The Astartes Codex, Arriving Late But Here

001. M31

With the arrival of the 31st millennium, the Great Crusade, which lasted for two hundred years, came to an end, but the effects of the Great Heresy did not dissipate.

Undoubtedly, the Empire is riddled with all sorts of bugs from top to bottom. The fact that it was able to reach the Astronomican Frontier in just two hundred years was entirely due to the enormous benefits brought by the Great Crusade.

The empire was never a monolithic entity. The Adeptus Mechanicus, the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the Rogue Trader, the knight families, the Pocket Imperium —countless small groups each had their own ideas and their own purposes.

It has nothing to do with faith or not; it's simply a matter of self-interest determining one's perspective.

This was the price the Emperor paid for establishing the Empire in such a short time and launching the Great Crusade. The Emperor was not unaware of this, and even if Emperor was, Malcador advised him.

However, the two did not resolve the internal problems, preferring to focus all their energy on the Great Crusade despite the existing internal conflicts.

Previously, the Primarchs didn't understand why the Emperor was in such a hurry, but now they do: the Great Crusade is a race against time.

Existence is everything, and everything is for the sake of existence. If we cannot allow the empire to grow wildly during this window of opportunity and defeat all the enemies we can fight, then we will never have this opportunity again.

As long as the Webway Project behind the Great Crusade is successfully completed, the Emperor will have time to resolve factional issues. In any case, the Emperor, who possesses the strongest military force in the Empire, can use his most proficient physical means to solve everything.

Although the Emperor is inhuman, his overall strategic goal is undoubtedly correct. Only such a grand ideal can unite everyone under the banner of the Imperial Double Eagles.

The reason Mordred has been able to endure this long is because, after all, while he may not be good at much else, he is quite adept at Great Purge!

One is in charge of external affairs, and the other is in charge of internal affairs. The two are confident that they can make the empire the way they envision it. When that time comes, anyone who dares to resist will be considered an idiot and will be subject to my Exterminatus.

However, the only two leaders who could stand up in the grand plan fell one after another. Mordred and everything at Atlas evaporated, and the Emperor was left half-paralyzed.

Conquering the world is easy; maintaining it is difficult.

The Emperor entrusted the Empire to Guilliman out of sheer necessity. Every single Primarch could conquer a star system in three days, but to let them govern the Empire?

Hard to say!

So even if the Emperor didn't like Guilliman, he could only pass the throne to the Tenth Brother, since Malcador was still alive.

But looking at the Arch-Magos was blowing bubbles in the Dreadnought Sarcophagus, and at the state of the empire amidst widespread rebellion, Guilliman felt as if the sky had fallen.

This is not cowardice, but a very normal sense of helplessness, which even the Primarch cannot avoid.

Although he has never been a human being, the Emperor is the backbone of the entire empire. As long as he is alive, there will be someone to support him. But now the Emperor has become a toilet decoration.

As for Malcador?

Although he was a Perpetual, Vulkan still shook his head after the examination:

"No, the Golden Throne has already drained Malcador. Thinking of killing him and waiting for him to revive is completely impossible. Nobody knows what will happen. The best way is to wait for him to recover on his own."

"At the very least, we need to wait until his mental strength is sufficient to successfully activate Dreadnought, otherwise he might turn into an idiot. However..."

Hearing that Vulkan had something to say, the other eight Primarchs all looked at their taciturn brother.

"However, this Dreadnought's life support device is very strange. Through my research with Ferrus, we discovered that this Dreadnought seems to have been tailor-made for the Primarch."

Although something is missing, which greatly reduces the efficiency of this Dreadnought machine, there is no doubt that it is indeed a weapon, or rather, a medical device, that can help us heal our injuries.

I simply can't understand why a weapon would have a device for curling hair, or even a place where you can play games.

And there's something even more important: don't you feel like you've forgotten something?

Perhaps to verify his words, Vulkan pulled out a diary from behind him and gestured for everyone to come and take a look.

In fact, all the Primarchs were already aware that their memories were malfunctioning, and this abruptness became increasingly apparent over time.

It wasn't just them; even the legion's internal archives were malfunctioning, with electronic documents riddled with gibberish and large sections of paper documents blank.

All they knew was that a force called Atlas had once existed; nothing else.

Even so, the Primarch could deduce that Atlas was closely connected to them, or rather, they had a very good relationship, given that the ship's warehouse contained a large number of weapons, equipment, and supplies bearing the Atlas Symbol.

Even in the human capital of Holy Terra, there are numerous traces of Atlas, yet strangely, no one has any recollection of them.

But when they saw Vulkan's diary, everyone fell silent, looking at their seemingly honest and simple brother with a rather strange expression.

"Bro, why do I get the feeling you're being a little frivolous?"

"Indeed, who keeps a diary? And why would you include all of us in your diary?"

Most importantly, are you sure the Snow White you wrote about in your diary is me?

Faced with the teasing from Fulgrim and Luojia, Vulkan's charcoal-black skin perfectly concealed his expression, making it impossible for others to discern his inner thoughts.

