There Is Now An AI Primarch in Warhammer 40,000<br>

Once more, Belisarius Cawl is at it. The founder of the Primaris Marines and the head of the Mechanicus, not satisfied with turning Alpha Primus into a pseudo-Primarch, has raised the stakes in his most recent book, Genefather. But will his new creation be the scientific breakthrough of the forty-first millennium that brings about a technological golden age never seen before, or will it be the straw that breaks Roboute Guilliman’s back and leads to the creator being prosecuted for heresy?

Here are some Genefather spoilers.

A lot of people are turning the pages of Genefather in anticipation of the confrontation between the two most formidable and dangerous scientists in the galaxy. Fabius Bile and Belisarius Cawl have many traits even though one is a Chaos God representative and the other fights (loosely) for the Imperium. It’s true that as the narrative reaches a peak, the two get together to share scientific notes, and you start to wonder if the ostensibly devoted Cawl would finally flip against the Emperor.

I won’t give away that specific choice, but Cawl’s most recent technological advancement certainly caught my eye. He has his own AI Primarch, as the title of this feature might have given away.


Not only is it an AI Primarch, but it’s an exact replica of Roboute Guilliman. Since his return, Cawl and the Ultramarines’ creator have collaborated closely, and Cawl has always managed to convince the superhuman to grant his requests. If something dates back before the Age of Darkness, it can’t be heresy, right?

We now understand precisely why Cawl has been so adept at saying the ideal thing to persuade Guilliman to comply. Before speaking with the actual Primarch, he has been rehearsing the exchanges with AI Guilliman, probing and prodding to prepare his lines of attack. It’s similar to carrying around a miniature GuillAI in your pocket, a PrimarchGPT that mimics the precise words of the real thing.

But trouble does exist in paradise. AI Bobby G is aware that the actual Primarch would take offense if he discovered this unauthorized AI replica of himself. After all, the Imperium forbids Abominable Intelligence, and the Men of Iron were banished for good reason. In Genefather, Cawl’s tech-heretic creation brings up precisely that point in a conversation with his AI Primarch.

AI Guilliman responds, “You have taken a great liberty, a great liberty, making a copy of my mind.” “You can be sure I would destroy you if I learned about this. You’ve overreached yourselves!”

His objections are dismissed by Cawl, who explains that this is only a little item on his extensive list of possibly heretical creations. “When compared to some of my other, um, adventures, this is a fairly minor indiscretion,” he says. He’s correct, too.


Since rising to the position of Adeptus Mechanicus chief, Cawl has collaborated extensively with the Necrons. To comprehend the Pylons the Necrons buried underneath planets millennia ago, he is currently seeking Bile’s assistance. It’s implied that he wishes to rescue their kind by going back in time and discovering a Necron from before hibernation. He has extremed xenos technology to get Necron scarabs to perform his bidding by hacking into them. And that’s before he gets together to have his most recent manuscript peer-reviewed by a real heretic.

An AI Primarch is the least of the Imperium’s concerns in that regard. Although Cawl continues to support the Emperor for the time being, might this lead to significant divisions in the Emperor’s most recent galactic conquest? Who’s to say Cawl hasn’t created AIs of other Primarchs, even those who have succumbed to Chaos? Bile remarks that the Alpha Primus, Cawl’s first pseudo-Primarch, contains Magnus’ DNA. Will all Primaris turn against their firstborn brethren and we witness an Order 66-like protocol being carried out? Will Guilliman locate Cawl’s artificial intelligence copy and expel him? Will Chaos ultimately defeat an AI Primarch?

Right now, the lore surrounding Warhammer 40,000 is in an extremely intriguing place, with hundreds of questions just waiting to be answered. If I could hope for anything, it would be that Cawl’s AI Primarch emerges from the grave it is kept in, finds a robotic body to inhabit, and eventually appears as an Adeptus Mechanicus Primarch on the table. It’s the least we deserve in light of the recently disclosed long boi of the Mechanicum.