Exalted Seraphs

The Exalted Seraphs are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter supposedly created from the lineage of the stoic Imperial Fists during an Unknown Founding, following the Reign of Blood sometime in the 36th Millennium. They are notable for being a bellicose and zealous Chapter, whom unlike other Space Marine Chapters, are notably strict adherents of the Imperial Cult, believing in the Emperor's divinity and humanity's manifest destiny to dominate the stars. The Exalted Seraphs take extreme pleasure in the destruction of Renegade Imperial commanders, Apostates and other wayward heretics, regularly consigning entire cities and even whole worlds to fire and sword in order to cleanse them of any heretical taint.

Due to their zealous faith and unquestioning loyalty to the tenants of the Imperial Creed, the Chapter is held in higher regard by the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus than by many of its other wartime allies, particularly amongst other Astartes. Due to their overzealous nature, several Adeptus Astartes Chapters consider the Exalted Serapahs over-prideful and wanting in brotherhood, some going as far as to suggest that there is some inherent flaw in the Chapter's collective psyche or gene-seed, though none can gainsay their effectiveness in battle.

Chapter History
The Exalted Serpahs are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter Founded after the Age of Apostasy sometime during the 36th Millennium. They are a very religious Chapter that follows the doctrine of the Ecclesiarchy, and their zealotry is compared to that of the Sisters of battle and the Black Templars. They are famous for crushing the rebellion of a heavily defended Forge World named Ix Prime, who wanted to secede from the Adeptus Mechanicum and the Imperium. But they are infamous for starting unsanctioned Crusades against heretics and xenos without the consent of the High Lords of Terra. The Chapter is known to have a strong relationship with the Ordo Hereticus because they seek to destroy rebelling worlds that don't follow the Imperial Creed, and they wish to execute the heretics who taint the citizens of the Imperium.

Their gene-seed is pure, but their Primarch is unknown. Some of the Chapter's detractors within the the Ordo Hereticus and other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes have suggested that due to their religious zealotry that they must be descended from Loyalist Word Bearers. Some have even suggested that their Primarch is none other than the Emperor's Children Primarch Fulgrim, due to the Chapter's preening ways, arrogance and vain nature, due to their penchant for only recruiting those of noble birth or religious zealots. However, despite these accusations the Ecclesiarchy still believes that they are loyal, even if they are supposedly of Traitor stock.

Dark Secrets
The Inquisition arrived on the Chapter's homeworld of Tetragramatton to investigate rumours of a hidden chamber, that not even the Chapter can find beneath their fortress-monastery, that could possibly shed some light on the Chapter's true origins. When the Inquisitors interviewed the Astartes, if they knew anything, they talked about the legends concerning their Chapter's mysterious founder, known only as the Void Knight - a mysterious Astartes riding a custom, archaic pattern attack bike, usually armed with a sniper rifle and a chain halberd - and arrayed in archaic power armour of darkest sable with a mantle of a Chaos creature, that must not be named, draped across his broad shoulders. This mysterious Astartes first appeared during a massive warp storm sometime in M36. One of his most notable deeds was defending an Imperial cathedral that was attack by Chaos cultists during the Age of Apostasy. He voluntarily helped the forces of Sebastian Thor to defeat the mad Apostate High Lord, Goge Vandire. When the Age of Apostasy ended, Sebastian Thor, now the newly instilled Ecclesiarch of the Adeptus Ministorum, made a request to his fellow High Lords of Terra that a new Space Marine Chapter should be created to stand sentinel upon the world of Tetragrammaton, under the leadership of the shadowy figure known as the Void Knight, to ensure that there were no more heretical uprisings in the Eastern Fringes.

The Inquisitors also noticed, that upon an extensive review of the Chapter's battle records and combat tactics, that their battle doctrine was very similar to both the White Scars and the Dark Angels' 2nd Company - the famous Ravenwing. Upon arrival, the Inquisitors quickly took note that the Space Marines that escorted the Inquisitorial forces still claimed that they were of Traitor stock. When the rumoured secret chamber was finally discovered, the Inquisitors were shocked to see banners depicting the iconography of the ancient Dark Angels Legion of old, as well as Ravenwing vehicles within. They also discovered the ancient journal of the Chapter's founder, which revealed that he was a part of the Dark Angels Ravenwing company during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. During the accomplishment of his most notable deed, he had gone to the cathedral to pray to the Emperor, to repent for his crimes he had committed against his Legion and his Primarch Lion El'Jonson, but he never revealed what his supposed crime actually was.

