Dark Angels

> Since the founding of their Legion, the Space Marines of the Dark Angels have been dreaded by their enemies and held in awe by those they protect. Stubborn and relentless in battle, ever vigilant and zealous in their pursuit of their duties, the Dark Angels are a deadly force. Yet, it was not always so. For ten millennia after they split off from the imperium, the Dark Angels have harboured a sinister secret, an act so terrible and shameful it threatens everything the Dark Angels hold most dear – and may yet bring them eternal damnation.
>
> Inquisitor Bastalek Grim

## Dark Angels

Dark Angels armorial with Legion iconography.

Dark Angels Tactical Stormwing Legionary Asterion Mhansen, part of the Dark Angels 23rd Chapter, Post-Shattering.

## Space Marine Legion

### Battle Cry

"Repent! For tomorrow you die!" or "We are the Lion's Angels, and we know no fear!" or "For the Lion!"

### Successors of

The First
 Angels of Death
 The Uncrowned Princes (Archaic)

### Observed Strategic Tendancies

Combined Arms and Multi-Spectra Warfare, Exterminatus and Purgation Campaigns, Extended Independent Void Operations, Extensive use of Plasma During Battles

### Alliegence

Independent: Caliban Protectorate
 (*Socius Solicitus*)

### Colors

Black and White (Pre-Shattering)
Dark Forest Green and White (Post-Shattering, Pre-Helstar)
Black, Red, Bone-white (Current Colors)

The **Dark Angels** are among the most powerful and secretive of the Space Marine Legions. They were the 1st Legion of the original 33 Space Marine Legions to be created during the First Founding of the 30th Millennium. Though independent from both the Imperium, 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 committed over 10,000 standard years ago against the trust of the Emperor during the time of 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 if revealed, they would be marked as heretics and traitors.

## Origins

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 granted to them by the genetic lineage of the first Primarch, these 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

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

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.

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."

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, angered and horrified at eleven legions falling to the unholy power 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 terrorizing power of the Night Lords led by Konrad Curze, and the secretive and insidious Alpha Legion, led by Omegon's twin brother, Alpharius. Unable to navigate the warp storm that isolated them, the Dark Angels, along with the nearby Iron Templars, Pale Hounds, Dawn Lords, and Twilight Repentors 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 five Space Marine Legions 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 and the four other legions 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 Alpha Legion, Night Lords, and Word Bearers forces had made their way to Terra to kill the emperor.

When the combined fleets of the five Legions made their way out of the warp, the fleets of the Thousand Sons, Omega Legion, Iron Hands, Sons of Horus, Imperial Fists, Iron Warriors, and Thunder Heralds were being bombarded by the combined corrupted fleets of the Salamanders, Sky Serpents, White Scars, Night Lords, Chimera Legion, and Forlorn Stars. Seeing that their combined fleets were outnumbered and outgunned by the traitor fleet, the five legions decided to attack some of the traitor legions' homeworlds in order to draw them away, with Chogoris, Nocturne, Nostromo, Lycia, Azteka, and Skandra being targeted. 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, Lorgar turned off the shields of his flagship, the *Fidelitas Lex,* hoping that the Emperor would be drawn in to fight him so that if he triumphed over him, he would take the throne as the new Emperor. And sure it did as the Emperor, along with his sons Rogal Dorn, 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 Dorn 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, along with the Iron Templars, Pale Hounds, Dawn Lords, and Twilight Repentors 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 nowhere to be seen.

The combined fleet of the five legions 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 five Legions that were there knows that it occurred. Within the Legion itself, only the elite veterans and leadership are permitted this knowledge.

### Caliban Ascendant

Years after the Great Schism, the Dark Angels realized, after seeing ten of the twenty-two loyalist legions create their own empires in what became known as the Fracturing, that it was time for them to strike out on their own as both a form of penitence and self-imposed exile, and as a form of punishment for their own secret sin. After a formal letter of secession was accepted by the High Lords of Terra, the Dark Angels broke away an area of space centered around Caliban and started to fortify it, turning it into a miniature intersystem empire of their own, creating the Caliban Protectorate.

