2d4chan - User contributions [en]

Harlequin

2017-06-09T01:10:49Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9: /* The Final Act, A.K.A. The Last Troll */

[[File:Eldar Harlequin.jpg|thumb|Break a leg? Why limit myself?]]

The '''Harlequins''' are the [[Eldar]] followers of [[Cegorach]], the Laughing God. They are the performers and entertainers of the Eldar, the self-appointed protectors of the Eldar's pre-[[Fall of the Eldar|Fall]] history, which they perform in extremely elaborate plays. They are also some of the most dangerous shock-troopers among the Eldar, taking the concept of "break a leg" as far as you would expect in [[Warhammer 40,000]]. As part of their role as self-appointed keepers of history, they also guard the [[Black Library]] from those who would gain entry, allowing only those who have conquered the [[Chaos]] within them to enter.

In times of war, the Harlequins fight the foes they see as posing a threat to the very existence of the Eldar, first and foremost [[Chaos Space Marines|Chaos]], the [[Necron|Necrons]], and the [[Tyranids]]. The [[Imperium|Imperials]] and [[Tau]] can be worked with and the [[Orks]] are easily manipulated; unlike most Eldar, the Harlequins are free of racial prejudice, so as long as you battle the threats to all things and aren't attacking them/getting in their way, they're perfectly happy to work with you even if you are a Mon'Keigh or Greenskin. Which makes them one of the most [[Reasonable Marines|levelminded]] factions in the setting and helps make them a very likeable faction.

== The glue that keeps the Eldar together ==

They owe no allegiance to any [[Craftworld]], Corsair Fleet, [[Exodite World]], or [[Dark Eldar]] [[Kabal]], but rather recruit members from all factions, and will fight in their armies on all sides. Their only loyalty is to [[Cegorach]], whom they believe has charged them with the "Great Work" of reunifying the Craftworld Eldar, Corsairs, Dark Eldar, and [[Exodite]] Eldar into a single race to fight off [[Slaanesh]], the Necrons, and whoever else has a bone to pick with the chosen people of the [[Old Ones]]. It is notable that they do not use the methods to keep their souls safe that other Eldar do—their faith in Cegorach, complete after going through the Trial to become a Harlequin, is enough to keep them safe. Despite this, they are allowed free passage through the Craftworlds and [[Commorragh]], because the Craftworld and Exodite Eldar respect the Harlequins for preserving their history, and the Dark Eldar and Corsairs <s>are ''too afraid'' to try and stop them</s> find Death Jesters' humor hilarious; they also couldn't keep the Harlequins out if they tried due to the Harlequins' superior knowledge of, and ability to use, the [[Webway]].

This also makes the Harlequins the closest thing to a central authority the Eldar species has. While the other factions may not necessarily answer to the clowns, when they speak, everyone from Commorragh pimps and Craftworld wizards to Exodite farmers and Corsair pirates stops what they're doing and listens. Even [[Asdrubael Vect]] has to make sure and pin it on someone else whenever he gets up to skullduggery that might make the Harlequins mad.

== Eldar Ambassadors? ==
[[Image:Harlequin.jpg|They actually are this hot in the series, but most people are too busy screaming in pain to comment on it.|thumb|right]]
Harlequins are notable as [[xenos]] to the [[Imperium]] since the Harlequins do not restrict their visits to the Eldar. In the Harlequins' view, they must perform their work for anyone and everyone who may benefit and learn the lessons from The Fall, and along the way inspire a little more hope for the galaxy. Thus, Harlequin troupes are a frequent sight on Imperial worlds, and exceptionally among xenos, the Imperium allows the Harlequin traveling bands full access to their worlds, as even the [[High Lords of Terra]] feel that one can only benefit from their beautiful plays.<sup>''Citation Needed''</sup> (The High Lords of Terra also know it'd be impossible to take direct action against Eldar Harlequins as a whole, and maybe [[Rip and Tear|bad for their health too]].) The Star Leopards [[Space Marines]] chapter slapped around a few for [[troll|desecrating a Land Raider]], once, but that was a personal matter. Elaborate in form, but simple in message, the plays allow humans to understand the [[Chaos|Great Enemy]] and what can be done. [[Grimdark|Unfortunately]] for pretty much everyone, most Imperials can't tell the difference between different kinds of Eldar, assume that Eldar are [[Eldrad|dirty liars]] by default, and tend to answer [[Dark_Eldar|xenos visitors]] with volleys of [[Lasgun|lasfire]].

Judging from their allies matrix, it's fortunate at least that humans listen to them (so far as humans listen to any Eldar, anyway), since on the Tau worlds they visit they are inevitably met with an endless earful about the fucking [[Greater Good]]. They don't play on Necron [[Tomb World|Tomb Worlds]] given that the Necrons are the oldest foes of the Eldar and the two have brought each other nothing but grief over the last few billion years, and Harlequins work to fight against them just as hard as they do against Chaos. Don't even fucking ask if they play on Ork worlds (you know, they probably do, but have to reduce the dialogue to indecipherable grunting, swearing and cockney slang). It's presumed that they did try to play for the [[Tyranid]]s only once, but found out the space bug-lizards have no appreciation for art; hence the decision to put the Tyranids right next to Chaos and the Necrons on the mandate to kill-on-sight-and-annoy-the-hell-out-of.

During [[The War of The Beast]], [[Eldrad|Eldrad Ulthran]] sent a troupe of Harlequins to convey a message to the [[God-Emperor of Mankind]], letting Him know that Chaos had to be treated as the primary threat and that the [[Imperial Fists]] successor chapters were on their way. Granted, shouting "Friendship! Friendship!" while eviscerating [[Imperial Guard|Guardsmen]] and [[Adeptus Custodes|Custodians]] is kind of counter-productive, but in fairness, the Imperials wouldn't have listened anyway.

==The Final Act, A.K.A. The Last Troll==
In recent years, the Harlequins' war against Chaos has been characterised by a newfound urgency. Full masques have become an ever more common sight among the stars. Appearing from the Webway, they can be found performing within the realms of their kin or battling the galaxy's disparate races in vicious campaigns of apparently random violence. As the 41st Millennium comes to a close, more and more Eldar vanish into the Webway, forsaking their former lives to take up the Harlequin's mask. The Harlequins' numbers are growing, and many among the Eldar wonder why. The truth is inspirational and terrifying in equal measure. At the very heart of the Black Library there lies a silver-lit vault. Therein stands a plinth made of finely graven obstinite, upon which rests a crystalline book said to contain the words of Cegorach himself. Since the Fall, the tome’s covers have remained closed, sealed shut with flickering chains of light. Yet now, long-awaited portents have come to pass. A [[Ahriman|fallen sorcerer]] seeks the lore of the library. A [[Silent King|king]] stirs in his court of death and silence, preparing to rise once more. Within [[Eye of Terror|madness' eye]], the [[Abbadon the Despoiler|champion]] of the [[Ruinous Powers]] prepares to seize a realm long denied. As the signs have come to pass, so the bands of light about the tome have flickered and died.

Now, at last, the tome has fallen open. Within its pages the Shadowseers have found a script, a secret final act that changes utterly the tale of the Fall. Penned in inks of light and shadow, these words present a slender hope, detailing an intricate, galaxy-spanning performance with the potential to change the fate of the Eldar race. Always, the strands of fate have pointed toward the victory of Chaos during the last, mythic battle known to the Eldar as the Rhana Dandra. Yet within the pages of the crystal tome is recorded Cegorach's ultimate and final [[Troll|jest,]] a way to trick Slaanesh into [[Lulz|expending all her power not to destroy the Eldar, but to save them.]] How such an impossibility could come to pass is unclear, for on this matter the final act is infuriatingly vague. Yet the Harlequins take their god's words on faith alone, for their devotion to Cegorach is total and his methods beyond question or reproach. Thus they have begun the steps of this final dance, and will see it completed, or else face absolute destruction in the attempt.

This is now also likely the Eldar species’ final and only hope for survival, period, since Eldrad upgraded from dick to dumb dick and went and boned everything for them, failing in an attempt to awaken [[Ynnead]] early and ended up killing him, all the progress that had gone into him, and the infinity circuits of every craftworld, instead. ''Whoops''. Course, this is probably precisely why the crystalline book opened in the first place, with Cegorach basically going <span style='color:turquoise;font-size:100%'> “Oh dear, who could’ve seen that coming? Oh wait, I did, that’s why I have a plan B ready to go for you dumb shmucks. Let’s open it up shall we? And we’re keeping the [[Eldrad|Dick]] out of this one. That fuckup with Ynnead…that wasn’t funny.” </span>

Until Eldrad didn't, of course. Ynnead seems to be doing just fine, if forming the Yncarne is any indication. Though the Harlequins are still working with them so maybe the plan to trick Slaanesh is still on.

== 7th Edition ==

The Harlequins are currently in the process of being brought into their own army, with new models for all members of the troupe, plus new models and rules for the Solitaire and a new Eldar jetbike, the Skyweaver. There are also two new vehicles, the Starweaver (a transport) and the Voidweaver. In addition, Shadowseers are getting their own new psychic discipline, Phantasmancy. Currently they are battle brothers with the Eldar (both dark and normal, they don't discriminate), allies of convenience with the Imperium and Tau, desperate allies with Orks and come the apocalypse with Chaos daemons/Marines, Necrons and Tyranids. It's annoying.

See also: [[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Eldar Harlequins(7E)]]

{{Harlequin}}
{{Eldar-Forces}}
{{WH40k-Factions}}
[[Category:Eldar]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

Imperial Truth

2017-06-09T01:02:16Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9:

{{Heresy}}

''"There can be daemons in a secular universe."''

- Warmaster Horus

''"If once we can produce our perfect work—the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping, what he vaguely calls “Forces” while denying the existence of “spirits”—then the end of the war will be in sight."''

- Screwtape

''"The mistake we make is to attribute to religions the errors and fanaticism of human beings."''

-Tahar Ben Jelloun

''"I have seen no stronger evidence of man's inability to achieve perfection, than those countries in which man sets himself up to replace God with the State"''

-Peter Hitchens

The Imperial Truth is the atheist rationalist doctrine espoused by the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]] as part of the [[Great Crusade]]. According to the Imperial Truth, the Emperor believed that religion and superstition had divided mankind too much during its history (which the Emperor had reason to believe, having lived through most of [[Earth|Terra]]'s religious wars). When the Great Crusade left Terra, the [[Imperium of Man]] was to become a secular state [[Star Trek|espousing science and reason]] (based on the contentious and erroneous assumption that religion, and as smeared by association religious people, cannot have or co-exist with reason). Following the [[Horus Heresy]] and the Emperor's internment on the Golden Throne, the Imperial Truth collapsed, the Emperor's very own philosophy denounced as [[HERESY]], and the Imperium of Man has become [[Grimdark|a theocratic dictatorship where questioning anything results in a painful death]].

However, the Emperor didn't just ban and purge religion simply because he disagreed with it. During his millennia of existence, the Emperor had come to partially determine the nature of the relationship sentient life had with the [[Warp]]. Knowing that the belief in gods would only serve to create them and empower the Warp creatures, the Emperor hoped to starve the [[Chaos Gods]] by denying them worshipers. What the Emperor failed to understand was that the Chaos Gods were powered not by faith, but by emotions. People going about their daily lives experience their normal emotions would still empower the Chaos Gods. What was needed was an alternative to direct the belief at, such as a God-Emperor (or the religions that existed at the time before Emps decided to go all Stalin on them; the Emperor may even have BEEN Stalin). Or, at least, an approach to explaining Chaos that was actually thought out.

When [[Horus]] had a vision of the 41st millennium, part of his instant patricidal rage was that the Emperor was abandoning the Imperial Truth by seeking to become a real god (which made the Emperor a hypocrite if true). This in turn convinced him to renounce the Emperor. And then start worshiping the Chaos Gods. [[Chaos]] is a funny thing. Of course, if he had such a vision before being infected by a chaos blade, he probably would have applied logic and observed things, such as the skulls and corpse sitting on a golden throne and realized that this is what would happen if the Emperor failed.

An alternative view is that the Emprah's plan wasn't to actually kill the Chaos Gods but to remove them from the Materium. The Emprah had a few major pet-peeves: religion, uncontrolled [[psyker]]s, [[xenos]] and [[Astronomican|warp travel]]. Without [[Cultist-chan]] and chaos worshiping xenos, there would be no summoning of [[daemons]]. Without uncontrolled psykers, few possessions would occur. Without warp travel, there would be few opportunities for Chaos Gods to [[rape|fuck Man up]]. Thus, without religion, xenos, psykers and warp travel, the Chaos Gods and their minions wouldn't be able to access the Materium (for the most part). Who gives a shit if the Chaos Gods are powerful if they are unable to do shit with that power? Answer, Emprah knows BEST!!!! (Although the Emprah withholding this knowledge from nearly everyone, including his own [[Primarch|sons]] who are out on their own all over the galaxy, probably wasn't the best idea since knowing the enemy is the first step in fighting it.)

It might also be said that the Emprah didn't set himself up as a God for one simple reason: HE KNEW HE WASN'T ONE*. He is also older than those four fucks who think they are Gods. When he was born there were bad bad critters in the warp that were eating human "souls", but Ragey, Schemey and Zitpop were only just beginning to form and Rapey was still just a twinkle in the Eldar's collective eye; as such, he actually KNEW for a fact that there were no Gods (depending on where you sit on that in real-life) and that the Chaos Gods were delusional. Admittedly, the Emprah certainly bent the truth about the "emergent warp phenomena" often enough BUT the Imperial Truth was just that: the TRUTH.

Unfortunately, any doctrine based upon scientific materialism and skepticism doesn't work in practical terms in a universe where eternal & ethereal souls exist / people come back from the dead / technology is animistic / prayer works / failure to burn enough witches at the stake makes your world a putrid mess with rivers of puss / Red 'Unz do go Fasta! / and the most advanced race in the settings is religious, works on prophecies and ghost powered mechanized support.

But only if one utterly fails to understand how science works and that if such those are possible, observable, and repeatable they're just another sort of science which can be controlled, manipulated, or contained with enlightened understanding of their underlying mechanics. This leaves us back at "Emps had the right idea (note this is in the Warhammer universe as there are many views on the subject of God or gods in real life), but he just didn't trust people enough for it to work", or people simply couldn't perceive the universe on the same scale that he could. It is called Chaos for more than just artistic reasons, its meant to be contradictory and unpredictable.

The Tau tried treating things scientifically on Kronus (Eldar weapons), Kaurava (Living Saints), and Medusa V (analysing a warp rift). In the first two cases they could not understand a thing about how they worked, ''(though an inability to understand something that's too advanced, like an Eldar weapon, doesn't mean it's beyond science, just beyond your current capability)'' and on Medusa they basically made the scientific equivalent of "Here be dragons".

Magnus said that the Warp is just another type of knowledge to be used. The Warp, in turn, made him its bitch. Don't forget that at it's roots, 40k is Warhammer Fantasy IN SPACE!. Psychic powers are just the winds of magic, but they changed some details so it would sound sci-fish. Even ignoring that, there is nothing "possible, observable, and repeatable" when it comes to the Warp, and many other things in 40k. It's well, chaotic, the hate, anger and madness of uncountable beings in the Galaxy. There is nothing rational about the emotional refuse of sentience.). It's a shame he wasn't powerful enough to destroy the big bads of Chaos until ''after'' they had "matured". Otherwise I figure he would have. Who knows, maybe he did try and got close but was just a little too late. Chaos does refer to him as the "anathema", after all.

Still, the Emprah probably would have done better to be more straightforward and say: "There are no gods, just alien dimension energy beings that are so fucked up, they think they are Gods. They are lying and will fuck you over." The Emprah's own biggest fuck up was not trusting mankind or even his own Primarchs to be able to cope with the existence of eldritch entities in general without falling on our knees to worship them. Wonder how he equated that with the Cadians' daily routine of "murder the fuck out of a billion daemons" (actually, Cadia was populated by warp-worshipping primitives during the Great Crusade, but that's beside the point). The Emprah was like a manager that hides vital information from his employees because he doesn't think they can cope with the big picture. Then, the company falls apart when an engineer pisses off a major customer because of some unknown piece of said info. That is WH40K in a nutshell.

