The Raven Guard is one of the original First Founding Chapters of the Space Marines and was

originally the XIXth Space Marine Legion before the Second Founding and the adoption of the
Codex Astartes. Named for a Terran avian seen by many cultures as the herald of fate and
messenger of death, the Raven Guard have served the Emperor faithfully throughout the glories
of the Unification Wars, the Great Crusade and the dark days of the Horus Heresy and beyond.
From its earliest days, the warriors of the XIXth Legion were known as cunning and patient
hunters, adept at biding their time until the moment to strike was at hand. When the Legion was
united with its Primarch -- Corvus Corax, the Raven Lord, the Deliverer, theirs was a form of
warfare exemplifying speed, stealth and precision which was codified into their doctrine, and
under the ivory-skinned, shadow-eyed and sable-haired Primarch, the XIXth Legion carved its
name in the annals of the Great Crusade.

As the tragic histories of the Horus Heresy were recounted, however, the Legion's glories were to
be scattered upon the black sands of Istvaan V during the Drop Site Massacre, and the Imperium
was almost shorn of one of its greatest champions. Though severely decimated, the Raven Guard
would rise from the ashes of betrayal and go on to continue to serve the Imperium of Man as its
protectors. As masters of the unseen war, they fight their battles with stealth and speed rather
than fury and flames. For thousands of standard years, across thousands of worlds, they have
continued to stalk the enemies of the Imperium as shadows of death, waiting for the perfect
moment to deliver the killing blow before melting back into the darkness once more.

The Raven Guard's homeworld is the planet called Deliverance, the airless mining moon of the
Forge World Kiavahr, though its original name, before the Horus Heresy, was Lycaeus. The
Raven Guard's fortress-monastery on Deliverance is known as the Ravenspire. The Raven Guard
are known for their cool-headed, even intellectual temperament, their superb infiltration skills
and skill at furious close-quarters engagements. The Raven Guard are the masters of unseen and
guerrilla warfare, only engaging in frontal assaults when no other option presents itself. The
Raven Guard is also rightly feared for the potent units of Assault Marines they field, who use a
pair of Lightning Claws instead of the usual Bolt Pistol and Chainsword. Captain Kayvaan
Shrike, the famed commander of the 3rd Company was the commanding officer of just such a
unit before he ascended to the position of Chapter Master.

The Raven Guard are the scions of the old XIXth Legion, whose Primarch Corax was said to
have skin as white as ivory and eyes as black as night. The Legion suffered such devastating
losses early in the Horus Heresy that its ability to inuence the outcome of the calamitous
galactic civil war was gravely limited. The cost of the Warmaster Horus' treachery would remain
with the Raven Guard for millennia to come, shaping their doctrines, beliefs and their very
destiny. The Raven Guard and their Successor Chapters are masters of infiltration and
subterfuge, able to defeat an enemy of the Imperium with a precisely aimed and overwhelming
assault in the manner of their Primarch, whose loss they mourn to this very day. The Raven
Guard were one of the three Legions assigned to the first wave of the drop assault against the
Traitors at Istvaan V, the defining battle of the opening phase of the Horus Heresy. Falling prey
to the Warmaster's perfidy, the Legion was devastated, and along with the Salamanders and the
Iron Hands -- the so-called "Shattered Legions" -- forced to fall back to the Loyalists' drop zone
where it could consolidate with the second wave of the assault and renew the attack on the
Traitors. As history records, the Legions of the second wave were already in the sway of Horus,
and the Raven Guard and their brothers were massacred. In a single battle, the Legion was
reduced from their tens of thousands to a tiny fraction of their original numbers. The survivors
were forced to return to the Legion's homeworld of Deliverance in order to rebuild their
desperately reduced numbers.

Upon his return to his homeworld, Corax is said to have brooded for countless days and nights,
ordering that the most ancient texts concerning the processes the Emperor used to create the
Space Marines be laid before him. Studying tomes not consulted in centuries, Corax found a way
of saving his Legion from extinction, though he would hate himself for all time for the choice he
was forced to make. By accelerating gene-seed replication and implantation in a manner not
attempted since the wars in which the Emperor conquered Terra, the Legion's numbers could be
restored. But the ancient texts had been placed under seals so dire that only a Primarch or the
Emperor Himself could have bypassed them, and with good reason. They warned of the
consequences of accelerating the implantation process, consequences that Corax and his Legion
were soon to witness first hand. No records remain of the results of Corax's experimentation, but
there are legends that have been passed down through the generations. They speak of slavering
monsters, some so hideously twisted they could not even hold a Bolter. All were insane, their
minds as blasted as their bodies by the rapid changes wrought upon them by the forbidden
processes.

The Raven Guard never speak of these times, but secondary sources describe these mutated
warriors as rabid, drooling creatures with distended limbs and impossibly overgrown
musculature and skeletal structure, herded into battle by grim-faced, dark-eyed custodians. In the
wake of the Horus Heresy, the XIXth Legion had only the numbers to form a handful of Chapters
according to the dictates of the Codex Astartes. Depending on the source, the Legion is said to
have sired the Raptors, the Revilers and the Black Guard in addition to the Raven Guard Chapter
itself. It is said that by this time, Corax was all but consumed by the deeds he had allowed to be
done to ensure his Legion's survival, and brooded upon the matter for an entire standard year,
locked away in the highest chamber of his fortress-monastery. None heard from the Primarch
during that time, before he emerged gaunt and pale, and departed for the Eye of Terror never to
be seen again.

Contents
[show]

Chapter History
 <img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/1/1c/Ravguardlogo.png/revisio
n/latest?cb=20100620063454" alt="Ravguardlogo" class="thumbimage " data-image-
key="Ravguardlogo.png" data-image-name="Ravguardlogo.png" width="250" height="247" >

Chapter Badge of the Raven Guard

<img
src="https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/1/16/RG_Legion_Icon.jpg/revi
sion/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140331205408" alt="RG Legion Icon"
class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Legion_Icon.jpg" data-image-name="RG Legion
Icon.jpg" width="250" height="204" >

Legion Badge of the Raven Guard Legion

 <img
src="https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/6/65/RG_2nd_Co._9th_Dev_S
qd.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20160104064420" alt="RG 2nd Co. 9th Dev
Sqd" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_2nd_Co._9th_Dev_Sqd.png" data-image-
name="RG 2nd Co. 9th Dev Sqd.png" width="250" height="350" >

Raven Guard Chapter Colour Scheme

 <img
src="https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/3/3b/RG_Vet_Sgt.jpg/revision/
latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140413180339" alt="RG Vet Sgt" class="thumbimage "
data-image-key="RG_Vet_Sgt.jpg" data-image-name="RG Vet Sgt.jpg" width="250"
height="365" >

Pre-Heresy Raven Guard Legion Colour Scheme

 <img
src="https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/b/b6/XIX_Legion_Vet.jpg/revi
sion/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140413180416" alt="XIX Legion Vet"
class="thumbimage " data-image-key="XIX_Legion_Vet.jpg" data-image-name="XIX Legion
Vet.jpg" width="250" height="381" >

Unification Wars-era XIXth Legion Colour Scheme

The Hidden Hand of the Emperor

Looking back upon the calamitous age through which Mankind has endured, few can claim to
know but a fraction of the Emperor's vision for the galaxy. Some hold that each of the great
Space Marine Legions was created with a specific role in mind, and certainly this assertion is
born out of the deeds and deameanour of many. The Imperial Fists were in so many ways the
Emperor's loyal praetorians and champions, while the Ultramarines were His dutiful, resplendent
hosts. To the XIXth Legion would fall the role of the Emperor's hidden hand, vengeful sentinels
against recidivists and harrowers of those who would sooner flee than bend knee before their
new master. Drawing on the demeanour of the techno-savages from which it recruited, the proto-
Legion quickly demonstrated its skill at reconnaissance and target identification, and it ability to
transition from inscrutable watchfulness to rapid attack in the blink of an eye. Its Legionaries
waged war by infiltrating into position, studying their enemy and, when the time was right,
striking from the least anticipated quarter and slaying the foe outright in a bloody, yet brief
assault.

Confronted with the coming of the Emperor, some of the enemies of Unification foolishly
decided to stand and fight, to deny His manifest destiny. That was until the moment that the
XIXth revealed themselves as the gun already raised to the target's temple without him ever
seeing his would-be assassin's approach. In the face of such infiltration, most enemies
capitulated. Never given to wanton cruelty, the Emperor's emissaries would avail the target of
His impending doom and offer them the choice -- kneel or die. Most chose to serve but many
refused, and so the XIXth Legion would be unleashed. Emerging from the shadows, they would
attack without warning, their methods enabling them to engage with forces far more numerous
than themselves. Bereft of leadership after a campaign of targeted assassination, most enemy
armies fell apart in short order. When they did not, the XIXth Legion withdrew back into the
shadows, but not in retreat. Rather, they attacked again from yet another quarter, bleeding their
enemy dry and denying him any chance to counterattack, regroup or take the initiative.

How many battles were won in this shadow manner throughout the last years of the Unification
Wars cannot be known for certain, for so often the XIXth Legion's hand remained hidden even
after the battle was won. Only much later, after the XIXth Legion united with its Primarch, would
it course forth into the light, but even then the Raven Guard shunned laurels and rarely courted
adulation. The similarities between the Raven Guard known to later histories of the Great
Crusade and the XIXth Legion before its unification with Corax are clear, but much of the tale
remains untold. It is known that the Emperor recruited the first Legionaries of the XIXth Legion
from a number of Old Earth's regions, the majority drawn from the Xeric tribes of the Asiatic
Dustfields. These savage yet technologically adept warrior people made constant war upon one
another and against the neighbouring and much larger Yndonesic Block with relentless fury,
battling ceaselessly for possession of scant natural resources. Once brought to heel by the
Emperor and His Thunder Warriors, the tribes were forced to render up their firstborn sons to the
Emperor's gene-forges, and upon their ascension to the nascent Legiones Astartes, these same
sons were then used to ensure and enforce the continued Imperial Compliance of their fractious
kin. The Xeric warriors proved well-suited to the Emperor's vision, though some observed their
propensity for cruelty when ordered to attack as well as a disdainful attitude to those they
considered weak. The culture of the Xeric people demanded that a vanquished enemy be
watched over with a cold, all-seeing eye and any hint of recidivism crushed utterly lest the
subjugated rise up in strength against the victor. The XIXth Legion inherited this mindset and
when coupled with the heritage of the Legiones Astartes, it became one of its most distinctive
characteristics.

The Unification Wars

One of the earliest Unification campaigns in which the XIXth Legion participated was the
conquest of the Central Asiatic region, much of which was ruled by the tyrant Kalagann of Ursh.
Few detailed accounts survive, but it is known that the XIXth Legion played their part in it in a
manner that would serve as an operational template until the time it was united with its Primarch.
After an initial phase in which key targets and weak elements in the armies of Ursh were
identified, the XIXth Legion insinuated itself throughout the region, small battle groups taking up
positions from which to strike when the order was given. When the attack came, it was rapid,
overwhelming and conducted with cold, ruthless efficiency. Kalagann's warlords were struck
down and the XIXth Legion herded their defeated armies into a vast prison camp at the heart of
the blasted Central Asiatic region. It is said that Kalagann employed all manner of Psyker-
wrought weapons during that campaign and that the nascent XIXth Legion bore the brunt of
many of the worst. Certainly, many veterans of that age were touched by a darkness from which
they never recovered, some going on to sacrifice their lives in battle in suicidal charges while
others became the solitary formation of the Legion Moritats.

Having earned itself many battle honours during the Unification of Old Earth, the XIXth Legion
was committed to operations within the Sol System. When the Emperor's hosts encountered the
xenos presence holding sway over many void settlements of the Jovian Range, the XIXth Legion
was tasked with scouring the moon of Lysithea. If records of previous battles are incomplete,
those relating to this one are near non-existent. Whatever occurred on that tiny satellite, the
xenos were annihilated and victory claimed, but only at the cost of the settlers' lives as well as
large numbers of the XIXth Legion's own. Many of the veterans of the Scouring of Lysithea were
recalled from service by the masters of the Emperor's gene-forges, never to be returned to their
Legion. What horrors they endured, or perhaps enacted, cannot even be guessed at, and certainly
no similar instance of Legionaries being withdrawn from service in such a manner is recorded.
For decades, many of those who had served in this battle bore upon their armour the ancient
Jovian rune, surmounted by the numeral XIX as a reminder of their victory and their loss. During
the closing years of the Great Crusade, the symbol was only ever seen adorning the metal skin of
the Raven Guard's Dreadnoughts, amongst their number Shade-Captain Vholtaris, who was
instrumental in the defeat of the xenos plaguing the Jovian Range. It was due to the injuries he
sustained in that final battle that he was interred within the armoured sarcophagus of a mighty
Furibundus Pattern Dreadnought, and served for many more decades before his true death upon
the killing grounds before Gate Forty-Two.

In the Shadow of Wolves

The XIXth Legion was created in the latter stages of the Unification Wars, but it would be almost
two standard centuries before it was united with its Primarch. Conversely, the Luna Wolves
Legion was united with its sire -- Horus -- very early on. It was not unusual in those early
campaigns for the XIXth Legion to fight alongside the Luna Wolves, he who would one day bear
the mantle of Imperial Warmaster coming to value the skills of the sons of the Dustfields
immensely, and the two Legions served well together, their nature complimentary. When the
Luna Wolves launched their sudden and overwhelming assaults, the XIXth Legion were already
in position, blocking off lines of retreat and cutting down any foe who attempted to escape.
Those few able to break through the lines were hunted down relentlessly and captives were
rounded up to be watched over by the brooding Legionaries until declared in Imperial
Compliance. Its warriors' capacity to switch from cold, impassive scrutiny to swift, brutal action
soon made the Legion the subject of dread amongst those who would deny Unity.

When Horus led his Legion in the opening campaigns of the Great Crusade, he often requested
that the XIXth Legion serve alongside his Luna Wolves. In those earliest days, many worlds
rejected enlightenment and refused Imperial Compliance, and so the blade of the XIXth Legion
was there to strike, descending unseen almost before ordered to do so. Others accepted their
place in the new galactic order with grace and wisdom, and so the blade was withdrawn, its
presence not even noted. In time, Horus came to value the XIXth Legion greatly. While the ranks
of the Luna Wolves swelled with recruits from Cthonia, the XIXth Legion remained
comparatively small. Some observed that Horus treated the XIXth Legion like a Chapter of his
own Legion rather than one with its own identity and destiny to forge. While the Luna Wolves
developed their own culture, a product of its early Terran heritage, meshed with the savage gang
culture of Cthonia, the XIXth Legion remained close to their Terran roots, their demeanour not
deviating far from that of the savage Xeric tribes. Their armour remained grey, although
Legionaries were observed to apply war paint made of Asiatic dust to their faces on the eve of
battle. This, among other traditions, gave rise to the Luna Wolves bestowing several titles upon
the XIXth Legion, the most common of which were the "Pale Nomads" and the "Dust Clad".

Aside from their tribal markings, the appearance of the XIXth Legion was notable in other ways.
Under the effects of the XIXth Legion's gene-seed, some found their skin growing unnaturally
pale while in a few their already dark hair turned black as midnight. In small numbers, their eyes
turned entirely black, lending them a fearsome aspect which suited their inscrutable, watchful
mien. Only later, with the coming of the Legion's Primarch, would the full impact of the features
become known and take hold throughout its warriors.

The Primarch Corax

<img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/7/73/Corax_portrait.jpg/revisio
n/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20160409135116" alt="Corax portrait"
class="thumbimage " data-image-key="Corax_portrait.jpg" data-image-name="Corax
portrait.jpg" width="250" height="205" >

Ancient Remembrancer sketch of Corvus Corax, Primarch of the Raven Guard Legion;
illustration taken from Carpinus' Speculum Historiale

Corax was separated from the Emperor while still an infant in the Emperor's gene-laboratory
beneath the Himalazian (Himalaya) Mountains on Terra by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. The
Chaos Gods snatched the infant Primarch's gestation chamber and flung it through the Warp
half-way across the galaxy. Corax was eventually discovered in a lightless chamber far beneath
the surface of a barren moon called Lycaeus, the desolated but inhabitable moon of the planet
Kiavahr. At this time, Kiavahr was a technologically advanced Forge World, providing its city-
sized manufactoria with minerals extracted from the non-atmospheric moon by legions of mine
slaves. Above the cavern was a mighty glacier, and the Primarch might never have been
discovered at all were it not for the arrival of a team of Lycaean miners pursuing a mineral seam.
To some, the appearance of the miners within minutes of the young Primarch attaining
consciousness speaks of greater powers at work. Whatever the truth, the Primarch was taken in
by the slaves and hidden from the mine's cruel overseers. Under the iron watch of heavily armed
guards, the enslaved inhabitants of Lycaeus, who included criminals, political opponents and
workers who had failed to meet their quotas, had long provided the rulers of Kiavahr with a free
and unlimited source of manpower. As with many of the Primarchs, Corax matured in a
preternaturally short span of time, the phenomenon serving to confirm the slaves' belief that he
represented a great gift to their people. It was they who named him, using their word for
"saviour" or "deliverer" in anticipation of future deeds.

Created with a wealth of knowledge already imprinted into his mind, the young Primarch
nonetheless had much to learn from his protectors. Many of the prisoners were radicals
condemned for holding views contrary to the interests of the guilds that ruled Kiavahr, the planet
about which Lycaeus orbited, notions of justice and human dignity that had no place in their
brutal regime. Corax swore to his protectors that he would liberate them from their cruel
existence. Fortunately for Corax and the Imperium at large, the young Primarch's mentors
counselled caution against overt signs of defiance or precipitous quests for vengeance. From
these brave, wise men and women, he learned to bide his time and to observe his foes, to use his
superhuman, gen-hanced faculties to plan far ahead towards the day he would lead the uprising
and overthrow the hated slave lords of Lycaeus. It was during this time that Corax came to learn
something of the abilities he had been invested with. Moving from one step ahead of the cold-
hearted and bloody-handed wardens, he was never discovered. Even when directly in the line of
sight of an enemy, by willing an observer not to see him, he somehow avoided detection. At
length, Corax could utilise this uncanny ability to go where no other slave in the prison could go,
moving about unseen beneath the hard gaze of the guards. There were limits to this ability, as
Corax discovered to his cost; Auspexes and other artificial methods of detection remained able to
see him. It appeared to be the mind of the observer that was somehow tricked into disregarding
the Primarch's presence should he will it.

As Corax reached his maturity, so the rule of the guilds drew to an end, though the overseers
would not know of it until it was too late to avert their doom. Corax led a masterfully conceived
campaign that bled the prison authorities dry, taking small cells of freedom fighters on a range of
missions, some to steal weapons, others ammunition, still more to sabotage key systems so that
they would fail at the moment of his choosing. Eventually, that moment came and Corax led the
slave uprising that would cast off the shackles of centuries of oppression. In a necessarily bloody
battle, Corax and his fellow freedom fighters took the prison. The bloodshed was great, for not
all of the slave-prisoners had been imprisoned for their radical ideals; many were convicted
killers and worse. The Primarch was forced by necessity to utilise their fighting abilities and
overlook their previous crimes, on condition they never repeat them after their bondage was cast
off.

