vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Dante - Dante's Final Duty: Lord Commander Dante has grown weary of his burdens despite all of his success, or perhaps because of it. He has lived far longer than he should, and the burden of Terran centuries grows ever more cumbersome. Only one thing prevents Dante succumbing to ennui. Recorded in the Scrolls of Sanguinius are the primarch's visions of a great battle to overshadow all others. This vision was predicted before his death at the hands of Horus, that a lone "Golden Warrior" would ultimately stand between the Emperor of Mankind and His destruction. Many Imperial scholars have assumed this prophecy refers to Sanguinius' own stand against Horus aboard his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit, during the Battle of Terra at the end of the Horus Heresy. Through some inherent instinct, perhaps a lingering trace of his Primarch's fabled far-seeing eye, Dante believes otherwise. One day, perhaps one day soon, the defence of the now-helpless Emperor, who resides trapped on His Golden Throne, will rest in Dante's hands, and he aims to fulfil this final duty before the darkness claims him.Commander Dante never expected to see his Chapter's final days, yet he faced them unbowed. He never expected to see a Primarch returned, yet he knelt before Roboute Guilliman with thankful hearts. When Guilliman named Dante as his Regent of the Imperium Nihilus, the Lord of Baal felt the hand of fate land heavy upon his shoulder. With the fury of the Great Rift unleashed, a darkness looms more terrible than any in the Imperium's history. The Blood Angels now stand before that darkness with the throne of Terra at their backs, and will have to fight like never before.Coupled with the revitalising purpose of this new duty is the fresh hope brought by the Primaris Space Marines, the possibility that perhaps the Sons of Sanguinius will not burn out like a guttering candle. It is said amongst the Blood Angels that Commander Dante has never stood taller, even as he does so in the face of such terrible adversity. The Regent of the Imperium Nihilus has sworn to purge his dark new realm of the taint of Chaos, even should it take another thousand Terran years and more. After all, it is amidst the darkest night that such golden angels shine the brightest.
Dante - Angel's Halo Campaign: Following his ascension to become the lord regent of the Imperium Nihilus, Dante used his new authority over the Imperial forces in his half of galaxy to organise an Imperial counter-offensive to retake the Red Scar region from tendrils of the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Leviathan. This campaign was known as the Angel's Halo.At some point following the Devastation of Baal, Dante elected to undergo the brutal surgery required to cross the Rubicon Primaris and ascend to become a Primaris Space Marine.
Dante - Sources: Codex Adeptus Astartes - Blood Angels (7th Edition), pp. 15, 32-33, 51, 64, 66-67, 95, 99, 101, 103, 180-181Codex Adeptus Astartes - Blood Angels (8th Edition), pp. 22-23, 26-27, 76Codex: Blood Angels (4th Edition), pg. 6Codex: Blood Angels (5th Edition), pp. 9, 12, 14-17, 23, 29, 40-41, 51, 53, 66, 82, 180-181Codex: Angels of Death (2nd Edition)Dante (Novel) by Guy HaleyDevastation of Baal (Novel) by Guy Haley, Chs. 15, 29Deathwatch: First Founding (RPG), pg. 39Index Astartes II, "Angels of Death - The Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter"Shield of Baal: Exterminatus (Campaign Supplement) (Digital Edition), pp. 10-11, 17-19, 21-22, 26-28, 31-32, 36, 44-46, 49-50, 54, 64, 118-119, 121, 127-128, 130-132, 137-138, 150, 154-155, 157-158, 160, 164-165, 172, 179, 181, 206, 210, 213, 227-228, 231-232, 235, 238, 240, 242, 265-270, 275, 279, 292, 314, 316-317, 319, 322, 326, 328, 330, 332, 334-335, 337Warhammer 40,000 Rulebook (6th Edition), pg. 181Warlords of the Dark Millennium - Dante (Digital Edition), pp. 3-4, 6-12, 21-26White Dwarf 194 (US), "Lords of Baal: Blood Angels Characters", pp. 11–14White Dwarf 228 (US), "Codex Blood Angels - Angels of Death"White Dwarf 261 (US), "Index Astartes First Founding - Angels of Death, The Blood Angels Space Marine Chapter"White Dwarf 262 (AUS), "Index Astartes – Blood Angels"White Dwarf 299 (UK), "Angels of Death: Codex Space Marines Preview"White Dwarf 329 (US), "Sons of Sanguinius" and "Standard Bearer", pp. 74, 87White Dwarf 330 (UK), "Blood Angels Official Codex: Part IWhite Dwarf 331 (UK), "Blood Angels Official Codex: Part IIBloodquest II: Into the Eye of Terror by Gordon Rennie and illustrated by Colin MacNeilBloodquest III: The Daemon's Mark by Gordon Rennie and illustrated by Colin MacNeilThe Blood Angels Omnibus by James SwallowDeus Encarmine (Novel) by James SwallowDeus Sanguinius (Novel) by James SwallowRed Fury (Novel) by James SwallowBlack Tide (Novel) by James SwallowThe Word of the Silent King (Short Story) by Laurie GouldingDante's Canyon (Short Story) by Josh ReynoldsBlood Angel's Quick Reads Collection: The Angels of Death (Ebook Collection)Dante: Lord of the Host ((Short Story) by James SwallowPsychic Awakening: Blood of Baal (8th Edition), pp. 8-9Games Workshop Catalogue - Lord Commander DanteWarhammer Community - Artefacts of the Blood AngelsWarhammer Community - The Legendary Commander Dante Crosses the Rubicon Primaris
