Vegetable foods include grains, acorns, fruits, and buds. Stomach analyses show that the diet is made up primarily of mammalian flesh, followed by insects and birds. Common ravens take their food from the ground and will store foods of all kinds, including nuts, bones, eggs, and meat. Young ravens begin to experiment with caching edible and non-edible objects soon after leaving the nest.
Common ravens are rarely observed being preyed on, even as eggs or young in the nest. Predators on nestlings may include large hawks and eagles, other ravens, owls, and martens. Golden eagles , great horned owls , and coyotes have been observed attacking nests and fledglings. Adults are usually successful at defending their young and will vigorously chase predators away.
Adults are wary of approaching novel kinds of carrion and new situations and will often only approach after the presence of blue jays and American crows makes it clear that no danger is near. Common ravens consume carrion, thereby helping in nutrient cycling. They are also important predators of arthropods, mammals, and birds in the ecosystems in which they live.
Common ravens eat carrion, which helps by removing dead animals that may harbor diseases. Common ravens sometimes eat crops such as grains, nuts, and fruits, and have been accused of killing or maiming small livestock. They may also negatively affect conservation efforts aimed at desert tortoises, sandhill cranes, and California condors.
Common ravens have been persecuted by humans for allegedly preying on lambs and crops. They are often shot, poisoned, or captured in traps. Ravens have been killed on a local scale in order to protect other endangered species programs, such as the programs to protect desert tortoises and sandhill cranes, where ravens were implicated in predation on those animals.
In some parts of their range, common ravens have been extirpated but some populations are becoming re-established.
Common ravens are very important in native cultures throughout their range. Raven is a common and important mythic creature in western Native American traditions. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.
In otherwords, Europe and Asia and northern Africa. In birds, naked and helpless after hatching. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends.
Synapomorphy of the Bilateria. Found in coastal areas between 30 and 40 degrees latitude, in areas with a Mediterranean climate. Vegetation is dominated by stands of dense, spiny shrubs with tough hard or waxy evergreen leaves.
May be maintained by periodic fire. In South America it includes the scrub ecotone between forest and paramo. Vegetation is typically sparse, though spectacular blooms may occur following rain. Deserts can be cold or warm and daily temperates typically fluctuate.
In dune areas vegetation is also sparse and conditions are dry. This is because sand does not hold water well so little is available to plants. In dunes near seas and oceans this is compounded by the influence of salt in the air and soil. Salt limits the ability of plants to take up water through their roots.
Endothermy is a synapomorphy of the Mammalia, although it may have arisen in a now extinct synapsid ancestor; the fossil record does not distinguish these possibilities.
Convergent in birds. Iteroparous animals must, by definition, survive over multiple seasons or periodic condition changes. This terrestrial biome includes summits of high mountains, either without vegetation or covered by low, tundra-like vegetation. Coniferous or boreal forest, located in a band across northern North America, Europe, and Asia.
This terrestrial biome also occurs at high elevations. Long, cold winters and short, wet summers. Few species of trees are present; these are primarily conifers that grow in dense stands with little undergrowth. Some deciduous trees also may be present.
A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia. A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest.
See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome. Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands. A terrestrial biome with low, shrubby or mat-like vegetation found at extremely high latitudes or elevations, near the limit of plant growth. Soils usually subject to permafrost. Plant diversity is typically low and the growing season is short.
Boarman, W. Corvus corax: Common Raven. The Birds of North America , To cite this page: Berg, R. Disclaimer: The Animal Diversity Web is an educational resource written largely by and for college students. ADW doesn't cover all species in the world, nor does it include all the latest scientific information about organisms we describe. Though we edit our accounts for accuracy, we cannot guarantee all information in those accounts. While ADW staff and contributors provide references to books and websites that we believe are reputable, we cannot necessarily endorse the contents of references beyond our control.
Corvus corax common raven Facebook. Geographic Range Common ravens are one of the most widespread, naturally occurring birds worldwide. Boarman and Heinrich, Biogeographic Regions nearctic native palearctic native oriental native neotropical native Other Geographic Terms holarctic Habitat Common ravens prefer open landscapes, such as treeless tundra, seacoasts, open riverbanks, rocky cliffs, mountain forests, plains, deserts, and scrubby woodlands.
