Dark Angels

[Brother Warchild]

Librarium Article

Dark Angels

Histroy
The Dark Angels have the honour of being the first Legion created by the Emperor. Like the others, their Primarch was lost while he was still in his infancy. He later turned up on the distant planet of Caliban, a deathworld filled with demons and other creatures. They had a fighting force known simply as the "Order". They were an organization that fought to protect the people on Caliban. The Primarch was discovered by the Order and, at first, they thought he was a monster, but one person saw that it was in fact a real person and was saved. This person was Luther, who became a great friend to the Primarch. The Order named this person Lion El'Jonson which meant "the Lion" He grew up to be a great warrior and caused the reputation of the Order to spread. This caused many more people to join and the Order to grow so much, El'Jonson decided it was time for one final crusade to clear Caliban of it's monsters. Luther was the one who convinced the leaders of the Order to declare it, but it was Jonson who really caused the campaign to be a success and was appointed Grand Master of the Order and Caliban.

Reunification
When the Emperor discovered El'Jonson, many of the knights in the Order were transformed into Space Marines in the Dark Angels Legion, including Luther. The Legion was thusly named due to the fact that they were the only Legion at the time who wore jet black armor. The Dark Angels were one of the most successful Legions in the Great Crusade.

The Lion and The Wolf
This caused frustration in Leman Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves chapter, because only El'Jonson and Horus were able to claim more victories than him. This turned into violence at one battle where both Primarchs were present. Both wanted to slay the leader behind a Chaos incursion. Jonson got there first and Leman Russ was only able to howl in fury as Jonson slayed the leader. In the aftermath, Russ went to Jonson's quarters and initiated a fight. They wrestled for a day before Russ stopped and laughed at the reason they were fighting. Jonson, not knowing this, struck Russ unconscious. When Russ came to, he swore to clear the stain on his honor. Now, whenever the two Chapters meet, they each select a champion to duel another champion in honor of the duel their Primarch's had.

Horus Heresy
During the Horus Heresy, both the Dark Angels and the Space Wolves Legions were far from Terra, and were unable to participate directly in the events taking place on Terra. However, their imminent arrival forced the traitor leader Horus to take his last gamble, knowing that if they arrived before he took control of the planet, they would tip the balance in favor of the loyalists. He lowered the shields around his ship, allowing the Emporer to teleport onto his ship and defeat him. By the time the Dark Angels and Space Wolves arrived, the battle was already over and the damage was immense.

Post Heresy
After the Heresy, the Dark Angels helped restore order to the Imperium. During this time, Luther had been left on Caliban to oversee the training of new recruits. However, Luther had always been jealous of Jonson's rank. The Chaos gods manipulated Luther, using the fact that Luther was jealous, into poisoning the new recruits with facts that they had been left to babysit a planet while Jonson was out getting honor and fame.

Caliban
When Jonson returned to Caliban, he and his fleet were immediately fired upon by the orbital guns. Puzzled, Jonson withdrew. when he learned what happened, Jonson fell into a terrible rage. He had gone from one point in the universe to the next, clearing away traitors and demons, when he finds that his own planet had fallen to the Ruinous powers. Jonson's fleet bombed the planet and destroyed the orbital guns. Jonson then led a strike force into the Tower of Angels and dueled his former friend. They were equally matched, but finally, Luther keeled over in exhaustion, leaving him open to a deathblow. Jonson couldn't bring himself to kill his former friend and so, Luther lashed out with a psychic attack. As Luther saw his oldest friend dying, his mind cleared and he forced back fell to his knees, sending out a cry for help in the Warp. The Chaos gods, angered that they had lost such a valuable person, caused a great warp rift near Caliban.

The Dark Angel space fleet also bombarded the planet mercilessly, and this caused the structure of the planet to collapse. The bombardment, combined with the newly formed warp rift, broke the planet up and it is now an asteroid field. The largest piece, which survived due to the massive void shields in operation around the largest fortress-monastery, called the Tower of Angels, was hollowed out and became a gigantic battlebarge which is now the home of the Dark Angels. This ship is known simply as The Rock. When the Dark Angels searched the Tower, they found Luther, babbling incoherently, but their Primarch was no where to be seen.

Unforgiven
This betrayal has tainted their Legion's honour, in the eyes of the Dark Angels themselves. They adopted the name the "Unforgiven" and would not be forgiven untill every last Fallen had repented. Given that the event was purely within the Legion itself, and was on a world far from Terra, nobody outside of the Legion knew it had occurred. Within the Chapter itself, only the elite veterans are permitted this knowledge- In the modern Dark Angels chapter, only the Deathwing know the full extent of the secret. The chapter leadership will go to great lengths to ensure that this knowledge does not reach the Imperium at large, for if it did, the Dark Angels would be labeled heretics, even at times going so far as to disobey direct orders from Inquisitors and cause overly curious individuals to "disappear". The people in charge of hunting the Fallen and commanding the Dark Angels Legion are known as the Inner Circle, and there are many secrets known only to them.

Though only the Inner Circle, knows this, Luther was kept inside the Rock . Because he is connected to the Warp, the Dark Angels have been able to use him as an Oracle. Azrael and others before him, have tried to extract a confession from him, but all he has said is that The Lion is returning and will forgive him for his sins. The time is also nigh.........

There is one secret that only the most senior members of the Inner Circle know. The Lion was infact taken by the mysterious Watchers in the Dark to a secret chamber deep within the Rock. He is slowly healing and may very soon return.........

Chapters
The Legion, like all others, then broke into smaller Chapters. Among these are the Angels of Absolution, Angels of Vengeance, and the Angels of Redemption.


Characteristics
The Dark Angels are characterized by their unusually stubborn warriors, who often refuse to not only flee from a foe, but sometimes to not advance on them either, preferring to blast them from a distance with their guns. Their leaders and veteran troops, the Deathwing, are fearless. Curiously, the Dark Angels also feature a special sub-unit which specializes in utilizing motorcycles and hovercraft known as Landspeeders; this unit is known as the Ravenwing.

A notable feature of the Dark Angels is that they constantly hunt for the Fallen Angels, those who betrayed the Legion just after the Heresy. These Fallen are nominally led by an enigmatic character known simply as Cypher, however, no real organization is seen among the Fallen. Some have maintained their dedication to the Chaos Gods, becoming Chaos Space Marines; many have not and have instead become pirates, mercenaries, or have otherwise attempted to create a new life for themselves. Either path makes little difference to the Dark Angels' leadership, however, and Fallen who are captured are brutally tortured, eventually being executed for their crimes- a Fallen who confesses to his crimes and repents is generally executed sooner.

The Dark Angels paint their armor a deep dark green; some also wear off-white monkish robes over their armor. The elite Deathwing units wear bone white armor with special heraldry. The Ravenwing wear jet black armor, very similar to that worn by the Dark Angels before the Horus Heresy. Successor chapters typically wear a variation on the Green-Bone White-Black scheme.

The Chapter symbol is a vertically standing sword, blade down, with a stylized wing on either side. The Deathwing wear the same symbol, however the blade of the sword bears a jagged crack towards the end, a symbol of their broken honour. The Ravenwing changes the motif to be a single wing with an eagle's claw extending from the bottom, bearing a sword.

Sources
Index Astartes
Codexs Angels of Death 2nd Ed-DA 3rd-Space Marines 3rd-1st Codex
Horus Heresy Novels