Changes: Ultramarines

Revision as of 20:42, 17 February 2012

Ultramarines Symbol — Badge of the Ultramarines Chapter

UltramarineBanner — Alternative Ultramarines Badge

Ultramarines Banner — Chapter Banner of the Ultramarines

UM Colour Scheme — Ultramarines Chapter Colour Scheme

Pre-Heresy Ultramarines Legion Colour Scheme

Primarch Roboute Guilliman during the Great Crusade

Tercion Scout Squad — Ultramarines Scout Marines Squad scouting for the enemy during the Great Crusade

A Tactical Squad roves the battlefield for more foes

The Ultramarines are considered one of the strongest and most honoured of all the Space Marine Chapters in the Imperium of Man, and were responsible for almost single-handedly holding the Imperium together after the Horus Heresy. Highly disciplined and courageous warriors, the Ultramarines have remained true to the teachings of their Primarch Roboute Guilliman for 10,000 standard years. The Ultramarines were originally the XIII Space Marine Legion before the reforms that initiated the Second Founding and reshaped the Imperium after the Heresy.

The name "Ultramarines" is a nod to both the Chapter's standing amongst the other Space Marine Chapters and their role as the source for the gene-seed of more Chapters of Astartes than any of the other former First Founding Legions combined. The culture of the Ultramarines is loosely themed upon the culture of Old Earth's ancient Roman Empire, as exemplified in their Astartes' pseudo-Latin names and their strict adherence to the Codex Astartes, as well as the society of their homeworld of Macragge and the Chapter's method of recruitment. The Ultramarines directly rule the sector of space in the Eastern Fringe known as Ultramar as a fief of the Imperium and their Chapter Master is directly considered the Lord of Macragge and the Master of Ultramar.

Chapter History

Roboute Guilliman

The Emperor of Mankind created the Primarchs from artificially-engineered genes using his own genome as a template, and imbued each of these infant immortals with unique superhuman powers. The doctrine of the Imperial Creed tells of how the Ruinous Powers of Chaos stole away the infant Primarchs within their gestation capsules and scattered them across the breadth of the galaxy through the Warp. More than one of the capsules was breached whilst it drifted through the Warp and the forces of the Immaterium leaked in, altering the gestating superbeing inside the capsule in unknown ways. Some damage was undoubetedly done and Chaotic corruption later affected several of the Primarchs, although the nature of that corruption would not become apparent until the time of the Horus Heresy.

After drifting for decades, or in some cases even hundreds of years, the twenty gestation capsules came to rest on human-settled colony worlds throughout the Milky Way Galaxy -- planets distant from Terra that were inhabited by a wide variety of human cultures. The capsule containing the developing form of one Primarch fell upon the world of Macragge in the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy. Macragge was bleak but not inhospitable world that Mankind had inhabited for many centuries since the time of the Dark Age of Technology. Its industries had survived the Age of Strife in relatively good repair and its people had continued to build sub-light spacecraft even during the time of the most intense Warp Storms. The people of Macragge had also successfully maintained contact with several neighbouring human-settled star systems, despite the loss of many ships and crews to maintain this tenuous link to the rest of human space. The Primarch's gestation capsule was discovered by a group of Macragge noblemen who were on a hunt in a local forest. They broke the capsule's seal and discovered a strikingly beautiful and perfectly formed child within it who was surrounded by a glowing nimbus of power. The amazing child was brought before Konor Guilliman, one of a pair of nobles who bore the title of Consuls who governed the most civilised region of Macragge. Konor adopted the infant as his own son and named him Roboute Guilliman.

The young Primarch grew unnaturally quickly, and as he did so his unique physical and mental powers became obvious to all. By the time of his 10th birthday Guilliman had mastered everything the wisest men of Macragge could teach him. His insight into matters of history, philosophy and science astonished his teachers, but his greatest talent lay in the art of war, which was the true purpose for which his gene-father had created him. The Primarch's obvious genius for military organisation prompted Roboute's foster-father Konor to grant him command over an expeditionary force sent into the far northern lands of Macragge. This mountainous area was named Illyrium, and it was a barbarous land that had long harboured bandits and brigands. Although many wars had been fought against them, the region had never been pacified. Roboute fought a brilliant campaign and won both the submission and surprisingly, the respect, of the fierce Illyrian warriors. When he returned to his home from the northern frontier, Roboute found the capital of Macragge City in turmoil. During Roboute's absence Konor Guilliman's co-Consul, a man named Gallan, had unleashed a coup d'etat against Konor. Gallan was one of many amongst the wealthy nobility of Macragge who were jealous of Konor's political power and popularity. These malcontents enjoyed easy living on vast estates where they were supported by the toiling of a multitude of impoverished slaves. Konor had moved to change all that and had forced the aristocracy of Macragge to provide their vassals with reasonable accommodation and sufficient amounts of food. Konor had also passed legislation that obliged the nobility of Macragge to begin an ambitious programme of improving and enlarging the capital city at their own expense. These reforms proved to be great benefits to the people of Macragge, but were highly unpopular among all but a few of the more far-sighted aristocrats.

As Roboute and his army approached Macragge City they saw the smoke from a multitude of fires and hurried to investigate. From citizens fleeing the city, Roboute learned that Gallan's troops had attacked the Senate House while Konor and his loyal bodyguard troops were inside. The rebels surrounded the Senate, whilst drunken soldiers in the employ of Galan roamed the city looting and murdering. Roboute hurried to his foster-father's rescue. Leaving his own troops to deal with the drunken rebel troops, Roboute personally fought his way into the Senate House. There he found his father dying of wounds inflicted by an assassin in Gallan's employ. For three days the Consul had directed the defence of the building, even as surgeons fought for his life. As he gasped out his last breath, Konor detailed Gallan's betrayal to his beloved son.

With the full backing of his Legion, Roboute crushed the aristocratic rebels and quickly restored order to the capital city. Thousands of citizens flocked to the Senate House and amidst a wave of popular acclaim Roboute assumed the mantle of the sole and now all-powerful Consul of Macragge. The new ruler crushed the old, aristocratic order. Gallan and his fellow conspirators were executed and their lands and family titles taken from them. Hard-working settlers of unquestionable poverty but equally unquestionable honour were given their old oppressors' farms and property. With super-human energy and the vision only a Primarch was capable of executing, the Consul reorganised the social order of Macragge, and created a true meritocracy where the hardworking and honourable received positions of high office, and the armed forces were transformed into a powerful and well-equipped force. Under the rule of the Consul Roboute Guilliman, Macragge flourished as never before.

The Arrival of the Emperor

While the gestation capsules containing the Primarchs had still drifted through the Warp, the Emperor of Mankind and the Legions of Space Marines he had created from his lost sons' genetic material advanced across the galaxy. This Great Crusade liberated many human worlds from alien domination and re-established contact with human-settled planets that had endured isolation and danger for untold thousands of Terran years.

While the young Roboute Guilliman waged war against the Illyrian bandits in the northern mountains of Macragge, the Emperor and a force of Space Marines reached the planet of Espandor in a neighbouring star system. From the Espandorians the Emperor learned of the existence of Macragge and the extraordinary son of the Consul Konor Guilliman. There was no question that this description meant that he had found one of his long-lost sons, for this was surely the legend of a Primarch. While the Emperor's fleet immediately moved on to Macragge, his vessel ran into a sudden and unexpected Warp-squall, a brief but intensely strong disturbance that threw the spacecraft far off-course. By the time the Emperor reached Macragge, Roboute Guilliman had ruled for almost five standard years. In that time the world had undergone a striking transformation. Its people were well-fed and prosperous, its armies well-equipped and its cities had been rebuilt in glittering marble and shining steel. Vessels from Macragge now plied regular and well-patrolled trade routes with the local star systems, bringing raw materials and more people to the flourishing world. The Emperor was astounded to find a planet so well-ordered and prosperous, and realised at once that Roboute Guilliman possessed unsurpassed ability and vision, even for a Primarch. Once Guilliman learned the truth of his origins he immediately swore his fealty to the Emperor, who he knew was his true father.

The XIII Legion of Space Marines, better known as the Ultramarines, was assigned to the command of Roboute Guilliman, whose own genome had provide the basis for its Astartes' gene-seed, and its forward base was relocated to Macragge. The Primarch quickly acclimated himself to the many technological wonders of the newborn Imperium of Man and began his new role with his customary skill and enthusiasm. However, Guilliman's chief talents, as ever, lay in the military arts, and he led his Ultramarines to fresh conquests in the galactic south. He succeeded in liberating more worlds during the Great Crusade than any other Primarch, and the planets he brought within the Imperium always benefited from his intense passion for efficient and fair government. Whenever Guilliman and the Ultramarines freed a world from the tyranny of xenos or other men, his first priority was to set up a self-supporting defence system. Once a world was safe he knew that he could move on, leaving behind Imperial advisers and Iterators of the Imperial Truth to ensure that advanced industry would be created, interstellar trade routes set up with the rest of the Imperium, and government directed solely towards the betterment of the people.

The Great Crusade

Helixus Tactical Squad — An Ultramarines squad of Tactical Marines bringing a world into Imperial Compliance during the Great Crusade

Roboute Guilliman easily mastered the knowledge required for him to lead a Space Marine Legion into battle and took full command of his Astartes, who soon revered him as second only to the Emperor. Guilliman led his soldiers to victory after victory and liberated countless worlds from oppression by aliens and human tyrants ignorant of the light of the Imperial Truth. Guilliman always chose a course of combat that caused minimal collateral damage and helped to win over the hearts and minds of the conquered people. Back on Macragge, the Ultramarines who had remained behind began construction of the Fortress of Hera, the Legion's fortress-monastery, and oversaw the training and genetic modification of new Aspirants to join the Legion's ranks. The Ultramarines' efficiency and wide recruitment pool soon saw the Ultramarines Legion swell in size, becoming the largest of the 20 Space Marine Legions. For instance, while most of the Astartes Legions had around 10,000 members, the Ultramarines had in excess of 25,000, putting them on a par with the Word Bearers. When the Emperor proclaimed Horus, the Primarch of the Luna Wolves Legion and his personal favourite son as the Warmaster of the Imperium, Guilliman accepted the news without resentment. Horus continued to seek his brother's counsel. However, Horus always believed that Guilliman felt that he had deserved the honour of being named Warmaster just as much as Horus, and this fed the coolness and sense of distance between the two Primarchs.

Meanwhile, the fortress-monastery of the Ultramarines, the Fortress of Hera, grew in size and scope on Macragge. Some Ultramarines remained behind to supervise the work, which progressed rapidly thanks to the trading network and advanced industries enjoyed by Guilliman's homeworld. Within a year of the Ultramarines arrival on Macragge a training base had been established. Recruiting for the Legion began on Macragge and the surrounding worlds immediately thereafter. It was not long before the Ultramarines Legion received its first influx of warriors born and bred on Macragge rather than on Terra. Thanks to the thoroughness of their organisation, the Ultramarines were able to receive a constant flow of Neophytes throughout the centuries of the Great Crusade. Because of their strong recruitment base and Roboute Guilliman's tactical expertise, the Ultramarines were the largest of the Space Marine Legions. They managed to generate more Neophytes and suffer fewer casualties than any other Legion.