Witness the [[Interex]], who lasted for thousands of years as an atheistic empire on the basis of the aforementioned "There are no gods, just alternate dimensional energy beings that WILL fuck you the hell over if you listen to them" truth, and did a hell of a lot better at holding out than the Imperium ever has, under ''both'' the Imperial Truth and the [[Imperial Faith]]. The Imperium loses everything from churches to ''planets'' to '''fucking [[Space Marine]]s''' all the time even under the Imperial Faith, whereas the Interex basically never lost anyone, up until the [[Chaos Gods]] got pissy and told [[Erebus]] to start a war between the Interex and the Imperium to ensure the Interex's destruction.

If the Imperial Truth is even known about by the time of 40k is uncertain, although more then likely the term is now used as pro-imperial propaganda by Imperial Missionaries trying to sell worship of the Emperor to disbelieving locals on your newly discovered savage world. IN fact the novel Hammer & Anvil fall out say that's what it is.

<small>* Note the word "wasn't" is strictly past tense, which is kinda important</small>

[[Category:Imperial]]
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]

Ecclesiarchy

2017-06-09T01:00:04Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9:

"''Hence Theocracy is the worst of all governments. If we must have a tyrant, a robber baron is far better than an inquisitor. The baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity at some point may be sated; and since he dimly knows he is doing wrong he may possibly repent. But the inquisitor who mistakes his own cruelty and lust of power and fear for the voice of Heaven will torment us infinitely more because he torments us with the approval of his own conscience and his better impulses appear to him as temptations.''"

-[[C. S. Lewis]]

"''Thought for the day: blind faith is a just cause.''"

The Adeptus Ministorum, or '''Ecclesiarchy''', is the state church of the [[Imperium of Man]] and works with the [[Inquisition]], making it ''the'' group which defines [[heresy]].

[[File:Cathedral.jpg|right|thumb|500px|The Imperium spares no expense on its houses of worship, unfortunately we can't say the same about civilian accommodations...]]

When the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor of Mankind]] began setting up the Imperium, he began instituting the [[Imperial Truth]], which basically said "there are no gods and we're doing science and rationalism now." Yet even during the Great Crusade people began worshiping the Emperor as a "God-Emperor", including his own son [[Lorgar]], who wrote the Lectitio Divinatus. Which, ironically, proved effective at causing pain to demons when lines from it were spoken to them (since the Emperor had it backwards; faith and religion didn't give the Chaos God's power, faith and religion towards other things besides Chaos actually ''starved Chaos of power''). Suitably embarrassed, the Emperor politely informed Lorgar to stop that... by having the [[Ultramarines]] destroy a city the [[Word Bearers]] set up and then forcing Lorgar to bow down to Himself, [[Malcador the Sigillite]], and [[Roboute Guilliman]] in front of his legion. In an unfathomable and completely-impossible-to-predict act of [[Heresy]], this would lead to Lorgar worshiping the [[Chaos Gods]] and starting the [[Horus Heresy]].

And Rawbutt Girlyman is back, and he does not like the Ecclesiarchy. However the words of Cawl, Celestine and several others have made him keep the peace. For some reason, that anti-religion stance isn't also applied to the Adeptus Mechanicus despite it being a religion centered around machine worship and Omnissiah (in addition to their bad track record with Necrons).

==The Church Itself==

The Ecclesiarchy itself is, officially at least, the one true faith of the God-Emperor. It is the organization dedicated to teaching His truths and His will to the vast masses of humanity, and all are united under it's banner. Therefore, no matter where you go the Imperium, the Cult of The Emperor can be found uniting it's masses under His benevolent rule. The reality, of course, is a bit more complex. The problem is that the Imperium is vast. Like, really vast. So much so that no one really knows how big it is, and an empire that big couldn't even begin to manage a galaxy wide faith. Therefore, what actually happens is that the Church of the God-Emperor is split into many faiths that don't actually resemble each other in any way.

On some worlds, the Emperor is worshiped as a distant father, watching over his children from far away. Others associate Him with a force of nature, believing that the wind is His voice and when He is angry He shouts at them causing great winds. Others assign some sort of totem animal, usually a predatory bird, that is considered sacred in His eyes. Some practice hymns and chants that wouldn't be out of place in our modern age, others prefer ritualistic dances and animal sacrifices. Despite all this varied and at times bizarre forms of faith, one thing is certain; there is only one god, only one Emperor, and they are one and the same.

The Ecclesiarchy attempts to promote and maintain the Cult of The Emperor wherever it can, if it is possible, to shape the local faith into something a bit more orthodox. As such, any planet with an Ecclesiarchal presence will eventually begin to resemble other faiths. Chapels will be built, a hierarchy of priests will emerge (what that hierarchy or even the priests will look like is a different thing altogether), and more extreme or shocking practices slowly weeded out or shaped into different forms. Even human sacrifice is re-purposed for the Emperor's benefit, as a culture that practices such things is much more willing to give up psykers to the Black Ships.

Ironically, this makes the Ecclesiarchy oddly tolerant and open minded as they travel across worlds. They are trained to see past the individual beliefs to examine the core of the faiths they encounter, and therefore are unexpectedly tolerant of opposing sects, where more close minded citizens would be quick to denounce them as heretics and traitors. After all, the Emperor is a wise and benevolent god who loves all his subjects regardless of who they are, and the Ecclesiarchy follows His example.

The one area the Ecclesiarchy tends to butt heads is with the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]. On the surface, the Cult of the Machine God runs completely counter to worship of the God-Emperor, especially since the Mechanicus' religion predates the Imperial Cult (and the Imperium itself) by a few millenia. However, there is little that the Ecclesiarchy can do about it, since 1. The Treaty of Mars guarantees not only autonomy, but religious exemption to the Mechanicus, and 2. Pissing off the Mechanicus is a bad idea since they control all the ships and tech. Because going to war with half of the Imperium would be monumentally stupid, they came up with a compromise that the Emperor is the physical avatar of the Machine God, bringing the Mechanicus closer in line to the Imperial Cult. This compromise isn't very satisfying for the more extreme fanatics, which can and does form conflict between the institutions beyond the political strife of two powerful organizations arguing over jurisdiction.

Less tense are the relations between the Ecclesiarchy and the [[Adeptus Astartes]]; Most Space Marines, the Black Templars excluded, do not officially embrace the Imperial Cult, having followed the older [[Imperial Truth]] that the Cult eventually supplanted. Instead most view the Emperor as a father figure than as a God. The Ecclesiarchy allows this since, in a manner of speaking, it's true that the Emperor is their father and they're not stupid enough to start a holy war against one of the most powerful military assets the Imperium has to offer; not to mention that few priests have the sheer balls to argue faith with a ten foot tall giant in heavy armor, although anyone else who denies the divinity of the Emperor is fair game. Still, as a show of good faith, the Ecclesiarchy presents Rosariuses to [[Chaplain]]s to demonstrate the supposed relationship between the Imperial Cult and the ancient spiritual traditions of the Astartes. The only exemption are the Iron Fathers of the [[Iron Hands]], who worship the Machine God of the Mechanicus instead, something that bitterly annoys the Ecclesiarchy.

==Age of Apostasy==

{{Main|Age of Apostasy}}

After the Emprah was hooked up to the Golden Throne, a "Cult of the Savior Emperor" (more often referred to as the "Imperial Cult", since every Imperial's a member) was set up and eventually became the state religion as the Adeptus Ministorum, declaring the Emperor's very own Imperial Truth as Heresy. Well, more like claiming that the Emperor was trying to protect them through encouraging their ignorance of daemons. After all, declaring the Emperor's laws to be heresy would ''not'' go over well with the Astartes and Custodes.

The Ecclesiarchy was able to seize real political power in the wake of the [[Nova Terra Interregnum]]; after secular politics failed to reunite the twin empires of the Imperium, the Imperial Cult was able to leverage the widespread religious belief in the Emperor to bring Nova Terra back into the fold. However, this did not go smoothly; the Cataclysm of Souls resulted in vast amounts of bloodshed for anyone who rejected the Imperial Cult. This paved the way for the Age of Apostasy, when rival factions within the Imperial Cult battled for control of the church.

The Ecclesiarch, the head of the Ministorum, eventually got on the [[High Lords of Terra]], eventually supplanting the Master of the [[Administratum]] ''(the guy who actually runs the government)'' as head of the Council. To show just how much power they could wield, the Ecclesiarchy moved from Terra to Ophelia VII at great expense, leaving Terra to rot, then moved back once they felt that they made their point.

After that, the Ecclesiarchy did what every powerful group does: become more interested in its own power than the people they're supposed to be ministering, and public funds and taxes ended up funneling their way into the church, religious officials were making decisions on national policy and the like, since the Ecclesiarchy figured that the church and the state should be pretty much the same thing. The Ecclesiarchy also had a standing army called the '''Frateris Templar''' which stood apart from the [[Imperial Guard]], but was presumably bad-ass considering how wealthy the church was at the time.

=== Reign of Blood ===
Things took a major turn for the worse when '''[[Goge Vandire]]''', the Master of the Administratum, became Ecclesiarch at the same time, making himself the single most powerful person in the Imperium and started the Reign of Blood. Even by 40k standards this guy was nutters: He convinced an all-female sect called the "Daughters of the Emperor" ([[Daughters of Terra|No,not them...]]) to rename themselves the "Brides of the Emperor" and become his bodyguards, they were also give the ''"finest weapons and armour"'' that the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy could provide, which probably meant they were far better equipped than the later Sisters of Battle ever were.

He also instituted big brother policies of having [[Servo-skull]]s on every street corner listening for sedition, and engaged in mass executions/pillaging for the lulz, such as virus bombing planets, enslaving all female civilians of certain planets below the age of 12, melting polar ice caps etc, all the while claiming that he heard the voice of the Emperor himself.

A "rogue" preacher named [[Sebastian Thor]] and his "heretical" sect (the '''Confederation of Light'''), supported by a couple Space Marine Chapters and the Adeptus Mechanicus, went "fuck this" and invaded Terra to remove Vandire from the throne (so to speak). To the surprise of all present (except the Brides/Daughters), the defenders not only held off the invaders, but actually managed to give them a real beating. Before things got out of hand, the Adeptus Custodes took the leader of the Daughters to the Golden Throne to have a chat with the Emperor. She got insanely pissed off by something that happened there and cut off Vandire's head.

===Thorian Reformation===

Afterwards, Thor didn't actually sit still and started travelling the Imperium to put things back together again and preaching the Emperor's good name. Once Terra had recovered, they had only one person in mind for the job of Ecclesiarch: Thor, but he refused to come back until the Imperium [[What|declared him a traitor]] and sent an army to collect him.

Back at the Imperial Palace, the Captain of the Custodes took him aside for a quiet word, and told him that he should either take the job or end up [[Blam|vanished]]. Thus, as the newly appointed Ecclesiarch, Thor started the Thorian Reformation, in which the Temple of the Saviour Emperor was supplanted by Thor's Confederation of Light. The Ecclesiarchy was stripped of all military power and the '''Frateris Templar''' had their funding cut and were reduced to the '''Frateris Militia''' which were not allowed to be paid or trained under the Ecclesiarchy's budget, but, fortunately for them, since they were specifically banned from keeping "''men'' under arms", they [[Rules lawyers|reformed]] the Daughters into the [[Sisters of Battle|Battle Sisters]] of the Adepta Sororitas.

The [[Inquisition]] also set up the [[Witchhunters|Ordo Hereticus]] to make sure no one deviated from these new rules. The reformed Ecclesiarchy is only slightly less corrupt and divorced from reality as it was before, but now they feel guilty and beat themselves (and, unfortunately, everyone they minister to, which means every subjects of the Imperium) up about it! Occasionally, they even try (and fail) to fix it!

==Temple Tendency==

{{Main|Temple Tendency}}

Sadly, some people are still ''particularly'' abusive, and these people are accused of having a "temple tendency." Additionally, there's an ''actual'' heretic group called the Temple Tendency. They believe the Confederation of Light are the ''real'' traitors and (secretly) preach their creed in the hopes of turning back the clock. They employ preachers known as Vandiran Apostates, or Shade Priests, which is a much cooler name than "Confessor."

==Organisation==

At the top of the organisation is the Ecclesiarch himself, who is essentially the '''Space Pope''' and the equal-second (after the Master of the [[Administratum]] and along with the Fabricator-General of [[Mars]]) most influential individual in the entire Imperium.

Beneath him are the '''Cardinals''' of the '''Holy Synod'''. Although there are Cardinals all over the Imperium, each ruling their own Diocese ''(which is the religious equivalent to a '''sector''' in terms of size, but not organised the same way)'' the Holy Synod of Terra has a conclave of Cardinals who assist the Ecclesiarch in making religious decisions. Also, occasionally one of the members of the Holy Synod gets a seat on the [[High Lords of Terra]], which is essentially giving the Ecclesiarchy more influence in Imperial affairs (particularly if the Abbess of the Adepta Sororitas gets a seat at the same time)

Beneath the Cardinals it moves downwards through the varying ranks of preachers, clerics, bishops, vicars, abbots, ministers, confessors all the way down to the the guys who light candles at shrines.

Aside from everyday priesthood there are a number of spin-off organisations that operate under the auspices of the Ecclesiarchy in one way or another.

===Adepta Sororitas===
{{Main|Sisters of Battle}}

While the sisters of battle represent the military might of the Ecclesiarchy the other orders of the sororitas also play highly influential roles for the church.

The '''Order Dialogus''' keeps the records and curates the relics of the Ecclesiarchy and are some of the most well educated and respected people in the entire Imperium when it comes to researching histories, languages or customs.

While the '''Schola Progenium''' trains generations of orphans to become "ideal" Imperial citizens, the '''Order Famulous''' get the job of "attending" the next generation of the Imperial elite. Teaching and educating key figures in Imperial nobility, these individuals grow up to be some of the most devout followers of the Imperial Creed and inevitably strong supporters of the Ecclesiarchy.

===Schola Progenium===
{{Main|Schola Progenium}}

===Frateris Militia===
While the military might of the Ecclesiarchy was heavily curtailed by the '''Decree Passive''' that hasn't actually stopped them from summoning huge amounts of manpower when they need to.

All a cardinal needs to do is point somewhere and say the word: "Crusade" and inevitably people will show up voluntarily in their millions. Most of them untrained and ill-equipped. But when it comes to manpower, the Ecclesiarchy can usually rely upon numbers to rival that of the [[Imperial Guard]].

[[Games Workshop]] used to actually have rules for the Frateris Militia waaaay back in the 2nd edition Sisters of Battle Codex, but they vanished inexplicably, reappeared briefly as a Troops choice for Codex: Witchhunters in a White Dwarf trial rules article under the name "Zealots" which could equally have represented [[Redemptionist]]s as well as the Frateris.

They haven't been forgotten about though, and FFG published rules for playing one in [[Dark Heresy]], which is a decent way of giving more non-combat oriented careers the basic training in weapons and a few combat talents far earlier than they could have otherwise obtained.

===Crusader Houses===
{{Main|Crusaders}}
A breach of the '''Decree Passive''', Crusaders are professionally trained warrior-monks, equipped with specialist wargear.

[[Crusaders]] are trained in secretive warrior-lodges that are not directly associated with the Ecclesiarchy at all. According to the Codex: Adepta Sororitas the Crusaders associated with the Ministorum are recruited from the "Guard of the Cardinals Crimson". However, this may be a front, as many Crusader Houses are sponsored by the [[Inquisition]], though it is uncertain if the Ecclesiarchy itself actually knows about that. For its part, the [[Inquisition]] deliberately allows the Ecclesiarchy to possess Crusaders in small numbers - there are all manner of uses for having a provable crime always ready to hand that the Ecclesiarchy is guilty of.