Dargonus - Dargonus: Dargonus is an Imperial Civilised World in the Mundus Valancius system of the Koronus Expanse in the Segmentum Obscurus that serves as the capital planet of the Rogue Trader House von Valancius' protectorate.In order to govern a Rogue Trader dynasty and the great many assets under its purview, there must be a guiding hand and central powerbase from which the Rogue Trader's presence might extend. A place for the Administratum to erect their bureaucratic monuments, for the glories of a dynasty's lineage to be arrayed, for politics to be played, galas to be held and raids to be repelled.Dargonus is the foremost jewel of the von Valancius dynasty, resplendent with the glories of past conquests and ventures undertaken by Lord Captain Theodora von Valancius and her predecessors. It hosted a vast conglomerate of noble families that hailed from the dynasty's supplicant worlds within its protectorate. Each had sworn an oath of fealty to the house long before Theodora's heir apparent rose to power as the new Lord Captain, but each with their own realm of influence within the von Valancius Protectorate. And each vassal family participates in an endless competition with their counterparts to jockey for the Lord Captain's efforts and attention, always seeking to curry their favor so the prosperity they find might spill out onto their family first and foremost.However, the eternal politicking and administrative efforts of Dargonus have ground to a halt while the von Valancius fleets idle in orbit of it. For, just like the rest, this twinkling gem of affluence is cut off from the wider Koronus Expanse in the wake of recent Warp storms.Without the overview of a Rogue Trader, a capital world such as Dargonus is left to its own devices in a manner worse than most. Its people are without material goods, without food and left with a fleet overhead too crowded to be maintained for a long period of time. But those left in the Lord Captain's stead as their regents are valiant, level-headed men and women who have immense experience in steering ships through tumultuous storms. Political jockeying can be set aside. Once bitter rivals might come together and work, albeit begrudgingly, toward a brighter horizon.It cannot last forever, though, so the Lord Captain must hurry home before something worse than isolation rears its head.
Darius Hinks - Darius Hinks: Darius Hinks is an author for Games Workshop's Black Library imprint.
Darius Hinks - Blackstone Fortress: Blackstone Fortress (2018, ISBN 1-78496-928-1)Talisman of Vaul (Short story) (2019, collected in Vaults of Obsidian (Anthology))The Beast Inside (Short story) (2019, collected in Vaults of Obsidian (Anthology))Blackstone Fortress: Ascension (2020, ISBN 1-78999-297-4)
Darius Hinks - The Horus Heresy: The Primarchs: The Sinew of War (Short Story) (Collected in Scions of the Emperor (Anthology))
Darius Hinks - Mephiston: Mephiston: Blood of Sanguinius (2017, ISBN 1-78496-570-7)Mephiston: Revenant Crusade (2018, ISBN 1-78496-853-6)Mephiston: City of Light (2019, ISBN 1-78999-131-5)
Darius Hinks - Necromunda: Redemption (Short Story) (Collected in Underhive (Anthology))Burned (Short Story) (Collected in Underhive (Anthology))
Darius Hinks - Space Marine Battles: Sanctus (Novella) (2012, collected in Architect of Fate (Anthology))
Darius Hinks - Warhammer Crime: Exit Wound (Short Story) (Collected in No Good Men (Anthology))
Darius Hinks - Warhammer Horror: A Threnody for Kolchev (Short Story) (2020, collected in Anathemas (Anthology))The Funeral (Short Story) (2020, collected in Anathemas (Anthology))
Darius Hinks - Others: Calculus Logi (Short Story) (Collected in What Price Victory (Anthology))
Darius Melk - Darius Melk: Darius Melk, whose formal title is Sire Darius Melk XIV, Lord of the Quartervest, Holder of the Endless March, Warden of the Crux Mortem, Thrice Decorated for Bravery by Lord Dolmar Martialis, is an unscupulous and greedy scion of House Straxamus, an Imperial noble house. He currently serves as an Acolyte of the Ordo Hereticus in the retinue of Inquisitor Grendyl. He is engaged with the rest of Grendyl's warband in scouring the Nurglish Chaos corruption from the lower levels of Hive Tertium of the Moebian world of Atoma Prime. He operates like the rest of the warband from the mobile headquarters they have set up upon the requisitioned Rogue Trader frigate Mourningstar.Melk is essentially an intelligence analyst for the warband. His responsibilities include collating and analysing reports from reconnaissance teams, Grendyl's Wyrmwood deep cover agents and loyal citizens of Hive Tertium who risk their lives to deliver vital intelligence about the plans and actions of the Cult of Admonition and the Traitoris Militarum of the Moebian 6th Regiment. Melk identifies priority targets, enemy supply lines and transitory weaknesses in the Heretics' growing forces.Melk also runs the Requisitorium aboard the Mourningstar, where other Acolytes can come to carry out contracts that usually obtain something useful for Melk in return for the right to purchase unusually powerful weapons and other wargear that Melk may have "acquired" elsewhere.
