Raven Guard fluff from Extermination

[Valtonis]

-From its earliest days, known as cunning patient hunters, adept at biding their time until the moment to strike was at hand.
the proto-Legion demostrated its skill at reconnaissance and target identification and ability to transition from inscrutable watchfulness to rapid attack in a blink of an eye.
-waged war by infiltrating into position, studying their enemy and when the time was right striking from the least anticipated quarter and slaying the foe outright in a bloody, yet brief assault.
-when the legion was reunited with Corax, theirs was a form of warfare exemplifying speed, stealth and precision, which was codified into their doctrine

-The Emperor's hidden hand, vengeful sentinels against recidivism and harrowers of those who would sooner flee than bend the knee.</p>
-emerging from the shadows, they would attack without warning, their methods enabling them to engage foes far more numerous than themselves</p>
-when enemies did not fall in short order, they would withdraw back into the shadows to attack from another quarter, bleeding the enemy dry and denying him any chance to counter attack, regroup or take the initiative

- how many battles they took part in is unknown as even after a battle is won they remained hidden, only after they had been reunited with Corax would they come into the light but even then they shuned laurels and rarely courted adualtion

-the original Terran recruits were drawn from the techno-savages of the

Xeric tribes from the Asiatic Dustfields (basically East asia)
-savage yet technologically adept people that made constant war upon one another and their neigbours with relentless fury
they have a propensity for cruelty when orderd to attack and a disdainful attitude to those they consider weak
-their culture demanded that a vanquished enemy be watched over and any hint of recidivism crushed utterly lest the subjugated rise up in strength against the victor
-the XIX inherited this mindset and it became one of its most distinctive characteristics (Carcharodons, anyone?)

-during the campaign against Kalagann of Ursh, the XIX took the brunt of their psyker-wrought weapons and many veterans were touched by a darkness they never recovered from, some going on to sacrifice their lives in suicidal charges while others became the solitary forerunners of the Legion Moritats
-tasked with scouring the Jovian moon of Lysithea, the xenos were annilated and victory claimed at the cost of the settlers lives as well as a large number of XIX
-many of the vets from the battle were recalled from service by the masters of the Emperor's gene-forges, never to return to their legion
-no similar instance of Legionaries being withdrawn in such a manner is recorded

In the Shadow of Wolves
-XIX was created in the latter stages of the Unification Wars but it would be almost 2 centuries before it was reunited with its Primarch
-the Luna Wolves was reunited with Horus very early on and it was not unusual for the XIX to fight alongside the Luna Wovles
-Horus valued ths skills of the XIX and the 2 legions complemented each other well
- when the Luna Wolves launched their sudden and overwhelming assaults, the XIX were already in positin to block off lines of retreat and cut down foes that try to escape
-when Horus led his Legion in the opening campaigns of the Great Crusade, he often requested the XIX serve beside the Luna Woves and even as the LW swelled with recruits from Cthonia, the XIX remained comparatively small and it was observed that horus treated the XIX like a chapter of his Legion rather than a separate Legion
-XIX remained close to their Terran roots and were observe to apply war paint made of Asiatic dust to theri faces on the eve of a battle, this gave rise to the LW giving them several titles among which were, Pale Nomads and the Dust Clad

Under the Raven's Banner
-Corax was quick to impose the style of war he had perfected on Lycaeus over that which had come to define the XIX. melding stealth and guile with vigilance and swiftness
-much of the native demeamour of the old XIX, particularly the cold-blooded ways were purged
-Legion had served so often in oppression, repression and occupation foreces that Corax saw in some of the Terrans something similar to the slavers of Lycaeus
-several high ranking officers were displaced or re-assigned to non-command roles
-including Lord Arkhas Fal, who had commanded the XIX for 3 decades before the return of Corax

-Corax defeated Guilliman in Guilliman's strategio-simulacra by making use of several unconventional troop types including the forerunners of the Moritat
-commissioned several innovations from Mechanicum, all of them to further enhance stealth and speed
-Shadowhawk, Thunderhawk variant, which is invisble to all but the most sensitive of augurs
-Whispercutter, open airframe flyer, capable of dropping 10 legionaries into a war zone in utter silence and zero chance of detection
-created by the Kiavahr artificers which were independent from Mars and the Mechanicum
-they also created all manner of systems at the behest of the Raven Guard

