Editing Ataulf Sachs (section)

===Later life and death===

Sachs was obsessed with genetic purity to the point of lunacy. In any conversation, he surreptitiously scanned his interlocutor for subtle signs of mutation. He commonly judged people on the basis of their genetic purity, believing that only a pure body can house a pure soul. To him, defects in physical appearance reflected moral defects, and nothing could convince famously obdurate Sachs otherwise. Although he was one of the primary architects of the Adeptus Astartes project, he remained very sceptical about the Space Marines throughout his lifetime. Astartes were just another species of abhumans to him - useful for a time, but genetically imperfect and potentially dangerous nonetheless. When half of the [[Legiones Astartes (Hektor Heresy)|Legiones Astartes]] betrayed the Emperor and threw in their lot with the Dark Gods, he was perhaps the only high-ranking official on Terra to remain perfectly calm. Although he was unsure what shape it would take, he always saw a great calamity involving the Space Marines coming, and the outbreak of the Heresy only calmed him down, if nothing else. 

A major proponent of putting the remaining Thunder Warriors down after the Unification Wars, Sachs advocated the same fate for the Astartes after the Scouring. Yet his voice was drowned out by the other High Lords, who saw the necessity of the Space Marines for the protection of the Imperium. Deeply disappointed by the decision of the High Council, Sachs retired to his estate on Titan, fully convinced that a second Heresy was coming. He died shortly thereafter, most likely poisoned by his political opponents. The passing of Ataulf Sachs was bemoaned throughout the Imperium, especially by the Genewrights, who saw him as their spiritual liege. Statues of him were erected throughout the Galaxy, his aphorisms were included into Imperial Quotebooks and the Apothecaries began revering him as their founding father, unaware of the view he really held towards their kind.