An Angel's FallJosias_21

Chapter 2: Index Astarters: Dark angels

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Index astarters: Dark Angels. Knights without honor

A long time ago, the Dark Angels were one of the greatest legions in the service of the Emperor of Mankind, with an enviable record of victory and an example to legionnaires of any legion. Today, more than 10,000 years since they betrayed the Emperor, they fight to keep the lands of their false kingdom, using weapons and techniques that even the other traitor legions look down on. But they don't care what the rest of the galaxy thinks. Because they know that they are the only true guardians of humanity.

-Origins:

With the unification wars over, humanity's Emperor was already preparing for the next part of his grand plan. Using his own genetic material, he created 20 genetically modified generals who would surpass any mortal in every way possible, beings made to be equal to the next step in humanity's rise as rulers of the galaxy. Each of them would be at the behest of a legion of the adeptus astarters and would take the war to every corner of the galaxy and wipe out the mutant and the xeno. Unfortunately, before he could carry out this plan, the chaos gods invaded the laboratory where the primarchs' ecstasy capsules were and sent them all over the galaxy.

With his original plan being delayed by the primordial annihilator, the Emperor launched himself into space in the hope of quickly uniting with his children. At the forefront of such a force were the 1st and 16th legions.

The first legion, being a prototype and used as a basis for the creation of its sisters, was not specialized in any type of warfare, they were versatile soldiers who were not masters of a specific art of war, possessors of everything but masters of nothing. This made them perfect for a first approach to a galaxy with unknown threats and unimaginable horrors, as they were free to adapt as the situation required.

But at the same time, they would lose many more lives in wars that their sisters would fare better in. They could win sieges like IV and VII, but they took much longer. They could fight at close range, but IX and XII would always leave more corpses. They could take absurd amounts of damage, but XIV could take more. Even though they had access to technologies that were rare in the other legions, this didn't prevent them from suffering catastrophic losses in the early years of the great crusade.

To add to the high casualties they suffered, they were barely recognized by the greater empire. Few honors were recorded from those times, the horrors they faced were simply too cruel and monstrous for there to be any honor in killing them, let alone being elements to spread to the wider public. With all this, it's no surprise to learn that the legion eagerly awaited the discovery of their Primarch in the hope of changing this situation.

-The Lion:

When the Emperor's sons were launched across the galaxy they fell on the most diverse planets it had to offer. In the case of the lord of the first, he fell on the world of Caliban, a medieval world near the eye of terror that was constantly bathed in warp. The world's fauna ended up mutating because of this, making the planet's woods deadly to anyone unprepared. With such a constant threat, the planet advanced technologically at a slow pace. The only thing that helped make life difficult on such a planet was the large amount of arch-technology that was found on it, which allowed the knightly houses to have access to advanced weaponry.

It was on this planet that the number 1 capsule crashed. It plunged into the depths of the Caliban woods, far from human civilization. There, the young superhuman lived his first years of life, the only thing that kept him alive was his supernatural physiology and his innate dexterity as he fought the horrors of Caliban's forests.

At breakneck speed, the Primarch developed physically until he caught up with and physically surpassed any mortal human. When he reached maturity, the young man stopped fighting for survival and started hunting the beasts that infested the woods.

As a result of these events, records of half-eaten beast corpses began to increase, which drew the attention of an organization of knights known simply as "The Order". A hunting party headed by one of the Order's greatest knights, Sar Luther, went in search of the person responsible for such events.

There, deep in the forest, they found a grown man who was behaving like a beast. The knights managed to immobilize him and were about to kill him, but before the final blow was struck, Luther interrupted his companions and decided to take the individual to his superiors. Something inside him informed him of the greater future that awaited this being.

The young man was taken to the order, where the fate of the Primarch was discussed until it was decided to welcome him into the brotherhood. He was named Lion El'Jonson, which means: Lion The son of forest.

Under Luther's tutelage, Lion was trained both physically and mentally in how a knight should act and what his mission is in this world. The Primarch absorbed the information at impressive speeds and it wasn't long before he not only became a knight in his own right, but also began to rise in the organization of the Order, until he finally became its leader.

At his father's request, the current second-in-command of the order followed Luther along a trail that started at the order's castle itself, passed through one village and continued until it reached the next, but they didn't plan to continue on this path, since halfway between the two villages Luther left the trail and headed for a small hill with several rocks on top of it.

The lion watched as his father climbed the rock with curiosity, and turned to look around just to take in the view from this point. From where they stood there was a wonderful view of the village they had just passed. A majestic sight that made one forget the difficulties of living in this part of the planet, but knowing his father, he knew that they hadn't come here just to enjoy the horizon.

"Tell me dad, what did you want to show me?" The lion's impatience finally overcame his manners and he asked the question he had wanted to ask since the beginning of this walk.

His father and teacher momentarily ignored the question and continued to admire the landscape, his gaze telling the lion that he had seen such beauty countless times, but that he still wasn't tired. He took a deep breath as he enjoyed the silence and the calm breeze.

"The council has already decided to appoint you as the new leader of the order, so I wanted to talk to you for a while."

The Primarch remained silent as he listened attentively to his father.

"The work of a knight, however varied, ultimately comes down to two very important points. The honor of the gentleman, and the mission to protect what you see, my son." The young Primarch was momentarily silent as he thought about his father's words. Until he broke the silence with a new question.

"I understand. But which one is the most important, father?"

"Ha. That, my son, is a question only you can answer."

But the Emperor's son dreamed bigger. With his new authority and Luther's help, he began a campaign to unite all the knightly houses on the planet and put an end once and for all to the beasts that threatened human life. This campaign was, for the most part, peaceful as several houses surrendered to the lion and united without the need for bloodshed, and in rare cases it took a duel of honor to surrender. But there was one house that didn't join and declared war on all those who had joined the lion. The Knights of Lupus.

This house accused the lion of breaking the balance of the planet by eliminating the beasts, and if this campaign continued the only thing left for Caliban would be tragedy. Leo then declared that this order of knights should be extinguished along with the planet's beasts. A long battle ensued all over the planet. Everywhere the beasts were killed and the Knights of lupus were pushed to the point where they were forced to show their true faces. In secret they had tamed and armed the beasts so that they could use them against the other houses, and with this advantage they were able to exact a bloody price in the battles against the order. Unfortunately for the Knights of lupus, they were up against the army of a Primarch, El'Jonson's natural tactical skills were able to bring numerous victories for the order until the only Knights of lupus base left was their original fortress.

A bloody battle took place there, and it is said that the earth surrounding this last bastion turned red from the blood spilled by both sides. But in the end such sacrifices were not in vain, and the forces of order were able to penetrate the enemy castle and kill every last one of its members, their scrolls and any source of knowledge were confiscated and stored in the castle of order so that they would never hurt anyone again.

With Caliban without opponents, Lion began to unite the planet and impose new laws on it, all in the hope of making Caliban greater than ever. And finally make humanity flourish and develop without anything standing in the way.

But before he could continue with these plans, the skies opened up with a blinding light and out came a gigantic golden ship accompanied by smaller ones with the number 1 on them. At first the gentlemen of the order prepared for combat, ready to eliminate these invaders from the stars, but the lion calmed them down, as something inside him told him that he shouldn't fear what was to come.

The great ship then landed and out stepped the undisputed master of humanity. The Emperor met his son, who knelt down to his clear genetic father. His father informed him of his goal to unite humanity and how his son would be crucial to this, as he would lead a legion of warriors made in his image. Lion was amazed by his father's words, and gladly accepted his position as master of the first legion.

-The Great Crusade:

"Some officials and politicians see them as simple brutes, weapons that only serve to destroy the enemies of humanity, but they are wrong.

We weren't created to destroy, we were created to protect humanity! To ensure that our planets are not tainted by alien scum and that every human under our flag can live knowing that we protect them! We are not assassins, but the guardian angels of humanity!"

-From the lion's speech on taking command of the first legion.

The first action the lion took after renaming the first legion to Dark Angels, was to select several knights from the Order to become Astarters. This proved to be a great source for legionnaire candidates as not only were they genetically compatible with the seed of the first, but their life as knights left them with the necessary training to be aspiring Astarters. Lion also asked that knights who were too old to be Artasters, like Luther, be allowed to join the legion. The Emperor himself helped apply a series of modifications that allowed them to have a strength close to the real legionnaires.

This meant that the Dark Angels not only gained the support of his father on the battlefield, but also a large number of marines and several capable commanders in record time.

With this new impetus, the Dark Angels began a campaign that wiped out several xenos empires shortly after the rediscovery of their genetic father, something that had a rapid impact on how the legion was viewed by others.