The Mark V
-2 year engagement against the Eldar in the Scalland Campaign was used the the field test for the first thousand set of prototype armor that would later be known as the MkVI
- although at the time it was known as the MkV
- it had been submitted to the Iron Warriors and Salamanders Legions wohow both complained about the lack of heavy plating and pushed for it to be revised for a heavy assault role
-mass combat trial deemed neccessary to determine the effectiveness of the original design before abandoning it
-internal politics saw the honor bestowed upon the RG, depleted in number after the fighting int he Akum-Sothos Cluster
-speculation suggests that a faction among the Primarchs and legion commanders, led by Perturabo, intended this assignment to an under-strength Legion to be the death-knell of the MkVI armor
- that backfired spectacularly as the RG performed admirably using the advanced auto-senses and agility of the new armor the hound the Eldar in a series of stike-and-fade attacks that decimated them
-such was the success that not only was the MkVI approved for final development, the majority of improvements suggested by the RG was adopted
-later dubbed the "Corvus" armor in honor of the RG it was placed into production only a few months before the outbreak of the HH
-re-designated MkVI to account for the inclusion of stop-gap field modifications

Battle of Date 42
-soon after Horus was made Warmaster, Akum-Sothos Cluster fell to xeno parasites
-RG was recalled from the Ghoul Stars alongside the Luna Wolves, Space Wolves, Iron Warriors
-Horus plan called for RG to make a frontal assault directly into the guns of the defenders of Gate 42 (Bravo "Military genius")
-Corax argued against a waste of resources and needless squandering of his warriors' lives and instead suggested that his legion should draw off enemy forces to allow the other 3 legions to overwhelm the defenders with comparative ease
- Perturabo accused Corax of seeking to avoid battle which nearly resulted in the 2 Primarchs coming into blows, with only the intervention of Lemen Russ prventing bloodshed (Russ is the cool headed one?!)
-Russ counselled Corax to follow the orders of the Warmaster and so he left the council and musterd the RG before Gate 42
- knowing the character of the Terran RG would be suitable for the assault he assigned many of the Terran dominated companies to the vanguard
-the assault would be hailed as the legion's darkest hour a grim honour that would be displaced just a few years later
-victory at a great cost, thousands of RG the bulk of them Terrans would die and the legion would be left with only 80,000 legionaries, making it the smallest of the Legiones Astartes
-Corax would remove himself and his legion from Horus' command, vowing to never serve alongside Horus again
-the consequence of the battle is that the line officers who served for so long under Horus before Corax's return were gone and so Horus was unable to exert much influence on the RG
-the Terrans that were inducted into the warrior lodges also died and thus the lodges disappeared from the RG
thus an unintended side effect was that Corax was able to consolidate his power and the RG was spared the insurrection that was transmitted through the lodges

some fluff from Victory is Vengence campaign

RG that were fighting to survive in the aftermath of Istvaan V
-during an assault against the IW, they reverted to the pre-Corax XIX savagery, and bloody-handedness
thus suggesting that it is a part of their nature that they suppress which would explain they savagery of the Carcharodons who are alleged to be RG successors plus the fact that RG uses the Nomad Predation fleets which the Carcharodons use
-Corax was not surprised by all the warp stuff, suggesting that he had been told the truth about the warp by the Emperor
-Corax likes to go off on his own and do recon, the only Primarch that likes to operate on his own or with just a few of his men, to be the hammer blow to an assault

*EDIT*

Organisation and Structure

Legion divided into chapters, chapters into battalions, battalions into companies, companies into squads
-Most legionaries considered themselves members of a company rather than a chapter
-compnay being the preferred level for independent operations
-from its formation,  legion'officers devolced command towards the lower echelons, allowing sub-commanders to take the initiative and make tactical decisions without intereference from higher ups
-mindset direct result of the practices of the Xeric tribes
-individual units was a tightly-knit band trained and equiped to operate on their own for extended periods, to live off the land, taking resources from the environment or when opportunity/neccessity dictated from defeated enemies
-while sub units remained small, it integrated numerous other formations into its structure
-integrating battle tanks, super heav war machines, artillery, assault vehicles and fleet assets while retaining its expertise in stealth and infiltration

-field more Legion Reconnaissance squads than other legions
every Legionary being cross-trained to fulfil his usual role as well as that of recon units
-the line between Tactical squad and Reconaissance squad being blurred as the two often operate using similar tactics and equipment

-from the earliest days, XIX employed more Moritats than others
-inidividuals assigned were considered extreme in their methods even by the cold-blooded Xeric
-missions they often willingly undertook were considered suicide missions

-Aftermath of Council of Nikea
-RG obeyed the edict
-Librarians were reassigned some in Seeker squads, Vigilators or Moritats
-Whether those individuals obeyed the Decree of Nikea when operating independently on missions remain unknown and likely that most were slain in Istvaan V

