Chapter 475: The Codex Imperialis is Good
To watch the Lord of Ultramar at work was a revelation.
To the billions of Imperial citizens who revered him as the Avenging Son, Roboute Guilliman stood at the absolute zenith of human capability, both in martial prowess and intellectual might.
He delved into the massive database the Dawnbreakers had opened to him. While the presence of "The Preserver"—a super-intelligent AI the others insisted on calling a "Machine Spirit"—frequently triggered Guilliman's urge to offer a sharp critique of their technological heresy, he could not deny its utility. With the aid of such logic-engines, he was mapping the current state of the Imperium's Segmentums with staggering speed.
Segmentum Ultima: Following the accord between the Dawnbreakers and the High Lords, five Great Special Zones had been established under Astartes governance: the Dawnstar Sector, Greater Ultramar, the Cryptus System, the Maelstrom, and the T'au Devastation Zone. These sectors had ushered in a golden age of development.
The "Resurrection of Ultramar" was a known quantity now. The finer details—the unification of the Ecclesiarchy's dogmas, the shifting of religious interpretation from local Cardinals toward the Burning Angel, the skyrocketing gross planetary product, and the rising standard of living for every citizen—were documented in meticulous detail.
Guilliman couldn't help but chuckle when he realized the Dawnbreakers had effectively "plagiarized" much of his own homework from the Macragge of ten millennia ago.
Segmentum Obscurus: A support hierarchy had been established, directly linking the resources of the Ultima Segmentum to the northern reaches.
During the containment of the Iron Warriors and the subsequent "Iron Curtain" incursions, the Dawnbreakers had forcibly integrated the Mechanicus factions of the Obscurus. They had dismantled the independent military sovereignty of Forge Worlds like Agrippina, the Lathe Worlds, and Lucius, transitioning their Tech-Priests from "polymath warlords" into specialized production and research cadres.
Key node-worlds, including Vigilus, had been reclaimed. The expansion of Chapters like the Space Wolves, Black Templars, and Iron Hands was being aggressively pushed to consolidate these gains. This pressure forced the Chaos hosts to seek openings elsewhere, shielding Cadia—the lynchpin of the Imperium—from total collapse.
These two Segmentums were relatively stable. With the "Hammer of Dawn" in their hands, every problem looked like a nail. The humans here were the true lions of their domain.
The remaining three Segmentums, however, were a landscape of catastrophe.
Segmentum Pacificus remained the private fiefdom of the High Lords. Despite the lingering trauma of the Macharian Crusade and the subsequent Wars of the Apostles, the High Lords clung to this region with jealous intensity.
Segmentum Tempestus was, as it had always been, a hotbed of secessionists and xenos. Countless hidden warp-routes made it a nightmare to police. As the prestige of the Solar Sector waned, Tempestus had fallen into anarchy. Even a world as prosperous as Krieg had been forced to fight its own war of liberation because the Imperium lacked the bandwidth to intervene. The Raven Guard, stretched to their limits, could not hold the line alone.
And then, there was Segmentum Solar.
The High Lords were "eternally loyal."
The High Lords were also "eternally incompetent."
Guilliman wondered if his past alterations to the human political structure had been appropriate.
Would the War of the Beast have ended sooner if the Astartes had been allowed to lead the government?
Would the Wars of the Apostles have been even more disastrous if the Legions were still unified?
Time had proven that the Council of the High Lords was a bloated, inefficient corpse. Mortals had reached the absolute limit of what they could manage.
While the Dawnbreakers were busy building Dawnstar and putting out fires across the galaxy, the chaos on Terra—born of ten thousand years of accumulated rot—had actually become their greatest asset. It kept the High Lords too distracted to interfere with the Dawnstar's rise.
Everyone has flaws. Even Primarchs. Even the Emperor.
Guilliman had never denied this. The "traitor" sons of his own Legion had certainly shouted it at him enough in the old days.
As for the Emperor... the Heresy was too complex for a single judgment, but regarding the treatment of the Primarchs and the Astartes, Guilliman felt he had earned the right to offer a few choice words of criticism.
An Imperium ruled solely by mortals, without AI assistance?
Guilliman picked up his stylus and began to write.
"The Imperium has spent ten thousand years proving a singular, sharp truth: though it may sting those who still bleed for the Throne, it remains undeniable—"
He set the first strokes of his preface.
"From a biological and cognitive standpoint, the baseline human is unqualified to rule a galaxy when the systems of science and technology are besieged by so many external factors."
"The vast majority of our species cannot even withstand the administrative pressure of a single planet, let alone a continent. They are forced into a cycle of inefficiency, bickering, and meaningless waste. Even when every soul labors under unimaginable pressure, giving their all for the Imperium, the system itself causes every 'cog' to decay, dragging the next into stagnation. The result is a civilization that moves with increasing lethality toward a total halt."
