Dark Angels – Secrets and Half-truths
"The galaxy is burning. Fulgrim's rebellion spreads like a fire amongst the stars. My knights, my warriors, my sons, we stand on a precipice. Many in the Imperium will join the War Commander out of shared beliefs, hatred of the Emperor, or simply out of fear. We should not hate them, but nor should we pity them. They made their decision, and we make ours. Eight of my brothers turned their back on the Emperor, but we will not. We are loyal, because loyalty is its own reward. We leave here to fight in the greatest war the Imperium has ever faced. Prepare yourself, Dark Angels, for we have traitors' blood to spill."
-Primarch Lion El'Jonson, shortly before the First Legion departed from the Shield Worlds
Origins-
When the Great Crusade began in late M31, many of the Emperor's vanguard fleets were commanded by Astartes of the First Legion. These grey-armoured warriors were known for their dedication to Mankind's Manifest Destiny and unshakeable belief in the Emperor. In those early years the amount of worlds brought into compliance by the First Legion was amongst the highest across all twenty Legions.
But the First were not only warring across the galaxy, they were also fervently searching for their gene-sire, as was every Legion. But years turned into decades and decades neared a century and the First Primarch had not been found. The First Legion saw itself become eclipsed by other Legions that had found their primogenitors, such as the Luna Wolves, Space Wolves, Imperial Fists and the Emperor's Children, among others. These brewed feelings of jealousy and desperation amongst the First, though they were ashamed to admit such weaknesses existed among their ranks.
Just as the morale of the First was beginning to decline as the meat-grinder of the Great Crusade continued, word reached their scattered fleets of something that would forever change them: their father had been found. When the twenty primarchs were thrown across the galaxy through the warp, the life-capsule of the First Primarch had landed upon Caliban, a death world to the galactic north in the Segmentum Obscurus. It was here that the First Primarch would be named, raised and eventually rule.
Unlike the majority of his brothers, the First Primarch was not raised by humans nor surrounded by them in his early years. Instead, the life-capsule that contained the First Primarch landed deep in the Calibanite jungles, a guaranteed death sentence for any that were not created by the Master of Mankind. Instead of dying, this primarch not only endured but bested all those that threatened him in those predator-riven forests.
Nearly a decade after his arrival, the First Primarch eventually came into contact with other humans. These humans were adorned in armour and carrying swords and guns as they hunted a great beast. This hunting party nearly killed the Emperor's son were it not for the convincing words of the party's leader. The leader, a renowned and respected knight within their organisation named Luther, saw something in the forest green eyes of the young man before him; an aura of strength and sense of duty exhumed from the forest dweller. He felt that killing such a being as the one that stood before him would have been a mistake, a tragedy even; Luther instead vouched for the young man and formally adopted him, giving him the name Lion El'Jonson, which meant 'The Lion, the Son of the Forest' in an ancient dialect of Caliban.
The foliage was thick as knights of The Order cut their way through. The sounds of the forest were all around them, causing them to be on guard for any predators that might lurk among the thick grass or high, looming trees.
Master of the Order Sar Luther rode his armoured warhorse, eyes peeled and ears trained for any threat. The knights and men-at-arms under his command moved forward, tracking the path the beast had made. They had been sent to kill the beast that had plagued three villages for months, killing dozens of inhabitants.
"My lord, come look at this," spoke his first scout. Dismounting, Luther moved to him. "Look here, my lord."
Crouching down, Luther noticed a deep crimson with swirls of violet and yellow. Beast blood. And they had not wounded it. Something else was out here.
"What are we to do?"
"Follow the trail of blood. We need to confirm its death before we head back."
"Aye."
The knights set off, heading deeper and deeper into the woods, wary and with fists clenched over sword pommels. This was farther than many had ever been. It was probably farther than Luther had ever been. Further and further they went, the blood trail becoming more obvious, the path becoming clearer with every step.
After a moment, they found the beast, or rather its corpse. It lay in a pile of its own blood, but it did not look like it had been killed by predators or other great beasts. Rather, its wounds looked similar to those caused by a spear.
The grass nearby rustled and all aimed their weapons there, rifles readied and swords drawn. More rustling and the strangest thing emerged: a young man. No, not a man, thought Luther. Something else. His body was dirty and had multitude of claw marks across his bare chest that were already healing. His physique was hardened and exemplary. His hair was blond and long, tangled with twigs and leaves. His eyes were a deep forest green and they stared at the group without fear.
"My lord, your orders?"
Luther stared into those eyes and they stared back unflinchingly.
"My lord, should we fire?!"
"No. We will take him with us."
Several knights turned to look at him in surprise. "But he can't be human; he's been out here by himself, alone in the deep woods. It is impossible for humans to survive out here."
