The measure of true glory is not to give battle in the bright noon of war, surrounded by brave comrades upon the field of victory, but to valiantly fight on alone in the darkness, with no hope of aid or even remembrance, and to spit defiance in midnight's eye.
Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels, Reflections on the Mirror of War, Vol III
The Dark Angels are a Loyalist First Founding Space Marine Legion and the prototypical Space Marine legion. They are the first of the Emperor's original thirty-six Space Marine Legions, and in their earliest incarnation fought as the personal army of the Master of Humanity in the dawning years of the Great Crusade and in the shadowed campaigns that preceded it. Unyielding, technologically capable, ruthless and insular, the Dark Angels are a powerful and highly independent legion, used to operating on its own to conduct large scale campaigns and Compliance actions throughout the Galaxy.
During the legion's first years of its existence, the many scars they would suffer during the latter battles of the Great Crusade would change them into the legion that they are now, as would their reunification with their Primarch Lion El'Jonson and the introduction of fresh blood from his adopted world of Caliban. Though independent due to their nature, their actions and secret goals at times seem at odds with that professed loyalty, as the Dark Angels strive above all other things to atone for an ancient crime of betrayal some of their brethren committed over 10 millennia ago against the trust of the Emperor during the aftermath of the tragic event that was known as The Shattering.
The Dark Angels stand first amongst the Legions even into the age of the Modern Imperium, as they have done since their very inception as the Emperor's Personal Army. But there is a dark secret they hold dear to their hearts and away from the eyes of other Space Marine Legions, except for their allies, and the Imperium's Inquisition, for they fear that if it is revealed, they would be marked as heretics and traitors.
Origins[]
Early History[]
Dark Angels Legion Banner.
The origins of the Dark Angels began upon Terra - founded amidst the bloodshed of the Unification Wars that swept the Emperor of Mankind to dominion over the cradle of humanity - the Primus, or Ist Legion, were created as the first Proto-Legion of the Legiones Astartes. It is apparent from numerous extant sources that during their creation, each nascent proto-Legion after the Primus (later called the 'Angelis Tenebrium' or Dark Angels), was raised first to active service in a staged process of testing and trials before the full active force was created through mass recruitment from amongst Terran populations loyal to the Emperor's cause. During the early years of the Legiones Astartes the Emperor sought to create a sense of shared identity and purpose among the Legionaries of the nascent First Legion.
These proto-warriors, barely numbering a few hundred strong, were encouraged to eschew the names of their people and embrace a new unity unmarked by old loyalties, often drawing names of heroes from old tales and various ancient religious mythologies that had survived the Age of Strife. Combined with the grim aspect that was granted to them by the genetic lineage of the first Primarch, these new superhuman warriors quickly garnered a reputation among the disparate throng that was at that time the army of the Emperor and came to be known as His "Angels of Death" - a name which, at that time, belonged to the First Legion alone. Fighting at first as small groups within the ranks of the Emperor's host, plying both the skills of their origins and of the drill masters of the Imperial Laboratories, they come to be known as the 'Uncrowned Princes' or simply 'Crowns'. These titles would be a homage to their place in the line of battle and the destiny bestowed upon them by their creator, a title that would inspire both a sense of unity and a certain arrogance in the first Space Marines and spur them to lead the way amongst the growing brotherhood of the Legiones Astartes.
In the early years of the Ist Legion's existence, they became the test and standard by which all future Legions would be judged and based. As such, they were prone to experimental methods of combat, such as the creation of the "Six Hosts of the Angels of Death", with each of these Hosts having its own specialisation and purpose. The foundation of the doctrine that would lead to the formation of the Hosts is often credited to the Emperor Himself in the histories of the Legion, a strand of the great plan that He had formed for the first of His Legions. During the Wars of Unification the Six Hosts had each been created by the Emperor for a specific task, or from a particular type of warrior. As the first and most favoured Legion at that time, the Ist Legion was also equipped with a large number of advanced archaeotech and plasma weaponry.
Among the armies of Unification, the First Legion became synonymous with death, for where they walked it seemed as though that pale rider followed after them with an inevitability that spawned many long-held superstitions regarding the reclusive warriors of the First. They were treated with an awe that sat somewhere between respect and terror by those who served alongside them, for it was said that to offend them was to bring the scrutiny of their patron, Death himself, upon the offender. Among the host gathered by the Emperor, they were not heroes, but rather a breed of monsters made loyal by the will of their master. They were not to be lauded for their bravery but rather placated to assuage their wrath. Ever of pragmatic mind, the warriors of the First Legion painted their battle-plate in mortuary black and soon began to assume the guise in which they had been cast, adopting the skeletal icon of Death as their own and adorning their armour with funerary symbols.
Following the pacification of Mankind's birth world, the Emperor formally declared victory in the Unification Wars, bringing centuries of warfare to a close. The Master of Mankind was now ready to begin His Great Crusade in earnest to reunite all the scattered colony worlds of Mankind beneath the single banner of His burgeoning Imperium of Man. The Ist Legion was lauded and fêted by their maker and awarded the greater honour of acting as the Emperor's left hand; a brutally efficient weapon of grim aspect that eschewed laurels and accolades. Despite their great power and prestige, the Ist Legion was known for its grim and secretive nature. They often fought against terrifying and unknown enemies that lurked in the dark between the stars, far from the wider Imperium. Many of the foes they fought against were so monstrous that all mention of them was deemed necessary to be erased from history. The warriors of 'The First' were content to remain wreathed in rumour and mystery, as they believed that their duty was to protect humanity from these terrible threats, no matter the cost.
The Great Crusade[]
Pre-reunification Legionnary of the 1st Legion, the "Uncrowned Princes."
Following the successful conclusion of the Unification Wars in 798.M30, the Emperor launched his Great Crusade into the stars in an attempt to reunite the myriad worlds of humanity, into a galaxy-spanning, united Imperium of Man. As the armies of the Emperor set forth on the Great Crusade and pushed beyond the edges of those few star charts that had survived Age of Strife, they encountered such terrors that the battles on Terra were made to seem inconsequential by comparison. Here, the Ist Legion discovered why they alone among the Legiones Astartes were granted the exclusive use of the forbidden weapons of Old Night, a time of great chaos and violence that preceded the rise of the Emperor. These technologies were considered forbidden because they had been responsible for the destruction of countless worlds during that time. The Ist Legion made use of gene-phage and rad wave, to fight the unknown terrors that the Emperor had foreseen in His path that would impede the progress of His Great Crusade into the stars. Utilising such terrible and destructive weapons they were employed to wipe clean the nests of those enemies deemed too terrible to be faced in open battle. They had no other choice if they were to defeat the monsters that threatened the newborn Imperium. The First were the fulcrum of the Emperor's wrath, the agency of His hate, and they were willing to do whatever it took to protect humanity from these terrible threats. The Ist Legion did not bring simple destruction to their enemies, but rather the all-encompassing oblivion of utter annihilation. Though their methods were incredibly brutal and effective, they also raised questions about the morality of their actions.
