The Lore Explainer: The Ultramarines, Part 4 - Notable Characters

In our Lore Explainer series we take a deep look at the lore of various games, settings, and factions. In this article we’re looking at the lore behind the Ultramarines, the XIII legion of space marines and the ostensible poster boys of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Welcome back to our ongoing series on the lore of the Ultramarines. In Part 1 we looked at the lore of the chapter. In Part 2 we took a trip back into their past and examined their history during the Horus Heresy as the XIII legion. In Part 3 we looked at the story of Guilliman and his birth, life, death, and rebirth. Today we're looking at a few key non-Guilliman characters in the chapter's history.

Marneus Calgar in the Armour of Antilochus. Credit: SRM

Marneus Calgar

The Chapter Master of the Ultramarines, Marneus Calgar has the interesting distinction of being the single 40k named character to have received the most models in the game's history. Starting with his first model as "Lord Ultramar" back in Rogue Trader (1988), he received additional models in 2nd edition (1995), 4th edition (2004), 8th edition (2018), and recently again in 10th edition (2025).

The main source of Calgar's origin story is the Marneus Calgar comic book miniseries published by Marvel comics in 2020.

Calgar heralds from the world of Nova Thulium, where he was the serf of a noble house by the name of Tacitan. He sought to escape that life by training to become a Space Marine with other aspirants, which included the heir to his noble house - a young lad named Marneus Calgar. Tacitan and Marneus were best friends, and leaned on each other through their difficult training on the harsh world.

Unfortunately during this training Tacitan and Marneus discovered that their mentor and the rest of their fellow aspirants were actually Chaos Cultists devoted to Khorne. One night they snuck into the forbidden cave and discovered the foul blood rituals being conducted by their mentor and the rest of the order. Marneus saved Tacitus from being killed and the two fled the cult. Unfortunately in the process of fleeing Marneus was killed by their mentor, Crixus. Tacitus survived and got away, and his friend died in his arms, saying, "It's over. I am over. I... Marneus Calgar will never be a Space Marine."

Well, as you may have guessed, Tacitan decided this was unbearable. He decided to become Marneus Calgar, giving his life to honor his fallen friend. The only problem? He needed to survive first. He doubled back into the cave, evading and killing cultists, then called for help. His call was answered by the Ultramarines, who killed Crixus and took him to real aspirant training. There he survived the winnowing, eventually becoming the lone survivor of his group. Marneus Calgar did in fact become a Space Marine.

From there Calgar distinguished himself quickly, creating quite the record of achievements and notable deeds - though most of these are left as deeds in his past. There's very little on Calgar's actual rise to Chapter Master; he was simply introduced as such by the time he had to lead the chapter during the Battle of Macragge. Since then he's participated in a number of key campaigns, including the Damnos campaign against the Necrons, the Battle of Ichar IV, the Plague Wars, and the battle on Vigilus.

The Return of Guilliman

When Cawl and Yvraine showed up during the Ultramar campaign asking to revive Guilliman, Calgar initially turned them down. He eventually relented however thanks to intervention from Tigurius, and fought against the Black Legion while Guilliman was being revived. Then once Guilliman was back he tasked Calgar with securing Ultramar and holding down the fort while the Primarch went on a grand crusade to take back Terra.

Calgar initially bristled at this - he felt like he was being relegated to a desk job when there was important work to be done fighting against the forces of Chaos. He remained Chapter Master of the Ultramarines as Guilliman became Lord Commander of the Imperium, and continued to lead the chapter as Lord Defender of Greater Ultramar. And generally this more interesting character development was dropped in favor of Calgar as ready to step up and become a Primaris Marine when time came for him to get a new model. Speaking of which...

Marneus Calgar

Credit: Alfredo Ramirez

Vigilus and The Rubicon Primaris

During the Indomitus Crusade, a large number of Marines chafed at the idea of adding Primaris Marines to their ranks. These new Marines were bigger and stronger, and many feared they'd be made obsolete, or that adding Primaris Marines would dilute their chapter's gene purity or their cultural heritage. Cawl had a potential process to convert a regular Marine to Primaris, but the procedure had a 60% failure rate. In order to silence the critics and bring unity to the Astartes, Calgar agreed to be the first candidate for the process. And then he died. But then he was revived in the process, and survived the whole thing, being reborn as a Primaris Marine, complete with a new model.