In yet another convergence of great events, it was in the immediate aftermath of the liberation of
the prison moon Lycaeus and the opening salvoes of the atomic bombardment of Kiavahr that
the Emperor arrived to reclaim His lost son. Unlike events surrounding so many other such
meetings, however, the Emperor came alone, and the next day left alone. While it is known that
the Master of Mankind and the XIXth Legion's Primarch spoke for long hours, what passed
between them remains a matter of conjecture. With the benefit of hindsight, some have claimed
that the Emperor spoke to Corax of things men, even some other Primarchs, were not yet ready
to hear; of the truth of those inhuman powers that seethe within the Warp and the darkness soon
to come. Certainly, it appears that when the full horror of the Warmaster Horus' treachery
unfolded there were elements of it Corax seemed to have been forewarned of, though he only
ever passed such knowledge on to his forces as and when they needed and were ready to
assimilate it. Whatever the truth, one thing is known to have passed between father and son that
night. The Emperor would leave Corax to complete his mission and to defeat the tech guilds of
Kiavahr. Only later would he be ready to assume command of his Legion. It was as if in leaving
Corax to liberate Kiavahr on his own, the Emperor was ensuring the Primarch learned and
assimilated the most vital lessons of war. The Emperor departed, leaving His son to complete his
task using only those weapons he had to hand. Those weapons turned out to be a stockpile of
atomic barrages and mining charges the masters of Kiavahr had secreted on Lycaeus, believing
them safe from the multitudes they ruled over. In their hubris the guilds never imagined that the
slave-miners might one day cast off their shackles and claim those weapons as their own.

Even as the guilds sought to launch a counterattack against the massively outnumbered freedom
fighters, Corax knew the terrible order he must give. Using the steep gravity well that tethered
Kiavahr and its moon, the Primarch committed to a full-scale atomic bombardment of the vast
manufactorum cities below. Even as the atomic fires blossomed on the face of Kiavahr, Corax
demonstrated that by slaying thousands, millions would be saved. This, some would later claim,
was the lession the Emperor meant Corax to learn, and one that would temper his nature against
the numerous challenges few but the Primarchs of the Legiones Astartes can fully comprehend.
Their greatest cities decimated, the Kiavahran guilds had no option but to capitulate. Kiavahr
was liberated and Lycaeus renamed Deliverance. The Primarch had confronted that most terrible
lesson of war -- oft times, the innocent must suffer for the sake of all. It was a truth the Emperor
knew well, and one that humanity as a whole would experience on an unprecedented scale within
a single standard century.

Soon the Mechanicum stepped in to retake control over their ancient colony world and the planet
was rebuilt to the benefit of the Imperium while the black tower which had once housed the
Kiavahran garrison of Lycaeus became the Ravenspire, the Fortress-Monastery of the Raven
Guard Legion.

Great Crusade
 <img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/f/fd/Deliverance-lost-2_-
_Primarch_Corax.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20110318164149"
alt="Deliverance-lost-2 - Primarch Corax" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="Deliverance-
lost-2_-_Primarch_Corax.jpg" data-image-name="Deliverance-lost-2 - Primarch Corax.jpg"
width="250" height="299" >

Primarch Corax leading his Raven Guard Legion during an Imperial Compliance

Under the Raven's Banner

By the time the Raven Lord took command of his Legion, the Great Crusade was over a century
old. Corax was quick to impose the style of war he had perfected on Lycaeus over that which had
come to define the XIXth Legion, melding stealth and guile with vigilance and swiftness. It was
during these early years that much of the native demeanour of the old XIXth Legion, particularly
the more cold-blooded ways of the Xeric tribes, was purged. The Legion had so often served in
oppression, repression and occupation forces that Corax saw in some of the Terrans of his XIXth
Legion something akin to the slavers of Lycaeus. Several of the Legion's highest-ranking officers
were displaced or reassigned to non-command roles, including Lord Arkhas Fal, who had
commanded the XIXth Legion as its Master for three decades before the coming of the Raven
Lord. Under the Primarch's guidance, distilled into a series of battle-mantras, the Raven Guard
developed their skills to preternatural levels. Corax is even known to have bested Roboute
Guilliman in his brother-Primarch's notoriously testing strategio-simulcra, making use of several
unconventional troop types his brother-Primarch had never before faced, including the
forerunners of the Moritat. Corax only bested his brother three times in this manner, and once the
master of the Ultramarines heeded the lesson and adjusted his tactics, the Raven Lord would
never beat him again.

During its restructuring, the XIXth Legion commissioned several innovations from the forges of
Mars, all of them cunningly wrought to further its mastery in the arts of stealth and speed. As the
Thunderhawk gunship entered widespread service, the Raven Guard secured for themselves a
variant known as the Shadowhawk, sporting all manner of technologies that made it invisible to
all but the most sensitive of Augurs. In addition, the Legion gained access to the Whispercutter,
an open airframe flyer constructed about a gravitic impellor and capable of dropping ten
Legionaries into a war zone in utter silence and with practically no chance of detection. Such
technology was created not by the Martian Mechanicum nor any of the Forge Worlds, but by
those master artificers of Kiavahr who formerly served the tech guilds. Utilising strands of
machine canon unknown to the mainstream of the Mechanicum, the Kiavahran guild artificers
created all manner of systems at the behest of the Raven Guard and in time the Legion's
Techmarines were inducted into these mysteries, although it has been speculated that the
Kiavahrans might have been declared outcast by the jealous lords of Mars, were it not for the
patronage of so august a body as the Legiones Astartes and the Primarch Corax.

As the Great Crusade ground ever onwards, Kiavahr assumed its position in the Emperor's
Imperium of worlds. While its output was not equal to that of a fully-fledged Forge World of the
Mechanicum, with the aid of the Tech-Priests of Mars, its forges and manufactories produced
and exported vast quantities of materiel as well as a number of the more specialised machines
and weapons required by the Raven Guard Legion. The guild artificers attempted to retain their
closest secrets from the Mechanicum with some small measure of success, and clung on to their
independence from Mars. Having remained self-sufficient throughout the lonely dark ages,
Kiavahr remained unwilling to cede its secrets to outsiders, the only authority it recognised being
that of the Raven Guard. Of all of the Mechanicum's subsidiary domains, Kiavahr maintained
relations with only one -- Gryphonne IV. The terms of this relationship remain unclear, but
because the Legio Gryphonicus fought alongside the Raven Guard throughout several of its
larger scale campaigns, it can be assumed that some manner of reciprocal pact was, and perhaps
still remains, in place.

Istvaan Compliance Action

One of the more notable campaigns carried out by Corax and his Raven Guard Legion during the
Great Crusade was the Imperial Compliance of the Istvaan System, located in the northern
reaches of the Ultima Segmentum, far beyond the established heartlands of the Imperium.
Though cut off, scout vessels ranging ahead of Corax's 27th Expeditionary Fleet had found
evidence that human life on Istvaan III had managed to maintain a largely cohesive industrialised
society that had endured the millennia intact, making it a high priority for contact and absorption
into the Imperium.

A long-standing autochthonic culture was prevalent on Istvaan III, which included endemic local
mysticism and religious practice. This, coupled with a history of independence, meant that once
contacted by the forerunners of the Great Crusade, the Istvaanians had first demurred and then
denied Compliance with the Imperial Truth. Given the strategic importance of gaining the life-
sustaining and industrialised star system with its large human population for the Imperium, a
priority was given to achieving the Compliance of the Istvaan System. The War Council had one
caveat when issuing this order that precluded the use of overwhelming force in order to avoid
excessive collateral damage that would spoil this valuable prize.
The task of bringing the Istvaan System into Imperial Compliance fell to Corax and his Raven
Guard Legion as the warriors of the XIXth Legion had a reputation for the use of surgical strikes
and precision in such matters. The black-hulled Strike Cruisers and gunships of the Raven Guard
attacked without warning, systematically destroying Istvaan III's military infrastructure and
taking charge of its seats of governance. The military forces of the indigenous Istvaanians were
professional soldiers who did not break easily, even when confronted with the might of Space
Marines. There was some resistance, but the last elements of the aggressive faction were
destroyed by the Raven Guard at the Redarth Valley on Istvaan III. An Istvaanian delegation
formally surrendered before the Primarch Corax and the 800 companies of Raven Guard Space
Marines that comprised his XIXth Legion.

The Istvaanians kneeled before the sable-armoured conquerors as a defeated foe but were
welcomed into the fold as men of the Imperium. Though they had waged war against one
another, the Imperial Truth had prevailed and the Istvaanians had sworn to accept its teachings.
By proving themselves men of wisdom and civilisation, they were deemed fitting partners for the
many other worlds of the nascent Imperium. The Remembrancer Order had not yet been foisted
upon the Space Marine Legions by the Council of Terra at this time, but a substantial civilian
contingent was left behind to begin the integration of the Istvaanian population with the Imperial
Truth. Vardus Praal was left behind as the world's Imperial Planetary Governor to command
Istvaan III in the name of the Imperium, to ensure continued Compliance and manage the
dismantling of the traditional religious structures that defined the planet's autochthonous society.

The established capital located at the sprawling proto-hive of Khry Vanak -- Istvaan III's political
and cultural capital ("Choral City" in translation) -- was chosen as the site of Imperial power.
Unbeknownst to Corax and his Raven Guard, they would return fifteen standard years later to the
Istvaan System, to the world of Istvaan V, to bring the rebel Horus to account.

The Battle of Gate Forty-Two

<img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/a/a8/RG_Assualt_Gate_Forty-
Two.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140413194318" alt="RG Assualt Gate
Forty-Two" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Assualt_Gate_Forty-Two.jpg" data-
image-name="RG Assualt Gate Forty-Two.jpg" width="250" height="185" >

Ancient pict-capture of the Raven Guard Legion assault on Gate Forty-Two

It was the need to conduct war in a more conventional manner that led to one of the greatest
setbacks in the XIXth Legion's history, and one that would foreshadow the terrible events at
Istvaan V only a few years later. Soon after Horus was declared the Imperial Warmaster, the
Raven Guard were recalled from operations along the coreward edge of the Ghoul Stars and
ordered to take their place in the line alongside several other Legions under the Warmaster's
direct command. The Aukum-Sothos Cluster had been brought to Imperial Compliance by the
Luna Wolves in the opening years of the Great Crusade, but its people had fallen to a form of
mass-psychosis and violently rejected unity with Terra. This unheralded secession was later
determined to have been caused by xenos parasites which matured within the eye sockets of their
hosts, in this case the unfortunate population of the cluster. As they matured, the parasites gained
rudimentary control over their hosts and formed what amounted to a wholly alien, gestalt
consciousness focused on a cabal of primary hosts dubbed the "Unsighted Kings". The newly
ascended Warmaster Horus refused to see the cluster of worlds he himself had brought to
Compliance slip from the Imperium's grip and so he vowed an Oath of Moment to reclaim its
worlds no matter the cost.

Horus had formulated a plan to cast down the Unsighted Kings in a lightning war that would
purge the afflicted population while retaining the cluster's highly developed infrastructure for
future re-population. Furthermore, a rapid victory would demonstrate to Horus' brother-
Primarchs that the Emperor had been correct to elevate him so high a rank. The Warmaster's plan
called for the bulk of four Legions -- the Luna Wolves, Space Wolves, Iron Warriors and Raven
Guard -- to converge on the heavily fortified lair of the Unsighted Kings before a final,
overwhelming assault was launched. Having brought the outer worlds of the cluster to heel in a
matter of solar weeks, the Warmaster called a council of his brother-Primarchs, one part of his
plan calling for the Raven Guard to make a frontal assault directly into the guns of the defenders
of Gate Forty-Two. Corax argued against what he denounced as a waste of resources and a
needless squandering of his warriors' lives, countering with a strategy of his own. The Raven
Lord proposed that his Legion should draw off the enemy forces in a series of feints, allowing
the three other Legions to overwhelm what defenders remained at the walls with comparative
ease.

In answer, Perturabo accused Corax of seeking to avoid battle, a crime verging on dereliction for
a Primarch of the Legiones Astartes. The two very nearly came to blows, with only the
intervention of Leman Russ staying bloodshed. The Wolf King counselled Corax to heed the
words of the Primarch who the Emperor had set above his brothers. Russ urged Corax to smother
his bitterness, but not to extinguish it, and allow that guttering flame to kindle the fire necessary
to carry the battle through. Taking his leave of the council, Corax mustered the Raven Guard
before Gate Forty-Two. Knowing their particular demeanour would carry them forward, Corax
assigned many of his Terran-dominated companies to the vanguard, in particular those whose
captains appeared the most willing to play their part in the Warmaster's plan. The assault that
followed was hailed as the Legion's darkest hour, a grim honour that, tragically, would be
displaced just a few years later at Istvaan V. At the height of the battle, the assault companies
decimated and the attack faltering in the face of overwhelming fire, Corax himself led the forlorn
hope, his battle cry firing the XIXth Legion to such efforts that the breach was carried and Gate
Forty-Two taken. The honour of slaying the Unsighted Kings was claimed by Horus as
Warmaster and at the moment of their execution, the xenos' hold over the population was
dispelled. The Akum-Sothos Cluster was delivered and the Warmaster's prize was reclaimed.
The cost was terrible however, for not only had countless millions of hosts been crippled in mind
and body, but thousands of Raven Guard, the bulk of them Terran-born, had given their lives
before the shattered walls.

Though the Battle of Gate Forty-Two was counted a victory by (and indeed for) Horus, its
effects were far-reaching. The XIXth Legion was sorely depleted, leaving only 80,000
Legionaries under the Primarch's command and making it the smallest of the Legiones Astartes.
Corax removed himself and his Legion from his brother's command, swearing bitterly never to
serve alongside Horus again. One last consequence of the Battle of Gate Forty-Two lingers still.
In its aftermath, those line officers who, before the coming of the Primarch, had served for so
long under Horus' command were gone, and so the Warmaster was able to exert little in the way
of influence over the Raven Lord's Legion. Many of these Terrans had been inducted into the
Warrior Lodges, and with their deaths these unseen bodies all but vanished from the Raven
Guard. It has been claimed by his detractors that in assigning the Terran-born Legionaries to the
assault wave that would suffer the greatest losses, Corax did his Legion a service, consolidating
his power and paving the way for a future more in line with his own vision. As a result, the
Legion was largely spared the wave of insurrection that was transmitted through so many of the
Legions by the hidden auspices of the lodges.

The Scouring of the Scalland Sector

<img
src="https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/d/dc/RG_Mk_VI_Corvus_Suit
.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140413191342" alt="RG Mk VI Corvus
Suit" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Mk_VI_Corvus_Suit.jpg" data-image-
name="RG Mk VI Corvus Suit.jpg" width="250" height="259" >

An ancient Remembrancer illustration of a Raven Guard Legionary wearing Mark VI Corvus

Pattern Power Armour

A two year engagement through a sector of space claimed by the remnants of the broken Eldar
race, the Scalland Campaign was to serve as the original field test for the first thousand sets of
prototype Power Armour that would later come to be designated as Mark VI; though at the time
it bore the provisional designation Mark V. Small numbers of the Mark V armour had already
been submitted to the Iron Warriors and Salamanders Legions, and both had expressed
reservations about the lack of heavy plating when compared to earlier marks, pushing for the
Mark V to be revised for a heavy assault role. It was deemed that a mass combat trial was
required to determine the effectiveness of the original design before potentially abandoning it.
Internal politics within the various Legion commands saw this honour bestowed upon the Raven
Guard, depleted in number after the bloody fighting in the Aukum-Sothos Cluster. Speculation at
the time suggest that a faction amongst the Primarchs and Legion commanders, led by Perturabo,
intended this assignment to an under-strength Legion to be the death-knell of the Mark VI
armour, leading to its replacement by a sturdier design.

If this was so then the plan was to backfire spectacularly, for the Raven Guard performed
admirably in the verdant Eldar seed worlds of the Scalland Sector, utilising the advanced auto-
senses and agility of the new armour to hound the Eldar in a series of strike-and-fade attacks that
decimated their already battered military forces. Such was the success of the fighting in the
sector, which eventually saw the expulsion of the Eldar and the Imperium claim its rich worlds,
that not only was the Mark VI armour approved for final deployment, but the majority of the
improvements suggested by the Raven Guard were adopted. The new armour, later dubbed
"Corvus" Pattern Power Armour in honour of the Raven Guard, was placed into full scale
production only a few solar months before the outbreak of Horus' rebellion against the Emperor,
re-designated as Mark VI from Mark V by the Mechanicum to account for the inclusion of the
many stop-gap field modifications and repairs into the Legiones Astartes order of battle.

The Horus Heresy

<img
src="https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/b/bb/Raven_Guard_MKVI_Ar
mor.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20110318220323" alt="Raven Guard
MKVI Armor" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="Raven_Guard_MKVI_Armor.jpg" data-
image-name="Raven Guard MKVI Armor.jpg" width="250" height="311" >

Raven Guard Legionaries during the desperate fighting of the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V

During the Horus Heresy, the Raven Guard were involved in the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan
V, where four Space Marine Legions, including the Night Lords, Iron Warriors, Word Bearers
and the Alpha Legion, turned to Chaos under the banner of the Arch-Traitor Horus and
unexpectedly betrayed their Loyalist Battle-Brothers, catching them off-guard in a terrible cross-
fire. The Raven Guard fought ferociously alongside their fellow Loyalists of the Salamanders
and the Iron Hands Space Marines against the Traitor Marines of Chaos, but suffered such heavy
losses that they were effectively crippled and unable to play any further constructive role in the
defence of Terra from Horus' assault during the Heresy. The Raven Guard had been all but
annihilated at the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V, reducing the XIXth Legion's strength from
some 80'000 Astartes to less than 3'000 survivors.

Taking stock of their dire situation, the Primarchs Corax and Vulkan differed over how to
salvage what they could from the situation. The Salamanders' Primarch suggested that the
Loyalists attempt to make a tactical withdrawal to their respective drop ships and dig in to resist
any further attacks. Corax advocated instead that the Loyalists should do whatever they could to
make good their escape from the slaughter as the battle was lost. Neither Primarch could agree
with the other, and so Corax turned from Vulkan and ordered his Legion to retreat. A short while
later, a direct artillery strike hit the Primarchs' position. By the grace of the Emperor, Corax
somehow managed to survive, but as to the fate of his brother Vulkan, nothing was known.

In the meantime, the second wave of Traitor Legions turned upon their former allies and began
to slaughter them in earnest. The Iron Hands were apparently slaughtered to a man. In the midst
of this brutal carnage two Primarchs from the opposing sides confronted one another in a final
showdown. Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children and Ferrus Manus, once as close as true brothers
could be, fought a bitterly contested, titanic struggle. In the course of the heated duel Ferrus
Manus lost and was beheaded by his former brother.

On the other end of the battlefield, the Raven Guard were confronted by the treacherous Word
Bearers, with their Primarch Lorgar, the First Captain Kor Phaeron and the First Chaplain Erebus
at their vanguard. The two Legions fought one another in bitter combat. In the midst of this
battle, the Word Bearers unleashed the elite unit known as the Gal Vorbak -- Astartes who had
allowed themselves to be possessed by daemons. They attacked the Raven Guard's Primarch en
masse, but despite the advantage of their numbers, Corax's formidable abilities as a consummate
warrior proved to be more than a match for the possessed Astartes, and he slew them with
impunity. Seeing the slaughter of his most favoured sons, Lorgar intervened and prevented the
death of the remaining Gal Vorbak Astartes. The two opposing Primarchs then duelled one
another in close combat, and the Raven Guard's Primarch quickly gained the upper hand over his
outmatched brother. Lorgar had always been more of a scholar than a warrior and Corax
prepared to execute him for his betrayal of the Emperor. Lorgar was spared from execution by
the intervention of the Night Lords' Primarch, Konrad Curze, at the last moment. The Night
Haunter and the Raven fought a brutal melee. Curze quickly gained the upper hand over his
battle-weary brother and prepared to slay him, but Corax managed to escape death by taking to
the sky with his master-crafted Jump Pack.

The outnumbered Loyalists were then surrounded and brutally butchered. Refusing to surrender,
the remaining Raven Guard and Salamanders Astartes stubbornly defended themselves, trying to
hold off the inevitable slaughter for as long as possible. Though they suffered an atrocious
number of casualties, the Loyalists managed to hold their own, until the Primarchs Mortarion of
the Death Guard and Angron of the World Eaters joined the fray. Bolstered by the support of the
infamous Imperator-class Titan Dies Irae, the Traitors killed tens of thousands of Loyalist
Astartes. At the height of the massacre the Warmaster Horus entered the fray, at the head of the
elite Sons of Horus Terminators known as the Justaerin, slaughtering the Loyalists in wrathful
anger.

