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With this knowledge, around 500 new, war-ready space marines were created in few weeks. It is at this point that an infamous treachery took place. Some Astartes of the [[Alpha Legion]], in a plan orchestrated by the primarchs [[Alpharius]] Omegon themselves, infiltrated the Raven Guard after the [[Drop Site Massacre]]. To obtain this, Alpha Legion apothecaries grafted the facial traits of some dead Raven Guards over the face of their own legionaries. The objective was to hinder the Raven Guard using their obtained knowledge as "this would have displaced the balance against [[Horus]]' forces" said the [[Cabal]] emissaries. Of course, since free to act as best suited, Alpharius Omegon had in mind also to recover the secret knowledge in order to expand their legion too. With the help of renegade Mechanicum magos Unithrax and his forces on [[Kiavahr]], the Alpha Legion tainted the original genome recovered from the laboratories of The Emperor on Terra. This was accomplished introducing a virus-vectored mutagen based on daemonic blood. Thus, the successive implantations resulted in still operational but deeply-mutated Astartes exhibiting scales, horns, fangs, tails, overgrown muscles and similar features.{{Fn|2i}}
 
With this knowledge, around 500 new, war-ready space marines were created in few weeks. It is at this point that an infamous treachery took place. Some Astartes of the [[Alpha Legion]], in a plan orchestrated by the primarchs [[Alpharius]] Omegon themselves, infiltrated the Raven Guard after the [[Drop Site Massacre]]. To obtain this, Alpha Legion apothecaries grafted the facial traits of some dead Raven Guards over the face of their own legionaries. The objective was to hinder the Raven Guard using their obtained knowledge as "this would have displaced the balance against [[Horus]]' forces" said the [[Cabal]] emissaries. Of course, since free to act as best suited, Alpharius Omegon had in mind also to recover the secret knowledge in order to expand their legion too. With the help of renegade Mechanicum magos Unithrax and his forces on [[Kiavahr]], the Alpha Legion tainted the original genome recovered from the laboratories of The Emperor on Terra. This was accomplished introducing a virus-vectored mutagen based on daemonic blood. Thus, the successive implantations resulted in still operational but deeply-mutated Astartes exhibiting scales, horns, fangs, tails, overgrown muscles and similar features.{{Fn|2i}}
  
After this outburst of mutations and the discovery of the Alpha Legion infiltrators, Corax decided to stop the rebuilding of the Raven Guard and led his warriors, along with all the war capable mutated marines, with small squads striking like lightning on the enemy weak spots.{{Fn|2}} When ultimately he managed to rebuild his Legion, the [[Horus Heresy]] had ended and [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s Codex edicts that the Legion had to be split in smaller Chapters. Knowing that Guilliman's vision was true, Corax split his forces but remained unable to forget the growling monsters that he had personally created. After pondering for hours as to what should be done he decided to administer the Emperor's peace to the ones who remained, praying for their souls and his. Then wracked with guilt he locked himself in his chamber in the Ravenspire begging for the Emperor's mercy{{Cite This}}.
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After this outburst of mutations and the discovery of the Alpha Legion infiltrators, Corax decided to stop the rebuilding of the Raven Guard and led his warriors, along with all the war capable mutated marines, with small squads striking like lightning on the enemy weak spots.{{Fn|2}}  
 +
 
 +
==Post-Heresy==
 +
When ultimately he managed to rebuild his Legion, the [[Horus Heresy]] had ended and [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s Codex edicts that the Legion had to be split in smaller Chapters. Knowing that Guilliman's vision was true, Corax split his forces but remained unable to forget the growling monsters that he had personally created. After pondering for hours as to what should be done he decided to administer the Emperor's peace to the ones who remained, praying for their souls and his. Then wracked with guilt he locked himself in his chamber in the Ravenspire begging for the Emperor's mercy{{Cite This}}.
  
 
Nobody knows if he received the absolution he required but a year to the day after he had locked himself in, he left the tower and Deliverance on a course toward the [[Eye of Terror]], never to be seen again. His last recorded words were "never more." {{Cite This}}
 
Nobody knows if he received the absolution he required but a year to the day after he had locked himself in, he left the tower and Deliverance on a course toward the [[Eye of Terror]], never to be seen again. His last recorded words were "never more." {{Cite This}}

Revision as of 06:11, 1 September 2015

Corvus Corax[2a] is the Primarch of the Raven Guard Space Marine Legion.

