Shadow Stalkers – (Slightly Heretical) Offspring Chapter of The Dark Angels
Back History:
In the days of The Horus Herasy, the Dark Angels found themselves betrayed from within their own Chapter. When their homeworld of Caliban was destroyed, the lore of the Imperial Tarot tells that only “THE ROCK” survived and that is all that remains of Caliban.
This is where the History of the Shadow Stalkers starts. THE ROCK was not the only remaining piece of Caliban to survive. A smaller and denser piece of the planet’s core was also jettisoned out, but not into space, as was the rock, but into the warp. This piece was jettisoned to the Segmentum where it’s inhabitants Slowly recovered. It took almost 100 years for them make contact with all those who survived the destruction of caliban and establish themselves as those who were not among THE FALLEN.
In the time since, It has been learned that most of those who reside on what has come to be known as THE SHARD were surviving members of both the first and second companies, and as such had a diverse skill range.
The Shadow Stalkers however, with their passage through the warp learned things that the Dark Angels would never know. Their first and most profound discovery was that not all of the Gods of Chaos were alike and that there was an Unending war going on. Like the Dark Angels, they are vehement in finding the fallen. However, they do not believe that the Fallen should be given the chance to repent and are Slain in a utterly horrible way as soon as they are found. Unlike the Dark Angels, the Shadow Stalkers have had contact with the Chaos Gods and have found that some of them are unwilling or unable to accept the rule of the four major Chaos gods, and as such have found willing partners in the hunt of the Fallen.
The Librarians of the Shadow Stalkers know that one day their time will come to carry out their holy duty as the Voice of Shadow. Only one Shadow Stalker is ever the voice of shadow, and each is only allowed to serve for a total of one year. After which they are slain and their blood is destroyed. This is to serve as a guarantee that none will follow the Fallen in their Herasy. You see, the Voice of Shadow is a living Conduit for some of the lesser Chaos Gods. He speaks with their voice and directs the Shadow Stalkers to the location of the Fallen (Sometimes) and at others he may try to direct them on a Red Herring Mission to find something that is not truly there. The Shadow Stalkers have discovered this unfortunate fact on different occasions and have taken to the practice of using Truth Sayers to determine if the Voice of Shadow is leading them in the proper direction. While not always fool proof, this method has enabled them to discern for the most part when the Daemon Possessed Librarian is spewing off his form of Prophecy.
To keep the Voice of Shadow from blighting the entire chapter with the Possible Herasy of Chaos, he is kept isolated and all access to him is restricted by the Chapter Master. Nobody is allowed in his chamber. Not even the chapter master himself. The only time the chamber is opened is once a year when the new Voice of Shadow is inducted into his position.
Even the Dark Angels don’t know of the Shadow Stalkers use of the Voice of Shadow and perhaps the only one outside of the Chapter who does know (besides the chaos gods themselves) is the Emperor on his Golden Throne.
The Shadow Stalkers are Designated as a Notably Divergent from the Codex Astartes and are Pious and have the Following Advantages, and Disadvantages:
Advantages:
Purity Above All
Suffer Not The Works Of Heretics
Disadvantages:
Eye To Eye
The organization of the Shadow Stalkers is Codex based.
Chapter Colors are a variation of the Dark Angels color scheme with a more vile and Death oriented look.
Black w/ red trim shoulder pads and a Bright Red Eagle. Black Helm.
A picture of The Shadow Stalkers color scheme can be seen here:
http://i184.photobucket.com/albums/x...dowStalker.jpg