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Ultramarines

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The Ultramarines were the XIII Legion of the original twenty Space Marine Legions. This loyalist Legion was later re-organized and divided into Chapters according to the Codex Astartes. Their Primarch is Roboute Guilliman, whose leadership, not to mention his authorship of the Codex Astartes, were instrumental in humanity's survival following the Horus Heresy. Because their Primarch wrote the text that defines a Space Marine Chapter, the Ultramarines follow this Codex strictly; their only deviation being the recent formation of the Tyrannic War Veterans, comprised entirely of veterans of battles with the Tyranids. The Ultramarines are possibly the most important Imperial organization on the Eastern Fringe.

Simple Badge Space Marines.png
Space Marines Portal
Ultramarines
Ultramarines Symbol.png
Legion Number XIII
Primarch Roboute Guilliman
Homeworld Macragge
Fortress-Monastery Fortress of Hera
Chapter Master Marneus Calgar
Colours Blue, with white and gold[8c]
Specialty Codex Chapter
Strength ~1000 marines
Battle Cry Courage and Honour! / 'We march for Macragge!'[38]

Home Sector

The realm of Ultramar

The Ultramarines are unique in that, unlike their fellow chapters, they control an entire sub-sector of space, rather than a single planet. Collectively, these systems are known as the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar, with Macragge as its capital. Though the realm itself is divided into smaller sectors which are each in turn ruled by Tetrarchs that are appointed by Roboute Guilliman himself.[59k]

While the number of colonized worlds in this domain numbers in the hundreds, some of the most well-known planets of Ultramar include[1c]:

History

Great Crusade and Heresy-era Ultramarine

Early History

The Ultramarines, in the days before being reunited with their Primarch, were originally known as XIII Legion. The legion was created towards the end of the Unification Wars, developed from a gene-seed that was noted to be absent of mutation and with a high adaptability. The original recruits were drawn from from the sub-equatorial maglev clans of Panpocro, the war families of the Saragon Enclave, the Midafrik Hive Oligarchy and the anthropophagic tribes of the Caucasus Wastes. As varied in culture and origin as these groups were, they all had one factor in common; their violent and often bitter resistance to the later stages of Unification, a resistance broken ultimately in each case not by negotiated surrender but near annihilation, with in some situations little remaining save interned refugees and orphaned populations left by the savage conflicts which had brought these peoples to heel. The legion was created at such a late stage in the war that they have no recorded combat operations on Terra, instead being used for the first time for the liberation of the Solar System.[50b]

They were one of the three Space Marine Legions to take part in the First Pacification of Luna, the first pitched battle of the Great Crusade.[39] Another major early campaign of the legion was putting down the Osiris Rebellion. By 833.M30, the strength of the legion had risen to 33,000, but its morale and pride was harmed as a result of heavy losses during the Osiris Rebellion.[50b]

The Youth of Roboute Guilliman

Like the other Primarchs, Roboute Guilliman was taken as an infant by the powers of Chaos, and removed to a far-flung world in an effort to prevent the coming Age of the Imperium. The infant Guilliman's capsule fell to earth on Macragge, where it was discovered by a group of noblemen hunting in the forest. Inside the capsule they found a child, surrounded by a glowing aura. He was taken back to Konor, one of the two Consuls who governed Macragge, who adopted the infant as his son and named him Roboute.[1h]

Roboute was a prodigy, growing fast in both body and intellect. By age ten, he had mastered every subject the wisest men of Macragge could teach him, and his insights into matters of history, philosophy, and science often stunned his elders. However, his greatest talents were as a military leader. These talents led his father to give him command of an expeditionary force to Illyrium, a mountainous region in the far north of Macragge, whose wild inhabitants had terrorized the civilized regions for years and successfully resisted every previous military campaign. Not only did Roboute fight a brilliant campaign but he also earned the respect of the wildmen who never again threatened the more civilised parts of Macragge. However, on his return to the capital Roboute found the city in chaos, as his father's co-Consul, Gallan, had attempted a coup. Gallan led a faction of Macragge's nobility who were used to enjoying their wealth and position at the expense of armies of slaves, and resented Konor's legislation favoring the common people, among whom he was immensely popular.[1h]