Shortly afterward, the newly Primarisized Calgar would head to Vigilus after a vision from Tigurius told him it could not be allowed to fall. There he was able to work with Eldar forces to turn the tide against Chaos and goad Abaddon into a duel, which he lost badly. Calgar was completely torn open and both of his hearts pierced by Greater Possessed. Of course, you don't get a new model and then immediately die, and no one in the 40k universe is allowed to die anyways, so Calgar narrowly survived thanks to the hard work of Apothecaries who were able to save one of his hearts.

Space Marine 2

Calgar plays a pretty big role in the ending of Space Marine 2, showing up to help Captain Titus when the Recidious System is overrun by Tyranids and the Thousand Sons. He'd eventually join the final battle alongside Titus directly, promoting him after the battle and assigning him a new duty to reclaim the 500 worlds of Ultramar.

Calgar is pretty old by Space Marine standards. He's a practical guy, big on logic and making tactical decisions rather than emotional ones. His signature weapon are the Gauntlets of Ultramar, a pair of ancient power fists with bolters strapped to them, originally taken from a Chaos Champion. Depending on which model you have, he comes either in Artificer Armour or the Armour of Antilochus, a suit of Terminator Armour.

Ultramarines Cato Sicarius. Credit: SRM

Cato Sicarius

Cato Sicarius is more or less the second in command for the Ultramarines. He's the former Captain of the second company and the current Captain of the Victrix Guard (he took over the 2nd Company after Titus left). He's widely regarded as next in line to be Chapter Master if Calgar bites it, as first company captain Agemman is considered to be too valuable in his current role (that's some real management brain shit, right there).

Sicarius was originally from Talassar, son of a noble house who rose through the ranks in the 8th Company during the Damocles Crusade. He then took over the Second Company after Titus was removed at the end of the original Space Marine. He continued to accrue honours in that post, and was eventually named Suzerain of Ultramar and the Hero of Medusa V. He was also a key player in the two Damnos campaigns against the Necrons. He also joined Guilliman's Crusade back to Terra, fighting through all kinds of fun adventures with the primarch, including being trapped on a Blackstone Fortress. He'd eventually become a Primaris Marine and named Captain of the Victrix Guard.

Sicarius is much more on the warrior side of the Space Marine mindset, known for being cold, ruthless, and violent. When his 8th Company fought in the Damocles Crusade, Sicarus gave the order to execute Guardsmen retreating from the T'au. He tends to favor fast, aggressive action over more cautious planning and tactics - his actions on Damnos led to his forces suffering high casualties. As a result, he's also clashed with other leaders of the chapter.

Ultramarines Terminator Captain. Credit: SRM

Severus Agemman

Agemman is the Ultramarines First Company Captain, promoted from Captain of the 2nd Company after the death of Captain Invictus during the Battle for Macragge. Like most of the chapter, he's cold, stern, and calculating, but he's more of a tactician and planner than a warrior - he lacks the reckless bravery and arrogance of Cato Sicarius, which has led to a rivalry between the two and the current situation where many in the chapter view Cato as the natural choice for the role of Chapter Master. Agemman doesn't love this, but he also never quite recovered from being incapacitated in battle by the Daemon Prince M'kar. Even Tigurius threw shade at him afterward, saying he wasn't the warrior he once was and telling Calgar to find a new 1st Company captain.

Agemman is one of those "We have to do what the Codex Astartes says all the time" kind of guys.

Chief Librarian Tigurius. Credit: SRM

Varro Tigurius

Tigurius is the Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines and has considerable gifts of prescience and foresight. He's one of humanity's strongest psykers - a being of rare potential who distinguished himself from his peers at a young age... to the point where it was believed he was cheating in his trials. So the Chapter Epistolaries devised an impossible test for Chaplain Cassius to administer to Tigurius' group of recruits. When presented with the task, Tigurius weighed his options and decided to opt out, telling Cassius that the task couldn't be done. And so Tigurius was brought to the Chapter's librarians, where it was determined that not only was he a powerful psyker, but also possessed of the rare ability to see the future.

