Corvus Corax

Corax is not a happy man, and it shows.

"Say 'Nevermore'", said Shadow.
"Fuck you", said the Raven."

– Neil Gaiman, American Gods

"When you're on your own, behind enemy lines, no artillery, no air strikes, no hope of an evac, you don't fight dirty. You do things that make dirty look good."

– The Punisher

"You cannot see the future with tears in your eyes."

– Navajo Proverb

"How much more perfect a monster could I have been had the shadows loved me as much as they loved Corax!"

– Konrad Curze on how Corax owned the night.

Not to be confused with the awesome Neo-Medieval Band of the same name.

Corvus Corax, aka The Deliverer, the Raven-Lord, Chooser of the Slain, the Liberator, the Lord of Shadows, Edgar Allen Primarch, Heavy Metal Anti-Social Sanguinius and Space Goth BraveStarr, is the Primarch of the Raven Guard. Corax was big on fast assaults (and screamo music; it's a surprise his chapter motto isn't Brand New lyrics) and is notorious both for being the head of one of the hardest-hit legions during the Horus Heresy and for the steps Corax took to try to help the Imperium, as well as the self-imposed exile he put himself to in an attempt to atone for what he had caused. Whilst /tg/ often jokes that he's emo, he's also a complete badass, like a lot of the Primarchs, and unlike this fucker actually got shit done. He got a suit of power armour named after him, unlike others who could have.

He also had some kind of psychic-invisibility. He was reportedly able to walk among people and pass completely unnoticed (maybe like Big E himself when doing his Odin thing?) It doesn't work on machines or any other kind of mechanical device, due it not being actual invisibility. From how it sounds, it appears that Corax erased himself from people's minds. So Corax himself is still fully visible in reality (explaining why machines can still see him), but he's manipulating other people's minds to erase his presence from their perception, in the same way how ECM is able to fool radars by masking a plane's radar signature. However, he hid this ability even from his own Legion, being quite aware about the Imperium's attitude towards psykers. He shares his name with that of the Common Raven, also known as the Northern Raven, a large, all-black passerine bird noted for being among the most intelligent avians, if not the singularly most so. He loves The Cure, as all should. FOLLOW THE PRIMARCH’S EXAMPLE!!

On a side note, despite him being roughly 50% an overwrought reference to Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven poem, the Deliverance Lost book has him internally say that he doesn't really get poetry and even finds that the stuff uncomfortably calls to mind the work songs that his fellow slaves sang, so quite ironically, Corvus Corax dislikes poetry.

The Liberator

Corax during his Marilyn Manson phase (when did that end?).

Poor guy got fucked nearly as hard as the Lamenters.

Like all the Primarchs, Corax was scattered by Chaos to prevent the Emprah from destroying their plans. Corax wound up on Lycaeus, a dry, dusty moon with no atmosphere, orbiting the planet Kiavahr. At this time the planet was a technologically advanced Forge World, providing Kiavahr's gigantic manufactorums with minerals extracted from Lycaeus by slave labor.

The slaves of Lycaeus were mostly regular people - inhabitants of the moon, as well as criminals, political opponents of the wealthy aristocracy on Kiavahr, and Kiavahran workers who had done crimes such as failing to meet quotas or taking one too many bathroom breaks - in essence, Lycaeus was an unlimited source of free, exploitable manpower, which they kept in line with hired guns and openly executing anyone who tried to escape.

When the people of Lycaeus found Corax as an infant, they were mystified - no one could identify where he had come from and yet all could tell there was something unearthly - and extremely important - about the child. They named him Corax - "The Deliverer," in their language - and in spite of the risks and drain on resources, they took him in and kept him safe from their masters. Believing that Corax was their salvation from the Kiavahrans' tyranny, they began training him in the various skills he would need both as a leader and as a warrior: urban warfare, close combat, and demolitions work as well as political and philosophical training and analysis - ultimately Corax's abnormally-fast maturation (being a Primarch and all) comforted the slaves and united them in believing that Corax was the savior they had waited for.

Finally the day came when Corax was old enough to assume leadership and fulfill his destiny. He began his task by quietly organizing the workers into fight teams, promoting the best, smartest, and strongest to squad leaders. He began using the mines' fabrication tech to create weaponry, and then hid stockpiles of equipment in strategic positions throughout the mines. Corax took full advantage of the environment the Kiavahrans had set up, doing a bang-up impression of Anonymous and staging strikes, sit-ins, and riots in strategic spots, knowing that the Kiavahrans would deal with them harshly and feed the flames. Finally things reached their breaking point and Corax's forces launched their attack, taking key positions. With a combination of sabotage, strategic demolitions, and access to manufactured/stolen weaponry, Corax's forces killed the occupation force to the man and the moon of Lycaeus declared its independence.

