Legion of the Damned
 This article is awesome. Do not fuck it up. |
| Legion of the Damned, formerly Fire Hawks (maybe) | ||
|---|---|---|
| Battle Cry | None | |
| Founding | 21st Founding | |
| Successors of | Ultramarines | |
| Successor Chapters | None | |
| Chapter Master | Stibor Laezaerek (at time of disappearance) | |
| Primarch | Roboute Guilliman | |
| Homeworld | Raptorous Rex, formerly Zhoros and Cousteau XI | |
| Strength | No more than 200 | |
| Specialty | Showing up to turn the tide | |
| Allegiance | Imperium of Man | |
| Colours | Black with bone and flame coloring (though that may be actual flames), formerly red and yellow | |
Perhaps one of the most BADASS Space Marine Chapters. EVER
They are Space Marines that were mutated, killed, and trapped in the warp, all the while remaining faithful to the Emprah. Put simply, imagine the zombie/spirit of a Space Marine that kills things that are bad. They constantly suffer, but make up for it popping up from the Warp and saving endangered IG regiments.
GW has given them an ID crisis, because it can't make up its mind between a ever-growing army of GOOD badass dead people, something original, or a dwindling group of badass mutated Space Marines that are slowly getting killed by mutation.
Recently got a new squad look that comes with a sergeant that looks like a GODDAMNED CHAPLAIN!
Fire Hawks
The Legion of the Damned was originally a Space Marine chapter known as the "Fire Hawks", made from the geneseed of the Ultramarines (or so they claim). They made a name for themselves during the Age of Apostasy, where they fought well and were rewarded with the destruction of their homeworld, Zhoros, by thermal bombs. After this, Sebastian Thor gave them a massive Great Crusade era void fortress, the Raptorous Rex, in commemoration of their deeds. They became a fleet based chapter as a result.
Afterwords, they participated in the Badab War on the side of the loyalists, where they were reduced to about 22% effective strength (though the Rex was instrumental near the end of the war).
They were next called into action against Eldar pirates, and made the 120 light year warp jump with their entire chapter (the Rex, five other ships, and more than 800 battle brothers). They never arrived. 20 years after they disappeared, the Bell of Lost Souls rang 1000 times in their honor and they were declared lost in the Warp. Supposedly, the Emperor himself ordered a black candle lit for them. The Fire Hawks were no more and the Legion of the Damned was born.
Return
The emergence of the Legion of the Damned was slow at first, starting with destroyed worlds and unmarked coffins containing marines whose equipment serial numbers matched Fire Hawk records but whose bodies had unnaturally decayed beyond recognition. A few years after their disappearance, however, they emerged to help an Imperial garrison besieged by Orks. They quickly dispatched the xenos and vanished, leaving behind only a recorder, some sealed items and their chapter banner on which was inscribed the words "motto In dedicato imperatum ultra articulo mortis" or for those of you who don't speak gothic "For the Emperor beyond the point of death"
The recorder revealed what happened to the ill-fated Fire Hawks. Basically, they got their shit royally fucked. After making the transition to warp space, they were caught in a terrible warp storm. All but one ship was destroyed, and only 200 marines escaped the warp, appearing in the galactic east; so far east, in fact, that they were beyond even the Emperor's light. Not only this, but all their geneseed had been rendered unusable and the survivors were afflicted with a warp affliction which caused them to rot, slowly destroying their bodies and sanity. But, unlike some failures, they manned up and decided to use it to their advantage and continue their fight for the Emperor. They decided to repaint their armor black (possibly because even in their insanity they remembered how awesome chaplains were) and cover themselves with bones and fire. They also did away with any kind of organization, instead becoming an unstoppable horde bent on destruction. Most lore describes the Legion of the Damned phasing in and out of reality and instead of having flames painted on their armor they are instead wreathed in warpfire and their armor is pitch black and destroyed in some places which reveals the bones of the wearer, further emphasizing on the zombie ghost space marine theme.
