Rogal Dorn

Overview
Rogal Dorn was the Primarch of the Imperial Fists Space Marines.

Youth
Very little is known about Rogal Dorn's youth. It is believed that that he was raised on the planet of Inwit in the system of the same name by an ice-caste native to the Ice Hives of the world. The patriarch of the clan that raised him became as a grandfather to him, and taught him much of tactics. Even after he discovered he was not blood-related to his 'grandfather' Dorn held his memory in high value; he kept a fur-edged robe that had belonged to the man and slept with it on his bed every night. Eventually Rogal Dorn became the leader not only of his caste but of the whole world and then the surrounding region of space, ruling the Inwit Cluster as Emperor of the House of Dorn.

Reunification
But as the history goes, 40 years after his grandfather's death, the Great Crusade reached the Ice Hives of Inwit. Dorn greeted the Emperor at the helm of his enormous starship, the Phalanx, the seventh Primarch to be found. The Emperor welcomed Dorn, and returned the Phalanx to his care, making it the Fortress Monastery of the Imperial Fists.

Profile
Dorn himself was fiercely loyal to the Emperor, and never once sought any favour from him. He exemplified the truth, and could never tell a lie, even if it would have aided his cause. Because of this, Dorn's statue stands as one of four on Macragge, next to that of Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines.

Dorn commanded his Legion and Expeditionary Fleets with peerless devotion and military genius. It was said that he possessed perhaps the finest military mind of the Primarchs, ordered and disciplined but still inclined to flashes of zeal and inspiration. His record of glories and achievements in the Great Crusade was second to that of Horus, and indeed the Warmaster had said that he esteemed Dorn and the Imperial Fists so highly that he reckoned if the Fists, noted masters of defence, were to hold a fortress against him and his Luna Wolves, the resultant conflict would spiral into a never-ending stalemate.

Great Crusade
When the Emperor returned to Terra to build a capital worthy of ruling a million planets, Dorn went as well. Always having excelled in the construction of fortresses, he 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. Fulgrim once asked if Rogal Dorn thought it could withstand the Iron Warriors legion, and Dorn's truthful answer infuriated Perturabo to such a degree they would almost destroy each other in battle years later.

Dorn and the entire Imperial Fists Legion were recalled to Terra to take up guard stations there near what would be the end of the Great Crusade.

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 by severe Warp storms, the Imperial Fist fleet eventually discovered the badly damaged Death Guard frigate Eisenstein, and so learned of Horus' betrayal. Even though he did not belive Captain Garro at first and nearley killed him when he said that his brother was a traitor , Rogal Dorn was eventually convinced by several members of the Eisenstein survivors, notably Captain Nathaniel Garro late of the Death Guard, Iacton Qurze of the Luna Wolves and remembrancer turned Saint, Euphrati Keeler, that his brothers Horus, Fulgrim, Mortarion, and Angron were staging a full-scale rebellion. Dorn therefore despatched the bulk of his Legion to the Istvaan III system on a war-footing. He himself returned to Terra with his veteran companies to bring word of the events personally.

Defense of the Imperial Palace
Dorn was subsequently charged with bolstering the defences of the Imperial Palace even further, and oversaw the construction himself. Bulding Grate bastons of millions of artilery cannons. And adding steel plateing to the towers and walls. He felt he was marring the perfection and beauty of the existing structure in doing this, and regretted it, even though it was necessary. His legion would also strike out to Mars, securing vital weapons, armour and munitions as the planet fell to the Dark Mechanicum, even as the force under Captain Camba-Diez took terrible casualties in the raid to secure the absolutely neccessary supplies. These would prove absolutely essential in the following siege of the Imperial Palace.

What forces of his legion he had taken with him would fight in the Siege of Terra, manning the palace defences with the Blood Angels. When Horus dropped the shielding on his flagship, Dorn and his most trusted veterans, clad in the few remaining suits of Tactical Dreadnought armour, would teleport directed into battle with Horus. Unfortunately, Dorn and his chosen would land farthest from Horus, and had to fight their way across almost the entire length of the ship. This meant that they would arrive too late to participate in the battle with Horus himself. Dorn would be the one to find the bodies of the Emperor, Sanguinius and Horus. He was also the one to take notes from the crippled Emperor on how to build the Golden Throne, and personally carried his shattered father to his resting place for the next ten millenia.

Post Heresy
After the fall of the Emperor, Dorn was stricken with grief. He felt the Emperor's near demise to be his fault and led his Legion on a crusade of penitence across the Imperium. He was summoned back to Terra when Roboute Guilliman announced the adoption of his Codex Astartes, turning Legions into Chapters. Dorn was initially outraged at this proposal, feeling that the Imperium blamed him (and rightly so, he thought) for the fall of his brother marines. But realizing what damage another internal conflict could do to the fragile peace of the Imperium, Dorn agreed. This was a dark period in Rogal Dorn's life; he had both failed the Emperor and his legion faltered without the guiding light of the Emperor.