When Kiavahr's rulers struck back with their armed forces, Corax was ready for them, having seized the equipment of the defense forces Kiavahr had left behind, and used the fabrication equipment to make demolitions-grade ordnance for the battles to come. At every battle, the Kiavahrans found battle-hardened warriors who were exceedingly skilled in urban and hit-and-run warfare - guerrillas that constantly ambushed and outmaneuvered their heavily-armed and armored forces, whittling down their ranks. With Kiavahr's forces already demoralized and destabilized, Corax pulled a MacGuyver-esque feat of legerdemain and sent a set of nuclear mining charges along the gravity tethers used for moving supplies and ore shipments to Kiavahr, blowing the Kiavahran manufactorums to hell and guaranteeing that the Kiavahrans couldn't produce a thing. The tech guilds who ran Kiavahr plunged into civil war, and with this, the conflict for control of Lycaeus was won.

In celebration, they re-named the moon Deliverance.

That very day, the Emprah arrived, apparently pleased with what Corax had accomplished, and after the two spent a day and a half together, he appointed Corax head of the newly-formed Raven Guard. Nothing is written regarding what Corax and the Emprah discussed that day except for Corax's sole condition of acceptance: that the Emprah help restore peace on Kiavahr. The Emprah agreed and the Adeptus Mechanicus took control of Kiavahr, rebuilding it and turning it into a glorious shard of the Imperium. Deliverance, meanwhile, was reinforced, and the citadel that had once housed the guards the Kiavahrans had deployed to maintain order was now, ironically, the headquarters of the Legion, dubbed "the Ravenspire." In contrast, many primarchs preferred to leave their home planets as Feral or Death Worlds. Some of the older rebels were left to help govern their planet. However, like many of his brothers Corvus allowed the younger ones to become Astartes, and they became the template for the revamped, more idealistic Raven Guard. They formed the core of the Legion's Mor Deythan elite.

It should be noted that Corvus Corax was one of the few Primarchs who grew up with a maternal figure (Well...several...), with the other being Robo Gullytan. Other than a few older women who took in part as Corax's mommies, there was also Nasturi Ephrenia, who was for all intents and purposes, Corax's Onee-Chan. Granted, Corax's fast maturation meant that he looked around the same age as Nasturi when he saved her by ripping an abusive guard's head off and shitting down his neck. The fact of that matter is, 200 years on in the Great Crusade, Nasturi, who by now is a shipmaster of a Battle-barge, is the only person who can talk down to him. With that many Ara Aras, it could be a reason why Corax remains one of the few stable and level-headed (albeit super melancholic) Primarchs when Horus got his Heresy on and one of the few genuinely empathetic ones who have been taught by his moms and his older sister that sometimes, it is okay for a boy to cry.

Great Crusade

Corvus "Edgar Allan Pun" Corax, the Deliverer. He is black ops BraveStarr.

Little is spoken (sensing a pattern here?) of Corax's role in the Great Crusade, though his contributions were many. A firm proponent of mobile strikes, tactical planning, and careful sabotage, the Raven Guard excelled at lightning fast strikes and covert operations, but several of the Primarchs were not quite so sold on it. Rogal Dorn disliked the combat style of the Raven Guard, though the two purportedly respected one another. Corax would have likely gotten along swimmingly with Alpharius and Konrad Curze, due to similar tactical doctrines, but the three Primarchs would be deployed to opposite sides of the Imperium during the great crusade, and would never really manage to hook up. Then again, it's implied pretty strongly that Corvus always hated what Kurze stood for, no matter how similar their tactics (and schticks and weird psykerness and overall personas) were (actually maybe it's not that hard to see why the emo bird hated the goth edgelord). We don't know of any collabs with the Alpha Legion, but really, we wouldn't, would we? (One wonders what Corvus and Alpharius would've done if their positions were switched. While Kurze distances himself from his kind-of similar brother by being a total psychopath, Alpharius does more so by virtue of being much more mysterious and much emotionally present or relatable.) As of Massacre, it is shown that both the Raven Guard and Night Lords worked together during the Farinatus Extermination. But judging from Corvus's disdain for Konrad, it did not end well.

