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Fire Hawks

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Ultramarines

The Fire Hawks were a loyalist Space Marine Chapter which took part in the conflicts during the Age of Apostasy and the Badab War. They were lost in the Warp in 963.M41[2].

Fire Hawks
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Founding Chapter: Ultramarines[1a]
Founding: M36 (Cursed) 21st Founding[1a]
Chapter Master: Stibor Lazaerek (last recorded)[1a]
Homeworld: Zhoros (destroyed)[1a] / Cousteau XI (rendered uninhabitable)[1a]
Fortress-Monastery: Raptorus Rex[1a]
Colours: Red with yellow pauldrons and markings[1f]
Specialty: Assault/Shock Tactics
Strength: Lost/Unknown

History

The Fire Hawks have long been a byword for devastation and wrath. In their history they have seen great victories, bloody deeds and terrible reversals, being one of only a very few Chapters on record known to have survived the destruction of two separate home worlds, and being brought back from the brink of extinction many times.[Needs Citation]

The Chapter itself claims antecedence from the renowned Ultramarines gene-seed, although certain defects and variations in the samples held in the archives of the Adeptus Terra speak against this, and the Lords of Macragge have never publicly acknowledged kinship.[1a]

Notable Battles

The Fire Hawks have also long been notably embroiled deeply in the wars of the Age of Apostasy. In one of their first actions they fought alongside the Black Templars, Imperial Fists, Soul Drinkers, and the Martian Skitarii against Goge Vandire. They did not escape unscathed, as during these battles their homeworld of Zhoros was destroyed by Thermal Bombs. At the conclusion of the Age of Apostasy they were rewarded for their actions in his support by Sebastian Thor himself, who issued them with the right to use the Great Crusade-era mobile void-fortress, Raptorus Rex as their fortress monastery. The Fire Hawks became a fleet-based chapter as a result.[1c]

They were also the first loyalist Chapter to become engaged in the Badab War after one of their vessels, the Red Harbinger was attacked and captured by the Mantis Warriors in 904.M41. The Fire Hawks quickly became fully engaged in the conflict, with an effective frontline brethren fighting strength of 86%, a projected Chapter maximum at the start of the war. Despite the power of their fleet, the Fire Hawks suffered terrible losses in the early years of the war, both in terms of battle-brethren and vessels. Eventually casualties reduced the Chapter's effective strength to an estimated 22% by the war's third year, and Lazaerek was forced to bow to Loyalist command pressure to withdraw his remaining forces or risk his Chapter's extinction. The Chapter was relegated to the sidelines until the very closing stages of the war when Lazaerek successfully petitioned the Loyalist Command for his Chapter's involvement again in the fight, and the star-fortress Raptorus Rex, the single-most powerful warship in the Maelstrom Zone, was used as a lynchpin of the Angstrom blockade.[1d] Also during the Badab War Fire Hawks created a new pattern of the Razorback — Infernum Pattern Razorback — to effectively breach the enemy fortifications and deliver the Space Marines squads inside the breaches.[6b]

Disappearance of the Fire Hawks

The beginning of the end came when the Fire Hawks were called to the Crows World subsector in 963.M41 to deal with Dark Eldar Pirates. The entire chapter fleet, as well as the Raptorus Rex, attempted a warp jump from the Piraeus system, 120 light years from Crows World. The space fortress, five ships, over 800 brethren and 2,000 other personnel were expected to reach Crows World within no more than 12 hours. They never arrived.[2]

In 983.M41 the chapter was officially declared lost in the warp and assumed destroyed. It’s said that the Bell of Lost Souls tolled a thousand times, and that the Emperor himself ordered a black candle to be lit in the Chapel of Fallen Heroes.[2] Despite this, there have been scattered sightings and rumours of the old chapter still fighting in the farthest reaches of the galaxy, their old flagship being at the lead.[7]

Rumours fed by a long line of coincidences have been said by conspiracy theorists to implicate the Officio Assassinorum in the loss of the Fire Hawks' fleet, though nothing has ever been substantiated.[5]

Fate

Main article: Legion of the Damned

As many as two hundred members of the Chapter may have survived and renamed themselves the Legion of the Damned.[4]

Timeline

Notable Elements

Notable Fire Hawks

Notable Named Vehicles

Images

  • Knight-Terminator Surtur [1b]

  • Knight-Veteran Zann [1b]

  • Armiger-Brother Avar [1f]

  • Preceptor-Brother Laugarda [1f]

  • Knight-Brother Sorosev [1f]

  • Armiger-Brother Betancourt [1f]

  • Armiger-Brother Borusa [1e]

Trivia

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The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

Conflicting sources

Original Fire Hawks heraldry[3]

The Fire Hawks' colour scheme and insignia have changed between their first appearance[3] and the current edition of the background; the dominance of yellow and red has been switched and the mushroom cloud symbol has now become one more relevant to the chapter's name.[Needs Citation]

In addition, the Badab War book places the second siege of Terra at 378.M36 - almost a hundred years after the date implied by the Witch Hunters codex (circa 287).[Needs Citation]

See also

Related articles

Sources

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