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{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Ultramarines
|Name = Ultramarines
|Heraldry = [[Image:Smurfpauldron.jpg|center|140px]]
|Heraldry = [[File:Smurfpauldron.jpg|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "Courage and Honour!" and "We March for Macragge!"
|Battle Cry = "Courage and Honour!" and "We March for Macragge!"
|Number = 13
|Number = XIII
|Founding = 1st Founding
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = N/A
|Original Name = War-Born
|Successor Chapters = Too many
|Successor Chapters = Roughly 65% of all Chapters. Allegedly. However, a lot of those don’t know who their Primarch is or are very different from Guilliman. Generally, most post-Heresy loyalist chapters and traitor warbands claim Ultramarines as parent Chapter.
|Chapter Master = [[Marneus Calgar]]
|Chapter Master = [[Marneus Calgar]]
|Primarch = [[Rowboat Girlyman]]
|Primarch = [[Roboute Guilliman]]
|Homeworld = Macragge
|Homeworld = [[Macragge]]
|Specialty = Being mediocre
|Specialty = Logistics. Otherwise a jack of all trades. Being the [[Mary Sue|creator's pet.]] Obsessed with strategy, tactics and [[Codex Astartes|discipline.]] Basically Romans IN SPESS!!
|Strength = 1000 Marines
|Strength = Above 1000 Marines
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Blue, white & gold
|Colours = Ultramarine Blue, white & gold (For the most famous Second Company. Other Companies use different colors)
}}
}}
[[Image:UltramarinesRT.jpg|thumb|right|Fig.1.1: A Smurf.]]
{{Topquote|Battles are won by [[World Eaters|slaughter]] and [[Codex Astartes|maneuver]]. The greater the [[Creed|general]], the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter.|Winston S. Churchill}}
The '''Ultramarines''' are a chapter of [[Space Marines]], probably the most famous and well-known (both within the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe and without). [[Games Workshop]] considers the Ultramarines their chapter of choice, and the Ultramarines represent the standard upon which most other Space Marine chapters are based. They have an easily recognisable blue-with-gold-trim colour scheme - the blue colouration, coupled with the small size of the minis, has lead them to be nicknamed "Smurfs" by some. A squad of Ultramarines are the protagonists of the recently released 40k-based move (coincidentally titled "Ultramarines").
{{topquote|Our Presence Remakes the Past!|The Banner of Macragge}}
[[Image:Ultramarines.jpg|thumb|right|Cockmongler and Happy Negro, the typical Ultramarines .]]
{{topquote|...And then we won.|2=[https://youtu.be/mabM64rAd4k?t=232 Marneus Calgar, after nearly every battle involving the Ultramarines]}}


The [[Primarch]] of the Ultramarines was [[Roboute Guilliman]], and it was he who wrote the famous Codex Astartes after the events of the [[Horus Heresy]], prescribing each Space Marine chapter to a mere thousand warriors to ensure that no one man would ever command the loyalty of a entire Space Marine legion again. Many, but not all, of the other Space Marine legions adopted the Codex and split up into multitudes of smaller chapters, and most Space Marine chapters today follow the practices found within it. Because they are an extremely successful and well-established chapter, and their gene-seed remains remarkably pure, it is the variety most commonly used to found new Space Marine chapters. Roboute Guilliman himself was mortally wounded by a poisonous attack from the traitor Primarch [[Fulgrim]], and he has been kept in stasis by the Ultramarines for thousands of years, where many claim that his wound is slowly healing (which is technically impossible, but you never know).
The '''Ultramarines''' (More commonly known as Ultrasmurfs) are a chapter of [[Space Marines]], probably the most famous and well-known and mincy (both within the [[Warhammer 40,000]] universe and without). [[Games Workshop]] considers the Ultramarines their chapter of choice, and the Ultramarines represent the standard upon which most other Space Marine chapters are based but strive to be different from as they are so mincy. Why Games Workshop would want a Space Marine chapter whose symbol is a <s>toilet seat</s> <s>repulsive reverse vagina</s> <s>upside down Omega</s> <S>upsilon</S> <s>horseshoe</s> [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Near-close_back_rounded_vowel International Phonetic Alphabet transcription for "uhh..."] ('''℧''') as their go-to chapter is beyond us. They have an easily recognizable blue-with-gold-trim colour scheme that the [[Thousand Sons]] decided to rip off post-heresy (after the Newcrons ripped off ''their'' Egyptian motif.) Of course technically that's only the second company, but who ever heard of an Ultramarine player not painting his army blue and gold? The blue colouration, coupled with the small size of the minis, has lead them to be nicknamed "Smurfs" by <s>some</s> everyone. It's a very, very old joke however, and it was never particularly funny even when the boys in blue were at their most insufferably Wardian. [[Rick Priestley]] was originally inspired to promote the Ultramarines heavily in publications of White Dwarf after a dream he had whilst staying around a friends house in which he claims [[What|the miniatures began speaking to him]], this part allegedly had a role in his eventual dismissal from [[Games Workshop]] in 2010.


The Ultramarines are a very popular chapter in the general 40k fandom, but are widely hated by many denizens of [[/tg/]]. This may initially have been due to their popularity - the Space Marines in general suffer something of a backlash from fa/tg/uys because of their overwhelming popularity with the annoying young children that infest the hobby, and the Ultramarines are the most popular of them all - but of recent editions the blatant favouritism displayed by certain Games Workshop writers towards the chapter have earned them considerable ire, especially from fans of other Space Marine chapters that get slagged off in the process. This is mainly the fault of [[Matthew Ward]], responsible for the latest Ultramarines codex, which is full of ridiculous fanboyism and claims that every chapter strives to be like the Ultramarines and that the ones who don't are clearly aberrants who are dying out (this certainly comes as news to chapters like the [[Black Templars]] and [[Space Wolves]], who were doing perfectly fine the last time they checked).
A squad of Tactical Marines are the protagonists of the 40k-based CGI movie surprisingly titled "[[Ultramarines:The Movie|Ultramarines]]". It's not bad ''per se'' ([[Dan Abnett]] did some of the writing, although the fact that it was only "some" shows) but could have been [[Skub|better]].


Unfortunately for the Ultramarines, some aspects of their history from earlier editions are fairly well entrenched and can't really be changed now. This includes Roboute Guilliman falling hook, line and sinker for a diversionary trick that took him and the Ultramarines to the opposite side of the galaxy when Horus decided to launch his rebellion at Terra, and the entire Ultramarines 1st Company being wiped out by [[Tyranid]]s during a holding action during the Battle of Macragge. Had Matt Ward been responsible for writing these parts of history, they'd probably have seen right through the clumsy deceptions of the traitor legions and Roboute Guilliman himself would have shown up to save the Emperor after Horus mortally wounded him, and had a Terminator squad single-handedly hold off the entirety of the Tyranid siege on Macragge.
Also, their pre-Heresy culture and appearance was basically the Romanized gothic tribes from near the end of the Roman Empire. So, they still had their manly barbarian on combined with strict discipline and coordination. Currently, though, they’re just straight up Roman. Interestingly, the Space Wolves back then were basically the pre-Romanized tribes.


==In Bygone Days==
==Overview==
[[Image:Ultraknights.jpg|thumb|left|Ultrmarines, from the days of [[Awesome]].]]
[[File:NroL23W.jpg|left|350px|thumb|All said and done, the Ultries can be badass.]]
[[User Talk:Jaimas|This]] grizzled [[Neckbeard]] recalls a time when they weren't retarded or hated.  
The Ultramarines are perhaps the closest to what many would consider a 'modern' military among the Adeptus Astartes. Strategy, planning and the minimization of casualties is the basis of any Ultramarine battle-plan and their central concept is that of a well drilled, immaculate army of soldiers who execute their duty with professionalism and competence. [[Alpha Legion|"Information is victory"]] is essentially the Ultramarine way, more so than [[Alpha Legion|most]] [[Raven Guard|other]] Chapters. Though they are much more relaxed with regards to discipline than the [[Red Scorpions|Forge World's favoured]], or [[Hammers of Dorn| those other guys]]. Even before they had reunited with their Primarch, it had been noted that the XIIIth Legion (then called the War Born) was strongly inclined towards the adoption of carefully thought out battle plans, an established chain of command, and an aversion to inflicting collateral damage. These tendencies were intensified further by their extensive study and practice of the [[Codex Astartes]], which covers a very broad range of battlefield situations and doctrines to live by. Thanks to each and every one of them training and living by it, their companies operate like a smoothly functioning combat machine with every unit functionally interlocking with every other. However, as much as this by-the-book discipline was their strength, it is often also, like the real-life ancient Roman Legions, their weakness, since the few situations that the Codex Astartes did not prepare them for tended to catch them flat-footed, lacking the flexibility to properly respond. More accurately, no Marine knows the whole Codex as it is too vast for even their minds. Each learns different parts of it. This means that while the whole Codex can be used for any situation, commanders don’t have all the pieces to the puzzle. The initial Tyranid invasion and the [[Necrons|Damnos incident]] exemplify such situations, where the unconventional nature of their enemy nearly led to their defeat. It doesn't matter how smoothly your forces function if you don't actually have a way to win the battle.


Before the time of stupid - before the thrice-cursed [[Matt Ward]].
That being said, they are extremely good at adapting to a threat once the initial shock has passed. In the aftermath of their near-defeat to the Tyranids, the Chapter would go on to crush Hive Fleet Kraken as a coherent invasion force as well as create an entire unit dedicated to fighting this particular threat (Almost as if they are a chapter that is protected by a [[Plot armour|mystical]] armour), called the Tyrannic War Veterans. These specialists would become highly sought after by the Deathwatch due to their experience and knowledge and was even augmented by survivors from [[Scythes of the Emperor|other Chapters]] that suffered the wrath of the Tyranids. During the Horus Heresy, an entire force of 1000 Ultramarines was decimated the initial Night Lord of invasion of Sotha. Despite being caught off guard at first due to their unfamiliarity with the Night Lord's unconventional tactics, they began to adapt fast to their enemy's fighting style and by the end of the battle, achieved a near 20-1 kill ratio over their traitorous cousins. Although they may be weak to a new enemy or new tactics, they have a superb reactivity once they have the information they need.


There was an actual fanbase for this chapter once, one that once held deep reverence for the Ultramarines - not because of idiotic Matt Ward fluff, but because they were honest-to-goodness "Joe Everyman" of Space Marines. Many players who stuck with Marines got their start with the Ultramarines, and there was ample fluff of the chapter taking its lumps and fighting on, like men - Maccrage, Black Reach, and more. Hell, even [[Dawn of War|Winter Assault]] harkened back to these simpler times, back when the Ultramarines were worthy of respect and whilst /tg/ simply disliked them before, it was mostly because of the population of newblets that arrived, and not because the [[fluff]] was [[Derp|retarded]] and portrayed them as SECOND TO TEH [[Emprah|EMPRAH]]. Armies like Matt Hudson's were examples of what an actually ''good'' Ultramarines group with deep fluff centered around every victory and loss could be like. Players reminisced over the Ultras because they were, for many, their starting army for 40K.
They’re not warriors or knights, but soldiers; a professional fighting force dedicated to defending the 500 Worlds of Ultramar and serving the interests of the larger Imperium beyond. A standing army that is the byproduct of a prosperous Star Empire to which they owe their existence. This is seen in their combat doctrine. They don’t have any specializations themselves because they are supposed to adapt to whatever situation presents itself and act accordingly. They are a fluid and malleable fighting force that is supposed to assess the situation, gain every scrap of intelligence/battle data they can, and then change themselves into whatever is required to get the job done; be it a blunt hammer or a precision blade. That being said, they do still have particular units which specialize at one thing or another. For instance, while the average Ultramarine will probably lose a duel to an average Dark Angel, the Invictus Suzerians can hold their own against even the best of the Lion's sons. By that same token however, a Suzerian won't out-snipe a Raven Guard Mor'Deythan. If not for being a bit too hard into the "honor and glory" thing, and being a bit too by-the-book, they would basically be [[Reasonable Marines]].


The Ultramarine's central concepts were that of a well drilled, immaculate army of warrior-monks who executed their duty with professionalism and competence. "By the book, no mistakes," was the Ultramarine way. In part this came because of their extensive study and practice of the Codex Astartes, which covered a very broad range of battlefield situations and doctrine to live by.  Thanks to each and every one of them training and living by it, their companies operated like a smoothly functioning combat machine with every unit functionally interlocking with every other. However, as much as this by-the-book discipline was their strength, it was also their weakness, since the few situations that the Codex Astartes did not prepare them for tended to catch them flat-footed, lacking the flexibility to properly respond.  The initial Tyranid invasion was one such situation, and presumably new doctrine had to be written for dealing with them. Putting it differently, they had weaknesses to balance out their strengths, and ''actual character development'', something [[Matt Ward|this faggot]] gets the vapors over.
The [[Primarch]] of the Ultramarines is [[Roboute Guilliman]] (aka Robot Girlyman and about a thousand other highly appropriate names: Big Bobby G, Rowboat Gillman, The BIG RG, Rawbutt Girlyman , The Great Papa Smurf, God-Emperor of smurfs Ex. Ex.) and it was he who wrote the (in?)famous [[Codex Astartes]] after the events of the [[Horus Heresy|Daddy Issue Invasion]], prescribing each Space Marine chapter to a mere thousand warriors to ensure that no one man would ever command the loyalty of an entire Space Marine legion again. At least, that was the plan, but Roboute Guilliman himself never got to see it come to light, as he was [[Battle of Thessala|mortally wounded]] by a poisonous attack from his bro, the Traitor Primarch [[Fulgrim]], and he had been kept in stasis by the Ultramarines for thousands of years, only being revived through the actions of [[Belisarius Cawl|Archmagos Cawl]] and the [[Ynnari]] ten thousand years later (Working with Xenos? HERESY!).


There was a time where the Ultramarines were frankly more human, showing both the strengths and weaknesses of humanity all the stronger. They lost members to Chaos, and groups of their forces undertook penitence crusades. There was battles they lost, such as against the [[Necron]]s. They held Maccrage, but with a staggering toll in lives. They defeated the [[Alpha Legion]], but fell prey to the trap set by said legion and paid the price for Guilliman's hubris, something that Guilliman himself felt immense guilt for. They were ''fallible'' before Matt Ward got involved, and they were more characterful for it, as it made their victories ''that much more inspiring''.
The Ultramarines base their ideals upon the teachings of super-Ultra Smurf daddy, who ended up on a neo-Roman planet and soon adopted their way of thinking. They believe in individual strength to strengthen the whole ([[Chaos|and not for the betterment of one self]]), and in following the rules, however strict they might be. This way, order is maintained in all things. Courage is, naturally, also a big thing to them, since it goes with the idea of the individual working to better the whole. All this means that the Ultramarines are very, ''very'' good at doing their job, as long as they are prepared for it and works alongside the rest of their Chapter, but tend to be rather stumped when a situation which their planning and reasoning can't immediately deal with, comes up. When such situations do occur, such as the First Tyrannic War, they tend to have to take a bit of time to adapt. Being an army of mini-Guillimans, an elucidating example of their tendencies can be gleaned from a set of wargames that Guilliman had with Corax back in the halcyon days. Corax, who was one of the Imperium's best tacticians, beat Guilliman in three battlefield scenarios in which he outmaneuvered Guilliman through the use of Moritats and ad-hoc civilian saboteur squads. Guilliman, who initially hadn't considered the use of either unit due to them being so unorthodox, caught on to their usefulness after the three defeats. Once he'd gotten Corax's number, Corax never beat him again. Corax himself said of the games: "I won battles against him, but never a war." That's basically the Ultramarines in a nutshell; you may win some battles against them with unorthodox tactics and imagination. But odds are they are going to figure you out, and once they do, you are in a lot of trouble.


