Foresight For thirty days and thirty nights the Dark Angels scoured the surface and the under ground labyrinths of the ruins of their Fortress Monastery. The large landmass of the remains of Caliban was of sufficient mass to have some semblance of gravity. At the end of that period the search was officially called off. Augustinian called a council of war. More than a hundred grandmasters of the legion along with every ranking librarian and chaplain gathered in a secret conclave within the ruins of the Fortress. For seven days and seven nights they counseled together, as Augustinian slowly explained to them the strategic plan the Lion had devised for the future of the legion. The strategic wisdom of Jonson became widely apparent as the gathered leaders of the legion listened in awe. Jonson had accepted the need for re-structuring of the legions on to chapters of one thousand men and had accordingly devised his strategy. Although the original Dark Angel legion had easily numbered more than ten thousand warriors, the great crusade and the heresy had taken their toll. The return to terra had been costly within the warp and the subsequent fighting and cleansing of segmentum solar added to the carnage. All in all, the primarch had expected to around five thousand warriors including those left behind in Caliban. He had planned on the creation of four chapters, one with the name of the legion and three more taking their names as the Angels of Vengeance, Angels of Absolution and the Angels of Redemption. The remaining forces would be used to create a crusading force that the Lion himself planned to lead deep in to the eye of terror to seek out his traitorous brothers. His planning had been performed in exquisite detail, right down to the structure of each chapter, their colours and their new home worlds. Subsidiary home worlds had been chosen in the event of the primary world being tainted y the lure of the heresy. The chapters themselves would retain Guillimans ten company structure but incorporate Jonson's innovations. The first company would fight in tactical dreadnought armour, especially after their effective use en masse during the heresy. The second company would be the fast mounted ravenwing and their equivalents. There would be three battle companies, four reserve companies and a scout company as dictated by the Codex Astartes. Agreement was unanimous amongst the greatest and noblest warriors of the Dark Angels. The chapter masters of the four chapters had also been chosen by the Lion himself. To this melding pot Augustinian added a few ingredients himself. The crusade in to the eye of terror would be put on hold, due to the loss of men in the battle of Caliban as well as the total loss of Caliban's garrison and populace. In its place they would begin a secret crusade to avenge their own shame. They will seek out each and every one of the fallen heretical brothers who had been sucked in to the maelstrom. Until they were all captured and made to repent, the chapter would hide its shame from all outsiders. Thus was created the inner circle, containing the most trusted and worthy warriors of the legion. Every member of the command staff would be a proven member of the inner circle, and it is only they who would know the whole truth. Members of the first company would be tasked with this holy task. The four named chapter masters resolved to work together and pool their resource constantly and agreed that they would forever be called the Unforgiven chapters until their shame was erased and the emperor forgave them. With the finalization of their great agenda, the question of home world remained. Unanimously they had decided that the Dark Angels chapter would rebuild the Fortress monastery and make it in to a floating base. However with no populace to recruit, they had to designate a separate planet within intra-planetary craft range for initial recruitment. Such a world was selected from those designated by Jonson as secondary home worlds. It was a primitive tribal planet with a hardy warrior like populace. It was known simply as "The Plains World!" The last item on the agenda was the public announcement of the final order written personally in the hand writing of their primarch. As the entire legion listened his words were read out by the grandmaster. "We will take the names of the ancient angels of terra! We shall steel our hearts with courage and shield ourselves with faith! In the emperor we shall trust! Like Angels of Death we shall smite his foes!" Fortress afloat! It took almost a hundred years of constant struggle and toil before Grandmaster Leudegran could reflect with ease on their accomplishments. The three successor chapters had established on their own home worlds and were now operating independently. The Dark Angels had initiated recruitment from the Plains World successfully and the hardy tribal warriors had proved to be excellent candidates. The initial recruitment force had been made up of squads of Deathwing as the state of the world was unknown. Having found it to be free of the taint of chaos, they were surprised to find the local folklore describe a mythical bird called the "Wings of Death" or "Deathwing" Thus was born the tradition that Deathwing would visit the planet every hundred years for fresh recruits. In the meantime the fortress monastery had been transformed in to a veritable star fortress. Bristling with defensive and offensive weapons and massive hangar bays it could easily accommodate the entire chapter with room to spare. The greatest accomplishments of the techmarines and adepts was the fitting of massive warp drives and void and psychic shields which would enable a ponderous but definite travel through warp space. This gargantuan achievement was sadly only achieved nearly a thousand years after the heroic death of the first grandmaster of the Dark Angels Chapter, Leudegran who had hence been known as Galadriel. As to how this massive warp technology came in to the hands of the dark Angels is still debated within the deepest sanctums of the adeptus mechanicus. Some ascribe this achievement to the involvement of the alien elder race. Others note whispered rumours of mystical beings resident within the deepest caverns of the rock fortress. Yet more tell of Dark Angel expeditions to apparently lifeless worlds. Whatever the source of such technology, the Dark Angels share it with none. For nearly four thousand years following the heresy the Dark Angels continues their duty to the emperor and the Lion from the stationary rock fortress, hanging in space where their home planet had been. The fine dust cloud still hung undisturbed as a testament to its passing. The chapter had deployed using their battle barges and strike cruisers where ever an imperial request was made. Their combat achievement reflected the tactical genius of their primarch. The stubbornness in adversity became legendary. It was in the thirty-sixth millennium that an incident occurred which would transform the chapter once again. A group of thirty Deathwing terminators embarked on their ritual, once in a hundred year journey to their home planet. As these descendants of the plains world arrived they found death and devastation. The planet had been overrun by a genestealer cult. Outnumbered, but loath to loose another home planet, the commander of the detachment Master Ezekiel led the Deathwing towards the cult city. Brother Lucian, formerly known as Two-Heads-Talking, shaman of the plains world and honoured Dark Angel Librarian, had already entered the city in disguise. There, having slain the genestealer magus he was captured by the cult. Although mortally wounded, the librarian managed to lock psyche with the patriarch and kill him in his own death throes. The actions of the Deathwing detachment rescued the people of the plains world and retained the world as a continued source of recruits for the chapter. The great battle in the city of iron passed in to Dark Angel history and legend. The five surviving terminators took on roles as chieftains for their tribes and led the people back to their old way of life. The strategic weakness of not garrisoning their only recruitment base became apparent. A second conclave of the inner circle was gathered nearly five thousand years after the first one and the momentous decision taken to become a mobile chapter. Recruitment would be from many potential worlds that the Dark Angels would station recruitment chapels. The Fortress Monastery itself would begin to flex its awesome muscle and commence its first warp journey. They would remain in a particular system for a few hundred years until recruitment was complete and then journey on to the next. Thus the fortress monastery now became a mobile gargantuan battle barge, taking the chapter where they were most needed. THE END |
CHAPTER VI ANGELS REBORN Chronicled By ( Shadow Guard ) |
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! |
