Blood Ravens

Overview
The Blood Ravens are a Chapter of Space Marines that prize information greatly, but ironically they know little about their origins or the earliest centuries of their service. This Chapter also has an unusually high concentration of powerful Librarians.

This Space Marine Chapter was specifically created for the PC game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War and has since appeared as a "Chapter of Legend" in the Chapter Traits section of the Warhammer 40,000 4th Edition's Codex: Space Marines.

The Blood Ravens Chapter possesses far more psykers than the other Space Marine Chapters. 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 Adeptus Mechanicus that there is some taint on the Blood Raven 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.

Homeworld
Dawn of War initially implied that the Blood Ravens came from Cyrene, as it was the only world known to have any Blood Raven activity when they were first unveiled. Since then, it has been revealed that 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.

According to Dawn of War 2, Most of the Blood Ravens' recruits come from the planet Calderis, of the sub-sector Aurelia. The Chapter also used to recruit from the nearby world of Meridian, but none of the recruits passed the Blood Trials. Thaddeus is the first Space Marine to come from Meridian in several centuries, having been recruited from the 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 way to recruit new members, and the defense of subsector Aurelia is considered important enough to mobilize both the Blood Raven 3rd and 4th Companies.

The 3rd Company of the Blood Ravens commonly sought new recruits from the planet of Cyrene (also in subsector Aurelia) until Captain Gabriel Angelos had it destroyed with an Exterminatus. The true purpose for this has never been told outright, but is merely hinted at in the game Dawn of War and the novel of the same name by CS Goto. According to the novel, the taint of Chaos had been found in the planet's population.

Azariah Vidya
Azariah 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 or supplies. 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. He is now enshrined in the Chapter's history as the Great Father.

It is implied in the game Dawn of War 2: Chaos Rising, that his appentice and successor as Chapter Master, Kyras, succumbed to the taint of Chaos during his time on the derelict, Judgement of Carrion. It is also implied that several members of the Blood Ravens Honor Guard also succumbed. This again has not been confirmed by Games Workshop, but re-inforces theories put forth that the Blood Ravens have close connections to the Traitor Legions of Chaos.

Gabriel Angelos
Brother-Captain Gabriel Angelos is the present commander of the Blood Ravens' 3rd Company and the Blood Ravens' Commander of the Watch

Like many of the Blood Ravens, Gabriel was born on the planet of Cyrene, where the Chapter often draws recruits from among the planet's local defense force. 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, 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 during the trials, and cut them short. He quickly returned to his strike cruiser, and sent a coded signal out of the star system. Within hours of the signal, ships of the Imperial Inquisition and Navy appeared over Cyrene, bombarding it for a week straight until nothing on the planet remained alive. All records of the incident, and Gabriel's message to the Inquisition, have been sealed, but Gabriel himself carries the guilt of his actions with him to this day, particularly during the Chapter's battles on the planet Tartarus.

Gabriel Angelos is the main character of the game Dawn of War.

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 is the former captain of the 4th Company of Blood Ravens. He is the main character of the space marines in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade.

He was raised on Cyrene, but born on Tartarus. On Kronus, he commands the 1st, 4th and 5th Companies. He is there protecting ancient chapter knowledge. He eliminates all opposition on Kronus in order to safeguard secrets about the Blood Ravens, even fellow Imperial forces - the Imperial Guard. After the events on Kronus he is questioned by Inquisitor Mordecai Toth, but Toth finds no concrete evidence that his actions were heretical. After Kronus is 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 legion, 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 appears in Dawn of War 2.

In Dawn of War 2, Davian Thule, Captain of the 5th Company, is mortally wounded by a Tyranid Warrior, although he is cured by the player and is ressurected as a Dreadnought

Colours, Iconography and Painting
The Blood Ravens wear dark red armour with weathered cream shoulder pads trimmed with black. Their symbol is a silhouetted raven in flight as seen from above, incorporated with a stylized drop of blood within.

(Because of their name and symbol, it has been theorized that they are a successor chapter of either the Blood Angels or Raven Guard, but this has been denied by Games Workshop.)

(how to paint coming soon)

Possible Connection to the Thousand Sons Legion
Blood Ravens may have descended from the Thousand Sons legion, before the horus heresy the thousand sons may have copied and modified their geneseed and left the new geneseed on Mars for the tech priests to find and make a new space marine chapter, so the Blood Ravens chapter is not a codex chapter it is technically one of the first founding chapters.