The Ultramarines players that actually existed before Matt Ward were rarely given much more than mild indifference from /tg/ in the past. There is thus no one who hates their fluff in the new edition more than those who were long-term fans and players of the Ultramarines. Matt Ward's fluff was ''so'' bad, in fact, that it caused players to abandon the Ultras in favor of other Marine chapters, such as the [[Imperial Fists]], [[Salamanders]], and [[Raven Guard]] (the latter of which Matt Ward seems to have [[Butthurt|a personal vendetta against]]). Other players were so alienated that they either turned to [[Chaos]] or stopped playing Marines entirely.
[[File:SpacemarineGettingArmoured.PNG|500px|right|thumb|Ehh... Could you get your ass off the altar, Claudius?]]


[[Matt Ward|Thus is the hatred brought about by the hubris of one man]].
The Ultramarines are also notorious for disregarding much of the wider Imperium in favour of their own worlds, the famed ''500 Worlds of Ultramar''. This has earned them much hate from in-universe factions, who don't like how they essentially go "Screw you guys, we'll just make our own, sort of working empire! [[meme|With blackjack! And hookers!]]"; One of Fulgrim's [[Iterator|iterators]], who had the ear of powerful members of Terran court, once said that ''"The Lord of Ultramar sees little else besides the primacy of his own culture."'', and also Malcador and the Emperor were not surprised when Guilliman chose to defend his 500 worlds rather than get his hands dirty with the Horus Heresy. Which is, of course, the complete opposite of Ultramar’s “protect the greater whole” philosophy, but GW has always been stupid like that. Many elegen/tg/entlemen dislike this as well, since it sort of makes the Ultries seem they know better than the rest of the Imperium, while still being lauded as being some of the most honourable Chapters in the entire galaxy.


==Quotes to Rage By==
In the Ultramarines' defense however, they're probably the most successful space marine chapter in the galaxy, considering that they defend and maintain hundreds of worlds, and those worlds are some of the most prosperous, meritocratic worlds in the entire Imperium. Plus, the Ultramarines have an affinity with the common people, as they believe that it's their sworn duty to protect the innocent, like the Salamanders but not quite to the same degree. Even with their duties in Ultramar, the Chapter still sends warriors out into the wider galaxy, making significant contributions at [[Armageddon]] and at [[Ultramarines Honour Company|Cadia during the]] [[Black Crusade|13th black crusade]]. That said, their propensity to focus on defending Ultramar (alongside other Chapters in or near Ultramar) could also be the simple pragmatism of recognizing that a thousand (or a few thousand with the nearby Chapters considered) Marines cannot really do much more than that without heavily diluting their force projection. And besides, Guilliman was getting involved with the Horus Heresy until Ultramar got cut off by the Ruinstorm. Plus on top of all that, most of the Imperium sucks because of the choices of the people running the show. There's no reason most of the rest of the Imperium's worlds couldn't implement the sorts of policy decisions that make Ultramar as prosperous as it is; it's not as though Ultramar keeps any of it secret. Since they choose not to, the Ultramarines' attitude is may essentially just be "ok look, when the rest of you want to stop being retarded, you let us know. We've got more than enough work to do as it is, so until then, we'll be over here not dealing with your shit".
{{MattWard}}
[[File:Cato Sicarius.jpg|300px|right|thumb|One of the Ultramarines few shining moments of Awesome, an extrordinary rarity since the begining of the Ward Era.]]
"Chapters [not descended from Guilliman's geneseed] are disciples who owe their genetic inheritance to another Primarch, but follow the Codex Astartes as keenly as their divergent heritage allows. While primarily composed of successor Chapters, this group also includes several Chapters of the First Founding - notably the Imperial Fists, White Scars and the Raven Guard. These chapters can never be Ultramarines, for their gene-seed is not that of Roboute Guilliman. Nevertheless, they will ever aspire to the standards and teachings of the great Primarch.


[Chapters who do not emulate the Ultramarines] are aberrants; chapters who, through quirk of gene-seed, mutation or stubbornness, eschew the Codex Astartes in favor of other structural and combat doctrines. Some, such as the Blood Angels and their successors, strive to be worthy of Guilliman's legacy, but their recalcitrant gene-seed drives them ever further from it. Others, such as the Space Wolves and the Black Templars, remain stubbornly independent, looking to their own founder's ways of war and caring little of how they fare in the eyes of others. These aberrant Chapters were always few in number and their presence diminishes with each passing decade, for their gene-seed is no longer the source of fresh Chapters." - Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer (unfortunately). (Also note that the Black Templars actually outnumber the Ultramarines at a ratio of at least 6:1)
All of the other Space Marine legions [[Space Wolves|save one]] (or maybe [[Dark Angels|two]], depending on how you look at it, maybe [[Angry Marines|three]] if you count anger and most likely [[Black Templars|four]] when thinking about it) adopted the Codex and split up into multitudes of smaller chapters, and most Space Marine chapters today follow the practices found within it, although some like the Space Wolves and the Black Templars have refrained from implementing it. This is because, generally speaking, it really is a very good general reference for tactical and strategic planning; Guilliman's strategic capabilities were, after all, only rivaled by Dorn and Horus in the entire Imperium. However, the Ultramarines and more than a few of their Successor Chapters are very rigid in their compliance to it. Where most other Chapters like the [[Imperial Fists]] and [[Raven Guard]] looks to it for guidance when encountering unfamiliar situations, the Ultramarines see the Codex as a sort of "holy book" and follow its instructions to the letter. Ironically, Guilliman himself believed this to be misguided and noted that the Codex was never meant to replace the ability to act on one's own judgments. But [[Grimdark|Irony]] is a strong force in 40K universe.


"Trust me, somewhere deep in the Eye of Terror, the Blood God himself weeps alone in the dark, for he knows in his heart of hearts: no matter what he may do, no matter what incomparable feats he may accomplish, no matter how infinite and unfathomable his glory...he can never be an Ultramarine." - Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines.
The Ultramarines are also the base source of about 80% of the Geneseed for new Space Marine chapters, mainly for two reasons, and totally not because GW wants to push vanilla marines as much as possible to new players. The first in-universe reason is that, during all times of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, the Ultramarines were by far the largest Legion (numbering around 250-300.000 Marines) and it made the split into a multitude of chapters, many of which are still around today, much easier on them than [[Raven Guard|on]] [[Salamanders|certain]] [[Imperial Fists|other]] [[Iron Hands|chapters]]. This was further compounded by the fact that the Ultramarines were largely intact after the Heresy, whereas many of the other Legions, smaller even to begin with, had been absolutely decimated. The Salamanders, Raven Guard, and Iron Hands had all nearly ceased to exist after the Dropsite Massacre, and the Imperial Fists, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and White Scars had all been similarly assblasted either right before, or during, the Siege of Terra. The only two Legions that were still kicking about in relatively large numbers after the Heresy were the Dark Angels and the Ultramarines, as neither Legion had been involved in either event. The Dark Angels however, then suffered a catastrophe when the Legion returned to Caliban. With Luthor's betrayal of the Lion and the destruction of their homeworld, the First Legion was still going strong compared to most of their cousins, but were not nearly so numerous as they might have been. The second is that Ultramarine geneseed proved to be simply the most reliable, largely free of mutation [[21st Founding|(unless someone tries to deliberately mess with it)]] or other quirks of personality some other successor chapters express. It also had a very low rate of rejection compared to most other Legions. The only other similarly stable, easily implanted Loyalist geneseed repositories were those of the Dark Angels and Imperial Fists, both of whom ended up having either [[Blades of Vengeance|quite]] [[Angels of Absolution|a]] [[Angels of Defiance|few]] [[Consecrators|successor]] [[Angels of Vengeance|chapters]] themselves, or just [[Crimson Fists|a]] [[Fists Exemplar|few]] chapters with [[Black Templars|one absurdly huge chapter]]. If anything, the psychological tendency it imposes is compliance with group conformity, which is far more preferable for the [[High Lords of Terra]] (the only group allowed to sanction new foundings or give later recognition to [[Steel Confessors|chapters unofficially founded]] or [[Sons of Medusa|after loyalist secessions from loyalist chapters]]) than the various other obsessions that may result.


"This wouldn't be a problem if Horus was an Ultramarine. You know it's true." - The God Emperor of Mankind, remarking to Sanguinius during the Horus Heresy.
The third, secret reason the Ultramarines have so many Successors is due to Guilliman and the Mechanicus hiding other legion traitors as Ultramarines. Since the Ultramarines are so numerous, no one would question just another one of their successor chapters. Plus since Guilliman spent a bunch of time after the Heresy as the Imperium's Lord Commander (aka boss man), he would have had ample opportunity to fudge as many of the Loyalist Traitors' chapter origins as he pleased. During the Great Crusade, the Ultramarines and Imperial Fists received reinforcements for the Lost II and XI legions. However, the Ultramarines were also not nearly as devastated during or just after the Heresy as the Imperial Fists were. Guilliman would then also hide loyalists from the traitor legions as his sons including the Silver Skulls. Later foundings using traitor stock may also include (but are not limited to) the Red Scorpions, the Storm Wardens, the Fire Angels, the Sons of Antaeus, the Mortifactors, and the Iron Snakes. There's also a very strong possibility that the Minotaurs fall into this group. How exactly this works for them being "reliable as Ultramarine geneseed" is unknown since you would think the people testing Geneseed would notice the difference between, say, Word Bearer and Ultramarine stock. Also, if Ultramarine geneseed is so reliable, wouldn't the traitor stock spread out through their successor be a dead giveaway? Finally, Guilliman had his mindwiped so he wouldn't know who had traitor geneseed in his ranks. This means that many of his successor chapters may have some traitor geneseed mixed into the pool which must raise some eyebrows once in a while when it gets examined. Maybe the guys doing the geneseed tests just have asterisks next to those cases and count them as "unusual, but acceptable deviancy to never, ever question, ever". However, it's just as likely that Guilliman has people in the Mechanicum hierarchy, like Cawl, who are still actively covering for the Loyalist Traitors.


"My company and I alone have more victories and battle honors than do the entirety of other individual chapters!" - Cato Sicarius, captain of the Ultramarines 2nd company.
Because they are the poster-boys for Space Marines, they are perhaps the most famous Chapter in the general 40k fandom, but are widely hated by many denizens of [[/tg/]]. This may initially have been due to their popularity - the Space Marines in general suffer something of a backlash from fa/tg/uys because of their overwhelming popularity with the annoying young children that infest the hobby, and the Ultramarines are the most popular of them all - but of recent editions the blatant favouritism displayed by certain Games Workshop writers towards the Chapter have earned them considerable ire, especially from fans of other Space Marine chapters that get slagged off in the process. This is mainly the fault of [[Matthew Ward]]'s 5th edition Space Marine Codex, which explicitly claimed that the Ultramarines were superior to all other Space Marines (In 2nd edition it was explicitly stated.) and was not helped by Ward's own poor fluff-writing skills (see [[#Quotes|Quotes]] below). However, more recent fluff has served to bring the Ultramarines back to their "Space Roman" roots, making them far less objectionable than they were in the past. Forge World's Horus Heresy line has been particularly kind to them, giving them a variety of stylish Heresy-era gear, all of them with that "The Glory That Was Rome" vibe.


"Don't you know it? A shining battalion of Ultramarines, high on every wall around the palace, fought the unwashed hordes who dared to attack the Imperium. When The Emperor and Guilliman went to fight Horus they found the poor man had painted his armor blue and had glued horse shoes to his pauldrons. The Emperor was mortally wounded, but Horus had been no match for Guilliman. Sanguinius, who was also there, killed himself out of shame, realizing then that he would never be an Ultramarine." - A modestly confused historian.
==First Edition History==
[[Image:UltramarinesRT.jpg|thumb|right|Fig.1.1: An Ultramarine, note the [[Beakie]].]]
{{Oldschool}}


"I am indeed so proficient at my work as a scout sergeant that other chapters borrow me to train their own scouts." - Torias Telion, scout sergeant of the Ultramarines.
[http://www.scribd.com/doc/118383071/WD97-Chapter-Approved-Index-Astartes| Back in the] [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|first edition]] of Warhammer 40,000, in an article co-written by [[Rick Priestley]]. The XIIIth Legion were actually traitors and were banished to the Eye of Terror along with the other traitor legions. The modern day 40k Ultramarines were established on new years day 001.M32, which would make them a Third Founding chapter. They received all of the [[Gene Seed|gene-"sperm" & implants]], rituals and paraphernalia of the original legion.


"I am positively and undeniably the most gifted of all tank commanders in the entire Imperium. This is not a statement of arrogance, but rather one of verifiable fact." - Antaro Chronus, tank commander of the Ultramarines.
Not only that, they only received lordship over the world of [[Macragge]] AFTER the First Tyrannic War. And though they did have different names for all of their company captains and command staff, they were/are still commanded by a man named Marneus Calgar.


"Eldrad Ulthran voluntarily sacrificed himself to Slaanesh, for he had finally foreseen that even had they struggled for all eternity, the Eldar would never be the equals of Ultramarines, nor could they ever fully grasp the glorious legacy of Roboute Guilliman. Any torment She Who Thirsts could conceive would pale in comparison to living with this horrible truth, and in the end, maybe Slaanesh would take pity on the Eldar since she, too, shares the pain of never being able to reach the shining peak of superiority that are the true Sons of Guilliman." - An unidentified farseer of Craftworld Ulthwé.
The implications of this would be startling if we use the ''"everything is canon, but not necessarily true"'' stance that GW has adopted when regarding fluff inconsistencies. Hinting that Guilliman's marines were [[Imperium Secundus|heretics and traitors]] and were eventually banished from the Imperium.


"To the man, every single member of the Imperial Guard's 412 Cadian, 1st Kronus, and 252nd Kaurava Conservator regiments committed suicide. I was powerless. As a commissar, how could I threaten to BLAM men who willingly BLAMED themselves? In his final moments I managed to grab a guardsman and ask what had driven the men to do such a thing. 'Because we know we can never be Ultramarines,' He told me right before blowing his own head off with his Lasgun." - Unknown member of the Imperial Commissariat.  
However, attempting to reconcile this old origin story with "modern" Ultramarines is extremely difficult, we can only coherently insert it into the current state of play if we assume there is a second chapter out there called the "Ultra-Marines" with a chapter master and homeworld of the same name and the same level of involvement with the Tyrannic Wars. Though what completely knocks this old fluff out is that it ''also'' has possession of the body of [[Roboute Guilliman]] so it has to be a retcon though it still opens the door to conspiracy theories or that Marneus Calgar is [[Lugft Huron|in command of multiple Chapters]].


"I have pierced the mind-crippling veil of the Hive Mind and can foresee their intents with such accuracy that many suspect only the Emperor Himself could have attained such a feat. It is without question that I am uniquely the most powerful psyker in the entire galaxy, perhaps even as powerful as the Emperor." - Varro Tigurius, librarian of the Ultramarines.
The other possibility is that when the Ultramarines were declared traitor and forced into the eye of terror, Guilliman, recognising his plans for [[Imperium_Secundus|Imperium Secondus]] were about to topple with the death of [[Sanguinius]] (who had been declared ruler as a means to placate the Emperor and the other legions), Guilliman had himself cloned and a portion of his legions most pure geneseed moved to the Eastern Fringe and [[Macragge]] to ensure survival of the Ultramarines, The Ultramar Empire and the Imperium Secondus concept as its eventuality. This occurred just as the rest of the legion (Including the original primarch) were declared traitor and forced into the eye. It would also suggest, given the appearance of Guilliman's wounded body in stasis on Macragge, that it was in-fact the clone that was killed by [[Fulgrim]] and the real primarch still resides either in the eye of terror or the immaterium with the remains of the Ultramarine Traitor Legion.


