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The Ultramarines 1st Company, also known as the "Warriors of Ultramar", is the elite Veteran company of the Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter. Many are the tales of glory associated with this august body of warriors, yet there is tragedy in their history too.
Numbering the one hundred most skilled warriors of the Ultramarines Chapter, the 1st Company are trained in the arts of fighting in unusual or ancient marks of combat armour, and with all manner of weaponry.
As with most Chapters, the Veterans of the Ultramarines 1st Company are given the pick of the Chapter Armoury and allowed to fight in whatever manner best suits their skill set. As dictated by the Codex Astartes, the majority of these warriors serve in Terminator Squads, Vanguard Veteran and Sternguard Veteran Squads.
These are then attached to Ultramarines strike forces fighting all over the galaxy, providing their brethren with the might and wise counsel of these veteran warriors.
Sometimes, individual Veterans from the 1st Company are chosen to join the rarefied ranks of the Victrix Honour Guard, while at others Primaris Marine Veterans may take to the field clad in Mark X Phobos Power Armour to launch stealth operations behind enemy lines.
The Ultramarines 1st Company benefits from a wealth of heavy armoured support; the Chapter's fleet of Land Raider and Repulsor transport battle tanks are at their disposal, as are squadrons of Stormraven gunships and several Dreadnought battle-brothers whose combined age and wisdom are a constant inspiration to their Battle-Brothers.
The latest of these warriors to attain this revenant status is Redemptor Dreadnought Augustin, who has the dubious honour of having been mortally wounded by no less weapon than Silence, the daemonic scythe of Mortarion, the Daemon Primarch of the Death Guard during the Plague Wars.
History[]
Battle of Macragge[]
The latter years of the 41st Millennium saw the 1st Company suffer truly appalling losses that shook them to the core during the terrible Battle of Macragge in 745.M41. The Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth slammed headlong into the Realm of Ultramar, the aliens' sheer ferocity carrying them all the way to Macragge itself.
While Marneus Calgar, forced to withdraw from Macragge by the xenos onslaught, led the battle in space, elements of the Chapter drew the Tyranid swarms onto the guns of the polar fortresses.
In the north the Tyranids attacked in overwhelming force and, though the entire 1st Company stood against them, the aliens broke through the defence lines and swarmed into the fortress.
By the time reinforcements reached them the 1st Company had been slain to a warrior. Yet in their final hours, they had staged a heroic fighting retreat that shattered the Tyranids' strength and left xenos corpses piled so high that they had to be bulldozed aside in order for the fallen Ultramarines to be recovered.
While Macragge was saved, the damage done to the Chapter was substantial. Many suits of priceless Terminator plate were damaged beyond recovery, and it took the Ultramarines a long time to rebuild the full strength of their 1st Company.
Severus Agemman[]
The 1st Company is commanded at present by Captain Severus Agemman, who also serves as the Regent of Ultramar, and governs the Ultramarines' domain in the absence of the Chapter Master or the Ultramarines Primarch. A stern and strategically gifted warrior, he is little given to shows of bravado or self-aggrandisement.
So considered is his nature that some of the Ultramarines' other war-leaders have questioned his suitability for his position, especially after Agemman was almost slain by the Daemon Prince M'kar during the Invasion of Ultramar in 999.M41.
This was a wounding that left the Captain with spiritual wounds as deep as those inflicted upon his physical body.
However, Chapter Master Marneus Calgar, and now the resurrected Roboute Guilliman, have both stood by Captain Agemman's rank and title, and for good reason.
Agemman is an exceptionally talented logistician who knows how to get the absolute best out of every warrior under his command.
A fierce and determined warrior, Captain Agemman is at his best amidst the fire and mayhem of an active war zone, delivering clipped orders with his trademark icy calm, reading the flow of battle with a master’s eye and crushing his enemies' every attempt at victory.
Strike Force Ultra[]
On several notable occasions throughout the Ultramarines Chapter's history, a substantial portion of its 1st Company have deployed in a formation known as "Strike Force Ultra."
Led by the 1st Company Captain himself, this formation mobilises as many Battle-Brothers in suits of Tactical Dreadnought Armour as can be sent into battle.
Supported by sufficient Land Raiders and Stormraven gunships to transport the entire force into battle at speed, Strike Force Ultra is sent to swiftly and decisively crush the very toughest of targets.
Pivotal enemy fortifications, heretical Battle Titans, world-killing xenos war engines and the like have all fallen beneath the hammering guns and crushing fists of Strike Force Ultra.
Of late, this formation has also incorporated Repulsor-borne Veteran Intercessors and Inceptors who have provided it with yet more close-range firepower and sudden, overwhelming force.
Sources[]
- Codex Supplement: Ultramarines (8th Edition), pg. 12