Corvid Lords

[dark artisan]

Hi guys, Ive been making my own DIY chapter for a while to collect at 6th ed, I thought I might see the reaction to the fluff.

 

While I know that loyalists with traitor gene seed is frowned upon in terms of fluff, I have posted this on the fanon 40k wiki along with 8 other loyalist and traitor pairings.

 

Here we go!

 

History:

 

During the Great Crusade, there was a Night Lord assault marine who went by the name of Zeo Carron. He was amazing warriors, significantly stronger and faster then the average marines. So much so, that they were promoted by Konrad Curze to Lead the Legions 8th company after only 40 years as a Night lord , a promotion almost unheard of for a marine so young. Zeo had always been said to possess the gift of Precognition, Much like his Primarch-father Konrad Curze. Zeo and konrad had a good relationship in the days before the heresy. Zeo loved Konrad as a son loves his father (not unlike the relationship between horus and Abaddon) and Konrad finding an odd kinship with Konrad. They were believed to be the same spiritually, as Zeo was also left to raise himself and both possessed the gift of foreknowledge.

However While Both Konrad and Zeo were strong allies, He had never lost his admiration for the emperor. And sadly for Konrad, His Faith was unshakable...

 

Fleeing the Legion to warn the Emperor:

 

While Zeo had seen the good in the Night lords ways, he had always felt that they're could be better ways to bring people to the emperors rule other than frighting them and hanging peoples bodies from street lamps. This feeling was further buoyed by the fact that people viewed them as monsters and freaks. Zeo believed that they could change there image (and by doing that, the way people viewed them) by changing there tactics. However he never said this to Konrad, lest he fell out of favour with his Spiritual father. However, as more time went on and there enemies began to surrender quicker and more readily. Zeo Could not hold his silence any more and spoke out. After Explaining his idea, Konrad Curze Ridiculed the Captain and told him he was turning soft.

After the conversation between Zeo Carron and Konrad Curze. There was a change in Konrad's attitude. He was even less friendly to people than before, quicker to anger and more violent and temperamental. It was around this time the visions started to increase in both lucidity and quantity. As the night Lords campaigns became more Violent and less justifiable, Zeo Carron had A precognitive vision; he had a vision of Konrad destroying Nostramo (shown as a long haired pale man crushing a ball of darkness in his fist) and the visions of the horus heresy (shown as 9 beings made of pure shadow and 9 being made of undiluted light waging war against each other). Knowing from past experiences that the vision was most likely correct, Zeo Gathered every member of the 8th company that weren't at war and fled for Terra in his personal battle barge to warn the emperor of what he saw would come to pass...

 

However, the Chaos Gods had other plans...

 

Conviction and Founding:

 

After taking the few Night Lords that weren't In battle at the moment of leaving, he left for Terra to try to warn The emperor. However when he made the warp jump from the Nostramo sector, the chaos gods intervened. Knowing that if Zeo warned the emperor of what would come to pass then there plans would likely fall to ash, they trapped the ship in a warpstorm for 500 years and threw it far off course to a small Night World called Umbra, which at the time was being assaulted by the Night Lords while the raven guard tried against the odds to defend it with the few remaining marines that hadn't been killed. Confused and disorientated, Zeo Carron and his warriors believed that only a few years had passed in the warp and this was a desperate battle to stop the Night lords from getting to Terra to Kill the emperor, they were half right.

The Loyal Night lords touched down on the planet as quickly as physically possible to help defend the planet against there traitor brothers. As the Ship, still bearing the colours of the Night lords touched down, both forces thought of it as Reinforcements to help get rid of the raven guard. However as soon it dropped down, It was apparent that this was not the case, as Zeo and his men fought with fury and hatred unbound against their traitorous brothers. The Raven guard were astonished by this. Even more so when the battle had ended. They waited until the imperial authorities landed to take them away to be put on trial.

 

Because of the brutality of what the Night Lords had done during the time he had left to warn the emperor, the odds of being allowed into the Imperium were bordering on impossibility. And it Would of been, had it not of been for the Raven Guard's intervention. The Few Raven Guard marines and scouts that had survived the battle testified valiantly on there behalf, as well as pointing out that they fought against there own brothers attempt to try to reach Terra to kill the Emperor. After 2 weeks of this trial (including each and every survivor being subject to the ordeal of the blade), the Night Lord Loyalists were found innocent of all charges.

