Primarch Project
The Primarch Project was part of the Emperor's plan to create an army of 20 Legions of super-human warriors, each led by a genetic sire known as a Primarch.
Overview
The Emperor had already been fighting on Terra with genetically modified warriors, but in the end they proved hyper-violent and short-lived. This project would be his greatest attempt to create generals to lead these warriors, second only to himself in skill, ability, and sheer power. It was begun in M29 with the aim to create 20 cloned 'children' of the Emperor. The facility to create these Primarchs was constructed on Terra and the Emperor alongside the Perpetual Erda[7] and Biotechnical Division Director Amar Astarte[6] oversaw the project, having them grown in accelerated gene culturing chambers. His scientists watched over the growing fetuses in their chambers, afraid of what would happen if anything went wrong.[6]
It is said that the Emperor created the Primarchs to replace humanity. Fearing that all of humanity would eventually be corrupted by Chaos, he hoped to create super-humans in his labs. They were given god-like powers and bred for strength and loyalty. The Emperor had hoped to create a genetically-engineered, pure race completely immune to Chaos. Despite this, followers of the Emperor claim that the Primarchs were not truly created to replace humanity. Instead, they were created as shining exemplars of humanity free from corruption.[8]
According to Ingethel the Ascended, the Primarchs were created by the Emperor with the aid of forbidden sciences and arcane lore derived from the Warp.[1] Eldrad Ulthran also states that the Emperor utilized dark powers to construct the Primarchs.[2] It is speculated the Primarchs were imbued with energies and knowledge that the Emperor gained in a Warp Portal on Molech.[3] The Perpetual Erda was used as the "mother" of the Primarchs, combining her genetic material with that of the Emperor's.[7] However, the Gods of Chaos somehow managed to spirit them away just prior to their maturation with a great Warp vortex[4], and it is speculated that they also managed to tamper with the infant Primarchs. The scattering of the Primarchs may have been the result of a Causal Loop created when Argel Tal and his men were sent back in time inside the Eye of Terror to the Emperor's laboratory, as they were convinced by Ingethel the Ascended to destroy the Gellar Fields protecting the infants from the touch of the Chaos Gods. Almost immediately after the Gellar Field generators were disabled, the Primarchs were sucked into a Warp vortex.[1] According to Erda, she was responsible for opening the vortex that scattered the Primarchs in order to save her children from the fate the Emperor intended.[7] Several Primarchs, including Konrad Curze, Roboute Guilliman, and even Sanguinius, came to believe that the scattering of the Primarchs and their upbringing on distant worlds had been engineered by the Emperor.[5]
Scattered across the galaxy, beyond the Emperor's reach, they all landed on different worlds vastly separated from their Father. The Emperor could sense that the infant Primarchs were alive, but was unable to reach them. Therefore, he used their previously collected DNA samples to create the Space Marines. The genetic material of each one of the Primarchs was used to found a single Space Marine Legion, twenty in total. The new homeworlds of the infant Primarchs and subsequent experiences on those worlds would influence and mold them to a large extent. There they quickly grew to adulthood and often rose to power, ruling, leading, and helping the inhabitants. As the Emperor found them, he gave them leadership of their respective legions.[9]
Amar Astarte came to believe that the Primarch Project and indeed the whole of the Legiones Astartes was doomed. The Primarchs were the key anchor to maintaining the genetic stability of the Space Marines, and upon their scattering she saw the entire enterprise as a failure. This eventually led her to try to destroy the genetic knowledge behind their creation in the Palace Coup.[6]
See also
Sources
- 1: The First Heretic (Novel), Chapter 17, pgs. 300–301
- 2: Fulgrim (Novel) Chapter 14
- 3: Vengeful Spirit (Novel),
[Help] - 4: False Gods (Novel), Chapters 15–16
- 5: Pharos (Novel) Chapter 24
- 6: Valdor: Birth of the Imperium (Novel) Chapter 10 & 14
- 7: Saturnine (Novel) Part 2 Chapter 3
- 8: Black Crusade Core Rulebook, pg. 24
- 9: Index Astartes I - Children of the Emperor: The Emperor's Children Space Marine Legion
Uncited
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