Darnath Lysander - Youth: Darnath Lysander is rare amongst Space Marines of the 41st Millennium, for he was recruited on Terra itself. His 13-year pilgrimage towards becoming an Astartes began with his parents before his birth, following an oft-difficult path towards a pilgrimage to Terra from their homeworld that was interrupted by betrayal, enslavement and the murder of his family.Lysander was kept alive by the charity of the Imperial Cult and his own wits, learning to fight, at first for survival, and then to complete the pilgrimage his parents had begun. His road to Terra was fraught with peril; such as the devastation of WAAAGH! Grozdakk and the horror of the Quesarch Heresy and the subsequent Imperial purging of Quesarch. The determination of the pilgrim boy gradually became known in high places and upon his arrival on Terra he was greeted as a hero.At that time Chaplain Shadryss of the Imperial Fists was on Terra conducting Chapter business and first heard the extraordinary young man's tale. He sought out the young pilgrim by the Pillar of Bone, a monument that was believed to have been erected on Terra to commemorate the Imperial Fists' courage in an unnamed campaign.But in reality it was actually a sacred holy relic to those privy to the knowledge of its origin within the Imperial Fists Chapter. The Pillar was the last remnant of the great Imperial Fists fortress-monastery that had once existed on Terra in the days of the Great Crusade. It had been destroyed during the Horus Heresy in the Siege of Terra but, to most of the huddled masses of the Imperium, the Heresy was only a legend and few would dare to openly claim that the Forces of Chaos had ever set foot on the sacred ground of Terra.In the holes torn from the column by Bolter fire were the scrimshawed hands of ancient Imperial Fists Battle-Brothers. Part of Chaplain Shadryss' sacred mission as a Chaplain was to bring fresh relics of the Imperial Fists to the Pillar, but he also came to Mankind's homeworld to recruit pilgrims from across the Imperium who were deemed worthy of becoming Aspirants of the Chapter. It seemed to Shadryss that Lysander had the blessings of Rogal Dorn upon him.Lysander excelled on the harsh training fields of Juno and Ganymede, the moons of Jupiter, progressing through indoctrination and training with a speed seldom before witnessed. Under Shadryss' tutelage, he learned that the Emperor was not a god, as the Imperial Cult decreed, but a mighty warrior and visionary from whose mortal flesh the Space Marines had sprung.Lysander rejected this at first, for faith had been the only sustenance he had known for much of his young life. However, he soon came to embrace this new truth, realising that it made the Emperor no less a saviour. Like all those who had come before him, Lysander pledged his life to upholding the Emperor's works, not as the helpless worshipper he had once been, but as a warrior honouring the deeds of an illustrious forefather.Years passed, and Lysander passed into Captain Jostin's 2nd Company, the "Swords of Terra," where he quickly rose to the rank of Sergeant. Here, to the outrage of his peers, he cast out the official Bolter drill honed over many thousands of Terran years. Instead, Lysander trained his Battle-Brothers in the more unorthodox techniques he had learnt from Jonas Makan, the sombre Scout Sergeant who had inducted him into the art of war.When Jostin challenged Lysander about his breach of tradition, he refused to back down, arguing that effectiveness counted for more than blind adherence. However, in the end it was only Shadryss' intervention that prevented Lysander's demotion and censure.