The Leonine Heresy

by Sharrowkyn

Inspired by the Roboutian Heresy, this is the tale of Lion El'Jonson's fall to Chaos as he leads half of his brothers (and not necessarily the ones you might think) in rebellion against the Emperor. All Index Astartes entries have been completed, and now we are journeying through the various War Zones of the 41st Millennium.

3. Index Astartes: Raven Guard

Chapter 3: Index Astartes- Raven Guard

Inspired by the Roboutian Heresy, by Zahariel.

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Index Astartes- Raven Guard: The Silent Killers

From the shadows they come, annihilating all in their path as they leave a trail of destruction in their wake like a storm in the night. Few of the Emperor's legions are more brutal, or spoken in hushed tones, like the Astartes of the Nineteenth Legion. The dreams of a legion of liberators died with their primarch on the black sands of Istvaan, and the Raven Guard have turned back to their old ways, acting as instruments of terror against any who would turn their backs upon the Imperium. Though their methods make even the other legions uneasy, the Ravenlord's sons remain loyal, bringing the fear of the God-Emperor to traitors everywhere. Nowhere is safe from their wrath, and the Imperium's foes are driven to paranoid madness, for who can be sure that the shadow of the Emperor is not watching them even now.

Origins: Hidden in the Shadows

In the latter half of the Thirtieth Millennium, the Emperor of Mankind revealed himself, marching across Terra at the head of his mighty army of Thunder Warriors, casting down the warlords who had misruled Terra and banishing the abominations that had sprung up in the darkness of Old Night. The Age of Strife was over, to be replaced by the Age of the Imperium. Having reunited Terra, the Emperor set off into the stars, bringing peace and order in a new Imperium throughout the Solar System and the galaxy that lay beyond. At his side were the Legiones Astartes, mighty armies composed of enhanced supersoldiers clad in mighty suits of armor who knew no fear as they towered over the rest of humanity,

Each of these legions was assigned a numeral designation, only later receiving a name for themselves after a notable campaign. The indomitable I Legion was the first created, masters of many facets of war, but later legions grew more specialized. Each subsequent legion was specialized in their creation, designed to fulfill a particular role in the Emperor's design. Some were masters of siege warfare, such as the IV and VII Legions. Others became unmatched in close combat like the fearsome IX and XII Legions. Still others were masters at infiltration and special operations. It is into this category that the XIX Legion found themselves naturally drawn towards.

As their numeral suggests, the XIX Legion were one of the final legions created in the gene-labs hidden under the Imperial Palace. Like their cousins in other legions, the original legionaries were recruited from the techno-barbarian tribes of Terra. The XIX were specifically taken from the Xeric tribes of the Asiatic Dustfields, which lay to the north of the Palace and were one of the first regions to be conquered. These tribes were eager recruits, for their culture valued strength, and none were stronger than the Emperor. The will of the strongest was paramount, and thus any who opposed him were to be cast down through any means necessary and carefully watched to ensure they never rose again. Acting as the hidden hand of the Emperor, the XIX trained extensively in special operations and precision strikes, acting against any who would think of betraying their oaths to the Emperor.

Such thinking made them effective warriors, if prone to excessive cruelty. However, the Unification Wars were a cruel time and so the XIXth grew to be the Emperor's favored legion for precision operations. They gained fame for their swift campaigns against Kalagann of Ursh, infiltrating the cities of his empire and crippling their operations in a matter of weeks. When the legions took to the stars, the Nineteenth ruthlessly crushed the xenos pirates who infested the moons of Jupiter, extirpating them so thoroughly that their very names have been lost to history. At their head stood the Shade Captains, particularly brutal Astartes who gained their position in the brutal kratocracy through acts of unparalleled ruthlessness. These captains reported to a Shade Lord, who acted as Legion Master until their primarch could be found. Their fearsome reputation was exacerbated by a quirk of their gene-seed, which darkened the hair and eyes of recruits while turning their skin an unhealthy gray pallor. Such traits, combined with their fierce independence, led them to unofficially be called the 'Pale Nomads'.

Effective though they were, the Pale Nomads did not have a primarch like nearly all the other legions, and thus fought directly under the Emperor's banner. For decades they fought by his side, his hidden blade striking from the shadows throughout the early years of the Great Crusade. Though few knew of their existence, the Emperor never forgot his silent killers, and a deep culture of loyalty to the Emperor was thus created. Later on, as the primarch sons of the Emperor reunited with their father, they were given legions of their own and sent to carry out the Great Crusade in his name. Even as son after son was found, the XIX remained without their primarch, and eventually they were transferred over to the command of the Emperor's First-Found son, Horus Lupercal.

Subordinated under the yoke of the Luna Wolves along with other legions who lacked their primarch such as the III Legion, the XIX began to change under the direction of their new commander. Primarch of the Luna Wolves, Horus began to utilize the Pale Nomads in a different manner to the Emperor, encouraging them to act on their worst impulses to act as both an example and a threat. Many worlds yielded without a fight when they learned of who was facing them. Thus did the Luna Wolves become known for their unmatched success rate, all credit going to them while the contributions of the Nineteenth went unrecorded in their shadow.

For those that did know of them, the Pale Nomads did become renowned for effectiveness and brutality, but they remained always second to others, especially as without a primarch they remained at less than ten thousand legionaries. It is believed this fueled their frustration, creating a vicious cycle of cruelty, and the Nineteenth was spoken of in the same tone as other 'problem' legions such as VIIth or XIIth. Even as other legions began to find their primarchs and campaign on their own, the XIX remained without theirs. For nearly a century and a half they fought in such a manner, and thus they became incredibly devoted to the ideals of the Emperor and the Imperium as a whole. Such was the state of the legion when they were finally reunited with their primarch, on a moon known as Lycaeus.

The Deliverer

As powerful as he was, the Emperor could not be everywhere at once, and so he created twenty mighty warriors known as the primarchs, who would act as commanders and inspirations to humanity. However, shortly after their creation, the primarchs were stolen, cast to the stars through malign forces. The Great Crusade was forced to start without them, slowly finding the primarchs as the legions traveled the stars, reuniting the lost tribes of Man. Finding a primarch was cause for celebration, and each found primarch was given command of his own legion which had been created from his gene template. Some legions were luckier than others, and were reunited with their primarchs only a few decades after the start of the Crusade. Others were not quite so lucky, and so their legions could not campaign in quite the same way.

When the primarchs were scattered, cast to the warp like so many stones into a pond, their pods were sent in all directions. According to maps of the Imperium, Terra lies in the galactic west, and it stands to reason that most pods were sent eastward, as far from the Emperor's light as the Dark Gods could send them. However, the warp is not linear, and reason holds little sway in such a realm of madness. Therefore, when the pod marked XIX was lost, plucked from its cradle much later than the other pods, it was sent in quite a different direction, heading towards the galactic south, right towards the edge of the Milky Way galaxy near the edge of charted space, to a lonely moon in the forgotten Kiavahr Sector.

Kiavahr was what the priesthood of Mars would call a forge world, a planet entirely dedicated to the fires of industry. The Age of Strife had separated the world from those it was meant to supply, and so the techno-guilds turned inward, transforming the world into a dark beacon of science, where the value of human life was rather less than that of keeping the assembly lines running. The planet itself was airless, as the atmosphere had been stripped over millennia of misuse, the raw gasses used to fuel reactors that powered the vast domes that covered its surface. Each dome specialized in different fields of technology, and each possessed a limited number of space-faring vessels, though none were capable of leaving the system itself. Kiavahr had four moons, three of which were lifeless rocks, stripped bare of anything worthwhile, while the fourth moon, known as Lycaeus, was inhabited. Lycaeus was a cold world, with glaciers on the surface above vast underground mines, all filled with prisoners used as slave labor, for Kiavahr had no knowledge of servitors or skitarii like those found on Mars.

The little pod exited the warp virtually undetected, crashing into the small moon, where it was found by a group of scavengers who worked the mines. Lycaeus was operated essentially as a free-range prison, where the overseers kept to themselves in massive black watchtowers as long as the citizen prisoners brought suitable taxes of raw materials each month. The scavengers guessed that the pod had been launched at the moon from Kiavahr, its inhabitant taken from its parent as an act of punishment. Nevertheless, they had no reason to turn the child over to the overseers, so they took the boy in and raised him, and gave him the name of 'Corvus', a name which meant 'Savior' or 'Deliverer' in their language as an ironic joke.

A year passed, and to the scavengers' astonishment, the infant swiftly grew into a teenager, and in the space of several months began joining the scavengers in their operations deep below the surface in the lightless depths of the caverns below. The young primarch proved his worth, doing the work of many men, and leading them to new seams of ore. He possessed a prodigious appetite for learning, and pronounced his distaste for the trivial reasons many of the scavengers had been exiled to the planet. Corvus held many opinions shared by the exiles, notions of freedom and justice, and began traveling the moon, avoiding the black watchtowers as he traveled from commune to commune, rallying the beleaguered workers. He possessed much innate knowledge, and was a natural source of unity, gathering many to his side.

