Blood Ravens

The Blood Ravens are a Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown origins and Founding. The origins of the Blood Ravens are shrouded in mystery. This elusive Chapter has always been drawn to the pursuit of knowledge and the acquisition of ancient lore and produces an unusually high number of Librarians among its ranks as a high proportion of Neophytes develop psychic abilities soon after their implantation with the Blood Ravens' gene-seed organs. The powerful Blood Ravens Librarians guide the Chapter, enabling them to fight with a precision and calculated fury made possible by their ability to predict and thwart their enemy's strategies and tactics before they come to pass. These arcane powers have led to great speculation and some worry about the true nature and origins of this Chapter in the rest of the Imperium of Man.

Chapter History
Though the Blood Ravens have a long and glorious history of service to the Emperor, their exact origins and earliest days in the service of the Imperium are obscured and uncertain. Not even their Chapter Master or Librarians can say with any certainty when the Blood Ravens were Founded or from which of the First Founding Astartes Legions the Chapter is descended. The Chapter's written records in its Librarium only go back to the 37th Millennium, though vague references of their service in the litanies of other Chapters and Imperial Adepta prove that they existed and fought the enemies of the Emperor for many centuries before then. However, the records mentioned are either missing or locked away under an Inquisitorial Seal. The gaps in the Imperial records concerning their origins are so extensive that the Chapter does not even know the origins of its gene-seed or their father Primarch. The fact that the Blood Ravens' own records and Chapter lore are lost along with those kept by the Inquisition on the Chapter is a suspicious indicator that suggests that a concerted effort was made by operatives within many Imperial Adepta, including the Inquisition and the Blood Ravens themselves, to eliminate almost all trace of the Blood Ravens' past from Imperial records. Why this erasure was carried out remains unknown but the event is known as the "Un-Founding" by the Blood Ravens. What is odder still is that records on the Blood Ravens were discovered on Eldar knowledge worlds hidden in the Eye of Terror and guarded by the enigmatic Harlequin. The Blood Ravens prize the pursuit of knowledge greatly, but ironically the Astartes of this Chapter know little about their own origins or the earliest centuries of their service to the Emperor of Mankind.

At some point in the Chapter's history during their early campaigns in the Gothic Sector they took immense casualties in combat with the Forces of Chaos.The Blood Ravens' Chapter Master and Master of Sanctity fell covering the retreat of the Chapter's 1st Company. With heavy casualties and no strong replacements among the Chapter's officers to replace their leader, the Chief Librarian Azariah Vidya stepped forth and took command of the Chapter, becoming the first in the Blood Ravens to hold the dual mantle of Chapter Master and Chief Librarian, an arrangement that would soon become a tradition for the Blood Ravens. Known by his Battle-Brothers as the Great Father, Azariah Vidya used his psychic power and traditional methods of intelligence to learn his enemies' habits in minute detail and then launch devastating attacks against their greatest vulnerabilities.

Azariah Vidya led the rebuilding of the Chapter after its losses and the current organization of the Blood Ravens has been influenced strongly by the teachings of the Great Father. The Blood Ravens will study their adversaries closely before launching precise attacks at key points. The Chapter also has one more distinct trait, it gathers and guards knowledge with great zeal. A tendency that catches the attention of some individuals in the Imperium, something that is not necessarily a good thing.

A tome allegedly penned by Azariah Vidya himself called the Apocrypha of the Un-Founding postulates that the Blood Ravens are a Chapter dear to the soul of the Emperor himself, and that their history was hidden by agents close to the throne, to keep them secret from the Emperor's other sons but not from the Blood Ravens themselves. The Apocrypha argues that searching for these lost answers is not heretical as long as the knowledge is kept within the Chapter itself.

One of the most remarkable aspects of the Blood Ravens is the unusually high concentration of powerful Librarians within their Chapter. The Blood Ravens Chapter possesses far more psykers than is common among other Astartes, and most of them develop their abilities after they have been implanted with the Blood Ravens gene-seed organs. It is unknown if this is due to the nature of the Chapter's gene-seed, but it is not an uncommon thought among the Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus that there may be some Chaotic taint within the Blood Ravens' gene-seed. It is said in hushed tones among the Blood Ravens that there is a special squad made up of only Librarians that works secretly within the Chapter. The Librarians of the Blood Ravens are exceptionally powerful, but whether this is due to the Great Father or a result of their reverence the Blood Ravens hold him in, is unknown.

