Charnel Guard

Charnel Guard
Battle Cry	Unknown
Founding	Third Founding
Successors of	Blood Angels, possibly through the Blood Eagles
Successor Chapters	None
Chapter Master	Zephon(founding), Paracelius(devastation of baal)
Primarch	Sanguinius
Homeworld	Fleet Based
Strength	Critical
Specialty	Sector-wide scouring actions, discretion.
Allegiance	Imperium
Colours	Wine and Black

Among what few information we have on this chapter, the only depiction of their colors and heraldry comes from this extremely rare Fellblade of all things.

Another Space Marine Chapter that used to have no info, but they have been involved in a few things, AND been slowly expanded across the years. Somehow no one has taken a photograph of them or even talked to their cousins. They also sound cooler than other chapters. To start off, they utilize stasis pods when they're not out killing heretics. It makes sense; your skills do not need to be maintained if you are in stasis nor do you need to be fed and whatnot, so that's a huge savings on ammo, food, and other supplies. Not only that, but since they are a Third Founding Chapter they still have some cool Heresy-era tech that is rare or non-existent in the 41st Millennium. They were apparently founded by all around badass Dominion Zephon sometime after the Siege of Terra. They are known to have three Fellblades and a lot of Fire Raptors. They also have a minor geneseed deviation which causes them to have unusually elongated canines, even by Blood Angel successor standards. For a time, they were also part of the Maelstrom Warders.

They used to share a strange tradition with the "Triarchy": a group of Chapters created by Black Library writers that include the Red Seraphs created by John French, Angels Numinous created by ADB, and the Charnel Guard itself who was created by the late Alan Bligh. Every century or so three warriors would reunite on a dead world to speak of their chapter's past, present, and future. As of the Age of the Dark Imperium in a short story titled "Tradition's Last Breath" by ADB, the Great Rift has made the present ever more dire and the future ever more uncertain leading to the three chapters deciding to leave their important tradition behind and join their fleets to take the fight to the enemy.

They were nearly wiped out in the Devastation of Baal, but given the arrival of Guilliman and his crusade fleets, it can be assumed that they got some Primaris Marine reinforcements.

Obliquely featured in the Inquisitor Carrow fan-fiction series, a Warhammer 40k/Harry Potter crossover. Which shouldn't work, but somehow does.

Campaigns

• 860-940.M33 War of The False Primarch - One of a few chapters that got their purging on with the Space Sharks, Flesh Eaters, Red Talons and the Death Eagles (Pentarchy of Blood). This war was extremely secretive to the point that the only thing we know about it is that the Pentarchy destroyed eleven other Space Marine chapters deemed heretics.
• 770-791.M38 Great Malagantine Purge - The Chapter joins a task force collectively termed the Manus Irae for another secretive campaign spanning the entire Malagant sector. This time it includes the Silver Skulls, Fire Hawks and two other chapters whose names remain unknown. While admittedly a step down in badassery from the Pentarchy of Blood, the High Lords of Terra still wanted to set an example, and thus when the Chapters get rolling, genocide ensues.
• ???.M38 Messallas Purgation Campaign - As stated. Notable because they used one of their Fellblades.
• 367.M39 Phaenonite Schism - A minor incident during the Angevin Crusade that would nevertheless have greater repercussions down the line. The planetary governor of a planet called Phaenon Prime turned to the worship of Chaos and the Charnel Guard was called in to drop Virus Bombs on his head. This was done under the orders of a Radical Lord Inquisitor, who kept using the dead world as a research base for heretical studies. These ultra-radicals would eventually become the Phaenonite faction, whom upon discovery would be declared traitors and purged as thoroughly as possible. Phaenon Prime would be subjected to a second Exterminatus by the Mechanicus, who used the tried-and-tested Autek Mor method to ensure the planet was completely destroyed.
• 013.M41 Strato-Keeps of Keziah's Moon - The Forge Moon of Keziah, located in the strategically vital Agathon System, falls into an unnatural eclipse, driving the population to murder and madness in an endless night of horror (because of course it does). The dread forces of the Tenebrae and the Company of Misery keep kicking the asses of the Imperial Guard and Inquisition until the Goth alliance of the Charnel Guard and the Adepta Sororitas of the Black Sepulchre arrive to get shit done. They manage to keep the Chaos forces at bay until reinforcements from the Angels Porphyr, Storm Lords, Iron Hands and the Mechanicus arrive. Once the heretics were outnumbered, it was only a matter of time until they got expelled from the moon after a series of tank battles and Zone Mortalis engagements. The Charnel Guard used more of their forces in this event than they had in the last three thousand years.
• 587.M41-651.M41 Maelstrom Wardens - Bundled up with a few other chapters to watch the Maelstorm. They fought alongside them for a while, but then were sent to the southernmost edge of the galaxy on the Thanatos Crusade. This means they missed all the fun in the Badab War.
• Thanatos Crusade - According to Imperial Armour, their last recorded action before the Devastation of Baal shows the Chapter plunging south, towards a region of space named the Caligari Sector in the "Inquisitor Martyr" video game.
• 999.M41 Devastation of Baal - Took very heavy casualties in the battle, including their Heresy-era Battle Barge "Invictrix", and are said to be almost destroyed.