PRIMARIS SPACE MARINES
The Primaris Space Marines are a new breed of transhuman warriors developed across the span of ten thousand standard years by Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl. Their creation perfected on Mars by the order of Primarch Roboute Guilliman in the days immediately after the Second Founding in the early 31st Millennium.
Archmagos Cawl used the genetic template of the original Space Marines created by the Emperor for His Great Crusade as the starting point for the development of these new Astartes. However, Primaris Space Marines are bigger, more resilient, physically more powerful and possess faster reaction times than their original Astartes counterparts, now often referred to as the "Firstborn". Primaris Astartes are also implanted with twenty-two rather than nineteen gene-seed organs, with their gene-seed more resistant to mutation than that of their predecessors. These additional organs enhancing their physiology to an even greater degree than the Firstborn, making them yet stronger and tougher. Still, it was only thanks to the Sangprimus Portum - a device that held potent genetic material originally harvested from the Primarchs themselves - that Cawl was even able to create these biotechnical miracles.
The biggest breakthroughs of all, however, were the surgeries that allowed Firstborn Space Marines not matured with the three Primaris organs to be implanted with them. Arguably first braved by Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, this extremely dangerous set of surgical and genetic enhancement procedures known as crossing the "Rubicon Primaris" lasts for solar days. Many others among the Firstborn have since risked their lives in such a way after witnessing the undeniable battlefield capabilities of the Primaris Space Marines in action.
Raised in what became known as the Ultima Founding, the Primaris Marines were deployed across the galaxy during the Indomitus Crusade by Guilliman and Cawl after the opening of the Great Rift. They were used as reinforcements for existing Chapters of Astartes or to found all-new Chapters comprised solely of Primaris Marines. Since then, many Chapters have used these technologies to develop their recruits into Primaris Space Marines. And at present, in the Era Indomitus, most Chapters have either received an influx of Primaris Marines created during the original Ultima Founding; have gained access to the technology and Adeptus Mechanicus experts from the Indomitus Crusade needed to begin recruiting their own Primaris battle-brothers; have selected certain Firstborn warriors to ascend to the status of Primaris Marine by crossing the Rubicon Primaris; or were comprised entirely of Primaris Marines from their inception.
Still, even though they are a step removed from their Firstborn brothers, the Primaris Space Marines still bear the genetic legacy of their Primachs, leading some to voice concerns over how these new warriors will react to the known genetic quirks and flaws of some of the more unusual Chapters, such as the Blood Angels and the Space Wolves. Even so, the Primaris Space Marines offer new hope to a besieged Imperium, but the future remains a dark and uncertain place...
HISTORY
For ten millennia, Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl has been working on a task set for him by the Primarch Roboute Guilliman before he was mortally wounded by the Daemon Primarch Fulgrim in the days after the Horus Heresy: a new legion of transhuman warriors. Developed on orders from Guilliman 100 standard centuries past, Primaris Space Marines were diligently developed and perfected by the Priesthood of Mars during the long intervening millennia. As an optimist, but never a fool, Guilliman learned from the mistakes of the Horus Heresy, and he foresaw that the forces of Chaos would never relent in their aim to bring the Imperium low. He anticipated that devastating times would once again engulf the galaxy and knew that warriors resilient enough to stand against them would be needed as never before. That time has surely come. Now, as the Imperium of Man is poised on the brink of annihilation at the hands of Chaos, his task is at last complete.
The Primaris Space Marine is a new generation of hero for this, the darkest age in the Imperium's history. These warriors are the next step in the evolution of the Emperor's Angels of Death - genetically altered from their brethren to be bigger, stronger and faster - timely reinforcements for the Imperium's armies as their enemies close in for the kill in the wake of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade and the birth of the Great Rift dividing the Imperium in two. To aid them in battle, these gene-forged warriors are equipped with new arms and armour forged on Mars itself, such as the Mark X Tacticus Pattern Power Armour worn by the Primaris Space Marine Intercessors, which combines the most effective elements of ancestral Horus Heresy patterns of battle-plate with more recent developments in power armour technology; the Mark II Cawl Pattern Bolt Rifle, the archetypal firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, now re-engineered, re-crafted and perfected; the Mark III Belisarius Pattern Plasma Incinerator, a new refined Plasma Gun; Redemptor Dreadnoughts, the Overlord gunship, and Repulsor grav-tanks.
Newly reinstated as Lord Commander of the Imperium, Guilliman decreed that those Chapters most devastated by the ongoing wars should be amongst the first to be reinforced with this new breed of transhuman warrior. Starting with the Ultramarines, but also deploying these new Space Marines to every other Chapter in need, Guilliman aimed to reinforce the Imperium's scattered defenders across the galaxy. It was not just as reinforcements to existing Chapters though. Guilliman also ordered the creation of a host of new Chapters, the so-called "Ultima Founding," composed entirely of Primaris Space Marines.
The warriors of these new Chapters were created entirely using the new processes discovered by Archmagos Belisarius Cawl and established with all the necessary weapons, armour and equipment that they will need to conduct their defence of the Imperium. These Chapters still trace their genetic lineage back to the gene-seed of the First Founding, and scions of all nine Loyalist Space Marine Legions emerged from the vaults beneath the Red Planet. They benefit from three additional gene-seed organs and larger size, but it still remains to be seen if Cawl was able to successfully stabilise any of the known genetic deviations or impart any additional resistance to the effects of Chaos. Many of these new Chapters have been assigned homeworlds on the edge of the Great Rift, the Imperium's new frontline in the war against Chaos, though some have inherited the empty fortress-monasteries of Chapters that had been lost to the attrition of constant war. Many of these worlds face a continuous battle against the Daemons of the Warp, as well as an unpredictable mix of xenos raiders, pirates and invaders.
