Guard of Testimony

The Guard of Testimony are a Dark Angels Successor Chapter based on the planet of Akkad in the XXXX solar system. The chapter was founded during the brutal Third Founding, alongside such ruthless chapters as the Flesh Eaters and Executioners who were also founded during this time. This chapter quickly became renowned for its brutality in war. Always devout in its outlook it has across millennia passed become one of the most reclusive and ritualistic Space Marine chapters – looking ever more inward as it deployed esoteric rites to purge the chapter of its sin, and the sins of all of the Unforgiven.

On the now rare occasions now when they leave there seclusion for war, it is thought they are motivated by the search for apocryphal Imperial manuscripts or relics sacred to the Unforgiven.

Founding
The Guard of Testimony's gene-seed is descended, from a great Interrogator-Chaplin of the Dark Angels, Phanuel, known to the devout warriors of the Guard as Taxiarch Archangel Phanuel. It is said by those who know the secrets of the Unforgiven that Phanuel was given the great honour of a Successor Chapter, after a confession he extracted from one of the Fallen led to the recovery of an ancient Imperial relic - the Ark of Testimony - that contained an apocryphal Imperial manuscript, written in an ancient Terran language. Aboard the Rock, the Grand Masters of the Unforgiven decreed that the Guard of Testimony would be founded to investigate the ancient lore of the Imperium of Man and to use its ancient and esoteric knowledge to locate the Fallen. And so the learned warriors of letters of the Guard of Testimony were born.

From it's inception day-to-day life of the Chapter's battle-brothers of the Guard of Testimony was amongst the most monastic of known Space Marine Chapters, with every aspect of the Chapter's life carefully orchestrated to to extol the virtues of Emperor of Mankind. The ferocity and zeal the Guard displayed during there early crusades of the 32nd Millennium are legendary, but as centuries passed, the Chapter withdrew from frequent combat to a life that to an outsider would seem more suited to members of the Ecclesiarchy rather than Space Marines. Today when the Guard entire the battlefield it is whispered that they are searching for the most holy of ancient relics or to slay one of the Fallen.

The First Born
After presenting the Ark of Testimony to the Inner Circle's Council of Grand Masters of the Unforgiven, Phanuel was bestowed with the great honour of the inauguration of a Successor Chapter. He returned to Akad, the planet where this most sacred relic had been unearthed, to search for those who would be re-born as his sons. Phanuel, flanked by his bodyguard of Dark Angels brethren, landed in the township of XXXXXXX, the townspeople greeted them hospitality, which warmed the hearts of these hardened battle-brothers. The townspeople shared with Phanuel that they where now at war with the very monastery that had previously guarded their settlement. Townspeople were being enslaved and children abducted.

The tale raised Phanuel's suspicions that the Ruinous Powers had somehow infected the souls of the those once noble inhabitants of the monastery. A plan was hatched that the strongest youth of the townspeople, led by Phanuel and his bodyguard of Dark Angels would, under the cover of darkness, take the monastery and slay all those who had succumbed to the wicked temptations of Chaos. Despite its heavy fortifications the Dark Angels, supported by the townspeople, quickly broke through into the catacombs of this imposing monument to the Imperium, now besmirched by the blemish of the Ruinous Powers of the Warp. The monks had fallen to Chaos fell quickly, many repented when faced with Phanuel's blade, and from their confessions it was learned that the leader of this rebellion against all that was good was an Abbot possessed by a minor daemon of Slannesh who had made his daemonic throne in the sanctuary upon the altar. The confessions also revealed that the still uncorrupted librarian was being keep prisoner in his archives and that held the knowledge that would unveil the truth behind these darkest day of the holy order.

After hours of vicious fighting Phanuel, his bodyguard and the townspeople made it through this cloisters and corridors of those ancient citadel to the library. The Dark Angels made quick work of the the monks who guarded this voluminous library, whose flesh had been corrupted by the Ruinous Powers and souls fallen to darkness. The librarian, when freed, told Phanuel the secret of these archives that the great wisdom of these manuscripts and the rigorous dedication of the monastic inhabitants of this forbidding citadel kept closed a year in time and space that would otherwise rip open into a vicious warp rift. The Abbott had slowly become tainted by the sins of flesh, eventually giving himself entirely to concupiscence and began to lay with daemons at night. As such, he become possessed by a minor daemon of Slaanesh and led the monks in their fall from solemn piety to debauched decadence. The librarian guided the Emperor's warriors to the sanctuary where he believed the fallen monks and the possessed Abbott where attempting to open the warp rift wide open.

Upon the altar a woman kidnapped from the village was being corrupted by the possessed Abbott.

The Crusades
Xxx

Chapter Home World
Akkad is small world now unified under the peaceful rule and protection of The Guard of Testimony. It's people are some of the most devoted to the Imperial Cult in the known galaxy. The ancient culture of Akkad venerated literary and religious learning as the most noble pursuits a man could follow and this tendency has only exacerbated since the rising of The Guard. The lands are of natural awe and beauty, great clean oceans cover its mass with three great continents inhabited by men and women carrying forward three great distinct learned cultures, that whilst not at all suspicious of science or technology consider it to be a lower order of knowledge, place several rungs below theology, poetry and the conservation of the esoteric truths of man.

Rugged alpine characterises the lands of XXXX where the Guard of Testimony fortress monastery stands imposingly above the City of XXX adjacent to the XXX sea. The craggy nature of these mountainous continent means that settlements exist as relatively autonomous city-states, mountain villages ornately carved into the rock face, a small number of  live as nomadic tribes retreating from the world into the lives of ancient shepherds.

