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"Each path must be chosen with care, lest disaster swallow us whole."

— Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius, Ultramarines Chapter
UM Librarian

Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius of the Ultramarines in combat.

Varro Tigurius is the Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines Chapter of the Space Marines. As a psyker, Tigurius has always stood apart from his battle-brothers. Even to the company Captains of the Ultramarines he is a figure of mystery, possessed of a knowledge that goes beyond the towering datastacks and myriad scrolls of the Chapter's Arcanum.

Little is hidden from the Chief Librarian's sight, and many of the Astartes amongst the Ultramarines believe him to be guided by the Emperor's own hand. Tigurius is unique among Librarians, for he has displayed the precognitive capability to foresee events, even on the tactical level, before they have come to pass, revelations of the future that usually come to him in the form of waking dreams and powerful premonitions.

In Tigurius' eyes, nothing is more dangerous than incomplete knowledge nurtured in an unready mind. As such, it is common for him to meet inquiries with his own questions, until satisfied that the enquirer grasps the full meaning and consequences of the information he seeks.

This can cause tension between the Chief Librarian and the Chapter's Captains, for such heroes have little time for contemplative introspection. However, Tigurius rewards those who persevere with uncanny insight that borders on prescience.

Primaris Tigurius

Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius after crossing the Rubicon Primaris and becoming a Primaris Space Marine.

Even his merest hunch, honed by centuries of experience and wisdom, is often worth more than the predictions of a battalion of strategists and a fleet of spies. Many times Tigurius' foretelling of impending incursions upon Ultramar have allowed the Lord Macragge to counter many before they had truly begun.

There is little that happens that the Chief Librarian does not seem to know. Were he any other man, his prescience might attract suspicion, yet none who have witnessed Tigurius in battle can find cause to doubt him. When the call to war comes, he is oft to be found in the Ultramarines' vanguard.

Amid the fury of battle, the Chief Librarian's silent manner falls from him like a shroud, replaced by the vigour of a warrior born.

So it was on the world of Boros, which stands as an example of Tigurius' sheer power: focusing his psychic might, Tigurius sent hellfire coursing through the Ork invaders and led the charge that saw the wearied 4th Company victorious over a far more numerous foe.

Tigurius has also been able to turn his talents to the threat of the Tyranids in ways no other psykers have found possible. His predictions about their movements have been so accurate that it was almost as if he had tapped into the gestalt consciousness of their Hive Mind – a feat that has driven lesser individuals insane.

History[]

"It cannot be considered a gift, to peer into the Warp and unravel the possibilities of the futures that are, that might be and that must be prevented. Nor can the burden of a weapon, that each of my brothers looks upon with girded revulsion, be called a gift. No, Master, I do not think my psychic prowess a gift...but a tool. Whether by a quirk of fate, or the will of the Emperor, I possess a weapon the like of which can turn the tide, not just in a battle but in the course of history. To withhold it, to flinch from its use or deny it would not just be counter-productive, it would be heresy. But if it is a gift, it is a cruel one."

— From the journal of Lord Macragge, Marneus Calgar, quoting Varro Tigurius, 991.M41
Varro Tigurius

Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius

Though the Ultramarines are warriors, their Chapter is typified by a warm, generous personality. Ultramarines are of noble demeanour and regal countenance, fierce when roused to anger, but considered urbane and just towards those who are their allies. Among their ranks, however, one stands out as a man alone, an Ultramarine to whom the ready camaraderie of a brother-in-arms comes difficult, if at all. His is a soul burdened by the weight of his calling, afflicted by a power that sets him apart from those around him. He is the mightiest psyker in the Ultramarines Chapter, if not the entire Imperium, and his name is Varro Tigurius.

Varro is a common enough name within the Ultima Segmentum and many of the heroes of the Ultramarines Chapter have borne it over the millennia. The parents of young Varro Tigurius could never have known the destiny of their quiet, respectful son, or that one day he would rise to become one of the most famous warriors in the galaxy. As they submitted their son to the marshals of induction, those ominous guardians who convey aspirants to the Fortress of Hera, they tearfully bade farewell to a stoic, but withdrawn child whose apparent awkwardness belied an enviable physical ability and a fearsome intellect.