Finally, the appointed time came, and the workers rose up in revolt, declaring they would live no more as slaves to distant overlords across the ocean of space, and they overthrew the guards in their towers. The techno-guilds ignored this at first, but began to take notice as the flow of raw materials began to dry up. Sufficiently provoked, they sent punitive expeditions of indentured soldiers, burning down the meager dwellings as they sacked the small villages that existed around each watchtower. Corvus led the counter-attack, using hit and run tactics to give the soldiers the first and last real fight they'd ever experienced. The young primarch discovered he had innate gifts: a natural affinity for leadership, incredible combat prowess, and most intriguing, an ability to remain undetected to those around him. It couldn't fool technology, but Corvus was able to walk undetected before the very eyes of those around him if he wished. Using this ability, he stowed aboard the last transport of soldiers fleeing back to Kiavahr, leaving Lycaeus in the hands of his trusted revolutionaries, who began to create their own nation free from the whips and taxes of the overseers.

On Kiavahr, Corvus found a similar situation to the one he had left: masses of oppressed people laboring to fulfill the quotas of their distant overlords living in luxury high above them in vast factory towers. He began anew, smuggling his revolutionary brethren from the moon to the planet, forming cells of freedom fighters who led the common people to revolt. As dome after dome fell, the revolutionaries acclaimed Corvus as their leader, and he stepped out of the shadows to lead them openly in battle. The people acclaimed him, and bestowed on him the surname 'Corax', a title which connoted leadership. Corvus Corax led his band of freedom fighters, which swiftly grew to become an army that cast down the tyrants from their fortresses built over their industrial prison complexes. Here too he freed the prisoners, though with more reluctance, as these were criminals as opposed to the political exiles of Lycaeus.

When time for the final battle came, Corax was forced to reluctantly authorize the use of atomics to crack the last dome open, its inhabitants asphyxiating as the atmosphere was sucked into the void. As Corax personally planted his standard on the top of the highest tower in the now lifeless dome, a golden light appeared in the sky above: the Emperor of Mankind had arrived in person to retrieve his son. The reunion between father and son was a moment of joy and clarity. The Emperor spent days with his son, listening to his dreams and aspirations. All could see the bond the two shared, as well as the similarity in features. Corvus swore to uphold the Emperor's vision and to bring liberation from the slavery to fear and superstition across the galaxy. He sought more than just victory, for victory was easy to come by with force of arms; Corax wanted peace, a much more difficult proposition. The Emperor acclaimed his son as worthy, granting him command of an Astartes Legion in return for his fealty. Though Kiavahr was larger and held a much greater population, Corax's heart lay with the people of the moon where he landed, and so he renamed Lycaeus into Deliverance, deeming this to be the home of his legion.

Great Crusade: Freedom through Tyranny

Less positive was the primarch's first interactions with his legion. Corax found his sons to be a legion of killers, whose outlook and methods were all too similar to the techno-guilds of Kiavahr. He began to shape the legion into his own image, inducting his comrades from Deliverance who were young enough to undergo the process of becoming full Astartes. For their part, the Pale Nomads did not know what to make of their idealist father, and many found him to be unwilling to perform the brutal actions they saw as necessary to build the Imperium. The Nineteenth swelled in size, and Corax took his place among his brothers, fighting alongside Horus as they brought the Emperor's freedom to oppressed peoples everywhere.

Even after reuniting with their primarch, the Pale Nomads remained one of the lesser-known legions. This was a result of being one of the last legions to regain their father, but also as a result of their favored style of war. The Order of Remembrancers, the organization founded by Malcador the Sigillite to document the Great Crusade, found that its members had little access to the Nineteenth Legion. Those assigned to document the XIX Legion often found themselves kept in their quarters and on the ships most of the time, only allowed out to document the victories and bear witness only to results. It is suspected the Pale Nomads were active across the galaxy, performing special operations that remained undocumented in a similar manner to their cousins in the XX Legion. The XIX Legion became a legion of liberators, fighting for the spirit of the Great Crusade in a way few other legions did, though their exploits were rarely known in the way other legions' were. Only rumors of their victories and methods filtered out to the rest of the Imperium, speaking of soldiers who would strike from behind the enemy's lines and engage them on all fronts to obtain total victory.

Corax deeply loved his father, and was close to Horus, and believed the goals of the Great Crusade to be truly praiseworthy. Yet the means they utilized did not sit well with Corax. Their utilitarian methods of waging war disgusted Corax: the way they terrorized populations into compliance reminded him all too well of the technoguilds of his homeworld. Likewise, he reviled the Mechanicus for their sheer inhumanity, for they were men with whips akin to those of Kiavahr. As a result, relations between the primarch and the machine-cults of Mars remained rocky at best. Thus Corax swore to himself to be better, to make his legion be what mankind deserved. He distanced himself from the rest of his brothers, most of whom looked down on him anyway.

Corax had a complicated relationship with his brothers to say the least. Being found much later than his brothers, the Ravenlord was seen as an afterthought, a lesser who would never be able to match the conquests of those who were found over a century earlier. Some brothers looked down on Corax, such as Guilliman of Ultramar or Russ of Fenris, who saw Corax as having been found too late to make any notable contribution to the Crusade. Others avoided him due to philosophical differences, such as Rogal Dorn or Perturabo, whose methods of war were simply not compatible with the vision Corax had for his legion and the Imperium. Others simply never crossed paths with Corax due to the size of the galaxy, like Fulgrim or Magnus.

With most of his brothers set against him from the beginning, Corax spent most of his years with Horus Lupercal. Though all primarchs were technically the same age, the First-Found, Horus Lupercal, had long been seen by many as the eldest among them, and was treated with respect if not deference. Horus readily accepted Corax, and introduced him to more open-minded brothers. The first of these were Konrad Curze and Lorgar, who were campaigning together at the time. These two brothers were serious but accepting, and Corax felt both shared a similar level of devotion to their father. A similar friendship was kindled between Corax and Mortarion, bonding over their shared distrust for the Warp and its users such as Magnus.

For the better part of twenty years Corax campaigned by Horus's side. The Pale Nomads steadily grew in size, and they had quickly reached the point where they could lead their own expeditionary fleet. Despite this, Corax continued to stay by Horus's side. It is unknown why he did this, perhaps out of sentimentality or perhaps genuine fraternal affection. However, their relationship became strained over time. Though he looked up to Horus as the perfect general, Corvus did not approve of how Horus encouraged the worst tendencies in his sons. This came to a head at the Battle of Gate 42 during the Akum-Sothos Campaign.

Gate 42

The galaxy is filled with innumerable horrors who would deny Mankind's birthrate to master the stars. Many were destroyed during the Great Crusade, obliterated by the might of the Legiones Astartes. However, the galaxy is a vast place, and some foes thought vanquished survived, hidden away in the dark depths of space to return later to threaten the worlds of Man. A vile xenos parasite, suspected to be an offshoot of the Rangda, had infected an entire system, controlling them like puppets as they stirred the population to revolt. Though the Rangda were thought contained by the efforts of the First Legion, clearly some had slipped through the cordon sanitaire. Thus the might of three legions was brought to bear: the Luna Wolves, the Iron Warriors, and the Pale Nomads.

Corax had never fought the Rangda, and could not understand why Horus was so determined to extirpate these xenos by any means necessary. Tensions flared between Horus and Corax, which were exacerbated by Perturabo's battle strategy, which called for a full frontal assault. Corvus eventually ceded to his older brothers, and the battle that followed was a massacre, with entire companies of Nomads falling to the guns of the fortress they had been ordered to take. By the end of the battle, the Nineteenth Legion had lost thousands, primarily the Terran marines who had volunteered for the task of fighting under Horus again. Corax was devastated at the loss of so many of his sons. For the remainder of the Great Crusade, Corvus and Horus never again campaigned together, and indeed did not meet again until after the Council of Nikaea.

After the debacle of Gate 42, Corvus departed to campaign on his own. The Pale Nomads were now overwhelmingly composed of the Sons of Deliverance, and thus Corax renamed them, becoming the Raven Guard. The remaining Terran marines were sent away, their presence a painful reminder of the fallen. Led by the Shade Lord Arkhas Fal, they were sent to campaign in the Ghoul Stars as the Ashen Claws, far from the rest of the legion. The Shade Lord accepted this assignment with dignity, though all could see the hate in his eyes for the father who would banish his sons.

Having thus purged his legion, Corax and the Raven Guard began campaigning on their own. Though they won many victories, Corax felt they were not as effective as they could be. Decades of antagonism between him and the Mechanicus, once alleviated by Horus's diplomacy, had left them unwilling to fight alongside the Raven Guard. Without their technical support, the Nineteenth's rate of conquests began to slow. Once he realized the source of the problem, Corax alleviated his supply issues by joining his fleets with those of his brothers Vulkan and Ferrus Manus. Though the three seemed an unlikely partnership, they formed an unshakeable bond. The trio would frequently meet in council to determine their strategy and how best to fit their legions together, and Corax put his legion's talent at infiltration to good use in support of the comparatively slower armored forces of his brothers. Unlike most primarchs, Corax kept his legion mostly together, a force of around seventy thousand or so, though a few groups were seconded to other Expeditionary Fleets.