 

Like the Knights of Lupercal or the Shadow of the Gamma Dragon, The Loyalists were allowed to tag along with the Chapter who had defended them. Giving them a Small Amount of recruits to continue on in a tiny group. Most were oblivious that these marines were night lords, the only ones who knew the full list of Night Lord Marines were the chapter master, the Chief Librarian, The High Chaplain and the Captains, as well as each Marine who was a Night Lord knew that they were of Konrad Curze's heritage. However, slowly but surely the Night Lord's numbers dwindled with times when the death tolls had been heavy, an apothecary could not recover a gene seed or the gene seed was irrecoverable due to the recruit being too young. At the rate things were going, The Heritage of Konrad Curze would die out frighteningly quickly. With no other Option, they reluctantly requested for a chapter to be made so to continue the heritage and stop there gene seed from dying out completely. Had it not of been for the Raven guard's help once again, then it would of been doomed to fail.

 

At the Time, the Imperium had been trying to get as much Raven guard Gene seed to help make up for the rather small amount of successors they formed in the second founding. The Raven Guard knew this and offered to supply gene seed for a successor on one condition; The Night Lords Gene seed could be used as well as the Raven guards. Knowing that the raven guard wouldn't likely back down, they reluctantly accepted to make the joint chapter. And so, the Corvid Lords were born.

 

Homeworld:

 

There Homeworld is the Night World known as Noctis, which is a partial translation of night in a forgotten language. It is, as the name suggest, a night world and a hive world. With several Hive gangs ruling supreme. Some have described it as a cross between Necromunda and Nostramo. The Main Gangs are highly loyal to the emperor produce tough and skilled youths, but unlike the Nostramo gangs of old, posses a sense of honour and loyalty., supplying the Corvid Lords with fresh recruits regularly. Noctis was primarily chosen due to its similarity with Nostramo, allowing the Night Lords of Old to still base on a world much like their own and recruit wholesome members who could still use the tactics effectively but not commit the atrocities of the gang recruited Night Lords of Nostramo.

 

Flaws and Mutations:

 

The Shadow Lords have a quite Flawed Gene-seed considering there founding date. In fact many people assume they are of the 21st founding due to the high level of mutations in there seed. This has raised questions on why these problems are not looked into more. However they have been looked into and it seems, while every spare moment that the chapter's Apothecaries have is being used to try to banish the problem, there seems to be no way to remove the flaws that plague their Gene-seed.

In Full the Mutations and flaws that they suffer from there gene-seed are:

 

Minor Mutations and Flaws:

 

Like one of there parent chapters; the Raven Guard, the Shadow Lords suffer From a Mutation in the Melanchromic Organ which allows a Space Marine's skin to adjust to incoming levels of solar radiation, it causes the skin of a Raven Guard member to lose its pigment, regardless of its original hue. Eventually, like one of there parent chapters, the skin becomes pure white while the hair and eyes darken, until they become jet black. However, unlike the Raven Guard, the Mucranoid has started to grow and function again over the centuries, why is unknown but it is speculated that the experiments to obliterate the flaws in the gene seed have reactivated the part of the gene-seed that controls Mucranoid organ. As well as this there seems to be several minor "abilities" which are like the watered down versions of either Corvus Corax's or Konrad Curze's latent abilities. While not inherently powerful and not as widespread as the gene seed organ failure or malfunction. Scouts occasionally become passively imperceptible to their enemies when hiding in the shadows, allowing for these scouts to coordinate small ambushes on enemy patrols. Stranger still is the precognitive flash that all marines have, although very few can access these consciously and those that have, to many their powers are limited to brief flashes of an abstract warning or freeze frames for a split second.

 

Major Mutations and Flaws:

 

However for all these minor flaws, there is one terrible mutation that hangs over there head, a drastic imperfection referred to only as the Curse. This Gene Seed Fault is Most Unusual. All Corvid Lords possess minor precognition, perceived mostly in dreams and even then only slight glimpses of an enemy that they will come up against landing a blow somewhere on the body of the marine or slight glimpses of there next warzone, but its rarely accurate. However the few times when it is, can be devastatingly effective to the marine. Despite this, many times marines become engulfed in visions, some of which are specific to someone else in the galaxy. The marine has his mind trapped in future visions as another person in different horrific circumstances. While these visions may seem to take him through days, week or even months, it "happens" faster than the speed of light. Forgetting everything of his past life as a marine. The unforchunate occasionally has what he believes to be flashbacks. Where as in fact they are times when his mind briefly returns to the present. To this date, they still don't know what causes this, but it is most likely night lords gene seed mixing badly with the Raven Guard's. With no way to reverse the process and no way to make then realise that what they are experiencing is little more than a dream and a hallucination, the Marine's are loosely organised into a group known as the Dreamwalkers. Not Unlike the Blood Angels Death Company, these "Dreamwalkers" are directed against the Enemy in an attempt to bring them peace from the terrifyingly vivid dreams that they suffer from.

