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To help eliminate many questions that reoccur on the 40k Background section, I thought as a community project we could all submit our pools of knowledge that we draw from in answering questions. Essentially, make a Fluff FAQ so to speak...so rather than trying to use the laborious search function, a user could simply click the Sticky/FAQ and use the sources found there.


First---Before all the informational links below----here is some good reading from a Black Library author regarding 'official' canon. Something worth keeping in mind before you are tempted to tell someone that something is utterly impossible in the 40k Universe:


http://www.bscreview.com/2011/03/grimdark-ii-loose-canon/


General Informational Links

http://www.electric-rain.net/w40kRPG/Warhammer%2040k%20FluffBible.pdf ----------------------------Fluff Bible------Fan created---Very Broad!

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page -------------------General 40k Information-----Broad

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Warhammer_40k_Wiki -------------General 40k Information-----Broad

http://www.cold-moon.com/40k/40k_starmap.htm ----------------40k Starmap------Broad

http://www.scholaprogenium.com/timeline.html ---------------------------------------40k TimeLine---------Broad



Pre-Heresy/Heresy Information

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Horus_Heresy ----------------------Heresy and Siege of Terra Information-------Broad

http://members.tripod.com/orcrist_game/40k/id3.html ---------------------Heresy and Siege of Terra Information-----Specific

http://www.throneofskulls.com/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=634 -----------------Pre-heresy vehicles---------Specific


Space Marine Information

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/List_of_Space_Marine_Chapters -------------------List of Space Marine Chapters--------Broad

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Primarch -------------------------40k Primarchs and Legions--------Specific

http://www.ironhands.com/chapters.htm -------------------Space Marine Chapter Colors--------Specific


Imperial Guard Information

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Imperial_guard ---------------------General Information ------------Broad

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Regiments_of_the_Imperial_Guard ---------------Specific Regiments of the Imperial Guard----------Specific


Titan Legion Information

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Collegia_Titanica -------------------Description of Collegia Titanica

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/List_of_Titan_Legions ------------------Short Legion list with descriptions

http://www.scholaprogenium.com/legions.html ----------------------------LONG Legion list with short descriptions


Eldar Information

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldar_%28Warhammer_40,000%29 ---------------General information-------------Broad

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Eldar ----------------------General information----------------Broad

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Eldar_Craftworlds ----------------------List of Eldar Craftworlds-----------Broad


Tau Information

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Tau -------------------------------General information-------------Broad

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tau ----------------------------------General information-------------Broad



Ork Information

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Ork ---------------------General Information-----------Broad

http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Ork -----------------General Information----------Broad









Common Questions:



What happened to the Primarchs?

Lion El'Jonson
Legion I: Dark Angels
Loyalist Primarch
Status: Currently missing, believed asleep in the Rock, or believed lost in the Warp. See 'The Fall of Caliban' or ref. 'Descent of Angels'.

Unknown
Legion II

Fulgrim
Legion III: Emperor's Children
Traitor
Status: Body possessed by the Daemon of Slaanesh known as the Lord of Shadows from the sword he found on the world of Laeran.

Perturabo
Legion IV:Iron Warriors
Traitor
Status: Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided

Jaghatai Khan
Legion V: White Scars
Loyal
Status: Disappeared into a Dark Eldar Webway.

Leman Russ
Legion VI: Space Wolves
Loyal
Status: Disappeared into the Eye of Terror.

Rogal Dorn
Legion VII: Imperial Fists
Loyal
Status: Missing. Skeletal hand(s) found.


Night Haunter (Konrad Curze)
Legion VIII: Night Lords
Traitor
Status: Presumed dead, "assassinated" by Callidus Temple Assassin M´Shen.

Sanguinius
Legion IX: Blood Angels
Loyal
Status: Dead, slain by Horus at the end of the Horus Heresy. Visions of him still appear to Blood Angels, due to the psychic scar in their gene-seed.

Ferrus Manus
Legion X: Iron Hands
Loyal
Status: Dead, beheaded by Fulgrim.