Most of these campaigns were carried out by the first alone, not only because they were one of the largest legions at the time, but because Lion was a solitary individual who failed to form strong bonds with his brothers. He saw Horus and Ferrus as commanders of the highest quality, but they were still naïve and not mentally prepared for what the galaxy had to offer. Vulkan and Sanguinius also fell into such categories but they were even more naïve than their other brothers. Magnus was a fool who trusted the warp too much. While Fulgrim was someone who understood the legions' duty to protect humanity, he had so little self-esteem and talked about the Emperor all the time that in the end El'jonson couldn't stand the sight of him.

The only exception to the rule was the second one found, Leman Russ. The friendship between the wolf king and the lion began when, on a campaign against a rival human empire, Russ was determined to kill the enemy leader because he had insulted the wolf king and his entire lineage, but Lion ignored Russ's wishes and killed the enemy leader when he had the chance. This caused Leman to stay and start a clean fist fight against his brother. The fight lasted a whole day and only ended when Russ started laughing at how stupid the situation was. Lion seized the moment and knocked his brother out with one punch, then left the planet without waiting for his brother to wake up. This confrontation led to the development of a friendly rivalry between the two brothers' legions, a rivalry that lasted until the end of the Great Crusade. Today, this rivalry has turned into a deadly hatred of the Dark Angels on the part of Russ's children.

-Rangdan xenocides: The beginning of the fall

Lion continued his campaigns, sweeping several smaller races of Xenos from the galaxy, and achieving a string of victories that, unfortunately, didn't last forever. Once the great crusade was over, the Xenos known as the Rangda attacked humanity's domains and would be the first major challenge for the Emperor's armies.

These Xenos could not only control the minds of the human population with ease, but used biotechnological weapons that had a destructive power on a par with the plasma weapons used by the legions, except that they didn't have the defect of overheating. The combination of overwhelming numbers and advanced technology complicated the imperial counter-attack in what would come to be known as the "First Rangdan Xenocide", which saw the first legion fight fiercely against these xenos to liberate the Advex-Mors system.

But the nightmare didn't end there, as years later the Rangda attacked the imperium again and started a war as bloody as the heresy of Sanguinius. The I and XIV legions accompanied by several hundred thousand mechanicum and solar auxiliary troops and a few dozen titan legions set out on a campaign to recover the systems attacked by the dirty xenos.

All this military might proved not to be an exaggeration against such a threat, as the extermination campaign quickly became a campaign of attrition. Hundreds of astarters along with thousands of human and skitarii soldiers from the mechanicum died fighting horrors that shouldn't exist. But even with such a situation, the Emperor's armies gradually gained more ground, until they finally reached the planet where the Rangdan operations were directed.

His armor had more than a thousand cuts all over its surface, only hidden by the blood that stained his armor. Some of the blood was his, but most of it was from the dirty xenos who had dared to teleport into his ship, their teal-blue blood seeming to stick to everything it touched.

"My lord, are you hurt?" Duriel shouted in exasperation from the bridge entrance, and within seconds he was running over the dozens of xenos bodies lying on the ground and quickly at his father's side. The captain had no more than a couple of serious wounds, but nothing that could threaten the life of an Astarter. Glad that his son was in one piece, the lion calmed him down with a wave of his hand, before turning and heading for the large window that showed the battle taking place in the space around them.

It didn't take more than a second for the primarch's mind to realize that the situation was untenable.

A moment ago, the battle between the two fleets was in favor of the human armada. But then, somehow, the xenos got through his ship's shields and teleported straight to the command bridge, and from what the lion could see, it wasn't just on his ship that this happened .

Now several dozen Cruisers were in pieces while the higher-class ships were bleeding from all the damage they had received internally and externally. More than a fifth of the fleet had been incapacitated in less than two minutes

And there he was, a primarch, the master of the first legion, someone with such authority and power that without counting his brothers he could only be equaled by Malcador and surpassed only by his father. And there he was, powerless.

In this scenario, it would be impossible to hold out until Mortarion arrived with his fleet. The only option they had was to retreat and try to lose as few ships as possible in the flight.

Then, before the lion could give any orders, Bucephelus entered the system. And with a green/silver glow, a beam of light of the same colors flew through the void of space and passed through several smaller xenos ships, before starting to attack the larger ships with a multitude of green rays that scorched the hulls they hit.

Everyone inside Invincible Reason's bridge looked at the thing and wondered what exactly the weapon was. But the Primarch had one more question. Where was it?

Using a powerful weapon of unknown origin, the Emperor put an abrupt end to the second Rangdan Xenocide and communicated to the rest of the Imperium that the xenos had been neutralized. This ending was not well received by imperial officials, since the xenos' home planet was never found and therefore it could not be said that they had been neutralized. So that this species would never threaten humanity again, the lion ordered the creation of the Order of Broken Claws to guard and study the recovered Rangdan relics.

Some time later, the "Third Rangdan Xenocide" took place. The few reports of this event that are kept in the imperial archives contradict each other, meaning that each report has a different version of how this last genocide took place.

The version most accepted by imperial historians is the one that tells of a series of xenocides led by the 1st and 6th legions, which took place in the Rangdan system of origin and its surroundings. It was during these bloody purges that the Dark Angels lost their position as the most numerous legion to the Ultramarines, due to heavy casualties against the Xenos. But this cost was not in vain, since no Rangdan incursion has been recorded by the Imperium since the end of this campaign.

It was at the end of this last campaign that the lion was approached by a legionnaire from the Alpha legion who answered to the name of Alpharius.

"You've seen the horrors of the galaxy, Lion." The astarter spoke as he stared into nothingness. The lord of the I° remained silent as he looked at the legionnaire.

"You've seen what the xenos are capable of, how they have no qualms about destroying the minds of innocent civilians or using immoral weapons. But we do. We talk about honor and boundaries that shouldn't be crossed, but for them that means nothing. This will create an untenable situation if we continue to self-limit our weapons."

"If you're referring to the dreadwing weapons, I think it's best to keep them as they are. Not only are they too dangerous to be used on a large scale, but it wouldn't be ideal to put them in the hands of the XII or other less 'stable' legions."

"I'm not talking about those weapons." The legionnaire turned to face the Primarch, not intimidated as most would be in his place. "I'm talking about RAD weapons, or even Xeno weaponry and other devices that the mechanicum doesn't like others to have access to. If we could use that, not only would the great crusade go faster, but we'd lose a lot fewer legionna-." A loud thud interrupted the legionnaire's speech, the thud originating from the former's fist now on a table with visible cracks.

"Don't think my father is a fool, Alpharius. He's a wise man, there are reasons why such technologies should be banned. None of us wants to repeat the mistake our ancestors made in those dark days." The legionnaire read the Primarch for several seconds, the lion feeling how his eyes captured every detail of it in a way that read it like an open book.

"I'm sorry sir, I don't think I expressed myself well. I don't want us to go back to using AIs or similar technologies, I'm just saying that there are certain technologies that could be of great help to humanity. Eldar technology, for example, what harm would it do to try to analyze how it works and apply what we discover to imperial technology? Or better still, the use of cloning in our troops, it could take four or five decades for your legion to return to the size it was before the Rangdans. With cloning? In less than a decade, you've already recovered all the losses from the last war. But the use of these technologies has been forbidden by the mechanicum, something that the Emperor unfortunately agrees with."

"What do you want from me? You show up here out of the blue and start saying things that are one step away from being classified as a conspiracy against Earth, and for what? Do you want me to declare war on the mechanicum? Or that I leave for Earth and force my father to change his mind?" A deafening silence formed in the room at the lion's question. The cyan-clad warrior analyzed the words of Caliban's son until an answer formed in his head.

"Well, that's up to you. I spoke to you because you're one of the wisest Primarchs who doesn't have an idealized view of the Emperor. I've seen a lot of the horrors that this galaxy has to offer, and I think that these laws that the mechanicum imposes on us only hinder the great crusade as a whole. This isn't a question of greater firepower, it's a question of how we protect and guide mortals, if we let go of these limits that the Emperor has imposed, humanity stands to benefit."

The room was silent for several seconds before an answer came from Caliban's son. "You're dismissed."

The legionnaire looked at the Primarch, even though he couldn't see his face, Lion was sure that his features had disappointment in them. "I understand, please think about what you're going to do next." With that, the legionnaire turned and left the room, leaving El'Jonson to think alone.

A few years after this encounter, the primarch of the XX legion, Alpharius, was officially found.

After the defeat of the Rangda, the Dark Angels continued their campaigns to exterminate xenos. Lion ordered the Order of Broken Claws to begin guarding relics and information from other dangerous xenos while analyzing and conducting tests with their weapons. According to the Primarch, this measure was taken to ensure that the legion was prepared for anything the galaxy could offer.

