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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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==History==
===Origin as the Raven Guard's 18th Chapter===
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.{{Fn|1}}
Notably, [[Praetor (Rank)|Shade Captain]] [[Nerat Kirine]] of the Ashen Claws 18th Chapter 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 18th Chapter 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{{Fn|2b}} and, combined with their heritage as slaver-warlords, contributed to the ill-will that Corax bore towards the [[Terra]]n veterans when he took command of the Legion.{{Fn|1}}
===Exile and Horus Heresy===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 18th Chapter "Ashen Claws", including Shade Captain Kirine. Their fleet consisted of thirteen capital vessels and a score of [[frigate]]s.{{Fn|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.{{Fn|1}} Like As a result, the other nomad-predation fleets18th Chapter went renegade during its exile, discarding its loyalty to Corax never made any attempt to recall these elements of and the Legion even after wider Imperium, taking the outbreak of the [[Horus Heresy]]name "Ashen Claws" as its official title.{{Fn|2a1}} 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.{{Fn|13b}}
===Horus Heresy===Like the other nomad-predation fleets, Corax never made any attempt to recall the 18th Chapter of the Legion even after the outbreak of the [[Horus Heresy]].{{Fn|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.{{Fn|1}} [[File:Ashen Claws realm (Horus Heresy).png|thumb|right|250px|Realm of the Ashen Claws in the [[Ghoul Stars]] by 013.[[M31]]{{Fn|5a4a}}]]
In one notable campaign, the "[[Scouring of the Nostramo Sector]]", the Ashen Claws decimated large Night Lords contingents:{{Fn|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]].{{Fn|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.{{Fn|1}} In the following years, the Ashen Claws raided across the region of the [[galaxy]] east of the [[Beta-Garmon Star Cluster]], attacking both Loyalists as well as Traitors, including on [[Dellar IX]].{{Fn|5b4b}}
Though the Ashen Claws' exact disposition and operations remained unclear to the wider Imperium during the Horus Heresy,{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|5b4b}} an Imperial map suggests that they ruled a substantial empire in the Ghoul Stars by the late Horus Heresy.{{Fn|5a4a}}
===Second Crusade and later history===
By the time of the [[Great Scouring]] in 017.M31, the [[Blood Angels]] 9th Chapter, the [[Angels Vermillion]], arrived to find only scattered remnants of the Night Lords in the region around Nostramo, rather than the determined resistance of up to thirty thousand Legionaries as expected. It was speculated that the Ashen Claws were responsible for the destruction of Traitor forces based in the Nostramo Sector.{{Fn|1}}
[[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 expanding their realm, bringing worlds into compliance according to edicts of their 'Second Crusade' from a base on [[Atargatis Prime|Atargatis]].{{Fn|1}} Over the next millenia, the Ashen Claws continued their wars of conquest and even occasionally raided Imperial space, though they also continued to maintain working relationships to some Loyalist groups such as the [[Carcharodons]] [[Space Marines]]. The renegades also maintained their old ways in many ways, despising the forces of Chaos even more than the Imperium.{{Fn|3b}}
By [[M41]], the power of the Ashen Claws had diminished: Even though they still operate controlled a pocket empire, their numbers had decreased and have an ongoing deal they maintained a greater degree of isolation, fearing that the Imperium would one day try to destroy them. Furthermore, their culture had been substantially altered by the millenia outside Imperial control, with the Ashen Claws becoming integrated into the society of their capital world of Atargatis Prime and no longer viewing regular humans as lesser beings.{{Fn|3b}} In the 800s.M41, the Ashen Claws agreed to aid the Carcharodons in anti-[[CarcharodonsTyranid]]operations, trading recruits and materielpartially to secure their own empire from [[Xenos]] attacks.{{Fn|43b}}{{Fn|3d}}
===Timeline===
*033011.M31: [[Battle of Kalleth]] — although defeated, the [[Nostramo Sector]] is destabilised by the loss of [[Praetor (Rank)|Captain]] [[Kheron Ophion]] of the [[Night Lords]].{{fn|1}}
*997011.M31: [[Battle of Desperation]] — acquire large amount of munitions before retreating.{{Fn|1}}
*???.M31: Battle against [[White Scars]] on [[Dellar IX]]{{Fn|5b4b}}
*062.M31: Compliance of Orcades{{Fn|1}}
*~800s.[[M41]]: Aiding the [[Carcharodons]] against [[Genestealer Cult]]ists on [[Piety V]].{{Fn|33b}}{{Fn|3d}}
==Culture==
[[File:ArtalHelocCrop.jpg|thumb|right|230px|[[Contemptor Dreadnought]] [[Artal Heloc]] in the colors of the Ashen Claws, his armor adorned with trophies and [[Great Crusade]] markings.{{Fn|5}} ]]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.{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|3b}}
===Known worlds===
By M31, the Ashen Claws ruled the following planets:
* [[Atargatis Prime]]{{Fn|1}}{{Fn|4}}
* [[Orcades]]{{Fn|1}}
* [[B'Dar]]{{Fn|5a4a}}* [[Maboroshi]]{{Fn|5a4a}}* [[Svyatlatagor]]{{Fn|5a4a}}
===Tactics===
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.{{Fn|1}}
==Noted Elements==
When they were exiled, the Ashen Claws numbered about 4,000 Space Marines.{{Fn|1}} By the 800s.M41, their numbers had diminished, but they still numbered thousands.{{Fn|3b}}
===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}}
===Notable Vehicles===
*''[[Bloodhawk (vehicle)|Bloodhawk]]'' — [[Primaris Lightning]]. Destroyed 4 [[Ultramarines]] [[Xiphon Interceptor]]s in the [[Battle of Desperation]]{{Fn|1}}
*''[[Liminal Plunderer]]'' — [[Rhino]]{{Fn|65}}
===Notable Members===
*[[Calvus]] — [[Praetor (Rank)|Praetor]] assigned command of the Crusade Fleet in 002.[[M31]], presumed deceased.{{Fn|1}}
*[[Nerat Kirine]] — [[Praetor (Rank)|Shade Captain]] (011.M31).{{Fn|1}}
*[[Artal Heloc]] — [[Contemptor Pattern Dreadnought]]. KIA on Dellar IX.{{Fn|5b4b}}*[[The Murmur]] — [[Legion Vigilator]]{{Fn|65}}*[[Kasz (Ashen Claws)|Kasz]] — [[Legionary]]{{Fn|65}}
====Post-Heresy====
*{{Endn|3}}: [[Carcharodons: Outer Dark (Novel)]],{{Cite this}}
**{{Endn|3a}}: Chapter III
**{{Endn|43b}}: [[CarcharodonsChapter V**{{Endn|3c}}: Red Tithe (Novel)]],Chapter VI**{{Cite thisEndn|3d}}: Chapter XIV*54: [[Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Battle of Beta-Garmon]]:**{{Endn|5a4a}}: ''Map inside cover''**{{Endn|5b4b}}: pg. 143 — ''Blackshields Contemptor Dreadnought''*{{Endn|65}}: [[The Horus Heresy: Legions]] - ''Tempest Expansion: Blackshields Card Description'' - for details see [[Kasz (Ashen Claws)/Sources]], [[The Murmur/Sources]], [[Liminal Plunderer/Sources]]
[[Category:Blackshields]]
