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Imperial Fists

2023-02-05T16:33:16Z

2600:387:3:805:0:0:0:BC: /* History */ WoTB retcons added

{{Infobox Spess Mahreen Chapter
|Name = Imperial Fists
|Heraldry = [[Image:Imperial_Fists_Livery.jpg|center|140px]]
|Battle Cry = "Primarch-Progenitor, to your glory and the glory of Him on earth!"
|Number = VII
|Founding = [[First Founding]]
|Successors of = N/A
|Successor Chapters = [[Astral Knights]], [[Black Templars]], [[Celestial Lions]], [[Crimson Fists]], [[Excoriators]], [[Executioners]], [[Exorcists]] (officially), [[Fists Exemplar]], [[Hammers of Dorn]], [[Hospitallers]], [[Invaders]], [[Iron Knights]], [[Red Templars]], [[Retributors]], [[Sons of the Phoenix]] (Officially, anyway), [[Soul Drinkers]] (sort of, it's complicated), [[Subjugators]], [[White Templars]] (currently disputed according to some files rediscovered),
|Chapter Master = [[Gregor Dessian]] (formerly [[Vorn Hagen]])
|Primarch = [[Rogal Dorn]]
|Homeworld = Used to be [[Inwit]], then [[Terra]], now a giant space fortress called [[The Phalanx|the ''Phalanx'']] (though officially it's still Terra)
|Specialty = Defensive Siege Warfare/Urban Warfare/Extreme Masochism/Smashing face/Bolter Drill/Naval Warfare (named "Imperial Fists" for smashing enemy fortifications with concentrated force into a single point instead of performing offensive sieges)
|Strength = 1000 Marines (to Dorn's displeasure)
|Allegiance = [[Imperium]]
|Colours = Yellow and black, with Codex-standard trim on shoulders
}}
{{Topquote|FORTIFY!!!|The usual response of an Imperial Fist to their [[Iron Warriors|hated rivals']] "SIEGE!"}}
{{Topquote|The best offence is a good defence.| Imperial Fist combat doctrine.}}
{{Topquote|You can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down.|Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, ''I Won't Back Down''}}
{{Topquote|Maximmion Voss, Imperial Fist, Captain of the Third Company, Master of Doors. Think of the Banner Iconography. Glorious.|Siefer Zeed}}
The '''Imperial Fists''' are a [[First Founding]] chapter of [[Space Marines]], descended from [[Rogal Dorn]] and characterized by their mastery of siege warfare and their extreme, often suicidal stoic bravery. They are the forefathers of the [[Crimson Fists|blue guys with red hands]], as well as the [[Black Templars|in-game Angry Marines]]. Sometimes they get together with their successors and have a [[Feast of Blades|sword fighting tournament]]. They aren't as angry as the [[Angry Marines]] (close though), but they [[/tg/ gets shit done|get the shit done]]. Unlike [[Pretty Marines|some people.]]

Basically they're the true Vanilla Marines, albeit the most badass vanilla marines ever. Probably best represented on the table top by IA: 10's [[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Space_Marines/Siege_Assault_Vanguard(7E)|Siege Assault Vanguard list]], since it includes most codex space marine options, plus additional siege-y stuff.

They're well known for their fixation on physical and spiritual endurance, reinforced and tested through extreme trials and the use of a gadget called the "pain glove" - which is apparently a bodysuit that activates every pain nerve in a marine's body while hindering their pain suppressing organs, basically making you feel like your body has been dipped in molten steel. Older fluff kinda played this up as masochism, but more recent fluff, especially the Horus Heresy books, have shown these pain seeking tendencies as being a mechanism of focus and preparation, the idea being that if a Marine is already exposing himself to much greater pain than he could be exposed to on the battlefield, there's no injury or obstacle that could threaten them, because they've already done worse to themselves. They also use pain as a meditative and training aid, as Astartes biology is keyed to react to pain in useful ways, which can be helpful in training and mental preparation. They have a Germanic-Teutonic-Prussian-Crusader theme to their Legion and their chapter, and are badasses when it comes to swordfighting too.

They are known for being one of the Chapters who try to keep the Imperium together as the Emperor intended the most (perhaps this implies they make sure worlds they save are in Compliance/get rid of tyrants and shitty regimes), and defend Imperial soil with tenacity and stoic contempt. This harkens back to their Legion being one of the most Imperial in morals, and known as the "true Imperial Legion", beside the [[Blood Angels]] (although only outwards - [[Red Thirst|Things weren't as well internally]]) and the [[Ultramarines]]. They recruit people from many different worlds of the Imperium, showing traits from Hive Worlds, Agri-Worlds, Death Worlds, Ocean Worlds, etc. They even recruit from Terra itself, making them to a degree Terra's marines and being known as the [[Awesome|Defenders of Terra]]. Combining this with their standard reaction to pain ("This sucks... I'LL DEFEND IT EVEN MORE!!!") paints a picture of a stubborn Chapter which refuses to let go of the ideals that the Imperium was founded on, but unlike the [[Dark Angels|Catholics]] aren't afraid of showing it, and aren't dicks about it, like the [[Space Wolves|vikings]]. Just don't expect them to express much emotion, they tend to be as brutally honest and literal as the walls they build.

They appear in the [[Warhammer Films|Ultramarines movie]], ostensibly to teach aforementioned smurfs how to get the shit done, or probably steal the movie from the smurfs and make the Theater explode due to epicness and faithful Imperium subjects yelling as many literal one liners of 40k when they see the motherfucking Imperial Fists. Also, John Hurt plays an IF chaplain in said film. Sadly, due to the amount of Smurf Fanboyism in said film, all but two of them die, their Chaplain gets shot by SPOILER a daemon in disguise, and some scrawny Ultramarine recruit saves the day instead. Normally we'd say this is [[C.S. Goto|fucking stupid]], but the Fists die holding the line and fight to the last, both on-screen and off (and at the very least, one of the Fists survives the movie, one of only two-ish characters to do AT ALL).

==History==
[[File:Imperialfist78.jpg|450px|thumb|left|Chaos proctologists]]
The Imperial Fists were masters of siege warfare and construction, like the [[Iron Warriors]]. But while the Warriors were shoehorned into that role by their asshole [[Perturabo|dad]] and/or [[God-Emperor of Mankind|grandad]] (with [[RAGE|unfortunate]] [[Chaos Space Marines|consequences]]), the Imperial Fists were literally designed for the task. This is perhaps best demonstrated in their methods of siege. The Iron Warriors laid siege in the same way as the Death Korps of Krieg. The Imperial Fists simply used whatever was best and shooty and blew a hole in the enemy defenses. Then, they stormed in and “fisted” the enemy to death. Rinse, repeat. No grind. No PTSD. No stress. Just blam and done. A lot like their boarding tactics in naval warfare, come to think of it.

Since '''ALL''' [[First Founding]] Legions originally recruited from Terra, their first homeworld was officially Rogal Dorn's planet of [[Inwit]], which is exactly what it sounds like on the tin: a frozen planet of low-tech Inuit people, though Dorn was such an impressive dude he managed to turn the feral worlders and their ice caves into a sprawling interplanetary empire ''(beat THAT [[Roboute Guilliman|Girly-pants!]])''.

Rogal Dorn was the only Primarch ''(aside from [[Magnus the Red]])'' to actively seek out the Emperor rather than be discovered by him, so when he showed up with the ''Phalanx'', big Emps was like ''"oh Hai... erm... I wasn't expecting you yet... Dorn? was it? okay here's your Legion."'' Dorn didn't say a word as the Imperial Fists knelt and pledged their loyalty, but after he had witnessed them in battle, he met with the Space Marine who was the place-holder Primarch (Legion Master Matthias) and simply said ''"Cheers dude, you're in command of [[Inwit]] now, make me thirty more regiments of you guys, I'm off on a crusade"'' (seriously, that's pretty much how it went).

It wasn't all [[Noblebright]] crusades though; they were described as [[Black Templars|zealous]] as the [[Ultramarines]] or [[Word Bearers]] when it came to conquering worlds and drawing recruits. On one feral world they recruited EVERY SINGLE male child old enough to hold a spear, whilst on one hive world they went down into the [[Necromunda|underhives]] and walked away with half of the male population. This was perhaps not the best way to get results, and most of the potential recruits would end up dead, though one can guess that the ones that survived would be guaranteed to be the best of the crop, probably in a similar way to how the [[Space Wolves]] whittle out the weaklings from the strong.

They did so well at crusading during the Great Crusade ''(go figure)'' that the Emperor lavished more honours on them than anyone else and fought alongside them more often than any other legion. One might wonder why Dorn wasn't named Warmaster, but this was probably more to do with Horus being '''a)''' already well established and crusading on his own, '''b)''' presumably a better all-round general than Dorn and '''c)''' Dorn was notably lacking in the interpersonal skills necessary to keep the other primarchs in line. Despite this, the Imperial Fists were considered by many to be the bedrock of the Imperium, and they were the legion most associated with the Emperor, thus midway through the Great Crusade when big Emps retired to his dungeons to play with warp trinkets, they got the job of guarding [[Terra]] and the surrounding solar system ''(but not guarding the [[Emperor]] himself since the [[Adeptus Custodes|Custodians]] already had that job)'', and fortifying the Imperial Palace and so they became the most publicly visible loyalist Astartes during the time of the [[Horus Heresy]]. Not only that, their Primarch, along with [[Jaghatai Khan|the Khan]] personally carried the Emperor's fucked up body all the way to the Golden Throne.