Approaching the city, Roboute and his soldiers saw the city in chaos, being sacked by mobs of Gallan's men, while the Consul House was under siege. Roboute left his men to restore order to the city, while he rushed to the Consul House and lifted the siege, only to find his father close to death, surrounded by his loyal bodyguards. He had been mortally wounded by an assassin in Gallan's employ, and with his dying breath, told Roboute who was responsible.[1h]

Roboute swiftly crushed the rebellion and, amid a wave of popular relief, assumed the title of sole Consul of Macragge. He set about punishing the treachery and carrying out his father's vision. Gallan and his co-conspirators were executed, and their lands and wealth were redistributed to the people. With superhuman energy, Roboute reorganized Macragge's entire social structure, creating a meritocracy where office and honours were given to the hard-working, rather than the wealthy and influential. Under his leadership, Macragge prospered as it never had before.[1h]

The Arrival of the Emperor

While Roboute was prosecuting his war against the Illyrian rebels, the Emperor of Mankind and his armies had reached the neighboring planet of Espandor. It was there that the Emperor heard stories of the extraordinary son of Consul Konor, and realized that he had found one of the lost Primarchs. However, due to an unexpected warp storm, his ship was thrown far off course and by the time it reached Macragge, Roboute had been ruling for almost five years.[1h]

When the Emperor reached Macragge, he found a world that was self sufficient, prosperous, with a strong and well-equipped military, and engaging in trade with nearby systems. Impressed, the Emperor assigned command of the Ultramarines Legion to Guilliman, and relocated the Legion's forward base to Macragge.[1h]

The Great Crusade

With the exception of the Luna Wolves, no Legion conquered as many worlds, or conquered worlds as fast, or left conquered worlds in such good state during the Great Crusade, as the Ultramarines. Guilliman restored the legion's morale and prestige following difficulties in the Osiris Rebellion and later took revenge on the Osirian Psybrids at the Battle of the Eurydice Terminal.[50b] Whenever Guilliman liberated a world, he would not move on until he had set up a self-sufficient defense system, and left advisors behind to create industry, set up trade routes with the rest of the Imperium, and form a government whose first concern would always be the well-being of the people[1h]. The success of the Ultramarines may be thanks to their diverse but stable gene-seed. In them was found a mixrure of aggression and restraint, discipline and determination which rendered them supremely suited for joint taskforce operations and cross-theatre warfare.[50b]

As Ultramar grew into a small stellar empire in its own right, Guilliman created a supremely efficient military machine, centered around Macragge, that provided the Ultramarines with a steady flow of new recruits. Between this factor, and the minimal casualties suffered as a result of Guilliman's tactical genius, the Ultramarines soon became the largest of all the Space Marine Legions[1h] – so large, in fact, that an organizational unit above the Company was required. The Ultramarines were thus organized into Chapters, numbering twenty-two just before the Battle of Calth.[Needs Citation]

At the time of the Horus Heresy, it is estimated that the Ultramarines Legion numbered around 250,000 Space Marines.[28]

The Horus Heresy

Ultramarines during the Battle of Calth

See main article - Notable Heresy Era Battles of the Ultramarines

Before Horus declared his treachery against the Emperor, he ordered the Ultramarines Legion to assemble for war in the Veridian System in Segmentum Tempestus far to the galactic south, claiming that the system was under attack by an Ork invasion force from the Ghaslakh Empire. Ultramar was close enough for an assault against Veridian, so Guilliman ordered his Legion to assemble in the Calth System.[Needs Citation]