Any hope of escape for the Loyalists was quickly crushed when the traitorous Iron Warriors
destroyed the first wave's drop ships. The Loyalist starships still orbiting the embattled planet
were also largely annihilated by the vastly superior numbers of the Traitor's fleet. Despite the
odds arrayed against them, some of the Loyalists on the ground managed to survive -- they
miraculously escaped through the tightening cordon of Traitors that surrounded their position.
The Raven Guard fared better than the Salamanders in escaping the brutal massacre. But the
Salamanders managed to assist a few surviving Astartes from the decimated Iron Hands Legion
to also escape the slaughter. Imperial history does not record the fate of these surviving
Salamanders or their missing Primarch Vulkan. The Raven Guard's Primarch just barely
managed to board a fleeing Thunderhawk gunship to make good his escape, but was thwarted in
the attempt when it was shot down almost immediately by the gunfire of the Traitors. The badly
damaged ship crashed on the outskirts of the Urgall Plateau.

Raven's Flight

<img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/2/2d/Corax_cover_art.jpg/revis
ion/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20160310085436" alt="Corax cover art"
class="thumbimage " data-image-key="Corax_cover_art.jpg" data-image-name="Corax cover
art.jpg" width="250" height="150" >

Primarch Corax leads his surviving sons to safety during the Raven's Flight

Corax had survived the crash and quickly ordered the remaining warriors of his Legion to
regroup. He learned to his shock that a large percentage of his Legion had been utterly
annihilated during the ensuing slaughter. They took to the highlands of the surrounding hills and
to the shadows, hiding from their relentless pursuers. During their flight, their position was
nearly discovered by a roving armour column of traitorous Iron Warriors, but they were
destroyed in a Raven Guard ambush and wiped out before they could report what they had
learned.

Thirty days after the initial planetary assault, the future looked grim for the fleeing Raven Guard
survivors. They had received no word from either the surviving Iron Hands or Salamanders
Legions. Corax ordered his warriors to dig in and hold position at Lurgan Ridge while he
undertook a lone reconnaissance of their original drop site to determine their options. Utilising
his innate psi-abilities to escape detection, Corax successfully conducted a reconnaissance of the
Traitor Legions' positions around the heavily fortified drop site. Though the Primarch informed
his men that his mission was to reconnoiter the drop site, his primary objective was to scour the
Urgall Plateau for the bodies of his fallen sons, but he failed to find them.

After 98 days of relentless pursuit, the Raven Guard survivors were finally backed into a literal
corner. Caught upon a windswept mountainside, Corax's Legion remained resolute. Behind the
peak stretched the great salt plains that had forced them into this last, defiant stand. Ahead of
them massed the might of the World Eaters, the rage-driven Astartes Legion of Angron, who
strode at their head roaring for the blood of his brother. A sea of white and blue World Eaters
Astartes spattered with the red of gore swept up from the valley intent on the destruction of the
Raven Guard. Maddened by their neural implants and driven into a battle-frenzy by inhuman
cocktails of stimulants, the berserk warriors of the World Eaters pounded up the sloping
mountainside while their tanks and guns provided covering fire; every warrior bellowed his
eagerness to fulfill the blood oaths he had sworn to his Primarch.

But before they could utterly eradicate the surviving Raven Guard Astartes, the World Eaters
were attacked from an unexpected quarter. Broad-winged aircraft plunged down from the
scattering of clouds, missile pods rippling with fire. A swathe of detonations cut through the
ranks of the World Eaters, ripping through their advance companies. Incendiary bombs
blossomed in the heart of the approaching army, scattering white-hot Promethium over the steep
slopes. Corax looked on with incredulity as blistering pulses of plasma descended from orbit,
cutting great gouges into Angron's Legion.

The roar of jets became deafening as drop ships descended on pillars of fire: black drop ships
emblazoned with the badge of the Raven Guard. The Legionaries scattered to give the landing
craft space to make planetfall. As soon as their thick hydraulic legs touched the ground, their
ramps whined down and boarding gateways opened. The Raven Guard met their rescuers in
stunned disbelief. These drop ships were part of a desperate rescue mission that had been devised
by Commander Branne, a Raven Guard Captain who had been left in charge of the Legion's
homeworld of Deliverance. Without further delay the Raven Guard survivors quickly prepared
for embarkation and escaped aboard the drop ships, breaking for orbit and leaving behind the
frothing berserkers of the World Eaters, their angry Primarch futilely baying for blood.

Meanwhile, the Alpha Legion had secretly infiltrated the Raven Guard during the Drop Site
Massacre, surgically altering their own operatives to resemble dead Raven Guard Astartes and
then inserting them into Corax's Legion during the chaos of the chase on Istvaan V. Alpharius
Omegon had been told by the secret alien organisation known as the Cabal that the XIXth Legion
was going to receive an extremely valuable, top-secret asset that would be of great use to the
cause of Horus. Impersonating Horus, the Alpha Legion Primarchs ordered a pursuing World
Eaters fleet to stop all action against Branne's ships, so that the Raven Guard would survive the
slaughter on Istvaan V and come into possession of the asset, which the Alpha Legion's
infiltrators could then steal.

Corax never knew how Branne had managed to make his way to Istvaan V, but he was grateful
for the rescue. Branne himself was reluctant to reveal what lead him to Istvaan V, and considered
the topic sensitive since he had only acted after repeated, inexplicable prophetic "dreams" seen
by Marcus Valerius, Praefector of the Therion Cohort, the Imperial Army regiment which was
part of the Raven Guard's Expeditionary Fleet. Deadly absolution at the hands of Angron would
have been a righteous end for the XIXth Legion, but with all things considered, Corax was glad
that he would survive to fight in the Emperor's name again.

Following his and his Astartes' dramatic rescue from Istvaan V, Corax took the time to review
the organisation of the remnants of his Legion. Including the companies of Commander Branne
who had been left behind to command the garrison of Deliverance and had ultimately been
responsible for rescuing Corax the Legion's survivors from the disaster at Istvaan V, he had
fewer than 4'000 Astartes of varying ranks and specialisations remaining. The majority of these
Astartes he formed into the "Talons" -- tactical companies under Captain Agapito's command.
The survivors of the various assault platoons, along with several Dreadnought-interred Veterans,
were formed into the "Falcons", led by Aloni Tev. Lastly, the handful of Raven Guard Bike
Squads, Land Speeders and aircraft crews still remaining were combined under the command of
Captain Solaro An, and were given the designation "Hawks". The Raven Guard's Apothecaries
had suffered during the Drop Site Massacre as well. It appeared that the Traitors had specifically
targeted them from the outset of the battle. Only seven managed to survive, and even with only
fifteen years in the Apothecarion, Apothecary Vincente Sixx was appointed as the Legion's new
Chief Apothecary by the Primarch himself.

Rebuilding a Legion

Consumed by the loss of over 75,000 of his Legion's Astartes, and obsessed with thoughts of
revenge against Horus, Corax ordered his survivors to return to Terra, where he intended to ask
the Emperor for help in rebuilding the Legion. Following a number of delays and setbacks, and
despite the disagreement and displeasure of Rogal Dorn and Malcador the Sigillite, Corax
psychically communed with the Emperor, who was devoting all his time battling Chaos within
the Warp and what remained of the secret Imperial extension into the Webway in the aftermath
of Magnus the Red's catastrophic psychic intrusion into the Imperial Palace. The Emperor
revealed certain truths to Corax: the existence of the Imperial project to control portions of the
Webway, the nature of Chaos, and the truth behind the outbreak of the so-called Heresy -- which
in reality was an all-out campaign by the Chaos Gods to defeat the Emperor and enslave
Mankind, using Horus and the Traitor Legions as their pawns. The Emperor decided to help
Corax, and had another, astonishing revelation to make: the Primarch Project's genetic assets had
not been destroyed, as everybody thought, but still existed and were dormant -- including living
samples of the original gene-stock the Emperor had used to create the 20 Primarchs. The
Emperor, who offered no explanation as to why such facilities and the gene-stock still existed,
demanded only one thing: this genetic material could never be allowed to fall into the wrong
hands.

Accompanied by several Raven Guard squads, a contingent of Adeptus Mechanicus specialists,

and a number of Custodians to serve as the Emperor's "overseers", Corax managed to locate and
enter the Emperor's well-protected gene-laboratories deep beneath the Imperial Palace in the
Himalazian Mountains, after his strife force suffered a number of casualties. The Primarch gene-
stock and related technical information was secured, and Corax and his Raven Guard warriors
returned to Deliverance to begin remaking the Legion.

After several weeks of effort by Corax, Chief Apothecary Vincente Sixx, and Magos Genetor
Nexin Orlandriaz, a breakthrough was achieved, and a new reservoir of stable Astartes gene-seed
was extracted from the Primarch DNA. The gene-seed was more pure than "normal" Raven
Guard gene stock as it came from undiluted Primarch DNA before it was broken down to the 20
different recombinant strands that gave birth to the Primarchs. It was implanted using an
extremely accelerated development schedule within 500 Aspirants, with excellent results. The
resulting Astartes, though lacking combat experience, were even more capable than typical
Raven Guard Space Marines. They were assigned the name "Raptors", and placed under overall
command of Captain Branne, who served as the Legion's Master of Recruits. Following a
baptism by fire in a successful attack against a Word Bearers intelligence outpost/listening
station, the prospects for the reconstruction of the XIXth Legion looked bright indeed.

The Alpha Legion had other plans. Patiently waiting until the Raven Guard had achieved the
genetic breakthrough, they were fomenting rebellion among the old tech-guilds of Kiavahr, the
Forge World that the moon of Deliverance circled, while assembling an Alpha Legion force
nearby, and simultaneously misleading both their nominal allies among the other Traitor Legions
and their supposed allies in the Cabal about their true purpose. With the help of Adepts from the
Dark Mechanicus the Alpha Legion operatives within the Raven Guard contaminated the pure
Primarch gene-stock held by the Raven Guard with a virus that was tainted with daemonic
essence. The nature of the virus was unknown to the Alpha Legionaries until after the gene-stock
had been contaminated, as their Dark Mechanicus allies had insisted the virus could be easily
extracted once the Primarch gene-stock came into their possession.

The next cadre of 2'000 Raven Guard Astartes was predictably a disaster. All manifested hideous
Warp-related mutations after they were implanted with their gene-seed organs, and many had to
be kept imprisoned. Corax announced that mutation or not, he considered them as much a part of
the Raven Guard as the rest of his Astartes, and vowed to find a way to reverse the mutations. At
the same time, the Alpha Legion's plans were reaching their climax. The Kiavahr rebellion was
well under way, supported by the newly arrived Alpha Legion force, who were camouflaged as
Raven Guard, bearing the XIXth Legion's badges, insignia, and armour. These tactics were only
diversions intended to allow the Alpha Legion operatives already within the XIXth Legion to
steal the Primarch gene-stock and to completely destroy the original Raven Guard gene-seed,
crippling the Loyalist Legion. The first objective was successful: the Primarch DNA and all
information about it was secured by Omegon, who had been secretly on Kiavahr all this time,
manipulating events as needed. Yet the destruction of the Raven Guard's gene-seed was
prevented by the Raven Guard Mutants, who were tasked by the dying Chief Apothecary
Vincente Sixx to save the future of the XIXth Legion. Corax subsequently allowed the Mutants
who could fight to join the Legion's Raptor Squads. They participated with the rest of the Raven
Guard, a small force of Imperial Fists, and the reconstituted Therion Cohort in the first
counterattack against the Traitors, and the Raven Guard's successful campaign against the
garrison of an Emperor's Children-held planet near the Kiavahr System.

Unfortunately the attempt to rebuild the XIXth Legion's strength was now in ruins. With a heavy
heart, Corax decided that his attempt to use a shortcut to refill his Legion's ranks had been a
mistake. He determined that the XIXth Legion would rebuild its ranks in the traditional way,
slowly and painstakingly transforming human Aspirants into Space Marines over many years of
genetic alteration and training. But the price would be that the Raven Guard would not be able to
participate in a meaningful way in defending the Imperium against the Traitor Legions. This did
not mean, however, that the Raven Guard would renounce taking part in the fight against Horus.
Lacking the manpower to confront the Traitors in open battle, what remained of the Raven Guard
would stalk the enemy's supply lines -- those worlds away from the front lines that were yet of
strategic importance to the enemy. Over the following years the Raven Guard would attack
convoys, sabotage weapons deliveries, decimate planetary occupation forces, destroy shipping
yards, liberate worker camps and generally be a thorn in Horus' side. Every ship destroyed was
one ship less to ferry troops to the inevitable Siege of Terra. Every weapons shipment destroyed
was one shot less fired at the defenders of the Imperial Palace. Every planet liberated reduced the
Traitors' manufacturing capabilities. This became the Ravens Guard's new mode of thinking -- if
you could not strike at the enemy directly, hit them where it hurt.

Following the later reorganisation of the Space Marine Legions into the Second Founding
Chapters after the end of the Horus Heresy, the Raven Guard was left largely inoperable as a
combat unit and was forced to spend decades recruiting new members and rebuilding itself.
Finding itself woefully undermanned and under-equipped following the massacre on Istvaan V,
the Raven Guard honed and perfected the use of covert small-unit, guerrilla tactics that utilised
little fire support, armoured support or other heavy equipment that the Chapter and its Successors
lacked. Even today, the Raven Guard's lack of Predators, Land Raiders, and the latest patterns of
Power Armour reflect these conditions of the Chapter's past.

Post-Horus Heresy
 <img
src="https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/c/c2/RG_assault_marine_by_d
iegogisbertllorens.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20130604203505" alt="RG
assault marine by diegogisbertllorens" class="thumbimage " data-image-
key="RG_assault_marine_by_diegogisbertllorens.jpg" data-image-name="RG assault marine by
diegogisbertllorens.jpg" width="250" height="377" >

A Raven Guard Assault Marine

With his Chapter depleted following the Istvaan V Massacre and the Imperium teetering on the
brink of destruction, it is rumoured that Primarch Corax ordered his Chapter's Apothecaries to
use forbidden zygote acceleration and cloning processes to more rapidly replenish the Chapter's
numbers. The methods used to accomplish this are lost to history, but the process allowed the
creation of new Raven Guard Space Marines at the cost of the genetic purity of the Chapter's
gene-seed. The process of implantation of the genetically modified Space Marine organs in new
recruits suffered extremely high failure rates as a result of these genetic modifications, causing
many Raven Guard recruits to become hulking, aberrant monsters who had to be destroyed. The
results of this accelerated recruitment program were not always successful. Ninety percent of the
recruits who underwent the accelerated treatments were unable to hold a standard Space Marine
Bolter, let alone fire it. Of 100 recruits, perhaps one would have a genome stable enough to
become a true Space Marine. Despite the inefficiency of this method, the Raven Guard was
eventually able to add several hundred recruits and become combat-worthy enough to aid the
other Space Marines in their continuing battle against the Chaos Marines both before and
following the defeat of Horus at the Siege of Terra, despite fielding a much smaller force.

After the Heresy, Corax personally gave the Emperor's Peace to every surviving mutant that had
resulted from their accelerated program of Space Marine development, an act that led him to lock
himself in his personal chambers in the Ravenspire on Deliverance and beg the recently-
ascended Emperor for forgiveness. Unable to alleviate his guilt, the Primarch left the Ravenspire
exactly a year after he first went into seclusion in a transport that was headed for the Eye of
Terror. Corax's fate remains unknown to this day. His last recorded words as he departed
Deliverance were, "Nevermore."