Membership is by invitation-only, chosen from those who will make ideal hand-to-hand warriors. Within the house they are deeply immersed in the Imperial Creed and are trained to be perfect bodyguards, putting the well-being of their holy charges ahead of themselves.

===Battle Conclave===
{{Main|Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave}}
Whenever a traveling priest (or sometimes an Inquisitor) wants a little more protection, they can form up an [[Ecclesiarchy Battle Conclave]]. Because they can't have too many men due to the Decree passive, many opt instead to go with the scariest, most righteously out-of-their-mind fanatics they can find. Mostly formed from [[Arco-flagellant]]s, Crusaders, and [[Death Cult Assassin]]s, this terrifying force would make anyone think twice about fucking with him.

===Missionarius Galaxia===
Not all of the priests tend shrines or preach at mass. One of the most well known functions of the Ecclesiarchy is bringing religion to the heathen humans beyond the territories of the Imperium.

Most of the missionaries accompany the Imperial Guard as they expand outwards, conquering or reconquering worlds, making certain that those who rebuild afterwards become loyal subjects of the Imperium.

Some Missionaries take it a bit further and don't even travel with Imperial Guard regiments, instead preferring to travel alone to hostile human worlds and bringing the light of the Emperor to them in more peaceful ways. These '''Torchbearers''' are expert survivalists and considerably more resilient than normal Ministorum Priests, having to live and prosper without any back-up at all.

===Confessors & Witch Finders===
Like the [[Inquisition]], the Ecclesiarchy concerns itself with rooting out heresy and apostasy. Unfortunately for the Ecclesiarchy it is not officially sanctioned to do so by the Imperium. However that has not stopped the ministorum from trying.

'''Confessors''' are loud, bombastic and charismatic priests of the Imperial Cult, but are not given specific duties like most members of the priesthood. Instead they are given carte blanche to travel freely from settlement to settlement and "cleanse" them of their sins. Typically by performing rousing soapbox rants about how wicked thoughts make the <s>baby Jesus</s> EMPEROR cry. So people are encouraged to come forward to confess their sins to the confessor where he can decide an appropriate penance for them to clear their consciences. Confessors can be like the 40k equivalent of celebrities, and there is often great anticipation of their arrival in town, and big crowds show up to hear them preach (and probably hear their neighbours salacious confessions too). Sometimes people don't want (or have sins) to confess, so the confessor has to take it a [[RIP AND TEAR|little bit further]] to coax the individual to think hard about their crimes. Usually to the point of the penance afterwards being more merciful than the coaxing itself.

'''Witch Finders''' fulfill much the same function, except are far more pro-active in "finding" sinners but are not necessarily required to be ordained priests, and many of whom are actually [[Inquisitor]]s-in-training. Results can vary in their effectiveness in finding heretics though, since they usually take a religious approach to determining the guilty rather than an investigative approach like normal "sane" people. Some examples of this crazy manner of determining guilt is to lock a suspect in an airlock and evacuate the air for an hour, Or to bury a suspect to his neck in sand and sew their mouth shut and leave them for a week... if they survive then they are deemed a witch and must be incinerated. While this is logically true, since if they survive they MUST be supernatural, it doesn't seem very hopeful for the innocent now does it? At least the Inquisition-proper occasionally gives you some intelligent form of investigation, even if you still die for being innocent.

==Notable Members==
* [[Arch-Confessor Kyrinov]], an Arch-Confessor who uses overt loud-mouthed preaching to conceal the fact that he's a cunning manipulator, often subverting heresies from within.
* [[Uriah Jacobus]], a belligerent old missionary who combines won't stop spreading the word of the Emperor to the darkest parts of the galaxy even though a sane person probably would've retired decades ago.
* [[Cardinal Armandus Helfire]], a bear of a man, Helfire can often be found leading Wars of Faith against Chaos forces near the Eye of Terror. Despite his station, he can often be found living and fighting amongst the soldiers he leads.

{{Template:Imperium}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Roboute Guilliman

2017-06-09T00:59:21Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9: /* 41st millennium / Gathering Storm */

''"[[Horus|Leadership is not magnetic personality]], [[Fulgrim|that can just as well be a glib tongue]]. [[Vulkan|It is not "making friends ]][[Lorgar|and influencing people]]", that is flattery. Leadership is lifting a person's vision to higher sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations."''<br>
― Peter F. Drucker

''Si vis pacem, para bellum. If you want peace, prepare for war.''<br>
- Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus

[[File:Robute_Guilliman.jpg|I'm surrounded by plebians.|450px|thumb|right]]
'''Roboute Guilliman''' ("Row-BOOT-ay" "GILL-uh-man" ɹəʊ-buːt-eɪ ɡɪl-ə-mæn) is the Primarch of the [[Ultramarines]], and a man with a staggering collection of nicknames, including but not limited to: Rowboat Girlyman, Roman Gorillaman, Rawbutt Jellyman, Robobutt Gigatan, Rampant Gullytan, Robot Gigglytan, Raw-Rigged Ginger-Fan, Robot Gulliver, Robo Git, Robust Gilligan, Robit Ghillie Suit, Reboot Gigabyte, Robert Gullible, Roboot Girlymayne, Robot Gorillaman, Robooty Guillotine, Roman Gogillian, Rusty the Gullible, R. Gooliman Esq. Rowyourboat Downthestreamlyman (and any and every combination of the above), Julius Caesar ''in SPESS'', Big Blue Daddy, Papa Ultra Smurf, Big Bobby G, Space Marine Jame Bond or High Lord Douchebag and Ward's Ever Chosen Robart. He's also quite possibly the single most [[skub]] person in the setting, thanks to him being depicted as a total ungodly [[Mary Sue]] in many older sources, and being depicted as quite likable and level headed in others. The dislike for him is often based more around his legacy and the reception (or lack there of) of a [[Codex Astartes|certain infamous book]], although he did have a cold, imperious streak to his personality that occasionally caused friction between his brothers and himself, most famously being partially responsible for turning [[Alpharius]] to chaos. [[Omegon|Maybe]]. It's [[Iron Snakes|hard to tell]].

Apparently he and [[Sigmar]] are behind the sudden surge of good policies done by [[Games Workshop|GeeDubs]].

==History==

===Early Life===

Unlike most worlds that the other Primarchs landed on, Macragge was a pretty great place to live. Guilliman was found by a politician while they were on a hunting trip. Konor, the man who took him in, was a pretty cool dude, he advocated helping the common man and reforms that would make the world a meritocracy. These were a major influence on Roboute and stayed with him throughout his life. It also says something that Konor's seneschal, Tarasha Euten, was effectively Guilliman's surrogate mother, making him one of the only Primarchs to have a conventional family, [[Butthurt|a fact that twisted Konrad Curze's nipples to no end (which goes double when she tells him to go fuck himself)]].

One day while Roboute was coming back after fighting the Macragge's version of the Gauls, he found his home in disarray. Konor was the victim of some Roman politics. The other co-ruler, Gallan, was pissed off at all these reforms and so just sent his army to rape, pillage and burn. Seeing his once peaceful home burning, neighbors looting and killing each other; left the second major impact on Roboute and the most likely source of why he was always so anal about keeping things in order.

After gutting Gallan and restoring order, Roboute worked to make his father's dream a reality. This was the third major impact on his life: though he claimed that Gallan's death was justice, Guilliman came to realize that it was in fact vengeance, and worked to master his emotional self-control. By the time the [[Emperor]] reached Macragge, Roboute had ruled for five years and turned the world into a place where you had to earn your place, not just be born, like what his father wanted.

===Great Crusade and Horus Heresy===
[[File:Know No Fear huge.jpg|400px|thumb|right|''"Lorgar of Colchis. You may consider the following. One: I entirely withdraw my previous offer of solemn ceasefire. It is cancelled, and will not be made again, to you or to any other of your motherless bastards. Two: you are no longer any brother of mine. I will find you, I will kill you, and I will hurl your toxic corpse into hell’s mouth."'' - Roboute Guilliman, channeling Bryan Mills.]]

Guilliman put to use his skills as a tactician and strategist to fight in his farther's crusade, preferring to form battle plans rather than actually participate in the fighting himself though he still did his fair share of Xeno-killing. In the hopes of passing down some of his strategic expertise, he worked very hard to turn the Ultramarines into an army of thinkers. His primary rule as a commander was "Information is victory", emphasizing that Space Marines needed theoretical knowledge and practical experience, in other words, a sound understanding of the tactical situation and a means to achieve their objective. Given that battle plans proved to be the first casualty, Guilliman soon realized that he would need to refine his own strategies even as he codified them, lest they fall apart in the chaos of warfare. In spite of that, with over 250,000 legionaries, he managed to achieve compliance on the highest number of worlds during the [[Great Crusade]], but was surpassed in ''military'' victories not only by the [[Luna Wolves]], but by [[Space Wolves]] and [[Dark Angels]] as well. Meaning he was either a good diplomat or his crusade encountered much more peaceful human societies not being mutants than average one. Or both. The planets were also model military worlds, and the Ultramarines would not leave until a modern [[Planetary Defence Force]] was established. He really should've been put jointly in charge of administration post-Ullanor, which would've made premature, excessive taxation of newly integrated worlds a lot easier to avoid (and therefore fewer worlds would have joined Horus' rebellion). Or probably not: after all, Guilliman didn't change a thing on Nuceria, a beautiful feudal world of charming people enjoying slaves and pit fights and slaves fighting in pits (not to say they were fucking responsible for the mess Angron turned into) after incorporating it in his empire; it was of no concern to Robaut, the only thing he cared about was resources and taxes arriving in time. So while central worlds of Ultramar prospered, provinces were a whole lot shitty place to live up to the point populace ''didn't know who Guilliman is'' (and I'm not making it up, Lion spits this information in Roboute's face in "Unremembered Empire").

When civil war broke out, Guilliman was tricked into taking most of his Legion to Calth for a joint Ultramarines/[[Word Bearers]] engagement. While most of his Chapter Masters believed it was just Horus flexing his muscle, Guilliman realized it was partly political: when the Emperor of Mankind rebuked [[Lorgar|Lorgar Aurelian]] for spreading the ''Lectitio Divinatatus'', he ordered the Ultramarines to burn Monarchia, capital city of Khur, as an example of what would happen to those who continued to defy the [[Imperial Truth]]. Guilliman carried out his orders and didn't show Lorgar any sympathy, but privately confided to some of his officers his discomfort in doing so, feeling that the total humiliation would irreparably damage relations between the XIII and XVII Legions. Guilliman saw this as a chance to mend fences and forge friendships the old fashioned way: by getting Space Marines to kill Orks. Unfortunately, Horus and Lorgar used the Calth muster to kill nearly half the Legion in a surprise attack. When he found out Lorgar's treachery he personally declared to hunt Lorgar down and kill him, only to be attacked by some sort of [[Daemon]]ic proxy and voided onto his flagship. Guilliman did what any other pissed off Primarch would do: go on a rampage against Word Bearers trying to board the ''Macragge's Honour'' by punching them to death. In near vacuum. Without a helmet]]. ''For half an hour.'' ([[Dan Abnett]] is still pretty proud of that scene). After the Battle of Calth, Guilliman had to contend with the Shadow Crusade, as Lorgar and Angron razed 26 of Ultramar's worlds with their main fleet, and who knows how many with the splinter fleets.

After seeing off the Shadow Crusade, Guilliman decided that if his father could not be saved, His ideals would be, setting up a new government called [[Imperium Secundus]], a second Imperium of Man which would reject Horus's alliance with [[Chaos]]. Although potentially traitorous, Guilliman's motives at least ''appeared'' sincere, he made a big hoohah about not taking the throne himself, since he would look like a Tyrant if he did. Fortunately/Unfortunately, [[Lion El'Jonson|The Lion]] arrived at Macragge and didn't like [[heresy|where it was heading]]. Neither brother trusted the other with the job of ruling the next Imperium, so [[Sanguinius]] got the job only to settle the matter between the two and was declared regent of the Imperium in the Emperor's absence, which meant fuck all because he promptly got murdered by Horus in the battle of Terra.

Whatever his intentions, Guilliman led over one hundred thousand Ultramarines to Terra with the [[Dark Angels]] and the [[Space Wolves]], intent on relieving the [[Blood Angels]], [[Imperial Fists]], and [[White Scars]] defending the throneworld. Learning about this and knowing that he could not sustain the assault on Terra anymore once the bulk of the loyalist forces came into the fight, Horus lowered the void shields upon the ''Vengeful Spirit'' in an all-or-nothing gambit to win the war by killing the Emprah in a duel. By one collosal fuckup or another, the vastly superior relieving force DIDN'T crush the beleaguered traitor forces. The traitor legions fled Terra, the scouring kicked off, the Guilliman anticlimactically got stabbed in the neck by [[Fulgrim]] and the resulting poisoning had him sitting on a stasis throne for the better part of 10,000 years.

===41st millennium / Gathering Storm===
[[File:16999239_340497286345256_3126583543407667659_n.jpg|600px|right|thumb|Our [[Spiritual Liege]] about to give [[Skarbrand]] a [[Sanguinius]]-style head chopping.]]

:''We shall give the humans a demigod. A king reborn with a deathly blade.'' -Prince [[Yriel]].

As we know, after being poisoned by Fulgrim, Guilliman was put into stasis. A popular rumor was that he was slowly healing, though that would be impossible in stasis. Eventually, after a kiss from [[Yvraine]] and a nice mekadendrite massage from [[Belisarius Cawl|Cawl]], he feels better. He plays a major role in the third Gathering Storm book. That's right; Gorillaman is back! And in plastic! Somebody call Fulgrim, he'll be pissed! (Spoiler alert. He is really, really pissed. So is Mortarion. Magnus had a chuckle though.)

Also, it seems that [[Saint Celestine]] and Inquisitor Greyfax have convinced Roboute to tolerate the [[Ecclesiarchy]] (for now anyway). Suffice to say, he was <u>'''NOT'''</u> pleased with the whole space Catholicism thing that had been going on while he was asleep, though after a bit and knowing its use he works the Imperial Faith into one of his speeches, even though it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. Strangely, Roboute seems fine with the Adeptus Mechanicus despite it being a religion centered around machine worship and Omnissiah (in addition to their bad track record with [[Necrons]]).

Essentially, after Roboute was resurrected, he proceeds to wipe out an entire horde of veteran chaos marines without taking a single scratch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atxYe-nOa9w (there is a scene where he one-punches a Chaos Terminator through a bronze and marble column)], then he immediately took command of the local imperial forces and used his [[Tactical genius|tactical genius]] to inspire the combined forces of Chaos to simultaneously shit themselves. Within a month, Girlyman routed the entire invading Chaos force on Macragge in a series of battles and heroic duels worthy of any primarch. Once Macragge is liberated, Papa Smurf then looked to liberate the rest of the Macragge system, this time with help from the Primogenitor Chapters, the [[Dark Angels]], [[Space Wolves]], [[White Scars]], a [[Sisters of Battle]] army, the remaining [[Black Templars]], more [[Imperial Guard|Guardsmen]], a ship containing an entire [[Imperial Knight|Knight Household]], an entire [[Imperial Navy]] battlegroup, and the [[Mechanicus]] with an entire [[Titan|Titan Legion]] backing them. He also declares the independent sovereignty of the five hundred worlds null and void, assuming direct control over his former territories. [[Rape|There was no kill like overkill.]]

During his coronation as uber-boss of Ultramar, a fragment of [[Fulgrim]] possessing a planetary governor infiltrated the many, many pilgrims and dignitaries who had shown up to verify the Primarch's resurrection, and offered him a golden wreath to wear. The wreath was cursed to show Guilliman all his potential glories and lead him to the embrace of Slaanesh. When he saw through the deception and ordered the infiltrator slain, Fulgrim promised that Guilliman would never take any satisfaction from his victories ever again. Which kind of reinforces the notion that Fulgrim is beyond [[Butthurt]] that he did not kill Papa Smurf.

Later, [[Nurgle]] inflicted a plague on Ultramar called '''The Sorrows/Weeping Plague''' that spread via insects and caused its victims' eyes to rot out. However, the only known cure for the disease was to be admitted to the presence of Guilliman himself. Realising that it was a devious trick to play on the Primarch's compassion and contain Guilliman in Ultramar, he declared that he would not repeat the mistake of [[Imperium Secundus|defending his own realm while the rest of he galaxy burned]] and needed to go to Terra for the [[Greater_Good|Greater Good]] of the Imperium, and left his Apothecaries to try and find a cure.

After Robby G has finished his job in ousting [[Chaos]] from Ultramar, the Ynnari bid their farewell, as they have other psychic mumbo-jumbo to do elsewhere. Roboute and Yvraine said their goodbyes, Roboute said that he is in debt to Yvraine for bringing him back to life and Yvraine telling Roboute to stay safe. Although in all honesty the respect between the two was a tad bit...[[Love Can Bloom|''too close''.]] Like it sounded that there was some sexual tension between the two. Is the implication of Primarch/Eldar attraction [[Heresy|heretical?]] Maybe, but it does show the reasonable and respectable behavior of Roboute even with xenos like the Eldar which has a chronic backstabbing disorder. [[Kharn|What a swell guy.]]

[[File:YvraineXGuilliman.png|300px|left|thumb|[[Extra Heresy|HERESY TO THE EXTREME!]]]]
It is known that while heading to Terra on ''Macragge's Honour'' (OMG GLORIANA CLASS BATTLESHIP!), the Thousand Sons transport him into the Maelstrom, where a warband of [[Red Corsairs]] and daemons led by [[Kairos Fateweaver]] attack him and his allies. Kairos manages to "bind Guilliman in chains of his own guilt, anger, and disappointment" (kinky) and toss him into a cell on a [[Blackstone Fortress]], which the Red Corsairs apparently got from Abbadon as a gift in exchange for their loyalty. However, his relief comes in the form of none other than '''[[Cypher]]''' who has been led to Guilliman by the [[Harlequins]] and a bunch of [[Khorne|Khornate]] daemons led by [[Skarbrand]] assaulting the Blackstone Fortress when Kairos insisted on keeping Guilliman alive for future plans. Cypher makes a deal with Guilliman, freeing him and the crusader army from bondage and offering the [[Fallen Angels]]' support in exchange for a free pass to Terra and the Imperial Throne Room to fulfill his destiny. After fighting their way through an army of daemons and escaping through the webway, they are pursued by the [[Thousand Sons]] but fight their way through to Luna and continue the battle on Terra's doorstep, and eventually Guilliman winds up having a duel with [[Magnus]] himself. Guilliman looks to be losing the fight until he gets saved by the [[Sisters of Silence]], supported by the [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Adeptus Custodes]], who drop in to save the day. When he finally arrives on Terra, Guilliman has a sudden, dreadful epiphany after seeing Cypher's sword and then proceeds to retcon his deal by getting Cypher arrested by the Custodians before he could see the Emperor ''(though Cypher, being Cypher, immediately escapes, but is shown to have a particular bad case of [[Not_as_planned|butthurt]], first time in 40k history!)''. Given how honorable Guilliman is, it ''must'' be something bad if he would resort to backing out on his word.

Guilliman then gets an audience with the Emperor behind closed doors, at which point Big E presumably said, [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|"the Administratum is a humongous festering bureaucratic blister upon the once fine musculature that is the Imperium, so do your thing and be useful for once you little derivative pile of blueberry pudding pop fuckery,"]] along with perhaps a few pointed words about that whole [[Imperium Secundus|draining resources from Terra during the heresy]] thing. When he emerged, he would say he got all the enlightenment he needed and then declares himself '''Lord Commander of the Imperium''' ''(his old job)'' before forcibly deposing some [[High Lords of Terra|High Lords]] he doesn't like and replacing them. Whilst his deposing of some of the High Lords may seem unnecessary given the desperate/fragile state of the Imperium, do take note that Guilliman is a meritocrat and an administrator first and foremost, so if anyone can save the Administratum and the Imperial Senate, it's him. Thus him rearranging the High Lords is perfectly in character as the High Lords have been repeatedly established as being almost entirely self-serving individuals who are incompetent at best and utterly uninterested in anything other than expanding their personal power at worst- in short, everything Guilliman is not. If anything, it would be even more out of character for Guilliman to just look the other way given their (lack of) overall performance.

[[Tl;dr]], Robby came, he saw, and he gave the entire Chaos Space Marines an [[Anal circumference|anal pounding]] like no other. And now he has to make the entire Imperium get its shit together.

===8th Edition===
To stem the tide of traitors, xenos, and Chaos, Roboute Guilliman declared the Indomitus Crusade against the enemies of the Imperium. In order to accomplish this, he unveiled the [[Primaris Marines]], a project 10,000 years in the making to create a superior Space Marine. Between battles, he's also begun to compose a (relatively) accurate history of the Imperium of Man (much to the Inquisition's annoyance since no sane Inquisitor would say 'no' to a Primarch, let alone the regent of the Imperium). The Crusade lasted about a century; while it was able to drive the forces of Chaos away from some of their new holdings, even Gulliman knew that it was only enough to stabilize the Imperium in its current state.

The Dark Imperium novel has portrayed him as having become far more cynical over the events of the Indominus Crusade, in no small part due to frequently butting heads with the Inquisition and the nobility, who saw Guilliman's reforms as a threat to their personal power. While he still believes in the Emperor's ideals, his belief in the Imperial Truth has been shaken; though he knows the Emepror is not quite human any longer, he has noted that even if Emps is a god something as cold and callous as him doesn't deserve worship in the first place. According to Guilliman, when he met with the Emperor, the latter treated him as little more than a favorite tool that had only just been recovered, as opposed to being the last of his loyal sons.

As of now, Big Bobby G is splitting his time between his history work, preventing the Imperium's appalling situation from getting worse, and writing the '''Codex Imperialis''' which is basically the [[Codex Astartes]] on civil society and good governance. The compilation of the Imperium's history is just one part of the new Codex which is to fix the semi-functioning clusterfuck that is the Imperial bureaucracy. He hopes that if or when he dies for good, his successors will use it for guidance rather than the head-up-ass approach they've taken in the past.

==Personality==

Roboute Guilliman is a mix of the classical patrician and the archetypal virtuous politician. He's studied, efficient, extremely intelligent even when compared to his own demigod brothers, and morally resolute. He values merit and results over birth or flattery, and he emphasizes in his troops that information is victory, that a sound grasp of theory and a strong ability for the practical is necessary in resolving all problems. He's also rather tolerant of different moods and mentalities, so long as they still serve the Imperium's goals. The barbarous overtones of the [[Space Wolves]], the standoffish eccentricities of the [[White Scars]], even quiet religious practices on his own world, these things never bothered him. After all, the Ultramarines had clearly demonstrated the superior merit of their ways, and those ways would rub off on the more eccentric factions of the Imperium over time, right? Call it faith and trust, call it arrogance and presumption, but Guilliman genuinely believed that he controlled the most disciplined, civilized peoples and armies within the Imperium, and he thought his way was best, but contrary to what many think of him he didn't go out of his way to force his ways on others, he simply made all his writings and tactics available to all his brothers, and told his men to be at their best when fighting alongside the other factions. He only ever criticized or scolded when the circumstances seemed extreme, such as Alpharius's unnecessary targeting of enemy civilian populations to damage morale, or Perterabo's wasteful decimation of his own legion. This attitude was likely the reason Guilliman was passed over for the role of Warmaster, as he didn't get along well with many of his brothers, counting only [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Sanguinius]], [[Horus]], [[Ferrus Manus]], and [[Vulkan]] as friends, though he did have a sincere admiration and respect for [[Leman Russ]] and [[Jaghatai Khan]]. He also saw a potential for common ground with Lorgar, but that potential was never explored because of... [[Heresy|Reasons]].

Guilliman was also an organizational savant unmatched in all the galaxy. He was known to calculate logistical information and strategies far faster than the mechanicum's best logic engines, planning out entire planetary invasions in his mind in moments, a feat only matched by his brother the Lion. Though many of his brothers were godly tacticians, Guilliman uniquely focused on what came after the war: how the world could be used, improved, colonized, uplifted. Guilliman insisted on ensuring that any populated world the Ultramarines took was left with working infrastructure, an able and trained PDF, and a decent quality of life for civilian populations. This cold calculation often bled into his personal life however. The best example of this might be his dealings with [[Lorgar]]. After the Ultramarines were used by the Emperor to sanction the Word Bearers, Guilliman privately admitted to some of his officers that he sincerely regretted that it had happened that way, being uncomfortable censuring his brother that way, and fearing that the damage in relations it caused between the XIII and the XVII would be permanent. After all, there was much potential for kinship between Lorgar and Guilliman, and their legions. What legions were more devoted to the Emperor than those two? Which brothers thought most of the future, of what comes after the conquest? The sudden void of lost potential between the legions was tragic. So what did Guilliman do? Did he seek out his brother later to make amends? Did he have a quiet meeting with his brother to confess his discomfort and seek reconciliation? Send a nice gift basket perhaps? No. Guilliman set up a formal, impersonal meeting between the two of them, alongside their captains, retinues, and aides. [[FAIL|Forty. Years. Later.]] By that time it was much too late.

Though above his genius, above his skills as an administrator and a statesman, Guilliman's most noteworthy characteristic is probably being one of the few well adjusted, sensible people in the entire freaking galaxy. He encouraged his sons to diversify their interests in combat, not to [[Emperor's Children|art]] or [[Blood Angels|fine]] [[Salamanders|crafts]], but to governance and law, city planning and infrastructure. He was a pragmatist, and was well aware of the need for his legion to be useful outside of war, knowing full well what would have to happen to [[World Eaters|some]] [[Night Lords|legions]] when the wars had ended. Guilliman was also one of the few Primarchs who didn't really see the Emperor as his father, paying lip service to the idea, but being the first to state how shitty the Emperor was at raising kids, and he never fully forgave the Emperor for using him and his Legion as a tool to humiliate Lorgar. He understood how to run an empire, how to inspire loyalty and how to temper the flawed nature of humanity with organisation and discipline. The Emperor's greatest failing was always a lack of understanding in the people he ruled, a flaw that few saw in him, save perhaps for [[Malcador the Sigillite]] and Guilliman.

Ultimately we get a picture of a man who's charismatic, but impersonal. Brilliantly intelligent, but often blinded by arrogance and faith. Meritocratic and receptive to the common man, but often cold and distant. A good general and warrior, but above that he was a statesman and a leader. If Horus is a conqueror at heart, if Lorgar is a demagogue, Guilliman is a CEO or Governor, a man whose concern is less the glories and bloodshed of war, and more the administrative work that follows.

After his long nap he seems angry, tired, and frustrated with the new (old) Imperium, but that good 'ol Ultramarine spirit is still with him, so get up, stretches, and gets to ass whooping. A few of his actions thus far are...well, things he wouldn't have considered doing if he had a choice. Such as dissolving the independent sovereignty of the worlds that were historically part of Ultramar due to incompetent nobles, catering to the Imperial Creed in one of his speeches, cooperating with filthy xenos witches, and essentially taking the role of Emperor 2.0. He seems more inclined to sudden, imperious action where once he might have used diplomacy, although realistically this is a result of having the entire failing Imperium dropped on his shoulders at once and being expected to fix it all on his own; given the circumstances he's actually holding out fairly well. He's bitter with his dad, disappointed with the Imperium as a whole, disgusted by the Ecclesiarchy, and arguably it's only his faith in humanity and the knowledge of what will happen if he fails that keeps him from just giving up.

==Popular Opinion==
''All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.''<br>
- Sun Tzu

Guilliman is mostly hated by the community at large because of [[Matt Ward | Mattards]] Codex: Space Marines. However, it is worth stating that Guilliman was probably one of the most important figures holding the Imperium together after the Horus Heresy. He's pretty much the only Primarch to realize that the Emperor's ideals were more important than the man himself, which is something that [[Malcador the Sigillite|Malcador]] kept preaching.

He was also the best Primarch when it came to logistics and organization, rivaled only by [[Perturabo]] (but Guilliman wasn't an antisocial autistic weirdo, so there's that), which is pretty much one of the only reasons why the [[Imperium of Man]] didn't collapse after the Horus Heresy. He was able to train and equip more than twice as many Marines during the [[Great Crusade]] than any other Legion, and he wrote the [[Codex Astartes]] (still the standard for Space Marine tactics). He is credited with reorganizing the entire governmental and administrative system of the [[Imperium of Man]] (yes, the reorganized Administratum ended up running the galaxy into the ground, but the fact that it's still running at all is a good sign).

However as the Horus Heresy series continues, it is revealed that it was actually [[Malcador the Sigillite]] who had been creating the foundations for the later Imperium. In fact it is continuously being hinted that Guilliman positioned himself to take over the Imperium after the fall of the Emperor, being almost explicitly stated in ''Vengeful Spirit''. whether through good intentions or through sinister means has yet to be revealed. Funnily enough Kor Phaeron, who hated his guts, identified him as the Primarch best suited to succeed his dad, though given the source, that may well be intended as an insult. Despite this, Guilliman claimed that he had no desire to be Emperor and promised his brothers that if the otherwise impassable Ruinstorm abated, he would immediately send his fleet to Terra. That said, the Blood Angels managed to get back to Terra somehow, despite being on the wrong side of it, so it's unknown just how difficult it was to get back.

''Unfortunately'', thanks to 10,000 years of propaganda and exaggeration (and Matt Ward's Codex: Space Marines), Guilliman is ''absolutely perfect'' in every way and treated as ''second only to the Emperor'' through ''the entire Imperium.'' This is incorrect, considering that [[Sebastian Thor]] is actually the main Imperial saint, and [[Sanguinius]] is the primarch most beloved by the common men of the Imperium. Regardless, Guilliman is pretty high on the list and the only Primarch whose body is on public display. This "better than thou" shit is sad and quite paradoxical, since Guilliman himself genuinely recognized [[Lion El'Jonson|some]] [[Horus|Primarchs]] were better than him as leaders. He has sometimes been portrayed as petty or jealous of his brother Primarchs but also intelligent enough to acknowledge his own errors when proved wrong. Far from the "perfect in every aspect" figure Matt Ward promoted, the HH Guilliman is actually a man with a lot of very human weaknesses but possessing the humility to admit them as flaws he must deal with.

[[Fallen Angels|Astelan]], while a prisoner of the [[Dark Angels]] goes into detail explaining how Guilliman was purportedly the ''"greatest"'' of the Primarchs, but only in the context of what the Emperor intended for them. Astelan describes that Guilliman was '''"not the most able-minded, nor as charismatic, and not as physically adept"''' and was the inferior of [[Horus]] in every respect. Although Astelan was also a traitor and a fallen angel, so his word is hardly reliable. His greatness came from the fact that Guilliman never once wavered in dedication and service and created his Space Marines to be incorruptible. Guilliman and his Ultramarines were the perfect <u>sons</u>, not necessarily perfect soldiers. It's also worthy of note that much like [[Rogal Dorn]] and [[Lion El'Jonson]], Guilliman was a possible candidate for the position of warmaster, but was rejected for the same reasons they were: he didn't get along with many of his brothers.

However, contrary to that, He also did a lot of tricky things in [[Horus Heresy]], like that whole [[Imperium Secundus]] thing, and it's popularly theorized that he was bitter that he never got to be '''Warmaster''', which despite his claims that he had no desire to become Emperor, when he appointed the [[High Lords of Terra]] he nominated himself for the seat of '''Lord Commander of the Imperium''' which was essentially "Warmaster" in all but name, and the titular commander of the entirety of the Imperium's armed forces. So claiming that no man should have the power of a Legion, then place himself at the top of the chain of command for all of the [[Space Marine Chapter|Chapters]] that his remaining brothers were left with was a bit hypocritical.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:600px">
Or was it?
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
It's quite likely that Guilliman's actions in creating the Imperium Secundus, and his later actions during the reformation of the Imperium, are a reference to the Roman practice of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_dictator|Roman Dictatorship]]. A roman dictator was more or less what we think of as a modern dictator, with one key exception. The dictator was given absolute executive and military power over Rome and her holdings in times of crisis, when the gridlock and beaurocratic red tape of roman society got in the way of doing what needed to be done. But as strange as it sounds to our modern minds, dictators were elected to their position, and without exception in all the history of Rome every dictator willingly stepped down and returned power to the senate.

