Dark Angels - The Hexagrammaton: The Primarch Lion El'Jonson introduced to the Ist Legion of the Space Marines the organisational structure he had learned from the knights of The Order on Caliban. The Lion's tenets of loyalty, discipline and self-efficiency were incorporated into everything the Legion did.As the Ist Legion had originally been created from Terran warriors gifted with the gene-seed of the stalwart, if reticent, Lion, the Dark Angels had always been regarded as dedicated and serious-minded warriors. Like their primogenitor, they were slow to anger, but tenacious and all but unstoppable once roused.Before the Horus Heresy, a Space Marine Legion might count ten thousand or more warriors under a single command, though the exact numbers of the Dark Angels Legion in the days of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy remain unknown. However, the Legion was considered to be of moderate size for the time.Under the Lion's supervision, the Ist Legion was reorganised into another parallel series of specialised formations known collectively as the Hexagrammaton, and colloquially as the "Six Wings." These specialised formations existed outside the regular chain-of-command and organisation of the Legion. These formations were an amalgamation of the Terran pre-Principia Belicosa approach used by the Hosts of the Ist Legion and the organisation of the now-proscribed formations of the early Legiones Astartes and Caliban's knightly orders.Before the creation of the first Space Marine Legions, the Legiones Astartes were organised into a formation known as the "Six Hosts of the Angels of Death," with each of these hosts having its own specialisation and purpose. Following The First's reunification with their primarch Lion El'Jonson on Caliban, the Lion incorporated the traditions of the Six Hosts and The Order, and thus, the Six Wings were created.The Ist Legion followed the organisational principles of the Principia Bellicosa, organising their Legion's strength into chapters, which were led by Masters, and below them orders, which were led by Paladins. These formations were further broken down into companies, led by captains, and squads commanded by sergeants.Members of the Six Wings were distributed amongst squads and companies, where they acted as captains, sergeants, and line Legionaries, or in specialised formations when assembled on orders from their respective voted-lieutenant of a wing. These voted-lieutenants, also called masters, acted as both commander of their wing and often acted as counsel to their primarch.Voted-lieutenants were elected by their peers rather than being nominated by a superior. They would then have their nominated successor chosen to command the wing in the event of their untimely death, so as not to interrupt the cohesiveness of a wing's command.The voted-lieutenants who served as the chosen leaders of each wing often gathered together in a group known as the Council of Masters, first in the great fortress of the Ist Legion on Gramarye and later wherever the Legion was engaged after being reunited with their primarch.On the field of battle, a commander responsible for an area of operations or campaign had to request the intervention of one of the Six Wings. When such a request was made and eventually accepted, the members of the requested wing were summoned from their duties, when possible, in order to assemble and conduct operations under the command of their voted-lieutenant's orders.The Hexagrammaton formations that existed within the Dark Angels Legion at the time of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy included the following:DeathwingRavenwingDreadwingFirewingIronwingStormwingThe Deathwing and the Ravenwing are still used by the Dark Angels to this day in their hunt for the Fallen. The other four wings have been lost to the mists of time and are no longer fielded by the Dark Angels. They have been unseen since the era of the Horus Heresy.