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Space Marine Chapter Articles

Blood Bearers
"We shall strike them first! We shall strike them hard! We shall show no mercy to the herotic, apostate, or the alien! This day shall be their last!"

- Lord Commander Azrael Kane The Blood Bearers are a loyalist Space Marine Successor Chapter of the bloodline of Sanguinius, created during the dawning of the 32nd Millennium during the 3rd Founding. An extremely reclusive chapter, the Blood Bearers are stoutly bound to the Blood Angels, united by the blood of their Primarch Sanguinius that flows through their veins and ancient traditions that outsiders find difficult to understand. Their loyalty to the memory of their Primarch transcends all other duties and concerns. Being born from the Blood Angels' gene-seed, the Blood Bearers also carry the Flaw inherent in their gene-stock. The Blood Bearers do not deny their blood-lust, and in turn have learned to embrace it, making it a central part of their rituals. The Chapter thereby seems to have achieved an unparalleled level of restraint over their Flaw.

Chapter History
The Blood Bears were created in 021.M31 as a 3rd Founding Successor Chapter of the bloodline of Sanguinius. This Founding occurred in the wake of the Great Scouring, the seven-year long campaign of reciprocity against the Traitor Legions following the conclusion of the galaxy-wide conflict known as the Horus Heresy. Since their inception, the Blood Bearers have remained stoutly bound to the Chapters of the Blood. As proud Scions of Sanguinius they are united by the blood of their Primarch that flows through their veins and the ancient traditions that outsiders find difficult to understand. Their loyalty to the memory of their Primarch transcends all other duties and concerns. Being born from the bloodline of Sanguinius' gene-seed, the Blood Bearers too, carries the Flaw inherent in their gene-stock. The Blood Bearers does not deny their blood-lust, and in turn have learned to embrace it, making it a central part of their rituals. The Chapter thereby seems to have achieved an unparalleled level of restraint over the Red Thirst and the Black Rage.

The Blood Bearers are a ferocious and uncompromising Chapter, caring little for frivolities such as politics or bureaucracy, being only concerned with meeting whatever foe threatens the domains of the God-Emperor and striking them down without mercy before continuing on to the next battle. The Blood Bearers believed even a moment's respite from battle or from the preparation for battle to be unacceptable.

Chapter Home World
Scattered records of the Blood Bearers imply that the Chapter has no set home world, instead functioning as a fleet-based Chapter. The Blood Bearers follow a much rarer operational strategy for its warfleet known as the 'Nomad-Predation' pattern. This allows the Blood Bearers to be an entirely sovereign force that can sustain itself with any support whatsoever. As a Nomad-Predation fleet, the Blood Bearers voyage indefinitely, tarrying only to identify and engage the foes of man. After engaging and destroying potential threats, the fleet acquires resources from their vanquished foes.

Chapter Recruitment
Given the Blood Bearers preferential mode of operation is to cull potential initiates from the young of the survivors of their assaults where practical. Of course that is those survivors are human and free of corruption influence of the Warp. The young males are then forced to fight to the death to prove their worth. Those initiates who survive are then subjected to intensive hypno-conditioning and other harsh procedures designed to strip away any past loyalty, and replacing it with the will and attitudes of the Blood Bearers.

Gene-Seed
"The blood of Sanguinius runs in our veins and ours is the honour of the Angels."

- Brother Captain Catelios of the Blood Bearers

The gene-seed of the Blood Bearers bears all the hallmarks of the Successor Chapters of the Blood Angels. But despite their state, they are worthy inheritors of the Red Angel, and are an honour to the pride and glory of their ancestors. The Blood Bearers share many traits with their Progenitors, including the tragic flaw, known as the Red Thirst that afflicts the line of Sanguinius. This curse manifests in the form of a fiery, zealous temperament that drives the Chapter to ever-greater heights of valour. It has been said of these Scions of Sanguinius have many battle honours they have earned over the millenniums, but it is also true that these have come at a terrible price.