The three primarchs campaigned together for nearly forty years, bringing the Imperium to many worlds across the galaxy. Around the turn of M31, the three split apart, each traveling in their own directions. Ferrus left first, traveling to link his fleet with their brother Fulgrim, with whom he had long shared an unlikely friendship. Vulkan meanwhile traveled to seek the Emperor's counsel. Thus Corax was left on his own, finishing up compliances in the far galactic east to the outskirts of the region known as the Ghoul Stars.

There he remained for several years, keeping in touch with his brothers but alone once more. During this time, his legion took part in maneuvers against Rangda colonies, fighting alongside the V Legion in purging their cancerous worlds that lay outside the defensive cordon. This was grim, bitter work, but a necessary one, for no trace of these xenos could be allowed to survive and reproduce. Dozens of worlds were purged in these campaigns, and the Raven Guard took heavy casualties in the process, losing hundreds in each battle despite the fact these were mere outposts. Corax could hardly imagine the casualties that the Death Guard and Dark Angels must be taking in their campaigns against the heart of the Rangda.

Due to the protracted campaign, the Raven Guard were not able to withdraw in time to take part in the Triumph of Ullanor, though they did send a company to represent them. This company, led by Captain Aloni Tev, ended up never rejoining their father, for they had been ordered to remain and join the Legion Auxilia. Corax did not find out about this until months later, when a delegation of Iron Hands arrived, carrying a message for the primarch, news from Ferrus Manus at Ullanor that Horus Lupercal had been named Warmaster. Corax was amused at the tone of the message, for it was an open secret that Ferrus had long desired such a title for himself. Decades apart had left Corax ambivalent towards Horus, and he wondered what Horus might do with this new title.

In addition to revealing the existence of the Legion Auxilia, Ferrus's message revealed that the Emperor was calling a council to discuss the Librarius project. As much as Corax disliked psykers, even he admitted their utility in battle. However, the Council did not seem important enough to him to make the long journey to attend in person, and thus he did not go. Many months later, Corax was surprised to receive a delegation of Word Bearers. These 'Chaplains' as they called themselves, came with an Edict that bore the official seal of the Emperor himself. This decree informed the Ravenlord that Magnus had been censured and the Librarius banned. Corax duly obeyed, accepting the Chaplains into his own legion with some reluctance.

Of more importance to Corax was the news that Vulkan had been appointed Praetorian of Terra. Though it saddened him that he would no longer be able to campaign alongside his brother, he was nonetheless happy for him, and sent messages of congratulation and praise to Vulkan at Terra. Having finished the campaigns out in the Ghoul Stars, Corax prepared his legion to move back towards the center of the galaxy. He had been on the fringes long enough, and desired to reunite with Ferrus. Before he could send a message to his brother, however, he received one from the Warmaster, summoning him to receive new orders. Corax had not seen Horus in decades, but orders were orders, and he obeyed them, traveling to the coordinates provided with the bulk of his legion.

The Black Sands of Istvaan

The primarch of the Nineteenth kept a neutral expression upon his face as he received his new orders from the Warmaster to begin campaigning with the Twelfth Legion. Corax and Angron were to work as partners to bring compliance to the northern outer rim, to those far-out systems where the Astronomican's light shone faintly at best. Horus spoke of the dangers and necessity of this task, stressing his confidence that Corax would be up to the challenge as he tried to reach out to him. But Horus's attempts to bridge the gap were brushed aside, Corax keeping his distance from his brother throughout the encounter. After Corax departed Nikaea, the Raven Guard began mustering their fleets, gathering around the world of Bodt, a recruiting ground for the World Eaters. Deliverance was located on the opposite end of the galaxy, and so the Raven Guard depended on their Twelfth Legion brothers for support as they had no presence in this area of the galaxy. Corax had heard rumors of the World Eaters and Angron, though his legion had never fought alongside them personally.

By the time the combined forces set out for the north, they were over two hundred thousand Astartes strong, with the majority of those being World Eaters. The first meeting between Angron and Corax went as well as could be hoped, Corax remaining silent as Angron spoke loudly with a sickening grin on his face of the conquest and bloodshed that was sure to follow. On the surface, such a partnership made sense: Angron was known as the Breaker of Chains, known for his fierce hatred of slavery, while Corax was known as the Liberator. In addition, both primarchs were known for their distrust for psychic powers, because of which neither legion was assigned any Thousand Sons auxilia. Their legions seemed like they would work well in concert, with the sons of the Twelfth renowned for their melee prowess while the Nineteenth were known for stealth and marksmanship. As the combined fleet sailed north, the warriors passed their time in the famous fighting pits of the World Eaters, and it seemed as though Horus's plan would be a success as the two legions formed new bonds where none had existed.

For seven years the two legions fought together. Nineteenth Legion records show they fought their way through many nameless systems, leaving a trail of victories but few compliances obtained, the vast majority of systems discovered being infested with xenos. Their campaign took them across the Coronid Deeps, the uncharted region of space that lies along the northern border of the galaxy. The Astronomican's light shone but faintly here, and many worlds were home to unnamed monsters who are better off forgotten. Even ten thousand years later, the Deeps remain sparsely settled and unconnected to the wider Imperium.

Most of the systems they entered had been dead or dying, the meager human populations found eagerly welcoming the protection of the Imperium from the horrors that lay in the dark beyond. Not so with Istvaan. The system was dominated by the third planet, a hive world which looked like it was covered in vast growths as one would have once found at the bottom of Terra's long-gone oceans, and were thus dubbed Choral Cities. A fierce naval battle broke out after the primarchs made their demands for compliance known, the citizens choosing independence over submission. After crushing the enemy fleet, a drop pod assault was made, composed of Raven Guard shock troops and the World Eaters who had proven to work best with their cousins, nearly half of all Astartes present. The initial orbital bombardment had proven ineffective, so it came down to bolter and blade to clear the way. Led by Captain Ehrlen of the World Eaters and Captain Solaro An of the Raven Guard, the Astartes fought their way through the twisted semi-organic structures of the enemy, while their primarchs directed the battle from their ships in orbit. Particularly challenging were the dreaded War-Singers, powerful psykers whose sonic blasts devastated massed ranks of legionaries while their mental defenses shielded them from retaliation. However, even these could not stand up to the fury of two legions, and the battle was won. The legions on the ground began to gather into the landing zones, ready for pickup.

Then the unbelievable happened, a moment which would live in infamy forever. The might of dozens of World Eaters ships in orbit launched their full payload into the planet below, aimed at the mustering grounds where the victorious Astartes had gathered. Thousands of legionaries died instantly, their armor melted into glassy slag by the heat of the ship's lances. The horrified Raven Guard fleet watched from orbit as their legion died below them. Surely this was some mistake, a weapons malfunction. Then the rest of the World Eaters fleet opened fire: not at Istvaan below, but at the Raven Guard fleet in orbit. The Raven Guard were outnumbered almost two to one in terms of ships, and were caught completely by surprise at this treachery. It was no battle: this was a slaughter.

To their credit, the Raven Guard reacted swiftly, and the death toll became less one-sided. This was treachery of the blackest kind, for on the surface were tens of thousands of World Eaters too, who had fought loyally by the Raven Guard's side. As the battle continued, the Shadow of the Emperor, the grand flagship which bore the primarch himself, was shot down, crashing to the surface below. The mighty battleship impacted with the surface, creating a colossal crater from the sheer force of its impact. Within minutes, thousands of drop pods began to rain down after it, as the assault forces of the World Eaters who had remained in orbit descended in force to butcher the survivors. The Nineteenth Legion fleet had been destroyed, and only a few smaller ships were able to effect an escape, forced to flee into the outlying worlds of the Istvaan system in transports incapable of escaping into the Warp. The hordes of the traitorous Twelfth surrounded the forces on the ground, and the ships in orbit moved to a support position to blockade the planet while the World Eaters turned their attention to exterminating the survivors on the ground. The blood-crazed Twelfth began to slaughter all they could find, both Raven Guard and World Eater alike, as they rushed towards the crashed flagship, Angron at the head of his mob of killers.

Angron stalked the halls of the flagship as he searched for his brother. Corax watched him from the shadows, directing his sons to escape while he lured Angron away, his brother's frustration growing as he found fewer and fewer enemies to kill. This was treachery of the blackest kind: someone had directed Angron to this, for he was killing even his own sons who strayed in the path of his mindless rampage. Corax spoke to him from the shadows, demanding answers as to who his true master was, calling him a slave and every provocation he could think of.

Days had turned into weeks, as Angron blundered around the ruins of the ship. Corax could tell his sons had all escaped or been killed, for the vox was filled with only World Eaters speaking in their mongrel tongue. Finally, the time came, as Angron gave up on trying to find his brother, and began to return to the surface. This would not do.

With a heart full of hate, the specter of vengeance made itself known as Corax leapt from the shadows to engage Angron in single combat. They fought without restraint, Angron's rage growing as the brother proved to be his match, chain-axe meeting lightning claws as the brothers dueled in silence. There were no words for this, and only one would leave alive. The World Eaters kept their distance, knowing to interfere with their father would only result in their death. Corax fought with the cold rage of a brother betrayed, while Angron fought with the white hot rage of the truly insane.

