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 in Family, though for them the meaning of Family does not simply refer to ones bloodline, but wider interconnected bonded 'tribal' structures based on mutual care and respect - while the Nobles of the Imperium do not choose their family, Raivans certainly do and they pack-bond very rapidly socially.

The History of the Raivan People

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, the Imperium soon realized that it was the Raivans and not the ostensibly human Mining Guilds who swore allegiance to the Archenemy, who were their allies.

For the most part the Raivan culture takes its history from that of the Annwfyn with much of the same myth cycles being preserved, but their planetary and subspecies history significantly diverts from that of the Annwfyn around the time of the occupation of the sector by the Regency.

The Raivan people owe their habitation on the subterranean habitats of eclipse-shrouded Shadowglow due to their cruel worlds as a penal world for those who did not swear loyalty to the Archenemy during the Great Heresy. Many of these prisoners brought with them the early stirrings of belief in the Emperor's divinity and early versions of the text of the Lectitio Divinitatus. Under the cruel lash of the Archenemy Mining Guilds the early prisoners of Shadowglow, forced to live in the hostile mines began to adapt to their environment, slowly evolving away from baseline humans, until a breed of durable, powerful workers began to emerge adapted to a life in the dark with their natural night-vision.

Over time the Raivan population rebelled against their Guild masters and retreated deeper into the subterranean networks beneath the pitch-black surface of their homeworld, for thousands of years the Raivans warred with the Archenemy Guilds for control of the resources beneath Shadowglow. Their culture, shaped by constant guerilla war and their faith in the God-Emperor, developed a devout warrior tradition that persists today following the destruction of their Guild oppressors in alliance with the Imperium. It was in this time that the first Faca were forged from metal deposits mined by Raivans beneath the surface of Shadowglow.

Under Imperial Rule

Initial Imperial expeditions to Shadowglow reported a resource-rich world where humans warred against 'subterranean mutants' but as the rot of warp-worship became apparent within the Guilds and the Raivans first demonstrated their pre-existing veneration for the God-Emperor, the Crusade allied with the Raivans against the Guilds. Exterminating the human rulers of the world, while allowing the Raivan population to exist intact. After installing a -human- Colonial government in the great armoured cities that once belonged to the Guild the Imperium rapidly began to exploit the Raivan populations faith to recruit en-mass several Raivan Auxilia Regiments of the Imperial Guard. Denied the freedom to hold officer ranks within even their own regiments, Raivans found themselves under the command of Imperial Officers who, at first, viewed their posting to a 'abhuman' regiment to be abhorrent but who soon began to value the contributions of their charges. Command of a Raivan Regiment is considered to be more of an honour than a punishment for the Officers transplanted to them as the Raivans are very eager to prove their devotion through duty.

Though the Raivans have expressed nothing but loyalty to the Imperium they are still treated as sub-human by the Imperium and actively oppressed under the letter if not implementation of Imperial law. Raivan-Human interactions are high on Shadowglow and both human and Raivan communities on the world have good relations and mutual respect. It is not unknown for Raivan-Human interbreeding to occur, and it is possible, but it is considered illegal and against the Imperium's genetic purity laws.

The Raivans have few basic rights existing as helots to the Imperium, those who remain on the world live in mining settlements as they did when imprisoned there by the Regency occasionally visiting surface settlements to engage with the human colonial presence on their world. Raivans live beneath the surface of Shadowglow, Humans live above it, this is how it is, as the Raivans would say. Rebellion is rare amongst Raivans, their devotion to the God-Emperor outweighs their resentment of their treatment. The majority of the human colonists on Shadowglow actively enjoy the company of their abhuman companion-civilization. It is likely that Shadowglow would be less segregated if it were not for the presence of the local Arbites Precinct Fortress which is ever-present to represent the monolithic voice of the Imperium on this matter, and enforce the Imperiums conservative genetic purity laws and segregation. For this reason the Arbites are the most actively resented branch of the Imperium by most Raivans.

Under the Imperium 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. By Adeptus Munitorum, Raivans, as helots, are treated on paper similar to a crate of high-quality lasguns, they are essential to the war effort and are to be carefully assigned, but they are not people. Though their service is rewarded, they receive nothing approaching the benefits of a human Guard Trooper, the Imperium considers allowing abhumans to live despite their 'genetic deviation' to often be reward enough. Because they are considered an important asset, the Munitorum is notoriously defensive against attempts by Rogue Traders and Nobles to recruit Raivans to their retinues but as with anything thrones speak louder than policy.

There are a few examples of Ravians granted greater freedoms as rewards for exceptional services, themselves and often their Families granted the right to live off-world in spaces accepting of abhumans. More often confined to their own vessels or the edges of society. Most of these end up in service to Rogue Traders, Nobles and often the Inquisition, where their talents are welcome but some remain independent and live as mercenaries and bounty hunters where their natural abilities are best suited.

Recent History

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.

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.

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.