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Most (if not all) of the original founding Legions (and at least one of their prominent successors) have some sort of cultural touchstone. They don't follow a pattern, and they don't necessarily all draw on actual history, but you know them when you see them. I'm having a hard time figuring out what the Raven Guard's is, and I'm getting closer and closer to drawing the conclusion that they don't have one.

Here's what I mean:

Ultramarines - Greco-Romans
Space Wolves - Scandinavian Vikings
Blood Angels - Italian vampires
Dark Angels - Abrahamic angels/Medieval knights
White Scars - Mongol Empire
Black Templars - Teutonic Knights -- the Imperial Fists also are taking on a more "Germanic" flavor in recent fluff as well.

The Salamanders and the Iron Hands are both problematic, but I'd say they seem to share the influence of Haphaestian fire-god mythology.

The Raven Guard? Got nothing. Aside from their tenuous - and stupid - link to Edgar Allen Poe poetry, they don't really seem to have a locked influence.

The Spesh Wulfes are a mix of old "barbairan" cultures.

Raven Guard, or at least Corax, are very Western Russian looking. Dark Hair, pale skin, dark eyes, square face, etc

You're pretty much on the money for the rest of them.

As far as I'm aware the RG haven't really been explored in great depth like the others & as such don't have a strong cultural basis.

Presumably the Raven Guard are descended from a lost colony of Goths. (The mopey, eye-liner-wearing kind, not the dark age Germanic tribes, obviously.)

Ninjas.

The only ones that GW has spent a great deal of time on so far are the UM, SW, and BA. Some of the others have been touched on some, but the White Scars and Raven Guard have not really had any fluff updates.

I've seen people give them a first nations style to them and it seems to fit them well.

I've seen the First Nations/Native Americans theme applied to the Dark Angels' Ravenwing, too.

I'd go for the Imperial Russian theme. Not that I like this "Spessh Mehreens as Earth nations" thing too much, but GW (or at least some BL authors) seems heavily invested in it...

I kinda like having an Earth nation to connect them to, adds character imo

Not to mention that, any way you slice it, that is where the inspiration came from!

Castiel wrote:Not to mention that, any way you slice it, that is where the inspiration came from!

How do you figure?

They don't strike me as being particularly First Nation-y. If anything, I'd say they're a cultural homage to modern special forces units, and US Army ODAs in particular; their Shadow Captains are notoriously independent (meaning each company operates as an individual unit, rather than part of a combined whole), they have their strong affinity for stealth, and their fondness for assisting Imperial units/civilians "forgotten" by the big picture of an individual campaign could very well be a take on the Special Forces' motto of "De Oppresso Liber."

The only thing that doesn't really fit is their - according to IA9 - preference for using Assault Marines as their main battle troops.

Seaward wrote:

Castiel wrote:Not to mention that, any way you slice it, that is where the inspiration came from!

How do you figure?

They don't strike me as being particularly First Nation-y. If anything, I'd say they're a cultural homage to modern special forces units, and US Army ODAs in particular; their Shadow Captains are notoriously independent (meaning each company operates as an individual unit, rather than part of a combined whole), they have their strong affinity for stealth, and their fondness for assisting Imperial units/civilians "forgotten" by the big picture of an individual campaign could very well be a take on the Special Forces' motto of "De Oppresso Liber."

The only thing that doesn't really fit is their - according to IA9 - preference for using Assault Marines as their main battle troops.

Pretty much was I was going to say. They seem to be the 'LRRP's' from the vietnam era of the US forces. They seem to be to be more 'Force Recon' with stingray missions. Gurillea warfare, ambushes, force multipliers. That kind of thing. I don't know about ODA's though thats CIA territory although a ODA 'A' Team is defiently something you don't want to meet in a dark alley way in the middle of the night.

More like Seal Alpha and Bravo teams....hell maybe Seal Team 6. =o]

The Alpha Legion where counterespienage troops and pragmitists to the extreme. I think people get confused alot between them. Not say you are.

Whoops, I'm sure someone said they didn't see why there had to be a link to those cultures (eg UM = Romans etc) and I was replying to that. As for the RG, no idea!

I think that people look to hard sometimes for the cultural basis for the legions when there inspiration seems to be more thematic with some of them.

If anything I'd say they have more of a vibe of Nat Turner or Russian revolutionary base. Slaves/serfs who've turned against their masters.

Corax's background is very much Central and Eastern European in themes/basis. The Raven Guard themselves lack any cultural equivelant as a chapter. Not all SM's do. Grey Knights, Salamanders, Iron Hands, and so on.

As well as most of the Traitor Legions. Word Bearers, Emporer's Children, Luna Wolves and Iron Warriors don't seem to have any real world cultural inspiration.

forruner_mercy wrote:The only ones that GW has spent a great deal of time on so far are the UM, SW, and BA. Some of the others have been touched on some, but the White Scars and Raven Guard have not really had any fluff updates.

White Scars aren't obviously modelled after the Mongols of Central Asia?

Deathly Angel wrote:As well as most of the Traitor Legions. Word Bearers, Emporer's Children, Luna Wolves and Iron Warriors don't seem to have any real world cultural inspiration.

Fulgrim is called The Phonecian, I think that counts as something

I have taken to naming my Raven Guard using old Scottish/Welch/Irish names.

I just like the sound of them, not really any cultural reason.

Deathly Angel wrote:As well as most of the Traitor Legions. Word Bearers, Emporer's Children, Luna Wolves and Iron Warriors don't seem to have any real world cultural inspiration.

The Emperor's Children are based off the Renaissance IMO. Fulgrim's nickname is kind of a hint.

Word Bearers could be the Galileo-era Church gone wrong.

The Black Legion is pretty much your generic Dark Knight/Warrior of Evil.

Iron Warriors... Cold War Russia maybe? It's all I can think of at the moment.

Corax is Greek for Raven.
Corvus is Latin for Raven.

Corax's last words were 'ever more' which is taken from Edgar Allen Poe's poem "The Raven" which is a gothic style poem. Black hair and eyes and white skin also fit in with the gothic theme and of course ravens are black and are associated with death.

The Raven Guard are a chapter of brooding killer goths.

Not really, no. Corax was "emo" only because he created a legion of monsters. None of the other Raven Guard follow that pattern; if anything, they're among the least apt to discuss emotion.

Note: Emo =/= Goth

They're all descended from Edgar Allen Poe stories.

They're descended from the bad guys from the old Lego knights sets, the ones that had ravens on their shields. True fact. They were closer to truescale back then too.

Castiel wrote:Note: Emo =/= Goth

Correct, Emos are pathetic wannabe goths, which is quite a feat given that real goths aren't exactly threatening.

cadbren wrote:

Castiel wrote:Note: Emo =/= Goth

Correct, Emos are pathetic wannabe goths, which is quite a feat given that real goths aren't exactly threatening.

I would've said an emo is someone who wants to be a goth, but their mother won't let them.

And I would say that Raven Guard don't fit the "cultural" theme of either goths or emos, so it might be best to move on.

Seaward wrote:And I would say that Raven Guard don't fit the "cultural" theme of either goths or emos, so it might be best to move on.

OK. Raven Guard do not have a culturual basis. They are inspired by an Edgar Allen Poe poem, and their tactics are meant to represent a harrying, birdlike style. They are not imitating any Earth culture. Done.