Dorn's rejection of the Codex was primarily based on his legion being '''the''' crusading legion. They defined themselves by their identity as Legionaries, and regarded Guilliman's codex as being a betrayal of the Emperor's mandate for the Space Marines. Indeed, Big E wanted the Legions to expand the Imperium aggressively and Guilliman wanted to turn them into a bunch of small High Threat Response teams, each protecting their own little corner of the Imperium. When Guilliman rolled up and asked Dorn if he was done with the codex, Dorn blew him off by saying there were Traitors to hunt down and exterminate and ran off to enact the Scouring with his sons. (And, to be fair, Guilliman and everyone else joined in the Scouring as well because it was actually a good idea.)

By the time the majority of the Traitors had been either purged with extreme prejudice or driven into the Eye of Terror, however, Guilliman came around with his Codex idea again. Again, Dorn told Guilliman to leave his Legion alone, but this time Guilliman wouldn't take no for an answer, and it became increasingly apparent that it was going to become a thing whether Dorn liked it or not. Dorn's Legion was going to be broken up. His father was dead. His [[Horus|best]] [[Sanguinius|friends]] were dead. Deep down, he felt that he'd failed the Emperor and the Great Crusade; if only he'd fortified Terra a little more or been at the Emperor's and Sanguinius' side to confront Horus, they wouldn't be mired in this [[grimdark|complete and utter clusterfuck]]. The Emperor was dead, the Great Crusade was over, and the Imperium fractured. There was no more need for an Emperor's Praetorian or an Imperial Crusader in this new galaxy where they could only cling on grimly to what they'd so laboriously managed to seize.

Luckily, in this moment of quiet despair in Dorn's life, [[Perturabo]] dropped the challenge for Dorn to come and break into his mightiest fortress. Dorn saw this as the perfect solution to his problem, rose seemingly blindingly to the obvious bait and took his sons to what he knew was a trap. He went in with no help, with no reinforcements, even without expectations or a battle plan. He'd moved on from self-injury and fury to suicidal bravery. He didn't expect to survive the Iron Cage. He went there with his sons so they could die holding up the ideals they'd believed in and that defined the Imperial Fists. When Guilliman arrived uninvited to 'save' the Imperial Fists, Dorn's legion was physically mauled, but spiritually intact once again. Dorn and his sons never exactly got over their guilt, but they were no longer defined by it. Dorn finally could accept the new reality of the Imperium, but made sure the Fists and their successors would continue to fight for the Emperor's original vision. Far from the kneeling submission of a broken man to Guilliman, this act was Dorn's way of staying true to the Imperium that had gone before without tearing apart the Imperium that was still standing.

An alternate and less [[Mary Sue|generous]] interpretation is that Dorn temporarily went fucking nuts after Dad's death and got most of his legion killed because of it. By enacting this roundabout "penance" upon [[Fail|his own legion]], he was not cleansing the sin from the hearts and loins of the Imperial Fists, but simply failing his men and failing to [[Reasonable Marines|do his job]] of winning fights to aid the Imperium. Thousands of champions, heroes, and experienced Astartes who had survived the Heresy and whose skills would be sorely needed in the Imperium's rebuilding, all killed in a near-pointless battle that happened almost entirely because of Dorn feeling guilty over not being there to aid his father. [[Fail|Great job, Dorn; really doing what your father would've wanted there!]]

This underscores his tenacity, and how a strong personality trait can sometimes be a significant disadvantage. Typical of both the Emperor and his sons. This didn't end in a total failure in the long run though, since he split his legion into the ever raging [[Black Templars]] which remains ''the'' largest and busiest Chapter to date, and the reasonable [[Crimson Fists]] who actually have brains and don't throw themselves wastefully into wars for the sake of glory or honour. That's not to say both takes are 100% mutually exclusive, but well, there you go.

''The Beast Arises'' series entry, ''I am Slaughter'' (written by [[Dan Abnett]]) revealed that, while Dorn grudgingly accepted the Codex, he still wasn't totally on board with the whole "let's divvy up our legions" thing (but then again, neither were [[Leman Russ]] and [[Lion El'Jonson]]), and so Dorn secretly created what amounted to a panic box that said "break glass in case of 2nd Siege of Terra", known as 'The Last Wall': if Terra were ever to come under direct threat again, then the Imperial Fists and their successor chapters would reunite as a full Legion in its defense, with the [[Feast of Blades]] serving to keep them sharp and prepared. This turned out to be a good idea, as the Fists got their shit completely wrecked by some Orks at the beginning of the war (as in, there was exactly one survivor from the entire chapter). This sole survivor, Captain [[Slaughter Koorland]], fortunately proved to be a complete badass and rounded up all the Fists' successor chapters to go and knock greenskin heads together, becoming Lord Commander of the Imperium and founding the [[Deathwatch]] along the way.

Sadly, he eventually got killed by the Beast himself on Ullanor, rendering the OG Fists extinct. They were covertly reconstituted by members of other Imperial Fists second founding chapters later on, though, so it's all good. Plus the OG fists had a bunch of gene-seed and who knows what, so the original Fists were probably revived anyway, though to see the details on the Chapter that constituted the majority of the refounded chapter, see the [[Fists Exemplar]]. It's also worth noting that, with the introduction of Primaris Marines, there most certainly are OG Imperial Fists again: for his material, Cawl used warriors from Terra from the days of the Great Crusade. A few of the Primaris Marines have memories of seeing Rogal Dorn himself. The link between Imperial Fists Legion and Chapter that was severed during the War of the Beast was thereby restored by the Indomitus Crusade. Additionally, Maximus Thane's background was retconned to being a 7th Legion veteran of the Heresy. Between a living Legion veteran refounding the Fists, the chapter's 'OG' gene-stocks still being intact, and IF Primaris Marines being in stasis, the Imperial Fists are as legit as ever. Through the Last Wall protocol, the Imperial Fists were "re-fortified".

The Fists spent the next nine millennia or so generally getting shit done and beating the stuffing out of anyone who tried to mess with the Imperium. Highlights include helping to take out Drakan Vangorich after [[The Beheading]], being forced to lay siege to the Imperial Palace because of [[Goge Vandire|Space Caligula]], and repeatedly trying to kill one particularly crazy Warsmith by the name of [[Shon'tu]]. They would also supplement the Codex's combat philosophy with that of the Book of the Five Spheres.

During the 13th Black Crusade, said Warsmith and Daemon Prince [[Be'lakor]] invaded the Phalanx, hoping to use it to blow up the Imperial Palace and thereby make [[Abaddon|Failbaddon]] look stupid(er) by comparison. The only Fists present to stop them were the 3rd Company, which was rebuilding after getting mangled in a recent battle, and a few 1st Company veterans. Things weren't going so well for the boys in yellow, so the [[Tor Garadon|Fists captain]] decided to send the Phalanx into the warp to prevent the Chaos forces from carrying out their plan. He also wound up using the Phalanx's guns to shoot off all the daemon-infested parts of the station, destroying a tenth of its total mass. Fortunately for them, the [[Legion of the Damned]] showed up to help them fight off the invaders, and Shon'tu finally got properly killed. With that clusterfuck over, the Phalanx set course for [[Cadia]], because if you've just won one impossible battle, you might as well go get involved in another one. They arrived just in time to nuke a chunk of the Black Fleet, along with a Blackstone Fortress, and then assist the Imperial fleet in evacuating the system after the planet finally broke. Later some of the other Fists showed up in the nick of time to back up Girlyman and his forces on Luna during their scrap with Magnus and his boys.

As of 8th edition, the Fists have gotten back to doing what they do best: crusading and killing traitors. They re-earned their title as the Defenders of Terra by helping to defeat a Khornate invasion of the planet caused by the eruption of the Cicatrix Maledictum. After that, they joined up with the Indomitus Crusade for a while, during which they earned much praise from Guilliman himself. They also at some point decided to go smash the shit out of an Iron Warriors fortress world, the creatively named Ironhold, and invited a bunch of Cadian shock troopers and some Knight houses to give them a hand. Some of them are currently fighting in the [[War of Beasts]] on Vigilus. Now that they are reinforced with Primaris, Guilliman ordered the reforming of the [[Honour Guard|Huscarls]] to help organize defense of the Imperial worlds. The Custodes decided that they didn't want to see the phalanx get taken over by more chaos worshipers, so in return for placing a permanent guard of custodes aboard the ship, they would restore some functions of the vessel with help from their stash of secret archeotech under the palace.

==Ultimate Badasses==

[[Image:275px-Imperial Fists Sternguard.jpg|thumb|right|Washing away the [[Rage|sour disposition]] most of us have towards [[Marines Malevolent|yellow armour]].]]

