Father and Son Finally, one day a massive armada of spaceships was seen entering their atmosphere. While most remained in orbit a single ship descended to land in a clearing near the Order's fortress. Realising that the warp storms that had cut off Caliban from the rest of the universe was finally at an end, the Lion and his retinue personally arrived to greet the new comers. Those who witnessed the subsequent events were in awestruck at the majesty of the newcomer, who descended from the starship. Wearing a magnificently crafted suit of personal armour and radiating a glow of authority and compassion he opened his arms, and embraced his long lost son, his first born! There was no hesitation or lack of recognition between the two of them. While the Apocrypha of Skaros describes a number of primarchs fighting or challenging the emperor, Jonson simply embraced him. A close bond that could only occur between father and son was formed. The arrival of the emperor changed the society of Caliban even more. Jonson learned that the legion that had accompanied his father from the conquest of terra to the farthest reaches of the great crusade was none other than the Dark Angels Legion. A legion created in his own image, from his own genetic code. He accepted command of the ten thousand Dark Angels of his legion. The warrior elite of Caliban clamoured for the honour of becoming spacemarines. Those knights who were still young enough had the Legion's gene seed implanted within them, while those too old for this process underwent surgery to transform them into elite warriors of the Imperium. The first to be brought into the Legion in this way was Luther, who became Jonson's second-in-command, just as he always had been within the Order. The emperor dictated that Caliban would be the home world of the Dark Angels. The entire strength of the Order and a vast number of warriors from other orders were rapidly incorporated in to the Dark Angels legion. Caliban's nomenclature and command structure permeated the legion. Their leaders were henceforth called masters and grandmasters while the Lion remained supreme grandmaster. The next few years were spent restructuring the Caliban society, making them self sufficient and proficient in the science of interplanetary travel and space warfare. The Dark Angle legion was rested and invigorated with the almost never-ending infusion of the warrior elite. These were ideal subjects for the transformation to spacemarines. The fortress monasteries of the Order became the bastions of the Dark Angels Legion. Space defense grids were deployed and the legion as a whole restructured. To manage the thousands of spacemarines in to flexible formations they were divided in to regiments or chapters depending on the local nomenclature. Each of these regiments contained approximately one thousand fighting men, divided in to ten companies of one hundred men each. In addition command and support staff accompanied these troops in to battle. Always thinking in strategic and tactical sense Jonson departed from the standard structure of the legions and not only concentrated his veterans in to the first company of each regiment. Where these deferred from other legions was they were entirely and always equipped with the formidable tactical dreadnought armour. This concentration of force and rigorous exercise resulted in the formidable 1st companies becoming renown for their fearlessness in battle. Following a number of boarding missions they were honoured with the term "Deathwing" which subsequently became infamous across the universe striking fear in to the hearts of the enemy. A further departure from the norm was the creation of an entirely mounted company for each regiment. Keeping their knightly inheritance, the seventh company in each regiment was armed entirely of bikes and jet bikes, resulting in a rapid reaction force paralleled only by the brother marines of the White Scars Legion. Taking their name from a mythological bird from old terra, the "Ravenwing" became as well known as their Deathwing brethren. As time went by and their exploits became legendary, the company number was changed to second place. During this period of rest and refit for the legion the Lion achieved a number of personal glories, which included the first sublight circum-navigation of the outer Dolomons and also personally effected the incineration of the Goyas asteroid that was approaching Caliban dangerously closely. Then came the request from the emperor for his son and his legion to join him once more to continue on humanity's great crusade. After much deliberation Jonson embarked upon this journey, leaving behind a small force of Dark Angels to guard his home planet. He left his best friend and most trusted brother-in-arms, Luthor, in charge of the planet and its surrounding system. The strategically thinking Jonson did this with the future of his chapter in mind. In the event of his own demise during the great crusade, his brother would be the most suited to continue his legacy. However the embers jealousy were being stoked within Luthor's heart as he realized he would not be able to bask in the glory of the great victories that the Lion would surely achieve. Despite the importance of Luther's position, it was not one that suited his ambitious personality. Thus began the seeds of envy that would subsequently tear the chapter apart. END of CHAPTER II |
APOCRYPHA CALIBAN |
This entire section is one attempt to describe the long history of the Dark Angels in a linear form. Every known piece of history and event based on GW publications has been written in my own words and linked together in a reasonably plausible manner by additional fiction. This is in no way the official GW version nor is it in anyway an attempt to infringe on their IP. There are many versions of imperial history buried within the sands of time and this is but just one of them. Read on if you dare! |
CHAPTER II THE YOUNG LION Chronicled By ( Shadow Guard ) |
