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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
→History
==History==
===Origins===
Even before the [[Emperor]] had unified [[Terra]], His armies included genetically altered warriors, the [[Custodes]] and the [[Thunder Warriors]]. Although these soldiers were more powerful than the later Space Marines, they were fewer in number and had a shorter lifespan. It was during this period that the techniques for restructuring genetic codes were perfected. Individual germ-cells, called gene-seeds, were isolated and genetically modified, eventually being used to create specific organs that could be implanted into a warrior.{{Fn|1a}}
The development of these organs took many centuries and the research was in fact an off-shoot of the aborted [[Primarch]] project. The Primarchs were god-like beings whose powers far outstripped even that of a "regular" Space Marine. Samples of genetic tissue were taken from each of the fetal Primarchs and used to create the gene-seed of the original twenty [[Space Marine Legion]]s. Thus each of the original Legions (and therefore their [[Successor Chapters]]) inherited some traits associated with their specific Primarch.{{Fn|1a}}