Battle of Calth

Main article: Battle of Calth

As Guilliman and his fleets arrived at Calth, they knew something was wrong, because none of their Astropaths could get messages through the Warp and the storms were interfering with the navigation of their ships; they were blocked from the rest of the Imperium. It was at this moment that the traitor forces of the Word Bearers Legion attacked, rendering the Ultramarines unable to participate in much of the Battle of Terra. Simultaneously, the Word Bearers under Lorgar as well as the World Eaters attempted to cut off the rest of Ultramar from the greater Imperium in the Shadow Crusade.[41] The battle at Calth, though ultimately a victory for Guilliman, was devastating for the Ultramarines. Nearly 120,000 of the Legion's Space Marine were lost and another 28,000 rendered combat-incapable.[50c] This represented almost 60% of the Legion's Pre-Heresy strength of 250,000.[28]

Imperium Secundus

After the formation of the Ruinstorm, Guilliman feared Terra lost and used the Ultramarines and the realm of Macragge to create a new contingency empire known as Imperium Secundus.[43] Imperium Secundus faced a major test in the Battle of Sotha, where the Ultramarines and their fellow Astartes allies that had gathered fought off a force of Night Lords.[51]

Ultimately after a number of disasters, clashes between Guilliman, Sanguinius, and Lion El'Jonson, and a vision by Sanguinius that the Emperor was alive, Imperium Secundus was abolished. The three Primarch's led their Legions in an attempt to breach the Ruinstorm and reach Terra. Through an arduous journey, they eventually reached Davin, the nexus of the Ruinstorm, and engaged a vast Daemonic host. After the battle and the destruction of Davin, a way to Terra through the Ruinstorm was clear. However in their way stood many enemy blockades as Horus had foreseen this route. Sanguinius and the Blood Angels raced directly for Terra, as was their destiny, while Guilliman and Lion El'Jonson led the Ultramarines and Dark Angels in diversionary attacks against Horus' blockade.[67]

After the death of the Ruinstorm, Guilliman gathered whatever forces he could and made haste for Terra. In his path lay a large defensive chain of hundreds of worlds manned by the Iron Warriors. In a series of bitter engagements, both sides took heavy losses but the loyalists were able to maintain a steady advance.[70]

The Great Scouring

Main article: Great Scouring

Guilliman was ultimately able to set course for Terra, destroying Chaos reinforcements along the way, but arrived after Horus had already been defeated, and the Traitor Legions scattered. Because of this, the Ultramarines were one of the few Legions at full strength in the aftermath of the Heresy; thus, Guilliman and his Ultramarines bore much of the burden of holding the Imperium together against aliens and Chaos forces. During this time, the Ultramarines recruited heavily from Ultramar and eventually counted for over half of the Loyalist Marines. Apart from leading his Ultramarines in countless battles across the Galaxy, Guilliman also accepted an extraordinary appointment as Lord Commander of the Imperium; with the Emperor crippled and Lord Malcador dead, it fell to Guilliman to re-organize the Council of Terra into a ruling body capable of running the Imperium without their sovereign.[Needs Citation]

Around a decade after the Heresy ended, the Imperium finally reached a point of stability[Needs Citation].

Creation of the Codex Astartes

After the Horus Heresy, Roboute Guilliman set himself to create the Codex Astartes, which would define the tactics and organization of all Space Marines, from battlefield strategies to squad markings. Most important of these changes was the division of the Legions into 1,000-strong Chapters. One of the Chapters would retain the heraldry of the original Legion, but the others would be given a new name and symbol. In doing so, Guilliman hoped to divide the power of the Space Marines to ensure that a civil war on the scale of the Heresy could never occur again.[Needs Citation]

This, however, caused dissention among the remaining Primarchs. Rogal Dorn, Vulkan and Leman Russ opposed the splitting of their legions while Guilliman himself was supported by Jaghatai Khan and Corax. Neither side was willing to relent and the controversy grew more intense, with Rogal Dorn calling Guilliman a coward for not having participated in the Siege of Terra, and Guilliman accusing Dorn of being a rebel for his refusal to follow the Codex. The situation threatened to bring the Imperium into another civil war. When the Imperial Fists strike cruiser Terrible Angel was fired upon by the Imperial Navy, Dorn finally relented and agreed to split his legion.[4a]

Duel on Eskrador

On Eskrador Alpharius, the Alpha Legion's primarch, was apparently taken by surprise when Guilliman departed from his own strictures and led a surprise assault by his elite units on the Alpha Legion headquarters. In the resulting personal combat between Alpharius and Guilliman, it is believed that Alpharius was killed. The Alpha Legion responded, not by breaking and fleeing as Guilliman expected, but by turning on the Ultramarine detachment and harrying them so mercilessly that by the time they had returned to the main body of the Ultramarine force their casualties were almost total. The Ultramarines were driven from the planet in the subsequent battle.[14]

The Iron Cage

Main article: The Iron Cage

Shortly after the Heresy, the Imperial Fists laid siege to the Iron Warriors' greatest construct, The Eternal Fortress. The Fortress consisted of over 20 square miles of bunkers, towers, minefields, trenches, razor wire, tank traps, redoubts and a system of complex underground tunnels in the shape of an eight pointed star. At the center was a massive bunker intended to serve as a decoy and of no value whatsoever. Guilliman advised his brother Dorn against the siege, but Dorn was embittered at having lost the debate over the Codex to Guilliman, and wished to vent his anger and frustration on his most bitter of rivals.[Needs Citation]

Hundreds of Imperial Fists littered the grounds of the fortress before Guilliman and the Ultramarine relief force arrived, three weeks and six days later. The Imperial Fists had fought without sleep and had long run out of ammunition before the Ultramarines found them. Perturabo, unable to hold against the two legions, made his final ploy, stopping the Imperial Fists to recover over four hundred of their dead and the gene seed they contained.[Needs Citation]

Perturabo's victory was spoiled because of the intervention of the Ultramarines. However his sacrifice was great enough for him to be raised to Daemon Prince status.[12][13]

Thessala

Main article: Battle of Thessala

Ultimately, Guilliman's rule over the Imperium would come to an end in the Battle of Thessala. There, he faced his traitorous brother Fulgrim in a fateful duel. Guilliman was mortally wounded during the battle and put into stasis thereafter by the Ultramarines, where he would remain for the next 10,000 years.[59a]

Recent Events

See main article - Notable Post Heresy Battles of the Ultramarines

Marneus Calgar and the Ultramarines during the Battle for Macragge

Timeline

  • 759.M41 - Scouring of Quintarn - Marneus Calgar take personal command of forces driving out Ork scavengers who had captured the Systems of Quintarn, Tarentus, and Masali in the aftermath of Hive Fleet Behemoth.[2b]
  • 974.M41 - The Damnos Incident - On the resource rich planet of Damnos, Captain Cato Sicarius and Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius led an Ultramarine assault onto the planet against the recently risen menace known as the Necrons. Sicarius split the 2nd Company into three separate squads; he led one against the heart of the Necron force at Kellenport's Outer Walls. Upon landing Sicarius's team was surrounded by phalanxes to guard the Necron Lord. During the battle Sicarius fell, gravely wounded by the Lord's War Scythe but was rescued and was evacuated back to his Battle Cruiser to heal. Damnos was lost to the Necrons but due to the unstable reactor of the planet and thanks to a few Thunderhawk Gunships the reactor blew and took the Necrons and planet to their deaths.[1][Needs Citation][21]
  • 990.M41 - The Battle of Ichar IV - At the beginning of the Second Tyrannic War, Ichar IV was infested with Genestealers. A genestealer cult, operating under the name, "the Brotherhood," instigated a rebellion on the planet that caught the attention of Inquisitor Agmar. The Inquisitor petitioned the Space Marine chapter, the Ultramarines, to help put down the rebellion. Marneus Calgar, chapter master of the Ultramarines, arrived 39 days later aboard the space marine battle barge, Octavius. Eventually, with the combined support of the Ultramarines, PDF forces and the Imperial Guard, the inquisition successfully destroyed the invasion and cleansed the planet of all Genestealers.[6b]
  • 999.M41The Battle of Tarsis Ultra - the Ultramarines 4th Company were dispatched to the world of Tarsis Ultra to defend it against on of the two tendrils of Hive Fleet Leviathan. With help from the Mortifactors Chapter and several regiments of the Imperial Guard, the invasion was successfully repelled, though at great cost.[16]
Ultramarines Tactical Squad