If you still doubt that the Imperial Fists are awesome, then look at this guy, First Captain [[Darnath Lysander]]. You see Lysander was a Terminator, he and almost the entire first company teleported down on a planet, all regular business, but the Chaos Cultists used the warp to send most of the company into a mountain (Good excuse for not loading the P-code into their GPS!). [[Just as planned]]. No one knows how that worked since exiting teleportation destroys all matter around the exit point, but whatever, just roll with it. Lysander found the Company Captain dying, but before he died he gave him the relic thunder hammer named Fist of Dorn. After that, Lysander was named 1st Company Captain and went on to do so much crazy shit most people thought he was insane, but he was just awesome. Lysander led a force of Fists into a warp stormed planet, hey not his best move but nobody is perfect. Many thought Lysander and all those with him died, but they re-emerged out of the Warp in a hijacked Iron Warrior ship. You see, Lysander and his force were taken prisoner by the [[Iron Warriors]]. Eventually Lysander, without weapons or armor, escaped and fought his way out to freedom. When he returned to the Imperial Fists Chapter, several centuries had passed in the material universe. After they made sure he wasn't corrupted by the centuries he spent in [[Warp|that god forsaken place]], Lysander returned to his position as Captain of the 1st Company. Lysander then led a force to fuck up the Iron Warriors, and killed them all. Not forgetting he likes to hunt Titans on foot, getting his Titanhammer squads to reduce them to extra parts for use in the TV show "Scrapyard Wars". Also, he's technically older than even Commander Dante, with only Bjorn being an older living SM, since he was a sergeant (~approx 150yrs) in 567.m40, making him roughly 1600yrs old. No mention is ever made of what happened to the guy who was already leading the first company when Lysander returned. (Actually, he was named Chapter Champion and accepted it, presumably while giving Lysander a brofist of badassery)

In short, Lysander is badass, but he's [[Mary Sue|not perfect]] (ironically, he's even less of a Mary Sue in the Matt-Ward written supplement for the Imperial Fists - as it turns out, he was demoted to 3rd Company Captain after a bout of stubbornness considered suicidal even by Imperial Fist standards led to the near-destruction of the 3rd Company), he's no smurf, but he is still awesome, and don't believe me, check Lexicanum out; http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Lysander. And he's tough as shit: 4 wounds @ 2+/3++ with eternal warrior to boot. And his hammer is arguably one of the best anti-tank weapons in the game. Nope, nothin' wrong here. If he doesn't get the Primaris treatment like many other main characters are having (and come through the other side of the Rubicon Primaris without issue because let's be honest, it probably hurts a lot less than what he's dealt with before, and, you know, Imperial Fist)...

IMPORTANT NOTE: While many say that the Imperial Fists do not follow the Codex Astartes, this is in fact incorrect. While they do not follow it as obsessively as the Smurfs, the very reason why Dorn participated in the Iron Cage was not only to atone for the sin of letting the Emprah die, but also to create a force of hardened warriors ready to follow the Codex. If you read the unofficial 40 wiki (http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Imperial_Fists), you'll see that their adherence to it is second only to the Smurfs (at least until the appearance of [[Red Scorpions|these guys]]). A key difference however, is that the Fists combine the formidable wisdom contained in the Codex with actual brains and thus win more battles than the smurfs. Basically, their organization is the same as the Ultramarines, but they view the Codex the same way Captain Titus does: as a useful set of guidelines and advice rather than a set of rules.

In fact, thanks to the existence of the Ultramarines' non-Codex Tyrannic War Veterans, the Imperial Fists are - in organizational terms - [[Derp|more Codex-adherent than the Ultramarines]].

If this '''still''' doesn't convince you, then consider the following.

==What it means to be an Imperial Fist==
You are an Imperial Fist, a member of the VII Legion, you are charged with the defense of Terra, the seat of Imperial Power. When the news came to you that Horus had betrayed Mankind, it felt as if someone had placed a knife in your heart and left it there after twisting it and turning it. Horus, greatest of the Primarchs, had turned from the Emperor. This is impossible, he is either ill or deranged. The very core of your beliefs is rocked; if one such as he could turn, what about you? You steel yourself to do what must be done, trusting in your Primarch, who would never lead you astray. You slowly begin to tear down the Imperial Palace and in its place build a monstrosity of fire lanes, choke points, barricades, battlements, and gun pits. Razorwire replaces rose gardens; trenches replace esplanades, all by your hand. The Emperor is close but never seen; this makes you happy to know that He doesn’t see the horrors you commit to this edifice of His glory. You continue on for years until finally, the forces of the Warmaster are on the approach. Smashing aside all resistance, they fight their way to Terra and make orbit above the cradle of Mankind. You take your post, readying your mind to kill whatever comes, warriors whom you might know or have even shared a similar battlement with. The warriors of the Blood Angels and White Scars lend their aid, but in your heart you know it isn’t enough. You know you will not give in to your fear, for you '''are''' fear. The skies darken in an unnatural storm, the drop ships of the traitors speed towards the planet. Fiery comets of malice come not to conquer, but to destroy. What spills from the bellies of the Stormbirds and Thunderhawks are not the noble warriors of the Legions you once knew, but twisted and corrupted mockeries of Space Marines. Spikes and kill trophies of loyalists hang from their backs in a grisly spectacle. You hold the line, you fire magazine after magazine into them. Decaying members of the Death Guard plod towards you, soaking up every round you fire and shambling forward as if against a light breeze. World Eaters throw themselves into your fire zone, bodies piling one on top of another, having no more effect than to slow their traitorous brethren. Creatures from nightmares assail you from all angles, battlements being no more tangible to them than wind to your armored gauntlet. Your efforts are not enough and slowly, inch-by-inch, they gain on you until you have to retreat deeper and deeper into the palace. Now, you really feel the pressure, your enhanced psyche is pushed to its limits. Warp-spawned abominations do battle with your brothers, reaping terrible rents in your defenses, the great cannons of your hated rivals, the Iron Warriors, pound night and day without cease.

After months of this you still hold, you are still alive, you still are invigorated when the Primarch commands you. They will never take him from you, your rock and shelter. The Primarch will see you through this, he has never failed before, why should you now, at his greatest test, see him break. One day, you are swept up into a mob of your brothers. Horus has lowered his shields! The Emperor is leading a counter thrust! You grab whatever you can and continue in the fumbling ecstasy; this is your chance for revenge. This could end it all and the Great Crusade could begin again! Mankind will see even greater growth with the Emperor at its head, and you will live to see it; you must. Blood Angels, White Scars, Imperial Fists, Custodes, and even Imperial Soldiers fill the vast teleporter arrays. A green light fills your vision and when you are brought back to your senses the ship you once knew as the Vengeful Spirit lies before you. It has become a foul reflection of the ship you once walked through with your brothers from the Luna Wolves. You are alone, and for the first time in your life, physically scared. This is unlike anything you have ever seen or known. Monsters lay into you, the very material of the ship is anathema to you. In a great chamber you manage to link up with more loyalists. What luck! One of them knows where your group is located, and better yet the way to the last known rendezvous, Lupercal’s Court. Running through the corridors, you no longer take any notice of the battle around you, your combat reflexes take over and you fight on autopilot. You must get to the Primarch, he will know what to do. When you finally meet back up with him, it is not what you expect, it is what you feared. The Primarch lies weeping over the Emperor’s body, his ear pressed to the barely moving lips of the broken form of the Man at whose word worlds moved and stars died. First Captain Sigismund, his black and white heraldry gore-spattered and his armor rent from dozens of weapons, is being restrained by Captain Polux. Members of the Huscarls kneel around the Primarch, sharing tear-filled glances. The Primarch wordlessly lifts the Emperor’s body and signals for the remaining Imperials to be teleported back to the surface.

The Primarch is a broken man. Having donned the black armor of mourning, he waits for Guilliman and his Ultramarines, Jonson and his Angels, and Russ and his Wolves. When they arrive it is not the homecoming they want. How dare they come here after what you have been through and demand status updates and military courtesies? What have they done? Who have they lost? You were there when the Emperor fell; where were the Ultramarines, and the Dark Angels, and the Space Wolves? Everyone you know is dead, everyone. You are the only remaining member of your company, of the three companies that made up the great company. The Legion went from being a glorious manifestation of the Emperor's power, to a ghost of its former glory. Only those ruined at Istvaan could know this pain. The Space Wolves are insufferable. They camp on the sites where you lost everything. You even see one sneer at a trench where you fought tooth and nail with a dark champion of the World Eaters, curse them. The Dark Angels are morbid, aloof, quiet. After time, though, you can suffer that. You even begrudge them a recounting of the Emperor’s fall. You feel ashamed as you do it. It is wrong to even think about that horrible scene ever again. You decide that you won't tell it again. The Blood Angels have long since left, what can a Legion do without its Primarch? Doomed to a slow death, you hope that you may fight alongside them again before the end. Lord Dorn quickly relinquishes command of Terra to Guilliman. You and the rest of the Imperial Fists board the Phalanx, and the Scouring begins.

On worlds that you once fought to conquer in the name of the Emperor, you now fight to liberate again, although this time you fight those who fought alongside you the first time. The Scouring takes years. More of your brothers live and die, especially die. You no longer joke with your friends after battles, because you have no friends remaining; and why would you make new ones when they will all be killed eventually? But not you, no you will live forever in this endless cycle of death, you will endure, for you are an Imperial Fist and sacrifice is your nature. The High Lords have decreed that the Legions will be broken up, so that treason of this magnitude can never happen again. Dorn will not bow to these councilors and mortals who had no part in the War. These men are more concerned with reacquiring the taxes and tithes of the worlds lost to the traitors and xenos than returning the Imperium to its former glory. It comes to a head when Guilliman declares Dorn no better than the traitors and accuses him of power-mongering. In your wisdom, you can see Guilliman’s point: Lord Dorn has been on Crusade since the Siege, he has sat out the most important meeting and forfeited his vote on the matters at hand. Though he conceals it deep down, you can see the disdain Guilliman has for your Legion, he no doubt thinks that if it had been him, the Emperor and Sanguinius would still be alive. You hate him for that. He would have fared no better, what right has he to judge you! You, who fought day and night with no rest, no respite! You, who watched the same patch of ground for weeks, ever vigilant! You, who was there to see the Emperor’s greatest mistake.

