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Imperial Knight

2022-11-23T07:01:51Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D:

{{Topquote|...who battled courageously during those times, some victorious, some not, but always in the name of chivalry.|[[The Five Star Stories]]}}
{{Topquote|There are acts of God you cannot fight; you see a hurricane coming, you have to get out of the way. But when you’re in a <s>Jaeger</s> Knight, you can fight the hurricane. You can win.| <s>Jaeger Pilot</s> Questor Imperialis Noble Charlie Hunnam, from the movie Pacific Rim}}
{{Topquote|1=YOU DIG GIANT ROBOTS, I DIG GIANT ROBOTS, WE DIG GIANT ROBOTS, CHICKS DIG GIANT ROBOTS! Nice.|2=[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koesW3xMKtY Ancient Imperial Knight Chant]}}

[[File:Knight vs Trygon.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSrcMaid0mg Hmm... does this look familiar to you?]]]
{{Topquote|Attention ork! you face Lord Horrik Canorem, Son of High King Valorik Canorem, High Prince of House Canorem, Master of the Blade of Gaia, Keeper of the Gates of Loralo, Wielder of the Kaloric Flame, Bringer of Hope, Herald of the Holy Order of the Adamantine Lance, The Paladin of Koto, Slayer of the Lion of Essa, The Triumphant! The Light of Stars! The Eradicator! |Standard knight introduction by lord Horrik Canorem, Son of High King Valorik Canorem, High Prince of House Canorem, Master of the Blade of Gaia, Keeper of the Gates of Loralo, Wielder of the Kaloric Flame, Bringer of Hope, Herald of the Holy Order of the Adamantine Lance, The Paladin of Koto, Slayer of the Lion of Essa, The Triumphant. The Light of Stars. The Eradicator.]]}}

Somewhere between a regular walker and a [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan]], the Imperial Knights are large single-pilot war machines, similar to the [[Tau]] [[Riptide#XV104 Riptide Battlesuit|Riptide]]. Usually humanoid, the cockpit for the pilot is mounted just behind the head in the main body.

In other words, they're a [[BattleMech]].

They are really [[butthurt|a fairly fan-wanky insertion]] of [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Fantasy-style]] [[knight]]s into 40k, which, let's face it, is not exactly a setting devoid of knight analogues; but unlike [[Space Marines|the]] [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|others]], this one is much closer to the original source material: [[BattleTech|aristocratic dicks in high tech armor suits]] [[Bretonnia|grinding the faces of the poor]] while being [[grimdark]] and all knightly and shit, including all of the [[Game of thrones|politics, incest and backstabbing]] that brings.

Funnily enough for such an in-universe niche unit, Imperial Knights (officially,'' Questor Imperialis'') are currently among the most popular models from the 40k range, if the top-seller list of Games Workshop is any indication ([[Space Marines|Hmm, what does that remind you of?]]). This is with good reason; their whole design and grimdark medieval-[[steampunk]] style catches the eyes, and surely a lot of people are buying it just because it looks ''that cool'' ''(or because PP ran [[Warmachine]] into the ground)''. Also, for 150 Naggaroth Buckets you get a unit strong enough to be an army on its own, or it can join ''any'' Imperial force. How economical they are hinges on how invested your opponent is in killing armor; knights barely notice lascannons, but any of the angrier tank killing options will add up fast.

[https://youtu.be/ajP5q2HvycY In short they're big, baddass, chivalrous, stompy mechs. Really, what's not to love?]

==About the Knights==
[[File:Errant Detachment.jpg|thumb|right|EPIC Errant Knights. For when you want to cook your enemies really fast.]]
[[File:PaladinDetachment.jpg|thumb|right|Paladin Titans from EPIC times.]]
The knights are affiliated with, or in some cases part of, the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] (rather than being part of the greater Imperium's war machine). Knight Worlds are worlds which supply [[Forge World#Planet|Forge Worlds]] with foodstuff and raw materials, specifically those worlds defended by Knight Households. The Knight World gathers foodstuff and ores for a set period of time (usually a year) before the Adeptus Mechanicus arrive in a drop ship, occasionally bringing new knight suits in exchange for the raw materials. Knight Worlds themselves are typically Feudal Worlds, which were easily brought into compliance during the Great Crusade, and which explains the rather aristocratic tone about the Knights. Knight World politics is fueled by the constant resource tithes and the possession of Knight Titans. Any kingdom that possesses a Knight Titan could absolutely smash a kingdom without one, so it behooves a kingdom to concede to being tithed in exchange for the (relatively) ultimate weapon. Once any given feudal kingdom has become a Knight Household, any Household that has more Knights is a huge threat, so getting more is always important. By the time that the escalation becomes preposterous these Households are already shipping knights off-world to cruise the stars and fighting things, so the extra-planetary losses constantly need to be replenished, lest the Households lose their on-world detachments to off-world conflicts. All that said, Knight Worlds tend to exist rather happily alongside their Forge World; Mechanicus get a defensive buffer and food forever, and the Knight Households get to continue ruling their chunks of the planet. Or all of the planet, depending on how far you can stretch a feudal society.

During the [[Epic]] days Knights were a complete fabrication by the Adeptus Mechanicus, supplied as battle fleets where the Imperial armies are in need of them, much like a Titan Legion is. Knights were a gimmick, given to Feudal Worlds that the Mechanicum settled near in exchange for getting shipments of food, manpower, and raw materials. This simplistic lore is [[retcon|no longer the case]]; apparently the original Knight Worlds were not the Mechanicus' idea. The Knights themselves are [[STC]] relics, dating before even the Dark Age of Technology. In a shocking twist, not only does the Knight STC appear to be relatively intact, the Knight itself seems easy to produce for any given Forge World; a rare case of the AdMech not shitting themselves. When Games Workshop released the new "heroic scale" Knight models, they also released new Knight fluff with them. The first Knights were actually colonists, arriving on new worlds during Humanity's first expansion into the galaxy at large. With no way of returning to Terra once they arrived, and long periods with no outside help, those original human colonies needed to be self-sufficient and the Knight suits were sent along with them, made for fighting against the [[Xenos|myriad threats]] [[Chaos|to their existence]]. Additionally, it turns out that giant stompy robots could also be re-purposed for peaceful uses: cutting down trees with their chainswords, blasting apart boulders with their main weapons, or using the sheer size of their bodies as cranes, lifts, earth-movers, and various other construction equipment. As a byproduct of the Throne Mechanicum bonding processes (see below), the Knights' pilots soon came to see themselves as protectors of their people. In the cases where these heavily-armed frontier colonies were never slated for further colonization, suffered a society-collapsing event as they grew, or otherwise remained isolated, Knight Titans were given the opportunity to become the industrial and military backbone of many of these worlds.

During the Age of Strife, when humanity at large lost its ability to travel the Warp and everything generally went to shit, these planets were guaranteed to be alone and afraid, fighting for their survival against everything they already had to fight, plus all of the weirdness that comes with BIG FUCKOFF WARP STORMS. The proto-Knight-World colonies (fully-grown at this point) regressed from large-scale industrial societies into what are functionally feudal worlds with a sprinkling of techno-barbarianism. Why did this happen? Well, there are a number of possibilites: fear and panic over the lack of outside contact could have sparked apocalyptic military conflicts or nuclear wars, the whole "robot uprising" thing that was also happening during the Age of Strife could have resulted in a rejection of automation, daemons might have invaded through a Warp rift, or the entire world could have been slowly ground down to the barest essentials of living by millennia of constant conflict; take your pick! The Knights themselves eventually formed noble households as time went on, or else noble households formed around the knights, due mostly to the fact that only a large-scale organized society with military force can properly maintain a giant stompy robot. By the time of the Great Crusade (more importantly, by the time of the first Mechanicum Explorator Fleets ''during'' the Great Crusade), almost all of the remaining Knight Worlds had dwindled to feudalism over the course of the Age of Strife, and in many cases the survivors were living threadbare on dying worlds, in great need of new raw materials or the expertise required to maintain the suits. This situation was ripe for exploitation, and some clever bastard in the Mechanicum got the great idea of using these worlds as combination Agri-World, Mining World, and military training ground. Several Forge Worlds and lesser Mechanicum worlds were established intentionally within Knight World systems due to the easy symbiosis. It is assumed that any Knight Worlds which were not in need of assistance (or whom the Great Crusade found before an Explorator Fleet) sided with the Imperium at large, as opposed to becoming vassals of the Mechanicum.

As a side note, in a hilarious turn of events, in this new lore these feudal Knight Worlds leveraged their ritualization and xenophobia to purge witches and deviant thought, and therefore psychic influence, from their worlds entirely. This created pockets of relative calm in the hellish storms of un-reality that they floated in, and thus they were saved from the worst of the warpy shit, allowing them to survive into M31 and the Age of the Imperium. This is even more ironic when you consider that in the Dark Age of Technology, they were considered to be little more than a couple of backwater colonies that were never taken seriously by the rest of mankind. Now the descendants of the hillbillies get to lord over the conscripted masses (in theory). Basically how the US behaves with Europeans after 1945.

Knight Houses make a tradition of sending their Knights on glorious quests across the stars, which mostly involves going where the Imperium/Mechanicum tells them to, and shooting/punching everything dead once they get there. Knight Houses make a tradition of basically everything, but more on that later. These quests, which one can only assume are fulfilled by the Imperial Navy or Explorator Fleets (and *not* just jumping really high, as some fa/tg/uys suggest), must be chocked-full of silly fish-out-of-water scenes as the Knights must putter around the cargo holds of ships, interacting with Guardsmen, slaves, and Imperial navymen. Knights absolutely love going on quests, because *not* going on quests means staying home and doing rituals and ceremonies. The day-to-day lives and operations of Knight Households, and the noble caste that supports them on-world, are so regimented by ceremony that the Knights themselves *fucking hate it*. Eating, sleeping, social interaction, prayer, bathing (when it infrequently occurs), walking down hallways, looking at art, and probably *breathing* are so highly ritualized that it makes Japanese tea ceremonies look like a practice rehearsal of a theatrical production put on by a class of 3rd graders. You have actual, named, 64-part ceremonies described as happening *daily* in the Mechanicus codex, and those are only one of probably three-hundred-thousand common-to-esoteric ceremonies that could be required to properly perform a given action, formally acknowledge a nobleman's change in standing or status, or even to honor a specific year, month, week, or hour of the fucking day. And Emperor save you if you fuck any of it up.

===The Throne Mechanicum===
A Knight's Machine Spirit is of a particularly unusual type: to interface with the suit, an aspiring noble must first join with the Throne Mechanicum (the Knight's control system) in a ritual known as the Ritual of Becoming. Due to a quirk in the bonding process, the device retains an imprint of each of its former pilots' personalities at the time they were first bonded, and as a result individual suits will develop traits echoing those of their former masters. The link also affects the noble's own mind as well; exposure to the metaphorical (or possibly literal, since there's been at least one case where a Throne Mechanicum took over operating the Knight when its noble was slain by using the memories of its old operators) ghosts in the machine inevitably causes the noble to develop strong positive feelings towards the concepts of fealty and hierarchy along with a near-mystical reverence toward the noble's ancestors. Nobody knows why this is, but the Mechanicus thinks it may have been a failsafe in the original plans meant to ensure that no noble would willingly betray or abandon his own House or perhaps a means to guarantee that the Knights would be more inclined to act as colonial defenders. Either way, this benefits the Mechanicus rather neatly.

This kind of "ghost in the machine" presence exists for true [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Imperial Titans]] as well, though in their case the machine spirit is more of an AI/second ego, and storing past Princeps' personas is something that happens, but the Mechanicus try to avoid/scrub out. Go see the Titan page for a more in-depth comparison.

===Houses===
There are three types of Knight households, though a fourth association does exist.
====Imperial Houses====
Those who align themselves with the Imperium directly are called Imperial Houses, and act as independently operating vassals of a greater empire - like [[Space Marine Chapter]]s, but with more stompy mechs and even more medieval themes. This means they get to answer calls for aid whenever they want rather than being ordered to. Most Knight houses are aligned with the Imperium. Known Imperial Houses include:
*'''House Terryn''' - House known for its [[Ultramarines|courage and honor]] as well as [[Codex Astartes|rigidly adhering to ritual and ceremony]]. Supposedly its homeworld of Voltoris is so [[Macragge|peaceful and boring]] and the aforementioned rituals so tedious that it only encourages them to campaign across the galaxy, thanks to a law that allows them to be exempt from said rituals as long as they're crusading. Has developed an intense grudge against the [[Tau]] after they tried to invade Voltoris. Their colour scheme is [[Ultramarines|blue]], tan, and red with gold trim.
*'''House Hawkshroud''' - A very [[Noblebright]] house, who believe that kindness should be returned tenfold and who answer any and all requests for assistance, which means their homeworld of Krastellan lies virtually undefended. Also have links with the [[Imperial Fists]] having been praised by the chapter master for their efforts against the [[Eldar]] of Alaitoc, and are linked by proximity to the Blood Angels. Take their oaths '''very''' seriously - breaking one is grounds for immediate exile as a Freeblade, and their kids often inherit oaths at birth. Their colour scheme is yellow, black, and white with silver trim.
*'''House Cadmus''' - Were once bound to the Mechanicum, but regained their independence and became an Imperial House when Gryphonne IV was nom nomed by [[Tyranid]]s. Based on the [[Caliban|mutant infested forest world]] of Raisa, they engage on mutant hunts every year, with the [[A Song of Ice and Fire|winner getting to rule the house]] until the next hunt. Their colour scheme is [[Dark Angels|forest green]] and yellow with silver trim.
*'''House Griffith''' - A house of [[Salamanders|hotheads]] who almost exclusively make use of the Knight Errant pattern and come from a planet once inhabited by ''actual dragons''. They are also one of the [[Salamanders|smallest knight houses, but remain one of the most respected]]. They engage in regular jousting tournaments using old fashioned horses, but wearing adamantium armour. Have a preference for [[Rip and Tear|close combat]]. They are also the favorite house of [[Duncan Rhodes|our lord and savior]]. Have nothing to do with [[Berserk|that Griffith]]. Their colour scheme is cream, dark turquoise, and red with silver trim.
*'''House Mortan''' - A house only recently introduced to the Imperium, [[Wat| having been being cut off since before the Great Crusade by a nebula which made their homeworld Kimdaria a night world]]. For thousands of years they fought giant monsters in the dark until the nebula dissipated in M35 and the Imperium arrived. Very enthusiastic about getting into close-quarters combat, but are otherwise squarely in the "dour motherfuckers" camp. Their colour scheme is black, red, and yellow with gold trim.
*'''House Drakkus''' - Featured in the mobile game 'Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade'. Known for being very dead beyond a single Freeblade survivor, and for having a rather fetching jade-green ([[Skub|or turquoise]]) with gold trim colour scheme.
*'''House Vyridion''' - A Heresy-era House. Brought into the fold by Fulgrim, House Vyridion neglected to do their research when the Heresy started and took the side of the III Legion. After a few battles, however, they began to get doubts and headed for Terra, surrendering themselves to find the truth. They were then imprisoned for their crimes and nearly starved to death before being freed... to serve in the Webway. It's not known how many of them are alive or if they even have an intact walker any more, but their Baroness did make a vital contribution in briefly KO'ing the Daemon of the First Murder.
*'''House Vyronii''' - House Vyronii is counted amongst the most venerable Knight Houses of the entire Segmentum Obscurus, its Knights being famed for their tenacity and their uniquely sorrowful demeanour. Separated from the rest of humanity's domains for millennia, House Vyronii nevertheless stood their ground against xenos incursions and the frightfully intelligent megafauna of their home planet, Damaetus III/II. Thanks to a warning from Gios, the son of the house's Grand Master, House Vyronii was able to fend of an invasion from the Forge World of Cyclothrathe right before they were supposed to swear and oath to them. They then teamed up with the Forge World of Mezoa to get revenge. Originally just cream with gold trim, later added emerald green to their color scheme to represent the green glow of the gas giant they orbited after seeing how lame they looked compared to other Imperial forces.
*'''House Varlock''' - A House based on Cyprus Ultima which appeared in [[Dawn of War 3]]. Worked with the [[Blood Ravens]] in the Acheron Campaign after the Blood Ravens saved them from an Ork incursion. This Knight House has a colour scheme of blue and white with golden trim.
*'''House Draconis''' - Originated from the world of Adrastapol. A world which houses multiple households, all with names that are similar to those of mythological creatures. Draconis is the largest house on the planet, typically being the house to unite the others during times of peril and hardship, such as during the Donatosian War, where House Chimeros and Wyvorn turned against the loyalist forces to work alongside the [[Word Bearers]], which eventually lead to the traitor houses' destruction. They utilise mostly Paladins, Errants and Gallants, with some Crusaders. They feature as the main faction in the books ''Kingsblade'' and ''Knightsblade'' by [[Andy Clark]].
*'''House Degallio''' - Formerly the most powerful Knight Household on Alaric Prime. House Degallio was a seaborne house that lived aboard a giant ship known as the Isle Degallio along with a fleet of smaller warships. After getting wiped out by [[Grukk Face-Rippa|Grukk Facerippa]]'s Red WAAAGH!, the house's High King and sole survivor Neru Degallio went Freeblade and took up the name ''White Warden''. Their colour scheme was white, yellow, and black with dark silver trim.
*'''House Orhlacc''' - House Ohrlacc lives on the Death World of Dark Haven, a planet teeming with poisonous plants and rapidly growing fungi in addition to venomous predators. Thanks to some biologists ''(pre-Mechanicum)'' they took in rather than killing on sight like the other houses on Dark Haven, the scions of House Orhlacc were able to modify their genetic structure to adapt to the world and become the dominant house. After being rediscovered by the [[Dark Angels]], they fought with distinction in the Great Crusade and chose to stay loyal after learning about the [[Dropsite Massacre]] from some survivors. They then proceeded to steal a traitor Rogue Trader's fleet and temporarily become a nomadic household as they knew they couldn't defend their world from a full invasion fleet. Their colour scheme is purple and black with bronze trim.
*'''House Vornherr''' - Before being rediscovered by the Imperium, House Vornherr wiped out six other Knight houses and took all their Knight suits, giving them over 600 Knight suits total. After being rediscovered by the Imperium, the house pledged an oath to [[Roboute Guilliman]] and vowed to fight alongside him and the 500 worlds of [[Ultramar]]. At Calth, the majority of the house was destroyed by the [[Word Bearers]] in their opening bombardment. The few survivors offworld at House Vornherr's homeworld of Luhnborg-IX swore a new oath to avenge their fallen Duke and go out with a bang. Their colour scheme was red and yellow with gold trim.
*'''House Donar''' - One of the Knight houses of Molech, based in the Western Marches of the continent of Molechari. They were in charge of keeping the inhabitants of the continent safe from the jungle-dwelling beasts nearby; along with the twinfuckers of House Devine, they were considered some of the top hunters on the planet. Unlike the Slaanesh-aligned House Devine, they refused to turn traitor and were unceremoniously wiped out by the Legio Mortis during the Battle of Molech. Their colour scheme was dark sea green, red, and black with gold trim.
*'''House Indra''' - One of the Knight houses of Molech, living in the swamps of Molech's southern steppes. Back when Molech was ruled by the High King, the Indarii (as the swamp people was known as back then) were given the honour of holding the High King's standard. After the last High King died, House Indra carried on with their original traditions, never forgetting that they were once the banner bearers for the High King. Due to their insularity and strange practices, they were known as the "Mad House" by the other Knight Houses. Destroyed during the battle of Molech. Their colour scheme was green and yellow with gold trim.
*'''House Kaska''' - One of the Knight houses of Molech, living on the Kasha Peninsula on the westernmost point of the continent of Molechari. While some of the other Knight houses [[Space Wolves|looked down upon them as vagrants and drunkards, House Kaska couldn't give less of a fuck what the other houses thought.]] House Kaska adhered to a code of honor that said one must be more than just good at piloting a suit of Knight Armor - you had to be able to [[Awesome|climb the storm-slick peaks of Kasha, wrestle a xeno cub to the ground, and drink your body weight in ale]]. Destroyed during the Battle of Molech. Their colour scheme was white, blue, and red with gold trim.
*'''House Kaushik''' - One of the Knight houses of Molech, living under the mountains of Untar Mesas. The underground arcology they lived in was built by the initial settlers of Molech, and the scions of House Kaushik lived an insular lifestyle within it, rarely leaving. The scions of House Kaushik considered the bond between them and their Knight a spiritual pairing, to the point where they could attain a state known as the "Great Quiet" where their souls were cooled and emotions stripped away by the voices within their Thrones Mechanicum. Destroyed during the Battle of Molech. Their color scheme was half mint green half blue with flame patterns with gold trim.
*'''House Tazkhar''' - One of the Knight Houses of Molech, living on the Tazkhar Steppe of the continent of Molechari. Unlike the other Knight houses of Molech, House Tazkhar [[White Scars|never let go of their tribal roots and still existed as nomadic tribes]]. Every year, the groups got together for a gathering called the Feast of the Storm Lord to celebrate when the [[The God-Emperor of Mankind|Lord of Storms]] first journeyed across the Steppes and gave his blessing to the tribes. There everyone fought each other in their Knight suits or the old fashioned way with a sword and shield, with the person going undefeated claiming the title of "Viziar of Blades" for the year. Destroyed during the Battle of Molech. Their colour scheme was desert tan, orange, and white with silver trim.
*'''House Mamaragon''' - One of the Knight houses of Molech, living in the northern seas and archipelagos. In the ye olde days, House Mamaragon were explorers who charted Molech's seas, and later pirates who preyed on the trade routes they helped create. They were the unofficial [[That Guy]] of Molech's Houses, being arrogant and reckless assholes who mocked the others for how small their hunting trophies were compared to the [[Meme|XBOX HUEG]] sea serpents they hunted (in fairness, they were far larger than any animal on Molech). Despite this, they were the first Knight House on Molech to organize the surviving loyalist Knights against Horus, and later set about rebuilding during the [[Great Scouring]]. Their colour scheme is light blue and green with silver trim.

====Mechanicus Houses====
Other households are directly aligned to the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] and are based on (or linked to) Forge Worlds through what is called the "Sidon Protocol". Though they retain their independence from the Cult Mechanicus, they do have reciprocal trade and resupply agreements as well as swearing oaths of protection to the Mechanicus, often directly to specific Forge Worlds.

Houses directly linked to the Mechanicus will have access to better weapons and technology than their more primitive cousins, which isn't surprising because Techpreists tend to be [[Blood_Ravens|greedy buggers.]] On the other hand, they've got a lot less independent swing and have to deal with the toasterheads permanently looming over their collective shoulders. Their color schemes are predominantly based around the color red.

Examples of Mechanicus Houses include:
*'''House Taranis''' - The ''First'' of all Knight Houses (read ''Mechanicum'' by [[Graham McNeill]]). They were founded on [[Mars]] during the [[Dark Age of Technology]], and were later the first Martians who met the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor]] before the [[Great Crusade]], literally the moment after he landed on the planet where he said "[[Awesome|'''Machine, heal thyself.''']]" and fixed one of their suits with a touch. During the Horus Heresy, all but two of the House's nobles on Mars and a few others spread across the galaxy died defending the Magma City from Kelbor-Hal's forces. With no one on Mars to guide the house, the scattered elements each set out on their own paths and assisted both loyalists and traitors in exchange for resources, believing that they were doing House Taranis's heritage right. This house also has ownership of some of the oldest knight suits.
** For some reason, their Knights' Throne Mechanicum units lack the typical mind-altering effects that they would normally possess; nobody knows why. One reason could be that the pilots of House Taranis are loyal to the Mechanicus first, and the house second. Or Mars is hoarding good shit again.
** They have a tradition of sending failed nobles over to be made into [[Skitarii]] Alphas, in exchange for the Alphas being allowed to fight alongside House Taranis' knights. Weirdly heartwarming, in a way...
**Originally coloured blue and white with silver trim, they later changed their colour scheme to predominately red like the other Mechanicus-aligned Houses as a means of showing their fealty to Mars and other Forge Worlds who helped replenish them during the Horus Heresy.
*'''House Raven''' - The largest of all Knight Households, formerly based on the world of Kolossi and have close links to the forge world [[Heavy mythril|Metalica]]. Suspected to hold secret [[Standard Template Construct|STC]] data which explains why they have so many Knight suits. Their fortress, the ''Keep Inviolate'', was said to be one of the most well-protected bastions in the Imperium, on par with the Fang and the Imperial Palace, and appears on their coat of arms. Following the loss of Kolossi to the schemes of [[Be'lakor]], the House's survivors have become a crusading House eager for revenge against the Dark Master. Those who were taken by [[Be'lakor]] ended up becoming corrupted by Chaos as House Korvax. Their color scheme is red with yellow and black hazard chevrons and silver trim.
*'''House Krast''' - Based on Chrysis, the first Knight World to be rediscovered during the Great Crusade. Its proximity to Mars meant it was swiftly brought into the fold, but it was ravaged by [[Horus]] during the [[Horus Heresy|Heresy]], leaving House Krast the only Household left on the planet. They have a preference for hunting traitor Titans since the Warmaster's forces on Chrysis were led by the traitor Titan Legion Legio Mortis. Originally colored blue, white, and yellow with silver trim, later changed their colors to red with black and yellow hazard stripes and dark silver trim.
*'''House Vulker''' - A very wealthy but deeply mysterious house from a star system with vast mineral resources, they never expose any flesh and wear golden masks to cover their faces. These guys are hardcore Kool-Aid drinkers when it comes to the Mechanicum's dogma, with their courts staffed mostly by golden servitors and filled with tech priests... Not that outsiders ever get to see inside their courts. Their colors are red, grey, yellow, and white with silver trim.
*'''House Hermetika''' - A Knight house allied with the Forge World of Mezoa that live on the volcanic world of Kaldeia. The leaders of the house known as the Hierarchs are very secretive and reveal little of the house's history to outsiders. The house mines sulfur from caves left behind from long dormant volcanos on their homeworld and trades it with Mezoa, creating a symbiotic relationship between the two and influencing each other's culture. Their color scheme is red and black with silver trim.
*'''House Sidus''' - A Knight house that secretly lived under the surface of the Forge World of Ryza and was not revealed to the world until Ryza was invaded during the Horus Heresy. Despite being one of the smallest Knight houses, it has access to loads of the rarest Knight patterns like the Mageara, Styrix, and Atrapos. Exactly why Ryza kept House Sidus's existence a secret is unknown, as well as how old the house truly is. Their color scheme is black and orange with gold trim.
*'''House Moritain''' - Bound in service to the Forge World of Graia, House Moritain is a house of warrior-scholars. In order to be granted the right to pilot a Knight, a scion of House Moritain must prove themselves knowledgeable in philosophy and academia in addition to the art of war. Their central tenant is that "[[Lamenters|A death in service to the defenceless is greater than a life in service to oneself]]." Like the [[Adeptus Custodes]], they like to give themselves ridiculously long titles for themselves with each part representing a deed on the battlefield. Their color scheme is black, grey, and yellow with bronze trim.
*'''House Zavora''' - Originally destined to leave Mars, House Zavora got stuck there when the Age of Strife broke out. They instead spent their time protecting the forge-fanes of Mars and helping to give House Morbidia a good spanking. By the time the House finally left Mars to join the Great Crusade, they had been thoroughly inducted into the Cult Mechanicus, with some going as far as to seal themselves within their Knight suits to become closer to the Omnissiah. When the Martian Civil War broke out, all the scions of House Zavora stationed there were killed in the conflict. Though some in the house turned out to be more loyal to Kelbor-Hal than the Imperium, House Zavora still kicked major heretic ass on Ryza. Their color scheme is half red half white and black with silver trim.

====Titanicus Vassal Houses====
A few knightly households do not have any degree of independence at all, but are instead subservient to the Titan Legions which they march together into war. These Titanicus Vassal Houses serve as scouts and skirmishers, outflanking and harassing the enemy forces occupying the objectives as well as protecting the Titans from hidden threats.

[[Grimdark|As a result, their knights have a much higher attrition rate than normal]], and their machines are not treated with reverence as with other knightly households. On the other hand, they have access to the most advanced patterns of knights due to the intimidatingly insane battles Titans are guaranteed to participate in.
*'''House Coldshroud''' - House Coldshroud served as vassal to the Legio Gryphonicus, and they drew their pilots from particular families on planets in the Octad, the region surrounding Gryphonne IV. Exactly what became of them after Gryphonne IV got eaten by the 'Nids is unknown, though it's likely they went down fighting on either Gryphonne IV or during the Legio Gryphonicus' last stand on Cadia. Their color scheme is golden yellow and mottled grey with bronze trim.
*'''House Procon Vi''' - House Procon Vi are unique in that they retain a degree of independence, even having their own homeworld, Procon. Many of the Legio Solaria's Princeps and Moderati which they serve under are actually daughters of House Procon Vi, having been given as an offering to the Mechanicum (see Guy Haley's ''Titandeath''); the sons generally become tech-priests while other pilots were these women's descendants. Whether they followed the Legio Solaria's post-Heresy change to allowing men and women to serve is unknown. Their color scheme is black with silver trim.
*'''House Col'Khak''' - Also known as the Col'Khak Collective, House Col'Khak was formed on the frigid Agri-World of Atar-Planitia to serve as vassals for the newly created Forge World of Atar-Median and the Legio Atarus during the Great Crusade. The oldest Scions of the House are said to be little more cerebral matter hooked up to life support systems that look like gilded human statues. At Istvaan V, several Col'Khak Knights were destroyed along with a Demi-legio of Legio Atarus, putting the house on a path of vengeance that saw them deploying independently more often compared to their service during the Great Crusade. Their color scheme is red and black with silver trim.

====Freeblades====
Sometimes individual Knights detach themselves from Noble Houses entirely. When a Knight is dishonored, shunned, decides to fuck off for personal reasons, or is otherwise made unable to continue life within the Household, they become Freeblades and ply the stars alone (dragging their large pool of retainers along to maintain the suit, naturally). These knights break out to either quest across the Imperium or settle down outside of the ritual of their Household and protect the citizens of whichever worlds they end up on.
*'''Amaranthine''' - Never ever speaks or leaves his suit. [[Inquisitor]]s chase him around trying to have a word about his loyalties.
*'''Auric Arachnus''' - Somehow connected to the [[Ultramarines]]; known for slaying a [[Dominatrix]] during the battle for [[Macragge]] during the First Tyrannic War. Exactly who they are and where they came from is unknown. The name itself roughly means "Golden Spider" - three guesses as to its colour and heraldry?
*'''Crimson Reaper''' - Freak who wears a red and black face mask; he's rumoured to be a [[Vampire|blood sucking mutant]]. Pilots a Knight-Errant with a reaper's scythe on one shoulder and the house heraldry blacked out. Is very prone to collateral damage, merrily trampling allied troops underfoot or [[Marines Malevolent|blowing them up along with the enemy.]]
*'''Living Litany''' - A grey, black, and orange Knight Gallant who constantly voxes droning sermons in High Gothic, only changing into loud chants when fighting. He was always a bit bonkers, and in retrospect his fall to becoming the [[Chaos Knight|Dreadblade]] '''Litany of Destruction''' was predictable.
*'''Gerantius ''The Forgotten Knight''''' - Maintains a secret mountain base on Alaric Prime, though his planet is shared by other lesser knight houses. Thought to be [[undead]] and [[Necromancer|in command of spirits]]. Days which he chooses to fight upon are regarded as ill-omens. Rules for him are in [[White Dwarf]], making him a Seneschal-level knight with ''It Will Not Die'' and the ability to both run & shoot in the same phase.
*'''Justice''' - A Freeblade connected to the [[Iron Hands]] chapter who is a master of slaying traitor knights. The Iron Hands chapter appear to be keeping his secrets and will not talk of his past.
*'''Obsidian Knight''' - Fought in the [[Damocles Crusade|Damocles campaign]] along with House Terryn on the planet Agrellan. - Has his own rules in Warzone: Damocles making him an absolute WS/BS 6 [[Awesome|badass]] who hates [[Tau]] with a passion.
*'''Mydos Almighty''' - Hails from a world that was done in by greed-driven civil wars between its Knight Houses, which it fled to actually fight. Rather hypocritically, this Knight is entirely bedecked in fucking GOLD.
*'''White Warden''' - The last man standing for House Degallio from the planet of [[Lawful Stupid|Alaric Prime]] ''(same as Gerantius)'', and subsequently made the scapegoat for the planet's losses against the Red WAAAGH!. Known for his cracking moustache and his willingness to stand up for ridiculous laws. Has recently fought alongside the Salamanders in the defence of Nocturne on several occasions.
*'''Tellurus''' - Only living member of a fallen house; refuses to be seen without armor. Tellurus fought alongside both House Cadmus and House Hawkshroud on Vondrak. ''"...towering and monstrous, a giant of adamantium and fury. With a booming cannon and a roaring chainblade for arms, it was clad in armour the colour of a winter’s sky. Blue and cold, chevroned with streaks of black and amber. A bright gonfalon streamed from its left shoulder. A rearing horse with a fluted horn at its forehead."'' - from ''Knights of the Imperium'' by Graham McNeill. [[Samus|Turns out to be a girl.]]
*'''Domeenito Ohashi''' - Imperial Knight who got stuck on a primitive world under attack by the Orks. [[Awesome|In spite of being sworn to go back to his world of origin, he decides to go Freeblade and fights back the Greenskins, becoming a hero to the population until receiving]] [[Imperial Guard]] reinforcements. [[Awesome|Since then he has wandered across the galaxy helping the Imperium to crush all kind of xenos raiders in the hopes of getting back home eventually.]]
*'''Dyros Kamata ''The Scorched Knight''''' - A Knight whose rider apparently severed all ties with his house and burned off all his livery by walking into a volcano. He eventually learned that his dad was a corrupt prick, so he killed the old man before going off again. Was later killed by Ork bombardment, which royally pissed off [[Ragnar Blackmane]].
*'''Sir Hekhtur''' - A Freeblade from Randoryn Alpha and the last loyal member of House Cereban, he was enslaved for a time by the [[Iron Warriors]] but escaped being corrupted with the rest of his captured household when his Knight Preceptor ''Canis Rex'' [[awesome|broke free of its confinement and blasted its way to its pilot under the influence of its machine spirit]]. He now fights to free any other Imperial citizens enslaved by Chaos as he was, earning him the epithet of "The Chainbreaker". Appears as the first true named character for the Imperial Knights. Like [[Antaro Chronus]], Sir Hekhtur can keep fighting even if his Knight is taken down thanks to his trusty archaeotech pistol.
*'''Kalena Maxus, The Stormwalker''' - A Dominus Knight Castellan, she was ordered to leave by the High King of Kamdor when it became clear they would be overrun. Her orders were to remember the fallen servants of the Emperor and exact bloody revenge. She now haunts the outer reaches of the [[Great Rift]], making boots out of the asses of Chaos forces.
*'''Manifest Vengeance''' - An Armiger Knight Warglaive who is a [[space Wolves|renowned tracker]], also looks like a [[Harlequin]].
*'''Crimson Death''' - An odd Knight of indeterminate type, though it is described as being reminiscent of a Cerastus Knight Atropos, with a large shield generator mounted in a hump on it's back. Wears a bastardised version of House Krast's colors, and has a bunch of servitors mounted into the shield hump to perform battlefield repairs. It is piloted by the unprounouncably-named Sire J'madus Hw'ss, who has joined with other Freeblades to continue the Emperor's duty across the stars.
*'''Crucible of Wrath''' - Former member of a Mechanicum-aligned house; something he saw while assisting the [[Dark Angels]] on a mission rattled him to the point where he joined with their 5th Company afterwards. Usually seen fighting alongside two other Freeblade Knights, becoming part of a team known as ''The Three Witnesses''.
*'''Madrigal, "The Night's Watchman"''' - Last known survivor of a [[Daemon|daemonic]] incursion that turned his House's homeworld into a pseudo-Daemon World of permanent night, where the bodies of its murdered people sometimes rise up as undead. Patrols the remnants of its cities and forests, fighting against the Warp-risen undead and preventing any daemons from appearing. Plausibly a shout-out to [[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'s Night Watch, considering the name and the way that both fight the undead.
*'''The Firebrand''' - Hot-blooded asshole who got most of his House killed due to his awful tactics and [[Khorne|excessive aggression]], then was forced into exile as a Freeblade by the few surviving members when they realized the losses taken had doomed them. Randomly shows up wherever the fighting is thickest to start kicking the shit out of enemy forces; whether he's doing this to atone over [[Meme|accidentally]] his house or hasn't learned a thing is [[Skub|a matter of debate]].
*'''Pale Reckoning''' - [[Awesome|Killed a fucking]] [[Daemon Prince]] [[Awesome|in single combat]]. Despite how epic that sounds, [[fail|we don't know how and they haven't been mentioned since]].
* '''Penitent Blade''' - Supposedly the last member of House Felcarn, who got corrupted by Chaos and were subsequently [[Blam|wiped out]] by the Inquisition. Has a [[RAGE|massive hateboner for Chaos as a result]]; they're best known for wiping out all the Chaos Cults responsible for their House going down the clogs, then taking to the stars to keep fucking up Chaos assholes.
* '''Retribution Incarnate''' - Knight Errant that's been around since the days of the [[Macharian Crusade]], at the earliest. Supposedly the last survivor of House Reinharn, who were ambushed and almost completely destroyed by the [[Alpha Legion]] during the last few years of the Crusade; really, ''really'' hates Chaos and the Alpha Legion in particular, to the point where it's almost exclusively seen hunting down [[Chaos Space Marines]].
* '''Luk Kar Chimaeros, "The Knight of Ashes"''' - Former firstborn son and expected successor to House Chimaeros. Got too chummy with High King Danial of the rival House Draconis, resulting in his own parents ordering his death when Chimaeros went traitor. Unsurprisingly [[Rage|very pissed off at his brethren's betrayal]], he helped fight them off then had his Knight Errant fixed up and renamed (even changing the livery to a Chimera being impaled by a sword - subtle, GW!) before beginning to hunt down the corrupted members of his House - starting with his mother, now revealed as a powerful [[Tzeentch]]-aligned witch.
* '''Vortigan Drakkus''' - Aforementioned last survivor of House Drakkus. More on him below.

===Sacristans===
Unlike the much larger [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Titan legions]], most Imperial Knight Households do '''NOT''' retain [[Techpriest]]s of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] to maintain and repair the Knight suits (though deeply-bonded Mechanicum households usually do).

Instead they invariably include a specific class of individual called a '''Sacristan''', who is basically an artisan and a technology specialist. These Sacristans accompany the knight on his travels and keep his suit operational during the campaign, and if a Knight becomes somehow divorced from his household and becomes a Freeblade, the sacristans associated with the suit shall travel with him. It is assumed/alluded to that Sacristans have a cadre of serfs and underlings whom also follow ''them'' around, all of whom form the cadre of attendants for a single Knight.

Unbeknownst ''(or immaterial)'' to the Imperial Households, these Sacristans '''ARE''' inducted into the Machine Cult in a similar fashion to the [[Techmarines]] of the [[Adeptus Astartes]], having been trained either off-world or under an apprenticeship to an already established Sacristan. So while they may not be fully ordained Tech-Priests, they do further the interests of the Mechanicum while living amongst the Knight Households. Sacristans may be historically connected to whomever maintained the Knights during the Age of Strife, making Sacristans even more inspired by ''A Canticle for Leibowitz'' than the Mechanicum itself already is.

===[[Chaos Knight|Chaos and Renegade Knights]]===
[[File:Screenshot_181.jpg|350px|thumbnail|right|Like an Imperial Knight, but spiky and evil.]]
Though they are rare, there are a number of Knight Households or lone Freeblade Knights who have fallen to [[Chaos]]. Most infamous of all is the [[Slaanesh]] Hellknights of House Devine, who turned during the [[Horus Heresy]] due to [[A Song of Ice and Fire|Targaryen]]-esque amounts of twincest. That said, Renegade and Chaos Knights are hunted down by Loyalist Households, who view their existence as shaming all other Knights. The "board game" <b>Imperial Knight: Renegade</b> shows one such hunt.

For those who survive, these Renegade Knights (''Questor Traitoris'') can find employment and protection within the warbands of [[Chaos Space Marines]], or find themselves on the heretical end of a [[Daemons|warp incursion]] that puts their skills and equipment to "good" use. Of course, being a massive war machine, Chaos Knights may find themselves converted into massive [[Daemon Engines]] called Daemon Knights. The only real distinction between Renegade and Chaos Knight is that Chaos Knights actually worship Chaos and can become Daemon Knights, whereas Renegade Knights can simply be disowned and mercenary Freeblades who don't always side with for the Imperium or humanity at large, or loyalists who have run afoul of nearby authorities and have to unofficially operate until they can skip several sectors and change the colors. The distinction is often irrelevant during the decision-making process of whether or not Imperial forces intend to kill them (though "kill for the honor of the House" and "kill the fucking traitor with ''extreme prejudice''" aren't exactly the same state of mind for the ones doing the killing itself).

They can be divided roughly into three groups similarly to their Loyalist cousins, discounting Houses sworn to Traitor Titan Legions:

*'''Iconoclast Houses''', whose monstrous oaths to the Dark Gods have turned them into twisted mockeries of their former selves;
*'''Infernal Houses''', pledged to the [[Dark Mechanicus]] in exchange for unnatural power;
*'''Dreadblades''', fallen Freeblades who work for whoever can point them in the direction of someone to kill.

==Knight Patterns==
The Knights themselves come in several varieties, all of which have an energy shield to protect them from incoming fire and have a mix of shooty and choppy. 6th edition introduced two varieties have just recently appeared in the 40k model range, the Knight Paladin with its rapid fire battlecannon and the Knight Errant with its thermal cannon. Forge World later joined in with several of its own varieties of Knights, 7th edition introduced three other types (the Crusader, Gallant, and Warden) to the main 40k line, and 8th edition added four more (the Castellan, Valiant, Warglaive, and Helverin). WARNING: The following article contains a fuckton of sex jokes about Strength D and such things.

Knights usually deploy alongside Titan legions as auxiliary forces. Although some patterns of Knight are capable of going toe to toe with smaller titans, or even larger titans outfitted exclusively for ranged combat, the Knight's usual role is anti-infantry or anti-light vehicle freeing up the Titans to attack superheavies.

Interestingly, each Knight Pattern can be seen as a miniaturised Titan, Armigers are Warhounds; Questorus and Cerastus Knights are Reavers; and Dominus and Acastus Knights are Warlords.

===Armiger Knight Patterns===
Babys first knight. The smallest Knight class shown to date (roughly the size of a [[Dreadknight]], Grey Knight converters take note), Armigers are piloted by aspiring nobles, lowborn commoners with a knack for war, and the occasional bastard child of the High King. Due to their smaller size and lighter weight, Armigers are far faster and more agile than their larger brothers, which helps them hunt and fight at the flanks of their larger cousins. Basically, they are to larger knights what warhounds are to warlords - they serve as fast support to neutralize threats to the larger engine, while also helping in combat maneuvers. They are given the nickname of '''Baby Knights''', '''Mini-Knights''', '''Moe Knights''', '''Knight Jr''', '''The Wee Baby Brother of the Bunch''' or '''Mini-Me''' [[Dwarf|''for a very good reason'']]. Instead of a full Throne Mechanicum, they use a simpler set of implants dubbed the Helm Mechanicum that can be slaved to a larger Knight's commands- akin to the connection between a knight and his squire. This is even reflected in the name, ''Armiger'' is the Latin term for an Esquire, who was a low-ranking knight or high-ranking squire who served as the shield or arms bearer for another knight, hence the name (Armiger is arms bearer, Esquire comes from the French word for shield).

Strangely, while they can take both a Meltagun or Heavy Stubber as carapace options, they can't take a missile pod like their larger cousins [[Derp|or even their own]] [[Havoc Launcher|spiky]] counterparts.

Tl;dr, they're for when a scion of the Imperium wants to play mecha like the [[Tau|blueberries]] without it literally [[Dreadnought|taking an arm and a leg]] to do so.

====Armiger Knight Warglaive====
[[File:40kForgebane-Forgebane-Armiger.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Armiger Warglaive]]
Armiger Warglaives sprint into pace because they have to. Their weapon loadouts dictates that a fast and swift firststrike always gets the job done. It levels a lance-like beam of superheated directed energy from its [[Thermal Spear]] that can reduce a rockcrete bunker wall to a pool of bubbling lava. Those met by the ensuing charge are struck with an expert sweep of the Armiger's [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chain-Cleaver|Reaper Chain-cleaver]], a saw-toothed weapon that mangles metal and gnaws flesh to ruin with each shuddering impact.

Warglaives are equipped with Thermal Spears, Reaper Chain-Cleavers, and a [[Heavy Stubber|heavy stubber]] or a [[Meltagun|melta gun]]. Sadly it has lost the ability to move and shoot heavy weapons without penalty, but you don't really care about that, because your main weapon is Assault and no one actually uses the pop-gun. Use them if you want to have the firepower of a Knight without wasting a bucket load in points, but watch out for hordes.

Its more [[Dakka|shooty and ranged]] brother is the Armiger Helverin. Thus, the Warglaive is better situated in going up against CQC monsters that would have made mince meat out of the more fragile Knights.
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====Armiger Knight Helverin====
[[File:ArmigerHelverins.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Armiger Helverin]]
The shootier Armiger, armed with a pair of [[Autocannon|Armiger Autocannons]]. The Armiger Helverin is a fast-moving weapons platform designed to lay down blistering hails of heavy fire while running rings around the enemy’s forces. In place of the close-ranged armaments of the Warglaive, each Helverin aforementioned pair of Armiger-class autocannons are capable of firing hundreds of armor-piercing shells per minute, even a single such weapon can swiftly whittle down infantry ranks or shred armored vehicles.

As such, Armiger Helverins are versatile and highly destructive for something its size in contrast to the similarly sized yet underpowered and vulnerable [[Sentinel|Sentinels]], small wonder that they are popular amongst both Imperial and Adeptus Mechanicus Noble houses who traditionally relied upon the Helverins' support for their larger compatriots at war. These machines just work wonders.

Despite initial fears that the Helverin would be almost be twice the height, twice the cost, yet only half as shooty as an old-fashioned rifleman dreadnought, these little gun walkers have turned out to pack a surprising punch, with 4d3 shots strength 7 each at a ridiculous 60 inches. Did I mention that each shot deals 3 damage?
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====Armiger Knight Moirax====
[[File:Volkitedhk7g.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Armiger Moirax]]

Fitted with a potent reactor core capable of powering the most destructive weaponry available to its class, the Knight Moirax was a formidable tool in the arsenal Questoris Households loyal to the Mechanicum. However, this energy core was notorious for radioactive instability, and so the Moirax chassis was considered to be an unseemly instrument with which to lay the foundations of the Imperium, seeing minimal use on human-occupied worlds before the darkest hours of the Horus Heresy. - lore from the instruction manual inside the forgeworld kit box

Previewed on Warhammer Community. An Armiger armed with a [[Volkite Veuglaire]] and a [[Miscellaneous Weapons#Gyges Siege Claw|Gyges siege claw]] (likely a scaled-down Hekaton Siege Claw, like how the Reaper Chain-Cleaver is to the Reaper Chainsword) with an in-built [[Irradiation Projector|rad-cleanser]] (basically a 9" flamer that wounds any non-vehicles and non-titans on a 2+). You can replace them with any combination of the following: [[Lightning Lock]]s, [[Graviton Pulsar]]s and Moirax [[Conversion Beam Cannon]]s. It also has no penalty on firing heavy weapons after moving and can perform a heroic intervention on TITANIC units of the same household.

For protection, it used an Ionic Flare Field, which differed from the standard Ion Shield in its radius but at the cost of protection. It could also be equipped with an experimental Construct Shield, which is like the $2 store version of the much more impressive [[Void shield|Void Shields]]. Usually, the Construct Shield was frequently employed by the Magi of the Ordo Katastrophica to ensure their temperamental [[Legio Cybernetica|automata]] survive in battle long enough for them to gather vital operating data. But it seems that they manage to fit it on the Knight Moirax as well.
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===Questoris Knight Patterns===
The vanilla Knights that are found on pretty much every world with Knights stationed on it.

====Questoris Knight Paladin====
[[File:Knight Paladin.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Paladin]]
One of the most vanillas of vanillas when it comes to Knight patterns. Standing nine meters tall, the Knight Paladin represents a perfect balance of speed, firepower and armor, allowing it to undertake a wide variety of roles in battle. Nobles who have the honor of piloting a Knight Paladin take great pride in their ability to carry out a variety of tasks on the battlefield.

The Knight Paladin's all-terrain capability means it can move more quickly through terrain which would be hazardous to traditional wheeled or tracked vehicles and reposition itself to engage the enemy as needed.

The first knight to appear in regular 40k, along with the Errant, the Knight Paladin is armed with a Rapid-Fire [[Battle Cannon]] with an attached [[Heavy Stubber]] and another mounted on their chest/clavicle. Like all non-Forge World Knights, it can take either an [[Ironstorm Missile Pod]] (think Whirlwind minus Ordnance), a Heavy 3 [[Missile Launcher|Krak missile launcher]], or a pair of [[Autocannon|Icarus autocannons]] (I.e. actual anti-aircraft weapons) as carapace weapons to supplement their firepower, can also replace the heavy stubber with a meltagun for extra anti-armor usefulness and can replace its [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet.]]
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====Questoris Knight Errant====
[[File:Knight Errant.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Errant]]
One of the most vanillas of vanillas when it comes to Knight patterns. The Knight Errant are similar to their Paladin brothers, however their pilots are often far more aggressive with a penchant to ignore the whole "Chivalry in SPEHSS!" theme and go straight into [[RIP AND TEAR]]. This would make them a bit more unhinged in following direct orders and would lead to susceptible [[Khorne]] corruption if not for their absolute stubbornness in [[/tg/ gets shit done|getting shit done.]]

Nevertheless, when the going gets tough, [[/d/|they ''really'' like to get in deep and dirty.]] In the heat of battle, almost nothing can stop a rampaging Knight Errant save for a complementary bombardment of anti-tank weapons and the occasional blast of a Titan weapon.

The tank hunter of the Questoris, the Knight Errant is armed with a [[Thermal Cannon]], a Heavy d6 36" S9 Melta weapon. Like the Paladin, it can take either an [[Ironstorm Missile Pod]] (think Whirlwind minus Ordnance), a Heavy 3 [[Missile Launcher|Krak missile launcher]], or a pair of [[Autocannon|Icarus autocannons]] (I.e. actual anti-aircraft weapons) as carapace weapons to supplement their firepower, can also replace the heavy stubber with a meltagun for extra anti-armor usefulness and can replace its [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet.]] Fun fact: In ye olde Epic days, the Errant carried a [[Power weapon#Power Fist|power fist]], from which the Thunderstrike Gauntlet probably draws inspiration.
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====Questoris Knight Crusader====
[[File:99120108005_IMPERIALKNIGHTCRUSADER360.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Crusader]]
Carrying more firepower than a tank squadron, the Imperial Knight Crusader strides into battle with the confidence two main guns will give you. The Knight Crusader is one of the heaviest of the Questoris Knights by virtue of carrying all that damned ammunition. Capable of smashing holes in even the hardiest defense line, the Knight Crusader offers support to its close-range brethren, standing further back and unleashing scathing torrents of firepower to obliterate threats and terrify the enemy.

The first purely ranged Knight, it has the same [[Battle Cannon]] as the Knight Paladin (which it can replace with the [[Thermal Cannon]] for tankbusting) but replaces its close combat weapon with an [[Avenger Gatling Cannon]], which can unleash 12 S6 AP3 Rending shots per turn. You know, for when you need that squad of MEQs wiped out right now and they aren't clustered close enough for the Battle Cannon alone to kill them all.

As an added bonus, the Gatling cannon comes with a built-in [[Heavy Flamer|heavy flamer]] to compensate for its relative weakness at close range. (The key word is "relative". It can still Stomp, after all, and thanks to Smash it's still shitting out S10AP2 with normal cc attacks. It just can't give anyone the D.) Thus, you have a walker that can [[Bullshit|cover both long and close distances with relative ease]] and making it pretty much impervious to most infantry charges.
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====Questoris Knight Gallant====
[[File:99120108005_IMPERIALKNIGHTGALLANT360.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Gallant]]
Designed to smash apart enemies at close range, very few enemies can withstand the initial assault of the Knight Gallant. The ground shakes as the Knight Gallant stomps forward, offering its puny opponent a chance to duel in a completely <s>unfair and one-sided</s> fair and absolutely honorable fight. A Knight Gallant will slam into enemy lines like a giant sumo wrestler, and come out of the other side unscathed. This in itself would make for a hilarious vision of a giant mech bumrushing anything smaller than it like an overzealous Kool Aid-Man.

A noble designated to pilot a Knight Gallant will learn the three basic although pretty simple and straightforward tenets when he is bonded with his war machine. Though they may subtly differ, the three basic tenants are to trust in your Ion Shield, make all speed towards the foe, and strike swift and sure.

The purely choppy counterpart to the Knight Crusader, the Gallant eschews its arm-mounted ranged weapons for a [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] and the [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet]] (described below) making it an absolute beast in close combat but of dubious use if it can't close in for the kill. Carapace weapons can mitigate this slightly, but it'll still struggle against shooty foes if it can't get into melee.
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====Questoris Knight Warden====
[[File:99120108005_IMPERIALKNIGHTWARDEN360.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Warden]]
As befitting of its name, this Knight looks after a swarm of enemies like a prison warden controlling a crowd of rowdy mobs and criminals. Carrying itself into the thick of the action with heavy, thudding steps, and protected by both thick adamantine armor and an Ion Shield, the Knight Warden is perfectly equipped to deal with foes who attempt to use weight of numbers to their advantage.

The anti-horde option, by default the Warden comes with the Crusader's [[Avenger Gatling Cannon]] and a [[Heavy Flamer|heavy flamer]] on top of the obligatory [[Heavy Stubber|heavy stubber]] and [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]], but it can replace the sword with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet]]. Due to this, the Warden is notable for absolutely tearing tarpit heavy armies in one round, sometimes an entire tarpit formation bends over on the ''first attack''.

At first glance, the gauntlet doesn't look like much of an improvement due to the gauntlet giving a -1 hit penalty; however, if the fist ever kills a MC or vehicle the Warden can then throw whatever it killed at someone else. In game terms, this translates to an out-of-phase shooting attack that deals D3 Mortal Wounds serving as an unpleasant surprise for careless opponents.
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====Questoris Knight Magaera====
[[File:Knight Magaera.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Magaera]]
Yet another Forge World model, this one is different however, this one is a Questoris variant, which means it's short and fat. Magaera type Knights are most often used as shock assault units, breaching the most heavily defended enemy positions, while shrugging off heavy weapons fire and [[Bullshit|self-repairing even devastating weapon strikes in a few minutes of Dark Age level of Bullshit.]] It is noted to be favoured by Houses that are especially closely allied to the Mechanicus and share their hatred for flesh; Houses which are outright enslaved don't get a say in the matter.

It was specially made by the Mechanicus to curry favor with Knight Houses (or to control them, depending on who you ask, seriously look at that headpiece), and it shows in the unique wargear options it gets. For a start, it has Blessed Autosimulacrum (giving it IWND-lite), and its ionic shield acts similarly to the Flare Shields normally used by superheavy tanks like the [[Spartan Assault Tank]].

Its weapons are no less unusual- it can replace its chainsword for a [[Miscellaneous Weapons#Hekaton Siege Claw|Hekaton Siege Claw]] which grants it Wrecker (and a built in TL rad-cleanser to fuck with Toughness scores), and at range it can employ a [[Phased Plasma-Fusil]] and a [[Lightning Cannon]] that mulch both infantry and all but the heaviest-armored vehicles. There's a catch, though- its reactor is highly unstable, as reflected by the +1 it gets when rolling on the Catastrophic Damage chart.
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====Questoris Knight Styrix====
[[File:Knight_Styrix.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Questoris Knight Styrix]]
Yes, Forge World is releasing another pattern of Knight, and it's another short and fat Questoris chassis with Blessed Autosimulacrum. However, unlike most machines, the Styrix maybe one of the few that the AdMech continuously tries to avoid and even chuck out of the metaphorical window if given the chance. It is basically the bad omen of Imperial Knight patterns.

There is a good reason why it is viewed with caution. The Styrix houses a machine spirit which some say became too accustomed to slaughter during the Age of Strife and the Great Crusade that followed it. Many conservative Knight Houses consider the Styrix to be a malevolent pattern, the wanton destruction it unleashes being beneath a true Knightly Knight with Knightly chivalry and values.

Other Households hold no such reservations, letting loose entire formations of Styrix Knights to annihilate their foes. This one packs a [[Volkite Chieorovile]] and a [[Graviton Imploder]], and shares the Magaera's option of upgrading its Reaper chainsword to a [[Miscellaneous Weapons#Hekaton Siege Claw|Hekaton Siege Claw]] with complimentary [[Irradiation Projector|Rad Cleanser]]. Seriously, it is a miracle that the AdMech did not sanction these machines as techno-heresy when its machine spirit is borderline [[Dreadclaw]] worthy.
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====Questoris Knight Preceptor====
[[File:Sir hektor and canis rex.jpg|250px|thumbnail|left|Questoris Knight Preceptor]]
Like the Errant, Warden, and Paladin, the Knight Preceptor is armed with a [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainsword|Reaper Chainsword]] that it can replace with a [[Power weapon#Thunderstrike Gauntlet|Thunderstrike Gauntlet]] as a melee weapon, but differentiates itself from the more common Questoris variants by its [[Las-Impulsor]]. Essentially a laser shotgun in its function, the Las-Impulsor is effective against infantry and vehicles alike depending on its firing mode. However, unlike conventional Knights, the Preceptor is like the Big Boss or the Master Wushu of Knights who are often the more grizzled and commanding of these warmachines.

Knight Preceptors are commonly piloted by arms-masters and other senior members of a House, and are such, largely responsible for the training of young squires to pilot Knights in the future as well as strengthen their mental fortitude for the Ritual of Becoming. Consequently they are also able to both inspire and coordinate any Armiger-class Knights accompanying them with remarkable skill as well as recruit, train and mentally prepare the Bondsmen for their initiation into the Armigers.

By far the most famous Knight Preceptor and Pilot is the aforementioned Sir Hektur and Canis Rex, otherwise known as the Chainbreaker. What has been said about this Braveheart in Space has already been explained enough. On a side note, although you can't really tell, but Canis Rex has a little compartment for Hektur to ride in, it is a pretty neat contraption.
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===Cerastus Knight Patterns===
Bigger and slimmer than the vanilla Knights, these absolute units bring Mars Pattern Hard Cheddar to the battlefield with exotic weapon systems.
====Cerastus Knight Acheron====
[[File:Knight_Arheron.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Acheron]]
Another Forge World model, tall and lanky like all the other Cerastus pattern models. Acheron pattern Knights were configured as rapid moving strike units who rose to prominence during the legendary battles of the Great Crusade, but whose most terrible renown was to be found on the battlefields of the Horus Heresy. They are employed as weapons of extermination and to inspire fear in their foes. Nothing will sway their attack until the enemy is utterly crushed, never to rise again from the flame-scoured ruins of their strongholds. Rare, even in those ancient times for the singular difficulties of their construction, the Cerastus Knight-Acherons were amongst the most dreaded of their age.

The Acherons’ machine spirits were regarded as [[World Eaters|particularly lusting for wanton destruction]] and only the strongest scion-minds could master them via the Throne Mechanicum, especially during the tumult of open battle. Has a [[Acheron Flame Cannon|Flame Cannon]] to make those Heretics extra crispy, and a [[Chain Weapon#Reaper Chainfist|reaper chainfist]] (with built in twin-linked [[Bolter#Heavy Bolter|heavy bolter]]) that lets it reroll 1s on the Destroyer damage table against vehicles. Now you can give your opponent the D while also fisting them.