It's highly likely that Guilliman's actions after the emperor's death are a reference to this practice: he set aside the normal moral and legal rules restricting him so that he could restructure the imperium. Despite the fact that he was in the perfect position to assume power over the entire imperium, he relinquished power to the Council of Terra after some sense of stability had returned. This is further supported by how heavily his legion leans on Roman culture, and how much Guilliman himself draws on the famous generals of Rome (Julius and Augustus Caesar, Cininatus, etc).</div></div>

So with that being said, he was no more flawless than the other Primarchs; Even during the Great Crusade, while he was considered to be one of the greatest strategists in the entire Imperium, he was defeated in combat simulations by [[Corax]] of the [[Raven Guard]], having to be specifically taught that there is no fixed dividing line between non-combatants and soldiers when people are defending their homes; that under-strength units should not be ruled out as ineffective; and that small units of adaptable troops can be wielded with just as much effect as larger battalions and chapters. Furthermore, Guilliman stuck closely to his tried and true methods, refusing to give credit to what he considered "unconventional" tactics, pissing off many other Primarchs, most notably [[Alpharius]]. Even though he would later be shown by his own men how effective such unconventional guerrilla tactics would be and would include then in his codex.

Therefore while he was certainly the Primarch with the greatest mental capacity and adaptability, he was apparently incapable of lateral thinking and would fail to see the flaws in his methods until explicitly shown the error of his ways. ( which certainly indicates that he was definitely not the primarch with the greatest mental capacity or adaptability. Alpharius and Magnus come to mind or even Corax or the Lion whos Legion literally did it all.) Also, though the Codex Astartes undoubtedly did a lot of good things like making sure each chapter could feasibly fight under most conditions no matter their heritage or preference, forcing all of his brothers to split their Legions into [[Codex Astartes|Chapters]] risked a second galactic civil war.

Additionally, although it isn't (entirely) his fault, Guilliman is usually blamed for turning the Ultramarines into such faggots. The Codex is now basically treated as infallible by the Ultramarines ''(at least the more faggot-y ones; [[Captain Titus|there's at least some who take it with a grain of salt and realize where its strengths and weaknesses lie]])''. even though he '''specifically said''' that the [[Codex Astartes]] should not be treated as a bible to be followed unerringly... Except for the organizational parts, which he forced on his brothers as part of the post-Heresy reforms and were upheld by the High Lords of Terra as a means of keeping the Astartes in check.

Recently he's been increasingly entrusted to the care of the Mighty [[Dan Abnett]] and his faggot level is dropping rapidly. Now, Guilliman isn't portrayed as a power armored Sun Tzu, but as a logistical genius, planning planetary conquest in a way that would leave said worlds in a state that could quickly be returned to order and Imperial rule. His high number of compliant worlds is a direct product of this, helped by his Legion's innate tendency towards discipline, hierarchy and monomaniacal fixation on whatever their objective might be.

This adherence toward a rigid chain of command did end up becoming a double-edged sword later on, since when Guilliman was put into stasis the Ultramarines still tried to follow him (thanks to him being the at the top of the chain) and as such started to forget that the Codex Astartes was only meant to be a guideline, as opposed to a definitive text. More importantly, they slowly lost their ability to adapt to new situations, which was their most famed of traits, until the Tyrannic Wars illustrated the need to improvise new strategies when old ones failed them.

Once upon a time, thanks to the rabid fanboying of [[Matt Ward]], most of [[/tg/]] hated him, but many of them have since come around. Still expect people to [[Rage|bitch endlessly]] about how he was an absolute [[Leman Russ|narrow-minded]] [[Lion El'Jonson|hypocritical]] [[Dorn|jerk]], but don't feel bad about it.

Ironically enough, Guilliman has something the Imperium needs even more desperately than new technologies and peace: managerial skills, among the primarchs Guilliman was the only one who actually seemed to be bright enough to understand and strongly insist that no empire, no matter how militarily powerful, could withstand without a good administration, keeping the fiscal balance positive and ensuring the population, not just the armies, have a decent enough standard of living and supply lines, it speaks something of most of the denizens of 4chan that so few of them have ever pointed out this simple fact.

On a side note, he likes Shakespeare's work.

===Suddenly, Forge World!===
[[Image:Girlyman.jpg|400px|thumb|right|[[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy)|Guilliman atop his mighty Oathstone (not seen are the Chapter Serfs who get the honour of carrying him around)! Note how tiny his sword is. Matt Ward does not approve.]]]]
When Tempest came out, it immediately forgot that Guilliman's supposed to be just as heavily flawed as the other Primarchs, in Tempest Guilliman is "a paragon among the Emperor's sons", and that he "is as much a statesman as he is an indefatigable warrior." He's also as just as great a strategist, in addition to being the most level-headed, the quickest to react, the smartest and the most analytical, constantly basing new and better designs off of existing materials, as well as refining battle plans thanks to having a mind that calmly and coldly allows him to analyze everything around him and wonder how various things like his marines, his armour and his weapons could all be improved. He observes what other Primarchs do with their warriors makes them better in his own creations, in doing so (specifically copying Perturabo's Siege Tyrants in the rules) they say he's "proving himself once again the master of all of the myriad disciplines of war." This is further evidenced by his rules below where he's the best Primarch at buffing his army, while as a warrior in a straight-up fight he only loses to Horus and Fulgrim''(not counting [[Lorgar|psychic interference]] or Primarchs with a [[Angron|bit of momentum behind them]])''.

In addition Guilliman's Ultramarines during the Horus Heresy were the most disciplined of all the Space Marines (wrong, as Unremembered Empire pointed out the 1st were more disciplined) as well as the most numerous, the ones who prized intelligence above all to help them formulate the best battle plan, and with the best training/recruitment (also wrong the 1st Legion had Luther who reduced training time for a marine to just 5 years.), not to mention being familiar with the other legions MO's and able to pull them off without any problems which had a lot to do with their rigid chain of command (again this is nonsense, as the raven guard and alpha Legion's M.O.'s were never even attempted by the Ultramarines nor the way that the Vlka Fenryka fought war. If they were capable of that feat they wouldn't have been behind other legions on victories). This goes on to the point that they were considered the biggest threat (before Isstvan) and the book outright states that if the Ultramarines were aware of Horus' rebellion they and their Auxilia would be able to make [[Ultramar|the 500 worlds]] a bastion that by itself, would be able to weather the entire heresy and challenge [[Horus]] for control of the eastern half of the Galaxy. [[Matt Ward|I guess the Imperial Fists, White Scars, and Blood Angels on Terra didn't really try hard enough.]] But to be fair the size of the Legion at the time is nothing new since the Ultramarines have always been described as the Legion with the most recruits and the least casualties long before the Wardian plague begins.

A more generous explanation could be that since the books were written after the Heresy in-universe, it could just be a case of "history is written by the winners" kicking in again, since (rather thankfully) "Everything is canon, not everything is true." Or maybe Matt was secretly brought back for that particular book, which would go quite a long way in explaining all of the Smurf wanking in it. It's likely we'll have to wait until the follow-up book on the Shadow Crusade to determine which of those it is. This doesn't entirely go against 40k's history however, while saying the smurfs and their auxiliaries could take on all of the traitor legions at full strength is undoubtedly complete horseshit, Ultramar was ''always'' considered to have been one of the greatest threats to Horus' rebellion and was the prime reason that the Battle of Calth took place; to get them all in one place and hit them with a surprise attack, and then pin the Ultramarines in place for the duration of the Heresy. The same applies to Guilliman, who has always been considered to have been one of the most intelligent and adaptable of Primarchs, as well as being gifted with his own brilliance.

Thankfully he still retains at least one flaw, that being he has no creative spark. He made Perturabo's Terminators better, but he'd never have made them on his own. He made his own versions of power weapons that were far better than regular power weapons as they were more precise/lethal when in trained hands, yet he could only do that after studying countless designs of regular power weapons. Even his own armour is artificer armour that he improved in ways heavily influenced by what Vulkan and Perturabo have made.

Well, two flaws actually. His assumption that his and therefore Ultramarine nobility and camaraderie will rub off on to other, less forward thinking legions was a direct contributor to his massive losses at the utterly disastrous Battle of Calth. His belief that the Word Bearers and their Militias could be best bros to his troops if only they spent more time, more closely together helped Lorgar's sons be in just the right position to inflict devastating casualties on the XIIIth from the moment of betrayal. Lets be clear, 100,000 Ultramarines were dead (not casualties, but dead) 12 hours after the battle began and by the end of the surface conflict 145,000 of his sons were killed or permanently combat non-effectives. Considering the total Legion strength prior to the slaughter was 250,000, Calth cost the Ultramarines c.60% of their strength and all for the bargain basement cost of 50,000 Word Bearers, though it's worthy of note that the casualty ratios between the two legions were actually pretty similar, as the Word Bearers were at about 125,000 by Calth. Considering that a force with superior wargear (that the Warmaster made sure his traitors had) striking from ambush against a force that's out of position, deliberately striking at the Ultramarine's command structure, something they're quite weak to, with ALL THOSE ADVANTAGES, they only got a 3 to 1 casualty ratio. It is perhaps no surprise that Imperial history records that Guilliman completely lost his temper and cool at Lorgar when the treachery was realized (insert max troll face here), perhaps this was what allowed him to survive immediately afterwards in the hard vacuum of space for 11 hours without his helmet?

On the other side (and that is a good point) Guilliman and the Ultramarines are not as "noblebright" in ''Tempest'' as they can be in other pieces of background. While he promotes meritocracy and progress and refuses to waste any life, Roboute is always described as cold and logical, obsessed with efficiency, and not a kind of crusading philanthropist. FW's Guilliman is first and foremost a statesman and a warlord willing to make the most effective system possible, and ''Tempest'' implies he used a kind of political police of his own (the Vigil Opertii) to silence any opposition in Ultramar. Just like the Imperium does. The only difference with the other Primarchs is Guilliman cannot deny HE is responsible for all the [[1984|authoritarian shit]] happening in HIS private empire. Feel free to think what you want about Guilliman being OP or a Mary Sue, FW still made him more grimdark than before, even if he remains a nice dude by 30k standards.

==Gameplay==

===30K Guilliman===
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Roboute Guilliman:''' || 400 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 4+1 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}<br style="clear: both; height: 0px;" /><br>
True to his legion, Roboute Guilliman is fairly average as far as Primarchs go, both in terms of his stats and his points cost, but it's the rules and equipment you really want him for. He and any unit he joins can re-roll failed charge distances, and the Concussive special rule doesn't do shit against him. All Ultramarines in play gain +1 to Ld while he's in play and he also makes Invictarus Suzerains and Legion Terminators troops as long as he's the warlord. Preternatural Strategy can force opponents to re-roll successful attempts at Seize the Initiative while also granting all units from one entry in the Ultramarines army list Implacable Advance, Interceptor, or Tank Hunters if they don't have it already, and by that they do mean entry, not just one unit, so if you selected Legion Predator Strike Armour Squadron to have Tank Hunters then every Legion Predator Strike Armour Squadron in your army will gain the rule. It also buffs his WS by 1 for each round of combat within a challenge after the first one (e.g. he becomes WS8 on the second round and so on), although it resets back to 7 after the challenge is over or if his opponent swaps out for somebody else via something like Glorius Intervention. Finally, Unyielding Will negates all negative leadership modifiers and allows him to re-roll failed Deny the Witch tests. (Funnily enough, this actually makes him a decent counter for Lorgar's psychic faggotry, though it won't help him deny Lorgars' blessings.)

Guilliman's Armor of Reason gives him a 2+/4++ and the ability to re-roll the first invulnerable save he fails in each phase. (Not per turn, per phase.). As for his weapons, he can choose one of two melee weapons to use in any given assault phase: the Gladius Incandor (a Paragon Blade with Shred) and the Hand of Dominion (a S10 AP1 Power Fist with Concussion). Both of them are Specialist weapons, so regardless of which one he picks he still gets an extra attack. Finally, his gun is the Arbitrator, a S6 AP3 combi-bolter with Assault 2 and Rending- which he might as well have left at home for how often it fires it as he has a Cognis Signum to use instead (+1 BS to a unit instead of firing a weapon himself). Overall, he gives out a nice variety of buffs and can really hold his own in a fight while being one of the best tactician characters in the game.

Due to his low mobility and vulnerability to tarpits, he's unlikely to make his points back by [[Mortarion|killing something expensive.]] That said, +1 Ld is a reasonably strong bonus, and the insurance against seizing is good insurance against things going [[Not as planned]]. Also, the sky is the limit with the unit entry buff. Tank Hunting Support Squads or Heavy Weapon Squads sound good to you? How about Rapiers? A Cognis Signum is always nice to have. Capping all this off is that you can run a basically tax-free list by taking the severely broken Suzerains as troops.

Don't forget, this is all for only 125 points more than [[Marneus Calgar|M.A.C. daddy]], further proof of 30k superiority.

====30K Roboute Guilliman VS Other 30K Primarchs====
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="100%">
Primarch fighting, while fun to see, isn't a very competitive thing to do as it'll usually tie up both Primarchs for the entire game without either of them dying. With that in mind this section is all about how Roboute Guilliman fares against other Primarchs mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities, with the exception of Blind, are taken into account (Blind is ignored because it is just too random and unreliable to come into play) and the match-ups assume the Primarchs are the only ones involved in the fighting, so various abilities like Angron's "The Butcher's Nails" and Rampage do not provide any bonuses. Also do note that Preternatural Strategy is taken into account (obviously) so prepare to see even more mathhammer than for the other Primarchs.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Roboute Guilliman VS Horus
**Horus will use his Talon of Horus (rerollable 3+ is better than flat 2+, and Disabling Strike can counter the slow-burn effect of Preternatural Strategy) and hits 4 times, wounds 3.555 times, 1.778 after saves, then 1.564 for the Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 1.231 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times (Gladius), 0.74 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407.
**Guilliman loses this fight (Quite appropriately).
**Note: Due to the nature of the fight this match doesn't take into account Preternatural Strategy (Because it is balanced by Disabling Strike). Also do note that after the first few wounds inflicted from Horus, Guilliman will have his S significantly reduced and the Gladius Incandor will become useless. However, Disabling Strike doesn't affect the Hand of Dominion, so Guilliman will still wound Horus on a 2+.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Angron
**Angron Round 1: Angron has Hatred, so on the first turn he will hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 2.222 after saves, 2.008 after Armour of Reason re-roll and IWND take it down to 1.675.
**Angron Round 2: Angron hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves, 1.453 after re-roll and IWND will take that down to 1.12 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Angron Round 3 and thereafter: Angron hits 3 times, wounds 2.5 times, 1.25 after saves and 1.036 after the re-roll. Then IWND take it down to 0.703.
**Guilliman Round 1/2/3: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.926 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.59 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 4 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.234 times after saves and FNP, and IWND will take that down to 0.9 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Unsurprisingly, Guilliman loses this fight in 6 rounds, dying directly before he's able to kill Angron as even though he has an extra wound on Angron, he takes too much damage.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Fulgrim
**Fulgrim Round 1: hits 4.861 times (Fireblade is MC), wounds 3.601 times (Child of Terra Warlord Trait), 1.801 times after the Invuln, 1.582 after the Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 1.249 at the start of the next turn.
**Fulgrim Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.714 times, wounds 2.889 times, 1.445 times after the Invuln, 1.226 after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.893 at the start of the next turn.
**Concussed Fulgrim (cannot happen earlier than round 3): Hits 2.708 times, wounds 2.106 times, 1.053 times after the invuln, 0.845 after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.56 wounds.
**Guilliman with Gladius Incandor Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.74 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman with Gladius Incandor Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.988 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman with Hand of Dominion Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman with Hand of Dominion Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.777 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**An unsurprising loss for Guilliman. If Guilliman chooses to use the Gladius Incandor, Fulgrim will out-damage him in the long run, and if he chooses to concuss Fulgrim, Fulgrim temporarily loses his extra attacks, but Guilliman cannot put out enough damage to keep Fulgrim concussed, meaning Fulgrim gets back up to his normal initiative, gains his extra attacks back, and beats down Guilliman.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Mortarion
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.666, 0,833 after saves, 0.625 wounds after Armor of Reason, and after IWND it becomes 0.292 wounds.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 after saves, and IWND take it down to 0.486.
**Guilliman Round 2 and after: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.777 times, 1.388 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833.
**Easy win for Guilliman.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Ferrus
**Ferrus: hits 2.5 times (Forgebreaker and Servo-Harm), wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 after the Invuln, 0.834 times after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.501 at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times (Hand), 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.361 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman wins this fight.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Konrad Curze
**Curze Round 1: hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1.5 times after the Invuln, 1.286 times after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.953 at the start of the next turn.
**Curze Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 1.125 times after the Invuln, 0.911 times after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.578 at the start of the next turn
**Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.481 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily wins this fight.
**Note: Konrad could attempt to even the odds with Hit and Run, negating Preternatural Strategy while gaining the +1 attack for the charge (and sniping some wounds with his knives), but so long as Guilliman uses his power fist by the second round of combat Curze will be locked to initiative 1 and will be dead before it's guaranteed he'll be able to leave combat.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 times after saves, 0.633 times after Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.3.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 0.694 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.139 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.37 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**A long as fuck fight, but Guilliman takes the win 'cause he does marginally more damage.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 times after the Invuln, 0.834 after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.501.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.778 times, wounds 1.85 times, 0.926 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.593 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.48 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.15 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Even with forcing Guilliman to re-roll 5's and 6's for the first round Lorgar will still lose.
**Note: this doesn't take into account Psychic Powers and with Precognition on Lorgar will easily win. Guilliman's rerollable DtW doesn't do shit, as it only works against witchfires and maledictions, while Lorgar's most powerful spells are blessings.

