40K BEGINNERS - THE ASTARTES CHAPTERS [Part 1] | Warhammer 40,000 Lore/History

foreign [Music] [Music] [Music] now if you're joining me today for this video it's likely for two reasons either you're relatively new to 40K and the astartes the legendary Elites of the Imperium the Space Marines or you're here for me making an overview opening of the most iconic of Imperial forces the other option is you're one of those people who's here to sleep as I talk that is fine too looting sleep Club I should say that for myself about a year ago I thought about diving in looking at individual chapters of the Space Marines their background their history their differences and organization it's been requested a lot in honesty though the prospect of doing this Justice focusing on an individual Marine chapter or Legion was actually becoming so high of a mountain to climb in my mind it felt almost insurmountable I think though it's always true because I do this myself no matter if you're new to the law or a veteran it always can be helpful to periodically strengthen the outlines of General things we know in the case of the estadis and their chapters I think this will personally help overcome for me what C deemed a daunting Prospect before launching into specifics we'll touch on today also a few details in the next section about the Estates creation general principles things like this just to build a complete picture so let's do that [Music] the origin of the Space Marines the Estates is well known and a fundamental Keystone for the 40K verse in the aftermath of Humanity's collapse from the age of Technology it was so weakened that it was almost completely destroyed by the isolation and warp Horrors that ravaged it through the age of strife the figure who would soon become known as the emperor would emerge during this time upon old Earth Terror to reunite Humanity once more destroying the Warlords who had been left fighting pointless territorial skirmishes in the dust and decay of a Dying World in order to overcome these apocalyptic but still often powerful armies of the Warlords many of whom were strange Warriors who had survived the collapse but augmented themselves with technology cybernetic super Warriors addicted to generations of Warring in the decaying remains of a golden age to overcome these the emperor forged his own heavily augmented trans humans the Thunder Warriors but they were far from perfect a hastily crafted extremely overpowered version of what would be later refined the Thunder warriors were impressive but unstable in this period the emperor had been rounding up genetic scientists and those who retained abilities of importance from the age of Technology he would use these recruited scientists to create his biotechnical Department within his Fortress complex on terror deep in the underground depths of the palace he would Forge the primarks twenty individuals who were far beyond mere transhuman these were demi-gods beings you could barely call human such were their great powers and potential unlike the tech Priests of Mars the emperor had walked through the Mists of time he traversed human history and consequently he was not so restrained by dogma and the surviving Cult of Mars This is what enabled him to employ the advanced sciences that remained from the golden technology age of humanity to develop the primarks in astati's Project the primarks were each imbued with gifts that reflected a fraction of The Emperor's complete power but as this ambitious project neared completion the primarks were taken scattered throughout the Galaxy the exact and definitive cause of This Disaster remains open to debate some suspect the malicious powers of the warp others close to the emperor during this time have claimed responsibility ultimately these are just details that in the broader context have little importance 10 000 years into the future the emperor would using the base genetics of his primarks continue in the development of the very first astatis the Thunder warriors power but also instability appeared to be caused in part by the fact that they were adapted as adult males the process was both highly invasive and traumatic physically and mentally the Space Marines would follow would be developed differently and implanted as young boys this meant their augmentations would grow in with their normal maturation and not a traumatic hard cut as was the case previously bastartis have as many as 22 specially implanted or augmented organs within their bodies these all enhance their survival and capability during this process of their creation they will also undergo both mental and physical strengthening often accompanied with further Imperial indoctrination their Jean seed though Remains the most critical in setting anastatis apart from a mere augmented human or cybernetic Warrior these glands in the neck and chest contain the blueprints for the astartes legion and chapter Heritage and a painstakingly recovered from dead Marines to ensure their security and more importantly the genetic stability of a chapter of all the other implants or augments another particularly noteworthy piece is of course their black carapace this is one of the most difficult things to develop and implement the continual failure of its implementation during the estadi's development threatened to undermine the entire project but finally the gene writes and scientists working with the emperor were able to successfully develop the carapace to embed without rejection for Space Marines this critical system is meshed below their skin to enable uplinked nodes which are meshed directly into their nervous system their purpose is so the Estates May interact with powered armored suits of any design so they may move as if the armor with their own body without limitation of movement or reaction time ordinary humans such as inquisitors and the suratas can wear scaled versions of power armor even Terminator armor but without the black carapace these can be bulky and less effective than they are for Marines as such they may be balanced to be slightly less durable but enable more movement for the wearers powered armor in and of itself is not the creation of the emperor although he did perfect and design Master Level armor for the likes of his custodies and primarks and various iterations were made of course for the Space Marines over the years in the early development of the space means project the emperor created based on his own genetic template among other things those 20 primarks and they were the basis of the first founding of astartes each would in time bear the iconography and colors that identify them in line with their primarks all this had been carefully planned by the emperor and his closest Associates this initial founding of perhaps even only a few hundred Marines would soon grow exponentially to become the vast Imperial Legions of the great Crusade there's Little Rock Solid information on the numbers of Marines within the legions at the Inception of the empress crusade to reunite Humanity all throughout the Galaxy but after a few hundred years of the Crusade it's estimated that most of the legions numbered between 80 and 100 000 astartes a few were around 150 to 170 000 and the 13th Legion of the ultramarines numbered as many as 250 000. in the context of a crusade though spanning an entire galaxy these numbers are actually quite small but it speaks to the strength and capability of the Estates that such numbers could inflict the catastrophic Devastation that would soon visit Upon A burgeoning Humanity that Devastation was the Horus heresy it's difficult to summarize the heresy in a few sentences but by the end of the Crusade the emperor had handed considerable power to Horus the first Primark reunited with the emperor before they'd even left the sole system and whenever primarks were reunited with their Legions this could very often alter their structure character even their name Taryn born Masters who had commanded the legion from their Inception stepped aside and although this was often handled with respect Good Humor even fought some of the legions these changes cause undeniable internal friction between the terranborn and those who originated from their primarks adopted homeworlds this though was merely one small detail which helped to fracture the Loyalty of celestate's Legions at the end of The Crusade it remains difficult to definitively point to a single trigger that caused the heresy some of the empress primarks like lorgar had felt scorned and rejected for some time others held feelings that were despite their demigodlike status all to human jealousy resentment it all added up to an immense Dark Storm on the horizon and when the emperor entrusted the completion of the Crusade to Horus it created an ideal space to allow the germination of treacherous ideas Horus and at least nine although some speculate 11 Legions of Estates turned against the emperor and embarked on a journey of planetary Warfare that tore the newly founded Imperium apart but despite its legendary status the heresy really only lasted a few years but these times were very dark and destructive entire planets were scoured those who abstained from taking sides suffered equally in the long term and even those who held firm risked later purges from loyalists who were quick to doubt an equally quick to exact punishment at the end of this Infamous heresy Horus would fight the emperor resulting in the fabled obliteration of Horus and the emperor being interred upon the Golden Throne where he would then remain for the next 10 000 years in the aftermath of the heresy it was decided that a legion was too powerful a thing for any one individual even a Primark to command over so it was decided by Lord Gilman Primark of the ultramarines 13th Legion that each of the remaining loyalist Legions should be subdivided into chapters of 1 000 strong Marines these would function more like a powerful Strike Force to function in collaboration with the other assets of the Imperium as well as of course working together with a necessary critically though it would form the template for the next 10 000 years of Estates history this realignment of power of the Estates within the Imperium was known as the second founding which brings us roundly to the recruitment of Marines and the foundings [Music] regardless of the scale and time period little has changed about how the estatis were recruited some exposure to a hard life is beneficial early on a signifier of an individual who can stand apart from others win by attrition some genetic instinct to survive and overcome this leads to many marines having been recruited from harsh planets of either urban sprawl or hellish feral death worlds where the conditions of native flora and fauna are the enemy at all times there are other instances where individuals are prepared likely from birth within Noble hereditary based Warrior houses within Hive worlds or cities who hold open competitions for selection testing out hopefuls with endurance games and likely things which will descend into a Macabre spectacle there is little to restrict those who choose to trial for astartes but there are some preconditions within specific areas placed upon prospective candidates for trials these are always going to include age genetic compatibility some individuals bodies will always reject the gene seed of a chapter likely to result in their death so testing may take place before you try out as is sensible to do and until the law specifically States otherwise it continues to be the case that all Estates are male I know that this has been a matter of contention for some time but it just currently simply is the case that this has been restated repeatedly within the official published law even very recently little explanation given to this fact but and that's hardly new territory for 40K General compatibility is not something specifically considered for a startise in training but most candidates are expected of course to be fit mentally sharp displaying some sense of character that will enable them to survive the brutality of their life yet to come no matter how they're recruited though it's unfortunately generally true that the rate of success in joining the next stage of a study is conditioning and training is very low further tests continue from here on and throughout their augmentation to become Fuller starties many more will perish during the harrowing conditions and examinations of their abilities ensuring that only those who are truly destined to become a member of the imperium's warrior Elite will do so this will of course be the proudest moment for any parents siblings wider family even a community should someone from their world their City their family be selected to go forward to estati's training but it will simultaneously be a time of sadness for they will almost certainly never seen or hear that person again they may die in the training or augmentation one year from selection or centuries later taking a last stand against the very worst enemies of humanity both instances would not diminish The Pride nor respect felt by their family and shown by those who would know their flesh and blood had been chosen to become a member of the Imperial astartes the structure of the Estates has changed significantly since their Inception not just their structure of course but their scale in the early days of the Crusade the legions were likely small in comparison to their size toward the end of the heresy but still very likely larger than a modern era chapter of just 1 000 Marines the huge scared of growth of the legions came at the behest of the Emperor who forced the legions to grow so quickly it's believed to have in part caused the deterioration of some of their genetics leading to several Legions exhibiting problematic traits the first founding of the Imperial Estates consisted of the 20 Legions who were formed by the emperor at the beginning of the great Crusade their epic quests to reunite Humanity are the stuff of Legend but the sheer power of the astatis war machine when left unconstrained was terrifying to behold I think it's best conceptualized by an ultramarine's quotation which goes as follows to take a town send a legionary to take a city send a squad to take a world center company to take a culture send a chapter the description of only requiring 1 000 Space Marines to take a culture gives a sense of what a legion of some 100 000 Marines could be capable of and it was this scale of destructive potential that ensured the heresy would become one of the worst Civil Wars ever seen by Humanity the first founding consisted of the 20 Legions as follows the Dark Angels with their Primark Lionel Johnson The Emperor's Children their Primark fulgrim the iron Warriors their Primark per durabo the white scars that Primark jakartu Khan Space Wolves and their Primark lemon Russ the Imperial fists with roguel Dawn the night Lords Conrad kurs the blood angels sangrinius the iron hands Ferris Manus the world eaters with angron the ultramarines and robuta Gilman the death guard mortarion the Thousand Sons with of course Magnus the sons of Horus and the Primark Horus the word bearers logar salamanders Vulcan Raven guard corax and the alpha Legion their Primark alfarius obviously should note the alpha Legion had two primarks technically but we'll come to that later as noted in the aftermath of the heresy it had become clear that the power of anastati's Legion was something so devastating it risked the future stability of the Imperium should a situation like this arise again after all who knows the size to which the surviving loyalist Legions could have grown if they had remained after the heresy what if one had similarly to the ultramarines during the heresy outnumbered the others significantly and then later caused a problem it's terrifying to imagine a legion of one million two million or more Space Marines Sir Robert decided that the legion is astartes would cease to exist in their current form from here on they would become the adapter societies not all of the remaining loyalist primarks agreed with this path forward but the very fact of the prospect of another conflict between them brought the logical conclusion into Clarity albeit still somewhat bitterly the Space Marine chapters would be the default format from here on this led to some new terminology progenitor chapters or first founding chapters were those who retained the name of the original Parent Legion a primogenital chapter were those created from the nine loyalist remaining post heresy but who did not carry the legion's name forward these were chapters created from a Legion now designated with a new title for example from the ultramarines there were the Aurora chapter the emperor's Spears The Howling Griffins from the blood angels you had the flesh Terrors the sons of sangrinius the Imperial fists fielded the black Templars the Crimson fists and so on Gilman created his famous codex astartes at this time to help be a guiding principle for all the new chapters to try and retain some stability and coherency that would give a foundation for these new chapters to stand upon for they were in entirely new territory not all of course would choose to follow the Codex as strictly as others for those successes from the ultramarines the Codex was off scene as their gospel word of their Primark and therefore should and must be adhered to but for those with Heritage and ancestry to the Dark Angels the Space Wolves the Imperial fists it was viewed as more of a suggested guideline over the many thousands of years since those emerged no singular version also of the Codex astardis it's been amended tweaked to a point where some chapters even went to war because of differing opinions as to its content the establishment of chapters was no easy or small thing either for many of the Estates it was a difficult process to try and start anew after they had held such storied histories previously especially in the aftermath of something like the heresy for many they had achieved the Pinnacle moments of their Duty surviving an apocalyptic civil war against the traitors but then to be segmented and placed into new chapters who technically had no history or background Or Glory of any kind they would have to start from a clean slate win their own victories and so they would there were many smaller foundings between the second founding and the return of rebutu Gilman to the Imperium at the end of m41 these continual foundings were designated whenever several new chapters were established not at any given point other than just when it were necessary sometimes entire chapters are destroyed or just vanish and so foundings would occur to help bolster the supposed 1000 chapters active in the Imperium at all times whether that figure is accurate or not is unknown it's likely there are more or lesser studies alive today in the Imperium it's doubtful anyone will ever truly be able to record this with accuracy there were those supposedly as many as 24 foundings since the most important first and second foundings many of these others are not recorded officially either and are broadly known by m41 as successor chapters basically any chapter originating from the gene stock of the original nine loyalists also the nature of chapters from the second founding onward would change not least because they were no longer on a continual Crusade throughout the Galaxy but also it seems strange that a chapter must be obligated to designate itself with a Homeworld especially if it didn't have one or even need one so there emerged many different kinds of these successor chapters not even the original loyalist 9 would all retain their homeworlds the Dark Angels for example having their Planet sucked into the warp only with a small rock asteroid to call home but there are those who still retain a home planet these are known as single World chapters they do not have a huge territory to oversee and will remain on one planet most of these will have limited populations often it's a very hostile World some chapters do situate themselves on hive or industrial worlds but this is less common Dominion chapters are as the name suggests based upon a world or several worlds that allow them to oversee multiple systems or an entire region of the Galaxy one of the best examples of course being the ultramarines with Ultramar bound chapters are the opposite usually stationed on one world or just an area with a specific task they must oversee defense usually of a valuable high-risk asset or other infrastructure fleet-based or mobile chapters travel around the Galaxy with no fixed address fleets are as they sound a collection of Naval assets usually with one massive ancient Capital vessel as the astartes base of operations the mobile chapters are those who have some other means of travel such as the Dark Angels rock or the Imperial fist's phalanx lastly Garrison chapters who may fit into any of the previous categories will likely have a singular base of operation but the parameters of their deployment mean they're spread across a wide area maybe multiple systems divided into smaller units sometimes this can involve the construction of a chapter keep or more localized limited versions of chapter monasteries after the first and second foundings there were as we said many which occurred through to the end of m41 other foundings but when Robert Eagleman returned to the Imperium at this point there was a new founding of significant importance the Ultima founding the ultimate founding was of course the point at which we saw the emergence