List of Space Marine Foundings

This article is comprised of a complete list of all the fanon Space Marine Chapters' Foundings listed here on the WH40K Homebrew Wiki. Along with a brief synopsis of each chapter, this list also serves as a visual reference. Included in this list are Expanded Universe Chapters as well as those Space Marine Chapters that have been declared Excommunicate Traitoris by the High Lords of Terra, regardless if they serve the Dark Gods or not. This list does not include Space Marine Chapters that fall into the humour category. This is an ongoing project, and as such, additional Chapters will be added or removed accordingly. For those Chapters that are missing from the list, please feel free to edit this article and add it, or if the Chapter article has been deleted, feel free to remove it.

2rd Founding (021.M31)
The Second Founding involved the division of the existing Loyalist Space Marine Legions into the far smaller, 1,000-man autonomous Chapters of the Space Marines as decreed by the newly instituted Codex Astartes, written by the Ultramarines' Primarch, Roboute Guilliman.

Below is a list of confirmed Second Founding chapters:

3rd Founding (001.M32)
The 3rd Founding was initiated at the suggestion of Rogal Dorn. After more than forty years of preparation, the High Lords of Terra had approved over a hundred writs of succession to both First and Second Founding Chapters. The Ultramarines were granted nine writs of succession.

Below is a list of confirmed 3rd Founding chapters:

4th Founding (ca. Late-500s or Early-600's.M32)
This Founding occurred several standard decades after the climax of the catastrophic events of the War of the Beast - the massive Ork WAAAGH! Warlord known only as The Beast - which laid waste to much of the known galaxy and threatened to destroy Terra itself. Following the successful eradication of the massive greenskin invasion force and the defeat of its Warlord, the Lord Commander of the Imperium Maximus Thane, decreed that the Imperium would raise as many new Chapters as they had gene-seed in the great vaults of Terra to sustain. All Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes were ordered to release a portion of their Veterans to provide the initial basis for this Founding, the greatest since the First Founding. Gene-seed tithing would be doubled for the next standard century to replenish the vaults. When it was done, there would be hundreds of Chapters to ring the Imperium in adamantium and ceramite instead of dozens.

After enough gene-seed had been collected in the vaults on Terra, the High Lords of Terra authorised the 4th Founding of the Adeptus Astartes, sometime in the latter fifth century or early sixth century of M32, to help bring order to an Imperium rife with civil strife and insurrection, and to help restore Imperial law.

Below is a list of confirmed 4th Founding chapters:

5th Founding (ca. 220.M33 - Exact Date Unknown)
Though the exact date of this Founding is unknown, what is known with any certainty is the Howling Griffons were created around this time.

Below is a list of confirmed 5th Founding chapters:

6th Founding, ca. 831.M33)
Though the exact date of this Founding is unknown, what is known with any certainty is that it occurred around 831.M33, The Year of Ghosts, an event where the honoured dead rose up to defeat the terrors of the Warp.

Below is a list of confirmed 6th Founding chapters:

7th Founding (ca. M33-M34)
Though the exact date of this Founding is Unknown, it is generally believed that it occurred just before the disastrous even known as The Howling in 401.M34.

Below is a list of confirmed 7th Founding chapters:

8th Founding (Mid-M34, Allegedly)
Though the exact date of this Founding is Unknown, it is generally believed to have occurred sometime during Mid-M34.

Below is a list of confirmed 8th Founding chapters:

9th Founding (ca. Late-M34-Early M35, Allegedly)
Though the exact date of this Founding is Unknown, the 9th Founding was one of several linked Foundings that were created during the tumultuous times of the Nova Terra Interregnum (075-975.M35). This lamentable event caused the Imperium of Man to be split in half after the Ur-Council of Nova Terra declared its independence and took the whole Segmentum Pacificus with them. The 9th Founding occurred sometime between 500.M34-500.M35.

Below is a list of confirmed 9th Founding chapters:

10th Founding (ca. Mid-M35, Allegedly)
Though the exact date of this Founding is Unknown, the 10th Founding was one of several linked Foundings that were created during the tumultuous times of the Nova Terra Interregnum (075-975.M35). This lamentable event caused the Imperium of Man to be split in half after the Ur-Council of Nova Terra declared its independence and took the whole Segmentum Pacificus with them. The 10th Founding occurred sometime around Mid-M35.

