vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Death Company - An Angel Falls: During the height of the galaxy-spanning rebellion known as the Horus Heresy, the epic climatic battle took place during the Battle of Terra in the early 31st Millennium between the Forces of Chaos, led by the Warmaster Horus, and the Loyalist armies of the Imperium of Man led by the Emperor of Mankind Himself.Many Legions claimed absolute loyalty and reverence for their Primarch fathers, but few were as fervent in their adoration as the Blood Angels, and none had their master stolen from them in such a way -- even the Iron Hands, who had lost their lord to the daemon-claimed Fulgrim, knew nothing of the pain felt by the IX Legion when Sanguinius faced the Archtraitor Horus alone aboard his flagship Vengeful Spirit, and fell to the Warmaster's unholy Talon.With the slaughter of their gene-sire by the very vessel of the Ruinous Powers, the Blood Angels Legionaries suffered a psychic backlash that wracked their very souls, burning an irreversible mark throughout their genetic coding.When the dust settled in the decades after the Siege of Terra, the mighty Space Marine Legions were broken into 1,000-Astartes Chapters and granted autonomy from Imperial authority. Among the Blood Angels and their new Successors, it became increasingly apparent that their Primarch's death had left a last imprint that no Chaplain could have predicted, and no Sanguinary Priest could cure.Opposing the Red Thirst -- that bloodlust that beats in the heart of every Son of Sanguinius -- their new curse was a more solemn and spiritual malady. The condition goes by several names, including the Fate, the Primarch's Curse, and the Chaplain's Vigil. But most Blood Angels know it by a bleaker title, spoken in whispers on the eve before a battle.They call it the Black Rage.
Death Company - Power Armour: The armour of the Death Company is predominantly a sombre black, with details picked out in red -- the reverse of the standard Blood Angels Chapter Colours. All Blood Angels Successor Chapters that maintain a Death Company, with the exception of the Templars of Blood, use the same black colours as their progenitor Chapter, save for the Angels Encarmine, whose Death Company and Sanguinary Guard are both an alabaster white, with black shoulder trim and backpack.The origins of using the colour black traces back to the latter days of the Great Crusade. When the Red Thirst first began to manifest itself amongst a handful of Blood Angels Legionaries, they would quickly be dealt with -- honoured for their service and then summarily executed, either by the Primarch himself, or Azkaellon, the commander of the IX Legion's Sanguinary Guard.The slain Battle-Brother would then be laid in honourable repose as a slab of inkstone from the night deserts of Baal Primus was passed over the dead warrior's armour, blotting out the crimson colour with a layer of glistening, smoky black.The manner of the Battle-Brother's death would be forever lost to the Legion's chronicles, the existence of the growing Flaw within the Blood Angels' genetic structure kept secret. The fallen warrior would finally be able to find peace, resting in the company of death.All the various Death Companies of the Blood Angels and their Successors have blood-red saltires painted on portions of their battle-plate, to symbolise the wounds of their beloved Primarch Sanguinius after he was slain by Horus during the climax of the Horus Heresy at the Battle of Terra.
Death Company - Chapter Symbol: Like other Blood Angels the Death Company usually wear their Chapter symbol on their left shoulder plate. In keeping with their inverted colours, this is displayed in white.
Death Company - Saltires: Saltires, the red crosses, represent the death wounds of the Primarch Sanguinius. Saltires are often placed on shoulder and knee plates but can also be found on other parts of the armour.
Death Company - Blood Drops: The blood drop remains a potent symbol for the Death Company. These symbols and tokens are often trimmed in gold and painted a deeper red to make them stand out.
Death Company - Parchment and Purity Seals: The Purity Seals and parchment record the deeds of the Battle-Brother so they are not forgotten when he joins the Death Company.
Death Company - Weapons: Unlike normal Blood Angels, the weapons of the Death Company Astartes are painted red instead of black -- this gives them a stronger contrast against their black armour.
Death Company - Sources: Black Crusade: Angel's Blade (7th Edition)Blood Angels Painting Guide - Sons of Sanguinius, pp. 36-49Codex: Adeptus Astartes Blood Angels (7th Edition), pp. 37-40, 75-78, 100-101, 108-109, 125-128, 133-134Codex: Blood Angels (5th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 33, 55-56, 121, 127-129, 131-133, 135, 255, 320, 322, 324, 326, 328, 330, 332, 334, 336, 338, 352, 360, 366, 415, 470-472Codex: Blood Angels (4th Edition), pp. 8-9, 12, 15, 18Codex: Blood Angels (3rd Edition), pp. 6, 10, 13, 19, 21Codex: Angels of Death (2nd Edition), pp. 21, 29, 49, 55, 86Deathwatch: The Achilus Assault, pg. 54Index Astartes - Death Company (Digital Edition), pp. 2, 4-8, 9-12Shield of Baal - Exterminatus (7th Edition), pp. 187, 233-236, 238-247Fear to Tread (Novel) by James SwallowAt Gaius Point (Short Story) by Aaron Dembski-BowdenTorturer's Thirst (Novella) by Andy SmillieAngels of Death - The Fury (Short Story) by James SwallowAdvent Day Nine - Astorath The Grim: Redeemer of the Lost (Short Story)Advent Day Sixteen - Gabriel Seth: The Flesh Tearer (Short Story)The Devastation of Baal (Novel) by Guy Haley, pp. 380-384, 385, 425-435, 440-443, 493-496, 497
Death Company Chaplain - Death Company Chaplain: A Death Company Chaplain is a specialty officer rank unique to the Blood Angels Chapter and their Successor Chapters. Charged with leading a Death Company into battle, they soar into battle on crimson wings, the Death Company Chaplain leading his fallen brothers afflicted by the genetic Flaw known as the Black Rage in their final battle. As he smashes the enemy from their feet with devastating swings of his Crozius Arcanum, the Death Company Chaplain booms a constant litany of hatred and vengeance, exhorting his brothers to give meaning to their sacrifice before their tragic and inevitable end.Simple zealotry is not enough to recommend a Blood Angels Chaplain for elevation to the rank of Death Company Chaplain. Rage and hatred are useful tools, but they are nothing without control. The role of the Death Company Chaplain is much more complex, and more sacred, than simply inciting his brothers to new heights of wrath in battle. This deeply spiritual warrior acts as the light of the Angel himself, a guiding illumination that those brothers lost to the Black Rage can follow into glory and death. He is a beacon of sanity, the eye of a bloody storm, and the last sight that many of his luckless foes will set eyes upon before their savage demise.
