Raven Host Proving
The Raven Host tests its aspirants through trials that reveal both their strength and their usefulness. The paths of Rehlos, Carsybe, Mourgrim, and Craeven meet within those trials, bringing together four men whose abilities serve different needs of the host.
Early Trials
Rehlos and Carsybe begin cooperating because each improves the other’s chances of success. Neither trusts the arrangement beyond its usefulness, and each believes he is exploiting it.
Carsybe sees in Rehlos an unusually effective martial instrument. He may believe his counsel and manipulation are shaping the commander he needs. Rehlos expects such behaviour from a competent Magus and regards Carsybe as particularly dangerous for precisely that reason. The sorcerer’s usefulness makes him worth tolerating, and Rehlos may consider the attempted influence predictable enough to exploit in turn.
Craeven and Mourgrim initially advance separately. Craeven proves himself through sincere devotion to Tzeentch and the practical service a Zealot can provide to a warhost. Mourgrim survives through raw aggression and brute force. His effectiveness in direct violence, and his refusal to remain fallen under punishment that should stop him, carry him through successive trials.
Convergence
A major trial brings all four against the same objective. They have no formal bond or standing company, but their complementary strengths make their cooperation unusually effective. That success gives them reason to work together again as their service continues.
The Later Field Command
Rehlos earns military authority through competence and advancement, eventually commanding a larger formation of the Raven Host. Marauders, lesser Chaos warriors, cultists, auxiliaries, and other assigned troops fight within it.
Carsybe becomes its principal Magus and sorcerous adviser. He continues to seek influence and may regard himself as the command’s true intellect, while Rehlos remains alert to those ambitions.
Craeven serves as principal Zealot and religious authority. He accepts Rehlos’s temporal command but regards its internal contest for influence as subordinate to Tzeentch’s designs. All of them, in his understanding, remain instruments of the Great Changer.
Mourgrim becomes the most notable front-line Marauder and shock warrior. He has little interest in officership; Rehlos directing him toward a target suits him well. Few of the early aspirants survive long enough or fight effectively enough to rival his reputation.
The four are the best-known core of the formation, whose other soldiers fight beneath and beside them.
Notes
The convergence corresponds approximately to the Chapter 4 Raven Host proving material. The early campaign does not establish a permanent four-person party, and the later command is larger than the named core. Neither Carsybe’s nor Rehlos’s interpretation of their contest for influence is established as objectively correct.