Codex Ultramarines (1995) Chaos / Heresy Lore

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THE SPACE MARINES

The origin of the Space Marines goes back to the distant days before the Imperium itself, to a time known to history as the Age of Strife. This was an age of wars and savagery throughout the galaxy. Interstellar civilisation all but collapsed leaving human planets isolated and vulnerable. It is impossible to say for certain what caused this great calamity, but one of the main contributory factors was the development of massive psychic storms within warp space. All interstellar travel relies upon unique drive systems which propel ships through the alternate psychic dimension of warp space. Sometimes fierce storms within the warp make journeys hazardous. Craft can be carried off course by thousands of parsecs or hundreds of years in time. If storms are sufficiently intense or lengthy it is impossible for ships to travel at all. Such adverse conditions prevailed throughout the long Age of Strife.

During the Age of Strife the Earth was devastated by pollution and plague. Its huge and largely unproductive population had come to rely upon imports of food and raw materials without which life on the planet could not be sustained. Billions died and the survivors fought savagely amongst themselves. From the ruins of civilisation emerged a barbaric society of warlords and warrior tribes. The accumulated accomplishments of millennia were forgotten. Earth’s cities fell into rubble and were soon lost beneath the drifting sands. Of a once proud and sophisticated society nothing remained. The Age of Strife lasted for approximately ten thousand years and ended only when the warp storms abated and interstellar travel became feasible once more. At that time a mighty leader emerged upon Earth, a warlord and conqueror who succeeded in uniting the entire planet under his rule. From the battling tribes of barbarians a new world was created. Ancient technologies were rediscovered and directed to new purposes. The name of the warlord who achieved all this is not recorded, and he is known only by the title he assumed in later times — the Emperor.


THE FIRST SPACE MARINES
A Space Marine is a genetically enhanced warrior, far stronger and tougher than an ordinary human being. Space Marines can live for several hundred years and they possess extraordinary powers.

Every Space Marine is born an ordinary human. The conversion into super-warrior is achieved by the careful implantation of genetically cultured organs. Once implanted into the human body, these organs gradually grow and modify the recipient’s genetic structure. Selected hormones are boosted to encourage extraordinary growth. Muscle tissues expand and the bone structure is strengthened. Genetically tailored substances released into the bloodstream cause further changes throughout the Space Marine’s body. This process takes several years to complete and only works whilst the body is growing naturally. This means that Space Marines are recruited at a comparatively young age and must start their training before they reach adulthood. Genetically altered warriors appeared in the Emperor’s armies even before he had completed the conquest of Earth. They were the first of their kind and as such their powers were less than the Space Marines of later years. None the less, during those early years the techniques of genetic restructuring were perfected. Individual germ cells, called gene-seeds, were isolated and genetically modified. From these few cells tiny organs were cultivated in a nutrient solution. Each organ would then be tested for genetic stability and surgically inserted into a warrior. This technique remains basically the same even in the forty-first millennium.

The development of genetic tissue took many centuries of work. This research was itself a spin-off from the aborted Primarch project, which was an early attempt at genetic restructuring with the aim of creating god-like creatures called Primarchs. The Primarchs were designed to have powers far beyond even the incredible abilities of the Space Marines. Samples of genetic tissue taken from the foetal Primarchs were used to create the genetic banks which provided the first Space Marine gene-seed. Thus the fates of Primarchs and Space Marines were inextricable interwoven even at their conception, and the Primarchs were to play a vital role in the early history of the Space Marines.


THE GREAT CRUSADE
The Great Crusade is the name given to the period of conquest that established the extent of the Imperium. During the Great Crusade massive armies of Space Marines spread out from Earth. Their task was to seek out and liberate human worlds throughout the galaxy, uniting all of humanity in a single mighty Imperium. The Great Crusade lasted for about two hundred years and saw some of the bloodiest fighting known up to those times. The worlds rediscovered by the Emperor’s armies had been cut off from Earth for millennia. Some had degenerated to barbarity. Others had developed into sprawling hive worlds. Many were under the domination of aliens or had become corrupted by the evils of Chaos. All these worlds were gradually reconquered and brought back within the Imperium.

