Dark Angels
| Dark Angels | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Battle Cry | "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" | |
| Number | I | |
| Founding | First Founding | |
| Successors of | None | |
| Successor Chapters | CONFIRMED:Angels of Absolution, Angels of Redemption, Angels of Vengeance, Guardians of the Covenant, Disciples of Caliban, Consecrators, Persecutors of Darkness, Order of the Crimson Knights, The Repentant Brotherhood, The Angels of Wrath. MIA(presumed destroyed): The Lion's Sable. SUSPECTED: Star Phantoms, Angels of vigilance, Relictors(possible hybrid) | |
| Chapter Master | Azrael | |
| Primarch | Lion El'Jonson | |
| Homeworld | The Rock, originally Caliban | |
| Strength | 1,000 (officially, maybe much more) | |
| Specialty | Plasma weapons, terminators, bikes, land speeders, historical revisionism, killing chaos marines, |
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| Allegiance | Imperium of Man, |
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| Colours | Green, black | |
Impenetrable, implacable, indomitable; the Dark Angels are a war machine acting with merciless determination. To the son's of the Lion actions speak louder than any word - no wild war cries, no lengthy speeches invoking death or glory, just solemn, stoic chants and hymns are intoned as they dismantle their enemies. Known for their stony-faced austerity and ascetic rejection of pride, they fight bitterly to expunge an ancient stain on their honour that, if brought to light, would render all they have striven for null and void.
The Dark Angels are dreaded by their enemies and held in awe by those they protect. Yet despite their unsurpassed battle record, the Dark Angels are not embraced by those whom they serve. It does not take the heightened awareness of an empath to sense the brooding obsession that coils around the Chapter. They bear an unsettling mien and are forever enshrouded by myths and insinuations. It is no surprise that there are rumours about the Dark Angels, for they are an inscrutable Chapter, cloistered within their mysterious fortress monastery upon the asteroid known as 'The Rock'. They emerge to answer the call of battle, arriving unlooked-for on battlefields across the expanse of the Imperium. They call no 'planet home, but crisscross the stars following a mysterious path known only to themselves. Those who serve alongside the Dark Angels find them taciturn, wholly absorbed by their archaic battle rites, as if purposefully detaching themselves from those they fight to protect. In them there is a brotherhood and a solemnity unmatched by even the grimmest of their fellow Space Marine Chapters. Of their own agenda, the Dark Angels remain quiet as the grave. Upon completion of a mission, they disappear with the same unexpected swiftness that marked their arrival, heedless of the unease they have spread and uncaring of the rumours whispered in their wake.
The Dark Angels (also known as "The Dork Angels" or the "Dangles" (Hello, ladies)) are amongst the most accomplished and powerful Space Marine Chapters in the Imperium. Their grim determination and relentless persecution of their foe's are legendary, and their combat record tells a long tale of selfless heroism. Yet this facade hides a terrible secret, a betrayal that occurred in the distant past but that has stained the Chapter’s very soul. At the direction of their shadowy Inner Circle, the Dark Angels hunt their own heretic brethren – a quest spearheaded by the ruthless warriors of the Deathwing and those of the lightning-fast Ravenwing. This search for redemption has lasted ten thousand years, and drives the Dark Angels on to new heights of merciless destruction even to this day. They have in recent years become arguably one of the most loved chapters due to the Dark Angels story and appearance fitting the grimdark setting of the 40k universe so much better than the squeaky clean Ultramarines ever could. Despite being the first Space Marine Legion created by the Emprah they have in the past suffered from a lack of development due to GW poor attempt to keep them “mysteries” and “intriguing” but in reality it just meant that their fluff remained underdeveloped and stagnant for well over a decade whilst chapters like the Space Wolves, Blood Angels and the Ultramarines continued to develop their own unique character and identity.
