Known in Low Gothic as the Space Sharks, the Carcharodons Astra are among the most secretive Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. Their founding is unrecorded and their gene-line unconfirmed, though many scholars suspect a lineage descended from the Raven Guard. For ten thousand years they have prowled the galaxy's edge, serving a figure they name only the Void Father.
Unlike most Chapters, the Carcharodons follow the rare Nomad-Predation pattern of existence, roaming the outer dark aboard their fleet for generations without ever making planetfall upon a home world. This endless exile has marked them: pallid of skin, black-eyed and utterly without warmth, they fall upon their prey with a feral savagery that unsettles even hardened Imperial commanders.
They are best remembered for their bloody intervention in the closing stages of the Badab War, when they surged out of the void to punish those judged traitors to the Emperor and departed as swiftly as they had come. Their warriors bear grey plate marked with shark-tooth motifs and tallies of the slain, and their lords, foremost among them Tyberos the Red Wake, wage war with a ferocity that has earned the Chapter a reputation closer to that of predators than protectors.
Space Marines
Order of battle
The Carcharodons Astra field the units of the Space Marines — a detachment from the roster:
Kindred formations
Other Space Marines formations
Angels VermillionSecretive to the edge of paranoia, the Angels Vermillion are a Blood Angels successor who bear their bloodline's curse in bleak isolation, shunning their brother Chapters and guarding their darkest secrets with quiet menace.
Angels of AbsolutionThe Angels of Absolution are a Second Founding successor of the Dark Angels who wear their gene-sire's shame more lightly than any of their kin. Armoured in stark bone-white, they hold the singular conviction that their sins were washed clean in the fires of Caliban's fall, and so they have set aside the very name of the Unforgiven. Serene where other successors are haunted, they nonetheless ride to the secret war with undimmed resolve, hunting the Fallen not to purchase their own salvation but because justice demands the guilty answer for their crimes.
Angels of VengeanceThe Angels of Vengeance are among the grimmest of the Unforgiven, a Second Founding successor of the Dark Angels who wage the secret hunt for the Fallen with a cold, unrelenting fury. Clad in armour of funereal black, they are austere even by the standards of their tormented lineage, speaking little and forgiving nothing. Where their parent Chapter cloaks its shame in ritual, the Angels of Vengeance carry theirs like a drawn blade, and they will cross any gulf and shatter any oath of secrecy to see a single Fallen dragged before the Inner Circle.
Black TemplarsZealous crusaders without a true homeworld, the Black Templars roam the stars in vast fleets, purging heresy and xenos wherever they are found. Sworn to unending crusade in the name of the Emperor, they answer doubt with faith and the sword, the most relentless holy warriors of the Adeptus Astartes.
Blood AngelsNoble and haunted, the Blood Angels wage constant war against the twin genetic curses of thirst and rage inherited from their martyred primarch Sanguinius. From the blasted world of Baal they answer the Imperium's darkest calls, warriors of aching beauty forever poised on the edge of the abyss within.
Crimson FistsBattered but unbroken, the Crimson Fists rose from the ashes of near-extinction to become a byword for defiance. Sons of Dorn, they fight on when all hope is spent.
Dark AngelsThe secretive First Legion, the Dark Angels wage two wars at once: one for the Imperium, and a hidden one to hunt down the traitors of their own broken past. Knightly, disciplined, and consumed by ancient guilt, they pursue the Fallen across ten thousand years, guarding a shame no outsider must ever learn.
Flesh TearersCursed with the worst of Sanguinius's flaws, the Flesh Tearers wage war on the knife's edge of madness. They are the most savage of the Blood Angels' sons, forever fighting their own extinction.
Howling GriffonsBound by oaths they will die to keep, the Howling Griffons pursue their sworn foes across the centuries. Their quartered heraldry marks warriors who never forget and never forgive a debt of vengeance.
Imperial FistsThe Imperium's peerless masters of siege and defense, the Imperial Fists are the stoic sons of Rogal Dorn, sworn to hold the line where no other can. From the mobile fortress Phalanx they answer the most desperate calls, breaking enemy strongholds and standing immovable behind walls that must not fall.
Iron HandsThe Iron Hands despise the frailty of flesh and replace it, limb by limb, with unyielding metal. Cold, methodical and unforgiving, they honour their slain primarch by becoming the machine he could not save.
LamentersA sorrowful, star-crossed brotherhood sprung from the blood of Sanguinius, the Lamenters are held to be the unluckiest Chapter in the Imperium, forever seeking to atone through selfless sacrifice even as ruin stalks their every crusade.
MinotaursBronze-clad and merciless, the Minotaurs answer only to the High Lords of Terra and turn their wrath upon Space Marines themselves. Their true history is sealed beyond even the Inquisition's reach.
Raven GuardMasters of shadow and the sudden strike, the Raven Guard wage a war of ambush and misdirection, bleeding the enemy from the darkness. They are the silent sons of Corax, unseen until the killing blow.
Red ScorpionsZealous guardians of genetic purity, the Red Scorpions hold to the Codex Astartes with obsessive rigour and abhor all taint of mutation. Their origins are a mystery even to themselves.
SalamandersMaster smiths and compassionate protectors, the Salamanders of volcanic Nocturne temper ferocity in battle with a rare and genuine devotion to the common citizen. Sons of Vulkan, they wield fire and master-forged weapons against the Imperium's foes while sheltering the innocent none of their kin would think to save.
Space WolvesWild, loyal, and fiercely independent, the Space Wolves scorn the Codex Astartes in favor of a savage saga-culture forged on the ice world of Fenris. Sons of Leman Russ, they fight as legendary heroes of old, boastful in the mead hall and terrifying in the charge, the Imperium's untamed executioners.
UltramarinesThe disciplined heirs of Roboute Guilliman, the Ultramarines embody Imperial order, tactical doctrine, and the ideal of the philosopher-soldier. From the star-realm of Ultramar they wage a tireless crusade to hold a wounded galaxy together, exemplars of the very Codex their primarch wrote.
White ScarsSwift as the tempest and pitiless as a steppe winter, the White Scars strike in lightning assaults and are gone before the foe can answer. They are the hunters of the Adeptus Astartes, sons of the Great Khan.