Where other Chapters might retire after a hard fought campaign to rebuild and reconstitute their numbers, the Blood Bearers plunge headlong into the next battle. Rarely is any time given over to recuperation, meaning that the Chapter is seldom operating at anything like full strength. It has been surmised that the Blood Bearers fight in this manner as a means of staving off the worst effects of the Flaw, but some well-placed observers have posited an alternative possibility. Perhaps, they whisper, the Blood Bearers fight the way they do to purge their ranks of those in the grip of the Red Thirst.

The Blood Bearers, like their antecedents the Blood Angels, adhere as closely to the praxis of their Primogenitors as the Flaw allows – they discern the Blood Angel’s trammels as a form of discipline that can be used to restrain the Red Thirst. For the most part the Blood Bearers mimic their Primogenitors in most regards. No one knows exactly how the Blood Bearers has managed to keep the Flaw at bay or their low numbers when it comes to their Death Company. Those who think well of the Chapter, a number which includes the Blood Angels, believe that it is because of their devotion to the Emperor and Sanguinius as well as a display of iron will that is remarkable.

Chapter Organisation
The Blood Bearers Chapter is divided into Companies of varying sizes and specialisation, each led by an officer with the rank of Captain. Due their propensity for engaging in neverending conflict, the Blood Bearers have often been forced to merge remnants of their depleted forces into viable battle groups. When a Company sustains too many losses, negating their ability to operate alone, they will often merge with another full-strength Company. New Companies are also regularly created by combining a body of newly inducted Scout Marines with a handful of veterans from other Companies, who then take up the designation of one of the Dominions Companies. Regardless of size, a Company is divided in squads of various specialites - Tactical, Destroyer, Assault, and Veteran. In the larger Companies, there is an informal hierarchy to allow the Captain to focus on the overall tactical picture. Squad leaders who have displayed a talent for leadership might then be granted the title of Centurion, and act as their Captain's second-in-command. These Centurions are earmarked for possible senior command in the future, and are often considered Captains-in-training.

Specialist Ranks
The Blood Bearers' order of battle contains several specialist formations and officer positions not present in other Space Marine Legions:
 * Centurion - A Centurion is a rank held by a senior Astartes that serves as a middle-tier battle line officer, as well as taking on more specialised functions which help give its unusual operational depth and strategic flexibility. Centurions are earmarked for possible senior command in the future, and are often considered Captains-in-training.
 * Death Company Chaplains - A Death Company Chaplain is a specialist officer rank unique to the Blood Bearers. Charged with leading a Death Company into battle, he soars into combat on crimson wings, the Death Company Chaplain leading his fallen brothers afflicted by the genetic Flaw known as the Black Rage. The Death Company Chaplain booms a constant litany of hatred and vengeance, exhorting his brothers to give meaning to their sacrifice before their tragic and inevitable end. This deeply spiritual warrior acts as the light of the Angel himself, a guiding illumination that those brothers lost to the Black Rage can follow into glory and death. He is a beacon of sanity, the eye of a bloody storm, and the last sight that many of his luckless foes will set eyes upon before their savage demise.
 * Exsanguinator Priests - The Blood Bearers' Exsanguinator Priests are the custodians of the blood of Sanguinius himself. They serve in the role of the Chapter's Apothecaries, as well as partially fulfilling the role of spiritual leaders within the Chapter who lead their fellow battle-brothers in their rituals and blood rites. Whilst the sermons and ceremonies of the Chapter's Chaplains exhort their battle-brothers to reject the anger within, those performed by the Exsanguinator Priests call upon the Blood Bearers to embrace the Red Thirst and wrest it to their control; unleashing its strength to buttress theirs when the day is darkest and the battle goes ill. As with the Apothecaries of other Chapters, the foremost concern of the Exsanguinator Priests is to conserve the Chapter's gene-seed.
 * Chaplains - The role of Chaplains also differs within the Blood Angels Chapter, for their responsibilities are solely geared towards guarding against the Black Rage and psychologically ministering to those who fall both to it and the equally terrible curse of the Red Thirst. The traditional spiritual role played by most Astartes Chaplains is instead played in the Blood Bearers by the officers known as the Exsanguinator Priests.
 * Sanguinary Guard - A major deviance from other Chapters by the Angels is the existence of the elite Honour Guard known as the Sanguinary Guard, which includes 30 of the Chapter's best and most Veteran Astartes. They use modified Jump Packs with mechanical wings to give them a taste of their Primarch's ability for flight, so that they are transformed into true angels of death. They are clad in ancient suits of golden Artificer Armour, wielding an ancient Power Weapon in the shape of a polearm known as a Glaive Encarmine, each one of which is a Chapter relic dating back many millennia. Each member of the Sanguinary Guard is easily the equal of a full squad of their brethren and the deeds of each are carefully recorded by the Chapter's Librarians, as they are warriors second in prowess only to the company captains and their Legion Master.

