Grey Knights / GREYKNIGHT

Founding and Mandate
Legend has it that the Grey Knights were Founded on the order of the Emperor Himself, in the early days of the Horus Heresy. Though the Chapter’s origins are uncertain in many details, it is known that the Emperor ordered the creation of a force specifically mandated to fight Chaos after the onset of the Horus Heresy. This organisation, which was eventually named the Imperial Inquisition, was to include a branch of specialised warriors, as the onset of the Heresy demonstrated that a powerful military force was necessary to fight the daemonic minions of Chaos.

Accordingly, Malcador the Sigillite, the Regent of Terra, was charged by the Emperor immediately after news had reached Terra of the Warmaster Horus’ betrayal during the massacre of the Loyalist Astartes on Istvaan III, to gather a group of dedicated Imperial servants whose loyalty, courage, and strength of mind was unquestioned. Malcador initially chose 12 persons of “an inquisitive nature,” 8 loyal Astartes and 4 Imperial lords and administrators, who would respectively become the initial core of the Grey Knights and the conclaves of the Inquisition. They were presented by Malcador to the Emperor at the Imperial Palace after being brought secretly through enemy lines during the Battle of Terra, the final campaign of the Heresy.

The eight Space Marines selected, drawn from Traitor and Loyalist Legions alike, all possessed paranormal skills as psykers that had been kept dormant as required by the edicts of the Council of Nikaea — the Council had ruled during the Great Crusade that the use of psychic powers was forbidden to Space Marines because of the dangers innate to manipulation of the Empyrean. These 8 Astartes had also cast aside their former loyalties to their Legions and Primarchs, either because of the corruption of these Legions by Chaos, or because they realised that loyalty to the Emperor required them to sacrifice all ties to their former Battle-Brothers. After meeting the candidates, the Emperor is believed to have responded, “Malcador, you have judged well. These eight Space Marines do indeed have a vital role to play in the future of the Imperium, though veiled in secrecy will they be.”

However all subsequent Astartes of the Chapter are descended not from any of these 8 Astartes or the original 20 Space Marine Legions of the First Founding, but from a unique gene-seed engineered from the genome of the Emperor of Mankind Himself — what is known as “the Emperor’s Gift.” Over the centuries, as the Imperial bureaucracy stablised following the Great Scouring, the Grey Knights eventually became the Chamber Militant of the Ordo Malleus branch of the Inquisition. They are unique amongst the Space Marines as the only Astartes Chapter to have full knowledge of the dark secrets of Chaos — they alone completely know of and understand the existence of daemons and of their ability to enter realspace, and they alone are best equipped to battle and defeat Mankind’s most terrible enemy. While other Chapters and Imperial forces have some knowledge of daemons and how to fight them, only the Grey Knights are privy to the darkest, deepest secrets that the Ordo Malleus possesses on these creatures and how to defeat them.