Dark Angels - The Age of Anathema, M40-M41: Destruction of Grymm's Landing (550.M40) - One of the first and most reliable of the Dark Angels' recruiting worlds, Grymm's Landing, is destroyed in an uprising, instigated by the Alpha Legion and supported by elements of the Night Lords. The Angels of Vengeance respond, fighting through wave after wave of Renegades, cultists and madmen. Finally, despite massive casualties, they exterminate every living thing on the surface of Grymm's Landing.Cegorach's Due (Unknown Date.M40) - The Dark Angels track the Fallen known as Neziek to the world of Vriedos. They run their quarry to ground just as he is about to escape through a Webway portal. However, the Dark Angels' efforts at capture are foiled when a sizeable band of Harlequins bursts from the portal. Fighting furiously, the Harlequins hold the wrathful Space Marines at bay long enough to snatch Neziek and drag him into the Labyrinth Dimension.Macharian Heresy (405.M41) - Over three standard decades, the Dark Angels are one of the Space Marine Chapters tasked with suppressing the civil wars collectively known as the Macharian Heresy that are ongoing across many of the territories gained by the Imperium during the Macharian Crusade of the Lord Solar Macharius. The Ravenwing uncover several corrupt cults, largely instigated by the Alpha Legion, and the unmistakable signs of Cypher's presence. The Deathwing are deployed in response, and several of the Fallen are captured amidst the ensuing carnage. The rebelling populaces, regarded as mere obstacles to the Dark Angels’ true mission, are slaughtered in their millions. During the Lythanos Uprisings, only a run-in with the Space Wolves allows several of the Fallen to escape the Dark Angels' grasp.Fourth Quadrant Rebellion (775-780.M41) - The Dark Angels were one of a dozen Space Marine Chapters that took part in the suppression of multiple revolts and Secessionist outbreaks which set ablaze nearly a full quarter of the Segmentum Solar and outlying star systems which was known as the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion. These brushfire conflicts proved difficult to stamp out, not least because there was no single enemy or common cause behind them, but rather countless long-standing grudges and the fruits of many centuries of misrule and savage oppression by a series of corrupt Imperial Planetary Governors. These civil conflicts were quickly made all the worse by the opportunist attacks of Chaos Cults, Renegades and xenos forces taking advantage of the widespread anarchy the rebellion engendered. Mystery shrouds the architects of this catastrophe, but the Dark Angels fight alongside the Imperial Fists to end the threat once and for all.The Egammonon Revolt - More than a dozen Space Marine Chapters were caught up in the fighting of the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion, either aiding one faction or another or simply defending their own territories, whilst others were brought in by the Imperium to pacify the quadrant and finally put an end to the fighting. The Dark Angels were deployed to the world of Egammonon during the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion to put down the rebel forces present on that planet.Rastabal, Assault on the Fortress of Kaligar - Grand Master Sammael, a senior member of the Inner Circle, led his first action as the Grand Master of the Ravenwing in the initial invasion of the world of Rastabal during the Fourth Quadrant Rebellion. He followed up this action by his assault upon the fortress of the pretender Kaligar, whom it transpired, was one of the Fallen, and Sammael personally ran the ancient Traitor to ground after fighting him in a titanic duel said to have lasted a full day and a night.Siege of Vraks (821.M41) - Supreme Grand Master Azrael leads nearly half of the Dark Angels Chapter during the infamous Siege of Vraks. The Dark Angels force arrived on board the battle barge Angel of Retribution and the strike cruisers Sword of Caliban and Salvation and a small number of escorts to assist against the forces of Chaos that assailed the small Imperial planet. Without communicating his intentions, Azrael simply set about his self-assigned mission -- the destruction of Vraks' starport which would sever any easy access to off-planet reinforcements. Needing no assistance, he saw no reason to involve the Imperial Guard regiments engaged on Vraks. Moving in a lightning assault, the Dark Angels' vanguard was led by Azrael himself. As the Dark Angels strike force moved through the starport they unleashed unrestrained destruction upon it. The Dark Angels fought for Vraks' star port for eight days before Azrael ordered the final assault. Leading elements of the 1st, 2nd, 5th, 8th and 9th Companies the Supreme Grand Master led his Dark Angels to finish the enemy's resistance and finally overrun the starport. Dismounting his Land Raider, Azrael led the assault as he plunged into the enemy ranks of militia men, his black blade, the Sword of Secrets, cutting a bloody swathe. As the Dark Angels were about to achieve victory, the duplicitous Alpha Legion sprung their trap. The Chaos Space Marines had been lying in wait, using the militia as bait to draw the Dark Angels on. As the fighting intensified Azrael saw brother Anmael fall, riddled with fire, and the Sacred Standard he was brandishing toppled. Azrael knew he must recover the banner for it could not be allowed to lie in the dust. Racing through enemy fire he reached the banner just as the enemy did. The Dark Angels and Alpha Legionaries fought over the fallen body of Brother Anmael, neither giving ground. While the other Dark Angels fought to escape the Alpha Legion's sudden ambush, Azrael cut down the last of his enemies and plucked up the sacred standard. As he did so, a massive armoured figure strode through the smoke, his ancient power armour decorated with blasphemous runes and the heretical eight-pointed star of Chaos Undivided. An Assault Marine launched himself into the path of this figure, the Chaos Lord Arkos the Faithless of the Alpha Legion, only to be cut clean in half by the stroke of the Chaos Lord's Warp-powered blade. The two mighty heroes clashed. Azrael was confronted by Arkos, and soon the two were engaged in furious combat. In one hand Azrael held his Chapter's Sacred Standard of Devastation, in the other the Sword of Secrets. The two rained down smashing blows upon each others' armour, until blood seeped through the joints of Azrael's suit of Artificer plate. The weight of Arkos' mighty blows had badly wounded the Supreme Grand Master in the one-sided duel. The Chaos Lord had the combined power of the four Chaos Gods with him this day. Arkos' blows forced Azrael ever backwards, weakening his opponent until a shoulder charge and a fast, low sweeping cut sent Azrael sprawling to the ground, the Sword of Secrets skittering from his grasp. Prone amongst the rubble, the banner still clutched to him, Azrael saw death approaching as Arkos loomed over him, raising his Darkblade for the killing blow. As he reached out to strike the blow that would see Azrael's reign as Supreme Grand Master end, the impacts of an Assault Cannon sent Arkos staggering backwards. Racing up the street came Deathwing Terminators led by Interrogator-Chaplain Belphegor, who, enclosed in his black Terminator Armour, charged into Arkos, his Crozius Arcanum swinging. Belphegor managed to strike the Traitor to the ground with a blow that cracked his power armour. Arkos fell dazed and bleeding. Concerned for his wounded commander, the Chaplain turned to aid him. When he turned back to face Arkos, the Traitor had vanished. Though the ambush had inflicted painful losses upon the Dark Angels, the Traitors were unable to carry the day, and soon drifted away as they had been recalled by their thwarted commander. The Dark Angels proceeded to hunt down and destroy the remnants of surviving militiamen. Their ambush had inflicted painful losses on the Dark Angels, with the loss of 200 battle-brothers, but the traitors could not win this battle alone. The Dark Angels had failed to take a single Traitor Legionairy alive, although their battle barge's cells did contain many captured Renegade militiamen who would face the formidable Interrogator-Chaplains on return to The Rock. After ten days the starport was securely in the hands of the Dark Angels. They set about destroying the facility with demolition charges. Two days later, the starport was damaged beyond repair. Upon completing their mission, the Dark Angels strike force departed Vraks Prime.Massacre on Minoria (832.M41) - En-route to the Ork-infested warzones of Periliac Prime, the entire 1st Company of the Dark Angels, the elite Deathwing, make an unscheduled detour to the small and unremarkable Mining World of Minoria on the edges of the Periliac System. The Deathwing teleport en masse onto the planet and kill or capture every one of its inhabitants. As a direct result of their delay in reinforcing the beleaguered planet of Periliac Prime, the entire system buckles and falls under the crushing might of WAAAGH! Drillakilla. It is later claimed publicly by several other Space Marine Chapters that the Dark Angels' delay was a significant reason for the fall of Periliac Prime to the Greenskins.Faze V Uprising (897.M41) - An Imperial expedition was launched into a region of space that had for many years been riven with fierce Warp Storms. Led by a Rogue Trader of Clan Arcadius, the Dark Angels provided their 5th Company to aid the endeavour. Entering orbit above Faze V, the fleet was immediately