Imperium Secundus

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It's Guilliman, What do you think he's doing? He's building an Empire! - Malcador the Sigillite

"Imperium Secundus" is the formal name for the secondary Imperium of Man, which Robout Guilliman tried to build in the wake of the Horus Heresy around his own Legion Homeworld, the Ultramar systems. Data shows, that Guilliman was preparing this new empire even before the Heresy, and many rumours state that he might have wanted to make an empire himself, instead of letting his father get all the fun. Others go, that he had forseen the Heresy long before, and tried to do his best to keep humanity safe after the fall of their leader.

It was, and is, essentially skub in the form of a state.

Formation

Imperium Secundus - (from the self referential book: "Unremembered Empire") was Roboute Guilliman's attempt at building his own Imperium of Man when he (incorrectly) believed that the Emperor lay defeated and that the rest of the Imperium was ashes during the Horus Heresy.

The Word Bearers assault on Calth created a Ruinstorm which spread across the galaxy, garbling communications and restricting travel. The 500 worlds of the Ultramarines Legion had no means of determining whether the rest of the Imperium stood or not during this period of war.

Thus the analytical mind of the Primarch Guilliman resolved that according to the Theoretical destruction of the rest of the Imperium, he would enact his Practical solution and build his own.

As it required moving the power-base of his "new" Imperium and its institutions to Macragge, he knew that this situation could potentially be construed as an act of treachery. Thus, he maintained it would only be a temporary measure where if the Emperor and Terra were found to be intact he would be the first to lend his aid in their defence.

He also insisted that he would not be it's ruler, as he was very aware that to both split from the true imperium and to position himself as head of the splinter government would make him appear as a tyrant who was only interested in power. Thus to prove his point he would wait until such time as a worthy brother Primarch arrived on Macragge and make them the Regent-Emperor instead.

However, a number of events call into question Guilliman's / the Ultramarines sincerity:

Misrepresentation

Warsmith Dantioch of the Iron Warriors was lured into the service of Guilliman on the promise that his skills would be put to good use fortifying the Imperial Palace in the inevitable Siege of Terra, it seems Dantioch never got that far and was assigned a position on Sotha, and possibly post-heresy his soldiers were just absorbed into the Ultramarines rather than making any meaningful contribution.

Counterpoint

This is not entirely unforgivable, as the 500 Worlds were cut-off from Terra, so Dantioch might never have been able to get back. Plus as a Loyalist, Dantioch and his men would have been mistrusted, therefore being absorbed into Ultramarines would have been as wise a choice as any.

Mustering Forces to Himself

What Guilliman found on Sotha was a pre-Imperial device that acted similarly to the Astronomican: Called the Pharos.

Instead of a psychic lighthouse like the Astronomican, the Pharos shone like a lantern and illuminated targeted worlds in the Warp, allowing safe passage to them even through thick warp storms. Guilliman ordered that the Pharos be shone on Macragge so that lost loyalists fleets could find their way to him though the Ruinstorm

This did have the intended effect, as beaten stragglers from the broken legions of the Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard found their way to Macragge. Badly beaten, and with their own primarchs dead, or assumed dead, they swore allegiance to Guilliman until such time as the Emperor could be aided.

In addition, the Pharos caused the Imperial Fists Retribution Fleet, notable for being the largest fleet available to the Imperium, fresh from the Battle of Phall to arrive at Macragge. ...AND the entire Blood Angels Legion (except for about eleven men left on Baal, the "Lost Sons") from the Battle of Signus turned up on Guilliman's doorstep too. (Some think it may have also been the thing that initially got the Tyranids' attention and brought them to the Milky Way, which if true would be highly ironic given the Smurfs' history with the bugs.)

Both the Blood Angels and Imperial Fists were actually looking for Terra, so it could definitely be said that all these arrivals would starve Terra of valuable resources and actually hinder the war effort. In fact this was explicitly stated to Lorgar by the Fateweaver prior to the battle at Calth, that if Guilliman died, then Horus would have no chance at the Siege of Terra.

Counterpoint

While Guilliman had shone the Pharos at Macragge with the aim of bringing Imperial forces to himself, the Pharos was simply one part of a larger galactic network, therefore it was possible that he was incapable of redirecting its energies onto Terra which might have saved the Imperium. Therefore Guilliman was simply making the most practical use of the tools available to him.

Not only that, but the Pharos was described as an "Empathetic" device which responded to the desires of its user, but had mostly unknown capabilities. Thus by shining it at Macragge one could take from that that it responded to Macragge's (and by extension Guilliman's) desire to regroup and fortify.

