Imperial Fists - Notable Campaigns: First Pacification of Luna (703.M30) - This early Imperial campaign was the first operation mounted by elements of the early Space Marine Legions beyond the skies of Terra. The Unification Wars were still raging across the surface of Mankind's birth world. Luna was the bastion of a conglomeration of resurrectionist gene-cults whose members believed that human nature was both fractal, fractured and transcendent. Each of these Selenar gene-cults clung to a different set of archetypes. Every cult member was a product of creation by the Selenar gene-wrights according to formulae crafted in the Dark Age of Technology. Resurrected in body time and time again they sought to distill the true personification of a single human archetype. In their subterranean complexes the cults were powerful, insular and resistant to the Imperial Truth. The Imperials would have normally dealt with these insular cults in the usual matter they handled all of the other Terran factions and techno-barbarian states that refused to accept the rule of the Emperor of Mankind -- by obliteration. The fact that the Selenar gene-cults had something that the growing Imperium needed complicated such action. The Selenar responded to the Imperial entreaties for alliance with silence. As the threats of the Imperium soon began to outnumber its offers, the Selenar cults began to gird themselves for war. So it was that the Emperor finally ordered Luna to be pacified by the sword, their superstitious beliefs cast down before the Imperial Truth and their gene-craft yoked to the needs of the Imperium. To this task the Emperor set three of his newborn Space Marine Legions most suited to this purpose on what some Imperial chroniclers name as the first true battle of the Great Crusade. The combined force of the VII, XIII and XVI Legions (later named the Imperial Fists, Ultramarines and Luna Wolves) lifted from the surface of Terra in a scattering of rocket flame. The as yet unnamed XVI Legion had been chosen to serve as the Space Marine force's vanguard, and had brought its full strength to bear. Cutting power to their assault craft, the Astartes of the XVI Legion drifted silently towards Luna through the void like arrows fired into the night. As the smaller wave of assault craft belonging to the VII and XIII Legions approached the airless world, the Selenar defensive weapon systems embedded in Luna's surface lashed the oncoming Imperial force. The XVI Legion's assault craft, unlooked for and unseen, struck their targets like a dagger in the night. Within six hours of the first shot being fired, Luna had been pacified and brought into Imperial Compliance, the first off-world conquest of the Imperium of Man. Faced with annihilation, the surviving Selenar cultists bent the knee instead, their surrender communique transmitted to Terra calling for the Emperor to "call off his wolves". Broken and humbled, the enslaved gene-wrights of Luna would help forge the next generation of Space Marine who would carry out Mankind's conquest of the stars. As for the XVI Legion, they had earned their name -- the Luna Wolves.The Unheard War (ca. 798.M30) - This terrible conflict was fought in the Azurite Stations of Uranus in the days before the Great Crusade broke the bounds of the Sol System. Named for the corroded blue of the inner surfaces of their hulls, the Azurite Stations were a linked crescent of void citadels. Having cast off the rule of bloody-handed princelings, madmen and prophets several centuries before the coming of the Great Crusade, the Azurites had become a community of artisans and near-space scavengers. Despite their independence, the Azurites greeted the Emperor's convoy courteously and agreed to kneel to Imperial authority. The newly Compliant Azurites were turned to fuelling the ever-hungry machine of the Great Crusade. Significant numbers of their civilisation were inducted into the crews of the expanding fleet and their unique technology began to flow into the hands of Great Crusade forces. But soon the Azurites faced their doom at the hand of an ancient enemy in the form of the Solar Pirates -- remnants of a confederation of Renegades comprised of vile mutants, witchery and abomination who had risen to power as the Age of Strife broke. Scornful of the Imperium, and fearing its might, they circled the new-born realm like jackals at the edge of the firelight, and as the bulk of the Emperor's forces were sucked into the spiraling wars for Neptune's moons, the pirate clans' hunger finally overcame their prudence. The Azurite Stations were set upon by the Solar Pirates and their station's defences were torn apart and the Azurites screamed into the void, calling on their new masters to help them. Though focused elsewhere, the Imperium was not deaf to the violation of part of its newly claimed domains. In answer to the cries of the Azurites, it sent the Imperial Fists Legion. When they arrived, a squadron of heavily-gunned system craft bored its way through the sphere of pirate ships and launched Assault Craft into the beleaguered station. Fifty Imperial Fists disgorged into the battle-filled passages of the void station and quickly broke the first wave of pirate hoarders. Within an hour they had configured the station's defences and depleted garrison into a bulwark which broke three more pirate assaults. The pirates, sensing defeat, cut their losses and ran back into the dark to lick their wounds. They did not flee, though, without one final parting act of spite. In a last suicidal attack, a ship broke through the Imperial lines and fired three boarding torpedoes at the station. One made it through -- damaged but still intact -- and deposited a wizened man with no eyes, fingers or ears. He spoke one word, "Silence". Only then did the Azurites who found him realise that he had no tongue. He had released an ancient psy-plague, known as the "The Screaming", that was thought eradicated during the Unification Wars since the Emperor's rise to power. As the psy-plague gripped the Azurite Stations, the fifty Imperial Fists knew that they stood alone against a threat which could wound the Great Crusade itself. As one they deafened themselves, and having reduced their world to silence, they fought their way through the maddened waves of infected Azurites. They could not allow the psy-plague to escape the confines of the void stations. All it would take is one person, one cry across a Vox heard beyond the station and the Screaming would spread. The fifty Imperial Fists ordered their warships to withdraw, renewed their oaths and went to meet their deaths. Setting the reactors to overload, the handful of remaining Legionaries transmitted one final message, telling the Imperium of what they had done and why. A solar hour later, the reactors detonated. Within hours of receiving the last message from the Azurite Stations, fleets of ships and forces from the newly expanded Space Marine Legions were sent to hunt down the pirates. A solar month later, all that existed of the Solar Pirates were gutted wrecks and corpses floating in the airless night. The Screaming was never visited on Mankind again, and it is said that when the Emperor heard of the sacrifice of the fifty Imperial Fists, He ordered the newly-raised Bell of Lost Souls in the Imperial Palace tolled for the first time.Consus Drift Compliance (ca. 800.M30) - The Consus Drift was a belt of stellar debris which lay in the dark between stars close to the Sol System. Stranded far away from the warmth of suns or the life sustaining cycles