‘Whilst we stand, we fight. Whilst we fight, we prevail. Nothing shall stay our wrath.’
Chapter Master Marneus Calgar
The Ultramarines Chapter has produced countless heroic champions, but none have commanded as much respect as Marneus Calgar. A peerless strategist, inspirational leader and superlative warrior, Calgar stands second only to Roboute Guilliman in his Chapter’s legend.
Since rising to the position of Chapter Master, Marneus Calgar has demonstrated time and again his deep understanding of grand strategy and his exceptional flair for tactics. It was he who masterminded the Corinthian Crusade, leading Imperial forces to victory over the Orks of Waaagh! Skargor. It was he, too, who led the Reclamation of Damnos from the Necrons, and who has since masterminded the defence of the Bastior Sub-sector in the face of Hive Fleet Leviathan’s predatory aggression. In almost every campaign, Calgar has led from the front. At Cold Steel Ridge, during the Battle of Macragge, he stood alone against the swarms of Hive Fleet Behemoth. There he engaged the Swarmlord in single combat, suffering terrible wounds at the beast’s blades. At the Battle of Orar’s Sepulchre, he fought and defeated an Avatar of Khaine, reversing a seemingly inevitable defeat and putting the perfidious xenos to flight. Calgar’s martial prowess and his willingness to fight, bleed and suffer in the cauldron of battle inspire an unshakeable loyalty in all who follow him to war.
Marneus Calgar was present at the Fortress of Hera when Roboute Guilliman’s miraculous resurrection occurred. In the days that followed, as the two worked together to repel the Black Legion from the Chapter’s home world, the risen Primarch recognised Marneus Calgar as a true embodiment of the Ultramarines’ ideals. The galaxy had changed greatly, yet it gave Guilliman comfort to know that his gene-sons were led by one so worthy of his legacy. Thus was Calgar permitted to retain the position of Chapter Master and further rewarded with a new title, Lord Defender of Greater Ultramar. Despite the bestowal of such honours, the return of the Primarch had a profound effect upon Calgar, who privately worried that it would erode his authority as Chapter Master and that he would thereafter serve in Guilliman’s shadow. Such concerns were soon proven to be baseless. With Guilliman absent overseeing the Indomitus Crusade, Calgar remained the Chapter’s figurehead in the campaigns that followed. It was he, not Roboute Guilliman, who led the Ultramarines during the campaigns in the Nachmund Gauntlet and Bastior Sub-sector, much to the approval of his Primarch.
Upon Guilliman’s departure for Terra, Calgar was left to oversee the integration of new Primaris recruits into the Chapter. The arrival of these physiologically superior battle-brothers had seen many traditional Space Marines come to fear obsolescence. In response to the disquiet, Marneus Calgar volunteered himself to undergo the experimental surgery required in order to transform a traditional Space Marine into a Primaris Marine. The traumatic surgery taxed Calgar’s constitution to its very limit. Indeed, the Chapter Master died upon the operating table, only to be brought back from the threshold of death after agonising minutes. This sacrifice, undertaken in the name of progress, demonstrated to all Space Marines that the Rubicon Primaris could indeed be crossed, and though not all survived as Calgar had, thousands more would follow his example.
After crossing the Rubicon Primaris, Marneus Calgar was provided with the Armour of Heraclus, an adaptation of the Armour of Antilochus suited to his new physique. In the years since, however, Macragge’s greatest artificers have worked tirelessly to restore and modify the original Armour of Antilochus. Now he once more bestrides the battlefield clad in this suit of indomitable Terminator armour. This formidable bulwark is once more paired with the Gauntlets of Ultramar, twin power fists fitted with master-crafted bolters that enable him to smash through enemies at close quarters or obliterate them from range. These relic weapons have become synonymous with the Ultramarines Chapter Master and are revered as symbols of the Ultramarines’ might and of the Chapter’s role as martial protectors of both Ultramar and the Imperium as a whole.