Notable Campaigns



 * Tartarus Campaign (Unknown Date.M41) - Captain Gabriel Angelos, Commander of the Watch and of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company, as well as the commander of a Blood Ravens task force including the Battle Barge Litany of Fury and the Strike Cruiser Ravenous Spirit, was one of the most skilled officers within his Chapter. Angelos uncovered a deep stain of Chaotic taint on his homeworld of Cyrene, one of the main recruiting planets for the Chapter. Angelos was forced to call on the aid of the Inquisition to perform a gruesome Exterminatus action on his homeworld before its corruption could spread elsewhere in the Imperium. Shortly following the destruction of Cyrene, the 3rd Company and its task force was sent to the aid of the Imperial forces on the Civilised World of Tartarus, which had been invaded by an Ork WAAAGH!. Over the course of the campaign the Blood Ravens uncoverd the planet's dark history, locating numerous sites of Chaos power and relics of the Eldar, left behind to aid future generations in continuing to battle the forces of Chaos trapped on the planet. Over the course of the fighting most of the population that was not evacuated either fell to Chaos or were slain by the Orks and very few civilians escaped from Tartarus. In truth, the Ork invasion had been only a diversion. A warband of Chaos Space Marines from the Alpha Legion, led by the Chaos Lord Baal and the Chaos Sorcerer Sindri Myr had used the cover of the Ork WAAAGH! to make planetfall undetected on the world and begin their own operations in pursuit of an ancient and very powerful Chaotic artefact present on the world known as the Maledictum. Gabriel Angelos, whose own intuition indictaed that there was more to the situation on Tartarus than met the eye, disregarded the warnings of the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Mordicai Toth and continued to hunt down the hidden forces on the planet. Finally Gabriel discovered that a force of Eldar from the Biel-Tan Craftworld had come to reseal a powerful Daemon in the Chaotic artefact known as the Maledictum that had been hidden on the planet, underneath its capital city. However the Blood Ravens broke the back of the Eldar forces, slaying the Avatar of Khaine and killing many of the Eldar warriors. Despite their intervention Sindri managed to steal the Maledictum and its key from underneath the Imperial and Xenos forces. Perhaps the most regretable event of the fighting on Tartarus was not the many Battle-Brothers lost, but the treachery of Librarian Isador Akios, who had been an initiate with Gabriel became corrupted by the power of the Maledictum, and it was he who handed it over to Sindri, despite believing himself to be in control he had been manipulated by the Chaos Sorcerer from the begining, his treachery could not be forgiven and Isador proved the weaker when he was faced in personal combat by Gabriel Angelos. At the conclusion of the Campaign, Gabriel shattered the Maledictum with a Daemonhammer forged from a shard of the Wailing Doom, the blade of the Biel Tan Avatar of Khaine. This only released the Daemon, however, due to the sheer amounts of bloodshed on the planet which served as a sacrifice that empowered the daemon's awakening. When the Daemon was released it hinted at a connection between itself and Inquisitor Toth. It would appear that the Inquisitor was not as pure as he seemed to be. However Gabriel was unable to pursue the matter further, having to escape the planet with the wounded and the single recruit taken from the planet, Storm Trooper Sergeant Ckrius. The young Guardsmen had been taken under the wing of Terminator Sergeant Tanthius and despite being badly wounded in the fighting was taken aboard the Litany of Fury where he began the long and painful process of becoming a Space Marine. On Tartarus the Scout Sergeant Corallis suffered grevious injuries at the hands of the Eldar's Warp Spiders, however he survived and returned to service with the aid of numerous bionic replacements.
 * Kronus Campaign (Unknown Date.M41) - The Blood Ravens uncovered artefacts from their unknown past on the planet, in the frozen wastes of North Vandea. Under orders from the Chapter Master three companies were despatched to cleanse the world of the xenos forces present so that the Chapter might further explore the ruins and learn more about their lost origins. However, after discovering the existence of a Hellstorm Cannon, a weapon from an Imperator-class Titan, the Aquila Ignis, which had been lost on Kronus during the Horus Heresy, General Lucas Alexander of the Imperial Guard was named Governor Militant and ordered to take back the planet. This order clashed directly with the Blood Ravens' intentions and caused the two Imperial forces to clash in a bloody contest. Forces from the Word Bearer Traitor Legion, Ork Warlord Gorgutz, the Tau forces under Shas'O Kais and Eldar under Farseer Taldeer were also present. The Blood Ravens forces were led by Captain Davian Thule of the 5th Company, and the Battle Barge the Litany of Fury was present as well. The world also happened to be a Necron Tomb World. However due to the nature of these events the true outcome is not, as of yet, known though the fall from fame of Captain Thule indicates that the campaign was far from glorious.
 * Kaurava Campaign (Unknown Date.M41) - The campaign for the Kaurava System saw the Blood Ravens pitted against the Imperial Guard stationed in the system and a Holy Crusade of Adepta Sororitas. Despite the presence of more than enough enemies in the form of Orks, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Chaos and Tau the Imperial forces wound up in brutal infighting and the Campaign was apparently a disaster though the exact outcome is uncertain. The Blood Ravens established their presence in the Kaurava system on the 2nd World of Kaurava II. Recognising the strength and potential of the local inhabitants of the inhospitable mountains in which the Blood Ravens established themselves, the Chapter decided to examine the possibility of recruiting from these fairly barbaric inhabitants of the system backwater. Unfortunately for the Blood Ravens, Captain Indrick Boreale was lost along with most of the Astartes and Scout Marines under his command. The survivors of Kaurava in the Chapter would speak of it rarely, if at all, and viewed the campaign as a terrible mistake that deeply depleted the Chapter's strength.
 * Aurelian Crusade (Late 41st Millennium) - Initially Captain Thule was despatched to the Sub-sector Aurelia on a recruiting mission while other elements of the 5th Company participated in the Campaign on Prosperon to recover relics of the Imperium before the Tyranids could consume them. Despite horrific losses during the Campaign newly promoted Sergeant Aramus was able to hold onto the Capitol of Meridian despite the sabotage of the Imperial defenders by the Eldar, and the treachery of the Imperial Governor Vandis. Though lauded as a victory the Blood Ravens losses during the Campaign were nearly catastrophic and included the mortal wounding of Captain Davian Thule, whose death was only stalled by his internment within a Dreadnought. The campaign was brought to a conclusion by the arrival of Captain Gabriel Angelos along with the remaining elements of the Blood Ravens' 3rd and 9th Companies. Together the Blood Ravens forces were able to halt the advance of the Tyranids on Meridian, but the worlds of Calderis and Typhon Primaris were lost to the depredations of the Great Devourer. The mere handful of recruits gathered from the remaining unblemished worlds of the sub-sector would not be sufficient to make up for the Blood Ravens' losses in the campaign and the scouring of two more of the Blood Ravens' recruiting worlds left the Chapter in increasingly desperate straits. The Aurelian Crusade could be considered only a pyrrhic victory, at best.
 * Second Aurelian Crusade (Late 41st Millennium) - Just when all seemed to be returning to normal in the Aurelia Sub-sector the Warp opened up and spat out the former capital world of the Sub-sector and homeworld of the Blood Ravens Chapter, the Ice World of Aurelia. Home to the Blood Ravens' ancient Fortress-Monastery of Selenon and many loyal citizens of the Imperium, the planet was corrupted by a Greater Daemon of Nurgle known as Ulkair. Chapter Master Moriah had attempted to destroy the daemon but failed, and the weakened daemon was imprisoned in the depths of Keep Selenon by Chapter Master Kyras. Yet the daemon's influence proved too strong and eventually the shaken Kyras fell to the taint of Chaos. Eventually Aurelia itself was swallowed by the Warp and its existence in the sub-sector that had been named after it was all but forgotten. Yet the ice encased world returned bearing the foul hordes of Chaos, a warband of Black Legion Chaos Space Marines led by the Chaos Lord Araghast the Pillager and the former Word Bearers Dark Apostle Eliphas the Inheritor. Captain Gabriel Angelos and Commander Aramus rally the marines of the 3rd and 5th Company to face this threat, but no sooner do they join combat then the Eldar and the ever present Orks rise up to cause trouble along with the heretical House Vandis soldiery. Before long the entire Sub-Sector is embroiled in fresh combat against multiple foes with the forces of Chaos causing havoc at will. As the Blood Ravens scramble to respond to these threats even more dire circumstances come to light as the Space Hulk the Judgment of Carrion returns to the sub-sector. Determined to recover valuable intelligence and technology from the Space Hulk to aid them against the foul powers of Chaos, the Blood Ravens under the command of Sergeant Aramus assault the Judgment of Carrion only to discover the bodies of fallen Blood Ravens from the 5th Company. Formerly members of an expedition aboard the Space Hulk led by Apothecary Galan, as the forces of Sergeant Aramus investigate the Hulk they are shocked to find evidence of Galan's corruption by the powers of chaos, but the truth of the matter is far more insidious. As Sergeant Aramus and Captain Angelos desperately fight to keep control of the sector and unlock the secrets of both the Judgment of Carrion and the lost planet Aurelia they are interrupted by the arrival of Honor Guard Captain Apollo Diomedes. The right hand of Chapter Master and Chief Librarian Azariah Kyras. Diomedes orders all Blood Ravens forces to stand down, an order both Angelos and Aramus promptly ignore. As Diomedes gets increasingly sterner in his orders Aramus and Angelos continue to resist the forces of the Black Legion, with whom the Chapter had recently avoided open conflict with for an unknown reason. Eventually Sergeant Aramus discovers the corruption of Techmarine Martellus, formerly presumed to have died in the crash-landing of his Thunderhawk on the planet Typhon Primaris but who Sergeant Aramus fought to recover upon discovering his continued survival. Unfortunately Martellus survived only with the corrupting help of the powers of Chaos, the loyal Techmarine becoming a lackey of the tainted Apothecary Galan and his patrons within the Chapter. As his investigations continue Sergeant Aramus discovers to his horror that the source of corruption is none other than Chapter Master Kyras himself, who fell under the sway of the Daemon Ulkair on Aurelia and spread his taint to Galan aboard the Space Hulk the Judgment of Carrion. Kyras escaped the doomed planet Aurelia aboard the Space Hulk and returned to the Chapter with his dark seed of corruption when he met with Galan's expedition. Daring open conflict with Captain Diomedes' forces in their base-camp on Calderis, Sergeant Aramus strikes at Apothecary Galan, slaying the traitor and his tainted bodyguard of Terminators, ending in a confrontation with Captain Diomedes himself. Reluctant to accept the corruption of his political patron within the Chapter Diomedes is torn but lets Sergeant Aramus and his comrades to leave Calderis and continue their operations against the warband of Araghast the Pillager. The Battle for Aurelia culminated in the death of Eliphas the Inheritor, who seized control of the warband by betraying Araghast and leaving him to the mercies of the Blood Ravens earlier in the fighting. Despite Eliphas' machinations, Sergeant Aramus was able to re-seal the Daemon Ulkair in its icy tomb within Keep Selenon on Aurelia. Even with this victory, Chapter Master Kyras declared Captain Gabriel Angelos a Renegade and Traitor to the Chapter and Sergeant Aramus found himself faced with the knowledge that the Chapter Master was a corrupt agent of the Chaos Gods. Diomedes and Aramus returned to the Chapter to bide their time while Angelos fled Kyras' wrath. When the time was right the 3rd Company was determined to return and join with Aramus and Diomedes to cleanse the Chapter of the insidious taint that lay like a malignant cancer at its core.