"No, not impossible, not for him," spoke Luther. The man wasn't human, or at least not like he and his men. He was… special, more powerful at the very least. That could be useful to The Order.
Luther rode his horse to the dishevelled man, who readied his bloodied spear but Luther held his hands up in peace. The stranger seemed to understand and dropped his stance. Holding out his hand, Luther spoke to him.
"Come, stranger." He did not move. Hmm, 'stranger' was not exactly a name, but he most likely did not have one. Thinking quickly, Luther came up with a name from an ancient dialect he had read in the Aldurukh's oldest libraries.
"Come, Lion El'Jonson."
The newly named man walked towards Luther and took the offered hand.
Luther adopted Lion El'Jonson and took the young man back to his organisation, an institution of knights simply named 'The Order'. It was here where the Lion learned language, culture, military tactics, combat techniques and much more, impressing the masters of The Order. Within a few short years the Lion had gone from an apprentice to Supreme Grand Master and upon taking the mantle of command the Lion ordered that the world of Caliban would be united and that the great beasts that had plagued the planet for thousands of years would be made extinct.
To help the Lion's vision come true, Luther became his right-hand man and worked tirelessly, assisting with the unification of the dozens of other knightly orders under a single banner, acting as the diplomat and wise counsellor. Within a decade Caliban neared unification and the great beasts were nearing their final days. However, there was a threat to the Lion's and Luther's plans. An order of unsatisfied warriors, called the Knights of Lupus, resisted the Lion's efforts of unification and attempted to stop the eradication of the great beasts.
The Knights of Lupus withdrew to their fortress, supposedly to defy the Lion. In response, the Lion, leading his vast army of knights and men-at-arms, laid siege and quickly breached the Knights of Lupus' primary fortress and proceeded to find its lord, Lord Sartana. Instead, The Order quickly found what the Lupus Knights had been protecting so fervently: dozens of great beasts locked in cages. The Knights, who feared what would happen once the great beasts were exterminated, wished to maintain the status quo and their position in Calibanite society.
Lord Sartana, hoping to claim victory, no matter how distasteful, unleashed the great beasts to butcher The Order's soldiery. What followed was cruel bloodshed, a slaughter that was only stopped by the heroics of the Lion himself who slew many of the beasts and Sartana. With the death of their lord, the Knights of Lupus lost the will to fight. All were slaughtered and their fortress set aflame.
While the victorious warriors of The Order began their long trek back to their fortress of Aldurukh, wagons laden with spoils of war plundered from the Lupus' fortress before it had been set ablaze, there was little joy in Luther. He had been side-lined in the campaign and felt that the Lion had reaped all the glory. This is where the first seeds of doubt and jealousy where planted in Sar Luther; the first, but certainly not the last.
Extracting his sword from the impaled corpse of a Knight of Lupus, Luther moved out from the broken front gate towards the enemy knights' fortress. His men saluted and bowed as he made his way inwards.
Passing hundreds of dead men and moving through tight, hard-angled pathways that were designed to slow and bottleneck an invading force, Luther arrived to the main courtyard and the scene before him made him raise his hand to block the smell.
Before him lay hundreds of knights and men-at-arms, from both sides, but the spectacle that drew the eye of all present were dozens of great beasts, all dead, and the man that stood amidst their corpses.
The Lion's sword was bloody, his clothes and armour tattered and darkened with drying blood. Beside him lay the decapitated head of Lord Sartana, mouth open and dead glazed eyes staring up at his killer. The Supreme Grand Master of The Order looked out around him, gazing at his soldiers, nodding to some. When his foster son's eyes fell upon him, Luther expected to be motioned forward to share in the glory, but the Lion's gaze did not linger and left to the next.
Luther stood frozen to the spot. The nerve! While his son had been reaping glory in the courtyard, Luther had occupied the bulk of the Lupus Knights at their front gate, allowing the Lion and his elite to clamber over the walls and force the Lupus soldiery to fight a two-front battle. Luther contributed just as much to this victory as did his son, yet the Lion did not even acknowledge it. He clicked his teeth in anger and took several deep breaths to calm himself.
The Lion raised his sword. "The Knights of Lupus are dead and so are their archaic ways. We have won. Victory!"
The assembled hundreds of knights, men-at-arms, squires and more began to cheer. "Victory! Victory! Victory!" Luther added his own voice to it, pumping his fist into the air, but it lacked the energy those that surrounded him roared with. The cheer began to change.
"Lion!" It started out among only a few, noticeably amongst the young squires, but was taken up swiftly by those near them and it spread like a fire. "Lion! Lion! Lion!"