In the protectorate, the Dark Angels would serve as both their Empire's Defenders and its leaders, with the Supreme Grand Master serving as Regent and Lord of Caliban, and guided by the Council of The Round Table, a council consisting of its wisest and most experienced warriors. They, along with the four other legions they fought alongside with during the Shattering and the Great Schism, would also watch over the Eye Of Terror, being the first line of defense against the chaos incursions led by either Erebus or Kor Phaeron with the Iron Cage Worlds of the Iron Warriors Legion acting as the second line of defense. The Dark Angels, now independent, but still loyal to the Imperium, swore to return to its fold in its greatest time of need just before their fleets departed for Caliban.

## Legion Organization

### Hierarchy and Structure

Back in the days of the Great Crusade and The Shattering, the Dark Angels were composed of Twelve Orders led by Paladin-Captains that contained Ten Thousand Legionnaires each. Each Order is a Self-Contained Army with its own Fleet, Vehicles, Troops and Equipment. These Orders were further split into two Grand Companies of five thousand legionnaires, led by Paladins, which in turn are split into five chapters of a thousand Space Marines each, which were led by Chapter Masters, which in turn are split into ten companies of a hundred legionnaires each, led by Captains. After The Shattering and beyond, the Dark Angels are now Composed of Twenty Orders of Ten Thousand Legionnaires each.

### The Hexagrammaton

*Main Article: The Hexagrammaton*

Lion El'Jonson introduced to the 1st Legion of the Space Marines the organizational structure he had learned from The Order on Caliban. The Lion's tenets of loyalty, discipline, and self-efficiency were incorporated into everything the Legion did. As they 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 nigh unstoppable once roused.

Under the Lion's supervision, the 1st Legion was organised into specialized 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 combined of the Terran pre-*Principia Belicosa* approach and organization of the proscribed formations of the early Legiones Astartes and Caliban's knightly orders. Before the creation of the first Space Marine Legions, the Legion was organized into a formation known as the "Six Hosts", with each Host having its own specialization. Following The First's reunification with their Primarch, the Lion incorporated the traditions of the Six Hosts and The Order, thus, the Six Wings were created.

Members of the Six Wings were distributed amongst chapters, companies, and squads, 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 Wing commander and counsel to their Primarch. Voted-Lieutenants were elected by their peers. 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 used by the Dark Angels Legion are the following:

* **Deathwing**
* **Dreadwing**
* **Firewing**
* **Ironwing**
* **Stormwing**
* **Ravenwing**

#### Deathwing

    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

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

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

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

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

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. The Storming specialized in spaceborne boarding operations.

### 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-Captains, the Chief Librarian, the Grand Master of Chaplains, the Master Interrogator-Chaplain, 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 Black Siresses, the Inner Circle serves as the guiding hand of the Dark Angels Legion during its battles and search for the fallen angels.

### Specialist Formations

*Main Article: Dark Angels-Specific Infantry Formations*

* **Deathwing Inner Circle Knights Cenobium** - The Dark Angels Legion plays host to a multitude of ciphered orders, Chambers Militant concealed within the panoply of the Legion and dedicated to the preservation and perfection of a singular doctrine of war. Wthin each of these orders, the most dedicated warrior-adepts from the Deathwing were charged and granted the right to bear the cipher and charge of the order, to fight in the forefront of those battles that required the hard-won skills harboured within each of these secretive cells.

* **Deathwing Companion Detachment** - The finest warriors and longest-serving Veterans among the Deathwing formed the ranks of the Companions, 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.

* **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** - The Forge-wrights are a unique brotherhood within the Dark Angels Legion's Ironwing that serve as a parallel and independent reservoir of machine lore offered by the Legion's Techmarines. 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.

* **Stormwing Malakim** - The Malakim is the First Legion's equivalent of the standard Assault Marine used by the Legiones Astartes. Usually fitted with specially-modified Jump Packs, the Malakim descend onto their enemies like fallen angels, picking them off before ascending to regroup, causing chaos to be sown among the enemy ranks with every strike. They are usually armed with chainswords and bolt pistols, but some of these dreaded assault marines can trade in their bolt pistols with flamers or plasma pistols, or trade in their chainswords for eviscerators. While an overwhelming majority of the Malakim descend from the sky, the rest of them ride into battle on Rhino and Razorback APCs.