Combat Doctrine
Operating almost exclusively as a rapid-strike force, the Blood Bearers prefer to approach their targets with extreme speed. The Blood Bearers favor the use of shock tactics, close-quarter combat and above all, the brutal application of focused and overwhelming force to obliterate their enemies.

The Blood Bearers eschew the use of defensive warfare or long-range firefights as indecisive and unfitting.. Despite these personal misgivings, the Bearers will not hesitate to utilise a sustained orbital bombardment in order to soften up a particularly stubborn or entrenched enemy. This is followed up by a large-scale drop pod assault, augmented by a large element of close air support. This allows the Chapter's assault elements to press their attack to the hilt. Once fully committed, they attack the enemy's vitals, endeavouring to cause as much death and destruction as quickly as possible. Relishing close-quarters fighting, the Blood Bearers either attack with point-blank weapons fire or in melee combat.

Chapter Beliefs
"Ahh, to walk upon the bloodstained ground. My Brothers, remember what I have taught you. None can match our combined might. We fight as one! These curs were given a choice and they have responded with treachery against the Imperium. These mere attacks are as weak as their faith! Answer them, shot for shot and to the last - kill them all!"

- Centurion Gideon Raf

The Blood Bearers look upon the Codex Astartes as the foundation for their way of life, but to follow its teachings literally without consideration for what they have learned and what they observe around them is not in their view wisdom, but blind orthodoxy. To believe in rigid dogma is a weakness of the mind and it is this very weakness that has caused so much stagnation within the wider Imperium. The Blood Bearers feel that to be bound by words set down an age ago is to risk failure to adapt to changing circumstances that could prove fatal to the Chapter. Their primary adaptations from its doctrines are all intended to grant the Chapter additional flexibility in keeping with their duties as constant Crusaders.

Despite their fierce independence and bellicose nature, the Blood Bearers still venerate their gene-father as other Scions of Sanguinius Chapters do, for the Blood Bearers' oaths of allegiance are sworn to him and to the Master of Mankind.

Deathwatch Service
The Blood Bearers have a long history of service with the Deathwatch. When serving as Deathwatch Battle-Brothers, Blood Bearers hold themselves and all around them to high standards of conduct and skill. The Sons of Sanguinius are experts in the use of masterpiece weapons and the launching of army-shattering assaults. Their Vanguard Veterans are an inspiring sight in the ranks of the Deathwatch.

When Blood Bearers have been selected as a Kill-team leader or ascended to the rank of Watch Captain or Commander, they can be hard task masters, yet completely competent in everything that they do. Behind the mask, the exemplar of perfection is wracked by effects of the Flaw of the Chapter. None save his fellow Sons of Sanguinius will ever know of these afflictions, and even amongst themselves, such Battle-Brothers rarely acknowledge it openly, preferring instead to suffer in dignity, until their Apocryphon Oath is discharged and they can return to their Chapter.