Chapter Organisation
The Blood Ravens are a Codex Chapter and follow Guilliman's decrees closely. However the Blood Ravens show a few distinct differences from other Codex Chapters. Firstly, the Blood Ravens Chapter has a much higher saturation of Librarians than most chapters. It is not uncommon for multiple Librarians to be attached to companies, Librarians to be in charge of outposts and ships and even companies when necessary, such as Librarian-Captain Lucius the former Captain of the 5th Company. The 1st Company of the Blood Ravens includes several squads made up entirely of Librarians, that are dispatched on only the most important missions. Though what these may be is unknown. The Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens also traditionally holds the duel role of Chapter Master and Chief Librarian, a tradition dating back to when the Great Father Azariah Vidya was the first to do so. Whatever the reason for such an increased number of Librarians, they are an integral part of the Chapter, for instance the 9th Company had no less than four Librarians attached to it, though with Bherald and Rhamah's death that number drops to two. Other Librarians of note in the Chapter are Isador Akios, former Librarian of the 3rd Company before turning traitor, Father Jonas previously stationed on the recruiting world of Rahe's Paradise and the two other 9th Company Librarians, Zhaphel and Korinth.

The Librarians of the Chapter also fulfill a number of more secretive and specialized roles, including constant stewardship of the great Librarium of the Omnis Arcanum, and the Secret Orders of Psykana who maintain the Sanctorium Arcanum aboard the Battle-Barge the Litany of Fury.

Secondly, the Blood Ravens have a very politically motivated Command Structure, including secretive Masters of the Chapter led by the mysterious Chapter Master and Chief Librarian Azariah Kyras. More visible envoys of Kyras are marines like Captain Apollo Diomedes, Commander of the Chapter's Honor Guard who often acts as Azariah Kyras' strong right hand. What consequences the seedy politics of the Blood Ravens will have in the long run is uncertain, but if recent events are any indication the Blood Ravens may be heading straight towards a civil war.

As a fleet-based Chapter the Blood Ravens recruit from many different worlds, and recruitment, training and implantation can be done by nearly every capitol ship in the fleet and the Chapter's gene-seed is spread throughout the fleet, stored in the Implantation Chambers aboard each vessel. These chambers are the most protected on any ship and will be defended by the Blood Ravens with their lives if need be, for the Chambers contain the very genetic essence of the Chapter's future. The Chapter is based out of the Battle-Barge the Omnis Arcanum that serves as the mobile Fortress Monastery of the Chapter. It is from the Omnis Arcanum that Chapter Master Azariah Kyras directs the efforts of the Chapter's Companies and where the great Librarium Sanatorium of the Chapter stores all the knowledge gathered by the Chapter's various forces. Like many Chapters, the Blood Ravens maintain an Honor Guard for the Chapter Master. Master Kyras' Honor Guard are currently headed by Captain Apollo Diomedes, who is the physical embodiment of Chapter Master Kyras' will.

The Blood Ravens have suffered a number of massive losses in recent times during the Kaurava, Tartarus and Aurelia Campaigns, along with the loss of a number of the Chapter's recruiting worlds. It will take some time to rebuild the Chapter from such losses and with every recruiting world ravaged the Blood Raven's prospects become that much darker.

Specialist Formations

 * Ordo Psykana - The Ordo Psykana (also known as the Secret Order of Psykana), is an elite body within the Blood Ravens Chapter that consists of the most powerful of the Chapter's Librarians and armies of servitors that embark upon missions to recover lost archaeotech, relics, and knowledge.


 * Second Company - During the Kronus Campaign the Second Company and attached elements from some of the other companies found themselves in battle with the undead constructs known as the Necrons, for beneath the surface of the planet they encountered a large Necron army in a legendary battle beneath the Thur'Abis Plateau. They eventually emerged victorious after their Company Commander, Captain Davian Thule successfully planted a bomb deep within the catacombs and detonated it, collapsing the caverns right on top of the still emerging Necron army. The Second Company later added the Necron skull to their heraldry in reference to this glorious victory and adopted the motto "Victory Over Death."


 * Fifth Company, the 'Fated' - The Blood Ravens 5th Company is known as the 'Fated', and though the reasons for this are unclear, possibly harking back to an incident from M38, which was recorded in the Chapter's Librarium, but never spoken of openly. The 5th Company of that era are recorded to have been lost to the warp, the great Bell of Lost Souls tolling a hundred times for each lost battle-brother, but the truth of the matter is far darker. It is whispered that one of the company's Librarians was seduced by the lure of the Ruinous Powers and turned his brethren to evil, though of course this notion is dismissed by the Chapter today. No records exist as to the ultimate fate of this company or whether such a traitor was ever brought to justice. The Blood Ravens have a especial hatred for those whom turn from the Emperor's light, and to this day, the battle-brothers of this company wear badges of shame and penitence upon their armour, though none will reveal the reasons for doing so.

