Chapter Text
After the Primarchs were scattered across the galaxy, the 13th Primarch's gestation capsule landed upon the world of Macragge. Macragge and many of the surrounding worlds and systems had come out of the Age of Strife relatively unscathed. They had been founded as minor colonies at the beginning of the age of strife on habitable worlds so resources were still easy to obtain and could consequently remain self sufficient. In addition to which they were located on the periphery of the warp storms that had engulfed most of the galaxy. This stable environment allowed for the retention of much of humanity's industry, knowledge and technology, which in turn allowed for civilization and culture to flourish to the point that minor warp travel and communication was still maintained between nearby worlds.
The consequence of this is that when the Primarch's gestation capsule arrived on the surface of Macragge and upon the discovery of the infant Primarch by a small hunting party of Patricians from the largest city on the planet, Macragge Civitas, they recognized it for the technological marvel that it was and that the infant within, while not divine, was undoubtedly special. Amongst this party was one of the two ruling Consuls of Macragge Civitas, Konor Guillliman. Konor Guilliman, who had joined this hunt on a whim decided to adopt the infant Primarch as his own and would raise him with the help of his seneschal Tarasha Euten and named him Roboute.
Traditionally Macragge Civitas was ruled by a democratically elected senate, with the senators being exclusively chosen from amongst its noble aristocracy and from amongst the ranks of the senators two Consuls would be chosen to act as the heads of state with equal power to act as checks on each other. When the planet of Macragge was first settled, through hard work and effort families and clans had created large estates for themselves which would be led by a Patriarch that would make decisions for their family and later local community. Macragge Civitas had come into existence when several of these patriarchs decided to unite into a single state and to meet in a senate to discuss shared policy. Over time as the state and population grew and family ties grew more distant these ruling patriarchs and their immediate family became the later aristocracy.
In the beginning this system worked well, but as the domains of Macragge Civitas expanded across the planet, the estates owned by the aristocracy expanded and they gained more wealth and power to the point that by the time of Roboutes arrival they did little more than oversee their vassals who worked their land for them while they still ruled, though they did allow the citizenry to choose who their representatives were amongst the aristocratic families though this was largely a façade to keep the populous in line. This formed the basis of the oldest political faction on Macragge the Patriarchii, named for the old aristocratic family leaders and led by one of the Consuls named Gallan who wished to retain this system.
By contrast Konor Guillliman, though he himself was an aristocrat with large estates, pushed for the raising of living standards and the rights of the ordinary people and for the promotion of gifted individuals to positions of power based on ability rather than birth. He would do this through increasing industrialization and mechanisation coupled with widespread education and training required in order to facilitate it. He did this for the overall good of the state as he believed that like how every part of a machine needed to be maintained in order to function and the better the quality of a component, the more efficiently and effectively it would run, so too would a content and well cared for populous improve the effectiveness of the state for the benefit of all. This earned him the love of the people and catapulted his faction known as the Popularii into power and Konor himself to being one of the Consuls.
The rise of Konor Guilliman had earned him and his allies a lot of political enemies amongst the Patriachii who feared a loss of their own power if the average man could rise to their level of power and influence. So Konor decided to protect his adopted son by keeping him and his capabilities relatively secret fearing his political enemies reaction to his son's ability. So as the young Primarch grew up and his aptitude for all the subjects his tutors could teach him was realised, excelling in all areas of economics, politics, science, oration, philosophy and especially war to the point that by the time he was ten standard terran years old he had learned all that his tutors could teach him and Roboute started to aid in his fathers paperwork when Konor was home. Throughout all this time few knew of the the true extent of Roboute's capabilities and those who did were members of the Popularii who looked forward to the day that Roboute would rise to lead their faction.
Upon coming of age Roboute was presented by Konor to the senate as his son, by this point the Primarch stood 9ft tall and was something of a surprise to the aristocratic rulers of Macragge. Gallan was suspicious and wanted to gage the potential threat that the son of Konor might pose in the future and so agreed to send the young Roboute at the head of an expeditionary force to a place in the north of Macragge known as Illyrium to subjugate the violent city states that made up the region. This had been the method for Macragge Civitas's expansion for most of its history, an aristocrat would take a force to another region and if they successfully brought it under their rule they would be permitted to rule it as their personal province as they saw fit, effectively creating a new estate from which to draw wealth and power. Often the aristocrat would end up adding it to their families previous holdings.
Illyrium was an incredibly mountainous region and the people who called the area home were highly militaristic. Previous Macraggian expeditions were either met with failure or with small territorial gains and at this point were mainly used as a way to test the capability of young aristocrats since the taking of even a small part of Illyrium was seen as an achievement and taking a city made the young aristocrat exceptional. Over the span of a few years Roboute largely through diplomacy and the occasional battle brought the entirety of Illyrium under his control. When he returned to Macragge Civitas he was a figure of legend, adored by the people as with the subjugation of Illyrium, raids from the territory would cease. Roboute was given a triumph upon his return and embraced his proud father in front of the senate. Gallan and the Patriarchii were horrified at seeing just how exceptional Konor's son was and that he had just gained vast amounts of territory with untapped resources and manpower and the love of the people.
Over the next few years Roboute would turn Illyrium into an industrial and economic powerhouse providing the funding and political capital for the sweeping reforms of Consul Konor Guilliman and spearheaded the expeditions to bring the remaining areas of the planet of Macragge under the rule of the senate. Over time Konor delegated more and more of his duties to Roboute preparing him for Consulship and with the future more secure, Konor spent more time with his seneschal Tarasha Euten and decided that once he stepped down he would marry her.
Roboute however had a grander vision, he knew that their were other worlds ruled by humanity and that they were in a position similar to how Macragge was and he decided to go on an expedition to these neighbouring worlds and create a framework to expand the rule of the senate to these worlds. Roboute's plan was to use the industry that he had built to build the largest voidships that Macragge had ever seen, load them with the riches of Macragge an conduct a grand trading voyage to bring the neighbouring systems into the fold by awing them with the grandeur of their vessels and tempt them with vast riches that cooperation with Macragge could provide.
Roboute presented his plan to the senate and gained the approval of both of the Consuls and he set to work. Within a couple years he was ready to leave on his expedition with his treasure fleet. Before leaving Roboute met with Konor, and sitting together at the newly expanded space docks Konor told his son that after Roboute returned he planned to step down as Consul, that he would marry Tarasha Euten, that he could retire from politics and leave the future of Macragge and its people to Roboute. Roboute agreed and said that he would bring back the greatest gift he could find to celebrate his fathers wedding. And so it was that Roboute ventured out amongst the stars for the first time.