Gaiaterra: Elysea's Conflict/The Ten Loyalist Primarches

The Horus Heresy was, and still is, one of the greatest failures the Coalition had with their greatest protecting fighting each other, as not only did the Astartes fell but so were the Primarches meant to lead them, with only ten out of the twenty Primarches having stayed loyal in the war, whose legion now serves the Coalition today.

Status: In Stasis
"Repent! For tomorrow you die!"

-Dark Angel's battle cry

Often times referred to as "the Lion" during their lifetime, known also by the cognomen "The First," and the honorific "Primaris Angelus Mortis," Lion El'Jonson was the primarch of the 1st Legion of Space Marines, the Dark Angels.

Following the events of the Horus Heresy, Jonson and their crusading fleet returned to their home of Caliban. Inexplicably, they were fired upon by the Dark Angel forces garrisoned there under the command of their once-trusted mentor and surrogate father, Luther, who had been entrusted with the custodianship of Caliban in the Lion's absence.

Luther would eventually betray the Lion after allowing himself to be seduced by the offers of Chaos, rallying a good portion of the Dark Angels who had been left behind by their fellows to garrison the Legion's homeworld to his cause and attacking the Lion's fleet as they returned to Caliban.

The titanic struggle between the two former friends resulted in the destruction of Caliban and the loss of the Dark Angels' primarch, as well as the escape of Luther's allies who had sided with the Ruinous Powers.

Known as the Fallen Angels amongst their former battle-kins of the 1st Legion, it became the overriding goal of the Dark Angels after the Second Founding to hunt down every one of the Fallen and get them to repent their betrayal of the Coalition and of the Lion.

Perhaps one of the greatest secrets of the Karak Overlord Coalition, known only to the Council themselves, is that the Lion is still alive and resting in stasis, buried deep within the Dark Angels' fortress-monastery, The Rock.

There they wait, now fully healed from the wounds they received during the devastation of Caliban, to be awakened to lead the Dark Angels in one final crusade to save the Coalition from all the enemies who threaten it with extinction.

Status: Deceased
"None shall find us wanting."

-Blood Ravens battle cry

Status: Deceased
"For the Coalition and Sanguinia! Death! DEATH!"

-Blood Angel's battle cry

Also known as the "Great Angel" and the "Brightest One" during her lifetime, Sanguinia was the Primarch of the Blood Angels Legion of Space Marines, known for being the only Primarch to possess giant, angelic, wings that granted her flight, and her limitless compassion for every being, with "Angel" being a fitting name for her.

Landing in the wasteland of Baal, in what would be known as Angel's Fall, the infant Primarch was found by one of the wandering tribes of Humans who called themselves the Folk of Pure Blood, or simply "the Blood." The young Sanguinia life almost came to an end then and there, for the touch of Chaos had changed her. Tiny vestigial wings, like those of an angel, emerged from her back. Many wanted to kill the child as a mutant, while others wanted to absolve the girl, for in all other ways she was as perfect a child as had ever been seen. Eventually, innate Human compassion for the young prevailed and the child was spared.

The infant Sanguinia was a prodigy -- she grew quickly and learned everything her adoptive parents could teach her, and by the age of eight she had the skills and strength to best the tribe's strongest warriors. And as Sanguinia grew, her wings also grew, changing from tiny vestigial things into mighty pinions that could bear her aloft upon the desert air.

And on a fateful day a wandering band of mutants surprised the tribe, Sanguinia slew them all, although they numbered over a hundred. This was the first time the members of the Blood had ever seen her truly angry, for she felt her comrades' lives were in danger. When the blood-rage overtook her, Sanguinia was indeed terrible to behold -- her Primarch powers awoke to fullness and a nimbus of light played about her head.

Sanguinia distinguished herself in the fateful days and years that followed. She soon rose to leadership of the Blood, and under her guidance they rolled back the mutant tide. Sanguinia was worshipped as a god by her followers who felt that she could once again create a paradise in that dreadful land. It was shortly thereafter that fate intervened once more.