of planets, it was nonetheless home to billions of humans who had been stranded there for millennia, caught in the Warp tides, whirpools and flats of dead calm. The Mirror Race was such a pattern, and voidships caught in it were flung through its turbulence to emerge in the Consus Drift. Those who had been stranded in this region of space had managed to build a civilisation grown from lost souls -- vast strings of asteroid cities lay across the Consus Drift, connected together by tunnels made from the metal entrails of shipwrecks. Willow limbed, black eyed and pale skinned, the people of the sprawling archipelago were divided into warring Drift Clans, who continuously fought one another for salvage, territory and resources. The Imperium discovered the Consus Drift by accident, when the 3rd Expeditionary Fleet, under the command of the Imperial Fists, was caught in the Mirror Race and thrown into that region. As the fleet rolled in the void, damaged and confused, the Drift Clans attacked. Though severely outmatched, this was not totally true, for the archipelago of void cities mounted weapons scavenged over thousands of solar years. More significantly, the Drift Clans were schooled and blooded in the brutal arts of void warfare. The first assault waves hit the most damaged vessels and battles swarmed through the Imperial warships even as they tried to return fire, but even as the Drift Clans made progress, they met the first of the Imperial Fists and the battle changed. The Imperial Fists counterattacked, driving the Driftborn from their ships, and then continued their assault by launching gunships, boarding torpedoes and breaching pods into the void cities. Battering their way into the heart of each city, the Imperial Fists stopped only when their hands held the controls of the cities' life support systems. Across every Vox channel and speaker, the commander of the Imperial Fists gave the people of the Consus Drift an ultimatum: Imperial Compliance or extermination. The Clan Warriors immediately surrendered. The 3rd Expeditionary Fleet left after repairs were made, but not before the Imperial Fists had taken the youngest and strongest male warriors of each of the Drift Clans. Of those who survived initiation into the VII Legion, all were inducted into a single unit; the 356th Company. Over the next century, the 356th Company's reputation for excellence in out-hull void warfare and starship assaults was without peer, and the clustered star heraldry and tradition of elaborate full body tattoos amongst their warriors still speaks to the traditions of the ancient clans of the Consus Drift.Praxil Reblllion (800s.M30) - When the worlds of the Praxil System were first discovered, the Imperium was pleased by the prospect of adding them to the Imperium. Though bringing Praxil into Imperial Compliance would bring the Imperium great renown, this formidable civilisation refused to bend the knee to the light of the Imperial Truth, and instead was prepared to fight to maintain its independence. Its warfleet was formidable, and managed to push back the initial invasion of the Imperial Expeditionary Fleet. The Imperium wanted Praxil's wealth and resources to harness to the needs of the Great Crusade, and so the securing of Praxil fell to an Army-Group-sized force of the Emperor's Children, supported by selected elements of the Imperial Army and the forces of the Mechanicum. But the initial campaign did not go well, as the Imperial forces sustained severe casualties and faced opposition at every turn, despite changing their tactics. Too prideful to ask for help, the War Council of Terra sent a force of Blood Angels and Imperial Fists to assist. the beleaguered Imperial forces. Despite his misgivings and slight to his personal honour, the Lord Commander accepted his cousin Legions' assistance and immediately drew up plans for prosecuting the second offensive against the Praxil. With their combined strength, the Imperial forces launched a successful second offensive against the Praxil that soon saw an Imperial victory.Pacification of Schravaan (ca. 850s.M30) - This was a joint Imperial Compliance action conducted by the Imperial Fists, Iron Warriors, Emperor's Children and the Luna Wolves Legions against the xenos Badoon on the world of Schravaan. The Iron Warriors won a great victory when they stormed the final refuge of the Badoon. They breached the defences and held while the other Legions carried the city beyond. During the following victory feast, Horus proclaimed Perturabo the greatest master of siege warfare in the Great Crusade. Fulgrim, the Primarch of the Emperor's Children then inquired to his brother Rogal Dorn whether he thought even the defences of the Imperial Palace could resist an assault by the Iron Warriors, in which Dorn replied that he regarded the defences as being proof against any assault if well-planned. Perturabo flew into a rage and unleashed unfounded accusations against his brother. After this the two rarely spoke, and their Legions would not serve in the same campaign for the remainder of the Great Crusade.Two Wars of Araneus (Mid 800s.M30) - The worlds of the Araneus Continuity were a series of planets close to the Sol System which had maintained links to one another due to the existence of a series of ancient Warp Gates of unknown origins. Ruled by a caste of Technobility from the world of Araneus Prime at the heart of the network of Warp Gates, the Continuity was a kingdom of iron and hungering industry. Contact between the Imperium and this pocket of humanity occurred by accident. A lost squadron of warships returning from the Gehenial Prosecution was forced from the Warp into one of the Continuity's peripheral star systems. Before they could jump back into the Warp, the squadron was surrounded, boarded, and overwhelmed by cybernetically-grafted warriors. The cries of the squadron's Astropaths echoed through the Immaterium, and far away the Imperium heard and turned its gaze upon the worlds of the Araneus Continuity. An envoy fleet was sent, and was allowed to return bearing the Continuity's answer to the Emperor's demand of fealty. The Technobility flatly refused to bow to the Emperor, but instead invited Him to join their empire as a tributary. For its response, the Imperium turned to the Imperial Fists. It fell to Hashin Yonnad, Commander of the 39th Household (Chapter) of Inwit, to prosecute the war. A superlative warrior, Yonnad was reckoned by many to be one of the Imperium's greatest strategists. Called upon many times as a fleet commander and siege master, he planned meticulously and executed his plans with brutal swiftness. Marshalling his fleet at Tallarn, thousands of warships carrying over 20,000 Imperial Fists, alongside millions of troops of the Imperial Army and the Mechanicum launched their assault upon the unsuspecting systems of the Araneus. Within two solar months the Continuity was reduced to the single core world of Araneus Prime. Their empire cut from around them, the Technobility in their iron towers looked to the night sky and saw the darkness stolen by the light of the Imperial fleet. They surrendered then, and the sun rose the next day on the seat of another stellar empire brought to Imperial Compliance. But even as the Imperium moved in to claim their prize, the worlds of the Araneus Continuity were beset by an unknown menace. A few accounts speak of a darkness deeper than the void, of living lightning and flame-wreathed chrome. Six star systems of the Continuity burned, their stars igniting to terrible life before