One person who Corax flat-out didn't get along with was Horus (with him being one of the few Primarchs who didn't get along swimmingly with the golden boy. What wasn't pessimism or jealousy, maybe it was foresight, and vice-versa.) The pair never saw eye-to-eye, with Corax being too humanitarian for Horus' tastes and Horus being too much of a cockmongler for Corax's liking. The two also disliked one another's tactical choices, and on at least one occasion, the two nearly came to blows after Horus ordered Corvus' Legion into a frontal assault on a heavily defended fortress. A little strange, given that the Iron Warriors and Space Wolves were present and much better-suited to these tactics, but it basically boiled down to Horus being a prick. The pre-Corvus legion served under Horus, and rolled more like the Night Lords than the emo ninjas we know and love today. Corvus, who saw some uncomfortable parallels with the slavers of his homeworld, promptly set about changing this, which undoubtedly pissed off Horus. Big brother decided to flex his Warmaster muscles, and when Corvus proposed a sensible alternative Perturabo called him a big pussy. The result was a pile of dead ravens, millions of civilian corpses (who hadn't rebelled willingly, but were under the control of alien parasites), and Leman Russ of all people breaking up a fight between Corvus and Perturabo. It's suspected that Perturabo played a major role in giving the Ravens the job of trialing the Mark VI "Beakie" armour, believing it to be inferior.

Being the bigger man, Corax said "fuck this" and left Horus' command, hooking up with some kindred spirits in the form of Ferrus Manus and Vulkan; the three hit it off pretty well and found their forces worked really, really well together. They then went and continued the Great Crusade without having to deal with Horus' acting like a shit. The one upside from the Gate 42 debacle was that the Terran marines in the Legion had been largely wiped out in the assault, taking the warrior lodges with them. In fact, when he learned of what Horus had planned for the Raven Guard during Gate 42, it was said that Corax deliberately assigned the majority of his Terran marines to the assault. Nobody is sure whether he did this because the Terran marines were more used to frontal assault operations, or because he knew the battle was going to be a clusterfuck and wanted to kill off as many of them as possible. Probably both. At any rate, Corax got what he wanted and by the time the battle was over, most of the Terran marines were dead. The survivors became a Blackshield force known as Ashen Claws, after being sent off on their own towards the Ghoul Stars.

The Horus Heresy

A model of Corax. This one won a Golden Daemon.

When the Horus Heresy occurred, the Raven Guard, Iron Hands, and Salamanders were all on the front lines on Istvaan V. The Raven Guard took up the right flank of the battlefield; a morass of rocky crevices, gorges and caves where they ran smack into the Sons of Horus and the World Eaters. Then, Angron and Abaddon showed up and started tearing bloody chunks out of the Raven Guard. While Corax and his boys, backed up by a massive amount of Iron Hands artillery, managed to give as good as they got. However the fighting saw them take extremely heavy casualties and as concerningly, they used up nearly all of their ammunition stock by about 2.5 hours into the battle. As such, they engaged in a series of regrouping actions with the heavily mauled Salamanders on order to consolidate and resupply with what they could. Then, four other ostensibly loyal legions arrived and started spreading out amongst their cousins. Corax and Vulkan chose to withdraw and allow the reinforcements to relieve them, while Ferrus and the Iron Hands pressed onward. However, the four newly arrived Legions were traitors. As the Raven Guard approached the drop sites of the new arrivals, they were opened up upon at point blank range by the Word Bearers with hundreds of Bolters. The first few rows of Raven Guard dropped dead without knowing what had hit them. Corax and Vulkan, quickly realizing how comprehensively screwed they were, argued briefly about how to go about extracting their legions. Corax wanted to immediately withdraw into the surrounding mountains, while Vulkan wanted to engage in a fighting retreat to the dropships and make for orbit. Corax was not able to convince Vulkan to follow him, and so left him and his sons to their fates. Wanting to give his sons a chance to fall back, Corax engaged Lorgar in personal combat after shredding the Gal Vorbak. Kind of like the huntsman scene in an ultra-gritty reboot of Bambi. Corvus easily overwhelmed Lorgar, demanding answers to why he betrayed them. Lorgar tried to tell Corax of the "truth" he had discovered, but Corax's responses amounted to "heresy is bad and you should feel bad", and he said it with lightning claws. Corax was just about to behead Lorgar when Konrad Curze intervened. At this point, Corax's resolve broke, for he looked into the eyes of the Night Haunter and finally knew fear: not the fear of death, but fear that but for chance he could have turned into something as twisted as Curze (particularly when you think of the repressive origins of his legion). Retreating, Corax's forces, primarily designed for quick insertion and covert-ops duty and not sticking around in a meat-grinder suffered the heaviest casualties - and though they fought desperately alongside the Salamanders and Iron Hands, killing countless traitor marines in turn, the loyalists were still slaughtered wholesale, forcing all three legions to withdraw, and leaving them largely unable to stop Horus' advance.

