The Imperium of Man is a dominion of colossal
size, spanning the galaxy and uniting a million worlds and a trillion souls. To rule over such an empire directly is impossible,
even for the labyrinthine organizations that serve the Imperial bureaucracy. Instead, the Imperium entrusts Planetary Governors,
Warlords, Castellans, and even Rogue Traders to rule over worlds and territories in the
Emperor’s name. These fiefdoms range from simple outposts
on the fringes of human territory to entire sub-sectors almost rivalling the power of
Holy Terra itself. Yet even since the days of the Great Crusade,
perhaps no single realm has done more to contribute to the Power of the Imperium, or win more
glory in the name of the Emperor, than that of Ultramar. Located on the southern reaches of the Eastern
Fringe, the Realm of Ultramar has historically consisted of roughly 500 worlds. This number fluctuated across the eras before
being reduced to just under a dozen in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy. Despite this, the region has always been one
of the wealthiest and most powerful in the Imperium and its worlds maintain a level of
economic and technological sophistication almost unheard of within the greater galaxy. Even on its most industrialized planets, Imperial
Manufacturing Centers operate without the toxic wastelands endemic elsewhere in the
Imperium. Rarer still, the Imperial populace has managed
to exist in balance with nature, allowing for widespread farming and oceans that still
teem with fish. At its center lies the capital world of Macragge,
considered bleak and rocky by many, yet home to formidable and majestic mountain ranges
broken only by the more hospitable lowlands where much of the population resides. Citizens of Ultramar live within a highly
martial society in which service to the Imperium is regarded as the highest calling. This is in large part due to their subservience
to the Ultramarines Adeptus Astartes chapter, which draws recruits from Macragge and the
surrounding subsector. It is a point of pride, especially amongst
the older aristocratic families, to have provided a recruit, and communities proudly display
statues and idols of the Space Marines who were born there. While this method of recruitment is commonplace
across the various Space Marine Chapters, few recruit from such a wide variety of worlds
and fewer still are as directly involved in the administration and governance of their
territories as the Ultramarines. The Realm of Ultramar is governed by a largely
feudal system very much akin to that of the rest of the Imperium. All within its borders are subjects of the
Emperor, but it is the Chapter Master of the Ultramarines who holds absolute authority
and bestowed the additional title of “Lord Macragge”. Across the millennia, Regents of Ultramar
have also been appointed, as well as Tetrarchs who served as regional governors and ruled
over dozens of star systems. The corruption and ineffectual rule that continues
to plague the Imperium has seemingly never taken root in Ultramar, and great effort is
made to safeguard the prosperity of its citizenry, so long as military requirements are met. The sub-sector is even exempt from paying
the Imperial Tithe, instead it contributes directly to the Ultramarines Chapter. The Ultramarines are the most prestigious
and well known military force to operate out of Ultramar, but each world also maintains
its own Planetary Defense Force and the realm as a whole maintains several other branches
of service. The Ultramar Auxilla consists of several hundred
regiments, often conscripted into the Imperial Guard when required. In space, Ultramar operates a sizeable defense
fleet, with six enormous fortresses presiding over strategic positions and valuable shipping
lanes. Each is a powerful bastion in its own right,
with enough firepower to destroy a small moon. Several paramilitary organizations also exist,
including the intelligence service Vigil Opertii and the law enforcement agency known as the
Praecental Guard. The level of autonomy afforded to the Realm
of Ultramar has, at times, brought it into conflict with the greater Imperium, with many
viewing the sub-sector with envious eyes. The existence of such a powerful Empire within
the Imperium has even been called heretical, yet for many, the Realm of Ultramar is the
last remnant of the “True” Imperium, before it fell into corruption and decay. The history of the Realm of Ultramar is closely
linked to that of Roboute Guilliman, who reclaimed the region from the horrors of the Age of
Strife and turned the subsector into the jewel of the Imperium’s border territories. One of twenty genetically-engineered super-humans
