Dark Guardians

Why Was The Chapter Founded - For crusade against the Emperors foes

When Was The Chapter Founded - Believed Twenty Third Founding or The Sentinel Founding

Who was the Chapter's Progenitor - Dark Angels

Fortress-Monastery - Fortress of Solitude

Colours - Black with red shoulder pads

Gene-seed purity - Pure

Chapter Demeanour - Suffer Not the Work of Heretics

Gene-seed mutation - No Known mutations

Chapter's Flaw - Distrust of all but the Unforgiven

Chapter homeworld - Rock 118402 RK78 (the Dark Chapel)

Homeworld Type - Uninhabited World

Homeworld terrain - Dead and Airless

Chapter organisation - Divergent chapter

Combat doctrine - Shock and Awe

Special equipment - Blessed Wargear

Chapters' beliefs - To Honour the Ancestors and the Chapter

Chapter strength - Unknown

Chapter friendly - The Unforgiven

Chapter's enemies - Inquisition, Administratum, Ecclesiarchy, Ultramarines, The Fallen

Battle Cry - Death to the Heretics

The Dark Guardians were formed during the 23rd or Sentinel founding. Although there are no official records of their origin exist, it is know that they are members of the Unforgiven and as such a successor chapter of the Dark Angles. The chapter was created as a standing force to guard against an unknown threats within the lesser inhabited fringe areas of the Segmentum Pacificus. As the chapter was rarely involved in anything more that skirmishes and minor rebellions they were rarely at less than full strength.

The chapter is mostly fleet based, maintaining a fair-sized fleet of vessels, most of which are smaller class of vessels, as the chapter does not possess many cruisers, maintaining just two, a strike cruiser and a vanguard cruiser, and no longer possesses any battle barges, the only one, the Fortress of Solitude, an old and heavily modified Emperor Class Battleship, was destroyed in an incident involving an Ultramarine Strike Cruiser.

While it is not certain what happened as there were few survivors, none of which were members of the upper command, all of which were slain when the battle barge was destroyed. What is known is that the Dark Guardians battle barge was engaged in surrender discussions with a rebelling Imperial Navy battle group, near the planet of Kiviuq, when a task force of Imperial Navy vessels and a strike cruiser of the Ultramarines arrived and attacked the battle group, unaware that the Dark Guardians were there. Before the Fortress of Solitude could react, for she was powered down with both shields deactivated and weapons unloaded, as a sign of peace, a shot from the Ultramarines strike cruiser penetrated the aft section of the vessel, causing a critical hit which resulted in a chain reaction that resulted the destruction of the battle barge. Although the Ultramarines apologised over the incident there is still a deep resentment towards the Ultramarines.

This incident not only resulted in the most powerful ship in the fleet to be destroyed, but it also resulted in the death of the majority of the upper command, including the Chapter Master, and the destruction of many of the chapters Holy Relics. As a result, the remaining upper command decided to find a more permanent place where the remaining Relics could be housed and protected, this result in the occupation of Rock 118402 RK78, an uninhabited dead and airless rock surrounding a small star in the depth of the Segmentum Pacificus, light years from anything or anyone. Within the rock, known as the Dark Chapel by the chapter, lies the new Fortress of Solitude, housing all the chapter remaining records and relics. While the chapter is still mainly fleet based, the Dark Chapel now forms a centre for the chapter's activities.

In addition to the incident at Kiviuq, there have been a number of incident involving the Ultramarines and many of their successors. Most of these have been instigated by the Guardians, and have usually revolved around the chapters refusal to assist the Ultramarines and their successors or simply ignoring them, but on the rare occasion there have been shots exchanged between the two chapters, which has been noted by the Inquisition, even more so than would normally be warranted by a member of the Unforgiven. The chapter is even more secretive that most of the Unforgiven chapters due to the beliefs of the chapter, who believe that in the Imperial Truth and that the Emperor is not a god or deity but is simply a man. They reject the Ecclesiarchy in its entirety and will not come to the aid of any Ecclesiarchy force or individual. Although they have been called renegade for their beliefs in the past by various members of the Inquisition they have ever formally been charged with any traitorous actions. In addition, their contact with the greater imperium is poor to say the least. However the chapter still maintain their link as members of the Unforgiven and will answer any call no matter what from a fellow Unforgiven chapter.

While they still maintain a loose DA codex structure, with both Deathwing and Ravenwings, their mode of operation is quite different. The chapter has formed itself around the Hunt and as such they do not maintian a large "Green wing" as other chapters do but are split alomost equally between the three wings. The "Green Wing" are heavily reliant on the Phobos armour and form the main tracing and advance parties, with the Ravenwing standing by ready to act as flanking units and containment, with the Deathwing reliant on the Gravis armoured Inceptors to drop in for the killing blow. This three prong assault has proven very effective at not only hunting members of the fallen, but also other renegade Marines and xenos threats as well. In addition, the chapter contain a large Chaplaincy, large than usual, as all marines above the rank of Lieutenant must spend time in the Chaplaincy before they can more on to higher command positions Task Force Psamathe, which is currently in the area of the Hamnavoe system, investigating the various chaos rumours. The task force is lead by an Interrogator Chaplain, Skathi, is leading a small force to see if there are any substance to the various rumours before calling in support from the chapter.

Updated May '24