Understanding Azrael - (Dark Angels) 40K Lore

foreign [Music] [Music] firstly i'd like to say a massive thank you for all the support i've been having recently we made a massive jump from 36 to nearly 200 subscribers so that's been really overwhelming which has been amazing also thank you everyone for the helpful feedback you've been getting recently i see there's quite a few people who helped me focus on delivery as well as finding that balance of the people who enjoyed it being relaxing and slow so hopefully this one's a bit more to everyone's liking with that being said i hope you all enjoy the supreme grand master of the first chapter the dark angels azrael [Music] the dark angels were the first of the emperor's space marine legions and in their earliest incarnation fought as the personal army of the master of mankind in the dawning years of the great crusade and in the campaigns that preceded it as the prototype of what was to become the legion's astartes they served as both the template for the most specialized legions and as the gold standard by which their successors would be measured in the final days of the unification wars it would be the first legion that would test out the tactics and the equipment that will be used for all future space marines with the launch of the great crusade the legion fought across the galaxy until the crusade came across a world of caliban described as a cruel and harsh jungle world which was sparsely populated with small human settlements and their famous nightly orders it was these brave warrior knights who discovered the young primark lionel johnson after his arrival on caliban the order had a reputation all across caliban for the honesty nobility and fearless skill of all of its brother knights in battle uniquely among many of the nightly orders of caliban the members or brothers of the order were selected by merit rather than hereditary inheritance any caliber knight could join the order no matter how low low-born or unimportant they might be contingents of the brother knights from the order travelled across the planet giving their aid wherever it was needed it is easy to see how they mirror our real world counterparts with the many knightly orders of christendom throughout medieval history it was these honorable monastic warriors that would combine with the emperor's first legion veterans that would become the dark angels and they were led by the primark lionel johnson a man encompassed by his words that duty is its own reward it is these foundations that persist to even the modern 41st millennium dark angels chapter although the legion was divided into thousand marine chapters these loyal space marines crusade across the galaxy in the emperor's name unfortunately caliban itself did not persist to the 41st millennium and was broken apart following the events of the horus heresy the dark angels chapter for nearly 10 000 years has been forced to recruit from a variety of human worlds it would be in late m41 that the eyes of the recruiting dark angels would fall upon the icy world of chimeria an unforgiving and frozen planet populated not by vast human hive cities but primitive tribes for a chapter that considers itself the standard for all other space marines they would need the best aspirants that humanity could offer humans born into an unforgiving and rough environment such as the primitive chemeria often need the great strength just to survive to the primitive people of chimeria the astartes must have been like myths and legends these technological demigods would come to take those who were worthy and fight amongst the stars this is also compounded by the dynamic of religious faith for the citizens of the imperium there is complete and absolute worship of their one true god the emperor of mankind when the astartes the literal sons and angels of the emperor come asking for worthy soldiers it must have been seen as a divine opportunity but to be inducted into the astartes the recruits need to be prodigies that one in a million and perhaps among the barbarians of cameria they had found it we do not know the original name of the man that became azrael but what we do know is that the dark angels chaplains saw that this boy was marked for greatness this savage barbarian boy displayed trophies of two dozen heads taken by the young fighter in his raids and battles battle prowess and the cunning to defeat larger and stronger opponents leadership of his clan was certain for when he grew older but perhaps the young boys saw that his calling was down a different path along with a handful of other promising candidates he was taken by the chapter to be tested the candidates were put through grueling physical trials and mental tests designed to push you to your limit as is common with many astati's trials some candidates don't survive particularly the trials set by the founding space marine champion like many of the space marine chapters i believe that the trials of the dark angels are unique but as is their nature it remains shrouded in secrecy only this boy alone survived he had passed all the tests and he alone would be inducted into the legion's astartes but to leave your home and abandon everything you know at such a young age must have been terrifying to be surrounded by technologies and environments that you don't understand would cling for familiarity and comfort but to join the ranks of the dark angels you have to abandon any ties to your origins who you were before is irrelevant your home is now the dark angels your culture is the dark angels your religion is the dark angels and most importantly your family is the dark angels he had survived the gene seed implementation process and was now part of the first space marine chapter the dark angels like most chapters complying with the codex astartes their training starts in the scout company even as a young aspirant his tenacious will would be demonstrated early on during a dark angels engagement with the aldari pirates the scouts located in our dari portal to one of their alien ships hiding in orbit