Several of Caliban's original legionnaires criticized this action, saying that the Knights of Lupus had started doing the same thing and it had only led to their downfall. Lion got angry with these legionnaires and sent them back to Caliban, with Luther sent along to keep an eye on them and keep them in line. Several inquisitors and historians point to this action as a turning point that would have repercussions on the fate of both groups, and as a result, bring much pain to the entire galaxy.

After sending these legionnaires to Caliban, the Lion made preparations for a major campaign in the Halo Stars, a region of space known for being mysterious and one of the deadliest places in the galaxy. But these preparations had to wait, as a message from the Emperor himself reached Caliban's son. His father was summoning his children to the world of Ullanor to celebrate humanity's victory over the largest Ork conglomerate known to man.

El'Jonson answered the call and promptly arrived at the trophy world. There, together with his other brothers, they saw the great celebration not only for the victory at Ullanor, but for all the achievements of the great crusade. Something that really cheered the lion.

But his happiness didn't last long, as his father's announcement that he was leaving the great crusade and that Horus would lead it in his place not only stunned him, but angered him. Caliban's son was annoyed that his brother had been chosen in his place, even after all the conquests he had brought and the sacrifices he had made, but he knew that arguing with his father was more than pointless. The only thing he could do was disguise his discontent and congratulate Horus on his new position.

After a few weeks of Ullanor's triumph, Lion took most of his legion and left for the Ghouls Stars simply seeking to distance himself from his brothers and his father for a while, he even ignored the call from the council of Nikaea and sent a representative of the legion instead.

There the Dark Angels began a campaign of extermination aimed at destroying several smaller Xenos empires and cleansing countless worlds infested with non-human aberrations that could destroy the mind of an imperial guard with just one photo. Several minor Xeno planets and empires were destroyed in the following years, most of them brought to the total destruction of the species in question, only a handful of Xenos were able to escape in their ships from the judgment that the first legion brought.

At the climax of the campaign, the legion encountered the Khrave, a species almost as old as the Eldars, they could consume and control the minds of the weak and physically they could overcome a Space Marine. On the world of Muspel, Lion encountered a large-scale Khrave infestation and dedicated himself to cleansing the world of the Xeno taint, this began an exhausting campaign against the Xenos that wiped out almost all of the natural human crew that accompanied the fleet, but the angels of death resisted and little by little they began to gain ground against the Xenos. In the sixth week of the battle the Lion was preparing everything to crush the Khrave in a massive attack, until suddenly ships of xeno origin entered the system and began attacking the Dark Angels' fleet.

These ships matched the records of the xenos species that the Dark Angels had eliminated during the campaign. These species, which on other occasions would have killed each other, decided to join forces to take revenge on humanity for everything it had done. A behavior that has never been recorded before or since in Ghoul Stars. Something that still worries imperial historians and agents of the inquisition to this day.

This unexpected intervention changed the course of the battle and forced Lion to regroup his forces so as not to be trapped among the xenos, but this didn't prevent the two forces from making contact and starting to work together to defeat the first legion. The fights that followed were equally brutal and bloody, with only the strongest and most resilient legionnaires surviving the challenges that followed. This proved to be a challenge that pushed El'Jonson's tactical mindset to its limits and gradually depleted the legion's supplies.

Seeing that the situation was becoming more and more critical. The Primarch decided to take a measure that would change the fate of the legion

The only sound that filled the room was of the security mechanisms slowly opening to let their contents free. All the warriors in the room looked on as a member of the Order of the Broken Claw pulled out a Rangda plasma cannon with the help of a tech-priest.

The weapon was a little longer than a plasma rifle and slightly thicker, for the most part it was techno-organic, with certain elements of human technology added so that the machine would be understandable for human use and analysis.

Everyone's eyes focused on the weapon, and everything it stood for, a line that no one had ever dared to cross, a final insult to imperial truth. Cold sweat dripped from both the artasters and the techpriests in the room.

Lion looked at the weapon and thought back to the words spoken by the mysterious warrior years ago. A part of him screamed at him not to take such a step, that from then on there was no turning back.

But he didn't care anymore.

He reached out and grabbed the weapon, all eyes in the room focused on his hand, and with a slow movement he brought it up to his bare arm and connected it to it, automatically techno-organic tentacles wrapped around part of his forearm and connected to the primarch's skin and flesh. The second this happened Lion lost consciousness at the point where the machine had connected, instead he felt the surface of the machine as if it were his skin, while at the same time he felt his entire internal system being powered by the plasma generator. His brain quickly adapted to the sensation of a new limb being added to his body, and soon the strangeness of the new sensations was gone.

Lion stared at the weapon for a few seconds before lowering his arm and spinning on his heels. "Arm the Dreadwing with those things". That was all he said before leaving the room.

Using these xenos weapons, the Dark Angels managed to turn the tide of combat and gradually began to gain ground against the xenos. But even with this they couldn't completely break through the xenos' defenses, which led to a stalemate in combat for several days until a new element appeared in the system.

Several Alpha legion ships headed by "Beta", Alpharius' flagship, entered the system and immediately began attacking the Khrave and the other xenos. With such an attacking force the only thing the Xenos could do was retreat in disarray, the former unity of the Xenos replaced by the simple desire to escape certain death.

With his enemies finally defeated, Lion turned his attention to the new arrivals. He was afraid that they would inform the emperor of the use of Xenos weapons, since several legionnaires found themselves annoyed that their cousins were using such weapons, but a part of him seemed to know that Alpharius wouldn't reprimand him for it.

The smell of burning flesh filled the air of the scene, the alien composition of the different dead xenos generated various clouds that were toxic enough to make a normal person sick, but the primarch's physiology simply wouldn't let it affect him. The primarch now stood on top of one of the many ruins of what had been the xenos' last base, far away from any legionnaires who might interrupt the conversation that was developing.

The sound of ceramite footsteps rang out behind the dark angel lord, and Leo turned to meet a being slightly larger than a space marine wearing ornate cyan armor. The figure stopped a few paces away from the lion, the figure removed its helmet to reveal a face that looked like a million faces, but was none of them at the same time.

"Lion."

"Alpharius."

"I'm glad you're okay, the threat you've just faced is not an easy thing to deal with." The primarch paused, as if he was preparing himself for what was to come. "But I see, you had to make certain sacrifices."

"I had no choice, it was cross that line or be killed in this place abandoned by reason."

"I don't judge you, brother." Alpharius put his hand on his brother's shoulder as he gave him a slight smile. "You made a sacrifice to be able to stop such a threat, that's something not all our brothers would do. But I don't think our father will understand your motives."

Lion looked at his brother with a genuine smile. "Thanks brother, but don't get involved in this for me. I'll find a way to get rid of that weapon, if that's not possible I'll confront my father about my actions."

"That won't be necessary, Lion, our father won't be the emperor of mankind for long." The whole atmosphere around both Primarchs went cold.

"What do you mean?" Lion took a step back as he removed his brother's hand from his shoulder.

"I'm saying that before long it won't be our father who rules humanity from Earth. A revolution is being organized, one that I hope we will both take part in." Lion slowly began to move his hand to the handle of the blade.

"You're talking treason, brother! You want the two of us to reveal ourselves against our father!

"It won't just be the two of us."

The Lion's hand stopped.

"How?"

"Sanguinius is organizing everything to defeat our father. Perturabo, Ferrus, Mortarion, even Dorn has declared allegiance to Sanguinius. When the angel defeats our father, we will lead humanity into the future, a future made of truths, not lies and hypocrisy." Alpharius looked his brother in the eye, there was no mask between them, the hydra looked at him with his true face. "Your help would be vital in this campaign Lion, with your cunning and weaponry the balance between the revolutionaries and those loyal to the throne would be on our side. And I guarantee that you will be rewarded when Sanguinius sits on the throne."

Lion thought for several seconds. He was faced with a difficult choice, both possible paths for the lion to choose from and each would lead his legion down very different paths, but he knew that one of them had no light at the end of the tunnel.

"What do I have to do, brother?" The words came out heavier than usual. Clear remorse for the crimes he knew he was about to commit. Alpharius smiled at his brother's question. A sincere smile.

"Thank you for joining us, brother. I'll deliver anti-power-armor ammunition to your legion, you'll need it for your first mission in the name of the angel. Sanguinius has assigned a very important mission to your legion, you will have to go to Medusa."

-Heresy: Herald of lies

At Alpharius' request, the lion went to Medusa to clean up the Iron Hands elements stationed there, since they were not only the most rebellious within the legion, but had been stationed on the planet for so long that their loyalty to their genefather was not guaranteed. He was also tasked with recovering the planet's arch-tech for future use in the war to come.

When they finally arrived on the planet, the Primarch was greeted by elements of the iron hands who gladly showed him the legion's facilities and answered the son of Caliban's questions about their operations on the planet. However, all this was just for the Dark Angels to position themselves in the places they needed to carry out their mission. With a simple call in the Vox channel, Lion ordered his sons to open fire on the legionnaires of the tenth legion and the techpriests, almost all the loyalists died within the first hour of this attack, the few survivors fled to the nomadic clans. Caliban's sons ignored them; at best, they could have staged a small rebellion, easily stifled.