### Legion-Specific Vehicles

*Main Article: Dark Angels-Specific Vehicles*

* **Land Raider Ares** - The Land Raider Ares was first created by the Dark Angels during the events of the Siege of Murus when it was discovered by a Dark Angels strike force of the 10th Order that some of the Fallen had taken control of the local PDF force. The Dark Angels strike force found that their Vindicator siege tanks could not withstand the great cannons of the city, and so the strike force's Techmarines created a Land Raider that could mount the Vindicator's powerful Demolisher Cannon to help break the walls down. This Land Raider variant is in use by both the hosts of the Ironwing and the Dreadwing.

* **Gryphon Pattern Jetbike** - The Gryphon Pattern Jetbike is the famed untiring and unyielding steed of the Ravenwing Black Knights, the elite fallen hunters that lead the squadrons of combat bikes and jetbikes that form much of the host of the Ravenwing. Armed with dual side-mounted heavy bolters and a plasma cannon, the Gryphon is an armored and deadly meteor of metal streaking towards its prey, whether in the open field or in dense forestation. Many a fallen angel has fallen victim to both the firepower and the speed of these ancient weapons of war used by the First Legion.

* **Apollyon-Pattern Leviathan Siege Dreadnought** - This variant of the Leviathan Siege Dreadnought is a deadly siege weapon used during both the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, as it is armed with weapons that hailed from the Dark Age of Technology. The Dark Angels, however, decided to take it a step further by stabilizing it, increasing the amount of armor on it has, and equipping it with two deadly weapons: the powerful Excalibur-Pattern Plasma Gatling Cannon and the Claymore-Pattern Volkite Culverin. As a result of this, the resulting Dreadnought that was created by the Dark Angels' Techmarines has become an instrument of destruction that is still in use by the Dreadwing.

### 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 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.

## Combat Doctrine

As the I Legion, the Dark Angels are originally 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 Legions were formed, and the Great Crusade standardised 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, Dark Angels officers are expert tacticians and specialists. Exclusive formations have been developed alongside ancient patterns such as the **Steel Hammer, Caliban's Hand, Scourge of Caliban,** and the **Dagger Strike**. The **Beastslayer Heavy Armored Assault** is but one example, which combines the firepower of Dreadwing Armor, and Dreadnoughts with Ironwing Dreadnoughts, Artillery, Armor and Stormwing Tactical Squads, Centurions, and Devastator Squads to devastating effect. The advanced infiltration and reconnaissance skills all Dark Angels learn as part of their scout training is of great value to a legion seeking hidden foes. Firewing Scout Marines and Enigmatii severely disrupt enemy communications, allowing the Ravenwing and the Stormwing Malakim, who are the first to arrive, to strike without their quarry being warned.

In addition, the Dark Angels are known to field a disproportionate amount of Plasma Weaponry. During the Great Crusade, the Dark Angels were known for their strategic flexibility thanks to the Hexagrammaton as well as vaults of forbidden weaponry left over from the Dark Age of Technology. They also sported perhaps one of the largest fleets of the thirty-three Space Marine Legions including highly advanced relic capital ships including multiple Gloriana Class Battleships. The demands of the Crusade combined with the Legion's own strategic flexibility saw it deployed over a wide swathe of the Galaxy over a single warzone, and thus they maintained few in the way of major strongholds.

The most brutal and dangerous of missions, from fortress storming to boarding enemy warships, are spearheaded by the veteran brothers and sisters of the Deathwing who wear black and bone white Terminator Armor, and nothing can stand against their implacable advance.

## Recruitment and Homeworld

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 warped by the proximity of Chaos in the Eye of Terror. The humans of the planet are a proud, martial people, 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 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 is accepted into the Legion as a Space Marine his 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 honour of those few Terminators, their armour 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.

## Fallen Angels

> You stand before this brotherhood and the legion as a Renegade and a Traitor. Your actions have brought shame on the primarch and the Legion. Your suffering shall be but a beginning to your penance and your screams shall be the harbinger of your contrition.
>
> Interrogator-Chaplain Raphael to the Veilweaver, a Fallen Angel

**The Fallen** are renegade Space Marines that split off from the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion ten thousand years ago and has since been scattered across space and time by a Warp Storm. They are the Legion's secret enemy and its biggest enemy. To those Fallen that dwell within the 41st Millennium, many have become enthralled to the ruinous powers and have become Chaos Space Marines, while others became pirates and renegade warlords, while some have since regretted their heresy and live a life of peaceful seclusion.