Ferrus Manus was dead, Vulkan was presumed dead, and the Loyalists had been utterly shattered. Having managed to evade the Traitors, Corax managed to gather up a measly 3000 Raven Guard, all that was left of his 80,000 strong Legion, and played a game of cat and birb with the Traitor forces. He learned after a few days of reconnaissance that Angron and the World Eaters were not leaving the planet with the rest of the Traitors, and would be staying to hunt down any remaining Loyalists. Shortly thereafter, the back-and-forth began when numerous Raven Guard, for no apparent reason, suddenly and violently turned on their brothers. At first nobody could figure out what was going on, and chalked it up to Astartes level PTSD. Corax quickly realized that this was not the case, and his own reconnoitering led him to discover that the World Eaters had built numerous pyramids of Astartes skulls in the Urgal Depression. These pyramids were having some sort of Khorne based influence on the Raven Guard, and Corax had them destroyed in short order. Whether he knew for sure what was going on is uncertain, but the fact that he would risk sending men into the Urgal Depression to blow up grotesque, but innocuous, skull pyramids suggests that he did. He then led his men in scavenging what they could from the site of battle; weapons and ammunition primarily. Once they were as resupplied as they reasonably could be, Corax led attacks on three small Iron Warriors armored columns and destroyed them. About forty days after the initial massacre, Corax was able to destroy a small Word Bearers contingent and capture one of them. The Traitor was brutally tortured for information, and Corax learned that Angron knew he had survived, and was hunting him personally. After leading a series of hit and run battles against the World Eaters for nearly 100 days, Corax and his men were eventually driven to open battle after literally running out of mountainous terrain. Corax prepared himself for death, but as the final battle was set to begin, a number of Raven Guard drop ships appeared in the sky and started blasting the bejesus out of the World Eaters. Corax and the remaining Raven Guard troopers were gathered up, and the drop ships broke for orbit as quickly as they could. While it was small recompense for being betrayed and nearly annihilated, Corax and the remaining Raven Guard had managed to keep Angron and the World Eaters tied up for more than a quarter of a year, and had destroyed numerous Traitor supply convoys, Astartes, and armored columns with virtually no men or equipment.

Corax realized how dire the situation was, and returned to Terra to give the Emperor his report. His warnings to Cernel Joson were not listened to and now it was too late. Far too late for now, anyway. The Imperium was collapsing, with the loyalists outnumbered and Guilliman chasing Alpharius halfway across the galaxy and/or building his own empire. The Emperor needed warriors, and Deliverance had none to spare. Searching for a solution, Corax, knowing his Sons lacked the manpower and expertise to be of much use in the coming Siege of Terra, and seeking absolution for running from Curze and Lorgar, beseeched the Emperor (who was already spending all his time and most of his psychic strength on the Golden Throne to prevent a Warp gate from opening at the bottom of the Imperial Palace) to spend Corax and his Legion in a suicide-or-glory plan: to send the Raven Guard out to disrupt traitor supply lines, buying Rogal Dorn time to fortify Terra and the Emperor time to regain control of the Webway. Agreeing that the Raven Guard should continue their lightning-strike and covert-ops tactics, but unwilling to send one of his last loyal Legions to almost-certain death, the Emperor decided to give Corax a dangerous, but potentially game-changing, gift: access to the Emperor's memories on the creation of the Primarchs, and the location of the original complex where they were made, including the knowledge of how to use the long-dormant equipment there. Using the ancient books of research notes the Emperor had left behind when making the first batches of Space Marines and the original genetic sample that the genomes of all Primarchs were derived from, Corax began essentially cloning marines at an alarming rate.

