Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

== The Ultramarines, Acting Chapter Master Titus, and the Primaris Initiative ==

tl;dr from the threads.

Titus started out a rather sheltered but good-natured child in Ultramar, groomed to join the Ultramarines. On a mission to free Forge World Graia from the Orks, Captain Sidonus decided to use the opportunity to field-test his two potential replacements, Titus and Leandros. Sidonus got killed by Nemeroth but named Titus his successor over the more senior Leandros due to his ability to think on his feet over blind adherence to the Codex Astartes. Leandros got Ultra-butthurt in response, Titus' warp resistance not helping anything.

After the Battle of Macragge, having seen the tyranids turn one of the most fortified worlds in the Imperium into an all-you-can eat buffet, Titus proposed the Primaris Initiative, a massive increasing Ultramar's military, in particular a massive increase of Space Marine chapters. A [[Second Founding]] of Space Marine chapters, if you will. Of course, these would be just normal space marines, not some kind of [[Primaris_Space_Marines|super nu-marines]].

Opponents of this idea have pointed out some massive issues with this proposal. First of all, Titus is talking about raising Space Marine chapters on a scale not seen since the Great Crusade. Space Marine chapters, in terms of geneseed and materiel, are not cheap. Between the proposed number of new chapters, spaceships, and  And instead of the cost being spread across the entire Imperium like with the Crusade, ''Ultramar'' is going to be taking the brunt of the costs. People outside Ultramar are going to see this as a [[Horus Heresy|power grab]], and those within Ultramar realize what it looks like and how it's going to tank their reputation. And even in the best case scenario you end up with an army of young hotheads with untested loyalty whom you ''may not be able to pay'', either in terms of money or in terms of provisions. Anyone with the slightest knowledge of history will know that this is generally a bad thing.

To his credit Titus knows this, and is fully willing to admit it. [[Grimdark|The choice is sacrificing most of Ultramar's prosperity in a gamble to save what's left of it or definitely losing all of it by continuing with the status quo. Both options are bad.]]

Several of the other Ultramar-based chapters, in particular the Novamarines (who as one of the oldest descendant chapters are more willing to speak up and lead the charge), are getting increasingly concerned about Titus. The First Founding chapters are generally treated as first among equals, but several of the descendant chapters of the Ultramarines are increasingly thinking about taking the vox away from the the Ultramarines, out of fear that Titus is heading down the same path as Lugft Huron about a millenium before.

''"And after the enemy is beaten, what then? We will be guardians of ashes and dust. We will have starved our own worlds and people in the name of saving them. We will have burned our very culture and government, our history and way of life for 10,000 years on the pyre of war to fuel your ambitions. And you will be lord of a new Legion in all but name, answering to no one. You are not a Primarch, Titus."''<br>
''"And if we do nothing, Bardan? We will be guardians of nothing. Our culture, our history, our PEOPLE will matter for nothing, because they will be biomass in the stomach of a Tyranid hive ship. That will be the price of inaction."''<br>
- Exchange between Chapter Master Bardan Dovaro of the Novamarines and Acting Regent Titus of the Ultramarines, recorded on the floor of the Great Hall of the Senate on Macragge

The Emperor is inadvertently making the situation worse. He agrees with Titus' idea (and may have come up with something similar on his own), but given his general reluctance to take charge unless necessary he doesn't want to come down making decrees like a god. He wants mankind to save itself and if someone wants to champion the cause on their own he is more than willing to sit back and help from the shadows. As a result, he hasn't been doing much but discretely sending resources to Titus as well as kicking [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Belisarius Cawl|Belisarius Cawl]] Titus' way. If he had said "good idea, lets do that but spread the costs across the Imperium", there would be problems, but not nearly the amount of backlash or freaking out due to a Survivor Civilization potentially going bankrupt.

'''[[Marneus Calgar]]''' - Beaten into a coma by the Swarmlord with its bare hands. Still Chapter Master in name, for the simple reason that he isn't dead. Hooking him up to a dread won't work because it's his state of consciousness that's the problem, not his body, but there is still hope. Round two with Venerable Dreadnaught Calgar versus the Swarmlord might be a thing for any post-999.M41 scenario.
'''[[Severus Agemman]]''' - Captain of the First Company, got promoted there in the aftermath of the Battle for Macragge. Titus' biggest opponent within the Ultramarines (potentially the Mark Antony to Titus' Octavian), on account of having been away on other business when the Battle of Macragge happened and therefore having not gotten a taste of what [[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#The_Swarmlord|MAXIMUM TYRANID]] looks like. However, he's not motivated by blind hatred like Leandros, and is actually rather reasonable (his arguments against the Primaris Initiative being similar to those listed above). He's not salty that Titus got promoted above him, but he knows Titus isn't infallible and is much more willing to speak his mind due to the two and feels that someone needs to put the brakes on his crazy train.<br>
'''[[Cato Sicarius]]''' - Captain of the Second Company, got promoted after most of the people above him were eaten or beaten into a coma (indeed, he saved Calgar from becoming the former after he became the latter, though that was mostly him distracting the [[Swarmlord]] and running like hell). Arrogant and egotistical, but the general idea seems to be that he's leaning ''Pro-Titus'' of all things. Sicarius may be a glory hound, but he's smart enough to realize that becoming Chapter Master won't get him what he wants. He wants the power and glory of rank but not the responsibility. Cato likes to pick fights and beat on people who diss the people he likes. Chapter Masters don't get to do that, not without repercussions. A Chapter Master isn't allowed to throw themselves in harms way because he's usually considered too valuable to the chain of command. A Chapter Master gets in a diplomatic incident and he gets in big trouble for it. Champions, on the other hand, are supposed to throw themselves in harms way, are held to much laxer standards, and indeed their job is to pick fights when someone's honor is insulted (as in canon where he intimidated the shit out of an Inquisitor who insulted Tigurius). He's not even ''supposed'' to be a captain, he got promoted there because the Ultramarines had a shortage of veteran in the chain of command, not that he's complaining.<br>
'''[[Nobledark_Imperium_Notable_People#Librarian_Tigurius|Tigurius]]''' - See link. On the broad scale of "Team Titus" and "Team Anti-Titus", he's officially "Team Can't We Just Talk This Out And Get Along (and not eaten by tyranids)". However, given his introverted and socially awkward personality, he's unlikely to play peacemaker anytime soon. And he knows the level of threat the tyranids represent.<br>
'''Leandros''' - [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaius_Cassius_Longinus| Captain of the metaphorical anti-Titus fanclub]. Salty that Titus got promoted to Second Captain over him despite his senority. Flipped his lid when he got promoted to Acting Chapter Master, which he considers to be too much of a coincidence to happen twice to be due to chance (to be fair, the entire First Company was eaten to a man by tyranids and Calgar was put out of commission, so Titus was the highest ranking individual left standing). Is convinced Titus is some kind of sorcerer or otherwise Chaos corrupted due to his percieved luck. More than willing to whip up a shitstorm over it. Titus delendo est.<br>
'''Chaplain Cassius''' - An old soul, officially too old to care about being tactful anymore (see below). Frequently needles Titus and bugs him for warp resistant foster grandchildren. Described as Space Marine Chaplain Brian Blessed.<br>
'''[[Uriel Ventris]]''' - Split into two characters, Uriel Ventris the elder (who was around in the days of Por'O M'arc's voyage) and Uriel Ventris the younger (who is his descendant, still alive). Ventris the Elder was the one who accidentally allowed the Nightbringer's husk to escape on Pavonis. The details haven't been figured out yet, but it was a tactical misjudgement on Uriel's part and there were some general suggestions. The de Valtos Cartel was tempted by the whispers of the Nightbringer of power in exchange for its freedom, and was mining its surface as a pretense to free it. When the Ultramarines were sent to investigate with Uriel the Elder at the head they essentially got held hostage at gunpoint until the de Valtos Cartel could finish the job. Uriel, figuring what the Cartel was brainwashed by was some super-Nosferatu, was of the mindset “All right, go ahead, be stupid. When the screaming starts, you know where to find me". It turned out to be the central shard of the Nightbringer and the third largest piece of a C'tan in the galaxy, which was way beyond the Ultras' ability to handle. Despite all the good he did in his long career it was one of the last things he did and now that is all he is now remembered for. Much of Ventris the Younger's career has been showing that he is not his ancestor.<br>
'''[[Warhammer_40,000:_Space_Marine|Mira Nero]]''' - Not an Astartes, but worth mentioning here. Is currently whipping the Ultramar PDF and guard regiments up to Cadian standard. Is in an odd and somewhat frowned upon relationship with Titus.