The Horus Heresy

UltraHeresy — Ultramarines Assault Marines fighting a Sons of Horus Terminator during the Horus Heresy

When the Warmaster Horus turned his back on the Imperium, swore his allegiance to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos and began the terrible galactic civil war that was known to posterity as the Horus Heresy, his first act was to lure away as many Loyalist Legions from Terra as possible to open up an invasion corridor for the Forces of Chaos. Horus ordered Guilliman to lead an expeditionary force to the Calth System in the Eastern Fringes, where the Warmaster claimed that a great Ork WAAAGH! was massing and the Ultramarines needed to deal with the Greenskin threat. On his arrival on Calth Guilliman found himself greatly puzzled. There were no Orks present on the world and the vessels actually in orbit over the planet were those belonging to the Word Bearers Legion. Unknown to Guilliman, the XVII Legion and its Primarch Lorgar had long before turned Traitor to the Emperor and to the service of the Dark Gods, having gleefully accepted Horus' orders to close the trap on their hated rivals, initiating the massive campaign of the Heresy known to Imperial historians as the Battle of Calth. The Word Bearers' sudden attack decimated Guilliman's fleet, and the Ultramarines' ground troops quickly found themselves impossibly outnumbered by their former allies. The Word Bearers slew their Loyalist foes in droves and forced them to retreat over huge stretches of territory. The Traitors rejoiced in their rivals' defeat. Unknown to them, however, Guilliman's flagship, which had survived the initial Word Bearers surprise assault, had made emergency repairs and regrouped with the other surviving Ultramarine starships of the Legionary fleet in space. Having taken stock of his remaining forces, Guilliman sent an immediate astropathic distress call to the bulk of his forces remaining behind on nearby Macragge.

Guilliman space battle — The Ultramarines face the Word Bearers in orbit at the start of the Battle of Calth

The Ultramarines on Calth had been forced into a fighting retreat, but now occupied fortified positions. Many Ultramarines had been born on Calth, and proved more resolute than the Word Bearers anticipated. In space, Guilliman's vessels began hit-and-run attacks on their over-confident enemy. Guilliman assessed his ground troops' positions and broadcast clear, concise orders to each pocket of defence, coordinating them into a cohesive force once more. One Ultramarine force led by Captain Ventanus led a breakout and retook Calth's defence laser silos, which greatly assisted the Ultramarine fleet that had been sorely pressed by the Traitors' ground fire. Guilliman's depleted forces slowed the Word Bearers down long enough for the remainder of the Ultramarines Legion to arrive and rout the Traitor Marines from the star system. Bloodied but unbowed, the Ultramarines received the orders of Malcador the Sigillite, the Emperor's Regent while he was in disposed pursuing the secret Imperial Webway Project, and immediately set course for Terra to defend the cradle of Mankind from Horus' coming assault.

Meanwhile, in orbit of Terra, Horus' allies delivered the fateful news. The Ultramarines, Dark Angels and Space Wolves Legions were only hours away from reinforcing the Emperor and his Loyalist defenders in the Imperial Palace. Horus then knew that his great gamble to seize Terra had failed. What happened next is disputed, some believe Horus disabled his flagship's Void Shields as he experienced one last moment of regret, and some believe it was simply a personal challenge to the Emperor. Nevertheless, Horus lowered the shields of his flagship Battle Barge Vengeful Spirit, allowing the Emperor, the Blood Angels' Primarch Sanguinius and a company of Imperial Fists to teleport aboard and ultimately slay him, ending the Horus Heresy. The Emperor was mortally wounded in the exchange and interred in the Golden Throne immediately afterwards by the Primarch Rogal Dorn, leaving a dangerous void of power and authority within the shattered Imperium.

Unfortunately, the Ultramarines fleet did not arrive at Terra until after Horus' defeat, and they found Terra and the Imperium itself in ruins. Guilliman steadfastly refused to allow the Imperium to fall, and began despatching elements of his Legion to all corners of the galaxy to stem the tide of invasion and unrest as the other Loyalist forces recovered and rearmed to force the Traitor Legions to surrender the territory they had seized during Horus' seven-year-long advance towards Terra. After a decade of intense fighting, some measure of stability was finally restored to the Imperium. To prevent a single commander from ever again threatening the Imperium with as many superhuman Astartes at his command as Horus had, Guilliman reformulated the sizes of all of the Loyalist Space Marine Legions into thousand-man Chapters, breaking apart the 9 original Loyalist First Founding Legions into the much smaller Second Founding Chapters. Never again would one man, no matter how noble his motives, wield the power of an entire Space Marine Legion. The proper organisation and tactics to be used by a Space Marine Chapter is the primary topic of Guilliman's masterwork of war strategy, the sacred Codex Astartes.

Post-Heresy and the Imperial Reformation

Sons of Guilliman by MajesticChicken — The proud scions of Guilliman stand ready, to march to war.

Ultramarines Heroe — An Ultramarines hero

Throughout most of the time that the Heresy was under way, the Ultramarines had been engaged in bringing new worlds into Imperial Compliance on the southern edge of the galaxy. Their very success had carried them far from Terra and isolated them from the conquering Traitor Legions which had been concentrated in the galactic northeast. News of Horus' treachery had not even reached the Ultramarines until the attack on Terra was underway seven years after Horus first betrayed the Emperor at Istvaan III. Consequently, the Ultramarines were poorly placed to contribute during the early stages of the Horus Heresy. Luckily, the Ultramarines were therefore largely untouched by the fighting of the Horus Heresy. Other Loyalist Space Marine Legions had lost thousands of troops during the fighting, and half of the original 18 Legions had sided with Horus and been corrupted by Chaos. As a result, the number of Astartes left to the Imperium was very few, yet never had they been more needed by its people.

The disorder following the Horus Heresy had left the Imperium weak and extremely vulnerable. Everywhere the enemies of Mankind prepared to attack. Many worlds remained in the grip of the Forces of Chaos. Into this breach stepped Roboute Guilliman and the Ultramarines. Always the largest of the Astartes Legions, the Ultramarines found themselves divided into smaller units that were despatched all over the Imperium in a desperate effort to stem the tide of invasion and unrest. The Ultramarines successfully held the Imperium together during this time of intense danger when many centrifugal forces were seeking to rip the edifice of the Imperium asunder. Macragge was able to supply new Neophytes for the Legion at such a rate that before long the Ultramarines alone accounted for more than half the total number of Space Marines operating in the post-Heresy Imperium, and there were few human-settled star systems where their heroism went unnoticed at this time. Within a standard decade, order had been restored to the Imperium and the Forces of Chaos had been largely driven into the Eye of Terror. Even as the Ultramarines reconquered the worlds lost to the Warmaster, a new theory of warfare was emerging. Under the guidance of Guilliman's military genius, the Codex Astartes took shape. Its doctrines would reshape the future of all Space Marines and forevermore dictate the foundation of the Imperium's military strength and therefore the path to survival for Mankind.

The Second Founding of the Space Marines was decreed seven years after the death of Horus and the end of his Heresy. The majority of the remaining Loyalist Legions were divided into fewer than 5 Successor Chapters so depleted had their numbers been by the civil war, but the Ultramarines were divided many times. The exact number of Successor Chapters created from the Ultramarines at this time is uncertain: the number listed in the oldest copy of the Codex Astartes gives the total as 23, but does not name them. With the Second Founding, the size of the Ultramarines force was much reduced. Most of the Space Marines of the Legion left Macragge to establish new Chapters elsewhere. The Ultramarines' fortress-monastery had been built to accommodate more than ten times as many Space Marines as now remained on their homeworld. As a result its arsenals and weapon shops were partially dismantled and taken by the new Chapters to found their own fortresses. The genetic storehouses of the Ultramarines, and the Legion's powerful recruitment mechanism, were similarly divided amongst its Successors. As a result of the Second Founding, the Ultramarines' gene-seed became pre-eminent across the Imperium. These new Chapters created from the Ultramarines Legion during the Second Founding are often referred to as the Primogenitors, or "first-born."

Yet the heritage of Guilliman to his Astartes was not only genetic, but spiritual. Even to this day, 10,000 standard years later, all the Primogenitor Chapters venerate Roboute Guilliman as their own founding father and patron, and hold the ruler of the Realm of Ultramar and Master of the Ultramarines, whoever he may be from era to era, as the exemplar of all that it means to be a Space Marine. This is how the Ultramarines rose to be preeminent even amongst al the Chapters that were derived from their genetic material.

Roboute Guilliman continued to serve with the Ultramarines Chapter after the Heresy, leading them for another century after the Second Founding. It was said that during those years, Guilliman led several incursions alongside his brother Primarchs against the remaining Traitor Legions of the Chaos Space Marines. During one such incursion, Guilliman faced Alpharius of the Alpha Legion and defeated him in single combat, though this may simply be legend, as even the Ultramarines themselves cannot confirm this story. The Ultramarines could not liberate the planet, as the Alpha Legion remained unusually capable of resisting despite the apparent death of Alpharius and so eventually the Ultramarines moved on. Guilliman was only finally defeated by one of the Traitor Primarchs, Fulgrim of the Emperor's Children, who had become a Daemon Prince of Slaanesh (and whose own body had been secretly possessed by a Greater Daemon of Slaanesh).

Fatally poisoned in combat by his one-time brother, Roboute was transported back to Macragge in a stasis field, and has remained entombed in that same field for over 10,000 Terran years. Although physically impossible in a stasis field, it is believed by many pilgrims to his shrine that his wounds are actually healing, and that one day he will awaken again when the Imperium needs him most.

The Shrine of Guilliman built to contain his body frozen in time is one of the most holy places in the entire Imperium, and one which welcomes millions of pilgrims to the shores of Macragge every year. It lies within the Temple of Correction, a vaulted sepulchre forming a small part of the Ultramarines' vast northern polar fortress on Macragge. The temple is a miracle of construction and typical of the attention to detail which defines the Ultramarines every endeavour. Its proportions defy the human mind by the scope and grandeur of its design. The multi-coloured glass dome that forms its roof is the largest of its kind. Even the Techno-magi of the Adeptus Mechanicus come to marvel at the structure said to have been designed by Roboute Guilliman himself. According to the Ultramarines there is enough marble within the temple to build a mountain, and sufficient amounts of adamantium and plasteel were used in its construction to build an Imperial warfleet capable of defending an entire sector.

Within this edifice is the great marble throne of Roboute Guilliman, and upon that throne sits his still-regal corpse. Though 10,000 years have passed since his death, the Primarch's body is perfectly preserved by the stasis field. Even his death wounds from Fulgrim's blade are visible upon his throat. His mortal remains are preserved from the ravages of time by means of a stasis field that isolates the Primarch from the time-stream of normal four-dimensional space-time. Everything encompassed by the field is trapped in time and can neither change nor decay. There are some among the more extreme devotees of the Imperial Cult, however, who claim the Primarch's wounds do change. They say that Guilliman's body is slowly recovering and that his wounds show mysterious signs of healing. Others completely deny this, and point out the sheer scientific impossibility of any from of change within a stasis field. Yet enough choose to believe the stories to come and witness for themselves the miracle of the Primarch, generation after generation. Hope, as Roboute Guilliman knew, is truly the most powerful force in the universe.

The Tyrannic Wars and the Battle of Macragge

Tyranid War Veteran — An Ultramarines Tyrannic War Veteran

Over the 10 millennia after the death of Roboute Guilliman Ultramar held against all manner of invaders - some so strange as to defy the comprehension of the common man. The Ultramarines have tested their might against Ork WAAAGH!s and Renegade uprisings, Tau incursions and Necron raids, but the measure of their heroism is shown truest in battles where they have defended all life in the galaxy itself in the face of threats from beyond known space. So did the Sons of Ultramar prove in the 35th Millennium in battle against the Star-Striders of Crioth, and in retaliation for the Heavenfall Massacres. But of all these terrible wars and heroic struggles, there is one conflict that stands above all others - the onslaught of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth, and the Battle of Macragge in 745.M41.

