He's Number One (Grimdark WIP) (Patreon)

Hello!

The first Grimdark WIP is here! Lion El'Jonson (literally "Lion, Son of the Forest" in his homeworld's language) is the Primarch of the illustrious Dark Angels and is described as 'chivalric dignity personified' by one author.  Raised on the Death World of Caliban, the Lion spent his childhood in its forests fighting Great Beasts (Chaos tainted animals) to survive.  He was eventually discovered by Luther his foster father, a member of one of the many knightly Orders on Caliban.  From then, the Lion's ascent was meteoric.  He wiped out the Great Beasts, became master of Luther's Order, subsuming/destroying the others and eventually took command of the First Legion upon his rediscovery by the Emperor.

Lion El'Jonson is generally considered one of the best commanders among the Primarchs, with an instinctual gift for coordinating large scale tactical maneuvers.  During the Great Crusade, he accumulated the highest tally of conquered worlds and his Dark Angels were seen by many as the template other Legions were built upon.  Raised as a knight, he is also a master of swordcraft as demonstrated during his famous duel with Leman Russ, where the Lion actually managed to disarm his opponent (technically winning the fight in his own mind).  The Lion was also seriously considered for the role of Warmaster but due to a lot of reasons, this went to Horus.  

Like the Dark Angel's reputation suggests, the Primarch kept a lot of secrets.  He was instrumental in the Rangdan Xenocides, one of the hardest and downright horrifying campaigns ever fought in the Great Crusade but very little is actually recorded.  He also knew about Leman Russ' Wulfen, something that would be catastrophic for the 6th Legion if it became public knowledge.  But despite his rivalry with Leman, the Lion never exploited this knowledge for personal gain and actively tried to suppress the news from going out.  And since he was so loyal to the Imperium and his father, the Emperor considered the Lion to be one of the few Primarchs he could trust without question and the Dark Angels were given an arsenal of weapons so nasty, they were forbidden to everyone else.  

For his design I stuck to his general appearance but added a few lore details I thought were interesting.  While outwardly normal to an outsider, the Dark Angel's hierarchy is actually entirely different to the standard Legion template.  Guilliman once noted the Lion's armour had a lot of symbols/heraldry that denote ranks known only to the First Legion themselves.  I also made the Lion Sword resemble its namesake.  And finally, I included some Watchers in the Dark because they are entirely unique to the Dark Angels.  They've been described in a sinister manner within the books but I've always thought they looked kind of cute, like those Jawas from Star Wars (wait a minute...).

The Lion's poses will come next.  Still working on Khorne and the Skull Throne.  They're coming along but I'll have to show their WIPs in bits and pieces due to their complexity.  Stay tuned!