"Therefore, in my judgment, the governance of Man can no longer exclude the transhuman—the Custodes and the Astartes—from its leadership. In the galaxy of today, Humanity requires a new, more efficient mode of managing its sprawling civilization."
"It shall be a new system: perfect, rational, superior. It shall transform every individual into a gear within the grand machine of Mankind, yet with enough tolerance that the fatigue, suffering, or loss of any single component cannot derail the operation of the whole..."
The sound of the stylus scratching against high-grade parchment began to echo in the room—a steady, rhythmic sh-sh-sh that followed the Primarch's fluid thoughts.
Aeonid Thiel, having just finished a grueling series of handovers, arrived at the Primarch's private sanctum for his shift. As he watched the stack of completed pages grow visibly taller with every minute of Guilliman's writing, his exhausted face twisted into a mask of pure horror.
Guilliman was the undisputed master of logistics. His processing power was terrifying even by Primarch standards. Raised by his foster parents to integrate into a human society, he possessed a visceral understanding of every social tier. He loved to arrange every detail, to plan for every contingency.
And he was a master of introspection. The history of the Ultramarines proved it.
From his "20-0" simulation record against Corax to the Battle of Sotha, where the 199th Company of the Ultramarines achieved a 1:20 kill ratio against the Night Lords with only a thousand men—Guilliman was the architect of efficiency.
"This system requires the oversight and control of the Primarchs," Guilliman added to the conclusion he was drafting.
In the past, he would never have made such a broad statement. Even in the original Codex, he had emphasized his own authority as the sole Gene-father.
It hadn't been arrogance.
In the old days, he simply couldn't trust his brothers.
Among the Primarchs of the Crusade, setting aside the traitors, the Loyalists were almost all "problem children" except for Ferrus and Dorn.
Dorn had broken after the Siege. Ferrus was just a head. Corax was a depressed recluse. The Lion was an enigma he couldn't solve.
And were Russ and the Khan really people you could rely on to run a budget?
But the situation now was different.
"Adaptability to local conditions, combined with the near-eternal lifespan, iron spirit, and absolute authority of a Primarch, will ensure that as time progresses, these leaders can continuously solve the emerging errors of the system..."
The thought of building a "Human Empire" for eternity with the Dawnbreakers made Guilliman genuinely happy—even if it meant an eternity of paperwork.
Though the powers the Dawnbreakers wielded were "extreme" by his standards, the way they applied those powers—with logic and clinical restraint—balanced the equation.
The military forces currently under the Dawnbreakers' direct control were organized into a hierarchy:
The Tactical Core: Astartes units comprised of high-quality recruits, automated assets, Titan Legions, and a unified command center.
The Tactical Foundation: Mortal Auxilia and Astra Militarum regiments, primarily heavy mechanized divisions.
The Strategic Heart: The Imperial Navy fleets, led and controlled directly by the Primarchs.
Specialized Assets: The Grey Knights, Sisters of Silence, Assassinorum, and Inquisition, deployed based on battlefield environmental variables.
Compared to the Legion era, the Astartes' use of psychic power and AI had transcended old limits. Within the Blood Angels and Ultramarines, "Spirit-Automata" were being deployed—Dreadnoughts piloted by the souls of ancestors or Tech-Marines, with AI overrides for extreme scenarios.
The material technological path was pushed by the Dark Angels and their allied Forge Worlds. The Warp-tech path was personally overseen by Ramesses, working with multi-species cadres to field a massive joint force.
In Ramesses' experimental psychic units, things like "Experimental Daemon Engines," "Psy-Titans," and Eldar-derived technologies were being field-tested for data collection.
The most cutting-edge tech—the stuff that passed testing but was too dangerous to be popularized because the Dawnbreakers didn't trust the average Imperial's wisdom—was held exclusively by the Dark Angels. They acted as the Dawnbreakers' final military insurance, operating almost entirely without Warp-based assistance.
Recognizing what you are doing versus lying to yourself—that is the difference. This was why Guilliman could tolerate the "weirdness" of the Dawnbreakers.
Even if, looking at Ramesses, it was sometimes hard to tell who the "Traitors" actually were.
Perhaps Horus was right in what he claimed during the rebellion, Guilliman mused. He just didn't realize his rebellion was the very catalyst that would force us to this point.
Thinking of how the Dawnbreakers even used a super-AI on Dawnstar to help with governance, Guilliman let out a long sigh.
Well, the galaxy is so broken that the Emperor is an icon on a wall. If we tried this ten thousand years ago, we'd be sitting at a dinner table with the Second and the Eleventh.
He cast aside the distracting thoughts and continued writing.
Under Thiel's increasingly despairing gaze, the tower of text continued to rise.
Thiel was forced to start organizing the pages himself to prevent the mountain of parchment from collapsing, watching as the written words effectively consumed his entire field of vision.
Creak...
