HH6节译：遭弃之鸦

The Raven's Cast-offs

The Battle of Gate 42 has often been noted by scholars of the Great Crusade as the pyre that Corvus Corax hoped would burn his Legion clean of what he saw as the unwelcome taint of many of the Terran recruits.However, if such was his intent then it was not entirely successful, for some few among those who Corax had placed amongst the vanguard yet survived. Chief among them was Nerat Kirine, the brutally efficient Terran praetor of the Ashen Claws Chapter, whose inspired hit and run tactics had brought his veteran Legionaries through the fires of battle bloodied but unbroken. Several thousand of the 18th Chapter, the Ashen Claws, remained, near every one a Terran-born veteran of the old XIXth Legion, and many were angered by the callous disregard the Raven Lord had shown for their lives and record of loyal service to the Imperium.

大远征时期的学者们将42号城门之战标注为一次内部清洗：科沃斯 克拉克斯认为很多泰拉裔战士对军团造成了招人厌恶的污染，他希望能通过这次行动清除掉这些污点。不过，如果这是原体的意图的话，那么这个计划并未完全成功，因为少数被克拉克斯派去担任先锋的泰拉裔战士幸存了下来。他们的领袖是奈拉特 基林——灰烬之爪战团残忍高效的泰拉裔执政官，他卓越的游击战术让麾下的军团老兵活过了血腥且从未间断的战火。第18战团“灰烬之爪”的数千名战士幸存了下来，他们几乎所有人都是老第十九军团的泰拉裔老兵。渡鸦之主对他们的生命和他们为帝国忠诚服务的记录所表现出的冷酷无视激怒了很多灰爪战士。

These warriors were marshalled in the aftermath of the battle, but not to receive the honours bestowed upon those of other Legions that had fought in the battle. Instead, the Raven Lord formed the vast majority of the remaining veterans of the old XIXth Legion, along with those freed from Deliverance whose crimes and demeanour left them ill at odds with the Primarch's perception of his Legion, and formed them into Crusade fleets. These fleets were dispatched into the dim stars of the north-eastern galactic fringe, known to explorers of the time as the Ghoul Stars, there to bring the light of the Emperor to the dark at the edges of the galaxy, far from the eyes of the fledgling Imperium and the brooding lord of the Raven Guard.

战斗结束后，这些战士们被组织集结起来，但他们并未像其他军团中参与此次战斗的阿斯塔特们那样被赐予荣誉。相反，渡鸦之主将绝大部分残存的老十九军团老兵们以及拯救者部队整合起来——后者的罪行和举止在原体看来同样也是与自己对于军团的看法格格不入，并将他们编组进了远征舰队。这些舰队被派往银河东北边境的昏暗星空执行任务，当时的探索者们称这片区域为食尸鬼群星，这些老十九军团的战士们将帝皇的光芒带往银河边缘的黑暗区域，他们也远离了羽翼未丰的帝国与深沉的渡鸦守卫之主。