Loss of Knightly Traditions

[Candleshoes]

As my loyalist second half and secret love, the Dark Angels have always been blessed with some of the more gritty, gothic, dark, and medieval art and style, amongst the space marine Legions. Their Calabanite past helped create and secure that mould, and with Caliban and the Order, it is one of the most fleshed out cradles GW has let us peer into. Their landscape and life structure helped shape and make them into what they are, it helped shape and make the Lion himself into the man he became.

 

Knightly honor and tradition was everything in that world, as were their secrets. With the release of both DA HH books, and ADB's Savage Weapons, we get a good understanding of where the Dark Angels were, during the time of upheaval. With the majority of the Legion being from Terra, and the majority of Calabanite marines/recruits, either being sent back to Caliban or never leaving it, the Lion seems to grow further detached with his birthworld. When the schism does occur, seeing the Fallen swept away, it would fall mostly to the Terran portion of the Legion to pick up the broken peices of the First Legion.

 

With the fall of Caliban and close to 10,000+ years of recruiting on random worlds, it seems miraculous that they are still known and portrayed in their knightly fashion. How much of the Calabanite tradition would have really survived? There was no Lion to continue it (unlike the Legions of The Khan, or Dorn, or Corax, or Guil. or Vulkan) after the Heresy, or to choose the direction the descendants would go. Most of the Terrans would have known precious little about the horrors of Caliban, the struggle for daily life, or the bred traditions that made a man of the Order. I understand the penchant for secrecy that follows the Fallen Schism, but help me understand why the Knightly traditions endured 10,000 years, especially when they would have been left with very few Calabanites at all.

[Grand Master Belial]

One of the recent canon twists has been which group stayed behind. Prior to the HH books it was the Terrans that stayed behind and the Calibanites were the ones out on crusade. The HH books flipped that but as the Anthology Tales from the Heresey showed, there was a mixing of the two groups. As the Legion that protected the Emperor prior to the creation of the Custodes, the traditions that appealed to the Lion would also appeal to the Legion and the knightly honor would have been useful in guarding the Emperor.

 

Another factor that has not been addressed is the amount of time that has passed since the Lion was reunited with his Legion and the schism. The HH series is starting with at least a number of decades if not a century or two will have passed. In a time where there still was the freedom to create and innovate, much could have happened in that time with regards to the culture.

 

Another factor is the stories only highlight small groups of characters and they do take on a level of exceptionalism. The best of Caliban were sent back because of the taint within Caliban but what of those who were not the best or came into the Order by killing a lesser beast. They may still have travelled the stars while the Elite stayed home in case the demon showed up from it's confinement. We still have a lot of holes that allow various interpretations.

 

So there is my food for thought.