Their Primarch is Lion El'Jonson a.k.a The Lion. As a result, the Dark Angels are totally gay,AWSOME AND WITHOUT FAULT, their Primarch happening to be named after a homosexual poet who wrote a poem called "The Dark Angel" and might've dated Oscar Wilde. Oh, and their homeworld is called The Rock, a (now defunct) gay bar known to the original writers A REFUGE FOR PEACE AND HARMONY WHERE NOTHING SINISTER EVER HAPPENS(it's actually a mobile Space station that can take out most of Battlefleet Solar on its own.). They're now the posterboys for both 6E and Citadel's "new" line of paints. Fuck yeah, we guess? Russian fa/tg/uys believe that Dark Angels are Jews (no one knows why it's because ALL DA names are in Hebrew, silly). Interestingly, they're also the only Space Marine Chapter in the Imperium that willingly employ xenos retainers, known as the Watchers in the Dark; they get away with this by claiming the Watchers are undead Fallen DARK Angels.
By the way, anything that is struck out is either the truth, speculation or a Complete Fabrication. Any subsequent message written in all caps is an attempt by an agent of the Dark Angels to suppress information that implicates them of treachery TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT WHAT REALLY HAPPENED. The 1st Legion and its successors are composed entirely of closet heretics THE MOST LOYAL AND STALWART SERVANTS OF THE EMPEROR. When dealing with the Dark Angels it is important to bear in Mind that they are the very embodiment of the phrase “the end justifies the means” and they will go to any lengths and do anything that they need too to conceal their dark past in order to prevent any outsiders from knowing the full story HONESTLY STATE THAT NOTHING HAPPENED. If such is the case, it may be safe to assume that the original author of such reports has either been killed or captured DECIDED TO TAKE A LONG VACATION.
- Days later, the author was found lying dead in a ditch, missing most of his head and upper torso. Examination of the body indicates that the likely cause of death was catastrophic injury resulting from
detonation of a small calibre explosive shell in the cranial cavity, such as a Bolter RoundA GUN UNLIKE ANYTHING THE DARK ANGELS USE. An autopsy conducted bya Dark Angels apothecaryAN UNBIASED APOTHECARY CHOSEN AT RANDOM concluded that the victim had either committed suicide or had been attacked by Ork snipers, and closed the case.
The new Codex heavily implies that they may be at Legion strength as no-one knows just how many worlds they recruit from or the number of recruits they actually have. The lack of clarification on this matter and the suspiciously close cooperation between the Dark Angels and their successor chapters hasn't gone unnoticed by the Inquisition, although their attempts at exposing the Dark Angels' secrets haven't met with much success thus far. However, one reason they and their successors work together so well is likely due to the fact that the pre-heresy Dark Angels Legion was already assembled out of chapters. After the heresy, they merely needed to give the chapters names instead of numbers and have the chapters adopt different heraldry and colors; as such, the Dark Angels and their successor chapters might still be (functionally and unofficially) a (more-or-less) cohesive Legion.
Their theme by HMKids,which Makes them look like loyalists SHOWS THEIR ABSOLUTE LOYALTY.
They have apparently also become the love-chapter of some of GW's writers, since they now have the best motorcycle squads around (yes, apparently even better than the White Scars), the "last" (they might have a ton of them or be making new ones!) jetbike in the Imperium, and invulnerable "Chapter Serfs".
Gene-Seed
During the time of The Great Crusade the Dark Angels gene-seed implantation success would prove to be in the highest resistance band during extensive replication -a meridian matched only by the Ultramarines suffering relatively little mutation or deviation in subsequent generations of harvested organs. Over the next 10,000 years the Dark Angels Gene-seed has remained stable with no defects or mutations recorded. The Gene-seed remains one of the most stable sources available to the Imperium with a rejection rate as low as 10% the equal of any Ultramarines stock. Due to the purity of the Gene-seed it is suspicious that the High Lords are so reluctant to use the Dark Angels seed when founding new chapters, sometime skipping them entirely. It is whispered that their reluctance is due to the fact that the Dark Angels have a suspiciously close relationship with their successors. The High Lords fear the hidden agenda and motivations of such a powerful chapter, their worries are not alleviated by reports that the successor chapters are often reported working with or taking orders from the Dark Angels directly which has also led to the Inquisition accusing the Sons of the Lion of "legion building".