Chapter Recruitment
The Blood Ravens, like many fleet based chapters, recruits from a number of different worlds, however the class of worlds they recruit from is not limited, they draw initiates from feral worlds and hive worlds. The only similarity between the worlds is the higher volume of psykers they contain, leading to an increased number of Librarians in the chapter. However recent events have seen the Blood Ravens lose many of these recruiting worlds. The known recruiting worlds and their status' are as follows:
 * Calderis - Caldaris is a mostly desert world populated sparsely by traveling bands of nomadic humans. These hardy peoples used to provide recruits to the Blood Ravens but the Waaagh of Warboss Gorgrim drove the Feral Orks on the planet to sweep across the sands in a tidal wave of destruction. Only a scant few of the planets inhabitants escaped aboard chartered craft or with the Blood Ravens, the rest were left to die horribly and violently to the Orks. As with Typhon Primaris it is unclear what will be done with Caldaris, when Gorgrim has gathered enough boyz he will move on leaving the world barren, the Feral Ork populace decimated and the survivors gone, the humans having either fled or died. The planet might be re-colonized at some point but the culture of Calderis and the majority of it's people are no more.
 * Cyrene - An old recruiting world of the Chapter, Cyrene is located in the Aurelia subsector but was cleansed by Exterminatus when Captain Gabriel Angelos discovered a chaos taint on the planet and requested an Inquisitorial purge. The exact nature of the taint and the reasons Angelos deemed Exterminatus necessary, are like many things with the Blood Ravens, a mystery.
 * Meridian - Meridian is the Capitol of the Aurelia sub-sector and now the only populated world of the sub-sector as well, Cyrene, Calderis and Typhon Primaris having been wiped out due to Chaos, Orks and Tyranids respectively and Meridian itself came perilously close to succumbing to the Tyranids as well. Only the miraculous arrival of Captain Gabriel Angelos and the Blood Ravens 3rd and 9th Companies stopped the Tyranids from overrunning the planet. The initial defenders under Sergeant Aramus were nearly wiped out during he campaign. However Meridian is only barely a Blood Ravens recruiting world, the first recruits it has provided in centuries being Sergeant Thaddeus and Sergeant Aramus. Interrestingly enough Sergeant Thaddeus did locate two likely young boys during his mission deep behind Tyranid lines and they show promise as initiates to the Chapter.
 * Rahe's Paradise - Rahe's Paradise is yet another recruiting world of the Blood Ravens to have been lost recently, the planet having been discovered to be an ancient Necron Tomb World. The Blood Ravens campaign against the Necrons and the Eldar on the planet cost them dearly but did result in a handfull of initiates to the Chapter though the world is now lost.
 * Trontiux III - One of the Chapter's remaining principle recruiting worlds. Trontiux III was recently visited by the Litany of Fury following the Tartarus Campaign.
 * Typhon Primaris - Another of the 4 worlds in the Aurelia sub-sector, Typhon Primaris was a jungle planet that provided feral but strong recruits to the Chapter, however when Tyranids invaded the sub-sector their taint reached Typhon Primaris quickly and festered in the depths of the jungle unnoticed, by the time the Blood Ravens arrived the planet was in the final stages of Tyranid Bio-Consumption and saving the planet is no longer a realistic option. It is unclear what will be done with Typhon Primaris but most likely it will face the cleansing fires of Exterminatus.

Chapter Homeworld
It was initially implied that the Blood Ravens came from the world of Cyrene. However, in truth, they have no official homeworld. Instead, their fortress-monastery is situated onboard the battle barge Omnis Arcanum, which is also home to their Librarium Sanctorum. The rest of the Chapter serves onboard the fleet of strike cruisers and other battle barges that were assigned to the Blood Ravens long ago when the Chapter was founded.

Most of the Blood Ravens' Neophytes come from the major worlds of the Sub-sector Aurelia, including the desert Feudal World of Calderis, the jungle Feral World of Typhon Primaris and the nearby Hive World of Meridian, but none of the recruits from Meridian had passed the Blood Trials to become Blood Ravens Neophytes in several centuries. Thaddeus is the first Space Marine to come from Meridian in several centuries, having been recruited from the hiver street gangs he lead there by Captain Davian Thule. It is repeatedly said that the loss of Calderis would cripple and eventually kill the Blood Ravens Chapter as they had no other way to recruit Neophytes, and the defense of Sub-sector Aurelia from the Tyranid splinter Hive Fleet was considered important enough to mobilize both the Blood Raven 3rd and 4th Companies.

The 3rd Company of the Blood Ravens commonly sought Aspirants from the planet of Cyrene (also in Sub-sector Aurelia) until Captain Gabriel Angelos had it destroyed with an Exterminatus order. The taint of Chaos had been found in the planet's population, a taint so terrible that only an Exterminatus order could prevent the contagion from spreading to other Imperial worlds in the region.

The Blood Ravens and the Inquisition
The Blood Ravens have an interesting relationship with the Inquisition. Blood Ravens Librarians can be found in the Death Watch and the chapter appears to have close relations with the Grey Knights of the Ordo Malleus. It would appear that the all Psyker Grey Knights feel an affinity for the Blood Ravens and trust the chapter with knowledge of their existence. The Grey Knights attatched a task force to the Blood Ravens during the Kronus incident for reasons unknown. However due to the presence of the Dark Apostle of the Word Bearers Eliphas and his creation of a massive warp gate, the Grey Knights presence could only be expected, though it is interesting to note that the Grey Knights worked so closely with the Blood Ravens and not with the other Imperial forces on the planet, indeed the two came into conflict because of the unflinching and conflicting orders of Governor Militant Lucas Alexander and Captain Davian Thule.

Gabriel Angelos, Captain of the Blood Ravens 3rd Company also appears to be under Inquisitorial investigation after the events on Tartarus and suspicions around Inquisitor Mordicai Toth. The truth of those events that saw the entire planet fall to chaos and be exterminated are highly suspicious and it is unknown as to the Inquisition's position on the event. It does not help matters that Captain Angelos has encountered both the Necrons, Eldar and Chaos forces so often in recent times and even temporarily sided with the Eldar. What exactly Gabriel is up to, his mental state and whether his actions are in danger of bringing an Inquisitorial Purge on the chapter is as yet uncertain. However what is noteworthy is that the Blood Ravens forces on Kronus had a team of Grey Knights attatched to them during the campaign and Davian Thule was gifted with a Daemonhammer as well as a number of powerful Chapter relics for the campaign. Meaning it must have been highly important to the chapter. It is suspected that he died during the campaign.

Chapter Combat Doctrine
The Blood Ravens believe by studying one's enemey, one can predict their movements before launching any attacks, rather than charging in like an uncontrolled berserker or using spontaneous lightning assaults. This has caused friction between other, more headstrong chapters. Those whom prefer a clear-cut approach to battle, and in particular one chapter, have branded the Blood Ravens as cowards for their overly-methodical approach to waging warfare. But this is an unfair assessment, for once the Blood Ravens take to the field of battle, the fight with righteous fury and zeal the equal of any other Astartes Chapters.

Once decided upon, the Chapter never deviates from the agreed upon plan of strategy, from its initial planning stages to its final execution, executing it with ruthless efficiency. The thoroughness of their planning and thoroughness is such that every eventuality is planned for, thanks to their Librarians' powerful divinations. Their uncanny abilities to predict enemy attacks or invasions has helped them warn or respond well before other Imperial organisations have even been made aware of them. More puritanical figures within the Inquisition have whispered in dark tones of the sad tale of the Thousand Sons Legion and their fallen Primarch Magnus the Red and his ultimate fate. A path trod to damnation that began with the abilities to predict such dire warnings.