fired upon by fearsome energy weapons of a type unknown to the fleet's Tech-priests. In response, the Dark Angels committed themselves to an immediate combat drop. The 5th Company engaged men altered by cybernetics, and held entirely in the thrall of some blasphemous machine intelligence. In a grueling campaign that lasted four solar months, the techno-recidivists of Faze V were beaten back to their mighty silicon fortresses, besieged, and eventually annihilated. The Dark Angels' last act was the destruction of the great logic stacks of the disabled machine entity. But this was not carried out until a party of Techmarines, accompanied by the then-Grand Master of the Deathwing Bekenel, had entered the machine complex and retrieved some scrap of as yet undisclosed data. Even after the population of Faze V was freed from the Artificial Intelligence's control, they craved their machine-ruler's mind-touch and rejected their own freedom. The Dark Angels were forced to continue to press their attack. In a gruelling campaign, the techno-recidivists of Faze V were eventually wiped from the face of their world.Assault on the Toxic World of Sephlagm (922.M41) - The 3rd and 4th Companies of the Dark Angels pin down a Chaos Cultist army on the world of Sephlagm while the Ravenwing deploys in a pincer formation. The Ravenwing's Support Squadrons clear streets while the Attack Squadrons rush the rebel headquarters, summoning the Deathwing to teleport into the structure and eliminate the daemon-possessed rebel leader.Death of Supreme Grand Master Naberius (939.M41) - Whilst pursing Cypher, Commander Naberius, Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels -- is led into an ambush and slain by Chaos Space Marines. Azrael leads the Deathwing to recover his body, bringing an end to the shadow-shrouded conflict now known as the Rhamiel Betrayal. For this and many other heroic deeds, Azrael is subsequently named his successor as the new -- and current -- Supreme Grand Master of the Chapter.WAAAGH! Groblinik (949.M41) - Fighting alongside the Imperial Guard troops of the Vostroyan Firstborn, Mordian Iron Guard and the Adeptus Mechanicus' Skitarii Legions, the Dark Angels attempt to halt the onslaught of the Ork WAAAGH! Groblinik. The Orks are checked at the Battle of the Sularian Gate and Ezekiel, the Grand Master of Librarians, slew the Greenskin Warlord Groblinik.Battle of the Sularian Gate (949.M41) - During the Battle of the Sularian Gate the Dark Angels 5th Company deployed alongside the massed Astra Militarum regiments of the Vostroyan Firstborn, Mordian Iron Guard and Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii Legions in an effort to halt WAAAGH! Groblonik. Several minor worlds had already fallen and dozens more teetered on the brink of destruction unless the green tide could be stopped. On the fourth day of the Battle of the Sularian Gate, Ezekiel, the Dark Angels' Grand Master of Librarians, was gravely wounded by a stray Ork bullet, embedding itself in his left eye socket. Recovering the fallen Librarian, he was taken to a makeshift triage station where the remains of his eye were removed. He only had the patience to be fitted for a simple bionic, returning to the fray. Rallying the 5th Company, Ezekiel led a furious counter-attack that broke WAAAGH! Groblonik forever. Ezekiel faced the Ork Warlord in furious hand-to-hand combat, slaying him with his powerful psychic assault. Hefting his mighty force weapon, Ezekiel hacked off Groblonik's head and threw it into the Ork mob. The WAAAGH! broke at the sight of their fallen warlord and the panicked Greenskins were soon slaughtered by the Imperial forces.Pandorax Campaign (959-961.M41) - In the Demeter Sector, Abaddon the Despoiler led an alliance of Traitor Legions, including his own Black Legion and the Death Guard, in an invasion of the Imperial Death World of Pythos in the Pandorax System, the location of an ancient hidden gateway to the Warp. Another piece in his dark design to bring an end to the Long War, the Warmaster of Chaos fell upon the world with a small force of Daemon Engines and infernal war machines. In the space of a few bloody solar days the major hive cities were overrun and the local Planetary Defence Forces crushed beneath the might of the combined Traitor Legions. Only a small contingent of Catachan Jungle Fighters, the CLXXXIIIth Catachan Regiment of the Imperial Guard, managed to escape the destruction, trekking through the world's inhospitable jungle to the relative safety of the nearest mountain range. Abaddon commenced the complex rituals and sacrifices that would open the Damnation Cache, a portal between realspace and the Warp, breaking open seals that had remained untouched since the time of the Horus Heresy. Heeding the impassioned cries for salvation