Lord Dorn relents, but only on one condition: that Guilliman allow him to fight the thrice-cursed Perturabo, alone, at his Eternal Fortress. The last charge of the Imperial Fists Legion. The chance to cleanse yourself through sacrifice. The battle is more bitter than the Siege, it is the explosion of hatred held by both Legions. At first, it seemed as if the battle would be fought in noble virtue, with steel and fire. But Perturabo has different plans for you. First comes the explosions, trapping you on the planet, then the ambushes from well-concealed tunnels. You reap a bloody toll upon the traitors but their spite knows no bounds. They slowly and surely break you apart, until again you are all alone, surrounded by the piled bodies of your brothers and foes. Night and day you fight alone, crawling on your belly through the no-mans-land, trying to find anyone, friend or foe. The shelling is constant, the Iron Warriors have no lack of ammunition. The ground becomes an ever-changing bog, the blood mixing with the rain, eventually covering every part of your armor until the gold of the Legion is completely covered. The days blur together and you no longer know how long you have been crawling, until fate intervenes and again you find yourself in the presence of the Primarch. He is not as you remember. His black armor is pitted and scarred, the mud covers most of it. The rest of the first company shares the harrowed appearance of the Primarch. The once proud Templars of Sigismund, who used to wear the finest tabards of rich cream, their company heraldry displayed by devotion markings now show their devotion in scars and burns. Their bolters have long since been discarded and they now use bits of chain and razorwire to keep their swords fastened to their arms. Sigismund is no longer the Champion you remember hurling back the traitors single-handed, but a relentless whirlwind of destruction. All caution thrown to the wind, the First Company charges the traitors at every opportunity, their losses only driving them to greater heights of rage. The Iron Warriors fall before them like long grass to a scythe, the traitors' only recourse is to shell their own positions. The fighting continues as such for what seems like years, every firefight seems like a lifetime. All military objectives have long been abandoned, the only mission is to find Perturabo and destroy him. The senior captains call for a breakout, but the Primarch will not relent, he will kill Perturabo. You continue on day and night until, one day, the tide turns. The Ultramarines have come. Their Thunderhawks bombard the traitor positions, their Battle Barges fire volley after volley into the central keep. Lord Dorn is incensed; when Guilliman makes landfall at your position you half expect the Primarch to strike him down, but it does not happen. As the last of your brothers board the Thunderhawk, Dorn takes one last look at the battlefield, and steps aboard wordlessly.

You leave over four hundred brothers un-recovered on the battlefield. That figure does not include the dead that have been brought back. The Legion is no more, it was able to end with its honor intact. The successors are formed, Lord Dorn gives Sigismund the first of the successors and commands him to keep true to the original virtues of the Astartes. The First Captain leads those still thirsty for vengeance on an Eternal Crusade, forever carrying the Legion's memory as a torch. Master Polux is given the other successor and takes the newest members of the Legion on Crusade as well, but not with the zeal of Sigismund’s Black Templars. Polux uses the bloodied fist as a metaphor for the Chapter. It symbolizes your tradition of sacrifice in the Emperor's name. The new Chapters take to the field in your Chapter's stead, winning much honor for the Primarch. You rebuild. It is a sombre process, few remain who fought at the Cage and fewer still who fought at the Siege. You see faces that might have been at there, but you aren’t sure. The Chapter slowly takes shape, with the Codex at its heart. You endure, ever more.

You continue on, true to the Emperor that was. When word reaches you of a Black Crusade driving into the heart of the Imperium, a chance for vengeance is at hand. The Primarch takes three hundred warriors to hold the forces of chaos back until the rest of the Chapter can join him. But, it does not happen. The Primarch is laid low, and you fight to recover his remains. It is the saddest moment of your life, the Primarch is gone, the Emperor is gone, and the Legion is gone. You bear his remains back to the Phalanx where they will rest for eternity. You endure. You relive your nightmares when Vandire causes a second Imperial Civil War, and you fight through the same corridors you once defended. The Tau menace is thwarted by you and the Ultramarines, fighting alongside each other once more. On Miral the horror of the Great Devourer is thrown back by your hand. You are there when First Captain Lysander returns in time to stop the Traitors from ruining the Imperium during the 13th Black Crusade. You fight across the bleak moors of Cadia, against the sons of the monster who crippled your Master so long ago; it is a wound that still drives so much of your being so many years later. You sacrifice and you believe. You will fight the enemies of the Emperor for all eternity, you endure, you sacrifice, you do not relent. That is what it is to be a Son of Dorn.

==Daily routine==

'''3:00 - Reveille:''' The Imperial Fists are roused from their iron slabs and spiked beds to start the day. Morning Prayer is still an hour away, but it takes that long just to get past the locks and barricades they put up the night before. 
'''4:00 - Morning Prayer:''' The Imperial Fists assemble for a sermon by the Chaplains. The poses of fealty they maintain are specifically designed to be the most physically uncomfortable possible. 
'''5:00 - Morning Firing Rites:''' The Imperial Fists assemble to practice their firing drills. You can imagine everyone's surprise when the Chapter serfs learn that the Fists have built up fortifications around their firing ranges. 
'''6:00 - Battle Practice:''' The Imperial Fists descend into the battle cages for practice in close combat and moving targets. Frequently the Imperial Fists will forgo medical attention for injuries. Bare-fisted combat is encouraged. 
'''9:55 - Milkshake and Cookies break:''' Nutrient-fortified, in which the cookie batter is made from concrete and the milkshake is also made from concrete and consumed alongside the glass. 
'''10:00 - Pain Stimulation:''' The Imperial Fists undergo pain stimulation and endurance tests. Such tests range from the Pain Glove to sitting naked in rooms where the temperature is designed to simulate the night-side of [[Inwit]] during winter. 
'''11:00 - Free hour in the Constructatorium:''' The ancient Terran game “Lego” is provided for the Sons of Dorn from a local forge world by the metric tonne.
Many battle brothers, use this “Lego” to construct miniature replicas of titans, or [[Thunderhawk|Thunderhawks]] or [[The Phalanx]]. Finding great enjoyment in constructing tiny battlefields from the chapters past, any battle brother who opts to build “barbie's dream castle” or “Perturabo’s tormentor” will find himself spending an evening in the pain glove.
Unfortunately, they never bother to clean it up after themselves and reports of battle brothers deliberately walking on lego are unsubstantiated rumors at best. Though it doesn’t explain why every Imperial Fist wanders around the constructatorium in his bare feet or socks. 
'''12:00 - Midday meal:''' A light meal is prepared by the Chapter serfs. Showing pleasure at the taste earns you an hour in the Pain Glove. Rumors that Imperial Fists deliberately say they enjoyed the meal to get into the Pain Glove have never been proven. 
'''12:30 - Tactical Indoctrination:''' The Imperial Fists undergo tactical indoctrination on what sort of enemies they can expect to be crusading against in the near future, how to best design fortifications to stop them, and what sort of pain contact with their weapons causes. 
'''16:00 - Evening Firing rites:''' The Imperial Fists engage in evening firing drills. 
'''20:00 - Evening Prayer:''' The Imperial Fists assemble for a sermon by the Chaplains. The uncomfortable poses of fealty are no longer required now, though many still maintain them. Sermons are often short and to the point, consisting of the shouted word "FIST" echoed by those present. 
'''21:00 - Evening Meal:''' A feast is prepared for the Imperial Fists by the Chapter serfs. The Chapter Serfs finally tend to any significant injuries, though many refuse aid. 
'''22:00 - Evening Fortifications:''' The Imperial Fists set up fortifications in their cells to make sure no one can get into their room and surprise them while sleeping. 
'''23:00 - Rest:''' The Imperial Fists retire to their iron slabs or spiked beds for the evening.