Death Company Chaplain - Notable Death Company Chaplains: Daenor - Chaplain Daenor has battled his way through some of the most horrific battles in the Blood Angels' history. Never once has his composure failed him. Never once has he succumbed to the Flaw, and this alone is enough to have seen him elevated to the rank of Death Company Chaplain. No matter how dire the circumstances or dread the foe, Daenor's icy composure never cracks. Moreover, his deep spirituality and natural leadership qualities do much to steady the warriors around him. He is a light in the darkness, a beacon of hope and fortitude amongst the smoke-wreathed hell of the battlefield, and even the most lost of his brothers follow his lead without question.Lemartes - Lemartes is a Space Marine Chaplain and the warden of the Blood Angels' infamous Death Company. Under his guidance, the Death Company has reached a new level of potency and lethality. Though Lemartes himself is afflicted by the accursed Black Rage, his formidable willpower has allowed him to remain in control of his actions, leaving him free to lead the Death Company in glorious charges that eclipse all the deeds of legend.
Death Company Chaplain - Wargear: Artificer ArmourJump PackCrozius ArcanumInferno PistolRosariusFrag GrenadesKrak Grenades
Death Company Chaplain - Sources: Black Crusade: Angel's Blade (7th Edition), pg. 105
Death Company Dreadnought - Death Company Dreadnought: A Death Company Dreadnought is a variant of the standard Imperial Dreadnought combat walker used by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. Dreadnoughts are cybernetic combat walkers that house the mortal remains of a fallen Space Marine hero so that he may continue fighting for the Emperor and his Chapter even after his body has been fatally crippled. Death Company Dreadnoughts are used exclusively by the Blood Angels Chapter and their many Successor Chapters.Death Company Dreadnoughts differ from standard Imperial Dreadnoughts in that their occupants are Astartes that are suffering from the Blood Angels' genetic flaw known as their Black Rage. The Black Rage is a genetic flaw that creates mental instability as a result of the psychic imprint left within the Blood Angels Legion's gene-seed by their Primarch Sanguinius' death.This flaw was first discovered during the Battle of Signus Prime when Sanguinius was struck down and delivered a terrible wound by the Bloodthirster Greater Daemon Ka'Bandha. The condition is largely irrecoverable and only a few Blood Angels have managed to defeat this so-called "gene curse".When a Space Marine is overcome by the Black Rage he is reborn into a world of constant anger, hatred and blind fury that cannot be contained and will lead to the slaughter of any who get in the enraged Astartes' way, whether they be friend or foe. As well as Sanguinius' memories, the Blood Angels and their kin are genetically gifted with a small portion of their Primarch's unearthly power, boosting their strength and vitality to superhuman levels.Rather than let them face a slow, insane death, the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters will form those Battle-Brothers who have newly succumbed to the Black Rage into a special unit of the Chapter known as the Death Company. The Dreadnoughts of these Chapters are not immune to the Black Rage, and a Dreadnought pilot that is consumed by the Black Rage can also join the ranks of its Chapter's Death Company. A Dreadnought under the influence of the Black Rage is nearly impossible to control or restrain, and as such he may rage out of control for solar days until the Chapter's Techmarines can rig a device to disable him.The Chapter's Sanguinary Priests can then judge whether or not the Dreadnought's Astartes occupant should be sedated until the next battle or relieved of his life so that another may take his place. If the occupant of the Dreadnought chassis is still sane enough to follow direction, he will be moved to the Chapter's Death Company, where his Dreadnought body will be able to withstand tremendous amounts of punishment and his unending rage will result in the deaths of many foes before his own destruction.Many Blood Angels Successor Chapters that make use of Death Company Dreadnoughts will deploy them into battle using Dreadnought Drop Pods that drop the war-machine right into the heart of the enemy's battle line, allowing the Dreadnought's unstoppable might to be used for maximum effect.
