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Salamanders (Chapter)

2023-05-26T21:22:04Z

2A02:1808:86:7148:B9AA:3F51:357A:CF6C:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Salamanders
|Heraldry = [[File:Salamanders.png]]
|Battle Cry = "Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!", "For the Emperor and His people!", and [https://youtu.be/M56aycpd9kA?t=52 "VULKAN LIVES *stomp* *stomp*"]
|Number = XVIII
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = Dragon Warriors
|Successor Chapters = [[Black Dragons]], [[Black Vipers]], [[Covenant of Fire]], [[Dragonspears]], and [[Dark Krakens]] are confirmed. [[Storm Giants]] and [[Fire Lords]] are suspected.
|Chapter Master = [[Tu'Shan]]
|Primarch = [[Vulkan]]
|Forge Father = [[Vulkan He'stan]]
|Homeworld = [[Nocturne]]
|Specialty = Flamers and Meltas, bitch slapping the [[Marines Malevolent]]
|Strength = 940 (1 Veteran Company, 6 Battle Companies, 1 Scout Company)* confirmed in novel "Rebirth"
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Green, black, gold
}}
Not to be confused with the [[Salamander]], a mythical beast. Nor real world Amphibians of the clade ''Urodela''.

{{Topquote|I define manhood simply: Men should be [[Ferrus Manus|tough]], [[Roboute Guilliman|fair]] and [[Sanguinius|courageous]], never [[Marines Malevolent|petty]]. Never [[Angron|looking for a fight]] but [[Leman Russ|never backing from one]] either.|John Wayne}}
{{Topquote|The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.|GK. Chesterton}}
{{Topquote|I fell into a burnin' ring of fire I went down, down, down And the flames went higher And it burns, burns, burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire|Johnny Cash, summing up the Salamander's thoughts during battle}}

The [[Salamanders]] are one of the [[First Founding]] [[Space Marine]] [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapters]] in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. They are a very notable and fairly-popular chapter for two chief reasons: first, they're known for their love of [[flamer]] and [[melta]] weapons, preferences for [[Rip and tear|brutal close-quarters combat]], and their [[Black Dragons|pitch-black skin color]] as a testament of their [[Mordor|volcanic homeworld]], [[Nocturne]]. Secondly, and arguably more profoundly, they're some of the closest things [[Grimdark|this fucked-up galaxy has]] to heroes: on top of having a complete unwillingness to retreat or surrender, they are well-known for being [[This Guy|fairly nice guys with a code of honor]], especially by [[Marines Malevolent|space marine standards]]. Matters are definitely helped by the existence of their Primarch, [[Vulkan]], who presents a [[Gay|93.6% mathematical chance]] he'll be the the [[Awesome|coolest son-of-a-bitch]] [[Reasonable Marines|you're ever going to meet.]] Sadly, and in no short part due to [[Matthew Ward|Our Spiritual Liege himself]], they are arguably the most shit-upon Chapter fluff-wise, besides the [[Lamenters]] of course. The chapter is named after the [[Salamander|mythological fire-lizard]] of the same name.

==The Early Crusade==
The XVIIIth legion were one of three legions, the others being the [[Space Wolves | VIth]] and the [[Alpha Legion | XXth]], that were established separate from the other legions. The reason they were kept in separation is currently unknown, and the mystery behind the separation led to the distrust of each one. It's implied that all three were supposed to specialize in something. However, while the Space Wolves went on to function as the Internal Affairs legion of the Astartes, and the Alpha Legion its Black Ops, the Salamanders never really acquired any particular niche. Unless it was that they were deliberately designed to be the [[This Guy|Bros]] of the Astartes, in which case they function spectacularly.

Whatever the cause of separation, the first publicly known deployment of the XVIIIth was near the end of the Unification Wars to destroy the Tempest Galleries of the Ethnarchy. As a foreshadowing of things to come, the XVIIIth legion's force of 20000 was reduced to 1000, but they still achieved a victory against seemingly impossible odds. This earned them much glory and renown amongst their cousins, but their severely depleted numbers saw them sit out most of the Solar Reclamation.
As their heavy losses delayed their deployment to the Great Crusade, they didn't get their own expeditionary fleet. Instead, they were deployed in small groups to reinforce different expeditions and battle groups. They were especially noted for dealing with emergencies behind the Imperial borders, like the sudden appearance of space hulks, or eldar raiders. They were also left in area thought compliant to function as a rearguard in case of recidivism. The sudden nature of these emergencies meant that the XVIIIth were often the only marines available, so they had to cooperate closely with humans, and typically bore the brunt of whatever engagement they were embroiled in.

The XVIIIth would develop a weird reputation. On one hand, they were saviors. On another hand, if a bunch of the XVIIIth were coming, it probably meant things were seriously going to shit. Eventually, Imperial observers began to notice that the marines of the legion seemed to have an obsession with facing impossible odds. They would fight on even when it seemed more reasonable to fall back, and on more than one incident, their stubborness earned criticism. The XVIIIth's suicidal tendencies, coupled with their high battlefield losses, led some Imperials, particularly the Ultramarines, to start wondering if the XVIII was simply going to wipe itself out.

Fortunately, Vulkan was found, and after rescuing his Terran sons from what would have been a devastating ork attack, would temper his sons, so they would become more reasonable and less suicidal. Rather like Sanguinius, he introduced cultural and strategic reforms into the Salamanders which saw them keep their humanitarian tendencies, but become a far more effective fighting force. Gone were the suicidal last stands and stubborn rearguard actions. From Vulkan's introduction on, they would fight more intelligently and more flexibly, but would still never leave a civilian or brother behind.

==Chapter Composition==
The Salamanders are a [[Space Marine]] chapter based on the Death World Nocturne. Nocturne is a volcanic planet with some truly ridiculous ''shifting'' gravity. As such, its people developed a slow, methodical approach to life, coupled with a healthy [[Dwarf fortress|<s>fetish</s> respect for fire]]. Salamanders have somewhat slower reaction time compared to other Astartes (but still blindingly fast compared to humans). In the fluff, this is said to be a result of Salamanders being almost universally cautious and methodical in their thinking, rather than a geneseed malfunction. The planet's only other reason for continued settlement is its rich mineral deposits, making metalworking an important profession to the point of bordering on a priesthood as well as a hotly-contested supply world. These traits carried over to the Salamanders, who are known amongst other things for fielding tough, hard-to-break units and for giving every man and his servo-skull a flamer or melta gun.(Put a couple of C'tan with the Lord of Fire power in your Necron army for the lulz.) They are also well known for making almost all of their own equipment personally, with each man held responsible for making and maintaining his own wargear. They import the few things they cannot manufacture on their home world directly from the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]], who likes them more than the [[Space_Wolves#Daily_rituals_of_a_Space_Wolf|ungrateful dicks who keep using up all their ammunition on drills and "practice fights"]]. The rest of their wargear is made by the Chapter artificers and Techmarines and they produce some of the best armor and weapons of any marine chapter, because they're not busy repairing every scratch on the armor of the other 940 (1 Veteran Company, 6 Battle Companies, 1 Scout Company). The result is that each marine is equipped with practically master-crafted weapons and wears near-artificer level armor. For comparison, Artificer armor is basically equal to terminator armor in capabilities. Their entire chapter is like that.

Despite the relative stability and purity of their gene-seed the Salamanders have no confirmed Successors. Two Chapters - the Storm Giants and Black Dragons - are rumored to be descendants, but these are merely rumors, and the Salamanders themselves claim kinship with no other Chapter, probably because they wish to avoid payin' dat muhfuggen child supp-{{blam|'''*FWOOM*'''}} Ahem, this is probably because the Salamanders didn't take part in the Second Founding. They never were a very big legion, and were even less so after Istvaan and the Heresy. When old Rowboat decided to split the legions, the Salamanders were exempted from splitting into chapters (so, ''technically,'' the Salamanders are still a Legion, they didn't even change their organization much), and in subsequent foundings were either simply passed over in favor of chapters with more plentiful gene-seed to go around, ''or'' descendant chapters (like the Storm Giants and Black Dragons) ''were'' made later, just without the knowledge or involvement of the Salamanders themselves.

Or maybe the Salamanders and Vulkan are so trusted that they’ve been allowed to rebuild as a legion and operate as such with tens or hundreds of thousands of Space Marines but are so noble and beloved that even the High Lords of Terra can’t bring themselves to be bothered by it. Their exemption to splitting into Chapters never ended, after all. Heck, maybe they don’t even solely recruit from Nocturne as all legions are allowed to recruit from Terra but the Imperial Fists are the only Chapter that does so. Chapter, but the Salamanders are still a legion as they never separated and surely having a bunch of Terran Marines (who usually remained loyal even in the Traitor Legions) among them would ease the politicians’ concerns.

Unfortunately, because [[Nick Kyme]] won't let anyone else touch them, and hasn't done anything further with them himself, the 40k fluff of the Salamanders has effectively been stuck in limbo for several years now. Outside of the Salamanders books (which, judging from recent codices, may not even be fully canon anymore), we know next to ''nothing'' of what exactly the Salamanders have been up to in the 41st Millennium, and they haven't been involved with ''any'' recent fluff events or campaigns. The one chapter that we'd ''really'' like to see fighting the good fight and keeping hope alive during the 13 Black Crusade is the one that we hear ''nothing'' from while the galaxy goes to hell. [[rage|Fuck]].

==Peculiarities==
[[File:Salalmander cover.jpg|300px|left|thumb|A fetish for fire]]
The Salamanders themselves are perhaps the most bro-tier of all Space Marine chapters, the [[Lamenters]], [[Space Wolves]], [[Ultramarines]], and [[Celestial Lions]] coming in behind them in that order. Unlike most other chapters, Salamanders maintain close ties with their original families, giving them a very human connection with the non-augmented people they are charged with protecting. Strong ties as in often living with their families like normal, real life Marines would when off-duty. They regularly act in thankless rearguard or civilian defense actions, as seen on [[Armageddon]], and rather than spend their free time in their super-awesome orbital fortress monastery, they hang out on the planet's surface chilling with the locals, many actually living 'normal' lives among the people as chieftains, teachers, guardians (basically following in the footsteps of their Primarch), or simply wandering the planet as hermits when not on active combat duty.

In terms of tactics, the Salamanders are one of the simpler chapters: "Wait for it...", "Burn that shit", and "Never say die" are about the sum of their tactics. The number of heat-based weapons they can field is truly alarming, as is a [[Vulkan He'stan|certain special character]] of theirs who can make them ''all'' twin-linked, and another that makes all Melta tagged guns mastercrafted. The fact that each man repairs and maintains his own armor ensures that their chapter Artificers can be free to make truly awesome stuff. They field almost exclusively treaded vehicles, as the gravitic antics of Nocturne's moon Prometheus (really more of a planet) tend to cause anti-grav plating to freak the fuck out.

Of course, if you ask a [[fa/tg/uy]] what comes to mind first when they hear the word "Salamanders," there's a good chance you'll get a quip involving African-Americans in some way, ranging from the shenanigans recorded below to quotes from folks like Samuel L. Jackson or Shaft. This is because, due to their Melanchromic Organ becoming hyperactive in response to the ludicrous amounts of background radiation on Nocturne, all Salamanders are black. We're not talking coal black or African-descent black (though before receiving their geneseed the warriors of Nocturne are dark-skinned), we're talking blackhole pitch black, hexadecimal code #000000, the missing word in the phrase "...as the void of space." That kind of black, with glowing red eyes. There were some issues due to miscommunication (like the painter for the Eye of Terror campaign making them a nice chocolatey brown when GW asked for "black" Salamanders) but by the 5th Edition Space Marine codex things had pretty much settled down, many pictures of Salamanders are now with Caucasian facial features with just the skin being black, and eyes fiery red just like it was supposed to be. People still make the blaxploitation jokes because, well, it's an easy joke to make and the Salamanders don't really have a cultural motif of their own that it could clash with. And let's face it, the idea of Samuel L. Jackson as a Space Marine burninating shit or unloading a bolter sideways is just too cool to pass up. Contrast with the [[Celestial Lions]], who ''are'' a chapter of black people in space but don't get the same treatment because they have an established cultural motif, namely being cool space Africans and having a fiddly paint scheme. This does beg the question though: if the Salamanders aren't supposed to be space Africans, why does GW have African-sounding voices for the Salamanders in audiobooks and official videos? The answer is laziness.

The 8th Edition supplement also brings up that those red eyes have their own perk: Limited heat sensing! Being the bunch of pyromaniacs, the chapter then decided to decorate their gear so that it emits heat in such ways that their eyes can pick it up, but not be visible to the unaugmented eye. What this doesn't account for is something like, say, a xenos predator with a honed ability to sense heat.

In addition to those mutations, their geneseed also gives them an abnormally hardy constitution, even for a space marine. The Salamanders are much more resistant to radiation and cellular damage than other space marine chapters. This is likely a perk of having a [[perpetual]] Primarch, though it may just be one of the quirks coded into their gene-seed by the Emperor.

And if that wasn't enough, the ally matrix in Forge World's Horus Heresy spin-off demonstrates that the Salamanders were the most liked of all the legions. Seriously, the only factions rivaling them for good ties are the Imperial army and the Mechanicum (who everyone kisses up to anyway). Hilariously, one of the 3 chapters they dislike (though not enough to put them on red terms with anyone) are the [[Ultramarines]]. They weren't fans of the [[Word Bearers]] either, even before the whole [[Horus Heresy|Heresy]] and ritual murder-torture thing.

==Vulkan's Legacy==
According to the Salamander's legends, [[Vulkan]] left <s>legendary loot</s> nine relics scattered across the galaxy as a sort of scavenger hunt for his sons. If you believe the stories, when the Salamanders find all nine horcruxes, their Primarch will return to lead them into a glorious future, the enemies of Mankind will be slain, the children of Nocturne will find flamers and meltas under their pillows, the Imperium will return to glory, blah blah, we've all heard the "Primarch Returns to Kick Ass" story. Of the nine relics, the Salamanders have found five. The first three are carried into battle by the Forgefather: the Spear of Vulkan (a master crafted relic flaming spear that can burn through ceramite or adamantium), Kesare's Mantle (a cloak of adamantium and scales that offers the same protection as a storm shield), the Gauntlet of the Forge (a bitchin glove that can spew fire better than a heavy flamer. Not to mention having a digital gun like those of the [[Jokaero]] in each finger). The last two stay at home: the Eye of Vulcan, an almost comically large laser defense array that can one shot a battle barge, and the Forge Ship, Chalice of Fire, whose industrial output can supply the Salamander's entire chapter(!) and then some. The remaining four relics are only named, not described, and they are: the Engine of Woes; the Obsidian Chariot; the Unbound Flame (Which some believe to be Vulkan himself - that was the codename the Salamanders called him during the Great Crusade); and the Song of Entropy.

The full story, as revealed by the novel "Sons of the Forge", was that the first Forgefather, T’kell, was tasked with destroying all weapons created by Vulkan save for seven of the nine aforementioned relics. The planet which they originally planned to store these relics was overrun by Sons of Horus and the Dark Mechanicum. The Salamanders escaped with the relics, but the Shattered Legion warband who saved them from the Traitors also wanted to use the relics to attempt assassinating Horus, which was contrary to Vulkan's wish. The Salamanders fought against their Loyalist brothers and ran away. What happened after, saved for the Chalice of Fire being attacked, was unknown. When Vulkan He'stan found the ship, he discovered that the relics carried inside had all gone away.

The moral of the story is that when you invent things like this, share it with the rest of the Imperium. Unlike Vulkan.

==Organization==
Unlike many followers of the Codex Astartes, the Salamanders have actually adopted a different organization for their army: the Salamanders organize themselves in Great Companies rather than the typical codex companies, with 6 companies of 120+ warriors each in addition to a smaller scout "company" of roughly 60 men and their officers. Of the six companies, the first is a veteran company, the second through fourth are battle companies, and the fifth and sixth are reserve companies. The reason they do so is because these seven companies represent the seven ruling houses of Nocturne, a manner akin to the [[Iron Hands]] naming each company after the ten founding clans of [[Medusa]].

