Angels Revenant

The Angels Revenant are a Codex Astartes-compliant Loyalist Space Marine Chapter. This Chapter's origins can be traced to the 8th Founding which allegedly occurred during the mid-34th Millennium, undertaken amid the dark times of the Nova Terra Interregnum, when the Imperium of Man had been split into twin interstellar empires. Ultimately, the Angels Revenant met their ultimate fate, with the rise of the Necrons Maynarkh Dynasty within the Orpheus Sector in 990.M41. It is believed that there are no more than a few hundred Angels Revenant, far from the Orephus Sector on crusade, that perhaps survive.

Chapter History
Noble if aloof by reputation even for the warriors of the Adeptus Astartes, this Chapter of the 8th Founding, and of the proud lineage of the Ultramarines, had spent much of its long history on crusade throughout the western Imperium. After the successful prosecution of the Orphean War of Faith, the sector rebuilds under its surviving Imperial commanders and, by special dispensation, many regiments of the Imperial Guard and the survivors of Saint Marduk's pilgrimage are allowed to settle its worlds, either laying down their arms or integrating fully into the local Planetary Defence Forces, greatly strengthening them. The minor colony world of Libethra, upon which Saint Marduk had shown favour, is converted to a Shrine World in hounour of Marduk and becomes a cemetery for the war's millions of glorious and blessed dead. Overlordship of the Shrine World is given over to the Angels Revenant, until now a fleet-based Chapter, as their domain, with a sacred charge of duty for the protection of its reliquaries and cerements -- the Space Marines' permanent residence further strengthening the Orpheus Sector.

As stern supporters of the Ecclesiarchy and the Imperial Creed, the bounty of the Orphean Ministorum was given freely to the construction of the Chapter's Fortress-Monastery, while the hardy Feral World inhabitants of Patara formed the basis of new generations of Neophytes for the Chapter. While completely autonomous of sector authority they served as protectors, guarding the pilgrimage routes of the Cold Veil, while their Chapter ships plied tirelessly the borders of the Hesod Nebula and the Barren Stars, hunting down and slaughtering xenos corsairs and marauders that had long made these trackless regions their lair.

In 990.M41, the violent Warp turbulence that has held sway across the western division of the Orpheus Sector for more than three centuries is rapidly and suddenly extinguished by a shockwave in the Immaterium, leaving only the Howling Vortex remaining. All across the sector, Astropaths, Psykers and witches are subjected to sudden and inexplicable deaths or are hopelessly mind-burned. Reports of mass-hysteria, unexplained murders, disappearances and mania increase exponentially across the worlds of the Cold Veil and the Drucillan sub-sector. The Ordo Malleus of the Conclave Orpheus, based on Apollyon, issues an order for maximum vigilance to all Imperial authorities, believing the Warp disturbance and its attendant phenomena are but a precursor to a major incursion into the sector.

Of the final fate of the Angels Revenant Space Marine Chapter, little can be said for definite. Such scattered and fragmentary evidence that has been uncovered about their final hour suggest unsurprisingly that they fought to the last against the overwhelming forces unleashed against them, the Libethra System being found littered with the radiation-ghosts of deadly void combat and spreading clouds of micro-wrechage. Furthermore, the ancient hull of at least one of the vast Necron Tomb Ships that were later sighted above Amarah held fresh scars consistent with the unique signature of Space Marine bombardment cannon strikes at extreme close range. Indeed it may be the case that such was the resistance the Angels Revenant put up that the invaders resorted to breaking through Libethra's crust and unleashing the planet's molten core to seal their fate conclusively. When news of the Chapter's martyrdom reached the Synod Tempestus a Segmentum-wide day of requiem was decreed, the bells of a thousand worlds tolling to mark their passing. It is thought now that no more than a few hundred Angels Revenant perhaps survive.

