The Celestial Swords was two now-extinct Loyalist Space Marine Chapters created at some time in the third century of the 38th Millennium, during an unknown Founding and from uncertain lineage.
The Celestial Swords hold the unique distinction of actually having been two separate Chapters founded with identical names and heraldries due to a mistake made by the Imperial bureaucracy. Almost nothing else is known about this Chapter in official Imperial records.
Chapter History[]
Over the millennia, some Space Marine Chapters have been annihilated, only for a new Chapter to be founded with the same name, heraldry and traditions of their forebears. On one occasion, two Chapters named the Celestial Swords were created with identical names and matching heraldry. Such is the bureaucracy of the Adeptus Administratum that the blunder was not realised until two standard centuries later, when both Chapters were wiped out simultaneously by Abaddon the Despoiler's 9th Black Crusade in 537.M38, and the bodies of nearly two-thousand Battle-Brothers were recovered in the Cicerine System.
Notable Campaigns[]
- 9th Black Crusade (537.M38) - As part of a wider strategy to disable the Imperial Navy's naval fortress of Cancephalus, Abaddon the Despoiler led his 9th Black Crusade against the heaving population of nearby Antecanis. The seat of the world's Imperial Commander, Monarchive, was besieged by Abaddon's vanguard. By the time Imperial Guard regiments from Cancephalus arrived to reinforce the surviving defenders, Abaddon and his forces had already left the planet's surface. As a gesture of contempt, the Black Legion dropped a dozen Cyclonic warheads onto the ruins of Monarchive. The seventeen-year-long war that ensued eventually robbed both Antecanis and Cancephalus of their most precious resource -- manpower. Without the fleets of the naval fortress to stop him, Abaddon was able to ravage the sector at will, and his Sorcerers were free to conduct the rituals required to weaken the walls of reality in that region of space with impunity. Several Space Marine Chapters, including two Chapters known as the Celestial Swords, intervened in the ongoing conflict in an attempt to help bring peace back to the region. Unknown to the wider Imperium, these were two Chapters bearing identical names and heraldries founded at the same time that had been sent to fight in the same conflict! This mistake of the Imperial bureaucracy was only discovered when both Chapters were wiped out by Abaddon's forces and the bodies of nearly two-thousand Battle-Brothers were recovered in the Cicerine System.
Chapter Appearance[]
Chapter Colours[]
The Celestial Swords' Chapter colours are not listed in current Imperial records.
Chapter Badge[]
The Celestial Swords' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
Sources[]
- Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pg. 59, "Unknown Foundings - A Legacy Reforged"