The Shrikeborn

Warband of the Night Lords Legion

Commander: Stained Lord Tovach Carrow

Doctrine: Precision terror strikes, aerial decapitation raids, psychological warfare

“We are not monsters. We are the memory of justice, sharpened into a talon.”

— Stained Lord Tovach Carrow, before the Fall of Virex Spire

The Shrikeborn are a feared Night Lords warband known for their surgical terror strikes and Raptor-led aerial assaults, but unlike many of their kin, they are not wholly consumed by madness or daemonic corruption. They are led by Tovach Carrow, the Stained Lord, a warrior who bears the weight of Nostramo’s fall like a chain around his soul.

Carrow is a paradox among the Night Lords: a killer who mourns, a terrorist who remembers justice. Once a noble enforcer on Nostramo before its collapse into anarchy, he has never forgiven himself for the role he played in the Legion’s descent. His warband, the Shrikeborn, reflects this duality- ruthless in execution, yet measured in purpose. They strike only military targets, avoid civilian massacres, and leave behind symbols of judgment, not chaos.

The Shrikeborn descend from the skies like shadows given form; Raptors and Warp Talons screaming through the air, sowing panic and confusion. But where others revel in slaughter, Carrow’s warriors operate with cold precision, often targeting enemy commanders, psykers, or morale units to break the will of the foe before vanishing into the night. The lightning-shrouded forms of most Night Lords is absent among the Shrikeborn, their dark blue armor only adorned with the trophies of those judged and found wanting.

Carrow’s title, Stained Lord, is not a boast, but a burden- a reminder of the blood on his hands, and the honor he strives to reclaim in a galaxy that has long since forgotten it.

Origins and Philosophy

The Shrikeborn are a splinter warband of the VIII Legion, the Night Lords, forged in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy by survivors of Nostramo’s destruction and the Legion’s fragmentation. Led by Stained Lord Tovach Carrow, a former enforcer and assault sergeant, the Shrikeborn are unique among their kin for their measured use of terror and their rejection of wanton slaughter.

Where many Night Lords have descended into madness, daemonic worship, or nihilism, the Shrikeborn cling to a fractured code of honor: a belief that fear is a weapon to be wielded with precision, not indulgence. They strike from the skies with Raptors and Warp Talons, but their targets are chosen with care: command structures, psykers, oathbreakers, and those who spread false justice.

Notable Engagements

The Fall of Hive Virex

A textbook Shrikeborn operation. Raptors under Claw Leader Narvok severed the hive’s command structure in under seven minutes. The Dirgebound followed to execute the remaining leadership. No civilian casualties were recorded—only silence and fear.

The Burning of Kharon’s Reach

A rogue Inquisitor had begun experimenting on captured Night Lords gene-seed. The Shrikeborn launched a retaliatory strike, eliminating the Inquisitor and his retinue. Carrow personally executed the Inquisitor in a public square, broadcasting the act across the system.

The Siege of Varnak Spire

A prolonged engagement against a Black Templars crusade. The Shrikeborn fought a defensive war of shadows and attrition, ultimately retreating with minimal losses after assassinating the Templar Castellan.

Current Disposition: Mercenaries of the Ebon Word

In the current era, the Shrikeborn operate as mercenary allies of the Ebon Word, a Word Bearers warband known for their dark sermons and loyalty to the Despoiler. Though ideologically opposed, the alliance is one of mutual utility: The Ebon Word provides access to forbidden knowledge, relics, and warp routes. The Shrikeborn offer elite strike forces capable of surgical terror raids and precision decapitation strikes.

Carrow tolerates the Word Bearers’ zealotry only so far. He forbids daemonic possession within his ranks and has executed several Ebon Word cultists for attempting to “bless” his warriors. The alliance is tense, but effective, a pact of necessity, not belief.

The Shrikeborn are currently deployed in the Terraic Marches, a region of bless Imperial cathedral-worlds and hive-planets where they serve as shock troops and assassins for the Ebon Word’s crusade against the Imperium’s domineering Ecclesiarchy.

Structure and Key Figures

Stained Lord Tovach Carrow – Commander and moral anchor of the warband. A figure of mournful dignity who seeks to preserve a shadow of the Legion’s original purpose.

Headsman Kordesh – Master of Executions, ritual killer and enforcer of internal discipline.

Flaymaster Amathys – Warp Talon leader, a warp-touched predator who retains a flicker of loyalty and lucidity.

Claw Leader Navir Xikas – Chosen leader, tactician and executor of Carrow’s will.

Claw Leader Sarran Narvok – Raptor commander, master of aerial terror tactics and psychological warfare.

The Dirgebound – Contekar Terminator cadre, silent and relentless, deployed for final judgment.

Legacy

The Shrikeborn are feared not for their brutality, but for their restraint. In a galaxy of excess and madness, they are a reminder that terror can be a scalpel, not just a hammer. They are the last echo of Nostramo’s justice, twisted, bloodstained, but not yet broken.