==Notable Members==

*[[Rogal Dorn]]: Primarch of the Imperial Fists, Master of the Phalanx, Praetorian of Terra, and Galaxy's Most Stubborn Man. After being found on Inwit, he served the Imperium loyally throughout the Great Crusade and fortified Terra in preparation for Horus' invasion. Directed the planet's defense during the [[Siege of Terra]] and went on to enact the Great Scouring after the end of the Heresy. Disappeared during the 1st Black Crusade and is presumed dead. The Fists keep his skeletal hand in a shrine on the ''Phalanx'', and each new chapter master gets to engrave his name on the bones.
*[[Sigismund]]: First Captain of the VII Legion during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy and the best swordsman in the Imperium. Originally recruited by the VIII Legion, but was found to be more compatible with the Fists, to his everlasting relief. He was a reluctant warrior who once told Solomon Voss that he'd have rejected the chance to become an Astartes if he'd known what he was in for. Despite this, he kicked all of the ass during the Crusade and became a byword for swordsmanship in the Imperium. Got yelled at by Dorn for listening to Euphrati Keeler when she told him not to go with the Retribution Fleet to Phall and effectively disowned afterward, though he kept on doing his job. Became the first Emperor's Champion during the Siege by killing a metric fucktonne of traitor captains and praetors, including [[Kharn]]. Was named the first High Marshal of the [[Black Templars]] after the Heresy. Died fighting Abaddon during the 1st Black Crusade, but not before he nearly killed the Warmaster; Abaddon even thought that Sigismund would have won their duel if he wasn't so old.
*[[Alexis Polux]]: Captain of the 405th Company during the Crusade and eventually first Chapter Master of the [[Crimson Fists]]. He almost beat Perturabo at Phall and went on to form an unlikely bromance with Warsmith Barabas Dantioch while helping to fortify Imperium Secundus. Had a mild inferiority complex caused by his older brother dying during the initiation trials because Alexis thought he should have made it. Died 800 years after the 2nd Founding when some sneaky xenos dicks shot him in the head with a poison dart.
*[[Fafnir Rann]]: Seneschal of the First Assault Cadre and battle-happy mofo. Dual-wielded power axes and acted more like a Space Wolf or a World Eater, which made the rest of his legion side-eye him. Went on to found the [[Executioners]].
*Demetrius Katafalque: Captain of the Legion during the Horus Heresy and the Great Crusade. Was made first chapter master of the [[Excoriators]] in the Second Founding. Known for being the most stubborn bastard to ever live to the point of firing Custodes into the sun for getting in his way.
*Archamus: Master of the Huscarls, Dorn's personal bodyguard, and one of the first twenty Marines raised to the Legion after Dorn took charge. Served as Dorn's confidant and sounding board and was pretty bro-tier. Died fighting [[Alpharius]] at the Battle of Pluto.
*Kestros: Assault Sergeant during the Heresy. Got seconded to Archamus to help hunt down Alpha Legion infiltrators during the Battle of Pluto and eventually took up Archamus' name and position while forming an odd friendship with a Selenar gene-witch.
*Camba Diaz: Castellan and Siege Master of the Fists during the Heresy. Died standing up while holding the line at the Lion's Gate during the Siege of Terra.
*Maximus Thane: Captain of the 22nd Company during the Heresy and the Siege of Terra. Joined the [[Fists Exemplar]] after the Scouring, then went on to fight in the War of the Beast and helped covertly reconstitute the Fists after they were wiped out. Became chapter master and Lord Commander, and was leader of the force who took down Drakan Vangorich after the [[The Beheading|Beheading]].
*[[Slaughter Koorland]]: Last survivor of the chapter after it got rekt by Orks during the opening stages of the [[War of the Beast]]. Founded the Deathwatch, became Lord Commander of the Imperium, and rounded up all the other VII Legion successors to go kick greenskin asses together. Was generally a huge badass up until he got rekt by the Beast himself.
*Rhetoricus: Wrote The Book of Five Spheres, which is the Fists' version of the Codex.
*[[Darnath Lysander]]: First Captain of the chapter in the 41st-42nd Millennium. Has no chill. Disappeared into the warp for a millennium and came back out with no Chaos taint whatsoever. Got a bunch of his boys killed at Taladorn by being a stubborn dick, which got him demoted to 3rd Company captain briefly. Invented "Titan Hammer" squads, [[Awesome|Terminators who go around whacking Titans to death with thunder hammers]].
*Vladimir Pugh: Former Chapter Master of the Fists. Had his taste buds removed because the Emprah can't taste things, and also because he [[FAIL|got 170 Marines killed in one battle]]. Got et by Tyranids while cleansing a Space Hulk.
*[[Vorn Hagen]]: Pugh's replacement as Chapter Master. Died unceremoniously during a Khornate invasion of Terra after the Great Rift opened and was replaced by [[Fail|someone who isn't Lysander]].
*[[Tor Garadon]]: Captain of the 3rd Company. He helped rebuild the company after it got shot to pieces on Taladorn and was given command after Lysander got bumped back up to First Captain. Commanded the ''[[The Phalanx|Phalanx]]'' when it was invaded by Shon'tu and [[Be'lakor]] and took it to [[Cadia]] just before Abaddon blew the planet to bits. Recently crossed the Rubicon Primaris and now totes around a fuckhueg power fist.

==See Also==

*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdlAerT2aT0 Their theme], done by [[HMKids]]. Fucking [[Awesome]]!
*And [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fMLNzzlc68&fbclid=IwAR381QsBuTLVvmsIPOvcXoic_i0xBU2HMXtLUvegpJhyc6IiKHzV_kPkT6U the remix done by Stringstorm] of [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device]] fame!
*"The Beast Arises: I am Slaughter", by Dan Abnett
*"Space Marine", by Ian Watson.
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOwS9W_Mgmg Imperial Fist legionary and chapter serf demonstrate proper use of a pain glove]

==Gallery==
<gallery widths="250" position="center" spacing="small">
File:5bb1320db65801446d0238d653385da7.jpg|Line Holding Specialty. Angry Prussians in Space FTW!
File:Marcius Flavius Color.jpg|[[Marcius Flavius]], the first (and only) space marine assigned to a Federation starship in the historic Federation-Imperium officer exchange program.
Image:Lysanderart.jpg|First Captain (later Third Captain) Lysander.
Image:RogalDorn.jpg|Rogal Dorn.
</gallery>

{{Template:Marines-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]][[Category:Space Marines]]

The War of The Beast

2023-02-05T15:29:27Z

2600:387:3:805:0:0:0:BC: /* Major revelations */

{{spoilers}}
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'''The War of the Beast''' is the focus of the ''The Beast Arises'' series and is one of the major events in [[40k]] history in which the [[Imperium]] received the biggest [[Anal circumference|buttfucking]] it would ever get in-between the [[Horus Heresy]] and [[Time of Ending|the tremendous dumpster fire that is the late 41st millennium]]. The series serves as a reminder that the Orks represent serious business and, goofy moments aside, they can be as cruel, hateful and threatening as any other enemy of the Imperium.

==The Imperium at the time==
Believe it or not, during the years prior to the biggest [[WAAAGH]]! that has ever been, the Imperium was living in a [[Wat|time one might call peaceful]]. Yes, there were silly little wars here and there such as the [[Black Crusade#Abaddon's Black Crusades|first Black Crusade]], the first battle of [[Cadia]], the Battle of the Fang, multiple traitor [[Primarch]]s fucking over many worlds, and [[Daemon]] [[cultist|cults]] popping up everywhere, but if we ignore all of those 'minor' events/[[chaos]] invasions we're left with a few others which basically consisted of the Imperials wiping out some [[xenos]] races. The Astartes were ''dying out'' because the author forgot the other shit that happened (or perhaps merely in comparison to the nearly industrial level creation process used to create the preceding legions..); the Imperial Fists, for example, hadn't left [[Terra]] for centuries and it was said nearly none of its battle brothers had had real battle experience in any substantial terms. The Emperor's Herd had grown complacent.

==The Catastrophe: Slaughter at Ardamantua==
For the first time in centuries, the [[Imperial Fists]] left their role as praetorians of the throneworld and went to slaughter alien scum known as the '''Chromes''' who were considered little better than non-sentient vermin. They looked like [[Tyranid]]s, but were able to planet jump without ships. Later on it would be found out that this was because they were piggybacking on the [[Ork]] [[Teleportation|tellyporta]] technology.

The Fists were surprised by strange gravitational hazards which started chewing up the landscape and causing their starships to fail and crash, and were dealt severe losses. The [[High Lords of Terra]], reluctant to lend their own aid to the Fists on what they considered a trivial matter of fighting pests, allowed the remaining Fists who were guarding the throneworld to deploy to Ardamantua along with a contingent of Guard forces commanded by the '''Lord Commander Militant Heth.'''

When the counterattack commenced, an ENTIRE MOON materialized in the system; the process by which it was traveling had been messing up the planet's gravity, practically destroying it, while causing navigational hazards that scattered the fleets in orbit around Ardamantua, crushing them.

Then appeared the [[WAAAGH]]! Beast. [[Lord of the Rings|This was no mindless rabble of Orks. These were Uruk-hai. Their armour is thick and their shields broad.]] It was said that its [[Boyz]] were as strong as and bigger than Space Marines, and quite cunning to boot. Their [[Nob]]s were quite massive as well (think Boyz the size of Nobs and Nobs the size of Warbosses). However, its biggest threat was the Ork [[Warboss]]: [[The Beast]] (who will bring much) Slaughter. The Beast was a leader of unprecedented tactical acumen and sophistication for an Ork, and thus managed to turn his WAAAGH into a cohesive fighting force that used actual battlefield tactics and even diplomacy.

Lord Commander Militant Heth died and his forces were slaughtered right after warning the Imperium of the greatest threat they had ever faced before. The Imperial Fists were slaughtered to a man. Only three survivors remained: two which were killed by the Adeptus Mechanicus by mistake and '''Captain [[Slaughter Koorland]]''', the future [[Chapter Master]] of the [[Imperial Fists]] and then-Lord Commander of the Imperium.

==Galaxy-Spanning Threat==
The WAAAGH! Beast threatened to engulf the whole galaxy: the [[Imperial Guard|Guard]] was bogged down on many fronts, and the [[Space Marine]] [[Space Marine Chapter|chapters]] were mostly tied down trying to fight the invading Orks. The [[Ultramarines]] had two of their worlds invaded and had been forced to bring in successor reinforcements. Many chapters were annihilated as they struggled to fend off an enemy the likes of which they hadn't ever faced. Worst of all was the fact that the Orks were DEVELOPING technology, with things like [[Tractor Weapons|gravitational whips]] and massive teleporters capable of teleporting whole armadas in the blink of an eye.

The Imperium couldn't help but lose ground as '''Lord High Admiral Lansung''' - leader of the [[Imperial Navy]] and main topdog of the High Lords - focused more on deploying his fleets to gain favours from other High Lords and protect his own interests rather than ferrying the [[Imperial Guard]] and fighting the Ork fleets. The rest of the Lords were about as incompetent, barring one man: '''Drakan Vangorich''', the infamous Grand Master of [[Officio Assassinorum|Assassins]] who would later stage [[The Beheading]]. The man was a patriot and tried his best to get the Imperials to move their damn fat asses. The payoff took a while, but it was noticeable.

==Battle for Port Sanctus==
After a lot of political manoeuvring and tug-o-war, Lansung decided to move his fat ass and fight the Orks (mainly because one of his admirals had broken his orders and he didn't want to lose face) for the shipyards of Port Sanctus. It went horribly at the beginning: the Ork attack moon's gravity whip was so powerful that BATTLESHIPS were torn apart by it, and the moon's WAAAGH! gate brought in constant reinforcements to fend off the Imperial Navy as thousands of boarding ships and small cruisers sent boarding parties to the Imperial vessels, even with the void shields up and the [[Gellar Field|Gellar fields]] on.

Lansung decided he couldn't take any more of this shit, and for the first time in two whole novels of total incompetence he went and got shit done by leading a suicidal assault towards the moon. Dozens of [[Imperial Navy Battlecruiser|battlecruisers]] and [[Imperial Navy Battleship|battleships]] were lost to the Imperium, but the [[void shields]] of the gargantuan construct were drained by the energy consumption and the Imperial Navy was able to obliterate the threat.

==Terra under threat and the Proletarian Crusade==
But all wasn't well. Yes the Navy had, at great cost, destroyed the [[Attack Moon]] and closed its WAAAGH! Gate, but the Orks had more of those buggers around - and one of them had recently popped out right by Terra itself. At that moment the Navy assets were on Port Sanctus and the massive network of star forts was still in construction, leaving the throne world was under threat with nothing to defend them. At that time, Lansung's power was lost as many of his political allies turned from him, with a new figure taking his place: '''Juskina Tull.'''

Tull, evidently a [[Hot Chicks|rather attractive woman]] whose "decorative" wardrobe is described in some detail in the novel, represented the chartist captains and had a "brilliant idea" (read suicidal and stupid) to lead a crusade [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Crusade from the very bottom]: a "[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People%27s_Crusade Proletarian Crusade]" made up of the ordinary citizenry of the Imperium. The idea was to take the massive merchant fleet available in Sol and load it chock full with people, guardsmen and civilian alike. Literally billions were ferried into ships that ranged from massive mass conveyors to tiny shuttles in a massive tide of steel. The Ork defence forces shot down a great number (if not the majority) of the vessels, but the Imperials still managed to land millions of troops and hundreds of vehicles.

There they frigging zerg rushed and beat the crap of the Ork forces on the surfaces - only for the Orks to manipulate the surface of the moon and shift the mountains close to a door to the moon's interior. Trapped between the stones, the Imperial Forces were crushed by the master-crafted trap the Orks laid, ''the effect of which looked like the Ork Moon winking at Terra.'' Still, that the citizens did so well is extremely impressive and goes to show just how vast the Imperium’s manpower truly is. Or how utterly brutal and horrific life on a Hive World is for the underclass. Don't forget that the Imperial Fists recruit from Terra. That means a lot.

Thus ended the last ditch effort of the Proletarian Crusade, with a single survivor: a female [[Adeptus Arbites|Adeptus Arbite]].

Oh, and the [[Eldar]] show up in the Imperial Palace trying to warn the humans not to let the Orks distract them from [[Chaos]], cuz, you know, Chaos has to be your #1 priority even though the Imperium is being torn apart by killer Ork death stars. This cryptic crap achieves absolutely nothing other than getting the hard-line [[Inquisitor]]s into a frenzy of saying "I told you so" to anyone who will listen, particularly considering that the Eldar almost got to the throne room by slaughtering hundreds of the Lucifer Blacks (IG tasked with guarding the palace) and at least a few Custodes. Which is less of a way to get people to listen to you (especially since the Imperium actually is willing to hear Eldar out and then figure out what the trick is) and more of a way to convince everyone to reject whatever you're saying.

==The Last Wall, a Legion reunified==
Dorn had envisioned the possibility of something BIG happening, so he ordered his sons that, should the need arise, they reunite at '''Phall''', where the [[Horus Heresy|Heresy]] began for the Imperial Fists. There they would unify into a single legion and fight as one again, albeit keeping their traditional heraldry. The note was sent with not much time in advance, but the majority of the second founding chapters managed to be present. There, Koorland revealed to the utter shock of his fellow chapter masters from the [[Black Templars]], [[Crimson Fists]], [[Excoriators]] and the [[Fists Exemplar]] that he was the last Imperial Fist alive. The truth was almost too much for them to process, but in the end they got over it and banded together. Over 3000 Astartes and 50 ships went into [[Terra]] and led a glorious assault to neutralize the attack moon.

The fleet was joined by the [[Iron Knights]] chapter and succeeded in destroying the WAAAGH gate at the heart of the moon and rescuing the remaining human prisoners (including the aforementioned female Arbitrator) but unfortunately left the moon intact while also suffering substantial casualties; amongst them was Chapter Master Malfons of the Iron Knights, who sacrificed himself to save Koorland from an Ork Warboss the size of a [[Dreadnought]].

==The Imperium Strikes Back==
After the battle of Terra and the blockade of the attack moon, the Last Wall (the new name for the Fist Legion) was praised by The Lord [[Guilliman]] (aka Lord Commander of the Imperium, aka Warmaster, aka your boss) '''Udin Macht Udo''' (a fellow more useless than [[Abaddon]]) who wanted to make a show of having five chapters bow to him and invited them to a party. He also wanted to keep the loss of the [[Imperial Fists]] chapter a secret for public relations and ordered the successors to play dress up and give Koorland an honour guard. Udo would also show himself "gracious" enough to ratify Koorlands's position as Chapter Master since according to rules lawyers, the successors aren't allowed to do that.

The Fists were explicitly ordered NOT to destroy the attack moon that remained in orbit, because the [[Adeptus Mechanicus]] [[Looted|wanted the Ork technology for themselves]]. The Fists were also disgusted by the constant power playing between the high lords and were happy enough to leave. Suffice to say, the [[Space Marines|space marines]] consider them all dicks.

==The Destruction of Prax (aka "So that thing about Chaos? Orks are Way Worse.")==
Chaos were also getting their asses kicked by Orks. The [[Iron Warriors]] were getting their ass beat while also being hunted by some Black Templars with a grudge. Realizing that the fight wouldn’t end well, they decided to join forces temporarily (yes, out of ALL the Marine chapters, the ones headed by [[Rogal Dorn|Dorn]] and [[Perturabo]]), but even with this ultimate show of desperation they still couldn’t overcome the Orks and just barely managed to survive. When a relief force of Fists Exemplar showed up to pull them out, the Orks used their gravity based weapons to SPAWN A FREAKIN' BLACK HOLE, destroying nearly the entire star system. The Imperial fleet escaped by scattering into the warp, with one ship turning up on '''Prax''' along with the Iron Warriors.

Prax, as it turns out, was a key world in the new "Ork Empire" and the unlikely allies soon discovered that the Orks had been evolving much faster than anticipated. Where previously they were considered to be little more than savages who could hammer bits of technology together and make it work, they now had their own society and specialists: [[Blood Axes|“Bloody Axes"]], [[Bad Moons|"Leering Moons"]] and so forth. They actively conquered and enslaved humans, feeding them steroids and farming them like cattle while some "lucky ones" got their [[Teef|teeth]] punched out and were shaved, branded, and pushed into battle as [[Grimdark|auxilia cannon fodder]]. The combined Fists and Iron Warriors destroyed the planet rather than let the Orks keep it.

Back on Terra, Vangorich manoeuvred Koorland into taking the top job of Lord Guilliman from Udo, who seemed to think it business as usual despite the Ork threat still signalling imminent doom. The Imperial Fists marched right into the Senatorium and denounced him. Udo tried to order their arrest but failed to notice that ''everyone'' bar the Ecclesiarch (who was experiencing ''serious'' sanity slippage) and the Fabricator-General (who was pretty much a walking stereotype of the "Knowledge at any cost" tech-priest) had switched sides and actually wanted someone competent to take command.

==The new regime==
With Koorland in charge, Vangorich brought him evidence of the Mechanicum withholding vital information to the war effort because of their fanatical need to hoard knowledge and abscond with any new Ork tech. Koorland's first act was to land military troops on [[Mars]] and bluff the Mechanicum into stepping into line. After a brief "incident" which was totally not a micro-civil war, the Fabricator General finally started singing the Imperial national anthem and revealed that the Orks were coming from '''[[Ullanor]]''', which had sunk into ancient legend because of its significance to the Great Crusade.

Deciding the Imperium needed its own legend, they went looking for [[Vulkan]] since the [[Inquisition]] conveniently knew where he was. Gathering a fleet, they went to the backwater volcanic planet and found Vulkan singlehandedly defending it against MILLIONS of Orks. Their arrival turned the tide, scattering and slaughtering the Ork invasion force and even managing to destroy the attack moon being constructed in orbit. GOOD JOB IMPERIUM.

==Attack on the Beast==
With Vulkan on board and confirming Koorland's position, the Imperium launched an assault against the Beast Capital. Upon coming to Ullanor, the Imperial Fleet found massive resistance and were forced to adopt a suicide approach in order to allow troops to disembark.

Once landed, the armies of the Imperium stormed The Beast's main citadel, and after a brutal raid a [[Kill Team|killteam]] composed of the Primarch himself and a bunch of chapter masters found the Beast, initially believing it to be a humongous statue. The Beast soon revealed its power, reducing the Smurf [[Chapter Master]] to a bloody pulp and killing most of the Imperial forces in a few minutes. Vulkan ordered the survivors to pull back while he dueled the Beast.

Vulkan then went full martyr by using his own might to refocus the Waaagh! psychic energy to blow both himself and the Beast up, though Vulkan's status as a [[perpetual]] likely made his new martyr status only a temporary one. The Imperial armies retreated from the planet thinking the Beast slain at the cost of a Primarch; upon reaching Terra, they discovered to their horror that the Beast had somehow survived the confrontation.

==The Deathwatch is born, the Sisters of Silence return==
With the Imperium getting overrun, Koorland and Vangorich envisioned the creation of the [[Deathwatch]]. Knowing that this would not be enough the Imperials, helped by Inquisitor Veritus, managed to get the [[Sisters of Silence]] back from their self-imposed exile.