Notable Campaigns

Battle of Hell's Anvil (Unknown Date.M30) - Before uniting with their long-lost
Primarch, the XIXth Legion saw over a century of war. During this time they fought at the
behest of Horus Lupercal, treated almost as a specialised detachment of the Luna Wolves
Legion, one essential to many of the victories later claimed by them that often went
unremarked by the Order of Remembrancers. Though their battles were unseen and
unremarked, they were telling in the shape of history. The Battle of Hell's Anvil was
typical for many of the XIXth Legion's early engagements, a savage legend that Corax
would later seek to repress, and one that exemplified both the similarities in tactics and
the difference in character of the warriors that made up the XIXth Legion and later the
Raven Guard. Hell's Anvil was the name given by Imperial strategos to a massive fortress
situated on the planet of Baratrum. For almost five years the Imperial Army had fought a
futile battle to destroy the overseers of the planet, who had long since surrendered their
humanity, and capture the world's prodigious mineral wealth for the nascent Imperium.
Thousands of lives had been lost and the Imperial Army was unable to secure any
foothold in the sunken metropoli of Baratrum. The arrival of a fleet bearing three full
Chapters of the XIXth Legion, under overall command of Shade Lord Arkhas Fal, then
the Master of the Legion. Accompanied by a sizable contingent of Luna Wolves, this
force changed the nature of the campaign. The taskforce's Strike Cruiser began a
concussive bombardment directly above the previously unassailable sub-surface
fortifications of Hell's Anvil, heedless of the collateral damage to the planet's
subterranean population. The massive tectonic force of the bombardment shook the
planet to its core, causing severe damage to many of the underground cities. Into this
hellish landscape Shade Lord Fal ordered three regiments of Thorosian Voltigeurs, a unit
attached to the Imperial Army detachment that had so far failed to assault the fortress, to
lead the vanguard assault. Soon they were beset upon by hundreds of frenzied worker-
drones. With casualties mounting and the fortress still spewing forth its berserk
defenders, a desperate request relayed to the XIXth Legion for reinforcements went
unanswered. Waiting until Hell's Anvil had emptied, the combined Space Marine
taskforce descended into the bowels of Hell's Anvil. The head-hunter companies of the
Ashen Claw Chapter, led by Shade Captain Kirine, were able to hack and blast its way
into the interior of the beleaguered fortress, and ruthlessly hacked down the hulking
Overseers. After hours of fighting, the XIXth Legion finally discovered Hell's Anvil's
titanic plasma reactors. After facing the largest of the Baratrun Overseers, they planted
Melta charges amongst the reactor's delicate containment fields, and retreated as suddenly
as they had struck, back into the upper levels to detonate the charges. On the surface
Shade Lord Fal and his forces had put the frenzied drones to the sword. The destruction
of Hell's Anvil saw the swift collapse of the Baratrun resistance, and despite the damage
the various factory-warrens had sustained, the envoys of the Mechanicum were able to
 restart production with only a minor delay, feeding the Imperium's expansion and
continued conquest. The Thorosian regiments bore the brunt of the assault's bloody cost,
losing over 100,000 soldiers, whereas the XIXth Legion and Luna Wolves had suffered
only a few hundred casualties between them, mostly among the Ashen Claws. This cost,
though high, was less than might have been expected from a drawn-out siege and the
battle was lauded as a mighty victory for the advancing Great Crusade. It also established
the reputation of the XIXth Legion as harbingers of death for those units of the Imperial
Army assigned to their support. This remnant of their heritage as slave-masters and
raiders in the dust plains of Old Earth did not find favour with the Raven Lord when he
joined with the XIXth Legion, and this practice was only forgotten, both within and
without the Legion, after long years of campaigning under Corax's guidance.
The Carinae Retribution (Unknown Date.M30) - The conquest of the Carinae Sodality
remains a black mark on the record of the Raven Guard, a campaign whose details, long
suppressed by factions within the Officio Militaris, show the Raven Guard as directly
responsible for the campaign's delay and the excessive casualties recorded by Imperial
Army units assigned to the fighting. The Raven Guard task force arrived in the Carinae
System with a force of almost 30,000 Legionaries and twice that number of soldiers of
the Imperial Army, and made swift progress with the conquest of the "Thousand Moons
of Carinae" -- immense void-cities that circled the otherwise planet-less primary,
remnants of a power long lost to Mankind whose isolationist inhabitants were ill-disposed
to bend the knee to the Emperor. Directed by the keen tactical acumen of Corvus Corax,
the Raven Guard turned the Carinae's greatest strength into a fatal weakness, for though
the void-cities were many and their defences strong, each fought a solitary war, separate
from aid and unable to support the defence of their fellows. Rather than attempt a grand
campaign, besieging the entire star system at once or challenging the combined fleets of
the Carinae Sodality for void-supremacy in the system, the Raven Guard used mobility
and stealth to strike a single moon at a time. It was on one such moon, designated Zenith-
312, that the combined taskforce assaulted in good order. All was well, until the cities'
Arch-Comptroller unleashed a terrible weapon from the Age of Strife, long held in stasis
in the depths of the city -- an anima-phage of terrible potency that rendered men into
creatures of rage and hunger, bereft of all reason and memory. The Raven Guard suffered
little ill-effect, but the ordinary citizens of Zenith-312 and the mortal soldiers of the
Imperial Army were reduced to a frothing, mindless horde that numbered in the tens of
thousands. Immediately the Raven Guard found themselves beset on all sides, and were
forced to put down those who they once called allies, granting them the mercy of death as
the XIXth Legion swept the void-city clean. In the aftermath of the fighting, it was
discovered that the Arch-Comptroller Agarth had used the massacre of his own people to
make good his escape aboard his personal shuttle. The Raven Lord was incensed, and
vowed that the Arch-Comptroller would be forced to account for his actions. The
taskforce abandoned the prosecution of Carinae's conquest, and instead focused all of its
efforts into locating the escaped Arch-Comptroller. Discovering the object of their wrath,
Argath was tracked to a remote outpost drifting in the outer reaches of a star's corona.
The Raven Guard turned to its Moritat kill cadres to bring their murderous vengeance to
the Arch-Comptroller. Once aboard, the Moritat quickly went on the offensive and
methodically began to leave a bloody trail of corpses in their wake. Making no attempt to
reach the Arch-Comptroller, the surviving Moritat made their way to the lone hangar and
 destroyed all of the station's transports, save one, to make good their escape. The void
station took over four solar hours to fully break up as the sun's fiery embrace blistered
and seared the station's hull plating. Corvus Corax stood and listened for all four hours as
the Arch-Comptroller raged, blustered and finally pleaded over open Vox channels, only
leaving when the station's molten collapse cut off his final screams. The Raven Guard
had avenged those sacrificed on Zenith-312, but in doing so had granted the remainder of
Carinae's defenders time to consolidate their defences, and without their support the
Imperial Army and Crusade fleet assets had suffered badly as they had attempted to hold
the line. The Carinae Campaign, which should have been swift and painless for the
expanding Imperium, would rumble on for almost another seven solar months and would
cost many thousands of lives as the price for the XIXth Legion's need for retribution.
The Breg-shei Eradication (ca. 977.M30) - On the world of Farinatus Maximus, a
detachment of the Raven Guard under Commander Alkenor carry out a Writ of
Annihilation against the xenos-species of the breg-shei, highly dangerous and hostile
insectoid aliens which had evolved there. Operating alongside the VIIIth Legion, the
Night Lords, the Raven Guard infiltration team led by Sergeant Dravian Klayde charged
with collapsing the berg-shei's nest was discovered and killed but for the tenacious
Sergeant. Having lost one arm and both of his legs, Dravian Klayde however succeeded
in reaching Imperial lines, dragging himself by his sole valid arm for days on end. This
feat earned him the nickname of "The Carrion", imprinted upon him by the Night Lords
who found him. Klayde would undergo extensive augmentic repairs which would
ultimately lead him to be selected for training as a Techmarine on distant Mars, thus
allowing him to be present during the Schism of Mars and play an important role in it.
The Compliance of Indra-sl (ca. 990.M30) - With the discovery of Kiavahr came the
long expected union of the XIXth Legion and their Primarch, and the beginning of a
subtle change to the Legion's character and reputation. Taking place almost fifty standard
years after the Primarch had resumed command of his Legion, Corax' prosecution of the
Indra-sl Campaign is typical for many of the conquests undertaken by the Raven Guard,
and displays how the melding of Deliverance-born insurgents and the brutal raiders of
Terra's Asiatic Dustfields melded to produce the Raven Guard. The last years of the Great
Crusade saw the majority of the Raven Guard assigned to Expeditionary Fleets in the far
galactic north, pressing the Great Crusade's expansion past the reaches of the Segmentum
Obscurus and into the dim stars of the galaxy's northern fringe. It was here that the Raven
Guard discovered Indra-sl. Once the planet must have served as a mighty Explorator
port for the fleets of the Dark Age of Technology, but now it was reduced to a wasteland,
with the exception of a vast glittering spire of silver many kilometres thick that reached
from the ground to the void above, terminating in a series of branch-like docking tendrils
that blanketed the sky of one hemisphere. Within this great structure the Raven Guard
found the last survivors of Indra-sl, and the creatures who now ruled them. In the dark
years of the Age of Strife the xenos nightmares known as the Khrave had systematically
harvested the population of Indra-sl over the course of many centuries. Corax could not
countenance the abject suffering of the people of Indra-sl, no more than he could have
left the people of Deliverance in bondage to the tech guilds of Kiavahr. Despite
suggestions form some Terran-born Captains to release nerve-phage gas into the facility
that would effectively kill both xenos masters and human slaves as the most effective
solution, the Primarch laid plans for the salvation of Indra-sl. Refusing to commit either
 his own Legionaries or the soldiers of the Therion Cohort to the war of attrition intended
to take the spire level by level, the Raven Lord personally led a force of less than 2'000
Legionaries, selected from the ranks of the Raven Guard's reconnaissance and infiltration
companies, into the structure. Infiltrating the massive spire at its midpoint by insertion
from specially modified Shadowhawks and Darkwing gunships, the Space Marines were
confronted with a vision of the past. The survivors of the human population of Indra-sl
were wretched and malformed, packed into chambers like cattle. Some detachments also
encountered the Khrave, towering monstrosities gorged on centuries of captive bounty,
impossibly strong and wielding foul Warp-glamours. Only with much slaughter were
they able to slay such creatures. The Raven Guard both of Terra and Deliverance
instinctively fell into the doctrines of guerrilla warfare, leaving their foes dazed and
confused until they were finally slain. Discovering the hibernation chambers of the
slumbering Khrave, soon the foul xenos began to stir from their slumber. The Raven
Guard made a tactical withdrawal, while the Raven Lord and a demi-company of those
who had fought at his side on Deliverance took the near-suicidal duty of providing a
rearguard whilst the remaining Raven Guards accompanying him raced to deploy their
teleport beacon array. Despite the slaughter that ensued, the Raven Guard held their
ground, fighting to their last breath with only the desire to slay their foes until death
claimed them. Finally, after an hour of non-stop combat, a flash of light announced the
arrival of the Deliverers, a company of Terran-born Raven Guard clad in Terminator
Armour, grim in aspect and wielding an array of fearsome weapons not usually favoured
by the subtle tactics of the XIXth Legion. The Deliverers' massed firepower pushed the
Khrave back and the Terran Legionaries advanced, the ferocity of the Terran Raven
Guard finishing what the stoic determination of their brethren from Deliverance had
begun. Within hours the Raven Guard had cleansed the spire of the xenos' foul presence.
Now secured as a base for the Great Crusade's push into the Ghoul Stars, Indra-sl was
given into the custody of the Mechanicum, and the Raven Guard made preparations for
their next conquest. Unknown to the Raven Guard, the Iterators and other Imperial
servants following on the heels of the XIXth Legion's advance would later condemn the
survivors to a living death as Servitor labourers, seeing them as corrupted in both mind
and body. It is perhaps fortunate that the Raven Lord never discovered this prior to the
outbreak of the fighting on Istvaan V, for his reputation leaves little doubt over the
response that would likely have followed.
Istvaan III Compliance (994.M30) - The world of Istvaan III was brought into Imperial
Compliance by the 27th Expeditionary Fleet led by the Primarch Corax some fifteen
standard years before the Drop Site Massacre during the Horus Heresy. The military
forces of the indigenous Istvaanians, including the renegade psykers known as
Warsingers, were professional soldiers who did not break easily, even when confronted
with the might of Space Marines. There was some resistance, but the last elements of the
aggressive faction, including the Warsingers, were destroyed by the Raven Guard at the
Redarth Valley on Istvaan III. An Istvaanian delegation formally surrendered before the
Primarch Corax and the 800 companies (80,000 Astartes) of Raven Guard Space Marines
that comprised his XIXth Legion and their allies: the men of the Therion Cohorts and the
Battle Titans of the Legio Victorum and the Legio Adamantus. The Istvaanians kneeled as
a defeated foe but were welcomed into the fold as men of the Imperium. Though they had
waged war against one another, the Imperial Truth had prevailed and the Istvaanians had
 sworn to accept its teachings. By proving themselves men of wisdom and civilisation,
they were deemed fitting partners for the many other worlds of the nascent Imperium.
The Remembrancer Order had not yet been foisted upon the Space Marine Legions by the
Council of Terra at this time, but a substantial civilian contingent was left behind to begin
the integration of the Istvaanian population with the Imperial Truth. Vardus Praal was left
behind as the world's Imperial Planetary Governor to command Istvaan III in the name of
the Imperium, to ensure continued compliance and manage the dismantling of the
traditional religious structures that defined the planet's autochthonous society.
Unbeknownst to Corax and his Raven Guard, they would return fifteen standard years
later to the Istvaan System, to the world of Istvaan V, to bring the rebel Horus to account.
Battle of Gate Forty-Two (ca. 000.M31) - Soon after Horus was declared the Imperial
Warmaster, the Raven Guard were recalled from operations along the coreward edge of
the Ghoul Stars and ordered to take their place in the line alongside several other Legions
under the Warmaster's direct command to retake the Aukum-Sothos Cluster, which had
been brought into Compliance by the Luna Wolves early in the Great Crusade but had
rebelled against Imperial rule due to the actions of controlling xenos. Horus had
formulated a plan to cast down the Unsighted Kings, the xenos-possessed leaders of the
insurrection, in a lightning war that would purge the afflicted population while retaining
the cluster's highly developed infrastructure for future re-population. Furthermore, a rapid
victory would demonstrate to Horus' brother-Primarchs that the Emperor had been correct
to elevate him to so high a rank. The Warmaster's plan called for the bulk of four Legions
-- the Luna Wolves, Space Wolves, Iron Warriors and Raven Guard -- to converge on the
heavily fortified lair of the Unsighted Kings before a final, overwhelming assault was
launched. Though Corax strongly disagreed and nearly came to blows with Perturabo
over an accusation of cowardice, Corax mustered the Raven Guard before Gate Forty-
Two. Knowing their particular demeanour would carry them forward, Corax assigned
many of his Terran-dominated companies to the vanguard, in particular those whose
captains appeared the most willing to play their part in the Warmaster's plan. At the
height of the battle, with the assault companies decimated and the attack faltering in the
face of overwhelming fire, Corax himself led the forlorn hope, his battle cry firing the
Legion to such efforts that the breach was carried and Gate Forty-Two taken. The honour
of slaying the Unsighted Kings was claimed by Horus as Warmaster and at the moment
of their execution, the xenos' hold over the population was dispelled. The Akum-Sothos
Cluster was delivered and Horus' prize was reclaimed. The cost was terrible however, for
not only had countless millions of hosts been crippled in mind and body, but thousands of
Raven Guard, the bulk of them Terran-born, had given their lives before the shattered
walls.
Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V (566006.M31) - Noted as one of the most devastating
defeats in the history of the Adeptus Astartes, and certainly in the history of the
Salamanders, the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V saw the Raven Guard, and
Salamanders Legions nearly annihilated as effective fighting forces and only the quick
thinking and initiative of the Salamanders allowed a bare few Space Marines of these two
Legions to escape that dreadful day. In response to the treachery of the Warmaster Horus
and his betrayal of the Loyalist Astartes in the Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, World
Eaters and Death Guard Legions at Istvaan III, the Primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion,
Rogal Dorn, on the direction of the Emperor who had learned of Horus' actions from the
Loyalist survivors aboard the Eisenstein, ordered 7 Loyalist Space Marine Legions to
Horus' base on the world of Istvaan V to challenge the Traitors. They would attack in two
waves and fall under the supreme command of the Iron Hands Primarch Ferrus Manus.
The Legions comprising the first wave were the Raven Guard, Iron Hands and
Salamanders. The Legions comprising the second wave were the Alpha Legion, Night
Lords, Iron Warriors, and a large contingent of Word Bearers that their Primarch Lorgar
had stationed in the star system. Unknown to Loyalists, the Night Lords, Alpha Legion,
Iron Warriors and Word Bearers had all turned from their service to the Emperor and
secretly pledged their loyalty to Horus, and been instructed to keep their new allegiance
to Chaos a secret. The Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard were deployed in the
first wave of the assault on the planet while the Raven Guard Legion's flagship Shadow of
the Emperor and the rest of the flotilla of Loyalist vessels provided overwatch of the
planetary assault, standing by in case they needed to provide assistance to the attacking
ground forces. After they secured the drop site, they were to have been followed by the
arrival of the other four Legions. The first wave secured the drop site, known as the
Urgall Depression, though at a heavy cost. Horus ordered his front line troops to fall back
in a feint, tempting Ferrus Manus to overstretch his already thin lines. Against the advice
of Corax and Vulkan, Manus led his Veterans against the fleeing Traitor Marines
unsupported. Manus then brought his brother Fulgrim to combat. As the two Primarchs
drew their weapons, the Raven Guard and Salamanders fell back to regroup and allow the
second wave's Legions to advance and earn glory. However, as they returned they were
mowed down by the four Traitor Legions that had landed to supposedly support them,
thus revealing their new allegiance to Chaos. At the same time the apparent rout of the
Sons of Horus, the World Eaters, Death Guard and Emperor's Children suddenly halted
and the Traitors pressed their attack. As Horus pressed the counterattack he managed to
sandwich the Loyalists between the two Traitor forces, killing most of them. As the
black-armoured Astartes of the Raven Guard Legion were cut down by the Traitors'
sustained volley, the traitorous Primarch Lorgar ordered his Word Bearers Legion to
attack the Raven Guards' unprotected flank. Corax charged into the ranks of the
Traitorous Word Bearers, a blur of charcoal armour and black blades, butchering with an
ease that belied his ferocity. Argel Tal, the Crimson Lord and leader of the daemon-
possessed Astartes known as the Gal Vorbak, Lorgar's "Blessed Sons", leapt forward to
meet their end at the hands of the enraged Primarch. Lorgar soon noticed that Corax was
wading through the Gal Vorbak, ripping his daemon-possessed crimson warriors apart.
Despite the protestations of both Kor Phaeron and Erebus, Lorgar sprinted forwards
across the churned earth and dead bodies of his brother's Legion to engage in a battle he
had no hope of winning. The two Primarchs fought in furious combat -- Corax fighting to
kill, while Lorgar fought to stay alive. The Primarchs traded vicious blows, but the Raven
Lord had the advantage not only of speed and finesse, but also of being a gifted warrior
with decades of fighting experience. Lorgar did not, for he had always been more of a
scholar than a warrior, and his lack of experience cost him dearly as Corax impaled
Lorgar through his stomach and out his back. As Corax stepped closer, he raised his one
functioning Lightning Claw to execute his brother, but was thwarted by the timely
intervention of the Night Lords Primarch Konrad Curze. Weakened by his battle with
Lorgar, Corax took advantage when the Night Haunter was momentarily distracted and
fired his flight pack, burning his fuel reserves to escape Curze's grip, soaring skyward
 away from Curze's rising laughter. As the Traitors wreaked a bloody toll upon the first
wave of Loyalist Astartes on the planet's surface, in orbit, the Shadow of the Emperor
received their stand-to and distress broadcasts. It was cut off within a matter of minutes,
jammed by the Traitor warships in orbit. It was too soon for the vessel's cloaking Reflex
Shields to be raised, and against the numbers that were arrayed against them, the use of
that technology would have been the only defence. The Terminus Est, under the
command of First Captain Calas Typhon, was one of the few capital ships of the Death
Guard Legion. When the Traitors revealed their treachery, the Terminus Est suddenly
engaged and treacherously destroyed the unprepared Shadow of the Emperor as well as
its accompanying Escort ships. It is argued by many Imperial scholars that this
engagement was the earliest recorded conflict between Battleships that were specialised
to carry Attack Craft. The engagement was swift and brutal, depriving the embattled
Loyalist forces on Istvaan V of any air support in the massacre that followed. The loss of
the Shadow of the Emperor is remembered to this day as one of the greatest losses of the
Raven Guard in the Horus Heresy and the Chapter maintains a long-standing grudge
against the Death Guard as a result. Meanwhile on the surface, the Iron Hands were cut
off and slaughtered to a man -- the veteran Morlock Terminators cut down while Ferrus
Manus was beheaded by Fulgrim. The Salamanders and Raven Guard could do nothing to
help the Iron Hands, and were forced to make a costly break-out with precious few of
their forces. Those Thunderhawk and Stormbird gunships that lifted off and escaped
Istvaan V were far fewer than those that had landed. Corax was badly wounded and
Vulkan's fate was unknown for some time. The remainder of the Iron Hands Legion
arrived to find their Veterans and Primarch dead and the Salamanders and Raven Guard
reduced to a fraction of their full strength, with both Legions nearly wiped out. Corax and
his Raven Guard returned to Deliverance in defeat, steeled to rebuild and take revenge on
Horus and his Traitors.
Battle of Ravendelve (ca.006.M31) - Following the calamitous events of Istvaan V and
the Raven Guard's flight to Terra to bring word of the disaster, the shattered XIXth Legion
returned to their home world of Deliverance. Unknown to them, the insidious Alpha
Legion had inserted several of their own Legionaries, surgically disguised as Raven
Guard Legionaries who had died on the black sands of Istvaan V. Gathering intelligence
on Primarch Corax' efforts to reconstitute his Legion utilising a sample of pure Primarch
DNA given to him by the Emperor Himself, the Alpha Legion operatives patiently waited
until the Raven Guard had achieved a genetic breakthrough. In the meantime, they
fomented rebellion amongst the old tech-guilds of Kiavahr, the Forge World that the
moon of Deliverance circled, while assembling Alpha Legion forces nearby, for an
unsuspected surgical strike. The Alpha Legion successfully tainted the Primarch DNA,
which resulted in the disastrous mutation of newly inducted Raven Guard aspirants into
hideously transformed creatures. At the same time, the Alpha Legion's plans reached
their climax. The Kiavahr rebellion was well under way, supported by the newly arrived
Alpha Legion forces, who were camouflaged as Raven Guard. The Loyalist Raven Guard
successfully put down the rebellion and killed all the Alpha Legion operatives.
Assault on Iydris (006-007.M31) - In the wake of the terrible slaughter of Loyalists at
the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V, a small fleet of Astartes from the ravaged Raven
Guard and Iron Hands Legions managed to flee off-world. Among these vessels was the
Sisypheum, a Strike Cruiser commanded by the mortally wounded Iron Hands Captain
 Ulrach Branthan. Determined to continue to strike against the Traitor Legions wherever
and whenever they could, the crew of the Sisypheum eventually manged to intercept the
encoded communications of the Traitors and learned that the turncoat Primarchs Fulgrim
and Perturabo were leading their Emperor's Children and Iron Warriors Traitor Legions,
respectively, into the Warp Rift later named the Eye of Terror by Perturabo, in search of
an unknown Eldar weapon known as the Angel Exterminatus which could decisively tip
the balance of the Horus Heresy in favour of the Traitors. The Iron Hands eventually
assembled a small fleet of similar Loyalist survivors of the Drop Site Massacre and made
their way into the Eye to stop the Traitors from acquiring this weapon. Once within the
