Donatos Aphael

Donatos Aphael serves as the current master of "The Blooded," the Blood Angels Chapter's 2nd Battle Company, and also serves as the Chapter's Master of the Watch. An exceptional battlefield commander and exemplar to his Battle-Brothers, Aphael's perfect features hide a tormented soul. All Blood Angels wrestle with the Red Thirst, their skill in battle and tempered aggression rightly interwoven with the genetic flaw that slumbers in their flesh. Before his Blooding, Aphael was on a path often dictated by the Red Thirst. In almost every battle the blood rage robbed him of his senses, sending him howling into his foes. Each time the Captain had been able to claw himself back from the edge of madness, but each time the recovery grew harder. Perhaps this was why Aphael was p;aced in command of the 2nd Company, as Dante recognised a great leader in Donatos and was loath to lose him to the ravages of the Red Thirst. Fortunately, the Chapter Master's faith was well founded, and in time Donatos would rise to the Captaincy of the 2nd Company, with the responsibility of leadership and the sacrosanct traditions of the Blooded to guide him. However, it remains a fine line between control and madness, one Aphael must face whenever he leads his brothers to battle.

Under his leadership the Blooded have known many great victories over the enemies of the Emperor, and in recent years Dante has come to favour the 2nd Company for those war zones of greatest importance to the Chapter. It was Aphael and the Blooded that were despatched when the mineral-rick Grimmok Sector was invaded by the expansionist armies of the Tau Empire. On worlds of ash and sand, the Blood Angels 2nd Company fought a war of attack and counter-attack, striking the xenos in swift and bloody ambushes and withdrawing before the Tau could muster their full might. The aline commanders came to believe Aphael's force was much larger than only a hundred Space Marines, the smoking fields of dead Fire Warriors and gutted Devilfish left in their wake seemingly the work of a massive army of the Imperium. For five long months the Blooded blunted the advance of the Tau armies into the Grimmok Sector, ripping apart the xenos piece by piece until their leaders acknowledged that their losses were unsustainable and their counter-measures ineffective, and ultimately retreated before the might of the Blood Angels.

Despite his strong, youthful appearance, Captain Aphael is a veteran of countless bloody campaigns and bitter wars. When Aphael and the Blooded fought alongside the Astral Knights against the Necron World Engine, the Captain learned the true hatread for the ancient aliens. Victory came only when the Astral Knights sacrificed themselves to destroy the xenos space station, and Aphael was among those that would call for the creation of a monument to the fallen Chapter. The battle-brothers present that day recall the cold rage in their Captain's eyes as the shattered remains of the Astral Knights' Battle Barge was driven into the ash wastes of Safehold, a towering tombstone to the vanquished Chapter.

Wargear
[[Category:D]] [[Category:A]]
 * Artificer Power Armour - Captain Aphael stands out from the other members of the Blooded. Pale skinned and perfect featured, he wears sculpted power armour of a most rare and ancient design. Every aspect of his regalia announces him as a Captain of the Adeptus Astartes, from winged icons and Purity Seals that are stamped onto his ceramite plates to the golden eagle heads upon his backpack.
 * Iron Halo
 * The Blooded Tabard - The Captain bears the red and yellow colours and sacred icons of the 2nd Company upon his tabard, the garment itself part of the honoured trappings of Company command.
 * Blade of the Blooded - This master-crafted Power Sword is perfectly balanced and moves like a steel shadow in the Company Captain's expert grip, scything down his foes in rapid blurs of crackling silver.
 * Artificer Plasma Pistol - The Captain's finely crafted plasma pistol contains within its magnetic coils the fearsome power of a small sun, its searing blasts able to burn through armour and flesh in seconds.
 * Frak & Krak Grenades