Again, like the Styrix, it is one of those Knight patterns that is pretty damned close to being full blown literal [[Khornate Knights]] that stops just short of being declared as techno-heresy by the AdMech.
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====Cerastus Knight Atrapos====
[[File:99560108146_MechanicumCerastusKnightAtrapos01.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Atrapos]]
One of the rarest and most potent types of Knights, the Cerastus Knight-Atrapos was created solely to destroy heretek engines and xenos war machines whose very nature and existence were considered a blasphemy to the Omnissiah. The machine spirits of the Knight Atrapos are said to carry with them a cold and all-destroying hunger, and for the scion who bonds with them, madness is a constant risk.

With the speed and shielding of the Cerastus chassis, and the Knight Atrapos’ Macro-extinction Targeting Protocols, the Cerastus Knight-Atrapos was an uncommonly destructive weapon of war that would have been God-tier if it was scaled up to an Emperor Titan.

It comes with the same Blessed Autosimulacra and flare shields the Questoris Knights have and also has a special rule that makes all his weapons twin-linked, if it is firing at a Super-heavy or Gargantuan Creature. All of his weapons are very close ranged but they are a big fuck off to armour and thanks to the swiftness of the cerastus knights he should be in range soon. It is armed with an [[Atrapos Lascutter]], a D weapon that can be used both in close combat and as a 8" shooting attack, and a [[Graviton Singularity Cannon]] ([[Awesome|yep, it shoots black holes]]), a 36", S8, Ap2, large blast weapon with Armorbane and the Collapsing Singularity rule. This means that before firing the weapon you roll a D6; on a 1 the knight loses one HP (but the attack is still carried out as long as the knight survives), and on a 6 the attack gains Vortex.
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====Cerastus Knight Castigator====
[[File:Knight Castigator.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Castigator]]
A Forge World model, and another close-combat variant. They accomplish this with a hail of rounds from their [[Castigator Bolt Cannon]]. The Castigator is also equipped with a [[Power weapon#Tempest Warblade|Tempest Warblade]] that can easily destroy enemy vehicles including even fellow Knights. With these weapons, the Castigator can metaphorically [[Anal circumference|shove its giant warblade up the rear armor of any vehicle.]]

While fluff states that it is used to handle and take down hordes of lesser foes that could overwhelm other patterns of Knight through sheer numbers, in actuality there are other Knight variants better eqipped for horde cleansing, such as the Porphyrion or Crusader, who actually have more weapons suited into turning blobs of infantry into minced meat. Hence, it can be argued that the Castigator should be used as more on the lines as both crowd control and vehicle destroyer.

Uses a big fuck-off sword (which is "only" S10, but has the same Deflagrate rule as the [[Volkite Weaponry|Volkite weapons]], rerolls failed armor penetration, and can exchange its attacks to hit everything in base contact once), and a Bolt Cannon which is essentially a S7 AP3 Heavy 8 giant [[bolter]].
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====Cerastus Knight Lancer====
[[File:Lancer-trans.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Cerastus Knight Lancer]]
One of the more uncommon but highly valued Knights fielded by Knight Houses, the Knight Lancer is a first-strike weapon, attuned to rapid assault tactics and lethal flanking maneuvers. It is renowned for its speed and power, as well as for the temperamental and restive nature of its machine-spirit. Because of this reputation, the most impetuous and glory-hungry of the Knight households are driven to bond with these war machines, their own souls a match for the fury caged within their war engines.

The close assault variant of Knight, much taller and faster than the Paladin & Errant by virtue of longer legs. It is ''far'' more specialized than the Paladin or Errant due to its weapon loadout and suffers if it is not supported. Has a physical ion shield rather than just being a force field, which means it cannot block attacks to the rear, however it ''can'' be used against close combat attacks. In its other arm is has a [[Combi-weapon|combi-melee/range weapon]] called the [[Power weapon#Cerastus Shock Lance|Cerastus Shock Lance]] that gives it extra initiative when it charges into combat, its shooting mode is basically a 18" range 6-shot [[Plasma|plasma rifle]] that concusses its targets. So better to get it into melee with other big things.

On a slightly more hilarious note, the Lancer's ranged attack is of a decent Strength and AP, and fires a lot of shots. It's also not a Template Weapon. While not recommended, it means in a pinch the Lancer ''can'' be used as an anti-aircraft gun should the Knights lack sufficient AA from other sources (e.g. you are running pure Knights and don't have the Icarus autocannons), the amount of shots it fires making it second only to the [[Forgefiend]] in terms of emergency AA. It's also excellent against TEQs! And, with its concussive plasma shots, this thing is actually capable of countering a Wraithknight; even if you don't knock it down to initiative 1, you will be hitting at the same time on the charge.
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===Dominus Knight Patterns===
Do you want to have a [[Warlord Battle Titan]] without selling your kidney? Do you want to play with these titanic behemoths without risking being punched in the face by your friends (and spending several million dollars on superglue)? Then we got the perfect answer for you! Play Adeptus Titanicus, ''or'', you could get a Dominus. Dominus Knights are basically dwarf [[Warlord Titan|Warlord Titans]] for all intents and purposes.

====Dominus Knight Castellan====
[[File:KnightCastellan.jpg|thumb|232px|left|Dominus Knight Castellan]]

It is the foremost artillery platform within the lances of the knightly houses, the Castellan hammers the enemy at extreme range from the moment the fight begins. Manned by a high-ranking Noble Lord, the Castellan is more akin to a mobile fortress than standard Knight. Thanks to its twin plasma cores, it is can be equipped with a wide array of heavy weaponry which can be explained more below.

Due to being powered by two plasma cores, the Castellan has become an especially shooty pattern of Knight. It is armed with a [[Plasma Decimator]] on one arm to blast apart heavy infantry, a [[Volcano Lance]] on the other for blowing vehicles to pieces, two twin-linked [[meltagun]]s mounted near the head, and three hardpoints for [[Siegebreaker Cannon]]s and [[Shieldbreaker Missile]]s on its back. Seriously, this thing is decked out in so much guns it can make Orks blush in envy. Knight Porphyrion, it's time to step up your game.

One can't help but wonder how it is possible for one pilot to operate all those guns... Not like GW or [[Battletech]] for that matter cares, of course. Turns out the Carapace Weapons are automated.
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====Dominus Knight Valiant====
[[File:KnightValiant.jpg|thumb|232px|left|Dominus Knight Valiant]]
The Knight Valiant defeats its enemies through the simple principle of applying overwhelming firepower at close proximity. The [[Hellhound Tank|Hellhound]] of the Knight Dominus in contrast to the Castellan's [[Leman Russ Executioner]] profile. With its Ion shields, this Knight can march relatively harmlessly in order for the enemy to get in range with its two [[/d/|large and meaty weapons.]]

Yes, the Valiant is armed with a giant harpoon. Yes, you will be contractually obligated to yell '''"Get over here!"''' when you hit something with it. While the [[Thundercoil Harpoon]]'s range is only 12", it hits with S16 AP-6 for 10 damage (plus d3 more mortal wounds)- more than enough to destroy most tanks in one hit and knocking down most superheavies down a damage bracket (and kill Primarchs). There's also that triple-barreled giant flame called the [[Conflagration Cannon]] that hits like three heavy flamers for S7 AP-2 2 D apiece, but who cares when you have a giant harpoon?

On a side note, notice how the top-most barrel of the Flamer is <s>useless, [[Derp|as it doesn't]] [[Fail|have a pilot-light]]</s> {{Blam}} {{Blam|dependent on the two massive gouts of fire from the flamers directly beneath it to light its stream of promethium, thus displaying the [[Skub|usual efficiency and elegant design characteristic of the Adeptus Mechanicus]] in their holy service to the Imperium.}}
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===Acastus Knight Patterns===
The Domini are big for sure, but these chonkers are as large as it gets without getting into Titan/Ultra Heavy Tank territory.
====Acastus Knight Porphyrion====
[[File:99560108172_AcastusKnightPorphyrion01.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Acastus Knight Porphyrion]]
Among the largest of Knight chassis and by far the bulkiest one yet. When this beast was first revealed, almost everyone and ''I mean almost'' <u>'''EVERYONE'''</u> thought it was going to be a new class of Titan, seriously... this thing is so big it is nearly the size of a [[Warhound Scout Titan]] for Emprah's sake. As such, it is one of the most heavily armed and armored of all the Knight chassis in service.

While it has no melee weaponry of its own, it packs a pair of [[Lascannon|twin-linked magna-lascannons]]- which are Ordnance 2 Large Blast lascannons which become Strength D when fired at a range of 12" or less, making it an ideal superheavy-killer. It also comes with a built-in [[Ironstorm Missile Pod|Ironstorm Missile Launcher]] (that can be replaced with a [[Helios Defense Missile Pod]] for anti-air purposes) and a pair of [[autocannon]]s that can be swapped out for [[Irradiation Projector|rad-cleansers]] or [[lascannon]]s.

Since the release of the Dominus, the Acastus has lost its title of Dakka-knight, with only 6 barrels of Hell compared to the smaller Dominus' 8-12, but still holds its own as a pretty potent Titan-killer in a game of Apocalypse since it has two superheavy-busting weapons instead of only one. The Dominus is an all around warmachine, the Porphyrion is here to hunt super heavies.
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====Acastus Knight Asterius====
[[File:KnightAsterion.jpg|thumb|250px|left|Acastus Knight Asterius]]

Continuing the trend of the 50s Atom Punk design of the AdMech. This is another Acastus Knight, this time equipped with two twin-linked [[Conversion Beam Cannon]]s, two [[Volkite Culverin]]s, and a [[Karacnos Mortar Battery]] capable of unleashing radioactive death from afar. Because of the cost and rarity of the weapons they were lugging around as well as the cost of the Knight itself, these big boys were already rare even in the age of the [[Horus Heresy]] with the Asterius patterns being even more scarce than Porphyrions.

Like its counterpart, these were the big boys of the Knight Houses. These mighty behemoths were armed to annihilate enemy armour and hordes of infantry, so it's not surprising that this thing is the quintessential MEQ, TEQ and GEQ pesticide. The carapace hid the aforementioned Karacnos mortar battery, [[Rape|yes, the same weapon found on the]] [[Karacnos Assault Tank]]. Essentially, the Asterius deals with [[Tarpit|hordes and tarpits]] whilst the Porphyrion deals with the more armored meatboys like superheavy tanks, titans and fellow knights.

On tabletop in Horus Heresy, the Titan wannabe over here comes in packing with 8 Hull Points, heavy AP values and a 4+ Ion Shield save. Its front, side rear and armor are 14, 13 and 12 respectively meaning that it can readily walk fast and close enough to unleash its beams of death. With its Initiative 3, WS 4 and BS 5 it may not be hitting that much, but its Strength of 10 means that when it hits, it hits '''''hard'''''. However, it only has Attack 3 which is to be expected for a knight like this.

What everyone is interested of course, is its weapons. The Asterius Conversion Beam Cannon is a pretty nasty weapon with a [[Rape|42-72″ rangeband hitting at S10 AP1, 7″ Massive Blast at its max range. The Sunder rule lets it reroll failed armor penetration rolls, while Wrecker is +1 on the damage tables for fortifications.]] [[Anal circumference|Basically, it can make entire tank fleets bend over in pain.]] While its power is reduced somewhat at close range (losing Sunder and downgrading to Large Blast at ranges of less than 42", and losing Wrecker and going down to a regular Blast at ranges below 18"), it is still a force to be reckoned with even when not at full strength.

There is also the aforementioned Karacnos battery, which handles similarly to the Assault Tank variant. A 60" S5, AP4, Heavy, Barage weapon with Blast of 3". It also continues having the Fleshbane rule that always wounds models on a 2+ and Rad-phage with it’s Toughness -1 for the rest of the game if the unit survive. Not to mention that as an artillery weapon, it ignores cover.

With these weapons, you get the feeling that even the two Volkite Culverins are nothing more than window dressing while they would be a great horde killer on anything else. Also the face looks a bit ridiculous even by Warhammer standards.

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==Times of Epic==
Back in the times of ''Epic Warhammer 40,000'', the Knights we know and love looked and acted very differently than they do now:

{|border=0 cellspacing=0 cellpadding=2 style="margin: 1em;"
|-
| align=right| [[File:Lancer Command.jpg|150px|thumbnail|centre|Commander type Lancer. They all go really fast.]] || '''Lancer:''' Faster than other Knights, this pattern is all about scouting, distraction and hit-and-run tactics. Instead of its standard Shock Lance, it can swap it for a shorter in range, yet more powerful Power Lance. The only downside of them is that they are the most fragile of Knight Pattern. Now in 40k too, being the first Forge World Knight kit.
|-
| align=right| [[File:CrusaderDetachment.jpg|250px|thumbnail|center|When you need to kill something hard, roll out the Crusaders.]] || '''Crusader:''' Slower, yet sturdier and more powerful, Crusaders are armed with heavy weapons that are usually found on [[Warlord Battle Titan|Warlord]] or [[Emperor Battle Titan|Imperator Class Titans]] (such as the Quake Cannon). Due to them moving slow (blame the heavy weapons and loads of armoured bits) compared to other Knights, these behemoths are used to snipe targets from extreme range and act as a powerful support force for the rest of the Knights.
|-
| align=right| [[File:CastellanDetachment.jpg|150px|thumbnail|centre|Castellans. Knight level of [[Dakka]].]] || '''Castellan:''' The short-ranged cousin of the Crusader that swaps its standard Lascannons for multi-barreled Autocannons. This makes the Castellan a nightmare for infantry and light vehicles, as well as allowing it to deplete an enemy Titan's shields in a disturbingly short time.
|-
| align=right| [[File:KnightBaron.jpg|150px|thumbnail|center|When a Baron enters the battlefield, [[AWESOME]] ensues.]] || '''Baron:''' The biggest, baddest of all the Knights. Baron Knights are piloted by the deadliest members of a Knight House. Each Baron is actually built from the very basics as an ace-custom for its pilots, combining the power and speed to keep pace with Lancers with armor nearly as tough as a Crusader! Typically armed with Battle Cannons and the Lancer's Power Lance, the Barons lead their kinsmen to war and victory.
|-
| align=right| [[File:KnightWarden.jpg|150px|thumbnail|center|Old people are actually as deadly as younglings.]] || '''Warden:''' Piloted by the eldest (read retired) members of a Knight House, these goofy-looking Knights shouldn't be underestimated, much like the old-timers that pilot them. Warden Knight make up (like the Crusader) the heavy support part of a Knight House in the long-range category. Although not as fast as the youngsters, the pilots of Wardens make it up with years of brutally hard-won experience that makes them as deadly as the Barons.
|}

== Why Knights are Awesome ==
[[File:Knight Errant of Freeblade Garantius.jpg|450px|thumbnail|left|Knight Errant of Freeblade Gerantius. The Forgotten Knight. Closest you get to the [[The Green Knight|Green]] [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle|Knight]].<br><span style='color:green;font-size:150%'>'''DAT FING IS BOOTIFUL!'''</span>]]
Imperial Knight lore is some of the coolest stuff in 40k. True to both the medieval tradition and epic feel that 40k thrives from, Knights protect the Agri Worlds that the Mechanicus use to supply (and predominantly feed) their incredibly ravenous [[Forge World#Planet|forge worlds]]. These Knight steeds are easier to produce by far than even the humble [[Warhound Scout Titan]] and so can be made reliably, produced almost as an afterthought. So Knights aren't the biggest, baddest, most overblown thing in 40k -- but, they are to the Knight Worlders. The people who live and die on those Agri Worlds, delineated from other Agri Worlds by their designation as Knight Worlds, are all on the technological and societal footing of Medieval Europe. A lot of these worlds look like Bretonnia, from [[Warhammer Fantasy]]. Kings and Queens, Arthurian legend, stone brick castles and skullcapped peasantry abound; fields and forests extend to every horizon without end. Remember, [[grimdark|it's much, much more important to obey societal doctrine than to optimize food output]].

Imagine what someone from that world would think when they see an Imperial Knight. The most agile giant robots the Imperium makes, capable of shrugging off lasers and plasma bombs, tower silently over a field on a world that probably doesn't even have gunpowder weaponry or a Copernican idea of the night sky. The kingdoms of the planet may have their petty wars, but life is dominated by meeting the food and resource quotas of machine-men from the sky, who build and fix the Knights that children and adults view with awe and reverence, like some amalgam of god and monster. These machine-men could destroy entire kingdoms on a whim by dropping stars from the sky. Kingdoms train their nobles and knightly warriors to fight with swords, horses, and hammers. They conscript armies from farming peasants, and use squads of bowmen to kill men at range....except for the Knight pilots. Those who are honorable enough or skilled enough may graduate beyond knighthood, to Knighthood. Someone who takes a bath maybe twice a month and lives by torchlight has the duty to step inside a machine of such power and complexity that the science of the forty-first Millennium proves incapable of comprehending it. Those men are revered beyond their kings, for they are the wielders of magic and death, and are entrusted with more true power than any other man on the planet. Those men fight monsters, murderous warriors from the sky, and even other Knights from enemy kingdoms. Sometimes, when the machine men come down when they aren't expected, the men who pilot the god-monsters must go far away to battle alongside the machine men in their wars. Not a war on the other side of the world, but a war on a distant star, surrounded by machines and giants even larger than they, on a war that will never matter on the strategic scale but still must be fought for that is what their protector, the Master of Mankind, demands and requires.

Imagine the man who has the lifelong job of knowing how to run the Knights, whose sacred duty is to recruit and train pilots. Imagine. A lord or general may give the order to bring cavalry around the left flank, and fire the laser cannon onto the walls of his enemy's castle. Despite his most valorous deeds, his children grow up playing with a giant metal god standing over them, silent and omnipotent, resplendent in livery and gold leaf. These children one day grow old and tell stories not of lords and generals, but of the time when their kingdom's metal giant slew a great beast, or razed an entire castle single-handedly, or ran across the entire world to deliver medicine to a dying king. Imagine what a pilot is to his subjects, or his lords. What legends would be told of them, the men who step inside the kingdom's giant? Their legends are not sagas of inscrutable gods or immortal emperors or statistic-scale tragedies, but of simple, honorable soldiers told by humble, hardworking people centuries after those soldiers are but dust and memory.

If you are not crying tears of pure [[awesome]] right now then you are either have no soul or are [[Sly Marbo]].

==6th Edition and Beyond==
[[File:IKErrant battle.jpg|450px|thumbnail|right|THOU SHALL NOT PASS BY A KNIGHT OF HOUSE TERRYN!! HAVE AT THEE [[Tau|BLUEBERRIES]]!!!.]]

Imperial Knights became a Codex in 6th edition. With the ability to be a Household detachment of 3-6 knights or an allied detachment of 1-3 knights, Knights may ally with [[Chaos]], [[Daemon]]s, [[Necron]]s and [[Tyranid|'Nids]] as Come the Apocalypse, [[Dark Eldar]], [[Tau]] and [[Orks]] as Desperate Allies; [[Eldar]] as Allies of Convenience; and all of the Imperium Faction as Battle Brothers (Yes, even [[Grey Knights]]).

'''Note:''' Imperial Knights are only Vehicles, only scoring if they're your primary. But let's face it you're always playing Purge the Alien anyway, even when it's not. The GW Imperial Knights are not Lords of War for other Imperial armies (the FW ones, however, can fit there), they are an army unto themselves. If you're playing 3-6 as a primary detachment, pick one as your Warlord; he gets relics and +1 WS/BS

Lets do the numbers:
*'''1000 pts''' - You can have up to 2 models to fit the points cost. Sadly this means no Primary Detachment or even formations in low point games as everything has a bare 3-knight minimum requirement. You could run 3 Gallants, and have 75 points left for other options/upgrades, but it's not even remotely competitive, even as the formation. If you run knights at 1000 point, you can count on Cergorach pairing you up against some grinning elfdar d-bag with d-cannons and a farseer.
*'''1250 pts''' - Up to three models this time, making it the first points level you can play with your Primary detachment. With the new codex and a slew of upgrades, depending on what you choose, you can fill out the remaining 100 points with either upgrades to the knights themselves, or take one of the more expensive knights (like the Crusader).
*'''1500 pts''' - Perfect if you plan on only taking Paladins, taking Errants will nab you some extra points to upgrade those stubbers into melta guns (or take a gauntlet for every 2 Errants). At this points cost you can field 4 of these Knights. If you want to field any other types, especially the formations, you're gonna have to start dropping knights, or take a few Gallants to free up the points.
*'''1750pts''' - Now possibly the new sweet spot for Knights. With around 250 extra points to play around with, you can either afford to bring in some Crusaders to pack more damage, upgrade every knight with a carapace weapon, or take 3 Gallants (the cheapest Knights) to bring 5 knights in a 1750 game.
*'''1850pts''' - Similar to above, but now you can field 5 Knights without having 3 or 4 of them be Gallants while still having a decent amount of points to play around with. Note that 5 bare naked Errants cost exactly the same amount, so if you're confident in your melta-spam, this works too.
*'''2000pts''' - Now with upgrades, this has also become a sweet spot for people looking to field the Exalted Court or Baronial Court. With roughly 150 extra points to play with, you can either grant each of your knights one of the relics, or start upgrading them with extra weapons and other whistles. Alternatively, you can field up to 6 bare-bones Gallants at this point, which is just enough to take two Gallant Lance Formations (although this is not wise, it is recommended, if only to see the horror in your opponent's face when 6 knights basically leap across the table to charge him).
So what if you want to deploy 6 Knights on the field at once? You are looking at somewhere between 2220 - 2250pts. If you can do this you just paid $840 USD for an entire army of only 6 models, you sir are the envy of many neckbeards and [[Ork#Flash Gits|clearly have more dollars than sense]]. And we thought the Grey Knights were an elite army per model. Or you can just, oh I don't know, scratch build 6 knights and save yourself $820 bucks. Just sayin'.

Note: Flyers may not be laughing quite as hard with the new 7th edition codex, but may giggle a little as the carapace mounted AC isn't too scary (unless you have five knights all with that weapon...but then your opponent may laugh for different reasons). The Warden/Crusaders gatling cannon can do some credible anti-flyer work and may be your best bet. Regardless, it remains a valid tactic to continue to take all those point you couldn't spend (see above) and buy a Vengeance Weapons Battery w. Quad Icarus, or two, or even better a Firestorm Redoubt.

Second Note: FW have made their own version of an all-knight list, which actually has Knights fitting into a modified force org chart.

==Warhammer 40,000 Freeblade==
Yet another exercise in wasted potential, Warhammer 40,000: Freeblade is a [[Awesome|badass looking third person Imperial Knights game]] [[Skub|for iOS and Android]]. You can play it on Windows 10 now!

The plot's simple; you're a newly initiated knight of House Drakkus and your bonding ritual only just finishes when Chaos Space Marines dedicated to Khorne show up and fuck shit up. You end up being the last knight of House Drakkus and you get rescued by the Dark Angels who take you on a merry adventure of fucking [[Orks]] and [[Chaos]] up. Fun fact: canonically, your Freeblade takes the name of "Vortigan". You're welcome.

[[Fall of the Eldar|OH NO]]. Turns out that it is a free2play nightmare, with forced 30 second video ads and amazing amounts of not so subtle hints that you should really be buying their shitty supply drop 'loot crates' and a mind boggling array of other detritus.
You know you have a pile of exploitative and badly written shit on your hands when upon clicking on said loot crate, a [[Dark Angels|derpy marine]] with cybernetic implants and a voice like a talking vibrator pops up and proclaims he "Can scarce imagine what glorious spoils lie within- let us find out!" Bleargh.

The icing on the cake is unlocking new chapters in the story, which require playing variants of story missions (okay) to grinding pointless, barely randomized low-level “patrols” (kill us now). That doesn’t sound bad at first... but you can only do three “patrols” at once with a two hour cool down. If you’re a schmuck and gave them money, you get... up to five. Later chapters require up to 50 “patrols” being done, at which point, you should be playing an actual game.

Its only saving grace is the paint and customise your own knight section, which is kind of fun! One can then take take pictures of said pimped out knight and then promptly uninstall. New update! You can use the ''absolutely pointless'' AR mode to pretend you have actual money to buy an actual Titan!

It's somewhat decent for a mobile game, which only goes to show the [[Fail|pitiful state]] of [[Derp|mobile “gaming”]].

[[Extra Heresy|The paid-for Slaneesh Knight skin has Khorne markings on certain high-end wargear pieces too (probably done on purpose to troll Khornates).]]

Recommended to play on Facebook gameroom if you have it. No ads, MUCH easier play, and the integrity system has been revamped. Also, due to how things work, bring a melta gun, and gatling cannon to Multiplayer. Always will win. This strategy will actually help you get loot mega quick. Play against noobs and [[Profit|rack up the valor tokens until you get the best multiplayer gear which can also be used in campaign]]. This tactic specifically is the most efficient because multiplayer doesn’t damage your Knight as you continue to play, and this method can quickly get you to an ideal ranking. If you reach this ideal ranking, the daily valor token amount will give you enough to buy at least one crate per day (keeping this quota requires you play MP at least once a day). When the season is over, you’ll get an even bigger sum of tokens which you can use to get lots of crates. Basically if you do this right, you’re almost guaranteed to get high quality gear before the season is over. Rinse and repeat. The three super weapons that will be described below can be obtained in these valor crates. Upon getting any or all of these, they will be your go-to weapons from now on.

However, there are 3 super weapons in the game that are hyped up by the in-game offers (which, of course, means money): the Graviton Gun (light), Gauntlet (melee), and Lightning Cannon (heavy). The Graviton gun is a gravity based weapon that’s every bit as deadly as the fluff describes it. It has the dakka of the stubber and tank-busting potential of the melta, making this the perfect weapon against anything short of the melee bosses. The Lightning Cannon has the same anti-tank abilities as the other heavy weapons, but can effortlessly score [[Awesome|multikills and combos thanks to the chain effects of the lightning. It also sounds epic.]] The gauntlet is just a better chainsword which can display lightning or lightning claws. What makes this weapon so great is that while its hit margin is slightly smaller than the chainsword, hitting within the gauntlet’s margin AT ALL [[Cheese|guarantees critical damage on every hit, on top of it already dealing more damage than a chainsword.]]
These weapons individually are game changers. Needless to say, each weapon is a jack of all trades, master of all. If you’re lucky enough to get all 3 of them [[FAIL|(or greedy, if you paid money for them)]], you will be unstoppable. You will be so powerful that the game will actually get [[FAIL|BORING, since everything is easy now.]]

[[Fail|Unfortunately]], there is a bug that causes the game to ‘forget’ your progress and revert your progress to a previous point in time, [[RAGE|removing all the progress you had previously made]].

Anyway, Vortigan cuts his way through Ork Warboss Nekkruncha who coincidentally had a WAAAGH going on the planet, blasts the entire Chaos Force present and [[Awesome|rips a motherfucking]] [[Bloodthirster]] [[Rip and Tear|into pieces in single combat]]. He then joins the Dark Angels with his sacristan Irynblood.

==See Also==
*[[Chaos Knight]]
*[[Imperial Knight House Creation Tables]], work-in-progress tables you can roll on to generate a Knight House of your own.
*[[BattleTech]], the original "mechas as a stand-in for feudal knights".
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Questoris Knight Crusade (30k)]]
*[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Imperial Knights (9E)|Tactics on how to play them.]]

{{Mechanicus}}
{{40k-Imperial-Vehicles}}
{{Imperium}}
{{WH40k-Factions}}
[[Category: Walkers]]
[[Category:Video Games]]

Belisarius Cawl

2022-11-21T20:08:10Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D: /* From the T'au */

{{Topquote|The Omnissiah filled the galaxy with mysteries so that we might learn from them, coming step by step closer to his perfect being. To ignore them, even in the face of war, is heresy.|Archmagos Belisarius Cawl}}
{{Topquote|His colleagues are limited. Their beliefs have become a faith that they dare not challenge. The Adeptus Mechanicus is far more trammelled in its thinking than the Mechanicum of your time was, my Lord Guilliman, and the archmagos was a radical in those distant centuries. You would not have come to him if he were not.|Cawl Inferior, Cawl's not-an-AI}}
{{Topquote|Lord Cawl, you can't just solve all our problems by making more Primaris Space Marines!" "HA HA HA THE HELL I CAN'T!| Belisarius Cawl / Games Workshop showing either a lot or very little self-awareness.}}

[[File:CawlArt.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Ten thousand years and enough augmentations to be the size of a Carnifex, and he still hasn't gotten rid of that organic left arm.]]

'''Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl''' is the first unique character for the Adeptus Mechanicus faction, and like all good servants of [[Omnissiah|the dragon on mars]] has turned himself into a [[awesome|FUCKING CYBORG]]. Along with [[Inquisitor Greyfax]] and [[Saint Celestine]], he forms the Triumvirate of the Imperium. This motherfucker is old. How old? Ten thousand years. Which should be impossible as the oldest a magos of the Mechanicus can get is around 1,000 years [[Dark Mechanicus|and they also go insane]], but who knows. He might have spent most of it in stasis, or built himself new bodies and implanted his not-an-AI into it, but the most popular rumors among the Mechanicus have it that he did so using some kind of forbidden [[Xenos|xenos]] tech while replacing what few organic parts he had left with machinery, Ship of Theseus style. Even after having his memories wiped on two separate occasions, he's famed among the AdMech as having a truly unmatched hoard of knowledge compiled over the millennia.

He has some sort of mysterious mission he's been on for the last ten thousand years. It was given to him by [[Roboute Guilliman|/tg/'s favourite person]] (apart from a certain [[Matt Ward|Spiritual Liege]]), and consists of two parts. The first is making Guilliman a brand new suit, making Belisarius Cawl the slowest tailor in all of fiction (though admittedly that's because it went on hold until he could figure out the 'resurrection' thing). The second is to build brand new weapons and pull out old ones to help fight against the enemies of the Imperium. His main creation was the [[Primaris Marines]] which took him nearly 10,000 years to create (although this was because of how ridiculously advanced and hard to decipher the [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Emperor's]] work was). Or he's just incredibly lazy. It's not like he really answers to anyone.

His voice has varied somewhat, the few times we've heard it. In the trailer for Rise of the Primarch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DMCTbIH924k he also sounds like a combination of Mr Freeze (TAS version) and a Dalek.] However, in the more recent trailer for Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2, detailing Cawl's arrival on Cadia and his meeting with Trazyn [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWEH4sjqlmY Cawl's voice is damn near incomprehensible]. It's a wonder anyone could have a conversation with him. Note, however, that he apparently has the ability to swap out personality traits as readily as other people do wargear, so how he acts and sounds may diverge dramatically depending on who he meets, when he meets them, and who he is when he does.

On a side note, his name is most likely a shoutout to [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belisarius this guy], who basically made the Byzantine Empire great again, if only for about a dozen years. As an elegan/t g/entleman or a clever ca/t g/irl you already knew the Byzantine Empire is, in fact, the Eastern Roman one, with both of the terms created after the end of the realm; its citizens referred to it as the Roman Empire—the very one which the Imperium is based on. Aaaaand Byzantium is mostly known by its Aquila as a symbol. Hm... Also, considering what happened to ERE hundred years after Justinian, during the reign of Heraclius Caesar, we hope that this is not foreshadowing something awful for IoM. Just a natural concern.

==Remember that Guy?==

Before people get a little confused, Cawl was first introduced in the ''Fall of Cadia'' phase of the [[Gathering Storm]], where (barring his mysterious ten-millennia mission) nothing was really ''known'' about the archmagos. Subsequent works have tried to fill his backstory... with varying results.

The first to try this was the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] codex (where he was the only named HQ), where a sidebar posits that he was part of the Emperor's team that developed the Black Carapace (!!). Needless to say, everyone forgot that the Emperor didn't create the organs by himself (even though the Larraman's Organ is literally named after one of the scientists who helped make the organs), so Black Library instead gave a background that made far more sense:

It turns out that while Cawl did NOT work on developing the Black Carapace, an atheist Scientist named Ezekiel Sedayne did. At some point later, Sedayne, whose body no longer responded to rejuvenat treatments, attempted to steal Cawl's body and overwrite his mind, but Cawl's ego was too big to be absorbed, and he stole Sedayne's memories instead. In [[Paradox poker|classic style]], the Emperor himself had apparently [[Just as planned|seen this coming]], as he once [[Dick|intentionally called Sedayne by the name Cawl]] instead of Ezekiel, even before said mindmeld occurred, somehow knowing that Cawl would be the one to later remember it. Possibly. It was a vision induced through ancient xenotech shenanigans, by the manipulative will of a C’tan, into the hive mind of a deranged cyborg, after all. It could also have been the spirit of the Emperor breaking into the vision to give him a pep talk, as he proceeded to reassure Cawl that the archmagos would only betray him once, and it would not be a true betrayal at all.

His true origin was as a humble vat-clone, dumped out of a Mechanicus tube with the body of a 10 year old and a smattering of implanted knowledge. However, even then, he was a prodigy—while only a few hours old, and while his fellow vat children were uncommunicative zombies, he was asking questions and being a smartass to the magos in charge of intake selection. Of the three possible doors he could have been sent through, he was selected to enter the rarely used center door, which was implied to represent the Omnissiah. Who, as Cawl might put it, he has a non-zero probability of actually being (or becoming), given how charmed his 11 millennia of accumulated existence has been.

== During the [[Horus Heresy]] ==
[[File:CawlYoung.jpg|200px|thumb|right|Archmagos Cawl, back when he was still recognizably human.]]
Cawl's first recorded appearance in history was as a Tech-Acolyte on the Trisolian system during the Horus Heresy; while he had declined several of the more visible cybernetic augmentations favored by the tech-priests, he had secretly undergone illegal brain-enhancing surgeries to make himself smarter (including a non-standard memory core given to him by a mentor who may or may not have been planning to steal his body later). Even back then, he had a reputation as a maverick for his pro-innovation stance. His best friend was Friedisch Adum Ship Qvo, and he served under Magos Domina Hester Aspertia Sigma-Sigma.

When [[Horus]] and his Legion attacked the world of Trisolian A4, Cawl's mistress defected to the traitors for fear that her secret project to make herself immortal via cloning would be lost. Cawl feigned loyalty to the Warmaster, and later took the opportunity to kill his treacherous superior when [[Leman Russ]] and the [[Space Wolves]] [[Battle of Trisolian|arrived to try and kill Horus]]. After absorbing her intelligence core and knowledge of cloning and accidentally merging with her soul and giving his brain orchestra its first member, that is.

After escaping Russ' botched assassination attempt on Horus, Cawl's stolen ship emerged from the warp sometime after the Heresy had ended, only to be immediately shot to pieces and boarded due to it being the hyper-paranoid years of the Scouring. He was detained and interrogated on Ryza, before eventually being exonerated by the testimony of a Skitarii Alpha he'd helped out during the earlier fighting, resulting in Cawl being marooned there for a few years doing bottom-rung assignments for the local Tech-priest hierarchy until he was given an offer he couldn't refuse by the aforementioned Ezekiel Sedayne, whereupon Sedayne became the second member of the Cawl Philarmonic Brainwave Orchestra.

== Fall of Cadia ==
Cawl is introduced at a technoarchaeological dig on the planet Eriad IV, a planet only notable for having a small Imperial outpost that was destroyed in the 4th [[Black Crusade]]. Although his progress is interrupted by an [[Ork|Orkish]] invasion, he continues onward, following the mysterious hints of the [[Shadowseer]] Sylandri Veilwalker. Eventually, he digs deep enough to find the remnants of [[Cadian Pylons| ancient obsidian pylons]]. Cross-referencing this with similar discoveries, he realizes that [[Abaddon]] has made a point of destroying similar such pylons across his Black Crusades. He puts two and two together, and immediately starts heading for [[Cadia]], fearing that they might be the last pylons left in the galaxy.

After arriving at Cadia and briefing the command about his discoveries, he went about studying the pylons, believing that they held the key to Abaddon's defeat. This was a dead end until [[Trazyn]] showed up and gave him some Necrontyr tech-support. With his help, he managed to activate the true power of pylons, shrinking the [[Eye of Terror]] and fucking up all warp activity on Cadia. This was a double-edged sword, as while it prevented [[Daemons]] from manifesting, it also forced the [[Legion of the Damned]] out of the Materium and greatly weakened Saint [[Celestine]]. Despite this, the defenders successfully got the Black Legion to retreat, and victory looked inevitable.

Then Abaddon just had to crash the remnants of a [[Blackstone Fortress]] into Cadia. Cawl's efforts were for naught, as the pylons were destroyed and the Eye of Terror expanded to consume the Cadian Gate. He retreated on his [[Ark Mechanicus]], the Iron Revenant, but was pursued by Abaddon, who just learned of a mysterious relic Cawl had and sought to claim it for himself. Cawl was forced to sacrifice the Iron Revenant to stave off the Vengeful Spirit and took his artifact along with the rest of the Imperial forces to the ice moon of Klasius, where they found the [[Emperor's Sword|Emprasword]]. Cornered by the [[Black Legion]], all seemed lost, until they were saved by the timely intervention of the Ynnari [[Eldar]], who offered an escape route through the [[webway]] and an alliance (needless to say, he is really ashamed that he couldn't stop what happened to Cadia).

===Rise of the Primarch===

This is where it's revealed that the artifact Belisarius has is the Armor of Fate and a self-fitting dressing room, commissioned by Grandpa Smurf several millennia in advance. Cawl, alongside the Ynnari, successfully uses this to resurrect Guilliman and then assists him in his crusade to Terra. When they arrive Guilliman tells Cawl to work on the second part of his mission, that of strengthening Imperial forces by pulling out all the stops on Mars.

It has since been revealed that this "second part" was the creation of the [[Primaris Marines]], along with their new wargear.

===What Could Possibly Go Wrong?===

[[File:Primaris-marines.jpg|300px|thumb|left|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRDeRDn5DjM&ab_channel=Warhammer Again no, it's not fanart.]]]
A shard of Cawl currently wants Guilliman to appoint him Fabricator General of Mars so he can "Get Shit Done", but Guilliman is unwilling to have all of the tech priests lose their minds over it; given his outspoken views on the value of innovation and thinly veiled contempt for the accepted AdMech dogma such a [[PROMOTIONS|promotion]] would be certain to result in a civil war within the Mechanicus. The prime Cawl incarnation admits this himself, and plans to bring the ambitious shard back into line—which just demonstrates that the many separate parts of his personality ''literally'' don’t always think alike.

Demonstrating what could generously be called a disregard for consequences, Cawl also has experimented with creating Primaris Marines of all the [[Traitor Legions]], as well as the infamous missing Legions II and XI. He petitioned Guilliman to sanction their use, but you can guess how that went (Guilliman has a feeling that he's just going to try and make them anyway, if he [[Sons_of_the_Phoenix|hasn't already]]). This also doesn't factor in the Alpha Primus, his living stitched-together prototype Primaris Marine that's notably bigger and stronger than the mainstream Primaris and is a psyker to top it off - a smorgasboard of heresy that would've seen Cawl murderized by every Chapter Master known to man if he hadn't made himself so vital before showing off Primus.

He is also trying to make new pylons to shrink back the [[Great Rift]]; perhaps it's time for Cawl to pay a visit to [[Illuminor Szeras]], or maybe politely request (at gunpoint) Magos-Explorator [[Omnid Torquora]] to tell him all the knowledge he has left of the Geller Bomb he used in the novel [[Adeptus Mechanicus]]: Tech-Priest (though that would be a horrible idea, due to the Bomb's side-effect of weakening reality ''elsewhere''). To further that goal, he spent about a century during the Indomitus Crusade collecting Necron tech and crypto codes while Guilliman was off crusading, then went to Sotha (a.k.a, the home of the ancient psychic lighthouse called the Pharos that Guilliman used to form the Imperium Secundus and accidentally alerted the Tyranids to the Milky Way's existence when [[Barabas Dantioch]] supercharged it to fry attacking [[Night Lords]] in a desperate suicide attack in the Horus Heresy), fucked over a C'tan shard, and wound up with so much xenos tech installed and data downloaded into his brain that all of his implants now glow Necron green. Which is about as heretek as you can get short of straight up joining Chaos.

During this same episode, between trolling one of his favorite Smurfboys and submitting his application for the Steal All Your Shit Club (known members include Trazyn the Infinite and the Blood Ravens), he just casually gives the Imperium the technology and instructions for re-terraforming the worlds 'nommed by the nids. The process takes a century or two, but that's about a fortnight as far as the Imperium is concerned, and it probably applies to at least some other Dead Worlds that were the result of Exterminatus (looking at you, Kryptmann you psychotic genocidal maniac) or similar planet-killing events. (You heard that right folks, Tyranids have been made even more useless in the lore.)

Oh, and that AI we mentioned in the top quote? It's not even the only one. Guy Haley's ''In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future'' openly mentions that Cawl's mind is essentially composed of numerous AI copies of himself (as well as the various minds that he's absorbed who are still sentient and cooperative) operating in tandem with his original mind, in what he compares to being a conductor of an orchestra with the AI copies as the musicians. Which in effect makes him practically immortal, since he could switch on a backup copy of himself if his original body dies. In a display of his sheer cybernetic iron balls, he's even gone so far to install the sum of his combined A.I directly in Guilliman's personal quarters aboard the ''Macragge's Honour'' (the fucking flagship of the Ultramarines) as a backup in case he dies, of which Guilliman secretly believes is an abominable AI.

Also, apparently, at some point either the [[Emperor]] or the [[Void Dragon|Omnissiah]] asked Cawl to free him. No word yet on which one it was, whether he agreed, and how any of his plans to do so might be working out.

== The Man Himself ==
While the Gathering Storm didn't develop his personality really more than the average maverick Adeptus Mechanicus Magos, the Black Library give us a know-it-all, showy geek, Cawl is grandiloquent, prone to shock-and-awe demonstrations where he casually commits tech-heresy and gets away with it and has a very roguish disregard for authority. Like many nerds during his early life he was not above alternating between acting petulantly and then pretending loyalty and begging for mercy once the threat of violence upon him was evident, and like many nerds when bullied would take the opportunity to get his sweet revenge.

Later on he loves to show he is not just in control but ready to reveal his last trick and [[just as planned]] move, up to the point of risking the wrath of his boss and a C'tan shard, which in turn demonstrates that he still got some adamantium balls, more evident if you consider the kind of punishment the Imperium in general and the Mechanicus in particular gives to tech-heresy, in other words, he is a troll, with the ego which would make an Slaaneshi Chaos Lord blush, no joke he literally said he could fix a planet devoured by Tyranids ''because he can'', how big is that in terms of ego?

This is not to say he doesn't have his bro-tier moments, he still sees himself as a benevolent teacher to his Primaris creations, while he keeps a clone of his early life bro co-worker Friedrich. Cawl sincerely believes he can actually fix the galaxy and defeat Chaos and the various other horrors both mundane and not quite so mundane once and for all, with science, an opinion which is shared with Guilliman, of course from a meta point of view this is nonsensical (how GW will keep selling minis?) but, given what he is capable of, and since two of his works are [[Great Rift|warp dampening at a galactic scale]] and [[Tyranids|accelerated terraforming of dead worlds]] for the first time in many editions the Imperium is going from "fighting a hopeless war" to "fighting a virtually hopeless war", breaking with the grimderp sadness the setting has fallen into during many years.

Yet for all his potentially dubious private pursuits, irksome eccentricities, unabashed disregard for etiquette and protocol, and so on, Cawl nonetheless fulfilled his mandate given to him by Guilliman. Without error? No. Without deviation? Absolutely not. But he succeeded and gave Guilliman (and by extension humanity) the resources to survive and stabilize. Said resources were even '''NEW''' [and shiny] because rather than being just more of the same, Cawl had actually set out to make ''modifications'' and ''improvements'', which are both dirty curse words to much of the Mechanicus. As of the conclusion of the Plague Wars, a certain level of stability has been achieved for now, and Cawl has set his sights on humanity being able to ''thrive'' once more. Unhindered by dogma or adherence to norms that cripple his peers, Cawl has the perspective, drive, resources, and knowledge to actually make that a reality. So long as Guilliman or someone keeps an eye on Cawl to pull him back from anything truly potentially ruinous, should his drive for knowledge get the best of him, he's probably not a risk. Perhaps most importantly though, some of the recent lore has revealed that Post-heresy Big-E himself put his trust in Cawl for events yet to come. The Emperor knew in some capacity even before the Unification Wars that their paths were bound together, and that he and Cawl would have even more work to do together in the future. For his part, Cawl seems to genuinely revere the Emperor as Omnissiah and wishes to better humanity. If the price of achieving that aim is tolerating some annoying personality traits, then that's hardly a cost-prohibitive transaction.

== On the Tabletop ==
[[File:Cawl.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Too many limbs? NO SUCH THING!]]

Comes with a special rule that allows you to add or subtract 1 when rolling on the Canticles of the Omnissiah which as Mars you get to roll twice and keep both, allows Mars units within 6" to re-roll any to hit in shooting, also have the ability to repair any friendly {{W40Kkeyword|Imperium}} model within 3" by 1 wound, without caring even a little bit about its other keywords - he can repair {{W40Kkeyword|infantry}}, {{W40Kkeyword|cavalry}}, whatever. AdMech units get d3 wounds healed instead, though. I guess 10000 years of min maxing yourself lets you do these things. And his [[Melta#Solar Atomiser|Solar Atomiser]] is an Assault D3 S10 AP-4 unholy beast that does D3 damage, unless the target is within half range, which then it does D6 damage.

===7th Edition===
{| class=wikitable
! || Pts || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Belisarius Cawl:''' || 200 || 5 || 5 || 5 || 6 || 5 || 3 || 3 || 10 || 2+\5++\5+++
|}

Belisarius Cawl is quite a formidable opponent. His ranged weapon of choice is the melta-gun on steroids Solar Atomizer, and for melee he's got a Mechadendrite Hive to fight hordes, Arc Scourge to fight vehicles, and a power axe to fight terminators. He also brings across the three Canticles of the Archmagos, which are like the Canticles of the Omnissiah but they also affect friendly vehicles not part of the Cult Mechanicus faction. Harmony of Metallurgy gives It Will Not Die, Utterance of Neutralization increases Ballistic Skill, and the War Hymnal of Fortitude grants invulnerable saves.

Not only can he dish out the pain, he can take it as well, with a 2+ armor save, Toughness 6, Feel No Pain (which is re-rollable if he's the Warlord), and five wounds [[cheese|which he restores 1d3 of each round]]. Oh, and he can also use his canticles to give himself three It Will Not Die rolls. However, he lacks Eternal Warrior, and his Invulnerable Save is a mere 5+, making him vulnerable to Instant Death.

== List of Things Cawl ''May'' Have [[Blood Ravens|Borrowed]] ==
As mentioned, Papa Cawl is probably the only cogboy in the Adeptus Mechanicus (and probably in all the [[Imperium]]) who has straight-up invented ''loads'' of new shit without [[Blam|disappearing]]. Many of his new toys have features found in other xenos and/or look like their weapons. Whether or not it is an example of [[Blood Ravens|"borrowing" their designs]] or [[Just As Planned|convergent invention]] [[skub|is up to you.]] This list will certainly get bigger as more units are introduced.
===From the [[Eldar|Space Elves]]===

* Primaris [[Reiver]] incorporate sonic/audio weaponry into their helmets to scare the shit out of their enemies, just like the howling banshees (though to be fair, we've invented such [[Wikipedia:Sonic weapons|weapons]] in early M3) or [[Noise Marines|Emperor's Children]], though we're pretty sure he's not dumb enough to mess with Chaos stuff... we think. Night Lords have used such tech since the start of the Great Crusade. The Mechanicus would have made it for them even back then.
* The Overlord Dropship uses energy shields instead of the usual void shields.
* Tactically the Primaris Marines draw a bit from Eldar doctrine. Squads armed with a single weapon, for a single purpose, for a single target. Compare an [[Eradicator]] squad with [[Aspect_Warrior#Fire_Dragons|Fire Dragon]] squad for example. To be fair, this is also similar to the tactical doctrines of the Legiones Astartes during the Great Crusade and the Heresy; compare the [[Eliminator]] squads to the Legion Recon squads, or the [[Aggressor]] and [[Hellblaster]] squads to the Tactical Support squads.

===From the [[Tau|T'au]]===
* The [[Primaris Captain|Primaris Captains']] Gravis Armour appears to be inspired from the Tau, though they may be also inspired by the [[Squats|Squat]] [[Hearthguard|Hearth]]{{BLAM}} {{BLAM|Heresy, Squats don't exist!}} {{BLAM|VOOOOOM!}} {{BLAM|What do you mean [[Leagues of Votann|WE]] don't exist!}}
**Like wise Phobos marines may also have some tau Inspiration. It's not as obvious as the tau Fire Warriors, but they also have the mis matched pauldrons with the left being slightly larger.

* The [[Redemptor Dreadnought|Redemptor Dreadnoughts']] Plasma Incinerator has two large bulges underneath the barrel which causes it to bear a striking resemblance to T'au Ion weaponry.
** New Contemptor Dreadnaught has a Plasma Cannon that looks very similar. Since those predate Tau civilization by 4 thousand years, [[Derp|it means the blueberries stole from the Imperium, not the other way around]].
*** But they got it from the [[Leagues of Votann]] who have a bunch of dark age stuff so that begs the question whether Cawl had those Incinerators lying around or whether he ''actually'' stole them from the squats massive dark age cache.
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]] [[Category:Imperial]] [[Category: Adeptus Mechanicus]]

Primarch

2022-11-19T18:13:28Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D: /* Traitors */

[[Image:Primarchs big.JPG|thumb|right|500px|Several of the Primarchs at the Triumph of the Ullanor Crusade. From left to right: Sanguinius, Mortarion, Magnus the Red, Angron, Jaghatai Khan, Lorgar, Rogal Dorn, Horus, and Fulgrim. The first traitor, the greatest traitor, the champions of the chaos gods and the defenders of Terra. But the real impressive thing here is how that balcony is still standing]]
{{Topquote|Man must become stronger, more profound and more evil.|Friedrich Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra: A Book for All and None}}
{{Topquote|There is but one good, and that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to him and bad when it turns from him. And the higher and mightier it is in the natural order, the more demoniac it will be if it rebels. It's not out of bad mice or bad fleas you make demons, but out of bad archangels.|C.S. Lewis}}
{{Topquote|Et tu, Brute?|Julius Caesar}}
The '''Primarchs''' were the twenty ([[Omegon|-one]]) [[Transhumanist|genetically-engineered]] sons of [[The Emperor]] and the female [[Perpetual]] [[Erda]]. Using both His and her DNA in their creation, the Primarchs were designed to be far superior to even <s>[[Space Marines]]</s> the Adeptus Custodes: they were taller, stronger, faster and more intelligent. Artificial Perpetuals, to replace the Perpetuals that refused to be a part of His great plan throughout history. Certainly faster and stronger, but the intelligence they display, especially in the Horus Heresy books, seem to be limited to their own specialties, making them [[Roboute Guilliman|oddly]] [[Vulkan|normal]] in some cases and [[Perturabo|fatally]] [[Magnus the Red|underdeveloped]] in other areas; the more successful among them, like Russ and Corax, knew how to apply those specialties in various situations, while others, like Angron, just [[Angry Marines|brute-forced their way through situations]] using their talents like a (War)hammer(40k), but a few like Guilliman and Lion, [[Reasonable Marines|actually knew how to account for the opposition]]. Dorn, at least, knew a fair bit about how his brothers waged war, he just didn't care and stuck with what he knew best. They were also incredibly charismatic and were well suited to their role as the generals and leaders of the Imperium of Man.

Problem was, despite all that they were only human, and ultimately their sibling rivalries (and Chaos corruption, in the case of several of them) boiled over and ultimately developed into the [[Horus Heresy]].

==Creation of the Primarchs==
[[File:Warmaster's_Coronation.jpg|300px|left|thumb|Horus Lupercal being made Warmaster of the Imperium in Ullanor. From center counter-clockwise: Horus, the Emperor, Magnus, Mortarion, Lorgar, Angron, Jaghatai Khan, Rogal Dorn, Rogal Dorn's mustache, Fulgrim and Sanguinius.]]
The Primarchs began as a continuation of the Emperor’s [[Thunder Warriors|Thunder Warrior]] legions. Each of the 20 proto-legions were led by a general analogue called a Primarch. Unlike the later leaders of the Legiones Astartes, the thunder warrior Primarchs were the same as the troops they led and were hand picked by the Emperor for their skill and command ability. The instability (both physical, genetic, and mental) of the thunder warriors led the Emperor to try and find more stable and powerful generals to lead his armies. It can be safely assumed that the original Primarchs were killed in the line of duty or purged before history could record them thoroughly. The only one named thus far was Ushotan of the 4th Legio Cataegis - then known as the Iron Lords. Valdor considered him almost an equal in terms of his martial and command ability but was disturbed by his innate bloodlust and susceptibility to the then nascent effects of Chaos.

The modern Primarchs were created in a secret underground laboratory on what used to be the Himalayas, under the tightest security. All of them were derived from a subset of both the perpetual Erda and the Emperor's DNA that served as a template, which was altered differently for each of the Primarchs; it is also thought that he engineered them spiritually as well using long-forgotten psychic techniques. As the [[Raven Guard]] discovered after the Emperor granted them access to the original data from the Primarchs' creation, many of the Primarchs' gene-samples were wildly divergent from the original template- some had long gene sequences deleted, while others had non-human DNA spliced into them for reasons only known to the Emperor. (A particularly intriguing discovery was one sample labeled "[[Leman Russ|Subject VI]]", [[Furry| which had extensive amounts of canine DNA added to it]].)

A feature all the Primarchs shared was a special artificial organ called the '''Immortis Gland'''. Also known as the "God-Maker", this little thumbnail-sized beauty plugged into their brain cortex was what turned a bunch of unborn babies into near-deities. The organ was separated into two parts: the Dextrophic Lobe, which enhanced their strength, reflexes and size to extreme levels and the Sintarius Lobe, whose functions are mostly unknown, but seem to have controlled their growth speed and long lifespans, while also empowering the Dextrophic Lobe further. All information about the Sintarius Lobe was [DATA EXPUNGED] from the records for uncertain reasons after the Primarchs were scattered. Cawl would later recreate the Dextrophic half of the Immortis Gland as the Magnificat, the organ that makes the Primaris Marines bigger and stronger than their older bros.

The Primarchs also appear to have had some significant Warp phuckery go into their creation, as it is mentioned by several of them at different points during the HH series that they are obviously creatures of the Warp in some regard. Their physical and mental capabilities are all far beyond what even the Custodes are capable of, and all of them are theorized to have been latent psykers. Essentially, their true innate natures are probably fairly similar to those of the Daemon Primarchs, but for whatever reason their physical forms all appear to have curbed their psychic potential to a significant degree (except for Magnus). This can be most evidently seen by the transformation of Corvus Corax during his ten thousand year hunt in the Eye of Terror. He's gone from being a flesh and blood being to a shapeshifting shadow creature capable of roflstomping Daemon Lorgar as easily as he did when they were both material beings. It is also apparent by his various feats that Magnus did not appear to have become particularly more powerful upon his ascension to Daemonhood, while all of the other Daemon Primarchs did. This is likely because Magnus had already pretty thoroughly explored his own psychic potential, and so Tzeentch wouldn't have had much left to unlock. Mortarion, Fulgrim, Angron and Lorgar, on the other hand, all gained a significant amount of power, both physical and psychic, upon transforming. Even Angron, whose patron deity hates psykers, was still tremendously physically empowered by Khorne. Additionally, the Emperor seemingly was not able to either manufacture more Primarchs outside of his original 20 (21 if you count whatever created Omegon), and he appeared not to be capable of replacing or healing those who already existed. This could also be explained by the Emperor's extreme nonchalance when it came to more than a few of his Primarchs, but there are a fuckton of situations in which the ability to create either more Primarchs or replacement pieces for them would have come in quite handy. The two most obvious examples are the two Lost Primarchs; apparently the Emperor either decided not to replace them or was unable to do so, yet the loss of two Primarchs was undoubtedly nothing to sniff at. The same could be said of Angron, whose brain had been so badly mangled by the Butchers Nails when the Emperor found him that he was already a half rabid monster. However, the Emperor apparently was not able to help him.

[[File:BabyPrimarchs.jpg|300px|right|thumb|The Master of Mankind raises his eighteen babies as devoted father. The [[Grimdark|truth]] is less [[Anime|kawaii desu]].]]
The Emperor's original plan was to have His superhuman creations mature safely in His lab and guide them from 'birth' toward the role He'd foreseen for them. However, in a retcon, Erda did not want for her sons what the Emperor had planned for them and herself, and in spite of the safeguards the Emperor had set up, caused the scattering, an event in which the Ruinous Powers were able to spirit the Primarchs away from the laboratory right before they would emerge from their pods and scatter them across the universe (Conveniently, the canine sample was sent to a wolf-planet) [[Just as planned]]. The sheer levels of pants-on-head retardation at play in this decision are a genuine marvel of skubbery, but for that rant, feel free to check out [[Erda|Erda's own article]]. For whatever reason, the Emperor did not punish Erda and she was allowed to live out her immortal life in seclusion, in the remnants of Africa. Somehow, the Emperor knew his sons were still alive but had no clue to where they could be nor any immediate way to search for them. The ''Alpharius'' novel indicates that this realization that the Primarchs were still alive was not something the the Emperor came to immediately, as he was overjoyed at finding Alpharius very shortly after the Scattering, as he had previously believed the Primarchs to all have been killed. So after finding Alpharius he took the situation in stride, shrugged it off as a minor setback (unknowingly, this would come to bite him back in the ass nastily later on) and went ahead with the second part of his plan: his Space Marine project. Using DNA samples from each Primarch before they were abducted, the Emperor created twenty legions of [[Space Marines]], in what would later be called the [[First Founding]]. They would form the core of the armies He needed to conquer the galaxy, and the absence of the Primarchs leading those would only serve as a motivation for the warriors to search for them.

One consequence of the abduction, however was that each of the young Primarchs were forced to adapt to the lifestyle on their new homeworld, something which would influence and mold them throughout their lives. Some, like Guilliman or Dorn, would benefit greatly from their early experiences and be made far better men for having had them. Others, like Curze or Angron, would be irrevocably damaged by their own. The Primarchs rapidly grew to adulthood and quickly rose to power, nearly always becoming the leaders of their world. Some, like the Khan or Perturabo, conquered their worlds by force of arms. Others, like Magnus or Fulgrim, were so clearly just the best person for the job that they were made planetary rulers by popular demand. The only Primarchs who did not come to rule their respective worlds were Angron, who just straight up failed to conquer his, Horus, who was seemingly discovered by the Emperor only a few years after the Scattering and so did not have the time, and Alpharius, who as luck would have it was Scattered right back to Terra and recovered shortly thereafter. As the Emperor crusaded to unify the galaxy he would occasionally stumble upon another long-lost son. When this happened, the Emperor would hold a celebration in honor of this discovery, give the Primarch their Legion to command, then tell them to [[Angron|fuck]] [[Mortarion|off]] [[Lorgar|and start]] [[Alpharius|conquering]] [[Perturabo|worlds]] while he [[Horus|fapped]] [[Rogal Dorn|to]] [[Sanguinius|his]] [[Leman Russ|favoured]] [[Roboute Guilliman|offspring]]. The Emperor was a [[Eldrad|dick]] like that.