Lion ordered his sons to review the tenth's databases while he pursued a more important goal, Telstarax. Medusa's old orbital station was built to help the planet's mining and trade, but with the end of the golden age of technology it fell into disuse and barely received any resources for the imperium, only Ferrus tried to enter it and reconquer it from whatever horrors inhabited it, but even he was only partially successful in this task.

The lion called more than two thousand of his stormwing sons, along with whom he accompanied the deathwing with their almost complete numbers. Such an attack force would make several xenos worlds fearful, but against the horrors of the old night less than that would be useless.

Telstarax was a renowned mining station, which meant that it had a lot of valuable resources that had to be properly protected, so it was flooded with the best security robots humanity had ever created, automatons with enough strength to tear through Terminator armor and with weapons that could match the best weapons of the first legion.

The Caliban legionnaires had to rely on the few outposts that Ferrus were able to create along the structure, and even then this campaign took its toll on countless legionnaires, dozens of Dark Angels died to claim a few meters of the structure, even more were killed in the surprise attacks that the metal creatures made against the territories they had already conquered. But they weren't one of the largest legions for nothing. Whenever possible, they recovered the body of one of the automata and studied it in order not only to find its weaknesses, but also to copy its weapons. These studies were fruitless for the first few weeks, but little by little the techpriests began to learn valuable information from them and it wasn't long before the first legion developed tactics and weapons to face the Men of Iron, even going so far as to reprogram some of the automata to fight for the legion.

This turned the tide of combat, and little by little the machines began to lose ground. This progressed until the sons of Caliban reached one of the station's large docks, where the lion led his sons in a final assault in which they were able to push the machines back and close the entrance that began the dock with the rest of the station, sealing the machines so that they would never again threaten the lives of the first legion.

In the end, just over 200 artasters survived such a campaign, the deathwing taking a heavy blow with the loss of a large number of members and the death of Holguin. But they did it, they overcame the machines and now had control of almost a third of the structure. Those involved swore silence about the horrors they had seen, the only evidence of such a campaign being the artasters' helmets.

ontynan-eages

Translated from Calibanite into Gothic, it would be something like "Opening of the eyes". It's a ritual that all aspirants to the deathwing or to assume a position of high command in the legion have to go through. In it they put on the helmet of one of the 200 survivors of the fight in Telstarax and experience all the horrors that were there. Only when a legionnaire passes this test and comes out without having his mind broken is he ready to lead his battle-bothers, as he will understand the horrors that exist in the galaxy and realize that no measure is too cruel when it comes to protecting humanity from them.

This creates warriors who, even by artaster standards, never back down in the face of the most dangerous demons or the most horrible xenos aberrations. The few of these warriors who were captured alive never told what they saw in the helmet, they simply remained silent until their death.

After forming a solid base on Telstarax, the lion went down to the planet to see what his legion had found in the tenth's databases. Everything pointed to the fact that his brother was investigating not only worlds close to the eye of terror, but that he had marked several worlds and classified them "For excavation". At the same time, his legion had found an enormous underground tunnel that ended in a several meters thick ceramite gate. Lion was intrigued by what his brother was doing, but before he could do anything about it, he was informed that four of his brothers had betrayed the throne, and that it was necessary to bring them to justice.

Seeing that his father and other imperial authorities didn't suspect him, the Primarch decided to act normally. Disguising his Rangda weapon, he called off part of his fleet and went to join the punishment fleet. There he met up with his other brothers and on the way they hatched a plan to put an end to the traitors.

He and his legion would be part of the second wave of attack along with the White Scars, Blood Angels and most of the Night Lords. In private, the angel told Lion and his other traitorous brothers how the plan that was to follow would be carried out. This upset Lion, but he understood that it was necessary for the rebellion to succeed.

At the appointed time, he went down with his legion and joined the other traitors in purging those loyal to the throne. He didn't get to meet his loyal brothers, the closest he got was when all the traitor brothers met at the end of the battle, and Sanguinius arrived carrying Vulkan's body, something that clearly caused discomfort to most of those present at the scene.

What followed this scene was a speech by Sanguinius announcing a new era for humanity, one in which the Astartes would no longer be seen as mere weapons of war, but as heroes and living legends among mortals. At the end of the speech, Sanguinius put himself at the head of the rebellion and gave his brothers freedom to pursue their own agendas before the attack on the throneworld.

Before he could decide his next move, the Primarch of the First Legion was approached by agents of the Twentieth Legion. They informed Lion about the powers of chaos, and how several of his brothers were currently trying to gain power through certain aspects of it, but they also informed him about the dangers involved in negotiating with the beings that lived in the great ocean. With these warnings, Lion took the decision that no contact would be made with any of these legions and no weapons would be given to them without his permission.

With this, the Dark Angels marked their targets away from the other traitor legions. Part of the legion would be led by Lion, and would go to the planets marked by Ferrus to discover their secrets and the resources they hold. The rest of the legion would be led by the master of the ninth order, Alajos, and would go after the Eldar craftworlds and forge worlds of the mechanicum, in order to get more resources and access to their technologies, since they would be useful in the war against the loyalists.

At first, the imperium believed that the first legion was the least active of all the traitor legions during the heresy. Since the imperium only recorded attacks by the half led by the primarch, these were almost always directed at random worlds with no strategic value. But after the fire of the heresy died down, the true scope of the primarch's actions was discovered.

The Imperial Rogue Traders found hundreds of worlds that were once ruled by xenos, had their surfaces devastated and their populations decimated, and the only evidence of the culprits was the black armor characteristic of the first, and said xenos massacre was only highlighted when it was discovered that the Aeldari despised the Children of the Lion, since they were second only to the iron hands in terms of the number of aeldaris murdered during the heresy.

On the part of the Dark Angels led by the lion, they first made a stop at Medusa, where the techmarines of the first legion were waiting for their primarch. There they showed the lion that they had managed to open the great ceramite gate and came across a tomb-like structure with green energy flowing through it. After investigating a little, the Astarters came across the remains of what they interpreted as the original inhabitants of this structure, beings who would later be known as Necrons. The few specimens found showed clear signs of battle and it didn't take long for the Techmarines to find files showing that they had clashed with Astarters from the tenth, which highlighted the mortality of these beings. After analyzing the whole situation, Lion decided to investigate the planets marked by Ferrus to try and get a first-hand look at these beings.

The lion then departed from Medusa and launched several attacks on the planets marked by Ferrus. There they dug for several kilometers until they came across temples similar to those of Medusa. El Jonson made a point of taking only what was necessary to avoid arousing the fury of its inhabitants, something they succeeded at most of the time. The process of withdrawing resources and technology without arousing its inhabitants took time, but as the first carried out these operations on planets with little or no importance in the larger conflict raging across the galaxy, they rarely encountered imperial fleets. So the legion went for long periods of time without meeting other legions.

This lasted until one day a fleet from the Alpha Legion led by Beta arrived in the system where the Lion Fleet was stationed. Alpharius descended from his flagship and went to his brother, where he asked for his help in a campaign against the Thousand Sons and the Space wolves.

-Point of no return:

Alpharius informed him that a significant number of Space wolfs and Thousand sons were gathering at the edge of the Caradryad sector. They were moving towards Earth, and if they reached the cradle of humanity, a future attack on Earth would be severely hampered for the traitors, so Alpharius asked for his brother's help to finish them off before they became a bigger problem. El'jonson decided to help his brother, part of him wanted to ensure the traitors' victory, and another part wanted to meet Russ.

Traveling as fast as they could, both the first and twentieth fleets arrived in the sector, where they met several ships, both the 6th and 15th, which were scattered around the sector. Some had clear signs of confrontation, others were the last survivors of confrontations with the 14th legion. Being separated from their sisters, these ships had no chance of escaping or posing a threat to the traitor fleet, which eliminated them without complications. After wiping out the loyalist ships, it didn't take long for the alpha legion's scouts to identify a large fleet made up of both Space wolf and Thousand sound ships in the Dominicus system, which was being led by Hrafnkel, indicating that Russ was leading the fleet.

Alpharius then informed his brother that he wouldn't be able to accompany him to the system, as he had duties elsewhere, but that he would try to join Lion when he could. With that said, both Primarchs took their fleets and went their separate ways.

Arriving in the system, it didn't take long for the traitors to locate the loyalists and attack them. A fierce battle quickly unfolded, the Dark Angels were quick to take advantage with their superior numbers and began to cause serious damage to the loyalist ships, the traitors focused mainly on the Thousand Sons' ships, as their psychic senses made them exceptionally dangerous in battles in the void. It was then that, in an unexpected move, Hrafnkel placed himself between the Thousand Sons and the Dark Angels' fleet, preventing the former's fire from reaching the Prospero fleet.

