vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
Imperial Cult - The Afterlife: The official position of the Ecclesiarchy on the souls of the deceased is that the Emperor judges all faithful Humans after death and, if they are worthy, grants them a place in His celestial army.Differing interpretations of the Imperial Creed offer a wide variety of explanations for what happens to those souls deemed unworthy of joining the God-Emperor's ranks, but who are not so heretical as to be damned out of hand.Some versions say they are reborn to try again, others, that they must wander the afterlife for a time, braving the dangers of the Warp unshielded as penance for a life ill spent until their actions have redeemed them, proving them worthy of the God-Emperor's service. There are also many tales of legendary servants of the Emperor returning from the Immaterium to the plane of the living when the people of the Imperium once again need them.Some more rationalist versions of the Imperial Creed refuse to acknowledge the self-awareness of such entities, referring to them in technical terms such as "post-life Warp signatures" and "the aetheric charge contained by a residual personality."Regardless of the fine points of doctrine, the Ecclesiarchy does acknowledge the existence of the souls and spirits of the dead and of the rare Living Saints.
Imperial Cult - Imperial Creed: The doctrinal tenets of the Imperial Cult, known as the "Imperial Creed," are actually highly flexible and are tailored by the Adeptus Ministorum's missionaries to fit the native culture, existing religion, and cultural practices of whatever world it exists upon.As such, Imperial Cult practices adhered to on one world within the Imperium may be held as abhorrent on another. The Adeptus Ministorum tolerates this vast range of practices and beliefs among Emperor-worshippers as it would be impossible to maintain the faith by a rigid adherence to a standardised orthodoxy across the more than one million worlds that comprise the Imperium of Man.However, the Ecclesiarchy does enforce several basic tenets of the Imperial Creed, deviation from which is considered heresy. These tenets include the following beliefs:That the God-Emperor of Mankind once walked among mortal men and women in a physical form identical to theirs and that He is and always has been the one, true god of Humanity.That the God-Emperor is the one true god of Mankind, regardless of the previous beliefs held by any man or woman.It is the duty of the faithful to purge the Heretic, beware the psyker, the witch, the sorcerer and the mutant, and abhor the alien.Every Human being has a place within the God-Emperor's divine order, which is not to be questioned once made manifest.It is the duty of the faithful to unquestionably obey the authority of the Imperial government and their superiors, who speak in the divine Emperor's name.Another recurring theme of the Imperial faith is the notion of the "End Times," or "Time of Ending," which gained particular momentum in the Imperial Cult in the 41st Millennium. Often tied to the notion of the End Times is the belief that the Emperor will rise from the Golden Throne and complete the work that He began ten thousand Terran years ago, and deliver the faithful at last from all the evils of the galaxy. While most adherents of the Imperial Creed view the End Times as a time of deliverance and spiritual salvation, it is also believed by many within the Ecclesiarchy that the God-Emperor will sit in judgement of all Mankind, and those who lack faith in Him will be damned for all eternity.Aside from these central tenets of the Imperial Creed, there exists a great body of both sanctioned and unsanctioned additional dogma which varies from sector to sector and world to world and is the subject of constant debate within the Ministorum's hierarchy.The subject and nature of the afterlife is one such regularly debated topic, with many teachings mentioning the form of an afterlife in which the faithful take their place beside the Emperor for eternity. However, other elements of the Holy Synod maintain a different version of the afterlife, and the nature of the belief in an afterlife varies greatly depending on the culture and technological sophistication of a given Imperial planet.
Imperial Dating System - Imperial Dating System: The Imperial Dating System of the Imperium of Man, also known as the Imperial Calendar, is fairly complex in nature, and has been structured so as to deal with the vast amount of recorded history that exists in the 41st Millenium and the massive distances between settled Human worlds, which can lead to long periods of isolation.Also the vagaries and time-warping effects of the Immaterium can make it almost impossible to keep accurate track of time over long journeys.The Imperium has developed its own method of recording dates, which needs a bit of explanation. Most importantly, the years are always Anno Domini (A.D.) using the numbering system of our own present-day Gregorian Calendar, so the dates themselves are the ones that we are familiar with now.A typical date as Imperial scholars write it would look something like 0.123.456.M41. This date can be divided up so that each part is explained separately below:0 123 456 M41 = Check Number/Year Fraction/Year/MillenniumFollowing the birth of the Great Rift and the start of the Era Indomitus, temporal anomalies spread across the galaxy, making the use of a universal dating system extremely difficult as different Imperial worlds began to experience the passage of time at different subjective rates.A new, more localised dating system came into existence that was different for each settled world or star system. It used the birth of the Great Rift in the local sector as the standard event from which all time was calculated, either before or after its creation.