==Did the Emperor Love his Sons?==
Before we get into the rediscovery of the Primarchs, we need to address this issue. Different writers have different interpretations of the Emperor, and GW never got any of them on the same fucking page. This lead to discrepancies in the various books; in the first duel between Horus and the Emperor for example, the Emperor could not bring himself to kill Horus because he loved him, and it was only after he witnessed Horus callously annihilate Ollanius Pius that he realised his son was gone, allowing him to finally let loose and destroy Horus.

Later authors would contradict this, writers like ADB would go on to claim he never saw the Primarchs as 'sons', just as carefully crafted tools to enforce his will and vision (even referring to them by number instead of name). Even later writers would go on to claim the opposite again, with the Emperor declaring the Primarchs to be his sons in the Siege of Terra series, so fuck if we know what's going on. The issue gets even more confusing when you look at his closest advisors, such as Constantin Valdor and Malcador, who are plagued with the exact same problems, writer to writer. Sometimes they claim the Emperor only saw his sons as tools, other times they do support the idea that he loves his children.

Hopefully one day GW will finally have some consistency, though that's about as likely as hell freezing over.

In case anyone is wondering, Erda claims she always loved the Primarchs, though considering the planets some of them were sent to, this is almost guaranteed to be a bullshit lie or self-deception.

==Rediscovering the Primarchs==
Originally Horus was the first Primarch to be discovered, but a retcon changed that to Alpharius and had it kept secret. Or did it? With Alpharius and Omegon, it's honestly impossible to tell.

Horus, who would become the Emperor's favoured son, was retconned to maybe being the second Primarch to be found, and the second missing Primarch was stated to be found after Corax in a different retcon. Thankfully these are the only three (or two?) GW fucked with in the order they were found, so the whole list of those being discovered is as follows (dates given by the website for the Horus Heresy tabletop game):

*'''Before 801.M30:''' Alpharius/Omegon (speculated)
*'''801.M30:''' Horus
*'''819.M30:''' Leman Russ
*'''821.M30:''' DELETED FROM IMPERIAL RECORDS, DAMNATIO MEMORIAE IN PERPETUAM
*'''824.M30:''' Ferrus Manus
*'''830.M30:''' Fulgrim
*'''832.M30:''' Vulkan
*'''835.M30:''' Rogal Dorn
*'''837.M30:''' Roboute Guilliman
*'''840.M30:''' Magnus the Red
*'''843.M30:''' Sanguinius
*'''846.M30:''' Lion El'Jonson
*'''849.M30:''' Perturabo
*'''854.M30:''' Mortarion
*'''857.M30:''' Lorgar
*'''865.M30:''' Jaghatai Khan
*'''896.M30:''' Konrad Curze
*'''899.M30:''' Angron
*'''922.M30:''' Corvus Corax
*'''927.M30:''' DELETED FROM IMPERIAL RECORDS, DAMNATIO MEMORIAE IN PERPETUAM
*'''981.M30:''' Alpharius/Omegon (officially)

The majority of Primarchs somehow recognized the Emperor on sight, immediately pledging their allegiance to their father. A few (such as Leman Russ and Vulkan) only swore allegiance after being bested in a contest. The only exception is Angron, who outright refused to follow the Emperor as he preferred to die in battle along with his rebels brothers and sisters in their fight against the oppressive Not-Romans. The Emperor simply shrugged and abducted his son, leaving Angron's followers to get slaughtered. Angron never really got over that dick move.

At the end of the period known as the [[Great Crusade]], Horus, who had recently been promoted to the title of Warmaster, fell to Chaos and rebelled. It didn't take long for eight of his fellow Primarchs to join his side against the Emperor, resulting in the full-scale civil war known as the [[Horus Heresy]]. Funnily enough, most of the Primarchs who sided with Horus were those who felt that the Emperor had taken a giant, steaming dump on them. So, regardless of whether the Emperor actually loved his sons or not, and while he is the greatest tactician, biologist, warlord, and leader in the history of mankind; in practice he's worse than a crack-addled transient junkie as a father.

==Primarchs and Legions==
{|align=center border="1" cellpadding="1" cellspacing="0" style="background-color:white"
|-
|align=center|'''Legion Number'''
|align=center|'''Name'''
|align=center|'''Title'''
|align=center|'''Homeworld'''
|align=center|'''Name of the Legion'''
|align=center|'''Allegiance'''
|align=center|'''Description'''
|align=center|'''Current Status'''
|align=center|'''30k/40k'''
|-
|align=center|'''I'''
|align=center|[[Image: Lion_El%27Jonson_portrait.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Lion El'Jonson]]
|align=center|Lord of the First, The Lion
|align=center|[[Caliban]]
|align=center|[[Dark Angels]]
|align=center|ULTRA LOYAL, maybe even more than Rogal Dorn.
|align=center|
*Crushes the horrors of Old Night, destroys worlds, whole civilizations, erase stuff from history, <s>doesn't afraid of anything. </s>
*Sees himself as a man that no one else can compare to and constantly toils to maintain this standard (although he wasn't as excessively vainglorious as Fulgrim).
*Unlike Fulgrim however, The Lion's greatness caused him to be a hardcore pragmatist and largely detached from everyone around him. The Lion just couldn't relate to anyone else not even close to his level (even most of his brother primarchs couldn't fit the bill), so he always felt alone in the universe. A big part of this was that his insanely huge ego combined with his lack of people skills to result in a complete asshole who virtually nobody liked.
*Was a bit of a loose cannon with a long but explosive fuse. The Lion is as smart and introspective as he is merciless and brutal. He wasn't necessarily easy to piss off like Angron, but anyone who manages to cross his threshold of patience will find themselves on the business end of his weapon. Several times. And possibly dismembered to boot.
|align=center|'''Status: In a Coma'''
*Fought Luther during his betrayal at the end of the Horus Heresy, where he was wounded from their duel. He survived however, and was spirited away and tended to by the [[Watchers in the Dark]] in a super secret chamber in [[The Rock]] (that not even the Dark Angels knew about), where he spent the last millennia healing his wounds. As of the current edition; The Lion is now supposedly fully healed and all he's waiting for is the Emperor to tell him to wake up from his millennia-long cat nap.
|align=center|[[Image:Lord of the First.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[File:Lion vs Curze.jpg|150px|thumb|right|]][[File:Horus-Heresy-Lion-Great Crusade.jpeg|150px|thumb|right|]]
|-
|align=center|'''II'''
|! colspan="6" |+++Records expunged+++
|-
|align=center|'''III'''
|align=center|[[Image: Portrait.Fulgrim_Ancient_Sketch.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Fulgrim]]
|align=center|The Palatine Phoenix, The Phoenician
|align=center|[[Chemos]]
|align=center|[[Emperor's Children]]
|align=center|Traitor
|align=center|
*A patron of the arts, who wanted to enjoy the finest and most exotic things in life.
*Believes that he and his legion should be the avatar of humanity's perfection, and so everything about them should be flawless, everywhere from appearance and actions to their fighting style. Due to this, Fulgrim's battle tactics revolved around utterly perfecting their strategies. Everything from his soldiers to their strategies were intensely drilled until their fighting was closer to a intricately-choreographed play of death than anything. To him, war is an art, and he wanted to perfect his arts.
*A master blacksmith in his own right, capable of forging weapons that even [[Ferrus Manus]] couldn't help but deem "perfect". His artwork however, wasn't always the best in the universe due to being so perfect it hit uncanny valley levels.
*Was initially corrupted by Chaos through the Laer blade, a Slaaneshi-possesed daemon sword he looted as a trophy, but wasn't aware of what Chaos was. He would fully give in to the temptations of the sword after he beheaded Ferrus Manus, where his utter grief at the act caused him to succumb to the daemon within the sword.
*Managed to incapacitate Guilliman at one point by slicing his throat with a poisoned sword.
|align=center|'''Status: Daemon Prince (Slaanesh)'''
*Daemon Prince of Slaanesh, ruler of the Pleasure World. <s>Fulgrim's actual consciousness however, may or may not also be still imprisoned within his own body by</s> the daemon who possessed him in the first place was eventually conquered by Fulgrim's inner will or whatever, but his new personality is generic "DEMON PRINCE OF THE DARKNESS AND EVIL".
*Still has a soft-spot for his brother Ferrus. He asked [[Fabius Bile|Fabulous Bile]] to clone his brother several times so that he could attempt to lure Ferrus into Chaos' side again. All his attempts have ended in failure, which he has blamed Fabius for due to his certainty that a "perfect" clone would join him.
*Heard about [[Roboute Guilliman|Big G]] waking up and is a bit buttmad about it at the moment. He tried to give Guilliman a cursed artifact during his return party, but was found out and subsequently banished. Needless to say: he mad.
|align=center|[[Image: Fulgrim.30k.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image: 40k.fulgrim.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Warhammer-fuldrim-lorgar.jpeg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''IV'''
|align=center|[[Image: Perturabo_Portrait.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Perturabo]]
|align=center|The Hammer of Olympia, Lord of Iron, The Breaker
|align=center|[[Olympia]]
|align=center|[[Iron Warriors]]
|align=center|Traitor
|align=center|
*A man who already had the knowledge to create the best at everything he did from birth. Perturabo considered this a curse however, feeling it robbed him of any sense of accomplishment while growing up, contributing to his eternal grumpiness.
*Originally preferred diplomacy and was an admirer of the arts during his time in Olympia, but meeting the Emperor (who had no time for such things) caused a violent switch to flip inside Perturabo's mind, turning him into a ruthless warlord throughout the Great Crusade, likely because he wanted things to be different from Olympia once he joined E-money, but once he realized that The Great Crusade was basically Olympia 2.0; he just gave up, flipped the table, and accepted how things really are and played the part.
*Just as much as a master of siege warfare as Dorn (both in offense and defense), but the lack of opportunities and recognition led him and his legion to be specialists of tearing shit down.
*Unlike Dorn however, Perturabo's general strategy is a combination of stubbornness and ice cold-calculating efficiency, orchestrating war like it was one giant math problem. The problem with this is that he didn't even see his sons as people. As far as he was concerned, they're just armored meatbags who pull triggers and push buttons and were about as expendable as guardsmen. It worked incredibly well but won him few friends.
*Suffers from a massive inferiority complex, partially due to his certainty that the Eye of Terror was always watching and judging him. Nobody believed him when he said this, so it was mostly attributed to Rogal Dorn, whom the Emperor ''greatly'' favored over Pert, despite having similar skillsets.
|align=center|'''Status: Daemon Prince (Undivided)'''
*Daemon Prince, ruler of Medrengard. Described as the ultimate Obliterator; so expect him to be carrying around titan grade weaponry and millennia of pent-up [[Rage|RAEG]] when he finally shows up. Given that Magnus, Fulgrim, and Mortarion are back in action; he'll probably come out eventually as well.
|align=center|[[Image: 30k.Perturabo.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Warhammer-Pert-Angron.jpeg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''V'''
|align=center|[[Image:Karn.port.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Jaghatai Khan]]
|align=center|Warhawk of Chorgoris, The Great Khan, The Khagan
|align=center|[[Chogoris|Chogoris/<br>Mundus Planus]]
|align=center|[[White Scars]]
|align=center|Loyal
|align=center|
*A hard and stern Primarch, he rarely smiles and almost never laughs. Throughout the Heresy he’s often depicted as an introvert who only keeps the counsel of a hand select group. Though rather than making him into a recluse, he's fully capable of being charismatic when he needs to. The Khan is quiet, but he can quickly become the warrior: smile, laugh, bellow and be powerful when he sees the need.
*Encourages a painfully 'liberating' leadership structure on the White Scars. Every Khan (basically Chapter Master) has an extremely high level of autonomy - a byproduct of the steppes. Causes a lot of problems for logistics and cooperation with allies.
*Many Primarchs became a product of their homeworld, the Khan definitely did. He idolises the ways of [[Chogoris]] and venerates its lifestyle. A very Taoist and Confucian way of seeing things, no one else in the Imperium truly understands this, a fact that further isolates the White Scars from the wider Imperium. The White Scars is the amalgamation of Asian culture in the HH, it’s the most different and alien Legion simply because it tries to adopt a Asian-centric style.
*Has a strained relationship with the Emperor. On one hand he recognises the need of the Imperium and has always directly supported it. On the other hand, a major identity point for the Khan's character is his hatred of Empire and Emperors. On Chogoris he killed a lot of emperors and destroyed a lot of Empires. He sees Emperors and Empires as ultimately flawed and has a very low respect for them.
*Tying in with this hatred of Empire is his hatred of stagnation. Every Emperor he killed was fat, and this made him become a person who hates the easiest path. A big motivator for him during the novel Scars was his rejection of the path most travelled. The Khan's greatest fear is stagnating, so he will likely always chose the hardest option because of that. Emphasising this, The Khan is also described as being a compulsive, a part of him is always moving.
*The Khan really didn't like the Imperium, in Warhawk of Chogoris he flatly stated that the White Scars would leave the Imperium if he felt the Emperor was not respecting the White Scars enough.
|align=center|'''Status: Missing (lost in the Webway)'''
*Unknown, disappeared into the [[Webway]] while hunting [[Dark Eldar]] after they raided Chogoris.
|align=center|[[Image:Past Khan.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:The path of heaven .jpg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''VI'''
|align=center|[[Image: Portrait..Leman.Russ.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Leman Russ]]
|align=center|The Great Wolf, The Wolf King
|align=center|[[Fenris]]
|align=center|[[Space Wolves]]
|align=center|Loyal
|align=center|
*Had a high opinion of himself and his legion, if only because he felt that he's earned that kind of respect through the centuries. Of all the Primarchs, Leman was the one most willing to cross any line to do what the Emperor asked, at least at first. Later on, he decided to become his own man and protect the people of the Imperium. Also notable for curbing the more savage tendencies of the Wolves and teaching them to control their ferocity, unlike [[Angron|some]] [[Konrad Curze|people]].
*Wanted to test his legion all the time, to prove he is the best.
|align=center|'''Status: Missing (lost in the Warp)
*Unknown, disappeared into the [[Eye of Terror]] with the 13th company but promised to return one day. Magnus supposedly knows where he is, but he isn't telling. The Wolves found <s>his armor in a Khornate Shrine</s> an armor rumoured to be his on the Temple of Horus on Rudra, implying he either; turned into [[Wulfen]], to [[Chaos]], is dead, or is murdering his way through the warp [[Conan_the_Barbarian|as a half-naked barbarian]]. Allegedly a figure resembling him was spotted with the 13th company during the 13th crusade.
|align=center|[[Image:30k.Russ.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Scouring of Prospero2.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Horus_vs_Leman.jpg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''VII'''
|align=center|[[Image: Rogal_Dorn_Portrait.png|thumb|250px|]] [[Rogal Dorn]]
|align=center|The Praetorian of Terra, The Vigilant, The Unyielding One
|align=center|[[Inwit]]
|align=center|[[Imperial Fists]]
|align=center|MEGA DUPER Loyal
|align=center|
*A brutally honest and steadfast man, but was equally indifferent to those around him. Dorn's personality is akin to a wall, he was a man you could take at face value; he would never lie or deceive you, and he would always speak his mind without a hint of falsehood, even if it ends up working against his favor. That said, he could never properly relate with other people's emotions. He will speak the truth, but lacked any glib of tongue to express it in a way that wouldn't feel like he was delivering it with the bluntness and intensity of a power fist to the face.
*Embodied the "soul" of the Great Crusade unlike any other; he received the most accolades from the Emperor and fought alongside him most often.
*A master of siegecraft, although fortifications was his forte. So much that he was tasked with fortifying the Imperial Palace. He would also build grand fortresses on the worlds they conquered.
|align=center|'''Status: Missing (presumed dead)'''
*Assumed deceased, disappeared while boarding a Chaos cruiser during a Black Crusade.<br>One of his fists were recovered and its skeleton is placed in a shrine, where each new Chapter Master of the Imperial Fists engraves their name upon it. Rumored to still be alive, though that begs the question of whose fist is in the Phalanx, though he could just be missing a hand.
|align=center|[[Image:The horus heresy praetorian of dorn by raffetin-dae3g5k.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Dorn-Sang-Primarchs-Warhammer-.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Warhammer-Dorn-malc.jpeg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''VIII'''
|align=center|[[Image: Portrait.Konrad_Curze_sketch.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Konrad Curze]]
|align=center|The Night Haunter, The Dark King
|align=center|[[Nostramo]]
|align=center|[[Night Lords]]
|align=center|Traitor
|align=center|
*A man of justice who believed that he needed to instill absolute fear into people to ensure lasting peace.
*Possessed psychic powers that allowed him to perceive the future in short glimpses. The problem was that they were uncontrolled and they constantly subjected him to see the worst possible future in the darkest, most vivid detail possible, including the deaths and fall of his brother Primarchs as well as the Emperor's own entombment on the Golden Throne. This only served to widen his ever-growing insanity as he came to believe that what he saw was an inevitability rather than a mere possibility.
*An unstable sociopath, to say the least. Curze's visions, upbringing, and perceived need for brutality took a heavy toll on his sanity, but he held firm under the belief he was making the galaxy a better place, like what he did with Nostramo. This all came crashing down after Nostramo reverted back to its old ways when he was away; deciding that nothing would ever change, he chose to bombard his home planet into rubble.
*That said, he was a master at infiltration and unconventional warfare, just as much as he was a master of scaring the shit out of people. His crowning achievement is that he managed to fuck up Guilliman's Imperium Secundus by himself, no aid from his legion what-so-ever, something his brothers couldn't even come close into doing.
|align=center|'''Status: Dead'''
*Lost what little sanity he still had after destroying Nostramo. By this time, Konrad stopped justifying his methods to himself and fully embraced the depraved side of his "Night Haunter" persona, spreading untold terror and pain wherever he went. By the time of the late Horus Heresy, the Emperor wanted to put a stop to it and sent a Callidus assassin named "M'shen" after him.
*Curze knew about her mission from the get-go but he made sure the assassin could reach him unimpeded. He did not resist when she entered his chambers and asked the Callidus to kill him. Initially it was speculated that Konrad realized he became the very thing he sought to rid the galaxy of and knew what had to be done- a perceived hero who lived long enough to see himself become a villain. It turned out that in his view, the assassination vindicated everything he'd ever said and done; he punished and killed evil-doers and now the Emperor used his own methods to kill him, thus proving that all his atrocities were both justifiable and necessary. Whatever the case, Konrad was already a jaded, broken man after the Nostramo debacle and wished only to die. The idea that the Emperor ''wouldn't'' have him killed or might even pardon him was horrifying to Curze, as he believed that there would be no justice in such an act.
|align=center|[[Image:Konrad-Curze-Primarchs-Warhammer-.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Night Haunter 8th Ed.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Horus-Primarchs-Curze-Lion.jpeg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''IX'''
|align=center|[[Image:SanguiniusArt5mt.jpg|thumb|250px|]][[Sanguinius]]
|align=center|The Great Angel, The Brightest One
|align=center|[[Baal]]
|align=center|[[Blood Angels]]
|align=center|Loyal
|align=center|
*A noble and unparalleled warrior, known for the angel-like wings that grew from his back.
*Was known as the greatest exemplar of the Emperor himself, mirroring many of his father's best traits, instead of only one or two of them like his brothers. If anything, Sanguinius is a reflection of what the Emperor could have been as a truly benevolent being, concerned not just for mankind's future, but man as individuals as well.
*A pretty cool guy to be around. Despite being a fabulous, angelic demi-god of war; he had mankind's best wishes at heart and fought for it with graceful ferocity, hell even the Primarchs couldn't resist Sanguinius being so bro-tier. He is essentially the vampiric, bishie version of Vulkan.
*Showed the same amount of concern for his legion. Sanguinius did all that he could to hide the Red Thirst from being exposed to the wider Imperium, knowing full well that the Blood Angels would receive the II/XI Legion treatment if it came to light.
*Psychic, and capable of seeing glimpses of the future.
*He was powerful as he was nice, Sanguinius was one of the most powerful, if not ''the'' most powerful, of the Primarchs in terms of martial prowess. Especially if you pissed him off. Feats include; ripping the wings off a bloodthirster and literally throwing him to the warp, single-handedly holding a defensive point during the Siege of Terra against numerous traitors, soloing Titans, and managing to damage Horus' armor ''even after being exhausted from literally soloing entire armies''.
|align=center|'''Status: Dead'''
*Deceased, slain by Horus. Spirit is evidently intact somewhere in the Warp. His body is currently in a stasis crypt in Baal, so his corpse remained fabulous for the last 10,000 years. Commemorated during Sanguinala, a holiday dedicated to his memory.
|align=center|[[Image:Heresy-Sang.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:The horus heresy book 26 unremembered empire by raffetin-dap4ekw.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Emperor Sanguinius Echoes of Imperium.jpg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''X'''
|align=center|[[Image: Portrait.Ferrus_Manus_sketch.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Ferrus Manus]]
|align=center|The Gorgon of Medusa
|align=center|[[Medusa_(Planet)|Medusa]]
|align=center|[[Iron Hands]]
|align=center|Extremely Loyal, rivalling The Lion and Dorn
|align=center|
*Wants to get things done quickly, without needless philosophizing.
*Contrary to his sons; Ferrus wanted to advocate the strength of one's flesh, rather than relying completely on bionics and mechanical augmentations as shown by the Iron Hands, if any he was appalled at the idea of turning man completely into machine. He wasn't able to realize this after getting a viking crewcut by his best friend, however.
*A master artisan, thanks to his metal arms, which allowed him to practice his craft with incredible precision and detail.
|align=center|'''Status: Dead'''
*Deceased, slain by Fulgrim and his head offered to Horus as a gift (which actually horrified him). Fulgrim still has the body, which he repeatedly clones and murders again in a futile attempt to make him turn traitor. <br>Some claim he is still alive on Mars, though [[Void Dragon|he almost certainly isn't]].
|align=center|[[Image:Ferrus.30k.jpg|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XI'''
|! colspan="6" |+++Records expunged+++
|-
|align=center|'''XII'''
|align=center|[[Image:Angron.port.jpg|thumb|250px|]][[Angron]]
|align=center|Slave of Nuceria, Red Angel, Lord of the Red Sands
|align=center|[[Nuceria]]
|align=center|[[World Eaters]]
|align=center|Traitor
|align=center|
*Embodies the name "World Eater". He and his legion consumes entire worlds in a whirlwind of indiscriminate slaughter until nobody but them is left, pre and post-Great Crusade.
*No real ambition beyond endless slaughter, thanks to the butcher's nails augment jammed into Angron's brain. It also made him incredibly violent and quick to anger. At first it was to satiate the unending bloodlust generated by the butcher's nails, but now its to glorify [[Khorne]].
*One of the most powerful of the Primarchs in terms of sheer melee combat prowess. Surpassed only by Sanguinius in terms of single combat capability.
*A poor leader and general, however. He could murder armies sent against him, but he lacked the tactical acumen (or anything resembling sanity) to focus on the objectives truly needed to win a war. Angron is in the end a gladiator let loose in a galaxy-wide arena: murdering all of his opponents is the only acceptable (or even concievable) way to win.
*A retcon made his [[Leeroy Jenkins]] behaviour one of the largest factors for fucking up the Horus Heresy. If Angron had kept his murderboner down for just a few more minutes and let Horus finish off the remaining loyalists on Istvaan with another Exterminatus strike; they would have been able to march to Terra faster and with much more manpower and have a better chance at winning. Whether this was Angron just being Angron or a secret ploy by Khorne to keep the blood flowing by thinking past the Horus Heresy is unclear (after all, if Horus won; Chaos eventually starves to death. If Horus lost; he has a aeons' worth of blood and conflict to revel over and maybe even an eternal stalemate ensuring he lasts forever, if at the cost of the Great Game continuing for eternity as well.).
|align=center|'''Status: Daemon Prince (Khorne)'''
*Daemon Prince of [[Khorne]]. Spends most of his time Getting Shit Done and being banished to the Warp for a hundred or so years after the Imperium responds to his Blood Crusades.
|align=center|[[Image:World-Eaters-Warhammer-40000-.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Angron .jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Angrondemon.jpg|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XIII'''
|align=center|[[Image: Robute Guilliman.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Roboute Guilliman]]
|align=center|Lord of Ultramar, Avenging Son, The Victorious, The Master of Ultramar, The Blade of Unity
|align=center|[[Ultramar|Macragge]]
|align=center|[[Ultramarines]]
|align=center|Loyal, barring [[Imperium Secundus| that one episode he doesn't like to talk about]]
|align=center|
*A proud and fair visionary who always looked towards building a better future for humanity. Guilliman never did anything without thinking what would happen at the end of the day and he always tried to plan a better outcome for whatever he did, whether its building an empire or subjugating an enemy civilization.
*Was more for the people than the Emperor, hence why he thought preserving his Imperium was more important than the survival of the Emperor himself.
*A general first and warrior second, which was the key to his success throughout the Great Crusade. He wasn't the best at crossing swords or gunfights, at least in comparison to many of his brothers; but he was exceptional at commanding his forces and resources, ensuring all wars he fought in were running at optimum efficiency.
*The greatest statesman among the Primarchs. Guilliman was best remembered for his ability to set up an efficient form of government on every planet his legion conquered, turning them into model, self-sufficient worlds in order to prepare them for the future after the Great Crusade. This is best exemplified by Ultramar, which still remains one of the most powerful and idyllic planetary systems in the Imperium, even after 10,000 years. More tellingly, was allowed by the Emperor to keep Ultramar's 500 worlds as a semi-autonomous mini-empire within the Imperium because it was just so well run.
*He's also a logistical genius, and invented the organizational model that 8 of the 9 First Founding Chapters still use (more or less).
|align=center|'''Status: Active Duty'''
*Previously kept in a stasis chamber after his throat was sliced by Fulgrim with a poisoned sword.
*Recently revived with the help of Belisarius Cawl and the Ynnari and their new soul manipulation powers. Is now active once more, and not very happy with how badly the Imperium has gone to shit since he was not-quite-dead. Currently back in his old role of Lord Commander of the Imperium, trying his hardest to keep the Emperor's work from going completely down the drain while while waging an unending war against the forces of Chaos and the Imperium's equally monstrous bureaucracy. Rather unhappy about it all but is keeping his head above water nevertheless.
|align=center|[[Image: 30k.Guilliman.png|thumb|150px|]][[Image: Primarchs-Guilliman-40000.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Roboute-Guilliman-Primarchs-Warhammer-40000.jpeg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XIV'''
|align=center|[[Image: Mortarion Portrait.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Mortarion]]
|align=center|The Pale King, The Death Lord, The Prince of Decay (Post-Heresy)
|align=center|[[Barbarus]]
|align=center|[[Death Guard]]
|align=center|Traitor
|align=center|
*A bitter, petty man, kind of like the edgy goth kid of the group. Mortarion didn't want to associate anyone who hasn't gone through the same brand of abuse he has during his childhood and also hated those who had relatively comfy ones in comparison (like Guilliman or Dorn). He would only find some friendship with Konrad Curze (due to his "raised alone and became psycho-Batman" origin) and Horus (because just about everyone liked Horus).
*Has an immense abhorrence for psykers and the warp, due to his experiences on Barbarus. As a daemon prince, he is the very thing he hated in the first place. He takes the resulting bitterness out on everyone else in the form of horrible diseases.
*Stubborn to the core. Mortarion's favored tactic that he passed onto the Death Guard is a combination of attrition and unrelenting assaults; they take the pain while dishing it out in greater amounts, non-stop. He also valued individualism throughout his legion, largely leaving it up to his troops to figure out the best strategy in a conflict, rather than micro-managing them.
*Was already disenchanted by the Imperium by the start of the Horus Heresy (Seeing the Emperor and his works as total hypocrisies), so he threw his lot in with Horus. However, due to a ruse by Typhus; he and his legion ended up being infected by a virulent Nurglite plague while in the warp, which caused them to be in a constant state of agony but remain alive due to their Astartes-grade toughness. Unable to bear the pain and see his sons suffer; he pledged his loyalty to Nurgle and the god "cured" them of the plague (cure is probably incorrect, it was more of mutate their bodies to be compatible with the plague). From here, he became a daemon prince.
|align=center|'''Status: Daemon Prince (Nurgle)'''
*Went back to the warp after the Horus Heresy, where Nurgle gave him dominion over the Plague Planet, which he shaped into the image of Barbarus.
*Was banished by [[Kaldor Draigo|Grey Knights]] during the Battle of Kornovin, which was the origin of [[Kaldor Draigo|Draigo]] carving a name onto his plague-ridden heart (how Draigo did so is a mystery, so we'll just chalk it up to him being too high on drugs to be infected by Mortarion's plagues).
*Helped Abby by creating the zombie plague, along with other contagions, after he got the Hand of Darkness artifact.
*He eventually got better and waged a full-scale invasion of Ultramar when he heard that Guilliman's finally awake. Had to retreat after he had to deal with the other Chaos Gods' typical shenanigans (mainly encroaching on his strongholds in the [[Scourge Stars]] while he was off campaigning).
|align=center|[[Image:Warhammer-40000-фэндомы-Horus-Heresy-Mortarion-2073409.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Mortarion-40k.jpeg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XV'''
|align=center|[[Image:Magnus-The-Red-Primarchs-Warhammer-40000-фэндомы-4995855 (1).jpeg|thumb|250px|]] [[Magnus the Red]]
|align=center|The Crimson King, The Red Cyclops
|align=center|[[Prospero]]
|align=center|[[Thousand Sons]]
|align=center|Traitor, though he never planned this
|align=center|
*An optimistic scholar who thirsted for knowledge and always believed that information should be preserved for the greater good of mankind, regardless of its origins or the danger it might pose.
*As a psyker from birth, he was sympathetic to the discrimination faced by his fellow psykers and labored for his kind to be accepted. He did so by training psykers to control and enhance their powers, in the hopes of showing to people the benefits of his kind's gifts. This had mixed results with his brother primarchs, especially in the face of the Emperor's "psykers are bad" standing orders.
*Had an ego to rival the Emperor himself, but with far less justification for it.
*Defying the Nikea council's rulings, Magnus continued to experiment with warp powers and during a Tzeentch-induced prophesy that involved Horus' betrayal; he attempted to warn his father with a psychic message. During the sending process; he accidentally destroyed the Emperor's webway project, causing him to be arrested by Russ and the Wolves to answer for his disobedience.
*As Horus was already corrupted by this point, he altered the orders to instead destroy the Thousand Sons' homeworld. Realizing he's been played like a damn fiddle by Tzeentch, Magnus' resolve was broken and initially accepted his destiny of being destroyed by the wolves in an attempt to spite Tzeentch, but eventually decided to attempt to rebel against his fate but ultimately failing after Leman Russ beat him up badly. He then made a desperate deal with Tzeentch to save his legion in return for his servitude. He and the Thousand Sons were teleported to the Planet of Sorcerers, where more hijinks ensued with his [[Ahzek Ahriman|first captain]]'s certain ritual. Also his soul was broken into pieces somehow during the deal, and he's still trying to collect them all.
|align=center|'''Status: Daemon Prince (Tzeentch)'''
*Now a daemon prince, one of his first major campaigns was to invade the Space Wolves' homeworld. Was banished, but the Wolves were all but ruined; most of their upper command structure and progress with stabilizing their flawed gene seed was gone. Feeling they weren't down for the count yet; he went in again and bloodied the entire star system of Fenris itself, irreparably damaging the Wolves' home system.
*Appeared during the Gathering Storm, where he trapped and captured Guilliman and his retinue in the warp. After he escaped, Magnus chased and confronted Guilliman all the way to Luna, but was banished by the Custodes and Sisters of Silence. Now currently biding his time for another offensive.
|align=center|[[Image:Past Magnus.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image: 30k.magnus-the-red.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image: 40k.magnus-the-red.jpeg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XVI'''
|align=center|[[Image: Portrait.Warmaster_Horus_Remembrancer_Sketch.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Horus|Horus Lupercal]]
|align=center|The Lupercal, The Favorite Son
|align=center|[[Cthonia]]
|align=center|[[Black Legion|Luna Wolves/ Sons of Horus/ Black Legion]]
|align=center|[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O1rT6Vi5Ln4 DOUBLE TRAITOR link dead :(]
|align=center|
*A charismatic strategist who overwhelmed his enemies through sheer numbers and precision tactics, with an emphasis on wiping out the leadership structures of enemy forces.
*Big E's most favored son, always being held in the highest regard, second only to the Custodes. This was a combination of him being the first Primarch found (before the retcon) and his long rap sheet of victories throughout the Crusade.
*Due to his position and experience, he was the most well-liked of the Primarchs during the Great Crusade. Just about everyone looked at Horus as the greatest among them.
*For all his charisma and leadership, Horus was still wracked with self-doubt once appointed Warmaster, constantly afraid that he was unable to live up to the title (poor dude basically thought that anything less than Big E levels of success was failure). Being overall commander of the Emperor's forces AND being his personal favorite was a lot to live up to. This was one of the reasons why he succumbed to the temptations of Chaos.
*Was one of the few Primarchs who was suspicious of the Emperor's plans for the Astartes post-Crusade, fearing they'd be disposed of like the Thunder Warriors and was mistrustful of the Emperor's intentions in the long run in general, to say nothing of his resentment about how the worlds he and his brothers had conquered would be governed by ordinary humans. The Ruinous Powers would also use this to their advantage.
*Rebelled against the Emperor after being fed a vision of the future by the Chaos Gods, in which the Emperor was being worshiped as a god and many of his fellow Primarchs (including himself) were reviled or outright forgotten. Little did he know that this was to become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
|align=center|'''Status: Extra Dead'''
*His essence has been erased from existence. When the Emperor mustered up the resolve to finally end Horus, he shot him with a psychic blast powerful enough to obliterate his very soul, ensuring that the Chaos Gods couldn't just bring him back from the dead. His body was recovered and brought to the Eye of Terror, but was later destroyed after an incident involving [[Fabius Bile]] and a clone of Horus.
|align=center|[[Image:Horus-the warmaster.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Horus-Primarchs-.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Emperor vs Horus.jpg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XVII'''
|align=center|[[Image: Portrait.Lorgar_Aurelian_sketch.png|thumb|250px|]] [[Lorgar|Lorgar Aurelian]]
|align=center|Bearer of the Word, Urizen (Colchisian for "wisest of the wise")
|align=center|[[Colchis]]
|align=center|[[Word Bearers]]
|align=center|Traitor Prime
|align=center|
*A charismatic diplomat with a golden tongue, who relied heavily on his unparalleled speaking abilities to bring worlds into compliance during the Great Crusade. Lorgar would always prefer to talk out a peaceful solution, rather than resorting to violence. That said, Lorgar did know how to slap a bitch when needed.
*A deeply spiritual man, due to growing up in a theocratic society during his time on Colchis. Due to this, Lorgar saw The Emperor as a literal god and decided to spread the good word of the God-Emperor throughout the Crusade. During this time, he penned the "Lectitio Divinitatus", a book detailing how awesome the God-Emperor was, and always built grand cathedrals in all the planets he conquered. As you can imagine, this didn't sit well with the Man-Emperor's secular Empire, so he decided to bloody one of Lorgar's grandest cities to send a message with Guilliman. Little did the Emperor know what this act of dickery would lead eventually to.
*With Lorgar being completely disheartened and defeated; Kor Phaeron and [[Erebus]] lured him to the worship of the Dark Gods, who were more than happy to accept his rabid fanboyism. He would eventually corrupt Horus and ignite the [[Horus Heresy|single biggest clusterfuck in Imperial History]], ruining everything that the Emperor has striven to build since the [[Age of Strife]].
|align=center|'''Status: Daemon Prince (Undivided)'''
*Rules as a daemon prince of Chaos Undivided and currently located in Sicarius, the Word Bearers' home planet.
*Previously a shut-in NEET that left command to his legion to his Dark Apostles: Lorgar has finally gotten out of his tower and is personally leading the Word Bearers now. He has recently been seen evangelizing about Chaos in the material realm, with a large legion of Word Bearers behind him. Got his ass kicked by a warp-empowered Corax and is doing everything he can to avoid round three.

|align=center|[[Image: 30k.Lorgar.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Lorgar_portrait.jpg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XVIII'''
|align=center|[[Image: Portrait.Vulkan_sketch.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Vulkan]]
|align=center|Lord of Drakes
|align=center|[[Nocturne]]
|align=center|[[Salamanders]]
|align=center|Loyal
|align=center|
*A true man of the people, concerned with the preservation and welfare of humans. Vulkan saw all humans in the Imperium as equals and would protect any servant of the Emperor with great ferocity regardless of their class or status.
*Growing up in a blacksmith society allowed him and his legion to craft some of the finest wargear the Imperium has ever seen. It's also the reason for their fire fetish in combat.
*Inherited the Emperor's perpetual powers, granting him the ability to reincarnate after dying.
*He and his legion took some of the worst losses during Istvaan, and he himself was eventually captured by Konrad Curze.
|align=center|'''Status: Missing (presumed immortal)'''
*Curze wanted to get his torture fetish on, so he tortured Vulkan to death. Several times. Vulkan's status as a perpetual ensured he always came back, but less and less sane as Curze's treatment got worse and worse.
*He eventually managed to escape, but accidentally teleported over Macragge's atmosphere, crashing down on the planet like a green comet of insanity. By this point, anything remotely resembling sanity had left Vulkan's mind. He was eventually "killed" by another perpetual, in a well-meaning attempt to reset Vulkan's brain. It worked (sort of. At least he wasn't a howling maniac anymore) and after taking a short death nap, he got better and disappeared for a while.
*Resurfaced during [[The War of The Beast]] and was recruited to lead the Imperial forces against The Beast's forces. Then disappeared after ramming The Beast into a plasma reactor and killing them both in a squall of gore. The Salamanders claim he continued to lead them for a few more centuries after that death, then left them with the Tome of Fire, claiming he had a special mission that they could not accompany him for.
|align=center|[[Image:Past Vulkan.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Vulkan Lives.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Vulkan-Primarchs-Warhammer-40000-фэндомы-4123369.jpeg|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XIX'''
|align=center|[[Image: Corax Portrait.png|thumb|250px|]] [[Corvus Corax]]
|align=center|The Lord of Shadows, The Liberator, The Deliverer, The Raven-Lord, Chooser of the Slain, The Shadowed Lord
|align=center|[[Deliverance]]
|align=center|[[Raven Guard]]
|align=center|Loyal
|align=center|
*Sought to overthrow oppression, bringing justice to tyrants.
*Possessed some kind of perception-manipulating psychic power, giving him the ability to be "invisible" to organics (He's still there clear as day, but your mind just can't process that he's right there).
*Preferred covert warfare, sabotaging, fast strikes and assassinating the enemy from the sides, and only striking in the open when the time is right. Basically one of the few primarchs who uses tactics of actual special forces units.
*He and his legion were bloodied during Istvaan and forced out of the conflict. Corvus wanted desperately to help the Imperium's deteriorating situation, so he asked the Emperor for assistance. Emps obliged and gave him the template to create the Primarchs themselves, giving him the ability to train marines at an even faster rate. This was wrecked after the Alpha Legion tampered with the creation process, resulting with the majority of the aspirants coming out as horrible mutants and aberrations.
*While it weighed heavily on his conscience, Corax had to be pragmatic. He made do and used his newly obtained mutant horde as shock troops and it worked; they were able to disrupt the traitors long enough to buy Terra some time to put up a defense.
*After the Heresy ended, he was reluctantly forced to euthanize his creations, wracking Corvus with a huge amount of guilt.
|align=center|'''Status: Missing (lost in the Warp)'''
*Went missing after heading for the Eye of Terror to atone for his sins, saying only "Nevermore" before leaving. His status is currently unknown, but the Raven Guard believe he's still alive and will return once again. In reality, he is indeed alive and hunting his fallen brothers, although the Warp has changed him into a living, shapeshifting shadow.
|align=center|[[Image:Warhammer-Corvus-Corax-Primarchs.jpeg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Hh-walpaper-raven-Copy.jpg|thumb|150px|]][[Image:Corvus Corax.jpg|thumb|150px|]]
|-
|align=center|'''XX'''
|align=center|[[Image: Alpharius2.jpg|thumb|250px|]] [[Alpharius]] [[Omegon]]
|align=center|Head of the Hydra, Aleph Null, The Hydra, The Threefold Serpent, The Final Configuration, The Last Primarch
|align=center|They're not telling
|align=center|[[Alpha Legion]]
|align=center|[[Alpha Legion|Alpharius: Very loyal. Omegon: even Tzeentch can't keep track.]]
|align=center|
*Shrouded in mystery. It's not even known what their homeworld is, let alone what their upbringing was like. Forge World gave no fewer than four mutually irreconcilable origin stories, all of which were dismissed as lies. That said, the only discernible fact we can give about them is that the two primarchs did not always agree with each other, exemplified with Omegon actively sabotaging Alpharius' operations during the Horus Heresy.
*As primarchs of the Alpha legion; the two frequently exchanged roles whenever needed with nobody ever noticing, but officially; Alpharius is the primarch of the legion while Omegon is commander of their elite covert forces.
*Masters of psychological warfare and manipulation. They didn't need regiments of soldiers or weapons to do his heavy lifting; all he needs is a handful of spies to plant paranoia, deceit, misinformation, and dissent in his targeted worlds. By the time his agents are done: the enemy would either be tearing each other apart and/or distrustful of each other; making them isolated, easy pickings for the main Alpha Legion forces once they're called to reign the planet in.
|align=center|'''Status: It's Complicated'''
*Alpharius bought the Cabal's story about letting Horus kill all of humanity to kill off the Chaos Gods in the long run, and was eventually beheaded by Rogal Dorn during a battle on Pluto. Maybe. Quite frankly, with these two one can never be entirely sure '''what''' the truth really is.
*Omegon took on his mantle officially ("the jest made real") and this new "Alpharius" may or may not have been killed by Guilliman (the Ultramarines suspect they may have only killed a body double). His loyalties are unknown, but he was against the Cabal's proposal, indicating he either thought sacrificing his entire species was too big of a price (which would mean he's still loyal to humanity), or he wanted Chaos to survive by feeding off humanity (which would mean he was a traitor).
|align=center|

|}

==Their Eventual Fates==
[[File:Heresy_Time.jpg|300px|thumb|right|An accurate retelling of the final stages of the rebellion.]]
===Traitors===
*General downside to those who became Daemon Princes is that the further they go from the Eye of Terror, the more their power wanes. Also most of them spend most of their time in the Great Game (eternal war in the Warp), growing increasingly distant from the real world affairs.
* '''Horus''' was killed by the Emperor during the Siege of Terra, who utterly destroyed his soul. His legion enshrined his corpse until the Emperor's Children stole it. [[Fabius Bile]] managed to successfully clone him, but [[Abaddon]] killed the clone to cement his position as his successor as Warmaster of Chaos. While "Horus" is supposedly ''very'' dead, which was his fault for being a fuckwit, shards of his soul which were broken off in the Warp remain. Including one in the realm of Khorne...
* '''Angron''' is a Daemon Prince of Khorne. Still gets shit done, but did get his arse handed to him by the Grey Knights on Armageddon.
* '''Mortarion''' is a fucktwit who rarely does anything of interest (still sulking over his eternal existence as the thing he hates the most), but is a Daemon Prince of Nurgle. Apparently now holds the largest domain in the Eye of Terror, rather than just one planet he had in the old fluff. Got some open heart surgery, courtesy of Draigo/Ward. Created zombie plague from one of the artifacts Abbaddon used in his XII crusade. He invaded Ultramar after hearing news that Guilliman's finally awake, though he ultimately had to go back to the [[Scourge Stars]] due to his poor fortunes in the war as well as being summoned back by his patron God.
* '''Fulgrim's''' soul was trapped in a painting while his body was possessed by a daemon for a brief time before swapping places with the daemon and taking its powers (or so he claims). The first Primarch to become a Daemon Prince, although he aimed at achieving (demi)godhood instead (by sacrificing Perturabo). Abandoned what remained of his legion to rule his pleasure daemon world, and [[Troll|didn't tell them how to get there]] (yet Abaddon somehow manages to contact him anyways).
* '''Lorgar''' is a lazy fucknut who does nothing since they fled to the Eye of Terror, and handed the rule over his legion to the council of Dark Apostles, but still a Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided. Taught Abaddon how to summon daemons. Lost a duel with a powered-up Corax during sometime after the Heresy.
* '''Magnus the Red''' got broken into several pieces during his fight with Leman Russ, with several of them actually believing they were the real Magnus and going their own way. Some pieces were eventually put back together to form "the Crimson King", the Daemon Primarch form of Magnus who joined Horus in his rebellion. This sometimes also gets shit done, leading armies to the [[Space Wolves]]' planet and screwing with the Imperium, keeping his big red trollface on all the time until he gets his ass tossed back into the [[Warp]]. Other fragments seem to be floating around throughout history, appearing to have their own agenda, pretending to be daemons or helping the Imperium from time to time. By the time of the Gathering Storm and the 42nd Millennium the disparate fragments have mostly recombined to the Crimson King ''(leaving out a few key elements, namely the ones who embodied his best qualities; for example, the part of Magnus that embodied his love for his Legion chose to fade into nonexistence instead of being reabsorbed into the Crimson King)'' making him as whole as he can be.
* '''Perturabo''' becomes irrelevant after he goes on to drop largely out of post-Heresy fluff, but is still a Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided. Rules the most stable planet in the Eye of Terror, where he does nothing but watching his sons sieging each other. Helps Failbaddon in a couple of Black Crusades by giving him some Daemon Engines. It doesn't really help, but it's more than Lorgar's done for Chaos Undivided. He is also leading his Legion after the 13th Black Crusade in their new offensive against the Imperium.
* '''Konrad Curze''' allowed a Callidus assassin to infiltrate his lair and kill him, either because he himself became the thing he hated the most, or to justify to himself that every atrocity he has done in the name of justice was a necessary act. Except...there was that crown he always wore, the one with a stone in it that looked oddly similar to a soulstone...
* The Alpha Legion's story is a bit complex:
**'''Alpharius''' was slain by Rogal Dorn in combat during the Battle of Pluto. He is very much dead as he did not bargain with the Dark Gods and had his head split open by a fellow Primarch's chainsword. Conspiracy theorists will speculate that it wasn't really Alpharius, though the death is strongly corroborated by Omegon's response. So unless Alpharius used a body double to trick Rogal Dorn AND ''his own twin'', into thinking he was dead and allowed Omegon to take his place and identity permanently; (or his twin merly acted as if he had died as part of the ruse, this is the Alpha Legion triple mind gamesa are kinda there thing) there isn't any hard evidence to suggest that the dead "Alpharius" was anything other than the actual Primarch, but knowing the Alpha Legion that doesn't mean too much without definitive proof.
**'''Omegon''' reluctantly took Alpharius' identity after he sensed he was dead, and his legion a bee-line for Ultramar after the Horus Heresy, where he met his end after dueling [[Roboute Guilliman|Big Bobby G]]. However, because the rest of the Alpha Legionaries did not break even after the death of their primarch ''(in fact they managed to beat the Ultramarines in the conflict altogether);'' nobody could truly confirm if they did indeed kill the real deal, or if it was a body double.
**While it's been established that a decent amount of Alpha Legionnaires were surgically altered to resemble their Primarch and even ''believe'' they were Primarchs themselves; that and the figurehead role of "Alpharius" has been largely interchangable between both the twins and their sons, which makes sense for a legion whose MO is flexible leadership. While we can be reasonably certain that at least one of the twins is dead, whatever "Omegon-Alpharius" or at least whichever person who thinks he's Alpharius have been up to following the Heresy is a matter of fierce debate and speculation.
**One warband of the Alpha Legion believes that Omegon is still alive in the 42nd millennium and somehow certain elements of the Necron knows where he is. And there is that one big guy in scaled armor trapped in Trayzn's toybox...

===Loyalists===
[[File:Imperium-good-ending.jpg|350px|thumb|right|If GeeDubs ever dared to make a multiple outcome final campaign World of Darkness style this will probably be the Golden Ending while respecting all the current canon material.]]
*It is believed by Mortarion that they are now returning to realspace.
*'''Ferrus Manus''' was killed by Fulgrim during the Drop Site Massacre. His body was not recovered, so some Iron Hands think he might still be alive, and for a time it seemed like he did survive. However, Vulkan later exposed the "Ferrus Manus" leading the remaining Iron Hands as a marionette-like machine with one of the Primarch's hands attached to it, destroying the fake soon afterwards. The fact that Ferrus was decapitated by Fulgrim after being defeated and had his head delivered to Horus makes this claim fairly dubious. Just don't say that to the Iron Hands, though. Unless you want free open-heart surgery from a ceramite and steel power fist. Fulgrim did try to clone him (several times) in the hope one of them would join the traitors, but every clone so far has refused and been subsequently killed by him. An apparition of an iron handed giant - the 10th son - was seen leading the charge in an army of human souls against an army of daemons when the Emperor entered the Webway).
*'''Sanguinius''' was killed by Horus. His body was recovered, and he's the only Primarch who doesn't have any legends about returning, though there are some theories on the identity of the [[Sanguinor]] which were later proven <s>incorrect</s> half correct (he is able to manifest Sanguinius to Dante during the events of the Dark Imperium). Sanguinius foresaw his death and accepted it as a necessary sacrifice for the future of the Imperium, in no small part because his visions also warned him that he would only survive the Horus Heresy by becoming corrupted himself. The trauma of his death by the Talon of Horus left a psychic manifestation of him still on the Vengeful Spirit. As of late it turns out his soul has been wandering the warp ever since, only deciding to make himself known to revive Commander [[Dante]] when he ended up as [[Swarmlord]]-shishkebab after realizing that you really don't want to get into melee with the Swarmlord a little too late (Dante being Dante, he still managed to banish it to the Hive Mind, showing just how bloody exceptional you have to be for Sanguinius to bother interfering).
*'''Lion El'Jonson''' returned to Caliban only to discover <s>that his friend Luther had stabbed him in the back.</s> THAT LUTHER HAD A PLANET-WIDE PARTY AND EVENTUALLY PASSED OUT INTO A COMA AFTER DRINKING 200 TANKARDS OF SPACE WOLF-GRADE ALCOHOL. He sleeps deep within the Rock, originally on life support and now fully-healed (but none of the Dark Angels seem to know this). Perhaps this is a sign of a coming advancement of the storyline, DUN DUN DUN!
*'''Jaghatai Khan''' disappeared into the Webway after chasing a group of Dark Eldar. The White Scars think he will return someday, and when you consider the fact that time is just as weird there as it is in the rest of the Warp, there is a small possibility he's still around.
*'''Leman Russ''' disappeared into the Eye of Terror but promised the Space Wolves that he would return for the Final Battle. Magnus appears to know where he is now, but he sure as hell isn't telling the Space Wolves. Reports during the Thirteenth Black Crusade claim that a figure matching Russ's description was seen leading the 13th Great Company have surfaced, but were never verified. Numerous crusades by the Space Wolves to find Russ have resulted in failure, although they did find <s> his armor in a shrine of Khorne in the Eye</s> an armor believed to be his in the Temple of Horus on Rudra - so either he succumbed to Chaos, was killed by a Khorne champion, devolved into wulfen, or is [[Conan the Barbarian|currently pillaging The Warp as a muscle-bound, half-naked barbarian hero]].
*'''Rogal Dorn''' disappeared during a [[Black Crusade]] in a desperate ship boarding action. Only his severed hand was recovered and its skeleton enshrined. Debate rages about whether the Zerg rush of World Eaters killed him, or whether he's still out there, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIJTvEo4N4Q murdering his way through traitors with an Astartes-pattern shotgun and a chainsword grafted where his hand used to be]. Original 40K novels stated his entire skeleton was on display on Terra, but it's been retconned to only his hands. Still, a Primarch without a skeleton would be bad-ass, if not a little amusing.
*'''Roboute Guilliman''' was formerly preserved in a stasis field, seconds from death after he was poisoned by Fulgrim. Fast-forward a few thousand years and some Eldar flubdubbery, however, and Big Bobby G is back in action, and he's mad at the current state of the Imperium. After a private meeting with the Emperor, he assumed direct command of the Imperium itself as Lord Commander of the Imperium. When he isn't curb-stomping traitors to death or otherwise trying to keep the Imperium afloat, Guilliman is busy re-vamping the Imperium with numerous reforms in an attempt to realize his father's dream for humanity. Needless to say; a lot of people are unhappy about this, but they can't exactly tell off one of the Emperor's actual sons and expect not to be on the business end of a Custodes guardian spear. He's also taken the time to rewrite the Codex Astartes as well.
*'''Vulkan''' got the shit kicked out of him during the Drop Site Massacre, whereupon his fluff gets a bit hazy:
**The old ''Codex: Space Marines'' states that his body was never found, only a book containing only the names of nine powerful relics and a bunch of annoying riddles as to where they might be found, penned by Vulkan himself. In the 41st millennium, the Salamanders believe that he is still alive and that collecting the nine relics - they've found five so far - will reveal his location.
** In the Black Library novels, starting with ''Vulkan Lives'' the big V had to be dragged into a Thunderhawk in bloody tatters. Kurze captured him and tortured him to death... repeatedly; as a [[Perpetual]], Vulkan would not stay dead. After an indeterminate amount of time and deaths, Vulkan managed to escape by teleporting himself into orbit around Macragge and reentering its atmosphere. When he recovered and learned that Kurze was planetside, he [[Rage|flipped out]] and went after him. A well-meaning Perpetual stabbed him with a fulgurite (a spearhead-shaped piece of stone that contains a bit of the Emperor's power), hoping to either cure his madness or kill him for good. Now apparently dead, Vulkan was put in a stasis capsule inscribed with the words "Unbound Flame," with an honor guard of Salamanders until his remains could be returned to Nocturne. As of the end of ''Deathfire'', he somehow managed to return to life again, although there's no indication as to whether or not he's still a Perpetual. As of the War of the Beast, he's still alive in M.32, after the wounding of Guilliman. He's apparently been wandering the Imperium for a millennium fulfilling his own oaths, but returns to Terra to take command and reclaim Ullanor from the united Ork race. Even with one of the greatest forces assembled since the Horus Heresy, with the remnants of the VII Legion Chapters, the fight devolved to Vulkan facing off with The Beast one-on-one, and sacrificing himself in The Beasts temple-gargant's core detonating it with both himself and The Beast inside it. Whether both of them died is highly unlikely. He hints that Dorn is also alive, meaning he is either privy to some secret information, doesn't know of his brother's death, or is going insane.
**The 8th Edition Codex reconcile these stories somewhat, by claiming that sources within the Salamanders themselves believe Vulkan led them for three millennia ''(which accounts for his appearance during the War of the Beast)'', sometimes falling in battle but apparently always returning ''(also accounting for his perpetual status)''. He eventually disappeared on some final undocumented mission, not without leaving his Tome of Fire and bequeathing his personal artefacts to the chapter but not actually saying where they were, giving rise to the legend that if they are all found he will then return.
*'''Corvus Corax''' disappeared into the Eye of Terror as an atonement for putting down the mutant hordes he created in trying to create Space Marines out of desperation. Quoth the Raven: "Nevermore." Beyond the Imperium's eyes, his wraith-slip powers began to mutate and he became a shadowy shapeshifter hellbent on killing all his traitor brothers. Corax was last seen beating Lorgar's ass so hard that the useless fuckwit had to run with his tail between his legs. Yeah, he beat a Daemon Primarch (who had Chaos Marine and likely daemon backup) into up and running, while Corax himself was on his own. Basically the battle between Guilliman and Magnus on Luna, in reverse. Eat it, Papa Smurf.

==Two Missing Primarchs | The Forgotten & The Purged==
Who are the two missing Primarchs, you ask? [[Sigmar|Sigmar Heldenhammer]] and [[Archaon The Everchosen: Lord of the End of Times; Chaos Incarnate; Herald of the Apocalypse|Archaon]] (depending on how WHFB fits in with 40K, if it does). Or maybe (per /tg/ canon) [[Rachnus Rageous]] and [[Tialoc Ekans]]. [[Samus]] and [[Berserk|Guts]] are also contenders, and many Bolter and Chainsword regulars consider Icarion and his Lightning Bearers to be their headcanon II Legion.

The Legions in question are the Legio II (Second Legion) and the Legio XI (Eleventh Legion).

What, you wanted a serious answer?

Okay, fine. Nobody really knows. It is very intentional that no lore exists about these two legions, making them completely unknown. References to their existence are common in canon, but no details are ever explicitly mentioned. This is a feature of the lore, an intentionally kept mystery whose details provide more questions than answers. What has been established is that they got killed for some reason and the existence of their Legions was wiped from record by the Emperor. [[Malcador the Sigillite]] claims that the Primarchs had been manipulated from the start, and were to be maneuvered into their proper roles prior to the Horus Heresy and those which would not be manipulated would be removed. Although Malcador's own testimony is tainted by the fact that he later admits he had to lie, though many of his statements do mirror what we have seen from the Emperor's own statements.

[[Games Workshop]] have mentioned Primarchs besides the eighteen above on other occasions, but they backtracked since. Back in the [[Rogue Trader|first edition]] of [[Warhammer 40,000]], all twenty [[First Founding]] Chapters were known, as were their Primarchs (though, at the time, the Primarch was just the first Chapter Master). Of these, the [[Valedictors]] and [[Rainbow Warriors]] were declared in a later [[White Dwarf]] to have been founded after the [[Second Founding]].

Later, in the short story '''Hell in a Bottle''' from the novel Into the Maelstrom, a chapter known as the Iron Hearts get fucked over by a [[Chaos Lord]]. The short story also mentions that the Chapter has a Primarch known as Rubinek. Of course, this was just a huge cock-up on the author's part, who himself admitted that he meant Chapter Master.