of the primaris Marines with this Skillman would also revise his codex astartes as he saw it necessary for chapters to be adapted to the new weapons they could now wield and the tactics that must be adapted to within the modern Imperium or the Contemporary Imperium his new Novo codex Estates described chapter organization tactics Theory and much more and undoubted the legendary genius with a fascinating past but also seen by many within the mechanicus as problematic even a heretic undertook the task given to him by Gilman to forge a new Army for the future of the Imperium to this end he was gifted by Gilman the sang Primus portum a gene Vault containing the pristine genetic material of all 20 Gene seed lines from the Estates as Gilman named stasis for 10 000 years core had no direct oversight his only mission statement was to improve upon the emperor's original astati's design which he did far above the expectations of Gilman when originally setting him the task coal created faster stronger larger more durable Marines the primaris not only this he had provided the hardware needed to equip them in time it also became apparent that although difficult the original Marines often referred to now as firstborn could be augmented to become primaris it was though and extremely painful and dangerous process the arrival of the primaris and the Ultima founding was not without controversy though for one many of the existing chapters were very unhappy at this sudden arrival of strange Marines unproven in battle and to be abruptly integrated into their chapters within the wider impairment Terror there was also unease or even grumbling outcries that the returning Primark was acting highly suspiciously in the 10 000 years since the heresy few lived who remembered those times now and the prospect now for a son of the emperor a brother technically of Horus returning with some vast Army emerging that had been concealed until now did not seem altogether a positive thing it would take considerable diplomacy from Gilman to quiet the grumbling nobility of the Imperium the Lord's ladies and senior members of the administratum Inquisition and more that his intentions were entirely loyal to the emperor and sincere not least Gilman had to try to specially careful around the ecclesiarchy the now galaxy-wide heavily embedded and extremely powerful leadership of the Imperial State religion worshiping the god emperor ultimately the self-evident need for the primaris in the devastating times to which gilliman returned would calm things along with his actions and his ability to protect and bring stability to an Imperium on what really was a catastrophic brink of collapse with the emergence of the Great Rift and ever increasing threats from xenos traitors and the dark enemies of the warp the Prime members continued on now in the darkest of times they form the bulk of Marines commanded by Gilman on his indomitus Crusade as he seeks to recover and stabilize the Imperium especially the dark Imperium on the broadly Eastern side of the Galaxy the first phase of his Crusade is now complete and the primaries are embedded within a broad swath of successor chapters new entirely primaries chapters were also founded during this time without the primaris and the Ultima founding it's a doubtful Gilman would have been able to defend and stabilize Imperium Sanctus through his vision and the successful integration and deployment of the primaris many great chapters of the Estates were saved from what had potentially been their certain destruction now bolstered and invigorated by New Blood The Crusade would continue on to recover the darkened Imperium from the horrors of the rift and the all-enveloping Darkness that consumed almost half the Galaxy so for today when we're talking about the chapters of the Estates and by chapters this means loyalists we're not talking about traitor Legions who technically still exist as Legions they were also far too many individual chapters of the Space Marines to speak to so I'll generally be concentrating on an overview for the core progenitor chapters maybe some of the primogenitor successes the ones that I feel are interesting and noteworthy remembering also that today we're just overviewing so sadly not the 10 hour video I would need to Deep dive every chapter Space Marine chapters will generally adhere to a typical command structure where a senior estati is known as the chapter Master oversees all aspects of the chapter organization their responsibilities involvement with Imperial allies current objectives orders from higher up in the Imperium they may have some form of senior Council trusted loyal veteran officers with whom they confer as well as more human AIDS taken from within the Imperial bureaucracy Navigators Inquisition and so forth from there the details of their chapter organization depend largely on how compliant they are namely how codex compliant they are for the chapters more closely adhering to the Codex they'll usually have 10 companies each with a captain the tenth most often for Vanguard infantry and Scouts basically support stuff eighth and 9th for close support and fire support 6th and seventh Reserve battle line infantry second to the fifth battle line infantry and the first is always veterans above these and separate are the Librarians chaplains apothecaries the forge of tech Marines and chapter master a compliant chapter will have within its senior command structure captains two lieutenants sergeants and the veterans company Champions and ancients also of course will be the senior member of the specific Specialties like the Librarians and the chaplains in reality much of this is fairly Loosely applied while those are the ultramarines and some of their successors may look upon these as details to be strictly applied for other chapters any of these details may not be present or for example contain more officers than other chapters in the case of let's say chapters such as the Space Wolves it's actually unknown just what their numbers are or their organizational practices with specificity some speculate the Space Wolves never truly divided themselves down into specific chapters or at least not to the degree some other Legions did they're very reticent to reveal details about their numbers and few would push the matter and implying wink and an odd though say likely all that needs to be said chaplains of the chapter reclusium are an interesting detail as are the Space Marine psychers of the librarius neither were really officially present in significant numbers in the aftermath of the heresy especially the religious representatives for each chapter in the form of the chaplains these came later and Lord Commander Gilman has for obvious reasons not abolished these long-established positions within astati's chapters one question often arises though do the Space Marines actually worship the emperor in the sense that humans are members of the ecclesiarchy and especially the sororities do the answer is it's variable but mostly not some chapters May tolerate some religious idolatry pay at lip service generally avoid its irritating sermons and long-winded ceremonies others will fully embrace the line of the Imperial religion that the emperor is the god of humanity and lean into this in all respects so it's not to say though that chaplains aren't absent from chapters who take the more traditional view of the emperor they play a role not far removed from the times of the crusade in chapters such as these chaplains form a necessary Bridge a diplomatic representative to negotiate and engage with the required obligations that are just part of existing within the Imperium in m41 they smooth things over keep everybody happy they'll display their chapter Heroes the Champions the veterans with relevant religious fervor if a chaplain's role is being performed correctly those who hold true belief in the emperor should be indistinguishable from those who merely adhere to the mandatory necessities and this isn't to say that chaplains don't have a raw all or that it's just a token gesture they're often regarded in their chapters as looking after the Heritage the stories the glory The Narrative of that chapter and that's taken very seriously as well the other Specialists of a chapter are the Librarians apothecaries and Tech Marines all undergo various specific training practices sometimes away from their base of operations and the chapter especially in the case of the tech Marines who will spend time with the mechanicus to learn about the machine Spirit the machine God how to correctly maintain the technology of a chapter most importantly the correct amount of incense to burn to encourage the best performance of any piece of ancient Hardware all chapters of course contain considerable additional individuals who perform all manner of roles again not necessarily true for every single chapter but generally speaking you'll have serfs servants to do all manner of menial labor administrative household armorers stewards emissaries scribes and so on almost whatever you can think of that would likely need attending to even Agri workers selected for their skills from Imperial Agri worlds then of course you have your serviters other Imperial administrators members of the telepathica The Navigators the mechanicus the list goes on and on so a Space Marine chapter can be extremely complex depending on its operational nature but it could also be very Spartan and minimal in terms of its support staff like all aspects of the estatis it's widely variable and much of this is going to be dictated by the territory occupied the resources available the default Mission assigned to the chapter a vast realm such as Ultramar is going to be wildly different to say the rock of the Dark Angels now I had planned to originally cover all the core chapters the progenitor chapters in one video but as is often the case I realized this was going to make the video three hours long tldr I decided to split this into two parts today we're looking at the troubled and shattered chapters in the aftermath of the heresy and the time since that means the angels of death and those such as the iron hands salamanders and Raven God who in One Way or Another struggled in the shadow of the destruction they suffered at the outbreak of the heresy when we come soon to part two we'll be looking at the other chapters such as the Imperial fists and the ultramarines who have a long very deep histories with the Imperium that deserve a little bit more depth even in the setting of a mere brief overview and just to say it again I fully intend to continue this series forward after that we'll be looking to dive properly into the legions and chapters of the Estates on an individual basis so let's begin with an overview of one of the most contentious