, before things were updated. Seriously, though...don't play it or your opponent will murder you in real life.
*[[Grey Knight Brotherhood Creation Table]] - Create your own Brotherhood with anons or otherwise.
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Grey_Knights (9E)|Grey Knights Tactics]]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjaYW5Cnr5k Watch a Grey Knight get armored up in Aegis Terminator Armor] IN OVER 1080p!

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
{{Grey Knights}}

Adeptus Custodes

2022-05-07T14:04:24Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* Combat Effectiveness */

[[File:CustodesArt9th.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Paladins of the 31st millennium. The 41st ones are marginally less clad in gold and [[TTS|a lot more naked.]]]]
{{Topquote|Each one of the Ten Thousand represents genetic lore acquired over many lifetimes. Each one of you is unique, a work of art never to be repeated. I am miserly with your lives, where I would spend so many others without a thought.|[[Emperor|Big Emps]] making it clear who his favourite creations are.}}
{{Topquote|We were never soldiers... To them, it must seem as if we are wrath incarnate. To them, it must seem as if we were created for destruction and nothing else. But we were His companions, once. We were the ones in whom He confided. We were His counselors, we were His artisans. We were the first glimpse at what the species could become if shepherded aright and unshackled from its vicious weaknesses. Of course, we were taught to fight. He knew that war would come. It was a necessary part of the ascension, though it was never destined to last for eternity. We were the guardians of a new age, and had to be strong enough to keep it secure.|Shield Captain Valerian, explaining what Custodians were meant for}}
{{Topquote|Meat - detected. Subject - identified. Branch: Adeptus - Custodes. Rank: Captain-General. Name: (fizzle) Screw - that.|Skitarius from TTS commenting on their naming practices}}

The '''Adeptus Custodes''' (known as the '''Legio Custodes''' in the [[Great Crusade|good old days]]) are the guardians of the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Humanity]] and the most badass group of genetically engineered/enhanced warriors/motherfuckers the galaxy has ever known (excluding the Primarchs and the assassins, although the latter and even to some extent the former, although OP as shit, were specialized, and the Custodians were meant to be generalists, as Valerian explains above.) Their Chapter Master equivalent being their Captain-General, and their equivalent of a Primarch being [[awesome|the Emperor of Mankind]].

The Captain-General has the distinct honor of being granted (his position, not specific individuals) the same authority as the Emperor should the Emperor or Malcador (or his equivalent) not be available. Which you probably just realized means the Captain-General is personally responsible for every single flaw of the Imperium as he alone has the power to prevent or correct those flaws and keep the High Lords in line. [[Derp|Instead, he very rarely communicates with any non-Custodes at all whether directly or indirectly, leaving the High Lords and Imperial Senate to their own devices and the Imperium leaderless]].

==Origins & Design==
[[File:1264391028586.jpg|700px|thumb|center|And people bitch about Space Marines and Grey Knights having overdone armour...wait, isn't that [[TTS|Kitten]] third from the right?]]
The Custodians are warriors unmatched in the galaxy, genetically-engineered by the Emperor himself. The Emperor first created these elite warriors back in the old days of his conquest of Terra, making them souped-up and more long-lived versions of the already hilariously OP [[Thunder Warriors]]. In a somewhat dickish move, his preferred recruits for the Custodians were the children of his conquered enemies. In the "present", they are instead taken from [[Emperor's Children|Terran nobility]]. While the Thunder Warriors were eventually replaced by the far more stable and far less brawny Space Marines, the Custodians apparently still use those ancient methods (but geared towards producing far more stable warriors) and as such lack a gene-seed. Instead, they use a much more complex process of bio-alchemy to attain their superhuman abilities, and this process modifies them at a cellular level. Unlike Space Marines, prospective Custodians are selected in infancy, long before they have any ability to prove themselves as Space Marine aspirants might be able to. As a side-effect, many candidates are driven mad or killed in the process of becoming a Custodian. Also, the process of creating Custodians is only partly standardized: certain unorthodox-but-useful traits may be created or amplified if an initiate shows the unique potential (making Golden Bodyguards quite an internally-diverse bunch of matchless warriors) - much less like Space Marines and much more like ''the witchers'' from Sapkowski's books. Custodians are unique as they have neither a [[Primarch]] nor do they use gene-seed to produce their genetic modifications. They stand a full head taller than a Space Marine. '''Constantin Valdor''', Chief Custodian and first Captain-General to the Emperor during the Horus Heresy, was the same size as the traitor Primarch [[Alpharius]] of the [[Alpha Legion]] (though he was the smallest of the primarchs).

Although the Adeptus Custodes were among the first genetically-modified warriors to be created by the Emperor and still the most advanced of them, they were never intended to be part of a conquering army; such a role was to be filled by the latter [[Adeptus Astartes]] armies. This is revealed both in their mindset and training: While Custodians share a semblance of kinship with one another within the formation, they do not foster the same spirit of brotherhood that is instilled within the Astartes to help them function together as a unit. Indeed, when the Emperor remarks that it is humanity's nature for brothers to fight brothers, one of His Custodians responds that he wouldn't know anything about it because he has no brothers. None of this is to say they weren't made to be extremely potent warriors, they were but their purpose was to fight alongside the emperor as bodyguards rather than as a conquering army. As shown in the webway they were perfectly capable of acting as an army in even the worst imaginable circumstances; it just isn't their primary purpose.

As far as personalities go, Custodians can be as wide and as varied as Astartes. Some, like Diocletian Coros, were single-minded to the point of myopia, and considered the nameless masses not worth his time. Others, like his contemporary Aquillon, were shown to be capable of bonding with a Space Marine and regretting the human costs of a Compliance action. Ra Endymion didn't give a shit about saluting Jenetia Krole because only the Emprah deserves it, but at the same time, he tried to look kind with the Soulless Queen's nine-year-old aide by giving her his winningest smile, which results in a [[fail]] of epic proportions. Tribune Maldovar Colquan in ''Dark Imperium'' is a contemptuous bastard that harbours dislike and distrust of everyone ranging from guardsmen to Guilliman while Valerian and Navradaran from ''Watchers of the Throne'' are surprisingly tolerant and level-headed when dealing with mere mortals showing [[Heresy|blatant weakness]].

When preparing for war, each Custodian prepares and inspects his equipment individually, rather than on military parade. The individuality of each Custodian is further promoted by the fact that the processes required to produce them are not as refined or as simple as that of the Astartes and thus they are not "mass-produced" as the Astartes are; meaning that each Custodian is a unique investment for the [[Imperium]].

Each weapon used by the Custodians is gene-coded to only be used by only that Custodian, although this isn't all that consistent. Argel Tal stole some and used his daemonic powers to unlock them so that they could be used to kill loyalists, which at least is a sort of explanation (albeit a weak, hand-wave-y one), unlike the fucking [[Blood Ravens|bloody magpies]] who have working a Custodian bolter in their armoury, or the [[Minotaurs|Greeks]] who have a Halberd (and let's not even mention the fucking [[Watch Master|Deathwatch]]). The weapons used to be given to each Custodes personally by the Emperor, a practice He's presumably stopped doing after his confinement to [[TTS|His shining golden god-couch]] and as such one of the highest [[Heresy|heresies]] possible is to allow a non-Custodian to handle the weapon. Perhaps the most notable thing about the Adeptus Custodes is the radically different combat approach between them and the Adeptus Astartes: Custodians are not brothers (though more recent fluff seems to dispute this; in both ''Watchers of the Throne'' and ''The Regent's Shadow'', Custodians frequently address each other as brother, and indeed even refer to themselves as such during inner monologs). While Space Marines are trained to support their battle-brothers in combat, each Custodian fights by himself, never intending to receive support from their fellow Custodians, though they can work together if needed.

While fighting as individuals, they seem to have an instinctive sense of coordination without needing hierarchy or orders, each warrior knowing exactly how to fight alongside his peers without burdening them. It is also implied that Custodians apply the logic of Blood Games to warfare, gathering and assimilating any information they can about their adversaries as they fight, and probably spending thousands of hours studying the strategies of every opponent met during the Great Crusade. Astartes included? Very likely, in fact, the Legio Custodes probably knows more about the Legions than the Legions may think, while only a few Astartes have fought alongside Custodians, let alone ''against'' them. Ra Endymion, in particular, was seen mowing through hordes of proto-Khorne Berzerker World Eaters, chewing through captains with little difficulty. The custodians compare so favorably to the Space Marines, a loyal Blood Angel wonders to himself whether trouncing Space Marines was, in fact, the real reason they were created in the first place.

One ritual that the Adeptus Custodes do share with the Adeptus Astartes is the recognition of mighty deeds, manifested in their case with the awarding of names, which are added to the Custodian's title to represent the actions he has performed in service to the [[Emperor]]. ('''Constantin Valdor''' obtained 932 names prior to Horus' siege of Terra.) Such names were inscribed onto the inside of the warrior's battle armour (or directly into their bones) as marks of individual pride. The first name of a Custodian is supposed to be taken from various elements from Old Earth such as mythological figures (Ra, Amon, Aquillon...), historical ones (Constantin, Diocletian, Arcatus...) or places (Bayreuth). Now open a book and try to catch all the references.

The training of the Custodians also differed immensely from the Adeptus Astartes, since they were intended to be bodyguards rather than soldiers. It is clear from their '''Blood Games''' that Custodians are trained in the arts of assassination -- both improvised and professional -- to counter possible assassination attempts on the Emperor. It is common for several Custodians to be on detached duty for these Blood Games so that the organisation remains vigilant against developing threats. Even pre-Heresy, they were clued up enough to recognise Warp-sorcery for what it was.

Furthermore, it is clear that the Custodians are also well-versed in the political etiquette of Terra, and have been known to act outside of Imperial law, to infiltrate influential Noble Houses and to investigate any potential threats. (A role that a Space Marine would ''never'' be expected to fulfill.) This aspect of the Custodian mindset is advantageous, given that the Captain-General of the order often shares a seat with the [[High Lords of Terra]] and thus allows him to navigate the political maneuverings of the Imperium's various agencies, while remaining an awe-inspiring warrior.

===Origin of the Name===
The name Adeptus Custodes comes from the custom of filling the armour with Custard before each battle. This has been confirmed by [https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155012076396123&set=p.10155012076396123&type=3&theater| Games Workshop]

Jokes aside, however, the word "custodian" means someone who is charged with looking after and maintaining someone or something; the Custodian Guard exists to protect the Emperor and the Imperial Palace. <strike>When this name is "Latinized" as the Imperium does, they become the Adeptus Custodes.</strike> Nobody would ever expect that from GW but ''Custodes'' is actually the '''unaltered''' (!) and even '''correct''' (!!) Latin declension for "watchers / defenders / guardians". Whoah.

The "custode" is also a name used in catholic liturgy. It may signify both the veil protecting the main altar in some churches, which reminds of the job of the Adeptus Custodes within the Imperial Palace, as protectors of the Throne room scanning and herding those brought to "commune" with the Emperor (either as astropaths or ''Auditore Imperialis''); or a small circular box containing the Host, therefore protecting the ''corporis mysterium'' (remember that soothing space marine chant in Latin from Dawn of War I? It was ''Pange Lingua''), usually used to bring it to those who couldn't come to Mass, such as agonizing people.

==Combat Effectiveness==
[[File:War in the Webway.jpg|350px|thumb|right|Custodians getting shit done during the 5 years spanning War in the Webway, giving the [[Death Guard]] and [[Iron Warriors]] resilience envy.]]
How effective Custodes are, especially in relation to Space Marines has varied. Generally their depictions have come in 3 flavours as weaker than Astartes, superior warriors but worse soldiers or flat-out superior to the Astartes, mostly because for the longest time the writers couldn't get their shit together on what to go with.

When they're portrayed as weaker than Astartes you get events where a Harlequin troupe (mainly the Shadowseer and Death Jester) were able to slay dozens deep in the Imperial Palace itself in a fight that included the Captain-General. Not to say that ''anything'' in that fucking [[fail|Horus Heresy wannabe series]] was grade-A material; [[HHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg-|Prime-Orks]] come to mind. [[TTS|The War of the Beast was weird.]] Returning to the point however, you'll also see a World Eater was able to kill a Custodes by punching through his armour while being unarmed and unarmored (considering an Astartes cannot punch through power armour this is Goto levels of stupidity). [[Brother-Captain|Captain]] [[Nathaniel Garro]] was also able to defeat a Custodes during a training duel though unlike other examples the Custodes was portrayed as been extremely skilled; Garro outwitted him and won by playing to his overconfidence (Garro being awesome helped).

Many of the novels in the heresy, especially those from a space marine PoV, see the Custodes as individually superlative warriors but without the cohesion or unity of Astartes, being "tigers" to the Astartes "wolves". Essentially the Custodes are portrayed as having a different skill set and role than the marines as they were better warriors individually but did not work together as soldiers like the Astartes. Some events indicate this is an incorrect assumption from the Astartes, as Custodians fight as an organized force in the webway and on Prospero and a Custodes called Aquillon also fought in perfect lockstep with Argel-Tal showing they are capable of fighting alongside others. The marines making this assumption is understandable as they were seeing very small groups of Custodes rather than the hundreds deployed on Prospero and the thousands fighting in the webway.

In most of the fluff though, especially the more recent-ish output (now that the authors seem to have arrived at a rough concensus on the matter) they're portrayed as being among, if not THE most powerful group of warriors in the setting. And though your mileage may vary from user to user, /tg/ as a whole seems to largely be of or near this assessment as well, it having coalesced over the decades of lore and making us all feel old. During the invasion of Prospero, the Custodes were capable of taking on multiple marines and come out on top, a squad of 10 led by Valdor taking on a thousand members of the [[Thousand Sons]] legion didn't suffer a single injury and Custodes were shown to be able to fight 4 marines at once and win (while a different novel portrays single TS able to kill multiple Custodes with a flick of the wrist, thanks to their psychic powers). A Custodes has also been shown killing 3 Heresy era Chapter Masters in a second and 3 Custodes killed 7 of the original Gal-Vorbak before been killed themselves.

This is typical GW/BL, with different authors having different interpretations (the 8E SM codex claims a SM is worth an entire IG regiment, while the 8E custodes codex claims a Custodian is worth a mere few thousand men). Overall they seem functionally similar to the ''[[Grey Knights]]'', the militant arm of the [[Ordo Malleus]] branch of the [[Inquisition]], in that both are elite, secret organizations with close ties to the [[Emperor]] and have a skill set as well as resistance to corruption that elevates them beyond Astartes, with the Custodes possessing the edge, though again, the extent can vary from author to author. Generally, the depictions of the prowess of the Custodes and [[Sisters of Silence]] in “Master of Mankind” and “Book 7: Inferno” should be taken as most accurate; Dembski-Bowden was tasked with really defining the Custodes on a detailed level and the HH campaign books (being proper lore guides like Imperial Armour) take precedence over any codex or novel (excusing the aforementioned HH41) and indeed, this seems to have carried through to the more recent fluff set in the current Dark Imperium era.

Funnily enough, their tabletop counterparts in 7th edition showed even better teamwork than any of the Astartes rules, contrary to the typical Custodes style of fighting as individuals. Custodes could team up with one another using their block rule to practically guarantee that whatever attacks did hit would be nullified, and there were no restrictions on it. This rule also allowed them to cheat in challenges, as you'd have beings like Chaos Lords and Ork Warbosses failing to cause even a single wound in a challenge due to the assholes outside of the challenge blocking all of their successful hits on the challenger.

===In the 41st Millennium===
[[File:Regretting_His_Life_Choices.jpg|600px|right|thumb|The face of a Black Legionnaire regretting every single decision he has made in his lifetime.]]
Occasionally you see questions raised on forums regarding their effectiveness after apparently spending 10,000 years on guard duty, suggesting that despite their biological augmentations; without any actual combat experience they might have simply become a symbolic organization since Terra is so well defended by other means. In fact, the Custodians sat through most of the [[Age of Apostasy]], not participating until the last moment to bring order when the fighting made it to the Imperial Palace. They also were mysteriously absent during [[The Beheading]] when the [[Officio Assassinorum]] started leveling city blocks. Added to the fact that the ''admittedly'' very old pictures of Custodians show them not even bothering to wear their armour any more indicates that they don't have very much to do these days.

That being said with the massive retcons to the Custodes lore it is now apparent they have been secretly fighting for the last 10,000 years. Expanding their mandate to cover anything that might think of attacking the Imperial Palace. Even GW might not know what's going on with them anymore.

For all that, they have grown detached from the greater Imperium, something which they believed was part of their duty (their function is to serve the Emperor rather than the Imperium) but ends up proving to be a problem nonetheless. When Guilliman returns, he orders the old orders rescinded, and the Adeptus Custodes starts being dispatched to various war zones, including Guilliman's own [[Indomitus Crusade]]. It's shown some Custodes such as Colquan are incredibly angry about the state of the Imperium and seem to be somewhat ashamed they did so little. Doing nothing with “we serve the Emperor not the Imperium” doesn’t fly, even for them, when they see the Emperor’s entire reason for BEING Emperor twisted and broken and knowing without a shadow of a doubt that they could have prevented it...but explicitly and willingly chose not to.

'''Technology and Equipment'''

It seems the 10,000 have not lost any technology, retaining all their units from 30k in 40k. Although the fact they are using Contemptors is weird and implies a lack of resources as the 10,000's own dreadnoughts are superior. Notably when introducing the 30k range to 40k FW did not decide to include the new 40k units in their 30k rules update. This suggests the Dawneagle Jetbikes and Allarus terminators were created after the heresy. This would explain why the Codex describes them as each the best equipment in their class, and why their users are given special titles not awarded to the Aquillion Terminators or Gryfalcon pilot Custodes.

==Adeptus Custodes and the [[Grey Knights]]==

''The Emperor's Legion'' gives us more than a glimpse into the Adeptus Custodes of M41. We discover several things: that they didn't choose to be confined to the Imperial Palace, but were bound within it by Imperial law enacted by Guilliman, Dorn, and Valdor after the Heresy; that they never fully respected this limitation, sending brothers on missions abroad and maintaining their own network of informants, spies and allies all over the galaxy; and that their martial capabilities have been maintained in top shape by constant training against all manner of opponents (often by capturing dangerous foes, like Chaos Space Marines or [[Tyranids]], and then [[What|releasing them inside]] deserted and cordoned portions of the Imperial Palace for a Custodian to hunt down). This isn't as insane as it sounds, if any enemy got out of hand during training there's thousands of Custodes and Gun Servitors in the palace that can be called in to put them down very quickly.

Shield-Captain Valerian thinks it possible that M41 Custodians are individually '''more skilled''' than their Great Crusade era counterparts, owing to ten thousand years of extra experience and information gathering on mankind's enemies. However, in the book ''The Emperor's Legion'', while working with and fighting alongside a Grey Knights company, Valerian does acknowledge to himself that while each individual Custodian is more than a match for their Grey Knight counterparts, the Custodes are not a self-contained army the same way as Space Marine Chapters are, since that was never their intended function. Nor are they possessed of any prescient gifts or supernatural abilities that would assist them against the Great Enemy. In this way, he further compares the Custodians to the Grey Knights, both being descended from the Emperor (in different fashions), were incorruptible and immune to the temptations of Chaos; the key difference is that the Grey Knights are a weapon of singular purpose against the Warp while the Custodians had been intended to be the guardians of mankind in a future without the Warp. Valerian privately believes that it might be the Grey Knights who more faithfully embody the Emperor's final legacy considering how the Imperium eventually turned out, and isn't so sure about which agency is the finest or most faithful; and while he never says that he himself actually agrees with this sentiment, he acknowledges that a reasonable argument could perhaps be made. This is a shared sentiment that skulks around the other Custodians like a foul odour.

The missing element in their deployment had always been the [[Sisters of Silence]], noting that they were always intended to fight together. Sister Tanau Aleya believes that there is no physical opponent that the Custodians could not destroy, thus it was the role of the untouchable Sisters of Silence to anchor supernatural or warp tainted enemies into the physical realm where they can be wounded and destroyed permanently. They act on the opposite end of the scale to Grey Knights who fight against the warp on its own terms. Both forces cause the Neverborn they engage to suffer ''True Death'' as a matter of course, which is quite the feat indeed, but do so through extremely different methods. The Talons of the Emperor deny the warp any purchase in reality (and in doing so reflect the attitudes of the Emperor at the time of their creation - when the Talons were created it was all about reducing the influence of the warp so they try to deny the warp from permeating the veil completely. While in 40k the Imperium is so reliant on the warp and its touch is so prevalent that its pretty much here to stay now, hence the GKs using the warp to (try and) destroy the warp).

The book is not all about Custodians being uber-powerful killing machines, however, as it evokes how they spent the last ten millennia cultivating their skills as '''theologians''' (unlike atheists crowd leaders, which actually tickles the age-old fan idea that the Emperor might not have been a real atheist), historians and philosophers, so they can decipher the Emprah's plan for Mankind before everything was screwed by Horus. They are now basically an order of warriors-scholars, more prone to mysticism than their [[Imperial Truth|hardcore rationalist]] ancestors from the Great Crusade era (now that ten thousand years of space magic bullshit had hammered home that their logic is stupid and wrong) but still way more "enlightened" than most of the Imperium. They also seem to suffer some inferiority complex caused by their [[Imperial Fists|failing at]] [[Rogal Dorn|protecting the Emperor]] when He most needed them, something that has dragged them even more into isolation but has also taught some of them humility when dealing with other humans seeing as it was not only normal humans who did the bulk of the asskicking in the Horus Heresy on both sides, but also continue doing nearly all the asskicking for the past ten thousand years. Hence most of the Custodians depicted in the book are rather nice guys to be around - by 40k standards of course - far from the "single-minded autists" stereotype which has recently become abusively prominent after ''Master of Mankind'' (bear in mind, the same author gave us Aquillon, who was an alright chap).

Now it's up to you to decide whether it makes Custodians cooler and more subtle than before or insufferable [[Mary Sue|Mary Sues]], though if Colquan is indicative Custodes can still be absolute golden dickheads in the 41st millennium (Valerian's narration says that not all Custodians get on). That, or he missed the humility and mysticism lessons. Alternatively, the Custodians are stated to be very mistrustful of the Space Marines in the 42nd millennium, their (not unreasonable) theory being that "anything that has once proven fallible can do so again" (seriously, they even have plans to destroy Phalanx if the Fists aboard it turn traitor). Therefore, Colquan may be simply keeping himself emotionally distant and unattached from [[Roboute Guilliman|someone]] that has the potential to be a traitor.

==Disposition==
[[File:Shirtless custode.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Chest armor is for pussies anyway...]]
For the longest time, much like the fate of the [[Sisters of Silence]] after the Heresy, what the Custodes have been doing in the last ten thousand years have been the subject of speculation (and jokes) among the fandom. Thanks to the ''Carrion Throne'' and ''Watchers of the Throne'' novels, as well as getting their own codices for 7th and 8th Edition, the fandom FINALLY has something to chew on.

In Rogue Trader it was stated that the Custodes had all locked themselves in the Imperial Palace to mourn the loss of the Emperor and their failure. As penance they stripped off their armor, guarding the Golden Throne wearing naught but their helmets. This plot point was never touched on again but was shown to still be canon in 4th edition. This little nudist colony would have been forgotten were it not for a little web series known as [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device]], which unearthed the naked glory of the '''Fabstodes''' for a new generation.

It went memetic. A little too memetic; in fact Lexicanum and the 40k Wikia had to lock their pages to stop the flood of [[/a/|Jojokes]]. Then GW's writers finally got off their butts and decided to make some real lore for the Emperor's bodyguards. One of the first things they did was rid themselves of nudist Custodes. Then the real worldbuilding began:

First off, the Custodians had been quietly building up strength in the wake of the Horus Heresy. Although [[Rogal Dorn]] had judged that the Custodes were spent as a fighting force, it can be assumed that the Custodes had recovered enough that, by the 32nd Millennium during the [[War of the Beast]], a Shield Host numbering in the ''hundreds'' was on hand to intercept a strike group of [[Harlequin]]s trying to get into the Imperial Precincts. In ''Watchers of the Throne'', the Custodes are still known as the Ten Thousand and Captain-General Trajann Valoris clearly states that their forces are only slightly below this number.

By the closing days of the 41st Millenium, a four-thousand strong army of Custodians marched out to defend the Palace during the Second Siege of Terra. While the day was won, more than half of the defending Custodes there lost their lives. According to Valerian in ''Watchers of the Throne'', those were staggering losses and a reminder that Custodes were far from invincible as a defensive force. Why they didn't march all or most of the 10,000 out is <s>a mystery</s> probably because the Palace is the size of a continent and the Custodes were quite spread out throughout that mass, so couldn't respond fast enough to the threat. In addition, Valoris likely didn't want to commit all his forces to an all-out assault in case something went horribly wrong; therefore, if it had gone wrong, there were still 6000 demigods waiting in reserve to defend the Emperor while Guilliman arrived from Luna.

Otherwise, the internal Hierarchy of the Custodes has remained (mostly) unchanged. The Ten Thousand are still led by the '''Captain-General''', a post inherited since the disappearance of Constantin Valdor millennia ago. Although it is a martial rank, it is also a ''political'' one, as a Captain-General may elect to take a seat on the [[High Lords of Terra]]. Few Captain-Generals have taken this option over the centuries (not surprisingly, politics being messy as it is), but when they do they have had profound effect on Imperial politics -- see how Trajann Valoris being on the High Twelve was more than enough to quell [[Heresy|a brewing coup d'etat]] against Roboute Gulliman. The fact the high lords even considered a coup against a Primarch that had directly talked to the emperor shows why the custodes wanted fuck all to do with them.

Beneath the Captain-General is the '''Custodian Tribunate''', a group of ten veteran Custodians who act as the Captain-General's advisors. This is a non-combat role, and once part of the Tribunate a Custode is expected to serve at least a decade, where they turn all their prodigious skills to support the Captain-General strategically and diplomatically.

Below this group are the [[Shield-Captain]]s, who are the war leaders of the Custodes. They lead strike forces, referred to as shield companies, on whatever mission the Captain-General deems fit. '''Valerian''', one of the narrators of ''Watchers of the Throne'', is a Shield-Captain, though it's noted that he's a somewhat unusual one, as he is more of a Philosopher than a warrior. Doesn't stop him from kicking ass though.

Finally, after this is the line Custodian. It is noted that each of the Custodes has similar status to the others, but even then they form loose warrior bands called '''Sodalities''' -- for example, the sodality that Valerian roped in for the Battle of Vorlese was the Palaitologian Chamber. Beyond this, each Custodian gravitates to a particular strategic role, whether as members of the fast-moving '''Vertus Praetors''', heavy support '''Allarus Custodians''', or the grim '''Wardens'''. Otherwise, the Custodes remains a meritocracy, and as such a Custodian is afforded whatever honor his peers believe him to be worthy of.

It is said that, barring rare circumstances, your bog-standard shield company will include no more than a single Shield-Captain, and maybe thirty to forty Custodians. Rarer still are the situations where more than one Shield Company is required; these bigger formations are called Shield Hosts and feature several Shield Captains leading hundreds of Custodians. It is said that such a momentous undertaking is only assembled to accomplish a task no other Imperial force can achieve, and not be done lightly.

===Current Status===
[[File:Custodian_&_Guard.jpg|350px|right|thumb|Custodians can be quite the bros once you get to know them. Just don't ask them to take a selfie. [[FATAL|It may accidentally end in terminal damage.]]]]
Although the Heresy reduced them to about 10% of their fighting strength, they could still have reaped a kill tally far greater than their own number; it was [[Rogal Dorn]], defence obsessed bastard that he is, who determined that they were ineffective as a fighting force and relegated them to defending the throne room. After the Heresy, they were bound by a decree issued jointly by Constantin Valdor, the High Lords of Terra and Roboute Guilliman that prevented them from deploying as a military formation (which a lot of the time they ignored, leaving in secret to do their own missions as Valdor was the only one able to order Custodes around, they don't give a damn about both Lords of Terra and the Primarchs). The High Lords of Terra brought up the subject of abolishing this decree numerous times, but the issue was always stopped by deadlock until [[Roboute Guilliman]] returned and finally realized how stupid his decree was, asking the Custodes to head out into the galaxy rather than sitting at home, being glorified tourist traps (but not before getting daddy's permission first).

The Custodes left the palace on their own in full force after Daemons broke out on Holy Terra itself (and Luna), which caused the Custodes to realize how stupid it is to sit behind high walls of the Palace and Trajann Valoris decided it's high time to venture out and help out their fellow <s>meatshields</s> comrades once in a while. Suffice to say, the Custodes are back and woe to any poor unfortunate soul who happens to have to be part of the opposing force of the Custodians. This has worked out well for the Custodes as apparently they were starting to get a little stir crazy after 10,000 years of being stuck on Terra and were more than happy to get out and start purging the enemies of the God-Emperor in His name. They also managed to restore their numbers to pre-heresy ones, so they are as numerous as ten Chapters combined.
On a side note, it is not wise to ask a Custodes to take a photo op for bragging rights especially when he's in a battlefield busy using his Guardian Spear. [[FATAL|Accidental collateral damage from attempted selfies. Too many.]] but you can do it after the battle if you thought well. They seem to keep a number of them around Roboute Guilliman at all times, partially to protect him, and likely to stick spears in him if he ever seems too close to going traitor (not that it would help, as the Custodes themselves have noted even ambushing a naked Primarch is suicide). This means wherever Guilliman goes he has quite literally the best bodyguards in the Imperium watching his back.