=== The [REDACTED] Event ===

*'''The First Heretic''' shows that by the Razing of Monarchia (43 years before the Isstvan V Drop Site Massacre of 006.M31), the II and XI Legions had already been stricken from the records. It also states that the remaining Primarchs had to swear an oath never to speak of their missing brothers and that the missing Primarchs' corresponding legions were personally purged by the Emperor, so it had to have been something extraordinarily bad. However, Lorgar still remembers something about them, saying "I still remember how they-", before Magnus cut him off. Lastly, it is revealed that the Emperor had considered purging Lorgar and the Word Bearers (making them the third legion to be purged) for starting a religion around him, but Russ had talked him out of it. #BlameLemanRuss
*In '''The Lightning Tower''' Rogal Dorn says that the lost Primarchs' disappearances were "separate tragedies", so it seems like they disappeared in two different incidents.
*In '''Descent of Angels''', which takes place as of the time Lion El'Jonson had been rediscovered, Chief Librarian Israfael tells the then initiate, Zahariel El'Zurias, that the Lion has 19 brothers; indicating that as of that time they had not committed whatever atrocity lead to their demise. This also means that the existence of the Primarchs was not a secret among the Imperium.
*In '''Dark Imperium''', Roboute Guilliman declares "I was one of twenty. Two failed. Half the rest turned on my Father." This suggests that the downfall of the two lost primarchs was not a result of them betraying the Emperor. Instead their demise was a result of them "failing" their purpose as primarchs and being terminated as a result. Interestingly this line also seems to imply that it is no longer forbidden to speak of the two missing primarchs in the 42nd milenium, as Guilliman casually references them to make a point about primarchs being fallible. (The 2021 revision of the book adds a bit more to this; it looks like the Imperium has covered up the fact that there were even two deleted Legions and Primarchs in the first place.)
*'''The Chamber at the End of Memory''' has Rogal Dorn note that he was one of the few Primarchs who ever met with the II and XI Primarchs. It also reveals that not only was the entire Imperium forbidden to speak of the missing Primarchs' existence, but every non-Primarch save for Malcador who had ever interacted with them was mind-wiped so they would remember nothing about them - including their own gene-sons, presumably other than the fact that they were purged from all record and be left unable to speak even about that. Even the other Primarchs had their memories altered so they couldn't recall much more about their lost brothers beyond the fact that they existed - Dorn is dumbstruck by this discovery, and even more so when Malcador tells him that it was his own idea (and Roboute Guilliman's) to have his fellow Primarchs' memories altered. Malcador also states that '''whatever it was that the II and XI Primarchs did, it was against the very ideals of the Great Crusade and would have ruined everything the the Great Crusade had accomplished to that point.''' Their old living quarters in the Imperial Palace are protected by extremely powerful psychic wards, and when Malcador briefly restores Rogal Dorn's memories of them he realizes the '''''hateful truth'''. That '''the entire Horus Heresy up to the Siege of Terra was not so awful or threatening to the Imperium as what had happened to the Missing Primarchs'''; in fact, '''if they were still alive, the Imperium would have long since fallen'''.
*'''Deliverance Lost''' suggests that whatever happened to the missing Primarchs occurred sometime before the Emperor found Corvus Corax, as Corax asked the Emperor why there were only sixteen other Primarchs waiting for him if he was the nineteenth (it's unsure whether this was referring to him being the Primarch of the nineteenth Legion, or him being the nineteenth found); the Emperor avoided the question, claiming that "it would be a discussion for another day". This is no longer the case, somehow, as he is [[Retcon|now the third-to-last primarch found]], right before the second missing primarch.
*In '''Prospero Burns''', Leman Russ mentions that the Space Wolves had fought other Space Marines before the attack on Prospero, which may have something to do with the purge. A senior Space Wolf describes Russ' "wyrd" as being "the Emperor's executioner". Several books since have backed this up, though [https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/8q7qyg/the_space_wolves_what_were_they_really_for_little/e0hih9h/ ADB denies this].
*In '''Scars''' there's a reference to rumours and "whispers of past atrocities" that only a Primarch could kill another Primarch. Russ also turns up and talks a bit about fighting Magnus, and the resulting "shame". So if he's responsible for offing one or two of his brothers, they must've done something pretty fucking heinous.
*In '''The Dark King''', when asked if he will report the Night Lords for censure, Dorn remarks that he feared to add another empty statue to the Emperor's palace, implying that the missing legions were exterminated for committing severe atrocities.
*In '''The Last Council''' Malcador states that one of the missing Primarchs was '''fallen and disgraced'''. Alpharius mentions that one of the primarchs had died. While the lost Primarchs and their Legions were wiped before he was rediscovered, its Alpharius....you can't keep info like that from him.
*Their legions were purged in the times of the [[Rangdan Xenocides|Rangdan Wars]] they participated in.
*In '''The Wolftime''', which is set during the [[Indomitus Crusade]], two Adeptus Custodes are discussing the Space Wolves' resistance to their new [[Primaris Marine]] reinforcements. During the discussion, one of them, Hastius Vychellan, notes that, if [[Roboute Guilliman]] turned on the Emperor, the Space Wolves would be among his first opponents, as the Custodes' history with the Eleventh Legion demonstrates. The other, Maldovar Colquan, notes that this shared history is an example of how loyalty to the Emperor can be corrupted by lies and manipulation. It's quite vague, but the implication is obvious: someone manipulated the XI Legion into turning traitor without them realising it, and the Space Wolves (and likely the Custodes as well) went after them for it. The book doesn't say who manipulated them, but since Malcador mentions in ''The Chamber at the End of Memory'' that the lost Legions' Marines were spared and re-used after their deletion, but the Primarchs weren't, it's possible it was the XI Primarch.

=== Name of one of the missing Primarchs ===
*In '''The Last Council''', [[Horus]] (who had been outraged by the erasure of his brothers from Imperial records) struggles to mutter the name of one of the lost Primarchs while Malcador is using his psyker powers to seize his nerves so as to prevent him from saying it. '''Horus managed to say"M-Mal...al..."''', which pissed Malcador off to the point that it required Alpharius and the Khan to convince Malcador not to kill him outright. Obviously people looking for connections immediately found one in [[Malal]], the fact that hearing the name made Malcador remember something that stirred up a spiteful hate (Malal's primary emotional aspect), and the fact that Malal's favourite/sacred number is 11 (the number for one of the missing Legions, and the Roman numeral for "2" can be seen as two "1's,") there may be some circumstantial connection to the Anti-Chaos Chaos God (ignoring the fact that copyright caused GW to change Malal's name to Malice).

(50% Horus was just trying to say “Malcador” 50% Game's workshop is trolling us)

=== II Primarch ===
*The 2nd Primarch was the third Primarch rediscovered. After Leman Russ, but before Ferrus Manus.
*'''Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix''' mentions that the 2nd Legion's "normally contemplative", "quiet" and "humorless" Primarch had accused Fulgrim of arrogance for boasting he would bring a world under compliance with only eight total Astartes (& that Fulgrim considered the remark high hypocrisy, even bringing to mind the old adage of pots and kettles), which means that at least one missing Primarch was found early enough to have some kind of interaction with his brothers and make a contribution to the Great Crusade (being 3rd in line after Horus and Russ, actually). Considering how recent the encounter had apparently happened, and how Fulgrim refers to the Primarch as if he is still around, it appears that he was still very much active and un-purged at the time of the novel's events, although Fulgrim does not refer to him or his Legion by name (referring to him only as the "master of the Second" and "his brother").
*In '''Fabius Bile: Clonelord''', Flavius Alkenex mentions that Fulgrim once described one of the two (likely the 2nd since the 11th was almost last to be recovered) having made a pilgrimage to the Attila System of Ultima Segmentum to make an archaeological expedition inside the [[Necrons|Ymga Monolith]] for [[C'tan|unknown]] [[Heretek|reasons]] during the earliest days of the Great Crusade. Worth noting that "pilgrimage" has some pretty religious meaning's to it which is something the Emperor greatly and heavily frowned upon.

=== XI Primarch ===
*The 11th Primarch was nineteenth primarch rediscovered. After Corax, but before Alpharius Omegon.
*In '''The First Heretic''', when Argel Tal and the other Word Bearers are in the Emperor's gene-labs, they find the 11th's gestation pod. It is mentioned that the 11th was still "innocent and pure" prior to the Primarchs being scattered, although this was a vision given to the Word Bearers by a daemon so take it with a grain of salt.
*In the 9th Edition of the Adeptus Custodes Codex, it is mentioned that the Dungeons and Vaults of the Imperial Palace contained many taboo and esoteric items and entities with Subject XI listed as one of them. Whether it's actually one of the Lost, his clone or a coincidence is a never ending debate.

=== The Lost Legions ===
*The Regimental Standard article '''Field Dressing a Lasgun Wound''' makes reference to the II and XI legions taking part in the Rangdan Xenocides, but cuts off before their names are given (though given the amount of whitespace between the word "the" and the end of the page, this would suggest at least one of them had a particularly long word in their name). Given it references the rank of "Warmaster", it means this was during the tail end of the war.
*'''The First Heretic''' specifies that the missing Legions were purged at least 43 years before the Drop Site Massacre, so we can conclude that neither one took part in the Horus Heresy. At the same time, members of the Word Bearers Seventh Company travelling through time with Ingethel the Ascended reveal rumors that the surviving members of the lost Legions were folded into the Ultramarines (their Chaplain thinks the rumor is a load of grox-shit, but their Captain does note that the Ultramarines are on record as receiving an increase in troops; however it should be noted that Ingethel is a Daemon Princess, and could easily have been bullshitting herself).
*In '''The Chamber at the End of Memory''', Malcador stated that when both the Primarchs were purged, it left their legions leaderless. Indicating that the the II and XI legions were around when both Primarchs did the thing. And that Dorn and Guilliman had spoken up to convince him that just purging the two lost legions completely would be a waste of good soldiers. Instead, Dorn and Guilliman created the plan to wipe the Legions' memories, and have them put to use elsewhere. While it is not actually said where they wound up, beyond Malcador saying that he ensured they were "attuned to new circumstances", it is possible that Dorn and Guilliman had the Marines integrated into their own legions. If true, this may support the fanon explanation of the [[Rainbow Warriors]] and [[Valedictors]] existence.
*In '''Fear To Tread''', Sanguinius admits to Horus that he had not told the Emperor about the Red Thirst because he feared that the Emperor would purge the Blood Angels in the same way as the missing Legions, indicating that some form of gene-seed flaw caused at least one of the Legions to be purged.
*'''Visions of Heresy - Book One''' has a pictographic list of all the original legions. Interestingly, the II Legion pict-capture is labeled "-ERROR #CDIV- file not found", while the XI Legion pict-capture is labeled "-CENSORED- by Imperial decree". This seems to indicate that the XI Legion was merely censored, while the records of the II Legion were wiped entirely. ‘Error #CDIV’ is a play on Error 404 using Roman Numerals.

=== Known Timeline ===
*'''792.M30''', the Primarchs were created . The 11th is still "innocent and pure". The Primarchs are scattered.
*'''798.M30''', The Great Crusade began.
*The 2nd Primarch is found and reunited. He is the 3rd Primarch found, after Horus and Russ.
*Sometime during the early years of the Great Crusade, the 2nd Primarch leads an expedition to the Ymga Monolith in the Attila System of the Ultima Segmentum.
*After the discovery of Guilliman, the (then) 8 found Primarchs all met up. The 2nd accused Fulgrim of hubris. Fulgrim feels the 2nd was guilty of the same and called him out on hypocrisy.
*Magnus is found and all (then) 9 found Primarchs meet up.
*Around the time Lion El Johnson (11th to be found) was discovered, the two lost Primarchs had not yet done whatever made them get un-personed.
*'''Between the 890s.M30 - 930s.M30''', both the 2nd and 11th Legions were deployed along with the Solar Auxillia to the Rangdan Xenocides. This is the last recorded action of either Legion. ''Something'' happened to them during this war. An Alpharius (who may or may not be THE Alpharius) met Lion and offered to manage the mess here in his stead. Clearly any non-Primarch person can just march in to meet Lion and ask to take away his job!
*'''approx. 898.M30''' Corax, the 18th Primarch discovered, is found "around a century" after the start of the Great Crusade.
*'''Between 898.M30 - 963.M30''', the 11th Primarch is discovered. At some point he is reunited with his legion.
*The information of the lost Primarchs and their Legions is wiped, leaving Alpharius as the only non-lost Primarch to not see all others at least once (if the Rangda's Alpharius is someone else entirely) .
*'''981.M30''' Alpharius Omegon is discovered and (or at least) given leadership of the XX Legion (the at least is because Horus found him/them first and took a while to tell others this).
*'''Between 981.M30 - 000.M31''' Horus confronts Malcador about the destruction of the lost Primarch's statues in the Reliquary. Attempts to say one of their names out of spite for Malcador, is force choked and can only get out the syllable "Mal-".
*'''000.M31''', Magnus mentions its the first time since [REDACTED] '''9''' Primarchs have met up in one place. Its likely that Magnus wanted to say something like "Since the 2nd was with us.".

=== Other Info ===
Lion El'Jonson wouldn't lead the fight against the Rangdan xenos until 890s.M30, and not until the 6th year of his involvement did the title of "Warmaster" get thrown around. Adding this to the document in "Field Dressing a Lasgun Wound", means that the 11th Legion's participation in the Rangdan Xenocides didn't happen until at least 8 years after Lion El'Jonson took the helm. The Xenocide would end by 930s.M30, meaning the 11th only participated in the war for a possible 32 to 42 years. The Horus Heresy didn't begin until 005.M31, and the 2nd and 11th had been expunged and condemned 43 years before the Dropsite Massacre which occurred at 006.M31, disproving the dates 965.M30 & 969.M30 as being the period where they were exterminated by the Space Wolves. By the time the Rangdan Xenocides ended, there would have been a possible 23 to 33 year gap between 930s.M30, the end of the Xenocides, and 963.M30 for them to have committed whatever atrocity called for damnatio memoriae, assuming it didn't occur during the Xenocides.

Considering that the 2nd was around for at least a century with no issues before the 11th showed up and they both got expunged three decades after the end of the Rangdan Xenocide, it's a strong possibility that [[that guy|the 11th was the ring leader of the two & dragged the 2nd Primarch down with him]].

Out of universe, [[Rick Priestley]] admitted that the unknown legions were supposed to be a reference to the three Roman legions wiped out in the [[Wikipedia: Battle of the Teutoburg Forest| Battle of the Teutoburg Forest]], whose numbers were never reused after they were slain to a man by Germanic barbarians as well as add an air of mystery and strangeness to the setting, that it had been so long since the primarchs and their full legion were around that people had entirely forgot about them .Nowadays, it doesn't even really let people do much with homebrew fluff since the setting has developed in such a way that it's almost impossible for someone to connect a homebrew chapter to the missing primarchs without getting laughed out of their [[Local Game Store]]. If you play in the privacy of your own home, however, there's nothing stopping you and your friends from nailing it down and having your Self-Insert Primarchs show up and give the Imperium a Noblebright/even GRIMDARKER (Delete as appropriate) kick in the ass.

It seems likely, given the frequent references to betrayal relating to these two Primarchs, that the Lost Primarchs did something rebellion-related or perhaps [[Imperium Secundus|tried to carve out their own empires]]. Perhaps they realized that there could be peaceful coexistance with the [[Xenos]] (as was the case of the [[Interex]]), and ended up thinking the Imperium was Evil. Either way, they did something massively damaging (or nearly pulled something off) that would have crippled the Imperium for its myriad enemies to finish off. A possible hint at the cause of their descent is mentioned in ''Extermination'' in the section regarding the Alpha Legion of all groups. Three incidents, all [REDACTED] in name, tell us that one Legion had a problematic source for its recruitment. Specifically, a [[Heresy|''potentially tainted'']] source. Although not said in sequential order, one Legion was deemed to have failed the qualification to be a Legion since it did not have enough marines to be combat effective. Lastly, a place called "Labryk Polaris" and another redacted incident point at attempts to replicate or even supersede the Emperor's gene-craft. Combining all of these cases, it's clear that one Legion had severe issues with their gene seed and their primary recruitment world. This led to said Legion failing the rudimentary testing regiment that all legions undergo. From there, the Primarch in question must have performed a few [[Daemonculaba|experiments in how to create more marines]]. Whatever the result, the Emperor clearly did [[*BLAM*|not like it.]]

It should further be noted that, in the 42nd Millennium, when asked why there were 11 symbolic chairs rather than 9 for the Primarchs, Guilliman replies something along the lines of "Of the 20, two failed and half the rest turned on my father", explicitly distinguishing this "failure" from heresy/treason, hence the reasoning in keeping ceremonial seating for them out of honor. Of the 20 Primarch plinths on Terra, 9 were destroyed but 2 were covered up. So it might be that they weren't traitors, but went '''TOO FAR''' (given that this is the Imperium of Man, the height of human Grimdark, that is not a good thing), somehow. However, the memories of all the Primarchs regarding the two abolished legions were altered by Malcador, thus making Guilliman's input unreliable.

=== Where Are The Lost Legions Now? ===

''Note: This assumes that the theory of the Imperial Fists and Ultramarines absorbing the II and XI Legions is correct.''

Assuming that the survivors of the II and XI legions were mind-wiped and assimilated into the Imperial Fists and Ultramarines in ''The Chamber at the End of Memory'' (despite common misconceptions online, anyone who actually read the story would know that it does ''not'' confirm this, even if it's a possibility), it raises the question of where, if anywhere, the descendants of the two legions are now. Given that the Ultramarines are the progenitors of the majority of Space Marine chapters in the galaxy, and there is precident for chapter that are 'offically' Ultramarine to have gene-seed of the Tratior Legions, that leaves a lot of options. Even having the founder of the chapter appear in the [[Horus Heresy]] series is no guarantee that the chapter isn't descended from one of the lost legions, since the members of the chapter wouldn’t even know themselves. By the end of the Horus Heresy the only person who knew which marines were and weren't descended from the Lost Legions would be Rogal Dorn who likely took the secret to...wherever he went, and Roboute Guilliman once he 'woke up' from his Nap. As of ''Dark Imperium'', the one person who knows even part of the contents of the gene-seeds for these legions is [[Belisarius Cawl]], who most likely used what samples he had of these gene-seeds (as well as un-chaosified gene-seeds of the other eight) to raise additional [[Primaris Marines|super-space marines]] despite Guilliman's insistence to not entertain such notions. As with the original legions, these new marines and the chapters they eventually formed were equally dispersed among the official gene-lineages with no evidence of their true heritage being apparent.

The obvious place to start looking for successor chapters of the lost legions is any chapter that seems to deviate a bit too far from the behavior of their supposed primarch during the second founding and formation's within the original space marine legions that also strayed from the rest of the Legions

The [[Mortifactors]] and [[Doom Eagles]] are two such candidates, given that they don’t behave anything like [[Roboute Guilliman]] and the Ultramarines. Especially given that the II Primarch was described by [[Fulgrim]] as “normally contemplative”, “quiet”, and “humorless”. It would also explain why the [[Soul Drinkers]] believed themselves to be descendants of the Imperial Fists despite later being shown to not have Dorn’s geneseed, despite having a weapon gene-coded to the Soul Drinkers. The fact that the Soul Drinkers rejected the authority of the [[High Lords of Terra]] and fought for the common good of humanity rather than the Imperium itself also fits well with fan theories of one of the lost primarchs being a humanitarian who either believed coexistence with xenos was possible or rejected the Imperium for being just another tyrannical regime and unlike Jaghatai couldn't take the hypocrisy for the common good in the face of survival necessities against Chaos.

Then, of course, there is the elephant in the room, the red-headed stepchild of the Imperial Fists, [[Sigismund]] and the [[Black Templars]]. The Black Templars are about as un-Imperial Fist-like as it is possible to be, Imperial Fists being siege specialists who tend towards stoicism and prefer to dig in and defend until the last man, whereas the Black Templars are hyper-aggressive, always crusading, rarely if ever man any fortifications (they don't even have a homeworld, just maintaining a chapter keep on every world they liberate), and are known for their hatred of psykers and extreme piousness, something that is not really seen in the other Imperial Fist descendants. Though Dorn has been shown to have quite the well of rage himself. And, of course, [https://youtu.be/0Vh_N8CpcL0?t=1207 they do not have "fist" in their name]. A lot of attention is paid on Sigismund obsessive desire for Dorn's paternal favor, and there is a brief moment of attention paid to the fact that Sigismund offered to personally tear down the statues of the II and XI primarchs on Terra, sayng they are traitors and did not deserve to be remembered. Dramatic irony perhaps? There's also parallels to Sigismund's IRL namesake, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sigismund,_Holy_Roman_Emperor#King_of_Hungary| whose father died when he was young, was basically adopted by King Louis the Great of Hungary and Poland, and ended up becoming king of Hungary]. Dorn even says in a moment of anger that Sigismund is “not his son, and never will be”. Regrettable statement made in a moment of anger? Or a subconscious Freudian slip?

Finally, the retconned OG first founding [[Rainbow Warriors]] and [[Valedictors]] are theorized to be lost legion loyalists too.

However, it should be noted that a Chapter's culture, tactics, and temperament aren't necessarily determined by ancestry. Deviations might just be a sign of a Chapter's circumstances affecting its internal culture and structure (e.g. the [[Red Scorpions]]' genetic purity leading to even more extreme xenophobia and intolerance of corruption than usual, and their Apothecaries being given authority than in most Chapters), or of a homeworld culture displacing that of the Chapter's founders (something that is discussed when [[Uriel Ventris]] fights alongside the [[Mortifactors]] in one of the Ultramarines novels). Even heritable traits might be lost, gained, become exaggerated, or otherwise change over time, due to mutation or [[Cursed Founding|genetic tampering]]. Applying Occam's Razor would lead one to conclude that most of the weirder Chapters' origins are probably [[Ultramarines|quite]] [[Imperial Fists|boring]], too, since Lost Legion heritage raises just as many questions as it answers, if not more.

==Rules on the Tabletop==
===Horus Heresy, 1st Edition===
Thanks to Forge World, not only do we have models for the Primarchs, but rules as well. As you can guess, they are ungodly death machines who can easily win their points back and more. That's not to say they're invincible, though; they can still be killed if you screw up badly enough. Do be sure to see [[Primarchs in 8th Edition]] and the google drive link on that page as well, should you want to play 30k using the modern rule set. All currently released Primarchs have the following statlines:
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left" class="wikitable sortable"
! || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv || Invul || ML || Points
|-
| '''[[Horus]]''' || 8 || 5 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 5+1 || 10 || 2+ || 3++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 500
|-
| '''[[Angron]]''' || 9 || 5 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 7 || 6(10)|| 10 || 3+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 400
|-
| '''[[Fulgrim]]''' || 8 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 8 || 5 || 10 || 2+ || 5++/3++ in CC || data-sort-value=0 | || 380
|-
| '''[[Mortarion]]''' || 7 || 5 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 5 || 5 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 425
|-
| '''[[Ferrus Manus]]''' || 7 || 6 || 7 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 4+1 || 10 || 2+ || 3++ || data-sort-value=0 | || data-sort-value=455 | 455 or steal his hammer for 415
|-
| '''[[Konrad Curze]]''' || 8 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 5+1 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 435
|-
| '''[[Vulkan]]''' || 7 || 5 || 7 || 7 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 2+ || 3++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 425
|-
| '''[[Lorgar]]''' || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 6 || 4+1 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=2.5 | 2 or 3 || data-sort-value=375 | 375 or Chaosify him for 450
|-
| '''[[Perturabo]]''' || 8 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 2+ || 3++ || data-sort-value=0 | || data-sort-value=455 | 455 or give him Forgebreaker for 490
|-
| '''[[Rogal Dorn]]''' || 8 || 5 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 4 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 385
|-
| '''[[Corvus Corax]]''' || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6/5 || 7 || 6/5 || 10 || 2+/3+ || 5++ || data-sort-value=0 | || data-sort-value=450 | 450 or fuck him over for 350
|-
| '''[[Alpharius]]''' || 7 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 5 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || data-sort-value=415 | 415''.... or is it?''
|-
| '''[[Roboute Guilliman]]''' || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 4+1 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 400
|-
| '''[[Roboute Guilliman]] (40k, 7e)''' || 9 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 10 || 2+ || 3++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 350
|-
| '''[[Magnus the Red]]''' || 7 || 5 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 4 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || 5 || 495 or charge up for 670
|-
| '''[[Magnus the Red]] (Daemon, 40k 7e)''' || 7 || 7 || 8 || 7 || 7 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 4+ || 4++ || 5 || 650
|-
| '''[[Leman Russ]]''' || 9 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 455
|-
| '''[[Jaghatai Khan]]''' || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 8 || 6+1 || 10 || 2+ || 5++/3++ in CC || data-sort-value=0 | || 385 or give him a bike for 460
|-
| '''[[Lion El'Jonson]]''' || 8 || 5 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 5(7) || 10 || 2+ || 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 460
|-
| '''[[Sanguinius]]''' || 9 || 5 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 6 || 10 || 2+|| 4++ || data-sort-value=0 | || 485
|}<br style="clear: both; height: 0px;" /><br>
*'''Special Rules (not counting the ones specific for each Primarch)'''
**''Primarch''
***''Adamantium Will''
***''Independent Character''
***''Eternal Warrior''
***''Fear''
***''Fleet''
***''Fearless''
***''It Will Not Die''
***''Master of the Legion''
***''Precision Shots''
***''Precision Strikes''
**''Sire of the [Legion]''

===Horus Heresy, 2nd Edition===

===40k===
As of 8th edition (special rules not included):
{| border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5" align="left" class="wikitable sortable"
! || M || WS || BS || S || T || W || A || Ld || Sv || Points/Power level
|-
| '''[[Roboute Guilliman]]''' || 8" || 2+ || 2+ || 6 || 6 || 9 || 6 || 10 || 2+/3++|| 360/18||data-sort-value=0 |
|-
| '''[[Magnus the Red]]''' || 16 || 2+ || 2+ || 8 || 7 || 18 || 7 || 10 || 3+/4++ || 445/21||data-sort-value=0 |
|-
| '''[[Mortarion]]''' || 12 || 2+ || 2+ || 8 || 7 || 18 || 6 || 10 || 3+/4++ || 470/24|| data-sort-value= 0 |
|}<br style="clear: both; height: 0px;" /><br>

Each of them have one or two close-combat weapons, all of which are AP2 or 1, backed by some decent gun to lay some dakka down while they run to the glorious melee. Their Primarch rule acts like a big bundle of USRs wrapped up together in one package, and as ICs they can join squads as well (though most of the Primarchs are better run solo). Each of them have a page worth of special rules and unique wargear, both of which can be stupidly powerful to the point of broken, but that's OK since even the cheapest of the Primarchs costs no less than 350 points and eats an extremely valuable Lord of War slot that might otherwise be spent on a [[Thunderhawk]] or a [[Fellblade]].

===Pimpin Rides===
Also worth mentioning, that Perturabo and Rogal Dorn are special enough to get their own personal special/unique vehicle, other primarchs may get their own vehicles in the future (who knows?). However, rules dictate that neither vehicle can be taken in games under 3000 points. Meaning you can only use it in 3000+ matches.

*'''Perturabo''' gets to ride in ''The Tormentor'', a Shadowsword with the Command Tank upgrade. Not only that, but Perturabo is so awesome, he managed to somehow give it 15 troop capacity, meaning it can take 12 Power Armoured dudes + himself, or 6 Terminators for his bodyguard. But, it doesn't stop there! It also has a single Void Shield! It costs 25pts more than a normal Shadowsword with the same upgrades, but following FAQs it also has BS4, free sponsons, and gains Tank Hunters/Monster Hunters any time it fires all its guns at one target.
*'''Rogal Dorn,''' on the other hand, gets a customised Thunderhawk Gunship, the ''Ætos Dios''. This ship has Turbo Laser as standard, plus a single Void Shield to protect it, it also has It Will Not Die so can regenerate some of its hull points and finally it ALSO has a 4+ invulnerable save against missiles, all on top of being a flyer which means you can only snap-shot at it, all for the bargain cost of 600 points - which is actually 175 points CHEAPER than a normal Legion Thunderhawk with a Turbo-Laser, though you obviously still have to pay for Dorn.
*'''Jaghatai Khan''' gets his own bitching jetbike: the Sojutsu Pattern Voidbike. It has two master crafted heavy bolters, ups his toughness to 7 and lets him do d3 hammer of wrath attacks, strangely enough though, it also costs him -1I.

==Douchebagginess==
It is well known that most of the primarchs were douchebags to varying degrees.

From least to most douchebag. Note, the scale really drops off into [[dick|'''fucking''' douchebag]] after Jaghatai, and straight-up villain after Fulgrim and '''FUCKING CUNT''' after Lorgar. Also, depending on what they did, the Lost Primarchs may be even worse than all actions depicted here. Generally speaking, we'll be grading these guys on their personalities, treatment of their legion and others, and their motives and reasons for their actions. Also, we'll be adding more weight to their actions during the Great Crusade rather than the Heresy, not many Primarchs had a clear head during the Age of Darkness. Keep in mind that, as charismatic and badass as they may be, the Primarchs are responsible for a level of warmongering and genocide that would appall even the worst of Earth's dictators. How they feel about these atrocities, and why they did it (is it grim necessity, standard Imperial procedure or baseless sadism?) is what separates the [[Sanguinius|"good"]] from the [[Konrad Curze|"bad"]].

# '''The Nice Guys'''
## '''Vulkan''' - The least douchebaggy primarch by far. Vulkan routinely put the lives of him and his men on the line for the sake of the Imperial citizens. Vulkan would throw himself to the defence of a no name human tribe with the same ferocity and zeal as he would Terra itself. A total bro. Also was the largest, strongest Primarch (Ferrus' metal arms were determined as cheating, though according to the Khan, Mortarion was as strong or stronger) and held back in sparring for fear of hurting his brothers. His only real fault was that, despite his strong distaste for terror weapons, he had a thing for setting people on fire. The only times he was an asshole were when he forgot who he was due to Curze's torture driving him mad. Of course, he's still a Primarch and a '''fiery''' general, and he ''will'' leave you a pile of ash if you end up on his shitlist.
## '''Sanguinius''' - Despite some... [[Red Thirst|unorthodox tendencies]], he is reported as being the most charismatic of the Primarchs, perhaps second only to Horus. He is particularly noteworthy for how much he improved his legion. The Blood Angels before his arrival were so bloodthirsty and terrifying that even other Astartes looked askance at them. But Sanguinius took these butcherous vampires and taught them humility and nobility, and to put the well-being of humanity above any personal glory. They actually managed such a total 180 that they were, and still are, regarded as one of the most heroic, resplendent legions out of all of them. A pretty all-round nice guy, he was so naturally charming that he actually managed to get ''Jaghatai Khan'' of all people to laugh at a joke of his. He was also exceedingly humble despite being such a giga-chad, and often played the role of peacemaker between his more cantankerous brothers. He can lapse at times however, as seen in his treatment of Curze by denying him a chance of changing his fate & earning forgiveness, and he regrettably had to kill many of his Red-Thirsted men when they got too batshit even for him. Like Vulkan though, he can still be a ferocious force if riled up, he once beat the shit out of guy for daring to imply the Signus III campaign was a trap (it was, but he had no reason to suspect Horus at that point). Sanguinius's temper was actually such that Leman Russ cited the Angel as one of two Primarchs he didn't know if he could beat. Basically if you pissed him off, he turned into the Hulk.
## '''Magnus the Red''' - For his faults, Magnus was one of the nicest Primarchs right up there with Vulkan and Sanguinius. Before the whole Prospero thing, this guy's MO was all about the advancement of humanity: always trying the diplomatic approach to preserve what could be preserved, using shock and awe tactics to limit damage when fighting, happily taking remembrancers along his legion (Although all remembrancers amongst the fellowship were psykers to some degree). Magnus was a friendly and open-minded idealist, which makes it all the more tragic when he gets deceived, framed, backstabbed and then coaxed into selling his soul to the [[Tzeentch|Cuttlefish of Keikaku]]. He is easily the most sympathetic of the traitors, considering he only joined them after being backed into a corner; had Jaghatai been at his side during and after Nikaea things might have turned out differently. He was also the only traitor Primarch who actually cared about his men, even after ascending to daemonhood. The novel ''Deathfire'' also ups his bro-ness quite a bit, as he proved himself the only traitor-aligned Primarch to ''sincerely'' do something very helpful for one of his loyalist brothers after the Horus Heresy was already in full swing. This "special favour" is made all the more striking given how it took place ''after'' Magnus had his adoptive homeworld burned out from under him. Perhaps his skin was red not only because of mutation, but because it also showed [[Lovedagger|the greatness of his heart]]? On the other hand, this was done by one of the fragments of Magnus that embodied his love for his gene-sons and fellow Primarchs (which ultimately self-destructed to keep the Crimson King from absorbing its power), so any hope that he kept that good heart died after Ahriman's failure at his Second Rubric on Prospero and when the Emperor offered him a chance to redeem himself as the Primarch of the nascent Grey Knights he threw it away. While his soul was still in one piece, Magnus's main character flaw was his arrogance. As in, this guy's ego had only two contenders in all the galaxy; the Emperor Himself, and Lion El'Jonson. Maybe Eldrad too. While he wasn't an in-your-face type like Fulgrim, Magnus and his Legion were still entirely convinced that they knew the Warp better than anyone else, which led to them disregarding many warnings and red flags that could've been avoided, leading almost directly to their awful, [[Rubric Marines|awful]] fates. It also caused him to have a complete blind spot where his own insufferability was concerned, as he genuinely believed himself to be the most intelligent of his brothers. This Sheldon Cooper-esque attitude caused many of the other Primarchs represented at the Council of Nikaea to wish Magnus personally rebuked despite their support of the Libraius initiative itself. When he learned of this, it appeared to have caught him completely off guard, and dismayed him tremendously. Also, Magnus wasn't ENTIRELY innocent as he had implanted sleeper agents and spies throughout the Imperium, ruining the lives of those brainwashed while betraying the trust of his brothers. Why he did this isn't exactly clear (it's very unlikely to be Chaos related) though it's most likely an attempt to obtain information and records his brother might otherwise destroy. Regardless however, his more questionable traits appeared not to have ever been the result of malice, but were instead a byproduct of his solipsism and thoughtlessness. This is brought into sharp relief during his final duel with Vulkan, where Vulkan lays out in no uncertain terms that Magnus's own petulance, arrogance, and narcissism were the primary reasons why he fell, and that he was ultimately the architect of his own failures.
## '''Corax''' - Even after being raised under the tyranny of the Kiavahrans, he refused to take after their tyrannous ways, wanted to make things right, and asked the Emperor to end the civil war he started while liberating his homeworld of Lycaeus. He was one of only two Primarchs to make use of precision warfare in such a way as to actually '''save''' lives, and he cared to an almost Vulkan-esque level about civilians. Konrad Curze was the other Primarch to do so but unfortunately, if you were caught in one of Curze's "precision strikes", your entire purpose was to die so horrifically and so publicly as to make everyone else surrender in terror. Seeing the ruthless tendencies the Terran members of his legion had, he quietly shipped them way the fuck away from the rest of the Great Crusade to go fight xenos or got them all slaughtered during the Battle of Gate 42. He was also one of very few primarchs to readily admit his own mistakes, which were numerous and sometimes tragic. Developed a brutal habit of folding Chaos Space Marines into pretzels when shapeshifting into a tangible shadow during his hunt against his Daemon brothers Post-Heresy but left the slaves alone.
## '''Jaghatai Khan''' - Despite him being modeled after [[Genghis motherfucking Khan|the guy who holds the high score on raping and pillaging]], Jaghatai was actually very reasonable and [[Kharn|a pretty fun guy to be around]]. His main hobbies included [[Dark Eldar|raiding and jetbikes]], but he had an appreciation for [[Blood Angels|the fine arts]] as well. He was very good friends with Magnus and very pro-psyker. However he also kept his distance from pretty much everyone else, save Horus, not wanting to deal with other people's bullshit, unless they were really worth the effort - as the result very few people knew and trusted him (especially once [[Horus|most]] [[Magnus the Red|of]] his only bros turned traitor). He seemed to have something of a "live and let live" type philosophy, as after he conquered his home planet, he just kinda fucked off back to the Steppes with a warning to everyone not to piss him off too much. It should be noted that though his aloof dickishness was the primary reason why most of his brothers left him alone, the Khan was never spiteful or deliberately malicious (at least not to [[Mortarion|anyone who didn't 100% deserve it]]). While the Khan didn't seem to care too much about the whole Great Crusade thing and spent most of his time doing his own thing, he never turned his back on the Imperium and sincerely believed in the idea of an Empire in the starry skies. And this was despite being the one of the few Primarchs to understand how bunked the whole [[Imperial Truth]] secular atheist propaganda really was (remember that the Chogorisian had Shamans, who also are the ones who select the White Scars' Chapter Master through mysterious initiatic trials); and of the Emperor himself he declared that he was "neither a monster nor a simpleton", mostly because he knew that [[Chaos]] was far worse (of course). So, the Emperor knew all along that the Khagan had his priorities right and would therefore not betray him, even when Malcador brought up the topic; and this was in spite of the personal relationship of father and son being explicitly awkward.
# '''The Competent Asshole Control Freak (Yes Guilliman needs his own category)'''
## '''Guilliman''' - R.G. is a jerk with a (or rather two) heart(s) of gold or a nice guy with a nasty mean streak, depending on how you look at him. Some people might say this dude was a statesman in the same vein as Augustus Caesar- he was great at building states and making life generally better for people, but only if you ignore the deported and murdered people who didn't agree 100% with the new regime. For somebody more reasonable, Guilliman was perhaps one of the most responsible and human among his brothers. He cared about the common man, personally planned post-war reconstruction and political integration into the Imperium of the planets he conquered and (unofficially) tolerated moderate presence of religion in Ultramar. But for sure the guy had a big ego, as he constantly spoke and behaved like he knew what was best for everyone, at least until proven wrong (multiple times). And you better not get on his shit list, although to be fair he was mostly a complete jerk with people he considers being [[Konrad Curze|psycho]] [[Angron|mass murderers]] with [[Perturabo|no respect for their own sons]] or [[Alpharius|civilian populations]]. And despite what [[Matt Ward|some people]] would have you believe, he knew he couldn't plan for every situation and expected people to use their own judgment rather than blindly follow his [[Codex Astartes|codex]]. Like Jaghatai Khan, we know Guilliman recognized that the Emperor was a horrible father (likely since he's one of the few among his brothers to have had actual decent adoptive parents) and that the ideals the Emperor espoused were far more important than the Emperor himself ever was, and after learning that his whole [[Imperium Secundus]] plan was based on bad assumptions he's been beating himself up about it all the way into the 42nd millennium. While he's grown more cynical since his revival and subsequent realization of how badly the Imperium had devolved in his absence, he has refused to abandon his noble ideals or his faith in humanity as a whole and has privately considered the possibility that in retrospect he had been overly dismissive of Lorgar's ideas about the Emperor's divinity. He also seems to be a bit more irritable than he used to be, but given [[Great Rift|his]] [[Age of the Dark Imperium|current]] situation it would be more surprising if that wasn't the case. Also, may have actually imprisoned [[Cypher]] and the Fallen so that the Emperor wouldn't discover [[Assholetep|who broke Lion El'Jonson's best sword]], ultimately causing him to die in battle in Emprah's mini-me's own pseudo Horus Heresy. Additionally, he has developed a legitimately unprecedented trait for a Primarch: that of sufficient self-awareness to not just recognize, but actually '''LEARN''' from his mistakes, such as during the Hexarchy coup attempt or not trying to secure Ultramar à la Imperium Secundus during the Terran Crusade.
# '''The Douches'''
## '''Horus''' - Pre-Heresy he was a surprisingly chill dude, except if you crossed his sensibilities. Was essentially flat-out stated to have been the most charismatic of his brothers, with the possible exception of Sanguinius. Unlike Sanguinius however, Horus's charisma was something he had deliberately cultivated rather than being a natural trait of his, which speaks volumes of his personality. He was also one of very few Primarchs who made a deliberate effort to ''not'' leave the planets he conquered as smoldering ruins, and had a personal philosophy that those the Imperium conquered "should be left better than we found them." Just to give you an idea of his character in the halcyon days, Horus ''killed Sanguinius'' but retains enough anti-douche credit to rank as the ''least'' douchey of The Douches. He was ''that'' nice before the Heresy. In fact were it not for the Heresy he would probably be in third place after Vulkan and Sanguinius. Got along well with both regular people and nearly all his brothers (Corax was seemingly the only Primarch who disliked him, and he was biased due to his disdain of the brutality of his own Legion's Terran members who were close buddies with Horus's Legion), but he gradually started treating some of them like shit after becoming Warmaster and resented the idea that he and his brothers would not be able to rule over the planets that they had conquered. His insecurities may have also made him vulnerable to the Dark Gods' lies when he received a vision of the Imperium 10,000 years into the future where the Emperor was worshiped as a god, he and many of his brothers were forgotten, and everything was Grimdark--a future that, unbeknownst to him, he would be directly responsible for creating specifically as a result of his own attempts to avert it. The whole [[Heresy]] thing just sort-of kills his position on the list. After going full Chaos, he rapidly became a much, much bigger dick.
## '''Rogal Dorn''' - Although one hell of a masochist, and at times thick-headed, he did see the idea behind the Imperium, and actually agreed with it. Honest and dependable, while Rogal didn't make for interesting conversation, he would always do his job without complaint. Had as much empathy and subtlety as one of his fortresses and ended up hurting a lot of people (mostly emotionally, but sometimes physically too) with his over-the-top brutal honesty. The prime example was when he betrayed Fulgrim's trust after they had a discussion regarding Konrad's visions, and provoked Curze into almost killing him. However, he could occasionally get quite philosophical, and is perhaps the only Primarch to admit that his own nature and power unsettled him.
## '''Leman Russ''' - Nowhere near as much of a dick as butthurt Magnus fanboys would have you believe. He was indeed savage and brutal, but ultimately always keeping the larger goal of betterment of humanity in sight and having good reasons for that myopia. Prone to picking fights with his brothers and destroyed Prospero under questionable circumstances. That said, he used the culture of his homeworld to give his Legion control over its savagery, and made the Space Wolves focus on protecting people from monsters instead of just butchering civilians. He did use terror tactics, mass killings, and the destruction of knowledge, but he did so out of loyalty to humanity and the Emperor, not just because he felt like it. Bottom line: Russ certainly had his fair share of flaws, but as belligerent and myopic as he could be he always tried to make the galaxy safe for humanity in the longer run. He was also capable of admitting to mistakes, which was uncommon amongst the Primarchs. During his fight with the Lion for instance, he started the brawl with the Lion over perceived kill stealing but after a while it dawned on him what an ass he was being, and he stopped fighting and burst out laughing at his own stupidity. He was ''awfully'' stubborn however, and as such this sort of thing didn't happen often.
## '''Ferrus Manus''' - A big dude with a penchant for bursts of choleric anger. Between his resting bitch face and his Social Darwinist ideals, he seems at first glance to be a natural candidate for a traitor. However, his honesty and loyalty to the Emperor mean he certainly wasn't as bad as Perturabo or Mortarion, and he did sincerely believe that weakness would cause the Imperium to collapse. He was... really a pain to deal with, however. Unlike, let's say, Dorn, who was only really mean when you made it on his shitlist, Ferrus was only nice to people who made it on his ''friends''list. Anyone else could, as far as he was concerned, either stay out of his way or get introduced to his fists. Most of the Loyalists and even some Traitors (at first) viewed the protection of the innocent as their goal, while Ferrus encouraged tactics that led to massive civilian casualties, and where Primarchs like Curze or Angron took Legions that were bad about mortal deaths and kept up such practices, Manus took a Legion that had tried to minimize mortal deaths and made them worse about it. All this said, he was loyal unto death to the Emperor's ideals and he also understood that his sons' fetish for cybernetics was beyond unhealthy and wanted to help them overcome it. His death ensured that last part would never happen, and indeed made them double down on their hatred of the flesh.
## '''Lion El'Jonson''' - The Lion was complex, to say the least. He had an arrogance that matched Magnus or Horus's worst moments combined with a difficult early life fighting Chaos beasts on Caliban. This "do-or-die" attitude spilled over into his interpersonal skills, hard. Too hard. Put simply, you had one chance with Johnson and if he ever decided you wasted it, then it was over and you went on his shitlist forever. The end result was a Primarch who was aloof and taciturn, whose poor communication skills made him unsuited to lead the Primarchs but whose ego made it impossible for him to accept the seniority of Horus or Russ. At the same time, there was a competitive, spiteful, and self-centered side to the Lion, which led him to execute one of his own Dark Angels over a conflict of authority and nearly kill Russ over an argument about kill-stealing. The Lion's own awe-inspiring presence, which was powerful enough to make Astartes from other legions literally drop to their knees when he crashed unannounced on a war-council aboard the Vengeful Spirit, didn't help his ego either. There's been speculation in-universe and out of it that he wasn't wholly loyal to the Emperor, but it has been made crystal clear in-universe that he personally was 100% loyal to Big E, and that the whole "muh secret traitors" thing is primarily due to a combination of bad luck and the Dark Angels already having a poor reputation. The Lion may also have been the most "douchey" of all the Primarchs who weren't outright evil at some point. For you see, many of the Primarchs had absolutely ginormous egos, but most of those who did also either possessed the people skills to hide it or were so charismatic that it just didn't matter. Fulgrim, Magnus, Guilliman, Alpharius, and especially Horus are notable examples of this tendency. As stated earlier, the Lion easily had one of the largest egos amongst all his brothers, matched perhaps only by Magnus, but since he had virtually no people skills he was unable to hide it very well. This resulted in him being the Primarch who was liked by the fewest of his brothers (he basically only got on with Jaghatai Khan). Practically everyone he ever met invariably formed the same opinion of him; he was incredibly good at his job but such an ass that it almost didn't matter. His ego cast such a long shadow over his achievements and ability to work with others that even though Guilliman considered the title of Warmaster a two-horse race between Horus and the Lion, he still didn't include the latter amongst his Dauntless Few (a list that included Ferrus Manus of all people).
## '''Alpharius Omegon''' - Damned if anyone knows. You just can't trust that/those guy(s), which does make him/them a pretty big dick by default. The fallout from some of the Alpha Legion's Crusade-era shenanigans suggests a certain inclination to showing off at the expense of civilian lives, probably due to an enormous inferiority-superiority complex. Still, they rebelled under perhaps the best intentions among all the traitors with Alpharius at least recognising Chaos had to be defeated (we think- it's still ambiguous as to their end goals) Omegon is possibly a bit better, in that he wasn't willing to sacrifice all of mankind to do so (maybe). The whole thing is made infinitely more irritating by the fact that Alpharius and Omegon apparently switched names and places when they first met. So after the Rangdan Xenocides, anything attributed to Alpharius was actually Omegon's work, and vice versa. After Omegon's probable death by Dorn at Pluto and Alpharius taking his mantle (back) to (allegedly) die at Guilliman's hands, the legion debatably turned into a schizophrenic monster, though this is better than what Fulgrim's actions turned his legion into by far. Alpharius himself (maybe) in his own memoirs presents himself as a tactician and combatant worthy of inclusion in the [[Reasonable Marines]], but who in person had a Lion-sized (hah) chip on his shoulder. Problem is that the memoir itself purports to be a lie, so who really knows.
## '''Fulgrim''' - Rather like Horus, Fulgrim was one of the Traitor Primarchs who started out as quite a kind fellow, and even [[Dawww|fondly remembers his foster parents as doing the best they could]]. Initially he was an incredibly idealistic artisan who wanted to help humanity improve to the absolute limits of its potential. He did this primarily by trying to be the best example of humanity he could be, and demanded the same of his sons. To their credit, they succeeded quite splendidly at this for the most part. Unfortunately he had a rather fragile ego which was probably due in large part by the fact that his legion was virtually non-existent when he came to command it. As such, he had the Primarch equivalent of a Napoleon complex due to the head start most of his brothers got on him, and as such could get fairly petulant if he was challenged in a personal way. This led to him ultimately having a somewhat elitist view of himself and his legion, and he could be a bit of a dick when it came to Astartes and mortals who failed to live up to his astronomically high standards, even before his fall. He also can't keep a secret, betraying Konrad Curze's trust and causing him to go nuts on Dorn's face. Other than Horus and Sanguinius, was the only Primarch to really get along with all his brothers (save Jaghatai, but that's his fault. Oh, and Mortarion thought he was a prancing idiot, but Mortarion low-key hated everyone. And Fulgrim considered Russ a dumb hick. And he didn't seem to like the Second very much), and was BFFs with Ferrus Manus, of all people. That is, until he chopped his head off. Rude. Notably, he was also the only Primarch who made any particular effort to befriend Konrad Curze, which, according to Curze, meant a great deal to him. Too bad he was such an incorrigible gossip... Also took pride to the extremity of arrogance, hence his fall to Slaanesh. Interestingly, his bizarre fixation on friendship with Ferrus never left him, constantly cloning him with help of Fabius Bile and trying to win him over his side. Needless to say, he's failed thus far.
# '''The Self-righteous Jerk (Yes Lorgar needs his own category too)'''
## '''Lorgar''' - The dude who brought this whole fucking mess into fruition. If only he had strangled Erebus and Kor Phaeron at the first mention of Chaos. Instead he decided he was going to ruin everything for everybody because his daddy was a NAYtheist and none of the brothers really supported him. He started off as a well-intentioned idealist who sought to use what he knew best to uplift humanity, religion, before the Emperor's actions on Monarchia destroyed his psyche, allowing Erebus and Kor Phaeron to let him know about [[Chaos|the other gods who would appreciate his worship]]. While it's true he shouldn't have been treated so harshly by the Emperor (even Malcador and Guilliman privately said as much), and even though he believed Chaos was necessary for humanity to survive and continue existence, the fact that Chaos & the Horus Heresy caused the 10,000 year old Imperium to become the grimdark, bloody, corpse-littered cesspool we all know and love would normally outweighs all of the slivers of sympathy that he might have had. And yet, there are people far, far worse than him. To be honest, he was one of the nicest primarchs before the destruction of Monarchia, comparable to Magnus before the Burning of Prospero. He tried to befriend everyone and was one of the primarchs that mostly conquered planets by words and faith, instead of by fire and sword and along Dorn and Guilliman, was one of the rarer ones that wouldn't leave conquered worlds as utter shitholes, instead rebuilding them and integrating its population. All this make his downfall even more sad and tragic, and even after his fall, he seemed to be generally concerned about his brother Angron's (of all people) life, which was a primary reason that he was in a hurry transforming him. Also, confrontation with Corax shows that he genuinely cares for his son's lives, putting him above the disgusting fucktards below. Then again, he was completely blasé about the ''horrific'' fates the Forces of Chaos inflicted on people (see the Gal Vorbak for reference), regardless of whether they wanted it or not. Also, he's arguably the only Primarch who is completely unrepentant about his crimes towards the galaxy at large (even Horus acknowledged what a piece of shit he himself had become, and Fulgrim sometimes expressed regret when the pink haze wasn't clouding his mind). In sum, Lorgar is why we can't have [[Noblebright|nice things.]]
# The '''FUCKING CUNTS'''
## '''Mortarion''' - Described by Alpharius as being "bleakness personified", Mortarion rubbed virtually everyone the wrong way and gave precisely zero shits about it. He seemingly got along with a grand total of three people; Horus, because it was almost impossible ''not'' to like him, Konrad Curze, because he too had a garbage tier childhood, and Eidolon, because he told Eidolon he intended to work with him instead of lord over him (a statement that shocked Eidolon into silence, after the treatment he'd received from Fulgrim). Still happened though. Terse, grim and blunt, he was downright bigoted against psykers, and resented (or at the very least looked down upon) nearly everyone who he felt had it easier than him. He was also notorious for using chemical and radiological terror weapons and generally not giving a fuck about who got killed by them. In fairness to him however, he and his legion were usually (though not exclusively) deployed to environments so awful that such weapons typically didn't make things much worse. Also his opponents were usually xenos due both to them typically being the only ones who could survive on the planets he got sent to, and the fact that he really liked killing them. He also was at least somewhat justified in his hatred of psykers, as his necromancer foster father and his fellow overlords had all been psykers, and had been horrific in their subjugation of Barbarus's human population. Had he not turned Traitor, he likely would have been somewhere near Lion El'Jonson in terms of overall dickishness; a spiteful lone wolf type who had a habit of nursing grudges, gave very few shits about who or what his legion killed, went primarily on extermination campaigns, and was generally disliked by everyone for being an ass. Over time, he became more and more disgusted with people's acceptance of [[Emperor|tyrants]] and [[Magnus the Red|psykers]], and became much more likely to kill everything in the vicinity of what he considered evil. Over time he also lost what little tolerance he had ever possessed for weak mortals, and decided that the Imperium was being crafted in such a way as to coddle the weak. Not good as far as he was concerned. Interestingly he did care deeply for his own people, which is why he was so driven to take down both monsters and tyrants after witnessing how his foster father oppressed the populace, though he didn't exactly do much, if anything, to show it. Then [[Nurgle]] made him his plague-ridden bitch and Jaghatai fucked him up and humiliated him in the Siege of Terra, at which point he decided to just take his bitterness out on everyone lacking the Plaguefather's "gifts".
## '''Angron''' - Loved killing people and not much else. Most of the casualties within his legion were a result of him being a team-killing psycho because quite frankly he didn't care what he got to kill as long as he got to kill it. That said, Angron at least had an excuse for being such a rampaging dick all the time. The Butcher's Nails had effectively turned him from being a genuinely nice fellow who could empathically relieve the suffering of others by taking it into himself into a half-mindless killing machine, as it actually has not just remapped but ''replaced'' parts of his brain, effectively removing from him any emotions other than pain, hatred, and battle-lust while also destroying his capacity for empathy and compassion, which arguably means he doesn't even have any Moral Agency (that's Philosopher-speak for saying that he can't be held ethically accountable for his actions any more than a toaster can for burning your fingers). One may wonder what sort of guy he would have been without the implants, presumably he'd be more like his pre-retcon White Dwarf version where he was an honourable warrior whose martial valour ended up leading him down Khorne's path (this was very quickly retconned with the Black Library novels). But he stick to his guns despite the suffering. On top of that, he got fucked over pretty hard by Big E when they first met, so it's no wonder he went traitor the moment Horus made him an offer, we may even credit him for enduring years fighting for the Imperium instead of just getting himself killed in any of the battles as he himself personally wanted. At the end of the day, Angron was probably the Primarch who gave the fewest fucks about his legion and was content to let it run itself without his leadership, although he never really wanted one to begin with. As a result, many of the saner parts of his legion ''loathed'' him, to say nothing about his general reputation (Istvaan III wasn't the first time...). The action that places him so low on this list is the fact that he allowed the spread of Butcher's Nails throughout his Legion, despite his own hatred of the damn things and the fact they cause him so many issues, not least going psycho rage-monster most of the time; which is a pretty fucked up thing for him to condone. Then again, many of his sons accepted the mini-Nails to get closer to their Primarch, psykers, however, died horribly, not that Angron gave a shit. Perhaps he allowed it because seeing his sons with Butcher's Nails reminded him of his fallen gladiator brothers and sisters on Nuceria, but then again he blew up the planet along with all of the people he once fought to liberate just because they were bad-mouthing him. He really wasn't all that great of a guy even during his moments of lucidity, and he was one the few Primarchs to willingly kill his own men during the Great Crusade, an act even ''Horus'' thought was unthinkable.
## '''Konrad Curze''' - Arguably the most sadistic of all primarchs, Konrad really got off to torturing people and manipulating the masses through fear. What started as a quest to use fear to save lives in compliance actions turned through time and circumstance to a simple desire to torture and maim, and his wish to protect the innocent was smothered by his urge to punish the guilty. The man who was supposed to be the ultimate harbinger of justice ended up as an unholy combination of Batman and Joker. By the time the Heresy broke out, any ideas of mercy or decency he may have harbored had long ago been buried under a massive pile of flayed guts. Somewhat like Angron however, the Night Haunter's actions are mitigated somewhat by the fact that the guy practically redefined crazy. His upbringing had much to do with shaping his awful view of reality, but what really screwed him over were his visions. He saw the future in psychic visions constantly, but the futures he saw were always permutations of the absolute worst outcome to any given situation, and he couldn't do anything to stop them. These visions came with severe psychic fits during which Curze would violently spaz out. They became worse and worse as time went on, and the psychological and psychic stress of them reduced Curze from a Punisher-esque individual to a completely sadistic screwball who would build stuff out of corpses and then sincerely thank those corpses. He also suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder, with the Konrad Curze and Night Haunter personas constantly warring for supremacy within his mind. Needless to say, the Night Haunter ultimately won out. He did admit that what he had done was wrong, but instead of trying to atone for his atrocities, he used the excuse that the future was set in stone (which he mostly believed) to justify just going along with the horrors he saw in his visions. In fact, the only two things that genuinely seemed to scare him were the possibilities that the Emperor '''wouldn't''' order his death -- or even worse, be forgiven for his behavior ''(and render his entire outlook on life meaningless)''. The fact that he refused to turn back to heroism at so many opportunities because he felt himself a puppet of fate makes one unable to decide whether he is contemptible or pathetic. Curze skirts this foul line.
## '''Perturabo''' - Perturabo suffers from somewhat inconsistent characterization due to having been written by a series of disparate authors, each of whom seemingly couldn't be bothered to read the previous guy's book. However, the easiest way to sum him up would be as a stone cold monster possessed of an absolutely massive martyr complex. What makes him the worst on this list is the fact that, unlike the other members of the '''FUCKING CUNTS''' tier, Perturabo never had any real justification for being as evil as he was. He wasn't lobotomized like Angron or bat-shit crazy like Curze, and unlike Mortarion his homeworld and upbringing were not bad at all; Olympia was basically just ancient Greece in space, and he had a family who loved him as much as possible given the culture and circumstances. In fact his world and upbringing were actually fairly similar to those of ''Guilliman'' of all people. He didn't even have the religious conviction of Lorgar; he turned Traitor simply out of spite and bitterness. He seemed perfectly capable of feeling empathy and compassion as well; he genuinely loved his sister for instance... not that it stopped him from strangling her with his bare hands. This fact serves to make his actions all the worse however, as he clearly could understand right from wrong. He seemingly had absolutely no regard whatsoever for human life despite occasionally paying lip service to the idea. In fact, the very first thing he did upon meeting his legion was to have a random tenth of them murdered by their brothers for not being good enough to suit him. He spent the lives of his legionaries like they were bolter rounds, and despite his bitching about how hard he and his legion had it, he never made any effort to change his way of making war. Though he was deployed to some of the worst battlegrounds in the Crusade, they were hardly worse than those in which the Lion, Russ, or Mortarion engaged in. Russ and especially the Lion lost a tremendous number of legionnaires during the Rangdan Xenocides; the Dark Angels in particular were nearly wiped out. Yet not one of them ever sulked about it or felt slighted. Not even Mortarion, who got sent to battlegrounds that would literally kill other Astartes by simple virtue of the environment. He is one of the few Primarchs who made his legion objectively ''worse'' by joining it, as he took a group of hardy siege warfare specialists and, by way of deliberately getting the bulk of them killed for decades on end, turned them into spiteful, bitter monsters with as little regard for life as himself. In fact, he made them so callous that the Iron Warriors both in and out of universe are a top candidate for the title of "[[Daemonculaba|evilest]] [[Honsou|motherfuckers]] in the setting", potentially beating out such luminaries as the Night Lords and Dark Eldar. Only the modern Word Bearers really have a fair claim at being worse. The atrocities that occurred under his command were all the result of inhuman barbarism caused not by madness or uncontrollable compulsion, but because Perturabo calculated that said barbarism was the most efficient means of achieving victory. He could and would calculate precisely the amount of ammunition, fuel, vehicles, ships, and human beings needed to win a campaign down to the last bolter shell and drop of blood, and would then spend those resources accordingly. And to his credit he was ridiculously good at it; his logistical skill was such that he could lose a good 90% of an attacking force in any given action and have his numbers replenished well in advance of the next campaign. Problem was that losing 90% of a force was something he wouldn't so much as bat an eyelash at. By the end we was just an envious, petty bastard who was always complaining whenever things didn't go his way (which was always). The intervening ten thousand years haven't improved his personality in any way either. Like Mortarion he didn't get along with any of his brothers and his inferiority complex and "woe is me" attitude was a cornerstone of almost all his interpersonal relationships, perhaps more notoriously in his all-consuming hatred for Rogal Dorn, in a rivalry that was completely one-sided until the two came to blows during the Heresy. Their rivalry being another example of Perturabo's unwillingness to try to improve his situation, instead preferring to sulk in his own misery, as his jealousy from Dorn stemmed from him being chosen as a builder and architect from the biggest projects in the Imperium, but never once Perturabo is shown trying to build anything outside his private workshop, instead bulldozing through whole planets with his Iron Warriors.

==See Also==

[[Return of the Primarchs]]: A What IF? series filled with pure [[AWESOME]] and [[Fist of the North Star|MANLY TEARS]].

A little side note, if you want an awesome look at the Primarchs in all their Crusadey goodness, go look at Aerion the Faithful's Libris Primaris project. http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/152862-artwork-libris-primaris/

==Miniatures==

* The official 30K miniatures are produced by [[Forge World]]
* [https://www.hitechminiatures.com Hitechminiatures] has good alternative models
* [https://wargameexclusive.com Wargame Exclusive] also has very good alternative models but a smaller selection - yet.
* [https://cadwallon.com/ Cadwallon] has [https://cadwallon.com/?s=chibi&post_type=product Chibi Primes] (well, some still.)