He did not heed the book's warnings however, feeling that the urgency of his mission was of more import. After a fair amount of fuck ups, a solution was found and Corax had discovered a way to make stronger, faster, and more quickly-maturing (physically) Astartes out of toddlers. The marines grew to full size in the matter of days thanks to the fast growing trait derived from the aforementioned Primarch genetic materials. There were those that opposed this amongst the legion, stating that if it were right to give a five-year-old that much power and produce them that quickly, then the Emperor would have done so, but Corax maintained that they were in dire straits, which called for an exception. Then the Alpha Legion laid the FUCK down on that entire plan, and corrupted the gene-seed that the entire project was and ever would be using. While the earlier products were basically functional (if not exactly well-adjusted) Space Marines, the final batch were a horrible mess of mutants. Corax made the best of a bad situation, assembling a Raptor contingent out of all surviving Marines, giving arms to whomever could use them and improvised, custom armour to the most heavily mutated, and sending them off to attack the Traitors' vulnerable rear supply lines. It worked out remarkably well; all of the Raptors possessed enhanced senses and reflexes (which may have led to the camouflage-and-marksmanship obsession of modern Raptors), allowing them to sneak around and fight even better than other members of the Legion, and the "rough" mutants among them were thought of as unlucky battle-brothers, equal in all respects to the "smooth", non-disfigured Marines, rather than monsters to be shunned. Ironically, when they encountered a small Space Wolf force sent to watch Corax, and, it is heavily implied, to try and kill him if he turned traitor, those who suffered from the Curse of the Wulfen turned out to be far less tolerant of such overt mutation. Unfortunately, it turned out that in the long run this gene-seed corruption led to a slow degradation of consciousness and eventually total, bestial madness. Fighting non-stop behind the enemy's line, the Raven Guard managed to reap a tally even higher than what they had lost on Istvaan V, freeing many worlds as well as denying the traitors much needed supplies, footholds and reinforcements.

Initially Corax was prepared to die alongside the Space Wolves at Yarrant III, after being unnerved at seeing one of his strongest brothers cast so low. Later whilst fighting back to back alongside Bjorn who was leading the remnants of the VI in place of Russ, he decided it was a pretty stupid and vainglorious decision to let two Primarchs and their legions perish, and ordered an evacuation of the combined force like what happened on Istva.

Post-Heresy

After the Horus Heresy, Guilliman came back and had a sudden surprising outbreak of common-sense (this is a source of hot debate, many view this decision as the highest degree of fucktarded), demanding that the legions subdivide so that no one person could ever hold the kind of power that led to Horus butt-fucking the entire Imperium. Corax hesitantly agreed, and split his forces, but he remained wracked with guilt; he could not forget what he had done to help save the Imperium, and was left with the horrid choice of what to do about the shambling abominations still kept in the holding cells of the Ravenspire. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that, as he was responsible for their creation, he is the one who now must grant them the Emperor's Mercy, by his own hand, and euthanized the devolved mutants one by one. He then locked himself in Ravenspire, and for nearly a year, did not come out, having spent most of that time in lamentation and the rest playing Dwarf Fortress. When he did emerge, Corax left Deliverance and made a bee-line for the Eye of Terror, heading there to settle the score.

Quoth the Corax: "Nevermore."

"Nemo mea poena effugit"

It is believed that like Leman Russ, Lion El'Jonson, and Vulkan, Corax will return in the final apocalyptic battle versus Chaos, when the Emperor returns - and that then, and only then, will he have the absolution he sought. /tg/ often jokes that on that same day, Indrick Boreale will talk normally.

But after all those time in eye of terror he might as well have became daemon pri-

//Historitor 109.163.233.200 decommissioned by Inquisitorial decree.//

And as it turns out, that's mostly what happened. After some time in the Eye, Corax gained a fuckload of new abilities by listening to Paint it Black by The Rolling Stones set on repeat, like the ability to to shapeshift into a flock of red-eyed Ravens with beaks so sharp they punch through ceramite like paper, turning into what looks like a living pool of darkness that can move through cracks and soil (while retaining strength enough to lift Marines up into the air before folding them into pretzels), turning into a meteor, and gaining the ability to manipulate shadows like the Umbra. He could also turn himself back into his normal self, with the exceptions being his jump pack was now replaced with metallic raven-wings (making him the metal version of Sanguinius), and with his strength, speed, and durability all cranked up to 11. Note that despite his new form and powers, Corax is not a Daemon. He is not affected by wards that affect Daemons in any way and when Lorgar sees him he says he does not see a Daemon, even though he ends up being so strong that he can take on Lorgar (who IS a Daemon Prince) in a one-on-one fight and come out on top, presumably because Lorgar never read that taking the Daemon Prince upgrade doesn't always work out for you. Lorgar's sons pull him out of the fight (by unloading everything they had into Corax, which gives him some light bruises on his face and a black eye) when it becomes clear he's not going to win.

While Lorgar considered his own change into a Daemon Primarch to be an ascension, Corax considered his new shapeshifting state to reflect their souls' true origin as warp-forged weapons. He’s also become extremely brutal, torturing and mutilating Chaos Marines as he attempts to hunt down his fallen brothers, especially Lorgar. Ironically, his fear of ending up like Konrad Curze has come to pass - albeit with his vengeance aimed at the Traitor Legions, and loyalty to the Emperor intact.

