Angels Penitent
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| Founding Chapter: | Blood Angels[2] | ||
| Founding: | Ninth Founding[4c] | ||
| Chapter Master: | Varzival[2] | ||
| Homeworld: | Malpertuis[4a] | ||
| Fortress-Monastery: | Kanvolis[2] | ||
| Colours: | Black with umber streaks. Show company and squad belonging using the Blood Angels system[5] | ||
| Battle Cry | "The Emperor condemns!", formerly "We rise on burning wings."[2] | ||
The Angels Penitent are a Space Marine Chapter, formerly known as the Angels Resplendent.[1]
Contents
History
The Angels Resplendent were founded in M34 during the 9th Founding, on the ninth world of a poisoned star.[4c] In their first iteration, they were a Codex-compliant Chapter who wore orange power armour.[4e] At some point, their original homeworld became uninhabitable[4f], after which they relocated to Malpertuis.
Like all Blood Angels Successor Chapters, the Angels Resplendent were prone to the Red Thirst and the Black Rage, until their visionary Chief Librarian, Xoren Castaneda, foresaw a way to heal the Chapter from within. When the Angels' Chapter Master succumbed to the Black Rage, Castaneda took control of the Chapter, declaring himself 'Chapter Magister' and initiating its Reformation. Castaneda rejected the Codex Astartes as he rebuilt the Angels Resplendent as a brotherhood of warrior-artisans, organised into nine company-equivalent 'Rhapsodies', each led by a 'Knight Exemplar'. The Chapter as a whole would be led by its Librarians, renamed as 'Architects Radiant', with Chaplains retained as 'the Black Elegy'. In honour of its new doctrine, the Chapter's colours were changed from orange to azure blue.[4e]
Under Castaneda's rule, it became expected for battle-brothers to create works of art when not on campaign, with emphasis placed on painting, sculpting, and calligraphy. As each marine was expected to partake in some form of artistic expression, the action itself became semi-meditative and the marines often found themselves mentally grounded and secured by creating art. For several thousand years, the Angels Resplendent fielded little-to-no Death Company and it was believed the ritual act of creation helped the Astartes' bodies and minds.[2] However, the significant drop in instances of the Black Rage was not down to the effect of artistry upon the soul, but due to a sorcerous ritual Castaneda and the other Architects had performed, a side effect of which was the creation of the Reverie, a Warp-wound on the surface of Malpertuis which manifested as a vast, mysterious forest.[4e] The Angels Resplendent began using the Reverie to test new Aspirants, requiring them to navigate through the forest to the Chapter's fortress-monastery, Kanvolis. Successful Aspirants' experiences within the Reverie would define their role within the Chapter, though the memories of their trial would be erased upon transformation into a Space Marine.[4a]
At some point in the Chapter's history Castaneda himself disappeared in search of enlightenment, but he left behind a secret order within the Architects Radiant called the 'Paladins Luminous' whose role was to watch over the Chapter in secret.[4g] Their service was defined by opposition to the Anima Torquentor, a daemonic force connected to the Reverie which sought to corrupt the Chapter.[4e] Eventually, Castaneda's apprentice Satori came to believe that the Anima Torquentor would inevitably break free and orchestrated its escape in order to re-cage it. In this he took Varzival Czervantes as a sometimes unknowing ally, influencing his Aspirant trial to unleash the Torquentor then partnering with him decades later as the newly-elevated Knight Exemplar of the Rhapsody Eternal. Their efforts to thwart the Torquentor were largely successful, though one of the Torquentor's 'Inheritor' vessels escaped Kanvolis into the Reverie.[4h] Satori vanished in the aftermath of these events, tapping Architect Athanazius as his successor in watching over the Chapter.[7]
Fall
At some point during M41, Varzival, now Chapter Magister, took the Rhapsody Celestial (First Company) and the majority of the Chapter's Architects on a great crusade across the Imperium. During this time, the Chapter was left in the hands of the Black Elegy, and that is when it changed forever. A stranger transported to Malpertuis via the Reverie washed up on the shores of a river near Kanvolis, a tall and whip-cord thin man with a deep stomach scar and glowing eyes. The stranger was brought before the Black Elegy and over the course of weeks and months he explained that the Angels Resplendent were hiding from the legacy of Sanguinius. The Black Elegy would eventually accept his Lethean Revelation, declaring the man a prophet of the Emperor and that the Angels Resplendent were no more.[3]
