Editing Imperium Secundus (section)

===of the Lion===
Perhaps the most difficult to quantify, as we know the Lion's eventual fate is more tied to Caliban than to Terra or Ultramar. The impact of Imperium Secundus on the Dark Angels or their Primarch in later years is a relative unknown; other than a squad of [[Space Wolves]], the Lion was seemingly the only person who actually made the conscious decision to actually go to [[Macragge]] and even if he had not arrived, Guilliman was still going to form his Imperium Secundus and would still have starved Terra of valuable resources; [[Sanguinius]] would still have become Emperor-Regent; and a charbroiled, insane [[Vulkan]] would still have fallen from orbit and the [[Cabal]] would still have sent an agent to kill him with the fulgurite.

However, the Lion did unintentionally bring [[Konrad Curze]] to Ultramar, and it was only by corroborating his visions with Sanguinius that they realized the Emperor was still alive and proved the lie that the whole project was based upon. The Lion would also appear to goad the [[Salamanders]] into departing for [[Nocturne]] with the body of their fallen Primarch with the vague hope of his resurrection. Furthermore, it was only through the use of [[Tuchulcha]] that the Dark Angels were able to lead the fleets through the Ruinstorm, eventually reaching Davin and clearing the way for Sanguinius to get to Terra.

Therefore it can be said that the presence of the Lion acted as a catalyst for dismantling the Imperium Secundus, which was something he had set out to do in the first place, though it actually took him about seven or eight years to accomplish and happened in a way he did not initially anticipate. Ironically enough, by then he had already settled into his own role as the Imperium Secundus's not-Warmaster.

Despite this, in-universe (and often out of it) there does remain the lingering accusation that the Lion simply "sat out" the Horus Heresy and it would cause the Dark Angels to be mistrusted in later years. This accusation was spelled out directly by Konrad Curze during the [[Thramas Crusade]], but has been unwittingly parroted by members of the Imperium who are suspicious of the First Legion's lack of records on their activities.

With the development of the Black Library series, we know any such accusations are false. The first two years were spent breaking the [[Night Lords]] and capturing their Primarch. Even after departing for Ultramar, the Lion only took 20,000 men and a small fleet with him; the rest of the First Legion were spread throughout the Imperium chasing down the [[Death Guard]]. What's more, the Lion and those 20,000 men commanding the forces of the [[Blood Angels]] and [[Ultramarines]] were put to good use fighting the Shadow Crusade against the [[Word Bearers]] and [[World Eaters]], so if anything the Dark Angels were the most active loyalists of the entire war and were actually ''gaining ground'' against the enemy rather than just winning pyrrhic victories.

Even if no records of the Dark Angels activities existed, the Triumvirate of Primarchs acted together for most of the war and therefore all three ought to be considered as guilty as each other. However, Sanguinius sacrificed himself in the final battle against Horus and would be elevated in the eyes of the population (and /tg/) practically to sainthood; Guilliman would become Lord Commander of the Imperium and steer it through the anarchy of the Scourging. The Lion would have no chance at endearing himself to the people in a similar way because he would disappear during the fall of [[Caliban]] while his Legion would not be able to truthfully answer the accusations of procrastination without also besmirching the names of Guilliman and Sanguinius, and they're too classy for that.

The issue of hunting the [[Fallen]] only began after the [[Second Founding]], and it would not have immediately mattered to the Imperium at that time (at least not until a pattern of suspicious behaviour presented itself) Therefore it is likely then that the undercurrent of mistrust of the Unforgiven Chapters could only have been built up based on their activities over a long period of time, biased with the fact that the knowledge of the activities of First Legion are a result of a bit of [[Retcon|selective memory]] on the part of the Imperium and its rulers coupled with Guilliman's desire to bury the evidence of Imperium Secundus and [[Cypher]]'s own tampering with the records to erase anything compromising relating to the Dark Angels.