Unforgiven Successors - A Theory & Army Fluff

[Magus]

I play a Disciples of Caliban force with a dark secret inspired by an interesting theory I read about another Unforgiven successor. The three second-founding "Angel" successors, Retribution, Vengeance, and Absolution, are more or less standard chapters in strength, mission and leadership. They were founded from the old legion according to the Codex Astartes and follow minor differences in doctrine. The three younger successors without the "Angel" moniker, the Consecrators, Disciples of Caliban, and Guardians of the Covenant are slight oddballs.

The Consecrators wear the old DA legion colours and use ancient equipment and armour. It's unlikely DA would relinquish their most prized relics, even to a successor chapter. Instead, let's look at the verb "to consecrate," meaning "to make an object or place sacred." Now, where might the Unforgiven get a load of crusade-era equipment? Also, consider our need to scrub the heresy out EVERYTHING. Basically, I think the theory is correct that the Consecrators exist to purify weapons and armour taken from Fallen prisoners to ensure that their machine spirits are free of chaotic taint.

Continuing the theme, the uber-scholarly Guardians of the Covenant can be seen as purifying knowledge gained over the course of the Unforgiven's secret mission. They rarely hunt the Fallen, stay locked away on their backwater home world, and study all of the major texts with characteristic academic neutrality.

So where does that leave the Disciples? An entire chapter to hunt Cypher seems like a bit of a cop-out, no matter how much I love that character's fluff. Simply, I believe that the Disciples exist to purify the Gene-seed of executed Fallen Angels. What's the best way to ensure that someone has truly repented? Harvest the gene-seed, put it into a new recruit and watch closely to see if that marine follows the tenets of his legion to the letter. This way, the Inner-Circle's mission is more than just knocking off all the remaining Fallen, but trying to mend our broken legion and truly seek forgiveness.

It is a very dangerous experiment and would certainly bring down the wrath of the Inquisition, hence the secrecy. This is also why the Disciple's recruitment requirements are stricter than any other Unforgiven chapter and why Apothecaries show up unannounced regularly (even on Deathwatch duty) to test the marines' Gene-seed for corruption. I think there is an explanation for the Disciples high Fallen capture-count and focus on Cypher. The re-consecated astartes are even better at recognizing their fallen brethren than other Unforgiven because their kinship is that much closer. Additionally, this mission beyond all others is the best way to prove there loyalty. Finally, I like to imagine there is a prophesy buried away in the librarium of the Rock stating that Cypher will only be stopped by one of his own.

Thanks for reading and please chime in with your opinion!

[Thornblood]

It sound a plausible to me. I think the thing to remember is that the names of the successors were made up by he years before any kind of fluff or background, and that if he having actually released it officially, like many dark angel secrets, they can ret-con it as much as they want.

Also, the thing that seems to be clearer from this last codex is that dark angels are operating at legion strength, with it being the same deathwing and ravenwing for all the successors, rather than each chapter having their own branch. In fact the deathwing and ravenwing may have even grown and be at legion strength by now....

[Dalleron]

I read the dark angel "legion building" as Azrael having effective control over all the unforgiven. Not so much that the DA are legion size, though first and second company are bigger than they should be.

To the OP, it all makes sense, which is one of the things about 40k fluff, beyond the original chapters. You can interpret it however.