Ultramarine Family Tree

[DogWelder]

The Ultramarines Legion has had a lot of lore added to it by the HH novels and the Forge World Books. One aspect of that GW keeps providing info about is the links between the 13th Legion itself and its myriad chapters. So I thought I'd build an Ultramarines family tree. Here's the structure of it. Please feel free to share any knowledge about any missing links if you can

 

The list of all chapters in the original Legion are listed along with the successor chapter they became after the heresy indicated by the arrows.

 

13th Legion:

 

1st Chapter

• 6th Company--->Iron Snakes

2nd Chapter

 

3rd Chapter

 

4th Chapter: 'The Aurorans'--->Aurora Chapter

 

5th Chapter

 

6th Chapter

 

7th Chapter

 

8th Chapter

 

9th Chapter

• 90th Company: 'Nova Company'--->Novamarines

10th Chapter

 

11th Chapter

 

12th Chapter

 

13th Chapter

 

14th Chapter

 

15th Chapter

 

16th Chapter

• 8th Company--->Doom Eagles

17th Chapter

 

18th Chapter

 

19th Chapter

• 9th Company: 'Aegida Company'--->Scythes of the Emperor

20th Chapter: 'Eagles'--->Eagle Warriors

 

21st Chapter: 'The Hawks'--->Hawk Lords

 

22nd Chapter: 'Nemesis'--->Nemesis Chapter

 

23rd Chapter

 

24th Chapter

 

25th Chapter

 

Outside formal Legion structure:

 

Iron Warrior defectors--->Silver Skulls*

Alpha Legion defectors-->Sons of Orar*

 

*not fully confirmed or simply theorized

 

 

Edited November 10, 2017 by DogWelder

[Frater Cornelius]

Not much of an expert, but I read that The Black Consuls were the 77^th Chapter. Were there even that many?. I believe the Doom Eagles were the 24th Chapter, but don't quote me on that.

[DogWelder]

Not much of an expert, but I read that The Black Consuls were the 77^th Chapter. Were there even that many?. I believe the Doom Eagles were the 24th Chapter, but don't quote me on that.

 

The Black Consuls confused me with that. HH: Tempest makes it clear that the Ultramarines consisted of 25 Chapters of 10,000 each (with each Chapter containing 10 Companies of 100 each). 

[Captain Idaho]

Sons of Orar? That's controversial. Where did you get that?

[DogWelder]

Sons of Orar? That's controversial. Where did you get that?

 

Oh it was just a theory I found discussed a lot online. I doubt its real myself.

[Aothaine]

Don't forget the Fulminators.

[DogWelder]

Don't forget the Fulminators.

 

I couldn't find a direct link from them to a specific chapter in the legion unfortunately.

[blackoption]

 

Not much of an expert, but I read that The Black Consuls were the 77^th Chapter. Were there even that many?. I believe the Doom Eagles were the 24th Chapter, but don't quote me on that.

 

The Black Consuls confused me with that. HH: Tempest makes it clear that the Ultramarines consisted of 25 Chapters of 10,000 each (with each Chapter containing 10 Companies of 100 each). 

 

Tempest states that was the nominal order, but acknowledges that there were exceptions.  The 2 veteran double strength chapters at Artumenta (spelling) that Angron and Lorgar attacked is one such example.  Nemesis Chapter being the home of the Ultramarine Destroyer contingents is another, and the Vigil Operadii as a third.

 

As for the Black Consuls... 77th Chapter or 77th company?

[Tamiel]

I think it's misleading to list the Sons of Orar as an Alpha Legion defector. There's nothing in their lore that pertains to that.
As for the other one, I don't know much about the silver skulls.

[The Emperor's Champion]

The Sons Of Orar are NOT Alpha Legion. That's obviously nonsense someone randomly made up because they have an Omega as their symbol.
They're almost certainly the Ultramarines Chapter that were lead by Captain Orar during the Heresy/Scouring.
In any case, they're clearly acknowledged by the Codices as being Ultramarines, just with a slightly fuzzy background.
I'd say it's likely they're a forgotten Primogenitor Chapter.

The Silver Skulls are Ultramarines too. Guilliman clearly acknowledges them as his sons since he returned, as they were among the first on his list with the other Ultramarines Chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, meaning they MUST HAVE been a part of the Legion in some capacity. Likely a Chapter.
 

The Fulminators are a brand new (albeit held in stasis for 8000 years) entirely Primaris Chapter. They were never part of the Legion.

Edited December 11, 2017 by The Emperor's Champion

[The Emperor's Champion]

The Marines Errant are a Successor Chapter to the Eagle Warriors, making them one of the few slightly more complex "branches" of the "family tree".
I'd be interested to know why there's a Successor of a Successor.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/2/23/MarinesErrant.jpg/529px-MarinesErrant.jpg

[Kinstryfe]

The Marines Errant are a Successor Chapter to the Eagle Warriors, making them one of the few slightly more complex "branches" of the "family tree".