the sergeants were ready to communicate their discovery to the force commander when a small group emerged caught unawares the aldari were swiftly slain it was this young marine that realized that the eldari would soon miss their reconnaissance party and urged the sergeants to lead an attack back through the portal before it was closed swayed by this young scout's conviction and recognizing the logic of his plan the sergeants agreed passing through the portal the scouts found themselves aboard a zenos pirate ship they wrecked havoc in the heart of the enemy starship managing to disable its engines so that the dark angels rapid strike vessels could bring it to battle before the ship was destroyed the scouts were saved by a daring thunderhawk extraction on returning to the chapter the scout was awarded the first laurel of victory one of only six individuals in ten thousand years to have earned such an honor he had shown daring and tactical brilliance that even impressed the veteran astartes another prominent event that happened to him was on a night shrouded world on the edge of the truan system a force of dark angels were sent to an adeptus mechanicus outpost to cleanse the psychic menace discovered in its minds the now young marine disobeyed his superior's last command to evacuate instead him and a small contingent followed his superiors into the catacombs unfortunately they found the corpse of their command squad broken and battered by each other coming under the gaze of the foul creature that resided in the depths the marine squad suffered the full force of a psychic assault pushing through the waves of demented paranoia that assailed him the young marine left his companions behind and continued on alone chanting holy battle prayers to harden his resolve in a small temple-like chamber he came across the creature a bloated warp entity trapped half in the real universe and half in the immaterium fighting through the agony of his wounds and the psychic assaults this young marine realized that the creature was half in and half out of the world and had to be banished thinking quickly he took a handful of melter bombs taken from the corpses of his previous command squad and the marine fought his way from one side of the ancient temple to the other withstanding the tormenting lashes while he placed the explosives there was no way to escape the temple and yet still he detonated the charges resigning himself to his death he brought down the temple upon himself and his enemy banishing it back into the warp buried and alone he had sacrificed his life for his brothers but this was not the end for him and after three days of digging by hand his fellow battle brothers dug him out saving his life he had previously displayed his tactical fortitude and now he had shown courage and sacrifice all of the best qualities one could hope for in a dark angel it was demanded by his battle brothers that he be rewarded for his valor and there is no greater reward for any dark angel than induction into the first company the death wing first company are the top tier elites of the chapter donning ancient terminator armor and the chapter's most sacred relics joining deathwing is a rebirth for the warrior abandoning any names of his past the marine was given a new name azrael names have meanings and from our own world azrael is the angel of death who separates souls from their bodies and is one of the four archangels israel is responsible for transporting the souls of the deceased after death both in islam and judaism he is said to hold a scroll concerning the fates of mortals recording and erasing the names of men respectively at birth and death but more importantly in some interpretations azrael is perceived as the angel of vengeance for the azrael or the dark angels his name is fitting as the responsibility of the deathwing company would show for the first companies and israel's goal was now to claim vengeance on the chapter's greatest shame and secret the fallen these traitors are those renegade space marines who followed the first legion's second in command luther into betrayal when they split off from the dark angels ten thousand years ago in the aftermath of the horus heresy azrael had demonstrated he has a great mind and a heart but now his chapter needs to see if he has the most desirable trait the aptitude for secrecy so such as the stain upon the dark angels the existence of the fallen that they refer to themselves as the unforgiven the dark angels and their successor chapters inner circles pursue their ancient foes in a desperate search of forgiveness from their perceived ancient betrayal of the emperor this is an extremely close guarded secret except possibly known to the emperor on his golden throne even within the chapter itself the truth is kept from most of them in fear of their own cleansing by the inquisition and the imperium it was only when azrael joined the ranks of deathwing that he learnt the story of luther's betrayal yet in truth not all fallen have succumbed to the powers of chaos to the same degree a large number of the fallen have embraced the ways of the dark gods becoming true chaos space marines however many others realize that their actions during the fall of caliban were wrong disgusted by the corrupting influence the chaos gods but unable to reconcile themselves with the modern dark angels they lead a solitary existence many become mercenaries or pirates roaming the galaxy as nomads others are willing to atone for their sins and in an attempt to do so have integrated themselves back into human societies taking on the roles of mortal men however whatever their subsequent actions in the eyes of the dark angels the fallen are the worst kind of sinners the only way they can rid themselves totally of their shame and restore their honor and trust in the emperor's eyes is if all the fallen are found and either made to repent or are slain asriel ten times over had proven that he was an honorable member of the dark angels with loyalty and dedication that went beyond his brothers evening for some