To the trained eye of the Chapter Librarians, who screen each and every aspirant, Varro Tigurius was obviously a psyker of rare potential, and so they kept a watchful eye as he flourished in each and every task set to him. Of particular interest to the Chaplains who oversaw the inductees, even at that early stage, was how Tigurius seemed prepared for the challenges set out, no matter how unusual. Epistolary Xephus surmised at the time that Tigurius was in some way cheating the drill sergeants and Chaplains.

Forewarned of the Librarian's suspicions, the supervising Chaplain, one Ortan Cassius, then merely a junior Chaplain under the great Phaelan, tasked the aspirants with an unwinnable assignment. As the dozen other hopefuls struggled to load Bolter rounds into weapons that had been prepared with stripped chambers and breaches milled fractionally too small, Tigurius calmly watched, weighing his choices.

Eventually, he strode calmly to the waiting Cassius and, without fear in his eyes, looked upon the skull helm of the Chaplain and quietly told him that the challenge was impossible. Cassius, for his part seemed incensed. He bellowed at the recruit before him, his skull-faced battle helm augmenting the volume of his wrath till it reverberated off of the walls of the agoge with deafening force.

BanneroftheChiefLibrarian

The personal heraldry of Chief Librarian Varro Tigurius.

In the face of such incandescent fury, almost any mortal would have quailed or fled. Not so Tigurius, who, prompted by the visions he had dreamed as he slept the night before knew just how to react. He simply knelt before the Chaplain until the apparent anger subsided. Then with a booming laugh, the Chaplain raised the aspirant to his feet.

"You will do," he muttered, before striding from the room.

Of course in this, as in many other matters, the young Tigurius proved unnaturally perceptive. Over time the Battle-Brothers of the Chapter Librarius ascertained the nature of Tigurius' rare talent. In addition to a prodigious psychic potential, they learned that Tigurius possessed the ability to foresee future events.

This gift was exceptionally rare among the psykers of the Imperium and completely unprecedented within the ranks of the Ultramarines, and yet Tigurius was able to predict many future events, sometimes with such clarity that it was as if he had already witnessed them.

The remainder of Tigurius' training served only to prove his natural ability to the Chapter. He fought with the skill of a natural warrior and his physical endurance was exceptional. On completion of his assessment, the Librarius welcomed the young Tigurius with open arms.

Battle-Brother[]

Tigurius Psyker Attack

Chief Librarian Tigurius unleashing a powerful psychic attack upon the foes of the Emperor.

Though in the early years of his service to the Chapter Tigurius' ability roused a terrible suspicion among his battle-brothers, even for a Librarian, over time the scepticism he engendered subsided, for the worth of his abilities was clear for all to see. When deployed to a war zone, Tigurius was able to provide a tactical insight to the Captains and Sergeants who lay out the strategies for their warriors. In the Altor Crusade Tigurius forewarned the Scouts of the 10th Company of a successive series of ambushes planned by Eldar Pathfinders. His warnings, initially heeded with a degree of scepticism, doubtless saved dozens of lives -- rather than leading their recruits into deadly traps, the Sergeants instead called in fire support from the Chapter's Stormtalons, which duly turned the awaiting Eldar snipers into grisly corpses with their assault cannon fire. He also warned Captain Agemman to arrive several hours early for the armistice talks with the Eldar Autarch. When the Eldar general arrived with his entourage, he found the jungle foliage that had concealed squads of waiting Striking Scorpions burned to stubble by Agemman's Land Raider Redeemer, Infernal Retribution, and the Captain waiting with his relic blade drawn.

Later, serving the 5th Company, Tigurius led a strike force against the Seven Sorcerers of Harka, a coven of Chaos Space Marines who held an entire planet in their thrall. Although Tigurius' visions did not reveal to Tigurius the nature of his foes, he prepared carefully, working with the Chapter artificers to modify his psychic hood ahead of the mission. At first the assault on Harka went well, with the Space Marines storming the Seven's stronghold and fighting their way down the crowded streets. Fighting with typical Ultramarines finesse, the Tactical Squads fought through the hundreds of treacherous humans who had thrown their lot in with the Seven. Faithless renegades and degenerate mutants died by the hundred as Tigurius and his Space Marines stalked through the ruins of Harka searching for the foe.

