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I have been reading about Uriel Ventris and what Ultramarine life is like as a youth. It has lead me to some questions though. There are mentions of agiselus barracks. I understand that this where a lot of children go to learn in a military style format. However are there are barracks around ultramar or on macragge itself? Also what is the lifestyle like there? Do the children go home to their parents or is it similar to boarding school?

My next train of thought is in relation to macragge itself. What does the human population there do, or is there none? There must be cities where people can survive because there are mentions from when guilliman conquered them. Finally how have these human recovered or been impacted from hive fleet behomoth

There's probably barracks on any Ultramar world with enough population to support PDF regiments - the Ultramarines don't waste resources, this system provides everything. Children get some basic training and evaluation, those who make the grades get more training and the Ultramarines test a top percentage of students for genetic compatibility and possible recruitment. They recruit the best compatibles in the amount they need, others continue and might join PDF regiments or even get the honor of shipping off as a gift regiment for the IG.

The system is also not likely to be completely closed. The people of Ultramar in general see it as a great honor to have children serve in the regiments or maybe even one day become a Space Marine. Allowing at least some visits or some sort of leave for a time would only serve to reinforce this idea in the people.

No idea about the population of Macragge off the top of my head, but seeing it is the UM capital world one would expect it to be well populated. And as Ultramar is a thriwing paradise realm people are also likely to be pretty well educated and wealthy. As long as you remember to be happy ofc. I'm sure UM Scouts train infiltration and scouting by hauling off subversives in the dark of night...

Spetulhu wrote:
As long as you remember to be happy ofc. I'm sure UM Scouts train infiltration and scouting by hauling off subversives in the dark of night...

Great, now I am imagining Ultramar as the North Korea of the Imperium, with Guilliman as Kim Il Sung and Calgar as Kim Jong Il/Un
"Of course everyone is happy in the glorious paradise of Ultramar, all are united in their love for Great Leader! Or else..."

 Iron_Captain wrote:

Spetulhu wrote:
As long as you remember to be happy ofc. I'm sure UM Scouts train infiltration and scouting by hauling off subversives in the dark of night...

Great, now I am imagining Ultramar as the North Korea of the Imperium, with Guilliman as Kim Il Sung and Calgar as Kim Jong Il/Un
"Of course everyone is happy in the glorious paradise of Ultramar, all are united in their love for Great Leader! Or else..."

Well, in the Forge World fluff about 30k Ultramar, there is mention of a special Ultramarines force that is basically a political police.

Even in the decent planets, no one escapes grim dark.

From what I recall, it seemed like a cross between Spartan training and a boarding school.

The fluff does state that many prominent Ultramar families take great pride in how many members each has produced that became Ultramarines, so there might be some contact with their original families. But it could also just as easily be that the chapter roster is somewhat open information on Ultramar, so if your child was taken as an initiate you could just go and look the information up.

The Imperium is a totalitarian theocracy. While some planets might enjoy some degree of basic civil liberties, none of them offer anywhere near the sorts of liberties that people of the modern Western world take for granted.

That's not necessarily true.

The Imperium only has the following absolute rules,

1) Worship the Emperor

2) Obey his servants

3) Pay the tithe

None of these things would be incompatible with our modern lifestyles. Each planet is as free as its local governor allows.

Outside of criticism of the Emperor and the Imperium itself, free speech would be allowed. And nothing else is mentioned or particularly relevant. One planet might be an elected democracy, another might be a totalitarian dictatorship. There is lots of room for variation.

Numbers 1 and 2 make it a theocracy, since "His Servants"=The Ecclesiarchy.

Then you have the Inquisition, with their virtually limitless authority *especially* over the masses of common Humanity. While a Chapter Master of a First Founding Chapter might be able to get away with thumbing his nose at the Inquisition, John Mucksucker, Hive Sanitation Worker #348957349673-467 is in absolutely no such position to do so. His "freedom of speech"? I will quote Eisenhorn there: "You are a prisoner of the Inquisition, you have no rights."

While some planets might be democracies, they are democracies that ensure the status quo, more or less. If it does not? They better pray the tithe is on time and in proper amounts, or the Adeptus Terra will ensure a successful regime change, starting with total orbital bombardment, and extra work-shifts for all to ensure the missing tithe is made up for.

Free speech? Probably not. We have plenty of "Thoughts For the Day" that indicate such things, as we understand them, do not exist for the vast majority of the population. "Reason is the cloak of traitors", "An empty mind is a tidy mind", "The logical argument must be countered with righteous conviction", "Thought begets Heresy, Heresy begets Retribution", "The questioning servant is more dangerous than the ignorant heretic", "Thou Shalt Not." "If you cannot speak well of your Master, then be silent!" ... just to list a few.