Romulus and Arthur pushed open the heavy doors.
As the Regent and the Warmaster of this new era, they had much to coordinate during this initial integration period.
The others were busy with their own sectors: Corax and Ramesses were monitoring the Warp; Karna was "recharging" by being the face of the movement to the masses; and the Lion was relishing his command of the military, training the "inexperienced" new blood in the art of the slaughter.
Guilliman, as the Lord of Ultramar and the Emperor's chosen representative, was currently playing two roles at once.
As he entered, Romulus was momentarily stunned by the sheer volume of writing on the table.
"..."
He glanced at the height of the files, looking at the half-buried Guilliman. He mentally dubbed his brother the "Champion of Weightlifting" and felt an intense urge to dump the administration of two Segmentums onto his lap right then and there. Romulus broke into a wide smile.
"Bring them in," he signaled.
Behind him, a squad of Victrix Guard entered, pushing carts laden with massive stacks of documents.
These were originals: appointments, planetary decrees, and deployment orders from across the sectors.
Even though the Dawnbreakers had three "Machine Gods" who could transmit data via "The Preserver," physical documentation remained a vital necessity for Imperial legitimacy.
"Hold onto these," Drakus said, patting a visibly haggard Thiel on the shoulder.
"The suffering is only beginning, brother."
Drakus knew the Dawnbreakers had zero intention of letting Lord Guilliman anywhere near a front line. They wanted him pinned to that desk twenty-four hours a day. The Primarch's guard were essentially being retrained as a secretarial corps.
"..." Thiel accepted the files with a look of quiet misery.
On the other side, Servius, newly appointed Commander of the Guard, remained stoic.
Having spent his life in the fire, he cherished these moments. No death, no blood, no screaming. He could learn to live like this.
"Brothers."
Noticing the movement in the room, Guilliman checked the chronometer and rose, waving Romulus and Arthur over.
"Look at this."
He pulled a thick addendum from a pile and handed it over.
"What is this?" Arthur asked, taking it in silence. Romulus leaned in to look.
"It is the Codex Imperialis," Guilliman replied, his eyes shining as he began to outline his vision.
"I have learned the hard lessons of the Codex Astartes. I realize now that a Primarch's influence cannot be limited to the military sphere; it must encompass all things. This is my preliminary draft. It proposes a total reform of the Imperial Constitution, the legislative and executive branches, and the further integration of the military—all while ensuring the subjective agency of the Primarchs to drive the evolution of human society."
He presented his design to his brothers with pride.
"?"
Romulus's mental sub-routines generated a question mark.
His "danger sense" finally found a direction.
Roboute Guilliman had dismantled nine Legiones Astartes with a single book, achieving what even Horus could not.
If he were allowed to finish a Codex Imperialis...
You're trying to reformat the entire logic of the Imperium from the ground up? Who's the Emperor here, you or the guy on the Throne? I thought I was being radical by skimming the High Lords' tithes to fund my own sectors.
This man is dangerously ambitious.
Noticing the shift in Romulus's expression, Guilliman looked slightly puzzled.
In the blink of an eye, Romulus cast aside his internal jokes and began studying the document with intense focus.
The distilled experience of a hyper-scholar... let me copy this real quick so we can slap the High Lords with it later.
The internal mockery was just that—a jest. To ignore Guilliman's administrative genius would be insanity. Romulus's own reference manuals were copied from the Codex format; he just happened to have thicker skin and left himself more margin for error.
While some of Guilliman's choices were questionable, his administrative talent was not. The Codex Astartes had only become "toilet paper" because the author had been in a coma for ten thousand years.
Then, Romulus remembered exactly where his "danger sense" was coming from.
No. He can write the book, but if he starts it, he has to finish it.
Romulus had no intention of being the one to "patch" Guilliman's work for the next ten millennia.
He sent a private text-ping to Arthur. A "conspiracy" was born in an instant.
Clack.
The draft was returned to the table. The sound drew Guilliman's attention.
He looked at Arthur, wondering if his brother had found a flaw.
"I am not a specialist in many of these matters," Arthur said, finding his tone. He adopted the posture of a humble student seeking knowledge. "I will withhold my critique for now. I have only one question—"
There were no Dark Angels present; Arthur didn't have to maintain his "Grand Master" mask.
"—Can you guarantee regular updates?"
Exactly!
The expected argument over power distribution or accusations of ambition never came.
Faced with such humble sincerity from his brothers, a heartfelt smile broke across Guilliman's face.
He spoke with absolute confidence.
"Naturally."
☆☆☆
-> SUPPORT ME WITH POWER STONE
-> FOR EVERY 200 PS = BOUNS CHAPTER
☆☆☆
-> 20 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
-> https://www.pat-reon.co-m/c/Inkshaper
(Just remove the hyphen (-) to access patreon normally)
If you like this novel please consider leaving a review that's help the story a lot Thank you