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Knights-Errant

2017-01-28T06:31:19Z

2601:280:4500:C128:3127:30D1:B1C7:DBC2: /* Human Members */

The '''Knight-Errant''' are/were a group of [[Space Marines]] brought together from various different [[First Founding|Legions]] at the behest of [[Malcador the Sigillite]] in order to create a cadre of the best and brightest that the space marines had to offer, and use them to form a [[Grey Knights|new Chapter]] to combat the threat of daemons and dark magic that the [[Imperium]] was not prepared to fight against, due to the erasure of all knowledge of them as part of the Imperial Truth. Members of the Traitor Legions which refused to follow their Primarchs into corruption, made up a surprisingly large part of their number. Having proven themselves truly pure and strong of spirit in the face of absolute corruption and despair, the Knights-Errant offered these legion-less marines, a new purpose, away from the taint of their old Legions.

There is evidence for them being the forerunners of [[Grey Knights]]. Despite what we think we know of the original Grey Knights and that eight of the initial recruits would become the first Grand Masters of the new chapters, those that initially joined the first member, [[Nathaniel Garro]], were not necessarily destined to become Grey Knights themselves. Author [[James Swallow]] has come out and said as much himself in an interview. In any case, most of these Knights would not survive the Horus Heresy anyway, but it's worth knowing that these guys possessed a very special and believable type of [[awesome]] (unlike [[Kaldor Draigo|this guy]]), and loads of it.

==Known Members==
===Nathaniel Garro===
[[Death Guard]] Captain of the ''Eisenstein''. The first member. The guy who fled the massacre at Istvaan III and managed to bring word of the Horus Heresy to the Imperium, thanks to his honor-brother, and a very cool guy, Saul Tarvitz of the [[Emperor's Children]]. On the way there, he also became the first of the Loyalists to encounter what would later be known as the Plague Marines, as the corpses of his traitorous legion-brothers came back to life as they traveled through the Warp.

He was given a list of twenty names from Sevarian ''(see below)'' who would become the Knights-Errant, and the task of collecting them would take him all over the galaxy during the Horus Heresy, from Calth ''(through the Ruinstorm no less)'' all the way back to Isstvan III.

He would attempt to sneak into the [[Phalanx]] to recruit some Imperial Fist librarians "incarcerated" there, but was caught and turned away as they were happy enough as is.

He would also win a duel with a mid-ranked Custodes, though even he admitted the effort taxed his abilities and he only won through playing to the particular individual's overconfidence.

Garro would also unwittingly uncover Malcador's plans to build a new [[Grey Knights|Astartes force on Titan]] intended for the coming war ''after'' the Horus Heresy, though he initially believed it to be a traitor force because of the secrecy involved with its construction.

Partly because of those shrouded circumstances and the uncomfortable lengths the Sigillite would go to to protect humanity, Garro would repeatedly say that his ultimate fate would not lie on Titan, and previews for future BL books refer to him as "the first martyr of the Lectitio Divinatus". Therefore, while he is a major contributor to the Grey Knights, it seems likely that he either left Malcador's service or died before the Grey Knights were officially founded.

Given rules as part of the lead-up to Horus Heresy Book 6 'Retribution', Garro can be a trolltastic addition to an army. He's built up as a challenge character, earning double combat resolution scores and gaining a 3+ invulnerable save. Despite this, he's not a combat monster, as ''Libertas'' is only a two-handed blade with AP3, despite having Rending. However, Garro's Death Guard resilience shows through, having ''Eternal Warrior'' AND the chance to get back from death the first time he kicks the bucket during battle.

===Garviel Loken===
Captain of the [[Luna Wolves]] 10th Company, who is very much the protagonist of the first trilogy of Horus Heresy novels. He was known for being able to think independently and rationally, as well as being exceptionally humane for an Astartes. A true stoic and principled person, as well as a bad-ass. Was thought dead after the planet he was on was virus bombed and then fire bombed, followed by a 3 month siege by 4 traitor legions and a warlord titan, followed by being defeated by [[Abaddon]] in a duel and having a building collapse on him, trapping him in the rubble, while the planet was being bombed into dust for a third time, this time with cyclone bombs. [[Not as planned|But NOPE]]! When Nathaniel Garro first discovered him, survivor's guilt and distrust had driven him half mad and he was convinced he was the only Loyalist left alive in the Imperium. Calling himself Cerberus, due to an inability to remember his own name, he then forced a reign of terror upon the totally dead, but [[Nurgle|reanimated]] population (read: Plague Zombies) of Isstvan III. Was supposedly the final member that Garro would recruit according to Malcador, although other members were inducted after Loken himself.

His major highlights include:
*Being a member of the '''Mournival''': the four advisors of Horus Lupercal, along with Abaddon, Tarik Torggadon, and "Little Horus" Aximand.
*Hilariously making [[Lucius]] his bitch in a duel, pointing out beforehand, that the duel would not be about their skill in blades. As he saw Lucius make the first move, he dropped his sword and in one stroke won the duel, by breaking that arrogant prick's nose into smithereens with a single punch, ruining Lucius' "perfect" face and by making the first mark upon it. This trick was later over-exaggeratedly used again, by Saul Tarvitz.
*Fighting Abaddon himself on Isstvan III.
*Making [[Kharn]] his side bitch by going toe to toe with him and then impaling the dude on the dozer blades of an advancing [[chaos|spikey]] land raider. What a fucking savage.
*Being present on [[Caliban]] during the [[Fallen Angels|Fallen uprising]] who had been largely ignorant of the Heresy, and quite possibly throwing a lit match on the whole powder keg.
*Possibly being a founding member of the Grey Knights.
*Giving Horus and an overwhelming majority of his traitor legion a virtual bitch-slap by turning his back on them when he asked to join the rebellion.

Formerly the only member with tabletop rules in Horus Heresy, though that's his pre-Knight status, when he is a Legion Praetor character with Initiative 6 and a Paragon Blade, with the ability to get back from the dead once per game. Strangely he's the only Praetor with Power Armour (Sevatar, Ophion) rather than the standard issue Artificer Armour as the typical attire for Praetors, though he does get an Iron Halo which usually has to be bought for extra dough.

We've yet to see Loken as a Knight Errant, but no doubt Forgeworld will just take his original rules and slap on the option to upgrade to the generic "Knight Errant" rules for a few points in an updated list.

===Tylos Rubio===
An [[Ultramarines]] Librarian who was the first member to be inducted by Garro. He was recruited in the midst of the [[Betrayal at Calth|Battle of Calth]]. Rubio would essentially become the Garro's second in command for several missions, and got his own job of travelling to Baal to collect all of the wargear of the Blood Angels (to give to the future Grey Knights) when everyone thought Sanguinius had fallen at Signus.

Rubio is one of the more powerful/reliable psykers on the tabletop of his era (which isn't hard as his primary competition is generic Librarians or special characters with "repressed" abilities, or at least until the Thousand Sons get rules). So compared to a Librarian, he's a ML2 psyker who can reroll failed Psychic tests when manifesting ''Divination'' powers, meaning he's practically guaranteed to cast. He's also no slouch in combat either, with Init 5 stock and can invest his warp charges into his Force Sword granting +1 Strength for each charge not spent on a power, meaning he can quite happily smack a bitch, although only at AP3 since its still just a sword.

===The Nemean Reaver===
His real name is unknown, but it is widely suspected (and also confirmed by statements from himself) that he was a Dark Angel. Heavily injured in the Rangdan Xenocides, he is supposed to be a mess of scar tissue and [[Rage]]. Was the head of his own Blackshield fleet made up of dispossessed legionaries called the "Dark Brotherhood" until he was approached by Garro for recruitment, a meeting which the [[Alpha Legion]] did their best to foul up. It's notable that his Blackshield fleet was NOT a loyalist fleet nor was it allied with Horus, but instead a completely independent group that just happened to fight and pillage traitors instead of loyalists because they were in a sector that the Alpha Legion wanted. The Reaver's excuse for this was that, cut off from everyone and in prime traitor territory, he was merely doing what he had to do to survive. While loyal himself, his fleet was not, so he left it behind when he was recruited.

On the tabletop he's probably one of the higher tier challenge characters out there (not counting Primarchs), coming runner up to [[Sigismund]] in lethality but is superior in terms of survivability. He's got Toughness 5, ''Eternal Warrior, Adamantium Will'', 2+/4+ saves and rerolls failed saves against Blast or Template weapons. He also has a S+1 AP2 sword which inflicts -1 WS to enemies in a challenge and strikes at initiative. He also causes ''Fear'' and is ''Fearless'', meaning he can't be overrun and has a chance of just trolling generic legionaries who are not immune to fear.

There are two versions of him, representing him as the commander of the Dark Brotherhood in a Blackshields army, or can be taken by any Loyalist force if you upgrade to Knight-Errant, making him even deadlier in a challenge with ''Preferred Enemy (Traitors)''.

'''Trivia:''' Both his name and his armour are allusions to [[Lion El'Jonson|lions]], which is no surprise given his supposed heritage. The '''Nemean Lion''' was slain as the first of the twelve labours of Heracles, while the pelt of the '''Cithaeron Lion''' was worn by Heracles and was said to be impervious, which accounts for the sheer number of benefits granted by his Kithaeron warplate.

===Others===
*'''Macer Varren''' - A [[World Eaters]] Captain who was one of a group of loyalist refugees that fled to the Terran Solar system, a cockney-marine (despite being visualized as Scottish Gerard Butler) and an utter badass. Really pissed off at Angron for trying to have him killed. Although he's more rash and angry than his fellow knights, compared to his parent legion he's surprisingly level-headed for someone with the Butcher's Nails jammed into his brain.

*'''Sevarian (The Wolf)''' - Not a Space Wolf, though artwork portrays him to look similar to one, but a [[Luna Wolves|Luna Wolf]]. He was a member of the Crusader Host (basically Space Marine Ambassadors to Terra) but was imprisoned on Terra with all bar the Imperial Fists due to suspicion. He broke out of prison and was brought back into the fold by the Samurai (not kidding) Nagasena. He is a latent psyker whose powers were unlocked by Magnus' psychic message that broke the Golden Throne, though Malcador explains it such that Sevarian uses them so instinctually that he does not know he has them, which makes him unique.
**Sevarian was also an early addition to the Knights-Errant, being recruited by Malcador directly about two years into the Heresy, but was recruited before Rubio since it was Sevarian's psychic abilities which that identified other potential candidates for recruitment, giving Garro a list of twenty names to find.

*'''Bror Tyrfinger''' - An actual Space Wolf. His name translates to "Brother Bullfinger" in danish, so that's at least something. Tyrfing is also the name of the sword made by dwarves in the legend of Tyrfing. It was said that due to this it could never rust, dull or miss; but it also carried a curse of having to kill a man each time it was drawn. He's the only Knight-Errant to leave with the permission of his Primarch, though for sinister motives, as [[Leman Russ]] ordered him to kill Loken if he tried to go back to Horus. Fortunately Loken didn't, so Tyrfinger didn't have to.

*'''Ares Voitek''' - [[Iron Hands]] Techmarine. Also knows how to whip up alcohol on the fly, and with such potency that only Space Wolves and White Scars would like seconds. Even Dorn gets in on it.

*'''Fel Zharost''' - A [[Night Lords]] Chief Librarian who was exiled by [[Sevatar]] after the Edict of Nikaea mostly because no-one could be bothered to care about the Librarius except Zharost himself. He somehow fled to Terra and was eventually collected for induction into the Knights-Errant.

*'''Vardas Ison''' - A Librarian, [[Lexicanum|assumed]] Blood Angels.

*'''Theodor Ruttveld''' - A Space Wolf, was assigned to watch over Konrad Curze and ensure that the Edict of Nikaea [[Fail|was obeyed]]. Heavily maimed by Curze and delivered to Terra [[Grimdark|as a message]]. It is uncertain if he is to become a Knight-Errant though he he kept alive on the Sigillite's Authority and it is made clear that he it to be kept as whole as possible and not interred in a Dreadnought.

*'''Kaspian Hecht \ Barthusa Narek:''' A bit of a mystery; Narek was a member of the [[Word Bearers]] who still believed in the divinity of the Emperor and wanted to kill [[Lorgar]] to sort out his Legion's problems; however he had no apparent interest in joining the "Loyalist" cause. He was captured on [[Macragge]], and even though [[Inquisition|he wasn't a traitor, he was interrogated daily and to be executed if he incriminated himself]]. However he somehow escaped and was implanted with the memories of a separate person: "Kaspian Hecht" who was apparently on his way towards Macragge to recruit someone for the Knights-Errant. How or why this was done is as yet unknown, but Narek eventually sorts his memories out though it's not yet known if he'll remain as one of the Knights Errant.

===Deceased Members===
As we know several members were inducted into the Knights Errant, but many did not survive, and considering that the number above is greater than eight, we know that several more will perish or find other duties.

*'''Iacton Qruze''' - One of the oldest members of the Luna Wolves and one of the few Legionaries who had been recruited before Horus was found. Referred to as "The Half-Heard" mostly because no-one was paying attention to what the old coot was saying. Got the job of overseeing the prisons on Titan for people who know far too much to be let loose in the Imperium, though is killed by Horus on board the Vengeful Spirit when an attempt at placing teleport beacons for the Space Wolves to deep strike aboard was discovered.
*'''Tubal Cayne''' - [[Iron Warriors]] member of the Crusader Host like Severian.
*'''Rama Karayan''' - [[Raven Guard]]
*'''Altan Nohai''' - [[White Scars]] Apothecary
*'''Callion Zaven''' - [[Emperor's Children]] Champion.