Despite the hidden nature of many of their triumphs, they were acknowledged by all as pre-eminent among their posthuman kin; the most powerful force-at-arms in the serried ranks of the Imperial armies. In those heady years of conquest and victory the First Legion stood true to their name at the apex of Imperial might, feared by those who stood against the Emperor and his dream of unity and respected by all those who fought at their side. Yet, as with all things, the glory of the First Legion would be a fragile thing and one that could endure only for a short time before becoming something less than it once was. For the First Legion, in those days before the return of their Primarch, the great foe that would topple them from their place of honour would not be any terror from the outer dark, but rather their own hubris.
For, though the black cruisers of the Legion were ever to be found at the edges of the map, hunting for monsters in the dark between the stars, they now took a perverse pride in pitting themselves against only the most powerful of foes, those that wielded a power equal to that of their own, those in whom they saw the possibility of defeat. Other threats - deemed too insignificant for the First Legion, too weak to pose a real challenge, foes that would not test their strategies or mettle - would often be bypassed and left to the Imperial Army regiments and other Legion fleets that followed in their wake. Yet with each encounter, they grew only stronger; no enemy, no matter how powerful or destructive, could stop them and each triumph only added to the shield of arrogance that further strengthened them, but would lead them down a dangerous path. The Legion began to turn in upon itself, the openness and inquisitive nature of their early years slowly being replaced by a secretive and tradition-bound approach. They had begun the Great Crusade as mentors and guides for the other Legions, seeking out the stratagems and tactics through which the potential of the Legiones Astartes might be fully realised, but now came more and more to resent those they had once guided.
Once the most numerous and powerful of the Space Marine Legions, the Ist Legion's numbers would be depleted and primacy ended by decades of savage warfare, particularly in several apocalyptic xenocide campaigns against the monstrous xenos bioforms known as the Rangda. The scars of these battles would change them, as would their reunification with their lost Primarch, Lion El'Jonson.
The Coming of The Lion[]
Lion El'Jonson, primarch of the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion.
All of the Legions have been shaped and defined by the homeworlds of their Primarchs, but the influence that Caliban exerts upon the Dark Angels, is surely the most profound. At the time the primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, Caliban was covered in dense forests haunted by fierce and unnatural chimeras known as the great beasts. The embattled human colonists had long-since lost contact with the rest of mankind due to the warp storms of the Old Night, and much of their technological heritage had been forgotten. Even Terra itself had faded into a myth and a legend among its people.
However, in the face of such adversity, the nobility of the human spirit still prevailed. Knightly orders were formed all over Caliban, each sworn to protect its citizens, made it their calling to hunt down the great beasts. It was one of these expeditions that came across the infant primarch wandering deep in the heart of the forests. Deprived of human contact, the boy was feral, and yet his presence and spirit was unmistakable. The leader of the knights, Luther, adopted the child as though he were his own son, and named him Lion El'Jonson, or 'The Lion, son of the Forest' in their dialect.
Many and varied were the tests and trials to be accepted into the Order, as the knights called themselves, but Luther was an excellent tutor, and the Lion a natural warrior and strategist. From swordsmanship to tactics and teachings - Jonson excelled. When he returned from the quest to kill one of the great beasts, he did so bearing the body of the most feared creature on the planet: a Calibanite lion. Such a feat was more than enough to see him admitted to the Order as a full Knight.
Luther had always been seen as a future leader of the Order, but the arrival of the Lion changed all that. Jonson had been gene-crafted to command the Emperor's legions, and these innate skills saw him rapidly eclipse his mentor. But for all of the Lion's peerless talents, an echo of the feral forest child still remained. There was a coldness and detachment from human emotion about him, his bonhomie always a fraction forced and stilted. To Luther’s credit, he was never taunted by petty jealousy, as within him, he saw the chance to do something more than simply continue the endless war against the great beasts. There was an opportunity to unite all of the knightly orders and eliminate the abominations permanently. Certain that Jonson was the savior of Caliban and its people, Luther put aside personal ambition and made it his sole purpose to ensure their shared vision came to fruition.
Though it took many bloody years, the great beasts were wiped out, with the forbidding Northwilds their last refuge. The final sweep brought them into contact with the order known as the Knights of Lupus, which had always been vehemently opposed to their crusade. Upon approaching their fortress, it became clear why this had been so. In their isolation, they had taken to sorcery, and even held a menagerie of the great beasts. That a knight could ever fall to such corruption filled Luther with loathing, and the resulting war was crushing and swift. With their protectors destroyed, the crusade to purify Caliban continued apace, and in a short span, the very last great beast was killed by the Lion himself.
Luther, 1st Legion Master of the Dark Angels and future Arch-Betrayer.
Shortly after, as though it had been some form of knightly test of his worth, the Emperor arrived upon Caliban to greet His lost son. With Him came a company of the Astartes of the 1st Legion, super-beings patterned upon Jonson's own genetic code. Upon reunion with his Legion, The Lion tested his sons' mettle by dueling the captain of the company presented before him. Though not wearing Power Armor and facing a Terminator Captain, The Lion bested his foe and it is said both sides learned respect for the other. From that day forth The Lion renamed the Legion the Dark Angels. Announced by the Primarch, the connotation was in fact first drawn by Luther, who quoted a section from the legends and myths of Caliban upon first seeing Assault Marines descending using jump packs: "And the angels of darkness descended upon pinions of fire and light...the great and terrible dark angels."
Angels of Darkness[]
Caliban became the homeworld of the Dark Angels and the whole of the Order moved to join the Legion. The knights who were still young enough had the Legion's gene-seed implanted within them. Those too old for this process underwent surgery to transform them into elite warriors of the Imperium. Although they were not full Space Marines, their enhancements gave them special abilities and a longer lifespan. The first to join the Legion in this way was Luther, who became Jonson's second-in-command, just as he always had been within the Order. However, the Dark Angel's contributions to the Great Crusade had barely begun when the Lion sent Luther and a small contingent of Dark Angels back to Caliban, purportedly to garrison the world and increase the speed and quality of the training given to the Legion's recruits. Whatever the reason, the force sent back felt disgraced and rejected.
The Great Crusade had to go on: there were countless human worlds that were still under the influence of Chaos or suppressed by the harsh rule of alien races. In an infamous part of the Great Crusade, the Lion and Leman Russ, Primarch of the Space Wolves, fought over the latter's action during the siege of the Crimson Fortress. This event began a feud that still continues strong in the 41st millennium, usually taking the form of a ritualistic duel between two elected champions, although it has been known to manifest itself in a very violent manner. As Jonson's fame spread throughout the galaxy and reports of his great deeds and prowess in battle reached the Legion's homeworld, Luther felt robbed of his share of the glory. He wanted the fame and recognition that he felt he deserved as Jonson's equal. His role as planetary governor of some half-forgotten backwater world seemed more and more to him like an insult. The seed of jealousy and dissension that had been planted within Luther when Jonson was made the Grand Master of the Order now began to grow and rankle within his heart as the Primarch became more and more celebrated and famous.
The seeds of heresy were further planted during the Crusade against the Sarosh, who managed to sneak a nuclear warhead onto the Invincible Reason. Luther discovered the plot and for a moment, overcome by jealousy, wondered if he should let the Sarosh Succeed. However, he quickly proved his loyalty by foiling the assassination, but somehow, The Lion discovered his hesitation. Luther and a portion of the Dark Angels were sent to Caliban, but left to aid Horus during the Zaramund Campaign. The Lion was furious at this unapproved deployment and angrily demanded Luther return to his banishment. Feeling abandoned on Caliban and dealing with a rebellion by the landless nobility and Chaos agents, Luther, and his forces would slowly turn against their Primarch. However, the many internal Orders and sects of the Dark Angels made them all but immune to the Warrior Lodges of the now-treacherous Lorgar and the Word Bearers, allowing them to be immune from the subversion that befalls other Legions.
