Dark Hunters

"Give me a blade in my hand and an enemy to slay and I shall be content. Grant me a bolter and an army of foes to face, and I will be truly happy."

- Battle-Brother Thursk, Dark Hunters 4th Company

The Dark Hunters are a Loyalist Codex Astartes-compliant Space Marine Chapter descended from the gene-seed of the White Scars during an unknown Founding. The Dark Hunters hail from the night world of Phobian, and ever since the Dellrond Campaign, where a single Dark Hunters Battle Company held the entrance to the Cathedral of the Emperor Ossified for five standard years against the Orks of WAAAGH! Nagrut, the Chapter has had a reputation for being particularly hardy and resolute warriors.

Chapter History
The Dark Hunters were created during the 37th Millennium and were Founded during the dark days of the Occlusiad War (555-565.M37). The Chapter was created to combat the heretical Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus known as the Apostles of the Blind King, who made war upon the Imperium. The Dark Hunters have a reputation for being particularly grim and resolute warriors. They are one of the seven Space Marine Chapters of the Imperium of Man currently charged with hunting down and eliminating the Renegade Chaos Space Marines warband known as the Punishers.

Notable Campaigns

 * Battle of Bloodsteel (Unknown Date. M37) - The Dark Hunters are deployed to successfully contain an assault by the Warpsmith Hilghar and his Daemon Engines, including Chaos Titans. The Chapter takes heavy casualties.
 * Dellrond Campaign (Unknown Date) - A single Dark Hunters Battle Company holds the entrance to the Cathedral of the Emperor Ossified on the world of Dellrond for five standard years against the Orks of WAAAGH! Nagrut, displaying an extraordinary level of fortitude and combat resilience, even for the transhuman Adeptus Astartes.

Chapter Beliefs
The Dark Hunters' first campaign as a Chapter saw harrowing fighting against the Daemon Engines of the Warpsmith Hilghar, and the mutated Warlord-class Titan Repellus Maximal during the Battle of Bloodsteel. This campaign has left a deep-rooted mistrust of the machine within the collective psyche of the Dark Hunters. Even today, the Chapter's relations with the Tech-priests of Mars are strained at best.

Chapter Relics

 * Shadow Mantle - The Shadow Mantle is a specially crafted form of Astartes Scout Armour with an integrated bodyglove that provides additional protection. The armour has an inbuilt Hunter-Killer Auspex, which can be used as if it were a weapon's sight. Although the Codex Astartes recommends that Scout Armour be restricted to a Chapter’s Neophytes and their Sergeants in the 10th Company, even the most fervent adherents to Roboute Guilliman’s doctrine grudgingly admit there is merit to equipping more experienced warriors with lighter armour after seeing the Shadow Mantle in action. Its cameleoline-bonded plating renders the wielder nearly invisible, and the inbuilt Hunter-Killer Auspex has claimed the lives of hundreds of Chaos Space Marines by pinpointing the weak points in older, warped or ill-maintained Power Armour.

Chapter Colours
The Dark Hunters don navy blue-coloured Power Armour with a white coloured Aquila or Imperialis on the chest plate. The white coloured squad specialty symbol (Tactical, Assault, Devastator, or Veteran) is indicated on the right shoulder guard while the Chapter iconography is painted on the left shoulder guard. Squad number is designated by a stenciled black Roman numeral centred within the squad speciality symbol. Shoulder guard trim denotes company designation.

Chapter Badge
The Dark Hunters' Chapter badge is a white, double-bladed battle axe.

Gallery
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