My honoured Brother,
in my last letter I told you how my chapter lost our homeworld and was granted a star fortress – The Mountain – for our reliable services. For more than three millennia it served as the home of my chapter and the refuge of our people. Sadly this was not the end of our tragedy, but only another chapter – the one I will tell you about today.
After we have been given The Mountain, our Techpriests and Apothecary immediately began to work on modifications of the fortress. Our chapter master had decided, that it should be the new home to the civil survivors of the exterminatus of our homeworld. They tried preserve as much of our culture and traditions as possible on a common effort of Astartes and Civilians. And so several lager greenhouses and arboreta were created within the fortress, that served as places of community and commemoration. And during the years, due to the focused biological and genetic efforts of the apothecarion, we were able to even add a significant population of animals, that once lived on our homeworld. And for quite a while things seemed to work out fine. The civil population grew beyond the capacities of the mountain and so we created similar but smaller greenhouses of the larger ships of our fleet, and it became common, that astartes, members of the imperial navy and civilians lived side by side on our ships. Many of the civilians chose careers and duties within the navy and the chapter, but some also stayed out of the military professions and formed a small but sucessful economical subculture around handicraft, artisanry and trade. And we even managed to recruite new astartes from among the children that were born and raised within the fleet.
It was during these first centuries, that we fought again alongside the White Scars and their successors. And although our combat doctrine varies greatly from their’s we found out, that we had many things in common. And we adopted several of their ways, like a heraldry that is closer to the tribal structures of our people. Slowly but surely, we began to gain back a normal life as a chapter, the wounds became scars and together with our self assurance, we gained respect among other chapters for our victories. And although our appearance and demeanour became more and more tribal – some would say and said “feral” – and so veered away from the standards of the astartes, even our progenitors, the Imperial Fists, honoured our combat doctrines and very successful campaigns during these centuries.
Then, in 127.M36 the Mountain was on a patrol mission within a sector of Agri-Worlds, called the Green Belt, we had been defending against Orcs and Dark Eldar for many decades. In the Orbit of the Sectors Main world waited the main fleet of our chapter, and the chapter had just finished raising a small fortress on the world that served as barracks and training ground as well as extended laboratories for out chapters ongoing experiments with animals and medical research, an obsession we already had developed after the loss of our homeworld.
When the mountain was late for return and no astropathic message from the fortress reached the rest of the fleet, we started sending search parties. But none of it every found even the slightest hint to the fate of our star fortress. As time went on and it seemed more and more unlikely that the mountain would return any time soon, our people once again had to adjust to the new situation. Together with The Mountain nearly half of the Chapter had been lost, the Chapter Master, the largest parts of the Apothecarion and Laboratories. Fortunately the Geneseed had already be distribute on a hand full of other major ships so that the future of the chapter was not in immediate danger. But we soon began to hasten our recruit programs and asked other chapters for help.
The Thousand First were deeply ashamed about this course of events and the trauma of our lost Homeworld and the lost Mountain still shapes the Character of almost every Adept of the Chapter until this day. The feeling of Shame usually gets worse through the many years of service and some of the oldest Marines are so humble and silent, that it comes close to self-denial.
As if those years after the Loss of the Mountain weren’t hard enough for the Chapter, a new, formally unknown Thread emerged: Infestations now known as Genestealer Cults appeared on several Planets of The Green Belt. In the Centuries before we were mostly focused on fighting Orks and had hardly any experiences with Heresies or Uprisings, especially within the population of the planets we protected. So it took us sometime to adjust to the new threats, and many Marines of the Chapter dislikes these “unknightly” Missions until today. One result of these years is the fact that the Apothecarium as well as the Librarium have more influence within the Thousand Fists than in usual Chapters. The fact that you and I two work together wouldn’t be possible without this unusual Architecture. And there is hardly any Mission, that get’s planned without a Apothecarius and a Librarian.
The appearance of the Genestealer Cults so quickly after the dissapperance of the Mountain lead to some rumours, which saw a connection. This again lead to an obsession of several Captains and Chapter Masters with the hunting of Genestealer Cults. As a result, larger Teams of Terminators were included into every Company, so any Captain could decide quickly to send them to a Space Hulk, whenever it appeared within the Companies reach.
Although some pieces of equipment and artefacts from the Mountain were found in Space Hulks, there was never any real proof, that a Genestealer Cult was responsible for the Loss of the Mountain. The most reliable Hint on the Mountain came just lately: A Cruiser of the Blood Ravens on it’s way to the eastern fringe of the Galaxy reportedly met The Mountain in an uninhabbitaded system. It was at the same Jumppoint the Blood Ravens Cruiser entered the system, but it left very shortly after the Astartes had arrived. One of the Librarians of the Blood Ravens states, that he felt a strong psykic force, comparable to those he met when fighting other Genestealer Cults, but still different from them.
Unto this Day the Thousand Fists continually second a small Force of the Chapter on the Search for the Mountain. Losing a Star Fortress of this size is shame enough for a Chapter, that is proud on it’s defending Skills. With shame every Astartes of the Chapter thinks of the Loss, and among other Chapters the Thousand Fists are still know as the Chapter that ordered and exterminatus on their own homeworld and “ideld away” a Star Fort. But much worse is the possibility that the mountain still might be in the Hands of Foes and might be used against the Imperium. Rumour has it, that every Chaptermaster since Cladan Blackcloud, is haunted by nightly Visions of the The Mountain laying waste to unprotected worlds.
That is somehow a sad end to this letter, but you can be assured, that we found strength within this tragedy, and I will tell you more about our culture and believes within our next letter.
The Emperor protects,
Lucas Lacertil
Continue the story with Letter No. 4 – Chapter Culture and Believes now …
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