## 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 Ultramarines, Black Templars and Iron Warriors have spawned larger legions, with an interesting quirk of the Dark Angels' geneseed, that being its compatibility with even female neophytes, coming into effect during the legion's rebuilding in the aftermath of the Great Schism. 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 and messed up due to warp influence. However, despite their purity, 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 Dark Angels are also notoriously intolerant of non-humans, given that they believe it is the duty of the sons of 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 to the chapter 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.

## Legion Beliefs

Like most First Founding Legions, the Dark Angels venerate their primarch as much as they do the Emperor, who they venerate as the founder of the Imperium and as their creator. To the Dark Angels, the Emperor is a man, perhaps the greatest and most perfect of men, but not a god. The driving force of the Legion is the hunting of the Fallen Angels who were swept into the Warp vortex that nearly destroyed Caliban. The Dark Angels believe with iron conviction that only by hunting down, capturing and forcing each and every one of the Fallen Angels to repent their crime 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 by a Dark Angel, an Iron Templar, a Pale Hound, a Dawn Lord, or a Twilight Repentor, he is taken back 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)*

* **Lion El'Jonson** **-** Primarch of the Dark Angels.
* **Luther -** First Legion Master of the Dark Angels and Arch-Betrayer of the Legion. Current leader of the Fallen Angels.
* **Cypher -**
* **Astelan -** Former Chapter Master of the Dark Angels. Now current member of the Fallen Angels.
* **Haradin -** Paladin-Captain of the 3rd Order.
* **Corswain -** Paladin-Captain of the 9th Order and Seneschal (First Captain) of the Dark Angels.
* **Holguin -**
* **Farith Redloss -**
* **Titus -**
* **Aloceri -**

### Post-Shattering

*Main Article: Notable Dark Angels (Post-Shattering)*

* **Supreme Grand Master Ezekiel Helstar -** Current Legion Master of the Dark Angels.
* **Supreme Grand Master Azrael -** Ezekiel's predecessor.
* **Supreme Grand Master Naberius -** Azrael's predecessor.
* **Supreme Grand Master Astaroth -** Naberius's predecessor.
* **Supreme Grand Master Faust -** Astaroth's predecessor.
* **Master Interrogator-Chaplain Asmodai -** Current Master Interrogator-Chaplain.
* **Interrogator-Chaplain Hoshi**
* **Paladin-Captain Metatron -** Current 1st Captain and current Grand Master of the 1st Order.
* **Paladin-Captain Cassiel -** Current Grand Master of the 2nd Order.
* **Paladin-Captain Leoric -** Current Grand Master of the 3rd Order.

#### Deathwing

* **Deathwing Grand Master Belial -** Current Grand Master of the Deathwing 1st Companies.
* **Deathwing Grand Master Gabriel -** Belial's predecessor.
* **Deathwing Captain Hinata -** Current Captain of the 16th Chapter's Deathwing.

#### Ravenwing

* **Ravenwing Grand Master Sammael -** Current Grand Master of the Ravenwing 2nd Companies.
* **Ravenwing Captain Tsurugi -** Current Captain of the 16th Chapter's Ravenwing.
* **Ravenwing Champion Owada -** Current Company Champion of the 16th Chapter's Ravenwing.

#### Dreadwing

* **Dreadwing Grand Master Gowther -** Current Dreadwing Grand Master.
* **Dreadbringer Ketchum -** Current Dreadbringer of the 16th Chapter.

#### Firewing

* **Firewing Grand Master Asmodeus -** Current Firewing Grand Master.

#### Ironwing

* **Ironwing Grand Master Crowsler -** Current Ironwing Grand Master.
* **Ironwing Forge-Wright Fujisaki -** Current Senior Forge-Wright of the 16th Chapter.

#### Stormwing

* **Stormwing Grand Master Sigmund -** Current Stormwing Grand Master.
* **Stormwing Captain Naegi -** Current Chapter Master of the 16th Chapter.
* **Stormwing Captain Link -** Current Chapter Master of the 33rd Chapter.
* **Stormwing Lieutenant Komaeda -** Current 1st Chapter Captain of the 16th Chapter.

