What is The Fallen

[Soups]

Firstly, I would apologize if this is the wrong place for this. This would be my first time posting on this side of the Heresy.

 

I recently came into a better paying job. Not enough to be spending dosh around like a mad man, but I can at least afford $30 a week on 40K, which should theoretically get me a 2k point army in about 5-7 months.

I want to run a CSM army, since I already have what I consider 2/3's of the cornerstone for 40K (Imperium/Xenos/Chaos) Blood Angels and Nids. So I figured doing the Fallen might be neat. And converting the Dark Vengence box into a CSM force as a primary backbone. It there any official GW scource on the Fallen that gives iconography and level of corruption? Everything I look at is vaguey vague. All i can find is fallen are Dark Angels in Black. Unless you guys have more experience here on B&C, being the chaos undivided section?

[Grotsmasha]

The Fallen are exactly that, vague. They are the marines influenced by Luther on Caliban prior to it's destruction. There are Fallen who consider themselves still Loyal, there are Fallen who are Renegades and there are Fallen who are full blown Chaos Space Marines. This means some are mutated, some are not. They can be whichever you decide them to be. However, just about every piece of official fluff describe them as loners or working in small cells (2-5 marines), rather than organised as an coherent force.

 

Cheers,

Jono

[Dammeron]

They are the remnants of the Dark Angels that fell to Chaos during the Horus Heresy. For reasons that have been rendered somewhat complex by the HH novels, Lion El' Jonson's subordinate and trusted mentor, a mane named Luther, was left in charge of Caliban, the Dark Angel's homeworld, along with a significant portion of the Dark Angels legion whilst the Lion and his more favoured warriors went galivanting off about more auspicious business. Luther didn't particularly like that. In point of fact, he came to resent it bitterly, believing that he and his warriors had been abandoned by the legion in favour of greater things. The Chaos powers stoked his bitterness until he and the warriors under his command fell to their worship, meaning that when Lion El' Jonson and his contingent returned home following the Heresy, they were met with yet another betrayal, yet another battle. Luther and Jonsons had a scrap, Luther realised his folly, the planet tore itself apart, most of its remnants and the "Fallen Angels" ensconsed thereon being sucked into the Warp and cast throughout time and space.

 

Many of the Fallen still survive and are active to this day, though what their agendas actually are is extremely difficult to determine.

[bjoluemblem]

As for iconography, it's the original winged sword of the Dark Angels, with some lovely Chaos icons thrown in for fun if that's where you want to go with it. They are generally pictured in black, and some are Dark Angel's green. Cypher is green, while the original colors are black. I imagine it would depend on personal preference as well as the "Fallen" of choice. Either 40k Fallen Angels or 30k Fallen Angels. With the Dark Vengeance box set, you could do some amazing conversions and themes. As an example, say a group of original Fallen Angels encountered and converted a modern group of Dark Angels...which let's you use three different codices, depending on who you say they are. Dark Angels with the cultists as Guard allies, or Chaos marines. Either way they provide an excellent opportunity for modeling purposes. I highly recommend you read the books "Descent of Angels" and "Fallen Angels" from the Horus Heresy series to get an idea of where to start, get your imagination pumping. As you get going, get ideas, feel free to post any pics/ideas here if you want feedback. Have fun!

 

-Note: the reviews of these books are mixed, so bear in mind they may not be the best reads ever, but you do get to see some Lion 'El Jonson in acction, so it's totally worth it for me. More can be found if you are curious by browsing the HH subsection of the B&C forum.

[HsojVvad]

Don't let anyone tell you that you can't field a chapter of Fallen. While fluff wise, it can't really happen. Well, time and space being so big anything can happen, but it's usually understood as was said before, you might get only 2-5 fallen at once, and it's really rare to have 10+.

 

That being said, 40K doesn't play to fluff, otherwise we wouldn't have the all might space marines hiding and cowering in vehicles, and bushes and then run out on the last turn to claim victory. So make a chapter of Fallen. It's your money, your time, and your FUN. Don't let anyone discourage you from doing so. 