Imperial Dating System - Check Number: The check number refers to the accuracy of a given date, which is required for clarity due to the common distortions of subjective linear time that occur while travelling within the Warp, and inaccuracies in timing on remote or isolated Imperial worlds and star systems. Check numbers are listed using the following numeric classes:Class: 0/1 - Earth Standard Date. Referring to an event which happened within the Sol System. "0" is most commonly used to refer to an event which actually occured on Terra, while "1" refers to an event that occurred somewhere within the Sol System, such as Titan, the moon of the gas giant Saturn that serves as the headquarters of the Grey Knights Space Marines.Class: 2 - Direct. The source for the event the date records was in direct psychic contact with the Sol System or Terra when the date reference was made.Class: 3 - Indirect. The source for the event the date records was in direct contact with a Class 2 source, though not the Sol System itself.Class: 4 - Corroborated. The source for the event the date records was in contact with a Class 3 source.Class: 5 - Sub-Corroborated. The source for the event the date records is in direct psychic contact with a corroborated source.Class: 6 - Non-Referenced, 1 year. The source for the event the date records is not in contact with a Class 0 to 5 source when the date reference was made, though it is a continuation of a timeline referenced by a Class 0 to 5 source.Class: 7 - Non-Referenced, 10 years. As with Class 6 sources, but with a greater time span to allow for larger inaccuracies.Class: 8 - Non-Referenced, 11+ years. As Class 7, though unsourced for a longer period of time.Class: 9 - Approximation. For when worlds using a non-Imperial calendar must reference an event in that world's history.
Imperial Dating System - Year Fraction: For record-keeping, each year is divided into 1000 equal parts, numbered 001-000, rather than solar months or weeks. Note that this system is not generally used by Imperial citizens in everyday life, but is simply for administrative use by the Adeptus Terra.Each increment of the year fraction corresponds to approximately 8 hours and 45 minutes Terran standard.To calculate this, first you need to find on which day of the year your event occurred. Using 18 July 2005 as an example, you determine the Gregorian Calendar date, which is the 200th day of 2005. Next we need to split it into hours.We do that by multiplying 200 by 24 then add the hour of the day the event occurred. If the event took place at 4 p.m. (the 16th hour of the day) the formula to find the Determined Hour would be: 200 x 24 + 16 = 4816 Determined HourTo convert that to an Imperial year fraction, multiply the Determined Hour above by the Makr Constant: 0.11407955. 4816 x 0.11407955 = 549.41.Always round this number down to determine the closest year fraction that occurred before the event. So the year fraction for 18 July 2005 would be 549 and the year would be written 549.005.M3.
Imperial Dating System - Year: This is the year within the millennium, running from 001-000 (there is no year 0, and new millennia actually start with the year 001). For general dates, often only the year and millennium are included, such as 999.M41.
Imperial Dating System - Millennium: This is the millennium since the birth of the ancient Human religious figure Jesus Christ in which the event took place.As an example, the year A.D. 2021 would be represented very generally in the Imperial Dating System as 021.M3.As almost all records of the religions practiced by Mankind before the development of the Imperial Cult in the 31st Millennium have been lost, almost none know exactly why the Imperial Calendar counts the years in this manner or the true origin of the dating system.
Imperial Dating System - Era Indomitus Dating System: In the wake of the birth of the Great Rift, temporal anomalies abounded across the galaxy, with the subjective flow of time on some Imperial worlds being wildly at odds with what was experienced elsewhere. This was particularly true in the Dark Imperium or the Imperium Nihilus, the half of the galaxy that had been cut off from the light of the Astronomican and was most at risk of Warp incursions.To deal with this reality, a new system for tracking the date came into existence on many Imperial worlds during the Era Indomitus. This system used the birth of the Great Rift as the standard event from which all time was calculated, either before or after its creation. The example given below was the version of this system which prevailed on the Sentinel World of Vigilus.The chronology of Vigilus, as denoted in records of the War of Beasts, uses as its anchor point the opening of the Great Rift above the planet. This was an event of such incredible magnitude it rewired the planet's temporal logic altogether, much as it did a thousand other war zones across the Imperium.The first element of Vigilus' timestamp is the annual designator. It starts with the number of Terran years either before or after the rift opened, and then a number of chronosegments within that year as the second element.Imperial solar days are broken down into chronosegments of eight solar hours. After this is a third element -- either "previo" if the events occurred before the opening of the Great Rift, or "post" if after it. This third element is sometimes denoted as a minus sign or a plus sign.The fourth element of the Vigilus timestamp is the system's designator initials; in essence, the initialsof the star system to which it refers.For Vigilus, this is VCM which stands for "Vigilus Cicatrix Maledictum."For its neighbouring planet, Omis-Prion, the designator initials would be OPCM.By way of a full example, if the time of an event in the Vigilus System was three solar days (nine chronosegments) before the opening of the Great Rift, the timestamp would be "0.9 previo VCM.M41," also expressed simply as "0.9 previo" or "0.9–."This translates as "0 years and 9 chronosegments (three solar days) previous to the Vigilus System's first instance of experiencing the Cicatrix Maledictum in the 41st Millennium A.D."If it was one Terran year and eight solar hours after the opening of the Great Rift, the timestamp would be "1.1 post VCM.M41," also expressed as "1.1 post" or "1.1+."
