Board Thread:Warhammer 40k General Discussion/@comment-91.224.27.226-20131031140001/@comment-3258762-20140101225917

Vaughn891 wrote: As I said I am ruling out nothing because all of these could be possible. However, while I do understand how pre-heresy company structures were much larger just because the Ultramar region consisted of 500 worlds doesn't mean every world is a recruitment world. Every legion have particular worlds they would recruit from. Also while I understand the system of training and implementation was more streamlined pre-heresy you must also take into account the fact that this was during the prosecution of the Great Crusade. The Ultramarines took casualities (some believe more then most other legions) during the Crusade which obviously required recruitment to replace. I also realize that a short period of time doesn't mean one year, however, from the purging of the II or XI to the decision incororate the survivors into the II I doubt it would have been 50 years. Such a thing would be a crisis and would be given priority to complete. Also factor in Russ's impatience and I doubt he would enjoy 50 years of prosecuting the purge of those legions. I agree that your theory is not too much of a stretch it is possible, however, there must have been some survivors from such a purge who know the truth. Also even the Primarchs themselves take note of how the Ultramarines swelled in size, Primarchs who are aware of the process of creating Astartes from implementation to the completion of training. This does indicate some kind of surprise or curiousity at how such a thing happened in such a short period of time. I should explain that I do not mean that the Legion was prosecuted over 50 years, I mean the legion swelled over 50 years. It does say that the Ultramarines grew remarkably fast, but then we must use what remarkable actually means, not what everyone often takes it to mean: It just means it was impressive.

When saying that "It was remarkable, the speed at which Guillimans legion swelled", one does not say "It was suspiciously fast that the Ultramarines grew", one says "It was impressive that Guilliman managed to make his legion grow so fast", which I think is what all other Primarchs meant. And, 50 years to grow from 100.000 to 250.000 is remarkable, but not even slightly unrealistic when you have 500 worlds, some dedicated entirely to recruiting and training Astartes, enough Gene-Seed that you'd beat Bill Gates if it were money, and loads of Apothecaries around. If anything, with all this, it's not a comment on how suspicious it is that the Ultramarines grew, it's a compliment to Guilliman that he managed to make it happen.