Seeing this opportunity to finally come face to face with Russ, Lion called several Deathwing astarters and together they boarded the wolf king's ship.

"Leman."

The voice of Caliban's son echoed down the corridor, all the noises of the ship itself and the battle that was taking place seemed to have stopped just for that moment.

"Lion."

Opposite the master of the first was the Wolf King of Fenris. Next to him was his Wolf guard, who served as a counterpart to the Lion's deathwing. The Wolf King stared at his brother for several seconds, his gaze passing over his entire figure and settling on the xeno weapon that was on Lion's arm for a few seconds.

"Leman, you know it's not too late to choose the right side. Our father doesn't care about us, he's not worth dying for." One part of Lion knew it was futile to do this, of all the Primarchs few were as or more loyal than Leman, but another part knew he would regret it if he didn't.

"Join you? Is this a joke?" Russ took a step forward while snarling at his brother. "You killed my children, you put this thing in your body, you unite with demonic forces. And you ask me if I'm going to join you!" From one moment to the next, the atmosphere in the corridor became so tense that the astarters present were tense as this encounter unfolded. But Caliban's son didn't give in.

"I have done what is necessary for humanity to survive and triumph. Unlike our father, if I have to make sacrifices to protect humanity from the horrors of this galaxy, I will."

"Does that include becoming one of those horrors?"

El'jonson moved into combat position.

"Yes."

While their bodyguards killed each other around them, the lion and the wolf fought like the gods of the ancient divine tales of Earth, two beings superior to any mortal exchanging blows and looking for openings in their opponent.

But before either of them could overcome their opponent, the wolf king leapt backwards, taking up space between him and his brother, with his sons imitating this action with their respective opponents, and then a flash of light enveloped him and the Wolf guard and in the next instant Russ had disappeared.

Lion looked at where his brother was, and as soon as he understood the implications of this action, he teleported himself and the deathwing out of the ship. And in the next second, the entire ship exploded due to the overload of its reactors, the explosion so great that it swallowed up the ships very close to the Gloriana. A clear tactic of self-destruction that proved effective, as the traitors lost several ships in one fell swoop and the loyalists had room to retreat.

However, the situation seemed to be in the traitors' favor, as an alpha legion fleet had entered the system and was moving to trap the loyalists between them and the Dark Angels' fleet. For a second Lion thought that his brother had come to support him in the battle, but his hopes were dashed when the alpha legion ships opened fire on the traitors. Now outnumbered and with several ships seriously damaged, Lion ordered a massive retreat from the system, several ships were shot down in this retreat, but in the end the first one was able to escape from the loyalists.

After escaping from the Dominicus system, Lion assessed the damage his fleet had suffered and decided that the first priority was to restore it. So the Dark Angels' fleet traveled throughout the tempestus segment, stealing resources or ships to rebuild their fleet, while at the same time clashing with the loyalists to the throne and searching for signs of Alpharius' whereabouts, since El'jonson doubted that his brother had betrayed him and believed that something else was going on in the shadows.

With the journey through the warp becoming less and less secure, the Dark Angels fleet spent more than three solar years rebuilding and searching for traitorous members of the alpha legion, much longer than it would have taken if the warp had been in normal conditions. After so long with no progress on the twentieth legion's plans, Lion decided to give up his search and declared his brother a traitor, and decided to go to segmentum ultima to finally reunite with the rest of his legion.

When Lion met up with the part of the legion led by Alajos, he discovered that they had suffered heavy casualties due to the attacks of both the salamanders and the craftworld Iyanden, among them Alajos and several high ranking legionnaires of the ninth order. But the sons of the lion did as their father had instructed, and under the command of a captain of the ninth order known as Corswain, they brought together the most exotic xenos and mechanicum technologies.

Corswain

Born in Caliban, Corswain was one of the few legionnaires who was born on the planet but didn't go through the Order. But that didn't stop him, and it wasn't long before he showed his skill with the sword and rose through the ranks of the legion. During the final years of the Great Crusade, his name was mentioned alongside the names of other imperial heroes such as Sigismund and Lucius. When his master Alajos was killed, it was he who took his place and saved his brothers from certain death. He was later rewarded by officially becoming the master of the ninth order and became very close to his primarch.

His impact on the legion was so great that after the heresy, the Dark Angels created the title of Corswain for their best warriors, while these warriors bear the sword of the original Corswain. There are rumors that the first legion uses arcane technology to insert the memories of the original Corswain into each legionnaire who carries said command. It is not known whether this rumor is true or not since, like everything else surrounding the Dark Angels, it is difficult to tell the truth from the lie.

After promoting Corswain, Lion led his combined fleet to a forgeworld sympathetic to the former, and there he ordered the techmarines and the techpriests who accompanied them to start testing and experimenting with the technology they had collected. It was there that the use of vat-borns and clones spread through the legion, as a way of recovering its pre-heresy size, even if these methods generated legionnaires of lesser quality. At the same time, they began to apply aeldari anti-grav technology to their vehicles in order to make them more agile than their imperial counterparts. Fortunately for the followers of the throne, the legion was unable to comprehend the weapons of Necron origin at all, and could only use them in low numbers for the rest of the heresy.

While the legion was recovering from its losses during the heresy, a Blood Angels entourage arrived at the fleet and asked Lion to join his brothers in the Beta-Garmon cluster, as it was time to launch an attack on humanity's home planet. Even though he was wary of the powers of chaos, which had by now completely consumed some of his brothers, Lion knew that this was the best opportunity he had to defeat his father, so he decided to take part in the attack.

There in Beta-Garmon II, Sanguinius gave a speech announcing the end of the empire of lies and the beginning of the true rise of humanity. After this speech, the angel met with his brothers and explained how the campaign in the solar system would take place.

When the attack began, it was the fleet of Dark Angels accompanied by the fleet of Imperial Fists that left the Khthonic Gate and served as the spearhead against the legalist forces. While the ships of the seventh legion were numerous and had supernatural resistance thanks to their patron, the ships of the first carried the most exotic armaments both from the Dark age of technology and those collected during the heresy. This, combined with the fact that both legions had hordes of expendable soldiers, the corpses revived by Nurgle's powers in the case of the Imperial Fists and the clones and Vat-borns in the case of the Dark angels, made them ideas for getting through the system's first lines of defenses quickly.

At various times the First and Seventh almost opened fire on each other, as the diseases carried by the Seventh's Plague Marines affected several of the First's Legionnaires fighting on the same battlefield, but these confrontations were prevented by elements of the Blood Angels who were responsible for maintaining coordination between the two loyal elements at this stage of the war.

The first legion then continued deeper into the solar system until they reached Jupiter, where they were forced to leave the front line when they were ambushed by the loyalists in Jupiter's orbit and caused serious casualties in the first legion. But by this point in the solar war the other traitor legions were already starting to get involved,and they continued making their way to the throne world.

Already in Terra's orbit, the first legion waited while the orbital bombardment of the palace continued, and they had to wait several more weeks while the hordes of the lost and damned threw themselves against the imperial defenses on the planet's surface to weaken them, until the time finally came to descend to the surface and finish off the false Emperor.

The Dark Angels descended on the planet accompanied by the Night Lords and Imperial fists, and it didn't take long for the traitors to start attacking the eternity wall. As Lion didn't trust the legions that used the powers of the warp, it didn't take long for the first legion to get away from the other traitors, and with the Hereteks themselves accompanying the legion, they set up camp near the Indicus Gate, said to be further away from the eternity wall spaceport, it would take longer for the loyalists to see the support, and it would be easier for the Calibanite legionnaires to penetrate its defenses.

The Ravenwing knights threw themselves against the palace walls in hit-and-run attacks, while the Dreadwing and the standard legionnaires gave covering fire to their brethren. Hundreds of legionnaires died in these clashes, but the legion's techmarines and Apothecaries put the Incubators at maximum capacity so that the losses could be quickly recovered with clones and vat-borns. Meanwhile, the Hereteks allied to the First began building large siege towers and war machines with exotic technologies on the Lion's orders.

The battle at the Indicus Gate continued like this for several weeks, until the lion's armies decided to launch a final assault to finally break the gate. The loyalists tried to hold their ground, but the power of the first began to push them back, then, without warning, drop-pods with the number four fell from the sky, and from them the sons of Perturabo joined the battle with their huge siege weapons. That was all it took for the loyalist defenses to finally fall and the traitors to be able to enter the palace.

But rather than being happy that they could finally penetrate the palace, El'jonson was furious with Perturabo for this unnecessary intervention and claimed the lives of several of his legionnaires, since the siege weapons of the fourth legion caused the death of several of the sons of the lion who were near the walls when they fired on them. But Perturabo didn't listen to his brother's complaints, since all he cared about was beating Dorn at which legion was the better siege master, and the lord of iron didn't care about using any means necessary to beat his brother.