One misstep. That was all it took. As Corax shattered Gorefather, Angron's bloody axe which had murdered so many of his sons, Angron closed the gap, tackling his brother to the ground. With a sickening crunch, Angron wrapped his hands around his brother's head, screaming incoherently as he began to squeeze. Corax's lightning claws pistoned into Angron's sides again and again as he desperately struggled to free himself, but it was too late. Corvus's head splattered into a bloody pulp, and a flash of light and noise threw Angron backwards into a wall. When the berserker looked back, his victim's body was utterly still, his blood pooling out to mingle with Angron's own as a son of the Emperor died alongside the dream of Unity.

The Raven Guard legionaries scattered throughout the Istvaan system, relying on their stealth to keep them hidden from their murderous cousins, who turned their attention to killing their own brothers. The Nineteenth almost ceased to exist in those dark days, having lost over ninety percent of their legion, reduced to survivors hiding on Istvaan V, the meager garrison force back home on Deliverance, and whatever legionaries scattered amongst the stars who had not made it to the muster. They hid, unable to leave the system without being detected and unable to retrieve the bodies of their fallen brothers. Angron broadcasted the news of their father's death, hoping to rouse them into suicidal charges, though this proved unsuccessful. Hidden across dozens of locations throughout the Istvaan System, the Raven Guard waited for any sign of relief, festering hatred growing in their hearts for those who had betrayed them. Though Astartes knew no fear, they could know dread, and accompanying this hatred was a sense of insecurity: how had they allowed this to happen, and how could they stop it from happening again?

Weeks passed, and the survivors watched a massive fleet enter the system, which were identified as the Ninth Legion. The Nineteenth continued to hide, for if a brother could kill brother, who could be trusted? Thus they watched as the Blood Angels and World Eaters clashed, only coming out after their scans indicated the World Eaters were fleeing the system. They ventured out and united with Sanguinius, who turned over to them the remains of their primarch with tears streaming down his face. The primarch of the Ninth Legion turned over a ship to them, reuniting the survivors with an expedition from Deliverance. The remains of a legion returned home, where the sons buried their father in a simple tomb on Deliverance, near the original crash site of his pod so many years before. The surviving loyal World Eaters had accompanied the Raven Guard back, for they were outcast from their own legion, but they did not remain, departing soon after, and none knew where they went. Leaderless and without a direction, there they remained, unsure of their next move, forgotten in the galactic south while the Heresy raged everywhere else.

Heresy: The Shadows Lengthen

As the early years of the Heresy passed, the Raven Guard found themselves alone and without direction. No contact could be made with Terra, nor were they even aware of the larger Heresy happening all around them, for heavy warp storms clouded the galaxy. Even if they had known, the few survivors lacked the strength to strike back at the traitors directly, for they numbered less than five thousand including aspirants. Command of the legion had fallen to Captain Branne Nev, one of the original Sons of Deliverance who had fought at the primarch's side during the liberation of Kiavahr. He did his best to rally the few sons of Corax who were left, doing his best to inspire them once more and not give in to despair. However, Branne had not been at Istvaan, having been chosen to stay and command the garrison on Deliverance in his primarch's absence. Thus he felt a distance between him and the legionaries who had returned. More openly rebellious, though not to the point of insubordination, were the dread Moritats, who grew restless at the prolonged sequestration on Deliverance.

The Moritats

Known as the Sable or Ash Blind, the Moritats were a specialized unit originating in the Raven Guard legion. The Sable Blind were elite warriors suffering from extreme mental trauma, generally resulting from the guilt they felt for being the last survivor of their squad. Such warriors, upon returning to combat, would fight with an almost suicidal disregard for their own lives, making them extremely effective, if rather short-lived. These Astartes were then organized into units of assassins, each unleashed to turn the tide when it was most needed. Such squads were later adopted by other legions, repurposed in a way that best suited their legion, such as the infamous Blood Angels Death Company or the Death Guard Grave Wardens. After the wholesale slaughter on Istvaan, many legionaries gave in to despair, and joined the ranks of the Moritat.

The original Moritat was a boy named Kaedes Nex, a teenage serial killer known as the Blood Crow, who was recruited by Corax on Kiavahr. Nex fought by the primarch's side in exchange for a pardon, and from the beginning showed a cruel streak. It was Nex who coined the motto by which the rebellion, and later the legion, operated: victory or death. After undergoing transformation into an Astartes, Nex proved his worth time and time again, surviving missions that were deemed worse than suicidal, earning the approval of the Terran legionaries, though his comrades from Deliverance continued to shun him for his past. Nex fought by his primarch's side on Istvaan, though he disappeared during that fateful battle, and did not return with the rest of the Nineteenth back to Deliverance. The last anyone had heard from him was an intercepted transmission that spoke of a boarded World Eaters strike cruiser.

The Raven Guard's exile was to come to an end though with the unexpected arrival of a large fleet which arrived in the system nearly three years after the Istvaan Massacre. The defensive systems locked on to the intruding fleet, and the Raven Guard prepared for the worst. As the guns prepared to fire, they received a transmission from the fleet requesting a meeting, which the suspicious Branne Nev agreed to. Surrounded by loyal legionaries, he met with an Astartes calling himself Alpharius, and revealed the fleet in orbit was from the mysterious XX Legion, who had come with a call to arms for the sons of Corax. Alpharius spun a tale of deceit and betrayal from half of the Legions, and a pressing need for all loyal Legions to join the fight. The Raven Guard was to join the Alpha Legion in striking back at the traitors, to avenge the fallen and uphold the Imperium. Suitably chagrined for their absence, Branne Nev indicated the Raven Guard would rejoin the fight, and the majority of the Nineteenth joined the Alpha Legion, around three thousand in total.

Armed with the intelligence of the Alpha Legion and merging their special operations skills, the combined legions returned to the field, striking north from Deliverance as they disrupted traitor forces throughout the Segmentum Tempestus. Calling themselves the Raptors, they were primarily Astartes of the XIX and XX Legions, though their members included assorted forces from the XVIII and XIV legions as well. They traveled from system to system, striking with the full force of the Emperor's wrath on those who would turn their backs on the Imperium. More Raven Guard joined the ranks of the Moritat during these battles, and the character of the legion became split between those who had fought on Istvaan and those who hadn't.

Navar Hef sat cross-legged within his quarters, seeking a measure of peace. Not from the battlefield or the wars his legion prosecuted, but from his brothers. The strife was growing, accusations and harsh words between the Hawks, as the survivors of Istvaan were calling themselves, and the rest of the legion.

Hef himself had been at Istvaan, though his unit had been on their transport when the treachery occurred. Thus he felt torn between the two camps, unsure who had the right of things. The sound of someone knocking came from his door. The door opened, and a marine in unmarked gray power armor stood before him. The Astartes removed his helmet, revealing the pale features of another Raven Guard.

"Navar Hef? My name is Dravian Klayde. The Regent of Terra requests your presence."

Branne and Alpharius led them to victory after victory, crushing the traitors and obtaining vengeance for the fallen. Their forces traveled through the massive expanses of the Inwit Star Cluster, the personal fiefdom of the traitor Rogal Dorn. They clashed often with Dorn's sons who had renamed themselves to become the Crimson Fists, becoming the Raptors' most frequent foes. From Graia to Nocturne, the forces of the XIX and XX Legions battled the Fists and their ruthless primarch as he sought to conquer these worlds, luring his forces into traps and ambushes which sapped their strength. Many heroes had their legends start during this campaign: deadly Nykona Sharrowkyn, who claimed the lives of a dozen Crimson Fists captains with his sniper rifle on the fields of Tallarn; daring Captain Alvarex Maun, who led a bombing run on the Phalanx itself; Apothecary Vicente Sixx, who became known as the 'Ferryman's Foil' for his skill in saving the lives of many a legionary thought to be a lost cause. These were but the most renowned: equally heroic though less known were the common battle-brothers, whose heroics went unrecognized in the fog of war.

The actions of these legions were vital in slowing down the traitor march on Terra, but their luck could not last forever. Success breeds overconfidence which breeds complacency, and the Raven Guard paid dearly at the Battle of Aleusis. What seemed like a routine ambush of a Crimson Fists' fleet proved to be a trap, as the Phalanx itself entered the battle with an entire battle-group. Dorn watched with bitter satisfaction as the Raven Guard made their escape, having suffered nearly a thousand casualties, their largest loss since the Istvaan Massacre. Their numbers too low to risk open assault, the Raptors splintered into autonomous cells, returning to the more successful methods of sabotage to slow their foes down. Dorn himself seemed uninterested in pursuing the beaten foes, considering them broken, and returned to his push on Terra, leaving his son Alexis Pollux to stamp out the resistance. Try as he might, Pollux proved unable to catch the Raptors, who had moved out of Segmentum Tempestus entirely, leaving only small cells to provide the illusion of resistance. The bulk of the Raptors had, at the advice of Alpharius, moved further east, towards the galactic center.

