Who Are The Dark Templar?

The Dark Templar are a chapter in turmoil, treading precariously along a knife edge of extinction. Their beginnings are unknown, their history sketchy at best. What is known is that they were originally named The Emperor's Templar and they were a light in dark places.

The entire chapter was dispatched to face a massive Chaos incursion from the warp – it was a trap and the world on which they stood was swallowed into the immaterium, marines and all.

For hundreds of years the Templar hunted their captors, but spending such an extended period in the warp will have long-term effects on the strongest of wills. The constant whisperings can twist perceptions and send the most stoic man mad.

Divisions started to appear within the Templar ranks and before long there was all-out civil war – known as The Revolt – which lead to half of the chapter, instigated by the first company, turning to Chaos. The constant warring, combined with the losses incurred during The Revolt, has left the chapter a fraction of the size it was.

Battered, bruised, mentally scarred and feeling the shame of Chaos taint, the Templar and their home planet for the last two centuries were spat back into the real world, where nearly a thousand years had passed since their disappearance. They were changed and would be hunted down by the very Imperium they fought to protect. They were depleted in number and the chapter's Chaplains faced the overwhelming battle of maintaining the sanity of the remaining Templar.

They were no longer The Emperor's Templar and would have to live in secret, hidden from not only the authority of the Imperium but also their tainted brethren who would both see them wiped out.

The now Dark Templar had a new look and a new mandate – to survive by any means and destroy those who had brought this shame and destruction. They would be retribution incarnate and death would follow them.