Empire Building / Desire for Power

Guilliman was renowned for Empire-Building, and his attempt at usurping the Imperium was actually anticipated by both the Emperor and Malcador the Sigillite. They discuss the matter together and are thankful that Lion El'Jonson takes his own initiative to resolve the matter.

Now the Lion may, or may not have had his own agenda, as he had attempted to gain military power himself earlier in the war, but at least he argued that it was to the Imperium's benefit for him to be Warmaster and to be of better service to his father.

Here, the Lion was very clear on the issue with his brother Guilliman, seeing his brother's new Imperium as a threat equally as grave as Horus to the kingdom that his Father had built.

Even Konrad Curze thought it was hilarious and internally mocked Guilliman in the "look at me, look at me, I'm building an Empire!" fashion

Counterpoint

Guilliman was very politically minded and was careful not to take the position of Regent for himself, lest he be seen as a usurper of his father's Empire. So resolved to ensure that the position would go to another Primarch as only a member of the blood would have the qualities to rule (just not himself). Unfortunately the first Primarch to arrive (Vulkan) had gone completely insane and thus was incapable of taking the position.

When the Lion arrived on Macragge, the issue of whether Guilliman he should hand over rulership to him did come up, unfortunately, Guilliman described the Lion as too inscrutable to be properly trusted with the position and in turn the Lion could not trust Guilliman due to what the entire enterprise represented (they never actually came to blows with one another over the matter, but nearly did since BOTH brothers were both keeping secrets from one another, such as the locations of Konrad Curze & Vulkan) and unanimously elected that Sanguinius take the position of Regent when his fleet arrived. So at least both brothers could be described as sincere in their desire to put aside their differences and get shit done. Therefore assigning the regency to Sanguinius was a matter of convenience for both parties involved.

Rationale

When challenged on the matter by Alexis Pollux of the Imperial Fists Retribution Fleet, Guilliman countermanded Rogal Dorn's order to return to Terra, citing that he held command unless someone outranked him showed up (who could only be Dorn in Pollux's case or the Emperor himself) and that for all intents and purposes, Macragge already was the Imperium.

The Pollux would remark if that then made Guilliman the new Emperor, to which the reply was summed up as "I am the Imperium"

Guillimans response to Pollux was a bit telling however, and bears the hallmarks of a faithless man, but not necessarily a traitorous one, particularly since it was well worded; by discounting the rest of the Imperium's existence as a mere theoretical and choosing do deal with only the tangible matters of the practical, it shows he was the sort of person who was unlikely to take risks, and would prefer the path of certainty rather than gambling for something greater.

Essentially Guilliman's solution to the Schrödinger's cat paradox is to get a new cat; By demanding proof of life he operates on the principle that the Imperium is dead until shown otherwise.

To be fair to Guilliman, it was two years before he starting receiving any news from the outer Imperium and when it did start coming in, it was mostly bad.

Foreknowledge / Intention

Guilliman was possessed of an analytical mind unlike any other, quite possibly greater than any of his brother Primarchs, and therefore was perfectly aware of what his new Imperium represented and did not need to be told by his brothers how heretical it was.

In his own mind Imperium Secundus was "Plan B" - an outcome less desirable, but something you can live with.

Despite this; Guilliman was fully prepared to fight for what he believed in and even related to his officer Remus Ventatus (in the same conversation when he iterated that the Codex Astartes should not be adhered to religiously) that he should even be prepared to fight against those brothers who counted themselves Loyal to the Emperor, and even later commented that when he was about to declare the Imperium Secundus official he was ready to kill anyone who would stand in his way.

Furthermore, the fact that the Codex Astartes was written well before the fall of the Emperor shows that it was obvious that Guilliman believed that HE was the only person capable of safeguarding his father's legacy, regardless about what his brothers might have thought in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy. This would only have been irrespective about who took the position of "Regent" (essentially making it a puppet role), since Guilliman planned it all well in advance and was willing to back it up with force.

...possibly rightly so, since the "apparent" aim of the Codex was to neuter the strength of individual warlords, followed up by the dissolution of the actual role of Emperor, all makes the distribution of power in a future Imperium ever so slightly more equitable and better able to uphold the ideals of the Emperor rather than ignoring them in favore of mindless loyalty towards the Emperor himself. Or at least, that's what his original plan was. Since he's now nearly-dead in a stasis field, one can only imagine what he thinks of the difference between his intentions and their actual results.

