Fallen Angels

The Fallen Angels, also called simply the Fallen, are renegade Space Marines who split off from the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion ten thousand years ago. They are the secret enemy of the Unforgiven, a group of Loyalist Space Marine Chapters including the present-day Dark Angels Chapter and all of its Successor Chapters. The Unforgiven Space Marines feel they cannot have their honour restored in the Emperor of Mankind's eyes until every member of the Fallen has been found and executed for their crimes against the Imperium.

History
At the end of the Horus Heresy, when Lion El'Jonson, the Primarch of the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion, returned to his homeworld of Caliban, his fleet was met by a devastating barrage of planetary defence laser fire. Stunned by the ferocious attack, Jonson withdrew his vessels from orbit and attempted to find out what had happened on his homeworld.

A nearby merchant starship soon provided the answer; Luther, the second-in-command of the Legion and the Lion's greatest friend, had apparently ordered the approaching fleet fired upon. His reasoning for this action was unknown to the Primarch, though it was suspected that Luther, like many of the Lion's brothers, had become influenced by Chaos.

The fury of the Lion and his Dark Angels at what they perceived as a terrible betrayal knew no bounds; Jonson himself immediately ordered a sustained bombardment of the Traitors' positions and led an attack against Luther's bulwark at the Dark Angels fortress-monastery personally. In the resultant battle, the two adversaries struck blow upon blow against each other, tearing down the Dark Angels' fortress-monastery around them until nearly the whole massive edifice had been leveled by their battle. Meanwhile, the massed guns of the Dark Angels' fleet pounded the planet, until the very surface of Caliban began to crack under the strain of the bombardment.

As the planet itself started to break apart, the battle between the Lion and Luther reached its climax. Luther, apparently aided by the Dark Powers of Chaos, unleashed a furious psychic attack that knocked Jonson to his knees and left him mortally wounded. But as the dying Primarch struggled to stand, his noble features wracked with pain, it was as if a curtain was lifted from Luther's eyes and he realised the full extent of what he had done and the duplicity of Chaos. Devastated, the realisation shattered Luther's sanity and he slumped down beside Jonson, no longer willing to fight.

Soon after Luther's breakdown, a Warp Storm of unprecedented fury engulfed Caliban as the Ruinous Powers sought their revenge. In an uncontrollable flood of psychic energy, the Warp rushed into the physical universe. The immense strain these forces placed upon the planet, in combination with the tectonic shifting and cracking caused by the orbital bombardment, caused the horrific destruction of the entire planet; Caliban itself shattered, breaking into countless chunks of dead and dying rock.

The Fallen Dark Angels who had served under Luther were sucked from the face of Caliban into the Warp and effectively scattered throughout space and time.

None in the Imperium know of these events other than the current Dark Angels, their Successor Chapters and the Emperor of Mankind encased within his Golden Throne. Even within the Chapters themselves very few Battle-Brothers know the full story. It is only when Dark Angels gain entry into the Deathwing that they learn that many of the Dark Angels who followed Luther are still alive.

There are several different types of Fallen; not all of them have succumbed to the Dark Powers of Chaos. A large number of the Fallen have become true Chaos Space Marines, but many others realise that their actions during the fall of Caliban were questionable. Others, claiming that the Lion himself was Chaos-tainted and that Luther was the true Loyalist, have remained unrepentant and possessed of the same ideals they fought for during Caliban's fall. Disgusted by the perverse Chaos Gods and unable to reconcile themselves with what the Imperium of Man has become over the millennia without the Emperor's guidance, such members of the Fallen often lead a solitary existence. Many become mercenaries or pirates, while others attempt to integrate themselves back into "normal" human societies.

All of that is irrelevant to the Dark Angels, who believe that the only way they can restore their honour and trust within the Emperor's eyes is if all the Fallen are found and either made to repent their sins or are slain. Consequently, the Dark Angels and the rest of the Unforgiven Space Marine Chapters constantly hunt for the Fallen and regularly prioritise this hunt above other concerns.

Those Fallen that are captured are taken back to the Rock on what remains of Caliban, where the Dark Angels' Interrogator-Chaplains attempt to make them repent. Occasionally they do and so die quickly. More often than not, though, the captured Fallen refuses and suffers a long, agonising death at the hands of those who would save his soul.

A Fallen Perspective
A record of the apparent motivation for the actions of those Dark Angels who would become the Fallen exists: the confession of Astelan, once a Dark Angels Chapter Master. This testimony, extracted by Interrogator-Chaplain Boreas, contains the following claims: Astelan himself is supposed to have ordered the attack on the Lion's approaching fleet, with the approval of Luther, because the Dark Angels on Caliban believed that El'Jonson had fallen sway to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. Astelan claimed that while the Lion had been lost in the woods of Caliban as a child, he had had a brush with Chaos and had never quite lost the taint of darkness from the incident. He pointed out that while El'Jonson had moved through the Warp towards Terra to join the defence of the Imperial Palace from Horus' Traitor forces, he had moved at what was believed to have been a deliberately slow pace; a pace slow enough to determine who the true winner of the conflict would be before committing his forces. In other words, Astelan believed that El'Jonson would not have hesitated to join Horus if it had seemed that he would have been the ultimate victor in the Horus Heresy. Why else would the Lion, a man renowned for his strategic brilliance and speed of attack, have waited so long before leading his troops to Terra? Astelan believed that by attacking his fleet, the Dark Angels stationed on Caliban were doing the work of the Emperor.