==Grey Knight Grand Masters==
We know that there were eight Grand Masters who travelled with Malcador to Titan when it was cast into the warp, unfortunately we don't yet know who they all are yet, and is made more difficult to guess since Grey Knights ritually change their names to mirror their daemonic foes. In [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]]'s ''The Emperor's Gift'', all eight are long dead and entombed together in the Chapter's cemetery on Titan.

[[Abaddon]] claimed to know of the eight original founders and stated that one was an [[Ultramarine]] while another was his "erstwhile brother". Thus it's increasingly likely that Rubio and Loken (or Sevarian) are two of the first Grand Masters.

===1. Janus===
Known to us as the first Supreme Grand Master, though his original name and legion remain unknown. His one appearance so far in M32, describes him as a warrior saint, a venerable space marine of massive psychic potency yet also emanating a sense of holiness one step down from the Emperor Himself. He also has a squint in one eye, possibly due to an old injury.

*Garro is a contender if only because of him being the leader of the Knights-Errant, however author James Swallow put a knock-back on this in White Dwarf December 2012 when he emphatically stated that Garro is ''"not a Grey Knight... and where his fate lies is much more complicated than that"'' Though it doesn't actually stop the conspiracy theorists from reading whatever they want into it.
**The stories '''Shield of Lies''' & '''Vow of Faith''' both cement that Garro ''definitely isn't'' going to be a Grey Knight when the character tells himself and his companions that his ultimate fate does not lie on Titan with Malcador's warriors in grey.
*A lot of people are guessing on '''Garviel Loken''' being Janus, even long before any information was actually revealed. Yet now this can be corroborated by the fact that Janus considered Kryil Sinderman a friend and that a Son of Horus is most definitely one of the eight. However, Janus is a confirmed Psyker and Loken hasn't ''(yet)'' exhibited any psychic potential.
*Considering a bunch of circumstantial evidence One candidate to Janus' identity ''could'' (stressed "could") be the Twin-Primarch [[Omegon]], though this requires Guilliman's claimed kill of "Alpharius" to be a mistake, therefore can only be conjecture.
*A fourth contender for the position could well be '''Revuel Arvida''' of the [[Thousand Sons]]. After arriving on Terra, he was taken by the Sigillite in an attempt to bind a lost fragment of Magnus' psyche to his body and restore, at least partly, the broken Primarch. Despite it not going as planned, they didn't get a reborn Primarch but something else, Arvida merged with the shard and became '''"Ianius"''' ''(the name of his Tutelary, who may have been Arvida all along)''. Which is a variant wording of "Janus" . He also has a mass of scar tissue surrounding one eye.

===5. Epimetheus===
A [[Dark Angels]] psyker of prodigious strength who survived into the 41st Millennium by being trapped in the Damnation Cache on Pandorax. Epimethius would eventually be captured by [[Abaddon]] and given to [[Fulgrim]] in a bid to gain the allegiance of the [[Emperor's Children]] for the 13th Black Crusade, Epimethius himself was intended to become the [[What|Avatar of Slaanesh]].
*His original name is unknown, but one consideration could have been [[Zahariel]] who may have joined the Knights-Errant instead of the intended membership of [[Cypher]].

===8. Khyron===
First Grand Master of the Eighth Brotherhood, <s>and with a name close to "bat" in Greek</s> with a name that, keeping in with the theme, is that of a celestial body near Saturn. His tomb on Titan depicts a helmeted warrior leaning casually on a halberd. The tomb's epitaph closes with "''If you wish to grow wise, learn why brothers betray brothers.’''. As the halberd and casual attitude was the hallmark of the Eighth Legion's First Captain [[Sevatar]], and Jago Sevatarion was last seen in Imperial hands relearning his psychic gift at the end of ADB's ''The Longest Night'', many Night Lords fanboys believe it is Sevatar. Having once betrayed the Emperor but then disillusioned with Chaos and Horus, could he have then betrayed his brothers in the the Eighth to return to the Imperial fold? Only ADB knows, and he hasn't gotten us that far yet. That said, the Night Lords were the 8th legion too..

==Human Members==
While not necessarily Knights-Errant, we also know that four humans were recruited by Malcador to form the founding members of the Inquisition.

*'''Kyril Sindermann''' ''(confirmed)'' - once an Iterator in Horus' own war fleet, he was considered old even during the close of the Great Crusade where he was somewhat of a mentor figure for Gavriel Loken. He escaped the massacre of Isstvan III as part of the flight of the Eisenstein and wasn't really heard from much during the Heresy itself. However he reappeared 1500 years later as an Inquisitor named Veritus during the [[War of The Beast]], having been kept alive thanks to a suit of specially adapted power armour. Unfortunately, his colleague, Grand Master Drakan Vangorich of the Officio Assasinorum, got disillusioned with the High Lords' incompetence and selfishness during the war; proceeding to poison Veritus and kill off the other High Lords in [[The Beheading]].
*'''Amendera Kendel''' - ''Agentia Tercius'' to Malcador (after Garro himself) and a former [[Sisters of Silence|Sister of Silence]]. She is still a Pariah of course, but she gave up her vow to become one of the first members of Malcador's [[Inquisition|band of merry travellers]]. She is quite possibly the first "True" Inquisitor, by virtue of her background as a Witch-Hunter and the later development of her character which shows her radically using the authority granted to her by the Sigillite to get shit done: Co-opting Space Marines from the survivors of the ''Eisenstein'' into her retinue, and later ordering a battle-barge to enact ''[[Exterminatus]]'' on a planet turned renegade, despite the fact that no-one other than a Primarch or the Emperor himself had ever ordered such an act before her.
*'''Yasu Nagasena''' - the Last Samurai and expert tracker who was tasked with finding the Outcast Dead, then chasing down and killing Sevarian. He was only stopped from doing so by Malcador who wanted them both for his [[Inquisition|new project]]
*'''Khalid Hassan''' - A Stormtrooper who was into the Sigillite's employ to collect an artefact from Egypt, despite being told not to look into the box, he did and was brought before Malcador to explain himself. It turns out that the artefact was the ''Rosetta Stone'' and Malcador was part of an order that kept history and learning safe and intact. He also gets shown the doorway to the Emperor's Webway.
*'''Katanoh Tallery''' - a scribe who discovered that someone was using galactic scale tax avoidance schemes to fund and build a legion sized force under the Imperium's nose and within their territory. She was aided by Garro in finding who was diverting Imperial equipment in such an underhanded manner. Turns out it was Malcador and he was pissed at Garro for uncovering the Grey Knight fortress on Titan before it was finished, but was convinced to keep Tallery in order to better manage the bookkeeping. It's unlikely she is going to end up being an Inquisitor though. (Although, looking for funny spending would be an excellent way to find heretics... In fact, Eisenhorn uncovers a coven of heretics due to unusual accounting).

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]][[Category: Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]]

Blood Ravens

2017-01-28T06:25:29Z

2601:280:4500:C128:3127:30D1:B1C7:DBC2: /* Famous Blud Rehvens */

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Blood Ravens
|Heraldry = [[Image:Bloodravenslogo.jpg|250px]]
|Battle Cry = Pre-Retribution: "Knowledge is power. Guard it well."; Post-Retribution: "None shall find us wanting."
|Number = Unknown
|Founding = Unknown
|Successors of = Heavily hinted to be [[Thousand Sons]]
|Successor Chapters = N/A
|Chapter Master = [[Gabriel Angelos]]
|Primarch = Unknown possibly [[Magnus the Red]]
|Homeworld = Fleet-based
|Specialty = [[Psyker]]s, collecting "lost" relics, plot armor,[[Reasonable Marines| Attacking in key positions]]
|Strength = Probably around 800
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Red. Bone white pauldrons
}}
''"I am a thief of knowledge, and in a survival way, I had to solve all the problems around me."'' 
-Philippe Petit

''"Blood Ravens? Go lock the reliquary"'' 
-Calato, Deathwatch Champion, to a random Stormtrooper upon encountering a Blood Ravens force.

The '''Bluhd Rehvehns''' are one of the better-known background Chapters, primarily from their starring role in the [[Dawn of War]] vidya series. They have ''waaaaaaaay'' too many psykers and are obsessed with <s>stealing</s> finding lost relics, mostly because they don't know anything about their history. They have no records dating before the [[Age of Apostasy]]. This has led some to theorize that they are actually [[Traitor Legion Loyalists|loyalist descendants]] of the [[Thousand Sons]], which according to fluff, <s>may be canon</s> <s>it's not canon</s> is intentionally left in the grey area and even GW likes to tease us about this (like they did in the Prospero White Dwarf).

==History==
[[File:Indrick Boreale.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Indrick Baldeale, a Blud Rehvens Captain: Teh greahtehst hero of teh chaphter and mastur of STEEL REHN.]]
This chapter was specifically created by Relic and GW for the Dawn of War vidya games. This would remain their only claim to fame if Dawn of War hadn't spawned dozens of [[meme]]s. Perhaps the most famous example of these memes is the voice acting of the Captain Indrick Boreale, who is the origin of the terms [[Empra]] and [[Space Marine|Spehss mahreens]]. They are also infamous on /tg/ for losing half their chapter in a single campaign, also thanks to Brother-Captain Boreale, who refused to fuck off when [[Vance Motherfucking Stubbs]] arrived. [[Davian Thule]] had the same thing happen when he [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1bHvuVe0xs refused orders to fuck off] from [[Governer-Militant Lukas Alexander]], but unlike Boreale, Thule actually won.

The Blood Ravens are also famous for their rav(en)ing kleptomania, discussed in greater depth below.

One of the few canonically confirmed, let alone interesting, things about their history is the possibility that they are descendants of a [[Thousand Sons]] schism cult. The short story "Rebirth" in ''Age of Darkness'' shows what might be the foundation of the Chapter, as hinted before in ''A Thousand Sons'' Horus Heresy book. That story shows that most of the Corvidae (as in the genus of birds to which the raven belongs) Fellowship of the Legion was sent away by [[Magnus]] during the Burning of [[Prospero]]. The leader of this Fellowship, Revuel '''Arvida''', has a name very similar to Azari'''ah Vidya''', the legendary hero of the Blood Ravens, who utters "Knowledge is Power, Guard It Well", the motto of the Blood Ravens. Additionally, they have an unusually high number of unusually powerful psykers, with two full squads of Librarians in the First Company and were (at least until the events of [[Dawn of War 2#Retribution|Retribution]]) lead by a combination of [[Chapter Master]]s and [[Librarian]]s. Finally, their obsession with lost knowledge and mystic relics mirrors pre-Heresy Thousand Sons. Hell, even their ''color scheme'' is suspiciously close to the one used by the pre-Heresy Thousand Sons. Also, if you want to read ''way'' too much into it, it should be noted that almost every other Traitor Legion has known, named Loyalist members, most of whom aided [[Malcador]] with the creation of the [[Inquisition]].

However, given the ambiguous and circumstantial nature of what little evidence exists, we may never know if this is true. For a time, there was a rumor of a Blood Ravens Codex produced by Games Workshop, which would probably expand on the theory. However, the codex never came out, the rumors quietly died out and do not look likely to be revived anytime soon.

The Blood Ravens have only two recorded mutations in their [[gene seed]]. The first one affects their Catalepsean Node, which grants them perfect memory but creates an inability to enter R.E.M sleep, forcing them basically to sleep while awake. For anyone other than a Space Marine, this would ultimately be fatal, but it would hardly be the first time such nonsense was found in Space Marine fluff. The second mutation, if it truly can be counted as one, is its high frequency of producing or activating latent psychic power. Other, less documented (as in fan-developed) characteristics include a massive tendency to develop kleptomania, generate a gelatinous substance in their scalps to allow for the creation of hairetical hair, and something known as "unavailable original voice acting" which causes some members' voices to change periodically.

They are also notable for having [[C.S. Goto|a Librarian Chapter Master who dedicates himself to Khorne]]. Normally this would be a case of extreme bullshit writing, <s>but appears to make some degree of sense in that the Chapter Master/Head Librarian in question is never seen using sorcerous powers after revealing his new loyalty</s> He psykically projects himself onto Typhon, in order to trick the protagonists onto the planet to cause the Exterminatus. But after that, Daemon Princes, even of Khorne (which he ultimately transforms into), actually have massive psychic potential.

The [[Dawn of War III]] initial reveal page shows that good ol' Gabe is in fact alive, meaning that the Space Marine ending in Dawn of War II was in fact completely canon. Unfortunately, Gabe is no longer mostly bionic so [[Derp|who knows what's canon]].

Anyways, the Blood Raven's new motto under Gabriel Angelos was "None Shall Find Us Wanting", which is the saying they use in Space Marine, unlike their old "Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well" schtick, indicating that the events of Space Marine occurred after DoW:Retribution. In any event, whether Space Marine itself is actually canon or not is up for debate, though GW's official stance is that most of it is not, which would mean that there is no evidence at all about what actually happens. You'll have to [[Matt Ward|decide for yourself]].

Interestingly, seen as a whole, this also means that Graham McNeill's incorrect statement that Gabe was the Chapter Master at the time he wrote the WD Blood Ravens Index Astartes article (published Nov 2004), is now retroactively correct, as Gabe does indeed become Chapter Master in the Space Marine ending of Retribution (released in Mar 2011)... unless this was [[JUST AS PLANNED|already the intended direction of Relic/Games Workshop's plot arc from the beginning]].