Unknown
Legion: XI

Angron
Legion XII: World Eaters
Traitor
Status: Daemon Prince of Khorne, banished back to the Warp at the First Battle for Armageddon.


Roboute Guilliman
Legion XIII: Ultramarines
Loyal
Status: Mortally wounded by Fulgrim, rumored to be healing in stasis on the world of Macragge.

Mortarion
Legion XIV: Death Guard
Traitor
Status: Daemon Prince of Nurgle

Magnus The Red
Legion XV: Thousand Sons
Traitor
Status: Daemon Prince of Tzeentch

Horus
Legion XVI: Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus
Traitor
Status: Dead, utterly destroyed, mind, body and soul, by the Emperor.

Lorgar
Legion XVII: Word Bearers
Traitor
Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided

Vulkan
Legion XVIII: Salamanders
Loyal
Status: Disappeared, location currently unknown.

Corax
Legion XIX: Raven Guard
Loyal
Status: Disappeared, last seen heading for the Eye of Terror.

Alpharius/Omegeon
Legion XX: Alpha Legion
Both were led to believe by the Cabal that joining the Heresy would actually benefit mankind. Could be a trick though....(see 'Legion' by Dan Abnett)
Status: One of the twins may be dead, slain by Roboute Guilliman. This is severely contested however and both twins may still be alive (Credit ironically goes to Alpharius here, thanks!)


Primarch Names: Possible historical references

Lion El'Jonson: Lionel Johnson poet and author of the Dark Angel.

Fulgrim: Latin for shine

Perturabo: Latin 'about to be attacked' also a motto of Devil-worshiper Alister Crowley

Magnus the Red: Latin for large

Jaghatai Khan: Son of Khan

Leman Russ: Rus = The Viking people whom settled Russia

Rogal Dorn: Rogal = Regal Dorn = Fist (Gaelic)

Konrad Curze/Night Haunter-Konrad: Joseph Conrad author of Heart of Darkness (adapted for film as Apocalypse Now), Night Haunter is a take on Batman.

Sanguinius: Latin for Blood.

Ferrus Manus: Latin for Iron Hand

Angron: Angron the ANGRY VERY ANGRY!

Roboute Guilliman: Possible French scholar, Jacque Gullman

Mortarion: Latin for Death

Magnus the Red: Latin for large

Horus: One eyed Egyptian god (Previously two eyes, sun and lunar then lost one)

Lorgar: Perhaps Lore Giver? (Credit Red here)

Vulkan: Roman god of the forge.

Corax: Latin for Raven

Alpharius: Alphie! he's Alphie the Alpha Legionnaire!




What does the Space Marine Chapter (Your Chapter of choice) look like and what is their color scheme?

http://www.ironhands.com/chapters.htm


What are the name of the various Titan Legions and what do they look like?

A

ADAMANT FURY — This legion turned to Chaos in 863M41
ANNIHILATOR, LEGIO — Megyre forge world was home to this legion before the planet fell to Hive Fleet Jormungandr.
ASTORUM, LEGIO — (Also: Warp Runners) The symbol of this legion is a black disc with a blue corona, and its colors are blue with flames. They are known as the defenders of the Cadian Gate, and are based out of Lucius forge world. This legion fought alongside the Howling Griffons Space Marines and the Drookian Fen Guard in the Defense of Cadia. They fought at the Battle of Tallarn.
ASTRAMAN, LEGIO — (Also: Morning Stars) The symbol of this legion is a morning star on a square blue field, and their colors are green, yellow, and white. Their homeworld is the forge world of Graia.

B

BURNING STARS — This legion turned traitor during the Horus Heresy, becoming the Suns of Damnation, devoted to Tzeentch

C

CANIS, LEGIO — Titan legion
COCKATRICES — This legion's emblem is a cockatrice on an orange disc, and their colors are black and gold. (Possibly Legio Basiliskos)
CRUCIUS, LEGIO — (Also: Warmongers) This legion fought its chaos brethren on Kado. Ryza forge world is this legion's home.