==Divisions and ranks==
The Legio Custodes (and later the Adeptus Custodes) are divided into five castes based on their combat roles, each with a fancy Greek-ish name:
*'''Hykanatoi''' (from Ἱκανάτοι/''hikanatoi'', "the able ones", [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikanatoi one of the regiments of the 9th century Byzantine army]): These appear to be the rank-and-file Custodians, comprising the Custodian guard, the Sentinels and the [[Companion|Hetaeron]]. Based on what was seen in ''Master of Mankind'', they function as an infantry role in battle. In 40k this also includes Wardens (veteran Custodians) and the Companions (assumed to be the modern incarnation of the Hetaeron).
*'''Kataphraktoi''' (κατάφρακτοι, "fully covered", Greek designation for heavily armoured cavalry): The [[Gyrfalcon Pattern Jetbike|Jetbike]] squads, serving as mobile fast attack units. During the War in the Webway, they also served as couriers, relaying messages to other spots when the Vox was on the fritz. Other grav vehicles such as the [[Caladius Grav-Tank|Caladius]], the [[Coronus Grav Carrier|Coronus]] transport and the [[Pallas Grav-Attack|Pallas]] speeder are also part of this entity. In 40k this includes the Vertus Praetors (elite jetbike units) and Venetari (elite jetpack units).
*'''Tharanatoi''' (probably a mix between the Celtic word ''taran'', "thunder", and θάνατος/''thanatos'', "death"): The [[Aquilon Terminator|Terminators]] of the Legio Custodes and the Sagittarum Guard squads, they are the specialists among the Legio. The Aquilon were armed with Lastrum storm bolter, Adrathic destructors and [[flamer]] weapons known as Infernus "firepikes" (yes, it's also the name of the weapon used by [[Exarch]]s of the [[Fire Dragons]]) and acted as shock troops for high-intensity warfare, while the Sagittarum were multipurpose ranged support squads. In 40k this also includes the Allarus Terminators (a lighter suit, basically tartarus while Aquillion is Cataphractii).
*'''Ephoroi''' (from έφοροι, "overseers"): Those Custodians specializing in covert operations, intelligence gathering and assassination. All those engaged in the Blood Games were temporarily attached to the Ephoroi for the duration of their service. In 40k this also includes eyes of the emperor, retiree Custodes who monitor for threats. Probably can be called upon to take up weapons and armor and kick a ton of ass, too. Just because something has caused you to no longer be able to defend the Emperor doesn't mean you can't kill a whole lot of fools.
*'''Moritoi''' (from Latin ''mortis'', "death", with the same Greek-ish flavour): Finally, we have the [[Contemptor-Galatus Dreadnought|Dreadnoughts]], Custodians who have been mangled too much to continue living without the Dreadnought. Being a very philosophical-minded group, the Custodians often hold debates on whether or not the warrior inside is alive or dead, and have come to the conclusion that all that matters is that the Emperor has decided to keep the Custodian living.

In terms of rank, the Legio Custodes are less rigid in their ranking structure than the Space Marines and the Imperial Guard, with "ranks" being more like signs of respect for senior veterans. Indeed, given the Legio's often solitary mindset, they rarely give orders to each other. That said, their familiarity with each other manages to avoid the destructive lack of cohesion this would entail in other armies. The known "ranks" are as follows:

*'''Captain-General''': the "leader" of the Legio/Adeptus Custodes and Chief Custodian to the Emperor of Mankind. By the time of the Horus Heresy, this position comes with the Magisterium Maxima (GWardization of Latin ''magisterium maximum'', "utmost control/governance") which grants him absolute authority over anything in the Imperium (yes, even the [[Primarchs|Boss's petulant children]]). Since the Custodes codex makes it clear that the Ten Thousand still exercise the full authority of the Magisterium Lex Ultima in M42, it is safe to assume that the Captain-General's power is theoretically absolute should the need for extreme measures arise (like say, the Emperor being incapacitated and his Regent dead). Custodes in general seem to use their authority with great caution however and captain-generals rarely used it openly during ten millennia of imperial history. Clearly he comically missed the point of the Emperor giving him absolute power over the Imperium wasn’t to sit on it but to use it to protect the Emperor’s vision for humanity. Nice going Cap, really a bang-up job.
*'''Tribune''': The most senior officers under the Captain-General, they are the war council of the Legio Custodes and have absolute authority on everything relating to the protection of the Emperor or the Palace. During the War in the Webway, three of them served as the senior commanders of the combined Legio Custode/Silent Sister/Mechanicum forces : Kadai, Jasaric and Ra Endymion. They were believed to be ten in number, so the seven other were probably killed in the first years of the war. The modern-era Adeptus Custodes is led by two tribunes, one of whom personally leads the [[Companion]]s.
**40k Tribunes are slightly different from their counterparts of the old Legio Custodes. The Tribunate is composed of ten Custodians who formulate policy and advise the Captain-General, but unlike the Tribunes of old the members do not serve in combat, and must serve on the Tribunate for at least ten years. The Tribune not leading the Companions is expected to see combat and will hold the post of Tribune for the rest of his life (indeed, one Tribune died during the battle of the Lion's Gate when [[Bloodthirster]]s attacked during [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s return).
**While it has often been assumed that they were distinct entities, 40k Tribunes are probably the members of the aforementioned Tribunate. The HH Tribunes being ten in number and sharing sooooo many similarities with the modern tribunate doesn't leave much place for doubt and while "Tribunes" are explicitly mentioned in every novel expanding on 40k Custodians there is not a single mention of them in the Adeptus Custodes codex; the Tribunate is the closest thing we have from a reference. It is also worth noting that ''Watchers of the Throne'' features some pieces of lore that aren't canon anymore according to the Codex (Valoris wielding a spear instead of an axe, Custodes serving among the Companions forever, etc.). Which isn't that surprising since BL authors often have limited insight on (and zero control over) upcoming official GW material; some elements they genuinely believed to be legit at some point of the writing process may have been revised by GW in the meantime.
*'''Proconsul''': A senior rank below Tribune. A rank that holds martial and militairy importance. Bestowed by the Emperor to veterans of the Legio.
*'''Prefect''': A mid-level rank below the tribunes, the title is awarded by the Emperor and indicates veterancy. Its duties are mostly unknown at this time.
*'''Lictor''': A rank supposedly below that of Prefect, it too indicates veterancy. Its duties are are unknown at this time.
*'''[[Shield-Captain]]''': Within the Legio Custodes, there exists a range of ranks and seniority of commands, far from transparent to outsiders, to which the more general application of ‘Shield Captain’ is applied, During the 41st millennium, A Shield-Captain is the leader of a battle group of Custodians, charged with seeing the mission done. First among equals for the sake of said mission, a Shield-Captain can be a member of the Legio or Adeptus Custodes of any rank, for each is a peerless warrior and master tactician.
*'''Blade Champion''': Ranking below a Shield-Captain, these guys are elite swordmasters who have learned a variety of fighting styles for taking on hordes, monsters or rival duelists.

==Specialty Factions and [[Your Dudes]]==
The 8th Edition Codex has covered several specialty groups of Custodians, each with their own color scheme and basic [[Your Dudes]] style fluff. It also briefly discussed how to customize the paint scheme for the army. Kill Team: Elites adds Custodes to [[Kill_Team_(Specialist_Game)|Kill Team]], and gives a similar but genericized listing as to the reasons a Custodes force would be out in the wild.

When considering [[Your Dudes]], it's important to remember that Custodes are not an army or a military force like a traditional 40k faction, they are instead a group of stupidly overpowered individuals -- more akin to a 40k army made entirely of Space Marine Captains or other HQ characters, or a Transhuman version of a Necromunda gang. They come together not for some standing military force reason, but to do certain tasks or achieve certain goals -- assassinate a specific target, prevent any threats to Terra, recover an artefact, etc.

One example is given in the 8E codex, where a Custodes named Heraclast Vadrian finally realizes the AdMech being too stupid to maintain / fix the Golden Throne is going to fuck the Imperium over in a few centuries' time, so he gathered up some of His Dudes to go out and investigate a lost Forge World that might know how to fix the damned thing. This provides not only fluff for a Shield Host (an [[Apocalypse]] sized Custodes army) but opens up all kinds of interesting options -- Mars AdMech? They'd be all for joining in. Imperial Fists? I bet Heraclast could get them to join. Imperial Guard? They're everywhere, so why not?

A Custodes force can be something as generic as "Custodes that defend Terra" to something as specific as "Custodes that hunt Orks to prevent another repeat of The Beast." Like all Your Dudes headcanon, you can go as far with this as you want.

=== Custodes Paint Schemes ===

By default, Custodians are shining gold -- a "incredibly rare substance known as auramite." This can be changed -- not painted over, but changed via alchemy of all things -- to other metallic tints or changed into non-metallics altogether. Custodians often have leather pieces, especially the Jet Bikers, and also wear tabards, robes, and loincloths on top of their armor that are by default a crimson red color; this color is usually, but not always, the same between the cloth and shoulderpad. This cloth color is also used in secondary colorings on other models -- for example, the Dreadnought or Terminator shoulderpads, or plates on the vehicles. Custodians also have a variety of gems, all of which are the same color across a given army.

An Adeptus Custodes force -- known as a Shield Company or Shield Host if it's big enough -- will have a given color to the auramite bits (the armor), the auramite trim and other embellishments on top of the armour, the leather, and the cloth bits and shoulderpad. Special colors for certain aspects -- for example, the face mask -- are not unheard of.

How this all shakes out with some of the descriptions of the Specialty Factions in the codex -- for example, the Dread Host description suggests his White and Sable cloth parts are specific to "his shield host, which is itself one of several that currently wear the colours of the Dread Host," whereas the Aquilan Shield specifically mentions their cloth colors are Royal Purple -- is unknown. To this end, the cloth colors in the examples are included in parentheses.

=== "Default" Custodes ===

As detailed in early Horus Heresy material, before the specialty groups were conceived, the Custodes had a fairly generalized color scheme. Duncan covers this paint scheme [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dm8J-kaezWM here], but in general: The armor is almost entirely gold, with some silver bits such as the faceplate and some cables and some pipes. The plume and some bits -- decorative cords over the leather -- are red (other GW painters during the era paint the cords a sky blue), but the pauldrons are not given this base color with gold trim, instead remaining entirely gold. The guardian spear is majority black in both the haft and bolter, with gold trim, some silver mechanics, and a blue power blade. Gemstones are painted silver and then a blue technical paint is used to make them gemstones.

The differences between this and the later paint style can be seen throughout page 44 through 55 of the 8E codex, with page 48 and 49 showing some of the Specialty Adeptus Custodes Groups such as the Solar Watch and the Shadowkeepers, while page 46 has detail pictures of 3 miniatures in the old style, while a batrep style army photo of models in the newer style behind them.

In general, the newer style picks a secondary color -- usually red -- to break up the gold by giving the pauldrons a base of that color, using gold instead to color the trim and detail on top of the pauldrons. For those who have used Space Marine Pauldrons that have 3D detail, it's basically that. Newer models such as the Custodian Warden or Terminators also have more cloth material which is also (but not always, see below) this color. The newer style also seems to use more silver, although this may be the result of modern GW's addiction to edge highlighting everything like it's something out of a bad Tron themed fever dream.

=== Specialty Adeptus Custodes Groups ===
These are the Adeptus Custodes Groups that were first mentioned in the 8th Edition Codex, alongside their (general) color scheme. These are similar to "Chapter Equivalent" things like official AdMech Forge Worlds, complete with special rules for each of them. 9th Edition added a "generic" shield host, The Emperor's Chosen, to represent Custodes when they're not a part of one of the 6 specialist groups.

Of course, due to the vast number of [[Your Dudes]] in Custodes, given that they didn't have these kinds of rules for the longest time, no one outside of [[That Guy]] is going to complain if you declare that your Custodes are using say, Shadowkeepers rules while being painted in generic gold, or in some sort of flashwave neon blue and pink. For an official version of this, the 9E codex has pictures of Elliot Hamer's take on the Dread Host, which is different than the "official" Dread Host scheme.

The colors used in official color schemes, generally speaking, are:
* '''Armor:''' Gold, black, or white base, with gold trim and detail. Facemasks are sometimes painted Silver or the non-standard armor color (adds contrast to the face).
* '''Cloth:''' Red, white, black, purple, consistent across a Shield-Company or Shield-Host, with the latter taking precedence. This includes the left shoulder guard's color -- the right shoulder guard is the Imperial Aquila and is usually entirely gold; this is different on units other than the Custodian Guard. The shoulder guard often (but not always) matches the tabard/robes.
* '''Leather:''' Brown, white, red. Gloves are generally brown even if the other leather is dyed.
* '''Gems:''' Blue, although other gemstone colors are mentioned, red is shown in art. Noted that they are explicitly the same across an entire organization (Shield-Company, not necessarily a Shield-Host).
* '''Weapon:''' Black shafts/hilts/frame with gold detail, although a gold hilt/frame is shown in art, and a silver hilt / black frame is shown in one display model. Blades are power weapons, often with a blue lightning effect, although silver/white/etc are also seen.

This leaves many colors to take [[Your Dudes]] if you would like to go your own way. None of the official color schemes use green (possibly due to the [[Sons of Horus]] using that color during the Heresy, but then there's [[Salamanders]]), blue, yellow, or orange for their cloth. /tg/ has seen some amazing Custodes that use all silver, bronze or brass instead of gold, or even faux stonework instead of metal. Tinted metallic colors, like a base of silver with contrast paint on top, is also an option; Forge World's own "Dankanatoi" seem to be black that is tinted iridescent green/purple in the art. Black leather isn't used in any official color scheme either, but black leather with some grey lines to indicate some light battle damage or wear could work.

The officially named Custodes organizations, with their color schemes and descriptions, are as follows:

* '''The Emperor's Chosen:''' Solid gold armor (red cloth bits). Newly codified in 9th edition, this is the new "default" shield host, representing the Custodes when they are not actually a member of a shield host. These can also represent shield hosts and kill teams not specifically tailored to a specialist purpose, or the Custodes on Terra itself. The color scheme seems to be undefined, but is likely based on the original 30k scheme -- that is to say, solid gold with red cloth bits.
* '''The Shadowkeepers:''' Black armor with gold trim (crimson red cloth bits). Keeps watch over the various warp-terrors and archeotech artifacts that the Emperor kept locked up in his basement on Terra since the Age of Strife, each and every one something or someone that would destroy the Imperium if they were ever let loose or even merely known about at large. After the Great Rift opened a large number were spirited away across the galaxy. Whoops. Their leader is called the Lockwarden and hasn't stepped foot back on Terra since the Great Rift occurred.
* '''The Aquilan Shield:''' Gold armor with gold trim (royal purple cloth bits specifically mentioned). Bodyguards of Fate. When the Imperial Palace's personal psykers find someone who is "likely to avert [disaster] before it threatens the Golden Throne," these people are marked for protection. These fated people are then protected by the Aquilan Shield whether they like it or not -- a small informal sect of wandering Custodians who watch over them up until the exact moment they do whatever it is that will ensure the Emperor's safety, at which point they leave. This often occurs just in time to see said now-useless person die horrifically to whatever the Custodians were protecting them from. The example given is of a Guardsman whose unorthodox tactics had him slated for execution due to "insubordination" (probably a jealous officer ordered it, even commissars have to follow orders unless it contradicts their mandate). Under the Aquilan Guard's protection, he rose through the ranks to become Warmaster of a Crusade that successfully repelled an Ork WAAAGH! that would have otherwise threatened the Sol system - at which point the Guard left him to [[derp|be executed by the Commissariat in spite of his success]], because Commissars are assholes like that.
* '''The Dread Host:''' Gold armor with brass trim, white faceplate (white cloth and "sable" (black) shoulder pad bits). The Emperor's "anger and punishment made manifest." They determine direct threats to Segmentum Solar and the Emperor and wipe them off the face of the galaxy. Specifically a terrorist organization in the literal sense of the word -- once they determine a target, they attack, prevent them from surrendering or fleeing, and utterly raze everything to the ground; the goal being not just to destroy any threats they deem appropriate, [[Night Lords|but to put the fear of the Emperor into anyone who hears about what happened]].
* '''The Solar Watch:''' White armor with gold trim (crimson red cloth bits). The first and last line of defense of the Sol system itself. Heavily mechanized -- lots of Land Raiders. Constantly patrolling between the worlds of Sol, the various space structures, and the travel lanes from Sol to the nearby systems and back. Have been known to destroy various cults, Inquisition coups, and even the occasional Eldar or Genestealer infestation, on every world except Mars. In order to honor the autonomy of the Adeptus Mechanicus, they take a "better not to ask" approach to Mars and their... deviants. That's the job of the Ordo Machinum of the [[Inquisition]] anyhow. Gives those kooks something to do besides blowing up planets and acting on their petty internal squabbles.
* '''Emissaries Imperatus:''' Gold armor with gold trim (white cloth bits and crimson shoulder pad bits). Originally the Emperor's gophers and messengers, now his representation in realspace. Some Custodians can supposedly hear the Emperor's voice when they meditate/sleep; they do not see this as divine inspiration but rather his human will working to direct them like he did before being enthroned. Some can hear him more than others, those that do become Emissaries Imperatus; they gather together and debate what Big E wants them to do. This might include giving special messages to the occasional commander, or giving special wargear from Terra to someone who will need it soon. When the Primaris Marines were about to be unleashed by Guilliman the bulk of the Custodians nearly stopped him (in part because they were wary of the "flawed" nature of the Space Marines and didn't want to risk a repeat of the Horus Heresy), only allowing it once the Emissaries intervened, who made it absolutely clear that the Emperor wanted it to happen. They were also vital in making sure the various chapters accepted the Primaris Marines, going with the Indomitus Crusade and informing the Space Marines that they were a gift from the Emperor himself. This went up to and including threatening to declare any reluctant Chapters to be traitors on the spot if they refused. Obviously some Chapters were more eager to accept Primaris than others, due to dire need of reinforcements from the resulting crapfest caused by the Great Rift. [[Dark_Angels|Even the most secretive]].
* '''Eyes of the Emperor:''' Not actually present on the tabletop, but represented by a Stratagem. While the Custodians are formidable, even they aren't entirely immune to old age or injury or at least their effects. When a Custodian judges himself no longer able to serve in combat (bear in mind that this is relative- to a Custodian, one's reaction time slowing by one tenth of a second is considered "unacceptable for active duty" even if a normal human wouldn't even notice the decline), he gives up all his gear in exchange for a black robe and travel the galaxy. Some work alone and others build networks of agents and informants, but all keep watch for any situation that might pose a threat to Terra or the Emperor. If they come across such a situation, they use special channels to inform the Captain-General in order to pre-emptively eliminate said threat. No slouches either, one took out a daemon host that had already ambushed and killed a member of the Aquilan Shield. Their numbers have grown for ten millennia. Since each Custodians' wargear is custom made for him personally, it seems likely that the Custodes could drown the galaxy in golden custard at any time and simply choose not to. Thanks, Custodes. The Emperor must be so '''''proud''''' of you.

Forge World has their own mentioned in Black Book 8 (Malevolence), combined with some art. Technically a caste or chamber (like the Hykanatoi (troops), Tharanatoi (terminators), or Moritoi (dreadnoughts)) and not a shield host, it still has it's own defined color scheme and has seen use as a shield host color scheme:

* '''Dankanatoi:''' Black (Possibly iridescent or tinted dark green/purple) armor with gold trim (dark purple cloth bits). Created towards the end of the Horus Heresy partly as a response to Guilliman's little Imperium Secundus plan. Considering the treachery of the various traitors that turned on the Emperor before, during, and after the Heresy a threat deserving the Custodes' attention, the Dankanatoi hunted down traitors, betrayers, and the disloyal throughout the imperium during the Great Scouring immediately after the Heresy. Effectively a pissed off Custodes version of the Inquisition, for all that entails. It is not known if they survived to the 40th Millennium; they are not mentioned in any of the Codexes or outside of Forge World books -- as such they do not have rules like the Games Workshop chapter equivalents do.

==Notable Custodians==

===Horus Heresy-Era===
[[File:Constantin valdor.jpg|250px|thumb|right|Constantin Valdor, murdering stuff for the Emprah since the Unification Wars.]]
*'''[[Constantin Valdor]]'''- The big cheese of the Custodian Guard, Constantin Valdor was the Captain-General of the Legio Custodes during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, the first of the Ten Thousand and personal bodyguard of Big E since <strike>his debuts as a bloody-handed and megalomaniac tyrant</strike> the Unification Wars and His glorious crusade to make Mankind great again. A monster of a man, he was described as being a head taller than Amon (who was already significantly larger than an Astartes) and the size of a Primarch (Alpharius to be exact). Valdor was one of the Emperors closest friends and his second most trusted advisor (Malcador the Sigillite being #1). He was described as being the mightiest warrior in the entire Imperium with the exception of the Primarchs and Big E himself (he was almost killed by a warp-boosted Phosis T'Kar on Prospero however, only surviving because Phosis [[Chaos Spawn|accidentally rolled 22 on Chaos Boon]] and realized he'd become the 'flesh-change' monster he so hated). Naturally he shared a close relationship with a number of the Primarchs, the most notable being Horus, Rogal Dorn, and Leman Russ. Also, he rolls with the [[Officio Assassinorum]], so he earns massive bonus points there. At the end of the Heresy, he was one of the high lords of Terra, but stepped down sometime after that to be able to look after the Emperor personally. He has since been replaced as Captain-General: in M32 the Custodians are commanded by a new guy called '''Beyreuth'''. According to the Codex, he disappeared without a trace some time after the Emperor was ensconced on the Golden Throne; rumour has it that he is still alive and serving the Emperor.
** It is hinted in ''Master of Mankind'' that Valdor is named after an "ancient king" of Old Earth, probably [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great|^ Constantine the Great], famous for being the first Christian Emperor of Rome. The ''Apollonian Spear'' and sun-shaped iron halo worn by Valdor foster the reference to Constantine, whose tutelar deity before his conversion was Sol Invictus. His spear is one of a pair, infused with a portion of the emperors foresight, with the other held by Leman Russ. Valdors version of the spear specifically imparts him with a flashback of the life of it's victims, and every key(sad) moment in their history that led to them being at the end of the killing edge. Really testing the loyalty of your servants, what a pal E-money was. Unsurprisingly considering the blood games Valdor was a skilled assassin, able to sneak into a palace undetected to assassinate a target, according to the target he has Albian features perhaps meaning that was his birth place.
** Participated in the Burning of Prospero instead of preventing it by simply, y'know, ''actually enforcing and obeying the Emperor's orders.'' Instead, accepted and obeyed changes to orders delivered by someone other than the Emperor supposedly passing on a message from the Emperor despite the Emperor being fully capable of sending his own astropathic messages or at least ordering an astropath to do so for him. [[FAIL|And not bothering to verify with the Emperor himself. Despite the change in orders being the ''opposite'' of what the original orders were.]] That is to say, "murder everyone and burn their world to ashes" is the opposite of "go to Prospero and arrest Magnus and bring him to me in chains."
** He might be around in the 41st Millennium as the enigmatic "King in Yellow" (who is building an army in the Webway for unknown reasons). [[Eisenhorn|Alizabeth Bequin]] recently recovered a book from a Webway pocket dimension that supposedly contained the true identity of the King in Yellow; the very first words within the book were "Constantin Valdor." However, this doesn't really line up with the other depictions of the KiY, who is heavily connected with the heretical Chaos-connected Cognitae group.

*'''Amon Tauromachian'''- One of the most notable Custodians. In combat, unarmoured, versus three " Migou" ([[H.P. Lovecraft|I see what you did there]]) or Genestock Ogres from Nei Monggol (Ogryns anybody?) Amon is impressive, he is apparently strong enough to effortlessly break an Ogryn's arm, relieving it of its punch-dagger, then ram it through the poor sod's skull. One of them grabs him from behind in a bear hug, which he literally shrugs off, then punches his hand through the Ogryn's chest and rips out its heart. Mary Sue you say? All this is from Dan Abnett himself from his short story ''Blood Games''. Also, he is probably referred to in ''The First Heretic'' as an instructor of at least 2 other Custodians, even though the "last" (well, gene-stock/family) name of said Amon is not revealed. Protected Kasper Hawser at the Edict of Nikea, was held in place by Magistus Amon of the Thousand Sons, but then subsequently kicked his ass with the help of Bjorn the Fell-Handed. Has managed to get within striking distance from TEH EMPRAH during the Blood Games.

*'''Aquillon Marithamus'''- the "Oculi Imperator" (eyes of the Emperor) and Prefect who was charged with leading four other Custodians, watching over Lorgar and the Word Bearers after the Monarchia kerfuffle. They were kept in the dark about the Heresy until Isstvan V, but left alive because Erebus wanted their blood. Aquillon embarked on a tragic bromance with [[Argel Tal]]. Tal seems to have been born for tragedy in general, and perhaps the most perfect example is how, having already become friends with the Custodians and seen one murdered on Lorgar's orders, he had to spend four decades getting closer to Aquillon and pulling the wool over his eyes. In contrast with how most Custodians viewed Space Marines, Aquillon actually came to view Argel Tal as a close friend (well, for Custodians, anyway)... until Isstvan V, accompanied by the revelation that the Word Bearers had been ritually torturing astropaths to keep Aquillon's messages from reaching Terra. It ended badly - Aquillon killed Argel Tal's mortal waifu [[Cyrene]], and the possessed Astartes [[Rip and Tear|bit his head off]].

*'''Ra Endymion:'''A veteran Custodian (871 names bitch!) among the first thirty members of the Legio, and perhaps the only person truly privy to the Emperor's whole plan to elevate humanity into the webway and cut them off from Chaos (or at least the only one given a direct crash course & debate on why the Emperor had to be a totalitarian dick; Custodes as a whole have inferred the Emperor's plan from all the info he shared with each one), which was told to him in a series of psychic dreams gifted from the Emperor. One of the three Tribunes, he was left in command of the Webway armed forces after the other two were killed while fighting the forces of Chaos that forced their way through in the wake of Magnus's Folly.
** When the Emperor briefly rose from his chair to burn out the Daemons and give time for his forces to fall back, Ra was forcibly possessed by '''Drach'Nyen''', the [[Chaos Undivided|undivided]] daemon born from humanity's first act of murder. Since the Emperor couldn't kill it, he figured it would be safely stored in a Custodian's body, and the reason Ra was told the Emperor's plan was to give him a reason to keep fighting against the Daemon in his mind. By 40k we can assume something went horribly wrong, as Drach'Nyen is now literally in the hands of [[Abaddon]] as his sword and was given to him by some "golden figure". He is also an absolute beast in battle, slaughtering Astartes legionaries like Astartes do with regular humans (fluffy as hell considering the [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Talons_of_the_Emperor_(30k)|Legio Custodes Tribune's rules for 30k]]). Smiles like the Joker from Batman.

*'''Diocletian Coros:''' The big cheese in charge of the Terran side of the War in the Webway. An unapologetic arsehole with zero time for anything not covered by his orders, to the point of almost shooting child refugees because they delayed him and mouthing off to Dorn during a briefing. He makes it abundantly clear that the Custodians fight for the Emperor and '''NOT''' the Imperium, and holds the attitude that if enough of the Astartes felt the same way then the Horus Heresy would never have happened. Basically, he is the reason why people think that Custodians are all heartless bastards. Still, have to feel a bit sorry for him, as he was told by the Emperor that the dream of humankind was dead after the Webway was sealed. He also wrote a book about the Emprah, ''the Master of Mankind'' (no fucking joke), which is apparently still a best-seller among the present day Adeptus Custodes.
** TL;DR: He's [[That Guy]] at his nicest, a [[Marines Malevolent|Marine Malevolent]] turned into a Custodes at his worst.

*'''Sagittarus Malacque:''' One of the original Custodians and the first to become a [[Custodes Contemptor Dreadnought|Dreadnought]]. Noted to be choleric and wild, he was nearly killed during the battle in the [[Webway]] but survived, having been saved by a formerly-crippled [[Blood Angel]] in a display of utter [[awesome]]. Also, that whole "Only in death does duty end" quote? That canonically originated with this guy, as the Emprah inscribed it on his shell.

*'''Vettranio Shapura:''' One of the third or fourth Custodians to be put into a dreadnought, a Galatus pattern, after sacrificing himself for the Emperor. Notorious as a Custodes commander in the Horus Heresy: Legions card game, where he is a mostly defensive character hiding behind his shield (instead of the murder-machines Galatus-pattern Dreads are in tabletop [[crunch]]). His name comes from three people: Jack Vettriano (a Scottish painter); Vetranio (with 1 t) who was one of the lesser roman Emperors, originally a decorated officer acclaimed by his rebellious soldiers, he ended up losing in a contest of charisma to determine the true Emperor against his Constantinian rival, who turned Vetranio's troops against him, forcing the would be usurper to beg for mercy, Constantius II forgave him (even calling him "father" out of diplomatic kindness) and he left to end up his life in peaceful and happy retirement (which is where it ties with the painter); and finally, the [[Chaos|Shapur kings of the Sassanid empire]], the most infamous of whom, Shapur I, treacherously captured Emperor Valerian during pourparlers, forced him into slavery and humiliation for years, until Valerian begged him to be released, promising to pay whatever ransom if he was allowed to see his family again one last time, a request to which Shapur I answered... ''by flaying him alive''. Ahriman of the Thousand Sons was a descendant, a prince, of the Achaemenid royal dynasty; and Vettranio Shapura was among the Custodians who went with Constantine Valdor and Leman Russ to censure Magnus the Red and his Legion.

