| abstract | - The Fire Hawks were one of the Loyalist Space Marine Chapters created in the 36th Millennium during the Cursed 21st Founding. While the Fire Hawks have always maintained they were forged from the genestock of the Ultramarines, the sons of Roboute Guilliman have never acknowledged any kinship, fueling suspicions as to their true heritage. They have the dubious distinction of being one of the few Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes to have lost not one but two Chapter homeworlds. After being nearly driven to extinction during the Badab War, the Fire Hawks' mobile Fortress-Monastery, the ancient Void Fortress Raptorus Rex, was lost in the Warp in 963.M41. It is now believed that the survivors of this disaster became the cursed Astartes known collectively as the Legion of the Damned. The Fire Hawks were a fleet-based Chapter, though they have in the past ruled over at least two former home worlds. Today however, these worlds are blasted wastes, consumed by the wars of the Age of the Imperium. Though no trace of the culture from which the Chapter originally recruited now exists, something of their feudal traditions lived on in the Chapter's rites and character. The Fire Hawks engaged in the practise of honour duelling, often using weapons heated over ceremonial braziers to settle disputes and lay rivalries to rest. Needless to say, the loser in such a bout was likely to be horrifically scarred, and death was not an uncommon outcome. Another tradition dating back to this lost culture was in the rank titles bestowed upon the Chapter's leaders. Knightly terms were often combined with standard Codex Astartes-compliant titles, creating individuals with a wide range of ranks, such as Captain-at-Arms, Knight-Sergeant or Brother-Ensign. In temperament, the Fire Hawks were notoriously bellicose, their battle tactics almost entirely concerned with the application of overwhelming force to bring about the total and immediate destruction of the enemy. Despite their brutal approach to war, the Fire Hawks were not mindless berserkers and never threw away their own lives in the pursuit of impossible objectives. While some allies have denounced the Fire Hawks for this attitude, some coming close to calling them out as traitorous, it was in fact rooted in their overwhelming sense of superiority and self-worth. The Fire Hawks simply refused to sacrifice themselves for anything but the highest cause, and when they committed themselves to battle, the result was the total destruction of all who stood before them. The Fire Hawks were somewhat unusual in another regard too. When the Age of Apostasy pitched the entire Imperium into an age of civil war and anarchy, most Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes focused on their own missions and refused to take sides. The Space Marines saw any involvement in the countless internecine wars of faith and the absolute, maniacal oppression unleashed upon the worlds of the Imperium by High Lord Goge Vandire as a betrayal of their duties. The vast majority looked to the security of the regions about their home worlds or continued to prosecute long-standing wars against ancient xenos foes. The Fire Hawks, however, did become involved in the wars of the age. The Chapter fought for the cause of the great reformer Sebastian Thor, and ever since that time has sought to maintain the status quo that settled over the galaxy following his victory over the insane High Lord. To their last day, the Fire Hawks have been tireless in their prosecution of any enemy whose deeds might threaten the Imperium, launching their overwhelming assaults against Renegade Planetary Governors, apostate hierarchs, and rogue militant lords. In many cases, the Chapter's leaders have taken on such causes before any other body has beseeched them for aid, regarding the defeat of such Traitors as a matter of honour. Only when the demagogue was slain, his armies scattered, his cities cast down and his people made destitute did the Fire Hawks consider the matter settled.
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