==Gallery==

<center>
===Loyal===
<gallery>
File:Lion El'Jonson.JPEG|[[Lion El'Jonson]]
File:JaghataiKhan-1-.jpg|[[Jaghatai Khan]] (can't hate a man who wears heeled calfboots)
File:LEMAN RUSS.jpg|[[Leman Russ]]
File:Rogal Dorn Portrait.png|[[Rogal Dorn]]
File:Sanginuscool.jpg|[[Sanguinius]]
File:Ferrus Manus Pre-Haircut.jpg|[[Ferrus Manus]]
File:Robute Guilliman.jpg|[[Roboute Guilliman]] (Big Bobby G)
File:Vulkan's Face.jpg|[[Vulkan]]
File:Corax Portrait.png|[[Corvus Corax]]
</gallery>

===Traitor===
<gallery>
File:Horus Portrait.png|[[Horus Lupercal]] (THAT ONE FUCK-UP)
File:Fulgrim by slaine69.jpg|[[Fulgrim]] (look at his sexyness)
File:Perturabo Portrait.jpg|[[Perturabo]]
File:Konrad Curze Mugshot.jpg|[[Konrad Curze]]/Night Haunter/Batman
File:Angron Butchers Nails.jpg|[[Angron]] (GETS. SHIT. DONE.)
File:Mortarion Portrait.jpg|[[Mortarion]]
File:Magnus.jpg|[[Magnus the Red]]
File:Lorgar Handsome.jpg|[[Lorgar Aurelian]] (goldboy)
File:Alpharius2.jpg|[[Alpharius]]/[[Omegon]]
</gallery>
<center>

===How To Make A Primarch===
<center>
{{Heresy}}
[[File:How to make a primarch.jpg|thumb|center|Artist's depiction of a primarch's creation]]
</center>

{{Template:Primarchs}}
{{Imperium}}

[[Category:Chaos]]

Age of Darkness-Warhammer 30k/2.0 Tactics/General Tactics

2022-11-17T03:39:10Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D: /* But I like my kidneys! */

{{topquote|[[Horus Heresy|Night falls]] on the [[Great Crusade|Golden Age]] of Humanity.<br> [[Primarchs|Sons]] shall turn upon their [[Emperor of Mankind|Father]],<br> and [[Imperium of Man|his worlds]] drown in blood.<br> [[Chaos|The Eye]] will open,<br> and the [[Grimdark|Galaxy will Burn]].|[[Alan Bligh]]}}

This is the current edition tactics page for the Age of Darkness ruleset. The previous editions can be found [[Warhammer 40,000/7th Edition Tactics|here]].

Below, you will find general tactics and tips for building armies and playing The Horus Heresy, also known as Warhammer 30k, using the 2.0 Age of Darkness rules.
[[File:The Horus Heresy-Age of Darkness-Full Cover.jpg|500px|right|thumb|In the grimdarkness of the 31st millennium, there are only beakies.]]

==Required Books==
*The 2.0 Age of Darkness Rules.
*Your army's Rulebook. May be in PDF form at the moment.
**''Liber Astartes'' and ''Liber Traitoris'' provide rules for the general Legiones Astartes army list as well as the respective legions based on their allegiance.
***''Legacies of the Age of Darkness'' lets you port over more modern stuff and the things without rules from the FW black books. And the [[Hammerfall Bunker]], for some reason. Only use if you really like the units included, because the rules-writing for this is ''atrocious''.
****Comes in [https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/RZRGS5ADYjwUb7Ry.pdf Legiones Astartes] and [https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/WJKYil2FehoZxrD9.pdf Mechanicum] flavours.
***The ''Exemplary Battles'' PDFs and the ''[https://www.warhammer-community.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/SjrRPYUuOeTbZ2Mu.pdf Exemplary Battles Update]'' give you smaller supplementary units for certain legions as well as potential battleplans.
**''Liber Mechanicum'' provides rules for the Mechanicum's forces as well as special detachments for Knights and Titans.
**''Liber Imperium'' provides rules for the [[Solar Auxilia]] as well as a way to include the agents of the [[Officio Assassinorum]]. It also includes the Talons of the Emperor!
**The Imperial Militia and Warp Cults, and Ruinstorm Daemons will all get PDF armylists.
**Blackshields and the Knights-Errant will be getting their own book at some point in the future.

==Key differences between old 30k and 2.0==
Most Legion and army rules have changed so you'll need to check out your new rules since your force will likely operate in a different fashion to how they used to. In addition there are new USR's and changes to some of the existing ones so you will also need to check over them to see if they do the same things that they used to. While somewhat humorously a few of the new additions to 2.0 appear to have been taken from Warhammer Fantasy 8th edition, continuing the trend of new 40k editions copying Warhammer Fantasy/Age of Sigmar, the the biggest influence for 2.0 appears to be [[Awesome|3rd and 4th edition 40k]] (which makes sense considering both this new rulebook and the 4th edition rule book were written by [[Andy Hoare]]), making the game a real return to what made 40k what it is today. As such a lot of the changes from the old Age of Darkness ruleset and the new one will be very familiar to people who have played the older editions of 40k.

The big changes in 2.0 are:
*'''Movement:''' Gone are the universal movement values for unit types, movement is now a value on each units similar to 8th/9th edition 40k, AoS and WHFB. Interestingly while 6" remain the standard for humans, Space Marines have been given a movement Value of 7" to better represent their superhuman speed, making them run at the same speed as Eldar do in 40k. [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Take that, you knife eared bastards]].
*'''Reactions:''' The new gimmick for 2.0, reactions allow units to make tactical choices in response to actions taken by the opponent during their movement, shooting and assault phases, allowing units to fall back, trigger overwatch, counter charge, return fire, etc. during the opponents turn. This seems to be an attempt to balance against the person who goes first and also allow more interactive between both players during the entire game, not just during their own turns. Normally only one reaction can be taken during each phase, but pretty much every faction has one "advanced reaction" the army can do in a specific phase, albeit under far stricter circumstances. Some people view it as an interesting addition, some people view them as shitty stratagems with no CP requirements, which imbalance the game. Will people be happy and learn to love them and not argue? Do you really need to ask that?
*'''Psychic Phase:''' It's gone. Seeing that 7th edition's clunky psychic phase that had been plaguing heresy for years, and the fact that a single army almost always got to use it unopposed, FW seems to have just wiped it from the game. This news was met with [[Space Wolves|most peoples rejoicing]] and [[Thousand Sons|some people's dismay]]. Psychic powers are now done in specific phases, as stated by each power and can be picked rather than rolled for (thank god).
*'''Weapon Skill:''' Melee combat has been made far more brutal and much less forgiving as a combat is capable of slipping into one sided savagery if engagements are not thought out by one of the sides. You now only hit on 4's if you WS is equal to each other, with a unit hitting the other on 3's if it has better WS and 2's if it has double or higher WS. The same applies in reverse as having worse WS means you hit on 5's and having half or less WS means you hit on 6's. This makes high WS characters and Primarchs absolutely savage in most engagements, hitting most things on 3's and 2's, and even having having a 1 WS difference between a two units can really throw one unit on the backfoot and make the combat an uphill battle for them.
*'''Revised USRs:''' You'll notice quite a few new and revamped USRs and unit types, all to account for the fact that it's no longer moored to the old system. This results in things like Plasma weapons having a pseudo-Rending that won't work on vehicles and Line units essentially gaining ObSec.
*'''Scoring units:''' Scoring is now determined by the type of unit it is, not which Force org slot it fills. Units with the ''Line'' sub-type are now your scoring and denial units and while most troop choices will have them some don't, so you'll need to double check the unit sub-type and make sure you bring units that can actually secure the objectives.
*'''Blast Weapons AP:''' After a general amount of complaining from the community that there were too many AP3 and AP2 Blast weapons, the new edition has heavily reigned back most of these weapons (arguably going to far in the other direction), by either reducing the Blast size, increasing their AP so most artillery guns now sport AP4 as the standard AP value, or both. This means that most of the old reliable MEQ and TEQ squad clearers are no longer effective at these jobs and while some have become effective at other things, such as the Demolisher cannon becoming a fairly effective anti-monster/vehicle/fortification weapon, figuring out new ways to deal with 3+ and 2+ saves will be important.

===Key differences between 40k and 30k===
30k is a very different beast to modern Warhammer 40k, despite not looking like it on the surface. Firstly while 9th edition 40k used AoS as it's basis, 30k uses 7th edition 40k as it's basis, which means many things that disappeared from 40k are still around in 30k, most notably Armor Values for Vehicles (except for Dreadnoughts and Land Speeders, which have Toughness and Wounds like infantry), Universal Special Rules, Initiative and the Weapon Skill of units interacting with each other. These differences means that Horus Heresy plays much more like the older editions of 40k, with a lot of the same caveats. The direction of tanks is important both to keep them alive and because their guns can't magically shoot through the tank to hit someone on the other side. On the infantry front, you need to be more considerate when you pick targets for shooting, since you can't fire what ever you want at how you want. Everyone must shoot at the same target, you can only charge units you have shot at, and you can only charge after shooting if you shoot Assault or Pistol weapons or have not fired your weapons at all.

One of the big differences between 40k and 30k is the community approach to army building and theming (discussed in further below), as 30k is pseudohistorical and the 30k community has become more focused on balanced and fluffy army lists over hyper-competitive army lists. As a result army lists designed to purely crush your opponent and not built around any sort of cohesive army theme are not well tolerated by the existing 30k community and failure to comply with the social standards put in place will get you labelled a "Faggot of the highest degree" and no one will want to play with you. This scenario can easily be avoided however by simply picking a theme, painting your models and not being a cunt while building your army list and actually playing the game.

==So you want to build an army==
They key to building a good army in the Age of Darkness is to bring a good balance of what you will need, as if you don't have the tools to fight what your facing you're not going to last very long. Tanks and vehicles are tougher than they are in 40k and you will need to bring some dedicated units to kill them, and even one Leman Russ Squadron can cause an absolute headache if you haven't brought any anti-tank to deal with them. On the flip side, infantry units are typically a lot larger in 30k than they are 40k with Space Marines being able to take up to 20 men in one tactical squad, and Militia being able to bring 50 fuckers for a mere 100 points so not having units capable of destroying or routing infantry can be just as much of a problem. Finally scoring units are vitally important in most games of 30k, as only a select few units in an army can actually score thanks to the new '''Line''' sub-type, so make sure you bring enough units to hold the objectives since you can wipe out most of an army but lose on victory point if you didn't bring enough troops or all your scoring units got wiped out.

===The Force Organization Chart===
Also known as the Force Org chart, this is the basic framework for how you build your armies in 30k. If you played 7th and earlier editions you will remember it well. The standard Force Org chart is the Crusade Force Org chart, which is what most armies will be built around and is the most flexible for building armies. It is important to remember that you must adhere to the force org chart when building you armies and you are required to bring:
*1 HQ choice
*2 Compulsory Troops choices
The Crusade Force Org chart also allows you to bring other units and you may also take:
*2 additional HQ choices
*4 additional Troops choices
*4 Elites choices
*3 Fast Attack choices
*3 Heavy Support choices
*1 Fortification
*1 Primarch (this and Lords of War may not cost more than 25% of the army's total points)
*1 Lords of War choice (this and Primarch may not cost more than 25% of the army's total points).

You can also bring a force of allied units to help aid you main force if you feel like mixing armies a bit.
You must bring:
*1 HQ choice
*1 Compulsory Troops choice
And you can bring:
*3 additional Troops choices
*2 Elites choices
*1 Fast Attack choice
*1 Heavy Support choice

====Warlord Traits====
While each faction has their own unique traits, some restricted to Loyalist or Traitor forces, these will always be open to every army.

*'''Bloody-Handed:''' Any fights within 12" of your warlord count as if they scored an additional wound for the sake of combat resolution. The army can also make an additional reaction during the assault phase so long as they're alive.
*'''Stoic Defender:''' If the warlord and any unit they join shoots and deals unsaved wounds, the enemy must take a Pinning check. The army can also make an additional reaction during the shooting phase so long as they're alive.
**Pinning is an absolutely dangerous deal in this game, so the ability to pin with any weapon, even bolters and lasrifles, is pretty major.
*'''Ever-Vigilant:''' Whenever the warlord and their attached unit runs, they move an extra distance equal to the Warlord's Initiative +1 instead of the unit's lowest Initiative. The army can also make an additional reaction during the movement phase so long as they're alive.

===Army theming===
So you've picked the army you want to build? Good. Now we can proceed to army theming, which entails building you list around a you chosen armies personality. This is actually a very simple concept but it can be given a good amount of depth and provides plenty of opportunities to create unique and clever army lists.

'''NOTE''': You '''do not''' have to make a themed army, you can just build an army and fill it with things you like (though keep it balanced). However narrative play is very big in 30k and most people do build thematic armies. In addition most armies in Heresy do play very well when built around a certain theme or narrative list.

To begin with you can very simply build you list around your chosen armies personality and known quirks, (e.g. a White Scars bike force, an Iron Warriors Artillery battalion, a Blood Angels assault army, ect...) which is a perfectly acceptable and suitable approach to build armies. Basing armies on the forces and characters from the Horus Heresy books, both the Black Library and Forge World black books, is another simple but effective way of building themed armies (e.g. building an army based around Autek Mors and his Iron Hands or a Sons of Horus Terminator army led by Abaddon).

It is also very easy to make a [[Your Dudes]] army in 30k, even if at first it doesn't seem like it. You can put an interesting spin on an army by making your own personal fluff for the force, with you own personal characters and story for them (e.g. a group of Ultramarines who have been cut off from the Legion and have been slowly whittled down until everyone left is the survivor of dozens of battles making the force a very veteran centric force). And since the Legions were so big and the Heresy was so encompassing, you can come up with hundreds of different and interesting army themes for your force, whether it is the Loyalist elements of a traitor legion, traitor elements of a loyalist legion, a chapter with specific specialisations, a company dug in to a world they were sent to garrison or a group of Black Shields who have left to do their own thing (not that those are receiving rules any time soon, or ever). The possibilities are near limitless. This does come with the caveat that the army should be connected to the Heresy in some way and just saying "yeah this is my 40k chapter, but in Heresy" is boring and going to drop you down a couple of rungs on the 30k community social ladder (but making a specialised legion chapter that are the origin of [[Your Dudes]] in 40k is very acceptable and very cool). Non space marine forces such as Militia and Cults or, to a lesser extent, Solar Auxilia (since those have strict patterns of Void Armor) are also very open to the [[Your Dudes]] treatment and are arguably more flexible to some of the more out there army themes, as Militia and Cults pretty much requires you to convert your own army and no one will get angry at a Redcoat themed Solar Auxilia army or something like that.

An important thing to note is that the existing 30k community enjoy to making balances armies, that revolve around their armies story and themes. This means it is VERY frowned upon building hyper competitive and broken armies since these are not fun to play against and will almost guarantee you won't get a game with someone. This does not mean you cannot bring strong units, but remember to keep your armies balanced and fun to play against. One unit of battery of Quad mortars in your Death Guard with Phosphex shells is strong and fluffy. 12 Quad Mortars with Phosphex shells, taking up your entire Elite choice in your White Scars Army is unfluffy and bullshit.

Another important thing to remember is 30k is a pseudo historical so certain things cannot be used in 30k as they where not around at the time or do not fit with the style. Much like you don't use WW2 infantry in a Napoleonic era game.
*Stuff you can't use in 30k:
**Mark VII or later armour (unless you're playing a loyalist legion during Siege of Terra)
**Primaris marines. For the love of god, just don't.
**Stormcast models and most of the weird and high fantasy/mythic fantasy AoS stuff in general. They look bad for regular 40k conversions and look even worse in 30k.
**Post Heresy symbols such as the Crux Terminatus and 40k specific symbols.
**Purity seals. One on the pauldron or chest as an oath of moment on the squad sergeant is fine but 20 of the fucking things covering a single marine is a big no no. Unless you're a Word Bearer, but then conversions are in order since theirs lack the wax part.
**Storm bolters. No really, they were made after the Heresy and so you need to replace them with combi-bolters.
**Xenos. This is a story about humans, no smelly aliens allowed (If you convert them into humans then some of the model ranges can be used, but don't put a bunch of Eldar Guardians down and say they are Milita levies).

You can argue that Space Marines are Space Marines and that these social rules are just "gatekeeping" and "elitism" and you can continue to argue these things while you are nailed to cross for using a Stormcast model as a Space Marine Praetor, but this is how the 30k community has operated since it's formation and they will have no problems ostracizing you if you act like this (i.e. a cunt). So if things like being told to fuck off for building broken armies or using Primaris or Stormcast models is a deal breaker for you, then 30k is not the game system for you.

===But I like my kidneys!===
Then you shouldn't be playing Warhammer.

But on a more serious note, a lot the Heresy stuff is still resin and sold on FW making it a more expensive game system to play than 40k (only marginally but still). Luckily a lot new plastic kits have been released specifically for 30k (with more on the way) and there are a lot of conversions and units you can make from the cheaper GW plastic lines, so if you have grown fond of your organs and starting a drug empire seems like too much hassle there are "cheaper" alternatives you can use from GW. There is also 3d-printing and bootleg copies, but don't try bringing those in GW stores.

*Stuff you can use in 30k:
**Those plastic space marine kits made specifically for Heresy (duh). As an added benefit these won't be at risk of going out of stock anytime soon.
**The plastic Custodes and Sisters of Silence made for Heresy (double duh).
**Mars pattern vehicles (this would be the GW Rhinos and the vanilla Land Raiders, though Mars pattern is smaller than newly-made Deimos, so it can cause trouble in hyper-competitive environment).
**Castraferrum Dreadnoughts.
**Any GW Space Marine in Mark II-VI armours.
**Imperial Guard models.
**The less goofy plastic Mechanicus models (like all the Techpriest models).
**Pretty much any human model with the Purity seals/Inquisitorial/post Heresy symbols shaved off. Even Converted Warhammer Fantasy models can work for Militia.
**Plastic Knights. They have rules for 30k and have their own army list.
**Converted Chaos models. While Chaos Space Marines wear an unholy mix of mk VI and VII, thanks to an idiot who sculpted Word Bearer Praetor it's now a Heresy accurate armour mark, and with some work can be used for late Heresy Word Bearers, Sons of Horus, and Black Shields. Possessed can also be used for Gal Vorbak. Daemon engines can be used by Traitor Mechanicum (not Defilers though, those were made after the Heresy) in conversions and Daemons of the Ruinstorm are literally just Daemons, and the whole army based around converting your own force (more specific details about their conversion opportunities are on their tactics page).
And on the flip side a lot of 30k stuff is usable with 40k and by extension kill team.

==Unit Types==
*''Infantry'' are the same as ever. Generic, without special rules, and only accompanied by other infantry and primarchs.
*''Armiger'' units are similar to Dreadnoughts in that they're oversized vehicles that have stats like monsters. Poisoned and Fleshbane weapons must re-roll to wound them and they can shoot all guns in a turn, even after moving. Unlike Dreads, Armigers only get Stubborn.
*''Automata'' represent the majority of the Mechanicum's forces. They are all Fearless and attacks from Poisoned and Fleshbane weapons must re-roll a successful wound roll. However, a unit that has any can't make Reactions and they can't be joined by anything except other Automata unless something overwrites this.
**''Cybernetica'' units give Automata all the perks of something like a Dreadnought (shooting all weapons after moving without penalty, immunity to Initiative penalties when charging through cover) with the great drawback of Programmed Behavior (unless a Cortex Controller is nearby, this unit must shoot or charge the nearest enemy). Considering the power of automata, it requires you to pick which ones you want to keep an eye on while leaving the rest to fire on autopilot.
*''Cavalry'' covers bikers, Land Speeders (a new addition to the list), and traditional cavalry. They can't be pinned and fall back 3d6". While they can move through difficult terrain at full speed, difficult terrain counts as dangerous terrain for them.
*''Daemon'' models are, of course, for the Ruinstorm Daemons. They always gain a +1 Strength and Toughness bonus on turns 1 and 2, lose that bonus on turns 3 and 4, and take -1 to Strength and Toughness on turns 5 and 6, which worsens to -2 from turn 7 onwards. Daemons always have Fear (1) and are immune to it while always being able to rally automatically. However, they can't opt to fall back if they can't hit a vehicle and failing a morale check for any reason costs them d3 wounds. Force weapons are also Instant Death for them.
*''Dreadnought'' models are now more like monsters than vehicles, gaining a toughness score and save instead of armor values. Like Automata, they are Fearless and attacks from Poisoned and Fleshbane weapons re-roll a successful wound roll. In addition, they can fire all their guns and count as stationary when doing so, meaning they can fire their assault cannons as part of an overwatch reaction. They can also charge after shooting even if their weapons would normally disallow it.
*''Primarch'' can go without any further explanation. They're pretty packed with rules, coming stock as Independent Characters with Eternal Warrior, Fearless, IWND (5+), Bulky (4), and Relentless who must always be the army's warlord. They can never suffer any stat penalties (aside from wounds, of course) and thus always fire snap shots at their base BS. On top of that, any attacks the primarch makes in melee can be distributed on any enemy of the player's choosing, meaning you can always throw wounds at any special weapons hidden in the back.
*''Vehicle'' models are as they have been, with unique firing arcs for their weapons and armor values for each side that weapons have to breach on a d6+Weapon Strength. AP2 and AP1 weapons add to this roll, which improves their effectiveness too.
**''Bombard'' represents vehicles built to mount heavy cannons, such as the Cerberus. They have no restrictions on firing Ordnance weapons when moving at Combat Speed but can only fire a single Defensive weapon when moving at Cruising Speed.
**''Fast'' vehicles are more mobile, always counting as moving at combat speed unless they move Flat-out (and they're the only vehicles that can do so).
**''Flyer'' vehicles are pretty obvious. Aside from all the other vehicle rules, they can only use the Evade reaction and always begin play in reserves. Flyers can zoom, letting them move super-fast while still being able to shoot, but they have a minimum movement quota they can make unless they explode.
***''Hover'' gives a flyer a second mode of movement, allowing it to act like a Skimmer.
***''Lumbering'' flyers are essentially superheavy flyers like the Thunderhawk. This gives them all the defensive benefits of being a superheavy.
**''Reinforced'' units are heavy tanks like the Kratos and Land Raider whose reinforced armor is better at surviving heavy damage. They ignore Crew Shaken and are not restricted to firing Snap Shots if affected by Crew Stunned (although they're still unable to move or pivot for the turn if they get that result).
**''Skimmer'' vehicles like land speeders technically can move over any models and terrain but can never start or end a turn on them. Ending movement on such terrain forces them to make a dangerous terrain check. In addition, an immobilized result wrecks them.
**''Slow'' vehicles are extra tanky, but...well, slow. They always count as moving at cruising speed but attacks against them roll an additional d6 for penetration, throwing out the higher roll.
**''Super-Heavy'' vehicles represent LoW choices like the Fellblade or the Mastodon, only able to react against other superheavies. They always count as having never moved for the sake of shooting and can split their fire across multiple targets. The Explodes result merely deals d3 hull points of damage and any other vehicle damage results are ignored. If this vehicle dies, it immediately explodes, dealing an S7+d3 AP4 hit to anyone within 6+d6" and forcing a Pinning test if they survive.
***''Knights and Titans'' are essentially superheavies that can punch each other, can move over Infantry and Cavalry units, and perform Stomp attacks.
**''Transports'', of course, transport a certain number of models, with the Bulky rule now giving you a distinct number of slots that a model can take up if they can take them.

===Unit Subtypes===
*''Character'' models remain the same as before, able to issue and accept challenges from other characters.
*''Cybertheurgist'' units are capable of using Cybertheurgy Rites, exclusive to the Mechanicum.
*''Line'' units are your basic grunts, the equivalent of ObSec in modern games. Each one always counts as a scoring and denial unit.
*''Antigrav'' units represent stuff like jetbikes and Land Speeders. They can always fly over any terrain but can't start or stop any movement in impassible or dangerous terrain lest they take a dangerous terrain check. Antigrav units also can't benefit from cover saves.
*''Artillery'' can go on things like Rapiers. These must be accompanied in a unit where there are models without this subtype or else they are removed as casualties. Taking one hobbles their mobility a lot, as they can't run or charge, can't react and are unable to make sweeping advances. Any sweeping advances flat-out kill them and they can never count as a scoring or denial unit.
*''Guardian'' units can attach to other units despite any unit type limitations, which also means that they can join their charges in transports. Guardian models protect their owners from anything that targets characters like Precision Shots, meaning that they can protect from even Primarchs. However, these units must attach to characters, as otherwise they suffer -1 to Initiative and -2 to Movement while being disallowed from running.
*''Heavy'' units largely represent heavily-armored things like marines with boarding shields and Cataphractii terminators. They can re-roll saves against template and blast weapons, but they can't run and any movement during a reaction must take a -1 penalty.
*''Light'' units represent lightly-armored troops like Scouts. These units gain +1 to their run distance or any movement during a reaction (which stacks with rules like Fleet (X)) and can fire snap shots after running, but they can't take cover saves after running.
*''Monstrous'' likely represents things like daemon brutes. They can never be pinned and can always fire any weapons they can, counting as stationary when doing so. They can also charge regardless of any shooting attacks they make.
*''Paragon'' units are the best of their kinds, most commonly seen on Paragons of Iron in the Mechanicum. These units cannot suffer any penalties to their stats like Primarchs. They can also fire any guns they want in a turn, even after moving. The only drawback, if you can even call it one, is that they cannot join any units.
*''Psyker'' represents...well, psykers.
*''Unique'' units are just that. You can only take one Unique unit of a given type in each army, though you can take two different units that each have the subtype. They are also restricted to whatever wargear is on their army list profile even if their Legiones Astartes (X) rule would normally let them use something else.
*''Skirmish'' represents scouts and other units that rely on speed and cover to survive. They have a larger unit coherency range and improve their cover saves by 1.

===Universal Special Rules===

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:90%">
Oh yeah, these are back too! And a lot of them got revamped to boot. Not helping is that there are rules not only in the main book, but also in the Libers.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
*'''Adamantium Will (X+)''': Gone are the Deny the Witch rolls. All of them. In their place, ''Adamantium Will (X+)'' has been reworked to become an invulnerable save against any psychic weapons and force weapons.
*'''Armourbane (X)''': Same as ever, this lets you add an additional D6 when rolling to penetrate a Vehicle, but it also lets you re-roll to wound Automata and Dreads, which are no longer Vehicles and are more like Monstrous Creatures. While it has a version for melee and ranged weapons, it also has a version for Melta weapons, which emulates the classic Melta dependence on firing them at half-range in order to work at maximum effectiveness.
**As Armoured Ceramite is no longer a commonplace necessity, expect to see this used way more often.
*'''Assault Vehicle''': Assault Ramps. Anyone who disembarks from this vehicle unless the vehicle also arrived in from deep-striking that turn can charge.
*'''Barrage:''' Blast weapons that can fire at enemies they can't see but doing so means that they can't subtract their BS when rolling to see how far it scatters. If it fires multiple times, then any subsequent blasts that scatter have to be positioned that their pie plates are touching the original.
*'''Battlesmith (X+)''': A model with this rule can forego shooting to repair Vehicles, Automata and Dreads they're next to or riding in. On a roll of X+, this model may restore a lost Wound/Hull Point, repair a destroyed weapon or repair an immobilized result. Note that this can't be used on any turn where the repairer is pinned or falling back.
*'''Battle-Hardened (X)''': When registering whether an attack's Strength is enough to cause ''Instant Death'' to a target, this rule adds X to the target's Toughness, thereby potentially foiling the attempt. However, take note that this will not affect what the weapon has to roll to wound, which can be trouble in its own way.
*'''Blast (X")''': Same as ever, pie plates are used to determine who is hit by this weapon, the X determining the size of the plate as opposed to the old Small/Normal/Large/Apocalyptic Blast of yore. You roll to see where it scatters, with the distance subtracted by the shooter's BS.
*'''Blind''': Models hit by a weapon with this rule must pass an Initiative check or else be reduced to WS1 and BS1 until the end of their next turn.
*'''Bulky (X)''': Replacing stuff like ''Very Bulky'' with numerical values for Terminators and Primarchs, models with this rule now count as X models when determining transport capacity.
*'''Brutal (X)''': One hit with this weapon actually counts as being X hits, meaning that this can be vital in taking down multi-wound models like Terminators that much quicker.
*'''Chosen Warriors''': The rule most familiar to anyone with a command squad. Models with this rule can issue and accept challenges as though they were characters.
*'''Concussive (X)''': Models wounded by a weapon with this rule (regardless of whether or not the wound was saved) must pass a Leadership check or suffer -X to their WS until the end of their next assault phase.
*'''Counter-Attack (X)''': When a model with this rule is charged, they gain X extra attacks for this assault phase. Note that this has no effect when the charged unit is either already in combat or if they used the Hold the Line reaction.
*'''Crawling Fire''': The fun Phosphex rule. After placing this blast, the pieplate can move 2" in the direction of any models so long as it lets them cover more things.
*'''Crusader''': This model rolls an additional D6 when rolling for Sweeping Advance and discards the lowest roll.
*'''Cumbersome''': Models fighting with a weapon using this rule can only make one attack using WS1.
*'''Deadly Cargo''': Sometimes even a simple ding can cause a tank to go up in flames. If a vehicle with this rule loses a hull point in any way, roll a D6. It explodes on a 6 without question.
*'''Deflagrate''': The Volkite rule. After resolving any wounds by a weapon with this rule, you score an additional number of hits equal to how many unsaved wounds were made. Of course, these new hits can't score more deflagration.
*'''Deep Strike''': One of several ways to drop a unit during the middle of combat.
*'''Destroyer''': Not only is this now a weapon type given exclusively to superheavy units, but it's also providing special rules as well. This is the replacement for last edition's Strength D - instead dealing an additional d3 Wounds/Hull Points worth of damage.
*'''Duellist's Edge (X)''': Familiar to anyone using Charnabal weapons. When fighting in a challenge, this model improves their Initiative by X.
**'''Reach (X)''': A more reliable rule, this just flat-out gives the Initiative bonus to anyone using them.
*'''Eternal Warrior''': If a model with this rule suffers Instant Death, they only get their wounds reduced by 1 wound instead of dying outright.
*'''Exoshock (X+)''': If a weapon with this rule scores a Pen on a vehicle, roll a D6; on an X+, this scores a second Pen.
*'''Fear (X)''': Fear is now numerical. All enemies within 12" of this model must reduce their Leadership by X when making morale checks, regroup checks or pinning checks. [[Night Lords|Note that just because a model causes Fear it isn't automatically immune to it]], because that requires...
*'''Fearless''': Auto-pass all pinning, regroup and morale checks and ignore Fear. However, models with this rule can never use reactions that grant a save or damage mitigation roll of any kind and can't fail a morale check if their weapons are useless.
*'''Feel No Pain (X+)''': If this model takes an unsaved wound, you can roll an additional D6 and ignore the wound on a X+.
*'''Fleet (X)''': When a whole unit with this rule runs, moves as a reaction or charges, they add +X to the total move distance. Note that if the unit has mixed Fleet values, then you need to pick the lowest - even if there is none.
*'''Fleshbane''': This weapon always wounds anything that isn't a vehicle or a building on a 2+. However, recall that automata and dreadnoughts force these weapons to re-roll to wound.
*'''Force''': Before attacking with a weapon using this rule, you can choose to make a Psychic check as if this were a power. If this check passes, then the weapon doubles its Strength. No longer as devastating as before, but it's still potentially quite dangerous, especially to units with the Daemon subtype, which it gains Instant Death against (along with the Strength bonus, making it better than before against those specific types).
*'''Firing Protocols (X)''': This model can shoot X different weapons in the same shooting phase.
*'''Furious Charge (X)''': This model adds +X to their Strength when they charge.
*'''Gets Hot''': When shooting with this weapon, a natural 1 to hit (or a 1-2 to hit for a vehicle) deals an instant hit with an AP similar to the weapon. For template weapons, you only suffer it when you roll a D6 before attacking and suffer a 1. While most things can ignore it, cover saves and Shrouded don't.
*'''Graviton Pulse''': Instead of rolling to wound, models hit by a weapon with this rule must roll under their Strength on a D6 or suffer a wound. If this was on a blast, then the ground under this pieplate counts as difficult and dangerous terrain.
*'''Guided Fire''': This weapon doesn't need LOS to fire.
*'''Hammer of Wrath (X)''': A model with this rule deals X AP- hits at the end of a charge, counting as happening on Initiative 10.
*'''Hatred (X)''': An old classic, this model re-rolls to hit specific enemies during the first turn of a fight.
*'''Haywire''': When this hits a vehicle, dreadnought or automata, roll D6 for effect. On a 2+, this deals a glancing hit/deals a wound that can only be negated by an invuln or damage mitigation. On a 6, this deals a penetrating hit/deals a wound that negates all saves.
*'''Hit & Run''': A unit with this rule can opt to leave a fight at the end of an assault phase by passing an Initiative check. If passed, this unit moves 2D6+M" away from the enemy.
*'''Independent Character''': As expected, this is a character that can join any other unit they want.
*'''Infiltrate''': After everyone is set up, this unit can be placed anywhere on the board so long as it's at least 9" from the enemy.
*'''Ignores Cover''': Look at the damn name.
*'''Instant Death''': Any unsaved wounds from a weapon with this rule (or any weapon where its Strength is double the Toughness of the target) instantly kill the target.
*'''It Will Not Die (X)''': This model can heal a lost wound on a X+ at the end of each turn.
*'''Lance''': Any attacks by a weapon with this rule against a vehicle count any AV above 12 as just being 12.
*'''Legiones Astartes (X)''': Just there to identify what Legion this unit is in, if at all. Note that X just means you can assign it to any legion. You can't mix Legions within a single detachment, they need to be taken as allied detachments instead.
*'''Lingering Death''': The other fun Phosphex rule. After the blast is resolved, it remains on the ground, counting as dangerous terrain for anything that isn't a vehicle.
*'''Loyalist/Traitor''': Only exist to strictly enforce that certain units or characters can only be fielded in Loyalist or Traitor armies.
*'''Master-Crafted''': Same as before, this lets a weapon re-roll one hit roll.
*'''Monster Hunter''': This model can re-roll to wound automata, dreadnoughts, primarchs and anything with the monstrous subtype.
*'''Move Through Cover''': This model ignores difficult terrain.
*'''Murderous Strike (X+)''': A weapon with this rule counts as being Instant Death on a X+ to wound.
*'''Night Vision''': Negates Night Fighting and Shrouded saves.
*'''One Use/One Shot''': This weapon has a single use before breaking into uselessness.
*'''Outflank''': This unit can arrive from reserves using a Flanking Assault, emerging from the edge of the board.
*'''Pinning''': A non-vehicle unit that isn't engaged and lacks Fearless hit by a weapon with this rule must pass a Leadership check or be pinned. Pinned units can only fire snap shots and can't react, making this way more dangerous when compared to before.
*'''Poisoned (X+)''': Attacks against non-vehicle units always wound on a X+. While this can work on automata and dreadnoughts, you do need to re-roll to wound these units.
*'''Power of the Machine Spirit''': This vehicle can split its weapons to fire on multiple enemies.
*'''Precision Shots/Precision Strikes (X)''': A hit roll of X+ will hit the unit of your choosing. Shots is for shooting, Strikes is for melee.
*'''Preferred Enemy (X)''': A model with this rule re-rolls 1s to hit and wound this unit. This works both with shooting and melee.
*'''Rad-Phage''': The radiation rule. Any unit that suffers unsaved wounds from a weapon with this rule takes a permanent -1 to Toughness. While spamming Irad Cleansers and Rad Grenades doesn't work, anything else that messes with Toughness does.
*'''Rage (X)''': This model gains +X attacks on the charge instead of just 1.
*'''Rampage (X)''': If this model is outnumbered in a fight, they gain X extra attacks. Note that units with Bulky will count as however many models for the sake of this rule.
*'''Relentless''': This model can fire Heavy and Ordinance weapons after moving, counting as they stood still. They can also charge after firing Rapid-Fire, Heavy and Ordinance weapons.
*'''Rending (X+)''': When this weapon rolls a X+ to wound, the hit counts as if it were AP2. If used on a vehicle, a penetration roll of X+ adds +D3 to the attack's Strength with the AP remaining the same.
**'''Breaching (X+)''' A scaled down version of Rending, seen mostly on plasma guns. This still counts as AP2 on a X+ to wound, but is now ineffective on vehicles.
*'''Shell Shock (X)''': Pinning checks caused by a weapon with this rule must take a -X penalty.
*'''Shock Pulse''': Vehicles, dreadnoughts and automata that are wounded/suffer a Pen from a weapon with this rule can only fire snap shots for the next turn.
*'''Shred''': Now far more common on chainswords, this allows re-rolls to wound.
*'''Scout''': After everyone is deployed, this unit can move forward (6" for infantry, artillery, dreads and automata, 12" for anything else) so long as they remain 9" away from the enemy.
*'''Shrouded (X+)''': Another damage mitigation roll, made after failing the save.
*'''Pathfinder''': A unit with at least one model that has this rule auto-passes dangerous terrain checks.
*'''Skyfire''': A weapon with this rule hits Skimmers and Flyers at full BS but must snap fire to hit anything else.
*'''Slow and Purposeful''': Like Relentless but this model cannot run, sweep, or make reactions.
*'''Sniper''': This weapon always fires Precision Shots. Does not work on snap firing.
*'''Specialist Weapon''': This weapon does not confer a bonus attack for dual wielding unless used alongside another Specialist Weapon.
*'''Split Fire''': A unit with this rule can fire at as many different enemies as they have weapons. Unlike with 8E onwards, this is not on by default.
*'''Sunder''': Re-roll to penetrate vehicles and buildings, keeping the second roll.
*'''Strafing Run (X)''': When this Flyer shoots at anything that isn't a flyer, their BS improves by X.
*'''Stubborn''': A unit where at least one model with this rule ignores penalties to Morale and Pinning checks and any Leadership penalties.
*'''Support Squad''': This unit can't be used as a compulsory FOC choice.
*'''Swarm''': Instead of being its own unit type, it's now a rule. This unit still suffers double wounds from any template or blast weapons.
*'''Template Weapons/Hellstorm Weapons''': The Flamer classic. No rolls, it always hits anything the template falls under. If used for snap shooting at anything charging or within 8", then the weapon scores D3 hits. Of course, the Hellstorm template still exists, stuck to only seeing use on superheavies.
*'''Torrent (X")''': The skinny end of the template can be within X" away from the firing model, allowing more flexibility in firing.
*'''Twin-Linked''': Shooting with this weapon re-rolls to hit. Templates instead re-roll to wound. Blast weapons can re-roll the scatter die and distance, but you must take this second roll.
*'''Two-Handed''': A weapon with this rule can never benefit from dual wielding.
*'''Unwieldy''': Unless this unit is a dreadnought or monstrous, attacks from this weapon are made at I1.

</div>
</div>

==The Turn==
The turn system has been dialed right back and is now very similar to older editions of 40k, with its three phase system being near identical to 3rd and 4th edition 40k. None of those pesky psychic, charge, fight and command phases. Just the Movement, Shooting and Assault phases.

===Movement phase===
It's the phase when you move... that's about it. Each unit has it's own movement characteristic and while most units of the same type will have the same movement characteristic you might have to double check every now and then. Making sure you make good movements can be more complex than initially thought as, as haphazardly marching towards the nearest objective can leave you out of cover and get you torn to shreds by high AP weaponry. Also beware counter movements by your opponent to intercept you units and try to predict charges and counter reactions to you can keep your units safe from melee blenders or so you can get your melee units into combat effectively.
*Don't forget Reserves are deployed during the Movement phase, and Deep Strike this edition is downright ridiculous. First of all, you bunch all Deep Strikers together and then roll for all of them once. Then, if the roll is a success, you deploy one model from one unit anywhere on the map 1" away from the enemy and roll a scatter; if you end up outside of the battlefield, on top of an enemy model or Impassable terrain, you can move that model '''18"''' anywhere, meaning you're guaranteed to land where you want. But wait, I can hear you ask, what if I'm scattered full 12" and can place my model there, how's that "where I want"? Well, you don't have to deploy the squad in base to base contact, unlike previous edition! That means that a conga line of 5 Marines on 32mm bases will end up whenever you desire in 13,5". All subsequent units from Deep Strike arrive on the same turn within 12" of the first ''unit'' (not model!), which gives an unprecedented freedom of maneuver.
**And now you can charge out of Deep Strike and Flanking Assault. From 1" away. Better pack those Augury Scanners and Helical Targeting Arrays! Add Vox Disruptor if you're feeling particularly paranoid.

===Shooting phase===
The phase when your army unloads their guns and a good time to hand out some significant hurt on your opponent's forces. It's pretty similar to how it's always been so there isn't much to talk about here other than picking your targets well and anticipating the possibility of the opponent using Return Fire to try and get in a few shots of their own.
*Unlike previous editions, vehicles don't get cover saves and at best are Obscured Targets which provides them with a measly 6+ Cover Save.

===Assault phase===
The phase where you charge, fight and die like men. You pick the unit you don't like, declare the charge and you roll 2D6 to see if you get to them like before, though a few more things need to be considered. Firstly Overwatch is now a reaction and can only be done once per-turn so you don't need to be as scared about it as you were in the previous edition. In addition the new WS chart means that throwing that squad of WS4 Tactical marines into that WS5 command squad is an even worse idea than before, since the new WS chart now means that you only hit each other on 4's if you have equal WS, while the guy with the highest hits on 3+ and the guy with the lowest hits on 5+. This can get even more one sided if one of the units in combat has double the WS of the other, since the side with double WS will be hitting on 2+ and the other will be hitting on 6+. This means combat should be more carefully considered than before, as a bad matchup can be even harder to win than in the previous edition of 30k as a squad with a good WS can tear apart other units with far greater ease than before. Secondly, one should remember new Charge distance modifiers: for example, Movement of 8-10" gives you +1", as opposed to 1-4" that deducts it.
*Oh boy, Heresy 2.0 hasn't been released, and Fight phase is already broken: a single model unit can't kill more than one model on charge with minimal effort from the player getting charged. For example, if Player 1 charges Tactical Squad with their Dreadnaught, the latter's coming in base contact with one enemy model only (because initial charger must be moved by the shortest possible route to the closest enemy model). The problem is, where in previous edition models ''must'' Pile In in their Initiative step, now they ''may'' do so, so Tactical Squad is just standing there, watching their comrade, the only model in base contact with the Dreadnaught, getting slaughtered. Player 1 then rolls, say, 4 attacks at I4, hits and wounds with all of them. Player 2 removes one marine in base contact with the Dreadnaught and discards all other wounds, because no models are locked in combat at I4, thanks to how a wound pool in Fight phase now works. Needless to say, this mechanic of optional Pile In moves and wounds distribution can easily be abused.
*Be mindful that in this edition, the wording of engaging in combat has changed a little. What we're interested in is this bit: "models in unit coherency with another model from its' own unit which is in base contact with an enemy model". Skirmish sub-type like NL Raptors have 3" unit coherency, with all the shenanigans it entails.

===Morale===
The thing that determines if your units stay and fight or turn and run for the hills.
Moral tests are taken when a unit loses 25% of the models in the shooting phase or it has been beaten in combat. Upon failing a moral test units will fall back, simulating the unit routing or retreating to a more advantageous position. A unit will continue to fall back during each turn until it makes a successful moral test to regroup. Units falling back from combat are also subject to their opponent making a sweeping advance test to finish them off, where both units compare their initiative + die roll. If the unit that is falling back has an equal or higher result, it escapes, while if the unit that is trying to run them down has the higher result the falling back unit is wiped out. This can be pretty brutal and it can be a serious punishment for units that were thrown haphazardly at the nearest enemy unit.

===Psychic Powers===
WE 3rd EDITION NOW! With the psychic phase having been removed, psychic powers are a bit different than how they were in 7th. Firstly, you can now pick your powers and don't have to waste your time rolling for them, and since there is no psychic phase, powers are now taken in the specific phase noted down on the power itself. In addition, warp charges are gone and a psychic power is now manifested by taking an unmodified leadership test; if you pass, the power is manifested like 6E and prior. If you fail, the Psyker (or the unit they're in, your choice) suffers PotW, D3 Wounds that can only be saved by Invulnerable saves (and not mitigated by FnP either).

Also of note is that the disciplines are also drastically trimmed down since you're no longer needing to roll for powers.

===Reactions===
The new <s>gimmick</s> feature for 2.0, reactions allow you to take actions during your opponents phase and "react" to what they are doing (and allows GW to move closer to Alternating Activations without actually commiting. The Scoundrels). This can range from returning fire at a unit that just shot at you, to charging your opponents models that got too close during their movement phase, to old standbys like Overwatch. Depending on which reaction is used, reactions can be taken during the opponents Movement, shooting or assault phase with typically only one being allowed to be taken each phase, but some rules and warlord traits allow you to take up to a maximum of three per phase. Additionally, each faction tends to have at least one "advanced reaction", which is usually more powerful than the standard reactions but has more specific triggers and can usually only be used once per game. Units can't make Reactions if they're Pinned, falling back, or locked in combat.

<tabs>
<tab name="Movement Phase">
Triggered when an enemy moves within 12" of one of your units.

*'''Advance:''' The unit can move a distance equal to their highest Initiative stat towards the enemy that triggered this reaction. Vehicles can pivot up to 90 degrees and move 6". Pretty much used to block off enemies from vulnerable units or to prepare for a charge on your next turn.
*'''Withdraw:''' The unit can move a distance equal to their highest Initiative stat away from the enemy that triggered this reaction. Vehicles can pivot up to 90 degrees and move 6". Vital in pulling units out of charging range.
*'''Interceptor:''' Only triggered if an enemy unit arrives from reserves and is within LoS of one of your units. Your unit can immediately shoot at them, though vehicles can only fire defensive weapons.
*'''Death or Glory:''' Only triggered after a vehicle rams your non-vehicle unit, hits are resolved, and you pass a morale check. One model from that rammed unit can make a ranged or melee attack that auto-hits the vehicle's front armor. If it destroys the vehicle or causes a Crew Stunned/Immobilized/Explodes result from a penetrating hit, then the model gets to live. Otherwise, they die.
</tab>
<tab name="Shooting Phase">
Triggered after the enemy shoots one of your units, but before you start removing any casualties.

*'''Return Fire:''' Your unit can immediately shoot back, though they can't use any weapons that ignore LoS or use Barrage. Flamers and the like can only be used if the enemy is within 8" (of the unit, not the Flamer-toting model), firing as though they were overwatching. Vehicles are similarly restricted to firing only defensive weapons. In either case, your unit is considered stationary so they can fire their worst without any worry.
*'''Evade:''' Your unit gains a 5+ Shrouded save for this attack. This doesn't stack with any other instances of Shrouded, but it's just as valuable in saving units since it's a save-after-save like FNP. Naturally doesn't work for immobilized units and gets ignored by some equipment.
**Previously, this didn't work on Vehicles. However, the FAQ corrected this so that "all models in the reacting unit gain the Shrouded (5+) special rule against all wounds, glancing and penetrating hits inflicted as part of the shooting attack that triggered this reaction."

</tab>
<tab name="Assault Phase">
Triggered once the enemy charges one of your units but before any models are moved (regardless of whether or not the charge is successful).

*'''Overwatch:''' The old and venerable classic. Fortunately, your unit counts as though they didn't move so you can still fire your heavy bolters and the like without worry.
*'''Hold the Line:''' Roll a morale check for your unit. If it passes and your enemy charged successfully, the charge will count as disordered. If the enemy charge failed, then any other charges against this unit will count as disordered.
</tab>
</tabs>

[[Category:Warhammer Tactics/30k]]
{{Warhammer_30k_Tactics}}

Iron Hands

2022-11-14T07:36:42Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D: Come on, he literally has the the title "IRON HAND" we have to have a quote from this guy on the Iron Hands page!

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Iron Hands
|Heraldry = [[Image:Iron_Hands_Livery.jpg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = The Flesh Is Weak! ("Iron Prevails!" is sometimes chanted after)
|Number = X
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Original Name = Stormwalkers
|Successor Chapters = [[Brazen Claws]], [[Iron Lords]], [[Red Talons]], [[Sons of Medusa]], [[Steel Confessors]]
|Chapter Master = [[Kardan Stronos]]/The Great Clan Council
|Primarch = [[Ferrus Manus]] the Gorgon
|Homeworld = [[Medusa (Planet)|Medusa]]
|Specialty = Bionics, mechanized warfare, and being assholes
|Strength = 1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Black and White
}}

{{Topquote|With steel we are stronger, but without a soul we are nothing.|[[Kardan Stronos]]}}

{{Topquote|Flesh withers, but iron serves eternal!|A variation of their original battle cry}}

{{Topquote|Er kann mich am Arsch lecken – "He can lick my ass"|Sir Götz of the '''Iron Hand''', }}

The '''Iron Hands''' were the X Legion of the [[Space Marines]] during the [[Great Crusade]] and the [[Horus Heresy]]. Their [[Primarch]] was [[Ferrus Manus]]. It's subtler than [[Space Wolves|GW's]] [[White Scars|usual]], but they have a strong resemblance to the Scottish, what with their Clans, gruff demeanor, undeniable backbone, expertise in technology, and tendency to lose despite their badassery - In fact, the 8.5 Supplement mentions the first stock of the X Legion hailing from the region known as "Old Albia". Their names come from a different country of clannish highland badasses, namely Afghanistan. Also, the Iron Hands are masters of mechanised warfare, boasting a great deal of tanks, aircraft and Dreadnoughts. They're basically the best armourmasters amongst the Space Marines, and are adept at both out-manuvering and out-playing their foes when it comes to land warfare. If you want really good vehicles as LSM, Iron Hands are really the way to go, especially given that they now get some fantastic rules due to the new rules for Space Marines. Due to also being excellent forgemasters along the levels of the [[Salamanders]], the Iron Hands alongside the [[Red Scorpions]] are the only ones who still have the knowledge and know-how in both creating and maintaining their vast collection of the [[Mark IV: Maximus Armour]]. And they wear this armour just as much as the bog-standard [[Mark VII: Aquila/Imperator Armour|Mark VII: Aquila Armour]].

They also are notorious for being one the most [[List of 40K Cheese|broken and outright awful factions]] to play against during the latter part of 8th. A single leviathan Dreadnought could feasibly survive to the tune of an entire Imperial Titan salvo with [[Bullshit|almost no damage]].

==History==
[[File:Iron Hands Space Marine.jpeg|thumb|left|An Iron Hands Space Marine. Notice the iron hands of this Iron Hands.]]
===Past and Present===
The '''Iron Hands''' are, like most of their fellow chapters who originated from the first founding, completely bat shit crazy. The chapter worships their ancient Father who got a bad case of worms and ended up with silver metal-coated hands (sounds a bit like the 18th century method of using mercury to cure Syphilis) and subsequently now believe that flesh is weak and as a result the marines try to copy their Primarch and replace their body parts with machinery and cybernetic implants (right down to emotion inhibitors post-Heresy), which Ferrus himself was actually against, believing that they should trust in the strength of their flesh rather than attempting to improve upon the Emperor's work. This is all part of an undoubtedly Freudian complex brought about by the loss of their primarch during the Drop Site Massacre on Isstvan V. Of course, the chapter decided to blame everyone, '''especially''' the [[Emperor's Children|legion]] whose [[Fulgrim|primarch]] shortened [[Ferrus Manus]] by a head at neck level. Incidentally, this also includes '''Ferrus himself''', as they came to the conclusion that it was their Primarch's own failure to control his emotions that led to the series of tactical blunders which culminated in his death (even though he didn't make tactical blunders and died because of betrayal, but the Iron Hands have a hard-on (pun!) for the blame-game). In order to prevent this from repeating, the surviving captains (with possible meddling by the Mechanicus) enacted ''"The Tempering"'', which saw the Iron Hands purge and repress their emotions in order to better emulate cold, logical machines.

In spite of all this weirdness and being part of the [[First Founding]], the Iron Hands remain one of the most forgettable Chapters among [[Games Workshop]] and the fandom at large. Seriously, [[Feral World Religion|even /tg/ forgets about them half the time.]] The only chapter who has it close are the [[Raven Guard]], barring [[Kayvaan Shrike]]. To add self mutilation and cybernetic enhancement (insult) to injury, those who do remember them often get confused with the [[Iron Warriors]], and these people are worse than heretics because at least a Heretic knows the difference between "corn" and "Khorne", but the term Iron seems to confuse many. Leading to much fuck'tardery comments like "Iron Within, Iron Without", these people are total bell-ends and deserve to be scorned (Or would that be, sKhorned?). With the publication of the ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' books the powers that be have finally begun to remember that the Iron Hands were one of the original Space Marine Legions, but aside from their Primarch in resin courtesy of [[Forge World]] they've been graced with only two other named characters But Iron Hands don't care cause they are too busy kicking arse, taking names and getting shit done. That said, they really are the Emperor's Tin Men in every sense of the word. In 7th they got their own codex supplement (providing the world at large with a [[Chapter Master Smashfucker|certain slightly competitive character]]) which made them astartes army of the week, but in 8th they got back to their usual niche, causing the tournament players to shelve them again. With Deathwatch having no unit entry for Killteam Cassius any more, the Iron Hands are left with only one named character, a Primaris Marine named Iron Father Ferrios. Damn Ultrasmurfs and the fan wank they get.....

'''Alternative View''': The Iron Hands are the best examples of humans during grief. They feel horrible shame as a result of their Primarch's death, and so act like, and actually become, machines in order to not repeat an error they saw in themselves. They feel so horribly, bitterly afraid to fail again, that they take every precaution against failure. It is in this grief that ironically, they show feeling. It is a shame /tg/ forgets about them, because a philosophical analysis of these warriors actually reveals quite a bit about human nature during tragedy.

===The Moirae Schism===
After the Emperor's <s>death</s> glorious ascent to the Golden Throne, there was a bit of debate as to whether He was the Omnissiah or not and, if he was, in what capacity. Tech-priests of the Forge World Moirae found one unique answer, when they detected an anomaly in some Empyrean frequencies that seemed related to the Golden Throne. After extended analysis, they somehow turned this anomaly into a formula which allegedly predicted the future—the endgame of which was a new understanding of the Emperor in his aspect of the Omnissiah that would unite the Ecclesiarchy and the Mechanicum, and usher in a new golden age of the Imperium.

Needless to say, this [[Skub|deeply pissed off]] the leadership of both organizations, with the Mechanicum employing their [[Exterminatus|usual direct approach to perceived heresy]] on Moirae. However, either the creed or it’s alleged evidence proved extremely compelling, and the Moirae heresy spread like wildfire through Mechanicum datanets and the Ecclesiarchal flock. This nearly lead to a full blown civil war between those who thought they had a point, and those who thought the creed was [[heresy]]. In the end, the old-school creed won out: the schismatics were either burned for heresy or forced to repent, while the only surviving copy of their dogma and prophecies was buried in an Inquisitorial vault.

Rather than debate it among themselves, the Iron Hands chose to glare angrily at one another until the Admech were done fighting and debating it out. The group of Hands in the minority became the [[Sons of Medusa]] and formed their own chapter, which moved into the still-smoking ruin of Moirae as their new home world (or rather, a series of fortified asteroids in the same system). Despite the extreme levels of [[heresy]], everyone kept a level head and remained (relatively—there was a touch of shooting) civil, and all successor Chapters (except the [[Red Talons]], who killed them) allowed their schismatics to join the Sons of Medusa Chapter. Which is a bit unnatural for 40k, honestly, and just shows how few fucks these guys have to give.

[[Grimdark|Of course]], as it later turned out, the prophecies made by the Moirae heretics included both the formation of the Great Rift and the return of Guilliman, implying that everything they were saying was totally right.

Besides, the real confusion is how those who were pissed about a prophecy that confirms the beliefs of the Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus’s views of the Emperor being one being justified their anger to themselves and the wider Imperium. And shooting people claiming the Emperor would return and bring humanity into a new Golden Age sounds like incredible heresy.

However, this could likely be due to factional differences being put over the good of mankind. The Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus are too far apart in beliefs to ever truly unite into one group- they may work together, but they'd never intend to JOIN together. The symbolism of this can even be seen with the positions in the [[High Lords of Terra]], where the Ecclesiarchy and Mechanicus Representatives constantly jostle for the second highest position (neither are strong enough to take on the Master of the [[Administratum]]).

===The Gaudinian Heresy and its results (aka: [[Skub]])===
This event appeared in the ''Clan Raukaan'' supplement and it was meant as a form of character development for the whole chapter - whether or not it actually worked, on the other hand, is questionable. It's given more detail in David Guymer's Iron Hand Novels. To understand it further one should look at one of the people that was part of it.

Some important context is required before the greater explanation. For several millennia after the Heresy, the Mechanicus had a nominal say in the running of the Chapter, to the extent of having three representatives on the clan council. Whilst the alliance to Mars was beneficial in terms of technology and war-gear, it turned out that the Mechanicus had been covertly manipulating the chapter to do what they wanted, even to the extent of falsifying historical records and documents written by Ferrus Manus to twist the chapter to their ends.

It also needs to be emphasized how separate the Clan companies of the Iron Hands were to each other compared to other Chapters. Whilst marines frequently transferred between Clans as duty demanded, the kind of collaboration natural to other chapters was, at best, frosty acquiescence for the Iron Hands. Their attitude to their gene sucessors was little better, seeing them as borderline "heretics" for abandoning what they saw as the true legacy of Ferrus Manus.

Iron Father [[Dick|Kristos]] of the Iron Hands was an individual that would be described as questionable in many ways. An individual that was adherent to the extreme to the Tempering, Kristos was known as a legendary leader of the Iron Hands, and was baited by Iron Father Feirros to take charge of Clan Raukaan after the company suffered greatly in the Skarvus Ambush and lead it to victory. Under his command the clan managed to even retreat against the Eldar on the Paradise World of Dawnbreak, going directly for the main force around an excavation site the Eldar occupied and taking it, while ignoring the [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|Catachans]] and civilians the Eldar were butchering (not to mention telling the General to fight on and prove his worth while [[That Guy|he and his subordinate Captain Graevaar ran off like the cowardly bitches they were]]).

(It was also on this world that an apparently Eldar device was found dating back to the pre-fall empire. Named the Dawnbreak Technology, the cache was divided between the Iron Hands and two sections of the Mechanicus - with one cache being relocated to Mars itself. Kristos theorised that the technology could free the Iron Hands of their need for fallible flesh - obvious heresy aside and unknown to all, it was the container for an especially nasty Slaaneshi daemon, who would subtly corrupt those who attempted to analyse the technology too closely.)

The final straw came in the form of a controversy around the battle for the Forge World of Columnus against the [[Orks|Weirdwaaagh!]] where the Iron Council accused him of deliberately sacrificing a company's worth of [[Raven Guard]] marines to achieve victory, which in all fairness, he did do. Issue was it was all done in such a way that many in the council accused him of not doing it out of standard cold logic and pragmatism, but personal feelings and a hidden agenda, which was also true: not only did he refuse to assist them in any way, (or accept their assistance) he also actively blocked their communications and left them stranded and dying while he watched on, [[FAIL|committing ''outright fucking treason'' against the Imperium by doing so]]; lives are the Emperor's currency, and he just went around pissing away the lives, relics, and gene-seed of some of the Emperor's most valuable troops out of a [[Iron Warriors|massive childish grudge]].

However, Kristos had himself a cult of personality that refused to accept anything that didn't sing his praises, and found him and his supporters unapologetic despite protests from Captain Verox, Iron Father Marrus and the then young [[Kardan Stronos]] (though why no-one outside the Chapter took them to task over this or even asked about the RG's fate remains unknown, despite there near-certainly being evidence of the deed). This would result in the chapter being divided over their philosophy as the whole investigation into his conduct segued into a debate on the merits of the Tempering which ground on for literal centuries.

