Emancipators

“We were the first, weren’t we?”
“Yeah... we were...”
“We were the last, were we not?”
“We were brother...”
“We were the best, weren’t we?”
“The best of them brother, the best.”
-Brother Vermeer to Brother TurnerLast Words of Brother Vermeer
The Emancipators were a unit in the Primaris Legions during the Indomitus Crusade that was later, briefly, founded as a small chapter during the Plague Wars that followed. Their legendary service ended in bittersweet gallantry and with that they earned themselves a place in the pages of Imperial history.
== History ==
The marines that would become The Emancipators were part of the first wave of the indominus crusade. Their origin can be traced to a come of one of the chapter-sized formation in one of the nine legion sized armies of the Unnumbered Sons. At the command of Lord Commander Guilliman they fought in  in mixed gene-line squads to help settle the animosity of the various gene-lines. It is said that the Emancipators were at each battle in the Crusade, from the first to the last.  They saw action at Gathalamor, the Lhorm Reaches, Rynn's World, and each time they lost some of their number. They left blood on Baal during the Devastation of Baal, lost brothers at the Battle of Raukos, and swore vengeance for those that perished during the Cleansing of Pyros. For every brother they lost they are said to have taken a hundred foes with them or, barring that, their brothers would make up the defecate and ascribe the defeated foes to their fallen comrades.
=== The Crusade Ends ===
When the crusade had finished what had once been a chapter sized formation had been reduced to just 3 companies in size. As their fellows marines and some of their own number were transferred to other chapters they expected themselves to be disbanded. However, Guilliman stopped short of disbanding the entire chapter sized formation and instead reduced it to just a company and incorporate it into the dwindling host of greyshields.
They fought several small engagements, mostly as reinforcements. They were an outdated concept by then, a novelty rather than the norm. Still they continued to function, the bond between brothers of the company growing stronger by the kill, and in the end they found out why they had never been sorted into a chapter.
== The Curse of Herald’s Call ==
The Emancipators had fought in a little battle during the early days of the crusade known as the Battle of the Herald’s Call. The small engagement was against heretical astartes who worshiped Nurgle. During the fight, unbeknownst to them, they had been infected with a virus. They hadn’t even realized the infection as their bodies had fought it off quickly and the marines had simply assumed it was combat fatigue. While cured of it some of the marines had damaged their Progenoid Glands and could not be used to pass on their gene seed (or possibly pass on corrupted gene seed). The information of their deficiency was hid from them and those that left their ranks were cleared of any infection. Only those marines that formed the final company of greyshields were the sterile marines that could not pass on their traits.
== Founding ==
The Emancipators were formally founded, a gift that recognized their exceptional service, as a chapter that was only about a company in size. They were recognized as an “Ultramarine successor”, formally, due to their service to Guilliman throughout the campaign. Their ranks swelled to almost three companies as Unnumbered Sons that did not, or could not, fit elsewhere were assigned to their chapter. The affair of their founding was a bittersweet one; with its founding came the knowledge of their condition and the realization of their fate. Despite there never were their prouder marines and they pledged their lives to whatever cause they would be assigned to for it would, without a doubt, be their last. They were given the name “Emancipators” in light of what their final task would be; they were to join Guilliman and his forces in the liberating the besieged world of the Realm of Ultramar.
== Later History and Demise ==
The chapter knew it would not be able to sustain itself but would die gallantly. The chapter partook in the Plague Wars: first helping cleanse the Hive World of Ardium and then participating as an auxiliary in the Spear of Espandor campaign. During the climactic battle of Iax the Emancipators fought their last battle. By the end it is said that they fought in armor so damaged it was impossible to tell the dead from the motionless. Many were injured and rejected medical care so that others who could live on could get it first. None of them left there and their bodies were buried there. They had earned their honor and it is said that members of the Ultramarines took on the debt that all Emancipators carried, a hundred dead bodies per Emancipator killed, and paid it back ten times over in the closing days of the Plague Wars.
Category:Ultima Founding