crumbling to cold embers. Commander Yonnad made the terrible decision to defend only some of the worlds, otherwise they would lose all. As the unknown enemy appeared in system after system, they met the Imperial Fists. As more of the enemy came, the Imperial Fists detonated warheads they had attached to each Warp Gate. Without their gates, the unknown enemies simply vanished. Their advance had been halted on Araneus Prime when its gate exploded. All but one of the systems of the Continuity had died, and at the cost of thousands of Imperial Fists and billions of humans Araneus Prime survived, but barely. The death of the Warp Gate and the cluster of xenos craft which had penetrated the Imperial Fists' lines had changed the shape of the planet. Its surface had been ravaged by unnatural fire, its world-city cracked and rendered to dust and ash, from which the shattered roots of its great towers rose like broken teeth. Looking upon the charred remains taken from the pyre, the Imperium gave it a new name, one that echoed with a world brought to the threshold of death but still lived -- Necromunda they called it.Battle of Rennimar (865.M30) - This was a massive Imperial Compliance conducted by the Imperial Fists Legion against the massive Ork WAAAGH! of the Over-Tyrant of Grel in the Rennimar System, who himself, was already under siege by both the Death Guard and Space Wolves Legions. Rogal Dorn, alongside Captain Archamus, the commander of his Huscarl Honour Guard, led a force of 10,000 Imperial Fists against the greenskin forces. Typical of the VII Legion, they established heavy-walled bulwarks on the planet Rennimar, which enticed the Orks to hurl themselves and futilely smash against the Imperial Fists' stalwart defences. This enabled the Legiones Astartes to utterly crush their xenos foes.Defence of Necromunda (900s.M30) - At some unknown date later in the Great Crusade, the Imperial Fists won a major victory against the Orks upon the ash wastes of the Hive World of Necromunda. The Hive Lords consented to recruits being drawn from their population in gratitude and a Fortress-Chapel was duly consecrated, but the Imperial Fists continued to refuse to accept any special rights on the worlds where their Legion recruited. Throughout the Great Crusade they refused to garrison or claim tithes of newly conquered worlds, instead opting to remain a military unit with none of the responsibilities that came with ruling a single homeworld.Battle of Gyros-Thravian (900s.M30) - The Battle of Gyros-Thravian was a massive joint Imperial Compliance action carried out by three Space Marine Legions, composed of the Luna Wolves, Death Guard and Imperial Fists against the extremely powerful Ork Warboss Gharkul Blackfang, one of the most powerful Ork warlords ever encountered up until that time. Despite the strength arrayed against the vile Greenskin, it were the Imperial forces who were soon on the verge of defeat. It was then that the Emperor Himself, aboard His flagship Bucephelus, came to the aid of His sons. He personally led a force composed of 1,000 Legio Custodes into the heart of the mighty Ork horde. Blackfang was confronted by the Emperor and killed atop his Gargant while the Custodians proceeded to lay waste to the rest of the Greenskin horde. The Custodians accounted for the slaughter of the Orks, slaying over 100,000 of the savage xenos, with the loss of only three Custodians. Following their momentous victory, the Emperor commemorated the Custodians' sacrifice by engraving the names of the three fallen Custodians into His own personal power armour.Pacification of the Cheraut System (984.M30) - This was an Imperial Compliance action during the Great Crusade jointly conducted by Astartes from the Imperial Fists, Night Lords and Emperor's Children Legions. As the Primarch of the Night Lords Legion suffered from one of his violent fits, Primarch Fulgrim rushed to Konrad Curze's aid. The Night Lords Primarch confided to his brother of the dire visions that he had seen; his death at the hands of their father, that many of the Primarchs would die fighting amongst themselves, and that the light the Emperor brought to his homeworld of Nostramo would destroy it forever. Troubled by these dire portents, Fulgrim confided in his brother Rogal Dorn. Dorn took exception to this slight on the Emperor's name and confronted Curze. Shortly thereafter, Dorn was found unconscious and bleeding with great gouges of flesh ripped away from his torso. Crouching above his fallen brother was the pallid form of the Night Haunter, weeping. Wracked with self-loathing and guilt, Curze was taken into custody and exiled to his chambers, while his brother Primarchs discussed what actions to take against their deeply disturbed brother. Hours later, when the council of primarchs finally disbanded, they found Night Haunter missing and the Imperial Fists' honour guard watching over him butchered. By the time the Primarchs gave chase, Night Haunter had already disappeared with his Legion into the Warp.World Prince Campaign (999.M30) - This was one of the final campaigns fought by the Imperial Fists during the waning years of the Great Crusade upon an unnamed Hive World against a non-Compliant civilisation ruled over by a monarch known as the World-Prince. Initially, the World-Prince had refused to surrender to the Imperium and stubbornly resisted the efforts of the Imperial Fists led by Rogal Dorn himself. The Imperial Fists systematically fought one hive at time, and were making slow, by study progress, until the Alpha Legion arrived unexpectedly. Informing their fellow Legion that they were there as allies, the Alpha Legion immediately began to begin operations against the intransigent world. Though no Alpha Legion warriors were encountered by the Imperial Fists during the campaign on the ground, their signature passing was abundantly clear, as soon, uprisings and coups began to erupt across the remaining hives, which threw the beleaguered world into absolute anarchy. This culminated in the assassination of the World-Prince's entire family by native human assassins, believed to be Spartoi operatives working for the Alpha Legion, as each assassin was someone who was close to their target. At least 401 members of the planet's ruling family were killed, and in the bloody aftermath, the World-Prince was a broken man. He eventually surrendered before Rogal Dorn personally, as he believed that the Primarch was responsible for the misery that had been visited upon him. In the aftermath of this campaign, Rogal Dorn confronted Alpharius in the World-Prince's throneroom. Accompanied by his closest lieutenants, First Captain Ingo Pech and Kel Silonius, he attempted to obfuscate his true identity. However, Dorn was able to correctly guess his identity, as he threw a punch towards the Legionary sitting in the World-Princes's throne, who was able to block it with his Primarch-like reflexes and strength. Dorn then proceeded to dress down his upstart sibling and scolded him for his deceitful way of waging war. He ordered Alpharius to cease all operations on the planet and to pull out his Legion. Alpharius calmly replied that the Emperor had created him to wage war in this way, as was true with Dorn and all their other Primarch siblings. After criticising the Imperial Fists' seemingly ineffective methods of waging war, Dorn proceeded to lay out the Alpha Legion's entire plan and poked holes in its overall effectiveness before leaving his brother's presence, in disgust.Onassis Campaign (Unknown Date. M30) - The Imperial