It's been a while since I drew our Handsome friend Crow Crow over hereā I mean Bird Birdā I mean Scientific Crow Name I mean Corvus Corax, Primarch of The Raven Guard, Master of Civil Revolution, Lord of Sneaky Shadows and Feathered Personal Attacks against Lorgar, but I do love drawing this handsome face, The Superior Goth Coded Pale Black Eyed boyā¢
Oh no... Now look at what You've done! WHY are YOU so Mean?!? He has a philosophy degree and stuff, more respect! *Tsc tsc tsc
This is a late b-day for an amazing Corvus fan friend of mine~
These are 2625x3500 digital illustrations, done 100% on Ibis Paint X, and here is The step by step of how I (DON'T DO IT LIKE ME, I AM WEIRD, DO IT LIKE YOURSELF) to render skin to make It look wet/oiled up, āØContrastāØ, The highlights get Very White and reflective, and we love that for him~
Lion ElāJonson
The Lion sits in the back corner watching everyone through the reflection in the window, he claims to be monitoring. He distrusts the GPS, the map, the road signs, the passing cars and one suspicious cow seen near mile marker 82.
When asked what he brought for the trip his answer is contingencies such as water, emergency rations, three knives, a paper map, a compass and a sealed envelope labeled DO NOT OPEN UNLESS BETRAYED. Russ tries to open it and the Lion stops him instantly.
āNot yet.ā
Fulgrim
Fulgrim treats the road trip like a glamorous travel montage and is personally insulted by the reality of gas stations. His travel outfit is immaculate and his luggage is excessive and scented.
He spends the first hour choosing the correct playlist, then complaining that the van lighting is unflattering until he discovers that road bathrooms exist and experiences spiritual damage. At a rest stop he buys sparkling water and a tiny packet of trail mix that costs more than fuel.
Perturabo
Perturabo hates everything about the road system, especially the fact that people are allowed to merge based on ājudgment.ā He spends the trip glaring at infrastructure and muttering that he could fix that. During the ride he drew a replacement highway network, identified seventeen fatal flaws in the van and started reinforcing the cup holders.
Someone asks if he is enjoying the scenery and he answers that the drainage is inadequate. He also refuses to admit that he likes tunnels.
Jaghatai
He isnāt allowed to drive, this was decided before the trip even started, Jaghatai considers this oppression. Every time Dorn drives at the speed limit he looks physically ill. He spends the trip with one arm out the window judging every passing carās technique. He offers driving advice nobody asked for.
At the first chance he takes the wheel and the next thirty minutes become a legend. āRecalculatingā, the gps says. Everyone survives but the van is never the same.
Russ
Russ is road trip energy incarnate. He sings loudly, eats constantly, starts car games and cheats at all of them. He asks āare we there yet?ā not because he is impatient but because it annoys Guilliman.
He brought a cooler full of meat and kept on trying to open windows at highway speed so he could smell the road. He also starts the first fight over the sound system by playing Fenrisian drinking songs for 42 minutes.
Dorn
The ideal road trip driver and the worst road trip companion. He checks tire pressure, adjusts mirrors, obeys all traffic laws and signals perfectly, he also refuses āfunā shortcuts.
The itinerary says they will arrive at 18:40 and Dorn intends to arrive at 18:40. Not 18:39, not 18:41. Exactly 18:40.
He labeled trash bags, first aid supplies, bottled water and backup maps. When Russ spills crumbs, Dorn hands him a small vacuum.
Konrad Curze
He turns every roadside motel into a crime scene in everyoneās imagination. He sits in the very back, staring out the window at passing towns and occasionally he says things like: āSomeone died there.ā Everyone looks and itās just a normal dinerā¦probably.
He narrates what could go wrong at every stop, Guilliman asks him to stop. āDo you prefer surprises then?ā Curze replies. At night, he tells a road story so disturbing that nobody uses the rest stop bathroom alone again. Except the Lion.
Sanguinius
He is the reason the road trip doesnāt become an active warzone. He distributes snacks fairly, calms arguments, checks if Angron needs air, listens to Lorgarās feelings and makes the gas station cashierās entire week by smiling politely.
