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RG Deliverer Novith

A Deliverer of the Raven Guard Legion during the heavy fighting at the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V.

A Deliverer was a member of a specialised unit of Terminators used exclusively by the Raven Guard Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. The Deliverers were composed entirely of Terran-born Legionaries arrayed in bulky Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour, who were grim of aspect and wielded an array of fearsome weapons not usually favoured by the more subtle tactics of the XIXth Legion.

Deliverers were highly adept at close-range shock assaults from both aerial transports and teleport deployments. Through rarely called upon by Primarch Corvus Corax, they were nevertheless loosed upon only those foes who proved extremely tenacious and had earned the primarch's ire.

History[]

Origins[]

RG Deliverers Terminators 1

A squad of Raven Guard Deliverers in combat during a planetary assault.

Even in the days before the return of Primarch Corvus Corax, the XIXth Legion was renowned in the Imperium for its skill at fast strikes and hit-and-run raids. As with many Space Marine Legions, this skill quickly became ingrained into the nascent Legion as they came to be employed more and more in these tactical roles, eschewing the massed battles and attritional warfare favoured by other Legions. As well as moulding the tactics of the XIXth Legion, this tendency also affected the Legion's Armoury, which swiftly found itself biased towards light attack vehicles and those marks of armour that favoured agility and stealth over bulkier plating.

The earliest marks of Terminator Armour were no exception. Despite the favour shown to the Tactical Dreadnought Armour project by Horus himself, who acted as patron to the XIXth Legion in the absence of their primarch, many of the XIXth were ill-disposed towards the slow and bulky Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour suits. Prior to unification with their primarch, some within the XIXth Legion did adopt their use, mainly those Terran veterans who had long served in the shadow of the Luna Wolves siege and heavy assault companies.

These warriors had trained alongside the infamous Justaerin Terminators of the Luna Wolves and mastered the tactics of close-range shock assault from both aerial transport and teleport deployment. The Legionaries of the Raven Guard and the Luna Wolves came to refer to these detachments as "Deliverers," both for the carnage they brought to their tendency to be deployed when the daring assaults favoured by the XIXth Legion floundered and threatened to fail. Horus himself was known to have honoured the Deliverers attached to the 11th Chapter ("Pale Nomads") for the ferocity of their counter-attack at the siege of Novas-praxim, including them as part of his personal entourage until the Raven Lord reclaimed command of his Legion.

In the wake of Corvus Corax's return, the Deliverers were rarely called upon by their primarch. Most were assigned to distant Great Crusade expeditionary fleets, and those that remained at Corax's side became the avatars of his carefully controlled anger, loosed only when an enemy proved itself worthy only of utter destruction.

Corax's Shame[]

RG Deliverers Terminators 2

A trio of Raven Guard Deliverers arrayed in their Cataphractii Pattern Terminator Armour and armed with a variety of heavy weapons, including a Reaper Autocannon, a Combi-bolter and Power Maul and Raven's Talons.

As an eternal reminder of the cruel and brutal past of those Terran veterans that Corax inherited when he took control of the Raven Guard, the Deliverers had long been exiled from any position of honour in their own Legion. Once, before the Raven Lord's arrival, they had walked in the vanguard of Horus himself, but now they skulked in the shadows of history -- abandoned by the primarch that the Emperor appointed as their master.

In the dark years of the Horus Heresy, when their old patron Horus raised his banners in rebellion against Terra, some of the few remaining Deliverers would see an opportunity to rise to glory in his name once more, abandoning the Raven Lord to serve the Warmaster, while others would see in the tumult a chance to prove themselves worthy of Corax's notice, even if only in death.

Notable Members[]

