My dearest Brother and Colleague,
I hope this message finds you well and you’re making progress with your studies. Now that I am back at my Chapter and got into the daily routine of the Apothecarion again, I find the time to keep my word and write down a brief history of the Chapter, I have the great honour to serve. When trying to understand the Thousand Fists it is best to start with our Founding Legend.
It was during the Great Crusade and after the Emperor had found our beloved Primarch Rogal Dorn, that Dorn himself found our World. It had been parted from the rest of humanity since the long night. He landed right at the spot where our monastery stands today and gathered Men and Women from all Tribes, so see if we might send our sons as recruits for the Imperial Fists, or wether we were touched by corruption during the long night. When he couldn’t find any signs of corruption or xenos intervention, he commanded that a great tournament among our strongest sons should be held, to see, what kind of warriors we are. The tournament went on for several days and during the fights and different contest the elders of all 500 Tribes shared ancient Sagas as well as the knowledge of our homeworld with the Imperial Fists. On the last day, only two young warriors we’re left to compete against each other in a final fight: Artun Wolfseye, an extremely gifted and agile fighter and Ulay Grimrocks, a bulky tracker and hunter known for his resolve and wisdom despite his young years. Rogal Dorn was so pleased of the skills of our warriors that he rose up and spoke to them.
“I am impressed by you skills and we will gather recruits from this world for my fathers great crusade. I will grant each of you both a relict of power. But you will not fight against each other, but against me. And I will decide, who of you both is the better warrior. He will be granted the honour to join my Legion and become an Astartes.” And he let his servants bring a sword and a shield to the arena. “The sword is called Allstrike, for it is swift and will never miss its target. The shield is called Allwall and will reliably protect it’s wearer. Make your choice!” Artun and Ulay looked at each other, not knowing who shall make the choice first and after two heartbeats Ulay said: “You shall choose, brother, you are more gifted than I am and more likely to win.” Artun chose Allstrike, and so Ulay picked up Allwall.
They circled the primarch, knowing that they had no chance against the Giant of Man. Ulay made a faint attack, hoping that he would be able to distract the primarch for just a moment, to allow Artun a successful blow. Artun had the same intention, sensing his chance and rushed towards Dorn with incredible agility and speed. For a moment it really looked like the primarch would have been caught off guard. But then Dorn stepped aside faster than anyone could see and Artun missed the primarch by only a few inch. Now it was Artun, who was caught off guard and the primarch hit him with his fist right in the back so that Artun went to the ground, loosing Allstrike from his grip and unable to rise again. Rogal Dorn turned to Ulay and said: “You won! It is foolish to take a sword when you can take a shield. If one lunges and misses, one is not harmed. But if one is struck and has no shield, one is doomed.”, but Ulay had already jumped forward and had picked up Allstrike. The Primarch lunged for Ulay, but only hit Allwall, which made Ulay go down on both knees under the immense forces. There he immediately down both relics and bowed his head in submission, because he realised what he had done … it was in that moment that Rogal Dorn noticed a scratch Ulay had just left on the primarchs shoulderpad with Allstrike. For a moment it was totally quiet on the grand tournament ground, then Dorn laughed out loud and reached out his mighty hand to help Ulay up.
Among my people it is said, that this was the last time anyone of us had ever heard him laugh. But we didn’t forget that moment, and everscince that day, when the thunder of a great storm chases the wind on the plains of a distant world, we look at each other and say “Did you hear the Primarchs laughter?” Then we continue our way through the rain, smiling.
Ulay Grimrocks was indeed recruited as a Space Marine and fought on the Walls of the Imperial Palace on Terra not long after that. He was later honoured by being the first Chaptermaster of the Thousand Fists.
Although the Legend is known to many people in our Fleet, I don’t bother to sent it via astropaths, but rather write it down on paper and encode it, just like we agreed. I’ll hand this letter and possibly even further ones to the next Team of ours, who’s heading for The Heart of Sotha. I wish I could bring them myself, especially as we surely didn’t had enough time to go through all the examinations we had at hand. On the other hand: It is good to be back on Campus Actuarii. I missed this place, as dark and grim as it may be.
Your humble servant,
Lucas Lacertil
Read Letter No. 2 – Loss of our Homeworld now …
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