[[Wat|Knowing Games Workshop though]], Eliphas is probably still alive. Probably a Daemon Prince, too. Because, as with all secondary 40K media: "Fuck coherency in the name of storytelling!".

==The Hats==
The dust settled and the Ork horde lay dead at her feet. But with such a victory came sacrifice. The good General lay dead, his final words asking "Who wants to live FOREVEEER?" (Seeing as he's Freddie Fuckin Mercury in Space) with a wry smile on his face. The Imperial Guard had either died to a man or retreated when the Commissar Lord fell in battle. But it did not matter, her hat and her popped collar would hide any tears that she may have shed for them.

And then suddenly, there was a thumping. It couldn't be! She had bombed the area! She had drowned the orks in the bodies of the devoted guardsmen! She had evaporated the green tide with faith and fire! And yet... he still stomped through the ashes.

"ALRITE YA SQUISHY! I WANTZ DAT HAT!". He was as determined as he was arrogant, but even with his stubbornness, she could see something change in his face. Confusion had entered his small little brain. Perhaps it was because he was shocked that naught but a "pitiful" human could stand tall against the full force of a WAAAGGHHH. What was more amusing was that the Warboss had lost his patented pirate hat. She reached for her own hat, to tip it in torment at the Ork's incompetence... only to find nothing but hair in it's place. "WHERE IZ IT!? WHERE'Z DA HAT?!" the Ork roared in fury before noticing his own unprotected head. Shock turned to anger as both reached the same conclusion.

"DIOMEDES!" She screamed in unison to the Ork's own war-cries for "DEM'Z BLUDY MAGPIES HEADZ!". The eternal war made for some strange alliances, but none as strange as the Inquisitor and the Warboss hunting down the Thieves of Thieves, in retribution for their loss.

Diomedes sat with his new pirate hat. He thought it fitting for his position in a Chapter as renowned as his for "acquiring" gifts.
"We Shahl Coll this maneuvah Stehl Stehl!" - The Ancient announced, as he disregarded his tattered old helmet for the Witch Hunter's headpiece.

==Famous Blud Rehvens==
*Chapter Master [[Gabriel Angelos]] - Original Badass and current Chapter Master of the Blod Rehvens, at least in the SM and IG endings of Retribution (the SM ending is canon, but he dies in every other ending). He is the first Blood Raven Chapter Master in recorded history to not at the same time be the Chief Librarian, probably because they finally realized that having a Chief Librarian/Chapter Master is a Bad Idea™. Gabe was the first Blood Raven character we were ever introduced to and has the most fully-formed character of anyone else. Known for his catch phrase "Walk softly and carry a big gun", which translates to "Steal the biggest thing and don't get noticed". He sentenced his own homeworld of Cyrene to [[Exterminatus]] after discovering extensively deep [[heresy]] on it (which he's still hurting over) and accidentally set the events of most of the series in motion by destroying a daemonic artifact known as the Maledictum and thus setting a Greater Daemon of Khorne loose. He still did his damndest to make up for it and succeeded.
**Comes back in Dawn of War III wearing an impressive looking suit of Tartaros Terminator Armour, as well as making ridiculous [[C.S. Goto|front 360 flips in it]].
*Chief Librarian Azariah Vidya (get it? cuz they are in a vidya gaem?) - Led the chapter soon after their founding in a campaign against Alpha Legion (who have slain their Chapter Master) with most of the 1st Company and most of their previous command structure. Vidya made use of some kind of [[Creed|Tactical Genius]], and his already large experience battling Chaos forces, made him naturally "understand" where the enemy was, so that his Rehvens perfectly striked where needed. He essentially found the "I WIN" button for that campaign and pressed it while engaging his inner troll-face. Vidya was hinted to actually be 'Arvida', a 'Corvidae' or seer, from the Thousand Sons Legion before GW decided to have Arvida merge with a shard of Magnus to become a being called Ianus.
*[[Isador Akios]] - Gabe's Librarian buddy. Was successfully tempted by [[Sindri Myr|Ssssiiiiindriiiiii]] into betraying the Blood Ravens, and was eventually killed by Gabe himself for that heresy (thus also enabling Gabe to spout an awesome one-liner while pulling the trigger).
*Captain [[Davian Thule|Davian Thule]] - The only force commander to get 2 sexy voices in both games he appears in.....well that was until he got ripped by a [[Tyranid]] Warrior and interred into a Dreadnought, where he sounds just as scary as any near-psychotic Dread. Gets rekt by Eliphas in the first Chaos mission in Retribution, though. Way to punch the players in the gut, Relic.... We like to pretend that the Venerable Dreadnought honor guard in Retribution is Davian Thule, to soothe our deep emotional trauma. While the Space Marine ending to Retribution is canon, his character is never really addressed after Chaos Rising, other than the aforementioned humiliating annihilation, and could well be dead. It is still hinted that he and the 4th company fought during the 13th Black Crusade.
*Captain [[Indrick Boreale|Indrick Baldeale]] - A master of [[meme|STEEL REHN]]. He is quite dead at the moment. Unlike Davian though, nobody is in the least broken down about him.
*[[Blood Ravens Force Commander|Force Commander Hair Gel]] - Though he is given the name Aramus in a [[C.S.Goto|novel]], the game and the novels contradict each other so we'll never know what is what. Usually called Force Commander Vanilla Ice or Hair Gel for his hair-esy, he's also the youngest Blood Raven Force Commander ever. In Retribution, he's mentioned in the "Hammer of the Nameless" wargear, stating that the hammer went missing after he was branded renegade by Kyras. It is slightly possible that Vanilla Ice might return in the series one day since it's never implied that he was executed by Gabe or defected to the Black Legion. Retribution hints that the "slightly tainted" ending of Chaos Rising is canon (ending #3 out of '''five''' possible endings), and in that ending he was sent to the Eye of Terror on a 100 year penitent crusade. Dialogue indicates that Thaddeus was sent along with Hair Gel.
*[[Avitus]] - A Devastator Sergeant, who's so angry that he hates everything. On top of that hate lists are Imperial Guardsmen, when he was a regular human they were jerks who oppressed his neighborhood, and on Kronus he lost several battle brothers from the Guardsmen that stood against the Blood Ravens cleaning up their Chapters dark secret. Is an all-around badass who can fire plasma cannons and heavy bolters without needing to set up, given the proper upgrades. Has the same voice as the unknown heretic in Chaos Rising. In Retribution, he is stated to canonically be the heretic (who betrays the player and joins Eliphas' Black Legion warband) in the player's forces during Chaos Rising, as if him being fucking angry all the time wasn't enough of a dead-giveaway. He then gets killed by his ex-BFF Tarkus later on.
*[[Cyrus|Cyrus/Spike Spiegel/also Wolverine]] - A Scout Sergeant, who's so grimdark that he hates everything. He's also voiced by [[Steve Blum]], which makes him awesome. Cyrus literally hates everything, short of the [[Emprah]], and constantly bitches about how fucked up everything is during every briefing in the game. The whole "Spike Spiegel/Wolverine" name comes from his rather prolific VA's most famous characters, one from the anime Cowboy Bebop, the other from the X-Men cartoons and assorted games. Prefers to wear scout armor instead of tactical armor to show off he's that badass.
*[[Jonah Orion]] - Gabe's new Librarian buddy after Isador got executed on Tartarus. He played a rousing game of mindfuck with the Tyranid Hivemind to allow Angelos' fleet to enter the system during the first DoWII. He won in the end, the only remaining sane & alive Librarian on Gabe's ship. And he becomes playable in Chaos Rising. Died in all endings of Retribution at the hands of DOM-Kyras as Relic likes to keep up with the tradition that the black guy has a 99% chance of being killed in the end. He's also the first confirmed black Space Marine who isn't from the [[Salamanders]], which is [[Awesome]]. Well, there was also that one [[Black Templar]] guy in [[Damnation Crusade]]. Later turned out to be not quite dead, and appears as the new Chief Librarian in Dawn of War 3.
*[[Martellus]] - A [[Techmarine]], also voiced by [[Steve Blum]]. His job is to inform you of bad news all the time while chilling on the strike cruiser. Survived getting his Thunderhawk shot down and stranded on Typhon for months, canonically wasn't the traitor in Chaos Rising, and became a playable character in DoWII: Retribution. If he becomes a traitor due to the player's use of artifacts, he will attack you in a Chaos Predator, fucking your shit up. (Despite not being the canonical traitor, he is nonetheless selected as the default traitor if all members of the player's team have exactly equal corruption levels.)
*[[Tarkus]] - A Tactical squad Sergeant, who is bald and also the Ancient in Retribution. Noted for being surprisingly kind-hearted and dutiful for a Marine, Tarkus ever takes the role of a mentor and is a strict adherent to the Codex Astartes. Unusual in that if he falls to Chaos through artifacts, he does so with the express intention of using the daemonic weaponry to fuck over the Black Legion and Eliphas and bring Kyras to justice by his own hands. If turned to Chaos, he attacks with a Kai Gun (Read the nostalgic 3rd edition CSM codex for crunch and more detail), an ancient, [[Awesome|daemonically possessed bolter]] that fucks things up with retardedly strong bolts of warpfire.
*[[Thaddeus]] - An Assault Marine Sergeant, the youngest and least grimdark of the gang. Is also a hair-etic and unsurprisingly joined Force Commander Hair Gel on his heresy during Chaos Rising. Canonically gets sent away on the penitent crusade alongside Commander Hair Gel after Chaos Rising, explaining his absence in Retribution.
*Apothecary Gordian - the man responsible for bringing Davian Thule back from the brink of death and overseeing his internment in a dreadnought. It's a pity that he gets virtually no screen time and gets killed when the Tyranids destroy your strike cruiser, since his few appearances mark him as a useful and generally cool character.
*[[Apollo Diomedes|Captain Apollo Diomedes]]- Captain of the veteran First Company and Honor Guard, and said to be the "greatest" warrior of the Blood Ravens history. He used to be a helmet-wearing jerkass of awesomeness until Retribution, where he is revealed to be bald. As such, this fa/tg/uy dubs him Abaldo Diomedes. Looks (and sounds) suspiciously like Indrick Boreale... "BRRUUUVAA I AM HITTT!" "IT IS DE BEEEIHNNNNBLEEEEHD!"
*[[Azariah Kyras]] - A [[C.S.Goto|Space Marine Librarian who falls to Chaos and dedicates himself to Khorne]]. In his early days he was stuck in a Spacey Hulk with a couple of marines, and after fighting in it for Emperor knows how long, he was corrupted by the Nurgle demon Ulkair. Was also Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens up until Retribution. Has a kickass VA ("Let the galaxy BURN!"). He looks like he hasn't slept since the time of the Ancient Sumerians (just look at those eye rings, someone give this man a tempur-pedic and some clonodine). He also happens to be one of the few psykers to gain the favor of Khorne in the history of 40k (apparently good enough to be granted daemonhood on top of all that too). This is largely due him kicking Ulkair to the curb after he got owned by Commander Hair Gel, and decided to cater to the daemon of Khorne Gabriel released.
*Apothecary Galan - A traitor apothecary with a great voice, possessed by a daemon of Nurgle, trying to corrupt Abaldo Diomedes. Was part of the expedition that found Kyras aboard the Judgment of Carrion. Notable for bucking the "apothecaries aren't badass"-trend by carrying a chainsword that hits like a goddamn truck and having a bodyguard of assault terminators. If defeated in battle in Chaos Rising (optional objective), the daemon gets exorcised, and the actually repentant Galan (who was possessed against his will) gives you information that saves Diomedes' life... and then dies. Since Diomedes is alive in Retribution, that means canonically, Galan is dead.
*Scout Sergeant Priam - Got all his scouts kidnapped by a Sorcerer on Calderis, with the rest of them holed up in shitty clay structures against Chaos Dreadnoughts, havocs, and missile-carrying plague marines. Suffice to say, if Hairgel doesn't deploy every shred of tactical genius he has, everyone gets [[rape|properly fucked.]]
*Sergeant <s>Lysandros</s> MEHTULBAWKSES - shows up on Calderis to destroy an empty town in the ass end of nowhere on orders of Kyras. Notable for being the eternal nemesis of [[Firaeveus Carron]] by spamming not just Rhinos, but Razorbacks. Tells Diomedes (the player) to fuck off and stop being a buzzkilling asshole. The player then proceeds to kill him. Obviously.
*Dreadnought - A random hero of the chapter. The Blood Ravens must have a bunch, since they're more spammable than Predators. Most players pretend (in vain) that the Venerable version you can sub out Martellus for in Retribution is Thule, and weep quietly as it instagibs infantry in the background with assault cannon sweeps.
*Unnamed Traitor - Siding with Kyras and Chaos, he shows up in the later stages of Retribution, becoming the greatest exemplar of the thieving might of the chapter by stealing a Land Raider Redeemer from the Blood Ravens themselves. Is also a teamkilling fucktard who fires off the Land Raider's frag assault launchers directly into a huge mass of cultists (on the same side as him) worshiping Khorne, resulting in ludicrous gibs.
*Squad [[Beakie|Corvus]] Marines - Shows up in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine during the Chaos Invasion. Noticing a group of Black Templars traveling to join the Liberation Fleet heading for Forge World Graia, Squad Corvus attached themselves to the strike force in order to "acquire" more gifts for the chapter (specifically, more Titans). They show up during the Chaos invasion and kick major ass, despite there being only like four of them. Just goes to show how fucking strong Blood Raven plot armor is... or how strong their dedication to "acquire" relics for their chapter can be.
*Rhamah - [[C.S. Goto|The blackest of Irish lepers]] graced us with this librarian, who got pulled into the warp while fighting off a Gellar field breach on the Litany of Fury. He ended up on a [[Harlequin]] library planet with amnesia, where he met [[Ahzek Ahriman]]. Getting convinced that they were battle brothers, he wandered around the library while [[Gabriel Angelos]] and company were looking for him. The moment Rhamah was found, he got a [[Ferrus Manus|viking haircut]] courtesy of a space elf clown's power sword. The moral of the story is to avoid heresy. And also fuck C.S. Goto.
*Jensus Natorian - In the Deathwatch Overkill boxed game, Jensus is the librarian in Kill Team Cassius. Back when Jensus was a regular old human, his parents got killed by orks. That made Jensus angry. [[Angry Marines|Really REALLY angry]]. He raged so hard he developed psychic powers, [[Rip and tear|started tearing hordes of orks into hamburger with his bare hands]], and made Khorne himself raise his fiery eyebrows and say “…{{BLAM|DAMN}}.” So yeah, he kinda went super saiyan. After Jensus ran out of greenskins to render down to their component parts, he was right about to be taken by the Black Ships when a chap by the name of Inquisitor Belicor decided that Jensus’ rage could be put to better use, shipped him off to the Blood Ravens, and later oversaw his induction into the Deathwatch, where his psychic contributions are less about mind bullets and more about mind [[RIP AND TEAR]]. Jensus also makes the Blood Ravens the only non-First Founding Chapter represented in the Deathwatch Overkill box, much to the disappointment of Black Templar players.
*Captain Arthrus Godfrey - The Captain of 4th Company that fought Hivefleet Behemoth with Inquisitor Kryptman in the series made by [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Eliphas the Inheritor.]] Scares the crap out of the Death Watch members who know that the Blud Rehvens are thieving bastards.

==The Lazy Fuckwits of 4th Company==
The Blood Ravens 4th Company is recognized as the laziest sons of bitches in the entire goddamn sector. For all of Dawn of War 2, these bastards sat around on Calderis, only to show up when [[Davian Thule]] gets KO'd by a Tyranid ''Warrior''. Their battle strategy basically involves "let the Force Commander do all the work". So only about twenty marines and the rest of the Blood Raven scouts actually do shit, while the rest of these fat bastards sit around on Calderis getting chewed up by gribblies. Where the fuck are they when the Force Commander needs them!? Probably "discovering and obtaining" more artifacts.
The Force Commander never actually needs them on the battlefield though: he and Cool Dreadnought alone are perfectly capable of blasting the stuffing from Cannon Fodder, Tyrants and Fatty Daemon Princess (if they are properly equipped and employing hit-run-cheat-hit tactic). Friendly Cannon Fodder is useless in hard battles anyway. Better let them loot friends and foes.

If you wanted to split hairs, you could argue that the rest of the 4th Company is the reinforcements you call in when your squads get KO'd and you run back to a satellite dish/strategic point to heal up. This begs the question to why they don't just deploy full-sized squads to begin with and overwhelm the enemy from the start.

The rest of the company are probably deployed to other theatres, performing side objectives or just minimizing the number of reinforcements that jump in front of Thule's assault cannon.

==Bloody Magpies==
[[File:Magpie Missle.jpg|200px|right|thumb|The Blood Ravens "acquiring" a master-crafted artillery shell from a Forgeworld. The next day, the Magos simply said: ''"THEY TOOK WHAT?!"'' after hearing the report that their entire artillery battery was reported missing.]]
[[File:Warhammer_40k_blood_ravens_magpies_comic_bolt_down_everything_1335786405659.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Don't bother, they'll just "acquire" the bolts too.]]
Blood Ravens are also known to steal and loot artifacts, relics, and practically everything else that isn't bolted down (and it doesn't even stop them from stealing from dreadnoughts), due to the fact they are not an official chapter and must make do with what they find. In case you haven't noticed thus far: they are named after an intelligent bird known for feasting on the dead, which makes them value the spoils of war more than any other chapter. Their battle gear includes (and is not limited to) scraps from Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Imperial Fists, Salamanders, Dark Angels, Iron Snakes, Blood Angels, Black Templars, Iron Hands, Grey Knights, even the Adeptus Custodes and at least one Primarch. One must wonder how the fuck they got away with the latter.

In addition, they are always on the move, implying heavily that they are the Space Gypsies of the Warhammer 40k. This makes further sense when you consider that "Gypsies" is derived from "Egyptian", and the Thousand Sons are Egyptian-themed (although gypsies are actually ethnically Indian). Maybe the White Scars like them, but they only hang out with their successors anyway.

In Dawn of War II, the Blood Ravens have numerous opportunities to receive wargear for them to use in battle. Strangely, a good number of them are obtained through vague circumstances or described as "gifts", either implying that they were salvaged from the dead who aren't Blood Ravens or were downright stolen from both loyal and traitor marine chapters and other Imperial organizations. How they got away with that is something only the Emperor would know. Seeing as they've jacked at least one bolter and suit of power armor from the fucking [[Adeptus Custodes]], the Emperor probably is the only one that could know.

So [[Bjorn_the_Fell_Handed#Bjorn.27s_Happy_End|how will this end?]]

I don't know...But I'm pretty sure they are a textbook case of mass kleptomania, which could be explained as an unnoticed gene-seed corruption (because when you're checking for thing like growing the wrong number of limbs, a compulsion to steal is going to be a lot less visible).

Of course, will you question the Omnissiah and the Machine Cult when it comes to handling artifacts?

<gallery>
Image:Baalpistol.png|Also known as the Bloody Magpies.
File:BA Flamer.jpg|When the Bloody Magpies were victimizing the Blood Angels, they didn't just settle for the Pistol of Baal.
Image:Inquisitorpistol.png|Weight on the word "discovered".
File:DoomEagle.jpg|This is primarily because the Doom Eagles didn't think to look at their own Chapter armory.
File:Benediction.jpg|Even the Inquisition is not safe.
File:Custodes bolter.jpg|HOW THE FUCK DO YOU STEAL CUSTODES EQUIPMENT?!
File:Jump Pack.jpg|Even the lost and dead are not safe.
File:Heretical Shotgun.jpg|Even the ruinous powers are not safe.
File:Alpha legion armor.jpg|When we said Chaos wasn't safe, we weren't kidding.
File:Termi tele.jpg|Techmarines from different chapters swear to the Emperor that they've seen this before in another chapter's armory.
File:Artificer termi.jpg|Refusal is futile.
File:Nova Termi.jpg|The Novamarines were puzzled to see the Terminator armor gone from their honored battle brother's body after he fell against the Tau... 30 seconds later when they glanced aside.
Image:evenyoumartellus.png|Curiously, the Techpriests of Mars refused to recruit any more potential Techmarines from the Blood Ravens after Martellus' release.
Image:bloodmagpies.png|Spoiler: They don't.
File:Snakes banner.jpg|Emphasis on "recovered".
File:CustodesArmor.jpg|This really puts the achievements of all other chapters to shame.
File:Forgebreaker.png|Not even the Primarchs are safe.
File:SkarbrandMaul.jpg|[[Abaddon|Abaddon's]] weapon is pretty cool too, I guess.
File:BTThunderHammer.jpg|If you steal, might as well do it from the best.
File:Ancient Bolter.gif|Even [[Matthew_Ward| Matt Ward's]] beloved [[Ultramarines|Ultrasmurfs]] aren't safe...
File:GKArmor.jpg| And neither are his other beloved [[Grey_Knights|Special Snowflakes]].(at least they partly admit they stole this one)
File:Dawn_of_stubbornness.png| Even the fan chapters have witnessed this.
</gallery>

===Rumors===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uEf8sJt1s&feature=g-all-lik A Blood Raven marine sneaking off with an Ultramarine Land Raider with incomprehensible stealth.]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4om7AuID6BY&feature=related It is worse than we imagined.]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enua52rXfmQ Much worse.]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tavp0vrBOLA So bad, they would steal from each other (Though why would they want THAT particular relic is anybody's guess).]
*Stole not one, but two whole [[Primarch]]s before they were even found.

==Fanboy Ravens==
The Blod Rehvens have also been known for their excessively fangirl-esque behavior, including forging weapons for other chapters and declaring them relics after the receiving chapter rejected them, and naming wargear after off-hand comments by famous chapters, though by now they themselves are a very famous chapter.

Alternatively, they may just enjoy trolling the hell out of other chapters. For a chapter that gives all of zero fucks about slaughtering the Sisters of Battle and Imperial Guard, it could really go either way. Either this, or Relic are massive trolls themselves and all of the Space Gypsy stuff is [[Just as planned|just as planned]].

An alternative alternative is that Tzeentch is actually seeing how much he has to piss off other chapters in the Blood Ravens name in order to get them to turn completely traitor. He may even be pretending to be Khorne, since that's the only god anyone is apparently willing to worship anymore. Hey, it's better than being completely forgotten like a certain Slaanesh...

A third alternative is that, given how many relics they <s>steal</s> acquire, they may be trying to come to good terms with other chapters by spreading their loot around. That said, it is also entirely possible that it serves as a way of fencing stolen goods: take stuff, disguise true origins, and then offer the things back to their original owners with the certainty that they will reject it as an inferior copy of something they think they still have in their armory.

<gallery>
Image:trinkets.jpg|Ragnar Blackmane was suppose to be given a Power Axe by the Blood Raven artificers. He told them to screw off. <s>Probably lost his wolf mantle afterwards too</s>
File:Gift.jpg|Said Power Axe.
File:Fist's Hammer.jpg|[[Darnath Lysander]] is not amused.
File:Russ Axe.jpg|The Space Wolves can't resist trolling the Blood Ravens. They were less amused when they discovered a similar axe disappeared from their arsenal.
File:DA Plasma gun.jpg|[[Troll|Problem]], [[Dark Angels]]?
File:AzraelsSecond.png|"He mad?" "Pretty sure he mad."
</gallery>

== Daily Rituals ==

04:00 - Rousing from slumber. The Ravens get up from their beds, which they got as a 'gift'.

05:00 - Morning Prayer. They pray to the emperor to grant them the right to 'borrow' chaos, xenos and imperial relics.

06:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Blood Ravens hone their skills with the ammunition 'graciously gifted' by fellow Astartes chapters.

07:00 - Battle Practice. The 'Ravens practice heists and tactical pick pocketing on Imperial worlds.

11:00 - Psychic checkup. The Blood Ravens do their daily psychic checkup on who can be a Librarian that will help the Blood Ravens locate the best loot to 'borrow' from.

12:00 - Midday Prayer.

13:00 - Midday Meal. The Blood Ravens eat some food they got from other chapters or civilians. As such, food varies daily.

13:15 - Tactical Indoctrination. Blood Ravens are informed on which wargear they have to steal.

15:00 - Battle Practice. The Ravens learn how to elude Arbites or chaos guards.

20:00 - Evening Prayer.

21:00 - Evening Meal. A feast is provided by the Chapter serfs, who got them as 'presents'.

21:45 - Night Firing Exercises. The Blood Ravens practice formations in the dark to further hone in their 'skills'. Any marine who end up trying to steal another Blood Raven's wargears for "Extra ammunition" is disciplined.

23:00 - Maintenance Rituals. The Ravens try to maintain their gears and try to disguise them as their own.

23:45 - Free Time. They try to steal from Chaos and xenos here. Some play ancient Terran video games known as Grand Theft Auto and Payday on their Cogitators to hone their skills.

00:00 - Rest Period. The Ravens return to 'their' beds.

==The (Incomplete) Loot List==
* [http://lparchive.org/Dawn-of-War-II/Update%2042/ Many of the weapons and armor the Magpies have been "gifted"]
* [http://lparchive.org/Dawn-of-War-II/Update%2043/ More items. Curiously, none of them are gifts.]
* The Squats.

{{Marines-Official}}

Blood Ravens

2017-01-28T06:24:15Z

2601:280:4500:C128:3127:30D1:B1C7:DBC2: /* History */ TS Arvida being Ianus & NL Fel Zharost

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Blood Ravens
|Heraldry = [[Image:Bloodravenslogo.jpg|250px]]
|Battle Cry = Pre-Retribution: "Knowledge is power. Guard it well."; Post-Retribution: "None shall find us wanting."
|Number = Unknown
|Founding = Unknown
|Successors of = Heavily hinted to be [[Thousand Sons]]
|Successor Chapters = N/A
|Chapter Master = [[Gabriel Angelos]]
|Primarch = Unknown possibly [[Magnus the Red]]
|Homeworld = Fleet-based
|Specialty = [[Psyker]]s, collecting "lost" relics, plot armor,[[Reasonable Marines| Attacking in key positions]]
|Strength = Probably around 800
|Allegiance = [[Imperium of Man]]
|Colours = Red. Bone white pauldrons
}}
''"I am a thief of knowledge, and in a survival way, I had to solve all the problems around me."'' 
-Philippe Petit

''"Blood Ravens? Go lock the reliquary"'' 
-Calato, Deathwatch Champion, to a random Stormtrooper upon encountering a Blood Ravens force.