-most senior commanders were from Deliverance many served alongside Corax during the uprising
-Corax maintained a loosed chain of command, valued candid and honest counsel from his officers
-made clear that he did not expect to be treated like many of the other Primarchs demanded to be treated

-not unusual for Corax to conduct extensive recon prior to a battle
-known to lead small forced on deep infiltrations, directly striking at the heart of an enemy force, leaving line officers to conduct the overall operations
-derived in part from his time as a freedom fighter where a small cell or rebels were often more effective than larger numbers
-frequently the actions of the main force were a ploy to draw attention away from the Primarch's own mission
-allowing him to strike the final blow and win the battle

-when Corax was informed of Horus' treachery
-lots were drawn to determine who was to return to Deliverance to guard it against counter-attack as all wanted to be part of the main strike force
-1,000 legionaries along with Therion Cohort of the Imperial Armyreturned to Deliverance
-a little under 80,000 headed for Istvaan V
- as with most legions, there were other elements serving elsewhere
- a small number, mostly Terrans had been assinged to serve beyond the fringes of the Imperium, some in Nomade Predation Fleets
-others were attached to various Rogue Traders Militants or other so-called 'lone wloves'
-one of these fleets were commanded by the legion's former commanding officer, Shade Lord Arkhas Fal, on direct orders of the Primarch
-what became of the Shade Lord, his fleet and other elements may never be known
-and the fact that Corax made no effort to recall them suggests they were considered separate from the bulk of the Legion</p>

-in the aftermath of the Dropsite Massacre, RG numbered no more than 4,000
-re-organised into divisions marked by their combat specialty
-Talons, tactical companies
-Falcons, assault companies
-Hawks, light vehicle and air support
-it proved hightly flexible allowing the RG to ply to their strength and quickly redistribute firepower and tactical capabilities</p>

 

Shadow Wardens
-during the slave uprising, his peers insisted that he was watched over by a bodyguard
-despite resenting it, he allowed it as much for hs own safety as for the peace of mind of his followers
-after returning to the legion, the bodyguard was formed into an honour guard known informally as the Shadow Wardens
-it was said that they were ever present, yet unseen and no one could avoid their gaze
-the only one able to slip from them was Corax himself, giving rise to the saying that Corax could slip his own shadow should he choose to

Mor Dretha/Shadow Masters/Mor Deythan Strike Squad
-Corax frequently operated alone or otherwise lead a very small band of warriors who possessed skills comparable to his own
-known as the Mor Dretha or Shadow Masters
-spelt as Mor Deythan (in the units part of the book)
-small cadre of infiltration squad
-each is a veteran of the Lycaen Uprising who fought alongside Corax
-at the beginning of the heresy they are few in numbers, having fought countless campaigns over eight decades at the side of Corax
-rarely admit new recruits to their ranks
-most who remain are grizzled vets, supremely confident in their abilities
-adept at moving silent and unseen through the shadows and attacking as and where they will
-utilise a range of weapons and specialised equipment</p>
-some say they posses a portion of the preternatural skills of Corax, his ability to walk unseen even in full view of the foe
(hey no lightning claws)

Dark Fury Assault Squad
utilised to conduct focused decapitation strikes upon specific predesignated enemy leaders against the backdrop of the carnage of battle
-the Dark Fury insted of striking unseen they descend into the very midst of the battlefield
-squad leaders, known as the Choosers of the Slain, engage the target while the rest of the squad cut down retainers who try to intervene
result of a successful decapitation strike is the utter confusions in the ranks of the foe and complete breakdown in the enemy chain of command
-equiped with lightning claws fashioned after those carried by Corax
-Choosers of the Slain are issued artificer crafted arms, Raven's Talons and armour
-squads are often deployed from the holds of specialised transports such as Darkwing pattern Storm Eagel gunships or Whispercutters
-leaping from great heights to descend upon silenced retro thrusters of their jump packs onto the heads of their unsuspecting targets

The Deliverers
-as the XIX became more well known and employed in hit and run raids instead of massed battles and attritional warfare it also affected its amoury which is biased towards light attack vehicles and marks of armour that favoured agility over bulkier plating
-despite favour shown by Horus towards the Tactical Dreadnought Armour and Horus himself being the patron of the XIX in the absence of their Primarch, many of the XIX were ill-disposed towards the slow and bulky Terminator armour
-some did use it, mainly those chapters that had served in the shadow of the Luna Wolves siege and heavy assault companies
-becoming adept at close range shock assault from aerial and teleport deployment
-these detachments were known as Deliverers
-for both the carnage they brought and for their tendency to be deployed when assaults floundered
-Horus honoured the Deliverers of the Pale Nomads Chapter for their counter-attack during the Siege of Novas-Praxim, including them as part of his personal entourage until Corax claimed command of his Legion
-after Corax returned Deliverers were rarely called upon by the Priamrchs<
-most were assigned to distant Crusade fleets
-those that remained became avatars of Corax's carefully controlled anger, loosed when an enemy proved itself worthy of only utter destrcution