Theories
Their new codex says that it's not actually known for sure if the above is really the case. Most of the Imperium (other than the Space Marines, who stand by the Fire Hawks theory) believes they are the ghosts of dead Space Marines, and the Eldar (along with the late Inquisitor Quixos of Eisenhorn fame) are convinced that they're the Imperial equivalent of Daemons. Nobody's entirely sure of the truth anymore, perhaps none of them are true or perhaps all theories are true and the Fire Hawks are just one set of unfortunate space marines to become Damned Legionnaires after becoming lost in the Warp...or Malal made them somehow. So he can be cannon while he's not cannon, thus Contradictions.
Note that similarly Kaldor Draigo has also been lost in the warp without being dissolved instantly by the raw stuff of chaos, but obviously retains his purity because he's a Grey Knight. The Fire Hawks were already known for being particularly devout and close with the Ecclesiarchy and Sebastian Thor and so could conceivably prevent themselves from melting too through sheer faith and willpower. Also, certain Fallen Angels manage to be deposited across space and time causing chronological inconsistencies and no end of debate.
They supposedly figure out where they are needed most by using the Emperor's Tarot, a deck of psychoactive crystal cards that are said to be linked directly to the Emperor. I'd imagine how frustrated they would be when they discover that Emperor's Tarot was made by Lorgar (not doing a good job of proving you're not a God, Emps). The Ordo Chronos (what's left of it, anyway) thinks that they might actually be using time travel to do this,(see also the Sollemnis below) but every time they've tried to observe the Legion directly to test this, they've been delayed by freak accidents that just so happen to keep the Ordo Chronos away long enough for the Legion to vanish by the time they show up.
Another theory that links to the time travel one is that they're Marines from an alternate even more grim and dark timeline, or as one anon puts it "in the grim grim dark of the far far further future, there are only flaming time traveling teleporting armor ignoring zombie space marines ghosts" sent back to stop whatever bad is happening to prevent their future from ever happening in the first place.
In other words, they're erasing themselves from existence to save humanity.
Tl;DR: Very grimdark.
Known encounters
- 003.M40 Vilidad Prime: The Legion repel the forces of the Flawless Host and one hundred daemonettes. As the forces of chaos retreat, they blast open fresh adamantium seams which are later used for Astartes war materiel.
- prior to 343.M41: Inquisitor Quixos postulates that the Legion of the Damned are creatures of the Warp similar to Daemons, but in their case were shards of the Emperors will given form. This indicates there MUST have been enough additional sightings of the Legion prior to this point to begin study of them.
- 343.M41 (according to the Codex) Ghodba: Hive Fleet Moloch invades and the Legion arrives to create a cordon around the superheavy tanks to give the crews time to man them. (note: the FIRST tyrannic war was in 745, and Moloch arrived in 998)
- 806.M41 Jericho Reach: The frigate Sollemnis is spewed from the Hadex Anomaly around one-hundred and fifty years into it's own past ( from 963.M41), remaining on location only long enough to transmit a warning of contagion before disappearing into the Reach.
- 817.M41 Jericho Reach: The Sollemnis reappears three times in as many weeks to combat the enemies of the Imperium. On the fourth encounter, the Legion of the Damned are first reported to to support a Deathwatch kill-team combat a daemonhost.
- 852.M41 Idharae: The Invaders chapter launch an ill-advised attack on an Eldar Craftworld, (which they pay for later). The Legion of the Damned arrive at the same time as the Avatar and find that their flaming weapons cannot harm it, so they cause the great dome to come crashing down on themselves instead, winning the battle that way.
- 922.M41 Andraxas: the Legion come to the aid of Varro Tigurius against the Orks, but also assist in the recovery of what appears to be Malcador the Sigillite's Force Staff.
- 940.M41 Timeaon: The Iron Snakes are ambushed by the Tau during the battle for Timeaon, only for the Legion of the Damned to launch an assault on the Tau flank.
- 963.M41 En-Route to Crows World: The Fire Hawks go missing, lending credence to the theory that the Legion of the Damned can time travel (if they are the same chapter), or they have simply been around longer (if they are daemons or spirits)
- 967.M41 Thersuis: The Legion rescue Marshall Helbrecht after being captured by the Kabal of the Black Heart and the Cult of Strife, even forcing Lelith Hesperax to take flight. His sword brethren get embarrassed.
- 983.M41 Terra: The Administratum officially declares the Fire Hawks a Lost Chapter, and the Bell of Lost Souls rings one thousand times for each fallen Marine.