The '''Bluhd Rehvehns''' are one of the better-known background Chapters, primarily from their starring role in the [[Dawn of War]] vidya series. They have ''waaaaaaaay'' too many psykers and are obsessed with <s>stealing</s> finding lost relics, mostly because they don't know anything about their history. They have no records dating before the [[Age of Apostasy]]. This has led some to theorize that they are actually [[Traitor Legion Loyalists|loyalist descendants]] of the [[Thousand Sons]], which according to fluff, <s>may be canon</s> <s>it's not canon</s> is intentionally left in the grey area and even GW likes to tease us about this (like they did in the Prospero White Dwarf).

==History==
[[File:Indrick Boreale.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Indrick Baldeale, a Blud Rehvens Captain: Teh greahtehst hero of teh chaphter and mastur of STEEL REHN.]]
This chapter was specifically created by Relic and GW for the Dawn of War vidya games. This would remain their only claim to fame if Dawn of War hadn't spawned dozens of [[meme]]s. Perhaps the most famous example of these memes is the voice acting of the Captain Indrick Boreale, who is the origin of the terms [[Empra]] and [[Space Marine|Spehss mahreens]]. They are also infamous on /tg/ for losing half their chapter in a single campaign, also thanks to Brother-Captain Boreale, who refused to fuck off when [[Vance Motherfucking Stubbs]] arrived. [[Davian Thule]] had the same thing happen when he [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1bHvuVe0xs refused orders to fuck off] from [[Governer-Militant Lukas Alexander]], but unlike Boreale, Thule actually won.

The Blood Ravens are also famous for their rav(en)ing kleptomania, discussed in greater depth below.

One of the few canonically confirmed, let alone interesting, things about their history is the possibility that they are descendants of a [[Thousand Sons]] schism cult. The short story "Rebirth" in ''Age of Darkness'' shows what might be the foundation of the Chapter, as hinted before in ''A Thousand Sons'' Horus Heresy book. That story shows that most of the Corvidae (as in the genus of birds to which the raven belongs) Fellowship of the Legion was sent away by [[Magnus]] during the Burning of [[Prospero]]. The leader of this Fellowship, Revuel '''Arvida''', has a name very similar to Azari'''ah Vidya''', the legendary hero of the Blood Ravens, who utters "Knowledge is Power, Guard It Well", the motto of the Blood Ravens. Additionally, they have an unusually high number of unusually powerful psykers, with two full squads of Librarians in the First Company and were (at least until the events of [[Dawn of War 2#Retribution|Retribution]]) lead by a combination of [[Chapter Master]]s and [[Librarian]]s. Finally, their obsession with lost knowledge and mystic relics mirrors pre-Heresy Thousand Sons. Hell, even their ''color scheme'' is suspiciously close to the one used by the pre-Heresy Thousand Sons. Also, if you want to read ''way'' too much into it, it should be noted that almost every other Traitor Legion has known, named Loyalist members, most of whom aided [[Malcador]] with the creation of the [[Inquisition]].

However, given the ambiguous and circumstantial nature of what little evidence exists, we may never know if this is true. For a time, there was a rumor of a Blood Ravens Codex produced by Games Workshop, which would probably expand on the theory. However, the codex never came out, the rumors quietly died out and do not look likely to be revived anytime soon.

The Blood Ravens have only two recorded mutations in their [[gene seed]]. The first one affects their Catalepsean Node, which grants them perfect memory but creates an inability to enter R.E.M sleep, forcing them basically to sleep while awake. For anyone other than a Space Marine, this would ultimately be fatal, but it would hardly be the first time such nonsense was found in Space Marine fluff. The second mutation, if it truly can be counted as one, is its high frequency of producing or activating latent psychic power. Other, less documented (as in fan-developed) characteristics include a massive tendency to develop kleptomania, generate a gelatinous substance in their scalps to allow for the creation of hairetical hair, and something known as "unavailable original voice acting" which causes some members' voices to change periodically.

They are also notable for having [[C.S. Goto|a Librarian Chapter Master who dedicates himself to Khorne]]. Normally this would be a case of extreme bullshit writing, <s>but appears to make some degree of sense in that the Chapter Master/Head Librarian in question is never seen using sorcerous powers after revealing his new loyalty</s> He psykically projects himself onto Typhon, in order to trick the protagonists onto the planet to cause the Exterminatus. But after that, Daemon Princes, even of Khorne (which he ultimately transforms into), actually have massive psychic potential.

The [[Dawn of War III]] initial reveal page shows that good ol' Gabe is in fact alive, meaning that the Space Marine ending in Dawn of War II was in fact completely canon. Unfortunately, Gabe is no longer mostly bionic so [[Derp|who knows what's canon]].

Anyways, the Blood Raven's new motto under Gabriel Angelos was "None Shall Find Us Wanting", which is the saying they use in Space Marine, unlike their old "Knowledge is Power, Guard it Well" schtick, indicating that the events of Space Marine occurred after DoW:Retribution. In any event, whether Space Marine itself is actually canon or not is up for debate, though GW's official stance is that most of it is not, which would mean that there is no evidence at all about what actually happens. You'll have to [[Matt Ward|decide for yourself]].

Interestingly, seen as a whole, this also means that Graham McNeill's incorrect statement that Gabe was the Chapter Master at the time he wrote the WD Blood Ravens Index Astartes article (published Nov 2004), is now retroactively correct, as Gabe does indeed become Chapter Master in the Space Marine ending of Retribution (released in Mar 2011)... unless this was [[JUST AS PLANNED|already the intended direction of Relic/Games Workshop's plot arc from the beginning]].

[[Wat|Knowing Games Workshop though]], Eliphas is probably still alive. Probably a Daemon Prince, too. Because, as with all secondary 40K media: "Fuck coherency in the name of storytelling!".

==The Hats==
The dust settled and the Ork horde lay dead at her feet. But with such a victory came sacrifice. The good General lay dead, his final words asking "Who wants to live FOREVEEER?" (Seeing as he's Freddie Fuckin Mercury in Space) with a wry smile on his face. The Imperial Guard had either died to a man or retreated when the Commissar Lord fell in battle. But it did not matter, her hat and her popped collar would hide any tears that she may have shed for them.

And then suddenly, there was a thumping. It couldn't be! She had bombed the area! She had drowned the orks in the bodies of the devoted guardsmen! She had evaporated the green tide with faith and fire! And yet... he still stomped through the ashes.

"ALRITE YA SQUISHY! I WANTZ DAT HAT!". He was as determined as he was arrogant, but even with his stubbornness, she could see something change in his face. Confusion had entered his small little brain. Perhaps it was because he was shocked that naught but a "pitiful" human could stand tall against the full force of a WAAAGGHHH. What was more amusing was that the Warboss had lost his patented pirate hat. She reached for her own hat, to tip it in torment at the Ork's incompetence... only to find nothing but hair in it's place. "WHERE IZ IT!? WHERE'Z DA HAT?!" the Ork roared in fury before noticing his own unprotected head. Shock turned to anger as both reached the same conclusion.

"DIOMEDES!" She screamed in unison to the Ork's own war-cries for "DEM'Z BLUDY MAGPIES HEADZ!". The eternal war made for some strange alliances, but none as strange as the Inquisitor and the Warboss hunting down the Thieves of Thieves, in retribution for their loss.

Diomedes sat with his new pirate hat. He thought it fitting for his position in a Chapter as renowned as his for "acquiring" gifts.
"We Shahl Coll this maneuvah Stehl Stehl!" - The Ancient announced, as he disregarded his tattered old helmet for the Witch Hunter's headpiece.

