"Thus always death comes to the alien." - Chapter Master Barabus, Widowmakers Astartes Chapter


The Widowmakers Astartes Chapter is a Codex Chapter derived from Ultramarines gene seed during the Dark Founding. Only in their company composition, recruiting habits and naval disposition do they diverge from standard Codex dogma (which is enough to set them apart from most pure Codex Chapters), maintaining ten combat companies and a large, formerly crusade oriented, fleet. Their scouts do not belong to any single company and might number into the hundreds, perhaps more. There are a significant number of Naval Astartes not counted among the Ten Companies and the Widowmakers make no effort to explain themselves in this regard. From their founding the Widowmakers were a crusade Chapter, never settling or maintaining a feifdom. In the first half of 675.M41 Chapter Master Barabas directed their final crusade against the Forge World of Achen. Achen had been in the hands of heretics and then Xenos Tau long enough the Imperium considered it a lost cause and abandoned plans to retake the vital world.

After planting the Chapter Banner in the chest of the last living Tau on Achen, Chapter Master Barabas let it be known the Widowmakers would wander no more. Barabas drew a line in space and dared the Xenos Tau to cross. His request for Achen as a fiefdom was granted two decades later by the High Lords of Terra, Mechanicus and Administratum but by that time the Chapter had fortified the world and husbanded its population and manufactoria returning it to prominence in the neglected Damocles Spiral sub-sector. The Adeptus Mechanicus were invited back to Achen as soon as the world fell to the Widowmakers, exhibiting the fact that they have had a working relationship with the Chapter for many millenia.

"We are the Emperor's Guardians of the Trefoil Knot. Three secrets, that, at the end of days will be reunited and the Emperor's will be done." Master Librarian Kintaro Kastan, Widowmakers Astartes Chapter

The symbol of the Widowmakers is an odd image of a three fold knot, called a Trefoil. In ages past it was a symbol of hidden knowledge and exists in nature at the protein sequence level of DNA. Only the most learned scholars and geneticists of the Imperium would understand its significance in the 41st Millenium. In the short time this Dark Founding Chapter has made itself 'public' the powers that be in the Imperium have learned that the Chapter regards itself as the keeper of three of the Emperor's 'secrets' from millenia past. What the secrets are is unknown. Chapter Lore, as learned by initiates, indicates the three secrets, the Trefoil, will only be revealed when the Emperor of Mankind 'wills it'.