Tower of Caliban

"There are rumours of an Adeptus Astarte chapter; A successor of the First Legion prowling in the dark recesses and the fringers of Imperial rule. Last official contact with the Inquisiton left the envoy worried; to say the least."

- Inquisitor Sloztun Ian

Formed within the First Legion in the aftermath of Caliban's destruction at the hands of traitors led by Luther, The  Tower of Caliban  Order specialized in wartime logistics and Armoured warfare.

When the edict from the Lord Commander Guilliman imposing Codices of Astartes came to the First Legion, the Legion begrudgingly agreed. In the aftermath, Tower of Caliban began with a single squad of marines. The chapter was named literally after a planetary debris of Caliban that had survived intact with a single remaining Fortress Tower due to the shield generators it housed. The squad had cleared the tower and occupied it as one of the sentinels stationed in the system.

Once formed and bestowed with a heraldry and resources, The Tower continued its vigil in the system and patrolled the neighbouring cluseters adding to the chapter's numbers and swelling in ranks. This included marines ranking from initiates to Ancient Venerable void vessels.

The chapter's specialization never let it's strength idle and accumulate suffocatingly and when the call from the Legion came depart, the chapter left the system cluster offically with only 371 marines, 1 ship (newly classified Battle Barge), 4 ships (newly classified Strike Cruiser), 6 ships (newly classified Gladius Class Frigate).

The Tower and the remaining superstructure were augmented with the remains of ships from the battle and departed along with the fleet. It was never again seen by Imperial forces.

The Primarch's Summit and the Primaris Unforgiven
In the wake of the recent catastrophic events, Supreme Grand Master Azrael decided to convene an emergency council of the Unforgiven's other Supreme Grand Masters, several of whom were still nearby following the Darkmor Massacre.

The Dark Angels' Librarians succeeded in piercing the veil of the Great Rift and sending out a scattered astropathic summons -- though several died to achieve the feat -- and soon every loyal son of the Lion was preparing to embark on a perilous journey to The Rock.

Not all found their way to that last fragment of their ancestral home. Entire Successor Chapters became lost in the Warp, while others found themselves bogged down in one of the galaxy's many raging conflicts.

It is when Azrael finally decided he could wait no longer for the remaining Successors to arrive that he was informed of a new fleet transitioning into orbit around The Rock; it was not a waylaid Chapter of the Unforgiven that it bore, however, but the resurrected Lord Commander of the Imperium.

Azrael, his forces depleted and his Chapter's stronghold battered, feared the worst -- that the newly returned Primarch of the Ultramarines, Roboute Guilliman, knew the truth of the Dark Angels' hidden past, and brought judgement with him.

Debating whether to order the withdrawal of the assembled Unforgiven Chapters, or to make a stand and take up arms against the Primarch's delegation, at last the Supreme Grand Master decided upon neither, allowing Guilliman's fleets to dock without incident.

It soon became clear that the Lord Commander and the remaining ships of the Indomitus Crusade fleet came not to deliver censure, but much needed reinforcements.



From the depths of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl's vast freighter-hulk marched Primaris Space Marines, created from the purest genetic material ever taken from Lion El'Jonson. Rank upon rank of them entered The Rock clad in new variants of Mark X Power Armour painted in the colours of the Dark Angels and their Successors.

At a brief war council, Guilliman outlined the threats facing the Imperium and his plans to continue the Indomitus Crusade. He also spoke of the updated Codex Astartes, and how his brother El'Jonson's descendants had earned the right to maintain their specialised wings and unique order of battle, as long as they continued to serve the Emperor well. So did Azrael and the other Supreme Grand Masters kneel before Guilliman, and pledge their Chapters to the new Imperium.

The Dark Imperium
In the wake of their Primaris reinforcement, the Dark Angels moved into the darkest reaches of the galaxy, now shorn from the light of the Emperor. There Azrael could more easily coordinate the Inner Circle, responding to the myriad distress calls that flooded in from the isolated and Warp Storm-battered worlds of the galactic north.

In addition to breaking sieges and rescuing beleaguered populations, the Dark Angels and their Successors continued the eternal hunt for the Fallen, especially pursuing any signs of Cypher and the Daemon Prince Marbas -- which only Azrael knows may be the key to locating Luther.

Notable Campaigns
Using The Rock as their mobile fortress, the Dark Angels have crisscrossed the galaxy bringing war to the Emperor's enemies. Few other Space Marine Chapters can match their roll call of victories -- for they have fought in the forefront of many of the most crucial battles in the Imperium's history.

For the Dark Angels, however, no action ever is enough to atone for the sins of their ancestors -- they remain the Unforgiven until every last Fallen Angel has been captured, repented and accepted the Emperor's Peace.

When the Dark Angels achieve a battlefield objective, they immediately leave to seek their next engagement. They are not a Chapter who rebuilds shattered Imperial worlds or performs humanitarian missions -- they are the Emperor's warriors, bred solely for battle.

After every combat, they reclaim their wounded and fallen comrades and any prisoners they have taken before returning to their orbiting fleet.

As a general rule, the secretive Dark Angels do not share battle records with the Administratum. They comply with the letter of Imperial law which requires that astropathic reports be made to Terra concerning their campaigns, but these communications remain minimal.

The Imperium's knowledge of the Chapter's plans and actions are vague, on a par with only the Space Wolves, who are infamous for the utter disregard they show the bureaucrats of the Adeptus Administratum. The Imperium gleans most of its knowledge about the Dark Angels' activities from outside reports, such as those submitted by those Planetary Governors and Imperial Commanders who fought beside them, or from the Inquisitors sent to inspect them.

With their triumphs far too numerous to list in full here in this limited space, what follows are those battles that the Dark Angels themselves consider worthy of special commemoration by the Chapter.

Dawn of the Imperium, M30-M31

 * The Great Rift Opens (ca. 999.M41) - At first, all is utter blackness and the stars fade from the skies, but as the time of the Noctis Aeterna passes, the Imperium gazes out awestruck upon a new horror. The Cicatrix Maledictum -- commonly called the Great Rift -- splits reality across the galaxy, a hole in realspace hundreds of times greater than the Eye of Terror. The Rock is caught within the Imperium Nihilus, the galactic north that is wholly cut off from the light of the Emperor's Astronomican.

Note: For the deeds of the Dark Angels and Unforgiven Chapters following the opening of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus, see the above history of the Chapter, starting with the section "The Great Rift Opens."

Hexagrammaton
The Hexagrammaton formations that existed within the Dark Angels Legion was inherited by the Tower. While the Tower's implementation when compared to its Legion counterpart is worlds apart, this is an inherent design of the doctrine making it flexible while mainting and improving upon the base advantages the doctrine provided


 * Deathwing
 * Ravenwing
 * Dreadwing
 * Firewing
 * Ironwing
 * Stormwing

Deathwing
Deep Response Total Warfare Specialists The Deathwing consists of veterans of the Chapter from every circle. In warfare they serve as leaders and are deployed in places of overwhelming odds and if needed in the heart of the enemy.