The Ordo Hereticus was relived that the Chapter was indeed of Loyalist stock and not descended from one of the infamous Traitor Legions, but the Space Marines that had accompanied them still claimed that the Exalted Seraphs were 'false sons' of the Lion. The Inquisitors started to notice that the Chapter that was escorting them, were one of the Chapters of the Unforgiven, and that the other Chapters that accused the Exalted Seraphs of being Traitors, were all Dark Angels Successors. The Inquisitors theorised that this was most likely due to the sin committed by the Exalted Seraphs' founder, but unbeknownst to them, the Void Knight was one of the Fallen who had sided with the Arch-Heretic Luther during the Fall of Caliban, and just like the other Fallen Angels, the Void Knight had also been swept up in the massive warp storm that had engulfed the Dark Angels' doomed homeworld, which transported him both through space and time. The Void Knight had arrived five millennia later, into the future, on the world of Tetragrammaton during Goge Vandire's reign.

Despite these revelations, however, the Chapter's problems were not yet over. Tensions started to rise due to conflicting ideals of who to follow. Some within the Chapter wanted to appease the Unforgiven and join them in their cause, but the other half of the Chapter didn't want to, because they were not seen by the Unforgiven as true sons of the Lion.

The Revelation War
During the events of the Gathering Storm, a civil war between the Exalted Seraphs, known as the Revelation War, occurred. The leaders of the two sides are the Great Ophanim (Chief Librarian) Valentin Metatron, who wanted to keep the Chapter from joining the Unforgiven, and Elohim (Chapter Master) and Grand Sacristan-Chaplain, Arthur Camael, who wanted to join the Unforgiven. During the civil war, both sides came to an accord, agreeing that whoever controls all seven of the Chapter's recruiting worlds, including their homeworld, wins, and that the losing side must execute their own leader. The war lasted for seventeen month with both sides sustaining heavy casualties. When the faction that followed Metatron reconquered their homeworld and all seven of the Chapter's recruiting worlds, Kamel went into a mad rage, and somehow summoned forth strange daemons, that could only be described as angels, and a strange symbol, similar to the symbol of Chaos Undivided, but only one arrow of the Octed appeared on the Chapter Master's forehead. The Chaos-possessed Chapter Master ordered the 'angels' to destroy his own escort that were about to kill, as agreed in their earlier accord with their rivals.

Kamel claimed he had orchestrated the events of the Chapter civil war, for he had wanted both sides to kill one another as a sacrifice to an unknown warp entity he called Demiurge the Pretender. He also never cared about joining the Unforgiven, but used his position to instigate the civil war. Kamel also confessed that he wanted the Imperium to fall under the Demiurge's ultimate control. The Sacristan-Chaplains tried to use weapons blessed by the Ecclesiarchy to kill Kamel and his 'angels', but they only made their powers stronger. But normal weapons and psychic powers still damaged them somehow. When Metatron and the 7th Company arrived at the moon base of Shekina, they saw a Sacristan-Chaplain named Arioch Mastema fighting Camael, while his other battle-brothers were fighting the so-called 'angels'. Mastimer finally delivered a fatal blow against the delusional Camael while the other Chapter forces and the recently arrived reinforcements, destroyed the 'angels'. The dying Kamel claims that he was the Demiurge - the 'Emperor Reborn' - and he was only trying to end Chaos, by ending free will. Mastema just spat on the dying Elohim and killed him. After the battle, Metatron was appointed Elohim and Mastema became the new Grand Sacristan-Chaplain.

Chapter Homeworld
The Exalted Serpahs' homeworld of Tetragrammaton is a beautiful paradise world located just north of the nearby Realm of Ultramar. It is a seemingly peaceful world, but only the nobles and important members of the Ecclesiarchy live a luxurious life, while the peasants are relegated to a life of backbreaking labor. The north and the south poles of the planet are inhabited by abhuman beastman and other Chaos mutants. They usually target cities with high populations, wreaking havoc with wanton destruction and slaughter.

