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Hi everyone

I've been looking for raven guard backround but all I have found is the basics (the dropsite massacre, corax trying to clone them, their tactics) but I can't really find anything else about them. I would appreciate it if anybod else told me more about them.

there really isn't that much fluff on them. try:
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?autocom=ineo&showarticle=316
Things to remember:
not ALL raven guard have red shoulder trim.
chapter master is unnamed.
the captains of the 1st, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th are unnamed.
the older the raven guard, the blacker the hair and the whiter the skin. scouts- normal. marines- pale & dark. captains/chaplains/libbies/techmarines- very pale & very dark. chapter master/master of sanctity/MOTF/chief libby- white & black.

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

GW has only produced a few books and audio books in wich the RG are featured.

They make appearances in 'The Chapter's Due', Raven's flight, Hellion Rain, Cadian Blood, The First Heretic, Fulgrim and in one of the FW Imperial armour books. A very cool chapter.

In the books you just listed they do really cool thing, especially when they load drop pods with explosives

Sneaky sneaky sneaky,......then jump out and Killy,killy killy! what could be more fun than that, scouting and infiltrating, Ah the joy brings a tear to my eye, part of me now doesn't want to sell mine :-( but...projects move on.

The Raven Guard? They're just the emo of the 41st millenium.

@ laodamia, Yep they are, except they just cut everyone else! ;-)

moonshine wrote:Hi everyone

I've been looking for raven guard backround but all I have found is the basics (the dropsite massacre, corax trying to clone them, their tactics) but I can't really find anything else about them. I would appreciate it if anybod else told me more about them.

There's not very much to go on, frankly.

You've got the basics of their appearance:
They've got a pale grey tinge to their flesh and black hair. Their eyes are black, all the way through.
They're very independent and give lots of leeway to their commanders in terms of deployment.
They have a rank, called "Shadow-Captain", which is used as an honorific for members of the Chapter who've committed great deeds.
They're pragmatists, first and foremost. They're not above having their veteran battle-brothers garb themselves in Scout Armor and go hunting for enemy commanders with sniper rifles.
They're also, much like the Space Wolves, commonly known for their views on working alongside Guard regiments namely: they're more "humanitarian" than most Astartes Chapters are, who view Guard with disdain--if not open scorn.

Corax was awesome in The first Heretic

kizzdougs wrote:GW has only produced a few books and audio books in wich the RG are featured.

They make appearances in 'The Chapter's Due', Raven's flight, Hellion Rain, Cadian Blood, The First Heretic, Fulgrim and in one of the FW Imperial armour books. A very cool chapter.

you missed "hunt for voldorius".

moonshine wrote:In the books you just listed they do really cool thing, especially when they load drop pods with explosives

and climb a titan...and have a techmarine, captain and sarge sneak up on telion...and not show up on FRIENDLY auspex...

nerdfest09 wrote:Sneaky sneaky sneaky,......then jump out and Killy,killy killy! what could be more fun than that, scouting and infiltrating, Ah the joy brings a tear to my eye, part of me now doesn't want to sell mine :-( but...projects move on.

aw...how much?

kanwulen wrote:They've got a pale grey tinge to their flesh and black hair.

the older they get, the more pale skin and more blak the hair. When they're scouts, they're normal. They don't start pale and black-haired.

kanwulen wrote:Their eyes are black, all the way through.

where did you get that from? never heard that one before...

kanwulen wrote:They have a rank, called "Shadow-Captain", which is used as an honorific for members of the Chapter who've committed great deeds.

partly true. They call thier captains shadow-captains, because corax said to for some unknown reason.

is the OP starting a RG army? My recommendation- Include subtle references to edgar alan poe's the raven.

corax's last word- "nevermore."
4th company drill sergeant- "sergeant alenpo"
RG saying- "...and by the time our enemies can react...darkness there, and nothing more."
corax translates into "raven."
they have lots of corvus-pattern helmets, which translate into "raven."

get it? This is all in officail fluff.

shrike wrote:

kanluwen wrote:They've got a pale grey tinge to their flesh and black hair.

the older they get, the more pale skin and more black the hair. When they're scouts, they're normal. They don't start pale and black-haired.

Actually, they do. Look in IA8 at the color plate for the Raven Guard Scout.

And read about why he's got camouflage paint on his flesh. It's very enlightening.

kanluwen wrote:Their eyes are black, all the way through.

where did you get that from? never heard that one before...

Pretty much everything about them previously? It's always been mentioned that their eyes are "coal-black".

kanluwen wrote:They have a rank, called "Shadow-Captain", which is used as an honorific for members of the Chapter who've committed great deeds.

partly true. They call their captains shadow-captains, because corax said to for some unknown reason.