Ravenwing
Mobile Warfare Specialists

Lords of mobile warfare in on land, atmosphere and void. They form the vanguards of assaults moving in and out of enemy formations keeping them occupied as the rest of the hunt moves in for the kill.

Dreadwing
Heavy Total Warfare Specialists

Specialized in heavy frontline assaults with armoured and mainly devestator units, the dreadwing are there to turn the tide of any engagement.

Stormwing
Deep Warfare Specialists

No barrier or target beyond reach, the Stormwing specializing mainly in boarding actions and assaults in securing staging grounds.

Ironwing
Heavy Armoured Warfare Specialists

Firewing
Heavy Mobile Warfare Specialists

The Tower forgoes even the unorthodox organization of the Dark Angels and weaves the Hexagrammaton through its entire chapter ranks.

Ravenwing Vehicles
To carry out their operations, the Ravenwing of the Dark Angels and the other Unforgiven Chapters makes use of a variety of vehicles intended to enhance tactical mobility and manoeuvrability. The Ravenwing even maintains its own air support arm that is separate from the rest of the Chapter.

The Ravenwing makes use of the following types of vehicles:
 * Land Speeders - Most often, Land Speeders form highly mobile support for the ground-bound bike elements of the Ravenwing or larger Dark Angels strike forces. While part of the Ravenwing closes with the enemy, it is the Land Speeders that ensure that the bike-mounted spearhead can reach its quarry. To do this requires vehicles and pilots as mobile and quick-witted as the bike formations themselves. The Ravenwing advocate a fluid style of attack, and all its members must be ready to switch from well-rehearsed set-piece attacks to improvised breakthroughs or rapid pursuit of fleeing foes. In the Ravenwing's unconventional composition, a single Land Speeder makes up part of the standard Attack Squadron, while others (up to five) are grouped into Support Squadrons that can be split as needed. This unusual doctrine has been developed because the Ravenwing use Land Speeders to perform a variety of battlefield roles, due to their versatile weapons loadout. The Dark Angels can equip their Land Speeders for light probing reconnaissance, advanced scouting, tank-hunting, seek and destroy missions, and so on as required by tactical demands.
 * Ravenwing Master-Crafted Land Speeder - The Ravenwing Master-Crafted Land Speeder is a unique variant of the Land Speeder used only by Master (Captain) Sammael of the Dark Angels' Ravenwing. The Master of the Ravenwing's Land Speeder is heavily armed with twin Heavy Bolters and twin-linked Assault Cannons. In addition, this specialised pattern of Land Speeder is equipped with superior targeting equipment and a protective Void Shield generator.
 * DA_Vengeance_Model.jpg[[Land Speeder Vengeance]] - The Land Speeder Vengeance is a variant of the standard Land Speeder and is used only by the Dark Angels and their Unforgiven Successor Chapters and is the deadliest weapon available in the Ravenwing's arsenal, a larger variant of the standard Land Speeder that is armed with the devastating Plasma Storm Battery, with which it lays down a blistering barrage to support the Dark Angels' attack. The Land Speeder Vengeance couples a larger chassis and four powerful gravitic lifter-engines with a ferocious heavy weapon load-out, providing the Ravenwing with a highly mobile and deadly support battery to aid them in their hunt for the Fallen.
 * Ravenwing_Darkshrouds.jpgRavenwing Darkshroud - The [[Ravenwing Darkshroud]] is perhaps one of the strangest archaic relics deployed on the field of battle by the Chapters of the Unforgiven. The Darkshroud is a powerful icon of the Chapter and the Dark Angels will protect it with their lives. This archeotech vehicle consists of a Land Speeder Vengeance mounted with an ancient stone statue known as a Stone Guardian, an Icon of Old Caliban or the Ten Brothers of The Order. Ten such idols exist within the Chapter's Armoury. These statues were some of the few barren remnants found amongst the ruins of the Tower of Angels following the destruction of Caliban and were exposed to intense Warp energies during the catastrophe that destroyed that world. Locked in stasis displays deep in the Reclusiam of The Rock for years, it was not until the desperation of the Vendetta Campaign that the Dark Angels at last felt compelled to unleash their arcane power upon the battlefield. Each statue was mounted upon the chassis of a Land Speeder Vengeance, with great cables siphoning off its strange energy and amplifying it, and a power field of unknown quality which ripples outwards from these grim reliquaries and absorbs most forms of electromagnetic energy. In battle, the Darkshroud is used in support of the Ravenwing, its otherworldly veil serving to partially obscure and protect the company's bikes and light vehicles as they streak towards the foe. Even the blazing beam of a Lascannon can be swallowed within that gloaming field of eldritch power, dissipating harmlessly while the Ravenwing speed onwards.
 * Nephilim_Jetfighters.jpg in combat]]Nephilim Jetfighter - Nephilim Jetfighters are sleek Dark Angels aircraft deployed from the fighter bays of The Rock or any of the Dark Angels' Strike Cruisers. Although sometimes given the task of escorting Thunderhawks to their drop sites, the main role for the Nephilim is as an interceptor to establish air superiority over the battlefield, allowing their brethren to concentrate on ground targets with little concern for aerial assault. The Nephilim Jetfighters have only been used by the Dark Angels since the late 40th Millennium, when the Standard Template Construct for the improved engines was discovered while hunting a suspected Fallen, Baelor the Imposter, in the Nephilim Sector. Designated the Lionheart engine, the technology was used to modify older designs, though many features were left in place to appease the Machine Spirits. The end product was a more agile fighter with improved speed, even while carrying more powerful armaments. With a twin-linked Lascannon mounted in its nose, the Nephilim is ideally suited to bringing down aerial targets. It has proven itself on innumerable occasions.
 * Ravenwing_Dark_Talons.jpgRavenwing Dark Talon - The [[Ravenwing Dark Talon]] is perhaps the deadliest weapon in the Ravenwing's arsenal, and it plays a pivotal role in the 2nd Company's eternal hunt for the Fallen. A strange and ominous-looking craft, this atmospheric fighter is topped with sepulchre-like spires and half-covered in a gothic facade. Flying low, the Dark Talon follows the contours of surrounding terrain. Utilising its ground-facing boost jets, the Dark Talon can literally hang in the air, hovering above its victims like some black bird of prey. The Dark Talon attacks in two ways; it is armed to provide direct air support to allies on the ground with an underslung racked Hurricane Bolter under each of its blunt wings. The Dark Talon also carries a single bomb. It is able to accelerate on bombing runs, delivering its strange payload to their marked quarry. This archaic holdover from the Age of Technology is an archaic weapon known as a Stasis Bomb, the blast from which causes a degree of heat damage but, more importantly, momentarily halts the flow of time. This unnatural disruption to the time stream causes gut-wrenching disorientation and slows the reaction times of those caught within the proximity of the blast. Situated in the nose of the aircraft is the Dark Talon's most awe-inspiring weapon. The Rift Cannon, sometimes referred to as the Stained Glass Cannon, is a weapon developed at the zenith of Mankind's technological achievements and his hubris long before the Emperor first reigned upon Terra. When fired, it emits a beam of Warp energy that emerges with a cascade of scintillating colours that explode into a blossom of oblivion as a small rift into the Immaterium is opened at the beam's point of contact. In addition to its mighty arsenal, the Dark Talon carries a stasis-crypt holding cell where the Dark Angels' captives are loaded so that they might be ferried up to the orbital fleet and, ultimately, to the dungeons of The Rock and the attentions of the awaiting Interrogator-Chaplains.
 * Mark IV Raven Pattern Attack Bike - The Mark IV Raven Pattern Assault Bike is used exclusively by the Space Marines of the Dark Angels Chapter's Ravenwing. Ravenwing Black Knights ride to battle atop Mark IV Raven Pattern Space Marine Assault Bikes, powerful machines outfitted with deadly Plasma Talons.

