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i don't have the codex but from the fluff they're crazy.

Now to delve into the organization, tactica and history of the Arch Angels Chapter.

The Chapter was first created as one of the First Founding Chapters (although this knowledge was destroyed during the Horus Heresy), the Primarch, Gabriel Ragnarok, came from a planetry system close to Terra called the Zion System. The main governmental planet was classed as a Heretic zone during the time the Emperor was searching for his lost Primarchs. The governer of Zion was leading his forces to over take the system and render it free from Terran rule.

This caused a civil war to break out. At the head of the resistance was Gabriel Ragnarok. With sheer brute force and excellent planning, the troops of the resistance broke through and Gabriel slaughtered the traitorous governer with a special sword as old as the planet itself. The sword has always being known to be a destroyer of daemons. The sword later became known as the sword of Ragnarok as it was the Primarch's own possession. Where Gabriel received it is unknown.

The Emperor knew of the planet of Zion and so to set an example against anyone who might try and defy the Imperium of what it deserved, he took an Company of the new Space Marines with him. Luck be it, they were of Ragnarok's gene seed.

When the leader of Mankind landed on the planet, He was surprised to see the sight before Him. He was greated by a mass of people, cheering Him and calling out His name. Later He learnt of the conflict that had happened on the planet and met the Primarch, Gabriel Ragnarok who had become the new Lord of the planet, and therefore the Lord of the Zion System. The Emperor explained to Gabriel what he was and how, and entrusted the Space Marines of his geneseed to him.

Gabriel, now with an entire legion of Space Marines, to which he named the Arch Angels and set a color scheme of red, gold and white (colours which the Zion system is well known for using), he set out reclaiming the glory of the Imperium in the Emperor's name.

During the Horus Heresy, the bulk of the Arch Angels had to keep the forces of the traitor legions from invading the Zion System, so the Legion was spread thin. One company even fell to the taint of Chaos, the 3rd Company, and since the new 3rd Company is now named the Shamed Company. This is because the Company still feel the sorrow of the past Marines. Be it a trick of the Warp or the thought of the company they are in fell to the taint of Chaos thousands of years ago. Because of this, the warriors of the 3rd Company are suicidal warriors, trying to redeem the Company in the eyes of the Primarch and the Emperor.

After the Heresy, the Legion was split into 4 Chapters. The Arch Angels, who after the 3rd Company's desertion repainted their armour purple, light green and gold. The Crimson Wings who retain some of the Legion helreldry with red and white armour. The Fists of Ragnarok who are gold with white and are fanatical heretic hunters in the Imperium. Finally there are the Zion Angels garbed in purple and white armour who secretly protect the Zion System from attack.

With the Arch Angels numbers thinned, the reworking of the Chapter's organization was in order. The vetrens of the of the Horus Heresy were organized in to the Citadel Guard, a small contingent of Marines who gaurd the Citadel of Zion non-stop. The Citadel holds many of the trophies taken from campaigns, sacred artifacts, old writings and it is even rumoured that the Citadel also holds some of the original teachings of the Emperor on paper and even blueprints for ancienct technology, but seeing as only the Master of Sancity, the High Lord and the Citadel Guard is allowed in the sacred building, it is unknown to anyone other than them.

When it comes to battle, the Arch Angels have no set tactic to waging war. If the situation calls for a long range attack, they will use that tactic. Should it require close combat, so be it. The Arch Angels are known for calculating the risks and the probabilities, this is all to prevent unessercery loss of good Marines.

The Chapter is organized in a heiracry. The High Lord (or Chapter Master) is the total ruler of the Zion System and the leader of the Chapter. As such, he is granted access to the citadel and is allowed to bear the Sword of Ragnarok.

The Lords (or Captains) are leaders of their own companies unless a Chaplin or the High Lord is accompanying them.

The Citadel Guard are defenders of the Citadel of Zion and some of the most powerful and respected warriors in the Chapter. The High Lord may make up his command squad of these fine warriors if he chooses to.

The Chaplins are higher than the Lords as they are very respected in the Chapter. They may request command of a Company. Only the Master of Sanctity is allowed access to the Citadel

The Revearred Champions are the vetrens of the Chapter, making up the 1st Company with a bulk of Terminator Armour and Venerable Dreadnoughts.

The Champions are the leaders of Knight Squads.

The Kinghts make up the majority of the Chapter. They make up the Tactical, Assualt and Devastator squads and without them, the Chapter would fall.

