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This article, Red Revenants, is currently under active construction. The author, Reditus74, apologizes for the inconvenience. |
- "Oi, Grauk, look at deez tin-can 'umies! Our ova boyz musta got ta dem first! Dey're all lyin' flat un dedd! Wat... thought I heard somethin'. It sounded like a humie laughin'..."
- — Unknown Ork of the Spikesmasha Klan
- "[Whispering] We are certainly laughing, scum."
- — Battle-Brother Nitus of the Red Revenants 3rd Company [The Ork does not have time to react as the Astartes rams a combat knife through his face.]
The Red Revenants are an infamous Codex-compliant Space Marine Chapter created during the Ultima Founding in 999.M41 to serve in the Indomitus Crusade and defend and reclaim those areas of the Imperium under threat from the massive numbers of Chaos and xenos incursions that appeared after the formation of the Great Rift. The chapter was sent to the Lethe Cluster to aid the beleaguered forces of the Imperial Crusade attempting to conquer the region from various xenos and heretical human civilisations, and subsequently took on the role of guarding the Imperial held worlds of the Cluster against any further threats.
The Revenants, despite existing for less than a century like their fellow Primaris chapters, have rapidly earned a fearsome reputation for their particularly macabre use of terror tactics. The chapter specialises in both literally and figuratively putting the fear of death in their enemies, painting their armour to resemble a human skeleton as well as coating it in animal blood. Furthermore, much like the Excoriators chapter, the marines of the Red Revenants do not repair any non-critical damage to their armour. The reason for why they wish to present such a grisly visage is because it assists them with their favoured tactic: pretending to be lifeless corpses, then waiting for the enemy to arrive and rising from the dead, in the eyes of the unsuspecting foe, to unleash the terrifying power of the Adeptus Astrartes upon them. The chapter also specialises in guerrilla operations, performing campaigns deep behind enemy lines, where their method of playing dead frequently serves them well in avoiding their foes' notice. While this tactic works well against more melee oriented foes such as the Orks or primitive xenos races, when facing ranged enemies the Red Revenants' battle-brothers will often improvise other strategies, in line with the Codex Astrates' and their own emphasis on the ability to adapt to new situations.
While their parent chapter is unknown, dark rumours have been whispered among the upper echelons of the Imperial government about the source of the Revenants' gene-seed, especially their use of terror tactics and their marines' pale, deathlike physiques. However, most officials believe the chapter was likely created from heavily modified Raven Guard gene-seed with the goal of removing most of the flaws that had afflicted the chapter since the Horus Heresy, and many within the chapter believe this also. Whatever their true origin, the Red Revenants are known for possessing very few mutations, though many battle-brothers possess sadistic tendencies towards their foes, especially xenos after the chapter's campaigns against the barbaric races of the Lethe Cluster. Whether or not this trait is biological or a product of the chapter's experiences in the Second Lethe Crusade remains to be seen.