Remaining Chapter Companies
The remainder of the Chapter is organised along standard Codex Astartes lines. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th Companies are Battle Companies -- the backbone of the Chapter's fighting ability and the core of any prolonged campaign. In large battles, these formations generally form the centre and will be counted upon to bear the brunt of the fighting.

The 6th and 7th Companies are Tactical Companies, each consisting entirely of Tactical Squads. These act as a reserve which may be used to bolster the front line, launch diversionary attacks or stem enemy flanking moves.

The 8th Company consists of Assault Squads, typically equipped with Jump Packs. When deployed en masse, this company is used to storm an enemy's position -- quickly closing with a foe and engaging in close ranged or hand-to-hand combat.

The 9th Company consists solely of Devastator Squads. It is the most powerfully armed company in the Chapter, and is used to bolster defence points and provide long-ranged fire support.

The 10th Company consists of Scout Squads; youths who have been partially transformed into Space Marines as Neophytes but are not yet full Initiates of the Chapter. This company represents the future of the Chapter and has no formal size as the rate of recruitment operates under a wide number of variables. Those Scout Squads nearest to completing their training are assigned to strike forces. It is almost unheard of for the Scout Company to fight as a single unit.

The traditional composition of the companies of the Dark Angels and their Unforgiven Successor Chapters outlined above shifted after the introduction of the Primaris Space Marines by Roboute Guilliman and the Indomitus Crusade.

The Battle Companies now consist of six Battleline Squads, two Close Support Squads and two Fire Support Squads comprised of any combination of the types of squads delineated below. Most Dark Angels deployments now consist of a single Battle Company, reinforced by elements of the Deathwing, Ravenwing, Scout and Reserve Companies as needed.

The 6th to 9th Companies are Reserve Companies, entirely composed of squads of the same designation. The 6th and 7th Companies are Battleline Companies, each consisting of between ten and twenty Battleline Squads. These act as a reserve which may be used to bolster the front line, launch diversionary attacks or stem enemy flanking moves.

The 8th Company is the Close Support Company, and consists of ten to twenty Close Support Squads, most often used wherever a strong hand-to-hand fighting force is needed.

The 9th Company is the Fire Support Company, consisting of ten to twenty fire support squads. It is the most heavily equipped company in the Chapter, and its heavy-weapon bearing Astartes provide suppression and raw destructive power. Squads from the Reserve Companies are often attached to a Battle Company in order to bolster a given force's capabilities. In such instances, they are identified as the 11th Squad, 12th Squad and so on.

The 10th Company in the new force organisation still serves its traditional role as the training ground for new Battle-Brothers of the Chapter, and is made up entirely of Scouts and a force of Vanguard Space Marines. Led by a Sergeant, these recruits will take to the battlefield alongside the strike forces of other companies, typically acting in a reconnaissance role. The reformed Codex Astartes dictates no formal size for the 10th Company, as the rate of recruitment is not fixed.

Battleline Squads
The most numerous and strategically versatile warriors in the Dark Angels Chapter are the Battleline Squads, and they form the backbone of most strike forces. Whatever the particular demands of an engagement, Battleline Squads are equal to the task, flexible enough to aggressively press home an attack or to staunchly hold a defensive position.

As set down in the revised Codex Astartes, Dark Angels are organised into three main types of squad: Battleline, Close Support and Fire Support, each trained, armed and equipped to excel at a different battlefield role.

The squads are each led by a Sergeant, who directs his warriors to flawlessly execute the orders of his superiors, and are sometimes split into five-Astartes sub-units called Combat Squads, so as to provide greater battlefield flexibility. These squads include the following:
 * Intercessor Squad - When planning out the core of a Space Marines Chapter, Roboute Guilliman remembered well the success of single armament squads from the days of the Great Crusade. While the Legions did employ a number of specially equipped squads, the hearts of their fighting phalanxes were formed from massed heavy infantry bearing Bolters. Thus, with Guilliman's reworking of the Codex Astartes upon his return came the Intercessor Squads. Here was a centre for any battle line -- a core of warriors that could lay down fire while advancing or equally as well hunker down to hold a vital objective. Such adaptable squads would prove invaluable to any tactician, for they would be able to respond to any of the battle's needs. Each member of an Intercessor Squad carries some variant of a bolt weapon. The standard armament is the Bolt Rifle, a firearm that has a longer range and greater armour penetration than the extant Adeptus Astartes Bolter. The Auto Bolt Rifle exchanges some range and striking power for an increased rate of fire, while Stalker Pattern Bolt Rifles can reach a greater distance and have more penetrating power, but cannot be fired on the move, making those that bear it less mobile. The entire squad is extensively trained in the use of each variant, and can equip themselves as the mission dictates. In addition to their main weapon, each Intercessor also bears a Bolt Pistol, Frag and Krak Grenades. It is common for one or two members of an Intercessor Squad to also carry an auxiliary Grenade Launcher, allowing them to fire their explosives across the battlefield. This loadout allows Intercessor Squads to lay down a punishing amount of firepower that can sweep away all but the most resilient of foes. By the third or fourth deployment in the Stygian war zone, even the most reticent and disapproving of the Dark Angels' Veterans was swayed by the effectiveness and sheer killing power of these new squads, but it was the Intercessors' almost innate ability to coordinate between themselves to create overlapping fields of fire that won over many of the brethren. Since the inclusion of Intercessor Squads, the Company Masters of the Unforgiven Chapters have come to count on their formidable salvoes of firepower. Indeed, they are now often the base upon which the rest of a strike force is built.
 * Tactical Squad - For millennia, the Tactical Squad had formed the backbone of the Dark Angels' armies. This period began with the inception of the Codex Astartes at the tail end of the battles of the Great Scouring, and lasted until nearly the end of the 41st Millennium. Although now Tactical Squads must share their combat role with the Intercessors, they remain a mainstay of many Unforgiven Battle Companies. Tactical Squads are composed of versatile warriors, able and equipped to perform a number of battlefield roles. A Tactical Squad could be asked to hold ground, provide fire support, charge into melee, or perhaps do all during the course of the same battle. Adaptability is the hallmark of Tactical Squads. Whereas other Space Marine squads might be optimised to perform a single task, the flexible Tactical Squad is built around the premise that its role will change based on need -- fluidly switching from offense to defence, from static to mobile, from ranged combat to close assault. The circumstances of a battle will dictate the course of action they should follow. The armament carried by a Tactical Squad is the Boltgun, the standard anti-personnel weapon of choice and bringer of death to the Emperor's enemies since the Great Crusade. As befits its needs, a Tactical Squad will supplement its firepower with more specialised or heavier weaponry -- such as a Flamer to burn foes from cover, or a Plasma Cannon to combat heavily armoured enemies. Every Battle-Brother is fully trained with the entire arsenal, as such duties are rotated to ensure the various firearm skills remain sharp. Tactical Squads often take to battle within a Rhino or perhaps a Razorback, as these tracked transports better allow for rapid redeployment or the seizure of vital objectives.
 * Infiltrator Squad - A Vanguard Infiltrator is a type of Vanguard Space Marine who is usually part of an Infiltrator Squad. Vanguard Infiltrators are Primaris Space Marines who are responsible for disrupting enemy communications and sabotaging targets of opportunity.