Luther saw his son's face craft a smile and his green eyes seemed to shine with the attention. Frowning, Luther lowered his hand, turned, and walked back to his horse. He had not seen satisfaction in those eyes, not the gleam of victory but rather of unquenchable ambition, and it sickened Luther. The Order was created to serve and protect Caliban but it had now become apparent to him that The Order would never be that way again. Now, it was to serve and obey the Lion and the Lion alone.
It was a disturbing realisation.
It was soon after the victory over the Knights of Lupus and the subsequent unification of Caliban under the Lion's rule that fiery stars fell to the surface. These were the dropships of a First Legion recon fleet and to their surprise and joy; they had found their primarch at last. Many months would pass until the Emperor arrived to meet His son.
The Lion knew at once that the grand being before him was his father and swore fealty to him without question. In return, the Emperor made the Lion the Imperial Lord of Caliban and gifted His son with the Legion based off his genome. The entirety of the First Legion met their father in the cleared fields before Aldurukh and listened with rapt attention as command passed from the Emperor to the Lion. The Lion, at the conclusion of the ceremony, renamed the First Legion the Dark Angels after an old Calibanite myth.
To increase the size of his Legion, the Lion ordered all within The Order to undergo physical, psychological and genetic testing to determine their compatibility with augmentation to transhuman. Owing to the strict regimen imposed by the Lion on The Order's younger knights, a majority were selected to become Astartes. Many, however, were too old to receive the gene-seed but were able to substantially modify and enhance their bodies to still become legionnaires, albeit only as half-Astartes. Sar Luther, alongside the bulk of the Order's senior leadership, undertook the transformation and took up offices of command in the Legion. Luther would remain the Lion's second-in-command though both began to become noticeably distant of the other.
The Great Crusade-
United with their primarch and seeing a significant bolster of legionnaire recruits, the Dark Angels were eager to return to the Great Crusade. Led by their primarch, the First Legion brought several worlds into compliance quickly, early on showing the Lion's legendary skill as a tactician and strategist. All seemed well with the Dark Angels. That was until Sarosh.
The world of Sarosh was willing to join the Imperium, but was lethargic in its attempts at Imperial compliance, citing a cumbersome bureaucratic system. The Lion decided to intervene and hasten the negotiations as the world possessed relatively advanced technology and was rich in natural resources.
The delegation from the planet came aboard the Lion's flagship, the Invincible Reason, and negotiations were proceeding smoothly. However, it was all a treacherous ploy. The Saroshi had no intention of joining the Imperium and used the conference with the primarch to enact an assassination attempt and deal the Imperium a devastating blow.
The shuttle of the Saroshi delegates carried an atomic warhead and would have been detonated if not for the actions of several Space Marines who prevented the Saroshi from carrying out their assassination attempt. The Lion slew the entire delegation and proceeded to invade and conquer Sarosh, an invasion which saw the world's population annihilated in its entirety. The world would later be resettled and renamed by Imperial colonists.
Curiously, shortly after the campaign the Lion dispatched several hundred Dark Angels back to Caliban. The official statement to explain this was that these Astartes were to ensure the successful recruitment and training of the many thousands of incoming initiates and to guarantee that the First Legion would grow at a steady and continuous rate. While the majority were frontline legionnaires, several were high ranking officers, notably Luther himself. It is postulated that this is where Luther's anger and jealousy established deep roots within him and would eventually set him down the dark path of damnation.
In the decades following the Sarosh Incident the Dark Angels brought thousands of worlds into the Imperium, either through warfare or diplomatic means. The Lion won wars that were predicted to take years or decades in weeks or months, showing his brilliance in warfare. Many whispered that the Lion was attempting to curry favour with the Emperor, as he felt that he should be included amongst the favoured sons such as Horus, Sanguinius, Dorn and Fulgrim. Such rumours were suppressed, but the quick and thorough reaction made some question whether or not the Lion truly felt this way.
The Heresy-
The Dark Angels were unable to participate in the monumental Ullanor Crusade as they were already preoccupied with other campaigns, but did send representatives to the subsequent Triumph. It was here that the Emperor announced his return to Terra and that Horus would become Warmaster of the Imperium.
When news of his brother's ascension reached the Lion's ears the First Primarch retired to his chambers for a day and night. The following morning he returned to his flagship's command bridge, sent a message of curt congratulations to his brother, and announced to his many fleets that the Dark Angels would continue their advancement of the Great Crusade and that the First Legion would not rest in bringing worlds to compliance until all worlds in the galaxy belonged to the Imperium of Man. Following this proclamation, the Dark Angels pushed the borders of the Imperium ever further out, bringing in hundreds of star systems and rapidly destroying over a score human and xenos empires.
