Today we are going to take a look at the Return of Roboute Guilliman and what he did to protect the Imperium for invasion. Let’s dive in.
The Imperium was all but lost to corruption and an unrelenting assault by the forces of Chaos. Let’s see what Gilliman brought to the table upon his return.
Via: Lexicanum
Shortly after Abaddon the Despoiler‘s Thirteenth Black Crusade and the destruction of Cadia, the Tech-Priest Belisarius Cawl and Saint Celestine led a group of Imperial survivors into the Webway with the aid of their new Eldar allies. The group arrived at Macragge, where Cawl revealed that he had in fact lived for the last ten thousand years and was ordered by Guilliman himself to complete two tasks in the event of his downfall. One of these was to revive Guilliman, a feat that Cawl could now accomplish thanks to Eldar aid. Using a suit of Power Armour that regenerated the wounds inflicted by Fulgrim, Guilliman was restored just as Black Legion forces invaded Macragge. Reborn, Guilliman swiftly drove off the Chaos invaders before taking in the truths of the Imperium after his ten thousand year absence. Guilliman displayed several “miracles” after his rebirth, his mere presence was able to cure any afflicted with a Nurgle-created blindness-inducing illness.
Disgusted by the decay, superstition, and ignorance that surrounds the modern Imperium, Guilliman convened a war council of his Ultramarines as to what to do next. After several days he declared his intent to travel to Terra and see his father upon the Golden Throne. However Guilliman’s revival had attracted the gaze of the Gods of Chaos and Daemon Primarch‘s, throwing the Warp into an uproar. The journey to Terra, known as the Terran Crusade, became an arduous affair that saw his fleet trapped in the Maelstrom after an ambush by Magnus and his Thousand Sons. Inside the Maelstrom the Imperial expedition was defeated by Kairos Fateweaver and the Red Corsairs, with the Primarch himself trapped in crystal chains made from his own doubts. Held by Kairos inside a Blackstone Fortress, the Imperial expedition seemed doomed. However thanks to the efforts of the Harlequin Sylandri Veilwalker and the Fallen Angel Cypher Guilliman and the rest of the surviving expedition were freed and escaped towards a Webway Portal. Guilliman held the portal long enough for his men to escape, defeating the Bloodthirster Skarbrand after witnessing the sacrifice of Marshal Amalrich.
The Imperial expedition eventually arrived through another portal on Luna, but this time were followed by Magnus and his Thousand Sons. On the surface of Luna, Magnus and Guilliman dueled as battle raged around them. Guilliman was overcome by Magnus’ psychic abilities until the arrival of reinforcements from Terra that included Sisters of Silence. With Magnus’ psychic abilities weakened, Guilliman was able to impale his daemonic brother and force him back into the Webway as the gate was sealed.
Afterwards Guilliman landed on Terra and gained access to the Emperor’s Throneroom inside the Imperial Palace. Standing completely alone before the Golden Throne for the next day, Guilliman emerged with a new determination. He gathered the High Lords of Terra and declared that the Imperium would be reorganized and rearmed under his leadership in order to confront the coming threat of Chaos. With that, Guilliman declared himself Lord Commander of the Imperium once more. He later declared himself Imperial Regent, the living hand of the Emperor. One of his first major acts as Lord Commander was to defend Terra itself against the forces of Khorne in the Second Battle of Terra.
Guilliman subsequently declared the Indomitus Crusade to reclaim the devastated worlds isolated from Terra by the Great Rift. The campaign was waged for the next century, as Guilliman acted as supreme commander and chief administrator of the Imperium. He simultaneously oversaw vast campaigns spearheaded by Belisarius Cawl‘s new Primaris Space Marines and sweeping civic reforms which culminated in the Codex Imperialis. As the Indomitus Crusade wound down, he rushed back to Ultramar to protect his sons from the Onslaught of Nurgle. During the Plague Wars, Guilliman battled his former brother Mortarion on Iax and survived an assassination attempt by both Typhus and Ku’Gath on Parmenio.