of chapters the Dark Angels are the first founding chapter that is to say they were the first Legion forged by the emperor on terror while C unification wars were still happening but their history winds its way between some of the most revered startes and Heretics they maintain an aesthetic of being monastic and religious but this is not really a trait they're specifically known for in terms of practicing or applying the Imperial religion their title the angels of death is ascribed to them because during the earliest times they were given near unlimited access to use any of the Weaponry available to achieve their objectives even technology that has since been outlawed or simply faded into darkness in the time of the Crusade and the legions the Dark Angels of course excelled as they had done since their Inception but their failing would not be Out Among the Stars like some of their brother astatis who would stand against the emperor the Dark Angels problems began on their Homeworld of caliban here their Primark would be discovered by Luther a member of the nightly order upon caliban for it was what the Imperium would designate as a feudal World there are many types of planets in the Imperium ranging from the technological level and environmental conditions and some human worlds reverted to a feudal State during the age of strife and found the only way for them to survive was through enforcing a feudal system that often largely rejected technology and importantly those who displayed a psychic ability these were often the individuals who during the age of strife condemned worlds to the ravages of warp creatures and Horrors Beyond imagination so many of the surviving worlds purged their psychos upon discovery of the scattered Primark Luther named him Lionel Johnson and brought him into their nicely order as all primarks he quickly displayed Advanced abilities and learning and Rose within the nightly order of caliban to eventually become its Commander when the emperor was reunited with the lion they of course left to embark on the great Crusade and he would command his Dark Angels to great success Luther was by the Primark side every step of the way until he was returned to caliban to raise up recruits for the first Legion in the aftermath of the Horus heresy the lion returned to caliban but what he discovered was not a celebration of their return but instead a nightmare Luther had been deeply bitter about his return to the Homeworld and saw it as being dismissed from the glory to not fight alongside the line at the most critical of times was taken by him as a deeply personal insult and slight Luther had been corrupted although not seemingly by any specific chaos God but as did many in this time he was just consumed by the undivided powers of chaos Luther and the lion would fight a Titanic battle and although he could not bring himself to kill Luther the lion certainly bested him but Luther's Final Act was to lay a final strike upon Lionel Johnson the reality of this broke Luther out of his bitter days of treachery and he saw the insanity of his actions but this moment also brought the attention of the chaos Gods who engaged a powerful warp storm around Taliban the planet will be destroyed due to the continual bombardment being laying down upon the planet by the loyalists in orbit and with the planet's geology now so weakened and the warp storm so powerful it began to pull the planet apart dragging it into the wharf along with these so-called Fallen Angels the Dark Angels of Luther who had been similarly Twisted by dark ideas and bitter resentment this is where the appearance of the mysterious creatures native to caliban are relevant these are known as the watches in the dark and they are beings of small stature and curious ability they spirited the lion away at this time deep within the planet where he would remain for some 10 000 years all that was left of caliban after it was destroyed by the warp storms was the center of the world The Rock and this only existed at all because of the immense force fields surrounding the orders Fortress monastery it protected it from being dragged into the warp with the rest of the planet and now it was all that remained of caliban a small bizarre single asteroid with the ruins of their Fortress Monastery this would become the appropriately titled Rock of the Dark Angels later fitted with propulsion engines that would enable them to Pilot it around the Galaxy The Rock contained many Dark Secrets the biggest were that the lion himself remained deep within guarded over by the Watchers waiting for the time to return to the Imperium when it needed him the most and as was recently revealed to us that time seemingly is now Lionel Johnson returns to the Imperium in m41 to fight for the survival of humanity in its darkest time as for Luther for the longest time he was believed to have remained within the rock also but none could ever reach or find him but shortly after the formation of the Great Rift a demon Prince marbas launched an invasion of the rock that succeeded in freeing Luther it is currently suspected that Luther is now assembling those of the fallen into a new dark Legion that could bring the Galaxy to heal this is of course the ancient history of the Dark Angels but it's specifically relevant as unlike other chapters the Dark Angels have remained loyalist but also are tainted by a deep shame that some of their number did turn traitor the fact they have fought to conceal for the longest time and something that has brought them into conflicts with inquisitors who desire for them to be excommunicated from the Imperium cast out alongside the Thousand Sun's Alpha Legion and more the destruction of caliban was something that occurred in relative isolation and this meant that they have been able to largely conceal what took place at that time and dismissively blame it upon the traitors for there was much confusion and Chaos in the scouring and hunting which occurred immediately after the death of Horus many traitors went on Rampages as they retreated at speeds to any area they could escape the wrath of the Loyalists but to conceal this event took a dark course for the Dark Angels in that to efficiently conceal what had happened they had to slaughter any individuals that they felt were untrustworthy or who had witnessed or even been present at that time this meant that actually tens of thousands of menial human staff aboard their ships all the rock had to be executed it's been reported as well that they even murdered some of their own loyal Estates and brothers who refused to take an oath of secrecy to what had occurred so these were extremely dark times for the first Legion and they really walked a thin line between heresy and Loyalist worse still they had lost their Primark and using their librarian psychers they attempted to discover the location of the lion yet this only brought more pain for the Dark Angels as they learned now that their fallen Brothers the true traitors had in fact not been killed in the destruction of caliban they knew now they were scattered somewhere unaccounted for unreachable of course in the warp this created an extremely anxious stressful crisis for the Dark Angels if any of the traitors were captured or spoken to about what had occurred it could taint and damn them all the ferocity and merciless actions of loyalists post heresy was especially intense mainly driven by the anxiety of what could occur if the catastrophe of caliban were revealed and this largely forged the ongoing future nature of the Dark Angels in the next 10 000 years for one thing it led any successor chapters derived from the gene stock of the Dark Angels to be held on a pretty short leash and these unusually close associations which we likely can surmise is of course due to the Dark Angels wishing to ensure they maintain an airtight lock on their dark secret it's led to speculation and suspicion not of the truth to the dark Angel's history but that similarly to others like the Space Wolves they're deliberately attempting to engage in so-called Legion building there's remained a great deal of scrutiny over any chapters since the heresy who maintain suspiciously High numbers or very close relationships with their successor chapters there was a great fear that always remains that somehow a legion of astartes could once again rise up and with its focused power wreak Untold damage upon the Imperium or Terror itself however outlooks about such matters have begun to change in recent times the Dark Angels and their successors did not just maintain close relations to each other they acted often as would appear one United organization of Estates that's how close they like to keep things to their chest but the return of Gilman changed views in general about such matters and likely now the return of Lionel Johnson their Primark even more so Gilman returning and then bringing out of nowhere vast hordes of primaris Marines at his command as we noted earlier shook things up a lot in the Imperium and gave many within the leadership of the Imperium a moment of anxiety they thought that their worst fears about the return of Space Marine Legions appeared to be happening however Gilman's masterful diplomacy in actions quickly dispelled these fears and so Toler towards chapters with close ties to their successors or even suspiciously large numbers has been leaning more now toward being tolerated rather than feared now with the Dark Angels Primark returned it seems likely that the Dark Angels have far less to fear than they would have done otherwise the word of a Primark obviously carries considerable weight and although they are far from having nothing to worry about the Dark Angels are certainly in a better position than they were in previous millennia the final thing tonight with the Dark Angels is their blend of aesthetic and monastic order much has been carried forward from their feudal ancient times and while astartes are generally speaking not directly engaging with the religious worship of the emperor much of their behavior can still be interpreted as such which is usually deliberate and just as well as it helps smooth relations with ordinary humans and officials especially those within the sororitas the ecclesiarity and so on many chapters carry rituals and behavior which can be interpreted as being pseudo-religious often this simply marries smoothie with their ordinary indoctrination practices and the rituals of estarti's Brotherhood but the Dark Angels then rituals within their chapter carry significant importance and gravity as these are designed to harden the loyalty and resolve of the Marines who join their number but of course this simultaneously increases the suspicion of anyone outside looking in who sees a highly secretive closed order who