Death Company Dreadnought - Armament: Death Company Dreadnoughts are usually armed for close-range combat, where their unstoppable rage and heavily-armoured sarcophagus render them nearly invulnerable to enemy attack. These Dreadnoughts are deployed by their Chapter for assaults upon enemy positions that are deemed too dangerous for any Astartes save those who are under the influence of the Black Rage; as such, Death Company Dreadnoughts are almost always armed as a Furioso Dreadnought, with two Dreadnought Close Combat Weapons.Death Company Dreadnoughts are rarely ever armed with conventional long-range Dreadnought weaponry, as the Dreadnought would only use it until it is close enough to the enemy to engage in melee where these weapons are much less effective than dedicated close combat weaponry.Death Company Dreadnoughts are commonly armed with two Bloodfists, a variant of the Dreadnought Powerfist that is used exclusively by the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters. These weapons are outfitted with an under-slung Storm Bolter on one arm and an under-slung Meltagun on the other. The Dreadnought's Storm Bolter can also be switched out for a Heavy Flamer for greater close combat firepower. Both of the walker's Bloodfists can be replaced with a pair of Blood Talons.Blood Talons are a variant of the uncommon Dreadnought Lightning Claw used by several Astartes Chapters. Like Bloodfists, Blood Talons are used exclusively by the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters.Death Company Dreadnoughts are only able to be armed with a single, non-close-range weapon, the mighty Magna-Grapple. The Magna-Grapple is a weapon used exclusively by the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters, and can fire several yards of tempered adamantium chain attached to powerful magnetic and gravitic field generators. When fired at an enemy vehicle, the Magna-Grapple's chains form an unyielding bond with the enemy vehicle's hull, allowing the Dreadnought to pull the vehicle in closer to finish it off with its main close combat weapon.It is unknown if Chapters with Death Company Dreadnoughts arm them with any other weapons found only on their Furioso Dreadnoughts, such as the powerful close-range Frag Cannon. Death Company Dreadnoughts can also be equipped with a searchlight and smoke launchers.
Death Company Dreadnought - Known Death Company Dreadnoughts: Moriar the Chosen - Morleo Moriar, also known as Moriar the Chosen, is a former Captain of the Blood Angels' 4th Company. Moriar fell in combat on the fields of Clamorga, yet so great were his deeds that he was honoured by being entombed within the chassis of a Furioso Dreadnought. However, soon after being entombed within his new body, he experienced a vision of the Blood Angels' Primarch Sanguinius during the Horus Heresy and succumbed to the Black Rage. However, Moriar survived the insanity brought on by the Chapter's genetic curse and now fights alongside the Blood Angels as a Death Company Dreadnought known as Moriar the Chosen.
Death Company Dreadnought - Adeptus Mechanicus Technical Specifications: Death Company DreadnoughtVehicle Name:Death Company DreadnoughtMain Armament:2 Arm-mounted Dreadnought Close Combat WeaponForge World of Origin:BaalSecondary Armament:Built-In Weapons (varies)Known Patterns:UnknownTraverse:360 degreesCrew:1 PilotElevation:-90 to 90 degreesPowerplant:Thermic ReactorMain Ammunition:UnlimitedWeight:12 Tonnes (approx)Secondary Ammunition:Unknown (varies)Length:2.2 metresArmour:Width:3.4 metresHeight:3.7 metresSuperstructure:75 millimetresGround Clearance:N/AHull:75 millimetresMax Speed On-Road:10 kilometres per hour (approx)Gun Mantlet:N/AMax Speed Off-Road:5 kilometres per hour (approx)Vehicle Designation:UnknownTransport Capacity:N/AFiring Ports:N/AAccess Points:N/ATurret:N/A
Death Company Dreadnought - Also See: Codex: Blood Angels (5th Edition), pp. 29, 74, 89Warhammer 40,000: Apocalypse (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 165White Dwarf 330 (UK), "Blood Angels Official Codex: Part I", pg. 12
Death Cult - Death Cult: A "Death Cult" is a group within the Imperium that expresses their worship of the divine God-Emperor through the art and exploration of the granting of death. Such cults produce some of the finest assassins in the galaxy, which are sometimes employed even by the servants of the Emperor, such as the Inquisition, the Ecclesiarchy and Rogue Trader dynasties.Death and blood underpin Human existence. It is a common truism that only through continued blood-sacrifice in the face of a hostile universe will Mankind prevail, a sacrifice likened in the Imperial Creed to the bodily sacrifice of the Emperor Himself during the Siege of Terra.So it is in these beliefs that Death Cults flourish within the Imperium, a dark shadow of the more readily recognised sects of the Imperial Cult, making them some of the most dangerous heretical cults that the Inquisition can encounter. Some are no doubt deluded, corrupted by the Ruinous Powers or swayed by far older and more terrible influences, but many are in fact truly devout followers of the Golden Throne.To these individuals, every death, every cut, every welling of blood is an act of worship to the immortal Emperor of Mankind. Such Death Cults can vary widely in purpose, creed, makeup, and scope, but even the least of their adherents walk something of a tightrope between the sublime and the damned.
Death Cult - Notable Death Cult Variants: Most so-called "Death Cults," despite their differences, can be divided into four broad categories: Sanguinary Cults, Necrophagic Cults, Resurrectionist Cults and Ecclesiarchy Cults.