But despite the jokes, everyone still carefully read what Vulkan had recorded.

Although Vulkan's diary, like other documents, contains many blanks, this does not prevent the Primarch from making inferences about it.

"In other words, Atlas should be the legion of our lost brother, and this brother whose name cannot be spoken was someone with whom we all had a particularly good relationship."

At one point, he became the enemy of the entire empire, to the point that even our father had to eliminate him. But even the Horus Heresy didn't have such a huge impact, did it?

In response to Zhuang Sen's summary, Dorn suddenly spoke up:

"No need to think about it anymore, that's probably how it is. I can confirm that this brother of ours is the second Second Son, because I once saw a secret item marked with the number 11 deep inside the Imperial Palace."

One of our brothers was sealed inside; she was clearly Primarch 11. As for the rest, I don't remember anything else. I only remember that I voluntarily chose to have my memories erased."

"So that means?"

Dorn nodded, indicating that things were as we had imagined: Atlas was a rebel army that had caused such a terrible impact that they were Eleven-to-one.

As for what Atlas did, it's all written in Vulkan's diary: Abominable Intelligence, creating bio-weapons, colluding with Xenos, conspiring with Chaos, and even slaughtering half the officials in the Sol Sector 130 years ago.

This eventually led to a complete falling out with his father at the Council of Nicaea, and according to this diary, our brother had a very close relationship with Horus.

"Even when I think of this brother, I feel a strange trust in him, even stronger than in our father on some level. I guess you all feel the same way."

Is it possible that we did something similar to what you guys did before, establishing a second...?

"Stop!" ×2

The moment Dorn opened his mouth, regardless of whether his tone was harsh or not, it made people feel uncomfortable. Guilliman and Zhuang Sen didn't give him a chance to continue, as it would be impolite to keep talking.

"If that's the case, then everything makes sense. I was clearly the second Warmaster, but my father insisted that I was the fourth Warmaster."

Deep in my memory, it seems there really was an Imperial Warmaster before Horus.

Since even Zhuang Sen has admitted it, the other Primarchs have also put forward the clues they have discovered, and most of these descriptions of Atlas are correct.

But here's the problem: when everyone put these clues together, even the Lion King had the most secrets, couldn't hold back anymore.

But the scheming Lion King remained silent; instead, the more naive Corvus Corax stepped forward first.

"Dorn, you might be right. Unless they are too important to the Empire, I really can't imagine how a legion like that could survive."

We could even be a little bolder; it's quite possible that our relationship with this guy was even closer than you described.

The bond was so strong that the father was willing to erase everyone's memories.

While browsing the database, I discovered a large number of bizarre creations of unknown origin, including this strange and Dreadnought. The book I have here is proof of that."

When Corvus Corax presented the picture book titled "The Rome's She-Wolf Final Revised Edition," the eight Primarchs exchanged extremely awkward glances and laughed, because they also had similar books in their bedrooms, just not this new one.

It wasn't just books; there were also a large number of secretly hidden figurines and dolls, most of which were the kind that could be executed on the spot.

"Why don't we open it together and take a look?"

"That's not a good idea!"

Although they said no, none of the nine Primarch refused, and they all gave the book a scathing critique.

But when they saw the original Family Photo at the end of the album, everyone was stunned.

It's not that seeing this object evokes memories; Mordred's demise was multifaceted, leaving no visual record. The main issue is that everyone in this Family Photo is posing in a somewhat indecent manner.

What's with those Thunder Aeldari wearing so little clothing? And the Emperor and the Primarchs—they're just jumping around in the bath in baggy shorts and swimsuits. It doesn't look proper at all.

With the unanimous agreement of all Primarchs, all information concerning Atlas was classified as Imperial Secret. After all, they couldn't investigate everything; what if they discovered we weren't exactly innocent either?

Before ascending the Golden Throne, the Emperor appointed Guilliman as Lord Regent and Zhuang Sen as Imperial Warmaster. After a brief discussion, the Primarchs decided that the most important thing now was to quell the rebellion and stabilize the Sol Sector, humanity's rear base.

Unfortunately, due to the previous series of battles, the Space Marine Legion have suffered heavy losses. The Ultramarines and Imperial Fists are in relatively good condition, but the Iron Hands is left with only Ferrus's head.

The Word Bearers number only 30,000, the already small Raven Guard has just over 10,000, and the Son of the Emperor are almost gone, with less than 1,000 left. It's almost the same as when Fulgrim first returned to the Empire.

Furthermore, these remaining 1,000 Son of the Emperor were particularly restless, always eyeing Ferrus now only had one head, with ill intent.

That wasn't the worst of it. The Primarch of Space Wolves and White Scars disappeared without a trace, and the Blood Angels fared even worse. Their Primarch was reduced to a pile of minced meat, leaving only a wing and a Watermelon Knife that had fused with their father's skull.

Guilliman simply couldn't bring himself to let the legions whose Primarchs had been abducted by the Chaos God go out, so he had no choice but to keep them all on Holy Terra.

