Lore To Sleep To ▶ Warhammer 40k: The Blood Angels | Origins

no matter how fell and monstrous the foe the blood angels face it with courage nobility and honor so do they shine like the brightest stars amidst the darkness and horror of battle so do they burn away the foulness of the alien the filth of the mutant and the taint of the heretic with the righteous Fire of their wrath the Angelic host the blood angels have always been staunch Defenders of the Imperium yet for all their accomplishments they suffer from a fatal flaw the blood angels carry an inner darkness that they must strive constantly to resist it is this struggle that defines them as much in their most glorious moments of Victory as in their Darkest Hour of Despair created during the legendary first founding the blood angels occupied the Vanguard of the great Crusade aiding the emperor in his bid to reunite Humanity's colonies scattered across the Stars even then their deeds were heroic the legion's battle brothers exemplifying the best that the adeptus Dardis had to offer the blood Angel's accomplishments only reached New Heights after they were reunited with their Primark sanguinius Angel winged beautiful in both body and mind sanguinius was arguably the greatest of his father's Sons sanguinius' Glory was that of a demigod for he was a mighty warrior and an inspiring leader and his sons followed him with unquestioning devotion all through the days of the great Crusade and into the dark Madness of the horse heresy the blood angels fought at their primark's side inspired by sanguinius' divine presence the blood angels remained staunch in the emperor's defense to the very end their bolters blade Ed from the ramparts of the Imperial Palace even as the warm came to seize his father's throne and the blood angels were amongst the first loyalists to know of Chaos's defeat when Horus fell to the emperor's wrath for all their heroics that conflict was to cost the blood angels dear in the final desperate attack upon horus's battle barge the vengeful Spirit sanguinius was slain in battle with the warm himself his death was but one of many blows that the Imperium suffered on that Dreadful day yet for the blood angels it was the most tragic by far sanguinius' Sons shared a uniquely potent bond with their genan sire and his violent in scarred the blood angels in both flesh and spirit it was the death of the primarch that is believed to have triggered the onset of the red thirst a terrible flaw within the legion's gene seed this curse spread slowly through the blood angels and their successor chapters it tainted them with Madness in the Millennia that followed becoming a sorrowful secret that underminded their every valorous deed the blood blood angels and their successor chapters are renowned for their willingness to charge headlong into the guns of the foe they face down the most suicidal odds and their hunger for engaging in hand-to-hand combat is well known some have judged the blood angels overeager for battle calling them fool hearty ill disciplined or even tainted the truth truth is both more tragic and far nobler the flaw caused by their primarch's death is twofold its more common aspect is the excess of rage and violence known as the red thirst it is a mark of shame to give into this curse in any but the darest of circumstances consequently the chapter's battle brothers continually strive to master the rage inside and embody the noble ideals of their fallen primarch yet no amount of self-control can save the sons of sanguinius from the terrible Madness known as the black rage on the Eve before battle a blood Angel may find himself gripped by a sensory bombardment that plunges him into a spiral of blood Madness from which death is the only release it is almost inevitable that this fate will eventually overtake every blood Angel its onset more a matter of when than if in the face of this Stark reality each battle brother seeks to know a glorious death in battle rather than face the slow decline into beastial madness the blood Angel's Heritage is not altogether a sorrowful one they carry much of sanguinius' Grace and nobility within them and Echo his physical Perfection the Primark spiritual might also Flows In His descendants veins its potency only increases as the Millennia pass the blood angels are thus numbered amongst the most physically gifted of all the Space Marine chapters the power of the blood angels Librarians flows from the chapter's conflicted Duality one moment it will manifests itself in Angelic Miracles the next in Savage EXP explosions of bloodthirsty brutality blood angels Librarians can easily use their minds to Shield the innocent from danger as they can to exanguination good intentions only go so far however especially in a time as dark as this for all their nobility the blood angels and their successors are chapters in Decline each year brings a deepening of the madness a worsening of the curse within their blood among some successor chapters this phenomenon is especially pronounced for their genan seed was harvested at a time when the flaw had already become far Advanced Tales abound of whole chapter slipping slowly into blood mad Insanity edging ever closer to the precipice as their inner Darkness gains control