Death Cult - Sanguinary Cults: Perhaps the most commonplace and famed sub-division of the Death Cults, Sanguinary Cults focus on the act of bloodshed itself -- the manifold art of killing and the moment of extinction of life. Often honing the skills of the assassin beyond the ken of normal men and women, such cults are tolerated or at least wilfully ignored by the Imperial authorities despite their heretical and even vampiric tendencies.This tolerance is because they are known to be implacable in their hatred of Mankind's enemies, supplying the Adeptus Ministorum and the Inquisition with invaluable adepts of murder and fanatical killers loyal to the cause. Some have even more shadowy connections to the mysterious Officio Assassinorum, the secret organisation that provides unparalleled adepts of murder for the High Lords of Terra.Many Sanguinary Cults spring into being in the fertile soil provided by the harsh conditions found on many Feral and Feudal Worlds. However, the shadows of the underhive, the viperous intrigues of the noble's court, and even the travails of deep space can equally create the conditions where ritualistic secret societies dedicated to the deadly arts of the blade, bullet, and poison can flourish.The Calixis Sector has numerous such Sanguinary Cults and sacrificial societies present scattered across many worlds, and indeed, the population of the outcast Feudal World of Fervious is largely governed by them. The most famous of the Calixian Death Cultists, without doubt, are the assassin-mystics of the Moritat, which has sub-cults and cells operating right across the sector and indeed beyond.
Death Cult - Necrophagic Cults: Necrophagic Cults are the most blatantly heretical and terrible of all Death Cults, with sects often springing up on worlds ravaged by incessant warfare or planet-wide famine, pandemic disease, or other terrible disasters. In desperation and often goaded by outside influence, the people's once laudable faith in and devotion to the Emperor take on an increasingly malign turn, with Human sacrifice, cannibalism, and necrotic rituals becoming widespread.In such cases the members of these cults rapidly become irretrievably insane and physically corrupt, and are often the playthings of Warp entities like the Daemonic servants of Khorne and Slaanesh, while the vile leaders of such cults walk a tightrope between burgeoning malefic power and utter madness. Necrophagic Cults that are discovered are never tolerated by the Imperial authorities and are hounded to destruction wherever uncovered.Within the Calixis Sector, Necrophagic Cults have been known to spring up in the wake of long-burning wars (as has happened on Tranch and Malice in recent years), on isolated and savage worlds such as Endrite, and in the dark space hulks and other vessels in space where stricken survivors or desperate stowaways devolve into a form of mutant cannibal known to the voiders as Ghillam or Hold-gaunts.But of all these tales, none can compare to the ancient stories of the appalling Saynay Clan of Dusk, whose half-mythic ghoulish histories have given the children of the Calixis Sector nightmares for many standard centuries.
Death Cult - Resurrectionist or Revivicator Cults: Rarely encountered but insidious in nature, Resurrectionist Cults ultimately seek to conquer the secrets of life and death itself.Some Resurrectionist Cults preach a doctrine of the Emperor's triumph over death and the conquest of Human weakness, while others entreat darker masters, pursue utterly forbidden sciences, or hide baleful xenos or Warp-spawned influences at their hearts. Often they espouse the goal of attaining physical immortality for the faithful of the Imperial Cult and will go to unspeakable lengths to obtain their ends.More so than even the Sanguinary Cults, these groups attract insane and desperate individuals to their ranks, those who have lost everything, become the most degenerate Heretics or follow the wildest of deviant religious creeds. Some Resurrectionists even practice ritual revivification to indoctrinate their members.The most extreme examples of such sects believe that the Emperor's plan is for Humanity to follow Him into a blessed "immortality of the flesh." They even claim that it is possible through the use of utterly forbidden archeotech to free the Emperor from the Golden Throne to walk among His people, "dead-but-alive-everlasting" to quote the darkly renowned Credo Mortifex.Such cults are hated by both the Adeptus Ministorum and the Adeptus Mechanicus and must throw up a murderous veil of secrecy and superstition in order to survive.
Death Cult - Ecclesiarchy Cults: Across the galaxy there exist many cults and minor creeds that worship death. Some of these are savage and heretical religions, corrupted by the worship of the Dark Gods, but some are fully devoted to the Imperial Creed, offering up the corpses of slaughtered foes of the Imperium as repayment for the great debt that Humanity owes the God-Emperor for His eternal sacrifice upon the Golden Throne.The Death Cult assassins that hail from these aggressive cults are highly prized as companions by Adeptus Ministorum priests, for they are entirely obsessed by the need to spill the blood of the unclean, and have devoted their short, violent lives to mastery of the blade in order to better pursue this holy task.Clad in simple leather armour and wielding twin Power Swords, Death Cult assassins loyal to these cults leap fearlessly into the ranks of their foes, twirling and spinning in a dervish dance, severed limbs and heads tumbling in their wake. This carnage may seem crude and artless to the uninformed observer, but in fact every slice and stab carries a ritualistic element. The manner of demise and the weapon used to deliver the killing blow both have a special significance when offering the victim's soul up to the God-Emperor for judgement.Such is the fearlessness and devotion of the Death Cult assassins allied to the Ecclesiarchy that minor discrepancies or deviations from the Imperial Creed are overlooked by members of the Adeptus Ministorum eager to make use of their singular talents. These blade-wielding fanatics are viewed by the priesthood in much the same way that they view the Adeptus Astartes -- misguided in their practices, but righteous in their fervour.