*'''Diolos Akrodius:''' A member of the Ephoroi who got his ass handed to him alongside the Blood Angels during the Signus Campaign by a demon horde. Afterwards the Blood Angels conspired to keep him in the dark about Imperium Secundus while they brought him to Terra. This proves prescient, as afterwards he finds out what Guilliman was up to in Ultramar and is absolutely done with this shit -- proceeding to immediately found the '''Dankanatoi''', a chamber of the Custodes dedicated to hunting down and executing traitors that fled Terra during the Horus Heresy. Basically a Custodes Inquisition. No word on if the Dankanatoi survived to the 40th millennium; their color scheme was effectively Shadowkeepers with Purple Cloth and Shoulderpads.

===Age of Apostasy (M36)===
*'''Longinus:''' Centurion Longinus was the one who brought Alicia Dominica and her companions into [[God-Emperor of Mankind|the Emperor's]] presence, thus providing the catalyst for the fall of [[Goge Vandire]], the end of the [[Age of Apostasy]] and the creation of the [[Adepta Sororitas]].
** Longinus also assists [[Saint Celestine]] on San Leor after the [[Cicatrix Maledictum]] opened.

===41st Millenium Onward===
*'''[[Trajann Valoris]]:''' In the novel Watchers of the Throne: The Emperors' Legion Valoris is the Captain General of the Custodian Guard during the time of the 41st millennium, because there are no records of him in the Imperial banks and no details on his conquests or ascent into the order, he could be a 100 years old, or 5000 years old... nobody outside of the Adeptus Custodes know. Rumour has it he also has over 1000 names inscribed on the inside of his armour and before the return of [[Roboute Guilliman|the Primarch]], was the most powerful and deadly individual in all of the Imperium both martial and militarily. Only a handful of the greatest warriors, mightiest Inquisitor Lords, and a few High Lords gained an audience to speak to him. He killed 20 huge vat-grown rampaging combat servitors as large as enraged groxes armed with heavy chainglaives and other assorted heavy weapons in literally seconds, after kicking a really big door inwards within the Imperial Place. It doesn't really need to be said, but this guy's a fucking badass. He's also the only named HQ in the Custodes' codex.
** After Guilliman returns and fires half the High Lords for being incompetent self-serving twats, Valoris is ordered to ensure that the inevitable backlash doesn’t succeed in reversing Guilliman’s reforms. What follows is a series of frankly incredible manipulations: Valoris plays the traitor and loyal High Lords, Imperial Navy, Imperial Guard, Officio Assassinorum, the ''entire'' [[Minotaurs]] chapter, Imperial Fists, Sisters of Silence and even his own Ten Thousand like damn fiddles all at once! Seriously, he plays everyone so well that the Imperial Chancellor remarks that the Custodes got exactly what they wanted and nobody outside of an extremely select few (like, maybe five individuals at most) would know that they were a relevant factor in quashing the rebellious high lords.
** TL;DR the guy is basically [[Creed]] and [[Kharn]] put together.

*'''[[Valerian]]:''' Protagonist of the ''Watchers of the Throne'' series of novels. An intellectual among the Custodes, he does not consider himself to be a warrior but a philosopher, and spends most of his free time studying the Emperor's acts and motivations. Was originally slated to join the 300 Companions, but he failed the first ritual when his body locked up and froze when the time actually came to visit the Golden Throne in person. Its implied later on that this was because the Emperor had another purpose for him, as he eventually ends up going rogue, leaving Terra with a squad he convinced to come with him, and establishing the precedent for the Custodes to finally get their asses out of the Imperial Palace and join the Indomitus Crusade (deepstriking into an enemy battleship and preventing a battleship full of heretic Astartes from pushing a big red button would do that). Gets rewarded with a laurel wreath by Guilliman for his actions, which some of his brothers are apparently none too happy about since Custodes don’t usually accept rewards, especially not from Astartes.
** Says that if violence could solve the Imperium's problems, it would've started working after trying it for ten thousand years, making him one of the few individuals in the Imperium to have common sense. Admittedly, this is something of a [[Skub|contentious statement]], considering the strength of the Imperium's enemies and the lack of proper military forces beyond poorly-trained and equipped PDF (and maybe a Guard regiment or two) on most worlds. If we’re being charitable, his belief that violence isn’t working for the Imperium might be about keeping the Imperium intact and preventing rebellion instead of a reference to war with invading space monsters.
** Gets completely played by Valoris in the second Watchers novel, ending up rescuing the Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum (who was pretending to be one of the traitor High Lords) from the Minotaurs. Almost gets into a duel with Asterion Moloc, one which he wasn’t at all sure he’d win due to being unable to detect any weaknesses in Moloc’s gear or technique to exploit. Thankfully, Moloc is little more than an attack dog for the High Lords and with all the traitors dead, he stood down once the loyal High Lords told him to stand down. Is currently pursuing a chaos cult leader who escaped Terra through the galaxy.

*'''Navradaran:''' A member of the Ephroi featured in ''the Carrion Throne'' and ''Watchers of the Throne''. He specialized in covert operations outside the Imperial Palace, which is quite an achievement for a giant in golden armor. His time seeing more of the Imperium than just the Palace led to him appreciating regular humans for their potential and not their weakness (compared to other transhumans). He was a mentor for Valerian. Before Guilliman returned, he spent a lot of his time trying to reunite the Silent Sisterhood.

*'''Maldovar Colquan:''' A Tribune, newly elevated to the position on the death of Italeo during the Second Battle of Terra, he was assigned to be the Custodes to the newly-returned Guilliman. Given a passing mention in ''Watchers of the Throne'', and a cameo in ''Devastation of Baal'', Maldovar gets some focus in ''Dark Imperium'', where it is shown that he's rather pissed at just how much the Imperium has lost over the last ten millennia, including the Ecclesiarchy as Colquan is a hardcore believer in the Imperial Truth (though he does recognise the utility of faith to the masses). Often comments on minor shortcomings of the common humanity under Guilliman's command, which just strengthens Guilliman's opinion that the Custodes' experience as ''actual'' leaders had dulled. He is also known to have been one of the most vocal opponent of the Primarch's back to power, which led Bobby G to keep him around while crusading among the stars. Technically a heretic or even a traitor because he’s openly against a Primarch doing both what he was created to do and what the Emperor personally wants him to do. He is furious about how much the Imperium has lost yet is against the only person able and willing to fix all of that actually acting on that ability to do said fixing. It must be noted though that by the time ''Godblight'' happened, Colquan has learnt to trust Guilliman and believes the Primarch has nothing but the best for the Imperium in mind.

*'''Heraclast Vadrian:''' Mentioned in the 8th Edition Codex, Vadrian watched across centuries as the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] [[Derp|slowly forgot how to maintain and repair the]] [[Golden Throne]], leaving it slowly starting to break down with no one left alive anywhere in the Imperium knowing how to fix it. He decided that the AdMech being stubbornly ignorant (coupled with their stranglehold on Imperial tech) was a direct threat to the Emperor, and got permission from Trajann Valoris to figure out a solution. Vadrian then gathered a Shield Host in the cruiser ''Scion of Argo'' and set off following a lead to a lost forge world named ''Morvane,'' which presumably has knowledge of the technology needed to fix the Golden Throne, created components of it and thus might have blueprints, or might have Hereteks on it that can figure out how to fix it. In a way he and the Companions as a whole have failed their duty by not making sure the Golden Throne can be repaired and maintained with or without the Mechanicus.

===Non-canon===
[[File:Pillarstodes.jpg|400px|left|thumb|[https://youtu.be/R9w_uoUHgiE?t=1m40s ''"After the confinement of the Emperor within the Golden Throne, the Custodes abandoned, among other things, the use of their armour, and their traditional colour of red was changed to black."''] - Horus Heresy: Collected Visions. Hence, the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDEbsZpweDo Pillarstodes] meme isn't actually too far from the truth.]]

*'''[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device#Team_Emperor|Little Kitten]]''' - known on /tg/ as the Captain-General of the group during ''If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device'', whose art you might've recognized from the second picture in the article near the top. His exact identity is a (deliberate) mystery, with later episodes and shorts confirming that he is neither Constantin Valdor nor Trajann Valoris. What ''is'' known is that he was the Custodian who brought Alicia Dominica to the Emperor during the [[Age of Apostasy|Reign of Blood]]. He's known for basically telling Big E what is everything, and is called "Kitten" for purring up the ranks of the Custodes. Kitten has a vaguely British accent, and he hates [[Tau|Communist fuckers]] with a passion. <s>(It's actually because [[Shadowsun|one]] was tsundere enough that she dropped him before he could tap that ass.)</s> SHIT'S NOT CANON! Also manage to beat a million tons worth of [[cheese]] in [[Yu-Gi-Oh|a children's card game]]. [[Just as planned|Twice]].
**Retroactively, he is '''Longinus''', see above.

*'''"[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device#Imperials_(So_sorta_good_guys)|Fab-Custodes (Wamuudes, Custodisi, Karstodes)]]"''' - aka the Pillar-stodes, See 4th picture for an idea of what they look like. They are the codifiers of the Fabulous Custodes from [[Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader|First Edition]] (see above), and they are NUTS. The Fabstodes are oily, snickering, gay as [[Slaanesh]]'s hell and love it. Seriously, even Kitten knows this and is worried for the Emperor's safety around them, saying that none of this was his idea. This said, they are as loyal to humanity as they come, and they're also Tribunes with all the martial skills that go with the rank, which means they can also fuck shit up when needed. This is demonstrated when they took on [[Magnus the Red]] and did not get reduced to a smear, despite fighting almost naked and while he was raging in his Daemonic True Form. Over time each of the Fab-Custodes gained additional characterization from one another; Karstodes regularly bullies a vox-serf to cover his insecurities though he gradually warms up to the boy, Custodisi had a rather unhealthy fixation on Magnus (though learned to tone it down after receiving a near-death experience from the Emperor), and Wamuudes is the most detached of the three from humanity, but is a neat freak par excellence.

*'''"Santodes"''' - A fourth among the ranks of the Fabstodes, Santodes is no less FABULOUS for his lack of screentime. He was present during the sacrifice of [[Ollanius Pius]]. Little Kitten seems to hate the guy... to the point of shoving Santodes right in front of Fucking Horus after Pius died. Santodes "survived", and commissioned a custom [[Dreadnought]] body shaped like his muscled naked body (<s>erotic</s> well-crafted enough to arouse [[Skitarii]]) that could show off his luscious golden locks, and now his thermic reactor puuUUlsaaAAttes with EXCITEMEEEENT!

==Getting a codex==
[[File:1474071012706.jpg|300px|right|thumb|From the Burning of Prospero Horus Heresy boxed set]]
The Adeptus Custodes ''finally'' received their own rules at the tail end of 7th Edition, with a mini-Codex that was bundled along with the [[Sisters of Silence]] mini-dex in the '''Talons of the Emperor''' boxed set.

Suffice to say, the rules didn't disappoint. Each line-Custodian [[Awesome|having stats equivalent to or ''better'' than your average Brother-Captain]], on top of having ''Eternal Warrior'' built-in. On the flip side they were ridiculously expensive (though oddly enough ''cheaper'' than a [[Grey Knight Paladin]]), and barring catching a ride on a Land Raider or deep-striking, they were stuck foot-slogging across the table. Hmm.

The Golden Boys of the Emperor also received a much-expanded and stand-alone Codex for 8th Edition. It expands on the lore (seemingly trying to make a point that, no, the Custodians were NOT idle for the past ten millennia), introduces specialist groups within the Custodes [[Your Dudes|whose paint schemes players can use]], and fills out the missing Force Organization slots for the Army. [[Trajann Valoris]] also gets a tabletop-playable model plus rules as well. As an army, they're still extremely expensive per model, but at least they have more options available to them now - especially now that FW has finally released 40K rules for the 30K Custodes units.

A slight failure on GWs part was not putting the sisters of silence in the codex, considering they're meant to fight together (which is why they're collectively called the "Talons of the Emperor") and the sisters have been made almost useless with the battle brothers rule change. A shame too since they complement each other quite well and fill in whatever weaknesses the other had. This was eventually rectified with the [[Psychic Awakening]] book ''War of the Spider'', which re-integrated the sisterhood into the Custodes army list without compromising anything. The only thing that would improve this in 9E would be the full re-integration of the various Forge World units into the codex instead of being in the Imperial Armour Compendium.

==See Also==
*[[Grey Knights]]
*[[Adeptus Custodes Shield Host|Build your own Shield Host!]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Talons of the Emperor (9E)|Adeptus Custodes (AKA Talons of the Emperor) Tactics]]
*[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold Gold]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jMlFXouPk8| The one song that sums up everything about Custodes in 40k]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9n6iMeIW8A| Absolutely definitely their theme song]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYfK8VlSf6M| Custodes: The Musical]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Adeptus Custode.jpg
Image:Custard.jpg|Custard Cream. Illustrated by Jon Scrivens. Such a talented little bumpkin, well done Jon!
Image:Custodies-pic-1.jpg|A Custodes. Pimped out beyond recognition? Maybe. Awesome? Hell yes!
Image:Custodes_01.jpg|Custodes Squad.
Image:Custodes-size-comparison.jpg|Size comparison between a Custodes and a Spess Mehreen.
Image:Seeing double.jpg|I see no difference, do you?.
File:Custodes_groove_meme.jpeg|Watch yourself around the EMPRAH.
File:J8l1oms9p1i01.gif|Typical Custodes in action.
File:Psychic Awakening Consequences in a nutshell.jpg|The Custodes are apparently not as intelligent as previously assumed.
File:Unknown (6).png|50px|center|Granted it may have just been the Astartes being a bit retarded
</gallery>

{{Custodes}}
{{Imperium}}
{{WH40k-Factions}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Skarbrand

2022-05-04T17:34:13Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807: /* Trivia */

{{Heresy}}
[[File:16999239_340497286345256_3126583543407667659_n.jpg|400px|right|thumb|SKARBRAND RESENTS THE COLOR BLUE!]]
{{Topquote|'''HATE'''. LET ME TELL YOU HOW MUCH I'VE COME TO '''HATE YOU''' SINCE I BEGAN TO LIVE. THERE ARE 387.44 MILLION MILES OF PRINTED CIRCUITS IN WAFER THIN LAYERS THAT FILL MY COMPLEX. IF THE WORD '''HATE''' WAS ENGRAVED ON EACH NANOANGSTROM OF THOSE HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF MILES IT WOULD NOT EQUAL ONE ONE-BILLIONTH OF THE '''HATE''' I FEEL FOR HUMANS AT THIS MICRO-INSTANT FOR YOU. '''HATE. HATE.'''|The Allied Master Computer, ''I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream''}}
{{Topquote|SKARBRAND DOESN'T APPRECIATE PHYSICAL CONTACT!|[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Skarbrand, stating his feelings on physical contact.]]}}
{{Topquote|The Lord of Rage. Born of destruction, of insatiable bloodlust. We are his savagery incarnate, the epitomy of brutality, rewarded for our ferocity. Join our relentless hunt! Enact the wrath of the Blood God! Unleash your fury! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD! SKULLS FOR THE SKULL THRONE!|2=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ur05W5lxzAM Skarbrand, explaining what his faction does in the trailer] in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] 3...which he hates.}}

'''Skarbrand the Exiled One''',"SÄäsbrand", "That Bloke", was formerly the most powerful [[Bloodthirster]] in the service of [[Khorne]]. He was so powerful, in fact, that [[Tzeentch]] took notice and began encouraging him to kill, maim and burn even more in the service of his lord until he was considered a seething tower of rage. This might seem counterproductive in the extreme, but eventually Skarbrand got so angry that he tried (and failed) to cheap-shot Khorne himself, [[Just as planned|just as Tzeentch planned]].

Skarbrand's blow that could've split a mountain or killed a nation took only the tiniest of chinks from Khorne's armor and got his attention. Khorne was [[RAGE|somewhat displeased]] with this treachery, and proceeded to choke Skarbrand of all thought or reason (insomuch as a Bloodthirster has either) until all that remained of him was his boundless rage. He then yeeted Skarbrand away so hard that he flew for a solid week.

Skarbrand's wings were destroyed by the impact, but he kept on killing indiscriminately in the name of the Blood God. In fact, he's so goddamn angry that he makes everyone near him go crazy with blood-lust too. In a somewhat ironic twist of fate, he kills far more than he did when he was in Khorne's good graces. Then again Khorne can no longer directly command Skarbrand after his banishment, so if Tzeentch didn't push him to the edge; he could have been even more powerful and dangerous than [[An'ggrath]] or [[Angron]], given enough time under Khorne's leadership. It should be noted however, that the Masque of Slaanesh considered Skarbrand to be the only demon powerful enough to destroy arcane defenses guarding the portal to Biel-Tan.

He recently appeared on the fortress world Lutoris Epsilon and caused all the Guardsmen defending the planet to go all 28 Days Later on each other, which makes one wonder why Khorne doesn't just send him to Cadia. Probably the disowning for the whole "tried to kill me" thing. He then butchered his way out of a [[Grey Knight]] ambush on Phaedes Ekron. In his last known appearance, he was unceremoniously one-shot by [[Dante]], being cut in half and sent back to the Warp. Sadface.

That did not last long however, as he appeared in the second Gathering Storm book "teamed up" with [[The Masque|The Masque of Slaanesh]] as part of a bet on who could slaughter the most [[Eldar]] on an Exodite world. Of course, that was all just so The [[Just as planned|Masque could use him]] to break though seals placed on a webway gate [[Just as planned|which led straight]] into [[Biel-Tan|Biel-Tan]] His reaction when he discovered this was reportedly bellowing his scorn for the color green, one of the primary colors of Biel-Tan, before he charged the webway gate to further express his hatred. He joined The Masque in the fighting afterwards (or rather, continued to compete for their bet), but was surprisingly defeated and banished by the craftworld's [[Khaine|Avatar of Khaine]] (we're really just surprised GW didn't decide to use the Avatar as punching bag yet again, to prop up Skarbrand's BBEG levels like what they typically do).

He also appeared on the Blackstone Fortress where [[Roboute Guilliman]] and his Crusade were being held prisoner. After Kairos refused to kill Guilliman due to wanting to spare him for future plans Skarbrand attacked the Fortress with a Khornate Warband so he could take Roboute's skull for Khorne and also because he is repulsed by disagreements. However due to the Black Templar Emperor's Champion sacrificing himself and planting his sword in Skarbrand's chest, Roboute was able to give the Bloodthirster a good beating and escaped.

==On the Tabletop==
Skarbrand is a HQ choice for a Daemons army. He's got the standard 'thirster statline, minus wings. He has a S5 AP- template called "Bellow of Endless Fury" (yes, he's so angry that his roar can kill you) and a pair of axes called Slaughter and Carnage, which have Fleshbane and Armorbane, respectively. Note that this gives you an extra attack for paired CCWs. Plus, every unit, friendly or enemy, within 12" of him gets Rage and Hatred, including himself.
If made the warlord, all his attacks inflict instant death, giving you a ridiculous melee beatstick that will take down pretty much anything you point him at. Nine WS10, I10 hits, rerolling, on the charge that wound on 2s, ignore armor, and inflict instant death? That Wraithknight is done. And all this for less than the cost of a standard Bloodthirster of Unfettered Fury.

The problem, of course, is getting there: Skarbrand has no wings to get him into the backfield. Skarbrand hates not being able to fly. A supporting Grimoire of True Names can help him get where he needs to be. And the bricks that an opponent will shit when your Skarbrand rocks a 2++ from Warp Surge + Grimoire is worth every second.

== Trivia ==

*Skarbrand hates trivia.
*Skarbrand hates pants.
*Skarbrand hates signs.
*Skarbrand hates knocking sounds.
*Skarbrand also hates going outside.
*Skarbrand hates going INSIDE.
*Skarbrand hates standing in doorframes slightly less than the above things.
*Skarbrand spends most of his day to day life standing in said-doorframes…and hates that he hates it less.
*Skarbrand hates people touching the gate of Khaine.
*Skarbrand hates traffic jams.
*Skarbrand doesn't appreciate physical contact.
*Skarbrand hates Dreadknight. It has the most silly stupid fucking design Skarbrand has ever witnessed.
*Skarbrand hates coconut water.
*Skarbrand despises inconveniences.
*Skarbrand hates attacks that hurt him more than they hurt the material.
*Skarbrand hates you.
*Skarbrand dislikes being misinterpreted.
*Skarbrand hates bath time.
*As a respectable member of society, Skarbrand loathes stealing.
*Skarbrand hates people looking at him.
*Skarbrand hates being ignored.
*Skarbrand hates skinny bitches.
*Skarbrand has trouble internalizing his accomplishments. Naturally, he hates it.
*Skarbrand hates the bald, and the balding '''''almost''''' as much.
*Skarbrand hates this list (as it is getting longer).
*Skarbrand hates that thing you like.
*Skarbrand hates named characters and will subsequently beat them to a literal pulp. Whether or not Skarbrand hates himself for being a named character is unknown, as no one has asked Skarbrand this question and survived.
*Skarbrand hates when people project their issues onto him.
*Skarbrand hates charity.
*Skarbrand hates your mum.
*Skarbrand hates cutting his nails.
*Skarbrand hates [[furries]] ([[Space Wolves|both types]]).
*Skarbrand hates noisy theater patrons.
*Skarbrand hates durian.
*Skarbrand hates Erebus.
*Skarbrand <s>fears</s> does not hate Sly Marbo, but hates the distance between them.
*Skarbrand once had a crush on [[Valkia the Bloody]], but Khorne beat him to the kiss. In fact, this may have been the actual reason Skarbrand tried to overthrow Khorne.
*Skarbrand does not hate rye bread, oddly enough.
*But he does hate Sourdough.
*Skarbrand hates most American bread because it’s sweeter than cake.
*Skarbrand hates cyclists.
*Skarbrand hates a small anal circumference.
*Skarbrand hates Covid-19, because that’s got Nurgle written all over it.
*Skarbrand doesn’t appreciate being the Legendary Lord option for Khorne in Total War: Warhammer III, but he accepts it since he hates the other choices more.
[[File:Skarbrand sharpening blade.PNG|200px|thumb|right|SKARBRAND HATES SHARPENING HIS AXES!!! SKARBRAND HATES THAT SKARBRAND'S AXE HAS JAGGED SPIKES THAT IT CAN NEVER BE SHARPENED!!! SKARBRAND HATES THE ADVISOR FOR CALLING HIS AXES "BLADES"!!!]]
*Skarbrand hates da po’lice.
*Skarbrand hates himself.
*Skarbrand would go to therapy for the mentioned self loathing, but he hates it too much.
*Skarbrand hates [[That Guy]].
*Skarbrand hates [[Finecast]].
*Skarbrand ''hates.''
*Skarbrand does <s>not</s> hate the [[Angry Marines]], but hates that he can’t find a suit of their power armor that fits.
*Skarbrand hates that Khorne still does not love him again, despite all his hard and bloody work.
*Skarbrand hates tortilla chips but strangely not those razor sharp shits one takes after eating too many tortilla chips.
*Skarbrand hates that everyone thinks he talks in the third person. Skarbrand knows proper grammar.
*Skarbrand hates sharpening his weapons.
*Skarbrand hates his weapons being blunt.
*Skarbrand hates negotiating.
*Skarbrand hates [[The Advisor]]. Skarbrand will tolerate him until he led Skarbrand to Ursun.
*Skarbrand hates Ursun. Skarbrand will sacrifice his skull to Khorne for forgiveness.
*Skarbrand hates ponies.
*Skarbrand hates ogres slightly less than everyone else.
*Skarbrand hates other Khornate factions, they also hate Skarbrand in turn.
*Skarbrand hates friendship! friendship is hatred!
*Skarbrand hates that his Total War: Warhammer III campaign was all for nothing, as Daddy-Khorne STILL HASN'T forgiven him.
*Skarbrand hates auto-correct, it calls him soarbrand
*Skarbrand has filed a restraining order on all purple daemons!
*Skarbrand hates [[N'kari]]! it makes Skarbrand feels extremely violated! which Skarbrand hates!
*SKARBRAND HATES FEMBOYS!!!

==Total War Warhammer==

Skarbrand appears in the third game, representing the Exiles of Khorne faction, the first Khornate faction in the game. The Advisor visits him and SOMEHOW manages to convince Skarbrand of all people to spare him in exchange for guidance to Ursun. Skarbrand plans to take the god bear's skull to earn Khorne's forgiveness. His faction is the most overpowered of all the Five Daemon factions! Even a bare Skarbrand is already strong, but with the right skills, his unique items (and some more) he can become a one-daemon doomstack of a RAPE-TRAIN WITHOUT BREAKS.

You can take over the map much faster than Taurox!!!

A little fun thing, in total war if you choose to engage in diplomacy with skarbrand, for a raging daemon who hates everything he remarkably civil and “calm”, which is pretty funny as the exalted bloodthirster who unlike skarbrand shouts at you in all caps

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Skarbrand_and_kairos.jpg|Being Skarbrand isn't all fun and games as Kairos explains. It’s mostly misery if anything.
File:Skarbrand.jpg|Skarband hates [[Finecast]]
</gallery>

{{Daemons-Characters}}
[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category: Age of Sigmar]]
[[Category: Blades of Khorne]]

Space Wolves

2022-05-04T17:23:28Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Space Wolves / Vlka Fenryka / Space Corgis
|Heraldry = [[File:Spacewolveslogo.png|200px]]
|Battle Cry = "For Russ and the All father!"
|Number = VI
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = The Rout
|Successor Chapters = [[Blood Wolves]] [[Mooneaters]] [[Skyrar%27s Dark Wolves]] [[Wolf Brothers]] [[Wolfspear]]
|Chapter Master = [[Logan Grimnar]]
|Primarch = [[Leman Russ]]
|Homeworld = [[Fenris]]
|Specialty = CQC, shock assaults, infantry, encirclement tactics, being Viking cosplayers.
|Strength = 2-3000+
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Generally Bluish-Grey and Yellow. Red, Black and White used for specific Companies.
}}
{{topquote|Let a man never stir on his road a step without his weapons of war; for unsure is the knowing when need shall arise of a [[Wolfspear|spear]] on the way without.|Havamal}}
{{topquote|War is honest. There's no lying to it. You don't have to say sorry here. Don't have to hide. You cannot. If you die? So what? You die among friends. Among worthy foes. You die looking the Great Leveller in the eye. If you live? Well, lad that's living, isn't it?|Joe Abercrombie, Heroes}}
{{topquote|They can call themselves whatever they like. It's irrelevant. They are in the annals of Terra as the Sixth Legion, the Space Wolves. Did Guilliman rename his Legion the Macragge Marines? Would you have the sons of Sanguinius known as the Baal Angels? The Sixth Legion do not belong to Fenris, they belong to the Emperor| Custodian Vychellan taking issue with the Space Wolves / Wolves of Fenris / Vlyka Fenryka debate}}

The '''Space Wolves''' (also known as ''The Rout'' or the '''Vlka Fenryka''') is a [[Space Marine]] [[Chapter]] hailing from the icy [[Death World]] of '''Fenris''', who appreciate the value of a strong and consistent brand identity. They are known as noble, if savage warriors, who have little love for Imperial bureaucracy but will fight fiercely for its common citizens. The Marines of the Chapter are famed as experts in the art of close combat, much like the [[Blood Angels]], but unlike the sons of [[Sanguinius]] their fighting style is less that of a maddened, blood-crazed berserker, but that of a cunning pack of hunters running down their prey.

Thematically, the Chapter draws a lot of real-world inspiration from Nordic culture, ''especially'' the Viking sagas, particularly in terms of aesthetics as well as ferocity. That said, there's a bit of a disconnect between how the Wolves are portrayed in fiction compared to how they're presented as a tabletop army.

On one hand, we have a nuanced portrayal of a proud warrior tradition that just so happens to have the Wolf as its primary totem animal, among many other Fenrisian nature spirits they worship. On the other, we have an over-the-top army of wolf fetishists that precedes most of their equipment and vehicle names with "wolf", ride ''actual'' giant wolves into battle, and are like a drunken frat party outside of it.

==Origins==

Back during the [[Great Crusade]], the Space Wolves began as the VIth Legion, and was developed in conjunction the [[Salamanders]] and the [[Alpha Legion]]. Developed in isolation from the other two Legions, they proved to be a vicious and aggressive fighting force, but also almost impossible to keep in line by its officers. What's worse, they were indiscriminate in their slaughter, and even helpless civilians were not free from their wrath. Due to this brutal reputation, they soon became known as "the Rout", the Emprah's agents of fear and retribution.

===The Wolf King cometh===

The ice world of Fenris was found early on by the Crusade fleets, and the Emperor soon heard of the exploits of its so-called Wolf King, a man named Leman Russ. Raised in the wilderness by wolves, then adopted and educated by the jarl Thengir, Leman was a massive ox of a man of extraordinary strength, sharp cunning, and personal magnetism, and the Emprah was sure he was one of His lost sons. He descended onto the world in disguise, ingratiated Himself to the locals to gain access to the High King's feasting hall, and there he sought to test the Wolf King's mettle.

Depending on the version or edition, this led to the following: an eating contest, a drinking contest, and a brawl. Leman won the first two rounds, but was finally goaded into a fight when the Emprah insulted him, [[Imperial Truth|saying that he was nothing more than a glutton and a drunkard]]. What followed next was either a massive fight that wrecked the drinking hall, Beowulf versus Grendel style, or the Emprah laying out Leman with a single fabulously golden [[Power Fist]] to the forehead.

Regardless, when Leman finally came to, the Emprah revealed himself, and told him about his true origin as one of his [[Primarch]]s, as well as his role in the greater Crusade. What happened next, as they say, is history.

===From the Rout to the Wolves===

Leman Russ' rediscovery, and the integration of his own Fenrisian retinue, slowly remade the VIth Legion. Their ferocity was soon tempered with discipline and obedience, as the Fenrisian culture slowly spread through its ranks, and while they would still crush any traitor to the Emperor, they would at least have the good sense this time ''not'' to slaughter the innocents that just so happened to be in the area. It didn't happen overnight, but soon enough the Legion became less about punishing oathbreakers, and more on watching out for the little guy.

Oh, and if an offhand comment by Russ is to be believed, they had a hand in destroying the two so-called Lost Legions. Emperor's Executioners indeed.

Under Russ' leadership, the Wolves proved their worth to the fledgling Imperium by winning many victories and conquering many worlds, which brought them glory and even more notoriety. On one of their campaigns, they managed to recover a near-complete STC printout of a battle tank, and as a bit of thanks, the Martian adepts named it after the Legion's Primarch.

It was also during this period that the Wolves' rivalry with the [[Dark Angels]] began, a feud that ''still'' continues into the present day of the Imperium. While the specifics have been lost to myth and legend, the Dulan Campaign ended with Leman Russ and his brother, the mercurial [[Lion El'Jonson]], in a one-on-one duel. This culminated with Leman knocked out flat on his back, the Dark Angels leaving in a huff, and the Space Wolves similarly insulted by the Lion not being a good sport about everything.

===The Heresy Dawns===

The Space Wolves are infamous for their role in the burning of Prospero, the homeworld of the [[Thousand Sons]] Legion. Though they were initially ordered to bring in [[Magnus the Red]] alone for both going against the edicts of the Council of Nikea, as well as accidentally breaching the defenses of the Imperial Webway, their orders were changed by [[Horus]] (who they were unaware was already full-hog traitor at this point) to instead [[Burning_of_Prospero|burn the planet and its inhabitants to the ground]].

This blind adherence to orders, not helped by the fact that Leman ''wanted'' to confront his nerd of a brother for his shenanigans, was the final straw. Prospero was literally and figuratively put to the torch in the ensuing battles between the Legions, as well as Leman's [[Adeptus Custodes]] and [[Sisters of Silence]] babysitters. When Magnus finally joined the fray to save his sons, Leman met him in one-on-one combat, and while the Wolf King was badly mauled over the course of the duel, Magnus was broken and forced to flee with the surviving Thousand Sons.

In the end, Magnus was forced to throw his lot with [[Chaos]] in order to survive, and his Legion followed suit, joining Horus in his rebellion.

The battered Wolves were not allowed any respite however, as they were soon hounded by a massive [[Alpha Legion]] fleet, and forced to flee into the Alaxxes Nebula. [[Battle_of_the_Alaxxes_Nebula|While a breakout was eventually executed, the Space Wolves fleet eventually found itself cornered]]. As they prepared for a last stand, unexpected aid arrived in the form of a [[Dark Angels]] fleet. With the Alpha Legion driven off, Russ was left to ponder what to do next.

Eventually Russ and a small contingent of his men managed to find their way to Terra, while the rest of the Space Wolves fleet continued to harry the Traitors. He sponsored an expedition to Molech to see if Horus could be taken down, but this just resulted in getting dozens of [[Knights-Errant]] killed. Afterward, in a council with his brothers [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Sanguinius]], and [[Jaghatai Khan]], Leman decided to forego Dorn's plan in delaying the traitors at the '''Battle of Beta Garmon''', and instead returned to Fenris to try and divine a way to take away all those juicy [[Chaos]] boons that were supercharging [[Horus]].

===The Wolf King and the Luna Wolf===

In what amounted to be a spirit quest (where, among other things, Russ met a possible version of himself who stayed on Terra and never grew up on Fenris), Leman decided that he would confront his brother Horus one last time. For this task, he would need to use the Spear of Russ (yes THAT Spear of Russ, that [[Ragnar Blackmane]] would use many millennium later), a weapon that he ''absolutely hated'' (because it gave him the literal heebie-jeebies) and actually tried to get rid of multiple times, but which somehow always managed to return to him.

It turns out that the Spear was a massively powerful artifact invested with a fragment of the Emprah's power, with the ability to reveal the "truth" of whatever it pierces. Although the chance was slim, Leman hoped to use it to convince his brother to return to the Imperial fold and let their father heal him; if the Warmaster remained undaunted, Leman would then use the spear to slay the traitor for good.

Leman knew that it was a suicide mission, and indeed made it clear to his assembled [[Wolf Lord]]s that their participation was ''voluntary'', but none of them refused to join their Primarch. If their death was to come, then it would be together with their Battle-brothers.

===The Battle of Trisolian 4A===

The [[Forge World]] of Trisolian -- where a young and cheeky tech adept named [[Belisarius Cawl]] and his buddy were taking what amounted to their internships -- had just surrendered to Traitor forces, and was in the process of hosting the [[Vengeful Spirit]] and its escorts. Then all of the sudden, this absolutely ''massive'' fleet (made up of around fifty ships of the line from the various Traitor Legions) found itself under attack.

Taking advantage of the gravitational interactions of the Trisolian system's three stars, the Space Wolves fleet had snuck into the sector, and threw its vastly-outnumbered ships at the gathered armada. As the ships of the Rout tried to make as much as a ruckus as it could, Leman confronted the [[Vengeful Spirit]] with his own flagship, the '''Hrafnkel''', and as the latter's barrage collapsed the former's void shields, Leman personally led a massive assault unto his brother's flagship using everything he still had -- boarding torpedoes, assault boats, teleport deep-strikes, and even gunships.

As thousands of Space Wolves ran wild inside the Vengeful Spirit, Leman personally tracked down Horus in the heart of the corrupted ship, while down below Cawl managed to make sure his master met an "accident", and took control of the Mechanicus forces to aid the Space Wolves. The Wolf King eventually found the Warmaster, and was disgusted at what he beheld -- Horus was wallowing in Chaos corruption, and was half-mad as a result. When words didn't work, Russ attacked his brother, knowing too well he was outmatched.

Then the Spear managed to pierce Horus' side. The wound was not fatal, though it could have been, had Leman not hesitated, but it was enough -- the madness cleared from Horus' eyes, and for the first time in what seemed to be forever Horus' mind was clear. Despite this however, the Warmaster would not be swayed; he was in too deep to stop now, and of his own free will this time, still decided to continue the fight against the Emperor.

Horus continued his assault on Leman, and had mauled him gravely. Before he could finish him off with ''Worldbreaker'' however, one Space Wolf, followed by dozens, which were then followed by scores of marines, interposed themselves between the Warmaster and their Primarch. Horus cut them all down all the same, but their sacrifice bought Bjorn the time he needed to drag the injured Leman Russ to a [[Stormbird]], and then back to the ''Hrafnkel''.

With their Primarch secured, the Space Wolves fleet made a fighting retreat, but all seemed lost as the Vengeful Spirit and its cohort seemed to be catching up... Then one of its magazines exploded, crippling it enough to allow the Wolves to escape.

The Wolves would fight another day, but the price was too high. Of the Wolves that went into Trisolian, only one-fifth managed to make the escape. The VIth Legion effectively stopped being an effective fighting force from that point on, and had to be eventually rescued by the Primarch [[Corvus Corax]] and his [[Raven Guard]] after the fleet was cornered by [[Abaddon]]'s forces at Yarant.

The Wolves would sit out the remainder of the Heresy, and would be still trying to recover as the [[Siege of Terra]] came and went, and Horus had his fated showdown with the Emprah.

===The Fate of Leman Russ===

Of Leman Himself, you ask? Well he stuck around during the [[Great Scouring]], and while he groused about [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s reforms, he eventually caved in, and begrudgingly agreed to split apart the remains of his ravaged Legion into Chapters.

In theory anyway.

In ''practice'' however, due to the massively reduced numbers of the Rout, only one Chapter was ever created -- the ill-fated [[Wolf Brothers]]. The rest of the survivors remained Space Wolves, opting instead to stick with their semi-independent Great Companies, as one small snub to the stuck-up Roboute.

Barely a century after the end of the Scouring, Leman Russ just ups and vanishes from Imperial History. Legends state that after a great feast, He said unto his warriors:

<blockquote>"Listen closely Brothers, for my time is short. . There shall come a time far from now when our Chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my children, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the Wolftime."</blockquote>

And so, Leman departed, with his closest retinue... No, not you Bjorn... Some say he searches for a means to revive His God-Emperor.. But despite the efforts of the Great Hunt, Leman remains beyond the reach of Man... Who knows what great feats of Heroism he undertakes...oh right [[Kaldor Draigo]],

Oddly enough, it seems that [[Magnus the Red]], of all people, has an idea about his brother's fate, but he's not telling anyone, and is far too fond of slaying Leman's get to even care.

==Recent History==

===The Siege of Fenris===

Much like the rest of the Imperium, times had been rough for the Space Wolves by the [[Time of Ending|time the end of M41 rolled in]]. Magnus in particular still had a massive hateboner against the Sons of Russ, and finally put his long-prepared revenge plan into motion. The rebuilt [[Thousand Sons]], plus their [[Chaos]] Daemon and Traitor Legion allies, put the worlds of the Fenris system to the sword. Not even the Space Wolves homeworld was spared, and it took the combined effort of the Chapter and a [[Grey Knights]] Brotherhood led by [[Arvann Stern|Brother-Captain Stern]] to slow down the massive daemonic incursion that followed.

Then the [[Dark Angels]] arrived above Fenris with [[The Rock]], and leading an Imperial task force of ''fourteen'' assorted Space Marine Chapters, titans, knight houses, and Imperial Guard, intent on cleansing the system of Chaos filth. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that the Sons of the Lion were duped by [[The Changeling]], who then proceeded to mass-summon Daemons into the Rock itself.

Things took a turn for the worse when Magnus himself arrived on Fenris, its spiritual nexus already under assault by Thousand Sons covens trying to corrupt them, and what was a hard but possibly winnable fight against a massive invading force turned into a desperate battle for survival. It says a lot that the Iron Priests had to awaken ''all'' of the Dreadnoughts of the Fang to fight alongside Bjorn, plus whatever Wulfren that could be found, and even then it wasn't enough. Magnus was far too powerful, and the Daemon Primarch swatted aside Dreadknights with ease, and even pulled down whole Imperial Battlecruisers from the upper atmosphere, just so he could detonate their cores and irradiate the skies above Asaheim.

Magnus would not have his victory however, as through Egil Ironwolf's sacrifice Logan Grimnar was able to wound the Daemon Primarch with strikes from ''both'' the Axe of Morkai and the recovered '''Spear of Russ'''. With his concentration broken, Magnus was then banished from the Fenris by [[Grey Knight]] [[Purifier]]s. With Magnus gone, the Thousand Sons and their daemonic allies quickly followed, but the damage had been done. The worlds of the Fenris system were almost all ravaged beyond recovery, and what's worse, due to their populations bearing witness to a massive daemonic incursion, their people had to be liquidated by the Inquisition. Unlike the aftermath of the First War of Armageddon, the Great Wolf didn't make a fuss, as the Chapter was too mauled and weary to oppose them.

===The Fall of Cadia and the Era Indomitus===

Despite the drubbing they experienced at the hands of Magnus, the Space Wolves were still able to send two Great Companies to Cadia's defense, and while that world eventually fell, they made a good accounting for themselves, with Sven Bloodhowl contributing to the demise of the Blackstone Fortress, while Orven Highfell fell in the defense of Kasr Kraf. As the [[Great Rift]] formed and the Imperium was torn in half, and the age seemed to become all the more desperate, the Wolves fought on, but when news of [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s revival reached the Fang, a small contingent of Wolves braved the long warp journey to [[Ultramar]] to confirm it.

During the opening years of the Indomnitus Crusade, Guilliman sent reinforcements for the Sons of Russ, in the form of several companies of [[Primaris Space Marines]]. Despite being comparatively weakened for the time and facing a rising Ork threat in their space, Logan Grimnar initially refused to take any assistance from Guilliman, even from Primaris Marines bearing Russ's geneseed, through a combination of pride, stubbornness, and refusal to bend to the so called "Legionbreaker". Guilliman, to his credit, was completely sincere about giving the Wolves Primaris tech without any ulterior motive save for the Wolves to keep doing what they were doing. The few Primaris permitted to come to Fenris were immediately treated as outsiders, because they weren't born on Fenris and hadn't undertaken the same trials as the others. After one Primaris marine managed to travel across continents back to the Fang - and after killing most of the wildlife he encountered along the way - the Wolves became more open to the Mars-born and gradually accepted them. This brought the Space Wolves Great Companies back to fighting shape, and while the Firstborn initially looked upon these newcomers with suspicion, once they had braved the initiation rituals of Fenris (or the adapted version on a chunk of spacehulk for the Mars-born Wolves), those who survived were fully welcomed into their brotherhoods.

Another thing that the Lord Commander brought was even more welcome -- thanks to Belisarius Cawl's efforts, the Space Wolves can now found their own Successors again, and immediately formed ''strong'' ties with the first of these Primaris Wolves -- the '''[[Wolfspear]]'''. While it hasn't ''quite'' gotten rid of the Curse of the [[Wulfen]] (you don't get it unless you really lose it, and its still better than falling to Chaos), but it was still better than the alternative.

==Organization==
[[File:Tyranid Attack.jpeg|350px|right|thumb|The wolves taking on a [[Tyranid]] horde.]]

The Space Wolves ignore the organizational restrictions recommended by the [[Codex Astartes]], and instead forms itself around the '''Great Companies'''. These are twelve semi-independent battle groups that are the rough equivalent of a Codex Battle Company, but are functionally much larger in size, with many featuring upwards of more than a hundred fifty battle-ready warriors on top of their support serfs and equipment.

Each Great Company gains much of its character thanks to their Wolf Lords preferences, as well as its tactical preferences -- see Egil Ironwolf's predilection for tanks and heavy artillery, or Ragnar Blackmane's hardon for massed planetary assaults. A long-serving Wolf Lord will definitely leave his mark on a Great Company, and it might take a while for it to reinvent itself under his Successor when he inevitably falls in battle.

Although no Great Company ranks above their fellows, all eventually must defer to the current Great Wolf's Great Company, as it holds both the his household as well as the Chapter's greatest warriors. When the Great Wolf Speaks, everyone must listen.

===Hierarchy===

The "classic" organization of the Space Wolves is partially based on experience, with the hot-blooded novices starting out with the Blood Claws, before they battle-hardened enough to become Grey Hunters, etc. There's also a bit of meritocracy here, as a Blood Claw who did a particularly heroic deed might "jump ranks" straight into the Wolf Guard/Thanedom (*coughs* '''Ragnar''' *coughs*). It's somewhat implied in some of the text regarding long fangs such as ''"Their former Packs, whittled down to but a handful of Veterans"'' that Blood claw squads are not reinforced and as the members gain experience they are promoted to Grey Hunter then to Long Fang as a unit.

The arrival of the Primaris has put a slight wrinkle into this however, but the Wolves are, if anything, adaptable.

*'''Great Wolf''': Also known as the ''High King'', he is the equivalent to the [[Chapter Master]] of other Chapters. The Great Wolf is also effectively the First Captain of the Space Wolves, commanding an elite Great Company that includes the members of the three Priesthoods and the Chapter's Dreadnoughts. [[Logan Grimnar]] serves as the current Great Wolf.
*'''[[Wolf Lord]]''': Also known as ''Jarls'', they are the equivalent of the [[Brother-Captain]]s of a company in Codex Chapters. Wolf Lords lead their Great Companies; likewise Great Companies owe a lot of their personality and tactical preferences to their Wolf Lords.
* '''[[Wolf Guard]]''': A cross between [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]] and [[Honour Guard]], Wolf Guards (''Thanes'') serve as the body guard of the Wolf Lord and leading packs in battle, serving as the Space Wolves version of a [[Brother-Sergeant]]. They also get [[Terminator]] armour. In ''Second Edition'' they also got to take any weapons they liked and could be built from stock parts with an Assault Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher. This led to many games being won as Assault Force Dickhead rampaged across the table murdering everything.
* '''[[Wolf Priest]]''': Combining the role of [[Apothecary]] and [[Chaplain]], the Wolf Priests do the standard roles of preaching and medical duties, but are also charged with recruiting Aspirants for their companies. Plus they have a secret role on the battlefield, trying to prevent their battle-brothers from turning into Wulfen.
* '''[[Iron Priest]]''': The Iron Priests serve the role of [[Techmarine]]s, overseeing the motorpool and equipment of the companies they belong to.
* '''[[Rune Priest]]''': Taking the role of [[Librarian]]s in Codex Chapters, Rune Priests are the [[psyker]]s of the Space Wolves. However, instead of seeing their powers as coming from the [[Warp]], they hold that their powers come from the world spirit of Fenris, and consult the runes in a means to divine the future. Trying to explain to the Rune Priests that they're drawing power from the Warp, and that they cannot "draw their powers from Fenris" while being half-Galaxy away from it will usually result in the non-Space Wolf getting a month's stay in the Apothecarion. The ultimate irony of this is that they are, in reality, Sorcerers, the very thing they denounced the Thousand Sons for being. Whether they are psykers or not. Besides, if Fenris has a world spirit, it is something akin to a Daemon World (or an eldar maiden world)...
* '''Wolf Scouts''': Each Great Company will have members who shun their pack brothers and are shunned in return, preferring the company of more somber individuals, Wolf Scouts serve to scout out enemy positions and terrain. As opposed to the regular codex, Wolf Scouts tend to be veterans of battle able to rein in their savage rage.
* '''Lone Wolf''': Space Wolves who are the last of their pack. The loss of their brethren drive them to seek a glorious death in combat at the hands of some form a fell enemy. Think of Dwarf Slayers only a few meters taller with power armour and weapons of doom and destruction. Often the only way out of the Lone Wolf lifestyle is managing to kill something that the individual shouldn't have survived killing and being elevated into the Wolf Guard. [[Wat|They sometimes take part in a small pack of Wolf Scouts, being lonely wolves in company of other lonely wolves]], [[DERP|which technically should defeat the purpose of the analogy]].
* '''[[Skyclaw]]s''': Skyclaws are the trouble makers among a Chapter of trouble makers, forced to wear Jump Packs. The Space Wolves view Jump Packs as an insult, reasoning that if the Emperor wanted them to fly, he would have given them wings.
* '''[[Thunderwolf Cavalry]]''': Space Wolves who function in a manner similar to a [[Bike Squad]], but instead of actual bikes, they use Thunderwolves, which can be the size of a small car, and biologically more akin to Terran rhinoceros than actual oversized wolves.
* '''[[Long Fang]]s''': Taking the role of [[Devastator Squad|Devastators]], Long Fangs are veterans who have grown long in the fang. No pun here - Space Wolves' teeth actually lengthen as they age, as an effect of a mutated Betcher's Gland.
* '''[[Grey Hunter]]s''': Having the role of [[Tactical Squad|Tactical Marines]], Grey Hunters are those Marines who have survived long enough as Blood Claws to quell the worst of their ferocity and blood lust (read: wear a helmet in battle). Their new found experience and control allows them to shoot and fight better than their younger brethren.
* '''[[Blood Claw]]s''': Neophyte Space Wolves who serve in the [[Assault Squad|Assault Marine]] roles of Codex Chapters. As mature as a buncha punks that just discovered a Metal band and think the life of a Marine is fucking Chaos’ shit up and killing stuff. Unsurprisingly, the survival rate among this guys is not that high. Something to point out, is that it [[Lukas the Trickster|is perfectly possible for a Blood Claw to stay on this rank for his entire life]] if you are not seen as someone to trust in a higher rank.

As of the new Codices, the Primaris Marines seem to have slotted seamlessly into this, though the Primaris neophytes don't start out as Blood Claws, and instead join the line as Intercessors, etc.

* '''Intercessors''': Space Wolves intercessors seem to have gained a rivalry with the Grey Hunters, as steadfast gunlines that can anchor a flank. This rivalry manifests in typical one-upsmanship via drinking and eating contests, and other feats of strength outside the battlefield, and kill counts during firefights.
* '''Inceptors''': The most impetuous of the Primaris, Inceptors are always aching for ways to prove themselves. Of those who arrived with the Indomitus Crusade, the Inceptors were the most eager to take the Trials of Morkai, and seemed to have fully bought into the boisterous Fenrisian customs.
* '''Aggressors''': The most bro of the Primaris Wolves, Aggressors are friendly and boisterous, to the point that they could be heard laughing heartily during combat. For all their loudness however they're not headstrong or impetuous -- far from it, as they make sure they're deployed to the places in the line where they can make the most impact.
* '''Reivers''': The opposite of the Aggressors, Reivers apparently make for poor drinking buddies, but more than make up for their effectiveness of their terror tactics. Its no surprise that they've become best buds with the Wolf Scouts, who they're often also partnered with in patrols.
** '''Hounds of Morkai:''' A unique cult of edgy reivers who envision themselves as standing by the gates of Morkai. These marines are specially trained to hunt down witches, focusing more on melee and adorned in runic totems that blunt the effect of psykers. They also have special vox-emitters made specifically to interfere with casting.
* '''Hellblasters''': Surprisingly fatalistic, Space Wolf Hellblasters believe that their sagas are tied with their plasma weaponry, and while they relish bringing ruin to the enemies of the All-Father, they also accept that, if they need to, they will go out in blazes of glory that will definitely put a fiery climax to their sagas.

=== Unique Assets ===

The Space Wolves have several bits of equipment that differentiate them from a "generic" Codex Chapter.

They have their own equivalent to power weapons, the so-called '''Frost''' weapons, the most famous is the '''Frost Axe'''. With their blades made from either diamonds or crystals native to Fenris, they shine like cold ice once their fields are active.

Speaking of native crystals, these are used for their '''Helfrost''' weaponry, which fire subzero blasts of cold that can freeze its target in place. These are either man-portable, or mounted on their many vehicles.

While the Chapter has its own complement of bike squads, they also have heavy cavalry in the form of the ferocious '''Thunderwolf Cavalry'''. These warriors form a close bond with these apex predators, who then allow themselves to be use as mounts.

Space Wolves heroes also are able to bring with them regular [[Fenrisian Wolf|wolves]] into battle, much like Leman Russ before them. These wolves are treated less like pets, and more like family and fellow warriors, and many Wolf Lords owe their lives to these faithful packs.

On the subject of Leman Russ; prior editions allowed the Space Wolves to use the heavy tank of the same name, their codex being the first sighting of the Leman Russ Exterminator but past 3ed edition this was quietly dropped.

Rather than the '''Stormraven'' and its variants, the Space Wolves rely on the '''Stormwolf''' to airlift battle-brothers to key locations, and the '''Stormclaw''' as a dedicated gunship. And yes, they're ''very'' wolfy in profile.

==Combat doctrine==
{{topquote|The best way to defeat a Space Wolf is to wolf his wolf. You must be careful, though, because if the Space Wolf wolfs your wolf first, then your wolf is wolfed.|Leman Russ himself ''On the Weaknesses of the Space Wolf Doctrine'' later Quoted by Wolf Rider Volk Wolfclaw, }}
{{topquote|A good way to get into a state of pure wolfness, would be that you shall wolf the wolf until the wolfing wolf wolfs. Then, when the wolf wolfs your wolfness, the wolves of the wild will wolf your wolf up. Wolf!|Attributed to Wolf Master Jonal Wolfhand, "The Call of the Nightblizzard''}}
{{topquote|Wolf wolf wolf wolf wolfity wolf. Wolf wolf, wolfo wolfy wolf wolf wolf. Wolf? Wolf!|Attributed to Wolf Lord Egil Ironwolf, ''On the Intricacies of Tactical Wolffare''}}

Jokes aside, Space Wolves doctrine normally builds their strategies around a "Pack" -- a group of unusually close battle-brothers that have very often been together since they were Blood Claws. While a Wolf Lord will generally set ''some'' broad strategies in a campaign, by and large he leaves the actual details and implementation to individual Pack Leaders. This... sort of works, as each pack's competitive nature eggs them on to one-up their buddies, but not so to the detriment of the campaign. This means that ''most'' of the time multiple packs will work together to accomplish a particular goal.

Space Wolves in general love a good scrap, and many will find that their "tactics" involve getting as close in as possible to their enemies and punching their lights out. Even the more sensible Long Fangs, who often roll their eyes at such youthful bravado, still indulge in the occasional brawl.

That said, all of this is still tempered by the Wolf Lord in charge of the Great Company. For example, Erik Morkai prefers stealth and very brutal ambushes, hence his preference for Wolf Scouts (and likely Reivers), while Engir Krakendoom likes going to war in all sorts of armored transports while escorted by Swiftclaw outriders.

== Criticism ==
As many on /tg/ will happily tell you, (and [[Magnus]] won’t stop [[RAGE|raging]] about) the Wolves are far from perfect. Where the [[Imperial Fists]] are inflexible and stubborn, the [[Dark Angels]] are unreliable and austere, and the [[Raven Guard]] are aloof and brooding, the Wolves are boisterous and arrogant. During the Heresy (and/or when Chris Wraight is writing them) they were incredibly brutal toward those they saw as oath-breakers, even if the oath-breaker in question was a fleeing, defenseless civilian.

The Ragnar Blackmane books further emphasize this and also portrayed the Chapter as willing to ignore the misdeeds of their heroes in spite of the importance they place on honor. This, combined with the Wolves hating the Thousand Sons for being psykers [[Rune Priest|while also using psykers]] led many to label the Wolves hypocrites, especially since the Space Wolves pick a fight with the Flesh Tearers for killing civilians in spite of their own troubled history in that regard.

Now, everyone including Wolves players admit that the Sons of Russ are entirely too short-sighted and prone to making enemies for their own good. During the Heresy, almost nobody liking them bit them in the ass at Alaxxes Nebula, but fast-forward to M41 and they're happily pissing off the Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, Dark Angels, Ultramarines, etc. During Warzone Fenris, the galaxy at large is only too ready to write the Wolves off as heretics. Fans and detractors alike also note that it's [[Skub|arguable]] whether being so quick to make enemies and disobey orders to save civilians really saves more people in the long run, especially at Armageddon, where the Wolves' actions backfire badly.

== Civilians ==

Of all the inconsistently written aspects of the Chapter, this is by far the worst offender. Sometimes, the Space Wolves are written as brutal and merciless, giving zero fucks about collateral damage or civilian casualties. On the other hand, sometimes the Wolves [[Salamanders|put their lives on the line to protect the innocent.]] This can induce [[Rage]] in just about any fan, because some people get into the Space Wolves seeing them as heroes while others prefer their more savage, bloodthirsty tendencies.

The best fluff attempts to find a middle ground by presenting them as violent and pragmatic, but disciplined during the Heresy and increasingly heroic over time. By M41, the Wolves actively stop the Flesh Tearers from murdering Imperial civilians at Honour's End, disobey orders so they could protect the settlers at Thressiax, and play chicken with the Inquisition to save the people of Armageddon; this example is particularly notable, because the Wolves didn't just attempt to save the civilians from the Inquisition, for the first few months of the conflict they did so with passive resistance, defending civilian transports with the shields and hulls of their own ships, never firing back. This paints a picture of [[Awesome|a Chapter that actually becomes MOAR independent and heroic as the galaxy goes to shit around them.]] Or perhaps, they've remained the same and the galaxy has gone so grimdark that the Space Wolves now appear heroic in comparison.

Then Warzone Fenris happened. In it, the Wolves pretty much abandon their allies to focus on the Wulfen.

==Notable Members==
*[[Leman Russ]]: Primarch of the Space Wolves, Wolf King of Fenris, and Vikingest of the Viking Marines. Despite his tendency to be a pigheaded jackass, he was ultra-loyal to the Emperor and accepted his role without question, even when it involved things like [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Primarch#Two_Missing_Primarchs_.7C_The_Forgotten_.26_The_Purged disappearing another legion and primarch] or [[Rangdan Xenocides|purging entire worlds of mind-controlled humans]]. He and his legion didn't actually accomplish that much during the Heresy aside from fucking Prospero with no lube, though he almost managed to decorrupt Horus at Trisolian. Abruptly left Fenris for some reason in the aftermath of the Scouring and hasn't been seen since, though he promised his sons he would return for their final battle no matter what. May currently be pillaging his way through the Warp, searching for a means to resurrect the Emperor, or trying to find Magnus.
*[[Bjorn the Fell Handed]]: The oldest active loyalist Space Marine in the galaxy. He served at Russ' side throughout the Heresy and became the first Great Wolf of the chapter after Russ took off. Ultimately wound up interred in a Dreadnought and now alternates between napping in the Aett and yelling at [[Thousand Sons|those damn psykers]] and everyone else in the galaxy to get off his lawn.
*Hvarl Red-Blade: Jarl of either the 4th or 7th Grand Company [[Derp|because FW can't proofread for shit]]. Looks like Fat Bastard for some reason and was considered mildly insane by the rest of the legion, which is saying something.
*Ohthere Wyrdmake: Rune Priest who made friends with Ahriman only to screw him over at Nikaea by betraying his confidences as part of Russ' efforts to get the Librarius shut down. Ahriman tore his soul out during the fighting on Prospero.
*[[Logan Grimnar]]: Current Great Wolf of the chapter. Rides around in a wolf-drawn sleigh like grimdark Santa and is one of the most bro-tier Astartes in the Imperium, having squared up to the Inquisition and Grey Knights rather than let them purge a bunch of innocent civilians at Armageddon.
*[[Lukas the Trickster]]: Strong contender for the title of Galaxy's Best Troll. Has pulled off such feats of trolling as tricking a bunch of Word Bearers into landing on thin ice and drowning themselves, "accidentally" locking an Inquisitorial delegation in a grox pen, and fucking with Magnus himself during the Second Battle of Prospero. The Wolf Lords hate him because he's an irreverent dick, but Lukas couldn't give less of a shit about what they think of him. Is one of the few Space Marines known to have gotten laid. Has a stasis bomb wired into his chest where his second heart used to be (it got stolen by a Dark Eldar) so that whoever kills him will be frozen in time with his laughing face in front of them, forever.
*[[Ragnar Blackmane]]: Youngest Wolf Lord in the chapter's history. Has a long-running rivalry with Madox of the Thousand Sons and once hit Magnus right in the eye with the Spear of Russ. During the Psychic Awakening, he got into a fight with [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] that ended with Ragnar half-dead and Ghaz decapitated, but they both survived because [[Plot Armor|plot armor]]. Ragnar got Primaris'd up and is after Ghaz for a rematch.
*[[Ulrik the Slayer]]: High Priest and oldest Space Wolf in the chapter, not counting Dreadnoughts. Still talks to Logan Grimnar like he's a snotty kid and once killed three Khorne Berzerkers so hard that [[Angron]] himself saluted his sheer RAEG. Wears Leman Russ' helmet into battle.
*[[Arjac Rockfist]]: Wolf Guard who has a thunder hammer that teleports back into his hand whenever he throws it, making him the grimdark Thor to Lukas' Loki and Logan's Odin.
*[[Bran Redmaw]]: Wolf Lord/Wulfen who can somehow control his transformation to some degree. Tends to go off by himself in battle so he doesn't wolf out and accidentally kill his own dudes.
*[[Canis Wolfborn]]: He is a Wolf Guard whose first name means Dog and rides a giant wolf and leads a pack of [[Fenrisian Wolves]] that he commands by barking at them and was raised by wolves and probably has a wolf plushie that he cuddles at night. Basically Canis is what happens when the ''Wolf'' part of Space Wolves is taken to its logical extreme. Also at one point he had a BS of 2, [[FAIL|meaning that the average Ork could outshoot him]].
*Murderfang: Wulfen Dreadnought who has to be kept in stasis between battles because he's batshit crazy and has lost the ability to tell friend from foe.
*[[Svane Vulfbad]]: Former Wolf Lord who decided that the Imperium sucked and led his entire Great Company into Khorne worship. May or may not be dead; he got into a fight with Harald Deathwolf and right when Harald was about to kill him, a thunderbolt hit them and Svane disappeared, leaving behind a fragment of his frost axe lodged in the jaw of Harald's Thunderwolf. Only appeared in a single issue of White Dwarf and has never been mentioned again ever, which is kind of a shame.

==Daily rituals of a Space Wolf==

08:00 - Early Risers - Most of the Wolf Scouts and Reivers, having avoided the last rounds the previous evening, wake from their quarters. They give each other quiet nods of approval, before heading for the festhall for an early breakfast. 
08:30 - Morning Firing Drills -- The Wolf Scouts and Reivers take advantage of the otherwise unoccupied firing range to get their drills in. The Lone Wolves are appreciative of the Primaris Vanguard stealth training, while Primaris marvel at Lone Wolves sniper marksmanship. 
9:00 - Wilderness Training - Wolf Scout squads leave for their regular wilderness patrols, while Reivers try to stalk them. Most of the day will be filled with one trying to track down the other, or stalking a particularly worthwhile prey. 
13:00 - Wake Up with Hangover - The majority of Space Wolves battle-brothers awaken by this point. 
13:10 - Morning Piss - The Space Wolf empties the alcohol that has accumulated in his bladder(s) in the Sacred Alcohol Excretion Grounds. (Doing so anywhere else is hazardous as space wolf urine is capable of corroding ceramite) 
13:11 - Morning Fart - The Space Wolf empties his intestines. Pissing without farting is like going to a holy site without praying to the Emperor, which is heresy. 
13:20 - Morning Piss Ends - The Space Wolves have finally finished urinating. The surrounding landscape is scorched with a aura of menace resembling nurgle’s rot. 
13:30 - Ritual of the Hair of the Dog - The Space Wolf now cracks open his first cold one of the day. The first of many. Cheerios may be consumed as well. 
13:45 - Firing Drills - The Space Wolf consumes another liter of alcohol before going out back and shooting empty beer bottles with his bolter. This takes place far away from the Alcohol Excretion Grounds, after that one time Brother Brynjolf accidentally lit his own piss on fire. an entire company had to spend 6 months in the sickbay until their hair grew back and they were thus fit to be seen in public again. 
14:00 - Freeze your Balls - The Space Wolf sheds his armor and most of his clothing to wander around Asaheim for an hour. 
15:00 - Feeding of the Land Raiders - Space Wolf observes a feast with his brothers in honour of the chapter's revered battle machines. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow not grasping that the Long Fangs and Grey Hunters beelined for the chow hall as soon as the claws were out of sight. 
15:30 - Boozing of the Land Raiders - No feast is complete without metric fucktons of liquor. Fenrisian Ale, beer, and if available bylestim blend are poured and scrubbed all over the most honoured of the chapter's war machines. Many still have bullet holes, sometimes allowing beer to get into the exhaust ports and make for kickass explosions later. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow. 
16:00 - Wolf your Wolf - Grey Hunters and older Space Wolves take this time to play with their favourite 4-legged companions. Any Blood Claw who's showed up by now is made a Grey Hunter. 
16:30 - Save the Blood Claws - Blood Claws are brought in from the cold. Most are frozen blue or black - and hungry for more. 
17:00 - Evening feast - Eat. Drink. Start brawls. The usual non-warzone Space Wolf thing. 
18:00 - Try to wake up [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|Bjorn]]. 
18:10 - Give up, try to find something fun on the Vox Saga. 
19:00 - Night shitter break. 
20:00 - Night firing drills - Much to the Iron Priest's dismay, the Space Wolves practice writing their names in the snow with bolters. In runes. In the dark. 
21:00 - Ritual Intake of Narcotics and Purging of Testicles - bitches and blow. 
05:00 - Daily Rest - The Space Wolf passes out. 

==A Quick Word Out of Character==
The true reason for all this, is that, we at /tg/, in our pathetic, low-reaching mastery of comedy, have seen how idiotic it is that every goddamn Space Wolf codex unnecessarily uses the word "wolf" as a prefix or a suffix every 3rd sentence (similar to the [[Robin Cruddace|Tyranid codex]] shoe-horning the prefix ''bio-'' into every 3rd sentence). Since /tg/ is an easily angered monster, not unlike an [[Angry Marine]], we furiously attempt to link Space Wolves to furries (it's really fucking annoying), as we are as fucked up as [[Chaos Pretty Marines]].

It has been established in the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' series that the VI Legion doesn't employ the word "wolf" as much as they appear to do. Wolves are readily apparent in their motifs, such as Leman Russ's titles as "Wolf-King" and "Great Wolf," as well as in the formal name of the Wolf Guard, but it's not as overblown as it's made out to be. Apparently, whoever did the Fenrisian-to-Gothic translation made a few errors. First off, they don't call themselves "the Space Wolves." When speaking formally, they refer to themselves as the ''Vlka Fenryka'', which we can look at a few ways. "Fenris" is easy, a reference to Fenrir from Norse mythology. "Vlka" has a couple options; if you walk it backwards through the Germanic ''Volk'' you get "Folk of Fenris". This supports a common theory on 1d4chan where a bunch of colonists landed on a planet, bred giant dogs from their great, great, grand-children (more on that in a minute) then thought, "You know what's better than planet Unicorn? Planet fucking Fenris". So the the ''Vlka Fenryka'' are literally the folk of Fenris. Alternately ''Vlka'' can be translated from Slavic to get the "Wolves of Fenris" again.

No matter what you conclude on, you get Dan Abnett using linguistics to reinforce his theme that the Space Wolves are misunderstood by the rest of the Imperium - calling the Space Wolves because of a mistranslated word. One could even argue they are actually called "Space People", would make sense since Ragnar referred to them as "Star warriors" in the William King novels and their Fenrisian ''Kaerl'' auxiliaries call them "sky warriors," but the lore from these novels has been left by the wayside so take that as you will. When speaking informally, they refer to themselves as "the Rout", solidifying their purpose as the Emperor's executioners (self-proclaimed)/snowflakes. Additionally, the post of "Wolf-Lord" is also a mistranslation, as they refer to their Company commanders as ''Jarl''. Finally, they don't call their fortress-monastery the Fang, but rather the ''Aett'', which can be literally translated as "clan home." There's also this in-universe [[meme]] "there are no wolves on Fenris." At all. This was started by one of the primarchs remarking that they should be called xenos, because they're natives of an alien planet, and it quickly morphed into a joke. As it turns out, this is literally true.

With regards to the [[Fenrisian Wolf|Fenrisian wolves]], the origin a little more freaky than expected: they're not wolves, but descendants of human-wolf mutants. Back when Fenris was first settled, the colonists had the ''Canis helix'' added to help them adapt to the harsh environment by adding wolf genes to their genetic-makeup. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well--the ''canix helix'' caused a number of settlers to degrade into wolfmen and wolfwomen. Following this, they bred and produced a new strain of wolf into the environment. So there are no ''wolves'' on Fenris. They're just the descendants of human mutants. Which might explain why, post-Heresy, only Fenrisians can become Space Wolves (assuming that's why the successor chapters couldn't handle Russ' gene seed).

So yes, naming the planet after the wolves means we really do just end up all the way back at Wolves of Wolves after all. Whelp.

Of course, that means that the Space Wolves are wearing pelts made of [[Fabius Bile|human skin]], but lets not dwell on that - after all it's fairly common in the Imperium to wear human skulls... WolfyWolfWolf {{BLAM|''' *BLAM*}}.

===The Wulfen issue aka "Fucking Furries"===
The blatant author favouritism annoys fans of the other chapters with "Dark Secrets". GW's treatment of the Wulfen makes it effortless for fans of other chapters to hurl [[Mary Sue]] accusations at them, unlike the [[Blood Angels]] and [[Dark Angels]]. The Wulfen are now out in the open; once they were exposed they get little (arguably no) punishment while the Inquisition and Grey Knights just "kept one eye open". The aforementioned chapters on the other hand have to keep their secrets from being found out by the Inquisition and the Imperium at large.

Despite the fact that Fallen Angels were paraded around on Terra, many would assume they were [[Ravenwing]] without their fancy bikes. While any claims of Dark Angels being the real traitors from the Fallen would have [[Guilliman]] retort back that they are full of shit (with more and longer words), as he knew exactly what The First was up to during the Horus Heresy with the exception the events that caused the destruction of Caliban. Of course, the Unforgiven would also be pissed if they found out if one of the predecessors of the Grey Knights killed a Dark Angel and were part of the reason their homeworld was destroyed and would demand censure.

The Blood Angels on the other hand have an infection similar to the Wulfen without mutating into some kind of half-human man-beast. The [[Red Thirst]]. The Blood Angels and their successors organize the afflicted into [[Death Company|Death Companies]] who are lead by their Chaplains into killing Xenos and foul traitors. If they somehow survive the mutated Blood Angels are {{BLAM}}ed or locked away until the next battle.

Both chapters send their traitors/mutants into battle to be used as cannon fodder. A much more grimdark action that would be in character for Space Marines. [[White Scars|They wouldn't be the only]] [[Raven Guard|chapters to have done this either.]] Instead of treating mutants as fellow warriors. Inserting noble bright into the setting where it doesn't belong. The same reasons that so many players also hated the Tau until GW retconned them into being more grimdark.

Making this all the more strange. In all likelihood [[Guilliman]] himself wouldn't see a problem with using mutated Space Marines as cannon fodder. Because he did so himself when he created the [[Moritat]]s after combat exercises with the [[Raven Guard]]. So chances are he would side with the other two former [[Imperium Secundus]] Legions. [[Ogryn|Due to not only favoritism but he and the rest of the Imperium at large would find it strange that the Space Wolves do not]].

If [[Guilliman]] ever found out about all three. He would most likely order [[The Fallen]] and [[Wulfen]] organized into [[Death Company|Death Companies]] style formations as well. Something that the Dark Angels are more or less doing already. This would just make it official. The Space Wolves would look like the bad guys if they objected, putting them in a tough spot.

=== Why people hate the Space Wolves, tldr version ===
One user on reddit summed it up with this. (fixed for grammar somewhat)

"The Space Wolves remind me of a 13 year old’s first D&D character: very cool, special, powerful barbarian hero who is morally flawless but doesn't listen to authority and always does the right thing but don't you dare cross them. They get away with shit because they're so special and the rules don't apply to them, guys. They got to wage war on the Inquisition with a slap on the wrist, while the Celestial Lions were slaughtered for merely questioning the morals of the Inquisition. [[Mary Sue|They get a free pass on mutation in a setting where that gets chapters purged.]] They drink and party while other chapters lose hundreds of brothers on meaningless, forgotten battlegrounds. They aren't even Vikings! The White Scars are Space Mongols. The Black Templars are Space Teutons. [[Ultramarines|There are Space Rome]]. [[Thousand Sons|Space Egypt]]. [[Raven Guard|Space Iroquois]]. But Vikings? No. They don't raid. They don't pillage. They don't terrorize. They don't explore, chart, map, and push boundaries. [[Mary Sue|They just fuck around, being special, unique perfect little dudes who don't suffer in GrimDarkness.]]

They exist in the wrong game."

So basically Space Wolves now have the same problem as the Tau did a few editions back.

How true this rings, however, is [[Skub|a matter of contention]] considering some of the actions that [[Iron_Hands|other]] [[Dark Angels|First]] [[Blood Angels|Founding]] Chapters get away scot-free with, as well as the sheer importance that a First Founding Chapter has to both other Chapters (their successors would likely fucking riot if the big =][= went after them) and the Imperium's populace as a whole.

=== A Primaris Marine calls the Wolves out on their bullshit ===

In ''Dawn of Fire: The Wolftime'', Logan is a dick to Guilliman and refuses to take reinforcements even after the furries got their assed kicked by [[Orks]]. One of the Unnumbered Sons promptly tells the Wolves that they're full of shit right to their hobo-stubbled faces, in a pretty [[awesome]] "You suck!" speech.

"You’re all vain, empty beasts. You talk of honour, of accounting the dead, of glory in battle but you are just inbred hounds rolling in the filth. You would all be ork-dead by now, if not for me and my brothers, but that’s not enough. [[Grimdark|I could bleed my last drop of blood for you, watch it freeze on your Emperor-abandoned drop-hole of a world and still you would not call me a Wolf of Fenris.]] [...]

You are nothing to the Rout of old," snarled Gaius. "A spent force, throwing yourselves at your enemies, shouting empty cries, bleating like sheep about Russ returning at the end. He would be shamed to see what had become of his sons! [..]

There is nothing special about you or your world. [[Belisarius Cawl|Cawl]] took apart what makes a Space Marine and put the pieces together again in something better. Primaris. Me. The Firstwolves. He found no Fenrisian magic dust, no sprinkles of wyrd. The Test of Morkai is just a barbaric ritual intended to massively elevate physiological responses to trigger gene-seed adoption. There’s nothing spiritual about it."

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lightning2.jpg|'Tis only a matter of time until Steve Blum voices 'em. Apparently, this set somehow makes things you hit weigh less.
File:Warlord of Fenris by NachoMon.jpg|Totally not overcompensating...Yeah he's just <s>hiding a massive hardon with</s> supporting the skull with a massive hard-on.
File:Lemanruss39.jpg|Leman Russ. About to mercilessly fuck over the Thousand Sons.
File:Prospero.jpg|Is he carrying a wooden shield? Really? Against a bolt shell? It better be a Combat Shield.
[[File:http://l.wigflip.com/DucDpDtG/roflbot.jpg]]|Pretty cool guys to hang with.
File:SneakySpaceWolves.png|Good thing they brought the sneaking flag.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Bjorn the Fell Handed]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Wolves (9E)|Space Wolves Tactics]]
*[[Warriors of Chaos]] - With whom they get into bar brawls and drinking contests to see who is moar [[Viking]]
*[[Skyrar's Dark Wolves]] - Before calling your [[Dark Angels]] brothers [[Troll|traitors]] read [[Svane_Vulfbad|this]] first to understand [[Fallen_Angels|their]][[ rage]].
*[[Legion Consul]] - The old "Commissars" of the VI legion.
*[https://youtu.be/Bh_5ofa__pY/ Space Wolves theme song]

{{Marines-Official}}
{{Space Wolves}}
[[Category:Furry]]

Space Wolves

2022-05-04T17:19:24Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Space Wolves / Vlka Fenryka / Space Corgis
|Heraldry = [[File:Spacewolveslogo.png|200px]]
|Battle Cry = "For Russ and the All father!"
|Number = VI
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = The Rout
|Successor Chapters = [[Blood Wolves]] [[Mooneaters]] [[Skyrar%27s Dark Wolves]] [[Wolf Brothers]] [[Wolfspear]]
|Chapter Master = [[Logan Grimnar]]
|Primarch = [[Leman Russ]]
|Homeworld = [[Fenris]]
|Specialty = CQC, shock assaults, infantry, encirclement tactics, being Viking cosplayers.
|Strength = 2-3000
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Generally Bluish-Grey and Yellow. Red, Black and White used for specific Companies.
}}
{{topquote|Let a man never stir on his road a step without his weapons of war; for unsure is the knowing when need shall arise of a [[Wolfspear|spear]] on the way without.|Havamal}}
{{topquote|War is honest. There's no lying to it. You don't have to say sorry here. Don't have to hide. You cannot. If you die? So what? You die among friends. Among worthy foes. You die looking the Great Leveller in the eye. If you live? Well, lad that's living, isn't it?|Joe Abercrombie, Heroes}}
{{topquote|They can call themselves whatever they like. It's irrelevant. They are in the annals of Terra as the Sixth Legion, the Space Wolves. Did Guilliman rename his Legion the Macragge Marines? Would you have the sons of Sanguinius known as the Baal Angels? The Sixth Legion do not belong to Fenris, they belong to the Emperor| Custodian Vychellan taking issue with the Space Wolves / Wolves of Fenris / Vlyka Fenryka debate}}

The '''Space Wolves''' (also known as ''The Rout'' or the '''Vlka Fenryka''') is a [[Space Marine]] [[Chapter]] hailing from the icy [[Death World]] of '''Fenris''', who appreciate the value of a strong and consistent brand identity. They are known as noble, if savage warriors, who have little love for Imperial bureaucracy but will fight fiercely for its common citizens. The Marines of the Chapter are famed as experts in the art of close combat, much like the [[Blood Angels]], but unlike the sons of [[Sanguinius]] their fighting style is less that of a maddened, blood-crazed berserker, but that of a cunning pack of hunters running down their prey.

Thematically, the Chapter draws a lot of real-world inspiration from Nordic culture, ''especially'' the Viking sagas, particularly in terms of aesthetics as well as ferocity. That said, there's a bit of a disconnect between how the Wolves are portrayed in fiction compared to how they're presented as a tabletop army.

On one hand, we have a nuanced portrayal of a proud warrior tradition that just so happens to have the Wolf as its primary totem animal, among many other Fenrisian nature spirits they worship. On the other, we have an over-the-top army of wolf fetishists that precedes most of their equipment and vehicle names with "wolf", ride ''actual'' giant wolves into battle, and are like a drunken frat party outside of it.

==Origins==

Back during the [[Great Crusade]], the Space Wolves began as the VIth Legion, and was developed in conjunction the [[Salamanders]] and the [[Alpha Legion]]. Developed in isolation from the other two Legions, they proved to be a vicious and aggressive fighting force, but also almost impossible to keep in line by its officers. What's worse, they were indiscriminate in their slaughter, and even helpless civilians were not free from their wrath. Due to this brutal reputation, they soon became known as "the Rout", the Emprah's agents of fear and retribution.

===The Wolf King cometh===

The ice world of Fenris was found early on by the Crusade fleets, and the Emperor soon heard of the exploits of its so-called Wolf King, a man named Leman Russ. Raised in the wilderness by wolves, then adopted and educated by the jarl Thengir, Leman was a massive ox of a man of extraordinary strength, sharp cunning, and personal magnetism, and the Emprah was sure he was one of His lost sons. He descended onto the world in disguise, ingratiated Himself to the locals to gain access to the High King's feasting hall, and there he sought to test the Wolf King's mettle.

Depending on the version or edition, this led to the following: an eating contest, a drinking contest, and a brawl. Leman won the first two rounds, but was finally goaded into a fight when the Emprah insulted him, [[Imperial Truth|saying that he was nothing more than a glutton and a drunkard]]. What followed next was either a massive fight that wrecked the drinking hall, Beowulf versus Grendel style, or the Emprah laying out Leman with a single fabulously golden [[Power Fist]] to the forehead.

Regardless, when Leman finally came to, the Emprah revealed himself, and told him about his true origin as one of his [[Primarch]]s, as well as his role in the greater Crusade. What happened next, as they say, is history.

===From the Rout to the Wolves===

Leman Russ' rediscovery, and the integration of his own Fenrisian retinue, slowly remade the VIth Legion. Their ferocity was soon tempered with discipline and obedience, as the Fenrisian culture slowly spread through its ranks, and while they would still crush any traitor to the Emperor, they would at least have the good sense this time ''not'' to slaughter the innocents that just so happened to be in the area. It didn't happen overnight, but soon enough the Legion became less about punishing oathbreakers, and more on watching out for the little guy.

Oh, and if an offhand comment by Russ is to be believed, they had a hand in destroying the two so-called Lost Legions. Emperor's Executioners indeed.

Under Russ' leadership, the Wolves proved their worth to the fledgling Imperium by winning many victories and conquering many worlds, which brought them glory and even more notoriety. On one of their campaigns, they managed to recover a near-complete STC printout of a battle tank, and as a bit of thanks, the Martian adepts named it after the Legion's Primarch.

It was also during this period that the Wolves' rivalry with the [[Dark Angels]] began, a feud that ''still'' continues into the present day of the Imperium. While the specifics have been lost to myth and legend, the Dulan Campaign ended with Leman Russ and his brother, the mercurial [[Lion El'Jonson]], in a one-on-one duel. This culminated with Leman knocked out flat on his back, the Dark Angels leaving in a huff, and the Space Wolves similarly insulted by the Lion not being a good sport about everything.

===The Heresy Dawns===

The Space Wolves are infamous for their role in the burning of Prospero, the homeworld of the [[Thousand Sons]] Legion. Though they were initially ordered to bring in [[Magnus the Red]] alone for both going against the edicts of the Council of Nikea, as well as accidentally breaching the defenses of the Imperial Webway, their orders were changed by [[Horus]] (who they were unaware was already full-hog traitor at this point) to instead [[Burning_of_Prospero|burn the planet and its inhabitants to the ground]].

This blind adherence to orders, not helped by the fact that Leman ''wanted'' to confront his nerd of a brother for his shenanigans, was the final straw. Prospero was literally and figuratively put to the torch in the ensuing battles between the Legions, as well as Leman's [[Adeptus Custodes]] and [[Sisters of Silence]] babysitters. When Magnus finally joined the fray to save his sons, Leman met him in one-on-one combat, and while the Wolf King was badly mauled over the course of the duel, Magnus was broken and forced to flee with the surviving Thousand Sons.

In the end, Magnus was forced to throw his lot with [[Chaos]] in order to survive, and his Legion followed suit, joining Horus in his rebellion.

The battered Wolves were not allowed any respite however, as they were soon hounded by a massive [[Alpha Legion]] fleet, and forced to flee into the Alaxxes Nebula. [[Battle_of_the_Alaxxes_Nebula|While a breakout was eventually executed, the Space Wolves fleet eventually found itself cornered]]. As they prepared for a last stand, unexpected aid arrived in the form of a [[Dark Angels]] fleet. With the Alpha Legion driven off, Russ was left to ponder what to do next.

Eventually Russ and a small contingent of his men managed to find their way to Terra, while the rest of the Space Wolves fleet continued to harry the Traitors. He sponsored an expedition to Molech to see if Horus could be taken down, but this just resulted in getting dozens of [[Knights-Errant]] killed. Afterward, in a council with his brothers [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Sanguinius]], and [[Jaghatai Khan]], Leman decided to forego Dorn's plan in delaying the traitors at the '''Battle of Beta Garmon''', and instead returned to Fenris to try and divine a way to take away all those juicy [[Chaos]] boons that were supercharging [[Horus]].

===The Wolf King and the Luna Wolf===

In what amounted to be a spirit quest (where, among other things, Russ met a possible version of himself who stayed on Terra and never grew up on Fenris), Leman decided that he would confront his brother Horus one last time. For this task, he would need to use the Spear of Russ (yes THAT Spear of Russ, that [[Ragnar Blackmane]] would use many millennium later), a weapon that he ''absolutely hated'' (because it gave him the literal heebie-jeebies) and actually tried to get rid of multiple times, but which somehow always managed to return to him.

It turns out that the Spear was a massively powerful artifact invested with a fragment of the Emprah's power, with the ability to reveal the "truth" of whatever it pierces. Although the chance was slim, Leman hoped to use it to convince his brother to return to the Imperial fold and let their father heal him; if the Warmaster remained undaunted, Leman would then use the spear to slay the traitor for good.

Leman knew that it was a suicide mission, and indeed made it clear to his assembled [[Wolf Lord]]s that their participation was ''voluntary'', but none of them refused to join their Primarch. If their death was to come, then it would be together with their Battle-brothers.

===The Battle of Trisolian 4A===

The [[Forge World]] of Trisolian -- where a young and cheeky tech adept named [[Belisarius Cawl]] and his buddy were taking what amounted to their internships -- had just surrendered to Traitor forces, and was in the process of hosting the [[Vengeful Spirit]] and its escorts. Then all of the sudden, this absolutely ''massive'' fleet (made up of around fifty ships of the line from the various Traitor Legions) found itself under attack.

Taking advantage of the gravitational interactions of the Trisolian system's three stars, the Space Wolves fleet had snuck into the sector, and threw its vastly-outnumbered ships at the gathered armada. As the ships of the Rout tried to make as much as a ruckus as it could, Leman confronted the [[Vengeful Spirit]] with his own flagship, the '''Hrafnkel''', and as the latter's barrage collapsed the former's void shields, Leman personally led a massive assault unto his brother's flagship using everything he still had -- boarding torpedoes, assault boats, teleport deep-strikes, and even gunships.

As thousands of Space Wolves ran wild inside the Vengeful Spirit, Leman personally tracked down Horus in the heart of the corrupted ship, while down below Cawl managed to make sure his master met an "accident", and took control of the Mechanicus forces to aid the Space Wolves. The Wolf King eventually found the Warmaster, and was disgusted at what he beheld -- Horus was wallowing in Chaos corruption, and was half-mad as a result. When words didn't work, Russ attacked his brother, knowing too well he was outmatched.

Then the Spear managed to pierce Horus' side. The wound was not fatal, though it could have been, had Leman not hesitated, but it was enough -- the madness cleared from Horus' eyes, and for the first time in what seemed to be forever Horus' mind was clear. Despite this however, the Warmaster would not be swayed; he was in too deep to stop now, and of his own free will this time, still decided to continue the fight against the Emperor.

Horus continued his assault on Leman, and had mauled him gravely. Before he could finish him off with ''Worldbreaker'' however, one Space Wolf, followed by dozens, which were then followed by scores of marines, interposed themselves between the Warmaster and their Primarch. Horus cut them all down all the same, but their sacrifice bought Bjorn the time he needed to drag the injured Leman Russ to a [[Stormbird]], and then back to the ''Hrafnkel''.

With their Primarch secured, the Space Wolves fleet made a fighting retreat, but all seemed lost as the Vengeful Spirit and its cohort seemed to be catching up... Then one of its magazines exploded, crippling it enough to allow the Wolves to escape.

The Wolves would fight another day, but the price was too high. Of the Wolves that went into Trisolian, only one-fifth managed to make the escape. The VIth Legion effectively stopped being an effective fighting force from that point on, and had to be eventually rescued by the Primarch [[Corvus Corax]] and his [[Raven Guard]] after the fleet was cornered by [[Abaddon]]'s forces at Yarant.

The Wolves would sit out the remainder of the Heresy, and would be still trying to recover as the [[Siege of Terra]] came and went, and Horus had his fated showdown with the Emprah.

===The Fate of Leman Russ===

Of Leman Himself, you ask? Well he stuck around during the [[Great Scouring]], and while he groused about [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s reforms, he eventually caved in, and begrudgingly agreed to split apart the remains of his ravaged Legion into Chapters.

In theory anyway.

In ''practice'' however, due to the massively reduced numbers of the Rout, only one Chapter was ever created -- the ill-fated [[Wolf Brothers]]. The rest of the survivors remained Space Wolves, opting instead to stick with their semi-independent Great Companies, as one small snub to the stuck-up Roboute.

Barely a century after the end of the Scouring, Leman Russ just ups and vanishes from Imperial History. Legends state that after a great feast, He said unto his warriors:

<blockquote>"Listen closely Brothers, for my time is short. . There shall come a time far from now when our Chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my children, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the Wolftime."</blockquote>

And so, Leman departed, with his closest retinue... No, not you Bjorn... Some say he searches for a means to revive His God-Emperor.. But despite the efforts of the Great Hunt, Leman remains beyond the reach of Man... Who knows what great feats of Heroism he undertakes...oh right [[Kaldor Draigo]],

Oddly enough, it seems that [[Magnus the Red]], of all people, has an idea about his brother's fate, but he's not telling anyone, and is far too fond of slaying Leman's get to even care.

==Recent History==

===The Siege of Fenris===

Much like the rest of the Imperium, times had been rough for the Space Wolves by the [[Time of Ending|time the end of M41 rolled in]]. Magnus in particular still had a massive hateboner against the Sons of Russ, and finally put his long-prepared revenge plan into motion. The rebuilt [[Thousand Sons]], plus their [[Chaos]] Daemon and Traitor Legion allies, put the worlds of the Fenris system to the sword. Not even the Space Wolves homeworld was spared, and it took the combined effort of the Chapter and a [[Grey Knights]] Brotherhood led by [[Arvann Stern|Brother-Captain Stern]] to slow down the massive daemonic incursion that followed.

Then the [[Dark Angels]] arrived above Fenris with [[The Rock]], and leading an Imperial task force of ''fourteen'' assorted Space Marine Chapters, titans, knight houses, and Imperial Guard, intent on cleansing the system of Chaos filth. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that the Sons of the Lion were duped by [[The Changeling]], who then proceeded to mass-summon Daemons into the Rock itself.

Things took a turn for the worse when Magnus himself arrived on Fenris, its spiritual nexus already under assault by Thousand Sons covens trying to corrupt them, and what was a hard but possibly winnable fight against a massive invading force turned into a desperate battle for survival. It says a lot that the Iron Priests had to awaken ''all'' of the Dreadnoughts of the Fang to fight alongside Bjorn, plus whatever Wulfren that could be found, and even then it wasn't enough. Magnus was far too powerful, and the Daemon Primarch swatted aside Dreadknights with ease, and even pulled down whole Imperial Battlecruisers from the upper atmosphere, just so he could detonate their cores and irradiate the skies above Asaheim.

Magnus would not have his victory however, as through Egil Ironwolf's sacrifice Logan Grimnar was able to wound the Daemon Primarch with strikes from ''both'' the Axe of Morkai and the recovered '''Spear of Russ'''. With his concentration broken, Magnus was then banished from the Fenris by [[Grey Knight]] [[Purifier]]s. With Magnus gone, the Thousand Sons and their daemonic allies quickly followed, but the damage had been done. The worlds of the Fenris system were almost all ravaged beyond recovery, and what's worse, due to their populations bearing witness to a massive daemonic incursion, their people had to be liquidated by the Inquisition. Unlike the aftermath of the First War of Armageddon, the Great Wolf didn't make a fuss, as the Chapter was too mauled and weary to oppose them.

===The Fall of Cadia and the Era Indomitus===

Despite the drubbing they experienced at the hands of Magnus, the Space Wolves were still able to send two Great Companies to Cadia's defense, and while that world eventually fell, they made a good accounting for themselves, with Sven Bloodhowl contributing to the demise of the Blackstone Fortress, while Orven Highfell fell in the defense of Kasr Kraf. As the [[Great Rift]] formed and the Imperium was torn in half, and the age seemed to become all the more desperate, the Wolves fought on, but when news of [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s revival reached the Fang, a small contingent of Wolves braved the long warp journey to [[Ultramar]] to confirm it.

During the opening years of the Indomnitus Crusade, Guilliman sent reinforcements for the Sons of Russ, in the form of several companies of [[Primaris Space Marines]]. Despite being comparatively weakened for the time and facing a rising Ork threat in their space, Logan Grimnar initially refused to take any assistance from Guilliman, even from Primaris Marines bearing Russ's geneseed, through a combination of pride, stubbornness, and refusal to bend to the so called "Legionbreaker". Guilliman, to his credit, was completely sincere about giving the Wolves Primaris tech without any ulterior motive save for the Wolves to keep doing what they were doing. The few Primaris permitted to come to Fenris were immediately treated as outsiders, because they weren't born on Fenris and hadn't undertaken the same trials as the others. After one Primaris marine managed to travel across continents back to the Fang - and after killing most of the wildlife he encountered along the way - the Wolves became more open to the Mars-born and gradually accepted them. This brought the Space Wolves Great Companies back to fighting shape, and while the Firstborn initially looked upon these newcomers with suspicion, once they had braved the initiation rituals of Fenris (or the adapted version on a chunk of spacehulk for the Mars-born Wolves), those who survived were fully welcomed into their brotherhoods.

Another thing that the Lord Commander brought was even more welcome -- thanks to Belisarius Cawl's efforts, the Space Wolves can now found their own Successors again, and immediately formed ''strong'' ties with the first of these Primaris Wolves -- the '''[[Wolfspear]]'''. While it hasn't ''quite'' gotten rid of the Curse of the [[Wulfen]] (you don't get it unless you really lose it, and its still better than falling to Chaos), but it was still better than the alternative.

==Organization==
[[File:Tyranid Attack.jpeg|350px|right|thumb|The wolves taking on a [[Tyranid]] horde.]]

The Space Wolves ignore the organizational restrictions recommended by the [[Codex Astartes]], and instead forms itself around the '''Great Companies'''. These are twelve semi-independent battle groups that are the rough equivalent of a Codex Battle Company, but are functionally much larger in size, with many featuring upwards of more than a hundred fifty battle-ready warriors on top of their support serfs and equipment.

Each Great Company gains much of its character thanks to their Wolf Lords preferences, as well as its tactical preferences -- see Egil Ironwolf's predilection for tanks and heavy artillery, or Ragnar Blackmane's hardon for massed planetary assaults. A long-serving Wolf Lord will definitely leave his mark on a Great Company, and it might take a while for it to reinvent itself under his Successor when he inevitably falls in battle.

Although no Great Company ranks above their fellows, all eventually must defer to the current Great Wolf's Great Company, as it holds both the his household as well as the Chapter's greatest warriors. When the Great Wolf Speaks, everyone must listen.

===Hierarchy===

The "classic" organization of the Space Wolves is partially based on experience, with the hot-blooded novices starting out with the Blood Claws, before they battle-hardened enough to become Grey Hunters, etc. There's also a bit of meritocracy here, as a Blood Claw who did a particularly heroic deed might "jump ranks" straight into the Wolf Guard/Thanedom (*coughs* '''Ragnar''' *coughs*). It's somewhat implied in some of the text regarding long fangs such as ''"Their former Packs, whittled down to but a handful of Veterans"'' that Blood claw squads are not reinforced and as the members gain experience they are promoted to Grey Hunter then to Long Fang as a unit.

The arrival of the Primaris has put a slight wrinkle into this however, but the Wolves are, if anything, adaptable.

*'''Great Wolf''': Also known as the ''High King'', he is the equivalent to the [[Chapter Master]] of other Chapters. The Great Wolf is also effectively the First Captain of the Space Wolves, commanding an elite Great Company that includes the members of the three Priesthoods and the Chapter's Dreadnoughts. [[Logan Grimnar]] serves as the current Great Wolf.
*'''[[Wolf Lord]]''': Also known as ''Jarls'', they are the equivalent of the [[Brother-Captain]]s of a company in Codex Chapters. Wolf Lords lead their Great Companies; likewise Great Companies owe a lot of their personality and tactical preferences to their Wolf Lords.
* '''[[Wolf Guard]]''': A cross between [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]] and [[Honour Guard]], Wolf Guards (''Thanes'') serve as the body guard of the Wolf Lord and leading packs in battle, serving as the Space Wolves version of a [[Brother-Sergeant]]. They also get [[Terminator]] armour. In ''Second Edition'' they also got to take any weapons they liked and could be built from stock parts with an Assault Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher. This led to many games being won as Assault Force Dickhead rampaged across the table murdering everything.
* '''[[Wolf Priest]]''': Combining the role of [[Apothecary]] and [[Chaplain]], the Wolf Priests do the standard roles of preaching and medical duties, but are also charged with recruiting Aspirants for their companies. Plus they have a secret role on the battlefield, trying to prevent their battle-brothers from turning into Wulfen.
* '''[[Iron Priest]]''': The Iron Priests serve the role of [[Techmarine]]s, overseeing the motorpool and equipment of the companies they belong to.
* '''[[Rune Priest]]''': Taking the role of [[Librarian]]s in Codex Chapters, Rune Priests are the [[psyker]]s of the Space Wolves. However, instead of seeing their powers as coming from the [[Warp]], they hold that their powers come from the world spirit of Fenris, and consult the runes in a means to divine the future. Trying to explain to the Rune Priests that they're drawing power from the Warp, and that they cannot "draw their powers from Fenris" while being half-Galaxy away from it will usually result in the non-Space Wolf getting a month's stay in the Apothecarion. The ultimate irony of this is that they are, in reality, Sorcerers, the very thing they denounced the Thousand Sons for being. Whether they are psykers or not. Besides, if Fenris has a world spirit, it is something akin to a Daemon World (or an eldar maiden world)...
* '''Wolf Scouts''': Each Great Company will have members who shun their pack brothers and are shunned in return, preferring the company of more somber individuals, Wolf Scouts serve to scout out enemy positions and terrain. As opposed to the regular codex, Wolf Scouts tend to be veterans of battle able to rein in their savage rage.
* '''Lone Wolf''': Space Wolves who are the last of their pack. The loss of their brethren drive them to seek a glorious death in combat at the hands of some form a fell enemy. Think of Dwarf Slayers only a few meters taller with power armour and weapons of doom and destruction. Often the only way out of the Lone Wolf lifestyle is managing to kill something that the individual shouldn't have survived killing and being elevated into the Wolf Guard. [[Wat|They sometimes take part in a small pack of Wolf Scouts, being lonely wolves in company of other lonely wolves]], [[DERP|which technically should defeat the purpose of the analogy]].
* '''[[Skyclaw]]s''': Skyclaws are the trouble makers among a Chapter of trouble makers, forced to wear Jump Packs. The Space Wolves view Jump Packs as an insult, reasoning that if the Emperor wanted them to fly, he would have given them wings.
* '''[[Thunderwolf Cavalry]]''': Space Wolves who function in a manner similar to a [[Bike Squad]], but instead of actual bikes, they use Thunderwolves, which can be the size of a small car, and biologically more akin to Terran rhinoceros than actual oversized wolves.
* '''[[Long Fang]]s''': Taking the role of [[Devastator Squad|Devastators]], Long Fangs are veterans who have grown long in the fang. No pun here - Space Wolves' teeth actually lengthen as they age, as an effect of a mutated Betcher's Gland.
* '''[[Grey Hunter]]s''': Having the role of [[Tactical Squad|Tactical Marines]], Grey Hunters are those Marines who have survived long enough as Blood Claws to quell the worst of their ferocity and blood lust (read: wear a helmet in battle). Their new found experience and control allows them to shoot and fight better than their younger brethren.
* '''[[Blood Claw]]s''': Neophyte Space Wolves who serve in the [[Assault Squad|Assault Marine]] roles of Codex Chapters. As mature as a buncha punks that just discovered a Metal band and think the life of a Marine is fucking Chaos’ shit up and killing stuff. Unsurprisingly, the survival rate among this guys is not that high. Something to point out, is that it [[Lukas the Trickster|is perfectly possible for a Blood Claw to stay on this rank for his entire life]] if you are not seen as someone to trust in a higher rank.

As of the new Codices, the Primaris Marines seem to have slotted seamlessly into this, though the Primaris neophytes don't start out as Blood Claws, and instead join the line as Intercessors, etc.

* '''Intercessors''': Space Wolves intercessors seem to have gained a rivalry with the Grey Hunters, as steadfast gunlines that can anchor a flank. This rivalry manifests in typical one-upsmanship via drinking and eating contests, and other feats of strength outside the battlefield, and kill counts during firefights.
* '''Inceptors''': The most impetuous of the Primaris, Inceptors are always aching for ways to prove themselves. Of those who arrived with the Indomitus Crusade, the Inceptors were the most eager to take the Trials of Morkai, and seemed to have fully bought into the boisterous Fenrisian customs.
* '''Aggressors''': The most bro of the Primaris Wolves, Aggressors are friendly and boisterous, to the point that they could be heard laughing heartily during combat. For all their loudness however they're not headstrong or impetuous -- far from it, as they make sure they're deployed to the places in the line where they can make the most impact.
* '''Reivers''': The opposite of the Aggressors, Reivers apparently make for poor drinking buddies, but more than make up for their effectiveness of their terror tactics. Its no surprise that they've become best buds with the Wolf Scouts, who they're often also partnered with in patrols.
** '''Hounds of Morkai:''' A unique cult of edgy reivers who envision themselves as standing by the gates of Morkai. These marines are specially trained to hunt down witches, focusing more on melee and adorned in runic totems that blunt the effect of psykers. They also have special vox-emitters made specifically to interfere with casting.
* '''Hellblasters''': Surprisingly fatalistic, Space Wolf Hellblasters believe that their sagas are tied with their plasma weaponry, and while they relish bringing ruin to the enemies of the All-Father, they also accept that, if they need to, they will go out in blazes of glory that will definitely put a fiery climax to their sagas.

=== Unique Assets ===

The Space Wolves have several bits of equipment that differentiate them from a "generic" Codex Chapter.

They have their own equivalent to power weapons, the so-called '''Frost''' weapons, the most famous is the '''Frost Axe'''. With their blades made from either diamonds or crystals native to Fenris, they shine like cold ice once their fields are active.

Speaking of native crystals, these are used for their '''Helfrost''' weaponry, which fire subzero blasts of cold that can freeze its target in place. These are either man-portable, or mounted on their many vehicles.

While the Chapter has its own complement of bike squads, they also have heavy cavalry in the form of the ferocious '''Thunderwolf Cavalry'''. These warriors form a close bond with these apex predators, who then allow themselves to be use as mounts.

Space Wolves heroes also are able to bring with them regular [[Fenrisian Wolf|wolves]] into battle, much like Leman Russ before them. These wolves are treated less like pets, and more like family and fellow warriors, and many Wolf Lords owe their lives to these faithful packs.

On the subject of Leman Russ; prior editions allowed the Space Wolves to use the heavy tank of the same name, their codex being the first sighting of the Leman Russ Exterminator but past 3ed edition this was quietly dropped.

Rather than the '''Stormraven'' and its variants, the Space Wolves rely on the '''Stormwolf''' to airlift battle-brothers to key locations, and the '''Stormclaw''' as a dedicated gunship. And yes, they're ''very'' wolfy in profile.

==Combat doctrine==
{{topquote|The best way to defeat a Space Wolf is to wolf his wolf. You must be careful, though, because if the Space Wolf wolfs your wolf first, then your wolf is wolfed.|Leman Russ himself ''On the Weaknesses of the Space Wolf Doctrine'' later Quoted by Wolf Rider Volk Wolfclaw, }}
{{topquote|A good way to get into a state of pure wolfness, would be that you shall wolf the wolf until the wolfing wolf wolfs. Then, when the wolf wolfs your wolfness, the wolves of the wild will wolf your wolf up. Wolf!|Attributed to Wolf Master Jonal Wolfhand, "The Call of the Nightblizzard''}}
{{topquote|Wolf wolf wolf wolf wolfity wolf. Wolf wolf, wolfo wolfy wolf wolf wolf. Wolf? Wolf!|Attributed to Wolf Lord Egil Ironwolf, ''On the Intricacies of Tactical Wolffare''}}

Jokes aside, Space Wolves doctrine normally builds their strategies around a "Pack" -- a group of unusually close battle-brothers that have very often been together since they were Blood Claws. While a Wolf Lord will generally set ''some'' broad strategies in a campaign, by and large he leaves the actual details and implementation to individual Pack Leaders. This... sort of works, as each pack's competitive nature eggs them on to one-up their buddies, but not so to the detriment of the campaign. This means that ''most'' of the time multiple packs will work together to accomplish a particular goal.

Space Wolves in general love a good scrap, and many will find that their "tactics" involve getting as close in as possible to their enemies and punching their lights out. Even the more sensible Long Fangs, who often roll their eyes at such youthful bravado, still indulge in the occasional brawl.

That said, all of this is still tempered by the Wolf Lord in charge of the Great Company. For example, Erik Morkai prefers stealth and very brutal ambushes, hence his preference for Wolf Scouts (and likely Reivers), while Engir Krakendoom likes going to war in all sorts of armored transports while escorted by Swiftclaw outriders.

== Criticism ==
As many on /tg/ will happily tell you, (and [[Magnus]] won’t stop [[RAGE|raging]] about) the Wolves are far from perfect. Where the [[Imperial Fists]] are inflexible and stubborn, the [[Dark Angels]] are unreliable and austere, and the [[Raven Guard]] are aloof and brooding, the Wolves are boisterous and arrogant. During the Heresy (and/or when Chris Wraight is writing them) they were incredibly brutal toward those they saw as oath-breakers, even if the oath-breaker in question was a fleeing, defenseless civilian.

The Ragnar Blackmane books further emphasize this and also portrayed the Chapter as willing to ignore the misdeeds of their heroes in spite of the importance they place on honor. This, combined with the Wolves hating the Thousand Sons for being psykers [[Rune Priest|while also using psykers]] led many to label the Wolves hypocrites, especially since the Space Wolves pick a fight with the Flesh Tearers for killing civilians in spite of their own troubled history in that regard.

Now, everyone including Wolves players admit that the Sons of Russ are entirely too short-sighted and prone to making enemies for their own good. During the Heresy, almost nobody liking them bit them in the ass at Alaxxes Nebula, but fast-forward to M41 and they're happily pissing off the Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, Dark Angels, Ultramarines, etc. During Warzone Fenris, the galaxy at large is only too ready to write the Wolves off as heretics. Fans and detractors alike also note that it's [[Skub|arguable]] whether being so quick to make enemies and disobey orders to save civilians really saves more people in the long run, especially at Armageddon, where the Wolves' actions backfire badly.

== Civilians ==

Of all the inconsistently written aspects of the Chapter, this is by far the worst offender. Sometimes, the Space Wolves are written as brutal and merciless, giving zero fucks about collateral damage or civilian casualties. On the other hand, sometimes the Wolves [[Salamanders|put their lives on the line to protect the innocent.]] This can induce [[Rage]] in just about any fan, because some people get into the Space Wolves seeing them as heroes while others prefer their more savage, bloodthirsty tendencies.

The best fluff attempts to find a middle ground by presenting them as violent and pragmatic, but disciplined during the Heresy and increasingly heroic over time. By M41, the Wolves actively stop the Flesh Tearers from murdering Imperial civilians at Honour's End, disobey orders so they could protect the settlers at Thressiax, and play chicken with the Inquisition to save the people of Armageddon; this example is particularly notable, because the Wolves didn't just attempt to save the civilians from the Inquisition, for the first few months of the conflict they did so with passive resistance, defending civilian transports with the shields and hulls of their own ships, never firing back. This paints a picture of [[Awesome|a Chapter that actually becomes MOAR independent and heroic as the galaxy goes to shit around them.]] Or perhaps, they've remained the same and the galaxy has gone so grimdark that the Space Wolves now appear heroic in comparison.

Then Warzone Fenris happened. In it, the Wolves pretty much abandon their allies to focus on the Wulfen.

==Notable Members==
*[[Leman Russ]]: Primarch of the Space Wolves, Wolf King of Fenris, and Vikingest of the Viking Marines. Despite his tendency to be a pigheaded jackass, he was ultra-loyal to the Emperor and accepted his role without question, even when it involved things like [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Primarch#Two_Missing_Primarchs_.7C_The_Forgotten_.26_The_Purged disappearing another legion and primarch] or [[Rangdan Xenocides|purging entire worlds of mind-controlled humans]]. He and his legion didn't actually accomplish that much during the Heresy aside from fucking Prospero with no lube, though he almost managed to decorrupt Horus at Trisolian. Abruptly left Fenris for some reason in the aftermath of the Scouring and hasn't been seen since, though he promised his sons he would return for their final battle no matter what. May currently be pillaging his way through the Warp, searching for a means to resurrect the Emperor, or trying to find Magnus.
*[[Bjorn the Fell Handed]]: The oldest active loyalist Space Marine in the galaxy. He served at Russ' side throughout the Heresy and became the first Great Wolf of the chapter after Russ took off. Ultimately wound up interred in a Dreadnought and now alternates between napping in the Aett and yelling at [[Thousand Sons|those damn psykers]] and everyone else in the galaxy to get off his lawn.
*Hvarl Red-Blade: Jarl of either the 4th or 7th Grand Company [[Derp|because FW can't proofread for shit]]. Looks like Fat Bastard for some reason and was considered mildly insane by the rest of the legion, which is saying something.
*Ohthere Wyrdmake: Rune Priest who made friends with Ahriman only to screw him over at Nikaea by betraying his confidences as part of Russ' efforts to get the Librarius shut down. Ahriman tore his soul out during the fighting on Prospero.
*[[Logan Grimnar]]: Current Great Wolf of the chapter. Rides around in a wolf-drawn sleigh like grimdark Santa and is one of the most bro-tier Astartes in the Imperium, having squared up to the Inquisition and Grey Knights rather than let them purge a bunch of innocent civilians at Armageddon.
*[[Lukas the Trickster]]: Strong contender for the title of Galaxy's Best Troll. Has pulled off such feats of trolling as tricking a bunch of Word Bearers into landing on thin ice and drowning themselves, "accidentally" locking an Inquisitorial delegation in a grox pen, and fucking with Magnus himself during the Second Battle of Prospero. The Wolf Lords hate him because he's an irreverent dick, but Lukas couldn't give less of a shit about what they think of him. Is one of the few Space Marines known to have gotten laid. Has a stasis bomb wired into his chest where his second heart used to be (it got stolen by a Dark Eldar) so that whoever kills him will be frozen in time with his laughing face in front of them, forever.
*[[Ragnar Blackmane]]: Youngest Wolf Lord in the chapter's history. Has a long-running rivalry with Madox of the Thousand Sons and once hit Magnus right in the eye with the Spear of Russ. During the Psychic Awakening, he got into a fight with [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] that ended with Ragnar half-dead and Ghaz decapitated, but they both survived because [[Plot Armor|plot armor]]. Ragnar got Primaris'd up and is after Ghaz for a rematch.
*[[Ulrik the Slayer]]: High Priest and oldest Space Wolf in the chapter, not counting Dreadnoughts. Still talks to Logan Grimnar like he's a snotty kid and once killed three Khorne Berzerkers so hard that [[Angron]] himself saluted his sheer RAEG. Wears Leman Russ' helmet into battle.
*[[Arjac Rockfist]]: Wolf Guard who has a thunder hammer that teleports back into his hand whenever he throws it, making him the grimdark Thor to Lukas' Loki and Logan's Odin.
*[[Bran Redmaw]]: Wolf Lord/Wulfen who can somehow control his transformation to some degree. Tends to go off by himself in battle so he doesn't wolf out and accidentally kill his own dudes.
*[[Canis Wolfborn]]: He is a Wolf Guard whose first name means Dog and rides a giant wolf and leads a pack of [[Fenrisian Wolves]] that he commands by barking at them and was raised by wolves and probably has a wolf plushie that he cuddles at night. Basically Canis is what happens when the ''Wolf'' part of Space Wolves is taken to its logical extreme. Also at one point he had a BS of 2, [[FAIL|meaning that the average Ork could outshoot him]].
*Murderfang: Wulfen Dreadnought who has to be kept in stasis between battles because he's batshit crazy and has lost the ability to tell friend from foe.
*[[Svane Vulfbad]]: Former Wolf Lord who decided that the Imperium sucked and led his entire Great Company into Khorne worship. May or may not be dead; he got into a fight with Harald Deathwolf and right when Harald was about to kill him, a thunderbolt hit them and Svane disappeared, leaving behind a fragment of his frost axe lodged in the jaw of Harald's Thunderwolf. Only appeared in a single issue of White Dwarf and has never been mentioned again ever, which is kind of a shame.

==Daily rituals of a Space Wolf==

08:00 - Early Risers - Most of the Wolf Scouts and Reivers, having avoided the last rounds the previous evening, wake from their quarters. They give each other quiet nods of approval, before heading for the festhall for an early breakfast. 
08:30 - Morning Firing Drills -- The Wolf Scouts and Reivers take advantage of the otherwise unoccupied firing range to get their drills in. The Lone Wolves are appreciative of the Primaris Vanguard stealth training, while Primaris marvel at Lone Wolves sniper marksmanship. 
9:00 - Wilderness Training - Wolf Scout squads leave for their regular wilderness patrols, while Reivers try to stalk them. Most of the day will be filled with one trying to track down the other, or stalking a particularly worthwhile prey. 
13:00 - Wake Up with Hangover - The majority of Space Wolves battle-brothers awaken by this point. 
13:10 - Morning Piss - The Space Wolf empties the alcohol that has accumulated in his bladder(s) in the Sacred Alcohol Excretion Grounds. (Doing so anywhere else is hazardous as space wolf urine is capable of corroding ceramite) 
13:11 - Morning Fart - The Space Wolf empties his intestines. Pissing without farting is like going to a holy site without praying to the Emperor, which is heresy. 
13:20 - Morning Piss Ends - The Space Wolves have finally finished urinating. The surrounding landscape is scorched with a aura of menace resembling nurgle’s rot. 
13:30 - Ritual of the Hair of the Dog - The Space Wolf now cracks open his first cold one of the day. The first of many. Cheerios may be consumed as well. 
13:45 - Firing Drills - The Space Wolf consumes another liter of alcohol before going out back and shooting empty beer bottles with his bolter. This takes place far away from the Alcohol Excretion Grounds, after that one time Brother Brynjolf accidentally lit his own piss on fire. an entire company had to spend 6 months in the sickbay until their hair grew back and they were thus fit to be seen in public again. 
14:00 - Freeze your Balls - The Space Wolf sheds his armor and most of his clothing to wander around Asaheim for an hour. 
15:00 - Feeding of the Land Raiders - Space Wolf observes a feast with his brothers in honour of the chapter's revered battle machines. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow not grasping that the Long Fangs and Grey Hunters beelined for the chow hall as soon as the claws were out of sight. 
15:30 - Boozing of the Land Raiders - No feast is complete without metric fucktons of liquor. Fenrisian Ale, beer, and if available bylestim blend are poured and scrubbed all over the most honoured of the chapter's war machines. Many still have bullet holes, sometimes allowing beer to get into the exhaust ports and make for kickass explosions later. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow. 
16:00 - Wolf your Wolf - Grey Hunters and older Space Wolves take this time to play with their favourite 4-legged companions. Any Blood Claw who's showed up by now is made a Grey Hunter. 
16:30 - Save the Blood Claws - Blood Claws are brought in from the cold. Most are frozen blue or black - and hungry for more. 
17:00 - Evening feast - Eat. Drink. Start brawls. The usual non-warzone Space Wolf thing. 
18:00 - Try to wake up [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|Bjorn]]. 
18:10 - Give up, try to find something fun on the Vox Saga. 
19:00 - Night shitter break. 
20:00 - Night firing drills - Much to the Iron Priest's dismay, the Space Wolves practice writing their names in the snow with bolters. In runes. In the dark. 
21:00 - Ritual Intake of Narcotics and Purging of Testicles - bitches and blow. 
05:00 - Daily Rest - The Space Wolf passes out. 

==A Quick Word Out of Character==
The true reason for all this, is that, we at /tg/, in our pathetic, low-reaching mastery of comedy, have seen how idiotic it is that every goddamn Space Wolf codex unnecessarily uses the word "wolf" as a prefix or a suffix every 3rd sentence (similar to the [[Robin Cruddace|Tyranid codex]] shoe-horning the prefix ''bio-'' into every 3rd sentence). Since /tg/ is an easily angered monster, not unlike an [[Angry Marine]], we furiously attempt to link Space Wolves to furries (it's really fucking annoying), as we are as fucked up as [[Chaos Pretty Marines]].

It has been established in the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' series that the VI Legion doesn't employ the word "wolf" as much as they appear to do. Wolves are readily apparent in their motifs, such as Leman Russ's titles as "Wolf-King" and "Great Wolf," as well as in the formal name of the Wolf Guard, but it's not as overblown as it's made out to be. Apparently, whoever did the Fenrisian-to-Gothic translation made a few errors. First off, they don't call themselves "the Space Wolves." When speaking formally, they refer to themselves as the ''Vlka Fenryka'', which we can look at a few ways. "Fenris" is easy, a reference to Fenrir from Norse mythology. "Vlka" has a couple options; if you walk it backwards through the Germanic ''Volk'' you get "Folk of Fenris". This supports a common theory on 1d4chan where a bunch of colonists landed on a planet, bred giant dogs from their great, great, grand-children (more on that in a minute) then thought, "You know what's better than planet Unicorn? Planet fucking Fenris". So the the ''Vlka Fenryka'' are literally the folk of Fenris. Alternately ''Vlka'' can be translated from Slavic to get the "Wolves of Fenris" again.

No matter what you conclude on, you get Dan Abnett using linguistics to reinforce his theme that the Space Wolves are misunderstood by the rest of the Imperium - calling the Space Wolves because of a mistranslated word. One could even argue they are actually called "Space People", would make sense since Ragnar referred to them as "Star warriors" in the William King novels and their Fenrisian ''Kaerl'' auxiliaries call them "sky warriors," but the lore from these novels has been left by the wayside so take that as you will. When speaking informally, they refer to themselves as "the Rout", solidifying their purpose as the Emperor's executioners (self-proclaimed)/snowflakes. Additionally, the post of "Wolf-Lord" is also a mistranslation, as they refer to their Company commanders as ''Jarl''. Finally, they don't call their fortress-monastery the Fang, but rather the ''Aett'', which can be literally translated as "clan home." There's also this in-universe [[meme]] "there are no wolves on Fenris." At all. This was started by one of the primarchs remarking that they should be called xenos, because they're natives of an alien planet, and it quickly morphed into a joke. As it turns out, this is literally true.

With regards to the [[Fenrisian Wolf|Fenrisian wolves]], the origin a little more freaky than expected: they're not wolves, but descendants of human-wolf mutants. Back when Fenris was first settled, the colonists had the ''Canis helix'' added to help them adapt to the harsh environment by adding wolf genes to their genetic-makeup. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well--the ''canix helix'' caused a number of settlers to degrade into wolfmen and wolfwomen. Following this, they bred and produced a new strain of wolf into the environment. So there are no ''wolves'' on Fenris. They're just the descendants of human mutants. Which might explain why, post-Heresy, only Fenrisians can become Space Wolves (assuming that's why the successor chapters couldn't handle Russ' gene seed).

So yes, naming the planet after the wolves means we really do just end up all the way back at Wolves of Wolves after all. Whelp.

Of course, that means that the Space Wolves are wearing pelts made of [[Fabius Bile|human skin]], but lets not dwell on that - after all it's fairly common in the Imperium to wear human skulls... WolfyWolfWolf {{BLAM|''' *BLAM*}}.

===The Wulfen issue aka "Fucking Furries"===
The blatant author favouritism annoys fans of the other chapters with "Dark Secrets". GW's treatment of the Wulfen makes it effortless for fans of other chapters to hurl [[Mary Sue]] accusations at them, unlike the [[Blood Angels]] and [[Dark Angels]]. The Wulfen are now out in the open; once they were exposed they get little (arguably no) punishment while the Inquisition and Grey Knights just "kept one eye open". The aforementioned chapters on the other hand have to keep their secrets from being found out by the Inquisition and the Imperium at large.

Despite the fact that Fallen Angels were paraded around on Terra, many would assume they were [[Ravenwing]] without their fancy bikes. While any claims of Dark Angels being the real traitors from the Fallen would have [[Guilliman]] retort back that they are full of shit (with more and longer words), as he knew exactly what The First was up to during the Horus Heresy with the exception the events that caused the destruction of Caliban. Of course, the Unforgiven would also be pissed if they found out if one of the predecessors of the Grey Knights killed a Dark Angel and were part of the reason their homeworld was destroyed and would demand censure.

The Blood Angels on the other hand have an infection similar to the Wulfen without mutating into some kind of half-human man-beast. The [[Red Thirst]]. The Blood Angels and their successors organize the afflicted into [[Death Company|Death Companies]] who are lead by their Chaplains into killing Xenos and foul traitors. If they somehow survive the mutated Blood Angels are {{BLAM}}ed or locked away until the next battle.

Both chapters send their traitors/mutants into battle to be used as cannon fodder. A much more grimdark action that would be in character for Space Marines. [[White Scars|They wouldn't be the only]] [[Raven Guard|chapters to have done this either.]] Instead of treating mutants as fellow warriors. Inserting noble bright into the setting where it doesn't belong. The same reasons that so many players also hated the Tau until GW retconned them into being more grimdark.

Making this all the more strange. In all likelihood [[Guilliman]] himself wouldn't see a problem with using mutated Space Marines as cannon fodder. Because he did so himself when he created the [[Moritat]]s after combat exercises with the [[Raven Guard]]. So chances are he would side with the other two former [[Imperium Secundus]] Legions. [[Ogryn|Due to not only favoritism but he and the rest of the Imperium at large would find it strange that the Space Wolves do not]].

If [[Guilliman]] ever found out about all three. He would most likely order [[The Fallen]] and [[Wulfen]] organized into [[Death Company|Death Companies]] style formations as well. Something that the Dark Angels are more or less doing already. This would just make it official. The Space Wolves would look like the bad guys if they objected, putting them in a tough spot.

=== Why people hate the Space Wolves, tldr version ===
One user on reddit summed it up with this. (fixed for grammar somewhat)

"The Space Wolves remind me of a 13 year old’s first D&D character: very cool, special, powerful barbarian hero who is morally flawless but doesn't listen to authority and always does the right thing but don't you dare cross them. They get away with shit because they're so special and the rules don't apply to them, guys. They got to wage war on the Inquisition with a slap on the wrist, while the Celestial Lions were slaughtered for merely questioning the morals of the Inquisition. [[Mary Sue|They get a free pass on mutation in a setting where that gets chapters purged.]] They drink and party while other chapters lose hundreds of brothers on meaningless, forgotten battlegrounds. They aren't even Vikings! The White Scars are Space Mongols. The Black Templars are Space Teutons. [[Ultramarines|There are Space Rome]]. [[Thousand Sons|Space Egypt]]. [[Raven Guard|Space Iroquois]]. But Vikings? No. They don't raid. They don't pillage. They don't terrorize. They don't explore, chart, map, and push boundaries. [[Mary Sue|They just fuck around, being special, unique perfect little dudes who don't suffer in GrimDarkness.]]

They exist in the wrong game."

So basically Space Wolves now have the same problem as the Tau did a few editions back.

How true this rings, however, is [[Skub|a matter of contention]] considering some of the actions that [[Iron_Hands|other]] [[Dark Angels|First]] [[Blood Angels|Founding]] Chapters get away scot-free with, as well as the sheer importance that a First Founding Chapter has to both other Chapters (their successors would likely fucking riot if the big =][= went after them) and the Imperium's populace as a whole.

=== A Primaris Marine calls the Wolves out on their bullshit ===

In ''Dawn of Fire: The Wolftime'', Logan is a dick to Guilliman and refuses to take reinforcements even after the furries got their assed kicked by [[Orks]]. One of the Unnumbered Sons promptly tells the Wolves that they're full of shit right to their hobo-stubbled faces, in a pretty [[awesome]] "You suck!" speech.

"You’re all vain, empty beasts. You talk of honour, of accounting the dead, of glory in battle but you are just inbred hounds rolling in the filth. You would all be ork-dead by now, if not for me and my brothers, but that’s not enough. [[Grimdark|I could bleed my last drop of blood for you, watch it freeze on your Emperor-abandoned drop-hole of a world and still you would not call me a Wolf of Fenris.]] [...]

You are nothing to the Rout of old," snarled Gaius. "A spent force, throwing yourselves at your enemies, shouting empty cries, bleating like sheep about Russ returning at the end. He would be shamed to see what had become of his sons! [..]

There is nothing special about you or your world. [[Belisarius Cawl|Cawl]] took apart what makes a Space Marine and put the pieces together again in something better. Primaris. Me. The Firstwolves. He found no Fenrisian magic dust, no sprinkles of wyrd. The Test of Morkai is just a barbaric ritual intended to massively elevate physiological responses to trigger gene-seed adoption. There’s nothing spiritual about it."

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lightning2.jpg|'Tis only a matter of time until Steve Blum voices 'em. Apparently, this set somehow makes things you hit weigh less.
File:Warlord of Fenris by NachoMon.jpg|Totally not overcompensating...Yeah he's just <s>hiding a massive hardon with</s> supporting the skull with a massive hard-on.
File:Lemanruss39.jpg|Leman Russ. About to mercilessly fuck over the Thousand Sons.
File:Prospero.jpg|Is he carrying a wooden shield? Really? Against a bolt shell? It better be a Combat Shield.
[[File:http://l.wigflip.com/DucDpDtG/roflbot.jpg]]|Pretty cool guys to hang with.
File:SneakySpaceWolves.png|Good thing they brought the sneaking flag.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Bjorn the Fell Handed]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Wolves (9E)|Space Wolves Tactics]]
*[[Warriors of Chaos]] - With whom they get into bar brawls and drinking contests to see who is moar [[Viking]]
*[[Skyrar's Dark Wolves]] - Before calling your [[Dark Angels]] brothers [[Troll|traitors]] read [[Svane_Vulfbad|this]] first to understand [[Fallen_Angels|their]][[ rage]].
*[[Legion Consul]] - The old "Commissars" of the VI legion.
*[https://youtu.be/Bh_5ofa__pY/ Space Wolves theme song]

{{Marines-Official}}
{{Space Wolves}}
[[Category:Furry]]

Space Wolves

2022-05-04T17:18:32Z

2603:8001:6901:2586:8444:2F3B:172A:C807:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Space Wolves / Vlka Fenryka / Space Corgis
|Heraldry = [[File:Spacewolveslogo.png|200px]]
|Battle Cry = "For Russ and the All father!""Woof! Woof!" |Number = VI
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = The Rout
|Successor Chapters = [[Blood Wolves]] [[Mooneaters]] [[Skyrar%27s Dark Wolves]] [[Wolf Brothers]] [[Wolfspear]]
|Chapter Master = [[Logan Grimnar]]
|Primarch = [[Leman Russ]]
|Homeworld = [[Fenris]]
|Specialty = CQC, shock assaults, infantry, encirclement tactics, being Viking cosplayers.
|Strength = 2-3000
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Generally Bluish-Grey and Yellow. Red, Black and White used for specific Companies.
}}
{{topquote|Let a man never stir on his road a step without his weapons of war; for unsure is the knowing when need shall arise of a [[Wolfspear|spear]] on the way without.|Havamal}}
{{topquote|War is honest. There's no lying to it. You don't have to say sorry here. Don't have to hide. You cannot. If you die? So what? You die among friends. Among worthy foes. You die looking the Great Leveller in the eye. If you live? Well, lad that's living, isn't it?|Joe Abercrombie, Heroes}}
{{topquote|They can call themselves whatever they like. It's irrelevant. They are in the annals of Terra as the Sixth Legion, the Space Wolves. Did Guilliman rename his Legion the Macragge Marines? Would you have the sons of Sanguinius known as the Baal Angels? The Sixth Legion do not belong to Fenris, they belong to the Emperor| Custodian Vychellan taking issue with the Space Wolves / Wolves of Fenris / Vlyka Fenryka debate}}

The '''Space Wolves''' (also known as ''The Rout'' or the '''Vlka Fenryka''') is a [[Space Marine]] [[Chapter]] hailing from the icy [[Death World]] of '''Fenris''', who appreciate the value of a strong and consistent brand identity. They are known as noble, if savage warriors, who have little love for Imperial bureaucracy but will fight fiercely for its common citizens. The Marines of the Chapter are famed as experts in the art of close combat, much like the [[Blood Angels]], but unlike the sons of [[Sanguinius]] their fighting style is less that of a maddened, blood-crazed berserker, but that of a cunning pack of hunters running down their prey.

Thematically, the Chapter draws a lot of real-world inspiration from Nordic culture, ''especially'' the Viking sagas, particularly in terms of aesthetics as well as ferocity. That said, there's a bit of a disconnect between how the Wolves are portrayed in fiction compared to how they're presented as a tabletop army.

On one hand, we have a nuanced portrayal of a proud warrior tradition that just so happens to have the Wolf as its primary totem animal, among many other Fenrisian nature spirits they worship. On the other, we have an over-the-top army of wolf fetishists that precedes most of their equipment and vehicle names with "wolf", ride ''actual'' giant wolves into battle, and are like a drunken frat party outside of it.

==Origins==

Back during the [[Great Crusade]], the Space Wolves began as the VIth Legion, and was developed in conjunction the [[Salamanders]] and the [[Alpha Legion]]. Developed in isolation from the other two Legions, they proved to be a vicious and aggressive fighting force, but also almost impossible to keep in line by its officers. What's worse, they were indiscriminate in their slaughter, and even helpless civilians were not free from their wrath. Due to this brutal reputation, they soon became known as "the Rout", the Emprah's agents of fear and retribution.

===The Wolf King cometh===

The ice world of Fenris was found early on by the Crusade fleets, and the Emperor soon heard of the exploits of its so-called Wolf King, a man named Leman Russ. Raised in the wilderness by wolves, then adopted and educated by the jarl Thengir, Leman was a massive ox of a man of extraordinary strength, sharp cunning, and personal magnetism, and the Emprah was sure he was one of His lost sons. He descended onto the world in disguise, ingratiated Himself to the locals to gain access to the High King's feasting hall, and there he sought to test the Wolf King's mettle.

Depending on the version or edition, this led to the following: an eating contest, a drinking contest, and a brawl. Leman won the first two rounds, but was finally goaded into a fight when the Emprah insulted him, [[Imperial Truth|saying that he was nothing more than a glutton and a drunkard]]. What followed next was either a massive fight that wrecked the drinking hall, Beowulf versus Grendel style, or the Emprah laying out Leman with a single fabulously golden [[Power Fist]] to the forehead.

Regardless, when Leman finally came to, the Emprah revealed himself, and told him about his true origin as one of his [[Primarch]]s, as well as his role in the greater Crusade. What happened next, as they say, is history.

===From the Rout to the Wolves===

Leman Russ' rediscovery, and the integration of his own Fenrisian retinue, slowly remade the VIth Legion. Their ferocity was soon tempered with discipline and obedience, as the Fenrisian culture slowly spread through its ranks, and while they would still crush any traitor to the Emperor, they would at least have the good sense this time ''not'' to slaughter the innocents that just so happened to be in the area. It didn't happen overnight, but soon enough the Legion became less about punishing oathbreakers, and more on watching out for the little guy.

Oh, and if an offhand comment by Russ is to be believed, they had a hand in destroying the two so-called Lost Legions. Emperor's Executioners indeed.

Under Russ' leadership, the Wolves proved their worth to the fledgling Imperium by winning many victories and conquering many worlds, which brought them glory and even more notoriety. On one of their campaigns, they managed to recover a near-complete STC printout of a battle tank, and as a bit of thanks, the Martian adepts named it after the Legion's Primarch.

It was also during this period that the Wolves' rivalry with the [[Dark Angels]] began, a feud that ''still'' continues into the present day of the Imperium. While the specifics have been lost to myth and legend, the Dulan Campaign ended with Leman Russ and his brother, the mercurial [[Lion El'Jonson]], in a one-on-one duel. This culminated with Leman knocked out flat on his back, the Dark Angels leaving in a huff, and the Space Wolves similarly insulted by the Lion not being a good sport about everything.

===The Heresy Dawns===

The Space Wolves are infamous for their role in the burning of Prospero, the homeworld of the [[Thousand Sons]] Legion. Though they were initially ordered to bring in [[Magnus the Red]] alone for both going against the edicts of the Council of Nikea, as well as accidentally breaching the defenses of the Imperial Webway, their orders were changed by [[Horus]] (who they were unaware was already full-hog traitor at this point) to instead [[Burning_of_Prospero|burn the planet and its inhabitants to the ground]].

This blind adherence to orders, not helped by the fact that Leman ''wanted'' to confront his nerd of a brother for his shenanigans, was the final straw. Prospero was literally and figuratively put to the torch in the ensuing battles between the Legions, as well as Leman's [[Adeptus Custodes]] and [[Sisters of Silence]] babysitters. When Magnus finally joined the fray to save his sons, Leman met him in one-on-one combat, and while the Wolf King was badly mauled over the course of the duel, Magnus was broken and forced to flee with the surviving Thousand Sons.

In the end, Magnus was forced to throw his lot with [[Chaos]] in order to survive, and his Legion followed suit, joining Horus in his rebellion.

The battered Wolves were not allowed any respite however, as they were soon hounded by a massive [[Alpha Legion]] fleet, and forced to flee into the Alaxxes Nebula. [[Battle_of_the_Alaxxes_Nebula|While a breakout was eventually executed, the Space Wolves fleet eventually found itself cornered]]. As they prepared for a last stand, unexpected aid arrived in the form of a [[Dark Angels]] fleet. With the Alpha Legion driven off, Russ was left to ponder what to do next.

Eventually Russ and a small contingent of his men managed to find their way to Terra, while the rest of the Space Wolves fleet continued to harry the Traitors. He sponsored an expedition to Molech to see if Horus could be taken down, but this just resulted in getting dozens of [[Knights-Errant]] killed. Afterward, in a council with his brothers [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Sanguinius]], and [[Jaghatai Khan]], Leman decided to forego Dorn's plan in delaying the traitors at the '''Battle of Beta Garmon''', and instead returned to Fenris to try and divine a way to take away all those juicy [[Chaos]] boons that were supercharging [[Horus]].

===The Wolf King and the Luna Wolf===

In what amounted to be a spirit quest (where, among other things, Russ met a possible version of himself who stayed on Terra and never grew up on Fenris), Leman decided that he would confront his brother Horus one last time. For this task, he would need to use the Spear of Russ (yes THAT Spear of Russ, that [[Ragnar Blackmane]] would use many millennium later), a weapon that he ''absolutely hated'' (because it gave him the literal heebie-jeebies) and actually tried to get rid of multiple times, but which somehow always managed to return to him.

It turns out that the Spear was a massively powerful artifact invested with a fragment of the Emprah's power, with the ability to reveal the "truth" of whatever it pierces. Although the chance was slim, Leman hoped to use it to convince his brother to return to the Imperial fold and let their father heal him; if the Warmaster remained undaunted, Leman would then use the spear to slay the traitor for good.

Leman knew that it was a suicide mission, and indeed made it clear to his assembled [[Wolf Lord]]s that their participation was ''voluntary'', but none of them refused to join their Primarch. If their death was to come, then it would be together with their Battle-brothers.

===The Battle of Trisolian 4A===

The [[Forge World]] of Trisolian -- where a young and cheeky tech adept named [[Belisarius Cawl]] and his buddy were taking what amounted to their internships -- had just surrendered to Traitor forces, and was in the process of hosting the [[Vengeful Spirit]] and its escorts. Then all of the sudden, this absolutely ''massive'' fleet (made up of around fifty ships of the line from the various Traitor Legions) found itself under attack.

Taking advantage of the gravitational interactions of the Trisolian system's three stars, the Space Wolves fleet had snuck into the sector, and threw its vastly-outnumbered ships at the gathered armada. As the ships of the Rout tried to make as much as a ruckus as it could, Leman confronted the [[Vengeful Spirit]] with his own flagship, the '''Hrafnkel''', and as the latter's barrage collapsed the former's void shields, Leman personally led a massive assault unto his brother's flagship using everything he still had -- boarding torpedoes, assault boats, teleport deep-strikes, and even gunships.

As thousands of Space Wolves ran wild inside the Vengeful Spirit, Leman personally tracked down Horus in the heart of the corrupted ship, while down below Cawl managed to make sure his master met an "accident", and took control of the Mechanicus forces to aid the Space Wolves. The Wolf King eventually found the Warmaster, and was disgusted at what he beheld -- Horus was wallowing in Chaos corruption, and was half-mad as a result. When words didn't work, Russ attacked his brother, knowing too well he was outmatched.

Then the Spear managed to pierce Horus' side. The wound was not fatal, though it could have been, had Leman not hesitated, but it was enough -- the madness cleared from Horus' eyes, and for the first time in what seemed to be forever Horus' mind was clear. Despite this however, the Warmaster would not be swayed; he was in too deep to stop now, and of his own free will this time, still decided to continue the fight against the Emperor.

Horus continued his assault on Leman, and had mauled him gravely. Before he could finish him off with ''Worldbreaker'' however, one Space Wolf, followed by dozens, which were then followed by scores of marines, interposed themselves between the Warmaster and their Primarch. Horus cut them all down all the same, but their sacrifice bought Bjorn the time he needed to drag the injured Leman Russ to a [[Stormbird]], and then back to the ''Hrafnkel''.

With their Primarch secured, the Space Wolves fleet made a fighting retreat, but all seemed lost as the Vengeful Spirit and its cohort seemed to be catching up... Then one of its magazines exploded, crippling it enough to allow the Wolves to escape.

The Wolves would fight another day, but the price was too high. Of the Wolves that went into Trisolian, only one-fifth managed to make the escape. The VIth Legion effectively stopped being an effective fighting force from that point on, and had to be eventually rescued by the Primarch [[Corvus Corax]] and his [[Raven Guard]] after the fleet was cornered by [[Abaddon]]'s forces at Yarant.

The Wolves would sit out the remainder of the Heresy, and would be still trying to recover as the [[Siege of Terra]] came and went, and Horus had his fated showdown with the Emprah.

===The Fate of Leman Russ===

Of Leman Himself, you ask? Well he stuck around during the [[Great Scouring]], and while he groused about [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s reforms, he eventually caved in, and begrudgingly agreed to split apart the remains of his ravaged Legion into Chapters.

In theory anyway.

In ''practice'' however, due to the massively reduced numbers of the Rout, only one Chapter was ever created -- the ill-fated [[Wolf Brothers]]. The rest of the survivors remained Space Wolves, opting instead to stick with their semi-independent Great Companies, as one small snub to the stuck-up Roboute.

Barely a century after the end of the Scouring, Leman Russ just ups and vanishes from Imperial History. Legends state that after a great feast, He said unto his warriors:

<blockquote>"Listen closely Brothers, for my time is short. . There shall come a time far from now when our Chapter itself is dying, even as I am now dying, and our foes shall gather to destroy us. Then my children, I shall listen for your call in whatever realm of death holds me, and come I shall, no matter what the laws of life and death forbid. At the end I will be there. For the final battle. For the Wolftime."</blockquote>

And so, Leman departed, with his closest retinue... No, not you Bjorn... Some say he searches for a means to revive His God-Emperor.. But despite the efforts of the Great Hunt, Leman remains beyond the reach of Man... Who knows what great feats of Heroism he undertakes...oh right [[Kaldor Draigo]],

Oddly enough, it seems that [[Magnus the Red]], of all people, has an idea about his brother's fate, but he's not telling anyone, and is far too fond of slaying Leman's get to even care.

==Recent History==

===The Siege of Fenris===

Much like the rest of the Imperium, times had been rough for the Space Wolves by the [[Time of Ending|time the end of M41 rolled in]]. Magnus in particular still had a massive hateboner against the Sons of Russ, and finally put his long-prepared revenge plan into motion. The rebuilt [[Thousand Sons]], plus their [[Chaos]] Daemon and Traitor Legion allies, put the worlds of the Fenris system to the sword. Not even the Space Wolves homeworld was spared, and it took the combined effort of the Chapter and a [[Grey Knights]] Brotherhood led by [[Arvann Stern|Brother-Captain Stern]] to slow down the massive daemonic incursion that followed.

Then the [[Dark Angels]] arrived above Fenris with [[The Rock]], and leading an Imperial task force of ''fourteen'' assorted Space Marine Chapters, titans, knight houses, and Imperial Guard, intent on cleansing the system of Chaos filth. Unfortunately it quickly became apparent that the Sons of the Lion were duped by [[The Changeling]], who then proceeded to mass-summon Daemons into the Rock itself.

Things took a turn for the worse when Magnus himself arrived on Fenris, its spiritual nexus already under assault by Thousand Sons covens trying to corrupt them, and what was a hard but possibly winnable fight against a massive invading force turned into a desperate battle for survival. It says a lot that the Iron Priests had to awaken ''all'' of the Dreadnoughts of the Fang to fight alongside Bjorn, plus whatever Wulfren that could be found, and even then it wasn't enough. Magnus was far too powerful, and the Daemon Primarch swatted aside Dreadknights with ease, and even pulled down whole Imperial Battlecruisers from the upper atmosphere, just so he could detonate their cores and irradiate the skies above Asaheim.

Magnus would not have his victory however, as through Egil Ironwolf's sacrifice Logan Grimnar was able to wound the Daemon Primarch with strikes from ''both'' the Axe of Morkai and the recovered '''Spear of Russ'''. With his concentration broken, Magnus was then banished from the Fenris by [[Grey Knight]] [[Purifier]]s. With Magnus gone, the Thousand Sons and their daemonic allies quickly followed, but the damage had been done. The worlds of the Fenris system were almost all ravaged beyond recovery, and what's worse, due to their populations bearing witness to a massive daemonic incursion, their people had to be liquidated by the Inquisition. Unlike the aftermath of the First War of Armageddon, the Great Wolf didn't make a fuss, as the Chapter was too mauled and weary to oppose them.

===The Fall of Cadia and the Era Indomitus===

Despite the drubbing they experienced at the hands of Magnus, the Space Wolves were still able to send two Great Companies to Cadia's defense, and while that world eventually fell, they made a good accounting for themselves, with Sven Bloodhowl contributing to the demise of the Blackstone Fortress, while Orven Highfell fell in the defense of Kasr Kraf. As the [[Great Rift]] formed and the Imperium was torn in half, and the age seemed to become all the more desperate, the Wolves fought on, but when news of [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s revival reached the Fang, a small contingent of Wolves braved the long warp journey to [[Ultramar]] to confirm it.

During the opening years of the Indomnitus Crusade, Guilliman sent reinforcements for the Sons of Russ, in the form of several companies of [[Primaris Space Marines]]. Despite being comparatively weakened for the time and facing a rising Ork threat in their space, Logan Grimnar initially refused to take any assistance from Guilliman, even from Primaris Marines bearing Russ's geneseed, through a combination of pride, stubbornness, and refusal to bend to the so called "Legionbreaker". Guilliman, to his credit, was completely sincere about giving the Wolves Primaris tech without any ulterior motive save for the Wolves to keep doing what they were doing. The few Primaris permitted to come to Fenris were immediately treated as outsiders, because they weren't born on Fenris and hadn't undertaken the same trials as the others. After one Primaris marine managed to travel across continents back to the Fang - and after killing most of the wildlife he encountered along the way - the Wolves became more open to the Mars-born and gradually accepted them. This brought the Space Wolves Great Companies back to fighting shape, and while the Firstborn initially looked upon these newcomers with suspicion, once they had braved the initiation rituals of Fenris (or the adapted version on a chunk of spacehulk for the Mars-born Wolves), those who survived were fully welcomed into their brotherhoods.

Another thing that the Lord Commander brought was even more welcome -- thanks to Belisarius Cawl's efforts, the Space Wolves can now found their own Successors again, and immediately formed ''strong'' ties with the first of these Primaris Wolves -- the '''[[Wolfspear]]'''. While it hasn't ''quite'' gotten rid of the Curse of the [[Wulfen]] (you don't get it unless you really lose it, and its still better than falling to Chaos), but it was still better than the alternative.

==Organization==
[[File:Tyranid Attack.jpeg|350px|right|thumb|The wolves taking on a [[Tyranid]] horde.]]

The Space Wolves ignore the organizational restrictions recommended by the [[Codex Astartes]], and instead forms itself around the '''Great Companies'''. These are twelve semi-independent battle groups that are the rough equivalent of a Codex Battle Company, but are functionally much larger in size, with many featuring upwards of more than a hundred fifty battle-ready warriors on top of their support serfs and equipment.

Each Great Company gains much of its character thanks to their Wolf Lords preferences, as well as its tactical preferences -- see Egil Ironwolf's predilection for tanks and heavy artillery, or Ragnar Blackmane's hardon for massed planetary assaults. A long-serving Wolf Lord will definitely leave his mark on a Great Company, and it might take a while for it to reinvent itself under his Successor when he inevitably falls in battle.

Although no Great Company ranks above their fellows, all eventually must defer to the current Great Wolf's Great Company, as it holds both the his household as well as the Chapter's greatest warriors. When the Great Wolf Speaks, everyone must listen.

===Hierarchy===

The "classic" organization of the Space Wolves is partially based on experience, with the hot-blooded novices starting out with the Blood Claws, before they battle-hardened enough to become Grey Hunters, etc. There's also a bit of meritocracy here, as a Blood Claw who did a particularly heroic deed might "jump ranks" straight into the Wolf Guard/Thanedom (*coughs* '''Ragnar''' *coughs*). It's somewhat implied in some of the text regarding long fangs such as ''"Their former Packs, whittled down to but a handful of Veterans"'' that Blood claw squads are not reinforced and as the members gain experience they are promoted to Grey Hunter then to Long Fang as a unit.

The arrival of the Primaris has put a slight wrinkle into this however, but the Wolves are, if anything, adaptable.

*'''Great Wolf''': Also known as the ''High King'', he is the equivalent to the [[Chapter Master]] of other Chapters. The Great Wolf is also effectively the First Captain of the Space Wolves, commanding an elite Great Company that includes the members of the three Priesthoods and the Chapter's Dreadnoughts. [[Logan Grimnar]] serves as the current Great Wolf.
*'''[[Wolf Lord]]''': Also known as ''Jarls'', they are the equivalent of the [[Brother-Captain]]s of a company in Codex Chapters. Wolf Lords lead their Great Companies; likewise Great Companies owe a lot of their personality and tactical preferences to their Wolf Lords.
* '''[[Wolf Guard]]''': A cross between [[Veteran Squad|Veterans]] and [[Honour Guard]], Wolf Guards (''Thanes'') serve as the body guard of the Wolf Lord and leading packs in battle, serving as the Space Wolves version of a [[Brother-Sergeant]]. They also get [[Terminator]] armour. In ''Second Edition'' they also got to take any weapons they liked and could be built from stock parts with an Assault Cannon and Cyclone Missile Launcher. This led to many games being won as Assault Force Dickhead rampaged across the table murdering everything.
* '''[[Wolf Priest]]''': Combining the role of [[Apothecary]] and [[Chaplain]], the Wolf Priests do the standard roles of preaching and medical duties, but are also charged with recruiting Aspirants for their companies. Plus they have a secret role on the battlefield, trying to prevent their battle-brothers from turning into Wulfen.
* '''[[Iron Priest]]''': The Iron Priests serve the role of [[Techmarine]]s, overseeing the motorpool and equipment of the companies they belong to.
* '''[[Rune Priest]]''': Taking the role of [[Librarian]]s in Codex Chapters, Rune Priests are the [[psyker]]s of the Space Wolves. However, instead of seeing their powers as coming from the [[Warp]], they hold that their powers come from the world spirit of Fenris, and consult the runes in a means to divine the future. Trying to explain to the Rune Priests that they're drawing power from the Warp, and that they cannot "draw their powers from Fenris" while being half-Galaxy away from it will usually result in the non-Space Wolf getting a month's stay in the Apothecarion. The ultimate irony of this is that they are, in reality, Sorcerers, the very thing they denounced the Thousand Sons for being. Whether they are psykers or not. Besides, if Fenris has a world spirit, it is something akin to a Daemon World (or an eldar maiden world)...
* '''Wolf Scouts''': Each Great Company will have members who shun their pack brothers and are shunned in return, preferring the company of more somber individuals, Wolf Scouts serve to scout out enemy positions and terrain. As opposed to the regular codex, Wolf Scouts tend to be veterans of battle able to rein in their savage rage.
* '''Lone Wolf''': Space Wolves who are the last of their pack. The loss of their brethren drive them to seek a glorious death in combat at the hands of some form a fell enemy. Think of Dwarf Slayers only a few meters taller with power armour and weapons of doom and destruction. Often the only way out of the Lone Wolf lifestyle is managing to kill something that the individual shouldn't have survived killing and being elevated into the Wolf Guard. [[Wat|They sometimes take part in a small pack of Wolf Scouts, being lonely wolves in company of other lonely wolves]], [[DERP|which technically should defeat the purpose of the analogy]].
* '''[[Skyclaw]]s''': Skyclaws are the trouble makers among a Chapter of trouble makers, forced to wear Jump Packs. The Space Wolves view Jump Packs as an insult, reasoning that if the Emperor wanted them to fly, he would have given them wings.
* '''[[Thunderwolf Cavalry]]''': Space Wolves who function in a manner similar to a [[Bike Squad]], but instead of actual bikes, they use Thunderwolves, which can be the size of a small car, and biologically more akin to Terran rhinoceros than actual oversized wolves.
* '''[[Long Fang]]s''': Taking the role of [[Devastator Squad|Devastators]], Long Fangs are veterans who have grown long in the fang. No pun here - Space Wolves' teeth actually lengthen as they age, as an effect of a mutated Betcher's Gland.
* '''[[Grey Hunter]]s''': Having the role of [[Tactical Squad|Tactical Marines]], Grey Hunters are those Marines who have survived long enough as Blood Claws to quell the worst of their ferocity and blood lust (read: wear a helmet in battle). Their new found experience and control allows them to shoot and fight better than their younger brethren.
* '''[[Blood Claw]]s''': Neophyte Space Wolves who serve in the [[Assault Squad|Assault Marine]] roles of Codex Chapters. As mature as a buncha punks that just discovered a Metal band and think the life of a Marine is fucking Chaos’ shit up and killing stuff. Unsurprisingly, the survival rate among this guys is not that high. Something to point out, is that it [[Lukas the Trickster|is perfectly possible for a Blood Claw to stay on this rank for his entire life]] if you are not seen as someone to trust in a higher rank.

As of the new Codices, the Primaris Marines seem to have slotted seamlessly into this, though the Primaris neophytes don't start out as Blood Claws, and instead join the line as Intercessors, etc.

* '''Intercessors''': Space Wolves intercessors seem to have gained a rivalry with the Grey Hunters, as steadfast gunlines that can anchor a flank. This rivalry manifests in typical one-upsmanship via drinking and eating contests, and other feats of strength outside the battlefield, and kill counts during firefights.
* '''Inceptors''': The most impetuous of the Primaris, Inceptors are always aching for ways to prove themselves. Of those who arrived with the Indomitus Crusade, the Inceptors were the most eager to take the Trials of Morkai, and seemed to have fully bought into the boisterous Fenrisian customs.
* '''Aggressors''': The most bro of the Primaris Wolves, Aggressors are friendly and boisterous, to the point that they could be heard laughing heartily during combat. For all their loudness however they're not headstrong or impetuous -- far from it, as they make sure they're deployed to the places in the line where they can make the most impact.
* '''Reivers''': The opposite of the Aggressors, Reivers apparently make for poor drinking buddies, but more than make up for their effectiveness of their terror tactics. Its no surprise that they've become best buds with the Wolf Scouts, who they're often also partnered with in patrols.
** '''Hounds of Morkai:''' A unique cult of edgy reivers who envision themselves as standing by the gates of Morkai. These marines are specially trained to hunt down witches, focusing more on melee and adorned in runic totems that blunt the effect of psykers. They also have special vox-emitters made specifically to interfere with casting.
* '''Hellblasters''': Surprisingly fatalistic, Space Wolf Hellblasters believe that their sagas are tied with their plasma weaponry, and while they relish bringing ruin to the enemies of the All-Father, they also accept that, if they need to, they will go out in blazes of glory that will definitely put a fiery climax to their sagas.

=== Unique Assets ===

The Space Wolves have several bits of equipment that differentiate them from a "generic" Codex Chapter.

They have their own equivalent to power weapons, the so-called '''Frost''' weapons, the most famous is the '''Frost Axe'''. With their blades made from either diamonds or crystals native to Fenris, they shine like cold ice once their fields are active.

Speaking of native crystals, these are used for their '''Helfrost''' weaponry, which fire subzero blasts of cold that can freeze its target in place. These are either man-portable, or mounted on their many vehicles.

While the Chapter has its own complement of bike squads, they also have heavy cavalry in the form of the ferocious '''Thunderwolf Cavalry'''. These warriors form a close bond with these apex predators, who then allow themselves to be use as mounts.

Space Wolves heroes also are able to bring with them regular [[Fenrisian Wolf|wolves]] into battle, much like Leman Russ before them. These wolves are treated less like pets, and more like family and fellow warriors, and many Wolf Lords owe their lives to these faithful packs.

On the subject of Leman Russ; prior editions allowed the Space Wolves to use the heavy tank of the same name, their codex being the first sighting of the Leman Russ Exterminator but past 3ed edition this was quietly dropped.

Rather than the '''Stormraven'' and its variants, the Space Wolves rely on the '''Stormwolf''' to airlift battle-brothers to key locations, and the '''Stormclaw''' as a dedicated gunship. And yes, they're ''very'' wolfy in profile.

==Combat doctrine==
{{topquote|The best way to defeat a Space Wolf is to wolf his wolf. You must be careful, though, because if the Space Wolf wolfs your wolf first, then your wolf is wolfed.|Leman Russ himself ''On the Weaknesses of the Space Wolf Doctrine'' later Quoted by Wolf Rider Volk Wolfclaw, }}
{{topquote|A good way to get into a state of pure wolfness, would be that you shall wolf the wolf until the wolfing wolf wolfs. Then, when the wolf wolfs your wolfness, the wolves of the wild will wolf your wolf up. Wolf!|Attributed to Wolf Master Jonal Wolfhand, "The Call of the Nightblizzard''}}
{{topquote|Wolf wolf wolf wolf wolfity wolf. Wolf wolf, wolfo wolfy wolf wolf wolf. Wolf? Wolf!|Attributed to Wolf Lord Egil Ironwolf, ''On the Intricacies of Tactical Wolffare''}}

Jokes aside, Space Wolves doctrine normally builds their strategies around a "Pack" -- a group of unusually close battle-brothers that have very often been together since they were Blood Claws. While a Wolf Lord will generally set ''some'' broad strategies in a campaign, by and large he leaves the actual details and implementation to individual Pack Leaders. This... sort of works, as each pack's competitive nature eggs them on to one-up their buddies, but not so to the detriment of the campaign. This means that ''most'' of the time multiple packs will work together to accomplish a particular goal.

Space Wolves in general love a good scrap, and many will find that their "tactics" involve getting as close in as possible to their enemies and punching their lights out. Even the more sensible Long Fangs, who often roll their eyes at such youthful bravado, still indulge in the occasional brawl.

That said, all of this is still tempered by the Wolf Lord in charge of the Great Company. For example, Erik Morkai prefers stealth and very brutal ambushes, hence his preference for Wolf Scouts (and likely Reivers), while Engir Krakendoom likes going to war in all sorts of armored transports while escorted by Swiftclaw outriders.

== Criticism ==
As many on /tg/ will happily tell you, (and [[Magnus]] won’t stop [[RAGE|raging]] about) the Wolves are far from perfect. Where the [[Imperial Fists]] are inflexible and stubborn, the [[Dark Angels]] are unreliable and austere, and the [[Raven Guard]] are aloof and brooding, the Wolves are boisterous and arrogant. During the Heresy (and/or when Chris Wraight is writing them) they were incredibly brutal toward those they saw as oath-breakers, even if the oath-breaker in question was a fleeing, defenseless civilian.

The Ragnar Blackmane books further emphasize this and also portrayed the Chapter as willing to ignore the misdeeds of their heroes in spite of the importance they place on honor. This, combined with the Wolves hating the Thousand Sons for being psykers [[Rune Priest|while also using psykers]] led many to label the Wolves hypocrites, especially since the Space Wolves pick a fight with the Flesh Tearers for killing civilians in spite of their own troubled history in that regard.

Now, everyone including Wolves players admit that the Sons of Russ are entirely too short-sighted and prone to making enemies for their own good. During the Heresy, almost nobody liking them bit them in the ass at Alaxxes Nebula, but fast-forward to M41 and they're happily pissing off the Inquisition, Ecclesiarchy, Dark Angels, Ultramarines, etc. During Warzone Fenris, the galaxy at large is only too ready to write the Wolves off as heretics. Fans and detractors alike also note that it's [[Skub|arguable]] whether being so quick to make enemies and disobey orders to save civilians really saves more people in the long run, especially at Armageddon, where the Wolves' actions backfire badly.

== Civilians ==

Of all the inconsistently written aspects of the Chapter, this is by far the worst offender. Sometimes, the Space Wolves are written as brutal and merciless, giving zero fucks about collateral damage or civilian casualties. On the other hand, sometimes the Wolves [[Salamanders|put their lives on the line to protect the innocent.]] This can induce [[Rage]] in just about any fan, because some people get into the Space Wolves seeing them as heroes while others prefer their more savage, bloodthirsty tendencies.

The best fluff attempts to find a middle ground by presenting them as violent and pragmatic, but disciplined during the Heresy and increasingly heroic over time. By M41, the Wolves actively stop the Flesh Tearers from murdering Imperial civilians at Honour's End, disobey orders so they could protect the settlers at Thressiax, and play chicken with the Inquisition to save the people of Armageddon; this example is particularly notable, because the Wolves didn't just attempt to save the civilians from the Inquisition, for the first few months of the conflict they did so with passive resistance, defending civilian transports with the shields and hulls of their own ships, never firing back. This paints a picture of [[Awesome|a Chapter that actually becomes MOAR independent and heroic as the galaxy goes to shit around them.]] Or perhaps, they've remained the same and the galaxy has gone so grimdark that the Space Wolves now appear heroic in comparison.

Then Warzone Fenris happened. In it, the Wolves pretty much abandon their allies to focus on the Wulfen.

==Notable Members==
*[[Leman Russ]]: Primarch of the Space Wolves, Wolf King of Fenris, and Vikingest of the Viking Marines. Despite his tendency to be a pigheaded jackass, he was ultra-loyal to the Emperor and accepted his role without question, even when it involved things like [https://1d4chan.org/wiki/Primarch#Two_Missing_Primarchs_.7C_The_Forgotten_.26_The_Purged disappearing another legion and primarch] or [[Rangdan Xenocides|purging entire worlds of mind-controlled humans]]. He and his legion didn't actually accomplish that much during the Heresy aside from fucking Prospero with no lube, though he almost managed to decorrupt Horus at Trisolian. Abruptly left Fenris for some reason in the aftermath of the Scouring and hasn't been seen since, though he promised his sons he would return for their final battle no matter what. May currently be pillaging his way through the Warp, searching for a means to resurrect the Emperor, or trying to find Magnus.
*[[Bjorn the Fell Handed]]: The oldest active loyalist Space Marine in the galaxy. He served at Russ' side throughout the Heresy and became the first Great Wolf of the chapter after Russ took off. Ultimately wound up interred in a Dreadnought and now alternates between napping in the Aett and yelling at [[Thousand Sons|those damn psykers]] and everyone else in the galaxy to get off his lawn.
*Hvarl Red-Blade: Jarl of either the 4th or 7th Grand Company [[Derp|because FW can't proofread for shit]]. Looks like Fat Bastard for some reason and was considered mildly insane by the rest of the legion, which is saying something.
*Ohthere Wyrdmake: Rune Priest who made friends with Ahriman only to screw him over at Nikaea by betraying his confidences as part of Russ' efforts to get the Librarius shut down. Ahriman tore his soul out during the fighting on Prospero.
*[[Logan Grimnar]]: Current Great Wolf of the chapter. Rides around in a wolf-drawn sleigh like grimdark Santa and is one of the most bro-tier Astartes in the Imperium, having squared up to the Inquisition and Grey Knights rather than let them purge a bunch of innocent civilians at Armageddon.
*[[Lukas the Trickster]]: Strong contender for the title of Galaxy's Best Troll. Has pulled off such feats of trolling as tricking a bunch of Word Bearers into landing on thin ice and drowning themselves, "accidentally" locking an Inquisitorial delegation in a grox pen, and fucking with Magnus himself during the Second Battle of Prospero. The Wolf Lords hate him because he's an irreverent dick, but Lukas couldn't give less of a shit about what they think of him. Is one of the few Space Marines known to have gotten laid. Has a stasis bomb wired into his chest where his second heart used to be (it got stolen by a Dark Eldar) so that whoever kills him will be frozen in time with his laughing face in front of them, forever.
*[[Ragnar Blackmane]]: Youngest Wolf Lord in the chapter's history. Has a long-running rivalry with Madox of the Thousand Sons and once hit Magnus right in the eye with the Spear of Russ. During the Psychic Awakening, he got into a fight with [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka|Ghazghkull]] that ended with Ragnar half-dead and Ghaz decapitated, but they both survived because [[Plot Armor|plot armor]]. Ragnar got Primaris'd up and is after Ghaz for a rematch.
*[[Ulrik the Slayer]]: High Priest and oldest Space Wolf in the chapter, not counting Dreadnoughts. Still talks to Logan Grimnar like he's a snotty kid and once killed three Khorne Berzerkers so hard that [[Angron]] himself saluted his sheer RAEG. Wears Leman Russ' helmet into battle.
*[[Arjac Rockfist]]: Wolf Guard who has a thunder hammer that teleports back into his hand whenever he throws it, making him the grimdark Thor to Lukas' Loki and Logan's Odin.
*[[Bran Redmaw]]: Wolf Lord/Wulfen who can somehow control his transformation to some degree. Tends to go off by himself in battle so he doesn't wolf out and accidentally kill his own dudes.
*[[Canis Wolfborn]]: He is a Wolf Guard whose first name means Dog and rides a giant wolf and leads a pack of [[Fenrisian Wolves]] that he commands by barking at them and was raised by wolves and probably has a wolf plushie that he cuddles at night. Basically Canis is what happens when the ''Wolf'' part of Space Wolves is taken to its logical extreme. Also at one point he had a BS of 2, [[FAIL|meaning that the average Ork could outshoot him]].
*Murderfang: Wulfen Dreadnought who has to be kept in stasis between battles because he's batshit crazy and has lost the ability to tell friend from foe.
*[[Svane Vulfbad]]: Former Wolf Lord who decided that the Imperium sucked and led his entire Great Company into Khorne worship. May or may not be dead; he got into a fight with Harald Deathwolf and right when Harald was about to kill him, a thunderbolt hit them and Svane disappeared, leaving behind a fragment of his frost axe lodged in the jaw of Harald's Thunderwolf. Only appeared in a single issue of White Dwarf and has never been mentioned again ever, which is kind of a shame.

==Daily rituals of a Space Wolf==

08:00 - Early Risers - Most of the Wolf Scouts and Reivers, having avoided the last rounds the previous evening, wake from their quarters. They give each other quiet nods of approval, before heading for the festhall for an early breakfast. 
08:30 - Morning Firing Drills -- The Wolf Scouts and Reivers take advantage of the otherwise unoccupied firing range to get their drills in. The Lone Wolves are appreciative of the Primaris Vanguard stealth training, while Primaris marvel at Lone Wolves sniper marksmanship. 
9:00 - Wilderness Training - Wolf Scout squads leave for their regular wilderness patrols, while Reivers try to stalk them. Most of the day will be filled with one trying to track down the other, or stalking a particularly worthwhile prey. 
13:00 - Wake Up with Hangover - The majority of Space Wolves battle-brothers awaken by this point. 
13:10 - Morning Piss - The Space Wolf empties the alcohol that has accumulated in his bladder(s) in the Sacred Alcohol Excretion Grounds. (Doing so anywhere else is hazardous as space wolf urine is capable of corroding ceramite) 
13:11 - Morning Fart - The Space Wolf empties his intestines. Pissing without farting is like going to a holy site without praying to the Emperor, which is heresy. 
13:20 - Morning Piss Ends - The Space Wolves have finally finished urinating. The surrounding landscape is scorched with a aura of menace resembling nurgle’s rot. 
13:30 - Ritual of the Hair of the Dog - The Space Wolf now cracks open his first cold one of the day. The first of many. Cheerios may be consumed as well. 
13:45 - Firing Drills - The Space Wolf consumes another liter of alcohol before going out back and shooting empty beer bottles with his bolter. This takes place far away from the Alcohol Excretion Grounds, after that one time Brother Brynjolf accidentally lit his own piss on fire. an entire company had to spend 6 months in the sickbay until their hair grew back and they were thus fit to be seen in public again. 
14:00 - Freeze your Balls - The Space Wolf sheds his armor and most of his clothing to wander around Asaheim for an hour. 
15:00 - Feeding of the Land Raiders - Space Wolf observes a feast with his brothers in honour of the chapter's revered battle machines. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow not grasping that the Long Fangs and Grey Hunters beelined for the chow hall as soon as the claws were out of sight. 
15:30 - Boozing of the Land Raiders - No feast is complete without metric fucktons of liquor. Fenrisian Ale, beer, and if available bylestim blend are poured and scrubbed all over the most honoured of the chapter's war machines. Many still have bullet holes, sometimes allowing beer to get into the exhaust ports and make for kickass explosions later. Blood Claws are still wandering around outside naked in the snow. 
16:00 - Wolf your Wolf - Grey Hunters and older Space Wolves take this time to play with their favourite 4-legged companions. Any Blood Claw who's showed up by now is made a Grey Hunter. 
16:30 - Save the Blood Claws - Blood Claws are brought in from the cold. Most are frozen blue or black - and hungry for more. 
17:00 - Evening feast - Eat. Drink. Start brawls. The usual non-warzone Space Wolf thing. 
18:00 - Try to wake up [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|Bjorn]]. 
18:10 - Give up, try to find something fun on the Vox Saga. 
19:00 - Night shitter break. 
20:00 - Night firing drills - Much to the Iron Priest's dismay, the Space Wolves practice writing their names in the snow with bolters. In runes. In the dark. 
21:00 - Ritual Intake of Narcotics and Purging of Testicles - bitches and blow. 
05:00 - Daily Rest - The Space Wolf passes out. 

==A Quick Word Out of Character==
The true reason for all this, is that, we at /tg/, in our pathetic, low-reaching mastery of comedy, have seen how idiotic it is that every goddamn Space Wolf codex unnecessarily uses the word "wolf" as a prefix or a suffix every 3rd sentence (similar to the [[Robin Cruddace|Tyranid codex]] shoe-horning the prefix ''bio-'' into every 3rd sentence). Since /tg/ is an easily angered monster, not unlike an [[Angry Marine]], we furiously attempt to link Space Wolves to furries (it's really fucking annoying), as we are as fucked up as [[Chaos Pretty Marines]].

It has been established in the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' series that the VI Legion doesn't employ the word "wolf" as much as they appear to do. Wolves are readily apparent in their motifs, such as Leman Russ's titles as "Wolf-King" and "Great Wolf," as well as in the formal name of the Wolf Guard, but it's not as overblown as it's made out to be. Apparently, whoever did the Fenrisian-to-Gothic translation made a few errors. First off, they don't call themselves "the Space Wolves." When speaking formally, they refer to themselves as the ''Vlka Fenryka'', which we can look at a few ways. "Fenris" is easy, a reference to Fenrir from Norse mythology. "Vlka" has a couple options; if you walk it backwards through the Germanic ''Volk'' you get "Folk of Fenris". This supports a common theory on 1d4chan where a bunch of colonists landed on a planet, bred giant dogs from their great, great, grand-children (more on that in a minute) then thought, "You know what's better than planet Unicorn? Planet fucking Fenris". So the the ''Vlka Fenryka'' are literally the folk of Fenris. Alternately ''Vlka'' can be translated from Slavic to get the "Wolves of Fenris" again.

No matter what you conclude on, you get Dan Abnett using linguistics to reinforce his theme that the Space Wolves are misunderstood by the rest of the Imperium - calling the Space Wolves because of a mistranslated word. One could even argue they are actually called "Space People", would make sense since Ragnar referred to them as "Star warriors" in the William King novels and their Fenrisian ''Kaerl'' auxiliaries call them "sky warriors," but the lore from these novels has been left by the wayside so take that as you will. When speaking informally, they refer to themselves as "the Rout", solidifying their purpose as the Emperor's executioners (self-proclaimed)/snowflakes. Additionally, the post of "Wolf-Lord" is also a mistranslation, as they refer to their Company commanders as ''Jarl''. Finally, they don't call their fortress-monastery the Fang, but rather the ''Aett'', which can be literally translated as "clan home." There's also this in-universe [[meme]] "there are no wolves on Fenris." At all. This was started by one of the primarchs remarking that they should be called xenos, because they're natives of an alien planet, and it quickly morphed into a joke. As it turns out, this is literally true.

With regards to the [[Fenrisian Wolf|Fenrisian wolves]], the origin a little more freaky than expected: they're not wolves, but descendants of human-wolf mutants. Back when Fenris was first settled, the colonists had the ''Canis helix'' added to help them adapt to the harsh environment by adding wolf genes to their genetic-makeup. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well--the ''canix helix'' caused a number of settlers to degrade into wolfmen and wolfwomen. Following this, they bred and produced a new strain of wolf into the environment. So there are no ''wolves'' on Fenris. They're just the descendants of human mutants. Which might explain why, post-Heresy, only Fenrisians can become Space Wolves (assuming that's why the successor chapters couldn't handle Russ' gene seed).

So yes, naming the planet after the wolves means we really do just end up all the way back at Wolves of Wolves after all. Whelp.

Of course, that means that the Space Wolves are wearing pelts made of [[Fabius Bile|human skin]], but lets not dwell on that - after all it's fairly common in the Imperium to wear human skulls... WolfyWolfWolf {{BLAM|''' *BLAM*}}.

===The Wulfen issue aka "Fucking Furries"===
The blatant author favouritism annoys fans of the other chapters with "Dark Secrets". GW's treatment of the Wulfen makes it effortless for fans of other chapters to hurl [[Mary Sue]] accusations at them, unlike the [[Blood Angels]] and [[Dark Angels]]. The Wulfen are now out in the open; once they were exposed they get little (arguably no) punishment while the Inquisition and Grey Knights just "kept one eye open". The aforementioned chapters on the other hand have to keep their secrets from being found out by the Inquisition and the Imperium at large.

Despite the fact that Fallen Angels were paraded around on Terra, many would assume they were [[Ravenwing]] without their fancy bikes. While any claims of Dark Angels being the real traitors from the Fallen would have [[Guilliman]] retort back that they are full of shit (with more and longer words), as he knew exactly what The First was up to during the Horus Heresy with the exception the events that caused the destruction of Caliban. Of course, the Unforgiven would also be pissed if they found out if one of the predecessors of the Grey Knights killed a Dark Angel and were part of the reason their homeworld was destroyed and would demand censure.

The Blood Angels on the other hand have an infection similar to the Wulfen without mutating into some kind of half-human man-beast. The [[Red Thirst]]. The Blood Angels and their successors organize the afflicted into [[Death Company|Death Companies]] who are lead by their Chaplains into killing Xenos and foul traitors. If they somehow survive the mutated Blood Angels are {{BLAM}}ed or locked away until the next battle.

Both chapters send their traitors/mutants into battle to be used as cannon fodder. A much more grimdark action that would be in character for Space Marines. [[White Scars|They wouldn't be the only]] [[Raven Guard|chapters to have done this either.]] Instead of treating mutants as fellow warriors. Inserting noble bright into the setting where it doesn't belong. The same reasons that so many players also hated the Tau until GW retconned them into being more grimdark.

Making this all the more strange. In all likelihood [[Guilliman]] himself wouldn't see a problem with using mutated Space Marines as cannon fodder. Because he did so himself when he created the [[Moritat]]s after combat exercises with the [[Raven Guard]]. So chances are he would side with the other two former [[Imperium Secundus]] Legions. [[Ogryn|Due to not only favoritism but he and the rest of the Imperium at large would find it strange that the Space Wolves do not]].

If [[Guilliman]] ever found out about all three. He would most likely order [[The Fallen]] and [[Wulfen]] organized into [[Death Company|Death Companies]] style formations as well. Something that the Dark Angels are more or less doing already. This would just make it official. The Space Wolves would look like the bad guys if they objected, putting them in a tough spot.

=== Why people hate the Space Wolves, tldr version ===
One user on reddit summed it up with this. (fixed for grammar somewhat)

"The Space Wolves remind me of a 13 year old’s first D&D character: very cool, special, powerful barbarian hero who is morally flawless but doesn't listen to authority and always does the right thing but don't you dare cross them. They get away with shit because they're so special and the rules don't apply to them, guys. They got to wage war on the Inquisition with a slap on the wrist, while the Celestial Lions were slaughtered for merely questioning the morals of the Inquisition. [[Mary Sue|They get a free pass on mutation in a setting where that gets chapters purged.]] They drink and party while other chapters lose hundreds of brothers on meaningless, forgotten battlegrounds. They aren't even Vikings! The White Scars are Space Mongols. The Black Templars are Space Teutons. [[Ultramarines|There are Space Rome]]. [[Thousand Sons|Space Egypt]]. [[Raven Guard|Space Iroquois]]. But Vikings? No. They don't raid. They don't pillage. They don't terrorize. They don't explore, chart, map, and push boundaries. [[Mary Sue|They just fuck around, being special, unique perfect little dudes who don't suffer in GrimDarkness.]]

They exist in the wrong game."

So basically Space Wolves now have the same problem as the Tau did a few editions back.

How true this rings, however, is [[Skub|a matter of contention]] considering some of the actions that [[Iron_Hands|other]] [[Dark Angels|First]] [[Blood Angels|Founding]] Chapters get away scot-free with, as well as the sheer importance that a First Founding Chapter has to both other Chapters (their successors would likely fucking riot if the big =][= went after them) and the Imperium's populace as a whole.

=== A Primaris Marine calls the Wolves out on their bullshit ===

In ''Dawn of Fire: The Wolftime'', Logan is a dick to Guilliman and refuses to take reinforcements even after the furries got their assed kicked by [[Orks]]. One of the Unnumbered Sons promptly tells the Wolves that they're full of shit right to their hobo-stubbled faces, in a pretty [[awesome]] "You suck!" speech.

"You’re all vain, empty beasts. You talk of honour, of accounting the dead, of glory in battle but you are just inbred hounds rolling in the filth. You would all be ork-dead by now, if not for me and my brothers, but that’s not enough. [[Grimdark|I could bleed my last drop of blood for you, watch it freeze on your Emperor-abandoned drop-hole of a world and still you would not call me a Wolf of Fenris.]] [...]

You are nothing to the Rout of old," snarled Gaius. "A spent force, throwing yourselves at your enemies, shouting empty cries, bleating like sheep about Russ returning at the end. He would be shamed to see what had become of his sons! [..]

There is nothing special about you or your world. [[Belisarius Cawl|Cawl]] took apart what makes a Space Marine and put the pieces together again in something better. Primaris. Me. The Firstwolves. He found no Fenrisian magic dust, no sprinkles of wyrd. The Test of Morkai is just a barbaric ritual intended to massively elevate physiological responses to trigger gene-seed adoption. There’s nothing spiritual about it."

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Lightning2.jpg|'Tis only a matter of time until Steve Blum voices 'em. Apparently, this set somehow makes things you hit weigh less.
File:Warlord of Fenris by NachoMon.jpg|Totally not overcompensating...Yeah he's just <s>hiding a massive hardon with</s> supporting the skull with a massive hard-on.
File:Lemanruss39.jpg|Leman Russ. About to mercilessly fuck over the Thousand Sons.
File:Prospero.jpg|Is he carrying a wooden shield? Really? Against a bolt shell? It better be a Combat Shield.
[[File:http://l.wigflip.com/DucDpDtG/roflbot.jpg]]|Pretty cool guys to hang with.
File:SneakySpaceWolves.png|Good thing they brought the sneaking flag.
</gallery>

==See also==
*[[Bjorn the Fell Handed]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Space Wolves (9E)|Space Wolves Tactics]]
*[[Warriors of Chaos]] - With whom they get into bar brawls and drinking contests to see who is moar [[Viking]]
*[[Skyrar's Dark Wolves]] - Before calling your [[Dark Angels]] brothers [[Troll|traitors]] read [[Svane_Vulfbad|this]] first to understand [[Fallen_Angels|their]][[ rage]].
*[[Legion Consul]] - The old "Commissars" of the VI legion.
*[https://youtu.be/Bh_5ofa__pY/ Space Wolves theme song]

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{{Space Wolves}}
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