names such as Knights of the blood or the Crimson sword s have gone down in infamy declared Renegade by the adeptus Tera or completely wiped out amid unwinable conflicts of their own creation indeed were any chapter to have fallen to the ruinous Powers it should surely have been the blood angels their genetic curse coupled with their powers of warp craft would seem to make them Prime candidates there are those amongst the Inquisition who are only too quick to make such assertions and to watch the chapter keenly for signs of their inevitable fall yet the blood angels have remained loyal for 10,000 years they Harbor no more intent toward heresy now than they did on the day the war Master fell from Gra though they still stand proud the blood angels are far from Untouched by the creeping degeneration that afflicts their successors the chapter must work harder and harder to maintain its fighting strength for new recruits are lost just as frequently to the black rage as our veterans meanwhile more battle brothers than ever choose glorious death over ignominious Madness their Reckless sacrifices leaving those who remain spread thinner still worse is the intensifying of the black rage once the chapter would lose perhaps a handful of battle brothers to this phenomenon in any given campaign in recent years it has not been unheard of for whole formations to plunge into m Madness in the closing years of m41 it seemed as though the blood angels Doom had come at last a tide of rapacious xenos known as tyranids fell upon their home World of Ball and its twin moons of ball Prime and ball sucus this Al alien super swarm was a tendril of the unutterably vast horror known as high Fleet Leviathan its Warrior organisms numbered in the hundreds of billions its alien hunger was insatiable the lord of the blood angels Commander Dante were called all those Warriors he could to fight for ball reinforced by many of their successor chapters the blood angels determined to stand to the last in defense of their chapter planet and its moons the battle that ensued was immense horrific violence was Unleashed on every front amidst the irradiated deserts of ball the blood angels Fortress Monastery was besieged set by wave upon wave of foes while on ball Prime and sucus the fighting grew ever more desperate hundreds of sanguinius' sons fell it seemed that their end had come at that crucial juncture the great riff split wide and when the warp storms passed the tyranid fleet was gone in its place where the Imperial ships of the indominous Crusade led by rabut gilan himself the armies of the Imperium came to the aid of the baguer blood angels and the tiits were defeated at last in the battle's wake a time of rebuilding began with it came hope unlooked for and the possibility that the blood angels and their successors might yet be be saved from their slow decline origins of the blood angels the Space Marine Legions were the creation of the emperor of mankind this deific being crafted incredible Warriors to help him conquer the Galaxy amongst these Legions were the blood angels who from their earliest days fought St hly in the service of the emperor and Primark both like all the Great Space Marine Legions the blood angels were born from the dying flames of the age of strife the Risen Emperor had United the Waring factions of terara yet his vision did not end with one world or even with the solar system in which it lay is goal was nothing less than the reunification of scattered mankind to bring the sundered worlds and Realms of humanity under a single magificent rule to do this you would need a mighty Army an army unlike any the Galaxy had ever seen and army whose Warriors knew no other loyalty than to their emperor and whose bodies and Minds were hardened to withstand unceasing War the emperor had long ago refined the techniques of genetic manipulation and he set these skills to work once again forging 20 extraordinary super Warriors to be his Generals in the coming campaign thus were born the primar s of the Space Marine Legions incredible beings whose martial Powers were to be second only to those of the emperor himself yet as with all great labors the Genesis of the Space Marines did not go entirely according to design the emperor's plans for his primarchs was to be undone even before it had properly begun without warning the primarchs Disappeared scattered throughout the Galaxy by an unknown Force though the loss of the primar was a bitter blow the emperor was not dismayed for long they could not be recreated but their genetic records remained and from these the emperor created ated the Space Marine Legions the armies he had always intended his primar to lead it was at the head of these Legions that the emperor began his great crusade in Earnest setting out from terara the emperor led the Space Marines on a glorious campaign that sought to restore mankind to Greatness no foe could withstand the onslaught of the emperor Crusade despots aliens and demons all fell to the Relentless advance of the legions worlds previously enslaved and terrorized flocking willingly to the banner of the nent Imperium it was in the course of the great Crusade that the Lost primarchs were at last reunited with their Emperor take taking up their rightful