The Raven Guard / RAV3NGU4RD

The early history of the 19th Legion, particularly where the Primarch Corvus Corax is concerned, is shrouded in a great deal of mystery. It may well be that time and war have simply destroyed or lost much of the documentation of the time period, however whatever the reason the accounts on the early life of Corax and the early history of his exploits and those of the Raven Guard are few and far between.

To begin with the pale skinned infant Primarch Corax landed on Lycaeus, the mineral rich satellite of the planet Kiavahr. Kiavahr is a technologically advanced world, covered in factories and machine shops of all shapes and sizes, and the mineral rich moon provides the planet with the raw materials, as well as a handy place to dump exiles and criminals. The moon was a massive penal facility, where the criminals of Kiavahr, or really anyone who displeased the decadent rulers of the planet, were sent to work the mineral mines of the moon. The conditions were terrible and the oppression of the workers was immense. The overseers of Lycaeus were heavily armed and cruel, watching over the slaves from a massive fortress spire. The prisoner slaves could do little about their fate; that is until Corax came to the rescue, to deliver the downtrodden to their salvation.

The tales about the discovery of Corax are many, what the truth is will probably never be known, some tales tell of a fiery comet, others of a dying warrior giant delivering a babe, yet another talks of a massive cave-in revealing the child, whatever really happened, the result was that the slaves hid the black haired, pale skinned child from their overseers. They named the child Corax, which translates roughly to ?the Deliverer? and if names are prophetic, that one certainly is. For Corax absorbed anything and everything the exiles could teach him, their varied backgrounds granting the young Primarch knowledge on many aspects of leadership and war, including urban combat, demolitions and much more. Within a few years Corax had matured into a strong and keenly intelligent man and the exiles rejoiced seeing the Primarch as an omen of good fortune, perhaps heralding their freedom.

As the years wore on Corax began to put plans into motion, stockpiles of weapons were placed at key strategic points, squads of trained slaves were organized, resources were prepared and Corax began a campaign of attacks and riots that sapped the moral and resources of the guards. Corax was aided by an innate ability to go undetected even when in plain sight, one of his unique skills as a Primarch, allowing him to ambush and slaughter guards and perform reconnaissance impossible for the mortal slaves of Lycaeus to manage. Finally when the situation on Lycaeus had built to the brink of explosion Corax struck. Mining machines and equipment were turned on the jailors, power lines were cut, habitation domes were vented into space, and an elite team of killers lead by Corax himself infiltrated the spire and in a single night of fighting captured it. After centuries of oppression not a single jailor was spared and every last prisoner was executed.

Kiavahr was of course shocked at the fall of Lycaeus and immediately dispatched troops to quell the uprising. However with the advantage of being in the gravity well of the planet, Corax and his warriors launched five of the 1320 atomic mining charges stocked on Lycaeus at the industrial centers of Kiavahr, obliterating the cities of Nairhub, Toldrian Magnus and Chaes. In short order the Tech-Guilds, starved of raw materials and with their infrastructure falling apart, began to fight amongst themselves for the few remaining resources. Even when troops from Kiavahr landed on Lycaeus they were out fought at every turn. Within a short period of time the economy and infrastructure of Kiavahr was in utter ruin and the short but brutal war came to an abrupt end as the Tech-Guilds of Kiavahr became simply incapable of continuing the fight, too busy combating each other for the limited resources remaining on the planet.

The slaves renamed the moon Deliverance, in honor of Corax and all that he had done for them and the celebrations lasted many days. It was during these celebrations that the Emperor arrived to be reunited with his lost son. While the details of this momentous event go largely unrecorded, what the Librarians of the Raven Guard record is that when the Emperor descended to the surface of Deliverance he was met by the waiting Corax. For a day and a night the Emperor and Corax spoke though none know of what, the following day Corax took command of the 19th Legion of the Adeptus Astartes, on the condition that the Emperor help him bring peace to the planet of Kiavahr. Through force of arms the remaining Tech-Guilds were destroyed utterly and the Adeptus Ministorum took their place. In time Kiavahr was rebuilt with the guidance of the Imperium and mineral production resumed on Deliverance under a much improved and just regime. The Raven Guard took the massive spire citadel as their home, renaming it N/A.