Thinking to thwart the Ultramarines, the Seven Sorcerers attacked them as they were embroiled slaughtering a horde of wretched scum armed only with flintlock weapons and improvised clubs. By contrast to their decrepit minions, the Seven were veritable gods of war -- clad in glossy black power armour and surrounded by crackling nimbuses of Warp energy, they stalked upon the Ultramarines, unleashing a bow-wave of power that blasted hundreds of traitors and a dozen Space Marines from their feet. Only Tigurius felt the shifting power of the Warp at work, as the Seven channelled their sorcery. Warily he turned to face this new foe, raising his force staff as bodies -- friend and foe -- around him began to explode from within like fleshy grenades. Here a Chaos-worshipping traitor blasted apart in a welter of gristle and blood, there a mutant burst into a gory mist as if shot by a cannon. Battle-brother Sydes died before he even perceived his attackers, segments of his armour clattering around as his body erupted. The Seven pointed as one, an indiscriminate movement, and with every gesture there was another grim victim.

Tigurius halted their advance with a wall of balefire that seared out from his force staff -- a blazing conflagration that scorched a path through the prone bodies of their mortal followers to embroil them in flames. As their Librarian fought a psychic duel, Sergeant Orestes and a handful of Tactical Marines scrambled to their feet to protect him, holding back the fanatical throng. One Space Marine Librarian against seven Chaos Sorcerers were slim odds, and yet Tigurius did not quail. Screaming in rage he poured more of his soul into his attack. The flames danced around his foes, lapping at the energy that glowed around the Chaos Space Marines. Tigurius' face contorted in pain, and the flames blazed white hot. The psychic hood upon his shoulders radiated with the power coursing through it, and Tigurius' eyes ran bloodshot as the rockcrete roadway began to bubble and melt. As the Seven writhed within the flames, Tigurius' shout of rage became a hoarse shriek and the Seven were burned to death, one by one, slowly at first and then faster as their power died, the smouldering armoured bodies of the seven clattering to fall upon the ground and sink into the boiling road.

Ascension[]

Tigurius Panoply of War

Chief Librarian Tigurius arrayed in his full panoply of war.

In the wake of the incident at Harka, word of Tigurius' power began to spread. His bespoke psychic hood was dubbed, by those who had witnessed him vanquish the Seven, as the Hood of Hellfire. Orestes, who had fought beside Tigurius, and seen his courage first hand, became a friend and confidante of the Librarian, a friendship that served both well for many years. With such glories behind him, Tigurius' ascension to higher ranks was only a matter of time. He quickly left behind the rank of Lexicanium and excelled as a Codicier, providing a depth of insight into the campaign overviews submitted to the great libraries within the Fortress of Hera. Such was Tigurius' natural power, however, that his tenure at that rank was short, and he was swiftly promoted to Epistolary, where he coordinated company-sized operations, using his immense psychic prowess to guide the Captains and Sergeants in system-wide campaigns. The late Captain Invictus described Tigurius, in the wake of the bloody slaughter known as the Rarth Cleansing, as "the greatest administrator the Munitorum had never known."

During his time as a Codicier, Tigurius began to prove his exceptional worth to the fleetmasters of the Chapter, delivering several formidable threats to the Ultramarines fleets simply by virtue of the ability to predict where and when the enemy threat would arrive. Tigurius forewarned Captain Ideus of the 4th Company, Fleet Master of the Ultramarines, of the arrival of the Space Hulk Instigation of Wickedness before it ever entered the Leer System on the eastern edges of Ultima Segmentum. As the sinister vessel materialised from the Empyrean, Vae Victis and a dozen other ships of the Space Marine fleet hammered it into wreckage, ignoring the chance to search it in light of the dire warnings Tigurius had given regarding its occupants. Over the years, Tigurius has continued to offer sage counsel to the Admiral of the Fleet, now the venerable Lazlo Tiberius, perhaps the greatest fleet commander the Ultramarines have ever known. Lazlo, for his part, offers no apology for his successes, but rather shares a great deal of credit for his finest victories, such as the triumph over the Orks of Madbrakka and even the Tyranid monstrosities of Hive Fleet Behemoth, with the Librarian.

Shadows of the Future[]

Since his elevation to the rank of Chief Librarian, Tigurius has been an indispensable aide at the side of the Chapter Master. Increasingly, with his office, the solemn Varro Tigurius finds his duty and his gifts a burden that weigh heavy on his soul. He gave the order that sacrificed his best friend, Sergeant Orestes, to save a dozen other Battle-Brothers and millions of innocents in the Hallowed Stars Cleansing. He has witnessed the Legion of the Damned in battle, and beheld the ethereal horror of their warmaking. His report, one of the most accurate depictions of the Legion of the Damned in the Imperial archives next to that of Chapter Master Zacharias Kersh of the Excoriators Chapter, reported how these macabre undead Space Marines appear seemingly at random when all seems lost; rout the enemy with incredible displays of martial valour and ultimately vanish again without leaving a trace. Since that encounter, Tigurius has attempted to divine who or what these strange warriors were, but without success.