Dark Angels - Chapter History: The Dark Angels were the first of the Emperor's Space Marine Legions, and in their earliest incarnation fought as the personal army of the Master of Mankind in the dawning years of the Great Crusade and in the shadowed campaigns that had preceded it. As the prototype of what were to become the Legiones Astartes, they served in the final days of the Unification Wars and the early years of the Great Crusade both as the template for the more specialised Legions that were to come after them and a standard by which these successors would be measured. They were also among the best equipped of Imperial units, making use of large numbers of advanced archeotech and Plasma Weapons.In this period, the Dark Angels were not even known as the Ist Legion as no others existed yet, for the Emperor simply referred to them as His "Angels of Death" or the "Six Hosts." These transhuman troops dominated the final days of the Wars of Unification, easily defeating all their Terran opponents and forcing those among the Tech-priests of Mars who had intervened in the conflict on Terra in the hope of delaying the Emperor's final victory to sue for peace.From this point on, the Ist Legion ascended in power and the height of the Emperor's favour.But once the most numerous and powerful of the Space Marine Legions, the Ist Legion's numbers would be depleted and its primacy ended by the middle years of the Great Crusade due to solar decades of savage warfare, particularly in the wars of the Rangdan Xenocides, one of the most apocalyptic campaigns of the Great Crusade.The scars of these battles would change them, as would their reunification with their Primarch Lion El'Jonson and the introduction of fresh blood from his adopted homeworld of Caliban. A Death World dominated by a warlike, feudal society of techno-barbarians, Caliban's warrior orders provided fertile ground for the Legion's regeneration, and its martial codes and practices were extensively incorporated and adopted by the rebuilding Legion.
Dark Angels - Late Great Crusade: Twenty Legions of Space Marines were created by the Emperor during the Great Crusade to join and lead His quest to unite all of Humanity under the aegis of the Imperium of Man. The nascent proto-Legion, known as the Primus or Ist Legion (later renamed after a series of cognomens including "The First," the "Angels of Death" and the "Uncrowned Princes" as the Angelis Tenebraium or Dark Angels) was the very first of those original "First Founding" Legions to be created at the beginning of the Great Crusade.The Ist Legion was raised first to active service in a staged process of testing and trials before the full active force was created through mass recruitment. Each stage of creation resulted in an expansion of the gene-seed implantation on progressively larger groups of neophytes.During the Unification Wars on Terra, they were the first of the Space Marine Legions to be created and were therefore originally under the command of the Emperor Himself.Once the Emperor discovered Lion El'Jonson on Caliban, however, the primarch took command of the Dark Angels Legion that had been created from his genetic stock, and he was granted command of the 4th Expeditionary Fleet of the Great Crusade.
Dark Angels - Compliance of Molech: One of Lion El'Jonson's earliest campaigns as commander of the newly-dubbed Dark Angels Legion, was the Imperial Compliance of the newly discovered Knight World of Molech. This was a massive joint-Compliance operation between multiple Legiones Astartes, including the Dark Angels, Luna Wolves, Emperor's Children, White Scars and thousands of Imperialis Auxilia soldiers and various Mechanicum and Legio Titanicus assets.Cyprian Devine of House Devine was named planetary governor of Molech. In the presence of several of His primarch sons, the Emperor led them to a Warp Gate hidden underground, where He proceeded to utilise it to enter into the Realm of Chaos to parley with the Ruinous Powers.When He finally returned, the Emperor appeared aged, but much more powerful. He then psychically suppressed His sons' memories of Molech and stationed a large garrison force comprised of nearly 100 Imperialis Auxilia regiments, three Legio Titanicus cohorts, along with detachments from two Space Marine Legions to protect the secrets of the Warp Gate on Molech.
Dark Angels - Horus Heresy: Unyielding, technologically capable, ruthless and insular, the Dark Angels at the time of the Horus Heresy would once again be a powerful and highly independent Legion, used to operating on their own to conduct large-scale campaigns and Compliance actions.Because of this, the fear of the Ist Legion's intervention led the machinations of the Warmaster Horus to ensure that when his treacherous plans came to fruition, the Dark Angels had been despatched to the outer edges of the Imperium where they would be unable to interfere, at least for a time.As the Horus Heresy progressed however, the power of this Legion would make itself known, savaging the Night Lords at Thramas and going on to unleash destruction on an unprecedented scale during the later years of the Heresy when they crushed Traitor world after Traitor world across the southern galactic zone.