The Space Marines who took part in the Great Crusade were organised into massive armies called Legions. The size of a Legion varied tremendously and could be expanded to provide extra troops as needed. Accelerated gene-seed germination techniques were developed that could turn a human into a Space Marine within a year. At the time, tens of thousands of troops were needed so the Space Marine Legions could push forwards over a widening battle front. Only later would the stability of this accelerated gene-seed prove doubtful when the dangers of its use became apparent.

Twenty Space Marine Legions took part in the Great Crusade. These twenty are known as the First Founding because they were the first Space Marines to be created. Each Legion was led by its own Primarch, the god-like being whose genetic structure formed the basis for the Legion’s gene-seed. The character and special powers of each Primarch were reflected in the abilities of his Space Marine Legion. Even today the descendants of these ancient Space Marines are characterised by genetic qualities derived from their original Primarchs. The twenty original Chapters and their Primarchs were as follows.



These twenty Legions conquered the galaxy and created the Imperium. Later, during the Horus Heresy, they divided into two factions and fought for possession of the empire.

 

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THE HORUS HERESY
Horus was the greatest of the Primarchs and the most trusted of all the Emperor’s generals. He was placed in charge of the entire north-eastern battlefront during the Great Crusade. This was the largest and by far the most difficult of the war zones. Horus’s success was so spectacular that he was appointed Warmaster, standing in lieu of the Emperor in the reconquered zone. As a token of his appreciation the Emperor renamed the Lunar Wolves the Sons of Horus. At the time none guessed that Horus might owe his success to more than mortal courage. Later events revealed that Horus served a darker master, that his loyalty to humanity was nothing but a pretence from the start.

Somehow the gene-seed of Horus had mutated. Both the Primarch and his Legion were touched by darkness, a corruption of the spirit and body that became increasingly apparent. The Chaos Gods, dark malevolent beings from the warp, had wrought their evil upon Horus and his armies. Whilst ostensibly fighting for humanity, Horus was really paving the way for the conquests of Chaos. His dark masters were hatching plans of their own. The Emperor would be allowed to possess the galaxy only for a moment. He would be encouraged to stretch his empire further and further, until his forces were scattered thinly along the galactic fringe. Then the Dark Gods would strike. Horus, their chosen champion, would lead his forces upon the unprotected Earth and crush the Emperor with one swift blow.

Horus led his Legions westward. It is impossible to say which Legions sided with him because they were already corrupted by Chaos, and which were merely following the lead of their commander. In the end it matters little, for all the Legions that - sided with Horus were damned by their actions. All embraced the Dark Gods whether they knew it at the beginning, or whether they were duped by the twisted words of Horus. The following Legions and their Primarchs all sided with Horus including his own Legion, now renamed for the second time as the Black Legion.



These nine are known to the Imperium as the Traitor Legions. Of Legions numbered 2 and 11 nothing is recorded, but it seems likely these also fought for Horus at least during the beginning of the Heresy. The history of the Dark Angels during the Heresy is also unknown. The Dark Angels do not appear in any battle accounts of the loyal forces. In all, and discounting the role of the Dark Angels, there were therefore between nine and eleven Traitor Legions accounting for more than half of the entire Space Marine force. These were amongst the largest and most battle-hardened armies of the Imperium.

 

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THE DEFEAT OF HORUS
It would take many pages and much time to describe in full the attack of Horus upon Earth and his subsequent defeat. Suffice to say the short war ended when the Emperor teleported onto Horus’s battle barge and slew the Warmaster in hand-to-hand combat. During the same conflict Sanguinius, the Blood Angels Primarch, was killed and the Emperor was mortally wounded. From that moment on the Emperor ceased to live in the conventional sense. His body was placed in stasis and his psychic spirit cast into the vortex of Chaos to wander the paths of time and space. The defeated Traitor Legions were driven from Earth and escaped into the region of Chaos known as the Eye of Terror, where they remain to this day. The Traitor Legions inhabit a shadow world between chaos and reality, existing out of normal time and space. Whilst millennia have passed in the outside world the Traitor Legions have endured eons of timelessness, emerging to raid and destroy at moments when the interweaving time streams converge. These are not merely the same Traitor Legions that attacked Earth, they are the very same warriors, doomed to battle for their dark masters for all eternity.

 

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THE HIGH LORDS
By the end of the Horus Heresy the galaxy was in turmoil once more. The armies of the Imperium were destroyed or scattered. Thousands of spacecraft had been lost in the conflict. Worse of all, the Emperor was gone. Though not actually dead he was lost to the living world and his spirit cast into the vortex of Chaos. The guidance which the Emperor had given the Imperium for hundreds of years was suddenly absent. Such was the power and influence of the Emperor that it was impossible to imagine a single successor inheriting his mantle. For a while it seemed as if the Imperium would surely break apart: that the Cult Mechanicus and the workshops of Mars would divorce themselves from the Imperium, that Primarchs and Space Marines would establish their own empires in the depths of space.

What happened next is a tribute to the skills and foresight of a very few powerful men, not least to the Ultramarines’ Primarch Roboute Guilliman. A council was formed of the twelve most powerful individuals in the Imperium. They called themselves the High Lords of Terra, and their self-proclaimed role was to rule the Imperium on behalf of the Emperor. History does not record the names of those first High Lords. Indeed, there are few records of the early centuries of the Imperium. History and legend remain strangely intertwined, describing in almost mythic terms the dark and desperate times that followed the defeat of Horus. However, the tradition of the Ultramarines relates that their Primarch, Roboute Guilliman, was one of these High Lords. He became Lord Commander of the Imperium, the first to carry that title and the only man ever to command the entirety of the Imperium’s armed forces.

The High Lords established the divisions of the Imperium that remain familiar to this day. It was they who formalised the title of Adeptus which is used by all who are servants of the Emperor. The first High Lords laid the structure by which the Adeptus Terra operates, and described the feudal responsibilities and duties of planetary Lords. One of the most important of their accomplishments was the reorganisation of the Imperium’s armies. This task was undertaken almost singlehandedly by the Primarch Roboute Guilliman, who quickly and efficiently codified the structure of the Imperial Guard, the fleet, and the Space Marines. Of all his works the most influential is the Codex Astartes, the great prescriptive tome that lays down the basic organisational and tactical rules for Space Marines.

 

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THE CODEX ASTARTES
The Horus Heresy had revealed weaknesses in the gene-seed of several Space Marine Legions. These defects had been exacerbated by the accelerated gene-seed cultivation techniques needed to keep the huge Space Marine Legions up to strength. The powers of Chaos were able to exploit the resultant physical and mental corruption to turn Horus’s troops against the Emperor. The first objective of the new Codex Astartes was to recognise and expunge these weaknesses.

The Codex decreed that Space Marines would be created and trained slowly. The genetic banks used to create implants would be carefully monitored. Cultivated organs would be subject to the most stringent tests of purity. Young initiates were to undergo trials of suitability before they were accepted, and only those of the sternest character would be chosen. On Earth the Adeptus set up genetic banks to produce and store Space Marine gene-seed. These banks were used to provide all new gene-seed for Space Marines. To prevent cross-contamination the genetic stocks of each of the old Legions was isolated, and henceforth the new Space Marine Chapters would receive gene-seed only from their own genetic stock.

