Five Hundred Companions
The Five Hundred Companions were a specialized honorary Company embedded within the Orders Militant of the Dark Angels during the Great Crusade.[1]
Overview
The first 500 warriors of the Dark Angels to stand alongside their Primarch Lion El’Jonson on Caliban would come to be known simply as the Five Hundred. Each of the Five Hundred were sworn to a unique duty, bound to gather information and to keep it hidden for the benefit of the Legion just as the other Orders Militant, save that the subject of their scrutiny was the Primarch himself. For among all the doctrines of the Hosts, each carefully crafted and honed by centuries of war, they had never accounted for such a manifest icon of war and death. Study was required that they might learn how best to fight at his side, which weapons were best suited to be deployed alongside the Primarch and how the Legion would need to be re-shaped to serve his will. The Lion himself would prove no more forthcoming to his sons than he had been to his brother Primarchs, prone to silence and self-reliance. He offered his new Legion the chance to prove itself in battle, but gave them no guidance on the means by which they would best earn his respect.[1]
The Five Hundred would serve as his life guard, to fight and die ever in his shadow, that the Legion might learn that which their new master was reticent to speak of and earn his favour in war. Their hard-won secrets, the Lion Codex, is among the most cleverly and completely ciphered records within the Legion, for it contains the sum of their knowledge of Lion El'Jonson - his fighting style and strategies. Such secrets would be valuable beyond reckoning to any foe of the Legion, and just as priceless to his sons, for with the guidance of the codex the Council of Masters has sought to reshape their Legion in his image. As such, the Five Hundred are its only keepers and they accept no new initiates, ensuring that the secrets within will live or die with them. The Lion himself has never mentioned this enterprise, never uttered one word of praise for the ever-present guard at his side even as their numbers dwindle over time. Yet, nor has he forbade them their study and on the eve of battle he waits patiently for those of the Five Hundred present to assemble at his side before he sets forth. This silent acceptance is counted by the Dark Angels as the ultimate mark of recognition, worth more to them than any honour marking or gaudy token of victory.[1]
See also
Sources
- 1: The Horus Heresy Book Nine - Crusade, pg. 106