Boarman and Heinrich, Common ravens generally roost on cliff ledges or in large trees but have also established nests on power-lines, in urban areas, and on billboards, to name only a few. Boarman and Heinrich, Habitat Regions temperate terrestrial Terrestrial Biomes tundra taiga desert or dune savanna or grassland chaparral forest scrub forest mountains Physical Description Common ravens are large, black birds with a wedge-shaped tail.
Boarman and Heinrich, Other Physical Features endothermic homoiothermic bilateral symmetry Sexual Dimorphism sexes alike Range mass to g Boarman and Heinrich, Mating System monogamous Breeding and egg laying occurs between mid-February and late May, though most clutches are started in March or April. Breeding season Breeding occurs in lmid-February through May. Range eggs per season 3 to 7 Average eggs per season 5 AnAge Range time to hatching 20 to 25 days Range time to independence 5 to 7 weeks Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity female 3 years Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity female Sex: female days AnAge Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity male 3 years Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity male Sex: male days AnAge Females exclusively incubate the eggs but both parents care for the young once they have hatched.
Boarman and Heinrich, Common ravens walk on the ground or fly. Boarman and Heinrich, Key Behaviors flies glides motile sedentary solitary territorial Range territory size 5.
Boarman and Heinrich, Common ravens also communicate with physical displays of either threat or appeasement to subordinate and dominant ravens. Vulkan's Legion assaulted the left flank of the Traitors' battle line while Ferrus Manus, the Iron Hands' First Captain Gabriel Santor, and 10 full companies of elite Morlocks Terminators charged straight into the centre of the enemy lines.
Meanwhile, Corax's Legion hit the right flank of the enemy's position. The odds were considered equal; 30, Traitor Marines against 40, Loyalists. Horus was aware of the location of the Loyalists' chosen drop site and his troops fell upon the Loyalist Legions. The battlefield of Istvaan V was a slaughterhouse of epic proportions. Treacherous warriors twisted by hatred fought their former brothers-in-arms in a conflict unparalleled in its bitterness.
The blood of heroes and traitors flowed in rivers, and the hooded Hereteks Adepts of the Dark Mechanicum unleashed perversions of ancient technology stolen from the Auretian Technocracy to wreak bloody havoc amongst the Loyalists.
All across the Urgall Depression, hundreds died with every passing second, the promise of inevitable death a pall of darkness that hung over every warrior. The Traitor forces held, but their line was bending beneath the fury of the first Loyalist assault. It would take only the smallest twists of fate for it to break.
The forces on the surface have been embattled for almost three hours with no clear victor emerging. Even now, the Loyalists wait for the second wave of 'allies' to make planetfall, believing they would be reinforced for their final advance. The Traitors all knew their parts to play in this performance. They were all aware of the blood they must shed to spare their species from destruction, and install Horus as the new Master of Mankind.
Though the Iron Hands, Raven Guard and Salamanders had managed to make a full combat drop and secured the drop site, known as the Urgall Depression, they did so at a heavy cost. Overwhelmed with rage, the headstrong Ferrus Manus disregarded the counsel of his brothers Corax and Vulkan and hurled himself against the fleeing rebels, seeking to bring Fulgrim to personal combat.
His veteran troops -- comprising the majority of the X th Legion's Terminators and Dreadnoughts -- followed. What had begun as a massed strike against the Traitors' position was rapidly turning into one of the largest engagements of the entire Great Crusade. All told, over 60, Astartes warriors clashed on the dusky plains of Istvaan V. For all the wrong reasons, this battle was soon to go down in the annals of Imperial history as one of the most epic confrontations ever fought.
The loyal Primarchs could be found where the fighting was thickest: Corax of the Raven Guard, borne aloft on black wings bound to a fire-breathing flight pack; Lord Ferrus of the Iron Hands at the heart of the battlefield, his silver hands crushing any traitors that came within reach, while he pursued and dragged back those who sought to withdraw; and lastly, Vulkan of the Salamanders, armoured in overlapping artificer plating, thunder clapping from his warhammer as it pounded into yielding armour, shattering it like porcelain.
And Horus, Warmaster of the Imperium, the brightest star and greatest of the Emperor's sons. He stood watching the destruction while his Legions took to the field, their liege lord content in his fortress rising from the far edge of the ravine. At last, above this maelstrom of grinding ceramite, booming tank cannons and chattering bolters -- the gunships, drop-pods and assault landers of the second wave burned through the atmosphere on screaming thrusters.
The sky fell dark with the weak sun eclipsed by ten thousand avian shadows, and the cheering roar sent up by the Loyalists was loud enough to shake the air itself. The traitors, the bloodied and battered Legions loyal to Horus, fell into a fighting withdrawal without hesitation. The second wave of "Loyalist" Space Marine Legions descended upon the landing zone on the northern edge of the Urgall Depression. Hundreds of Stormbirds and Thunderhawks roared towards the surface, their armoured hulls gleaming as the power of another four Astartes Legions arrived on Istvaan V.
Yet the Space Marine Legions of the reserve were no longer loyal to the Emperor, having already secretly sworn themselves to Chaos and the cause of Horus.
The secret Traitor Legions mustered in the landing zone, armed and ready for battle, unbloodied and fresh. The Iron Warriors had claimed the highest ground, taking the loyalist landing site with all the appearance of reinforcing it through the erection of prefabricated plasteel bunkers. Bulk landers dropped the battlefield architecture: dense metal frames fell from the cargo claws of carrier ships at low altitude, and as the platforms crashed and embedded themselves in the ground, the craftsmen-warriors of the IV th Legion worked, affixed, bolted and constructed them into hastily-rising firebases.
Turrets rose from their protective housing in the hundreds, while hordes of lobotomised servitors trundled from the holds of Iron Warriors troopships, single-minded in their intent to link with the weapons systems' interfaces.
The Word Bearers bolstered their brother Legions on one flank of the Urgall Depression while the Night Lords took positions on the opposite side. Down the line, past the mounting masses of Iron Warriors battle tanks and assembling Astartes, First Captain Sevatar of the Night Lords and his 1st Company elite, the Atramentar took up defensive positions.
Both the Word Bearers and the Night Lords were to be the anvil, while the Iron Warriors would be the hammer yet to fall. The enemy would stagger back to them, exhausted, clutching empty bolters and broken blades, believing their presence to be a reprieve. Death Guard Tactical Squad opens fire on the Loyalists. Dragging their wounded and dead behind them, Corax and Vulkan led their forces back to the drop site to regroup and to allow the warriors of their recently arrived brother Primarchs of the second wave a measure of the glory in defeating Horus.
Though they voxed hails requesting medical aid and supply, the line of Astartes atop the northern ridge remained grimly silent as the exhausted warriors of the Raven Guard and Salamanders came to within a hundred metres of their allies. It was then that Horus revealed his perfidy and sprung his lethal trap. Inside the black fortress where Horus had made his lair, a lone flare shot skyward, exploding in a hellish red glow that lit the battlefield below.
The fire of betrayal roared from the barrels of a thousand guns, as the second wave of Astartes revealed where their true loyalties now lay. Ferrus Manus looked on in stunned horror as Fulgrim laughed at the look on his brother's face as the forces of his "allies" opened fire upon the Salamanders and Raven Guard, killing hundreds in the fury of the first few moments, hundreds more in the seconds following, as volley after volley of Bolter fire and missiles scythed through their unsuspecting ranks.
Even as terrifying carnage was being wreaked upon the Loyalists below, the retreating forces of the Warmaster turned and brought their weapons to bear on the enemy warriors within their midst. Hundreds of World Eaters, Sons of Horus and the Death Guard fell upon the veteran companies of the Iron Hands, and though the warriors of the X th Legion continued to fight gallantly, they were hopelessly outnumbered and would soon be hacked to pieces. The Iron Hands had damned themselves by remaining in the field.