During the Indomitus Crusade, Cawl's own fleet joined the Primarch, headed by his freighter-hulk, Zar-Quaesitor, a mech-ark class ship that carried, locked deep within the vessel's labyrinthine holds, thousands of Primaris Space Marines - some comprising entirely new Chapters while others were designated as reinforcements for already existing ones. And as the Indomitus Crusade penetrated deeper and deeper into the galaxy during the early 42nd Millennium of the original Imperial Calendar, Archmagos Cawl kept his automaton workers on overdrive, risking meltdowns with their accelerated speeds, the Archmagos frantically trying to keep up with the Crusade's demand for additional Primaris reinforcements.
On battle-scarred Rynn's World, the arrival of the Indomitus Crusade broke the daemonic legions of the Daemon Prince Rhaxor. After the fighting was done, the Crimson Fists marvelled at the return of Roboute Guilliman but were even more grateful for the arrival of Primaris Space Marines bearing their own heraldry. Here were warriors whose genetic composition was closer to their own Primarch, Rogal Dorn, than had ever before existed. For his raw material, Cawl had selected warriors of Terra, and had taken them only a few generations after the original Imperial Fists had been created by the Emperor. Indeed, some had been held in stasis since the days of the Great Crusade; a few of the Primaris Space Marines could recall having seen Rogal Dorn himself.
Again and again, the Crusaders watched the same tale unfold. When those of the Ultima Founding were brought before their Chapters, it was like a meeting of brothers separated at birth. Arriving at a time of great darkness and upheaval, the new transhuman warriors' strength was welcomed. Such unusual reunions were repeated on many Astartes worlds, including Chogoris, Ultramar and Baal, where the crusade arrived even as the proud Sons of Sanguinius were making what they thought would be their last stand against the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan during what became known as the Devastation of Baal.
Yet, despite cleaving a wide path through the darkness that beset the Imperium, the Indomitus Crusade began to break down. And when the vast holds of the Zar-Quaesitor were at last emptied, Archmagos Cawl departed, for he had many more secret vaults to activate in order to complete the Ultima Founding. Nonetheless, the new Primaris Chapters - such as the Rift Stalkers or the Umbral Knights - remained after the initial conflicts were won, seeking to consolidate the Crusade's gains; in many cases, this was achieved by establishing their own, new Chapter planets. In this way, the Crusade not only freed worlds from the tyranny of the Dark Gods but also strengthened their defences against further attacks that were sure to come.
UNNUMBERED SONS
The Unnumbered Sons, officially known as the Unnumbered Sons of the Primarchs, and unofficially among themselves as the "Greyshields," were nine special formations of Primaris Space Marines created by Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman for service in the Indomitus Crusade.
Active for over a standard century well into the 42nd Millennium, they were comprised of nine Space Marine Legion-sized armies of Primaris Marines, all drawn from the lineage of one of the 9 Primarchs who had led the Loyalist Space Marine Legions during the Horus Heresy. Approximately half of the Primaris Space Marines created by Belisarius Cawl during the Ultima Founding were formed into entirely new Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, while the remaining half were placed within the Legion-sized armies of the Unnumbered Sons. However, Guilliman forced these armies to fight using squads that contained Primaris Astartes from multiple different gene-lines to better forge cooperation between the different genetic lineages.
The Unnumbered Sons served as a reserve force for Guilliman during the Indomitus Crusade, their ranks slowly reduced by attrition and the need to replenish already-extant Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes with the new class of Primaris Space Marines. Other members of the Unnumbered Sons were eventually integrated into whole new Chapters comprised only of Primaris Astartes like their brethren. And by the end of the Indomitus Crusade at the Battle of Raukos, over a Terran century into the 42nd Millennium, the armies of the Unnumbered Sons had been reduced to approximately 20,000 Primaris Astartes and were ultimately disbanded and divided up into a final group of new Primaris Chapters on the orders of Guilliman before his intervention in the Plague Wars of Ultramar.
PRIMARIS GENE-SEED
It is known that in addition to the general advancements in their gene-seed, Primaris Space Marines possess three additional gene-seed implant organs compared to their standard brethren and that their gene-seed is far more genetically stable than that of their forerunners. With Primaris Space Marine gene-seed having only a .001% chance of genetic deviancy from the original baseline with the passage of each generation, which makes it nearly immune to the severe genetic instability suffered by Chapters such as the Blood Angels and Space Wolves over the course of their existence. It was the Sangprimus Portum - entrusted to Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl by Guilliman shortly after the Second Founding in the early 31st Millenniuma - a device containing potent genetic material harvested from the Primarchs, that allowed for this breakthrough.
Yet, Archmagos Cawl is not a man without his own ambissions, and in his pursuit to improve upon the original Space Marine template, collected samples of the genomes of all twenty of the original Primarchs, including those deemed Lost or Traitors. And although Roboute Guilliman has made it clear to his overeager servant that Primaris Astartes were to be created only from one of the lines of those of his brothers who led the nine Loyalist Space Marine Legions, rumours perssist of newly founded Primaris Space Marine Chapters that bear unccany resembalances in stratergy, temperment, ideology, and iconography to those of the Traitor Space Marine Legions before their fall to Chaos.
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