Primarch
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In the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000, the Primarchs were engineered superhumans created by the Emperor to command his future Legions of Space Marines. Originally twenty in number, they were said to have been created using the Emperor's own DNA. Their genetic material was also used to form the basis of the Legions they would command.
All were created in genetic laboratories hidden on Terra, and were almost complete before they were scattered across the galaxy. The cause of this is unknown; the forces of Chaos, the Emperor and the Primarchs themselves are claimed in varying tales to be responsible for snatching the infant Primarchs' incubation cradles from Earth and dispersing them through the Warp. According to the novel False Gods, The Emperor might have allowed the forces of Chaos to scatter the Primarchs across the Galaxy for purposes unknown, also the Emperor might have procured his power from Chaos gods. As the Great Crusade progressed, the Emperor was reunited with each of them as His armies re-established contact the worlds on which the Primarchs had come to rest. Most had, in the intervening time, risen to positions of power or infamy as a result of their remarkable physiology and abilities. At least two had been subject to mutation; Sanguinius, who had angelic wings and was reported to be psychic; and Magnus, who had bright red skin and was widely known to have formidable psychic talent.
Following the Great Crusade, Warmaster Horus fell to Chaos, dragging eight of his fellow Primarchs down with him. Nine Legions, along with many other traitorous forces, were incited to rebel against the Emperor during the time known as the Horus Heresy which resulted in the death of Horus.
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[edit] The Fate of the Primarchs
Today, all the Primarchs are either damned, dead, lost, or in stasis. Below is a table documenting each Primarch's name, the Legion he led, and his status as of the 41st millennium.
| Name | Legion | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Lion El'Jonson | Dark Angels | Disappeared during Luther's betrayal. El'Jonson is believed to have been taken by the 'Watchers in the Dark' to be healed, although it is stated in the 2nd edition rulebook Codex: Angels of Death (Priestley and Johnson, 1996) that he resides within an unreachable chamber within 'The Rock', the Dark Angels home fortress. |
| UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN | Deleted from Imperial records. |
| Fulgrim | Emperor's Children | Location unknown, believed to have laid claim to a planet within the Eye of Terror according to Index Astartes. Various reports say Fulgrim was killed, ascended to Daemonhood, or was possessed by a daemon of Slaanesh. Current canon seems to indicate the third option is the more truthful. |
| Perturabo | Iron Warriors | Ascended to Daemonhood. Ruling over a fortress-world, Medrengard, within the Eye of Terror. |
| Jaghatai Khan | White Scars | Disappeared 70 years after the end of the Horus Heresy. Believed to be seen following a Dark Eldar Lord through a warp portal into Commorragh, the realm of the Dark Eldar. |
| Leman Russ | Space Wolves | Disappeared 197 years after the end of the Horus Heresy. After seeing a vision, Leman Russ sat up from his meal, said he would return for the final battle at "the wolftime," then promptly vanished. Another version of the story is that he is searching for a healing drug that will cure the Emperor. Armour found on an altar in the Eye of Terror. |
| Rogal Dorn | Imperial Fists | Dorn made his last stand aboard a Chaos battleship fighting in one of the early Black Crusades. His severed hand was put in stasis, and Dorn's remains were recovered and stored in Phalanx. |
| Konrad Curze/Night Haunter | Night Lords | A Callidus Temple assassin, M'Shen, is thought to have killed him, though it is believed that he let himself be slain. |
| Sanguinius | Blood Angels | Killed by Horus during the Battle of Terra. |
| Ferrus Manus | Iron Hands | Killed by Fulgrim during the Drop Site Massacre, as stated in the book Fulgrim. Early sources put forward other rumoured possibilities, such as Ferrus living on Mars or having simply disappeared at The Drop Site Massacre. |
| UNKNOWN | UNKNOWN | Deleted from Imperial records. |
| Angron | World Eaters | Ascended to Daemonhood. Led Chaos in the First War for Armageddon. Was defeated and banished back into the Warp by the Grey Knights |
| Roboute Guilliman | Ultramarines | Fatally wounded by Fulgrim. He is alive, but preserved in stasis. Some speculate that he is slowly healing, although this is thought to be impossible within a stasis pod. |
| Mortarion | Death Guard | Ascended to Daemonhood. Ruling over the Plague Planet within the Eye of Terror. |
| Magnus the Red | Thousand Sons | Ascended to Daemonhood after being defeated by Leman Russ on Prospero. Ruling over the Planet of Sorcerers within the Eye of Terror. |
| Horus | Luna Wolves / Sons of Horus | Beaten by the Emperor on his Flagship during the Siege of Terra, his soul was obliterated. According to Realms of Chaos of First Edition, his corpse was later utterly destroyed by Abaddon the Despoiler along with all known clones. |
| Lorgar | Word Bearers | Ascended to Daemonhood. Overseeing his Legion's actions from the Daemon-world Sicarus within the Eye of Terror and the corrupted Forge World of Ghalmek, within the Maelstrom. |
| Vulkan | Salamanders | Disappeared during the Drop Site Massacre. Known to have survived the Heresy (opposed Guilliman's plans to divide the Legions into Chapters). Said to have disappeared 1000 years after the Heresy. Salamanders believe he will return one day. |
| Corax | Raven Guard | Being unable to forgive himself for what he did to his Legion to ensure its survival, he left in a ship to the Eye of Terror, leaving a single word of valediction, "Nevermore......". |
| Alpharius/Omegon | Alpha Legion | Allegedly killed in single combat by Roboute Guilliman during a war between the Alpha Legion and Ultramarines, post-Horus Heresy. The source of the account of this 'war' is considered suspect, even by Ultramarines. His twin, Omegon, was never reported to have died and may well still be at large. |
[edit] The Missing Primarchs
In some literature the missing Primarchs and their Legions are listed as being "Deleted from Imperial records".[1][2] The only information Games Workshop has ever released that directly addresses them, can be found in False Gods and The Lightning Tower (Dan Abnett).
