Crow Stalkers

Crow Stalkers armorial with Chapter iconography.

A Crow Stalkers Battleline Astartes.

The **Crow Stalkers** are a Raven Guard Successor Chapter founded during the 8th Founding, which allegedly occurred during the mid-34th Millennium. This Founding was undertaken amid the dark times of the Nova Terra Interregnum, when the Imperium of Man had been split into two separate interstellar empires. The Crow Stalkers were one of several such bellicose and ruthless Chapters created at the behest of the High Lords of Terra, to strike fear into the Imperial populace and scare them into compliance during these tumultuous era. The few extant records that exist indicates that this ferocious Chapter wreaked terrible slaughter on those who opposed Imperial rule, and due to their bellicose and merciless nature, developed a savage culture as a result.

## Chapter History

### Founding & Early History

Founded during one of the periods of violent unrest in Imperial history, the Nova Terra Interregnum, where they exceled in culling heretic populations without ever having an alarm raised and bringing the fractured Imperium back together. Early in their history they were a fleet based chapter though quickly laid claim to Manyou when they found its population made for perfect stealth recruits.

### Era Indomitus

Besides localized engagements due to the Great Rift they have deployed to Jamaerah as part of the Third Jamaerah Crusade.

(To Be Added)

## Chapter Homeworld - Manyou

The chapter has its Fortress-Monastery located on the temperate world of Manyou in the Segmentum Pacificus. While much of the land is covered in windswept plains; there are several prominent mountain ranges across the continents, oceans dotted with tropical islands, equatorial jungles & deserts, and arctic polar regions. This planet is host to a large variance of native flora and fauna found across all of these, as well as human tribes of shamanistic techno nomads that are known collectively as the Manyoua and have adapted to the various regions of the planet. They are all skilled warriors that hunt the dangerous predators of the planet as well as constantly raid each other for rarer resources and prestige. While many of the tribes live in a general peace with each other some of the tribes are extremely warlike, being the primary ones that raid others and gaining a fearsome reputation with the other tribes. Tribal feuds are known to end in large scale violence between the tribes as well as their allies. From all of these tribes is where the chapter pulls its aspirants from. What is comparable to hives for the Manyoua are in fact massive tent cities spanning entire mountain valleys or hundreds of kilometers of sheltered grasslands. These cities are sometimes centered around colonist outposts that trade various pieces of technology like bionics and weapons with any tribe provided they bring no outside war anywhere near their borders, while others are centered around ritual sites sacred to any number of tribes or ancestral homelands of particularly powerful tribes to act as a capital for them much like the Fortress-Monastery is for the chapter.

### Fortress-Monastery

The name of the chapters primary headquarters is Cahokia, originally a colonist fortification used by their PDF. They have constructed great walls and underground bunkers as well as studding the entire structure with untold weapon emplacements to make the site more defensible as a Fortress-Monastery.

## Notable Campaigns

* **Third Jamaerah Crusade (120-Present.M42)**: Massive offensive undertaking by the Imperium of Man to finally dislodge heretic forces from the Chaos held Shrine world of Jamaerah. Among the many space marine chapters involved in this conflict is the Crow Stalkers who are some of the premiere stealth forces available to the loyalists. (To Be Added)

## Chapter Organization

They follow the codex for some things but deviate in others. They favor 5 man squads over 10 man ones, thus 20 squad sergeants in each company, giving them a more flexible fighting force. They have a normal amount of Apothecaries and Librarians, and as many Shamans as a chapter would have of Chaplains and Techmarines combined due to Shamans being a hybrid rank of them.

* The 1st Veteran company, also known as the Elder company, deploys with a variety of units though uses few Terminators compared to other chapters.
* The 2-5th Battle companies use the same ratio of 6 Battleline, 2 Close Support, and 2 Fire Support squads as seen within the codex.
* The 6th Tactical Reserve company is made up of Intercessors and Tactical marines and focuses on stealth based tactics.
* The 7th Tactical Reserve company is made up the same as the 6th, but is known for its skill as less subtle heavily mechanized formations, often deployed alongside Predators and Gladiators to offset the more stealth minded chapter's tactics when needed.
* The 8th Close Support Reserve company of Assault marines, Inceptors, Incursors, and Reivers.
* The 9th Fire Support Reserve company is more or less codex standard with small squads of Aggressors, Devastators, Eradicators, and Hellblasters.
* The oversized 10th Company is entirely Vanguard units of some kind, along with a formation of uncounted Scout marines and Neophytes, and like all of the reserve companies it is usually split up to reinforce the battle companies.

### Ranks & Titles

#### Officer Ranks

* ***Chieftain**:* Title used for the Chapter-Master. Derives from the techno tribes and their chieftains that controlled the tribes.
* ***Great Elder***: Term used for their company Captains.
* ***Lord Elder*** - Rank added along with the revisions that accompanied the Primaris, equivalent to a Lieutenant.