Nope. They have distinctive ranks. "Shadow-Captains" are those who are awarded the title by the Chaptermaster. Korvydae and Shrike are two such, but there are normal "Captains" too.

The difference is that a "Shadow-Captain" will likely be afforded more leeway in their operations and be deferred to by a normal captain in operational planning.

is the OP starting a RG army? My recommendation- Include subtle references to edgar alan poe's "The Raven."

corax's last word- "nevermore."
4th company drill sergeant- "sergeant alenpo"
RG saying- "...and by the time our enemies can react...darkness there, and nothing more."
corax translates into "raven."
they have lots of corvus-pattern helmets, which translate into "raven."

get it? This is all in official fluff.

And this is the biggest piece of advice you definitely want to ignore.

A lot of that "official fluff" is from a time when stupid jokes ran rampant throughout 40k background.
They have plenty of normal names(such as Scout-Sergeant Uirroth from the IA8 color-plate), but it's likely that some adopt nom de guerres related to the corvid family.

kizzdougs wrote:GW has only produced a few books and audio books in wich the RG are featured.

They make appearances in 'The Chapter's Due', Raven's flight, Hellion Rain, Cadian Blood, The First Heretic, Fulgrim and in one of the FW Imperial armour books. A very cool chapter.

They're also featured in one of the Epic lists on GW's website. The list includes fluff for the campaign (as in military campaign, and not a string of linked missions) that the list is for. The campaign involved a local Raven Guard contingent stationed on the moon of a world that had both human colonists and orks. When the orks suddenly started attacking the human settlements in much larger numbers, the Raven Guard investigated... and discovered that the orks were attempting to migrate away from another threat. Unfortunately for the marines, that discovery was made when they stumbled into an ambush by the Swordwind, which had come to the ancient Exodite world to remove the alien infestation.

Kanluwen wrote:

shrike wrote:

kanluwen wrote:They've got a pale grey tinge to their flesh and black hair.

the older they get, the more pale skin and more black the hair. When they're scouts, they're normal. They don't start pale and black-haired.

Actually, they do. Look in IA8 at the color plate for the Raven Guard Scout.

kanluwen wrote:Their eyes are black, all the way through.

where did you get that from? never heard that one before...

Pretty much everything about them previously? It's always been mentioned that their eyes are "coal-black".

ah. I didn't see that on lexicanum and the B&C.

kanluwen wrote:They have a rank, called "Shadow-Captain", which is used as an honorific for members of the Chapter who've committed great deeds.

partly true. They call their captains shadow-captains, because corax said to for some unknown reason.

Nope. They have distinctive ranks. "Shadow-Captains" are those who are awarded the title by the Chaptermaster. Korvydae and Shrike are two such, but there are normal "Captains" too.
[/quote=the bolter and chainsword]The officers of the Raven Guard are known as Shadow Captains

I thought that meant "officers" as in "captains." My mistake.

kanwulen wrote:And this is the biggest piece of advice you definitely want to ignore.
A lot of that "official fluff" is from a time when stupid jokes ran rampant throughout 40k background.

shrike wrote:
[color=red]the raven guard saying was in 4th ed. codex, and maybe 5th, and alenpo is in the 5th ed. codex. Corvus helmets and Corax have been around for yonks, and "nevermore" is from index astartes IIRC.

shrike wrote: is the OP starting a RG army?.

Yes I am but as a side project but more importantly me and a few friends are starting a rpg type campaign set in the horus heresy so I want to know what to do with my character.

Well, funnily enough, I'm doing a heresy-era raven guard army using the blood angels rulebook. You might find some information:
fluff:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/wiki/en/User:shrike
updates with the army, rules and pics on page 10:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/list/334599.page
feel free to comment!

[/shameless self-promotion]
so you're doing a main heresy-era campaign...and a side of raven guard...why not a heresy-era raven guard army?

Then you're not doing it right.

"Heresy-era Raven Guard", and even nowadays Raven Guard have nothing in common with the Blood Angels.

Jump Pack troops are not a "signature" unit. They're not even a "semi-signature" unit of the Raven Guard.

They're more renowned for their aptitude as scouts and infiltrators.

The jump troops thing is a misnomer that's continually propagated because of the fact that Captain Shrike uses a personal bodyguard of jump troops in campaigns against Orks.

Nah i considered it but I like the current fluff they have right now.