Close Support Squads
Nothing can end a battle as quickly as a well-coordinated and perfectly timed assault. It is the role of the Close Support Squads to crack open the enemy lines and to deliver the blow that breaks them entirely, sending the remnants of their army fleeing.

To make such attacks, the designated troops must be fast, aggressive and hard-hitting. These squads include the following:
 * Inceptor Squads - These Primaris Space Marines are equipped with Mark X Gravis Power Armour and heavy built-in Jump Packs -- rocket-like thrusters worn upon the back that allow their wearers to make powered jumps across the battlefield, leaping over obstacles and hurtling over great distances at speed. These fast-moving squads are capable of descending in the midst of the enemy and unleashing an absolute shellstorm. The primary weapon of the Inceptor Squad is the Assault Bolter. A single such firearm can stitch a pattern of death to scythe down multiple targets in seconds, and each member of the squad bears a pair of these bulky weapons. This means that the Inceptor Squads are capable of putting out enough firepower to halt a charging mob of Orks, or to turn massed cultists into a bloody mist. The distinctive sound of their high calibre shots is swiftly answered by rippling explosions of bolt shells and the dying screams of their enemies. Alternatively, an Inceptor Squad may be equipped with Plasma Exterminators, a loadout favoured by the Chapters of the Unforgiven due to their affinity with the dangerous and powerful technology behind their creation. Inceptors can be dropped from Attack Craft, even those in low orbit. Engaging their Jump Packs, they enter the atmosphere of a planet at blazing speeds, moving so quickly that few foes can react to their approach. Even as the enemies' guns try to track them, the Inceptors are upon them -- a devastating spearhead that strikes at the fore of a Space Marine assault. Despite the ground-shaking force with which they land, the Inceptors' servo-equipped boots absorb all of the impact, as well as providing extra boost when their wearers launch themselves back into the skies with a bounding leap. Formidable on their own, Inceptor Squads are the perfect complement to the rapid-strike style of the Space Marines.
 * Assault Squads - With Chainswords roaring and Bolt Pistols blazing, the Assault Squads of the Dark Angels charge into the thick of battle. They are often unleashed as the vanguard of an attack, for it is their violent onset that will punch the holes in the enemy lines that will be exploited by their brothers in other squads. As Assault Squads carry little in the way of ranged weaponry, it is vital for them to close with the foe quickly. To this end they frequently employ Jump Packs, allowing them to quickly cover great distances and deploy from Thunderhawk gunships, descending out of the skies like birds of prey. Plunging deep behind enemy lines, they can bypass a foe's best-laid defences, as shown when the Assault Squads of the Dark Angels 4th Company forced a breach in the Gohika Line during the siege against the Iron Warriors on Perditia. Such dangerous deployments take a toll, however, and of all the Dark Angels, only the Ravenwing regularly sustains a higher casualty rate than the Assault Squads of the Battle Companies. Unlike the bellicose and headstrong Assault Squads of other Space Marine Chapters, those of the Dark Angels are dour and stoic. In place of howled battle cries, they maintain a constant chant, a mantra of hatred and repugnance every bit as terrifying as the Vox-amplified bellows of their counterparts in other Chapters.
 * Reiver Squads - Even amongst the grim and shadowed brethren of the Dark Angels, the Reiver Squads are regarded as the most sinister squads within the Chapter. Here are terror troops, trained and equipped so that their sudden appearance spreads fear up and down the enemy lines. Each member of this Primaris squad is outfitted in Mark X Phobos Power Armour, constructed from a lighter-weight ceramite that allows its wearer greater mobility and stealth. The suit's servo-motors are engineered for silent running, as Reiver Squads rely upon infiltration and secrecy to launch their shock attacks. The element of surprise is key to any Reiver Squad, and they employ a host of different methods to ensure they can ghost through enemy lines to appear wherever on the battlefield they can inflict the most damage. Some Reivers are equipped with Grav-Chutes, allowing them to be airdropped into combat from fast-moving transport or Attack Craft. Using directional fins, Reivers control their plummet, pulling out of steep descents only at the last instant. Their streamlined armour has been designed to dampen both noise and resistance as they freefall into battle, and there is no sign of their arrival like the fiery contrails of Jump Packs or the flashing glare of teleportation. Once they reach their destination, the Reivers join the fray. Not all Reiver Squads deploy by air, however -- many simply move unnoticed across the battlefield to get into position, auto-senses set to maximum as they attempt to stay out of their foes' vision. To this end, Reivers often go to war bearing silent-firing grapnel launchers, allowing them to ascend vertical surfaces with ease. They are masters of travelling by unexpected routes, creeping through drainage tunnels or scaling seemingly impossible heights. There is no site upon a battlefield that they cannot reach. Once in position, the Reiver Squads will wait for a prearranged signal, or until an opportune moment arises. Nothing can prepare a foe -- even one standing guard -- for the sudden fury and shock of a Reiver assault. It is their role to sow fear and confusion amongst the enemy forces, and so they will emerge from the shadows amidst the blaring of their concussive Shock Grenades. Gone are their silent ways, replaced with a cacophony. Even the Reivers' quick-firing Bolt Carbines are modified to add to this effect, the weapons' wave-amplified muzzle blasts roaring. The augmented battle cries of the Reivers themselves are the most terrifying sounds of all, and even professional soldiers accustomed to the brutality of war are unnerved by the sudden and horrific aural assault. Against weaker-willed or less-trained foes, the results are even more dramatic. The Unforgiven Chapters have all fielded Reiver Squads to some degree, for their shock tactics and surprise attacks are ideal at laying the groundwork for the killing blows that follow. Even as enemies reel from the Reivers' assault, the bikes and aircraft of the 2nd Company suddenly appear, swiftly followed by the teleportation strikes of the 1st Company Terminators.
 * Incursor Squads - An Incursor Squad is a close support Primaris Space Marine unit that fulfils an aggressive, close-quarters gun-fighting role within Adeptus Astartes forces. Their missions typically see them storming defended positions, sweeping the flanks of spearhead advances or rapidly knocking out strategic enemy assets such as power generatorums and communication centres. Key to this role are the paired wargear technologies of their Occulus Bolt Carbines and the Divinator-class Auspexes that feed directly into their highly advanced transpectral combat visors.