This led to a bloody - if brief - civil war, where several remaining Knights Exemplar and all of the remaining Architects were murdered by their brothers in a massacre within the Librarius. The gathered Architects were set upon by a horde of their brothers whipped into a frenzy by the Chaplains' rhetoric. Faced with this they did not fight back, instead stopping the horde of murderous Angels with the battle-cry of their Chapter, "We shall rise on burning wings!" For a moment it appeared as if it would work, until Chaplain Malvoisin stepped forward and shouted the new cry of the Angels Penitent, "The Emperor Condemns!" The Architects were all killed, the Chapter Librarius was set on fire, and all great works of art in the Monastery and on the planet were broken. The Chaplains declared themselves to be the ruling council of the Chapter, known forever as the 'Crown of Thorns'. The Angels Resplendent became the Angels Penitent, with brothers practicing extreme forms of self-mutilation and denial. All forms of artistic expression were banned on pain of death, and brothers were encouraged to betray one another to the council for breaches of new Chapter dogma. Subsequently, the number of Death Company marines skyrocketed, to the point that several hundred marines are under the effects of the Black Rage and Red Thirst. It even became common for Scouts to suffer these genetic curses and the Chapter stands on the brink of extinction.[2]
Unbeknownst to anyone save his victim, Architect Athanazius managed to possess his own killer in the moment of his body's death and spent the following years keeping witness as the Angels Penitent descended further into self-denying zealotry and tyranny, subtly ensuring that the stranger's hold over the Chapter was firm but not absolute, in accordance with Satori's instructions. Ironically, a veteran Penitent marine in whom Athanazius had planted the seed of guilt decided to murder Athanazius's host identity for his crimes against the Resplendent during the coup, unknowingly slaying Athanazius and leaving the Angels completely at the stranger's mercy.[7]
It is hoped by some who hold to the old ways in secret within the Chapter that Varzival will return and reclaim the Chapter, but it has been many hundreds of years. The unnamed Prophet still stands as ruler of the Council of Thorns along with Chaplain Malvoisin and has declared Varzival and the 1st Company dead, or worse, heretics. It is suspected by some within the Chapter that the unnamed Prophet is of Chaos origin, and that he has bewitched the Chaplains.[2]
Indomitus Crusade
They served in the Indomitus Crusade Fleet Primus as part of Battle Group Faustus's Task force IX, alongside the Shadow Griffons.[9]
Notable Battles
Culture
The Angels Resplendent were renowned for their skills in painting and sculpting, a trait inherited from their founding Chapter. However, after becoming the Angels Penitent, they began to punish any form of artistic expression with execution.[5]
Organisation
The Angels Resplendent were originally a Codex Chapter.[4e] Following their Reformation by Xoren Castaneda, they abandoned the Codex and reorganised into nine 'Rhapsodies', each with their own character, duties and iconography.[4i]
- Rhapsody Celestial: Led by the Chapter Magister, it contained the Chapter's veterans and was equivalent to a Codex Astartes First Company. The Rhapsody Celestial was absent from Malpertuis during the events of the Chapter civil war and may return someday, if they have not been lost.
- Rhapsody Vigilant: In charge of the security of Kanvolis, the Chapter's fortress-monastery, they were the least artistic of the rhapsodies and the first to embrace the Lethean Revelation. Their sigil was a silver shield.
- Rhapsodies Fulminant, Conflagrant and Refulgent: The so-called 'Crusading Rhapsodies', they fulfilled the Chapter's duty to the Imperium by fighting wars in its name.
- Rhapsody Concordant: The most level-headed rhapsody, they undertook explorator duties. Their sigil was jade scales.
- Rhapsody Astral: One of the three 'Questing Rhapsodies', they were supposed to scour the stars for fitting recruits but mostly ignored this duty to pursue their own obsessions within their hidden quarters in Kanvolis.
- Rhapsody Empyrean: Another Questing Rhapsody, half their number accompanied Chapter Magister Czervantes when he left Malpertuis.
- Rhapsody Eternal: The final Questing Rhapsody, they were Varzival Czervantes' first command. Their sigil was an amethyst rose.
Heraldry
As the Angels Resplendent, the Chapter wore first orange power armour, then following their Reformation, azure blue. The Chapter badge was said to be similar to that of the Blood Angels themselves.[4e]
As the Angels Penitent, the Chapter wear tarnished soot-black with white lines, evocative of thorny vines, snaking across their armour. Their symbol has become a skull with a crown of thorns.[2]
Chapter Elements
Fleet
Notable Members
- Varzival Czervantes — Chapter Magister[2][4]
- Athanazius — Chief Librarian[2]
- Satori — Architect Radiant[4b]
- Relian — Reclusiarch[8]
- Icharos Malvoisin — Chaplain[2]
- Bjargo Rathana — Chaplain Castigant[3]
- Montaig — Sergeant[2]
- Undying Martyr — Spiritual Leader[2]
Trivia
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Conflicting sources
- In Adeptus Astartes: Successor Chapters, the Angels Resplendent and Angels Penitent were shown as different chapters with their own colours and badges.[6a][6b]
Images
Marine from Space Marine 2.
See also
Sources
- 1: Chapter Approved 2001, pg. 117
- 2: The Crown of Thorns (Short Story)
- 3: The Thirteenth Psalm (Short Story)
- 4: The Reverie (Novel):
- 5: Codex Supplement: Blood Angels (9th Edition), pg. 31 — Successor Chapters
- 6: Adeptus Astartes: Successor Chapters:
- 7: The Sins of My Brothers (Short Story) — The Successors (Anthology)
- 8: The Devastation of Baal (Novel), Chapter 6
- 9: Codex: Space Marines (9th Edition), pg. 9 — Adeptus Astartes at War
Uncited
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