Tabletop

His model in all his depressed glory.

I FIND YOUR LACK OF LOYALTY CRINGEWORTHY

Pts	WS	BS	S	T	W	I	A	Ld	Sv
450	7	6	6	6	6	7	6	10	2+/5+
After Istvaan:	350	7	6	6	6	5	7	5	10	3+/5+

The Raven-Lord deserves to go solo like the Primarch of an independent legion should be. His Raven Lord rule state that, unless the unit targeting him is a psyker/daemon OR Corax is in a unit OR he is the closest unit to them, they can only snap-fire at him. (note: this makes him IMMUNE to Blast & Template weapons, unless they hit him by accident!) He may also remove himself from play and return to reserves, even while in close combat. Furthermore, his Sire of the Legion gives him old-school Furious Charge and his entire legion get acute senses for outflanking and always roll 6s on run moves.

On defense he has the Sable Armour, that gives him a 2+ armour save along with a 5+ invulnerable save (3+/5+ after Istvaan), making him one of the more fragile Primarchs; however he does cause Deep Strike mishaps on doubles to units within 12" and teleport homers just don't work around him. Coupled with his speed and his snapfire defense means the enemy is unlikely to get close to him. He also has the Korvidine Pinions (Loses this at Istvaan), that makes him jump infantry (of course) and let him reroll deeps strike scatter, Vector Strike and gains D3 hammer of wrath hits at S5 AP3. If a mishap occurs, it will always cause the "delayed" result. Lastly he's got Shroud Bombs, for when he's the one getting charged (Not likely, but possible).

On the offense there's the Panoply of the Raven Lord, an AP2, shredding, blinding weapon set that takes up two hands. Can choose each turn to add D3 attacks / gain +3 to vehicle pen and auto-wound on a 5+ / impose -1 to enemy To Hit rolls (Making him capable of taking on virtually anything, especially on the charge). Lastly there are his two S6 AP3 Master-Crafted Archeotech Pistols: while surely not the strongest ranged weapons for a primarch they get their job done. They get exchanged for an assault 3 Heavy Bolter which also grants him Hatred (All Traitor Legions which participated in the Drop Site Massacre) after Istvaan. After Istvaan and his rendezvous with the Emperor on Terra, he gets his toys back. Somehow.

Especially pre-Isstvan, he's one of the most point-efficient Primarchs. Hit and Run combined with being able to destroy both AV14 and blobs of 20 Marines mean that unlike some people, he can do well against pretty much any target. Your Jump Infantry will pretty much always get turn 2 charges, and your opponent's Deep Strikers are fucked. He seems easy to counter because he only has a 5++, but the snapfire defense combined with T6, Eternal Warrior, and a possible penalty to enemy hit rolls mean that he's tougher than he looks.

He also has two profiles, representing him before Istvaan and during/after the battle. After the battle he loses quite a few of his toys (notably his korvidine pinions and archeotech pistols) and has a lower statline to represent the injuries he sustained, although he also costs 100 points less while gaining Infiltrate and Scout.

Corvus Corax VS other Primarchs:

Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying. With that in mind this section is about how Corvus Corax fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities are taken into accounts when possible and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. In essence, the fights are supposed to happen in a "Vacuum" for simplicity, but notes are added to make things clearer in particular instances. Also all of the Primarch use their most powerful weapons (because why have a contest if you don't do your best?).

• Corvus Corax VS Horus
  • Horus hits 4 times (Talon), wounds 3.556 times, 2.37 after saves and IWND will take that down to 2.037 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1 wounds (Scourge)/0.75 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667/0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Horus practically stomp over Corax. Also, he is practically immune to Blind and could use Worldbreaker to Concuss him to initiative 1 so as to not let him escape.

• Corvus Corax VS Angron
  • Angron Round 1: hits 5.333/4.5 times, wounds 4.444/3.75 times, 2.963/2.5 after saves, and IWND take it down to 2.63/2.167.
  • Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4/3 times, wounds 3.333/2.5 times, 2.222/1.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.889/1.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1.25 wounds (Scourge)/0.9375 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and FNP and IWND will take that down to 0.917/0.604 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Angron wins really easily as Corax is simply too frail for him.
  • Note: Corax would actually have the edge on the charge thanks to his Sire of the Raven Guard rule and his Hammer of Wrath/dual Archeotech Pistols, but would still lose unless Blind comes into play. He would strip Angron of almost all his wounds, though.