places as the masters of the legions no mere warriors were the primarchs they were also shrewd and canny leaders of men and under their command the righteous might of the Space Marines increased a h hundredfold so it was that the forces of the emperor surged onwards as never before and Unstoppable projection of Humanity's will new battlefronts opened up across the Galaxy and worlds were reclaimed by the Thousand throughout it all the blood angels and their primar anguinus fought at the emperor's side serving as honor guard to their beloved Creator driven by fiery temperament the blood Angel swiftly earned fearsome reputation as shock troopers which came to feed a rivalry between them and the world eaters Legion yet in truth the blood angels were never as berserk as the world eaters for the wise influence of sanguinius tempered their blood lust though he was yet in the early days of his Legend sanguinius was thought to be the noblest of of the primarch and was ever deep in the emperor's Council even Horus proud warmaster of the great Crusade and primarch of the Luna Wolves sensed a purity of spirit in sanguinius that he could never match a Oneness with their father that no other primarch could ever hope to achieve whilst many of his brothers fought the great Crusade solely out of the joy of battle sanus fought to secure the Golden Era of peace and prosperity that would surely follow his vision was the emperor's a hope of mankind United in peace and prosperity alas it was not to be just as it seemed that the emperor's dream could be fulfilled the great Crusade ended in the most terrible and unimaginable way it came to pass that Horus trusted warmaster of the great Crusade turned his back upon the emperor and embraced the shifting glories of the chaos Gods to him rallied near half of the armies of mankind including many of the Space Marine Legions on what should have been the brink of a new new age of Glory Humanity was plunged into the bleakest Civil War it had ever known Untold billions of lives were sacrificed upon the altar of battle Every Soul feeding the rapacious hungers of the chaos Gods if the great Crusade was Mankind's finest hour then the Horus heresy was surely its blackest brother fought brother with quarter neither offered nor given Heroes were slain worlds burned and the emperor's dreams of Peace were shattered forever in the midst of this Darkness the blood angels never wavered but held true at the emperor's side sanguinius stepped into the void left by horus's desertion assuming command of The Emperor's loyal forces in doing so he thrust the blood angels into the brutal Forefront of the fighting the Rivalry with the world eaters now escalated into bitter imity as the two Legions found themselves serving different Masters and their confrontations were to be amongst the hardest fought of the bloodiest of wars it is said that Horus hated and feared sanguinius more than any of his brothers and wo many strategies to ens snare or slay him though all failed yet for all the might of the emperor for every effort of sanguinius and the remaining loyalist primar the forces of Horus drove all before them In Too Short a Time the Emperor of mankind was assailed within his great palace on Tera with only a comparative handful of loyal Warriors at his sight he confronted the host of demons traitors and corrupted Space Marines that fought at the treacherous warm side the blood angels led the defense of The Emperor's Palace never once losing heart Des by the terrible odds stacked against them alongside their battle brothers of the Imperial fists Legion the valorous yet overmatched soldiers of the Imperial Army and the Grim adeptus custodes the blood angels held the walls of that final Bastion yet the war could not be won or even survived through defense alone in a final desperate Gambit the emperor took the fight to horus's great battle barge the vengeful Spirit teleporting Into the Heart of the enemy stronghold with the blood angels and Imperial fists at his side only Space Marines could have withstood the horrors of that demon haunted Starship and even they were sorely pressed sanguinius was swiftly separated from his comrades and so the legend tells was brought through artifice before the treacherous horse the warmaster offered sanguini's one final chance to renounce the emperor to join with horus's inevitable Victory yet the prime Ark of the blood angels held true and refused thus rejected Horus flew into a rage and attacked even at the peak of his powers sanguinius could not have hoped to Prevail against the monster horse had become and the primarch was weary and wounded from his travails on Terra when the emperor at last entered horus's sanctum he found his rebellious warm standing above sanguinius' broken bleeding corpse in the battle that followed horse was finally vanquished though the emperor to was cast down near to death there are many tales told of this final battle and though the exact facts are long lost one detail remains constant in all the recitations through all all the Millennia since despite the emperor's great power he could never have bested horse had not the blade of sanguinius rought a in the war Master's armor the Imperium was forever changed in the wake of horus's defeat no