Captain Severus Agemman of the Ultramarines' Veteran 1st Company, armed with Power Sword and Storm Bolter and wearing Terminator Armour.
Severus Agemman is the current Captain of the Ultramarines' elite Veteran 1st Company and serves as the Regent of Ultramar in that position, governing the Chapter homeworld of Macragge, among other duties, when the Chapter Master is otherwise engaged.
Agemann has commanded the 1st Company for over 200 hundred standard years, since the end of the First Tyrannic War, and played a major role in defending the Realm of Ultramar from the Invasion of Ultramar and during the Ultramar Campaign, both in 999.M41.
In ca. 111.M42, in the wake of the Plague Wars of Ultramar, Agemann was selected by his resurrected Primarch, Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman, to serve as one of the newly restored ruling Tetrarchs of Ultramar.
He was appointed to serve as the Tetrarch of Konor, tasked with expanding the territory of Ultramar to the galactic north.
History
The personal heraldry of Severus Agemman.
Little is known about Severus Agemman's early life or how he entered the Ultramarines Chapter. Agemman, formerly the Captain of the 2nd Company, was promoted to serve as the Captain of the Ultramarines' elite 1st Company of Veterans after his predecessor, Captain Saul Invictus, was slain by the onslaught of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Behemoth during the Battle of Macragge in Silo 8 of the northern polar fortress.
As commander of the 1st Company, Agemman was the official successor to Chapter Master Marneus Calgar should he have been slain or otherwise incapacitated, though in truth those in the Chapter believe that Calgar favoured Cato Sicarius, Agemman's successor as Captain of the 2nd Company, for the position of his heir-apparent.
Many on Macragge speculated that this possibility understandably grieved the First Captain and had led to a supposed rivalry between him and Sicarius.
But the resurrection of the Primarch Rouboute Guilliman, and the assignment of Captain Sicarius as the leader of the Primarch's Victrix Guard on Terra where Guilliman is the Lord Commander of the Imperium, have laid those questions to rest ... for now.
The Invasion of Ultramar
During the Invasion of Ultramar by the Bloodborn under the control of the Daemon Prince M'kar in 854.999.M41, Agemman led his company into battle against the forces of Chaos only to be struck down by M'kar, though he later recovered.
However, in the wake of that conflict, Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius privately approached Calgar and revealed his concern that Agemman was no longer up to the job of serving as First Captain, having never fully recovered from his defeat in the duel with the Daemon Prince.
Tigurius made plain that if the Ultramarines were to most effectively face the next foe to threaten Macragge or the Imperium, they needed a commander of the 1st Company who was fully ready to face the demands of that crucial command.
Calgar considered his wise friend's counsel carefully, but in this instance took no further action, giving Agemman more time to recover and live up to the demands of his position.
The Ultramar Campaign
First Captain Severus Agemman in his Terminator Armour, armed with Storm Bolter and Power Sword.
Later in 999.M41, almost immediately after the Bloodborn invasion, Ultramar came under assault by a tentacle of Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade then ravaging Cadia, as the Despoiler had been warned that events were unfolding on Macragge that could turn the tide of his Long War against the Imperium in the favour of the servants of the Emperor.
This was a reference to the arrival of the Celestine Crusade -- the survivors of the fall of Cadia -- through the Webway with the aid of the Aeldari Ynnari. When the Celestinians and the Ynnari were escorted to Macragge, which had become the vital centre of defence in this new Ultramar Campaign, one of their number, Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl, made clear to Marneus Calgar's war council that they needed access to the Temple of Correction in the Ultramarines' Fortress of Hera where Primarch Roboute Guilliman sat enthroned in stasis.
The newcomers and their uneasy xenos allies made clear that they had an item in their possession that could resurrect the mortally wounded demi-god. Agemman was loudly opposed to this idea, and said in no uncertain terms that he did not trust these newcomers, nor the mysterious device they brought with them.