Imperial Eagles - Imperial Eagles: The Imperial Eagles are a Loyalist Titan Legion of the Collegia Titanica.
Imperial Eagles - Notable Campaigns: None listed in current Imperial records.
Imperial Eagles - Notable Titans: None listed in current Imperial records.
Imperial Eagles - Notable Personnel: Grand Master Augrim
Imperial Eagles - Legion Colours: This Titan Legion's colours are not listed in current Imperial records.
Imperial Eagles - Legion Badge: The badge of the Imperial Eagles is not listed in current Imperial records.
Imperial Fists - Rogal Dorn: Primarchs are transcendent beings, holding a portion of the sublime and unknowable in their nature. All the qualities which seem strong in a warrior of a Space Marine Legion exist more strongly, more deeply and with greater subtlety in a primarch.Though spun from the seed of Humanity the primarchs are not Human. This nature often seems to enhance and focus the qualities gifted to a Legion by their gene-seed. So it is that at the moment at which primarch and Legion unite, there is often a point at which a Legion's character may seem to shift.In the case of the Imperial Fists, the discovery of their primarch, and the planet and culture which had raised him, only strengthened the character the Imperial Fists had shown since their creation.When the 20 genetically-engineered nascent primarchs were stolen from the Emperor's labs on Terra by the machinations of the Ruinous Powers and cast into the Warp, they were scattered throughout the galaxy upon different worlds, which would come to shape the nature of each primarch and later the individual Legions created from their genomes.When the Primarch Rogal Dorn was restored to the Imperium, it was to be on the Ice World of Inwit located in the Inwit Cluster of the Segmentum Tempestus.
Imperial Fists - Coming of the Emperor: Forty standard years after his grandfather's death, the outlying Imperial starships of the Great Crusade finally reached the Ice Hives of Inwit in 835.M30. When the true Emperor was reunited with Rogal Dorn, He regained not only a lost son, but the strength of a star-spanning society already forged into a tool of war.Dorn greeted the Emperor at the helm of the enormous starship constructed during the Dark Age of Technology called the Phalanx that he had discovered within Inwit's region of space. Dorn became the seventh of the twenty primarchs who had been found by their father.The Emperor welcomed Dorn as his long-lost son, and returned the Phalanx to his care, transforming it into the mobile fortress-monastery of the VII Space Marine Legion that was also turned over by the Emperor to Dorn to lead, since all of its Astartes had been created using Dorn's own genetic template.Dorn himself was fiercely loyal to the Emperor from the first moment that they met on the bridge of the Phalanx, and he never once sought any favour from his gene-father. Dorn embodied the Human quest for truth, and could never tell a lie, even if it would have aided his cause. Because of this quality, Dorn's statue stands as one of only four ever erected on Macragge, next to that of Roboute Guilliman, primarch of the Ultramarines.Dorn commanded the VII Legion and its expeditionary fleets with peerless devotion and military genius. It was said that he possessed one of the finest military minds amongst the primarchs, ordered and disciplined but still inclined to flashes of zeal and inspiration.His record of achievements for the Imperium during the Great Crusade were innumerable, and indeed the Warmaster Horus thought of the esteemed Dorn and the Imperial Fists so highly that he reckoned if the Fists, noted masters of defence, were to hold a fortress against he and his Luna Wolves, noted masters of assault, the resultant conflict would spiral into a never-ending stalemate.
Imperial Fists - Iron and Stone: Similarity encourages understanding, or at least some would claim so. In the case of Rogal Dorn and Perturabo, primarch of the Iron Warriors Legion, this sentiment not only falls but shatters under the weight of reality.For rarely could there be said to be two beings on the surface who more resembled each other, yet were separated by a greater chasm. Both were reserved to the point of taciturn, both unyielding, both sublime artisans of war who prized indomitability and endurance; there was much that would suggest that they should see the world with one set of eyes, that perhaps they should be closer than any others. That bitterest loathing could arise between two such closely matched kin seems incredible, but it was a reality, some say from the first moment of their meeting.The exact roots and cause of the primarchs' enmity cannot be known to any save Rogal Dorn and Perturabo, but if one looks closely there appears a pattern both of behaviour and incidents which may offer a clue. Often it seems as though the pair's similarities were the cause of discord rather than understanding.Both were stubborn and more so when challenged, both spoke rarely, and brooded much behind their stone and iron masks. So it was that the silence of one would aggravate the other, the blunt honesty of one roused the other to anger, and the intractability of both ensured that once a dispute was begun neither would yield.That there were differences between the two cannot be denied, and often these differences may have been the cause of disputes even if they were not the underlying cause. While both Rogal Dorn and Perturabo often favoured siege craft in war, they often differed in its execution.While both were pragmatic, Perturabo often displayed a brutal directness in waging war, applying overwhelming force or sustaining horrific casualties. While Dorn would never baulk at paying such a price for victory, he rarely accepted large numbers of casualties except through necessity.Dorn was an undoubted idealist above all else, Perturabo a pragmatist first and foremost. On such cracked foundations the decades of the Great Crusade heaped pleasures, honours, disparities and mischance, and from the result history reaped an enmity which would take both primarchs and their Legions to the brink of destruction.
