Darkshroud - History: Of all the archaic relics deployed on the field of battle by the Unforgiven, the Darkshroud is perhaps the most unusual. The Darkshroud is a powerful icon of the Chapter and the Dark Angels will protect it with their lives. This archeotech vehicle consists of a Land Speeder Vengeance mounted with an ancient stone statue known as a Stone Guardian, an Icon of Old Caliban, or one of the Ten Brothers of The Order. Ten such idols currently exist within the Chapter's Armoury. These statues were some of the few barren remnants found amongst the ruins of the Tower of Angels following the destruction of Caliban at the end of the Horus Heresy and they were exposed to powerful Warp energies during the catastrophe that tore that world apart.How such a device came to be is a tale that began when the planet of Caliban was engulfed and split asunder by a Warp Storm. Yet not all was destroyed, as the fortress-monastery of the Dark Angels, and much of the bedrock upon which it stood was protected by an ancient force field of prodigious strength. The collision of that storm with the indestructible force field, however, had many repercussions. Some contaminant leaked within the shield's perimeter, and the atmosphere within the domed field that surrounds The Rock is, to this day, still crowned with chain lightnings, and darksome squalls.Early in that catastrophic tumult, the Tower of Angels -- the proud citadel that topped the largest fortress-monastery of The Order and subsequently the Dark Angels -- had fallen in ruin. Although the Dark Angels would take the barren remnants of their homeworld as a base, they have never attempted to rebuild that wreckage above. Standing proud amongst the desolate rubble were some elements of their old fortress citadel that withstood the collision of unstoppable force with impenetrable shield. Amidst the debris there stood statues -- carved figures from a past age. Those stone eyes had seen the tragedy that had befallen the Emperor's I Legion, and they now glowed with mysterious power, imbued with the energies released on that fateful day.The Stone Guardians, or Ten Brothers of The Order, as they were known, were taken into The Rock and locked in stasis in the Reclusiam for years. It was not until the desperation of the Vendetta Campaign that the Dark Angels at last felt compelled to unleash their arcane power upon the battlefield. Each statue was mounted upon the chassis of a Land Speeder Vengeance, with great cables siphoning off its esoteric energy and amplifying it, and a power field of unknown quality rippled outwards from these ominous relics and absorbed most forms of electromagnetic energy.In battle, the Darkshroud is used in support of the elite 2nd Company, the Ravenwing, as its otherworldly veil serves to partially obscure and protect the company's Assault Bikes and other light vehicles as they streak towards the foe. Even the blazing beam of a Lascannon can be swallowed within the Darkshroud's gloaming field of eldritch power, dissipating harmlessly while the Ravenwing speed onwards. With a Darkshroud as a foreboding escort, units of Ravenwing Black Knights and a Ravenwing Attack Squadron can rev their engines and hurtle straight into an enemy gun line with impunity, protected from the foe's firepower as if by the Emperor's own blessing.