Raven Guard
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| Raven Guard | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Battle Cry | Victorus aut Mortis! | |
| Number | 19 | |
| Founding | First Founding | |
| Successors of | N/A | |
| Successor Chapters | Black Guard, Revilers, Raptors | |
| Chapter Master | Unknown | |
| Primarch | Corax | |
| Homeworld | Deliverance | |
| Strength | 1000 Marines | |
| Specialty | Covert operations/Rapid Deployment | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Black and White | |
The Raven Guard are a Space Marine Chapter that loves them some covert ops. They also have the highest concentration of Beakies than any other Chapter, so you know they mean SRS BSNS. Their second founding chapters include the widely-regarded Raptors chapter, which saw use in Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior and several other works of import.
Their Primarch is Corax.
Whilst /tg/ jokes they are emo (mostly because of their mutation and poetic references), they're actually pretty bad-ass, with a decent history and considerable use of initiative, something a lot of other chapters lack. They hold the record for being the second-most dicked-over in-fluff army, with only the Lamenters routinely getting dicked harder.
In spite of this, they're pretty goddamned awesome and definitely worthy of note.
Mutations and Origins of the Emo meme
The Raven Guard suffered low-level gene-seed deterioration (due to Corax's attempt to bolster the legion's numbers at any cost, which was cloning a few hundred thousand Space Marines that turned into genetic rejects), which means that like Matt Ward's brain, several of the unique organs of the Space Marines no longer work properly. Raven Guard Marines do not have functional Mucranoids (glands that helps them survive space vacuums without protection) or Betcher's Glands (which allows them to spit acid). Additionally, the Melanchromic Organ has a unique mutation that causes the skin of the Space Marine to grow paler with age. This imbalance eventually causes each Raven Guard Marine's skin to become bone-white while their hair and eyes darken, becoming pitch fucking black. So grimdark.
Combat Doctrine
The Raven Guard are a Space Marine chapter which actually eschews the usual Space Marine tactic of charging recklessly into the enemy ranks. Instead, they are as analytical as the Reasonable Marines, and they target weak points in enemy defenses and launch lightning strikes deep into the enemy's rear and target critical locations, usually using Scouts to move ahead and mark good drop-sites after eliminating specific threats such as anti-air weaponry. Because of their distinctive hit-and-run combat style, they also make a fuckton of use of fast-moving units like Assault Marines, Landspeeders, and Bikes, often dropped from Thunderhawks or Drop Pods, if not booted from the back of a fast-moving Metal Box and into cover.
Raven Guard Captains follow the proud tradition set forth by the Black Templars and possibly the Space Wolves in that they tell Roboute Guilliman to take his Codex and shove it. The chapter almost never engages as a whole, and Individual companies of Raven Guard marines openly lend a hand to Imperial Commanders of all stripes, from fellow Marines to the Inquisition (though especially Imperial Guard) all across the galaxy, with nary a shit given to what the Chapter Master wants. Such behavior has led certain faggots to question the Raven Guard's tendency towards insubordination, but in truth the Raven Guard simply picked up tactics that worked from studying Alpharius after his legion sent the Ultramarines packing - basically, the Raven Guard learned well that a decentralized command structure allows them to get shit done.
They also effectively use color-coding for easy identification of their troops - Green trim on the right shoulder is for tactical squads, red trim on the right shoulder is for assault squads and yellow trim on the right shoulder is for devastators. The left kneepad always displays their company number.
The Last Ones Standing
The Raven Guard got its ass kicked in the Drop Site Massacre during the Horus Heresy, the battle of Isstvan V reducing the Legion's strength from over 80,000 Astartes to a little less than 3,000. Whilst the Salamanders and Iron Hands took heavier losses, the Raven Guard lost a bigger percentage of its troops and its primarch, wishing to do his part to stop Horus from ass-raping the Imperium, resorted to cloning technology to replenish the Chapter's numbers. A sizable proportion of these clones were flawed and degenerated into shambling, inhuman creatures. The Raven Guard herded them up and led them into battle regardless, however, arming the strong ones and using the weak ones as meat-shields. The tactic proved brutally effective and succeeded, most notably, in pushing the Iron Warriors off a valued forge-world.
Owing to the instability of the Raven Guard gene-seed and the experiments of Corax, a big portion of the chapter's genetic stock has been irreparably damaged. Now, most of their genetic material comes factory-direct from supplies held on Terra. This means the cycle of recruitment for the Raven Guard is notably slower than other Chapters and fewer Raven Guard candidates for the Chapter prove able to survive their training and genetic modification. In essence, this means the chapter is constantly short-handed, though it's recovering, albeit slowly - unlike the Crimson Fists.
The Anti-Ultramarines
It's a well-known fact that, perhaps due to Guilliman's own distaste for the Raven Guard's tactical doctrine, Matt Ward strongly dislikes this Chapter - in spite it being one of the better-known first founding chapters and a fairly goddamned popular one. Prior to the newest editions of the Space Marines Codex and Core rulebook, the Raven Guard were better-represented fluff-wise; they've since fallen by the wayside, and you now see splinter chapters like the Doom Eagles getting more press time than the Raven Guard. Hilariously (and ironically), a lot of former Ultramarines fans were pushed into bitterness over Matt Ward's failures of fluff that were worthy of a certain mutilator of ink and paper and converted their armies to Raven Guard (among other chapters).
Famous Members
- Corax (Primarch of the Raven Guard)
- Captain Shrike
Gallery
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Yes, they have snipers in position to provide cover fire. There are no more images because Matt Ward took them all.
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Primarch Corax
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