Wodin had been questing across the Durin in search of his lost siblings and his incredible psychic powers led him to Baal. His shuttle landed at the Conclave of the Blood, and he walked straight to Sanguinia abode. Some amongst the Primarchs are said to have fought against the Emperor when first they met but this was not the case with Sanguinia. She immediately recognized Wodin for who he was and bent her knee before her brother, the unifier of tribes. Wodin raised her up and looked upon her people and saw that they were fair and noble. The best of their warriors he offered to raise up into Space Marines. The others were to be honorably left behind to defend Baal. And Sanguinia reunites with her Legion, christened the Blood Angels, and joined her siblings in the Great Crusade.

Driven by a fiery temperament, the 9th Legion swiftly earned a fearsome reputation as shock troops, which came to feed a rivalry between them and the assault-oriented World Eaters Legion. Yet, in truth, the Blood Angels were never as ferocious as the World Eaters, for the wise influence of Sanguinius tempered their bloodlust.

When the Horus Heresy had come Sanguinia, like all of the loyal Primarchs, didn't realize it at first. And was sent into a trap by Horus, where he had hoped her Legion would join him or be destroyed but had survived, realizing his treachery, and began rushing back to stop him. Her greatest deed in the Heresy being the Defense of Karaz-A-Karak, fighting alongside the Blood Ravens, White Scars, and Imperial Fists. Before boarding the Vengeful Spirit with her fellow Primachs and Astarte veterans.

Battle raged throughout the demon-infested warship, and Sanguinia became separated from her comrades. Now isolated, legend tells that she was brought through artifice before the treacherous Horus.

Fully in the grip of the power of all four Chaos Gods, the Warmaster offered Sanguinia one final chance to join Horus in the inevitable victory of the Traitors and Chaos -- yet the Primarch of the Blood Angels held true, and refused. Rejected, Horus flew into a rage and attacked. Although bearing the wounds of her earlier actions and knowing it would almost certainly spell her doom, Sanguinia immediately attacked the corrupted Warmaster. Even at the peak of her powers, Sanguinia could not have hoped to prevail against the embodiment of Chaos Horus had become, and the Primarch was weary and wounded from her travails on Terra during the battle against Ka'Bandha. Dying as Wodin and his Blood Raven entered Horus's chamber.

Though Horus slew Sanguinia, who had once been his closest and greatest friend amongst the other Primarchs, Coalition legend holds that it was the chink in Horus' armor created by the Angel that allowed Wodin to slay the Arch-heretic and thus prevent Gaiaterra from falling to the corruption of the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.

Status: Alive
"We March for Macragge!"

-Ultramarines battle cry

Sometimes referred to as the "Avenging Son," "The Victorious," "The Master of Ultramar" and "The Blade of Unity," Roboute Guilliman is the primarch of the Ultramarines Space Marine Legion. He is the current head general of the Coalition and the Council Adviser/watchman.

Held by some as a paragon among the Primarchs, Roboute Guilliman was as much a patrician statesman and empire-builder as he was an indefatigable warrior.

A being of preternatural intelligence, cold reason, and indomitable will, Guilliman forged his XIIIth Legion into a vast force of conquest and control, a weapon by which he made himself the master of a stellar domain in the Eastern Fringe of the Coalition, the Realm of Ultramar, which during his lifetime has a large territory.

Guilliman was a charismatic and gifted leader, beloved of his people and singularly capable of compartmentalizing incredible quantities of information. He was an organizer, a logistician, one capable of turning the wildest theories into practical reality and rendering order from chaos.

The most strategically gifted and tactically balanced of all the Legiones Astartes. The Ultramarines fought with exceptional efficiency. They drove the foes of the Coalition before them, their armies fighting like intricate and perfectly tuned machines to swiftly and decisively outmaneuver every foe.

When the Horus Heresy set the Coalition ablaze, Roboute Guilliman fought with loyalty and determination for the Coalition that he believed in with all his heart. When he thought that the Coalition had fallen thanks to Chaos spies giving misinformation, the primarch established a new seat of power on Macragge, planning to preserve the Coalition within his own Realm of Ultramar as the Imperium Secundus.

When Guilliman later learned that Karaz-A-Karak still stood, he did everything in his power to ensure that he and his loyal kin could fight with their homeland in the final battle against Horus. Though his efforts benefitted many, Guilliman himself reached Karaz-A-Karak too late, a fact that would torture him for decades to come.

In the wake of the Horus Heresy, it was the Ultramarines primarch who wrote and instituted the Codex Astartes, a key volume that laid out the proper tactics and military organization for the majority of Loyalist Space Marine Chapters now in existence.

Guilliman is the primarch who took up Wodin's burning blade and became the lord commander of the Imperium and the Imperial Regent, serving amongst the Council alongside his brother Rogal during the period of the reformation and reconstruction of the Coalition administrative and military structure called the Time of Rebirth. Guilliman single-handedly reshaped the Coalitiion after the Horus Heresy, taking the lead role in reforming its bureaucratic and military apparatus following the burial of Wodin and Sanguinia.

Roboute Guilliman is also one of the few Loyalist primarchs still alive. Following the Great Scouring, Guilliman and his Ultramarines met the Votann's Children Traitor Legion at the Battle of Thessala in (insert) V.C., where his corrupt sibling Fulgrim mortally wounded him with a slice to the neck made by that Daemon Primarch's Chaos-tainted blades.

So it was that the dying Roboute Guilliman was put into suit of power armor specially forged by the Dwarfs and empowered by the Alin and Coutl magic. Saving the Primarch but forcing him to forever be entombed in it, lest the blade's poison kills him.

Today Guilliman still stands by the Coalition Council, always being the voice to make sure that they don't make rash decisions and watching them to make sure there was no usurper or assassins. And if the Coalition he fights to protect is under a great threat, whether by Chaos or other superpowers, he will march out the Council halls and lead the Coalition to battle.

Status: Unknown
"For Russ and the Coalition!"

-Valkyrie Wolves battle cry

Also known as the "Wolf Queen" and the "Great Wolf" during her lifetime, is the currently missing Primarch of the Valkyrie Wolves Chapter of Space Marines.

She led the Valkyrie Wolves Space Marine Legion during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy and is famed in Imperial history for her hatred of psychic powers and magic, whose use in battle she viewed as dishonorable and unworthy of true warriors.

After receiving a disturbing vision in (insert)V.C., Lemia Russ disappeared with the warriors of her Varagyr bodyguard, her destination and fate unknown.

Russ, along with her fellow Primarchs Angron and Vulkan, were considered to be the greatest warriors one-on-one amongst the Primarchs. Known for her fierce and sometimes barbaric personality, Lemia Russ considered herself the Coalition's most loyal daughter and executioner.

She viewed her role as unquestionably carrying out the punishments required by the Council. Among the forces of Chaos, she was known as "the Brawler."

Some recent rumors claim that it is Lemia Russ who is the unknown force behind the return of the Valkyrie Wolves' 13th Company to realspace after (insert) years fighting the forces of Chaos in the Warp during the 13th Black Crusade of (insert).

Several main battle tank variants used by the Aden forces have been named after her. The Lemia Russ tank is the most prominent, and several sub-variants of that pattern of the tank also exist in widespread use in the Lineage Steel Legion, such as the Lemia Russ Demolisher.

Status: Alive (self-exile)
"Primarch-Progenitor, to your glory and the glory of him on earth!"

-Imperial Fists battle cry

Known as "The Vigilant," the "Praetorian of Durin" and the "Unyielding One," and to his Astartes by the "wall-name" of "Defiance," Rogal Dorn was the primarch of the Imperial Fists Space Marine Legion and one of the greatest heroes in the history of the Imperium of Man.

A being of thunderous zeal and stone made manifest is how many described the primarch of the VIIth Legion. He had a stern and naturally unsmiling face, topped with an unruly shock of short, bone-white hair and trimmed horseshoe mustache. His zeal was the fire of a son who believed in the dream for the Coalition without reservation and without question.

To Rogal Dorn there was no higher purpose to the existence of the Legiones Astartes than the unification of the Coalition, and the illumination of the Coalition ideals. This idealism drove Dorn and his Legion ever onwards, never compromising, never stinting in any aspect of duty. The stone in his soul was his ability to bear whatever is needed of him, an unyielding nature, which made him both a master of defense in war, and an indomitable aggressor on the attack.

If the primarchs were the nature of men split like white light through a prism's rays, then from such a point of view, Rogal Dorn was the people implacable disciple in the pursuit of his cause given flesh; without compromise and in who loyalty and duty was as integral as blood and breath.

It was perhaps for this reason, that even before the betrayal of Horus, the Council named Dorn the "Praetorian of Durin," and drew him to his side far away from the Warmaster and his newly-forged command. To some among his primarch siblings, this served only to distance him and his Legion further from them, and those among them who had seen the sins of hubris and obstinacy in Dorn's undoubted stubbornness and pride, saw this aggrandizement as a further cause for discord and disquiet.

It was Dorn who supervised the construction of the formidable defenses of the Imperial Palace in the (insert) Mountains on Durin that would be sorely tested by the forces of Chaos during the epic climax of the Horus Heresy in the terrible Siege of Karaz-A-Karak.

And it was Dorn who would fight within the Vengeful Spirit alongside his brother and sister Wodin and Sanguinia, losing his right hand in the battle which is now displayed within the Coalition, who would find the broken body of the Wodin upon the battleship Vengeful Spirit after his terrible final duel with Horus. Dorn who was right by his brother's side and received his last spoken instructions to make sure such an event never happen again.

And in the aftermath Dorn refused to have his hand reattached or be given a prosthetic, saying that the loss of his hand is punishment for failing to save Wodin and Sanguinia, and worked alongside his brother Roboute in rebuilding the Coalition, making sure that such inner strife will never happen again, before secluding himself within the peak of (insert mountain) in penance. But whether the Coalition faces a threat they can't handle or the great beast of chaos the Praetorian of Durin will rise from his exile and don his armor again, with a heavy bolter/chainsword "Hand Of Dorn" mounted on the stump of his lost hand, and march to protect the nation he failed once, and once only.

Status: Deceased
"The Flesh Is Weak! Iron prevails!"

-Iron Hands battle cry

Also known as "The Gorgon," Ferrus Manus was the primarch of the Iron Hands Space Marine Legion, a master smith known for creating weapons that were able to inspire awe in any who saw them, such as the sword they created for Fulgrim, primarch of the Votann's/Slannesh's Children Legion or the bolter they crafted for Vulkan, the primarch of the Salamanders Legion, said to have a barrel designed to look like the gaping mouth of a dragon.

Ferrus' hands were covered in the metallic substance known as necrodermis and they needed no hammer or flame to create beauty through metallurgy, using only their exceptionally powerful hands to mold and shape molten metal. Ferrus forged their closest bond with their sibling Fulgrim, but this relationship ultimately ended in tragedy after Fulgrim fell to Chaos during the Horus Heresy.

During the Drop Site Massacre on the world of Istvaan V at the start of the Heresy, Fulgrim decapitated Ferrus with a daemonic sword, an action that ultimately marked the point of no return on their path to becoming a Daemon Princette of the Chaos God Slaanesh.

Status: Unknown
"Into the fires of battle, unto the anvil of war!"

-Salamanders battle cry

Known as "The Dragon", Vulkan was the Primarch of the Salamanders with a reputation for their empathy towards average Humans as well as their extraordinary ability to craft unique and powerful items of advanced technology.

Approximately a (insert) years after the Horus Heresy, Vulkan hid 9 sacred artifacts they had created around the galaxy for the Salamanders to find, intended as a test to see if they were worthy of their leadership.

They then disappeared, leaving their genetic children with the message that whenever the Forgers of the Salamanders had found all nine items, Vulkan would return to lead their Chapter to victory over the enemies of the Coalition in its final days of greatest need, according to the signs foreseen in the Chapter's book of prophecy, the Tome of Fire.

Status: Unknown
"For the Khan and the Coalition!"

-White Scars battle cry

Also known as "The Great Khan," "the Khagan" and the "Warhawk," Jaghatai Khan was the primarch of the 5th Legion of Space Marines, the White Scars, who led them through the years of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.

Jaghatai fought alongside their White Scars for another 70 standard years following the end of the Heresy, eventually disappearing in (insert)V.C. into a region known as the Maelstrom, an uncharted part of Gaiaterra.

Jaghatai is believed to have been in pursuit of the Drukhari who had savaged their homeworld of Chogoris following the Battle of Corusil V with their 1st Brotherhood when they went across the sea into the Drukhari portion of the Webway. Jaghatai had been in pursuit of a mighty Drukhari lord, likely the Archon of the Drukhari Kabal that had attacked Corusil V and perhaps even Chogoris itself.

Jaghatai Khan has not been seen since, though the White Scars believe they're is still alive somewhere within the Webway and will one day return to the Chapter in a time of great need. As a result of their Primarch's disappearance, the White Scars hold a particularly savage grudge against the Drukhari and will gladly seek out any opportunity to make war upon those savage and terrifying xenos.

Status: Unknown
"Victorus aut Mortis!"

-Raven Guards' battle cry

Also known as "The Liberator," "The Deliverer," "The Raven-Lord," "Chooser of the Slain", "The Shadowed Lord", and affectionately by only the Primarchs, mainly Sanguinia and Vulkan, "CoCo" (much to her embarrassment though secretly liking the nickname), Cora Corax is the currently missing primarch of the Raven Guard Chapter of Space Marines.

Corax presented a striking countenance, at least when she wished to be seen. Her skin was alabaster white and she possessed shoulder-length hair as black as the feathers of her namesake, the raven.

Most remarkable and unsettling were her eyes, which appeared as entirely black shards of solid shadow. Her sable power armor was edged with fine, golden figures and upon her back was mounted a jetpack formed into a pair of articulated, raven-like pinions that she wielded as a murderous, blood-edged weapon of war.

Like most of the primarchs, Corax was blessed with an extensive armory of artificer-wrought weapons, but she most often bore to war a pair of meter-long Lightning Claws and a coiled whip at her belt. The latter was carried as a reminder of the cruelty enacted upon the people of her home of Lycaeus by the tyrannical guild of Kiavahr and with it countless enemies were laid low.

Though few even amongst her Astartes know of it, Corax is blessed with the ability to pass unnoticed should she will it, this preternatural ability allowing her to slip from the perception of her enemies even when she was in plain view.

After the near-destruction of her XIXth Legion during the Drop Site Massacre on Istvaan at the start of the Horus Heresy, Corax was desperate to rebuild her Legion. With the Council's permission, she and her Astartes delved deep beneath the Imperial Palace to recover the advanced genetic knowledge that the Council had used to create the primarchs.

Corax then made use of these techniques and a recovered, undifferentiated primarch genetic template to accelerate the development of the new Raven Guard Astartes. The repercussions of those actions came back to haunt her, leading Corax to eventually mercy kill to all the twisted, mutant spawns who emerged as the result of her experiments.

In the wake of the Horus Heresy, Corax vanished into the Eye of Terror in search of penance for her shame. Her current whereabouts and status remain unknown to the Raven Guard and the Coalition. Though a myth has been made that when the darkest day of the Coalition comes the skies will be blotted by ravens, before Cora descends from the skies to protect her nation and children.

Trivia

 * With all Astartes in Gaiaterra being intersex the Primarches' genders are different from 40k, with three being male, three female, and four non-binary.
 * Roboute, Wodin (OC primarch, based on the missing primarch, for the Blood Ravens), and Rogal remain male
 * Sanguinius (Sanguinia), Leman (Lemia), and Corvus (Cora) now identify as female
 * Ferrus, Jaghatai, Lion, and Vulkan now identify as non-binary