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So I want to add some flavor to my Dark Angels -army, make them something else than "just" Dark Angels. After reading Gav Thorpes Ravenwing -and Master of Sanctity I am now way more aware of how the chapter works and such.

I got the idea of a special ( and ofcourse sssseeeeecret ) force within the chapter. It´s nigh impossible to prevent the less enlightened battlebrothers from partially learning the secrets of the chapter at rare occasions, or prevent them from seeing things that put them at risk of learning the truths. Promoting them to the Deathwing or Ravenwing is out of the question unless they have the required experience/service/battle decorations. Putting them back into the midst of their non-aware brothers it out of the question. Should they prove trustworthy, loyal to the chapter and the emperor and unsure of the absolute truths they could be spared instead of execution.

In this idea of mine, battle brothers who have been compromised ( by them seeing, learning or hearing a rumour ) to the truths are put together in a special, separate force. The levels of "enlightment to the truths" vary within the force, as different individuals have heard/seen different things of different magnitude.

Before joining this force ( the name I´m keeping a ssssssssecret until I post them to the painting section ) they would have to participate in rituals initiating them ( which infact, would be a red curtain for meetings with a chaplain who deceives them into thinking what they saw is something else, or dampens the seriousness of the thing they have learned - "no biggie", or tells them the truth if said individual has seen something undeniable. ) They would be required to take a vow of silence, with the punishment being death or even the extermination of the entire said force - certainly something to encourage one to keep their mouth shut.

Don´t misunderstand, I will go through with this. As has been said before by people such as Thorpe, Warhammer 40,000 is largely what one makes it up to be. I also see this concept as quite believable, it´s certainly not the most farfetched army background in existence. What I ask of you folks is how the background story could be improved, and things to take into account. Modelingwise I´m thinking of taking a Deathwatch approach - unique shoulderpads ( maybe helmets too ) and perhaps some symbolism. Having some Ravenwing and Deathwing in the army would be easily explained - they are there to oversee and maintain the whole ordeal ( while having different levels of knowledge themselves... quite a knot of ssssssseecrets dont you think. )

Unless the fluff has changed, the ravenwing don't know it is fallen members of the chapter they hunt, they just hunt and capture/kill who they are instructed too, the only members of a ravenwing force who would be aware are those members who would also be members of the deathwing.inner circle such as Sammael, interrorgator chaplains, librarians. Then again, I haven't read the new codex so I don't know the level of understanding of the ravenwing knights blokes.

I too thought it was just the Deathwing who had even the slightest notion of who they were hunting.

But that doesn't invalidate your fluff! They could still be marginally aware, forcing them to be reclassified, even if I think the more likely occurrence would be termination for those who learned too much.

Atleast in the Ravenwing -book it´s stated that Black Knights are aware of the Fallen ( altough they are most likely oblivious to the highest levels of truths, revealed only to the Deathwing. )

But other than that the members of the Ravenwing are only revealed some of the truth iirc, like that the Fallen exist ( they hunt them after all ) leaving out details such as the fate of Caliban, Luther etcetra. Could´ve been they only know they are traitors too.

But yeah it doesn´t really affect my plan as you said. The good thing about Dark Angels is that their secrecy allows for some creative things, whereas the same is enabled with Orks, just by different things ( basically, creativity. ) Afterall, the Dark Angels, even their normal chapter forces, are hard to find and they just often appear out of nowhere uncalled for.

I was thinking, that for my scenario, the subjects deemed loyal and trustworthy could be spared ( deemed so by the interrogator chaplains in a harsh, stern "initiation" ) and they could choose whether to live in this special force, or to die. And by choosing the first option they take on the oath of silence, and breaking it would subject the whole force to extermination ( or so the Chaplain says... )

I also asked myself why would a force like this exist - it´s pretty easy to come up with reasons. I think the Chapter Masters and other high ranking officers, for starters, wouldn´t want to execute every individual that finds something out or sees something - they are their battle brothers and this could subject them to corruption themselves ( might be difficult to stay pure if you have to kill your brothers-in-arms on a regular basis. ) In the books it´s shown that even while the DA play dirty, most of the Chaplains and other high ranking officers are still very loyal to the Imperium, and care for their brothers in arms ( even the ones that know nothing ) a great deal. It´s not like they see them as worthless sacrificial spawn.

The other reason is simply the fact that every Space Marine is needed, for they are outnumbered on all fronts in the universe. Would see sense in just doing damagecontrol in form of this special force, rather than killing everyone who gets a glimpse of a secret, who is their own.

Third, perhaps the task of this force would be to undertake the missions deemed most dangerous and foolhardy ( for their death by enemy hands isn´t completely without its merits, the risk of the secrets spreading lessens with each dead member ) and the ones the Ravenwing & Deathwing cannot take on due to resources, schedule or other reasons. They would be the so called expendables.