Undated

  • Arthos repenting - putting down a rebellion on Arthos.[48]
  • Hagus Wars - a battle between the Ultramarines Second Company, led by Captain Cato Sicarius, and a Tau expansionary force. Ultramarines managed to victory.[47]

Gene-seed

The gene-seed of the Ultramarines is highly regarded as one of the most stable, with only a ten percent chance of mutation[Needs Citation]. The Gene-seed is noted however for having a predisposed increase in aggression and a tendency towards cohesion and adaptation of hierarchy.[50b]

Successor Chapters

The Space Marine Chapters that split from the Ultramarines Legion are amongst the most celebrated Space Marine forces, specially those near the Realm of Ultramar. Most of these chapters closely follow the doctrines in the Codex Astartes.[30]

Primogenitor

The Ultramarines successors of the Second Founding maintain a far closer bond with the ultramarines than many other chapters, with many having their homeworlds in the Ultima Segmentum. But even the most distant Chapters send representatives to the Fortress of Hera, to confer with the Lord Macragge to coordinate the war across the entire Imperium. Many Space Marines of these chapters aspire to take a pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Primarch.[30]

Culture

The Ultramarines pride themselves on their strict adherence to the Codex Astartes, and view themselves as an exemplar for all other Space Marine Chapters. They believe - not without cause - that their Primarch's teachings have moulded the Adeptus Astartes, and the Imperium as a whole, in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, and that it is their responsibility to continue to serve as this paragon.[17a][31] For this reason they are viewed as strait-laced and somewhat elitist by their brother chapters, from the more anarchic Space Wolves[34] to even their own successor chapters, such as the Mortifactors.[16a]

The chapter treats deviation from the Codex as a crime tantamount to heresy, punishable by a Death Oath – exile from the chapter on a suicidal mission to combat the forces of Chaos inside the Eye of Terror.[31][32] To the Ultramarines, the Codex is more than a set of rules, it represents discipline and respect for order, the key virtues that separate the Ultramarines and their brethren from the Traitor Legions. Disobeying the Codex, even for a noble cause, is simply the first step towards the belief that the ends justify the means, and from there to total anarchy.[31][17a]

The Ultramarines are also strongly influenced by their unique history as stewards of Ultramar and its human population. Guilliman founded a culture based on striving for the common good, and the Ultramarines are proud to uphold these beliefs. Where other Space Marines are aloof, and sometimes contemptuous of the Imperium's "lesser" mortals, most Ultramarines are used to working closely with "ordinary" people in Ultramar, and regard any human life, no matter how seemingly insignificant, as sacred and worthy of protection.[15a][15b][16a][18a][33] They are also harshly intolerant when they encounter less altruistic behavior - greed, selfishness, corruption - on other Imperial worlds.[15a][16b]

During the Invasion of Ultramar in 999.M41, Inquisitor Namira Suzaku of the Ordo Malleus noted that the people of Calth regarded her and her entourage with curiosity, but no visible apprehension; she remarked that it was the first world in the Imperium she had ever visited where people felt they had nothing to hide from the Inquisition.[18b]

Organisation

The Ultramarines follow the Codex Astartes in all matters of organization. Roughly two thirds of all Space Marines can trace their origins to the Ultramarines, and many still revere Roboute Guilliman as their creator[Needs Citation]. As well as a Boltgun, many Ultramarines carry a sword known as a Gladius.[22a] The Ultramarines Honour Guard wield formidable close combat weapons known as the Axes of Ultramar.[Needs Citation]