time considering the path of a chaplain to him the existence of the fallen must have been a momentous dishonor to the chapter that he loved and it was always he who spoke first in support of fallen hunts keen to restore the chapter's honor and prove the dark angel's loyalty to the emperor a war that would plague him even as the years in deathwing passed by the latter years of m41 azrael was a legend within the chapter he was respected so highly that even senior veterans chose him as the grand master of the deathwing azrael's loyalty to his chapter of the coming decades could almost be seen as zealotry i imagine being in a position of hunting down other dark angels was increasing his paranoia and mistrust traits often seen in dark angels but to a more heightened degree this secret war enveloped azrael and the dark angels so much that they are even known to abandon imperial battlefields in the pursuit of the fallen dooming many people to death not out of cowardice but fear of their greatest shame being revealed unfortunately these hunts often lead to tragedy such as the dark angels chapter master neberius he famously led the assault that slew the demon possessed planetary governor of zephlegem but tragically whilst leading an ambush he was slain by the nightlords while in pursuit of the infamous fallen angel cipher azrael led the deathwing to recover his body and honor their fallen master the chapter was leaderless and one man would now need to take up the mantle and the responsibilities of supreme grand master for the inner circle that could only be one man azrael he had proven himself a hundred times over in courage intelligence and most importantly a burning desire to hunt the fallen only one last trial remained to test if he was worthy azrael descended deep into the rock to witness one of the chapters most guarded secrets luther who remains chained within the most secure cell on the rock guarded by the watches in the dark and his existence only known to the supreme ground master of the dark angels chapter azrael and those who held the rank before him i believe that the trial for supreme grand master is to converse with luther azrael like his predecessors had attempted to make luther repent for his crimes 10 000 years before but like his predecessors he had failed to do so luther apparently only continued to rant and rave claiming that lionel johnson would come and absolve the fallen and that the day of the lion's return is close at hand keeping the greatest trait of the dark angels is a chapter's greatest secret one that azrael would have to keep even from his closest brothers with the approval of the watchers in the dark azrael the savage boy from chimeria became the supreme grand master of the first space marine chapter the dark angels secretly using luther as an oracle he would coordinate all the fallen hunts and defeat the enemies at the imperium now the supreme grand master of the dark angels azrael leads one of the most respected space marine chapters in the imperium but like all men no one is perfect and despite the noble qualities ezreal possesses the culture of the dark angels has some drawbacks their secretive nature and mistrust of their imperial allies has led to many problems and unforeseen consequences such as with the return of the heavily mutated space wolf's 13th company the master of the ravenwing samael claimed that the space walls had massacred a contingent of dark angels this prompted supreme grand master azrael to launch a crusade to the fenris system which upon arrival is to be found in the midst of a battle of a demonic invasion seeing no other recourse azrael orders the bombardment of one of the most infested systems worlds midgardia unfortunately at this time the great wolf logan grimnar and his men were trapped between the hordes of demons and the barrages of the dark angels fleet the history between the dark angels and the space wolves is a long and complicated rivalry it is almost ironic that the dark angels were quick to judge and condemn the space wolves to death for perceiving there to be traitors amongst their ranks the bombardment of femoris only halted when detachment of grey knights joined the dark angels whilst undetected to the space marines the elite grey knight recognized the taint of the warp upon the supposed raven wing master before them this was not the real samael but a zinchin demon aptly named the changeling the demon revealed that it was responsible for manipulating the current events setting the dark angels against their long-term rivals the space wolves as part of a larger scheme orchestrated by magnus the red the demon primark of the thousand suns despite his wisdom and honor azrael had been blinded by his paranoia and quickness to judge if this accusation had been any other space marine chapter would the dark angels have ridden into war so quickly the responsibility of being supreme grand master is a heavy burden and it shows in situations like this despite having a tense relationship and the paranoia of azrael has dark angels at heart they are truly loyal to the imperium and in the face of the truth the dark angels quickly put aside their differences and joined the space wolves in battle however the dark angel's relationship with the space wolves was left more frayed than ever though azrael and the dark angels were manipulated many innocent people perished at their hands though perhaps never friends they both were incredibly loyal chapters of the imperium and such was their ancient tradition upon meeting of the chapters champions were fielded in a jewel for honor and rivalry perhaps a duel between the great wolf logan grimana and azrael the supreme grand master mimicking the actions of their primark millennia earlier the honest and boisterous space wolves are almost the complete opposite of the stern and secretive dark angels this rivalry just shows how different the culture of the dark angels is compared to another loyal chapter i imagine the events of the siege of fenris weighed heavily on israel but unfortunately there would be no