Darnath Lysander - A Hero's Ascension: The name Lysander first appeared on the Liber Honorus of the Imperial Fists Chapter in 567.M40 when, as a sergeant of the 2nd Company, he was first recognised for his leadership and valour during his actions on the planet of Iduno during the Battle of the Colonial Bridge. There, three Tactical Squads from the 2nd Company held the bridge leading to the Planetary Governor's palace against a Chaos Cultist horde of some three thousand lost souls.Captain Jostin perished in the initial moments of the attack, a lucky Autogun shell smashing through his helm's left eyepiece to bury itself deep in his brain. With Jostin's death, Lysander took command, directing the survivors in the clockwork volleys first impressed upon him by Sergeant Makan. Unable to make headway through the storm of roaring shells, the cultists fell back in disarray, leaving a bloody rampart of their own dead behind.The Battle of Colonial Bridge was the first time that Lysander's name was recorded in the Chapter's Liber Honorus, the same techniques that had once threatened to bring him ruin now earning him great honour. The battle also granted Lysander a first glimpse of one of the traitorous Iron Warriors. It had been their heresies that had wrought insurrection on Iduno, and one of their augmented warriors was later discovered amongst the dead. The Renegade's presence was enough to bring the full might of the Imperial Fists down on Iduno, but no further traces of Perturabo's treacherous sons were found.In the wake of Iduno, Lysander earned many more Imperial laurels. He became known as a warrior who could hold any position, no matter how indefensible it might appear to others. Yet he was no stranger to daring assaults, either. Indeed, it was following the capture of the Aeldari cruiser Blood of Khaine that he rose to the command of the 2nd Company as captain.When the Imperial Fists deployed to break the three-year Siege of Haddrake Tor, a planet in the merciless grasp of the Iron Warriors' Warsmith Shon'tu, it was Lysander who commanded the Drop Pod assault onto the heights. Having secured the high ground, Lysander's strike force set up Teleport Homers to summon the Terminators of the 1st Company into the thick of the fighting.Alas, the defenders had set a tremor in the Warp, and many of the Terminators materialised over deep chasms, or else in solid rock. Kleitus, Captain of the 1st Company, was one of these, his body reforming around solid stone. Before he died, Kleitus thrust his relic Thunder Hammer, the Fist of Dorn, into Lysander's hands, and bade him seek vengeance through victory.This Lysander did, leading the survivors of the 1st Company alongside his own to shatter the Iron Warriors stronghold. Shon'tu fled from the planet in defeat, but he had left a mystery in his wake. Survivors spoke of how the Warsmith had concerned himself little with the despoliation of their world, and had instead buried himself in a search through its millennia-old archives. Unfortunately, there was no way to know what Shon'tu had been searching for, as he had destroyed the archives before making his escape.In the reorganisation that followed Haddrake Tor, Lysander was elevated to the rank of First Captain, Master of the 1st Company, Overseer of the Armoury and Watch Commander of Phalanx. Chaplain Shadryss, now many centuries old, looked upon the path his recruit had walked, and saw his faith had been rewarded. Lysander seemed certain to rise one day to the supreme rank of Chapter Master, and perhaps lead the Imperial Fists into a new and glorious age.Lysander's next noteworthy victory came against the Chaos Space Marines of the Alpha Legion. In the Jorgurd Cluster, while putting down an insurrection on the world of Klebendor III, the Imperial Fists forces under the first captain's command captured the Traitor Marines' Chaos Champion Ialo Vex and his inner circle whilst they were desecrating the Cathedral of Saint Aspira.After receiving guidance from the Inquisition, Lysander pursued the enemy back to their lair in the form of a remote space station constructed in the heart of an asteroid. Lysander immediately launched a surprise attack on the enemy's cruiser while its power was off-line and the ship was docked. The courageous Captain personally led the boarding party of Terminators that teleported aboard the Alpha Legion's vessel.They held off Alpha Legion reprisals for several solar hours while the 3rd Company landed in Thunderhawk gunships and fought their way through the space station's dock complex to reinforce the Imperial Fist Veterans already aboard the Cruiser. Lysander defeated no less then 7 foul Champions of the Dark Gods.At the height of the battle, the Chaos Space Marines made a desperate last assault on the 1st Company's encircling warriors. This appeared successful before Lysander countered their attack, ambushing them in mid-assault by cutting through the cruiser's interposing bulkheads with his Terminators' Chainfists and Thunder Hammers. Under attack from multiple directions, the enemy's plight was only reinforced by the 3rd Company's arrival.The Traitors fled into the tunnels of their asteroid base, earning only a brief respite before Lysander's Terminator Squads purged the last of the Heretic Astartes.