Phalanx - Departure Bay: Living aboard the mobile fortress-monastery, it was easy to forget that the Phalanx was the size of a small moon. Even given the majestic dimensions of the chapels and cathedrals, the Assimularum and Scriptoriums, it was too easy when living onboard to forget the sheer immenseness of the fortress-monastery.When one stepped into the Departure Bay, though, one was immediately reminded not only that they were in a space-borne vessel, but that the Phalanx was immense on a scale that was difficult for a rational mind to comprehend. On the other side of the bay, so far away that the sight of it hazed with the distance, were the bay doors which opened out onto the cold vacuum of the void, before which were arranged hundreds of Thunderhawk gunships, Imperial shuttles and other such craft in their hundreds.Overhead, hanging from the rafters that were barely visible from the deck, hung decommissioned aircraft and space-faring vessels of the Chapter, preserved and displayed in honour of past victories, and of those who had fought and died onboard them.It was said that the departure hall was so large that it had developed its own microclimate, separate from the artificial environment which prevailed throughout the rest of the mobile fortress-monastery, and that there were strains of avian life-forms, roosting up in the rafters and onboard those ancient and honoured craft hanging from them, that had evolved into entirely novel forms and physiologies over the millennia, unseen by human eyes.On a somewhat more human scale, though still towering over the battle-brothers who walked beneath, were arranged on the walls battle trophies from past victories, and enormous murals depicting famous battles from the annals of the Imperial Fists.There were ancient weapons and early marks of power armour that dated back even as far as the Great Crusade, preserved eternally and displayed there reverentially after age finally robbed them of their use, each one of them carrying a provenance as long and celebrated as that of the Chapter itself.Fluttering slightly in the pressure differential between the Departure Bay and the hatches which led to the corridors, there hung immense banners, each of them easily as wide as four Adeptus Astartes in full power armour standing abreast, and more than twice as tall. There was one for each of the Battle Companies of the Imperial Fists, each bearing the heraldry and litany of the company in question.Surmounting them all was an even larger Chapter banner, golden yellow and trimmed in jet-black and blood-red, on which was inscribed "VII" – remembering the Chapter's origins as the Emperor's VIIth Legion during the Great Crusade -- and the word "Roma" -- referring to the Imperial Fists' earliest battle honour, which now existed only on a ceramite icon which itself was considered too precious and valuable even to put on display in the Inner Reclusium of the Phalanx -- and finally, the icon of the black fist grasping a red thunderbolt, beneath which was scrolled the legend "Sons of Dorn."There were several Chapter banners, but only one of them was put on display at any given time, rotated out at regular intervals in recognition of important actions and significant victories. It was perhaps a testament to the long lifespan of the Chapter itself that in a certain time period when a battle-brother had lived on-board the Phalanx and the Chapter banner had not yet been changed out, it suggested that all of the great victories the Chapter had won in the time since had not risen yet to the level of a "significant victory."Throughout the Phalanx there were also multiple tribute galleries which displayed art, standards and captured arms evoking the long, glorious history of the Imperial Fists.