The primordial forests of Caliban once bore witness to the fabled beginnings of one of Warhammer 40k’s most legendary warriors – Lion El‘Jonson, Primarch of the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion. Now, eons later, the woodlands stir again with portents of the Lion’s long-awaited return to the war-ravaged landscape of the 41st millennium. As a passionate gamer and Warhammer lore expert since the early days of Rogue Trader, I‘m especially excited to guide you through the epic saga and analyze the implications.
The Return of a Mythic Icon
Cast adrift in the swirling tides of the warp and feared lost forever, Lion El‘Jonson‘s sudden homecoming to realspace strikes with the shock and awe of divine prophecy. Emerging beneath the boughs of a lonely forest on a remote world, he finds himself in a strange land blanketed by perpetual night where two moons loom. This shadowed realm could not be further removed from the verdant hunting grounds of ancient Caliban. Nonetheless, an irresistible compulsion draws the Primarch north towards the heart of a sprawling urban hive.
There, an advanced human civilization carved into the bedrock kneels at the feet of the legendary lord, exalting him as a god descended to shepherd his people against the darkness. Historical accounts name this planet Albion Secundus, located dangerously near the Imperium Nihilus boundary. As battle commander of the world’s forces, Lord High Commander Ishmael Aldred mistakes the newly arisen Lion as the mythological savior "Albion Pendragon" and immediately offers fealty. However, the Lion harbors no aspirations of apotheosis nor monarchy. A weapon forged for war, his singular duty lies in serving the Emperor to protect humanity no matter where they reside in this cold, benighted realm on the edge of oblivion.
Reuniting with the Unforgiven
Hungry for answers, Lion El‘Jonson ventures beyond the lamplit cities of the Albion hive clusters out into the Gothic-class cruiser broken halves scattered amidst the alien wilds from whence he came. There, beneath the silent pines clustered around a bottomless crevasse, the last scions of the I Legion keep vigil – a small war band of Dark Angels descended from the Deathwing. Cloaked in archaic Tartaros pattern Terminator plate with weapons drawn, they surround their recovered liege, accusing him of possessing their Chapter Master‘s corpse.
Amused by their insolence, the Primarch invites the sergeant to test his claim in honorable combat. Amid a flurry of chainswords, Lion El‘Jonson disarms his opponent with ease. As the Space Marine kneels in surrender, his utterance of “repent” confirms to the Lion that these are indeed his sons – the Deathwing, guardians of secrets. Accepting their oaths of fealty, he looks upon them without scorn, seeing the weight of shame and self-flagellation they carry for sins committed lifetimes ago against him during the Fall of Caliban.
Sensing the bitter seeds of another insurrection germinating, the Lion brokers an uneasy truce outlined in the Caliban Accord, allowing the Unforgiven to redeem themselves through loyalty and combat at his side. United by prophecy, gene-father and sons journey to the stars once more seeking their lost kin scattered to the abyssal tides of the warp – the Fallen.
No Peace, Only War
Lion El‘Jonson‘s return does not go unnoticed across the benighted battlefronts of the Era Indomitus. As word spreads across the stars of the legendary lord‘s rebirth, both allies and enemies take notice. Amid the besieged bastions of the Indomitus Crusade, Lord Commander Roboute Guilliman himself hears the rumors with stoic reservation. The Avenging Son likely views the Lion’s awakening on distant Albion Secundus as a challenger’s gambit, portending future tensions between proud brothers and sons. However, whispers in the dark also summon far more sinister observers with malign intent.
The Hellish Ambush
In the eternal night that enshrouds the Daemon World of Sicarus, a powerful sorcerer of the traitorous Word Bearers thrills at the serendipitous opportunity. Here, amidst oceans of lava and black pyramid citadels, the hellish domain of the Dark Apostle Bayard rests, where the souls of betrayed mortals fuel profane chaotic rituals to sate the Ruinous Powers. Having forged an unsteady alliance with the equally accursed Fallen Angels, this cunning priest of the dark gods intercepts the Lion’s war band as they transit the tumultuous seas of the warp.
Deceiving them with visions of the historic Thramas Crusade, the Word Bearers draw the unsuspecting Dark Angels into a cunning trap. As psychic flames engulf their frigate, the Invincible Reason, Lion El‘Jonson and his warriors crash upon the blasted earth of Sicarus like so much wreckage from distant wars. Rising from the rubble to survey their surroundings, they stand ready to sell their lives dearly for the Emperor against the nightmare realm that awaits.
Trials by Fire
With bolters blazing, the Legion of the Damned descend screaming from the mustard clouds burning with white fire to carve a path towards the towering black obsidian temples at the continent‘s heart. There, atop the volcanic Mount Damnation, the Dark Apostle Bayard prepares his ultimate ritual to shed his mortal form and achieve monstrous daemonic apotheosis. However, the key to his profane transformation resides not in occult incantations or sacrificial rites, but with the internment of an immortal soul in his barbed new flesh – none other than the spirit essence of the Lion himself. A slain primarch’s essence would provide the final catalyzing spark to trigger this warp-tainted new birth into godhood.
As cataclysmic battle erupts across Sicarus’ fractured plains leaving the earth cracked and in ruinous upheaval, the resurrected lord of the First Legion and his allies clash with psychic projections made flesh – their shapes conjured from the primordial nightmares of his past come to life through sorcery to torment the Primarch. For every snarling Night Lord, World Eater, and Alpha Legionnaire felled, another malignant soul-shadow takes shape until Lion El’Jonson‘s armor lies rent and battered. Yet still he fights on amidst the pyre-lit darkness, blade singing as it tastes cursed blood. He carves a path nearer to the volcanic rift valleys where Bayard weaves his blasphemous magicks. Ultimately, the Lion stands bloodied but unbroken amid the dissolving remnants of phantom traitors manifested from his own psyche through warp manipulation. However, little does he know the true test of will and devotion fast approaches.
The Hidden Revelation
Striding as conqueror from the ravaged battlefield, the master of the Dark Angels enters Bayard‘s inner sanctum alone. There, hovering above a pit of shimmering Chaos fire, the Apostle awaits – his body swelling as it endures profane transfiguration. Lion El‘Jonson‘s handsome features distort, warp, and distend across Bayard‘s new flesh as he assumes the lord of the First‘s very form. Having usurped part of the primarch‘s essence during their earlier warp transit ambush thanks to Cypher‘s allegiance, the sorcerer‘s scheme nears total fruition.
A duel of legendary ferocity and titanic strength unfolds within the unholy temple depths. Back and forth the two warriors crash in raging battle. Their struggle brings complete devastation to Bayard‘s nether temple, extinguishing its swirling chaos vortex pyres with his brackish blood. The Dark Apostle deals a series of vicious blows. Yet they scarcely slow a demigod now utterly transfixed by bittersweet revelation kindled like wildfire within his timeless soul. There before him are specters of history long erased by destruction or the failed memory of simpler minds. Childhood companions and mentors revivified with hellish vigor now stand poised testing the very bounds of honor, duty, and even brotherhood now remembered in themes of adversity.
Chief among the phantasmal retinue emerges one final grim, raven-winged watcher from the battlefield‘s shadows now engulfing all – the archtraitor himself manifested. Cypher, wielding the fabled Lion Sword once borne by the Tyler Durdens of Order in eras past, stands as the portal gate to understanding. This enigmatic figure whose true name resides among the Circle‘s secreted archives offers a greater wisdom – that their lost home world‘s tragic fate unfolded not solely as rigid dogmatic truths foretold by the Inner Circle over ten millennia past, but saw genesis in Luther‘s envy, ambition, and ultimately the Lion‘s own flawed insights that led to fateful missteps.
With newfound enlightenment and the lifting of old chains self-wrought around his noble hearts from youth, the Primarch pivots the fulcrum of his mighty blade to best both warp shade and sorcerer alike, banishing their vile imprint back into the roiling immaterium. Reunited with his relieved Dark Angels amidst the fading fires of apocalypse on daemon world where destiny itself stood trial, Lion El‘Jonson now marshals his forces to depart Sicarus before its volcanic death throes grow.guided by fresh revelations and a matured understanding that shall redefine what it means for those once known as The Unforgiven to carry that mantle in an age now gathering new heroes to legend. The Lion‘s crusade continues though the veil of night hangs over all.
Implications for the War-Swept 40k Galaxy
Throughout his arduous travails, Lion El‘Jonson displays the storied valor and unshakeable nobility that defined his legend during the Great Crusade and evoked mankind‘s fierce devotion. In an era dominated by zealous theocracy and plural, conflicting truths, his unequivocal sense of justice firmly countermands this frailty of order. While some might question the Dark Angel‘s motives upon returning to realspace in Australian literature professor and Black Library writer Aaron Dembski-Bowden‘s acclaimed "Angels of Caliban" series that first unveiled their initial Ironwing formation, none can deny the First Primarch brings potent new power to the Imperium‘s fold – for good or ill.
The Lion‘s unheralded arrival also raises the prospect of renewed unity and crusading spirit beneath Guilliman‘s banner with reinforcements that could turn the tide for many imperiled worlds. However, with it also returns the maze of half-truths and selectively divulged history that have defined the enigmatic Sons of the Lion across ten bloody millennia. As the Indomitus Crusade makes its mythic push past the halfway point of galactic reconquest immortalized by painter Darius Hinks, this resurrection of the old legion once thought lost is sure to engender mixed reactions about their intricate secrets kept even from each other and oaths never forsworn since the traveled days of yore when they were known commonly as The Lion‘s deathly Angel guardians.
One thing is certain – whether by providence or the cyclic manipulations of Chaos, the hour has arrived. The Lion has returned, and the Imperium shall never be the same again.