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This has been bothering me...

We know that Horus was the first Primarch to be discovered, and Alpharius the last. Yet the Dark Angels were the first Legion to be created and Alpha Legion the last.

In the Alpha Legion Fluff it says that the Legion was only made decades before the discovery of Alpharius, and very near the end of the great crusade. There is also mention that the Ultramarines are near enough 200 years older (apparently Legions take a long time to build).

Still with me?

Okay here is the thing... If the Emperor discovered Horus first (right at the beginning of the great crusade). Why does he build 16 Other Legions before he gets to Horus legion?

I can understand how the Emperor might have built a few Dark Angels and [fragment deleted] before he found Horus... But sixteen? and then spent 200 years making the last four? Does that really add up?

Do you think Horus was like "Err... hey dad? how come that Dorn a**hole we found last week has already got his Legion? I've been waiting 160 years"

No wonder he was pissed off.

Werent the legions created in the same order as the primarchs?

Horus was the first found, not the first made right?

I thought that Lion 'El Jonson was the first primarch...

Well in all the Primarch stories the Emperor finds a Primarch and then hands over his Legion to him.

This part of the story is full of Holes anyway, but... I assume the Legions were made in order since the Alpha Legion was made last. Something like 200 years after the Great Crusade began. Conveniently Alpharius was also the the last to be found so his Legion was still ready by the time he was discovered.

Had Alpharius been discovered first I can only assume he would have to wait 200 years for his Legion to be ready.

But then we look at Horus who actually was found first, and his Legion number is 16. Which implies he would have had to wait 160 years for his Legion.

The fluff doesn't support this, but it seems bizarre that Horus is number 16 when his Legion must have been one of the first created. And if it wasn't how come the Emperor can make 16 Legions before Horus has even had time to grow to adulthood (3 years by most primarch standards)... Yet it takes him another 200 years to finish the Alpha Legion.

The Empra has supa psipowahs of Stuff, so he knew when he would find his Primarchs.

Only explanation I can think of.

IIRC, the Great Crusade and the founding of the Legions does not go hand in hand... The Death Guard Legion was around apparently well before the GC kicked off (albeit by another name)

I would figure that the reason it took so long to find the matching primarch to his legion was because of how BIG the galaxy is, and how fickle the warp can be.. ya know, going from New York to England in a Row boat can be done, but it takes awhile; Same thing with getting to the home planets of the primarch.

One thing that DOES bother me though, is how, we know "all 20" primarchs by name, and what legion they came from.. and obviously SOMEONE had to know the name of the Primarch homeworlds... so, how come there are still homeworlds that have "unknown" as a name?

Ensis Ferrae wrote:so, how come there are still homeworlds that have "unknown" as a name?

10,000 years is a long time for knowledge to be lost, deleted or covered up. Don't forget 40k fluff is NEVER absolute. It is all written from someone's (almost always bias) viewpoint.

Look at us now. We can hardly access data from 100 years ago, let alone 1,000 or 10,000 years ago.

Not to mention the Empra could have easily met Alphy in Space and never found his home planet.

Something to consider about the founding of the Legions and the discovery of the Primarchs is that the Legions didn't always operate as independent entities. The Emperor's Children, for example, were operationally grouped with the Luna Wolves until they could be brought up to strength to operate independently. The same thing could be the case with the Alpha Legion, with them being the last Legion to attain sufficient size and independence to head off on their own rather than being an auxiliary force in some other Legion's expeditionary fleet.

Gwar! wrote:

Ensis Ferrae wrote:so, how come there are still homeworlds that have "unknown" as a name?

10,000 years is a long time for knowledge to be lost, deleted or covered up. Don't forget 40k fluff is NEVER absolute. It is all written from someone's (almost always bias) viewpoint.

Look at us now. We can hardly access data from 100 years ago, let alone 1,000 or 10,000 years ago.

Not to mention the Empra could have easily met Alphy in Space and never found his home planet.

The common source for Legio's and homeworlds is marked as incomplete at its bottom (* small font )

The Alpha Legion in Index Astartes IV, page 31-38:

-Alpharius was found by Horus and met the Emperor months after he joined Horus only for a short period of time.
-The Emperor founded the Alpha Legion to be ready when Alpharius reached Terra.
-Alpharius Home joined the Imperium but isn't named in the archives.
-The Alpha Legion didn't recrut from a single homeworld. Their modus operandi was always spread amongs bases.
-Alpharius and Horus were close friends, a Legion opposed to Gulliman and thus unsurprising to side with Horus.

Conclusion:
-Alpharius took command of his Legion at terra and the Emperor had known when he would come.
-the Alphas had no intend to reveal a homeworld as there may never be one. Seems they always recruted 'on the move'.
-Alpharius believed in secrecy and the AL operated from bases unknown to their brethren and this may have not changed since.

All 20 Legions were alive and kicking and helping The Emperor conqueror Earth well before he refound the Primarchs. 2 didn't make it off the planet and The Emperor's children almost didn't either. The Great Crusade started out with 18 Legions and was already in progress before even reclaiming any Primarchs. In a way The Crusade itself was to find the Primarchs.