Raven Guard

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Raven Guard
Original Name	暗鸦守卫
Alias(es)	Nineteenth Legion; “Crows” 26 69
Species/Race	Adeptus Astartes Legion
Affiliation	Imperium of Man
Homeworld	Savior Star 132
Gene-sire	Corvus Corax (Korax) 2 69
Occupation/Role	Imperial expeditionary, reconnaissance, infiltration, and rapid-assault force 125 218
Status	Active 286
First Appearance	2

History

Reunion and Reformation

Corvus Corax returned to the Imperium roughly 150 years after Horus, the last Primarch to do so. By then, the Nineteenth Legion had effectively become Horus's private army. 2

Upon meeting more than 20,000 Legionaries, Corax renamed the Nineteenth Legion the Raven Guard, addressed its warriors as brothers, and pledged not to favor recruits based on their former social status. He personally met with every company over the following two days. 69

The Legion recruited from Savior Star and Giava, with Corax setting a maximum recruitment age of twenty to reduce deaths during gene-modification surgery. Sandman later sought to establish comprehensive education systems across Savior Star and future Raven Guard-held worlds, modeled after Ultramar's ability to rapidly replenish its forces. 63 69

The Battle of Gate 40 became a turning point: although costly, it allowed Corax to purge Legion elements that had ignored his authority in favor of Horus's commands. 140

Expansion and Fiefdoms

Korax divided the Raven Guard into three independent combat clusters, enabling the Legion to fight multiple wars and support Imperial forces across separate sectors at once. 123

As its territory expanded, the Legion established fiefdoms wherever it campaigned. These holdings eventually spread across all five major Imperial sectors, while Korax and Sandman concentrated their administrative efforts on the Storm Sector. 176 190

Sandman also planned to detach the troops directly under his command from the Legion's normal sequence and augment them into a personal core guard, while preserving the Raven Guard's existing structure and combat strength. 211

Later Era

Following the Great Heresy, the Raven Guard joined the Dark Angels and Space Wolves in purging traitor Legion homeworlds, recruitment worlds, and Forge Worlds; numerous worlds were subjected to Exterminatus. 229

After Korax awakened ten thousand years later as the Imperium's second Emperor, he removed the 100,000-person cap on parent Legions and ordered the Raven Guard to eliminate the Necron threat in the Tempestus Sector. 231

The Legion later emerged from more than a thousand years of fighting in Nurgle's Garden with fewer than 100,000 warriors. Sandman ordered Sharojin to restore the parent Legion to 300,000 personnel and rapidly reinforce its subordinate forces. 245

Strength and Organization

Period	Documented Strength	Notes
Corax's reunion with the Legion	Over 20,000 Astartes	Corax renamed the Nineteenth Legion and began integrating recruits from Savior Star and Giava. 69
Eight years of expansion	About 210,000 total; 70,000 under Sandman's fleet command	The Legion's recruitment and supply systems enabled rapid expansion. 145
Before renewed Great Crusade expansion	250,000	Two-thirds were new recruits and required further years to reach peak effectiveness. 176
Later reported standing force	300,000	This figure covered Legionaries assigned to frontline combat; additional garrison strength was not publicly disclosed. 190
After the Nurgle's Garden campaign	Fewer than 100,000	Sharojin was ordered to rebuild the Legion and its sub-Legions to 300,000 personnel. 245

Combat Doctrine & Capabilities

Shadow Power and Stealth

The Raven Guard's defining advantage is the Shadow Power inherent in Corax's gene-seed. It supports exceptional concealment, infiltration, and battlefield repositioning. 125 132

• Raven Guard warriors can conduct stealth operations while wearing Terminator armor or Centurion warsuits. 26
• Their Shadow Masters infiltrated Necron Tomb Worlds using Shadow Power alongside specialized camouflage cloaks crafted by Ferrus Manus. 242
• Metal refined from black Orichalcum ore can further enhance the Legion's already extreme stealth capabilities when incorporated into Power Armor. 26
• The Legion's stealth techniques cannot be fully replicated by other Legions because they rely on its gene-linked Shadow Power. 125 132

Raven Speech

Raven Speech is the Legion's most authoritative method of authentication beyond visible armor and Legion identification.

• Its gestures are only a surface component; authentication depends on the user's Shadow Power. 132
• Personnel without Raven Guard gene-linked Shadow Power cannot pass the system, even if they learn its external form. 132
• Alpha Legion infiltrators who attempted to imitate Raven Speech were identified and assigned to missions with extremely high mortality rates. 132

Fleet Warfare and Intelligence

The Raven Guard combines stealth-capable fleet movement with a wide-ranging intelligence network.

• The Reflective Shield system allows Raven Guard ships to disappear from enemy sight when their Void Shields overload, then re-engage after the Void Shields recover. 91
• During the Om System campaign, Raven Guard forces destroyed roughly sixty Ork warships, including a flagship, before Sandman's flagship used its Death Ray to break the Ork formation. 115
• The Legion's garrisons form an intelligence web across Imperial territory, rapidly compiling disturbances into actionable warnings for distant worlds. 219
• Raven Guard warnings exposed traitor movements before planned attacks on Chogoris and Nostramo, forcing Horus's surprise operations to fail. 219 220
• The Legion can divide into independent combat clusters to sustain simultaneous campaigns across multiple sectors. 123

Rapid Landing Operations

Later-era Raven Guard airborne assaults use psionic beacons to deploy Astartes, Titans, armored formations, and heavy weapons directly into hostile territory.

• During the assault on Cadreia, psionic beacons deployed the landing force under Necron fire while Void Shields redirected incoming attacks into the Warp. 242
• The landing force included Power Armor-equipped Astartes, Terminators, Dreadnoughts, Knight-class engines, Titans, super-heavy tanks, and armored units. 242
• Shadow Master Shrek led the Cadreia airborne operation and infiltrated the Necron Tomb World after the initial deployment. 242

Recruitment and Sustainment

The Raven Guard's recruitment infrastructure is among the strongest of the Astartes Legions.

• The Legion maintains education systems, Fire-Forging Academies, and specialized training worlds on conquered planets. 63 132
• Recruits are deployed against varied xenos threats as part of their development, producing warriors with generally strong combat capability. 132
• Its fiefdoms provide independent recruitment and logistical depth, allowing the Legion to replenish forces without relying entirely on Imperial supply channels. 176 190
• Only the Ultramarines' Five Hundred Worlds are described as comparable to the Raven Guard's personnel replenishment system. 245

Equipment and Strategic Assets

• Reflective Shield system — Fleet stealth system used when Void Shields overload. 91
• Black Orichalcum-enhanced Power Armor — Armor incorporating refined ore capable of improving Raven Guard stealth. 26
• Styx — Sandman's flagship and a major Raven Guard strategic asset; its Death Ray can destroy enemy flagships and breach heavily defended orbital positions. 115 160
• War Moon — A tightly controlled Imperial war celestial body assigned to the Legion and used to secure its rear during major fleet actions. 240 241
• Saturnine Terminators and Dreadnoughts — Heavy assets employed during planetary purges and landing operations. 94 123
• Psionic beacons and Void Shields — Rapid-deployment and defensive systems used in later campaigns against the Necrons. 242
• Forbidden weapons — Includes Exterminatus-class munitions, vortex torpedoes, Warp torpedoes, and gravity-wave bombs when conventional firepower is insufficient. 149 150 161 286

Key Personnel and Relationships

• Corvus Corax (Korax) — Gene-sire and Primarch; renamed the Nineteenth Legion as the Raven Guard and reorganized it around his leadership. 69
• Sandman — Legionary Commander and later Imperial Supreme; directed major Raven Guard campaigns, expansion plans, and strategic intelligence operations. 9 145 219
• Sharojin — Later Legion Commander and acting Legion Master; commanded the Raven Guard through the Necron and Tyranid wars. 240 286
• Shrek — Shadow Master selected by Sharojin as a prospective successor; led the Cadreia airborne assault. 242
• Nekser — Raven Guard commander trained by Sandman; served in planetary operations and commanded elements of the Styx's forces. 3 160
• Erifania — Rescued and raised the infant Corvus on Lycaeus, then remained at his side until becoming captain of the Gloriana-class Shadow. 3
• Styx — Machine Spirit and flagship asset associated with Sandman; hostile toward Alpha Legion attempts to station garrisons aboard Raven Guard property. 158 190
• Death Guard — Frequent allied Legion whose heavy infantry doctrine complements Raven Guard stealth and infiltration tactics. 77

Major Campaigns

• Five-planet Ork landing operation — The Raven Guard reclaimed five Ork-infested worlds through coordinated landings, then deployed Virus Bombs to eliminate remaining Ork spores. 3
• Kanta System Exterminatus — After discovering that Krav Xenos had killed the human captives held in incubation facilities, Sandman ordered the destruction of Kanta's five central planets. 9
• Canta IX Campaign — After defeating most of the Klaav fleet, the Raven Guard divided its forces to destroy the Mandeville Point fortress, bombard hostile positions, and conduct planetary landings without destroying a world intended for future occupation. 94
• Om System Battle — Raven Guard guerrilla warfare weakened the Ork fleet before a decisive interception battle; the destruction of the Ork flagship caused the enemy formation to collapse. 115
• Rak'Gol War — The Legion committed 160,000 Astartes to the frontline and suffered catastrophic losses. Recorded Raven Guard dead totaled 158,019, alongside more than ten million mortal auxiliaries. 171 176
• Rak'Gol Western Frontier raids — Raven Guard strike fleets repeatedly destroyed orbital defenses, enacted Exterminatus with forbidden weapons, and withdrew before enemy forces could respond. 162
• Destruction of Forge World X-73 — Sandman's fleet erased a Rak'Gol Forge World from the star charts with a twin-stage Cyclone Torpedo, crippling enemy production capacity. 161
• Great Heresy early-warning operations — Raven Guard intelligence exposed planned traitor strikes against loyalist homeworlds and prevented attacks on Chogoris and Nostramo from achieving surprise. 219 220
• Tir Star System liberation — Under Sharojin, the Raven Guard returned with a massive fleet and War Moon, assumed supreme command of the front, and overwhelmed a Necron dynasty through superior numbers and preparation. 240 241 245
• Cadreia Tomb World assault — Shrek led an airborne landing operation against Necron defenses, supported by Titans, armored formations, orbital firepower, Void Shields, and psionic beacons. 242
• Tyranid frontline offensive — Sharojin deployed the Legion in a dispersed single-line formation around its War Moon and ordered gravity-wave bombs used across a half-light-year engagement zone. 286