Death Dealer - Death Dealer: The Death Dealer is a Daemon Engine used by the forces of Chaos that is completely dedicated to the service of the Chaos God of war and bloodshed, Khorne. The Death Dealer is a massive Daemon Engine whose role on the battlefield is that of a mobile siege tower in which it carries resolute warbands of fanatical Khornate Berserkers into battle.The front of the Death Dealer is comprised of a gigantic mechanical construct that resembles a Khornate warrior and is equipped with fearsome close-combat weapons. In the centre of the construct rests a massive Gatling Cannon and behind the mechanical warrior construct is the vehicle's tower, on top of which a large cannon is mounted.It is from the rear of the tower that the Chaos warbands wait to disembark and also where the mechanisms of the outer warrior construct and the Daemon Engine's other weapons are controlled. The tower features multiple sets of Heavy Bolters for the occupants to use whilst inside.
Death Eagles - Death Eagles: The Death Eagles is a Loyalist, Codex Astartes-compliant Space Marine Chapter. Its exact Founding date is unknown.It is suspected by most Imperial scholars that the Death Eagles is one of the rare Successor Chapters of the Raven Guard.However, it is also possible that the Death Eagles' true and hidden origins may lie in the Horus Heresy in the early 31st Millennium among those Astartes of the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion who remained uncorrupted by Chaos and loyal to the Emperor.
Death Eagles - Chapter History: It is said by ancient proverb that truth is the first casualty of war and, if this is the case, then rumour is its first child. Almost from the outset, the war of the Horus Heresy was a vast cataclysm, one whose events moved with such quicksilver pace that mystery, supposition, lies and simple ignorance cloaked much of the bloodshed even as it occurred, casting a veil over much that will never be lifted.Though the roll call of Space Marine Legions, Titan Legions, Auxilia regiments and Mechanicum Taghmata that sided with the Arch-traitor Horus and those who remained loyal is largely known and accepted, the full truth is far more complex and far more mysterious than commonly believed.Some Legiones Astartes believed Horus had the superior cause and the superior right to command their allegiance, not the Emperor, while some retained a loyalty to their Emperor and the Great Crusade over that of their own primarch's will.It is true that particularly in the early years of the war, detachments of Legiones Astartes and sometimes entire squadrons of warships simply vanished without apparent trace, and while many may have fallen afoul of Warp Storms and enemy action, it is likely just as true that some quietly slipped anchor and turned their coats to serve another master, and that this happened on both sides of the divide.During the Horus Heresy the 34th Millennial of the Emperor's Children (the "Death Eagles") bore the purple and gold of their parent III rd Legion with pride, refusing to abandon their heraldry. It is thought that the Death Eagles Millennial clashed with their Traitor kin at Lethe and at Revorthe Keep in the Coronid Deeps, but their ultimate fate, like that of so many others of that era, remains unknown.As to the long-term viability of these lost Legiones Astartes detachments, it is difficult to say. Given sufficient gene-seed and technical competence it is entirely possible for such a formation to maintain its strength over a protracted period, inducting and training new recruits in the same way as a normal Space Marine Chapter of the 41st Millennium.There are certainly numerous cases cited throughout Imperial history where this has occurred, such as the Space Wolves 13th Company. This might explain how the Death Eagles were able to survive the Age of Darkness as well as the subsequent era of the Great Scouring to be reborn as a Loyalist Chapter in their own right.If the Death Eagles are indeed descended from Loyalist elements of the Emperor's Children, it would explain why their true origins have been purposely obfuscated.Such a connection to a reviled Traitor Legion would also be a terrible dishonour and would explain why the Death Eagles' heritage and original Legion colours may have been deliberately obscured from the Imperial record.
Death Eagles - Notable Campaigns: Vengeance from the Void (ca. M32) - Across a hundred scattered star systems in the western marches of the Segmentum Solar, cult uprisings led by a core of Chaos Space Marine warbands drawn from the Iron Warriors, Night Lords and World Eaters Traitor Legions brought entire planetary governments to their knees in a year of blood and anarchy. With whole sectors on the brink of collapse, events took a dramatic turn when a combined force of the Adeptus Astartes emerged from the black depths beyond the spiral arm and launched a sudden and overwhelming attack directly upon the uprising's command. Though many Space Marines fell in glory, the warlords of the Traitor factions were slain and the uprising fractured into a thousand localised rebellions which were soon put down by local defence forces. Subsequent Inquisitorial studies claimed that these Space Marines were drawn from several Chapters, including the Death Eagles, Minotaurs, Carcharodons and Angels of Absolution. Other evidence, however, including their estimated Founding and projected deployment dates, contradict these assertions, consigning the entire event to conjecture.War of the False Primarch (860-940.M33) - During the War of the False Primarch, a dark and bloody episode of the Imperium's history now largely lost to myth and purged from the record, the Segmentum Pacificus was plunged into anarchy and the Pentarchy of Blood was convened by the High Lords of Terra to enact their judgement. Five Chapters; the Death Eagles, the Carcharodons, the Charnel Guard, the Flesh Eaters and the Red Talons were used to systematically destroy eleven Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes judged Traitoris Perdita and lay waste to their homeworlds, finally drawing the eight-standard-decade-long conflict to a close.Reconquest of the Forsarr Sector (999.M41) - Three standard years after the fall of the sector's vital Hive World capital of Forsarr in the Segmentum Tempestus, the Administratum finally recongnised the true threat posed by WAAAGH! Garaghak. The Aurora Chapter joined a powerful coalition with their brethren of the Revilers and the Death Eagles as well as a demi-legio of Titans of the Legio Astraman and several regiments of Imperial Guard and Ecclesiarchal troops. They took the fight to the Orks and reclaimed the Forsarr Sector for the Emperor. It is unknown if the fact that the Raven Guard's homeworld of Deliverance is also located in the Forsarr Sector prompted this deployment.
