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Though they have never been so prolific as the Ultramarines or Imperial Fists, the Blood Angels are not without their Successor Chapters. Most were founded in the days following the Horus Heresy, before the grim truth concerning their flawed gene-seed came to light. These Chapters are strongly bound to the Blood Angels, united by blood and tradition in a way difficult for outsiders to understand. To attack one is to invite the wrath of all, for whatever differences and rivalries might exist between these Chapters, they are all the Scions of Sanguinius, whose loyalty to the Primarch's memory transcends all other duties and concerns.

Born as they were from the Blood Angels' gene-seed, every Successor Chapter carries the Flaw, although some feel its taint more than others. Most harshly affected are those successors founded in later centuries, at times when the Blood Angels Chapter Council had thought the Flaw eradicated from the gene-stocks. In reality, it had merely degenerated into new and worrying forms and, as a result, the Battle Brothers of those Chapters founded in such times do not suffer slight lapses of control, but teeter on the border of full-blown insanity.

The Chapters described here are the most famous of the Blood Angels' successors, but this list is by no means complete. Others have come and gone in the millennia since the dissolution of the Blood Angels Legion. Some, such as the Knights Sanguine, were consumed by war. Others, most famously the Exsanguinators and the Flesh Eaters, were fatally undone by their gene-seed. There are other surviving Chapters whose names and traditions would suggest a connection with the Blood Angels - the Blood Swords and Blood Ravens amongst them - but these Chapters do not claim Sanguinius' lineage, truthfully or otherwise.

The Flesh Tearers' blood-rage is infamous across the Imperium, as are the deeds purported to have been performed by the Chapter's Battle-Brothers upon the battlefield. So divorced have the Flesh Tearers become from the rest of Mankind that most Imperial Commanders embrace the Chapter's offers of assistance only in the direst need. This unsavoury reputation has only been exacerbated by rumours of blood rituals in the wake of particularly successful campaigns.

Alone of the Blood Angels' successors, the Angels Vermillion shun all contact with their Brother Chapters, choosing to bear their lingering curse in solitude and isolation. Little is recorded of the Angels Vermillions' actions in the days since the Second Founding, but whenever the Chapter is mentioned, its battle record is nothing short of exemplary. It is impossible to say why the Chapter has chosen to endure its curse without the support of its brothers - perhaps they feel the shame must be borne alone, or perhaps they have darker cause...

Rather than deny the blood-lust that echoes through their souls, the Blood Drinkers have embraced it, making it a central part of their many rituals. In so doing, the Chapter seems to have achieved an unprecedented level of control over the Flaw, though it remains to be seen if this is but the first step on a long road to eventual damnation. Nevertheless, the Blood Drinkers ever aspire to be better than their corrupted flesh, striving endlessly to be judged as equals with the other Chapters of legend.

It is said that no Space Marine Chapter is as active as the Angels Encarmine. Their Chapter Master, Castellan Zargo, cannot rest at peace and so forever seeks opportunities to lead his Battle Brothers on campaign. As a result, the Angels Encarmine are rarely at full strength, though what they lack in numbers is more than compensated for in determined fervour. It is worrying to note that the Angels Encarmine's Death Company rarely numbers less than thirty warriors, implying increasing instability in their gene-seed.

The history of the Angels Sanguine is long and glorious, indeed the Chapter has been pivotal in many victories against the horrors emerging from the Eye of Terror. Yet the shadow of the Flaw lingers ever about the Angels Sanguine. What drives the Chapter's Battle Brothers to shield their faces from the gaze of others, never removing their helms save for in the privacy of their fortress monastery? And what is the secret of the catacombs that lie beneath the Chapter's home?

The Lamenters have had a somewhat tumultuous history. The Chapter barely survived the repercussions of aligning themselves with Huron Blackheart's Astral Claws during the Badab War, and less than a century later was almost obliterated by Hive Fleet Kraken. Since then, the Lamenters have reportedly claimed the ability to cure their flawed gene-seed, though if anything the Chapter has undergone marked degeneration since their discovery, raising severe doubts as to the effectiveness of the 'cure'.

At the start of M41, following several centuries of the most terrible rage-fuelled carnage against enemies and allies alike, the Knights of Bloods were finally decreed Renegade by the High Lords of Terra. Nonetheless, they continued their galactic crusade, supposedly purging the Emperor's foes from the worlds of the Imperium. They are unwelcome allies at best, as any world that accepts their aid runs the risk of Inquisitorial investigation, in addition to the inherent dangers of fighting alongside the near-crazed Knights of Blood Battle-Brothers.