from Pythos, the entire Dark Angels Chapter, led by Azrael himself, came to the defenders' aid. Supporting these Space Marines were Grey Knights dispatched from Titan to deal with the escalating daemonic incursion and the dire peril that the Damnation Cache posed. Both Imperial forces smashed through the Traitor Legion blockade around Pythos, in an epic void battle that pitted the finest warships of the Imperium supported by The Rock, the Dark Angels' mobile Fortress-Monastery, against the ancient vessels of the Traitor Legions. After the Chaos warfleet was finally driven from orbit and back into the void, the Space Marines were able to send their troops down through the atmosphere, bringing war to its ruined hives and hostile jungles. Failing to allow this distraction to draw him away from the awakening of the Damnation Cache, Abaddon sent an alliance of Legions to hold the Loyalists at bay. Before either the Dark Angels or the Grey Knights could stop him, Abaddon finally opened the portal to the Warp, daemons spilling out across Pythos. The ensuing conflict devastated the world as reality itself bent and buckled under the raw power of the Empyrean. The unleashed energies created rampant psychic phenomena, and Space Marines fought under boiling skies of blood and in rolling clouds of keening spirits. All across the Demeter Sector, latent psykers were awakened to full and terrible awareness and rebellions sprung up like cancerous boils on dozens of Imperial worlds in the region. After a long and bitter struggle, a squad of Grey Knights managed to reach the Damnation Cache and close the Warp portal. Starved of their daemonic allies, the Traitor Legions were forced onto the defensive and finally into retreat. Abaddon's forces left Pythos, escaping the vengeance of the Imperium once again, but the world had been irrevocably tainted by the touch of the Warp, its once proud cities and vast wilds twisted into a nightmarish hellscape. Before the portal was closed, however, Abaddon took with him a psyker, rumoured to be of prodigious strength and the bearer of a unique gift that would aid the Warmaster of Chaos in his forthcoming 13th Black Crusade. This conflict is remembered in Imperial records as the Pandorax Campaign.Hyades (Unknown Date.M41) - Captain Jeremiah Gieyus led an elite Deathwing Kill-team that had long pursued and now prepared to capture one of the Fallen Angels known as Cadmus. Stirring up old animosities that burned within both Chapters, Captain Gieyus's Kill-team and Ragnar Blackmane's battle-brothers of the Wolfblade soon fell into a confrontation with one another. Eventually the two Chapters set aside their differences and went after the errant Cadmus. They tracked down the Traitor before he could make good his escape and succeeded in capturing the Heretic. With a newfound mutual respect for one another, Ragnar withdrew his forces and let the Dark Angels conclude their Chapter business in privacy. Captain Gieyus then executed Cadmus.Crassia II (Unknown Date.M41) - Grand Master Belial led his Deathwing warriors against an unknown enemy on the foetid marshes of Crassia II.Terraq (Unknown Date.M41) - Grand Master Belial led the Deathwing in the rout of the Renegade Space Marines Chapter known as the Violators on the world of Terraq.Second Battle of Rynn's World and Bad Landing (989.M41-991.M41) - A Dark Angels strike force, including the entire Ravenwing, is sent alongside the forces from other Space Marine Chapters to relieve the Crimson Fists Chapter on Rynn's World and reconquer the worlds in the Loki Sector that had fallen under Ork domination.Cleansing of Durganion XIII (996.M41) - A distress call lures a Dark Angels strike force into a Genestealer ambush, and the confines of the hive prove an advantage to the xenos. The battle ends when the Broodlord is destroyed by a Ravenwing advance. Without his guidance, the remaining xenos are exterminated and the planet marked by the Inquisition for corruption testing.The Canyons of Koris (Unknown Date.M41) - Azrael leads a force to purge the Orks of WAAAGH! Gutgouger from Koris. Wings of Nephilim Jetfighters engage in furious dogfights through the planet's storm-lashed canyon maze, covering the Dark Angels' final push against Gutgouger's Killfort.Assault on the Wyrmwood (Unknown Date.M41) - Several squads of Deathwing board the Space Hulk Wyrmwood. None are ever seen again, and records of the action are erased.The Shadowshrine (Unknown Date.M41) - A strike force under Chaplain Asmodai battle a Commorrite host of Drukhari in the shrine-city of Gothala. Thousands of Mandrakes fall upon the Space Marines from squirming portals of sentient shadow, and it seems the Dark Angels must be overrun. However, Asmodai holds his force together, eventually leading an attack to collapse the Dark