"In truth, Hive Fleet behemoth attacked ultramar because the Tyranid Hive mind wanted to become an Ultramarine and accept Roboute Guilliman as it's spiritual liege and Chapter Master Calgar as it's temporal master. When it was turned down, it attacked in hopes of consuming Ultramarine geneseeds to become one of us...but deep down it knew that it could never become an Ultramarine." - Chaplain Varnus.
In either case, somehow one of the two possible Guilliman's was returned to Macragge and placed in stasis <strike>post-mortem</strike> after being Mortally-Wounded. If you accept the cloning of Guilliman, this all makes sense; he wanted to ensure his empire survived and having been declared traitor, cloned himself and sent the clone to rule over the new Imperium, the clone being mortally wounded by [[Fulgrim]] en-route. Or somehow, and for some reason, a traitor primarch was dragged out of the eye of terror and kept in stasis on the opposite side of the galaxy. Given the stupidity of that second line of thought, the clone being the primarch on Macragge is a much more likely situation... Especially as if his wounds heal and the clone recovers he would be able to continue acting out the original Guilliman's plans for a second imperium with its epicentre based within the Ultramar Empire and using Space Marines created from the remains of the purest legion-stock geneseed.


"I single-handedly, casually, and easily bested a Bloodthirster of Khorne in hand to hand combat and sent it screaming back into the warp; other chapters would need to send an entire company of assault marines to have the smallest hope of defeating such a beast in close combat." - Chaplain Varnus.
Or, infinitely more likely, it's just old fluff which went the way of the [[Squats]] after Rogue Trader, and we should hope so, because if it isn't, we also have to reconcile the space marines being entirely beaky space cops. However, there is a ton from Rogue Trader that was not retconned. And besides, the fandom considers Rogue Trader to be the final authority in all things wherever there are lore conflicts (unless one side is significantly more awesome than the other).


"I was not a tactical genius. My Legion should follow another primarch instead and aspire to his teachings more than my own. My only regret is that thanks to my inferior gene-seed my sons can never be true Ultramarines." - Jagatai Khan, primarch of the White Scars.
Besides, who’s to say that current Ultramarines are the Legio XIII? There are two purged Legions whose numbers were absorbed by the XIII. This makes it easy to connect 1st edition with later renditions as it would mean that Rogue Trader was right about XIII being traitors. If the remaining “Ultramarines” were from the two destroyed legions. The traitorous sons of Guilliman purged by him and his adopted sons who later got revenge with the help of the Alpha Legion.


"I supported the codex reformation from the beginning out of respect for Roboute Guilliman, who is my spiritual liege. Since my own knowledge of warfare is severely lacking I was overjoyed when my Legion was given the opportunity to learn from a more competent general's experience. My only regrets are that we, rather than they, were charged with protecting Terra, and that thanks to my inferior gene-seed my sons can never be true Ultramarines." - Rogal Dorn, primarch of the Imperial Fists.
== Name & Breaking the Hyphen ==
The Ultramarines are not [[Matt Ward|named because they are 'Ultra' as in 'Superior']]. They're called "Ultramarines" because their home sector is [[Ultramar]] and the demonym is Ultramarine. Think of how people from America are Americans. Taking it as literally as possible, they're the "People of Ultramar," which plays back into their theme of being a part of their home's society. Their armour colouring is "coincidentally" called Ultramarine, which is generally described as being a slightly grapish (in contrast to Phthalo's greenish) blue. So, pronounce it like “Ultramar-ine”. Not that you will since “Ultra Marine” sounds better and is easier to say.


"I may be one of the greatest of primarchs, warmaster, Imperium destabilizing traitor, embodiment of the ruinous powers. Yet even I have to admit that my dear brother Guilliman is clearly superior in every way. Hell... I specifically orchestrated the events of this treason so that the Ultramarines are on the other side of the galaxy. Why? Not because I knew they'd trounce us all within mere moments - which they would - but because the entire purpose of my actions was to weaken the Imperium just enough so that my brother, o prestigious Guilliman, could impose his superior ideology over our brethren. I knew I could never live up to his name, so I gave it up all for him, for you, my brother!" - Horus, primarch of the Luna Wolves/Sons of Horus.  
The overseas section of the Spanish Empire was referred to as ''Ultramar'' (''waaaaaaaaaaay'' beyond the sea). Given the great distance between Ultramar and [[Terra]], it's a fitting analogy.


"You jealous little people just don't know what it's like to be so faithful, awesome, and praised by the Emperor! The rules for fighting against my chapter invented proper strategy, and then we wrote a proper book on strategy to show those bitches how it's done! Get a job!" - Roboute Guilliman, during an address to the stunned citizens of Ultramar.
In early versions of the Lore, "Ultramarines" (As they are now known) are spelt in a myriad of different ways. Rick Priestly himself describing them as "Ultra-Marines". Other versions include "Ultra Marines", "The Ultra-Marine Chapter" and <strike>"Smurfs"</strike> {{BLAM}} amongst many other iterations. In all instances, and all cases (even accounting for the First Edition lore above) it can be assumed the lore refers to the same Chapter or Legion. Punctuation matters, just not in 40K...


"Indeed, it was Guilliman who would have the greatest lasting effect upon the now leaderless Blood Angels. Through the Codex Astartes - that great treatise on the restructuring and ordering of the Space Marines - Guilliman's legacy would reshape the Blood Angels Legion into the Chapters that defend the Imperium to this day." - Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer.
==Ultramarines post-Ward==
 
{{MattWard}}
"[The Ultramarines] are one of the hardest working chapters out there... The Ultramarines are the most focused, proficient, and tactically aware force in the galaxy..." - Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer.
[[Image:Ultraknights.jpg|thumb|right|Ultramarines, from the days of [[Awesome]].]]
 
{{topquote|Our love is nothing but the blues, baby, how blue can you get?|B.B. King}}
"The Ultramarines are undoubtedly the best Space Marines ever. Yes, really! Thanks to the heritage of Guilliman and their myriad heroic deeds, the Ultramarines are the exemplars of the Space Marines. With a few fringe exceptions... all Space Marine chapters want to be like the Ultramarines and recognize Marneus Calgar as their spiritual liege." - Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer.
{{Topquote|Listen to your blue-clad wretches yelling of courage and honour, courage and honour, courage and honour. Do you even know the meaning of those words? Courage is fighting the kingdom which enslaves you, no matter that their armies outnumber yours by ten-thousand to one. You know nothing of courage. Honour is resisting a tyrant when all others suckle and grow fat on the hypocrisy he feeds them. You know nothing of honour.|[[Angron]], proving that a stopped clock is right twice a day}}
 
==History of the Ultramarines==
The Ultramarines have some of the most boring 1st founding histories for any Astartes Chapter in the Imperial history.
 
Circa M29: The Unification Wars. The Emperor of Mankind unites Terra, and sets off to conquer the stars in a series of violent and bloody battles. The Ultramarines’ Primarch, Roboute Guilliman (Nicknamed Rowboat Girlyman for being an utter twat during the Heresy), is conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
 
012.M31-014.M31: The Horus Heresy. Nine of the twenty [[Space Marine]] legions, fully half of the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] and numerous Imperial Guard regiments [[heresy|betray]] the [[Emperor]] and turn to [[Chaos]]. The traitors lay siege to Holy Terra, and most of the Space marine legions suffer major losses. The [[Blood Angels]], [[Imperial Fists]], and [[White scars]] are forced to make a stand on Terra while the [[Dark Angels]] lose their homeworld to <s>renegade elements within their home planet</s> A COMPLETELY RANDOM ACCIDENT AND NOT HERESY, the [[Salamanders]], [[Iron Hands]], and [[Raven Guard]] are nearly destroyed, and the [[Emperor]] is crippled while battling Horus. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs. After the Heresy, Rowboat Girlyman created the Codex Astartes as we know it today, including the separation of the 10,000 strong legions into 1,000 strong chapters. Note that the Ultramarines didn't participate in the defense of Terra, didn't sustain crippling damage to their Chapter's manpower, and note that, best of all, when they arrived they were too fucking late. The war was already won, yet their primarch still was the first to create the new rules.
 
546.M32: 'The Beheading': The High Lords of Terra are all slain on the orders of Drakan Vangorich, Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum. The rogue Master of Assassins is tracked down and slain by a Space Marine strikeforce drawn from the Imperial Fists, Halo Brethren and Sable Swords. Of over a thousand men deployed, only a single Space Marine survives the campaign. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.  
 
843.M35: Distress call from Grendel's World investigated. Planet discovered to have been attacked and all inhabitants slain by terror tactics of the Night Lords. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
 
Early M36: The Age of Apostasy and the Reign of Blood begin. Warp storms increase dramatically and [[Chaos]] and [[Ork]] attacks multiply. The Imperium falls into turmoil. An empowered Ecclesiarchy becomes more tyrannical. High Lord Goge Vandire becomes the most powerful member of the Senate of the High Lords of Terra, and manipulates a small sect, the Daughters of the Emperor (today the [[Sisters of Battle]]), into becoming his personal bodyguards, the Brides of the Emperor. Vandire rules largely unopposed and becomes more and more bloody and tyrannical. Zhoros, homeworld of the [[Legion of the Damned|Fire Hawks]]' chapter, is thermal bombed. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
 
266.M36: Sebastian Thor is born on Dimmamar. He eventually becomes a threat to Vandire, who sends the Frateris Templar fleet to destroy Dimmamar. The fleet is completely destroyed by a warp storm, still in existence today, named the Storm of the Emperor's Wrath in the Clax system. Vandire's armies are finally defeated by combined forces of the Tech Guard and several chapters of [[Space Marines]], organized under the banner of the Confederation of Light, led by Thor. Vandire is executed by Alicia Dominica, the leader of his own bodyguards, who reclaim their old name Daughters of the Emperor in a conspiracy involving the Adeptus Custodes and the Emperor himself. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
 
723.M36: The 5th Black Crusade begins. Doombreed, a deamon prince of [[Khorne]], declares war on the Adeptus Astartes. The Warhawks and the Venerators are lost. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.  
 
995.M40-000.M41 The Macharian Crusades. Lord Solar Macharius sets out to reconquer the Segmentum Pacificus for the [[Imperium]]. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
 
444.M41: First War for Armageddon. Chaos incursion led by Angron and his World Eaters beaten back by [[Space Wolves]] and [[Grey Knights]] but only at a terrible cost. Only about a dozen of the Grey Knights survive the battle with Angron. The local planetary militia and the other citizens are [[Grimdark|mind-wiped, sterilized and put into work camps, to slave away for the rest of their short, miserable lives]] much to the horror of Logan Grimnar. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
 
742.M41 Damocles Crusade is launched against the Tau Empire, due to the Imperium's ever growing Xenophobia, a small, strategically insignificant piece of nothingness, inhabited by weak fish people with minimal Faster-Than-Light Technology. The Ultramarines are thoroughly defeated along with the rest of the Imperial forces. Those "aberrations" known as the [[Black Templars]] come in and beat the hell out of the Tau after the Ultramarines leave for the...
745.M41: First Tyrannic War. Hive Fleet Behemoth attacks the Ultramarines' homeworld, Macragge. Most of the chapter is eaten by [[Nids]] and lose their entire 1st company, the Chapter's company of hardened veterans and Terminators. The second fight they get and they still blew it, lulz.


901-912.M41 Badab War. The [[Red Corsairs|Astral Claws]], [[Lamenters]], [[Executioners]], and [[Mantis Warriors]] chapters rebel against the [[Imperium]], and are defeated by loyalist chapters. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
Unless you are new here, then you should be well informed by now over the really [[Skub|skubtastic]] history involving the [[Ultramarines]] and the dreaded [[Matt Ward|Ward]]. While Ward was indeed responsible for the immense [[butthurt]] and [[Rage|rage]] caused on [[/tg/]] and to [[1d4Chan]] itself (Seriously just look at the pages history, it was a war on green and red edits), Ward himself wasn't completely at fault here, [[Games Workshop]] is just as much to blame for their irresponsible and careless attitude in handling fluff to a ''clearly'' biased player and gave him the green light to write whatever things Ward could come out with. However after Ward's quite unexpected departure in 2014 (He came back in 2016 though, just hope he can control his Ultramarine urges now(he can’t)), the Ultramarines have been getting....less of the limelight like they used to back in the heydays of Codex: Space Marines 5th Edition. Nowadays, the [[Blood Angels]], [[Space Wolves]], [[Dark Angels]] and even the [[Deathwatch]] are getting more in the spotlight. While the Ultramarines are still the de facto mascots of WH40K, it seems that the post-Ward era has seen the return of more... [[Pauldrons|diverse forms of Space Marine Chapters]]. Furthermore, the [[Horus Heresy]] lineups made by our favorite [[Forgeworld]] has been giving the Ultramarines and the rest of the Space Marine Legions an equal respect in both their lore and crunch which was unthinkable back in the day, "The [[Salamanders]] and [[Raven Guard]] get their own moment to shine without the Ultras overshadowing them? How preposterous!" would be the most likely answer if went back in time and told our past selves over this.


941-942.M41: Second War for Armageddon. The Ultramarines bump into an [[Ork]] Waaagh! while running away from the Tyranids. They are saved by the timely intervention of [[Commissar Yarrick]] and the [[Blood Angels]]. Marneus Calgar's first action is to acknowledge [[Dante]] as overall commander of the Space Marines on Armageddon.
Additionally the Forgeworld model for [[Roboute Guilliman]] has been well received by fans with some commenting that of all the [[Primarch]] models, Guilliman's was one of the best designed and posed (although the truth is that his armour has went from Greco-Roman in style to Marvel, and in spite of all his Mary Sue-ness, he's still likely to get stomped over by an [[Imperial Knight]] or Assault Terminators). What does this mean for our (in)famous blueberries? A redemption of sorts? Winning back the crowd? Earning back the respect it once had? The answer could be all of them. Whatever is the case, the legacy of Ward and the Ultramarine fiasco did impact the way players see the Ultramarines and the Space Marines to an extent either negatively or positively (More inclined to the negativity though). But seeing as how GeeDubs still has the [[Robin Cruddace|Cruddhead]], it can be seen with some sigh of relief that GeeDubs seems to be back to their grips now in terms of fluff at least.


988.M41: The battle of Rynn's World begins. A large ork army, led by the Warboss Snagrod, attacks the Crimson Fists and their homeworld. During the battle, a stray missile strikes the Fortress-Monastery of the Crimson Fists, killing most of the Marines. The survivors are severely crippled and are forced to rebuild their chapter. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
==Tabletop==
Throughout most of GW's history the Ultramarines have been portrayed on the tabletop as the "standard" space marine chapter, to the point where most other chapters are represented as "Ultramarines +,- variable X". [[Dark Angels|More]] [[Grey Knights|popular]] [[Space Wolves|chapters]] often get [[Blood Angels|their own]] codices, but less popular chapters get relegated to sets of advantages and disadvantages on top of the Ultramarine baseline. At certain points in GW's sordid tabletop history this has led to Ultramarines being literally vanilla marines with no bonuses whatsoever, where the '''only''' advantage to taking them is their wide selection of characters, and other times such as 7th edition where with the right builds and the right tactics, you could statistically beat out the Blood Angels and Space Wolves in assault, and Dark Angels and Imperial Fists in shooting.