Upon learning the threat posed to Ultramar by Hive Fleet Behemoth, Marneus Calgar at once drew up his plans. Deeming Macragge to be the star system most immediately threatened, Calgar ordered its already formidable defences to be further improved. A dozen warships already hung in orbit, and each day more arrived from the Warp. Massive Strike Cruisers cast shadows over civilian vessels and Imperial Navy Destroyers, and were themselves dwarfed by the brooding presence of the Ultramarines' Battle Barges. Between this mighty fleet of warships and the planet's no less formidable orbital defence stations, Macragge was anything but defenceless. Scant weeks later, the outrider vessels of the Tyranid fleet attacked Macragge. The alien bio-vessels swept aside attacks by Ultramarines Strike Cruisers and swarmed over the planet below. Soon many thousands of Mycetic Spore-birthed beasts scurried and rampaged across Macragge. Deeming that the Tyranid threat was too massive to be opposed piecemeal, Calgar combined his ground forces into three mighty armies. The primary and secondary taskforces, composed largely of 1st Company Veterans and Ultramaran Planetary Defence Forces, bolstered Macragge's polar fortresses against the Tyranid onslaught. Meanwhile, Calgar's taskforce, the largest of the three, performed a series of rearguard actions, attempting to slow the Tyranid advance and eliminate Hive Mind synapse-control organisms. Calgar achieved great success in the early days of the campaign, buying time with blood for his Battle-Brothers to the north and south. However, the Tyranids kept coming.

In a final climactic battle on Cold Steel Ridge, the Ultramarines rearguard were brutalised by the Tyranid horde and Calgar himself was gravely wounded. Knowing that to remain planetside was to doom his followers to wasteful death, Calgar withdrew to the orbiting Battle Barge Octavius. Refusing all but the most vital medical attention, the Master of Macragge took command of the fleet, and sought a way to save his world from certain destruction. Hours later, the main Tyranid fleet arrived at Macragge. With no sign of reinforcements, Calgar led his fleet in a series of daring attacks, striking at isolated vessels as they spread out to invade Macragge in force. Caught between the blistering firepower of Macragge's polar fortresses and the vengeful hammer blows of Calgar's fleet, Tyranid vessels were destroyed by the score, but many more yet remained. As battle raged, the Tyranids unleashed thousands of Mycetic Spores above the vital polar fortresses -- if the fortresses were taken, Macragge's guns would be silenced, and the world left defenceless. So it was that the Tyranids landed in even greater numbers than before, and the fortresses soon found themselves sorely beset. Their gruesome cargo delivered, the battered Hive Ships retreated from orbit. Trusting to his Ultramarines to keep the fortresses secure, Calgar relentlessly pursued the Tyranid fleet, determined that it would not bring ruin to other worlds. Never before or since has the valour of the Ultramarines been tested as it was in the defence of the polar fortresses. The Veteran Space Marines of the 1st Company led the lightly-armed Auxilia in a tenacious defence of the fortresses, holding every wall and trench until the last possible moment before it was overrun by the Tyranid swarm. Slowly the troops withdrew ever deeper into the fortress, while making the Tyranids pay for every single yard of ground they advanced. The Titans of Legio Praetor stalked the ice fields and drove smoking furrows through the onrushing Tyranid hordes with shells and plasma. The ferocity of the swarms was unbelievable. At the northern fortress they overran the walls by using the steaming piles of their own dead for cover. Imperial Battle Titans were dragged down and ripped apart by sheer weight of numbers. The defenders' gun barrels glowed red hot and jammed in spite of the arctic cold, ammunition began to run low even though the fortress had contained stockpiles intended to last for months of siege.

Yet still the defenders fought on. Lumbering scythe-armed Carnifexes tore into the defenders' bastions like living battering rams, smashing their way through metal and rockcrete walls with equal fury. The Ultramarines had to rely on heavy short-range firepower to bring down the foe, but for each Tyranid that fell, another three sprang forward to continue the fight. Lesser men were paralysed with terror as the Tyranids broke through the perimeter again and again, but the Ultramarines never despaired and never gave thought to defeat.

Calgar pursued the Tyranid fleet toward the ringed world of Circe at the edge of the Macragge System. The timely arrival of the Imperial Navy's entire Battlefleet Tempestus from Bakka finally sealed the Tyranids' fate by catching them in a vice between the two fleets. Even now, the Imperial fleet was overmatched, for the Tyranids were too many. The battle would have been lost save for the heroic sacrifice of the great Battleship Dominus Astra. Charging into the heart of the Hive Fleet, the huge Emperor-class Battleship detonated its Warp-Drives, creating a Warp vortex that dragged both it and the entire Tyranid fleet to oblivion.

Cpt Ventris vs — Captain Uriel Ventris leads the 4th Company against the Tyranids

With the bulk of the Hive Fleet destroyed, Calgar's surviving starships came about and returned to Macragge to try to save the polar garrisons. The survivors of the Ultramarines 1st Company were still believed to be fighting amongst the defence laser silos of the northern citadel, but all contact with them had been lost after the Tyranids overran the surface outposts. Of the southern garrison, nothing was known. Calgar, feeling that the situation was becoming critical, sent the 3rd and 7th Ultramarines Companies ahead in their fast Strike Cruisers while his remaining damaged ships limped back to Macragge. The Space Marines of the 3rd and 7th Companies deployed onto the poles by Drop Pod, their supporting units following up in Thunderhawk gunships. Scenes of unbelievable carnage awaited them below. Piles of mangled Tyranid corpses and shattered wargear lay strewn across the ice. Vast, steaming craters pocked the snows where Titan plasma reactors had gone critical. The stench of death lay everywhere. The 7th Company landed unopposed at the southern fortress and quickly linked up with the survivors of the garrison above ground. Together they pushed on to clear the subterranean passages that the Tyranids had overrun. Devastator Squads kept the alien swarm at bay until Thunderhawk gunships arrived to blast the Tyranids back into the darkness. Captain Fabian of the 3rd Company prudently awaited the arrival of the company's 3 Dreadnoughts before proceeding into the fortress itself to search for survivors.

The dark, dank corridors beneath the northern fortress were already altered by the alien presence. Mucous dripped from the walls and ceilings and a pervasive musky stench filled the air. Alien screams and roars echoed and reverberated along the tunnels. The Space Marines pushed onward into corridors littered with Tyranid and Ultramarines dead, the darkness reluctantly receding before their suit lights. Chameleoid Lictors lay in ambush amongst the corpses, slashing into the advance squads in an orgy of destruction. Eventually the forward squads used flamers to burn their way along the passages and flush out their enemy. Even as fire consumed them, the creatures still leapt forward with claws outstretched to rend and slay.

Ultramarines 1st Company Veterans in Terminator Armour sell their lives dearly against the Tyranid menace

Through darkness and terrors unimaginable, the 3rd Company finally reached the lower Penitorium where the defenders had made their last stand. Tyranid bodies were piled six deep around the doors, and within the room a circle of Terminators lay where they had fought back to back. Each had given his life for his brothers. The Ultramarines' 1st Company had been wiped out to the last man. The Battle of Macragge remains a great source of both sorrow and pride for the Ultramarines. The names of its fallen are commemorated each year at the Feast of Days, their sacrifice remembered throughout Ultramar with honour and gratitude. But the cost had been great. The Ultramarines 1st Company was gone and the 3rd and 7th sorely diminished. It would be many long years before the Chapter could properly replace its losses, but replace them it would. The Ultramarines would endure.

Since the Battle of Macragge, the Ultramarines have become instrumental in the Imperium's wars against other Tyranid Hive Fleets. In response to the threat, and counter to the dictates of the Codex Astartes for the first time, the survivors of the Battle of Macragge were formed into elite, specially-trained anti-Tyranid squads. These Tyrannic War Veterans make up the first and most powerful of the Chapter's reformed 1st Company, and are second to no other warriors of the Imperium because of their experience, training and upgraded Power Armour.

The Defenders of Ultramar

Captain Titus of the Ultramarines 2nd Company faces the Orks who invaded the Forge World of Graia

The Ultramarines have always held the Eastern Fringes of the galaxy in the vast Ultima Segmentum against the forces of darkness that threaten the Imperium from beyond the Halo Stars, and the Chapter's 4th Company has a special hatred for the savage xenos invaders known as the Tyranids. Rapacious, extra-galactic predators, these relentless alien killers consume all before them in their quest for bio-matter to feed the ever-hungry biological factories of their Norn-Queens. The first Tyranid Hive Fleet, code-named Behemoth, smashed into Imperial space in 745.M41 and descended upon Macragge in a fury of talon and claw. Forewarned of the coming xenos danger by the Inquisitor Kryptman, the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, Marneus Calgar, stood ready to face the deadly aliens, but nothing could prepare his warriors for the sheer horror of what was to come. Commanded at this time by Captain Idaeus, the 4th Company fought at the forefront of the invasion and were instrumental in the destruction of several of the larger Tyranid vessels. At last the invasion of Hive Fleet Behemoth was repulsed, but at terrible cost; the entirety of th Ultramarines' Veteran 1st Company was wiped out defending the northern polar defences of Macragge and many great heroes of the Astartes met their end. The Ultramarines had won the First Tyrannic War, but Kryptman assured Calgar that the Tyranids would be back.

With the destruction of Hive Fleet Behemoth, the Ultramarines set about consolidating their hold on the interstellar Realm of Ultramar. Many of their best and bravest warriors had fallen to the Tyranids, and with their strength thus depleted, many other alien and piratical raiders took advantage of this lapse in security and launched their own raids throughout Ultramar to sack worlds previously unassailable. Thus it was that the 4th Company – which had been at full strength when the Tyranid fleet attacked – had come through the war with the fewest casualties, and were thus the first called upon to help liberate Vorhn’s World, a Shrine World of the Ecclesiarchy in a neighbouring sub-sector.

The Ork Warlord known as the Arch-Maniac of Cabela had seized the world, enslaving its population and defiling the holy temples of the Emperor. Such barbarity could not be countenanced on such a holy world and thus the 4th Company was tasked with its liberation. Idaeus once more led his warriors into battle, using a combination of rigid adherence to the words of the Codex Astartes and an uncanny ability to adapt to rapidly changing battlefield conditions to circumvent many of the Ork strongpoints and destroy the most vital elements of their defences. With much of their energies spent hunting down the Space Marine raiders in their midst, the Orks were unable to repulse the massed tank companies and regiments of the Imperial Guard's Jovian Hussars who overran the Greenskins with an unusually low casualty rate. It was during the cleansing of Vorhn’s World that a young Space Marine named Uriel Ventris first came to Idaeus’s attention. Descended from the legendary Lucian Ventris, who had died fighting the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Behemoth beneath the polar defence fortress 180 years before, Uriel displayed an exemplary courage, even amongst warriors for whom heroic feats of bravery were the norm. Taking command of his squad when his sergeant was killed by an Ork warlord, Uriel displayed the qualities that would one day lead him to command the 4th Company itself.

With the liberation of Vorhn’s World, the task was now to secure the borders of Ultramar, and upon their return from the victorious campaign against the Orks, Idaeus’s company joined their Battle-Brothers in securing the borders of Ultramar against further attack. For the next 5 standard years, the company patrolled the northern borders of their realm, running interdiction attacks and boarding actions against any and all raiders they encountered. Aboard the Vae Victus, an honourable Strike Cruiser commanded by Captain Lazlo Tiberius, himself a scarred veteran of the Tyrannic Wars, the 4th Company destroyed over 300 enemy vessels and achieved the highest number of kills to add to the banner in their company chapel.