### Fallen Angels

* **Luther (Leader of the Fallen)**
* **Cypher (Lord of the Fallen)**
* **The Veilweaver -**

## Legion Fleet

    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)** - Strike cruiser under command of Captain Alcuis, deployed as part of a joint taskforce of Ultramarines and Dark Angels during the days of the Imperium Secundus. The *Watcher* and her crew valiantly sacrificed their lives during the reconquest of Sotha to allow the Ultramarines to land ground forces.
* ***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 Fall of Prospero. 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)** - The *Herald of Night* was a Strike Cruiser in the Dark Angels Chapter when the Ork forces of The Beast invaded the Imperium during the War of the Beast in the 32nd Millennium. It was later commanded by Master Adnachiel, when he took part in the Dark Angels' battle against the Orks after they invaded the asteroid field known as Astorias Cloud. However, the cruiser was later ordered to disengage from the battle by Grand Master Sachael after the Dark Angels received word that their aid was requested for a strikeforce raised to attack the world Ullanor, the origin point of The Beast's invasion force.
* ***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

* **Iron Templars:** As the second of the Space Marine Legions to be created, the Iron Templars and Dark Angels have maintained a strong relationship with each other, as the Lion was there when Tyui, and by extension, the legion's primarch, Alicia Greynight, was discovered, and they since have been spotted helping the Dark Angels capture the fallen, as they were there when the Great Schism occured.
* **Pale Hounds:** The Pale Hounds are one of the Deadliest Allies that the Dark Angels have, as their alliance truly blossomed during the Great Harrowing led by High Marshal Ezekyle Abaddon, the new Legion Master of the recently reformed Black Templars. Even during and after the Fracturing, the two Legions maintain relations with each other due to their bond and have been spotted pursuing fallen angels.
* **Dawn Lords:** The Dawn Lords and Dark Angels' alliance can be traced back to the discovery of Tlatia during the midst of the Great Crusade, as she was the next primarch that was discovered after the Lion. The two legions have since fought alongside each other during both the Shattering and even after the formation of the Caliban Protectorate, and they even have assisted the Dark Angels in the capture of Several Fallen.
* **Twilight Repentors:** Artemis Prima's and Lion El'Jonson's friendship was one of the things that defined both them and their legions. This friendship would be important during the shattering, in which both of them fought alongside each other until the Lion's disappearance during the great schism. After this, the Repentors have helped the Dark Angels in their hunt for the Fallen that betrayed them.

### Strained

* **Space Wolves:** The Space Wolves and the Dark Angels have a strained relationship with each other that started with the Dulan Campaign during the Great Crusade, in which the primarch of the Space Wolves, Leman Russ, fought the Lion in a duel that would resound throughout history. After this, it is not uncommon for the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels to nominate champions to represent their legions in Honor Duels.

### Enemies

* **Fallen Angels:** The Fallen Angels are the biggest enemy of the Dark Angels due to their act of betrayal during the Great Harrowing that would see the disappearance of their primarch, Lion El'Jonson. This would result in the rank of Interrogator-Chaplain being created in order to make those of the Fallen Angels that are taken into custody repent of their sins in front of the Legion's Leadership.
* **Night Lords****:** The Night Lords and Dark Angels hatred of each other goes back to the Battle of the Storm in which the Dark Angels were attacked by the Night Lords in the midst of an extremely powerful warp storm. During the battle of the Zepath system, the Lion and the corrupted and insane Konrad Curze would duel each other before the Latter retreated into the Eye of Terror.
* **Alpha Legion:** Another traitor legion that the Dark Angels despise is the insidious Alpha Legion, led by the enigmatic Alpharius. Their hatred for the sons of the hydra started during the Battle of the Storm, in which they revealed their treachery to the galaxy. Due to this, the Dark Angels are known to torture captured Alpha Legion marines in their dungeons in order to find the whereabouts of the Daemon Primarch Alpharius.

## Legion Appearance

### Legion Colors

The Dark Angels primarily wear black battle-plate with silver 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, they were authorized to wear the personal heraldry of their respective knightly orders. 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 wears either dark green armor or black armor with White Chestplates as an homage to the Original Colors of the Legion, with the exception of the elite Deathwing, who instead wear bone-white, in solemn remembrance of the group of deathwing terminators that saved Plain's World, a Dark Angels Recruitment World, and the Ravenwing, who wear the Original Black of the Dark Angels.

Veteran Dark Angels are commonly found wearing hooded cloaks and tabards; this symbolises 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, the ancient icon of The Order that preceded and was integrated into it. Variants of this symbol exist for the Deathwing, Ravenwing, Dreadwing, Ironwing, Firewing, and Stormwing formations of the legion.