757998.M41: The Third War for Armageddon begins. Having learned from past mistakes, Imperial Commanders commit a ridiculous amount of forces to hold the world. It drags on for months in a bloody stalemate until Ghazghull grows bored and leaves his generals to finish the fight while he goes looking for other worlds to conquer. [[Commissar Yarrick]] joins a [[Black Templars]] Crusade and gives chase. The Ultramarines are conveniently located on the other side of the galaxy when this occurs.
8th Edition is probably the best they've ever been while not being quite as cheesy as they were in the past. Their strategies, characters, chapter tactics, and warlord trait all grant bonuses to command points, to the point where you can get the effective use of 20(!) command points on stratagems in a 2000 point game, leading to an army with massive tactical flexibility. Gone are the days were you can butcher melee dedicated forces in close combat, and out-shoot the gun-factories of the universe, a bunch of damn sues who win because they are - of course - the BEST EVAR. Now you get the Ultramarines as they should be: a versatile but non-specialized army with the tactical and strategic flexibility to make the most out of any situation.
 
5999.M41: Warmaster [[Abaddon]] launches the [[13th Black Crusade]]. The armies of [[Chaos]] Undivided lay siege primarily to [[Cadia]] but attack many of the surrounding worlds as well. Imperial Forces launch a massive counterattack, and eventually push back the tides of Chaos, but only just barely, and at great cost. The [[Space Wolves]]' 13th Company are amongst the forces seen fighting against the forces of chaos. The Ultramarines were apparently man enough to get into the fighting... by offering some honor guard units that barely made up half a company. Yes, we're facepalming with you too.
 
As an additional note of interest, there stands reasonable evidence that the Ultramarines are partially responsible for unleashing the Nightbringer on the galaxy in the current age. On the planet Pavonis, it was brought to the attention of Uriel Ventris, of the 4th company of the Ultramarines, that a group of revolutionaries were digging their way straight to the Nightbringer's sarcophagus while the Dark Eldar rounded up the keys to unlock the thing. Uriel was given a choice: he could either [[exterminatus]] the planet, burying the Nightbringer, revolutionaries, and Dark Eldar all at once in a single fell swoop, or he could boost his own ego by making a balls-first attack on the excavation site with nothing but chain swords and bolters. Unfortunately for the entire galaxy, Uriel chose the latter of these options, lost the fight, and let the Nightbringer get free.  Which in lay man's terms means that they made the single largest fuck up to end all fuck ups of all time.  Oops...
 
[[File:1280346485348.jpg|thumb|right|While most believe the story told by the Ultrasmurfs, eye-witnesses paint a different story...]]


==Notable Members==
==Notable Members==
*[[Marneus Calgar|Papa Smurf]], the current Chapter Master of the Ultramarines and plated with heavy duty, fanboy-grade plot armor. His accomplishments include being thoroughly ripped apart by a Tyranid (by that we mean all his limbs, a large portion of his body and his eye) and surviving with the help of bionics, single handedly holding off an Ork Waaagh! for 9 days all by himself and killing a daemon prince with only a squad of Terminators by stabbing him with a warp-touched dagger named "The shard of Erebus". However, his crowning Mary-sue moment is his defeat of an Eldar Avatar of Khaine in 1 vs 1, hand-to-hand combat, which is typically killed by the same effort it takes to kill a Khornate Bloodthirster.
[[File:1280346485348.jpg|thumb|right|While most believe the story told by the Ultramarines, eye-witnesses paint a different story...]]
*'''[[Marneus Calgar|Marneus Augustus Calgar]]''': [[Marneus Calgar#Gathering Storm|Regent of Ultramar]] and Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. His accomplishments include being thoroughly ripped apart by the [[Swarmlord]] (by that we mean all his limbs, a large portion of his body and his eye), and single handedly holding off an Ork Waaagh! for 9 days all by himself. However, his crowning moment is his defeat of an Eldar Avatar of Khaine in 1 vs 1, hand-to-hand combat, which is typically killed by the same effort it takes to kill a Khornate Bloodthirster - never mind that the thing is made of molten metal and over three times his size. He also had a rematch with the Swarmlord and won, which must have been pretty easy, considering that it had been recently ripped apart. Has also faced [[Abaddon the Despoiler]] as well (following turning into a [[Primaris Marine]]), but his plot armor wasn't as strong that day and he just barely escaped that mess.
*'''[[Severus Agemman]]''': Captain of the Ultramarines First Company. He was Captain of the Second Company, and Sicarius' commanding officer before being promoted after the First Tyrannic War. There isn't much fluff about him besides being overshadowed by his former subordinate Sicarius. As first Company Captain he's Calgar's appointed successor, however much of the chapter thinks it will be Sicarius instead of him. Agemman is aware of this possibility and isn't very happy about it. As of the end of the Plague Wars, Severus serves as the Tetrarch of the northern reaches of Ultramar.
*'''[[Cato Sicarius]]''': Former captain of the Ultramarines Second Company and Leader of Guilliman's Victrix Guard. Is kind of a glory hog, but he's arguably earned his right to be a braggart through his skill at arms. Was taken on as a [[Matt Ward|ward]] by the primarch after his resurrection, mostly because Cato's brash, forthright personality reminded him of Aeonid Thiel, whose counsel Guilliman greatly missed. His Captaincy was given to Sevastus Acheran after getting lost in the warp and was assigned the Victrix Honour Guard Captain after escaping.
*'''Sevastus Acheran''': Successor of Cato Sicarius as captain of the 2nd company, and is basically (from what little lore we have of him) a sneakier, more badass version of Sicarius. He was the one who led an assault by the Vanguard on a massive daemon factory in Shadowspear, and was willing to sacrifice himself once that attack went bad. He survived however, leading the 2nd company during the Plague Wars (This time wearing Gravis Armor).
*'''[[Uriel Ventris]]''': Captain of the Ultramarines Fourth Company and the main character of Graham McNeil's Ultramarines novel series. Notable for destroying the [[Daemonculaba]].
*'''[[Ortan Cassius]]''': Master of Sanctity of the Ultramarines and ex-member of the [[Deathwatch]]. Currently one of the oldest Space Marines alive and [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|not yet placed in a Dreadnought]]. The Tyrannic War Veterans were his idea.
*'''[[Varro Tigurius]]''': the Ultramarine's (Primaris) Chief Librarian, has enough psychic prowess to make psychic contact with the Hive Mind without going bonkers in the process.
*'''[[Torias Telion]]''': (aka; Sean Connery made [[Grimdark]]) Ultramarine Scout Sergeant. A skilled sniper, other chapters have borrowed him to train their scouts occasionally. He also has an impressive mustache.
*'''[[Captain Titus]]''': Captain of the who the fuck knows company (if the trim of his pauldrons are accurate, he's Captain of the 2nd Company). He gained prominence (will gain prominence?) on the forge world of Graia, trying to keep a whole Waaagh! from stealing all the bitz for themselves while keeping a probably radical Inquisitor happy. Also there's a portal to the warp letting out Daemons and Chaos Marines to go on a jolly old pub crawl. He is also one of the few Ultramarines who clearly states that the Codex Astartes is not meant to be a mental straightjacket. Thus, he is [[awesome]].
*'''Varnus''': Ultramarines Chaplain dispatched to [[Dawn of War|Lorn V]], tasked with bodyguarding and delivering a Titan's Princeps and his crew to the abandoned Dominatus, worked alongside grit incarnate on legs (also known as [[General Sturnn]]). For perhaps the first instance in recorded time, he is a Space Marine who actually respects the Imperial Guard and couldn't ask for a better force (barring his own company). He is also a pretty hard-ass motherfucker that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgeVH5wOS7Q|single-handedly charged]] a [[Bloodthirster]] and ''won''.
*'''[[Aeonid Thiel]]''': A sergeant during the Horus Heresy. Despite being seen as a rule breaking maverick for proposing battle simulations of Space Marines fighting one another, he ends up playing a major role first in the Battle of Calth, then in laying the groundwork for the Ultramarines post-war, including the red painted helmets for sergeants. Also served as the co-writer of the Codex. Promoted to Captain of the 2nd Company at the time of Guilliman's wounding, though his ultimate fate is unknown.
*'''Decimus Felix''': Primaris Captain of the Ultramarines Eleventh Company (Though one doesn't quite exist) and Equerry to Guilliman. Despite the utterly suspicious circumstances of such a fresh-ish face being afforded this much power, he acts as the voice of reason for the primarch. Acts as Tetrarch to the eastern reaches of Ultramar and has been trolled a bit by Cawl.
*'''Sergeant Cornellus''': A sergeant of an embarrassing squad. Notable for killing [[Eliphas the Inheritor]] the first time, stopping a daemon invasion and finding the Ultramarines Scrabble set all while sounding like a baby
*'''Vitrian Messinius''' is a [[White Consuls]] Captain and Master of Recruits who commands the [[Indomitus Crusade]] Fleet Tertius' Battlegroup Saint Aster as a Lord-Lieutenant as well as being in charge of [[Roboute Guilliman]]'s security (probably due to[[Battle of Thessala| him getting shanked ]]) and is part of his personal retinue, the Victrix-Guard <del> sounds Roman enough right [[Games Workshop]]? </del>
*'''Malum Caedo''': Sternguard Veteran Sergeant who got sent to Graia to fix up the mess after the idiots there continued trying to experiment with the Warp powered battery. Probably one of [[Awesome| the most hardest brother-fuckers of the Ultrasmurfs]] or even among Astartes in general thanks to being the protagonist of his [[Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun|own boomer shooter]]. Big Fanboy of Captain Titus and Sidonus and likes to read the Codex Astartes when idle.
*'''Smurfette''': The only [[Yvraine|female]] member of the Ultramarine chapter.


*Captain Sicarius, the captain of the Ultramarines Second Company, is [[Mary Sue|suicidally brave]]. He and his company alone have held off over 10,000 Orks at once, using only knives and [[plot armor|favoritism]] to survive, and he is stated to command "the finest fighting unit in this [the Ultramarines] or any other Space Marine Chapter". He once divided his company into thirds to defeat an entire tomb world, was only wounded as a result, and still managed to blow up the planet.
==Quotes==
{{topquote|Chapters (not descended from Guilliman's geneseed) are disciples who owe their genetic inheritance to another [[Primarch]], but follow the [[Codex Astartes]] as keenly as their divergent heritage allows. While primarily composed of successor Chapters, this group also includes several Chapters of the [[First Founding]] - notably the [[Imperial Fists]], [[White Scars]] and the [[Raven Guard]]. <s>These chapters can never be Ultramarines, for their gene-seed is not that of [[Roboute Guilliman]]. Nevertheless, they will ever aspire to the standards and teachings of the great [[Primarch]].</s>|Fucking [[Matt Ward]]...}}
{{topquote|(Chapters who do not emulate the Ultramarines) are aberrants; chapters who, through quirk of gene-seed, mutation or stubbornness, eschew the Codex Astartes in favor of other structural and combat doctrines. Some, such as the [[Blood Angels]] and their successors, strive to be worthy of Guilliman's legacy, but their recalcitrant gene-seed drives them ever further from it. Others, such as the [[Space Wolves]] and the [[Black Templars]], remain stubbornly independent, looking to [[Primarch|their own founder's]] ways of war (which is hilarious for the Templars) and caring little of how they fare in the eyes of others. These aberrant Chapters were always few in number and their presence diminishes with each passing decade, for their gene-seed is no longer the source of fresh Chapters.|[[Matt Ward]], Ultramarines player, codex writer, [[Codex]]: [[Space Marines]], 5th Edition, p. 25.}}
{{topquote|The Ultramarines are undoubtedly the best Space Marines ever. Yes, really! Thanks to the heritage of Guilliman and their myriad heroic deeds, the Ultramarines are the exemplars of the Space Marines. With a few fringe exceptions who have severe mutations ([[Blood Angels]]) or stolid stubbornness ([[Space Wolves]] and [[Dark Angels]]) all [[Space Marine Chapter|Space marine chapters]] want to be like the Ultramarines and recognize [[Marneus Calgar]] as their [[spiritual liege]].|Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer, in the [[White Dwarf]] interview celebrating the release of Codex: Space Marines.}}
{{topquote|But your teachings…"<br>"Are yet flawed," said Guilliman. "No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed.|[[Roboute Guilliman]], making a point that his successors would quickly forget about and [[Matt Ward|the writer above]] would ignore.}}
{{topquote|Wondering what would be in the supplemental Codex for the Ultramarines that won’t be in the main book? Come take a peek!|Adam Harrison, August 8 2019, for Bell of Lost Souls, [[Games Workshop|selling to us]] the new Ultrasmurf supplement and privileges...}}


*Ortan Cassius, a chaplain of the Ultramarines, is one of the oldest Space Marines alive and [[Bjorn the Fell Handed|not yet placed in a Dreadnought]]. His oratory skills are perfect, so much so that it makes the Eldar weep. Though the Ultramarines are already [[Mary Sue|supremely and undeniably perfect enough - unbeatable to the point of being boring really; it's like watching Superman: "Oh, no! Not a continent made out of Kryptonite! What's Superman going to do? Oh! I guess he throws it into space! I was on the edge of my being remotely excited!"]] - Cassius is such a great Chaplain that he can push his men to even more god-like feats of brilliance.
==Daily Rituals==
04:00 - The Ultramarines rise up from their sleep in their marble-encased sleeping chambers. The Primarch has already been awake for some time, having lost the need for sleep as a side effect of his revival. (Good thing, too- according to Guilliman himself the Armor of Fate is too noisy to let him rest, and even if it wasn't the armor doesn't have the flexibility to let him lie down in the first place.)


*Varro Tigurius, the Ultramarine's Chief Librarian, is the most special snowflake of all the Imperium's [[Psyker|Psykers]]. He is so amazingly powerful that he can predict an enemy's entire battle plan before the fight begins, allowing him to counter any attacker from the start. His Mary Sue presence is so great that he can do unbelievable things, such as communicating with the Tyranid Hive Mind, allowing him to understand and predict the plans of untold numbers of inhuman monsters all thinking and acting as one. Supposedly his powers rival those of the Emperor, put Eldar Farseers to shame and yet place him in no real danger of being tempted or being violently possessed by the Ruinous Powers, considering his soul has to shine like a motherfucking lighthouse in the warp with all the powers he's capable of dishing out. '''Please note that before Matt Ward, this guy had LD 9.'''  
04:30 - Morning Prayers. The Ultramarines conduct morning prayers on why they are the SECOND TO TEH EMPRAH! and how all other chapters view [[Marneus Calgar]] as their ''Spritual Liege.''


*Torias Telion (aka; Shawn Connery made [[Grimdark]]) is an Ultramarine Scout Sergeant. He is the best sniper currently alive in the Imperium. His ability is so beyond realistic that he can shoot a target so far away that ''planetary curvature'' must be taken into account. He's so great that other chapters prefer to borrow him to train their scouts instead of using their own sergeants. He once killed a Tau ethereal and cadre commander in one sitting using only two bullets from extreme range. He is also bald. Yes, as in [[Indrick Boreale|Indrick Baldeale]] bald. Still though, he isn't as awesome nor as [[grimdark]] as the [[Blood Ravens|hair-etical scout sergeant who morbidly bitches about everything in the universe]].
05:30 - Codex Astartes. The Ultramarines are indoctrinated and reminded on the rules and values of the Codex Astartes. Guilliman makes a note to break the news of his Codex revisions gently so his gene-sons don't go into conniptions.