One of the Lion’s greatest legacy’s to his sons is his strategic genius – a quality passed on to his sons through the Chapter’s gene-seed. This trait manifests exponentially as a Dark Angel ascends toward the rank of Company Master. Such officers can plan a campaign to the last detail, execute faultless assaults, and assemble impenetrable defences instinctively. Central to this ability is the deployment of the correct mix of squads, vehicles and support elements. To this end, the Dark Angels form strike forces – self-contained armies assembled to prosecute a specific campaign or defeat a particular foe.
According to the Dataslate-Cypher-Lord of the Fallen at close ranges, Librarians from the Unforgiven can pick up the unique psychic signatures of those who bear traces of their shared Primarch. Even the most spliced or tainted gene-seed of Lion El’Jonson emits a distinct signal powerful enough to detect. Basically all you need to do is put a Dark Angels Librarian near to a suspected Fallen and they might as well have a great big flashing neon light saying “SON OF THE LION HERE CAME AND GET ME”.
Battle Cry
Where the Space Wolves or the Black Templars might give vent to wild war cries in the heat of battle, the Dark Angels intone solemn chants and battle-hymns as they hack apart their foes. Stony-faced and austere, the Dark Angels gun down their victims with frightening efficiency, never showing the slightest moment of weakness or unseemly pride. When "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" is intoned it is not as a wild battle cry roared as the Dark Angels charge the enemy instead it is a subtle and sinister promise directed at those that they secretly hunt. It is a grim vow and dark reminder to those who think they have escaped the wrath of the Dark Angels that no matter how long or how far they run, no matter where they hide or how safe they might think they are the Dark Angels will find them and they will be made to repent for the wrongs they have committed against the Chapter. It is an oath sworn by the Unforgiving that no matter how long it takes every Fallen will be found and made to suffer for their sins until they have been granted absolution, only then will they finally be gifted the mercy of death.
"Repent! For tomorrow you die!"
History
The original Dark Angels had black armour, back in the days of the Corvus pattern helmets. Modern Dark Angels instead use a dark green colour, except for the Deathwing and Ravenwing companies, which are composed entirely of bone-white Terminators and black Fast Attack units respectively. They were introduced in the Deathwing expansion to 1st edition Space Hulk with a spiffy background story by Bill King.
Due to a slight mutation in their gene-seed, the Dark Angels had a slight predisposition to be emo, but other than that, they were cool.
Veterans wear robes and capes and such on the field of battle representing any number of ritualistic ranks and titles that are mostly unknown to those outside of the Chapter but harken back to the traditions of "The Order", plus they look pretty awesome.
Great Crusade
Not simply a Legion numbered "one", they were quite literally the First legion created and sent outwards onto the Great Crusade. HH: Extermination tells us that after this the Emperor decided to make the following legions more specialised and engineered their development towards different roles, so basically the Emperor simply intended the First Legion to sally forth and "just be Space Marines". So they became the benchmark by which other legions would be measured against, however they eventually got supplanted by the empire-building Ultramarines when times changed.
That meant the Dark Angels had to figure out warfare all on their own, and by the time of the Heresy, Lion El'Jonson had split the Legion into six "Wings"; each dedicated to a different form of warfare, of which two survived into the later 40k:
- Ravenwing - Cavalry & Fast Attack
- Deathwing - Veterans in Artificer Armour (later Terminator Armour)
- Stormwing - Boarding Assault Marines.
- Dreadwing - unknown function, though its commander wields a big axe.
- Ironwing - Battle tanks and other lethal vehicles.
- The remaining "wing" has not yet been confirmed
In this fashion, acting all on their own without support from the other legions that followed they killed lots of Orks and other xenos scum for great justice and were the most successful Legion during the early years of the Crusade.