- 986.M41 Jakor-tal: Imperial Navy vessels encounter unexpected devastation amongst Ork-held territories, indicating that the Legion of the Damned DOES operate independently and are not necessarily working in direct aid of Imperial Forces.
- 987.M41 Maran Sub-sector: a Naval patrol vessel has a near collision with an unidentified vessel, after going WTF and scanning the area, they discover two standard space coffins with matching serial numbers to missing Fire Hawks equipment. The bodies contained within could not be identified.
- 996.M41Certus Minor: While the Excoriators 5th Company is fighting the Cholercaust Blood Crusade on the cemetery world of Cerus Minor, the Legion of the Damned begin appearing all over the capital killing Khornate berzerkers. The lone frigate defending the world against the fleet is rescued by a badly decayed Ramilies-class star fort (the Raptorous Rex was of the same pattern). At the end of the night Captain Zachariash Kersh is the only survivor of the defenders (the women and children having been placed in stasis coffins and buried alive for their own safety).
- 999.M41 Calth: When Uriel Ventris, his Command Squad, one Ultramarines Tactical Squad and one Raven Guard command squad are cornered by Warsmith Honsou during the Bloodborn invasion, Space Marines in black and red armour with bones appear and begin using the Iron Warriors as target practice. Never explicitly confirmed to be the Legion of the Damned, but the description fits their MO.
- 999.M41 Phalanx: Warsmith Shon'tu invades the Phalanx with an army of Iron Warriors and daemons, forcing the Imperial Fists Third Company to fling the Phalanx into the Warp. While in the Warp, the Legion of the Damned appear to support the Fists, but even their combined
plot armourdetermination is only just keeping the Chaos army at bay.
In Game
Many people consider them limited due to their high point cost and slow and purposeful special rule. This is "balanced" by being able to reroll their deepstrike, 2 base attacks, and a 3+ invulnerable save (plus access to heavy and special weapons). Sadly, being slow, they will probably get stuck somewhere and not do much and, though a suicide melta squad sounds like a good idea, they are generally considered too expensive for such a task.
They used to have a special character, Sergeant Centurius, who had a skull that ate souls and brought a downed legionnaire back into the fight.
Thankfully, 6th edition buffed them by changing the Slow and Purposeful rule: now, instead of taking Difficult Terrain tests every turn, they simply can't Run in the Shooting phase or make Sweeping Advances. Yeah, they can move the full 6 inches every turn now, just like normal marines.
In latest Space Marine codex (6th edition), they gained Fear (making them even more scary) and Flaming Projectiles (all ranged attacks have Ignore Cover) rules. Not only that, their special weapons and heavy weapons become cheaper than last edition. If you give them plasma gun and plasma cannon, they can become really nasty with the Flaming Projectiles rule. Despite their fluff ("The bolters carried by the Legionnaires, though in aspect no different to those borne by other Space Marines, discharge flaming projectiles that can pierce the strongest armour"), the Flaming Projectiles special rule simply makes their shots ignore cover. With a description like that, you'd think they'd have something like the Thousand Sons, and have AP3 bolters or something.
Nostalgia: - There used to be rules for entire armies of Legion of the Damned way back in 3rd Edition, in the good old days of Chapter Approved which used the Space Marine codex as a base and offered variant rules for gameplay (much like modern day supplements... except they were only the cost of a White Dwarf). While they were not as badass as they became in 6th, you still got an entire army of space marines with 6++ saves and the ability to deep strike.
We recently got a digital Legion of the Damned Codex, and like all digital codexes there's barely any crunch to it. Basically you must take one squad of Damned Legionnaires, but the mandatory squad doesn't take up an elites slot. Also Damned Legionnaires are scoring, and they get an actually useful warlord traits table. That's it. Sergeant Centurius' special skull is back, and it's explicitly stated in promotional materials that it allows you to use a sergeant to represent him. It's also impossible to field them on their own since the whole army starts in reserve, unless you are playing a very specific mission against Orks, and even then you are forced to ally with Ultramarines, if you do try to field them on their own you will be forced to concede turn 1 every time.
Gallery
-
Back in 2nd Edition.
-
Their 5th Edition minis.
-
Notice how the Imperium banner is not getting consumed while the Chaos Star is starting to melt away.
-
Their Epic minis.