Death Eagles - Chapter Colours: The Death Eagles predominately wear black power armour. The shoulder guards have white insets with black trim. The helmet is bone white with red eye lenses. The Aquila or Imperialis on the chest guard is black, with the central icon being bone white.The black squad specialty symbol -- battleline, close support, fire support, Veteran or command -- is indicated on the right shoulder guard.A white High Gothic numeral is stenciled in the centre of the squad specialty symbol, indicating squad number.The iconography of the right knee plate indicates company number in accordance to the dictats of the Codex Astartes, i.e. white (1st Company), yellow (2nd Company), red (3rd Company), etc.
Death Eagles - Chapter Badge: The Death Eagles' Chapter badge is a white, avian skull of a raven surrounded by ebon feathered wings (elevated and displayed), centred upon a field of white.
Death Eagles - Canon Conflict: The first known mention of the Death Eagles' existence was made in White Dwarf 123 (UK), published in March 1990. Within, the 'Eavy Metal team presented a section with conversions and specially painted Space Marine miniatures -- among which there was a "Death Eagles Marine in armour variant".His heraldry consisted of an asymmetrical scheme of alternate white-purple plates, with backpack and bolter in silver, and helm and cod piece halved in white and purple as well.However in How To Paint Space Marines (2004) the Death Eagles appear already clad in black and white power armour.It is possible that the reference in The Horus Heresy Book Four - Conquest to their origins lying among the Loyalist Emperor's Children that maintained their original heraldry (purple and gold, but also white in some plates) is a nod towards this first appearance.
Death Eagles - Sources: Adeptus Astartes: Successor Chapters (Limited Release Booklet), pg. 32How To Paint Space Marines (2004), pg. 88Imperial Armour Volume Two, Second Edition - War Machines of the Adeptus Astartes, pg. 17Imperial Armour Volume Eight - Raid On Kastorel-Novem, pp. 77, 104Imperial Armour Volume Thirteen - War Machines of the Lost & The Damned, pg. 21The Horus Heresy Book Four - Conquest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 158White Dwarf 123 (UK), "'Eavy Metal II", pg. 22
Death Guard - Legion History: The Emperor of Mankind sought to unite all of humanity under one banner following the Long Night of the Age of Strife, and end inter-human conflict. Once united, the Emperor intended to begin the next stage of His great plan to ensure human domination of the Milky Way Galaxy, which He judged to be necessary if humanity was to survive the never-ceasing threats to its existence embodied by Chaos, myriad xenos races and its own fragile human nature.In time, when the Emperor's eye first began to fall beyond Terra, He began to raise new armies to fight His Great Crusade. He drew these new troops in part from the forces that had already unified Terra during the Unification Wars of the late 30th Millennium.To carry out the Great Crusade and reunite all the scattered colony worlds of Mankind beneath the single banner of the Imperium of Man, the Emperor created the genetically-enhanced transhuman warriors of the Space Marine Legions. These forces would serve as the speartip of His Great Crusade that began in ca. 800.M30, bringing the light of the Imperial Truth and enforcing Imperial Compliance with the new regime on every human world encountered.
Death Guard - The Death Lord: When the 20 gestating Primarchs of the Space Marine Legions were scattered across the galaxy through the Warp from the Emperor of Mankind's secret gene-laboratory deep beneath the Himalazian (Himalayan) Mountains on Terra in a mysterious accident likely caused by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos, one came to rest on the planet Barbarus, a Feral World located in the Segmentum Tempestus that was wreathed in poisonous fog.The population of the world was split into two groups: the controlling, apparently xenos overlords who were necromancers who possessed fantastic psychic powers, along with the human settlers, who had been trapped on the planet millennia before and were now forced to eke out an existence in the poison-free valleys of the planet, fearing the wrath of the overlords and their undead and mutant creations.The Primarch-child was taken in by the most powerful of the overlords, the High Overlord Necare, who found him amongst the corpses of a battlefield, screaming and wailing where a normal human child would have suffocated and died long before.The high overlord of Barbarus took the child in with the intention of creating a son and heir, naming him Mortarion -- the child of death.Mortarion was kept in a fortress positioned at the limit of even his superhuman tolerance to the toxins in the air, while the high overlord moved his own manse to the highest peak of the world, beyond where even Mortarion could go.He trained the child, who had a highly keen intellect and voracious appetite for knowledge; Mortarion learned everything from battle doctrine to arcane secrets, from artifice to stratagem.However, the young Primarch's questions began to turn towards subjects the high overlord did not want to talk about, namely the pitiful creatures in the valleys that the many other overlords preyed upon for corpses to reanimate and bodies to corrupt.