Over the next few years, between occasional returns to Macragge for obeisances at the Temple of Correction, where the stasis-sealed, mortally wounded form of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman watches over his Chapter, the 4th Company regained its strength and inducted many new members. Returned to full combat readiness, the company was once again fit for duties beyond the borders of Ultramar and in the Mereneas Core, the company was to earn the gratitude of the Adeptus Mechanicus when they boarded and destroyed the Space Hulk Flame of Iniquity, an agglomerated structure of scores of derelict starships that threatened a number of their Forge Worlds, the giant factory planets where much of the armed might of the Imperium is produced.

Ultramarines in Combat — The Ultramarines charge the enemy

Following this success, the determination and courage of the 4th Company came to the attention of Inquisitor Markhov, who was in need of warriors of such great skill. He petitioned Marneus Calgar for the Ultramarines' assistance in a matter of grave urgency. Calgar consented to allow the 4th Company to be seconded to the Inquisition's service and Idaeus’ company was despatched to the world of Epsilon Regalis – a world later to be made infamous by the Witch Hunter Tyrus. Precisely what occurred on this world has never been made known, the events subsequent to the Ultramarines deployment on Epsilon Regalis having been sealed by the order of the Ordo Hereticus. Immediately following this mysterious mission, the 4th Company were involved in the eradication of several indigenous life-forms on the world of Horranveth to allow colonisation by an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator team to proceed. Many among the Ultramarines felt that this type of combat was beneath them, but none dared defy their Chapter Master’s decree.

Following the purgation of Horranveth, the company was recalled to take part in the Balur Crusade, a mixed- Chapter-force led by Marneus Calgar himself. A strong coalition of xeno creatures (identified as the Tau, Kroot and Tarellians) had launched an attack into Imperial-held space and demanded that the inhabitants of the captured worlds swear allegiance to their blasphemous empire. Naturally, such naked aggression could not go unanswered and together with warriors of his own Ultramarines and from the Blood Angels, Marines Malevolent and the taciturn remnants of the Scythes of the Emperor Chapter, Calgar led the combined Space Marines army to swift victory, destroying the nascent xenos colonies and re-establishing Imperial rule.

The 4th Company were to fight the Tyranids again on the world of Ichar IV when the Tyranids returned with yet another Hive Fleet, this time known as the Kraken. Far from the battering ram of Hive Fleet Behemoth, it appeared that the Tyranids had somehow learned from their defeat centuries before and attacked in a series of smaller, yet no less lethal splinter fleets – advancing across a much wider front. Many of these fleets were destroyed, driving the aliens to consolidate their attack on the industrial world of Ichar IV. Again, the Tyranid threat was met with courage and steel, the men of the Ultramarines fighting alongside hundreds of Imperial Guard Regiments and elements from 7 other Space Marine Chapters. The 4th Company were again in the forefront of the fighting, with Idaeus and Uriel both awarded the Imperial Laurel for their heroism. Once more the aliens were repulsed, though the threat of Hive Fleet Kraken remained strong. The Tyranid fleet broke into a number of smaller fleets as it retreated from Ichar IV and it is known that many of these splinter fleets penetrated deep into the galactic core. Some even reached as far as the Segmentum Solar though the massed guns of the Imperial fleet destroyed these without mercy. However, whether every one of these Kraken splinter fleets has been destroyed remains unclear.

Xeno Spotted — An Ultramarines Veteran prepares to face the xenos foe

Following the defeat of the Tyranids at Ichar IV, the 4th Company was despatched to the world of Thracia, where the rumoured deployment of the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines necessitated a force capable of meeting them blade-to-blade. Regiments of Imperial Guard pushed towards the planetary capital city, meeting stiff resistance, but crushing all before it. As the campaign progressed, the Imperial lines became lengthy and strung out – all too easy to attack and destroy from the flank. Realizing this, the 4th Company attacked the bridges that would allow such an attack, but in the process Captain Idaeus was lost, heroically sacrificing his own life to destroy the last bridge. Mourning his loss, the 4th Company returned to Macragge, whereupon Veteran Sergeant Uriel Ventris was elevated to the rank of Captain and commander of the company.

Together with the newly appointed Captain Ventris, the 4th Company set off on their latest mission; to escort Adept Barzano of the Administratum to the troubled world of Pavonis. On the Eastern Fringes, Pavonis had been plagued by piratical raiders and civil insurrection and upon the Ultramarines’ arrival, the planet was very nearly plunged into a bloody civil war between its competing industrial cartels. Captain Ventris and Adept Barzano (now revealed to actually be an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos) went on to discover that the planet’s troubles were at the instigation of a madman named Kasimir de Valtos who desired the release of an ancient and powerful C'tan Star God who had been imprisoned beneath the surface of Pavonis for tens of millions of years. De Valtos was ultimately thwarted, though the ancient being known as the Nightbringer was freed from its aeons-long slumber and set loose amongst the stars. Only time will tell whether its escape will cost the Ultramarines and the galaxy dearly.

With peace and Imperial rule restored to Pavonis, the 4th Company journeyed to the northern reaches of Segmentum Tempestus to the world of Tarsis Ultra – a world brought into the Imperium by Roboute Guilliman himself during the early days of the Great Crusade -- and a world with a proud history of upholding the traditions of the Ultramarines. Ancient oaths of brotherhood bound the fate of Tarsis Ultra to the Ultramarines and when a gargantuan Space Hulk drifted in-system, Captain Ventris led his men deep into its haunted depths to destroy it from within. Buried deep within its structure, the Ultramarines discovered nests of frenzied Orks and something much worse: Genestealers. The fighting within the Hulk was amongst the fiercest encountered by the 4th Company, but its warriors were able to fight their way clear of the hulk and watch its destruction from the bridge of the Vae Victus. But the victory was tinged with dread, for the Astartes vessel's Astropaths detected the forward edge of a bow wave of Warp interference – a phenomenon known as the "Shadow in the Warp" – which could mean only one thing. The Tyranids were approaching the borders of the Imperium once more.

With warning of the approaching Tyranid Hive Fleet Leviathan given, the Imperial response was unusually swift. The Ultramarines contacted a brother Chapter of Space Marines, the Mortifactors, though they had diverged considerably from the ideals of Roboute Guilliman – embracing a culture of death worship. A fleet led by the Imperial Navy Admiral Bregant de Corte aboard the battleship Argus was assembled, including many ancient and noble ships of war; the Sword of Retribution, and the Kharloss Vincennes to name but two. Imperial Guard soldiers from the Death Korps of Krieg and the Logres Regiments were shipped in and the local Planetary Defence Forces trained by Sergeant Learchus using the methods of the Ultramarine training barracks. Inquisitor Lord Kryptman once again lent his expertise to the commanders of the defence of Tarsis Ultra as well as bringing an elite Deathwatch Space Marines Kill-team led by the justly famed Watch Captain Bannon. As far as any world could be defended, Tarsis Ultra was as secure as it could be made given the time available to its defenders.

Battle was joined in the system’s outer reaches and though the world of Barbarus Prime was lost to the Tyranids, the first elements of their fleet were defeated. The advance of the Hive Fleet could not be stopped and Kryptman was forced to sacrifice the world of Chordelis – ordering the Mortifactors to virus-bomb it from orbit before the Tyranids could assimilate its biomass. Despite fractures appearing among the Imperial commanders, the Tyranid threat was met with courage and honour on the surface of Tarsis Ultra, though the defenders were hard-pressed to stave off the relentless attacks of the aliens.

Though many thousands of lives were lost, and a huge proportion of the 4th Company was slain, the Tyranids were once more defeated when Captain Ventris cast off the teachings of the Codex Astartes and took command of the Deathwatch Kill-team. He led them on a last, desperate mission to deliver a lethal gene-poison to the heart of the last remaining Hive Ship. Having once served with the Deathwatch, Captain Ventris knew that this was where he could do the most good, and despite the grim warning from Veteran Sergeant Learchus that Marneus Calgar would hear of his flouting of the Codex, he set off on his mission. Through alien terrors and biological horror, the Deathwatch Space Marines and Captain Ventris were successful and the gene-poison was administered to the Tyranid Norn-Queen. Driven into spasms of uncontrolled mutation, the Norn-Queen died and her death throes drove the slave Tyranid organisms connected to her via the gestalt psychic consciousness of the Tyranid Hive Mind into paroxysms of feral self-destruction. The Tyranids were defeated, but like Ichar IV before it, the taint of the alien invasion would forever be impossible to remove from the surface of Tarsis Ultra--and the souls of its surviving population.

With Tarsis Ultra secured, the 4th Company gathered its dead and returned to Macragge, the hearts of its warriors heavy as they contemplated the cost of honouring their ancient debt. But something worse was awaiting the 4th Company upon their return to their homeworld. Allegations of heresy awaited Uriel Ventris for his actions on Tarsis Ultra and with them, the potential to strip the company of its honour…

Captain Ventris was spared the expected execution for his breach of Ultramarine doctrine and instead given a Death Oath by Marneus Calgar: he and his faithful companion, Sergeant Pasanius Lysane, were to seek out "a place of dark iron" where twisted reflections of the Space Marines were being wrought. Shortly after departing Macragge, Ventris' starship was attacked by Warp entities directed by a daemon imprisoned inside a daemonengine called the Omphalos Daemonium. This daemonengine resembled a huge, grotesque steam locomotive, which could travel between the Warp and realspace. The two Space Marines were seized and taken deep within the Eye of Terror to Medrengard, the Daemon World that was the home of the Iron Warriors Traitor Marines. The pair soon linked up with a band of Renegade Space Marines and two surviving former Imperial Guardsmen, who were escaped slaves of the Iron Warriors. The group became a self-styled guerilla band, engaging in hit-and-run attacks against the Iron Warriors. Ventris, Pasanius and the band of guerillas were eventually captured by Warsmith Honsou of the Iron Warriors, and after defying him, Ventris was "implanted" in the womb of a Daemonculaba, a genetically-modified woman whose womb had been amplified with Imperial Fists gene-seed the Iron Warriors had stolen during the 13th Black Crusade from the world of Hydra Cordatus and which was intended to turn normal adolescents into new Chaos Space Marines. This twisted technology was a mechanism intended to accelerate the development of new Traitor Marines in the laboratories under Honsou's fortress. These new Chaos Space Marines were intended to refill the ranks of the Iron Warriors Legion, which had been unable to replace its losses over the 10 millennia since the Horus Heresy. The Daemonculaba were also the mutated creatures that Uriel and Pasanius had been tasked with destroying in the first place. At the same time, Honsou was under siege by rival Iron Hands Warsmiths for refusing to hand over their share of the untainted Imperial Fists gene-stock taken after the invasion of an Imperial facility on Hydra Cordatus. As the fighting raged, Ventris and Pasanius managed to get free and succeeded in destroying Honsou's labs and his fortress, although in order for this to happen they had to release a captive Khornate Daemon Prince. The Daemon Prince then annihilated the rival daemon it had previously imprisoned in the Omphalos Daemonium, destroyed Honsou's fortress and minions, and attacked Honsou's rivals, driving them away. Later, Uriel, Pasanius, and a group of the so-called Unfleshed, who were the mutant rejects of the Iron Warriors' experiments to make new Space Marines using the Daemonculaba, escaped from the Eye of Terror on the Omphalos Daemonium, which had reverted to a normal starship.

