Part Two - The War of Angels

During the final years of the 42nd Millennium, grand designs fell into place as one large cataclysm echoed throughout realspace and the immaterium. One such grand design was that of Luther, the leader of the Fallen. His mighty army of Fallen Angels was at legion strength, and when they descended upon the realms of the Emperor the Unforgiven found it their duty to fight their fallen kin.

With the Lion trapped in Imperium Nihlus as the Gauntlet and other access ways were slammed shut by Abbadon and the horrific thing that replaced Abbadon by the end, he rallied many of his sons to his side as they countered Luther's schemes and assaults all throughout the worse half of the galaxy.

But on the other, it was a massacre. With the secret of the Fallen apparent for all to see, septs of the Black Templars and the Ecclesiarchy rushed to exterminate the secret heretics within the Imperium. The Angel Diaspora it was called, as Guilliman offered refuge to the Sons of the Lion in the Realm of Ultramar. With Civil War brewing, the Imperium was about to come crashing down on itself before a hole was pierced within the Great Rift by the Emperor and one of his sons, and both sides of the Imperium were reconnected.

As the Pariah Nexus of the Silent King waged war with the Great WAAAAGH of the Primork Thraka, the Emperor saw the imminent danger and the climax of the Long War ever approaching, he called upon those within the Ministorium and the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels, Azrael, to discuss a ceasefire. The meeting was only said to have lasted thirty seconds.

The battered sons of the Lion regrouped at the Rock, now above Macragge, before a final battle against Luther was launched. With him were the Night Lords and the Word Bearers, two of the Chaos Space Marine legions who turned against the Emperor during the Horus Heresy. As Lorgar dueled Guilliman in a ferocious battle at the heart of Macragge's capital, Lion El Johnson tried to reason with his fallen friend. Luther proved unmovable at the end, finally and forever corrupted by Chaos some time during his mustering of forces within the Eye of Terror.

Realizing that his friend is truly gone after Azrael takes the blow from Luther's daemon-infused sword, the Lion bests Luther and kills him. However, instead of ending the conflict, Luther only becomes a martyr, and the Traitors had a name and people to rally to.

Even so, the Traitors were beaten back and the Fallen Angels and Word Bearers retreated.

But this was not the end of the story, for after the Climatic Battle on Holy Terra that put a close to the 42nd Millennium, both the sons of the Lion and the sons of Luther survived the Galaxy's end.

Where Caliban once stood, a massive collection of its shards now reside. Five hundred Fallen Angels, three hundred and eighty Word Bearers, and fifty Night Lords reside here. It is the only safe haven for the Fallen, for even in the Age of Quiet, the Unforgiven's hunt did not end.

The secret had long been lost save but with the missing Lion and the perpetually wounded Cypher, both of which have been said to assist in fighting for the Emperor during the Second Siege of Terra. Now, all the Sons of the Lion know is that there are the Fallen, and they must die for it has always been their duty to make them repent.

The Realm of Angels, a collection of worlds in the Ultima Segmentum once thought to be part of Ultramar, is one of the largest collections of Space Marines in the Age of Quiet. Fifteen thousand Unforgiven Angels united under the banner of the Dark Angels constantly strike out against the Fallen from their impenetrable fortresses and the Rock, which managed to survive all these millennia. While a direct attack on the Caliban remnants would certainly be a victory for the Dark Angels, their location has been hidden and the starcharts leading to Caliban have been since lost, either due to maddened Angels or Fallen plots to continue their survival.

Even with Caliban being a safe haven, those Fallen who are stranded elsewhere live a perpetual nightmare. Every other night, Squire Guardsmen assaults. Every other week, the Deathwing arrive on their steeds of black and their Warp-based deep strikes. Even large Fallen groups have been chipped away at, forever on the run. If they are lucky, they make it to Caliban. If they are not, the neverending hunt claims yet another damned traitor.

While the Realm of Angels' primary task is to end the evil that is Luther's men, they have been assaulted by others consistantly as well. The Church of the Emperor lives on through many remnants of the Imperium, and all have seemingly forgotten the treaty between Lion El Johnson, the Adeptus Ministorium, and the Emperor. To the grizzled and mad Helbrecht Templars, they are but another Traitor Legion. To the Order of our Martyred Emperor, they are heretics who will die by the flame.

Both Fallen and Unforgiven are hunted...but one thing remains the same. The War of Angels continues, with the only ending possible slowly being pieced together as the Unforgiven piece back together the Chart to Caliban...