*[[Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine|Captain "Tits" Titus]] is a Smurf Captain of the who the fuck knows company. He gained prominence (will gain prominence?) on the forge world of Graia, trying to keep a whole waaagh! from stealing all the bitz for themselves while keeping a probably radical Inqusitor happy. Also there's a portal to the warp letting out Deamons and chaos marines to go on a jolly old pub crawl. He's voiced by Mark Strong.  
08:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice with spiritual guidance from Chaplain Ortan Cassius, who manages to only occasionally go off into furious rants about "The goddam bugs".


*Chaplain Varnus, an Ultramarines Chaplain dispatched to Lorn V. He banished a Bloodthirster of Khorne back into the warp in melee combat within a matter of seconds simple by swinging his Crozius Arcanum; something that would typically need a squad of Grey Knight terminators to do over the course of several minutes of protracted combat, an armored division of Heavy tanks or about 5 squads of heavily equipped Space Marines led by the bravest balls-on-head suicidal Commanders who could stand up against a giant, cow-dog daemon of death with a FUCKHEUG mace. Yeah, Plot armor tends to do that. In the fagged-up writings of C.S. Multilazor, he was actually a vile Alpha Legion Chaos Space Marine. Of course, this is obviously false, for how can the [[Mary Sue|oh so perfect, virtuous, noble and indeed, holier-than-thou Ultramarines]] possible be profane servitors of Chaos?! Surprisingly, he comes off as fairly cool in the game. For perhaps the first instance in recorded time, he is a Space Marine who actually bows to the better Imperial Guard strategy.
09:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines leave for Macragge's Colosseum to train against each other, the local Macragge fauna and Battle Servitors.


*Many others. If there is a tactic or important role that is occupied in an army, there is a speshul snowflake in the Ultramarines who has mastered it with such gravity that he makes the rest of the Imperium, or more likely the entire galaxy, redundant.
10:00 - Morning Meal. While later than some chapters, the Ultramarines feast upon a light meal made of fruits, biscuits and light meat by the Chapter serfs. The serfs are thanked soon afterwards in a manner of respect.


== [[Ultramarines:The Movie]] ==
10:15 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Ultramarines head to see the latest battle plans and which military techniques that can best complement the Codex Astartes. Guilliman reviews the most recent major warzones of the Imperium and prepares battle plans for the forces deployed there.
*"And the greatest of them all are the Ultramarines." [[Rage|FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF-]]
(To be honest, however, were John Hurt speaking of a different chapter, our response would be the same.)
The movie, written by the capable Dan Abnett, actually gives probably the most realistic interpretation of the Ultramarines. Simply put: they get fucked up. The geniuses decided to put scouts in their first combat deployment wearing power armor and not knowing how to use their guns. Their Captain is a cocksure moron who charges into battle against a daemon prince alone. The only sane man in the squad is a geriatric Apothecary who everyone ignores. After the Captain dies, command is given over to a paranoid trigger happy lunatic. The Captain, who is OBVIOUSLY NOT A DAEMON POSSESSING HIS BODY comes back and kills everyone, and only two Marines survive the entire encounter.  


Yep. Humanity's greatest all right.
10:30 - Meetings with the Spiritual Liege. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines practice reciting the Codex Astartes, the leaders from each of the Ultramarine's companies discuss political, social and military affairs of Ultramar and the Imperium at large. When the Primarch has the opportunity to be present, discussions and tactical briefings on his long absence last for hours, with plenty of facepalming and sighing from said Primarch.


(Be sure to mention this to Matt Ward if you ever meet him, and don't forget to generally mock Ultramarines when he's around.)
11:00 - Afternoon Wargames. The Ultramarines conduct [[Tabletop Miniature|miniature wargames]] to best simulate strategic and combat play which can be learned and adapted in real life combat.


==Reasons Every Other Chapter Is Better==
13:00 - Midday Meal. A light meal of cheese, bread, meats and vegetables is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Sometimes they have a soup tasty enough for them to [https://youtu.be/OBg9ZAqBifQ sing about later.]
There are ongoing reasons that every other chapter of both Loyalist and Traitor legion are better than the Ultramarines. Here are but a few:


* They did not fight against the traitor legions on the walls of the Imperial Palace, fighting with all they had to defend Terra against horrors the likes of which had never been seen before in the history of the Imperium.
13:30 - Codex Astartes. More indoctrination of the Codex Astartes are read to ensure that the Ultramarines never diverge from the book of Guilliman. The Primarch privately wonders how his words about the Codex being a guideline could have been misinterpreted so badly.
** That award goes to the [[Imperial Fists]].


* They did not lose half of their chapter to <s>[[heresy]]</s> A COMPLETELY RANDOM AND COMPLICATED ACCIDENT THAT DID NOT INVOLVE HERESY and engage on a millenia-long crusade of <s>penance to clear their name in the eyes of all other chapters</s> GETTING SMOKES, a never-ending quest that causes them to heroically go up against all odds in order to restore their chapter's <s>shattered</s> TOTALLY AWESOME AND UNDISPUTED honor.
15:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice.
** That award goes to the [[Dark Angels]].


* They do not have the balls to ignore what their Chapter Master wishes, realizing that a chapter with a decentralized command structure is far more effective, choose instead to, like [[Black Templars|a few other badasses]], do their own thing. This means they head around the galaxy and [[/tg/ gets shit done|openly lend their aid to any Imperial Guard, Planetary Government, or Space Marine unit that needs their assistance]] in sabotage, covert ops, and assassination, which [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LdRbiJ29VkM includes an assault on a heavily-fortified Tau outpost that captures the ethereal and leaves hundreds dead via a covert strike from a single squad].
16:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines are now dropped into the wilderness of Macragge to fend off the local fauna and flora there. The animals and plants killed are sent to the Chapter Serfs for more ingredients.
** That award goes to the [[Raven Guard]].


* They did not wind up taking a heavily-defended city that had dug in with fifty marines after it had 2 weeks to prepare its defenses because taking it the quick way with hundreds of casualties "would have been too easy."
17:00 - Evening Prayers. The Ultramarines gather together to pray on why they are the chosen chapter and why the Ultramar System is the best system.
** That award goes to the [[Alpha Legion]].


* They did not wind up having a Primarch fighting alongside the Emperor deep into Horus' battle barge during the Horus Heresy, only to wind up in a doomed battle that he himself knew he could not win - but fought nonetheless knowing full well that death awaited no matter what course he took.
18:00 - Nighttime Firing Rites. The Ultramarines take target practice in the night to further hone in their nocturnal experience.
** That award goes to the [[Blood Angels]].


* They are not kickass vikings in space with a Primarch that fucking kicked that [[Gay|faggot]] Horus' ass in a duel and who was so manly that the [[Imperial Guard]] named a tank after him, which has gone on to be perhaps the most-used tank in the imperial arsenal.
19:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines descend to one of the neighboring planets in Ultramar to further fight the planet's local fauna and flora, as well as the various nasty things Nurgle has been attacking Ultramar with lately.
** That award goes to the [[Space Wolves]].


* They are not crafted from the Emperor's Gene-Seed and are privy to knowledge that would destroy lesser men, tasked with the all-important mission of having to destroy the most powerful entities ever brought about from the warp or die in the attempt.
19:30 - Daily Medical Checkup. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines are busy practicing their combat prowess, the long hours of having to keep the entire Imperium afloat has left Roboute Guilliman in a state of dismay, anger and minor facial injuries due to repeated facepalming. [[Apothecaries]] try and fail to warn their Primarch that continued usage of the facepalm will eventually give the Avenging Son a concussion. Any battle-brothers who have come into contact with the forces of Nurgle are painstakingly decontaminated to prevent the spread of any warp-contagion.
** That award goes to the [[Grey Knights]].


* They are not angry enough to shit plasma grenades and then punch someone in the face with one just to show you how awesome they are.
20:00 - Evening Meal. A feast made from the creatures slain by the Ultramarines earlier on is cooked in the finest ingredients. Cooking it perfectly gets the serf a purity seal of valor while cooking it imperfectly forces the serf to be read the entire Codex Astartes section on cooking. Guilliman privately wonders how the joke section made it into the official print.
** That award goes to the [[Angry Marines]].


* They are not capable of blending in for more than 3 seconds and resolving conflicts by simply talking to their opponents instead of shooting them.
21:00 - Cleaning up Guilliman's chambers. The Ultramarines go and clean up their Primarch's marble chambers after Macragge's daily tourist traps are closed for the night. Despite the Avenging Son's frequent absences from Ultramar, they like to be sure his quarters are just as he left them.
** That award goes to the [[Reasonable Marines]].


* They are not Space Marine Space [[Poison'd|Pirates]] that are out for the plunder, wenches, and cool [[hat]]s.
22:00 - Free Time. The Ultramarines get free time. Some continue to read the Codex Astartes, others pray to the Emperor while some go out of their Fortress Monastery to catch up on the local news and political affairs as well as hanging out with the citizens of Macragge.
** That award goes to the [[Red Corsairs]].


* They are not angry enough to contest the Angry Marines' claim on being the angriest whilst having the support of an almost-as-angry god, while also being the best melee fighters in the setting.
24:00 - Rest Period. The Ultramarines descend back to their marble-encased sleeping chambers to rest, save for Guilliman who is needed elsewhere in the Imperium.
** That award goes to the [[World Eaters]].


* They are not created by having a lesser daemon posses them and exorcised later as so to be more resistant to daemonic corruption, which would normally result with most Space Marines going insane.
==Some music==
** That award goes to the [[Exorcists]], a chapter that stemmed from the Grey Knights.


* They aren't awesomesauce enough to create 2 memes in a single game.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wTXrLsZvVI Their theme] done by [[HMKids]].
** That award goes to the [[Blood Ravens]], specifically to [[Indrick Boreale]].
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_9CyqfkXCc Ultrsmurfs tribute theme] done by [[Eliphas]].
 
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rt1M8iZNHpQ Their theme] from Chaos Gate. Became a major meme among Russian 40k fans due to some deliciously stupid [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBg9ZAqBifQ misheard lyrics] and made ultramarines associated with soup in Russian community.
* They don't have thick-enough plot armor to have no more than a hair-etical Force commander, a 4-man tactical squad led by the only bald marine in the group, a 3-man assault marine squad led by a young hair-etic, a 3-man devastator squad led by an angry-as-fuck devastator sergeant, a 3-man scout squad led by the most morbidly grimdark scout sergeant to ever live, the only confirmed non-[[Salamander]] negro librarian in the entire Imperium, and a senile Dreadnought stand up to a Tyranid invasion and full-blown Chaos intrusion all the while having no form of heavy armor support other than said Dreadnought. Though the 4th Company did hold the line for them while these shitheads did all the work.
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf9AaTV4-yw A track] from their official movie.
** That award again goes to the Blood Ravens.
 
* They don't have a [[DURR|''Hair''-etical]]-enough commander and sergeant with a hairstyle that makes them look like Vanilla Ice.
** The award ''also'' goes to the Blood Ravens.
 
* They do not go around "acquiring" a very large number of priceless artifacts and wargear from a dozen other Space Marine Chapters, the Adeptus Custodes, the Inquisition, and even from Chaos without getting caught.
** That award also <s>goes to</s> was stolen by the Blood Ravens.
 
* They didn't manage to troll an entire marine chapter (complete with primarch) by having them assault a heavily fortified fortress, and then ambushing them in said fortress after it was but a trap.
** That award goes to the [[Iron Warriors]].
 
* They didn't have the balls to defy the Codex Astartes and have more than 1000 marines in a single chapter in-order to commence a never-ending crusade of awesomeness that resulted in numerous victories, purged millions upon millions of filthy heretics, mutants, and Xenos, while doing it in a medieval-esque fashion that involves them rushing their target with the intent to go CQC as much as possible.
** That award goes to the [[Black Templars]].
 
* They did not successfully troll the [[Ultramarines]] into not only abandoning Terra on a fool's errand, but kicking the smurfs' asses in the process.
** That award also goes to the [[Alpha Legion]].
 
* They are not badass black marines that kick the shit out of foul xenos with flamer and melta weapons even after shreds of their chapter went [[Chaos|dumbshit]].
** That award goes to the [[Salamanders]].
 
*They did not achieve this feat while remaining fundamentally decent human beings in a universe that pisses [[grimdark]].
** That award also goes to the Salamanders.
 
*They do not have a very large amount of master crafted and artificer wargear because they give their artificers extra time to make them since each marine maintains his own wargear.
** The third award that goes to the Salamanders
 
* They were not capable of getting entire star systems to unconditionally surrender via the mere ''mention'' that they were approaching a system.
** That award goes to the [[Night Lords]].
 
* They are not a legion who spent ten thousand years enhancing themselves with bionics and has survived decades despite being constantly ignored by [[Games Workshop]].
** That award goes to the Iron Hands.
 
* They did not turn traitor to protect priceless bits of lore because [[Emperor|daddy]] wanted to be a fuckwit and decided to hate on Psykers.
** That award goes to the [[Thousand Sons]].
 
* They did not simultaneously tell both Chaos and the Imperium to fuck off due to Tzeentch and now go around the galaxy in a Space Hulk fighting everyone in the name of the Emperor at the command of a [[Awesome|half spider Chapter Master]].
** That award goes to the Soul Drinkers.
 
* [[Grimdark|They did not have two homeworlds destroyed, been brought back from the brink of extinction many times, then finally have the entire Chapter disappear in the warp, only to come back with a different paint job and name, to help Imperials in their time of need, while battling a warp disease that destroys their sanity but gives them incredible strength.]]
** That award goes to the Fire Hawks/Legion of the Damned.
 
* They do not manage to be tactically competent and even come off as likable and relate-able to the normal people of the Imperium despite being superhuman warriors.
** That award goes to the Iron Snakes.
 
* They do not have the highest concentration of [[Beakie]]s of any chapter.
** That award also goes to the [[Raven Guard]].
 
*They were not almost completely destroyed by random chance before rallying their few remaining brothers and defending a city from an Ork waagh! with virtually no reinforcements while avoiding stupidly suicidal moves to someday rebuild their shattered chapter (a feat which most thought would be impossible).
** That award goes to the [[Crimson Fists]].
 
==To sum up the Ultramarines==
[[File:Niggermander.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Calgar spent a short amount of time studying and learning the customs of the Salamanders, when he retured this is what happened. the Ultramarines soon fell into disaray]]
So, the "greatest" warriors the entire Imperium has are apparently comprised of a chapter of Space Marines who, on the whole, <s>apparently</s> have an enormous ego that has gotten them into serious problems more than once. From the way fluff is written about them, you would think that they have gotten the most done out of any chapter, and yet all they have done is made a few major screw ups and failures, done a few things that don't seem entirely extraordinary (oh, you cleansed a planet of heretics? That's totally something no other chapter has managed to do, let alone the Imperial Guard), and when they have done something that's a bit bigger, it's always, always the Ultramarines with about a dozen other chapters.
 
They started the "Zeist Campaign" (why would you remind people of horrible movies that nobody likes, [[Matt Ward]]?) to try to reclaim worlds from the Tau, but apparently can't finish it without help from at least 9 other chapters, which even includes the severely depleted Crimson Fists. Even after they get their reinforcements they can't even finish the weeaboo communists, the Imperial offensive sort of just dissipates after everyone pretty much says "I've got other things to do."
 