That would prove a load of horrible problems later on, only to reach its conclusion during the Gaudinian Heresy.

The Sapphire King, a Slaaneshi daemon [[Derp|formed out of Ferrus' rage and frustration at the time of his death]] and which fed on the repressed emotions and shed humanity of the soul-scarred Iron Hands, saw them ripe for corruption and set a trap on the planet of Gaudinia Prime in the Gaudinia system, [[Soul Drinkers|because that always works so well.]] The Iron Hands sniffed out the heresy at the beginning of the 41st Millennium and Iron Father Kristos ([[Butthurt|still stinking after the Kristosian Conclave]]) led most of the Chapter to fight on the planet while exterminating mutants and heretics on the other planets.

The Emperor's Children were supposedly only on Gaudinia Prime, but to the Iron Hands' surprise, there was absolutely nobody on the planet - not even a single gaudily-painted [[Noise Marine]]. However, scans showed that large amount of bio-signatures were concentrated in the planet's southern hemisphere in the factoria complexes. [[Fail|Kristos took with himself both Clans Raukaan and Sorgoll and waltzed into the area despite Iron Fathers Stronos and Verrox protesting the action]].

Down there he found one billion of Imperial citizens fused into some scary techno-organic construct with the machinery. Bloated human torsos made into boilers, screaming as steaming blood vented from their eyes, conveyor belts made out of millions of tongues transporting [[Daemon Weapon]]s about, cogs and wires made out of bloodied bone and nerves - some real H.R. Giger shit, in other words.

The marines moved on while Kristos was bewitched by the whole thing. At that moment, Kristos rammed one of his mechadendrites into the fleshy thing (rambling about its efficiency, utility, and strength as he did so) and transformed into a cybernetic version of [[Chaos Spawn|that whose name shouldn't be called out-loud]]; the rest of the Kristosians soon followed him into Chaos's embrace, while those who managed to resist (such as Kristos's closest ally, Captain Graevaar) were promptly torn to shreds by the mutating Kristosians. Tears into reality were opening and Slaaneshi daemons were appearing en-masse, swiftly followed by the Sapphire King himself appearing through a rift with his Emperor's Children retinue. What later happened was a battle mixed with madness as Iron Hands had to fight against their corrupt brethren, the daemons, and chaos marines.

While the battle raged, more and more Iron Hands were succumbing to the warping effects that turned the Kristosians into what they became, while others didn't succumb. Through the power of [[Plot Armor|lazy writing]] (see below), Stronos quickly realized what was happening. He activated his vox and barked orders to the marines to deactivate their emotion inhibitors. In that moment the Iron Hands exploded with emotions that they repressed for ten thousand years. It was so powerful even [[Khorne]] felt it at the back of his skull, and could be viewed as a [[Derp|really stupid move as daemons are supposed to be powered by raw emotion, and this should have made them a lot harder to kill]].

(According to the author, the Kristosians took the whole thing with the Tempering ''way'' too literally (completely cutting off their emotions and replacing them with cold logic, as opposed to supplementing emotions with logic), and this obsession with purging themselves of their emotions (a core tenet of theirs) was what would be the chapter's undoing. [[Irony|Ironically, every failing that had to do with this whole incident was directly or indirectly related to getting ''too'' emotional and not from lacking emotions]]; [[Skub|whether or not this explanation holds up to scrutiny is a matter of contention]].)

Filled with [[Plot Armor|sheer rage and true determination]], the Iron Hands [[RIP AND TEAR|RIPPED AND TORE]] their way through their corrupted brethren, the daemons and Emperor's Children towards the Sapphire King. Stronos slew the thing that was once Kristos while the [[Librarian]] Epistolary Lydriik beheaded the Sapphire King himself with the Mindforge Stave so hard that ([[Derp|combined with being deprived of the Hands' repressed emotions]]), the daemon was actually permakilled. After wiping out the chaos forces, the remaining Iron Hands, disgusted and horrified with what they experienced, skedaddled back to their fleet and [[Exterminatus|blew the factoria to kingdom come]] in order to wipe out any survivors left.

After the whole thing, it was discovered that a third of the council was either dead or corrupted. If the Inquisition knew what happened to them, then the consequences would've been fatal for the sons of Manus. In an emergency session, the council babbled and argued about how the chapter should function. At this point Stronos unplugged himself while rising from his throne and, in his natural voice, spoke that the chapter was given a gift: [[AWESOME|''"With steel we are stronger, but without a soul we are nothing."'']] Words that would be eternally immortalized all over the chapter's Ironglass plaques on Medusa and beyond. It was also the first time in ten millennia that the sound of applause would be heard on Medusa. And that's something...

On that day Kardan Stronos became [[Chapter Master Smashfucker]] (and would be re-elected at every single opportunity by the council) despite the disquiet of the few remaining Kristosians (aka older Iron Hands players) that somehow survived the situation and the Voice of Mars (the seat the AdMech were retconned into having on the council so that they could manipulate the chapter), yet even with what he said it wouldn't reverse ten millennia of indoctrination. It would be a long and difficult period for the sons of the Gorgon, but it was indeed a new beginning for the chapter.

The Gaudinian Heresy wasn't an immediate character shift for the chapter, and was arguably somewhat forgotten about. The Iron Hands are (mostly) still angry cyborgs operating on cold calculation. Yet the council saw the Imperium plunging into darkness and their former allies falling to madness and corruption. Thus the Grand Calculation set forth to determine where they would serve best, and their successor chapters would also be included into the equation.

There is still some hope for the Iron Hands even if Stronos bites it. [[Star Wars|An Iron Hands pilot found better performance from his craft's machine spirit once he eased off with brute logic and started ''feeling'' it a bit more.]]

===13th Black Crusade and the Great Rift/8th Edition===

The Iron Hands are no longer sacrificing their allies for total pragmatism or out of past grievances but trying to change their habits. Under Stronos, they have saved the Imperial Guard on a number of occasions.

Medusa was invaded twice, first by a large tank division of Traitor Guardsmen and later by a coalition of Nurgle-worshipping Chaos Astartes. As they were facing a chapter which excels in mechanized warfare and are living in what we can shortly describe as mobile fortress-cities bristling with guns and angry superhuman cyborgs: all of them failed. After they got their affairs in order, they decided to assist in the Mordian system, slowly being overrun by loosed traitors and assorted heretics (Is that what we're calling daemonic invasions these days? It was daemons). Though the Imperial forces stationed there were starting to retreat, the Iron Hands managed to turn things around and salvage the planet of [[Mordian Iron Guard|Mordian]] with help from their renowned regiment. This served to rouse their successor chapters (even those weird Sons of Medusa lads) as well as a couple other chapters to join cause and clean out the system. The Eldar had shown up before the Iron Hands and told the Mordians to evacuate as the planet was lost. As usual, human badassery proved the Spelfdar wrong. Stoopid spelves. Maybe if they'd gotten off their prissy asses and shot some daemons, Mordian would've been just fine before the Iron Hands showed up to kick ass.(Though knowing Eldar and their “just as planned” shenanigans, they might’ve told the guardsmen to give up so they would end up staying just to spite the Xenos scum...and coincidentally keep the planet alive long enough for the Iron Hands to show up.)

==Organisation==
The chapter itself is ruled by the Great Clan Council, composed up of 10 seats, each representing one of the ten clans (the Iron Hand equivalent of a company). The clans themselves are all highly autonomous and are nomadic, travelling across Medusa in mobile fortresses and represent the original ten clans that founded Medusa. Each clan nominates a notable warrior as "Iron Father" to represent them at the Great Clan Council. Together, the ten warriors get into all sorts of [[A Game of Pretend|debates and political shenanigans]].

The logic behind this is that with no central leadership role, the chapter cannot be lead astray like so many others have and if that central leadership dies, the rest of the chapter won't fall into disarray. Then again, they also believe that replacing their dicks with drills is the best fucking idea in the world, so I suppose your mileage may vary. (And the fact that /tg/ considers this sort of setup as fucking ridiculous based on [[Codex Astartes|where the suggestion comes from]], so again, your mileage may vary.)

That said, they do have a chapter master of sorts. When something major happens that affects the whole chapter, the council elects one of their members best suited for their current state (the real life citation was the old republic of Rome, who elected for a short time a rightful and strong man as dictator until the emergency was resolved). For example, if they're fighting orks the one who has the most experience fighting them will lead the chapter, and once done he will step down. This makes him more of a Chapter President than a Chapter Master; the chapter master prevents the council from getting caught up in red tape and the council makes sure he doesn't lead the chapter astray.

Organisation and doctrine wise, the chapter follows the basic idea of the [[Codex Astartes]], while changing all the bits they don't like or cannot follow due to the heavy losses/destruction of equipment at Isstvan V (yup 10,000 years later and the Departmento Munitorum has not yet resupplied them, fucking REMF's). Each company is called a "Clan" and there isn't a specific company for Scouts; instead each Clan recruits their own Neophytes...until 7th Edition just effectively undid that and let the Tenth Clan-Company return to Scouts and Vanguards.

Once the recruit is indoctrinated, his left hand is replaced with a cybernetic replacement. The 8.5E supplement does note curiosity that the Tenth doesn't subscribe entirely to the clannish behaviour of the rest of the chapter, as all marines will possess at least one piece of tech from them (a vertebra, first of hopefully many that also acts as a supplement of a traditional chapter's service studs, as each vertebra will denote a decade of service to a particular clan), though those who hail from the Tenth Company do remain as Scout Sergeants and Vanguards.

As an Iron Hand serves his Chapter he gets more and more augmented: appendages, limbs, organs; the whole shebang until the Marine is little more than a brain in a shell. There are also rumours that dead warriors are instead replaced with automatons rather then new Neophytes - Something not entirely false as augmetics have been harvested and handed down to future generations and the chapter is very rigorous about the indoctrination via uploads as well as emotional suppressors. Because of their extensive augmentation the Iron Hands are amongst the strongest Space Marines: strong enough to dual-wield weapons that regular Space Marines would need both hands for like the [[Melta|Multi-Melta]].

Due to the destruction of equipment at the Drop Site Massacre, the chapter lacks in Terminator armour. However veterans are often given suits of Terminator armour and placed in charge of leading squads, called "Klaven", of Tactical Marines, who see the suits [[Pauldrons|giant pauldrons]] as inspirational. Despite their lack of Terminator armour, the ones they do have and used by the aforementioned Klavens are truly a one-of-a-kind, chapter-exclusive, custom-made [[Gorgon Pattern Terminator Armour]]. No one outside of the Iron Hands have access to this elusive cyberised Gorgon Terminators other than them. Not even the AdMech is given a chance to have a look inside. This doesn't mean that the Iron Hands have enough suits to kit out EVERY squad-leader like this, of course - certainly not if they're also equipping leaders, their guards and entire squads of specialists in Terminator armour.

Additionally, Dreadnought chassis are highly revered and sought after pieces of equipment, and being entombed within a Dreadnought is the considered the best fate possible for an Iron Hands Marine. Finally, due to their shared love of machines the Iron Hands and [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] are pretty much bros 4 lyfe, with much Bromance and fist bumping.

[[File:Iron_Dakka.jpg|300px|thumb|left|The Iron Hands are the most gritty of the First Founders. You could even call it... True Grit. Also, yes that guy is dual wielding Boltguns, which would be extremely inaccurate if the firer in question did not have a pair of metal arms and a bionic face that compensated for that. Or, y’know, super-strength as a super-soldier.]] The one general exception to this is the Librarius of the Chapter, who tend not to get heavily augmented (and often still have both organic hands) and are frequently not Medusan.

In combat they are utterly unforgiving and relentless, hate [[Daemon|Daemons]] and the [[warp]] with a [[Angry Marines|rare and intense hatred]] and utterly despise [[heresy]] and [[blam|cowardice]]. In other words, they're pretty much like most Space Marine Chapters. During one particular campaign involving the rebellion of an entire sub-sector, the Iron Hands got in and [[Rip and Tear|fucked shit up so bad]] that they executed a third of the sub-sector's entire population. That is not killed. [[Commissar|Executed]]. As in the ones they did not kill in battle, and those who surrendered and begged for mercy.

Despite this they are seen by some as a wholesome and pious chapter, unlike [[Flesh Tearers|some others that murder everything within sight regardless of whose side they're on]] [[Marines Malevolent|or level refugee camps because there are hostiles within the perimeter.]] Either way, don't piss them off lest you fuel their murderboner; and whilst on the subject of boners, it is believed they hate [[Slaanesh]] with the [[Rage|intense hatred]] of a billion [[Æonic Orb|Æonic Orbs]] because they're the Prince of Excess and the Iron Hands believe THE FLESH IS WEAK (the previously-mentioned one-third-of-a-subsector-getting-[[blam|blammed]] was because of Slaaneshi orgies and daemons).

This could mean they are more apt at fighting the minions of She Who Thirsts, but there is, as all things Iron Hands related, not much to elaborate on this except they are getting shit done. (It could also be due to their particularly strong hatred of the [[Emperor's Children|Emperor's Children]], for a long list of reasons that include [[Fulgrim|a certain Primarch]] decapitating [[Ferrus Manus|a certain other Primarch]].)

There's also the tactic known as "The Hammer and the Storm", a military doctrine that dates back to a peculiar conflict on Rust during the [[Great Crusade]]. The basis of it was essentially to gather the entire enemy force in one location with one force, then gather the rest of the army to surround and eradicate the gathered enemy with a nonstop hail of firepower. There's nothing subtle about the tactic, and it appeals to the heavy-weapon and tank fetish of the technophiles. What it doesn't factor in, however, is that it won't factor in the enemy's intelligence, meaning that a competent enough strategist might realize that they're being clumped together and then orders the troops to disperse far enough to spoil any ability to blast them all at once.

In the Book "The Eye of Medusa" by David Guymer there is a description for "Helfathers", the honor guard of the Iron Fathers and [[ honour guard|the best of the best]]. They're clad in black, bulky and heavily augmented suits of Terminator Armour. They have neither clan nor klaven-insignia on their armour and even their bionics are darkened and ancient. There is the superstition that the attention of an Helfather is bad luck, [[Awesome|even among Iron Hands]]. [[Kardan Stronos]] (at the time, a squad leader) told his accompanying tech adept:"[[Grimdark|The Helfathers aren't even human in the the way I am human]]. I don't know how many of them exist. I never heard any of them speak. As far as I know, they don't even have names. And believe me, Melitan Yolanis, [[Grimdark|I don't wish to know any more]]".

It's also said that they rarely, if ever, leave Medusa, so we won't see any rules for them anytime soon.

(Unless we already did... in two Heresy short stories by John French, an Iron Hands warband starts using the "Keys of Hel". This was Meduson tech that Ferrus himself had forbidden and sealed away, including the means of "true mechanical resurrection". The narrator in the second refers to his multiple deaths. So this suggests that the Helfathers may be renowned warriors who who haven't just been wounded unto death, but outright killed and brought back.)

===Company Clans===
*'''Clan Avernii''': The "Veteran" Company. Due to the way the clans are made, it's not exactly true that each member is indeed a veteran, but they tend to make up for the lost time through many uploads, countless simulations and hypno-indoctrination. While this does result in a critical attrition rate, it also makes them far more robotic.
*'''Clan Garrsak''': Believe in using willpower to suppress emotions. Their plans [[Just as Planned|tend to be very thoroughly planned in advance thanks to simulations and even time instances where they can cut loose for a bit]].
*'''Clan Raukaan''': The dangerous mofos. It seems to be a clan trait that they are ruled by emotions more openly than others, as attested to during that Gaudinian Heresy. While this has cost countless lives, it has also brought them renown both in and out of the chapter.
*'''Clan Kaargul''': Their plans tend to be very long-term and meticulous in regard to contingencies. They treat melee as an absolute last resort, after having exhausted all other venues.
*'''Clan Haarmek''': Watch over the countless tech-relics on Medusa. This duty is so critical to them that if a relic is stolen from their watch and not retrieved, then the captain responsible is stripped of rank and forced to undertake the Silver Pilgrimage practically naked, a quest that demands the disgraced captain find a single scale from the wyrm that Manus slew.
*'''Clan Sorrgol''': Responsible to watching over the Medusan Expanse, the fiefdom that the Iron Hands prize for supplies.
*'''Clan Borrgos''': Apparent remnants of the [[Moirae Schism]] who weren't deemed extreme enough to be booted to the [[Sons of Medusa]]. Is often accompanied by Chaplains, to make sure there's no funny business going on in their ranks. The current Iron Captain also subscribes to purges.
*'''Clan Morlaag''': Focus their strategy into a single killing blow rather than a hundred weaker ones. They also have a [[Space Wolves|lot of trophies kept in their fort.]]
*'''Clan Vurgaan''': Being deemed too wild, this clan tends to have the most emotion-inhibitors installed. These inhibitors tend to have long-reaching effects, for even after they are removed the brothers of this clan tend to display tics from their reliance on the augmetics.
*'''Clan Dorrvok''': The closest thing the chapter has to a Scout Company post-7th. The company itself is compared to a sort of alloy, as scouts from all clans are gathered here, with those native to Dorrvok just remaining as veteran scouts and Infiltrators. Furthering that analogy is their component of the Forgechain, a symbolic augmetic that replaces a vertebra and marks a decade in service to a particular clan - While all the other companies get to make their vertebrae in all sorts of exotic metals otherwise unique to their clan, Dorrvok makes theirs out of an alloy of all these metals as a symbol of their shared origins.

==Gene-seed body dysphoria?==
The Iron Hands love to replace their body parts with bionics, but these bionics actually do little to improve upon their already superior physiology. It's possible that the Iron Hands suffer from body dysphoria, seeing weakness in themselves where there is none. This is all but stated in an analysis by a senior tech-priest in the novel ''Wrath of Iron''. This psychological illness likely comes from their gene-seed, since they all suffer it. It's not a far-fetched hypothesis, because the Blood Angels also suffer from a common mental illness passed on through their gene-seed: the Red Thirst.

==Tabletop==
Good news is they got a much needed bone in 6th edition. Robin Cruddace realized how stupid it was for a chapter with close ties to the Ad-mech to not have a lot of gear; they're now loaded with tanks, aircraft, and dreadnoughts. Their variation of Chapter Tactics gives all marines 6+ FNP (which is a great bonus that will save a few marines here and there, but is not something to be built around), all of their characters and vehicles get It Will Not Die, and [[Techmarine|Techmarines/Masters of the Forge]] get +1 to Blessings of the Omnissiah. The strength in this particular set of Chapter Tactics is that basically every single model benefits from it, allowing you to play a wider selection of builds while still playing to its strengths.

...And then they get their own supplement, ''Clan Raukaan''. Interesting, it would seem GW is dealing with not knowing what to do with them by portraying the Chapter as full of contradictions, such as despite the clans being autonomous they do act like Codex companies. Apparently the Codex Astartes was simply "more logical" than the admittedly terrible idea of telling Guilliman and Dorn to go fuck themselves.

Also, [[Derp|the codex kinda skimped on the fluff]]. The Contqual campaign is pared down to mostly just the final battle on the Shardenus hub, and Supplement: Raukaan skips it entirely, instead introducing the Gaudinian Heresy (see above) instead of the campaign mentioned all over the fucking promotional material. It's also deeply suspicious that for a Chapter which must absolutely revere their Apothecaries, potentially folding them into their Techmarines like Space Wolves and Blood Angels do with their Chaplains, since they'd be the ones in charge of installing new cybernetics, their fluff consistently yammers on about their Techmarines and just doesn't discuss their Apothecaries at any great length.

Crunch-wise in 8th edition, it doesn't seem so crap. They've kept their 6+ FNP from 7th edition although as of the rulings on Disgusting Resilience they have to roll it for each point of damage, not wound now. That said, ignoring 16.6% of all incoming damage is helpful. Like all chapter tactics however the rule [[Fail|doesn't effect vehicles and the Iron Hands no longer gain a benefit to fixing tanks either.]] Changed as of 8.5 Marine Codex, with everything in the codex except Servitors gaining Chapter Tactics, as well as the chapter tactics themselves letting marines hit Overwatch on a 5 or 6, and Vehicles counting their wounds as double the remaining number for damage tables, as well as the 6+ Feel No Pain. [[Cheese|This also applies to Forgeworld models like Relic Leviathans, and the Astraeus Tank]]. Indeed, it seems that the Iron Hands' specialism of armored warfare has swung over busted for the sake of overcompensation.

Things got so bad, that the Iron Hands left some drastic limitations to Doctrine-equivalents for the rest of the SM and codices to follow: their Heavy weapons were able to reroll all 1s to hit and always act as if they were stationary on top of the additional AP (back when that mattered) so long as they were in the Devastator Doctrine; previously, Space Marine could elect to ''stay'' in this doctrine for the rest of the battle, which meant that the Iron Hands Primaris with heavy snipers and Firstborn heavies could just [[DAKKA|let it rip]]. Very fluffy, considering that is how they act in the lore, but because of how broken unkillable Leviathans were on top of SuperDevastator, they stipulated that you now had ''no choice'' but to move on. Necron protocols, Tyranid Imperatives, even the Traitor devastator doctrine equivalent pushed you off after turn 1, though Necrons eventually got to pick 1 Protocol to be active for the entire game because they were so bad without them (which was probably the original intention)

With their own codex supplement, Iron Hands are gaining a named character in the form of Iron Father [[Malkaan Feirros]], as well as bonuses for being a pure Iron Hands army, such as ignoring movement penalties for heavy weapons while the Devastator combat doctrine (+1ap for heavy Weapons) is active, six warlord traits, relics, special issue Wargear, and the Technomancy psychic discipline. [[Chapter Master Smashfucker]] rides again? Nah, he got overshadowed by the unkillable Leviathans. In 8th, Leviathans were T8 2+, 4++, and while they couldn't gain character protection, could be turned into a character to benefit from Warlord traits like a 5+++FNP. They could also have wounds intercepted by infantry, where your basic bitch Intercessors jumps in front of a Lascannon last minute to save the Leviathan from having to worry about making a 50% save, but that was thankfully nerfed.

As of 9th, the Iron Hands managed to stay consistently good, if not a bit overshadowed by the late-coded jank that meant some much [[Tau|more]] [[Tyranids|broken]] [[Harlequins|armies]] got to have their fun after Iron Hands. The Armor of Contempt patch-fix meant power armor stayed [[Plot armor|extra special]] compared to everyone else. There was a brief moment where people took [[Minotaurs]] as Iron Hands to make a goonsquad of character protected dreadnoughts. Eventually, though, what really reigned them in was the change to Command Points and costs. Burning 2 to 4 Cp on a dreadnought became a really steep cost, forcing Iron Hands players to [[Rage|try other things]].

Tl;dr if you like big tough robot boys who are disgustingly resilient backed up by even tougher vehicles, '''play Iron Hands'''

==Notable Members==

*[[Ferrus Manus]]: Primarch of the Iron Hands, the Gorgon of Medusa, the Great Iron Father. Stone-cold zealous mofo who drowned a Necron construct in lava and got its skin fused to his arms, hence his name. Was obsessed with being the best soldier possible and took no shit from anyone. Got decapitated by his BFF [[Fulgrim]] during the Drop Site Massacre, giving his legion unresolved daddy issues forever more.
*Shadrak Meduson: Terran-born Iron Hand who took charge of the largest surviving chunk of the X Legion after the Drop Site Massacre and embarked on a guerrilla campaign against the Traitor Legions. Was pretty bro-tier, but he got betrayed and left to die by some of his fellow Iron Fathers because they didn't like how he was doing things.
*[[Autek Mor]]: Incredibly angry man and teamkilling asshole who nevertheless was a senior Iron Father in charge of Clan Morragul. Tried and failed to save Ferrus and the Iron Hands on the ground at Istvaan V, and later embarked on a campaign of ass-kicking for great justice against all traitor scum, during which he did [[Exterminatus|things like nuke an entire planet for surrendering without a fight and dropping an entire goddamn moon onto the World Eaters' main recruiting world]]. Most likely went on to become first chapter master of the [[Red Talons]] after the Heresy.
*Frater Thamatica: The Professor Farnsworth of the 31st Millennium. Came up with all kinds of wacky plans (like using a melting-down plasma reactor to boost a ship's engines and break a Battle Barge in half by ramming it) and doomsday devices basically just for fun. Considered to be the highest-ranking Iron Father after Istvaan. Died during the Solar War while helping secure the Magna Mater, a powerful relic used to create the first Space Marines (and maybe the Primaris, if it's the same as the Sangprimus Portal).
*[[Kardan Stronos]]: Current big cheese of the chapter, though he's technically not chapter master. Has realized that the Iron Hands' obsession with metal over flesh was hurting more than helping and is slowly trying to reform them to be a bit less beep-boop.
*[[Malkaan Feirros]]: Iron Father who stepped across the Rubicon Primaris and the ''only'' named Iron Hands character with rules (discounting Stronos' official "profile" due to it being mostly generic).
*[[Dick|Kristos]]: Former Iron Father and basically the Anti-Kardan Stronos. He was responsible for the massive casualties the Hands took in the Gaudinian Heresy and a major proponent of the "Machines über alles" approach. Died to kickstart the chapter's character development, to mixed results.

==Daily Rituals==
[[File:You're_Terminated.jpg|300px|thumb|right|A “rare” Iron Hands [[Terminator]] showing why metal is superior and why THE FLESH IS WEAK.]]
While each Clan Company has its own rituals and traditions, the following should be considered an outline of the Iron Hands daily routines:

*'''04:00 - Morning Prayer:''' The Iron Hands of the Clan Company are awoken from their power stations and reconfigure their Power Options for best performance, ready for the Iron Father to lead them in sermon which is completely told in Binary.<br>
*'''05:00 - Morning Firing Rites:''' The Iron Hands engage in [[Dakka|fire practice]]. The targets will typically include cutout or actual slaaneshi cultists.<br>
*'''07:00 - Battle Practice:''' The Iron Hands gather for practice in the cages. Often the Iron Hands end up repairing the damage they inflicted on the practice servitor themselves. On more than a few occasions Chapter serfs have been unable to tell the difference between a battle-brother and a [[servitor]].<br>
*'''11:00 - Morning Maintenance Rituals:''' The Iron Hands polish and repair their wargear and augmetics.<br>
*'''13:00 - Midday Meal:''' A light meal is prepared by the Chapter serfs and occasionally accidentally given to a Servitor. During the meal, the Iron Hands repeatedly watch animations of their primarch dying in battle, fueling their rage.<br>
*'''13:30 - Tactical Indoctrination:''' The Clan-Commander gathers the Iron Hands for a tactical sermon on potential enemies, pointing out the vulnerable weak flesh to fire [[Bolter|bolters]] at. They also will take turns using an ancient combat simulator named "War Thunder" to keep their mechanized warfare skills sharp.<br>
*'''14:30 - Land-Behemoth Maintenance:''' The Clan Company assists in repairs to the [[Land-Behemoth]] which serves as the Clan's mobile fortress-monastery. Mostly because by this point the vessel has taken on too much ash and soot from Medusa's volcanoes to continue moving. Raising questions about whether this means machines are weaker than flesh earns a battle-brother one hundred days of penitential duties.<br>
*'''16:00 - Evening Battle Practice:''' Having gotten the Land Engine working again, the Clan Company assembles for evening battle practice. Again, they will often repair any damage they inflict on the practice servitor.<br>
*'''17:00 - Evening Firing Rites:''' The Iron Hands will use any ranged weapon possible to destroy their targets, from predator cannons to storm Bolters. Interestingly, their targets will typically be painted [[Emperor's Children|pink]] and Urine [[Marines Malevolent|yellow]].<br>
*'''18:00 - Evening Prayer:''' The Iron Hands gather for the Iron Father to preach to them. Areas frequently covered include the sinfulness of still having your own kidneys, why washing machines are superior to many humans and mortification of pathetic, weak flesh by poking yourself repeatedly in the eye.<br>
*'''20:00 - Evening Meal:''' A feast is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Overcooking or undercooking the food will result in the serf being banished to the Enginerarium decks (trust us, for people born on a half-frozen planet, nothing is worse than the heat of the Enginerarium decks of a Land-Behemoth). <br>
*'''21:00 - Evening Maintenance Rituals:''' The Iron Hands spend the rest of their day overseeing maintenance of their wargear and augmetics with adjustable Spanners, Watchmakers and ratchet Screwdrivers. Many magnetic heads are lost on the Marines Armour in very hard to reach places, Rare Earth Magnets are banned.<br>
*'''00:00 - Rest Period:''' The Iron Hands retire to their power stations for the evening where they configure themselves to low power mode

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]] [[Category: Iron Hands]]

Pickup Trucks

2022-11-14T07:29:14Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D: /* IRL */

[[File:Toyota Landcruiser.jpg|thumb|right|Get in loser, we're going hunting!]]

{{topquote|Regrettably, the Toyota Land Cruiser and Hilux have effectively become almost part of the ISIS brand!|Mark Wallace}}

The Pickup Truck, also known as a Technical, is perhaps one of the greatest weapons of war ever fielded by mankind. And as much as we want to say that is a joke, there is a reason there is a literal war called the "Toyota War".

Yeah when it comes militia vehicles, the Pickup Truck is a tried and tested design. Despite this, you have to remember that for all the memes about the Toyota Hilux the Pickup Truck is literally just that. A civilian Pickup Truck

==In [[Team Yankee]]==

The Pickup Truck is an option for Irregular Militia Groups. And by option, we do mean it's a 1 pt option (2 if you want Machine Guns). The vehicle can help get your militia into position, but bare in mind the rule Resistance. You can already deploy Militia anywhere on the board, so movement isn't that much of a concern. Now granted once the Militia have destroyed their target, they can mount the Pickups to move one. So in that case there may be some advantage to having these things in the unit. But outside of road movement, the Pickup is just barely better than walking.
Before you start suggesting using Pickups as a cheap harassing unit, you have to remember the rules Unit Transport and Passenger Fired. Unit Transport basically means your pickup's leader has to stay near the militia leader if you don't want to lose it. Passenger Fired meanwhile means that unless this vehicle is transporting something, you can't fire the MG. Like the Militia, this unit may be situational. But that can change once the book drops.

===IRL===
Ok, where to begin. The idea of creating a fast moving ranged attack unit has pretty much been a thing since war existed. Some of the first complex weapons invented were Chariot's as mobile archer and fighting platforms. But for the sake of simplicity, we will say that the first use of improvising a civilian vehicle into a military vehicle began with the use of Tachanka. The Tachanka was a horse drawn carriage used in WW1 with a machiengun on the back of it. The general idea was to mount a machinegun onto a "Vehicle" that permitted quick movement and response. With the Dawn of the Automobile, it was only inevitable that mankind would start mounting guns on the things like the Orks we are.

While WW2 had instances of Guns being mounted onto trucks, the image of the Technical wouldn't be a thing until the Bush Wars of Africa. And from here, the glory of the Toyota Hilux would be known. The vehicle would become something of the AK47 of combat vehicles. Rugged, simple to maintain, cheap, are all words that can be used to describe the Technical
So why don't actual armies use the thing?

Well, if you want to be technical (don't laugh) they do. The HMMWV is in essence a pickup truck with a machinegun. A Jeep is a pickup with a machinegun. A BTR is pretty much a pickup with a machinegun. But the thing is these and other vehicles are designed for combat. They have things like dedicated weapon mounts, armor, part familiarity, fuel specifications, ETC. Pickup truck meanwhile are meant to transport things like lumber or food produce. While they can be used for combat, that's not their main focus.

So why then are these things so popular with militias? Well as stated earlier, these things are Rugged, simple to maintain, and generally cheap. They are also available. A Warlord may not have access to things like a M113, BTR, or even a Deuce-and-a-Half. But they might have a pickup. And if they need to transport their buddies around the battlefield, the truck is more than adequate.

Ironically, in the case of Team Yankee, the Pickup can have a place in a US army list. The US military has a vehicle called the CUCV. Its literally a military pickup. It's meant more as a vehicle for when you need to transport small amounts of cargo (especially since CUCV stands for Commercial Utility Cargo Vehicle). Still, it's not impossible for a Commander to provide a local militia with these things in exchange for support.

Now when it comes to armaments, well, you're pretty much only limited by what will fit in the back and how strongly you can bolt something down to the chassis and not have it shake apart on firing. Machineguns may be the most popular choice, but they're by no means the only ones. Want anti-armor? An SPG-9 or M40 recoilless rifle will do the trick. Want air defense? ZU-23-2s will just barely fit on back. Want to spam rockets? Ukraine proves that S-5 Rocket Pods will work (though you'll need to come up with a fire control mechanism since those are intended for aircraft). Got some wealthy nation backing you in a proxy war? You can stick a MILAN or BGM-71 TOW Missile launcher on the back to make those tanks think twice (training not included).

{{clear}}

{{US Forces in Team Yankee}}

[[Category:Team Yankee]]
[[Category:Vehicles]]

Konrad Curze

2022-11-13T07:21:35Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D: /* Multiple Personality Disorder? */

{{awesome}}
{{heresy}}
[[File:Konrad Curze Mugshot.jpg|400px|thumb|right|"Yeah this guy seems nice." - Big E at some point.]]

{{Topquote|He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will also gaze into thee.|Friedrich Nietzsche}}
{{Topquote|Oh, you think darkness is your ally? You merely adopted the dark. I was '''born''' in it. '''Molded''' by it. I didn't see the light until I was already a man, and by then it was nothing to me but '''BLINDING!'''|Bane, The Dark Knight Rises}}
{{Topquote|Know how I stayed alive this long? All these years? Fear. The spectacle of fearsome acts. Somebody steals from me: I cut off his hands. He offends me: I cut out his tongue. He rises against me: I cut off his head, stick it on a pike. Raise it high up so all in the streets can see. That's what preserves the order of things. Fear.|Bill the Butcher, Gangs of New York}}

'''Konrad Curze''' was the [[Primarch]] of the [[Night Lords]] Legion (his @ was '''Night Haunter'''). A [[Psyker]] (albeit a latent one), Curze was also well-known for the fact that he was [[/b/|plagued from the moment of his awakening by visions of the most horrific future imaginable, terrifying waking dreams that would follow him from cradle to grave.]] Whilst [[/tg/]] has joked that he suffered the lamest death in history due to falling to a [[Callidus]] Assassin's blade (hence the ''"was"'' earlier). This was only because he let her kill him, for what he had done, and what he became. He is probably the most badass primarch in terms of [[gets shit done|getting shit done]], especially compared to [[Angron|these]] [[Fulgrim|buffoons]].

Equal parts upstanding vigilante and psychosis-wracked terrorist, Curze's schtick was obedience through fear. To wit, if you're sat behind locked doors shitting yourself in terror for the majority of your existence, you're probably going to struggle to lead a life of crime. And if that logic doesn't make you reconsider your wayward ways, perhaps [[rip and tear|being skinned alive, then disembowelled and finally crucified]] will be the wake up call you need. Either way, Curze cut a somewhat tragic figure; he foresaw the events of the [[heresy]] only to be stitched up and censured by his [[Rogal Dorn|arsehole]] [[Fulgrim|brothers]], possibly due to [[rage|the fact he made for a nightmarish poker opponent]]. Of course, having a personality and approach that can be accurately summarized as "some unholy [[Batman]]-[[/co/|Punisher]]-[[Vampire|Vlad the Impaler]]-Predator-Santa-Cassandra-hybrid" didn't win him many fans amongst his brothers, either. Though it might be more succinct to describe both his personality and methods as a combination of The Batman who Laughs and <s>Judge Dredd</s> Judge Death.

His name is an oblique reference to ''Heart of Darkness''.

==History==
[[Image:Curzw-perturabo-Primarchs-.jpeg|thumb|400px|"Yeah he seems pretty balanced."]]
After the Primarchs were scattered by [[Chaos]], Konrad Curze found himself upon perhaps the worst of all the planets that any Primarch landed on, [[Nostramo]]. While not technically a Death World by way of either it's environment or fauna, the world was very poorly suited to human habitation, and made worse by overpopulation and pollution. The planet was shrouded in almost complete darkness due to its faint star and the industrial smog that choked its atmosphere. The air and the rain were acidic from pollutants, and the population of the Hives was kept in check by suicide more than anything else. Nostramo had been a mining colony during the Age of Technology, as the world possessed a tremendous amount of naturally occuring adamantium in its crust. The planet managed to weather the Age of Strife relatively intact (for whatever that was worth), and had continued on as a large scale mining operation into the era of the Great Crusade. The planet's population had retained the technology necessary to travel in the void, and so the Nostramons were able to export their adamantium off-world. Nearby systems would pay a premium for the incredibly rare and useful metal, which generated phenomenal wealth for Nostramo. However, this wealth was hoarded by Nostramo's corrupt upper echelons, who hired criminal gangs to enforce their will over what were essentially small fiefdoms within the Hive Cities. Whatever culture the miners had originally possessed had long since been replaced by a strange fusion of gangland territorialism and feudalism.

This corruption, and what came of it, were the elements that made Nostramo possibly the worst of all the planets to receive a Primarch. It wasn't just the environment which made the planet awful; other Primarch homeworlds had biospheres as bad or worse. For instance, Mortarion's home planet of [[Barbarus]] had a just barely breathable atmosphere, and Sanguinius's world of [[Baal]] was like living in a burned out nuclear reactor. However, the people of Barbarus still held a sense of communal solidarity which grew even greater when Mortarion rallied them against their Overlords, and the people of Baal still had the compassion to raise Sanguinius as one of their own. What made Nostramo truly hellish was its populace. On Nostramo, there was no compassion or fraternity. The planet's only resource was adamantium, and its mining and shipping were the planet's only industry. With the adamantium trade under the strict control of criminal kingpins, the vast majority of Nostramo's population was utterly destitute, and had turned to crime practically en masse long ago in order to simply survive. This environment had bred a population so used to depravity and horror that behavior like murder for the sake of cannibalism was quite commonplace. To get a sense of how crappy Nostramo was, Curze himself would later state that he considered ''Terra'' of all places to be a paradise.

[[Image:Warhammer-40000-фэндомы-Vulkan-Primarchs-7575420.jpeg|300px|thumb|The Night Haunter, enthroned and ready to dispense 'justice' to the people of Nostramo Quintus.]]
From the moment he landed Curze got fucked over as, unlike the usual stasis-pod-descending-from-a-beam-of-light type landing his brothers made, Konrad ''punched through the crust of the planet'' (the entire planet was made of adamantium, though... warp phukery perhaps?) and had to crawl his ass out from the core as a TODDLER. After somehow surviving an asteroid level impact event, Curze's life got even worse as, when Curze reached Nostramo's surface, exhausted and starving from his climb out of the planet's crust, he killed and ate the first living thing he could find. His meal was a member of the human populace of Nostramo, and like most people on the planet, was a criminal. As a Primarch, Curze possessed the innate ability to absorb the memories of any creature whose brain matter he consumed, and Curze's first meal included every even remotely edible piece of the criminal. He saw in the man's memories a broken, fearful, pitiless lifeform existing amongst countless others just like him; beings who environment and circumstance had reduced to a status little better than that of feral beasts. Needless to say, this was just about the worst first impression of humanity that Curze could have gotten, and it started him immediately down the path of believing the worst of the human spirit. To top it all off, unlike his brothers, Konrad wound up with no one to take care of him. Nobody on Nostramo would have even considered something as altruistic as willingly taking on another mouth to feed. Konrad was forced to raise himself on the lawless hell-hole of Nostramo, eating animals and garbage when he could find such things, and people when he couldn't. The more people he consumed, the more memories of evil he experienced, and the more he became convinced of humanity's unworthiness and cruelty. As he grew older, Curze became increasingly disgusted by the behavior of Nostramo's populace, and he decided to take matters into his own hands after he became large enough to do so.

Stalking the eternally-dark streets as a sort of [[Awesome|Space Marine Batman]], Curze began hunting down anyone he saw commit a crime. At first Curze's solution was simply to kill any and all offenders, a perfectly simple matter for him even as a child. As a Primarch, there was nobody on Nostramo who could come close to so much as seriously harming him despite his juvenile status. Other potential means of stopping crime besides execution were, for whatever reason, not considered by Curze. It is likely that killing the offenders would have been, for the child Curze, the simplest means by which he could both punish a criminal and ensure that the individual did not reoffend; there were no prisons on Nostramo and no other law enforcement besides himself. Additionally, he would often consume the brains of these criminals to gain access to their memories, whereby he could learn the names and locations of other criminals. Or, if the criminal was part of a gang, Curze could learn much about the gang's membership, various haunts, and potential defenses. As he killed more and more criminals, his reputation began to spread, and the syndicates began hunting him. However, the assassins were but ordinary humans, and they never really stood a chance. Curze developed a habit of killing all but one of any particular hunting party, then gouging out the survivors eyes and returning him to his comrades with the message of ''"I'm coming for you"''.

But why bother doing any of this in the first place? It gained him nothing, and if anything it made him the enemy of essentially every single powerful person on the planet. Additionally, Curze never seemed to even consider the possibility of either allying with the corrupt nobles or forming a gang of his own, both of which would have made life significantly easier for him. Well, it was because each of the Primarchs had been created by the Emperor to serve a particular purpose, though there was significant overlap between many of them. For instance, Leman Russ had been designed to be the Emperor's executioner and IA guy, Dorn was the Emperor's architect, Guilliman was the Emperor's administrator, and Angron was... well he had undoubtedly been designed to be useful in ''some'' way (to this humble editor’s knowledge, he was an amazing healer with Jesus-type “cure the leper,” powers before the Nails). Anyway, Konrad Curze had been designed to be the Emperor's arbitrator, to be the ultimate judge. In fact one of the titles used to refer to him during the Great Crusade, and a pretty awesome one at that, was "The Last Judge". As such, he had a pre-programed knowledge of what justice was, and of what crime was (generally speaking). However, he had no understanding of why the concept of justice mattered, or any context by which to evaluate it. The child Curze simply had an instinctive desire to order his surroundings, rather like a giant grimdark sheepdog. All he knew was that crime was bad, and that justice involved punishing those who commited crime. So that was what he did. It is important to note that these "crimes" were not offenses under any sort of Nostramon law; the only law on Nostramo was the law of the jungle. It was all simply based on Curze's own innate understanding of what constituted a crime. Additionally, despite having been created with an innate sense of justice, Curze seemed not to possess any understanding of the concept that crime could have varying degrees of severity. As such, he also possessed no understanding that differing criminal offenses could have varying degrees of punishment. Curze's sole method of justice, execution on the spot, was parsed out to any criminal whether he be a serial murderer or a petty thief.

However as time went on, Curze began to notice something disheartening. Though his initial rampages were effective in terms of simply stacking bodies, no matter how many criminals he killed, the rate of crime seemed not to lessen. He'd hoped that his killings would have had a deterring effect on the remaining criminal populace of the city, but nothing seemed to have changed. At first he couldn't understand why this was, but after a time the answer dawned on him; most people committed crime on Nostramo simply to survive. He realized that people viewed him as simply one more murderer on a planet full of murderers; a more effective murderer than any to be sure, but nothing particularly out of the ordinary. It didn't really matter to the people of Nostramo if they met their end at the hands of an 8-foot tall monster child (Curze at the time), those of a couple of baseline human gangsters, or starvation. The choice for most of them was between committing crime, or dying, so ultimately there was nothing to lose by at least attempting to commit crime.

Unfortunately, instead of this realization sparking the aforementioned understanding in Curze that not all crime was the same, and thus not all crime should have the same punishment, he went in the exact opposite direction. He came to the conclusion that his murders were not having the desired effect because people weren't afraid enough of him. So Curze reasoned that if people were perfectly willing to commit crime to have a chance at survival, then all he had to do to stop them was to make the punishment for crime ''worse'' than death. He had to make the punishment for crime so terrible as to make survival itself not worth it; to become an object of such horror that people would rather see themselves and their loved ones starve than risk his wrath. There was also an element of simple practicality in this tactic, as Curze was keenly aware that he alone was never going to be able to kill enough criminals to have any real impact on crime rates on a planet populated almost entirely by "criminals". Nostramo was a Hive World, and such a world on average had a population of between 100 and 500 ''billion''. Even a Primarch would have needed something significantly deadlier than his own two hands to kill that many people before the heat death of the universe, and that's assuming they stopped breeding. If he wanted to bring order to Nostramo, the people would have to voluntarily abandon crime. Or at least, they would somehow need to be... convinced to.

As such, Curze began to commit utterly horrific acts of torture upon his victims before killing them and displaying their bodies in the most public of manners. Leaders of the corrupt administration disappeared, only to be found later hung from administration buildings and horribly mutilated, their faces often untouched so people could instantly identify them. Notorious criminals (as defined by Konrad) were found in the streets, eviscerated or impaled and left to die on the spires of manufactorum rooftops. The blood of those who had committed "crimes" flowed in the streets, with body parts stopping up storm drains. He apparently even saw suicide as a crime, and would sometimes show up at the potential perpetrator's residence before they could carry out the deed. [[Grimdark|Not to talk them out of it, but rather to torture the person to death in order to set an example.]] What the fuck. And as before, no matter the crime, the sentence was always the same; death. Only now it was via the most horrific means that could be dreamt up in the superhuman mind of a deranged Primarch, rather than simple execution.

The really scary part? ''It worked''. Within a year, Curze had terrified the people of his home hive city, Nostramo Quintus, to the point where the crime rate had reached damn-near zero. Where once the nighttime streets had bustled with activity, now everyone maintained a self-imposed curfew to minimize the casualties from [[Awesome|Space Marine Batman]]. Mothers began to threaten their kids that if they continued to misbehave, the Night Haunter would come for them. Additionally, absolutely nobody was safe. The planet's most powerful kingpins, crimelords, and political officials were killed just as regularly and barbarically as the lowliest of petty thieves. The criminal syndicates and planetary nobles (tautology) had continued their attempts to find and kill Curze, but after a number of years of him slaughtering their ever larger kill-teams with ever increasing barbarity, they essentially just gave up.

However, it is at this point that things started to unravel for Curze. Growing up on Nostramo had, just by itself, caused significant damage to Curze's psyche. Nostramo was a world that displayed an entire population full of the absolute worst humanity had to offer, even if the people themselves weren't entirely to blame. This left him with quite a dim view of human nature, and it would show in how he dealt with the planets he would go on to conquer. Curze had also never had anything approaching friends or family upon Nostramo, which might have allowed him to develop some understanding of comradery. All of this aside, Curze might have been able to shift his view of humanity once he got off of Nostramo but unfortunately, he had an even worse problem compounding his all-consuming pessimism. For as it turned out, Curze was a potent psyker, and his talents manifested largely in the form of visions of the future. These visions seemed unerringly accurate and were exacting in detail, but almost all of them depicted the most horrifically violent of all possible outcomes for any given situation. Curze conducted practically all of his actions around these visions, attempting as best he could to avoid, or at least mitigate, whatever terrible future he saw coming to pass. Sadly, he was almost never successful, and some brutal permutation of his visions would almost always come to pass. This left him with the hopeless view that life was both unspeakably awful ''and'' virtually impossible to change. However, sometimes Curze would have visions that presented outcomes that were not so terrible. One important example of this came when Curze stopped two boys from assaulting some random woman. He killed the first boy, than played cat-and-mouse with the other until eventually cornering him. As he prepared to kill the second boy, he had a vision. In this vision, he offered the boy a chance to live rather than killing him as per usual. This had two outcomes; the first being that the boy became a disciple of Curze's justice and helped him form a sort of vigilante group to enforce law and order upon Nostramo. In the second, the boy grabbed a knife laying on the ground, stabbed Curze, and escaped. This escape would hurt Curze's reputation, and force him to redouble his killings as the crime rate skyrocketed amongst the now less fearful populace.

Under better circumstances, these more optimistic visions might have provided Curze with an impetus for introducing some genuine positivity to Nostramo. As stated previously however, the nature of Nostramo's people had polluted Curze's outlook on life. The world was a place where practically nothing good ever happened and having experienced only this planet sized Sin City for his entire life, Curze was convinced that the most negative outcome of a situation was virtually guaranteed to occur. The fact that the vast, vast majority of his visions bore this out didn't help either. It follows then that Curze chose to kill the boy, believing the negligible possibility of a positive future to not be worth the risk. After killing the boy however, he noticed that the knife that he had seen the boy grabbing in his vision seemed too far away for the boy to have physically reached it. This confused and disquieted him, and he believed for a moment that he might have made a mistake. However, he ultimately dismissed his doubt and assumed that he must simply have missed something during his vision, for it was unthinkable that the vision could have been ''false''. It is thus heavily implied that Curze's [[noblebright]] vision had in fact been the real future, but his own biases caused him to disregard it. On that note, it it is highly likely that his ability to see the future was fucked with by the Chaos Gods while he was in the Warp, as Sanguinius had a similar ability which was not so grimdark. These visions also caused Curze to engage in the practice of punishing "pre-crime". That is, if he saw a vision of someone committing a crime, he would punish them as though they had successfully committed that crime, even if no actual crime had occurred. For instance, the two boys he had butchered in the above incident had not yet assaulted the woman, he had simply foreseen that they would (and to be fair to him they were about half a second away from doing so). It was also how he managed to find and kill those about to commit suicide, as obviously suicide is a rather unpunishable crime once it has been carried out. In reality of course, the entire concept of "pre-crime" is idiotic. If someone is prevented from committing a crime, even if they absolutely would have committed it if not stopped, then what that person is at worst guilty of is ''attempted'' whatever-the-crime-was. For instance, one definitionally cannot be guilty of murder if there is no murder victim. As has been noted however, Curze was not big on making distinctions when it came to his vigilantism.

The problems of Nostramo's environment, Curze's own vigilante butcherism (rip enough people's guts out with your bare hands and even the hardest motherfucker is gonna have some PTSD), and his horrific visions started to create an alternate personality within Curze's mind. As Curze continued to drown himself in blood and guts, this personality began to develop a taste for murder and torture that was independent of any greater goal. Curze managed initially to keep these dark impulses under control but as his killings continued to escalate in scope, scale, and creativity, these impulses would grow ever stronger. This additional personality would come to be known as the Night Haunter in order to distinguish it from Curze for posterity. This becomes slightly confusing however, as Night Haunter was initially just Curze's "nickname" on Nostramo, as obviously nobody knew his actual name. This confusion is then further amplified by the fact that Curze used the moniker to refer to himself long before his true descent into madness. The most simple (and least canon-breaking) way to view the situation is that Curze and the Night Haunter were essentially interchangeable for the majority of the Great Crusade, and the Night Haunter would not truly begin to manifest itself as a separate personality until the tail-end of the conflict. Basically, at any point before the destruction of Nostramo, the Night Haunter was just Curze having a particularly bad day. It should be noted however, that those bad days steadily increased in frequency and intensity as time went on.

In light of his progress in curtailing crime, Curze became convinced that his way of order through terror had been the correct one. He deemed himself to have taken on the mantle of evil in order that his people might be spared it, and judged his work to have been an ugly but noble and more importantly, successful, pursuit. Seizing the moment, Curze appeared before the few remaining nobles that had survived his vigilante purges - the few who basically weren't complete assholes - and gave them a choice: Obey his rule, or die horribly. One or two protested that he had imposed an order based on fear, but it made no difference (and was kinda the point). Konrad Curze, the Night Haunter, was made the undisputed ruler of Hive Quintus. Shortly thereafter however, he came to rule the entire world by simply hinting to the nobles of the other hive cities that if they didn't fall in line with his laws, he would be paying them a visit. He was ''that'' scary. This makes him the only Primarch to have conquered his entire planet single handedly (not counting the Primarchs who were loved into rulership for being awesome, like Magnus or Sanguinius).

To the surprise of most, Curze proved to be a capable ruler and was surprisingly just and temperate. He made strong attempts to educate himself on absolutely everything he could learn, and his skill as an adjudicator would have made a [[Reasonable Marines|Reasonable Marine]] proud. This was, of course, until word of an injustice reached Curze's ears. At that point he would leave his palace to pursue the culprit himself, wearing down his prey until they could run no longer before gruesomely torturing the perpetrator to death. Curze had also made it mandatory by law that all citizens own a television, and would broadcast these torture sessions every time he conducted one in order to present everyone on the planet with examples of what happened to criminals. This unpredictable pattern of benevolent wisdom, contrasted by such jaw-droppingly savage violence that an [[Eversor]] would look askance, ushered in a new era of efficiency and honesty across Nostramo. Exports of adamantium tripled and unlike previously, the prosperity caused by this economic boom was spread across all of Nostramon society. The general populace, once so destitute as to have regularly resorted to cannibalism to survive, now saw wealth the likes of which they had never conceived of.

However, peace and order came at a steep price. Though material quality of life had improved unimaginably for the majority of people on Nostramo, everyone lived in abject terror of the Night Haunter. People policed their every word and action religiously, as nobody could ever be completely sure if something they had said or done might be misconstrued as a crime. Prosperity had spread throughout Nostramo not out of generosity or selflessness, but rather because everyone was terrified that having more than their neighbor might draw the Night Haunter's attention. Furthermore despite the order and prosperity Curze had brought to Nostramo, he was hated by the vast majority of its populace. He was simply too fearsome to engender any other response in baseline humans, and this would have dire consequences in the future. Had Curze ever learned how to delegate to minions made up of the local populace, he might have been more effective but alas. Or if he had followed the occasional visions of noblebright he had and shown mercy to some of his victims. Sadly, this was never truly an option for Konrad; his opinion of humanity in general was almost certainly too low to entrust anyone else with the execution of his justice. As would be seen later during a rather narrow minded "demonstration" to Dorn, Curze believed that humans could only be made to be orderly through fear of consequences. Without that fear, humans would behave as he had seen them behave on lawless Nostramo; doing whatever they could get away with to whomever they could overpower. Given this, his desire to be the planet's sole judicial arbitrator is understandable.

===The Great Crusade===
[[Image:The viii primarch by saint max-d424fmh.jpg|right|thumb|350px|[[Castlevania|I was called here by ''huuuuuumans''. Who wish to pay meeeee ''tribute''.]]]]
Soon after Curze took over and began ruling the planet, the [[Emperor]]'s Great Crusade reached Nostramo. The coming of the Emperor of Man was an event long prophesied in Nostramo's history, and an event which would eventually bring about the apocalypse of that world. The Emperor and his delegation, which consisted of [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Ferrus Manus]], [[Lorgar|Lorgar Aurelian]], [[Fulgrim]], and their respective Legiones Astartes. proceeded to the Palace on foot. The Emperor's radiance was said to be so great that, as the Nostromans were adapted to see in the dark, it blinded those who looked directly at him, but mesmerized those who did not. It was also noted that, having performed a cursory inspection of Nostramo, the Emperor was quite pleased with what Konrad had accomplished there. On the surface, Nostramo was a superb example of social order, economic efficiency, and industrial production; basically the foundation of everything the Emperor wanted to accomplish for mankind. Of course, everyone on the planet was pants-pissingly terrified at virtually all times, but the Emperor didn't stick around long enough to delve much into Curze's methods of achieving success. This opinion was also shared by Fulgrim, which Curze quite appreciated. At the end of the road leading to his Palace, Curze himself stood, waiting for the delegation, when he had one of his visions. This vision was the most violently powerful of any he had yet experienced, and consisted of the eventual fates of his present brothers and himself. The vision was so terrible that he fell to his knees screaming, and would have succeeded in clawing his own eyes out if the Emperor hadn't stopped him. The Emperor psychically soothed Curze and the vision subsided, allowing Curze to regain his composure. He and the Emperor then had this badass exchange:

''"Konrad Curze, be at peace, for I have arrived and intend to take you home."''<br>
''"That is not my name, Father. I am Night Haunter, and I know full well what you [[Just as planned|intend for me]]."''

Awesome. Curze began training under [[Fulgrim]], who taught him the Adeptus Astartes combat doctrines and began molding him to be a suitable leader for his role as the leader of the Eighth Space Marine Legion - the Night Lords. Despite Fulgrim being one of the Primarchs least similar in both aspect and manner to Curze, he would ultimately be the only one of Curze's brothers who made any real effort to befriend him. Curze would remark on several occasion how much Fulgrim's efforts had meant to him, and noted that Fulgrim had been the only person in the Emperor's retinue upon Nostramo who had been willing to meet his gaze. Interestingly, another draw for Curze towards Fulgrim was the fact that during his awful vision upon meeting the Emperor, he had not seen anything violent happening to Fulgrim. Instead, his vision of Fulgrim was unusually devoid of detail; the scene was never entirely visible, and it was filled with the sounds of slithering and laughing. As such, Curze had not been able to discern Fulgrim suffering any one particular fate. This was contrasted to, for instance, his vision of Ferrus, who he saw quite clearly being beheaded, or Dorn, who he saw being torn to pieces. This was such a pleasant oddity for Curze that he immediately became more positively disposed towards Fulgrim than anyone else he had ever met. It would later become evident that this was because Fulgrim would essentially "cheat" death by becoming a Daemon Prince in the future, and so would become incapable of dying in any conventional sense. The aforementioned "slithering and laughing" sound made a lot more sense when we already knew [[Slaanesh|which Chaos Gods Fulgrim shall serve]]. It should be noted that while Lorgar also became a Daemon Prince and was in the Emperor's retinue on Nostramo, Curze's vision of him seemed to indicate a violent death was in store for him. This was either a misinterpretation by Curze of his vision, or else Lorgar's violent death has simply yet to occur. Either way however, Curze did not come to have any sort of relationship with Lorgar during the Crusade.

Though Curze and his legion excelled in many different hot-zones throughout the Great Crusade, a disturbing tendency arose in short order; the Night Lords would never use anything other than total, decisive force to achieve their goals. Precision strikes, assassinations, and especially diplomacy were simply out of the question, as Curze's strategic doctrine ultimately involved terrifying a foe into such total compliance that the presence of enforcers would never be necessary. He also noted that the terror his legion inspired tended to make a complete mess out of any plans his enemies might have thought to employ. Lion El'Jonson was once known to have said "no plan survives contact with the enemy" but Curze was of the opinion that if you could scare an opponent badly enough, then that opponent's plans would not survive long enough to make contact in the first place.

The Night Lords legion had already been the Emperor's primary terror weapon even before the introduction of their Primarch. As such, they changed very little when Curze arrived, and quickly adopted their Primarch's combat and tactical ethos. Under Curze's guidance, they rapidly grew to become one of the most brutally efficient and effective of the Astartes legions. In one notorious example, one Night Lord recalled dealing with a non-compliant planetary governor; Curze murdered the man and then broadcast the screams of the man’s daughter across an entire city for 3 HOURS to frighten the remaining rebels into submission. The Night Lords decorated their armor with iconography designed to inspire terror in the enemy, a tactic that proved incredibly effective. Unsurprising, considering how terrifying Space Marines are without it. Where they struck, the Night Lords left examples such as those Curze would leave on Nostramo in days past, grim reminders of the price for disobeying the Imperium. Due to this effectiveness, the Emperor often used them not just as a compliance force, but as enforcers to ensure the loyalty of suspect areas of the Imperium. In time, it became so that even the mere ''mention'' of the Night Lords' approach would cause a system to pay all outstanding tithes, cease all illegal activities, stop downloading torrents of ''Blossom'', and put to death any [[Furry|mutants or heretics]]. In hindsight, though, we here on /tg/ can't really be all that surprised by their brutality when we remember it was Fulgrim who tutored the VIII Legion's primarch. How else would the Night Haunter interpret the Phoenician's excessive battlefield perfectionism than a need for excessive violence?