However, the former daemonengine brought them through the Warp to a troubled world called Salinas, and more specifically to a forbidden zone on that world's surface that reeked of death. Ventris and Pasanius were then confronted by the veteran Imperial Guard Regiment that ruled the planet as a gift of conquest, and the suspicious and ruthless Planetary Governor, the regiment's ex-commander. They requested help in reaching Macragge, but their astropathic transmission was intercepted by the Grey Knights, who were monitoring Salinas for other reasons. A squad of them arrived on the planet, arrested Ventris and Pasanius, and after grueling physical, mental and spiritual trials declared them untainted by their exposure to Chaos during the events on Medrengard. In the meantime, it was revealed that a powerful psyker had likely brought the Omphalos Daemonium to Salinas in order to use the freed Unfleshed as an instrument of revenge against the governor and his former regiment. This was vengeance for the regiment's murder of tens of thousands of civilians, including the entire population of a town that was the birthplace of many of the leaders of a small-scale guerilla campaign that now operated on Salinas. The campaign itself had been caused by the brutality and heavy-handedness of the Imperial Governor. This ravished town was the forbidden zone the Ultramarines had first found themselves in when they arrived on Salinas. After being possessed by the psyker, the Unfleshed went on a killing rampage, but they were eventually killed by Uriel, Pasanius, and the Grey Knights, who subsequently returned the Ultramarines to Macragge.

Having successfully completed their Death Oath, Uriel and Pasanius were welcomed back to the homeworld of their Chapter but were subjected to interrogation and tests by the Chief Librarian to insure they had not been tainted by their time on the Daemon World of Medrengard. After both Uriel and Pasanius were deemed free of Chaotic taint, Uriel was reinstated as Captain of the Ultramarines' 4th Company and given the opportunity to prove himself in the eyes of those who still doubted him by returning to the world of Pavonis and defending it from Tau invaders. Pasanius was not so fortunate, as he was demoted in rank and forced into one hundred days of isolation from the Chapter. This harsh treatment was a punishment for hiding the unusual regenerative abilities of his bionic arm, which he had gotten after the C'tan called the Nightbringer had scythed off his biological arm during the earlier Ultramarines mission to Pavonis. Apparently because of this contact with the C'tan, the bionic arm had become infused with the Necron's living metal, the substance called necrodermis. After one hundred days he was reinstated as a Battle-Brother of the 4th Company and rejoined his captain.

In the meantime, the Warsmith Honsou was consumed by hate for Ventris and the Ultramarines following the events on Medrengard and the destruction of his Chaos Space Marine incubation experiments. He hatched a plan to annihilate the Ultramarines, and especially Uriel Ventris. As bait, he used a stolen Mechanicus virus to turn Tarsis Ultra, the world the Ultramarines had vowed to protect, into a Dead World. He had assembled a large invasion force, which apart from his Iron Warrior warband, included Chaos Cultists, Traitor Marines and Traitor Guardsmen, Dark Eldar pirates, Kroot and other alien and human mercenaries, a Dark Mechanicus force led by the Traitor Magos Cycerin, and a multitude of criminals, psychopaths and killers. Honsou managed to find and board a star fort hidden for the previous 60 years in the depths of uncharted space in the Ultramar Sub-sector, guarded by an Ultramarines contingent. He slaughtered the star fort's Ultramarines garrison and then freed the powerful Daemon Prince M'kar, secretly held captive within the fort. The daemon, who had once been the Word Bearers Dark Apostle named Maloq Kartho who had originally attacked Ultramar during the Horus Heresy, was imprisoned by Marneus Calgar, the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, with the help of the Inquisition. M'kar hated the Ultramarines Chapter and the Imperium of Man with a passion. Aligning with the Warsmith Honsou, the Daemon Prince possessed a desecrated Ultramarine Dreadnought shell so that he could interact with the material universe, turned the star fort into a Chaos abomination linked directly to the Warp, and called forth a huge daemon army to join in attacking the worlds of the Realm of Ultramar.

Honsou had managed to acquire a clone of Uriel Ventris, known as the "Newborn", who had been created from the genetic material left behind while Uriel was in the womb of the Daemonculaba on Medrengard. The Newborn was a psychic as well as physical clone of Uriel. As such, he had fragments of Uriel's knowledge and memories, including the defence protocols of Ultramar, which Honsou first used to attack the star fort, and then the entire Realm of Ultramar. The whole Chapter rose in defense of the realm, aided by an Adeptus Mechanicus contingent under Magos Locard, the warband of the system-based Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Suzaku, a squad of Raven Guard Space Marines, the mobilized Ultramaran Planetary Defense Force regiments, and many civilians. The war expanded to encompass several Ultramar worlds, at least one of which was destroyed. Finally, Uriel confronted the Newborn (and Honsou), on Calth, his planet of birth. Honsou had gone there at the request of M'kar, to the Tomb of Ventanus (an ancient Ultramarine hero of the 4th Company known as "the Savior of Calth") to destroy Ventanus' sarcophagus and his wargear. Uriel killed the Newborn using a blade that was part of Ventanus' wargear, and in the battle that followed Honsou's more numerous force was defeated thanks to the sudden appearance of spectral guardian-warriors. Honsou, faced with capture or death, detonated the explosives the Iron Warriors had previously placed around the Tomb, collapsing the grand edifice of the Tomb on top of himself and his opponents. Uriel and some of his fellow warriors survived and headed to Talassar, an Ultramaran world where M'kar and his daemon army were close to overrunning Chapter Master Calgar and his dwindling forces. Uriel and other friendly reinforcements arrived in the midst of the final, climactic battle for the world. Ventris tossed the powerful anti-daemonic Blade of Ventanus to Calgar as the Chapter Master was duelling with M'kar, and Calgar used it to completely annihilate the Daemon Prince.

With the daemon army and Honsou's forces defeated in all the theatres of the war, the Imperial forces proceeded to engage in mopping-up operations, and within six months, the Realm of Ultramar was declared free of the touch of Chaos. Ominously, while the ruins of the Tomb of Ventanus were searched thoroughly, the body of Warsmith Honsou was never recovered.