## Notable Quotes

### By the Dark Angels

> "In Warfare, preparation is the key. Determine that which your foe prizes the most. Then site your heavy weapons so that they overlook it. In this way, you may be quite sure that you shall never want for targets."
>
> Lion El'Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels

> "Every legion that the Emperor has created had a singular purpose. For example, the Space Wolves, they were the executioners. The Iron Warriors were the wall breakers. The Imperial Fists were the wall builders. As for our legion, we were not only the legion from which these three other legions were based off on, but we are death, the destroyers of worlds. We were the exterminators."
>
> Supreme Grand Master Ezekiel Helstar

> "I don't like the Sons of Russ. They are uncouth and unclean. I'd rather be called a heretic and executed for heresy than serve alongside those savages."
>
> Stormwing Chapter Master Constantin on the Space Wolves

*Feel free to add your own*
### About the Dark Angels

> "It's no surprise that the Dark Angels are known as the Emperor's exterminators. They have the weapons, the ships, and the ability to destroy entire systems with one blow. I've overseen the destruction of entire worlds as a Worldender and a daughter of Tyui, but the Dark Angels take this to a whole other level."
>
> Marshal Ruby Rose of the Iron Templars

> "The Angels of Caliban are like the heroic knights of ancient Terran myth. I cannot unsee the difference between them, the stories that my parents used to tell me in my youth, and the stories of old terra that I serve as a daughter of Tlatia."
>
> Captain Sonia Nevermind of the Dawn Lords

> "I've fought alongside the sons of Caliban before. They are the living, walking, definition of the words knight and chivalry. Both of our legions are similar as well, as we've both overseen many Exterminatus actions in our history."
>
> Pack Leader Kaede Akamatsu of the Pale Hounds

*Feel free to add your own*
## Gallery (Dark Angels)

Dark Angels Praetor sister Akailua Madun of the 1st Order.Pre-Heresy Dark Angels Deathwing Terminator Elaezar Zekhahil of the 1st Order's Deathwing.Modern Dark Angels Deathwing Terminator sister Takizawa Maeda of the 5th Order clad in Relic Cataphractii Terminator Armor.Modern Dark Angels Deathwing Companion Elijah Escani of the 2nd Order.Modern Dark Angels Deathwing Companion Sister Seraphina of the 3rd Order.Pre-Heresy Dark Angels Dreadwing Naufragia Terminator Kordahel Cygnus.Modern Dark Angels Leviathan Seige Dreadnought Brother Gideon of the 15th Order.Modern Dark Angels Dreadwing Interemptor Marine Kohath Alisimm of the 3rd Order.Dark Angels Dreadwing Devastator Marine Amarne Joakim of the 18th Order.Dark Angels Ironwing Terminator Cassian Mordred of the 1st Order clad in Relic Cataphractii Terminator Armor.Modern Firewing Enigmatti Yasatushi Kaichi of the 4th Order.Dark Angels Stormwing Executioner Zadakiel of the 1st Order.Pre-Heresy Dark Angels Stormwing Marine Heinsel Aldaran of the 12th Order.Modern Dark Angels Stormwing Tactical Legionary sister Kasai Akimoto of the Dark Angels 1st Order.Modern Dark Angels Stormwing Tactical Legionary Arthur Keldebe of the Dark Angels 3rd Order.Modern Dark Angels Stormwing Breacher Alaric Mezzin.Modern Dark Angels Stormwing Malakim Assault Marine sister Maka Kanade of the Dark Angels 13th Order.
## Gallery (Fallen Angels)

Deathwing Fallen Angel Asmodeus Molech of the Broken Angels Warband.Deathwing Fallen Angel Gadriel Armarn of the Angels of Hatred Warband.Fallen Angel Zabidi Escan of the Pox Knights warband. Follower of Nurgle.An Unknown Chaos-Tainted Fallen Angel of the Twilight Chamber Warband.Fallen Angel Armon Hassim of the Veil Walkers Warband.Fallen Angel Loew of the Sons of Mordred Warband. Follower of Tzeentch.Fallen Angel Alaric of the Angels of Hatred. Follower of Tzeentch.Stormwing Fallen Angel Ephraim Augustine of the Twilight Chamber Warband.