Games Workshop - Warhammer 40,000 - Dark Angels: The Lion & Retinue

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The desperate rebels had opened hidden vaults deep beneath the surface of the planet and set loose a biogenic phage that had reshaped the broken people of their world into twisted, blood-hungry ghouls whose minds were burned clean of all thought except the need to hunt and kill. These monstrous mutant creations then fell upon the unsuspecting warriors of the XIII th Legion with a ferocity that gave pause to even the warriors of the Legiones Astartes. Next, the Dark Angels took part in the vital campaigns of the final Rangdan Xenocides. They fought alongside Titans from the Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Vulturum and Legio Kydianos as well as other Xanite Mechanicum forces from the Forge World of Xana II. Ultimately his better nature won out and he defused the bomb, but there was no way he could hide the truth of his near-betrayal from the Primarch. Luther, and a huge number of other Astartes, were banished to Caliban by Jonson, under the pretence that they were sent there to improve the recruitment of Astartes initiates. Shortly after the success of the campaign against the Great Beasts, in 846.M30 the Emperor of Mankind and a small band of His Legiones Astartes scouts drawn from the I st Legion arrived on Caliban after they detected the psychic emanations of one of the primarchs. From the moment the Emperor first landed, El'Jonson felt the deep connection between himself and the Master of Mankind, and swore his fealty. In return, the Emperor made the Lion the commander of the I st Legion of Space Marines that had been created from his genome.

But El'Jonson confessed to his brother a certain jealousy. He believed Horus had become the Emperor's favourite son for no other reason than fate. Had he been the first of the primarchs to be found, El'Jonson believed he would have been the Warmaster instead. Unlike a lot of the Primarchs, the Lion’s name isn’t a Latin pun on his Legion’s title (unlike Ferrus Manus of the Iron Hands or Corvus Corax of the Raven Guard). Instead it’s a literary reference to the Victorian poet Lionel Johnson, the author of the poem “The Dark Angel”. On top of all that, as Primarch of the First Legion he has a choice of three utility auras that he can activate in the Command Phase, interfering with enemy Stratagems, boosting the melee prowess of Astartes warriors, or protecting against mortal wounds. They could not afford to let the Warmaster acquire the substantial supplies and ordnance needed to fortify the world of Isstvan V against the approaching Loyalist strike force. When news of Horus' new rank reached Lion El'Jonson he did not pause in his campaigns, nor did he offer congratulations or lament his own fortune and this, more than the reaction of any of his other brother primarchs, gave the Warmaster pause. When Horus' thoughts later turned to rebellion and treachery after his fall to Chaos in the Temple of the Serpent Lodge on Davin, it is likely that it was the Lion he marked as among the greatest of threats to his plans.

Dark Vengeance

By this creed of strength and excellence the I st Legion, the Dark Angels, lived and died, continuing the work of the Emperor in the last days of the Great Crusade. Wherever the tide of Imperial conquest slowed they were to be found, bright swords and grim resolve against the worst horrors of the galaxy. Lion El'Jonson, now long parted from the forests of Caliban and a staunch believer in the dream of Human empire embodied in his gene-father, fought with every moment given to him.

There is great poetic justice in how all these “DA-holes” have to eat humble pie and accept the fallen, and I'm sure that the Lion is getting his head-punching fist ready to deal with any dissenters... Eventually, the Dark Angels took part in multiple engagements against the forces of both Traitor Legions, which culminated in the capital city of Numentis. The Traitor forces were utterly annihilated by the victorious Dark Angels and the world was left in the care of its surviving population.Five of the primarchs, including four who had fought at Isstvan V, met in person, including Horus, Fulgrim, Angron, Mortarion and Lorgar. Three appeared through the use of hololithic emitters that transmitted their signals through the Warp, including Perturabo, Konrad Curze and Magnus the Red, who had only recently joined the Traitors after the Scouring of Prospero when the broken remains of his XV th Legion had been transported by Tzeentch into the Eye of Terror to the Planet of the Sorcerers. Warmaster. Yet this was one of the few miscalculations made by the shrewd intellect of the Warmaster. He counted all men of power to think as he did, yet while the Lion and the Wolf of Luna shared many traits, they were not the same. Leman Russ and Lion El'Jonson were both assigned to the conquest of the world of Dulan and, while the Space Wolves waited and lay siege, the Dark Angels staged a sudden assault that allowed them to claim the honour of the final victory. On hearing of this it is most often claimed as above that Leman Russ flew into a rage and assaulted his brother, leading to the legendary duel between them that their Legions' Successor Chapters are rumoured to reenact whenever they meet. This has led to the popular assumption of a bitter grudge between the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels, a sense of lasting ill will brought about by this single isolated incident that has been accepted by history as fact. By the time the Siege of Terra began, the Lion hoped to draw Traitor forces away from the Throneworld by striking at their own Legion homeworlds. As a result, the Dark Angels destroyed several Traitor homeworlds such as Chemos of the Emperor's Children and Barbarus of the Death Guard, acts that the Lion would come to relish.

The Lion reinstituted his Legion's Librarian corps to fight these nefarious Warp-spawned creatures. As this was in direct violation of the Emperor's Decree Absolute at the Council of Nikaea, this caused a dispute within the Legion that eventually came to a head when the enraged Lion slew Chaplain Nemiel. A Triumvirate was later held where Curze defended his actions, but refused to admit his guilt. Since each of the primarchs had been created to perform a specific function, Curze argued he was merely acting according to his own nature, and therefore had committed no crimes.Jonson is now armed with the Emperor’s Shield, a mighty artefact to match the Emperor’s sword gifted to his brother Primarch Roboute Guilliman of the Ultramarines. On that dusty world, Sanguinius was trapped within a portal to the Warp and did battle with the Daemon Madail while Guilliman and the Lion desperately tried to reach him. A vicious battle erupted both on Davin and above it in the void, where Guilliman's acting flagship Samothrace was destroyed in orbit by the Daemonship Veritas Ferrum. This bitterly contested campaign, known as the Thramas Crusade, dragged on for nearly three standard years. In an attempt to sway his brother Lion El'Jonson to Horus' cause, the Night Haunter left a deep-void beacon in the patrol path of one of the Dark Angels' outrider vessels. They began to forget the deeds he and his warriors had performed, for he rarely spoke of them. All except one. There, they were greeted by Roboute Guilliman and Sanguinius, whose Blood Angels Legion was also guided to the Realm of Ultramar by the Pharos.