==Famous Blud Rehvens==
*Chapter Master [[Gabriel Angelos]] - Original Badass and current Chapter Master of the Blod Rehvens, at least in the SM and IG endings of Retribution (the SM ending is canon, but he dies in every other ending). He is the first Blood Raven Chapter Master in recorded history to not at the same time be the Chief Librarian, probably because they finally realized that having a Chief Librarian/Chapter Master is a Bad Idea™. Gabe was the first Blood Raven character we were ever introduced to and has the most fully-formed character of anyone else. Known for his catch phrase "Walk softly and carry a big gun", which translates to "Steal the biggest thing and don't get noticed". He sentenced his own homeworld of Cyrene to [[Exterminatus]] after discovering extensively deep [[heresy]] on it (which he's still hurting over) and accidentally set the events of most of the series in motion by destroying a daemonic artifact known as the Maledictum and thus setting a Greater Daemon of Khorne loose. He still did his damndest to make up for it and succeeded.
**Comes back in Dawn of War III wearing an impressive looking suit of Tartaros Terminator Armour, as well as making ridiculous [[C.S. Goto|front 360 flips in it]].
*Chief Librarian Azariah Vidya (get it? cuz they are in a vidya gaem?) - Led the chapter soon after their founding in a campaign against Alpha Legion (who have slain their Chapter Master) with most of the 1st Company and most of their previous command structure. Vidya made use of some kind of [[Creed|Tactical Genius]], and his already large experience battling Chaos forces, made him naturally "understand" where the enemy was, so that his Rehvens perfectly striked where needed. He essentially found the "I WIN" button for that campaign and pressed it while engaging his inner troll-face. Vidya is hinted to actually be 'Arvida', a 'Corvidae' or seer, from the Thousand Sons Legion.
*[[Isador Akios]] - Gabe's Librarian buddy. Was successfully tempted by [[Sindri Myr|Ssssiiiiindriiiiii]] into betraying the Blood Ravens, and was eventually killed by Gabe himself for that heresy (thus also enabling Gabe to spout an awesome one-liner while pulling the trigger).
*Captain [[Davian Thule|Davian Thule]] - The only force commander to get 2 sexy voices in both games he appears in.....well that was until he got ripped by a [[Tyranid]] Warrior and interred into a Dreadnought, where he sounds just as scary as any near-psychotic Dread. Gets rekt by Eliphas in the first Chaos mission in Retribution, though. Way to punch the players in the gut, Relic.... We like to pretend that the Venerable Dreadnought honor guard in Retribution is Davian Thule, to soothe our deep emotional trauma. While the Space Marine ending to Retribution is canon, his character is never really addressed after Chaos Rising, other than the aforementioned humiliating annihilation, and could well be dead. It is still hinted that he and the 4th company fought during the 13th Black Crusade.
*Captain [[Indrick Boreale|Indrick Baldeale]] - A master of [[meme|STEEL REHN]]. He is quite dead at the moment. Unlike Davian though, nobody is in the least broken down about him.
*[[Blood Ravens Force Commander|Force Commander Hair Gel]] - Though he is given the name Aramus in a [[C.S.Goto|novel]], the game and the novels contradict each other so we'll never know what is what. Usually called Force Commander Vanilla Ice or Hair Gel for his hair-esy, he's also the youngest Blood Raven Force Commander ever. In Retribution, he's mentioned in the "Hammer of the Nameless" wargear, stating that the hammer went missing after he was branded renegade by Kyras. It is slightly possible that Vanilla Ice might return in the series one day since it's never implied that he was executed by Gabe or defected to the Black Legion. Retribution hints that the "slightly tainted" ending of Chaos Rising is canon (ending #3 out of '''five''' possible endings), and in that ending he was sent to the Eye of Terror on a 100 year penitent crusade. Dialogue indicates that Thaddeus was sent along with Hair Gel.
*[[Avitus]] - A Devastator Sergeant, who's so angry that he hates everything. On top of that hate lists are Imperial Guardsmen, when he was a regular human they were jerks who oppressed his neighborhood, and on Kronus he lost several battle brothers from the Guardsmen that stood against the Blood Ravens cleaning up their Chapters dark secret. Is an all-around badass who can fire plasma cannons and heavy bolters without needing to set up, given the proper upgrades. Has the same voice as the unknown heretic in Chaos Rising. In Retribution, he is stated to canonically be the heretic (who betrays the player and joins Eliphas' Black Legion warband) in the player's forces during Chaos Rising, as if him being fucking angry all the time wasn't enough of a dead-giveaway. He then gets killed by his ex-BFF Tarkus later on.
*[[Cyrus|Cyrus/Spike Spiegel/also Wolverine]] - A Scout Sergeant, who's so grimdark that he hates everything. He's also voiced by [[Steve Blum]], which makes him awesome. Cyrus literally hates everything, short of the [[Emprah]], and constantly bitches about how fucked up everything is during every briefing in the game. The whole "Spike Spiegel/Wolverine" name comes from his rather prolific VA's most famous characters, one from the anime Cowboy Bebop, the other from the X-Men cartoons and assorted games. Prefers to wear scout armor instead of tactical armor to show off he's that badass.
*[[Jonah Orion]] - Gabe's new Librarian buddy after Isador got executed on Tartarus. He played a rousing game of mindfuck with the Tyranid Hivemind to allow Angelos' fleet to enter the system during the first DoWII. He won in the end, the only remaining sane & alive Librarian on Gabe's ship. And he becomes playable in Chaos Rising. Died in all endings of Retribution at the hands of DOM-Kyras as Relic likes to keep up with the tradition that the black guy has a 99% chance of being killed in the end. He's also the first confirmed black Space Marine who isn't from the [[Salamanders]], which is [[Awesome]]. Well, there was also that one [[Black Templar]] guy in [[Damnation Crusade]]. Later turned out to be not quite dead, and appears as the new Chief Librarian in Dawn of War 3.
*[[Martellus]] - A [[Techmarine]], also voiced by [[Steve Blum]]. His job is to inform you of bad news all the time while chilling on the strike cruiser. Survived getting his Thunderhawk shot down and stranded on Typhon for months, canonically wasn't the traitor in Chaos Rising, and became a playable character in DoWII: Retribution. If he becomes a traitor due to the player's use of artifacts, he will attack you in a Chaos Predator, fucking your shit up. (Despite not being the canonical traitor, he is nonetheless selected as the default traitor if all members of the player's team have exactly equal corruption levels.)
*[[Tarkus]] - A Tactical squad Sergeant, who is bald and also the Ancient in Retribution. Noted for being surprisingly kind-hearted and dutiful for a Marine, Tarkus ever takes the role of a mentor and is a strict adherent to the Codex Astartes. Unusual in that if he falls to Chaos through artifacts, he does so with the express intention of using the daemonic weaponry to fuck over the Black Legion and Eliphas and bring Kyras to justice by his own hands. If turned to Chaos, he attacks with a Kai Gun (Read the nostalgic 3rd edition CSM codex for crunch and more detail), an ancient, [[Awesome|daemonically possessed bolter]] that fucks things up with retardedly strong bolts of warpfire.
*[[Thaddeus]] - An Assault Marine Sergeant, the youngest and least grimdark of the gang. Is also a hair-etic and unsurprisingly joined Force Commander Hair Gel on his heresy during Chaos Rising. Canonically gets sent away on the penitent crusade alongside Commander Hair Gel after Chaos Rising, explaining his absence in Retribution.
*Apothecary Gordian - the man responsible for bringing Davian Thule back from the brink of death and overseeing his internment in a dreadnought. It's a pity that he gets virtually no screen time and gets killed when the Tyranids destroy your strike cruiser, since his few appearances mark him as a useful and generally cool character.
*[[Apollo Diomedes|Captain Apollo Diomedes]]- Captain of the veteran First Company and Honor Guard, and said to be the "greatest" warrior of the Blood Ravens history. He used to be a helmet-wearing jerkass of awesomeness until Retribution, where he is revealed to be bald. As such, this fa/tg/uy dubs him Abaldo Diomedes. Looks (and sounds) suspiciously like Indrick Boreale... "BRRUUUVAA I AM HITTT!" "IT IS DE BEEEIHNNNNBLEEEEHD!"
*[[Azariah Kyras]] - A [[C.S.Goto|Space Marine Librarian who falls to Chaos and dedicates himself to Khorne]]. In his early days he was stuck in a Spacey Hulk with a couple of marines, and after fighting in it for Emperor knows how long, he was corrupted by the Nurgle demon Ulkair. Was also Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens up until Retribution. Has a kickass VA ("Let the galaxy BURN!"). He looks like he hasn't slept since the time of the Ancient Sumerians (just look at those eye rings, someone give this man a tempur-pedic and some clonodine). He also happens to be one of the few psykers to gain the favor of Khorne in the history of 40k (apparently good enough to be granted daemonhood on top of all that too). This is largely due him kicking Ulkair to the curb after he got owned by Commander Hair Gel, and decided to cater to the daemon of Khorne Gabriel released.
*Apothecary Galan - A traitor apothecary with a great voice, possessed by a daemon of Nurgle, trying to corrupt Abaldo Diomedes. Was part of the expedition that found Kyras aboard the Judgment of Carrion. Notable for bucking the "apothecaries aren't badass"-trend by carrying a chainsword that hits like a goddamn truck and having a bodyguard of assault terminators. If defeated in battle in Chaos Rising (optional objective), the daemon gets exorcised, and the actually repentant Galan (who was possessed against his will) gives you information that saves Diomedes' life... and then dies. Since Diomedes is alive in Retribution, that means canonically, Galan is dead.
*Scout Sergeant Priam - Got all his scouts kidnapped by a Sorcerer on Calderis, with the rest of them holed up in shitty clay structures against Chaos Dreadnoughts, havocs, and missile-carrying plague marines. Suffice to say, if Hairgel doesn't deploy every shred of tactical genius he has, everyone gets [[rape|properly fucked.]]
*Sergeant <s>Lysandros</s> MEHTULBAWKSES - shows up on Calderis to destroy an empty town in the ass end of nowhere on orders of Kyras. Notable for being the eternal nemesis of [[Firaeveus Carron]] by spamming not just Rhinos, but Razorbacks. Tells Diomedes (the player) to fuck off and stop being a buzzkilling asshole. The player then proceeds to kill him. Obviously.
*Dreadnought - A random hero of the chapter. The Blood Ravens must have a bunch, since they're more spammable than Predators. Most players pretend (in vain) that the Venerable version you can sub out Martellus for in Retribution is Thule, and weep quietly as it instagibs infantry in the background with assault cannon sweeps.
*Unnamed Traitor - Siding with Kyras and Chaos, he shows up in the later stages of Retribution, becoming the greatest exemplar of the thieving might of the chapter by stealing a Land Raider Redeemer from the Blood Ravens themselves. Is also a teamkilling fucktard who fires off the Land Raider's frag assault launchers directly into a huge mass of cultists (on the same side as him) worshiping Khorne, resulting in ludicrous gibs.
*Squad [[Beakie|Corvus]] Marines - Shows up in Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine during the Chaos Invasion. Noticing a group of Black Templars traveling to join the Liberation Fleet heading for Forge World Graia, Squad Corvus attached themselves to the strike force in order to "acquire" more gifts for the chapter (specifically, more Titans). They show up during the Chaos invasion and kick major ass, despite there being only like four of them. Just goes to show how fucking strong Blood Raven plot armor is... or how strong their dedication to "acquire" relics for their chapter can be.
*Rhamah - [[C.S. Goto|The blackest of Irish lepers]] graced us with this librarian, who got pulled into the warp while fighting off a Gellar field breach on the Litany of Fury. He ended up on a [[Harlequin]] library planet with amnesia, where he met [[Ahzek Ahriman]]. Getting convinced that they were battle brothers, he wandered around the library while [[Gabriel Angelos]] and company were looking for him. The moment Rhamah was found, he got a [[Ferrus Manus|viking haircut]] courtesy of a space elf clown's power sword. The moral of the story is to avoid heresy. And also fuck C.S. Goto.
*Jensus Natorian - In the Deathwatch Overkill boxed game, Jensus is the librarian in Kill Team Cassius. Back when Jensus was a regular old human, his parents got killed by orks. That made Jensus angry. [[Angry Marines|Really REALLY angry]]. He raged so hard he developed psychic powers, [[Rip and tear|started tearing hordes of orks into hamburger with his bare hands]], and made Khorne himself raise his fiery eyebrows and say “…{{BLAM|DAMN}}.” So yeah, he kinda went super saiyan. After Jensus ran out of greenskins to render down to their component parts, he was right about to be taken by the Black Ships when a chap by the name of Inquisitor Belicor decided that Jensus’ rage could be put to better use, shipped him off to the Blood Ravens, and later oversaw his induction into the Deathwatch, where his psychic contributions are less about mind bullets and more about mind [[RIP AND TEAR]]. Jensus also makes the Blood Ravens the only non-First Founding Chapter represented in the Deathwatch Overkill box, much to the disappointment of Black Templar players.
*Captain Arthrus Godfrey - The Captain of 4th Company that fought Hivefleet Behemoth with Inquisitor Kryptman in the series made by [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Eliphas the Inheritor.]] Scares the crap out of the Death Watch members who know that the Blud Rehvens are thieving bastards.

==The Lazy Fuckwits of 4th Company==
The Blood Ravens 4th Company is recognized as the laziest sons of bitches in the entire goddamn sector. For all of Dawn of War 2, these bastards sat around on Calderis, only to show up when [[Davian Thule]] gets KO'd by a Tyranid ''Warrior''. Their battle strategy basically involves "let the Force Commander do all the work". So only about twenty marines and the rest of the Blood Raven scouts actually do shit, while the rest of these fat bastards sit around on Calderis getting chewed up by gribblies. Where the fuck are they when the Force Commander needs them!? Probably "discovering and obtaining" more artifacts.
The Force Commander never actually needs them on the battlefield though: he and Cool Dreadnought alone are perfectly capable of blasting the stuffing from Cannon Fodder, Tyrants and Fatty Daemon Princess (if they are properly equipped and employing hit-run-cheat-hit tactic). Friendly Cannon Fodder is useless in hard battles anyway. Better let them loot friends and foes.

If you wanted to split hairs, you could argue that the rest of the 4th Company is the reinforcements you call in when your squads get KO'd and you run back to a satellite dish/strategic point to heal up. This begs the question to why they don't just deploy full-sized squads to begin with and overwhelm the enemy from the start.

The rest of the company are probably deployed to other theatres, performing side objectives or just minimizing the number of reinforcements that jump in front of Thule's assault cannon.

==Bloody Magpies==
[[File:Magpie Missle.jpg|200px|right|thumb|The Blood Ravens "acquiring" a master-crafted artillery shell from a Forgeworld. The next day, the Magos simply said: ''"THEY TOOK WHAT?!"'' after hearing the report that their entire artillery battery was reported missing.]]
[[File:Warhammer_40k_blood_ravens_magpies_comic_bolt_down_everything_1335786405659.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Don't bother, they'll just "acquire" the bolts too.]]
Blood Ravens are also known to steal and loot artifacts, relics, and practically everything else that isn't bolted down (and it doesn't even stop them from stealing from dreadnoughts), due to the fact they are not an official chapter and must make do with what they find. In case you haven't noticed thus far: they are named after an intelligent bird known for feasting on the dead, which makes them value the spoils of war more than any other chapter. Their battle gear includes (and is not limited to) scraps from Ultramarines, Space Wolves, Imperial Fists, Salamanders, Dark Angels, Iron Snakes, Blood Angels, Black Templars, Iron Hands, Grey Knights, even the Adeptus Custodes and at least one Primarch. One must wonder how the fuck they got away with the latter.

In addition, they are always on the move, implying heavily that they are the Space Gypsies of the Warhammer 40k. This makes further sense when you consider that "Gypsies" is derived from "Egyptian", and the Thousand Sons are Egyptian-themed (although gypsies are actually ethnically Indian). Maybe the White Scars like them, but they only hang out with their successors anyway.

In Dawn of War II, the Blood Ravens have numerous opportunities to receive wargear for them to use in battle. Strangely, a good number of them are obtained through vague circumstances or described as "gifts", either implying that they were salvaged from the dead who aren't Blood Ravens or were downright stolen from both loyal and traitor marine chapters and other Imperial organizations. How they got away with that is something only the Emperor would know. Seeing as they've jacked at least one bolter and suit of power armor from the fucking [[Adeptus Custodes]], the Emperor probably is the only one that could know.

So [[Bjorn_the_Fell_Handed#Bjorn.27s_Happy_End|how will this end?]]

I don't know...But I'm pretty sure they are a textbook case of mass kleptomania, which could be explained as an unnoticed gene-seed corruption (because when you're checking for thing like growing the wrong number of limbs, a compulsion to steal is going to be a lot less visible).

Of course, will you question the Omnissiah and the Machine Cult when it comes to handling artifacts?

<gallery>
Image:Baalpistol.png|Also known as the Bloody Magpies.
File:BA Flamer.jpg|When the Bloody Magpies were victimizing the Blood Angels, they didn't just settle for the Pistol of Baal.
Image:Inquisitorpistol.png|Weight on the word "discovered".
File:DoomEagle.jpg|This is primarily because the Doom Eagles didn't think to look at their own Chapter armory.
File:Benediction.jpg|Even the Inquisition is not safe.
File:Custodes bolter.jpg|HOW THE FUCK DO YOU STEAL CUSTODES EQUIPMENT?!
File:Jump Pack.jpg|Even the lost and dead are not safe.
File:Heretical Shotgun.jpg|Even the ruinous powers are not safe.
File:Alpha legion armor.jpg|When we said Chaos wasn't safe, we weren't kidding.
File:Termi tele.jpg|Techmarines from different chapters swear to the Emperor that they've seen this before in another chapter's armory.
File:Artificer termi.jpg|Refusal is futile.
File:Nova Termi.jpg|The Novamarines were puzzled to see the Terminator armor gone from their honored battle brother's body after he fell against the Tau... 30 seconds later when they glanced aside.
Image:evenyoumartellus.png|Curiously, the Techpriests of Mars refused to recruit any more potential Techmarines from the Blood Ravens after Martellus' release.
Image:bloodmagpies.png|Spoiler: They don't.
File:Snakes banner.jpg|Emphasis on "recovered".
File:CustodesArmor.jpg|This really puts the achievements of all other chapters to shame.
File:Forgebreaker.png|Not even the Primarchs are safe.
File:SkarbrandMaul.jpg|[[Abaddon|Abaddon's]] weapon is pretty cool too, I guess.
File:BTThunderHammer.jpg|If you steal, might as well do it from the best.
File:Ancient Bolter.gif|Even [[Matthew_Ward| Matt Ward's]] beloved [[Ultramarines|Ultrasmurfs]] aren't safe...
File:GKArmor.jpg| And neither are his other beloved [[Grey_Knights|Special Snowflakes]].(at least they partly admit they stole this one)
File:Dawn_of_stubbornness.png| Even the fan chapters have witnessed this.
</gallery>

===Rumors===
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3uEf8sJt1s&feature=g-all-lik A Blood Raven marine sneaking off with an Ultramarine Land Raider with incomprehensible stealth.]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4om7AuID6BY&feature=related It is worse than we imagined.]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Enua52rXfmQ Much worse.]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tavp0vrBOLA So bad, they would steal from each other (Though why would they want THAT particular relic is anybody's guess).]
*Stole not one, but two whole [[Primarch]]s before they were even found.