longer would the beneficent Emperor take a marshal role in Mankind's defense for only the lifegiving machineries of The Golden Throne now sustained his shattered body the Reconstruction of his Empire and the final route of the traitor forces would now fall to the surviving loyalist primarchs men such as rogal Dorne of the Imperial fists and Route Gillan of the ultramarines indeed it was Gillan who would have the greatest l lasting effect upon the now leaderless blood angels through the Codex of staris that great Treatise on the restructuring and ordering of the Space Marines intended to prevent forever the danger of massed rebellion on the scal seen during the heresy gillan's Legacy would reshape the blood angels Legion into chapters that defend the Imperium to this day mankind had suffered and the Imperium was nearly destroyed yet the blood angels would bear that pain longer and more deeply than most sanguinius' death heralded The Awakening of the red thirst and its curse would change the nature of the chapter forever cradle of Angels the blood angels are shaped not only by the personality and deeds of sanguinius but also by the nature of their chapter Planet ball few worlds in the entire Imperium could have as devastating an impact on the human soul as ball and its inhabited moons ball Prime and ball sucus in ancient days ball and its moons had earthlike atmospheres ball itself was a world of rust red deserts but its moons were paradises for Mortal men where folk lived in harmony with nature and pursued lives of ease and Freedom the people of ball became exceptional Artisans and spent their time creating Mighty monuments carving the mountains themselves into statues of their rulers and their gods they even ventured onto the surface of desolate ball itself leaving colonies and breathtaking edifices in their wake no one knows exactly what happened to change this idilic state of affairs all that is certain is that during the fearful events that marked the downfall of human society and the end of the Dark Age of Technology the moons of ball suffered terribly ancient weapons of terrifying prophecy were Unleashed cities became Plains of smoldering glass Lush grasslands became polluted deserts Seas became poisoned Lakes of toxic sludge the inhabitants of ball died in their millions and it looked as if Humanity might become extinct in the ball system but somehow people survived they clung precariously to life on the edges of radioactive deserts they became scavengers picking through the scattered bones of their own once great civilization in the dark time that followed the collapse of all order some became worst and scavengers and in their desperation turned to cannibalism over the course of the following centuries the accumulated chemical and radioactive toxins that built up in the survivors bodies LED them to devolving into mutants shambling parodies of the men their forefathers had once been there were some who held on to their humanity and preserved a semblance of sane Behavior but these were the embattled few amongst a new and Savage culture that evolved amid the ruins of the old the only social unit left was the tribe for human and mutant cannibal alike the only folk they could rely on were their own kin the people of the ball system became Nomads shifting from place to place picking the runes clean Waring to preserve the spoils they had gathered the tribes fought constant Wars webs of alliances ever shifting as each tribe strove for Supremacy and survival Extinction awaited these slow and the weak where once the moons had been near Paradise now they were living Hells for the few surviving humans existence was a constant struggle they wandered the surface in ramshackle Vehicles hoping their patched together radiation suits would save them praying they would never hear the ominous tail taale click of their rad counters for a time it seemed that Humanity was doomed that soon there would only be an endless desert ruled over by feuding mutant tribes then out of the star strewn Heavens came hope after the emperor created the primarchs the forces of chaos made off with the infants and carried them through the warp unable to destroy the primarchs because of the powerful protections laid on them by the Empire the Demonic Powers nonetheless did their best to alter the emperor's work to their own evil ends thus it was that even the best of The Emperor's creation became corrupted at the outset the Pod that housed sanguinius came to rest upon ball sucus at the place now known as Angels Fall the infant primarch was found by one of the wandering tribes of humans who called themselves the folk of pure blood or simply the blood the Young sanguinius life almost came to an end then and there for the touch of chaos had changed him tiny vestigial wings like those of an Angel emerged from his back many wanted to kill him as a mutant though in all other ways he was as perfect a child as had ever been seen eventually innate compassion prevailed and he was spared the infant sanguinius was a prodigy he grew quickly and learned everything his parents could teach him after 3 weeks Zenius was as large as a child of 3 years it is said that at this age he slew a giant fire scorpion with his bare hands and that he never once