Increasingly he finds himself drawn from the Library of Ptolemy, and contemplating the truths within its million manuscripts, to the Temple of Correction, where he gazes for solar hours at a time upon the Shrine of the Primarch. Though such an act seems solemn, it appears to invigorate the Chief Librarian, for when he returns from this meditation he is revitalised, as if a bright hope for the future has been rekindled in his heart. So fortified, Tigurius remains one of the greatest weapons in the arsenal of the Ultramarines Chapter, far more than just another battle-psyker in the ranks of its warriors, but a watchman who guides his brothers when he can perceive the right path for them, and fights at their side when he cannot.

Tyranids[]

Tigurius has also been able to turn his talents to the threat of the Tyranids in ways no other psykers have found possible. His predictions about their movements have been so accurate that it was almost as if he had tapped into the gestalt consciousness of their Hive Mind -- a feat that has driven lesser individuals insane.

If this is true, then Tigurius will have proved himself the most powerful psyker in the Imperium of Man, after the Emperor of Mankind, rivalling even Mephiston of the Blood Angels.

Resurrection of Guilliman[]

In 999.M41, almost immediately after the invasion by M'kar's Bloodborn, 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 Eldar 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 the Ultramarines Chapter Master Marneus Calgar's war council that they needed access to the Temple of Correction in the Ultramarines' Fortress of Hera where the 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. First Captain Severus 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 Ultramarines 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 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 Eldar, 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 on the temple to prevent the resurrection of Guilliman, Cawl's arcane technology, combined with the psychic power of the Eldar God of the Dead Ynnead channeled through his priestess Yvraine, healed Roboute Guilliman's wound and allowed him to take up his position once more as the Lord of Ultramar. During the battle in the Temple of Correction against the final Black Legion assault, before Cawl had placed the Armour of Fate upon the Primarch's form, the Tech-priest had moved to cut the stasis field that had long kept the mortally wounded Primarch from his final death. Engaged with the enemy, Calgar looked in desperation to his Chief Librarian to stop what he believed to be a horrific betrayal.

Calgar saw the Martian Tech-priest step back from his auto-reliquary with the air of one completing a satisfying task. The dome-shaped device hummed forward, unfurling like the petals of some huge, carnivorous flower. The watching Chapter Master was at the wrong angle to see inside the machine, but he had a fleeting impression of glowing energies, unfurling Mechadendrites, clamping pincer-limbs and whirring bone-drills that filled him with revulsion.

The auto-reliquary was rising and stretching out, enfolding the Primarch's seated form in its metallic embrace. At the same moment, the xenos witch-priestess lunged with preternatural grace, evading whistling bolt shells as she raised her blade high.

"No!" bellowed Calgar, finding his voice. "I command you to stop! In the Emperor's name, Brother Tigurius, stop them!" The Chapter Master's dismay rose to new heights as Varro Tigurius looked straight at him, and shook his head.

"Do it!", shouted the Chief Librarian, blazing psychic energies into the foe that pressed close all around. "And may the Emperor condemn me if you have played me false, xenos."

In desperation, Calgar raised his Bolters and prepared to fire at the Eldar witch, but Yvraine's blade fell lightning fast, hacking through the cabling that fed power to Guilliman's stasis field. Energies flared, and from within the closing arms of the autoreliquary, Calgar heard a rattling sigh that would haunt him until his dying day.

"What have you done?" he roared, despair and fury blazing through him like a firestorm. Fists clenched, Calgar turned upon the Traitors that had forced this terrible tragedy to come to pass, and waded back into the fight with unstoppable fury.

But Calgar's fear was misplaced. He was overcome by the sheer numbers of Chaos Terminators swarming the Shrine of the Primarch, and roared in defiance as he was borne to the ground by a surging mass of foes that swung, stabbed and stamped at him. He did not see the Primarch awaken, and in his raging fury clear the Temple of Correction of the foe and drive the Archenemy back. As they retreated, so the prone form of Marneus Calgar was revealed, his armour cracked and his face beaten bloody. Guilliman paused for a moment in his rampage, looking down upon this fallen son with an unreadable expression on his face.