The Fall of Chemos

By this time, the Heresy had been raging for several years, and the loyalists were slowly losing ground on almost all fronts. As the small Blackshield fleet moved eastwards towards the galactic center, they found entire sectors devastated and devoid of life, the remnants of their shattered civilizations showing the telltale signs of intense conflict and wholesale slaughter. It was as though a storm had swept through the area, and all knew the origin of the devastation: Chemos, the mining world that served as homeworld of the traitorous Star Hunters. Alpha Legion reports indicated the bulk of the enemy forces had withdrawn east towards Ultramar, but a legion's homeworld was sure to be well-defended. Nevertheless, it needed to be eliminated to take pressure off of other flanks. Chemos would be a sign of contradiction, to show the traitors that they were not safe and that the talons of the Raven Guard remained sharp.

As the cloaked fleet made its way into the Chemos system, auspexes began picking up anomalous readings. The planet was known for being a wasteland, home to a disjointed collection of warring tribes eking out a meager existence hoping to be inducted into the ranks of the Star Hunters. In another time perhaps, Chemos could have been reborn, turned into a world befitting the homeworld of a legion had anyone put the effort into saving it. Such things weren't meant to be though, and Chemos remained a desolate, empty world, a legacy of unfulfilled promises. As the ships entered visual range, they noted the fires of industry lighting up the night side of the planet. It was clear the long dead factory-complexes had been brought to life again, all converging on a single nexus point. The rest of the ships remained in the nebula dust cloud that surrounded the system, remaining on low power to avoid detection while they scanned the system, keeping watch for enemy vessels. The legions prepared for insertion as Alpha Legion Headhunter squads and Raven Guard Mor Deythan squads made their way in stealth-variant Thunderhawks as the advance wave.

Mor Deythan

Also known as Shadow Hunters, the Mor Deythan are infiltrators without peer. Formed by Corax shortly after being reunited with his legion, the members of these squads are all veterans from Lycaeus, having fought at the primarch's side during the conquest of their world. The soldiers of the Mor Deythan were selected for their natural talents for stealth, and in a legion known for stealth as a way of warfare, the standards were quite high indeed. They utilize an array of specialized equipment designed to make them the perfect infiltration teams, and are most known for their skill at sniping, though they are masters of all forms of special operations. They will wait for days to obtain the perfect shot, all the while remaining camouflaged through both technological means, and, it is whispered, an innate ability known as wraith slipping. Taught to them by Corax himself, practitioners of this lost art were said to be able to pass undetected in the same manner as their primarch. It is unknown precisely how this is accomplished, but the results are undeniably effective. However, the pool of veterans was all but eliminated by the Istvaan Massacre, and the Mor Deythan know their time is limited as they struggle to do all they can before their time is up.

As the Blackshield vanguard made planetfall, they began to take more detailed readings of the planet. Their natural stealth was amplified by the presence of Alpha Legion librarians, who used their abilities to ensure the squads remained hidden. The legionaries of the Raven Guard were not entirely comfortable with such a violation of the Emperor's edict, but the importance of their mission depended on remaining unseen, and so they must needs use every tool at their disposal, especially since their own Librarius had been all but destroyed on Istvaan. They had landed in various positions throughout Chemos, avoiding the major population centers to remain undetected.

As expected, the entire planet was a collection of ruined slums, a result of the Age of Strife and Jaghatai's lack of effort in rebuilding the place. However, the various tribal gangs which were known to inhabit the planet were nowhere to be found, nor were there any signs of a struggle. In the distance loomed the Fortress of Callax, the one functional city on the entire planet which contained the Star Hunters base of operations. The skies around the city crackled with eldritch energies, and massive industrial pylons dominated the landscape around them, transferring some sort of energy towards the center of the vast city. It was unknown what exactly was occurring in the city, but it was unlikely to be anything but bad news. As the infiltration teams took up vantage points in the ruins surrounding the outskirts of Callax, they noted the presence of thousands of Star Hunter legionaries manning the walls, far more than were expected.

When Captain Branne received the preliminary reports, he met in council with Alpharius, who seemed just as surprised as he was at the number of traitors present. Though Chemos was a legion homeworld, intelligence suggested that the Star Hunters rarely recruited from this world due to its low population and their primarch's disdain for his homeworld. If this many were guarding the walls, surely something of great value was present inside. Thus the forces of the Raptors made their presence known, throwing aside stealth as they made a full planetary assault on Chemos, smashing aside the meager orbital defenses. Callax itself was, like other legion fortresses, protected by void shields of unparalleled strength. Thus a ground assault would be required, and the loyalists began to assault the planet like steel rain, drop pods and transports weaving in between a storm of return fire, as anti-air batteries filled the sky with flak. The vanguard forces made themselves known, assaulting the outer walls in an attempt to distract the garrison and disable the batteries. The slaughter was fierce, though curiously one sided. Though the Raptors took their share of casualties, as transport after transport was turned into so many balls of fire, the battle on the ground was resulting in massive casualties to the V Legion Astartes garrisoning the wall. It was as though the Raven Guard were facing new recruits.

As the fighting continued, the Raptors were able to land their armor, and began punching their way through the vast curtain walls surrounding Callax. Death was to be found everywhere inside the fortress, as the loyalists entered the industrial hellscape. Callax had been built on top of the largest manufactorium on Chemos, and was essentially a hive city unto itself. The slaughter took on a more personal nature, as the twisting tunnels and sharp turns created choke points for Star Hunter ambushes. The one-sided slaughter had balanced out, as the Raven Guard found themselves assaulted from all sides, utterly outnumbered and penned in by hordes of fanatical Fifth Legionnaires. The skies above were filled with furious dogfights, as the elite air wings of the Star Hunters showed their deadly prowess. Outside the twisting hive streets, enemy sorcerers made their presence known, sending colossal arcs of lightning ripped from nearby generators into the loyalist armor, which answered them with the booming reports from their massive guns. The numbers of the Star Hunters seemed without limit, endlessly swarming towards the surrounded Raptors, their sheer quantity overrunning all in their path.

While the bulk of the Raptors occupied the attention of the V Legion, the Mor Deythan and Alpha Legion Headhunter teams made their way through the ruined districts of the inner factories. Here the resistance was much lower in intensity, as the Star Hunters focused their attention on the foes smashing through the gates. The infiltrators moved like a dagger into the heart of the fortress, planting hidden explosives as they made their way inside. Marking the walls were symbols of every description that hurt the eye to look at, carved into every surface or painted in bodily fluids. They found thousands of corpses, primarily the elderly and women, who looked like they had been worked to death in vast assembly lines that made the Forge Worlds of the Mechanicum look humane in comparison. They crept through residential habs whose insides resembled charnel houses filled with desiccated corpses wracked by starvation and bearing whip scars across their body. Finally, they reached the inner sanctums, where the outer factory districts gave way to the battlements of Fortress Callax itself which contained the headquarters of the entire V Legion, as well as their apothecariums where aspirants became fully-fledged Astartes. Destroying these would drastically slow enemy recruitment.

Planting melta charges, the loyalists blasted their way inside, and were met by the Star Hunter elite who fought like madmen, howling their demented warcries as they clashed with their foes. The V Legion knew all too well the prize they guarded, and so threw everything at the assembled loyalists: from legion helots to scouts lacking even a black carapace to the elite Blade Dancer Terminator squads, the Star Hunters brought their full might to bear, led by a massive legionary in Cataphractii Terminator armor whose iron halo marked his rank while it protected his crushing charge through the loyalist lines. However, the distraction had denuded the inner sanctums of defenders, the thousands of Star Hunters manning the fortress either dead or gone to fight elsewhere, and those left simply lacked the numbers to overcome the relentless loyalists who vented their fury on those who had turned their backs on the Emperor's light.

Finally, the last of the Star Hunters fell, and the surviving Raptors fanned out to accomplish their objectives. The Alpha Legionnaires began hacking into the cogitator banks, siphoning data while disabling key systems, while the Raven Guard spread through the complex, clearing rooms and planting explosive charges as they prepared to bring the entire structure crashing down. They passed through medical wings, finding no gene-seed and ruined laboratories; they fought through armories, noting the lack of supplies. The inner sanctums seemed to be just as stripped as the outer districts.

The Raptors began to fall back, having accomplished their goals. As the last of the transports lifted off of the surface, Callax imploded with a great flash of light and sound. A cheer from the bridge crews of the ships above rang out, as they watched the destruction of Callax from orbit, the explosives igniting a chain reaction that spread across the planet, cracking the mantle as the planet shattered to become an asteroid belt. Never again would Chemos support life, and by all accounts the mission was a success, having achieved the destruction of a traitor homeworld and retrieval of vital information. Nevertheless, the loyalists felt a pervasive sense of wrongness, though they could not identify its source. It was as though they were missing something, and they were gripped by a sense of unease. There were entirely too many Star Hunters present on Chemos, especially considering how it looked as though it was in the process of being stripped, and it fell far too easily. Further investigations would have to wait, for urgent transmissions had been received: the traitors had broken through to Terra, and all were called to the defense of the Throneworld.