The economy of Akkad is based almost entirely on exporting the fruits of this learning, manuscripts of exegesis of the Emperors teaching, and delicately produced objects born of the hands of craftsman whose minds carry techniques thought to be long lost to history. The sculptures and painters of Akkad are never without the most honoured of commissions, be that firing station class for Ecclesiarchy or producing marble sculptures of the honoured dead battle brothers of the Dark Angels and the Unforgiven. These great learned people have for many millennia before the establishing of The Guard of Testimony been renowned across the galaxy for their markets where ancient relics and manuscripts from across all known space are traded and sold. These markets are served by the many Akkadian's who choose to try their hand searching space on the back of secret lore discovered in dusty manuscripts that their convictions holds will allow them to uncover sacred and valuable objects. It is said that one of these relic hunters bought the Ark of Testimony to Akkad many millennia ago.

Chapter Beliefs
The beliefs and chapter cult of the Guard of Testimony rest on a sacred theology of sin - in the words of Phanuel they believe that, "Sin explains everything, and it is from this which everything must be explained." Their puritanical, and often esoteric interpretation of the creed of the Dark Angels and the Unforgiven, is zealous reverence of the Emperor, their Primarch Lion El'Jonson and Phanuel. Through deep hermetic readings of many thought lost, mythical or suppressed Imperial and pre-Imperial manuscripts the Guard have reconstructed these three figures as a tripartite centre of their faith - The Father, The Son and The Grandson. They are one of the few Space Marine Chapters who revere the Emperor as a God, and have been able to reconcile the Imperial Truth and the Emperor's vicious secularism as evidence of His purity and Godhead, through their reading of ancient prophecy to explain the history of the Imperium.

The centrality of the atonement of sin to the Dark Angels' and their Successor Chapters has led the warrior priests of the Guard to practice numerous rituals that they believe expunge the sins of the Fallen. The most notable being the yearly sacrifice of a willing battle-brother on the night of the Sollemnis of Belath. Before his sacrifice is made, the the Guardsman recite this sacred prayer to his assembled battle-brothers:

"The Emperor, the Lion, the Taxiarch, are good. We are indebted to them for all the good things we enjoy: we owe them praise and thanks. But they are just and we are guilty. They must be appeased and we must expiate our sins; and to do this, the most effective means is sacrifice – the willing sacrifice of one's own battle-brothers – upon our cold marble altar. When the earth is awash with the blood of our innocents, the sins of the Fallen thy atoned."

It is the belief of the Guard that this sacrifice partially redeems the chapters battle brothers allowing them to serve the Emperor of Mankind for another calendar year, ensuring that none of their number will fall to the ruinous powers of chaos.

Chapter Organisation
The organisation of The Guard of Testimony mirrors closely the chapter it descends from The Dark Angels and so are considered to partially comply with the Codex Astartes. They deviate from the Dark Angels in the organisation Interrogator Chaplains in which there are additional ranks - such as The Blessed Excuetioner of Belath and the four Custodian-Protectors of the Ark of Testimony.

Combat Doctrine
The Guard of Testimony follow closely to the tenants of the Codex Astartes, emphasising whenever possible close-quarters engagements and hand-to-hand combat. Like their Progentitors, the Dark Angels, they are renowned for their dogged nature and determination in the face of overwhelming odds in which they will steadfastly hold their positions. Often times they are more than likely to fight to the death rather than flee the field of battle, even when it would be tactically beneficial for them to do so.

When a battle-brother finds the Emperor Peace fighting for the glory of The Father, The Lion and Taxiarch, he is beatified by his brothers -- forevermore celebrated in prayers -- with the most heroic revered by being commemorated in stained glass. In the rarest of cases, these revered fallen brothers are given a saint's day, to be celebrated forever more by his future brethren space marines. Whilst not actively seeking martyrdom, the Guard have no fear of death, their combat style reflecting the privileged and preferred hand-to-hand combat style, reflected in their preference for wielding power swords, as wielded by their beloved patriarch Phanuel.

As devout sons of Lion El'Jonson, the Guard, like all the Unforgiven ,are motivated by the continuous hunt for the Fallen Angels. The Guard, which are scarily seen in combat, now seam to be deployed more often, primarily in search of ancient manuscripts and holy relics. These missions and the resulting research serves as reconnaissance for all the other chapters whose sins continue to bear down like a crushing weight upon the souls of the battle-brothers of the Unforgiven. This single-minded pursuit of these sacred objects can lead to the combat style of the Guard to appear irrational to those who do not know their true purpose, but their ferocious character and unrelenting brutality has made them feared and renowned warriors.

Chapter Appearance
The scorched-earth theology of the Guard of Testimony is not only burnt into the soul of every Initiate of the Chapter but is bored into the appearance of every battle-brother. The Guard have made use of the great relic hunters of the markets of Akad and the many artisan-craftsman of their home world to locate and restore ancient armour and weapons that would of been used by Space Marines prior to the fall of Caliban. Adorned with their graven iconography the power armour worn by these Astartes serves to remind the battle-brothers of the heavy burden of sin they all bear. Suits of ancient patterns of Mark II "Crusade", Mark III "Iron", Mark IV "Maximus", Mark V "Heresy" and Mark VI "Corvus" battle-plate adorn the Chapter's battle-brothers. As hunters of ancient objects, and keepers of ancient lore they carry many weapons and other items that would ordinarily be considered relics.

Notable Quotes
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By the Guards of Testimony
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