Legio Corvorum Mortis

XVth Legion Armorial

XVth Legion

### Cognomen (prior)

None officially recorded, but various informal and idiomatic cognomen inconstantly used.

### Observed Strategic Tendencies

Punitive Actions, Decimation, Enforced Pacification, Terror and Shock Assaults, Search and Destroy, Pursuit Operations, Punitive and Excoriation Campaigns

### Colors

Black, Gray and Zambezi

The **Legio Corvorum Mortis** are an Imperial Marine Legion known for their dark nature and actions which are ever questioned. Some argue that they are simply a function of necessity, the monsters that were needed to drag a barbaric age back into the light. Midnight clad, and wielding fear as a weapon, the Legio Corvorum Mortis haunt the dark places of the Imperium. They do this not to hide from the light of justice, but because that is where those who would seek to harm the Emperor's subjects are to be found. Since the time of their Luminarch, Xann Vakosa, the Legio Corvorum Mortis have been guided by visions of the darkest of futures which they are driven to avert, even at the cost of their own lives. By their blood and sacrifice the Stellar Imperium of Man has been kept safe from rebellions, xenos invasions and betrayals without number.

## Origins and History

The IXth Legion were soaked in blood from their birth. Their Terran origins began on Old Earth during the Terran Wars of Unification. The Legion's first recruits came from the linked prison sinks of Ancient Terra. In vast caverns filled with the half crushed ruins of millennia there lived men and women who had transgressed against the laws of their masters. Condemned never to see the light again or breathe free air, they lived out their lives in fear and blind darkness. There was no law in these lightless lands, and survival existed only by a blade's edge. Only the strongest and the most ruthless survived in the subterranean warrens, and those who did grew in cruelty and cunning. Fed by a constant influx from the hives above, the prison sinks were an ever hungering gate to madness and murder. Amongst the bloodshed and fear, children were born. Cradled in the dark, and raised amongst death, those who lived over a decade were pale, silent creatures who moved without a sound. 'The Orphans of Nox' the prisoners called them, and even the most savage of killers would not seek them out by choice. It was from these pale children that the Emperor would make the first warriors of the IXth Legion.

The first use that the Emperor put his IXth Legion to was to bring to heel those who believed that the sins of their past couldn't live on in the era of the Stellar Imperium, for even in the face of all of the Emperor's might, some would fall back into the ways of the Long Dark. When such crimes required not simply crushing but retribution, the Emperor sent the IXth Legion. Such actions seemed well suited to the IXth Legion, for the dark was the realm of guilt, lies and monsters, and those who dwelt in the dark knew only the language of blood, the message of swift and merciless retribution for their actions.

### A Mother Raised by Darkness

The conception of the infant Luminarchs had changed each of their homeworlds forever, but few would be transformed so profoundly and changed for the better than the shade wreathed planet of Astraeus. The place the Luminarch of the IX Legion found as she was born into the vast underspires of Central Astraeus would be one of eternal, stygian darkness, choking pollution and endemic, institutionalized crime whist being beset by necromancer cults, hordes of ghastly undead, and malignant entities; descriptions which certainly can not apply to the Astraeus known by the wider Stellar Imperium.

X'azriel's embryonic form would brutally rip through the Void from distant Terra by unseen machinations, and her coming had heavily impacted the gestalt energies surrounding the world and as she was spiritually inseminated into her mortal mother within the dense cityscape of the planet's largest spire city of Central Astraeus, a void-rift would be sent smashing through countless levels of urban debris and ancient architecture, sending ripples through the planet's crust and into its geosphere before finally coming to a halt near the highly unstable liquid core of the planet.

Her conception and the descent of her coming left a deep scar in the virtually inviolable adamantine strata of Astraeus, the result of the supernaturally violent birth brought the Luminarch into a world that had known no light.

But unlike many of the other Luminarchs, the identity of X'azriel's Mortal Mother would be unknown to Imperial Historians and she would not be taken in by any family there after and was left to raise herself within the vast beast plagued underspires of Central Astraeus. She spent most of her early life surviving primarily off wits and determination, feeding herself by hunting upon the few feral and unblighted animals that roamed through the vast spire city.

She would be continually beset by visions of the darkest possible futures and swirling wraiths, these horrifyingly potent waking dreams and ghoulish entities would curse her throughout her early life. Uniquely among all the Luminarchs, X'azriel grew into an adolescent completely alone, surviving only thanks to her wits, ruthlessness, and courage as a feral child in the underhives of Central Astraeus.