D

DEATHBOLTS — The symbol of this legion is a crossbow bolt inverted on a gold triangle, and their colors are red, gold, and a blue & white check. Their motto is Nemo mea poena effugit, "None may escape my vengeance." Grand Master Maxen Vledig founded the legion, and their current Princeps Senioris is Grand Master Thordun Ranxey. Their forge world is Esteban VII.
DEATH HANDS — Traitor legion
DEATH STALKERS — Traitor Legion
DEATH'S HEADS — See Legio Mortis
DESTRUCTOR, LEGIO — (Also: Steel Beasts) Accatran forge world is home to this legion, led by Princeps Senioris Thaedius Wilson. It is the largest legion, with over 100 titans, and is sometimes called "Big Death."

E

EMPEROR'S GUARD — See Legio Invigilata

F

FESTERING DEATH — See Silver Scythes
FIRE MASTERS — The colors of this traitor legion are orange, yellow, and grey, and their symbol is flames within a hexagon.
FIRE WASPS — See Legio Ignatum
FIREBRANDS — This legion's colors are red and a white carapace.
FLAMING SKULLS — See Legio Magna
FOE SLAYERS — See Legio Victorum

G

GYPHONICUS, LEGIO — (Also: War Griffons) This legion, whose colors are grey and yellow, is based on the forge world of Gryphonne IV.

H

HONORUM, LEGIO — This legion is based on Styges VIII. (May be same as Deathbolts.)

I

IGNATUM, LEGIO — (Also: Fire Wasps) This legion's homeworld was Mars and their colors were black, red, and yellow. Their symbol is a wasp on a white triangle. They took part in the Crusades, were part of the Emperor's defenses on Terra, and have a rivalry with Legio Mortis. They stationed a demi-legion at Hydra Cordatus to defend its fortress, and took part in the Third War for Armageddon alongside Legio Invigilata.
IMPERIAL EAGLES — This motto of this legion is "Emperor's enemies beware," and Grand Master Augrim leads them.
IMPERIAL FISTS — The symbol of this legion is a steel gauntlet, and their colors are blue with red trim.
IMPERIAL HUNTERS — The colors of this legion are light green with red trim.
INVIGILATA, LEGIO — (Also: Emperor's Guard) Voss Prime is the home world of this legion. They fought both along the Hemlock River, with Legio Ignatum, and at Helsreach Hive in the Third War for Armageddon.
IRON SKULLS — See Legio Metalica

M

MAGNA, LEGIO — (Also: Flaming Skulls) The colors of this traitor legion are red, orange, yellow and black, typically a red to yellow fade with a yellow carapace and black and red tiger stripes. Their home is the forge world of Esteban VII. The symbol of this legion is a flaming horned skull. Their patron god is Khorne.
METALICA, LEGIO — The symbol of this legions is a grey skull with crosshairs, and their colors are red and either yellow-black or white-black striping. Their Princeps Senioris Kurt Mannheim was killed on Armageddon, where they suffered heavy losses. Their home world is Metalicus. This legion fought in the many wars of Armageddon
MORNING STARS — See Legio Astraman
MORTIS, LEGIO — (Also: Death's Heads) This chaos legion fought at Hydra Cordatus. Its colors are black and red, and its symbol is a horned skull. They breached the Emperor's Palace during the Horus Heresy, fought on Paramar and Tallarn, and scoured Isstvan III.

N

NOVA GUARD — This legion's symbol is a red sunburst.

O

ORDO SINISTER, LEGIO — Grand Master Ferromort led this legion as their Princeps Senioris. They possess twelve Emperor Class titans

P

PALE RIDERS — See Legio Pallidus Mor
PALLIDUS MOR, LEGIO — (Also: Pale Riders) This legion's home is on Tolkhan.
PRAETOR, LEGIO — Triplex Phall is home to this legion that defended the polar fortress on Macragge during the assault by Hive Fleet Behemoth.

S

SILVER SCYTHES — This legion turned traitor during the Horus Heresy, becoming the Nurgle worshiping Festering Death.
STEEL BEASTS — See Legio Destructor
STORM LORDS — See: Legio Tempestor
SUNS OF DAMNATION — See Burning Stars

T

TEMPESTOR, LEGIO — (Also: Storm Lords) This legion's home is Esteban III. The colors of this traitor legion are blue, grey, and black.
TIGER EYES — The colors of this traitor legion are yellow, white, and green, and their symbol is a cat's eye.