He gets the window seat once and spends an hour looking at the landscape with soft melancholy. He makes the mistake of saying āthis is niceā and the van immediately hits a pothole so hard Fulgrim makes a sound not meant for mortal ears. Sanguinius apologizes to the pothole.
Ferrus
Ferrus doesn't trust the van and spends the first hours listening to the engine, identifying a vibration near the rear until finally telling Dorn to pull over.Ā Dorn says the vehicle is operating within acceptable parameters but they pull over anyway. Ferrus fixes a problem that would absolutely have stranded them later.Ā
He then spends the rest of the trip in grim satisfaction, occasionally glaring at the dashboard like it owes him respect.
Angron
He hates being trapped in the van, everyone is too close, the snacks are loud and he GPS voice keeps giving orders.
He lasts twenty minutes before saying: āTurn it off.ā
āWe need navigation.ā Guilliman replies.
āI know where I am, in hell.ā
At a rest stop he gets out and just stands in the parking lot breathing like a chained animal remembering open air.
Guilliman
He has the route, budget, fuel plan, meal schedule, lodging confirmation, emergency contacts and a spreadsheet called Travel Cohesion Matrix that nobody wants to know what is in it. He schedules bathroom breaks which is immediately controversial.
He is also in charge of splitting costs which becomes impossible when Alpharius produces receipts from places they never visited.
Mortarion
Mortarion sits near the window and complains about the air, the van smells like snacks, leather and too many demigods.
He opens the window.
Guilliman closes it.
Mortarion opens it again.
This continues for 120 miles.
He hates gas stations most of all and secretly enjoys foggy morning roads but doesn't admit it.
Magnus the Red
Magnus brought too many books. He reads road signs aloud in their historical context, explains the symbolism of crossroads and interprets cloud shapes. He gives an unsolicited lecture on ancient travel rituals. Dorn bans psychic interference with road games after Magnus wins I Spy by saying āI spy something concealed in the mind of the driver.ā
The GPS fascinates him.
āA machine spirit that whispers directions from the heavens.ā
āIt is satellite navigation.ā Ferrus replies.
āYes, as I said.ā
HorusĀ
Horus is somehow everyoneās favorite road trip companion. He tells stories, mediates seating disputes and can convince almost anyone to take the middle seat.
He starts a game where everyone shares one thing they are looking forward to, it sounds innocent at first but by the end he has gathered psychological intelligence on every brother. Guilliman notices too late. Horus also controls the playlist at one point and somehow chooses songs everyone tolerates.
Lorgar
He treats the road trip as a pilgrimage before they have left the driveway. He brings a journal and writes reflections on roadside signs and the spiritual symbolism of service stations.
āCommunion takes many forms.ā he says when someone asks him to pass the chips.
āThey are barbecue chips.ā Ferrus replies.
Lorgar writes that down.
At sunset he becomes unbearable gazing out the window and saying that every road is a question asked of the horizon.
āThe question is whereās dinner.ā Russ mutters.
Lorgar also cries during a song Horus picked and Horus pretends this was not intentional.
Vulkan
Vulkan packs like a saint and a dad, he remembers everyoneās preferences, even Curzeās which alarms him. He starts waving at children in passing cars and they wave back, this becomes the only wholesome part of the journey.
At a rest stop Vulkan sees a broken vending machine and fixes it, then he buys snacks from it because āit should know it did well.ā He makes everyone stretch their legs, even Angron, nobody admits it helps but it does.
Corvus Corax
Corvus is perfect for long night drives and terrible for daytime cheer. He sits by the window with headphones watching the road vanish behind them. He doesnāt complain but also doesnāt participate unless directly summoned.
During a break stop he disappears, everyone panics for eight minutes until he returns with coffee, a local newspaper and the knowledge that the motel manager is hiding something.
Alpharius Omegon
Alpharius is the reason the road trip route makes no sense. The GPS says one thing, the printed map says another but the road signs appear to agree with neither.
There are suddenly two vans at a gas station, identical except one has a bumper sticker reading I AM ALPHARIUS, nobody knows which one they arrived in. The snack bag contains forged receipts, fake IDs and a map with several towns circled in red.