Chapter Beliefs
The Blood Ravens have a deep belief in the Emperor, perhaps because they do not know who their Father Primarch is, which leads them to give praise to the Emperor with a fervour greater than almost any other chapter. Like most Astartes, they venerate him not as a God, but as the mightiest of men, a belief that often times brings them into conflict with the Ecclesiarchy. A common battle cry of the Chapter is, "For the unknown Primarch and the Emperor!" The Blood Ravens venerate knowledge and constantly seek it out and guard it. Their moto is "knowledge is power, guard it well," a maxim held firmly by all the Chapter's Librarians and central to the core beliefs of the Chapter. As their quest for knowledge echoes many tenets of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Chapter maintains close ties with the Priesthood of Mars. Often times the Blood Ravens will join forces with Mechanicus Explorator fleets in their search for archeotech and lost knowledge in the unknown quarters of the galaxy.

Chapter Gene-Seed
The Blood Ravens' gene-seed is relatively stable, though the high proportion of psykers within the Chapter has resulted in their gene-seed tithe being tested on a more regular basis than that of most other Chapters. Thus far, there has been little evidence of mutation, and nothing that points to the gene-seed as the source of the Blood Ravens' disproportionate number of psykers or the unusually powerful types of psychic powers they exhibit.

There has been much speculation regarding which of the Founding Chapters the Blood Ravens' gene-seed is derived from. Both the Blood Angels and Raven Guard have been suggested, but these are likely to be based on nothing more than the similarity of names between the Chapters. Other persistent rumours say that the Blood Ravens may have derived their genetic stock from the Dark Angels' gene-seed, but no definitive facts have ever been presented to establish the true source of the Chapter's genetic material. The lack of records pertaining to whom they descended from implies that they were created in anticipation of a specific purpose or to counter some threat to the Imperium in centuries past that has since been dealt with and defeated. The truth of their origins is sought above all other knowledge by the Blood Ravens themselves.