Years later, as the Dark Angels were prosecuting a campaign against the Gordian League-led Shield Worlds; word reached them of the Warmaster's wounding on Davin, the Burning of Prospero, the Night Lords having become renegades and the Emperor sanctioning the elimination of the Eighth Legion. As further information from the Imperium reached them in the following months it became clear to the First Legion that something had gone horribly wrong in the pursuit of Curze. Bellanor did not turn into the quick eradication of the Night Lords; instead it became a massacre that saw nearly two hundred thousand loyal Astartes killed by the hands of traitors.
When news reached the Lion that Fulgrim had orchestrated the Dropsite Massacre and now led the traitors as their War Commander his infamous temper soared hot before it turned into a clinical cold fury. The Lion was determined to join up with loyalists forces as soon as possible but dare not leave the Shield Worlds unconquered in his rear, as they could prove troublesome.
This forced the Lion to remain for a year defeating the Gordian League and annexing the Shield Worlds for the Imperium, all the time receiving astropathic messages and communiques of the large-scale civil war spreading throughout the Emperor's Domain. With the Shield Worlds now taken care of, the Lion assembled his Legion to travel to Terra to bolster the Loyal Legions already stationed there.
Fulgrim, having been informed of the Dark Angels imminent return by a vast network of spies and assistance from his dark patrons, ordered the bulk of the Alpha Legion to intercept and delay the Dark Angels for as long as possible. The Dark Angels and Alpha Legion would clash in the Arcurean Sector and for the next four years fight a war of cat-and-mouse, each side hurting but not crippling the other. Following the decisive Battle of Ghendall, which saw the Dark Angels triumph, the Alpha Legion was forced to withdraw with heavy casualties. Despite having claimed victory, the Dark Angels were battered, bloodied, and running low on critical supplies.
Forced to delay his journey to Terra, the Lion chose the Venyr System to resupply in. Venyr remained loyal to the Throne as the tendrils of rebellion spread and prior to the Heresy had been a large well-stocked supply depot for Crusade expeditionary fleets throughout the local sector, and sported an extensive orbital dry dock infrastructure. It was here that he would meet up with the Blood Angels, recently arrived from their own campaigns against the traitors. As both Legions began to resupply, the primarchs decided to travel to Terra together to better reinforce the Throneworld.
Dreams came to him in his sleep. They were rare, but all were full of dread and despair. He was in a forest, one he recognised as the location his pod had landed. All around him creatures of shadow moved towards him, but he could not decipher their intent. Were they to attack or assist? He reached for his sword and found that it was not there, nor was his armour or other weapons.
He was naked, younger, his body dirty and hair tangled. He heard a voice, it was familiar. Moving towards it he saw Luther adorned in his armour and weapons, surrounded by Zahariel and Astelan with angels of darkness hovering over them all, their wings were pale bone and their eyes arterial red.
"We are free. We are autonomous. We are Caliban. We are free. We are autonomous. We are Caliban. We are free, we are free, we are free." They all spoke in concert, but Luther was the loudest. They did not see him. Their mantra of dissension continued.
"Luther, Zahariel, Astelan, what is the meaning of this?" he demanded as he strode to them. The two true Astartes did not turn, their mouths still speaking the traitorous words, but the Regent of Caliban did. He looked at the Lion. With a raised hand he froze the primarch in place and walked towards him.
Luther gripped the Lion's jaw and looked into his eyes. Tutting, the Regent stood back and drew his sword. "Such wasted potential, Lion. You could have been something great in the new order. The strands of fate have shown me some of what you could have become. In one fate you are the epitome of Change and Secrets, in another a Bringer of Death and Rebirth. In two you led the great rebellion, one with me by your side and another where I was disillusioned into continued loyalty to the False Emperor. In others you die by my blade or vice versa. Our history is not set in stone, but the foundation is laid, it merely only has to be carved."
The Lion tried to yell at these false accusations, but his mouth was gone, his tongue unmoving as if holding something within. Luther raised his sword. "I am the Saviour of Caliban, even if I have to be its destroyer."
The sword came down and he awoke in his chamber aboard the Invincible Reason. A notification alarm was bleeping. The Lion tried to remember his dream but only caught segments that made little sense and quickly faded from him. Even with a primarch's eidetic memory, dreams were sometimes wind.
Pushing the alarm's rune, a pict-screen of the bridge turned on before him.
"Forgive me, my lord, but you are needed on the bridge."
"Acknowledged, Captain Stenius, I will be there momentarily. Why was I awoken?" inquired the Lion.
"My lord, your brother Sanguinius and his Blood Angels emerged from the warp thirteen minutes ago and the Angel wants to speak with you."