The First Captain counselled that, with such immediate danger all around and a furious battle to win, there was only one viable solution. The pilgrims should be put into confinement, and their mysterious package locked down in a stasis vault until its contents could be safely examined.
As for the xenos, Agemman counselled that they be swiftly destroyed lest they pose a threat to the safety of the Chapter Master or the Fortress of Hera.
Saint Celestine spoke up then, attempting to explain the divine nature of her mission and the revelations she had received from the Emperor.
She found herself staring into the muzzles of several Honour Guard Bolters -- not to mention the Condemnor Bolter of Inquisitor Katarinya Greyfax, whose Puritan suspicions had been fired anew -- a clear indication that now was the time for the rulers of Ultramar to speak, and not their visitors.
All eyes rested upon Calgar as he looked to Chief Librarian Tigurius for further counsel. Though not even the vigilant warriors of the Honour Guard saw it, in that moment both Yvraine and the Visarch tensed themselves in preparation for battle, subtle muscle contractions and minuscule alterations in posture leaving the Ynnari poised to fight their way out should matters turn against them.
The Librarian remained silent for several long heartbeats, his weathered features contemplative. When he spoke, Tigurius' voice was deep and resonant, rich with power and wisdom.
He reminded his Chapter Master that he had experienced troubling visions in the solar days leading up to the attack upon Macragge. Tigurius had seen a flight of iron birds take wing from a distant, crimson orb full of churning cogs. In the visions, those avian shapes had soared through fire and shadow that spilled from a ruptured castle gate of vast size.
They had clutched a blazing sword in their jagged claws, and their wings had shone with holy light as they flew toward Ultramar. Through the ruptured gateway had been visible a staring, slit-pupilled eye, and as the birds neared Macragge, a giant maw full of blooded fangs had yawned wide around them, ready to bite down with crushing force.
The Chief Librarian had believed that his visions concerned the fall of Cadia and the subsequent attack by the Black Legion upon Ultramar. Certainly they had spurred the readying of the fortress' defences, and the sending of astropathic communiqués that had brought the Ultramar Defence Fleet back to the Chapter planet at the critical moment.
Now, though, Tigurius declared himself convinced that the visions pertained also to these travellers. The Chief Librarian said that he was willing to vouch for their presence, even that of the mysterious Aeldari, and that he believed their arrival to be the Emperor's will made manifest.
Hushed whispers ran through the strategium at this pronouncement, and Calgar nodded solemnly. Without further comment, the Chapter Master bade the Celestinians speak, and explain their presence in their own words. Between them, Inquisitor Greyfax, Marshal Marius Amalrich of the Black Templars and Saint Celestine did as they were asked, relaying the bloody tale of Cadia's fall and their subsequent flight.
Even Yvraine of the Ynnari deigned to speak a little, providing a few, scant details that went some way toward explaining the aliens' presence amongst the group. The only one who refused to divulge further information was Belisarius Cawl; despite Marneus Calgar's repeated questioning, the Archmagos would not elaborate upon what his auto-reliquary contained, or what he expected to occur within the shrine.
While the pilgrims spoke their piece, the war raged on. Information continued to stream in regarding troop deployments, attack and counterattack patterns, enemy drop sites, ammunition counts, and endless other articles of strategic intelligence.
Marneus Calgar absorbed them all even as he listened to the pilgrims, issuing curt orders where required and keeping one eye always fixed upon the ever-shifting holomap that hung overhead. The Chapter Master wished to understand these strange visitors and the supposed pact they served, but he would not neglect the defence of his fortress while he did so.
Finally, Greyfax concluded their tale, adding that she was empowered to act as the Emperor's representative in this matter, and that she would gladly take responsibility for Cawl's summary execution should he prove false. Calgar raised a hand to forestall further comment, both from the pilgrims and from the frowning Captain Agemman. Then, in a sombre voice, Calgar pronounced his verdict.