Annoyed with his brothers, the master of the first decided to distance himself even further from the other legions inside the palace.

As they made their way through the palace with the focus on reaching the strongholds surrounding the lion's gate, the first legion suffered several casualties from the guerrilla attacks of the Raven Guard and the traps that Fulgrim had prepared, but the legion only created more low-quality legionnaires to compensate for the losses without slowing down the advance. So it didn't take long for the legion to reach the Colossi Gate.

Lion then personally led his legion, which was accompanied by several hereteks and white scars elements who shared the former's disdain for those who had fallen too low in the use of warp powers.

The traitors' initial attack caused a lot of damage to the gate and could overwhelm the defenders, but the situation took a 180-degree turn when Constantin Valdor came to support the defenders along with a group of 100 Custodes. There, Lion and Valdor dueled while those loyal to the throne, their morale boosted by their reinforcements, began to push back the traitors. Seeing that the situation was no longer tenable, the primarch of the first ordered a general retreat and left his duel with Valdor without an end.

But the lion's attack was not in vain, for while he was attacking the Colossi Gate the Imperial Fists were able to break through the defenses of Marmax's fortress and reach the Lion's Gate. And after a successful attack by the legio mortis, the traitors were able to invade the Inner palace.

Once in the Inner Palace, the Dark Angels begrudgingly had to relegate themselves to providing support fire for their sister legions, since all the losses they had suffered during the siege had forced them off the front line while the Apothecaries worked their hardest to create new Vat-borns as quickly as possible.

The traitors continued their relentless advance to the eternity gate, but their efforts to pass through the gate were not only denied by Corax, but the arrival of the alpha legion fleet caused a disarray in the traitors that left them exposed to be pushed back to Royal Ascension. Lion saw how the final stage of the attack was falling apart and tried to maintain order among the traitors so that the advance would continue, but this was in vain and he was forced to abandon the siege when only the fourteenth had not begun to flee.

To this day, the Dark Angels curse their sister legions because they consider it their fault that the heresy was not a success and that the imperium still lives.

-Post-Heresy:

After the failure of the attack on Earth, Lion's next move was to go directly to Caliban to recover from the siege and think about his new roll in the galaxy. Through various reports and messages confiscated by the Inquisition, it is believed that Lion was planning a new attack on Earth to take advantage of the loyalists' weakened state after the siege. Even if it was a suicide attack, most Imperial historians agree that the first one could probably reach the cradle of humanity, and just imagining the damage it would do to a recovering Earth is something that makes more than one historian's blood run cold.

When Lion arrived in Caliban's system, the lion fleet ran into Caliban's orbital defense fleet. Lion tried to open the Vox channel with the fleet, but it didn't respond to his attempts to communicate and simply opened fire on Lion's fleet.

Faced with this unexpected betrayal, the fleet was momentarily paralyzed, but then opened fire on the newly revealed traitors. Even damaged, the lion fleet was still technologically superior to Caliban's fleet and it wasn't long before the Invincible Reason reached Caliban's orbit and several of its escorts crash-landed on the planet.

The sound of ceramite echoed throughout the fortress as Lion and the deathwing ran through it. The sound was only drowned out by the war cries and the sounds of battles taking place both inside and outside the Order's fortress.

The traitors showed signs of madness and religious fanaticism as they screamed and ran towards the legionnaires. On their bodies and clothes you could see hideous symbols painted or made with knives. Lion knew very well what these symbols meant, but he refused to believe that this had happened.

The door to the main hall of the fortress came into view, and without thinking twice he accelerated his run and crashed into the solid stone gate in front of him. The gate was completely destroyed and its remains flew several meters into the hall, but the coalition didn't do the slightest damage to the primarch.

The lord of the first legion looked towards the altar in the hall. There he saw a marine wearing armor in the colors of the sons of Logar and who had tattoos all over his face, on the right side of the altar. On the left side stretched a being more than 4 meters tall, with huge wings on its back and skin as black as night. From the knowledge Lion had and the pain it caused to look directly at it, it was clear that this being was one of the creatures of the warp, a daemon. Both figures turned to look at the newcomers, both showing clear satisfaction on their faces, but the figure in the middle of the altar remained unchanged by the newcomers, said figure was very familiar to the lion.

"Luther." The Primarch's voice came out with clear anger, but also a flicker of melancholy.

"My son, you have finally returned to your home." The voice of the thing wearing Luther's skin sounded louder. An echo and authority that shouldn't have been there were present, and its tone had so many elements, so much information that it was difficult to read its speech. Something that bothered all the newcomers.

The room was silent for a moment, as if reality itself ceased all surrounding sounds while it waited for El'jonson's answer.

"What you did to my father." Lion replied dryly, restraining himself to keep calm.

"I know you've spent a lot of time away from home, but can't you recognize your father?" The thing turned to look at the Primarch, its eyes showing an unnatural depth and longing. "What has the anathema done to you, my son?"

"You're not my father! I don't know what you are, but you will pay for what you did to my father and to Caliban!"

The being laughed at the challenge, his voice sounding as if it came from everywhere, and in response the lion advanced.

While the Lion fought Luther and the Deathwing fought Be'lakor, a warp storm formed in the world's orbit. The Lion fleet had to move away from Caliban as the storm began to gravitationally pull the ships around it and large chunks of land from the world itself, while the fleet allied to Luther did the complete opposite, and entered the storm seconds after it appeared.

While this was happening, Caliban began to enter a critical point as the energies of the warp deformed the entire planet, but this didn't stop Lion, who continued his duel with the thing that appeared to be Luther. Be'lakor and Erebus had already escaped the planet, and what was left of the deathwing was trying to reach its genetic father to escape before it was too late. But Lion was so focused on his duel that he ignored his children's calls, and moments before the planet exploded he struck a mortal blow to the warp being while he himself did the same to the Primarch.

Then the planet finally collapsed and was swallowed up by the storm. Since then, the whereabouts of the lord of the first legion have never been known.

The loss of the legion's home planet and its Primarch had a huge impact on it. As the fleet stared into the void where Caliban once stood, the Chaplains had to make every effort to keep the legionnaires in line. It was only when Corswain and Aloceri, the Grandmaster of the Ravenwing at the time, went into action that the legion could calm down and think about the next step to be taken now without their father.

So the Dark Angels decided that they would honor their father's wish of creating a new imperium strong enough to survive this galaxy. So they split up into smaller fleets and traveled to the different systems surrounding Caliban's system in order to wipe out the followers of chaos and the loyalists to the throne who resided there.

On each world they arrived at, the first legion spread lies that the imperium had abandoned that region of space to its own devices, while at the same time eliminating the opposing elements and replacing them with elements loyal to the legion.

In just over half a year, the sons of the lion have consolidated their control over all the planets between the Caliban system and the Medusa system. With more than 200 worlds under their command, the Dark Angels have officially decided to name their new kingdom. And they decided to call it "Tenebris", darkness in Gothic. This name not only refers to the name of the legion, but is also a metaphor for how humanity is able to thrive even in the darkest corners of the galaxy.

The baptism of fire for this new kingdom took place when the Iron Hands tried to find refuge on Medusa while fleeing the imperial fleets that sought to reclaim the galaxy from the hands of traitors. The sons of Ferrus were furious when they saw that their homeworld had been stolen by the First Legion, and they set out against the First Legionnaires. However, to the surprise of the tenth legion, the Dark Angels not only recaptured Medusa from the Iron Hands, but also told the people of the planet how low the tenth legionnaires had fallen. So, without the support of even the local population and with the Imperials close behind, the Iron Hands decided to leave their home planet behind for good and took refuge in the Eye of Terror.

The victory over the traitor legion was short-lived, as the imperial retribution fleets then arrived and began attacking the newly formed kingdom. The first legion fought tooth and nail and after heavy losses managed to make the Imperials retreat. Unable to finish off the sons of the lion, the Imperium had to make do with forming the Cadian cordon, a series of defenses around the eye of terror that ensures that nothing enters or leaves the eye without the imperium knowing. Since then, the kingdom of Tenebris has been in a cold war with Imperium for the last ten thousand years. All this while having to deal with the attacks of the other traitor legions on their territories, most of the attacks being motivated by Luther and Erebus and their warband known as the Black Legion.

The end of the eleventh millennium is approaching, and with it comes rumors that the Black Legion has begun to move and is preparing an attack on a scale never before seen on the realm of the first legion. Imperial fortune-tellers say that before the end of the millennium, the children of the lion will either survive the darkness of the galaxy, or be devoured by it.

-Organization:

Unlike the legions loyal to the Emperor, which split into several successors chapters, the Dark Angels still retain their organization from the time of the great crusade and heresy.

