Editing Deathwatch (section)

===Recent Origins===
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[[image:Deathwatch-large.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The old but still-used front for the [[Deathwatch (RPG)]] core rules... [[Rogue Trader|Well, at least it's kinda goofy.]]]]
Come late 2016 however, practically all of the above is retconned directly. Now the Deathwatch was formed after the Ork Tyrant called "[[The Beast]]" nearly conquered [[Terra]], and it was made directly by the High Lords rather than by agreement of Inquisition and Chapter Masters. From there the Deathwatch were given the best equipment that the Imperium had, and they were even allowed [[heresy|to innovate with whatever they wanted]], though how the fuck the AdMech were convinced to agree to that is left up to the reader. The books official explanation for why that's allowed is the same one as why the Deathwatch have Custodes equipment and why the Deathwatch choose to use Xenos weapons: Fuck all. So, the Deathwatch are now what happens when the Imperium gets so pissed off it says “Fuck our dogma, our beliefs, our reservations, our paranoia, and FUCK YOU. Especially you. [[ANGRY MARINES|We’re fucking you RIGHT UP!”]]

With regards to the status of "Chamber Militant"; the Codex for the Deathwatch and their section in Imperial Agents outright ignores any Inquisitorial attachment. They wear the same sigil, which is apparently open to everyone now, and occasionally find themselves allied with an Inquisitor but that's the extent of their relationship.

Following the release of the Codex though, the Beast Arises Series offers a take on their origin that differs in some ways. We learn that during the days of the WAAAGH! Beast, the Orks were an almost unstoppable force and many marine chapters were slaughtered. The Imperial Fists Chapter Master and Lord Commander of the Imperium at the time: [[Slaughter Koorland]] determined that taking the Orks on head-to-head no longer worked since the Imperium's technological advantage was being eroded. So he colluded with Grand Master Assassin Vangorich ''(yes, the dude that killed all the High-Lords, and he was a rather cool dude back then)'' to create much smaller kill-teams with mission specific profiles which would be better suited to cripple or behead a threat rather than slug it out on a battlefield. Thus many chapter mixed units were formed and have their armor painted black, they forgoed their allegiance to the chapter and most importantly, its dogma. With this concept the Space Marines would have an extremely flexible force: from the melee prowess of the Blood Angels, to the stalwart defense of the Imperial Fists. It was a specialist force, but all the specialists were mixed in giving each unit an edge on every possible situation.

The Deathwatch was the brain child of Koorland himself, although the most of the High Lords (other than Vangorich, who had inspired them) protested its creation, primarily based on deep seated fears of an Astartes re-unification following the Horus Heresy and that it was bad enough that Koorland was an Astartes High Lord himself, fearing him turn into a dictator ''(amusingly he would later go on to shoot the Ecclesiarch for [[Heresy]])''. He only gave it up when he was called out on the fact that he was already the Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists as well as being the Lord Commander of ALL Imperial armed forces; So having a third title was a bit of a push. The Inquisition happily took over the role as overseers to the Deathwatch because they themselves owe allegiance to no single master other than the Emperor, so in theory were not likely to go AWOL with a powerful force of Space Marines. Koorland agreed, but with three caveats:
#That the Deathwatch be limited to Chapter-Strength (this apparently got dropped later as they became a permanent fixture as they garrison Watch Fortresses all over).
#That the Lord Commander have authority to disband them.
#That he would appoint a Space Marine to oversee all strategic aspects of the Deathwatch ''(the first Watch Commander Asger Warfist)''.

At the time the Deathwatch would be referred to as the chamber militant of the [[Ordo Xenos]], except for the fact that during its inception the Inquisition didn't even have Ordos. Towards the War of the Beast, the Inquisitorial Representative(s) decided that the Inquisition itself could be better served by dividing their attentions between Xenos and Daemon, rather than arguing over which was the greater threat. So the Inquisition divided into Ordo Xenos and Ordo Malleus.

The differences between the codex and surrounding sources place doubt on what ''exactly'' happened, since no source can seem to agree on the details. In the Codex there is no mention of them having fought in the War of the Beast other than participating in the clean-up afterwards, though given how it's worded and what happened in that series, it could be argued that they were formed partway through the war, rather than as a consequence of it (which the codex seems to imply). Other differences with the codex:
*Koorland's role in agreeing to Inquisitorial authority and restrictions to chapter strength (which appears to have been dropped anyway) is not mentioned in the codex ''(though by rights, the Inquisition can oversee anything they like)'' though the book does say that occasionally an Inquisitor will be in command of a Watch Fortress (almost definitely an elder veteran at that).
*The Codex doesn't mention any Inquisitorial connection which is arguably contradicted by the Inquisition's entry in Imperial Agents, and more specifically the rule Chambers Militant which allows an Inquisitor to field a Deathwatch squad but with the Inquisition faction, though that might be more a reference to how an Inquisitor can command a Watch Fortress and using an older term rather than keeping the old "Inquisitorial" Chambers Militant of the 90s.
*The 2017 tie-in novel to the codex: ''"Deathwatch: Kryptman's War" by Ian St Martin'' has the Imperial Navy believe that the Deathwatch carry Inquisitorial authority, ''(the source of which is not made clear)'' but no Inquisitors are present in the book. Additionally ''Swordwind"'' by the same author directly deals with a Deathwatch member's oaths to the Inquisition upon his returning to his parent chapter, refers to Deathwatch vessels as belonging to the Inquisition and has him ferried home in an Ordo Xeno starship.

It seems that the Chamber Militant business evolved as the Inquisition itself received its first Ordo split between Malleus and Xenos, and the assumption that the Deathwatch have Inquisitorial authority may not be completely true, but the Watch surely isn't correcting anyone who thinks they can casually order anyone around.