Ultramarines in the Deathwatch RPG

[Legatus]

Perhaps the descriptionof no original copy being available is from the point of view of imperial scholars who do not have access to the resources of a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes?

 

I don't remember where the lost originals of the Codex Astartes is mentioned, does anyone have a citation?

[Hrvat]

From Insginium Astartes

 

The original Codex was compiled approximately ten thousand years ago in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy. It is not known what form the original took: it may have been a manuscript or it may have been a compilation of holo-files or even some combination. Of course manuscript copies were made and distributed. The oldest surviving copy of the Codex is reputed to be the Apocrypha of Skaros. The Liber Arcanum of Grand Marshall Tolof and the Holo-Record 442/33508; Gant Manuscript v2 of the Ceris Archive have some claim to this honour as well. Over the millennia the copies have been copied and recopied many times in order to preserve them. Inevitably, mistakes occur and so it is unlikely that any two copies of the Codex will be identical. Furthermore, the work is constantly being reanalysed and reinterpreted. The original prose style of Roboute is at best archaic and in some cases almost

unintelligible. This has led to many varied interpretations over the centuries and to many situations where two entirely different doctrines have been legitimately claimed as 'official Codex' at the same time.

[Octavulg]

I think it says the same thing in either one of the Indices Astartes (likely the one about the Codex) or in the current SM Codex.

[Legatus]

The Codex Ultramarines mentions the Apocrypha of Skaros, but it doesn't say from what Millennium that is. The 3rd and 5th Edition Codex Space Marines mention the Apocrypha of Davio as being from M33. On the pages with the list of the Second Founding Chapters.

[NightrawenII]

Index Astartes I; Codex Astartes, pg 13:

... The exact number of new Chaters created from Ultramarines is uncertain; the number listed by the oldest known copy of Codex Astartes (the so-called Apocrypha of Skaros)...

 

The same is repeated in the IA: Ultramarines.

[Hrvat]

So based on that it would mean that Ultramarine and Space Wolf copies are not known outside the chapters. I can understand that SW wouldn't care if their copy is known or not but I can't see Ultramarines not brining out their copy and showing others were spelling mistakes have crept in. The whole thing about codex divergence is based on the fact there is no known original.

[Grey Mage]

So no one knows what form the Codex originally took...

 

Except the Ultramarines, who have it.

 

There appears to be some inconsistency here...

WHAT???!

 

Inconsistency in the fluff of WARHAMMER 40,000???!!!

 

Surely good sir, you just jest. Tell me so in earnest, I beg of you.

[Legatus]

But why would the original version of the Ultramarines be lost? They still have their Primarch stashed away, after all. (well, put on display...) The record keeping of the Ultramarines has allways been described as pretty thorough. In the Index Astartes Ultramarines it is said that the Librarians of the Ultramarines still preserve the writing about Konor and how he found Guilliman, and that the meeting of the Emperor and Guilliman is recorded in great (and often unnecessary) detail. It would seem odd if they had lost the original Codex Astartes.

 

Edit: The Insignium Astartes was written apparently by Alan Merrett. I am starting to get the impression that when he intends to develope the background in a certain direction (like making the Legions much bigger, having the Night Lords be part of the Legions sent to Istvaan V, or in this case the nature of the Codex Astartes) he does not necessarily mind all the little details about the setting, like the number of known successors, the fact that the Night Lords went completely crazy after the fight with Dorn, or that the Ultramarines are known for their thoroughness.

[Hrvat]

To be honest I feel that Alan Merret, a person incharge of the background(at least that is what I was told during my cooperation with games development) has his own vision of 40k, which is by definition of how GW is run the corect version of things. What other people write is relevant only as long as it doesn't contradict his vision.

[Gree]

So based on that it would mean that Ultramarine and Space Wolf copies are not known outside the chapters. I can understand that SW wouldn't care if their copy is known or not but I can't see Ultramarines not brining out their copy and showing others were spelling mistakes have crept in. The whole thing about codex divergence is based on the fact there is no known original.

 

Well the copy in Chapter's due was appearantly quite brittle and anchient, Tigurius had to use telekinesis to move the papers.

[NightrawenII]

In the Index Astartes Ultramarines it is said that the Librarians of the Ultramarines still preserve the writing about Konor and how he found Guilliman, and that the meeting of the Emperor and Guilliman is recorded in great (and often unnecessary) detail. It would seem odd if they had lost the original Codex Astartes.

The problem is that these scripts aren't continually revised and re-written, not to mention adding chapters and comments or interpretations of the articles. So it's possible, that Ultramarines simply lost track of what was in the original copy or what was the original article and what was added later.