[Soups]

Thanks for the fast feedback guys. I kinda like the idea of multiple Fallen coming together to create a warband. Makes a certian amount of sense, considering the majority of Chaos Marines are warbands to begin with. It might be my friends I hang out with, but most of us assumed the Fallen were the half of the chapter that went AWOL, not just 2-5 marines palling around. Makes an interesting idea of mixing FW Heresy armor and Dark Vengence models.

 

My plan right now is to make the Sgt. and HQs semi-chaosy and the rank and file look relativly "normal". But first i would have to plan a 2k point army that can scale from 1500 with some ease.

[Excessus]

It was half the legion that went AWOL. Though they are spread out through the galaxy in time and space so there is just a very slim chance of seeing them together in groups. Many stay in hiding, and as described before there is a large scale from shamed loyalists to marines who think they were loyal when they rebelled to true chaos worshippers.

 

Only Cypher usually calls the fallen to his side, though how he does this nobody knows. They just gravitate towards him...

[Castellan Cato]

If fluff is important to you, you can always have you HQ and/or squad sergeants be Fallen and the rest just be marines and cultists who are allied with them.

 

If you don;t care about being super fluffy, then I vote go for it!

[Icarsun]

I run a Fallen Army around a single question from "Angels of Darkness" that went quite unanswered in "Ravenwing"

 

What did Cypher do with the geneseed?

 

Combine that with the rumours of Dark Angels rebuilding as a Legion and I went with a Fallen Angels Order (Chapter). Only one or two guys in the army are indeed original Fallen, the rest are new recruits in the making.

[ChaosRising]

I believe that question will always be unanswered, otherwise GW would lose half its reason for keeping Lord Cypher around 9whichever incarnation of Lord Cypher we're onto by now. How many thousands have there been as the geneseed thief I wonder.....)

[Tenebris]

What is a Fallen?

 

A "Fallen" is first and foremost a Dark Angel. He was a warrior of the First legion, his geneseed was probably the purest and most stable of all astartes, his legion character the most ancient and developed. As a Dark Angel he is usually an introversive individual, a warrior and scholar but above all he was and probably still is a knight. A knight is a noble individual, learned and skilled in the art of war but his character is irrelevant, his most defining trait is the allegiance to his master and lord. The indisputable lord of a Fallen is Luther, the Knight of Old, the Saviour of Caliban, the father and mentor of Lion El'Jonson. 

 

Luther was a charismatic individual and the Fallen's connection to him runs very deep. A Fallen was exiled by his primarch to Caliban as a punitive reaction to a perceived threat, the primarch begun to doubt of Luther and a host of 500 DA were sent back to home in order to serve as "training" cadre but in truth they were exiles each and everyone of them. As years passed the most ancient Fallen acted as trainers and tutors to the younger generations of Dark Angels, diligently schooling the initiates in the rites of the First Legion and in the character of the Dark Angels. 

 

As it was revealed that Caliban was far from a pure world and that the Imperium was more harmful to the people of this death world, Luther stepped in, he ordered a vast host of chapters to stay on planet and by learning of the chaos taint he went to a great deal of trouble to secure a future for his homeworld.

 

Now know this a Fallen has several traits that could be considered the template:

 

- little combat experience from the Crusade era but a great deal of experience following the Heresy;

- loyal to Luther, Caliban and the true spirit of the 1st Legion, the knight character of the legion;

- an absolute master of the lore and rites of the Dark Angels and the knightly orders;

- a resolute and wise teacher who has seen generations of Dark Angels pass trough his lessons;

- he knows the nature of chaos and has fought and even exploited the taint on Caliban;

- the higher echelons of the Fallen had access to the knowledge on chaotic rituals;

- ancient, most Fallen were also the first generation of Dark Angels levied on Caliban from the knights;

- not loyal to the primarch but loyal to the 1st Legion;

- in touch with the plight of the people oppressed by the imperial bureaucracy, 

- the major engagement in which he fought was the attack on Caliban;

- following the warp anomaly unleashed he was either transported across the galaxy or trasported across the time, so some might appear in events preceding the Great Crusade some might even appear in the dreaded M41.