U

ULTIMA, LEGIO — The symbol of this legion is a fist with a bolt.

V

VENATOR, LEGIO — The fortress of this legion is on the dead world of Lycosidae in the Calixis Sector. Its titans took part in the Lycanthos Drift Campaign in the Maestrom Zone.
VICTORUM, LEGIO — (Also: Foe Slayers) This legion's colors are blue with yellow (bronze sometimes substituted) trim, and its home is the forge word of Galatia.
VULCANUM, LEGIO — The colors of this traitor legion are yellow, dark green, and black. It's home world was Stygies VIII before the Eldar beat them back into the Eye of Terror.
VULTURUM, LEGIO — The colors of this traitor legion are silver, white, and black.

W

WAR GRIFFONS — See Legio Gryphonicus
WARMONGERS — See Legio Crucius
WARP RUNNERS — See Legio Astorum
WARPED DOGS — This traitor legion was eliminated during the Horus Heresy when its transports crashed during the Siege of Terra.

Stickied for user ease.

If anyone else has any useful links or helpful summaries then feel free to ad them on here, and we'll edit them into the first post.

Just for the record...

Jervis Johnson wrote:I know I shouldn't get drawn on this... but... can't... resist

Seriously, a couple of points just so you can have an informed debate based on the real reasons that Squats are no longer available. Be warned, it is going to be hard reading for people that like the Squat background.

First of all, Squats were *not* dropped because they were not selling well. There were then, and are now, plenty of other figure ranges that sell in the sort of % quantaties that the Squats pulled down, especially when you look across all of the ranges produced by GW rather than just those for 40K.

No, the reason that the Squats were dropped was because the creatives in the Studio (people like me, Rick, Andy C, Gav etc) felt that we had failed to do the Dwarf 'archetype' justice in its 40K incarnation. From the name of the race (Squats - what *were* we thinking?!?!) through to the short bikers motif, we had managed to turn what was a proud and noble race in Warhammer and the other literary forms where the archetype exists, into a joke race in 40K. We only fully realised what we had done when we were working on the 2nd edition of 40K. Try as we might, we just couldn't work up much enthusiasm for the Squats. The mistake we made then (deeply regreted since) was to leave them in the background and the 'get you by' army list book that appeared. With hindsight, we should have dropped the Squats back then, and saved ourselves a lot of grief later on.

Anyway, the Squats made it into 2nd edition, and since we were doing army books for each of the races, we started to try and figure out what to do with them. Unfortunately we just couldn't figure out a way to update them and get them to work that we felt was good enough. The 'art' of working on an army as a designer is to find the thing that you think is cool and exciting about an army, and work it up into a strong theme. This 'muse' didn't strike any of us, and so, rather than bring out a second-rate product simply re-hashing the old background, we kept doing other army books instead, with stuff we did feel inspired by.

Now, while this was all going on for 40K, we were actually doing some rather good stuff for the Squats in Epic. On this scale there was a natural tendancy to focus on the big 'hand-made' war machines the Squat artisans produced, and this created an army with a feel that was very different to the biker hordes in 40K. However, this tended to reinforce the problems we saw in the Squat background rather than alleviate them, underlining what we *should* have done with the Squats in 40K.

In the end (and it took years to really get to the roots of the problem) this led to a realisation that we were going to have to drop the Squats in their 'Squat' form from the 40K background. There was little point having a major race that we weren't willing to make an army book for, and their inclusion in the background meant that people kept asking us when we'd do a Squat Codex. Instead we decided that we'd write the Squats out of the background by saying that their Homworlds had been devoured by a Tyranid Hivefleet. This would give us the option in the future to return to making a race based on the Squat archetype for 40K. This race was given the name of Demiurg, and a certain amount of preliminary work was done to get a 'feel' for what the race would be like. At present the only hint of the Demiurg in 40K is the Demiurg spaceship for BFG. However, we do have this race 'in our back pocket' as a possible new race for 40K, or an interesting character model in Inquisitor, or whatever. So far the Demiurg have lost out to other projects, and it may be that their time never actually comes, as they will have to win through on their merits, not simply because we once made some Squat models in the past. At present, I have to say that it is more lilely that they *don't* make the cut than do, as there is a certain predudice these days to simply taking races from Warhammer and cross them over to 40K like we did in the early days, so it may be that the Squats/Demiurg end up remaining a footnote in the history of the 40K galaxy. Only time will tell...

I'll finish off by saying that whatever we decide to do 'officially', there is nothing stopping players with Squat armies from using them, either in Epic or 40k for that matter. There is no GW 'rule' against using old Citadel Miniatures, as long as you use them with exisiting army lists and in a way that won't cause confusion for other players. I recommend taking a positive stand by saying "Have you seen these cool old models? They're called the Squats and GW used to make them back in the late eighties/early nineties. I love 'em, so I count them as Imperial Guard and use them with the current rules..." Put like this I can't imagine that anyone would stop you from using your army.

Best regards,

Jervis Johnson
Head Fanatic

..and in a similar vein, not strictly 40K related perhaps but useful to know..

Guy Haley wrote:Okay chaps, listen up.

This is the one and only time I am going to post on Warseer (which I have been reading now ever since I began working for GW three years ago). The reason I am doing this is, to be honest, the amount of innacurate speculation about myself is getting a bit irritating, so I thought I would set the record straight. My direct involvement with GW prior to this precluded me from posting earlier, and to be honest I was just going to walk away, but I think I will feel better once the record has been set straight.

I am not here to comment on GW's policies, what has happened to WD or anything else about the company, only to give you some answers to the questions which come up time and again on the forums about myself.

Point one – me
I have been working in magazines for 10 years. I have worked on many publications as a freelance writer, but most of my work has been for SFX (1997-2003) UK WD (2004-2005) and International WD (2005-2007). I have indeed left Games Workshop to help run a new SF magazine named Death Ray. This has been set up by Matt Bielby, who is the launch editor and editor-in-chief. My title is editor and I will be taking over full editorial responsibility for the mag once we are past the launch period. Matt and I, though we have known each other for years, have never worked together before. Though he set up SFX, by the time I began on the mag he had moved on to his next launch project. Buy it, it's great.

Aside from the odd review, I have never, ever worked on a video games magazine.

Point two – Why I left
I did not get pushed. GW were very keen for me to stay, but the Death Ray job came about at a very serendipitous juncture for me, and the experience it offered was too much to turn down. I enjoyed my time at GW. It was tumultuous, but I learned a lot, and I will always love the games. Why, only last week I was playing with my goblins. So to speak.

Point three – WD
WD was once pretty much one magazine – made in the UK, translated and added to abroad. Over time it became seven very different editions in different GW sales territiories. I was recruited at a time when this process of fragmentation had become complete. I started out as the UK "managing editor" which at GW meant that I worked under Paul Sawyer, but I was responsible for editing the UK magazine pretty much from the word go, supervised by Paul, (From the one after the Gimili issue –*the number escapes me –*in 2004) and not just from when the title "editor" was added to my name in UKWD310.

At that time the local editors had a lot of power, myself included, over their magazine. GW then decided to make a more unified global WD again so I was made International editor. Starting from THE GIANTS ROXXOR issue (yeah, I read the posts ) – WDUK 316 – we produced an increasing amount of centralised content. 50 pages at first, rapidly rising to pretty much the whole magazine when I left in March 2007 – 98 pages in all. Owen and the other local editors actually have no influence over what the central content was, and instead produced the sales information and some of the hobby content (notably articles about hobbyists stuff). So, if you want to blame someone, blame me. I was the editor.

Point four – Why the changes?
I am a magazine editor. The first that WD had had that had worked outside of GW (I think). My job is to get a brief from whoever is in charge, and make a magazine to that brief. Sometimes, like in my new job, I help define that brief, sometimes I don't. At GW I didn't. WD is the way it is because, in my opinion at least, it is the most successful way of promoting its hobby to the widest range of people possible using the new releases (which is why the content for each system moves in strict rotation to be the majority of the mag in different months) which is roughly what my brief was. Yes, it is not the magazine it used to be, but it is doing a slightly different job for different people. Most of the reasons for the changes cited on this forum are baloney, and it certainly was not some crusade of mine to "destroy" "your" magazine.