Eldar portals and end the nightmare.Third Tyrannic War (997.M41) - Several Dark Angels strike forces take part in fighting the far-reaching tendrils of Hive Fleet Leviathan.Assault on Straton (997.M41) - The Dark Angels engaged the Tyranid menace of Hive Fleet Leviathan on the world of Straton during the Third Tyrannic War.Battle of Piscina IV (221.997.M41) - Piscina IV was a Dark Angels recruiting world that was invaded by the Ork WAAAGH! led by the Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka and his ally the Warlord Nazdreg Ug Urdgrub. Though caught by surprise, the world was defended by the Dark Angels' 3rd Company, and assisted by a scattering of combined squads drawn from the personnel of the Dark Angels' Deathwing and Scout Companies. The Orks were successfully driven off, thanks to the actions of Master Belial and his small force. Piscina IV was saved, though much damage had been incurred on the planet and its civilian inhabitants.The Black Templars Incident (998.M41) - The Black Templars fight alongside the Dark Angels on the world of Parabulus in an attempt to weaken the Renegade pirates who use the world as their base. A Black Templars Strike Cruiser, Ophidium Gulf, assists a Dark Angels force in pursuit of the individual known as "The Voice of the Emperor." After hard fighting, the Black Templars succeed in capturing him -- although are later embroiled in a dispute with the Dark Angels, during which both Chapters briefly engage in battle. Although ultimately taken into custody by the Dark Angels, the robed captive mysteriously escapes and the Ophidium Gulf is lost. At the behest of the Black Templars, the Inquisition is called upon to investigate -- results are pending after the disappearance of the investigating Inquisitor Archibald.The Rich Prize (998.M41) - The Deathwing smash the Renegade enclave of Darkenhel. Over two dozen Fallen were seized, and the cells of The Rock ring with agonised screams for many solar months.Belial's Fury (561.999.M41) - Belial, Grand Master of the Deathwing, cornered Cypher on Piscina IV. Belial was the best shot and most formidable close combat fighter in the Dark Angels Chapter, yet his efforts come to naught. His Storm Bolter misses before jamming and the Sword of Silence cuts off merely a piece of Cypher's hood as he ducks the blow. When Belial is subsequently tied up by the massed wave attack of suicidal cultists, Cypher makes good his escape. This marks the third time he has eluded the mighty Belial.Stern's Remembrance (884.999.M41) - The Dark Angels 5th Company battles elements of the Chaos Space Marine warband known as the Crimson Slaughter for control of the Chaos artefact called the Hellfire Stone. The Dark Angels' 5th Company was led by Master Zadakiel to the world of Stern's Remembrance where they discovered the notorious Fallen Angel Attias the Untamed. The Fallen attempted to warn his erstwhile brothers that it was all an elaborate trap, and that they should take their leave. The Dark Angels took Attias into custody and attempted to take their leave, but as they made their way back to their Thunderhawks the trap was sprung, as a massive Drop Pod assault was launched by the Crimson Slaughter while their allied Chaos Cultists surrounded the outnumbered Dark Angels. In the ensuing battle, the Dark Angels reluctantly freed Attias, allowing him to fight by their side in order to survive the Heretics' onslaught. As Zadakiel was about to board the hovering gunship, the Helbrute Mortis Metalikus appeared. Zadakiel drew his Heavenfall Blade called Fellbane and started to do battle with the beast. Despite his agility, the Helbrute eventually got the upper hand and was about to crush him underfoot when the Thunderhawk appeared, shooting the Helbrute and giving Zadakiel the chance to climb aboard. However, as the Dark Angels Master grabbed the open ramp at the front of the Thunderhawk, the Helbrute grabbed him, dragging Zadakiel down. Seeing he could not escape his fate and that the Helbrute was aiming his Multi-melta at the Thunderhawk, Zadakiel threw Fellbane into the Thunderhawk and let go, falling to his death. Now the most senior Space Marine on board, Sergeant Balthasar gave the order to return to The Rock with their prisoner. The Captain of the 5th Company's strike cruiser handed over a data-slate with a message from Kranon the Relentless, the Chaos Lord who led the Crimson Slaughter warband. In the message, Kranon taunted Balthasar, showing how the Helbrute had turned the body of Zadakiel into a trophy and claiming that he knew the Dark Angels' secret shame, as proven by the capture of the Fallen Angel Attias, and that he expected and indeed counted upon meeting again as the Dark Angels would surely not tolerate the existence of such a breach of their ancient secrecy for