The Legion of The Damned

On 9667986.M41 a routine Imperial patrol passed through the Ork held system of Jakor-tal. The squadron uncovered altogether unexpected scenes of devastation. The limited facilities available to the patrol could uncover no clue to the identity of the attacking forces. The incident was noted and passed into the everlasting record of the Administratum.

A rash of similar incidents within the same and adjoining sectors soon began to arouse the interest of the Inquisition. Squadron commanders throughout these sectors were reinforced and ordered to double their routine patrols. The incidents continued apace, increasing rather than declining in frequency and destructiveness. Even so, no sign of the intruders was discovered for almost a year.

Then on 3628987.M41, a patrol ship in the Maran sub-sector narrowly avoided a collision with a space-craft at the Cift jump-point. The patrol ship was entering the Cift system as the unidentified craft was leaving. Alerted by the close encounter,the patrol crew scanned the entire jump-area and discovered two long cylindrical objects within the intruder’s projected flight path. These were hauled aboard and proved to be standard space-coffins without identification markings.

The coffins were shipped back to Earth and opened by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The coffins themselves were identified as belonging to the Absolute, one of the spacecraft from the vanished Fire Hawk fleet. Inside were the armored remains of two space marines. The unconventional armor colors and unofficial insignia puzzled the investigators, but serial numbers tallied with equipment made by or issued to the Fire Hawks. The armored suits were expected to house members of the lost chapter, and were carefully broken open. The bodies within were human, but further identification proved impossible due to their advanced state of decay.

The full truth would not emerge until almost a year later when a besieged Imperial research station received unexpected help. The garrison had been attacked suddenly by Ork Pirates. After three hours of fighting the situation looked hopeless. Then, without warning, the Orks found themselves attacked in the rear. The ferocity of the fighting appalled even the station’s defenders. Within half an hour, several hundred Orks had fallen to the mysterious power-armored figures. Then, as suddenly as they had appeared, the warriors vanished. This time they left behind a banner - the gnarled chapter flag of the Fire Hawks - and inscribed upon it was the motto In dedicato imperatum ultra articulo mortis (For the Emperor beyond the point of death). As well as the banner there was a recorder and other sealed items. These were immediately shipped to Earth.

From the data contained in the recorder the Administratum was able to determine exactly what happened to the lost chapter. Following their warp-jump the entire fleet had been caught within a warp-storm of terrific intensity. Stunned by the power of the warp, the chapter was forced to endure the attacks of powerful warp entities. Ship after ship was destroyed and absorbed into the fabric of the warp. Soon only one craft, the Absolute, remained. By a daring warp-exit maneuver the craft burst out of warp-space, emerging far in the galactic east, thousands of light years off-course and beyond even the psychic light of the Emperor.

The original survivors numbered two hundred brethren. All gene-seed had been lost, all initiates killed, and most of the chapter’s masters were gone. The chapter’s Devastator and Assault squads were very few in numbers, not to mention there were only approximately five or six terminator squads left remaining. The Librarius was whittled down to approximately ten and the chapter’s Techmarines numbered approximately five. None of the chapter’s apothecaries, chaplains, or the ordinary human staff had survived at all. To make matters worse the brethren had changed. The change became obvious over the next few months. Skins began to blacken and blister, flesh began to fester and putrefy. Slowly they began to die. Within days of the transition into normal space it became obvious that the chapter had been exposed to some form of dangerous mutation or disease. It took many years to navigate a path back into the Imperium, during which time almost half of the brethren succumbed to the malady.   Those who remained were no longer sane. Pain and despair had driven even their hardened minds past the point of rationality. Doomed to agonizing deaths, they became obsessed with their fate. Now they only wanted to die.  But they were still marines, still loyal to the Emperor and humanity.  They would not die without purpose.

So began the unstoppable war of the Legion of the Damned!    The marines elected to remove all insignia from their armour.  Instead their armour would be black, decorated by each brother with whatever emblems of death he chose.  Most brothers employed a simple scheme - skeletons, bones, and skulls.

All ranks and companies were abolished, most of the chapter's officers were dead and the remaining warriors were too few to make up a fully functional chapter hierarchy.  All brothers were to be equal before death - levelled by the certainty of their assured extinction.  The warriors decided to expend their lives attacking enemies of Man wherever they could be found.  The disease had robbed them of their sanity, but not their loyalty!  And their condition gave them powers - powers that endow them with incredible fighting abilities.

Over the millennia the brothers have rebuilt much of their chapter, and they continue to strike from the warp where they are needed most.  They appear at the height of battle, giving aid to the forces of man and the Emperor, and then they fade back into the warp.

The story of the Legion of the Damned is taken from material published by Games Workshop LTD.