Please note this list is still being refined and may change in places.

Origins

The Blood Reavers were created during the 22nd founding, the process using Imperial Fist geneseed and overseen by Inquisitor Lergar of the Ordo Malleus. Lergar had been tasked to investigate methods of enhancing long term geneseed stablity and claiming to have made a breakthrough, Lergar introduced secret modifications to the geneseed growth process and started an accelerated creation plan of the Blood Reaver chapter. Shortly after the mass geneseed implantation had begun, Lergar was mysteriously called away for an Inquisitorial investigation.

The Blood Reaver chapter was formed with unheard of success, replication of the geneseed had proven to be almost flawless and not a single host subject rejected the geneseed implants, allowing the chapter to be ready for active duty in a quarter of the usual time. The newly formed Blood Reavers were based upon a fleet of 8 Strike Cruisers and set a patrol path through the Gothic Sector, tasked to act as rapid response for any major rebellion or cultist uprisings.

Quickly the chapter built itself a fearsome reputation, every uprising was put down with extreme force, soon rebellions were quelled simply by the Blood Reavers arrival in system, not that this halted their utter annihilation regardless. Over time tales of their brutality became more and more extravagent, rumours of horrific mutilations and butchery spread across the sector. Such stories were common place regarding the Adeptus Astartes and as such the Inquisition ignored these rumours, until events in the hive city Magal Prime on Dalunis IV demanded their attention.

Dalunis IV had been thrown into turmoil after Magal Prime fell to a Slaneeshi cult after a month of fighting against the PDF. Imperial Guard from the Belann XII Dragoons had been the first to respond, but after another 3 months of fierce combat they too had been unable to break through the cultists formidable defences, defences that had been instantly bolstered with the capture of Magal Prime and it's main revenue source as a manufacturer of Las weaponry. Using Drop Pods the Blood Reavers smashed into the Hive and within a week they had slaughtered the entire cult and reclaimed the city. Unfortunately for the Belann XII the Blood Reavers lust for battle had not been sated and in a single night of blood crazed murder they were wiped out to a man by the uncontrollable Reavers.

As the Inquisition delved into events on Dalunis IV and the Blood Reaver's prior engagements, they realised with horror there was something terribly wrong with the Blood Reavers mental state and perhaps even worse, Inquisitor Lergar had been removing or hiding the evidence since the chapter's founding. Using Inquisitorial access codes of a level high enough to retrieve the files Lergar believed he had deleted, a report was compiled and delivered to the heads of the Ordo. It was a nightmare tale of blood and murder, of whole populations slaughtered without cause,of countless incidents where they turned on allied Imperial Guard officers units and of massacres on a scale rarely seen since the Horus Hersey, all of which had been concealed by Lergar. The reason for this blood soaked history soon became clear when the study of the Blood Reaver genesead revealled a terrible flaw.

In high stress situations Blood Reavers were prone to bouts of psychotic rage, becoming blood obsessed killing machines, all training and discipline forgotten. Realising such grave threat must be dealt with immediately, the Inquisition despatched an armada from the Imperial Navy supported by Strike Cruisers from the Space Sharks to intercept the Blood Reaver fleet and destroy them. However their interception was thwarted. Somehow the Blood Reavers were warned of the trap and ambushed part of the Imperial Navy fleet before it could join up with the gathering armada. The few Navy cruisers that survived were captured in boarding actions and the now bolstered Blood Reaver fleet vanished into the warp, not to be seen again. After no sign of them for over two thousand years the Inquisition declared them destroyed by the treacherous immaterium and their file was closed.

After a fleet of blood red Chaos ships smashed through the Cadian Gate and rampaged through neighbouring systems before escaping into the warp, the Imperium realised with horror that the Blood Reavers had returned. But now they have returned warped by Chaos, their armour adorned with symbols of the dark powers, all signs of their loyalist past removed, they have come to reap vengeance upon the Imperium that rejected them and bathe the stars in blood.

 

Home World

The Blood Reavers started off as a fleet based chapter and, unless they have a secret world within the Eye of Terror, they remain so today. Their current fleet is known to consist of several large cruisers including at least one Styx class, plus how ever many of their original 8 Space Marine Strike Cruisers remain. The exact number and designations are difficult to ascertain due to a lack of survivors in events involving the chapter.

 

Appearance

Their armour was originally painted in a bi-sectional white and red pattern, but since turning to chaos they have adopted the red and bronze colours of Khorne. Being recruited from numerous different planets the marines themselves differ greatly in physical appearance, however they are all slightly bigger than the norm for a chapter using Imperial Fist geneseed. Through siding with chaos mutations are inevitiable, though as a relatively young chaos chapter not rife as with the older legions.

 

Combat Doctrine

The Blood Reavers strategy is always based around close assault, often using drop pods to strike straight into the midst of enemy forces. Long range weaponry is rarely seen within the chapter's infantry, instead the rage that possess them hurling the marines into close combat. Generally Anti-tank and ranged fire is provided by Dreadnoughts and Predators, though it is not utterly unknown for a Chaos Marine Squad to be armed with Bolters and other weapons, though not often.

 

Organisation

The chapter still operates with ten individual companies, the master of each in command of a captured Cruiser or Strike Cruiser, the Styx class Heavy Cruiser under command of the chapter's Lord and master. Each company seems to be organised differently, favouring different sized and organised squads. However establishing any names or anymore details of the command structure has so far proven impossible.

 

Beliefs

The chapter worship Khorne the god of war, though to varying degrees dependent on the individual. The Blood Reavers loathe the Imperium, they know nothing of Lergar or his involvement with them, they simply know they were created as they are and then in their eyes betrayed. They have no long term goals or secret agendas, they simply want to kill Imperials.

 

Geneseed

Their geneseed was taken from Imperial Fist stock, but then modified by the corrupt Inquisitor Lergar. True to his word the modifications made the geneseed remarkably pure, stable and reliable, but it also causes all recipients to become psychotic in combat and in some cases all stressfull environments.

 

Battlecry

They have no battle cry as such, more a case of insane rantings...