*Roboute Guilliman VS Perturabo
**Perturabo Round 1: hits 2.667 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after the Invuln, 0.911 times after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.578.
**Perturabo Round 2 and thereafter: hits 2 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 times after the Invuln, 0.633 after Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.3.
**Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.74 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 0.988 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.654 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Again, Guilliman wins pretty safely. Starting to see a trend here.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.917 times and wounds 1.702 times (Remember he has Preferred Enemy), 0.851 wounds after the Invuln, 0.643 after Armour of Reason and IWND will take that down to 0.31 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.482 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman wins really easily, as the damage Alpharius does is almost irrelevant, thus making the claim that he personally killed the lord of the Alpha Legion actually believable...

* Roboute Guilliman VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn Round 1: hits 2.666 times, wounds 2 times, 1 time after the Invuln, 0.8 wounds after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.467 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Dorn Round 2 and thereafter: hits 2 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.75 wounds after the Invuln, 0.55 after the re-roll and IWND will take that down to 0.217 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1/2: hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.111 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.778 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.963 times, 1.482 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.148 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily wins this fight, taking a lot less damage and dishing out more.
**Note: Dorn doesn't use Sundering Blow because he would actually cause less damage with it.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), causing 1.5 wounds (Scourge)/1.125 wounds (Shadow-walk) after the Invuln which drop down to 1.286 (Scourge)/0.911 (Shadow-walk) and IWND will take that down to 0.953 (Scourge)/0.578 (Shadow-walk) wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 1: 2.5/1.666 times, wounds 2.0833/1.389 times, 1.389/0.926 wounds after saves and 1.055/0.593 wounds after IWND.
**Guilliman Round 2 and thereafter: hits 3.333/2.5 times, wounds 2.963/2.083 times, 1.975/1.389 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.642/1.055 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily wins this fight
**Note: Like Curze, Corax could try to use Hit and Run to even the odds, having even more bonus than Curze thanks to his uber-Furious Charge, but unlike Curze it wouldn't work for too long as the second time they fight (whether Corax charges or Guilliman catches him) Guilliman will have him concussed (He's using his fist for a reason) for the rest of the fight and will kill him before Corax can escape again, thus making the strategy not viable against Papa Smurf.

* Roboute Guilliman vs. Leman Russ
** Leman Round 1 & 2 (using the Axe of Helwinter): Hits 4.886 times, wounds 4.071 times, 2.035 after the Invuln, 1.817 after the re-roll with IWND taking that down to 1.484 at the start of the next turn.
** Leman Round 3 and on (using the Axe of Helwinter): Hits 3.719 times, wounds 3.099 times, 1.55 after the Invuln, 1.331 after the re-roll with IWND taking that down to 0.998 at the start of the next turn.
** Roboute Round 1 and Round 4+ (using the Hand of Dominion): Hits 1.667 times, wounds 1.389 times, 0.695 wounds after saves, and IWND will take that down to 0.362 wounds at the start of the next turn.
** Roboute Round 2 & 3: Hits 0.833, wounds 0.694 times, 0.3472 wounds after saves, and IWND will take that down to 0.014 wounds at the start of the next turn.
** Result: It's not even a challenge. Leman Russ kills Rowboat Girlyman almost effortlessly. What do you expect from trying to go up against The Emperor's Executioner(of primarchs). That furry fucker was designed from the ground up to kill every primarch in the entire game.

* TL;DR version: Surprisingly, despite being one the best army buffers amongst Primarchs and his generally not outstanding (for a Primarch) stats, Guilliman is actually a beast in 1 on 1 fights if they drag on long enough, beating all but the most specialised Primarchs and mathematically losing only to Horus, Angron, Fulgrim and Leman Russ. Truth is that he's very well balanced with a choice of good weapons for offense, a decent defense and an extra ability that benefits both. He loses when his more balls out brothers just dump damage on him but when he has the chance to let his strategy impact the fight he'll typically win. He'll likely fall down the rankings some more when Sanguinius and the Lion step onto the field but with his army buffs he'll remain a great choice.
</div></div>

===40K Guilliman===
[[Matt Ward]].
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left"
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Roboute Guilliman:''' || 350 || 9 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 10 || 2+/3++
|}<br style="clear: both; height: 0px;" /><br>
[[Image:GUILLIMAN2017.jpg|400px|thumb|right|[[Matt Ward]] is having an orgasm right now... as are many [[Ultramarines]] players. [[Rape|Suffice to say, he is a unstoppable force of undiluted assfuckery. Be afraid. Be very afraid.]]]]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoLs0V8T5AA ''We can rebuild him. We have the technology...'']

''"Why do I still live? What more do you want from me? I gave everything I had to you, to them. Look what they have made of our dream. This bloated, rotten carcass of an empire is driven not by reason and hope, but by fear, hate and ignorance. Better that we had all burned in the fire of Horus' ambition than lived to see this."'' <br>
― Guilliman is back, and he wants to know what the fuck went so wrong with the Imperium.

But as for now, the hot topic is that HE'S BACK, in plastic, and a part of a "Triumvirate" of sorts with him, Cypher, and a Grey Knight Grand Master named Voldus. The miniature itself looks somewhat cartoony, and has new armour courtesy of [[Belisarius Cawl]], a Power Fist with a built-in version of his old Bolter (seems Cawl couldn't spring for the Ad-Mech's good stuff), a life support system, and the option of a rather awesome helmet for maximum head protection (technically not needed at all since he fights Magnus on the moon, his suit gets breached and he fights without air again). Bonus points as he is also carrying the Blazing Sword, officially stated to be one of The Big E's weapons. Regardless, the general trend is that he looks really good. Yes, we're still talking about Guilliman. The only real complaint people have is how splay legged he is and how he looks like a Thousand Son with omegas.

Also, the GW community site seems to imply that you can change his two heads on the fly, meaning you can possibly paint and use both of them without committing to either one.

Strangely, the three Chaos Gods who are made of stuff other than rage and war aren't fazed or angry he's back; if anything they seem to view him as an opportunity. Slaanesh wants to corrupt him, Nurgle wants him as a plaything, and Tzeentch <s>wants to manipulate</s> is already trying to manipulate him. Naturally, Khorne reacted to this news as he always does, by giving his best queen of hearts impression and demanding Guilliman's head. Oddly enough, while we get reactions from Fulgrim, Mortarion, and Magnus (the former two being about as happy as Khorne while Magnus finds it funny), Angron's suspiciously absent, while Lorgar and Perturabo either didn't notice or didn't care. Alpharius didn't react either, probably because he's too busy making us wonder if he is dead or not.

He has almost the same statline he has in 30k with a significant buff to his weapon skill and a slightly smaller one to his attacks, but his special rules and wargear are slightly different. The comparison follows.
*He loses: ''It Will Not Die'', ''Type: Infantry (Character)'', ''Independent Character'', ''Master of the Legion''.
*He keeps: ''Adamantium Will'', ''Eternal Warrior'', ''Fear'', ''Fearless'', ''Fleet'', ''Precision Shots'', ''Precision Strikes'',
*[[Rape|He gains:]] ''Type: Monstrous Creature (Character) (and all associated rules)'', ''Feel No Pain'', ''Preferred Enemy (Chaos)'', ''Absolute Mastery (which gives him all 6 Command Traits if he's the Warlord)'', ''Lord Commander of the Imperium (all Armies of the Imperium can re-roll all failed morale, pinning, and fear tests while Guilliman is on the battlefield)'', ''Primarch of the XIII Legion (an extra copy of each Combat Doctrine that affects all Ultramarines models in your army)'', ''Unyielding Will (his leadership is not subject to any negative modifiers of any kind along with re-rolling failed Deny the Witch tests)''.

Guilliman's Armor of Fate gives him a 2+/3++. The improved invulnerable save is nice, but the gimmick is that Guilliman can [[Commissar Yarrick|come back from the dead]]...half the time, with D3 wounds restored. THE EMPEROR'S FLAMING SWORD is the freaking '''MURDERSWORD''' to end them all. He attacks at S10 AP1 (but rule-wise uses both Hand of Dominion and The Emperor's Sword in the same profile, so yeah, Avatar will totally kick his ass) with Armourbane, Concussive, and Soul Blaze. The sword's 2 unique rules are ''The Emperor's Touch'': if Guilliman rolls a 6 to hit it becomes a Destroyer attack, and ''Whirling Flame'': he can sacrifice 6 attacks to hit every enemy model within 1" of him. His relic Power Fist (cannot be used separately) '''Hand of Dominion''' comes with the underslung Arbitrator, which is stronger than the 30k variant. It's now 24" S6 AP2 Heavy 3 (made irrelevant by Relentless), and Rending. - you don't bring him because of his dakka, you bring him for his special rules support.

In all, he's a bit of a mix between Marneus Calgar and Saint Celestine in that he gives your army a decent strategic edge with army-wide Ld re-rolls, Warlord traits, and the potential to revive himself. He's also the best non-Forgeworld/Superheavy melee fighter the Imperium has right now. Do not send him up against the Avatar of Khaine though, since Soul Blaze will nullify all of his attacks. .

On the downside he no longer can hide in squads or use non-superheavy transports, which severely limits his mobility and survivability compared to his 30k version. D-strength is particularly nasty because of his inability to hide, doubly so since there's much more D on the table in 40k (it's good for Guilly he's allied with the [[Eldar|guys who have it flying out of their asses]]).

Fortunately GW went out of their way to remedy this obvious weakness. A new formation created for the new Ultramarines detachment called the Victrix Guard allows for the models in the formation to LOS to Guilliman, so this will give him plenty of staying power. Note that Guilliman need not be in the same formation as the Victrix Guard for this, should that come up (e.g. if you are allying him in as part of his Triumvirate). This however does nothing to fix his low mobility and the lack of transport, as the only transports he can get use the same slot he occupies - Lord of War - which you can have only ''one'' of. There are two ways around this, but it will be understandably very costly. Double CAD (Tax of 2 more troops and an HQ on top of that LoW? Nuts!), or Unbound.
At least he's 50 points less than 30k Guilliman. Who can at least [[rape|hang out with his Terminator/Fulmentarus/Suzerain]] [[This Guy|buddies]] in a [[Spartan Assault Tank]], [[Thunderhawk]] or [[Mastodon]] and not foot slog it like some Pleb. Honor Guard are not bad, but are not as good as his 30k bodyguards or [[Anal circumference|LOW Transports]]. At least he can beat almost all the 30k Primarchs's in a fight. [[Deathstar|If he somehow makes it through their Transports and Deathstar Tarpits.]] Not even his Warlord Traits plus Sterngaurd and AP2 Power Weapons are going to help much against a vehicle filled to the brim with Terminators or Artificer Armor.

{{Primarchs}}

[[Category:Imperial]]

The Hobbit

2017-06-08T23:20:31Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9: /* The Films */

The Hobbit is a popular book by J.R.R.Tolkien, although it perhaps better now known in the mainstream thanks to the trilogy of movies based on the book by Peter Jackson (which seems strange since the Hobbit has been around for DECADES [since 1937 to be precise] as a book, even predating the Lord of the Rings books, while the movies are recent; the reason is that in today's culture and the current generation anything besides people and buildings that's more than twenty years old is considered historical and largely irrelevant).

A little known fact is that this is the book that started it all; 20th Century Western High Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, the works...

Tolkien originally wrote this book as a bedtime story for his children. One day, Tolkien's buddy CS Lewis ([[CS Lewis|yes, THAT CS Lewis]]) found out about, read it and said that he should publish it. Tolkien did so and the book's growing success was part of the reason he expanded on this setting and wrote 'The Lord of the Rings' books, the codifier for every high fantasy setting that has come after.

==The Plot==
The story follows the tale of Bilbo Baggins (the [[hobbits|hobbit]] of the title) as he joins a band of dwarves in their quest to find a legendary treasure in their ancient lost city, which their forefathers were driven out of by Smaug, a great and terrible dragon who is the terror of the lands. This journey sets off a train of events which would eventually lead to Tolkien's most famous work, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Bilbo finding the One Ring and returning with it to the Shire, [[Sauron]] in his guise of the Necromancer being driven out of the Mirkwood and left for his true lair in Mordor, and many of the characters in the Hobbit that would go on to be in LotR undergoing significant personal growth and changes.

==The Films==
It was not surprising considering how popular the [[Lord of the Rings]] trilogy was that at some point the Hobbit would be made into a film. As the work on it commenced it was announced that the Hobbit would be split into a two part movie, which surprised many but they went with it. The first act of the book moves at a breakneck pace anyways, and some much-needed characterization for our dwarf party would be a welcome addition. It was when it was revealed it would be a trilogy itself that cries of the fanbase rang through the air. Across the community, people complained about the film execs ignoring the book's anti-greed moral, along with jokes about the producers and the film studio execs outdoing the dwarves in terms of gold hoarding and even comparing them to the dragon.

The first movie featured an awful amount of walking and future plot building. It had a few redeemable features, such as the spot-on portrayal of Bilbo and kickass glimpses of Smaug in the prologue and epilogue. We also get to see a nobler side of Thorin Oakenshield to contrast against his later gold-crazed state by the third act of the book. The aesthetics for Erebor were also quite nice as we finally get to see a proper dwarf realm portrayed in the setting.