Death Guard - The Deliverance of Barbarus: Finally, knowing he would be unable to find the answers he desired from his adoptive father, Mortarion was forced to break out of the fortress that had been his home and prison when he chose to save a caravan of humans who were being brought up from the valleys below to serve as experimental subjects for Necare's horrific experiments.After killing several undead golem guards stationed at the gates of the fortress, Mortarion, guided by one of those he had saved, Calas Typhon, headed for the valleys of Barbarus. Breaking through the poisonous mists, Mortarion discovered that the prey of the overlords were in fact the same species as he, and he swore to deliver them from their oppression.The people of Barbarus were slow to accept this pale, gaunt stranger from the mountains, but Mortarion was given a chance to prove his worth when mutant creatures enthralled to another warlord attacked the village. Seeing that the peasants were unable to effectively fight back, Mortarion joined the fray, wielding a massive harvesting scythe that made short work of the beasts.The overlord smiled when Mortarion advanced upon him and withdrew to the apparent safety of the deadly fog, only to be pursued and butchered by this inhumanly resilient Primarch.Accepted into the village without further reservation, Mortarion began to train the villagers in the art of warfare. Soon, representatives from other villages journeyed to learn from Mortarion, while the villages scattered across the valleys of the world were transformed into strongpoints. Mortarion travelled from settlement to settlement, teaching, building and defending his people.He recruited the toughest, most resilient men and women he could find, forming them into small units that trained under his supervision. He enlisted the aid of blacksmiths, craftsmen and artificers to create special suits of armour that would allow men to travel through the poisonous fog.As each battle in the mists was fought, Mortarion and his "Death Guard" would learn how to better adapt the armour, and themselves, to reach the more poisonous heights. Eventually, only one peak denied them access, the one on which Mortarion's adoptive father Necare had made his home.
Death Guard - The Coming of the Emperor: Despite his adoptive father being a ruthless necromancer, Mortarion felt reluctant to attack the being who took him in and called off the planned attack. Returning to the village, Mortarion's mood darkened when he found his people talking not of his victory but of the arrival of a benevolent stranger who promised salvation to the people of Barbarus.Finding this stranger in conference with the village elders of his capital, Mortarion claimed that his people needed no outside help to slay their last oppressor. The stranger commented that even Mortarion and his Death Guard were having trouble pacifying the final overlord, and offered a challenge.If Mortarion could defeat the high overlord, the stranger would leave. If not, Mortarion had to swear fealty to the stranger and the Imperium of Man he represented.Ignoring the protests of his Death Guard, Mortarion left alone to confront his adoptive father, motivated by a compulsion to prove himself to the stranger below and also prove once and for all that he was better than Necare, who had often belittled him while growing up.The confrontation was brief. The air surrounding the high overlord's fortress was so poisonous, that parts of Mortarion's special protective armour began to rot. He collapsed at the gates of the high overlord's citadel, bellowing challenges.The final thing Mortarion saw before he passed out was Necare coming to kill him, then the stranger leaping between the two and slaying the high overlord with a single, flaming sword thrust.When he recovered, Mortarion swore fealty to the stranger, who revealed himself to be Mortarion's true gene-father, the Emperor of Mankind. The Emperor granted Mortarion command of the XIVth Space Marine Legion, then known as the Dusk Raiders, who quickly adopted the name and regalia of Mortarion's original Death Guard.However, the Emperor's slaying of his adoptive father proved to be a grudge Mortarion long held against his true father, for he had desired above all else to end the tyrant's life himself and prove himself the better.When the Emperor took the chance to earn vengeance away from Mortarion, a seed of hatred and blame was placed within his heart that would in time blossom into rank betrayal.
Death Guard - A Mournful Unity: True to his oath, Mortarion bent his knee to his new-found father as soon as he was sufficiently recovered to do so, although his final act of defiance on Barbarus would leave scars upon him both physical and mental that would never fully heal.A skilled warlord in his own right, Mortarion was immediately given command of the XIVth Legion which carried his genetic inheritance, and did so on his own terms. Gathering them before him, a grim and spectral figure robed and bearing the great black scythe that had once belonged to his nightmarish foster-father, it must have seemed to the Terran-born Dusk Raiders that an ancient, graven image of the Grim Reaper had come before them as their new master.His words were simple and delivered in a harsh whisper that never the less carried to each and every one: "You are my unbroken blades. You are the Death Guard. By your hand shall justice be delivered, and doom shall stalk a thousand worlds."The Legion's name was then changed in accordance with this decree, and Mortarion's words were engraved above the airlock door of the battle barge Reaper's Scythe in honour of that moment. By this simple decree the Dusk Raiders were no more, and the records and annals from that day forward would carry this new name as one to strike fear into the hearts of Mankind's enemies.The XIVth Legion's Astartes had been primarily Terran-born before Mortarion joined the Legion; after that time almost all of the Legion's neophytes were drawn from the Feral World of Barbarus, beginning with the young Calas Typhon who had long served as Mortarion's chief lieutenant during his wars against the overlords and now became the Legion's first captain.This changed the culture and traditions of the Legion, so much so that by the last days of the Great Crusade in the early 31st Millennium, there were increasing tensions between the Barbarus-born Astartes and the Terran minority who remained in the Legion and who remembered the Dusk Raiders' earlier martial traditions brought out of Old Earth.These tensions became most clear in the period directly preceding the first battle of the Horus Heresy at Isstvan III, when approximately one-third of the Legion was judged by Mortarion to be likely to remain loyal to the Emperor when the Legion joined the Warmaster Horus in his rebellion against the Imperium. Many of these Loyalist Death Guard Astartes were Terrans, former Dusk Raiders like Battle-Captain Nathaniel Garro of the 7th Great Company whose loyalty to the Emperor outweighed their devotion to their primarch.
