The Death Wardens is a little-known Loyalist Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels Chapter, created during the Third Founding. This Chapter stands as stalwart guardians over an unnamed Shrine World located in the Eastern Fringe, having stood sentinel there since before the rise of the Ecclesiarchy.
The inhabitants of this world are known for their dedicated worship of the angelic Primarch Sanguinius, who tread its surface during the Great Crusade. The Chapter ensures that the Ecclesiarchy does not attempt to change its ways to fall in line with the orthodoxy of the Imperial Cult.
Chapter History[]
Signus Campaign[]
The Death Wardens were created from the genetic lineage of the heroic Blood Angels during the Third Founding of the 31st Millennium. Their initial members were provided not only by the Blood Angels themselves but several Chapters of the Sanguinary Brotherhood, including the Angels Encarmine, Angels Numinous, Angels Sanguine, Blood Drinkers and the Flesh Tearers.
The initial officer cadre was formed from several Space Marine officers taken from these various Chapters, consisting of a Chapter Master, his Sanguinary Guard, a Chief Librarian, Sanguiniary High Priest, High Chaplain, and a first captain. These officers were all veterans of the galaxy-wide conflict of the Horus Heresy and possessed knowledge about the forgotten Signus Campaign and where the Signus Cluster was located.
That lamentable conflict saw the Blood Angels Legion deploy in its entirety at the behest of the Warmaster Horus. Unaware of his brother's perfidy, Sanguinius willingly complied and immediately set out for this volatile region of space. Unbeknownst to the Blood Angels, they were blindly walking into a deadly trap, for the Signus Cluster and its central world, Signus Prime, had fallen prey to agents of the Ruinous Powers and become a veritable Realm of Chaos -- a system of hellish Daemon Worlds under the rule of a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh known as Kyriss the Perverse.
After his corruption by Chaos, Horus hated and feared Sanguinius more than any of his brother primarchs and wove many strategies to ensnare or slay him, though all ultimately failed. The Warmaster hoped to turn the Blood Angels' hidden genetic curses, later known as the Black Rage and the Red Thirst, against the IXth Legion in order to enthrall them to the Blood God Khorne and turn yet another Space Marine Legion to his cause.
Ultimately, Horus' plan would fail and the Blood Angels would cleanse the Signus Cluster of its daemonic infestation, but a darkness would forever after stain the souls of the Blood Angels Legion. This terrible curse would continue to manifest in the centuries to come as the great Flaw that would afflict the Blood Angels and all of their Successor Chapters.
Aftermath[]
In the aftermath of the Signus Campaign, Sanguinius commanded that his sons excise all evidence that the IXth Legion had ever come to the Signus Cluster. The Blood Angels gathered up every battle-brother's corpse, every broken vehicle, every torn piece of armour or blunted sword. With that their work was nearly complete, save for the spent casings of a few bolt shells lying lost and buried in the sands. The Blood Angels would leave nothing behind in that blighted, murdered place. Not their ships, not their relics and not their precious dead.
No one would return to the Signus Cluster. This command was etched into the IXth Legion's Book of Hours by the primarch's own hand. The Blood Angels would not build a monument or grave marker on Signus Prime, as they had on other planets where so much Astartes blood had been shed. The hundreds upon hundreds of honoured Blood Angels dead would be taken home to Baal to be buried on the slopes of Mount Seraph, the injured warships to Imperial stardocks for repair and re-armament.
Warning buoys and automated beacons were deployed all about the trinary star system's perimeter, there to turn back any ships that might come that way in the years ahead. The Signus Cluster was declared Mortae Perpetua; "forever dead." It would be left lifeless and rotting until its suns burned cold, with nothing but the echoes of those who perished there to bear witness.
Forbidden Knowledge[]
By Death Wardens tradition, this forbidden knowledge became known only to the Chapter's command, except for the Master of the Forge, due to his dual-loyalty to the Omnissiah. In order to keep this knowledge hidden from outsiders and prying eyes, such as the Inquisition, it is not written down. Instead, following the death of one of these senior officers their body is ritualistically eaten by their successor, ensuring the secrets of this forgotten campaign remain hidden and are passed on to the next generation of officers.
This ancient practice harkens back to the ancient days of the early Great Crusade when the old IXth Legion (then still known as the "Revenant Legion"), operating in the most extreme battlefield conditions, had been forced by necessity to adopt a number of practises that might otherwise be seen as monstrous. One among these, fostered by the nature of their design and the conditions under which they fought, was the consumption of fallen captains by their followers in order to preserve their hard-won skills and experience.
As a mark of honour as well as practicality, it also became accepted that recruits took the names of those whose skills they absorbed, and lieutenants would assume the names of their captains. Such was the resemblance of each member of the IXth to their flawless brothers that most outsiders failed to notice this subtle brand of immortality.
However, down the long millennia the Death Wardens have not always been able to retrieve the bodies of their fallen officers. Should the situation prove dire, and there are only a small number of commanding officers or even a lone survivor, the need to pass on this ancient knowledge becomes critical in the extreme. In such instances, the remaining survivors would have to allow themselves to be consumed by the newly-elected command cadre that would replace them.
To alleviate such dire consequences, the Chapter has attempted to bypass such a high-risk procedure by imparting their forbidden knowledge to an aspirant, who was then ritually sacrificed to a new member of the Chapter command. However, each attempt has ended in abject failure. The Death Wardens' commanders are unsure why this drastic measure has not worked. Should the unthinkable occur and the entire command cadre be wiped out, a final failsafe has been put in place.
The Chapter's Master of the Forge has been instructed to wake a specific Dreadnought that slumbers deep within the Death Wardens' fortress-monastery, which contains the body of their first Chapter Master. His partially devoured body, which somehow still clings to life, remains in eternal stasis within the Dreadnought's sarcophagus, until they are summoned. Upon being awakened, this Dreadnought will then share his knowledge of the Signus Campaign with the new Chapter command.
Chapter Appearance[]
Chapter Colours[]
The Death Wardens' colour scheme is not listed in current Imperial records.
Chapter Badge[]
The Death Wardens' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
Trivia[]
The Death Wardens were created by Games Workshop employee Wade Pryce, who hosts The Warhammer Community Podcast. His Chapter was showcased during the podcast's twelfth episode. Wade would later scrap this idea to create a different Successor Chapter of the Blood Angels called the Angels Erythrean.