Dark Angels - Final Days of the Crusade: By this creed of strength and excellence the Ist Legion, the Dark Angels, lived and died, continuing the work of the Emperor in the last days of the Great Crusade. Wherever the tide of Imperial conquest slowed they were to be found, bright swords and grim resolve against the worst horrors of the galaxy. Lion El'Jonson, now long parted from the forests of Caliban and a staunch believer in the dream of Human empire embodied in his gene-father, fought with every moment given to him.He spent no time on parades, fortress-building or in petty squabbles with his kin, but went stoically from battle to battle. He and his Legion began to shun the gatherings of the Great Crusade and the fellowship of their brothers among the Legiones Astartes, scorning those who would fret over such frivolities while there remained enemies of power and strength to test their mettle against. As the years and wars wore on,a distance grew between the Dark Angels and the other Legions of the Imperium; few of the primarchs cared to take the time to seek out their reclusive brother as he and his Legion continued to whet their blades to a keen edge.They began to forget the deeds he and his warriors had performed, for he rarely spoke of them. All except one.Horus Lupercal, ever watchful, paid much heed to his brother and the actions of his Legion. Once he had tried to bind the Ist Legion to him, only to find the cipher of their ways a shield against his influence and their pride a foil to his manipulation. His and Lorgar's warrior lodges would find no purchase within the ranks of the Dark Angels, as they were shunned by the preceptors of the Orders Militant and the proctors of the wings of the Hexagrammaton as worthless and beneath them. The Dark Angels were not and never could be Horus' to command.The Dark Angels' master was as his Legion, a rock in which Horus Lupercal could find no crack or chink in which to fix his barbs, no psychological leash by which he could lead him along paths of his own choosing. The Lion was not well-liked among the brotherhood of the primarchs, but he had the respect of each and every one of his brothers, and more than that he had the trust of his father, the Emperor, and the keys to the hidden and ancient arsenals of Terra.Were the Emperor to choose a single one among his primarchs to lead, to stand at the head of the Great Crusade, then Lion El'Jonson was a choice easily understood, and this troubled the master of the Luna Wolves. So, when the conquest of Ullanor Prime loomed before Horus in 000.M30, he was sure to see the Lion and the Ist Legion diverted to far battlefields and tendered him no invitation to the great Triumph of Ullanor that followed.So it was that when Horus was crowned as the Warmaster of the Imperium the Lion was not present, a victory to the covetous mind of the newWarmaster. Yet this was one of the few miscalculations made by the shrewd intellect of the Warmaster. He counted all men of power to think as he did, yet while the Lion and the Wolf of Luna shared many traits, they were not the same.When news of Horus' new rank reached Lion El'Jonson he did not pause in his campaigns, nor did he offer congratulations or lament his own fortune and this, more than the reaction of any of his other brother primarchs, gave the Warmaster pause. When Horus' thoughts later turned to rebellion and treachery after his fall to Chaos in the Temple of the Serpent Lodge on Davin, it is likely that it was the Lion he marked as among the greatest of threats to his plans.The Dark Angels were both numerous and skilled in all the arts of war, with access to the armouries of Terra and psyarkana forbidden to all others, and their primarch was as inflexible as iron, loyal beyond doubt to the Emperor and resolute enough to rise up against any threat to his father's grand dream of Human unity.As with all of the primarchs, the Warmaster did not feel fear as did lesser mortals, but the thought of facing Lion El'Jonson in open battle gave him pause, and if he would not be turned to the Traitors' cause, then he must be removed.There were three Space Marine Legions Horus sought to remove from the path of his heresy before it began. The White Scars he hoped to preserve for his own use, the Blood Angels he hoped to destroy or corrupt -- but the Dark Angels he hoped to banish, to send far enough away that by the time they could return, his grim business would be complete.This was not to be, for the Lion would return to the Imperium as the sun returns to the horizon each morning, blinding and implacable, and he would reach for the heart of his fallen brother. Horus had loosed a beast the equal of any that lurked in the world-straddling forests of Caliban or the silent dark between the stars, one that would tear apart the Imperium if only to grasp a victory of ashes and blood.