Despite the Legion's horrific brutality however, there was (at least initially) a method to their madness which was outlined best during a conversation that Konrad had with his First Captain, Jago Sevatarion. In response to a question from his Primarch as to why the Night Lords committed the horrors they were known for, the First Captain responded that the Legion's terrible butchery "spilled blood to save blood." Approving of this answer, Curze added that terror was a weapon which could subdue without violence, which ultimately seemed to be the goal of his strategic outlook. The Night Lords broad tactical doctrine would most often involve descending upon a segment of a world's population in overwhelming force, and so horrifically massacring that segment that the rest of the population would surrender. Not only would this serve to limit casualties to a fraction of what other legions, such as the Iron Warriors or Dark Angels, might cause or sustain, but it also kept the vast majority of a planet's infrastructure intact. This way, the Imperium would acquire a world that was not only fully functional in terms of industry, but with a readily compliant, and largely intact, populace. This doctrine was demonstrated on numerous occasions, such as the Devastation of Zoah. Here, Curze's assault on the planet killed roughly 10% of its population, but when Magnus accused him of committing a series of massacres, Curze pointed out that the remaining 90% had surrendered without further bloodshed due to the terror of his assault, and that planetary compliance was achieved in only half the time predicted by Guilliman. It was also a somewhat grimly hilarious thing for Magnus to say, as the incident in question saw him ignore Curze's "massacres", but later risk the lives of his own legionaries to save a library. Priorities.

Another such example was a joint assault on the planet Kharaatan by the Night Lords and the Salamanders. The Salamanders had prepared for a standard assault upon Khar-tann City, but there was an unusual problem facing them. The humans of the world had been psychically manipulated into worshiping a coven of Eldar psykers, and would fight tooth and nail to protect their supposed saviors. This marshalling of the civilian populace put Vulkan in a significant quandary, as he would not countenance killing psychically coerced civilians, but subduing them without killing would mean that his Salamanders would take many unnecessary casualties. Being Vulkan, he chose to go with the latter option and the Salamanders gritted their teeth and prepared themselves. When they arrived at Khar-tann City however, they found the Night Lords winding down one of their typical terror campaigns. When Vulkan saw the unholy butchery that Curze had perpetrated he was so horrified that he nearly attacked his brother, especially after Curze sardonically told him that the ruined city was a gift to him. However, Curze had not simply been joking, as the planet surrendered without further conflict very shortly after Khar-taan City was destroyed. In the aftermath, even Vulkan was grudgingly forced to admit that Curze's terror assault had killed far fewer people than would have been lost to a conventional compliance action. Ultimately it didn't matter as the Imperium would end up killing all the human civilians anyway; too much xenos corruption. In fact, Vulkan himself would end up being in charge of the purge. Had Curze not been a Primarch, he likely would have died laughing when he found out.

One other matter of importance with regard to Curze's overwhelming reliance on terror tactics was his outlook on humanity in general. Curze was noted on many, many occasions to have expressed how much he hated humanity as a species. This was not based on his own physical or mental superiority, but instead on the fact that virtually everything Curze had ever seen or experienced of humanity ranged from selfish at best to Silent Hill levels of horrific at worst. He believed humans to be weak, pathologically selfish, cruel, and devoid of intrinsic virtue. Furthermore, he believed that because humans were so terrible as a species, they did not deserve kindness or compassion; such consideration was wasted on them. In his mind, humans could only be made to be orderly through unremitting terror. Their own well-being had to be placed into constant doubt, illusory or otherwise, if they were to behave in a civilized manner.

Problems arose, however, as the Great Crusade dragged on - reinforcements to replace the Night Lords that fell in battle were, as was the case of the other Legions, selected from the population of Curze's homeworld, Nostramo. Unfortunately, in Curze's absence, the population collapsed into the same corruption, criminality, and despair that had ruled the roost before his arrival. Nostramo had no police force due to Curze insisting on being all of law enforcement by himself, which meant that nobody was particularly interested in enforcing the law once he left. As such, the most ruthless of the criminals were the strongest and healthiest people on the planet, and these were the most common replacement recruits for the Night Lords. Not only that, but the corrupt planetary government would deliberately give the worst of these criminals to the Night Lords in order to give these gangster underlings superhuman power and a presence within the legion. The criminal culture of Nostramo began to subsume the original ethos of the Night Lords, and with this culture the Night Lords devolved into a group of transhuman gangland monsters. Instances of legionaries committing acts of barbarism not for a greater goal but for their own amusement became increasingly commonplace. These acts of insubordination were dealt with by Curze the only way he knew how; the horrific murder of those responsible.

But even Curze could simply not keep up with the ever increasing deterioration of his legion. He eventually realized that sadistic disobedience of his edicts on torture was running absolutely rampant throughout his legion, and launched his own investigation into the matter. To his horror, he found that the Night Lords were so corrupted that he essentially couldn't purge the criminal elements. There were simply so many perpetrators that to kill them all would render the legion non-functional, and he had no idea where to even begin. To make matters worse, his visions continued to increase in both frequency and graphic severity. One of these visions caused him to have a violent fit worse than any he had previously had, and he only barely managed to clear the room of occupants (or so he thought) before succumbing to the vision. When he came to, he realized to his horror that he'd done goofed. There on the floor was a clearly dead legion archivist, and Curze had been his killer. Due to the fact that Curze was totally nuts and evidently possessed no understanding of nuance, he considered this individual to have been the first "innocent" that he had ever killed. In his mind, he was now a criminal who deserved punishment no less than any of his own victims, which only served to further batter his crumbling psyche. Of course this was almost certainly ''not'' the first innocent Curze had killed, and it had been a complete accident to boot. But sadly Curze's idea of justice was zebra levels of black and white. At least he was consistent...

In the face of these ever escalating problems, Curze decided that the issue with the Night Lords recruits had to be dealt with at the source. He had been receiving reports that Nostramo had once again descended into a [[Star Wars D20|wretched hive of scum and villainy]], and he decided that he needed to do something about that if his legion was to remain true to its original ethos. Unfortunately the only Primarch Curze had any real connection to or trusted was Fulgrim, and circumstance had made him unavailable at the time. The other Primarchs, instead of listening to him and trying to help, bitched him out and said that it wasn't their problem. To be entirely fair to them however, Curze had always been rather cagey when it came to his visions, as he knew that openly announcing that the Emperor was going to kill him and that the Imperium would be torn apart by civil war would not be well received. In fact the only one of his brothers who knew about his visions was his buddy Fulgrim, and only then because Curze had had one of his vision induced seizures right in front of him. Once it ended, Fulgrim had naturally asked Curze why he had just violently spazzed out, and Curze broke down and told him everything. Fulgrim was aghast, and tried to comfort Curze by telling him that it was inconceivable that the Emperor could do such a thing, nor that the Imperium could fall prey to such an imperfection as civil war. Once Curze had regained his composure he essentially told Fulgrim that he was probably right and to just forget the whole incident; he didn't want knowledge of his visions spreading.

Unfortunately, Curze didn't count on Fulgrim being an incorrigible gossip and seemingly didn't make it clear enough that he wanted the incident kept private. This would come back to bite him later, but for the time being, Curze needed to salvage the situation with his legion. He decided that if he could provide irrefutable proof to his brothers that the Night Lords were irreparably corrupted, and that the Nostramon government had been deliberately sending him the planet's worst criminals as recruits, he might be able to rebuild his legion properly. He managed to gather the evidence he needed and prepared to present his findings to his brothers. Before he could however, disaster struck in the blunt, socially-retarded form of Rogal Dorn.

[[Rogal Dorn]] had confronted Curze while he was overseeing [[Grimdark|a long line of prisoners of war who were to be executed as a punitive action]]. Dorn had taken issue with Curze's way of doing things, saying that peace through fear was not what the Emperor of Mankind had intended, and that this was no way to build a stable Imperium. Konrad Curze decided to prove his point to Dorn that without the fear of consequences, people wouldn't stay loyal. To illustrate this, Curze gave one of the prisoners a gun and then ordered his men not to kill him, no matter what might happen. Curze pointed the gun in the prisoner's hand right under his chin, saying [[Troll|"Go ahead, kill me."]] The prisoner refused, to which Curze stated his Astartes would not kill him. The prisoner, now confident that the Night Lords wouldn't shoot him, raised the gun when Curze turned his back. The prisoner fired, but the bolter round bounced harmlessly off of Curze's armor. Curze of course immediately butchered the prisoner. Using intimidation and the predictable reaction to it, Curze "proved" his point: once the fear of consequence was removed, people would feel no loyalty. In reality of course, Curze had actually not proven anything at all. Not only had his test subject not been a loyal Imperial citizen to begin with (in fact his world had just been conquered by the ''Night Lords'' of all people), but the prisoners had all been about to be executed. So the man in question was a member of a newly (and undoubtedly horrifically) conquered world who had nothing to lose as he was about to die anyway. Curze would have been hard pressed to have found a ''worse'' test subject. That's not to say that Dorn's argument was any less stupid; that conquest through fear would necessarily result in rebellion, but ultimately neither was even remotely convinced of the other's arguments.

Now, if [[Rogal Dorn]] had been better with people, he might just have left well enough alone, or perhaps sensibly told Curze that while fear was capable of enforcing obedience it could never create loyalty, and that his inability to differentiate the two was causing him problems. But as established before, Dorn had all the tact and subtlety of a whoopie cushion, and despite his typically stolid nature, he had quite a temper when roused. So in an effort to win the argument, Rogal revealed that Fulgrim had told him all about Curze's visions. Due to the fact that the visions were of such things as Astartes killing Astartes and the Imperium falling apart, Dorn was personally insulted by the visions and berated him, accusing Curze of having lied about it all. Furious at Fulgrim's violation of trust and upset at Dorn for being a stupid asshole, Curze suddenly found himself in the grip of another of his visions. This vision was one of his worst yet, as was his accompanying psychic fit, and he attacked Dorn with his lightning claws. Despite not being conscious of his actions, he managed to maul Dorn so badly that if Dorn hadn't been a Primarch he would have died. Curze was found afterwards weeping over Dorn's broken body, as he had not meant to harm Dorn at all, and as with the murdered archivist, Curze hadn't even realized what he had been doing until after the vision subsided.

As it was, Curze was just put on house arrest/grounded until the matter of an unsanctioned attack ''(read two missing primarchs)'' by one Primarch on another could be resolved. Curze, however, after reading a special batch of Nostraman tarot cards, said "Screw you guys, we're going home". After killing the Imperial Fists and Emperor's Children who were guarding him grimdark Batman-style, he and the Night Lords set course towards Nostramo. Curze tried to salvage things while on his homeworld, but the Emperor's arrival had removed the one last barrier the people of Nostramo had between themselves and utter despair: ignorance.

Of course, as the "Prince of Crows" heavily hints at, Curze didn't ''do'' anything other than horrifically kill people and incite fear by doing so. No improving the infrastructure, setting up a police force, or anything. And Curze refused to see this as a problem. The knowledge of other worlds beyond Nostramo inflicted a hopelessness that guaranteed that nothing on Nostramo could ever change... which makes no sense given both the fact that many in the Imperium had massively improved their lives and that Nostramo had been trading its adamantium to several other human star systems long before the Imperium arrived (though "Prince of Crows" shows that this was because Curze made it so to ensure that there was nothing to do on Nostramo besides "behave and slowly die in an adamantium foundry" or "become a criminal and die either slowly or quickly (depending on Curze's mood)"), leaving the world to fester in corruption and depravity like a metastasized tumor. This was almost certainly due to Curze's belief that humans were essentially evil at their core, as Curze had never seen baseline humans display behavior that even resembled altruism without being terrified. This situation was made worse by the Imperial governor appointed to rule Nostramo in Curze's absence, whose corruption-heavy regime more-or-less plunged the entire planet into the same shit that had given birth to the Night Haunter in the first place. Without Curze there to personally scare everyone into behaving, his "compliance through terror" schtick was doomed to failure. The inevitability of this failure was driven further home by the level hatred Curze was held in by most of the populace. He had been so effective in terrorizing the people of Nostramo that nobody really cared all that much that their lives had seen astronomical levels of material improvement. To most, it wasn't worth the improved conditions to have to endure living under the rule of such an unpredictable monster as Curze. He had essentially done his job too well. Nobody on Nostramo ever really thought about there being any underlying goal in Curze's butchery; most were too afraid to ever think about much of anything. This was the consequence of never really having explained his goals to anyone on Nostramo, nor having delegated any of his work to anyone else.

It is worth noting however that the Imperial government that was initially in place on Nostramo had attempted to keep the world as Curze wished it. Curze's heavy-handedness had served its purpose and created order and with him gone, perhaps there would have been a chance for the people to keep his overarching legal system, but add some nuance (no death by torture for jaywalking). However Curze had evidently not killed enough of the old syndicates' power structures to keep them from coming back. Like a dead weed with still-viable roots, the syndicates quickly sprouted back into being and were largely responsible for the planet's decay, rather than the people themselves being at fault. These syndicates eventually gained back enough power to simply overrule the government and rule from behind the proverbial throne, and the hopeless, terrified and powerless population could do very little about it. They simply didn't have it in them. Unfortunately, Curze either didn't know or didn't care, and he was not in the mood to do much investigating when he returned.

Imperial pursuit craft, determined to stop Curze for abandoning the Great Crusade and checking on his homeworld, arrived just in time to see the lance batteries of Curze's fleet put an end to the nightmare that the planet's inhabitants had found themselves in - the only way he knew how: remorseless mass murder. Curze destroyed the planet with sustained orbital fire to the fissures his own arrival created.

According to Curze's recollection/opinion exterminating Nostramo was a test for the Night Lords themselves. Had they stopped Curze it would have proven that at least some of them were worth something to Curze's goal: to use fear to create a true order. But even Sevatar (whom Curze favored) simply followed orders. Ironically Curze's other equerry (who Curze thought was a kiss ass), begged Sevatar to talk Konrad out of it. There were some Night Lords who did refuse to aid in Nostramo's destruction, but they got put down pretty quickly.

Blowing up Nostramo was more or less the tipping point for Curze in terms of his sanity. The Night Haunter persona came stridently to the fore of Curze's personality after this, and the Legion more or less abandoned its original ethos of using terror to decrease a campaign's casualty numbers. The reason for this was that Curze believed that he had utterly failed in implementing his philosophies. Nostramo had been the greatest proof that his methods worked; an entire world of corruption and crime brought to heel by one individual wielding one instrument; terror. But the planet had fallen back into ruin, and if all his actions had been for naught, then all he really was was a monsterous mass murderer whose means had failed to even ''produce'' an end, let alone justify one. This allowed the Night Haunter persona to take advantage of his guilt and despair and strengthen itself in Curze's psyche to a point of ascendancy. Ultimately the Night Haunter, in conjunction with Curze's psychic visions, convinced Curze that he had always been doomed to be a monster. As such, there was no longer any point in attempting to resist the darker impulses of the Night Haunter.

Somewhat oddly, the whole incident appears ultimately to have been written off by the Imperium at large. Even Curze almost killing Dorn, which in all honesty was probably a lot more significant than him destroying Nostramo in the eyes of the Emperor, was seemingly just kinda forgotten about and the Night Lords went on their merry way. Considering that other Legions like the World Eaters, Death Guard, Dark Angels, and Iron Warriors were all still tearing their way through the galaxy with similar efficacy to the Night Lords, it may simply be that there wasn't enough distinction between one bunch of rampaging mass murderers and another for it to matter. As seen with the Word Bearers and their sanction by the Emperor, all he seemingly cared about was how quickly the Great Crusade could be brought to a conclusion. The World Eaters would never be sanctioned for any of their butchery, and Perturabo killed an entire ''tenth'' of his own Legion out of spite, yet the only sanctioned Legion was the 17th, for they had committed the unspeakable crime of... being slow. Given how the Imperium functioned at the time, it is also highly likely that nobody actually cared enough about Nostramo to kick up much fuss about it being destroyed. The place was admittedly an absolute garbage heap, and it was certainly nowhere near the first planet to be blown up by the Imperium. Adamantium was the only thing of any value to the Imperium on it, and who knows; turning the world into a debris field might have actually made the metal easier to get at.

The Night Lords spent the next 20-some odd years terrorizing any non-Imperial population they could find, honing their methods of psychological warfare on their helpless victims. They would deliberately target primitive or defenseless worlds so as simply to sate their sadism, and their campaigns would grow ever more butcherous and unjustifiable. Their previous strategic goal of using terror to limit casualties and quickly end compliances was abandoned, and instead the Night Lords began to conduct their terror campaigns on a planetary scale. They would descend upon the population of entire worlds and conduct their barbaric tortures upon the entire populace, rather than brutalizing a small segment of them as an example to the rest. Word of the Night Lords' increasing transgressions would make their way back to the Emperor, who would eventually decide to recall the legion to Terra for investigation, though apparently he did so largely because many in his inner circle were pleading with him to do so. Before the summons could occur however, word reached Terra that Horus had rebelled, and so everything else was essentially put on the back burner until he could be dealt with. The Night Lords were subsequently ordered to the Isstvan system to help destroy the traitor forces. It's a bit bizarre that the loyalists thought it was a good thing that the Night Lords showed up to support them at Isstvan and ''didn't'' see a double-cross coming considering how butcherous they had become. Then again, the Iron Warriors were sent to help as well, so they may have just been grateful for whatever support they could get. So the Night Lords having [[lulz|A talent for Murder]] was probably seen as helpful, at least in the short term.

===Horus Heresy===
[[File:NocturnusObsessoris-Final.jpg|300px|thumb|left|Konrad overlooking the spires of Nostramo. and looking badass while doing it.]]
While not one of the initial traitor Primarchs, Curze was quick to fall in alongside Horus when he rebelled. His only real friends in the entire galaxy had been Mortarion, Fulgrim, and Horus, and all three were amongst the initial traitors on Isstvan V. He even ended up saving Lorgar from [[Corvus Corax]], although after seeing the Gal Vorbak, the very first squad of [[Possessed Marine]]s, he felt it was a mistake. Says a lot about how horrific those things were that ''Konrad Curze'', a man who literally decked himself out in the rotting flesh of his enemies, would be disgusted by them. This intervention also shook Corax himself to his very soul, as he saw in Konrad the very thing he might have become had he fallen to [[Chaos]] and possibly adopted a different view on [[RIP AND TEAR|disemboweling innocent civilians]].

Curze seemingly never had much of an ideological motivation for joining the rebellion, but it is known that he deeply hated the Emperor. He believed that the Primarchs had all been designed with a purpose in mind, and believed that his purpose was to be the monster that he had become (which wasn't entirely false but more on that later). He believed that his various psychoses, horrific visions, and his landing upon Nostramo had all been engineered deliberately by the Emperor in order to turn him into a more perfect monster. Conversely he saw Primarchs like Sanguinius or Guilliman and hated the fact that they had seemingly been engineered to be noble, resplendent luminaries while he had been condemned to his twisted nightmare by design. He also believed both the Emperor and many of his brothers to be exceptionally hypocritical, as quite a few of them had complained about his methods when his ways achieved less overall bloodshed. Why were, say, the Iron Warriors or the Space Wolves not looked upon with disgust when they killed far more than the Night Lords did? To Curze, the answer was simply that they killed cleanly. In his mind, they did not have the gumption to do what he did; to slaughter in a brutal and honorless way, but ultimately to kill far fewer for these methods. He also hated the Emperor for the fact that he knew the Emperor would one day kill him, which he had known since he was a child. The hatred and fear created by that knowledge festered within him, deepening his madness with the belief that he ultimately could not escape his future or change it for the better. In reality, it is very nearly impossible that the Emperor actually did orchestrate the scattering considering how significantly the event had stymied His plans. However Curze reasoned that if he and Sanguinius could see the future to the degree that they could, than the Emperor's ability to do so must have been incomprehensibly more potent. If that was in fact the case, how would it be possible to so thoroughly thwart such a being?

Of course, Curze's hatred of the Emperor, as with most things regarding his philosophy and outlook, ignored the reality that Curze was ultimately responsible for his own actions. As hinted at previously, he had almost certainly been cast in the mold of what he had been on Nostramo, but he chose to be a cruel, sadistic butcher rather than the reasonable and temperate (though still terrifying) arbitrator that the Emperor would most likely have wanted him to be. Essentially, he was always going to be some version of [[Batman]], but he chose to be the Batman Who Laughs instead of the mainline one. Additionally, after losing his inner battle to the Night Haunter, any claim he had to killing the few brutally to spare the many went right out the window because he simply stopped doing that. After Nostramo, the Night Lords instead killed the many, but they did not lessen their brutality; if anything they became worse over time. However, this does not absolve the Emperor of responsibility in the matter of Curze's descent. Though the Emperor almost certainly was not responsible for the scattering, nor was He malicious in his plans for His Primarchs, He did seem to be supremely apathetic towards quite a few of them. In Curze's case, the Emperor's apathy towards helping him with his visions absolutely doomed Curze. Curze himself was completely helpless when it came to both his visions and the fits he had during his most intense ones; he could neither avoid nor control any of it. However the Emperor clearly knew about the visions and the fits; Curze had one of his worst vision-induced meltdowns right in front of the Emperor when they first met. The Emperor even displayed the ability to bring Curze out of his fits as He did so during their first meeting, yet that was seemingly the only time He ever did anything to address the visions. Not helping Curze at all with his visions is actually quite a gigantic oversight on Big E's part, as the visions were the primary motivator behind everything that ultimately went wrong with Curze.

The Night Lords remained impious, siding with none of the Chaos Gods and instead using them as mere tools in their terror campaigns. Almost entirely populated by criminals and murderers, the Night Lords led the [[Dark Angels]] and the Lion all over the Eastern Fringe. The insanity doesn't end there. In the middle of dicking with the Angels, he invited [[Lion El'Jonson]] to a dead planet (future place of his new palace and his own death...) to deliver a message from Horus, which actually predicted the Dark Angels' fate of everyone hating their guts for not being on Terra because Curze had lead them all over the Eastern Fringe (HAR HAR HAR).

The Lion, who has [[Serious Business|zero tolerance]] for insults, proceeded to attack Curze and managed to sucker-stab him straight through the torso. The fight then descended into a brawl in which Curze nearly strangled the Lion despite his giant stab wound, but Corswain jumped onto Curze's back and ran him through the spine. The two Primarchs were then dragged back to their respective fleets.

The Dark Angels would eventually get the upper hand, presumably because Curze was partly pre-occupied by his "guest" (see below) and because the Lion would start using a [[Heresy|powerful and sentient warp engine]] that allowed him to out maneuver the Night Lords and capture Curze temporarily, essentially breaking the back of the Night Lords Legion. Strangely enough, the most (or second most) brilliant tactician of the entire universe couldn't crack a thing or two when dealing with this one-trick <s>pony</s> batman psychopath, but had to rely on plot-device to bend his brother over (the Lion may be a good tactician but he's not clairvoyant, and Curze is still a Primarch). Anyway, with Curze out of the picture [[Sevatar]] ''took over'' the Legion. Read that as murderfucked most of the leading captains and told the fleet to disperse and do [[Rip and Tear|whatever it was they wanted]].

====Vulkan====
[[Vulkan]] became Konrad's prisoner after Isstvan V. Unfortunately, Vulkan is [[Perpetual|immortal or some shit]], so he kept coming back from the dead. This pissed the shit out of Curze, who decided to torture him instead (well actually his failure to kill Vulkan for good increasingly "frustrated" him so he started to get "creative"). Vulkan had to do all kinds of shit, including being forced to kill his own [[Salamanders]], watch prisoners starve themselves, and fight [[Corax]] in a dream. In the end, though, Curze couldn't bring Vulkan down to his level, causing massive amounts of [[rage]].

{{spoilers}}

Vulkan ended up in a maze built by [[Perturabo]], with his hammer at the end of it. Vulkan had a teleporter in his hammer, which he figured Curze didn't know about, which made him hopeful. He couldn't navigate the maze worth shit though, and he was pretty much fucked, but after a couple of days, he pissed off Curze, who then led him to the center so they could fight. Vulkan revealed that Curze had just given him a teleporter and Curze was all "fuck you, teleporters don't work here", to which Vulkan replied, "[[Lulz|It's also a hammer]]". Vulkan then proceeded to beat the shit out of Curze, but didn't kill him [[Batman|(because that would be stooping to his level, apparently).]]

When he was done, Vulkan said (essentially) "Fuck you Curze, ''I'M'' VULKAN! So MY teleporters work here. I just wanted to beat the shit out of you." He then escaped, leaving Curze more emo, depressed, and filled with more [[RAGE]] than ever before. This was due in no small part to the fact that Curze was not only completely hopeless regarding the future but also suicidal, and had genuinely wanted Vulkan to kill him. Not that this mattered because Curze subsequently went on to take out his considerable ire against the entire Dark Angels Legion, leading to an impressively murderous trip to Macragge where he role-played a combination of every slasher movie killer and went with whatever felt natural; his ire got worse, however, when he went after big Bobby G's mother. He tried his usual shtick of freaking her out with how much of a creepy bastard he was. It worked for five seconds before she told him to piss off and die. He would have killed the Lion AND Roboute with a powerful explosion (he had set the chapel of Hera to explode with them in it) if it hadn't been for the power of friendship. Seriously...[[My Little Pony|friendship truly is magi-]]{{BLAM}}. He also managed to fight a 1v2 duel against the both of them for a short time in order to stall them until the explosives went off. Batman indeed.

After having a running battle with Vulkan through the streets of Macragge in which he ended up killing Vulkan several times, taking a morbid delight in seeing how long it would take for him to revive after every kill, he ended up being jumped by a bottled demon and briefly being dragged into the warp. Curze managed to kill (as in completely, not just banishing) the demon, and was dumped back onto Macragge. He had yet to reappear but had the entire planet on curfew while he was still (theoretically) around.

After spending some time terrifying the locals, he eventually snuck into Sanguinius’s throne room. Here, Curze took Azkaelion hostage in order to entice Sanguinius into having a chat with him. Before the chat could occur however, the two of them proceeded to have an extremely cool but totally pointless duel. For despite Curze being fully armed and armored while Sanguinius was not, they both not only had constant visions of what would happen during the fight (ie, this fight had more slow motion action visions than a Zhang Yimou film), but they each already knew how both themselves and the other was going to die, and each knew it wouldn't be during the duel. Despite this, and despite Curze even humorously pointing out how silly the two of them fighting would be, Sanguinius seemingly couldn't help himself and attacked Curze anyway. True to form, the entire thing played out in their heads à la the Sherlock/Moriarty brain fight in the A Game of Shadows movie, only in real time. After a long stalemate Curze got bored, backed off, and began to expound on his theory that the scattering had been a deliberate ploy by the Emperor, and that the circumstances of where and how each Primarch had been raised had likewise been the Emperor's doing. To Curze's brief delight, Sanguinius was actually somewhat receptive to his brother's theorizing, but it didn't change his outlook on the Emperor or the Imperium. Curze then gave Sanguinius the chance to kill him and thereby prove that the future could be changed, but Sanguinius stopped the blow in mid-air out of pity. Curze, ''royally'' pissed at Sanguinius's mercy, proceeded to mutilate [[Sanguinary_Guard#Azkaellon|Azkaellon]] and blow up a whole lot of Sanguinary Guard, before he threw what remained of Azkaellon off a cliff and disappeared. Almost miraculously, Azkaellion actually managed to survive.

Despite having the resources of almost 3 full legions, the rulers of Imperium Secundus had great difficulty tracking Curze down. When it was revealed that Curze had never ever even left Macragge once in the years since his arrival, the Lion put the planet under almost total martial law and brought in his official [[Dreadwing|overkill brigade]] to deal with him. Curze had been fomenting rebellion amongst the Illyrians, a part of Macragge that had never really accepted the civilisation of Konor and Guilliman. After the Dark Angels massacred an entire nation in response, Curze laid his final endgame in a mountain fortress. The Lion, in response, broke his word to Guilliman, and contrived a devastating (and forbidden) orbital bombardment using droppods and assault rams converted into barrage bombs and torpedoes. When the smoke cleared, the Lion went solo hunting again, walking into the trap Curze had set for him. Unfortunately, for a precog, Curze hadn't anticipated that the Lion had already cleared all the traps set for him and he was captured after a duel (the Lion cheated by calling in Fire Raptors to prevent Curze from escaping).

Despite being finally caught, Curze had both the penultimate and last laugh. He managed to do what the Word Bearers, World Eaters, and Night Lords legion had not managed to do with soldiers and fleets, and broke the Imperium Secundus. His official court trial had barely started when he told Guilliman that that the Lion had broken his word by staging an ersatz orbital bombardment. Guilliman, having finally lost his patience with the Lion's ends justify the means crap, snapped the Lion's sword in two and Sanguinius told him and his legion to GTFO of Imperium Secundus (because sending a legion into what he thinks is certain death by Warpstorm for the crime of shooting the bad guy and not even hurting anything but the damn fortress is a brilliant decision). However, just as the Lion was about to leave the system, he remembered Curze's words of prophecy, that his back, the Lion's sword, and word would be broken (as well as Curze's proclamation that he would be killed by an assassin sent by the Emperor). The Lion teleported back to Macragge, just as Curze was about to be executed and explained the situation. Guilliman had a mini breakdown over everything he had done on the premise the greater Imperium had fallen and Curze laughed himself into an aneurysm at the whole situation.

He would remain in custody throughout the journey back to Terra, initially kept under lock and key by the [[Dark Angels]], but was later "broken free" by Sanguinius, who dragged him down to '''Davin''' so that they could possibly change their destinies together. This frightened the absolute crap out of Curze, not least because of the potential fact that if Sanguinius could change his destiny to die by Horus' hands, then that would mean that Curze could avoid his own assassination later on, which in turn would make all of his life meaningless because he was such an evil bastard based on his absolute certainty of how events would unfold.

However, this would not be, as Sanguinius realised that to make the change in his fate, he would need to become something worse than even Horus, so he allowed fate to continue on course. What's worse is that although Sanguinius accepted his own fate, he threatened Curze with the possibility that the Emperor could even ''forgive'' him for all of his crimes, pushing Curze into silent horror at the thought that his universe was not what he thought it was. But in a cruel twist, Sanguinius decided to leave his brother to his destiny, while also pointing out that while he could pin down the actual time and location of his death to the bridge of the ''Vengeful Spirit'' at the [[Siege of Terra]]; Curze's assassination might not actually occur for millennia, and thus he promptly jettisoned his brother's stasis coffin into space.

These interactions firmly establish Sanguinius as a foil to ol' Konrad, in the sense that both were cursed from birth with precognitive abilities that would shape their personalities and ultimately their fates. Sanguinius believed it possible to avert and alter the path of his future, but accepted it instead upon realizing that doing so would entail becoming something even worse in the progress; Konrad actively rejected even the possibility of doing so, as he considered his fate to be set in stone, to the point he'd lived his whole life based on that notion. And as he had just discovered, Sanguinius was also a scary motherfucker in his own way.

===Death===
{{Topquote|The horror, The horror...|[[Konrad Curze|Konrad]]'s real last words after probably describing to M'Shen [[40k|what he really saw in his visions]]}}

After being jettisoned into space, Curze's stasis coffin was picked up by a freighter. The future victims were eager to sell his coffin for a big payday instead of being smart and chucking it into a sun, so naturally Konrad escaped. When Curze got out Horus was long dead and took a moment to ask a crew member the date. [[Grimdark|Guess what Curze did to the crew.]] [[Rip and Tear|Please, fucking guess.]]

After the battle was lost, they fled back to Tsagualsa with what was left of the Legion. The Emperor, however, wishing to stop the Night Lords forevermore, dispatched an [[Officio Assassinorum]] operative from the [[Callidus|Callidus Temple]] to kill him. He presumably did this at some point before the Siege of Terra, though why the Emperor Himself would have thought that a lone Callidus assassin could do anything to a Primarch is a bit odd. Perhaps Big E himself had heard about Curze's visions and what Curze himself thought would happen to him?

Curze spent his last hours crafting a statue of Big E to whine about how daddy never loved him, and how his ways were necessary. [[Grimdark|By the way the statue was made of human flesh.]] He was, by this time, taking insane to whole new levels, and now had the added issues of talking to himself and having severe, second-to-second mood changes. He would rage uncontrollably one second and in the next, start apologizing to the corpses that comprised his Emperor statue and thanking them genuinely for their pain and sacrifice. During this few final hours, he argued with the statue that everything he had done was necessary and just due to the inevitability of the future, but heard a voice gainsay this, which told him that it was his own choices that had led to this future. It is interesting to note that it is impossible to tell if it was in fact the Emperor speaking, or Curze hallucinating, as it is well known that Curze had always had doubts about the true inevitability of the future, buried as deeply as possible in order to keep the remaining shreds of his mind functional.

When his confession was done, he burned the corpse-statue of the Corpse-Emperor and walked in his corpse-fortress and put on his armor, told his Legion to fuck off his damn corpse-lawn, and sat down to wait for his corpse-mama to come.

Curze had foreseen everything, or had chosen a fate believing the future was set, just as Sanguinius had. With his final prediction coming true, Curze waited for his just punishment.

Confronted with the Callidus Assassin M'Shen, it is believed that Curze proceeded to make jokes about how she had [[Pretend|butt-sex]] with [[Macha]] before getting down to brass tacks and explaining why he'd allowed her in so easily:

<blockquote>''"Your presence does not surprise me, Assassin. I have known of you ever since your craft entered the Eastern Fringes. Why did I not have you killed? Because your mission and the act you are about to commit proves the truth of all I have ever said or done. I merely punished those who had wronged, just as your false Emperor now seeks to punish me. Death is nothing compared to vindication."''</blockquote>

Whilst it's never been confirmed who [[rape|came out on top]] (or whether or not the Callidus and he engaged in [[Heresy|hardcore ball-busting sex]]), it is believed by many that Curze allowed himself to be killed, having given explicit orders to the Night Lords to allow M'Shen to escape. Only one Night Lord, Apothecary Talos Valcoran of the 10th Company, pursued her out of vengeance (the Night Lords did eventually join in pursuit, but that was only after the senior Captains realized that M'Shen (no connection to Martin Sheen, none at all) had [[Ork|looted]] Curze of all his bling, which they wanted for themselves). It is believed that Curze had come to see himself as a murderous and corrupt villain - the very thing he had sought out to destroy (or perhaps he wished to prove that his decision to destroy Nostramo and join Horus was justified, as the Emperor had become one more tyrant who had to be slain). Maybe he was a heroic [[Awesome|Space Marine Batman]] who lived long enough to become the villain.

==Psychic Ability==

Although knowledge of his gifts apparently were not widespread amongst the ranks of his brother Primarchs, Curze was capable of mild feats of psychic display (when compared to someone like Magnus at any rate, as he was never trained in their use). The first and most impactful of these traits were his visions of the future. Likened to waking nightmares, these visions most often were of how people would die, or some calamity involving mass death and destruction (such as the Heresy, which he had known would happen long before it did). He was no exception; as stated above, the Night Haunter had foreseen his own death from the moment he awoke on Nostramo. These visions also often extended to those he would lay eyes upon. These visions could also be applied in battle, allowing Curze to see what his opponents would do before they did it. This made him borderline broken in terms of melee combat, and the only times he was ever bested involved him essentially forgetting to use this power. While using it, he was capable of entering into a protracted stalemate with Sanguinius, who was arguably the most martially powerful of all the Primarchs, and who had similar but (ordinarily) less frequently active ability. Though Sanguinius was not armored at the time, it ultimately didn't make a difference as the future-seeing abilities of both combatants kept either from ever landing a hit.

The Night Haunter also displayed a few other feats of psychic development, such as [[Psychic Disciplines|telekinetically]] destroying a series of lights to aid in his escape from a VII Legion detention chamber. The fashion in which he did this was described as being akin to "the blast wave of an explosion, with Curze at its epicenter." He was also capable of telepathically conversing with Jago "Sevatar" Sevatarion. [[Sevatar]], a latent psyker, was exploring Konrad's psyche during the latter's unconsciousness resulting from wounds inflicted by the [[Lion El'Jonson]] during the [[Thramas Crusade]]. Apparently the Night Haunter had a role in helping to suppress Sevatar's psychic potential, as revealed in the conversation between them - and that, because Sevatar was not trained in their use, those psychic abilities would be increasingly [[Chaos|self-destructive.]] Why he simply did not start training him will probably forever remain a mystery. He must have been the legion's only psyker or there is no rationale explaining why Sevatar was not just passed over to the Night Lord's Librarius for training his abilities. (The ''Night Lords'' Trilogy explains this by an incompatibility between the gene-seed and the host, the visions being a 'side-effect' of that struggle as it grows worse over time.) He also seems to have some sort of odd and presumably psychic ability to transform briefly into a shadowy/smoky cloud thing, which he did a few times during his 2v1 duel against the Lion and Guilliman to evade attacks, and also when a Perpetual called Damon attempted to kill him on Macragge after the duel. He also has the ability to hide his mind from other psykers, as seen, once again on Macragge, when John Grammaticus states that he can seemingly only find Curze when he wants to be found. Another example occurred when Curze ambushed an Ultramarines squad with a Librarian, named Prayto. Prayto was unable to sense Curze until Curze attacked, when he stunned the Librarian by allowing him to sense, at the last second, just how horrible Curze's mind really was.

As the Primarch of the VIII Legion, Konrad had a servant throughout the Great Crusade named Ekra Trez (who bore the title of "Sin-Eater"). Trez was tasked with keeping a record of the Night Haunter's pre-cognitive visions in a massive tome, and would often make note of which ones had been proven correct or false. Trez was also more than aware of Sevatar's psychic ability, leaving some readers of the Black Library's Horus Heresy novels curious as to what role Trez may have played in the Primarch's psychic development - if any.

==Lasting Legacy==
{{Topquote|You think it's over just because I am dead, but the games have just begun.|Jigsaw}}
The Night Haunter, in his death, may have continued to leave a lasting impression upon the Imperium as inspiration for one of its many institutions. Although his legion continues to sow fear and discord amongst the stars, Konrad Curze's legacy of weaponized fear lives on within the Imperium through the Emperor's Holy Ordos of the [[Inquisition]]. Like the inquisitors of the 41st Millennium, Konrad brought loyal citizens into compliance through fear and threats of death/torture beyond imagining to those who weren't sure where their allegiances lay. Those who failed to comply were guaranteed either a swift death at the hands of his legion, or a slow death at the tender mercies of his legion's most depraved souls. Lastly, if those comparisons weren't enough, look at the fate of Nostramo - Konrad essentially carried out an act of Exterminatus. Just as Lorgar's teachings on the Emperor's divinity would later lay the foundation for the Imperial Creed of the [[Ecclesiarchy]], the Night Haunter could effectively be treated as the first author of the Inquisition's playbook. Not that they wouldn't BLAM you for heresy if you said that to their faces though.

Within the Night Lords, Curze and the Night Haunter each left their own legacy, which caused no small amount of schism. Officially, Curze appointed Zso Sahaal as his successor and Talonmaster, because Sahaal understood that a true warrior is more than just a murder machine. A true warrior has ''focus'', and wields fear as a tool to fulfill a purpose. As you can probably predict, every other Night Lord captain decided that ''they'' were more deserving of being Curze's successor and tried to get Sahaal dethroned for being "weak" or whatever. Their logic was that Curze wasn't in charge, the Night Haunter was, and the Night Haunter was supposed to choose the ''true'' successor. After Sahaal became lost in the Warp, captain Krieg Acerbus "the Axemaster" slowly but surely took over huge swathes of the Night Lords and led them to become [[Chaos Undivided]] followers. Ironically, the Night Haunter had no intention of ever choosing a successor as he would have preferred that his legion die out completely for becoming everything he personally despised.

Even after Curze caused so much carnage, particularly to Ultramar and Macragge, it's interesting to note that Guilliman seems to still pity him. During the Plague Wars, Guilliman admits to an associate that, out of the whole fucked up Primarch family, only "poor Konrad" truly saw the Heresy coming, and that if he hadn't been insane, it all might've been avoided.

==Multiple Personality Disorder?==
Now, we all know the [[Black Library]] can range from the [[Dan Abnett|godly]] to the [[C.S.Goto|Goto]]. So this must be taken with a grain of salt. But ''Lord of the Night'' implies that Curze suffered from Dissociative Identity Disorder, such that he and the Night Haunter were two different people: Konrad, the just leader of men, and the Night Haunter, the murderous vigilante. ''Blood Reaver'' also implies it (a Night Lords sorcerer talking about how at one moment he was trying to teach his long-dead father some idealistic lesson, while at another he was only concerned about eating some slave's heart) and shows signs of other mental instability, such as when he has a bit of a manic episode and forgets that his First Captain died several years ago, indicating dementia or schizophrenia; ''Blood Reaver'' also suggests that the Emprah's DNA may not have entirely settled in Curze's body, explaining why he was so batshit crazy by the time of his death, not to mention the corpse-like appearance he was sporting near the end. The upshot of this is that ''only the Night Haunter'' fell to Chaos, while Curze remained clean. Which one got the other killed is unknown. Other books have inverted the relationship, suggesting that the Night Haunter was the "honest" monster that was needed to do the terrible things required, whilst Curze was the fallible human who fell to his own weaknesses. Or perhaps the Chaos taint was the only constant, corrupting whatever personality was currently dominating, with all the idiosynchrasies implied.

Another thing perhaps tied with his Multiple Personality Disorder is that Konrad Curze towards the end had ended up hating his own legion. In a conversation with First Captain Sevatar, Konrad mentioned that he had spoken with Angron and Lorgar following the Istvaan III purge. Cleansing the untrustworthy elements of the World Eaters and the Word Bearers. The sheer absurdity of the idea was laughable to the Night Haunter, for his brothers knew exactly when to stop the killing of the weak, the treacherous and the corrupt within their bloodlines. He had no idea where to begin culling the Night Lords' ranks. His sons were no longer cast in his image. Less than a decade after he had departed Nostramo that world had sent him nothing but filth to integrate into the VIII Legion as Neophytes; the disgusting dregs of humanity his own Apothecaries had infused with his genetic material and reforged into transhumans. The VIII Legion had become poisoned by their presence. The VIII Legion was now composed of warriors who were murderers in the Primarch's own image, yet devoid of his conviction (which does not make any sense at all because, see above: <s>Every Space Marine is massively brain-washed during their ascension, and in the 41st millenium chapters even preferentially recruit from either backwater worlds - where killing someone because he has more shiny bling than you is still acceptable - or hive gangers over aristocrats on more developed worlds, simply because they are more likely to survive the transformation process.. Just think of the "blood games" many chapters perform to determine the most fitting candidates "hey, lets see who can work together and kill as many of the other aspirants as possible"</s> Extensive hypno-indoctrination only really became a thing AFTER the Heresy, specifically as a reaction to it to help ensure the loyalty of future marines, it's also why 40k marines have "And they Shall Know no Fear" on the table top. How much good it's done is debatable. During the Great Crusade and Heresy, they were churning out marines at a breakneck pace to keep up all those fuckhueg legion numbers, so a marine's personality remained much intact.). The Night Lords had become nothing more than killers and abusers, bleeding the weak for their own amusements because they enjoyed it as good sport. Fear became an end unto itself, and its propagation was all the Night Lords desired as they fed upon it.

According to his novel Curze was tremendously crazy by the time of his death. He crafted a flesh golem of the Emperor to state his case to it. Soon after Curze heard a voice in his head that Curze might have thought was his statue. He thought Sevatar was still alive at the time, though Sevatar's death hasn't been confirmed yet. An important detail no one mentioned is that the Night Lords are the Eighth Legion. Section Eight is a military discharge for basically being crazy.

This was made even more clear by what Curze told Talos before he and the Assassin gotten it on:<br>

* ''"Many will claim to lead our Legion in the years after I am gone. Many will claim that they - and they alone - are my appointed successor. I hate this Legion, Talos. I destroyed its world to stem the flow of poison. I will be vindicated soon, and the truest lesson of the Night Lords will be taught. Do you truly believe I care what happens to any of you after my death?"''

Now some might say he was overreacting a bit, but still, given how the criminal overlords he had spent most of his life on Nostramo eradicating, took over again as soon as he had left the planet and started sending their henchmen to be turned into Space Marines, it might be understandable. It was not for nothing that Horus had cause to [[Perturabo|muse that]] [[Angron|his generals]] [[Fulgrim|were psychopaths]] while the Emperor's were noble, statuesque leaders of men.

=== The Final Battle between Curze and the Night Haunter? ===
On his way to the chamber where he will meet the assassin, this happens:

* ''"I am free. I am not free. I am free. I am not free." ‘Stop it!’ he hissed to himself, losing for a moment his regal posture and becoming again the hunched beast. His warriors looked silently at him, and what had been a feeling of delicious vindication turned sour.''

Was the Night Haunter trying to stop Curze? The description of him briefly becoming the "beast" instead of the regal primarch, before forcing himself back under control makes it seem so.

* ''He rallied himself, and began again his slow progress. Very well: if fate were not locked in iron, he willingly chose this death. Let this act be his and his alone, when so much of his life had been beyond his control.''
Did his decision to willingly go to his death, not because "fate demanded it", but of his own volition allow him the strength to finally force the beast back into it's cage?

* ''In pride of place, at a table by his side, sat the battered deck of cards he had consulted so many times. He meant their presence to be his last comment on fortune’s cruel grip. But the cards dragged at his attention, forcing him to reappraise them as a tool of his delusion.''
The real Konrad Curze finally regained his sanity?

What sort of seals it is Konrad Curze's final words to M'shen, the assassin who came to end him.:

* '''Your presence does not surprise me, Assassin. I have known of you ever since your craft entered the Eastern Fringes. Why did I not have you killed? Because your mission and the act you are about to commit proves the truth of all I have ever said or done. I merely punished those who had wronged, just as your false Emperor now seeks to punish me. Death is nothing compared to vindication.'''

His statement as only "punishing those who had wronged" simply isn't true, if it was really Curze who had willingly killed so many innocent people just for the fun of it. However, if you read it as Curze and the Night Haunter as separate people, it makes perfect sense. Curze had only ever punished those who had wronged, but the Night Haunter killed for fun. And by forcing himself to hold still, so that the assassin could kill him, Curze was finally punishing the Night Haunter. Curze was finally taking control back from ''whatever'' the Night Haunter was. The vindication wasn't for his actions (or the Night Haunter's actions). The vindication is that even the Night Haunter is not beyond his judgement.

For so long, people feared that the Night Haunter would come for them, but now [[Awesome|'''Konrad Curze had come for the Night Haunter''']].

==Tabletop==
[[Image:Konrad-Curze-1.jpg|thumb|right|Wristblades? Check. Stealth capabilities? Check. Skinning prey and taking trophies? Check. Now he just needs a shoulder mounted plasma gun and a muscle-bound Austrian and he'll be able to pass himself off as the Predator.]]

{| class=wikitable
! || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| '''Konrad Curze:''' || 8 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 7 || 5+1 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}

On the tabletop, Curze has the basic Primarch statline plus Shrouded and Stealth. He has several fear based abilities, such as granting fear to all Night Lords (those who already have Fear impose a -1 on the leadership test), fear tests when in combat with him are taken at -3LD, and if he kills a unit in close combat any unit subject to fear within 12' and line of sight must take a leadership test or fall back. Sire of the Night Lords also grants him the Acute Senses and Night Vision USR, and he may elect to have the first turn of any game have the Night Fighting rule, giving his sons 4+ cover in the open. His weapons are 2 Lightning Claws called Mercy and Forgiveness which have AP 2, the Murderous Strike rule and grants +1 attack (Paired) and his armour, the Nightmare Mantle, provides 2+ armour save and 4+ invulnerable save (like most Primarch Armour), plus when he charges, it grants him hit and run and Hammer of Wrath special rules (inflicting d3 HoW hits instead of the usual one).

Due to the combination of being Jump Infantry and his variety of Fear-based shenanigans, Curze is one of the easier Primarchs to use. The ability to ensure Night Fighting helps your force close to melee where it belongs, and Fear makes it more effective once you get there. He can Hit and Run, butchering high-value targets and [[Awesome|making enemies who see piss themselves in terror and flee.]] The real genius of his rules is that, like Mortarion, he's primed to annihilate a certain kind of unit and has the mobility to chase it down, while also making your legion better at what it already does well. That said, he doesn't provide any sort of morale bonus to the Night Lords, who desperately need one, and it's fucking embarassing that he can't even hurt AV13.

Best of all, his ranged weapon proves definitely that Konrad Curze is Batman. He figuratively uses Batarangs during the shooting phase. His ranged attack is called a "Widowmaker Volley", which is essentially 3 bolt pistol shots with a special rules that makes 4+ to hit precision shots: 6s to wound ignore both armor AND invulnerable saves. You can't save against the God-Damned Bat Man. The best part is the actual description of the weapons in the Horus Heresy rulebook: "The Widowmakers: Based on the micro-serrated throwing knives utilized for signature-kills by Nostraman assassin-cults, Curze favored the use of these vicious, yet highly precise weapons over more conventional firearms in battle, using them to disable and maim as he wished."

===Konrad Curze VS other 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 about how Konrad Curze fares against other Primarchs Mathhammer wise. Please note that all the various abilities are taken into accounts when possible 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. In essence, the fights are supposed to happen in a "Vacuum" for simplicity, but notes are added to make things clearer in particular instances. Also all of the Primarch use their most powerful weapons (because why have a contest if you don't do your best?).
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

* Konrad Curze VS Horus
**Horus hits 3 times (Talon), wounds 2.667 times, 1.333 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 0.75 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417.
**Konrad loses (not a big surprise) and as always Horus uses his Talons 'cause, even though he would do more damage with Worldbreaker, the Talon allows him to make his opponent basically harmless after a couple of wounds.

* Konrad Curze VS Angron
**Angron Round 1: hits 5.333 times, wounds 4.444 times, 2.222 after saves, and IWND take it down to 1.889.
**Angron Round 2 and thereafter: hits 4 times, wounds 3.333 times, 1.667 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.333 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times (0.75 of which causes ID), 1 wounds after saves and FNP and IWND will take that down to 0.667 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Angron easily wins, doing a lot more damage and receiving less in turn.
**Note: Curze can Hit & Run, but by doing so he would only gain one more attack, while allowing Angron to reset his Hatred, thus actually making himself die even faster. However he would be a much better fight: Konrad on the Charge would do 2.625 wounds (0.875 with ID) which become 1.168, plus 0.1389 for HoW and 0,359 for the Widowmakers, for a total of 1,666 wounds, or 1.333 after IWND. This, thanks to the -1 wound of Angron, actually means that they would kill each other on the fifth assault, at the same initiative step. Provided that Konrad always succeed in his escape, that is.

* Konrad Curze vs Mortarion
**Mortarion hits 2.5 times, wounds 1.667 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and 0.5 wounds after IWND.
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 1.11 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.555 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze loses as even though he does more damage, Mortarion has 1 more wound that will make him outlast the Night Haunter.
**Note: with the Hit & Run tactics Konrad would actually win, thanks to the +1 attack on the charge, HoW and the knives, butchering Mortarion in 9 rounds while Mortarion would need 11 (counting Overwatch).

* Konrad Curze vs Fulgrim
**Fulgrim hits 3.5 times, wounds 2.333 times, 1.167 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.833 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 0.75 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Easy win for Fulgrim. Even with Hit & Run, Konrad would not win this fight. Still, he would outdamage Fulgrim on the charge (1.472 wounds after all saves, 1.139 after IWND) and he would lose only thanks to the superior initiative of the Phoenician, coming extremely close to claiming a surprising draw.

* Konrad Curze vs Ferrus Manus
**Ferrus hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.083 times, 1.042 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.709 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Ferrus win.
**Note: Even though with Hit & Run Konrad could close the gap and do almost the same exact damage as Ferrus over the course of the fight, mathematically winning thanks to his superior initiative, this tactics is not reliable against the Gorgon thanks to the Concussive & Strikedown of Forgebreaker.

* Konrad Curze VS Vulkan
**Vulkan hits 2 times, wounds 1.666 times, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.741 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.185 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Vulkan is just too tanky for Konrad.
**Note: with the usual tactic of Hit & Run Curze would outdamage Vulkan, but this is hindered by the fact that Dawnbringer has Concussive, making it difficult to foresee: it could go either way. (Because it's also a Hammer.)

* Konrad Curze VS Lorgar
**Lorgar hits 2.5 times, wounds 2.0833 times,1.042 after saves and IWND will take that to 0.708 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze Round 1: hits 3.555 times, wounds 2.369 times, 1.184 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.851 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze Round 2: hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1.5 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad wins.
**Note: as always, psychic powers not included. You know how it would end anyway...

*Konrad Curze VS Perturabo
**Perturabo hits 2 times, wounds 1.667, 0.833 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.5 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 0.75 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad loses as Perturabo does marginally more damage.
**Note: With Hit & Run Konrad would win, but the chance he is not concussed in the round he wants to escape are pretty slim, meaning that Perturabo has still the edge in this fight.

* Konrad Curze VS Alpharius
**Alpharius hits 2.92 times and wounds 1.701 times, 0.851 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.517 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1.5 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad wins.

* Konrad Curze VS Rogal Dorn
**Dorn hits 2 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.75 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.417 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 1.125 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.792 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad wins thanks to his superior number of attacks.

* Konrad Curze VS Corvus Corax
**Corvus hits 4 times (Scourge)/3 times (Shadow-walk), wounds 3 times (Scourge)/2.25 times (Shadow-walk), 1.5 wounds (Scourge)/1.125 wounds (Shadow-walk) after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.167/0.792 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Curze hits 4 times/3 times, wounds 3 times/2.25 times, 2 wounds/1.5 after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.667/1.167 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad wins.
**Note: even though they both got Hit & Run, Konrad doesn't get +1 attack to charge Corax, 'cause he has Shroud Bombs, and also doesn't get +1 S and I, making Corax considerably stronger when he charge all things considered. All in all, a pretty balanced fight, even if the stats don't say so. Corax doesn't have Widowmakers, though...

* Roboute Guilliman (with the Hand of Domination) 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 2.083 times, 1.0416 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.7083 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 1.339 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.055 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily wins this fight... theoritically
**Note: As usual, Konrad should 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). Even with Guilliman using the Hand of Domination, there is a chance Curze doesn't suffer any damage from it (31% when Guilliman is WS7/8 and 20% when he is WS9) so he will actually negate Preternatural Strategy between 37% and 31% of the time, which is enough to give Rob a run for his money or even kill him if the Widowmakers score more than a single wound.

* Konrad Curze VS Leman Russ
**Russ hits 4 times, wounds 3 times, 1.5 time after saves, plus 0.583 wounds from Sever Life for a whole 2.083 wounds and IWND will take that down to 1.75 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad Round 1: hits 2 times, wounds 1.5 times, 0.75 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.427.
**Konrad Round 2 and thereafter: hits 1 times, wounds 0.75 times, 0.375 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.042.
**Konrad gets wrecked.
**Note : Nothing will save Konrad from the Wolf King, but as always the Widowmakers can prove themselves a tricky surprise and Hit & Run mitigates the impact of the exothermic bullshit, making Curze one of the few primarchs who can die to Russ with a bit of dignity.

* Konrad Curze VS Jaghatai Khan
**Jaghatai hits 4 times, wounds 2 times, 1 wound after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.666
**Curze hits 4 times, wounds 2.222 times, 0.740 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Jaghatai wins, thanks to his high number of attacks. Curze could use Hit-and-Run to try to even the odds and give himself charge bonuses, but the Khan could do the same.

*Konrad Curze VS Sanguinius
**Curze hits 3 times, wounds 2.25 times, 1.125 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.792 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Sanguinius Round 1: hits 4.667 times (Blade), wounds 4.148 times, 2.074 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.741 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Sanguinius on the charge: hits 5.333 times, wounds 5.574 times (including HoW), 2.787 wounds after saves and IWND will take that down to 2.454 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Sanguinius Round 2+: hits 4 times, wounds 3.556 times, 1.778 wound after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.444 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Konrad loses.
**Note: With the first turn charge, Widowmakers and H&R Curze can achieve a mutual kill in Round 4, however Sanguinius regaining +1I and +1A in Round 3 lets him do 5.89 wounds average before Curze attacks, so things could go badly for the Batman.

* TL;DR version: Even though he does a lot of damage, Konrad is not really suited for Primarch vs Primarch fights. Do not misunderstand: he is a real beast when he can make use of Hit & Run and the Widowmakers are extremely good, especially against Primarchs with strong invulnerable saves. Still, you have to consider that all of his special rules are primary designed to scare his opponents and make them flee, but since all Primarchs are Fearless he can't use them. Despite this, he can win some fights and, when he struggles, he can still significantly cripple even some of the strongest Primarchs, leaving them weak and vulnerable. But you are arguably best served to employ his mobility to evade them (instead of fighting) and charge something he could actually butcher in a single round, to make the most of his King of Terror special rule. Make their allies flee in panic and then destroy them when they are alone and surrounded...

</div></div>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Night haunter by cabal art.png|Isn't he the cutest murderous psychopath vigilante ever?
File:Konrad.jpg
File:BigKurze.jpg|[[Emperor|Christ]] that looks epic. Even if it's on graph paper.
File:Konspire.png|Do not get on his bad side.
File:Spess Punisher.jpg|Two merry psycho vigilantes. Glorious coincidence or awesome tribute ?
File:KonradOnMacragge.jpg|Too bad he didn't get Matt Ward while hunting the Big Blue.
</gallery>

{{Primarchs}}

[[Category:Chaos]]

Roboute Guilliman

2022-11-12T18:19:49Z

2601:1C0:4500:A540:0:0:0:B0D: /* Popular Opinion */

{{Awesome}}
[[File:Robute_Guilliman.jpg|400px|thumb|right|I'm surrounded by [[Neckbeards|plebeians]].]]
{{Topquote|[[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.|Peter F. Drucker}}

{{Topquote|Julius Caesar learned that Alexander, having completed nearly all his conquests by the time he was thirty-two years old, was at an utter loss to know what he should do during the rest of his life, whereat Augustus expressed his surprise that Alexander did not regard it as a greater task to set in order the empire which he had won than to win it.|Plutarch}}

{{Topquote|Did you mean rowboat guilty man?|Microsoft Clippy}}

'''Roboute Guilliman''' ("Row-Boo-tay Gill-ee-man”) /ɹə<font color=gold>ʊ</font>-'buːt-eɪ 'ɡɪl-ə-mæn), otherwise known as the '''Lord of Ultramar''', the '''Battle King''', the '''Blade of Unity''', the '''Ruler of Hosts''', '''Lord Commander of the Imperium''', '''The Uncrowned Monarch''', '''The Victorious''', '''The Thirteenth''', '''The Avenging Son''', '''The Avenging Beancounter''' (If you're [[Konrad Curze]]), '''Robu''', '''Big Bobby G''', '''Rawbutt Girlyman ''', '''Robust Guiltyman ''', '''Grandpa Smurf''' and ''' Our Spiritual Liege''' (among many, MANY nicknames, see below) is the [[Primarch]] of the [[Ultramarines]] and quite possibly the single most [[skub]]-inspiring person in [[Warhammer 40,000]] (with the pooooosible exception of Kaldor Draigo). This is thanks to his varying depictions as a total ungodly [[Mary Sue]] in [[Matt Ward|older material]], or being a quite likable, intelligent and [[awesome]] leader in [[Dan Abnett|others]]. The dislike for him is often based more around his legacy and the reception (or lack thereof) 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 being one of the factors that turned [[Lorgar]] to [[Chaos]], in addition to [[Alpharius]]. [[Omegon|Maybe]]. It's [[Iron Snakes|hard to tell]]. Though to be entirely fair Lorgar's fall was about 60% his own fault, 30% the Emperor's, 9.9% [[Malcador]]'s, and .1% Guilliman's.

Apparently, he and [[Sigmar]] are behind the sudden surge of good policies done by [[Games Workshop|GeeDubs]]. As of the current trajectory, it seems that GeeDubs has been infected with [[Weeaboo|Animu]] and is slowly turning Warhammer 40k into Warharem 40k, due to Grandpa Smurf suddenly getting not one but <u>two</u> potential ship baits thanks to Dark Imperium: Plague Wars (plus the ones he sort of got during the Gathering Storm, what a player). Oh, and he accidentally gives a preacher a religious erection. [[What|This is CANON]]. As of the end of the trilogy his Custodian liaison is somewhat tsundere for him, yeah, this is what happens when you let a loyalist primarch run amok in the 42nd millennium.

Of note, Guilliman is also the first Primarch to make an actual appearance in video games, debuting in [[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II]] whilst riding around in his personal flagship: The [[Macragge's Honour]].

==History==
===Early Life===
[[File:Tumblr_p8wow2RRoU1s422e6o1_640.png|300px|right|thumb|[[Dawww]]...[[Tarasha Euten]] AKA [[Konrad Curze|Konrad Curze's]] torment made manifest. Credits to [https://www.deviantart.com/dinahisrael/art/Warhammer-40k-Tarasha-Euten-and-Roboute-Guilliman-745179851 DinahIsrael.] ]]
Much has been made of how "easy" Guilliman's early life was compared to many of his brothers, and how [[Macragge]] was a supposedly great place to live. The reality is that while Macragge was no [[Barbarus]] or [[Nostramo]], life there was far from easy. The primary culture of the planet was very similar to that of ancient Sparta, and weakness was tolerated about as poorly as it was on a planet like [[Medusa]]. For instance, when children were born, they would be examined to determine if they were weak or strong. If they were weak, they would simply be left out in the wilderness to die. All children who weren't just left to die would be placed in military training academies when they were six, and again, those who were weak would die. So not exactly a paradise world. Guilliman was found by the planet's ruler and some of his retinue while they were on a hunting trip. Konor Guilliman, the man who took him in, was a pretty cool dude who advocated helping the common man and pushed for meritocratic reforms. These were a major influence on Roboute and stayed with him throughout his life. Guilliman loved his father dearly, and was known to have considered Konor to have been his "real" father, while the Emperor had merely been his creator. It also says something that Konor's seneschal, [[Tarasha Euten]] (hereafter referred to as GuilliMom), was effectively Guilliman's surrogate mother, making him the only Primarch 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)]].

When Roboute was 12, he was sent to war against the Illyrians, Macragge's version of the Gauls (or of the actual Illyrians, whom the Romans conquered long before they took Gaul, probably the latter since at this time Ultramar and later Ultramarines were basically Romanized Gauls in space). During the campaign, Roboute realised that instead of having to [[rip and tear|rip and tear]] through the Illyrians, many of them were willing to negotiate and drop their guns for a place in Konor's dream. When he met with the Illyrian chieftain, Guilliman presented a sacred artifact that the consuls of Macragge had stolen generations ago as a peace offering. This was the second major impact in his life - to try diplomacy first before war.

When he returned, Roboute found his home in disarray. Konor had just become the victim of some political treachery, Ancient Roman-style. His co-ruler, Gallan, was pissed off at all these reforms Konor pushed through, so he sent his army to rape, pillage and burn while lying to the Senate that Konor was behind it. Seeing his once peaceful home burning, with soldiers looting and killing the people they swore to protect, left the third major impact on Roboute and the most likely source of why he was always so [[Butthurt|anal]] about protocol - the alternative in his eyes was total anarchy.

After helplessly watching his father die from a poisoned wound, then finding out that Gallan, who had been pretending to be on his side, was the one behind Konor's assassination, Roboute was about to murder Gallan in front of the Senate before realizing that doing so would set a precedence for infighting while Macragge continued to burn (Gallan was later ceremonial beheaded on a rock, which would later be used by the Ultramarines to execute their traitor brothers in the future. Also, the rock was a reference to [[wikipedia:Tarpeian Rock|Tarpeian Rock]], yet another Roman reference for Guilliman's backstory). This was the fourth major impact on his life: by controlling his emotions and deferring to the Senate's laws, Guilliman ironically won the Senate and enabled his father's dream. 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 into it, exactly how his (adoptive) father would have wanted it. When the Emperor arrived Guilliman had acquired several systems in the sector through diplomacy and was getting ready to annex the others in what would become the start of [[Ultramar]]. He willingly knelt to the Emperor and joined the [[Imperium of Man]], acquiring special status for Ultramar as autonomous from the central government (directly, rather than due to practical reasons), leaving Euten in charge while he went off crusading. Think of Ultramar administratively being to the Imperium what a single world normally would be.

===Great Crusade and Horus Heresy===
Guilliman utilized his skills as a tactician and strategist to fight in his Father'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 realised that he would need to refine his own strategies even as he codified them, lest they fall apart in the chaos of warfare. 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 by the [[Luna Wolves]], [[Space Wolves]] and [[Dark Angels]]. Meaning he was either a good diplomat or his crusade encountered more peaceful human societies. Guilliman also made a point to turn conquered planets into 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 feudal world of people enjoying slaves and pit fights (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 Roboute; the only things he cared about were resources and taxes arriving on time. So while central worlds of Ultramar prospered, provinces were much shittier places to live. It may also have been that as a Legion Homeworld, Guilliman did not have the authority to do things. If he had, it would have been "going over Angron's head" and stepping on his turf. While it would have also made sense to have improved Nuceria, Guilliman may have left that for Angron to do himself. That sort of ineffective courtesy feels about right for Guilliman. Though it should be noted Angron never returned to his homeworld before destroying it and his legion recruited from other worlds
[[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.]]
When civil war broke out, Guilliman was tricked by Horus into taking most of his Legion to Calth for a joint Ultramarines/[[Word Bearers]] engagement. While most of his Company Captains believed it was just the Warmaster flexing his muscles, Guilliman realised that there was a political angle to it as well: 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 side by side. 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 that blew up the main bridge of his flagship and voided him out. So 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. [[Wat|In near vacuum. Without a helmet.]] [[AWESOME|''For almost twelve hours.'']] ([[Dan Abnett]] is still pretty proud of that scene). Not long after that, [[Kor Phaeron]] tried to recruit him for [[Chaos]]' cause by stabbing him with a corrupted blade like Horus, but Guilliman wanted none of it and punched the Dark Cardinal off him so hard the old man had a heart attack. In the end, though, the Ultramarines managed to wrest control of their defense grid back and shoot any Word Bearer ship not retreating posthaste to smithereens.

===[[Imperium Secundus|That episode he doesn't like to talk about]]===

{{Topquote|Did you fear I’d turned with Horus and become a threat to our father? Have you come to sanction me, like Russ’ wolf pack?"<br>"My dear Roboute, I did not think for a moment that you had turned. I thought you’d done much, much worse. I think we both know you have.|Emprah's [[Lion El'Jonson|First]] and Thirteenth sons have a nice and brotherly chat about the situation on hands.}}

After the Battle of Calth severely hurt his Legion, Guilliman had to contend with the Shadow Crusade as Lorgar and Angron went on a merry joyride through Ultramar, razing 26 worlds with their main fleet and who knows how many with the splinter fleets. Oh, and Guilliman got a severe kick in the bottom from Angron on [[Nuceria]] after trying to beat the everloving shit out of Lorgar. In the end, though, Guilliman [[just as planned|seemingly]] managed to get both the Word Bearers and World Eaters off his lawn. Ultramar was however cut off from the rest of the Imperium by Warp Storms preventing travel and astrotelepathic communication. After seeing off the Shadow Crusade, Guilliman acted on the assumption that due to being unable to know if the greater Imperium or the Emperor survived, he would need to act on the worst-case scenario that they had both fallen.

Consequently, if his father could not be saved at least His ideals would be, and so he set up a new government called [[Imperium Secundus]], a second Imperium of Man which would reject Horus's alliance with Chaos. Although potentially traitorous to an outside observer, Guilliman's motives at least ''were'' 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, [[Fail|only for the whole thing to be abandoned when Guilliman learned to his horror that the Emperor wasn't dead and that his whole plan was little more than a pointless waste of time]]. It continues to be a source of shame to him even in the present time that he got [[troll|manoeuvred]] by Lorgar into creating the Imperium Secundus.

It's worth mentioning that there is a bit of historical precedence for it, given the whole "Imperium is Space Rome" thing. What is now known as the Byzantine Empire was the successor to Rome, that split off just before the Western half collapsed. Because of this, they were able to save a lot of the finer points of civilization that went to shit during the Medieval Era such as literacy, education and hygiene. It would take centuries for the rest of Europe to catch back up to them.

Despite his fuckup, Guilliman managed to lead over one hundred thousand Ultramarines to Terra with the [[Dark Angels]] and the [[Space Wolves]], intent on helping the [[Blood Angels]], [[Imperial Fists]], and [[White Scars]] defending Terra. Horus, learning about this and knowing that he could not sustain the assault on the planet anymore once the bulk of the loyalist forces came into the fight, 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. Alas, Guilliman and his reinforcements arrived too late to stop the traitors (who despite the death of Horus still held space around the planet) from retreating to their ships and fleeing Terra. This and his own feeling that said lateness could have been prevented had he made for Terra sooner only motivated him harder to kick the Scouring off, where those traitors that wouldn't or couldn't make their way to the Eye of Terror were hunted down and cleansed, planet by planet. Guilliman also pushed for his reforms in that time, which led to considerable [[skub|divergences of opinions]]; but in the end everyone seemingly agreed and went "Okay, let's do this Codex thing!" (only for several chapters to begin [[Black Templars| either partially or completely]] [[Space Wolves|ignoring said Codex]] [[Dark Angels|or only giving the idea lip service]] when Guilliman had his attention elsewhere. Not much later, Guilliman [[Battle of Thessala|got himself stabbed in the neck]] by [[Fulgrim]] in an absurdly one-sided duel; the resulting poisoning had him sitting on a stasis throne for the better part of 10,000 years (<s>I know; somehow the poison was more of a big deal than the actual stab wound in his fucking neck</s> neck wounds can be healed even in unaugmented humans, eldritch warp poison can be a lot trickier).

===41st millennium / Gathering Storm===
[[File:16999239_340497286345256_3126583543407667659_n.jpg|400px|right|thumb|Our [[Spiritual Liege]] about to give [[Skarbrand]] a [[Sanguinius]]-style head chopping.]]
{{Topquote|We shall give the humans a demigod. A king reborn with a deathly blade.|Prince [[Yriel]]}}

{{Topquote|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.|Guilliman, grousing to his father about what the great-great-great-x1,000,000,000,000 etc. grandkids have done with the house while they were out}}

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 [[PROMOTIONS|kiss]] from [[Yvraine]] and a nice mechadendrite massage from [[Belisarius Cawl|Cawl]], he got better. He plays a major role in the third Gathering Storm book. That's right; Guilliman 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. And of course, [[Matt Ward|our Spiritual Liege]] probably [[Faptau|'enjoyed himself']] after hearing this news)

After Roboute was resurrected, he goes full-blown Saitama and proceeds to wipe out an entire horde of veteran chaos marines [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atxYe-nOa9w with his manly man-fists] without taking a single scratch. He then 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, Guilliman weeds out the entire invading Chaos force on Macragge in a series of battles and heroic duels worthy of any primarch. He 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]] that fought on Cadia, 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 [[Ultramar|five hundred worlds]] null and void, assuming direct control over his former territories. [[Rape|There was no kill like overkill.]]

After Robby G has finished his job in ousting Chaos from Ultramar, the Ynnari bid their farewell, as they have 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. The respect between the two is interesting, because it shows two historically opposed forces allying towards a common goal, showing that Geedubs might be going a bit [[Warhammer Fantasy Battles|old-school]] with this, having the (somewhat) less evil factions uniting against chaos, tempering the Grimderp of the setting with a little pragmatism, and who better to do that than Mr. Practicality and the world's most morally flexible Eldar?

[[File:YvraineXGuilliman.png|300px|left|thumb|[[Extra Heresy|HERESY TO THE EXTREME!]]]]

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 [[butthurt|would never take any satisfaction from his victories ever again.]] Ironically, this will probably be a good thing. It means that Guilliman will never become a glory hog or so full of hubris he ruins everything again. He won't seek victory for satisfaction, he will seek victory for the goal. [[Not as planned|Exactly as a good leader should.]] Sidenote: this probably also makes him immune to possession by [[Lucius the Eternal]] (or maybe he already was, he is a Primarch after all), ironically enough, also if you think it through til the end he is now the greatest living threat for Lucius' continued survival. [[Not As Planned|Fulgrim didn't think this one through, did he?]]

[[Saint Celestine]] and Inquisitor Greyfax have convinced Roboute to tolerate the [[Ecclesiarchy]] (for now anyway). Suffice to say, [[rage|he was <u>'''NOT'''</u> pleased]] with the whole space Catholicism thing that had been going on while he was asleep, seeing as Lorgar's desire to worship the emperor [[Horus Heresy|ruined]] [[Goge Vandire|everything.]] After learning about the Ecclesiarchy's more level-headed members and realizing its use, Guilliman works the Imperial Faith into one of his speeches even though it leaves a bad taste in his mouth. He is still at the core a defender of the [[Imperial Truth]], however he understands that the Imperium in its current state needs faith to survive.

Later, [[Nurgle]] inflicted a plague on Ultramar called '''The Sorrows/Weeping Plague''' that spread via insects and caused its victims' eyes to rot out. The only known cure for the disease was to be admitted to the presence of Guilliman himself. Realizing 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.

It is known that while heading to Terra on ''Macragge's Honour'', the Thousand Sons transported him into the [[Maelstrom]], where he and his allies were attacked by a warband of [[Red Corsairs]] and daemons led by [[Kairos Fateweaver]]. Kairos managed to "bind Guilliman in chains of his own guilt, anger, and disappointment" (kinky) and tossed him into a cell on a [[Blackstone Fortress]] (clinky), which the Red Corsairs apparently got from Abbadon as a gift in exchange for their <s>arms</s> loyalty. However, his rescue came in the form of none other than '''[[Cypher]]''' who had 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 made 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 were pursued by the [[Thousand Sons]] but fought their way through to Luna and continued the battle on Terra's doorstep, and eventually Guilliman winds up dueling [[Magnus]] himself. Guilliman' odds of victory were slimming, until the [[Sisters of Silence]], supported by the [[Imperial Fists]] and the [[Adeptus Custodes]], drop in and punt the Thousand Sons' dusty asses back into the warp. When he finally arrived on Terra, Guilliman had a sudden, dreadful epiphany after seeing Cypher's sword. He then reneged on his deal and ordered the Custodian Guard to seize Cypher before he could be granted audience with the Emperor ''(though Cypher, being Cypher, immediately escaped, 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. To his pleasant surprise, the Emperor was still alive and able to communicate after ten thousand years (though it was difficult enough for Guilliman to withstand said communication that it's unlikely the Emperor could have communicated with anyone but a Primarch for ten thousand years while the Imperium corroded around him). To his much less pleasant surprise, he found out Big. E no longer cared about pretending to be remotely human, and that he, like all his 'brother' Primarchs, were merely tools in His big plan. Ironically, even in the audience, like the rest of his life, the Emperor is very human but does not realize it due to how disconnected he is from normal humans. Tragic, but also kinda funny. Big.E loved mankind as a whole but never individual humans, not even his so-called "sons"; and that rankled Big Blue. What exactly passed between Emps and Bobby, only they know, but was presumably along the lines of: "Roboute, I know that [[Imperium Secundus|last time you went Empire Building]] I got really mad at you and all, but uh... I sorta need you to do some Empire Building again." to which Guilliman agreed. When he emerges back out of the throne room, he would only 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; and ordering them to start getting shit done to restore the Imperium to its once and future glory.

Whilst deposing some of the High Lords may seem unnecessary given the fragile state of the Imperium, do 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, his reshuffling of the High Lords is perfectly in character as the High Lords have been repeatedly established as largely self-serving individuals, incompetent in administration 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 have been very out of character for Guilliman to look the other way given their (lack of) overall performance. Ironically, when shit hits the fan, the High Lords usually do a very good job of kicking shit's face in in leadership of the Imperium.

Also he may just be DONE with the Emperor after learning that he and the other Primarchs never meant more to him than tools. Unlike [[Lorgar|those]] [[Horus|that]] [[Perturabo|used]] [[Angron|that]] as an excuse to [[Horus Heresy|go rebellious and crazy]], though, Guilliman isn't suddenly going to turn traitor. Instead, he recommitted himself to the '''ideals''' he fought for during the Great Crusade and the people of the Imperium itself.

[[Tl;dr]], Robby came, he saw, and he threw the entire Chaos Space Marines a [[Anal circumference|beating]] like no other.

===42nd millennium===
[[File:Priorities_ba536b_6833904.jpg|450px|right|thumb|Priorities man. Priorities.]]

{{Topquote|God damn it [[Imperial Guard|guardsmen]], listen to me. I didn’t come back from [[Fulgrim]]’s date rape drug trip to come back to a [[Great Rift|new Eye of Terror]] the size of [[Magnus]]’s [[Burning of Prospero|hate boner]] for the [[Space Wolves]], because a [[High Lords of Terra|bunch]] [[Inquisition|of]] [[Ecclesiarchy|clowns]] took my dad’s xenophobic stance and decided that just because the empire was on the brink of total annihilation that humanity didn’t need to worry about allies or mutual interests in not being dead! I WILL NOT RISK HUMANITY’S ONLY ALLY BECAUSE YOU ARE TOO STUPID TO GET THE ”FUCK ME” SIGNALS FROM A WOMAN WHO IS OLDER THAN YOUR FAMILY LINEAGE! DO YOU KNOW WHAT I HAD TO DO TO [[YVRAINE]], THAT CRAZY WOMAN WAS [[Not as planned|DARK AND CRAFTWORLD ELDAR]]! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT IT’S LIKE TO HAVE A BDSM SESSION WITH A NATIVE AMERICAN THEME WHILE YOU CAN’T TAKE OFF YOUR ARMOUR? I DON’T WANT TO HEAR IT, YOU FUCKING COWARD GET YOUR ADAMANTIUM BALLS OUT OF YOUR COMMISSAR’S PURSE AND FUCK THAT ELDAR’S PUSSY BEFORE I SEND YOU ON A ONE WAY TRIP TO [[Plague Wars|THE PLAGUE STARS]]!|The Primarch is adjusting well to Aeldari diplomacy.}}

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 revise the Codex Astartes and compose a (relatively) accurate history of the Imperium of Man, founding a new division of the Adeptus Terra to act as historians (much to the Inquisition's annoyance - and yes, quite a few Inquisitors would say 'no' to a Primarch even if he is the regent of the Imperium, though the Ordo devoted to preserving history is probably overjoyed and the rest know better than to get in the way of someone the Custodes seemingly obey without question). The Crusade lasted about a century; while it was able to drive the forces of Chaos away from some of their new holdings, Guilliman knew that it was only enough to stabilize the Imperium in its current state. [[Abaddon|Mr. 13 Failures]] might have failed to get to Terra as he planned, but he still got a nasty blow in and Guilliman knows it.

The Dark Imperium novel has portrayed him as having become far more cynical over the events of the Indomitus Crusade, in no small part due to frequently butting heads with the Inquisition and the Administratum, who see Guilliman's push for reforms as a threat to their personal power. While he still believes in the Emperor's ideals, his belief in the [[Imperial Truth]] has also been shaken. He knows the Emperor is not quite human any longer, but noted that even if Emps is a god, someone that cold and ruthlessly callous 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 for a highly urgent job, as opposed to the last of his loyal sons. On the flip side, though, even the realization that Emps never loved his "sons" (The ultimate reason [[Horus]] broke and started the whole Heresy clusterfuck) did not break him. E-money might not love him as a son, but that doesn't mean his ideals aren't worth fighting for and Guilliman intends to do it right this time!

As of now, Big Bobby G is splitting his time between his history work, preventing the Imperium's appalling situation from getting worse by pointing a power-armored finger in the right direction, and applying power-armored boot to asses where needed. He's also busy 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, with which he intends to fix the semi-functioning clusterfuck that is Imperial bureaucracy. He hopes that if (or when) he dies for good, his successors will use it for guidance rather than going with the head-up-ass approach they've taken in the past.

Despite his dislike of the Emperor's detachment from humanity, he has also begun to realize that circumstances forced the Emperor to take his autocratic stance - and that he may very well end up becoming a dictator himself too. While for the time being he still hopes to preserve his ideals in the face of the grimdark galaxy he lives in, he has accepted that if push comes to shove he may need to give them up for the sake of humanity's survival.

A fun fact is that he is also quite [[Grimdark|creeped out]] at the whole [[Cherubim|'turn-a-baby-into-a-flying-cyborg' thing]] going around in the AdMech and Ecclesiarchy. He also gave up trying to correct the myths about him and his fellow Primarchs after 80 years or so, because people kept repeating them anyway. According to a techmarine who may or may not have been just fucking with one of Cawl's minions in the novel The Great Work, other lingering elements of people’s religious devotion to his mythologized status includes a disturbing tendency for people to kill themselves after meeting him, because <s>[[Spiritual Liege|they will never be Ultramarines]]</s> they know that they’ll never experience a more significant moment in their lives. This isn’t entirely restricted to mortals—again, allegedly, one techmarine became tongue-tied when meeting the Primarch, and was so ashamed by this lapse that he promptly went down to the machine shop and burned out his own tongue with a plasma cutter.

After the [[Devastation of Baal]], he ordered the Mechanicus to terraform Baal Secundus back into its paradisal state before the long night and appointed Commander [[Dante]] as the Warden of Imperium Nihilus. He's also acquired an original copy of the pre-Heresy ''Lectitio Divinatus'' (signed by [[Lorgar|the original author]]) which he only got by wrestling it from the Inquisition. (You may have noticed that Guilliman and the Inquisition do not get along very well, but the Inquisitorial Representiative is still in support of Guilliman's authority when coup happened.)

During the [[Plague Wars]], Grandpa smurf acquired a quirky Rogue Trader called Yassilli Sulymanya who is both a handpicked historian from the Primarch himself and an [[Heresy|atheist]] whom he saved from a witch-burning. The two kind of [[Love Can Bloom|hit it off when it comes to the standards of relationships of a normal women and a posthuman demi-god]]...as you can imagine, such inclinations combine with the fanfic fuel of [[Extra Heresy|YvraineXGuilliman]] has led /tg/ to declare that GW is now teasing us with [[Waifu|Primarch waifu bait/love triangle/ship wars.]] [[HHHHHHHHHHHhhhhhhhnnnnnnngggggg-|It doesn't help that Yassilli nicknames our giant blueberry Robu,]] although he made it clear immediately that he didn't appreciate it (there's also the fact that he's like 12ft tall, so attempting to Do The Deed would be like trying to park a '''[[Meme|BIG MAC TRUCK IN A LITTLE GARAGE]]''' <s>Cadillac in a broom closet</s>). Other than that, we also see [[Mortarion]] still acting like a petulant bitch after 10,000 years before [[Awesome|Gorillaman himself laid an epic smackdown of burns.]] That's of course, is before Morty (As further expanded in '''Godblight''') stabbed Gman with a syringe filled with literal super-AIDS concocted by [[Ku'Gath]], killing Papa Smurf for the [[Derp|''second time'']]. However, thanks to [[Wat|''literal'']] [[Bullshit|'''Deus ex Machina''']], Bobby G in fact, [[Herp|unkilled himself]] through the help of [[Emprah|E-Money]] himself, thereby confirming that GeeDubs is so inept at writing a story they literally gave Big Blue Wonder [[Bullshit|''canonical'']] [[Plot armor|plot armor]] (though no less than Celestine, daemons, perpetuals, Daemon primarchs, necron overlords etc GW loves canonical plot armor). After that, the Emprah took over Grandpa Smurf and proceeded to shove his [[/d/|golden, flaming power sword right into Papa Nurgle's STD-ridden man-pussy,]] [[Awesome|by literally burning down his garden which '''permanently''' wounded him.]] Making Nurgle the first [[Chaos God]] to actually be harmed in 40k. And you thought [[Star Wars|Rey]] [[Mary Sue|had too many asspulls.]]

Funnily enough the whole scene made Chaos fans taste for once what the rest of the fanbase feels when their fav faction gets screwed due the Chaos Gods pulling their typical Diabolus Ex Machine, finally there is some justice in the universe.

Oh yeah, and Big Blue Wonder is fucking [[Rage|<u>'''LIVID'''</u>]] with what the Ecclesiarchy has done during the conflict (sending a group of Sisters of Battle to free a possible Living Saint against Guilliman's orders and killing several loyalists in the process; granted, it did save Guilliman's life but that doesn't change the fact that their actions were still treasonous, never mind the fact that he was uncertain as to whether or not the Saint was actually being empowered by Tzeentch), and making his handpicked militant-priest to promptly [[Slaanesh|shit/jizz himself in fear/awe at the possibility of being killed by a son of the Emperor.]] He also seems to be becoming more prone to outbursts of rage, something that caught even a Custodes by surprise as such a trait was unexpected from Guilliman, but perhaps it's unsurprising given all the shit he's been through lately.

Following that little incident and a bout of introspection on his part, he's started to wonder if maybe Lorgar and the Ecclesiarchy were right about the Emperor's divinity, and has chosen to start reading that old copy of Lectitio Divinatus to learn whether it might have a grain of truth in it. With the reveal in Godblight again, any fan theories that Robot Gorillaman would be influenced by Lorgar's fan-fic was thrown out of the window. Turns out, Roboute is an actual adult with a functional brain and proceeded to find the evident flaws in Lorgar's tract and then invite a [[Librarian]] and an [[Eldar]] [[Farseer]] by the name of [[Illiyan Nastase]] (YES. [[Lolwut|''That guy''.]] Who somehow [[Retcon|re-retconned himself]] back into existence), to have a legitimately intriguing chat on the nature of godhood and whether or not the Emprah fits the definition of one.

Since waking up Guilliman has now fought more of his brothers than anyone other than Russ. In fact if it really was Omegon then his faced more of his brothers than any other primarch (7 to Russ' 6). Fighting against Lorgar and Angron during the heresy and losing badly, and fighting Curze with the Lion during [[Imperium Secundus|that one episode]] and barely surviving. Then he faced Omegon and Fulgrim after the heresy, (supposedly) killing the former and nearly dying to the latter. Then following his return, he's fought against Magnus and Mortarion, losing to the former and having to be bailed out by his allies in both cases. This actually goes well with his image of a leader of men, Bobby G may not be as strong as most of his brothers; especially the daemon primarchs, but [[Awesome|most 42nd millennium imperials will fight against overwhelming odds heads-on to save the guy who is doing all in his power to bring the Imperium back from the brink, as pointed out in the supplements and novels. Guilliman knows that and that's why he never gives up.]]

==Personality and Capabilities==
{{Topquote|Amongst his brothers, none had been more idealistic than Roboute Guilliman. None had envisioned a brighter future, not just for Mankind but also for the warriors of the Legiones Astartes. That flame of hope had been a part of him for as long as he had lived. Even now, as it was smothered by darkness and woe, Guilliman realised that his flame endured.|The Gathering Storm III: Rise of The Primarch}}

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. In his mind, 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. This is not to say he didn't have his moments when someone managed to rile him up, in those situations he has been shown to be wrathful enough to give Angron a run for his money and scare away even greater daemons (of course being armed with the permakilling Emperor's Sword makes him a great deal scarier).

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. And frankly, he wasn't exactly wrong. The five hundred worlds were, and remain, perhaps the single best large-scale segment of the Imperium in terms of general quality of life. 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. In his own words, he quite respected all of his brothers and had a brotherly affection for some of them. He only ever criticized or scolded when the circumstances seemed extreme, such as [[Alpharius]]'s unnecessary targeting of enemy civilian populations to damage morale, [[Perturabo]]'s wasteful decimation of his own Legion or [[Angron]]'s needlessly brutal assaults and pointless carnages leaving only piles of bodies and a ravaged planet behind. Where he saw such problems however, he was not shy about expressing his opinions. This attitude was likely the reason Guilliman was passed over for the role of Warmaster; he didn't get along well with many of his brothers, counting only [[Rogal Dorn]], [[Sanguinius]], [[Horus]], [[Ferrus Manus]] (even though he was too proud to give Guilliman credit), and [[Vulkan]] as friends. Though he did not count them as friends, he had a sincere admiration and respect for both [[Leman Russ]] and [[Jaghatai Khan]]. He even included the former amongst his "Dauntless Few", a group of four of his brothers who he believed could pair their legions with his to become unbeatable. He also saw a potential for common ground with Lorgar, but that potential was never explored because of... [[Heresy|reasons]]. He also had a great deal of respect for Lion El'Jonson despite considering him to be a complete ass (which to be fair to Guilliman, the Lion absolutely was).

Guilliman was also an organizational savant [[Perturabo|almost]] 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. As indicated, only Perturabo possessed a similar level of logistical skill and/or interest. Unlike Perturabo however, Guilliman actually cared about the people under his command, and would not engage in practices, however mathematically sound, that would see unnecessary bloodshed. Though many of his brothers were godly tacticians, Guilliman was one of very few Primarchs who were known to truly focus on what came after a war: how the world could be used, improved, colonized, uplifted, integrated and becoming a full-fledged supporting member of the Imperium and the Great Crusade instead of being left a war-torn ruin. Guilliman insisted on ensuring that any populated world the Ultramarines took was left with working infrastructure, an able & trained [[Planetary Defense Force|PDF]], and a decent quality of life for civilian populations - something that his brothers, save for Dorn and Horus, paid little to no attention to, a trait that would come back to bite the Imperium in the ass later.

Guilliman possessed perhaps the single greatest ''strategic'' mind in the Imperium. This is contrasted to those Primarchs who were perhaps the best ''tacticians'', ie those who were best at winning individual battles, such as Corax, the Lion or Horus. This was because Guilliman's view of tactics and strategy tended to be less flexible than those of his aforementioned brothers, but once he figured you out, you were screwed. Corax, for instance, once managed to best Guilliman in three training exercises through the use of irregular and [[Moritat]] squads. Guilliman had initially had a very strict view of what constituted a fighting formation, and was quick to relieve or dismiss under-strength or casualty depleted units. He'd also drawn strict delineations between what constituted a combatant versus a non-combatant, and he tended to dismiss from his tactical outlines those he considered to be non-combatants. Corax however, demonstrated that irregular units could be decisive in winning engagements, and that civilians could be adeptly utilized as ad-hoc military formations. Guilliman, who had been staunchly convinced otherwise, quickly changed his mind regarding Corax's unorthodox tactics when he saw their merit, and incorporated them into his own strategies. Corax would later say of the exercises, "From the fourth simulation on, he had my mark and I could not beat him... I won battles against him but never a war." Of his brothers, only Horus and Dorn possessed a similar grasp of grand strategy. Perhaps the most clear example of this strategic prowess was the successful completion of the Indomitus Crusade. This 100 year long military campaign was of a scale similar to that of the Great Crusade itself, yet was orchestrated and implemented on virtually every scale by Guilliman alone, and in record time.

However, Guilliman's tendency towards cold calculation often bled into his personal life. 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, being uncomfortable with 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 came after the conquest? However during the actual sanctioning of the Word Bearers, Guilliman's demeanor was so emotionlessly cold that Lorgar believed from that day on that Guilliman hated and looked down upon him. The reality is that what Lorgar had mistaken for icy contempt was in fact Guilliman working as hard as possible to maintain an air of completely professional detachment. He didn't want Lorgar to think that the razing of Monarchia had been a personal matter (which it hadn't), yet he succeeded in projecting his professionalism too well, treating Lorgar like a distant colleague rather than a brother. The sudden void of lost potential between the legions was tragic. So what did Guilliman do after the fact? 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 [[Battle of Calth|much too late.]]

Despite his personal shortcomings however, and beyond his tactical & strategic genius, or his skills as an administrator and as a statesman, Guilliman's most noteworthy characteristic is being one of the few well adjusted, sensible people in the '''entire freaking galaxy.''' He encouraged his sons to diversify their interests from pure combat, not to [[Emperor's Children|art]] or [[Blood Angels|fine]] [[Salamanders|crafts]], but to law, governance, city planning and infrastructure. He was a pragmatist, and was well aware of the need for his sons and indeed 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 Great Crusade 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. In fact, he quite explicitly saw the Emperor as merely his creator, and always viewed his foster father Konor as being his ''real'' father. 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 superb general and warrior, but above that, an equally competent statesman and leader. If Horus was a conqueror at heart, Lorgar a demagogue and Magnus a scholar, then Guilliman is a statesman, a man whose concern is less the glories and bloodshed of war, and more the careful administrative work that follows (albeit one that has an unmatched ability to punch through your entire body if the need arises.) While it's not often shown, Guilliman actually cares greatly for his people, not just as statistics but as individuals, he can be friendly not just to his soldiers and the upper tops but even to the common folk, sincerely, on that sense he is ironically one of the most humane Primarchs despite accusations of being too clinical and dispassionate, this development of character is better seen in the Plague Wars, where it's shown along the story that he has managed to develop amicable or at least working relationships not just with Adeptus Astartes, but with baseline humans and even Custodes and Xenos, harem jokes aside it has become evident he has learned from the mistakes seen in the Heresy, people will not always agree with you, and sometimes it's better to let them be. He has also seemingly attempted to do for the [[Ultramarines]] what the Emperor did not do for his sons; be an actual father figure. During his meeting with Uriel Ventris for instance, he did his best to have a humble, respectful and paternal conversation with the 4th captain rather than being overbearing or attempting to overawe him. This meeting had a profoundly positive effect on the world-weary captain.

After his long nap he seems frustrated with the new (old) Imperium and shaken by his meeting with the Emperor, but that good 'ole Ultramarine spirit is still with him, so he got up, stretched his limbs, and went to town for an ass whooping. A few of his actions thus far are imminently noteworthy. He dissolved the independent sovereignty of any worlds that were historically part of Ultramar; started catering to the [[Imperial Cult|Imperial Creed]] in one of his speeches; is openly cooperating with xenos witches; has essentially taken the role of Emperor 2.0. That's not to say that any of those choices are wrong or unnecessary, but they're each notable because they show that Guilliman is now more inclined to sudden, imperious action where once he might have used diplomacy. However, this may be a result of having to singlehandedly salvage the entire Imperium even as it fights against his attempts at reform, a task that with careful diplomacy would take even centuries that the Imperium can't really afford. Overall, Guilliman is disillusioned with his "dad", disgusted by the Ecclesiarchy (he outright told their representative he considered them a lesser evil), disappointed with the state of the Imperium as a whole but still willing to step into the breach and help humanity elevate itself. His faith in the Emperor has been badly shaken but his sense of duty and faith in humanity is as strong as ever and as the top quote of this section points out, he may be the Emperor's sense of hope for a better future for mankind, which comes to explain the grudge Mortarion and Magnus have for him after they fell for Nurgle and Tzeentch respectively. Mortarion fell to the heart of despair, and Magnus also did the same thing around the other side. Guilliman defies this and acts as an anti nihilist, willing to struggle to his last breath if it comes down that for the slightest chance to give mankind a happy ending.

==Guilliman the Failure...And Why That Makes Him Awesome==

Guilliman is also interesting because he is one of the only primarchs that explicitly ''failed'' at doing something prior to the [[Horus Heresy]] and the events that preceded it, and grew beyond that mistake as a person. Specifically, he was unable to prevent his foster father Konor Guilliman from being killed while he was away on campaign. Part of growing up involves realizing that you aren't the center of the universe and that you can't always have things go your way, and in most people this manifests through repeated failures and disappointments in life. Most of the primarchs, however, faced little to no difficulties or setbacks in uniting their homeworld or during the [[Great Crusade]] due to the sheer power and charisma they possessed, and as a result they basically went through life on easy mode. This caused most of the primarchs to grow up to be spoiled, entitled manchildren. Sometimes [[Magnus the Red|spoiled sweet]], but [[Perturabo|spoiled nevertheless]].

As a result, when things didn’t go their way, [[Lion El'Jonson|whether]] that be the [[Ferrus Manus|betrayal]] of a [[Luther|close]] [[Fulgrim|friend]], [[Sanguinius|an inability]] [[Corvus Corax|to save]] [[Mortarion|their sons]], [[Lorgar|being told “no”]] by someone [[Council of Nikaea|who actually had the power]] to make the decree stick, [[Magnus the Red|causing irreparable damage]] to something that couldn’t be taken back, confronted with the fact that [[Konrad Curze|their methods were not working]], [[Perturabo|the rebellion of their homeworld]], or perhaps most notably [[Leman Russ|the inability to]] [[Rogal Dorn|save their father]], it absolutely broke them. [[Angron]] and [[Mortarion]] both failed at conquering their homeworlds, but in both cases the Emperor stepped in at the last second and saved them, which created a lingering sense of “what if” and caused both to shift the blame to the Emperor for their problems, rather than forcing a moment of introspection. [[Fulgrim]] is notably one of the only primarchs to never experience personal failure during the [[Horus Heresy]], and as a result he was ''still'' a spoiled manchild after becoming a [[Daemon Prince|Daemon Primarch]] until Ancient Rylanor denied him, which is explicitly noted as a huge blow to his pride.

Guilliman blamed ''himself'' for not being present to prevent the death of Konor, not the Emperor or some external foe. This gives Guilliman a sense of humility and pragmatism that the other primarchs lacked. This can be seen in how Guilliman set a trap for the [[High Lords of Terra]] by allowing them to orchestrate a coup, using the exact same strategy that was used to kill Konor. Papa Smurf learns from his mistakes. Not to mention how he was the only primarch with his eye on the long term during the [[Great Scouring]]; the effectiveness of the [[Codex Astartes]] may be debatable but at least Guilliman was thinking about the future rather than focused on [[Rogal Dorn|immediate]] [[Jaghatai Khan|vengeance]] or [[Leman Russ|drowning in]] [[Corvus Corax|self-pity]], this wasn't the first time Guilliman lost a father. While Guilliman may be less colorful than the other primarchs, he is definitely more mature, and he is probably one of the few loyalist primarchs to understand while he may be a superhuman demigod, he isn’t all powerful.

==Popular Opinion==
{{Topquote|All men can see these tactics whereby I conquer, but what none can see is the strategy out of which victory is evolved.|Sun Tzu}}

Guilliman is partially 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 one of the [[Jaghatai Khan|few]] Primarchs 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 among the best Primarchs when it came to logistics and organization, though [[Perturabo]] was probably better (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 Marines during the [[Great Crusade]] than any other Legion (though he also stole some from the Two Lost Legions giving credence to the Word Bearers accusations on his Legion, as was confirmed in ''The Chamber at the end of Memory''(note a demon shows this and demon are [[Bullshit|''always'' trustworthy]]), 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. Well, and the well-known fact that Sanguinius had all of the Emperor’s best traits, including his massive psychic power, and none of the flaws. So, Sanguinius would be the best Emperor/Prince/whatever. 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. (The Dark Angels and the Smurfs covered the Blood Angels' path from the Traitor onslaught)

''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 <s>is</s> was on public display Lenin style. 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 also considered Dorn, Sanguinius, Ferrus and Russ as what he called "the dauntless few" feeling he'd win any war if fighting alongside any one of them and their legions, which shows a willingness to work alongside at least some of his brothers and respect for their abilities. 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. His greatness came from the fact that Guilliman never once wavered in dedication and service and created his Space Marines to be exemplars of the imperial ideal, not merely conquerors. This also had the (at the time unintended) side-effect of making them unlikely to become corrupted. (Although Astelan was also a traitor and a fallen angel, so he remains a questionable source.) Of course, the same could be said of the Blood Angels and Imperial Fists. Guilliman and his Ultramarines were the perfect <u>sons</u>, not necessarily perfect soldiers. Again, the same can be said of the Blood Angels and Imperial Fists except they also manage to be the perfect warriors/soldiers (respectively) as well as the perfect sons. 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 a quite a number of his brothers unlike Horus who was nearly universally respected, even by the more batshit insane Primarchs. Though apparently the Emperor also forgot Sanguinius existed. You know, the guy with all the best traits of the Emperor and none of his flaws, was revered by literally everyone, and was loved by every Astartes and every Primarch. He just had the slight issue of technically being a mutant with those wings and it seems that was the deal breaker.

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 a title "Warmaster" could only dream of, as he had ''both'' the command of the entirety of the Imperium's armed forces and civil institutions (remember, one of the reasons Horus being pissed off at dad was that he had no control over decisions made by High Lords of Terra). 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">
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 bureaucratic 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. Except Caesar and Octavius. For the latter case, he is the most revered one (''Augustus''), hence it is entirely ''reasonable'' for him to keep being dictator. And even then, he was smart enough to maintain power through indirect means so as to let the Senate think that they were in control, when in reality he owned all of the institutions that actually mattered when it came to governance.

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. And just like Augustus, he gave the official leadership position to Sanguinius to avoid accusations of being a deliberate separatist. Despite the fact that he was in the perfect position to assume power over the entire Imperium, he probably would have relinquished power to the Council of Terra after some sense of stability had returned (he was stabbed by Fulgrim before that moment came though). 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, Trajan, Cincinnatus, 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 some people insist he was the Primarch with the greatest mental capacity and adaptability, he struggled with lateral thinking and would frequently fail to see the flaws in his methods until explicitly shown the error of his ways. 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 and ensuring that no one person could control an entire Legion's worth of Space Marines, 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 little bitches. The Codex is now basically treated as infallible by the Ultramarines (at least the more blind fuck ones; there's at least [[Captain Titus|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 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 which 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 asshat 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. Abnett also doesn't make him a "master of all trades". The Khan is better at scouting operations, Russ is better at killing other Marines, Sanguinius has better people skills, etc. Abnett's Guilliman is a great administrator, better than any other Primarch, but '''not''' better than [[Your Dudes]] at what they're defined by.

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 (which was 10,000 years later, so they had a pretty good run relying on the Codex as strictly as they did).

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. On the other hand his characterisation since his return especially in the 2 novels by Guy Haley has been pretty well received by the fanbase. He's been lucky to survive his encounters with Magnus and Mortarion who both easily outmatched him and is deeply unhappy with the Imperium and the Emperor alongside supposed allies like the inquisition actively making his life difficult because their power is threatened. Pretty far removed from the mary sue spiritual liege of Ward's imagination, at least until GW, BL and/or Ward inevitable undo it all with bad writing (like recent article in White Dwarf about Indomitus Crusade where every logical loophole is patched with "but Guilliman was in charge, so it worked out").

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 upon. No [[Eldar|empire]], no matter how militarily powerful [[Dark Age of Technology|initially]], could maintain that strength forever given [[Slaanesh|the effects of corruption]] and inefficiency upon tax collection and military production, and civilian and military morale. It says something about most of the denizens of 4chan that so few of them have ever pointed out this simple fact (as in little of them have management experience, but hey, we're considering gamers here).

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

===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 significantly downplayed his flaws, though not as much as knee-jerk reactions made people fear. In Tempest Guilliman is "held by some as 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 very level-headed, one of the smartest and 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 and tries to make 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." Or at least trying to. This is further evidenced by his rules below where he's good at buffing his army, but not to the degree of [[Alpharius]] or [[Perturabo]] while as a warrior in a straight-up fight he only loses to Horus, Leman Russ, and Fulgrim''(not counting [[Lorgar|psychic]] [[Magnus the Red|interference]] or Primarchs with a [[Angron|bit of momentum behind them]])''.

In addition, Guilliman's Ultramarines during the Horus Heresy were one of the most disciplined of all the Legions, as well as by far the most numerous, the ones who prized intelligence above all to help them formulate the best battle plan, and with the best training/recruitment (rivaled only by the [[Dark Angels|I Legion]], whose training was faster but overall must have been less efficient in some way given the much greater number of Ultramarines(or the Lion just didn’t have reliable access to 500 individual worlds for recruitment)) not to mention being familiar with the less eccentric legions MO's and able to pull them off without any problems which had a lot to do with their rigid chain of command. The Imperial Fists were known for their interlocked shield walls, the Iron Hands for their steadiness under fire, the Iron Warriors for their willingness to accept casualties, the Salamanders for their courage in the face of overwhelming odds, and you can bet the Ultras learned from these aspects of all their ways of warfare. This isn't to say that the Ultramarines could do anything any other legion could do, but rather to say that they were *almost* as capable at any given task as any of their brother legions, which granted them much greater flexibility than most other legions. For example, if the [[World Eaters]] got into a campaign where the enemy could consistently avoid getting into melee, they'd be fucked. If the [[Night Lords]] got into battle with a fearless enemy, they'd be at a disadvantage. Ditto with the Alpha Legion and a smarter opponent, the Iron Warriors and an especially mobile opponent, etc. Due to the Ultramarine's discipline, diverse training, and expert planning, they ended up having a level of tactical flexibility matched only by a [[Sons of Horus|few]] [[Dark Angels|other]] [[Alpha Legion|armies]]. In any case, in Tempest Horus considers the Ultramarines as the greatest single military threat to Horus's rebellion. The books outright state 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, even before the Traitor Legions took massive losses on Isstvaan III.

A more generous explanation could be that since the books were written after the Heresy from an in-universe perspective, 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 Guilliman still retains some flaws. First, he has little in the way of a creative spark. Submit a novel idea to him and he'll adapt, optimize, expand, integrate and generally improve upon it; but he won't be the one coming up with said ideas on his own. For instance, after seeing the [[Iron Warriors]] deploy Tyrant Siege Terminators he realised [[Perturabo]]'s idea had a lot of merit and he developed an improved version of Cataphractii Terminator Armour equipped with additional sensors and augurs to make his Fulmentarus squads even more efficient at blowing shit up. Guilliman was the one to formalize the use of and optimally deploy Moritat, but he only conceptualised the very idea of using such irregular troops after getting his arse kicked in simulations by Corax who used said Moritat against him to throw his carefully laid battle-plans into disarray. 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 various ways after studying the merits and disadvantages of other designs. Furthermore, the Space Wolves were confirmed in Inferno to react more quickly to unexpected problems than Legions more ''"reliant on highly coordinated planning"''; which might as well call out the Ultramarines by name. This is shown on the tabletop with a rule that lets the opponent wrong-foot the Ultramarine army if the UM warlord is killed.

Second, you have his often blind faith in the assumption that his and therefore Ultramarine nobility and camaraderie will rub off on to other, less forward thinking legions, which was a direct contributor to his massive losses at the utterly disastrous [[Battle of Calth]]. ''Know No Fear'' makes a point to show numerous times that there were signs and hints all over the place of what was going to happen, ''right after'' the book makes a point to show Guilliman's incredible observational skills, almost outright stating that he really should have picked up on the disparate details. ''Tempest'' also points out that the Horus Heresy actually began almost a year prior to the Battle of Calth and that both the [[Word Bearers]] and [[World Eaters]] were already burning their way through the 500 Worlds of Ultramar before they even reached the Calth system. Guilliman ignored those signs, and practically delivered his legion to [[Lorgar]] on a silver platter, deliberately setting troop arrangements so that his men intermingled with the Urizen's. He thought that spending time together at the muster and again later, killing orks would be a bonding experience that would help the legions grow closer. It didn't, and not only did it not help, his troops being where they were gave the Word Bearers a MASSIVE advantage.

To Guilliman's credit, consider that a force with the advantage of surprise, was equipped with superior wargear ''(that the Warmaster made sure his traitors had)'', that had orbital and air supremacy, and had access to almost unlimited demonic hordes ambushed a force completely out of position and almost instantaneously cut off from their command structure. With ALL THOSE ADVANTAGES, the Word Bearers only achieved a 3:1 casualty ratio by the end of the battle, though the Ultramarines stellar performance under the circumstances did little to soothe the loss of almost half his legion, half a million Army and Auxilia as well as billions of civilians. It is perhaps no surprise that Imperial history records that Guilliman completely lost his temper and cool at Lorgar when the treachery was realised [[RAGE|(insert max troll face here)]], perhaps this was what allowed him to survive and fight immediately afterwards the near vacuum outside a ship for 11 hours without his helmet?

But lets be clear: Say what you want about him being a back-stabbing cheater, Lorgar delivered a master-stroke by being able to conceal months of earlier engagements from his enemy and then cause ~140,000 Ultramarines to be either killed or crippled in a single engagement; such a force of Space Marines was [[Salamanders|larger]] [[Raven Guard|than]] [[Imperial Fists|some]] [[Death Guard|entire]] [[Thousand Sons|legions]]. This is compounded by the fact that Lorgar completed all of this by ''only'' deploying 50,000 of his most disposable troops and leaving the battle under the command of [[Kor Phaeron]] so he could continue pillaging with [[Angron]]. In addition, the real goal of Calth was never to ''actually'' kill Guilliman or obliterate his legion but to create the Ruinstorm and force Guilliman [[Imperium Secundus|onto the defensive]] and starve Terra of resources that Guilliman would pull from elsewhere and help the Traitor cause in the long run. Lorgar might not have been anywhere near the same level as strategist or general as Guilliman in [[Manly Marines|even warfare]], but military victories won through surprise, misdirection and clever deployment are just as valid.

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===
{| class=wikitable
! Points || WS || BS || S || T || W || I || A || Ld || Sv
|-
| 400 || 7 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 6 || 4 || 10 || 2+/4++
|}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, 0.741 times after saves and FNP (5+), then IWND will take that down to 0.407 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**At this point Guilliman should switch to the Hand of Domination since he will inflict enough damage to stunlock Angron at Initiative 1.
**Guilliman Round 4 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 0.925 times after saves and FNP then IWND will take that down to 0.592 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman loses. There is no point can he overtake Angron's average damage output.

* 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-arm), 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 (with the Hand of Domination) 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 2.083 times, 1.0416 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 0.7083 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman Round 3 and thereafter: hits 3.333 times, wounds 2.778 times, 1.339 times after saves and IWND will take that down to 1.055 wounds at the start of the next turn.
**Guilliman easily wins this fight... theoritically
**Note: As usual, Konrad should 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). Even with Guilliman using the Hand of Domination, there is a chance Curze doesn't suffer any damage from it (31% when Guilliman is WS7/8 and 20% when he is WS9) so he will actually negate Preternatural Strategy between 37% and 31% of the time, which is enough to give Rob a run for his money or even kill him if the Widowmakers score more than a single wound.

* 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. That furry fucker was designed from the ground up to kill every Primarch in the entire game.

* Roboute Guilliman VS Jaghatai
**Jaghatai: hits 4 times, wounds 2 times, 1 wounds after saves, 0.5 wounds after the armour of reason AoR and IWND will take that down to 0.166
**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, but Jaghatai could use hit-and-run to negate Roboute's Preternatural Strategy, and unlike with Corax and Curze his 3++ gives him a reasonable chance of not being concussed. Guilliman will still probably win on average but it's closer than the above shows.

* 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===

[[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...'']

{{Topquote|[[Awesome|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.]]|Guilliman is back, and he wants to know what the fuck went so wrong with the Imperium.}}

The first Loyalist Primarch to come back to 40K, Lord Commander of the Imperium, clad in the Armour of Fate, a present from Cawl that brought him out of stasis. He wields his old gauntlet, the Hand of Dominion, with his "Bolter" (a gun that would put any Heavy Bolter to shame) now underslung and carries no less than the [[Emperor's Sword]].

Encompassing the Ultramarines philosophy, Guilliman is a talented jack of all trades, but he's no master-of-none.

With 9 wounds, he is just below the threshold allowing enemy units to target him if not the closest unit, even if he is a towering monster. With T6 and and 2+/3++, he's really hard to bring down with small arms fire (a successful Bolter shot only has 5% chance to wound him, a Lasgun 2.7%, and this is without taking into account accuracy) and his high invulnerable save allows him to tank stronger shots. Don't expect him to handle a Volcano Cannon, though. If he goes down, he comes back on a 4+ with D6 wounds, but unlike in 7th, this can only be done once per battle, even if the roll is failed. On small point games, you can use him as a fire magnet, at higher point you can be sure your opponent will do whatever is in his power to bring him down, so shield him accordingly. This will not be a waste as surrounding units will greatly be enhanced by his auras. As a Character he does benefits from the Honor Guard's protection, so you can mimic the "old" Victrix guard.

While away from the enemy, Guilliman can pump 3 S6 AP-1 W2 shots 24 inches away (6 at 12), bringing pain to light infantry and inflicting serious damage to multi-wound weak-save units such as Tyranid Warriors, but the -1 AP will not allow him to do more than token damages to heavily armored foes, so don't waste your shots on 2+ enemies or tanks. With his 2+ BS, rerolling any to-hit rolls and 1s to wound (as of the 2nd 8th edition codex) thanks to the XIII Primarch's rule, most of the shots will hit their target (84% of the time at rapid fire range) and if you choose your target wisely, most will wound too.

Guilliman will hit with the same accuracy and re-rolls in close combat, where he really shines. He can choose to split his 6 attacks between the Emperor's sword, striking at S8 AP-4 3 D with a chance on a to-wound roll of 6 to inflict an additional D3 mortal wounds, or S12 AP-3 3 D if he uses the Hand of Dominion. You'll almost always be using the Sword as up to T4 he wounds on a 2+, and up to T7 on a 3+, and you'll benefit from the higher AP and the chance to deal extra mortal wounds. (Combined with Guilliman's ability to reroll failed wounds, this makes wounding on a 5+ a lot less bad than you'd think, such that the Gauntlet is only better in edge cases: i.e. if the target has T9 or better, an armor save of 3+ or worse, AND no invulnerable save.) Coupled with his high armor saves, almost nothing in the game short of Knights, Magnus or Mortarion will beat him in close combat one on one, though he'll die a horrible death to squads of TH/SS Terminators and such. He is also not that great against hordes with morale boosts, as he has lost his Sweeping Strike ability, so make sure your other troops clean the path to help him focus on high value targets.

But as impressive as his martial skills are, Guilliman is depicted in the fluff as first and foremost a tactician, and he has the special rules to back this up.

First, as the Warlord in a battleforged army, he gives '''3''' additional command points, allowing to rack up easily 10+ command points even in small points games. His warlord trait plays more into his role as a beatstick and not a general (ironic that they gave Calgar the Adept of the Codex warlord trait, even though Guilliman WROTE THE DAMN THING). Nobility Made Manifest allows '''Ultramarines Infantry''' units (which means non-characters too) to heroically intervene at 6"

Second, he allows all Imperium units (not just Ultramarines, Imperium as a whole) within 12 inches to:

*Advance 1" further
*Charge 1" further
*Reroll ALL hit rolls of 1
*Reroll failed morale tests (although potentially ending with a worse result, so use at your own risk).

As the Ultramarines' Primarch, he also has a 6" bubble that grants them a re-roll for all failed rolls to hit and wound rolls of 1 (changed with the Ultramarine's supplement), which, as explained above, also applies to him.

He has one major flaw, though, he cannot ride any transport, as he's classified as a Monster and not an infantry unit for some reason, not even in a Mastodon or a Thunderhawk. Maybe he wasn't too keen on being dragged in the air, hanging on the Dreadnought grapple. He has no option to deepstrike either, so he's doomed to footslog, even though his high movement of 8 mitigate this a little. On the bright side on things, you can't buff your army while in a transport, so you didn't want to put him in a metal bawks anyway.

TL;DR: Guilliman is a monstrosity and point for point one the best units in the game, being at the same time resilient, fast, deadly in close combat, no slouch in shooting and a nice force multiplier for any Imperial Force.

In terms of the model, per GW's typical modus operandi lately, it's absurdly overdesigned to make things difficult for the recasters and chinamen of the world, showing that despite GW's consumer friendly steps as of late, pulling in money always comes above common sense or consistency. However, this type of over-designing does happen to favor the filthy heretic, as there have been plenty of bitchin conversions by chaos players, [[Ferrus Manus|lopping off his head]], replacing it with an appropriately sized ugly chaos faction head of their choosing, filing off the Smurf iconography, and then painting it with whatever grungy/fabulous colour scheme that looks passable, and presto! You now have yourself a possessed/empowered/favoured Chaos Lord!

==Nicknames==

Roboute has been given so many nicknames by /tg/ that, if we're being honest, they deserve their own <s>section</s> '''page''' at this point. His many nicknames include but are no means limited to:

*Bobby G String
*Robu (canon from the novel Dark Imperium: Plague War, no, seriously! - although he made it clear that he didn't like it)
*Robot Gridman
*Rowboat Girlyman
*Robust Girlyman
*Roman Gorillaman
*Rawbutt Girlyman
*Robobutt Gigatan
*Robo Beancounter
*Rampant Gullytan
*Roaring Gulag-man
*Robot Gigglytan
*Raw-Rigged Ginger-Fan
*Robot Gulliver
*Robo Git
*Robo Clint
*Robot Cunt
*Roberto Gilligan
*Roberto Guillermito
*Robust Gilligan
*Robit Ghillie Suit
*Reboot Gigabyte
*Robert Gullible
*Robert Güllemann
*Roberto Gūilé
*Roboot Girlymayne
*Robot Gorillaman
*Rawdog Gorillaman
*Robooty Guillotine
*Roobyboob Goobytube
*Robust Gigoloman
*Ripplebutt Giggleman
*Rawnut Jellyman
*Roman Gogillian
*Rusty the Gullible
*R. Gooliman, Esq.
*Robalybobaly Guilabywibbalyman
*Rowrowrowyourboat Gentlydownthestreamlyman
*Roblox Gullibullyman
*Rubbertree Girlyman
*Robo-ute Gillaman
*Rowboat Grillyman
*Romanov Enderman
*Reboot Gilligan
*Bobby McGuillicutty
*Bobby G.
*Big G
*Big Bobby G.
*Daddy G
*Roboute Guilliblastoma, ''WHO°IV'' Bringer of Cerebral Inflation
*Really Gay
*Rob Butthole
*Raw Booty Girlyman
*G Man
* Rabbit Guiltyman
* Benedict Cumberbatch
** Any variation of Benedict Cumberbatch
* Guillermo del Toro
* Rumbleboffin Counterpunch.
* Rodent Guillotine
* RoBOOTY G-Aeldari-man
* Every possible combination of the previous nicknames

*<s>Julius Caesar</s> Augustus ''in SPESS''
*Big Blue Daddy
*Papa Ultra Smurf
*Grandpa Smurf
*Rob
*T.S.Gracchus Getinthevan
*The Blooser
*The Blue One
*Ward's Ever Chosen Robart
*Your [[Spiritual Liege]]
* Big Blue
* Big Blue Bob
* Big Blue Bastardly Bob
* Big Blue Mary Sue
* Boss of the Bastard Blueberries
* Gary Sue
* Marty Stu
* Captain Imperium
* The real fake emperor
* The Empersonator
* [[Imperium Secundus|Emperor 2: Electric Boogaloo]]
*The Emperor 2: Electric ''Blue''galoo
* Ultraman (shares his name with Superman’s evil counterpart)
* THEE GREAT VIOLATOR (Due to his creation of the primaris marines)
* The grand Blueberry
* [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|The Greatest Little Derivative Pile of Blueberry Pudding Pop Fuckery That Has Ever Glazed The Surface Of This Shitty Little Galaxy]]

== Gallery ==
<center><gallery>
Image:Rowboat_Girlyman_Coronation.jpeg| Rowboat Girlyman's coronation with his Eldar waifu.
Image:Rowboat_Girlyman_LowRes.gif| Rowboat Girlyman's Coronation now in its animated glory.
Image:Astartesjealousy.jpg|Even Bobby G can be jealous of such fabulousness.
Image:WarCom-Thanksgiving.jpg|This isn't fanart, Warhammer Community are getting in on this.
Image:WH40K_-_z1iubpmuemx71.jpg|<s>Yvraine and Gman relationship isn't real but deep down we all know: That we want it to be real.</s> NO WE DON'T
</gallery></center>

{{Primarchs}}

[[Category:Imperial]]