Codex Unforgiven

This is the story of my do-it-yourself chapter:
 

"The Angelis Destructorum are a young but proud successor chapter of the Dark Angels. Established during the 21st "cursed" founding, they have been under scrutiny of the Inquisition ever since their first mission. Not knowing their lineage, they succeeded in finding  a connection to a Fallen Angel. This event has led them to their destiny as Unforgiven."

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Origins

Birth

Dark Angels' gene-seed has always been known for it's stability. There is no known record of any mutation of the gene-seed in any Space Marine descending from Lion El'Jonson. Not even any of the Fallen that were captured and interrogated by the Chaplains of the Unforgiven have been known to exhibit any mutations, neither physical nor psychic.

In an attempt to create even more stable gene-seed, parts from Dark Angels, Angels of Vengeance and Angels of Absolution gene-seed has been recombined and used in the 21st founding to create the Angels of Destruction.

Due to the tampering with the geneseed, the Angels of Destruction became paranoid, seeing patterns where there seemed to be none. Several times they acted on these "feelings" and every time they did so, the premonitions turned out to be correct and very accurate, often capturing or eliminating the instigator of a rebellion before his plans could be realised. Incidents of this kind, halting rebellion or heresy before it can spread, are rarely seen because the Imperium is so vast that insurgencies are usually planet- or even systemwide before they are spotted and quelled. Therefore, the Inquisition researches these events carefully as they are often signs of psychic mutations in the ranks of the suppressing force.

The Angels of Destruction weren't spared from the Inquisition's attention for too long and the Inquisition's research turned up with some startling results. All of the Angels of Destruction that were examined appeared to have a slight psychic ability whereas the chapter's scouts showed the nominal amount of recruits with psychic power. Apparently, the implantation of the geneseed reduces the "natural" psychic power of the marine and replaces this with a baseline psychic attunement that allows every marine of the Angelis Destructorum to see the web of intrigues between conspirators. This also means that there are few Librarians among the Angels of Destruction.

The Angelis Destructorum were sent back to their fortress monastery to await their judgement by the Inquisition. Knowing that their fate was to be sealed in a couple of months and realizing that, whatever happened, it would be by the Emperor's will, they retreated into prayer, meditation and contemplation. After several months, Inquisitor Gregorius dropped out of warp in the Fimus system on board his flagship "Impending doom" and ordered his Inquisitorial battlefleet to take orbit around Fimus III. Sensing what was about to happen, all Angelis Destructorum (only 3 full companies at that time) stood outside the gates of their fortress monastery on Fimus III, wearing their full battledress, their silver coloured power armour glistening in the morning sun.

Judgement

Supreme Grand Master Camael was summoned on board the "Impending doom" for a meeting with Gregorius. In the moments that followed, Camael was confronted with an ultimatum: fight alongside the Inquisition and aid them in uncovering conspiracies while allowing them to monitor their "psychic repressing" geneseed or being executed on the spot and have an orbital bombardment destroy his entire chapter and fortress monastery. Knowing that his new and unexperienced Angels were no match for the enormous numbers the Inquisitor had brought, he agreed to fight alongside him.

For many centuries, the Angels of Destruction fought the Inquisition's battles. Their chaplains becoming more and more experienced with their unique ability to link cultist cells together and uncovering conspiracies. The Angels of Destruction, not happy with their affiliation with the Inquisition, became very secluded while yet remaining loyal to their vow to Inquisitor Gregorius long ago.

Some centuries ago, the Angelis Destructorum 2nd company was purging the last taint of a chaos incursion from a planet called Ravaan while the Inquisitorial forces they were assigned to already left for a nearby system, where, according to the cultists the chaplains interrogated, their cult originated. During these interrogations, the chaplain sensed some connections of the cultists to the cult's leader's advisor. These connections seemed different from all the others he had seen before. He described them as being "very dark and somehow more urgent than all other ones I have seen [...] looking upon them, I feel hate, not emanating from the connection itself, but from within... as it somehow makes me angry... although I cannot understand why or how...".

Some days prior to the final assault on the center of the incursion, a large city with the temporary residence of the cult's leader, the Dark Angels made planetfall and requested access to the interrogation logs of the chaplain performing the interrogations. Captain Abdiel of the 2nd company faintly sensed the importance of the Dark Angels' request and, as the logs didn't contain any confidential information, he handed them over to the Captain of the Dark Angels' 3th company, the later Supreme Grand Master Azrael.

Detecting the arrival of the Dark Angels on Ravaan and tolerating no meddling whatsoever, Inquisitor Ignotius turned his entire battlefleet around and set a course for Ravaan once more.

The day afterwards, Azrael demanded another audience with his Angels of Destruction counterpart. He suggested that the Angels of Destruction would leave the assault of the final stronghold of the cultists to the Dark Angels instead. After hours of debate and increasing pressure from Azrael, Abdiel gave in, although he and all of his brethren, were very curious about those strange connections they all felt. Azrael knew that brute force was not an option, because the Inquisitorial fleet was too close for it to remain unknown and so, he was glad that Abdiel gave in without threats from his part.

An hour later, the assault commenced and was soon over as well. The Dark Angels left the system as soon as possible after the battle ended, leaving nothing but dead cultists behind, their leaders unrecognizably burnt. Their reason for leaving so rapidly was that they "... have more urgent matters to attend to...", but they, of course, needed to leave before the Inquisitor came back.

Deliverance

This incident was reported to the Angelis Destructorum's highest echelons and for years, nothing happened. They didn't encounter those strange connections and just went on with their missions for the Inquisition. One day, however, a Dark Angels battle barge entered orbit around the Angels of Destruction's home world and Grand Master Azrael requested permission to land and he wanted a meeting with the Supreme Grand Master of the Angels of Destruction.

As Azrael explained, they had been on a training campaign in a system near Ravaan and had come to Ravaan following a lead on the presence of a member of the Fallen, but as they were not the first ones there, caution was needed. Reading the reports of the chaplain that interrogated the cultists, Azrael thought the Angels of Destruction's gift would be a great aid in detecting connections leading to the Fallen, if the connections proved accurate, of course. After the capture of the Fallen that was the brain after the incursion on Ravaan, Azrael was convinced, but he needed to consult the Inner circle of the Dark Angels before any action was to be taken.

After years of debate in the Inner circle of the Dark Angels, Azrael had convinced all Grand Masters that the ability of the Angels of Destruction to see these special connections was of great importance for the "hunt". Over these years, he also ordered the abduction of several Angels of Destruction, to conduct genetic research on the origins of this young and unknown chapter. He was convinced that it was their link to El'Jonson that allowed them to see the special connections to the Fallen, but he needed proof of their descendance to convince his fellow members of the Inner Circle. What he found was remarkable. There were traces of unique traits of no less than 3 of the Unforgiven chapters. He checked and rechecked these findings and concluded that they were correct, thus linking the Angels of Destruction to their Primarch Lion El'Jonson.

Their affiliation with the Inquisition would also aid the Dark Angels in their quest for information concerning the Fallen. The outcome would be something that had never happened before: this young chapter was to be gradually inducted into the secrets of the Unforgiven, but remaining affiliated with the Inquisition. To the Inquisitors it would seem that the Angelis Destructorum would give them secret information regarding the Dark Angels, which is fervently sought after. They would indeed spill information regarding the Dark Angels, but only unimportant, inaccurate and even plain false information is given to the Inquisition. Any information the Angels of Destruction find out about the Fallen is not reported to the Inquisition, but is sent to the other members of the Unforgiven, to aid in the hunt for the Fallen.

The Angelis Destructorum Grand Master felt that this explanation was... right in some way, sensing the true connection between the Dark Angels, the Angels of Destruction and the Fallen. Somewhere deep inside, he knew this was the correct explanation of these strange connections and he accepted Azrael's proposal, he had no choice after all. From that day on, the psychic ability of the Angels of Destruction was to be known as "The Lion's gift". This title would forever be a testament to the Angels of Destruction's induction into the Unforgiven.

The angels of Destruction also changed there chapter's colours to the dark green worn by their primogenitor chapter. They only kept their original colours on their greaves and shoulder pad trims.