Left with no other choice, Guilliman had to give half of the Ultramarines to Zhuang Sen, and then use the power of the Imperial Regent to order other legions to send troops to cooperate with the Imperial Fists Terra in clearing out the Sol Sector.

As for the other Primarchs, they weren't idle either. Brothers like Vulkan and Ferrus, who had criminal records, even if they knew the other was forced into it, the fact remained that their two legions had rebelled.

Guilliman had no choice but to pin them all down on Terra to deal with the backlog of official business.

Regarding Guilliman's arrangements, Vulkan and Ferrus did not want to stay in Holy Terra and suggested that they could go on the Penitent Expedition, for which they were then scolded by Guilliman.

"Shut up! Can't you just give me a break?"

"Let the Legion recuperate first, at least increase their numbers. We don't want to be asked how many men the Iron Hands has, and only Ferrus pops up. Let's weather this chaotic period first."

Guilliman was genuinely scared. Rather than letting them go out and have fun, he figured it was better for them to have their babies peacefully in Holy Terra.

But whenever the night was quiet, Guilliman would always recall the scene of the Emperor holding his hand in a pool of blood.

Guilliman was uneasy. He feared the loss of his brothers, his inability to shoulder the responsibility, and the possibility of another rebellion within the legion.

But Guilliman has no choice now; he must stabilize the Empire first, and that requires the strength of the Legion.

Although his brothers teased him for overthinking, that's just the kind of person Guilliman is—thinking three steps ahead for every one step he takes. He had already foreseen the challenges he would face in the future.

Guilliman vaguely remembered discussing this with someone, but Guilliman definitely had the impression that he had, and a bold idea was gradually forming in his mind.

The idea was so audacious that Guilliman ignored the whispers in his ear:

"You bastard, stop thinking about your damn Codex Astartes, you'll regret it! You idiot, answer the phone!"

If it were any other Primarch, even Zhuang Sen, it would have attracted attention, but unfortunately Guilliman was a Psychic Power Muggle and didn't hear his future mutterings at all. Instead, he only remembered the words "Codex Astartes" from the whole sentence.

"Codex Astartes? Good idea. I remember there's a copy of the Atlas Codex on the bookshelf."

After reading this monumental work, which, despite losing much of its content, still encompassed organizational structure, technological research Guilliman understood!

No wonder we get along so well; we're kindred spirits!

Brother, don't worry. Although I have no memory of you anymore, you won't just become a memory. Let me remember you in my own way.

Atlas, Astartes! In that case, let this book be called the "Astartes Codex"!

Given Guilliman's extraordinary intelligence, he certainly wouldn't stop there.

Countless models were generated in Guilliman's mind, calculating solutions for each possible scenario, and refining and optimizing these solutions to select the most suitable one.

Guilliman's idea was to write an encyclopedia, and once you learned it, even an ordinary Space Marine could build the basic framework.

Now that the large-scale Xenos within the Empire have been wiped out, there is no point in having large-scale Space Marine Legion.

This was an unavoidable compromise, because since becoming Lord Regent, Guilliman had found the empire's logistical support to be utterly inadequate.

But this raises a paradox: how were the legions' logistical support handled during the Great Crusade?

Therefore, instead of launching a major offensive, it would be better to split the operation into Chapter with faster support capabilities.

Taking the most typical example of the Dark Angels, although the Space Marine on the surface is only this many, the Auxilia they encompass far exceeds one million.

If anything goes wrong, the entire legion will deal a devastating blow to the Empire. Even though Guilliman knows that Horus is not that kind of person and was forced into it, he absolutely cannot allow the Empire to have a second Horus.

Therefore, the timing of Split the Legions is extremely important.

Guilliman suddenly remembered something else: given the Empire's level of education, what if they took my book as their ancestral law?

Although the possibility was extremely small, Guilliman did not believe that the Space Marine would be that stupid.

Guilliman, who was well-versed in the history of Old Terra, knew that his plan was to Decentralize Power, similar to Benevolence Decree. He was already grateful if anyone would obey it when it was announced; how could he possibly stick to it rigidly?

But just in case, Guilliman still wrote a sentence in both High Gothic and Low Gothic on the title page of the Astartes Codex 1.0:

This item is for reference only.

After writing those words in large characters, Guilliman nodded to himself, thinking that this was absolutely foolproof.

Those who dislike it will use this as an excuse, while those who abide by it will abide by it—brilliant!

During the day, Guilliman wandered around the various legion bases like a mother hen, and he was more anxious about the new recruit selections than about his own Ultramarines.

In the evenings, before resting, he would gradually work out the plans and continue building his monumental masterpiece.

Two years passed in this way. Guilliman finally breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the good news from the front lines brought by Zhuang Sen and Dorn.

Before Guilliman could even catch his breath, a message in Mars Star-whisper Transmission made him so angry that he smashed the table.

002. M31, Civil War Breaks Out in the Mars Adeptus Mechanicus.