Avenging Angels
"For Terra and Macragge!"
"And for the Emperor!"
Established by the Ultramarines who survived defending the Throne-world as an informal squad within the Legion the Avenging Angels later became a Chapter of the Second Founding.
The original warriors of the Chapter had already proven themselves during the Battle of Terra at the finale of the Heresy and again caught Dorn's eye whilst taking part in the Siege of Olympia.
The Primarch of the Imperial Fists allowed the squad to carry one of his banners as their own and the Avenging Angels, upon being confirmed as a Chapter, painted their pauldrons the crimson of human blood, in honour of those who had shed theirs for the Imperium.
The Battle of Terra taught the Avenging Angels the helplessness of defence, of waiting for the enemy, and they became a fleet-based Chapter, ranging out against the traitor and the xenos in a manner similar to their cousins in the Black Templars Chapter.
Tragedy struck the Chapter early in its history though when their Chapter Master, travelling to Terra on a pilgrimage of affirmation, was lost to the Warp. The senior Honour Guard left behind with the fleet eventually took command and discarded his name, assuming the title of Regent in a practice that would continue for each new leader of the Avenging Angels.
During the turmoil of the Age of Apostasy a further tragedy befell the Avenging Angels when the Strike Cruiser Terra Glorianna was lost, the entirety of Fifth Company lost with it. The tragedy prompted a rethink of how the Chapter was organized and so never again was a company unified aboard one ship whilst voyaging through the Warp.
Ultimately the Terra Glorianna, and its warriors, emerged from the realms of Chaos, the once-noble Astartes commanding a mighty warband of cultists and monsters. These "Dread Angels" bought the Avenging Angels to the attention of the Inquisition but even they conceded that the Chapter was free of taint after extensive soul-searching.
With the fate of the Terra Glorianna revealed the Avenging Angels are determined to expunge the traitors that were once brothers and restore the Chapter's honour. They are zealous in their search, descending upon worlds once-loyal en masse and holding nothing back.
The Avenging Angels are, despite being descendants of the Ultramarines Legion, not firm adherents of their Primarch's Codex Astartes. Their combat doctrines and tactics chiefly date from before the Heresy, and also because of it, while other sections of the Codex are ignored or modified.
A major example of such deviation would be the composition of the Chapter. The Avenging Angels can make use of twelve companies during war with First Company, as is standard, being the veteran company. Second to Tenth Companies would all be classed as battle companies in a more compliant Chapter while Eleventh and Twelfth Companies are both scout companies.
The Chapter operates as a single fleet-based unit, with two Battle Barges and nine Strike Cruisers under its command. Each Strike Cruiser is the base for a battle company while the Battle Barge Unbroken Brothers is home to First, Eleventh and Twelfth Companies. The final ship in the fleet, the Battle Barge Quiet Sister, plays host to the various extra-company departments every Chapter possesses and is rarely involved in void combat.
Unlike as in most Chapters an Avenging Angels battle company does not have the usual combination of Tactical, Assault and Devastator Squads, instead grouping its Space Marines into ten Warrior Squads. Each Space Marine is trained in the usage of as many different weapons as possible and thus the Warrior Squads are able to outfit themselves to meet almost any given situation.
The battle companies do not have the colours recommended by the Codex, all warriors instead having only golden trim on their pauldrons. The primary observable difference between each warrior is therefore the type of trim the rank-and-file, veterans of First Company, and the senior officers have on their right pauldron. The rank-and-file use an unbroken gold, veterans possess riveted trim and senior officers have ornate skull decorations.
Due to their lack of differing squad types the Avenging Angels instead use that symbology as their indicators of rank. Sergeants from Second to Twelfth Companies have the upright arrow of Tactical Marines and the veteran sergeants of First Company use the crossed arrows of Assault Marines.
Among the senior officers the captains of the Chapter have the stylized Crux Terminatus normally worn by veterans while the Regent and the Chapter's inner circle, the captains of First, Eleventh and Twelfth Companies, bear the command skull. The Regent's Honour Guard, taken from the elite of First Company, use a similar symbol to their lord although it is the inversed image.
The Chapter's combat tactics are derived from experience and the fact that the Chapter rarely divides itself into less than its full strength. A Terminator assault, targeting the ten most important defensive locations, is launched via teleport and then those locations are used as beachheads for the rest of the Chapter, typically with a single battle company directed to each location.
After a beachhead is established a battle company is deployed by Thunderhawk, backed up by armour from both that company’s Strike Cruiser and if needed the Armoury aboard the Quiet Sister. Every two Warrior Squads will be backed up by either a Rhino or Razorback, with tank and artillery support available.
Avenging Angels Gallery
Seventh Captain Athenallas Pollux
Veteran Sergeant Cyriel Mercutio
Guard Commander Leonidas
The Regent
Dread Angels
When the Avenging Angels Fifth Company was lost in the Warp they became part of the damned horde. Blown by the currents into the Eye of Terror the Terra Glorianna found itself hanging over a dead world. All associated with the former Fifth Company since taken prisoner refuse to speak of how they fell to Chaos but it was over this nameless planet that they started along the path of corruption.
Expeditions sent down to the planet, planned both by the Avenging Angels and the Terra Glorianna's mortal crew, secured resources of all stripes. Chief among these resources were new mortals to replace those utterly taken by the Warp. From these new crewmembers though the worship of the Ruinous Powers spread, until Chaos was present from the top of the command structure right down to the bottom.
Just as the crew began to fall it appeared that so too did the Astartes, although their fall was much less pronounced. The crew, particularly those taken from the planet, renamed them the Dread Angels and the change became commonplace as time passed. Eventually the Terra Glorianna was able to depart from the world it had made its shelter, plunging deep towards the heart of the Eye. An uncountable period of time, mere blinks for some and centuries for others, seemed to pass but then the Terra Glorianna tore itself out of the Warp, returning to the Imperium after nearly four thousand years.
Gone were the familiar lines of an Astartes Strike Cruiser, the vessel no more resembling its sisters any more than the Dread Angels resembled their former brothers. Symbols of Chaos Undivided had been made out of Imperial Aquila, replacing them on the hull, and the vox constantly screamed the words of Lorgar into the void. The rest of the Dread Angels warband followed its flagship, the scores of cruisers and frigates belonging to crushed petty lords, and the fleet swept aside the defenders of the agri-world that was the system's only inhabited planet, settling into orbit and sending shuttles to the surface.
A single ship, of a similar class to the Terra Glorianna and possessing a much cleaner history, managed to escape the system undetected, the Night Watch Strike Cruiser fleeing to alert the Imperium of the new threat. After being disturbed from their raid by the arrival of an Imperial taskforce, abandoning the agri-world without conflict but leaving scores of cultists hidden among the populace, the Dread Angels have moved on, thinking of nothing but the worlds they can convert to Chaos.
Dread Angels Gallery
Brother Kaeso
Defiler Flavius Carinus
Lord Mercutio
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