The Shattering[]
By the end of the Great Crusade, the Dark Angels had a strength of 120,000 Space Marines, but many of these were spread out across the Galaxy and unaware of the greater galactic developments that were happening. It was at this time that the Calibanite Dark Angels, started to plan their rebellion against the Lion, led by Luther. As the Dark Angels force under the Lion was fighting in the ghoul stars during much of The Shattering, it was only then after the events of the Dropsite Massacre that the Dark Angels would be informed of what was occurring.
Shocked and angered at eleven legions falling to the unholy powers of chaos, the Lion's fleet turned towards Terra to warn the Emperor, but they were trapped by a mighty warp storm created by the combined might of the Arch-Traitior Lorgar and his legion, the Word Bearers, who were the first of the Space Marine Legions to fall to chaos, the overwhelming numbers of the brutal Beasthost led by Igrahan Oriax, and the secretive and insidious Omega Legion, led by Alpharius's twin brother, Omegon. Unable to navigate the warp storm that isolated them, the Dark Angels held out against both constant streams of both daemons and traitor astartes coming at them.
In what became known as the Battle of the Storm, the Dark Angels managed to hold out long enough for the navigators of their Fleets to break out of the trap and plot a safe course. After a series of carefully planned warp-jumps, the Dark Angels managed to make it out of the warp storm that had trapped them. When they got out, they were too late as the Siege of Terra was already in full swing, as under the cover of the warp storm, most of the Omega Legion, Beasthost, and Word Bearers forces had made their way to Terra to kill the emperor.
When the Dark Angels made their way out of the warp, the fleets of the Thousand Sons, Alpha Legion, Iron Hands, Night Lords, Sons of Horus, Imperial Fists, and the Iron Warriors were being bombarded by the corrupted fleets of the Salamanders, Sky Serpents, White Scars, Beasthost, Chimera Legion, and Forlorn Stars. Seeing that the legion fleet were outnumbered and outgunned by the traitor fleet, the Dark Angels decided to attack some of the traitor legions' homeworlds in order to draw them away, with Chogoris, Nocturne, Ahagari, Lycia, Azteka, and Skandra being targeted by the Dark Angels' fleets. This would cause many of the forces of the tainted Legions to abandon their objectives and make for their homeworlds in order to protect them.
Seeing the fleets of his fellow traitorous brothers leave the system as well as the incoming forces of the Iron Templars, the Iron Maidens, the Dawn Lords, and the Dusk Spectres coming in to reinforce the beseiged defenders, Lorgar turned off the shields of his flagship, the Fidelitas Lex, as part of a final gambit to slay the Emperor. And sure it did as the Emperor, along with his sons Rogal Dorn, Angron, and Horus, boarded the Arch-Traitor's warship in order to end his rebellion once and for all. After a brutal fight that saw the death of Angron and the Emperor being gravely wounded, the Emperor slew Lorgar, destroying him in both mind, body, and soul, never to come back or to be ressurected by the chaos gods again. Thus, the Shattering came to a bloody and chaotic end.
The Great Schism[]
When the Dark Angels returned to Caliban to check on its statues during the Great Harrowing, they were fired upon by the planetary defenses in what would become known among the Dark Angels as the Great Schism. They were forced to assault their own homeworld, where they found that their brethren had betrayed them. In a duel that mirrored that of the Emperor and Lorgar, Luther and the Lion fought each other, resulting in Luther being close to defeat. With El'Jonson about to land the final blow, Luther invoked the Chaos Gods in an incantation of Warp Magic, causing the Chaos Gods to open a warp rift close to the planet that sucked him and the traitorous "Fallen Angels" into the rift and scattered them throughout the galaxy in both space and time. When the dust settled, El'Jonson was laying on the ground, gravely injured and in a coma, but still alive.
The fleet also bombarded the planet mercilessly, and this caused the structure of the planet to nearly collapse. The bombardment, combined with the newly formed warp rift, tore at the planet and nearly destroyed it. This betrayal has tainted their honor in the eyes of the Dark Angels themselves. Given that the event was purely within the Legion itself, and was on a world far away from Terra, nobody outside of the Dark Angels knows that it occurred. Within the Legion itself, only the elite veterans and leadership are permitted this knowledge.
The Fracturing[]
In the Aftermath of the Great Harrowing, the Dark Angels would nearly be thrusted into yet another Civil War, this time over the contents of the Codex Astartes, which was written by Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion. They would join on the side of one of the Emperor's Praetorians, that being Rogal Dorn, and his legion, the Imperial Fists, who vehemently opposed the breaking of the Space Marine Legions into individual thousand-man successor chapters alongside eleven other powerful and influential Space Marine Legions, those being the Iron Templars, the Space Wolves, the Iron Hands, the Dawn Lords, the Ice Queens, the Dusk Spectres, the Night Lords, the World Eaters, the Blood Angels, and the Iron Maidens.
These legions saw the rules set down in the Codex Astartes as being inferior to the tried and true rules of the Principa Belicosa, and believed that such rules would weaken their already-decimated legions and allow the Traitors to overwhelm them. They also believed that if the twenty-four loyal Space Marine legions had been united as a single force, they would have easily crushed the traitors. It would all come to a head after an Imperial Navy Battleship, whose name has since been lost to time, was crippled by a full broadside from the Eternal Crusader after the unnamed battleship fired upon an Imperial Fists Strike Cruiser.
Once the incident became known, talks broke down immediately, and both factions mobilized their soldiers and navies. Dorn’s forces assembled above Mars, while Roboute Guilliman did the same around Luna. As it looked like a second, more devastating, civil war would occur less than a year after the first, the Adeptus Custodes intervened, with Captain-General Constantin Valdor broadcasting a message from the Imperator Somnium demanding that both sides stand down and restart negotiations, and although each side was reluctant to do so, a full muster of the Ten Thousand, a force which was capable of taking on multiple Space Marine Legions, intimidated them to do so. Eventually, an agreement was reached, and the Dark Angels would become part of the newly re-organized Dornian Imperium alongside the eleven other Space Marine Legions that opposed the rules of the Codex Astartes.
Legion Organization[]
Pre-Shattering[]
Lion El'Jonson had introduced to the Ist Legion of the Space Marines the organisational structure he had learned from The Order on Caliban, his Homeworld. The Lion's tenets of loyalty, discipline and self-efficiency were incorporated into everything the Legion did. As the Ist Legion had been created from Terran warriors gifted with the gene-seed of the stalwart, if reticent, Lion El'Jonson, the Dark Angels had always been regarded as dedicated and serious-minded warriors. Like their primogenitor, they were slow to anger, but tenacious and all but unstoppable once roused. Before the Horus Heresy, a Space Marine Legion might count ten thousand or more warriors under a single command, though the exact numbers of the Dark Angels Legion in the days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy remain unknown in current Imperial records, though the Legion was considered to be of moderate size for the time.
