Many Blood Angels Successor Chapters that make use of Death Company Dreadnoughts will deploy them into battle using Dreadnought Drop Pods that drop the war-machine right into the heart of the enemy's battle line, allowing the Dreadnought's unstoppable might to be used for maximum effect. If the occupant of the Dreadnought chassis is still sane enough to follow direction, he will be moved to the Chapter's Death Company, where his Dreadnought body will be able to withstand tremendous amounts of punishment and his unending rage will result in the deaths of many foes before his own destruction. The Chapter's Sanguinary Priests can then judge whether or not the Dreadnought's Astartes occupant should be sedated until the next battle or relieved of his life so that another may take his place. A Dreadnought under the influence of the Black Rage is nearly impossible to control or restrain, and as such he may rage out of control for solar days until the Chapter's Techmarines can rig a device to disable him.

The Dreadnoughts of these Chapters are not immune to the Black Rage, and a Dreadnought pilot that is consumed by the Black Rage can also join the ranks of its Chapter's Death Company. Rather than let them face a slow, insane death, the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters will form those Battle-Brothers who have newly succumbed to the Black Rage into a special unit of the Chapter known as the Death Company. As well as Sanguinius' memories, the Blood Angels and their kin are genetically gifted with a small portion of their Primarch's unearthly power, boosting their strength and vitality to superhuman levels. When a Space Marine is overcome by the Black Rage he is reborn into a world of constant anger, hatred and blind fury that cannot be contained and will lead to the slaughter of any who get in the enraged Astartes' way, whether they be friend or foe. The condition is largely irrecoverable and only a few Blood Angels have managed to defeat this so-called 'gene curse'. This flaw was first discovered during the Battle of Signus Prime when Sanguinius was struck down and delivered a terrible wound by the Bloodthirster Greater Daemon Ka'Bandha.

The Black Rage is a genetic flaw that creates mental instability as a result of the psychic imprint left within the Blood Angels Legion's gene-seed by their Primarch Sanguinius' death. Death Company Dreadnoughts are used exclusively by the Blood Angels Chapter and their many Successor Chapters.ĭeath Company Dreadnoughts differ from standard Imperial Dreadnoughts in that their occupants are Astartes that are suffering from the Blood Angels' genetic flaw known as their Black Rage. Dreadnoughts are cybernetic combat walkers that house the mortal remains of a fallen Space Marine hero so that he may continue fighting for the Emperor and his Chapter even after his body has been fatally crippled.

A Death Company Dreadnought of the Blood Angels ChapterĪ Death Company Dreadnought is a variant of the standard Imperial Dreadnought combat walker used by the Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes.

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