Before the primarchs

[Kataklysm]

So just sitting at my wonderful overnight job, that i love so very much, thinking; "how did the emperor lead all of the 20 legions of space marines before he re-discovered the primarchs? I may be a dumb question but i cant get it out of my head. 20 legions worth of marines and human soldiers, 20 legions worth of fleets that would be astounding for even the emperor to pull off right? This all really spawned from some idle research that I was doing on the original "Dusk Raiders" and the only information that I could find was that before the finding their primarch that the emperor led them??? but how can he do this for them and 19 other legions at the same time? my head hurts.

regards,
-kataklysm

[zeronyne]

In the "Age of Darkness" Anthology, there is a story about the first meeting of Kharn and Angron. I haven't read it in a while, but I think there was a strong implication that the legions still had their military hierarchy but the individual personalities of each legion were not quite as heterogeneous.

[Kataklysm]

In the "Age of Darkness" Anthology, there is a story about the first meeting of Kharn and Angron. I haven't read it in a while, but I think there was a strong implication that the legions still had their military hierarchy but the individual personalities of each legion were not quite as heterogeneous.

So theoretically, if the legions were left sans primarch... the horus heresy wouldnt have happened.. and the imperium would still be in a golden age of enlightenment and prosperity still led by the emperor? My head still hurts.

[Wolfshade]

The 20 legions weren't as large as they became. They would have been made up of terran marines, there are references to these adn he conflicts between the old terran and new legion troops in a number of the books

[Necron2.0]

Before the Primarchs, there was ...

[docbungle]

Before the Primarchs, there was ...

Surely that particular Gentleman is the Emperor??

[herigonz]

So from what I understood, there was still enough gene seed material left over to start all 20 Space Marine chapters after the Primarchs were all whisked away by Chaos. Was this not the case?

But just curious, did the Space Marines from Earth that the Emperor used at first use his Gene Seed? Was there simply no Gene Seed at this point? I know that the Grey Knights are supposed to use the goodies from the Emperor itself but it just doesn't seem clear otherwise (or I haven't read the fluff behind it).

I guess it isn't necessary that they have traits to a specific Primarch and whatnot since all the other augmentations are just that, augmentations to their bodies.

[Necron2.0]

Surely that particular Gentleman is the Emperor??

No way. If Chuck Norris were the Emperor, there would be no Horus, no Primarchs, no Space Marines, no I-Guard, and no Ordo <Hereticus | Malleus | Xenos> - there'd only be ... Chuck Norris. Moreover there'd be no need for anything else, because there'd be no Orks, Eldar, Dark Eldar, Necrons, Tyranids, Tau, Chaos Legions nor Traitors. Even if there were a Horus, and Chuck Norris were to let Horus wound him, all the chaos gods would immediately heal the wound, for fear of Chuck Norris returning to the immaterium. All throughout the Imperium, were any trouble to arise, nobody would say, "The Emperor protects," or "Emperor save us!!" All you'd ever here is, "Oh, hi Chuck."

[Kataklysm]

so.. about the actual fluff.......?

[FTE-Charge!!!]

From the little bit we know its all standard legionary hierarchy.