time to rest and reflect in 999 m41 the dark angels were ordered to deploy their chapter in support of the imperial bastion of cadia to halt the encroaching forces of chaos during the 13th black crusade according to the dark oracle the name given by the dark angels to luther many fallen were amongst the ranks of chaos following abaddon into battle the rock made haste for the canadian sector yet soon after the battle was joined the supreme grand master withdrew the dark angels directing all of them to acadia like many times before leaving many imperial forces on their own to pursue the fallen as the rock entered the canadian sector the chatter was bombarded with distress calls urgent pleas for aid from desperate worlds the inner circle was overwhelmed with confirmed reports of the fallen into this scene of calamity the grand master azrael emerged from the deepest dungeon of the rock his mind still attempting to decipher the overwhelming information spouted by luther the dark oracle his chapter's greatest secret and their greatest asset despite the multitude of threats and the direness of the situation he knew that it was for these circumstances that the space marines had been created despite the huge burden ezreal carries for his chapter's past failings the core of him and his brothers carries through he doesn't fight for titles and honours but because it is his duty [Music] hunting the fallen and fighting the enemies of the imperium is how the dark angels complete their duties to the emperor and duty is its own reward [Music] after the birth of the great rift following the 13th black crusade and the fall of cadia the rock was caught within the imperial nihilus the galactic north that is wholly cut off from the emperor's astronomicon but with almost convenient timing the rock was invaded a demon army led by the fallen demon prince marbus penetrated the formidable void shields that surrounded the dark angels asteroid base fighting took place along all decks within the grand halls and eve within the labyrinthian sub-levels and dungeons that burrowed deep into the rock as the conflict reaches climactic point the invaders disappeared with the same suddenness in which they had manifested having ultimately achieved little beyond mindless slaughter and destruction there was one however who knew otherwise in the deepest dungeons of the rock one special cell was empty it was to azrael's horror that he saw that luther was gone set free by the fallen azrael had suspected that the entire battle had been merely a diversion so that nefarious agents of the fallen could accomplish their true task yet unfortunately it is the theory he must keep to himself being the first supreme grand master in imperial history to have lost the chapter's greatest shame luther must have consumed him without the dark oracle for clues and luther reuniting with the fallen under his watch he might have felt like he was failing however going through difficult times often shows people who you truly are the secret crusade of the dark angels and their successors to hunt down the fallen has had its consequences more than ever the dark angels must operate in the balance between duty to the imperium and their self-imposed quest to rid the chapter of shame despite the pain and stress this has bought his battle brothers azrael must face this task head on he knows the salvation that waits to be seized if the dark angels can purge the fallen from existence at this time he holds this the higher truth and to be more important than anything else the chapter might accomplish for the dark angels free of shame will become an even more potent weapon for the god emperor he knows that through force of will and strong leadership he can steer them to absolution on the other hand if the dark angels totally forget their duty to the wider imperium it would have been for nothing but to give up now when the emperor's enemies had never numbered so many nor the threats to the imperium and the dark angels so grave it could be the very end of the dark angels [Music] you may ask yourself is it wrong for azrael and the dark angels to act with such secrecy keeping the truth in the hands of a few with the rank of supreme grand master also comes the title the keeper of the truth with previous grand masters having altered their records all throughout time you could ask yourself what right do the dark angels have and asriel have to erase history and cover up the past keeping future generations ignorant you only have to look to the emperor of mankind and lionel johnson as to why the chapter thinks this way to the emperor and the lion there are some truths that are too dangerous for the galaxy for those who protect and shepherd mankind they also needed to be protected from themselves the dark angels have fought for the imperium for over ten thousand years and to be prevented from their duty from the inquisition or other threats is failure [Music] especially towards the end of the 41st millennium the dark angels are needed now more than ever after the fall of cadia the mysterious cipher turned himself in to ezreal and not only informed him that the rock held the time altering to culture engine but that both the fallen angel astilan and typhus or the death guard were seeking similar devices typhus and astilan would bring throughout time the original fallen on caliban to join with the current death guard merging them into a new plague-infested legion after the intervention of the watchers in the dark asriel agreed to work with cipher and they eventually gathered all three engines creating a warp rift over caliban however as the fallen attempted to enter the portal and potentially change history azrael had gained control of the titular engine azrael could change history for himself now and erase the shame of the dark angels it must have been extremely tempting but with the pleading from ezekiel to let history be azreal reluctantly orders a culture to scatter everyone from the rift however ezreal was not specific at which moment in time he meant and the fallen on caliban 10 