I'd be interested to know why there's a Successor of a Successor.http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/mediawiki/images/thumb/2/23/MarinesErrant.jpg/529px-MarinesErrant.jpg

I'd imagine that Marine chapters keep recruiting at a normal rate in preparation for casualties at all times. If the chapter is particularly resilient/lucky/boring, I could see them reaching a point where their intake:casualty ratio is greater than 1. Not all chapters get to fight off Tyranid invasions and Ork Waaaghs. If you end to spending a century guarding an important shipping lane and fighting off the occasional pirate raid, you could find yourself reaching critical accepted mass, and I'd imagine once a chapter hits 1500 or so full Astartes it's time to split some off into a new chapter so you don't fall foul of the wrong authorities.

[DogWelder]

The Sons Of Orar are NOT Alpha Legion. That's obviously nonsense someone randomly made up because they have an Omega as their symbol.

They're almost certainly the Ultramarines Chapter that were lead by Captain Orar during the Heresy/Scouring.

In any case, they're clearly acknowledged by the Codices as being Ultramarines, just with a slightly fuzzy background.

I'd say it's likely they're a forgotten Primogenitor Chapter.

 

The Silver Skulls are Ultramarines too. Guilliman clearly acknowledges them as his sons since he returned, as they were among the first on his list with the other Ultramarines Chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, meaning they MUST HAVE been a part of the Legion in some capacity. Likely a Chapter.

 

The Fulminators are a brand new (albeit held in stasis for 8000 years) entirely Primaris Chapter. They were never part of the Legion.

 

Its the iconography for the Silver Skulls for the most part. Their emblem and color scheme is extremely identical to the Iron Warriors.

 

Plus Warsmith Dantioch brought a few dozen Iron Warriors to Ultramar when he defected to the Ultramarines during the Heresy. It isn't a stretch to imagine Guilliman made them the core around which a new successor was found.

[Spiky Norman]

[...]

The Silver Skulls are Ultramarines too. Guilliman clearly acknowledges them as his sons since he returned, as they were among the first on his list with the other Ultramarines Chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, meaning they MUST HAVE been a part of the Legion in some capacity. Likely a Chapter.[...]

I'm interested in finding post-rift lore on the Silver Skulls, apart from the picture in the C:SM, so could you list the book where you pulled this from?

[blackoption]

 

[...]

The Silver Skulls are Ultramarines too. Guilliman clearly acknowledges them as his sons since he returned, as they were among the first on his list with the other Ultramarines Chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, meaning they MUST HAVE been a part of the Legion in some capacity. Likely a Chapter.[...]

I'm interested in finding post-rift lore on the Silver Skulls, apart from the picture in the C:SM, so could you list the book where you pulled this from?

 

 

From what I understand it is speculation.  In one of the shorts, One of the Ultramarine Tetrachs meets with Dantioch.  Dantioch, at the time, leads a very understrength garrison (a couple of squads) of Iron Warriors backed by genebulked warriors (like Ogryns).  When Horus's forces arrive, they come to Dantioch expecting resupply, and are caught flat footed when he strikes against them.  Dantioch holds the seige on this world for a year before escape by boarding a Sons of Horus ship and demoing his own garrison.

 

That being said, if my memory holds true, less than a squad of Iron Warriors survived that siege.  Kinda hard to build an entire chapter from such a small number of marines.

 

However, I am doing this from memory and welcome anyone who can actually cite the books

[DogWelder]

 

 

[...]

The Silver Skulls are Ultramarines too. Guilliman clearly acknowledges them as his sons since he returned, as they were among the first on his list with the other Ultramarines Chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, meaning they MUST HAVE been a part of the Legion in some capacity. Likely a Chapter.[...]

I'm interested in finding post-rift lore on the Silver Skulls, apart from the picture in the C:SM, so could you list the book where you pulled this from?

 

 

From what I understand it is speculation.  In one of the shorts, One of the Ultramarine Tetrachs meets with Dantioch.  Dantioch, at the time, leads a very understrength garrison (a couple of squads) of Iron Warriors backed by genebulked warriors (like Ogryns).  When Horus's forces arrive, they come to Dantioch expecting resupply, and are caught flat footed when he strikes against them.  Dantioch holds the seige on this world for a year before escape by boarding a Sons of Horus ship and demoing his own garrison.

 

That being said, if my memory holds true, less than a squad of Iron Warriors survived that siege.  Kinda hard to build an entire chapter from such a small number of marines.

 

However, I am doing this from memory and welcome anyone who can actually cite the books

 

 

I think they simply put those IW in senior positions and had them contribute to the culture of the newfound chapter.

[Spiky Norman]

 

 

[...]

The Silver Skulls are Ultramarines too. Guilliman clearly acknowledges them as his sons since he returned, as they were among the first on his list with the other Ultramarines Chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, meaning they MUST HAVE been a part of the Legion in some capacity. Likely a Chapter.[...]

I'm interested in finding post-rift lore on the Silver Skulls, apart from the picture in the C:SM, so could you list the book where you pulled this from?

