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The Dark Angels are one of the original twenty First Founding Legions of the Space Marines serving the Imperium of Man in the fictional future of the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000.
The Dark Angels have the honour of being the first Legion created by the Emperor. Like the others, their Primarch was lost while he was still in his infancy. He later turned up on the distant planet of Caliban, which bore some resemblance to early medieval Earth. The Primarch, named Lion El'Jonson (a reference to the real writer Lionel Johnson, who wrote a poem entitled "The Dark Angel"), became the leader of an order of knights. The knight who discovered the young primarch, Luther, saved him from death at the hands of his fellow knights, due to the young Primarch's wild appearance, and the two become close friends.
When the Emperor finally discovered El'Jonson, many of the knights became Space Marines in the Dark Angels Legion, including Luther. The Legion was thusly named due to the fact that they were the only Legion at the time who wore jet black armor. They performed well during the Great Crusade, although during a particular battle, Lion El'Jonson and Leman Russ, the Primarch of the Space Wolves got into a fist fight, which began a feud which still continues (although recent events may have changed this).
During the Horus Heresy, both the Dark Angels and Space Wolves Legions were far from Terra (Earth), and were unable to participate in the events. However, their imminent arrival forced the traitor leader Horus to take his last gamble, knowing that they would tip the balance in favor of the loyalists.
After the Heresy, the Dark Angels helped restore order to the Imperium. However, during this time, the Dark Angels left behind on Caliban became agitated at being forced to essentially babysit a backwater planet. This led to the leader of the garrison, Luther, turning to the dark gods of Chaos, who had just been defeated with the death of their champion Horus during the Heresy.
When the Dark Angels returned to Caliban after the war, they were met by a fierce attack from the planetary defenses. They were forced to assault their own homeworld, where they found their corrupt brethren had betrayed them. In a last stand which mirrored that of the Emperor and Horus, Luther and Lion El'Jonson fought, which resulted in Luther mortally wounding his friend. Luther went insane upon realizing he had struck down his close friend and was captured; and in a fit of rage at being defeated once again, the Chaos Gods mysteriously scattered the traitorous "Fallen Angels" throughout the galaxy.
The Dark Angel space fleet bombarded the planet mercilessly, and this caused the structure of the planet to collapse. The planet then broke up, and is now an asteroid field. The largest piece was hollowed out and became a gigantic spaceship/monastery which is now the home of the Dark Angels. This ship is known simply as The Rock. The Legion, like all others, was forced to break into smaller Chapters.
This betrayal has tainted their Legion's honour, in the eyes of the Dark Angels themselves. Given that the event was purely within the Legion itself, and was on a world far from Terra, nobody outside of the Legion knows it occurred, and even within the various Chapters (known collectively as "the Unforgiven"), the betrayal is known to few.
Those who know of the terrible secret are members of an inner circle known as the Deathwing. Only the most senior members know the greatest secret- that Luther, the great traitor, is still alive and insane, living in a cell deep within The Rock. Lion El'Jonson's body was never found; rumor has it that an enigmatic race known only as the Watchers in the Dark have taken him away to a secret place, where he is slowly healing. Luther claims, in his near-senseless mutterings, that the Lion will return and forgive him.
The Dark Angels are characterized by their unusually stubborn warriors, who often refuse to not only flee from a foe, but sometimes to not advance on them either, preferring to blast them from a distance with their guns. Their leaders and veteran troops, the Deathwing, are nearly fearless. Curiously, the Dark Angels also feature a special sub-unit which specializes in utilizing motorcycles and hovercraft known as landspeeders; this unit is known as the Ravenwing.
A notable feature of the Dark Angels is that they constantly hunt for the Fallen Angels, those who betrayed the Legion just after the Heresy. These Fallen are nominally led by an enigmatic character known simply as Cypher, however, no real organization is seen among the Fallen. Some have maintained their dedication to the Chaos Gods, becoming Chaos Space Marines; many have not and have instead become pirates, mercenaries, or have otherwise attempted to create a new life for themselves. Either path makes little difference to the Dark Angels' leadership, however, and Fallen who are captured are brutally tortured, eventually being executed for their crimes- a Fallen who confesses to his crimes and repents is generally executed sooner.
The Dark Angels paint their armor a deep dark green; some also wear off-white monkish robes over their armor. The elite Deathwing units wear bone white armor with special heraldry. The Ravenwing wear jet black armor, very similar to that worn by the Dark Angels before the Horus Heresy.
The Chapter symbol is a vertically standing sword, blade down, with a stylized wing on either side. The Deathwing wear the same symbol, however the blade of the sword bears a jagged crack towards the end, a symbol of their broken honour. The Ravenwing changes the motif to be a single wing with an eagle's claw extending from the bottom, bearing a sword.
Currently, in Warhammer 40,000, the Dark Angels require the original Space Marine Codex as well as a smaller supplemental codex of their own to properly play.
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