Within the revered, handwritten accounts of her youth, the Luminarch tells of how she grew up on the unlit streets of Central Astraeus, hiding from everyone, even the gangs of abandoned children which roamed the spire slums. She watched the press of humanity around her, content simply to study them, until she witnessed a family being menaced by a gang of thugs. The sight of the criminals attempting to steal the baby from its parents offended something deep inside her, and in an instant she was upon them with the only weapons she had – her nails and teeth. By the time her enemies had breathed their last, the terrified family had already fled from their blood-soaked protector. From that point on, no longer was she able to look on, as injustice was perpetrated. She made it her business to put an end to such things. Those who witnessed her attacks told of a soulless creature of nightmare which stalked the shadows and wore the darkness like a cloak. For the first time in her life she also had a name: to her prey she was the Moritan.

As she grew to maturity, she came to realize that the criminals She had been punishing had been given their orders by more powerful individuals. And over the course of a long, bloody year, the Moritan waged war upon the corruption which had spread its tendrils right to the top of society. From the heads of the organised crime syndicates to the law enforcement officials who had spat upon their oaths for personal gain, none were safe from Her punishment; their broken bodies left for all to see as warnings to those who broke the Moritan's law. Fearing for their lives, the criminals searched in vain for their tormentor. Unimaginable sums were offered for Her head, or even for information, but to no avail. She had no-one, so could not be betrayed, and Astraeus contained more than enough shadows in which to hide.

### The Coming of the Dawn

The war was bloody, but one-sided, and eventually the criminal population was cowed into complete submission. From the alleyways of the undercity to the corridors of power, no-one dared to break the law lest they be the next to suffer the Moritan's retribution. By the time Imperial Expeditions reached Astraeus, drawn initially by tales of its bountiful supplies of adamantine, they found the world orderly, productive and ruled over by a being of preternatural abilities. Lucifer Morningstar of the Sons of The Morning Paladins ventured down to investigate further, and soon confirmed that another of the Emperor’s long-lost Luminarch children had indeed been found.

In the time it took for the Emperor to reach Astraeus, Lucifer bonded with his sister, and spoke in glowing terms of their father's great quest to unite the scattered worlds of mankind under Imperial Law. With her interest in justice, this aspect held considerable appeal to the Moritan. In return, Lucifer was fascinated to learn that his sister was gifted by brief flashes of precognitive ability, and her ability to commune with things unseen, although she had so far been unable to use this fore-knowledge in any meaningful way.

The eventual arrival of the Emperor was a time of hushed expectation and awe. So accustomed to the darkness were the people of Astraeus that when the Emperor first stepped from his landing craft, like with the initial coming of Lucifer many would be dazzled by the golden light reflected from His burnished power armor. However, it was nothing to what occurred next. As the Moritan approached her father in humble supplication, the Emperor opened his arms wide in welcome, and the entire sky lit up as it had not done in living memory. In honor of the new dawn which the Imperium had brought to Astraeus, the Emperor had ordered the orbit of Astraeus' moon to be fractionally altered, so that the lunar body would no longer hold the world in a permanent eclipse.

Even though the light from Astraeus' dying star was wan and pale, for some it was the last thing they would ever see. Even the Moritan was struck down, shaking uncontrollably but not at the pale light of the solar body, but wracked by one of her prophetic visions. With great tenderness the Emperor laid hands upon His daughter's head, and calmed the seizure, saying,

> "*X'azriel my Noctis born, please, be at peace my child. I have arrived, and I intend to take you home.*"
>
>

The reply, controlled and level, was recorded for the galaxy to hear:

> "*That is not my name, Father. I am the Moritan, your Moritan... and I have seen the glory of the Imperium that we will create.*"
>
>