So, that's that. I will not be posting again. I just ask you, for the sake of the people that work on WD, to understand the multifarious pressures the team are under, how much work goes on to make the magazine. The team are not "lazy" they do not hate you, nor are they stupid or malevolent. WD has to appeal to people from the ages of 11 to 60. The team do not have a personal mission to spoil your fun. They are just people that love the GW hobby trying to make something cool within a set of pre-defined parameters, and I think they do a damn fine job.

Oh, one last thing. We never fixed the battle reports. We sometimes replayed them to get a better story. That story did not involve the new army crushing an old one, more for reasons of "Crumbs, the game finished on turn two and the super-nice Steam Tank blew up the first time it fired its gun". Consider this – the guy playing with the new army will have been writing about it for six months. He knows all its tricks, the opponent does not. That is why the new force usually wins, it really is that simple.

Over and out,

Guy

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showpost.php?p=1540519&postcount=19

Deathray magazine has since, alas, fodled and is no longer published. Howeve Mr. haley is still about, as you can read here http://guyhaley.wordpress.com/

and does some stuff for Mantic games and has some books coming out with Angry Robot too.

It's old, old, OLD now, but many years ago Bill King wrote an "essay" about Rogue Traders, might be of some interest.



http://www.trollslayer.net/essays/rt.html

'Index Astartes: Legion of the Damned', in White Dwarf 99:

'+++LEGION OF THE DAMNED+++
In the year 963 of the current millennium, Space Marine chapter 'Fire Hawks' was ordered into the
Crows World sub-sector. Crows World and adjacent planetary systems had fallen into anarchy
following heavy raiding by Eldar Pirates. The 'Fire Hawks' intervention would drive the Eldar from the
human worlds, restoring Imperial rule and teaching the alien invaders an important lesson. The
entire chapter-fleet, including the chapter's mobile space-fortress, made a successful warp jump
from the Piraeus system a mere 120 light years from Crows World. The five ships, over eight
hundred brethren, and two thousand other personnel expected to reach Crows World years after the
event the chapter was officially declared lost in the warp and presumed destroyed. The great Bell of
Lost Souls tolled a thousand times, and it said that the Emperor himself ordered a Black Candle to
be lit in the Adeptus Chapel of Fallen Heroes.
On 9667986.M41 a routine Imperial patrol passed through the Ork held system of Jakor-tal. The
squadron uncovered altogether unexpected scenes of devastation. The limited facilities available to
the patrol could uncover no clue to the identity of the attacking forces. The incident was noted and
passed into the everlasting record of the Administratum.
A rash of similar incidents within the same and adjoining sectors soon began to arouse the interest
of the Inquisition. Squadron commanders throughout these sectors were reinforced and ordered to
double their routine patrols. The incidents continued pace, increasing rather than declining in
frequency and destructiveness. Even so, no sign of the 3628987.M41, a patrol ship in the Maran
sub-sector narrowly avoided a collision with a space-craft at the Cift jump-point. The patrol ship was
entering the Cift system as the unidentified craft was leaving. Alerted by the close encounter, the
patrol crew scanned the entire jump-area and discovered two long cylindrical objects within the
intruder's projected flight-path. These were hauled aboard and proved to be standard space coffins
without identification markings.
The coffins were shipped back to earth and opened by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The coffins
themselves were identified as belonging to the Absolute, one of the spacecraft from the vanished
Fire Hawk fleet. Inside were the armoured remains of two Space Marines. The unconventional
armour colours and unofficial insignia puzzled the investigators, but serial numbers tallied with
equipment made by or issued to the Fire Hawks. The armoured suits were expected to house
members of the lost chapter, and were carefully broken open. The bodies within were human, but
further identification proved impossible due to their advanced state of decay.
The full truth would not emerge until almost a year later when a besieged Imperial research station
received unexpected help. The garrison had been attacked suddenly by Ork pirates. After three
hours of fighting the situation looked hopeless. Then, without warning, the Orks found themselves
attacked in the rear. The ferocity of the fighting appalled even the station's defenders. Within half an
hour, several hundred Orks had fallen to the mysterious, power-armoured figures. Then, as suddenly
as they had appeared, the warriors vanished. This time they left behind a banner - the gnarled
chapter flag of the Fire Hawks - and inscribed upon it was the motto In dedicato imperatum ultra
articulo mortis (For the Emperor beyond the point of death). As well as the banner there was a
recorder and sundry other sealed items. These were immediately shipped to Earth.
From the data contained in the recorder the Administratum was able to determine exactly what had
happened to the lost chapter. Following their warp-jump the entire fleet had been caught within a
warp-storm of terrific intensity. Stunned by the power of the warp, the chapter was forced to endure
the attacks of powerful warp entities. Ship after ship was destroyed and absorbed into the fabric of
the warp. Soon only one craft remained. By a daring warp-exit maneuver the craft burst out of warpspace,
emerging far in the galactic east, thousands of light years off-course and beyond even the
psychic light of the Emperor.
The original survivors numbered two hundred brethren. All gene-seed had been lost, all initiates
killed, and most of the chapter's masters were gone. None of the ordinary human staff have survived
at all. To make matters worse the brethren had changed. This change became more obvious over
the next few months. Skins began to blacken and blister, flesh began to fester and putrefy. Slowly
they began to die. Within days of the transition into normal space it became obvious that the
chapter had been exposed to some form of dangerous mutation or disease. It took many years to
navigate a way back into the Imperium, during which time almost half the brethren succumbed to
the malady. Those who remained were no longer sane. Pain and despair had driven even their
hardened minds beyond the point of rationality. Doomed to agonizing deaths, they gradually
became obsessed with their fate. Now they only wanted to die. But they were still marines, still
loyal to the Emperor and humanity. They would not die without purpose.
So began the unstoppable war of the Legion of the Damned! The marines elected to remove all
insignia from their armour. Instead their armour would be black, decorated by each brother with
whatever emblems of death he chose (the accompanying illustrations show some typical variations).
Most brothers employed a similar theme - skeletons, bones and skulls.
All ranks and companies were abolished, most of the chapter's officers were already dead and the
remaining warriors were too few to make up a fully functional chapter hierarchy. all brothers were to
be equal before death - leveled by the certainty of their assured extinction. The warriors decided to
expend their lives attacking enemies wherever they could be found. The disease had robbed them of
their sanity, but not their loyalty! And their condition gave them powers - powers that endow them
with incredible fighting abilities.
As the fatal malady takes a firm hold, the victim begins to degenerate and putrefy. However, even as
his body decays, he grows in supernatural vigor. Even though the marine's limbs become rotten and
twisted he gains strength far beyond that of a normal marine. These powers heighten as the disease
rages through the victim's body. At the moment of death, each brother reaches a peak in power, at
which point the raw energies of the warp transmute the death throes of the doomed marine into a
berserk orgy of destruction. These changes are reflected by the profile and special rules given later.
Make no mistake - the Legion of the Damned may be few in numbers, but their powers are
awesome!
Just as their bodies are changed by contact with the warp, so their minds are hardened too.
Brethren are completely immune to all forms of psychic attack or interference. They cannot be
affected by the special psychic attacks of warp-creatures - although they may be harmed physically
by physical attacks that such creatures may have. Astral specters and other immaterial creatures
cannot harm them in any way.'

This is the original fluff piece for this chapter, all the subsequent hints and teases -- see the nod of the head in IA 9 for example -- really just reinforce this idea.

So, NO!, they are not one of the missing 2 Legions.

Hopefully the start of a trend, might as well start a log;


Games Workshop Background Videos



Dark Eldar Background with Phil Kelly and Jes Goodwin

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3

More DE backround info..

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/content/article.jsp?catId=&pageMode=multi&categoryId=§ion=&pIndex=0&aId=12500034a&start=1