The Blood Ravens have sworn to discover the true nature of their origins. That truth may lead them to a choice that they are not willing to make.
Via our good friends at Lexicanum
The Blood Ravens of fact, not of legend, are driven by the need to discover the truth about their origins, as well as the philosophy of the gaining of knowledge. To this end, they have developed friendly interactions with the Adeptus Mechanicus and have often been assigned to Explorator missions to unknown/unexplored areas of the galaxy as a result. Combined with their own missions to seek out ancient ruins, mythic sites or other sources of information, the Blood Ravens have done much to expand the boundaries of both Imperial knowledge and space. The Blood Ravens have also become notable for engaging their heretic brethren, with some of their most recent campaigns featuring heavy interaction against the forces of Chaos. Of particular import are the actions of the 3rd Company under Gabriel Angelos on the world of Tartarus, where the Alpha Legion (as well as various Xenos forces) were combated, the multi-company force commanded by Captain Davian Thule who had to deal with Word Bearers interference during a complex mission primarily directed against a Necron threat on the world of Kronus, and perhaps most critically, the failed Kaurava campaign commanded by Captain Indrick Boreale, in which a full 5 Companies of the Blood Ravens were lost.
This loss was a serious blow to the Chapter, robbing them of half their manpower in one defeat. This resulted in the Blood Ravens being forced to concentrate on building up their numbers and protecting their Recruiting Worlds for some time, although this period did not pass without serious incident. Multiple Xenos threats – including a considerable invasion by a Tyranid splinter fleet and a concurrent Ork Waaagh! – assailed the Chapter. The Blood Ravens eventually found itself combating not only the heretics of the Black Legion but insidious heretical threats from within its own ranks, including betrayal by their Chapter Master Azariah Kyras.
Notionally a Codex Chapter, the Blood Ravens’ most obvious deviation from strict Codex adherence is the high number of Librarians in their ranks, as well as the practice of affording Librarians dual-roles as unit commanders (for example, as Company Captains or even Chapter Master as well as their Librarius rank). The actual commanders of the Blood Ravens are known as the Secret Masters, and as befits such a title, little is known of who these marines are or what positions they officially hold within the command tree. Many of these Masters are psykers who specialize in studying the ways of Chaos, so that the Blood Ravens may better fight against the heretics, and who are believed to sometimes form up battle-squads of the Chapter’s Librarians to lead into battle. The dangers of large numbers of psychically active members studying the ways of heresy are not unknown to the Chapter, and so the Blood Ravens attempt to self-monitor themselves strenuously against taint. Those souls who fall (for some inevitably do, either in the initiation process itself or after a lifetime of service) are kept for a time in the Librarium Sanatorium, before being ritually executed by the Master of Sanctity.
Initiates who fail the initiation rites in other ways and that are driven insane and/or mutated by exposure to the warp are led away in pentagrammically warded chains to a chamber simply known as The Tower where they are kept to be studied by the Chapter so as to ascertain what went wrong and how the knowledge of their failure can be put to better use. There exists a rumor of daemons being summoned and placed within these failed initiates, before being banished, a rumor that, should it be discovered to be true, would surely spell the end of the Blood Ravens as an Imperial body. The use of Librarians in the Chapter goes beyond simple battlefield deployment. As seekers and users of knowledge, the Blood Ravens prefer to approach each campaign and mission slowly and methodically, with an emphasis put on a careful planning stage. The Chapter will use its Librarians to the fullest in predicting enemy movements and likely behavior. Once all possible occurrences have been discerned, the Blood Ravens will strike swiftly and with full force, never varying from the original plan. They are also able to strike before any obvious enemy movements have been made, ending campaigns before they have truly begun.
These habits draw criticism from others in the Imperium however, who view their slowness to act as cowardice and their ability to predict enemy action as verging on the sorcerous. Further criticism has been made by the Inquisition, who has issues with the Blood Ravens’ practice of acquiring chaotic weapons and artifacts for both study and simply to deny them to the enemy. While the Blood Ravens claim to destroy these recoveries, there is little evidence for this, and it is believed the Blood Ravens have amassed quite the collection of interesting devices.
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