Raven Guard
From Lexicanum
| Space Marines Portal Raven Guard |
The Raven Guard are one of the original Space Marine Legions. The Primarch of the Raven Guard is Corax (Raven). Their homeworld is Deliverance, which was renamed from Lycaeum.
Contents |
| Marine | Basic Data | Chapter Symbol | |
| Name | Raven Guard |
|
| Legion Number: | XIX | ||
| Primarch: | Corax | ||
| Current Chapter Master: | Unknown | ||
| Homeworld: | Deliverance | ||
| Fortress-Monastery: | Ravenspire | Miniature | |
| Known Descendants: | Black Guard, Revilers, Raptors | 
| |
| Colours: | Black, White | ||
| Speciality: | Guerrilla warfare and lightning attacks | ||
| Battle Cry: | Victorus aut Mortis | ||
| Current Chapter strength: | ~1000 Marines | ||
History
At some point during the Great Crusade, the Raven Guard came into conflict with the rogue Psykers known as the Warsingers and supposedly exterminated them. (Fulgrim)
The Raven Guard was all but annihilated in the Drop Site Massacre during the Horus Heresy. It is rumoured that Corax used cloning technology to replenish the Chapter's numbers. Many of these clones resulted in degenerated and inhuman creatures. Being so depleted in strength the Legion was forced to put these monsters into combat, where they proved brutally efficient. There is one documented incident where a Raven Guard force appeared herding huge bestial creatures ahead of it to defeat the defenders of an Iron Warriors held fortress.1
Appearance
The degeneration of the Raven Guard gene-seed means several of the unique organs of the Space Marines no longer work properly or no longer grow. Raven Guard do not have the Mucranoid or Betcher's Gland. The Melanchromic Organ has a unique mutation that causes the skin of the Space Marine to grow paler. Eventually each Marine's skin becomes pure white while their hair and eyes darken, becoming black as coal.
Organisation
The right shoulder guard trim denotes the type of Space Marine. Green is for tactical squads, red is for assault squads and yellow is for devastators.
Combat Doctrines
The Raven Guard are known for hitting weak points in enemy defences hard and they perform lightning strike upon locations of tactical importance to cripple their enemy. The Raven Guard disdain the notion of recklessly charging into enemy ranks. This differentiates their tactics from those of the Blood Angels. The Raven Guard rely heavily on their Scouts for pinpointing enemy positions and to scout for good drop sites. Because of their hit and run tactics they also make extensive use of Assault Squads. The Tactical Squads of the Raven Guard are often deployed via Thunderhawks or Drop Pods. The favorite weapons of the Raven Guard Commanders are the Lightning Claws and it is a common sight that their command squads also come equiped with these weapons in addition to their Jump Packs.
Due to their specialised combat style, the Raven Guard makes less use of heavier vehicles and tanks (such as the Land Raider and Predator) than most chapters.2
Equipment
The Chapter makes wide use of the "beaked" and older marks of Power Armour (Mk. IV-VI). After their near-destruction at Isstvan V, the Raven Guard had to make to do with older armour and equipment. The available resources were too few to re-equip them and even today there is a higher percentage of ancient suits of armour amongst the Chapter than most others.
Recruitment
Owing to the instability of the Raven Guard gene-seed and the experiments of Corax, much of the chapter's genetic stock has been irreparably damaged. Now, much of their genetic material comes from supplies held on Terra. This means the cycle of recruitment for the Raven Guard is much slower than other Chapters and fewer Raven Guard candidates for the Chapter prove able to survive their training and genetic modification. This means the chapter is constantly short-handed.
Company Disposition
Like all Codex chapters, the Raven Guard are divided into ten Companies. Each Company is led by a hero of the Raven Guard, who - in addition to his Company command - is in charge of a particular aspect of the Chapter's logistics. The current Company commanders are as follows:
- First Company: Unknown
- Second Company: Unknown
- Third Company: Captain Kayvaan Shrike
- Fourth Company: Captain Corvin Arkham
- Fifth Company: Captain Aajz Solari
- Sixth Company: Unknown
- Seventh Company: Unknown
- Eighth Company: Unknown
- Ninth Company: Unknown
- Tenth Company: Unknown
Notable Raven Guard Marines
- Corax - Primarch of the Raven Guard
- Kayvaan Shrike - Captain of the Raven Guard 3rd Company
- Aajz Solari - Captain of the 5th Company
- Ardaric Vaanes- battle-brother now a member of an Iron Warriors Grand Company