Imperial Fists - Triumph of Ullanor: The greatest of the nascent Imperium's victories during the Great Crusade came in the form of the defeat of the largest Ork empire ever encountered in the late 30th Millennium. The Ullanor Crusade of 000.M30 was a vast Imperial assault on the Ork empire of the Overlord Urrlak Urruk.The capital world of this Greenskin stellar empire, and the site of the final assault by the Space Marine Legions, lay in the central Ullanor System of the galaxy's Ullanor Sector. The crusade included the deployment of 100,000 Space Marines, 8,000,000 Imperial Army troops, and thousands of Armada Imperialis starships and their support personnel. The Ullanor Crusade marked the high point of the Great Crusade's vast effort to reunite the scattered colony worlds of Humanity.The Orks of Ullanor represented the largest concentration of Greenskins ever defeated by the military forces of the Imperium of Man before the Third War for Armageddon began during the 41st Millennium. Following the defeat of the Orks of Ullanor, the Emperor returned to Terra to begin work on His vast project to open up the Aeldari Webway for Mankind's use.In His place to command the vast forces of the Great Crusade He left Horus Lupercal. In the aftermath of the Ullanor Crusade, Horus was granted the newly-created title of "warmaster", the commander-in-chief of all the Emperor's armies. The new Imperial Warmaster possessed command authority over all of the other primarchs and every expeditionary fleet of the Great Crusade.
Imperial Fists - Favoured Sons: As the Great Crusade progressed, the Imperial Fists had risen high in honour and in the favour of the Emperor. Ever dependable, they were often used to reinforce flagging Imperial campaigns, to hold crumbling fronts and break deadlocked sieges. The Emperor also frequently called on both Rogal Dorn and his gene-sons to fight beside Him, bestowing this honour on the Imperial Fists more than on any other Legion. When the Imperial Fists descended on Ophelia VIII, the Emperor led the assault at the head of 100 Custodians and 100,000 Imperial Fists.Again during another campaign, the Emperor called on not only Horus Lupercal and the Luna Wolves, but Dorn and the Imperial Fists to form His vanguard in breaking the Shrouded Dynasties. The Emperor also used Dorn to ensure war and Imperial Compliance was achieved according to His wishes and vision.Time and again, in ways large and small, the Imperial Fists acted at the direct order of the Emperor. Other primarchs and their Legions blazed a more brilliant trail or spread the Imperial Truth on more worlds, but to many the Imperial Fists were the rock on which the foundations of the Imperium of Man were built.High in favour and honour though they were, the Imperial Fists' status did not sit well with some of their brother-Legions. The animosity between the Imperial Fists and the Iron Warriors was well known, but Perturabo and his Legion were not alone in their resentment. Though few reached the Lord of Iron's pinnacle of spite, others did chafe at the trust placed in the Imperial Fists. Dorn's nature did not ameliorate matters. Truth-speaking, blame-giving and uncompromising in both his ideals and their expression, his manner often aggravated his peers as much as it drew their admiration.It was perhaps this quality which caused the Emperor to pass over Dorn for warmaster when He withdrew from the Great Crusade. Horus, unlike Dorn, was a master of diplomacy and maintaining a coordinated balance between fractious forces. Where Dorn would cause conflict, Horus would unify, where Dorn would not compromise, Horus would find a way of satisfying all. But even as Horus took up the reigns of the Great Crusade, Dorn was invested by the Emperor as the Praetorian of Terra, the Throneworld's appointed defender.Even as Horus would push the Great Crusade on, the Imperial Fists would withdraw with the Emperor to Terra to serve as its garrison force and defenders. And with that decision, the fate of the Emperor and all His sons was set.
Imperial Fists - Fortifying the Imperial Palace: When the Emperor returned to Terra to build a capital world worthy of ruling a million planets, Rogal Dorn went as well, commanded by the Emperor to return to the Imperial Throneworld and establish a guard around Him there. The Imperial Fists Legion had been chosen as the Emperor's Praetorians.Having always excelled in the construction of fortresses, Dorn was tasked with designing the defences for the Imperial Palace. These would prove to be magnificent, and would be well-tested in the following years as the storm of the Horus Heresy broke over the Imperium.Once the Horus Heresy began, the Imperial Fists' garrison duty on the Throneworld would transform into responsibility for preparing the defences of Terra and the Imperial Palace for the coming invasion of Horus and his Traitor Legions.