Dearest Man Emperor Of Man Kind, I just saw one of your Custodian Guards take off most of his armor and then immediately stub their toe on a stair, trip over a coffee table, and nearly impale themselves on a ruststalkers transonic blade... am... am I allowed to reprimand them or... should I just leave that conversation to you
I would have an easier time listening to him in his shadow form cause I would be too busy daydreaming about our future marriage if he was in his normal form. I have a deep crush on this man.
Could you please give a little more info on love-birding in your au? As in whatās like the threshold for affection? Are your night lords more animal-like where itās seen as an endearing pet quirk or are there AU couples between humans and astartes?
Iām pretty new to space marine husbandry AUs and Iām not quite sure where the fandom draws the line so i figured Iād ask you directly. Sorry if itās a weird question!
Hi!
So out of character lovebirding is like, when Astartes decides a human is their mate. Obviously, all the love and power to people who do astartes/human content for space marine husbandry, but since I'm taking a more realistic or grounded route where these are pets and act more animal like but with a high degree of intelligence (akin to parrots and dolphins), I decided to make it a behaviour that shouldn't be encouraged. Like a dog humping your leg or something.
Addressing Nacht's lovebirding is more of a crane husband situation where Nacht has decided Cary is also going to raise Nyxus. I leave it to the viewer to assume that as a professional, Cary is taking all possible precautions and not engaging in an unhealthy or inappropriate way with Nacht.
Nius started out as that joke where the tumblr user was about to receive the parrot that was in love with them in their grandfather's will because I think that's very funny. Now that I have taken the crack seriously, Nius has been trained properly and those behaviours discouraged.
I hope this helps and keep in mind this is just the context for my take, there were plenty before me that did delve into the Dating Your Astartes thing which again is literally fine. At the end of the day it's all made up innit.
There is also a difference between space marine husbandry and space marine husbandry sentience where in the space marine husbandry sentience au they literally just go back in time and they arenāt pets they are still fully sentient beings where dating a space marine is okay cause they are literally just space marines, but in our timeline.
Summary: Corvus is a man who has forced entire planets into submission, lead countless wars, and killed countless xenos and traitorsā¦ just to be bested by the written word.
Cw: none
Poetry
Corvus stares at the empty paper in front of him wishing the words in his mind into being. The idea had started off innocently, a simple wish to make a poem befitting of his beloved, full of words to describe her beauty, how she makes him feel, and how appreciative he is of how tolerant she is of his quirks. He knows he is not an easy man to love with how quiet and secretive he is always living in his shadows. Yet putting the words onto paper is harder than he thought, the words were never perfect enough to convey his feelings to him.
āThe Remembrancers make it look easyā, he thought frowning down at the paper. He looks over to his gene-sons as they guard his office and they quickly look away from their gene-father stifling their smirks making him sigh and rub his eyes.
āMy Lord, perhaps you simply write about how she makes you feel?ā one of his sons suggest in an attempt to help get their gene-father out of this situation.
Corvus looks blankly at the son who made the suggestion, before turning his gaze back down at the paper. It was the most obvious solution, yet he felt as though it wouldnāt convey his feelings enough although it wouldnāt hurt to attempt it.
āāāāāāāāāāāā
Rae stares at the paper on her desk with a curious look. It was right in the center, perfectly aligned with a single black flower laying on top. She has the feeling this paper held the reason she has yet to see her husband for the past 12 hours despite knowing he was on the ship somewhere. She rushes to the desk, picking it up and reading the poem on it. She chuckles as she confirms her suspicions that her husband hadnāt shown his face to her all day on purpose most likely out of embarrassment.
She knew Corvus wasnāt a fan of poems as the flowery language in them seemed disingenuous to him, so she was quite surprised to see his attempt at the same language. Though, he made it distinctly his own with the dark romantic similes and metaphors. It was sappy, and quite dark at times, and she loved it hugging the paper to her chest sighing happily at his romantic gesture.
It wasnāt a swooning poem perfected by a well-versed Remembrancer, but it was his words, his emotions openly on display, and she loved every single one of them.
