Ultramar’s most iconic planets revealed as Warhammer+ investigates the 500 Worlds

We’ve only recently got our 500 Worlds: Titus books in hand, and already the reclamation fleets are pulling away from their moorings. This week’s episode of Loremasters on Warhammer+ is all about Ultramar, and we’ve even got presenter Alex on hand to tell us a bit more about the planets you’ll be fighting for.

Alex: Roboute Guilliman has ordered the reclamation of the 500 Worlds of Ultramar, and some see it as a truly Sisyphean task. The term ‘500 Worlds’ shouldn’t even be taken literally – it’s more a statement of intent than declaration of fact, and at the height of the Great Crusade there were more than five hundred worlds in this domain to begin with. 

That is to say, the theoretical extent of the Ultramarian Reclamation beggars belief. For every world they and their allies take, another hears whispers of rebellion or feels the sting of xenos threats. As such the Ultramarines are forever having to reconquer and secure planets again and again – at least Titus is keeping busy!

While researching for today’s episode of Loremasters, I had the chance to scour the archives and learn everything there is to know about Ultramar. There are many famous worlds that have endured throughout the millennia despite the endless cycle of conquest, like Espandor or Quintarn. Five of the worlds above all others really grabbed my attention.

Macragge

We all know it and love it – Macragge, the jewel of Ultramar, is a hub of civilisation. It willingly joined the nascent Imperium during the Great Crusade and is the heart of the region. It’s where the Primarch was raised and where the Ultramarines have been based since reuniting with him. From the bustling city of Macragge Civitas to the Fortress of Hera, the world is amongst the most prosperous and well defended planets in the Imperium.

However, even Macragge has not remained unscathed. When Hive Fleet Behemoth tore through Ultramar it ravaged world after world, eventually coming to Macragge itself. The subsequent invasion saw the defenders fall one by one, including the entirety of the Ultramarines First Company, before reinforcements arrived to reclaim the world from the xenos menace.

Calth

Calth is infamous* for being the site of the Word Bearers’ betrayal of the Ultramarines at the outset of the Horus Heresy. The once-habitable world was stripped of its atmosphere when the Traitors poisoned the system’s star, and now the population must live underground to avoid the deadly rays of their blue sun. Vast underground caverns honeycomb the crust, filled with the industrious civilians, soldiers, and facilities required to survive. Calth’s immense shipyards are rightly famous and are invaluable for the Ultramarines’ void craft.  

Masali

Masali was one of a trio of agri-worlds, along with Quintarn and Tarentus. These invaluable planets supplied vast amounts of produce from their agri-dome facilities. Following the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, also known as the Great Rift, Masali shifted slightly off its axis, causing catastrophic climatological changes, grav-waves, and superstorms. As the world stabilised once more, its formerly rocky surface had been ground down into fertile plains. Ultramar’s administrators took advantage of this change in fortunes and put the agri-world back to use once more. 

The first signs of impending devastation were initially ignored as crops began to fail. Only when a harvest burst open and unleashed a great swarm of droning flies were alarm bells raised. Blight, hallucinations, violent insanity… soon poor harvests became fields of foetid plant matter, ultimately culminating in the opening of a gateway and the arrival of the Death Guard and their daemonic allies. The world would have fallen if not for the arrival of Captain Acheran of the Ultramarines, who broke the siege of the agri-fortress Cadropolis.

Tarentus

Tarentus is a rocky, arid world akin to how Masali used to be. Great wind traps collect moisture for vast tracts of farmland and cities that exist beneath its massive agri-domes. It has been besieged by Orks as well as the heretic forces of M’kar the Reborn. An entire battle company of Ultramarines was dispatched to defend the world, and M’kar was only halted by the intervention of Marneus Calgar. It was on Tarentus that Metaurus recruited a young Demetrian Titus. 

Iax

Iax, sometimes referred to as the ‘Garden of Ultramar’, was an agri-world famed for its beauty. During the Plague Wars, when the sons of the Daemon Primarch Mortarion descended upon Ultramar, Iax was repurposed as a hospital planet and took in a colossal number of the sick and injured. 

Rigorous processes and screening ensured that patients were sent for appropriate treatment by conventional medicines, sacrificial medicae servitors, or – for those with more spiritual corruption – extreme measures like Ministorum-approved exorcisms. Great quarantine stations hung in orbit and carefully monitored shuttles were used to move the infected. 

Alas, even these measures proved insufficient, as a parasitic host evaded the scanning equipment and watchful medics. It spread like wildfire and, when seven diseased hosts enacted a ritual, it caused a rift to open that vomited forth daemons of Nurgle. The Garden of Ultramar was ravaged and the final battle of the Plague Wars – according to Imperial records – occurred on Iax with the returned Primarch Roboute Guilliman clashing with his daemonic brother Mortarion. 

Despite an Imperial victory, Iax was saturated with Nurgle’s blessings and so Exterminatus was ordered, annihilating the surface of the world. 

Thanks, Alex! This is just scratching the surface of the lore of the 500 Worlds. Check out today’s Loremasters for even more detail on the history of Ultramar in today’s fascinating episode. 

And that’s only one slice of the Warhammer+ cake you can be digging into…

All this talk of reconquest has got us raring to take back the 500 Worlds in our own Warhammer 40,000 games, and with so much ground to cover we’ll need to use the Movement phase to its utmost. Luckily, the next episode of Victory Pointers is all about shuffling your troops around the board, with input from the Warhammer Studio discussing why it might just be the most important part of the game.

Elsewhere, four new contestants enter the Scrap Demon arena with a special commission from the Clans Moulder and Skryre – create the gnarliest Skaven abomination you can, or be fodder for your replacements. Suffice to say, they make some utterly wild beasties, and you’ll want to see what absolute madness claws its way out the other side. 

Coming soon to Warhammer+

Looking ahead, the upcoming spring season is packed with some of our favourite shows, with the likes of Trazyn’s Tesseract Trials and Ultimate Paint-Off joining the awesome new Adepta Sororitas: Penitence animation. If you haven’t seen the trailer yet, give it a watch.

These are only a few of the episodes you have access to with a Warhammer+ subscription, with hundreds more to see whether you’re looking for battle reports, painting guides, or animations. The vast library of Warhammer TV shows is only one part of the whole package, too –  you’ll get to choose one of two beautiful diorama miniatures for free when you subscribe for a year, gain access to unlimited army creation in the Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar apps, and indulge your inner historian with access to hundreds of classic Warhammer publications and White Dwarf issues through the Warhammer Vault. 

Once you’re signed up, all you need to do to choose your miniature, redeem codes from Codexes and battletomes, and to enter the Warhammer Vault is log into your My Warhammer account – the same one you use at the Warhammer webstore. Try it out, and we know you’ll find something you love.

* Or famous if you are a fan of the Word Bearers.