 The Ravengarde operated in a highly specialized capacity, perhaps more so than any other Astartes Legion. Eschewing wherever possible full frontal conflict, the 19th Legion preferred a more deft approach with a doctrine that revolved around precise application of force as rapidly as possible, often with the foe having no foreknowledge that they were even at war. Primacy was placed upon the mobility of its Astartes, and the Legion believed victory was best and most efficiently assured by outflanking and outmaneuvering an enemy in order to strike at their weakest location. This was, in its own way, a fusion of the ideals of the Xeric tribes of Asiatic Terra the Legion was originally drawn from, and the personal convictions of its Primarch, Corvus Corax. The distinct lack of resources their home region presented forced the Xeric tribes to be as self-sustaining and independent as possible, an aspect of existence mirrored in the Primarch's life upon pre-liberation deliverance, scrounging for each and every scrap of weaponry, ammunition and supplies he could to outfit his band of insurrectionists. This mindset was reflected in how the Legion tended to operate. Astartes were trained and equipped for warfare that, like the Xerex of old, usually placed some in positions of vast numerical inferiority, and required operating without support for an extended period of time. Additionally, tactics were generally seen as unconventional for Legion forces, such as infiltration, infrastructure sabotage, or extended intelligence gathering, were similarly employed, all to further the goal of allowing the main body of the Legion to attack the enemy at their weakest point. The Legion was noted for using specially equipped reconnaissance squads to a much higher degree than its fellows, with each Astartes cross-trained to fulfill that role should the demand be there. In fact, the degree to which Legion tactical squads were outfitted with reconnaissance equipment and support weaponry led to the line between the two formations being blurred to the point that it existed often in theory only. Some Astartes took this role to its zenith, volunteering in more numbers than any other Legion to fill the role of the solitary Moritats. These warriors, known for their skill in close-quarter firefights, would operate alone on the battlefield to sow discord and destruction amongst the enemy with far greater independence than would be possible within a more structured command framework. Again, this was a facet of the Legion's Xeric origins writ large, as in many cases the original Terran Moritats were possessed of methods and predilections considered too dangerous or extreme by their brothers, often employing proscribed weaponry or munitions like rad, chemical, or phosphax rounds. Some, indeed, had fallen prey to a condition of the Legion's gene seed known to the Terrans as Ash Blind and to the Laceans as Sablebrand, both deriving their names from the darkening of the victim's eyes to almost pure black, similar in some ways to the fury that was known to claim those of the Ninth Legion blood angels. The Ash Blind were driven to suicidal rages that drove them to inflict as much damage to their foes as possible, heedless of any and all threat to themselves. The missions of these Astartes, always undertaken willingly, were often assumed to be suicidal in nature, and it is likely that through them the Ravenguard took part in far more assassination and sabotage operations than they officially recorded. It is especially notable in their dealings with the Order of Remembrancers, who were often very deliberately banned from entering theaters the Legion was active in, until well after the conflict had ended, in contrast with some other legions who actively desired their imagists, writers, and historians to be present upon the battlefield to observe just how their Astartes made war. The Ravenguards, clandestine ponchants, were not merely a factor of their culture, but also of their gene seed. Certain Astartes within the Legion, notably drawn from Korax's band of freedom fighters, shared an ill understood genetic trait with their Primarch, poetically dubbed by the Nineteenth as the Shadow Walk. By force of will, the Astartes could deny knowledge of their presence to whomever they chose, rendering themselves effectively invisible. This trait was a close guarded secret of the Legion, one prescribed from any outside research by the doubtlessly interested Mechanicum Biologis Magi. It is known, however, that such compulsion had no effect on mechanical detection systems like all specs arrays, only on beings or entities that possessed a biological intelligence. From this, it can be inferred to be some form of latent or low level psychic ability, albeit one clearly restricted to an incredibly specific function. Korax is said to have used this gift to mastermind the liberation of Lysaeus, and to have cultivated it amongst those sons of his who possessed it. These Astartes were organized into a specific formation within the Legion, known as the Mordethan, or Shadow Masters, under the direct command of the Primarch himself. Their remit was entirely at the behest of their gene father, who assigned them to the most crucial infiltration, assassination, and guerrilla missions. True masters of the Legion's craft, the Mordethan would operate longer and in deeper cover than any other Ravenguard, typically arrayed with silent sniper rifles, specially modified stealth bolters, and an assortment of sabotage equipment. The Ravenguard spent the majority of the Great Crusade as a largely infantry-based force, seconded to other Legion deployments, a situation created out of several factors. Prime amongst them was simply their size. While other legions were reunited with their Primarchs and granted their fathers' homeworlds as recruitment fives, or simply expanded recruitment operations to encompass newly compliant imperial worlds, the 19th steadfastly refused to draw neophytes from anywhere save the Terran-Zeric tribes of their founding, limiting their numbers severely, and making solo deployment a dangerous gamble of Legion as Astartes' resources for the war council. Secondly, their close operational relationship with the 16th Legion Lunawolves proved so effective as to have the brunt of their other war needs, such as close armor support, handled by their comrades-in-arms. The favor of Horace Lupercal, Primarch of the 16th Legion, led to the 19th being treated almost as a chapter of the Lunawolves, as opposed to its own separate entity. These two factors combined with the third, which can simply be summed up as strategic preferences. The Zeric tribes abhorred open warfare as a senseless waste of resources, a facet of their character cultivated by centuries of guerrilla fighting. And the 19th Legion retained this, focusing their resources on making sure its infantry was as well trained and well equipped as possible. Lastly, it should be noted that since the Legion largely operated in the shadow of the Lunawolves for nearly 200 Terran years, and possessed what can charitably be described as a dark and