Roboute Guilliman - Indomitus Crusade First Phase: For ten millennia, the Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl had been working on a task set for him by Guilliman before he was mortally wounded by the Daemon Primarch Fulgrim in the days after the Horus Heresy: a new legion of transhuman warriors. In the time after the Terran Crusade, though the Imperium was poised on the brink of annihilation at the hands of Chaos, his task was at last completed.The Primaris Space Marines are a new breed of transhuman warriors developed across the span of ten standard millennia by Cawl on Mars. Cawl used the genetic template of the original Space Marines created by the Emperor for His Great Crusade as the starting point for the development of the new Astartes. The Primaris Space Marines are bigger, more physically powerful and possess faster reaction times than their original Astartes counterparts.The Primaris Marines are new heroes for this, the darkest age in the Imperium of Man's history. These warriors were the next step in the evolution of the Emperor's Angels of Death, and were timely reinforcements for the Imperium's armies as their enemies closed in for the kill in the wake of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade and the birth of the Great Rift dividing the Imperium in two.To aid them in battle, these gene-forged warriors were equipped with new arms and armour forged on Mars itself, such as the Mark X Tacticus Pattern Power Armour worn by the Primaris Space Marine Intercessors, which combined the most effective elements of ancestral Horus Heresy patterns of battle-plate with more recent developments in Power Armour technology; the Mark II Cawl Pattern Bolt Rifle, the archetypal firearm of the Adeptus Astartes, now re-engineered, re-crafted and perfected, and the new Redemptor Dreadnoughts.At the dawn of the Indomitus Crusade called by Guilliman to throw back the forces of Chaos, these phenomenal new warriors joined the lord commander of the Imperium as he fought to liberate the scattered bastions of the Imperium. Some, Guilliman forged into new Space Marine Chapters, whole brotherhoods comprised only of these new transhuman warriors. Others he offered to the existing Space Marine Chapters as much needed reinforcements. Many Chapter Masters welcomed their Primaris brethren into their ranks, accepting the new warriors gladly. Others, though, viewed these new creations with suspicion or outright hostility, claiming that the Emperor's work should never have been meddled with by mere mortals.Though they are a step removed from their brothers, the Primaris Space Marines still bear the gene-seed of their primarchs, and some dissenting voices worry how this new type of warrior will react with the known genetic quirks and flaws of some of the more unusual Chapters, such as the Blood Angels and the Space Wolves.But before the crusade could begin, Guilliman would be forced to defend the homeworld of Mankind for the second time from the forces of Chaos during the Battle of Lion's Gate. As the first Warp Storms of the Noctis Aeterna broke over Holy Terra in the wake of the Great Rift's birth, its pollution-filled skies turned a roiling crimson.Khorne, heedless of the plans of his brother gods and hungry to prove his superiority, sent forth eighty-eight cohorts of his Daemon legions to assault the Imperial Palace. The Blood God wanted the glory of tearing down the Golden Throne for himself, and so the skies of Terra congealed into bloodclouds that deployed the Red Host directly before the Lion's Gate.The gun batteries of the Imperial Palace are second to none, yet they alone could not halt this red tide. Led by Roboute Guilliman, the Primaris Space Marines, Adeptus Custodes and Sisters of Silence fought side by side. Although the rash Chaos assault was turned back and broken long before it could reach the Eternity Gate to the Inner Palace, the High Lords of Terra were shaken at the boldness of the foe.Without the beam of the Astronomican, their arcane machinery and protective devices were not enough to halt the fell powers from materialising even on Holy Terra. Khorne, upon receiving the returning forms of his slain, grew so apoplectic in his rage that his fortress in the Realm of Chaos trembled. So great was the heat from his outburst that the essences of the eight Bloodthirsters that led the failed attack were wholly obliterated.After his defence of Holy Terra, Roboute Guilliman gathered a new armada that he named the Indomitus Crusade, the largest concentration of Imperial military forces seen since the original Great Crusade over ten thousand standard years before.Along with elements of the Adeptus Custodes, a small contingent of the Silent Sisterhood, and a vast war host of Primaris Space Marines from many newly founded Chapters and the 9 Legions of the Unnumbered Sons, the primarch set a winding course. Strike forces from over a dozen pre-existing Chapters of Space Marines, led by the Imperial Fists, joined the fleet.Thus began many new legends as Guilliman travelled to aid beleaguered planets, breaking sieges and sweeping away Chaos and xenos invaders alike to bring hope back to the desperate defenders. Among the many worlds aided by the Crusade was Baal, the homeworld of the Blood Angels Chapter, which had come under assault by Hive Fleet Leviathan. During the so-called Devastation of Baal, the fleet of the Crusade arrived in orbit of Baal after the Warp Storms had already consumed the bulk of the hive fleet.The Imperial reinforcements aided the Blood Angels in cleansing Baal of all remaining trace of the xenos before helping them rebuild, for the strength of the Blood Angels and their Successor Chapters were sorely needed elsewhere in the beleaguered Imperium. Guilliman named Commander Dante, the Chapter Master of the Blood Angels, as the lord regent of the Imperium Nihilus, the half of the Imperium where the Astronomican no longer shone in the wake of the Noctis Aeterna. Dante was ordered to reclaim the worlds of the Dark Imperium in the name of the Emperor.It was not long before word began to spread, as all those planets that could still receive astropathic messages hailed the return of a hero out of myth. Once more, one of the demigods of the past fought for the Imperium. The Indomitus Crusade's first phase reached its end some twelve standard years later at the Battle of Raukos, when Guilliman at the Triumph of Raukos declared the Imperium Sanctus finally stabilised from imminent collapse.Afterwards, Guilliman would turn his attention to helping his Realm of Ultramar defeat the forces of the Death Guard Traitor Legion and the Daemonic servants of Nurgle in the Plague Wars.