It should be noted that from the beginning of the legion, its chain of command differed from the other legions, since the Emperor himself created the Hosts, organizations separate from the standard chain of command and with specific functions to carry out on the battlefield. When the Lion was found his first action was to restructure the Hosts from the first, and after a major restructuring which saw their number reduced to six, the Hosts were renamed the "Hexagrammaton", which could be translated as "the six divine wings".

Since the end of the heresy, the Dark Angels have restructured these wings to adapt them to all the changes the legion has undergone over the years.

The first wing is also the largest of them all and the most important for the legion, since it includes all the legion's standard legionnaires, i.e. everyone who is part of the legion's chapters, companies and officers. It is therefore the only wing that has more than ten companies. It tends to be called simply "The wing" (a probable reference to how all the other wings originate from it), but in some cases it is nicknamed "Greenwing" in reference to the color of its armor.

The Ravenwing is a wing focused on the use of light and fast vehicles. Legionnaires of this wing tend to fulfill functions of terrain reconnaissance and tracking individuals, and usually rely on the use of hit and run tactics on the battlefield. Unlike the Imperium, the Dark Angels have retained their anti-grav technology and even improved it by implementing Aeldari technology, the only thing preventing the Ravenwing's jet bikes from being as fast as the Eldars' is the fact that the Astarters would have little or no control over a vehicle at such speeds. The Ravenwing's main function within the kingdom of Tenebris is to search for and investigate incursions or the movement of chaotic cults within the kingdom's territory.

The Steelwing is a unique case among the rest of the wings of the Hexagrammaton, since it is nothing more than the fusion of several other organizations within the legion. By the end of the Heresy, the Dreadwing and the Order of the Broken Claws had become so close that they were basically one and the same organization. Add to that the fact that the Ironwing began to show an interest in the technologies that the Order of the Broken Claws used, and it's no surprise to learn that the three organizations ended up merging into a single wing.

The Steelwing's main function is the creation, research and search for new technologies, and it and the Deathwing are the wings with the largest number of technologies from the dark ages of technology or of Xeno origin. When they go to war, the Steelwing carry huge weapons of war ranging from super-heavy tanks to automata more advanced than those of the mechanicum, while the techmarines and high-ranking officers use exotic weapons derived from the fusion of Xeno and human technology or technologies long lost by the imperium.

Probably the most mysterious and different wing of all, the Firewing is more than an army, it's a body focused on controlling information and investigations within Tenebris. It is responsible for controlling the flow of information within the kingdom and ensuring that information such as the true nature of the Black Legion never reaches the public, even if this means silencing entire cities.

Even though it is the smallest wing of all, it is easily the wing with the largest number of human auxiliaries under its control, most of them being spies or special operations soldiers. The few times the Firewing Astarters go to war they tend to attack from behind enemy lines to cause mayhem while their fearsome interrogator-chaplains strike terror into their enemies while motivating their allies.

Interrogator-chaplain

Having their origins in the interrogators of the ancient host of fire, an organization that many inquisitors believe gave rise to Firewing, they gradually changed and adapted until they reached their current state in the forty-first millennium. Today they not only perform the functions that a conventional chaplain would, but also serve as interrogators against the most difficult enemies to break. To do this, they not only tend to be extremely violent, but also use vile torture technologies that would be too cruel for most inquisitors. An example of these technologies would be the black pearls, a technology that comes straight from the dark ages of technology, which are small pearl-like devices that, when in contact with the nerves of a living being, can make them feel all kinds of pain, from feeling their limbs being crushed to feeling as if they were being burned alive.

It should be noted that even though they have two origins in the Firewing, the Interrogator-chaplain are not exclusive to it; all the other wings have their own interrogators at their disposal. The most infamous of these would be Asmodai, The Wing's main interrogator and known throughout the galaxy for having broken the minds of countless Imperial, Chaotic and Xenos champions.

Thunderwing is a division 100% focused on the art of war in the void of space. Its members are trained to be masters of combat in zero gravity, while their armor is modified to perform better in such circumstances. They are professionals in operations on asteroids or spaceship hulls, and tend to be the ones to act when a Space-Hulk appears in Tenebris territory. Several Thunderwing astarters have spent their entire transhuman existence in the void of space, which has led to a joke within the legion about "what's rarer, an intelligent Ork or a Thunderwing marine on a planet?"

The Deathwing is probably the most dangerous wing of all. Not only do they have an arsenal of the deadliest equipment the legion has to offer, including a large amount of Terminator armor, but the veterans who make it up come from all the Dark Angels' wings, which makes the Deathwing just as versatile as it is deadly.

The Deathwing's main function is to serve as a spearhead for the remnants of their brethren, either by leading their siblings against the lion's enemies, or by teleporting into the enemy's heart to destabilize their defenses. When not at war, the Deathwing takes on the role of guardians of important places within Tenebris, whether entire worlds or specific fortresses. The main place they guard would be the legion's monastery fortress, the Untaimed sword.

The Inner Circle and Azrael

In the depths of the Untaimed Sword, defended by more than 20 Terminators, is the meeting room of the Inner Circle.

The Inner Circle is a group made up of the main figures from each of the Dark Angels' wings, along with representatives of the mechanicum of Tenebris. What is said inside this room is a mystery to everyone outside the circle, but it is abundantly clear that the fate of the legion and the kingdom of Tenebris is decided there.

The leader of the circle, and therefore the leader of the legion, is the astarter known as Azrael. The information the inquisition has been able to gather indicates that he began his career in Firewing before being moved to Ravenwing and from there to Deathwing before being promoted to the post of legion master and inner circle leader. Any information about campaigns he took part in before becoming the leader of the legion is a total mystery to the inquisition, and many inquisitors suspect that he is much more than he appears to be.

Outside the wings are all the non-Astarters in the Kingdom. This includes officers of forgeworlds and planetary defense forces. These forces are subordinate to the first legion and they must obey the orders of any high-ranking officer in the legion. Any disobedience to direct orders can be punished with anything from physical punishment to demotion in rank, and in some cases death or being turned into a servitor.

Among the legion's servants, we can highlight the beings known as watchers in the dark. They are small xenos who have served the legionaries since the destruction of Caliban, but some records indicate that they are much older than that and that they have supported the knights of the Order since time immemorial. However, their intentions and capabilities are totally unknown to the imperium, and everything indicates that it is the same for the first legion.

-Combat doctrine:

Combat doctrine tends to vary greatly depending on the wing you're facing. They all have in common the use of forbidden technologies and tactics of trying to push the enemy around with massive firepower, but the ways in which this is represented in each wing implements these elements are drastically different.

The Wing uses a more direct approach to the enemy while tending to take a lot of bodies onto the field. Firewing does just the opposite, focusing on decapitating and disorganizing the enemy through attacks and sabotage behind their lines while advancing head-on. Thunderwing tends to split up to carry out several surgical strikes at the same time, and when the enemy is finally on their knees they unite again for the final blow. Ravenwing focuses on rapid and continuous fire while performing hit and run tactics, while Steelwing focuses on large exotic weapons and slow but incredibly resistant vehicles. Deathwing focuses on quality above all else, preferring to bring few but destructive troops over a large number of the same.

Outside the doctrines of the wings, the Legion has shown time and time again that it doesn't care about the means necessary to bring down an enemy. Whether using terror tactics or chemical weapons, the Legion will do anything to rise above the enemy's corpse. They've even gone so far as to redirect WAAAAGHS Orks onto imperial planets just so that the Orks hurt a planet's defenses before launching an attack. Even if it's necessary to kill innocents or hurt their own people, the first legion won't hesitate to do so as long as the result is worth the sacrifice.

-Technology and weaponry:

Technologically the first legion is probably the most advanced legion of all, the only other that could match it would be the fourth legion, and it is also one of the most advanced armies in the entire galaxy.

At first glance, you might notice that many of the technologies used on Tenebris are similar to those used in the imperium, but on closer inspection you can see that they are much more sophisticated than those used in the Emperor's domain. An example of this would be the standard arcangel power armor and the Enigmatus pattern jump packs.

The first is a more advanced variation of the Imperial power armor that is not only physically stronger and more resistant, but also includes other technologies that are not present in the Imperial version, such as a camouflage system like that used by the Eldars and an interface system to help the user.

Unlike the Imperial jump packs, the standard Enigmatus uses plasma thrusters instead of traditional turbines. This allows them to be used in space or in oxygen-free environments without any problems. The only downside is that their thrust is so strong that if the legionnaire loses control during flight, he could be seriously injured or even die as a result of hitting an object at such speeds.

Then there is the high presence of xeno technology. Aeldari tends to be the easiest to find, ranging from bright throws to combi weapons with shuriken catapults. The rarest Xeno technology, on the other hand, is of necron origin, which is almost exclusively used by the Deathwing and Steelwing.

