Raivans

Five Facts about Raivans

• They are abhumans related to the Annwfyn Although the conditions the Raivans have lived in have caused them to develop away from baseline human genetics significantly enough to be considered genetically divergent by the Imperium, they are a sub-culture of Annwfyn originally.

• They have worshipped the God-Emperor for Millennia. Perhaps one of the unique factors about the Raivans is they have preserved a worship of the God-Emperor seemingly since before the coming of the Regency. Given that the Sector was cut off for Millennia this cult has developed independent of the Ecclesiarchy and while tolerable, is notably divergent from the Imperial Cult.

• They are some of the best skirmishers and guerillas the Prosperitas Crusade has access to. The natural advantages and militant culture of the Raivans make them incredibly effective warriors and the Prosperitas Crusade have been eager to maintain the populations stability as a fertile ground for abhuman auxiliaries.

• They are valued, but oppressed and exploited. While they are valued by the Imperial colonial rulers of Shadowglow and their superiors in the Prosperitas Crusade, the Raivans are still subject to state discrimination under the Imperiums genetic purity laws. Their value to the Imperium means they are treated as a valuable resource rather than people.

• They are incredibly loyal to each other. Raivans place a great deal of importance

The Raivan population is mostly contained to Shadowglow, those who are permitted to leave their homeworld do so only in service to the Imperium, either in service to Nobles and Rogue Traders, or as part of the Raivan Auxilla Regiments. To this end the Raivans have few basic rights, those who remain on the world live in mining settlements as they did when imprisoned there by the Regency. Those who enjoy any sort of individual freedoms have usually won them in service to the Imperium and live as mercenaries and bounty hunters. Though the Raivans have expressed nothing bu loyalty to the Imperium they are still treated as sub-human by the Imperium and actively opressed under Imperial law.

When the Prosperitas Crusade first encountered the Raivans on the freezing eclipse-shrouded desert world of Shadowglow, scouts initially believed them to be cave-dwelling mutants. When later investigation revealed a deep cultural loyalty to the Emperor, ingrained by the use of Shadowglow as a penal world for those who did not swear loyalty to Horus during the Great Heresy, the Imperium soon realized that it was the Raivans and not the ostensibly human Mining Guilds, who were their allies.

Raivans are a proud people, they consider themselves human despite Imperial classification, and often see their mutation as something of a blessing to fight the Emperor's Wars. They are stronger and faster than baseline humans, and have incredibly powerful night sight, even if they do not adapt well to well-lit conditions. They are identifiable by their near-white hair, and eyes that are adapted for night vision, often on well-lit worlds, a Raivan can be identified by their hair and tinted goggles alone. Although still abhumans, Raivan’s are prized as commandos and assassins by various institutions of the Imperium, well adapted as a warrior subspecies as they are, and as a result they often receive a better welcome than more deviant abhumans.

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Facad'Alma A unique varient of the Faca carried by most Raivans a Facad'Alma (low gothic: Soul Knife) is forged from reclaimed metal through a technique known only to the Raivans people. The blade is called such because they take the knives of the dead, and reforge them into new knives, blended so (in Raivan belief) part of their soul carries on with the new blade.

Pre-Liberation Imperial Cult is very specifically rooted the Cult of the Saviour Emperor when the Raivan's Ancestors descended into the subterranean tunnels as the sector fell to Horus they took that formative seed of the religion of the God-Emperor with them and have evolved along their own unique forms since.

I've not honestly done a lot of work on the specific religious practices of the Raivans other than what Claudia wrote about them treating their knives as carrying the souls of their past bearers and future generations forging knives out of the melted down materials of those they have lost.

Uniquely, the Psyker mutation does not appear in Raivan genestock.

Highly, Raivan-Human interbreeding does happen but is considered illegal and against the Imperium's genetic purity laws. Raivans live beneath the surface of Shadowglow, humans live above it, this is how it is. There are those who resent this but the local Arbites are always there to represent the monolithic voice of the Imperium on this matter.

No Raivan in the modern age would be stupid enough to tell a human they're human they've long learned the hard way that 'pretending' to be human breaches the genetic purity laws of the Imperium.

Largely like most Imperial nobility, they're transplanted, they're a bit nicer to the Raivans than they could be because of the perceived 'model abhuman' behaviour of the Raivans (also that Raivans are not monstrous helps). The Arbites are more resented by Raivans as they're specifically there to make sure that the natural order of things is maintained.

No, House Vilas-Lobo would probably love to acquire Raivans for 'breeding' for their own geneforges but they have yet to.