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Okay, just finished Dark Imperium, and it's a good read! Some highlights:

Primaris Marines:
Larger and stronger than old type Marines
Further differences include irridial whorls marking their hands and extra organs in their brains
Physically closer to the Primarchs than old type Marines
Not vat-grown, at least not all, the main Primairs Marine we follow was actually from around the time of the Heresy, he was a 13 year old aspirant looking to join the Ultramarine Legion before getting poached for the Primaris project.
Come in all nine loyalist flavours, though Cawl has been working on all twenty varieties of gene-seed and says that they're all ready for production, though Guilliman refuses to do so, he doesn't entirely trust Cawl not have done so already.
Tens of thousands of Primaris Marines were present at the ultima founding. Only half were put formed into new Chapters. The other half essentially fought as a Legion called the Unnumbered Sons.
The Unnumbered Sons fought in the colours and heraldry of their parent Chapter, but with a grey chevron covering part of the Chapter symbol. They fought in groups of mixed gene lineage to learn each others strengths better and because Guilliman believed that the distance between the various Legions played a big part in the Heresy.
The Unnumbered Sons were steadily drained as the Indomitus Crusade went on, dribs and drabs going off to reinforce and become part of existing Chapters or too found new Chapters based where Guilliman thought they were necessary. They are disbanded totally at the end of the Crusade.
By the end of the Crusade Primaris Marines are believed to be accepted by 94% of Chapters.
The Primaris Marines easily overcome the Iron Warriors but are more evenly matched by the Death Guard.

As of yet unseen units!
Aggressors: Wearing gravis armour and armed with flamers of some kind.
Reivers: Infiltration and close combat specialists, wear a special stealth armour and carry powered blades. Have skull helmets.
Overlord: A flyer so big it's described as making a Thunderhawk look like a toy, so probably not coming to tables soon but you never know.

Guilliman:
No longer sleeps after being brought back from the dead.
Feels very conflicted about the Emperor, he's still loyal and would gladly die again for the Imperium, but found out that the Emperor never considered the Primarch to be anything more than tools and blames him for the Heresy with all his lies.
Unsure whether the Emperor is a God or not, though still leaning towards no.
Created an order of historians to try and piece together a comprehensive true history of the Imperium, the Inquisition does not like this.
Regrets disbanding Ultramar because it could have been a brighter symbol for the rest of the Imperium, but is bringing it back Tetrarchs and all.

Cawl:
Very secretive and crazy smart.
Was considered a radical even in the much more open minded Mechanicum. Which is why Guilliman approached him about the Primaris project.
Currently tasked with recreating the Pylons so Guilliman can seal the holes in space.
Is working with trying to find intact Pylons, and working with Eldar, Necron and Old One technology. He believes each race had a piece of a bigger picture and that by combining their works he can do big things.
Really wants to be Fabricator-General of Mars but is way too Heretek for it.
Guilliman forsees a time where he may become a problem for the Imperium.

Mortarion:
Never got over his hatred for warpcraft, despite becoming a daemon.
Not following Nurgle's plan much to the disgust of Typhus, though he personally believes Nurgle would be pleased by his initiative.
He hunted his alien step-dad's soul across the warp and has it imprison in a jar, where he torments it with spiritual sicknesses.
Like Fulgrim did 10,000 years ago he's trying to kill Guilliman because he knows the Imperium will collapse without him.

Custodes:
Have been in a depression for ten thousand years, but Guilliman has set a real fire under them. Now he worries their rage might consume them.

Sisters of Silence:
Dwindled almost to nothing over time, though Guilliman is trying to get them back into gear.
Worship the Emperor as a God.

The date:
The Indomitus Crusade ends 112 years after it starts after the end of Gathering Storm.
However it turns out that there's been a lot of infighting and factionalisim in the Ordo Chronos so there are actually five different major imperial calendars and dating systems, and many many smaller ones. Guilliman can only calculate the actual date as being somewhere in early M.41 or a thousand years later.

I'll add more if I think of any, and of course if you've also read it feel free to add anything I've missed.

To be honest, all of those spoilers have made me much more open minded about the new narrative.

Things aren't as simple as "Guilliman saves the day with his friend Cawl that knows everything about everything!"

Thanks for the resume!

What marks the end of the Crusade? What were the objectives and to what extent were they achieved?

The Primaris Marines easily overcome the Iron Warriors but are more evenly matched by the Death Guard.

in fairness this could be part of leadership. the book eistablishes fairly clearly that traitor marines are easily defeated unless they have a strong warlord uniting them.

Nice summary!

Very neat, it has been a long time since I picked up a 40k book to read. I might actually get this one, it seems like it could be a real good way to get my head around what has been happening recently. Dropped out of 40k an edition or two ago and haven't followed any of the recent storyline advancements. Just getting back into the universe and feel a bit lost.