Fists spearhead the Onassis offensive during the Great Crusade, capturing dozens of star systems for the Imperium.Battle of Phall (007.M31) - During the Horus Heresy, at the command of the Warmaster Horus, a large Iron Warriors contingent was sent to halt the encroaching Imperial Fists Retribution Fleet that had originally been sent to Istvaan III to reinforce the beleaguered Loyalists. However, the Retribution Fleet had proven unable to reach its destination due to the Warp Storms created by the Chaos Gods to prevent Imperial reinforcements from reaching the Istvaan System. As such, the Retribution Fleet, containing approximately one-third of the Imperial Fists Legion's total forces, had established itself within the nearby Phall System while it waited for the Warp currents to stabilise. The Traitors could not allow such a strong complement of Loyalist Astartes to infiltrate the area of space under their control, for they could seriously disrupt preparations for the attack on Terra. Commanding hundreds of warships, the Primarch Perturabo led his fleet in a sudden and devastating attack upon the Imperial Fists fleet. Over a dozen vessels were ripped apart by the brutal hail of fire from the Traitor vessels. The Imperial Fists fought back, devastating the lead ships of the Iron Warriors' fleet, tearing them apart in a vicious firestorm. The Loyalists gained the initiative in what would be remebered as the Battle of Phall and managed to repel the Traitors' surprise attack, despite severe losses at the start of the engagement. Unfortunately, at that same time, the Retribution Fleet's Astropaths managed to make contact with Terra and received a direct order from Rogal Dorn recalling the Retribution Fleet to Terra to prepare the defences of the Imperial Palace. Launching a counterattack, the Imperial Fists drove off the embattled Traitor fleet and managed to break orbit and manoeuvre to their jump points, where they entered the Warp and made for Terra.Mezoan Campaign (008.M31) - Unable to prevent the conquest of the Manachean Commonwealth by the troops of the Warmaster Horus, small bands of Imperial Fists survivors, mostly drawn together from different garrisons within the Commonwealth, find their way to the beleaguered Loyalist Forge World of Mezoa. Stranded there, a demi-company sized detachment of Imperial Fists would valiantly fight alongside the obscure fraction known as the Disciples of the Flame -- a splinter-fleet of the shattered XVIII Legion -- to oppose the invasion of the Forge World by troops of the Alpha Legion, the Iron Warriors and Dark Mechanicum Taghmata forces of the Forge World of M'Pandex. The Third Siege of Mezoa is believed to be the first clash between the Imperial Fists and their rivals, the Iron Warriors Legion, during a properly conducted siege. Whilst the Iron Warriors established a fortified beachhead for the Traitor armada to land its troops, it was the Imperial Fists that counterattacked first, losing one of their heroes, Veteran Sergeant Valtus Moran, in the process. Through the intercession of Cassian Vaughn, the former Legion Master of the XVIII Legion before it was reunited with its Primarch Vulkan, the Iron Warriors would ultimately repudiate their oath to the Warmaster and turn upon their former allies of the Alpha Legion, thus securing an Imperial victory.Sangraal Campaign and the Salvation Run (009.M31) - A hand-picked Imperial Fists assault force despatched from Terra launches a daring raid to capture the antidote to a slow-burning Exterminatus-class viral weapon deployed against the Loyalist holdfast of Gramercie on the contested Hive World of Herkaliaum. After recovering the antidote stocks from the Traitor Mechanicum-Bioligis gene-labs, the heavily outnumbered Imperial Fists then fight their way through massed Traitor forces, running a deadly gauntlet through the underhives of Herkaliaum to deliver the antidote to Loyalist medicae detachments, thus saving the population of the Gramercie sub-hive. Viral overspill ravages the Traitor forces now unable to contain or cure the contagion in their own ranks, and within weeks, Herkaliaum is liberated. The legend of the "Salvation Run" becomes a rallying cry for Loyalist support in the sector, turning the Sangraal Campaign in the Loyalists' favour and cementing their hold on the Segmentum Solar.Battle of Pluto (010.M31) - The Alpha Legion carried out multiple diversionary attacks of sabotage and preparation, which plunged the Sol System into complete chaos. Their true target however, was the fortress moon of Hydra, which orbits Pluto. First Captain Sigismund and a small fleet of Imperial Fists stubbornly defended Pluto against the larger Alpha Legion fleet until help arrived, in the form of the Phalanx and a large fleet of Imperial Fists and Armada Imperialis warships. At the height of the battle, Lord Rogal Dorn led an assault on the fortress moon and confronted his brother Primarch Alpharius and engaged him in melee combat. Alpharius was killed by Dorn, and the Alpha Legion forces were forced to withdraw.Solar War (010-015.M31) - The battle for the Sol System, long threatened, began as infiltration forces and probing raids from without, and Mechanicum attacks and attempted break-outs from besieged Dark Mechanicum Traitors on Mars tested the defences of the Throneworld of Humanity. Conflict within the system was not concluded until the eventual lifting of the Siege of Terra.Siege of Terra (014.M31) - After the infamous Drop Site Massacre on the world of Istvaan V, the Imperial Fists' Primarch Rogal Dorn was charged by the Emperor through Malcador the Sigillite to prepare the defences of Terra and the Emperor's Imperial Palace. Rogal Dorn personally oversees the fortifying of Terra after Horus' betrayal comes to light, although various elements of the Imperial Fists still participate in numerous actions across the galaxy against the Traitors. When the Warmaster and his traitorous forces eventually reached the cradle of Mankind, Dorn and his Legion were ready to meet them. In the closing days of the Horus Heresy, the Warmaster Horus and his Traitor Legions attacked Terra, the seat of the Emperor's Imperium of Man, in a final attempt to overthrow his father and usurp the throne for himself. During the Battle of Terra the Imperial Fists, Blood Angels and White Scars were the three Loyalist Space Marine Legions that helped defend the Imperial Palace from the hordes of Chaos. Three entire Titan Legions of the Adeptus Mechanicus and close to 2 million soldiers of the Imperial Army stood alongside the Loyalist Astartes to face the Traitors in a battle that would determine the fate of Mankind for the next 10,000 standard years. After nearly two months of constant siege, the Warmaster made one last gamble and lowered the Void Shields of his flagship, the Vengeful Spirit. Taking advantage of this opening, the Emperor, a cadre of Legio Custodes, the Primarchs Rogal Dorn and Sanguinius and a force of Imperial Fists and Blood Angels Astartes teleported aboard the Warmaster's Battle Barge. It fell to Dorn to discover the bodies of the Emperor, Horus and Sanguinius after the final drama had run its course. He returned the mortally wounded Emperor to His palace. Following the Master of Mankind's final instructions, Dorn helped inter his father within the Golden Throne, where the Emperor has sat for the last ten millennia.Great Scouring (ca. 014-021.M31) - Following the end of the Horus Heresy, Dorn became an avenging son. Whilst the Ultramarines Legion maintained order within the battle-scarred