Knights of Blood

Knights of Blood
Battle Cry	Unknown
Number	Extinct
Founding	Unknown
Successors of	Blood Angels
Successor Chapters	None
Chapter Master	Sentor Jool (during the Devastation of Baal)
Primarch	Sanguinius
Homeworld	Unknown
Strength	None, all of 'em are dead.
Specialty	Heavy assault, overkill
Allegiance	Declared renegade by Ordo Astartes, nominally loyalist and considered as such by Dante
Colours	Silver, dark red pauldrons, helmet, aquila, and main backpack

"Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven. Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth: That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly."

– Matthew 6:1

A Successor Chapter to the Blood Angels, the Knights of Blood were a Renegade Space Marine Chapter. Although their frenzied warriors were dangerous to both friend and foe alike at least according to the Ordo Astartes, they still purged the galaxy of the Imperium's enemies and were quick to remind Loyalist Chapters that there is a large difference between "Traitor" and "Renegade".

The Knights of Blood Chapter suffered the same deficiencies common to many of the later founding successor chapters of the Blood Angels - to wit, the Black Rage and the Red Thirst. The Knights started a galactic crusade to purge the foes of the Imperium, but committed so many excesses in the course of it that they were declared renegades by the High Lords of Terra in the beginning of M41.

As such they kept their distance from any allies, to protect those allies from both the Inquisition and their own deficiencies. Some chapters ignore this decree, refusing to accept any declaration of renegade status from any other than a Space Marine, but other chapters are extremely zealous in prosecuting outcasts. Though, even those zealous Chapters (probably; the Red Talons, Red Hunters, and Red Scorpions all say hello) wouldn’t just take someone’s word at face-value that a Chapter was heretical/renegade and would investigate. Considering the Flesh Tearers/Eaters and the Blood Drinkers are still kicking around, it's plausible that the exile of the KoB was a consolation prize of sorts for the Inquisition; they couldn't take out the aforementioned Chapters, so they went after a similarly-extreme but far easier to condemn one.

There were rumours of the presence of the Knights of Blood operating in the Jericho Reach for several years, but they never appeared on any officially sanctioned order of battle, and as far as can be ascertained, no communications were ever exchanged between them and the Achilus Crusade's high command.

Story time!

In the short story, 'Reflection in Blood' by James Swallow, Sergeant Rafen and squad parley with a group of Knights of Blood who outwardly don't display signs of either of the twin curses (i.e. the Flesh Tearers sheer ballscrunchingly volatile anger barely restrained behind a mask). In fact they seemed quite civil despite one member of the squad being a dumbass and accusing them of being thieves along with renegades, as they had shown up in good faith to return a fallen brother's wargear and progenoids.

That, surprisingly barely got a rise out of them, and the leader, Ser Kord brushed it off. After things had wrapped up, Rafen asked the million dollar question, if they were willing to do this, could they not return to Baal with them? Ser Kord merely replied sadly "Baal has been lost to us." Then the dumbass asked them what was stopping them from slaying them for being renegades. To which Ser Kord merely smiled gently and the Epistolary that had been attached to the squad suddenly became aware of a COMPANY of the Knights of Blood that had been hidden by Ser Kord.

Without a Psychic Hood.

Without even giving a whiff of corrupted sorcerer stench.

Without sending off any red flags to the Epistolary that he was even channelling the warp, let along concealing that many men.

Let that sink in for a minute.

Needless to say Rafen and Co. beat a hasty retreat after - for such a bloodthirsty chapter the Knights of Blood demonstrated a surprising amount of patience.

That being said, this depiction of them is now questionably canonical. In Devastation of Baal the Knights of Blood were almost completely fallen to the Red Thirst, such that their physical appearance had begun to mutate into monsters like those locked in the Tower of Amareo. Then again, it’s possible the KoB began degenerating some time after these events.

Conjecture

These scant few pieces of evidence lead many to speculate that their particular blood lust might just be an increased passion in the midst of battle which would concur with what a Novamarine captain encountered in the Novel 'Death of Integrity' by Guy Haley.

It also raises questions by their command structure. As Ser Kord had not been fitted with standard psyker gear they might need him to pull multiple roles, as their status as renegades would make it hard to recruit. They seemed fit, with no mutations to speak of, so there's only a small possibility that he gained them after. He could also be the Chief Librarian but not need to wear their standard gear. They could also have Chapter command set up like those bloody magpies. It might also have been technology. It might also have been that they received some sort of power boost due to the flaws being suppressed through copious amounts of blood-drinking/flesh eating or some other possibly heretical means of sating the twin curses, with the amount of civilians being slaughtered for this being the impetus for the Knights of Blood being declared Renegades.

Where are they now?

In 999.M41, the Knights of Blood were gathering near Baal to assist their founding Chapter in their defence of Baal against both the Daemonic hordes of Ka'bandha and the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan. Being branded as renegades, they kept their distance from the other Chapters during the battles as to not imperil any of their cousin chapters still in good standing.

The Tyranids 8e codex reveals that while under the command of Gabriel Seth, the chapter was wiped out to a man in a suicidal charge that prevented Seth and other successor chapters from being overwhelmed by the Tyranids and Ka'bandha's forces. This is corroborated by Devastation of Baal, which shows the same events from Gabriel Seth's point of view and shows a rather touching goodbye.

Until that point, Seth and his Flesh Tearers had been actively avoiding the Knights of Blood, viewing it as a sign of mistrust from Dante that they be forced to fight alongside renegades and not alongside the primary force on Baal. However as the battle progressed, desperation forced Seth to team up with the Knights' Chapter Master Sentor Jool as Tyranids and Daemon overran their respective positions. It was then as all seemed lost that Jool revealed the truth of his chapter. As it turns out, the Flaw had begun to mutate them into monsters like those caged in the Tower of Amareo, and when Ka'Bandha arrived they had decided to use what was left of their self-control to die as Loyalists rather than being branded as renegades or being corrupted into the service of Khorne.

Jool then explained that it was he who had requested to fight alongside Seth, knowing that out of all the sons of Sanguinius, the Flesh Tearers would understand their plight the most. Lamenting the fate of his Chapter and warning Seth that he too was at risk of following them into damnation, Jool led his remaining men in a mad charge against the combined might of the Tyranids and Ka'bandha. After shedding a single manly tear, Gabriel and his remaining Flesh Tearers evacuated the planet, narrowly saving them from the Black Rage. Sentor Jool perished at Ka'Bandha's hand, but not before personally refusing the Bloodthirster's offer of servitude in exchange for an eternity of bloodshed in Khorne's name.

Dante and Seth are later seen discussing the fate of the rebuilt Chapters following the arrival of Primaris reinforcements. Both confess that the Knights of Blood are too cursed to be rebuilt, their legacy still too tainted. Yet nevertheless, both acknowledge the Knights died as heroes and loyal sons of Sanguinius.