Shadow Killers/Moritats
-there was a tendency amongst combat veterans placedin situations of extreme stress to forsake all pretense of self-preservation, fighting with terrifying silent determination with the sole aim of causing as many casualties and destruction as possible before succumbing to their foe
-this became known among the XIX as becoming Ash Blind, while those from Deliverance know it as the Sable Brand
-a condition heralded by the darkening of the entire eye to black
-those warriors that survived their sucidal furies sometimes recovered, their brethren never mentioning the incident
-but they were plagued in combat by the urge to slay until death, paying no heed to tactical plan
-XIX in the days before Corax made no effort to organise the Ash Blind on the Battlefield, relying on the flexible nature of their doctrine to make maximum use of the suicidal urges when they took hold
-Corax turned the aberrant effect of his gene seed into a valuable weapon
-forming those affected into units of Shadow Killers and employing them as shock assault troops and assassins
-it was the deployment of such troops that allowed Corax to best Guilliman in several simulated battles, and unexpected tactic that Guilliman was quick to adopt into the Codex, creating the Moritat as is known today


-Kiavhr is host to a caste of tech-adepts who yet refuse to cede the full extent of their machine lore to the Mechanicum citing the higher soverignty of the Legiones Astartes
-they supply the RG with specialised war machines while refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Mechanicum
-bulk of Kiavahran guilds' secrets relate to the advanced field techs predating the Old Night
-multitude of application
-including increasing the stealth characteristics of the RG war machines, in particular armour and vehicles

[LordReaper]

The only dissapointment with the Raven Guard so far is that CORAX DOESN"T USE LIGHTNING CLAWS! seriously!

[Kriegsmacht]

Wow so a loyalist did a little purging of his own. That's neat.

 

The part about Corax defeating Guilliman...what was that about? Is that in a book somewhere?

[Perrin]

Was about to ask the same. Was it war-games or an actual battle?

 

Love that Horus screwed himself with the Gate 42 thing.

[Kriegsmacht]

That would seem a little hypocritical of Guilliman to be having war games against another primarch and his legion while disciplining one of his own men for doing the same thing only theoretical.

[calgar101]

Wow so a loyalist did a little purging of his own. That's neat.

 

The part about Corax defeating Guilliman...what was that about? Is that in a book somewhere?

Yeah it is a reference to a passage in Corax: Soul Forge. Basically Guilliman used a battle simulation to try and learn every tactic he could, Corax pointed out to him that simulation is crude compared to real battle; also the two Primarchs had different views on war, Corax was willing to use civilian participation but Roboute had a line between combatants and non-combatants. Guilliman was used to wielding whole chapters/battalions that once they became under strength he would dismiss the casualty depleted units as incapable.

This is all a discussion between Corax and an Mechanicus Magos, after their 3rd battle Guilliman starts to realise Corax has a point, Corax then goes on to say "From the Fourth simulation on, he had my mark and I could not beat him. He learns well my brother, and he has a far greater vision than me. While I was rescuing a single world from slavery, he was already building an empire of hundreds. I won battles against him, but never a war"

[Kriegsmacht]

Neat stuff. The purging of the terran marines is still the part that got me to sit up and become interested.

[calgar101]

The Gate 42 incident and its unforeseen consequences is quite funny.

[Lord Lorne Walkier]

Wow, they would have made great traitors.  I love the pet names 'Pale Nomads and the Dust Clad'.  Might keep them for my chapter.  A survivor of Gate 42, and Isstvan V would be one bad @$$ mo fo.  Maybe in order to live through all of that he 'reverted to the pre-Corax XIX savagery, and bloody-handedness' a bit early.  I think Ive found my Praetor.

 

Thank you Valtonis, cant wait for your Darkwing write up.

 

[Týr]

Great fluff. I knew they had so much more than what we saw in Deliverance Lost.

 

 

- Perturabo accused Corax of seeking to avoid battle which nearly resulted in the 2 Primarchs coming into blows, with only the intervention of Lemen Russ prventing bloodshed (Russ is the cool headed one?!)

 

Why is that so weird?

I have always seen Russ as cool headed. Haven't the Vi Legion and space wolves in generel been described as tempered and cool headed warriors?

[Plague Angel]

The only dissapointment with the Raven Guard so far is that CORAX DOESN"T USE LIGHTNING CLAWS! seriously!

 

Yes he does?

[Grim Dog Studios]

I like the idea of Terrans being removed from command etc.

I now feel like making my RG into a force of Terrans that reverted to their old ways on Istvaan 5 and have come under the leadership of a Terran captain who had been previously demoted.

Would make for some very decent fluff tidbits to go with my army.

[GhostMalone]

I understand what they're going for but I just can't like corax, the whole wah my legion my way deal is irritating, he should be honoured that the warmaster respected the IXth.

[Tiger9gamer]

I understand what they're going for but I just can't like corax, the whole wah my legion my way deal is irritating, he should be honoured that the warmaster respected the IXth.

 

 

If your referring to gate 42 then I don't know. I don't think a stealth force would know continue to live if they rushed headlong against a fortified position. Stealth is, after all, the meaning of their life....

[Conn Eremon]

I understand what they're going for but I just can't like corax, the whole wah my legion my way deal is irritating, he should be honoured that the warmaster respected the IXth.

I know, right? How dare he defend his sons from being used and abused by his glory-hogging bully brother!

[Conn Eremon]

That would seem a little hypocritical of Guilliman to be having war games against another primarch and his legion while disciplining one of his own men for doing the same thing only theoretical.

How so? One is a chess match pitting their minds against each other for the sake of mutual growth. The other is an attempt to pinpoint and collate data on brother legion strengths and weaknesses with the intent of learning how best to kill that legion.

 

One sounds like an obvious thing most Legions and Primarchs must have done quite often, and appears to have done quite often in the case of the XIII and others.

 

The other sounds like something you'd rebuke an officer over until hindsight proves him right.

 

Edit: Whoops, meant to edit this into my previous post rather than posting twice.

[Emperor's Furor]

Especially when the Warmaster has both the Iron Warriors and Space Wolves at his disposal to, I mean you'd think the Iron Warriors would be suited for it.

[Kriegsmacht]

@Cormac(since quoting still won't work for me): Honestly I don't know how so. Just when I read the part about war games with another primarch it made me remember about Know No Fear. Also what calgar said about Corax about simulation being crude compared to a real battle. Just seemed weird to me is all.

[Conn Eremon]

Way I see it, there is a difference between war games, played for the purpose of increasing the strengths of both involved, and war games, where one group plays both sides to learn best how to kill that side half of them are impersonating.

 

I doubt Corax and Guilliman were playing to outright kill each other and end their respective military capabilities. But that Ultramarine Captain, who was not doing so with the consent and participation of the other Legion, was.

[Kriegsmacht]

True it has been a while since I read KNF so my memory on it is hazy.

 

 

So this idea of Horus using RG for a frontal assault at Gate 42. Was it a way for him to bring Corax to his side? Especially with the terrans and the lodge

[Conn Eremon]

No, it was just Horus wanting to continue to use the XIX as he always had, but now Corax was there to countermand him after seeing how poorly they were intended to be used.

 

Edit: If you mean to his side as in the Traitors' side, then definitely no. This was when Corax was first found, before Horus was made Warmaster.

[GhostMalone]

I was meaning that the warmaster is the commander in chief he utilises your legion like apart of his own he crusaded and conquered for 200years with the IXth like it was part of his own legion, in a way they were also his sons and corax just takes the veterans of terra and displaces them because they don't work the way he likes.

 

Imagine if angron did that to the warhounds, I know Pert prosecuted the IVth for there failings but how & where did the IXth fail

[Conn Eremon]

Actually, it describes his reasoning for picking Terrans was because they were both the most willing and the most qualified and prepared for this type of attack, and used the horrendous losses taken as proof that he, Corax, had been right to debate the issue with Horus, who was wrong.

 

And not wrong in a 'tactical error' kind of way, but in a 'gross misuse of resources' kind of way. Horus proved he didn't care about the XIX as anything other than a tool to further his own glory. He wanted Corax to send them into the meat grinder, and refused to listen to any idea that would have seen him share the limelight.

 

Edit: And Horus had only just been declared the Warmaster.

[Kriegsmacht]

Nevermind this post I'm just trying to understand this better

[Conn Eremon]

No, you are right about him being the Warmaster already. I thought it was before but it was right after.

 

But it does make it clear that Corax hadn't done an intentional purge, but had only relented to Horus' authority and chosen warriors best suited for a mission he felt was suicide. Corax was proven right, and by the vagaries of fate those Legionaries of the XIX who might have tried to shift the Legion to Horus' camp decades later when Horus goes traitor were the ones best suited for that assault and mostly killed in it.