Astelan further claimed that Luther never fell under the sway of Chaos but was driven by his duty to the Emperor, fearing the traitorous nature of El'Jonson. Also, he revealed that, apparently, the majority of the men who had been garrisoned on Caliban were the original members of the Dark Angels Legion, Terrans who had been inducted into the Legion by the Emperor himself before the discovery of El'Jonson on Caliban as the Legion's Primarch. This existing cultural divide within the Legion may have also contributed to the conflict on Caliban. Finally, Astelan claimed that, in the ensuing battle between the seemingly Loyalist Lutheran Angels and the possibly suspect Lionite Angels, Luther attempted to negotiate with the Lion before any more were slain. Refusing to talk, the Lion hastily ordered the bombardment of Caliban and descended to crush the Fallen in combat. Luther then apparently fought the Lion only as a last resort and mortally wounded him only when he had no other choice. The only thing that Astelan could not explain was the Warp Storm that then flung the Fallen far across the galaxy.

This entire point of view, as told by a member of the Fallen, should be considered suspect at best and complete fabrication at worst; it could simply be a series of malicious lies or just a warped, inaccurate view of the entire incident. Often, those who fall under the sway of Chaos do not even realize that they are serving its ends, except that at the end of the novel Angels of Darkness, Boreas asks for a transmission to be sent to a solitary cell in the Rock saying simply: "You were right." This cell is currently believed, by readers, to be that of either Astelan or Luther himself. This, from a Loyalist Dark Angel, throws into question the true loyalties of the Dark Angels, The Fallen and the Primarch Lion El'Jonson himself.

Another Fallen Perspective
In another record, Interrogator-Chaplain Uzziel was attempting to draw a confession from a Fallen in the bowels of the Rock. The Fallen decried Uzziel's attempts, saying that the Dark Angels sent to Caliban with Luther were abandoned by Lion El'Jonson and the Emperor and robbed of the glory of the Great Crusade. Eventually the Fallen made a false repentance that led Uzziel on a Crusade to recover the Lion Sword. Uzziel realized the repentance was false when he recovered the weapon only to discover it was in fact Luther's Sword.

This perspective is backed up by another record of a Fallen known as Cephesus. When finally tracked down by Interrogator-Chaplain Bareus he claimed the same reasoning, that the Dark Angels on Caliban had been abandoned with Luther while the Lion claimed the glories of the Great Crusade. Bareus was mortally wounded by Cephesus, but eventually the Fallen was slain by Brother Kaelan of the Dark Angels who received a field promotion to the rank of Interrogator-Chaplain by the dying Bareus.

This also ties in with the perspective given in Fallen Angels where Luther declares that the Lion has forgotten about the Dark Angels on Caliban. He then secedes from the Imperium and is joined by many of the Dark Angels stationed with him, including the Chapter Master Astelan and the Librarian Zahariel.

