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Shadow Wardens were an elite cadre of veteran Legionaries who served as the Honour Guard for the Primarch Corvus Corax of the Raven Guard Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy eras during the 30th and early 31st Millennia. They had served their lord since he was the leader of the slave uprising on Lycaeus. Following their Primarch's disappearance, it is not known if this elite cadre was dissolved as an active formation within the newly formed Raven Guard Chapter.
History
The origins of the Shadow Wardens can be traced back to the time of the slave uprising on the prison moon of Lycaeus. Before he was reunited with the XIXth Legion, Corax served as the leader during the slave uprising. Corax's peers insisted he was watched over by a bodyguard lest the overlords or some other rogue element attempt to assassinate him. While he resented this, Corax allowed it, as much for his followers' peace of mind as for his own safety. Having joined his Legion, the bodyguard followed, being formed into an honour guard known informally as the "Shadow Wardens." It was said that they were ever present, though often unseen when their Primarch went to war, and that none could avoid their gaze. Indeed, only one individual was ever able to do so, and that was Corax himself, giving rise to the wry saying that Corax was able to slip his own shadow should he choose to do so.
Sources
- The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination by Alan Bligh, pg. 138