The Red Wings is a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter and successor of the Blood Angels, created during an unknown Founding.
Created as they were from the Blood Angels' gene-seed, they carry the genetic flaws inherited from Sanguinius.
Like many of their contemporary Successor Chapters of the Sanguinary Brotherhood founded in later centuries, the Red Wings were greatly affected by the genetic flaws of their Blood Angels' heritage known as the Black Rage and the Red Thirst.
In the wake of the Devastation of Baal, the Red Wings suffered terrible losses which dramatically reduced the number of Firstborn Space Marines. The majority of the Chapter is now comprised of Primaris Space Marines who were taken as reinforcements. The result is that many of these Primaris Marines were ignorant of the nature and threat presented to the gene-sons of Sanguinius by the Black Rage. High Chaplain Astorath the Grim of the Blood Angels eventually arrived during the battle on the world of Dulcis to help the Chapter learn to recognise and contain this threat.
Chapter History[]
Notable Campaigns[]
- Scions of Sanguinius Conclave (999.M41) - Teetering on the brink of oblivion following the events on the Shrine World of Sabien, the fate of the Blood Angels Chapter now required the magnanimity of their Successor Chapters. Lord Commander Dante summoned all of the Blood Angels' successors of the Sanguinary Brotherhood for a conclave on Baal following the near-disastrous Chapter civil war that nearly tore the Blood Angels apart. Dante called for the support of the Blood Angels successors to help aid the Chapter in the protection of their common primarch's homeworld and his remains from the attack of both the Tyranids and the forces of Chaos. While Dante led the discussion at the conclave, the Apothecaria was working on a radical new procedure to replenish the ranks of the Blood Angels in one swift stroke: the lost art of replicae -cloning. Caecus was the Chief Apothecary or Apothecae Majoris of the Blood Angels. Disturbed by the dwindling numbers of his Chapter, and dreading its extinction, he was involved in fruitless experiments, which Commander Dante ordered stopped, to clone Space Marines, thus eliminating the need to go through the arduous process of the maturation and implantation of the gene-seed in an aspirant. However, Caecus disobeyed the order and secretly continued the experiments, prodded by an agent of the vile Chaos Space Marine Apothecary Fabius Bile. He was tricked into bringing Bile, who was disguised as a well-known Adeptus Mechanicus Magos Biologis, to Baal, mistakenly thinking the false "magos" would help in cloning Space Marines to increase the Blood Angels' numbers. Through Bile's manipulations, Caecus was duped, and only managed to create monstrous, mutant clone-Astartes known as "Bloodfiends" who were consumed by the Red Thirst. These creatures were a shattered mirror reformed in the image of a Blood Angel, but lacked any of the qualities that could be thought of as Human. The mutations that cursed the gene-seed of the Blood Angels had been enhanced by the machinations and Chaos tech-heresy of Fabius Bile, and with each drop of blood they consumed, the thirst that dominated the Bloodfiends grew stronger. The mutants broke free from the confines of Caecus' laboratorium and began to run rampant through the sacred halls of the fortress-monastery of the Blood Angels. The Red Wings, along with the Blood Angels and their fellow Successors successfully defended their most sacred of sites on Baal -- the Golden Sarcophagus of Primarch Sanguinius within the sacred sepulchre where the Great Angel lay for all time, sleeping in light, forever preserved. The Sons of Sanguinius destroyed the horde of mutants and erased the stain of Chaos from their midst. They had paid for the continued sanctity of the Great Angel with their blood, and in the aftermath of this misery, Lord Commander Dante took responsibility for what had happened and he accepted it without complaint. Dante believed that it was his hubris that had brought the Chapter to this dark place. The Successor Chapters took this into consideration as well as Lord Commander Dante's original request for the successors to grant the Blood Angels a small tithe of their Chapter's initiates in order to replenish the ranks of the Chapter. The Sanguinary Brotherhood unanimously agreed to hand over to the Blood Angels some of their own neophytes to help their ancestral Chapter rebuild its strength in the wake of the Chaos assault -- and in preparation for the oncoming assault by the Tyranids and the forces of Chaos.
- Devastation of Baal (ca. 999.M41) - The Red Wings were among the forces deployed by the Blood Angels' Sanguinary Brotherhood successors to defend their parent Chapter's homeworld of Baal from an assault by the Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan.
