‘Until we strike, we are invisible, inaudible and utterly imperceptible. And so are we the masters of our enemies’ fate.’
Aethon Shaan, Chapter Master of the Raven Guard
Only recently elevated to the position of Chapter Master, Aethon Shaan exemplifies the solemn, taciturn nature of the Raven Guard. Said to be able to reach any prey, no matter how secure, he orchestrates his Chapter’s campaigns from the shadows, emerging from the darkness only at the most opportune moments to land the killing blow upon the enemy.
New though he may be to his position, Shaan has centuries of combat experience behind him. He had already captained the Tenth, Eighth, Fourth, and First Companies before being elevated as Master of Shadows. Shaan has demonstrated a masterful grasp of grand strategy and truly exemplifies his Chapter’s measured and precise approach to warfare. Just as Shrike and Severax before him, he applies the Raven Guard’s strength sparingly but to great effect. He guides his autonomous strike forces on clandestine campaigns across the Imperium. His Shadow Captains are trusted to wage campaigns of misdirection, assassination, subterfuge, and terror that leave the enemies of the Raven Guard off-balance and primed for destruction. So too does he know the value of information, maintaining networks of spies, info thralls, and other agents to keep him apprised of rising threats and weaknesses.
Shaan’s appointment as Master of Shadows came after his predecessor, Kayvaan Shrike, ordered a scattering of the Chapter’s strike forces. Having been elected to command in the aftermath of Corvin Severax’s death, Kayvaan Shrike had come to realise that the mantle of high command did not fit well upon his shoulders. He saw in himself the same recklessness and lust for battle that had condemned Severax to death. Moreover, he had invested himself deeply in mastering the Path of Ambush. A Master of Shadows, he believed, should be an exemplar of all three elements of the Primarch’s Trifold Path of Shadow.
Despite his misgivings, Shrike led the Chapter well in a time of great horror and steered his battle brothers through the conflicts that followed the opening of the Great Rift. Almost from the moment of his promotion, however, Shrike decided that he would eventually abdicate his position, as soon as an appropriate successor could be identified. The Indomitus Crusade provided Shrike with the opportunity he sought. The greatest of his commanders were scattered among these warfleets and elsewhere, there to be evaluated and analysed by their commander.
Of all the battle-brothers unwittingly observed and evaluated by the incumbent Master of Shadows, Shaan demonstrated the greatest talent for decisive leadership and the marshalling of meagre resources, as well as a restraint that Kayvaan Shrike believed himself to lack. His victories over the Genestealer Cults on Gelvia, the Iron Warriors in the Strigneth System, and invading Orks at Aescia II had been won with minimal loss and maximum effect upon the enemy. Summoned back to the Ravenspire in the aftermath of these victories, Aethon Shaan was swiftly and without ceremony elevated to Master of Shadows. There, he donned the relic jump pack, Blackwing Mantle, and took up the Claws of Severax, artefacts once borne by the fallen Chapter Master and subsequently recovered by Kayvaan Shrike.
On the rare occasion that Shaan commits his own blades to the fight, his presence heralds doom for the enemy. Ordinarily, he arrives at the culmination of his battle-brothers’ clandestine efforts, descending to land the killing blow upon an already weakened foe. He is a shadowy avatar of vengeance, tongues of black flame licking from the nacelles of the Blackwing Mantle as he plummets into his enemies to slash and rake with his paired lightning claws.
Servo-automata
The towers of the Ravenspire are the roosts of many strange avian beasts. Only upon close inspection does it become apparent that many of these creatures are not wholly natural. They range in form from vat-grown organic specimens to those almost entirely mechanical in nature. Aethon Shaan is always attended by several of these servo-automata, and many others are said to accompany him to battle, finding hidden perches or soaring unseen overhead.
Those outsiders and enemies keen enough to spot them simply assume they are some form of surveillance mechanism, which is only part of the truth. Certainly, they feed Aethon Shaan and his commanders a constant influx of tactical data and intercepted transmissions. Yet to battle-brothers of the Raven Guard, their constant presence is a reassuring reminder that, wherever the Chapter wages war, the lost Primarch’s gaze remains upon them.