False Gods contains a passage in which Horus apparently goes back in time and cracks the incubation capsule of Primarch XI before the Primarchs are scattered to the Warp.[3] The effect this has on the Primarch is inconclusive, though Horus considers the "untapped glories" that "never came to pass" for Primarch XI.
The Lightning Tower contains further vague information on the missing Primarchs. In an amphitheatre in the Emperor's palace, where statues of the twenty Primarchs stand, both the second and eleventh had been removed. The story describes their fate as "separate tragedies" that had seemed "like aberrations". The fact that there had been 20 statues at one point, suggests that all Primarchs were discovered and fought in the crusade. Further, the story makes it clear that all 20 primarchs had believed strongly in the Great Crusade's worthiness at this time.
A short story featuring the Iron Hearts Chapter,[4] specifically mentions a Primarch "Rubinek", though it is unclear whether this could be explained as a non-codex rank equivalent to a Chapter Master for a Chapter without a known Primarch antecedent, and the White Consuls Chapter is referenced as having a Primarch[5], though the White Consuls are a second founding Chapter of the Ultramarines, and so their Primarch would be Guilliman. Alpharius's twin brother Omegon is not one of the missing primarchs, being that Alpharius and Omegon are identical twins and hence came from the same genetic material meaning still only 20 birth pods and the fact they are described as 1 soul in 2 bodies.
Games Workshop has implied that it wants players of Warhammer 40,000 to make Chapters of their own, inspired by the two missing Legions.[citation needed]
Early in Warhammer 40k's history it was hinted that Sigmar, the founder of Warhammer Fantasy's Empire, was one of the Primarchs. This is supported by the fact that he was a great leader, a near supernatural warrior, a "comet" was sighted passing on the day of his birth, he disapeared amidst flashes of light and that in earlier sources the Warhammer Fantasy World existed in the Warhammer 40k universe, but surrounded by impenetrable warpstorms. Games Workshop now denies this, as it wishes to separate the two franchises.
In Dark Crusade, Brother-Captain Davian Thule of the Blood Ravens 3rd Company tells his men to achieve victory for "The Unknown Primarch" when their fortress in North Vandea is attacked. This has led to speculation that the Blood Ravens are one of the Missing Legions, or that they are simply unaware of their lineage from an established Legion.
[edit] Notes and references
- ^ Chambers, Andy (1998). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Space Marines. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-869893-28-X.
- ^ 2nd edition Codex Imperialis
- ^ McNeill, Graham (2006). False Gods. Nottingham: Black Library. ISBN 1-84416-370-9.
- ^ Jowett, Simon (2003). "Hell in a Bottle", in Gascoigne, Marc and Jones, Andy (editors): Into the Maelstrom. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-78386-6.
- ^ Abnett, Dan (2001b). Malleus. Nottingham:Black Library. ISBN 1-84154-204-0.
- Chambers, Andy (2004). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Space Marines, 4th Edition, Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-526-0.
- Chambers, Andy; and McNeill, Graham. Index Astartes. Nottingham: Games Workshop.
- Chambers, Andy; and McNeill, Graham (2003). Index Astartes – Volume II. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-345-4.
- McNeill, Graham; and Chambers, Andy (2003). Index Astartes – Volume III. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-443-4.
- Priestley, Rick; and Johnson, Jervis (1996). Warhammer 40,000 Codex: Angels of Death. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-872372-96-1.
- Watson, Ian (1993). Space Marine. London: Boxtree. ISBN 1-85283-840-X.
- Index Astartes – Volume IV. Nottingham: Games Workshop. ISBN 1-84154-580-5.
- Realms of Chaos
- Abnett, Dan (2007). The Lightning Tower. Nottingham: BL Publishing. ISBN 10: 1-84416-540-X.
