Editing Legion of the Damned (section)

==Return==
[[Image:Legion of the Damned.jpg|400px|thumb|right|A Legionnaire helping out the [[Blood Angels]].]]
The emergence of the Legion of the Damned was slow at first, starting with destroyed worlds and unmarked coffins containing marines whose equipment serial numbers matched Fire Hawk records but whose bodies had unnaturally decayed beyond recognition. A few years after their disappearance, however, they emerged to help an Imperial garrison besieged by [[Orks]]. They quickly dispatched the xenos and vanished, leaving behind only a recorder, some sealed items and their chapter banner on which was inscribed the words "In dedicato imperatum ultra articulo mortis" or for those of you who don't speak Gothic [[awesome|"For the Emperor beyond the point of death"]]

The recorder revealed what happened to the ill-fated Fire Hawks. Basically, they got their shit royally fucked. After making the transition to warp space, they were caught in a terrible warp storm. Only their star-fort the ''Raptorus Rex'', and possibly another ship known as the ''Absolute'', and only 200 marines escaped the warp, appearing in the galactic east; so far east, in fact, that they were beyond even the Emperor's light. Not only this, but all their geneseed had been rendered unusable and the survivors were afflicted with a [[AIDS|warp affliction]] which caused them to rot, slowly destroying their bodies and sanity. But, unlike some [[Death Guard|failures]], they manned up and decided to use it to their advantage and continue their fight for the Emperor. They decided to repaint their armor black (possibly because even in their insanity they remembered how awesome chaplains were) and cover themselves with bones and fire. They also did away with any kind of organization, instead becoming an unstoppable horde bent on destruction. Most lore describes the Legion of the Damned phasing in and out of reality and instead of having flames painted on their armor they are instead wreathed in warpfire and their armor is pitch black and destroyed in some places which reveals the bones of the wearer, further emphasizing on the zombie ghost space marine theme.

===Theories===
Their new codex says that it's not actually known for sure if the above is really the case. Most of the [[Imperium]] (other than the [[Space Marines]], who stand by the Fire Hawks theory) believes they are the ghosts of dead Space Marines, and the [[Eldar]] (along with the late Inquisitor Quixos of [[Eisenhorn]] fame) are convinced that they're the Imperial equivalent of Daemons.

Note that similarly [[Kaldor Draigo]] has also been lost in the warp without being dissolved instantly by the raw stuff of chaos, but [[Matt Ward|obviously]] retains his purity because he's a [[Mary Sue|Grey Knight]] Chuck Norris in space, and instead of getting wet when falling into water, he makes it chuck instead, basically willing the warp to become still around him, yeah. The Fire Hawks were already known for being particularly devout and close with the [[Ecclesiarchy]] and [[Sebastian Thor]] and so could conceivably prevent themselves from melting too through sheer faith and willpower.
Also, [[Cypher|certain]] [[Fallen Angels]] manage to be deposited across space and time causing [[What|chronological inconsistencies]] and no end of [[derp|debate]].

They supposedly figure out where they are needed most by using the Emperor's Tarot, a deck of psychoactive crystal cards that are said to be linked directly to the Emperor. I'd imagine how frustrated they would be when they discover that Emperor's Tarot was made by [[Lorgar]] <s>(not doing a good job of proving you're a God, Emps)</s> {{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy!}}. The [[Ordo Chronos]] (what's left of it, anyway) thinks that they might actually be using time travel to do this,''(see also the '''Sollemnis''' below)'' but every time they've tried to observe the Legion directly to test this, they've been delayed by freak accidents that just so happen to keep the Ordo Chronos away long enough for the Legion to vanish by the time they show up.

Another theory that links to the time travel one is that they're Marines from an alternate even more grim and dark timeline, or as one anon puts it "in the grim grim darkness of the far far further future, there are only flaming-time-travelling-teleporting armor-ignoring-zombie-space-marines-ghosts" sent back to stop whatever bad is happening to prevent their future from ever happening in the first place.
[[File:Damned Legionaire and Filthy Eldar Xeno.jpg|800px|thumbnail|right|Legionaries are bros. End of story. Don't believe in the hypocrisy of what others say about them.]]
In other words, [[Awesome|they're erasing themselves from existence to save humanity]].

Nobody's entirely sure of the truth anymore, perhaps none of them are true or perhaps '''all''' theories are true and the Fire Hawks are just one set of unfortunate space marines to become Damned Legionnaires after becoming lost in the [[Warp]].

'''Tl;DR:''' Very [[grimdark]].

===Solid Theory===
The warp is often described as an ocean, with currents, storms, eddies and sea (Warp) creatures. The currents themselves are allegedly 'random' and they can block off systems from Warp travel due to storms or other anomalies, slow down ships and even displace them or swallow them entirely. We also know that they can send a ship to a different time; there are some references to ships arriving at their destination before they even left etc.

1. The reason that the Warp's currents are considered random is because no one has the sensor capacity to analyze the activity and patterns of the Warp. To be fair, such an endeavour would require a huge number of Warp sensitive sensors placed across the entire galaxy and would probably need many years/decades/centuries of data collection.

2. If the Warp is like an ocean as so many describe it, then at least some of the currents should be predictable and constant, like our currents on Earth. Now, taking this a step further, even if 99.9999% of the currents are forward-moving in time, somewhere in the ridiculous amount of space in the galaxy there is a high probability that there must be constant/predictable currents that take ships back through time.

3. The next question is, how far back in time could you go? I believe the maximum limit would be to the origination of the Warp current that takes you back in time. Unfortunately, there'd be no real way to tell how far back you could travel until you tried and found out. Another problem is that it still takes time (in your personal frame of reference), to go back in time. For example, you might spend a year travelling in the Warp current to go back ten years in real time, or (!) ten years in the Warp only to go back one year in real time. The ratio itself wouldn't be known until the current was used and even then it might not be constant.

'''One more step'''

I believe at least one of these currents has been found and is being capitalized upon.

The Fire Hawks were a chapter of Space Marines who disappeared in the Warp and were declared lost. Some survivors from their fleet were seen 25 odd years later with different colours and fighting styles, and they were then named 'The Legion of the Damned', as you all know. The LOTD has appeared at locations and relatively recent moments in time, where their limited numbers (200 odd marines), could make a huge difference. I believe this is no coincidence and unlike some theories (such as they are directed to where they are needed by the Emperor himself via the Tarot etc.), I have evidence to support mine.

The Fire Hawks Chapter was lost in 963 M.41 and became the LOTD after that event. Look below at 'Known Encounters' and you can see that some form of Time Travel has taken place because they've been active since before the Fire Hawks were officially lost.

I believe that the LOTD has found a constant current that can transport them back in time. The reason why and how they can appear at the exact time and places where they are needed is because to them it has already occurred and they are simply travelling back in time to moments where their limited numbers can change the course of history for the benefit of the Imperium of Man.

'''Now you're wondering, why don't they go back to the Horus Heresy and prevent everything bad from happening Etc. Etc.? There are a couple reasons potentially as to why not:
'''

1. The Current itself may not go that far back.

2. The amount of time they would have to spend in the current to go that far back may not be feasible. We don't know how long it takes them to go back 1 year in real time. For example, for all we know it could take them 5 years of travelling to go back 1 year, and therefore they'd have to live to at least 50,000 years old to make it back to the HH.

3. Every trip back in time alters history. The further back they go the more they will effect. They are probably wary of going too far back in time, just in case they somehow prevent their chapter's formation and their very existence, and everything they have ever accomplished. It basically risks too much. This makes even more sense considering that the Heresy was the cause of the Space Marines being split into Chapters to begin with, so without it, there probably wouldn't have even been Fire Hawks to begin with.

Considering that the LOTD has been going backwards in time to critical moments where they could make a difference, we have no idea how long (in their frame of reference), they have been doing it and they might be nearing the end of their natural lifespans. If that is the case, soon there may be no more LOTD. Therefore I believe the most important question, upon which perhaps this entire theory hangs, is why haven't they told the Imperium of that specific Warp current? Maybe they did..... and maybe it caused a lot more problems and perhaps they rectified that mistake as well. The problem is, I don't believe we'll ever know.

Another explanation for the existence of the Legion of the Damned would be that they are the spirits or ghosts of fallen Space Marines which continue to serve the Emperor even in death. This makes perfect sense, as in the book 'The Chapter's Due', Ultramarines Captain Uriel Ventris of the Fourth Company encountered the Legion while engaged in a battle with the Iron Warriors in the Tomb of Remus Ventanus on Calth. On one of the Legion's shoulder pads he saw a 'barely legible, inverted omega symbol'. This member of the Legion of the Damned was stated to have other traces of Ultramarines symbology and was heavily '''implied''' to be Remus Ventanus, a former Ultramarines captain who died ten thousand years prior. Before he and the other members of the Legion of Damned faded away, the ghost of Remus Ventanus whispered the true name of the daemon Lord M'kar and gave Uriel the dagger that was necessary for slaying the daemon. This fits with the Legion of the Damned well, as they once again saved Imperial forces from destruction. Furthermore this doesn't rule out the Fire Hawks being members of the Legion of the Damned, that would probably be the case. However they would not be the only Space Marines to be part of the Legion. Although this theory doesn't rule out time travel, it negates the need for it, as there would have been plenty of potential LotD members prior to the Fire Hawks being lost in the Warp. Later in 'Master of Mankind,' the Emperor apparently summoned fiery manifestations of Space Marines, and even Custodes as well as a [[Ferrus Manus|giant with silver arms and a hammer]], to hold back the daemonic tide before sealing the Eternity Gate. Quite possibly, the Fire Hawks were the core group of the LotD. Then, as time went on, more Marines, but just the very dedicated ones, were pulled in to serve. This would explain why the LotD isn't absolutely enormous, and featuring troops from every age, with Crusade Suits mingling with Corvus, Heresy, to shiny new Gravis pattern. As seen in the short story, "Animus Malorum" by [[Laurie Goulding]], the Legion can recruit regular Space Marines to replenish their ranks as seen when Attica Centurius used the Animus Malorum artefact to absorb the souls of Astartes as replacements for the Legion's losses. On the other hand, recruitment requires the physical death of the Astartes' body and the choice is often given to stranded Astartes with the alternative being death for [[grimdark|dereliction of duty]] to the Emperor or at the hands of the Imperium's enemies.

Interestingly, there is a Chaos Space Marine Warband called the [[Warp Ghosts]] that are both time travelers and ghosts (though not solid ones, they have to possess the bodies of other marines). This does show that several of the theories about the Legion of the Damned are definitely possible.