Koorland ordered a new assault on Ullanor, this time using the brand new Deathwatch and the Sisters to assassinate The Beast. Sadly, they only managed to get a shadow of the former forces thrown into the assault, as the High Nutheads of Terra argued they couldn't leave Segmentum Solar undefended or something. Still Koorland managed to punch through the Ork defenses once more and this time, with the help of the Sisters and an [[Weirdboy|Ork psyker]] getting used as a Waaagh! chain-reaction bomb, he managed to kill the Beast. Except it turns out it wasn't ''the'' Beast, but ''a'' Beast, one of six 'Prime-Orks'. The mightiest of the Beasts, the one that had fought Vulkan and survived, appeared and proceeded to kill Koorland and destroy his [[Geneseed|progenoids]], effectively destroying the Imperial Fists. Y'know, other than the extra progenoid that grows in like four years in every new Astartes in their neck and his harvested pretty early in their time as a newbie Marine. And all the gene-seed that gets harvested from progenoids rather frequently.

==The Fist of the Imperium==
The Imperium had mere weeks of life left, with their entire galactic military on the verge of annihilation and thousands of worlds being overrun by an unending tide of Orks. Meanwhile on [[Inwit]], [[Maximus Thane]], Chapter Master of the [[Fists Exemplar]], presided over a farewell ceremony for the last Imperial Fist, which took the form of the [[Feast of Blades]].

While competing (and subsequently winning) the Feast, he got an idea: the Last Wall protocol was active, right? That means technically the Imperial Fists legion was back, riiiiight? [[pretend|So they could just say they were Imperial Fists too]]. After some agreement with the successor chapters they pooled up and reformed the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fMLNzzlc68| Imperial Fists], to avoid the catastrophic damage to Imperial morale that the Defenders of Terra eating shit and dying would cause (in-universe), and to maintain the status quo (out-of-universe).

He returned and asked the High Lords what they thought about it; some of them didn't get it and refused to cooperate, so Thane, teaming up with Vangorich, got them in line at gunpoint (finally) and forced them to unleash everything they got in a last ditch assault against Ullanor - '''''everything!''''' Regiments of [[Astra Militarum]], [[Skitarii]] macroclades, [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Legio Titanica]] formations, Mechanicus and Imperial Navy fleets were sent to Ullanor Prime, virtually emptying the remaining reserves of Solar Segmentum in a do-or-die plan: a military force not seen since the [[Great Crusade]], now pitted against the apex predators of the galaxy.

On top of all this, the Imperial Fists decided to take note of the Orks' tactics, retaliating [[Awesome|by unleashing asteroids against the Ork Capital, filled with the entire newly reformed Imperial Fists chapter and the remaining Sisters of Silence]] (problem, [[orks|greenskins]]?) - and it worked!

With the combination of a chain of asteroid drops, a suicide massed naval assault unleashing a point-blank orbital bombardment, a planetary level invasion and a Chapter-sized spearhead, they forced a breach into the Beast's stronghold of Gorkogrod. After a charge where the Imperial Fists killed hundreds of Warboss-sized incoming Orks they used the last remaining captured Ork psykers to finally kill the main Beast, the other Beasts and all nearby Orks, ultimately cleaning Ullanor of Ork presence and finally breaking the back of the greenskins' unified galactic assault.

The planet would have then been subjected to [[Exterminatus]] in order to ensure the greenskin threat was over, but the AdMech instead [[fail|teleported the planet elsewhere]] so they could [[Looted|loot]] the Ork technology for themselves. Thanks to the Imperium's shitty recordkeeping and a "[[Skub|special]]" retcon, Ullanor's and legacy would be lost in time until the planet took on another name: [[Armageddon]].

==Aftermath==
The Imperium was saved! Chapter Master Thane and the Imperial Fists had defeated the Ork menace but the Imperium's flaws had not been fixed, and in light of the Adeptus Mechanicus' blatant disregard for how close the Orks had been to wiping out Terra, Vangorich decided it was time to fix things forever.

Interestingly, [[The Beheading|killing most of the High Lords of Terra]] actually wasn't as bad as the one-sentence timeline entry seemed to think. For the first few decades, Vangorich's single-handedly ruling the Imperium while Thane was busy recovering all the territories lost to the Orks seemed to work. Sadly, the fear that future High Lords could screw things up caused Vangorich to go mad - like, [[Konrad Curze]]-tier mad - and he established a [[Goge Vandire|reign of terror]] brutal even by the standards of the Imperium on Terra. Which doesn't make sense considering he was afraid of High Lords screwing the Imperium over. Paranoia doesn't explain it since people lash out at those they fear when paranoid. Tyrants, for example, lash out at their subjects out of fear of them. This in no way fits Vangorich's situation. Humans act in strange ways and do stupid things and are irrational, but not entirely, not mostly even. It can't be used as some blanket hand-waive for literally everything, human nature ''does'' have a logic and rythm to it. But then, Games Workshop never thinks things through.

In the end, Thane went back and stormed the Throneworld to kill Vangorich (by this point you may be wondering [[plot armour|why Failbaddon, Imotekh or the Tyranids find this so hard]], probably because the normal defenders didn't lift a finger to stop the assault).

Vangorich unleashed the [[Assassinorum Execution Force|killing talents of the combined Assassin Temples]] on the liberating forces. His final stronghold was home to 100 [[Eversor]]s, and if you watched that video made by Karl the Deranged from the Alfa Legion then you may imagine how bad it went for Thane. Fortunately, the final assassin was an ex-operative of Vangorich forcefully converted into a WRRYYY! who fought against his psycho-conditioning and gave Thane the opening to kill Vangorich. The erstwhile Grandmaster's final words were "Wanna know how [[Konrad Curze]] died?"

The rest is history. Hey, this series was cool, and unlike the Horus Heresy, it actually went somewhere, don't you agree? {{BLAM}}

== Major revelations ==

'''Here come some major spoilers!'''

The series has revealed many events which have previously only been hinted at or not really touched on at all:
*The [[Imperial Fists]] were completely wiped out during the war; it took the combined effort of the successor chapters to bring them back. If one wants to be a purist for direct lines of decent then the 'real' OG Imperial Fists Chapter ended there. This however is directly contradicted in book 6 with Slaughter remarking that the frozen Imperial Fists gene-stocks still remained, making the whole 'I.F.s wiped out' point only valid in the strictest sense. While the gene-seed does remain, the loss of all those veterans from the Crusade and Heresy is still a serious blow to the Imperium.
**This was partially retconned by [[GW]] when they later revealed that before he disappeared, Dorn had sent aspirants to [[Cawl]]'s vaults to become the first Imperial Fists [[Primaris Marines]] (see Lieutenant Calder), who then later re-joined the chapter during the [[Indomitus Crusade]]. Furthermore, Thane was later changed from a Successor Captain to a 7th Legion Horus Heresy veteran. Thus, a living Legion veteran refounded the Fists and there were Imperial Fists Primaris sleeping on Cawl's ship the entire time. The Fists today are legit as ever, [[Derp|making this a narrative cul-de-sac because GeeDubs can't keep its fluff straight]].
*It was Captain Koorland who came up with the idea of creating the [[Deathwatch]] from the marines who have survived the first months of the war.
*Drakan Vangorich was actually quite a cool guy, and it was only a century after The Beheading that he went mad and had to be removed.
*The novel series gives an excellent idea of the state of the human colonies during the [[Age of Strife]] when there wasn't an Imperium to defend mankind from the alien threat and why surrendering to [[xenos]] <strike> was </strike> IS a very bad idea.
*That inquisitor named Veritus? None other than Kyril Sindermann, formerly the [[Luna Wolves]]' [[Iterator]] and one of the founders of both the [[Imperial Creed]] and the Inquisition. This explains how he knew so much about, well, everything, and he came with the idea of the [[Ordo Malleus]] and the [[Ordo Xenos]] as separate defined branches, making him the grand-daddy of the modern Inquisition.
*Grand Master Janus from the [[Grey Knights]] makes a cameo.
*Vulkan was still alive (and of course will still be due being a perpetual), but it was good to have him back for a while. Also, he hints that Rogal Dorn may be still alive too.
*After the defeat of the Beast, the Mechanicus faked destroying the planet of Ullanor by teleporting it to another solar system. It has become well known in the 41st millennium by the name of [[Armageddon]]. Yes, THAT Armageddon.
*All the remaining Sisters of Silence (from that specific convent, at least) were killed during the final battle against the Beast, the last one sacrificing herself to destroy the Ork-Prime. However, it seems they too were later formally re-established (if not as well-supported and numerous) by M41, as they arrived on Luna to stop Magnus from mopping the floor with Guilliman.
*[[Eldrad]] had a hand helping the Imperium to stop the Orks and during the final passages of the last book it was revealed to him that Mankind and [[Eldar]] fates are irrevocably intertwined.
*Throughout the siege of [[Terra]], the Orks taunted the defenders with transmissions from orbit across all vox-channels in their own tongue: the name of their commander, a phrase roughly translating as "Beast", "I am Slaughter", or "Lord Who Brings Great Slaughter". It is revealed in the final passages of the last book that, in Orkish, this phrase is "Mag Uruk Thraka". Granted, [[Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka]] has ''nothing'' on the Beast... at least, not yet.
**It's worth considering that the Orks believe that dead Orks go back to [[Gork]] and [[Mork]] to be belched into another body. And when ten zillion Orks believe a thing...
*Orks can be eradicated en masse through the use of the [[Blank|Pariah Gene]] and [[Weirdboy|Weirdboyz]], but only if the [[WAAAGH]] energies reach a certain critical mass first. Unfortunately, since this is when they are also at their strongest, Pariahs with enough power to pull it off are a rarity in themselves, and it requires the Pariah's death.
*The war only lasted something like two, years, apparently, which has heavy implications for how fast the Imperium's Warp travel actually is. Or at least how quick it was in this time period.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

[[Category: Imperial]]

[[Category: Space Marines]]

[[Category: Xenos]]

[[Category: Orks]]

{{40k-Timeline}}

Greater Good

2022-11-28T17:46:30Z

2600:387:3:805:0:0:0:BC: /* The God of the Greater Good? */

{{topquote|The Golden Age is the most implausible of all dreams. But for it men have given up their life and strength; for the sake of it prophets have died and been slain; without it the people will not live and cannot die.|Fyodor Dostoevsky}}
{{topquote|I am not only a pacifist but a militant pacifist. I am willing to fight for peace.|Albert Einstein}}

Space: the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship ''[[Tau]]’s Future Glory''. Its mission: to seek out new life and new civilizations and unify them with [[noblebright]]—and the occasional plasma blast—for the '''Greater Good''' of all, and to boldly go into a [[grimdark]] galaxy where no Weeaboo Space Communist has gone before.