showed fear at the Colossal BEAST's onset as sanguinous grew his wings grew also changing from vestigial things into mighty pinions that could bear him a loft into the Desert Air by the time he was a year old he looked and acted like a man in his youthful Prime he could walk without a rad suit in the most poisonous of Bal ais's deserts and could shatter massive Boulders with a single blow of his outstretched hand in the use of all weapons he soon surpassed his teachers when a Wandering band of mutants surprised the tribe sanguinius slew them all although they outnumbered him over a 100 this was the first time the members of the blood had ever seen him truly angry for he felt his comrades lives were in danger when the blood rage overtook him sanguinius was indeed terrible to behold his mighty primarch Powers awoke to fullness and a nimbus of light played about his head sanguinius soon Rose to leadership of the blood and under his guidance they rolled back the mutant tide for a Time mankind had a rest spite on the moon of Bal secundus sanguinius was worshiped as a god by his followers who felt that he could once again create a paradise in that Dreadful land yet it was shortly thereafter that fate intervened once more the emperor had been questing across the Galaxy in search of his lost children and his incredible psychic powers led him to ball his ship landed at the conclave of the blood and he walked straight to sanguinius his AB some amongst the primarchs are said to have fought against the emperor when they first met but this was not the case with sanguinius he immediately recognized the emperor for who he was and bent his knee before the Lord of mankind the emperor raised him up looked upon his people and saw they were fair and Noble the best of the the Warriors he offered to transform into Space Marines the others were to be honorably Left Behind to defend Mankind's Birthright upon ball suis thus they were the blood angels and their Primark finally made whole they joined the emperor's Fleet and sailed across the sea of stars to participate in the great Crusade since the time of sanguinius the blood angels have recruited from among the tribes of the blood on Ball suus and ball Prime where a colony was established shortly after the time of the horse heresy youths from the blood take part in games and tournaments facing many hazards as they Race Across the desert to fight and do battle against one another these contests are held once per generation at Angel's fall where a mighty statue of sanguinius now observes the proceedings traditionally the time of challenge is announced by Heralds who visit each tribe in flying chariots intestins must make their way to Angels Fall across the rad deserts a process that weeds out the weakest the hazards of the desert are many and it takes a youth of extraordinary skill and courage to even reach the place of the challenge once there they must VI for the 50 or so places that are available those who succeed are taken up in the sky chariots those who fail are left behind to either guard the place of testing or to make their way back to their own tribes those youths accepted as aspirants are taken to the blood Angel's Fortress Monastery on ball itself there they see great wonders they look for the first time on the unmasked faces of their future brother Space Marines and note with some consternation their sharp eye teeth and Sleek beautiful features it has to be said that the recruits are far from handsome at this stage most aspirants bear marks of their hard lives it is impossible for an ordinary man to dwell on those Barren moons and not feel the terrible kiss of radiation some are marked by Stigmata While most are short and stunted their growth stifled by malnutrition their flesh disfigured by lesions and carcinomas all the aspirins are left to observe vigil in the great Chapel of the chapter before drinking from The sanguinary Chalice brought to them by the sanguinary priests Slumber soon overtakes them and the aspirants are borne by servitors to the apothecarium where the gene seed of sanguinius is implanted in their recumbent bodies from the apothecarium the aspirant are taken to the Hall of the sarcophagy and each is placed within a mighty golden sarcophaga us life support nodes are attached to them and for the next year they are fed intravenously with a mixture of nutrients and the blood of sanguinius while the genan seed does its work many of the aspirins die at this stage their body is unable to cope with the strain of changes that now overtake them those who live grow Swift and true echoing the rapid growth of their primarch they put on muscle mass and acquire the extra internal organs that Mark a true Space Marine at this time too they have strange dreams for the genan seed carries within it the memories of sanguinius thus does the primarch's essence begin to permeate The Souls of his Warriors afterwards when sleeping and sometimes when awake these dreams return to haunt the blood angels when the aspirins emerg from their sarcophagy they are forever changed they are tall strong and superhumanly powerful their restructured bodies and features have taken on a beauty that Echoes that of their Angelic forbear their senses are Keener their muscles stronger