Crimson Ravens

[Captainulrich]

So, I have been away from 40k since early 4th edition. A bit over a year ago I returned to playing, building and painting fantasy stuff. I have decided now to dive back into 40k, and am building my own chapter as far as fluff and paint scheme goes. Some of the things will be painted by me, some I have a friend doing some work on. Since returning to fantasy I have kind of gone crazy and painted up over 20k points of models in the last year. While I love painting, I am taking a bit of a break right now from burnout, and so most of this I'm having done by my buddy. There are some of the things I'm doing myself though.

 

In any case, that's my personal intro, into the chapter then ... the fluff and the paint schemes are going to be unique, a succesor chapter of the Ravenguard, but in-game wise I'm actually planning to use Raptors tactics and often incorporate Lias as my warlord. On to the fluff ...

 

Crimson Ravens

 

Planet of Origin - Ubrov

Ubrov is a moderately sized planet located in an isolated region near to the Ghoul Stars. In the late 37^th century this location was as yet uncharted. the Imperium was contacted by House Sablewolf, a lost imperial knight house. House Sablewolf had settled on Ubrov and purposefully separated from the Imperium, their world rich with ore and minerals and other important raw materials. They intended to remain there ruling alone. 

 

Their initial contact was born of an urgent need for help as they had come under attack from a strange mechanical race (necrons, newly awakened from a not-too distant tomb world). The Imperium sent aid from the Astra Millitarum, but the planet was still hard pressed. The space marine chapters were all tied up, and did not have the strength to send sufficient numbers at the moment, and so a new chapter was commisioned to fight turn the tide of this battle.

 

The Crimson Ravens were decended from the Geneseed of Corax himself, but unlike previous efforts the creation of this new seed produced an incredibly stable seed. The new chapter took the hit and run tactics of their parent chapter to a new height, and are reknowned for their intelligence, tactical acumen, and use of varied methods, in particular deep striking insertions, outflanking maneuvers, and heavy utilization of armored assets. They have formed a close relationship with House Sablewolf, and each are frequently found supporting each other in battle.

 

They have only ever known one chapter master, Aleksander Patrias. The arrival of them upon the planet was a turning point in this battle, and the Necrons were eventually pushed back. Ubrov became the home world for the Ravens. In the centuries since the Ravens have had particular involvement in campains against the Necrons on other fronts, and are at present also leading battle against an infestation of Tyranids newly arrived in the region.

 

 

More fluff to come later, including more detailed descriptions of key characters in the chapter. For now though, some early WIP pics:

 

Member of my sternguard. Some work on the gun, other details and basing still to be completed.

 

Centurion, mostly completed although needing the basing finished.

 

[Sugarlessllama]

I like it! Good job. :)

 

Although I do have one question... how long does it take to found a Space Marine chapter? I only ask because I would think that if they were founded in response to a particular ongoing battle, then the battle would be over by the time the chapter is created.

 

Maybe have them founded in support of a new crusade, and the first battle where they were in full command was against the Necrons in the Battle of Ubrov?

[Olis]

Crimson Ravens

Planet of Origin - Ubrov

Ubrov is a moderately sized planet located in an isolated region near to the Ghoul Stars. In the late 37^th century this location was as yet uncharted. the Imperium was contacted by House Sablewolf, a lost imperial knight house. House Sablewolf had settled on Ubrov and purposefully separated from the Imperium, their world rich with ore and minerals and other important raw materials. They intended to remain there ruling alone.

I believe you mean the 37th millennium rather than century. The 37th century is the year 3700.

And, on the subject of House Sablewolf - they purposefully seperated from the Imperium? That's known as seceding. The Imperium does not like worlds seceding from it. I doubt that sort of situation would have been tolerated for long once word got out. Unfortunately for House Sablewolf, they would have had an Imperial task force knocking on their door as fast as the Imperium could muster.

Their initial contact was born of an urgent need for help as they had come under attack from a strange mechanical race (necrons, newly awakened from a not-too distant tomb world). The Imperium sent aid from the Astra Millitarum, but the planet was still hard pressed. The space marine chapters were all tied up, and did not have the strength to send sufficient numbers at the moment, and so a new chapter was commisioned to fight turn the tide of this battle.

