Cypher - Unlike Any Other: Of all the Fallen, none is as hated, or indeed feared by the Dark Angels, as the enigmatic individual known as Cypher. After their very first few encounters, the Dark Angels began to realise that this Fallen might be different. Because of his unknowable motives, and because of his supernatural ability to escape time and again from their clutches, the sons of the Lion began to regard Cypher with growing wariness.As Space Marines they feared no enemy, and their Legion has maintained its reputation for being stalwart in battle. But despite this, they began to fear Cypher –- fearing what he perhaps represented, fearing what he reflected back upon themselves and fearing that he was nothing less than their own doom made manifest.The majority of those that know of Cypher believe he is villainous. If his incalculable plan is successful, who knows what destruction he is capable of? Some rumour that his end goal is to slay the Emperor himself. A few of those in the Inner Circle – not the Interrogator-Chaplains, but those of more open minds –- consider another possibility. Perhaps Cypher is trying to repent, trying to redeem his Fallen brethren’s deeds, or to steer Humanity away from some predestined course known only to himself? Those who feel this way are silent, for this is actually a more frightening thought –- it would mean the Dark Angels are on the wrong side once again...Whenever or wherever Cypher appears, trouble and disaster follow. His appearance heralds the arrival of more Fallen, although whether they answer his summons or he has some foreknowledge of their activities is unknown. At times, Cypher has been linked with demagogues, those who rise up to agitate the masses, while at others he has been associated with military commanders. With unnerving regularity, Cypher will arrive at some critical flashpoint, his presence kicking off a violent chain of events time and again.Cypher has been seen alongside kill teams or even entire armies, although whether he is truly a member of the force or even their commander can never be properly ascertained. More deadly than the most highly trained master saboteur, Cypher's appearance in even the most benign of situations has wreaked havoc that has changed the course of major wars. More than any other of the Fallen, Cypher has been a shadowy, cloaked assassin, leaving behind a trail of powerful victims, even though it is rarely Cypher who pulls the trigger. The Dark Angels go out of their way to assume these targets were chosen and slain by Cypher himself, but often the facts that led them to these conclusions are ambiguous. Certainly, destruction and death follow in Cypher's wake.Cypher's targets and destinations are as inscrutable as everything else about him. Among his confirmed kills (according to Dark Angels records) have been planetary governors, Chaos Space Marine Warlords, Space Marine Chapter Masters, sorcerous covens, cult leaders and high ranking Inquisitors. Naturally, the Dark Angels have never shared any of this so-called proof with any outside of their own close-ranked successor Chapters. It is a paradox how, within a span of only fifty years, Cypher’s deeds could result in the slaying of the evil and corrupt Warlord Favian the Golden of the Flawless Host, as well as the stout and loyal Bartholomew Loxlor, Supreme Grand Master of the Angels of Absolution. The Imperium had sent fleets, armies and assassins to end the rule of Overfiend Tyrannex, Scourge of the Drakeburn Sector, and all efforts failed with lives in the hundreds of thousands lost. Yet Cypher alone was able to locate the Overfiend's fortress, penetrate its defences and gun the miscreant down -- instantaneously freeing billions from Tyrannex's unnatural subjugations.Cypher's trail weaves in and out of the Dark Angels' path, and he crosses it with deliberation. After slaying the Overfiend Tyrannex, riddling him with holes and leaving behind bolt shell fragments and unique plasma burns that are the signature of Cypher's bolt and plasma pistols, he had the nerve to plant a Dark Angels homing device. Within a matter of hours, the Rock was near enough and Deathwing Terminators teleported into the Overfiend's throne room. Yet of Cypher, there was no trace.Indeed, Cypher's continued existence bears testimony to his seemingly mystical ability to avoid capture. Every time pursuers got close, he has shown an uncanny ability to escape. Down the ages, the Inner Circle of the Dark Angels has suggested that Cypher is under the protection of some higher power. The fact that his lifespan has continued since the days before the Horus Heresy speaks of unnatural powers at play, although it was for a time posed by the then Grand Master of the Dark Angels Raphelous that Cypher was not one person, but many. How else to explain both his longevity and his seeming indestructibility? Perhaps Cypher was but a mask, a persona assumed when the last one was destroyed? Ironically, Raphelous was one of two Grand Masters to lose his life in the pursuit of Cypher –- although whether or not the nemesis of the Dark Angels was responsible for their deaths in either case has never been proven.Down the long ages the Dark Angels have found many of their Fallen brethren. Some have committed heinous acts, debasing themselves and their honoured Primarch. But none have garnered the sheer hatred as has Cypher. The Inner Circle of the Dark Angels hates Cypher with a loathing beyond reason. Not even Marbas, who alone of the Fallen has been raised to a Daemon Prince, is regarded with such rage. The Dark Angels would willingly perform any act, no matter how vile, in order to capture Cypher.