Dark Angels - Suppression of the Gordian League: During the 200th year of the Great Crusade, 998.M30, the Dark Angels Legion was carrying out an Imperial Compliance campaign against the Shield Worlds of the so-called Gordian League -- a confederation of Human worlds who were allied with degenerate xenos.During the seven-Terran-year-long campaign, in 005.M31, the Dark Angels' high command received word that the Warmaster Horus and his XVIth Legion had renounced their oaths of allegiance to the Emperor, along with the Primarch Angron's World Eaters, Mortarion's Death Guard and Fulgrim's Emperor's Children. They also received word of the atrocity committed against the doomed world of Isstvan III, when Horus ordered it to be virus-bombed to eliminate the remaining Loyalist Astartes from those four Traitor Legions still active upon it, rendering it a lifeless Dead World.The Warmaster knew that the Emperor would respond with all the force He had available. Jonson believed that the Dark Angels' deployment to the Shield Worlds on Horus' orders was part of an effort to scatter the Imperium's most loyal servants as far as possible in order to minimise the number of Legions Horus would have to face at any given time.Even so, the strike force of seven full Space Marine Legions ordered to the Isstvan System in response to the Warmaster's treachery posed a dire threat to Horus' survival, as they made their way towards his forward operating base on the world of Isstvan V.
Dark Angels - Thramas Crusade: Following the victory of the Drop Site Massacre, Horus called a meeting of the primarchs of 8 of the Traitor Legions (minus the participation of the Alpha Legion's Primarch Alpharius) aboard his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit.Five of the primarchs, including four who had fought at Isstvan V, met in person, including Horus, Fulgrim, Angron, Mortarion and Lorgar. Three appeared through the use of hololithic emitters that transmitted their signals through the Warp, including Perturabo, Konrad Curze and Magnus the Red, who had only recently joined the Traitors after the Scouring of Prospero when the broken remains of his XVth Legion had been transported by Tzeentch into the Eye of Terror to the Planet of the Sorcerers.The Thousand Sons, bitter at what they perceived as their betrayal by the Emperor, now willingly became the ninth Traitor Legion. The council of Traitor primarchs made their plans for the next step in their war against the Emperor and then each Legion went its way according to its assigned role.In 007.M31, Konrad Curze's fleet departed, bound for the planet of Tsagualsa, a remote world in the Eastern Fringe that lay shrouded in the shadow of a great asteroid belt. From there, the Night Lords Legion's terror troops would begin a campaign of genocide against the Imperial strongholds of Heroldar and Thramas, star systems that, if not taken, would leave the flanks of the Warmaster's strike on Terra vulnerable to attack.This campaign would also delay the Dark Angels Legion from reinforcing the Loyalists. The Thramas System was of particular importance, as it comprised a number of Mechanicum Forge Worlds whose loyalty was still to the Emperor.This bitterly contested campaign, known as the Thramas Crusade, dragged on for nearly three standard years. In an attempt to sway his brother Lion El'Jonson to Horus' cause, the Night Haunter left a deep-void beacon in the patrol path of one of the Dark Angels' outrider vessels.The beacon was set to transmit coordinates in advance, so that the two primarchs could meet and parley on the planet of Tsagualsa. Night Haunter wanted to break his former brother either mentally, physically or both to obtain his objectives.The primarchs were accompanied by two warriors from their personal honour guards to the parley. The meeting began amicably enough between the two as they conversed with relative civility. This amity lasted only until the Night Haunter slandered El'Jonson, and in return the Lion struck his former brother.This melee further degenerated into an all-out brawl between the two sides. As Curze strangled the life out of El'Jonson, one of the Dark Angels honour guardsmen ran his sword through the Night Haunter's back, saving his primarch's life.Eventually both Legions sent reinforcements in response to this incident. Each side dragged away their respective primarchs from the scene of the combat. Both primarchs survived this brutal confrontation and went on to continue the contest between their Legions for control of the Aegis Sub-sector.
Dark Angels - Battle of Perditus: In 008.M31, the Dark Angels received intelligence from an astropathic message from the nearby Perditus System about Traitor movements. They immediately moved to intercept. Upon arrival, they interrupted the month-long conflict between the Iron Hands 98th Clan-Company, led by Casalir Lorramech and a large Death Guard contingent, led by First Captain Calas Typhon.Both sides had been fighting over an ancient sentient device, known as the Tuchulcha Engine. This device was part of a triumvirate of similar sentient devices (another being the Ouroboros and a third, unnamed engine) which when combined could create temporal rifts that bridge space and time.On its own, the Tuchulcha was capable of precise and extremely efficient Warp jumps. Faced with the prospect of fighting the entirety of the much larger Ist Legion fleet, both sides retreated from the planet's surface at the Lion's request.Wary of both sides' motives, especially those of the Death Guard's First Captain Calas Typhon, the Lion prevented the device from falling into the Death Guard's hands. Jonson proceeded to serve his own ambitions and requisitioned the device for his own use.The Lion ordered the destruction of Perditus, much to the consternation of both commanders. He used the Tuchulcha Engine to make a Warp jump, but during their sojourn through the Immaterium, the Dark Angels were beset by daemons.The Lion reinstituted his Legion's Librarian corps to fight these nefarious Warp-spawned creatures. As this was in direct violation of the Emperor's Decree Absolute at the Council of Nikaea, this caused a dispute within the Legion that eventually came to a head when the enraged Lion slew Chaplain Nemiel.During the height of the Battle of Perditus, the Lion encountered the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch known as Kairos Fateweaver, who attempted to convert the primarch to the cause of the Ruinous Powers, but failed miserably, as he had nothing to sway the Lion to their cause.The Lion told the foul creature that absolute loyalty to the Emperor was reward enough, and impaled the Lord of Change through its black heart. At the same time, he mockingly asked the daemon if he had "foreseen" his defeat.
