Regular Dakkanaut
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Ok for those of you who know me, you know my chaos army is a DIY of my own design. They of course, are known as the Annihilation Angels. Perhaps you've wondered on the background of my legion? Well here you go. I hope those of you who know me, and those that don't will like this all the same. It's kind of long so bear with me. Also please read the notes I have at the bottom.
The year was 841/M31. Fulgrim, Primarch of the Emperor?s Children was found and returned to his legion on ancient Terra. At this time the Emperor?s Children were few in number because of an accident that destroyed nearly all of the precious gene-seed. The Primarch returned to the 200 or so warriors that were left from the accident. Among them Kabal Asmodeus Vex. Fulgrim took his legion and traveled with Horus and the Luna Wolves until he could rebuild his legion with recruits from Terra and his home planet of Chemos. Kabal anxiously followed his Primarch into battle after battle. Crushing his enemies and striving for the perfection that Fulgrim urged all his sons to strive for. Fulgrim selected a few individuals to become Lord Commanders to command whole companies of marines. Kabal was one of these individuals; his company was mostly made up of the original Terran marines as well as many recruits from Terra itself. Always Fulgrim preached the importance of perfection. However, Kabal strived for perfection in battle most of all. Viewing it as the only perfection that mattered. He only desired glory in battle, to destroy the Emperor?s enemies and show his Primarch that he could be even more perfect than his fellow commanders.
The Emperor?s Children trained every waking hour to their assigned duties. Every aspect of battle was analyzed and used to their advantage, nothing was left to chance. Even among the Lord Commanders a few individuals shown as particularly devote to perfection. Kabal, of course, being one of them. The Emperor?s Children and Kabal in particular viewed other military organizations, be they Imperial Guard, or even brother Space Marines, with nothing but contempt at the slightest hesitation or inefficiency. At the time of the Heresy the Emperor?s Children comprised 30 companies, each lead by a Lord Commander. Every one of these marines were striving for perfection, chief amongst them Kabal Asmodeus Vex. Each company inherited its manner and practices from its Lord Commander. Kabal?s company served him as fanatically as they would Fulgrim himself. Each and every marine in Kabal?s company strove for perfection in battle by serving him. It is recorded that Kabal?s marines were even more fanatically loyal to him than any other companies marines were to their Lord Commander. Scribes and Inquisitors studying the evidence believe the reason for this being that because Kabal?s company was mostly made up of the original marines from Terra and recruits from Terra, they perhaps felt a particular kinship with him as opposed to other commanders. Since the Emperor's perfection was thought by Inquisitors to be embodied by Fulgrim, and in turn his Lord Commanders, captains and lieutenants, and finally the sergeants and marines themselves. Thus, Inquisitors theorize, is how the entire legion could be corrupted so thoroughly by Fulgrim himself being corrupted.
It is documented that Kabal was so utterly obsessed with the perfection of war, that Fulgrim himself cautioned him. During the crusade the finest Artisans were brought to fashion the legions armor, weapons, and vehicles. Fulgrim told Kabal that perhaps he was too driven to the perfection of war that he was neglecting other aspects that can be mastered such as art, learning, and civilization. Kabal?s company had the least artfully crafted wargear of the legion. He looked on such things with scorn, arguing that such devotion to petty things would draw him away from perfection in what really mattered, war and victory in battle. But Fulgrim?s remarks stung him to the core. What need did he have for art and learning when all he ever needed to know and learn was war?
At the Istavaan system Fulgrim allied with Warmaster Horus against the Emperor. Along with the Death Guard and World Eaters Legions disposed of those among their own legions who were still loyal to the Emperor. Brother fought brother in the aftermath of the virus bombing of Istavaan III. Chief among the loyalists was First Captain Tarvitz of the Emperor?s Children. Angron, Primarch of the World Eaters launched an attack, at the head of 50 companies to destroy the loyalists. Horus had little choice but to go along. The Sons of Horus, Death Guard, and Emperor?s Children were ordered to their drop ships. It was Kabal along with Lord Commander Eidolon who defeated their own loyalist brothers. It was Kabal himself who slayed Captain Tarvitz (the leader of the loyalists) in hand to hand combat.
After the Battle Fulgrim preached to his commanders the glory of chaos and Slaanesh whom in turn passed it down to the marines. Denouncing the Emperor they turned to worship Slaanesh, who promised them paradise and a galaxy of ultimate freedom because every experience was one of pleasure. Kabal was disgusted... Kabal looked upon his brothers with disdain, even his own Primarch worshipped Slaanesh and had turned his attention from war to aspects of pleasure and sensation. Only war was true for him, not pleasures of the flesh or sensations of the mind. To him only the sensation of defeating your enemies was worth devoting to. He was appalled by a god who viewed battle as merely one feature of perfection, when war was perfection itself!