For the heresy era campaign it is very basic right now but the story is:

After Istvaan some loyalist and chaos marines were unable to leave the planet and had to seize a space hulk floating above the planet. When onboard they becme aware of each other, some ork freebootas, eldar pirates, mutants and some dangerous xeno parrasites who live inside people whilst eating brains (a bit like starship troopers 2). Anyway they all brake out into an all out war and each need control of the hulk to fuffil their own personal needs.

I have got control of 10 raven guard veterans whilst a friend has got control of 5 salamanders and 5 iron hands.

So far things look like there going to be really fun

Sounds like you might need some industrial towers, maybe some space corridors...

We probbably will aswell as some eden project type spacce domes (maybe with some eerie plants aswell)

moonshine wrote:We probbably will aswell as some eden project type spacce domes (maybe with some eerie plants aswell)

Do NOT encourage them. It's a bad Dakka meme that needs to be squashed.

Kanluwen wrote:Then you're not doing it right.

"Heresy-era Raven Guard", and even nowadays Raven Guard have nothing in common with the Blood Angels.

Jump Pack troops are not a "signature" unit. They're not even a "semi-signature" unit of the Raven Guard.

They're more renowned for their aptitude as scouts and infiltrators.

The jump troops thing is a misnomer that's continually propagated because of the fact that Captain Shrike uses a personal bodyguard of jump troops in campaigns against Orks.

they are semi-signature unit. When I mention raven guard, people think "scouts and assault troops."
the genetic fault that raven guard had- red thirst.
the primarch's retinue- sanguinary guard
stormraven- it has raven in the name, and it'd be the sort of thing they'd use. Lots.

What "genetic fault that Raven Guard had"? Are you referring to Corax's "abominations"?

That wasn't anything at all to do with the Raven Guard.
It was the cloning attempts that Corax tried.

No the raven guards skin goes pale white, their hair and eyes turn black. The Betchers gland and Mucranoid organs no longer exsist either. Raven guard don't like blood angels beacuse they think they are clumsy beacuse they preffer to charge head on.

Kanluwen wrote:What "genetic fault that Raven Guard had"? Are you referring to Corax's "abominations"?

That wasn't anything at all to do with the Raven Guard.
It was the cloning attempts that Corax tried.

yes. I read somewhere that about 1 in 100 were fit for service, and sometimes they later turned into abominations.

moonshine wrote:No the raven guards skin goes pale white, their hair and eyes turn black. The Betchers gland and Mucranoid organs no longer exsist either. Raven guard don't like blood angels beacuse they think they are clumsy beacuse they preffer to charge head on.

In my armie's fluff they AREN'T blood angels, I just use them for counts-as. I've got the green in my LGS, and the fluff, if I do say so myself, makes a lot of sense, is useable in C:BA, and still suits the raven guard.

I thought about using the ba codex but decided to use regualar marines just so I could use shrikes rules

shrike wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:What "genetic fault that Raven Guard had"? Are you referring to Corax's "abominations"?

That wasn't anything at all to do with the Raven Guard.
It was the cloning attempts that Corax tried.

yes. I read somewhere that about 1 in 100 were fit for service, and sometimes they later turned into abominations.

Yeah, well you read wrong. The "abominations" were something that only happened in the ending days of the Horus Heresy, and were promptly destroyed after they were used in one engagement.

...probably anyway.

It would seem from the latest IA book that.. well.. perhaps not all of those experiments ended back then. In some form or other anyway.

The audio CD "Helion Rain" also features the Raven Guard.

Kanluwen wrote:

shrike wrote:

Kanluwen wrote:What "genetic fault that Raven Guard had"? Are you referring to Corax's "abominations"?

That wasn't anything at all to do with the Raven Guard.
It was the cloning attempts that Corax tried.

yes. I read somewhere that about 1 in 100 were fit for service, and sometimes they later turned into abominations.

Yeah, well you read wrong. The "abominations" were something that only happened in the ending days of the Horus Heresy, and were promptly destroyed after they were used in one engagement.

it never said that there was one engagement with them- one was confirmed, but that was only because raven guard were fighting with an ally. There may have been lots of engagements that raven guard might have done alone- it's not as if raven guard are gonna report thier forbidden methods.
And please read about my army before you dismiss it. The era which my army is from just happens to be in the ending days of the horus heresy, just before the introduction of the codex astartes, when the abominations where made.

From IA8? I didn't see anything in there suggesting the abominations weren't killed.

But yeah. Huron was trying something vaguely similar, except using the geneseed he had at hand which was far more stable.

Kanluwen wrote:From IA8? I didn't see anything in there suggesting the abominations weren't killed.

But yeah. Huron was trying something vaguely similar, except using the geneseed he had at hand which was far more stable.

they were killed, but my army is from the time before they were killed.