Celestial Lions

Celestial Lions
Battle Cry	"We are the Emperor's pride. Hear us roar!"
Founding	Sometime in the 38th Millennium
Successors of	Imperial Fists
Chapter Master	Ekene Dubaku
Primarch	Rogal Dorn
Homeworld	Elysium IX
Strength	Less than 95, rebuilding
Specialty	Messing with the Inquisition
Allegiance	Imperium
Colours	Gold, with blue helmet and pauldrons

The Celestial Lions (calling them "Celestial Loins" would be a joke in poor taste, given their tremendous losses of late) are a chapter of Space Marines in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. They are an object lesson of what happens to people who try and mess with the Inquisition without serious backup (like being a First Founding chapter).

The Celestial Lions came into conflict with the Inquisition over a planet they were pacifying. After the Lions took out the corrupt leadership and were preparing to head home, the Inquisitor in charge of the mission decided that, if the leadership had been corrupt, the entire planet was probably in league with Chaos, and that Exterminatus was the only option. The Celestial Lions were horrified, and when they could not stop the bombing, they decided to file a complaint with the High Lords of Terra. The ship bearing the delegation "mysteriously" got lost and found itself in Ork-controlled space; only the wreckage was recovered later. The Lions still didn't get the hint that they should stay quiet, and the Inquisition decided to silence their complaints for good. Given that the Lions are now best buds with what is probably the most powerful (and insanely dangerous) chapter in the Imperium, things just can't end well for the Inquisition. You do not murder Space Marines and expect to survive. Come to think of it, this is the latest in a rather potent, recent spree of Space Marines getting sick of the High Lord's shit and spreading that to other chapters. First was the Soul Drinkers (who basically gave a "Reasons Why You Suck" speech to several other chapters' less-than-noble view of the normal human masses), now it is the Celestial Lions (and maybe Black Templars will start to care more about the little guy). Oddly, all of these are (supposedly) descendants of Dorn.

Fast-forward to the Third War for Armageddon. The entire chapter was deployed to a single hive, and thanks to spectacularly bad intelligence they ended up outnumbered, unsupported, and taking heavy losses at every battle. Matters came to a head when "Ork snipers" managed to take out most of the survivors (especially the Apothecaries), and their last Apothecary was found dead next to his Rhino (having been shot through the head at point-blank range with a lasgun), leaving them without any means to recover the gene-seed from their fallen. The remaining 95 Lions realized that they had been marked for death and decided that they would fight off all the Orks on Armageddon or die trying, and contacted Chaplain Grimaldus of the Black Templars to administer the last rites for them, but he insisted that the remainder of the Chapter could still restore its honor (and thus be allowed to leave) by slaying the warlord leading the Ork forces in the area. While much of the remaining forces of the Celestial Lions were wiped out in the attack, they were successful in redeeming themselves in the eyes of the Emperor. Their only surviving Pride Leader (i.e. Squad Sergeant) was then named the new Chapter Master and given a couple of parting gifts by High Marshal Helbrecht himself: a suit of relic Imperial Fists power armor dating back to the Great Crusade and the Strike Cruiser Blade of the Seventh Son.

Now they're trying to rebuild with the help of a temporary detachment of Black Templars (probably including some apothecaries), although it'll be hard considering there's less than ninety-five of them left. Then again the Invaders another Imperial Fists Successor Chapter recovered losses in less than a century despite only being 12 of them.

"Ork snipers" has since become slang for Vindicare assassins, or more generally for any implausible cover story for an Inquisition action.