Imperial Fists - Horus Heresy: Before the Imperial Fists could arrive at Terra in full complement, the events of the Horus Heresy overtook them. Stranded for some considerable time in the void by the outbreak of the severe Warp storms that marked the start of Horus' rebellion and cooperation with the Chaos Gods, the Imperial Fists' fleet eventually discovered the badly damaged Loyalist Death Guard frigate Eisenstein that had escaped the Isstvan III Atrocity, and so learned of Horus' betrayal.However, at first Dorn did not believe the Death Guard Captain Nathaniel Garro and nearly killed him when Garro said that his brother-primarch Horus was a traitor to the Imperium and the Emperor. Rogal Dorn was eventually convinced by several members of the Eisenstein survivors of the Isstvan III massacre, notably Captain Garro, Iacton Qruze of the Luna Wolves and Remembrancer (later Imperial Saint) Euphrati Keeler, that his brothers the primarchs Horus, Fulgrim, Mortarion, and Angron were staging a full-scale rebellion against the Emperor's rule.Dorn therefore dispatched the bulk of his Legion to the Isstvan System on a war-footing. He returned to Terra with his Veteran Space Marine companies to bring word of the terrible events personally to the Emperor of Mankind.
Imperial Fists - The Wall Without and The Wall Within: As the Horus Heresy raged throughout the galaxy, Rogal Dorn fortified the defences of the Throneworld and the Sol System for the inevitable push on Terra that the Warmaster Horus and his Traitor Legions would make.Terra had been made a fortress but it was a fortress with two walls: the wall within, and the wall without. The wall within was the gate from the Imperial Dungeon to the Emperor's mysterious Great Project. Here stood the Master of Mankind Himself, at the head of the Custodians and the Sisters of Silence.The wall without was a term for all the defensive spheres that extended out from the literal walls of the Imperial Palace to the darkness beyond the edge of the Sol System. On this outer wall stood the Praetorian of Terra, Rogal Dorn, and his Imperial Fists. If either wall fell, then everything would be lost.The Imperial Fists' defence of the Sol System was divided into spheres. All the defences and forces within each sphere were commanded by a senior Imperial Fist raised to the rank of Lord Castellan by Rogal Dorn. The First Sphere was the outermost, and came under the command of Sigismund. The Second Sphere was commanded by Halbrecht, while the Third Sphere, under Efried, enclosed the Martian battle sphere and had the traitorous Dark Mechanicum Tech-priests fully bottled in. Terra was commanded by Rogal Dorn himself.The Imperial Fists forces in the Sol System were divided between each of these commands, along with thousands more warships, void defences and millions of mortal troops of the Imperial Army. Separated by millions of kilometres, vox signals sent between the forces assigned to each sphere took solar hours to reach each other.When the Traitor invasion finally came, word would pass by a single astropathic flare, a psychic message passed as fast as thought that said that the Traitors had come to the walls of Sol -- "Fire on the mountains."
Imperial Fists - The Solar War: With its network of operatives and bonds-men and -women, it is believed that even in the state of civil war that the Imperium had fallen into, the Alpha Legion had the means and opportunities to transfer materiel and personnel between sectors, including the Segmentum Solar and the strategically vital Sol System.Under the tireless efforts of the Imperial Fists, the Sol System had become a fortress, each strata of the Sol System being turned into a perfectly organised defence zone to break the Warmaster Horus' eventual assault. Given the Alpha Legion's tendency to prove its own superiority, it would not simply suffice to break open Terra's outer defences, but to humiliate the VII Legion, they would have to infiltrate the most secure location in the entire galaxy -- the Imperial Palace.Activating assets that had been dormant and hidden on Terra for several solar decades, the Alpha Legion eventually succeeded where all others had failed before, infiltrating several agents within the Imperial Palace and especially the Investiary, where great statues had been erected to commemorate the Great Crusade's greatest generals -- the primarchs of the twenty Space Marine Legions.Two plinths had stood empty for a long time, the statues adorning them destroyed when their respective owners were cast into oblivion and their history erased -- the Lost Primarchs. But the statues of the nine primarchs who had turned against the Emperor were merely covered up. This was to be the Alpha Legion's target. Infiltrated Legionaries succeeded in penetrating into the Investiary and destroyed all the statues except two of them -- those of Alpharius and Rogal Dorn.Intended as both a challenge and a message, this feat was deliberately kept secret from the other adepta within the Imperial Palace. Even the Regent of Terra, Malcador the Sigilite, and the Emperor's own bodyguards, the Legio Custodes, were forbidden to enter the Investiary and witness the shaming of the Imperial Fists.By what means the Sigilite still discovered the presence of the Alpha Legion on Terra remains a mystery, but Rogal Dorn was adamant that he would deal with the treacherous XX Legion in due course.Shortly after this act of sabotage, an Alpha Legion fleet, led by Harrowmaster Kel Silonius, attacked the Sol System's outermost defences, and managed to capture several of Pluto's moons, the very heart of the outermost defence perimeter. What truly occurred there remains a well-guarded secret, one only kept by Rogal Dorn himself and his Huscarl honour guard.