The Raven Guard front ranks went down as if scythed, harvested in a spilling line of detonating bolter shells, shattered armour and puffs of bloody mist. Black-armoured Astartes tumbled to their hands and knees, only to be cut down by the sustained volley, finishing those who fell beneath the initial storm of head- and chest-shots. Seconds after the first chatter of bolters, beams of achingly bright laser slashed from behind the Word Bearers as the cannon mounts of Land Raiders, Predators and defensive bastion turrets gouged through the Raven Guard and the ground they stood upon.
The Iron Warriors and Word Bearers kept reloading, opening fire again, hurling grenades and prepared to fall back. The Word Bearers Legion had taken up landing positions on the west of the field, ready to sweep down and engage the Raven Guard from the flank. The two Legions fought one another in bitter combat. Amidst the carnage and the slaughter, the anger of a demigod was released -- beyond anger, beyond rage.
It went beyond both, for it was wrath, in physical form. Lord Corax, Primarch of the Raven Guard charged into the ranks of the Traitorous Word Bearers, a blur of charcoal armour and black blades, butchering with an ease that belied his ferocity. Soon the voices of dying Word Bearers became a conflicting chorus over the Vox as they screamed for help. Meanwhile, Lorgar mirrored his brother Primarch's actions, and slaughtered enemy Astartes with contemptuous ease.
Just as the Word Bearers struggled to stand before Corax, so too did the Raven Guard fall back and die in droves. Suddenly, the Urizen halted his attack. He noticed that Corax was wading through the Gal Vorbak, ripping his daemon-possessed crimson warriors apart. Despite the protestations of both Kor Phaeron and Erebus , Lorgar disregarded their counsel and sprinted forwards across the churned earth and dead bodies of his brother's Legion to engage in a battle he had no hope of winning.
He saw his brother — a man he had barely spoken to in two centuries of life, a man he barely knew — butchering his sons in a vicious rage. There was no thought of conversion.
No hope of bringing Corax into the fold, or enlightening him enough to cease this murderous rampage. As the Word Bearers Primarch hammered his way through the Raven Guard to reach his brother, he felt power seethe within him, aching to rise out. He felt his unchained power reaching out, not only to enhance his physical form, but reaching to his sons across the battlefield.
Corax answered with a shriek of his own — the call of the betrayer, the cry of the betrayed — and the raven met the heretic in a clash of crozius and claw. The Primarchs fought in furious combat -- Corax fighting to kill, while Lorgar fought to stay alive. During their duel, Corax hurled insults and accusations at his former brother.
He wanted to know why Lorgar and his Legion had committed such treachery? Lorgar shared with his brother of the future visions he had seen of their father -- a bloodless corpse, enthroned upon a throne of gold and screaming into the void forever.
Angered by his brother's lies, Corax lashed out furiously with his pair of Lightning Claws across Lorgar's face, cutting the meat of his cheeks deeply. Even should Lorgar somehow manage to escape his ultimate fate this day, he would bear these scars until the day he died. The two Primarchs traded vicious blows, but the Raven Lord had the advantage not only speed and finesse, but of also being a penultimate warrior with decades of fighting experience.
Lorgar did not, for he had always been more of a scholar than a warrior, and his lack of experience cost him dearly as Corax impaled Lorgar through his stomach, the tips of his metre-long talons glinting to the side of his spine as they thrust out his back.
Such a blow meant little to a Primarch — only when Corax heaved upwards did Lorgar stagger. Even as he tightened his grip on Corax's throat, the Raven Lord remained untroubled by his weaker brother's grip. The Raven Lord gave no ground, even as a second, third and fourth head butt decimated his delicate features. Corax tore them free, inflicting more damage than the first impaling had done. Blood hissed and popped as it evaporated on the force-fielded blades.
Lorgar fell to his knees, hands clutched over the ruination of his stomach. As Corax stepped closer, he raised his one functioning claw to execute his brother. Lorgar screamed his defiance at Corax, lost in the irony that of all the sons of the Emperor, he was the one soul in twenty who'd never wished to be a soldier. And now here he would die, at the heart of a battlefield. As the claw fell, it struck opposing metal. Corax looked to meet eyes as black as his, in a face as pale as his own. His claw strained against a mirroring weapon, both sets of blades scraping as they ground against each other.