Death Guard - The Horus Heresy: Mortarion believed that victory in battle came through sheer resilience, and Horus, who used the strengths and weaknesses of the different Legions to create the most efficient fighting force possible, used his Legion in co-ordination with Mortarion's frequently. Mortarion and the Death Guard would draw out the enemy and tire them down, and then the Luna Wolves would strike.This combat tactic worked brilliantly, and Mortarion grew close to Horus. The Lord of Death was a grim and driven Primarch, his breathing apparatus and great scythe an inseparable component of his aspect. The pallid, hairless Primarch was viewed by others as a freak, and was distant from all his brother Primarchs save Horus and Konrad Curze, the Night Haunter. Some even whispered that Mortarion was more loyal to Horus than he was to the Emperor; however the Emperor claimed that loyalty to Horus was de facto loyalty to the Emperor, for the two were that close. Events would prove the Emperor sorely mistaken.When the Warmaster Horus turned to Chaos, it did not require much effort to drag Mortarion and his Death Guard Legion down with him. Horus had been one of the few Primarchs with whom Mortarion had felt comfortable, and as such he showed more loyalty to the Warmaster during the Great Crusade than to the Emperor Himself.In addition to this, First Captain Calas Typhon, Mortarion's right-hand man, had long been a secret follower of the Ruinous Powers and eagerly manipulated the rest of the Death Guard into treading the path of damnation. Mortarion revealed his true colours during the scouring of Istvaan III, when he willingly sent potentially Loyalist elements of the Death Guard -- almost one-third of his Legion -- into Horus' trap. Once the Astartes who remained loyal to the Emperor were purged, the Death Guard then fought alongside their Traitor brethren during the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V.
Death Guard - The Post-Heresy Death Guard: Within the Eye of Terror, Mortarion's Plague Planet was soon moulded into a virtual copy of Barbarus, save this time he had taken up his adoptive father Necare's position as its chief tyrant.Mortarion is still alive in the 41st Millennium, only recently reemerging into realspace for the first time since the Heresy to lead the assaults of the Death Guard on the Realm of Ultramar during the Plague Wars of the Era Indomitus.To this day, Mortarion's Death Guard launches its assaults through the Cadian Gate and into the galaxy beyond, sometimes in large bodies and at others lending strength to allied Chaos forces.Wherever they travel they spread the joyful, exuberant poxes of Nurgle, gifting those who would know eternal life with the choicest of the Plague God's blessings. Typhon (now called Typhus the Traveller) took a more active role in continuing the war against the Imperium by abandoning his master and striking out on his own, bringing the "gifts" of his patron to the Emperor's followers.Typhus was especially active during the 13th Black Crusade, securing his own plague-ridden stronghold by the end of that conflict.
Death Guard - Notable Campaigns: For ten thousand standard years, the Death Guard have mercilessly harried the servants of the False Emperor. They have spread plague and sickness across the stars, wearing their enemies down with relentless determination. They have ruined countless worlds, corrupted and despoiled armies beyond number, fighting the Long War in the names of Mortarion and almighty Nurgle.
Death Guard - Legion Command Hierarchy: When the newfound Primarch Mortarion was given command of the XIVth Legion, he remade it as a single instrument of his will. Of all the Space Marine Legions, it was said of the Death Guard that they were but one entity with a single purpose and one body.The XIVth Legion was re-ordered into seven "Great Companies" of considerably larger size than the standard Astartes Legion organisational structures of the Great Crusade era mandated. Obedience and order in the ranks of the Death Guard was absolute and an unbroken chain-of-command ran like blood in the Legion's veins.Legionaries were extensions of their sergeant's will, sergeants their captain's, and captains their commander's, while collectively the Astartes of the Death Guard were all instruments of Mortarion, body and soul.Few other ranks or divisions of formal organisation existed in the XIVth Legion, except in very specialised, often technical roles. Each member of the Legion knew his place and the seniority and tasks of those around them without recourse to excessive heraldry and symbol.While many Legions had the tradition of giving the honorific of "First Captain" to the commanding officer of the elite 1st Great Company, the Death Guard also held two more privileged titles to be bestowed upon the commanders of the 2nd and 7th Great Companies, respectively.Thus, although they held no actual seniority over one another, the Captain of the 2nd Great Company could carry the rank of "Commander" if he so wished, just as the Captain of the 7th Great Company was known as the "Battle-Captain."All Death Guard Astartes conformed to Mortarion's decree without rancour or dissent, and rivalries and internal strife were observed by outsiders to be few, particularly in comparison to more notably fractious Legions such as the Night Lords or Space Wolves.When an officer died in battle, his successor stepped into his place swiftly and decisively without need for orders or discussion, and so the Legion's chain-of-command was seamless even in the face of the heaviest losses, contributing to the Death Guard's reputation for endurance in war.