Fire Support Squads
Without the aid of the Fire Support Squads, most Space Marine strike forces would swiftly grind to a halt. These units provide covering fire for their Battleline and Close Support brethren, allowing them to better carry out their vital roles, while thinning out the enemy's infantry and eliminating their toughest armoured threats.

These squads include the following:
 * Hellblaster Squads - The Hellblaster Squads harken back to days of glorious legend, when entire squads of the Ist Legion marched to war bearing deadly plasma weaponry. Each member of a Hellblaster Squad bears some variant of the Plasma Incinerator -- a weapon whose fire burns with the heat of a sun. Deployed at the right place and time, such a squad can crack open an enemy battle line, blunt a foe's armoured spearhead or fell the most hulking of xenos creatures. Not even the thickest armour plating can withstand such tremendous plasma blasts for long. Although all members of a Hellblaster Squad bear some form of a Plasma Incinerator, they are nonetheless strategically versatile. The assault variant sacrifices a little range for its ability to fire multiple blasts. Both it and the standard Plasma Incinerator are light enough to be fired on the move, while retaining enough stopping power to turn a Greenskin mob of Killa Kans into glowing heaps of molten slag. The most powerful version of the armament is the Heavy Plasma Incinerator, which can fire at longer range, and its incandescent bolts of plasma strike with more power still. A Hellblaster with such a weapon must remain stationary if they wish to direct the formidable shot, but is able to hunt larger prey. All variants of the Plasma Incinerator can be supercharged. With a blazing roar, each weapon glows dangerously hot before discharging plasma bolts of extraordinary force. Typically this is done only in the direst of circumstances; like all Imperial plasma armaments, the weapons suffer from potential meltdown when set in this manner. While the Unforgiven are not afraid to martyr themselves in a starburst of self-immolation, they will only do so if such an act is justified by the situation at hand. As they have done since they first claimed The Rock as their homeworld, the Dark Angels honour those brethren who suffer a fiery death due to plasma overloads. Their names are chiselled into the Pillars of Conflagratus that line the Hall of Fire. They stand as a hallowed and eternal reminder to the living that no cost is too high to pay for victory.
 * Devastator Squads - The members of Devastator Squads are the most heavily armed of all Dark Angels Space Marines. Enemy battle tanks are reduced to blazing wrecks before them, while towering walkers are blasted apart by their overwhelming firestorm. In addition to targeting armoured vehicles and providing support to advancing battleline or close support troops, Devastator Squads are ideal for cracking open enemy fortifications. A Devastator Squad commonly carries four heavy weapons, the exact nature of which varies from engagement to engagement, with anti-tank Lascannons and Multi-Meltas exchanged for infantry-shredding Heavy Bolters and Plasma Cannons as the battle requires. Traditionally, a Devastator Squad will wield a mix of weaponry in order to more readily adapt to the battle's challenges, although some commanders prefer a homogeneous weapons loadout, purposefully equipping their Devastator Squads to compensate for shortfalls elsewhere in the strike force. Any Devastator Battle-Brothers not equipped with heavy weaponry carry Boltguns, acting as spotters and providing covering fire, making their squad, in essence, a heavy Tactical Squad that is capable of dealing with a variety of threats. A Devastator Squad is at its deadliest when it can fight from a defensible position that overlooks the battlefield. Once entrenched in such a site they can dominate the foe, forcing them to either keep their heads down or be destroyed -- a situation that allows the Dark Angels to seize the initiative.
 * Aggressor Squads - "Advance and destroy" is the directive that the Unforgiven Chapters have put in place for their Aggressor Squads. Each of these Primaris Marines is clad in heavy Mark X Gravis Power Armour and equipped with a pair of gauntlet-mounted weapons, turning them into a walking bastion of firepower. An Aggressor Squad can wade into the largest of enemy hordes, plug breaches in defensive lines, or lead the advance across open terrain. During the battles upon Mordian, the Dark Angels Aggressor Squads were pivotal in clearing the dense hive cities of foes, leading a slow, but inexorable advance hab-block by hab-block. Aggressor Squads have proven effective in many different deployment positions, although one of the most common is advancing between two formations of Intercessors. Armed with Boltstorm Gauntlets, an Aggressor Squad can spray wide volleys of explosive bolts, mowing down waves of enemy infantry. Back-mounted Fragstorm Grenade Launchers add to the carnage, blasting holes into oncoming formations with great blossoms of shrapnel-filled explosives. Should any foes live through such a hurricane of firepower, they are met by swinging Power Fists, each blow able to crumple a battle tank. Other Aggressor Squads are equipped with Flamestorm Gauntlets, allowing them to send fiery bursts outwards in searing sheets. This is certain death for tightly-packed enemies, or for cowardly foes that thought to take refuge behind thick cover or in bunkers. In the wake of such a firestorm, nothing remains of their enemies save brittle and blackened bones, and these are soon crunched to powder as the Aggressor Squads stride forward to bring their next target into range.
 * Eliminator Squads - An Eliminator Squad is composed of dedicated marksmen. These fire support Primaris Vanguard Marines haunt the shadows of the battlefield, seeking out high-value targets and bringing them down with pinpoint volleys of bolt rounds.
 * Suppressor Squads - Suppressors are a type of fire support Vanguard Space Marine and usually members of a Suppressor Squad. Suppressors are Primaris Space Marines who specialise in rapid responses to heavily armoured enemy threats, entering battle either by dropping directly into the action via the Grav-Chutes or in long leaps using the Jump Packs integrated into their Mark X Omnis Power Armour. As soon as a target is sighted, the Suppressors engage their shock-absorbing servo plates and let fly with their portable Accelerator Autocannons. The brutal ferocity of the foot-long, armour-piercing shells they unleash will blast apart anyone caught in their path and force even the most stoic enemies to seek shelter from the murderous firestorm.

Chapter Support
All of the companies of the Chapter, with the exception of the Deathwing, the Ravenwing and the 10th Company, maintain Rhino, Razorback and Repulsor transports for each of their squads and Masters. More vehicles are held centrally by the Chapter Armoury, while Drop Pods are held by the Chapter fleet.

The Deathwing has designated Land Raiders, and more are held in the Armoury for use as requested by a Company Master. Although maintained by the Armoury, it is customary for Dreadnoughts to remain a part of the company in which the warrior served before being interred within his cybernetic sarcophagus. When not active, Dreadnoughts can be found powered down in The Rock's Halls of Silence.

