Blood Angels - Icons of an Empire: At the height of the Great Crusade, a thousand times a thousand worlds were brought into the fold of the Imperium, uncounted billions of men-under-arms fought in the name of the Emperor and created legends that endured for millennia. Of those legends it is the Legiones Astartes that stand tallest and shine brightest, each a burning brand of martial excellence that lit the way for the mortal armies that followed on their heels, and of those Legions there were some that captured the spirit of the Great Crusade more than others.Sanguinius' Blood Angels found themselves among that group; the speed of their advance, the spectacle of their assaults and the awe that their appearance inspired all served to make them favoured subjects of the Remembrancers who followed the fleets.They fought the noblest of campaigns, unleashed upon the foulest of those creatures that hid in the darkness of the void, and were tasked with the liberation of those held under the lash of the alien. They slew monsters and made safe the far flung worlds of humanity, and those whom they liberated saw in them true angels come down from the heavens to their aid.Among their own transhuman kin they also found great acclaim, in part for the campaigns fought at their sides in past years, the skill at arms which they displayed on the field and the magnanimous nature of their warriors. Yet, much of their reputation and the good will extended them was to come from the noble mien of the Angel himself, for of all the Primarchs of the Emperor, he was the most beloved and admired.The sons of the Emperor had often been a fractious brotherhood, with many bearing grudges or perpetuating rivalries among their kin. Among them all, Sanguinius was perhaps the most admired and respected, for he held none of his brothers lesser than himself and met each with an open warmth and goodwill that calmed even the rage of his grim brother Angron. Of them all perhaps only Horus was held in more respect, though the Lord of Cthonia's colder demeanour and more brooding aspect left him more aloof than the winged Primarch.Sanguinius was welcome amongst the courts of worlds without count, from the exotic thrones of far colonies to the baroque nexus chambers of the Mechanicum's distant realms. He embodied the pride and optimism of those golden years, when it seemed that none could stand against the armies of the Emperor and the galaxy was laid bare for their conquest.The Ullanor Crusade was to be the proof of that destiny, a grand campaign to shatter the greatest remaining rival of Mankind's dominance -- the Orkish empire of Urlakk Urg. Here, Horus would break that foe in the largest battle of the Great Crusade, winning a grand victory, and yet even after that accomplishment at the Triumph of Ullanor that would follow, many expected Sanguinius, who had not been present for the fighting, to receive the laurels of the new rank of Warmaster as the Emperor retired back to Terra.Such was the reputation and glamour of the Great Angel and his warriors, now seen as peerless warriors and scholars both, that few doubted Sanguinius' worthiness to act as the Emperor's proxy, though some succumbed to petty jealousy. This was the apex of glory for the Blood Angels and their sire, a peak they would stand upon for only a short span and from which their fall would crack the very foundation of the Imperium.