The Hexagrammaton[]
Main Article: The Hexagrammaton
Under the Lion's supervision, the Ist Legion was organised into specialised formations known collectively as the Hexagrammaton, and colloquially as the "Six Wings". These specialised formations existed outside the regular chain-of-command and organisation of the Dark Angels Legion. These formations were an amalgamation of the Terran pre-Principia Belicosa approach and organistaion of the proscribed formations of the early Legiones Astartes and Caliban's knightly orders. Before the creation of the first Space Marine Legions, the Legiones Astartes were organised into a formation known as the "Six Hosts of the Angels of Death", with each of these Hosts having its own specialisation and purpose. Following The First's reunification with their Primarch Lion El'Jonson on Caliban, the Lion incorporated the traditions of the Six Hosts and The Order, thus, the Six Wings were created.
The Ist Legion followed the principles of the Principia Bellicosa, organising their Legion's strength into Chapters, which were led by Masters and Orders, which were led by Paladins. These formations were further broken down into Companies, led by Captains. Members of the Six Wings were distributed amongst squads and companies, where they acted as Captains, Sergeants, and line Legionaries, or in specialised formations when assembled on orders from their respective voted-Lieutenant of a Wing. These Lieutenants acted as both commander of their Wing and often acted as counsel to their Primarch. Voted-Lieutenants were elected by their peers rather than being nominated by a superior. They would then have their nominated successor chosen to command the Wing in the event of their untimely death, so as not to interrupt the cohesiveness of a Wing's command. On the field of battle, a commander responsible for an area of operations or campaign had to request the intervention of one of the Six Wings. When such a request was made and eventually accepted, the members of the requested Wing were summoned from their duties, when possible, in order to assemble and conduct operations under the command of their voted-Lieutenant's orders.
The Hexagrammaton formations that existed within the Dark Angels Legion at the time of the Great Crusade and The Shattering were the following:
- Deathwing
- Dreadwing
- Firewing
- Ironwing
- Stormwing
- Ravenwing
Deathwing[]
Deathwing Symbol
The Deathwing is unique among the Space Marine Legions in that the entire 1st Company of every Chapter fights exclusively in Terminator Armor. The Deathwing is notoriously stubborn and resistant, refusing to buckle under extreme pressure from enemy advances even when it would be more advantageous to retreat.
Yet the Deathwing is not just a tactical formation of the elite warriors of the Legion. Being promoted to the Deathwing also means that many of the Legion's dark secrets are revealed to an individual. The most closely guarded of these secrets is that of the betrayal of Luther and the Fallen.
Ravenwing[]
Ravenwing Symbol
The Ravenwing protocol, which focused on the use of grav-model units and all-terrain bikes, had its origins in early Space Marine Legions tactics for rapid moving search and destroy formations, some of which dated back to the nomadic war clans of pre-Unification Terra.
After Caliban's discovery, these formations were revived, refined and expanded as they offered a form of rapid strike warfare the Knights of Caliban both understood and had perfected over many generations of warfare on their planet, though now their steeds would be of unyielding metal, rather than flesh. They are designated as the 2nd Company in each Dark Angels Chapter.
Dreadwing[]
Dreadwing Symbol
The Dreadwing specializes in total warfare using the most sinister of weapons. The elected lieutenant, known as a Dreadbringer, commands Destroyer Squads supported by other types of units to bring total annihilation of a foe on a specific battlefield.
The Dreadwing also utilized mass armored assaults of Land Raiders, Spartan Assault Tanks, Mastodons, and Fellblades with advanced weaponry. Their hallmark was the use of dark, sinister, and shunned munitions such as Phosphex, Rad and Vortex Weapons.
Firewing[]
Firewing Symbol
The smallest of the wings, the Firewing is dedicated to the hidden subtleties of warfare and within its ranks were found an eclectic mix of stalkers, champions and Moritat killers, all bound by their shared expertise in the arts of blade and knife, duellists and assassins without peer.
The Firewing seeks the destruction of the enemy through the violent depletion of their command structure, whether in duels at the heart of a battle or at the hands of subtle killers far from the battlefield. When given free reign upon the field of battle, the initiates of the Firewing choose to wage a war of wills against the enemy, seeking to break their resolve rather than slaughter their ranks.
Ironwing[]
Ironwing Symbol
The Ironwing Protocol was developed before the Great Crusade, when the first Space Marines were used by the Emperor to exterminate threats to Mankind too dire to be allowed to endanger the glorious future. He had designed later variants of this protocol, which sought to wed the superhuman power of the Legiones Astartes and amplify that killing power with newly designed bespoke armored units -- such as the Land Raider -- in close support. It also incorporates the Legion's Techmarines, known as forge-wrights, and its dreadnoughts.
Those were entered into the Principia Belicosa for use and development by the Legions that would follow, notably the 10th Legion (Iron Hands) and the 4th Legion (Iron Warriors), but the Dark Angels would continue to develop the tactical pattern to serve their own ends.
Stormwing[]
Stormwing Symbol
As the largest of all the wings, the Stormwing incorporates the majority of the Dark Angels' line infantry, training battalions and mobile ordnance batteries within its ranks. The members of this wing were drilled in the disciplined and stalwart arts of close order warfare and set-piece battles, unshakable on defense and resolute on attack. Its Veteran warriors were the core of the Legion's infantry companies, capable of executing complex maneuvers and formations under the heaviest enemy fire.
It was also a tactical formation in use since the Great Crusade, consisting exclusively of Breacher Squads armed with Boarding Shields. This Stormwing specialized in spaceborne boarding operations.
Post-Shattering[]
Although the Dark Angels still retain a close semblance of their original organizational structure, the requirements and reforms that were created by the legion's first Supreme Grand Master, Farith Redloss, made it nearly unrecognizable from what it was when it was first developed by the Lion. Each of the Orders within legion, except for the quadruple-strength 1st order, is composed of Ten Thousand Legionnaires who are drawn from all six wings of the Hexagrammaton, with each Chapter of the legion being based organization-wise on the Principa Belicosa. Additionally, instead of a Voted-Lieutenant leading each wing of the Hexagrammaton, each wing would be led by a permanent Grand Master, who would be responsible for the distribution and the deployment of each of the six wings. While all of the Supreme Grand Masters of the Dark Angels have come from all six wings, the majority come from either the Deathwing or the Dreadwing.
