| rdfs:comment | - Ten thousand standard years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the Horus Heresy, Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, decreed that his XIII Legion would stand ready to oppose the Traitors who had fled into the Eye of Terror should they ever return to plague the Imperium. The Ultramarines had taken no part in the Battle of Terra, as they had been bogged down fighting aganst the Word Bearers Traitor Legion half a galaxy away. But Guilliman was determined that his Legion would never again find itself unable to respond to the more pressing threat. The solution was to ensure a continuous Ultramarines presence in the vicinity of the Eye of Terror, by maintaining an honour guard within the region made up of individual squads from different companies. In time, after the Seco
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| abstract | - Ten thousand standard years ago, in the immediate aftermath of the Horus Heresy, Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, decreed that his XIII Legion would stand ready to oppose the Traitors who had fled into the Eye of Terror should they ever return to plague the Imperium. The Ultramarines had taken no part in the Battle of Terra, as they had been bogged down fighting aganst the Word Bearers Traitor Legion half a galaxy away. But Guilliman was determined that his Legion would never again find itself unable to respond to the more pressing threat. The solution was to ensure a continuous Ultramarines presence in the vicinity of the Eye of Terror, by maintaining an honour guard within the region made up of individual squads from different companies. In time, after the Second Founding split the Ultramarines Legion up into many different Successor Chapters scattered across the Imperium, this honour guard was supplied with squads and officers drawn from all of the Ultramarines' Successors. For the last ten thousand Terran years this honour guard has maintained a presence at the Cadian Gate, standing firm alongside the other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes stationed there to challenge any Black Crusade that threatens Cadia's defences. At the outset of the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, this elite force was comprised almost entirely of squads drawn from the companies of the Ultramarines Chapter, alongside which stood a number of detachments from the Chapter's Successors. The Honour Company had already seen action in a number of engagements, notably the Defence of Narsine and the Sarlax Reprisals, lending the legendary courage and honour of the Ultramarines and their kin to the defence of the Cadian Gate. The current commander of the Honour Guard is Captain Echion of the Patriarchs of Ulixis Chapter, a veteran Astartes commander of many centuries of service fighting the servants of the Ruinous Powers. It is unusual, though far from unheard of, for an officer not of the Ultramarines Chapter to lead the company, though with that Chapter's resources stretched by Tyranid incursions on the Eastern Fringe such a situation is set to become more common.
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