abrasive humor, it built no great friendships with any major mechanic infections, limiting its access to war machines and resources that were more readily available to friendlier legions. The 19th was additionally employed frequently as an army of occupation, given the Zeric hatred for recidivism and natural suspicion of newly conquered peoples. This would however change to a degree following the reunion with Korax. The Legion's extant doctrinal practices meshed well with the strategies their Primarch had perfected during the war against the slavers of Kievar. Where Korax made adjustments it was primarily to where he felt the 19th Legion were lacking. As such, he utilised the resources granted to him to vastly expand the Legion's armour pool. While still in possession of a modest armour reserve throughout the Great Crusade, Korax was at pains to plug what he saw as a potential gap in his Legion's disposition, and was known to have held council with several of his brothers on the matter. That being said, it was never at the expense of where he felt the Legion's true talent lay, and as such his ravenguard were far more inclined to favour highly mobile support and transport vehicles over lumbering superheavies. Ground commanders displayed notable preference for the Sikaran battle tank over the Predator, favouring the speed of the more advanced former mark, could maintain over the ease of production and maintenance that the latter was famous for. High hunter jet bike squadrons operated as both scouting and rapid response echelons for ground forces, often supported by groups of anti-grave javelin attack speeders. The ravenguard additionally made heavy use of aerial support craft, especially those patterns outfitted for both void and atmospheric flight, such as the heavy stormbird pattern and newer Thunderhawk pattern transport gunships. Additionally, through use of the technology of the guilds of Kievar, the ravenguard retained a stock of specially modified versions of the Stormhawk, dubbed the Shadowhawk by the Legion, for its wide array of augur-defying stealth technology that allowed it to pass through virtually all sensorium webs undetected. Additionally, the 19th leaned upon the guilds of their former slave regime to fashion for them a unique vehicle known as the Whisper Cutter, a small open frame craft that, through the use of anti-grave impellers, was capable of silent flight, transporting up to tenor starties into a region in complete secrecy. That the Legion was able to employ unique vehicle marks speaks to the power Korax could employ in keeping Kievar nominally a forage world, independent from Mechanicum control. But that, in and of itself, led to no large progress being made in warming the relationship between the Legion and Red Mars. Of all of the Mechanicum's subordinate worlds, Kievar sustained association only with Gryphon IV. The exact nature of the terms are unclear in history, but can be inferred to have at least originated in the close operational relationship the 19th Legion kept with the titan legio of that forage, the famed Legiographonicus. A notable exception to all of this is, as is no doubt well known to students of Imperial history, the Ravenguard's instrumental participation in the development of the Mark VI or Corvus patterned power armor, the full details of which can be found in a previous record upon this data stack. The Ravenguard operated a loose chain of command that saw significant devolved power and independence granted to its starties of all officer ranks once they were in the field. This was a facet of the 19th Legion that Korax did not tamper with upon his assumption of command, and if anything, he fostered. Waging his war upon Lysias, the Primarch had come to rely on individual commanders able to operate with little or no contact and wished to engender the same self-reliance amongst those within his Legion. Initiative was expected of all Ravenguard, and displays of it, alongside good tactical comprehension, was more vital to an Astartes command prospects than simple martial aptitude. Where Korax did interfere in the chain of command was his marked insistence upon his assumption of Legion control, that the senior officers were replaced by those who had served him closest upon deliverance and were able to receive Astartes implantation protocols, in turn displacing significant numbers of veteran Terran commanders who had served in their positions for decades. The strife between the Terran and Lysaean elements of the Ravenguard is a facet of the Legion's history it is highly reticent to admit to, and even its exact nature is not fully known. From the exterior, it is however quite possible to observe that Korax showed direct favoritism to those of his foster homeworld over the Xeric-born Terrans. He was overtly disparaging of their more cold forms of conduct, and openly banned his Legion from being used as occupiers or military police, seeing the methods inherent in how the 19th had previously controlled newly compliant populations, as disturbingly similar to those employed by the slavers he was raised under. Whether through clandestine expediency or coldly deliberate action, the loss of the majority of the Legion's Terran-born Astartes at Gate 42, detailed in a previous record, solved Korax's problem for him. The fact remains, however, that even in the aftermath of the Bloody Gate, the Ravenlords still made noticeable efforts to remove Terrans from active front-line service. To this, the remaining Xeric-born Legionaries were assigned, in the few years between Gate 42 and the Dropsite Massacre, to serve as garrison forces in outposts beyond the Imperium's borders, military advisors or detachments seconded to rogue-trader militant expeditions, or, quite notably, nomadic predation fleets, assigned to deep-void hunter-killer operations. The largest of these flotillas was commanded by Shade-Lord Ar-Cas-Fell, a decorated warrior who had served as the Dower Master of the 19th Legion for three decades, immediately prior to Korax's discovery. No better example of the Primarch's distressed for his Terran sons exists than the simple fact that, despite the Legion's catastrophically depleted numbers following the Great Betrayal on Istvan 5, history does not record Korax as having made any effort whatsoever in recalling his Legion's nomadic fleet elements, nor has he even known to have considered doing so. What became of Shade-Lord Fell in his fleet, as well as notable remaining Terran elements and their military assets, is now lost to history. When the 19th Legion committed its forces to the Retribution fleet, they did so in their full strength, barring the aforementioned Terran fleets and scattered other elements. The losses suffered at Gate 42 had, owing to the Legion's smaller recruitment pool, still not been fully replaced, placing the Ravenguard at 80,000 Astartes, the smallest of all then currently operating Astartes legions. The darkness of that day, and the 98 days of flight that were to follow, were but the beginning of the Legion's misfortune, for they were to truly suffer in the terrible years to follow.