The second movie ramped things up although it had frankly hilarious and/or stupid scenes. For the former was Orlando Bloom (Legolas) doing his best Eldar Harlequin impressions through long scenes of acrobatic juggles and jumps that just made the orcs seem utterly pathetic. There were rounds of applause for his displays in the cinemas for Emperor's sake. Bard the bowman shoes up, but because Legolas is our designated super-special-awesome archer he's been redesignated as "Bard the boatman." Somewhat fitting since he does smuggle the dwarves in by boat in the book, but it still underlies how downplayed he is. Later, Smaug the dragon was awesome, despite being a wyvern unlike in the book [[Retcon|or the original release of the first movie]], until the stupid kicked in when the Dwarves and Bilbo ran rings around him without dying in the process (In the book all the Dwarves were terrified of Smaug and never even entered his line of sight because "Nothing can escape Smaug once he sees it." The filmmakers also forgot/ignored how heat works).

Like with the LoR trilogy, the first two movies are building up for a nice big epic battle in the third installment.

Sadly it was shit as the third movie stank monkey balls featuring more Legolas bullshit, random giant earth worms, protagonist plot armor so thick a black arrow couldn't pierce it, even more CGI and the dwarf elf (so-called) romance going nowhere with Kili's death (which is obvious in hindsight since he dies in the book which, remember, has been out for decades before most of us were born). The dwarves in this movie were also a lot cheesier than in the first one, what with them riding goats into battle and Dain sporting what looks like an anemic [[Slayer]] Mohawk (which would otherwise be awesome, but here it clashes something fierce against the more grounded medieval aesthetics of the film). Then we've also got Not!Wormtongue trying to avoid combat in a dress as he declares Bard the new king before skulking away from the battle (in the extended edition he falls onto a catapult and gets flung into a troll's mouth before being bitten in half). One wonders what Christopher Tolkien thinks of this rehash of his dad's work.

However: there was another Hobbit movie made in 1977, an animated one by Rankin/Bass, and while they may have dropped the ball on return of the king, the Hobbit movie is pretty good. More faithful in a lot of ways to the original book in structure and perhaps tone. Like the original book the Rankin/Bass version is aimed more toward children and you could almost call it a musical with songs adapted from the poems within the book. Smaug is also a better in this adaption, being a lot more smug and witty then the Jackson version, even if his cat like face is a bit derpy. If you feel the more recent hobbit movies where disappointing then look into this one if you can.

==Games Workshop wargame adaptation==
[[Games Workshop]] has produced a new version of their [[The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game|Lord of the Rings miniature game]], titled, to no-one's surprise, The Hobbit (Strategy Battle Game). The game however has failed to shake the very foundations of creation as was intended and for the most part is a cash-in with the very excitable teen boys who are over-bowed by the abilities of acrobatic elves (Thranduil model is faboulous) and wisecracking dwarves from the movie settings. Smaug also got an awesome model but he came with three problems; game-breakingly OP rules (a knock-down rule that works on everything except a Mumak, he can't be knocked down or moved against his will by anything and no courage tests every time he takes a wound... of which he has 20!), the model was too big for any carry case and came at a price that would make even [[Forgeworld]] blush.

Use your old models. New "evil" guys are pushovers. Game uses models from Lotr SBG but has changed rules. Monsters were buffed and can now hurl models with low strength value across enemy ranks knock them to the ground and suffer STR 5 hits. Elves seem OP but every elf fgt will cry if you take the Shadow Lord [[Nazgûl]] into your army (6's to hit, come at me bro).

[[Category:Literature]][[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

The Hobbit

2017-06-08T23:19:51Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9: /* The Films */

The Hobbit is a popular book by J.R.R.Tolkien, although it perhaps better now known in the mainstream thanks to the trilogy of movies based on the book by Peter Jackson (which seems strange since the Hobbit has been around for DECADES [since 1937 to be precise] as a book, even predating the Lord of the Rings books, while the movies are recent; the reason is that in today's culture and the current generation anything besides people and buildings that's more than twenty years old is considered historical and largely irrelevant).

A little known fact is that this is the book that started it all; 20th Century Western High Fantasy, Dungeons and Dragons, Warhammer, the works...

Tolkien originally wrote this book as a bedtime story for his children. One day, Tolkien's buddy CS Lewis ([[CS Lewis|yes, THAT CS Lewis]]) found out about, read it and said that he should publish it. Tolkien did so and the book's growing success was part of the reason he expanded on this setting and wrote 'The Lord of the Rings' books, the codifier for every high fantasy setting that has come after.

==The Plot==
The story follows the tale of Bilbo Baggins (the [[hobbits|hobbit]] of the title) as he joins a band of dwarves in their quest to find a legendary treasure in their ancient lost city, which their forefathers were driven out of by Smaug, a great and terrible dragon who is the terror of the lands. This journey sets off a train of events which would eventually lead to Tolkien's most famous work, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, with Bilbo finding the One Ring and returning with it to the Shire, [[Sauron]] in his guise of the Necromancer being driven out of the Mirkwood and left for his true lair in Mordor, and many of the characters in the Hobbit that would go on to be in LotR undergoing significant personal growth and changes.

==The Films==
It was not surprising considering how popular the [[Lord of the Rings]] trilogy was that at some point the Hobbit would be made into a film. As the work on it commenced it was announced that the Hobbit would be split into a two part movie, which surprised many but they went with it. The first act of the book moves at a breakneck pace anyways, and some much-needed characterization for our dwarf party would be a welcome addition. It was when it was revealed it would be a trilogy itself that cries of the fanbase rang through the air. Across the community, people complained about the film execs ignoring the book's anti-greed moral, along with jokes about the producers and the film studio execs outdoing the dwarves in terms of gold hoarding and even comparing them to the dragon.

The first movie featured an awful amount of walking and future plot building. It had a few redeemable features, such as the spot-on portrayal of Bilbo and kickass glimpses of Smaug in the prologue and epilogue. We also get to see a nobler side of Thorin Oakenshield to contrast against his later gold-crazed state by the third act of the book. The aesthetics for Erebor were also quite nice as we finally get to see a proper dwarf realm portrayed in the setting.

The second movie ramped things up although it had frankly hilarious and/or stupid scenes. For the former was Orlando Bloom (Legolas) doing his best Eldar Harlequin impressions through long scenes of acrobatic juggles and jumps that just made the orcs seem utterly pathetic. There were rounds of applause for his displays in the cinemas for Emperor's sake. Bard the bowman shoes up, but because Legolas is our designated super-special-awesome archer he's been redesignated as "Bard the boatman." Somewhat fitting since he does smuggle the dwarves in by boat in the book, but it still underlies how downplayed he is. Later, Smaug the dragon was awesome, despite being a wyvern unlike in the book [[Retcon|or the original release of the first movie]], until the stupid kicked in when the Dwarves and Bilbo ran rings around him without dying in the process (In the book all the Dwarves were terrified of Smaug and never even entered his line of sight because "Nothing can escape Smaug once he sees it." The filmmakers also forgot/ignored how heat works).

Like with the LoR trilogy, the first two movies are building up for a nice big epic battle in the third installment.

Sadly it was shit as the third movie stank monkey balls featuring more Legolas bullshit, random giant earth worms, protagonist plot armor so thick a black arrow couldn't pierce it, even more CGI and the dwarf elf (so-called) romance going nowhere with Kili's death (which is obvious in hindsight since he dies in the book which, remember, has been out for decades before most of us were born). The dwarves in this movie were also a lot cheesier than in the first one, what with them riding goats into battle and Dain sporting what looks like an anemic [[Slayer]] Mohawk (which would otherwise be awesome, but here it clashes something fierce against the more grounded medieval aesthetics of the film). Then we've also got Not!Wormtongue in a dress as he declares Bard the new king before skulking away from the battle (in the extended edition he falls onto a catapult and gets flung into a troll's mouth before being bitten in half). One wonders what Christopher Tolkien thinks of this rehash of his dad's work.

However: there was another Hobbit movie made in 1977, an animated one by Rankin/Bass, and while they may have dropped the ball on return of the king, the Hobbit movie is pretty good. More faithful in a lot of ways to the original book in structure and perhaps tone. Like the original book the Rankin/Bass version is aimed more toward children and you could almost call it a musical with songs adapted from the poems within the book. Smaug is also a better in this adaption, being a lot more smug and witty then the Jackson version, even if his cat like face is a bit derpy. If you feel the more recent hobbit movies where disappointing then look into this one if you can.

==Games Workshop wargame adaptation==
[[Games Workshop]] has produced a new version of their [[The Lord of the Rings Strategy Battle Game|Lord of the Rings miniature game]], titled, to no-one's surprise, The Hobbit (Strategy Battle Game). The game however has failed to shake the very foundations of creation as was intended and for the most part is a cash-in with the very excitable teen boys who are over-bowed by the abilities of acrobatic elves (Thranduil model is faboulous) and wisecracking dwarves from the movie settings. Smaug also got an awesome model but he came with three problems; game-breakingly OP rules (a knock-down rule that works on everything except a Mumak, he can't be knocked down or moved against his will by anything and no courage tests every time he takes a wound... of which he has 20!), the model was too big for any carry case and came at a price that would make even [[Forgeworld]] blush.

Use your old models. New "evil" guys are pushovers. Game uses models from Lotr SBG but has changed rules. Monsters were buffed and can now hurl models with low strength value across enemy ranks knock them to the ground and suffer STR 5 hits. Elves seem OP but every elf fgt will cry if you take the Shadow Lord [[Nazgûl]] into your army (6's to hit, come at me bro).

[[Category:Literature]][[Category:The Lord of the Rings]]

Eragon

2017-06-08T22:55:05Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9: /* Compare and Contrast */

{{stub}}

''"Throw Stars Wars movies 4,5 and 6 in a blender along with The Lord of the Rings trilogy, then water them down thoroughly, and this is what you get."'' An anon's summary of the Inheritance Novels

Eragon is the titular character in the Inheritance Novels, written by Chirstopher Paolini. He is also a [[Mary Sue]].

==The Setting==

While the books are alright, the setting is <s>OC Do Not Steal</s> a blatant copy of [[Lord of the Rings|Middle-Earth (right down to having similar names for people and places)]]. A few examples include the Princess Leia/Arwen figure, Arya (her name; Arwen + Leia = Arya. Or he read some of the '[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]' book series and took the name from Arya Stark). Her mother is the elf queen Galadriel... I mean Islanzadil the latter being an obvious rip-off of the former (except Islanzadi is a vengeful incompetent bitch who only got her job because her hubby died and she dies like a bitch in single combat with a puny human. The only similarity with Galadriel is being an elf queen) who lives in Lothlorien, I mean Du Weldenvarden. There's also Dwarves, orc rip-offs called Urgals (they even have Uruk-hai rip-offs called Kull) in the story along with language guides at the end of each book. Eragon also meets two Yoda figures in the form of the elf Dragon Rider Oromis and his dragon Glaedr living in a remote reigon. They're both admittedly badass as they eventually fight despite being handicapped. Glaedr's missing a leg while Oromis suffers from something similar to epileptic fits; SPOILER they both die, while Glaedr even has a form of existence after death to advise them. And then Murtagh is basically a Darth Vader substitute; he has a red sword, works for the big bad, and tries to turn Eragon 'evil'. And - GASP - he's actually related to the Eragon. which he tells him, after he defeats him in a big 'oh no, it's not possible!' moment. and the whole while he's a character striving for redemption.

Of course, many have pointed out the name "Eragon" is very similar to "Aragorn". Though the name itself comes from the word "dragon", but using an "E" since it's the letter immediately after "D", the idea being "dragon +1" and...look, the reasoning is just as stupid as it sounds.

==Compare and Contrast==

Eragon himself is a whiny, sociopathic (seriously, he matches the big bad evil villain of the setting almost deed for deed when it comes to evil), medieval rip-off of Luke Skywalker, copying his story in damn near every way. See below for the evidence:

*Luke Skywalker: He was raised on a farm by his aunt and uncle because his parents both died. He lives like this until he and his uncle come across some droids which were carrying information vital to the rebellion. He learns that he is force-sensitive, making him a candidate for the legendary Jedi. His home is destroyed and his aunt and uncle are killed by troops of the empire, who had been tracking the droids. Luke meets an old hermit storytelling wizard by the name of Obi-Wan Kenobi (revealed to be a former member of the Jedi). Obi-Wan takes him on a journey to become a Jedi and join the Rebellion. Along the way they meet and get help from a smuggler on the run called Han Solo and his right-hand Wookie, Chewbacca, who prove invaluable after Obi-Wan's death. Luke is responsible for winning the first major battle in the movies by blowing up the Death Star, thanks to a distraction from Han Solo.

*Eragon: He was raised on a farm by his uncle along with his cousin because his parents both died (at least his mother). He lives like this until he comes across a dragon egg which was vital to the elven rebellion. He sees the egg hatch for him, making him a candidate for the legendary Dragon Riders. His home is destroyed and his uncle is killed by agents of the empire (Ringwraith rip-offs), who had been tracking the egg. Eragon meets an old hermit storytelling wizard by the name Brom (revealed to be a former member of the Dragon Riders). Brom takes him on a journey to become a Dragon Rider and join the Varden. Along the way they meet and get help from a rogue on the run called Murtagh, who proves invaluable after Brom's death. Eragon is responsible for winning the first major battle in the books by killing the Shade, Durza, thanks to a distraction from Arya and Saphira.

==The Story==

Eragon joins the Varden in their fight against the empire, ruled by the evil King Galbatorix, while learning what it means to be a Rider and their past.

He learns how to read and write, becomes an unstoppable swordsman and even begins to learn magic. All the while growing closer to his Dragon Saphira (which is pretty much the only original thing about the story). Saphira often acts like a dumb teenage girl, which given her age she is, but is also suppose to be wise.

Describing the main events of the first two books is basically retelling Star Wars episodes 4 and 5.

There was also an exceedingly shitty movie and video game based off of the series made in 2006. Fortunately for all concerned, a sequel is impossible due to how badly 20th Century Fox fucked up the progression.

In book two he lives among the elves for awhile, meeting the rider Oromis and his dragon Glaedr, training under them. He struggles to overcome the crippling injury dealt to him at the end of the first book, which doubles as a curse, causing him random bouts of extreme pain. He is transformed into a half-elf near the end of the book, ridding him of the injury/curse, while giving him elf abilities. He leaves his training in elf land prematurely to aid the rebels, only to be met by Murtagh with his own dragon who's been magically enslaved by Galbatorix. Eragon is defeated and learns that his father is (supposedly) Murtagh's father, who was evil, making them brothers (this is later proven false as Brom was his father, who fell in love with Murtagh's mom). He then steals Eragon's sword which used to belong to Murtagh's dad (though that was known since the first book).

He also has a cousin, [[Sigmar|Roran, who cannot use magic, has a manly beard, and fights with a hammer]].

Third book is a massive improvement (which isn't hard to do) and had a drunk aging elf blacksmith who bitches about how her fellow elves have become huge dicks, that's cool. Also has Eragon strangle an unarmed solder to death as he tries to run away and beg for his life. Continuing with the trend of ripping off Star Wars he gets a lightsaber. Okay, not really, just a blue sword, that can ignite in blue flames, big difference.

The fourth book has the most originality while also cranking up the Mary Sue meter for Eragon. He discovers the true name of the magical language, giving him the ability to rewrite the laws of magic and physics.

While the series itself can easily be criticized for its blatant plagiarism of Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings, the biggest flaw is Eragon himself. He's a whiny sociopath, and blatantly abuses his power more than a few times, making him arguably no better than the people he's fighting. In fact, he even technically commits genocide on the Ra'zac in Alagaësia (a race of man eating humanoids that mature into copies of [[The Lord of the Rings|Fell Beasts]] at adulthood. The problem is, while predatory and frightening, they're not portrayed as completely evil or unnatural, raising disturbing implications).