The gene-seed of the Traitor Legions was placed under a time-locked stasis seal, although at the time many believed these dangerous gene stocks had been destroyed. By taking direct control of the genetic stocks the Adeptus on Earth could ultimately control the Space Marines. Now they alone had the power to destroy or create Space Marine armies at will. The most immediate change to the Space Marines was the breaking up of the Legions into smaller fighting forces called Chapters. Each Chapter was to number approximately a thousand fighting warriors divided into ten companies of a hundred. This was never intended to be an absolute rule but a guide which enabled the Adeptus Terra to monitor and control the size of each Chapter. In fact, Chapters have often exceeded this basic strength during times of prolonged war.

To ¢reate the new Chapters the original Space Marine Legions were divided. Each old Legion became a Chapter of the same name plus a number of other new Chapters. These new Chapters are known as the Second Founding. Each of the Second Founding Chapters is derived directly from an original First Founding Chapter and initially shared its gene-seed. Subsequently the new Chapter’s gene-seed was isolated, forming a new genetic line. It is not certain how many new Chapters were created by the Second Founding. Many Imperial records were lost during the later Age of Apostasy, a troubled time that lies across the history of the Imperium like a veil. In all likelihood some of the Chapters created during the Second Founding have since been destroyed leaving no record of their deeds. Others have been lost in most recent times, and their names are now all that remain of them. Some survive to this day, proud inheritors of the traditions of the Great Primarch and First Lord of the Ultramarines. Because of the uncertain histories of the Space Marine Chapters the list below cannot hope to be complete, but it includes all the Chapters known to have been created during the Second Founding.



Roboute Guilliman’s prime consideration was to quickly reorganise the existing Chapters and to send them back to the frontiers where anarchy and alien invasion still threatened many worlds. He was a brilliant strategist whose attention to detail was to save the Imperium on many occasions. When he led the armies of the Imperium to war it was always in the full knowledge that supplies were in place, that lines of communication were safe, and that competent men had been placed in charge of every aspect of the operation. When he struck he always sought out the enemy’s weakest spot, the fatal crack in the foe’s defence, rarely engaging in frontal battle unless there was no alternative.

The Codex Astartes further defines the tactical roles, equipment specifications and uniform identification markings of the Space Marines. These guidelines have been much modified over the centuries, and the Codex Astartes of the forty first millennium is a highly developed treatise combining the wisdom of hundreds of military thinkers throughout history. Some of its contents seem petty and restrictive, hardly worthy of the great mind of the Primarch. Others describe actual battles together with comments on the tactics employed and the decisions of the commanders on the spot. As such the Codex Astartes is revered as a holy text and many Chapters regard its recommendations as sanctified by the Emperor himself.

 

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THE HISTORY OF THE ULTRAMARINES

According to legend the Emperor created the Primarchs from artificially engineered genes, carefully imbuing each of them with unique superhuman powers. It took many hundreds of years to collect and refine the mutant genes needed to produce the Primarchs. When all was ready the genetic matrixes were placed within twenty incubator capsules. Legend goes on to tell how the Dark Gods of Chaos spirited away the Primarchs within their incubator capsules, scattering them widely throughout the warp. More than one of the capsules was breached whilst it drifted through warp space. The forces of the warp leaked in wreaking havoc in the developing genetic material inside the capsule. Undoubtedly damage was done, although the nature of that damage would only become apparent during the Horus Heresy.

FORTRESS MACRAGGE
The Ultramarines Legion of Space Marines was assigned to the control of Roboute Guilliman and its forward base relocated to Macragge. The Primarch quickly assimilated the many wonders of the Imperium and set about his new role with skill and enthusiasm. His chief talents, as ever, lay in war, and he soon led the Ultramarines to fresh conquests in the galactic south. He succeeded in liberating more worlds during the Great Crusade than any other Primarch, and the worlds he brought within the Imperium were to benefit from his organisational skills and passion for efficient government.

Whenever Roboute Guilliman freed a world from the tyranny of Orks, Chaos or other aliens, his first priority was to set up a self-supporting defence system. Once a world was safe he could move on, leaving behind enough advisers to ensure that industry would be created, trading routes set up with the Imperium, and government directed towards the prosperity of the people. In this way the Ultramarines could conquer worlds faster than any other Space Marine Legion.