 

 

From what I understand it is speculation.  In one of the shorts, One of the Ultramarine Tetrachs meets with Dantioch.  Dantioch, at the time, leads a very understrength garrison (a couple of squads) of Iron Warriors backed by genebulked warriors (like Ogryns).  When Horus's forces arrive, they come to Dantioch expecting resupply, and are caught flat footed when he strikes against them.  Dantioch holds the seige on this world for a year before escape by boarding a Sons of Horus ship and demoing his own garrison.

 

That being said, if my memory holds true, less than a squad of Iron Warriors survived that siege.  Kinda hard to build an entire chapter from such a small number of marines.

 

However, I am doing this from memory and welcome anyone who can actually cite the books

 

I am aware of speculation on why Silver Skulls are actually loyalist Iron Warriors, but The Emperor's Champion is mentioning that the Silver Skulls were amongst the first chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, which must mean that there is new, post-rift lore on the Silver Skulls, which is what I'd like to catch up on :-)

[DogWelder]

 

[...]

The Silver Skulls are Ultramarines too. Guilliman clearly acknowledges them as his sons since he returned, as they were among the first on his list with the other Ultramarines Chapters to be sent Primaris reinforcements, meaning they MUST HAVE been a part of the Legion in some capacity. Likely a Chapter.[...]

I'm interested in finding post-rift lore on the Silver Skulls, apart from the picture in the C:SM, so could you list the book where you pulled this from?

 

 

The Silver Skulls make an appearance in 'Dark Imperium' where they are (ironically) fighting an Iron Warriors warband in the Indomitus Crusade alongside Guilliman.

 

They are one of the Ultramarine Successor Chapters listed in the 8th Edition SM codex and they are confirmed to be among the first UM successors to be sent Primaris. 

 

Curiously they don't participate in the Plague Wars like many of the known UM successors.

[SickSix]

The Silver Skulls are most likely in tribute to Dantioch. He probably died before they were founded. He was basically dieing a slow death from whatever the Hrud gave him.

 

Maybe some of his loyal IW were put in officer positions but that would be the most actual IW had in the formation of the chapter.

 

Also, a lot of Silver Skull history and lore is unkown. The actually lost their first homeworld to a nurgle infestation. They have gone back and forth over the years with being confirmed or unconfirmed UM successors. I guess I have to buy that book now.

 

Also trying to figure out how they got Primaris so early when Varsavia is on the dark side of the rift. (I guess the answer is in the book)

[Brother Tyler]

The Marines Errant are a Successor Chapter to the Eagle Warriors, making them one of the few slightly more complex "branches" of the "family tree".

I'd be interested to know why there's a Successor of a Successor.

Any Chapter can provide the gene-seed to sire a successor. Both Chapters would ultimately trace their lineage back to the 1st Founding Legion. The Forge World Imperial Armour books, especially the Badab War books, provided several examples of this, including the subject Marines Errant/Eagle Warriors (not least of which is the Astral Claws and their three Successors, including the Tiger Claws).

 

The Desert Lions have not been mentioned in the posts above. This Chapter was originally mentioned back during the 1st edition ("Rogue Trader era") in the article on Imperial Robots. At the time, the implication was that they were a later founding Chapter. The Forge World Horus Heresy books, however, have (apparently) retconned them to a Great Crusade era Chapter of the Ultramarines Legion, though their number isn't given. Whether or not they became a Primogenitor is anyone's guess (since they're not listed in the Apocrypha of Davio as such ).

[The_son_of_Dorn]

The dantioch theory gives logical weight to the silverskulls for me.

[Captain Idaho]

Aren't Silver Skulls a Chapter that goes to war based upon readings of the Emperor's Tarot and mystical portents?

 

Apart from iconography, what similarities to Iron Warriors or Dantioch are there? And where did they source the geneseed from?

[DogWelder]

Aren't Silver Skulls a Chapter that goes to war based upon readings of the Emperor's Tarot and mystical portents?

 

Apart from iconography, what similarities to Iron Warriors or Dantioch are there? And where did they source the geneseed from?

 

Iconography is the main thing tbh. And I imagine they used Ultramarine geneseed but Iron Warrior officers/philosophy. 

[SickSix]

Aren't Silver Skulls a Chapter that goes to war based upon readings of the Emperor's Tarot and mystical portents?

 

Apart from iconography, what similarities to Iron Warriors or Dantioch are there? And where did they source the geneseed from?

Yes they do (now). They also are portrayed as headhunters/trophy takers, bit that is a 'recent' trait adopted from their second homeworld.

 

It's been 10000 years, they may be quite different now than when they started.

[DogWelder]

 

Aren't Silver Skulls a Chapter that goes to war based upon readings of the Emperor's Tarot and mystical portents?

 

Apart from iconography, what similarities to Iron Warriors or Dantioch are there? And where did they source the geneseed from?

Yes they do (now). They also are portrayed as headhunters/trophy takers, bit that is a 'recent' trait adopted from their second homeworld.

 

It's been 10000 years, they may be quite different now than when they started.

 

 

Didn't they also do a ton of unsanctioned experiments without the approval of the Mechanicus?

 

I remember from Sarah Caulkwell's 'Gildar Rift' novel that they fused one of their defective aspirants to one of their Strike Cruisers, essentially making him a sentient AI that doubled the efficiency of the ship.