### The Great Crusade

"*Look unto my father's Empire and its Imperial Might. Do not unroll a parchment map or analyse a hololithic starchart. Merely raise your head to the night sky and open your eyes. Stare into the blackness hidden between worlds – that dark ocean, that silent and creeping sea. Stare into the million eyes of firelight – each an ancient sun to be subjugated into the Emperor's grip. This age... this hated age of the alien, this plagued era of the inhuman, is over. Mankind is in its time of ascendancy, and with ten thousand talons we will lay claim to the stars themselves.*"
— Luminarch Xann Vakosa addressing the IXth Legion during the Great Crusade
The newly renamed Legio Corvorum Mortis newly reunited and now led by their Mother, fought their first campaigns of the Great Crusade alongside the Sons of The Morning. This partnership gave Lucifer ample opportunity to examine his sister's fascinating talents, which it seemed was derived from sources far removed from his own methods of psionic mastery. Better than many, Lucifer knew that the future was not set in stone, and that the visions could as easily be taken as warnings. Yet despite all attempts to use the information gleaned from these prophesies, the fates always seemed to conspire against him. Shorn of context of what they referred to, the jumble of images only seemed to make sense after the event, by which time it was far too late.

Though she had long resisted it, X'azriel had finally agreed to allow her brother access to the memories of her latest vision. Lucifer with the aid of his Librarium was more successful than they could have hoped, reassembling the headlong rush of knowledge into a coherent form. Forewarned, they were able to prevent the ambush and destruction of many of the orbiting Imperial Army vessels, and the planet fell into compliance soon afterwards. In the wake of this victory, the Moritan confessed to her brother the dark truth that had haunted her since he had first met the Emperor on Astraeus; that her prophesy had not, as he had publicly stated, been of the inevitable rise of the Stellar Imperium. Instead it had shown her own execution, and that the deed had been carried out on the orders of their own father. The proof that the visions were not inevitable and could be averted had freed her to at long last confide this knowledge to another. With the burden lifted from her shoulders, she was at last able to accept and welcome these visions, and rapidly became skilled at their interpretation. She was also free to set aside her past and reclaimed the name her father had bestowed upon her – that of Xann Vakosa.

The Legio Corvorum Mortis’ apprenticeship was finally at an end, and as the Sons of The Morning left, reinforcements arrived in the form of the first Angelus recruited from Astraeus. What should have been a moment of great pride proved to be singularly ill-starred. As X'azriel greeted these new battle-brothers, she was struck by the vision of his legion corrupted from within and populated by criminals, beasts, and moral degenerates – individuals who carried out wanton acts of brutality for no better reason than for the sick thrill of it. And where the Moritan might have resignedly embraced this as the inevitable reason for his execution, X'azriel X'azriel would not. Instead, he ordered the new Angelus placed under confinement, and returned to his homeworld with all haste.

He had thought Astraeus left in capable hands. Instead, X'azriel found that in his absence the criminals had risen up once more and turned the planet into a cesspool of lawlessness. The Adeptus Arbites and the Administratum had been unable to deal with the situation, so it fell to X'azriel and his Legio Corvorum Mortis to re-impose order through the fear of brutal, inevitable retribution. Within a week, crime had dropped back to nothing, and when the legion eventually returned to the Great Crusade, it was an unbending cadre of Legio Corvorum Mortis who held stewardship of the planet rather than the hopelessly outclassed Adeptus Arbites.

The Legio Corvorum Mortis found themselves changed by the experience of Astraeus, and with the lessons of the campaign weighting heavily upon them, they saw the Imperium with fresh eyes. The Great Crusade had become a victim of its own success. With so many worlds conquered so fast, many took advantage of their distance from the front lines to rise up against the Imperium. Long before the Iron Warriors were persuaded to bleed away their strength in garrison duties to address this, the Legio Corvorum Mortis took it upon themselves to re-impose the rule of Imperial Law on the faltering galaxy.

This was a far more uncompromising, brutal legion than the one which had accompanied the Sons of The Morning. It descended on planets only nominally still part of the Imperium, and enshrouded them in a cloak of fear. Planetary leaders were given the ultimatum to submit wholeheartedly to the Pax Imperialis, and any who resisted became bloody public exhibitions to the folly of resistance. They did this not out of sadistic pleasure, but from the knowledge that humanity needed to be subjected to the fear of certain retribution to keep it from straying into corruption. Just as a plant grows twisted if the cane that supports and guides it is removed too soon, the same applied to the Imperium of Mankind.

The Legio Corvorum Mortis took it upon themselves to do the terrible things required to keep the Imperium from slipping into anarchy and rebellion, and to protect humanity from its own darkest impulses. X'azriel’s prophetic visions were vital in crushing rebellions before they could gain ground, and the belief was encouraged that they could see the evil that lurked in the hearts of men. They did all of this willingly, knowing that the price was to be hated, and obviously feared, by the very people they were protecting.