Later, some planetary ruler insulted Leman Russ and he got all pissy about it. Then Lion ended up killing the leader and Leman was like "Whatchu do that fo' fool?" because he wanted to take the bitch-ass out. And Lion was like "fuck off, furry," despite his own furtastic name and his dickish kill-stealing. Leman, never being good with words, reason, or sobriety, megaton punched the Lion. The two of them fought for a day or two, an epic struggle between cool-headed tactician and hot-blooded barbarian, douchebag and bro-tard. Then Leman said "this is stupid" and started laughing... then the Lion knocked him out.
In true anime fashion, after Leman regained consciousness and was less-inebriated, the two eventually became best buds and treated it as water under the bridge; their respective chapters still carry on the friendly rivalry, a pair of champions engaging in sacred and non-fatal honour duels whenever the Dark Angels and Space Wolves meet. And a couple of light years away, the Tyranids eat a planet while two of the most important Space Marine chapters waste time on this Nerf-chainsword-duel-honour-bullshit because that's how they roll.
Horus Heresy
- ++Much of the history of the First Legion during the events of the Horus Heresy are largely unknown to the Imperium at large, thus you will find that
there are conflicting perspectivesWHAT THE DARK ANGELS TELL YOU HAPPENED IS THE TRUTH.++
During the Horus Heresy Lion El'Jonson rushed to come to the aid of the Emperor, fighting his way through the Night Lords, Death Guard and traitor guard to reach Terra. Stopping off at Macragge to kick Roboute Guilliman out of inaction and start actually paying attention to the Horus Heresy. In fact, despite all of the mystery surrounding the intentions of the First Legion, the Emperor still had complete faith in them. A discussion between Him and Malcador the Sigillite during Graham McNeill's Vengeful Spirit proves that even the Emperor expected Guilliman to procrastinate and start building his own Empire and they were somewhat relieved when Russ told them that the Lion had intervened.
Despite all this he didn't make it to Terra in time because he was more interested settling what amounts to a pissing contest against Konrad Curze than risking his life in the Siege of Terra THE ENGINES WERE A LITTLE SLOW THAT DAY. Afterwards he returned home to Caliban only to find that to his shock his closest friend Luther had turned to Chaos, converting the garrison force with him EVERYTHING WAS A-OK. The Lion fought his way into his own fortress KICKED BACK and dueled Luther for the fate of the legion HAD SOME BREWSKIS. When daybreak came Caliban was nothing more than an asteroid field, a result of the Dark Angels loyalists bombarding their own planet so mercilessly SOMEBODY LEAVING THE GAS ON IN THE FORTRESS MONASTERY. When Dark Angel forces reclaimed the void shielded remnants of their headquarters they found that Luther was a gibbering wreck, and Jonson was nowhere to be found THE LION WENT OUT FOR SOME SMOKES HE'LL BE BACK IN A MINUTE. Oh, and the surviving Dark Angels painted their armour green to distinguish themselves from their Chaos worshipping former Brothers BECAUSE GREEN IS THE EMPRAH'S FAVOURITE COLOUR AND THE DARK ANGELS ARE THE MOST LOYAL OF ALL CHAPTERS. This rather stressing turn of events caused one Dark Angel to comment "I hate Mondays".
Because Caliban was far away from many Imperial Worlds, the core leaders of the Dark Angels known as the "Inner Circle" decided to cover up Luther's treason THE COMPLETELY RANDOM ACCIDENT INVOLVING SOME FUCKTARD FIRING A FULL SALVO OF ORBITAL BOMBARDMENT CANNONS ON THE PLANET and mask it as an freakish warp accident. The Imperium's not exactly sure what happened to Caliban as anyone who investigates about this matter, even Inquisitors, disappear faster than Candlejack snatching away a victim after saying Ca TAKE A HOLIDAY
Ahem, to carry on where my predecessor left off after his mysterious COMPLETELY UN-SUSPICIOUS disappearance, the Dark Angels became the most obscure chapter in the millennium following the Horus Heresy. Where as Imperial officials can try to order around chapters like the Space Wolves and Black Templars, the Dark Angels can never be approached because they can't be found 90% of the time. They are known for mysteriously appearing out of nowhere to aid Imperial forces and disappear just as fast, even if the forces they were aiding were still in need of their help. This has led to much complaint from Imperial commanders, who are often understandably pissed off.
