The '500 Worlds' of Ultramar?

[DogWelder]

Is Ultramar actually 500 Worlds? And by worlds do they mean simply planets or systems?

 

Because places like Macragge and Konor were always thought of as single planets but in the latest fluff (maps/books/codicies etc.), it is clear that Macragge and Konor are part of 6-planet systems of which one of the planets is the systems namesake. Same goes for Espandor, Parmenio etc.

 

Which makes it much more realistic don't get me wrong but does this mean that the newly reformed Ultramar is more accurately 500 systems instead?

 

Also, how is it still 500 after the Heresy? 'Laurel of Defiance' by Guy Haley said that the Shadow Crusade of the Word Bearers and World Eaters destroyed about 100 worlds of Ultramar.

 

Of course you could say that several more planets have been colonized in the 10,000 years within Ultramarian space. However, if Guilliman is re-expanding to Ultramar's old borders, does he plan on just swallowing those planets up into his empire to make up for the losses during the Shadow Crusade and further invasions despite the fact that they were never part of Ultramar to begin with? 

 

'Dark Imperium' states that he plans to make Ultramar even larger than the 500 as well. In which case we could be looking at a Tau-ish expansion here.

[Ishagu]

I believe it's systems, each named after a primary world in said system.

 

In Dark Imperium it does explain in detail the state of things. The 500 worlds were broken up after Heresy, but Guilliman has now ordered them to be reformed. In the book it states it's currently more like 380 - 420 worlds, as not all have returned into the fold, and some systems don't even have records of being part of Ultramar at any point in their history due to the sheer time that has passed and poor record keeping.

 

Yes, a lot of worlds were devastated during the Heresy. A lot of those devastated worlds still exist as Imperium planets now, though are significantly changed - for example Calth is now a planet where the human population lives in subterranean cities as opposed to the surface which is now uninhabitable.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Ishagu

[Arkangilos]

I think it's worlds. So Maccragge is one of the five hundred worlds, and the other five planets within the system of Maccragge are also part of the five hundred worlds.

 

Although I would say only the worlds with people on them are counted.

Edited September 1, 2017 by Arkangilos

[Stoic Raptor]

They needn't necessarily all be planets, even.  some might be habitable moons, for all we know.

[Frater Cornelius]

I want to do vacation there. I heard Talassar is good for sailing :D

 

I do not think it is only 500 worlds. Segmentum Ultima is home to the largest amount of Imperial Worlds. Ultramar may only be a small part of it, but it is still a solid chunck. Consider that the Milky Way has an estimated amount of 100 billion planets alone, I think that Ultramar has more than 500 worlds. I like to think that they counted inhabited major worlds. Gives it more scale and thus makes it more believable.

[Ishagu]

Well, the milky way has 100 billion stars, so probably more like 800 billion planets.

[Stoic Raptor]

Not every star we've observed so far has planets.

[Ishagu]

Most do , it's more common than not. But on a galactic scale Ultramar is tiny.