 NH Gunsmith wrote:
Very neat, it has been a long time since I picked up a 40k book to read. I might actually get this one, it seems like it could be a real good way to get my head around what has been happening recently. Dropped out of 40k an edition or two ago and haven't followed any of the recent storyline advancements. Just getting back into the universe and feel a bit lost.

the book so far is pretty good and doesn't require a vast in depth familairity with the setting, although theres lots of good stuff to be found that way. such as a apperance from Uriel Ventris (Gulliman approves of his "occasionally breaking the rules" )

Hey for anyone who has access to the book already, is there any mention of the death or maiming of Cato Sicarius, they say in the Primaris pamphlet that in his abscence, a Primaris named Acheron is leading the 2nd company...

21stPrimarch wrote:
Hey for anyone who has access to the book already, is there any mention of the death or maiming of Cato Sicarius, they say in the Primaris pamphlet that in his abscence, a Primaris named Acheron is leading the 2nd company...

his absence is because Cato is with Gulliman leading the Victrix guard.

So there's a chance that there are already Night Lord and Alpha Legion Primaris Marines running around?

MurderKing wrote:
So there's a chance that there are already Night Lord and Alpha Legion Primaris Marines running around?

Maybe but just like the other foundings that MAY have used the traitor geneseed it's likely it would be hidden.

deleted

BrianDavion wrote:

MurderKing wrote:
So there's a chance that there are already Night Lord and Alpha Legion Primaris Marines running around?

Maybe but just like the other foundings that MAY have used the traitor geneseed it's likely it would be hidden.

I'm just stoked that there's a chance.

MurderKing wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

MurderKing wrote:
So there's a chance that there are already Night Lord and Alpha Legion Primaris Marines running around?

Maybe but just like the other foundings that MAY have used the traitor geneseed it's likely it would be hidden.

I'm just stoked that there's a chance.

yeah and I think GW deliberatly did that so as to give people who like the idea of traitor loyalists a chance for their chapter to be secretly descended from traitors.

BrianDavion wrote:

21stPrimarch wrote:
Hey for anyone who has access to the book already, is there any mention of the death or maiming of Cato Sicarius, they say in the Primaris pamphlet that in his abscence, a Primaris named Acheron is leading the 2nd company...

his absence is because Cato is with Gulliman leading the Victrix guard.

ohhhhhh they address that in the book? awesome. you are the man. can i bug you for one more question. Do they mention anything about the future of the chapters? will they still make marines from their regular geneseed in addition to primaris? is making a current marine primaris spoken of? if its a difficult process i could see maybe Dante and a few others getting upgraded, but if its easy then maybe all will soon be upgraded.

21stPrimarch wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

21stPrimarch wrote:
Hey for anyone who has access to the book already, is there any mention of the death or maiming of Cato Sicarius, they say in the Primaris pamphlet that in his abscence, a Primaris named Acheron is leading the 2nd company...

his absence is because Cato is with Gulliman leading the Victrix guard.

ohhhhhh they address that in the book? awesome. you are the man. can i bug you for one more question. Do they mention anything about the future of the chapters? will they still make marines from their regular geneseed in addition to primaris? is making a current marine primaris spoken of? if its a difficult process i could see maybe Dante and a few others getting upgraded, but if its easy then maybe all will soon be upgraded.

I've not gotten far eneugh in the book to say one way or another, sorry :(

So with the Indomitus Crusade lasting over a century, does that officially put the timeline in early M42?

 Arcsquad12 wrote:
So with the Indomitus Crusade lasting over a century, does that officially put the timeline in early M42?

... maybe? see this

However it turns out that there's been a lot of infighting and factionalisim in the Ordo Chronos so there are actually five different major imperial calendars and dating systems, and many many smaller ones. Guilliman can only calculate the actual date as being somewhere in early M.41 or a thousand years later.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
New Space Wolves sucessor Chapter, titled "The Wolfspear"

Whoopee, another bloke who's been around since the Heresy. Honestly feels like half the universe has now.

Not bad, overall, for a Marine story i must admit. I'm slightly concerned about theborder of historians creating a 'true history of the Imperium'. That sounds dangerously like the creation of 'canon' which is toxic.

I like Guilliman's conflict over the Emperor. That's neat. Don't like Cawl's idea that each race's technology holds a piece to the puzzle of defeating chaos. I'm not saying the writers would do this as i've been surprised by their tact with some of the more worrisome ideas, but it feels like it's setting up a future superfriends scenario which would be as insipid as the existing superfriends scenarios.

You just saved a bunch of time, great summary.

Is there any mention of the Ministorium and in particular anything about St Celestine - some interesting stuff with her in Gathering Storm and wondered how RG relates to her and the Sisters of Battle?

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Whoopee, another bloke who's been around since the Heresy. Honestly feels like half the universe has now.

Not bad, overall, for a Marine story i must admit. I'm slightly concerned about theborder of historians creating a 'true history of the Imperium'. That sounds dangerously like the creation of 'canon' which is toxic.