• Corvus Corax vs Mortarion
  • Mortarion hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 1.666/1.11 times, 1.11/0.74 wounds after saves and 0.777/0.407 wounds after IWND.
  • Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.221 times (Scourge)/1.666 times (Shadow-walk), 1.11 wounds (Scourge)/0.833 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.556/0.278 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Mortarion wins either way in this fight, he causes more overall damage, has more wounds, and regenerates faster. In addition even if Corax runs away Mortarion's ability to teleport will mean he'd catch Corax very quickly after he re-appears so he cannot run away to heal which would render this a stalemate.
  • Note: Corax could attempt to "cheat" his way to victory thanks to his special rules, especially Sire of the Raven Guard (which grants him Super-Furious Charge) and Hit & Run. With this he could disengage at the end of Mortarion's assault phase, in order to charge him again during his turn. Using this tactic he would Shoot with his pistols for 1.9444 hits, 0.648 wounds, 0.108 wounds after saves, then charge in with Hammer of Wrath gaining 0.333 wounds, and 0.0555 wounds after saves, then attack with the Panoply which hits 4.5 times (scourge), wounds 3.375 times, 1.6875 after saves and 1.132 with IWND for a total of 1.296 Wounds. This, combined with Shadow-walk during Mortarion's assault phase in order to mitigate his retaliation barely lets Corax win if he goes charging scourge in round 7, then scourge again in round 8 as he strikes before Mortarion, compared to 8 rounds needed for Mortarion to kill Corvus (this is including Overwatch with The Lantern).
  • Though this looks like a close fight at first glance, this tactic relies completely on Hit and Run (which is more akin to Corvus's fighting style), as well as assumes the Charging always works out in Corvus's favour and so the strategy will mathematically fail over the eight rounds needed to kill Mortarion (as there's mathematically one turn that either Hit and Run or Charging will fail when Mortarion consolidates away from Corvus's consolidation) giving the victory to Mortarion again. But that's actually the same chance of Corax Blinding Mortarion (Not included in the fights), so the odds are still the same.

• Corvus Corax vs Fulgrim
  • Fulgrim hits 4.667/3.5 times, wounds 3.111/2.333 times, 2.07/1.555 wounds after saves and 1.737/1.222 wounds after IWND.
  • Corax hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1 wounds (Scourge)/0.75 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667/0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax lose.
  • Note: even with Hit & Run and Sire of Raven Guard Corax cannot win this fight, unless he get lucky with Blind.

• Corvus Corax vs Ferrus Manus
  • Ferrus hits 2.5/1.667 times, wounds 2.083/1.389 times, 1.389/0.926 wounds after saves and 1.056/0.592 wounds after IWND.
  • Corax hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.222 times (Scourge)/1.667 times (Shadow-walk), 0.741 wounds (Scourge)/0.556 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.408/0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax lose.
  • Note: as always if Corax can pull off his tactics of Hit & Run he can close the gap, doing a lot more damage on the charge, but Ferrus' Hammer has Concussive AND Strikedown, and even if Corax uses Shadow-walk there is a 93% chance he will receive at least one wound, making it almost impossible to rely on this tactics and assuring Ferrus victory.

• Corvus Corax VS Vulkan
  • Vulkan hits 2 times/1.333 times, wounds 1.667 times/1.111 times, 1.111 wounds/0.741 after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778/0.408 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.222 times (Scourge)/1.667 times (Shadow-walk), 0.741 wounds (Scourge)/0.556 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185/0 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax lose as Vulkan is too beefy.
  • Note: even with Hit & Run Corax will struggle to keep up with the damage output of Vulkan, and if he uses Scourge (the only way to really do more damage than him) chance are pretty high that Vulkan will Hammer him to I 1, thus making almost impossible for him to escape.

• Corvus Corax VS Lorgar
  • Lorgar hits 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 2.083/1.388 times, 1.388/0.925 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.055/0.592 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax Round 1: hits 4.741 times (Scourge)/3.555 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3.16 times (Scourge)/2.369 times (Shadow-walk), 1.58 wounds (Scourge)/1.184 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.247/0.851 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax Round 1: hits 5.333 times (Scourge)/4 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3.999 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), 1.999 wounds (Scourge)/1.5 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.666/1.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax win.
  • Note: as always, no psychic powers.
  • Note: doesn't include "Marked By Dark Fates" which makes Corax re roll 5's & 6's for one round.