Despite this, nearly everyone in-universe loves him despite his flaws and these abuses of power. Anyone who does hate him or calls him out is portrayed negatively with bad stuff usually happening to them.
[[Category:Literature]]

Swarmlord

2017-06-08T22:37:40Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9: /* On the tabletop */

[[File:Swarmlord Codex Tyranids.jpg|thumb|300px|Let it never be said that Hive Tyrants can't be [[Fist of the North Star|manly]] too.]]
'''The Swarmlord''', also known as Schwarmfuhrer (due to his first leaked images comming from german WD scans, also it sounds way cooler) and also Gargamel (owing to how he fucked over Papa Smurf), is one of the few [[Tyranid]] character with a little bit of personality. Essentially the Granddaddy of all [[Hive Tyrant|Hive Tyrants]], the Swarmlord is the [[Creed]] of the Tyranid army, and also the most intelligent, cunning and experienced Hive Tyrant of the swarm. Whenever the Hive Mind can't overwhelm the opposition with sheer numbers or adapting new tactics, it spawns the Swarmlord, and he [[/tg/ gets shit done|gets shit done]]. And besides being a super-general, the Swarmlord is also a [[Khorne|close combat monster]] and [[Tzeentch|powerful psyker]], capable of facing off with [[Abaddon|the Despoiler]] himself.

He's also immortal, as his memories and personality are constantly saved by the hive mind and are placed in brand new shiny body if the previous one got blasted apart with massed melta fire. While the hive mind could potentially spawn a new Swarmlord without the previous one being slain, which could lead to multiple Swarmlords on different battlefields, no evidence of such cloning exists. However, if the Macragge Swarmlord is still alive, hibernating under the surface of the planet, there ARE at least two Swarmlords in the Galaxy.

He's something of an Ensemble Darkhorse on /tg/, well liked and thought of as incredibly badass. Shitting all over Calgar probably has something to do with it.

He serves as the Super-Heavy unit of the [[Tyranid]] Army in [[Dawn of War 2]].

===List of deeds===
*First seen on Tyran, leading [[Hive Fleet Behemoth]]'s final assault on a Mechanicum outpost. Not quite clear why, because the battle was pretty one-sided, although he could have been gathering more data about human warfare.

*Showed up on Macragge and kicked major ass, outclassing [[Marneus Calgar]] in both tactics and close combat. He cut off Papa Smurf's limbs, guts and one eye, but due to plot armor, failed to kill him. The honor guard managed to recover their [[Chapter Master]] thanks to the <s>force-feeding</s> heroic sacrifice of their commander to the Swarmlord to buy some time. While the [[Ultramarines]] withdrew to the space, the Swarmlord led his forces to the polar fortresses to omnomnom the First Company and [[Ultramar]] [[Planetary Defense Force|PDF]]. And he succeeded. Unfortunately, the space battle for Macragge hadn't gone so well, mainly because the Imperial Fleet had the balls of steel Ultrasmurfs lacked; while the Tyranids won the planet, they lost the war. It's not quite clear what had happened to the Swarmlord, as his body was never found. It's possible that he's still under the surface of Macragge, waiting for a new hive fleet.

*It's likely that the The Great Beast, who lead [[Hive Fleet Kraken]]'s invasion on [[Craftworld Iyanden]] was the Swarmlord itself. The Avatar of [[Khaine]] attempted to goad the creature in single combat during the fighting. However, the Swarmlord, not really knowing nor giving a damn about honorable duels and such, tricked The Avatar into getting shit kicked by twelve Carnifexes. It also avoided all Eldar attempts to assassinate him until the corsair prince [[Yriel]] finally managed to stab him in the face with a cursed spear. (If you look closely at the wording used, it's more likely to be a Hive Tyrant with Armoured Carpace.)

*Showed leading [[Hive Fleet Leviathan]] at the last years of M41, where it once planned and executed [[Indrick Boreale|multiple simultaneous and devastating]] attacks on Hodur Sector, resulted in omnomnoming two dozens of imperial worlds (including one space marine chapter home world) in less then two months. Such a rapid and unstoppable Tyranid advance is rumored to be the main reason for inquisitor [[Kryptman]]'s decision to launch his infamous mass-exterminatus cordon project and [[Blood Ravens|stolen]]-genestealer project to redirect Leviathan into an ork empire.

*Launched a campaign against Vior'Los, where he faced off in a Duel against [[Farsight]] and got his ass kicked.

*Now he's rumored to be in the [[Octarius War|Octarius]] empire, pwning [[Ork]]s. It was going well, but then the [[Eldar]] went and purged the entire system of all life, and after that Ghazgkhull showed up, hopped up on WAAAAGH energy and blessed by the direct intervention of Gork and Mork themselves.
[[file:Senordelahorda.png|thumb|El Señor de la Horda y su corcel, [[Raveners|el Terror Rojo]]]]

==On the tabletop==
[[file:Swarmbaus.jpg|thumb|left|Who's the toughest motherfucker on the board? Well, this guy ''was'', before that [[Robin Cruddace|skubby arsehole]] happened...for a time, HE'S BACK NOW!]]

The Swarmlord is one of the most deadly and expensive HQs in the game, being able to buff his army and slaughter almost anything in close combat with high weapon skill instant death attacks. It is as vulnerable to anti-tank fire as any other Tyrant with only one extra wound and a basic tyrant armor save, but more survivable in close combat due to a 4++ he gets from parrying attacks with his swords. There are only a couple HQ models outside Apocalypse capable of killing a Swarmlord in a challenge with a chance of or better than 50% - Primarchs, Draigo, Lysander, Abaddon and Skarbrand primarily, but also anything with a lot of high strength/AP attacks, anything that causes instant death or anyone that has Eternal Warrior, and even that doesn't save them <s>sometimes</s> most of the time. Give him a unit of [[Tyrant Guard]] and he's damn near unstoppable. If you have a friend who is a Blood Angels player who won't shut up about how powerful Mephiston is, just say "Swarmlord" and you instantly end/win any ensuing argument. Also it's hilarious.

And then, [[Robin Cruddace|6th edition happened]]. It lost Eternal Warrior, and Tyranids as a whole lost access to the main book psychic powers, including their buffs. And he lost his special rule that made enemies reroll successful invuln saves, AND got 5 point price increase as a final slap in the face. What does he get from all of this? One additional attack and he's level 3 psyker. ONE, UNO, EIN attack and ML3 when there isn't really much to use it on due to the Tyranid psychic table being at most decent-ish and unspectacular, and he gets less rolls for powers than he used to. Christ...

Given the removal of the Parasite, the nerfs to walking Hive Tyrants (R.I.P armored shell), and the obscene overcosting of Primes, the general theory on why the Swarmlord and other Tyranid HQs was hit so hard is that GW wants to promote sales of Flyrants and Tyrant Guard which are not only big and expensive models, but big and expensive models you have to buy a lot of. Everyone already had walkrants, most people only ever got one swarmlord, and the prime is a rather small model by GW standards. Tyrant Guard weren't spectacularly buffed, but Flyrants are one of the clear winners of the new book.

The Swarmlord however, is likely going to be sitting this edition out unless a new FAQ, Dataslate, Supplement, or Forgeworld book allows Tyranids to roll on BRB powers, and maybe give him back his rerolls while they're at it. So ends a year and a half of true glory, replaced with bitter mediocrity and memories of godhood now lost.

=== 8th Ed Updates===
With the coming of 8th edition fast approaching, our favorite hive tyrant is getting one hell of a buff. Most importantly, it has been CONFIRMED that [[Kharn|the Swarmlord will be able to hit on a 2+, as opposed to the normal 3+]]. According to [https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1827715904215707&id=1575682476085719&comment_id=1828700220783942&notif_t=feed_comment&notif_id=1494850308992056 THIS Facebook post] the Swarmlord will be "Absolutely incredible", and this raise hope for our favourite Alien Gargamel, for a retunr to his former glory of absolutely badassery

We now have rules for ol' Swarmy:<br>
"He is an absolute beast now, as he should be! With a Toughness value of 6, 12 Wounds, a 3+ save and a 5+ invulnerable save (increased to a 4+ invulnerable save in melee) he is not easily taken down. This can be further enhanced by casting Catalyst on him (and did I mention he’s a potent Psyker, too?) to give him [[Death Company|a 5+ save vs Wounds suffered]]. But it’s not just defence, oh no, Mr. Swarmlord brings the pain in combat as well. With a base of 7 attacks at Strength 8, hitting on a 2+, with an AP value of -3 and D6 damage a pop, the Swarmlord can lay low even Titanic units in a single round of combat. Truly a fearsome adversary. However, his ability that I have found to be most useful is Hive Commander, which allows a friendly unit to move in the Shooting phase. This is incredibly powerful for the sudden added mobility. For Hormagants, with their blisteringly quick Movement of 8″, this means a potential 16″ move before attempting a charge. Or he could simply use it on himself and move up to 18″…" -Warhammer Community website

TL;DR: FUCKING. TERRIFYING.

And this are not even ALL the rules. We can expect way more from our favourite little bug, if he can charge 30", and do a theoretical maximum of 42 wounds...in ONE round. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Schwarmführer is back!

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:TacticalSwarmlord.png|The Swarmlord and a certain [[Creed|tactical genius]] team up. [[Awesome|Can I get a "Hell yeah!", people?]]
</gallery>

{{Template:Tyranids-Creatures}}

Yvraine

2017-06-08T22:33:55Z

2001:8003:2A52:AA00:C180:407E:86E:BA9: /* Ynnead's Birth */

[[File:Yvraine by 냉동고등어.jpg|350px|right|thumb|S-Shut up [[Roboute Guilliman|Guilliman]]! Me reviving you doesn't mean I l-like you or anything!]]
'''Yvraine, Herald of Ynnead''', is a female Eldar who serves as the emissary for the newly awakened Eldar God [[Ynnead]].

==Early History==
Yvraine was originally born on [[Biel-Tan|Craftworld Biel-Tan]], which could explain where she got her fighting skills from. However her first path was the Path of the Dancer. At some point she found she had psychic ability and thus she took the Path of the [[Warlock (Eldar)|Warlock]]. However she had a mercurial mood and developed a bloodlust that led her to follow the path of the Warrior among the [[Aspect Warrior#Dire Avengers|Dire Avengers]].

After awhile even this wasn't enough for her and she left Craftworld Biel-Tan as an Outcast and eventually became a famed [[Eldar#Eldar Corsairs|Corsair]] leader. This continued for a time until a mutiny forced her, and those among her crew still loyal, to flee into the Webway. From here there was only one place to go; Commorragh. Here she made her way living and fighting in the slums before joining a [[Wyches|Wych]] cult and then rising to [[Succubus]]. Unknown to her, the Exarch she had served under had become so devoted to her that he had shed his war mask and followed her to Commoragh by disguising himself as an Incubus.

==Ynnead's Birth==
Ynnead's rebirth came about during a major gladiator match in Commorragh. It was here that Yvraine (aided by the patronage of [[Lady Malys]]) was to face off against [[Lelith Hesperax]] herself. Even after several renowned matches (including unleashed cloned Tyranids made from genetic engineering combining Tyranids from Hive Fleet Kraken and Hive Fleet Leviathan and ten Space Marines in power armour and knives vs waves of Wyches until they died), this was considered the fight of the century/millenium. To raise the stakes, they would be fighting among Wyches, Tyranids and other captives or monsters in a massive free for all. It was such a momentous event that [[Asdrubael Vect|Vect]] himself had arrived to watch (from the comfort of his private portable pyramid/command base/mansion).

The fight between Yvraine and Lelith was breathtaking, even the Harlequins in the audience were stunned. It was clear though that Lelith was toying with Yvraine and was clearly the better fighter... until Yvraine managed to get a cut on Lelith's forearm. However, this was a ruse that Lelith had allowed as part of her plan to draw out the fight and make it entertaining for her patron, Asdrubael Vect. But the punch to the stomach that Yvraine dealt Lelith was not part of the plan. She gave ground and, after getting in a vicious stomp on Yvraine she led Yvraine to a pile of corpses. In a nifty display of [[Just As Planned]], Yvraine lost her footing and Lelith used the opening to stab Yvraine in chest before darting off to a new opponent and leaving her for dead.

Despite her wound Yvraine fought, trying to not show weakness in the arena. But even her red attire couldn't hide the blood trailing down her chest. At one point she crossed paths with a priestess of Morai-Heg with needle-like blades. She proved surprisingly quick, even severing one of Yvraine's hands.

That's right, Yvraine's so tough she kept fighting, even though she'd been STABBED IN THE CHEST AND LOST A HAND.

It was at this moment, while Yvraine was at the brink of death, that the newly born but weak Ynnead recognized Yvraine as one who had walked on both the Paths of the Eldar and the Paths of Damnation, and so revived her as his Emissary. Unfortunately, the psychic energy released in the process also broke Khaine's Gate open, flooding Commoragh with daemons and thoroughly humiliating Vect. Needless to say, Vect now wanted Yvraine dead ''immediately''. Trueborn from the [[Kabal of the Black Heart]] (looking to save face after Vect's retreat) headed towards Yvraine, seeking her death while her Wych Cult rushed to aid her.

As they left the arena, Yvraine had another surprise. A ship, her flagship from her Corsair days, had returned to Commorragh. The crew took Yvraine, the Visarch and the survivors on before fleeing for the Webway. But Vect wasn't so easily thwarted. He sealed the Webway passages, and the ship got wedged in one. As Kabalies from the Kabal of the Black Heart tried to cut his way in, Yvraine loaded the Visarch and as many crew and warriors as they could onto Raiders and Venoms, them launched them from the bridge, [[Grimdark|the rest of the crew stayed behind willingly, sacrificing themselves to Vect's wrath to delay him]].

==Forming the Ynnari==
Yvraine fled Commorragh with her old Exarch (who had since renamed himself the [[Visarch]]), the Incubus warriors he had become the leader of since he arrived in Commoragh, the survivors of her crew and several members of her Wych Cult. They wandered the Webway for a time, fleeing the Haemonculi cults and Kabalites Vect had sent after them. They met up with a group of Harlequins, who led them through the Webway and kept them one step ahead of Vect's agents.

==Return to Biel-Tan==
Accompanied by the newly-formed Ynnari, Yvraine returned to Biel-Tan, the Craftworld of her birth. However, not all eldar were happy to see the return of this prodigal daughter.

==Battle in the Webway==
In the Webway, they were waylaid by the Thousand Sons, led by Ahriman. In an astonishing display of power, Ahriman managed to trap Yvraine, the Visarch and the Yncarne in a realm of his own devising.

Yvraine called out to Ahriman, saying she had "what he was seeking". Yvraine used her powers to [[Awesome|restore a dozen Rubric Marines to their former selves]]. Overcome with emotion, Ahriman released Yvraine, the Visarch and the Yncarne. However, to take him from the battle, they then [[Troll|forced those recovered Rubric Marines into the Warp]]. Horrified, Ahriman fled into the Warp after them.

==A Desperate Alliance==
At this point the Ynnari joined together to enact another desperate plan: Eldrad had forseen that the Eldar's and the Imperium's fates were joined. For the Eldar to survive they would have to ally with the Imperium, this time for real.

To facilitate this, they picked up the survivors from the fall of [[Cadia]] (minus Creed, who had already been taken by [[Trazyn the Infinite|Trazyn]]). Then, after a good word from Cawl, Celestine and Greyfax to explain their intentions, they headed to Macragge. There, Yvraine and Cawl worked together to heal Roboute Guilliman of his poison and bring him back to life.

After promising an alliance, the Eldar and the forces of the Imperium parted ways, with Guilliman thanking Yvraine for helping him and Yvraine giving Guilliman a sincere caution and no stereotypical Eldar dickery (something quite a few shippers have seized on, though this would be more ironic than Taldeer and LIIVI, given that Yvraine is the herald of a god and Roboute is heavily implied to despise religion given the Imperial Truth and Roboute's [[Rage|reaction]] to the Ecclesiarchy).

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Yvraine.jpg
File:Yvraine-Emissary-of-Ynnead.jpg
Image:YvraineXGuilliman.png|The real reason for the Imperium-Eldar alliance.
Image:YvraineMeshi.jpg|Even [[Dungeon Meshi]] gets in on the fun.
Image:Roboute_and_Yvraine_by_Magnifigal_2.PNG|Roboute and Yvraine's relationship goes back a long, ''long'' time.
</gallery>

{{Eldar-Characters}}