The Lion paused. The Angel, his brother, was here? With their Legions combined, they could drastically reinforce Terra.
He rose from his bed and began to don on his armour. "I am on my way."
Before the combined armada of First and Ninth Legion warships could depart, a lighting fast attack by the traitorous Astartes of the White Scars, led by their demented Jaghatai Khan, occurred. The White Scars, known for their incredibly swift ships and daring strikes, were able to warp in-system at dangerous proximity to Venyr Prime and cut their way through the two Angel Legions' fleets, destroying scores of ships outright and damaging hundreds more. With a single pass the Fifth Legion had broken the back of the two Legions. The Scars would quickly depart, leaving the loyalists to assess the damage and lick their wounds.
Both primarchs agreed that to depart for Terra with half their fleets damaged, many unable to enter the warp in their current state, would present them as easy targets. Both Angel primarchs agreed to stay in Venyr to repair and resupply. Within a year they were ready to leave and joined the other Loyalist Legions heading to Terra where the climatic Siege of Terra was taking place.
Despite the quick speed of Imperial reinforcements, they were too late. The Emperor, mortally wounded, was interred onto the Golden Throne, Dorn was dead by Fulgrim's hands, and much of Terra had been razed by the Traitor Legions and their daemon hordes. Horus became the de facto leader of the Imperium following the Siege and readied the loyalist forces to retake all that had been lost.
While the Imperium readied its vast military for the eventual counter-attack, the Lion wished to retire to Caliban, desperate to receive fresh Astartes replacements as the First Legion's numbers were just over half of their pre-Heresy number. Before he could make way to his homeworld, a small strike cruiser named the Bastion of Solace joined with the First Primarch's primary fleet. On board was a small contingent of Dark Angels led by the mysterious Lord Cypher.
Cypher waited patiently, hands clasped in front of him, his white robe covering the black armour beneath. Before him was the primarch, flanked by Chief Librarian Elikas, Seneschal Corswain, Captain Alajos of the Ninth Order, the six Wing Commanders, with other high-ranking captains standing in the back. The silence since Cypher finished speaking lingered uncomfortably, the listeners digesting what they had heard, disbelieving aspects of it, if not all.
"Why did you wait so long?" demanded Holguin, Commander of the Deathwing, visibly seething. "You should have brought this to our lord's attention years ago."
"There was no chance to leave until recently. I had to pretend obedience and loyalty to Luther, but I began planning my escape from his watchful eyes."
"How do we know you are not the traitor, and Luther loyal. This could be a ploy by the traitors to sow dissent in the First Legion," spoke Elikas, his staff of office ready to be used to kill Cypher if the primarch willed it.
"I have only my word and what data-logs I could bring with me. Luther has been paranoid of late, and his spies are everywhere on Caliban."
"You brought a twenty-seven legionnaires with you. Who are they?" queried Corswain.
"Others like me who remained true to our oaths to the primarch and the Emperor. They are loyal, you have my word."
"We will see, Cypher, we will see," snarled Farith Redloss, Commander of the Dreadwing.
"While we stand here arguing, the Independents are readying to make their treachery known to the Imperium at large. It will tarnish our reputation, make our name one to be whispered as potential turncoats. We would never be forgiven, never accepted fully. We will not suffer the fate of the Death Guard of our canker being known to all! We must-"
The Lion raised a hand and silence returned immediately. The primarch, who had been quiet since the beginning of Cypher's revelations, leaned forward in his throne, attentive and judging.
"Tell me more."
It is unknown exactly what was spoken between the Cypher and the Lion, but the secretive legionnaire did make his lord primarch aware of Luther's betrayal and proclamation of independence from the Imperium. Furious at this treachery, the Lion departed with all of the Dark Angels in tow to quell the rebellion on Caliban before news of it reached the rest of the Imperium. As the Dark Angels arrived to the Caliban System, the Lion hailed his homeworld, hoping that Cypher had deceived him and that Luther and his sons on the Death World that raised him were in fact loyal.
The response to his hail shattered this hope. The voice of former Legion Master Merir Astelan responded, "We have seceded from the Imperium. We no longer acknowledge the authority of the Emperor or Lion El'Jonson, only that of the Saviour of Caliban: Sar Luther. We are the independent world of Caliban. Be gone and never return." The First Primarch coldly responded that such a betrayal could not go unpunished and swore to kill Luther and his lieutenants no matter the cost.
