Liberators of Night

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### **Battle cry**

"Yield to None!" "Always Faithful" a call-and-response used before battle to stole their spirits.

### Successor Chapter(s)

None Known

*"Let us be Justice in the darkness...let us be like the stars in the sky...let our Vengeance be quick, and our deaths glorious."*

- Chapter Master Vano Sedeptus

The **Liberators of Night**, officially known as '***Liberatores Noctis***', is a Loyalist Space Marines Chapter and a 4th Founding successor of the Raven Guard. They were created from the accelerated gene-seeds created by Corvus Corax in his act of desperation. Approved and collected by the High Lords of Terra after much debate, they were approved during the 4th Founding to counteract the ever-growing threat of Orks in the Coptis Sector. It was shrouded in mystery until recent conflict placed them alongside other Raven Guard Chapters. These conflicts include the numerous Black Crusades, the Third Tyrannic War, and others.

Despite the numerous campaigns and wars they have fought in, the Liberators of Night are still secretive, choosing to fight in their neighboring systems above all else. Many will choose to give their accolades to their Raven Guard brethren, celebrating in silence. Their ritualized and fierce nature has kept them strong, despite the circumstances that befall them. Like many other brother Chapters, they have faced extinction multiple times, but have managed to keep hold, facing the Xenos and Chaos that ravage their system.

Influenced by the native culture, the Liberators of Night, have become brutal and swift, known throughout their homeworld and system, as Fallen Angels, hunters of the unknown.

Their skill and tenacity are shown in their style of war: Swift Bike Squads that rain heavenly fire, in quick hit-and-run maneuvers. Foot soldiers, brutally surrounding and crushing their enemies. Always close enough to strike, but distant enough to be untouched. Surrounding their enemies they close in, their scout culling any strays. Willing to use both ranged and close combat, they fight in any way necessary, for they know the truth: War is never clean.

The Liberators of Night prize independent thought and speed, viewing the *Codex Astartes* as a highly effective set of guidelines rather than absolute doctrine like many other Chapters. The Liberators willingly employ whatever tactics they believe most appropriate, relying upon success to establish their Chapter' rather than misguided notions of honour and dogmatic thought.

Any enemy they face has two choices: die or live in fear of the shadows.

## Chapter History

### Horus Heresy

The history of this enigmatic and fierce chapter traces back to the age of the Heresy itself. Known as the Shadow Keepers, theses Astartes were a specially chosen regiment, charged with the role of safeguarding the Vaults of Deliverance, while the rest of their Legion served under Corax. Chosen from the most-gifted stealth masters of each company, their existence was only know by the Primarch himself, who had started to suspect the darkness he had seen in his brothers. Not wanting to act, in shame of his doubt, he assigned them as his Secret-Keepers.

Wary of the future, he ordered their movement to the world of Aeriava, a hidden world claimed in the earlier days of the Crusade. There they built the underground foundation of what would be the *Iron Talon*. Staying there, they kept the relics of the Raven Guard secure, keeping tight to the dark secrets that Corax kept. But, because of the nature of their mission they kept no contact with their Legion, waiting for a return and victory that would never come. Holed away, they would wait as their Legion was massacred on Istvaan V.

Upon the Primarch's flight, all of the Legions was called to his side, including the Secret-Keepers. Upon there return they were horrified to see what had become of the Legion, and struck with the fact, that while they had waited and hid on Aeriava, their brother had been brutally massacred, and they had done nothing to help. . . .

## Chapter Homeworld

Aeriava is the Imperial Death World in the Segmentum Tempestus that is the homeworld and recruiting ground of the Liberators of Night. Aeriava is also the location of their fortress-monastery, called the *Iron Talon*. Formerly a bastion of the Raven Guard during the Horus Heresy, it was turn into a fully fledged fortress-monastery during the 4th Founding.

Aeriava is situated in the galactic southeast of the Segmentum Tempestus, near the Veiled Region of which Ork warbands and rogue traitors will come to ravage the sector. The Liberators of Night maintain the fragile peace and stability of the Coptis Sector, walking between worlds to face Chaos as it forms. Out of all the worlds Aeriava is the fortress, their cold light of justice. This bitterly cold Death World, listed by the Imperium as one of the deadliest worlds in the Segmentum Tempestus, on the scale of Catachan. Its surface is mostly covered by water and its land masses are no more than islands scattered sparsely upon the ever-churning sea. The largest sizable continent, lies at the world's equatorial region. Aeriava follows a circular orbit around its pale K-class sun that takes approximately 3 Terran standard years to complete.

For much of each long year the world is remote from even this feeble star and its surface remains deeply frigid. The oceans freeze over as Aeriava draws away from its sun and at its farthest point even the equatorial seas are covered with ice, making the planet appear to be a frozen snowball from orbit. The volcanic activity of the bleak mountains that punctuate the waters are stilled so that at the height of the winter a man can walk between the many isles upon which the Aeriavans dwell. During the long 6-month winters, the ice grows, freezing the oceans over, and sending most plant life into hibernation. As the winter peaks, the gargantuan dwellers of the seas, and hunters of the jungles emerge in their migrations, churning the seas, and hunting any who dare get near the waters.