than tempered steel they are ready to begin their training as Space [Music] Marines the heritage of sanguinius every Space Marine chapter is defined by the legacy of their primarch through their Gene seed these Mighty beings would shape their son's bodies while through teachings and philosophy they would influence their minds yet none amongst the prim marks would have as profound an effect upon their progeny as did sanguinius sanguinius was always a Visionary from his earliest days he desired to lead his people to a new and better life when he joined the great Crusade he did not abandon this Vision but instead brought it to a far greater Arena he wanted to improve the lot of all mankind and see a lasting end to The Strife brought on by the collapse of human civilization at the close of the Dark Age of Technology sanguinius was not merely blessed with a futurist philosophy he was also gifted with the power of Prophecy able to see visions of what lay ahead it is almost certain that he knew he was going to his death when he boarded horus's battle barge and yet he went anyway whether sanguinius did this out of fatalism or loyalty to the emperor is a point often debated by Imperial theologians but it is not in doubt among the blood angels they will say that he went out of d knowing full well what the outcome would be the Outlook of sanguinius did much to shape his chapter there is a powerful mystical streak to many of the blood angels traditions and this can only have come from the spiritual teachings of the winged Primark sanus also indoctrinated his followers with a strong belief that things can be changed for the better after all the process of transforming a starving scavenger into a tall proud and handsome Warrior is living proof of the tenant that courage refinement and nobility can be shaped from the crudest clay this belief can be seen in all things the blood angels do they strive for Perfection their works of art are things of beauty their Marshal disciplines are practiced unceasingly yet as the flaw within their Gene seed has become more evident this belief in change has turned into an altogether darker thing they see within it the evidence of Mankind's capacity for Folly and destruction their doctrines are permeated with a sense of morality and the Fallen greatness of man the blood angels are among the longest lived of all the Space Marines one of the peculiarities of their aberant genan seed is that it has vastly increased the lifespan of those who bear it so it is not unheard of for blood angels to live for a thousand years indeed the current commander of the chapter Dante is known to have lived for more than a millennia and and is almost certainly far older these vastly extended lifespans allow the blood angels to perfect their techniques in art as well as in war providing blood Madness does not take them they have centuries in which to hone the disciplines to which they turn their minds this accounts for the fact that the blood angels armor and Banners are amongst the most ornate of all the Space Marine chapters perhaps the strangest of all the chapter's Traditions is the habit of sleeping whenever possible and the sarcophagi used to create them in recent years the sanguinary priests have created filters that purify the blood of their brother Space Marines while the blood angels sleep in their sarcophagy the blood is cleansed and purified the chapter thus hopes to slow the process of degeneration bought on by the flaw although it is known to but a few the blood angels are a dying chapter for they are afflicted with the Dreadful curse known as the flaw each time a battle looms they must Court the twin dangers of the red thirst and the monstrous black rage the former robs the blood angels of of their nobility clouding their minds with an irresistible blood Madness that reduces them to little more than wild beasts the latter is far worse however for once the black rage claims a son of sanguinous they are lost forever Body and Soul some claim that the root of the flaw lies within sanguinius' mutated nature they imply that he must have been the worst afflicted by the powers of chaos when the infant primarch were stolen away from the emperor's laboratory on Tera other Scholars claim that the flaw lies in the process used to create new generations of blood angels they assert that it is crept in because the blood angels use the process known as insanguination to activate the gene seed All Space Marine chapters use genan seed to trigger and control the processes that transform an ordinary mortal into a Space Marine the gene seed contains viral machines that rebuild the body according to the biological template contained within and in part A flicker of the glory of the primarch that sired each chapter however at the time when the Space Marine Legions were created the process was still so highly experimental and many different ways of controlling and managing the transformation were tried in the blood Angel's case The Chosen method was insanguination this process was originally triggered by injecting the aspirins with tiny samples of their primark's own blood some of which was preserved in the red Grail after sanquini is's death the living blood could not be kept this way for long and so it was