Imperium, the Imperial Fists hunted down the Traitor Legions, leveling fortress after fortress during the Imperial campaign of vengeance against the Forces of Chaos known as the Great Scouring. Dorn led his Imperial Fists, dressed in the black of mourning, his customary mercy set aside until the guilty were punished. Whilst others shaped the new Imperium, Dorn immersed himself in implacable justice. Rogal Dorn remained absent from the highest councils until he was summoned back to Terra when Roboute Guilliman presented his Codex Astartes as the future of the Space Marines.The Iron Cage (Unknown Date.M31) - Upon the world of Sebastus IV the traitorous Iron Warriors, bitter archenemies of the Imperial Fists, laid an ingenious trap to ensnare Rogal Dorn and his Legion. Heedless of the inherent danger, the Primarch ordered the Imperial Fists to attack the Iron Warriors' Eternal Fortress -- later referred to as the Iron Cage by the surviving Imperial Fists. The battle should have favoured the treacherous trench-fighters of the Iron Warriors, but the Imperial Fists endured. For all their skill and ferocity, as devotees of Chaos the Iron Warriors lacked the faith to make the ultimate sacrifice that victory demanded. While they paused, the Ultramarines intervened; Guilliman had decided that Perturabo's destruction was not worth the loss of Rogal Dorn and had brought his Astartes to drive off the Iron Warriors.Feast of Blades (Unknown Date.M31) - The first centennial Feast of Blades is held, bringing together the Imperial Fists and their Successor Chapters to ensure good continuing relations in the wake of the Codex's splitting of the Legion. The sons of Dorn meet, each Chapter selecting a Champion to compete in feats of strength, endurance and martial skill. The festival culminates in a sword duel between the two strongest competitors.1st Black Crusade (ca. 781.M31) - Abaddon the Despoiler, the new Warmaster of Chaos Undivided, made his first attempt to launch a new offensive against the Imperium of Man following the Horus Heresy, and when he unleashed the 1st Black Crusade and the First Battle of Cadia. Rogal Dorn "died" fighting aboard a Chaos Space Marine vessel after attacking a Chaos warfleet that emerged from the Eye of Terror and vastly outnumbered the Imperial defenders. Seeing the importance of attacking the enemy fleet whilst they were still preparing to invade Imperial space, Dorn relied on hit-and-run attacks until his reinforcements could arrive. Dorn "died" aboard the Chaotic Despoiler-class Battleship known as the Sword of Sacrilege after leading a desperate attack on its bridge. When Dorn and his elite Honour Guard stormed the bridge they were cut down to a man. Later, the Imperial Fists would pick up an escape pod from one of their own ships present at the battle, which contained the weapons and Power Armour of their beloved Primarch. The only sign of Dorn was a single skeletal fist that the Imperial Fists believed belonged to the Primarch. What fate ultimately befell Rogal Dorn, and whether he truly died or not, has yet to be determined with absolute certainty.The Rise of the Beast (544-546.M32) - The Imperial Fists fought on Ardamantua against a metallic insect-like xenos species called Chromes. During the battle, an Ork Attack Moon of the WAAAGH! of The Beast appeared in orbit, bringing thousands of Greenskins to the surface and using a mysterious gravitational technology to devastate the entire planet. The High Lords of Terra, including Drakan Vangorich, ordered the deployment of the entire Chapter on Ardamantua, but the Orks won the battle destroying both the Chromes and the Imperial Fists. There were only four survivors left from the entire Chapter. Three died while a team of Tech-priests tried to cure them, the last was Koorland, second Captain of the Daylight Wall Company. A large fleet of Imperial Navy vessels engaged an Ork Attack Moon at Port Sanctus. In the meantime, as the last surviving Imperial Fist, Koorland was now in effect the new Chapter Master. The "Last Son of Dorn", arranged a meeting between several of his fellow Scions of Dorn in the Phall System, which included representatives from the Black Templars, Crimson Fists, Excoriators and Fists Exemplar. Koorland invoked the "Last Wall Protocol", a contingency established by Rogal Dorn himself, that was only to be enacted in the event Terra was under grave threat, or perhaps had even fallen. Then all the Successor Chapters of the Imperial Fists Legion would come together to deal with the matter as one. Even if the Imperial Fists Chapter itself were to be destroyed, the other Successor Chapters of the old VII Legion would assume its duties. On Terra, tensions between the bickering High Lords of Terra threatened the stability of the Senatorum Imperialis. To make matters worse, another Ork Attack Moon appeared in orbit over the Throneworld itself. High Marshal Bohemond led his Black Templars Chapter in the attack alongside his fellow Scions of Dorn Successor Chapters against the Greenskins' massive Attack Moon in orbit over Terra. In the battle's aftermath, a tense meeting was held between the Last Wall Chapter Masters and the Lord Commander of the Imperium, Udin Macht Udo. The outspoken High Marshal expressed his disdain for both the squabbling and weak-willed High Lords of Terra as well as the Lord Commander. After Lord Commander Udo passed a motion to ban the Inquisition from the Senatorum, Koorland led a political coup in cooperation with several members of the Senatorum Imperialis. The Chapter Master was then named the new Lord Commander of the Imperium. Desperate to defeat The Beast, soon Koorland was told by the Inquisitorial Representative that the Salamanders' Primarch Vulkan, who disappeared nearly 1,500 years earlier, had been witnessed waging a one-man war against a massive Ork horde on the world of Caldera. The newly-appointed Lord Commander of the Imperium Koorland, led an expedition to the world to recruit the Primarch to fight against The Beast. He initially refused to join the Crusade, until he was able to save Caldera from destruction, honouring a vow he made long ago. With help from Koorland they were able to destroy an Ork Attack Moon in Caldera's orbit, thus averting catastrophe. After the world of Ullanor Prime was identified as where The Beast and his massive WAAAGH! originated from, Vulkan led the Crusade to Ullanor. Together, the Last Wall Chapters invaded The Beast's capital world, and assaulted the capital city of Gorkogrod, fighting alongside the Primarch. At the battle's conclusion, Vulkan charged into The Beast's massive temple-Gargant, intent on facing the Ork Warlord alone. During their epic confrontation, Vulkan slew The Beast and destroyed the temple-Gargant in a massive explosion, which seemed to obliterate both Vulkan and The Beast. Not long after, the situation drastically changed when the long-dormant Attack Moon over Terra reactivated. With its subspace gate repaired, a massive force of Ork reinforcements soon swarmed the Attack Moon, as The Beast, discovered to have survived the assault on Ullanor, announced that he would slaughter all of humanity. After Vulkan failed to slay The Beast on Ullanor, Koorland was instrumental in the creation of the Deathwatch, the future Chamber Militant of the Ordo Xenos intended to handle the most dangerous of xenos threats, despite the reluctance of the High Lords of Terra to give more power to the Adeptus Astartes. A Kill-team successfully teleported to the Attack Moon and reverse-engineered the Orks' subspace