Notable Blood Bearers

 * Lord Commander Azrael Kane - Azrael Kane is the twenty-second Chapter Master to bear the burden of being the Lord Commander of the Blood Bearers. Azrael is a living example for his brethren to aspire to, as he bears the noblest traits of their gene-sire, the angelic Sanguinius, as well as his ferocious and fiery rage in battle. Considered a figure of awe and reverence, Azrael, like many of his afflicted brethren, struggles to contain the Black Rage within, that has fallen like a shadow upon the soul of his Chapter. In battle, he is like the Red Angel himself - a nimbus of light plays about his head as he lets the blood-rage overtake him. Once his ire is up, he proceeds to rend his foes in a hail of blood, leaving torn limbs and ravaged bodies in his wake. But as soon as his enemies have fallen, once again, he'll clamp down his iron will and shackle the fiery rage within, pulling himself back from the brink of the abyss.
 * Centurion Gideon Raf - Raf is a Centurion of the Blood Bearers 9th Company. Known as a taciturn and cool-headed veteran, Raf obeys his orders without question. A trusted veteran, Gideon is often consulted by his commander, Captain Raldoron Ven. On occasion he has taken temporary command of the 9th Company in Captain Vens' abscence.

Chapter Fleet
The Blood Bearers exist as a fleet-based Chapter designed to operate solely as a warfleet on a perpetual Crusade. However, The Blood Bearers do not follow the standard Crusade pattern of operation when it comes to a Fleet based Chapter. The Chapter functions exclusively on a much rarer operational strategy for its warfleet known as the 'Nomad-Predation' pattern.This pattern utilised by the Blood Bears has matured over the millennia when operating beyond the Imperium's boundaries for prolonged ages of time. The Nomad-Predation pattern has allowed the Blood Bearers to be an entirely sovereign force that could sustain itself without any support whatsoever.The Scions of Sanguinius are ever vigilant, and are always ready for battle which is why they have chosen to remain a highly mobile, fleet-based Chapter.

The Blood Bearers fleet of the is known to contain the following starships:


 * Crimson Death (Unknown Class Battleship) - It is the personal flagship of the Blood Bearers and serves essentially as the Chapter's mobile Fortress-Monastery.


 * Red Shroud (Relic Battleship - Unknown Class) - The Red Shroud was a Relic Battleship that pre-dated the founding of the Imperium -- a veteran of centuries of nightmarish war amid the dark stars and aged in scars and honours.


 * Spear of Retribution (Battle Barge) - The Spear of Retribution is a vessel known to be present in the Blood Bearers Chapter fleet.


 * Swift Vengeance (Strike Cruisder) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Radiant Dawn (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Fortitude (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Terrible Angel (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Halberd of Vengeance (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser that carried Task Force Onslaught to the Vernalis System. The Halberd earned much renown for its participation in the Gothic War.


 * Berus (Frigate) - Frigate assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Dauntless One (Frigate) - Frigate assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Inferno (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Unbowed (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Oath of Blood (Destroyer) - Destroyer assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Angel's Talon (Troopship) - Troopship assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.


 * Archangel's Edge (Troopship) - Troopship assigned to the 1st Expeditionary Fleet.

Chapter Colours
The Blood Bearers paint their Power Armour black, with a white Chapter badge and squad markings.The shoulders of the Power Armour are painted a dark red and the trim is gold in color. The Imperial Aquila on the chest plate is usually gold, white or black.

Heraldry of the Host
The heraldic system the Blood Bearers adhere to allows them to recognise at a glance what company and squad any given battle-brother belongs to. This swift recognition in the amidst of battle are obvious. The Blood Bearers revere their heraldry, and bear their markings as badges of pride.

