LEGION XIII ULTRAMARINES
Loyalist Legion
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.
Primarch Roubute Guilliman
Roboute Guilliman, referred to as the "Avenging Son," "The Victorious," "The Master of Ultramar," "Imperial Regent," and "The Blade of Unity", is the Primarch of the Ultramarines Space Marine Legion. Roubute Guilliman is the current Imperial Regent and the only one standing loyalist Primarch. He has the ultimate authority in the late 41st millenium, second only to the Emperor of Man Himself. Roubute Guilliman whields the Sword of the Emperor and brings His justice to the myriad threads that are endangering the Imperium.
In the wake of the Horus Heresy, it was the Ultramarines Primarch who wrote and instituted the Codex Astartes, a key volume that laid out the proper tactics and military organisation for the majority of Loyalist Space Marine Chapters now in existence. Guilliman is the Primarch who took up the Emperor's burning blade and became the Lord Commander of the Imperium of the Imperium of Man, serving amongst the High Lords of Terra during the period known as the Reformation. Guilliman single-handedly reshaped the Imperium, taking the lead role in reforming its administrative and military apparatus following the internment of the Emperor of Mankind within the Golden Throne on Terra.
Following the Great Scouring, Guilliman and his Ultramarines met the Emperor's Children Traitor Legion at the Battle of Thessala in 121.M31, where his corrupt brother Fulgrim mortally wounded him with a slice to the neck made by that Daemon Primarch's Chaos-tainted blades. So it was that the dying Roboute Guilliman was put into temporal stasis on the verge of death and his body placed upon the throne that lay in the Temple of Correction on the Ultramarines' homeworld of Macragge. For the last ten millenia many pilgrims of the Imperial Cult travelled across the galaxy every standard year to visit the temple and see the body of a Primarch, a blessed son of the God-Emperor Himself. Some pilgrims claimed that the grievous wound was slowly healing, though such an action was physically impossible within an activated stasis field. The Avenging Son was silently enthroned through the millennia as his father's Imperium decayed around him, waiting until such a time when one could come with the power to restore him. And that time has come.
The Primarch was resurrected during the Ultramar Campaign of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41 by the technical prowess of Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl and the power of the Aeldari god of the dead Ynnead through his priestess Yvraine. Soon after, Guilliman launched the Terran Crusade from Macragge through the growing Warp instability of the galaxy as the power of Chaos waxed mighty once more with the birth of the Great Rift. After nearly being imprisoned for eternity in the Maelstrom and then almost slain by his brother the Daemon Primarch Magnus the Red on Luna, Guilliman finally arrived at Holy Terra. There, he entered the inner sanctum of the Imperial Palace and met with his father the Emperor for the first time in more than ten thousand standard years. What passed between father and son at that meeting is not known, but when he emerged, Guilliman announced that he was once more assuming the mantle of the Lord Commander of the Imperium, the first among equals on the Senatorum Imperialis and the de facto ruler of the Imperium.
In the wake of the Second Battle of Terra, Guilliman gathered the greatest fleet of Imperial warriors that had been seen since the Great Crusade. The largest component of this force included a massive new host of hundreds of thousands of Primaris Space Marines, divided half into new Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes and half into 9 Space Marine Legion-sized formations known as the Unnumbered Sons. The Primarch launched this massive Indomitus Crusade out into the void, determined to throw back the Forces of Chaos and the xenos hordes wherever they threatened the worlds of humanity. Guilliman set a winding course. Strike forces from over a dozen pre-existing Chapters of Space Marines, led by the Imperial Fists, also joined the fleet. Thus began many new legends as Guilliman travelled to aid beleaguered planets, breaking sieges and sweeping away Chaos and xenos invaders alike to bring hope back to the desperate defenders.
The Legion
Warcry
"Courage and Honour!" and "We March for Macragge!"
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 on the orders of Guilliman himself.
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 sub-sector of space in the Eastern Fringe known as Ultramar as a fief of the Imperium and their Chapter Master is also considered the Lord of Macragge and the Master of Ultramar. Of all the thousand and more Space Marine Chapters, it is the blue-clad Ultramarines that, in the mind of the countless billions of the Emperor's subjects, personify everything that the Adeptus Astartes stands for. The Ultramarines and their many Successor Chapters have stood at the very forefront of the war against the Traitor, the alien, and the fiend since the very foundation of the Imperium. Across the domains of the Emperor, the Ultramarines are celebrated as heroic, virtuous, and noble defenders of Humanity, their deeds recorded in devotional works the length and breadth of the galaxy.
Even amongst the Space Marine Chapters themselves, the Ultramarines occupy a position of special honour. The gene-seed from which the original Ultramarines Legion was founded is considered the purest, and it is estimated that some two-thirds of Chapters across the galaxy share their inheritance, being either direct successors or created from tithed Ultramarines genetic material. This shared inheritance often ensures that when the Ultramarines go to war, they are supported by many other Chapters, and that when Space Marine commanders gather to consider common strategy, the counsel of the Ultramarines is greatly valued. Often, the presence of even a small number of Ultramarines units in a larger military undertaking will ensure the participation of many more Chapters, so highly are the sons of Roboute Guilliman held in their brothers' esteem. When Hive Fleet Behemoth struck the Eastern Fringe, it was the Ultramarines Chapter that turned the tide, even at the cost of the Chapter's entire 1st Company. At the Chapter homeworld of Macragge, one of the largest battles seen in centuries was fought, with the Ultramarines, led by their Master Marneus Calgar, at the very forefront.
In addition to the great honour won by the Chapter in that titanic struggle, the Ultramarines gained invaluable experience in fighting these vile xenos, which they have passed on, often via service in the Deathwatch, to many other Chapters.