technology. The Adeptus Mechanicus was unable to master the Ork technology, and as a result, when they attempted to teleport the Attack Moon out of the Sol System, they inadvertently teleported only half of the massive Attack Moon, which caused the remaining half to shatter. The debris rained down upon Terra, with some of the flaming wreckage damaging the Imperial Palace. Undeterred, Koorland realised that in order to defeat The Beast and his WAAAGH!, they needed to counter the Greenskin's potent psykers. He followed a lead by the High Lords of Terra's Inquisitorial representative, Veritus, to the world of Nadriries, located in the far reaches of the Segmentum Pacificus. It was here, that the last forgotten bastion of the Sisters of Silence had remained for 1,500 years. When Lord Commander of the Imperium Koorland arrived, he found Nadiries under siege by the Orks, who feared the Pariah psyker-killers. Koorland led the effort to lift the siege, and once inside, he attempted to convince the reluctant Sisters to join him in his Crusade. The leader of the Sisters explained that they had been cast out by a distrustful Imperium, and although they were fiercely loyal to the Emperor and the Primarchs, they would rather see the now-corrupt Imperium burn, rather than aid it in its time of need. Koorland convinced the reluctant Sisters to join him only after he revealed that he had the blessing of the Primarch Vulkan himself. Devising a new plan to defeat The Beast, the Deathwatch captured several Ork psykers on Eidolica, Plaeos and Valhalla. Koorland intended to use the null effect of the anti-psyker Sisters of Silence to create a reverse-WAAAAGH! effect through the Ork psyche, and essentially decimate the Greenskin hordes of The Beast using their own power against them. Leading a massive Imperial Crusade during the Second Battle of Ullanor, Koorland's plan succeeded, but after his strike force barely slew the WAAAGH!'s leader, a larger, even more vicious Ork appeared. It was revealed that the creature Koorland killed, was in fact, one of six "Prime-Orks", each a Beast in its own right. After this revelation, Koorland was soon slain by the new Beast. Eventually the Greenskin forces of The Beast were defeated as the Imperium resorted to the most extreme measures, and at great cost to the Adeptus Astartes. At some point, it is believed that the Imperial Fists Chapter was reconstituted with Aspirants from the various Imperial Fists Successor Chapters and reserve VII Legion gene-seed stock from the ancient gene vaults on Terra.The Beheading (546.M32) - The byzantine politics of the Imperium took a calamitous turn when the High Lords of Terra are slain to a man at the orders of Drakan Vangorich, the Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum. This lamentable period of history comes to be known as "The Beheading." A Space Marine retribution force is drawn from the Imperial Fists, Halo Brethren and Sable Swords Chapters, who track the renegade Grand Master to an Assassinorum temple. The commander of the strike force is assassinated as soon as he makes planetfall, but the Brother Marines commence their attack nevertheless. Within the temple they are assailed by a hundred Eversor Assassins. A single Space Marine survives to reach the Grand Master and deliver the Emperor's judgement with his Bolter. The Imperium proceeds to descend into political anarchy for a time.Age of Apostasy (378.M36) - At the height of the Age of Apostasy, an elite Space Marine strike force composed of the Imperial Fists, Black Templars, Fire Hawks, Soul Drinkers, and the forces of the Adeptus Mechanicus assaulted the renegade High Lord Goge Vandire's seat of power -- the Ecclesiarchal Palace on Terra -- effectively ending Vandire's "Reign of Blood" and his attempts to assume dictatorial control of the Imperium.The Dawn Hammer (766.M37) - Strike Force Ultra Myriadon, led by the Captain of the Imperial Fists 1st Company, destroyed the Ork Space Hulk of Warboss Sunspitta in the early stages of the Orks' assault on the Imperial world of Rylan. The Strike Force Ultra landed on the cratered surface of the hulk and fought its way into the vessel's rusted heart before destroying its crackling power core. Captain Myriadon timed the explosion precisely to match Warboss Sunspitta's descent through the atmosphere of Rylan. The resulting meteor storm, created by the space hulk's demise, accounted for more than half of Sunspitta's army.Siege of Balle Alpha (755.M38) - When the Orks of WAAAGH! Gogard besiege the walled capital of Balle Alpha, they find themselves drastically outmatched. Bolstered by a detachment of Imperial Fists, the defenders inflict grievous losses upon the advancing greenskin horde and when a Blood Angels relief force arrives, the barbarous aliens' destruction is assured.The Blood of Khaine (585.M40) - Captain Lysander and the Imperial Fists' 2nd Company successfully board and capture the Eldar Cruiser Blood of Khaine.Siege of Haddrake Tor (659.M40) - The Imperial Fists take part in the three-year-long campaign to recover the world of Haddrake Tor from the clutches of Chaos. In the course of the campaign, the 1st Company's Captain Kleitus is mortally wounded, but passes on a Imperial Fists' relic, the Thunder Hammer known as the Fist of Dorn, and the command of the 1st Company to Darnath Lysander before his untimely death. The newly elevated Lysander leads the remaining Imperial Fists against the Chaos defenders, earning a glorious victory. On his return to the Phalanx, Lysander is formally elevated to Captain of the Chapter's 1st Company.Lost in the Warp (970.M40) - The Imperial Fists strike cruiser Shield of Valour is lost in the Warp, taking with it Captain Lysander and a bodyguard of 1st Company Veterans.102nd Feast of Blades (749.M41) - All twelve competing Chapters who are successors of the Imperial Fists Legion are in attendance at this year's Feast of Blades. The Iron Knights' champion, Hervald Strom, wins the competition after narrowly defeating the Imperial Fists' champion, Demitrius Valor, in a ritual duel.Saviours of Cadia (777.M41) - A sizable Black Legion warband exits the Eye of Terror. Cadian Shock Troops Imperial Guard regiments slow the Traitors' onslaught, but it takes a determined counter-attack from the Imperial Fists to throw the Chaos Space Marines back into the Warp.Conquest of Uttu Prime (Unknown Date.M41) - Nemesor Zahndrekh's ultimatum had given the Imperial defenders of Uttu Prime one solar month to withdraw, as was required by the ancient Necron codes of battle. Yet, when the deadline had passed, the foolish humans had not availed themselves of this most generous of offers. Indeed, whilst the Necron fleet held in intentional abeyance in orbit around Uttu Prime's desert moon, four regiments of the Imperial Guard's Catachan Jungle Fighters and three companies of Imperial Fists Space Marines had come to reinforce the contested world. So it was that when Zahndrekh finally launched his assault and began the campaign later known as the Conquest of Uttu Prime, he did so against a planet with formidable defences. However, when his courtiers argued against prosecuting the war to completion, the Nemesor merely issued a grating laugh and sent the interstitial command that set his fleet in motion. Zahndrekh initially ignored Uttu Prime's outlying cities, focussing his assault on Fort Anan, the planetary capital. Zahndrekh's first attack wave was a dozen squadrons of Doom Scythe fighter craft. They swarmed over Fort Anan's fortifications, death rays raising great