The History of Humanity's Defenders: From Thunder Warriors to Primaris Space Marines
Introduction
- Introduction to the lecture with a focus on the legacy of the Emperor's warriors.
- Emphasis on their importance in the Unification Wars and subsequent history.
Age of Strife
- Period of collapse for human civilization.
- Human empire on its knees, decayed Galactic Civilizations.
- Beacons of hope mythologized reality.
Emperor of Mankind
- Emerges from decay and ashes, guiding humanity out of darkness.
- Initial period around end of the 30th/beginning of the 31st millennium.
- Thunder Warriors drag humanity out violently during Unification Wars.
Unification Wars
- Campaign of brute force under Emperor's authoritarian rule.
- Settlements offered subjugation or annihilation.
- Leaders convinced populations to resist, resulting in horror when facing Thunder Warriors.
- Obscenely brutal confrontations to ensure Emperor's authority.
Shift from Thunder Warriors to Astartes
- Emperor developing a new weapon to lead humanity, envisioning Primarchs and Space Marines.
- Thunder Warriors served as Emperor's hammer, unsuited for conquest phase requiring diplomacy.
- Short lifespans and functionality reasons led to their downfall and possible slaughter orchestrated by Emperor or Custodian Guard.
- Emergence of Astartes (Space Marines), enforced by remaining Thunder Warriors' brutal legacy.
Creation of Primarchs and Legions
- Emperor’s grand vision for warriors to lead humanity into a golden age.
- 20 Primarchs created using Emperor’s DNA spliced with other elements, making them demigod-like warriors.
- Each Primarch had unique gifts and extended lifespans.
- Primarchs distributed across galaxy, later reunited during Great Crusade.
The Primarchs and Great Crusade
- Different Primarchs exhibit varying traits (e.g., tactical genius, immortality).
- Genetic flaws occasionally appeared, which played roles in later chaos, especially during Horus Heresy.
- Great Crusade aimed to rediscover Primarchs and reunite legions, embodying humanity's defenders.
The Heresy and Aftermath
- Emperor visited Moloch during this period, acquiring power/knowledge from the warp, possibly tricked chaos gods.
- Emperor's plans led to Primarchs inherent humanity causing corruption and downfall during Horus Heresy.
- Events resulted in a siege of Terra, Emperor 'slain' by Horus but ultimately achieved victory.
- Emperor placed on Golden Throne, plans for golden future shattered.
Great Scouring and Second Founding
- Post-heresy, focused on eradicating remaining traitor forces and restructuring legions into chapters.
- Codex Astartes created by Roboute Guilliman implemented new structural disciplines.
- Chapters established, independent with strategic bases.
The Rise of the Primaris Space Marines
- Gilliman anticipated future threats; tasked Belisarius Cawl to create Primaris Marines.
- Primaris contained three additional organs for enhanced power and resilience.
- Presented during Ultima Founding at the end of M41.
- Mixed reception within Imperium and current chapters.
- The success of mixed-genetic-line units showed potential for future cooperation.
- Transformation from standard Marine to Primaris demonstrated by Marneus Calgar.
Conclusion
- Primaris Marines significant, Fracturing it forward with new techniques showing gradual but critical evolution in genetic engineering since the Emperor's original creation.
- Mixed reactions but overall acceptance due to the necessity and strength demonstrated in crusades.
Note: This summary outlines the key points covered in the lecture, presenting the main themes and ideas discussed.