• Corvus Corax VS Perturabo
  • Perturabo hits 2.667 times/2 times, wounds 2.222 times/1.667 times, 1.481 wounds/1.111 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.147/0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1 wounds (Scourge)/0.75 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667/0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax lose.
  • Note: Welcome to Corvus Corax fist nightmare-city, population: Perturabo. He would mostly like to Hit and Run, but then again, with strikedown, concussive and blind, how can he do that? Also, Perturabo is immune to Blind. Yeah, he is like Corax natural enemy and then some...

• Corvus Corax vs Konrad Curze
  • Curze hits 4 times/3 times, wounds 3 times/2.25 times, 2 wounds/1.5 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.667/1.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1.5 wounds (Scourge)/1.125 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.167/0.792 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax lose.
  • Note: even though they both got Hit & Run Konrad doesn't get +1 attack to charge Corax, 'cause he has Shroud Bombs, and also doesn't get +1 S ans I, making Corax considerably stronger when he charge all things considered. All in all, a pretty balanced fight, even if the above stats don't say so.

• Corvus Corax vs Alpharius
  • Alpharius hits 2.92/1.944 times and wounds 1.701/1.134 times, 1.134/0.756 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.801/0.423 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1.5 wounds (Scourge)/1.125 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.167/0.792 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax wins.

• Corvus Corax VS Rogal Dorn
  • Dorn hits 2.667/2 times and wounds 2/1.5 times, 1.333/1 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 1/0.667 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1.5 wounds (Scourge)/1.125 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.167/0.792 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax wins.

• Corvus Corax VS Roboute Guilliman
  • Guilliman Round 1: 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 2.0833/1.389 times, 1.389/0.926 wounds after saves and 1.055/0.593 wounds after IWND.
  • Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333/2.5 times, wounds 2.963/2.083 times, 1.975/1.389 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.642/1.055 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), causing 1 wound (Scourge)/0.625 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.667/0.292 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Corax lose badly. What did you expect? No one can win against YOUR SPIRITUAL LIEGE!!!
  • Note: Corax could still try to use his Hit and Run tactics to even the odds, but from the second time they fight (whether Corax charges or Guilliman catches him) Guilliman will have him concussed (He's using his fist for a reason) for the rest of the fight and will kill him before Corax can escape again, thus making the strategy not viable against Papa Smurf.

• Corvus Corax VS Leman Russ
  • Leman Russ Round 1: Leman Russ Hits 4.667 times, and wounds 3.5. Sever Life bumps this up to 6.328 wounds, which is reduced to 4.17 after saves.
  • Corvus Corax Round 1: It literally doesn't matter at this point...
  • Corax dies to Leman Russ in round 2, which happens within the span of a single game turn. He simply doesn't have the saves to survive eating 6.3 AP2 wounds a turn, and neither does he have the killyness to get through leman russ in any reasonable length of time.

• Corvus Corax VS Jaghatai Khan
  • Jaghatai hits 4/2.666 times, wounds 2/1.333 times, 1.333/0.888 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 1/0.555
  • Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 2.222 times (Scourge)/1.667 times (Shadow-walk), 0.741 wounds(Scourge)/0.556 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.408/0.222 wounds at the start of the next turn.
  • Jaghatai takes the win here thanks to his 3++
    • Both Jaghatai and Corax have hit-and-run, but Corax's charge is a lot better than Khan's, partly thanks to his special rules and partly due to his Shroud Bombs, although Khan has the better shooting attack (if we assume FW intended Jaghatai to be able to shoot both of his heavy bolters), with this in mind the above fight could really go either way, with it depending on whoever fucks up their initiative test/charge roll more.

• TLDR version: Although Corax can put out more damage than most other Primarchs, especially on the charge, where he is almost on par with Angron full charged, he is even frailer than Angron himself, with is weak as ass 5+ invulnerable save that really doesn't help when you are fighting your demi-god brothers. Also, he is extremely vulnerable to Strikedown and Concussive! Still, he can win some fight, or, better, escape from most of the fights he wouldn't love, while being one of the more resilient Primarch when in the open (for his Shadowed Lord rule). In his case, Primarch fighting is really stupid, as he would like to charge and charge and charge again and again until he has killed everything in sight that is not a Primarch. Then, you can focus them when everything else is down...

The Primarchs of the Space Marine Legions
Loyalist Corvus Corax - Ferrus Manus - Jaghatai Khan Leman Russ - Lion El'Jonson - Roboute Guilliman Rogal Dorn - Sanguinius - Vulkan
Traitor Alpharius/Omegon - Angron - Fulgrim Horus - Konrad Curze/Night Haunter - Lorgar Magnus the Red - Mortarion - Perturabo