injected into the veins of the sanguinary priests in this way they became living hosts to the power of sanguinius to this day drinking the blood of the assembled sanguinary priests from the red Grail is part of the induction ritual for all blood Angel priests it is from these same priests that blood is taken to be in the transformation of aspirins into Space Marines it is possible that over the countless Generations since the time of the horse heresy these cells have mutated slowly at first but more quickly in recent years and that errors and replication have resulted in the flaw whatever the reason for the flaw it is certain that it's hold over the blood angels has become ever stronger and their tendency towards self-destruction Madness even greater yet in this darkest age of the Imperium comes a sliver of Hope for the sons of sanguinius in the form of the primous Space Marines as the initial wave of primmer battle brothers joined gillan's attack to relieve the Defenders on ball the blood blood angels and their successors stared in Wonder here were warriors who shared the undeniable Heritage of sanguinius the same nobility of aspect and handsome features yet they seemed able to restrain the fury of the red thirst with instinctive ease and showed no signs of the black rage that so cursed the other sons of the Angel since there AR rival the primar Space Marines have come under intense scrutiny from the sanguinary priests Chief amongst them corbulo the master of their order if as seems possible the primaris battle brothers prove resistant to the worst excesses of the flaw they may yet represent the salvation of all of sanguinius' sons deep within the psyche of every blood angel is a destructive yearning a battle Fury and blood hunger that must be held in abeyance in every waken moment few battle brothers can hold this red thirst in check unceasingly it is far from unknown for blood angels to temporarily succumb to its lure at the height of battle the red thirst is the blood angels darkest secret and greatest curse but it is also their greatest salvation for it brings with it a humility and understanding of their own feelings which make them truly the most noble of the Space Marines the fate of those unfortunates overtaken completely by the red thirst is known only to the chapter itself there are Tales of a secret chamber at top the Tower of AO on ball of howling cries that demand the blood of the living but none are willing to say for certain What secrets lie hidden in this haunted desolate place there have been incidents when the blood angels have been stationed on Distant Worlds where members of the local population have gone missing only to turn up later drained of blood it is possible that this is the work of cultists seeking to discredit the chapter it may even be that some of the more supers ious local citizens have taken to offering up sacrifices to their Godlike visitors it may also be possible that these folk have been killed by blood angels overcome by the red thirst blood angels are unique amongst the Space Marines in that deeply ingrained in their Gene seed is the encoded experience of their primarch and most deeply imprinted of all is the memory of sanguinius' final battle with Horus sometimes on the eve of battle an event or circumstance will trigger this race memory and the battle brother's mind is suddenly wrenched into the distant past the black rage overcomes the blood Angel as the memories and consciousness of sanguinius intrude upon his mind and dire events 10,000 years old flood into the present a warrior overcome with the black rage appears half mad with Fury he is unable to distinguish past from present and does not recognize his comrades he may believe he is sanguinous upon the eve of his destruction and the bloody battles of the horse heresy are raging all around him such a battle brother stands at the end of his travails for his path leads only to the death company where he and the chapters other damned Souls will fight one final battle in sanguinius' name ordering the host at first glance it might seem odd that a legion so proud of its Traditions would set aside its individuality but the events of the horse hair had shaken the blood angels to their core the blood angels were thus amongst the first Space Marines to adopt route gillan's codex of staris in the aftermath of horus's defeat on Tera the death of sanguinius left no clear line of succession factions within the blood angels formed around potential candidates in addition the flaw was slowly making its presence felt further muddying the legion's future ultimately it was ascalon so survivor of the sanguinary Guard who drove the blood Angel's Destiny onward ascalon who clearly saw that the blood angels had more pressing worries than organizational Doctrine ensured the division of the blood angels Legion into chapters that endure today these were the blood angels themselves who maintained the old Legions heraldry and traditions the flesh Terrors the Angels Vermilion the angels in carine and the angels sanguine what became of ason himself after this point is unrecorded but his legacy lives on in the chapters he created the blood angels and their successor chapters adhere closely to the Codex of staris as the flaw allows