 

Notable Members of the Corvid Lords:

The Corvid Lords, like many other chapters, have produced many great heroes. Here are just a few of them:

 

Zeo Carron: The Night lord captain who was responsible for founding the chapter. Became first Chapter Master (or Nightmare Child, as the title was later renamed) after the Chapter was founded. Died after trying to kill a Night Lord Daemon Prince who went by the name of Teamo Calliga. Is seen as the Spiritual Patriarch for the Shadow Lords.

 

Shane Atra: One of the Several Night Lords that Founded the chapter and close friend of Zeo Carron. Became the First Chief Librarian (Shadow Prophet) of the Chapter. Was Killed during the battle of the Twelve Pillar, where he was turn asunder by the Night Lord Shassal Kayne.

 

Kyeris Noir: Current Chapter Master (Nightmare Child) of the Corvid Lords. Highly Gifted Librarian. With his powerful abilities, he is able to wrap large amounts of people in shadows and obliterate there presence from many people at once. He seems completely unaffected by the Curse. However, only time will tell weather he truly is immune or just hiding it or trying desperately to suppress it with his powerful abilities.

 

The Twins Zso and Taelo Rasorn: Two Twins, Both possessing an affinity with machines. Zso leads the 7th company and Taelo leads the 8th company, both of which, due to there skill with technology, have taken joint title as Master of the Forge.

 

Atrer Devoveo: The short fated Captain of the 3rd Company. Fell victim to the curse and was placed under the Dreamwalker unit. Died after infiltrating a titan and, once slaughtering the crew, detonated the power core with several melta bombs.

 

Konrad Taso: Captain of the second company. A highly deranged individual, Konrad seems to enjoy using terror tactics to intimidate his enemies. Broadcasting screams or gothic chanting over vox networks are his prime methods. He wears a black suit of power armour, lightning shimmering over its black surface. He also wears the Claws of the Curze and a single thruster jump pack with stylized raven wings.

 

Dvorac Ymatr: Scout Lord of the 10th Company. Dvorac is a cold, unforgiving individual. Initiates are trained extensively under his command before being assigned to companies as scouts in order to make them almost invisable to their enemies and every capable of murdering the enemy before they knew what hit them. He strives to make sure that every scout that is on the field is a large threat to the enemy. Wears scout armour and carries the Duskrifle.

 

Relics and Artifacts:

 

Staff of Midnight (Force Staff)

 

A long thin Staff of Obsidian, This Artefact has the power to confuse, terrify and even kill. The Staff contains part of the essence, mental power and maybe even part of Konrad's Soul (prior to his Corruption), reading the minds of the enemy, it projects there worst fears, and can make projections of monsters, these Images can seem so real that those not so fleet of mind believe themselves slain and so just keel over and die. It also has other qualities. For one, it's also telepathicly connected to those who use it, projecting the thoughts of the enemy combatant, allowing them to dodge all but the quickest of blows. It also Boosts the Precognitive powers of its wielder. Currently, its wielder is Chapter Master Kyeris Noir.

 

Spectral Ghostplate (Armour)

 

A Mysterious Piece of Armour, this Spectral Suit of Power Armour has been requested by The Adeptus Mechanicus many times, each time they have had the Armour and had not discovered the origin of its secrets. This Power Armour has the unique ability to phase through walls, much like the Astral Phantoms. Due to the nature of this armour, the only person permitted to wear it is Shadow Lord Kyeris Noir.

 

Claws of The Curze (Lightning Claws)

 

A pair of lightning claws rippling with power, these are said to date back to the heresy and were crafted by a now unknown artificer for the night lords. Said to of been one of the items that M'shen looted before her escape and ultimate death at the hands of Talos, they are extremely sharp and seem to find weak points in the armour of their foes. It is currently held by Konrad Taso, captain of the second company.

 

Sword of Traitors Damnation (Relic Blade):

 

This Rune Etched sword made of Obsidian was the One used by the First Chief Librarian (Shadow Prophet) Shane Atra. The Obsidian Blade runes glow A Deep Blood Red suggesting an inner power. This Blade is sharp enough to cut through almost all forms of armour without its power field. But when its activated, no form of protection will protect the Foe. At the current point in time. Its held by The Librarian Kaelo Xel, the first this this mighty force weapon hasn't been wielded by the Chief Librarian.