Some controversy exists about the next event in Rogal Dorn's life. What is clear is that the Imperial Fists could not be as easily divided into chapters as, for example, the Ultramarines could. The total commitment to the legion was bred into each marine and many didn't wish to form their own chapters. Dorn found the answer to this problem in meditation through self-inflicted pain, using a device known as the Pain Glove. The pain-induced vision revealed that his legion had to be redeemed in the eyes of the Emperor, and that the way to salvation was through pain and self-sacrifice.

The 'collective pain' needed to cleanse the Chapter was decided by Dorn to be an Iron Warriors' fortress, the Iron Cage.

Iron Cage
Perturabo had built the massive fortifications to mock the Imperial Fists, and Dorn led his most die-hard followers in a siege that would last for several weeks. Followers of the Iron Warriors claim that the Imperial Fists suffered a crushing defeat, and that Dorn and his legion would have been wiped out if Perturabo hadn't prolonged Dorn's suffering so long that the Ultramarines managed to intervene.

Imperial records indicate otherwise. The Imperial Fists had always been masters of siege craft, and even unprepared and at a disadvantage they fought like lions. Dorn stood as a giant in their midst, his mind clear with purpose after years of doubt and guilt. The Iron Warriors would have had to sacrifice their lives and Primarch to destroy the Imperial Fists, a price they weren't ready to pay. The arrival of the Ultramarines cut the conflict short and the Iron Warriors fled for the Eye of Terror. The Imperial Fists had suffered staggering losses, but they had proved their loyalty to the Emperor and cleansed themselves of earlier failures.

Chapters
What remained of the Legion was divided into Second Founding Chapters, divided more or less along either tactical or idealogical lines. Dorn would give each chapter a holy relic of his, a personal sign of both respect and favor. Even in being forced to seperate his beloved Legion, he would make sure that each marine remembered, and that each recieved their own personal proof that he had not abandoned his sons.

Black Templars
Sigismund, who was chosen as the Emperor's Champion by Dorn, led the more zealous of the Imperial Fists as the Black Templar chapter and was elevated to the rank of first High Marshal of the Black Templars. Sigismund swore an oath that upon leaving Terra, he and his new chapter would prove their loyalty by never resting in his duties against enemies of the Emperor. Every High Marshal after him has renewed this oath and as such, the Black Templars Crusade have maintained the longest Space Marine Crusade ever, which has continued for over ten thousand years.

Soul Drinkers
The naval shock-assault Marines of the Imperial Fists formed the Soul Drinkers. Their style of shock and awe warfare would become the tactical backbone of the chapter, creating a force dedicated to breaking the enemies will and morale even as it broke their bodies.

Crimson Fists
The more rational and most newly recruited marines would form the Crimson Fists. While these marines may have been younger, they were not as fanatical warriors as the Black Templar and, having spent the least time in the legion, could stomach their separation from their beloved primarch and fellow battle-brothers.

Imperial Fists
The marines most devoted and loyal to their Primarch and Legion remained Imperial Fists. Rogal Dorn personally spent the next twenty years rebuilding and reforming his chapter according to the standards of the Index Astartes. He would lead his chapter until his death.

Iron Knights
The Iron Knights are crusaders in the proud tradition of Rogal Dorn. They are one of the twelve Space Marine Chapters that send a champion to the centennial Feast of Blades, and are the only chapter that attends to have won the contest on two consecutive occasions.

Rogal Dorn's death
Rogal Dorn died fighting onboard a Chaos ship, after attacking the first Black Crusade fleet with a vastly outnumbered force. Seeing the importance of attacking the enemy fleet while they were still preparing he relied on hit-and-run attacks until his reinforcements could arrive. Dorn died on board the Despoiler Class Battleship Sword of Sacrilege after leading a desperate attack on its bridge. It is unknown if he actually perished by the hands of some traitor which is unlikely at best, considering his skill and superhuman abilities as a primarch. His superhuman endurance and willpower did him no good though, when the ship crashed through low orbit and burnt up in a planets atmosphere. While no pieces of the wreck could be recovered, Dorn's body survived the crash relatively intact. His remains were recovered and his engraved skeletal hands are kept in stasis by his chapter.

Dorn's corpse, without his hands, rests in a block of amber. His hands are within another room and each Chapter Master has the divine honor to engrave his name upon the bones. Even with miniscule script, ten thousand years of warfare has left the bones covered with names, giving a list of the Imperiums greatest heroes. Some bones corresponds to former commanders. Left hand, the first metacarpal: Lords Bronwin Abermort, Maximus Thane, Kalman Flodensbog; while the first phalanx of the thumb is Ambrosian Spactor.

Rumours
Some claim that Dorn is still alive in M41, attending to the Golden Throne and its guardians, the Adeptus Custodes, though this is unsubstantiated.

Appearance
Commonly dressed in armour of burnished copper and gold, Dorn also wore a red velvet cloak and unfurled eagle-wing motif was heavily present on most parts of his gear, most notably on a decorative section of his armour that rose above his shoulders. He had a stern and naturally unsmiling face, topped with an unruly shock of short, bone-white hair.

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