long.Dark Vengeance (999.M41) - Seeking to avenge the death of Company Master Zadakiel on Stern's Remembrance -- and to strike down a foe who appear to know their darkest secret -- the Dark Angels' 5th Company engages the Crimson Slaughter on the world of Bane's Landing. The fight is a desperate one, and only an act of supreme self-sacrifice prevents the Chaos worshippers from achieving their aims.Siege of the Fenris System (999.M41) - The return of the heavily mutated Space Wolves 13th Company prompts Supreme Grand Master Azrael to launch a crusade to the Fenris System, which upon arrival is found to be in the throes of a daemonic invasion. Seeing no other recourse, Azrael orders the bombardment of one of the most infested of the system's worlds, Midgardia, even as the shape-shifting daemon called the Changeling is detected aboard The Rock. It is revealed that the daemon has been responsible for manipulating events, setting the Dark Angels against their long-time rivals the Space Wolves as part of a larger scheme orchestrated by Magnus the Red, Daemon Primarch of the Thousand Sons. A full-blown daemonic invasion of The Rock follows, and through the combined efforts of the two rival Chapters, as well as a detachment of Grey Knights who had followed their own scryings to the system, it is repelled. Despite their brief alliance, however, the Dark Angels' relationship with the Space Wolves is left more frayed than ever by their confrontation.13th Black Crusade (995.999.M41) - The Dark Angels deploy the entirety of their Chapter in support of the beleaguered world of Cadia to halt the encroaching forces of Chaos led by Abaddon the Despoiler during the 13th Black Crusade. According to the Dark Oracle, the name given by the Dark Angels' Supreme Grand Masters to Luther, who lies rotting in The Rock's deepest dungeon, many Fallen are amongst the forces of Chaos following Abaddon into battle. The Rock makes haste for the Cadian Sector. Yet soon after the battle is joined, Supreme Grand Master Azrael withdraws the support of the Dark Angels for Cadia, claiming any engagements involving the Traitor Legions were Adeptus Astartes business only and of no concern to others. Even as The Rock made haste towards the embattled Cadian Sector, the Chapter was bombarded with distress calls; urgent pleas for aid from desperate worlds. The Inner Circle was awash with confirmed reports of the Fallen, including Cypher himself. The Rock's psychic choir of astropaths had become so overloaded with messages of xenos invasions and uprisings that it was impossible to track which were current and which were ghost messages -- lingering echoes of disasters already come and gone. From the psi-shielded sanctum of the Librarius, Ezekiel, the Grand Master of Librarians, reported a tide of Warp energies rising, the Eye of Terror once more opening to spew forth its filth onto the galaxy, including the unmistakable signs of the Fallen amongst their number. Desperate to capture the Fallen and to prevent any from revealing the Chapter's long-kept secret, the Dark Angels were already too thinly spread. Risking the scrutiny of the Inquisition and the allegation of attempting to rebuild a full Space Marine Legion, the Dark Angels called upon their Successor Chapters for aid. The Unforgiven girded for battle as never before since the time of the Horus Heresy. Into this scene of calamity, Supreme Grand Master Azrael emerged from the deepest dungeon of The Rock, his mind still attempting to decipher the gibbering deluge of information spouted by the Dark Oracle, his Chapter's greatest secret and greatest asset. Despite the multitude of threats and the darkness of the hour, he knew that it was for these circumstances that the Space Marines had been created. Brooding and perhaps obsessively flawed by their past failings, the Dark Angels nevertheless rushed once more to the forefront of Mankind's battle for survival, intending to fight with righteous fervor and a refusal to never accept defeat, no matter the odds, whoever the foe. During the 13th Black Crusade the Dark Angels took part in many notable battles, including:Defence of Ex Lucan VII (999.M41) - Composed of four entire Companies of Dark Angels and three of their Successor Chapters (not named), a deadly force of Astartes, collectively known as Taskforce Shadowguard, staged themselves upon the outlying Mining World of Ex Lucan VII, lying in wait within the hollow mountains of the Kyran Range for a substantial force of Eldar raiders. Appearing out of nowhere through portals this vile race makes use of, the xenos wasted no time in launching their attack against the mining settlements of the Kyran Range. Shadowguard revealed themselves and took the first raider force completely by surprise. Exploiting the momentum of victory, Shadowguard than