One claw seeking to fall and kill, the other unyielding in its rising defence. It was Konrad Curze. Curze looked upon his prostrate brother and ordered him to rise from his knees, disgusted at his cowardice. Corax was not idle as this exchange took place. Curze then shoved Lorgar back towards his Word Bearers.
Around them both, the grey Legion warred with the warriors in black. Lorgar thanked his brother for saving his life. But Curze warned him that he would let him die next time.
As he bit out another retort, his words halted as he took in the scene of the transformed Gal Vorbak - their armour was crimson and ridged bone.
Great claws, both metallic weapons and fleshy, jointed talons, extended from bestial arms. Every helm was horned and every faceplate was split by a daemon's skullish leer. Disgusted by this horrific sight, Curze turned his back on Lorgar and commented that he was so much more than merely foul, he was rancid with corruption. Though grievously wounded, Lorgar would live. The traitors had carried the day and dealt the Emperor and the Imperium a grievous blow. As the Horus Heresy began in earnest, Horus now possessed nine Space Marine Legions and had all but destroyed three of the remaining nine Loyalist ones.
The path to Terra was now wide open, and the decisive Battle of Terra and the Siege of the Imperial Palace would follow after seven more years of blood and terror as the Traitor Legions penetrated to the very heart of the Imperium of Man.
The outnumbered Loyalists were then surrounded and brutally butchered. Refusing to surrender, the remaining Raven Guard and Salamanders Astartes stubbornly defended themselves, trying to hold off the inevitable slaughter for as long as possible. Though they suffered an atrocious number of casualties, the Loyalists managed to hold their own, until the Primarchs Mortarion of the Death Guard and Angron of the World Eaters joined the fray. Bolstered by the support of the infamous Imperator -class Titan Dies Irae , the Traitors killed tens of thousands of Loyalist Astartes.
At the height of the massacre the Warmaster Horus entered the fray, at the head of the elite Sons of Horus Terminators known as the Justaerin , slaughtering the Loyalists in wrathful anger. Any hope for escape for the Loyalists was quickly crushed when the traitorous Iron Warriors destroyed the first wave's drop ships.
The Loyalist starships still orbiting the embattled planet were also largely annihilated by the vastly superior numbers of the Traitor's fleet. Despite the odds arrayed against them, some of the Loyalists on the ground managed to survive against these odds — they miraculously escaped through the tightening cordon of Traitors that surrounded their position.
The Raven Guard fared better than the Salamanders in escaping the brutal massacre. But the Salamanders managed to assist a few surviving Astartes from the decimated Iron Hands Legion to also escape the slaughter. Imperial history does not record the fate of these surviving Salamanders or their missing Primarch Vulkan. The Raven Guard's Primarch just barely managed to board a fleeing Thunderhawk gunship to make good his escape, but was thwarted in the attempt when it was shot down almost immediately by the gunfire of the Traitors.
The badly damaged ship crashed on the outskirts of the Urgall Plateau. Astartes of the Raven Guard fight for their lives on Istvaan V. Corax had survived the crash and quickly ordered the remaining warriors of his Legion to regroup. He learned to his shock that a large percentage of his Legion had been utterly annihilated during the ensuing slaughter. They took to the highlands of the surrounding hills and took to the shadows, hiding from their relentless pursuers.
During their flight, their position was nearly discovered by a roving armour column of traitorous Iron Warriors, but they were destroyed in a Raven Guard ambush and wiped out before they could report what they had learned. Thirty days after the initial planetary assault, the future looked grim for the fleeing Raven Guard survivors. They had received no word from either the surviving Iron Hands or Salamanders Legions.
Corax ordered his warriors to dig-in and hold position at Lurgan Ridge while he undertook a lone reconnaissance of their original drop site to determine their options.
Utilising his innate psi-abilities to escape detection, Corax successfully conducted a reconnaissance of the Traitor Legions' positions around the heavily fortified drop site. Though the Primarch informed his men that his mission was to reconnoiter the drop site, his primary objective was to scour the Urgall Plateau for the bodies of his fallen sons, but he failed to find them.