Below is a list of confirmed 10th Founding chapters:

11th Founding (ca. Mid to Late-M35, Allegedly)
Though the exact date of this Founding is Unknown, the 11th Founding was one of several linked Foundings that were created during the tumultuous times of the Nova Terra Interregnum (075-975.M35). This lamentable event caused the Imperium of Man to be split in half after the Ur-Council of Nova Terra declared its independence and took the whole Segmentum Pacificus with them. The 11th Founding occurred sometime around Mid-M35.

Below is a list of confirmed 11th Founding chapters:

12th Founding (ca. Mid to Late-M35, Allegedly)
Though the exact date of this Founding is Unknown, the 12th Founding was one of several linked Foundings that were created during the tumultuous times of the Nova Terra Interregnum (075-975.M35). This lamentable event caused the Imperium of Man to be split in half after the Ur-Council of Nova Terra declared its independence and took the whole Segmentum Pacificus with them. The 12th Founding occurred sometime around Mid to Late-M35.

Below is a list of confirmed 12th Founding chapters:

13th 'Dark' Founding (Early M36)
The mysterious 13th Founding, known also as the 'Dark' Founding, was an infamous Founding known for the fact that it was the only Founding of which almost nothing is known of. Which Chapter and how many were created during it as well as who their gene-sires were was not accurately recorded, and thus the Founding and those Chapters created from it are shrouded in mystery. It is not recorded as to how many, and which Chapters were created, and if they still exist. This Founding is the only one in which the Adeptus Terra does not possess the original gene-seed of the founded Chapters.

Below is a list of confirmed or supposed 13th Founding chapters:

14th Founding (ca. M36)
The 14th Founding occurred sometime between 975-991.M35, but the exact date is unknown.

Below is a list of confirmed 14th Founding chapters:

15th Founding (ca. 975-991.M35)
The 15th Founding occurred sometime between 975-991.M35, but the exact date is unknown.

Below is a list of confirmed 15th Founding chapters:

16th Founding (ca. 975-991.M35)
The 16th Founding occurred sometime between 975-991.M35, but the exact date is unknown.

Below is a list of confirmed 16th Founding chapters:

17th Founding (ca. 975-991.M35)
The 17th Founding occurred sometime between 975-991.M35, but the exact date is unknown.

Below is a list of confirmed 17th Founding chapters:

18th Founding (ca. 975-991.M35)
The 18th Founding occurred sometime between 975-991.M35, but the exact date is unknown.

Below is a list of confirmed 18th Founding chapters:

19th Founding (ca. Mid-M36)
The 19th Founding occurred sometime between 975-991.M35, but the exact date is unknown.

Below is a list of confirmed 19th Founding chapters:

20th Founding (ca. 975-991.M35)
The 20th Founding occurred sometime between 975-991.M35, but the exact date is unknown.

Below is a list of confirmed 20th Founding chapters:

21st 'Cursed' Founding (991.M35)
The 21st Founding, known also as the "Cursed" Founding was the largest Founding of Space Marine Chapters since the Second Founding following the Horus Heresy. It took place in 991.M35, on the cusp of the 36th Millennium, shortly before the start of the Age of Apostasy. The focus of the 21st Founding for the Adeptus Mechanicus was perfecting and removing the existing, identified deficiencies in flawed Adeptus Astartes gene-seed, and ultimately the production of new and improved Primarch-like Space Marines as part of what was called "Project Homo Sapiens Novus". Unfortunately, the Adeptus Mechanicus' Genetors proved far less skilled in the genetic sciences than the Emperor of Mankind, and their efforts resulted in the development of seriously flawed gene-seed that was used to craft the organ implants for the new Chapters.

Matters pertaining to the exact nature of the 21stFounding of Space Marine Chapters carried out on the cusp of the 36th Millennium, have long since become shrouded in myth. The various dark ends that have befallen many of this Founding's Chapters have entered it into the lore of the Inquisition and the Space Marines alike as the so-called "Cursed Founding," and with good reason, and many now consider those Chapters created under its auspices as tainted from their very birth. Although some Chapters among those of this Founding were spared a devolution into something no longer human or sane, its mark is still upon them in the eyes of their fellow Space Marines, many of whom grew to shun these Chapters, regardless of their undoubted loyalty to the Imperium and noble defence of its people.