During this time, a great blizzard, known as the Freeze, sweeps the world, sending it into permafrost. Only the thickest of jungles can survive, and the shores flood, making passage impossible. Islands created in the upheavals of preceding years are cast into turmoil by this global transformation. Some endure, but many are broken apart or swallowed by the seas, engulfed in the churning waters and casting their unlucky inhabitants into the deeps. This extreme geography has resulted in the human population of Aeriava becoming one composed largely of primitive, nomadic barbarian tribes. The tribes constantly seek secure territory, and as a result skirmishes and feuds over land between rival tribes are common. The people are hardened to the changes in temperature and environmental extremes, and so is the fauna.

Of the resources available on Aeriava the most valuable is the land itself. No man knows how much the land will change with the turning of the world. Sometimes old islands survive the changing seasons and good fortune may preserve a tribe's territory intact for many years, but it is more likely that the archipelagos will be broken and destroyed, submerged beneath the oceans by the vast upheavals of Aeriava's crust. When this happens there will be vicious wars between the tribes and only those who succeed in finding new land and establishing themselves on it will survive. Once the time of chaos and storm has passed, the tribes must settle the newly formed lands quickly, for soon their supplies will run out. If they can find no new land they must resume their wars for the territories of other tribes. So it is that the life of a Aeriavan is one of constant seaborne migration and warfare.

### Fortress-Monastery

Native Aeriavans are used to the pattern of destruction that engulfs their planet every winter and have learned to love the endless mutability of their lands with a fierce warrior pride. Only on the central island-continent are the human populations of Aeriava protected from the extreme climate. Yet this land is remote, surrounded by towering cliffs that rise hundreds of feet into the air above the seas and separate it from the oceans. Its fabled land mass provides no refuge for those that live beyond its rocky confines. To a Aeriavan tribesman, it is truly the land of the gods.

The fortress-monastery, known across the Imperium as the *Iron Talon*, is a massive underground fortress built into the cliffs of Aeriava. These icy cliffs is known by many names, including The Gates of Hades, and *Acropola nidi*, the Azure Acropolis. The Talon is the home base of the Liberators of Night and extends into the surrounding mountain range, drawing energy from the geothermic source of the planet's molten core. The complex includes huge ground-based anti-ship orbital defence laser weapons concealed as nearby peaks, docks carved into the cliff-face for the Liberators' Battle Barge and Strike Cruisers, numerous shrines to the Emperor along the lower slopes, and massive fusion and geothermal reactors deep underground.

### Notable Chapter Holdings

#### The Vaults of Corax

The most sacred site of the Liberators of Night, the Vaults of Corax, located deep on the 2nd Moon of Aeriava: Novae, was built to store the treasures of the Raven Guard. Made to continue the original purpose of the *Iron Talon,* the Vaults stand as a testament to the Chapter's resilience. Even though many of the relics were given back to the Raven Guard on Deliverance, Post-Heresy, many of the more obscure and fragile relics stayed with the Liberators. Relics such as suits of warriors who names have been forgotten, remembered by their scarred suits that stand still, and their corvia. Other include prototype weapons made by Corvus, deemed too heretical and dangerous to see the light of day. The most valuable is a volatile Ghostweave Cloak called the *'**Nightshade'*** that radiates an aura of darkness, it makes the wearer an nearby allies completely invisible, but because of its volatility and psychic power, it's spirit consumes the wearer, rendering them brain-dead, as it feeds on their psychic energy.

These artefacts are carefully cared for by Epistolary Librarians, who are specially chosen by the Chief Librarian to be ***Vault-Keepers***. These Vault-Keepers are sworn to secrecy of what they do, and no knowledge is allowed to be taken from the vaults. Ruled by a strict code, they regularly monitor and tend to the machine-spirits of the artefacts, while studying them, and keeping them in condition.

## Chapter Recruitment

The recruitment process of the Liberators, is a long and convoluted process, safer than most trials. Choosing from their homeworld of Aeriava, they have the curious practice of training the on it's moon of Novae. On this moon, aspirants are rigorously put to the test and trained, living as brothers-in-arms under the watchful eye of the *Master of Recruits*. They will be turned from boys into warriors, trained in the arts of stealth, hand-to-hand combat, and weaponry. These aspirants are not Neophytes yet, they are *Fledglings*, soon to be warriors of the night.

Placing emphasis on ones toughness, adaptability, and resilience above all else. They favor candidates who demonstrate mastery of stealth, cunning, and fortitude, for only they can survive in a Chapter as the Liberators. Mental and physical strength, resourcefulness, and subterfuge are the signs of those who will be chosen. But they must show brutality in war, willing to give up even their own lives for their clans.

Owing to the instability of the Raven Guard's gene-seed due to the experiments of Corax, much of the Chapter's genetic stock has been irreparably altered. Now, much of their genetic material comes from stored supplies held on Deliverance by the Master of Shadows.

## Notable Quotes

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