furrows of twisted metal and stone as they ploughed through bastions, ferrocrete walls and the luckless human defenders therein. To their credit, the humans put up a spirited resistance. Hydra Flak Tanks and Defence Lasers scoured the skies, driving off or blasting apart many of the swarming Necron aircraft. Yet each time a Doom Scythe was destroyed, another immediately peeled off from the main group to exact vengeance. Soon, Fort Anan was stripped of aerial defences, and the landings began. Transport craft followed in the wake of the first attack wave. Night Scythes flew low over the wreckage of crashed Necron flyers and Imperial bastions. Small arms fire scattered across the Night Scythes' armoured hulls as their flickering teleportation invasion beams delivered Zahndrekh's assault troops into the heart of the humans' defences. Phalanx upon phalanx of Immortals and Necron Warriors stalked through the fresh ruins, Gauss Weapons blazing in unnaturally precise volleys as they drove the Catachans back. Here and there, an officer's barked orders held the Guardsmen in line, but where those commanders fell, the Imperial lines went into full retreat. It was as the attackers' lines reached the Planetary Governor's citadel that the Imperial Fists finally made their presence known. Thunderhawk gunships screamed through the skies, shredding the oncoming Necron Warriors with Heavy Bolter fire and blasting Immortals limb from limb with missile strikes. As the gunships touched down amongst the rubble to disgorge Space Marines into the fray, the Necrons shifted to defensive protocols and awaited reinforcements. Alas for the Imperial Fists; from his vantage point in orbit, Zahndrekh had marked the approach of the Thunderhawks long before they had made their presence known planetside. Thus, even as the roar of Bolter-fire echoed through Fort Anan's ruins, a shadow fell over the battlefield as the massive Necron Megalith descended. The Megalith was no ordinary war engine, but a vast floating fortress. Green fire lanced out from its flanks, blasting Thunderhawks from the air or crippling them on the ground. As the shadow grew larger, chunks of the Megalith's understructure broke away, the blocks falling lazily to the ground. They were no mere wreckage, but Monoliths detaching from the mothership's hull. As each touched down, it added firepower to the barrage assailing the Imperial Fists. The Space Marines must have determined that they were doomed, but duty and stubborn tenacity made them redouble their efforts. Lascannon and Multi-melta fire flickered through the ruins, the beams converging to pierce the Monoliths' necrodermis hulls. Assault Squads threw themselves at the Necron phalanxes, Chainsword teeth screaming as they ripped through living metal bodies. However, the Megalith was now close enough to the ground to bring its invasion beams into play. Ghoulish viridian light flickered over the battlefield as the teleport beams activated, delivering Doomsday Arks, legions of Necron Immortals, as well as Zahndrekh and his personal Lychguard, into the thick of battle. Those Space Marines that yet survived now withdrew to the Planetary Governor's citadel, but three Doomsday Arks converged their fire on the great adamantium gate. For a handful of moments it glowed an angry red, then burst into fragments with an ear-splitting crack. As the Imperial Fists fell back deeper into the citadel, Zahndrekh raised his Warscythe in salute to the doomed foe. Then the scythe swept down and the Nemesor led his triumphant army of the undying through the ruined gate. Shortly thereafter, Fort Anam had fallen. The rest of Uttu Prime would soon follow, and another world would be added to the territory of Gidrim -- and the growing personal domain of Nemesor Zahndrekh.Tyros Gulf Campaign (830.M41) - The Imperial Fists' Chapter Master, Vladimir Pugh, leads two-thirds of his Battle-Brothers into the Tyros Gulf to retake a string of worlds conquered by Rogal Dorn during the Great Crusade and subsequently lost to the Imperium during the Horus Heresy. Illic Nightspear, an Eldar of Craftworld Alaitoc, launches a surprise attack against the Imperial Fists on the world of Lobas. Pugh is only saved from a sniper's bullet when the Chapter Champion, Demitrius Valor, heroically sacrifices himself. The Eldar are forced to withdraw shortly thereafter, when the Imperial Fists' 6th Company deploy via Stormraven to reinforce their Chapter Master's position.103rd Feast of Blades (849.M41) - Despite suffering heavy wounds in the Vinculus Crusade, Hervald Strom emerges triumphant once more. Never before has one Chapter, let alone one champion, prevailed in two successive Feasts of Blades.Krandor Rebellion (853.M41) - The Krandor Rebellion escalates when Alpha Legion forces arrive and the Planetary Defence Forces crumble. The Imperial Fists, Fire Lords and Revilers launch a counterattack to secure vital Imperial artefacts before Exterminatus is declared.104th Feast of Blades (949.M41) - The ravages of war dictate that only eight Chapters are in attendance at this year's Feast of Blades, but the tradition is still observed. Supremacy is tied between the Imperial Fists and Crimson Fists Chapters when their nominated champions simultaneously ram their swords through each other's primary heart in a closely fought duel.The Siege of Fort Mork (955.M41) - The Imperial Fists' 4th and 9th Companies lay siege to the Ork mega-stronghold of Fort Mork, and are nearly overwhelmed when thousands of Orks pour out of the gates to meet them. As one, the Imperial Fists level their weapons and lay down a withering hail of fire, every shot punching an Ork off its feet. The horde finally breaks after three days of throwing themselves at the Fists' lines, only to be annihilated by the combined fire of a dozen Thunderfire Cannons before they can reach the safety of their fortress.A Hero Returns (963-966.M41) - The Imperial Fists' vessel Shield of Valour re-enters normal space after being lost in the Warp for nearly a millennium, only to be disabled by the firepower of three Iron Warriors orbital fortresses above the Daemon World of Malodrax. Captain Lysander and his bodyguard are captured, taken back to the Iron Warriors' fortress and tortured by the Chaos forces. It is several solar months before Lysander and his fellows, with no armour or weapons, manage to escape and find their way back to the Chapter, which had long since accepted their deaths. Lysander spends nearly a standard year undergoing ruthless tests of his identity and purity before being reinstated as Captain of the 1st Company.Scouring of Malodrax (966.M41) - The 1st Company's Captain Darnath Lysander leads the Imperial Fists to the Chaotic fortress-world of Malodrax and successfully scours their ages-old enemies, the traitorous Iron Warriors, from the planet.Khai-Zhan Uprising (968.M41) - The Imperial Fists 5th and 9th Companies are deployed alongside four Cadian Imperial Guard Regiments to the world of Khai-Zhan to suppress the heretical Khai-Zhan Uprising against Imperial authority. The Imperial Fists force is instrumental in countering the warband of Night Lords Chaos Space Marines taking part in the uprising, laying siege to the heavily fortified citadel called the Palace of Peace at the heart of the continent-sized capital city, Vogen. Famous for their siegecraft, even the Imperial Fists find the dense city fighting especially brutal and the heavily defended palace difficult to crack.Ghallamore Cleansing (975.M41) - The daemon legions of the Daemon Prince Skulltaker overrun