Imperial Fists - Siege of Terra: Along with the White Scars and the Blood Angels Legions, the Imperial Fists put up a heroic defence of the Imperial Palace from the forces of Chaos during the Siege of Terra that has since passed into legend.Having originally constructed the Imperial Palace, it was also Rogal Dorn who prepared the Palace's defences at the Emperor's request to face the Traitor Legions of Horus. Then, when all hope seemed lost, they accompanied the Emperor in His last battle aboard the Warmaster Horus' Battleship Vengeful Spirit.It fell to Dorn to discover the bodies of the Emperor, Horus and Sanguinius after the final drama had run its course. His grief was immense.Until that point Dorn had been true, noble and enduring, but now he became an avenging son. While the Ultramarines maintained order within the battered Imperium, the Imperial Fists hunted down the Traitor Legions, levelling fortress after fortress during the campaigns of the Great Scouring. Dorn led them, dressed in the black of mourning, his customary mercy set aside until the guilty were punished.While others like the Ultramarines' Primarch and first Lord Commander of the Imperium Roboute Guilliman shaped the new Imperium's institutions during the period remembered as the Reformation, Dorn immersed himself in seeking implacable justice for Horus' betrayal.It was rumoured that he saw the Emperor's death as his personal failure and his crusade as penance. After all, were the Traitors not his brothers?Whatever the cause, Rogal Dorn was absent from the highest councils of the immediate post-Heresy Imperium until he was summoned back to Terra when Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines, presented his Codex Astartes as the future of the Space Marines and the Imperial military machine.
Imperial Fists - Iron Cage: The enmity between the Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists began in the Great Crusade; Perturabo was ever jealous of the esteem in which Rogal Dorn was held, seeing conceit and arrogance where others saw nobility.When Perturabo sided with the rebel Horus, the seeds of rivalry grew into bitter loathing. The Imperial Fists, like the Iron Warriors, were masters of the siege and as such relied greatly on the use of artillery and heavy weapons in combat, although not to the extent of their traitorous former brethren.Their shared specialisation led to the development of a great rivalry and eventually hatred between the two Legions and their Primarchs during the Great Crusade, and after the Heresy the Imperial Fists continued to pursue the Iron Warriors for some time, culminating in the incident known as the battle of the "Iron Cage" on the world of Sebastus IV.Perturabo, the Primarch of the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion, was a master of fortification whose writings had been retained by Roboute Guilliman in his Codex Astartes. Dorn had always been Perturabo's match in the arts of siege warfare and combat engineering, and, what was more, his honest warrior's soul was indignant.The Iron Warriors had rebelled against their rightful lord and lost. Their master, Horus, was dead and the Emperor still ruled over the galaxy. Yet still they dared raise their heretical banners over another Imperial world as if they had some right to be there. Dorn would not tolerate this.Without his customary caution and planning, Dorn led his Legion into the heart of the Iron Warriors' fortifications, a massive set of interlocking defences designed to look like an 8-pointed Star of Chaos that was known as the Eternal Fortress.The fortress was located on Sebastus IV, a world that became known in legend as the Iron Cage. The battle should have favoured the treacherous trench-fighters of the Iron Warriors, but the Imperial Fists endured. They countered every ambush and fought their way out of every trap set by the Chaos Space Marines.Rogal Dorn was a colossus who personally turned back attack after attack. Ammunition expended, the Battle-Brothers of the Fists fought in half-flooded trenches with combat knives, giving and expecting no quarter.Eventually it became apparent that the Iron Warriors could not finish them. 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 Legion to drive off the Iron Warriors.Cleansed by their sacrifice in the Iron Cage, the Imperial Fists immediately began their reorganisation into separate Chapters as required by the Codex Astartes. For the next two solar decades the remaining Imperial Fists went into retreat to rebuild their numbers, their Successor Chapters taking to the field in their stead.Dorn used this time to retrain the Chapter to embrace all aspects of the Codex Astartes and to ensure their future loyalty to its dictates.
Imperial Fists - Rogal Dorn's Death: Rogal Dorn is believed to have "died" in 781.M31 whilst fighting a Chaos Fleet during the 1st Black Crusade that had emerged from the Eye of Terror under the command of the returned Warmaster of Chaos Abaddon the Despoiler, with a vastly outnumbered Imperial force.Seeing the importance of attacking the enemy fleet while they were still preparing to invade Imperial space, Dorn relied on hit-and-run attacks until his reinforcements could arrive.Dorn "died" onboard the Chaos Despoiler-class Battleship Sword of Sacrilege after leading a desperate attack on its bridge. The only trace of the missing Primarch believed to have been recovered by the Imperial Fists' subsequent search was a single fist.Dorn's skeletal hand was returned to the Phalanx where, over the years, it has been scrimshawed, the bones intricately engraved with the heraldry of all the Imperial Fists Chapter's previous Chapter Masters. Only the current Imperial Fists Chapter Master has the right to engrave his name upon the bones.Even with minuscule script, ten thousand standard years of history have left the bones covered with names, giving a list of the Imperium's greatest heroes. Each bone corresponds to former commanders of the Chapter.For instance, the left hand first metacarpal contains the names of Chapter Masters Bronwin Abermort, Maximus Thane, Kalman Flodensbog and many others, while the first phalanx of the thumb bears the name Ambrosian Spactor, and so forth.The Hand of Dorn is the Imperial Fists' holiest icon and it serves as a reminder of sacrifice and commitment. So it is that, throughout the Imperial Fists' history, from the War of the Beast of the 32nd Millennium to the 13th Black Crusade, they have drawn inspiration from their Primarch's remains and resolved to defeat their foes or die in the attempt.Whether the fist actually belongs to Rogal Dorn or his remains lie elsewhere, is unknown. It is even possible that Dorn survived the assault upon the Sword of Sacrilege; whatever his fate, its truth is known only to the Emperor at present.
