Games Workshop - Warhammer 40,000 - Dark Angels: The Lion & Retinue

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They began to forget the deeds he and his warriors had performed, for he rarely spoke of them. All except one. At the height of his reputation, El'Jonson made clear his extraordinary ambition: he called for a grand crusade to exterminate the Great Beasts of Caliban so that the people of his world could finally know peace and live free from fear. Such a drastic move did not happen overnight, and could not pass without dissenting voices, but when the Lion spoke in favour of the union of knights and the glory that would be theirs for the taking in the service of the Emperor, most such voices were stilled -- most, but not all. During the height of the Battle of Perditus, the Lion encountered the Greater Daemon of Tzeentch known as Kairos Fateweaver, who attempted to convert the primarch to the cause of the Ruinous Powers, but failed miserably, as he had nothing to sway the Lion to their cause. There is great poetic justice in how all these “DA-holes” have to eat humble pie and accept the fallen, and I'm sure that the Lion is getting his head-punching fist ready to deal with any dissenters...

Treachery Cover Up: Following the rebellion, the Dark Angels have hidden all information regarding the destruction of Caliban and the Fallen's existence. This includes up to and including killing Inquisitors who investigate Caliban's destruction. In Ravenwing it's revealed that the Inner Circle keep a lot of the truth about the Horus Heresy from the rank and file battle-brothers, such as it's existence. Finally, the day arrived when those individuals whose courage had been proven beyond doubt, whose stamina, endurance and strength had seen them through the Astartes trials were ready to be added to the ranks of the I st Legion. And the Angels of Darkness descended on pinions of fire and light... the great and terrible dark angels."

Dark Angels Successor Chapters

During the 200 th year of the Great Crusade, 998.M30, the Dark Angels Legion was carrying out an Imperial Compliance campaign against the Shield Worlds of the so-called Gordian League -- a confederation of Human worlds who were allied with degenerate xenos. By the time the Siege of Terra began, the Lion hoped to draw Traitor forces away from the Throneworld by striking at their own Legion homeworlds. As a result, the Dark Angels destroyed several Traitor homeworlds such as Chemos of the Emperor's Children and Barbarus of the Death Guard, acts that the Lion would come to relish. Both sides had been fighting over an ancient sentient device, known as the Tuchulcha Engine. This device was part of a triumvirate of similar sentient devices (another being the Ouroboros and a third, unnamed engine) which when combined could create temporal rifts that bridge space and time. For many, this reinvigoration of the Legion served to dispel the malaise that had long lain over the First, discarding the vainglory that had sapped the worth from victory and embracing the purity of the primarch's vision; though for a silent minority of veterans the sudden and jarring dissolution of old traditions and the introduction of new Calibanite blood left a lingering sense of doubt. Each battle-worn company received their new master with the same stoic reserve, with silent courtesy and brief but solemn vows of allegiance, and each was tested in battle by the primarch himself before they joined the ranks of his growing entourage. As was the way of the Lion, he demonstrated his worth by his actions and skill rather than with words and vague promises, allowing those who might doubt him to match their blades against his in honest combat. None among the Legion could question his right to lead after such a trial, though some few within the Legion harboured misgivings at the sudden changes the primarch brought to the centuries-old doctrines of the Legion and the shift in authority he represented.

During the ground battle at Davin's infamous Temple of the Serpent Lodge, where Horus had first been corrupted by Chaos, Guilliman and El'Jonson managed to finally fight as partners and brothers. Together they brought down a massive Soul Grinder Daemon Engine. Curze remained captive aboard the Invincible Reason and occasionally the Lion would visit to speak with him in an attempt to gather information from his prophetic visions, but the Night Haunter rarely proved cooperative. With the first influx of new recruits from Caliban now ready to join the I st Legion, comprising those older warriors like Luther that had opted to undergo the painful and unreliable cybernetic and genetic augmetic enhancement process that allowed them to reach levels of ability comparable to true Space Marines, Lion El'Jonson swiftly incorporated them within this new structure, taking care to assign posts and commands based only on merit and not due to origin or the simple virtue of time in service. Ignored Epiphany: After nearly destroying Piscina IV over his obsession with the Fallen in Angels of Darkness, Boreas realizes that the Dark Angels have lost their way, and makes a recording of an impassioned speech begging the Dark Angels to stop being so obsessive over the Fallen. When the Dark Angels arrive to investigate his death in Ravenwing, Sammael considers Boreas a heretic for failing to pursue the Fallen.

Old Shame: Invoked Trope. The Fallen. The Dark Angels and their successor chapters are obsessed with dealing with them without the Imperium as a whole learning they exist.

Following a suicide bombing of an Astartes convoy, the Lion used the I st Legion to establish martial law on Macragge. Certain that Curze was hiding within the rebellious Illyrium region, the Lion advocated the use of a massive orbital saturation bombardment of the region to ensure Curze's death. Standing in the chamber of the Tuchulcha Engine aboard the Invincible Reason, the Lion brooded over recent events. He questioned his actions over the course of the last few decades -- the banishment of Luther, the death of Nemiel as well as other decisions he had come to regret. Lion El'Jonson would soon leave for distant Terra and his new destiny, bringing his uncompromising and remorseless style of warfare to the ranks of the Imperial forces. To him would fall the role of watchman at the edge of the Emperor's domain, the bane of monsters and beasts and the bearer of weapons too terrible to entrust to any other. Next, the Dark Angels took part in the vital campaigns of the final Rangdan Xenocides. They fought alongside Titans from the Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Vulturum and Legio Kydianos as well as other Xanite Mechanicum forces from the Forge World of Xana II.

Warhammer 40k 10th edition Dark Angels

How is this all explained to the ~80% of DA and DA successors who have no idea of the Fallen's existence? The Dark Angels were both numerous and skilled in all the arts of war, with access to the armouries of Terra and psyarkana forbidden to all others, and their primarch was as inflexible as iron, loyal beyond doubt to the Emperor and resolute enough to rise up against any threat to his father's grand dream of Human unity. By this creed of strength and excellence the I st Legion, the Dark Angels, lived and died, continuing the work of the Emperor in the last days of the Great Crusade. Wherever the tide of Imperial conquest slowed they were to be found, bright swords and grim resolve against the worst horrors of the galaxy. Lion El'Jonson, now long parted from the forests of Caliban and a staunch believer in the dream of Human empire embodied in his gene-father, fought with every moment given to him.