War of the Beast - Third Battle of Ullanor: Following the tragic death of Koorland during the Second Battle of Ullanor, the High Lords of Terra remained indecisive on what the best course of action should be taken to end the threat of the remaining Greenskin threat. Shortly after the events on Ullanor, the core systems of the Segmentum Solar were subjected to a renewed wave of attacks carried out the seemingly never-ending tide of Greenskins. Paralysed by the lack of clear and concise orders, the majority of Battlefleet Solar was utterly devastated by an Ork fleet of space hulks.During this new wave of attacks, tragically, Ecclesiarch Mesring was killed during the Orks' onslaught. Just before dying, the half-mad ecclesiarch raved in a nearly incomprehensible astropathic message that nearby worlds should throw open their gates to the forces of The Beast. Tragically, several Cardinal Worlds made the fatal mistake of complying with the insane ecclesiarch's final directive and peacefully surrendered, which resulted in those planets' populations being massacred.During this time, the Space Wolves followed their primal urge to return to their feral homeworld of Fenris while the Ultramarines and their Successor Chapters became bogged down in the defence of key regions of the Ultima Segmentum. With their Warlord slain, the Orks launched an all-out rampage across the Imperium, butchering and slaughtering whole worlds with impunity.While the Orks continued to rage unabated across the worlds of the Imperium, the Fists Exemplar's Chapter Master, Maximus Thane, came to the decision to take decisive action against the Greenskin threat, while attending Koorland's funeral during the Feast of Blades on their primarch's homeworld of Inwit. Unlike Koorland and the Primarch Vulkan, the Chapter Master had no intention of attempting to work with the ineffective High Lords of Terra, and instead began gathering key competent individuals to form an inner circle of trusted advisors. Allying himself with the Grand Master of Assassins Drakan Vangorich and Fabricator-General Kubik of the Adeptus Mechanicus, Thane and his co-conspirators began to secretly plan for a third offensive engagement against Ullanor in an attempt to snatch victory from a seemingly crushing defeat.The first phase of Thane's plan called for the remaining "Last Wall" Chapters to set aside a portion of their remaining strength in order to reconstitute the Imperial Fists Chapter. With the death of Koorland, the "Last Son of Dorn," during the recent Second Battle of Ullanor, the Imperial Fists were now an extinct Chapter. This was both a travesty and a great tragedy that needed to addressed post-haste, as the original First Founding Chapter descended from Rogal Dorn could not be allowed to remain extinct.Within a short span of time, 1,000 battle-brothers had been gathered from every Chapter comprised of the scions of Dorn, and stood proudly in their battle-plate that was freshly repainted in the livery of the Imperial Fists on the parade grounds of the Imperial Palace back on the Imperial Throneworld. Maximus Thane stood at the head of the reconstituted Imperial Fists as their new Chapter Master. The truth of the destruction of the Imperial Fists at Ardamantua was deemed necessary to keep from the citizens of Terra, who now rejoiced at seeing the stalwart defenders of Terra marching in parade at full-strength. However, the High Lords knew the truth of what had occurred, and though they agreed to keep this tragic event from the wider masses, grew suspicious of Thane's true intentions.Thane intended to repeat Koorland's original strategy and devised a plan to capture another Ork psyker in order to utilise the creature in conjunction with the innate Pariah abilities of the Silent Sisterhood in order to create a reverse-WAAAGH! effect to slay The Beast once and for all. Meanwhile, the Chapter Master took advantage of the Grand Master of Assassins' power and influence to help their cause. Vangorich used his considerable influence to intimidate both Lord Commander Militant Verreault and Lord High Admiral Lansung into contributing their combined resources for the renewed push on Ullanor Prime.Unlike the previous campaigns launched against the Greenskins on Ullanor, Thane opted to utilise more unconventional tactics in order to gain an advantage over their foes. Utilising the advanced technology of the Mechanicus, Chapter Master Thane had the Imperial strike force redirect several asteroids and send them in devastating waves to collide with the highly populated capital world that now teemed with literally trillions of Orks. With Orks distracted by the devastating assault of asteroids that collided with the planet, knocking out orbital and ground defences, the bulk of Imperial troops utilised a modified asteroid, dubbed 44 Thoosa, and used it to make a controlled landing upon the Ork planet. Even though they made a successful controlled landing, the asteroid still made a devastating impact that wiped out much of the capital city of Gorkogrod. The Imperial strike force then launched their main assault in the form of five separate attack groups. The attack group was comprised of the newly reconstituted Imperial Fists and the Sisters of Silence, led by Chapter Master Thane himself. Another group was comprised of Mechanicus forces led by Magos Gerg Zhokuv, while a third attack group was comprised of the remaining "Last Wall" Chapters led by High Marshal Bohemond. The fourth attack group was led by the former Wolf Lord Asger Warfist, who was now the first Watch Commander (Chapter Master) of the Deathwatch and Inquisitorial Representative Wienand, while the final attack group remained in orbit, which was led by the formidable Imperial Fists' mobile fortress-monastery, the Phalanx itself, which was manned by the Chapter's 10th Company and two demi-Companies of Imperial Fists.Having annihilated the majority of the Ork settlements of Gorkogrod by the Imperial's asteroid attack, this time the Imperial forces faced a more straightforward fight, though the battle was still a desperate struggle as they now faced a neverending wave of angry and battle-frenzied Orks. Four of the five attack groups concentrated on keep the Orks distracted while the last group, led by Chapter Master Thane, continued their drive on The Beast's Gargant-palace located in the center of the capital city. With three remaining captive Ork psykers held by the Imperial Fists, they utilised one of these fell creatures to annihilate remaining Orks located around the proximity of the central palace complex. Another one of these powerful Greenskin psykers was lost during a vicious firefight. Meanwhile in orbit, the Imperial fleet sustained heavy losses, while the Phalanx itself was forced to defend itself from boarding Orks.Though exhausted and bloody, Thane's attack group finally managed to penetrate the Ork palace and fight their way towards the complex's central throneroom, where they once again came across six thrones made for six "Beast"-sized "Prime Orks". During the final epic battle, the Imperial strike force was confronted by one of these truly nightmarish monsters, which they speculated to be "The Beast of Beasts". After a hard-fought and desperate, blood struggle, the Sisters of Silence, led by Knight-Abyssal Kavalanera Brassanas, conducted the final ritual with the sole remaining Ork psyker, and using their innate psychic-null effect, they created a powerful anti-WAAAGH! effect. The chain reaction of this deadly effect successfully annihilated the remaining Orks within the palace complex and caused the massive head of the The Beast of Beasts' to explode spectacularly, just before it could slay Chapter Master Thane.