Reply To: Serious and honest question here…

[greyhunter88 1654xp 1]

If memory serves, the Dark Angels were never “native American” as a standard. Since they’re a fleet-based Chapter, they recruit from multiple different worlds, so they have always been culturally and ethnically quite mixed.
I also think that the robed monks in monasteries with biblical names like Azrael and Belial was always their thing.

The aboriginal element came from a short story in the aptly named anthology “Deathwing”, I believe, where a group of Deathwing terminators who had all happened to be recruited from a world that was obviously aboriginally inspired, did some heroic thing. I think they held off to the last man against some Genestealer swarm, if memory serves.

They had a tradition of painting their faces white before battle, so in honour of them, all future Deahthwing squads painted their armour bone white and took that iconography. It’s why you see the feathers and such pop up on the Deathwing but not on their regular troops.

I actually think the fleet-based Chapters are interesting in the sense that they would actually have troops from so many different cultures, and amalgamate them into the dominant Chapter traditions. It makes for interesting conversion and painting opportunities, as well as story telling. It’s partly why I think the Deathwatch are such a cool faction.