Youth

Corvus Corax, Primarch of the Raven Guard Legion[1]

Corvus Corax was separated from the Emperor while still an infant by the four Chaos gods. He was discovered on Lycaeus, the desolate moon of the planet Kiavahr. At this time the planet was a technologically advanced Forge World, providing its city-size factories with minerals extracted from the non-atmospheric moon by legions of mine-slaves[2b].

Under the iron watch of heavily armed guards, the inhabitants of Lycaeus; criminals, political opponents and workers who had failed to meet their quotas, had long provided the rulers of Kiavahr a free and unlimited source of manpower. When they discovered the white skinned child who became Corax, "The Deliverer" in their tongue, they kept him from their masters, training him in the various skills they believe a leader and warrior needed: urban warfare, close combat and demolitions as well as political and philosophical matters. Ultimately, his abnormally fast maturation comforted the slaves and fixed Corax in their belief that he was the savior they waited for[2c].

Educated to be a leader as well as a rebel, he rapidly began his task by organizing the workers into fight teams, promoting the best of the men as squad leaders. He began building huge stockpiles of weapons, concealing them in numerous secret caches. He ordered a campaign of psychological warfare, launching riots and strikes to build up followers in the worker's rebellion and to stretch the garrison strength and morale to breaking point. Waiting for the opportune time to strike, Corax's forces launched their attack, taking key security points and destroying them by crude force or sabotage, killing every man of the Lycaeus defense forces[2d].

When Kiavahr's rulers struck back, Corax was ready for them. He outmanoeuvred and ambushed their forces on Lycaeus with his battle hardened warriors, crushing their supply lines and striking the five biggest cities in Kiavahr with one atomic mining charge each. The charges were embarked on small transport shuttles and reached the surface via a supply gravity well. Soon, their forces nearly destroyed, their vast factories unable to produce anything due to the minerals shortages, the Tech-Guilds collapsed in civil war. Celebrating their victory, the inhabitants of Lycaeus renamed their home "Deliverance"[2e].

It is said that the Emperor appeared on Deliverance that day and, after a day and a night with his son, appointed him Primarch of the Raven Guard Legion. Nothing is said of their conversation but one condition of Corax's acceptance was the help of the Emperor in the task of bringing peace on Kiavahr. Soon the Adeptus Mechanicus stepped in and the world was rebuilt to the benefit of the Imperium while the black tower which once housed the guards of the moon became the Ravenspire, the fortress of the Legion. [Needs Citation]

Great Crusade

During the Great Crusade Corax's talents for planning and sabotage were of great effect and the Raven Guard, fighting frequently under the orders of Horus, became renowned for an unmatched ability with covert ops, sabotage, infiltration and lightning strikes. But the pair never saw eye-to-eye, and after an argument, the two Primarchs nearly fought each other. Corax left Horus's command[Needs Citation].

Horus Heresy

Spoiler!
This page contains spoilers for: Deliverance Lost (Novel)
Corax leads the remnants of his Legion on Isstvan V against the Iron Warriors.

The Raven Guard primarch only met Horus again on Isstvan V [Needs Citation]. During the Drop Site Massacre, Corax was among the Primarchs leading the loyalist effort against Horus' betrayal. In the battle he personally engaged Word Bearers Primarch Lorgar in combat, impaling him with his Lightning Claws. Just as he was about to finish Lorgar, Konrad Curze intervened and forced Corax to retreat.[5]

Though grievously wounded he escaped the slaughter with a handful of loyal Space Marines thanks to the providential arrival of a small Raven Guard navy led by Captain Branne Nev. Captain Branne had been left as reserve on Deliverance and he departed the moon only due to strange dreams hauting the nights of Praefector Marcus Valerious, the commander of Therion Cohort, a loyalist Imperial Army Regiment. On quitting the Isstvan System, Corax sent back to Deliverance all the remaining ships while he himself headed to Terra to seek the counsel of The Emperor. The Primarch was desperate as the Imperium was collapsing, his Emperor needed warriors that Corax could not provide. Moreover, Corax was not granted permission to see The Emperor due to his workings on the man-made corridor to the Eldar Webway.[2f]