Is this the sign of a Heretic? Quite possibly, but considering that Guilliman was trapped on the far side of the Galaxy with no awareness of the full extent of what had occurred, helpless to cause any significant impact as the war progressed while his powerful predictive mind could calculate most likely probably outcomes of the war in his absence, one might call his actions prudent planning rather than underhanded scheming.

Legacy

of Guilliman

It was called the "Unremembered Empire" for a reason, it didn't actually happen according to the history texts as to do so would portray Guilliman as a traitor against his father.

However, Guilliman's influence on the Imperium after the Horus Heresy are hard to miss, since is widely regarded as the most influential of Primarchs on the Imperium, despite the fact that he did very little to protect it (and possibly even hindered it by accident) during its darkest hour. Sanguinius returned to Terra in time for the final battle, yet neither Guilliman nor the Lion did despite all three starting from the same location, possibly suggesting a conflict between the two, given their actions. Unless of course (as a lot of people are guessing) Guilliman got distracted by a metal troll. People also forget the inconsistent nature of warp travel.

There remains the suggestion that Guilliman's motives were not entirely sincere and that the Emperor, Malcador and the Lion were right: that Guilliman was only interested in building his OWN Empire, irrespective of the Emperor's involvement in it, which is where the problem lies.

This is also supported by the the views of his brother Rogal Dorn who had been present at the final battle, returned his dying father to the Golden Throne and actually HEARD his final orders. Considering the Emperor already had knowledge of the war's outcome (read Outcast Dead) he should have prepared his own plan for its aftermath, therefore his orders to Dorn and Jaghatai Khan should have at least involved some sort of planning for the eventuality (unless the Emperor simply revealed what Guilliman was in the process of doing and was going to run with that anyway). Disagreements between them very nearly sparked another civil war about how the Imperium and its military should be run.

Additionally, there remains the fact that 10,000 years later, his own sons are the foremost protectors of the Imperium of Man making up 50-60% of the whole Astartes population and have marginalised the others into either conformity via the Codex or obscurity by denying them descendant chapters. With the Ultramarines Chapter having the singular honour of being the most respected of Space Marine chapters, who set the standard for all other Astartes to aspire to, it's not a difficult set of circumstances to arrange when your father was the one to initially draft the policies that everyone conforms to.

History is written by the victors, and Guilliman was the closest thing to a "winner" in the Horus Heresy. It is even said on the Ultramarines Chapter Banner: "Our Presence Remakes the Past"

Despite all of this, it could be said that Guilliman took the longer view and created an Imperium not ruled by Emperors, but by men, with the High Lords of Terra in the Emperor's place. Guilliman DID (this cannot be stressed enough) eventually achieve lordship over the Imperium, becoming the First Lord of Terra and immediately abdicated after unveiling his Codex Astartes which affirmed that no person, Primarch or otherwise should be able to wield such power. If he really was only interested in power and empire building, why would he be so quick to abdicate his position as the de facto leader of the Imperium?

What it means, or heavily implies is that there is possibly an edgier and more relatable side to the Ultramarines beyond simply being Mary Sues or the best thing since sliced bread, and that the supposedly eminent status that the Ultramarines enjoy is because of well calculated political maneuvers. Each of the Primarchs had their strengths which they passed on, in part, to their sons. Thus, if anything Guilliman was said to have been the greatest of statesmen. While the effects of his actions were not all beneficial to the Imperium, one could easily argue that the alternative would be to simply allow the Imperium to fall into anarchy in the Emperor's absence.

of Sanguinius

It is too early to tell in fluff terms how much the position of regent will affect Sanguinius, or him ruling the" unremembered empire" will come to affect the later Imperium, as removing the entire Imperium Secundus plotline does not change the opinion of Sanguinius and the Blood Angels one bit. That, and it's not likely to change the fact that Horus will end up killing him either way.

One thing that does remain is the Sanguinor, who was a by-product of this era. As Sanguinius needed a regent to stand for him and deal with petitioners when he was too busy with other important tasks as well as to act as a body-double for the sake of assassination attempts and keep the focus away from the Primarch.

Even at the time, the identity of the herald was kept a closely guarded secret and his name was removed from the records of the chapter. By M41, the origins of the Sanguinor are completely forgotten about, even by the majority of the Blood Angels themselves if the ever knew about the practice at all (assuming that the Sanguinary Guard still retain the tradition and that the Sanguinor is not simply Sanguinius resurrected or some sort of daemon-incarnate).