After 98 days of relentless pursuit, the Raven Guard survivors were finally backed into a literal corner. Caught upon the windswept mountainside, Corax's Legion remained resolute. Behind the peak stretched the great salt plains that had forced them into this last, defiant stand. Ahead of them massed the might of the World Eaters, the rage-driven Astartes Legion of Angron , who strode at their head roaring for the blood of his brother.
A sea of white and blue World Eaters Astartes spattered with the red of gore swept up from the valley intent on the destruction of the Raven Guard. Maddened by their neural implants and driven into a battle-frenzy by inhuman cocktails of stimulants, the berserk warriors of the World Eaters pounded up the sloping mountainside while their tanks and guns provided covering fire; every warrior bellowed his eagerness to fulfill the blood oaths he had sworn to his Primarch.
But before they could utterly eradicate the surviving Raven Guard Astartes, the World Eaters were attacked from an unexpected quarter. Broad-winged aircraft plunged down from the scattering of clouds, missile pods rippling with fire. A swathe of detonations cut through the ranks of the World Eaters, ripping through their advance companies.
Incendiary bombs blossomed in the heart of the approaching army, scattering white-hot Promethium over the steep slopes. The roar of jets became deafening as drop ships descended on pillars of fire: black drop ships emblazoned with the badge of the Raven Guard. The Legionaries scattered to give the landing craft space to make planetfall.
As soon as their thick hydraulic legs touched the ground, their ramps whined down and boarding gateways opened. The Raven Guard met their rescuers in stunned disbelief.
Without further delay the Raven Guard survivors quickly prepared for embarkation and escaped aboard the drop ships, breaking for orbit and leaving behind the frothing berserkers of the World Eaters, their angry Primarch futilely baying for blood. With his Legion severely depleted from the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan V and the Imperium teetering on the brink of destruction, a critically wounded Corax was brought back to Terra in a stasis tube. Healed in body but not in soul, Corax eventually returned to his homeworld of Deliverance to rebuild what remained of his Legion.
While traveling from Istvaan V, Corax dwelt upon why he had fled from the confrontation with Konrad Curze and Lorgar, and realised that he had felt fear when facing the Night Haunter. Not fear of death, but the realisation that but for a twist of fate, Corax could have landed upon Nostramo instead of Lycaeus, and become a monster as savage as Curze.
Consumed by the loss of over 75, of his Legion's Astartes, his flight from the Night Haunter, and obsessed with thoughts of revenge against Horus, Corax ordered his survivors to return to Terra , where he intended to ask the Emperor for help in rebuilding his devastated Legion.
Following a number of delays and setbacks, and despite the disagreement and displeasure of Rogal Dorn and Malcador the Sigillite , Corax psychically communed with the Emperor, who was devoting all his time battling Chaos within the Warp and what remained of the secret Imperial extension into the Webway in the aftermath of Magnus the Red 's catastrophic psychic intrusion into the Imperial Palace. The Emperor revealed certain truths to Corax: the existence of the Imperial project to control portions of the Webway, the nature of Chaos , and the truth behind the outbreak of the so-called Heresy—which in reality was an all-out campaign by the Chaos Gods to defeat the Emperor and enslave Mankind , using Horus and the Traitor Legions as their pawns.
The Emperor decided to help Corax, and had another, astonishing revelation to make: the Primarch Project 's genetic assets had not been destroyed, as everybody thought, but still existed and were dormant—including living samples of the original gene-stock the Emperor had used to create the 20 Primarchs.
The Emperor, who offered no explanation as to why such facilities and the gene-stock still existed, demanded only one thing: this genetic material could never be allowed to fall into the wrong hands. Accompanied by several Raven Guard squads, a contingent of Adeptus Mechanicus specialists, and a number of Custodians to serve as the Emperor's "overseers", Corax managed to locate and enter the Emperor's well-protected gene-laboratories deep beneath the Imperial Palace in the Himalazian Mountains.