The Emperor, sensing his son's desperation, was somehow able to divert part of his psychic might in order to grant Corax what he was looking for. Through a psychic vision Corax asked for a rapid and effective solution to restore his legion's might. The Emperor, feeling the righteous intent behind his son's question, implanted in his brain some selected memories concerning the project for the creation of the Primarchs and the exact place where the ancient laboratory was to be found. However, stated The Emperor, the laboratory was well guarded by a complex system called "The Labyrinth"[2g] and it was up to Corax himself to find a way to pass through it. Corax was successful in this task and what he obtained was the common genome all primarchs shared. From this genome, through tough selection, The Emperor created each of the twenty granting each of them some particular and well defined traits (such as psychic powers or increased strength) along with a number of commonly shared feats (increased growing rate, regenerative powers, intellectual acumen and so on).

Once back on Deliverance, Corax tasked his Chief Apothecary Vincente Sixx of retrieving the correct Raven Guard genome and start the direct implantation on fresh recruits. With the assistance of the loyalist Mechanicum Genetor Nexin Orlandriaz, Sixx actually accomplished the task and went so far as to approach complete removal of the progenoid glands. From the correct genome, in fact, the whole Space Marine would have grown directly, all his enhanced organs already present. The only exception would have been the Black Carapace due to its synthetic nature. The carapace permits the interface to the power armor and it is not a real organ itself. In this way, the progenoids would have been useless for future generations.[2h]

With this knowledge, around 500 new, war-ready space marines were created in few weeks. It is at this point that an infamous treachery took place. Some Astartes of the Alpha Legion, in a plan orchestrated by the primarchs Alpharius Omegon themselves, infiltrated the Raven Guard after the Drop Site Massacre. To obtain this, Alpha Legion apothecaries grafted the facial traits of some dead Raven Guards over the face of their own legionaries. The objective was to hinder the Raven Guard using their obtained knowledge as "this would have displaced the balance against Horus' forces" said the Cabal emissaries. Of course, since free to act as best suited, Alpharius Omegon had in mind also to recover the secret knowledge in order to expand their legion too. With the help of renegade Mechanicum magos Unithrax and his forces on Kiavahr, the Alpha Legion tainted the original genome recovered from the laboratories of The Emperor on Terra. This was accomplished introducing a virus-vectored mutagen based on daemonic blood. Thus, the successive implantations resulted in still operational but deeply-mutated Astartes exhibiting scales, horns, fangs, tails, overgrown muscles and similar features.[2i]

After this outburst of mutations and the discovery of the Alpha Legion infiltrators, Corax decided to stop the rebuilding of the Raven Guard and led his warriors, along with all the war capable mutated marines, with small squads striking like lightning on the enemy weak spots.[2]

Post-Heresy

When ultimately he managed to rebuild his Legion, the Horus Heresy had ended and Roboute Guilliman's Codex edicts that the Legion had to be split in smaller Chapters. Knowing that Guilliman's vision was true, Corax split his forces but remained unable to forget the growling monsters that he had personally created. After pondering for hours as to what should be done he decided to administer the Emperor's peace to the ones who remained, praying for their souls and his. Then wracked with guilt he locked himself in his chamber in the Ravenspire begging for the Emperor's mercy[Needs Citation].

Nobody knows if he received the absolution he required but a year to the day after he had locked himself in, he left the tower and Deliverance on a course toward the Eye of Terror, never to be seen again. His last recorded words were "never more." [Needs Citation]

Wargear

In battle, Corax favoured a Heavy Bolter for long-range killing, which he hefted and aimed as easily as an ordinary man would lift a battle rifle; for close quarters fighting he carried a three-headed power whip specially crafted for him by the Adeptus Mechanicus; in the absence of either of these weapons, he was more than able to tear apart enemies with his bare hands.[6]

Sacred objects

Notes

Corax's last words are taken from the poem "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, and his name comes from the Greek word Corax, which means Raven and is also the species name for the Common Raven (Corvus corax).

Sources