The loyalist First Legion began their assault on their own homeworld, crippling the Independent fleet in orbit and destroying the extensive defence system, though taking heavy losses, and bombarding much of their world, killing millions. The loyalists felt no pity at this, as they saw each and every citizen of Caliban as corrupted by Luther's manipulations and the First Legion would not suffer a single Calibanite rebel to draw breath any longer. After the initial bombardment, the loyal sons of the Lion began their descent to the surface, led by their primarch. For days brother fought brother across the planet, with the loyal legionnaires encroaching on Aldurukh. The Lion slayed hundreds of rebel Dark Angels that dared block his path to the wayward Luther. Nothing would stop him from claiming retribution.
After a brief siege, the loyalists stormed Aldurukh, and began to hunt for Luther the Betrayer. They did not have to search long as Luther entered the battle, killing many loyalists as he made his way towards the First Primarch. When the two clashed, all eyes turned to them. What would have been an easy duel only years ago was now nearly a deadlock as Luther had grown powerful since breaking from the Imperium. His powers were gifts by the Ruinous Powers, gifts that made him almost the equal of the Lion.
Almost.
But the Lion was a son of the Emperor, a demigod, a conqueror of the stars and a prince of war. Eventually he wounded Luther, who lied on the ground with his foster son above him. As the First Primarch raised the Lion Sword to enact the killing blow, Sar Luther bellowed in a dark, Chaos-tainted tongue, and with that utterance, all rebel Independents on the planet vanished.
The Lion moved towards him, cold fury in his eyes, sword drawn, bloodied by the lives of the Calibanite Independents. Luther lay on the cold floor, fifty metres away, bloodied and barely clinging to consciousness. His foster son continued to stride towards him, killing any that attempted to stop him.
Luther had thought himself powerful, but his power when compared to a primarch was hollow at best. The Lion cut down a half-dozen Independents in one swing, their interference not even slowing the demigod. The First Son was almost near.
"Not like this, no, not like this," spat Luther. He wasn't to die here. The Dark Gods had shown him, he would survive this battle and one day lead an army to destroy the blind and foolish Dark Angels. Words came into his mind, ancient words read from forbidden scrolls and whispers of Chaos daemons. Luther began to speak them, his mouth bleeding and aching in speaking such a malicious tongue. The Lion realised what was happening and rushed forward to end the Betrayer.
"K'yar ghal'thek nagatoa vermuusiike, Fal'yr Engella," and with that final utterance Luther, and all surviving Independents, were pulled into the warp. Luther was in a miasma of colour and energy, quickly being dragged away along the passages of space towards the world destined for him and his followers. His wounds began to heal, leaving only scars in their place. As he was being pulled far from Caliban, he could still hear the raging screams of Lion El'Jonson, the anger a tidal wave in the warp.
The Saviour of Caliban felt hundreds, if not more of his brothers, become thrown off their path by the Lion's fury. The fury was white-hot, a tidal wave of a primarch's wrath and it took more and more of Luther's brothers, killing some, but dispersing more through space and time. Those who were derailed would not arrive with him, nor could their departure from the warp be accurately predicted. But half remained with him when he emerged from the Immaterium.
He fell onto a world of bone-white sand and crimson skies. Standing, he felt unsteady until a hand touched his shoulder. Turning, he saw Zahariel, loyal, obedient Zahariel, looking at him. "Luther, where are we?" he demanded. The Saviour saw dozens of others had landed nearby and were making their way to him. More would show up soon. Looking upwards he saw the great warp storm all around them. They were in the Eye of Terror.
"Brother, where are we?" Zahariel demanded again, his hand squeezing Luther's shoulder.
"Our new home, Zahariel, we are at our new home." His brother let go and looked at the sky, where yellow lightning struck across the heavens and began a chain reaction that would be seen all around the planet. Luther felt the wind blow by, fierce and howling, but underneath the wind he thought he heard faint, cackling laughter.
The Lion did not have time to display his frustration as Caliban had suffered heavy damage since the battle began, and Luther's dark sorcery destabilised the planet even more, leading it to break apart from the destructive war and aetheric energies. The First Legion withdrew from their former home and watched as the planet crumbled and broke apart. The death-screams of the remaining populace would leave a psychic terror-resonance in the system for decades.
Since that fateful day, the Dark Angels and their Successor Chapters have privately styled themselves the Unforgiven and vowed over the broken remains of Caliban to hunt down all of the Fallen Angels that followed Luther during the Battle of Caliban. They would do this to earn the Emperor's Forgiveness. Despite the Lion's disappearance into a warp storm in M32, supposedly chasing Luther, the sons of the First Primarch have continued their eternal vigil and duty in protecting the Imperium and hunting down those that betrayed all that they stood for.