Corax's strike force suffered a number of casualties due to the numerous traps that the Emperor had put in place in order to protect the pure gene-stock from unwanted visitors. The Primarch gene-stock and related technical information was secured, and Corax and his Raven Guard warriors returned to Deliverance to begin remaking the Legion.
The gene-seed was more pure than "normal" Raven Guard gene stock as it came from undiluted Primarch DNA before it was broken down to the 20 different recombinant strands that gave birth to the Primarchs.
It was implanted using an extremely accelerated development schedule within Aspirants, with excellent results. The resulting Astartes, though lacking combat experience, were even more capable than typical Raven Guard Space Marines. They were assigned the name "Raptors", and placed under overall command of Captain Branne, who served as the Legion's Master of Recruits.
The Alpha Legion had other plans. Patiently waiting until the Raven Guard had achieved the genetic breakthrough, they were fomenting rebellion among the old tech-guilds of Kiavahr, the Forge World that the moon of Deliverance circled, while assembling an Alpha Legion force nearby, and simultaneously misleading both their nominal allies among the other Traitor Legions and their supposed allies in the Cabal about their true purpose.
With the help of Adepts from the Dark Mechanicus the Alpha Legion operatives within the Raven Guard contaminated the pure Primarch gene-stock held by the Raven Guard with a virus that was tainted with daemonic essence. The nature of the virus was unknown to the Alpha Legionaries until after the gene-stock had been contaminated, as their Dark Mechanicus allies had insisted the virus could be easily extracted once the Primarch gene-stock came into their possession.
The next cadre of 2, Raven Guard Astartes was predictably a disaster. All manifested hideous Warp-related mutations after they were implanted with their gene-seed organs, and many had to be kept imprisoned. Corax announced that mutation or not, he considered them as much a part of the Raven Guard as the rest of his Astartes, and vowed to find a way to reverse the mutations.
At the same time, the Alpha Legion's plans were reaching their climax. As the Legion fought in isolation against Horus' forces during this period, isolated from the other Imperial forces, nothing is known for sure of the initial results of Corax's program, but an element of truth is found in the Space Wolves' Saga of the Weregeld , which tells of ferocious monsters lead to combat by their Raven Guard Battle Brothers.
The Kiavahr rebellion was well under way, supported by the newly arrived Alpha Legion force, who were camouflaged as Raven Guard, bearing the XIX th Legion's badges, insignia, and armour. These tactics were only diversions intended to allow the Alpha Legion operatives already within the XIX th Legion to steal the Primarch gene-stock and to completely destroy the original Raven Guard gene-seed, crippling the Loyalist Legion.
The first objective was successful: the Primarch DNA and all information about it was secured by Omegon, who had been secretly on Kiavahr all this time, manipulating events as needed. To save the gene-seed, Corax intended to go to Ravendelve himself, but Commander Branne begged him not to, saying that he was prepared to destroy Ravendelve to prevent the guilders from gaining the gene-seed, but Corax's presence would prevent him from doing so.
Branne's voice cut through the anger in Corax's heart, and listening to a voice he had trusted for so long, Corax realised that he was seeing the face of Konrad Curze, and could not allow his obsession with rebuilding the XIX th Legion to consume him as utterly as hatred had consumed the Night Haunter. Recognising that he must live for the good of his warriors, Corax agreed to remain at Ravenspire while the Legion moved on Ravendelve.
Corax subsequently allowed the Mutants who were able to fight to join the Legion's Raptor Squads. They participated with the rest of the Raven Guard, a small force of Imperial Fists , and the reconstituted Therion Cohort in the first counterattack against the Traitors, and the Raven Guard's successful campaign against the garrison of an Emperor's Children -held planet near the Kiavahr System.
Unfortunately the attempt to rebuilt the XIX th Legion's strength was now in ruins. With a heavy heart, Corax decided that his attempt to use a shortcut to refill his Legion's ranks had been a mistake. He determined that the XIX th Legion would rebuild its ranks in the traditional way, slowly and painstakingly transforming human Aspirants into Space Marines over many years of genetic alteration and training. But the price would be that the Raven Guard would not be able to participate in a meaningful way in defending the Imperium against the Traitor Legions.
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