The Dark Angels Chapter includes a large number of support staff, the great majority of whom are human Chapter Serfs, though there are a few Space Marines amongst their number.

Most of these are non-combatants of advanced years, tasked with leading the day-to-day administration of the Chapter, such as the Victuallers, or the Master of Recruits.

A particularly vital branch of the Chapter's support staff is that which serves within the Armoury. These include the Chapter's Techmarines, and the vast number of mono-task Servitors that perform mundane work and maintenance.

Dark Angels Librarians
Like their fellow Astartes Chapters, the Dark Angels also maintain a Librarium of potent psykers who are highly talented and trained to master the power of the Warp at the highest levels.

Each Chapter selects its Librarians in its own way, either from seed worlds, as it does with the bulk of its Initiates, or from the ranks of gifted psykers brought to the Scholastica Psykana. Most Chapters train and test chosen psykers following the ancient ways laid out in the Codex Astartes.

Librarians of the Dark Angels are trained in this way, and, with few minor variances, have been taught to live by the word of the Codex.

Interromancy Discipline
In order to aid the Interrogator-Chaplains in their cruel labours, the Librarians of the Dark Angels have mastered a sinister and invasive form of telepathy.

Few sensations are more horrific for a victim than the insidious slither of the Librarian's thoughts as they writhe through the gaps in his mental defences, flaying and twisting his psyche at will.
 * Mind Worm - A variant and more visceral version of the standard Mind Worm ability, with this power the Librarian violently burrows his consciousness into the screaming victim's brain, ripping free their secrets in a spray of gore.
 * Aversion - The Librarian sends waves of cold fear washing outwards. The foe find themselves unable to focus upon the psyker, their subconscious screaming at them to look away for fear of what they will see.
 * Righteous Repugnance - Reaching into the minds of his brothers, the Librarian stokes the fires of their hate, and the Dark Angels respond with a surge of cold, furious violence, enhancing their combat abilities and ability to withstand damage.
 * Trephination - The Librarian gathers his thoughts into a white hot spike to plunge straight into his victim's mind, leaving the foe's brain matter dribbling from ears.
 * Engulfing Fear - The Librarian inveigles his way into the minds of his foes. Subtly, he twists and heightens their fears, destroying their morale and willingness to fight.
 * Mind Wipe - The Librarian scourges the mind of his foe, dragging out every memory and skill that makes them who they are and reducing them to hollow shells of what they once were.

Order of Battle, ca. 999.M41
As noted above, the Dark Angels and their Successor Chapters, the Unforgiven, are not organised according to the dictates of the Codex Astartes, instead maintaining their own unique order of battle which is intended primarily to aid their continued hunt for all of the remaining Fallen Angels, and to maximise their secrecy in doing so. The Chapter order of battle as of ca. 999.M41 before the opening of the Great Rift and the arrival of the Primaris Space Marines is as follows:

Companies
The dispositions and commanders of the Dark Angels Chapter's companies, as of 999.M41:

Order of Battle, Indomitus Era
As noted above, the Dark Angels and their Successor Chapters, the Unforgiven, are not entirely organised according to the dictates of the Codex Astartes, instead maintaining their own unique order of battle which is intended primarily to aid their continued hunt for all of the remaining Fallen Angels, and to maximise their secrecy in doing so.

In truth, the great majority of the Dark Angels' engagements -- from putting down insurrections to destroying xenos forces -- have nothing to do with their secret hunt for the Fallen. Yet this does not stop the sons of the Lion, from the most Veteran member of the Inner Circle, to the newest Scout Initiate, from searching each and every battlefield for the signs of sedition. Those with the least understanding see the search for specific heresy only as loyalty to the Emperor, while those of the Inner Circle know signs of corruption or human augmentation might be clues that lead to a lost brethren in need of absolution.

With the exception of their two specialist companies, the Deathwing and the Ravenwing, the Dark Angels otherwise fight as a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter. Like all Adeptus Astartes, tactical flexibility, rapid deployment and combined arms remain key to their ability to successfully complete the vast range of missions to which they are assigned.

Battleline Squads form the core of most strike forces, supported by Close Support and Fire Support Squads, although there are a number of more specialised formations, such as the tank-heavy "Hammer of Caliban" formation or the Scout Recon Stalker Strike.

Any Dark Angels force can also call upon elements of the 1st or 2nd Companies for support; although their secret priority is the hunt for the Fallen, more often than not the Deathwing and Ravenwing serve in more conventional elite roles upon the battlefield.

Although smaller strike teams might be led by a Lieutenant or even a Veteran Sergeant, larger missions are typically presided over by a Master. It is his duty to lead his brothers in Humanity's defence, but there is another task incumbent upon him: the Company Master must be always alert for the Fallen, ready to call in the Ravenwing or Deathwing at a moment's notice.

Like the foundations of some great keep, the Battle Companies of the Dark Angels bear the weight of their Chapter's combat duties. The 3rd, 4th and 5th Companies of the Dark Angels are kept as close to full strength as possible at all times, with steady replacements coming from the Reserve Companies.

These transitions are laden with ritual, and each company maintains its own archaic rites of initiation, oaths and traditions. Knowledge is densely stratified within the Chapter's ranks, and with each progression Battle-Brothers learn by rote the allegorical tales and pseudo-myths that strengthen their resolve, build their dedication, and harden their hearts against Traitors.

Every advancement brings new secrets, preparing the Chapter's warriors for the appalling revelations that await them should they ascend to the brotherhood of the Inner Circle.

The Chapter order of battle in the days after the opening of the Great Rift and the arrival of the Primaris Space Marines is as follows:

Companies
The current dispositions and commanders of the Dark Angels Chapter's companies:

Chapter Recruitment
"Forget your past life. From this day on, you are simply a Dark Angel -- nothing else is of consequence. The Chapter is all that matters."

- Supreme Grand Master Azrael addressing new recruits to the Scout Company

As the Dark Angels have no homeworld to speak of (since the destruction of Caliban), they draw their recruits from a variety of different Imperial planets, mainly those Feudal Worlds with a pre-industrial level of technology like that of Caliban before the coming of the Emperor. Representatives of the Dark Angels visit each recruiting world once within a normal human's lifetime, and take the strongest juveniles from the population.

Each Aspirant is thoroughly screened, and from the moment he is accepted into the Chapter as a Neophyte Space Marine, his past becomes irrelevant. Once the recruit is accepted he will undergo the normal rites to become a Space Marine. However, should he fail, his mind will be wiped clean and his body converted into that of a Servitor, the mindless cybernetic automatons that carry out the laborious tasks of the Chapter.

The Dark Angels make use of less Chapter Serfs or bondsmen than other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. They prefer the use of Servitors for most Chapter labour, as they fear that human serfs could be compromised to reveal all of the Chapter's secrets.