the world of Ghallamore. The 2nd Company of the Imperial Fists join forces with Brother-Captain Arvann Stern and his Grey Knights Brotherhood to scour the planet of the daemonic taint.Relief of Rynn's World (990.M41) - The Imperial Fists, alongside elements from half a dozen other Space Marine Chapters, arrive upon Rynn's World to aid their beleaguered brethren, the Crimson Fists, against an Ork invasion.Nimbosa Crusade (993.M41) - The Imperial Fists took part in the Nimbosa Crusade alongside one of their Successor Chapters, the Black Templars, reclaiming the Imperial world of Nimbosa from the encroaching T'au Empire.Defence of Miral II (997.M41) - Captain Lysander and his battle group intercept a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan on the world of Miral II. The Imperial Fists establish a series of fortifications in time to meet the Tyranid onslaught, holding firm against constant attack by overwhelming numbers of Tyranid bioforms. Tactical and Devastator Squads rain fire upon the swarm whilst Lysander leads 1st Company Veterans to bolster the battle-line wherever the Tyranids are on the verge of breaking through. Though the Imperium's tacticae predict the Imperial Fists can hold out for no more than six solar days, they stoically fight on until the last Tyranid dies to Bolter fire at the walls of Bastion XVII on the seventh, and final, day of the war.Second Siege of Hyrdra Cordatus (565.999.M41) - The Imperial Fists 3rd Company suffers shocking casualties holding the Adeptus Mechanicus world of Hydra Cordatus against the hated Iron Warriors. In time, every one of the defenders is slaughtered and the Iron Warriors claim a tithe of precious, uncorrupted Imperial Fists gene-seed which they will use to replenish their dwindling numbers.13th Black Crusade (995.999.M41) - The battle barge Storm of Wrath spearheads the Imperial Fists' fleet, carrying no less than five companies to strike at the Iron Warriors fortresses on the Daemon World of Medrengard as Abaddon the Despoiler launches his 13th Black Crusade. The Imperial Fists then arrived at the Cadian Gate as part of the massive Adeptus Astartes reinforcement of the region, its five companies smashing into the forces of the Archenemy at Cadia as soon as contact was made. After an initial void engagement that saw the Chapter's Battle Barges and Strike Cruisers take a fearsome toll on the Chaos warfleet besieging the Cadia System, three of the companies carried out a combat drop on Cadia itself, while the other two dispersed to bolster the defences in surrounding sectors, including reinforcing the Iron Hands Chapter at their homeworld of Medusa. The 1st, 2nd and elements of the 3rd Companies were instrumental in the defence of key points on Cadia, manning the walls of a number of fortresses with the steadfast resolution for which they are famed throughout the Imperium. In these actions, the 2nd Company was noted for exceptional acts of gallantry, overcoming a horde of mutants from the notorious Stigmatus Covenant Chaos Cult that numbered almost 10,000 traitorous fanatics. At the height of the assault on the walls of Kasr Vasan, the company commander, Captain Tialo, gave his life holding a breach in the fortifications, repelling a mob of mutants numbering several hundred before succumbing to the terrible wounds inflicted upon him. The Captain's body refused to die, however, and was held in stasis by the Chapter's Techmarines, who hoped to inter it within the mighty form of a Dreadnought so that the renowned warrior might continue to battle the forces of darkness beyond the death of his mortal body.Battle for the Phalanx (995.999.M41) - The Phalanx, the brutish supervessel the Imperial Fists use in lieu of the Fortress-Monastery, was in orbit around Terra when the Iron Warriors Warsmith Shon'tu and his Daemonic allies emerged from a Warp rift in the vast warship's heart. Battle erupted as the newly-forged Imperial Fists 3rd Company, under the command of newly promoted Captain Garadon, fought to repel the boarders; their Bolter fire booming through the corridors but ultimately failing to halt the onslaught of the Daemon Prince Be'lakor. Shon'tu headed for the gun decks, intending to use the mighty vessel's continent-wrecking firepower to assail the Imperial Palace upon Terra's surface. Without enough men enough to stop him, the Imperial Fists made an emergency translation into the Warp , and battle was joined once more as the Phalanx plunged through the screaming tides of the Empyrean. Just as it looked like the infested vessel might be lost, the lower decks were suddenly awash with spectral fire that burned back the daemons capering in its corridors. When the fire faded, an unprecedented number of the Legion of the Damned stamped through the star fortress' iron corridors, pitilessly exterminating those daemons that survived their initial attack. The Imperial Fists, prepared to fight to the last man if necessary, took heart and launched a spirited counterattack on Shon'tu's forces. Aided by the Legion of the Damned, the Imperial Fists emerge victorious. Garadon and the remnants of his force set a course to Cadia, where, despite their best efforts -- including destroying the Blackstone Fortress Will of Eternity -- the world falls to Abaddon's assault. The battered Phalanx is instrumental in the final evacuation of Cadia's survivors.Terran Crusade (ca. 999.M41) - An Imperial Fists strike force aids the rescue of the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman after his fateful voyage to Luna during the Terran Crusade, helping to drive back the pursuing forces of the Chaos God Tzeentch and ensure the Ultramarines Primarch completes his pilgrimage to Terra to see his father the Emperor.Battle of Lion's Gate (ca. 999.M41) - Fighting alongside the resurrected Roboute Guilliman, the Imperial Fists crush a daemon army in service to the Blood God Khorne that dares to invade Terra at the dawn of the Noctis Aeterna.Indomitus Crusade (ca. 999.M41-Present) - The Imperial Fists distinguish themselves time and again during the initial stages of the Indomitus Crusade, earning much praise from the new Lord Commander of the Imperium and Imperial Regent, Roboute Guilliman.Ironhold Campaign (Unknown Date.M42) - Seeking vengeance against the Iron Warriors for the damage wrought upon Phalanx, the Imperial Fists attack one of the Traitors' newly fortified worlds, Ironhold. Aided by three vengeful Cadian Shock Trooper armies and several Knightly houses that likewise escaped the destruction of Cadia, the Imperial forces penetrate all eight layers of the defensive positions and lay waste to every one of the Iron Warriors' edifices.Fourth Tyrannic War (Unknown Date.M42) - During the Fourth Tyrannic War, the White Templars' own Chapter planet of Sanctum came under assault by Hive Fleet Grendyllus, a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan coming up from the galactic core. With the aid of Lord Commander Solar Arcadian Leontus and the forces of the Astra Militarum he commanded who were using Sanctum as a base to face the Great Devourer in the galactic west, the White Templars were able to defeat the assault of the Tyranids even as it crashed against the walls of their fortress-monastery Holdfast. Sanctum lay in the Formidyre System, which was defended by the White Templars, the Imperial Fists and their mobile fortress-monastery the Phalanx, detachments from several other Space Marine Chapters, a vast Navis Imperialis battlefleet and the Astra Militarum forces under the command of Lord Solar Leontus.