On top of that, they aren't involved in, or barely contribute anything at all to almost any of the major battles in almost the entirety of the history of the Imperium. Not one of the Black Crusades saw any notable contribution from the Ultramarines, other than being part of the background in a battle or simply reinforcements after everyone's done killing the opposition, the battles over many of the big war-planets don't see a single Ultramarine (Armageddon, for example), and they're apparently entirely removed from the huge games of political backstabbing that changed much of the Imperium (Age of Apostasy, etc).
 
So they have done apparently little of actual note in the grand scheme of things despite having many of the most incredibly, shamelessly powerful snowflakes in the entire galaxy, who apparently only got that good because they spend most of their days in training to get that good, because they're sure as hell not getting the experience out in the field.
 
On top of that, if you'll see that surprisingly long list above, the Ultramarines are quite obviously one of the most mediocre Chapters there are. They don't really have anything to stand on other than their reputation. Sure, they may claim to be the "best" chapter of Space Marines, but once you probe any further, that claim comes apart like wet newspaper. It's almost like Ciaphas Cain turned into a whole chapter of Marines, except this time there's even less to base it on (except Cain frequently does quite heroic things, even if he claims to be trying to save his own skin).
 
So it comes to this question. Why on earth to the Ultramarines have any fanboys whatsoever?


==Gallery==
==Gallery==
<gallery>
<gallery>
File:Spacemarine.jpg|PLOT ARMOUR HO!!1!
File:ultrawombles.jpg|ULTRAWOMBLES
File:Warhammer ultramarine take 2 by faroldjo.jpg|Its hard work holding up a banner on the wrong end of the galaxy
File:Spacemarine.jpg|[[Iron Hands|Sgt Pasanius didn't want that hand anyway.]]
File:Ultramarines concept by Malkavian7515.jpg|Not everything can be made of awesome
File:Warhammer ultramarine take 2 by faroldjo.jpg|Say what you want about Ultramarines, but their Honour Guards looks pretty boss.
File:Ultramarines vs Tyranids.jpg|Horus during the siege of Terra
File:Ultramarines concept by Malkavian7515.jpg
File:Ultramarinesgt.jpg|Honoured Brother Ward banner
File:Pimp Suit.png|Captain Cato Sicarius' power armour, also known as the Mantle of the Mary Suzerain
Image:Ultraphone.jpg|Your phone weeps, for in its heart it knows it can never be an Ultraphone.
File:CodexSM EPUB Cover.jpg|Ultramarines got the front cover of the Space Marine Codex and admittely looks fucking cool for it.
HorusHeresyInsigniaUltramarines.png| 30k-Era Stylized Emblem. Notice the swords are spatha, not gladii.
File:WH40K_-_open-3.jpg|One of the reasons why Calgar rarely leads by example.
</gallery>
</gallery>


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Mary Sue]]
*[[Fluff]]
*[[Who Watches Them]]
*[[Who Watches Them]]
*[[Macragge heresy]]
*[[Macragge heresy]]
*[[Ultramarines Honour Company]]
*[http://www.scribd.com/doc/118383071/WD97-Chapter-Approved-Index-Astartes| The past wot got remade by their presence - the original Chapter Approved write up of the "Ultra-Marines."]
*[[Genesis Chapter]], their reserve.
*[[Veteran_Squad#Tyrannic_War_Veterans|Tyrannic War Veterans]]
{{Ultramarines}}


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

Latest revision as of 10:45, 23 June 2023

This article or section involves Plot Armor so asinine, that its sheer bullshittery warps and breaks the very fabric of the setting's universe. Expect Rage, Butthurt and accusations of Mary Sue being flung around in an endless Skub debate. THEY MAKE IT HAPPEN. You have been warned.
Ultramarines
Battle Cry "Courage and Honour!" and "We March for Macragge!"
Number XIII
Founding First Founding
Original Name War-Born
Successor Chapters Roughly 65% of all Chapters. Allegedly. However, a lot of those don’t know who their Primarch is or are very different from Guilliman. Generally, most post-Heresy loyalist chapters and traitor warbands claim Ultramarines as parent Chapter.
Chapter Master Marneus Calgar
Primarch Roboute Guilliman
Homeworld Macragge
Strength Above 1000 Marines
Specialty Logistics. Otherwise a jack of all trades. Being the creator's pet. Obsessed with strategy, tactics and discipline. Basically Romans IN SPESS!!
Allegiance Imperium
Colours Ultramarine Blue, white & gold (For the most famous Second Company. Other Companies use different colors)

"Battles are won by slaughter and maneuver. The greater the general, the more he contributes in maneuver, the less he demands in slaughter."

– Winston S. Churchill

"Our Presence Remakes the Past!"

– The Banner of Macragge

"...And then we won."

Marneus Calgar, after nearly every battle involving the Ultramarines

The Ultramarines (More commonly known as Ultrasmurfs) are a chapter of Space Marines, probably the most famous and well-known and mincy (both within the Warhammer 40,000 universe and without). Games Workshop considers the Ultramarines their chapter of choice, and the Ultramarines represent the standard upon which most other Space Marine chapters are based but strive to be different from as they are so mincy. Why Games Workshop would want a Space Marine chapter whose symbol is a toilet seat repulsive reverse vagina upside down Omega upsilon horseshoe International Phonetic Alphabet transcription for "uhh..." () as their go-to chapter is beyond us. They have an easily recognizable blue-with-gold-trim colour scheme that the Thousand Sons decided to rip off post-heresy (after the Newcrons ripped off their Egyptian motif.) Of course technically that's only the second company, but who ever heard of an Ultramarine player not painting his army blue and gold? The blue colouration, coupled with the small size of the minis, has lead them to be nicknamed "Smurfs" by some everyone. It's a very, very old joke however, and it was never particularly funny even when the boys in blue were at their most insufferably Wardian. Rick Priestley was originally inspired to promote the Ultramarines heavily in publications of White Dwarf after a dream he had whilst staying around a friends house in which he claims the miniatures began speaking to him, this part allegedly had a role in his eventual dismissal from Games Workshop in 2010.

A squad of Tactical Marines are the protagonists of the 40k-based CGI movie surprisingly titled "Ultramarines". It's not bad per se (Dan Abnett did some of the writing, although the fact that it was only "some" shows) but could have been better.

Also, their pre-Heresy culture and appearance was basically the Romanized gothic tribes from near the end of the Roman Empire. So, they still had their manly barbarian on combined with strict discipline and coordination. Currently, though, they’re just straight up Roman. Interestingly, the Space Wolves back then were basically the pre-Romanized tribes.

Overview[edit]

All said and done, the Ultries can be badass.

The Ultramarines are perhaps the closest to what many would consider a 'modern' military among the Adeptus Astartes. Strategy, planning and the minimization of casualties is the basis of any Ultramarine battle-plan and their central concept is that of a well drilled, immaculate army of soldiers who execute their duty with professionalism and competence. "Information is victory" is essentially the Ultramarine way, more so than most other Chapters. Though they are much more relaxed with regards to discipline than the Forge World's favoured, or those other guys. Even before they had reunited with their Primarch, it had been noted that the XIIIth Legion (then called the War Born) was strongly inclined towards the adoption of carefully thought out battle plans, an established chain of command, and an aversion to inflicting collateral damage. These tendencies were intensified further by their extensive study and practice of the Codex Astartes, which covers a very broad range of battlefield situations and doctrines to live by. Thanks to each and every one of them training and living by it, their companies operate like a smoothly functioning combat machine with every unit functionally interlocking with every other. However, as much as this by-the-book discipline was their strength, it is often also, like the real-life ancient Roman Legions, their weakness, since the few situations that the Codex Astartes did not prepare them for tended to catch them flat-footed, lacking the flexibility to properly respond. More accurately, no Marine knows the whole Codex as it is too vast for even their minds. Each learns different parts of it. This means that while the whole Codex can be used for any situation, commanders don’t have all the pieces to the puzzle. The initial Tyranid invasion and the Damnos incident exemplify such situations, where the unconventional nature of their enemy nearly led to their defeat. It doesn't matter how smoothly your forces function if you don't actually have a way to win the battle.

That being said, they are extremely good at adapting to a threat once the initial shock has passed. In the aftermath of their near-defeat to the Tyranids, the Chapter would go on to crush Hive Fleet Kraken as a coherent invasion force as well as create an entire unit dedicated to fighting this particular threat (Almost as if they are a chapter that is protected by a mystical armour), called the Tyrannic War Veterans. These specialists would become highly sought after by the Deathwatch due to their experience and knowledge and was even augmented by survivors from other Chapters that suffered the wrath of the Tyranids. During the Horus Heresy, an entire force of 1000 Ultramarines was decimated the initial Night Lord of invasion of Sotha. Despite being caught off guard at first due to their unfamiliarity with the Night Lord's unconventional tactics, they began to adapt fast to their enemy's fighting style and by the end of the battle, achieved a near 20-1 kill ratio over their traitorous cousins. Although they may be weak to a new enemy or new tactics, they have a superb reactivity once they have the information they need.

They’re not warriors or knights, but soldiers; a professional fighting force dedicated to defending the 500 Worlds of Ultramar and serving the interests of the larger Imperium beyond. A standing army that is the byproduct of a prosperous Star Empire to which they owe their existence. This is seen in their combat doctrine. They don’t have any specializations themselves because they are supposed to adapt to whatever situation presents itself and act accordingly. They are a fluid and malleable fighting force that is supposed to assess the situation, gain every scrap of intelligence/battle data they can, and then change themselves into whatever is required to get the job done; be it a blunt hammer or a precision blade. That being said, they do still have particular units which specialize at one thing or another. For instance, while the average Ultramarine will probably lose a duel to an average Dark Angel, the Invictus Suzerians can hold their own against even the best of the Lion's sons. By that same token however, a Suzerian won't out-snipe a Raven Guard Mor'Deythan. If not for being a bit too hard into the "honor and glory" thing, and being a bit too by-the-book, they would basically be Reasonable Marines.

The Primarch of the Ultramarines is Roboute Guilliman (aka Robot Girlyman and about a thousand other highly appropriate names: Big Bobby G, Rowboat Gillman, The BIG RG, Rawbutt Girlyman , The Great Papa Smurf, God-Emperor of smurfs Ex. Ex.) and it was he who wrote the (in?)famous Codex Astartes after the events of the Daddy Issue Invasion, prescribing each Space Marine chapter to a mere thousand warriors to ensure that no one man would ever command the loyalty of an entire Space Marine legion again. At least, that was the plan, but Roboute Guilliman himself never got to see it come to light, as he was mortally wounded by a poisonous attack from his bro, the Traitor Primarch Fulgrim, and he had been kept in stasis by the Ultramarines for thousands of years, only being revived through the actions of Archmagos Cawl and the Ynnari ten thousand years later (Working with Xenos? HERESY!).

The Ultramarines base their ideals upon the teachings of super-Ultra Smurf daddy, who ended up on a neo-Roman planet and soon adopted their way of thinking. They believe in individual strength to strengthen the whole (and not for the betterment of one self), and in following the rules, however strict they might be. This way, order is maintained in all things. Courage is, naturally, also a big thing to them, since it goes with the idea of the individual working to better the whole. All this means that the Ultramarines are very, very good at doing their job, as long as they are prepared for it and works alongside the rest of their Chapter, but tend to be rather stumped when a situation which their planning and reasoning can't immediately deal with, comes up. When such situations do occur, such as the First Tyrannic War, they tend to have to take a bit of time to adapt. Being an army of mini-Guillimans, an elucidating example of their tendencies can be gleaned from a set of wargames that Guilliman had with Corax back in the halcyon days. Corax, who was one of the Imperium's best tacticians, beat Guilliman in three battlefield scenarios in which he outmaneuvered Guilliman through the use of Moritats and ad-hoc civilian saboteur squads. Guilliman, who initially hadn't considered the use of either unit due to them being so unorthodox, caught on to their usefulness after the three defeats. Once he'd gotten Corax's number, Corax never beat him again. Corax himself said of the games: "I won battles against him, but never a war." That's basically the Ultramarines in a nutshell; you may win some battles against them with unorthodox tactics and imagination. But odds are they are going to figure you out, and once they do, you are in a lot of trouble.

Ehh... Could you get your ass off the altar, Claudius?

The Ultramarines are also notorious for disregarding much of the wider Imperium in favour of their own worlds, the famed 500 Worlds of Ultramar. This has earned them much hate from in-universe factions, who don't like how they essentially go "Screw you guys, we'll just make our own, sort of working empire! With blackjack! And hookers!"; One of Fulgrim's iterators, who had the ear of powerful members of Terran court, once said that "The Lord of Ultramar sees little else besides the primacy of his own culture.", and also Malcador and the Emperor were not surprised when Guilliman chose to defend his 500 worlds rather than get his hands dirty with the Horus Heresy. Which is, of course, the complete opposite of Ultramar’s “protect the greater whole” philosophy, but GW has always been stupid like that. Many elegen/tg/entlemen dislike this as well, since it sort of makes the Ultries seem they know better than the rest of the Imperium, while still being lauded as being some of the most honourable Chapters in the entire galaxy.

In the Ultramarines' defense however, they're probably the most successful space marine chapter in the galaxy, considering that they defend and maintain hundreds of worlds, and those worlds are some of the most prosperous, meritocratic worlds in the entire Imperium. Plus, the Ultramarines have an affinity with the common people, as they believe that it's their sworn duty to protect the innocent, like the Salamanders but not quite to the same degree. Even with their duties in Ultramar, the Chapter still sends warriors out into the wider galaxy, making significant contributions at Armageddon and at Cadia during the 13th black crusade. That said, their propensity to focus on defending Ultramar (alongside other Chapters in or near Ultramar) could also be the simple pragmatism of recognizing that a thousand (or a few thousand with the nearby Chapters considered) Marines cannot really do much more than that without heavily diluting their force projection. And besides, Guilliman was getting involved with the Horus Heresy until Ultramar got cut off by the Ruinstorm. Plus on top of all that, most of the Imperium sucks because of the choices of the people running the show. There's no reason most of the rest of the Imperium's worlds couldn't implement the sorts of policy decisions that make Ultramar as prosperous as it is; it's not as though Ultramar keeps any of it secret. Since they choose not to, the Ultramarines' attitude is may essentially just be "ok look, when the rest of you want to stop being retarded, you let us know. We've got more than enough work to do as it is, so until then, we'll be over here not dealing with your shit".

All of the other Space Marine legions save one (or maybe two, depending on how you look at it, maybe three if you count anger and most likely four when thinking about it) adopted the Codex and split up into multitudes of smaller chapters, and most Space Marine chapters today follow the practices found within it, although some like the Space Wolves and the Black Templars have refrained from implementing it. This is because, generally speaking, it really is a very good general reference for tactical and strategic planning; Guilliman's strategic capabilities were, after all, only rivaled by Dorn and Horus in the entire Imperium. However, the Ultramarines and more than a few of their Successor Chapters are very rigid in their compliance to it. Where most other Chapters like the Imperial Fists and Raven Guard looks to it for guidance when encountering unfamiliar situations, the Ultramarines see the Codex as a sort of "holy book" and follow its instructions to the letter. Ironically, Guilliman himself believed this to be misguided and noted that the Codex was never meant to replace the ability to act on one's own judgments. But Irony is a strong force in 40K universe.