The students are the newest additions to the Chapter and are taught by the Chaplins of the Chapter.

And there we go... My poor, poor fingers. gonk

Therre will be at least one grotty nerd complaining that it doesn't fit in with existing fluff.
Say it's one of the original 20. Only 18 were named, as so far.

-Mykal

I am that nerd, and I'm afraid I can't find Hell on any maps I have available. Could you provide directions? (And funds, if you seriously want me to go there. I'm a little poor at the moment...) It's not in America, is it?

I haven't read your background yet (I'll probably do so now, although I don't know if I'll have time), but did you include a reason as to why no record of your chapter exists? If you're one of the chapters who have been deleted from Imperial records you should really say why...

Edit: Well, "although this knowledge was destroyed during the Horus Heresy" seems like quite a flimsy excuse to me, but I suppose it's possible that it was lost and the Imperium never rediscovered the truth... The Imperium isn't known for it's flawless bureaucracy and close attention to detail. However, if the world is close to Earth then this seems less likely...

The bit about the world being disloyal and trying to break away from the Imperium doesn't really fit, as there wasn't an Imperium to break away from until the Emperor led his Great Crusade to reunite all the human worlds. During the time before the Great Crusade every world was free from Terran rule, as Earth was cut off from the rest of the galaxy by warp storms. If the world's leader was merely corrupt and trying to convert the world to Chaos worship or something similar then that could have triggered the civil war, I suppose, though that doesn't leave any room for the Emperor to know that the world was disloyal and expect to have to teach them a lesson (not that he really needed to know that - he went to every world with at least one legion of Space Marines to try and bring it into his new empire).

The bit about defending their home system during the Horus Heresy also doesn?t seem quite right. Most of the Chaos forces were attacking Earth rather than plundering nearby systems, and those that weren't were all busy doing something else. I suppose it's possible that Horus would have sent some forces to tie up your legion while he attacked Earth (he was quite cunning - he made sure the Ultramarines were nowhere near Earth at the time he attacked, after all), possibly non-Space Marines (large amounts of human cultists, maybe?) or else excess members of his legions (possibly those that weren't 100% loyal to him that he hadn't killed yet - he could have told them that your legion had turned traitor. Though I?m pretty sure he?d nuked all those marines before he attacked Earth?). Another possibility is that it wasn't Chaos they were fighting but aliens, who either chose this opportune moment to strike at the fledgling Imperium (while they were fighting themselves) or who were working with Horus (Chaos has always had less issues allying with Xenos armies than loyalists have).

One final thing I noticed; you said the 3rd company turned to Chaos. I have a number of problems with this, although they're not really huge ones. Firstly, legions were organised differently, and weren't split into 10 companies like modern chapters are. Although I suppose it's possible that your legion were split into companies, I just thought I'd mention it. Maybe they were (either split into 10 giant companies or split into many more companies of approximately the size they are today), that's always a possibility, and the current 3rd company feel their shame because it was what used to be known as the "3rd company" that turned traitor, even if it wasn't what is now know as the 3rd company. Another problem I have with part of your chapter turning to Chaos is that they seem to have done it while their Primarch was there. Usually the chapter are loyal to the Primarch above all else, and so turn if he does but remain loyal if he doesn't (with the exception of the Dark Angels, whose Primarch wasn't around when they turned to Chaos). Still, I suppose if the chapter is spread out fighting the enemy then one of the groups might decide to switch sides (though there's not that much space to spread out in one system).

I did say that the system was close to Terra, which might be a clue. Plus, I only mentioned that it was trying to break away from Terran rule, NOT the Imperium. rolleyes

Also, it's not a flimsy excuse, considering what was going on during the time of the Horus Heresy. You know... that war that was going on? Building's are bound to get destroyed.

Also, not every marine was defending the Zion System. I did say there were others out there defending Terra, but Horus was trying to draw the Arch Angels away from Terra.

And the 3rd Company... does it really matter? The 3rd Great Comapny then... or the 3rd Army of the Legion. Whatever. And the Captain of the company didn't exactly like the Primarch, and so he went and told his company he'd turned traitor and they were the only loyal Arch Angels left. Cunning b*****d...

And for you... Why do you people constantly try and ruin our fun? I certain that not everyone gets the damn fluff right. So quit the pointing out people's short comings. That's a short coming itself.

And Hell is south. Way south.

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