Notable Blood Ravens

 * Azariah Vidya - The Librarian Azariah Vidya was the Master of the Chapter Librarium during a terrible campaign in the Gothic Sector, in which the Blood Ravens had taken terrible losses putting down a series of Chaos-inspired rebellions against the Imperium. During this campaign, the Chapter Master and the Master of Sanctity were both killed in a trap, and it seemed that the Blood Ravens were finished. Azariah spent much time studying the movements and reactions of the enemy, using the Imperial Guard and his own depleted Battle-Brothers in a series of feinted attacks. Using this information, as well as his tremendous psychic powers, he then launched a series of raids against seemingly empty areas that turned out to be important staging areas of the Chaos Cultists. For his skill in crushing the rebellion, Azariah was promoted to the office of Chapter Master, as well as continuing to hold his previous position as Chief Librarian. He is now enshrined in the Chapter's history as the Great Father. It is implied in the game Dawn of War II: Chaos Rising, that his appentice and successor as Master of the Librarium, Azariah Kyras, succumbed to the taint of Chaos during his time on the derelict Space Hulk, Judgement of Carrion. It is also implied that several members of the Blood Ravens Honour Guard also succumbed to Chaotic corruption.
 * Azariah Kyras - Azariah Kyras is the current Chapter Master and Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens Chapter of Space Marines. Kyras is now known by elements of the Blood Ravens to have been corrupted by Chaos. Azariah Kyras has an unusually mysterious and dark past for the Chapter Master of an Adeptus Astartes Chapter. Early in the 41st Millennium, almost 1,000 standard years before the present, the world of Aurelia in the Aurelian sub-sector of the Korianis Sector was swallowed by a vast Warp Storm. Before the storm swallowed the planet into the Immaterium, it had been pushed out of its orbit and much of its population had died as a result of the sudden frigid environmental changes. Azariah Kyras was a Librarian of the Blood Ravens Chapter serving alongside his master Moriah, the Chief Librarian of the Blood Ravens. Just before Aurelia was swallowed by the Warp, a Greater Daemon of Nurgle named Ulkair, a Great Unclean One, had manifested on the world and had slain Moriah. Kyras proved luckier and managed to defeat Ulkair and imprison the immensely powerful daemon. Then the Warp took the world and Azariah Kyras along with it. Many centuries later, the 5th Company of the Blood Ravens had taken serious losses from the groups of Tyranids and daemons that infested a Space Hulk known as the Judgment of Carrion they had been tasked to explore. Azariah Kyras suddenly appeared amidst his fellow Blood Ravens on the Hulk and used his abilities to aid Apothecary Galan, the remaining ranking officer in the company, in defending the surviving Battle-Brothers from the Hulk's hideous inhabitants. The remains of the 5th Company, despite Kyras' aid, were still trapped on the Space Hulk, unable to get back to their Thunderhawks and escape. At the same time, Galan found himself haunted by a malignant daemonic presence that Kyras identified as Ulkair, the Greater Daemon that the Blood Ravens had suffered terrible losses imprisoning and which had caused Kyras to be lost in the Warp for centuries. Kyras, corrupted by Chaos during his long imprisonment in the Warp with Ulkair, sought to corrupt his fellow Battle-Brothers by enhancing their despair and playing on their fears. To gain the escape of the remains of the 5th Company from the Judgment of Carrion, Kyras entered a pact with Ulkair in which in return for the Blood Ravens' escape from the Space Hulk, Galan was possessed by a daemon. When the 5th Company escaped, both Kyras and Galan were hailed as heroes of the Chapter and Kyras was welcomed back into the fold as a lost Battle-Brother. Yet one man, Captain Gabriel Angelos of the 3rd Company, remained highly suspicious of Kyras, believing him to be tainted by Chaos. Yet Kyras rose quickly back through the ranks of the Blood Ravens because of his great experience and eventually became both the Blood Ravens' Chapter Master and their Chief Librarian. Kyras' strongest ally amongst the Blood Ravens, Galan, became the Chapter Honour Guard's Apothecary. It was the invasion of the Aurelian Sub-sector by a warband of the Black Legion that finally revealed Azariah Kyras' true allegiance to Chaos. Blood Ravens of the 4th Company tracked down and boarded the Judgment of Carrion to learn the truth of Kyras' and the 5th Company's escape from the Space Hulk. The Blood Ravens gained evidence of the pact made by Kyras and Galan with the daemon Ulkair. Kyras himself was not present in the Aurelian sub-sector during the Chapter's Crusade against the elements of the Black Legion. Instead, he sent Apollo Diomedes, the Captain of the Blood Ravens' Honour Guard, to order the Blood Raven forces in the sub-sector to withdraw from all contact with the Chaos Space Marines. Yet, the Blood Ravens officer who served as the Chapter's Force Commander in the Aurelian Crusade turned against Apothecary Galan, who confessed to his own corruption by Chaos as well as Kyras' true allegiance. But Galan explained that Captain Diomedes was untainted, though much of the Honour Guard did serve the Ruinous Powers and Ulkair in particular. The Force Commander and Captain Angelos disobeyed their corrupted Chapter Master's orders and remained in Aurelia to defeat the Black Legion and end the threat of Ulkair. With the defeat of the Great Unclean One on Aurelia, the Force Commander and Captain Angelos went renegade, determined to bring down Azariah Kyras and the other Chaos-corrupted Blood Ravens, no matter the cost.
 * Gabriel Angelos - Gabriel Angelos is the current Chapter Master of the Blood Angels and the former Captain of the Chapter's 3rd Company and Commander of the Watch. Angelos recently led the Loyalist Blood Ravens against the Chapter's former Master and Chief Librarian Azariah Kyras after it was learned that he had been corrupted by Chaos. During the final battle to free the Sub-sector Aurelia from the influence of Chaos, Angelos was badly wounded and has had to undergo extensive bionic augmentation to survive. Like many of the Blood Ravens, Gabriel was born on the planet of Cyrene, where the Chapter often drew recruits from among the Planetary Defence Forces. Gabriel was an accomplished leader of his peers before he even entered his teen years, and passed the Blood Trials set by the Blood Raven Chaplains. Many years later, now with an entire company of Blood Ravens under his command, Gabriel returned to Cyrene, to preside over the Blood Trials and recruit new members into the Chapter. But Gabriel found something very wrong on the world during the Trials, and cut them short. He quickly returned to his Strike Cruiser, and sent a coded astropathic signal out of the star system. Within hours of the signal being sent, starships of the Imperial Inquisition and the the Imperial Navy appeared over Cyrene, bombarding it for a week straight with Cyclonic Torpedoes until nothing on the planet remained alive. All records of the incident, and Gabriel's astropathic message to the Inquisition, have been sealed, but Gabriel himself carried the guilt of his actions with him for a long time, particularly during the Chapter's battles on the planet Tartarus. Angelos lead the Blood Ravens forces that accidentally released a daemon on Tartarus and combatted the Tyranid and Chaos invasions of the Sub-sector Aurelia.
 * Librarian Isador Akios - Brother-Librarian Isador Akios was the Librarian of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company and was a secondary character in the PC game Dawn of War. Much like Captain Angelos, Isador was born and raised on Cyrene, and became a Blood Raven around the same time as Gabriel. Isador met Gabriel during the Blood Trials, when they were both aspirants. They fought back to back and reaped a toll so bloody the trials were bought to an end early. Although his homeworld was destroyed, Isador did not blame Gabriel for his actions on Cyrene, since it had to be done. While the Blood Ravens 3rd Company was on the doomed planet of Tartarus, Isador slowly succumbed to the powers of Chaos, tempted by the traitorous Sorcerer of the Alpha Legion named Sindri Myr, telling him of the "Key", and tempting him to use it. When Inquisitor Mordecai Toth arrived, he detected a Chaotic taint among the Space Marines and came up with the assumption that it originated in Gabriel. Because of this, the Blood Ravens were blinded to Isador's corruption and thus could not stop Isador before he finally seized the Maledictum and turned to Chaos, bringing Gabriel's trust in his old friend crumbling to the ground. Isador was killed in a duel between himself and Gabriel, and Gabriel used his death as an example of the fate of Space Marines who fell to Chaos. Isador was armed with a Force Weapon and Bolt Pistol. He was able to be upgraded with a Plasma Pistol later on in the campaign.
 * Davian Thule - Davian Thule was the former Captain of the 4th Company of the Blood Ravens. He was the main character of the Space Marines faction in the PC game Dawn of War: Dark Crusade. He was raised on Cyrene, but born on Tartarus. On Kronus, he commands the Blood Ravens' 1st, 2nd and 4th Companies. He was there protecting ancient Chapter knowledge. He eliminates all opposition on Kronus in order to safeguard secrets about the Blood Ravens, and even fought against fellow Imperial forces - the Imperial Guard. After the events on Kronus he was questioned by Inquisitor Mordecai Toth for his attack against other Imperial soldiers, but Toth found no concrete evidence that his actions were heretical. After Kronus was taken by the Blood Ravens, Thule supposedly destroyed the ancient relics of the Chapter's history beneath the fortress-monastery. It is unknown if this knowledge links the Blood Ravens with some Chaos Space Marine Legion like the Thousand Sons, but now it is gone forever. He is usually armed with Alexian's Blade and a Bolt Pistol. He did in fact win the Dark Crusade, and also appears as a character in Dawn of War II. In Dawn of War II, Davian Thule, Captain of the 4th Company, is mortally wounded by a Tyranid Warrior, although he is cured by the actions of the Blood Ravens' Aurelian Sub-sector Force Commander and is ultimately resurrected as a Space Marine Dreadnought.
 * Reclusiarch Mikelus - Reclusiarch Mikelus was a Blood Ravens Chaplain who served under Captain Davian Thule's forces consisting of the 1st, 2nd and 4th companies during the Kronus Campaign. He carried the faith of the Emperor into battle, inspiring his fellow Space Marines to fight with a ferocity uncommon even among the ranks of the Adeptus Astartes. He was killed when battling the Necron Lord with Captain Thule, the latter of which commended Mikelus with the honor of killing the Necron Lord (even though Mikelus had already perished before).
 * Epistolary Anteas - Epistolary Anteas is a Senior Librarian of the Blood Ravens Chapter tasked with aiding Brother-Captain Davian Thule's purge of the planet Kronus.
 * Apothecary Gordian - Apothecary Gordian served under Davin Thule as his personal Apothecary during the Dark Crusade on Kronus. Later, during Dawn of War II he serves aboard the strike cruiser Armageddon as the Blood Ravens' Apothecary in the Aurelia sub-sector. Gordian was responsible for putting Captain Davian Thule in stasis, after he was attacked and poisoned by a Tyranid Warrior on Calderis. When the Blood Ravens acquired the toxin to counteract the poison, with the help of Techmarine Martellus he placed Thule into a Dreadnought allowing the legendary Captain to fight again. During the final battle with the Tyranids, he is lost aboard the Armageddon above Typhon Primaris.
 * Indrick Boreale - Captain Indrick Boreale is the Force Commander of the Blood Ravens sent to the Kaurava system. Having studied under Gabriel Angelos, Boreale leads no less than five Blood Raven companies into battle, and favors a tactic called "Steel Rain": he keeps entire companies in reserve on his Battle Barge, who are ready to be deployed by drop pod in a moment's notice. This allows him to take land quickly and put pressure on his enemies. As a result, he does not make much use of static defensive structures like turrets. During the Kaurava Conflict, he was forced to battle against fellow Imperial forces like Sisters of Battle and the 252nd Conservator Regiment of the Imperial Guard due to conflicting interest and each of them acting on their own (such as Canoness Selina Agna's purgation crusade on the Kaurava System). In Dawn of War II, Cyrus revealed that Blood Raven's Kaurava campaign was a disaster, with many marines including most of Cyrus' scouts and Indrick Boreale himself being killed. This critical blow left the chapter largely undermanned. Boreale, however does have brief mentions in the game in the form of certain Wargear, most specifically an Iron Halo that was intended to be presented to him upon his victory at Kaurava.
 * The Force Commander of Sub-Sector Aurelia - The Force Commander is the Blood Ravens captain who represents the player in Dawn of War II. His name is chosen by the player, but he does not speak and is only referred to as "Commander" by the others, though his name is given as Aramus in the novel. The Commander is relatively young for his rank, promoted by the Chapter Master, Azariah Kyras, despite resistance from the rest of the Chapter and the fact that they have never met in person. As a result, he must both prove himself to Angelos, Thule and his Veterans -- many of whom were veterans of the earlier Kronus and Kaurava Campaigns -- and serve as an example to the new Blood Ravens recruits.
 * Tactical Sergeant Tarkus - Tarkus is a Tactical Marine Sergeant in the Blood Ravens 4th Company. He is a Veteran with centuries of experience in warfare, and is an expert tactician as well as a rock-solid second-in-command. Amongst his Tactical Marines, Tarkus is renowned for his confidence and steely demeanour in battle. Tarkus was awarded Terminator Honours for his involvement in the assault on the Necron Catacombs of Kronus during the Dark Crusade, where he and his squad repelled wave after wave of Necron forces to buy Captain Davian Thule time to plant the bomb that would end the Necron threat to the planet. Tarkus is stated to have lost one of his hands killing a Necron Tomb Spider when out of ammunition by holding a live grenade in a weak point near the Tomb Spider's head. In Dawn of War II, Tarkus once again served alongside Captain Thule in his defence of the Aurelia Sub-sector. Tarkus left the command of the Blood Ravens' Force Commander of Aurelia Sub-sector on the world of Meridian to investigate the reason behind recent Ork appearances at Angel Gate. He rejoined the Force Commander's troops while they were planetside, searching for the force of Eldar that attacked the vulnerable Angel Gate. The Eldar planned to overload the Forge's reactor to devastate Meridian and stall the splinter Tyranid Hive Fleet from reaching the Craftworld of Ulthwe. During the events of the Inquisition's Crusade to cleanse the Aurelia Sub-sector some 10 Terran years later, Tarkus refused to speak to his fellow Astartes, unable to forgive himself for the betrayal of a close friend (most likely Avitus) and was referred to by his fellows as "The Ancient." His true identity as Tarkus was also not revealed untill Apollo Diomedes began to show the first signs of Chaotic corruption. Tarkus' actions prevented Diomedes from falling to Chaos.
 * Scout Sergeant Cyrus - Cyrus is a Veteran Scout Sergeant in the Blood Ravens Tenth Company who has dedicated himself to training the Chapter's initiates and scouts, as well as honing them into full-fledged Space Marines. Even amongst his own Chapter, Cyrus is a man of few words, and has a fearsome reputation. His methods, while highly unpopular amongst the Battle Brothers, have earned them countless victories, most notably during the Genestealer outbreak on Victoria Primus. It is revealed part-way through the campaign that he has fought the Tyranids before, during his time in the Deathwatch. He also fought in the Kaurava campaign under Brother-Captain Indrick Boreale, and reveals that the campaign gone horribly wrong for the Blood Ravens. He declares the said campaign as "a huge mistake," vowing not to speak of the Kaurava System again.
 * Devastator Sergeant Avitus - Avitus is a Devastator Marine Sergeant in the Blood Ravens' 4th Company. He fought alongside Captain Davian Thule in the Dark Crusade on Kronus and slew the Chaos Witch Morgana. He also distinguished himself during the assault on the Imperial Guard stronghold of Victory Bay. It was also in this battle that Avitus lost many of his squadmates, which forever changed Avitus and prompted his vision of Imperial Guardsmen as traitors and weaklings. He is renowned for his unmatched hatred for the enemy, which many regard as his greatest weapon. Avitus once again serves alongside Captain Davian Thule during his defence of the Aurelian Sub-sector from a Tyranid splinter fleet. Avitus was ultimately corrupted by Chaos and betrayed his fellow Blood Ravens during their campaign against the Chaos Space Marines of the Black Legion led by the Chaos Champion and former Dark Apostle Eliphas the Inheritor on the frozen world of Aurelia.
 * Assault Sergeant Thaddeus - Thaddeus is an Assault Marine Sergeant in the Blood Ravens 4th Company. He was a native undercity gang leader on the Hive World of Meridian in the Aurelian Sub-sector before his personal recruitment into the Blood Ravens by Captain Davian Thule, following a series of uprisings in Spire Legis. After witnessing Thaddeus stand against hundreds of rioters single-handedly, Thule was impressed and recruited him into the Blood Ravens, making him the first Blood Ravens Aspirant to be drawn from that Hive World in centuries. He has a reputation as a brash and idealistic brawler; and made his name battling Feral Orks on Calderis and Typhon Primaris. Thaddeus is also something of a humanitarian, and fights as much for the people of the Imperium as he does the Emperor and the Chapter.
 * Librarian Jonah Orion - Jonah Orion has served under Gabriel Angelos since the aftermath of the Tartarus Campaign. Once a protégé of Isador Akios -- who fell to Chaos on Tartarus -- Jonah was subject to suspicion, but the support of Captain Angelos and of Chapter Master Kyras soon put those doubts to rest. During the Tyranid invasion, he was one of the psykers tasked with battling the mighty Hive Mind as Captain Angelos made for sub-sector Aurelia. Of the dozen Librarians, Navigators and Astropaths accompanying Angelos, only Jonah survived. Although still bearing the scars of his ordeal in the Warp, Jonah has served with honour over the last year. His psychic abilities have allowed Blood Ravens to root out several leftover pockets of Tyranid infestation. Orion was killed during the the Loyalist Blood Ravens' final fight with their corrupt Chapter Master Azariah Kyras during the Inquisition's Crusade to eliminate the taint of Chaos from the Aurelian Sub-sector.
 * Techmarine Martellus - A Techmarine aboard the Blood Ravens' Strike Cruiser Armageddon. Martellus served under the Force Commander throughout the Tyranid invasion in Dawn of War II. During the climactic battle, Martellus was aboard a Thunderhawk gunship supporting the Space Marines on the ground. The Tyranid horde eventually overwhelmed the gunship. In Chaos Rising he returns, when he's saved by the Force Commander while defending the Astronomic Array on Typhon Primaris. Martellus served as part of Captain Apollo Diomedes' strike force during the Blood Ravens' attempt to save the Aurelian Sub-sector from both the taint of Chaos and an Exterminatus unleashed by the Inquisition's Crusade within the sub-sector.