After the Horus Heresy, the Dark Angels recruited from a single planet known as Plain's World. Sometime before the 41st Millennium, a group of returning Deathwing found that their sole recruiting world had been overrun fifty Terran years earlier by Tyranid Genestealers, with only a few un-tainted humans remaining among the populace.

The Terminators, whose duty and honour required the extermination of the Genestealers, prepared themselves for battle. The odds of their success was nearly non-existent. And so, the Terminators engaged in their native death ritual. Instead of anointing their skin with white ash, they anointed their armour, changing its colour to bone-white.

The Terminators cleansed the world and rescued the enslaved populace, and in honour of those few Terminators, the armour of all Dark Angels Terminators was ever after painted white. The Dark Angels' leadership, the Inner Circle, thereafter recognised the folly of relying upon one planet for manpower and so diversified their recruiting grounds to include other Imperial worlds.

The Fallen Angels
As the solar decades since the Fall of Caliban turned to Terran centuries, the Inner Circle took shape. It grew from an ad hoc conclave to a formal, if still furtive, organisation that spread through not just the Dark Angels, but their Successor Chapters as well. With no homeworld save The Rock, recruitment planets were founded and new generations of Dark Angels were added to replace those lost in battle.

Deathwatch Service
The Dark Angels have been seconding Battle-Brothers to the service of the Deathwatch for millennia, and Watch Fortress Erioch has several of the Chapter's brethren occupying senior appointments, including the lost Watch Captain Ramiel. As one of the greatest of Adeptus Astartes Chapters, the Dark Angels have fought against every foe, and often bring huge reserves of experience and wisdom to the Deathwatch upon taking their Apocryphon Oath.

In addition, Dark Angels are known for their resolute devotion to duty, undertaking the most arduous of missions with solemn dedication. It is also whispered that the Dark Angels are not always wholly altruistic in seconding Battle-

Master of the Rock
Most Space Marine Chapters have a Master of the Forge: the most senior Techmarine within the Chapter. With deep understanding of the arcane sciences refined over many standard years of experience, the Master of the Forge is comparable to a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The Dark Angels maintain a similar role within their Chapter known as the Master of the Rock, although there is an ominous difference. Upon ascending to the honoured position, the Master of the Rock follows his predecessors in the office by being permanently and cybernetically hard-wired into the control nave of Cogitators located deep within the asteroid base. It is his solemn duty to placate the most important Machine Spirits, directing the maintenance of the engines and Warp-Drive that allow the enormous asteroid to navigate the galaxy.

It is his mind alone that perceives the workings of the force field that still shields the asteroid base. The previous Masters of the Rock, whose bodies of flesh and bone have withered, are left in place, their mechanical upgrades still functioning while their bones fall in dusty heaps below. Eventually, these bodes will be collected for display in the Alcoves of Honour.

Because of their dual allegiance to the Chapter and the Adeptus Mechanicus, Techmarines are never inducted into the Deathwing. This includes the Master of the Rock; he is privy only to the secrets of the Dark Angels' asteroid base and its hoard of ancient technology, but never to the greatest secrets shrouding the Chapter's origins.

Chapter Combat Doctrine
The Dark Angels follow the standard combat doctrine of the Codex Astartes for the most part, but their dogged resistance against overwhelming odds is legendary. The Dark Angels will stubbornly stand their ground in combat, refusing to give ground to the enemy, even if it is tactically beneficial to do so.

Chapter Gene-Seed
As the I Legion of the Space Marine Legions, the Dark Angels' gene-seed is one of the purest and least degraded of all. Remarkably, the Dark Angels' Apothecaries have observed that the gene-seed carried by the Primaris Space Marines is universally of the highest quality they have ever seen, and so the Chapter's stock is qualitatively and quantitatively in excellent health.

T Others contest that it is due instead to a desire in some Terran or Martian circles to increase the Unforgiven's overall strength and thus act as a potential political counter-balance to the successors of the Ultramarines.

Dark Nature
Although only the upper echelons of the Chapter are aware of the awful truth of the Dark Angels' past, even those newly recruited are possessed of a secretive, even introverted nature. The idea that outsiders are not to be trusted is drilled into the recruits from an early stage, and they are tested continuously to ensure their compliance until it becomes second nature.

After all, a brother who cannot be entirely trusted to keep the Chapter's secrets is unlikely to advance through its ranks. Although the Dark Angels have fought beside all of the branches of the Imperium's vast military machine, they prefer to stand beside other Space Marines.

Many, even brother Astartes, find the Dark Angels aloof and uncommunicative. The Dark Angels, for their part are impatient and unforgiving with strangers who pry into their affairs.

The Dark Angels are also notoriously intolerant of non-humans and will often refuse to fight alongside armies that include abhuman warriors or alien races.

Yet, despite such incidents of friction, many Dark Angels have served with distinction and honour. Their taciturn nature and stubborn refusal to accept anything other than total victory over their foes has served the Unforgiven well.

Post-Heresy Era Personnel

 * Supreme Grand Master Azrael - The current, and some would say greatest, Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels Chapter and the unofficial commander of all the Dark Angels' Successor Unforgiven Chapters during the 41st Millennium.

Notable Friendships
Ragnar Blackmane, the young Wolf Lord of the Space Wolves Chapter, recently aided the Dark Angels' secret pursuit of the Fallen Angels upon the world of Hyades. While Ragnar knows nothing of the reasons for the Dark Angels' pursuit of these particular Renegades, his actions have begun to heal the long-standing feud between the Dark Angels and the Space Wolves.

