To you and me, 500 sounds like a lot of worlds for anyone to have, but it’s merely a drop in the ocean for the Imperium of Man, which can lose track of entire planets because of clerical oversights or thousand-year rounding errors. An average Imperial citizen might know little more than the world beneath their feet and Holy Terra, and they’re probably better off that way – most would find the sheer galactic scale of the slaughter above them rather upsetting.
So what makes the worlds of Ultramar important enough that an entire set of books is named after them? Are there really 500 worlds in the domain that Captain Titus has to help reclaim?
Yes and no. The realm of Ultramar has historically been known as ‘the 500 Worlds’ since the time of the Horus Heresy, when it covered a vast swathe of Imperial space on the eastern fringe of Ultima Segmentum – far from the light of Terra. In the wake of the Horus Heresy, however, Roboute Guilliman decided that the amount of space directly controlled by Macragge and the Ultramarines should be shrunk in accordance with his breaking of the Legiones Astartes, probably to allay accusations of empire-building.*
In the intervening years since, its former stellar boundaries were chipped away by heretic invasions, xenos incursions, and planetary governors just being useless, such that at the dawn of the Indomitus Crusade Ultramar was far smaller than its traditional expanse.
As he set off to knock heads together on the dark side of the Imperium, Guilliman decreed that his own domain would be restored and expanded by the combined efforts of a council of tetrarchs** – four exceptional leaders who would each handle an arc of reconquest. Freshly returned from bitter battles against the Tyranids of Hive Fleet Leviathan, First Captain Severus Agemman took up one seat, alongside Captain Felix, Captain Portan of the Genesis Chapter, and Captain Balthus of the Doom Eagles.
In case you’re wondering where this leaves Captain Titus, he’s effectively in the middle of them all, tasked with sorting out any problems that crop up behind the front lines and fortifying Ultramar’s increasingly stretched borders.
Such a huge and crucial bastion of Imperial strength is too important to be defended by just a single Chapter – no matter how good the Ultramarines may be – given the proximity of the Scourge Stars, the T’au Empire, and the Necron Nihilakh and Sautekh Dynasties. To ensure his own Space Marines weren’t overtaxed, the Primarch decreed that nine successors of the Ultramarines would form his Shield Chapters and lend their forces to the defence of the 500 Worlds.
Each is a formidable force. With home worlds lost beyond the madness of the Great Rift, they are afforded a base of operations within Ultramar until they can set out to reclaim their own. These Chapters are: the Reborn, the Scythes of the Emperor, the Silver Skulls, the Avenging Sons, the Sons of Orar, the Novamarines, the Praetors of Ultramar, the Doom Eagles, and the Aquiloan Brotherhood.
The reclamation of the 500 Worlds is not without its difficulties, and as the tetrarchs press ever further, they meet staunch resistance from all manner of entrenched foes. Some can be overcome with guile and diplomacy, but most must be scoured from their worlds in bloody battles that drain the Ultramarines’ reserves with every step.
This would be perilous enough in a quieter galaxy, but with Chaos going wild and everyone else taking advantage of the Imperium’s dire straits, their work is cut out for them. At least there isn’t a terrifying Necron killing machine waiting to show its skeletal face and swing C’tan shards arou– OH NO.
The 500 Worlds: Titus set and all its accompanying miniatures, from Captain Titus and his Wardens of Ultramar to Nekrosor Ammentar and the new Nightbringer, are up for pre-order this Saturday. It’s going to be an awesome month for narrative campaigns.
* Memories of a certain short-lived Imperium Secundus might have had something to do with this decision as well…
** The rank of tetrarch is a legacy of the Great Crusade that had fallen out of use since the Horus Heresy.
