The Blood Ravens are a chapter dedicated to acquiring knowledge yet they are on the verge of extinction after the costly Aurelian Crusade.
Via our good friends at Lexicanum
The Blood ravens possess a cadre of powerful Librarians and are noted for their ability to predict enemy movements and fall on them with the precise application of force required. Their origins are unknown and a cause of much speculation to themselves and to others. Currently, the Blood Ravens are reckoned to be on the verge of extinction, having lost their Chapter Master and a good part of their Chapter (either literally or to Chaos) in the decade-lasting Aurelian Crusade.
The precise Founding in which the Blood Ravens were created is unknown; their own chapter histories only begin in early M37, though other Imperial records contain some small references to the Chapter proving their existence before then. It is important to note that the Blood Ravens’ histories are completely absent before the M37 date; they are not just spotty or fragmentary records. As a result, the Astartes of the Chapter know absolutely nothing about their origins, including having no knowledge of their primogenitor legion or primarch. This absence of information about a Primarch has resulted in the Blood Ravens focusing their spiritual reverence on the Emperor. However, they do have one particular mytho-historical figure of import in the form of Azariah Vidya, known as the Great Father of the Blood Ravens.
Azariah Vidya is reputed to have been a member of the Chapter during its first years. According to the legend (for actual records of this event apparently do not exist), during a disastrous campaign against a Chaotic uprising in the Gothic Sector, their Chapter Master, Master of Sanctity and most of their elite 1st Company were killed in action. The young Chapter, now without much of their senior cadre, turned to Chief Librarian Vidya for leadership. Vidya, already said to be an expert in the ways of the Ruinous Powers, turned to both research and guile to achieve victory; researching and documenting the enemies’ movements, tactics and histories for clues, as well as using his Space Marine and Imperial Guard forces to probe enemy lines, strengths and reactions. After some months of such scrying and research, Vidya claimed he had the full knowledge to defeat those arrayed against them, launching a counterattack of surgical Astartes strikes on apparently deserted enemy positions that turned out to be hiding critical Chaos staging bases. The strikes were perfect, sweeping aside those before them, leading to the quick and bloody close of the campaign. In the aftermath, it was discovered that the whole rebellion (and therefore the associated extermination of the Blood Ravens veterans) had been organised by the Alpha Legion. Following the success of this campaign Vidya was asked by the ‘Secret Masters’ of the Chapter to officially become Chapter Master; something he did while retaining his position as Chief Librarian. This resulted in the tradition of the Blood Ravens whereby Librarians are sometimes afforded dual-roles as command officers.
The Blood Ravens’ 5th company is known as the ‘Fated’, and though the reasons for this are obscure, it may go back to an incident recorded in the annals of the Chapter’s Librarium, but never spoken of openly. In M38 the entire 5th company was recorded as having been lost in the Warp, but the truth of the matter may be far darker; it is whispered that one of the company Librarians was seduced by the lure of the ruinous powers, and turned his fellow brethren to Chaos. This notion is by-and-large dismissed by the Chapter today, but for unknown reasons the current members of the Blood Ravens 5th Company wear badges of redemption, penitence and shame upon their armor suits.
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About the Author: Juan Lopez