==Fanboy Ravens==
The Blod Rehvens have also been known for their excessively fangirl-esque behavior, including forging weapons for other chapters and declaring them relics after the receiving chapter rejected them, and naming wargear after off-hand comments by famous chapters, though by now they themselves are a very famous chapter.

Alternatively, they may just enjoy trolling the hell out of other chapters. For a chapter that gives all of zero fucks about slaughtering the Sisters of Battle and Imperial Guard, it could really go either way. Either this, or Relic are massive trolls themselves and all of the Space Gypsy stuff is [[Just as planned|just as planned]].

An alternative alternative is that Tzeentch is actually seeing how much he has to piss off other chapters in the Blood Ravens name in order to get them to turn completely traitor. He may even be pretending to be Khorne, since that's the only god anyone is apparently willing to worship anymore. Hey, it's better than being completely forgotten like a certain Slaanesh...

A third alternative is that, given how many relics they <s>steal</s> acquire, they may be trying to come to good terms with other chapters by spreading their loot around. That said, it is also entirely possible that it serves as a way of fencing stolen goods: take stuff, disguise true origins, and then offer the things back to their original owners with the certainty that they will reject it as an inferior copy of something they think they still have in their armory.

<gallery>
Image:trinkets.jpg|Ragnar Blackmane was suppose to be given a Power Axe by the Blood Raven artificers. He told them to screw off. <s>Probably lost his wolf mantle afterwards too</s>
File:Gift.jpg|Said Power Axe.
File:Fist's Hammer.jpg|[[Darnath Lysander]] is not amused.
File:Russ Axe.jpg|The Space Wolves can't resist trolling the Blood Ravens. They were less amused when they discovered a similar axe disappeared from their arsenal.
File:DA Plasma gun.jpg|[[Troll|Problem]], [[Dark Angels]]?
File:AzraelsSecond.png|"He mad?" "Pretty sure he mad."
</gallery>

== Daily Rituals ==

04:00 - Rousing from slumber. The Ravens get up from their beds, which they got as a 'gift'.

05:00 - Morning Prayer. They pray to the emperor to grant them the right to 'borrow' chaos, xenos and imperial relics.

06:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Blood Ravens hone their skills with the ammunition 'graciously gifted' by fellow Astartes chapters.

07:00 - Battle Practice. The 'Ravens practice heists and tactical pick pocketing on Imperial worlds.

11:00 - Psychic checkup. The Blood Ravens do their daily psychic checkup on who can be a Librarian that will help the Blood Ravens locate the best loot to 'borrow' from.

12:00 - Midday Prayer.

13:00 - Midday Meal. The Blood Ravens eat some food they got from other chapters or civilians. As such, food varies daily.

13:15 - Tactical Indoctrination. Blood Ravens are informed on which wargear they have to steal.

15:00 - Battle Practice. The Ravens learn how to elude Arbites or chaos guards.

20:00 - Evening Prayer.

21:00 - Evening Meal. A feast is provided by the Chapter serfs, who got them as 'presents'.

21:45 - Night Firing Exercises. The Blood Ravens practice formations in the dark to further hone in their 'skills'. Any marine who end up trying to steal another Blood Raven's wargears for "Extra ammunition" is disciplined.

23:00 - Maintenance Rituals. The Ravens try to maintain their gears and try to disguise them as their own.

23:45 - Free Time. They try to steal from Chaos and xenos here. Some play ancient Terran video games known as Grand Theft Auto and Payday on their Cogitators to hone their skills.

00:00 - Rest Period. The Ravens return to 'their' beds.

==The (Incomplete) Loot List==
* [http://lparchive.org/Dawn-of-War-II/Update%2042/ Many of the weapons and armor the Magpies have been "gifted"]
* [http://lparchive.org/Dawn-of-War-II/Update%2043/ More items. Curiously, none of them are gifts.]
* The Squats.

{{Marines-Official}}

Thousand Sons

2017-01-28T06:20:22Z

2601:280:4500:C128:3127:30D1:B1C7:DBC2: /* Connections with the Blood Ravens? */

{{Infobox Traitor Legion
|Name = Thousand Sons
|Heraldry = [[File:Thousandsonslogo.jpg|250px]]
|Battle Cry = "All is dust..."
|Number = XV
|Primarch = [[Magnus the Red]]
|Original Homeworld = [[Prospero]]
|Current Homeworld = [[Sortiarius]] (latin for sorcerer), also known as the Planet of the Sorcerers
|Champion = [[Ahzek Ahriman]]
|Specialty = [[Psyker]]s, [[Chaos Sorcerer]]s
|Strength = Near one thousand, if you count the Rubric marines.
|Allegiance = [[Tzeentch]]
|Colours = Blue, yellow/gold
}}

''“The point was to learn what it was we feared more: being misunderstood or being betrayed.”'' 
―Adam Levin

''If you want to hear [[Tzeentch|God]] laugh, tell him your plans.'' 
—Woody Allen

The Thousand Sons are a [[Chaos]] Space Marine legion that fully devote themselves to [[Tzeentch]]. Their Primarch is Magnus the Red, an extremely psychically powerful Daemon Primarch with one eye and a magnificent red mane. The legion, when founded, had a mutation in the gene-seed that caused uncontrollable mutation that led to quick death (presumably because it was corrupted by the warp). Magnus became desperate in saving his legion, so he made a pact with Tzeentch and sacrificed one of his eyes to seal the deal. By that time only about 1000 marines remained alive. [[Not as planned|Turns out]] this sacrifice was in vain because Tzeentch [[Troll|tricked]] Magnus into believing that the deed was done, when in fact the sacrifice was only done to post-pone the mutation in the gene-seed. During the siege of their home planet Prospero by [[Space Wolves|those damned furries]], the Thousand Sons started to succumb to random mutation and turn [[Chaos Spawn|into something that must not be named]] before dying violent deaths.
Later, on the Planet of the Sorcerers, Ahzek Ahriman of the Thousand Sons cast the Rubic of Ahriman to save the legion again, but failed, because their mortal bodies were turned into dust and their souls bound to their power armor forever.

No, seriously. Incredibly pissed-off dust. Due to this, they have the single coolest battle cry ever...

...That actually is an otherworldly whisper and that makes it all the more terrifying and awesome.

==History==
===Pre-heresy===
During the pre-Heresy era, when the Great Crusade was underway, the Thousand Sons was the first legion to exhibit psychic powers and were the deadliest, the killiest of all the legions because on top of being Astartes, they extensively (and freely) used their psychic powers from all kinds of different disciplines at the same time. Naturally, because of the [[Witch Hunters|Imperium's never ending fear of psykers]], they were usually distrusted by most of the Imperium, especially [[Mortarion]] and his Death Guard. Nevertheless, they were tolerated because they were totally awesome, used their abilities to wondrous effect in service of the Imperium, and in general were exceptionally badass (Superhuman warrior-monk magicians for the win!!).

However, the Thousands Sons' luck ran out eventually. Magnus and his Legion were called to the Council of Nikaea: a grand gathering of the Emperor and most his sons to decide if the Imperium would allow Astartes to use warp based abilities. At the Council of Nikaea it was determined that these powers were too dangerous, so therefore restricted. While they were never proved to be sorcerers, the Thousands Sons were forced to dissolve their Librarius along with everyone else, except for the White Scars, who ignored it, the World Eaters, whose Librarium was so small they didn't even bother disbanding it, the Space Wolves who believed that their librarians somehow weren't working with the warp, and the Word Bearers, who were already quietly sacrificing people to chaos. Predictably, Magnus didn't give a shit either and headed home to Prospero to continue being a sorcerer in secret.

===Heresy===
[[File:1297640558332.jpg|250px|left|thumb|The Thousand Sons' custom/basic infantry unit:The Rubric Marine.]]
Before the actual start of the [[Horus Heresy]], Magnus learned of [[Horus]]' corruption and used his powers of sorcery to warn the [[Empra]] about his oh-most-favored son's impending treachery, and that his favored son, if not stopped, was about to [[FATAL|fuck everything up]] and destroy everything the Emperor had sought to build. Unfortunately Magnus' contacting the Emperor in this fashion could not have occurred at a worse time: it caused the Webway portal and the Golden Throne which the Emperor was building to suffer a Blue Screen of Death (Windows has stopped responding. In space there is only Windows Vista) and become damaged beyond repair, and in addition caused a massive psychic blowout across all of Terra, crippling Astropath communication and inducing psychosis-related rebellions and suicides world-wide (see Outcast Dead novel).

<s>Only slightly</s> Way too bummed that he had screwed-up the Emperor's master-plan, Magnus headed back to Prospero in order to prepare to receive the Empra's mercy (read: to be killed in a very cruel way), and sent the Sons' fleet to buy some drinks. Meanwhile, the [[Emperor]], royally pissed at Magnus for damaging the Throne and unwilling to believe his most favored son could betray him, sent the [[Space Wolves]] to arrest him. Horus, who was digging Chaos already, pulled a move worthy of [[Eldrad|Eldrad Ulthran]] in terms of dickery, and sent a fake message to [[Leman Russ]] - with orders to destroy the Thousand Sons instead.

Unable (or unwilling) to contact the Thousand Sons to offer them a last chance to surrender and evacuate the civilians, the loyalist Space Wolves opened fire on Prospero, Magnus' homeworld, and caused immeasurable damage to some of the largest caches of knowledge in the fucking Imperium. Chief Librarian [[Ahzek Ahriman]] then decided to ignore his Primarch's orders and, in a show of true manliness, led the Thousand Sons and the Spireguard in a defence of the capital and the lives of all within. Outnumbered something like five to one against not only the Wolves but the [[Adeptus Custodes]] and the [[Sisters of Silence]], the Sons managed to inflict heavy casualties to the Wolves, but everything started to fall when two or three of the Sons' officers exploded after using too much Warp energy, causing a chain reaction of the Thousand Sons randomly mutating and exploding. The defensive line was reduced to the Pyramid of Photep, Magnus' HQ and last shelter for the civilians. Magnus finally joined the battle, unable to watch his Sons get massacred any more, and decided to challenge Leman Russ in single combat. While he put up a good fight, even breaking Russ's breastplate and piercing one of his hearts, Russ eventually beat Magnus down. Just before being hacked to pieces by the angry brother and as the Wolves started to close in on the remnant of his Legion, Magnus gave himself over to Tzeench. He and the rest of the Thousand Sons reappeared on the Planet of the Sorcerers. Magnus swore vengeance against Russ and the other Marines who had stupidly ignored his warnings, and started plotting against the Wolves and the rest of the Imperium that betrayed him.

After these events [[Tzeentch]] walked up and sat on his throne in the Hidden Library, at which point he conjured a [[martini]] glass with his alcohol of choice and sipped from it. He then set it down on the arm rest, held his hands together, chuckled and muttered "[[Just As Planned]]".

===[[Rubric Marines]]===

"Just as planned". -Ahzek Ahriman

(Aka The Day Management changed all the employment terms and conditions and forgot to inform the workforce, not even a memo. The Unions were pissed.)

As mentioned previously, the Thousand Sons' army was at one point 66% dust. This was primarily because of [[Ahzek Ahriman]]'s FML spell: The Rubric of Ahriman.
[[File:1288054902571.jpg|right|thumb|They didn't take the news well...]]

This rite damned everyone without psychic powers to be [[Grimdark|turned into ash and their soul to be sealed for all eternity into their permanently sealed armor unless the armor itself is broken]]; until [[Games Workshop]] gets its head out of its ass (which will probably never happen), it also damned those WITH psychic powers, as Gee Dubs [[DERP|is now claiming]] Scarab Occult Terminators were psykers who got Rubricked, which also means we currently have no idea who allegedly lived through the spell. Originally this was supposed to stop the mutations they were experiencing as they defected to Chaos; ongoing mutation paired with the earlier slaughter of the Thousand Sons by the Space Wolves meant that they were slowly dying out, and Magnus and the Thousand Sons actively sought a way to stop it. Figuring out his own method from Magnus' spellbooks, Ahriman crafted a ritual that caused any Marines with mutations to either survive with their mutations cured and psychic powers augmented - or turned to dust if they weren't a strong enough to resist the change. It's worth noting that Ahriman's plan was actually to cure the whole legion of mutations, but the Warp being the Warp, [[FAIL|things got out of hand]]. Suffice to say Magnus was fucking pissed and sought to kill Ahriman, but Tzeentch applauded Ahriman and saved his ass. The spirit-armor Marines became known as Rubric Marines.

Rubric Marines are automatons - without a strong guiding presence, they lapse into a passive state - they are immortal beyond even a Space Marine's immortality and thus make the perfect guardians for the libraries and bases of the Thousand Sons. When guided by a Sorcerer or placed in the front lines against a foe, their old battle-hunger returns and they move with more of a sense of purpose. They obey orders without hesitation, and know no fear. Making them far more fearsome, their Sorcerers equip them with modified bolter rounds that are enchanted to explode into bursts of white-hot warp-fire on impact, burning through armor with incredible speed. Additionally, since they're functionally animate suits of armor, they possess phenomenally strong supernatural protection due to their construction and are a bitch to kill as a result. They are, however, incredibly slow.