Order of Battle[]
Headquarters[]
| Headquarters | ||||
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| Inner Circle | Mystai (Librarius) | Logisticiam | ||
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| Armoury | Legion Fleet (The Host of the Void) | Apothecarion | Reclusiam | |
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Orders[]
| Orders of the First Legion | ||||
| 1st Order "Order of the Calibanite Lion" |
2nd Order "Order of the Shadowmaw Drake" |
3rd Order "Order of the Forest Warden" |
4th Order "Order of the Eclipse Drake" |
5th Order "Order of the Urspine Giant" |
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| 6th Order "Order of the Tatzelwyerm" |
7th Order "Order of the Cygor" |
8th Order "Order of the Emberwhisp Phoenix" |
9th Order "Order of the Emberborne Pegasus" |
10th Order "Order of the Spectral Howler" |
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| 11th Order "Order of the Aetheric Wyrm" |
12th Order "Order of the Vorpalclaw Manticore" |
13th Order "Order of the Twilight Wraith" |
14th Order "Order of the Adamantine Behemoth" |
15th Order "Order of the Horn of Ruin" |
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| 16th Order "Order of the Craigshadow" |
17th Order "Order of the Blightspawn Nuckleavee" |
18th Order "Order of the Lancea Infernus" |
19th Order "Order of the Seraphic Colossus" |
20th Order "Order of the Blightwood Treant" |
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| 21st Order "Order of the Shadowed Chimera" |
22nd Order "Order of the Ironbeaked Roc" |
23rd Order "Order of the Luminous Leviathan" |
24th Order "Order of the Unicorn" |
25th Order "Order of the Forest Ogre" |
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| 26th Order "Order of the Wyvern" |
27th Order "Order of the Tarasque" |
28th Order "Order of the Storm Flier" |
29th Order "Order of the Gryphon" |
30th Order "Order of the Ironhorn Stag" |
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| 31st Order "Order of the Mistwalker Banshee" |
32nd Order "Order of the Shadowmaw Wendigo" |
33rd Order "Order of the Apostate Reaver" |
34th Order "Order of the Brazen Cerberus" |
35th Order "Order of the Star Serpent" |
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"Order of the Thunderbird" | ||||
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The Inner Circle[]
At the leadership of the Dark Angels Legion sits the Inner Circle, a council composed of its most experienced leaders. Composed of the Dark Angels Supreme Grand Master, the Legion's Paladin-Commanders, the Lord Seneschal (Legion Champion/Lord Paladin), the Lord Castellan, the Chief Librarian, the Master Interrogator-Chaplain, the Lord of Pentacles (Master of Sanctity), the High Deacon (Reclusiarch), the Deathwing Grand Master, the Ravenwing Grand Master, the Firewing Grand Master, the Dreadwing Grand Master, The Ironwing Grand Master, the Stormwing Grand Master, and the Knight-Commanders, the Inner Circle serves as the guiding hand of the Dark Angels Legion during its battles and search for the fallen angels.
Legion Strength[]
During the Great Crusade and before the beginning of the Shattering, the Dark Angels stood at roughly 200,000 Space Marines. Of these, no more than a third had been dispatched alongside the Lion and placed beyond the reach of the Imperium. This left perhaps 120,000 Dark Angels active along the borders of the Imperium, mostly clustered to the galactic south and west in small battleforces of no more than 5,000 warriors. Most of these forces were either heavily engaged in prosecuting difficult campaigns or fresh from the fields of victory and still counting the toll upon their strength. After half the Legion betrayed the Lion during the Great Schism, the Dark Angels were forced to rebuild their broken legion with a combiantion of recruits drawn from both Caliban and the wider Dornian Imperium. Due to this, the Dark Angels legion now stands at about more than 390,000 Space Marines.
Legion Ranks[]
Command Ranks[]
- Supreme Grand Master
- Lord Seneschal
- Grand Masters of the Hexagrammaton
- Grand Master of the Deathwing
- Grand Master of the Ravenwing
- Grand Master of the Dreadwing
- Grand Master of the Firewing
- Grand Master of the Ironwing
- Grand Master of the Stormwing
- Paladin-Commander
- Knight-Commander
- Knight-Captain
- Knight-Lieutenant
- Deathwing Strikemaster - Wing-Specific
- Ravenwing Talonmaster - Wing-Specific
- Dreadwing Eskaton - Wing-Specific
Legion Specialist Command Ranks[]
- Master of the Forge
- Master Interrogator-Chaplain
- Master/Mistress of Pentacles (Master of Sanctity)
- High Deacon (Reclusiarch)
- Chief Apothecary
- Master of the Mystai (Chief Librarian)
Legion Line Ranks[]
- Paladin-Sergeant (Veteran Sergeant)
- Deathwing Oathbreaker (Deathwing Companion Sergeant)
- Deathwing Cenobite Master (Inner Circle Knights Cenobium Sergeant)
- Ravenwing Huntsmaster (Ravenwing Black Knight Sergeant)
- Dreadwing Interemptor Praefectus (Dreadwing Interemptor Sergeant)
- Dreadwing Naufragia Praefectus (Dreadwing Naufragia Sergeant)
- Paladin (Veteran Marine)
- Knight-Sergeant (Sergeant)
- Knight (Battle-Brother)
- Squire (Scout Marine) - Probationary rank.
- Page (Neophyte)
- Aspirant
Legion Specialist Ranks[]
- Interrogator-Chaplain
- Interrogator-Precentors
- Interrogator-Chaplains (Canonists)
- Interrogator-Vicars
- Junior Chaplain
- Apothecary
- Apothecary Chymists
- Apothecary Chirurgeons
- Apothecary Medics
- Librarians
- Epistolary
- Codicier
- Lexicanium
- Techmarine
- Forge-Wrights
- Technomancers
- Technologists
- Techwrights
- Paladin
- Lancer (Pilot)
Specialist Formations[]
- Interrogator-Chaplains - The Dark Angels maintain a very special cadre of Chaplains known as Interrogator-Chaplains who are tasked with getting any Fallen Angel who has been captured by the Dark Angels to admit their sins and repent of their betrayal of the Emperor. The Interrogator-Chaplains are skilled in the arts of interrogation, torture and psychological manipulation as the most experienced members of the Inquisition. Interrogator-Chaplains are not members of the Inner Circle, though their duties require that they have knowledge of many more of the Chapter's secrets than is normal for Dark Angels of their rank.
- Deathwing Inner Circle Knights Cenobium - an Inner Circle Knight Cenobite is a fell-handed warrior of the Dark Angels, a member of the elite Deathwing whose glorious deeds on the field of battle are matched only by their unflinching devotion to the legion. Knight Cenobites are a truly imposing sight, for within them, lives some semblance of the Lion himself. Only the most veteran members of the Dark Angels Deathwing are made Knight Cenobites, the uppermost level of the order before being named a Knight-Captain of the Legion. They become the ultimate upholders of ancient traditions and the most skilled fighting unit of the Dark Angels. In the stratified organization of the Dark Angels, the Inner Circle Knights Cenobium represent the elite -- only the Knight-Captains of the Legion rank higher -- and they are only chosen from among the Deathwing, who are also members of the Inner Circle.
- Deathwing Companions - The finest warriors and the longest-serving Veterans among the Deathwing formed the ranks of the elite Deathwing Companions, with each such detachment sworn by the most stringent of oaths to ensure the survival of those officers placed under their charge. Most famous among the Companions are those that had taken a death-blow meant for their charge and survived. Such warriors were granted the right to wear bone-white armour in recognition of their selfless devotion to the Legion. The Commanding sergeants of the Deathwing Companions are known as Oathbreakers.
- Ravenwing Black Knights - Mounted on powerful, heavily customized Mark IV Assault Bikes, the Ravenwing Black Knights are heavily armed shock cavalry. Those who survive in the Ravenwing long enough learn to take the doctrines of mobile warfare to the next level of mastery. If they pass the Seven Rites of the Raven, they will be inducted into the Black Knights, the Inner Circle of the Ravenwing. There, they will learn the real reason behind their hunt for heretics and the truth about their Legion's history. To signify their exalted status, Black Knights carry Corvus Hammers, which are patterned after an ancient Calibanite weapon used to hunt the Great Beasts. The Black Knights' riding skills are supreme, and they can drive at top speed through almost any impediments to close on their foes.