Calgar stirred at that moment, one eye opening to look up at the Primarch reborn. Satisfied that his scion lived, Guilliman pressed on, leaving the fallen Chapter Master to stare in disbelief at his resurrected gene-sire.

After the battle in the temple was won, and Calgar had recovered from the combat with the preternatural fortitude possessed by all Astartes, he and Tigurius returned with their Primarch to the Fortress of Hera's strategium. In a dramatically charged moment that would become enshrined in later Macragge statuary, Guilliman formally accepted command of the defence of the Ultramarines homeworld from First Captain Agemman. Marneus Calgar stood at his Primarch's side during this exchange, sorely wounded and supported by two Honour Guards, yet determined to be present all the same. Guilliman showed his nobility by humbly requesting the Chapter Master's leave to assume full command of the Ultramarines at that time. Calgar shrugged off his Battle-Brothers and, grimacing in pain, knelt before his gene-sire. He matched Guilliman's solemnity as he offered unending fealty to the Primarch, and bequeathed full control of the Chapter to him in perpetuity.

Like an impresario settling before his instrument, Guilliman spread his hands upon the strategium table and took a deep breath before beginning to command. With his every utterance, the invaders' plight became more apparent. The Primarch's strategic acumen, his tactical genius and miraculous mental acuity were unmatched. The leaders of the Ultramarines looked on in amazement as Guilliman marshalled the defenders like regicide pieces, drinking in reams of strategic data and issuing a steady stream of orders that turned one fight after another in the defenders' favour. Calgar and his lieutenants had executed a superhuman campaign of defiance against the invaders, but the Primarch was operating on a different mental plane.

At Guilliman's command, thunderous overlapping firestorms and interlaced webs of interceptor strikes cleared the airspace over the Fortress of Hera. No longer threatened from above, Ultramarines reserves and vast numbers of Ultramar Defence Auxilia flowed into the fight in masterful deployment patterns. Feints, ambushes, false retreats and sudden, overwhelming counterattacks ripped through the Chaos forces and drove them from within the fortress' grounds. Guilliman wielded hundreds of thousands of warriors at once, predicting every move his enemies made and countering before they had even thought to act.

By the time the Primarch and his coterie strode out to lead the fight in person, the Chaos attackers were reeling in disarray. The attack led by Guilliman into the heart of their lines was like a final bolt round placed between the eyes of a wounded enemy. Black Legionaries, Iron Warriors, Alpha Legion and Night Lords -- all were hurled back from the walls. Traitor Titans toppled like vast, flaming trees to smash down in ruin. Just three solar hours after his resurrection, Roboute Guilliman concluded the wholesale purge of Chaos invaders from the Fortress of Hera, and confidently proclaimed the Ultramarines' stronghold secure.

There now came a time where breath could be drawn, and stock taken. Even as lumbering Servitors and Chapter Serf work gangs laboured to shore up the fortress' battered defences, Guilliman summoned a select company to attend him in the Chapter Master's sanctum. This had long been the domain and throne room of Marneus Calgar. Now it would become the sanctum of the Primarch himself, and it was here that he was formally invested as Lord of Ultramar and Master of the Ultramarines once more. Calgar, Tigurius, Agemman and their closest lieutenants were present for Guilliman's elevation, as were representative brothers from every company of the Chapter. The Celestinians, too, attended Guilliman's formal coronation, the Saint herself ceremonially bestowing her blessings upon the Primarch. Even the Ynnari watched from the sidelines as this momentous event occurred; they lurked amongst the shadows, a silent and staunchly unremarked-upon presence whose expressions remained cold and watchful.

As the ceremony concluded, Guilliman rose and addressed the assembly. There was much to be done, and countless questions to which the Primarch required answers. Before he could act further, Roboute Guilliman needed to know everything that had occurred during his long absence.

Over the next seven solar months, Tigurius and his Ultramarine Librarian brethren fought well on behalf of their Primarch. 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 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.

Plague Wars[]

Tigurius8th

Varro Tigurius after crossing the Rubicon Primaris and becoming a Primaris Space Marine.

