This genetic material had also been the source used to create the gene-seed for each of the original twenty Space Marine Legions and centuries later it would be utilised again to craft the improvements to the gene-seed made by Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl that would appear in the Primaris Space Marines. The Magna Mater would come into Cawl's possession by way of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman after the Horus Heresy, through the artefact would be known to Cawl as the Sangprimus Portum. ToW: What appeals to you about writing these characters in particular? Is there something they allow you to do, that maybe other Heresy-era characters don’t?

The Emperor concentrated the legion gene-code in the marines beyond the parameters advised by the Selenar. Legion traits are boosted beyond what was intended by the gene-witches. The Emperor always liked to push further than he should The monsters and freaks in the facility weren't all purged. A few remained in their bio-containers. The gene-witch released them to buy time for the heroes to escape. These things are Ur-legionaries. failed experiments but they still extremely physically powerful to the point that they tore apart the Sons of Horus with their malformed limps. They were malformed and heavily mutated with one having multiple faces on its body, the other had what appeared to be steel cabling as sinews and its eyes were akin to a spider's, one had a completely normal face that echoed the face of Horus, but most strangely of all was that one of abominations was ethereally beautiful reminiscent of Fulgrim.

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GM: I did have an ending in mind, yeah, and fully planned to honour that as I wrote this story, but that original ending skewed to something quite different over the course of the telling. That’s not uncommon for me, having an ending doesn’t quite match my original plan after travelling the road of the story with the characters, but this one deviated quite significantly (for the better, I feel…). It ended up twisting around in a way I feel was entirely more true to the characters and their destinies. Using the Sisypheum as a base of operations, Sabik and Nykona were sent to secure and extract a Kryptos. They were successful and thereby the loyalists began to decode Traitor Communications. [1] I The Solar War • II The Lost and the Damned • III The First Wall • Sons of the Selenar • IV Saturnine • Fury of Magnus • V Mortis • VI Warhawk • VII Echoes of Eternity • Garro: Knight of Grey • VIII The End and the Death ( Volume I • Volume II • Volume III)

A group of Loyalist Space Marines from the Loyalist vessel commanded by Captain Cadmus Tyro infiltrated the lunar Herodotus Omega dome to aid the gene-witch. The group succeeded in defeating the forces of a Dark Mechanicum magos who had been tasked with hunting down the Magna Mater, but the Heretek managed to call for reinforcements before his death. Luna was the bastion of a conglomeration of resurrectionist gene-cults whose members believed that Human nature was fractal, fractured and transcendent. During the First Pacification of Luna by the newborn Imperium at the start of the Great Crusade in 798.M30, the ruling Selenar High Matriarch Heliosa-54 charged the Selenar gene-witch Ta'lab Vita-37 with safeguarding the Magna Mater from the forces of the Emperor of Mankind.En route to Iydris, One of Frater Thamatica's experiments went dreadfully wrong and compromised the vessel, exposing the ship to the sensors of both the Iron Warriors' and Emperor's Childrens' fleets. The two Primarchs argued over the course of action and the III Legion boarded the vessel; not to be outdone by his brother, Perturabo teleported directly across with the members of his bodyguard and his command Trident. The ship was dangerously unstable and only a last minute intervention by Thamatica prevented the ship's core from exploding. Sensing something was wrong, Perturabo evacuated and the Emperors Children followed. Suddenly due to Thamatica's actions, the Sisypheum underwent an incredible acceleration and cut directly through an Emperor's Children vessel, destroying it utterly and managing to escape from the traitor legions. [2] This is not a detailed summary. It's a collection of interesting stuff and plot points I found in the book. With that said, lets go. The Magna Mater was hidden in an underground secret facility that was used once to develop a branch of the Space Marines genetics. It failed and produced nothing but freaks and monsters. The place was shutdown and abandoned. A perfect hiding place aside from the fact that it rested beneath a toxic and radioactive trash dump. Heralds of the Siege is a short story anthology that forms a prelude to the Siege of Terra series. It contains sixteen tales, set across the Imperium. Each highlights one of the many heroes from both sides, upon whom the future of the Emperor’s dream will rest. Among these stories, you’ll get an insight into both the defenders of Terra and their Chaos-tainted foes, as well as a look at how the Emperor and his regent, Malcador the Sigillite, view the conflict to come.

Nearly every Space Marine created since the First Founding possessed nineteen specialised organs derived from his primarch's gene-seed. The Primaris Space Marines however, were implanted with a further three additional organs. It was the pure primarch genetic material contained in the Sangprimus Portum that allowed for the breakthrough that resulted in this new breed of Adeptus Astartes. Their fate doesn’t lie on Terra itself though. Instead, the mysterious workings of the Kryptos lead them to Luna and the catacombs beneath the moon’s surface where the first Space Marines were created. There, secrets will be revealed that could change the Imperium – and alter the course of the Horus Heresy.ToW: Did you always have an ending in mind for the crew of the Sisypheum, or was this novella the opportunity to decide upon one? By the time of the Era Indomitus, Belisarius Cawl had become increasingly detached from the wider galaxy, instead focusing on his quest to create and perfect the Primaris Space Marines. As part of that initiative, he sought to persuade Guilliman to allow him to utilise gene-seed from the forbidden genetic lines of the Traitor Legions and even the long-lost II and XI Legions which had also been extracted from the Sangprimus Portum. We cannot outpace the Sons of Horus but you can,' he said, turning away. 'Go, Raven Guard, get the Magna Mater out of here. Consider this my last command.' This Imperial campaign in ca. 798.M31 was the first operation mounted by elements of the early Space Marine Legions beyond the skies of Terra. The Unification Wars were still raging across the surface of Mankind's birth world at this time. Each of these Selenar gene-cults clung to a different set of archetypes. Every cult member was a product of creation by the Selenar gene-wrights according to formulae crafted in the Age of Technology. Resurrected in body time and time again they sought to distill the true personification of a single Human archetype.