Editing Imperium Secundus (section)

===of Guilliman===
Imperium Secundus' legacy is a source of [[skub|discussion]]; it can be interpreted as Guilliman either being [[spiritual liege|an incredible visionary]] or a [[heresy|closet traitor wanting power for himself]]. It was called the "Unremembered Empire" for a reason: [[retcon|officially it didn't actually happen]] according to the history texts, as to do so would portray Guilliman as a traitor against his father.

However, Guilliman's influence on the Imperium after the [[Horus Heresy]] is hard to miss; he is widely regarded as the most influential of Primarchs on the Imperium, despite the fact that he did very little to protect it (and possibly even hindered it by accident) during its darkest hour.

There remains the interpretation that Guilliman's motives were not entirely sincere and that the Emperor, Malcador and the Lion were right: that Guilliman was only interested in building his OWN Empire, irrespective of the Emperor's involvement in it, which is where the problem lies. This is also supported by the the views of his brother [[Rogal Dorn]] who had been present at the final battle, returned his dying father to the Golden Throne and actually HEARD his final orders. Considering the Emperor already had knowledge of the war's outcome (read Outcast Dead), he should have prepared his own plan for its aftermath, therefore his orders to Dorn and [[Jaghatai Khan]] should have at least involved some sort of planning for the eventuality, unless the Emperor simply revealed what Guilliman was in the process of doing and was going to run with that anyway. Disagreements between them very nearly sparked another civil war about how the Imperium and its military should be run. That said, recent revelations have shown that he had been able to make it to Terra but elected to stay behind to fend off the Traitor fleets surrounding it so Sanguinius could fulfill his destiny.

Additionally, there remains the fact that 10,000 years later, his own sons are the foremost protectors of the Imperium of Man making up 50-60% of the whole Astartes population and have marginalised the others into either conformity (via the [[Codex Astartes|Codex]]) or obscurity (by denying them descendant chapters). With the Ultramarines Chapter having the [[Spiritual Liege|singular honour]] of being the most respected of Space Marine chapters, who set the standard [[Matt Ward|for all other Astartes to aspire to]], it's not a difficult set of circumstances to arrange when your father was the one to initially draft the policies that everyone conforms to. History is written by the victors, and Guilliman was the closest thing to a "[[skub|winner]]" in the Horus Heresy. It is even said on the Ultramarines Chapter Banner: ''[[retcon|"Our Presence Remakes the Past"]]''

Despite all of this, it could also be said that Guilliman took the longer view and created an Imperium [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|not ruled by Emperors, but by men]], with the [[High Lords of Terra]] in the Emperor's place.

However, immediately after unveiling his [[Codex Astartes]] which affirmed that no person, Primarch or otherwise, should be able to wield such power of the Legions, Guilliman '''DID''' eventually achieve lordship over the Imperium, becoming '''Lord Commander of the Imperium''' (which was essentially Warmaster in all but name) and particularly at odds with the stated intention of restricting forces by achieving oversight of ALL armed forces. The position was used up until M32 and subsequent holders were even referred to by the title of ''"Lord Guilliman"'' (though the later holders seemed to have significantly reduced influence, with the last one before the War of the Beast being little more than a figurehead).

Following Guilliman's resurrection in the last year of the 41st Millennium, his first instinct is to secure his 500 worlds and re-establish the stability of Ultramar (and later on he would choose to begin expanding it further) without actually considering the Imperium at large, once again retreading the familiar ground of Imperium Secundus. But in a surprisingly subtle display of character growth, following the infliction of a Nurgle plague that only he can cure by his mere proximity to the afflicted, Guilliman recognizes the trap that would tie him to Ultramar. He refuses to commit the same mistake of the past and abandons his Five-Hundred Worlds to the care of [[Marneus Calgar]] and sets course for Terra. So at least he now acknowledges that Imperium Secundus was a mistake.

Shortly after his revival, Guilliman ordered the Ultramarines' Library of Ptolemy to be sealed off with entry forbidden on pain of death. Guilliman claimed the gesture was symbolic of how there would be no place for learning in the dark days they lived in, but what he didn't say was that he wanted to make sure nobody could find evidence of the Imperium Secundus, which he is still deeply ashamed of despite being the only person in a position to know it existed in the first place. It may be possible that he blames himself for the Emperor's mortal wounding as a result of his flawed assumptions. Although since the library’s contents have probably been copied countless times over the millennia and the Ruinstorm is an excuse the Imperium would easily accept, either he’s trying a futile and pointless cover-up or there is something much darker he’s trying to hide (or he set up a sucker bait for anyone trying to dig up dirt to be dissuaded or get themselves killed).

That being said, when he reached Terra, he resumed the position of '''Lord Commander of the Imperium''' following a visit to the Emperor and forcibly replaced High Lords of Terra with candidates of his own choosing, claiming a direct mandate from the Emperor that no-one besides the Custodes can verify. Politically expedient and effective? Yes, this behaviour retains all the hallmarks of a dictator. On the other hand, Luna had been attacked by the forces of [[Magnus the Red]] and shortly afterwards ''Terra itself'' was invaded by the daemonic forces of [[Khorne]], yet the High Lords were still desperately plotting behind closed doors to keep control of the Imperium ''away'' from Roboute Guilliman because of their fear of losing control, considering him and the other Primarchs to have been "fratricidal lunatics" and utterly failing to realise how the Imperium was going to shit around them. It turns out the plotting of the High Lords was one of the outcomes that [[Abaddon]] had been hoping for since he had tried to move the Cadian Pylons to planets around Terra to calm the warp and isolate the Sol system; it was only the breakout by a small force of Custodians and Sisters of Silence that showed the error. Since then, Guilliman has taken control and has indeed tried to push reforms meant to make the Imperium a better place for everyone, but opposition from the Inquisition and other influential organizations has made such changes slow in coming. Eventually he’ll lose his patience and they’ll be...”reminded” that he’s a motherfucking Primarch. Of course if he’d set up the War Council and High Lords separately ruling like Roman Consuls (without swapping roles) and simply had the Master of the Administratum act as a sort of president bridging the two councils, none of these problems would have existed in the first place or at least too minor to be honest impediments to the Imperium.

In a stunning show of irony, it was at this time that a gigantic Warp rift began to grow and effectively cut the Imperium in half, so now Guilliman will experience his ill-fated experiment's effects on the Imperium proper firsthand. Odds are he's not going to be happy if he learns the Tyranid invasions are technically his fault as well.

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