Eye, Fulgrim led the combined Traitor Legion forces to the ancient Eldar Crone World of
Iydris, into the citadel known as Amon ny-shak Kaelis where the Angel Exterminatus was
supposedly located. The Traitors were forced to repel countless attacks by the ancient
Eldar defense systems and from Eldar constructs animated by the countless dead Eldar
souls of the Crone World. In truth, the entire quest for the Angel Exterminatus had been a
ruse perpetrated upon Perturabo and the Iron Warriors by Fulgrim and the Emperor's
Children. Fulgrim, now a Champion of the Chaos God of Pleasure, Slaanesh, sought
apotheosis to become a Daemon Prince of the Prince of Chaos. But he needed the power
provided by the life force of a Primarch and the sacred energies of a place like an Eldar
Crone World that was sacred to Slaanesh to complete his ascension to daemonhood.
Fulgrim had given to Perturabo a cloak, to which was affixed a skull-shaped pin carrying
a relic known as a maugetar stone. As long as Perturabo was within the confines of the
Eldar citadel the stone slowly absorbed his life force and fed these energies to Fulgrim.
Once Perturabo discovered his brother's perfidy, the Iron Warriors launched an assault
upon the Emperor's Children, and a three-way battle soon developed as the Iron Hands
from the Sisypheum and its small flotilla of Loyalists entered the fray against both Traitor
forces, unaware of what was truly happening. In the course of the combat that followed,
Perturabo slew Fulgrim's mortal body with the great warhammer Forgebreaker, which
ironically had originally been forged by Fulgrim for Ferrus Manus. But this action was
only the final component in Fulgrim's ritual of apoetheosis, and his body remade itself
into the twisted, serpentine form of a Slaaneshi Daemon Prince. Fulgrim became the first
of the Traitor Primarchs to ascend to daemonhood, but he would not be the last. His goal
achieved, Fulgrim teleported his Emperor's Children away from Iydris and the Crone
World began to collapse as the potent life forces of the dead that had long sustained it
were drained away by Fulgrim's ascension. The Iron Hands and Perturabo's Iron Warriors
successfully fled the crumbling planet, though Perturabo escaped by taking his fleet
deeper into the black hole that lay at the centre of the Eye of Terror. For the first time,
one of the Traitor Legions had turned on another, a situation that was to become all too
common as the Dark Gods of Chaos tightened their grip on Horus' followers.
Raid on Cruciax (ca. 007.M31) - The Raid on Cruciax, which harboured a listening post
of the Word Bearers Legion marked the Raven Guard's return to the battlefield after the
crippling losses suffered during the Dropsite Massacre. Intended as a field test to further
assess the capabilities and discipline of the new contingent of the XIXth Legion, the
Raptors, the raid was a full success, wiping-out the Word Bearers garrison and destroying
the facility in less than twenty minutes. The first three hundred members of the Raptors,
which were all genetically perfect, were declared battle-ready following this action and
 the Raven Guard quickly put its eye on a more important target -- the Siege of the Perfect
Fortress on the world of Narsis.
Siege of the Perfect Fortress (ca. 007.M31) - Located on the world of Narsis, the so-
called "Perfect Fortress" had been erected by the IIIrd Legion, the Emperor's Children
during the Great Crusade-era. As its name may indicate the Perfect Fortress was a
military base, but also a hive city harbouring many millions of inhabitants where elegant
buildings and colonnades hid both administrative buildings and tanks and weapon depots,
where ornate balustrades revealed themselves as redoubt and every balcony was a perfect
firing position on pre-planned kill-zones. Taking the Perfect Fortress would be an
arduous task, a task which in truth lay beyond the capabilities of the severely depleted
Raven Guard to take alone. Following the Legion's catastrophic losses and the ill-fated
attempt to quickly replace these losses, Corvus Corax decided that his Legion would
assail the highly symbolic location. It was then fortunate that shortly after the Kiavahrian
Uprising, the ranks of the XIXth Legion were swelled by the reconstituted and vastly
expanded Therion Cohorts. These regiments of the Imperial Army would then take the
brunt of the assault, landing far away from the Perfect Fortress and marching on it while
weathering its considerable fire power. For three long days, the Therion Cohort assailed
the Perfect Fortress before their losses forced them to retreat. This was all the enemy
commander, Captain Luthris, had been waiting for. The Emperor's Children counter-
attack hit the Therions hard, the Raven Guard letting their allies being slaughtered on the
ground for the better part of a day before committing themselves to their own counter-
attack. With the Emperor's Children drawn out of their most heavily defended positions,
the Raven Guard revealed themselves, having hidden in the city under cover from the
Therion's assault. The so-called "Perfect Fortress" fell within the day. This highly
symbolic action not only marked a severe defeat for the notorious Traitor IIIrd Legion, but
also the return of the XIXth Legion to the front lines. It was purely an act of spite against
Horus, and even though it nearly brought it to extinction, the Raven Guard would still
oppose him and prove to be a thorn in the Traitor's side.
Liberation of Scarato (ca. 007.M31) - Having fallen early on in the Horus Heresy, the
former Imperial world of Scarato had been turned into a prison world by its new masters,
the Sons of Horus under whose yoke the population suffered heavily. Despite the
execution of much of its planetary nobility, resistance -- if discreet -- was progressively
organising itself, building its strength for a full-scale rebellion against the Warmaster's
troops. When the Raven Guard arrived at Scarato the uprising was nearing its final stage.
With the help of the XIXth Legion, Scarato liberated itself from the meagre occupation
force left by the Traitors. Yet casualties amongst the Scaratoan natives were fairly high,
as the ill-armed people had to swarm their better-equipped overseers by sheer dint of
numbers while the Raven Guard performed precision strikes against more sensitive
targets. With Scarato liberated, the Ravenlord ordered its astrophatic choir to be used to
send out a rallying call to those scattered warriors that still fought in the Emperor's name.
This allowed the Raven Guard to considerably bolster its forces, drawing more than three
hundred Astartes of various Legions to teach them the art of guerilla warfare that made
the Raven Guard such a thorn in the Traitors' sides. Most distinctively, this call allowed
the Legion to welcome back one of its most esteemed sons, Gherith Arendi, the former
commander of the Shadow Wardens -- Lord Corax' own bodyguard that had been
disbanded on the sands of Istvaan V -- who had been believed slain. During his time
 away from the Legion, Arendi had gathered information on another prison-world,
Carandiru, which would soon come under attack from the Raven Guard.
Raid on Kapel-5642A (ca. 007.M31) - The Raid on Kapel-5642A stands as an exemplar
of the Raven Guard's preferred tactics in the years following the Horus Heresy. With the
XIXth Legion severely reduced, the Raven Guard focussed its attention on sensitive and --
where possible -- less-heavily defended targets in an effort to disrupt the enemy's supply
lines and reduce its manufacturing capabilities. The brief but hard-fought assault on the
asteroid-base of Kapel-5642A emphasised this new strategy by which the sons of Corax
would now fight. Located in the Cretherach Reach, Kapel-5642A was a Mechanicum-
controlled asteroid-base that functioned as a shipyard, tasked with building new warships
for the Traitors' fleets. Through the use of tens of thousands of indentured workers and
forced labour, the small asteroid-base had succeeded in building several warships in the
space of a scant few years, where a comparable task would have taken more than a
decade during the time of the Great Crusade. As the warships neared completion, the
Raven Guard struck. Stormbirds, Thunderhawks and other assault craft delivered assault
cadres of Legionaries which quickly disabled the base's orital defense grid, wrecking
havoc amongst the defenders and keeping their eyes away from their true intent. With the
enemy already inside his compound, the base's commander spared the approaching
Avenger no second thought as it drew closer. Unopposed, the Avenger launched a
devastating torpedo-strike on the base which destroyed its docks and the ships it
contained. So swift was their assault, that the Raven Guard had departed the asteroid-base
well before their torpedoes hit their target. The entire offensive had lasted a scant few
minutes.
The Liberation of Constanix II (ca. 007.M31) - Atlas was one amongst several barge
cities that roamed the skies above the acidic and toxic seas of the minor Mechanicum
Forge World of Constanix II. Archmagos Delvere, master of the capital city of Iapetus
had allied himself with the Traitor Word Bearers Legion and begun the manufacture of
presently unknown daemon-engines. Stumbling upon the Kamiel -- the Strike Cruiser in
charge of resupplying the Traitors of the XVIIth -- more by luck than anything else, Corax
himself led the assault to take the ship with his most senior officers in tow. In the
datacore of the Kamiel, the Raven Guard discovered its intended destination. Intrigued by
what the Word Bearers had in mind for this isolated and almost forgotten Forge World,
Corax quickly decided to investigate the matter. He split his small flotilla in order to head
to Constanix, despite the misgivings of such Raven Guard Commanders as Branne and
Agapito. Corax would not be swayed, and so the order was given to split their forces and
part ways. On Constanix II, the Raven Guard quickly assessed that Delvere's malign
influence had expanded to nearly each of the other city-barques, including some of the
Titans of the Legio Nivalis charged with the protection of the planet's floating cities.
Using diversions, the Raven Guard infiltrated and successfully seized control of the city-
barque of Atlas with the help of loyalist Mechanicum elements and the might of Castor
Terminus, a towering Warlord-class Titan that had been posted at Atlas to ensure its
defence. With Atlas firmly under their control, Corax was swift to order an attack on the
capital of Constanix II, the city-barque of Iapetus where the Word Bearers and Dark
Mechanicum awaited them. After the opening moves of the battle, Corax -- as it had
become increasingly more common -- left his commanders in charge of the ground
offensive and personally took the fight to the enemy, his detachment attacking the
 enemy's headquarter, the central shrine of the Machine-God. There the Primarch
encountered a new model of hence-unknown daemon-engines whose descriptions match
those of the dreaded war-engines known as Defilers. Defeating the daemon-engines,
Corax went on the hunt for Archmagos Delvere, who quickly perished under his
Lightning Claws, before confronting the Word Bearers Champion Azor Nathrakin, a
former Librarian turned Sorcerer, whom had allowed a daemon to possess his body.
Having opened a warp rift from which he could continuosly siphon off energy and
regenerate himself, Nathrakin almost succeeded in defeating Corax before the Primarch
managed to hurl his opponent into the Warp Rift, destroying the blasphemous machinery
keeping the portal open. Imploding, the warp rift utterly destroyed Nathrakin, allowing
the Raven Guard to claim yet another victory over the Forces of Chaos.
The Day of Vengeance (ca. 008.M31) - The Day of Vengeance on the prison-world on
Carandiru was to inaugurate a new method of warfare -- a new means to destabilise
Traitor-held domains -- but instead became known as one of Corax's closest brushes with
defeat. A lone Legionary named Commander Shoukonou infiltrated Carandiru's
population and began to expand, form and contact existing resistance cells in order to
sow the seed of rebellion against their common oppressors. He was given two months to
bring the population to rise up in the name of the Emperor before the Raven Guard would
intervene. At the chosen date -- designated "V-Day" or the "Day of Vengeance" -- the
civilian uprisings broke out, mobilising the enemy forces and turning their attention away
from essential facilities which were then targeted by the Raven Guard. Elite infiltration
squads of Mor Deythan landed covertly in the capital, seizing plasma generators and
overloading the city's power grid, thus disabling anti-air defences and shrouding the
entire capital in darkness. While the main focus of the attack was Carandiru's citadel --
which had been erected with the skill of the Imperial Fists during the Great Crusade --
other sensitive targets were simultaneously targeted by the Raptor-Company under
Commander Brann. These would be the first to discover that Carandiru had not only been
a prison but also a diabolical laboratory where gruesome experiments had been conducted
on captured Loyalist Astartes. Under the dark input of the Emperor's Children's dire
Chief Apothecary Fabius, these experiments had evolved in the creation of a superior
type of Legionary sometimes referred to as "New Men" or Legiones Superior. Equipped
with experimental technologies of unknown and esoteric designs, these "New Men"
successfully overcame Lord Corax himself, capturing him, until a taskforce of Raven
Guard Legionaries under former Commander Gherith Arendi, disobeying the Primarch's
orders, arrived in the nick of time to save their Primarch's life.
The Luck of the Raven Guard (ca. 008.M31) - On a routine sweep, the Fearless, a
Raven Guard Light Cruiser, encountered an abandoned ship in an unhabitaded system, a
Legiones Astartes rapid deployment vessel that turned out to belong to the VIth Legion,
the Space Wolves. The ship was drifting dead in the void, all power lost, yet no sign of
damage or battle could be ascertained. Lieutenant Navar Hef, commander of the Fearless
and a company of Raptors, ordered that the ship be boarded and searched, which only
helped to thicken the mystery. The Raptors discovered three defaced corpses of obviously
Space Marine stature. Accessing the ship's log, the Raptors successfully traced back the
vessel's point of origin -- an unhabitated moon orbiting a gas-giant in a nearby system.
The Fearless went to investigate the matter, discovering a sizable Traitor force comprised
of the Sons of Horus. Entering the system stealthily, the Fearless launched a
 reconnaissance mission, led by Hef himself, to further clarify the situation on the ground.
The landing party quickly discovered that the Sons of Horus had been laying siege to a
Loyalist facility, whose occupants proved to be the surviving Space Wolves. The Raven
Guard and Space Wolves quickly joined forces. The Fearless conducted a stealth-attack
on its enemy counterpart, which led to its destruction, before starting an orbital
bombardment of the Traitor's positions. With no other option left to them, the Sons of
Horus stormed the facility, hoping to seize control of its orbital defence lasers which had
severely damaged their own ship beforehand, but ran into the Space Wolves' cunning
trap, as the facility's plasma generator had been set to overload. Unfortunately, none of
the Space Wolves were able to clear the blast in time, a fact for which Navar Hef -- who
had suggested the plan in the first place -- has always expressed his deepest regrets. Yet,
rumour had it, that events did not occur exactly as Hef had consigned them in his
personal log -- and so, the ultimate fate of Arvan Woundweaver and his pack remains a
mystery to this date.
Fate of the Sabalis Liberatus (010-012.M31) - The Sabalis Liberatus, a Raven Guard
Legion battlecruiser lost in the Warp since escaping the void battle over Istvaan V, finally
broke into realspace near Galaspar on the borders of the Veiled Region on the Southern
galactic fringe. The survivors on board, comprising a mixture of Loyalist Legions, had
spent the time in self-imposed suspended animation and awoke to find themselves utterly
cut off from information or support. Fired on by Imperial patrol vessels whose captains
had sided with the Traitors, this "Shattered Legion" force boarded the patrol vessels and
conquered their attackers. Effecting repairs from the captured ships, they began a further
two-year odyssey of battle to return to the Segmentum Solar and finally Terra, where
they would ultimately fight in the void battles against the Traitor onslaught in the closing
days of the war.
The Malagant Conflict (011-014.M31) - With surviving Loyalist enclaves apparently
crippled by the Warmaster's onslaught, those Death Guard elements assigned to the
garrison of Barbarus spearheaded an assault into the southern reaches of the Imperium.
The grim warriors of Barbarus made the vast industrial hives of Malagant their prime
target, a world made valuable for the strategic worth of its manufactoria, and to crush the
defiance of the surrounding sectors, many of whom looked to the determined Loyalist
leaders of Malagant for leadership. Yet where the Death Guard had expected to crush the
Malagantine auxilia in short order, they found themselves mired in cunning ambushes
and punishing counter-attacks led by Legiones Astartes bearing the sable mark of the
Raven Guard. Lacking the numbers to meet the Traitors head-on, the sons of Corax plied
their deadly skills as skirmishers and assassins upon their erstwhile brothers; trapping
them on a world they could not afford to abandon, battling a foe they could not pin down
and crush. For three years, little more than a company of Raven Guard occupied an
augmented chapter of Barbarus' finest, until 014.M31 when the Death Guard retreated in
the face of approaching Loyalist reinforcements from Inwit.
The Raiders Raided (508.M40) - After almost a century of hunting down the power
base of a band of Eldar pirates, the Raven Guard located their quarry deep within the
frozen reaches of the Subaron Rift. Mindful that any hint of attack would cause the
raiders to vanish once more into the void, Strike Force Ultra was dispatched to eradicate
the Eldar with overwhelming force before they would have time to flee. Captain Oradias
managed to take the aliens by surprise after making opportunistic use of a nearby drifting
 asteroid to carry his force undetected through the Eldar's defences. When the Terminators
stormed their enemy's base they fund the Eldar completely unprepared to face them, and
soon the icy tunnels of the rift ran red with xenos blood.
The Zypher Campaign (204.M41) - In 914.M40 the Ork Warlord Arbuttz the Incredible
launched a massive Ork WAAAGH! that swept through dozens of uninhabited star
systems on the far southwestern rim of the galaxy before eventually slaughtering their
way through several Eldar Exodite colonies and smashing into an area of Imperial
frontier space known as the Zypher Sub-sector. A dozen Imperial worlds fell to the Ork
WAAAGH! before it ran out of steam on the Imperial Death World of Gorang and
petered out. As the WAAAGH! came to an end the Orks had conquered the entire Zypher
Sub-sector, which they subsequently inhabited and transformed into a new Ork empire.
For nearly three hundred Terran years the Ork empire went uncontested until in 204.M41
the Imperium finally responded. A Crusade spearheaded by forces from the Marauders,
Eagle Warriors, Revilers and Raven Guard Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes with more
than two dozen Regiments of the Imperial Guard in support swept into the Zypher Sub-
sector and initiated a long and grueling war against the Ork inhabitants. The campaign
took twenty years to complete but by 224.M41 the Zypher Sub-sector was declared free
of xenos taint. The Imperial Crusade was not content with merely retaking lost ground
and chose instead to continue on into unexplored regions of space. The Imperial war
machine tore across the systems conquered by WAAAGH! Arbuttz three centuries prior,
laying claim to worlds where no man had ever set foot before, assigning each world the
Crusade forces encountered a Regiment of Imperial Guard to cleanse and then settle. The
127th Death Korps of Krieg Regiment under the command of General Himmel von Paulus
was assigned to cleanse the backwater world of Baran. The world was a savage place of
wild forests, broad open steppe plains and craggy mountain chains overrun with tribes of
now feral Orks. Driving the Orks from the open steppes proved easy for the Death Korps
and the Raven Guard forces assisting them but it was nearly impossible to completely
eradicate the greenskins in the depths of Baran's dense forests. Without the manpower to
cleanse the forests of the feral greenskin tribes infesting them General Paulus decided to
contain them instead, building a network of interconnected fortresses to bottle the Orks
into their wilderness hideouts. Over time these fortresses grew into Baran's first cities,
with urban sprawls built up within layers of ever expanding fortifications under constant
assault from roving bands of Orks. In generations the colonies grew and prospered,
though Baran's cities were never populous by Imperial standards they thrived, giving rise
in time to new Imperial Guard Regiments to replace the long deceased Death Korps
founders. These new Imperial Guard Regiments were dubbed the Baran Siegemasters, for
the inhabitants of Baran were intimately familiar with siegecraft from their ever constant
battles to hold off Feral Ork warbands. The Raven Guard chose to remain, building a
fortress-monastery on one of Baran's orbiting moons, a black rock named Coron. From
their keep a little over 100 Battle-Brothers of the Raven Guard kept watch over Baran
and those nearby worlds of value, realizing that the harsh conditions of Baran might one
day breed potential Aspirants for the Chapter. For decades the Raven Guard made little
contact with the Baran Siegemasters, contenting themselves with hunting down and
slaying any Ork Warbosses who they believed may have stolen Imperial technology
during the initial WAAAGH! three centuries previously. With the consolidation of Baran
and the other frontier worlds the Zypher Campaign came to a close.
 Baran Campaign (224.M41) - Decades after the colonisation of Baran the Eldar of Biel-
Tan arrived to find the original Exodite colony on that world wiped out by Orks and their
world infested with Greenskins and humans. Filled with a burning need for vengeance,
the Fire Dragon Exarch Mauryon led a campaign against the Feral Orks of Baran, driving
them from ancient Eldar sites in the deep forests. Unable to face the Eldar in battle, the
Orks began a mass exodus from the forests that brought them into furious conflict with
the human Baran Siegemasters and their Fortress Cities. As the colony cities came under
ever more intense assault, the defenders realized their position was ultimately hopeless if
they did not receive support. Governor Asaberra despatched what reserves he had from
the capital city of Enderra to the most isolated colonies, but realized that this was only a
delaying measure at best. Asaberra called upon the Raven Guard on their moon of Coron
for aid. Shadow Captain Moradius chose not to deploy to the embattled Fortress Cities as
his forces were too few to effectively aid in the defence of so many isolated sieges.
Captain Moradius was more concerned with what was driving the Orks from the forests
than he was with the Feral Orks themselves. Determined to discover the cause for the Ork
attacks, the Raven Guard returned to Baran, making only brief contact with Governor
Asaberra before they struck out for the deepest, wildest sections of Baran's forests. As
they searched the forests for signs of the Orks, the Raven Guard discovered every
Greenskin settlement had been destroyed, every lair rooted out and there was barely an
Ork remaining to be found. Something had destroyed the Ork's camps and driven them
from the forest. Captain Moradius knew that such spontaneous and orchestrated activity
across the entire planet was not likely to have been the result of the Orks' own in-fighting.
With little else to discover in the forests, Moradius recalled his scout teams and took his
warriors into the Voltus Plains, a barren region of steppe-plains where even the Orks did
not establish settlements, choosing instead to roam the plains riding giant boars,
Squiggoths and other creatures as warring nomadic tribes. After a week of hard marching
across the plains, the Raven Guard at last encountered the Orks, but Captain Moradius
was notseeking to drive yet more Orks towards the Fortress Cities and so broke off
contact after a brief skirmish. After withdrawing from combat with the nomadic
Greenskins, Moradius ordered his Scout Marines to shadow the Orks and watch for signs
of the force that had driven the Orks from the forests. Days later the Scouts reported back
that the Greenskins were under attack. Without delay the Raven Guard rushed to the Ork
tribe's location aboard six Thunderhawk Gunships. Despite their haste, the Orks were
wiped out by the time they arrived. The Raven Guard instead came face-to-face with the
Eldar of Biel-Tan. Well-versed in the slippery nature of the Eldar, Moradius ordered an
immediate assault, striking the Eldar forces rapidly and reaping a heavy toll in xenos
lives. The Eldar had apparently not planned on engaging the local Imperial forces so soon
and certainly had not counted on the presence of the Space Marines. For hours the
Astartes and Eldar fought a running battle as the Space Marine slowly began to
outnumber the xenos forces, striking at them from all sides until the xenos at last fell
back to a circle of standing stones, ancient monuments from the days of the Eldar
empire's rule over Baran. Resolving to crush the Eldar army decisively, the Raven Guard
committed to the attack, but this was what the Eldar had wanted. As the Astartes closed
in on the remaining Eldar forces Webway gates opened up all around the ring of standing
stones. The Raven Guard force found itself encircled by the entire Eldar Swordwind that
had been rampaging across the surface of Baran. Though they fought bravely, the Space
 Marines held out for only a few hours before they were utterly exterminated. The Eldar
managed to open an ancient Webway gate on Baran's plains from which Eldar Titans
could emerge to join the battle. The defenders of Baran were swept from the world,
which was reclaimed for the Eldar, though the Imperium -- and the Raven Guard --
vowed to retake it.
Downfall of the Megarchy (748.M41) - In 748.M41 the Hive World of Thruskus
denounced the Imperial Creed. The stirring oratories of the local ruling council of elders
known as the Megarchy whose charismatic and persuasive oratory held the hives of
Thruskus in their thrall. However their rule was short lived. The Raven Guard stroke like
lightning, defeating the Megarchs and hanging them from their own hive spires. Within a
day of the Megarch's death the world of Thruskus was brought back to compliance.
Sabbat Worlds Crusade - Liberation of Caligula (750s.M41) - During the Sabbat
Worlds Crusade, a small force of Raven Guards Space Marines was involved in the
landing against the Chaos-controlled capital city of Nero, launching an assault along with
Imperial Guard troops from the Latarii Gundogs that broke through to the upper levels
and into the Administratum tower.

