The Imperial Fists were the most stalwart of the Space Marine Legions during the Horus Heresy, and their legend has grown with every passing century. Such heroism has always claimed its blood-price, but this is a burden the Imperial Fists bear with fortitude, for they know that their Primarch, Rogal Dorn, would have expected nothing less.
The Imperial Fists were the Emperor’s praetorians throughout the Great Crusade, a duty they discharged with honour on worlds beyond count. Now, at the close of the 41st Millennium, the Legion is long gone, but the Chapter that bears its name maintains the duties and traditions of old. At the end of the Scouring, the Imperial Fists observed what they as saw the rest of the Imperium giving up on the Emperor’s dream of a united Mankind, and swore that they would continue the fight – alone if necessary. Thus, the Great Crusade never finished for the Imperial Fists. Whilst other Space Marine Chapters, and the Imperium at large, have focussed their efforts on preserving what remains, the Imperial Fists continue to campaign across the galaxy, prosecuting war against the enemies of Mankind and reclaiming worlds lost many thousands of years ago.
Yet though they are called to make war across the five segmentums of the galaxy, the Imperial Fists are the Defenders of Terra still. Their fortress monastery – the vast warship known as Phalanx – holds station within the Sol System, and it is said the Chapter maintains a sequence of coded alert signals that allow them to withdraw from other battlezones with astonishing speed should Terra become threatened, just as they did once before. It is commonly held that the Imperial Fists’ finest hour came during the siege of the Emperor’s Palace – a fortress that their Primarch, Rogal Dorn, had been pivotal in creating. The truth, however, is that the Imperial Fists have many times been vital to the Imperium’s survival, though it is a point of honour amongst the sons of Dorn that such things are spoken of only out of need.
Whilst the Chapter has never been afflicted with the same clandestine secrecy that is endemic to the Dark Angels, neither do they approve of the braggartism that permeates Chapters such as the Space Wolves. As individuals, and as a Chapter, the Imperial Fists seek their purpose in the performance of great deeds, not the recounting of the same. As a result, those who encounter the sons of Dorn are often left with the impression of sombre and cheerless warriors. Those that know them better – such as the Blood Angels – recognise the passion that all Imperial Fists keep under tight rein through adherence to protocol. This continual mortification is necessary, for pride has ever been the Imperial Fists’ greatest weakness.
Pride is a powerful force. It can spur a warrior on to great deeds even whilst those around lose all hope. It dredges fresh strength from the most debilitating of fugues, and brings forth the flame of victory from the embers of despair. Yet pride is a sword that cuts both ways, as the Chapter has too often found to its cost. Phalanx’s librarius contains many tales of Imperial Fists who have died needlessly, driven to fight on when their Chapter and the Imperium both would have been better served by shamed, but living, warriors. Squads, companies – and if rumour speaks truly, a yet greater tithe of the Chapter’s strength – have perished in this manner at one time or another. Such losses would have destroyed any other Chapter, but not the Imperial Fists, who maintain a recruit reserve far deeper than any other Chapter, in order that whole companies can be reconstituted at incredible speed when needed. It is a note of pride to all who serve aboard Phalanx that so long as one battle-brother yet stands to hold the Chapter banner high, then the sons of Dorn will never be truly defeated.
In an attempt to counteract these character failings, the Chaplains of the Imperial Fists preach credos intended to instil a more measured approach to war. Any defeat can be reversed, the Chapter’s neophytes are taught, provided that there are warriors yet alive to see the matter done. Thus do the reclusiam teach, but at heart they know those words are just balms to soothe the incurable. Stubbornness is as much a part of the Imperial Fists as their Primarch’s gene-seed, and it is a rare battle-brother who can resist its lure forever. For an Imperial Fist, then, every battle is a test of will as much as anything else. Those who master their pride are able to embrace the strength it offers, but also have the wisdom to know when it tempts foolishness. Such Space Marines become heroes, but they can never truly escape the hubris of their blood.