Notable Campaigns

Tactical Advance — The Ultramarines make a tactical advance

Charadon Campaign (698.M41) - In 698.M41 the Ultramarines took part in a combined Space Marine force led by their Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, which consisted of elements of the Angels of Absolution, the Lamenters, the Marines Errant, and the Silver Skulls. During a seven-year-long Imperial Crusade the force inflicted a series of major defeats on the Ork empire of Charadon which delayed the invasion of the Imperium by the WAAAGH! Argluk for thirty standard years.
The Battle of Macragge (745.M41) - Hive Fleet Behemoth was spearheading a large Tyranids invasion force into Imperial space and were making unprecedented progress towards the Realm of Ultramar. Upon learning of the threat posed to Ultramar by the vicious Tyranids, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar at once drew up his plans. Calgar declared that the Hive Fleet would be halted at Macragge before it consumed more of Ultramar or drove deeper into the heart of the Imperium. Deeming Macragge to be the star system most immediately threatened, Calgar ordered its formidable defences to be further improved. Scant weeks later, the outrider vessels of the Tyranid fleet attacked Macragge. With the Hive Fleet destroyed after the sacrifice of an Imperial Battleship created a Warp vortex that destroyed the majority of the Hive Fleet, Calgar's surviving starships came about and roared back to Macragge to try to save the beleaguered polar garrisons. Calgar, feeling that the situation was becoming critical, sent the 3rd and 7th Ultramarines Companies ahead in their fast Strike Cruisers while his remaining damaged ships limped back to Macragge. Despite horrendous losses inflicted upon the Tyranid fleet from the orbital and polar defence grids, many Tyranid organisms were able to reach the surface of the planet. The Tyranid swarm swept across the planet with the most intense fighting in the region of the northern polar defence installations. Despite the Ultramarines fleet's ability to destroy the Tyranid bio-ships, horrific casualties were suffered by the planet's population as well as the Chapter. Calgar went down to the planet's surface, leading the 3rd Company against the ravenous hordes of the Great Devourer. The entirety of the elite 1st Company was wiped out to a man whilst defending the northern pole's defence grid. The Ultramarines 1st Company was gone and the 3rd and 7th sorely diminished. It would be many long years before the Chapter could properly replace its losses from the Battle of Macragge, but replace them it would.
The Purge of Thrax (762.M41) - Chapter Master Marneus Calgar lead the remnants of his Chapter against the Daemon-corrupted Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World of Thrax in 762.M41. Under the leadership of their Chapter Master, the Ultramarines banish countless thousands of daemons and recover crucial Imperial data-records from the twisted manufactorum complexes. With the mission complete, Calgar issues the order for Exterminatus.
Siege of Zalathras (797.M41) - Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, holds the gate alone against an Ork horde for a night and a day.
The Forgoil Campaign (805.M41) - WAAAGH! Gutshredda rampages through the Forgoil System. Marneus Calgar leads 3 companies to the assistance of the Forgoil Planetary Defence Forces. In a little more than three weeks, the Ultramarines destroy the tellyporta ships and Stompa factories that provided WAAAGH! Gutshredda with much of its momentum. In the final battle of the war, Calgar and his Terminator-armoured retinue board and destroy Gutshredda's flagship, Da Supadestructa.
The Assault on Black Reach (855.M41) - The Ultramarines 2nd Company under the command of Captain Cato Sicarius defeats the brutal Ork WAAAGH! Zanzag, a Greenskin horde under the command of the Ork Warlord Zanzag, a Big Mek, or Ork Warlord who possessed unusual mekanical skill for an Ork.
The Siege of Barathred (921.M41) - Marneus Calgar is ambushed by the Night Lords whilst en route to the Darkhold battle zone. The Chapter Master's crippled vessel makes planetfall on the sparsely settled Imperial Feudal World of Barathred. Several hundred Night Lords Chaos Space Marines make landing shortly thereafter, but Calgar rallies the planet's feudal population to defeat them.
The Trenor Uprising (929.M41) - Three dozen Ultramarines Scout Marines, under the expert direction of the famed Sergeant Telion, put down a rebellion against the Imperium on Trenor in less than a day.
The Rise of M'kar (935.M41) - A daemonic horde under the direction of the Word Bearers Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn seizes control of the star fort Indomitable in Calth's outer orbit. Under the command of Marneus Calgar, Terminators from the Ultramarines 1st Company board the star fort. M'kar is slain by the hand of Lord Macragge, who tears the upstart Daemon Prince limb from limb.
The Second War for Armageddon (941.M41) - WAAAGH! Ghazghkull descends upon the Imperial Hive World of Armageddon in the Segmentum Solar, initiating the Second War for Armageddon. The Orks are defeated only by the extreme stubbornness of the defenders and the combined might of the Blood Angels, Ultramarines and Salamanders Chapters. Thought dead by his foes, the wily Ork Warlord Ghazghkull himself escapes into space.
The Cleansing of Malbede (963.M41) - The Ultramarines clash with a Tau expeditionary fleet for control of the cursed planet of Malbede. When the conflict awakens the Necrons hidden on Malbede, the Ultramarines and the Tau join forces to defeat the emerging Necrons. In the wake of the battle, Marneus Calgar initiates Exterminatus on Malbede, but allows the Tau to evacuate before the planet is destroyed.
The Damnos Incident (974.M41) - The 2nd Company under the command of Captain Cato Sicarius rescues survivors from the doomed world of Damnos, an Imperial Civilised World that was also a Necron Tomb World. The Necrons awakened and launched a massive assault upon all life on the planet's surface, while Damnos Planetary Defence Force and Imperial Guard Regiments proved unable to defeat the hideous cybernetic xenos. The Ultramarines successfully rescused survivors from the planetary capital city of Kellenport before the Necrons claimed the world for their own.
Skirmish with Hive Fleet Perseus (976.M41) - Hive Fleet Perseus is detected by the Ultramarines in 976.M41. Spearheading an assault, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar was severely mauled, losing all four limbs as well as large areas of body tissue and his left eye. He underwent extreme augmetic surgery and has had most of his missing body parts replaced with bionics.
The Liberation of Lagan (989.M41) - The Ultramarines 3rd Company liberates the Lagan System from the Tau Empire.
The Second Tyrannic War and the Battle of Ichar IV (993.M41) - The Ultramarines quash rebellion on the industrial world of Ichar IV, only to find themselves at the forefront of a desperate defence against the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Kraken. Elsewhere, the Eldar Craftworld Iyanden is ravaged by other tendrils of the Kraken. Two Space Marine Chapters - the Scythes of the Emperor and the Lamenters - are all but wiped out and hundreds of Imperial worlds are lost to the Tyranids before the incursion is blunted.
The Battle of the Sepulchre (996.M41) - An Eldar emissary from the Biel-tan Craftworld was sent to the Imperial world of Commrath to enter negotiations with its Planetary Governor for the return of an ancient eldritch artefact from the tomb of one of the Ultramarines' most-lauded heroes, Captain Orar, known as the Sceptre of Galaxian. Refusing his request, the Eldar emissary grew angry and soon his pleas turned to threats of violence. The Planetary Governor refused to be cowed by the arrogant xenos and had the Eldar executed on the spot. However, the Governor had the foresight to heed the Eldar's threats and requested aid from the Ultramarines. Calgar responded with overwhelming force, mobilising his entire Chapter. This would be the first engagement the Ultramarines fought in as an entire Chapter since the First Tyrannic War. The Eldar launched a series of devastating attacks against the tomb complex. Though unsuccessful against the stoic Ultramarines' defenses, fully half the Astartes' number were either wounded or dead. When the third and final attack came, the Eldar looked like they were going to overwhelm the defenders. An Eldar Avatar of Khaine spearheaded the assault, breaking the Ultramarines' lines of defence and spilling into the tomb complex. Dozens of Ultramarines were killed by the mighty Avatar. Calgar valiantly fought the Avatar in single combat, and though grievously wounded, managed to kill the vile creature. With the fall of their War God, the Eldar lost all heart for the fight. Some fled without heed while others fell back in good order, but all retreated into the darkness. Despite overwhelming odds, once again the Ultramarines had emerged victorious, but in his wisdom Calgar knew that the Eldar would return for the Sceptre of Galaxian. So it was that Calgar informed Commrath's Governor that the Galaxian Sceptre would be removed from Orar's Sepulchre to Macragge, where it could be properly defended.
The Third Tyrannic War and the Defence of Tarsis Ultra (997.M41) - Elements of the Ultramarines and Mortifactors Space Marine Chapters make a stand against one spur of the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Leviathan on the world of Tarsis Ultra. The defenders defeat this tendril of the Leviathan with an engineered anti-Tyranid biological plague, but the remainder of Hive Fleet Leviathan rampages on unabated.
The Liberation of Graia (Unknown Date.M41) - The Forge World of Graia in the Segmentum Tempestus, home to the Titan Legion known as the Legio Astraman ("The Morning Stars"), was assaulted by the Ork WAAAGH! Grimskull, over a million Greenskins strong. The Imperial Guard's 203rd Cadian Shock Troops Regiment was diverted to Graia and made a combat drop, but was unable to stem the green tide and the Adeptus Mechanicus feared that the world and its extremely valuable Battle Titan-manufacturing facilities would fall into the Orks' hands, representing a major threat to the Imperium. To deal with this threat, the Ultramarines despatched the 2nd Company, at this time under the command of Captain Titus, to assist the Imperial Guardsmen. After launching an assault on the Ork flagship in orbit of the world in the hope of slaying the Ork Warboss Grimskull outright, Titus and two members of his company's command squad were forced to land on the planet itself. They proceeded to engage the Ork forces and ultimately to unmask a plot of the Chaos Sorcerer Nemeroth and his warband of Chaos Space Marines, the Chosen of Nemeroth, to seize experimental technology on Graia that would allow Nemeroth to ascend to become a Daemon Prince with Graia as his Daemon World. In the course of the Graian campaign, Titus successfully slew Grimskull in single combat, thus ending the Ork threat as the Greenskins withdrew from the world as their various clans began fighting for control of the WAAAGH! Titus also faced Nemeroth as he began hs ascension to daemonhood and slew the foul sorcerer, banishing his soul to the Warp and ending his plans for Graia. Detachments of the Blood Ravens and Black Templars Chapters then arrived to aid the Ultramarines and the remnants of the Imperial Guard in securing the Forge World. However, during the crisis on Graia, Titus had displayed both a disregard for the strictures of the Codex Astartes and had been curiously unaffected by Nemeroth's Chaotic sorcery. Fearful that his commander had become tainted by Chaos, his subordinate Leandros made his concerns known to the Inquisition. Inquisitor Thrax, who had arrived on Graia with the Black Templars, took Captain Titus into custody for interrogation and the determination of his purity. The Liberation of Graia took place in an alternate universe where Titus rather than Cato Sicarius was the Captain of the 2nd Company.
The Taking of Bridge Two-Four (999.M41) - Uriel Ventris succeeds Captain Idaeus as commander of the Ultramarines 4th Company.
The Zeist Campaign (999.M41) - Captain Cato Sicarius leads an army to halt the Tau's Fourth Sphere Expansion. An Imperial Crusade later known as the Zeist Campaign drawn from 30 Space Marine Chapters drives the Tau back from dozens of Imperial worlds, but is recalled before its work can be completed to deal with the much greater threat of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade.
Defence of Ultramar (999.M41) - In the midst of the 13th Black Crusade, the Realm of Ultramar comes under renewed assault from the Forces of Chaos. The Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn, clad in mortal flesh once again within the body of a former Ultramarines Dreadnought, leads the onslaught against the world of Talassar. Other Chaotic warlords under the control of the Iron Warriors Warsmith Honsou attack Calth, Espandor and Tarentus. Marneus Calgar recalls all Ultramarines forces to defend Ultramar, dispatching a reinforced Battle Company to each threatened planet. Calgar himself accompanies the 2nd Company to defend Talassar, determined to slay M'kar a hundred times over if need be.

Realm of Ultramar

One aspect of the Ultramarines Legion that survived the Second Founding was the close relationship between the Space Marines and the populations 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 diminished almost to vanishing point 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 stellar empire of the Ultramarines.

Ultramar is unique amongst the domains of 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 11 local star 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 societal traditions are similar.

After the Horus Heresy all 11 worlds benefited from the improving reforms of Roboute Guilliman and its citizens are disciplined, productive and loyal. As a result, Ultramar is a wealthy stellar empire within the larger Imperium that knows little unrest and no rebellion - a somewhat unique distinction in the increasingly desperate days of the late 41st Millennium. The population live in sprawling cities, but these cities are surrounded by extensive farmlands and seas that teem with fish.

Each of Ultramar's worlds are self-sufficient in raw materials and food. Trade between the planets is active, and each planet has its specialities and delicacies. Each world is balanced as a society and also as an ecosystem - although composed of primarily industrial worlds, Ultramar has none of the nightmarish toxic wastelands that are common phenomena throughout the galaxy. It is therefore little wonder that many system governors and planetary lords across the Imperium regard Ultramar with an envious eye.

Ultramar is the feudal realm of the Ultramarines within the greater realm of humanity that is the Imperium of Man. Its worlds do not pay the Imperium's tithes. Instead they contribute directly towards the upkeep of the Ultramarines Chapter. The rulers of the individual worlds of Ultramar are feudal lords of the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. This is why the Ultramarines leader is also the Lord of Ultramar, with all the rights and responsibilities that such a title entails. Just like other worlds in the Imperium, each world of Ultramar raises regiments for its own defence. Most worlds in the Imperium are obliged to provide regiments for the Imperial Guard when required, but Space Marine homeworlds are an exception. In the case of Ultramar, however, the Ultramarines rule so efficiently and are so prosperous that they maintain several hundred regiments ready and willing to join the Imperial Guard when the need arises. As a result, regiments from Ultramar have fought all over the galaxy, often in campaigns alongside the Ultramarines themselves. Each world of Ultramar also provides Space Marine recruits for the Ultramarines Chapter itself. Throughout Ultramar, proud citizens point to public statues of famous Ultramarines who were born to local families. Amongst the older aristocratic dynasties it is a matter of considerable esteem to send recruits to the Ultramarines. For a family to have provided a renowned hero, perhaps even an actual Master of the Chapter, is a great honour that brings considerable fame and status for many generations.

The Ultramarines are unique in that, unlike their fellow Astartes Chapters, they control nine habitable worlds, rather than a single Chapter planet, star system or fleet. Collectively, these star systems are known as the Realm of Ultramar, a sub-infeudated autonomous region of the Imperium of Man, with Macragge as the capital world. Macragge is a cold and rocky world with large, inhospitable polar regions, though certainly capable of sustaining human life. It is home to the Fortress of Hera, the Ultramarines' fortress-monastery. Ultramar is located in the galactic Southeast of the Eastern Fringes near the galactic Rim. The Eldar Craftworld Iyanden has been sighted in this sector and the expanding Tau Empire is also nearby. Twice Ultramar has stood in the path of a Tyranid Hive Fleet and the Tyranid threat in the Eastern Fringes remains strong. Macragge, the Ultramarines' homeworld and location of their fortress-monastery, is just one of the 11 worlds in the Realm of Ultramar. Macragge itself is mostly bleak and rocky, with more than three-quarters of its land mass formed from mountainous upland almost entirely devoid of life. The people of Macragge do not live in this inhospitable region, but the fortress-monastery of the Ultramarines is built here upon a craggy peak surrounded by impenetrable mountains. Within this mighty fortress, inside the vast Temple of Corrections, is the shrine of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman himself. This is where his body sits upon a huge throne of ornately-carved marble. He is preserved in death by a stasis field impervious to the decaying effects of time. This is one of the holiest places in the Imperium, and thousands come from all over the galaxy to look upon the face of the ancient Primarch. The other ten worlds are:

Calth - Cavern World - Calth is an airless world whose inhabitants live in underground cities where the deadly light of Calth's blue sun cannot reach them. The caverns of Calth are constructed on such a huge scale, and with such grandeur, that they are as light and airy as any city of Macragge. Of all the local worlds, Calth is the most specialised, for although its people grow vast quantities of food in nutrient vats, they prefer to import most of what they eat from the neighbouring system of Iax. Calth is famous for its orbital shipyards, which provide the spacecraft used by the Ultramarines as well as civil and military craft for wider use in the Imperium.
Espandor - Frontier World - Most distant from Macragge is the world of Espandor, a planet of extensive forests whose major cities are confined to the westernmost of its two continents. Espandor is a secondary settlement whose people are the descendants of explorers from Macragge and hold considerable pride in their rugged existence. Tradition has it that Espandor was settled during the Age of Strife by merchants blown off-course and subsequently stranded by Warp Storms. It is the least densely populated of all the worlds of Ultramar.
Iax - Garden World - Iax is sometimes described as the Garden of Ultramar. Its climate and fertility have made it one of the most naturally productive worlds in the Imperium. The inhabitants have harnessed the planet's inherent verdancy, covering its surface with well-ordered farms and cultivated woodlands. There are no large cities on Iax, but many small towns dotted over the landscape, connected together by an efficient system of fast hydroways. The oldest and most urbanised area of Iax is the ancient city of First Landing, whose citadel has withstood the barrages of invaders over the centuries. Legend has it that Guilliman came to Iax many times, and that he treasured the world almost as much as his beloved Macragge.
Konor - Forge World - Konor is an Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World. Konor shares a common culture with the rest of Ultramar but technnically is independent of the Lord of Ultramar's rule as it owes allegiance instead to the Fabricator General of Mars. However, Konor often relies upon the Ultramarines for its defence and the products of its manufactoriums are mostly intended for use by the Chapter.
Parmenio - Parmenio is an Ultramarines Training World used largely for increasing the tactical and strategic skills of the Chapter's Neophytes.
Prandium - Dead World - Prandium once teemed with life. Settlers from Macragge established a colony on the planet after the Horus Heresy. Thanks to a mild climate and fertile virgin environment, the people of Prandium prospered. The planet soon become the most beautiful jewel of Ultramar, a planet of remarkable prosperity and an incredibly rich native fauna. Prandium was destroyed by Hive Fleet Behemoth in the First Tyrannic War. The lifeless planet is now reduced to bedrock, its atmosphere blown into space by the ferocity of the Tyranid attack.
Talasa Prime - Talasa Prime is an Inquisition Fortress World.
Talassar - Ocean World - Talassar is a planet of storm-tossed seas and rocky islands whose single continent is known as Glaudor, which was the site of a major battle between the Ultramarines and invading Orks immediately after the Horus Heresy.
The Triple Worlds (Quintarn, Tarentus and Masali) - Agri-worlds - These small planets form a triple world combination orbiting around a common centre of gravity much like the Earth and its moon. Gigantic horticultural cities cover hundreds of square miles, capturing precious water in wind traps and storing it in massive underground tanks. The cities of the Three Planets are enclosed by gigantic domes under which flourish forests and gardens as lush as any in Ultramar.