Below is a list of confirmed or suspected 21st Founding chapters:

22nd Founding (ca. Early-M37)
This Founding occurred right before the Great Culling (020.M37), sometime in early-M37.

Below is a list of confirmed 22nd Founding chapters:

23rd 'Sentinel' Founding (ca. M37)
The 23rd Founding, known also as the 'Sentinel Founding', occurred during a period when the Imperium was hurting for some Marine firepower. They had lost a lot of Chapters in the time previous due to the Age of Apostasy, the Cursed 21st Founding and many other tragedies. The Imperium was being pressured by its enemies and they desperately needed a new generation of battle hungry Marines to replenish the deplete ranks of the Astartes and push back the rising tide. Thus the Sentinel Founding occurred. Sentinel Chapters tend to be restless, and possessed of a strong crusaders zeal. The Founding is filled with Crusade Chapters that plunged into the battlefields of the far future almost as soon as they were created, and never stopped fighting.

Below is a list of confirmed 23rd Founding chapters:

24rd Founding (ca. M39)
This Founding occurred in M39, when the Age of Waning began. Below is a list of confirmed 24th Founding chapters:

25th Founding (ca. M40)
The 25th Founding occurred at an auspicious time, as the Imperium had begun to face more dangers than ever before. Chaos had begun to gain momentum, the Tyranids were smashing into the galaxy, and aliens that would have never dared defy the Imperium before were now brazenly striking out against the Imperium. Having their work cut out for them, these young Chapters were most likely forced to be flexible and less set in their ways in regards to following the tenets of the Codex Astates, unlike their older, more rigorous brethren, who had long since put their trust in their time-tested methods of warfare and adherence to the Codex.

Below is a list of confirmed 25th Founding chapters:

26th Founding (738.M41)
Before recent events, the 26th Founding of Space Marine Chapters was the most recent one, which occurred in 738.M41. There are only two known Chapters that were Founded at this time -- the Mentors and the Storm Giants.

Below is a list of confirmed 26th Founding chapters:

27th Founding ('Ultima Founding', ca. 999.M41)
As the end of M41 draws to a close, Abaddon the Despoiler, Warmaster of Chaos, led his 13th Black Crusade, the largest Chaos incursion from the Eye of Terror since the Horus Heresy. They immediately attacked the fortress world of Cadia, and despite the Imperial defenders valiant defence and after much sacrifice, Cadia has fallen to the Archenemy. Fortunately, a handful of survivors escaped the destruction of Cadia with the help of the Eldar faction known as the Ynnari through the Webway and fled towards the Realm of Ultramar - to resurrect the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman from his deathless slumber!

After successfully resurrecting the Avenging Son, Guilliman immediately set out on his Terran Crusade, to seek and audience with his father, the Emperor of Mankind. After he succeeded in this endevour, he immediately assumed command of the High Lords of Terra, and acting as the Lord Commander of the Imperium, assumed command of all of the Imperium's military forces. As the terrible encroaching darkness descended upon the galaxy, the Primarch enacted his ultimate contingency plan, which had long been put into motion by Guilliman 100 standard centuries past. Utilising the sagacity of the Adeptus Mechanicus, combined with the long forgotten technology from the Dark Age of Technology, a new legion of transhuman warriors had been created beneath the surface of Mars - the Primaris Space Marines.

These gene-crafted warriors are superior to an average Astartes warrior - larger, tougher and arrayed with the finest arms and equipment forged by the Adeptus Mechanicus to date. By order of Roboute Guilliman, a new Founding has taken place, and many newly Founded Chapters were comprised entirely of Primaris Space Marines. Launching his Indomitus Crusade, Guilliman gifted thousands of Primaris Space Marines to help alleviate the losses suffered by several existing Chapters.

Below is a list of confirmed 27th Founding chapters:

Unknown Foundings
The establishment of new Foundings has been occurring for more than ten millennia, since the First Founding of the 20 original Space Marine Legions of the Legiones Astartes. There have been 25 subsequent Foundings of new Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, with the most recent, the 27th Founding, occurring in the year 999.M41. But in all that time, records become lost or history becomes convoluted, an inevitably, the details of some Foundings have become obscured by the long march of time. This results in many Chapters being listed as 'Unknown', as there are no accurate historical records indicating when some Chapters were created or from whose lineage they sprang.

Below is a list of known Unknown Founding chapters: