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Celestial Lions

2019-09-24T17:55:04Z

2605:6000:1523:8A2D:D07:29CC:E563:7517: /* Daily Routines */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Celestial Lions
|Heraldry = [[File:Celestial_Lions_Livery.png|150px]]
|Battle Cry = "We are the Emperor's pride. [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Hear us roar!]]"
|Number =
|Founding = Sometime in the 38th Millennium
|Successors of = [[Imperial Fists]]
|Successor Chapters =
|Chapter Master = Unknown
|Primarch = Rogal Dorn
|Homeworld = Elysium IX
|Specialty = Messing with the [[Inquisition]], flanking tactics
|Strength = [[Grimdark|Less than 95]], [[Noblebright|rebuilding]]
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Gold, with blue helmet and pauldrons.
}}
{{topquote|Whoever corrects a mocker invites insults, whoever rebukes the wicked incurs [[Blam|abuse]].|The Bible, Proverbs 9:7 (New International Version)}}

The '''Celestial Lions''' (calling them "Celestial ''Loins''" would be a joke in poor taste, given their tremendous losses of late) are a chapter of [[Space Marines]] in the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe. They are an object lesson of what happens to people who try and mess with the [[Inquisition]] without serious backup (like being a [[First Founding]] chapter). It is unknown if the Inquisition is going to survive the return object lesson of what happens to those who fuck with the Space Marines. Especially Space Marines who are now best-buds with the Black Templars.

== Chapter Culture==
The Celestial Lions are a very brotherly, compassionate chapter, whose fraternal nature comes from the fact that they only recruit from the warrior tribes of the world Elysium IX. As they all come from a culture that values community, legacy, and courage, all the Lions hold those values as paramount. More than most other chapters, their world's culture holds sway in their conduct. The Lions are very informal to those within their own ranks, with even basic battle brothers talking to their superiors as brothers and equals, though they are disciplined on the battlefield and they show great respect to the officers of other forces, particularly the other [[Black Templars|sons]] [[Imperial fists|of]] [[Crimson Fists|Dorn]]. Another quirk of their chapter culture is the [[Space Wolves|value they place on storytelling and the great respect they give to talented storytellers]]. Within their chapter it is common for a squad to gather and tell stories of their heroes and their own exploits before an engagement. If an outsider is present in one of their ships or bases the visitor is expected to pay for their "food and fire" by telling a story from their own people's legends or that individuals exploits and as such they love serving alongside guardsman for the [[Ollanius Pius|stories]] [[Ciaphas Cain|they]] [[Commissar Yarrick|tell]]. Though they are very different from their [[imperial fists|typical]] [[Black Templars|grim]] cousin chapters, they are proud sons of [[Rogal Dorn|Dorn]] through and through. Most of this can be inferred from the short story in the Helsreach book.

==Clash with the Inquisition==
The Celestial Lions came into conflict with the [[Inquisition]] during the pacification of the world Khattar. Khattar was a [[Ecclesiarchy|Shrine World]] with a large, faithful population. When the upper echelons of the priesthood fell into worship of the [[Chaos|Ruinous Powers]] an Inquisitor Lord by the name of Apollyon (which is the Greek equivalent of "Destroyer" ie. [[Abaddon]]) called for an Imperial Navy blockade of the world in addition to Astartes support, a call that the Celestial Lions answered. After months of brutal fighting the Celestial Lions managed to cut the head off the local heretic priests and with that, the world's population lost the will to fight and surrendered to the Astartes. As the Lions were withdrawing, Inquisitor Apollyon decided that [[wat|since the priesthood had been corrupt, the surrendering and repentant civilian population must also be corrupt]], so he ordered Exterminatus on the planet. The Lions [[RAGE|were not fucking amused]]. After Apollyon refused to be held accountable for the senseless massacre, saying it was necessary, the Lions sent a Strike Cruiser with a delegation of Deathspeakers and Warleaders (Chaplains and Captains, respectively) to [[Terra|Holy Terra]] with the intention of entreating the High Lords of Terra to call the Inquisition to task over what they'd done. The ship was discovered two years later in Ork-controlled space, with nobody left alive in it and nowhere even close to its intended destination.

==Third War for Armageddon==
[[File:Celestial Lions Astartes.png|thumb|right|200px|They're as badass as they look]]
Fast-forward to the Third War for [[Armageddon]]. The entire chapter was deployed to a single hive, and thanks to spectacularly bad intelligence they ended up outnumbered, unsupported, and taking heavy losses at every battle, culminating in a mission in which the supposedly inactive Gargants they were sent to destroy proved to have been lying in wait for them along with several Ork warbands backing them up- all of which had apparently been warned of the Lions' planned attack some time beforehand. Matters came to a head when "[[Ork]] [[What|snipers]]" managed to take out most of the survivors (especially the Apothecaries), and their last [[Apothecary]] was found dead next to the Chapter's last [[Land Raider]] (having been shot through the head with a [[lasgun]] at point blank range and the gene-seed he was carrying stolen), leaving them without any means to recover the [[gene-seed]] from their fallen. The remaining 95 Lions realized that they had been marked for death and decided that they would fight off all the Orks on Armageddon or die trying, and contacted [[Grimaldus|Chaplain Grimaldus]] of the [[Black Templars]] to administer their last rites, but he insisted that the remainder of the Chapter could still restore its honour (and thus be allowed to leave) by slaying the warlord leading the Ork forces in the area. To support his weakened cousins Grimaldus used his influence as the 'Hero of Helsreach' to get support from several regiments of [[Imperial Guard]]. While much of the remaining forces of the Celestial Lions were wiped out in the attack, they were successful in redeeming themselves when Ekene Dubaku killed the Orkish Warlord with Grimaldus's help. The Inquisition abandoned their campaign against the remaining Lion's as the lesson had been thoroughly learnt and the Black Templars were now aware of it. Ekene, the Lion's only surviving Pride Leader (i.e. Squad Sergeant) was then named the new Chapter Master and given a couple of parting gifts by High Marshal Helbrecht himself: a suit of relic Imperial Fists power armor dating back to the [[Great Crusade]] along with a matching Relic Blade and the Strike Cruiser ''Blade of the Seventh Son''.

==Ultimate Fate==
The Lions are now working to rebuild with the help of a temporary detachment of Black Templar specialists, including some apothecaries and techmarines. Though it'll be hard considering there's less than ninety-five of them left, another Imperial Fists successor chapter recovered from near-extinction in less than a century after being reduced to 12 Marines in total. Plus, while the Inquisition may get away with bullying later-founded chapters, it would be tantamount to suicide for anyone to mess with the [[Black Templars|largest space marine <strike>legion</strike> chapter]] excluding the <strike>[[Dark Angels]]</strike>.

With the Indomitus Crusade going on. It's more than likely Guilliman sent some Primaris Marines to rebuild the Lions. This seems to be backed up by the fact that ADB is writing a book about an allied chapter, the Emperor's Spears, receiving Primaris reinforcements. One member of the chapter was also able to serve in the Deathwatch, implying they had the latitude to spare a marine.

Unfortunately though, the novel Spear of the Emperor states that Ekene Dubaku was beheaded by a [[Callidus]] posing as Thrall servant of Amadeus Kaias Incarius from the [[Mentor Legion]]. Nobody expects the Inquisition indeed. Of course, this means the Inquisition, Officio Assassinorum, and the Mentor Legion (assuming the Mentors were in plan which based on there limited lore of being less grim dark then other chapters is possible) ave dishonored and therefore majorly pissed off yet another Chapter ''and'' the Black Templars.

Out of universe this further proves that ADB is a hack for killing off cool characters to shill his OCs. In universe on the other hand: "Ork snipers" could have been accepted for a time, grots are on the level of the human with the same ballistic skill after all. But now the Assassinorum has openly revealed itself in what most definitely qualifies as treason. Receiving Inquisitorial permission or orders to kill a Chapter for enforcing the Emperor's law is. . . complicated to say the least. On the face of it this ''not'' an acceptable excuse for carrying out those blatantly treasonous orders, and the excuse of 'just following orders' has not flown since 945.M1. On the other hand, this is the Imperium of Man and the Inquisition basically IS the law. To put another way: if the [[Kryptman]] could have a whole moat of planets blown up to slow down a hive fleet, then basically this would not even be a drop in the grim dark bucket. All the Inqusition could have said is 'we have evidence he's a heretic take care of them' and the Assassinorum would not even have the authority to question that order. Except blowing up planets to stop a hive fleet is one thing, exterminating a Chapter of Space Marines for apparently no reason is something else entirely and would not be tolerated. Of course, with the player's knowledge we know there are so many sects in the Inquisition that it is likely one or more are conspiring to make this happen. It won't save the Inquisition from the rest of the Astartes getting pissed about it. The moment the Inquisition starts offing Chapters for getting in the way of pointless massacres and generally Space Marines doing their jobs is the moment the Astartes see the Inquisition as an obstacle to their duty. No obstacle to the Space Marines has ever survived their...removal.

Regardless when/if this gets back to Guilliman some heretics are gonna ''die'' and the Inquisition it self could take a major hit.

==Trivia==
* "[[Ork Snipers]]" has since become slang for [[Vindicare]] assassins, or more generally for any implausible cover story for an [[Inquisition]] action.
** You know who else have golden armour, blue details and star patterns? [[Stormcast Eternals|Hammers of Sigmar]]. Funny, huh?
**Blue glitter paint, or clear glitter over blue, is much easier than painting individual stars.
* Also, "Ekene Dubaku" (Emperor rest his soul) is a badass as fuck name.
*They love catnip
*They do not use actual lions. Celestial or otherwise.

==Daily Routines==
04:00- Wake-Up: The Celestial Lions awaken. They immediately recite a litany of hate upon the Inquisition.

05:00- Morning Prayer: The Celestial Lions pray to tell amazing stories, as well as troll the Inquisition. Any brother caught praying for mercy from the Inquisition is sent to the Deathwatch.

06:00- Morning Firing Rites: The Celestial Lions tell stories to each other, and laugh heartily amongst themselves. Their targets are painted to look like Inquisitors, though some of the targets look '''VERY''' life-like.

07:00- Morning Battle Practice: The Celestial Lions reenact battles they have been in to entertain the neophytes and children of the Imperium. Sometimes, a human dressed as an inquisitor will be the victim of a plethora of slapstick jokes.

08:00- Morning Feast: A great feast is prepared by the chapter serfs. The serfs are invited to join the battle brothers at the table as they tell stories and tales of heroic deeds. Any serf who has the best story about being a troll is immediately inducted into the scout company.

09:00- Tactical Indoctrination: The Celestial Lions gather to make fun of the Inquisition. All the Ordos, as well as the Deathwatch and Grey Knights are talked copius amounts of shit. However, any battle brother who sullies the name of the Sororitas is immediately appointed as the chapter's Inquisitorial laison for his heresy.

12:00- Afternoon Feast: The Chapter gathers to laugh and tell more stories of great deeds. Serfs are encouraged to participate, encouraging them to criticize and throw the best insult at the inquisition whenever possible.

14:00- Afternoon Firing Rites: Inquisitorial agents, soldiers, and assassins sent after them placed in a field for target practice. Many times, the chapter serfs are allowed to take a few shots as well.

16:00- Afternoon Battle Practice: The Celestial Lions meet with their Black Templar pals to practice melee and mechanized combat.

18:00- Evening Feast: The Celestial Lions, Black Templars, and chapter serfs all enjoy a nice meal. Everyone shares stories and tell of their feats, from killing T'au commanders and Ork Warbosses, to trolling [[Chris-chan|Zis-chan]].

19:00- Free time: The Celestial Lions tell each other more stories as their Templar friends depart. Whenever they find the Inquisitorial spy hiding in the air ducts, they drag him out and force him to watch video clips of T'au beating humans in melee. The sheer rage and disgust that appears on his face entertains the entire chapter.

20:00- Bedtime: The Celestial Lions let the spy go, and turn in for the day. Before they do so, the chapter master tells them all a bedtime story.

==Gallery==
<Gallery>
File:Black Library Armageddon by ukitakumuki.jpg|Black Templars [[Grimaldus]] and Pride Leader Ekene Dubaku kickin' Ork assess. Note how Grimaldus is far too much of a badass to look where he’s shooting.
File:Black Library Blood and Fire by ukitakumuki.jpg|Ekene Dubaku rocking the Bolt Carbine... Totally awesome. In other news, Grimaldus still isn’t looking where he’s shooting.
File:Ork Snipers.jpg|So True.
File:Celestial Lions.jpeg|We present to you, the celestial lions!
File:Celestial lions apothecary by rhoadesd20-d5941zd.jpg|A Celestial Lion Apothecary falling victim to an "Ork Sniper"
</Gallery>

{{Marines-Official}}

Grey Knights

2019-09-24T17:17:34Z

2605:6000:1523:8A2D:D07:29CC:E563:7517: /* Daily Rituals of the Grey Knights */

{{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]]
|Founding = [[Second Founding]] (sort of)
|Successors of = [[Knights-Errant]], after a fashion
|Successor Chapters = [[Exorcists]] (unconfirmed)
|Chapter Master = [[Kaldor Draigo]] (unfortunately)
|Primarch = Unknown, possibly having chimeric gene-seed]]
|Homeworld = 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,<br>One last blade forged in defiance of fate,<br>Let them be my legacy to the galaxy I conquered,<br>And my final gift to the species I failed.|[[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 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 alot 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]] (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.

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.

==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 override 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 override a 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 abilities, but on heroics and soul - 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 has 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 embarassing 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, its 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}}
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.
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. It has always been the thought of the majority of Imperial warriors and Valerian himself 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'', Valerian does recognize that the Custodians 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 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. 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, 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. Thus, they act on the opposite end of the scale to Grey Knights, who fight against the warp on its own terms, where 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, 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. But 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 these include an ancient piece of archeotech called MS-DOS which runs the ancient game from M3 known as "Doom" in which what is assumed to be a proto grey knight runs around slaughtering lesser daemons,greater daemons and the occasional daemon prince of hell. This is of great entertainment to the grey knights as it reminds them that killing demons isnt just their emperor given duty, its fun too. also they like to watch an ancient terran holotape about proto demon hunters called "Ghostbusters" in which the question is put to the grey knights who will they call when daemons of what is assumed to be nurgle(slimer) are terrorising ancient hive city new york

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'''

One unbreakable shield against the coming darkness,

One final 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 Emperor of Mankind.'''

===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
</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]]
*[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Grey_Knights(8E)]]
* [[The Ultimate Grey Knight Cheese List]] The Ultimate (in Cheese!) Grey Knight Army for 6E. Seriously, though...don't play it or your opponent will murder you in real life.
(That and the fact that any decent army will table it turn 1.)
* [[Grey Knight Brotherhood Creation Table]] - Create your own Brotherhood with anons or otherwise.
* [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}}

Aurora Chapter

2019-09-24T02:11:55Z

2605:6000:1523:8A2D:D07:29CC:E563:7517: /* Daily Routine */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Aurora Chapter
|Heraldry = [[File:Aurora Livery.jpg]]
|Battle Cry = "I Shall Defend!"
|Number =
|Founding = [[Second Founding]]
|Successors of = [[Ultramarines]]
|Successor Chapters = Unknown
|Chapter Master = Unknown
|Primarch = [[Roboute Guilliman]]
|Homeworld = Firestorm
|Specialty = Massive Armored Assaults, Having more tanks than you
|Strength = Unknown, Assumed full strength, Pissing off other chapters
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Green
}}
[[File:Aurora_Marine.png|left|thumb|Not pictured: their tanks.]]
The Aurora Chapter is one of the many successor Chapters of the [[Ultramarines]] produced during the Second Founding; they specialize in massed armored assaults, and are reputed to have more Land Raiders and Predators than any other Chapter in the Imperium. They have been involved in a number of campaigns, in recent note the '''Zeist Campaign''' against the Tau. Having more tanks than God requires having a sufficient source of parts and ammunition, and so the Aurora Chapter has their home world of Firestorm, which is a Forgeworld so capable it can rival the output of several high profile Mechanicus worlds combined. In effect, the planet can be considered the Chapter's forge, with a large percentage of its output diverted to supplying the Chapter. Since they are technically only supposed to have a thousand marines...who is using the shiny shit? Either they have waaaaay more marines than they should, or they are using serfs to man their cool stuff. Both of which are reasonable. Or their armored crews are considered part of the armory and so their numbers are not limited by the Codex Astartes. Or maybe they have a shit ton of Tech-Marines given their recruiting world is a freaking Forge World (also not limited by the Codex).

According to [[Forge World|Forge World's]] [[Horus Heresy]] books, they are likely to be descended from the Ultramarines' 4th Chapter, the "Aurorans". It's noted that even during the Great Crusade, they had five times as many armored vehicles as a typical Chapter in the Legiones Astartes (and keep in mind that this was when the Iron Hands were still at full strength and would also be skewing the numbers).

They are mentioned as having a feud with the [[Knights of the Raven]] chapter, after having taken unacceptable losses while fighting alongside them; this was further exacerbated when the Aurora Chapter accused the Knights of the Raven of cultivating superstitious heresy on their own homeworld of Coralax ''(though this seems absurd since there are so many [[Mortifactors|chapters]] [[White Scars|with]] [[Storm Wardens|feudal]]/[[Space Wolves|feral]] backgrounds, so it seems a bit petty that any other chapter would care)'', when the Knights took insult at the obviously inflammatory remarks, the two chapters came to blows with each other. The issue was only resolved when [[Marneus Calgar]] stepped in and [[What|quietly mentioned]] that the Knights of the Raven should go on a penitent crusade, [[Butthurt|which they did]]. Which implies that the Aurora Chapter might have been right. Oh, they also got into a row with the the [[Emperor's Spears]]. So maybe the Aurora Chapter are just a bunch of whiny pricks.
[[File:Aurora Chapter Predator Destructor.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Imagine this, times about 40000]]

== Cool Shit ==
Once upon a time, the tread heads lost a beloved Land Raider in the xenos/heretic infested [[Deathwatch (RPG)|Jericho Reach]]. The [[Deathwatch]] recovered the tank, but found it to be beyond repair; however, knowing the Aurora Chapter had a massive piercing hard-on for their tanks, they decided to do their battle-brothers a solid by taking its main axle and reforging it into a thunder hammer by the name of '''Remembrance'''. It was thought that doing this would allow the destroyed machine to avenge its destruction, and every marine that has wielded the weapon in battle swears it strikes with the force of a tank, which is [[Awesome]].

There is also some discrepancy about the chapter's numbers. In 3rd Edition, they were cited as having over a thousand predator tanks alongside the rest of their sizable tank force; however, in 4th edition and later this is scaled back to more Predators and Land Raiders than three chapters combined (the Heresy Era Aurorans had more than ''five'' times that of a normal chapter). So, if you take the current disposition of the Ultramarines as an approximation of a "normal chapter", that gives the Aurorans somewhere between 75 and 125 Predators and 30 and 50 Land Raiders.

Despite their predilection for massed tank combat alongside their typical battle contingents, they aren't hinted at being massively divergent from the Codex Astartes, which is normal - the Codex organisation doesn't have listed numbers of vehicle drivers in their armouries; many are assigned as required from the 6th or 7th Tactical Reserves and likely return to their company duties when their vehicle is not selected for a mission. Some individuals may exist permanently attached to the chapter's armoury and come to specialise in armoured operations and are commonly associated with larger or rarer vehicles. The Aurorans may indeed have more of these specialists than any other chapter commensurate to their greater number of vehicles. In the 5th Edition codex, Antaro Chronus was said to have command of fifty brother-marines, though this likely includes both the permanent armoury staff and transitory vehicle operators when they are called to ride to war. Using the three times rule, we can extrapolate that the Aurora Chapter have around 150 vehicle operators in various positions around the companies and from the armoury itself, meaning they may have more tanks than drivers.

Alternatively, ''(though there is no evidence to support this whatsoever since no other Codex Chapter does this)'' Their large vehicle pool could be maintained by either having their serfs man the tanks or perhaps using aspirants for it. The Aurorans would no doubt desire aspirants who are talented in armored warfare. If so, this may well be one of the most effective Chapters as they would be capable of leveling Great Crusade level armored support in addition with fielding all of their Space Marines without wasting any crewing vehicles (other than rare ones like Land Raiders). If not, then they are among the most moronic of Chapters as the whole reason Predators and such are used instead of Leman Russ tanks is because the Space Marines are practically walking vehicles anyway and something fast to provide support around the battlefield wherever needed is what the Space Marines most often require. Although given that Aspirants are children, this idea would mean their tanks are being driven by a bunch of boys not old enough to shave. Which is uh...weird even for 40k. Well, weird in that they're not lobotomized child robot-things wired into the machine as living CPUs. So, weird for not being horrific as fuck.

More realistically, since Astartes already generally rely on small elite surgical strikes rather than thundering vehicle formations, having flexible vehicles with small crews that can help fill in the Devastator (and to a lesser extent Tactical) role. In all likelihood these guys keep many of their vehicles stored as spares and deploy different amounts of them depending on the need and use for them, which is how most chapters operate anyway. Orbital assets, scouts, and fast attack elements would make it a priority to target anti-armour forces (and so would the vehicles themselves), which they kind of already do since small arms tend not to bother Astartes too much, and they tend to have valuable goodies they can't really afford to replace. The problem with this idea (that they're just maintained and packaged out like normal Chapters) is that it ''nullifies their specialty'' and so is probably incorrect. Since they have a specialty in armored warfare and using huge numbers of tanks.

==Daily Routine==
04:00- Wake up: The Aurora Chapter awaken, climbing out of their tanks and land raiders. The Chapter Master usually gets a Land Raider with the other leaders, with veterans and specialized marines climbing out of Predators. Standard battle brothers will climb from their Vindicators, while scouts and neophytes worm their way out of the Rhinos. Some women will be seen sneaking out of the fortress monastery.

04:30- Morning Prayer: The Aurora Chapter pray to the Emperor and the Omnissiah. The image they worship is a giant effigy of the Emperor with a tank cannon on his arm and a HECK ton of bionics.

05:00- Tank Maintenance: The Techmarines and all other battle brothers polish and repair any damaged or slightly dirty tanks they possess. Any Marine who fails in this task must do chores for the Techmarines for a week.

06:00- Morning Firing Rites: The Aurora Chapter fire tank rounds at cut-outs and remote control combat bikes. The chapter serfs wonder how in the Emprah's name they managed to fit a battle tank into a firing range designed for infantry only.

08:00- Morning Battle Practice: Completing their marksmanship practice, the Aurora Chapter proceeds to use their tanks in combat, simulating battles against the orks, tyranids, Tau, and Heretics. Yelling "'''DRIVE ME CLOSER! I WANT TO HIT THEM WITH MY SWORD!'''" whilst swinging a chainsword at battle servitors is required. Using any other weapon will result in cooking duty for a week.

09:30- Morning Meal: The Aurora Chapter proceed to cook food on their now sizzling hot tank barrels. Special recognition is given to the marine who can eat the fastest and return to his respective tank.

10:00- Tactical indoctrination: The Aurora Chapter return to the fortress monastery to study the subject of tanks. Kursk is a frequent topic of study, whilst ancient holosims such as "War Thunder", and "Steel Beasts" are used to demonstrate the effectiveness of tanks, and the miniature war-game "Team Yankee" is used by command staff.

12:00- Afternoon Meal: The Aurora Chapter cease their studies to eat a light meal. The chapter serfs are required to cook all hot food with pans made from the melted down metal of enemy tanks.

13:00- Afternoon Battle Practice: The Aurora chapter uses servitors to pilot enemy tanks they managed to purchase off the [[Blood Ravens|kleptomaniacs]], as they fire on and destroy them to simulate an armored conflict. Driving in neat lines en masse is the standard tactic. The Aurora Chapter always make sure to check their inventory before allowing the Blood Ravens to leave.

15:00- Afternoon Firing Rites: The Aurora Chapter tearfully step out of their tanks in order to hone their skills with small arms. However, their tears prevent them from firing accurately, and almost always miss their targets.

18:00- Evening Firing Rites: The Aurora Chapter get fed up, and open the special gates, allowing Land Raiders onto the firing range. They cheer and laugh as the pathetic cutout targets are destroyed by magnificent rays of lazcannon fire. The serfs who aren't busy elsewhere get the answer to how the tanks get onto the firing range.

19:00- Evening Feast: The Aurora Chapter Return to their great hall, where they feast on fine food and drink, happy for another productive day's work. Younger marines look up in awe at the recognition that some of the tank drivers receive in the chapter, inspiring them to do better.

20:00- Evening Prayer: The Aurora Chapter pray and give thanks to the Emperor/Omnissiah for another productive day's work. During this time, the Techmarines will repair any damage to the tanks.

21:00- Tank Construction: Techmarines instruct younger and less experienced marines in tank maintenance, showing them the finer details of the subject by helping them build small models. Many battle brothers take it up as a hobby, in order to better understand armored vehicles and have something to do.

23:00- Free time: The Aurora Chapter pimps out their best Land Raiders and drive into the nearest Adeptas Sororitas convent. Special recognition is given to the marines that manage to get a Sister to accept a ride on their Land Raider.

01:00- Bedtime: Some Sisters are returned from the tank to the convent, and the chapter park their tanks. the Chapter proceeds to go to sleep in their respective tanks.

{{Marines-Official}}