 

Blade of Axellion (Force Weapon):

 

Axellion Damose was an Imperial inquisitor of formidable psychic ability, who angered the Shadow Lords, in particular Konrad Taso during a war against the Night Lords. The war was lasting a lot longer than it should of and Axellion Damose was getting fustrated and bitter towards the Corvid Lords, accusing them of discussing tactics with the enemy during their stealth missions. He didn't relent until Konrad told his entire company and even the inquisitors forces to stand down and return to their ships. After this he walked into the darkness and wasn't seen for 4 days. After this Axellion got a request to board his ship from Konrad. Accepting, Axellion was shocked when a battered and Bloodied but still angered Konrad, still wielding his Claws of the Curze and his midnight black armour, entered the inquisitors private champers and placed the head of the night Lords commander on his desk, and simply walked away. A week later, Axellion sent his force weapon to Konrad as a peace offering. Konrad begrudgingly accepted the apology from the Inquisitor and have the sword to a good friend in the chapters librarium. It is wielded by the Librarian Saal Yao.

 

The Duskrifle (Sniper Rifle)

 

It is unknown where this sniper rifle came from, but it seems to have the curious ability to delay the reaction time (or slow down time, it is unknown which) around its target. Guards stand frozen in time for valuable seconds while their commander falls. This makes it highly effective at assasinating commanders. It is wielded by Scout lord Dvorac Ymatr.

 

Chapter Colours:

The Main Colours of the Chapter are similar to the raven guards colours, with the lower headpiece painted white. A strange anomality also plays across the armour of some veterans, lightning arcing over the armour plates in the same fashion as the traitor night lords. The right shoulder pad trim changes between companies for tactical marines while devastators and assault marines all have the same coloured trim.

Dreamwalkers have their arms and shoulder pads painted white to show respect that the marine has fallen so deep in the shadows of the two primarchs that his might may illuminate the way for him.

 

Scouts have a very dark armour, with the only bright parts being the white shoulder pads and chest eagle, however due to Corax's legacy and Konrad's shadow, this is not an issue in regards to stealth.

 

[lightning strike phononima not applied for simplicity]

 

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120625212409/warhammer40kfanon/images/thumb/f/f0/Shadow_lords_Tactical_Marine.jpg/370px-Shadow_lords_Tactical_Marine.jpg

A Tactical Marine of the Second Company

 

http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120626063331/warhammer40kfanon/images/thumb/a/ab/Veterain.jpg/370px-Veterain.jpg

A Standard Veteran of the 1st Company

 

http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120626163132/warhammer40kfanon/images/thumb/5/58/Scout_Crovid.jpg/370px-Scout_Crovid.jpg

A Regular Scour of the Corvid Lords

 

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120626063420/warhammer40kfanon/images/thumb/e/e0/Dreamwalker.jpg/370px-Dreamwalker.jpg

The Dreamwalker Units.

 

http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120626202122/warhammer40kfanon/images/thumb/4/4a/Finished_Test_006.jpg/617px-Finished_Test_006.jpg

Pict Image of the Lightning anomaly that plays across their armour

 

What do you think?

[fivepointedstar]

you have a well written IA there Dark Artisan :tu:

But here are a few things that you might wanna edit. I'm thinking at one point you called them "Shadow Lords" but you forgot to proof edit them out, and "add-in" Corvid Lords. Also the part of explaining the chapter master before the homeworld Id take that out since you go into further detail later on who's who in your army. I'd also think about reducing the amount of unneccisary info on allies, and enemies or consolodate them into a paragragh each on why they ally, or hate these factions.

 

BTW its a good read. It's just theres much your trying to put into one chapter. You might want to elaberate on their homeworld, explain to us readers why they choose this place to recruit from. You did state they are a hearty ganger society, but that just sounds like a excuse to tie in there roots with the Night Lords.

[dark artisan]

Glad you like it. I did originally call them shadow lords and I've tried to change the references to this old name, can you point where you found the name shadow lords and Ill change it.

 

Also, i agree on the allies and enemies section. All chapters hate chaos followers and fight alongside others, its not necessarily worth the time to write.

 

As for the homeworld, I figured the fact that it was a hive and night world would of been a good reason, it reminded them of Nostramo, but the gangs still had justice and honor so they had strong recruits with a good moral fibre (like the Nostramo citizens of the Dornian heresy in the 41st millennium). Ill write that part in though.

 

The inspiration for this came from reading tons on the raven guard and the dornian heresy (as well as the horus heresy) night lords. Konrad and Corax were just light and dark reflections of each other and thats what makes them cool (especially their fight), there so alike, thats why fate deemed that the loyalist night lords would find the Raven Guard at the start of the heresy.