For ten thousand years the Dark Angels and their descendants have kept this vow, capturing hundreds of the Fallen Angels and subsequently executing them upon admission of fault. Though ever loyal to the Imperium and the Emperor, the hidden shame of the Lion El'Jonson bloodline has made them distant from fellow Chapters not carrying their primarch's gene-seed, and has caused issues with several Imperial forces. It is not unknown for a Dark Angel force to swiftly arrive to a warzone or a distant star system and just as quickly depart. Though odd, these instances are few and far between when compared to the extensive list of honours and victories earned in ten millennia of constant war.
As what befell the surviving Fallen after the destruction of Caliban, several different things occurred. While some followed Luther to an unnamed world far outside the borders of the Imperium, transported by foul warp sorcery, many would be lost during this transition and became stuck in time and space. These lost Fallen will eventually leave this limbo state and arrive throughout Imperial space and beyond, which once word of their arrival is known thanks to a vast network of spies and a watchful Librarium, the sons of the Lion are soon to follow. This has occasionally caused problems from where they have departed so abruptly, often leaving Imperial forces in a life-and-death struggle against a myriad of foes. A third group is composed of those that originally followed Luther, but after the loss of the world they had held so dear and betrayed the Imperium to protect, deemed Luther a failure and would wander the Eye of Terror as mercenaries for hire or travellers without a goal. However, many of these Twice-Fallen, as those that still hold allegiance to Luther call them, have joined the ranks of War Commander Sakaeron, becoming the origin of the Phertalien, Astartes that do not carry Fulgrim's gene-seed but fight alongside the Third Legion's ranks.
Though a large proportion of the Fallen have been captured and exonerated of their crimes with their confession and subsequent death, there is very little data on how many are still alive. Long-range psychic probing into the Eye of Terror, by specially trained psykers of the Dark Angels, informed their masters that Sar Luther has rebuilt his forces. But instead of joining War Commander Sakaeron's crusades, these Fallen Angels plan something far darker and horrible but as of yet unknown to the Dark Angels.
The Dark Angels ready themselves for the Eleventh Vengeance Crusade, but strive to decipher Luther's machinations. As the Eye of Terror begins to rumble and Chaos fleets prepare for war the Dark Angels and their Successors carefully watch for any sign of the Damned Knight of Caliban, committed to ending his ten thousand year betrayal.
Organisation-
The Dark Angels and their Successors abide by many of the principles and rules of the Codex Astartes, such as five-thousand man Chapters, ten companies of five hundred Astartes and much more. There are, however, two notable deviations from the Codex present in almost every Chapter descended from the Lion's gene-line. The First and Second Company, the Deathwing and Ravenwing respectively, are the only ones outside of the Inner Circle to know of Luther's betrayal and the Fallen Angels. The Ravenwing only know of base facts, the Deathwing scant more, but both work together to hunt down any of their Fallen brethren and bring them back to the Dark Angels' fortress monastery: the Rock, for repentance and execution.
The Deathwing, many adorned in advanced models of Terminator Armour, marches to war only at the command of the Inner Circle and the Supreme Grand Master. When the Deathwing is deployed in force to a battlefield, there is certainly more going on than meets the eye. The Ravenwing, the quick and mobile lightning assault force of the Chapter, scour the galaxy in search of the Fallen and are usually the first to find them and bring them to judgment. Both companies work in concert with one another, all under the close watch of the Inner Circle. Such is the way of things in a majority of the Dark Angel Successor Chapters.
A more unique, independent formation is the Watchers Eternal, formed after the destruction of Caliban. Created by the Lion, this select group of Astartes was handpicked by their primarch for their purity of spirit and utmost loyalty. The duty of the Watchers Eternal is to forever move between Chapters of Lion-descent to prevent corruption from within and, if need be, remove heretical elements when necessary.
The Astartes that make up the Watchers are currently selected by the Watchers' commander bearing the name and title of Lord Cypher in conjunction with the Dark Angels' Supreme Grand Master and the Chapter Master of the particular Chapter the Astartes is being recruited from. Once inducted into the Watchers, all insignia and heraldry are removed except the Dark Angels winged sword and Lord Cypher's white hood sigil. Though no more than five hundred Space Marines at a time, the Watchers Eternal are a force to be reckoned with, for in their pursuit of corruption, none are safe from scrutiny.
Despite this extra precaution, the Lion's illustrious bloodline is not exempt from giving birth to traitors. The recent Badab War showed that even sons of the Lion could spit on their loyalty to the Imperium and join Chaos. But none of the ten Loyal Legions and their Successors are wholly exempt from this. The Dark Angels, to their credit, do have one of the lowest amounts of Astartes that turn traitor.
He ran as fast as he could, transhuman muscles burning with exhaustion. They were after him and they were relentless, they always were. It was almost admirable from a certain perspective. The storm was covering his retreat but he knew that would not stop them, merely delay.