000 years previously was scattered as well it speaks volumes to his character as i believe that many of the previous supreme grand masters would have done it but to mess with history so much could have had disastrous consequences and to turn down this power shows that he would fulfill his duty the right and noble way not by dark means [Music] unfortunately with an unspecific scattering this leads to the uncomfortable truth that azrael himself has been indirectly responsible for the scattering of the fallen by causal loop we are unsure if azrael was aware or not but his actions has led to 10 thousand years of the dark angel's fallen hunts the sycatrix maledictum scars the very universe and divides the imperium in two ezreal and his dark angels are in no doubt living in one of the darkest times in imperial history but no matter the situation for humanity there is always a spark of hope a light at the end of the tunnel the imperium man saw that hope return with the resurrection of the primarch rebutta gileman who took up once more ruling mantle of lord commander of the imperium and imperial regent with the primark returned an imperial crusade on a scale matched only by the original great crusade ten thousand years before the indomitus crusade it has spread across the galaxy defending the imperium wherever possible from the hordes of chaos and xenos attackers who threaten humanity azrael and his dark angels need aid now more than ever as the chapter was about to suffer catastrophe when the scrying of librarians from six unforgiving chapters determined that the great rift would cause a group of fallen angels to materialize on the shrine world of darkmoon luckily the warp storms surrounding darkmoor had subsided by then so elements from all six chapters were able to arrive on the shrine world to intercept the fallen however the unforgiven soon discovered that darkmoor's population had been slaughtered by demons and chaos space marines as the hordes of chaos attacked the unforgiven darkmoor was once again struck by warp storms that prevented their escape and in the ensuing massacre the dark angels successor chapters suffered heavy losses amongst those who suffered the most grievous losses were the angels of vengeance the consecrators and the guardians of the covenant chapters who had each sent multiple companies of the thousand strong unforgiven force that had arrived on darkmoor less than a hundred were able to escape the massacre uncertainty fear and grief must have gripped azrael in the wake of this to massacre so many brothers and friends to also see his arch enemy growing in numbers and strength the dark angels needed help more than ever in the aftermath of this disastrous massacre at darkmoor azrael organized a summit of all unforgiven chapter supreme grand masters at the rock it was now that the rumor many of them had heard was confirmed as during the summit robute gilman and his new indomitus crusade arrived as was the fear and paranoia of israel it was not welcome reinforcements he saw but censure as his first thought was that this crusade had come to destroy them did they know of the fallen had the resurrected primark come to eradicate them for their shameful secret rather than fight azrael decided to take the risk and allowed the primark to dock perhaps it was azrael putting some trust in his allies or meeting with a living primark but at least temporarily he had put aside his fears after some small chastisement about the dark angels breach of the codex astartes the primark delivered the primaris space marine reinforcements relieved that giliman apparently did not know or perhaps did not care about the truth of the fallen azrael pledged his forces to the new indomitus crusade perhaps some small improvements had been made but as is the nature of the dark angels they have accepted their new primary space marines out of necessity [Music] but the inner circle remains skeptical of their presence again their skepticism and secrecy getting in the way of trust but if these new recruits are the future of the chapter who can continue the hunt for the fallen after these first generation marines are gone for many years the inner circle began to debate over their worthiness to join their ranks it is now that perhaps we see one of the greatest developments for ezreal as he wagered his entire leadership on the primary space marine apharan of the deathwing stating that he was confident the marine would pass the series of trials azrael personally oversaw alpharan's trials and in the aftermath there could be no doubt of the primaris worthiness to join the ranks of the inner circle [Music] from the savage boy upon chimeria azrael had changed so much in his lifetime he was a young marine with courage and bravery that went beyond his brother astartes to a veteran dark angel who became enveloped in the secrecy ingrained in the dark angels culture a man respected by his brothers so much he rose to the mantle of supreme grand master to a leader burdened with great secrets and the responsibility to eradicate his chapter's shameful past but now is leading in a more trusting and cooperative direction i don't think that any day soon asriel and the dark angels will change the ideas of secrecy is too ingrained within the dark angels with them putting trust in the primaris it shows some progress the future for the dark angels is reaching a precipice as unbeknownst to them the greatest secret in the rock might change everything will it be azrael who redeems or destroys the fallen we can't say but i believe that the fate of the fallen lies with azrael the angel of vengeance the angel of death [Music] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: The Amber King

Views: 92,064

Keywords: Warhammer, Warhammer 40k, 40k, 40k Lore, Lore, Satire, The Amber King, Amber King, Amberking, Chaos, The dark angels, The Dark Angels, Dark angels, Azreal, azreal, the fallen, Lion el Jonson, azrael, Azrael, warhammer 40000

Id: lLKxOJFLj94

Length: 48min 12sec (2892 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 29 2020