Before the arrival of the Imperium during the Great Crusade, the planet's human population was on the brink of extinction due to constant beastmen attacks, but then the people were saved by an army of knights, led by a mysterious woman, simply called, the Lady. However, the Lady said that the people must serve as her servants forever and sacrifice witches for her so that they could prevent the beastmen herds from attacking again. Some Imperial scholars think that it is a mere allegory for the Great Crusade, and that the army of nobles were simply Space Marine Legionaries bringing Tetragrammaton into the Imperium. However, new archaeological digs of the planet discovered some forms of armour from the Dark Age of Technology, and there were statues of the so-called Lady pre-dating the arrival of the Great Crusade. When the world was brought into the fold of the Imperium, the cult-worshiping the Lady, known as the Temple of Her Lady, went underground to continue her worship, in defiance of the tenets of the so-called 'Imperial Truth'.

During the appearance of the Imperial Cult in later centuries, which would later be recognised as the Imperium's official state religion, the Temple of Her Lady used this opportunity to disguise themselves as a sanctioned sect of the Imperial Cult, and depicted the Lady as an Imperial Saint instead of a goddess. If someone were to join the cult, he or she must be born from noble blood. Almost all the Exalted Seraphs are part of this cult. However, it is implied that the Lady isn't even human but a delusional Aeldari, who was once a high priestess of Lileath, the Goddess of Dreams. She believes that she is the reincarnation of her patron goddess and uses the knights and peasants to sacrifice psykers to keep her from aging, and tricks them into thinking that she is an actual goddess.

The Temple of Her Lady isn't the only obscure offshoot of the Imperial Cult. There is also the heretical Church of Singularity - a cult that worships the Emperor - not as a god, but as an enlightened being who will help Mankind to transcend to holy beings. Their motto is, "Enlightenment through order." They are supposedly derived from an ancient Terran religion known as Buddhism. The cult is currently being actively hunted by the Exalted Seraphs due to their connection with their former Chapter Master Kamel, and they were discovered to have worshiped a pantheon of unknown entities similar to the Chaos Gods, known as the Lords of Order.

Chapter Recruitment
For an Aspirant to become an Astartes he must simply be born from a family of nobles, even from a Rogue Trader dynasty or someone from a house of Imperial Knights. The Aspirants must battle a servitor in melee combat. If the noble wins, he will be accepted, but if he fails, his forehead will be painfully marked with the icon of shame and their families must excommunicate him. Peasants on the other hand, can only join if they completely serve the Imperial Creed, and they must kill seven Chaos creatures with name, that lurk within the poles of Tetragrammaton. If the Aspirant survives the task, he will be accepted into the ranks of the Chapter, but he cannot have any serfs, join special rituals of the Temple of Her Lady, and ascend to the rank of Chapter Master or any other position of higher power, with the exception of Master Apothecary and Master of the Forge. It is rumoured that Techmarines of the Chapter secretly recruit peasant boys, despite them not passing the test or being completely faithful to the Emperor, however, this is a mere trap, so that they can get peasants to turn into servitors instead of an Astartes.