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The Raven Guard and their White Scars allies end the Daemon Prince Voldorius' despicable
reign of terror

The Hunt for Voldorius (ca. 855-865.M41) - Honoured Kyublai, the Great Khan of the
White Scars, announced during the feast celebrating his ascension that he intended to
bring justice to one of the Chapter's greatest foes, the foul Daemon Prince Kernax
Voldorius, the leader of a warband of the Alpha Legion. To accomplish this Hunt for
Voldorius, the 51st Master of the Hunt, Kor'sarro Khan and his 3rd Brotherhood, was
despatched to bring back the head of the foul daemon, or not at all. For more than a
decade Kor'sarro and his warriors tracked Voldorius, as the warriors of the White Scars
fought their way across Zoran, Kavell and Modanna but chance always allowed
Voldorius to escape. Finally Kor'sarro and his company found themselves on Quintus, a
desolate rock to the galactic south of Chogoris. Before the coming of Voldorius, Quintus
 had been a bulwark against the Orks of the Jagal Stars. The Daemon Prince's warriors
had infiltrated the military of Quintus and when the White Scars arrived they found not
just the warband of the Alpha Legion, but a whole planet of soldiers ready to face them.
Kor'sarro would not be deterred however and leaving his Strike Cruiser in the outer
system, the Master of the Hunt and his warriors approached the planet stealthily via
Thunderhawks and made their way through the planetary defense grid and landed in the
blasted canyons to the south-west of the capitol. Despite their stealthy approach there are
others more adept at such things than the White Scars and upon their arrival they were
met by none other than Captain Kayvaan Shrike and the Raven Guard 3rd Company. For
millenia the relationship between the White Scars and the Raven Guard had been
strained. But the forces arrayed against them were too much for either force to deal with
single handedly. Their hands forced by the situation the two Captains and their
commands worked together. The following morning Shrike and his company led a dawn
strike against an orbital defense battery to the west of Mankarra. Even before the
complex was fully taken the Raven Guard were preparing to defend it as fully half of the
Alpha Legion warband and much of Mankarra's garrison roared towards them as
reinforcements. Outnumbered badly and stretched thin the Raven Guard held their ground
with stoic determination, though they were slowly forced to give ground. Despite a
counter-attack by Shadow Captain Shrike, the Traitors continued to force the Raven
Guard back. But this was all according to plan, for the White Scars had secreted
themselves in caves to the south and the moment the Traitors were over-committed the
White Scars pounced. Roaring down on their foes on their Space Marine bikes the White
Scars smashed aside all resistance. Within moments the Traitor Baneblade Ironsoul was
crippled, its sponsons destroyed and crew slaughtered. With the loss of their largest war
machine the backbone of the traitors broke and they were slaughtered piecemeal by the
Raven Guard and White Scars. Despite the formidable defences of Mankarra, Voldorius
had not bothered to spend much time on repair or maintenance. The Raven Guard
Thunderhawks and the White Scars Vindicator known as the Thunderheart were able to
blast a sizable hole in the curtain wall with little trouble and before the defenders could
react the White Scars were loose in the city streets. Staying mobile the White Scars
roared along roads and alleys, striking wherever they were least expected and
slaughtering every traitor without mercy. Meanwhile the Raven Guard deployed from
their Thunderhawks on the rooftops and beset their foes from above. Caught from
multiple angles the defenders were butchered. Finally only Voldorius and his bodyguard
remained, trapped and outnumbered in the shadow of the Cathedral of the Emperor's
Wisdom. Though many fell to the foul daemon prince the outcome was never in doubt.
At last Voldorius was broken and pinned to the fallen statue of the Emperor by Shrike's
Talons. With one sweep Kor'sarro cut the head from Voldorius' shoulders and the battle
was over. A month later, with the planet in the hands of a Imperial Guard regiment from
Tallarn the Space Marines departed. Shrike returned to the Targus battlezone and
Kor'sarro returned to Chogoris with Voldorius' head. Each Captain took with him a
newfound respect for the other and the relationship between the long-estranged brother
Chapters took its first step towards healing.
The Shadowblade War (890.M41) - Following a fruitless search-and-destroy mission
against Raven Guard forces, Dark Apostle Erelek's Word Bearers return to resupply at
the Fortress of Damnation only to find it in the hands of Raven Guard Scouts. Faced with
 the bastion's considerable firepower, the Word Bearers attempted to withdraw, but their
escape route was cut off when Stormravens descended to surround them. Caught in the
open, the traitors were cut apart in a merciless crossfire.
The Battle for Targus VIII (Unknown Date.M41) - Shadow Captain Shrike and an
elite team of infiltrators found themselves cut off behind the lines of the Orks when their
pickup Thunderhawk was shot down. For more than two years Shrike and his marines
fought a guerilla war deep in Ork held territory, stealing supplies and munitions,
sabotaging Ork installations, ambushing and slaughtering the greenskins whenever they
could, as well as relaying vital intelligence to the Imperium's forces fighting in the
campaign. Shrike's actions brought the campaign to a successful conclusion decades
earlier than predicted and earning the legendary captain the Laurel Imperialis.
Battle for Empalion II (Unknown Date.M41) - When the Raven Guard laid siege to an
Iron Warriors fortress on the world of Empalion II the task seemed hopeless, until a force
of Brazen Minotaurs arrived to assist their cousins in their hour of need. The Brazen
Minotaurs sacrificed an entire company to distract the Iron Warriors and allow the Raven
Guard 4th Company to infiltrate the Iron Warriors fortress and destroy it from within.

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Shadow Captain Aremis Koryn with his artificer-made Lightning Claws

Mission to Kasharat (Unknown Date. M41) - During the war for the Sargassion Reach
the Brazen Minotaurs Chief Librarian Theseon was captured by the forces of the
Empyrion's Blight Chaos Space Marine warband and brought to the corrupted Mortuary
World of Kasharat to be broken. A small team of Brazen Minotaurs mounted a rescue
mission but would likely have failed without the intervention and assistance of a squad of
 Raven Guard Astartes led by Shadow Captain Koryn who deployed to the surface of the
Mortuary World in advance of the Brazen Minotaurs rescue mission and cleared the way
for them. Though both Chapters suffered casualties, the mission was ultimately
successful and a debt between the two Loyalist Chapters was repaid.
Battle for Fortane's World (Unknown Date.M41) - The Sargassion Reach was on the
brink of destruction at the hands of the foul Chaos Space Marine warband known as
Empyrion's Blight when the Fortress World of Fortane's World fell to the machinations of
the Archenemy. Rather than having fallen to strength of arms the bastion fell to
corruption from within. Even worse, the eccentric orbit of Fortane's World would bring it
within a matter of days within the outer limits of the densely populated neighboring star
system of Kandoor. Unwilling to allow the sickening plague of the Traitor Legions to
infest another star system, the Brazen Minotaurs' 3rd and 5th Companies laid siege to the
bastion of Fortane's World, determined to cleanse it of the Traitors before they could
stage an invasion of the Kandoor System and doom billions to plague and death. With
time running out and the siege protracted, the enemy, dedicated servants of the
Plaguelord Nurgle, was able to swamp the Brazen Minotaurs with endless hordes of
corrupted Traitor Imperial Guardsmen, delaying them until the planet's orbit reached its
zenith and entered its neighboring system. Determined to aid their fellow Chapter, a
strike force from the Raven Guard's 4th Company led by Shadow Captain Koryn came to
the Brazen Minotaurs' aid. Three squads made planetfall and though they suffered
significant casualties, the Raven Guard were ultimately able to infiltrate the bastion and
open it for bombardment from orbit, destroying a massive Chaos army and protecting the
colonists of the Kandoor System.
Nimbosa Crusade, The Battle for Nimbosa (992.M41) - The planet of Nimbosa is a
hotly contested world on the Eastern Fringe of the galaxy, where the Tau Empire and the
Imperium have clashed on numerous occasions. Chapters such as the Imperial Fists,
Black Templars and Ultramarines are all reputed to have fought the Tau on the planet at
one time or another and the world has changed hands many times during the course of the
Nimbosa Crusade. The Raven Guard's 3rd Company under the command of Shadow
Captain Kayvaan Shrike assaulted the Tau positions on the planet and forced the xenos to
retreat sometime during the Crusade. Though the current status of the planet is unknown,
it is believed to still be contested.
At First Unseen (995.M41) - A talented demagogue, the Water Caste ambassador Por'O
Myen O'Res convinced the populace of Lurid IX to join the Tau Empire one speech at a
time. Wherever he appeared, the ambassador was guarded by several Hunter Cadres from
the Fire Caste, and the skies above him are patrolled by Air Caste pilots at all times. The
Raven Guard was given the honour of his execution order, but had barely a dozen
warriors with which to accomplish it. Instead of mounting a direct attack, Shadow
Captain Shrike led a Storm Wing-led strike that bore all the hallmarks of his signature
stealth tactics. The gunships flew in close formation through the winding miles of Lurid
IX's graffiti-strewn underways, emerging from a pitch-dark culvert less than half a mile
from the Water Caste delegation. Myen O'Res was gunned down mid-speech, the sheer
volume of missiles and bullets thundering into his podium overcoming the Shield
Generators intended to protect him. Three squads of XV8 Crisis Battlesuits soared
towards the low-flying Storm Wing Squadron to avenge their fallen ambassador, but
were met in mid-air when Shrike and his Jump Pack veterans effected an aerial
 deployment, barrelling into the Tau's midst with Lightning Claws flashing. The Raven
Guard's dramatic victory was broadcast by the same pict-feed servitors that the Water
Caste had intended to use for their own ends, and the world of Lurid IX was returned to
the Imperial fold within the hour.
Raid on Kastorel-Novem (992-996.M41) - The Orks of WAAAGH! Garaghak invaded
the Kastorel-Novem Sector in 952.M41, swiftly taking over the area and transforming
Kastorel-Novem into a manufacturing center for all manner of Ork war-machines. In
988.M41 WAAAGH! Garaghak struck at the sector capital world of Forsarr and in
992.M41 the Raven Guard arrived to assist the Imperial defenders and launched a raid on
the centre of the Ork WAAAGH!'s war production on the world of Kastorel-Novem. The
Raven Guard task force was commanded by the renowned Shadow Captain Korvydae,
who commanded elements from the 1st, 5th, 8th and 10th Companies. The 10th Company
alone provided seven full scout squads, a significant portion of the Chapters recruits. The
raid on Kastorel-Novem had two primary objectives; the elimination of Big Mek
Buzzgob, the WAAAGH!'s chief Mekboy, and the destruction of the Ork fuel depot and
refinery complex which would cripple the Ork WAAAGH! and swing the war in favour
of the Imperium. Chaplain Eitath commanded a deep strike assault against the fuel depot
and refinery. Chaplain Eitath's forces encountered only light resistance and were able to
plant their Melta charges and destroy the refinery in short order. With their task complete,
Chaplain Eitath and his command extracted via Thunderhawk. Shadow Captain
Korvydae and the rest of the task force were waiting for confirmation of Buzzgob's
location from the Chapter's Scouts when word was received of a massive Ork force
moving in on the hard-pressed Elysian positions. The 181st Elysian Drop Troops had been
deployed to Kastorel-Novem to destroy a partially constructed Gargant and kill as many
Orks as possible but would not be able to resist long under such a great assault. Korvydae
was unwilling to stand by while the Elysians were slaughtered and immediately led his
forces in an assault on the Ork column, which consisted of Orks from Garaghak's Goff
clan. The Raven Guard assault proved devastating and stalled the Ork advance long
enough to allow the Elysians to fall back to another defensive position and request
evacuation. However the respite was only temporary, for the Orks merely paused to
consolidate and bring up Stompas before striking at the Elysians again in force. Korvydae
once again threw the Raven Guard against the Orks to give the Elysians more time, but
hordes of Deff Dreads, Killa Kans and formidable Megadreads retaliated and cost the
Raven Guard many lives. At the height of the battle Korvydae's Land Raider Prometheus
was destroyed by a Megadred, yet Korvydae proved it would take more than that to kill
him and dragged himself from the wreckage. With the battle turned so heavily against
them Shadow Captain Korvydae issued the order to withdraw. Braving heavy ground fire,
the Chapter's Thunderhawks extracted the embattled Raven Guard. The surviving
Elysians withdrew in their remaining Valkyries to isolated airbases and evacuated the
planet. In the end, over seventy Battle-Brothers of the Raven Guard lost their lives and of
the 2'400 Elysians of the 181st Elysian Regiment that deployed to Kastorel-Novem, less
than 400 survived. To make matters even worse, the Elysians were able to recover none
of their more than 130 aircraft from the planet, abandoning all of them to the Orks.
Determined to resist the Orks of WAAAGH! Garaghak, the Raven Guard deployed to the
sector capital of Forsarr, but in 996.M41 the planet was lost to the Ork invaders. The fall
of the Kastorel-Novem Sector left the Raven Guard's own Chapter homeworld of
 Deliverance in the warpath of the Ork WAAAGH!. Facing the threat of a full-scale
invasion, the Raven Guard's Master of Shadows recalled the entire Chapter to the
Ravenspire. For his failure, Shadow Captain Korvydae is now serving two years in the
Deathwatch as penance for the failure of the Raid on Kastorel-Novem.
13th Black Crusade, the Reclamation of Kathur (999.M41) - When the Imperial Shrine
World of Kathur fell to the Plague of Unbelief during the 13th Black Crusade, a force of
Raven Guards from the 5th Company under Captain Corvane Valar and Codicier Zauren
Kale was despatched to reclaim it for the Emperor. The Strike Cruiser Second Shadow
swiftly brought the Astartes to link up with the vanguard elements of the reclamation
force in time for the assault on the capital city of Solthane. The Raven Guard had
originally brought Kathur to Imperial Compliance during the Great Crusade, and despite
the hard fighting all around the Cadian System such a direct insult to the Chapter
demanded a response. Ultimately all 50 members of the 5th Company that were involved
in the fighting, as well as Captain Corvane and Codicier Zauren, were presumed lost,
fallen in battle delaying the approach of Typhus the Herald of Nurgle and his forces,
whilst the Second Shadow was destroyed in orbit as well. However, the mission proved to
be a success in a manner of speaking, as the Daemon Prince of Nurgle formerly known as
Sergeant Arlus was slain, Typhus' Battleship the Terminus Est was severely damaged,
and well over a 100 Death Guard Plague Marines and a Death Guard Chaos Dreadnought
were killed by the combined efforts of the 88th Cadian Shock Troops Regiment and the
Raven Guard. Whether this costly defiance made any difference in the outcome of the
13th Black Crusade is not certain, but the Raven Guard took great satisfaction in the
damage done to the Forces of Chaos.