close up ranks as soon as anyone asks too many questions only those of the Deathwing and the Raven Wing the first and second companies of the Dark Angels truly understand the history of their chapter and Legion and of course the Dark Angels are known for their interrogated chaplains these are adjacent to the usual battle line company infantry and their role is specific to the Dark Angels for their task is in extracting and interrogating information from any suspected fallen angels as and when they're captured alive they're greatly feared for obvious reasons as interrogating a Space Marine is no small thing the levels of pain and endurance they can suffer are far beyond out of normal human and especially a fallen who has been exposed to the darkness of the warp far more potentially than an ordinary Estates interrogated chaplains though have an even more difficult task once they've managed to extract any possible information from a fallen Marine they must attempt to secure the repentance of Fallen traitors understandably not an easy task and for good reason interrogated chaplains are considerably feared finally it will be heretical not to at least mention the current leader of the Dark Angels Supreme Grandmaster Azrael also known as The Keeper of the truth he not only leads the Dark Angels in battle but also in their ongoing hunt for the fallen and guarding the chapter's terrible Secrets many of which are known only to him and the previous chapter Masters before and for many of those complex secrets we should consider another day when I will talk specifically about the Dark Angels because there is a lot more to rake through My Chosen successor chapter of Note 4 the Dark Angels is the angels of redemption primarily because of their Curious Habit to actually abandon objectives even at Grievous cost to their allies should an opportunity to hunt the Fallen arise and they stand as a good example of some of the bizarre Oddities that can occur within successor chapters who for whatever reason perhaps that they needed to find some core principle to Rally around when they were left with no history or Heritage to speak of during their founding is something which happens often with successive chapters it leads to Chapters like the angels of redemption because they're just trying to find something to Define them and because of their now notoriously unreliable nature many Imperial forces are not particularly quick to accept their aid the problem in fact became so great that they even face calls for the chapter to be censured by the Inquisition but with the emergence of the Great Rift many such requests were dismissed sidelined the clear danger facing the Imperium became so immediately present that many of these things fell by the wayside it seemed fitting next to speak to one of the most closely referenced chapters to the Dark Angels not only in name but also the fact that they face ongoing problems that they wish to keep out of common knowledge for reasons of both shame and the scrutiny that would accompany wider knowledge of their internal problems so we're talking of course about the blood angels the Primark of the blood angels was of course sangrinius who famously perished at one of the most pivotal moments in the entire history of the Imperium the final battle with Horus sangrinius was a very unusual Primark in that he were also a visible mutant something very commonly shunned or persecuted within the Imperium he had beautiful huge Wings which were actually physically part of his body and mutation was something especially shunned upon the world to which he found himself in the scattering ball sangrini spent the first three years after his rediscovery with the lunarwolves horses Legion and when he was finally reunited with his own Legion the ninth he would swear an oath to them rather than the reverse exclaiming that he wished he could live up to Leading his sons to stand with them in glory or damnation the blood angels in the early period of the Crusade were not like the other Legions who helped reconquer and unite worlds of humanity instead they were the Destroyers the legion who acted as an extension of The Emperor's burning blade scouring and Exterminating any foe they were directed to be Unleashed upon which is something very often not remembered in the Contemporary period of the Imperium in time though they were known for sharing some of the other attributes of course of their Primark sangrinius who did much to establish the culture of the chapter he reformed the blood angels away from these darker practices that there had been emerging in the early Crusade and would reshape them from an army of killers into a legion of noble Warriors that were as well versed in the Arts as they were in combat many of the primarks held traits which overlapped with one another sangrinius was second they say only to the emperor in terms of his foresight he was a beautiful and greatly compassionate individual he wanted the Imperium to improve life of all mankind and see a lasting end to The Strife brought upon by the collapse of human civilization at the close of the Dark Age of Technology despite this constructive Outlook when he was brought to anger his rage bordered upon that of angron when the emperor chose horosus's War Master many believed that it should in fact have been sangrinius and had that been the case history may have told a very different tale but this was not to be when sanguine saw his powerful foresight as less of a gift than a curse especially when he would foresee his own death leading him even to the point of arguing with the emperor himself that what he had seen must surely come to be and so he must be allowed to accompany the emperor when he would board horus's Flagship the ventral spirit in the final moments of the Horus heresy and that discussion was interesting to me in several respects mainly because of the whole issue of time and people believing that you can change future outcomes very ordinarily in fictional verses or stories you see people who learn about the future something they dislike or don't want to happen and they make efforts to try and change that but sangrinis is accepting of his future fate he sees what is going to happen and he remonstrates with the emperor that this must happen it must be because he has seen it to be and that is an interesting strengthening of the concept of time and that kind of placement in 40K the modern chapter of the blood angels are led by Commander Dante who many believe to be the longest-serving Space Marine in the Imperium at over 1200 years known for both his Mercy wisdom and of course combat skills he has rebuilt the blood angels as many as four times over when their chapter had been nearly completely destroyed and has remained the Keystone of their Brotherhood for over a millennia in the Contemporary Imperium he was designated as the warden and Regent of Imperium nihilus but for Dante his life of long service has taken an immense toll upon him he is rarely seen to remove his armor or even his Helm many believe because of the ravages of time that have been visited upon his physical form the blood angels are both a glorious Beauty to behold in the eyes of mortal humans and a terrifying form of Destruction for its enemies they've come far since their days as the emperor's burning destroyers and are known for having more care for Baseline humans than many other assadis who consider themselves often above mere mortals but for all their glorious achievements in the Arts their ability to govern their ferocity and ability in battle similarly to the Dark Angels they also retain a dark secret which few in the Imperium know about this is in fact a disturbing flaw in their genetics their Gene seed and the blood angels know this as the red first sangrinius attempted to find some means by which to cure this trait but was ultimately unsuccessful hiding its existence even from the emperor and victims who fell to the red thirst were sometimes executed by sangriness himself albeit very reluctantly in m41 this role is often carried out by their chaplains so when afflicted by the red first blood angels are filled with an intense bloodlust instilling them with a thirst for literally the blood of their enemies concerning thee though when affected by this it can also lead blood angels to be so overcome by the frenzy of Slaughter they can end up killing both Friend or Foe which has led to some successor chapters being very feared for their potential to murder allies as much as an enemy and there is also an additional gin seed floor known to the blood angels even more disturbing perhaps than the red thirst and this is known as the black Rage or the floor of sangrinius nearly all chapters derived from the blood angels are believed to be able to forefowl to these conditions but the black rage is an insanity believed caused in part by the psychic imprint left by the trauma of sangrinius's death this pain is said to have been so deep that it effectively ingrained or etched itself psychically upon their Gene seed These Are Not Mere memories that overcome a blood Angel when taken by the black rage but something far deeper they're reborn in a world of anger hatred Fury and nothing else and as well as sangrinus's memories the blood Angel is touched with a small portion of his actual unearthy power making them even more powerful and terrifying to face in battle unlike the red first the black rage will allow a blood Angel a measure of control but many will still be so maddened with Fury and often unable to even distinguish past from present sometimes they may even believe that they are sangrinius upon the eve of his destruction back in the heresy battles raging all around them those Afflicted in this way if they're able to retain some composure join What's called the death company these are a unit of blood angels that are rarely seen because most who face them never lived a tell of it but for those who have the legend of the death company has spread far and wide and the enemies of humanity greatly fear them for good reason because many blood angels suffering the black rage obviously will die in combat they will fight enemies against impossible odds but where they are victorious of course some survive but this sadly means that they must often be spared the agony of being consumed by the rage and here is where the high chaplain or the Redeemer of the Lost will bring them their final piece the cause of these genetic flaws is often debated some believe it's even due to blood angels curious practices that involve well blood this is known as insanguination a process that occurs for the neophytes the trainees of the astartes these trainees are individuals who are still undergoing the transhuman conversion to becoming anastasis and the procedure is administered