Of all the legends of the Imperium, one of the strangest is that of the Legion of the Damned. The Inquisitors of Terra have amassed dozens of reports describing the inexplicable manifestation of these otherworldly warriors upon battlefields were the warriors of Mankind battle without hope against impossible odds. By all accounts their aspect is frightening and bizarre, a ghostly apparition of warriors from some bygone era or a time yet to come when all is lost.

They appear in the guise of the Emperor's finest, Space Marines, like and yet unlike the proud chapters which guard Humanity from the ravages of heretics and alien invaders.

Their armour is black as midnight and marked with symbols of death and damnation; skulls grin cheerlessly from helm and boltgun, bones twist amidst the flames of purgatory.

The Legion comes unannounced and unlooked for. Wreathed in spectral fury they descend upon the foes of Mankind, battling them without outcry or war shout until the enemy is scattered and the day is saved. Equally mysteriously they vanish again once the victory is won, disappearing back to whatever hellish realm they come from. Are they the Emperor's will made manifest, or some dire creation of a more mysterious force? None can say.

By the Emperor's wisdom, the truth has been revealed to me! They are the lost ones, the spirits of the Fire Hawks lost in the Warp. They are back from the dead to wreak vengeance on the enemies of Mankind!

- From the diary of Scribe Historicus Malary, charged with heresy, awaiting execution.

To find out more about the Legion of the Damned read this article on the Cursed Founding Chapters.