Warhammer 40K: The Selenar – Mother of Primarchs
Today delve into the female order who created the Primarchs and Space Marines – the shrouded Selenar.
Selenar Origins
The Selenar were an ancient order, having existed since antiquity. They have been known by many names, such as the Eleusinians, Oesirica, Damia, and the Immacolata. Whatever their title, they have always had the same goal: to keep the power of creation out of the hands of Mankind. At some point during the Age of Strife, they became the rulers of Luna’s civilization.
The Selenar were conquered by the fledgling Imperium during the Pacification of Luna, during which the ruling Matriarch Heliosa-54 ordered the Gene-Witch Ta’lab Vita-37 to hide the Magna Mater from the forces of the Emperor. They were then made to cede the Somnus Citadel to the Sisters of Silence and were forced to remove their equipment and prepare it for the Sisters’ arrival. The gene-crafters, though, were somehow able to exact their vengeance and corrupt the gene-seed of the III Legion, with a disease known as “the Blight”.
Selenar During The Great Crusade & Horus Heresy
At some point, it is known that the Selenite cults were purged by the Imperium, but at least some remaining elements endured on Luna over the last of their gene-tech by the time of the Solar War. Shortly before the Siege of Terra during the storming of Luna by Sons of Horus forces under First Captain Ezekyle Abaddon, the Selenar Matriarch, Heliosa-78, refused to carry out her orders from Rogal Dorn to destroy her gene-tech in order to prevent it from falling into traitor hands. She and the surviving Selenar instead pledged themselves to Warmaster Horus and promised to deliver onto him new Astartes warriors.
With Luna now under the control of traitors, Ta’lab Vita-37 continued her mission to safeguard the Magna Mater (see below). She sent out a distress signal which was intercepted by the loyalist vessel Sisypheum. During their raid on Luna, the Magna Mater was denied to traitor forces and put into the hands of Nykona Sharrowkyn aboard an abandoned coaling station.
Selenar Remnants
The Selenar still exist in M42, but they are a shell of what they once were. Now known as the Soul-night, these descendants of the Selenar have lost all of their power and knowledge and live within the settlements that dot Luna’s surface. According to their history, which been passed down as folk-lore and songs, the Selenar’s downfall began after the King who subjugated them, became blind and silent. Afterwards, lesser men ruled in his stead and they let loose hunters that destroyed the Selanar and the Silent Sisters, who they shared Luna with. One of the Selenar managed to escape Luna, however, and the Soul-night claim there is a chance she will return on thousand year intervals.
Selenar Legacy – The Sangprimus Portum
The Sangprimus Portum, originally known as the Magna Mater (meaning “Great Mother” after the ancient Anatolian Goddess of Fertility Cybele) is an Imperium artifact that contains the genetic material of all twenty of the Emperor‘s Primarchs.
The device was originally of Selenar origin and is said to hold the key to creation. During the First Pacification of Luna the ruling Selenar Priestess, Heliosa-54, charged Ta’lab Vita-37 with safeguarding the Magna Mater from the forces of the Emperor. However it seems as if the device was eventually acquired by the Emperor, as the Magna Mater eventually became the genetic source code for the Space Marines.
During the Siege of Terra Luna was occupied by traitor forces, who sought the Magna Mater for themselves. This forced Ta’lab Vita-37 to send a distress signal which was answered by the Sisypheum. During the raid on Luna to secure the Magna Mater, all of the Sisypheum’s crew save Nykona Sharrowkyn and Sabik Wayland were slain. However thanks to the effort of the Photep Nykona Sharrowkyn was able to hold onto the Magna Mater and hide it with himself aboard an abandoned coaling station. Putting himself into suspended animation, Sharrowkyn noticed the nameplate read Sangprimus Portum.
Selenar – Primaris Connections
In the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, the Primarch Guilliman gave the Sangprimus Portum to Archmagos Dominus Cawl, after charging the Archmagos with creating the next generation of Space Marines. Cawl succeeded and the unleashed Primaris Space Marines are taller and stronger than their Space Marine brethren, due to the fact that the genetic material within the Sangprimus Portum was even more potent than the Gene-Seed descended from the Primarchs. Ten thousand years on, long past the utter devastation of their order – the Selenar’s work lives on.