by a sanguinary priest during insanguination the gene seed of sangrinius is implanted into Successful neophytes by them simply drinking from a blood chalice they fall then into a coma and are entombed by the blood serviters inside caskets of the Hall of the sacrifagi they remain there for a fuller year in care of the caskets life support systems and while in this state they receive further injections from the blood of sangrinius many will die incapable of bearing the vast changes wrought upon them by the gene seed but others will wake up too early growing insane from their dark and claustrophobic existence lastly the ones were able to completely and successfully adapt to the changes will become the newest additions to the chapter so unsurprisingly this curious process is one believed cause of the gene seed damage and consequences although this entire process sounds very bizarre it's worth remembering that during the Crusade the process of Gene seed implantation was still being greatly experimented upon and Legions would often incorporate ritual into this which is of course only developed further in the Millennia since of course there are also those who might speculate that the emperor actually had a hand in causing some of the flaws and damage to the genetic material of the Space Marines because he pushed very aggressively for the fast expansion of the legions during the Crusade to bring up their numbers and often this is believed to have in part deteriorated the gene seed of many estadi's Legions despite belisaris calls attempting to remove some of these floor genetics of her studies chapters originating from their legion's Heritage he would discover or at least has stated that for those from the 9th and the sixth Legions that's the blood angels and the Space Wolves the genetic abnormalities are in fact very critical to their proper functioning specifically why is not explained but essentially call is saying trust the emperor's genius the blood angels as a chapter are quite literally defined by their chapter title their story in history is both one of glory and tragedy which continues into the time of m41 with the likes of mephiston the sanguena astoras but their dark shame leaves them tainted a simile for all time for all of their laudable characteristics they always remain similarly to the Dark Angels the angels of death My Chosen successor chapter of note for the blood angels quite obviously the flesh Terrors because they're a well-known successor chapter but most interestingly because they're not known to utilize the genetic Inception process used by the blood angels known as insanguination this is believed to be due to the fact that the flesh Terrors for whatever reason seem to suffer more greatly from the red thirst and the black rage so much so that it has in fact almost entirely destroyed their chapter they also gained a reputation for at times turning upon allies and even they themselves grew so concerned with this that they no longer fight alongside others their chapter has been steadily deteriorating both in terms of their Hardware capability and Manpower not to mention their numbers continually being lost to their flawed Gene seed with the arrival of the primaris however it did bring some stability to the flesh Terrors not eradicating the gene seed floors certainly but it did reduce their losses which for a small chapter who was on the brink of collapse was no bad thing that you might imagine but you would imagine wrongly in fact chapter Master Gabriel Seth was in fact not impressed At All by the primaris their slightly increased resistance to the flaws in fact left them in the eyes of Veteran flesh Terrors as not representative of their chapter this in fact remains and illustrates one of the Curiosities about factions of the Imperium where strange traits even negative ones become so heavily embedded in the ritual and identity of these factions it literally defines their group in the case of the flash Terrors their shortened lives LED them to a more fatalist Outlook and for any coming in who are unable to share this it puts them at odds with the veterans of the chapter for the flesh Terrors having existed so long being defined by this blind raging combat they're shortened lives the primaris Marines risk upsetting that and it leaves them searching for almost a new identity and this has been an ongoing problem in terms of integrating new primaris Marines into chapters like the flesh Terrors who have such curious identities next we have the iron hands now the iron hands are actually quite an interesting first founding chapter but they never seem to get as much interest or attention as some others I've always thought this is due to the fact that they don't have quite the same gravitas that the likes of the Imperial fists ultramarines and blood angels do I think they also live in the shadow of the iron Warriors because of their shared naming convention but then also because the iron Warriors are just so Infamous for being traitors who engage in some of the most abhorrent heresy the horror of which is just retained in people's minds more prominently lastly similarly to the Raven guard the iron hands were nearly destroyed at the outbreak of the heresy and that's something that took a considerable amount of time to bounce back from but the iron hands are interesting as a chapter and their history it's commonly misunderstood and in some respects they themselves have confused their own history the iron hands follow an ideological Outlook of self-reliance this is in part why they lean towards fairly heavy body augmentation and cybernetic modification the Homeworld their Primark Ferris Manus found himself upon was brutal and unforgiving in its environmental conditions but unlike so many of his brothers Manus did not conquer the world of Medusa classified as a death world it is also categorized as an imperial waste world its atmosphere is dense surface pressure many times that on terror and the air is barely breathable its atmosphere is so clouded that the system's Sun rarely penetrates to ground level and consequently surface temperatures are rarely much higher than being above freezing and on top of this of course continue extreme storms rack the surface of the planet it is though a planet known to the mechanicus to be rich in rare elements and other ancient technological relics of Interest it though remains an extremely inhospitable world and its population roaming the planet in huge machines containing the clans of the descendants of the ancient colonists from the Dark Age of Technology the conditions are so difficult that maintaining population is a challenge in and of itself and the entire planet's population is believed to be little more than half a million individuals a tiny fraction of most Imperial worlds Travis Manus took much from his Homeworld a sense of survival an approach to war that he would instill into his Estates and of course his living metal hands the story of which is honestly so mythical it barely can be rationalized but Manus killed a strange silver worm spelled as if speaking about a serpent or a dragon which he eventually killed by submerging it in magma its metallic liquid formed around his hands and many have speculated as to just what this thing was some even speculate including necron origin or of course the warp but nobody really knows it's a confusing Story and there's very little information there is only one small other scrap of information that seems potentially relevant in that medusan folklore might indicate a lingering necron presence on the world as late as the age of strife regardless they manage his time on Medusa formed him and his Outlook and for the iron hands and himself the center of self-reliance was a very strong foundation for the legion and then the chapter they believed in strong clear planning a logical approach but also using the fury of battle to good effect and this had brought them great success throughout the Crusade but the heresy would be the defining moment for the iron hands and in a way one that they would never fully recover from they believed in this balance of combat and they were one of the three Legions to suffer major losses at the outset of the now Infamous dropside massacon is fun the horrendous casualties suffered by the ravenguard salamanders and iron hands were devastating enough but the additional death of Ferris Manus at this time and his entire retinue broke the iron hands completely Not only was it at a surface level just deeply traumatic to the iron hands but it also left them with no answers as to how such a thing could have happened their battle Doctrine was so solid in their minds its failure was incomprehensible the more they considered this situation and the result the worse their doubts their confusion and their frustration grew some blame the traitors some of their fellow Legions some themselves others went insane or turned Renegade the survivors of the disaster here are often referred to now as the shattered Legions for these three had suffered the worst at the hands of the traitor's Betrayal and treachery many iron hands formed together into forces that were effectively death squads who spent their time hunting traitors and butchering them without Mercy many in time came to blame the disaster upon Ferris manus's rage that he was overcome by his emotions and this was what led to a weakness which caused their defeat this evolved into a more cold calculating approach to all situations they would Place logic and precise calculation above emotional decisions and following their gut instincts even in adopting their Battle Cry of the flesh is weak many though see that the tragedy of the iron hands is all to apparent that they in fact bury their true feelings beneath this Shield of dispassionate mantras and cold ritual yet below their armor now gematics remains that same pride and wrath that led Manus to his death for all that has bound them together since the trauma of the heresy it appears that in that state of raging distress and making whatever rationalizations were necessary to explain away the tragedy that fell upon them they may have fundamentally misunderstood the phrase of the flesh is weak first Manus himself said that the weak must be purged in order for Humanity to survive and the will of the iron hands must be as steel their resolve as adamantium these are the lessons learned from a harsh World such as Medusa but it certainly LED also to their later confusion the actual origin of the phrase which is their Battle Cry the flesh is weak was in fact not spoken by Ferris Manus but by the salamanders Primark Vulcan who is heard to say it in Praise of Ferris Manus after a brutal Liberation in the Crusades of a world that had been consumed by the orc Menace Manus jokingly exclaimed to Vulcan how his arm was tired from killing so many Orcs And it was Vulcan who replied with the flesh is weak but this was not the whole quote Vulcan actually said the flesh is weak but Deeds endure so the quotation was not one of cynical condemnation of Humanity's flaws it was in fact a more positive message that sought to clarify that even primarks will eventually pass into history but their actions their deeds the consequences of what they achieved now will last for Millennia it was a message of humility that even those with lifespans such as the estatis and the primarks should take upon and self-reflect realize that their actions are but one moment that will form a greater Legacy of humanity it's certainly true to summarize that the iron hands overarching goal for their chapter since the second founding has been survival just as it is with the Raven guard and the salamanders the survival of themselves the survival of humanity and the Imperium they see themselves as a single Cog in the machine of the Imperium and must carry out their role as perfectly as possible they follow the Codex astartes quite strictly but they do also blend this with some of their own medusan culture with each battle company being designated with the names of their ancient Homeworld Clans instead of a numerical designation as a final interesting note in the iron hands the position of chapter Master is not one held for life as is often the default case with other chapters rather it is an elective honor one renewed or stripped as the iron Council deems necessary so the very fact that card and stronos their current chapter master has led them for longer than any other speaks for itself more interesting is the fact that he doesn't shun emotion as weakness but the results under his leadership speak for themselves and the iron Council will be defy its own logical reasoning to remove him midi on the principle of finding his own outlooks distasteful not to mention the fact that stranos is a deeply selfless and humble individual going so far as to even Outlaw the raising of statues in his likeness even the commemoration of his own Deeds but in one of the few instances that have recorded his words it speaks volumes to his level of understanding and guidance provided now for the iron hands chapter and undoubtedly one that their Primark would have been proud of for it reads with steel we are stronger but without a soul we are nothing My Chosen successor chapter of the iron hands are the red Talons the red Talons being actually one of my favorite successor chapters simply for the fact that they are brutally unrelenting and have scored win after win against the traitors so successful even that they were charged several times by the Lords Of Terror with hunting down and destroying Renegade Space Marine chapters the most curious thing about them though is that their chapter master was and according to Imperial records still is an Infamous heresy veteran or Tech more a Terran born he was always seen as one of the more unstable among his brothers in the legion and in the aftermath of the disaster at isvan Moore lost all focus of broader goals and began commanding a roughly gathered iron hand Strike Force who then launched a brutal campaign primarily targeting traitor Recruitment and resource producing centers but it's hard to underscore just how unhinged the assaults were by more they included the nuclear destruction of cities the raising of the world eaters primary mustering world of bod at the turn of M31 by shunting no less than a moon into the planet before then assaulting it and other events of orbital scarring for all time more there were no innocent civilians in the conflict with the traitors there were only loyalists prepared to die for the emperor Moore became the chapter Master of the red Talons formed with the most aggressive unstable members of the iron hands yet they lack for no shortage of Hardware despite their aggressive nature they are particularly well equipped retaining also the calculating nature of the iron hands to full effect making them from an overall perspective a terrifying chapter to face [Music] next we come to another of the shattered Legions the salamanders they suffered as did the iron hands and the Raven guard at the outbreak of the heresy to some clearly they are very terrifying an ordinary human looking upon the studies of the salamanders would rightly feel overcome awed like diverting their gaze and for good reason they're an awesome sight to behold bright green armor dripping in gold and illustrations of the scales flame and Drake's that symbolize their Heritage yet their intimidating appearance does not align with their character as the salamanders are known as one of the most selfless compassionate of astartes they'll go to considerable Feats of endurance and risk to ensure that human lives are well preserved the salamander's Homeworld of Nocturne is a rugged and mountainous planet of ferocious volcanic activity along with high levels of natural radiation this Crucible environment mean that those who live there are not dissimilarly to those of the iron hands very capable people their natural environment is not the only danger though like many Imperial worlds there are also the native life forms to contend with and for Nocturne this means the Monstrous saurian forms and this was of course what would become their Legion and chapter symbols an immense Beast said felled by vulcan's own hand the culture and values of nocturne's people were instilled in Vulcan as he rapidly Rose to maturity under their care and as with many of the primarks he in turn passed these through to his Legion and remain through to their status as a first founding chapter the salamanders are also known for several of their physical traits their charcoal black skin which often features scarification their unsettling red eyes which is said to be due to the radiation of Nocturne the planet itself is an alpha class death world meaning it should be entirely uninhabitable by humans but its Seven Cities were founded during the ancient times of humanity just how they came to be established is unknown but they persist and enable human citizens to exist even now upon the world which whilst very dangerous contains very valuable materials minerals for the Imperium while there are of course many interesting aspects to the salamanders one of their foundational philosophies is that of reincarnation to which they refer to as the circle of fire they believe that any who are given to the Earth of Nocturne their Essence will be remade and new it's very likely that this belief has originated from their Primark Vulcan for he is what is known as a perpetual perpetuals are a very rare and unusual life form and are in effect true Immortals the emperor is another example of a perpetual and there are others who have become known throughout the Millennia for being so Vulcan in his life suffered several brutal deaths if you want to call them such and he also is known to be able to regenerate his body which Noel perpetuals seem able to do at one point during the heresy he was tortured endlessly By Conrad kurz of the night Lords who tried every possible means of killing Vulcan to no success ultimately becoming bored in him trying to break Vulcan he presented him with a means to escape incidentally he teleported away appearing in the space above the ultramarines home planet of mccrack burning up as he fell to the planet but then he would steadily regenerate his body but Vulcan has demonstrated his ability to return from Death many times over and is currently not even listed as one of the Dead primarks But as simply instead missing similarly to Lionel Johnson Vulcan is one of the loyalist primarks who could in fact return to the impairment at any time more concerning or in fact the reasons as to why he has not done so so far especially considering the dire threats facing the Imperium spirituality is as with many chapters a core aspect of life for the salamanders and this can mean rituals or Rites of Passage that they must endure which of course will extend to the recruitment of neophytes into the ranks of the chapter self-sufficiency is one of the tenets taught to recruit salamanders and so as with many Australia's chapters they must face endurance tests to the extreme marches across Ash and wastes planes under burning Suns hunting hostile creatures of death worlds and in one trial they must climb a sheer Spear of volcanic rock as noted the salamanders also partake in ritual scarification usually under the instruction of a human bondsman known as a brand a priest but the veterans they may even have branding atop older scars creating very unusual patterns to which they attribute additional deep meanings some may look upon this as horrific but for the salamanders there's a great honor and prestige in their markings few outside their number would even recognize or understand them the salamanders stand as a shining example of mankind they have their own culture they're selfless yet terrifying in battle they balance the harsh judgments of War and the Diplomatic needs of peacetime with expert judgment their Master Craftsman displaying proudly with their embellished and ornate armor and War gear that everything an ordinary human would expect anastartes not to be thoughtful introspecting spiritual and compassionate yet when they must the fires of the Drakes burn with such atrocity that they will incinerate the very worst Horrors the Galaxy can throw at them leaving little more than ashes a chosen successor for the salamanders the black dragons somewhat similarly to the blood angels they seem to suffer a gene seed mutation their reflection produces bone protrusions on their heads and something akin to blades from the forearm and elbow within the black dragons those who begin to exhibit these characteristics join their specialist unit the dragon claws the bones are then sharpened even coated with adamantium to turn them into abhorrent close combat weapons the forearm blades can be retracted into the claw's arm and then extended at will more extreme mutations also can cause rampant growth in the rest of the Marine's skeleton meaning some of their number require customized power armor to fit their gargantuan frames the Inquisition has unsurprisingly taken an interest here and many speculate as to the origins of these mutations even more suspiciously is that when the usual five percent ties of Jean seed is requested the black dragons have been known to resist this but despite stringent testing no abnormalities have so far been found leading some to conclude that they have falsified the provided genetic material but how this could be acquired remains a mystery they had already been facing ever increasing suspicion from Imperial authorities and