Dark Angels - Hunting the Night Haunter: Utlising the Tuchulcha Engine a second time, the Dark Angels were able to execute a meticulously planned ambush on the Night Lords' fleet while it was in transit across the Tsagualsa Sub-sector that saw the back of the Night Lords Legion broken and their primarch mortally wounded after having faced his brother El'Jonson once again in mortal combat.Thanks to the skilled coordination and superb execution of the Lion, the Night Lords fleet was devastated, losing dozens of capital ships and approximately one-quarter of their Legion fleet to the Dark Angels' assault.Unfortunately, the remainder of the Night Lords fleet fled the Dark Angels' wrath, taking their critically wounded primarch with them before the Lion could finally end his wretched life.Later, after a period of recovery, Cruze, his First Captain Sevatar and the elite Night Lords Atramentar Terminators led a desperate boarding assault action upon the Dark Angels' flagship Invincible Reason. This resulted in the death of all but a dozen of the Atramentar and the capture of Sevatar and the remaining survivors.Konrad Curze fled El'Jonson's wrath, evading the Dark Angels for solar months, stalking the shadows within the bowels of their flagship, and continued to wreak terror and chaos amongst the mortal crew.The Night Lords primarch also killed every hunter-killer team sent by the Lion to hunt him down. After losing several squads of Dark Angels, the Lion himself took up the hunt for Curze, stalking him throughout the Invincible Reason for the next sixteen solar weeks.However, he could never find his elusive brother primarch. At some point, the remaining Night Lords captives somehow managed to affect their escape and fled into the void.
Dark Angels - Imperium Secundus: With the torrential Ruinstorm raging, blocking out the light of the Astronomican and causing Warp travel to be all but impossible, the Imperium was effectively cut in half during much of the Horus Heresy following the Battle of Calth. The Dark Angels came to the realisation that they were unable to return to Terra to assist in its defence, even with the use of the Tuchulcha Engine.Miraculously, they managed to lock onto the beacon of the strange alien device known as the Pharos, on the world of Sotha, which guided the Ist Legion fleet safely through the Warp and to the Realm of Ultramar's capital world of Macragge.There, they were greeted by Roboute Guilliman and Sanguinius, whose Blood Angels Legion was also guided to the Realm of Ultramar by the Pharos.The three primarchs were instrumental in the foundation of the "Imperium Secundus" as a means of continuing the fight against the Traitors and securing the Emperor's great work. Guilliman proclaimed Sanguinius as the rightful heir to the Emperor and declared him the new ruler of Imperium Secundus.Lion El'Jonson was made the Lord Protector of this new empire of Humanity and supreme commander over all its military forces, a title that was similar to that of Warmaster. Unfortunately, the foundation of Imperium Secundus was marred when Curze escaped from the Invincible Reason and rampaged across Macragge, intent on spreading as much terror and chaos as he could.Eventually, both Guilliman and the Lion confronted the cornered Curze. Their attempts to kill him were unsuccessful as the Night Lords primarch had laid a cunning trap. He brought down an entire chapel upon the two primarchs through the use of planted explosives and fled the scene.Guilliman and the Lion were only saved through the direct intervention of the Loyalist Iron Warriors Warsmith Barabas Dantioch, who was communicating with Guilliman at the time of the attack through a portal that was opened by the Pharos. On instinct, the Warsmith reached through the portal and pulled the two primarchs to safety on Sotha.
Dark Angels - Battle of Zepath: Feeling directly responsible for the Night Haunter's rampage on Macragge, the Lion continued to obsessively hunt his wayward former brother for the next two Terran years. In 011.M31, El'Jonson eventually was able to trace a slim lead on Curze's whereabouts to the Zepath System, which had since fallen to the Word Bearers and World Eaters forces during their Shadow Crusade.Farith Redloss, the Lieutenant-elect of the Dark Angels' Dreadwing, was charged with leading the hunt for Konrad Curze upon the world of Zepath. The Dark Angels quickly uncovered the horrors perpetrated by the Word Bearers for their dark rituals on that planet.Eventually, the Dark Angels took part in multiple engagements against the forces of both Traitor Legions, which culminated in the capital city of Numentis. The Traitor forces were utterly annihilated by the victorious Dark Angels and the world was left in the care of its surviving population.Meanwhile, another detachment of Dark Angels under Captain Ormand reinforced the Space Wolves against the Alpha Legion at the Alaxxes Nebula while another under Corswain was tasked by the Lion with hunting down Calas Typhon following the Battle of Perditus.