Helmet Designations
Instead of using the standard Codex-compliant symbols to show a unit's role or helm colour to denote rank, the Blood Bearers' helms reflect the squad type to which they belong:
 * Assault Marine: Bone - Battle-Brother assigned to an Assault Squad
 * Tactical Marine: Black - Battle-Brother of the standard Battle Companies
 * Devastator Marine: Dark Red - Battle-Brother assigned to a Heavy Support Squad
 * Veteran Marine: Gold - 1st Company Veteran Battle-Brothers

Unlike other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, the Blood Bearers wear the same squad markings of their Progenitors, which comprise a single symbol worn on the right knee plate of their Power Armour:


 * 1st Squad: A white skull on a black background
 * 2nd Squad: A white skull on a gold background
 * 3rd Squad: A black blood drop on a gold background
 * 4th Squad: A gold blood drop on a black background
 * 5th Squad: A gold X on a black background
 * 6th Squad: A black X on a gold background
 * 7th Squad: A gold lightning bolt on a black background
 * 8th Squad: A black lightning bolt on a gold background
 * 9th Squad: A gold angelic wing on a black background
 * 10th Squad: A black angelic wing on a gold background

Chapter Relations
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Blood Scorpions
The Blood Scorpions are a 6th Founding Successor Chapter descended from the Blood Angels. In temperament, this grim and ruthless Space Marine Chapter is very similar to their elder cousins, the Blood Bearers.

Blood Vultures
Although the Blood Vultures are unconfirmed Scions of Sanguinius, this 13th Founding chapter have crossed paths and have collaborate with the Blood Bearers on many occasions. In general, the Blood Vultures distrust most outsiders, but the Bearers have proven to be as bellicose and savage in their destruction of the enemies of Mankind. Down the millennia, a strong bond of kinship has formed between these two resolute Chapters. They have ended the lives of many heretics, apostates and xenos that have made the unfortunate mistake of crossing their paths.

Crimson Raptors
Although an aloof Chapter and one that prefers to lead a solitary existence, the Crimson Raptors have on rare occasions crossed paths and have collaborated with the Blood Bearers. On multiple occasions, these two Chapters have shared common cause and have fought alongside one another down the millennia, decimating their foes in a hail of bolter and blade, ensuring their foes die in agony and fear.

Flesh Tearers
The Blood Bearers and the ruthless Flesh Tearers share a similar fearsome mien and bitter anima. Hailing from the same proud lineage of the Blood Angels, these two bloody-handed Chapters forged strong bonds of brotherhood during the Tosovic Pacification in the 37thMillennium. A war of such brutality that nothing now grows upon the wind-whipped plains of that planet. Since that time, though these two Chapters have not fought alongside one another for several millennia, they both swore binding blood-oaths, that should one Chapter ever call upon the other for aid, that they would do so - a debt repaid by both sides only on a handful of occasions.

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Orks
The Blood Bearers have a pathological hatred for Orks. Reviling all greenskins with a passion, they see them as nothing more than mindless brutes that care about nothing but war and spreading chaos. To the Blood Bearers, the Orks are a blight that must be exterminated by any means necessary.

Tyranids
They Blood Bearers are also known to passionately hate Tryanids, due to the events that occurred during The Darkest Hour when Hive Fleet Leviathan is determined to be on a direct course for Baal. To make matters worse, the dread Bloodthirster Ka'Bandha, the Bane of Sanguinius, returns from the Warp leading an army of daemons. Faced with a possible war of extermination for the Chapter on two fronts.

The Blood Angels, Blood Bearers, and many other Scions of Sanguinius make a valiant last stand upon Baal Prime itself. With a seemingly unending tide at their disposal, the Hive Fleet launches nineteen waves of attacking xenos, each one larger than the last.

The tide is turned when massive warp storms, the like which have not been seen since the Age of Stife, cut off the galactic north from Terra. The Hive Fleet have mysteriously disappeared, and in its place, a new fleet arrives in the form of the Indomitus Crusade. Led by the resurrected Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman, the Avenging Son launches a brutal counter-strike which sees the Tyranids vanquished and the Scions of Sanguinius saved. A great rebuilding of both world and decimated Chapters quickly takes place, as the Primarch bestows upon the Scions of Sanguinius with hundreds of newly created Primaris Space Marines to help these Chapters offset their recently sustained catastrophic losses.

Since that time, the Blood Bearers want nothing more than to avenge themselves against the Tyranids for the lives of their fallen battle-brothers.

Notable Quotes
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By the Blood Bearers
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