Meanwhile, the fortress of the Ultramarines grew on Macragge. Some Ultramarines remained behind to supervise the work, which progressed rapidly thanks to the ready trading network and advanced industries of the planet. Within a year a training base was established, and recruiting began on the planet Macragge and surrounding worlds. It was not long before the Ultramarines Legion received its first influx of warriors born and bred on Macragge. Thanks to their usual thoroughness of organisation, the Ultramarines were able to receive constant recruits throughout the Great Crusade. Because of its strong recruitment base and Roboute Guilliman’s tactical expertise the Ultramarines soon became the largest Space Marine Legion, having more recruits than any other Legion and suffering fewer casualties.

AFTER THE HERESY
Whilst the Horus Heresy plunged the Imperium into savagery and civil war, the Ultramarines were engaged on the southern edge of the galaxy. Their very success had carried them far from Earth and isolated them from the conquering armies of Horus in the north-east. News of Horus’s treachery did not even reach the Ultramarines until the attack on Earth was underway. Thanks to the speed of Horus’s attack there was little that Roboute Guilliman could do. None of the worlds already liberated by the Ultramarines was in serious danger from the forces of Chaos. Consequently, the Ultramarines were poorly placed to contribute much during the early stages of the Horus Heresy. Their main success was the destruction of a large force of Chaos Space Marines which was heading to reinforce Horus’s position. Afterwards the Ultramarines took part in several important battles to recover human worlds from the dominion of Chaos.

As fate would have it, the Ultramarines were therefore largely untouched by the fighting of the Horus Heresy. Other loyal Space Marine Legions had lost thousands of troops during the fighting, and half of the original Legions had sided with Horus. As a result the number of Space Marines left was very few, and never were they more needed. The confusion and disorder following the Horus Heresy had left the Imperium weak and vulnerable. Everywhere the enemies of mankind prepared to attack. Many worlds remained in the grip of Chaos. Into this breach stepped Roboute Guilliman and the Ultramarines. Always the largest Legion, the Ultramarines found themselves divided and dispatched all over the Imperium in a desperate effort to stem the tide of invasion and unrest.

The Ultramarines successfully held the Imperium together during a time of intense danger. Macragge was able to supply new recruits at such a rate that soon the Ultramarines alone accounted for more than half the total number of Space Marines. Within a decade order was restored to the Imperium. Even as the Ultramarines reconquered, a new theory of warfare was emerging. Under the guidance of the Ultramarines’ Primarch, the Codex Astartes was taking shape. Its doctrines would reshape the future of all Space Marines and lay the foundation for the Imperium’s military strength.

 

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THE CURSED FOUNDING
The Twenty First Founding was the largest since the Second Founding. It took place sometime immediately before the Age of Apostasy, a time of civil war which divided and almost destroyed the Imperium. The new Chapters were dogged by bad luck right from the start. Several disappeared mysteriously whilst in action or in warp space. Every surviving Chapter of the founding is affected by spontaneous genetic mutation of its gene-seed. As a result the Chapters have gradually dwindled in size as their inability to raise and induct recruits means that battle casualties cannot be replaced. Worse still, some Chapters have developed genetic idiosyncrasies, mutations which strain the tolerance of the Inquisition and threaten the Chapter’s survival. Few Chapters have suffered as ignominious an end as the Flame Falcons whose spontaneous and extreme physical corruption turned them into a race no longer human or sane. The Chapter was declared Excommunicate and driven from its home world of Lethe by the Grey Knights.