Whilst the current generation of Rubric Marines date back to the Thousand Sons' expulsion of Ahriman, it's believed they have the ability to make more by using altered and notably scaled-down versions of the rite that resulted in the Rubric. Even with this, however, the creation of them is lengthy and time-consuming, ergo guaranteeing that their enemies will slowly whittle down their numbers by drowning them in corpses, which is pretty much the tactic used by the Imperials against chaos marines constantly. Though like every major Chaos Marine forces Thousand Sons have their own armies of lesser men: surprisingly non-traitor Chaos Guard called Spireguard, which is used to drown their enemies in corpses or do tie up Imperial meatshields while Rubric Marines and Sorcerers doing the job that matters. In editions past it was mentioned, that Thousand Sons Sorcerers can reanimate killed (broken?) Rubric Marines with a simple yet time-consuming ritual and Magnus himself can somehow bring back fallen Sorcerers in his super-awesome Black Tower on the Sorcerers Planet. All of this was possible due to Rubric made the souls of both Golems and Sorcerers all but immune to powers of Warp so they cannot be nommed by daemons - although as [[Erebus]] had shown in "Betrayer", it is quite possible (though not easy) to resurrect even one who's soul ''had'' being torn apart and eaten by daemons. It was never retconned, so we can assume that this fluff is still valid, and no matter how many Thousand Sons you've killed, they would always [[Commissar Yarrick|come]] [[Anval Thawn|back]] [[Lugft Huron|from]] the [[Necrons|dead]]. At least they wouldn't do it right the next second after you've killed them.

Tabletop-wise Rubric marines are of debatable use. Yes they're fearless, are fairly good at being shooty especially if their bolters are enchanted, has a +4 invul save, so basically, they rape any kind of infantry that doesn't have the toughness of a Terminator. But on the downside, they're slow like termies and aren't necessarily as tough as them, they're nearly useless if the sorcerer leading them dies, they don't wow anyone in CQC, and overall they're hard to use for beginners. Overall, sort of a bridge between the shootiness of Slaanesh Noise Marines, toughness of Nurgle Plague Marines, and the fearlessness of Khornate Berzerkers. Throw them in a [[METAL BOXES|Rhino]] and let the games begin. You really have to know what you're doing with these guys. They CAN do quite awesome, but you need to use them right. And having Tzeentch smile upon you (in a way) never hurts.

The Thousand Sons have a distinctive battle cry [[Grimdark|''"All is Dust."'']] Only the relatively rare standard Marines they have however, scream it - instead, the sorcerers typically emit it [[Awesome|as a sonorous chant, accompanied by flickers of warp-light as the squad emerges from seemingly nowhere]].
[[File:All Is Dust by MajesticChicken.jpg|250px|right|thumb|Ahzek Ahriman, aka The One Who Psy-Bolts your Ass to Death.]]

===Post-Rubric===
Like most other Chaos legions, the Thousand Sons broke their coherence after the Heresy, and split into small warbands, or in their case "warcovens" (because space witches). Those warcovens are usually not just small, but ''tiny'', with few of them having more than four or five sorcerers and a few dozen golems. As the Thousand Sons fleet survived the burning of Prospero and the Rubric pretty much unscratched, every single one of these covens usually has at least one cruiser-class ship and probably a few escort wings, and it's not uncommon for them to fill these ships with some nasty shit like Dark Mechanicum robots, daemon engines, summoned daemons, or animated constructs to make sure they're safe from boarding parties despite their numerical disadvantage when it comes to clashes with other CSM warbands. They usually hire themselves as mercenaries for bigger warbands, Dark Mechanicum forges, or the Black Legion, in exchange for resources, knowledge, and magical trinkets, which they then move to their base of operations on the Soritarius, the Sorcerers' planet; there, they can study them and nerd out in their libraries, while plotting to outshine each other in "the nerdiest sorcerer of the Galaxy" contest. While many of them no longer hold much love for their daemonic Primarch, their loyalty to him stems from the simple fact that he's capable of bringing dead sorcerers back to life without even need for their corpses, with a nice bonus of having the access to the Soritarius' resources and research facilities. Still, some warcovens (like Ahriman's Prodigal Sons) went rogue and cut their ties with their new home world, and some decided to [[Black Legion|wear black]] and join [[Abaddon|the Despoiler]] in his [[Long War]] - in fact pretty much all of the Black Legion's top-ranked sorcerers and diviners are ex-Thousand Sons, and they are amongst the most valued members of the legion, some even part of the Abaddon's inner circle.

As of recently, Magnus has gotten of his ass and united his legion in a colossal scheme of [[Just as Planned]] to royally fuck up the Space Yiffs, involving Daemons, Wulfen, and Bringing the Planet of the sorcerers into the material realm. Doing this, they used the fact that the Wulfen only appeared when [[Daemons]] appeared to trick the [[Grey Knights]] and [[Dark Angels]] into thinking that the Wolves had fallen to chaos. This ended with a dead Wolf Lord, The majority of the Fenrisian population being either killed or Sterillised by the Grey Knights, the chapter crippled very badly, and currently bitching and crying their way to [[Cadia]] to recover. Also, more Daemon Primarchs are coming. End times confirmed!

They also get a new unit known as Tzaangors; basically Tzeentch beastmen.

==Connections with the [[Blood Ravens]]?==
It's never proven to be absolutely [[canon]], but in the "A Thousand Sons" novel from the Horus Heresy book series, there are some hints that the Blood Ravens stemmed from a Thousand Sons cult who remained loyal to the Emperor, which was a large force of Thousand Sons marines who were sent outside Prospero before the Space Wolves came to fuck the whole planet over. Specifically, the most painfully obvious of the hints is this particular line from the novel where a [[remembrancer]] is using divination:

<center>'''''It's too late... the [[Space Wolves|Wolf]] is at the door and it hungers for blood. Oh, Throne... no, the blood! The Ravens, I see them too. The lost sons and a Raven of blood. They cry out for salvation and knowledge, but it is denied!'''''</center>

Since these Marines never fought the Space Wolves and weren't drawn into Magnus' plans of heresy and revenge, or didn't even hear about it, after getting their planet bombed, they remained loyal to the Emprah. Probably because they, like Leman Russ, discovered after the fact that it was a trick. Sucks to be Russ when he found out.

In the ''Age of Darkness'' short story ''Rebirth'', Revuel Arvida is the last survivor of a scouting party from a ship that made it back to Prospero. The end of the story has him saying "knowledge is power" and focusing on the raven of the Corvidae cult on his pauldron (also, the rest of his armor is red). He gets off of Prospero with the help of the White Scars later, after surviving for ages alone without food or water whilst fighting psychneuin, then getting involved in a fight against Mortarion's bodyguards (need we add that this was a fight between the Terminator elites of two Legions, and Arvida survived despite being clad in regular power armour), and finally creating a psychic beacon to get his and the Scars' arses off the planet. Except that wasn't final, as he spent four years at war beside the Scars, fighting the flesh-change, bitch-slapping Eidolon with his psychic powers and guiding the entire Legion fleet to Terra through the Webway. Compare his name to "Azariah Vidya," the earliest recorded (though not the first) Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens.

Eventually though it was revealed that Arvida merged with his Tutelary spirit and/or a broken Shard of Magnus which he left behind on Terra when he broke the Golden Throne. The resulting amalgamation cured Arvida's body of mutations (but sealed around one of his eyes with scar tissue) and took the name "Ianius" ''(also the name of his Tutelary)'' Possibly later to be known as Janus, the founder and the first supreme grandmaster of the Grey Knights, especially since physical descriptions of Janus show him with a squint in one of his eyes. Much shit was flipped by TS, BR, and GK fans that day. On the other hand, it does not explain what happened to his gene-seed (assuming it was replaced by implants from the Emperor like Epimethius having his Dark Angel gene-seed replaced and sealed).

And note that the Blood Ravens have no idea which legion or chapter they originally came from and the fact that they produce an unusually higher number of Psykers than your average marine chapter and the Thousand Sons were known to have a large number of Psykers in their legion, as well as having a fetish for various flavors of knowledge. Also, the Thousand Sons' pre-heresy colors are strikingly similar to the Blood Ravens', the only difference is that instead of a white trim, the Blood Ravens use black, but the armor's overall color and their helmet's visor color are virtually the same.

Additionally, certain records were found upon Kronus that alluded to the Chapter's origin, yet Thule had them destroyed. Some suggest that the evidence was so damning as to link them to prove this theory. Alternatively, it may simply be that the records were in fact [[Azariah Kyras]]' perverted [[/d/]]eviant porn and Thule destroyed it because of the sheer amount of extra-heresy it contains that it would drive any lesser man to insanity.

There is some more evidence that the Blood Ravens are a Thousand Sons offshoot in the book ''[[Dawn of War]]: Tempest'', but '''that''' was written by [[C.S. Goto]], so take it with a grain of salt.

The November 2016 issue of White Dwarf almost explicitly states that Blood Ravens are an offshoot of the Thousand Sons.

''"Rather nice chaps, I thought'' - Brother-Captain Jefferies, Classy Marines Fourth Company.

==Daily Rituals of the Thousand Sons==
04:00 - The Thousand Sons (At least the fleshbags) awake from their sarcophagi.

04:10 - Rubric Inspection. The Thousand Sons Sorcerers inspect on their Rubric Marines to see if some sense of normality returns.

05:00 - Morning Prayer. The Thousand Sons gather to pray to Tzeentch on not fucking them over.

06:00 - Morning Firing and Sorcery Rites. The Thousand Sons practice on their shooting and magical skills on warp beasts.

08:00 - Battle Practice. The Thousand Sons descend in the twisted Pyramids on Sortiarius to test out their combat prowess.

09:00 - Morning Meal. A morning meal is handed out to the non-Rubric Thousand Sons by the legion's psychic serfs. The Thousand Sons are more forgiving to their serfs as they are most likely psychic and thus, more likely to share common kinship.

09:15 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Thousand Sons congregate on plans to appeal more to the psykers of the Imperium and gathering unknown knowledge.

10:00 - Midday Prayers. The Thousand Sons again gather to pray that Tzeentch won't fuck them over again.

11:00 - Midday Meal. A light meal is prepared by the psychic serfs.

12:00 - Sorcery Training. The Thousand Sons Sorcerers train their magic tricks to further harness the warp.

13:00 - Evening Firing and Sorcery Rites. The Thousand Sons practice on their shooting and magical skills on even more warp beasts.

15:00 - Battle Practice. The Thousand Sons continue to train in CQC combat so they can one day beat the [[Space Wolves|fucking furries.]]

16:00 - Re-Education Time. The Thousand Sons lecture captured non-psychic Imperial Humans on why their prejudice on psykers are bad and they should feel bad before sending them off as laborers. At the same time they lecture captured psykers on why the Thousand Sons are there to protect and nurture them and why psykers are the next step in Human evolution.

18:00 - Evening Meal. A feast is prepared by the psychic serfs, which are cooked from the warp beasts that was hunted in the morning and afternoon.

19:00 - Meeting up with Magnus. The Thousand Sons meet up with their Primarch on issues concerning them such as the proposal on creating a republic to piss off the Imperium, equality between psychic and non-psychic, the state of the Imperium and humanity on the whole, Tzeentch being a dickhead and why he should not be trusted and why knowledge is power.

20:00 - Sending 'Gifts' to the family. The Thousand Sons secretly steal some loyalist equipment and secretly give it to the [[Blood Ravens]] out of family kinship - the Blood Ravens have yet to realize of these heretical trade deals. The Thousand Sons also try and send gifts and 'sorry' cards to their only friends, the [[White Scars]], [[Emperor's Children]] and [[Blood Angels]] for supporting them even during the failure of the Nikea Council. Heck, they send out gifts to anyone who wasn't a dick to them during Pre-Heresy. Suffice to say the gifts are always destroyed by the [[Inquisition]].

21:00 - Nerdin Out. The Thousand Sons nerd out in the great libraries on Sortiarius. Some use their free time to train captured psykers on how to safely use the warp while others continue to berate captured non-psykers on why the Imperium is bad. Some play [[Video game|vidya games]] and talk about ancient sci-fi stories such as [[Star Wars]] and [[Star Trek]], coincidentally those who play online video games may accidentally encounter [[Blood Angels|Dante and co. doing the exact same thing.]] Some venture back to their old home of [[Prospero]] to get some lost relics/knowledge.

24:00 - Rest Period. The Thousand Sons rest in their sarcophagi.

==Sources==
* [[Ballad of the Thousand Sons]]
* [[Thousand Son and Guardswoman]]
* [[Confessions of a Wayward Son]]

==See Also==
* [[Codex - Thousand Sons]]
* [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAtIJBE0m6g Feel free to play this whenever your sorcerers are unleashing enough pyschic dakka to put the Imperial Guard to shame.]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Ahriman_and_the_Rubiks_Cube.jpg|Even with all of his powers, Tzeentch will never give up, even to Ahriman, the greatest of all riddles.
File:1297640512216.jpg|eh, warp lollipop.
File:1297640558332a.jpg|HUH. OK. RAPTORS. THAT MAKES SENSE...
File:1333070677403.jpg|Where are the Sorcerer Dreadnoughts GW?
File:1297640558332.jpg
File:A Thousand Sons.jpg|The golden years
File:Firstkeeper.jpg|[[Rule 63|ALL IS BUST]]
</gallery>

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[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Space Marines]]