Lore of the Warp

Home › Factions › Ultramarines › Cato Sicarius

Space Marines & Primarchs

Cato Sicarius

Commander of the Victrix Honour Guard, former Captain of the Ultramarines 2nd Company

Ultramarines

Status
Active
Connections
2 characters
Battles
3 recorded here

Illustrated by Siman Vlaisavljević (“Cato Sicarius Fan Art”, used with permission) · Additional gallery art by Siman Vlaisavljević (“Ultramarines (Ultramarines Vanguard)”) (used with permission)

Overview

Cato Sicarius is a brilliant, ambitious Ultramarines officer who once led the 2nd Company and now commands the Victrix Honour Guard that protects Guilliman. He is widely tipped as a future Chapter Master. Critics say his hunger for glory sometimes outruns his caution.

His exploits include the Assault on Black Reach against the Orks, the Zeist Campaign that blunted the T'au Fourth Sphere Expansion and the Damnos Incident against the Necrons in 974.M41. After returning from being lost in the Warp, he crossed the Rubicon Primaris. Cato Sicarius, Captain of the Ultramarines 2nd Company and Grand Duke of Talassar, is one of the Chapter's most celebrated and aggressive commanders. Raised in Talassar's ducal household, he trained for war from childhood. He wields the Talassarian Tempest Blade. His boldness wins victories but sometimes comes at a high price. He has also served as Master of the Watch and High Suzerain of Ultramar.

Origins

Born into the ducal household of Talassar, one of Ultramar's leading noble dynasties, Sicarius was raised from infancy for a life of war and command. He passed into the Ultramarines and rose fast. Besides captaining the 2nd Company he held the offices of Master of the Watch and Knight Champion of Macragge, the Chapter's duelling champion.

He was born into one of Talassar's rising noble houses and trained from youth in the martial arts favoured by Talassi aristocrats. His skill was a major reason the Ultramarines chose him. Phil Kelly's Blades of Damocles shows an early, colder Sicarius. As an Assault Sergeant in the Eighth Company during the Damocles Crusade, fighting alongside Numitor, he executed Guardsmen who retreated from the T'au. After White Dwarf 498 changed the timeline, he became Captain of the Second Company when Demetrian Titus was taken by the Inquisition after Graia. His first campaign as captain, according to Imperial Armour Volume Two, was on Masali, where unexpected tactics and a score of Land Raider Prometheus tanks defeated an Aeldari host.

Key events

  1. Fought in the Black Reach campaign against the Orks, though some within the Chapter questioned his suitability for battle-company command.
  2. Began a century-long feud with the daemon prince M'kar the Reborn after Chaos raiders struck under M'kar's direction.
  3. Led the assault on the Necron tomb world of Damnos and later returned to reclaim it.
  4. Commanded Imperial forces during the fall of Medusa V.
  5. Was lost in the Warp for several years after the Great Rift opened, then escaped and joined the Indomitus Crusade as a Primaris Marine.
  6. As Victrix Guard commander at the Battle of Mesmoch, he destroyed a Necron lord to open an escape route for Guilliman.

Codex: Space Marines (5th edition) lists his honours. He won the Imperial Laurel after the Crusat Minor planetstrike, the Honorifica Valorum after Dyzanyr and the Valour Crest, awarded only for near-suicidal bravery, after nine days of fighting at Fort Telendrar. The crest's colours match those of his Talassi house. In 878.M41, in the Halamar Rift, he boarded the Chaos flagship but failed to kill the daemon prince M'kar, a failure that would return to haunt Ultramar. Sentinels of Terra has him reinforcing the Imperial Fists at Taladorn against Lysander's objections and joining the boarding of the Tamunash at Malodrax. In the short story Master of the Watch, a spore mine wrecks his drop pod and kills his Vanguard Veterans. Alone with a vortex grenade, he is about to take a horde of Tyranids with him when bone-armoured figures appear from the mist and kill them all: the Legion of the Damned.

In Graham McNeill's The Chapter's Due he hunts the Bloodborn leader Kaarja Salombar across Espandor and correctly predicts she will appear at Corinith. She stabs him through the heart, he holds her in place while Scipio Vorolanus impales her on the company banner pole, and then he beheads her and shows the head to her army. Knights of Macragge describes the five years he spent lost in the warp aboard the Emperor's Will before reaching a feudal world. There he and his warriors posed as knights from Macragge, fought Feral Orks, and destroyed a Necron tomb and its C'tan Shard.

Battles & campaigns

  • Black Reach: His aggressive tactics broke the offensive of the cunning Warboss Zanzag.
  • Damnos Incident (974.M41): He led an assault against the newly awakened Necrons of the mining and tomb world of Damnos.
  • Era Indomitus: He became a Primaris Space Marine and leads the 2nd Company again in the new era.

Personality

Proud, bold and driven, with a duellist's confidence and a nobleman's sense of honour. His arrogance is real, but so are his courage and loyalty.

He loves duels and challenges, and he believes that great deeds earn great reputations. He takes his responsibilities seriously and cares about his warriors, but he can be impatient with those he considers less capable. He is fiercely competitive with other Ultramarines captains, but also honours their achievements.

Weapons & Vehicles

Signature Wargear & PanoplyCommander of the Ultramarines Victrix Honour Guard, Sicarius is a peerless duellist who wields the Tempest Blade—an ancient, feather-light Ultramarines relic power sword whose shimmering blue field can sever a Warboss's arm in a single flick—paired with an ornate artisan plasma pistol.

Explore all 48 entries in the Weapons & Vehicles armoury.

Connections

Characters (2)

  • Marneus Calgar commander · Ultramarines

    Sicarius is often seen as Calgar's heir.

  • Uriel Ventris rival · Ultramarines

    Sicarius treated Uriel with open hostility during his trial.

Factions

Also in this faction

Some links are thematic parallels (marked "parallel") rather than recorded meetings. See the connections web.

Legacy

Sicarius stands for the Ultramarines' proud warrior aristocracy. To his admirers he is the very image of a Talassarian noble-captain. His critics see him as dangerously ambitious. His long rivalry with Uriel Ventris over the meaning of the Codex reflects a wider debate within the Chapter about rules and flexibility. His rivalry with fellow Ultramarines captains and his attempts to prove himself make him one of the Chapter's most discussed commanders.

Appearances & sources

  • Codex: Space Marines (Ultramarines special characters)
  • The Fall of Damnos and Spear of Macragge (Nick Kyme)
  • Assault on Black Reach starter-set background

Further reading

Lexicanum · Warhammer 40k Wiki