Carmine Blades
| Carmine Blades | ||
|---|---|---|
| A skull beneath three equidistant blood drops | ||
| Battle Cry | Unknown | |
| Founding | Unknown | |
| Successors of | Blood Angels | |
| Original Name | Swords of Haldroth | |
| Successor Chapters | None | |
| Chapter Master | Hajjin | |
| Primarch | Sanguinius | |
| Homeworld | Haldroth | |
| Strength | ~1000 Marines | |
| Specialty | Not knowing who their dad is | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Carnelian red and bone white | |
The Carmine Blades are a successor chapter of the Blood Angels, founded at an unknown point in Imperial history. They are interesting mainly for the fact that they believed themselves to be descended from the Ultramarines for quite some time. They were then known as the Swords of Haldroth, after their adopted homeworld. They inherited a primitive but proud warrior culture from the feral tribespeople of Haldroth, and practiced such traditions as ritual scarification and the flaying of captured foes, which probably should have been a sign to someone that these guys weren't really Ultramarine successors.
However, all was not well with the chapter. They were afflicted with a strange and terrible sickness, which they referred to as the "Blood-Curse" and sought to hide at all costs, fearing they'd be purged by the Inquisition if it came to light. They kept up this pretense until Astorath came rocking up near the end of the 41st Millennium, having sensed the presence of Black Raging Astartes in their ranks, and revealed the truth.
This actually came as something of a relief to the Swords, since they now knew that they weren't the only Space Marines out there dealing with these issues. They were less happy about the fact that they were actually sons of Sanguinius and would now have to rename themselves and change their colors and generally relabel everything, and their new cadre of Sanguinary Priests had some trouble reining in their bloodthirsty tendencies.
Despite this, they showed up for the grand smackdown at Baal with 800 Marines led by their chapter master, Firstblood Kaan. They were tasked with protecting the astropathic choir on Baal Secundus, and they sold their lives dearly; by the end of the siege and the arrival of the Indomitus Crusade fleets, only 157 of the original 800 were still standing. Kaan was not among them, and a sergeant from the 2nd Company took his place. The Blades were rebuilt with Primaris Marines and went on campaign with the Blood Angels into the Imperium Nihilus.