From that point on, Tigurius rose quickly through the ranks, proving himself as a Codicer and eventually being named Chief Librarian following the invasion of Hive Fleet Behemoth. His ability to predict the movements and actions of hive fleets has proven invaluable. When Celestine, Yvraine, and Cawl fled the destruction of Cadia through the webway to Ultramar, it was Tigurius who pled their case to Calgar, going against the counsel of Agemman. And it was Tigurius who defied his Chapter Master's orders, letting the Xenos into Guilliman's stasis chamber, where Yvraine killed the primarch before he was promptly resurrected. Following the Primarch's revival, he commanded Tigurius to stay behind on Ultramar and hold down the fort while he made for Terra.

In addition to his psychic gifts, Tigurius stands apart from the rest of the Ultramarines by being much more warm and kind. At some point he went through the process of becoming a Primaris Marine.

Ultramarines Captain Titus. Credit: SRM

Demetrian Titus

Possibly the most well-known Space Marine these days; you may recognize Captain Titus here as the hero of the Space Marine and Space Marine 2 video games. He was first introduced in Space Marine where as Captain of the 2nd Company he defended the forge world Graia from an Ork Waaagh! led by Warboss Grimskull. During this defense he worked with Inquisitor Drogan, who initially seemed on the level but turned out to be guided and/or possessed by the Chaos Sorcerer Nemeroth. Under Drogan's advisement, Titus and his crew activated a device called the Psychic Scourge, which didn't so much kill the Orks on the planet as advertised but opened a bunch of Warp portals for Chaos horrors to emerge. Titus fought off said horrors and killed Nemeroth, but in the process showed an unnatural ability to shrug off the effects of the warp. This led to him being accused of heresy by his subordinate Leandros, an uptight, fanatical devotee of the Codex Astartes, and taken away at the end of the first game.

So for the next hundred or so years Titus spent his time being tortured and psychically assaulted by Inquisitor Thrax, an Ordo Malleus Inquisitor who was just kind of a mean dickhead who had it out for the Space Marines and would regularly torture them (at one point Thrax tried to take Lysander into custody, but was told off). Despite Calgar asking for Titus to be returned multiple times, he never got any messages back. Eventually it was discovered that Thrax had been possessed by a Daemon and he was killed by the Grey Knights. Rather than killing the Space Marines kept in Thrax's custody, the Inquisition sent them to the Deathwatch for evaluation.

When we next pick up with Titus, it's in Space Marine 2. Titus has been serving alongside the Deathwatch as a Blackshield, eventually fighting his way to Kadaku during a Tyranid Invasion, where he was seriously wounded by a Carnifex. He was only saved by the intervention of Chief Librarian Tigurius and his subsequent conversion into a Primaris Marine. On his revival he was allowed to rejoin the Ultramarines' 2nd Company as a Lieutenant.

During the game Titus leads two squadmates, Gadriel and Chairon, as they attempt to fight off the Tyranid invasion on Avarax and Demerium, only to discover that the latter planet was a Necron Tomb World being excavated by Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines. Said Thousand Sons used the Necron tech to open a Warp rift for a Lord of Change, and that's when Marneus Calgar shows up to help Titus and crew fight their way through Warp horrors and the big beam shooting into the sky. Titus killed the Sorcerer responsible - Imurah - and forced the Daemons back to much applause and commendation from Calgar.

Following the events of Space Marine 2, Titus was once again promoted to Captain of the 2nd Company and tasked with the defense of Ultramar and reclaiming its 500 Worlds.

Captain Titus and the Wardens of Ultramar. Credit: SRM

The Wardens of Ultramar

The Wardens of Ultramar are the command squad of the 2nd Company, Titus' personal advisors and confidants in the campaign to reclaim the 500 worlds of Ultramar. They are:

Valorem Gadriel - One of the two Marines who joins Titus in Space Marine 2, Gadriel is the 2nd Company standard bearer. Gadriel spends most of the game in the Leandros role, i.e. "being an annoying dickhead who mistrusts the main character for what are pretty flimsy reasons" before finally admitting he was wrong (unlike Leandros) after Imurah's machinations are revealed. Unlike Chairon, Gadriel wasn't killed offscreen after the video game and joined Titus on the Ultramarian Reclamation.
Metaurus - A Veteran Sergeant who initially discovered Titus as an aspirant and chose him to become a Space Marine. Metaurus is one of the Marines in the Amazon Secret Level short. Apparently he survived his wounds in that short and joined Titus' Command Squad.
Dainal Kornelius - An accomplished Astropath, Kornelius has served the Ultramarines for more than a century. He's kind of an abrasive jerk, falling into that rare category of "guys who are just so good at their job you have to put up with their shit."
Lucia Vestha - Plenipotentiary of the group, Lucia serves as an envoy who can speak with the full authority of Titus. She's a silver-tongued negotiator who can sniff out lies and falsehoods.
Gaius Silva - Commodore of the Ultramar Defence Fleet. Gaius helms the Emperor Class Battleship Magnificence Enthroned. He's known for keeping calm in even the nastiest situations.
Amelia Minervas - Commander of the 30th Macragge Defence Auxilia, a particularly renowned and respected regiment attached to Titus' fleet.

Credit: Kevin Stillman

Uriel Ventris

The current Captain of the Ultramarines 4th Company, Uriel Ventris has one of the most complicated backstories in 40k lore. That's partly because he was the star of a number of novels written in the early 2000s, before major changes to the lore cast into question just how much of his story is actually canon.

Ventris was born on Calth and served in the Deathwatch during his time in the Ultramarines before being named Captain of the fourth company by Marneus Calgar. His first mission was put down a rebellion on Pavonis, where he met up with Inquisitor Ario Baranzo and clashed with Drukhari pirates. There they discovered an ancient Necron tomb complex housing a shard of the Nightbringer and unwittingly unleashed it, being unable to destroy it before it escaped. It's worth noting that in the original novel this is the Nightbringer, the full C'tan awakened from slumber after a few billion years. After Necron lore was changed to the C'tan being mere shards, this was retconned to reflect that change. For his heroism on Pavonia, Ventris was given an emblem of a White Rose.

Ventris went on to have a number of additional adventures across various novels. While fighting Tyranids, Ventris captured a Lictor for Inquisitor Kryptman. The Inquisitor's team were able to use its genetic material to concoct a powerful venom that could kill a Norn-Queen. Ventris left his Sergeant in charge of his men and assumed command of a Deathwatch Team to conduct a daring raid on the last hive ship orbiting Tarsis Ultra. The mission was successful, but Ventris' actions were considered an unforgivable breach of the Codex Astartes. Under the advice of Calgar and Agemmon, Ventris pled guilty and was more or less excommunicated for a time, sent on a March of Shame to destroy some Daemon womb creatures seen in a vision by Tigurius.

During this quest, Ventris would end up clashing with Warsmith Honsou of the Iron Warriors (he of Storm of Iron fame). On Medrengard, Ventris led a group of renegade space marines to destroy the Daemon Engine known as the Daemonculaba and ultimately succeeded. After this win, Ventris eventually come back to the Imperium, face trial for his time in the Eye of Terror, and pass those trials. Having completed them, he returned to the Ultramarines and became a Primaris Marine, serving as captain of the 4th Company following Guilliman's return.

Uriel Ventris has a lot in common with Titus, being the kind of practical, no-nonsense warrior willing to shrug off the Codex Astartes when adhering to its dictates would become inconvenient. These similarities have led many people to speculate that Ventris was the intended protagonist of Space Marine, but that Relic decided to go with an original character late in the game's development. To our knowledge, this has never been officially confirmed.

Credit: TheChirurgeon

Ortan Cassius

The Ultramarines' Master of Sanctity, Ortan of Cassius is the oldest living member of the Ultramarines chapter not to be interred in a Dreadnought. He's a master of oratory, and has served the chapter since before the Tyrannic Wars. Prior to that time, he served in the Deathwatch, purging Genestealer Cults on Ghosar Quintus in the Imperium's first major encounter with those shadowy cults.

Cassius fought by Calgar's side during the Battle for Macragge and during that battle he was brutally assaulted by a Carnifex. He almost died and was rebuilt with cybernetic parts, leaving him with a gnarly exposed skull on half of his face.

Cassius is old as hell, and the only one who refers to the Chapter Master as "Young Calgar." He's still a ferocious warrior, and fervently dedicated to the destruction of the Tyranids.

Next Time: The History of the Lore

That wraps up our look at the major characters in the current Ultramarines lore but join us next time for our final instalment, when we'll look at the history of Ultramarines lore and how it has changed over the last forty years.

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