## Legion Organisation and Structure

The inheritance of Astraeus coiled throughout the structured heart of the Legio Corvorum Mortis. Outwardly they followed a pattern close to many other Imperial Marine Legions during the Great Crusade, but behind this basic skeleton lay the courts of Astraeus, the gang traditions and the aesthetics of terror that infuses every aspect of the IX Legion. At the squad level, the Legio Corvorum Mortis fielded a broad range of units, though taken as a whole the number of fully configured Breacher Siege Squads were proportionally rarer than in other Legions. The Legio Corvorum Mortis also had a number of unique units: their infamous Reaper Squads, whose sole purpose was to create and embody a state of horror in their enemies, and the Death Wraith Squads, who would soar above their enemies trailing the bloody remains of their kills while shrieking from modified vox casters. Almost all squads within the IX Legion had a name that they use in place of the simple designation. So it is that squads within a company might be referred to as "Claws", "Talons", "Fangs" or any number of other epithets often coupled with an indication of hierarchy or honorific: the Stygian Talon, the 10th Claw, the 5th Oathed, to name but a few amongst hundreds.

The company was the basic strategic deployment unit within the Legio Corvorum Mortis Legion and each squad belonged to a company which might number anywhere between 100 and 1,000 warriors. Most companies had a title in addition to their numeric designation. The 27th Company were (their names in translation from the Astraean Dialect) "The Shattered Skull", the 104th Company "The Sabled Sisters", the 71st Company "The Umbral Sabbath" and so on. Unlike many others, the Legio Corvorum used battalions and Chapters as semi-permanent groupings of companies, rather than a universal structure favoring their own divisions. This seemingly byzantine complexity masked a surprisingly efficient and flexible approach to warfare which allowed the IX Legion to operate with a high degree of fluidity and to be readily fractured into autonomous units or combined into ad hoc formations as their mistress dictated.

A notable example of one of these unique formations is the "Brooding Crimson". This formation was formed from the remnants of the IX Legion's 9th Company midway through the Terran Unification Wars, as their formation had suffered near total destruction during the pacification of the wasteland domain of Oxitania. The Emperor, in His beneficence, offered the King of Oxitania the rank of Rogue Trader in remission of his execution. The " Brooding Crimson" would retain a degree of the IX Legion's early heraldry before the return of Xann Vakosa and fought as a coherent unit, serving alongside the Rogue Trader Gotha before returning to the IX Legion's fold. The later status and whereabouts of the Brooding Crimson is unknown, and it is possible they were slain during the many battles of the Great Crusade.

### Legion Command Hierarchy

Xann Vakosa is the Umbral Matriarch of her Legion, a figure of fear for her sons and daughters as much as an object of loyalty. Her sons are fiercely loyal to their gene-sire. X'azriel appeared not to care for sycophants or displays of flattery and decorum, so as long as when she commanded, all obeyed.

During the Great Crusade, around her the Umbral Matriarch maintained a court of her most elite genetic *offspring*. The members of this group, the Querotera, were drawn from senior officers across the IX Legion and transcended rank. All had a quality that X'azriel found valuable, especially those who possessed a strong sense of justice and a drive to enact retribution.

Membership in the Kryoptera gave no absolute rank, but the fact remains that they are still the ruling elite of the Legio Corvorum Mortis, and so few others will openly disobey a command from one of them. Alongside these serves the Atramaentar - a company-strength formation equipped with Terminator Armor and armed with the finest weapons. They were personally commanded by the First Captain of the Legio Corvorum Mortis and are enforcers of order. Renowned for their cold brutality in battle and their unswerving loyalty to their commander and their Luminarch, and though this cannot truly be confirmed, it is widely thought that they served as X'azriel's executioners when the need arose.

Beneath the Querotera are the many Captains of the companies. The few of these that had been graced with leading several companies under the banner of a battalion or Chapter went by a variety of inconsistent ranks including Commander, Master and Regent, amongst others. While these exalted leaders had clear command over the units placed under them, their authority in the IX Legion as a whole seems to have been more malleable. A Regent might have a handful of Captains under his command, but be subject to the commands of a different Captain if that Captain were of the Kryoptera, or exalted in some other way. Just as squads and companies bore names to set them apart from each other, so too did the commanders of the Legion adorn their names with secondary monikers and titles. Many of these titles had echoes in the cursed nobility and gangs of Astraeus: "Talonmaster", the" Bloodless" or the "Sightless Revenant". A few were no doubt calculated insults that either stuck or were adopted by their bearers out of perversity.