Imperial Fists - Era Indomitus: Since the hordes of Chaos redoubled their offensive against the Imperium with the opening of the Great Rift at the start of the Era Indomitus, the scions of Dorn have not stood idle.Likening the Imperium to a vast fortress -- its many beleaguered worlds its turrets, gatehouses and strongpoints -- the Imperial Fists have engaged in a series of defensive stands and aggressive salients to drive back the enemy and recapture planets that were lost.The Phalanx, meanwhile, hangs above the throneworld, departing from time to time upon some vital mission or another but always returning to lend its vigilance to the Segmentum Solar again.Such is the eternal duty of the Sentinels of Terra.
Imperial Fists - Pillar of Bone: The Pillar of Bone is believed to be a monument raised on Terra to the Imperial Fists' courage in an unnamed campaign. But in reality it is actually a sacred holy relic to those privy to the truth within the Imperial Fists.The Pillar is the last remnant of the once-great Imperial Fists fortress-monastery on Terra. It was destroyed during the Horus Heresy in the midst of the Siege of Terra, but, to most of the huddled masses of the Imperium, the Heresy is now no more than 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 the Bolter fire of the Traitor Legions were the scrimshawed hands of Imperial Fists Battle-Brothers. Part of the sacred duties given to Imperial Fists Chaplains was to bring new relics of the Chapter to the Pillar, but at times they would also recruit those pilgrims who came to Terra from all across the galaxy into the Chapter if they were deemed worthy of becoming Aspirants.It was at this sacred site that future-Captain (and Imperial Fists' hero) Darnath Lysander was recruited after he had survived multiple misfortunes, including the slaughter of his entire family, to make it to the holy soil of blessed Terra.It seemed to the Imperial Fists Chaplain that recruited him that the young pilgrim surely had the blessings of Rogal Dorn upon him. Such intuition would be proved right again and again during Captain Lysander's career.
Imperial Fists - Column of Glory: Another of the greatest relics of the Imperial Fists Chapter also rests on Terra. Known as the "Column of Glory," this structure is a massive crystalline pillar half a kilometre high close by the Emperor's own throne room.The Column of Glopry was embedded with the shattered armour of all those Imperial Fists Legionaries who fell in defence of Terra and the Imperial Palace during the final battle of the Horus Heresy.Within those broken suits were their bones; and inside the open faceplates, their grinning skulls. There was no finer sepulchre of honour that any Astartes could aspire to.The Column of Glory stands as an eternal testament to the sacrifice the sons of Dorn made in defence of the Emperor of Mankind and the homeworld of humanity.
Imperial Fists - Specialist Ranks & Formations: Templar Brethren - The Templar Brethren, or Templars, were the elite of the VII Legion. They were the Guardians of the Temple of Oaths aboard the great fortress-ship Phalanx, and the Legion's most highly accomplished warriors. Warriors of unequalled zeal, the Templar Brethren's relentless determination and matchless skill were the hallmarks of this deadly company, whose punishing recruitment protocol ensured that only the finest Imperial Fists bore their proud heraldry. Though their duty bound them to the Temple of Oaths, these dauntless warriors were found wherever the Imperial Fists carried the Emperor's Great Crusade to unify Mankind. They bore the best wargear that the armouries of the VII Legion could provide: ancient archaeotech, the newest creations of the Mechanicum and more common marks of weapon forged with exacting precision. With their superior skill in battle and the finest weapons at their disposal, they were at the spearhead of the Emperor's Great Crusade to unify Mankind. Excelling in close combat, the Templar Brethren wielded Power Swords in battle, whilst their Combat Shields provided much-needed protection as they fought on the frontline in addition to their ornate Artificer Armour. Few enemies of Mankind seldom survived the first shattering charge of the Templar Brethren and had little chance of overcoming their defences.Phalanx Warder Squad - Selected from amongst the ranks of the Imperial Fists Legion Breacher Siege Squads, the Phalanx Warders were a reinforced company assigned to the defence of the Imperial Fists flagship, the Phalanx. Armed with a variety of deadly close range weaponry, and guarded by a formidable, slab-like Legiones Astartes Boarding Shield, the Phalanx Warders presented a wall of Ceramite to any aggressor that defied any assault, and counterattacked with grim determination once the attack was blunted. Phalanx Warders were trained to fight from behind their shield wall to deadly effect; its armoured protection and the immense firepower at their command providing a deadly match for any foes who dared to assail them. Even among the ranks of the Imperial Fists, the Warders were renowned for the stark regime under which they trained and served, eschewing any duty save their training, the protection of the Phalanx or the prosecution of war on the foes of Mankind. The Warders displayed few battle honours and practised no vainglorious rituals to mark achievement, holding the honour of continuing their service as the only mark of distinction they required. Staunch and immovable, they are the last line of defence when attack threatens and the first into the fray when the Legion boards enemy vessels.