Chapter Fleet
The Dark Angels were known to possesses the following vessels as part of their Legion fleet during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy and as part of their Chapter fleet after the Second Founding:
 * Invincible Reason (Gloriana-class Battleship) - Flagship of Lion El'Jonson during the Great Crusade.
 * Honoured Deeds (Battle Barge) - The Honoured Deeds served as flagship to the Primarch Lion El'Jonson within the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar at the time of Imperium Secundus. Convinced that Konrad Curze, the Primarch of the Night Lords Legion had somehow escaped Macragge, the Honoured Deeds embarked on a long journey to hunt down the Nighthaunter.
 * Salvation (Battle Barge)
 * Spear of Truth (Battle Barge)
 * Ultimate Vengeance (Battle Barge)
 * Undying Faith (Battle Barge)
 * Unrelenting Fury (Battle Barge)
 * Vinco Redemptor (Battle Barge)
 * Amadis (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat.
 * Adzikel (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat.
 * Black Sword of Vengeance (Strike Cruiser) - In 456.M34, the Inquisitor Halleck, after many decades tracking degenerates in wilderness space, captured a mysterious Heretic known only as the Angel of Truth. The last Vox broadcast by Halleck's ship claimed the prisoner had broken under questioning and had revealed a deep-rooted heresy. While returning to Terra with these revelations, the Inquisitor was beset by an unknown enemy. The only Imperial force in the vicinity was the Dark Angels' Strike Cruiser Black Sword of Vengeance. The vessel's crew reported no sign of the Inquisitor, his vessel or the prisoner.
 * Caliban's Will (Strike Cruiser) - Caliban's Will served as a part of the Dark Angels Legion garrison fleet that returned to Caliban with Luther. It was sent to the world of Zaramund in the early 31st Millennium on the orders of Luther to respond to a request by the Warmaster Horus for assistance. During this journey, it was lost with its crew of Fallen Angels in the Warp. In the late 41st Millennium, it was rediscovered by the Dark Angels Chapter as a component of the Space Hulk Olethros.
 * Vehemence (Strike Cruiser)
 * Watcher (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser under command of Captain Alcuis, deployed as part of a joint taskforce of Ultramarines and Dark Angels during the days of Imperium Secundus. The Watcher and her crew valiantly sacrificed their lives during the reconquest of Sotha to allow the Ultramarines to land ground forces.
 * Wrath of Caliban (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
 * Formidable (Light Cruiser) - Light Cruiser assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade. Temporarily reassigned during the secret mission to the forge world of Diamat.
 * Colgrevance (Frigate) - Frigate that discovered the sign of the enemy on Zephath during Imperium Secundus.
 * Intrepid (Frigate) - Frigate assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
 * Dauntless (Frigate) - Frigate assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
 * Arbalest (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great Crusade.
 * Audacious (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 4th Expeditionary Fleet during the Great
 * Chimaera (Ramilies-class Starfort) - The Chimaera was the heart of the Alaxxes Outpost, one of the initial six outposts created by the Ist Legion in the later days of the Great Crusade. Located in the inhospitable and inherently dangerous Alaxxes Nebula, the Chimaera would prove invaluable in the early days of the Horus Heresy when it successfully counter-attacked the gathered fleet of the Alpha Legion, which had been tracking and harassing the severely weakened VIth Legion after the Fall of Prospero. Hunted and cornered within the Alaxxes Nebula, the Chimaera saved the Space Wolves from certain eradication, the Ramilies-class Starfort's firepower severely damaging the Alpha, one of the lauded Gloriana-class Battleships which served as the flagship of the XXth Legion.
 * Herald of Night (Strike Cruiser) - The Herald of Night was a Strike Cruiser in the Dark Angels Chapter when the Ork forces of The Beast invaded the Imperium during the War of the Beast in the 32nd Millennium. It was later commanded by Master Adnachiel, when he took part in the Dark Angels' battle against the Orks after they invaded the asteroid field known as Astorias Cloud. However, the cruiser was later ordered to disengage from the battle by Grand Master Sachael after the Dark Angels received word that their aid was requested for a strikeforce raised to attack the world Ullanor, the origin point of The Beast's invasion force.
 * Austere Purification (Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
 * Monarch's Glory (Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
 * Redemptive Fire (Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
 * Blade of Numarc (Battlecruiser, Unknown Class) - A Heresy-era starship of the I Legion.
 * Executioner's Blade (Strike Cruiser)
 * Lion's Roar (Strike Cruiser) - The Lion's Roar was used by a strike force in the late 41st Millennium to hunt down a Fallen Angel who escaped into the Ghoul Stars. They Dark Angels eventually tracked their quarry to a charnel world of ash and bone, but when they neared the Fallen, they discovered he was really the animated body of a loyal 4th Company Sergeant. The body of the Sergeant fell to the ground and Mindshackle Scarabs emerged from it, before a horde of Necron Flayed Ones appeared, revealing that the strike force had been lured into a trap by the mad king Valgul in order to sate the hunger of the Bone Kingdom of Drazak. The subsequent battle saw the Dark Angels nearly destroyed, until the Lion's Roar committed a near-suicidal attack run through the charnel world's upper atmosphere. The Strike Cruiser's attack pushed the Flayed Ones back and allowed the Lion's Roar to teleport the surviving strike force to safety before returning to the void. However, even as the Lion's Roar escaped, the Bone Kingdom began to feast upon the Dark Angels that were killed by their talons.

Chapter Relics

 * Blade of Caliban - Blades of Caliban are Chapter relics and each has its own honourable heritage. Only the Champions of each Company, having performed heroic and faultless duty, earn the right to wield one of these unique Power Swords.

Chapter Colours
Prior to the Horus Heresy, during the Great Crusade, the Power Armour of the Dark Angels Legion was coloured jet-black. Not long after the Legion's Primarch was reunited with the warriors of the Ist Legion, a wedge began to be driven between the Calibanite Dark Angels and their Terran-born brethren.

On the right shoulder plates of the Calibanite Dark Angels, where normally a Space Marine's organisational and rank markings would be painted, they were authorized to wear the personal heraldry of their respective knightly orders.

On their left shoulder plates, El'Jonson had decreed that the Chapter's Calibanite Astartes were to wear the dark green of their homeworld's forests as an act of remembrance of the battles fought to tame their homeworld under the leadership of the Lion.

After the Heresy, the bulk of the Chapter began to appear in dark green armour, while the 1st and 2nd Companies' panoply remained jet-black in honour of the original Legion colours.

The Deathwing Company later re-coloured their armour to bone-white in honour of a battle fought long ago but after the Heresy. Chapter legend states that a band of Deathwing brethren returned to the world of their birth, only to find their people enslaved to a large Genestealer Cult.

Abiding by the traditions of their people, the brethren repainted their armour white, symbolising that they were dead men walking -- ghosts -- setting out on their death-quest to rid their world of the Genestealers' taint. Since that day, the Deathwing have continued to wear their Terminator Armour in bone-white colours, in solemn remembrance of the sacrifice of their predecessors.

A Dark Angel's battlefield specialty -- battleline, close support, fire support, or Veteran -- is shown by the icon worn on the right pauldron. The Low Gothic squad number is borne upon the right shoulder, a winged blade on the left.

In the Dark Angels, the brothers of the Battle and Reserve Companies wear their company markings upon their left knee plates as shown above.

Campaign badges are symbols adopted during especially large, drawn-out wars that typically involve a range of different forces of the Imperium.

Veteran Dark Angels are commonly found wearing hooded cloaks and tabards; this symbolises their shame over what the Fallen Angels had done near the end of the Great Crusade.

Cloaks and hoods are worn by the Veteran Dark Angels and the Chapter's Inner Circle because they have learned enough about the Dark Angels' history, and thus their shame, prior to obtaining their rank within the Chapter.

Apothecaries of the Dark Angels keep their entire armour painted black except for the backpack, groin and torso armour, which are all bone-white. They have a red vertical stripe painted down the centre of the helmet.

Chapter Badge
The badge of the Chapter is a winged sword on a green roundel, which was the ancient icon of The Order on Caliban. Variants of this symbol exist for the Deathwing and Ravenwing Companies, the former depicting the winged sword as broken, the latter a sword held by a single wing and raven's claw.

The 10th Company, the Chapter's company of Scout Marines, uses the Dark Angel Sword but without the wing device, to symbolise the fact that the Scout Company comprises Chapter Neophytes, who have yet to "earn their wings" as full Dark Angels.