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I'm working on a Dark Angel successor chapter and was flirting with a lot of different ideas. I love the grim, gothic nature of the DAs, and after all in the grim, dark universe of the future, why not be the grimmest of the grim?

So that led me to thinking - who would be the grimmest of the grim DAs, and the most secretive of the secret? Those Fallen who have been confessed. Of course, the fluff says that after confession (_if_ they confess) they are put to death. And that's the cover story, of course, but the truth could be that they are given a choice - die after confession, or join a successor composed solely of other confessed, to be used as front line suicide troops on the dirtiest, darkest, most dangerous missions. Which they do gladly, and being given the opportunity to redeem themselves for their treachery with their deaths in service.

Thoughts?

I think the issue of making a chapter solely consisting of Confessed is this, you are taking a traitor, forgiving him, arming him with a functional fleet, devastating arsenal, giving him an army and then trusting he stays true to his word.

Personally if I hadnt put the traitor to death I'd keep a very close eye on him and keep him away from equally weak willed (and possibly chaos touched) soliders, also he'd never get a gun.

Possbily have the chaplains/squad leaders/commanders as normal DA.
Keep the confessed in line. Easy to imagine some kind of explosive collar as a fail safe also.

I like the idea. I know a lot of DA fans don't like it, but hey, IT'S YOUR ARMY, do as you like.

I always wanted to have a chapter of Fallen Redeemed Dark Angles as well.

I really love the idea, that they become Suicide units on the front lines to show their loyalty at being Redeemed.

I like the idea of the explosive collar or some other "failsafe" loyalty device. And the idea of having DA proper masters in the positions of authority. Those are nice touches.

If I did my reading correctly, not all of the Fallen fell to chaos. Some just plain sided with Luther, for whatever reason. (Ye olde "just following orders" excuse.) I definitely think they provide candidates for redemption.

Need a better name, though.

What about the Redeemers? Or something along the lines of redemption. The Angels of Atonement?

The confessed, doesn't really seem too subtle a name. However I really like the idea, perhaps as others have said you could have them as like a prison style army. Led by chaplins etc Of course that sounds a little too much like the Death Company I guess.

Once a traitor always a traitor, a man thats turned on you once for any reason will do it again.

 Hold The Line wrote:
The confessed, doesn't really seem too subtle a name.

Yeah, but the 'Totally not Traitor Marines' chapter was already taken.

I would use them as squads in a main DA force, if I was going to do something like that.

Or, create a Fallen force that is loyalist.

A whole force from 'redeemed' marines just doesn't seem likely. No one in their right mind would put a bunch of ex-traitors in the same place, give them their own command and hope for the best.

Actually, something that I am working on with my DA successor chapter is exploring Lion El'Jonson's mental state more. Lion was always noted to be somewhat paranoid, and his condition appeared to become worse over time. He was also extremely secretive and possibly even manipulative. My interpretation of the fall is somewhat different than most. Instead of the two most popular theories, the 'stated' theory of Luther falling to chaos, and the 'alternative' theory, of Lion falling, my theory is that neither were corrupted by chaos, and that it was Lion's paranoia that did the chapter in. He was so concerned that Luther was plotting against him he attacked Luther's marines on sight, who in turn defended themselves, either thinking that the Lion had fallen, or that he had succumbed to paranoia, or that they were being shot at. Under this interpretation, you could play 'Loyal' Fallen who were cast forward in time by the warp anomaly that occurred as a result of the Luther/Lion duel, trying to find some way to prove their innocence while simultaneously avoiding capture, torture, and then execution by the Dark Angels (which is effectively what they do with fallen).

 pretre wrote:

Yeah, but the 'Totally not Traitor Marines' chapter was already taken.

Heh. I like that.

 pretre wrote:

A whole force from 'redeemed' marines just doesn't seem likely. No one in their right mind would put a bunch of ex-traitors in the same place, give them their own command and hope for the best.

Assuming they were traitors. Anyone that had fallen to Chaos (and subsequently confessed) would be put to death out of hand, no doubt. But what about those that were simply following their leader, who were not touched by Chaos? That would be the backbone of the Chapter.

I do like the previously mentioned idea that all of the command would be confirmed loyalists - DAs that volunteered to join the chapter to oversee the Confessed. All the Sgts, Chaplains, Libbies, Captains, etc. And while it wouldn't have any bearing in-game, I'd love to find some little bit to put on all the Confessed to represent explosive collars. That's a nice touch.



Hmm ... Angels of Atonement - the Latin would be something like Angelus Expiationum, yes?



Automatically Appended Next Post:

RegalPhantom wrote:
Under this interpretation, you could play 'Loyal' Fallen who were cast forward in time by the warp anomaly that occurred as a result of the Luther/Lion duel, trying to find some way to prove their innocence while simultaneously avoiding capture, torture, and then execution by the Dark Angels (which is effectively what they do with fallen).

That's an interesting idea, too. Hmmm...

There are not a lot of shades of gray when it comes to the Imperium and traitors.

Fallen to Chaos and 'Worked for Chaos, but didn't really mean it' are the same thing.

the problem i see with this is fluff wise. I read the codex today about interrogator-chaplains and it said that the most successful I-C ever only managed to get 10 fallen to repent. And that was considered amazing. If the best I-C in the DA history could only get 1 squads worth of guys in his life, it seems a bit hard to justify.

Of course you could just say that the DA lied again

This would be hard to explain to people. But it is your hobby do it your way!

Sounds great! maybe not as a chapter but as a BA Death Company type affair, lead by a chaplain and hoping for death and redemption, if they survive they are executed after the battle!

SavageRobby wrote:

I'm working on a Dark Angel successor chapter and was flirting with a lot of different ideas. I love the grim, gothic nature of the DAs, and after all in the grim, dark universe of the future, why not be the grimmest of the grim?

So that led me to thinking - who would be the grimmest of the grim DAs, and the most secretive of the secret? Those Fallen who have been confessed. Of course, the fluff says that after confession (_if_ they confess) they are put to death. And that's the cover story, of course, but the truth could be that they are given a choice - die after confession, or join a successor composed solely of other confessed, to be used as front line suicide troops on the dirtiest, darkest, most dangerous missions. Which they do gladly, and being given the opportunity to redeem themselves for their treachery with their deaths in service.

Thoughts?

Main issues:
1. If DA (and it has to be DA seeing as no one else knows about the fallen) want suicide squads why would they form a chapter? They could just keep the repented under lockdown till needed on the Rock.
2. Creating a chapter like this will draw attention to the DA
3. The fallen are captured few and far between so could hardly make up a company, let alone a chapter
4. Most Fallen don't see themselves as traitors, so there is no incentive
5. When a Fallen is made to repent the process does not follow the geneva convention of human rights, it is more than likely that and Fallen that repent will be absolutly broken and of no use as a soldier.