As Sugerlessllama has already stated, the timeframe seems to be off here. A chapter takes time to be formed and sent into the void - creating one for a single battle is not a very good use of resources. Now, if there was a series of Necron attacks over a multitude of worlds, then there would be adequate reason to create a chapter.

The Crimson Ravens were decended from the Geneseed of Corax himself, but unlike previous efforts the creation of this new seed produced an incredibly stable seed. The new chapter took the hit and run tactics of their parent chapter to a new height, and are reknowned for their intelligence, tactical acumen, and use of varied methods, in particular deep striking insertions, outflanking maneuvers, and heavy utilization of armored assets. They have formed a close relationship with House Sablewolf, and each are frequently found supporting each other in battle.

I don't think you need to mention 'incredibly stable seed'. Stable seed is not really noteworthy, and saying theirs is incredibly stable is like saying their hair is really black. Blacker than black.

Anyhoo, I think you need to work on some character flaws for these guys. At the moment they are better than the Raven Guard at what the Raven Guard does, their gene-seed is more stable despite being derived from already stable stock and they are "reknowned" for their brainpower. You're giving these marines improved standing in the 40k universe for no real reason (yet). I would suggest dialling back the virtues and adding in flaws. Marines who are paragons at what they do are not very interesting, unfortunately.

[Captainulrich]

I thought I red that it would take 50 years to get a chapter functional, though I could be mistaken. I might need to juggle some things a bit, or have the battles started elsewhere in the system but resolved on Ubrov, but my thought was that the IG and other elements were valiantly holding out but losing ground until the Ravens arrived and turned the tides, saving the planet. I might fiddle with it some more thought.

 

Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it!

[Conn Eremon]

It takes fifty years for a Chapter's worth of gene-seed to be cultured, however there is an astoundingly high amount of stuff that needs to be done in preparation alone. An example is how much time and effort goes into locating suitable recruitment worlds, extensively testing the populations to ensure purity and lack of mutations, and the process of building Fortress-Monasteries, singular citadels that stand among the greatest edifices ever built by Humanity, which would only begin after settling upon a world's use. The amount of work that goes into a Chapter Founding is immense and time-consuming, and it is for this reason that it simply seems unreasonable to assume that something as fleeting as one battle, no matter how major, could be considered a reason for a Chapter to be Founded. A Founding likely happens because something is happening on a galactic scale, and there's usually enough going on that this probably means a Founding can happen at any time (and during the 34th through 35th Millennia, there was basically a Founding once a century).

 

Now, once a Chapter has been created? Then it's a different story. What does the Chapter do? Does it head straight for its granted home world and wait for something to do (probably not long)? Does it pick a random direction and just go? I'd say insert the battle here. Your Chapter is born, and as a destination for its maiden voyage, a particular, ongoing battle is brought up. It is feared that the battle will take decades (A battle to the Imperium is like World War II meets the Hundred Year War for us), a formal request has been made for reinforcements, and some pen-pusher has decided this will be a great moment for your Chapter to prove its worth. Your merry band of peach-cheeks snaps to attention just like your hypno-indoctrinator taught you, and proceeds to the coordinates in order to unleash the kind of hell that only hyper-augmented demi-god child-soldiers can.

 

 

There's some other thins you might need to address, to tie it all together. Why did the Mechanicus allow a Space Marine Chapter to take over a Knight World? Was it destroyed already, so there was nothing of worth? Why was it determined that the battle needed a single Chapter to become involved, instead of just funneling in the Guard until the enemy stopped? You mention that the Chapter was created for the battle, meaning it must have gone straight there upon being Founded, but note that at that point the Chapter had only known one Chapter Master. Why is this noteworthy, for such a short time period? Has the Chapter suffered a high turn-over rate for Chapter Masters, making it see the relatively short time under their first Chapter Master as being comparatively longer than is their norm? Why does your Chapter have stable gene-seed all of a sudden? Is it a successor of the Raptors, who have stable Raven Guard gene-seed from before the corruption, or is something else going?

 

The models look pretty sweet. It looks like you're going for a black body and red arms? Kind of like the Black Guard.

[Brother-Sergeant Valorum]

This is a good foundation. I do have one question, though: are you going to include any more information about the battle with the Necrons? if so, I'd really like to see it!

[Sugarlessllama]

Another neat way to make your chapter different is in the manner in which they organize. Do they stay in the traditional "Battle Companies" or do they break down in a different fashion when they go on campaign?