The Ultramarines are also the base source of about 80% of the Geneseed for new Space Marine chapters, mainly for two reasons, and totally not because GW wants to push vanilla marines as much as possible to new players. The first in-universe reason is that, during all times of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy, the Ultramarines were by far the largest Legion (numbering around 250-300.000 Marines) and it made the split into a multitude of chapters, many of which are still around today, much easier on them than on certain other chapters. This was further compounded by the fact that the Ultramarines were largely intact after the Heresy, whereas many of the other Legions, smaller even to begin with, had been absolutely decimated. The Salamanders, Raven Guard, and Iron Hands had all nearly ceased to exist after the Dropsite Massacre, and the Imperial Fists, Space Wolves, Blood Angels, and White Scars had all been similarly assblasted either right before, or during, the Siege of Terra. The only two Legions that were still kicking about in relatively large numbers after the Heresy were the Dark Angels and the Ultramarines, as neither Legion had been involved in either event. The Dark Angels however, then suffered a catastrophe when the Legion returned to Caliban. With Luthor's betrayal of the Lion and the destruction of their homeworld, the First Legion was still going strong compared to most of their cousins, but were not nearly so numerous as they might have been. The second is that Ultramarine geneseed proved to be simply the most reliable, largely free of mutation (unless someone tries to deliberately mess with it) or other quirks of personality some other successor chapters express. It also had a very low rate of rejection compared to most other Legions. The only other similarly stable, easily implanted Loyalist geneseed repositories were those of the Dark Angels and Imperial Fists, both of whom ended up having either quite a few successor chapters themselves, or just a few chapters with one absurdly huge chapter. If anything, the psychological tendency it imposes is compliance with group conformity, which is far more preferable for the High Lords of Terra (the only group allowed to sanction new foundings or give later recognition to chapters unofficially founded or after loyalist secessions from loyalist chapters) than the various other obsessions that may result.

The third, secret reason the Ultramarines have so many Successors is due to Guilliman and the Mechanicus hiding other legion traitors as Ultramarines. Since the Ultramarines are so numerous, no one would question just another one of their successor chapters. Plus since Guilliman spent a bunch of time after the Heresy as the Imperium's Lord Commander (aka boss man), he would have had ample opportunity to fudge as many of the Loyalist Traitors' chapter origins as he pleased. During the Great Crusade, the Ultramarines and Imperial Fists received reinforcements for the Lost II and XI legions. However, the Ultramarines were also not nearly as devastated during or just after the Heresy as the Imperial Fists were. Guilliman would then also hide loyalists from the traitor legions as his sons including the Silver Skulls. Later foundings using traitor stock may also include (but are not limited to) the Red Scorpions, the Storm Wardens, the Fire Angels, the Sons of Antaeus, the Mortifactors, and the Iron Snakes. There's also a very strong possibility that the Minotaurs fall into this group. How exactly this works for them being "reliable as Ultramarine geneseed" is unknown since you would think the people testing Geneseed would notice the difference between, say, Word Bearer and Ultramarine stock. Also, if Ultramarine geneseed is so reliable, wouldn't the traitor stock spread out through their successor be a dead giveaway? Finally, Guilliman had his mindwiped so he wouldn't know who had traitor geneseed in his ranks. This means that many of his successor chapters may have some traitor geneseed mixed into the pool which must raise some eyebrows once in a while when it gets examined. Maybe the guys doing the geneseed tests just have asterisks next to those cases and count them as "unusual, but acceptable deviancy to never, ever question, ever". However, it's just as likely that Guilliman has people in the Mechanicum hierarchy, like Cawl, who are still actively covering for the Loyalist Traitors.

Because they are the poster-boys for Space Marines, they are perhaps the most famous Chapter in the general 40k fandom, but are widely hated by many denizens of /tg/. This may initially have been due to their popularity - the Space Marines in general suffer something of a backlash from fa/tg/uys because of their overwhelming popularity with the annoying young children that infest the hobby, and the Ultramarines are the most popular of them all - but of recent editions the blatant favouritism displayed by certain Games Workshop writers towards the Chapter have earned them considerable ire, especially from fans of other Space Marine chapters that get slagged off in the process. This is mainly the fault of Matthew Ward's 5th edition Space Marine Codex, which explicitly claimed that the Ultramarines were superior to all other Space Marines (In 2nd edition it was explicitly stated.) and was not helped by Ward's own poor fluff-writing skills (see Quotes below). However, more recent fluff has served to bring the Ultramarines back to their "Space Roman" roots, making them far less objectionable than they were in the past. Forge World's Horus Heresy line has been particularly kind to them, giving them a variety of stylish Heresy-era gear, all of them with that "The Glory That Was Rome" vibe.

First Edition History[edit]

Fig.1.1: An Ultramarine, note the Beakie.
This article or section is about something oldschool - and awesome.
Make sure your rose-tinted glasses are on nice and tight, and prepare for a lovely walk down nostalgia lane.

Back in the first edition of Warhammer 40,000, in an article co-written by Rick Priestley. The XIIIth Legion were actually traitors and were banished to the Eye of Terror along with the other traitor legions. The modern day 40k Ultramarines were established on new years day 001.M32, which would make them a Third Founding chapter. They received all of the gene-"sperm" & implants, rituals and paraphernalia of the original legion.

Not only that, they only received lordship over the world of Macragge AFTER the First Tyrannic War. And though they did have different names for all of their company captains and command staff, they were/are still commanded by a man named Marneus Calgar.

The implications of this would be startling if we use the "everything is canon, but not necessarily true" stance that GW has adopted when regarding fluff inconsistencies. Hinting that Guilliman's marines were heretics and traitors and were eventually banished from the Imperium.

However, attempting to reconcile this old origin story with "modern" Ultramarines is extremely difficult, we can only coherently insert it into the current state of play if we assume there is a second chapter out there called the "Ultra-Marines" with a chapter master and homeworld of the same name and the same level of involvement with the Tyrannic Wars. Though what completely knocks this old fluff out is that it also has possession of the body of Roboute Guilliman so it has to be a retcon though it still opens the door to conspiracy theories or that Marneus Calgar is in command of multiple Chapters.

The other possibility is that when the Ultramarines were declared traitor and forced into the eye of terror, Guilliman, recognising his plans for Imperium Secondus were about to topple with the death of Sanguinius (who had been declared ruler as a means to placate the Emperor and the other legions), Guilliman had himself cloned and a portion of his legions most pure geneseed moved to the Eastern Fringe and Macragge to ensure survival of the Ultramarines, The Ultramar Empire and the Imperium Secondus concept as its eventuality. This occurred just as the rest of the legion (Including the original primarch) were declared traitor and forced into the eye. It would also suggest, given the appearance of Guilliman's wounded body in stasis on Macragge, that it was in-fact the clone that was killed by Fulgrim and the real primarch still resides either in the eye of terror or the immaterium with the remains of the Ultramarine Traitor Legion.

In either case, somehow one of the two possible Guilliman's was returned to Macragge and placed in stasis post-mortem after being Mortally-Wounded. If you accept the cloning of Guilliman, this all makes sense; he wanted to ensure his empire survived and having been declared traitor, cloned himself and sent the clone to rule over the new Imperium, the clone being mortally wounded by Fulgrim en-route. Or somehow, and for some reason, a traitor primarch was dragged out of the eye of terror and kept in stasis on the opposite side of the galaxy. Given the stupidity of that second line of thought, the clone being the primarch on Macragge is a much more likely situation... Especially as if his wounds heal and the clone recovers he would be able to continue acting out the original Guilliman's plans for a second imperium with its epicentre based within the Ultramar Empire and using Space Marines created from the remains of the purest legion-stock geneseed.

Or, infinitely more likely, it's just old fluff which went the way of the Squats after Rogue Trader, and we should hope so, because if it isn't, we also have to reconcile the space marines being entirely beaky space cops. However, there is a ton from Rogue Trader that was not retconned. And besides, the fandom considers Rogue Trader to be the final authority in all things wherever there are lore conflicts (unless one side is significantly more awesome than the other).

Besides, who’s to say that current Ultramarines are the Legio XIII? There are two purged Legions whose numbers were absorbed by the XIII. This makes it easy to connect 1st edition with later renditions as it would mean that Rogue Trader was right about XIII being traitors. If the remaining “Ultramarines” were from the two destroyed legions. The traitorous sons of Guilliman purged by him and his adopted sons who later got revenge with the help of the Alpha Legion.

Name & Breaking the Hyphen[edit]

The Ultramarines are not named because they are 'Ultra' as in 'Superior'. They're called "Ultramarines" because their home sector is Ultramar and the demonym is Ultramarine. Think of how people from America are Americans. Taking it as literally as possible, they're the "People of Ultramar," which plays back into their theme of being a part of their home's society. Their armour colouring is "coincidentally" called Ultramarine, which is generally described as being a slightly grapish (in contrast to Phthalo's greenish) blue. So, pronounce it like “Ultramar-ine”. Not that you will since “Ultra Marine” sounds better and is easier to say.

The overseas section of the Spanish Empire was referred to as Ultramar (waaaaaaaaaaay beyond the sea). Given the great distance between Ultramar and Terra, it's a fitting analogy.

In early versions of the Lore, "Ultramarines" (As they are now known) are spelt in a myriad of different ways. Rick Priestly himself describing them as "Ultra-Marines". Other versions include "Ultra Marines", "The Ultra-Marine Chapter" and "Smurfs" *BLAM* amongst many other iterations. In all instances, and all cases (even accounting for the First Edition lore above) it can be assumed the lore refers to the same Chapter or Legion. Punctuation matters, just not in 40K...

Ultramarines post-Ward[edit]

This article or section involves Matthew Ward, Spiritual Liege, who is universally-reviled on /tg/. Because this article or section covers Ward's copious amounts of derp and rage, fans of the 40K series are advised that if they proceed onward, they will see fluff and crunch violation of a level rarely seen.
Ultramarines, from the days of Awesome.

"Our love is nothing but the blues, baby, how blue can you get?"

– B.B. King

"Listen to your blue-clad wretches yelling of courage and honour, courage and honour, courage and honour. Do you even know the meaning of those words? Courage is fighting the kingdom which enslaves you, no matter that their armies outnumber yours by ten-thousand to one. You know nothing of courage. Honour is resisting a tyrant when all others suckle and grow fat on the hypocrisy he feeds them. You know nothing of honour."

Angron, proving that a stopped clock is right twice a day

Unless you are new here, then you should be well informed by now over the really skubtastic history involving the Ultramarines and the dreaded Ward. While Ward was indeed responsible for the immense butthurt and rage caused on /tg/ and to 1d4Chan itself (Seriously just look at the pages history, it was a war on green and red edits), Ward himself wasn't completely at fault here, Games Workshop is just as much to blame for their irresponsible and careless attitude in handling fluff to a clearly biased player and gave him the green light to write whatever things Ward could come out with. However after Ward's quite unexpected departure in 2014 (He came back in 2016 though, just hope he can control his Ultramarine urges now(he can’t)), the Ultramarines have been getting....less of the limelight like they used to back in the heydays of Codex: Space Marines 5th Edition. Nowadays, the Blood Angels, Space Wolves, Dark Angels and even the Deathwatch are getting more in the spotlight. While the Ultramarines are still the de facto mascots of WH40K, it seems that the post-Ward era has seen the return of more... diverse forms of Space Marine Chapters. Furthermore, the Horus Heresy lineups made by our favorite Forgeworld has been giving the Ultramarines and the rest of the Space Marine Legions an equal respect in both their lore and crunch which was unthinkable back in the day, "The Salamanders and Raven Guard get their own moment to shine without the Ultras overshadowing them? How preposterous!" would be the most likely answer if went back in time and told our past selves over this.

Additionally the Forgeworld model for Roboute Guilliman has been well received by fans with some commenting that of all the Primarch models, Guilliman's was one of the best designed and posed (although the truth is that his armour has went from Greco-Roman in style to Marvel, and in spite of all his Mary Sue-ness, he's still likely to get stomped over by an Imperial Knight or Assault Terminators). What does this mean for our (in)famous blueberries? A redemption of sorts? Winning back the crowd? Earning back the respect it once had? The answer could be all of them. Whatever is the case, the legacy of Ward and the Ultramarine fiasco did impact the way players see the Ultramarines and the Space Marines to an extent either negatively or positively (More inclined to the negativity though). But seeing as how GeeDubs still has the Cruddhead, it can be seen with some sigh of relief that GeeDubs seems to be back to their grips now in terms of fluff at least.

Tabletop[edit]

Throughout most of GW's history the Ultramarines have been portrayed on the tabletop as the "standard" space marine chapter, to the point where most other chapters are represented as "Ultramarines +,- variable X". More popular chapters often get their own codices, but less popular chapters get relegated to sets of advantages and disadvantages on top of the Ultramarine baseline. At certain points in GW's sordid tabletop history this has led to Ultramarines being literally vanilla marines with no bonuses whatsoever, where the only advantage to taking them is their wide selection of characters, and other times such as 7th edition where with the right builds and the right tactics, you could statistically beat out the Blood Angels and Space Wolves in assault, and Dark Angels and Imperial Fists in shooting.

8th Edition is probably the best they've ever been while not being quite as cheesy as they were in the past. Their strategies, characters, chapter tactics, and warlord trait all grant bonuses to command points, to the point where you can get the effective use of 20(!) command points on stratagems in a 2000 point game, leading to an army with massive tactical flexibility. Gone are the days were you can butcher melee dedicated forces in close combat, and out-shoot the gun-factories of the universe, a bunch of damn sues who win because they are - of course - the BEST EVAR. Now you get the Ultramarines as they should be: a versatile but non-specialized army with the tactical and strategic flexibility to make the most out of any situation.

