Snow Ravens
| Snow Ravens | ||
|---|---|---|
| Battle Cry | Death comes in the shadow of black wings! | |
| Founding | (ca. M41) | |
| Successors of | Ultramarines | |
| Successor Chapters | None | |
| Chapter Master | Murder Lord Calistro Ezekiel | |
| Primarch | Roboute Guilliman | |
| Homeworld | Horoth | |
| Strength | Nominal | |
| Allegiance | Imperium | |
| Colours | Ice blue, Coal black, Skull white | |
Another Chapter created in /tg/ by a few anon and one namefag. Due to some lucky dice rolls on the Rise of battles chart system a generic Ultramarines founding turned into a chapter that seems to be the result of an unholy union between the Night Lords and Raven Guard with some time spent at Uncle Leman Russ’ house on the weekends.
After the loss of the Marines Errant gene seed a gaping hole had been left in the defense against the forces of Chaos. Fearing the possibility of even more damaging and successful raids launched by the Red Corsairs the Lords of Terra commissioned a new Chapter to counter the possibility of Raiders or worse, a Chaos invasion. Using the most stable gene seed available the Snow Ravens were crafted from the Ultramarines gene seed. Founded on the hive world Horoth, a frozen barren world the Snow Ravens built their Fortress Monastery upon the Crow, the highest mountain where normal humans would struggle to draw breath, claiming ownership of the world but never reaching their hand into the politics or running of the Hive World, content to rule only in name. The new Chapter quickly established a name for itself in the reclaiming of an entire sector near the Eye of Terror, Master of the Forge Menelauis Caleb subduing the entire sector with only seven squads earning him the honor of being the first venerated hero of the Chapter. They currently stand at full strength.
Extended Fluff
During the chapters beginning the Snow Ravens followed the Codex rigidly as all Ultramarine descendant chapters do, however over the years the Raven’s began to deviate as the near constant blizzards and mountain crags made ranged combat nigh impossible, resulting in an increase in close combat drills and assault squadrons being formed. They were not the only residents of the fortress monastery however, a great deal of crows had begun to take residence on the highest parts of the monastery and the halls were regularly filled with the creatures cawing cries. Originally from Terra the birds had changed to better suit their new harsher environment, leading to these creatures possessing thicker feathers and an increased size. Arcanus Jaquio, Captain of 10th company was the first to notice the crow’s ability to navigate through even the worst blizzards and set about the task of using the bird’s ability to the chapter’s advantage, training the birds to fly and use certain cries to identify targets and terrain for their masters. Originally the deviation from the codex lead to many shunning or distancing themselves from Arcanus Jaquio and any scout that used his new ideas. However it did have some of the chapters interest including Menelauis Caleb who saw the ingenuity in Janquio’s idea and created a collar for the birds with a vox unit built in, allowing the squads to hear the distinctive cries of the birds even over the high winds.
As the number of scouts who moved onto new companies baring Janquio’s teachings it eventually lead to the chapter master at that times ire. He accused both Arcanus and Menelauis of deviating from the codex and ordered them to repent, taking on a crusade with the squads who had followed them. A total of twelve squads along with the captain and Menelauis left on the cruisers Blood Wing and Holy Fury and set out. As fate would have it, this would see Calebs ascension to the first hero of the Snow Ravens.
While on his penance crusade Caleb’s cruiser the Holy Fury received a distress call from a sector, beseeching the Imperium for aid as the populace rose up in rebellion. Being the closest ship the Holy Fury answered the call for aid, arriving in the sector four days later and deploying to the capital worlds surface. Using the very tactics they had been banished for the Snow Ravens brought the sector back under control in a week, five of the seven squads under Caleb’s command being assault. To the populace that had remained loyal to the Imperium the day to Snow Ravens had come was named ‘Vengeance on Black Wings’. When Caleb returned to Horoth he was greeted as a hero much to the Chapter Masters ire. However Arcanus had not returned, instead an astropath message was received of the warband they had been created to counter being engaged by the Iron Hands and Arcanuses five squads. The 1st, 3rd, 4th and 7th companies were raised and the Snow Raven’s set out to fight the foe they had been created to repel.
When the Snow Ravens arrived there welcome was far from warm. The Iron Hands had already suffered multiple casualties and did nothing to hide their scorn for the arriving Ravens, who they believed were failing in their duty and the Iron Hands were receiving the punishment. Even Arcanus was treated with scorn, for he and his five squads had been using hit-and-run tactics they had witnessed while aiding the White Scars chapter against an ork warband. The Iron Hands however saw such tactics as cowardly and indeed accused Arcanus of using the Hand’s as distractions while his squads hit the enemy weak points. This would be the beginning of the enmity between the two Chapters.
The Ravens joined the battle against the enemy warband who had claimed a manufactorum of the Mechanicus, the warbands intentions were clear, to raid the Mechanicus facility for ammo and supplies. The Iron Hands, having close ties with Mechanicus had answered the call for aid even as Arcanus and his squads arrived in system. More enmity emerged as Iron Hands were unwilling to use heavy weapons on the Mechanicus facility whilst Arcanus and his squads had been more than willing to damage the facilities non-essential areas to eliminate some of the warbands defenses, claiming the destruction of the Mechanicu facility would be an acceptable loss compared to allowing the enemy to escape with their cargo holds full.
The first few encounters were rather indecisive. Without the heavy weaponry of the Iron Hands the Ravens were unable to damage the more heavily fortified and entrenched positions of the enemy warband. The disagreements between the Iron Hands and Snow Ravens came to a head when a weak spot was spotted in the enemy’s defences but would require a huge risk to the main manufacturing line. The Ravens were ready for the assault but the Iron hands refused, deciding that the risk was to high. The Master of the Ravens saw that there would be no changing the Captains mind and instead agreed to follow a Iron Hand plan of assault on a different part of the facility.
The Master however had lied and only committed himself and half of first company to the assault with the Iron Hands, using the attack to draw the enemies attention away from the other side and allowing the rest of the Ravens to assault with their original idea. The assault was a success, the Snow Ravens meeting minimal resistance as they breached the facility. Once in however the assault began to take casualties, including Captain of the 10th Arcanus, who was mortally wounded by the leader of the enemy warband, Chaplain Helveticus Merrick who Arcanus managed to wound horribly before his death, the traitor losing his entire right arm, part of the left and the left side of his skull. It would not be the only major loss to the Snow Ravens. Their Chapter Master also fell to the blades of the enemy warband, the master dying with the hundred slain enemies including 10 terminators, and his 5 terminator guards around him.