Notable Campaigns

 * Castigation of Suzanoh (999.M41) - During a rebellion of a fortress world named Suzanoh, near the Eastern Fringes, wanted to join the Tau Empire during the appearance of the Great Rift. The 4th and the 6th Companies joined the loyalist Astra Militarum regiments to defend a stronghold until reinforcements could arrive. But the insular and haughty Exalted Seraphs treated the Astra Militarum troops as lowly peasants and they instead focused their efforts on killing the traitors and the Tau, rather than defending the stronghold. The Imperial Guardsmen were killed by the Tau and the rebels, and when the Tau fleet arrived, the 4th and the 6th Companies escaped the lost world and falsely reported to Imperial command that the guardsmen were incompetent and lazy in the performance of their duties and had failed to properly defend the stronghold, instead of accepting the blame for the role they played.
 * Tetragrammaton Under Siege (999.M41-) - When the 4th and 6th companies arrived back at their Chapter homeworld, they found Tetragrammaton had fallen under siege by an overwhelming horde of Fallen Angels, Slaangors and a Chaos Titan, led by a Fallen who had become a Chaos Lord devotee of Slaanesh, known as Shim'yaza. The reason for the Exalted Seraphs being attacked, was for the Forces of Chaos to force the Chapter to fall to the Ruinous Powers, so that they would willingly join Luther's Legion. These force of Fallen claimed that they were the true loyalists, and that the Dark Angels on The Rock, were traitors.
 * Miracle of Tetragrammaton (999.M41) - When the Slaaneshi warband assisted by the Fallen almost destroyed Leoncour City 66 of the Exalted Seraphs, led by the traitorous Archangel named Luis Seyfer, joined the warband for revenge against the higher ranks of the Chapter. Thanks to the timely arrival of the Primaris Space Marines sent by Roboute Guilliman to become part of the Exalted Seraphs, and accompanying reinforcements of Tempestus Scions, helped the Chapter in repelling the traitor Seraphs and the warband from Tetragrammaton. When the battle ended, instead of being grateful, the Cherubwing Lord-Seraph Gadreel and some nobles called the Primaris abominations and against the Emperor's work. Both Metatron and Mastema scolded them for being ungrateful. As punishment Metatron declared that the noble-exclusive ranks of the Chapter can be taken by non-nobles with the exception of the Cherubwing and Lord-Elohim.

Chapter Organisation
After it was revealed the Exalted Seraphs were Dark Angels and the civil war ended Lord Elohim(Chapter Master) Valentin Metatron reformed the 1st Company renamed the Cherubwing to be more like the Deathwing and lets just say the Unforgiven did not take this lightly. Almost all of the rest of the Exalted Seraphs, with the exception of the Chapter's 4th Company, is similar to the Dark Angels' 2nd 'Ravenwing' Company and their Successor Chapters. Just like the Ravenwing, each of the companies are comprised of Vengeance variant Landspeeders and Mark IV Raven Pattern Assault Bikes, and prefers melee combat. Terminator Armour is only exclusive to the Honour Guard and bodyguards to the Chapter Master and the Chapter Master himself. The most widely used Dreadnoughts are the Helfire variant, to provide firepower. There are rumours, saying that one Leviathan pattern Dreadnought, that contains the body of ancient Sandilfin, the brother of the current Chapter Master, is beneath the fortress-monastery of the Exalted Seraphs waiting to be awakened, when the time is dire. The 4th Company, sometimes called the 'Judgment Company', specialises in Assault Squads with jump packs and aerial support. They are currently led by Mastimer.

Officer Ranks

 * Lord-Elohim - Chapter Master equivalent.
 * Lord Seraph - Captain equivalent.
 * Archangel - Lieutenant equivalent.

Specialist Positions

 * Chief Powers - Grand Sacristan Chaplain.
 * Great Ophanim - Chief Libarian equivalent.
 * Lord Virtue - Chief Apothecary equivalent.
 * Sacristan-Chaplain - These Chaplains are chosen from Battle-Brothers whose families have greater ties with the Ecclesiarchy and the Temple of Her Lady. They are in charge of inducting Aspirants into the Chapter and preaching about the teachings of the Ecclesiarchy to the children and peasants of their homeworld. The Chaplains have a secret society within the Chapter known as the Seeds of Belief. The main purpose of this organisation is to seek out primitive, undiscovered human worlds and spread superstitious beliefs to trick primitives into becoming their slaves. They wield a crozius blessed by the Lady and shines with a holy light
 * Emmmisarius Mechanicus - Techmarine equivalent.

Veteran Ranks

 * Powers - Terminator armoured Veteran Marines of the Cherubwing Company.

Line Ranks

 * Principality - Sergeant equivalent.
 * Malakhim - Battle-Brother.

Squad Formations

 * Dominions - Command Squads.

Special Units

 * Choir Servitor - These specialised servitors are created from volunteers who wanted to help the Chapter by turning themselves into one. They provide much needed firepower due to the Chapter being melee specialists. They also provide morale by chanting and singing about the Emperor and their Primarch, but sometimes some Astartes complain about their glitch, where their voice becomes distorted when singing and chanting which ends up becoming a scream and a cry for help.