After the destruction of Caliban
Ever since that fateful day ten thousand years ago, the Dark Angels have striven to prove to the Emprah and their Primarch that they are still cool guys to hang around with, despite their earlier Heresy HAVING THE FLASHIEST BITS OF ANY CHAPTER. To this end they have acquired toys like plasma cannon jetbikes, more suits of Terminator Armour than most chapter can shake their chainswords at, and a mini-Gitmo in a flying chunk of planet to torture the Fallen ENEMIES OF THE EMPEROR FROM THE NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS, in order to prove that they are still loyal, and to attempt to disprove the rumour that that they are flaming homosexuals.
Luther himself is kept within a special cell equipped with stasis fields (both to keep him from escaping and to prevent him from dying of old age before some kind of confession can be extracted from him). He's still barking mad from Chaos withdrawing its influence from him HIS OVERWHELMING LOVE FOR THE EMPRAH! But his ramblings have occasionally assisted the Dark Angels in apprehending the Fallen FINDING NEW WAYS TO IMPRESS CHICKS and locating lost relics within the Rock. Recently, he's been claiming that the time for the Lion to return and absolve the Chapter of its past SHOW HOW AWESOME THE DARK ANGELS ARE is growing closer...
Unknown to the Dark Angels, Lion El'Jonson is alive and well- after his duel with Luther TRIPPING OVER A POWER SWORD THAT LUTHER FORGOT TO PUT AWAY, the Watchers in the Dark AFORMENTIONED LITTLE HUMANS IN CLOAKS brought him to a hidden chamber in the depths of the Rock so he could be healed of his wounds. He has long since healed now, and now all that is needed for the last loyal Primarch to return is for the Emperor to give him the signal to do so.
The Unforgiven
After the Horus Heresy, the remaining Legions were forced to split into chapters of around 1000 men according to Roboute Guilliman's brand new Codex Astartes and the Dark Angels followed suit mostly because they had no Primarch to disagree; not that it mattered by this point anyway.
Where Rogal Dorn RAGED against the idea of splitting his legion, but eventually relented on the threat of civil war, the Dark Angels quietly split themselves up but maintained in covert contact with each other. Keeping the same chain of command as before, and mostly the same traditions and expectations. Particularly with co-operation in the hunt for the Fallen Angels CHILLIN' OUT MAXIN' RELAXIN' ALL COOL, but they also refer to each other as "brothers" in arms. (Kaldor Draigo noted that the correct terminology for different chapter is "cousin" and resolved to have a word with Azrael over it) and the Supreme Grand Master of The Rock is deferred to as the highest authority on the secrets of the newly formed Inner Circle.
It transpires from Gav Thorpe's 2015 novel Unforgiven that the Inner Circle was in fact formed decades AFTER the Second Founding when Cypher revealed himself at The Rock and made it evident that survivors from Caliban would be dropping out of time and space who could reveal tbe truth of what happened. So the Grand Masters of the Twelve Second Founding chapters held a council and formed the Inner Circle to make sure their collective honour remained intact. Previous to that we must have assumed that the descendants of the First Legion were just relieved to have weathered the Horus Heresy and followed Guilliman's commands quietly.
Therefore the Dark Angels still function unofficially as a Legion, and this gets the Inquisition particularly worried, though they can't prove anything, since from the outside, each chapter has its own distinct chain of command and adheres to codex requirements.
So far (and for ten thousand years) these indiscretions have passed as little more than quiet rumours, since the unforgiven go to extreme lengths to protect their honour, plus they mostly keep to themselves so no-one knows what they're actually up to.