 

So the main question is, are the Fallen loyal, heretic or something else?

 

MY observation is the following, the Fallen were loyal to the legion and the ideals of humanity even as they have fought their brothers but they know full well the taint of chaos and the dangers that the Imperium can bring to a people. I presume that most Fallen are still somehow loyal to the founding ideas of the 1st Legion, and most still maintain the character and the outlook of a knight of old, but it is safe to presume that some, albeit a minority, have fallen prey of chaos and can be considered full fledged chaos space marines. 

 

Even the loyal ones can be considered and indeed are, heretics, by the standards of the M41, the current time line. The Fallen know too much, they have seen too much and they have experienced too much to be anything but a threat to their own legion, to mankind and to the Imperium at large. A veteran that has trod in the era of demigod primarchs and fratricide has a very different outlook on how things should be run than a Dark Angel marine in the M41, also a Fallen has been privy to some dangerous secrets, namely the taint of chaos, the indifference of Lion for the plight of his own people, the betrayal of the primarch of some cardinal beliefs of the Dark Angels Legion (honor, loyalty and sincerity) as well as he harbors the fires of betrayal. 

 

Make no mistake, the Fallen were betrayed by their own primarch. Why were they sentenced to exile along with Luther, battle brother who have fought every bit as hard and honorably as the others, why were they never relived of their duties on Caliban, never again to taste the glory of the Great Crusade, why were they actively forgotten by their brothers in arms, the whole legion was ordered to not speak of them, what have this brothers ever done to deserve such cruel fate. 

 

I still consider the Fallen the betrayed ones, their ideals were betrayed by their primarch, their way of life and knight character were betrayed by the Lion and what is most tragic, they were never given the chance to redeem themselves, but redeem of what... they were guilt of nothing but association with Luther.

 

To end what is the current status of the Fallen in M41?

 

They are still around and kicking. You find Fallen fighting side by side with the imperials, like paladins of ancient ideals, you see Fallen command chaos warbands and wear the colors of the traitor legions and you even find Fallen who have an imperative agenda, which is simply justice and redemption.

 

Only the most biased harbor hate and resentment against their Dark Angels brothers, most of the Fallen either try to guide their younger brothers trough omens or glimmers of their ancient valor, some even try to open the ignorant minds of their brethren with displays of loyalty and history, but if there is something that both traitor and loyal Fallen have in common is simply redemption.

 

The Fallen were treated unjustly, they were betrayed by their very own primarch for a fault not of their own and they were never ever given the chance to present their opinion, never given a way to prove their unwavering loyalty and honor. 

 

The Fallen are THE true Dark Angels, the very ancient, knightly individuals who regardless of the color of their plate and the insignia on their shoulder pad never ever hold their honor cheaply. They are the paragons of the spirit of the 1st Legion, but they are hunted, they will never be given a chance to speak for no one would love to listen to their version of the story (for the current DA think it as a lie and are biased) and they will never be able to prove their innocence. 

 

In the end no one knows exactly how many Fallen there are but I would discourage to field them in the numbers of the chapters of old, a company, a squad or even a warband are all very viable concepts but I think that the norm should be to never exceed the dozen.

 

Those are very rare individuals, very powerful individuals, very learned individuals and whichever faction earned their loyalty one thing stands, they will never betray their honor, even as chaos space marines. 

[Cactus]

Soups, I suggest you also take a look in the Dark Angels forum, particularly these recent topics:

 

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/283214-how-many-does-the-fallen-number/

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/283532-whos-responsible-for-luthers-fall-from-grace/

http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/269678-das-turned-renegade-are-they-considered-fallen/