The deciding point for Kabal came during the Invasion of Terra (Which took place shortly after the battle of Istavaan). Fulgrim ordered his legion to attack the populace, instilling all manner of horror upon them. Kabal requested an audience with his Primarch to find out why they would attack such a strategically unimportant target. But Fulgrim was already on planet. So Kabal journeyed down to find him. What he found on Terra was the final straw. He beheld his own Primarch directing the slaughter of the populace with glee. Turning his sorcerers upon them with wild abandon. Kabal spoke to him then: ?Why? Why do this? We should be assaulting the palace! We should be fighting with our brother legions and slay the false-emperor himself!? Fulgrim temporarily ceased his torture of several innocents and replied: ?There will be due time for such an action my son, for now take pleasure in what we have.? ?Leave the blood work to the World Eaters; we have the great unholy work of Lord Slaanesh to do here.? Kabal tried to argue with his adopted father but to no avail. Fulgrim was too enthralled with the pleasure Slaanesh was bestowing on him that he could not or would not answer. Kabal came to a decision, he turned and left his Primarch and returned to his awaiting marines. He gathered up any that would listen and made preperations to leave. It was at this time that Horus was slayed by the Emperor and the traitors were in disarray. Only when forced to flee was Fulgrim able to focus enough and receive news of Kabal?s desertion. He deemed him unworthy of Slaanesh?s favor and denounced him as a son.
While the Emperor?s children fled back to the eye leaving a trail of desecrated worlds in their wake Kabal was also fleeing. He also fled back to the eye and it was there that he and his company changed forever. Kabal and most of his legion (only those that were left from the originals from Terra and a few others) declared themselves a new chapter. At first they were in disarray, a confused lonely company of marines fighting against the other traitors in the initial wars around the eye. It is known that upon reaching the eye the traitor legions fought amongst themselves for territory and power. Or in the case of the Emperor?s children, for new playthings and new desires. It was then that Kabal met an individual who had similar ideas. Though Abaddon the Despoiler did not share his ideals for perfection his ultimate goal was to crush the Imperium and bring in a new age. Kabal and Abaddon both were struggling to unite their legions despite the turmoil around them. Both succeeded in uniting their legions and Kabal saw in Abaddon one with vision, an individual who could bring about the destruction of the weak empire of man. Kabal ordered the re-painting of his marine?s armor, simple black and bone, to commemorate their new ideals. The chapter slowly rebuilt itself as the Annihilation Angels. They viewed themselves as the perfect soldiers. With the help of Abaddon, Kabal saw chaos as the means to get back at the Emperor and his Primarch, and to become powerful enough to do so. Understandably Kabal saw worship of one particular side of chaos to be weak. He and his new legion worshipped/used chaos to fulfill their goals of perfecting war so that his former Primarch and the Emperor would fall and a new age of mankind could be realized.
Kabal and his Annihilation Angels have participated in several Black Crusades alongside the Black Legion and other chaos forces, though never with the Emperor?s Children. Though still smaller than most other legions they attack with unmatched ferocity, using speed and highly skilled warriors to strike out the heart of an enemy force. They maintain a distinct animosity with the Emperors Children. On occasions where they encounter each other the Annihilation Angels will forgo all other goals at the time and attack them with even more ferocity than they would against loyalist forces. They currently hold several worlds in the eye of terror. Among them are forge worlds for their wargear, garrisoned fortress-worlds, but most of all training worlds that they use to initiate new recruits and perfect the only art that is worth it, war. They remain a smaller legion despite 10,000 years of time because the initiation rituals of the recruits are so unbelievably grueling, and they accept nothing short of perfection in battle. They excel at high-speed surgical strikes and rely on highly skilled warriors to get the job done.
NOTE: The main problems some people (mainly mantis) had with this fluff was the recruiting of new marines and they fact that the broke off. Ok, the EC had about 30,000 marines, Kabal leaving with about 100 or so is quite plausible in my opinion. Now I know people sometimes have problems with heresy and pre-heresy fluff. To this I have to point out that everything about the heresy I mentioned is 100% GW official fluff. I just added a few things about my few guys. Between all the traitor legions there were hundreds of commanders, how many have you heard about? Less than 10? I?m simply creating fluff of one such commander. Also, I hope by now you guys know that chaos legions DO gain new recruits. I?ll do some minimalist math here. Ok, so let?s say my Annihilation Angels legion has 100 marines when they enter the eye. It?s been 10,000 years. So let?s assume my legion only recruits ONE marine every 10 years. Let?s also assume that fully HALF these recruits died or could not take the training (this is near impossible since fluff-wise it?s VERY hard to kill a chaos marine, but I?ll be very tight here). That?s a new 500 marines in the space of 10,000 years. Still less than a loyalist chapter, but suits the purposes of a legion of highly skilled vets of thousands of campaigns.
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