Return to Terra and the Scouring

However, half the galaxy lay between Chemos and Terra as massive warp storms filled the warp with such turbulence it made it almost impossible to travel. The astropaths indicated a hurricane wall stretching from the Prosperine Dominion to the Inwit Star Cluster, forming an impassable wall that blocked the shortest route to the Solar System. Nevertheless, Vulkan called for aid, and the sons of Deliverance would answer. The fleet began to make short warp jumps towards the galactic core, utilizing the tide walls of the Maelstrom to launch their fleet vast distances as though they were stones being skipped along the surface of a lake. Such maneuvers, though effective, were incredibly risky, and many a ship was dragged into the Warp as its crew desperately tried to keep their Gellar fields operating as the unmatched strength of the Immaterium battered against them. As the fleet made its way south, they discovered many ruined worlds, ringed by shattered fleets. Clearly the traitors had forced their way through Bastion Omega, the collection of systems that formed the main bulwark defending Terra. Dozens of worlds of every classification and description had been annihilated, and ships of almost every legion were present, gutted and left adrift in the relentless drive towards the homeworld.

Many months passed and the Raptors began to despair of reaching Terra in time. As they plunged deeper into Segmentum Solar, they began to find the traitors themselves: ships without power, drifting through the void as their crews repaired their damaged engines. No quarter was given as the Raptors made their presence known, like ravens descending to tear their crippled foes apart. Be they fleets or garrisons, the Raptors moved as a cleansing dagger, excising the traitor taint as they passed through. Finally they arrived at Terra, moving their battered fleet past the omnipresent fields of debris that littered the system and filled the atmospheres. Hoping for the best but fearing the worst, they initiated contact with Terra, and were relieved to hear of the loyalist victory, though their joy swiftly turned to mourning as the cost set in. With a primarch dead, the Emperor near death, and the near destruction of the Throneworld, this was truly a pyrrhic victory. However, the Raptors were accustomed to loss, and received their orders, setting off to accomplish the will of the Primarchs.

The forces of the Alpha Legion departed, returning to parts unknown, as the small Raven Guard contingent remained on Terra, aiding their brother legions in excising the taint of Chaos. As the Imperium rebuilt itself from the ashes and began to reassert its influence, the Nineteenth labored in the shadows, their contributions largely overlooked due to their small size. Less than three thousand sons of Corax had lived through the fires of the Heresy, and with their primarch dead, they lacked a voice on the future of the Imperium, subject to the whims of others. Thus their legion seemed doomed to fade away, and the survivors returned to their homeworld. There they remained until the arrival of the Shade Lord.

Several years after the end of the Siege of Terra, a large fleet bearing Raven Guard identifiers arrived at Deliverance, filling the weary legionaries with a new sense of hope that perhaps more of their brothers had survived the Heresy than previously thought. As the senior officers of the legion gathered around the landing fields to greet these mysterious arrivals, out marched thousands of Astartes wearing the signature black of the Nineteenth Legion, with not white but red pauldrons and vambraces, their armor bearing lightning bolt and raptor iconography. At their head and bearing the Seal of the Warmaster stood Shade Lord Arkhas Fal, and at his side in a position of honor stood Kaedus Nex and his Moritat brethren, long thought dead. To the utter disbelief of the Raven Guard, Fal announced that by decree of the Warmaster, he was assuming command of the Nineteenth Legion, and the Ashen Claws were to be folded back into the Raven Guard to bolster their numbers. The decree was deemed authentic, and Captain Branne relinquished command to Fal, who began to direct the process of rebuilding the legion as it participated in the Scouring.

Working under the command of Horus and his Sons, Fal and the Raven Guard were at the forefront of the Scouring, serving as the elite troops clearing the way for the Imperial armies to move in after them. Their time in the Ghoul Stars left them utterly without mercy, and the Raven Guard assumed the aspect of vengeance, bringing a reign of terror to planets which had bent the knee to traitors. The Nineteenth were reborn for a third time as Fal led them to victory after victory, all the while shaping the legion in his image. Fal himself died centuries later during the First Black Crusade. It's said he never visited the tomb of his father, and decreed that he wished to be buried in the Imperial Palace on Terra. Under his successors, the legion continued to make itself an instrument of terror, monsters swooping out of the shadows, becoming an instrument of oppression and fear as it enforced the will of the High Lords of Terra to keep the Imperium in line. Thus did Corax's dreams of a legion of liberators die as a vengeful son reshaped the legion to spite his father's memory.

Post-Heresy

The Raven Guard's small size meant their influence was limited compared to other legions, and they stayed mostly within the confines of Segmentum Tempestus. They played no role in founding any institutions of the Imperium unlike their brother legions, and seemed content to act as they always had, bringing death to any who would step out of line. Thus did they fade from the forefront, remaining the half-hidden blade, the sword of Damocles which threatened utter destruction. The few legionaries who still believed in Corax's ideals faded into the background, holding no influence in the legion under the Shade Lord and his successors. Thus did the legion begin to develop the start of a split personality, until the rise of the Deathwatch in the wake of the War of the Beast.

The Deathwatch

After the destruction of the Ork Empire of Ullanor and their remnants around the Chondax Sector, the orks were thought to be nearly extinct, scattered and incapable of uniting enough to seriously threaten Mankind again. Such estimates proved to be wildly over-confident, for less than fifteen hundred years later, a Waagh! of unparalleled size rampaged through the Imperium. Trillions died in the initial waves, as a mass migration of xenos smashed its way through the complacent worlds of Man in an unstoppable green tide.

Eventually, through heroic sacrifice, the legions managed to destroy the invaders, though not without heavy losses, including nearly a quarter of the Nineteenth Legion. In the wake of the War of the Beast, a new faction of the Inquisition was formed under orders from the last surviving primarch, Vulkan. Thus the Ordo Xenos came into being, whose job it was to watch the alien threats who menaced Mankind from without. They were to have a force of Astartes who formed the military arm of this new faction: the Deathwatch. Taken from every legion, the veterans of the Deathwatch were those who had shown particular skill and dedication toward excising the taint of the alien.

The Deathwatch was to inhabit a network of watch stations throughout the Imperium, an elite reaction force who would stop the myriad alien threats to the Imperium before another War of the Beast could occur. They would be led by Watch Masters, who reported only to the Inquisition. A large portion of the Deathwatch officer corps was taken from the Raven Guard, including the dreadnought Captain Branne Nev. Many of these veterans were those who had trained under the Sons of Deliverance, who had died forgotten and unmourned by the rest of the legion under the Shade Lords. Thus did they join the Deathwatch, giving their lives heroically in service of the Imperium, remembering the past as they imparted their wisdom to their new brothers.

The Raven Guard continue to second their members to the Deathwatch, and are one of the legions who do so the most. On occasion, high ranking officers will join as penance for failure in a campaign. One recent addition to the Deathwatch is Shadow Captain Korvydae, who is currently 'serving time' (as the Raven Guard call it) as a result of failure in the line of duty. A captain in the Knights of the Raven chapter, Korvydae was responsible for prosecuting a conflict against a newly-discovered human civilization in order to bring them into the Imperium. His forces were ambushed by a large mechanized force of the enemy, and few made it to safety. As penance for losing so many under his command, Korvydae resigned his position, and voluntarily joined the Deathwatch.

Having removed the source of conflict within itself, the Nineteenth became an altogether more brutal organization. Deliverance became a prison world once more, and the Legion shipped in criminals from surrounding sectors to boost the population and encourage survival of the fittest. The massive forges were turned over to agents of the Mechanicum, who ran the industry which provided the Legion with the tools they needed to wage war across the stars. Though the Raven Guard maintain their emphasis on stealth, terror remains their other primary weapon, and they remain aloof figures watching over the prisoners below, stepping in to induct the most promising into their ranks.

The Raven Guard have been drawn into many conflicts throughout the millennia, against all manner of opponents. From the vile T'au on the Eastern Fringe to the forces of Chaos during the Gothic War, the Raven Guard fight for humanity across the stars. A notable victory occurred in 996 M41 with the destruction of Waagh! Garaghak, which came close to threatening Deliverance itself. Smashing through the forces of the Elysian Imperial Guardsmen, the might of the Raven Guard hit the Waagh! head-on, breaking the greenskin menace and liberating the Forsarr Sector. Their sheer numbers took five chapters of the legion to subdue, a rare gathering of force, though a necessary one, for a single chapter would have been overwhelmed. However, the Raven Guard are never more united than when facing a common foe, and it became a textbook example of how to fight the orkish menace.

Homeworld, Recruitment, and Gene-seed

As the centuries passed, the Raven Guard gradually rebuilt their numbers. Without a primarch to bolster their ranks, the legion apothecaries were forced to experiment, searching for a way to regain their former size, which bore limited success. At the cost of irreparably damaging their gene-seed, the Raven Guard quickly grew in numbers, though the Nineteenth remained one of the smaller legions. Even today the Raven Guard are among the smallest, around the same size as the Salamanders and larger than only the Space Wolves. The gene-seed itself often rejects applicants, twisting the unfortunates into mutants that are given the Emperor's Peace by the legion apothecaries. However, waste is abhorrent to the Nineteenth, and any functional or non-mutated organs are extracted from the corpse before the body is burned as fuel in the legion's forges.