Battle for Ultramar (999.M41) - While the Ultramarines were obviously at the forefront
of the battle to save Ultramar when the empire came under assault by a massive invasion
force of the arch-enemy, they were not alone. Shadow Captain Aethon Shaan and a full
squad of the Chapter's finest warriors were dispatched to recover the renegade Captain
Ardaric Vaanes. Fighting alongside the Ultramarines 4th Company, the warriors of
Captain Shaan proved to be an invaluable asset, turning the tide of battle multiple times
when it swung against the forces of the Ultramarines and their allies. Most impressive
was the destruction of the terrible Black Basilica, a massive mobile fortress of the arch-
enemy with enough firepower to tear the heart out of the Imperial defenders. Captain
Shaan and his warriors infiltrated deep behind the lines, stalking past the siege
fortifications of the chaos forces and scaling the sides of the horrific mobile weapon and
shrine to the dark gods. Shaan led his warriors deep within the Basilica and planted
demolition charges within the mobile fortress' primary munitions magazine before
working their way back out of the terrible war machine. Unable to get back to the
Imperial lines without discovery the Raven Guard detonated the demolition charges,
destroying the Basilica, breaking the back of the invaders and providing the Sons of
Corax a large enough distraction to make their way back to the Ultramarines and their
compatriots. Shortly after the destruction of the Basilica the Raven Guard joined Captain
Ventris and a small strike force as they journeyed deep within the core of Calth. In a lost
and ancient shrine the Ultramarines and Raven Guard faced the Blade Dancers of
Xiomogra and the Iron Warriors of the Warsmith Honsou, who had engineered the
invasion of Ultramar. Though all ten of Shaan's Raven Guard fell in the furious fighting
 for the shrine, they succeeded in foiling the Chaos plot, and the renegade Ardaric Vaanes
at last redeemed himself in combat against the traitors. Shaan accompanied the
Ultramarines as the 2nd and 4th Companies made a jump-pack assisted drop onto the
contested world of Talassar to aid Chapter Master Marneus Calgar and was witness to the
final defeat of the Daemon Lord M'kar the Thrice Born. Captain Shaan attended the
honorary funeral of the Ultramarines who fell during the Battle for Ultramar, along with a
black flag for every one of the Raven Guard who fell in the protection of Ultramar. The
gene-seeds of the fallen, including Vaanes, were recovered to be returned to the Chapter
with Captain Shaan.

Legion Organisation
Pre-Heresy

The XIXth Legion was founded according to the Emperor's far-reaching vision for the armies of
humanity laid out in the structure of the Officio Militaris. The Legion was divided into Chapters,
Chapters into battalions, battalions into companies and companies into squads. Most Legionaries
considered themselves members of a given company rather than a Chapter, the company being
the preferred level for most independent operations. From the earliest formation, the Legion's
officers devolved command responsibility towards the lower echelons, allowing sub-
commanders to take the initiative and make tactical decisions according to immediate needs
without interference from higher up the chain of command. This mindset was a direct result of
the practices of the Xeric tribes, who conducted their wars against far more numerous foes and
were therefore well-practiced in a wide spectrum of unconventional tactics. Individual units
tended towards the smaller end of the scales and passed down by the architects of the Emperor's
armies, but each was a tightly-knit band of warriors trained and equipped to operate on their own
for extended periods. They were well able to live off of the land, taking what few resources they
needed from their environment or when opportunity or necessity dictated, from defeated
enemies.

When the Legion expanded, its ranks were filled with the full panoply of war machines created
for the Legiones Astartes. While its sub units remained relatively compact, the XIXth Legion
integrated numerous smaller formations into its structure, allowing them to take its place in the
hosts of the Great Crusade and to confront the countless enemies of Mankind that would deny
the Emperor's manifest destiny to rule the stars. While retaining its expertise in stealth and
infiltration, the XIXth Legion integrated formations of battle tanks, super-heavy war machines,
artillery, assault vehicles and assets, mastering each with the skill engineered into them by the
genius of the Emperor. Nonetheless, the XIXth Legion's favoured method of war focused on
rapid strike, flanking, mobility and, where possible and desirable, stealth. Maintaining many
specialised units, there were certain formations the XIXth Legion favoured over others. The
Legion is noted in historical accounts as fielding more Legion Reconnaissance Squads than any
others, every Legionary being cross-trained to fulfill his assigned role, as well as that of the
reconnaissance units. Indeed, the line between Legion Tactical Squad and reconnaissance squad
seems to have become blurred, the two often operating using similar tactics and even specialised
equipment.
From the earliest days, the Legion employed more Moritat than did many others. The individuals
assigned to this duty were often those considered extreme in their methods even by the cold-
blooded Xeric and they were often used -- willingly -- to undertake missions from which they
were not expected to return. It is likely that the Raven Guard engaged in far more assassination
and sabotage operations than is widely known to the Order of Remembrancers. Invariably, the
increasing numbers of Remembrancers accompanying the Expeditionary Fleets were only
allowed to bear witness to the Legion's victories after they had been won, the imagists, historians
and poets were denied the opportunity to record the Raven Guard as they waged war on the
Imperium's foes.

In the aftermath of the Council of Nikaea, which history does not record Corax attending, the
Raven Guard obeyed the command to cease the employment of Psykers and disband its
Librarius. Many of the Legion's Librarians were reassigned to the line companies to serve in
communication roles, although some may have served in the Legion Seeker Squads or as
Vigilancers or Moritats. Whether or not these individuals obeyed the Decree of Nikaea where
operating independently on missions not committed to any archive must remain unknown and it
is likely that most were slain upon the bloody battleground of the Urgall Depression during the
Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V.

Legion Command Hierarchy

Upon assuming command of his Legion, Corvus Corax took it upon himself to expand the
methods of warfare he had employed against the slave-lords of Lycaeus with a series of tactical
and strategic initiatives by which the Raven Guard would operate. In this regard, these doctrines
meshed well with those the XIXth Legion had already been operating under throughout the Great
Crusade, casting that particular aspect of the Primarch's assumption of command. It is
remarkable that as soon as he was able, Corax assured that many of his senior commanders were
drawn from Deliverance. Indeed, several of the Primarch's elevated advisors had served
alongside him as resisting freedom fighters during the Lycaeus Uprising, having later undergone
the implantation and conditioning process to turn them into warriors of the Legiones Astartes.
After the costly Battle of Gate Forty-Two, the members of the Legion who were born of
Deliverance increased still further, with only a handful of Terrans still serving in positions of
high command.

The Primarch maintained a comparatively loose chain of command, and was known to value
candid and honest counsel from his officers. His bearing made it clear he did not expect to be
treated in the manner many of his brother-Primarchs demanded as their birthright. When he was
their leader during the slave uprisings on Lycaeus, Corax' peers insisted he be watched over by a
bodyguard lest the overlords or some other rogue element attempt to assassinate him. While he
resented this, Corax allowed it, as much for his followers' peace of mind as for his own safety.
Having joined his Legion, the bodyguard followed, being formed into an Honour Guard known
informally as the Shadow Wardens. It was said that they were ever present, though often unseen
when their Primarch went to war, and that none could avoid their gaze. Indeed, only one
individual was ever able to do so, and that was Corax himself, giving credence to the stories that
Corax was able to slip his own shadow should he choose to do so.
Perhaps more than any other Primarch, the Raven Lord frequently operated alone, or otherwise
led very small bands of handpicked warriors who possessed gene-granted skills comparable to
his own -- the Mor Deythan or Shadowmasters. This predilection might at least in part derive
from his time as a freedom fighter, where circumstances dictated that small cells of rebels were
often more effective than larger numbers. It was not unusual for Corax himself to conduct
extensive reconnaissance prior to a battle, while most Primarchs would leave such tasks to their
warriors. Corax is also known to have led small forces on deep infiltration far behind enemy
lines, striking directly at the heart of an enemy force, leaving his line officers to conduct the
overall operation. Frequently, the actions of the main force were in fact a ploy to draw the
enemy's attentions away from the Primarch's own mission, allowing him to strike the final blow
and win the battle.

Raven Guard Armoured Forces

<img
src="https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/f/f6/RG_Legion_Spartan.jpg/r
evision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140413201534" alt="RG Legion Spartan"
class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Legion_Spartan.jpg" data-image-name="RG Legion
Spartan.jpg" width="250" height="114" >

Raven Guard Legion Spartan Assault Tank, Valravn, deployed to Istvaan V with the Legions'
48th Heavy Company, an armoured vanguard assault unit thought lost; the Valravn later
reappeared, having been salvaged by the Traitor Night Lords

Though best known for the skills of its warriors in rapid assaults, reconnaissance and infiltration
protocols, the Raven Guard Legion possessed and utilised the full range of engines of war
produced for the Legiones Astartes by the genius of the Mechanicum. The Raven Guard
maintained entire battalions of heavy armour of all types, the Legionary Armoury and Fleet
Reserve held hundreds more, and individual companies were assigned individual war engines as
and when required. The Raven Guard deployed every heavy armour formation it could muster to
Istvaan V, committing the majority to a wide flanking manoeuvre launched along the base of the
Lergahn Ridge against the Sons of Horus units guarding the extreme left flank of the Traitors'
lines. Entire wings of Javelin Attack Speeders and Skyhunter Jetbike squads roamed ahead of the
slower-moving tank companies, isolating enemy positions and harrying them mercilessly until
the heavier units arrived to grind them into dust. When the Night Lords, Iron Warriors, Alpha
Legion and Word Bearers revealed their treachery upon the Urgall Depression, most of these
formations were cut off from the bulk of the XIXth Legion and ambushed by the Night Lords'
units as they attempted to fight their way back to their Primarch's side.

Very few of the Raven Guard's heavier armoured formations were able to withdraw from the
Drop Site Massacre, although those that did played a pivotal role in holding back the foe's
pursuit in its immediate aftermath. Later on, all but the lightest formations were disbanded and
their crews re-assigned to fight on as infantry, the survival of every last Legionary deemed of far
more importance to the future of the Legion than maintaining its vehicles. Long after the Istvaan
V Drop Site Massacre, it would be discovered that the Traitors recovered a large number of the
vehicles left upon the black sands of the Urgall Depression and turned them against their
erstwhile masters. Many also appear to have been crippled by Mechanicum war machines using
ultra-high yield neutron weaponry so that, while the crews were slain by radiation deadly even to
a superhuman Space Marine, the war engines themselves remained intact. Were it needed, this
provided further evidence of the dark genius and far-reaching stratagems of Horus.

Wings of the Raven

<img
src="https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/f/fe/RG_Legion_Thunderhawk
.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140413201712" alt="RG Legion
Thunderhawk" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Legion_Thunderhawk.jpg" data-
image-name="RG Legion Thunderhawk.jpg" width="250" height="97" >

Raven Guard Legion Thunderhawk gunship, Umbra Secundus, deployed to Istvaan V, assigned
to transport three Veteran Legion Tactical squads of the 3rd Company and later commandeered
by Master of Descent Alvarex Maun and used to extract the Primarch himself before succumbing
to massive damage from Traitor ground fire

The Raven Guard Legion made extensive use of a wide range of atmospheric, orbital and void-
capable craft, from the heavily armed Fire Raptor gunship to the mighty Stormbird dropship.
Many were equipped with unique stealth systems produced by the guilds of Kiavahr, allowing
them to penetrate deep into enemy-controlled territory in order to deploy Raven Guard strike
forces and to provide fire support once their passengers were on the ground.

The bulk of the Legion's orbital strike craft were committed to the assault against the Warmaster
Horus' rebels at Istvaan V, many making repeated runs from ground to orbit as they ferried
thousands of Legionaries to the surface. It is testament to the thoroughness of the Warmaster's
treachery that when the second wave of the Loyalist retribution force turned upon the Raven
Guard, Salamanders and Iron Hands of the first wave, the majority of the Legion's
Thunderhawks and Stormbirds were on the ground in the process of disembarking warriors and
thus at their most vulnerable. When the Iron Warriors opened fire on the landing zones with their
super-heavy artillery, the devastation was total -- barely a handful of Thunderhawks and Storm
Eagles, and not a single Stormbird, escaped the all-encompassing conflagration. When at last the
Raven Guard serving directly under the command of Lord Corax were extracted from Istvaan V,
it was the XIXth Legion's handful of surviving Thunderhawks and Stormbirds that bore them
away from certain death at the edge of the Gular Salt Plains. It was thanks to the skill and
courage of the crews of Commander Branne Nev's rescue force that the Primarch and the last few
thousand of his sons lived to fight on against the treachery of Horus and the fallen Legiones
Astartes.

War Disposition

At the time of the Istvaan III Atrocity, the Raven Guard Legion was committed almost in its
entirety to ongoing operations in the Thetos-Groton binary star system. When at last prevailing
conditions in the Warp made it possible for Lord Rogal Dorn on Terra to contact his brother-
Primarch by way of astro-telepathy and inform him of the dire situation unfolding in the Istvaan
System, Corax commanded his fleet to make for the nearest Warp jump point. Now that all of his
Legion had departed for the Istvaan System, however, the Primarch decreed that a portion of his
Legion remain behind to garrison Deliverance in order to guard it from any counterattack. None
of the senior commanders wished to be absent when the Traitors were brought to justice, and so
lots were drawn to decide who would return. A small detachment comprised of around 1'000
Legionaries, commanded by Commander Branne Nev, alongside their Imperial Army allies of
the Therion Cohort, departed to Deliverance. As with much of the XIXth Legion, there were
other elements detached to serve elsewhere. A small number of mostly Terrans of the Legion of
old, had been assigned to many of these posts beyond the fringes of the Imperium, some in
independent nomad fleets, other attached to various Rogue Traders Militum or other so-called
"lone wolves". One of these fleets was in fact commanded by the Legion's former commanding
officer -- Shade Lord Arkhas Fal -- on the direct order of the Primarch when Corax took over the
Raven Guard. What became of the Shade Lord, his fleet and the other elements may never be
known, and the fact that Corax appears to have made no effort to recall them suggests they were
considered a body apart from the bulk of the Legion.

When the Raven Guard committed to the Istvaan V drop, they did so in numbers approaching
their full strength, with all assets, both surface and spaceborne, in attendance. The events of the
Battle of Gate Forty-Two had left the Raven Guard as the smallest of the Space Marine Legions,
but they would be operating alongside some of their brother-Legions, or so they had every reason
to believe. The truth, as described in numerous historical accounts, was otherwise. The Raven
Guard were to lose nearly 75'000 Legionaries during the betrayal known as the Drop Site
Massacre, and by the end of the ninety-eight solar days that followed, could muster but a fraction
of their former strength. Leaving aside these unknown numbers operating alone in the outer
darkness, the Raven Guard barely numbered around 4'000 Astartes, including those despatched
to garrison Deliverance. For the first time in their glorious history, the Raven Guard were truly
laid low. What the future would hold for the shattered XIXth Legion would be determined
through a time of trial and misfortune.

Reorganisation for the Heresy

In the aftermath of the Drop Site Massacre, the number of Raven Guard Legionaries under the
direct command of Corax numbered no more than 4'000. These grim survivors were mostly those
raised into the ranks of the Legiones Astartes from the warriors of Deliverance, those who had
fought through the hell of Istvaan V and those who had come to rescue them. In addition, there
were distant Great Crusade fleets and varous small garrison units scattered throughout the
Imperium, mainly composed of Terran warriors of the old XIXth Legion who would take months
to return to bolster the Legion. As the Raven Lord had no intention of retiring from the fight
against the arch-Traitor, he reorganised the tattered remnants of his Legion in an attempt to keep
them combat capable at a strategic level. Unable to maintain the standard Chapter division of the
old Legion days, he instead chose to separate his surviving warriors into divisions marked by
their combat specialisation. The assembled tactical companies were named the "Talons", assault
companies became the "Falcons", and light vehicle squadrons and air support were renamed the
"Hawks". In the campaigns to come this structure proved to be highly flexible, playing to the
Raven Guard's inner strengths and allowing them to quickly redistribute their firepower and
tactical capabilities to meet the threat of much larger enemy formations, though for many of their
contemporaries it would no doubt have proven impractical.

Specialist Ranks and Formations

<img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/1/1a/RG_Mor_Deythan_Strike
_Sqd.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20160109093849" alt="RG Mor Deythan
Strike Sqd" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Mor_Deythan_Strike_Sqd.jpg" data-
image-name="RG Mor Deythan Strike Sqd.jpg" width="250" height="246" >

A Raven Guard Mor Deythan Strike Squad

Mor Deythan - The Mor Deythan was an elite unit of the Raven Guard Legion during
the era of the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy in the late 30th and early 31st Millennia.
Created by the Raven Guard Primarch Corvus Corax, the Mor Deythan were used as elite
reconnaissance troops or scouts. Nicknamed "Shadow Masters", these elite Legionaries
were rumored to have inherited a modicum of the unique trait of their genetic father that
allowed them to "Shadow-Walk", enabling them to deny their presence to anything with a
mind, making them effectively invisible. The Mor Deythan
utilised Chainswords and Bolt Pistols as their primary weapons but often deployed Sniper
Rifles, Shotguns or other rare weaponry such as Volkite Weapon. In battle, they utilised a
specially developed battle-cant called "Stalk Argot", that consisted of a series of sighs
and whispers that were nigh-distinguishable from wind and other environmental sounds.
When the Emperor came to the newly renamed moon of Deliverance, those young
enough to withstand the augmentations became the first Space Marines of the XIXth
 Legion. Amongst the ranks of the first Deliverance-born Astartes were those who
displayed the same unique ability as their Primarch, enabling them to "Shadow-Walk".
Through some genetic quirk of their gene-seed, a small percentage of these Astartes had
inherited more of their Primarch's genome than any of their Terran-born brethren.
Forming a specialised unit known as the Mor Deythan, Corax utilised his formidable
knowledge of stealth and sabotage to the fullest extent, training these specially selected
Legionaries to be called upon to perform highly dangerous reconnaissance and guerilla
missions deep behind enemy lines. Nicknamed "Shadow Masters", this elite unit was not
known even amongst the members of their own Legion. Only the Primarch himself and a
select group of Legion Apothecaries were aware of the Mor Deythan at the time of the
Horus Heresy. Often times Corax would call upon the Mor Deythan to test highly
temperamental thermal technology to help further their goals and objectives against their
enemies. By the time of the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V, very few Mor Deythan
were left alive. Many were too spread out across the galaxy performing their missions
when the deadly events of Istvaan V transpired. After carrying out countless missions on
behalf of their Primarch, attrition began to take a serious toll on their numbers. Following
the bloody events of Istvaan V, in which a large proportion of the Raven Guard Legion
were lost, only a few dozen Mor Deythan were left alive. These few specialised warriors
continued to fight on against the treachery of the Warmaster Horus and his Traitor
Legions until the last of their numbers finally fell in service to the Emperor. It is not
known if the Mor Deythan still exist in the late 41st Millennium.
The Deliverers - Despite the favour shown to the Tactical Dreadnought Armour project
by Horus himself, who acted as patron to the XIXth Legion in the absence of their
Primarch, many of the warriors of the XIXth Legion were ill-disposed towards the slow
and bulky Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour. Some did adopt their use, mainly
those Chapters of the XIXth Legion who had long served in the shadow of the Luna
Wolves siege and heavy assault companies, becoming adept at close range and shock
assaults from both mutual support and teleport deployment. The Legionaries of the XIXth
Legion came to refer to these detachments as Deliverers. In the wake of Corvus Corax'
return, the Deliverers were rarely called upon by the Primarch. Most were assigned to
distant Crusade fleets and those who remained at Corax' side became the avatars of his
carefully controlled anger, loosed when an enemy proved itself worthy only of utter
destruction.
Shadow Wardens - When he was their leader during the slave uprisings on Lycaeus,
Corax' peers insisted he be watched over by a bodyguard lest the slave overlords or some
other rogue element attempt to assassinate him. While he resented this, Corax allowed it,
as much for his followers' peace of mind as for his own safety. Having joined his Legion,
the bodyguard followed, being formed into an Honour Guard known informally as the
Shadow Wardens. It was said that they were ever present, though often unseen when their
Primarch went to war, and that none could avoid their gaze. Indeed, only one individual
was ever able to do so, and that was Corax himself, giving credence to the stories that
Corax was able to slip his own shadow should he choose to do so.
Shadow Killers - Amongst the Raven Guard and the XIXth Legion that preceded them,
there was a tendency amongst combat veterans placed in situations of extreme stress to
forsake all pretense of self-preservation, fighting with a terrifying, silent determination
and the sole aim of causing as many casualties and as much destruction as possible before
 succumbing to their foe. This strange blood-soaked ennui that drove many amongst the
Raven Guard to sacrifice themselves in battle was known among the Terran XIXth Legion
as becoming "Ash Blind", while the Raven Guard native to Deliverance knew it as the
"Sable Brand", a condition heralded by the darkening of the entire eye to black. Those
warriors who survived their suicidal furies sometimes recovered, their brethren never
mentioning the incident in a typically Raven Guard display of reticence, but more often
were evermore plagued in combat by the urge to slay until death took them, paying no
heed to tactical plans. The XIXth Legion, in the days before Corax' return, made little
attempt to organise the Ash Blind on the battlefield, relying on the flexible nature of their
tactical doctrines to make the maximum use of their suicidal urges when they took hold.
The Raven Lord turned this aberrant effect of his gene-seed into a valuable weapon in his
tactical arsenal, forming those afflicted by the Sable Brand into units of Shadow Killers
and employing them as shock assault troops and assassins. It was the employment of such
troops that allowed Corax to best his brother Roboute Guilliman in several simulated
battles, an unexpected tactic that the lord of the Ultramarines was quick to adopt into the
Legiones Astartes order of battle, creating the Moritat as it was later known amongst the
Legiones Astartes.