I like Guilliman's conflict over the Emperor. That's neat. Don't like Cawl's idea that each race's technology holds a piece to the puzzle of defeating chaos. I'm not saying the writers would do this as i've been surprised by their tact with some of the more worrisome ideas, but it feels like it's setting up a future superfriends scenario which would be as insipid as the existing superfriends scenarios.

Just because Cawl thinks it's the case doesn't mean it is. sounds like he mostly wants an excuse to scavage alien tech. I definatly get a sense of forbodding re Cawl. the man is both radical, AND ambitious. he wants Gulliman to install him as Fabricator General, and Gulliman says he wants to meet Cawl "face to face" but apparentl;;y for some reason that may be diffifcult. which leads me to suspect Cawl is doing something naughty.

 Ynneadwraith wrote:

Don't like Cawl's idea that each race's technology holds a piece to the puzzle of defeating chaos. I'm not saying the writers would do this as i've been surprised by their tact with some of the more worrisome ideas, but it feels like it's setting up a future superfriends scenario which would be as insipid as the existing superfriends scenarios.

Actually no. Cawl has struck me as a power hungry mad radical with a gargantuan ego that's almost looking he's about to double cross everyone. Just a pointer: he has an AI he calls Cawl Inferior and masquerades as a program. He just doesn't give feths and wants to get his way on everything.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Is there any mention of the Ministorium and in particular anything about St Celestine - some interesting stuff with her in Gathering Storm and wondered how RG relates to her and the Sisters of Battle?

A Ministorum priest is a fairly major character in the book, actually, and has a great byplay with Roboute.

Basically, what I got from the book is that Roboute sees the Ministorum as a potential force for good, but not as it is now, and is starting to try and change it from the inside by installing his own preferred people in positions of influence.

Nothing on Celestine or the Sisters, though.

MurderKing wrote:
So there's a chance that there are already Night Lord and Alpha Legion Primaris Marines running around?

Spoiler: All Primaris Marines are Alpha Legion.
And Guilliman is actually Alpharius. The real Guilliman died long ago.
Hydra Dominatus.

Iracundus wrote:
What marks the end of the Crusade? What were the objectives and to what extent were they achieved?

He's been up and down the length and breadth of the Imperium, and even made forays across the rift, distributing the Primaris Marines, shattering traitor strongholds and fleets.
Guilliman doesn't actually see it is an end to anything, he's just ready for the next stage of his plan, but he feels the Imperium needs a big victory so he throws an Ullanor style triumph.

BrianDavion wrote:

The Primaris Marines easily overcome the Iron Warriors but are more evenly matched by the Death Guard.

in fairness this could be part of leadership. the book eistablishes fairly clearly that traitor marines are easily defeated unless they have a strong warlord uniting them.

Definitely, I was just talking in a man to man sense. Iron Warriors not being so blessed as the Death Guard were destroyed easier.

21stPrimarch wrote:
ohhhhhh they address that in the book? awesome. you are the man. can i bug you for one more question. Do they mention anything about the future of the chapters? will they still make marines from their regular geneseed in addition to primaris? is making a current marine primaris spoken of? if its a difficult process i could see maybe Dante and a few others getting upgraded, but if its easy then maybe all will soon be upgraded.

Guilliman makes it no secret that Primaris is the new paradigm and that the days of the old type Marines are numbered. Not in a sinister Thunder Warriors way, just that he expects all future Marines to be Primaris. That said not all Chapters are yet to accept them, so doubtless GW will leave that avenue open for old types to stick around.

 Mr Morden wrote:
Is there any mention of the Ministorium and in particular anything about St Celestine - some interesting stuff with her in Gathering Storm and wondered how RG relates to her and the Sisters of Battle?

Guilliman doesn't like them much, and doesn't really make a secret of the fact he doesn't see the Emperor or himself as divine, but apparently once he's tallied everything on his spreadsheet considers them a force for good.
They consider Guilliman to be very holy and Guilliman struggles to find any he can have a conversation with because of the religious ecstasy they feel around him.
Guilliman has created a position within the Ministorum, that of Militant-Apostolic, that he appoints himself. The current one privately sees it as his divine mission to bring Guilliman to see the Emperor and Guilliman himself as Gods.

Thanks for the info - soudns like some interesting stuff - might well pick it up.

Animus wrote:

Guilliman has created a position within the Ministorum, that of Militant-Apostolic, that he appoints himself. The current one privately sees it as his divine mission to bring Guilliman to see the Emperor and Guilliman himself as Gods.

"Only the true Messiah denies His divinity." - Life of Brian

Animus wrote:

Further differences include irridial whorls marking their hands

A what now?

 Iron_Captain wrote:

MurderKing wrote:
So there's a chance that there are already Night Lord and Alpha Legion Primaris Marines running around?

Spoiler: All Primaris Marines are Alpha Legion.
And Guilliman is actually Alpharius. The real Guilliman died long ago.
Hydra Dominatus.

for for feths sake. stop it/ seriously STOP. it's not funny, people are coming here for actual info and the last thing they want is alpha legion bs fake news.