### Legion Strength

Apparently fighting their own wars with little or no regard or contact with the rest of the Great Crusade's chain of command, it had been some time since an accurate survey of the Legio Corvorum Mortis' strength had been made. Estimates of the strength of the Legion therefore varied wildly. Some put their numbers before the Luminous Rubricon at a little under one million Angelus Legionaries, others at over. The status of the Legions number is even less so, often being speculated as roughly a quarter of their previous number.

The Legion was known to have been recruiting from subjugated worlds throughout the latter part of the Great Crusade, in some cases stealing away the youth of entire star systems as the base from which to winnow suitable Aspirants. The use of rapid psycho-conditioning and accelerated inheritance-helix implantation was also known to be widely practiced by the Legio Corvorum Mortis, further supporting suggestions that their numbers were at least on par with many of the more numerous Imperial Marine Legions. Currently, their numbers stand at around 30,000 Legionaries, though others place them as high as 130,000. But due to being deployed across the width and breadth of the Imperium, the results of any accurate consensus undertaken by the Administratum are dubious at best.

### Specialist Ranks & Formations

* **Querotera** - The Querotera were the Moritan's most trusted advisors and confidants within the Legio Corvorum Mortis Legion. In the modern era, they continue to serve the Legion Master of the Legio Corvorum Mortis. Consisting of seven chosen Captains of the Legion, the Querotera exists outside the rest of the IX Legion's regular command structure. Together the Querotera functions as the soul of the Legio Corvorum Mortis, supporting their Legion Master and steering the Legion's temperament and decisions.
* **Ara'mentarii** - The Ara'mentarii are the elite Terminator-armoured unit of Battle-Brothers from the IX Legion's formidable 1st Company led by their Legion's First Captain. This elite cadre's numbers are chosen from amongst the standard ranks of the Legio Corvorum Mortis Legion from Legionaries who have been singled out and personally selected by the Legion Master for their ferocity, dedication and drive to enact justice. Each member is known by name and reputation within and without the Legio Corvorum Mortis Legion.
* **Reaper Squad** - Reaper Squads are specialist squads of Imperial Marines utilised exclusively by the Legio Corvorum Mortis since the Great Crusade and the Dornian Heresy eras. When the Legion desires to unleash maximum punishment and retribution against the enemy in the most visceral and personal way possible, the Reaper Squads of the IX Legion are unleashed. Head hunters and torturers, flayers and mutilators; within their ranks are found both the most coldly dispassionate and darkly imaginative of the Legio Corvorum Mortis brethren, and where once the terrifying arts of murder and mayhem they perpetrated were a coldly calculated means to an end. The Reaper Squads have become a rare fraternity for the most driven and loyal sons of the Legio Corvorum Mortis.
* **Death Wraiths** - Death Wraith squads are a caste apart from the Legio Corvorum Legion -- a martial elite of deadly warriors wedded together by similar methods and chosen styles of warfare. The Death Wraiths are equipped with jump and wing packs and an array of close combat weapons, all of which they utilize to bring unfettered savagery down upon the heads of their foes in a single, overwhelming onslaught.

### Vehicles

The Legio Corvorum Mortis have access to the full range of war machines utilized by the Emperor's armies, and even though the IX Legion favors terror tactics and infiltration over set piece battles, it still makes use of such mighty vehicles. Because each of the Legion's companies tend to operate independently, most of the Legio Corvorum Mortis' vehicles are held at the company level, squadrons operating in direct support of the company's squads. A small number of companies within the Legion choose to operate exclusively as armored formations, often acting on the direct orders of the Legion Master or the IX Legion's command cadre when several companies are fielded together as a battalion or Chapter and more substantial armored support is required.

The Bale Maw Armored Claw is one such company-sized armored unit whose reputation had spread beyond its Legion. The formation's masters had perfected a form of armored combat which mirrored that of the utilized by the Vth Legion as a whole. Striking when possible from the darkness of dusk or dawn, the Bale Maw assaulted the enemy where they were weakest, rampaging through rear zones in order to sever lines of communication, and resupply and isolate individual concentrations of enemy troops. Having done so, the Bale Maw destroyed its targets at its leisure according to the proclivities of individual squadrons or vehicle commanders. The Bale Maw are often noted to favor using prow-mounted dozer blades to bury enemy troops in their own trenches, while other gain unholy satisfaction from overrunning helpless defenders and grinding their bodies beneath the tracks of their armored vehicles. Needless to say, few defenses stand long against such brutal assaults.