this is certainly nothing that's going to help quiet that down but as has been so typical the turmoil of the great rift's formation halted the Inquisition investigations into the black dragons then lastly for this first video The Raven guard have always been fundamentally the masters of stealth and subterfuge the emperor always employed The Raven guard in operations of infiltration reconnaissance pathfinding and Target acquisitions in the times of the Crusade though things were not so clear as perhaps they appear in m41 for example during the Crusade many human worlds were crushed when they refused to join the new Imperium of mankind planets who resisted the will of the emperor quickly found themselves facing the unconstrained power of the Estates so while some saw the Raven God striking from the shadows as masterful tacticians to overwhelm an enemy before they had a chance to even form a proper defense others saw them as little different than these so-called Terror tactics used by the night Lords one of the most terrifying of astati's Legions to face in fact during the Crusades and who of course would later turn traitor with the discovery of their Primark corax all of this was set to change they applied precise military pressure to vulnerable locations and targets their reputation as an infiltrating Strike Force grew such that Horus frequently requested their assistance to assure Victory corrects never fully trusted his veteran Warriors born of Terror as opposed to those native to his homebot of Deliverance this also occurred in other astatis Legions like the death guard but along with the salamanders and iron hands they would suffer greatly in the opening of the heresy and were already one of these smaller Legions their numbers though were so severely diminished in the aftermath of this event mainly due to the fact that their tactics of evasion planning surprise assault were of little if any use when caught in the middle of a brutal ground war that amounted to basically an arena of Slaughter in the aftermath The Raven guard had been reduced from some 80 000 Marines to a mere three thousand but at least corrects had survived the ordeal unsurprisingly correct was distraught and enraged as were all the Loyalists and in order to rebuild his Estates he knew their Gene seed alone would not be enough he needed to travel back to Terror to seek the genetic Secrets needed from the Laboratories of the emperor but Terror at this time was significantly locked down by rogo Dawn in preparation of the coming assault on the Homeworld of humanity eventually the emperor reached out to allow korax the access he needed to The labyrinthine Mazes which held the secrets of the Estates quarks would retrieve the gene tank and return to the Raven guard World Deliverance under guard by the custodies and the orders of malcador the sigilite the emperor's closest Aid and effectively his Herald much of the time with the new Jean seed The Raven guard would develop newest artists that were imbued with the strength of their Primark these massively powerful astatis could kill veteran Marines with ease and as rumors of the Raven guards regeneration spread it attracted the attention of the alpha Legion they would infiltrate and poison this new Gene seed with a demonic Spike causing horrifying mutations the consequences of this were devastating and the alpha Legion also managed to extract the pure attack for themselves so it was a deeply troubling time The Raven guard they still struggled on making some impact against the traitors but with only some 4 000 astartes nothing more than selecting targets they could cause hindrance with by destroying and generally just hunting down traitors were all they were capable of at this time when finally the heresy was over the second founding would at least place them back on a Level Playing Field with their fellow first founding chapters also being adapted to this new size of a thousand astatus but corvus corrects the Primark of the Raven God was racked with guilt at his Fabius it is fun the diminished role of the Raven guard in the heresy the corruption and failure of the GNC project he would lock himself away to repent in The Raven Spire the vast tower on the Homeworld of Deliverance until one day he disappeared into the eye of Terror the warp to hunt down the traitors and their primarks but in time he said to have become mutated by the warp turning him into a being of Darkness his final recorded fight is with logar of the word bearers and cranks as far as anybody knows remains in the warp but it's unknown if he could ever return now The Raven guard remained in the period of m41 a chapter known for their use of stealth assault they're not a grinding Force who battle through with bitter endurance but in the time since the heresy and especially the Contemporary era they have many tools at their disposal especially now with the primaris unlike other chapters The Raven guard were already used to the idea of Replacements coming in after the horrifying losses that they suffered and so they make good use of these new Vanguard units such as primaris infiltrators and suppressors they also use a decentralized command structure as was illustrated by korax himself and this enables their units to remain flexible so as to conceal themselves as necessary or strike when an unexpected opportunity presents itself they're able to make decisions much more in the moment than other structures within the Imperium who require continual chain of command approval although the Raven God do adhere to the Codex astartes then nature and history mean they rarely fight as a company they instead deploy in what they refer to as Talons small fast-moving strike forces often from the air the size of this Talon can vary depending on the specific task at hand as a chapter they have adapted significantly from their Origins and instead of being crippled and broken by the devastation they suffered at the drop side Massacre The Raven guard have remained flexible and adaptive any squad or Strike Team are capable of adapting to an unfolding situation the loss of a commander will often have little direct consequence as the completion of a mission and this gives them immense tactical Freedom the lesson learned from their Legion and chapter is one of Hope and struggle of determination and strategic Mastery the ravengard a representative of the best of humanity their intuitive creative unbreakable and aspirational they endure so must we all in the name of the emperor for a successor chapter of the Raven guard I will look to the Raptors who began life as in fact a raven guard company before the second founding comprised of new Marines training on the Homeworld of Deliverance and this was before the outbreak even of the heresy and the massacre they would suffer at isfar after serving with distinction the company was honored as a chapter and the Raptors were created during the second founding as dictated by Gilman the Raptors began as a fleet-based chapter hunting down the forces of the traitor Legions as did so many successes in the aftermath the scouring of the heresy the Raptors were later issued with a Homeworld near the eye of Terror but this was reported as later being destroyed somewhere between m34 and M36 they were suspected themselves as being destroyed as a chapter but would reappear around M39 with a new Homeworld they've participated in many notable engagements which are worth looking at probably later down the line including the badab war and the third war of the legendary world of Armageddon they follow many of the principles from The Raven guard in their Battle Tactics with a strong sense of independent flexibility for units as well as strong use of Scouts infiltration teams fast Vehicles like land Speeders one of the unusual aspects of the Raptors is that they have been seen to use a range of Warzone specific camouflage something very uncommon with the astartes usually Estates want to be seen for the know no fear they wear bright yellows Reds Blues they fill their presence alone should intimidate an enemy but for those like the Raptors they Place success above such symbolic gestures and if adjusting their battle plate for specific conditions is appropriate then they will definitely do so now this was only the first episode in this series part two already nearly complete and I plan on following this up very shortly where we look at the remaining loyalists the white scars Imperial fists ultramarines and the space warps and after that we'll move on to begin the deeper dives into these chapters for there is much more detail to uncover the Estates the Space Marines are forever the emperor's Angels they protect Humanity from the very worst horrors of the Galaxy and in the face of those enemies they show no fear they are the emperor's very well made manifest the progenitor chapters who survive the heresy carried an immense burden upon their shoulders the fact that they have all survived the past ten thousand years to m41 despite being nearly destroyed many times is an astonishing achievement in itself but the impairments facing some of the darkest times since brother turned against brother during the heresy the Imperium is divided Roberto Gilman and now Lionel Johnson have returned to lead Humanity the mechanicus have provided the Estates with new flesh and material to fight back against the traitors and the nightmares that pour forth from the warp and the Great Rift but nothing is certain the Galaxy Burns Imperium Sanctus and Imperium nihilus are besieged worlds and entire systems are ravaged by War the soldiers of humanity are spread thinly as ever lines break stands are made worlds hold out in the hope of relief the spirit of humanity cannot easily be extinguished and rumors continue to swirl around the emperor himself psychers in the rift are whispered to be empowering the master of mankind but few dare to even speculate about what this could mean so join me soon as we continue the exploration of the estones chapters our final thought for today from the avenging son himself robote Gilman stated that a message of constructive optimism in such Bleak times stated that our destiny lies not in surrender but in Conquest not in retreat but in Relentless advance not in Failure but in Victory and the survival of the emperor's Realm foreign [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Luetin09

Views: 1,050,710

Keywords: Gaming, Discuss, Channel, Future, 40K, Warhammer 40K, Imperium, Humanity, Mankind, Doom, Fall, Space Marines, Heretic, Heresy, The Emperor of Man, Lore, History, Guide, Warhammer 40000, Warp, Immaterium, Rift, War, Slaughter, Horror, Nightmare, Tabletop, Inquisition, 10th edition

Id: AzMHQme4XE8

Length: 92min 21sec (5541 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 30 2023