However, if the Inner Circle ever decided to go rogue they could cause an impressive shitstorm for the Imperium. Statistics indicate that the Dark Angels successors make up around 15% of the total space marine chapters at large in the Imperium, and while this does not seem like a massive amount (Ultrasmurfs make up around 50%-60%), the fact that GW doesn't have any divergent rules for the successor chapters or implied anything other than the tight-knit brotherhood of the unforgiven fluffwise, leads us to conclude that the entire Unforgiven (around 150 chapters. That's atleast 150,000 marines, assuming they're all at full strength.) function as a SINGLE, UNIFIED unit across the entire galaxy; This is further compounded when you factor in the unknown size of the Deathwing and Ravenwing, possibly meaning at each of those chapters is much larger and better equipped (with such relics as Terminator Armour) than a codex compliant chapter.
Given all this (and not forgetting the small matter that they're the only loyalist chapter whose Primarch is still alive), it seems fair to conclude that no-one should be able to stand against them if they put their minds to it. Thankfully they're on the Imperium's side.
Daily rituals
04:00-Morning Prayer: the sluts are roused from their cells to begin prayer at the leadership of the Interrogator-Chaplain. Prayer is extra long compared to most other Chapters due to the existence of the Fallen THE DARK ANGELS BEING SO LOYAL THAT THEY WANT TO SHOW THEIR DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR AND THE LION.
06:00-Morning Firing Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice.
07:00-Battle Practice: The Dark Angels descend to the Battle Cages to practice in close-combat. Members of the Ravenwing will practice with their bikes and land speeders, while members of the Deathwing will practice counter-Fallen scenarios ENGAGEMENTS WITH THE ENEMIES OF THE EMPEROR, WHICH MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT INCLUDE ANY OF THE SONS OF LION EL'JONSON.
9:00-Chocolate milk and cookies break.
12:00-Midday Meal: A light meal is prepared by the Chapter Serfs.
12:30-Tactical Indoctrination: The Dark Angels will engage in tactical briefings on opponents they will be facing in the future. Members of the Inner Circle will determine targets such as traitors from the First Legion THE NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS WHICH REBELLED AGAINST THE EMPEROR, BECAUSE THERE ARE ONLY NINE TRAITOR LEGIONS.
At this point a battle-brother may visit the Apothecary, while Interrogator-Chaplains will interrogate Fallen Angels they have been assigned to HERETICS WHO ARE AIDING THE EMPEROR'S ENEMIES, ALL FROM DIFFERENT LEGIONS AND CHAPTERS.
14:00-Afternoon nap with dimmed lights and soft instrumental music playing in the background.
16:00-Evening Fire Rites: The Dark Angels take to the ranges to begin firing practice. They usually use black-colored targets to better hone their skills at shooting Fallen Angels in the dark FOUL TRAITORS WHO ARE NOT FROM THE FIRST LEGION WHO USE BLACK ARMOR AND THE COVER OF DARKNESS LIKE COWARDS.
17:00-Evening Prayer: The Dark Angels assemble for prayer under the Interrogator-Chaplains, who have just finished torturing Fallen Angels SHOWING THEIR UNDENIABLE DEVOTION TO THE EMPEROR WHICH TAKES MANY FORMS.
19:00-Evening Meal: A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs.
20:00-Maintenance Rituals: The Dark Angels will tend to the maintenance of their wargear, while also washing their robes. Members of the Ravenwing will perform maintenance of their attack bikes and land speeders.
00:00-The Dark Angels will retire to their cells for CO-ED sleep with their non-human retainers, because that's what the Dark Angels do to ensure their silence about the Fallen BECAUSE THEY ARE PLAYERS.
Why is there a 3 hour break in the schedule? Would they be torturing the Fallen in that time? WHAT FALLEN? THERE IS NO 3 HOUR BREAK, THAT'S HOW NUMBERS WORK ON CALIBAN THE ROCK
Gallery
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Here's some badassery right there.
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Happens quite often.
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Sometime between the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy
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Always recognizable with their beautiful artworks and
amazing aesthetics.FUKKEN DUALWIELDING FLINTLOCKS. -
Their chaplains tend to be the most badass
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The Dark Angels and most of their confirmed successors