Dark Angels - Passage of the Angels and the Crusade of Vengeance: At some point before or during the Siege of Terra, the Astronomican went dark for the Dark Angels fleet. Fearing that Terra had fallen to Horus, El'Jonson became nihilistic and instead of moving towards Terra pledged himself to vengeance through the destruction of as much of the Traitors' territory as he could. Using the rationalization of attacking the traitor homeworlds in hopes of drawing reinforcements away from Terra to his troops, El'Jonson oversaw the destruction of Chemos and Barbarus in a spiteful purge dubbed the "Passage of the Angels." Without the Astronomican, the Dark Angels continued to rely on the Tuchulcha Engine for guidance through the Warp.The Lion eventually ordered the Dark Angels fleet to head to Deliverance, the homeworld of the Raven Guard Legion where Corvus Corax and Leman Russ of the Space Wolves Legion were currently mustering their forces. The Lion was quick to question Corax's absence from the major fronts of the war, but his wrath was quickly extinguished by Russ, who pointed out that the Space Wolves' own survival was still an asset of great worth even if Terra remained beyond their reach.Russ declared he would join El'Jonson's so-called "Crusade of Vengeance," including with Space Wolves warriors equipped with the new suits of Mark VI Corvus Power Armour produced on Kiavahr. Yet Corax was cautious to commit his badly mauled Legion to what he saw as a needlessly spiteful waste of resources for a purely emotional gain, and only assigned a small expeditionary force of the Raven Guard to accompany the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels.Eventually, the Dark Angels made course for Terra on the Lion's command, but arrived too late to influence the outcome of the Siege of Terra or prevent the Emperor from being mortally wounded by Horus and interred on the Golden Throne.
Dark Angels - Beginning of the Hunt: The Masters of the Ist Legion greeted this new shock with typical stoicism, despite the inner turmoil it created. On the one hand, they feared their nightmare would be revealed -- that while the Fallen lived, knowledge of their Legion's treachery against the Emperor might be spread throughout the galaxy.On the other hand, the continued existence of the Traitors offered hope, for if the Renegades could be tracked down and forced to repent, then the sins of the Legion might be absolved, washed away in the blood of the Fallen. The Grand Masters of the nascent Inner Circle swore that so long as even one of the Fallen remained alive and unrepentant, the Dark Angels would be Unforgiven, cursed by their brothers to atone for all eternity.So began the secret mission that would prove the driving force behind the Dark Angels' and their successors' actions for millennia to come. To this day, the Dark Angels and their Successor Chapters of the Unforgiven continue to wage a war of repentance to wipe this secret stain from the honour of the old Ist Legion.They can never truly rest until every one of the Fallen has been eliminated. Dark Angels hold the duty of capturing or killing the Fallen as their most important duty, superseding all other necessities. There have been cases where the Dark Angels have literally left the battlefield in the middle of combat against the Emperor's foes in order to chase down a suspected sighting of a Fallen Angel.
Dark Angels - Siege of the Fenris System: In 999.M41, the return of the heavily mutated Space Wolves 13th Company prompted Supreme Grand Master Azrael to launch a crusade to the Fenris System, which upon arrival was found to be in the throes of a daemonic invasion.Seeing no other recourse, Azrael ordered the bombardment of one of the most infested of the system's worlds, Midgardia, even as the shape-shifting Changeling was detected aboard The Rock. It was revealed that the daemon had 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 followed, 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 was repelled. Despite their brief alliance, however, the Dark Angels' relationship with the Space Wolves was left more frayed than ever by their confrontation.
Dark Angels - 13th Black Crusade: In ca. late 999.M41, a vast tide of Chaos worshippers poured from the Eye of Terror into the Cadian Gate, unleashing Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade. Detecting many Fallen amongst the horde, the Dark Angels risked 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 were involved in many battles, including heroic defensive actions against a daemonic warhost led by the Greater Daemon Kharhnok.Increasing Warp Storm activity ensured the different forces could not reunite. Only the 4th Company under Master Korahael arrived on Cadia itself, where they and their strike cruiser, Sword of Defiance, were lost during the final battles as that Fortress World at last fell to Chaos, consumed by the growing tides of the Warp.
Dark Angels - Great Rift Opens: As the 13th Black Crusade consumed Cadia, even protected by the psychic shielding of The Rock, the Librarians of the Dark Angels were struck down by a shock wave of terror and fell portents. Most of these visions were too fragmentary and fleeting to be recalled in detail, but the revelation experienced by Ezekiel, the Grand Master of Librarians, seared itself into his mind.He saw the Fallen in their entirety, and their numbers were far greater than the worst fears of the Inner Circle had suggested. Luther had rebuilt the entire Ist Legion while on Caliban, and a vast proportion of them had survived the planet's destruction, trapped within the Warp.Ezekiel's vision ended with an image of the galaxy in turmoil, and another truth became apparent: a great doom was coming.That doom became apparent soon after the fall of Cadia at the triumphal climax of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade in ca. 999.M41. At first, all was utter blackness and the stars faded from the skies, but as the time of the Noctis Aeterna passed, the Imperium gazed out awestruck upon a new horror.The Cicatrix Maledictum -- commonly called the Great Rift -- split reality across the galaxy, a hole in realspace hundreds of times greater than the Eye of Terror. The Rock was caught within the Imperium Nihilus, the galactic north that was wholly cut off from the light of the Emperor's Astronomican.