The genetic legacy of Corvus Corax leaves indelible markers on those it is implanted in, most noticeable being that hair and eye color darken to become pitch-black. In contrast, the skin begins to turn a pale white, bordering on an unhealthy corpse-like pallor. These effects are exacerbated by the degradation of the gene-seed, and Astartes of the Nineteenth Legion generally have at least one or two organs that do not work as they should. The pale skin is believed to be the result of a malfunctioning Melanochrome organ, which is designed to rapidly react to protect an Astartes from changes in radiation. In addition, the men of the Nineteenth lack the Betcher's Gland and Mucranoid organs entirely. These organs, which allow other Astartes to spit acid and survive extreme heat and cold, and even the vacuum of space for short times, simply refuse to grow, the zygotic implants never developing into what they should.

Located deep in the galactic south, almost at the edge of Imperial space, lies Deliverance. The light of the Astronomican shines but faintly here, and thus it is an incredibly backwater region of space, which suits the Raven Guard just fine. There is but one inhabitable planet in the system, Kiavahr, a planet around the size of Terra, with one inhabited moon named Deliverance orbiting it. Deliverance contains the fortress-monastery of the Nineteenth legion, and the entire moon is reserved only for the Legion and those they allow to land. The chapter is supplied by Kiavahr below, a world covered in industry and prisons. The planet itself has an incredibly thin atmosphere, thus all food must be imported or grown at great cost in hydroponic facilities. Dominating Deliverance stands the Ravenspire, the fortress-monastery designed by Corax to act as the hub of the Legion. It soars high above the buildings around it, its many rooms filled with aspirants in training, with a vast oratory located directly above the legion armories and reliquary. At the very top stand the quarters of the Shade Lord, and below them in descending fashion are quarters for the various officers, though these are rarely occupied while the Astartes are on campaign. Authority has its privileges, and the higher the rank, the closer the proximity to the top of the spire.

The Raven Guard system of recruitment is based entirely around carefully applied cruelty. From the moment a citizen of the Deliverance system is born, they are assigned a debt to work off, known as the weregeld. All citizens across the Imperium know they owe their lives to the God-Emperor for his continued protection, but the overlords of Deliverance take it one step further, assigning an actual amount to each citizen. This debt can be worked off in a number of ways: labor, trade, selling an organ, etc. Failure to make timely payments results in a trip to debtor's prison, and it is estimated around 7% of Deliverance is either in incarceration or has been at some point in their lives. The many manufactoria of Kiavahr require manpower to keep the wheels of industry turning, which is sated by purchase of rights to indentured labor; thus the prisoners are kept busy, taking time off their sentences in exchange for service to the Imperium. However, the most efficient way to remove this is to sell a son to the legion. Any family who has a son inducted into the ranks of the Raven Guard has their debt wiped away entirely. Such incentives ensure the Raven Guard never lacks for applicants.

When an aspirant is inducted into the Nineteenth Legion, they are put through a grueling regimen. The poor living conditions keep aspirants physically fit, so many recruits are shocked at the quality of nutrition paste they receive, designed to rapidly bulk them up. The bulk of training is similar to that of other Legions, though special attention is given to special operations. Throughout instruction, it is drilled into the minds of the aspirants of their innate superiority, and where exactly they fit into the hierarchy of importance. At the top is the God-Emperor of Mankind, who rules by his inexhaustible might and divine authority. Below him are the High Lords of Terra who speak with the voice of the God-Emperor, then the Shade Lord, and so on down the ranks. Below the lowest scout stands the common citizens of the Imperium, who are to be treated in accordance with his utility. Below that stands the mutant, the alien, and the traitor, in that order. Thus an intense disdain is fostered towards all those below them, and aspirants are encouraged to compete with each other while obeying those above to gain their favor.

Combat Doctrines and Organization

The Raven Guard is thus kept sharp by constantly striving against itself. All are encouraged to strive against their equals and look down upon those that are lesser, while giving complete obedience to those above them. Such an attitude is seen as arrogance by many others, but the Nineteenth learned long ago that trusting others only invites disaster. Survival of the fittest is supreme when these Astartes are not on campaign. However, there are exceptions, and the primary exception to this competition is the squad. As the aspirants ascend through the ranks, they are assigned to squads like every other legion. The members of the squads are required to rely on each other to survive, and the various squads are encouraged to compete with each other. The most successful squads receive greater privileges and are more likely to ascend in rank, thus encouraging competition amongst the squad. The squad rises and falls together, which fosters a greater sense of teamwork and intense bonds of brotherhood to those within the squad.

When an Aspirant becomes a fully-fledged Astartes, they are first assigned to the scout company. The various squads, which once competed against each other, are now forced to learn to work together, and their new affiliation becomes the company. Like other legions, the Raven Guard are formed into companies, generally around one hundred marines, which are then subordinate to chapters of around a thousand, though the numbers fluctuate depending on casualties and recruitment. It is unknown how many chapters comprise the legion, though thought to be around eighty chapters. Each chapter is almost entirely independent, maintaining their own recruitment from various regions of Deliverance, as well as a few worlds beyond. Most Raven Guard come from Deliverance, though there are a few chapters which prefer to do the bulk of their recruiting elsewhere, primarily on other prison worlds. The Raven Guard rarely act as a whole, but when they do, the results are astounding. Such a gathering of the entire chapter is called the Unkindness, and has only happened a handful of times in the past ten thousand years. For the most part, each chapter of the legion acts on its own, occasionally combining with one or two other chapters if need be as they respond to various threats across the Imperium.

The Raven Guard has maintained their emphasis on stealth tactics, though after the death of their primarch they have put greater emphasis on entirely different use of that stealth. Instead of remaining hidden throughout a conflict, only revealing themselves at a point where it was too late to stop them before withdrawing, the Raven Guard now focus on sowing terror during the campaign itself. They begin by infiltrating a planet, completing extensive scouting operations to reduce the chances of any surprises. After surveying the area and eliminating any preliminary risks, they will begin terror operations, sowing fear and discord as they perform assassinations and sabotage from the shadows, crippling the enemy's ability to fight back. Finally, once the enemy begins to turn on itself, seeing threats in every shadow, the Raven Guard strike with overwhelming force, swiftly overrunning the enemy's command structure and leaving them leaderless, easy pickings for mop-up operations, which are generally left to others. Emphasis on speed and brutality are hallmarks of Nineteenth Legion operations, and special care is taken to ensure that the enemy knows who crushed them. Imperial Guard often record the various markings which the Raven Guard leave, symbols that strike fear in the foe as much as they are symbols of hope to any who resist their oppressors.

Though the Raven Guard spurn weakness and those too weak to free themselves, the beleaguered populations on such worlds cling to them as saviors, beings who have come to free them from on high. In another time they might have been called angels, but the betrayal of the First and Ninth Legions has changed the connotation of such mythical figures. Instead the sons of Corax are the watchers from the shadows, the choosers of the slain who come to kill those that turn from the Emperor's grace. It is for this reason the sons of Corax are primarily deployed on rebellious worlds, where their methods are most effective. The Raven Guard are extremely secretive about their deployments, only revealing themselves when the time is right. Thus the enemies of the Imperium are kept off-balance, and many a planetary governor has had second thoughts about declaring independence, worrying that the vengeful sons of Corax might be sent in response.

The Raven Guard primarily fight against sedition in Segmentum Tempestus, though they fight across the galaxy where they are needed. When the High Lords of Terra need a world crushed, it is the Raven Guard whom they call to land the first blow. The Raven Guard maintain very close relations with the High Lords and good relations with the Ecclesiarchy, and are frequently called to work alongside the Imperial Guard, though the Astartes refuse to work directly with them, maintaining operational independence throughout. They have good relations with the Sons of Horus and the Mechanicus, neutral relations with other legions, and almost none with any other groups, scorning to build any close ties with those they see as weaklings. Their most common foes are rebelling human worlds, and they crush both separatists and heretics with equal fervor. Like all Astartes, the Raven Guard despise the Alien, and see them as inferior to humanity. Their most hated foes are the Traitor Astartes, and none more so than the War Hounds, who betrayed them at Istvaan so long ago. Even the commands of the High Lords cannot tear the Raven Guard away from a campaign against these most ancient of adversaries.

The chapter as a whole answers to the Legion Master who is called the Shade Lord. The Shade Lord exerts absolute authority, and the chapter masters exhibit absolute obedience in deference to the strongest among them. The Shade Lord spends most of his time on Deliverance itself, keeping watch over his various lieutenants, and acting as supreme arbiter in case of dispute. It is he who meets with the High Lords of Terra when they request an audience, and his staff which handle relations with outsiders. The fortress monastery contains a vast library, where all the Legion's records are kept, as well as secrets they would prefer to keep hidden, and only the Shade Lord and those he deems worthy are allowed in. It is unknown how he is chosen, though the Inquisition believes it involves a series of trials.

The current Shade Lord and Master of Deliverance is Corvin Severax, a mystery even to his own legion. Upon assuming command, he had his service record restricted, and maintained a low profile, sequestered on Deliverance. It is unknown how he obtained his position, though he assuredly has the confidence of his chapter masters, and has ruled unopposed for most of M41. When representatives request to speak with him, he acts through intermediaries who speak with his voice, usually Shadow Wardens, but sometimes others. He has released no recorded pronouncements, and has not named his successor, who is generally known by the title of Master of Shadows. However, the Inquisition believes the most likely candidate to be Kayvaan Shrike, who was named a Chapter Master over a century ago in 861 M41 for his successful campaign against the daemon prince Kor'sarro. Shrike is a master of the teachings of Corax, and is unusually humble for a Raven Guard, serving alongside other legions and improving the public image of the Nineteenth Legion as a whole by his heroism. It is unknown how Severax feels about these actions, but Shrike has never yet been censured by the Shadow Wardens.

