Void Angels

Void Angels
Number	V
Founding	First Founding
Successors of	N/A
Successor Chapters	Angels Imperious, Angels Vigilant, Chastisers, Covenanters, Eyes of the Void
Primarch	Gaspard Lumey
Homeworld	Ciban
Strength	140,000 at the beginning of the Heresy, growing to over 200,000 before the Scourging.
Specialty	Terror tactics
Allegiance	Imperium of Man
Colours	Pale blue and dark blue

Summary of Legion V

The Void Angels have long been the most suspect of the Loyalist Space Marines. Almost from their founding they have been regularly accused of cowardice, dealings with the Ruinous Powers, rebellion, and especially cruelty. But there was also a time when the Void Angels stood as the foremost defenders of the Imperium.

Legion Tactics

All of the Astartes are instruments of the Emperor's wrath. The Void Angels go one step further, knowing it is not enough to destroy the enemy. They seek to prove the futility - and terrible cost - of opposing the Empire. The many atrocities carried out by the Void Angels have often attracted censure and complaint, but none can deny their effectiveness.

Rebels and living xenos are the Void Angels' primary targets. Infiltrators precede the main assault, killing targets of opportunity and leaving the bodies in the open so that the enemy may know what awaits them.

After the Heresy, the Legion developed particularly fine marksmen and snipers. These specialists are despised and feared for their practice of inflicting mortal but slow-killing wounds. The Void Angels are well aware that a downed comrade screaming in agony is a detriment to morale.

Legion Equipment

The Void Angels arsenal is as immense as their manpower suggests. Prized equipment such as Terminator armour is generally held in reserve on Ciban and rarely deployed to expeditionary forces.

Legion Doctrine

The Void Angels studied the Codex Astartes but their Primarch refused to have his Legion divided. As a consequence, they remain an immense body of fighting men and support staff. This necessitates a considerably more complicated organisation than Chapters complying with the Codex. Overall command is invested in the Speaker of the Legion, though the privilege of this position comes with the certainty of death.

Beneath the Speaker are fifteen Senators at the head of Marine Regiments and extensive supporting forces. An additional five Senators are given command over the Legion's Armoury, Civilian Relations, Naval Reserve, Recruitment and Training, and Security. In matters of extreme gravity, these twenty officers, together with the Speaker, form the Void Angels' supreme consultative body.

Notable Successors

While Lumey refused to break up his Legion during the Second Founding, he did assent to a tithe of the Void Angels' gene-seed.

Eyes of the Void

(placeholder for the re-establishment of the Eyes of the Emperor in the Third Founding)

Gaspard Lumey, Primarch of The Void Angels

Appearance

Lumey is broad-shouldered and olive-skinned. His face, framed by dark curls, has a high forehead, prominent nose, and expressive, thoughtful eyes.

While other Primarchs far exceed Lumey's ability to inspire trust, loyalty and respect, he is the master of sowing suspicion, envy and discontent. When speaking he often emphasises his points by gesture. He rolls his eyes and sneers so often that these expressions are almost habit.

Youth

Raised on a relatively civilized world, the young Primarch's first career was as a journalist, condemning the monarchs and aristocrats that ruled Ciban. As unrest grew, Lumey was thrust to the fore as the leader of a popular rebellion, quickly developing skills as a general and statesman. Though he refused to be installed as an autocrat, Lumey's presence and ability dominated the newborn republic of Ciban.

The Coming of The Emperor

As Speaker of Ciban's Senate, Lumey was one of the first citizens to learn of an approaching vessel. He insisted that the public had to be informed immediately and gave a great speech to the Senate in which he announced the coming of spacefarers.

The Emperor approached Lumey openly, explaining their relationship by way of introduction. This did not convinced the Primarch, who began to question his father on his views of morality. Their debate, which lasted three days, was collected in a series of texts entitled "On Virtue", and remains a popular source of instruction for Imperial administrators.

The Great Crusade

Unlike many of his brothers, Lumey did not rename his new Legion and endorsed the men's nickname "Winged Victory". Although they were not the largest or fiercest Legion, Winged Victory racked up a fearsome reputation for ruthlessness during the Great Crusade. They consistently met resistance with brutality, punishing those who dared to defy the Emperor as an object lesson for other peoples. Their most infamous triumph was the Core Worlds campaign.