The Necron weapons used by the Dark Angels tend to be more rudimentary than those used by their original users, but they are still just as deadly as the versions used by the robotic warriors.

-Recruitment, Homeworld and Gene-seed:

The home planet of their Primarch, Caliban, was lost a long time ago when Luther's betrayal exploded. But that wasn't much of a deterrent for the legion, and it was able to form its new kingdom. Since then, the legion has recruited aspirants from almost every world in their realm, the only worlds they don't recruit from are the forgeworlds of their Heretek allies.

If the legion's main world had to be named, it would be Nova Caliban. Long missing its original name from the Imperium database, Nova Caliban is nothing more than the third planet in the Caliban system and the neighboring planet of the system's former main planet. Not knowing where to settle, the Inner Circle decided to take this planet as their new base of operations, renaming the planet Nova Caliban and at the same time shaping the planet's culture to be almost a copy of that of the original Caliban. And to top it all off, the legion captured and modified various wild animals until they simulated Caliban's fauna, and released them on the planet. As a result, the planet is now little more than a copy of the death-world that the system is named after, even with noble houses that simulate Caliban's knights.

And it is on this planet that the monastery fortress of the first legion stands gloriously. A huge structure with several space ports connected to it, this fortress is more than capable of sheltering all the Dark Angels' wings if necessary.

Even though it is their main world, the Legion does not depend on New Caliban to provide recruits, since not only do they have more than 200 worlds to recruit aspirants from, but the Legion's genetic seed is one of the most stable and compatible of all the Primarchs, a characteristic it still retains since none of its organs have been lost or mutated in the last ten thousand years. Many imperial inquisitors and analysts believe that if it weren't for this genetic stability, the legion would have been completely destroyed, as it is under constant pressure from both the imperial forces and the followers of the Dark Gods.

Vat-borns and Clones

Since the final years of the Heresy, the Dark Angels have constantly used methods of rapidly producing Astarters to increase their numbers. These methods tend to be complicated, and most of the time the marines created by these methods don't live for long before their organs fail mortally, but in compensation, in a tiny amount of time you have a marine who can physically match warriors who took years to forge. So it's no surprise to learn that the imperium has launched several attacks on the kingdom of Tenebris over the last ten thousand years to ensure that the former doesn't create an army too large to be contained by the Cadian cordon.

The biggest and one of the most recent operations against the First Legion was the so-called "The Clean of The Half-Born". In this campaign, a huge number of imperial assassins infiltrated the kingdom of Tenebris, and inside they eliminated several of the officials responsible for the cloning and Vat-grown processes, while several imperial incursions tested the kingdom's defenses. This operation lasted from the middle of the 39th millennium until the final stages of the 40th millennium, when it had to be abruptly canceled due to a lack of resources to maintain the operation.

After this operation, the Dark Angels' cloning capacity was reduced to less than a third of the original. Until now, the Inner Circle has been trying to recover from this damage while taking drastic measures to prevent it from happening again.

-Relations:

Of all the legions, the first is probably the one with the most enmities, since it considers all those loyal to the Emperor to be a bunch of fools, and it despises all those who have allowed themselves to be corrupted by the powers of chaos. As a result, any kind of alliance with the first is with the Dark Angels is rare, and the few times it does happen they tend to be extremely unstable.

Within this long list of enmities, we can highlight two in particular. The first would be with the Alpha Legion, since the Dark Angels despise the sons of Alpharius for abandoning them halfway through the heresy and for leaving the Legion in the dark instead of continuing to stand by it. They consider Hydra to be a group of cowards who, when it came time to overthrow the false Emperor, backed down and switched sides.

But their hatred of the Alpha Legion is overshadowed by their hatred of the Black Legion. The sons of the lion absolutely despise the Black Legion not only for having destroyed Caliban and made his genetic father, but also for being a constant reminder that the legion is not immune to the temptations of Chaos. Of all the "fallen", the name first given to the members of the Black Legion, the most hated figure would easily be Luther, since he was the direct cause of all the evil that the fallen caused to the legion. However, there is another Astarter who comes close to matching the legion's hatred of Luther, he is known as Cypher.

Cypher

Everything about this mysterious legionnaire is shrouded in mystery, since unlike all the other sons of the lion, he is not part of the First or Black legions, but fights on behalf of the Imperium.

His first recorded appearance was in the middle of the 32nd millennium during the Beast War, when he met with the chapter master of the Word Bearers to inform him of the location of Lorgar Aurelian, who was reported missing at the time. Since then, he has appeared spontaneously to support the imperium in the most complicated moments, whether to inform it of future threats or actively support the Emperor's armies.

The Inquisition and the children of the lion don't know who, or what, Cypher is. For even when he was killed in the middle of a battle, his body mysteriously disappeared and he reappeared years later. But even so, both the Black Legion and the Dark Angels seek to capture Cypher, since both organizations not only seek revenge for all the times he has stood in their way, but the existence of a legionnaire who remains loyal to the Emperor is something that hurts the honour of the lion's offspring.

All the descriptions of the legionnaire have in common the use of a bolter pistol and a plasma pistol that he uses with almost supernatural precision, and a sword on his back that is always in its sheath. He wears ancient power armor with the colors and symbols that the First Legion wore during the Great Crusade, while he wears a white tunic over his armor that has a campus that obscures part of his face even when it is illuminated directly. Some say that Cypher's appearance is slightly different in each appearance, that certain details of his armor or face change, but the veracity of these claims is doubtful.

The legion is also extremely aggressive towards the xenos, as they not only consider themselves to be the only ones with the right to rule the galaxy, but in some cases the legion actively seeks to steal technology from other species. The main races the legion clashes with are the Eldar and the Necrons.

The Eldars have a feud with the legion over all the deaths they caused during the Heresy, and it's not uncommon for attacks by corsairs and Drukhari to be motivated by personal vendettas. And the Dark Angels tend to do everything they can to get their hands on Necron technology, since they are incapable of reproducing the technology of these xenos and depend on what they recover from confrontations with the robotic warriors.

-Beliefs and war cry:

Contrary to what the legion makes it seem, Caliban's culture barely carries any weight within it.

After the destruction of Caliban, the legion did its utmost to make Nova Caliban as similar to the original as possible, but at the end of the day the world was nothing more than a superficial copy of the primarch's home planet, neither the beasts were as deadly, nor the houses of knights had the honors of the knights of the order. On top of this, new legionnaires from planets with extremely different cultures to those of the world of death entered. This meant that Caliban's culture was gradually forgotten as the Calibanite legionnaires and those who lived with them died or were buried in Dreadnought sacrophages.

Today, the only things that have survived from Caliban culture are certain names and the general aesthetics of how the legion decorates its armor and fortresses. Codes of honor or struggles for honor have long been put aside, to be replaced by a cold and unbreakable ideology of duty that is accompanied by the idea that "the end justifies the means".

In addition to this ideology, the entire legion shares the idea that their father is alive somewhere in the galaxy, and that he will return when the legion needs him most. Many dismiss this idea and claim that it is a hollow and unfounded hope that the legion has for refusing to accept the loss of its genetic father, but several high imperial officials and chaoslords are not so sure about Lion's supposed death, since a primarch is a difficult being to kill and the warp is too treacherous to state with certainty that the lord of the first legion was killed by the storm that engulfed Caliban.

The war cries that the legion tends to use vary between: "For the lion!" and "We are the true angels!". When the Legion meets the Black Legion they tend to use: "Our sword is justice!"

The cyan-armored warrior looked at the body on the small altar, the body of the lord of the first legion.

Around the body, countless runes glowed in different colors, some helping the Primarch's recovery, others protecting him from the things that lived in the great ocean. Others had functions that even he didn't understand as a whole

He stared at the primarch for a few more seconds until he turned to his companion, a small watcher in the dark who accompanied him to the primarch. "How much longer is he going to stay like this?"

Without turning to the Astarter, the xeno sent out a psychic pulse with the answer. "+His recovery depends solely on whether he passes the test or not, we know he's in his final stages, but I couldn't say when he'll awaken.+"

The marine thought about his guide's answer for a moment, ideally Lion would awaken before the great game entered its final stages, but that didn't seem to be the case.

Without saying anything, the marine turned to leave the chamber, with the watcher following him. "Let me know if he awakens."

Notes:

And here we have the index of the sons of the lion.

Yes, I know it took me a long time to post this chapter. The problem is that I've had a lot of ups and downs with my will to write, so it's taken me longer than it should have.

But anyway, I'll try to catch up and take less time to post the chapters.

I was thinking of putting in a section on the technology and weaponry that each legion uses, if you think it would be interesting let me know and I'll update this chapter with one and write the next ones with it in mind.

Anyway, thanks for reading and until next time, take care!