- Battle of Dulcis (Unknown Date.M42) - Dulcis is an Imperial Swamp World located near the Cicatrix Maledictum in the Imperium Nihilus. Its surface was primarily comprised of marshlands with the few regions of dry ground serving as the sites of Human settlement. The primary export of the world was meat from its native species of large and aggressive mudeels and crustaceans. At the time of the Indomitus Crusade, Dulcis was invaded by Enslavers from the Warp and the world's population of forty million people ultimately had to be exterminated by the Red Wings and the Blood Angels. During the campaign, the Red Wings' captain, Ares, the only Firstborn among a Red Wings complement comprised solely of Primaris Marines, was killed when Lieutenant Jadriel unexpectedly fell victim to the Black Rage. Without a Firstborn to explain the flaw that afflicted all of the scions of Sanguinius, the Red Wings Primaris Marines had no idea what was happening to them until the arrival of a Blood Angels force under the command of High Chaplain Astorath the Grim, who soon taught the Red Wings the nature of their curse and how it was to be contained. After the elimination of the Enslaver plague, Dulcis itself was left intact for resettlement at a later date.
Chapter Beliefs[]
The Red Wings are known to make battle prayers before combat, and they revere Sanguinius as their primarch and father.
Chapter Gene-Seed[]
A mutation in the Red Wings' gene-seed leads each Firstborn battle-brother of the Chapter to develop pale, white hair. The Primaris Marines of the Chapter do not inherit this trait as their newer gene-seed lacks the mutation.
Chapter Fortress-Monastery[]
The Red Wings' fortress-monastery is actually composed of five void fortresses or "void-castles" called the Pentagarde. The Chapter's Armoury, vehicle pool and other infrastructure are all split between the different void-castles.
- Joyous Garde - The Joyous Garde is one of the five void-castles that comprise the Red Wings' Pentagarde.
Notable Red Wings[]
- Chapter Master Pelhnagror (KIA) - Pehlnagor was the Chapter Master of the Red Wings who was slain during the Devastation of Baal. Having foreseen the hellish battle the Red Wings would face against Hive Fleet Leviathan during the Devastation of Baal, Pelhnagror ordered that none of the Red Wings' Pentagarde void-castles take part in Baal's defence. The Pentagarde served as the Chapter's mobile fortress-monasteries and were home to the Armoury and vehicles needed to keep the Chapter functioning. While the Chapter suffered severe losses in the Devastation of Baal, the Red Wings were able to readily begin rebuilding their numbers, thanks to Pelhnagror's decision to preserve the Pentagarde.
- Captain Ares (KIA) - Ares is the captain of the Red Wings' 9th Company and was part of the forces sent to aid the Blood Angels by the Red Wings during the Devastation of Baal. Reuniting the Chapter after the battle and the death of Chapter Master Pelhnagror, Ares was the only Firstborn Space Marine to stay with the Red Wings on Dulcis. Ares was slain by Lieutenant Jadriel after this Primaris brother unexpectedly succumbed to the Black Rage. Unfortunately, Ares' premature death left the new Primaris Marines that reinforced the Red Wings ignorant of how to recognise and deal with their battle-brothers afflicted by the Black Rage. Only the arrival of the Blood Angels' High Chaplain Astorath the Grim allowed the the Primaris Marines of the Red Wings to learn the true extent of the flaw present among all the scions of Sanguinius and how it was to be contained.
- Lieutenant Jadriel - Jadriel was a Primaris Marine of Sanguinius' lineage who joined the Red Wings as a reinforcement after the Devastation of Baal. Like most of the Primaris Marines of the Red Wings, he had no knowledge that his genetic line was susceptible to the Black Rage. When he unexpectedly fell to that flaw and slew his Firstborn Captain Ares, all of the remaining Red Wing Primaris Astartes on the world of Dulcis were left with no understanding of what had happened until Astorath the Grim arrived to educate them.
- Sergeant Bedevoir
- Lamorak - Lamorak is a Sanguinary Priest of the Red Wings.
Chapter Appearance[]
Chapter Colours[]
The Red Wings Chapter wears blue-white power armour the colour of arctic snow, while their left shoulder pauldrons, knee plates, and coulters (elbow guards) are a lacquered ruby.
Chapter Badge[]
The Red Wings' Chapter badge is not listed in current Imperial records.
Sources[]
- Astorath: Angel of Mercy (Novel) by Guy Haley, Chs. 1-3, 7-8, 15
- Red Fury (Novel) by James Swallow, Ch. 5
- The Devastation of Baal (Novel) by Guy Haley, Chs. 10, 12, 29