they recognize the codex's strictures as a form of discipline that can be used to restrain the red thirst accordingly each chapter has a nominal strength of 1,000 battle brothers under arms further divided into 10 companies of roughly 100 Space Marines each the first company is home to the chapter's most experienced veterans all of its battle brothers steeped in decades if not centuries of constant Warfare the second through fifth companies are the chapter's backbone the battle companies who form the core of any Strike Force and typically comprise six battle line squads two close support squads and two fire support squads the remaining companies are reserve and training formations of one sort or another companies six and seven are battle line companies each consisting of 10 battle line squads the eighth and Ninth companies are specialist formations composed of close support squats and fire support squats respectively these companies are rather more limited in their tactical scope and are deployed only when an overwhelmingly single-minded approach is required finally the 10th company is seen by many as the future of the chapter for it is here that Scouts hone their skills in the Space Marine Way of war in the wake of the battle for ball the blood angels and many of their successors began heavy programs of recruitment to recoup their losses leading to them increasing the size of their tenth companies two or threefold though each company can fight as a separate unit a blood Angel Strike Force will often be composed of several squads from different companies assembled on an ad hoc basis according to the mission at hand such strike forces are normally given codee names such as blood spear Liberator or primark's wrath nonetheless a strike force will inevitably be referenced by the company from which most of its Personnel are draw or the officer that leads it the company that forms the core of such a strike force can be reinforced by auxiliary squads drawn from the reserve companies such squads will often become the 11th Squad and upwards of that company for the duration of the strike Force's action in addition to the personal Armory and weaponry required by its battle brothers each company save the 10th also maintains a host of support Vehicles these range from Rhino and razor back transports to bikes and land Speeders so such tools are drawn upon whenever the Tactical situation requires this allows even a single blood Angel's company to fulfill a multitude of tactical and strategic roles unusually for a Space Marine chapter the blood angels command sufficient land Raiders to deploy these Mighty Vehicles as line transports rather than Elite support units how the blood angels acquire IR ired so many land Raiders is a mystery outside the chapter perhaps more of their vehicles survived the horse heresy intact or perhaps the blood angels were once closer allies of the adeptus mechanicus than their current strained relations would suggest rule of the blood angels falls to the chapter master and his councel in the wake of the Great Rift route Gillan has expanded their responsibilities beyond the chapter po pointing them to act as one of the foremost Imperial authorities in the Imperium nilas a vast area in the galactic North racked by warp storms and Beyond the easy reach of terara most seats at the high table are taken by the brother captains who command the chapters companies some however belong to senior officers whose injuries are too great for continued combat but whose wisdom still holds Great Value such officers command the chapter's vital support institutions such as the Armory the fleet and the ongoing recruitment of fresh neophytes though ultimate power rests with the chapter Master the council are often called upon to act in their Master's absence should he be slain or is himself away on a campaign in addition to their role on the council each officer will also have an assigned title and duties necessary for the smoothing run of the chapter some such titles such as Master of the watch are drawn from the pages of the Codex of staris others including the Lord of Skyfall and the shield of ball have sprung from the blood angel Ang's unique nature unlike most other codex chapters the blood angels sanguinary priesthood the blood angels apothecaries and reusi are also a part of the chapter command rather than the subordinate organizations that would normally be the case this structure means that the sanguinary high priest and high chaplain take Joint temporary rule in the event of the chapter Master's death rather than the rank automatically passing to the captain of the first company this tradition arose during M35 when Captain cile Rose to the rank of chapter master and succumbed almost immediately to the black rage throwing the blood angels into a spiritual and organizational crisis by holding temporary command the high chaplain and sanguinary high priest contest the will and worthiness of the new candidate to ensure that such a rash and unfortunate appointment does not occur again for for for for for for for for for for for for for for for

Channel: The Ashen Hollow

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Id: gMgW60tf3kU

Length: 70min 58sec (4258 seconds)

Published: Thu Nov 16 2023