The Chapter Master would permit the Celestinians to bring their auto-reliquary to the Shrine of Guilliman, though they would do so under heavy Ultramarines guard. Calgar said that while he understood and welcomed Agemman's prudent counsel, they lived in unusual days.
The worshippers of Chaos had set foot upon the bedrock of Macragge once again, while the Warp churned to madness all around them. Calgar judged that the foe had been aided greatly by the supernatural beings they worshipped in this desperate endeavour.
He would not turn his back upon the precognitive powers of his own Chief Librarian, or the wisdom of the Living Saint, at such a time as this, even if he had been given precious little reason to trust Archmagos Cawl.
Had Agemman been a hot-tempered Space Wolf or relentlessly logical Iron Hand, he might have contested such a ruling. Instead, he accepted his lord's judgement with stoicism.
Belisarius Cawl went to speak, but Calgar forestalled him. The Chapter Master gave his permission for the Ynnari to accompany their allies, for it seemed clear to him that great events were afoot that bore the hand of the Emperor upon them. The presence of the Ynnari could be no accident, and whatever the Emperor's will was in this matter, Marneus Calgar would not be the one to contravene it.
Calgar's decision proved wise, as despite a massive Chaos counterattack, Cawl's arcane technology, combined with the psychic power of the Aeldari God of the Dead Ynnead channeled through his priestess Yvraine, healed Roboute Guilliman and allowed him to take up his position once more as the Lord of Ultramar. Agemman was proudly present alongside all of his Battle-Brothers when their Primarch once more assumed his long-vacant throne.
Over the next seven solar months, Agemman and his company fought well on behalf of their Primarch. During the battle to retake Macragge itself, Agemman, Celestine and Greyfax led pinpoint strikes to take back the planetary capital of Magna Civitas' primary orbital batteries.
Soon enough, ruby columns of light were spearing up into the heavens to drive the Chaos warships out of their geosynchronous orbits above the Ultramarines' fortress-monastery.
However, before the campaign was entirely completed, Guilliman announced that the time had come for him to leave Ultramar behind and travel to Terra to meet with his father the Emperor and determine how best he could defend the broader Imperium from the multiple disasters now converging upon it.
The war across Ultramar was still ongoing, however, and with Guilliman leaving, it would require strategically-gifted warriors to keep pushing the forces of Chaos back. As such, Guilliman gathered a select force of Battle-Brothers from the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Companies of the Ultramarines to accompany him to Terra on what he had named the Terran Crusade, and gave the honour of their command to Captain Cato Sicarius.
He further requested that Grand Master Aldrik Voldus and the Grey Knights of the 3rd Brotherhood join the Crusade. Others pledged their aid to the Primarch's cause, including the assembled strength of the Ultramarines' Primogenitor Chapters, and Emperor's Champion Marius Amalrich and his Black Templars brethren.
The Living Saint, Inquisitor Greyfax and Archmagos Dominus Cawl accompanied the Primarch also -- whatever aid they or the military forces under their command could provide the Primarch would be gladly given.
Guilliman gratefully accepted all offers of aid before commanding Marneus Calgar, Chief Librarian Tigurius and First Captain Agemman to remain and complete the reconquest of Ultramar. In truth, the fate of the restored Realm of the Five Hundred Worlds could be in no safer hands.
Sources
- Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pp. 40, 85
- Codex Supplement: Ultramarines (8th Edition), pg. 12
- Dark Imperium (Novel) Guy Haley, Ch. 20
- Gathering Storm - Part Three - Rise of the Primarch, pp. 6-47
- White Dwarf 256 (UK), "Chapter Approved," by Andy Chambers, pg. 91
- White Dwarf Weekly 17 (May 04, 2014), "Strike Force Ultra," pp. 7, 9-10
- The Chapter's Due (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- Marneus Calgar: Lord of Ultramar (Short Story) by Graham McNeill