  • Centurion Beyar Kedron - Beyar Kedron served as a centurion within the Raven Guard Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. He was assigned to the command of the Deliverer detachment assigned to the 11th Chapter, known as the "Pale Nomads". Following the disaster during the Drop Site Massacre at Isstvan V, he was among the remaining Raven Guard forces who aided his Primarch Corvus Corax in striking back at the Traitor Legions in retribution. Kedron took part in the subsequent campaign known as the Breaking of the Perfect Fortress, a nigh-impregnable citadel on the Industrial World of Narsis that had been designed by the genius of the Emperor's Children Primarch Fulgrim himself following the Compliance of this world earlier in the Great Crusade. As the Deliverers were ill-favoured by their primarch, they had been ordered to remain aboard the scout cruiser Fane of Shadow. However, as the battle began, Centurion Kedron took notice that the Fane of Shadow's augur sensors detected a secondary array of flak batteries scattered across the fortress. These deadly servitor-controlled weapons were all slaved to a central control room located deep beneath one of the fortress' central towers. However, Kedron was unable to broadcast what he had discovered to his primarch as they had been ordered to maintain strict vox-silence. There was no other way to warn Corax about this new threat. Despite the disregard by his gene-sire, Kedron didn't hesitate to lead his company of Deliverers to the planet's surface and launched a pinpoint teleportation strike. Weathering a heavy barrage of weapons fire from the Perfect Fortress, the Centurion led his Deliverers to the tower's location in Hab-Block Delta-19. However, they met stiff resistance from a demi-company of defending Emperor's Children Traitor Legionaries. The Deliverers weathered the Traitors' initial barrage, losing only a dozen members, and pressed their assault. Kedron and the Deliverers were eager to avenge their fallen brethren and prove their worth to their primarch. They quickly pressed the assault and forced the Emperor's Children to retreat in the face of their overwhelming attack. However, the surviving Traitors raised the alarm, alerting the rest of the fortress of the intruders' presence. With time quickly running out before the flak batteries became active, Kedron split his force into smaller formations, drawing out the Traitors towards their position, while Kedron successfully led his Command Squad beneath the tower. As the rest of his forces gave their lives above them, Kedron and his detachment valiantly fought their way through the Traitors' defences, finally reaching their objective -- the tower's control room. This time, they encountered resistance in the form of the Emperor's Children's elite honour guard -- the Terminator-armoured Phoenix Guard -- who were led by Warden Daric Ashmoune. Only a dozen Deliverers remained to face the Traitors, who possessed almost twice their number. The Phoenix Guard immediately charged the Loyalists. Undaunted, Kedron ordered his warriors to make a tactical withdrawal into the tunnels leading to the control room. Once again, Centurion Kedron evenly divided his forces into pairs or trios of Terminators and had them take up hidden positions within the darkened tunnels, hoping their feint would draw the Phoenix Guard to their positions. Kedron's cunning plan achieved the desired effect, as Ashmoune's pride wouldn't allow him to hold ground. Instead of meeting his forces in honourable combat, the Raven Guard had retreated like cowards. Such a sign of disrespect couldn't go unchallenged. The Phoenix Guard soon charged the Deliverers, who utilised the darkened surroundings and the tower's fortifications against the Traitors to great effect. The Traitors were all killed in the brutal fighting that followed, with only Warden Ashmoune remaining alive. The Phoenix Guard Warden still felt he could turn the tide of the battle in his favour if he was able to kill the Deliverers' Centurion, and he repeatedly challenged Kedron to duel him one-on-one. However, Kedron had little intention of doing so, and instead ordered his surviving warriors to tear the Traitor apart in a hail of blood. After the Traitor commander's death, Kedron had the control room destroyed, rendering the flak batteries inert, which allowed the rest of the Raven Guard to defeat the Emperor's Children and sack the Perfect Fortress. Though the Raven Guard suffered few losses overall, the same couldn't be said for their Therion Cohort allies and Kedron's Deliverers, who suffered the loss of nearly two-thirds of their number to stop the flak batteries. Kedron's fallen warriors were left behind in a mausoleum within the Perfect Fortress as the Raven Guard took leave of Narsis. Despite their heroic actions and valiant sacrifice, Primarch Corax did not offer a word of praise or criticism for the Centurion's and his warriors' actions, nor were the Deliverers honoured by their Legion in any way. In the wake of the battle, Kedron and a number of the cohort's commanders began to criticise the primarch's initial battle plan, which had resulted in their forces suffering such severe losses. Eventually, word reached the Raven Lord's ears of their discontent, and in the solar months that followed the fall of the Perfect Fortress, the Deliverers were gathered into a separate battle group and ordered to seize the isolated world of Galaspar.
  • Heklan - Heklan was a Terran-born Raven Guard Deliverer who fought in the Drop Site Massacre during the opening phase of the Horus Heresy.

Unit Composition[]

  • 4-10 Deliverers

Wargear[]

Optional Wargear[]

Sources[]

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