### Legion Armoury

The Legio Mortis utilize a wide range of assets, finding that even the most standardized of weapons and armor can be adapted and utilized into their favored manner of warfare. Armored troop transports of all classes are used by the IX Legion to smash deep into the heart of the enemy's positions, with flanks clad in grotesque trophies to sow horror and dread in all who look upon them. Aircraft are used to deliver death from the night sky, descending without warning to strike the enemy where he least expects it and ensuring that no foe can afford even a moment's rest or respite. They also make more use of automated systems such as the Tarantula than many other Legions, preferring to assign mundane duties as static defense to such robotic weapons, as well as employing them as part of their offensive strategies cunningly concealed and programmed to funnel enemy refugees into killing grounds pre-registered by the Legion's artillery masters.

## Legion Home World

In the centuries before the coming of the Imperium, Astraeus had been mined intensively for the adamantine riches which lay beneath its surface, and the industrial processes needed to refine the metal for export had reduced the atmosphere to a noxious fume. It did not require the power of prophesy to foresee that, if left unchecked, the Imperium’s insatiable greed would rapidly mine the planet hollow and render the air completely unbreatheable. For this reason, on taking Astraeus as their homeworld the Legio Corvorum Mortis upon the allowance of X'azriel enforced stringent quotas on mining, and have remained unbending even in the face of intense pressure to increase production.

Despite the arrival of the Emperor bringing daylight to Astraeus, the population had proved unwilling to embrace this new dawn. For a people genetically adapted to the darkness, even the weak sunlight which reaches them can be blinding, and under the protection of the Legio Corvorum Mortis there is little to fear from the shadows. Because of this, Astraean society conducts its business wherever possible during the night, with the population careful to return to their shuttered homes before the first scorching rays of sun return at dawn. The only souls to be found out during the day are those not indigenous to the planet, or those forced by circumstance to brave the daylight behind goggles of smoked glass and layers of protective clothing.

Over the millennia the seven cities of Astraeus have steadily expanded, although Central Astraeus, the place where the infant Luminarch first rose from the depths of the Under Spire and the site of the legion's fortress-monastery; the Moritan Manor, retains primacy. It is said by off-worlders that despite their large populations the cities of Astraeus while almost constantly bustling in the night hours are unnervingly quiet and well-ordered when compared to spires of similar sizes. The streets are clean and free of litter, and even the air is sweet – at least in comparison to the levels of pollution pumped into the atmosphere before the arrival of the Emperor.

### Themous

The moon of Themous holds a great fascination for the people of Astraeus. During the hours of darkness its presence is cursed, as the moonlight it reflects is said to spoil the purity of the night. To an Astraean it only becomes 'true night' once the moon slips below the horizon. Conversely, during the day the total eclipses it brings are seen as greatly favored, as they blot out not only the sun, but also a great many of the stars in the sky.

As befits such an influential celestial body, Themous makes an appearance among the Lesser Arconoi; a Astraean variant of the Emperor's Tarot. Because of the duality of its nature, it is said to carry a multitude of different interpretations depending upon its position, orientation and interaction with the other cards in the draw.

## Legion Recruitment

While many of the Emperor's legions draw their recruits from across the Imperium, the Legio Corvorum Mortis take aspirants almost exclusively from their homeworld. They do this not from dogmatism, but from long experience that, not just physiologically, but also psychologically, the Astraean population yields the most promising and compatible aspirants. However, there was a time when this was not thought to be the case.

During the Great Crusade, X'azriel had to return to Astraeus to reverse the world’s descent into anarchy and corruption. To prevent her legion from becoming tainted with moral degenerates and psychopaths she turned her Legio Mortis loose upon the criminal elements in an echo of her first great purge of Astraean society. So effective was this that some grew concerned that the population had become cowed into such a submissive state that they would be all-but useless as Angelus. Needless to say, they should not have doubted their Luminarch. Just as the Astraean people had adapted to the dark by losing their irises, they also adapted to a society where crime was so swiftly, brutally and publically punished by embracing X'azriel’s concept of natural justice not just as the norm, but as their moral duty.