They had already killed his compatriots, survivors of what had been the Angels of Penance, now the Angels of Damnation. Only he was left, just as they had planned. The others were traitors, but not the hidden shame of the Lion. The others were not Fallen, but he was.
Gripping his bolt pistol, he checked the ammunition. Three bolts remained while his chainsword was missing most of its monomolecular sharp teeth. He sighed. After nearly three centuries of running since he was last captured and escaped, his time was finally out. He would not be taken again. Stopping, he put the pistol to his temple and closed his eyes. He began to squeeze the trigger.
But his finger would not move. Opening his eyes he saw a figure in black a hundred metres away, hand outstretched, crystallised hood glowing with power. A Librarian! Damn them, they had prepared well it seemed. From behind he heard armoured boots thud on stone and puddles of water being splashed. Gauntlets from behind removed his bolter clip, then the round in the chamber. Only then did his body unfreeze. The useless pistol was knocked to the ground and he was punched in the stomach. The armour he wore on Caliban was long gone, now replaced with a superior Corvus model. But even that was half-broken, patched with scavenged metals and cannibalised parts. The armour easily buckled under the blow.
Bent over, out of breath and the will to live, he was dragged from his hiding spot out into the rain. It smacked against their armour; the water that hit his face was cool and refreshing. Around him the Watchers Eternal formed. Behind them came a squad of Ravenwing from the Disciples of Caliban with an Interrogator-Chaplain leading them. They all looked down at him, judging him, and feeling that they were superior and in the right. Fools the lot of them, he thought bitterly.
As lightning flashed and thunder roared a figure in black armour covered in a white robe emerged from amongst the Watchers. He moved towards him, a giant power sword sheathed across his back. He knew who this was. Cypher, though the bearer of that name was not the same brother as the one he knew so long ago.
"Legionnaire Willyr Castez, Dark Angel of the Calibanite Independent Defence Force, Fourth Company, Second Squad, traitor to the Imperium, the Lion and the Emperor. Fallen Angel," intoned Cypher.
"You know me well. What is your name I wonder? The name you had before you abandoned it to adorn that white robe and wield that damn sword." Silence was his answer, which Willyr expected.
"What now? Am I to be tortured to confess my sins? Taken to the Rock and made to scream and bleed until I yell my admission of fault?"
Cypher looked towards the Disciples' Interrogator-Chaplain whom nodded.
"No, you will not. Not this time. You escaped before you could receive proper interrogation and judgment; you shall not have the chance to do so again."
Unsheathing the Lion Sword from his back, Lord Cypher rested it in the ground. "Any last words, Fallen Angel, any repentance you wish to speak?"
Willyr lowered his head, revealing his exposed neck. "Just get it over with."
"Very well. By standing order of Lion El'Jonson I sentence you, Legionnaire Willyr Castez, to die. May the Emperor pardon you for your sins and may He forgive us for our failures."
The sword was raised and in one swift motion it executed Willyr the Fallen Angel. The rain helped ease the spread of blood across the muddy ground.
Recruitment-
The First Legion originally recruited from Terra, and once the Lion was discovered, Caliban. But since the cataclysmic destruction of that world, the Dark Angels select candidates from a host of sources. Some are chosen from underhive gangers, others from children of planetary aristocracy, and other the children of dead Imperial soldiers. While the Dark Angels have favourite recruitment worlds, these worlds only bring in three-quarters of recruitment, with the other quarter recruited wherever the Winged Sword ventures.
Homeworld-
Caliban was a Death World and home to the First Legion for a century before it was destroyed. The largest remnant of the planet, the Aldurukh Castle, is now the fortress-monastery of the Chapter and has been renamed the Rock. The Rock sports warp and plasma drives alongside advanced shielding and weaponry, making it one of the most powerful, if not the most powerful, mobile star fortress in the Imperium. It is always on the move, preventing enemy attack and allowing the Dark Angels the ability to wage war across the galaxy with relative ease.
Beliefs-
The Dark Angels, as do their Successors, believe in strict honour, fierce loyalty to their brotherhood, and hold the highest reverence for their missing father, whom many still believe will return when the Imperium needs him most, when the End Times approach.
Gene-seed-
The gene-seed of the Dark Angels and their Successors has remained steadfastly pure, with all nineteen organs operating at maximum efficiency and with rejection rates being quite low. Such is the purity and compatibility of the Lion's gene-seed, that only the Ultramarines, Sons of Horus and Iron Warriors spawned more Successors.
Battlecry-
When the Dark Angels march to war, common battle-cries such as "For the Emperor!", "For the Lion!" and when hunting down Fallen Angels, "Repent and receive absolution!" and "Repent! For tomorrow you die!" are heard.