#### Specialist Ranks

* **Chief Librarian**
	+ **Librarians:** They often practice prognostication and other warp abilities granting foresight to better go with the flow of a war zone and allow allies to deploy right where they will be needed, but are very capable of unleashing destructive powers like warp fire & lightning at will.
	+ **Primaris Vanguard Librarians**

* **Chief Apothecary**
	+ **Apothecaries**
	+ **Primaris Helix Adepts**

* **Chief Shaman**
	+ **Shamans-** The chapter does not have normal Chaplains or Techmarines as seen in other chapters, but instead has this combined rank due to the shamanistic beliefs of their homeworld. The Shamans of the human techno tribes that roam Manyou are artificers of technology as much as spiritual guides, acting as their tribe's version of a tech priest.
* **Totem** - Standard Bearer equivalent.
* ***Ashfallen squads***: When the chapter was formed they slowly noticed that a large percentage of their members had already started down the path of becoming Ash Blind, a genetic flaw seen in Corvus' geneseed. Not wanting to waste a good asset the chapter's leadership equipped these marines similar to the legion era Moriat marines and grouped them into Ashfallen squads, where the dangerous nature of their deployment and use in battle could be contained. When the primaris were added the same flaw was eventually noticed to a startling degree, these primaris marines were made into Inceptors to fit the combat style of the firstborn Ashfallen.

#### Line Ranks

* ***Elder***: The catch all term used for those of Sergeant rank and above as well as for Veterans in general, giving rise to the veteran company being called the Elder company.
* ***Brave***: Term used by the chapter that is the same as battle brothers, a catch all term mostly used for the lower ranking members including the firstborn Scout marines and primaris Vanguard marines.
* ***Neophytes***

## Chapter Beliefs

The chapter holds a pragmatic view of death, seeing it as just another surety in life along with suffering and duty, despite this they are still a relatively religious chapter albeit a shamanistic variant of the Imperial cult seen only on Manyou. This variant is a spiritual and nature oriented religion, seeing unneeded desecration of otherwise pristine planets as harmful to the very soul of humanity. The main spirit outside the Emperor of this variant is the planet itself, known as Wakd'Mahopa, its life giving abilities seen as the equivalent to a gods power of giving life. The astartes intermingle with most of the tribes of Manyou and often take part in the fireside gatherings common across the world.

## Chapter Combat Doctrine

The chapter uses a mix of covert assaults like ambushes and surgical strikes to take out key points, often using precision firepower & melee fury to win the day. Knife fighting is an almost sacred art on Manyou and it shows in the chapter's use of knives and their skill with them. They favor bikes and other lighter vehicles, with heavier vehicles mainly used more for defensive situations and frontal assaults, or insertion missions though they favor the aerial vehicles when possible for these missions.

## Notable Members

* ***Chieftain Quanah***: Current Chapter-Master and known to be highly spiritual in regards to the Manyoua version of the Imperial Creed, often compared to a chaplain, though is also considered the fiercest warrior of them all as well. Wields a relic Lightning claw and power sword combo as well as a plasma pistol. He wears an artficer suit of MkVI power armour and always has a camoline cloak over it as well.

(To Be Added)

## Chapter Appearance

### Colours

Their armour is mostly painted black with tan accents, they will also use local camo patterns as needed when deployed. While the chapter does not use much of the normal iconography seen in other chapters they do use a variety of totems like colorful bone beads, skins, feathers, and other similar things to show status within the chapter much like the tribes of Manyou. They also use ritual facepaint designs that are often replicated on their helmets as well as warpaint in general for their armour and sometimes their vehicles.

### Badge

Their iconography is a trio of feathers hanging staggered from the top of the pauldron under each other, the top and bottom feathers pointing to the bottom right while the middle one points to the bottom left. The feathers are white with blue stripes on the edges of each one. They do not use normal company or squad iconography, instead using local tribal symbols from Manyou.

## Chapter Relics

* **Claw(s) of Elwyar**- Originally a pair of master crafted Lightning Claws with one having been destroyed in M42. They contain not only several blades protruding from the top of the gauntlet but each finger ends in a blade as well. Crafted using a very ornate design almost out of place in the stealth based chapter if not for the obsidian black blades that seem to absorb light and built in directional shield generators on par with a Rosarius. Used only by the Chieftain and currently wielded by Quanah, who was wielding both when one was shattered fighting a greater daemon.
* ***Quanah's Revenge***- Artificer power sword made using the remnants of the broken Claw of Elwyar, though lacking the shield generator. It uses a curved blade design and is made for single hand use alongside the surviving claw.

(To Be Added)

## Chapter Fleet

The chapter maintains a smaller fleet than most chapters with 2 Battle Barges, 9 Cruisers, and a couple dozen Escort vessels.

* ***Woodcarver (Battle Barge)***: Powerful warship made shortly after the conclusion of the Horus Heresy, outfitted with advanced stealth systems to help it slip in and out of star systems even with its size. It is the flagship for the chapter as a whole.
* ***Cayoosh (Battle Barge)***: The secondary capital ship for the chapter, used when a large strikeforce is assembled for hardened assaults.
* ***Kiuatan (Vanguard Cruiser)***: It is the famed transport of the 1st company Captain and his personal Elders.

(To Be Added)

## Notable Quotes

### About:

(To Be Added)

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 White Scars Successors
 Space Wolves Successors
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 Iron Hands Successors
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 Raven Guard Successors
 Unknown Lineage
 Renegades

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