Novamarines - Chapter History: After the tragedy of the Horus Heresy, the Imperium's military structures were reformed so that no one man would ever again be permitted to command the incredible power of an entire Space Marine Legion. No matter how noble and loyal an Imperial commander might seem, this level of power offered too much of an opportunity for corruption and disaster.Roboute Guilliman, the primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, first lord commander of the Imperium, and author of the Codex Astartes, proposed a solution to permanently resolve this threat. Under his direction, all of the surviving members of the Loyalist Space Marine Legions were to be divided into 1,000-member Chapters.The primarch set an example by immediately dividing his own XIIIth Legion into appropriately-sized Successor Chapters, which became known as the Primogenitor Chapters of the Ultramarines.The Novamarines was one of the Chapters directly created by Primarch Guilliman during this so-called Second Founding. As he created the Chapter, the primarch appointed Lucretius Corvo, of the 90th "Nova" Company, Ninth Chapter, Ultramarines Legion, as its first Chapter Master.Corvo was a highly honoured Captain of the Ultramarines Legion who had led his company in countless successful engagements during the Great Crusade and served as one of the Ultramarines' Champions during the vicious fighting against the apostate Word Bearers Legion on the planet Astagar during the Heresy.During this particularly brutal six-day-long battle, Corvo led a desperate counterattack against an enemy force many times his own unit's number. His chosen band managed to destroy a Traitor Warlord-class Battle Titan and break the siege.As recognition for his tenacity and heroic actions, a Laurel of Defiance was awarded to Corvo by Roboute Guilliman himself. This sacred object is still enshrined at the Novamarines' fortress-monastery, the Fortress Novum.Having previously granted Corvo numerous honours during his lengthy service within the Ultramarines Legion, Guilliman trusted the Space Marine implicitly. It is for these reasons that the primarch was comfortable in assigning Captain Corvo the responsibility of command as he forged the notion of independent Space Marine Chapters.At their creation, the Novamarines were given the guardianship of the pre-Imperial Fortress World of Honourum by the Ultramarines' primarch. This sacred site had once marked the furthest northward extent of the XIIIth Legion's advance into the galactic north of the Ultima Segmentum. At their Founding, the Novamarines swore an oath to defend the Ultima Segmentum from the enemies of Mankind, and in almost ten thousand Terran years they have not wavered once in this charge.Though the Chapter is not focused upon crusading, it often commits a portion of its resources to such causes as well as to answering pleas for assistance from worlds far from their home. This willingness to commit their forces to action over such a broad area often means that Novamarines companies are isolated for standard centuries at a time.In spite of this degree of isolation, their traditions and their sense of brotherhood have consistently remained strong, partly because of their strong loyalty to the Codex Astartes and the traditions established by the Ultramarines Legion.