Notable Campaigns

 * Dark Marches Crusade (610.M36) - In the wake of the Age of Apostasy, the Segmentum Tempestus sees a resurgence in power and renaissance of expansion, known to Imperial historians as the "Rising Storm." With the blessing of Terra, Segmentum authorities launch a number of crusades and campaigns to destroy lingering threats within their domain, and push back and fortify the borders of the Imperium itself. The most successful of these is the Dark Marches Crusade, commanded by Lord Tempestus Hal Orpheus, lineal descendant of the Rogue Trader house that had first explored the region's sinister reaches millennia previously. The Angels Revenant provide four companies of Astartes to take part in the massive Imperial Crusade.
 * Orphean War of Faith (903-922.M39) - With the military and ruling classes set against each other in bloody internecine conflict, and the Orpheus Sector itself balanced on the edge of the abyss, a ramshackle fleet arrives at the capital world of Amarah bringing with it unexpected aid - a crusad force of Imperial zealots, militia, Imperial Guardsmen and pilgrims driven into martial fervour by the preaching of the ecstatic visions of the Arch-Confessor Marduk of Helvamon. Marduk declares a War of Faith for the souls of the Orpheus Sector, claiming the God-Emperor himself had warned him of a great and terrible threat to all Mankind. Further reinforcements in the form of the Angels Revenant Space Marine Chapter in its entirety, as well as the Adeptus Sororitas Order of the Valorous Heart and the Order of the Black Sepulchre, and a taskforce from the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition strengthens the Imperial cause, as do countless volunteers from the citizenry of those worlds as yet untrammelled by war, stirred up by Marduk's oratory. Thus begins the Orphean War of Faith, a bitter conflict that will last for nearly twenty years and see a full fifth of the sector's population slain by its end, and countless more ruined, maimed and displaced.
 * The Bane of Saint Marduk (921.M39) - Despite a successful Imperial victory of the Orphean War of Faith, nearly all the major Traitor-held worlds are either reconquered or laid waste save one, the Chaos stronghold of Colkasth. This Hive World has been fortified and corrupted into a living hell, its population used as raw materials by the Death Mongers Warpsmiths to fashion flesh-weapons and mutilated and insane cannon-fodder to defend their prize with. Despite continuous pressure by the forces of Arch-Confessor Marduk's forces, they are unable to reconquer the recalcitrant world. It is known from the last signals received from the warzone that Markuk's forces were making headway, matching the fury of the warp-tainted defenders of Colkasth with faith and fire, and had succeeded in forcing multiple landing zones on the planet's surface, when Astropathic communications with the besieging Imperial fleet abruptly ceased and the alarm was raised. The Angels Revenant Strike Cruiser Intercessor was the first to respond to the raised alarm. It is attacked and severely damaged on its arrival on the system's edge by two small but extremely powerful void craft of unknown (presumed xenos) origin. The Space Marine vessel is damaged before destroying one attacker and driving the other off. Those on the near crippled Intercessor witness a great star battle erupting across the inner system on their long range auguries, but are themselves unable to intervene. By the time they limp to Colkasth, the unknown attacking force has departed, leaving a twisted field of burning hulks drifting in orbit around the world, its fortresses and cities shattered and seething with unearthly radioactive fire below. There are, however, scattered knots of survivors amid the wreckage and fallout. Those that bear stigmata of Chaos and treachery, the Angels Revenant put to the sword, while those few survivors who fought for the Emperor, wounded and often catatonic with shock, are carried away to salvation before a final ash-black winter claims the world. Colksath is forever afterwards to be named Saint Markduk's Bane, as the martyred Arch-Confessor himself was soon afterwards beatified by the Holy Synod of the Ecclesiarchy.

Chapter Organisation
The Angels Revenant Chapter conformed closely to the tenants of the Codex Astartes in organisation and wargear. Thanks to its long history of independent Crusade operations, where resupply was uncertain, the Chapter preferred to rely on the more common patterns of Adeptus Astartes wargear, and placed as high a value on restoring and repairing the wargear of its fallen as it did in venerating its dead. This served to provide a close spiritual link between successive generations of the Chapter's warriors. The Chapter was known to maintain a venerated core of Mark IV 'Maximus' pattern relic armour throughout its long history.

Chapter Colours
The Angels Revenant Chapter colours are dark cobalt blue with gold-trimmed shoulder pads coloured a pale white. There is also some white on the power pack and silver on the soles of their boots. Their squad and Chapter iconography is black.

Chapter Badge
The Angels Revenant Chapter badge is a white skull wreathed in a burning black flame, centered on a field of pale white.