Dangerous Duet
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* begin transmission*
Name : Dark Swords
Home world: Acherus (Segmentum Obscurus)
Founding: Unknow
Current Leader: Chapter Master Draco Calador
Specialties: mechanized warfare, close quarter specialists
Campaigns: Ophidian Campaign, Helican Purges, other unrecorded Campaigns
Status: Moderate strenght after the Helican Purges, currently preparing to go assist their brethren in the Cadia sector.
* PURGED FROM RECORD***
* Inquisitor Cyrus: Dark Swords Chapter under suspicion of not respecting the rules of the Codex Astartes.Their methods have lead to several investigations where informations seems to have deliberatly been falsified. ****
Background record 797-38=JL41: Information from * PURGED FROM RECORD***
The planet of Acherus is a deadly and hostile world. How such a world could have been chosen to house a space marine chapter is unknow, as many other things about these mysterious astartes. The surface of this world is volcanic, with thin air and toxic gas. The gravity is crushing, and the predators are a threat even to the kind of the space marines. The Dark Swords however seems to be able to cope whith such an existence, and their seniors members considers that such dire conditions of living is what make them so efficients on their missions. One of their proverbs even say : '' if you can survive the training of Acherus, then you can survive to anything''. The Dark Swords training is a extremely dangerous one, even by Codex Astartes standards. From hand to hand combat with ferocious beast of Acherus to training missions in the volcaninc wild, the Dark Swords face the worst of the worst before being accepted in the scout squads. Their scouts are litterally capable to survive alone for extended periods of time in hostile territory, and capable in combat. The tactical and combat squads are even stronger, for they are already hardened warriors. It is know that even when one is accepted as a marine, the training continue while not on a mission, for the must always be ready. And, as always, the training is as dangerous as the first times.
Many centuries before, the Dark Swords played a role in the Ophidian Campaign, battling the forces of renegades and heretics. Thought their role was small and is even sometime ignored in Imperial records, they proved to be deadly on the battlefield, and without hesitation to do anything necessary to achieve victory, even put allies in harm. Throughout the campaign, the Dark Sword plaid little attention to the consequences of their actions, even using orbital bombardment while some of their troops and allies where still on the ground. It has also been recorded that some of them conducted assault that could only been described as suicide mission. They have also been described as somewhat fanatics, chanting hymns and sometime screaming battlecry in High and Low Gothic both before, during and after the battle, also somewhat conducting rituals on the bodies of the dead, and even cruxifying the bodies of their enemies. It as also been recorded, but not confirmed, that the Dark Sword slaughtered a high number of civilians that they suspected of being heretics.
Thought the Dark Swords proved themselves to be formidables soldiers of the Imperium during this Campaign, their refusal to answer to the questions of the Inquisition concerning some of their actions during combat seems suspicious.
During the Helican Purges, the Dark Swords carried a crusade againts the various heretical forces in the system, eventually bringing the battle to an end at Antigan Prime, where the hearth of the enemy forces was. There, the presence of a Daemon Prince and his chaos warband was discovered, and also the existence of a machine of Xenos origins. The machine, thought of unknown origins, seemed to be able to temper with the fabric of time, space and reality to open warp rifts, but at a numerous and enourmous scale, threathening to engulf the whole system in a warp storm. The Daemon Prince, now known as Duriaz Gorehide, intended to enable a massive daemonic invasion, with the ultimate goal of enlarging the territories of the Eye of Terror. Using all their might, the Dark Swords, along with the Imperial Guards of the Helican sector, led a smal groundassault on the world, disabling the various defenses that stopped the Imperial transports to land, and also the shield generators that protected the enemy from orbital bombardment. Once this done, the Dark Swords made their way throught the undergrounds of the Capital of Antigan Prime, where the machine was. During their skirmish with the forces of chaos, the Dark Swords strenght was tested to its limits, first facing off the Chaos Space marines, then finally facing Duriaz himself. Leading his last remaining men, the captain Aidan overcame the dreaded Daemon Prince. However, the machine was powering up, and the only way to stop it was to cause it to self-destruct. Recording his last moments so that his chapter could knew what had be done, the captain and his men then distabilized the machine by destroying several of its parts, making it overloard with energy before finally blowing up in a cataclysmic explosion.
At the end of the Helican Purges, the Inquisition considered that even if the Dark Swords seemed to have proven their loyalty to the Imperium, they still had to be investigated, for nothing proved that what captain Aidan had told in his recording was true, and that the chapter still ated in odd ways. Throught this day, no Inquisitor was ever able to investigate the Dark Sword chapter, some of them even disappearing mysteriously.