Chapter Fleet

 * Armageddon (Strike Cruiser) - Former ship of the 5th Company, lost during the battle for the Aurelia Sub-Sector.
 * Litany of Fury (Battle-Barge) - A venerable warship of the 3rd Company, the Litany of Fury carries a great many secrets within its hold and is a beacon of light in the darkness of the eastern fringe, where the light of the Astronomicon wanes. The Sanctorium Arcanum is a secret vault within the Battle-Barge, tended by Librarians of the Chapter initiated into the Secret Orders of Psykana of the Blood Ravens. The Sanctorium Arcanum is an astropathic choir in mimicry of the Astronomican itself, a mobile repeater station to boost the light of the Astronomican in the distant eastern fringe. The Santorium Arcanum, like many relics of the Chapter, was created by the Great Father Azariah Vidya and its true origins and function have been lost to the mists of time and legend but is still maintained by the Librarians of the Chapter.
 * Omnis Arcanum (Chapter Barque) - The Omnis Arcanum is the flagship of the Blood Ravens fleet and the location of the Chapter's primary Librarium. However, little more is known about this venerable ship, where it travels or even if it really is the home of the secretive Chapter Master of the Blood Ravens.
 * Rage of Erudition (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser under the command of Sergeant Saulh.
 * Ravenous Spirit (Strike Cruiser) - This Strike Cruiser was in service to Captain Gabriel Angelos during his mission to Cyrene.
 * Retribution (Strike Cruiser) - Strike Cruiser assigned to the remnants of the 5th Company following the loss of The Armageddon.
 * Scientia Est Potentia (Battle-Barge) - Battle-Barge of the Blood Ravens 5th Company.