Chapter Organisation

After the Horus Heresy, the Space Marine Legions were broken up into small fighting forces. Roboute Guilliman laid down the organisational dictates that would become a part of every Space Marine Chapter from then on. Though some Chapters would later stray from the precise structure laid out in Gulilliman's Codex Astartes, most Astartes Chapters remain faithful to its teaching. The Ultramarines follows the teachings of their Primarch and the Codex with a religious dedication. They follow the organisational format laid out during the Second Founding with strict devotion, only deviating from their Primarch's teachings when the situation leaves them no other choice (such as with the creation of the Tyrannic War Veterans). During the incursion of Hive Fleet Behemoth, the elite 1st Company was utterly wiped out in a heroic last stand beneath the northern polar fortress of Macragge. The 1st Company contained the Chapter's finest warriors who were equipped with Terminator Armour, a precious and ever-dwindling resource. Such losses of men and material are not easily replaced. As the Ultramarines were located in the galactic East, which saw successive assaults from Tyranid Hive Fleets, the experiences that made Veterans of their warriors inevitably came from fighting those foul xenos. Under the personal direction of Chaplain Cassius, a new elite, the Tyrannic War Veterans, emerged.

These new elite squads were a departure for the Ultramarines, a Chapter for whom such specialisation was almost unheard of. But two factors led to their formation: first, the necessity of having a full-strength Veteran company available and second, the Chapter's rabid hatred for the Tyranids.

Tyrannic War Veterans

Ultramarine Tyrannic Vet — An Ultramarines Tyrannic War Veteran

During the first incursion of the Tyranid Hive Fleets, the Ultramarines were constantly engaged with the extragalactic menace. The invasion of Hive Fleet Behemoth was halted at Macragge, in a series of battles that completely wiped out much of the Chapter.

Veterans of Tyranid conflicts are often grouped into elite units of Tyrannic War Veterans, also known as Tyranid Hunters. These units are specially trained to effectively fight this particular xenos menace. Currently, 12 members of the Ultramarines 1st Company are composed of Tyrannic War Veterans. Tyrannic War Veterans usually carry a Bolter and an Astartes combat knife. Some carry close assault weapons like a Multi-melta, Flamer or a Plasma Gun. Tyrannic War Veteran Sergeants carry Chainswords and a Bolter or a Bolter and grenades.

Ultramarines Honour Guard

Ultramarines Honor Guard — Ultramarines Honour Guard in battle

Ultramarine Honour Guard — An Ultramarines Honour Guard stands resolute

The Honour Guard of the Chapter is comprised of Ultramarines who guard the revered Chapter Banner. To become an Honour Guard, one must display courage that goes above and beyond the normal call in a given combat situation. The Ultramarines Honour Guard wear highly ornate suits of Artificer Power Armour and are each armed with an Axe of Ultramar, a powerful weapon forged by the Techmarines in the Chapter's Forge and constructed with rare ores excavated beneath the world of Prandium. Among those in the Honour Guard are two special individuals, the Chapter's Ancient, who is the bearer of the sacred Banner of Macragge and the Chapter Champion, the mightiest member of the Honour Guard who is armed with the Honour Blades, a matching set of master-crafted Power Swords, a broadsword and a poniard, which he wields with deadly skill.

Order of Battle

Like most Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters, the Ultramarines are divided into 10 companies of 100 Space Marines each. Each company is led by a Captain of the Ultramarines, who -- in addition to his company command -- is in charge of a particular aspect of the Chapter's logistics. The current company commanders of the Chapter in 999.M41 are as follows:

Chapter Command: Marneus Calgar, Lord of Macragge, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines
- 27 Honour Guard Astartes, 1 Land Raider (Maximus)
- 1,700 Chapter Equerries (Chapter Serfs) and Servitors
Master of Sanctity (High Chaplain): Reclusiarch Ortan Cassius
- 10 Company Chaplains
Chapter Armoury: Fennias Maxim, Master of the Forge
- 27 Techmarines, 95 Tech-Servitors, 25 Predators, 8 Vindicators, 9 Whirlwinds, 12 Land Raiders
Apothecarion: Corpus Helix, Chief Apothecary
- 12 Apothecaries
Librarius: Varro Tigurius, Chief Librarian
- 5 Epistolaries, 9 Codiciers, 10 Lexicaniums, 3 Acolytes
Master of the Fleet: Lord Admiral Lazlo Tiberius, an Astartes of the Ultramarines Chapter and Hero of Macragge, has been made the Master of the Ultramarines Chapter Fleet by Marneus Calgar
- 10 Battle Barges, 15 Strike Cruisers, 20 Escorts, 75 Thunderhawks
1st (Veteran) Company (white trim): Captain Severus Agemman, the Regent of Ultramar
- 97 Space Marine Veterans, 3 Dreadnoughts
2nd Company (gold trim): Captain Cato Sicarius, the Master of the Watch
- 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Assault Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, 2 Dreadnoughts
3rd Company (red trim): Captain Ardias, Captain Mikael Fabian (temporarily in command), the Master of the Arsenal
- 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Assault Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, 2 Dreadnoughts
4th Company (green trim): Captain Uriel Ventris, chosen by the 4th Company's former commander, Captain Lucius Idaeus, as his successor before his death at at the Battle of Bridge 2-4 on the world of Thracia
- 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Assault Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, 4 Dreadnoughts
5th Company (black trim): Captain Caito Galenus, the Master of the Marches
- 6 Tactical Squads, 2 Assault Squads, 2 Devastator Squads, 1 Dreadnought
6th Company (orange trim): Captain Epathus, the Master of the Rites
- 10 Tactical Squads, 4 Dreadnoughts
7th Company (purple trim): Captain Ixion, the Chief Victualler (Quartermaster)
- 10 Tactical Squads, 3 Dreadnoughts
8th Company (grey trim): Captain Numitor
- 10 Assault Squads
9th Company (blue trim): Captain Sinon
- 10 Devastator Squads, 7 Dreadnoughts
10th (Scout) Company (no trim): Captain Antilochus, the Master of Recruits
- Scout Marine Squads

Captain Invictus had been the commander of the 1st Company until he died at the Battle of Macragge alongside most of his company. Severus Agemman had originally commanded the 2nd Company until his promotion to command the 1st after the Battle of Macragge. Until 745.M41, Captain Ardias originally led the 3rd Company, but was seriously injured in battle by overwhelming Tau forces. Mikael Fabian was confirmed as the temporary successor captain before the Battle of Macragge against the Tyranids, and, with his 3rd Company, had success in the reconquest of the North Pole Fortress. Until 999.M41, Captain Lucius Idaeus led the 4th Company, but died in battle on Thracia. Uriel Ventris was confirmed as the successor captain shortly after, but was exiled from the Ultramarines for failing to adhere to the Codex Astartes. He successfully completed his Death Oath and returned home to take up his command once more.

Chapter Combat Doctrine

For any given tactical situation, the Chapter has come to rely on the holy dictates of the Codex Astartes to meet any situation. This tome contains the wisdom of thousands of Imperial warriors who have contributed to the Codex, and details everything from proper unit markings to how to launch full-scale planetary assaults within its pages. The Ultramarines do not specialise in any particular form of combat, instead proving to be the ultimate generalists--surprisingly proficient at every task required in warfare, but not the master or greatest practicioner of any of them. For instance, the Aurora Chapter is far more skilled in armoured warfare than the Ultramarines, while the Raven Guard are second to non in the use of guerilla, infiltatrion and hit-and-run tactics, and the Imperial Fists are the recognised masters of siege warfare. Yet the Ultramarines' generalist skill in the arts of combat would provide a potent defence against any of these Chapters, and so they are often held up as the standard to which all other Chapters of Astartes are compared, for better or worse.

Chapter Character

The saga of the Ultramarines Legion takes many elements from the ancient Greek (particularly Spartan) and Roman societies, namely in terms of its military organisation. They are the pre-eminent Space Marines army that serves as the example for all other Codex-compliant Chapters in the Imperium, as they do not require any tactical supplements beyond the Codex Astartes.

The Ultramarines' dominion over the star systems of Ultramar gives these Astartes unparalleled contact with Imperial citizenry. This has led to an unusual level of affinity for the common citizenry among an Astartes Chapter, comparable only to that displayed by the Salamanders. The Ultramarines regard themselves as protectors of the innocent, and not simply the Imperium's best warriors. This indicates the Ultramarines may be considered one of the noblest of Space Marine Chapters, fighting for not merely honour and martial pride or glory, but to protect the lives of their own people. In addition, unlike most Imperial organisations, they are willing to work with aliens like the Eldar from time to time, and even hold some respect for the Tau Empire. Unlike other Imperial military forces, the Ultramarines do not renege on their deals with alien allies, even after victory has been achieved.

The Ultramarines are a byword for courage and honour, and their warriors are justly held in the highest regard throughout the Imperium. Unlike many other Chapters, who control a single planet or fortress-monastery, the Ultramarines control no fewer than 8 star systems directly from their homeworld of Macragge, the stellar realm known as Ultramar. It is from these worlds that the Ultramarines recruit their newest members, administer Imperial Justice and rule Ultramar with a just and disciplined hand. The Ultramarines' fortress-monastery – known as the Fortress of Hera – is situated in the highest peaks of Macragge, and it is here that the best and bravest of the children selected from the many training academies throughout Ultramar are brought to begin their training as Space Marine Aspirants. Here, they will become the most feared fighting warriors of the Imperium – the Angels of Death, the Adeptus Astartes.

Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, set down the foundations of the Imperium’s fighting forces 10,000 years ago in a mighty tome known and revered as the Codex Astartes. This holy work embodied all the Primarch’s military genius and set out precise guidelines for virtually every single aspect of war imaginable, everything from the correct conduct while marching to the precise execution of a planetary assault. But perhaps its most significant edict was the breaking-up of the First Founding Space Marine Legions into the smaller Chapters that exist today. No longer would one man control a force as powerful as an entire Space Marine Legion. Each Chapter would be broken up into a force of 10 companies, roughly a thousand warriors strong in total. The Ultramarines have followed Guilliman's teachings since those days and are strict adherents to the words of their Primarch’s tome, and the organisation and combat doctrines of the Ultramarines of today are the same as those followed by the Ultramarines of ten thousand years ago. These tenets of belief have passed to the Imperial citizens of Ultramar and this stellar realm is as close to the ideal of an Imperial human Utopia as is imaginable in a galaxy defined by war.

