The Primarchs were the twenty genetically-engineered "sons" of the Emperor . The Emperor used his own DNA in their creation, and they were designed to be far superior to the average human: immensely larger, stronger, hardier, faster, and more intelligent. They were also incredibly charismatic, as their main role was to be generals and leaders of the Imperial military. Contents Creation of the Primarchs They were created in a secret underground laboratory on Luna under the tightest security. According to Ingethel the Ascended , the Primarchs were created by the Emperor with the aid of forbidden sciences and arcane lore derived from the Warp . [14a] However, the Gods of Chaos somehow managed to spirit them away just prior to their maturation with a great Warp vortex [9a] and it is speculated that they also managed to tamper with the infant Primarchs. These were scattered across the galaxy, beyond the Emperor's reach, and all of them landed on different worlds. The Emperor could sense that the infant Primarchs were alive, but was unable to reach them. Therefore he used their previously collected DNA samples to create the Space Marines . The genetic material of each one of the Primarchs was used to found a single Space Marine Legion , twenty in total. The new homeworlds of the foundling Primarchs and their infancy would influence and mould them to a large extent. There they quickly grew to adulthood and often rose to power, ruling, leading, and helping the inhabitants. As the