Chapter Colours
The Blood Ravens wear dark red Power Armour with weathered cream shoulder plates trimmed in black.

Chapter Badge
The Blood Ravens' Chapter badge is a silhouetted raven in flight as seen from above, incorporated with a stylized drop of blood within. Because of their name and badge, it was once theorized that the Blood Ravens were a Successor Chapter of either the Blood Angels or the Raven Guard, but both of these suppositions have been denied by Games Workshop. It now seems far more likely that the Blood Ravens may be descended from a pre-Horus Heresy group of Astartes from the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion who remained loyal to the Emperor of Mankind.

Possible Connections to the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion
The Blood Ravens' dark secret may be that they have descended not from one of the Loyalist First Founding Chapters but from the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines Traitor Legion, as before their homeworld of Prospero was destroyed by the Space Wolves during the Horus Heresy, the Thousand Sons sent a portion of their Legion far from their homeworld in their Legion fleet. These Astartes were not transported to the Eye of Terror under the deal their Primarch Magnus the Red made with the Chaos God Tzeentch to save the Legion's lives in return for their service to the Changer of Ways. This would mean that the Blood Ravens Chapter is not actually a Successor Chapter but is technically a remnant of one of the First Founding Chapters, though with a dark and tainted past.

In the book Dawn of War: Ascension, it is revealed that the ancestors of the Blood Ravens built a recruiting world on top of an ancient Necron outpost during the Horus Heresy, with the help of the Eldar. The two races worked in unison, using Eldar sorcery and psychic wards to lock the Necron force lying beneath the sands in psychic stasis. The Horus Heresy-era Space Marines were then tasked with protecting this outpost by the Eldar, to seal in the Necron threat, but they mysteriously abandoned it. It was left unrecorded in Imperial logs until the Blood Ravens rediscovered it. The Eldar mistook the Blood Ravens for being one and the same as the Heresy-era Space Marines, as they too wore similar red Power Armour, which was also the colour of the pre-Heresy Thousand Sons Astartes' Power Armour.

The psychic lock the Space Marines placed on the Necrons shows that the Astartes of that time could not have already been Blood Angels, and the Thousand Sons share a bond with the Blood Ravens because both groups of Space Marines are defined by the development of unusually strong psychic powers among their Battle-Brothers after their gene-seed implantation.

In the novel Battle for the Abyss, Mhotep, a Thousand Sons Legion psyker, whilst fighting the daemon Wsoric aboard the starship Wrathful, responded to the daemon's question of what did the entities of the Warp have to fear from the Emperor with the response "Knowledge...is power," suggesting a connection to the Blood Ravens (pg. 396). Since the daemon had been manifested in realspace for so long, Mhotep was able to destroy its physical form and banish it back to the Warp before he died of his many wounds.

In the novel A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill, a vision is seen by the Remembrancer and historiographer Kallista Eris describing a future image of blood and a raven, and a remembrancer psyker attached to the Thousand Sons has a vision of "...The Ravens, I see them too! The lost sons and a Raven of Blood. They cry out for salvation and knowledge, but it is denied!" (p. 204) This may imply that the Blood Ravens are descended from the Thousand Sons' gene-seed. At the same time, one of the four arcane cults of Librarians that comprised the pre-Heresy Thousand Sons Legion was called the Corvidae (the Latin name for ravens and crows), and whose symbol was a black raven's head, thus making it possible that the Blood Ravens were Thousand Sons Astartes who largely belonged to the Corvidae Cult. Kallista not only predicted the future destruction of the Thousand Sons' ancient homeworld of Prospero at the Space Wolves' hands, but she may also have described the eventual formation of the Loyalist Blood Ravens. During her final psychic episode, Kallista also screamed out in anguish about the "ravens of blood", and that they were "lost, crying out for their unknown father." In her death throes she declared that they would be defined by their need to "seek knowledge and artefacts of old", which is an important activity often pursued by the Blood Ravens, particularly in their search to learn more about their own origins. Since the Blood Ravens are a Fleet-based Chapter, it is possible that they descended from those Astartes aboard the Thousand Sons' own armada before they were forced to flee Prospero, which Magnus the Red had ordered to the far ends of the galaxy so that the Space Wolves could purge Prospero without having to face the Thousand Sons' fleet. The Thousand Sons Space Marines aboard that armada were never transported by the will of Tzeentch through the Warp with Magnus and the planetside Astartes to the Planet of the Sorcerers in the Eye of Terror, as they were far beyond the edge of Thousand Sons space and were not affected by the internecine fighting.

In the novel Age of Darkness the short story Rebirth by Chris Wraight, revolves around a squad of Thousand Sons Space Marines that return to their devastated homeworld of Prospero after the sanctioned Scouring of Prospero carried out by Primarch Leman Russ and his Space Wolves. After the Council of Nikaea, and the rebukement of Magnus the Red, a recall order was transmitted throughout the Legion, with the bulk of the Legion being present on Prospero just before the events surrounding the Fall of Prospero happened. However, some of the Thousand Sons' legionnaires had survived as they had not arrived before these events occurred. This would include those Thousand Sons that had been sent away aboard their Legion's fleet elements such as Captain Menes Kalliston of the 4th Fellowship. Six months after the sanctioned action against their Legion, Captain Kalliston leads a squad of battle-brothers to the ravaged surface of their homeworld to seek for any signs of survivors or their beloved Primarch. Instead, the squadron of Thousand Sons are taken by surprise when they encounter a much larger force of World Eaters who are also on Prospero for their own nefarious reasons. In the ensuing conflagration, the majority of the squadron are killed, and their Captain is captured, by none other than the infamous Captain Khârn of the 8th Assault Company and Equerry to the Primarch Angron of the World Eaters. Only Revuel Arvida, a Sergeant of the 4th Fellowship and a member of the Corvidae Cult manages to survive. Like all Corvidae, Arvida is skilled in the psychic discipline of precognition and the determination of the likely probabilities of future events. Despite his bleak circumstances, Arvida knew - as only a Corvidae could know - that death would not find him on Prospero. That was no consolation for everything that had been lost, but at least it lent the task of planning his next move a certain urgency. He would survive and live to discover the true causes of his Legion’s destruction, and live to fight them. He would neither pause nor stumble until everything had been revealed to him, everything that would give him a weapon to employ. He is quoted as saying "Knowledge is power," suggesting another connection to the Blood Ravens (p.162). Ironically, the symbol of the Corvidae cult discipline is that of a black ravens head. Sergeant Arvida's ultimate fate is unknown.

Since the Blood Ravens were adopted as an official Chapter by Games Workshop following the introduction of the Dawn of War PC game, subtle hints have been given in a variety of sources that the Blood Ravens are actually a Loyalist Successor Chapter of the Thousand Sons. In particular, their unnaturally high number of Librarians and the Chapter's central focus on the pursuit of knowledge are very similar to the characteristics that once defined the Thousand Sons before their corruption by Chaos. Such a connection to a reviled Traitor Legion would also be a terrible dishonour and would explain why the Blood Ravens' heritage may have been deliberately obscured from the Imperial record.

Gallery
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