Notable Members[edit]

While most believe the story told by the Ultramarines, eye-witnesses paint a different story...
  • Marneus Augustus Calgar: Regent of Ultramar and Chapter Master of the Ultramarines. His accomplishments include being thoroughly ripped apart by the Swarmlord (by that we mean all his limbs, a large portion of his body and his eye), and single handedly holding off an Ork Waaagh! for 9 days all by himself. However, his crowning moment is his defeat of an Eldar Avatar of Khaine in 1 vs 1, hand-to-hand combat, which is typically killed by the same effort it takes to kill a Khornate Bloodthirster - never mind that the thing is made of molten metal and over three times his size. He also had a rematch with the Swarmlord and won, which must have been pretty easy, considering that it had been recently ripped apart. Has also faced Abaddon the Despoiler as well (following turning into a Primaris Marine), but his plot armor wasn't as strong that day and he just barely escaped that mess.
  • Severus Agemman: Captain of the Ultramarines First Company. He was Captain of the Second Company, and Sicarius' commanding officer before being promoted after the First Tyrannic War. There isn't much fluff about him besides being overshadowed by his former subordinate Sicarius. As first Company Captain he's Calgar's appointed successor, however much of the chapter thinks it will be Sicarius instead of him. Agemman is aware of this possibility and isn't very happy about it. As of the end of the Plague Wars, Severus serves as the Tetrarch of the northern reaches of Ultramar.
  • Cato Sicarius: Former captain of the Ultramarines Second Company and Leader of Guilliman's Victrix Guard. Is kind of a glory hog, but he's arguably earned his right to be a braggart through his skill at arms. Was taken on as a ward by the primarch after his resurrection, mostly because Cato's brash, forthright personality reminded him of Aeonid Thiel, whose counsel Guilliman greatly missed. His Captaincy was given to Sevastus Acheran after getting lost in the warp and was assigned the Victrix Honour Guard Captain after escaping.
  • Sevastus Acheran: Successor of Cato Sicarius as captain of the 2nd company, and is basically (from what little lore we have of him) a sneakier, more badass version of Sicarius. He was the one who led an assault by the Vanguard on a massive daemon factory in Shadowspear, and was willing to sacrifice himself once that attack went bad. He survived however, leading the 2nd company during the Plague Wars (This time wearing Gravis Armor).
  • Uriel Ventris: Captain of the Ultramarines Fourth Company and the main character of Graham McNeil's Ultramarines novel series. Notable for destroying the Daemonculaba.
  • Ortan Cassius: Master of Sanctity of the Ultramarines and ex-member of the Deathwatch. Currently one of the oldest Space Marines alive and not yet placed in a Dreadnought. The Tyrannic War Veterans were his idea.
  • Varro Tigurius: the Ultramarine's (Primaris) Chief Librarian, has enough psychic prowess to make psychic contact with the Hive Mind without going bonkers in the process.
  • Torias Telion: (aka; Sean Connery made Grimdark) Ultramarine Scout Sergeant. A skilled sniper, other chapters have borrowed him to train their scouts occasionally. He also has an impressive mustache.
  • Captain Titus: Captain of the who the fuck knows company (if the trim of his pauldrons are accurate, he's Captain of the 2nd Company). He gained prominence (will gain prominence?) on the forge world of Graia, trying to keep a whole Waaagh! from stealing all the bitz for themselves while keeping a probably radical Inquisitor happy. Also there's a portal to the warp letting out Daemons and Chaos Marines to go on a jolly old pub crawl. He is also one of the few Ultramarines who clearly states that the Codex Astartes is not meant to be a mental straightjacket. Thus, he is awesome.
  • Varnus: Ultramarines Chaplain dispatched to Lorn V, tasked with bodyguarding and delivering a Titan's Princeps and his crew to the abandoned Dominatus, worked alongside grit incarnate on legs (also known as General Sturnn). For perhaps the first instance in recorded time, he is a Space Marine who actually respects the Imperial Guard and couldn't ask for a better force (barring his own company). He is also a pretty hard-ass motherfucker that [charged] a Bloodthirster and won.
  • Aeonid Thiel: A sergeant during the Horus Heresy. Despite being seen as a rule breaking maverick for proposing battle simulations of Space Marines fighting one another, he ends up playing a major role first in the Battle of Calth, then in laying the groundwork for the Ultramarines post-war, including the red painted helmets for sergeants. Also served as the co-writer of the Codex. Promoted to Captain of the 2nd Company at the time of Guilliman's wounding, though his ultimate fate is unknown.
  • Decimus Felix: Primaris Captain of the Ultramarines Eleventh Company (Though one doesn't quite exist) and Equerry to Guilliman. Despite the utterly suspicious circumstances of such a fresh-ish face being afforded this much power, he acts as the voice of reason for the primarch. Acts as Tetrarch to the eastern reaches of Ultramar and has been trolled a bit by Cawl.
  • Sergeant Cornellus: A sergeant of an embarrassing squad. Notable for killing Eliphas the Inheritor the first time, stopping a daemon invasion and finding the Ultramarines Scrabble set all while sounding like a baby
  • Vitrian Messinius is a White Consuls Captain and Master of Recruits who commands the Indomitus Crusade Fleet Tertius' Battlegroup Saint Aster as a Lord-Lieutenant as well as being in charge of Roboute Guilliman's security (probably due to him getting shanked ) and is part of his personal retinue, the Victrix-Guard sounds Roman enough right Games Workshop?
  • Malum Caedo: Sternguard Veteran Sergeant who got sent to Graia to fix up the mess after the idiots there continued trying to experiment with the Warp powered battery. Probably one of the most hardest brother-fuckers of the Ultrasmurfs or even among Astartes in general thanks to being the protagonist of his own boomer shooter. Big Fanboy of Captain Titus and Sidonus and likes to read the Codex Astartes when idle.
  • Smurfette: The only female member of the Ultramarine chapter.

Quotes[edit]

"Chapters (not descended from Guilliman's geneseed) are disciples who owe their genetic inheritance to another Primarch, but follow the Codex Astartes as keenly as their divergent heritage allows. While primarily composed of successor Chapters, this group also includes several Chapters of the First Founding - notably the Imperial Fists, White Scars and the Raven Guard. These chapters can never be Ultramarines, for their gene-seed is not that of Roboute Guilliman. Nevertheless, they will ever aspire to the standards and teachings of the great Primarch."

– Fucking Matt Ward...

"(Chapters who do not emulate the Ultramarines) are aberrants; chapters who, through quirk of gene-seed, mutation or stubbornness, eschew the Codex Astartes in favor of other structural and combat doctrines. Some, such as the Blood Angels and their successors, strive to be worthy of Guilliman's legacy, but their recalcitrant gene-seed drives them ever further from it. Others, such as the Space Wolves and the Black Templars, remain stubbornly independent, looking to their own founder's ways of war (which is hilarious for the Templars) and caring little of how they fare in the eyes of others. These aberrant Chapters were always few in number and their presence diminishes with each passing decade, for their gene-seed is no longer the source of fresh Chapters."

Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer, Codex: Space Marines, 5th Edition, p. 25.

"The Ultramarines are undoubtedly the best Space Marines ever. Yes, really! Thanks to the heritage of Guilliman and their myriad heroic deeds, the Ultramarines are the exemplars of the Space Marines. With a few fringe exceptions who have severe mutations (Blood Angels) or stolid stubbornness (Space Wolves and Dark Angels) all Space marine chapters want to be like the Ultramarines and recognize Marneus Calgar as their spiritual liege."

– Matt Ward, Ultramarines player, codex writer, in the White Dwarf interview celebrating the release of Codex: Space Marines.

"But your teachings…"
"Are yet flawed," said Guilliman. "No one, not even one such as I, can anticipate every possible outcome of battle. My words are not some holy writ that must be obeyed. There must always be room for personal initiative on the battlefield. You and I both know how one spark of heroism can turn the tide of battle. That knowledge and personal experience can only be earned in blood, and the leader in the field must always be the ultimate arbiter of what course of action should be followed."

Roboute Guilliman, making a point that his successors would quickly forget about and the writer above would ignore.

"Wondering what would be in the supplemental Codex for the Ultramarines that won’t be in the main book? Come take a peek!"

– Adam Harrison, August 8 2019, for Bell of Lost Souls, selling to us the new Ultrasmurf supplement and privileges...

Daily Rituals[edit]

04:00 - The Ultramarines rise up from their sleep in their marble-encased sleeping chambers. The Primarch has already been awake for some time, having lost the need for sleep as a side effect of his revival. (Good thing, too- according to Guilliman himself the Armor of Fate is too noisy to let him rest, and even if it wasn't the armor doesn't have the flexibility to let him lie down in the first place.)

04:30 - Morning Prayers. The Ultramarines conduct morning prayers on why they are the SECOND TO TEH EMPRAH! and how all other chapters view Marneus Calgar as their Spritual Liege.

05:30 - Codex Astartes. The Ultramarines are indoctrinated and reminded on the rules and values of the Codex Astartes. Guilliman makes a note to break the news of his Codex revisions gently so his gene-sons don't go into conniptions.

08:00 - Morning Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice with spiritual guidance from Chaplain Ortan Cassius, who manages to only occasionally go off into furious rants about "The goddam bugs".

09:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines leave for Macragge's Colosseum to train against each other, the local Macragge fauna and Battle Servitors.

10:00 - Morning Meal. While later than some chapters, the Ultramarines feast upon a light meal made of fruits, biscuits and light meat by the Chapter serfs. The serfs are thanked soon afterwards in a manner of respect.

10:15 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Ultramarines head to see the latest battle plans and which military techniques that can best complement the Codex Astartes. Guilliman reviews the most recent major warzones of the Imperium and prepares battle plans for the forces deployed there.

10:30 - Meetings with the Spiritual Liege. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines practice reciting the Codex Astartes, the leaders from each of the Ultramarine's companies discuss political, social and military affairs of Ultramar and the Imperium at large. When the Primarch has the opportunity to be present, discussions and tactical briefings on his long absence last for hours, with plenty of facepalming and sighing from said Primarch.

11:00 - Afternoon Wargames. The Ultramarines conduct miniature wargames to best simulate strategic and combat play which can be learned and adapted in real life combat.

13:00 - Midday Meal. A light meal of cheese, bread, meats and vegetables is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Sometimes they have a soup tasty enough for them to sing about later.

13:30 - Codex Astartes. More indoctrination of the Codex Astartes are read to ensure that the Ultramarines never diverge from the book of Guilliman. The Primarch privately wonders how his words about the Codex being a guideline could have been misinterpreted so badly.

15:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Ultramarines enter target practice.

16:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines are now dropped into the wilderness of Macragge to fend off the local fauna and flora there. The animals and plants killed are sent to the Chapter Serfs for more ingredients.

17:00 - Evening Prayers. The Ultramarines gather together to pray on why they are the chosen chapter and why the Ultramar System is the best system.

18:00 - Nighttime Firing Rites. The Ultramarines take target practice in the night to further hone in their nocturnal experience.

19:00 - Battle Practice. The Ultramarines descend to one of the neighboring planets in Ultramar to further fight the planet's local fauna and flora, as well as the various nasty things Nurgle has been attacking Ultramar with lately.

19:30 - Daily Medical Checkup. Whilst the rest of the Ultramarines are busy practicing their combat prowess, the long hours of having to keep the entire Imperium afloat has left Roboute Guilliman in a state of dismay, anger and minor facial injuries due to repeated facepalming. Apothecaries try and fail to warn their Primarch that continued usage of the facepalm will eventually give the Avenging Son a concussion. Any battle-brothers who have come into contact with the forces of Nurgle are painstakingly decontaminated to prevent the spread of any warp-contagion.

20:00 - Evening Meal. A feast made from the creatures slain by the Ultramarines earlier on is cooked in the finest ingredients. Cooking it perfectly gets the serf a purity seal of valor while cooking it imperfectly forces the serf to be read the entire Codex Astartes section on cooking. Guilliman privately wonders how the joke section made it into the official print.

21:00 - Cleaning up Guilliman's chambers. The Ultramarines go and clean up their Primarch's marble chambers after Macragge's daily tourist traps are closed for the night. Despite the Avenging Son's frequent absences from Ultramar, they like to be sure his quarters are just as he left them.

22:00 - Free Time. The Ultramarines get free time. Some continue to read the Codex Astartes, others pray to the Emperor while some go out of their Fortress Monastery to catch up on the local news and political affairs as well as hanging out with the citizens of Macragge.

24:00 - Rest Period. The Ultramarines descend back to their marble-encased sleeping chambers to rest, save for Guilliman who is needed elsewhere in the Imperium.

Some music[edit]

Gallery[edit]

See also[edit]

Forces of the Ultramarines
Command: Apothecary - Brother-Captain - Brother-Sergeant - Chaplain
Chapter Master - Command Squad - Librarian - Techmarine
Ultramarines Honour Guard - Victrix Guard
Troops: Assault Squad - Centurion Squad - Chapter Serf - CATs
Devastator Squad - Scout Squad - Tactical Squad - Terminator Squad
Veteran Squad (Tyrannic War Veterans)
Great Crusade-era: Fulmentarus - Invictus Guard - Locutarus
Nemesis Destroyers - Praetorian Breacher Squad
Walkers: Dreadnought (Castraferrum - Contemptor - Deredeo - Leviathan)
Transports: Land Raider - Land Speeder Storm
Razorback Transport - Rhino Transport
Vehicles: Bike Squad - Javelin Attack Speeder - Land Raider Terminus Ultra
Land Speeder - Predator Tank - Sicaran Battle Tank - Vindicator
Ordnance: Hunter Multi-Launcher Vehicle - Stalker - Thunderfire Cannon - Whirlwind
Superheavy Vehicles: Fellblade (Falchion)
Flyers: Fire Raptor - Storm Eagle - Stormhawk
Stormtalon - Stormraven - Thunderhawk
Spacecraft: Drop Pod - Boarding Torpedo - Space Marine Landing Craft
Allies: Fallen Angels - Space Marines - Primaris Marines
Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes
First Founding
(M29)
Blood AngelsDark AngelsImperial FistsIron HandsRaven GuardSalamandersSpace WolvesUltramarinesWhite Scars
Second Founding
(021.M31)
Angels of AbsolutionAngels EncarmineAngels PorphyrAngels of RedemptionAngels SanguineAngels of VengeanceAngels VermillionAurora ChapterBlack ConsulsBlack GuardBlack TemplarsBlood DrinkersBrazen ClawsCrimson FistsDestroyersDoom EaglesEagle WarriorsExcoriatorsFists ExemplarFlesh TearersGenesis ChapterInceptorsIron SnakesLibatorsLions SableMaraudersMortifactorsNemesisNovamarinesObsidian GlaivesPatriarchs of UlixisPurple StarsPraetors of OrpheusRampagersRaptorsRed TalonsRevilersSilver EaglesSilver SkullsSoul DrinkersStorm LordsWhite ConsulsWolf Brothers
Third to
Twelfth Founding
(M32-M35)
Astral ClawsAngels PenitentAngels RevenantCharnel GuardDark PaladinsExecutionersFlesh EatersHalo BrethrenHowling GriffonsIron KnightsMantis WarriorsMarines MalevolentNight SwordsSable Swords (initial) - Scythes of the EmperorSpace SharksSons of Guilliman
Thirteenth Founding
(M35)
Death SpectresExorcists
Fourteenth to
Twentieth Founding
Angels of FireAvenging SonsCelebrants
Twenty-First Founding
(991.M35)
Black DragonsBlood GorgonsFire HawksFlame FalconsLamentersMinotaursSons of AntaeusTiger Claws
Twenty-Second to
Twenty-Sixth Founding
(M35-M41)
Angels of VigilanceAngels ExcelsisCelestial LionsDark HuntersDisciples of CalibanEmperor's SpearsFire AngelsGolden SonsHospitallersImperial HarbingersIron LordsKnights of the RavenMarines ErrantMentorsFire Claws/RelictorsStar PhantomsSubjugators
Ultima Founding
(999.M41/000.M42 to 012.M42)
Angels of DefianceBlack VipersBlades of VengeanceCastellans of the RiftCovenant of FireDark KrakensFulminatorsKnights CeruleanKnights of the ChaliceKnights of ThunderNecropolis HawksNemesorsPraetors of UltramarPrime AbsolversRift StalkersSilver DrakesSilver TemplarsSons of the PhoenixStorm ReapersUmbral KnightsUnnumbered SonsValiant BladesVoid TridentsWolfspear
Unknown Founding AbsolversAccipitersAdulatorsAngel GuardAngels EradicantAngels of RetributionAstral KnightsBlood RavensBlood SwordsBrazen DrakesBringers of JudgementBrothers PenitentCarmine BladesCowled WardensCrimson CastellansCrimson ConsulsCrimson ScythesDark HandsDark SonsDeath EaglesDoom WarriorsEmperor's ShadowsFire LordsGuardians of the CovenantGraven SpectresHammers of DornHarbingersHawk LordsInvadersIron CrusadersIron TalonsJade DragonsKnights of BloodKnights UnyieldingMarines ExemplarThe NamelessNight WatchRainbow WarriorsReclaimersRed HuntersRed ScorpionsRed SeraphsRed TemplarsRetributorsSable Swords (refounded) • Shadow WolvesSolar HawksSons of OrarStar DragonsStormwatchersStorm GiantsStorm WardensValedictorsViper LegionVorpal SwordsWhite TemplarsStorm Wings
Unsanctioned Founding Consecrators (founding unknown, but likely after 2nd Founding) • Sons of Medusa (separated from parent Chapters, ratified by edict) • Steel Confessors (de facto 22nd Founding, de jure ratified by edict) • Ashen Claws (separatist Raven Guard Legion exiles, nominal loyalists)
Others Astartes PraesesDeathwatchGrey KnightsJudgedLegion of the Damned