On the one hand it's illegal for Ultramarines to get married, a law put in place by Guilliman's grandson for good reason. On the other hand the reasons for that law are considered obsolete and it's only kept for historic traditional reasons and at least half the chapter have unofficial wives. It's a marriage with all the religious ceremonies but none of the state legal proceedings. Half the time a chapter Chaplain is the one performing the ceremony and then conveniently forgetting about the whole thing.

The real scandal is that she is a soldier and so is he and that is very much frowned upon by almost everyone but not, oddly enough, by Chaplain Ortan Cassius.

Ortan Cassius has reached the point in life where he absolutely does not give a fuck what other people think. Leandros can quote the Codex all day long but Cassius is also word perfect in not just the Codex but all the surrounding supplementary documentation and histories and the published works of the other Primarchs and by god/s does he let Leandros know this. Cassius fucking hates Leandros even more than Titus is learning to and should Calgar ever manage to die would vote for the chapters dissolution before voting for Leandros to take the high office. He has made no secret of this and it has gone on official record that Leandros is a "rote learning Tosser".

Although Cassius does support Titus the Acting CM often wishes that he didn't. He keeps demanding that Titus get married and stop hogging those delicious Anti-Chaos genes for the good of the species.

However, between Titus' sheltered upbringing, naivete regarding women, and the fact he is in a bit of self-denial about his feelings (because the people he cares about tend to die), the two of them have just barely reached the hand-holding stage, despite their relationship being one of the worst kept secrets since the [[Nobledark_Imperium_Member_States#Watchers_In_The_Dark|Watchers in the Dark]]. By this rate they will finally get to actually having children 200 years after the tyranids sweep through Ultramar. By contrast, Mira is less awkward in terms of personal relationships.

Cassius also keeps insinuating that Mira and her surviving soldiers were adopted into the Ultramar Regiments more so that Titus could keep Mira close to him than any practical concerns, a thing that only offers him more rope by which to be hanged in the eyes of Leandros.

Titus has always maintained that the adoption and assimilation of the Cadians into the military training institutions of Ultramar is to facilitate needed reforms into the Ultramar soldiery as part of the Legio Primaris project. His intention is to have the space marines backed up by the best soldiers that Ultramar can provide, to that end they must be trained by the best soldiers he can find. The best unaugmented soldiers he has ever seen are the surviving Cadians of the 203rd so he pulled strings to get them transferred to being Ultramarine Auxiliary forces so that he could place them where he saw fit. Mira, as their commander, is the keystone of the project and orchestrates the whole thing from Macragge answering only to Titus and the Ultramar Senate. This necessitates that she spend a lot of her time in the Fortress of Hera or the city of Magna Civitas, two places that Titus has to frequent when not out on campaign. This is purely coincidental he tells himself, never quite believing it.

Despite his questionable motivations the Cadian Doctrine being instilled in the new generation of soldiers is proving to be extremely effective. The aristocracy of Ultramar is unhappy about this "cultural contamination" and "barbarian influences". Titus, ever the diplomat, called them out on that and told them in no uncertain terms that it was their influence peddling and decadence that had lead to the decline in standards that was making these reforms necessary.