Shadow Wardens

In the early days of the Great Crusade, the Shadow Wardens were the elite bodyguard of the primarch, though they were more ceremonial than functional, for all the primarchs were exceptional fighters. During the Istvaan Massacre, they were ordered away from his side, Corax preferring to save as many legionaries as he could. Only a small handful survived the Heresy, and when Arkhas Fal returned to the legion, they rallied to him, swearing to protect him and his successors. The surviving Wardens were bolstered by the addition of Kaedes Nex's band of Moritats, though there are estimated to be less than a hundred total as of M41.

As time passed and the culture of the legion changed, the duties of the Shadow Wardens changed from bodyguard to enforcer, and the office became akin to a Herald of the Word Bearers or an Arbiter of the Night Lords. Each Warden holds a rod of office, which denotes his absolute authority delegated to him by the Shade Lord. They are dispatched to the disparate chapters with tasks of particular import, and would watch and judge the efficacy of the chapter as they completed the task, whatever it may be. If dedication to the legion was found wanting, or insufficient rates of success, the Wardens were empowered to depose the commander, regardless of rank, and appoint a new successor from amongst the captains to take his place. Questioning the authority or rationale would result in severe punishment, and by the end of the 41st Millennium, the Wardens were unquestioned, if rarely seen. It is believed they spend most of their time in the Ravenspire, ready to act upon the commands of their master. Upon the death of a Shade Lord, it is the Wardens who announce the new Legion Master, and who stand in the shadows watching as the Reclusiarch bestows the symbols of office upon the new Shade Lord.

In recent years, the Raven Guard have found a new enemy, the T'au. The T'au are a race of xenos inhabiting the Eastern Fringe known for their rapidly-advancing technology. Such careless advancement has made them mortal enemies with the Adeptus Mechanicus, who petitioned the High Lords for aid in crushing their fledgling empire. In response, the High Lords dispatched several chapters of the Nineteenth Legion, and battle was joined. The naïve xenos proved highly susceptible to the terror tactics of the Nineteenth Legion, and their forces were in full retreat until the arrival of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth forced the Raven Guard to withdraw to support other forces. Since then, legends of murderous shadows in the night continue to terrorize worlds near the borderlands of the T'au Empire, and many an Imperial Governor has thought twice about selling out his world in case one of those shadows finds its way into his palace.

Beliefs and Warcry

Despite their disdain for the masses of humanity considered weak and below them, the Raven Guard are the legion with the highest rate of belief in the divinity of the God-Emperor. The sprawling prisons of Kiavahr are breeding grounds for superstition, and the Legion has never been able to fully break these habits from their recruits. The God-Emperor is seen as the pinnacle of humanity, as someone who was so strong he ascended to godhood under his own power, and thus do the legionaries aspire to carry on his ideals. This cult of strength, drilled into their heads from even before they join the legion, leads to legionaries who scorn individual humans as weak and fragile, but value humanity as a whole in what they believe to be the same manner as the Emperor. Thus any atrocity can be excused in service of making the Imperium stronger, culling it of its weak elements who would only bring down those around them. There is no greater sin than being weak, and no greater sign of weakness than those who would turn their back on the light of the Emperor. Heresy is seen as a moral weakness, and treachery as a spiritual failing which must be corrected by any means necessary, expunged before it can spread to others.

The Raven Guard are shepherded in this mindset through the omnipresent ministrations of the Chaplaincy, and maintain the highest number of chaplains of any legion. The Chaplaincy, originally founded to ensure moral discipline in the legions after the Edict of Nikaea, has taken on an entirely different aspect in the Nineteenth. Raven Guard Chaplains are seconded to Shrine Worlds of the Ecclesiarchy in much the same way as Techmarines are sent to Mars, and there they learn the tenets of faith to bring back to their chapters. The Chaplains ensure their brothers remain faithful, willing to do whatever must be done in service of the Emperor. The Master of Sanctity, the highest chaplain in the legion, is seen as a source of spiritual guidance, followed by the Reclusiarch, who oversees the vast chambers below the Ravenspire that serve as the legion's reliquary. The office has taken on a sacral character, and oversees the crowning of a new Shade Lord. The crowning over the millennia has become an elaborate ceremony where the Master of Sanctity receives the oath of office of new Shade Lords, who pledges his undying fidelity to Legion and Emperor. After he gives his oaths, he is anointed by the Reclusiarch with sacred oils before placing the helm of office upon their brow.

The Raven Guard reserve the bulk of their devotion for the God-Emperor, though heroes in the legion's past are treated in a similar fashion similar to saints of the Ecclesiarchy. It is believed they watch over the Legion from the Emperor's side, interceding on their behalf to gain blessings. The highest saint is First Lord Arkhas Fal, who gave his life as a martyr against the forces of Chaos long ago and set the legion on its path. Comparatively little attention is paid to Corvus Corax, their barely remembered father whose name shows up only in certain litanies, generally those relating to stealth.

In contrast to the emphasis on the Chaplaincy, they maintain the fewest librarians of any legion: none at all. The warp is seen as a taint, a failing of the soul in defiance of the Emperor's decree to ban the use of psychic powers. Though the Edicts of Nikaea fell to the wayside after the Heresy, the Raven Guard remember the Emperor's law, as well as their own primarch's disapproval of such powers. Similar to the Word Bearers, any acts of the Empyrean are seen as manifestations of the Emperor's will in them. There are no 'librarians' in the Nineteenth Legion, only Chaplains, who use the light of the God-Emperor to inspire their brethren around them. The librarians of other legions are seen as moral failings, a stain upon those legions, and navigators are seen as a necessary evil. Enemy psykers are an evil to be destroyed at the earliest opportunity.

The Raven Guard maintain the same matte black armor color that they have worn since the Heresy. This allows them to better hide in the darkness, and is symbolic of their status as sinners unworthy to stand in the Emperor's light. Even techmarines wear black instead of the usual red of Mars, though one shoulder pauldron is painted red in deference to the Mechanicus. Veterans of the legion are permitted to add white as a mark of status. Their shoulders still bear the white raven's head, the symbol of watchfulness and wisdom.

When throwing off the shadows and entering battle, the most common warcry is "Victorus aut Mortis", which is a High Gothic phrase meaning 'victory or death'. This motto perfectly encapsulates the attitude of the Nineteenth Legion: victory must be achieved, by any means no matter how brutal. Failure is a weakness, weakness is a sin, and to sin invites death. Thus do the Raven Guard fight without regard for morals or undue concern for their own lives. Other common phrases include invocations to the God-Emperor, and the Chaplains of the Raven Guard are known for their inspiring oratory.

Kayvaan Shrike stepped out of the lift, the doors whispering shut behind him automatically. He walked through the antechamber of the Reclusiam, the sacred halls beneath the Ravenspire Oratory. It was silent down here, the thick walls dampening all sound from above. He inclined his head to the chaplains who guarded this sacred place, walking past them as they tended to the sacred relics which rested here. In times of great necessity, the weapons of war would be removed, bestowed on various worthies as they prepared to embark on a crusade. Shrike himself had been lucky enough to receive such a relic: the Raven's Talons, relic lightning claws said to have been crafted by the primarch himself. There were those that frowned upon such a choice, disapproving of the implications of such a selection, though never to his face. Most others deemed worthy to bear such an honor chose relics from previous Shade Lords, heroes who exemplified the brutal strength of the Raven Guard. Those claws were back in his quarters though, and Shrike wore the simple black robe of an initiate, humbling himself as all who entered the reliquary must do. The reliquary was a place to acknowledge the strength of those who had gone before, and it was not considered a weakness to pay homage to these fallen heroes.

However, Shrike did not stop at the normal shrines, continuing beyond the relic chambers into the dark halls that lay further within. All Astartes can see in the dark, and so the low light was no challenge at all. Such teachings were true to the brotherhood of shadows that bound all sons of the Raven, and thus the further into the reliquary one went, the darker it got, until there was no light at all. Shrike passed fallen Shade Lords of days gone by, those who had fallen millennia before, before coming to a halt at the deepest, final chambers of the Ravenspire, where the rooms were entirely shadowed and even an Astartes struggled to see in the pure blackness. The silence here was oppressive, and dust filled the room. Shrike was the only visitor to this shrine, though he was not able to attend as often as he would like. It was no understatement that the Shade Lords cared not for this place, and would rather it be forgotten entirely.

He knelt down, and prostrated himself before a simple tomb of black marble. Shrike prayed for guidance as he recited silently the familiar litanies before the tomb, looking up at the inscription on the sepulcher's headstone: Corvus Corax, son of the Emperor, Primarch of the Nineteenth Legion.

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A/N: Here we have the Raven Guard, the first to be majorly changed, at least in terms of the legion after the Heresy. Please feel free to leave comments and thoughts, what you liked and what you didn't, any references you spotted, etc. Next up will be the Salamanders, where we'll get our first good look at the Siege of Terra.