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The Dark Swords
The Dark Swords are a mysterious chapter to the rest of the Imperium for they rarely interract with anyone else when they don't have to. Their origins are a mystery even to their recruits, and it is said that even their chapter masters doesn't know it. This is because of the philosophy of Marcus Iscar, one of their previous chapter master, if not their first. In his mind, the Dark Swords should not be proud of their genetic lineage before anything else, but of the fact of being space marines. This is why all records concerning their preceding chapters and Primarch has been erased. As such, the Dark Swords do not consider themselves different from any other chapter and have no rivalry with one of them, contrary to the Dark Angels and Space Wolves. To them, each space marine, being part of their chapter or from another, is a battle-brother in both blood and duty. The Dark Swords view themselves, as with all the space marine kind, as the exemplars, the paragons of humanity. They are the ultimate stage of human ascension, and only throught purity, wisdom and service to the Emperor can one hope to one day become like him : just, sage, strong and pure. As such, they view anything else that isn't human (or that is a ''lower-human'') as a vermin needing to be purged. They have a strange religious view about genetic, almost seeing their genes as ''divine'', and of course, seeing the Emperor as the ultimate form of life. In a way, the have an eugenestic religious view of the universe, and creatures such as daemons, mutants, tyranids, and necrons are the ultimate abominations that must be eliminated. From where this philosophy come, none can say. They believe in the survival of the fittest and purest, and as such they view their training ground on Acherus as the perfect place to attain perfection. The Dark Swords do not shun contact with the other chapters and the rest of the Imperium out of the belief that they are superior, but simply because they feel it would weaken them to do so. Believing in the survival of the fittest, the believe that only individual success (which mean for them without the aid of anyone outside of their chapter) will they be able to get stronger and be more able to do their duty. If they ever had to ask for the help of someone else, then they would have become weak, and thus, failed the Emperor and wasted his gift (his gene-seed). To them, the Emperor gave them his precious genetic material (throught the Primarchs), and they must prove that they are worthy of it. The Dark Swords also keep few records of their missions and campaigns, shunning fame and glory for they consider it corrupting for the body and soul. Glory and pride would lead to arrogance and lethargy, which would make them weak or even heretic. As such, only what is necessary to be remebered is recorded, such as strategic information, new battle tactics learn on the field, pratical informations on the planets and foes, etc. Everything else, the name of the officers leading the battle, the date of the battle, etc., is ignored.
Characters
Chapter Master Draco Calador : A master of warfare, Master Draco leads the Dark Swords in battle whenever he can, and wielding any weapon is suited for the task. Master Draco is known to have took part to several campaign before the Ophidian and Helican ones, but he never speek of them.
High Chaplain Cyrus : The grim spiritual master of the Dark Swords. Before and after each battle, he conduct a ritual so that the soul of his fallen brethren can find the peace of the Emperor's Light. During the battle, he charge with the Terminators head first into battle, crying out loud his prayers to comdamn his enemies to eternal damnation. He is aso, as with High Librarian Horaz, the one to which it incumbs to make sure the newest recruits are pure of mind and body.
High Librarian Horaz : Master of the records concerning the different missions and campaigns of the Dark Swords. His main task is to ensure that only what is necessary is recoreded, and that the philosophical beliefs of the chapter are saved for the future. All other information must be erased. He is aso, as with High Chaplain Cyrus, the one to which it incumbs to make sure the newest recruits are pure of mind and body.
Captain Aidan : Former Captain of the Third Company, Captain Aidan led the Helican Purge and confronted with his men the Daemon Prince Duriaz, defeating him before destroying the xenos machine, thus saving the Helican sector from damnation. For the rest of the Imperium and his chapter, he died when the machine overloaded, but in truth he was sucked in the warp, where he and the Duriaz battled once again. Of course, the Daemon Prince won, but decided to keep the Dark Sword Captain soul to torment him for the rest of eternity in return for ruining his plans.
The Forgotten Legends
The following stories consist of past campaigns and missions that were mostly forgotten by the Dark Swords because of their dislike of pride and glory. As such, only some tacticals informations have been kept from them for recording, and the rest was mostly ignored and passed to newer recruits throught oral traditions during ceremonies and rituals, and even then only glimpses of them.
The Dark Flood
At some unknown time during the 40 st millienium, the small force of the 2nd company of the Dark Swords, who were in Calixis Sector for a previous mission, encountered a damaged Imperial Battle-Barge who could not be identified. Deciding to investigate, the second Compagny braced themselves with Terminators armors and embarked upon the ghost ship. The vessel had substained heavy damage and seemed to have been under the influence of the warp, leading Captain Yaerel to the idea that idea that the ship had been lost to the warp at some previous time. The small squad that explored the crew soon learned that this ship belongued to the Inquisition, and was previously used to transport heretic prisonners. Two hours after the squad had entered the ruined ship, it came in contact with a violent breed of tyranids that had visibly infested the ship before it was lost to the warp. Yet, the tyranids weren't the only threat, for the ship's halls and corridors were also haunted by daemons, heretics mutated by the warp and xenos who had succumbed to the fell touch of chaos. The squad of Captain Yaerel soon found itself facing multiples massives hordes of enemies who intended to kill them before seizing their ship to flee their prison. The Captain and his men fought bravely againts both the tyranids and the horrors of the warp, and after many hours of fight, returned to their ship. At first, the squad held five men, but after this mission, only two remained, the Captain being one of them. Once they had returned to their ship, Yaerel ordered his ship crew to get away from the Inquisitorial ghost ship and then to fire on it until nothing was left. After many hours of bombardment, the Inquisition's ship was no more. Once Captain Yaerel returned to Acherus and made his report, it was noted by the current High Librarian that the tyranids were visibly able to resist the effects of the warp since no specimen encountered on the ghost shop seemed different that what they were supposed to be, and that some of them litterally preyed on the mutated prisonners, heretics, and even daemons.
So what do you think of it? Update soon.
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