- Dreadwing Interemptor - Even among the brethren of the infamous Dreadwing, the Interemptors are a grim breed, dedicated as they are to a singular purpose -- the utter annihilation of the enemy. When the Interemptors attacked, they left behind no trace of those they conquered. They took no trophies of their victories and told no tales of those that had fallen before them, those consigned to death at their hands were forgotten forever. They were the Lion's ultimate sanction, his final curse for those foolish enough to stand against the Dark Angels.
- Dreadwing Naufragia - The Naufragia was the name given to the elite formation of Dark Angels Terminators of the Dreadwing used during the Great Crusade, the Shattering, and after the heresy. They were known to be armed with horrific weapons such as Plasma Cannons and Phosphex Incinerator Cannons. Once unleashed upon an unfortunate enemy, these horrifying weapons have the ability to turn entire enemy squads of either xenos or heretics into ash in one fell blow.
- Firewing Enigmatus Cabal - The Firewing exists to prosecute a swift and silent style of war, to smother the enemy's ability to resist, steal their will to fight with precision strikes, and gain the acquisition of key intelligence for use by other forces. The Enigmatii were the foremost practitioners of this style of war, operating in small elite units to eliminate th enemy's leaders, disrupt their lines of advance and throw their plans into disarray. Armed and equipped with the finest weapons and equipment available, they were a deadly threat to those deemed dangerous enough by the Lion to warrant their attention.
- Ironwing Forge-Wrights - This unique brotherhood within the Ironwing serves as a parallel and independent reservoir of machine lore offered by the Legion's Techmarines, as well as the Legion's Forge Lords. Following the earliest forebears of the Ironwing, the Forge-wrights learned their arts from the Enginesires and Artisan-lords of Terra's ancient forges. Between them, the Dark Angels' Forge-wrights and Techmarines were able to tend to all but the most arcane and intemperate of the Legion's technologies themselves.
Specialist Task Forces[]
- Wardens of the Stygian Blades - Serving as the Personal Task Force of Supreme Grand Master Ezekiel Helstar, this Task Force is comprised of the Dark Angels' most elite warriors and consuls drawn from all across the entire legion. Each member of this Taskforce was handpicked by the Supreme Grand Master to act as both his Bodyguards and as his emissaries as the marines that make it up come from all six wings of the Hexagrammaton, and all are skilled in their respective art of war.
Forbidden Arsenal of Weaponry[]
Complementing the Dark Angels Legion's skill and hard-won knowledge was one of the deadliest arsenals in the entire galaxy. Much of the technology that is routinely deployed by the Dark Angels was of an order of complexity beyond that available to the younger Space Marine Legions and on par with those of the Legio Custodes, produced in dedicated manufactoria on Terra and elsewhere to the specifications of the Dark Angels' learned forge masters according to designs dating back millennia to the Age of Technology.
Exotic plasma weaponry, munitions of archaic and unstable design as well as variants of armored vehicles and void craft based on unique technologies, all were the sole province of the Ist Legion. This proved a potent force multiplier on the battlefields of the Great Crusade, amplifying the superior skills of the Dark Angels and allowing them to prevail against foes that lesser technology could not defeat. As well as those advanced weapons and designs they used openly, the Dark Angels also maintained large stocks of weapons of a darker nature. Within the sealed vaults of Caliban and Gramarye, as well as a number of secret caches scattered across the Caliban Protectorate and guarded by dedicated orders of the Hekatonystika, were vast stores of weaponry long since proscribed by the Emperor to the other military arms of the Imperium.
Gene-phages capable of annihilating all life upon a planetary body in mere solar hours, core-breaching magna munitions that could tear a planet apart from within, stockpiles of ancient silica-virae -- the dreaded scourge of the nanite that was pronounced the ultimate tech-heresy by the Mechanicum of Mars -- all could be found within the hidden armories of the Dark Angels. Such weapons of Mass Destruction could not be unleashed lightly, for they served only a single purpose -- the utter eradication of all life. They were of no use to conquerors, only to destroyers, and they served as the ultimate sanction for those enemies deserving only of complete annihilation.
Legio Auxilla Forces[]
The Caliban Jaegers are the Imperial Guard Regiments that have been raised from the Dark Angels' homeworld of Caliban and its sister systems and act as the legion's Auxilla. These regiments aided in the defence of their world like the traditional Planetary Defence Forces of other planets, while also providing support for the Dark Angels' mighty warfleets during the campaigns of the Great Crusade, the Shattering, and beyond. These regiments also harkened back to the days before Lion El'Jonson was discovered by the Emperor, and back when the knightly orders of Caliban defended the populace against the Great Beasts. Clad in a combination of Ceramite Flak Armor, ancient Calbanite power armor designs, and plasteel plate armor, these regiments specialize in combating large alien beasts, guerilla warfare, mounted warfare and armored warfare.
Combat Doctrine[]
As the I Legion, the Dark Angels are outfitted with a panoply of arms drawn not from the fruits of the Emperors pact with Mars, but instead from the arsenal of the Unification Wars of Ancient Terra; relic weapons and technologies of great potency. Long after the other Space Marine Legions were formed, and the Great Crusade standardized much of the Space Marine Legions' wargear, the Dark Angels retained many of these ancient and potent relics, as well as the techno-arcana that resided within them. These they continued to employ; weapons whose secrets were never fully yielded to Mars or their Space Marine brethren by the Emperor's own command.
In the same vein as their father Lion El'Jonson, the commanding officers of the Dark Angels are expert tacticians and specialists. Exclusive formations have been developed alongside ancient patterns such as the Steel Hammer Mechanized Assault, the Beastslayer Heavy Armored Assault stratagem, the Caliban's Hand Zone Mortalis Assault, the Scourge of Caliban envelopment strike, and the Daggers of Caliban many-pronged Strike. Before the Dark Angels begin their attacks, the Firewing scouts out the area where their enemy is located, as the feared Enigmatii and Moritats of the Dark Angels severely disrupt enemy communications while the vanguard of the Dark Angels' Firewing, its scout squads, start collecting data from battlefields that previously would have been almost impossible to extract, allowing the Ravenwing squadrons to land on the planet and strike without their quarry being warned.
The Stormwing and Ironwing then deploy at this time as well, with Vindicators, Predators, Land Raiders, Sabres, and Centurion Armored Exoskeletons spearheading armored assaults on enemy positions, while the tactical and assault marines of the Stormwing march into battle under heavy fire.
Once the biker and speeder hordes of the Ravenwing have driven deep into the enemy's lines, they then activate the teleportation homers mounted on their bikes, summoning the forces of the Elite Deathwing and all but guaranteeing victory in battle. But if the enemy refuses to yield or fold under the pressure, that is when the Dark Angels unleash the Dreadwing's horrific arsenal of weapons onto the enemy. Relic Tanks like the Fellblade and current war machines like the Vindicator and the Land Raider Ares, along with specialized formations like the Dreadwing Interemptors and the Naufragia Terminators, are unleashed onto the enemy as well as the legion's devastator squads. In case of large enemy forces with larger opponents, the Dark Angels also deploy the Dreaded Excindio Battle-Automata of the Ironwing when in battle.
Recruitment and Homeworld[]
Caliban, home of the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion.
The world of Caliban is located in the Cadian Sector, to the galactic north of the Eye of Terror. Covered with lush forests, the planet is inhabited by monstrous creatures that have been warped by the proximity of Chaos in the Eye of Terror. The humans of the planet are a proud, martial people who were forced to live in great stone Fortress-Monasteries. The Dark Angels eventually rebuilt their Fortress-Monastery, the original Fortress-Monastery of The Order, known as Aldurukh, "the Rock of Eternity" in one of the old Calibanite dialects of Low Gothic, into their current fortress-monastery, Angelicasta, known to them as the Tower of The Angels. Aldurukh was originally the name of the mountain that The Order's founders had decided for the site to build their Fortress-Monastery, using the name of the mountain for the fortress. Though The Order had other Fortress-Monasteries, Aldurukh was their first and greatest, and so they gave it a name that mattered, a name that summed up exactly what they were trying to build. This sacred site was The Order's literal rock, their foundation of stone. As long as it endured, then some part of their ideals would always be alive.
The Dark Angels draw their recruits from Caliban and a variety of planets, mainly highly primitive worlds, advanced knightly worlds, and feudal worlds with knightly orders. The Dark Angels have sworn oaths to protect thousands of worlds which, in return, supply thousands of potential aspirants for the Legion. Representatives of the Dark Angels visit each recruiting world once within a normal human's lifetime and take the strongest juveniles from the population. Each recruit is thoroughly screened, and from the moment he or she is accepted into the Legion as a Space Marine, his or her past becomes irrelevant.
After the Shattering, the Dark Angels recruited from both Caliban and another planet (known as Plain's World). Sometime before the 41st Millennium, a group of returning Deathwing found that their planet had been overrun fifty years earlier by Genestealers, with only a few untainted humans remaining. The Terminators, whose duty and honour required the extermination of the genestealers, prepared themselves for battle. Because the odds of their success were nearly non-existent, the Terminators engaged in their native death ritual. Instead of anointing their skin with white ash, they anointed their armour. The Terminators cleansed the world and rescued the enslaved populace, and in honor of those few Terminators, their armor was ever after white. Meanwhile, the Dark Angels Inner Circle recognized the folly of relying upon two planets for manpower and so diversified their recruiting grounds.
Notable Recruitment Worlds of the First Legion[]
- Remnant
- Aincrad
- Morrigan
- Akiba
- Eqqus
- Novgorod
- Kimmeria
Gene-Seed[]
The gene-seed of the Dark Angels has remained steadfastly pure, with all nineteen implanted organs operating at maximum efficiency and with rejection rates being quite low. Such is the purity and compatibility of the Lion's gene-seed, that only the Legions of the Ultramarines, Sons of Horus, and Iron Warriors have spawned larger legions. However, in the case of captured Fallen Angels, this varies as their levels of corruption have ranged from being mostly pure to being fully corrupted. However, despite the Legion's purity, in terms of gene-seed, there is a flaw that has become part of the very being of the Dark Angels.
Primarch's Curse: Dark Past[]
Although only the Inner Circle are aware of the awful truth of the Dark Angels' past, even those newly recruited possess a secretive, even introverted nature. The idea that outsiders are not to be trusted is drilled into the recruits from an early stage, and they are tested continuously to ensure their compliance until it becomes second nature. After all, a brother or sister who cannot be entirely trusted to keep the Legion's secrets is unlikely to advance through its ranks. Although the Dark Angels have fought beside all of the branches of the Imperium's vast military machine, they prefer to stand beside other Space Marines. Many, even brother and sister Astartes, find the Dark Angels aloof and uncommunicative. The Dark Angels, for their part are impatient and unforgiving with strangers who pry into their affairs. In truth, the astartes of the Legion who are aware of the existence of the Fallen are ever watchful for any sign of their activity and will abandon whatever mission they are conducting should they gain any clue that one is nearby.
The space marines of the Dark Angels are also notoriously intolerant of non-humans, given that they believe it is the duty of the sons and daughters of Lion El'Jonson to cleanse the galaxy of the xeno menace, and will often refuse to fight alongside armies that include abhuman warriors or alien races. They are highly suspicious of outsiders and often appear unreasonably aloof and intransigent. Their tendency to take up solitary crusades against xenos forces well beyond their scope have won them glorious victories and brought them ignominious defeats, both often earned far from the eyes of their potential allies.
Primarch's Curse: The Secret[]
The Dark Angels also have a shadowy past hidden by the weight of history and shrouded in the smoke and blood of the Shattering itself. Few outside the Legion can even guess at the exact facts surrounding the Legion's beginning, and those within its ranks guard their secrets well. Such weighty secrets can come to press heavily on a Battle-Brother or Battle-Sister's soul:
- Level 1 (Dark Dreams): The marine is beset with memories of past times and deep, hidden secrets that cast a shadow over periods of rest and meditation.
- Level 2 (Scorn of Outsiders): The Dark Angel has grown to view those outside the Legion as misguided or ignorant of the truth and cannot bring himself to deal with them any more than necessary.
- Level 3 (Deep Suspicion): Trained in an atmosphere of silence and secrets, the Dark Angel has become very distrustful of anyone outside his Legion and cannot take the words or promises of others at face value.
Legion Beliefs[]
The Dark Angel believe in the ideals of honor, loyalty, and brotherhood and the time when their father, the Lion, would reawaken to save the Imperium in its darkest hour. However, the primary driving force of the Legion is hunting down the Fallen Angels swept into the Warp vortex that nearly destroyed Caliban. The Dark Angels believe that only by hunting down, capturing, and forcing all of the Fallen Angels to repent their crimes, will the secret shame of the Dark Angels be absolved in the eyes of the Emperor.
The Fallen Angels have been scattered throughout time and space and thus the Dark Angels' ten millennia quest is far from over. It is this quest that drives the Dark Angels and they will follow up any rumor, no matter how slim, if it offers them the chance of recapturing one of the Fallen. Should a Fallen Angel be captured, he is taken back by the Dark Angels to Angelicasta and thrown into the darkest dungeon where the fearsome Interrogator-Chaplains of the Dark Angels attempt to make him repent his past sins.
Should the Fallen repent quickly, his death will be swift and relatively painless, but in most cases he will refuse and the Chaplain will be forced to use any and all methods to force him to repent. Often this will result in the Fallen's death, but this is a small price to pay for adding his name to the Book of Salvation.
Notable Dark Angels[]
Pre-Shattering/Shattering-Era[]
Main Article: Notable Dark Angels (Pre-Shattering/Shattering-Era)
Post-Shattering Era[]
Main Article: Notable Dark Angels (Post-Shattering)
Fallen Angels[]
Main Article: Notable Fallen Angels
Legion Fleet[]
The Invincible Reason, flagship of the Dark Angels Legion fleet and personal flagship of Supreme Grand Master Ezekiel Helstar.
The Dark Angels were known to possesses the following vessels as part of their Legion Fleet during the Great Crusade, The Shattering, and Beyond:
- Invincible Reason (Gloriana-Class Battleship): Flagship of the Dark Angels Legion , the 1st Order and personal flagship of Legion Master Ezekiel Helstar.