Imperial Fists - Legion Command Hierarchy: Rogal Dorn was the complete master of his Legion. Every warrior under his command knew that above all else they served their Primarch, and beyond him the Emperor. All others, be they Primarchs or Imperial lords of high renown, were nothing besides the clear line of authority which descended from the Master of Mankind. Complete and total obedience was demanded by Dorn and given by each Imperial Fist from the lowest warrior to the most exalted captain. Beneath Dorn were the senior captains of the Legion's regiments, Crusades and Households. Unlike other Primarchs, Dorn maintained no fixed inner circle of advisors and senior lieutenants. Ever the pragmatist, he is said to have once remarked to Horus that his counsellors were whoever were there to stand beside him in battle. Beneath the senior captains were the line captains and Centurions who led the Legion's battalions and companies. This technically made the captains of the Legion the most senior ranks beneath the Primarch himself. In reality a second layer of authority existed above them, that of the Fleet Masters, Siege Masters, appointed theatre commanders and marshals and ultimately the First Captain of the Legion.A master of a fleet held complete authority over it for a fixed time or until a campaign was complete. Selected for their skill in void warfare in a Legion which excelled in that theatre, the Fleet Masters represented many of the Imperial Fists' finest strategists. Likewise, Siege Masters were charged with arraying and overseeing the forces engaged in a siege, and had total authority over units engaged in that action. It is a mark of the importance Rogal Dorn placed on these two methods of warfare that those who commanded in such theatres were raised to positions that could only be overruled by the Primarch himself.Besides the Primarch, only one other position commanded unconditional authority over the Legion as a whole. The First Captain of the Imperial Fists was also always the commander of the Templars, and by tradition the finest proven warrior within the VII Legion. As guardian of the oaths of every Imperial Fists warrior, the First Captain held not only great authority, but commanded respect from all of his brothers. Additional titles existed for those who commanded permanent fortresses built by the Legion. Such stewardships were concerned chiefly with the maintenance of defences and the raising of recruits, but also command in time of siege. Such duties were usually temporary, with the incumbent returning after a time to the main forces of the Great Crusade. The titles of Castellan and Legion Seneschal were subtly different in both the honour and duties they discharged, but both were of sufficient weight that the bearers retained the title even after they had returned to the rest of the Great Crusade.
Imperial Fists - Chapter Organisation: After the losses incurred in the Iron Cage during the Great Scouring, what remained of the Imperial Fists was a hardened, veteran force fully able to embrace the concepts of the Codex Astartes; alongside the Ultramarines, the Imperial Fists have become the epitome of Codex doctrine.All ranks are able to make tactical decisions and are encouraged to act on their own initiative. The Imperial Fists combine all arms in flexible balanced battle groups each of which can present an opponent with a diversity of threats, then press their attack so swiftly that the foe is overwhelmed before he can react.The Imperial Fists since the Heresy have retained their traditional skills in urban and siege warfare, although they are quite willing to engage and defeat the enemy in open battle in any environment. They will use fortifications on the defensive, but only after all of the more aggressive options have been exhausted.The Fists' only weakness is perhaps a reluctance to accept the possibility of defeat. This sometimes blinds them to the risks inherent in their aggressive stratagems.Following the dissolution of the old Legions, Rogal Dorn also secretly established a contingency known as the "Last Wall Protocol." This contingency was only to be enacted in the event Terra was under grave threat, or perhaps had even fallen to the enemy.Then the sons of Dorn would come together to deal with the matter as one. Even if the Imperial Fists Chapter itself were destroyed, the other successors of the old Legion would remember. This protocol would be enacted nearly 1,500 Terran years after the end of the Heresy in the mid-32nd Millennium during the War of the Beast.
Imperial Fists - Specialist Ranks & Formations: Huscarls - In the Era Indomitus after the inclusion of the Primaris Space Marines in the Imperial Fists, the Huscarls were reestablished as a special elite unit within the Chapter by the order of the resurrected Primarch Roboute Guilliman. However, instead of serving as an Honour Guard for the Chapter's officers, this new incarnation of the Huscarls was tasked with leading the defence of individual worlds that were of great strategic importance to the Imperium. The Huscarls were now composed of those Imperial Fists who displayed the greatest skill and knowledge in constructing planetary defences and were expected to be capable of organising the defences of an entire star system, much as Rogal Dorn had once done for the Sol System during the Horus Heresy.