During the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, the Ultramarines were a much larger Legion commanded by Roboute Guilliman. Beneath him were Chapter Masters who led approximately 10,000 warriors and a segment of the Legion fleet. Each Chapter was in turn divided into ten Companies of 1,000 under the command of a Captain.[50]

Chapter Disposition

As the paragon Codex chapter, the Ultramarines are divided into ten Companies of 100 Marines, as prescribed by the Codex Astartes. Each Company Captain is a hero of the Ultramarines, many of whom are also Masters of the Chapter, in charge of a particular aspect of the Chapter's logistics.[Needs Citation]

Headquarters

The headquarters staff as of the beginning of the Indomitus Crusade are as follows[62b]:

Chapter Command
Banner of Macragge.jpg


Armoury Apothecarion Fleet Command Librarius Chaplaincy
UMArmory.jpg

Master of the Forge

UMApothecary.jpg

Master of the Apothecarion

Master of the Fleet[a]

UMLibrary.jpg

Chief Librarian.

UMReclusium.jpg

Master of Sanctity

Companies

The current Companies and their Captains as of early M42 are as follows:[1a]

Veteran Company Battle Companies
1st Company 2nd Company 3rd Company 4th Company 5th Company

"Warriors of Ultramar"

UltraBanner1.jpg


Regent of Ultramar

"Guardians of the Temple"

UltraBanner2.jpg


Master of the Watch

"Scourge of the Xenos"

UltraBanner3.jpg


Master of the Arsenal

"Defenders of Ultramar"

UltraBanner4.jpg


"Wardens of the Eastern Fringe"

UltraBanner5.jpg


Master of the Marches

Reserve Companies Scout Company
6th Company 7th Company 8th Company 9th Company 10th Company
UltraBanner6.jpg


Master of the Rites

UltraBanner7.jpg


Chief Victualler

UltraBanner8.jpg


Lord Executioner

UltraBanner9.jpg


Master of Relics

UltraBanner10.JPG


Master of the Recruits[b]

Notes
  • Light vehicles and transports (Rhinos, Land Speeders, etc.) are not included in this count; such vehicles are held in reserve by their parent Company and drawn upon as their mission requires.[1a]
  • a: Normally, the Captain of the Fourth Company would hold the position of Master of the Fleet. Uriel Ventris bestowed his title upon Lord Admiral Lazlo Tiberius instead, whom he felt was better suited for the job.[15]
Ultramarines Task Force

Ultramarines Honour Company

Because the Ultramarines Legion played little part in fighting the Warmaster's forces during the Horus Heresy, a number of Ultramarines Primogenitors Chapters contributed individual squads to a standing force near the Eye of Terror known as the Ultramarines Honour Company. Those that take this duty in the Cadian Gate are changed by the unknowable terrors. Many of these Space Marines go on to serve in the Deathwatch and are some of the most dedicated of their chapter's warriors.[30]

Recruitment

The Ultramarines continue the tradition, begun by Guilliman, of recruiting from the worlds of Ultramar. There is rarely a shortage of volunteer Aspirants, since the Ultramarines are revered throughout the realm, and many families can boast of having sent several generations of their sons to serve the Chapter.[1i][15c][35]

Aspirants who survive training at one of the barrack institutions in Ultramar, human youths are inducted into the Chapter as Scouts, as the Codex dictates, before completing their transformation into full Space Marines.[1j]

Noted Elements of the Ultramarines

Relics

See main article - Ultramarines Armoury

Vessels

Star Forts

Battle Barges

In active service

Destroyed or Retired

Strike Cruisers

In active service

Destroyed or Retired

Vehicles

Notable Members of the Ultramarines

NOTE - Only NOTABLE Ultramarines should be added below (officers, special characters, main characters of novels, etc.) Any other Ultramarines should be added HERE.

Heresy Era
Post-Heresy
Unique Troops

Related Articles

See Also

Sources

Uncited