THE CRUX TERMINATUS



This is one of the most famous of all Space Marine icons. Only the honoured veterans of a Space Marine Chapter fight in suits of Terminator armour and wear this badge. The symbol has various forms and designs but all versions are carved from great chunks of stone. Within each badge is bound a tiny fragment of the suit of armour worn by the Emperor during his climatic battle with the arch-traitor Horus over 10,000 years ago. Sergeants and captains bear modified
versions of the design to signify their rank and authority. Smaller representations of the crux are frequently worn by the veterans when they fight in power armour. These small, metallic icons are hung from banner tops, weapons and belts.

THE DARK FOUNDING
Not all the founding's of Space Marine Chapters are / recorded in exact detail. However, the Adeptus Terra maintains a bank of original gene-seed from every single Chapter ever created since the Horus Heresy. There is one notable exception: the Thirteenth Founding, also known as the Dark Founding. No-one knows how many Chapters were created by the Dark Founding or what became of them. Perhaps the secret lies in some deep vault in the record office of the Adeptus Terra. Maybe the Space Marines of the Dark Founding are still out there, somewhere, waiting to return to the world that created them.

THE SECOND FOUNDING
The Second Founding of the Space Marines was decreed seven years after the death of Horus. The existing Space Marine Legions were dissolved one by one and refounded as smaller, more flexible formations. Where the old Legions were unlimited in size the new formations were fixed at a nominal one thousand fighting warriors. This corresponded to the existing unit called the Chapter, and in future the Chapter was recognised as the standard autonomous Space Marine formation.

Existing Space Marine Legions were divided into new Chapters. One Chapter kept the titles and colours of the original Legion, whilst the remaining Chapters took new titles and colours. Most of the old Legions divided into fewer than five Chapters, the Space Wolves divided into only two, but the Ultramarines were divided many times. The exact number of new Chapters created from the Ultramarines is uncertain: the number listed by the oldest known copy of the Codex Astartes (the so-called Apocrypha of Skaros) gives the total as twenty three but does not name them. A list of Chapters known to have been created at this time is given elsewhere. As a result of the Second Founding the Ultramarines’ gene-seed became the stock type. The new Second Founding Chapters created from the Ultramarines are often referred to as the Primogenitors, or ‘first born’. All the Primogenitor Chapters venerate Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, and their own founding father and Patron.


ULTRAMAR
With the Second Founding the size of the Ultramarines’ force was much reduced. Most of the Space Marines left Macragge to establish new Chapters elsewhere. The Ultramarines’ fortress was built to accommodate more than ten times as many Space Marines as now remained on the homeworld. As a result its arsenals and weapon shops were partially dismantled, and taken by the Primogenitor Chapters to found their own bases throughout the galaxy. The genetic banks of the Ultramarines, and the huge recruitment organisation, was similarly reduced in size. One aspect of the old Ultramarines Legion that survived was the close relationship between the Space Marines and the people of the surrounding planets. During the Great Crusade the worlds around Macragge provided young recruits for the Ultramarines. They also supplied raw materials, armaments and spacecraft. Although the need to recruit from these worlds vanished with the reorganisation, the tradition continued. To this day, the Ultramarines recruit not from a single world, but from the whole of local space. This area around Macragge is called Ultramar, the empire of the Ultramarines. Ultramar is unique amongst the Space Marines. Where other Chapters rule over a single planet, asteroid or, in some cases, a mobile space fleet or orbital fortress, the Ultramarines have a larger domain. They control no fewer than eight local systems, each with its own worlds and governments loyal to the Chapter. All the worlds of Ultramar share a common cultural heritage with Macragge, so it is not surprising that their styles of architecture, government, and traditions are similar. After the Horus Heresy all eight worlds benefited from the improving reforms of Roboute Guilliman. There are many today who regard Ultramar as the ideal model for human society.

 

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THE IMPERIALIS

The winged skull badge that is the Imperialis has its origin in the great Heresy of Horus. It was adopted as the campaign badge of the loyal Chapters during the Imperium-wide conflict that was the heresy. Since then it has become the honour of righteous victory. Most often the chest armour of the recipient is carved into the great winged skull but it can also appear on the banners and finials.