When the Great Rift came into being, Tigurius fell into a protective coma for a time. He had not foreseen the coming of the Great Rift, only that the future would be marked by oblivion and doom -- and the psychic backlash of that galactic catastrophe nearly ended Tigurius.

Yet he rallied from his mind-coma, joining in the defence against the horrible plague that descended upon Ultramar during the Plague Wars.

When the Death Guard and the daemons of Nurgle came out of the renewed Warp Storms of the Noctis Aeterna, it was Tigurius that helped steel the minds of the Ultramar Auxilia, for as courageous as they were, they would have fled before the disease-ridden foes and the terrible Warp plagues they unleashed.

At some point during this period, Tigurius chose to undergo the dangerous Rubicon Primaris surgical procedure and become a Primaris Space Marine.

Wargear[]

Tigurius makes use of the best wargear the Ultramarines Chapter has to offer, making him an even more potent foe for the enemies of Mankind than most Astartes Librarians. His wargear includes:

  • Power Armour (Different variants depending on era)
  • Hood of Hellfire - A specially modified Psychic Hood that not only provides protection against the psychic assault of other Psykers, but allows Tigurius to conserve his body's energy, enabling him to make use of his powerful offensive psychic abilities more often than is normal for even the most powerful psykers.
  • Rod of Tigurius - Tigurius wields the Rod of Tigurius, an extremely potent master-crafted Force Weapon that draws the psychic energy out of Tigurius and focuses it into a tight beam of unstoppable energy that blast his foes' souls from their bodies.
  • Force Staff of Malcador the Sigillite - In 922.M41 after the Battle of Andraxas, it is believed that Tigurius came into the possession of what is believed to have been Malcador the Sigillite 's Force Staff.
  • Bolt Pistol
  • Frag Grenades
  • Krak Grenades

Videos[]

Sources[]

  • Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pp. 96, 132
  • Codex Supplement: Ultramarines (8th Edition), pg. 42
  • Codex: Space Marines (6th Edition), pg. 107
  • Codex: Space Marines (5th Edition), pg. 86
  • Codex: Space Marines (4th Edition), pg. 29
  • Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition), pg. 38
  • Codex: Ultramarines (2nd Edition), pp. 71, 74-75
  • Codex: Legion of the Damned (Digital Edition), pg. 20
  • Gathering Storm - Part III - Rise of the Primarch, pp. 8-47
  • Index Astartes I, "Psykana Librarius - Space Marine Librarians"
  • Index Astartes III, "Warriors of Ultramar - The Ultramarines Space Marine Chapter"
  • Warlords of the Dark Millennium - Tigurius, pp. 3-4, 7-12, 20, 22-27
  • White Dwarf 326 (US), "Psykana Librarius: Space Marine Librarians in Warhammer 40,000", pp. 76-89
  • White Dwarf 258 (US), "Psykana Librarius: Space Marine Librarians"
  • Chapter's Due (Ultramarines Novel) by Graham McNeill
  • Courage and Honour (Ultramarines Novel) by Graham McNeill
  • Warhammer Community - Apocalypse Mega-battle and Warhammer 40,000 Preview! (Image)

Gallery[]

Raven Rock Videos
Warhammer 40,000 Overview Grim Dark Lore Teaser TrailerPart 1: ExodusPart 2: The Golden AgePart 3: Old NightPart 4: Rise of the EmperorPart 5: UnityPart 6: Lords of MarsPart 7: The Machine GodPart 8: ImperiumPart 9: The Fall of the AeldariPart 10: Gods and DaemonsPart 11: Great Crusade BeginsPart 12: The Son of StrifePart 13: Lost and FoundPart 14: A Thousand SonsPart 15: Bearer of the WordPart 16: The Perfect CityPart 17: Triumph at UllanorPart 18: Return to TerraPart 19: Council of NikaeaPart 20: Serpent in the GardenPart 21: Horus FallingPart 22: TraitorsPart 23: Folly of MagnusPart 24: Dark GambitsPart 25: HeresyPart 26: Flight of the EisensteinPart 27: MassacrePart 28: Requiem for a DreamPart 29: The SiegePart 30: Imperium InvictusPart 31: The Age of RebirthPart 32: The Rise of AbaddonPart 33: Saints and BeastsPart 34: InterregnumPart 35: Age of ApostasyPart 36: The Great DevourerPart 37: The Time of EndingPart 38: The 13th Black CrusadePart 39: ResurrectionPart 40: Indomitus
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