Chapter Relics

 * Armour of Beldir - This master-crafted, artificer-wrought Terminator Armour was crafted and worn by Beldir, the famous Chapter Master and Master of the Forge of the Exalted Seraphs during the 38th Millennium. The armour is mounted with plasma cannons and adorned with a jewel that supposedly contains the soul of the Lady. When battling the Necrons during the 39th Millennium, Loptir - the Chapter's Chief Librarian - tricked Beldir's blind brother into poisoning his wine with a venomous herb. When Beldir died, his death was blamed on his brother, who eventually ended his own life. When Loptir self-appointed himself as Chapter Master and wore Beldir's armour, he started to feel weaker by the day and eventually turned into a husk. Some say, that the armour is possessed by Beldir, and some have even suggested that the jewel is cursed. This suit of armour currently resides in the Chapter's Reliquary.

Chapter Colours
The Chapter primarily wears golden yellow power armour, with the exception of the insets of both their armorials and their poleyns (knee guardS) being paint deep black. The top of the backpack, top of the helmet and the Aquila or Imperialis worn on the chest guard are white in colour. A white squad specialty symbol (Tactical, Devastator, Assault and Veteran) on the right shoulder pauldron indicates a battle-brother's assigned combat role. Small white gothic numeral beneath indicates squad number, while the gothic numeral stenciled on the left poleyn indicates company assignment.

Chapter Badge
The Exalted Seraphs Chapter badge is gold coloured angelic wing, it's talons firmly grasping a flaming sword. This symbol is reminiscent of the iconography utilised by the Dark Angels' elite 2nd Company, the Ravenwing. This symbol represents both their heritage as Scions of the Lion and the righteous wrath of the God-Emperor that they bring to Mankind's enemies.

Chapter Relations
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Ebon Knights
The Ebon Knights are another Dark Angels Successor Chapter that are openly scorned by their progenitors and the chapters of the Unforgiven. Though an ancient and proud Chapter, whose long list of battle honour and glorious deeds stretches back to the dawn of the 32nd Millennium, they have been continually shunned since the events of the Crimson Blade Campaign in mid-M32. The exact reason for this schism remains unknown to outsiders, but the Unforgiven refers to the Ebon Knights as ' The Forgotten ', and despite the passage of time, the schism between them has only widened. Despite their cold relations with their fellow Scions of the Lion, the Ebon Knights have garnered a reputation for being honourable to their allies and implacable to their foes. When the origins of the Exalted Seraphs were eventually discovered by the Ebon Knights, they openly embraced their wayward cousins, for they knew better than anyone, what it was like to be ostracised by those who shared the same blood. On a half dozen occasions, the Ebon Knights have fought honourably alongside the Exalted Seraphs, forging unbreakable bonds of brotherhood in the fires of war. Both Chapters still maintain relatively close relations to this day, and will answer one another's call to arms should the need ever arise.

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The Unforgiven
Though not 'enemies' per se, the Chapters of the Unforgiven, despite them being gene-brothers, see the Exalted Seraphs as unwanted siblings due to their founder secretly being one of the hated Fallen. They look upon this Chapter with great suspicion, if not with outright scorn, for they believe they are a Chapter of pretenders - cloaked in the gene-lineage of the Lion - but are nothing more than unworthy inheritors of their beloved Primarch. Whenever one of the Chapters of the Unforgiven encounter the Exalted Seraphs in the same warzone, they are treated with disdainful indifference at best, and outright hostility at worst. Several times, Imperial authorities and other Space Marines Chapters have had to intervene to bring cessation to hostilities between the Unforgiven and the Exalted Seraphs. The Unforgiven often refer to their hated cousins as ' The Denied '.

By the Exalted Seraphs
Feel free to add your own                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             "I have awakened to see my chapter that I made to only be tarnished and ruled by a bunch of spoiled nobles."

- Attributed to the Ancient Revered Dreadnought and founder of the Exalted Seraphs, known as the Void Knight

"Go back fixing the bikes servitor..err..I mean.. you peasant."

- Attributed to Lord Seraph (Captain) Gadreel Grigorin, 1st Company, 'Cherubwing', to a Techmarine of peasant descent.

"Praise...thy....I have.........God Emp... No... Er.... Mouth and... Or and his.. Loy..... Must..... al sons...(Loud and long audible scream)"

- Typical glitch from a Choir Servitor of the Exalted Seraphs Chapter.

About the Exalted Seraphs
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