Halo Brethren - Chapter History: Following the disastrous events of the War of the Beast, the Imperium of Man lay in ruins. Only a thousand standard years after the Horus Heresy Imperial military forces were a fraction of what they had once been. The lord commander of the Imperium, Maximus Thane, the former Chapter Master of the Fists Exemplar, and now the new Chapter Master of the reconstituted Imperial Fists, decreed to the High Lords of Terra that a Fourth Founding would take place.They would raise as many new Chapters as they had gene-seed in the great vaults of Terra to sustain. All Chapters were ordered to release a portion of their Veterans to provide the initial basis for this Founding, the greatest since the First Founding.Gene-seed tithing was doubled for the next standard century to replenish the vaults. When it was done, there were hundreds of Chapters to ring the Imperium in adamanatium and ceramite instead of dozens. The Adeptus Astartes had sacrificed much to defeat The Beast and his vast Greenskin horde.The lord commander also decreed that the Imperial Fists would no longer garrison the Throneworld of Terra, as they would become a Crusading Chapter, to bring their strength and Thane's authority as lord commander of the Imperium to the beleaguered worlds of the Imperium, free them from alien tyranny, and speed their reconstruction.Knowing that his labours would be long, and that he might never see the Throneworld again, Thane invested Drakan Vangorich as lord protector of the Imperium -- to be his personal representative and act as his voice and his hand -- to be heeded and treated with as if Thane were present himself.To allay the High Lords' misgivings, he reminded them that the threat of his return would be enough to ensure Vangorich's good behaviour.Shortly after Thane's and the Imperial Fists' departure, the catastrophic event known as The Beheading occurred when newly instilled Lord Protector Drakan Vangorich, the Grand Master of Assassins, had his Officio Assassinorum agents wipe out eleven of the High Twelve of the High Lords of Terra.He quickly moved to take complete control over the Senatorum Imperialis and installed puppet High Lords that he could control. Thane chose to ignore Vangorich's actions for the time being, and gave the lord protector of the Imperium a chance to reign.During this time, Vangorich ruled the Imperium with an iron fist. The Imperium was refortified and the Fourth Founding took place, in which the Halo Brethren were created.While Thane pushed the crusade ever outwards, to reclaim and rebuild hundreds of Imperial worlds after some 80 standard years of rule, Vangorich had become unstable. He exhibited bizarre behaviour and began calling for random purges. Unnecessary massacres occurred all across the length and breadth of the Imperium.Thane received troubling reports from Terra and throughout the Imperium, and came to the conclusion that it was time for him to return to the Throneworld to remove the unstable lord protector.When the Imperial Fists arrived back at Terra, both the newly-founded Halo Brethren and the Sable Swords Chapters would take part in the retribution force that would see Vangorich removed from power.Almost nothing else is known about this Chapter in official Imperial records.