The Core Worlds confederation was one of the most developed human space realms encountered by the expanding Imperium. Conscious of their strength, the Core Lords expected the Imperium to make an accommodation. The Emperor's policy towards the Core Worlds confederation can be best understood by the two Primarchs dispatched to resolve the matter. Uriel Starikov, affable and charming, opened the negotiations. Gaspard Lumey stood back until the Core Lords' arrogance and greed ruined any hope of peace, then called an end to the talks with a sharp, bitter denunciation. "You have answered every concession with another demand. Your greed will be your end." Even as Starikov concluded the formalities, Winged Victory moved to attack.

Until the coming of the Imperial Legions, Karaza was said to rival Terra itself in its technology, industry and population. The greatest of the Core Worlds was dominated by immense underground cities and its citizens were confident that they had little to fear from a direct assault. They did not count on Lumey's resolve. The Primarch opened his attack with a horrifying fleet bombardment that shattered the crust of the planet and killed tens of billions. A petition to surrender brought not relief, but the descent of the Void Angels, the slaughter of the remaining defenders and the destruction of the planet's installations. Karaza never recovered. Nor did the Core Worlds confederation. Collective defence evaporated as every Lord sought to defend their own realm; the meekest threw themselves at Starikov's feet in the hopes that the Children of Armok would show mercy, their proud cousins were slain by the Astartes.

At the Council of Nikaea, Lumey took the podium to demand strict regulations of psykers. However his bitterness towards The Voidseer drove his case into extremism and a universal condemnation of "any and all traffic with the Irrational." Winning the argument was costly for Lumey. His tirade turned many of the other Primarchs against him and the action at Kazara was put under investigation. A tribunal ruled that the Fifth had employed excessive force in subduing the Core Worlds and Winged Victory was dispatched to the Galactic fringe, where worlds were less populous.

On the long voyage out, Lumey circulated an essay among his men explaining his acceptance of Imperial censure. The Primarch's concluding phrase, If we are to dwell in the Void, then let us be its Angels! was eagerly taken up by the Fifth Legion: the Void Angels.

The Heresy

The Fifth's exile left them unaware of the Hektor Heresy for months. When Lumey finally received word of the Warmaster's betrayal and Thomas Gaudin's call to arms, he hastened towards Sol. The Void Angels only arrived in time for a token clash with the Black Augurs. But doubts remained over the controversial Legion's real loyalty, especially when the Fifth concentrated their full strength of over 200,000 marines together with their supporting army and naval assets in the outer Solar system. A week of terse communiques went by, hampered by Lumey's refusal to attend his brother Primarchs at the Imperial Palace. Humanity held its breath - then the Void Angels departed the Solar system and dispersed their great fleet across the Empire.

The ruthless campaign Lumey led against every trace of Heresy and betrayal became known as the Scourging. No account of the casualties of the Void Angels' purge was never made, as the traitors had already made their lives forfeit, but there can be no doubt that billions perished. Few protested Lumey's actions. In fact, during the years of the Scourging, the Void Angels and their Primarch became the popular face of the Astartes. Victories, especially the hard-fought battle against the Life Bringers at Rai, were a greater source of hope than the memories of Bohemond and Kleisthenes.

Post-Heresy

Carrying out the Scourging of Traitors and Renegades made the Void Angels seem indispensable to the Imperium. While the Void Angels' defiance of the Codex Astartes caused great friction with the Lords of Terra, the other Loyalist Primarchs slowly grew closer to their difficult brother and came to appreciate the man behind the barbed words. The most important of Lumey's friendships was with Brennus, Primarch of the Thunder Kings. The two had fought together in the Saturn campaign and would exchange many letters in the decades after. As their siblings died or vanished, Lumey and Brennus grew to cherish one another.

But eventually, Lumey saw that their closeness posed one last threat to the Imperium. Were the two Primarchs to join their forces, their charisma and their prestige, they could have seized control of that which they had sworn to protect. The only solution was to set one against the other. Lumey sought out his brother and challenged him to a duel. Brennus began the bout in good spirits, believing that the matter was sport. But as their weapons clashed the Primarchs spoke and made clear their last thoughts. Whether Brennus was bested or allowed himself to die will never be known.

In the end, Lumey is the last surviving Primarch, a relic of a bygone age. The ancient preserves himself through long bouts of stasis sleep, emerging only to cull the leadership of the Void Angels.

Nobody can be trusted.