- Dark Sovereign (Relic Hellhound-Class Battleship)
- Intolerant (Capital Ship, Unknown Class)
- Decimator (Grand Cruiser)
- Duchess (Grand Cruiser)
- Duchess Arbellatris (Avenger-class Grand Cruiser)
- Flamberge (Infernus-class Grand Cruiser)
- Iron Duke (Avenger-class Grand Cruiser)
- Lord Dante (Infernus-class Grand Cruiser)
- Angel of Retribution (Battle Barge)
- Angel of Caliban (Strike Cruiser)
- Honoured Deeds (Battle Barge)
- Salvation (Battle Barge)
- Spear of Truth (Battle Barge)
- Ultimate Vengeance (Battle Barge)
- Undying Faith (Battle Barge)
- Unrelenting Fury (Battle Barge)
- Vinco Redemptor (Battle Barge)
- Caliban's Will (Battle Barge)
- Amadis (Strike Cruiser)
- Adzikel (Strike Cruiser)
- Black Sword of Vengeance (Strike Cruiser)
- Vehemence (Strike Cruiser)
- Watcher (Strike Cruiser)
- Wrath of Caliban (Strike Cruiser) - Strike cruiser assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
- Formidable (Light Cruiser) - Light cruiser assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat.
- Colgrevance (Frigate) - Frigate that discovered the sign of the enemy on Zephath during the time of the Imperium Secundus.
- Intrepid (Frigate) - Frigate assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
- Dauntless (Frigate) - Frigate assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
- Arbalest (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
- Audacious (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat.
- Courageous (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat. Destroyed when they engaged rebel ships.
- Hotspur (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat. Destroyed when they engaged rebel ships.
- Rapier (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat. Destroyed when they engaged rebel ships.
- Seventh Son (Destroyer)
- Stiletto (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat. Destroyed when they engaged rebel ships.
- Seraphic Vigil (Outrider Ship, Unknown Class)
- Bold Conveyor (Troopship) - Troopship assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
- Noble Sinew (Troopship) - Troopship assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
- Chimaera (Ramilies-class Starfort) - The Chimaera was the heart of the Alaxxes Outpost, one of the initial six outposts created by the Ist Legion in the later days of the Great Crusade. Located in the inhospitable and inherently dangerous Alaxxes Nebula, the Chimaera would prove invaluable in the early days of the Horus Heresy when it successfully counter-attacked the gathered fleet of the Alpha Legion, which had been tracking and harassing the severely weakened VIth Legion after the Istvaan V Massacre. Hunted and cornered within the Alaxxes Nebula, the Chimaera saved the Space Wolves from certain eradication, the Ramilies-class Starfort's firepower severely damaging the Alpha, one of the lauded Gloriana-class Battleships which served as the flagship of the XXth Legion.
- Herald of Night (Strike Cruiser)
- Austere Purification (Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
- Monarch's Glory (Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
- Redemptive Fire (Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
- Blade of Numarc (Battlecruiser, Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
- Executioner's Blade (Strike Cruiser)
- Lion's Roar (Strike Cruiser)
- Pride of Caliban (Strike Cruiser)
- Salvation (Strike Cruiser)
- Sword of Caliban (Strike Cruiser)
- Vengeful Blade (Strike Cruiser)
- Intervention (Frigate)
Relations[]
Allies[]
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Despite their secrecy, the Dark Angels have a long and tenuous alliance with the knights of House Ohrlacc, who had served alongside them since the Compliance of Darkhaven, the homeworld of the Knight House, during the Great Crusade. As such, whenever the Dark Angels deploy into battle, a detachment of The Knights of the Manticore can be found fighting alongside the marines of the First Legion. | |
Strained[]
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Enemies[]
| Fallen Angels | 
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The Dark Angels hate those renegade Space Marine Legionaries who were once members of the Legion that spat upon their oaths to the Lion and followed the Arch-Betrayer Luther into damnation. The Dark Angels relentlessly and ruthlessly pursue the Fallen across the breadth and width of the galaxy, determined to capture them and force them to repent in order to achieve forgiveness in the eyes of the Emperor. There is no act too heinous, no atrocity they will not commit, no line they will not cross, in order to achieve their ends. For the Dark Angels, their end goal justifies the means, no matter the cost in blood, in both heretic and innocent, spilled. |
| Omega Legion | ||
Legion Appearance[]
Legion Colors[]
The Dark Angels primarily wear black battle-plate as well as red and bone-white accents along with sable trim. Not long after the Legion's Primarch was reunited with the warriors of the Ist Legion, a wedge began to be driven between the Calibanite Dark Angels and their Terran-born brethren. On the right shoulder plates of the Calibanite Dark Angels, where normally a Space Marine's organizational and rank markings would be painted, these marines were authorized to wear the personal heraldry of their respective knightly orders before the Primarch's discovery. On their left shoulder pauldrons, El'Jonson had decreed that the Legion's Calibanite Astartes were to wear the dark green of their homeworld's forests as an act of remembrance of the battles fought to tame their homeworld under the leadership of the Lion. After the Shattering, the bulk of the Legion still wears the original sable color and the accents and trim that was worn by their ancient predecessors, with the exception of the elite Deathwing, who instead wear bone-white in honor of those that defended Plains' World, a Dark Angels recruiting world, from the forces of Chaos.
Additionally, checker patterns, usually black and white or black and red, are commonplace among the members of the Dark Angels, as they call back to a simpler time in the history of the First Legion. To differentiate from their fallen brethren, All of the Dark Angels now wear bone-white Plastrons (Chestplates) as part of their scheme, symbolizing their purity and loyalty.
Veteran members of the Dark Angels are commonly found wearing hooded cloaks and tabards; these robes symbolizes their shame over what the Fallen Angels had done during the Shattering. Cloaks and hoods are worn by Veteran Dark Angels and the Legion's Inner Circle because they have learned enough about the Dark Angels' history, and thus their shame, prior to obtaining their rank within the Legion.
Legion Badge[]
The Dark Angels Legion badge is a white winged sword with furled wings, which was the ancient icon of the Calibanite knightly order known simply as The Order that preceded and was integrated into the main legion, on a checkered field of black and red. Variants of this symbol exist for the six wings of the Hexagrammaton: the Deathwing, the Ravenwing, the Dreadwing, the Ironwing, the Firewing, and the Stormwing, as well as the specialist ranks of the legion.
Notable Quotes[]
By the Dark Angels[]
On distant Caliban, it is the raven that stands sentinel over the battlefield, the first to arrive upon the field so it might watch over the assembling hists, and the last to leave once all that remains are the corpses of the slain. So it is with the Ravenwing, for we are the swift host that takes to battle in the van of the Lion's host and the last of those to quit the fight, harrying the enemy to the last. Where our banners fly, there can be no respite for the foes of the Lion.
Attr. Garradin of the Council of Masters, The Ravenbringer, once Lord of the Host of the Void
About the Dark Angels[]
They were surrounded. We outnumbered Zambeque's Imperial defenders well over a thousand to one, but I knew the battle was lost the moment I saw the teleportation flare and the pale armour.
Unknown Alpha Legion Chaos Lord upon seeing the Deathwing deploy
Gallery (Astartes)[]
Pre-Shattering/Shattering Era[]
Post-Shattering[]
Legion High Command[]
Legion Secondary Command[]
Legion Ancients, Consuls, and Champions[]
Legion Specialist Formations and Veteran Units[]
Legion Rank and File[]
Fallen Angels[]
Gallery (Vehicles)[]
Transports[]
Dreadnoughts[]
Light Vehicles[]
Tanks[]
Aircraft[]
Support and Artillery[]