Dark Angels - Escape of Luther: Even as the isolation of the Noctis Aeterna passed, The Rock was invaded. A Daemon army led by the Fallen Daemon Prince Marbas penetrated the formidable Void Shields that surrounded the Dark Angels' asteroid base.Fighting took place along the docks, within the grand halls, and even in the labyrinthine sub-levels and dungeons that burrowed deep into The Rock. As the conflict reached its climactic point, the invaders disappeared with the same suddenness with which they had manifested, having ultimately achieved little beyond mindless slaughter and destruction...or so it was believed among the Chapter's brethren.There was one, however, who knew otherwise. In the deepest dungeon, a secret prisoner known only to the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels -- the Arch-betrayer Luther -- was set free.Azrael suspected the entire battle had been merely a diversion so that nefarious agents of the Fallen could accomplish their true task -- yet it is a theory that he must keep to himself, for none else must know of Luther's imprisonment for so long...and his escape.
Dark Angels - Massacre at Darkmor: Elements of half a dozen Unforgiven Chapters descended upon the Shrine World of Darkmor, including multiple companies from the Angels of Vengeance, the Consecrators and the Guardians of the Covenant. All had followed their Librarians' scryings to the planet, searching for the newly materialised Fallen. It was not long before they discovered that they were not the hunters, however, but the hunted.The Warp Storms that subsided to allow their armies into Darkmor's orbit returned in force. On the planet's surface, the Unforgiven found the world's vast cathedrals in ruins and its populace slaughtered. Awaiting in ambush are armies of daemons, Chaos Space Marines and Renegades.What followed was the worst single incident of losses suffered by the Unforgiven since the Forgotten Wars. Less than a hundred Space Marines from an original contingent of a thousand managed to escape, and they did so only because they pursued Cypher, who, in his attempt to flee, led them to a secret teleportation device.
Dark Angels - The Primarch's Summit and the Primaris Unforgiven: In the wake of the recent catastrophic events, Supreme Grand Master Azrael decided to convene an emergency council of the Unforgiven's other Supreme Grand Masters, several of whom were still nearby following the Darkmor Massacre.The Dark Angels' Librarians succeeded in piercing the veil of the Great Rift and sending out a scattered astropathic summons -- though several died to achieve the feat -- and soon every loyal son of the Lion was preparing to embark on a perilous journey to The Rock.Not all found their way to that last fragment of their ancestral home. Entire Successor Chapters became lost in the Warp, while others found themselves bogged down in one of the galaxy's many raging conflicts.It is when Azrael finally decided he could wait no longer for the remaining successors to arrive that he was informed of a new fleet transitioning into orbit around The Rock; it was not a waylaid Chapter of the Unforgiven that it bore, however, but the resurrected Lord Commander of the Imperium.Azrael, his forces depleted and his Chapter's stronghold battered, feared the worst -- that the newly returned primarch of the Ultramarines, Roboute Guilliman, knew the truth of the Dark Angels' hidden past, and brought judgement with him.Debating whether to order the withdrawal of the assembled Unforgiven Chapters, or to make a stand and take up arms against the primarch's delegation, at last the Supreme Grand Master decided upon neither, allowing Guilliman's fleets to dock without incident.It soon became clear that the lord commander and the remaining ships of the Indomitus Crusade fleet came not to deliver censure, but much needed reinforcements.From the depths of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl's vast freighter-hulk marched Primaris Space Marines, created from the purest genetic material ever taken from Lion El'Jonson. Rank upon rank of them entered The Rock clad in new variants of Mark X Power Armour painted in the colours of the Dark Angels and their successors.At a brief war council, Guilliman outlined the threats facing the Imperium and his plans to continue the Indomitus Crusade. He also spoke of the updated Codex Astartes, and how his brother El'Jonson's descendants had earned the right to maintain their specialised wings and unique order of battle, as long as they continued to serve the Emperor well. So did Azrael and the other Supreme Grand Masters kneel before Guilliman, and pledge their Chapters to the new Imperium.
Dark Angels - The Dark Imperium: In the wake of their Primaris reinforcement, the Dark Angels moved into the darkest reaches of the galaxy, now shorn from the light of the Emperor. There Azrael could more easily coordinate the Inner Circle, responding to the myriad distress calls that flooded in from the isolated and Warp Storm-battered worlds of the galactic north.In addition to breaking sieges and rescuing beleaguered populations, the Dark Angels and their successors continued the eternal hunt for the Fallen, especially pursuing any signs of Cypher and the Daemon Prince Marbas --  which only Azrael knows may be the key to locating Luther.
Dark Angels - War Zone Stygius: The Changeling instigated uprisings all across the Warp Storm-wracked Imperium Nihilus, leaving entire star systems ripe for invasion. The Dark Angels and several Unforgiven Chapters joined the campaigns against the Changehosts of Tzeentch in what became known as the Invasion of the Stygius Sector, fighting alongside the Mordian Iron Guard and the Space Wolves against countless Renegades and the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion.Although tensions between the Dark Angels and Space Wolves are as high as always, the situation is so dire that there are no conflicts between them save only the expected ritual combat between champions. Initial losses were swiftly recuperated, but it soon became apparent that they could no longer achieve victory.Only the unexpected appearance of an Aeldari strike force from Ulthwé allowed the Space Marines to safely withdraw, leaving much of the Stygius System to its fate beneath the minions of Tzeentch.