known as the Primarchs, Robuote and his brothers were created by the Emperor of Mankind and
intended to lead his armies in a Great Crusade to reunite the scattered human race. Yet before this plan could come to fruition,
the Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy by the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. Roboute arrived on Macragge, center of a dying
star-empire which, despite the ravages of the Long Night, had still managed to preserve
much of its technology and even maintained contact with a few other worlds with a small
fleet of short range starships. By the time the Emperor reunited with his
son on Macragge, Robuote Guilliman had unified the planet under his brilliant leadership
and restored its productivity and prosperity. Swearing fealty to the Emperor, Ultramar’s
enormous industrial strength was put to work delivering untold numbers of soldiers and
munitions to serve in the Great Crusade. The Horus Heresy was as devastating to Ultramar
as to the rest of the Imperium and the Traitor Legions relentlessly attacked the worlds of
the subsector to tie down Guilliman and his Space Marine legion, and prevent them from
reinforcing the battered defenders on Holy Terra. On the agri-world of Calth alone, the Ultramarines
lost nearly half their legion, and while the loyalist forces would eventually emerge victorious,
their tremendous losses prevented them from pursuing the war beyond the confines of Ultramar. In this most desperate hour, with the fate
of Terra and the Greater Imperium still unknown, a contingency plan was put into action, briefly
transforming the Realm of Ultramar into the Imperium Secundus before contact with Terra
was re-established and the traitors were defeated. In the aftermath of the conflict, as the Imperium
struggled to repair the damage Horus had wrought and trillions mourned the entombment of their
Emperor, Guilliman and his legion worked tirelessly to bind the Imperium back together. Ultramar alone was able to supply new recruits
at such a rate that within just a few short years, nearly half the space marines in the
galaxy had come from Macragge or other nearby worlds Yet Guilliman was all too aware of the potential
for another civil war, and despite the great power of Ultramar, the decision was made to
splinter the realm. Ultramar was reduced to but a smattering of
planetary systems and the position of Tetrarch was abolished. In time, Guilliman too would pass into legend,
poisoned by a demonic blade and, like the Emperor before him, entombed within a stasis
field. Even without their Primarch, Ultramar endured. During the War of the Beast its forces contributed
to the destruction of the largest Ork Waaagh in recorded history and millennia later, Macragge
itself would become a battlefield during the First Tyrannic War. This latter conflict would be one of the most
devastating in Ultramar’s history, with even Guilliman’s Shrine at the enormous
Polar Fortress on Macragge nearly overrun by horrific Tyranid bio-warriors. Ultramar’s greatest test would arrive during
Abbadon the Despoiler’s 13th Black Crusade. With the destruction of the Cadian Gate and
the galaxy torn asunder by the Great Rift, every hope seemed lost and Macragge was once
more a battlefield as traitor space marines of the Black Legion pursued the fleeing Imperial
Remnants of Cadia to the planet’s surface. What they found there however, would change
the fate of the galaxy. Roboute Guilliman had been reborn, his wounds
healed, and together with his Ultramarines they threw back the Chaos host and embarked
on a campaign to reorganize and rearm the Imperium for the greatest and possibly final
conflict. As Guilliman departed for Holy Terra to seek
the guidance of his father and break through to the scattered Imperial worlds on the far
side of the Great Rift, he declared the 500 Worlds of Ultramar restored, expanding the
power of the Realm to its greatest extent since the Horus Heresy. Today Chapter Master Marneus Calgar acts as
Lord Defender of Greater Ultramar in Guilliman’s absence, with some of the greatest heroes
of the Realm serving in the revived role of Tetrarch. They are engaged in an immense undertaking
to restore the power of their newly expanded dominion, raise great new armies and fleets,
marshall their forces to aid in Roboute Guilliman’s struggle against the forces of Chaos, and
bring the Holy Light of the Emperor to a galaxy fallen into darkness. The Templin Institute investigates nations,
organizations, and factions from alternate worlds and realities. If you’ve enjoyed this video, please consider
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