In the Black Library book Dawn of War: Ascension, it is revealed that the ancestors of the Blood Ravens built a recruiting world on top of an ancient outpost during the Heresy, with the help of the Eldar. The two factions worked in unison, using magic and psychic wards to lock the Necron force lying beneath the sands in psychic stasis. The Heresy Era 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 Marines, as they too wore similar red armor

The psychic lock the Marines placed on the Necrons shows that the Marines could not have been Blood Angels, and the Thousand Sons already share a bond with the Blood Ravens for their strong psychic powers.

In the novel A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeill a vision is seen by Ahriman describing a future image of blood and a raven. This may imply that the Blood Ravens are descended from the Thousand Sons geneseed.

Possible Connection to the two lost Primarchs
In the Dawn of War series of games and books it is unknown who the founder of the Blood Ravens Chapter is. The two lost Primarchs were II and XI; the only information Games Workshop has ever released that directly addresses them can be found in False Gods and The Lightning Tower (by Graham McNeill and Dan Abnett respectively). In the Black Library Horus Heresy novel series, Horus, in a Chaos-induced dream sequence, apparently goes back in time and sees the cracked incubation capsule of Primarch XI before the Primarchs are scattered to the Warp (the effect this has on the Primarch is inconclusive). Before that happens, he puts his hand on XI's capsule and feels "the untapped glories that might have lain ahead for what grew within, but knowing that they would never come to pass". This probably rules out XI as the Blood Raven's Primach. There is little to no information on what happened to II.

There is a moment in the audio book The Lightning Tower (Dan Abnett). As Primarch Rogal Dorn is constructing the defenses of the Imperial Palace (in preparation for an oncoming attack by the traitor Marines), he comes across a corridor showing statues of all twenty Primarchs. The audio book states that "an accident befell them that may somehow be a precursor of what happened to Horus". In the novel Mechanicum it is described that "They are lost to us forever"

During Dawn Of War: Dark Crusade, when the player attacks the Space Marine stronghold, North Vandea, Davian Thule gives a speech to the assembled force in the pre-battle cutscene. At one point he says "The unknown Primarch is with us." This could suggest that the Blood Ravens are a First Founding chapter, with their Primarch being one of the two lost Primarchs.

During Dawn Of War 2, banter between Blood Ravens Thaddeus, Cyrus, Tarkus and Avitus mentions that Davian Thule found some recordings relating to the founding of the Chapter on Kronus. He was the only one to have seen them, and destroyed them immediately after. Tarkus notes this as being a turnpoint marking a significant change in the Captain's personality, now grimmer and more distant. One could guess that whatever recording Thule found established the Blood Ravens as being related to one of the traitor legions. Later in the game, Avitus mentions the fact that the Blood Ravens have forgotten the name of their Primarch and this could not have been an accident, it had to be done on purpose to hide "a terrible truth".

Possible Connections to the Black Legion
In Dawn of War: Dark Crusade if the Wordbearers defeat the Blood Ravens' stronghold the epilogue of the battle states that their victory especially pleases Warmaster Abbadon for reasons unknown.

Several events and earned items in "Dawn of War 2" suggest a connection to the Black Legion group of Chaos Space Marines, although the nature of this connection is never revealed.

The two handed thunder hammer "Dorn's Retribution" states that "... a Blood Ravens strike cruiser broke from the main Imperial fleet to engage and destroy a vessel of the Black Legion before returning to the line. Any reasoning for such a bold action was never reported."

One of the random loading screens, entitled "Davian Thule and Kasr Sonnen" speaks of actions of Davian Thule and 4th company just before the Kronus Campaign. The company was deployed to Cadia to fight against "a large incursion by the traitor legions." Thule was able to rout a "massive column" of Iron Warriors, but was ordered to withdraw immediately when word was received that the Black Legion was en route to support the Iron Warriors. Thule initially ignored the order, but relented when the Blood Ravens Chapter Master threatened to relieve him of his command.

In Dawn of War II:Chaos Rising it was further revealed that the Chapter Master Azariah Kyras himself was a Heretic as admitted by traitors Apothecary Galan and Techmarine Martellus. Corrupted by the Great Unclean One Ulkair after he was isolated with Galan and a few other marines on the Space Hulk Judgment of Carrion as part of an effort to seal Ulkair, he returns to centuries later to take control of the chapter, riding on the proclamations of his return as a "miracle" despite of the reservations of a few like Gabriel Angelos who suspect something much more sinister. He also speculated as having some strong connections with the Black Legion as he makes every attempt to avoid confrontation with them, even to the point of abandoning his recruiting worlds to them. [[Category:B]]