===Recruitment===
Unlike other [[Space Marine]]s, the Salamanders' method of recruitment is almost as [[Noblebright]] as it gets - befitting their slow and methodical approach to life, Salamander aspirants start their training at around the age of six or seven as an apprentice to a full Salamander. They won't have to do life-and-death tests like how other Space Marine aspirants start out, no siree, they will spend their time ''smithing'' - clearly reinforcing the Salamanders' sympathies for the common people (since they worked like one and recruit by literally teaching children) and predilection for creating wargear (because they actually smithed, duh). As we don't know the criteria by which the aspirants are chosen (and there's probably not a lot of metrics by which seven-year-olds can be clearly distinguished from one another anyway), we can only assume the Salamanders are perfectly open to accepting awestruck boys who've said they want to be like the Salamanders when they grow up to give them a chance to achieve their dreams or let them serve their heroes as [[Chapter Serf]]s even if they fail. This also [[Fail|probably means that any Salamander who has trained an apprentice is a better parental figure than]] [[The Emperor]].

The smithing practice continues until they reach the age to begin the gene-seed implantation process, after which they are judged by Chaplains and Apothecaries as to whether they are worthy to become [[Space Marine]]s and, as an obvious show of care from the Salamanders, whether they would actually survive the gene-seed implantation. After being cleared at this point, the aspirants will have succeed at a number of trials based on what [[The Emperor]] and [[Vulkan]] did in their contests before [[Vulkan]] swore loyalty to him (which are mostly presumed to be far less lethal to the washouts than other prospective Marines from what we know about the two's competition), until eventually they are required to climb up Cindara Plateau as well as go to Mount Deathfire and slay a Fire Drake (these ones are obviously lethally dangerous).

===The Dark Imperium and 8th Edition===
The Chapter organization was tweaked ''slightly'' (or given more detail, depending on who you ask) with the coming of 8th Edition. Each Company now patterns itself after the seven warrior Houses of the original Salamanders Legion, which were in turn influenced by the great settlements of Nocturne.

The First Company (or Great House now) is still composed of the Chapter Veterans and led by their Chapter Master, while the seventh is still primarily composed of neophytes, but the second to sixth Great Houses are now all considered "battle" or "line" companies, each featuring their own complement of battleline and fire support squads. Only the second to fourth Great Houses have close-support squads though. The total manpower of each Great House is no longer mentioned, but one can assume that if totaled together, the number of Marines would still approximate the size of a "codex" chapter (meaning 1000 marines plus auxiliaries and officers). This means the Salamanders accidentally applied common sense and didn't get executed for it. Because they now don't have reserves sitting oh say a few months or years away while only half their Chapter is doing anything in the galaxy. ~~And yes, that means that by and large, only half of the Space Marines in the galaxy are actually deployed on missions while the rest do nothing but wait for someone to die in a battle company.~~ Except squads from the reserve companies are often seconded out as needed and attached to other strike forces for other conflicts.

The other peculiarity is that the position of Master of the Forge is jointly shared between three Techmarines. It's unknown why this is, but it's possible the three have different roles.

As part of the revisions done by [[Roboute Guilliman]] to the [[Codex Astartes]] upon his return, the Salamanders now feature Lieutenants, whose role in the Chapter (aside from commanding demi-companies) is to serve as bodyguards to their Company Captain. One now wonders why said Captains don't have their [[Command Squad]]s for that role instead...

==Notable Members==
*'''[[Vulkan]]:''' Primarch of the Salamanders, the Promethean Fire, Lord of Drakes, the Unbound Flame, and living proof that just because you're a transhuman demigod doesn't mean you need to be a dick about it. Was a humble blacksmith on his homeworld Nocturne and didn't want to become one of the Emperor's generals, though the Emperor ultimately convinced him to take up the post. Remained incredibly bro-tier by Imperial standards, including banning radium and phosphex weapons in his legion. Got the shit kicked out of him at the Drop Site Massacre and was taken prisoner by Konrad Curze, who tried to torturefuckmurder him to death, only for Vulkan to be revealed as a [[Perpetual]], which drove Curze crazier. He apparently got permakilled on Macragge, only to be resurrected ''again'' on Nocturne. Spent the Siege of Terra guarding the Golden Throne with his finger on the trigger of a dead-man switch that would destroy the planet before Horus won, then disappeared into the mists of history until the War of the Beast, when he died ''again'' while fighting the Beast himself. But since he's a Perpetual, odds are he's still out there.
*'''Artellus Numeon:''' First Captain of the Salamanders during the Great Crusade, Vulkan's equerry, and ''de facto'' master of what was left of the legion after Istvaan V. Coined the catchphrase "Vulkan Lives!" and went kind of nuts because he expected it to come true. Ultimately sacrificed himself to Mount Deathfire, which brought Vulkan back.
*'''[[Cassian Vaughn]]/Cassian Dracos:''' Legion Master of the Salamanders prior to Vulkan's rediscovery. Wound up in a master-crafted Dreadnought and went on to kick ass and take names during the Heresy, even converting an entire grand battalion of Iron Warriors back to Team Imperium at the Battle of Mezoa.
*'''Nomus Rhy'tan:''' Lord Chaplain during the Heresy. Helped create the modern-day Promethean cult as a merging of Imperial Truth and Vulkan's teachings.
*'''[[Tu'Shan]]:''' Current Chapter Master of the Salamanders. Megaton-bitchslapped a Marines Malevolent captain during the Third War for Armageddon, immediately making him incredibly popular in-universe and out. Was named a Hero of the Imperium for this deed (and for protecting an entire hive city).
*'''[[Vulkan He'stan]]:''' Current Forgefather of the Salamanders. Totes around three of Vulkan's relics as a sign of his position and badassery and knows how to speak Dark Eldar fluently enough that it caught a Haemonculus off guard.
*'''[[Bray'arth Ashmantle]]:''' Former captain of the Fourth Company before suffering severe injuries on Ymgarl while fighting the Genestealers there. He would be interred in the legendary Dreadnought chassis originally used by Cassian Dracos above. He went on to take part in the [[Badab War]], being awakened by captain Pellas Mir'san.
*'''[[Adrax Agatone]]:''' Captain of the 3rd Company and the Salamanders' Primaris poster-boy. He takes the blacksmith motif to its logical extreme by using a thunder hammer and flamer in battle and carrying a huge flaming brazier on his backpack.

==Daily Rituals of a Salamander==
The daily rituals of the Salamanders take noticeably longer than other Chapters due to Nocturnean pragmatism...and the times are due to...well...you know...

* 12:00: "Morning" Prayer: The Salamanders are roused to begin the day with a few litanies from the Promethean Cult. All battle brothers worship only by the pilot lights of their flamers.

* 13:00: "Morning" Firing Rituals: The Salamanders practice their firing skills. Usually using [[Flamer|flamers]] or [[Meltagun|meltaguns]] instead of bolters. The Chapter serfs often have to put out the fires that the Salamanders inadvertently and inevitably cause.

* 15:00: Battle practice: The Salamanders descend to the practice cages. Cages have usually been repaired from all the burn damage from the previous day by that point. Any Tyranids who happen to be a part of this battle practice will usually be part of the next meal.

* 18:00: Hammer time: The Salamanders take to the maintenance of their wargear while also forging new weapons and armor. The Adeptus Mechanicus often drools, wishing they could be anywhere near as good.

* 20:00: "Midday" meal: A light meal prepared by the chapter serfs is consumed. Carolina Reaper peppers are usually a component of the meal. Ghost peppers are employed for occasions when the Salamanders have esteemed guests from outside the chapter. If for any reason, a battle brother suffers indigestion, the Apothecary will administer the ancient Terran compound "Peptobismol" to remedy it.

* 21:00: Pimping of the Rides: The Rhinos, Land Raiders, and Predators are pimped out with sufficient bling, preferably flame like components, as that attracts [[Adepta Sororitas|girls]].

* 22:00: "Afternoon" Firing Rituals: The Salamanders again take to practicing their firing skills, again using flamers and meltaguns instead of bolters. This time, they are more careful, so that they do not cause the civilians more work than necessary.

* 00:00: "Evening" meal: A feast prepared by the Chapter serfs is consumed. The meal usually consists of an ancient Terran fruit called a "Watermelon" and a helping of a flightless, avian animal, fried to a crisp according to a legendary ritual dating back to the Dark Age of Technology. Beverages usually consist of an ancient Terran form of malt liquor called "Old English" or just "Ol' E". On special occasions they may even break out an ancient carbonated drink referred to as "Cristal".

* 01:00: Free time: The Salamanders are given free time from their duties. Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor. Others go and commune with the folks in the Sanctuary Cities on Nocturne, often partaking in an ancient Terran game commonly referred to as "hoops", or compulsively forge new suits of artificer armor.

* 04:00: Lights out: The Salamanders retire for the "evening". Before they go to bed, they shed a manly tear for the [[Lamenters]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Salamanders.jpg|Sorry Sarge, but your Thunderhammer is Epic Fail.
Image:Salamanderswarriors.jpg|If at first you don't succeed. Twin-linked goodness.
Image:Salamanderslib.jpg|Kill it with FIRE! Always!
File:Vantablack.JPG|Introducing Citadel's newest addition to their product line, Salamander Black.
File:Salamander KFC.jpg|The tenth Relic of Vulkan.
Image:Salamanders_Dreadnought_by_igorvet.jpg|Even in death, I still Burn Shit Up!
Image:Choppy_reviews__salamanders_by_everyday_grind_comic-d651hma.jpg|In all honesty though, they're pretty nice guys...
Image:Salamandaww.jpg|They're even great with children!
Image:Captain samuel motherfuckones jacksones.jpg|We can dig it.
Image:Strolling salamander space marine by dlshadowwolf.jpg|When not embattled or training Salamanders fraternize with the citizens of the Imperium.
Image:Carnifex and space marine by dlshadowwolf.jpg|You assaulted the wrong hive-world, muthafucka.
File:Vulkan's Artificer Armour.jpg|Vulkan He'stan's artificer suit; note the "inverted watermelon" colour scheme.
File:SalamandersArmaggeddon.jpg|Sometimes even [['Eavy Metal]] gets it wrong.
File:ApostatePreacher.jpg|The salamanders are harried wherever they go by the Kabal of Kaos, dread cultists of the daemon prince Mu'nmahn.
File:Ooohlawd.jpg|Oooh lawdy lawd, is dat sum [[Heresy|HERESY?!]]
</gallery>

{{Marines-Official}}
[[Category:Salamanders]]

Raven Guard

2023-05-26T21:19:41Z

2A02:1808:86:7148:B9AA:3F51:357A:CF6C:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Raven Guard
|Heraldry = [[Image:RavGuardLogo.png|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = Victorus aut Mortis (victory or death)! Surprise mutherf**ker (since they are stealthy)
|Number = XIX
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = Pale Nomads, The Dust Clad
|Successor Chapters = [[Black Guard]], [[Space Sharks|Carcharodon Astra]] (partially), [[Death Spectres]], [[Knights of the Raven]], [[Necropolis Hawks]], [[Raptors (Chapter)|Raptors]], [[Revilers]], [[Rift Stalkers]]
|Chapter Master = [[Kayvaan Shrike]]
|Primarch = [[Corvus Corax]]
|Homeworld = Deliverance/Kiavahr
|Specialty = Covert operations, guerilla warfare, rapid assault deployment, assassination, reconnaissance
|Strength = Codex compliant, (somewhere around 1,000, normally under)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Black and White
}}
{{Topquote|A battle can be won with brute force or random luck. But a war? A war is won with cunning and waged without mercy. For the noblest of goals, one must sometimes commit ignoble acts. So ask me not to justify the Raven Guard's ways. The carrion worlds in our wake should make a statement eloquent enough|Corax, speaking at the Eurydicus Hearing.}}
{{Topquote|Through you we learn to be invisible, through you inaudible; and hence we can hold the enemy's fate in our hands.|Sun Tzu}}
{{Topquote|So do not ask for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.|John Donne}}

The '''Raven Guard''' are a [[Space Marine]] Chapter that loves them some covert ops. They also have the highest concentration of [[Beakie]]s of any Chapter, and therefore, have an absolute [[/d/|''hard on'']] for the [[Mark VI: Corvus Armour]]. So you know they mean SRS BSNS. Their second founding chapters include the widely-regarded Raptors chapter, which saw use in [[Tau|Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] and several other works of import.

Their Primarch is [[Corax]] and they have a 10,000-year-plus rivalry with the [[White Scars]]. Note that this is more of a competitive rivalry and not the internecine kind of rivalry, as they work together on a few occasions. Another good example is the rivalry between the [[Space Wolves|badass bearded axe-swinging Vikings who drink alcohol that would kill ordinary people twice over]] and [[Dark Angels|the <s>semi-traitorous</s> LOYAL guys who will rain down a storm of rape and plasma on you if you so much as look at them funny.]]

Whilst [[/tg/]] jokes they are emo (mostly because of their mutation and poetic references), they're actually pretty bad-ass, with a decent history and considerable use of initiative, something a lot of other chapters lack. They hold the record for being the second-most dicked-over in-fluff army, with only the [[Lamenters]] routinely getting dicked harder (the Salamanders page claims the same thing… <s>interesting…</s> BULLSHIT!). A Fine example of them getting owned badly can be seen in the Damocles books, where they lose their [[Chapter Master]] to a Tau counter-ambush, so yeah. And yes, we all know how stupid it sounds that the Tau managed to do that to a Chapter mastering stealth, ambush, and so on for '''''TEN THOUSAND YEARS'''''.

In spite of this, they're pretty goddamned [[awesome]] and definitely worthy of note, and through named characters like Siefer Zeed and Nykona Sharrowkyn have some of the most badass swordsman in both 30k and 40k.

Shrike has a primaris model now, looks to have been designed based on /tg/ opinion of the Raven Guard, 'emo' hair and all.

==Mutations and Origins of the Emo meme==
The Raven Guard suffered low-level gene-seed deterioration (due to Corax's attempt to bolster the legion's numbers at any cost, which was cloning a few hundred thousand Space Marines that turned into genetic rejects), which means that like [[Matt Ward]]'s brain, several of the unique organs of the Space Marines no longer work entirely properly. Raven Guard Marines do not have functional Mucranoids (glands that helps them survive space vacuum without protection) or Betcher's Glands (which allows them to spit acid). Additionally, the Melanchromic Organ has a unique mutation that causes the skin of the Space Marine to grow paler with age. This imbalance eventually causes each Raven Guard Marine's skin to become bone-white while their hair and eyes darken, becoming pitch fucking black. So [[grimdark]].

There's also the ''Sable Brand'' a sort of gene-curse manifested as an emo-tier disregard for self-preservation in the field of battle. These marines turn utterly kill-crazy and are thus marshaled into their own little [[Death Company]]. While Corax had the acumen and numbers to afford throwing these guys together as his shadow killers and then use them as an elite strike force, the Raven Guard of the modern day aren't quite as able to do so and began experimenting to figure out why they became so emo. The Brand is a good deal more psychological than matters like the [[Red Thirst]], as Corax reshaped his battle doctrine in order to limit how his men get afflicted - it worked at limiting how many turned super-emo, but this also led to the Brand being a point of no return, whereas before there was at least a chance to come back from the edge. This later resulted in [[Roboute Guilliman]] to adopt this into the [[Moritat]] after the [[Ultramarines]] got their power butts kicked by the Ash Blind during training sessions with Corax and his sons. It is worth of note that the Primarch of the Ultramarines made sure the Moritat would make its way into every Legion, making this one formation the only one that spread unlike the likes of the Fullmentarus Terminators he planned to include into each Legion. They are also noted for going batshit crazy against any of the Legions who did that fun thing on Istvaan called the [[Drop Site Massacre]]. Corax also exiled the Terran-born [[Ashen Claws]] to [[Ghoul Stars]] as they did not fit his visions of the Legion. They would later build an empire there.

Their visual style is mostly vanilla marines, mostly due to the lack of care GW has provided for them. Forge World and the Horus Heresy novels seem to push them more towards a native american style, with fetishes (not the Slaanesh-kind of fetish, you pervert) made from various kinds of animal bones and, you guessed it, black feathers.

==Combat Doctrine==
[[Image:Raven Guard Tactic.jpg|400px|left]]
{{Topquote|If men had wings and bore black feathers, few of them would be clever enough to be crows.|Henry Ward Beecher.}}

The Raven Guard are a Space Marine chapter which actually eschews the usual Space Marine tactic of [[Blood Angels|charging recklessly]] [[Angry Marines|into the enemy ranks]]. Instead, they are as analytical as the [[Reasonable Marines]], and they target weak points in enemy defenses and launch lightning strikes [[Anal circumference|deep into the enemy's rear]] and penetrate through holes in the enemy's defense after thrusting through critical locations (is it getting hot in here?). Usually they use their Scouts to move ahead and mark good drop-sites after eliminating specific threats such as anti-air weaponry before the sneaky Beakies strike hard and fast. Because of their distinctive hit-and-run combat style, they also make a fuckton of use of fast-moving units like Assault Marines, Land Speeders, and Bikes, often dropped from Thunderhawks or Drop Pods, if not booted from the back of a fast-moving [[METAL BOXES|Metal Box]] and into cover.

Don’t misunderstand. If sneaky tactics are not feasible or a direct approach is better, they’ll come in banners flying and cannons blazing like most other Chapters. They just prefer to strike with quick precision and fade away. Also, they do this with jetpacks, giant motorcycles, tanks, and drop ships...so, their strikes are usually pretty obvious to whoever is being attacked, rather than every single one of them sneaking up behind a target and backstabbing them like they're a Chapter of [[Rogue]]s. Their stealth outside or specialized units is more at the strategic level than the tactical (made up for tactically by jump packs and snipers). So, if you’re in a base they’re attacking you’ll probably see and hear them coming - but it won’t matter because their tech and tactics would prevent the people above you knowing the Raven Guard’s movements in time to save your ass.

Fighting at first mostly under Horus, they started off as a pretty brutal bunch, wiping out their enemies wholesale and using repression tactics. This didn't play too well with old [[Corvus Corax|Papa Emo]], who'd spent his whole life fighting to liberate his adopted people, and found the XIX a little too reminiscent of the regime he'd overthrown. Corvus set about moulding his legion into a more humanitarian outfit - just as well, or the Ravens would've basically been a less crazy version of the Night Lords. This resulted in a disagreement with the Warmaster, which nearly led to Corvus and Horus coming to blows. This might have pushed Horus towards the less aggressive tack he tried in the months before everything went down the shitter. Corvus' reforms even extended to telling the then Legion commander (who was a tad too set in his ways) to take a nomadic fleet and piss off to the galactic fringe along with those that wouldn't comply.

The Raven Guard agree with [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s organisation of Spess Merheens in Chapter/Companies/Squads etc. However, they ''don't'' refer to the Codex blindly for tactical advice, instead using their own expertise and fuckin' wits where appropriate. Guilliman would have no problem with that, since that's how it's supposed to be used. The chapter almost never engages as a whole, and individual companies of Raven Guard marines openly lend a hand to Imperial Commanders of all stripes, from fellow Marines to the Inquisition (though especially Imperial Guard) all across the galaxy, with ostensibly nary a shit given to what their Chapter Master wants. Such behavior has led [[Ultramarines|certain chapters]] to question the Raven Guard's tendency towards insubordination, but in truth, the Raven Guard simply picked up tactics that worked from studying [[Alpharius]] after his legion sent the Ultramarines packing - basically, the Raven Guard learned well that a decentralized command structure allows them to [[/tg/ gets shit done|get shit done]]. (While not wrong, certainly not accurate either. Such Decentralization was a hallmark of the rebellion during Big Bird's time in prison. A point keenly made by the Raven Guard officer in The Seventh Serpent.) The Chapter Master gives general instructions to his direct subordinates and free rein to fulfill those as they see fit. And it works pretty damn well, too! Basically, they all know what they're doing and how to do their jobs without being micro-managed, so the Chapter Master ''leads'', not ''rules''. Master of Shadows Shrike has now reinstated their elite infantry [[Mor Deythan]], two Shadow Captains, a sergeant and a [[Knights of the Raven]] captain.

==The Last Ones Standing==
[[Image:RavenCommander.jpg|thumb|[[Beakie]]s slashing at [[Eldar]] ]]
The Raven Guard got its ass kicked in the Drop Site Massacre during the [[Horus Heresy]], the battle of Isstvan V reducing the Legion's strength from over 80,000 Astartes to a little less than 3,000. Whilst the [[Salamanders]] and [[Iron Hands]] took heavier losses, the Raven Guard lost a bigger percentage of its troops. Its primarch, wishing to do his part to stop [[Horus]] from [[Anal Circumference|ass-raping]] the Imperium, resorted to cloning technology provided by the Emperor to replenish the Chapter's numbers, which went well in the first few stages.

However afterwards, due to some dickery by [[Alpharius]] and the Alpha Legion with the gene manipulation gizmos in the cloning process, [[Troll|which they corrupted with Daemon blood and proceeded to take the pure sample for themselves]], a sizable proportion of these clones were flawed and degenerated into shambling, [[furry|inhuman creatures]]. The Raven Guard herded them up and led them into battle regardless, however, arming the strong ones and using the weak ones as meat-shields. The tactic proved brutally effective and succeeded, most notably, in pushing the [[Iron Warriors]] off a valued forge world.

Owing to the instability of the Raven Guard gene-seed and the experiments of Corax, a big portion of the chapter's genetic stock has been irreparably damaged. Now, most of their genetic material comes factory-direct from supplies held on Terra. This means the cycle of recruitment for the Raven Guard is notably slower than other Chapters and fewer Raven Guard candidates for the Chapter prove able to survive their training and genetic modification. In essence, this means the chapter is constantly short-handed (which would neatly explain their preference for being sneaky, since they have to especially value each marine's life), though it's recovering, albeit slowly. That said, they recovered enough to sire at least two successor chapters. How they could have problems is unclear, since their gene-seed all comes from pure stock kept in stasis and so is not corrupted and therefore the gene-seed produced by those Marines would also be pure. Most likely, the Mechanicus is just messing with them for giggleshits. That, or the [[Games Workshop|High Lords]] are just really, really senile.

==Daily routine==
04:00-Morning Prayer: The Raven Guard are roused from their nests and assemble for prayer. 

05:00-Morning Firing Rites: The Raven Guard practice their firing drills. Interestingly, Chapter serfs have never actually seen them utilize the firing ranges, but smoking targets are seen by the end of Firing Rites. 

06:00-Battle Practice: The Raven Guard head to the battle cages to practice in live fire exercises. Interestingly, the Chapter serfs never witness the Raven Guard enter the cages, but smoking servitor ruins are almost always found by the end of practice. When they aren't found, that's because the servitors themselves have disappeared. 

09:00-Morning Stalking Practice: The Raven Guard begin stealth practice, trying to sneak up on their fellows without being seen. Anyone who fails to ambush a single Raven Guard is assigned penitential duties. 

12:00-Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Interestingly, most Chapter serfs discover that the plate has been picked clean a moment after turning their back. 

12:30-Tactical Indoctrination: The Raven Guard assemble for briefings on the enemies they will be facing, and given important information, such as the what visual spectrum the enemy can see in, traditional blind spots, and how easy it may or may not be to sneak up on them. 

15:00-Evening Firing Rites: The Raven Guard assemble for their firing drills. By this point the Chapter serfs will be actively attempting to sneak up on the Raven Guard and trying to spot them shooting targets. If any succeed, the Raven Guard in question is assigned to three days of fasting. 

16:00-Evening Stalking Practice: Any Raven Guard member that has not been ambushed at least once is targeted by the more advanced members. If he maintains his record he is promoted. 

19:00-Evening Prayer: The Raven Guard assemble for prayer. 

20:00-Evening Meal: A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Somewhat relaxing for the serfs, the Raven Guard actually drop the stealth act long enough for them to enjoy the meal. 

21:00-Weapons Maintenance: The Raven Guard clean and polish their wargear. Some of them may take the time to alter its colour scheme for impending missions. 

23:00-Free Time: The Raven Guard are given free time. Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor and Corax. Others practice their stealth by sneaking up on the Chapter Serfs in full armor. Others preen and play with their pet Ravens. 

00:00-Rest: The Raven Guard retire to their nests for the evening.

==Famous Members==
*[[Corax]] ([[Primarch]] of the Raven Guard)
*[[Kayvaan Shrike|Captain Shrike]], a humanitarian badass and the current Chapter Master. His statline got upgraded in the 8th edition Codex. He’s too fast for you.
*Corvin Severax, mysteriously absent and non-existent Chapter Master of the Raven Guard. Speculated to be nothing more than a pseudonym used by the Raven Guard Force Commanders in lieu of having an actual Chapter Master give them orders due to their highly decentralized command structure. According to the recent 7E Warzone Damocles campaign, Severax was in fact real ...with emphasis on "was," thanks to a thorough blamming courtesy of [[Mary Sue|Commander Shadowsun]].
*Nykona Sharrowkyn, coolest of the Heresy-era Ravens. Separated from his Legion during the Drop Site Massacre, but rescued by an Iron Hand, Sabik Wayland. The two rapidly became the Galaxy's most effective buddy cops and proceeded to harass the shit out of the Emperor's Children. His deeds include sniping [[Fulgrim]] and being the first person to kill [[Lucius]] (without feeling any satisfaction as he considered killing Lucius to be equivalent to putting down a rabid dog). His eventual fate is unknown but he was responsible for ensuring that the genetic data used to create the Primaris (the Magna Mater/Sangprimus Portum) was kept safe.
*[[MURDERWINGS|MURDERWINGS]], a Raven Guard character who is widely considered to be the killier cousin of [[Chapter_Master_Smashfucker|SMASHFUCKER]].
* Korvydae, [[Brother-Captain#I_Can.27t_Believe_It.27s_Not_A_Captain.E2.84.A2|Shadow Captain]] of the 10th Company who joined the [[Deathwatch]] for 2 years to atone for his failures in the Raid on Kastorel-Novem of 992.M41. Has a Forgeworld mini.
* Ardaric Vaanes, a former Shadow Captain who joined [[Honsou]]'s [[Iron Warriors|Grand Company]].
* Kyrin Solaq, 5th Company Shadow Captain, the only other Raven Guard captain to get a mini (of the captain from Company Command). He was replaced by 7th captain, Aevar Qeld by M42.
* Aevar Qeld, 5th Company Shadow Captain and Mor Deythan.
* Illith, Shadow Captain and Mor Deythan.
* Artarix, Sergeant and Mor Deythan.
* Narix, beakie squadmate of the Big Brothers webcomic and, as the comic itself, and affectionate parody of his chapter. Broody and introverted, he's also an incredible badass without question over 600 years old. Narix is shown to be able to face nearly anyone, from [[Battlesuit]]s, to [[Carnifex]]es to legions of Necrons with barely a combat knife and a cupboard box. He's also able to recite Hamlet from memory and is pretty good at it.
* Siefer Zeed, battle-brother of the third company seconded to the [[Deathwatch]]. Noted as being one of the most advanced melee combatants of the current Millennium, and is known as ghost, mainly for his fighting style. Notable for having no scars on his face whatsoever, a result of his combat skill. Also a sarcastic guy who questions orders, especially morally dubious ones.

==Movie night and other things==
As a reward for exemplary service to the chapter, the raven guard high command sees fit to play ancient Terran holo-videos from M3 for the chapter, principally by movie-smith Tim Burton, these include but are not limited to
*Batman Returns, a story about an ancient Terran hive noble most assume to be a proto-raven guard, who hunts down and battles with a mutant known as “Cobblepot” in one of the American hives
*Edward Scissorhands, A story about a young raven guard with an under-active melanchromatic organ and lightning claws whose apothecary died before he could become a full-fledged space marine
*The Crow, a movie most raven guard assume was made in tribute to their primarch. And his commitment to justice on Kiavahr
*The Addams family, a story centering on the return of their pale larger brother with the ability to summon electricity and get headaches, most assume Fester became some sort of librarian to the raven guard after he joined the space marines in Bermuda
*Donnie Darko, a complex allegorical story about a troubled youth, who wants to “find the sparrow” (In other words, take the trials required to become a space marine on Kiavahr (Hint: it involves sneaking up on a little bird)) most assume the character “Frank” is some kind of chaplain in disguise assessing the boy if he is fit to join the astartes.
*Live concerts of an ancient Terran band known as "Type O Negative" for when they want something mildly more jovial and soothing to listen to.

=Gallery=
<gallery widths="250" position="center" spacing="small">
Image:RavenGuardForce.jpg|Yes, they have snipers in position to provide cover fire. There are no more images because Matt Ward took them all.
Image:Deliverance Lost cropped.jpg|Primarch Corax
Image:Sons of Corax by MajesticChicken.jpg
Image:Rg m3 veteran commander.jpg
</gallery>

==See Also==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4_DdPXtpsE Unofficial theme song for the Raven Guard]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTN2ZzpQRh4&ab_channel=NuclearBlastRecords The other unofficial theme song for the Raven Guard]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIR0fegM-AE What Corvus listened to while he sat in the tower for a year]

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

Iron Hands

2023-05-26T21:17:53Z

2A02:1808:86:7148:B9AA:3F51:357A:CF6C:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Iron Hands
|Heraldry = [[Image:Iron_Hands_Livery.jpg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = The Flesh Is Weak! ("Iron Prevails!" is sometimes chanted after)
|Number = X
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = Stormwalkers
|Successor Chapters = [[Brazen Claws]], [[Iron Lords]], [[Red Talons]], [[Sons of Medusa]], [[Steel Confessors]]
|Chapter Master = [[Kardan Stronos]]/The Great Clan Council
|Primarch = [[Ferrus Manus]] the Gorgon
|Homeworld = [[Medusa (Planet)|Medusa]]
|Specialty = Bionics, mechanized warfare, and being assholes
|Strength = 1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Black and White
}}
{{Topquote|With steel we are stronger, but without a soul we are nothing.|[[Kardan Stronos]]}}
{{Topquote|He's more machine now, than man.|[[Star Wars|Obi Wan Kenobi]]}}
{{Topquote|Flesh withers, but iron serves eternal!|A variation of their original battle cry}}
{{Topquote|Er kann mich am Arsch lecken" – "He can lick my ass|Sir Gottfried von Berlichingen, also known as Götz of the '''Iron Hand'''}}

The '''Iron Hands''' were the X Legion of the [[Space Marines]] during the [[Great Crusade]] and the [[Horus Heresy]]. Their [[Primarch]] was [[Ferrus Manus]]. It's subtler than [[Space Wolves|GW's]] [[White Scars|usual]], but they have a strong resemblance to the Scottish, what with their Clans, gruff demeanor, undeniable backbone, expertise in technology, and tendency to lose despite their badassery - In fact, the 8.5 Supplement mentions the first stock of the X Legion hailing from the region known as [[British Empire|"Old Albia"]]. Their names come from a different country of clannish highland badasses, namely Afghanistan. Also, the Iron Hands are masters of mechanised warfare, boasting a great deal of tanks, aircraft and Dreadnoughts. They're basically the best armourmasters amongst the Space Marines, and are adept at both out-manuvering and out-playing their foes when it comes to land warfare. If you want really good vehicles as LSM, Iron Hands are really the way to go, especially given that they now get some fantastic rules due to the new rules for Space Marines. Due to also being excellent forgemasters along the levels of the [[Salamanders]], the Iron Hands alongside the [[Red Scorpions]] are the only ones who still have the knowledge and know-how in both creating and maintaining their vast collection of the [[Mark IV: Maximus Armour]]. And they wear this armour just as much as the bog-standard [[Mark VII: Aquila/Imperator Armour|Mark VII: Aquila Armour]].

They also are notorious for being one the most [[List of 40K Cheese|broken and outright awful factions]] to play against during the latter part of 8th. A single leviathan Dreadnought could feasibly survive to the tune of an entire Imperial Titan salvo with [[Bullshit|almost no damage]].

==History==
[[File:Iron Hands Space Marine.jpeg|thumb|left|An Iron Hands Space Marine. Notice the iron hands of this Iron Hands.]]
===Past and Present===
The '''Iron Hands''' are, like most of their fellow chapters who originated from the first founding, completely bat shit crazy. The chapter worships their ancient Father who got a bad case of worms and ended up with silver metal-coated hands (sounds a bit like the 18th century method of using mercury to cure Syphilis) and subsequently now believe that flesh is weak and as a result the marines try to copy their Primarch and replace their body parts with machinery and cybernetic implants (right down to emotion inhibitors post-Heresy), which Ferrus himself was actually against, believing that they should trust in the strength of their flesh rather than attempting to improve upon the Emperor's work. This is all part of an undoubtedly Freudian complex brought about by the loss of their primarch during the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V. Of course, the chapter decided to blame everyone, '''especially''' the [[Emperor's Children|legion]] whose [[Fulgrim|primarch]] shortened [[Ferrus Manus]] by a head at neck level. Incidentally, this also includes '''Ferrus himself''', as they came to the conclusion that it was their Primarch's own failure to control his emotions that led to the series of tactical blunders which culminated in his death (even though he didn't make tactical blunders and died because of betrayal, but the Iron Hands have a hard-on (pun!) for the blame-game). In order to prevent this from repeating, the surviving captains (with possible meddling by the Mechanicus) enacted ''"The Tempering"'', which saw the Iron Hands purge and repress their emotions in order to better emulate cold, logical machines.

In spite of all this weirdness and being part of the [[First Founding]], the Iron Hands remain one of the most forgettable Chapters among [[Games Workshop]] and the fandom at large. Seriously, [[Feral World Religion|even /tg/ forgets about them half the time.]] The only chapter who has it close are the [[Raven Guard]], barring [[Kayvaan Shrike]]. To add self mutilation and cybernetic enhancement (insult) to injury, those who do remember them often get confused with the [[Iron Warriors]], and these people are worse than heretics because at least a Heretic knows the difference between "corn" and "Khorne", but the term Iron seems to confuse many. Leading to much fuck'tardery comments like "Iron Within, Iron Without", these people are total bell-ends and deserve to be scorned (Or would that be, sKhorned?). With the publication of the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' books the powers that be have finally begun to remember that the Iron Hands were one of the original Space Marine Legions, but aside from their Primarch in resin courtesy of [[Forge World]] they've been graced with only two other named characters but Iron Hands don't care cause they are too busy kicking arse, taking names and getting shit done. That said, they really are the Emperor's Tin Men in every sense of the word. In 7th they got their own codex supplement (providing the world at large with a [[Chapter Master Smashfucker|certain slightly competitive character]]) which made them astartes army of the week, but in 8th they got back to their usual niche, causing the tournament players to shelve them again. With Deathwatch having no unit entry for Killteam Cassius any more, the Iron Hands are left with only one named character, a Primaris Marine named Iron Father Ferrios. Damn Ultrasmurfs and the fan wank they get.....

'''Alternative View''': The Iron Hands are the best examples of humans during grief. They feel horrible shame as a result of their Primarch's death, and so act like, and actually become, machines in order to not repeat an error they saw in themselves. They feel so horribly, bitterly afraid to fail again, that they take every precaution against failure. It is in this grief that ironically, they show feeling. It is a shame /tg/ forgets about them, because a philosophical analysis of these warriors actually reveals quite a bit about human nature during tragedy.

===The Moirae Schism===
After the Emperor's <s>death</s> glorious ascent to the Golden Throne, there was a bit of debate as to whether He was the Omnissiah or not and, if he was, in what capacity. Tech-priests of the Forge World Moirae found one unique answer, when they detected an anomaly in some Empyrean frequencies that seemed related to the Golden Throne. After extended analysis, they somehow turned this anomaly into a formula which allegedly predicted the future—the endgame of which was a new understanding of the Emperor in his aspect of the Omnissiah that would unite the Ecclesiarchy and the Mechanicum, and usher in a new golden age of the Imperium.

Needless to say, this [[Skub|deeply pissed off]] the leadership of both organizations, with the Mechanicum employing their [[Exterminatus|usual direct approach to perceived heresy]] on Moirae. However, either the creed or it’s alleged evidence proved extremely compelling, and the Moirae heresy spread like wildfire through Mechanicum datanets and the Ecclesiarchal flock. This nearly lead to a full blown civil war between those who thought they had a point, and those who thought the creed was [[heresy]]. In the end, the old-school creed won out: the schismatics were either burned for heresy or forced to repent, while the only surviving copy of their dogma and prophecies was buried in an Inquisitorial vault.

Rather than debate it among themselves, the Iron Hands chose to glare angrily at one another until the Admech were done fighting and debating it out. The group of Hands in the minority became the [[Sons of Medusa]] and formed their own chapter, which moved into the still-smoking ruin of Moirae as their new home world (or rather, a series of fortified asteroids in the same system). Despite the extreme levels of [[heresy]], everyone kept a level head and remained (relatively—there was a touch of shooting) civil, and all successor Chapters (except the [[Red Talons]], who killed them) allowed their schismatics to join the Sons of Medusa Chapter. Which is a bit unnatural for 40k, honestly, and just shows how few fucks these guys have to give.

[[Grimdark|Of course]], as it later turned out, the prophecies made by the Moirae heretics included both the formation of the Great Rift and the return of Guilliman, implying that everything they were saying was totally right.

Besides, the real confusion is how those who were pissed about a prophecy that confirms the beliefs of the Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus’s views of the Emperor being one being justified their anger to themselves and the wider Imperium. And shooting people claiming the Emperor would return and bring humanity into a new Golden Age sounds like incredible heresy.

However, this could likely be due to factional differences being put over the good of mankind. The Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus are too far apart in beliefs to ever truly unite into one group- they may work together, but they'd never intend to JOIN together. The symbolism of this can even be seen with the positions in the [[High Lords of Terra]], where the Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus Representatives constantly jostle for the second highest position (neither are strong enough to take on the Master of the [[Administratum]]).

===The Gaudinian Heresy and its results (aka: [[Skub]])===
This event appeared in the ''Clan Raukaan'' supplement and it was meant as a form of character development for the whole chapter - whether or not it actually worked, on the other hand, is questionable. It's given more detail in David Guymer's Iron Hand Novels. To understand it further one should look at one of the people that was part of it.

Some important context is required before the greater explanation. For several millennia after the Heresy, the Mechanicus had a nominal say in the running of the Chapter, to the extent of having three representatives on the clan council. Whilst the alliance to Mars was beneficial in terms of technology and war-gear, it turned out that the Mechanicus had been covertly manipulating the chapter to do what they wanted, even to the extent of falsifying historical records and documents written by Ferrus Manus to twist the chapter to their ends.

It also needs to be emphasized how separate the Clan companies of the Iron Hands were to each other compared to other Chapters. Whilst marines frequently transferred between Clans as duty demanded, the kind of collaboration natural to other chapters was, at best, frosty acquiescence for the Iron Hands. Their attitude to their gene sucessors was little better, seeing them as borderline "heretics" for abandoning what they saw as the true legacy of Ferrus Manus.

Iron Father [[Dick|Kristos]] of the Iron Hands was an individual that would be described as questionable in many ways. An individual that was adherent to the extreme to the Tempering, Kristos was known as a legendary leader of the Iron Hands, and was baited by Iron Father Feirros to take charge of Clan Raukaan after the company suffered greatly in the Skarvus Ambush and lead it to victory. Under his command the clan managed to even retreat against the Eldar on the Paradise World of Dawnbreak, going directly for the main force around an excavation site the Eldar occupied and taking it, while ignoring the [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|Catachans]] and civilians the Eldar were butchering (not to mention telling the General to fight on and prove his worth while [[That Guy|he and his subordinate Captain Graevaar ran off like the cowardly bitches they were]]).

(It was also on this world that an apparently Eldar device was found dating back to the pre-fall empire. Named the Dawnbreak Technology, the cache was divided between the Iron Hands and two sections of the Mechanicus - with one cache being relocated to Mars itself. Kristos theorised that the technology could free the Iron Hands of their need for fallible flesh - obvious heresy aside and unknown to all, it was the container for an especially nasty Slaaneshi daemon, who would subtly corrupt those who attempted to analyse the technology too closely.)

The final straw came in the form of a controversy around the battle for the Forge World of Columnus against the [[Orks|Weirdwaaagh!]] where the Iron Council accused him of deliberately sacrificing a company's worth of [[Raven Guard]] marines to achieve victory, which in all fairness, he did do. Issue was it was all done in such a way that many in the council accused him of not doing it out of standard cold logic and pragmatism, but personal feelings and a hidden agenda, which was also true: not only did he refuse to assist them in any way, (or accept their assistance) he also actively blocked their communications and left them stranded and dying while he watched on, [[FAIL|committing ''outright fucking treason'' against the Imperium by doing so]]; lives are the Emperor's currency, and he just went around pissing away the lives, relics, and gene-seed of some of the Emperor's most valuable troops out of a [[Iron Warriors|massive childish grudge]].

However, Kristos had himself a cult of personality that refused to accept anything that didn't sing his praises, and found him and his supporters unapologetic despite protests from Captain Verox, Iron Father Marrus and the then young [[Kardan Stronos]] (though why no-one outside the Chapter took them to task over this or even asked about the RG's fate remains unknown, despite there near-certainly being evidence of the deed). This would result in the chapter being divided over their philosophy as the whole investigation into his conduct segued into a debate on the merits of the Tempering which ground on for literal centuries.

That would prove a load of horrible problems later on, only to reach its conclusion during the Gaudinian Heresy.

The Sapphire King, a Slaaneshi daemon [[Derp|formed out of Ferrus' rage and frustration at the time of his death]] and which fed on the repressed emotions and shed humanity of the soul-scarred Iron Hands, saw them ripe for corruption and set a trap on the planet of Gaudinia Prime in the Gaudinia system, [[Soul Drinkers|because that always works so well.]] The Iron Hands sniffed out the heresy at the beginning of the 41st Millennium and Iron Father Kristos ([[Butthurt|still stinking after the Kristosian Conclave]]) led most of the Chapter to fight on the planet while exterminating mutants and heretics on the other planets.

The Emperor's Children were supposedly only on Gaudinia Prime, but to the Iron Hands' surprise, there was absolutely nobody on the planet - not even a single gaudily-painted [[Noise Marine]]. However, scans showed that large amount of bio-signatures were concentrated in the planet's southern hemisphere in the factoria complexes. [[Fail|Kristos took with himself both Clans Raukaan and Sorgoll and waltzed into the area despite Iron Fathers Stronos and Verrox protesting the action]].

Down there he found one billion of Imperial citizens fused into some scary techno-organic construct with the machinery. Bloated human torsos made into boilers, screaming as steaming blood vented from their eyes, conveyor belts made out of millions of tongues transporting [[Daemon Weapon]]s about, cogs and wires made out of bloodied bone and nerves - some real H.R. Giger shit, in other words.

The marines moved on while Kristos was bewitched by the whole thing. At that moment, Kristos rammed one of his mechadendrites into the fleshy thing (rambling about its efficiency, utility, and strength as he did so) and transformed into a cybernetic version of [[Chaos Spawn|that whose name shouldn't be called out-loud]]; the rest of the Kristosians soon followed him into Chaos's embrace, while those who managed to resist (such as Kristos's closest ally, Captain Graevaar) were promptly torn to shreds by the mutating Kristosians. Tears into reality were opening and Slaaneshi daemons were appearing en-masse, swiftly followed by the Sapphire King himself appearing through a rift with his Emperor's Children retinue. What later happened was a battle mixed with madness as Iron Hands had to fight against their corrupt brethren, the daemons, and chaos marines.

While the battle raged, more and more Iron Hands were succumbing to the warping effects that turned the Kristosians into what they became, while others didn't succumb. Through the power of [[Plot Armor|lazy writing]] (see below), Stronos quickly realized what was happening. He activated his vox and barked orders to the marines to deactivate their emotion inhibitors. In that moment the Iron Hands exploded with emotions that they repressed for ten thousand years. It was so powerful even [[Khorne]] felt it at the back of his skull, and could be viewed as a [[Derp|really stupid move as daemons are supposed to be powered by raw emotion, and this should have made them a lot harder to kill]].

(According to the author, the Kristosians took the whole thing with the Tempering ''way'' too literally (completely cutting off their emotions and replacing them with cold logic, as opposed to supplementing emotions with logic), and this obsession with purging themselves of their emotions (a core tenet of theirs) was what would be the chapter's undoing. [[Irony|Ironically, every failing that had to do with this whole incident was directly or indirectly related to getting ''too'' emotional and not from lacking emotions]]; [[Skub|whether or not this explanation holds up to scrutiny is a matter of contention]].)

Filled with [[Plot Armor|sheer rage and true determination]], the Iron Hands [[RIP AND TEAR|RIPPED AND TORE]] their way through their corrupted brethren, the daemons and Emperor's Children towards the Sapphire King. Stronos slew the thing that was once Kristos while the [[Librarian]] Epistolary Lydriik beheaded the Sapphire King himself with the Mindforge Stave so hard that ([[Derp|combined with being deprived of the Hands' repressed emotions]]), the daemon was actually permakilled. After wiping out the chaos forces, the remaining Iron Hands, disgusted and horrified with what they experienced, skedaddled back to their fleet and [[Exterminatus|blew the factoria to kingdom come]] in order to wipe out any survivors left.

After the whole thing, it was discovered that a third of the council was either dead or corrupted. If the Inquisition knew what happened to them, then the consequences would've been fatal for the sons of Manus. In an emergency session, the council babbled and argued about how the chapter should function. At this point Stronos unplugged himself while rising from his throne and, in his natural voice, spoke that the chapter was given a gift: [[AWESOME|''"With steel we are stronger, but without a soul we are nothing."'']] Words that would be eternally immortalized all over the chapter's Ironglass plaques on Medusa and beyond. It was also the first time in ten millennia that the sound of applause would be heard on Medusa. And that's something...

On that day Kardan Stronos became [[Chapter Master Smashfucker]] (and would be re-elected at every single opportunity by the council) despite the disquiet of the few remaining Kristosians (aka older Iron Hands players) that somehow survived the situation and the Voice of Mars (the seat the AdMech were retconned into having on the council so that they could manipulate the chapter), yet even with what he said it wouldn't reverse ten millennia of indoctrination. It would be a long and difficult period for the sons of the Gorgon, but it was indeed a new beginning for the chapter.

The Gaudinian Heresy wasn't an immediate character shift for the chapter, and was arguably somewhat forgotten about. The Iron Hands are (mostly) still angry cyborgs operating on cold calculation. Yet the council saw the Imperium plunging into darkness and their former allies falling to madness and corruption. Thus the Grand Calculation set forth to determine where they would serve best, and their successor chapters would also be included into the equation.

There is still some hope for the Iron Hands even if Stronos bites it. [[Star Wars|An Iron Hands pilot found better performance from his craft's machine spirit once he eased off with brute logic and started ''feeling'' it a bit more.]]

===13th Black Crusade and the Great Rift/8th Edition===

The Iron Hands are no longer sacrificing their allies for total pragmatism or out of past grievances but trying to change their habits. Under Stronos, they have saved the Imperial Guard on a number of occasions.

Medusa was invaded twice, first by a large tank division of Traitor Guardsmen and later by a coalition of Nurgle-worshipping Chaos Astartes. As they were facing a chapter which excels in mechanized warfare and are living in what we can shortly describe as mobile fortress-cities bristling with guns and angry superhuman cyborgs: all of them failed. After they got their affairs in order, they decided to assist in the Mordian system, slowly being overrun by loosed traitors and assorted heretics (Is that what we're calling daemonic invasions these days? It was daemons). Though the Imperial forces stationed there were starting to retreat, the Iron Hands managed to turn things around and salvage the planet of [[Mordian Iron Guard|Mordian]] with help from their renowned regiment. This served to rouse their successor chapters (even those weird Sons of Medusa lads) as well as a couple other chapters to join cause and clean out the system. The Eldar had shown up before the Iron Hands and told the Mordians to evacuate as the planet was lost. As usual, human badassery proved the Spelfdar wrong. Stoopid spelves. Maybe if they'd gotten off their prissy asses and shot some daemons, Mordian would've been just fine before the Iron Hands showed up to kick ass. (Though knowing Eldar and their “just as planned” shenanigans, they might’ve told the guardsmen to give up so they would end up staying just to spite the Xenos scum...and coincidentally keep the planet alive long enough for the Iron Hands to show up.)

==Organisation==
The chapter itself is ruled by the Great Clan Council, composed up of 10 seats, each representing one of the ten clans (the Iron Hand equivalent of a company). The clans themselves are all highly autonomous and are nomadic, travelling across Medusa in mobile fortresses called [[Land-Behemoth]]s as their [[Fortress-Monastery]] equivalents and represent the original ten clans that founded Medusa. Each clan nominates a notable warrior as "Iron Father" to represent them at the Great Clan Council. Together, the ten warriors get into all sorts of [[A Game of Pretend|debates and political shenanigans]].

The logic behind this is that with no central leadership role, the chapter cannot be lead astray like so many others have and if that central leadership dies, the rest of the chapter won't fall into disarray. Then again, they also believe that replacing their dicks with drills is the best fucking idea in the world, so I suppose your mileage may vary. (And the fact that /tg/ considers this sort of setup as fucking ridiculous based on [[Codex Astartes|where the suggestion comes from]], so again, your mileage may vary.)

That said, they do have a chapter master of sorts. When something major happens that affects the whole chapter, the council elects one of their members best suited for their current state (the real life citation was the old republic of Rome, who elected for a short time a rightful and strong man as dictator until the emergency was resolved). For example, if they're fighting orks the one who has the most experience fighting them will lead the chapter, and once done he will step down. This makes him more of a Chapter President than a Chapter Master; the chapter master prevents the council from getting caught up in red tape and the council makes sure he doesn't lead the chapter astray.

Organisation and doctrine wise, the chapter follows the basic idea of the [[Codex Astartes]], while changing all the bits they don't like or cannot follow due to the heavy losses/destruction of equipment at Isstvan V (yup 10,000 years later and the Departmento Munitorum has not yet resupplied them, fucking REMF's). Each company is called a "Clan" and there isn't a specific company for Scouts; instead each Clan recruits their own Neophytes...until 7th Edition just effectively undid that and let the Tenth Clan-Company return to Scouts and Vanguards.

Once the recruit is indoctrinated, his left hand is replaced with a cybernetic replacement. The 8.5E supplement does note curiosity that the Tenth doesn't subscribe entirely to the clannish behaviour of the rest of the chapter, as all marines will possess at least one piece of tech from them (a vertebra, first of hopefully many that also acts as a supplement of a traditional chapter's service studs, as each vertebra will denote a decade of service to a particular clan), though those who hail from the Tenth Company do remain as Scout Sergeants and Vanguards.

As an Iron Hand serves his Chapter he gets more and more augmented: appendages, limbs, organs; the whole shebang until the Marine is little more than a brain in a shell. There are also rumours that dead warriors are instead replaced with automatons rather then new Neophytes - Something not entirely false as augmetics have been harvested and handed down to future generations and the chapter is very rigorous about the indoctrination via uploads as well as emotional suppressors. Because of their extensive augmentation the Iron Hands are amongst the strongest Space Marines: strong enough to dual-wield weapons that regular Space Marines would need both hands for like the [[Melta|Multi-Melta]].

Due to the destruction of equipment at the Drop Site Massacre, the chapter lacks in Terminator armour. However veterans are often given suits of Terminator armour and placed in charge of leading squads, called "Klaven", of Tactical Marines, who see the suits [[Pauldrons|giant pauldrons]] as inspirational. Despite their lack of Terminator armour, the ones they do have and used by the aforementioned Klavens are truly a one-of-a-kind, chapter-exclusive, custom-made [[Gorgon Pattern Terminator Armour]]. No one outside of the Iron Hands have access to this elusive cyberised Gorgon Terminators other than them. Not even the AdMech is given a chance to have a look inside. This doesn't mean that the Iron Hands have enough suits to kit out EVERY squad-leader like this, of course - certainly not if they're also equipping leaders, their guards and entire squads of specialists in Terminator armour.

Additionally, Dreadnought chassis are highly revered and sought after pieces of equipment, and being entombed within a Dreadnought is the considered the best fate possible for an Iron Hands Marine. Finally, due to their shared love of machines the Iron Hands and [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] are pretty much bros 4 lyfe, with much Bromance and fist bumping.

[[File:Iron_Dakka.jpg|300px|thumb|left|The Iron Hands are the most gritty of the First Founders. You could even call it... True Grit. Also, yes that guy is dual wielding Boltguns, which would be extremely inaccurate if the firer in question did not have a pair of metal arms and a bionic face that compensated for that. Or, y’know, super-strength as a super-soldier.]] The one general exception to this is the Librarius of the Chapter, who tend not to get heavily augmented (and often still have both organic hands) and are frequently not Medusan.

In combat they are utterly unforgiving and relentless, hate [[Daemon|Daemons]] and the [[warp]] with a [[Angry Marines|rare and intense hatred]] and utterly despise [[heresy]] and [[blam|cowardice]]. In other words, they're pretty much like most Space Marine Chapters. During one particular campaign involving the rebellion of an entire sub-sector, the Iron Hands got in and [[Rip and Tear|fucked shit up so bad]] that they executed a third of the sub-sector's entire population. That is not killed. [[Commissar|Executed]]. As in the ones they did not kill in battle, and those who surrendered and begged for mercy.

Despite this they are seen by some as a wholesome and pious chapter, unlike [[Flesh Tearers|some others that murder everything within sight regardless of whose side they're on]] [[Marines Malevolent|or level refugee camps because there are hostiles within the perimeter.]] Either way, don't piss them off lest you fuel their murderboner; and whilst on the subject of boners, it is believed they hate [[Slaanesh]] with the [[Rage|intense hatred]] of a billion [[Æonic Orb|Æonic Orbs]] because they're the Prince of Excess and the Iron Hands believe THE FLESH IS WEAK (the previously-mentioned one-third-of-a-subsector-getting-[[blam|blammed]] was because of Slaaneshi orgies and daemons).

This could mean they are more apt at fighting the minions of She Who Thirsts, but there is, as all things Iron Hands related, not much to elaborate on this except they are getting shit done. (It could also be due to their particularly strong hatred of the [[Emperor's Children|Emperor's Children]], for a long list of reasons that include [[Fulgrim|a certain Primarch]] decapitating [[Ferrus Manus|a certain other Primarch]].)

There's also the tactic known as "The Hammer and the Storm", a military doctrine that dates back to a peculiar conflict on Rust during the [[Great Crusade]]. The basis of it was essentially to gather the entire enemy force in one location with one force, then gather the rest of the army to surround and eradicate the gathered enemy with a nonstop hail of firepower. There's nothing subtle about the tactic, and it appeals to the heavy-weapon and tank fetish of the technophiles. What it doesn't factor in, however, is that it won't factor in the enemy's intelligence, meaning that a competent enough strategist might realize that they're being clumped together and then orders the troops to disperse far enough to spoil any ability to blast them all at once.

In the Book "The Eye of Medusa" by David Guymer there is a description for "Helfathers", the honor guard of the Iron Fathers and [[ honour guard|the best of the best]]. They're clad in black, bulky and heavily augmented suits of Terminator Armour. They have neither clan nor klaven-insignia on their armour and even their bionics are darkened and ancient. There is the superstition that the attention of an Helfather is bad luck, [[Awesome|even among Iron Hands]]. [[Kardan Stronos]] (at the time, a squad leader) told his accompanying tech adept:"[[Grimdark|The Helfathers aren't even human in the the way I am human]]. I don't know how many of them exist. I never heard any of them speak. As far as I know, they don't even have names. And believe me, Melitan Yolanis, [[Grimdark|I don't wish to know any more]]".

It's also said that they rarely, if ever, leave Medusa, so we won't see any rules for them anytime soon.

(Unless we already did... in two Heresy short stories by John French, an Iron Hands warband starts using the "Keys of Hel". This was Meduson tech that Ferrus himself had forbidden and sealed away, including the means of "true mechanical resurrection". The narrator in the second refers to his multiple deaths. So this suggests that the Helfathers may be renowned warriors who who haven't just been wounded unto death, but outright killed and brought back.)

===Company Clans===
*'''Clan Avernii''': The "Veteran" Company. Due to the way the clans are made, it's not exactly true that each member is indeed a veteran, but they tend to make up for the lost time through many uploads, countless simulations and hypno-indoctrination. While this does result in a critical attrition rate, it also makes them far more robotic.
*'''Clan Garrsak''': Believe in using willpower to suppress emotions. Their plans [[Just as Planned|tend to be very thoroughly planned in advance thanks to simulations and even time instances where they can cut loose for a bit]].
*'''Clan Raukaan''': The dangerous mofos. It seems to be a clan trait that they are ruled by emotions more openly than others, as attested to during that Gaudinian Heresy. While this has cost countless lives, it has also brought them renown both in and out of the chapter.
*'''Clan Kaargul''': Their plans tend to be very long-term and meticulous in regard to contingencies. They treat melee as an absolute last resort, after having exhausted all other venues.
*'''Clan Haarmek''': Watch over the countless tech-relics on Medusa. This duty is so critical to them that if a relic is stolen from their watch and not retrieved, then the captain responsible is stripped of rank and forced to undertake the Silver Pilgrimage practically naked, a quest that demands the disgraced captain find a single scale from the wyrm that Manus slew.
*'''Clan Sorrgol''': Responsible to watching over the Chapter's own personal government, the [[Medusan Reach]], the fiefdom that the Iron Hands prize for supplies.
*'''Clan Borrgos''': Apparent remnants of the [[Moirae Schism]] who weren't deemed extreme enough to be booted to the [[Sons of Medusa]]. Is often accompanied by Chaplains, to make sure there's no funny business going on in their ranks. The current Iron Captain also subscribes to purges.
*'''Clan Morlaag''': Focus their strategy into a single killing blow rather than a hundred weaker ones. They also have a [[Space Wolves|lot of trophies kept in their fort.]]
*'''Clan Vurgaan''': Being deemed too wild, this clan tends to have the most emotion-inhibitors installed. These inhibitors tend to have long-reaching effects, for even after they are removed the brothers of this clan tend to display tics from their reliance on the augmetics.
*'''Clan Dorrvok''': The closest thing the chapter has to a Scout Company post-7th. The company itself is compared to a sort of alloy, as scouts from all clans are gathered here, with those native to Dorrvok just remaining as veteran scouts and Infiltrators. Furthering that analogy is their component of the Forgechain, a symbolic augmetic that replaces a vertebra and marks a decade in service to a particular clan - While all the other companies get to make their vertebrae in all sorts of exotic metals otherwise unique to their clan, Dorrvok makes theirs out of an alloy of all these metals as a symbol of their shared origins.

==Why it sucks to be an Iron Hand==
*Your Primarch was the first to die, not even lasting up to the Siege of Terra.
*Your Legion was all but dead weight during said siege as well as the entire Horus Heresy due to the [[Drop Site Massacre]].
*You have to live with the fact that your chapter’s philosophy goes completely against what [[Ferrus Manus]] officially intended.
*You’re constantly trapped in a cycle of bitterness and self-loathing, and stuffing your face with cybernetics is the only way for you to feel better.
*You’re the only first founding chapter outside of the [[Dark Angels]] that civilians actively dislike, only you don’t have the excuse of upholding some [[Fallen|terrible secret.]]
*[[Fail|You can never masturbate again. EVER!!!]]
*Your black colour scheme is shared by at least [[Black Templars|3]] [[Raven Guard|other]] [[Black Dragons|chapters]], 2 of which being more popular than you.
*Your only friends outside the chapter are [[Adeptus Mechanicus|antisocial nerds]] who think you’d look better as a vehicle unit.
*Most of your fans will ditch you when you stop being top tier in competitive play like a swarm of [[Powergamer|metagaming Gold diggers]].

==Gene-seed body dysphoria?==
The Iron Hands love to replace their body parts with bionics, but these bionics actually do little to improve upon their already superior physiology. It's possible that the Iron Hands suffer from body dysphoria, seeing weakness in themselves where there is none. This is all but stated in an analysis by a senior tech-priest in the novel ''Wrath of Iron''. This psychological illness likely comes from their gene-seed, since they all suffer it. It's not a far-fetched hypothesis, because the Blood Angels also suffer from a common mental illness passed on through their gene-seed: the Red Thirst.

==Tabletop==
Good news is they got a much needed bone in 6th edition. Robin Cruddace realized how stupid it was for a chapter with close ties to the Ad-mech to not have a lot of gear; they're now loaded with tanks, aircraft, and dreadnoughts. Their variation of Chapter Tactics gives all marines 6+ FNP (which is a great bonus that will save a few marines here and there, but is not something to be built around), all of their characters and vehicles get It Will Not Die, and [[Techmarine|Techmarines/Masters of the Forge]] get +1 to Blessings of the Omnissiah. The strength in this particular set of Chapter Tactics is that basically every single model benefits from it, allowing you to play a wider selection of builds while still playing to its strengths.

...And then they get their own supplement, ''Clan Raukaan''. Interesting, it would seem GW is dealing with not knowing what to do with them by portraying the Chapter as full of contradictions, such as despite the clans being autonomous they do act like Codex companies. Apparently the Codex Astartes was simply "more logical" than the admittedly terrible idea of telling Guilliman and Dorn to go fuck themselves.

Also, [[Derp|the codex kinda skimped on the fluff]]. The Contqual campaign is pared down to mostly just the final battle on the Shardenus hub, and Supplement: Raukaan skips it entirely, instead introducing the Gaudinian Heresy (see above) instead of the campaign mentioned all over the fucking promotional material. It's also deeply suspicious that for a Chapter which must absolutely revere their Apothecaries, potentially folding them into their Techmarines like Space Wolves and Blood Angels do with their Chaplains, since they'd be the ones in charge of installing new cybernetics, their fluff consistently yammers on about their Techmarines and just doesn't discuss their Apothecaries at any great length.

Crunch-wise in 8th edition, it doesn't seem so crap. They've kept their 6+ FNP from 7th edition although as of the rulings on Disgusting Resilience they have to roll it for each point of damage, not wound now. That said, ignoring 16.6% of all incoming damage is helpful. Like all chapter tactics however the rule [[Fail|doesn't effect vehicles and the Iron Hands no longer gain a benefit to fixing tanks either.]] Changed as of 8.5 Marine Codex, with everything in the codex except Servitors gaining Chapter Tactics, as well as the chapter tactics themselves letting marines hit Overwatch on a 5 or 6, and Vehicles counting their wounds as double the remaining number for damage tables, as well as the 6+ Feel No Pain. [[Cheese|This also applies to Forgeworld models like Relic Leviathans, and the Astraeus Tank]]. Indeed, it seems that the Iron Hands' specialism of armored warfare has swung over busted for the sake of overcompensation.

Things got so bad, that the Iron Hands left some drastic limitations to Doctrine-equivalents for the rest of the SM and codices to follow: their Heavy weapons were able to reroll all 1s to hit and always act as if they were stationary on top of the additional AP (back when that mattered) so long as they were in the Devastator Doctrine; previously, Space Marine could elect to ''stay'' in this doctrine for the rest of the battle, which meant that the Iron Hands Primaris with heavy snipers and Firstborn heavies could just [[DAKKA|let it rip]]. Very fluffy, considering that is how they act in the lore, but because of how broken unkillable Leviathans were on top of SuperDevastator, they stipulated that you now had ''no choice'' but to move on. Necron protocols, Tyranid Imperatives, even the Traitor devastator doctrine equivalent pushed you off after turn 1, though Necrons eventually got to pick 1 Protocol to be active for the entire game because they were so bad without them (which was probably the original intention)

With their own codex supplement, Iron Hands are gaining a named character in the form of Iron Father [[Malkaan Feirros]], as well as bonuses for being a pure Iron Hands army, such as ignoring movement penalties for heavy weapons while the Devastator combat doctrine (+1ap for heavy Weapons) is active, six warlord traits, relics, special issue Wargear, and the Technomancy psychic discipline. [[Chapter Master Smashfucker]] rides again? Nah, he got overshadowed by the unkillable Leviathans. In 8th, Leviathans were T8 2+, 4++, and while they couldn't gain character protection, could be turned into a character to benefit from Warlord traits like a 5+++FNP. They could also have wounds intercepted by infantry, where your basic bitch Intercessors jumps in front of a Lascannon last minute to save the Leviathan from having to worry about making a 50% save, but that was thankfully nerfed.

As of 9th, the Iron Hands managed to stay consistently good, if not a bit overshadowed by the late-coded jank that meant some much [[Tau|more]] [[Tyranids|broken]] [[Harlequins|armies]] got to have their fun after Iron Hands. The Armor of Contempt patch-fix meant power armor stayed [[Plot armor|extra special]] compared to everyone else. There was a brief moment where people took [[Minotaurs]] as Iron Hands to make a goonsquad of character protected dreadnoughts. Eventually, though, what really reigned them in was the change to Command Points and costs. Burning 2 to 4 Cp on a dreadnought became a really steep cost, forcing Iron Hands players to [[Rage|try other things]].

Tl;dr if you like big tough robot boys who are disgustingly resilient backed up by even tougher vehicles, '''play Iron Hands'''

==Notable Members==

*[[Ferrus Manus]]: Primarch of the Iron Hands, the Gorgon of Medusa, the Great Iron Father. Stone-cold zealous mofo who drowned a Necron construct in lava and got its skin fused to his arms, hence his name. Was obsessed with being the best soldier possible and took no shit from anyone. Got decapitated by his BFF [[Fulgrim]] during the Drop Site Massacre, giving his legion unresolved daddy issues forever more.
*Shadrak Meduson: Terran-born Iron Hand who took charge of the largest surviving chunk of the X Legion after the Drop Site Massacre and embarked on a guerrilla campaign against the Traitor Legions. Was pretty bro-tier, but he got betrayed and left to die by some of his fellow Iron Fathers because they didn't like how he was doing things.
*[[Autek Mor]]: Incredibly angry man and teamkilling asshole who nevertheless was a senior Iron Father in charge of Clan Morragul. Tried and failed to save Ferrus and the Iron Hands on the ground at Istvaan V, and later embarked on a campaign of ass-kicking for great justice against all traitor scum, during which he did [[Exterminatus|things like nuke an entire planet for surrendering without a fight and dropping an entire goddamn moon onto the World Eaters' main recruiting world]]. Most likely went on to become first chapter master of the [[Red Talons]] after the Heresy.
*Frater Thamatica: The Professor Farnsworth of the 31st Millennium. Came up with all kinds of wacky plans (like using a melting-down plasma reactor to boost a ship's engines and break a Battle Barge in half by ramming it) and doomsday devices basically just for fun. Considered to be the highest-ranking Iron Father after Istvaan. Died during the Solar War while helping secure the Magna Mater, a powerful relic used to create the first Space Marines (and maybe the Primaris, if it's the same as the Sangprimus Portal).
*[[Kardan Stronos]]: Current big cheese of the chapter, though he's technically not chapter master. Has realized that the Iron Hands' obsession with metal over flesh was hurting more than helping and is slowly trying to reform them to be a bit less beep-boop.
*[[Malkaan Feirros]]: Iron Father who stepped across the Rubicon Primaris and the ''only'' named Iron Hands character with rules (discounting Stronos' official "profile" due to it being mostly generic).
*[[Dick|Kristos]]: Former Iron Father and basically the Anti-Kardan Stronos. He was responsible for the massive casualties the Hands took in the Gaudinian Heresy and a major proponent of the "Machines über alles" approach. Died to kickstart the chapter's character development, to mixed results.

==Daily Rituals==
[[File:You're_Terminated.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A “rare” Iron Hands [[Terminator]] showing why metal is superior and why THE FLESH IS WEAK.]]
While each Clan Company has its own rituals and traditions, the following should be considered an outline of the Iron Hands daily routines:

*'''04:00 - Morning Prayer:''' The Iron Hands of the Clan Company are awoken from their power stations and reconfigure their Power Options for best performance, ready for the Iron Father to lead them in sermon which is completely told in Binary. 
*'''05:00 - Morning Firing Rites:''' The Iron Hands engage in [[Dakka|fire practice]]. The targets will typically include cutout or actual slaaneshi cultists. 
*'''07:00 - Battle Practice:''' The Iron Hands gather for practice in the cages. Often the Iron Hands end up repairing the damage they inflicted on the practice servitor themselves. On more than a few occasions Chapter serfs have been unable to tell the difference between a battle-brother and a [[servitor]]. 
*'''11:00 - Morning Maintenance Rituals:''' The Iron Hands polish and repair their wargear and augmetics. 
*'''13:00 - Midday Meal:''' A light meal is prepared by the Chapter serfs and occasionally accidentally given to a Servitor. During the meal, the Iron Hands repeatedly watch animations of their primarch dying in battle, fueling their rage. 
*'''13:30 - Tactical Indoctrination:''' The Clan-Commander gathers the Iron Hands for a tactical sermon on potential enemies, pointing out the vulnerable weak flesh to fire [[Bolter|bolters]] at. They also will take turns using an ancient combat simulator named "War Thunder" to keep their mechanized warfare skills sharp. 
*'''14:30 - Land-Behemoth Maintenance:''' The Clan Company assists in repairs to the [[Land-Behemoth]] which serves as the Clan's mobile fortress-monastery. Mostly because by this point the vessel has taken on too much ash and soot from Medusa's volcanoes to continue moving. Raising questions about whether this means machines are weaker than flesh earns a battle-brother one hundred days of penitential duties. 
*'''16:00 - Evening Battle Practice:''' Having gotten the Land Engine working again, the Clan Company assembles for evening battle practice. Again, they will often repair any damage they inflict on the practice servitor. 
*'''17:00 - Evening Firing Rites:''' The Iron Hands will use any ranged weapon possible to destroy their targets, from predator cannons to storm Bolters. Interestingly, their targets will typically be painted [[Emperor's Children|pink]] and Urine [[Marines Malevolent|yellow]]. 
*'''18:00 - Evening Prayer:''' The Iron Hands gather for the Iron Father to preach to them. Areas frequently covered include the sinfulness of still having your own kidneys, why washing machines are superior to many humans and mortification of pathetic, weak flesh by poking yourself repeatedly in the eye. 
*'''20:00 - Evening Meal:''' A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Overcooking or undercooking the food will result in the serf being banished to the Enginerarium decks (trust us, for people born on a half-frozen planet, nothing is worse than the heat of the Enginerarium decks of a Land-Behemoth). 
*'''21:00 - Evening Maintenance Rituals:''' The Iron Hands spend the rest of their day overseeing maintenance of their wargear and augmetics with adjustable Spanners, Watchmakers and ratchet Screwdrivers. Many magnetic heads are lost on the Marines Armour in very hard to reach places, Rare Earth Magnets are banned. 
*'''00:00 - Rest Period:''' The Iron Hands retire to their power stations for the evening where they configure themselves to low power mode.
== Gallery ==
<center><gallery>
File:BattleBrotherGuts.jpg|thumb|Battle Brother <s>Guts</s> '''Götz''' of the Iron Hands.
</gallery></center>

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
[[Category: Iron Hands]]

Dark Angels

2023-05-26T21:08:45Z

2A02:1808:86:7148:B9AA:3F51:357A:CF6C:

{{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, the Uncrowned Princes, Primaris Angelus Mortis
|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 (Formerly black, red and 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 [[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, using data tested from the Prototype Legionary, 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. These strike forces including parts of multiple Dark Angels successor Chapters according to specialty and to increase numbers is in no way indicative of [[Heresy|legion activity]].

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]]''' - Multiple subtypes of special operations, including veterans specialists, marksmen, linebreakers, and bodyguards. (Think Space Wolves or Luna Wolves)
*'''[[Ravenwing]]''' - Cavalry & Fast Attack, mostly focusing on the use of skimmers and aircraft but also able to use regular bikes and drop pods when needed. (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 general line infantry with a focus on close order warfare. (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]], and weren't half bad as terror troops either. (Death Guard, Night Lords)
*'''[[Firewing]]''' - Excel in destroying enemy command structures, duelling, 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 (Luther wasn’t a full Space Marine, though even Astartes are unsure if they can die of old age, although there was a living Salamander in M41 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 Ultramarines, dying to a man holding back the traitors long enough to allow the Ultramarines to evacuate, refusing to leave whilst the enemy yet lived.

The Dark Angels would bleed themselves almost dry in their pursuit of 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 yet.

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. 10th edition has made Primaris Terminators no different from First Born. So it's now assumed that at least a few dozens or more Primaries are members of the Inner Circle.
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]]). The only thing missing are an equivalent for Ravenwing Black Knights.(knowing GW they'll just make Outrider Command Squads or something)

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 Dark Angels have recently had their biggest shake-up in 10,000 years after their [[Lion El'Jonson|Dear old Dad]] finally woke up from his nap and bailed his sons out of trouble after [[Angron]] paid them a visit. More surprisingly, before reuniting with his sons The Lion had been using his time awake to gather members of the Fallen that were still loyal to the Imperium and free of the ruinous powers corruption. Time will tell how things progress, but there's likely going to be some growing pains on both sides.

== 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. Perhaps this is where the High Lords’ and Inquisition’s confusion comes from. They see a bunch of Chapters behave like pieces of a larger legion, but there is no leadership, no orders, it’s entirely autonomous.

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.

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.

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 as it looks like most of them can fit Terminator armour without issues. GW has been rather lazy recently, as they've taken to taking things from 30K so Marines in Powered Armor can join the Deathwing before 10th-E. While Blade Guard Veterans are members of the [[Deathwing]] and [[Outrider]]s are apart of the [[Ravenwing]]. Despite being 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 while hunkering down & taking pot shots. Most DA players prefer Powers Fists or Thunder Hammers or the First's exclusive arsenal of Power & Plasma Weapons)

Which 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. Guilliman and Cawl should've known about the traitors scattered 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 was indisposed at the time.
So what The First are currently doing now is trying to save themselves from sanction and ridicule. Even than Great Grandpa smurf and mad scientist Cawl will keep their findings between them and the Inner Circle while giving them slaps on the wrist.
They know that plausible deniability has its own merits. As Dark Angels and their successors are just way too good at what they do.

It'll also take a lot for Guilliman's traitorous brothers to piss him off to the point of using [[Destroyers]] [[Lorgar|again]], [[Dreadwing|maybe?]]. Although with the Lion back from his ten thousand year nap, he might be able to convince Bobby G to allow the Astartes to form at least a squad or two. As possible specialist formations in the Veteran/First Companies. However the best arguments against reactivating Destroyers is that even something as small(by Astartes standards) as a [[GrimDark|Plasma Burner or Rad Grenades will inevitably give Space Marine's cancer.]]
The best Inquisition and the Custodies will find is Old Night, Dark Age of Technology weapons and maybe some Fallen corpses. Azrael, Uncle Bobby, Lion and Cawl certainty wouldn't allow the Inquisition to have any pre-[[Great Crusade]] weapons & other technology stashed away in the bowls of in the Rock either.

== 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 Naufragia Terminators]] of the [[Dreadwing]] according to ''Angels of Caliban'' (Phosphex was normally considered a horrible and dishonorable weapon, the Dark Angels don't give a fuck)
* Inner Circle Knights Cenobium clad in Cataphracti Terminator Armour armed with [[Plasma-Caster]]s and either [[Power_weapon#Terranic_Greatsword|Terranic Greatsword]]s or [[Thunder Hammers]]. Who were experts in their chosen fields of warfare.
*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. Although, the Unforgiven having access to all of this tech and being unable to use it because it requires the Lion's express orders to break it out, is exactly the sort of stupidity that the current situation of the Imperium of the 42nd Millenium was built on.

*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]], so they might simply not need TechMarines in the first place beyond fulfilling the Emperor’s treaty with Mars. 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|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 “company masters”...just saying.
*'''[[Belial|Belial:]]''' Current 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|Sammael:]]''' Current Grand Master of the [[Ravenwing]]. Member of the Hidden Masters.
*'''[[Ezekiel|Ezekiel:]]''' Current Chief [[Librarian]]. Member of the Hidden Masters.
*'''Sapphon:''' Master of Sanctity. 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|Asmodai:]]''' Master of Repentance; a 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|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|Cypher:]]''' See his page for details.
*'''[[Lazarus|Lazarus:]]''' Grand Master of the 5th company, and currently the only Primaris member of the Inner Circle. He has a hard-on for killing psykers (Thousand Sons specifically), and was introduced in an issue of White Dwarf to replace Captain Balthazar, then featured prominently 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
File:30k Knights of Caliban reborn.jpg|Walking alongside the Legion, the Knights of the Order take to the battlefield
</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}}

Blood Angels

2023-05-26T21:02:18Z

2A02:1808:86:7148:B9AA:3F51:357A:CF6C:

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Blood Angels
|Heraldry = [[Image:Blood_Angels_Pauldron.jpeg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "For the Emperor and Sanguinius! Death! DEATH!"
|Number = IX
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = Eaters of the Dead, Revenant Legion, the Charnel Feast
|Successor Chapters = [[Angels Encarmine]] [[Angels Excelsis]] [[Angels Glorious]] Angels of Light [[Angels Penitent]] [[Angels Sanguine]] [[Angels Vermillion]] [[Atlantian Spears]] [[Blood Dragons]] [[Blood Drinkers]] [[Blood Legion]] [[Blood Scythes]] [[Blood Swords]] (claimed otherwise in Codex: Blood Angels 5th Edition by [[Matt Ward]], so take that as you will) [[Blood Wings]] [[Brothers of Jarad]] [[Burning Blood]] [[Carmine Blades]] [[Charnel Guard]] [[Cruor Blades]] [[Dragons Ardent]] [[Exsanguinators]] [[Flesh Eaters]] [[Flesh Tearers]] [[Golden Sons]] [[Grail Guard]] [[Knights of Blood]] [[Knights of the Chalice]] [[Knights Sanguine]] [[Lamenters]] [[Red Wings]] [[Sable Brotherhood]] [[Sable Knights]] [[Sanguine Host]] [[The Remnants]]
|Chapter Master = [[Dante]]
|Primarch = [[Sanguinius]]
|Homeworld = [[Baal]]
|Specialty = Rapid assaults, close combat, being space vampires, having the Space Marine equivelent of the [[Red Rage]], being ''fabulous''
|Strength = ~1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Red with black detailing
}}
{{awesome}}
{{Topquote|Man is neither angel nor beast, and the misfortune is that he who would act the angel acts the beast.|Blaise Pascal}}
{{Topquote|From his Blood are we born! From his essence are we made! From his passion comes our art! From his nobility comes beauty. From his might stems justice. From his thirst is born righteous rage!|The Final Charge of the [[Lord of the Rings|Rohirrim]]--err, Blood angels.}}
{{Topquote|We are born of the blood, made men by the blood, undone by the blood; Fear the old blood.|Provost Willem, ''Bloodborne''}}
The '''Blood Angels''' were the 9th [[Space Marine]] Legion created by the [[Emperor]]. They are so named because of their tendency to
use blood as a central symbol of their particular warrior-monk rituals, and because of their susceptibility to the [[Red Thirst]], a wild bloodlust that arises in them during battle. If he fails to control his Red Thirst, a Blood Angel may succumb to the [[Black Rage]] (the [[Grimdark|Grimdarkest]] of Daddy Issues), after which he becomes a completely insane killing machine with no regard for his own safety who will try to destroy the Emperor's foes even if all he has left is a bloody stump of one leg. This has led to the Blood Angels being viewed as basically vampires [[Meme|IN SPEHSS]], and unfortunately as the [[Twilight|Team Edward]] to the [[Space Wolves]] [[Twilight|Team Jacob]]. If you are not already completely indignant, see the second image at the bottom of the page for additional [[rage]]. We'll wait. …...Yeah, how much does that blow? Here's the good news, though: that's pretty much the only thing that sucks (PUN) about the Blood Angels. Everything else is [[awesome]] apart maybe from [[Skub|'nipple' armour]], but the rest is all cool, angelic and bloody and all.

The cause of the Black Rage basically amounts to the most epic case of an absent-daddy complex ever. Just with a high chance of being skullfuckingly angry/awesome at the same time. You see, during the [[Horus Heresy]], the Blood Angels' [[Primarch]], [[Sanguinius]], was slain by [[Horus]] himself just before the Emperor destroyed Horus. This subsequently [[RAGE|fucked up]] the mental stability of all future generations of Blood Angels, and when one of them is overtaken by the Black Rage, he literally believes he is Sanguinius and relives in vivid detail the final battle with Horus and his traitor legions at the Battle of [[Terra]]. So in short, you know when someone says that they will kick you so hard in the balls your grandchildren will feel it, Horus actually did that.

==History==
The IX Legion were not mentioned for many of the early actions of the Great Crusade. Their purpose was separate and unsightly. Their designed function was to utterly obliterate the enemy like an inferno, only growing in strength as the wars raged on and leaving nothing in their wake. So they were commonly deployed to radiation poisoned warzones, fighting against mutants and other undesirables that the Terrans would rather forget or ignore.

To this end, the IX Legion had a very peculiar gene-seed quirk: where other legions had to be fairly selective with the genetic purity of their recruits, the Ninth could recruit from practically anyone, not only the broken and downtrodden, but also deformed mutants that might not even be considered human anymore. The IX gene-seed allowed miraculous transformations that created uniformly elegant and fair Astartes from any source, meaning the legion could recruit from practically any world, no matter how poisoned. [[Derp|Gotta wonder why this wasn’t standard...]]

In the early days, their reputation for such transformations meant they were followed around by throngs of pilgrims, all baying and petitioning for the chance to become Astartes, eventually forming a "cult" called the '''Red Brothers''' who wove a tradition of mysticism around the Angels of the Ninth, collecting cast-off munitions and damaged armour plate; They even started attempting to sponsor good candidates for Astartes and weeding out the weaker ones. Sufficed to say, such a cult would not last when the [[Emperor]] proclaimed his [[Imperial Truth]], and somewhat ironically, the Ninth would be the ones to destroy them.

Due to their apparent resilience and proclivity for eating the bodies of the dead, the Ninth Legion would become known as The Revenants, this was because both the legion itself and its members seemed to come back from the dead as well as their Omophagea-induced habits. The legion was repeatedly deployed into bloody and toxic warzones that should have wiped them out, only to emerge stronger at the end; and the legion's officers had what appeared to be a remarkably long lifespan. This latter detail was in fact an illusion covering up a far more grisly truth: when an officer of the Revenants died, his successor would eat the body and take on his name.

===Coming of the Primarch===

[[File:Blood angel aspirants.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Welcome motherfuckers, have some blood. You'll be as pretty as us in no time.]]

The Blood Angels' Primarch was [[Sanguinius]], who was best known for being a [[Pretty_Marines|pretty]] [[Mutant]], a charismatic guy with a bad temper that made him look like Satan, and he was apparently a total bro. Basically, to the Space Marine legions and the rest of the Primarchs, he was [[This Guy]]. They all loved him. Even Horus, after he fell to [[Chaos]], lamented that Sanguinius in particular was no longer by his side. Sanguinius was so charismatic and batshit loyal that when he met the Emperor for the first time, he dropped to his knees and simply begged that the lives of those who worshiped him be spared, and the Emperor [[awesome|agreed and withheld the Imperial Truth from Baal.]] He also had a pair of huge, angel-like wings; no one is sure if this had something to do with the radiation on Baal or if he just came out of his birthing pod like that, but the citizens of Baal nearly killed him for it when he was found at the site now known as Angel's Fall. ([[Emperor|Emprah]] have mercy on anyone who uses the [[Mutant|m-word]] around the Blood Angels, though.) Many of the Blood Angels imitate the power and majesty of their beloved Primarch's wings by focusing on jump pack assaults, so the Blood Angels and their successor chapters doctrinally see a lot more [[Assault Squad]]s than the typical Space Marine army. Their current Chapter Master is [[Dante]], the oldest non-Dreadnought-interred loyalist Space Marine in history.

They had a brotherly rivalry with the [[World Eaters]] (if only the [[Imperial Fists]]/[[Iron Warriors]] and [[Ultramarines]]/[[Word Bearers]] could have managed that…) which got pretty messy when the [[Horus Heresy]] started. They were at the forefront during the [[Siege of Terra]] where Sanguinius died in the final hours and the Black Rage set in. In the [[Second Founding]], the Chapter was divided like the other legions. First Captain [[Raldoron]] became the first Chapter Master of the Blood Angels Chapter, starting the illustrious legacy currently held by Dante, who took office as the last surviving line officer after Chapter Master Remael and most of the Chapter command were killed in action.

[[File:Warhammer 40K blood angels wallpaper (1).jpg|300px|thumbnail|right|A Marine putting the 'blood' in 'Blood Angel'. Diligently reminding everyone they used to be called the "Charnel Feast".]]

In times of dire need, they are aided by the [[Sanguinor]], a guy who seems to be a Blood Angel in a more literal sense. Maybe he's some psychic manifestation of the Chapter. Maybe he's a ghost of Sanguinius. Nobody knows. The important thing is that he enjoys piledriving [[Bloodthirsters]] from space, killing [[Eldar]] [[Khaine|Avatars]], and killing a bunch of Night Lords, saving Dante's life in the process as it was otherwise a textbook suicide mission, a redemptive one, to be specific.

Oh, and [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] have been coming to devour their homeworld [[Baal]] for a few editions while it is also being attacked by a [[Khorne|Khornate]] army led by their ancient enemy, the [[Bloodthirster]] [[Ka'bandha]]. 8th edition "progressed" the story with the attack and [[Devastation of Baal|devastation of the Baal]] system where the Blood Angels and almost all their successor chapters were ready to receive them. Both moons were stripped of all life (yummy yummy radioactive wastes) and the main planet was wrecked with trillions of bugs, with the last survivors making one last charge--facing their fate like men in the ruins of the planet.

This is when the [[Great Rift]] opened up and cut Baal from the real space, yet the [[Tyranids]] on the ground forgot about the synapse shenanigans and continued to enjoy their first winning campaign since like forever. By the time the Warp was stable, all the bug-ships had vanished and Ka'Bandha had wiped out everything on one of Baal's moons--but in an odd show of his tsundere side for the Blood Angels, primarily summoned his lesser ilk to fight off the Tyranids, until the chapter master of the [[Knights of Blood]] chapter, Sentor Jool, engaged the Bloodthirster in single combat, which sounds stupid, but actually comes off completely fuckawesome and manly...while also being a pretty stupid thing to do.

Luckily for them the Cicatrix Maledictum had royally fucked up the hive fleet, completely disappearing some portions and annihilating the rest. The Blood Angels last stand culminated in Dante further fucking over the hive mind in a good bout of fisticuffs with the [[Swarmlord]]. The [[Legion of the Damned]] and the [[Sanguinor]] provided timely reinforcement, appearing to lead his Blood Angels brethren in a heroic last stand against Hive Fleet Leviathan, where the Chapter Master [[anal circumference|meltagunned The Swarmlord's face off]] [[Awesome|after being impaled, allowing the rest of his squad to live]]. The Sanguinor took off after that, but not after he managed to [[Noblebright|renew the Astartes' faith in humanity.]] [[Derp|True salvation]] arrived when the warp storms abated and the arrival of the [[Indomitus Crusade]]. Though [[Roboute Guilliman]] confided later that all they really had to do was finish off the stragglers that had survived the fleet and the warp storms--which was a nice clean way to provide some dignity to the severely depleted Sons of Sanguinius for the fanboys who had already been rolling their eyes over their [[Spiritual Liege]] coming to save them.

Baal Primus is a blasted shithole now (well...more of one, anyway) and is now uninhabited. In an odd show of [[noblebright]], Guilliman ordered the mechanicus to terraform Baal Secundus back into its paradisal state before the long night, [[Wat|apparently something they've long been able to do, they just kept it shitty to make for better (read:Tougher) recruits.]] Afterwards Big Bobby-G in a decidedly bro-tier move made Commander Dante the Warden of Imperium Nihilus--effectively ceding command of wholly HALF of the Imperium (the shitty half maybe...) and restored their ability to create new marines, provided fresh [[gene-seed]] and were granted the ability to produce new [[Primaris Space Marines]] along with all of the existing Primaris marines with Sanguinius' bloodline. They capped off the noblebright with allowing all the mortal boys who fought in defense of Baal to become Blood Angels, no questions asked, as they had already proven their worth defending their world. So a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions that day, to say the least.

==Combat Doctrine==

[[File:Helmet Colours.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Helmets for the Blood Angels play a very important part in their chapter—easy color coding to identify squad type ''and'' an incentive to keep your sexy face covered to [[Nemeroth|prevent easily avoidable death by helmetlessness]].]]

The Blood Angels took the establishment of the [[Codex Astartes]] as official Space Marine doctrine with [[Imperial Fists|notably less]] [[Space Wolves|bitching than]] [[Salamanders|other chapters]] due to the death of their Primarch and the onset of the Black Rage. They follow the strictures of the Codex as far as they see wisdom in it: the chapter is comprised of a thousand Blood Angels and divided into ten companies, each of which is headed by a captain. The First Company is comprised of veterans, and the Tenth Company is comprised of Scouts and Neophytes who have not yet become full Marines. Obviously though, none of the blood rituals and other [[Pretend|weird shit]] is Codex-approved.

Like their brethren in the [[Raven Guard]] though, the Blood Angels have a natural predilection for using jump packs and their own free will ([[Ultramarines|as opposed to blindly]] [[Red Scorpions|following the Codex]]). Due to their chapter's [[Black Rage|curse]], they have had to tweak things a bit; once they complete their training as Scouts, Blood Angels immediately go into [[Assault Squad|Assault Squads]] rather than [[Devastator Squad|Devastator Squads]], as the Codex Astartes would have it, though not only because of these little scamps' brashness. The constant close combat also allows Blood Angel officers to identify the noobs who can control their Red Thirst as well as those who cannot, and thereafter keep tabs on the latter group. Devastator Squads in the Blood Angels Chapter are reserved for Marines who have better control of the Red Thirst than most, because heavy fire support isn't very useful when the people providing it have psychopathic ADD.

The few Blood Angels that decide they don't like jumping like maniacs into swarms of enemies, and instead prefer biking like maniacs into swarms of enemies, are regarded as some of the best biker Marines in the Imperium, following closely behind the [[White Scars]] and the Dark Angels' [[Ravenwing]].

TL;DR Blood Angels hit shit until it dies. They also seem to use camouflage scheme.

==Tools of the Trade==

[[File:Tumblr niexunCRca1tvfheeo1 1280.jpg|300px|left|thumb|[[Sanguinius]] proclaimed, "War is an art form," and the Blood Angels said, "Well, that sounds [[Pretty Marines|absolutely fabulous]]. Get me some gold."]]

Blood Angels are known throughout the Imperium to be master artisans. Their long lifespans allow them time to perfect whatever trade they set their mind to, whether they are crafting the infamous, hand-sculpted artificer 'nipple' armour, [[What|bolters worth more than an Imperial hive city]], or even if they're simply painting vehicles and power armour. The philosophy behind this practice is that you cannot hope to know the value of what you're fighting for if you cannot understand its beauty.

Blood Angels are also known for their prevalent use of [[flamer|flamers]] and [[melta]] weapons. While they don't employ them as plentifully as the [[Salamanders]] do, they are nearly as masterfully constructed. The Sons of Sanguinius have taken a liking to the hand flamer, which gives them the assault capability of a flamer, but leaves their sword arm free to use in close combat. Heavy flamers can also be found in many of their Tactical Squads as an assault deterrent as well as on the side sponsons of Baal Predators to complement the Flamestorm Cannon, which ruins any infantry unit's day.

They also reeeeeeally like the Inferno pistol. Many of them have one, including the [[Dante|Chapter Master]].

The aforementioned Baal Predator is a unique tank manufactured by the Blood Angels. It is an anti-infantry assault tank equipped with [[Dakka|twin-linked assault cannons and heavy flamers]] that was acquired in a pre-heresy campaign that nearly broke all their relationships with the Mechanicus. Even to this day, things are still a bit touchy. Luckily, the Techmarines of the chapter quickly reverse engineered the overcharged "Lucifer-class" engines onto nearly all their vehicles.

The Blood Angels' de facto relic weapons are called Glaive Encarmine—'glaive' apparently meaning 'sword' in this case rather than the halberd-type weapon it's associated with ("glaives" comes from the Latin "gladius", the common short sword of Roman era, so there you go). They're made out of a mono-filament metal called 'angel-steel' and are purportedly so perfectly crafted that they never bend or warp. The secrets to their manufacture are jealously guarded by their Artificers (hopefully well-protected against "forgetting" or "losing"). Instead of making armor out of it, of course. This is represented by their master-crafted universal special rule. They come in two flavors, a Carmine Sword or a Carmine Axe.

==Recruitment==
While [[Space Marine]] selection is naturally never soft, the Blood Angels' methods are especially [[Grimdark]] by first taking their aspirants from [[Baal]] and its moons and requiring them journey through canyons and a fucking large desert (which are crawling with monsters and radioactive... Though the rest of [[Baal]] isn't much different in that regard.) to reach Angel's Fall, where [[Sanguinius]] was first found. After that, the surviving Aspirants kill each other in gladiatorial contests until fifty victors are chosen. ''Then'' they have to observe a vigil for 72 hours (any who fall asleep are taken away and never seen again), and finally after succeeding in that, the aspirants drink from a Blood Chalice provided by a Sanguinary Priest and fall into a coma (hopefully) for a year. They are then put into a life-support coffin for that year during which the gene-seed of [[Sanguinius]] implanted into them from the Blood Chalice changes them into Blood Angels. Many aspirants at this stage prove incompatible with the gene-seed and die during their confinement, [[Grimdark|others wake up too early from their coma and go insane from this solitary and claustrophobic imprisonment]], and the rest are the newest additions to the Blood Angels chapter when they wake up after a year.

Seriously you probably have better odds living through a war than going through this shit.

==Gene Seed==
The Blood Angels' themes and motifs are drawn from vampire and Faustian mythology as well as Catholic traditions & Italian renaissance style. They [[Beakie|commonly fly (with jump packs)]], [[Twilight|are eternally youthful]], [[Vampire|drink blood, and sleep in coffins]].

The Blood Angels are noted for naturally living longer on average than the Marines of any other chapter. Although, since there is no baseline standard for how long Astartes are supposed to live in the first place, and no Space Marine has ever been shown or described to have ever died of anything resembling old age (outside of those that have been affected by the Hrud), this claim kinda rings a little hollow (although any marine worth his salt will die of being slowed down by age before it's enough to finish him off). Even [[Dante]]'s age of over 1000 years isn't unique to his lineage, as there have been several other notable Astartes from other legion bloodlines that have managed a similar lifespan. By and large, Space Marines only die when they are killed, so, the only real ways Blood Angels can live considerably longer than "normal" space marines is if they either [[Reasonable Marines|don't put themselves at risk as much as normal marines]], or [[Rip and tear|they're so ded 'ard that they're just harder to kill than normal marines]].

Horus Heresy: Malevolence explains the longevity in a somewhat ironic fashion, given what we already know of Astartes physiology. The Ninth Legion were renowned for their long lifespans even during the early Great Crusade. What was less known was that the Legion had a habit of eating their dead captains after they fell in battle, with the Omophagea implant allowing the memories and battle experience to be retained for a future generation. Some recipients of these memories would take up the identity of the dead officer and give the outward appearance that they had never died at all. It was said that the Legion's master prior to Sanguinius' recovery had gone through several such reincarnations before his final death when the body was destroyed beyond recognition. Sufficed to say that after Sanguinius arrived, things changed and thereafter took being called the ''"Eaters of the Dead"'' as cause for grievous offense. Which is dumb because using the Omophagea like this is brilliant and means each Astartes would be far more competent than he normally would be. Many Marines would gain veteran levels of experience and skill without having to spend decades or centuries gaining it. What did Sanguinius think the Omophagea was for? Not eating people? Pfft.

When a Blood Angel does die, a [[Sanguinary Priest]] (what they call their [[Apothecaries]]) extracts his gene-seed using a device called an exsanguinator. When it comes time to implant it in an Initiate, the Initiate must receive it by drinking from a Blood Chalice ('insanguination'), which also contains the essence of Sanguinius. The story of [[Mephiston]], the Blood Angels' chief librarian, closely parallels the legend of Faust, a scholar who sells his soul to the devil in return for great knowledge and power (hell, he's named after the manifestation of the devil in the story, Mephistopheles or Mephisto). The names of their special characters and vehicles have an Italian flavor—Dante, the Furioso Dreadnought, Brother Corbulo. Corbulo, known as the chapter's High Sanguinary Priest, carries the Red Grail, which contains the blood of Sanguinius himself. Also, do we have to point out that the word 'sanguis' literally means 'blood' in Latin? Well, there you go.

The Blood Angels and their successor chapters have a genetic defect in their gene-seed known euphemistically as "The Flaw". It seems to have much more representation in the [[fluff]] than in the [[crunch]], but that's standard fare for a life-threatening, damnation-courting mutation that can pop up at any time. One chapter, Angels Penitent, managed to stave the defects off with art until they were fucked over by Chaos. Thinking about it, Charnel Guard's doctrine of downtime hibernation might help, maybe combine with [[Red Hunters]]' mindwipe.

===Red Thirst===

[[File:BA's.jpg|thumb|left|500px|[[Ultramarines|You'll never see a Blood Angel go]] "Oh nooooes, a fleet of nice squishy flesh-bugs coming to devour our system, we're doooomed...". Maybe because it's an excellent way to let loose for a bit.]]

The Red Thirst is what makes the Blood Angels space vampires,<s> or Team Edward </s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|PURGE THE UNCOMFORTABLE THEMATIC PARALLELS OF POPULAR CULTURE!}}

The [[Red Thirst]] has been a part of being a Blood Angel since the [[Great Crusade]]. Sanguinius went to great lengths to hide it from the Emperor for fear of being [[First Founding#Two Unknown Legions|expunged from the Imperium]], although odds are that the Emperor already knew. He even introduced [[Chaplain]]s to the Blood Angels legions before the Edict of Nikaea, not just to monitor psykers, but to look out for brothers who might be giving in to their bloodlust.

In the lore the general effect is that the Red Thirst makes a Blood Angel an [[Angry Marine]] with a literal thirst for actual goddamn blood. Thus most Blood Angel Chaplains require certification for anger management therapy before they get the job. Their duty is to ensure that the assorted Marines are not showing signs of bloodlust, and to throw them into a battle if they are [[Grimdark|so they can stave off total madness a bit longer]]. A Blood Angel can suppress his Red Thirst simply by fighting in battle. However, sometimes, a Blood Angel will see the memories of Sanguinius’ death upon the Vengeful Spirit. This will inevitably trigger the second, and more devastating, part of the Flaw- the Black Rage. After this, their lives will consist of utterly suicidal front-line charges to [[rip and tear]] the enemy as much as possible, before they eventually receive an honorable death in combat against the Emperor's foes. Those unlucky enough to survive to the end of the battle will either be given [[Blam|the Emperor's Peace]] by [[Astorath]], or [[Grimdark|imprisoned within the Tower of the Lost as a hopeless, dribbling maniac until they are required on the field of battle once more.]] This happened in Devastation of Baal, where the victims of the curse were seen as having mutated into hulking beasts who moved on all fours like gorillas. They were released to hold off the hordes of Daemons and Tyranids.

[[File:Blood-angel-dantewontdie.jpg|thumb|right|300px|I told you about the Red Thirst bro!]]Some chapters are more susceptible than others. The imaginatively named "[[Blood Drinkers]]" are notorious amongst their allies for allegedly leaving exsanguinated corpses wherever they show up. On the upside, Blood Drinkers are one of the few chapters who have [[Deathwatch (RPG)|tangible rules]] regarding how they handle the Red Thirst: if they have recently sated themselves, they gain a boost to WS, and suffer penalties to morale checks if they refrain from feeding.

On the tabletop, this has historically been changed in every single incarnation of the rules as GW continually changed their minds over how the Thirst should be represented; in 7th edition, they just give the flat bonus of Furious Charge to everything (including dreadnoughts); but if you get a bunch of Blood Angels together in the correct FOC or formation, then they also get +1 to Initiative when charging (''á la'' old-school Furious Charge), which is a very strong advantage. In 5th edition, Red Thirst had the odd consequence of occasionally making a unit Fearless and Furious Chargers if they give into the temptation, though independent characters had enough control over themselves that they were mostly immune, with a [[Erasmus Tycho|few]] exceptions. Going further back, into 3rd edition, the Red Thirst made a bit more sense and was something to actually be wary of, as your units had a potential to lose control at the thought of blood and move out of position towards the enemy. This really wasn't [[fun]], especially if your Devastator Squads didn't pull that critical round of shooting.

New in 8th it comes back with a vengeance. Allowing any infantry who charged, has been charged, or is performing a heroic intervention, to add +1 to the to wound roll. Meaning, when red thirst is in affect, [[awesome|you'll never be wounding on anything worse than 5+]].

===Black Rage===

[[File:Death company by fonteart-d6ay2k7.jpg|250px|thumb|left|Note the ancient, unfathomable Rage.]]

On the other hand, the [[Black Rage]] is the Red Thirst's angrier, more troublesome brother. You know, the one who dresses in black all the time, and who shows up at random times to complicate your life and embarrass your family. It's a terminal state in which the battle brother has not only succumbed to the Red Thirst, but has had a total psychotic breakdown. Or if you're feeling particularly poetic: it's the psychic scream of a dying demi-god that got stuck in his progeny.

Battle-brothers who succumb to the Black Rage are overcome with visions of Blood Angel battles during the [[Horus Heresy]], and a few even imagine themselves to be [[Pretend|Sanguinius battling Horus on his battle barge]]. This of course has the unfortunate side effect of making them completely lose touch with reality, fighting a battle that they can never ever win since the outcome of the hallucinations has already occurred. On the plus side though, their disconnection with what is going on around them turns them into immensely powerful warriors, since each and every one of them believe in some way that they are Sanguinius. You’re basically left with Sanguinius with an Astartes body and the Primarch’s incredible skill. [[Awesome|It’s as terrifying and awesome as it sounds.]]

Long story short, a Marine afflicted with the Black Rage will become even angrier than an [[Angry Marine]], and with even less self-control(which means they are effectively each Nightbringer crossed with Commissar Fuklaw. If you happen to be in the same star system of one of these, pray to the God-Emperor they don't sense you. If you don't happen to worship the God-Emperor, silently hope your gods are OK with suicide, because the alternative is too nightmarishly gruesome for even Games Workshop to describe in sufficient detail). If this happens in a war zone, they are quietly organized into small squads and their armor is painted black by a chaplain before the worst of the hallucinations take over. If they aren't killed in battle or get off the leash somehow, [[Astorath]] will come and execute them on the battlefield since no other Blood Angel has the stomach (or outright skill) to kill his own battle brothers.

[[File:True Blood Angels.jpg|150px|thumb|Blood Angel confronts his true form. And you thought the [[Wulfen]] looked weird]]
The [[Death Company]] is a group of Blood Angels on the battlefield who are afflicted by the [[Black Rage]]. Every force of Blood Angels and their successor chapters has one, though [[Flesh Tearers|some]] are more susceptible than [[Lamenters|others]], which makes those chapters' responses to the occurrence of Black Rage quite varied. The [[Flesh Tearers]] and the renegade [[Knights of Blood]] chapters both have an uncanny predilection for all-out, balls-to-the-wall assault—hoping to die in battle honorably before the rage takes them. In the Knights of Blood's case, they fought with the zeal of the [[Black Templars]], the fury of the [[World Eaters]], and the excess of the [[Marines Malevolent]] in such a perfect way that they got kicked out of the [[Imperium of Man|cool kids club]] and branded renegades for their excess collateral damage against allied forces. The Flesh Tearers very nearly joined that shit list, and were only forgiven by the Blood Angels when [[Plot armor|Astorath personally intervened on their behalf, citing that their brutality would be a necessity in the near future]].

Black Library novels indicate that the Black Rage may be suppressed by psychic blanks. However, the jury is still out on whether this would work as a permanent solution given that the example involved a renegade Blood Angel with amnesia who may or may not have been a warpspawned clone with other reasons for devolving into a bestial state. Either way, it would an interesting experiment for the Blood Angels to try attaching some sisters of silence to the Death Company.

On the tabletop, this essentially allows you to bring a squad of [[Khorne Berzerkers]] without the [[Khorne]], but with more customization options. You can also take several squads if Astorath has shown up, as he always seems to know where and when his brothers will succumb.

As with the Red Thirst, [[Games Workshop|GW]] keep changing the rules with these guys; nowadays you can purchase units of Death Company as Elite choices for your army at a not-insignificant cost, whilst in 6th they were Troops, but were so far down the path of being drooling lunatics that they couldn't hold objectives, and you could only have one squad unless [[Astorath]] was watching. In ancient times, it used to happen spontaneously for free, and you had to roll for squads at the start of battle, potentially losing members of squads you already paid for to bulk up your Death Company, which made fluff-sense. But at least you chose which model to take off, and sending a veteran sergeant to the Death Company was the only way of giving power weapon/fists (excluding the chaplain) to the squad. Losing a [[Terminator|Termie]] or tooled-up honour guard made you cry though...

==In a nutshell==
A redditor by the name of redsonatnight explained what the Blood angels are about thusly.

''To paraphrase Pratchett, they're 'where the falling angel meets the rising ape.'

''The Blood Angels, more than any other Legion, '''strive'''. They have the potential to be more bareserk than the Wolves, more savage than the World Eaters and more blood-drenched than the Night Lords, and for a while they were - look up their history as the Revenant Legion before Sanguinius took them in.''

''And now, despite essentially having the Doom Eternal soundtrack playing constantly in their ear, despite losing the father that made them find their better nature, they work harder than almost any other loyal Chapter to maintain a humanity they never really possessed. They paint, they sculpt, they help people, all while something in them screams to open children like Capri Suns and bathe in the overflow.''

''The Blood Angels work really hard to be good people. That's what makes them noble.''''''

==Daily rituals of the Blood Angels==

[[File:Dawn of War.jpg|200px|thumb|left|alt text|Dante pwns some noobs as [[Astorath]] and [[Mephiston]] look on.]]

04:00 - Reveille - The Blood Angels are roused from their coffins to start the day. 
04:10 - Grooming - The Blood Angels take the time to comb their hair and brush their teeth. Special attention is given to their fangs. Even more special attention is given to their long, flowing, golden hair. 
04:30 - Morning meal - A light meal is prepared by the chapter serfs for the Blood Angels. Consuming a chapter serf is explicitly prohibited. 
05:00 - Morning prayer. 
06:00 - Morning firing rituals - The Blood Angels assemble for target practice. Due to an ancient clerical error, the Blood Angels are in possession of an excessive amount of a heretical series of books from the pre-Imperial days of Terra called the [[Twilight|Twilight Saga]], which they use for target practice by the thousands. 
07:00 - Battle practice - The Blood Angels begin practice in the battle cages. Frequently, the Blood Angels will forgo their bolters for melee weapons. The usage of fangs in combat practice is considered heresy. Using fangs to drink blood is extra Khornate heresy. 
12:00 - Midday meal - The Blood Angels consume a light meal made for them by the chapter serfs. The chapter serfs are still explicitly off the menu. 
13:00 - Deep strike training - The Blood Angels practice their deep strike maneuvers. Pretending to fly like a bat is heresy. Transforming into a bat or black mist to fly is extra Tzeentchian heresy. 
16:00 - Evening firing rituals. During this time, several Blood Angels also practice the shooting style of a legendary Terran gunslinger known as Nosferatu Alucard, a proto-Blood Angel who was said to have slain thousands of daemons alone using only two blessed stub pistols. 
16:55 - Milk and Cookies Break. Drinking blood instead of milk or dipping cookies in milk is strictly banned. Dipping cookies in blood is Khornate heresy. 
17:00 - Staring contests - Dumbasses who want to challenge Chief Librarian Mephiston to a menacing staring contest do so now. Usually it's just the neophytes who don't know any better. 
17:15 - Round up - Staring contests end, and those who went mad while staring into Mephiston's eyes must be tracked down in the fortress-monastery and culled. 
17:30 - Evening prayer. Special attention is given to how fabulous Sanguinius was and why they can't wait to tear the heretical Chaos idiots multiple new assholes (hint, it involves blood). 
19:00 - Evening meal - A feast is prepared by the chapter serfs, usually of animals who were killed during the deep strike training. The chapter serf is still forbidden to eat them. Using the Red Grail in drinking contests is explicitly prohibited by order of the Sanguinary Priests. 
19:30- All loose [[Death Company]] personnel are rounded up, heavily sedated, and locked into their stasis cell for the night. 
20:00 - Free time - The Blood Angels are allowed a few hours of free time to do as they please. Some reflect on their duty to the Emperor and the deeds of Sanguinius. Others play vidya games. [[Pretty Marines|Some just pose moodily and bare-chested in front of a mirror]]. Still others will engage in artistic activities. A GOOD vampire movie is often shown for the Blood Angels' entertainment. 
00:00 - Rest - The Blood Angels retire to their coffins for the evening.

==Notable Members of the Blood Angels==
*[[Sanguinius]] - Primarch. Snaps [[Bloodthirster]] spines over his knee and decapitates [[Keeper of Secrets|Keepers of Secrets]] for the [[lulz]]. Sacrificed himself to aid in the ultimate defeat of [[Horus]]. May he rest in peace.
*[[Meros]] - Apothecary during the Horus Heresy. Sacrificed himself so that Sanguinius could righteously fuck up a Keeper of Secrets.
*[[Azkaellon]] - Captain of the Sanguinary Guard, Sanguinius' overprotective mother in short.
*[[Raldoron]] - First Captain of the Legion, later first Chapter Master of the chapter. Regarded highly alongside Sigismund, Kharne, Sevatar, etc. and noted to be a quality, good 'ol fashioned general.
*[[Nassir Amit]] - Yup, he eventually became the first Chapter Master of the [[Flesh Tearers]], but he was one of the OG Blood Angels.
*Dominion Zephon - Crippled Blood Angel who represented the Legion on Terra before the Heresy. [[Awesome|Took on Drach'nyen in the Webway]] with a chainsword despite only recently having the feeling restored in his limbs, living out the "drive me closer" meme. All around elegan/tg/entleman able to play the harp well enough to make mutants weep and able to fight just as well. Counteracts the insipid autism of Diocletion Coros during 'Master of Mankind' by being just a swell dude. Also, makes a Knight Baroness' panties reenact Genesis 7:17. According to ADB, he goes on to become the first chapter master of the [[Charnel Guard]].
*[[Dante]] - Current Chapter Master. Resident badass sexy-grandpa. Seriously, dude's hella old and prefers not to mention anything about having a Necron's cell phone number.
*[[Mephiston]] - Chief Librarian and resident rape train. Scariest motherfucker this side of the [[Eye of Terror]].
*[[Corbulo]] - High [[Sanguinary Priest]]. Sees far, just not far enough, into the future.
*[[Astorath]] - Keeper of Sanctity and the dude who kills Death Company nutjobs when they nutjob way too hard.
*[[Lemartes]] - Chaplain and the Guardian of the Lost, and the only Blood Angel to hold the Black Rage in check. Ranks #2 behind the Eversor Assassin as the most 40K and [[grimdark]] thing in 40K.
*[[Karlaen|Arenos Karlaen]] - 1st Company captain and total bro. Has a model thanks to 7E's Deathstorm Box.
*[[Donatos Aphael]]- 2nd company captain. Very supportive of blood drinking, with good results to back his actions.
*[[Erasmus Tycho]] - 3rd company captain. Proof that [[Your dudes]] has a reason to exist. Sadly could not quell the Black Rage, but still worth a fight no doubt. No longer among the living.
*[[Moriar the Chosen]] - Matt Ward's excuse for making generic Death Company Dreadnoughts a thing.
*[[Rafen]] - Longest living Blood Angel mook in any of the Blood Angels book series. Single handedly bested Arkio (possessed monster) and further aided Mephiston in staving off the Black Rage for a second time. Also wielded the Spear of Tolesto, though only briefly.
*[[Sanguinor]] - Started off being a random dude who was chosen to be Sanguinius' herald during [[Imperium Secundus]], then later stood in his Primarch's place on Davin and got drawn into the warp while transforming into an angelic being. Nowadays he may be Sanguinius reborn... or Azkaellon... or a warp entity created by the longings of the Blood Angels... DAMMIT! IT'S COMPLICATED.
*[[Acrion]] - Random captain that thought he could stand up to [[Abaddon]] during the 7th Black Crusade. He couldn't.
*[[Thalastian Jorus]] - Fuckawesome Reclusiarch that succeeded in standing up to Abaddon--killed ''all'' his [[Bringers of Despair|Honour Guard]], thoroughly wrecked the [[Black Legion]] by utilizing [[Wat|guerrilla tactics with the Death Company of all things]] AND became one of like 3 people in the Imperium to go toe to toe with the Despoiler and come out on top, gravely wounding Abby before the Chaplain was killed by the Black Legion.
*[[Chapter Master Slamguinius|Brother Slamguinius, the Slambane, 9th lord of slamfuckery]] - The newest hope to rise out of the Blood Angel's 8th edition codex, and by far the punchiest thing to ever come out of one of our codices from a basic Captain template in recent years.

==See Also==
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Blood Angels (9E)|Blood Angels Tactics]]
*[[Bloodquest]] - A comic & audio drama centered around the redemption quest of a fallen Captain and his crew.

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="250" position="center" spacing="small">
File:The Red Angel.jpg|Manly Vampires, IN SPESS!
File:Admit It.jpg|You know it to be true.
File:BloodAngels3rd.jpg|Older Blood Angels art. Is that Christopher Lee in the lower left corner? Well, using Dracula as a model makes sense...
File:CrusadeEraBloodAngels.jpg|2nd Ed. box art. Note absence of nipples on armour.
File:Blood Angels workout.png|Imperial /fit/izen encounters a Son of Sanguinius 020.M03
</gallery>

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