Dark Angels - The Coming Storm: Rumours, psychic signatures and the torture-wrought confessions of captured prisoners tell of a mustering of the Archenemy within the darkest recesses of the Warp-shrouded Imperium Nihilus. They speak of a gathering of many of the Fallen Angels in the Somnium Stars, a corrupted Dark Angels Legion reassembling in numbers enough to bring the entire galaxy to heel.Azrael alone suspected the truth of who was leading them, and the terrible conflict to come...
Dark Angels - Awakening: In the Era Indomitus, during the Arks of Omen Campaign, Lion El'Jonson awoke at last from his ten-thousand-year long sleep within the very heart of The Rock. While his brother primarch Roboute Guilliman's forté lies in matters of command and administration -- a task he accomplishes with aplomb -- Lion El'Jonson was ever a warrior, a hunter and killer, first and foremost. Now awakened into a galaxy of darkness and insanity, he strides between the stars on a mission of vengeance.Yet, somehow, long before his return reached the ears of the wider galaxy, the Lion's legend had begun to spread from planet to planet within Imperial space -- disconnected worlds united by a mysterious figure who stalked from mist-wreathed passageways to cut down fearsome monsters like chaff. Some knew him as the "Cowled Giant" or the "Unforgiving Knight," or even mistakenly as the "Emperor Incarnate," and his arrival was always heralded by an apparition of ancient forests fading from the aether.The true nature of this empyric travel is known only to the primarch himself, but as he lay slumbering beneath The Rock his dreams often returned to the Calibanite forests of his youth. Could he have been borne in his restless sleep to other worlds by the ghosts of that same arboreal realm, slain in the destruction of Caliban? He's certainly not telling, but the practical applications of this ability to appear as if from nowhere through the Warp are not lost on him.
Dark Angels - Notable Campaigns: Using The Rock as their mobile fortress-monastery, the Dark Angels have crisscrossed the galaxy bringing war to the Emperor's enemies. Few other Space Marine Chapters can match their roll call of victories -- for they have fought in the forefront of many of the most crucial battles in the Imperium's history.For the Dark Angels, however, no action ever is enough to atone for the sins of their ancestors -- they remain the Unforgiven until every last Fallen Angel has been captured, repented and accepted the Emperor's Peace.When the Dark Angels achieve a battlefield objective, they immediately leave to seek their next engagement. They are not a Chapter who rebuilds shattered Imperial worlds or performs humanitarian missions -- they are the Emperor's warriors, bred solely for battle.After every combat, they reclaim their wounded and fallen comrades and any prisoners they have taken before returning to their orbiting fleet.As a general rule, the secretive Dark Angels do not share battle records with the Administratum. They comply with the letter of Imperial law which requires that astropathic reports be made to Terra concerning their campaigns, but these communications remain minimal.The Imperium's knowledge of the Chapter's plans and actions are vague, on a par with only the Space Wolves, who are infamous for the utter disregard they show the bureaucrats of the Adeptus Administratum. The Imperium gleans most of its knowledge about the Dark Angels' activities from outside reports, such as those submitted by those Planetary Governors and Imperial Commanders who fought beside them, or from the Inquisitors sent to inspect them.With their triumphs far too numerous to list in full here in this limited space, what follows are those battles that the Dark Angels themselves consider worthy of special commemoration by the Chapter.
Dark Angels - Hierarchy and Structure: The organisation and structure of the Dark Angels Legion predated the standard patterns of military organisation laid out by the Principia Bellicosa, indeed many of the doctrines and formations in common use throughout the Legiones Astartes found their origins in the early practises of the Ist Legion. In fact, this would seem to have been one of the prime missions gifted to the Ist Legion by the Emperor -- to discover, refine and perfect those strategies and patterns that would allow His new gene-crafted transhuman warriors to perform at peak efficiency.When Imperial scholars speak of the "standard" form of a Space Marine Legion they speak of the Dark Angels, for it was in the sacrifice of the Ist Legion  that these structures were first born. While Roboute Guilliman would later add to and adapt this structure, even that superlative general built upon the foundation that had been defined by the wars of the Ist Legion before the return of Lion El'Jonson. Even the Lion, upon resuming command of his Legion, would bow before the wisdom of these founders of the Ist Legion, content to bind this original structure to a single vision and authority, and it remained largely unchanged in form until the Second Founding.In the earliest years of its existence, the Ist Legion would experiment with every form of war, every style of organisation and formation, with a host of warriors dedicated to almost any tactical or strategic ploy. This meant that the Legion contained specialists suited to every opponent and battlefield, but it lacked a cohesive structure to organise those warriors. It was by its very nature chaotic and fluid, ever-changing as certain tactics fell out of favour and new ones rose to prominence, and as such it lacked an easily defined sense of organisation.This chaos was a necessary tool for its purpose, and in time it would resolve into order, into a system of supporting and overlapping formations that existed in parallel and allowed the Dark Angels to confront any foe on any battlefield and overcome them. This system of specialised formations stood at the very heart of the Ist Legion, and was the core around which it was built.