Chapter Beliefs

As befits the inheritors of Roboute Guilliman's superb military genius and ferocity in battle, the Ultramarines have fought in the manner prescribed in the holy pages of the Codex Astartes for ten millennia. They do not interpret the sacred words of their Primarch loosely, for to do so is considered blasphemy in their eyes. Such deviation is unthinkable to the Ultramarines. To the Chapter, the Codex is a divine work of wisdom, sanctified by the beneficient Emperor himself. The Ultramarines see no reason to deviate from its wisdom. The life-long lessons of discipline and self-reliance are taught to the people of Ultramar from birth, giving them the strength of character to hold true to teachings over ten thousand years old.

Chapter Appearance

Chapter Colours

The Ultramarines typically paint their Power Armour and vehicles a medium (Ultramarine) blue, and their symbol is an inverted white Greek letter Omega. The Ultramarines also utilise black-and-yellow chevrons, usually on weapons such as Power Fists. They also incorporate the double-headed Aquila (the Imperial Eagle - especially seen in command and elite squads) in their armoury. They also have a gold (shining gold) trim on their Aquila. Their shoulder armour trim colour varies depending on the company the Space Marine belongs to, with the 1st Company being White, the 2nd Company Gold, etc (see above). Apothecaries of the Ultramarines keep the blue armour but have their hands, shoulder guards and backpacks painted white. They have a white vertical stripe painted down the centre of the helmet. Some Apothecaries have their armour white throughout with a blue shoulder plate (white trim).

Chapter Badge

The Chapter badge of the Ultramarines is a large, white Omega letter drawn from the Greek alphabet, representing the concept of ultimate perfection.

Notable Ultramarines

Marneus Calgar - Marneus Calgar has been the Ultramarines' Chapter Master throughout most of the 41st Millennium as well as the Planetary Governor and Lord of Macragge. He wields the Gauntlets of Ultramar, the weapons that the Ultramarines' Primarch Roboute Guilliman had taken from a Chaos Champion he slew during the Horus Heresy.
Chief Librarian Tigurius - Believed to have survived contact with the Tyranid Hive Mind and to be the strongest psyker in the Imperium, with the possible exception of Mephiston, the Lord of Death of the Blood Angels, Njal Stormcaller of the Space Wolves, and of course the Emperor of Mankind.
Chaplain Ortan Cassius - Cassius is the Ultramarines' Master of Sanctity. He is one of the oldest Ultramarines not contained within an armoured chassis of a Dreadnought. Though Cassius is close to 400 standard years old, his sturdy presence within the Ultramarines line of battle still fills the hearts of his younger brethren with pride and valour. He is the founder and mentor of the Tyrannic War Veterans.
Captain Severus Agemman - 1st Company Captain, Regent of Ultramar
Captain Invictus - Former Captain of the 1st Company. Led the combined Ultramarines, Imperial Guard and Titan Legion forces at the Battle of Macragge.
Captain Cato Sicarius - Captain of the 2nd Company, Grand Duke of Talassar, Suzerain of Ultramar and Master of the Watch who was the hero of the Assault on Black Reach and the Zeist Campaign. Sicarius also led the Imperial forces on Medusa V and moved to combat the invasion of Ultramar by the Forces of Chaos under the command of the Daemon Prince M'kar the Reborn. Sicarius is believed by many Astartes within his Chapter to be a fitting successor to Marneus Calgar as the next Chapter Master of the Ultramarines and Lord of Macragge.
Captain Titus - Titus was the Captain of the 2nd Company and the hero of the Liberation of Graia. Titus faced his greatest test when he and his company of Ultramarines were sent to the Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World of Graia in the Segmentum Tempestus to stop an invasion by an Ork WAAAGH! 1 million Greenskins strong led by the Warboss Grimskull intent on stealing advanced Imperial weapons, including a Warlord-class Battle Titan. The assault was part of an intricate plan unleashed by the Chaos Sorcerer Nemeroth, the Chaos Lord of a warband of Chaos Space Marines known as the Chosen of Nemeroth, to get his hands on an experimental power source on the world that would allow him to ascend to become a Daemon Prince. Accompanied by 2 members of his command squad, Sergeant Sidonus and Battle-Brother Leandros, Titus joined with the Imperial Guard's 203rd Cadian Shock Troops Regiment and its only surviving officer, 2nd Lieutenant Mira, to eventually kill Grimskull and halt the WAAAGH! Unfortunately, the Ordo Xenos Inquisitor Drogan, who Titus and his Astartes relied upon for assistance in retaking the world, was actually an undead pawn of Nemeroth who used a specially designed weapon powered by the experimental power source Nemeroth wanted, to open a portal into the Warp that allowed the Chaos Sorcerer, a horde of Chaos daemons and his Chaos Space Marines to come to Graia. Curiously, however, Titus displayed an unknown immunity to the sorcerer's psychic powers which immediately raised the suspicions of the highly orthodox Leandros to his commander's possible corruption. Following the death of his old friend Sidonus at Nemeroth's hand, Titus hunted dwn the foul Chaos Sorcerer and slew him just as he was in the throes of the ascent to daemonhood, banishing his dark soul back to the Warp for punishment by his Dark Gods. Unfortunately, after saving Graia, Captain Titus was taken into custody by the Inquisition's Inquisitor Thrax and his retinue of Black Templars Space Marines on suspicion of heresy after Leandros reported his captain for both his resistance to Nemeroth's sorcery and his multiple deviations from the Codex Astartes held sacrosanct by all Ultramarines. His current fate is unknown. Titus was the main character of the video game Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine, which took place in an alternate universe where Titus rather than Cato Sicarius was the Captain of the 2nd Company.
Captain Fabian - Captain of the 3rd Company, Master of the Arsenal
Captain Uriel Ventris - Captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company. He is armed with the Sword of Ideaus, Lucius Ideaus being his predecessor as commander of the 4th Company and his mentor. He was exiled from the Chapter for not adhering to the Codex Astartes after leading an Deathwatch Kill-team into a Tyranid splinter Hive Fleet to kill its Norn-Queen. After destroying the Daemonculaba on the Daemon World of Medrengard, home of the Iron Warriors, he and his Veteran Sergeant Pasanius Lysane have now returned to Ultramar. After returning to Ultramar, Pasanius and Ventris had to undergo tests for their purity, and since then Ventris has regained command of the 4th Company. His first mission upon his return was to head back to the Tomb World of Pavonis and ensure that it was recovering from a Necron awakening, when the 4th Company engaged the Tau unexpectedly. The Ultramarines ultimately won, with Ventris adhering to the Codex Astartes for every engagement.
Captain Cato Galenus - Captain of the 5th Company, Master of the Marches
Captain Epathus - Captain of the 6th Company, the Master of the Rites
Captain Lysimachus Cestus - Captain of the 7th Company during the Horus Heresy. Cestus was instrumental in halting the Word Bearers Traitor Legion from all but destroying the Ultramarines Legion.
Captain Ixion - Captain of the 7th Company , the Chief Victualler
Captain Antilochus - Captain of the 10th Company, the Master of Recruits
Captain Kruger - Force Commander of the Ultramarines during the events of Warhammer 40,000: Chaos Gate.
Chaplain Varnus - In the PC game Dawn of War - Winter Assault, Varnus was the Chaplain who lead the Ultramarines force to escort the Collegia Titanica Titan Recovery Team intended to reawaken the Imperator-class Emperor Titan that had been lost on the ice world of Lorn V during the Horus Heresy. After the Imperial Guard come to his aid when his Thunderhawk transport crashes, he witnessed the summoning of a Bloodthirster Greater Daemon of Khorne, which mutilated one of his Space Marines. Enraged, Varnus charges out of his defenses and confronts the Greater Daemon in close combat, single-handedly defeating it. He later helped hold the line against an awakening force of Necrons as the Emperor Titan lying dormant on the ice world of Lorn V was brought online.
Sergeant Pasanius Lysane - A Veteran Sergeant of the Ultramarines 4th Company and the best friend of Captain Uriel Ventris. Lysane accompanied Ventris during his Death Oath and bears an augmetic arm. This arm was once covered in necrodermis, the Necrons' living metal substance, after Lysane's encounter with the C'tan known as the Nightbringer on the Tomb World of Pavonis, but the arm was removed by Dark Mechanicus Tech-priests during his time on the Daemon World of Medrengard and eventually replaced by a normal bioniclimb after his return to Macragge. For not telling the Chapter about his prior bionic arm's xenos abilities, Lysane was reduced in rank to a line Battle-Brother and forced to spend 100 days away from the Chapter in penance.

Chapter Fleet

Ultramarines Battle Barges — Two Battle Barges of the Ultramarines' Chapter Fleet

Space Marine Chapters usually possess 4 or 5 Battle Barges in their Chapter fleets, but the Ultramarines can field up to 10 currently if it draws on moth-balled naval stores as the Realm of Ultramar depends on the Chapter for sector naval protection rather than on a sector battlefleet of the Imperial Navy. The Master of the Fleet for the Ultramarines is Captain Lazlo Tiberius, an Astartes and one of the heroes of Macragge.

10 Battle Barges (including lost or destroyed ones):
- Caesar
- Octavius
- Severian
- Aeternus
- Emperor Incarnatus
- Adsidus
- Seditio Opprimere
- Lord Laomedon
- Honour's Fist
- Faith's Pyre
- Icon of Faith
- Imperator Rexelius
- Infernus Iconus
15 Strike Cruisers, including:
- Vae Victus
- Iter Splendere
- Fidelis
- Internecio
- Accipiter
- Valin's Revenge
- Garra de Macragge (Macragge's Claw)
20 Escorts
75 Thunderhawk Gunships

External links

Wargame Tactics for Space Marines - A site for Ultramarine Tactics.

Sources

Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition)
Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition)
The Ultramarines series of novels:
- McNeill, Graham. Nightbringer.
- McNeill, Graham. Warriors of Ultramar.
- McNeill, Graham. Dead Sky, Black Sun.
- McNeill, Graham. The Killing Ground.
- McNeill, Graham. Courage and Honour.
- McNeill, Graham. The Chapter's Due.
White Dwarf 264 (Australian Edition), "Index Astartes – Ultramarines"
Horus Heresy – Volume II: Visions of Darkness
Insignium Astartes: The Uniforms and Regalia of the Space Marines
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine (Video Game)

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 ==Gallery==
-<gallery widths="185" spacing="small" captionalign="left" orientation="none" columns="4">
+<gallery spacing="small" captionalign="left" orientation="none" columns="4">
 UltramarinesScout.JPG|An Ultramarines [[Scout Marine]]
 UltramarinesDevastatorMarine.JPG|An Ultramarines [[Devastator Marine]] of the 2nd Company
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 UltramarinesTacticalMarine.JPG|An Ultramarines [[Tactical Marine]] of the 2nd Company
 UM_MkVI_Corvus.jpg|Ultramarines [[Tactical Marine]] in Mark VI [[Power Armour]]
 UltramarineTacticalMarine.JPG|An Ultramarines [[Tactical Marine]] of the 2nd Company armed with [[Bolter]] in Mark VII [[Power Armour]]
 Ultramarines1stCompanyVeteran.JPG|An Ultramarines Veteran of the 1st Company
 UltramarinesTerminator.JPG|An Ultramarines [[Terminator]] of the 1st Company