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|Chapter Master=[[Nehat Nev]]{{fnFn|3a}}|Homeworld=[[Atargatis Prime]]{{fnFn|3a}}|Fortress-Monastery='''Lost Eyrie'''{{fnFn|3a}}

The 18th Chapter of the [[Raven Guard]] [[Space Marine Legion|Legion]] were known as the '''Ashen Claws''', taking their names from the Xeric tribes that supplied their first recruits. Before the Legion was reunited with their [[Primarch]], [[Corvus Corax]], they spent time under the tutelage of [[Horus]], who developed a stratagem he called the "Ashen Claw" whereby a sacrificial unit would draw the enemy out to allow the rest of Horus' force to strike their flank.{{fnFn|1}}

Notably, [[Praetor (Rank)|Shade Captain]] [[Nerat Kirine]] of the Ashen Claws developed the strategy employed by the XIXth Legion, accompanied by the [[Luna Wolves]], in the [[Battle of Hell's Anvil]]. Initiating a concussive bombardment on the subterranean fortifications, the Legions allowed the [[Imperial Army]] to suffer the worst of the casualties whilst the Ashen Claws launched hit and run attacks on the Overseers. The battle established the reputation of assignment alongside the XIXth as a death sentence to the Imperial Army{{fnFn|2b}} and, combined with their heritage as slaver-warlords, contributed to the ill-will that Corax bore towards the Terran [[Terra]]n veterans when he took command of the Legion.{{fnFn|1}}

In 002.M31, a large proportion of the Terran Legionaries remaining in the Raven Guard were killed in the [[Battle of Gate Forty-Two]]. In the aftermath of the battle, Corax gathered the majority of the surviving veterans of the old XIXth Legion and those prisoners freed from [[Deliverance ]] who did not fit his vision of the Legion into Crusade fleets, dispatching them to the [[Ghoul Stars]]. One such fleet, placed under the Deliverance-born Praetor [[Calvus]], consisted of some four thousand survivors of the Ashen Claws, including Shade Captain Kirine. Their fleet consisted of thirteen capital vessels and a score of [[frigate]]s.{{fnFn|1}}

Many of the Ashen Claws were angered by the disregard Corax showed for their lives and history of service, embittered that their reward was exile rather than the honours bestowed on the warriors of other Legions who fought in the battle.{{fnFn|1}} Like the other nomad-predation fleets, Corax never made any attempt to recall these elements of the Legion even after the outbreak of the [[Horus Heresy]].{{fnFn|2a}} Nevertheless, the Ashen Claws returned of their own will, raiding targets across the [[Nostramo Sector]] and stripping them of munitions, [[STC]] templates, and construction matrices whilst making no effort to hold their conquests in the name of either Emperor or Warmaster.{{fnFn|1}}

The Ashen Claws sacked [[Tenebor]], the fortress-moon of the [[Night Lords]]' destroyed homeworld [[Nostramo]], and sealed the population of [[Cairn]] beneath the collapsed spires of their [[hive]]-cities after destroying the Night Lords stationed there. Combined with the increased activity of [[alien]] species such as the [[Khrave]], this served to destabilise the Nostramo sector until it finally collapsed into anarchy after the Ashen Claws brought down the ''[[Shroud of Eventide]]'' in the [[Battle of Kalleth]], depriving the Night Lords of their leader [[Kheron Ophion]].{{fnFn|1}}

At the [[Battle of Desperation]], Kirine responded to hails from [[Praetor (Rank)|Chapter Master]] [[Arceas Odinathus]] of the [[Ultramarines]] by disavowing allegiance to either the [[Emperor]] or the traitorous [[Horus|Warmaster]], apparently believing Corax dead.{{fnFn|1}}

By the time of the [[Scouring]] in 017.M31, the [[Blood Angels]] 9th Chapter, the [[Angels Vermillion]], arrived to find only scattered remnants of the Night Lords rather than the determined resistance of up to thirty thousand Legionaries as expected.{{fnFn|1}}

Astropathic [[Astropath]]ic fragments intercepted during a deep range patrol of the Ghoul Stars indicate that as late as 062.M31 the Ashen Claws were still an active force, bringing worlds into compliance according to edicts of their 'Second Crusade' from a base on [[Atargatis]].{{fnFn|1}} They also have an ongoing deal with the [[Carcharodons]], trading recruits and materiel.{{fnFn|4}}.

*002.[[M31]] [[Battle of Gate Forty-Two]] — 18th Chapter suffers significant casualties and is exiled to the [[Ghoul Stars]]{{fnFn|1}}*007.M31 [[Nostramo|Tenebor]] — Killed the defending [[Night Lords]], looted the fortress, and stole the proginoid glands from the slain Night Lords.{{fnFn|1}}

*997011.M31 [[Battle of Desperation]] — acquire large amount of munitions before retreating.{{fnFn|1}}*062.M31 Compliance of Orcades{{fnFn|1}}

The Ashen Claws often decorate their armour with fragments of enemy weapons, including the skulls or teeth of alien beasts, taken as trophies, as well as carved stone charms similar to Terran jade. Although they no longer serve the Emperor, many still bear the [[Raptor Imperialis]] that indicates they were veterans of the Unification Wars.{{fnFn|1}}

Once known for the hit and run tactics typical of the Raven Guard, and carried out with brutal efficiency by Shade Captain Kirine, the Ashen Claws became specialists in orbital interface raids focussed on acquiring the materiel required to maintain a force that had been operating without support for several years. A wide variety of orbital interface fighters, bombers, and assault craft typically begin by targeting anti-air emplacements before [[Dreadclaw]] and [[Kharybdis]] drop pods deploy fast moving infantry squadrons to suppress the enemy. The intention is to circumvent the enemy's main strength, allowing a force with limited numbers to defeat a numerically superior foe piecemeal with the ultimate objective usually the seizure of munitions and materiel.{{fnFn|1}}

*[[Calvus]] — [[Praetor (Rank)|Praetor]] assigned command of the Crusade Fleet in 002.[[M31]], presumed deceased.{{fnFn|1}}*[[Nerat Kirine]] — [[Praetor (Rank)|Shade Captain]] (011.M31).{{fnFn|1}}

*[[Nehat Nev]] — [[Chapter Master]] (885.[[M41]]).{{fnFn|3a}}*[[Arathar]] — [[Librarian]]{{fnFn|3a}}*[[Rama Sixx]] - — First Company{{Fn|3a}} ===Notable Vehicles===*[[Bloodhawk (vehicle)|Bloodhawk]] — [[Primaris Lightning]], destroyed 4 [[Ultramarines]] [[Xiphon Interceptor]]s in the [[Battle of Desperation]]{{fn|1}} ===Fleet===*[[Wicked Claw]] — An Infernus class battleship dating back to the Great Crusade. Originally used by the Chapter when first exiled to the ghoul stars. The Wicked Claw served as the flagship of the Ashen Claws ever since, used through the millennia up to M41, when it was used to reinforce a Carcharadons fleet under assault from Tyranid forces.{{Cite this}}

*2: [[The Horus Heresy Book Three - Extermination]]: