Editing Dark Angels (section)

== 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 <u>cannot</u> 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.