Rather than passively avert their eyes from criminal acts, secure in the knowledge that their Corvorum Mortis guardians would soon deal very publicly with the miscreant, Astraeans gained the confidence to stand against wrongdoers themselves. While at first this may have been done out of fear, that inaction might have been seen as complicity, it has long since been because seeing such acts genuinely offends their ingrained sense of justice. While the Legio Mortis continue to watch over Astraeus and its people, what little crime that might occur is frequently dealt with by ordinary citizens. The Corvorum Mortis continue to watch silently from the shadows, but their role is now as much to identify those who might possess the moral fiber to become potential aspirants as it is to guard the streets from crime.

To those truly without sin, the world of Astraeus is the safest in the Stellar Imperium.

## Legion Combat Doctrine

"*It has been said by tacticians throughout mankinds many ages that no plan survives contact with the enemy. I do not waste my time countering the plans of my foes, brother. I have never cared what my enemies intend to do, for they will never be allowed to do it. Stir within their hearts the gift of our Fathers terror, and all their plans are ruined in the desperate struggle merely to survive.*"
— Xann Vakosa explaining her personal insights to her brother Arakiel Orogian, Luminarch of the Storm Raptors.
To the Legio Corvorum Mortis, fear is a weapon as deadly as the Arc Rifle or the chainsword. For this reason they openly proclaim their presence through haunting whispers in the vox channels even before the first flayed headless enemy corpse is left for all to see. This throws their opponents into disarray, often withdrawing back to the perceived safety of their bases, although by this time the Legio Mortis have long-since infiltrated the area.

They strike seemingly from nowhere, favoring hit-and-run attacks to frontal assaults, before melting back into the darkness. Nowhere is safe from the Legio Corvorum's wrath, and this continues until even the dullest of imaginations comes to see them in every shadow and dark corner. In this way a small number of the Mortis can seemingly be everywhere, and can paralyze an entire army, or even a whole world with fear. Only when a base or settlement is psychologically isolated, with nothing to listen to on the vox but the chilling promise of retribution and the looped screams of their missing squad mates, do the Corvorum guide their blades to mass for the final attack. With their helms decorated like skulls, they appear as death incarnate, come to claim those who have transgressed the Emperor’s laws.

Even in cases where the enemy is said to have no fear, the Legio Corvorum Mortis finely honed talents have still proven to be effective. Be they the synapse-creatures of the Phthisian Hive-mind or the machine minds of the Necrotair Hordes, by targeting their leaders, the followers are soon left either milling around in confusion, or are soon ordered to adopt a far more static, defensive stance. Though some may call it a simple logical or evolutionary response to the very presence of the Corvorum Mortis, this rapid drawing in of forces and settling into a state of heightened awareness holds many similarities to that of fear.

## Legion Beliefs

"*These mortals, their imaginations are strong you know. You kill a thousand men, and they will hate you. Kill a million men, and they will queue to face you. But kill a single man, and they will see monsters and devils in every shadow. Kill a dozen men and they will scream and wail in the night, and they will feel fear, not hatred. This is the way of obedience my children. They are panicky, gossiping beasts, these mortals. It serves us well to allow them to be so.*"
— Attributed to Xann Vakosa, Luminarch of the IX Legion during the Great Crusade
Imperial Marine Legions often changed after the rediscovery of their Luminarch and their surrogate homeworld. In the case of the IX Legion, Astraeus and X'azriel infused them, but at first they seemed the least changed of all of the Legions upon the return of their gene-sire. There were changes of course, but many of these were relatively small. Astraean became the language of the IX Legion, its curling runes and sibilant words spreading as Astraean recruits began to include a dark and cruel sense of humour, and a snide fatalism. New traditions, twisted reflections of Astraean gang-rites and the customs of the ancient hunters, were adopted within the Legion, such as marking condemned Legionaries' gauntlets red to show that a death sentence hung over them.

The honorific titles sported by many of the IX Legion's officers started to take on the form of those of the Astraean noble courts. These changes, though noticeable, did not touch the heart of the IX Legion's nature, for if anything, X'azriel's return saw the Legion's righteous drive to punish intensify tenfold. Their ways and methods of war changed not at all, and the integration of Terran and Astraean warriors was amongst the swiftest of any Legion. The old Legion and the new fitted together like two sides of a coin; both raised from darkness to create order and strife, both made of flesh born in shunned and lightless places.

Callous and brutal though they were, the Legio Corvorum Mortis were not without pride, and the trappings and titles of aristocracy and dominion formed a key part of their identity, and rivalry, often violent, was endemic among the Angelus of the IX Legion. The gang traditions of their lightless homeworld were carried over to every aspect of their Legion. There were few amongst their ranks who did not bear some form of title, and the craftsmanship with which they embellished their weapons and armor was remarkable, if grotesque.

Furthermore, far more so than even the most barbarous members of the Warhounds of Anatelikós or the Frostwind Hounds Legions, they habitually adorned their armor and vehicles with the brutalized and mutilated remains of those who had resisted them, and made an art of flaying and presenting the dead in order to sow fear in their foes. There was method in this madness, at least at first; such grisly displays were a clear signal saying,

> "*This fate is yours to share.*"
>
>

### Hunting culture

IX Legion culture revolves both around the Imperiums laws and the Hunt. During the Great Crusade they would begin to hunt their enemies, not to eliminate threats, but for the honor, sport and the thrill of the hunt of criminals. The Mortis began to mark themselves with the blood of their kills. These Astraean symbol varied with each squad.

## Legion Inheritance-Helix

The gene-line of the IXth Legion has proved to be stable and resistant to mutation, with all Morphogenic Engine organ growth functioning with commendable efficiency. Of particular note is the startlingly acute night-vision displayed by the Legion, which is believed to be due to a particularly fortuitous interaction between their Occulobe and the black, iris-less eyes of the Astraean population.

While this gift has helped to shape the tactics used by every Corvorum Legionnaire, there is another, far more extraordinary inheritance passed down from X'azriel to but a select few of her children – the power of prophesy. Such are the stresses that these visions place upon both body and soul that their bearers can be readily identified by their haunted, even haggard appearance. Because of the huge role that these warnings play in the psyche and effectiveness of the legion a staggering amount of research has gone into understanding how to increase the number of individuals able to harness this invaluable talent. Over the centuries innumerable approaches have been championed, and yet in truth the proportion of individuals with this talent has barely kept pace with the expansion of the legion.

## Legion Fleet

The Legio Corvorum Mortis are known to have possessed the following vessels within their Legion fleet:

* ***The Moritans Pride* (*Throne*-class Battleship)** - Flagship of the Legio Corvorum Mortis Legion.
* ***Hunter's Premonition* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Praxis Mundi* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Astraeus' Hunger* (Battle Barge)** - Battle Barge assigned to the 1st Company of the Legio Corvorum Mortis Legion.
* ***Terrorclaw* (Battle Barge)**
* ***Eternal Dread* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Avenging Dark* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Covenant of Blood* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Dusk's Daughter* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Echo of Damnation* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Excoriator* (Strike Cruiser)** - Strike Cruiser and sister ship to the *Covenant of Blood*
* ***Nycton* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Obfuscate* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Quintus* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***The Throneless King* (Strike Cruiser)**
* ***Tenebraxis* (Cruiser, Unknown Class)**
* ***Warlock* (Cruiser, Unknown Class)**
* ***Faithless Song* (*Endeavor*-class Light Cruiser)**
* ***Serpent of the Black Sea* (Capital Ship, Unknown Class)**

## Legion Appearance

### Legion Colors

The Legio Corvorum Mortis' primarily wear midnight black colored power armor. Their battle-plate is not only commonly adorned in reverent images of their Legion, but they are also covered in symbols of death and prizes won from past campaigns and their Black Hunts, such as scrimshawed bones, trophy racks, spikes, spiked armor, and numerous skulls of all sizes. These death fetishes and adornments to their armor are primarily designed to evoke both fear and revulsion from their enemies, but the grisly trophies in fact are revered totems of a warrior's honored past.

Their battle-plate also possesses a peculiar form of imagery that occurs on each and every Legio Corvorum Mortis Legionary's armor. The Legio Corvorum Mortis' midnight black armor is alive with an array of painted skeletal and macabre imagery that serves a the background as a mysterious network of arcing lightning bolts play constantly across their armor when in combat. This is made possible through the use of arco projectors strategically placed on a Legionary's battle-plate, which replicates the lightning motif that terrorizes their foes in the inky blackness of the night.

### Legion Badge

The Legio Corvorum Mortis' Legion badge is a grasping blood soaked talon reaching for an ivory feather, centered on a field of midnight black.