<img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/0/08/RG_Dark_Fury_Assault_
Sqd.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20160109093257" alt="RG Dark Fury
Assault Sqd" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Dark_Fury_Assault_Sqd.jpg" data-
image-name="RG Dark Fury Assault Sqd.jpg" width="250" height="260" >

A Raven Guard Dark Fury Assault Squad

Dark Fury Assault Squads - The Dark Fury Assault Squads were utilised by the Raven
Guard Legion to conduct focused decapitation strikes upon specific, pre-designated
enemy leaders against the backdrop of the carnage of battle. Far from subtle assassins
striking unseen from the shadows, the Dark Fury ascended into the very midst of the
battlefield, equipped with vicious Lightning Claws fashioned after those carried by their
Primarch Corax. These squads were often deployed from the holds of specialised
transport vessels such as the Darkwing Pattern Storm Eagle Gunships or the open frame
 Whispercutters, leaping from great heights to descend upon silenced retro thrusters of
their Jump Packs directly onto the heads of their unsuspecting target. Their squad leaders,
known as the Choosers of the Slain for good reason, engaged the target while the warriors
cut down any retainers who dared attempt to intervene. The result of a successful
decapitation strike was utter confusion in the ranks of the foe, and the complete
breakdown of the enemy's chain of command.

Chapter Organisation
Post-Heresy

While the Raven Guard are organised along the guidelines of the Codex Astartes, their
application of its principles are subtly different. Following the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan V
the Legion just did not have the resources remaining to re-equip properly and had to make due
with older arms and patterns of Power Armour. Because of this reality, even at present the Raven
Guard uses a significantly larger number of the more ancient patterns of Power Armour than
most Chapters and the individuals that are lucky enough to be gifted with these suits view
themselves as blessed by their Primarch.

The officers of the Raven Guard are known as Shadow Captains and the Chapter Master is called
the Master of Shadows. Corax is reputed to have ordered the use of these titles before he
disappeared and the Chapter has made use of them ever since.

Raven Guard Captains are fiercely independent, and it is incredibly rare for the Chapter to fight
as a whole. Individual companies are completely autonomous and are quick to lend their aid to
Imperial commanders across the galaxy, with or without the sanction of their Chapter Master.
Such behaviour has led some in the other Space Marine Chapters to question the Raven Guard's
soundness as a military force, but most recognise that such fluidity of command only proves the
presence of the Chapter's formidable discipline, not its absence.

During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy the Raven Guard Legion was organized into
specialized companies such as the Falcon Assault Company and the Talon Tactical Company,
which were organized much like the Reserve Companies of later Codex Astartes-compliant
Chapters.

Order of Battle
 <img
src="https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/b/b5/Raven_Guard%27s_Orga
nisation_Structure.png/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20151029202636"
alt="Raven Guard&amp;#039;s Organisation Structure" class="thumbimage " data-image-
key="Raven_Guard%27s_Organisation_Structure.png" data-image-name="Raven Guard&#39;s
Organisation Structure.png" width="250" height="303" >

Organisational chart depicting the Raven Guard Chapter's organisation during the outset of the
War for Prefectia, 999.M41

Like all Codex Astartes-compliant Space Marine Chapters, the Raven Guard are divided into ten
companies of 100 Space Marines each when at full strength, a standard which Raven Guard
companies rarely achieve because of their constant manpower shortage. Each company is led by
an officer with the rank of Shadow Captain who is a hero of the Raven Guard. Each Shadow
Captain -- in addition to his company command -- is in charge of a particular aspect of the
Chapter's logistics. The following represents the order of battle of the Raven Guard Chapter as it
stands in 999.M41:

Chapter Wargear

<img
src="https://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/8/8d/Helion_Rain_Hardy_Fow
ler.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20110318233003" alt="Helion Rain Hardy
Fowler" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="Helion_Rain_Hardy_Fowler.jpg" data-image-
name="Helion Rain Hardy Fowler.jpg" width="250" height="169" >

Raven Guard Scout Marine operating behind enemy lines

The Raven Guard Chapter makes wide use of the "beaked" older versions of the standard Space
Marine Power Armour (Marks IV-VI, with a heavy reliance on the beaked Mark VI helmet
pattern). After their near-destruction as a force on Istvaan V during the Drop Site Massacre of
the early Horus Heresy, the Raven Guard have had to make due with the older Power Armour
patterns and equipment that remained in their reserve armoury. The available resources were too
few to re-equip them up to the most advanced technological standards of the Imperium and even
today there is a higher percentage of ancient suits of Power Armour amongst the Chapter than in
most others. The Raven Guard's homeworld of Deliverance and its fortress-monastery on that
planet, the Ravenspire, has the production capacity of a small Forge World (since it can draw
upon the resources of the actual Forge World of Kiavahr that Deliverance orbits), ensuring that
the Raven Guard now rarely lacks for the materiel needed to prosecute its campaigns.

Recruitment and Wraith-Slip Training

<img
src="https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/b/b3/RG_Scout_Marine.jpg/re
vision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20131001192903" alt="RG Scout Marine"
class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Scout_Marine.jpg" data-image-name="RG Scout
Marine.jpg" width="250" height="256" >

A Raven Guard Scout Marine armed with a specially-silenced Sniper Rifle

Owing to the instability of the Raven Guard's gene-seed due to the experiments of Corax, much
of the Chapter's genetic stock has been irreparably damaged. Now, much of their genetic material
comes from stored supplies held on Terra by the Adeptus Mechanicus. This means the cycle of
recruitment for the Raven Guard is much slower than for other Chapters while they wait for
purified samples of gene-seed to be sent from Terra and fewer Raven Guard Neophytes prove
able to survive their training and genetic modification than is the norm in other Chapters. This
means the Chapter is constantly short-handed. The Raven Guard's recruits are almost all drawn
from the hardy population of miners that has called Deliverance home for millennia.

As masters of stealth, infiltration and sabotage, all Raven Guard Neophytes are trained by the
finest Shadow Masters of the Ravenspire. Despite their Astartes-enhanced physiology and their
cumbersome armour, they are taught to move with silence and invisibility, shifting from one pool
of darkness to another within the shadows. This art of silent and stealthy movement particular to
the Chapter is known as wraith-slipping. Raven Guard Neophytes are taught this art in the
labyrinths of the Ravenspire, and they learn how to muffle the noise they make, first with rags
and packed earth, then with acoustic dampeners and pure skill at movement. They later use these
techniques to baffle the sounds created by their own Power Armour, in what are known as the
secret rites of silence, as every Raven Guard must have mastered these abilities once they
become full Initiates of the Chapter. Each Raven Guard warrior moves silently in his own way,
and it is each warrior's understanding of the empty spaces between sounds that allows them to
occupy them. Every Raven Guard who practices the arts of wraith-slipping tests themselves, for
without trials, the ability to wraith-slip begins to erode. Only by becoming one with the shadows
can a warrior move through them without revealing himself. Only by being hunted can he reach
that place within himself that allows the wraith-slip to become perfect camouflage. Such
protection is not infallible, and no member of the Chapter is ever truly invisible, but veteran
Raven Guard Astartes, such as the Shadow Captains, possess such an affinity for the dark that
they might as well be.

Raven Guard Librarians

<img
src="https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/d/dd/Raven_Guard_Librarian_
Terminator.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20120905011608" alt="Raven
Guard Librarian Terminator" class="thumbimage " data-image-
key="Raven_Guard_Librarian_Terminator.jpg" data-image-name="Raven Guard Librarian
Terminator.jpg" width="250" height="183" >

Raven Guard Librarian in Terminator Armour and Psychic Hood

Like their fellow Astartes Chapters, the Raven Guard also maintains a Librarium of potent
psykers who are highly talented and trained to master the power of the Warp. Each Chapter
selects its Librarians in its own way, either from seed worlds, as it does with the bulk of its
Initiates, or from the ranks of gifted psykers brought to the Scholastica Psykana. Most Chapters
train and test chosen psykers following the ancient ways laid out in the Codex Astartes.
Librarians of the Raven Guard are trained in this way, and, with few minor traditional variances,
have been taught to live by the word of the Codex. Raven Guard Librarians have a number of
unique psychic abilities only used by the psykers of their Chapter:

Corax' Ingenuity - A Raven Guard Librarian can plunge his mind into the Warp,
harnessing its power. He is infused with power, embodying the pure ideals of Corax, and
emanating this power to those around him, increasing their skill in battle and fortitude in
the face of the enemy's blows.
Curse of the Raven - When a Raven Guard Librarian employs this ability he curses his
opponent, condemning him to death at the hands of the Emperor's champions. Warp
energies eat at the target's mind, and reveal weaknesses in his defences that the Battle-
Brothers can exploit. This power only works on a single target.
The Unkindness of Deliverance - The Raven Guard Librarian is able to manifest his
psychic power as an unkindness of ravens. Black as night, these ferocious birds swarm
over his opponents. The Librarian can either have the ravens target one individual or
swarm a number of opponents, blinding them temporarily.

Chapter Combat Doctrine

<img
src="https://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/b/b9/Raven_guard_by_tanksku
llx66-d50crxt.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20140331195644" alt="Raven
guard by tankskullx66-d50crxt" class="thumbimage " data-image-
key="Raven_guard_by_tankskullx66-d50crxt.jpg" data-image-name="Raven guard by
tankskullx66-d50crxt.jpg" width="250" height="336" >
A Veteran Raven Guard Astartes fighting against the Tyranids

The Raven Guard generally follows the dictates of the Codex Astartes, though there are some
differences in how it chooses to carry out tactical deployments. The Chapter specialises in
guerilla tactics behind enemy lines, using precisely coordinated attacks and refraining from
frontal attacks or protracted attrition warfare. The Raven Guard is known for hitting weak points
in enemy defences hard and performing lightning strikes upon locations of tactical importance to
cripple it's enemy. The Raven Guard disdains the notion of recklessly charging into the enemy's
ranks. This differentiates the Chapter's tactics particularly from those of the Blood Angels. The
Chapter also relies heavily on their Scout Marines for pinpointing enemy positions and for
reconnaissance to identify good drop sites for the rest of the Chapter's deployed forces.

Raven Guard companies and their captains are often fiercely independent from one another and it
is rare for the Chapter to deploy as a whole. Raven Guard companies often operate completely
autonomously from one another and will move to support Imperial Commanders who request
their assistance wherever they are in the galaxy with or without the Raven Guard Chapter
Master's permission. This behaviour leads some Imperial observers to question the tactical utility
of the Chapter since its officers seem to lack a unified respect for command and are thus prone to
dilute their efforts, but in fact this method of operation displays the extraordinary discipline of
the Raven Guard's captains and the trust that the Chapter places in them, not the lack of these
qualities.

The Chapter's typical tactical doctrine consists of rapid maneuver engagements consisting of the
deployment of Assault Marines, Land Speeders and Attack Bikes aimed at harassment, sabotage
and the destruction of key strategic targets over the frontal engagement of enemy forces at large.
The Raven Guard's Tactical Marine Squads are deployed via Thunderhawk gunship insertions,
supported by Drop Pod-deployed Dreadnoughts. The Chapter maintains few and fields even
fewer armoured fire support vehicles such as Predators and Land Raiders, preferring to make use
of an infantry-heavy force. The Raven Guard relies heavily on its Scout Marine elements, which
operate without support for extended amounts of time, even by Space Marine standards. The
Chapter, by and large, operates as something of a cross between a mechanised infantry and a
series of special forces units, combining small unit tactics with their preference for covert
operations behind enemy lines. Because of it's preference for hit-and-run guerilla tactics, the
Raven Guard also makes extensive use of Assault Marine Squads. The Tactical Marine Squads
of the Raven Guard are often deployed via Thunderhawks or Drop Pods. The favorite weapons
of Raven Guard Force Commanders are Lightning Claws and it is a common sight for their
command squads to also be equipped with these weapons in addition to their Jump Packs.

Chapter Beliefs
Like many other Chapters, the venerable Raven Guard maintain long-standing rituals and beliefs
assimilated by the cultural beliefs of their homeworld. One such example are the fetishes worn
by warriors of the Raven Guard Chapter, known as Corvia. During the long, arduous initiation
process of a prospective Neophyte, all must undergo an initiation in the form of a meditative
trance or spirit quest to hunt the miniscule avians of their homeworld that are native to the forests
of Kiavahr. Trained by the finest Shadow Masters of the Ravenspire in the arts of stealth and
infiltration, it takes many months for Neophytes to master the fine art of "Wraith-slipping", in
order to hone the necessary skills to sneak up on the small and alert ravens, snatching them up
with their bare hands and quickly snapping their necks. Known as Corvia, the skulls of these
small birds are worn as potent totems which hang from small chains from an Astartes' belt or
battle plate. These fetishes represent an individual warrior's honour, and when one falls in battle,
one of his fellow Battle-Brothers will recover the Corvia from their fallen brethren and continue
to carry it in battle, and thus, carry their fallen brethren's honour until such time that they can
return to Kiavahr and bury the small avian skulls in the soil of their Chapter's homeworld. The
claiming of a fallen warrior's Corvia goes hand in hand with stripping the body of the deceased
Battle-Brother of all equipment and Chapter trappings, which includes the harvesting of the all-
important gene-seed. Once the Chapter has claimed its due, the stripped corpses are then left for
the local carrion birds to feast upon.

The Raven Guard do not venerate the Emperor with the fervour or zeal of many other Astartes
Chapters, viewing him as a distant figure, the master of the galaxy and the founder of the
Imperium but little more. Corax is viewed as a mighty leader capable of making tough decisions
when the need was great. The Raven Guard still follow the path that Corax set for them,
reviewing the data collected from each battle to learn its lessons and a great deal of the tactical
doctrines of the Raven Guard were learned and laid out from such examinations. As for the
leaders of the Raven Guard, they emphasize initiative and tactical skill as much or more so than
personal martial prowess. The Raven Guard are much more likely to use a swift surgical strike,
than to engage in long, protracted battles or sieges. However this tendency causes some tension
with other Astartes Chapters who the Raven Guard consider blunt and clumsy, such as the Blood
Angels.

Brothers No More

Many Space Marine Chapters have existed for millennia, with those of the First Founding having
their roots in the original Space Marine Legions created to prosecute the conquests of the
Emperor's Great Crusade. With histories stretching back into the dawn of the Age of the
Imperium, it is perhaps inevitable that Chapters should come to blows, both metaphorically and
at times literally. There are many instances of rivalries, and some of outright hostilities. The
deep-rooted and mutual antagonism between the Space Wolves and the Dark Angels is well-
known, but there are many more examples. One example of such rivalry can be found in the case
of the Raven Guard and the White Scars, who have harboured a mutual mistrust dating back
centuries. In truth, there may be no single cause of the bad blood between the two Chapters, but
the mere mentioning of several battles are sure to raise the ire of Raven Guard and White Scar
alike. The Assault on Hive Lin-Mei is one such conict, as is the Last March on the Sapphire
Worlds. Most acrimonious of all is Operation Chronos, in which a venerated Raven Guard
Chaplain fell to Enslaver domination in circumstances where a nearby White Scars force might
have been able to intervene. The ill will created by these and numerous other incidents has led to
the two Chapters regarding one another with barely contained loathing, a situation that none can
see an end to any time soon.

Chapter Gene-Seed
 <img
src="https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/warhammer40k/images/c/c1/RG_Battle-
Brother.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20111203004233" alt="RG Battle-
Brother" class="thumbimage " data-image-key="RG_Battle-Brother.jpg" data-image-name="RG
Battle-Brother.jpg" width="250" height="405" >

Deathwatch Watch Captain Servais, a Raven Guard Battle-Brother who now serves in the
Deathwatch

The genetic material of the Raven Guard was greatly damaged by the accelerated processes
utilised by Corax to rebuild the Legion following the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V. Much of
the gene-stocks of the Raven Guard were lost or irreparably damaged and as such a significant
portion of the Chapter's genetic material now comes from Terra. Additionally the process of
transformation into an Astartes is notably more difficult for Aspirants in the Raven Guard and so
many casualties early in training only add to the slow and limited recruitment process of the
Chapter. Even further degeneration in the gene-seed has caused several of the implants to fail.
Due to the degeneration of the Raven Guard's gene-seed, several of the genetically-engineered
organs normally implanted in Space Marines no longer function properly or simply no longer
even develop after they are implanted as zygotes. For instance, Raven Guard Astartes do not
possess the Mucranoid organ which allows a Space Marine to survive extremes of heat, cold or
even exposure to the vacuum of space or the Betcher's Gland organ, which allows them to spit a
venomous toxin. The Raven Guard's Melanochromic organ that allows an Astartes' skin to adjust
to variable levels of solar radiation has a unique mutation that causes the skin of a Raven Guard
to lose its pigment, regardless of its original hue. Eventually the Space Marine's skin becomes
pure white while the hair and eyes darken until they are jet black, which was the pigmentation
carried by the Raven Guard's Primarch Corax.

Lure of the Shadows

Like many Chapters, the Raven Guard also suffer from certain genetic deficiencies. The Raven
Guard's demeanour heavily reflects their combat doctrine. Generally reserved, Raven Guards
stay in the shadows until the right time to speak. When they do pitch in they tend to be very
recalcitrant and terse, often condemning the more direct tactics of their fellow Chapters. As they
become unstable, they begin to mimic the sullen nature of their Primarch before his mysterious
disappearance. This usually occurs in three stages:

Stage 1 - The Battle-Brother is used to working in his small Raven Guard strike team,
and finds the direct tactics used by other Chapters to be brutish and ineffective. When
commanded into a direct attack that he finds foolhardy, the Battle-Brother is resistant,
almost to the level of disobedience.
Stage 2 - Becoming increasingly intractable, the Battle-Brother is quiet and brooding. In
mission briefings he stays in the shadows, only speaking when absolutely necessary. For
example, the fellow members of a Deathwatch Kill-Team would feel uneasy around the
moody Battle-Brother, tending to avoid him when possible.
Stage 3 - The Battle-Brother despises the tactics of his fellow Battle-Brothers, knowing
that his more intelligent approach is the best way to victory.

Chapter Colours

The Raven Guard Chapter wears black-coloured Power Armour. Their Chapter
iconography consists of a large white raven painted on their left shoulder plate. The left
shoulder plate's trim is black. The right shoulder plate's symbol and trim colour denotes
which type of squad the Astartes serves in. Green trim indicates a Raven Guard Space
Marine is a member of a Tactical Squad, red an Assault Squad, yellow a Devastator
Squad and black trim is worn by Veterans. Some Raven Guard Force Commanders or
high-ranking Veteran officers and Sergeants have all-white shoulder plates, as well as
helmets and sometimes the armour covering their entire arms.