executed a manoeuvre that smashed aside a second xenos force. Unable to coordinate their assault in order to force a breakthrough in the Astartes' lines, the Eldar raiders were annihilated in a devastating massacre.Pursuit of the Voice (999.M41) - During the campaign, the Dark Angels and Space Wolves great mutual rivalry causes severe disruptions to the Imperial efforts in the defence of the Sentinel Worlds area. Though both forces operate in the same region for several weeks, both refuse to coordinate their actions, harming the ability of the Imperial Guard commanders on the ground to act, for they cannot rely upon the aid of either Chapter. The situation soon changes, as the Dark Angels abruptly leave the area in search of renegade individuals they refuse to identify. The Dark Angels seek a shadowy figure calling himself the "Voice of the Emperor", operating out of Lelithar. The Dark Angels launch a number of strikes against this figure, but on each occasion found that the pressures of constant attacks upon their hallowed ground of the Caliban System forces them to redeploy their forces. Each time the Dark Angels manage to close on the suspected location of the Voice, he somehow is able to slip through their clutches, leaving behind taunting, heretical graffiti. Harbouring an intense hatred for this individual, the Voice transmits a number of all-channel vox-casts throughout the war, making obscure references to the Ist Legion's earliest history, as well as making astonishing claims against their Primarch Lion El'Jonson. The Dark Angels and their successors vehemently rebut these blasphemous broadcasts. The Dark Angels trace the source of the comms-signals to a broadcasting device in deep space. Although difficult to measure with precision, it is estimated that its location amidst the dust-ridden clouds of debris would approximate where their home world of Caliban once was. The beacon is swiftly and unceremoniously destroyed. The Dark Angels and the Unforgiven relentless pursue this heretic and his followers and eventually capture him. But as the Voice lay languishing within the holds of one of their vessels he somehow, through some as yet unidentified means, managed to effect his escape.Fall of Cadia (999.M41) - A vast tide of Chaos-worshippers pours from the Eye of Terror into the Cadian Gate. Detecting many Fallen amongst the horde, the Dark Angels risk all by ordering the Unforgiven to join them in a headlong assault against the Renegade forces. Their forces split across the Cadian Sector, the Dark Angels are involved in many battles, including heroic defensive actions against a daemonic warhost led by the Greater Daemon Kharhnok. Increasing Warp Storm activity ensures the different forces cannot reunite. Only the 4th Company under Master Korahael arrives on Cadia itself, where they and their Strike Cruiser, Sword of Defiance, are lost during the final battles that lead to the fall of that world to Abaddon the Despoiler.The Galaxy Shakes (ca.999.M41) - Even protected by the psychic shielding of The Rock, the Librarians of the Dark Angels are struck down by a shock wave of terror and fell portents. Most of these visions are too fragmentary and fleeting to be recalled in detail, but the revelation experienced by Ezekiel, Grand Master of Librarians, sears itself into his mind. He sees the Fallen in their entirety, and their numbers are far greater than the worst fears of the Inner Circle would suggest. Luther had rebuilt the entire I Legion on Caliban, and a vast proportion of them had survived the planet's destruction, trapped within the Warp. Ezekiel's vision ends with an image of the galaxy in turmoil, and another truth becomes apparent: a great doom is coming.The Great Rift Opens (ca. 999.M41) - At first, all is utter blackness and the stars fade from the skies, but as the time of the Noctis Aeterna passes, the Imperium gazes out awestruck upon a new horror. The Cicatrix Maledictum -- commonly called the Great Rift -- splits reality across the galaxy, a hole in realspace hundreds of times greater than the Eye of Terror. The Rock is caught within the Imperium Nihilus, the galactic north that is wholly cut off from the light of the Emperor's Astronomican.Purge of Allhallow (Unknown Date.M42) - Allhallow was the Chapter homeworld of the Angels of Absolution. Sometime after the creation of the Great Rift, the T'au Empire began a purge of the population of Allhallow due to a psychic plague affecting its population. Secretly, the T'au were assisted by the Angels of Absolution's parent Chapter, the Dark Angels.Note: For the deeds of the Dark Angels and Unforgiven Chapters following the opening of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus, see the above history of the Chapter, starting with the section the "Great Rift Opens."