Notable Fallen Angels

 * Cypher - The most feared member of the Fallen whose true name is unknown. Wherever this phantasm of a man goes, other Fallen are not far behind. This name comes from ancient Caliban, where it was commonly known as Lord Cypher, a man who would renounce his name and become the keeper of the Order's traditions and ceremonies.
 * Luther - Discovered the Primarch Lion El'Jonson on the world of Caliban. Luther was El'Jonson's mentor, saviour, and friend. Luther raised the Lion as if he were his own child. Before the discovery of the Lion, Luther was the foremost hero of his times. Luther presented the Lion to the Order, the force of feudal knights on Caliban who helped raise the Primarch to fight the terrible mutant beats of Chaos which plagued the myriad deep forests of the planet. Sadly, Luther betrayed the Lion, rallying many of the Dark Angels on Caliban to his cause and killing any dissidents. When the Lion returned to Caliban following the end of the Horus Heresy, Luther attacked his fleet. The Lion and Luther engaged in single combat on Caliban after this betrayal. In this battle, Lion El'Jonson wounded Luther but could not bring himself to kill his oldest and dearest friend. Luther, however, proved merciless and sent a sorcerous blast straight towards Lion El'Jonson which mortally wounded the Primarch. At that moment, finally realizing how far he had fallen, Luther began to weep for what he had done to his friend, and the Dark Angels captured him and held him prisoner within the Dark Angels' fortress-monastery, which would become known as the Rock. At this point, the Chaos Gods scattered Luther's forces, the Fallen, through the Warp. The intense battle, however, had made the planet unstable, and Caliban was destroyed by the force of the Warp Storm. At present, Luther remains chained within the most secure cell of the Rock, his existence known only to the Supreme Grand Master of the Dark Angels Chapter, Commander Azrael, and those who held the rank before him. He is often used as an oracle to find the other Fallen. Azrael, like his predecessors, has attempted to make Luther repent for his crimes ten millennia earlier - but, like his predecessors, he has failed to do so. Luther only continues to rant and rave, claiming that Lion El'Jonson would come and absolve the Fallen, and that the day of the Lion's return was close at hand.
 * Merir Astelan - The Dark Angels Chapter Commander who ordered the planetary defenses on Caliban to fire on Lion El'Jonson's fleet after they returned from the Horus Heresy. He is currently in a cell in the deepest catacombs of the Rock.
 * Zhebdek Abaddas - Zhebek Abaddas was a former Captain who became a willing servant of the Dark Powers becoming a Slave to the Eightfold Path. Captain Abaddas wore heavily corrupted Mk III Power Armour and utilised a Bolter, Chainsword, and some sort of exotic weapon resembling a Kai gun.
 * Cadmus - Cadmus was a commanding officer of the Hyades Planetary Defense Force when Ragnar Blackmane of the Space Wolves Chapter arrived to tour the planet's impressive facilities. The Space Wolf was thoroughly impressed with the commander's discipline and military proficiency as a soldier. But Cadmus was not what he appeared to be, for he was in actuality one of The Fallen. He had secretly concealed himself amongst the citizens of Hyades and changed his identity, hiding in plain sight, masquerading as a professional soldier. To make matters worse, Cadmus harboured a darker secret still, for he was in league with the infamous Thousand Sons Traitor Legion Chaos Sorcerer Madox. Unbeknownst to both Cadmus and Ragnar Blackmane, the Fallen Angel's whereabouts had already been tracked to this world by the Dark Angels. Captain Jeremiah Gieyus led an elite Deathwing kill-team that had tracked, pursued and now prepared to capture the traitor, Cadmus. Stirring up old animosities that burned within both Chapters, upon their initial meeting with one another, Captain Gieyus's kill-team and Blackmane's Battle-Brothers of the Wolfblade got into a confrontation with one another. Eventually the two Chapters set aside their difference and went after the errant Cadmus, tracking down the traitor before he could make good his escape. Helping one another, they succeeded in capturing the heretic. With a newfound mutual respect for one another, Ragnar withdrew his forces and let the Dark Angels conclude their Chapter business in privacy. Captain Gieyus then executed the Fallen Angel known as Cadmus.
 * Abdaziel Magron - A former Sergeant who disappeared sometime during the Horus Heresy whilst engaged with traitor Space Marines of the World Eaters Legion near a small planetoid. Despite the raging space battle ranging over the planet the Imperial task force had managed to sustain the laser barrage on the doomed planet, but they were too successful as the beams scythed through the planet's crust and deep into the liquid core. The unstable planet exploded during the height of the battle which resulted in a large mass of debris impacting with the Dark Angels' capital ship Imperial Vengeance. The shockwave of the exploding ship hurled Sergeant Magron along with a large amount of wreckage into the void of space. As far as he could tell he was the only survivor, as he was cast adrift into space. With no chance of rescue, Magron used his Sus-an Membrane to shut down his vital functions and induce his body into a fugue state. The unlucky Sergeant floated through the void of space for over ten millennia, and eventually was pulled into the strong gravitational pull of the eddies near the large dust-wrapped nebula known as the Eye of Terror, and pulled into that hell-region of the Immaterium. His comatose body drifted far into the Eye itself and found itself on one of the many daemon worlds of this benighted realm. Sergeant Magron was found by another Astartes, a Fallen Angel by the name of Zhebdek Abaddas. Abaddas was a former Captain of the Dark Angels Legion, until he threw in his lot with Luther and became one of the Fallen. He was now a Slave to the Eight-fold path of Chaos. He helped revive his erstwhile kin, and apprised him of the situation - he was no longer in the 31st Millennium, but had in fact awoken in the 41st Millenium. Abaddas than proceeded to feed Magron a study stream of lies in regards to the outcome of the Horus Heresy; that Horus had won, killed the Emperor and that the Imperium of Man was no more. Instead, Horus now ruled a new Imperium of Chaos. He tried to corrupt his fellow Dark Angel, who slowly succumbed to the former Captain's lies and the corrupting influence of Chaos and the Blood God Khorne in particular. But in the end, Abaddas's lies did not avail him as Magron refused to acquiesce to his fate and fought Abaddas and killed him. Magron somehow found his way out of the Eye of Terror and was turned over to his former brothers of the Dark Angels Chapter. Stripped of his Power Armour and placed in a holding cell, Magron contemplated on his fate, prepared to face any trials put before him. There was only one end for a Dark Angel who had submitted to Chaos, that is to say, a Fallen Angel, once he fell into the hands of his Chapter. Taken to the great fortress-monastery on the Rock, the only remaining fragment of the Dark Angels’ home world of Caliban, Abdaziel Magron spent many months in a cold dungeon, interrogated by the great Chapter’s Interrogator-Chaplains and Librarians. The interrogation was exhaustive. It used any available means where it was suspected that Magron might be holding back information or harbouring secret thoughts. Magron made a complete confession and repented his loss of faith in the Emperor. The harsher methods used on him dragged no complaint from his lips. He said nothing in mitigation of his sin. But finally he was allowed extreme unction, offered the last blessings and given a quick death.