And thus begins the adventures of the [[40k]] galaxy’s version of the Star Trek Federation, brought to you by unflagging belief in the Greater Good! Cake for all!

==But Seriously, Folks==
[[File:8812 md-Dawn Of War Humor Motivational Poster Poster The Greater Good.jpg|thumbnail|right|300px|This is what happens when you bring philosophy to a [[Thunder Hammer|thunder hammer]] fight.]]
{{Topquote|their obsessive pursuit of the so-called 'Greater Good'. Which, let us be clear, would be rather more accurately translated into Gothic as 'the Greater Good of the Tau, and the warp take the rest.'|[[Amberley Vail]], ''The Greater Good''}}

For reals though, this is the background on it:

The Greater Good (Tau’va) is the central, guiding philosophical doctrine of the [[Tau Empire]] and its diverse citizens. Essentially, it involves always taking the course of action that is best for the majority of people (and the fact the majority of the Empire's citizens have blue skin and forehead slits is totally coincidental, we swear. Although with the joining of Hive Worlds it’s ironically humans), and dictates that everyone and everything has its place in the system; as such, the system will look after you, and you after it. ([[Humanity Fuck Yeah|Real-life humans]] have thought of this too; it's called [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism utilitarianism]). It goes a lot deeper than that for the Tau, who believe it is their duty to bring the enlightening message of the Greater Good to everyone in the galaxy, and subsequently join them under the rule of the Tau Empire in order to work together for a better future for all.

It was the [[Ethereal]]s who first brought the message of the Greater Good to the other Tau on their homeworld during the age of civil war and barbarism that they now refer to as the Mont'au, or "The Terror." The Ethereals preached a message of peaceful cooperation between the four major Tau tribes, and explained that each tribe's skills should be harnessed for the benefit of all to secure a brighter future. In this way, the Ethereals united them as a single-minded people, and over the next few millennia, the Tau got their shit together in record time for a sapient species, much like [[fa/tg/uys]] might were it not for the insurmountable levels of [[skub]] and [[rage]] [[Grimdark|produced by the internet on a daily basis]]. There was a massive growth in technology, science and knowledge, and the Tau became a spacefaring race very rapidly compared to [[Imperium of Man|others]]. They <s>mind controlled</s> contacted several [[Kroot|less advanced]] [[Vespid|races]] and won them over with their ideals; these were some of the first non-Tau members of what would become the Tau Empire.

Since approaching the space controlled by the [[Imperium]], however, the Tau have been somewhat disabused of the notion that most of the galaxy's denizens are interested in anything but killing them, since every other major race they have encountered either rejects their overtures for unity with a bolt pistol or straightaway tries to fight or nom them. Even the Tau's own member species generally join in the hopes of killing things. [[Tau Diplomacy|Here]] are some typical instances of the Tau Empire's [[Rape|negotiations with]] [[RIP AND TEAR|other races]].

Cue galaxy-wide [[lulz]].

As mentioned above, the idea of a greater good is not really all that new in the real world. It has existed in modern society for a while, although not in the form of an official guiding doctrine, and instead as more of a general rule of thumb to do your best by society as a whole and to not be selfish. To create in full the Tau idea of the Greater Good you will need: communism, Marxism, utilitarianism, naïveté, enough politics to make your head spin, xenophilia, the power of friendship and working together, and of course guns, lots and lots of guns, just in case 'persuading' someone to adopt the Greater Good fails. The resulting mixture resembles none of the ingredients (and would make Karl Marx chew his own beard off) but gives you a sense of the different bits and pieces [[Games Workshop]] added into its big concept cauldron to concoct the Tau Empire's Greater Good.

In the first edition Tau Codex the idea of the Greater Good was pretty clean if vague, a noble goal to unite the galaxy. The book "Fire Warrior", though, which was published at this time, goes into it at great length, including what it means and what happens when a Tau has his or her eyes open to what kind of galaxy they live in (in a mature, non-grimdark way too). By the first Tau Empire book, though, there is some gritty realism, with stories of people resisting the Greater Good, and in the current situation there are clear cases where the Greater Good will be meaningless ([[Orks]], [[Tyranids]], etc.).

In the wider galaxy, if you don't like the Greater Good, you hate it. In this way it is kind of like [[skub]]. The [[Imperium]] hates it because it is a challenge to their authority and they are afraid that [[Gue'vesa|nervous, weak-willed humans]] will see it as an alternative to what the Imperium offers, and they can't have that. [[Chaos]] hates it because it is the antithesis to what each of the four ruinous powers stand for: selflessness and discipline over indulgence ([[Slaanesh]]); peace over war ([[Khorne]]); growth and progress over decay ([[Nurgle]]); and structured order over change and randomness ([[Tzeentch]]). In short, the concept of the Greater Good is in direct opposition to the powers of Chaos, and exactly why Chaos has not launched a [[Black Crusade]] against the Tau Empire so far is unclear. (Obvious reasons include the Eye and the Tau being separated by an entire galaxy, the Imperum being a juicer target with more squishy blood-filled sacrifices, and because Chaos hasn't had a codex update, the Riptide spam is too strong, and that [[Failbaddon|Abbadon]] still can't do anything right.) [[Necrons]] and [[Eldar]] dislike the Greater Good simply because they consider it to be the starry-eyed drivel of a young species (although the Eldar have a soft spot for the Tau, likely because they created them), and the [[Orks]] and [[Tyranids]] couldn't care less, obviously. They will fight (and eat) anyone.

So all in all, pretty hard times being a missionary for the Greater Good in the 41st millennium.

==Accusations of epic trolling on GW's part==
When the Tau first came out, it was believed all this Greater Good lovey-dovey business was an epic example of trolling on GW's part against their franchise and the fan base, what with the 40k galaxy being completely grimdark previously. The presence of a race that was (shock-horror) normal by most sci-fi standards confused some and enraged others. GW declared they wanted a new, dynamic race for their setting. Fans thought they went a bit too far in this regard and had created something that clashed thematically with the setting it was in.

As of the most recent codex and [[fluff]] updates, however, the Tau and the Greater Good have been made more 'realistic' in the context of the 40k galaxy. The Ethereals have declared certain races "lost causes" which are beyond the capability of the Greater Good to help them (the Orks and the Tyranids, though this declaration should have been made upon one glimpse of those assholes). And as of the most recent expansion phase in the Empire, the Tau have at times abandoned the slow but steady option of diplomacy in favour of just annexing worlds and forcing the Greater Good onto anyone there via military might. Considering this is more in line with the Imperium's way of doing things, we shall have to see how that goes. Other grimdark things done to and in the name of the Greater Good can be found in the next section.

==Is it all really sunshine and lollipops?==
The codices and fluff hinted from the start that all was not what it seemed in the Tau Empire, and with the recent updates, especially the [[Farsight]] Enclaves supplement, the Ethereals have been portrayed as subtly evil space tyrants ruling an empire through clever mind control tricks which the Tau population is unaware of. Basically, the books hint that the Ethereals, a strange breed of Tau who appeared out of nowhere, use some form of mind control or pheromone to influence other Tau to listen to what they say and to obey orders without question. It is further hinted that this has had a diminished effect on even non-Tau. It is in this way they sell the Greater Good. It is the sort of thing the Party in ''[[1984]]'' would love to be able to do and would make their work load much easier.

There has been no solid confirmation on the origin or power of the Hypnotau, and like a lot of potentially cool plot points, it has been left underdeveloped in order to [[Advancing the Storyline|drag out the plot]]. Thanks GW. Of course, ''[[Xenology]]'' really, ''really'' heavily implies that the [[Eldar]] stole some other alien race's mind-control pheromones and integrated them into Tau biology.

That said, it's also heavily implied that the Ethereals' pheromones affect the Ethereals themselves as well. They fully believe in everything they preach, [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doublethink#Origin_and_concepts as opposed to ''1984'''s leaders]. In the novel ''Fire Warrior'', an Ethereal actually resists falling to goddamn [[Chaos Spawn|daemonic possession]] not because of any psychic resistance or relic but because his faith in the Greater Good gives him total balance and control over his mind, meaning no emotional flaws for a daemon to exploit.

While pheromones and the like account for the single-mindedness of the Tau, the Empire's member races presumably must be won over by more traditional means, so there still has to be a solid philosophical core for other races to latch onto. To this end, prominent [[Vespid]] are outfitted with "communion helms" to assist translation, which obviously contain no mind-control elements whatsoever. Same goes for the Nagi, a race of telepathic brain worms who regularly council with the Ethereals. The fluff doesn't talk about them much, but the moment you read "telepathic brain worms" that's immediately going to raise some red flags. However, as far as we know, the Nagi have no direct contact with the other client races. So whether or not there's mind control amongst the Tau themselves, the Greater Good is still a legitimate motivating philosophy that is proving itself to be quite effective at uniting disparate civilizations.

==Reasons to accept the Greater Good==
* The Tau Empire is open to diplomacy and talking things through. Even if they are primarily focused on getting what they want (like every sensible person is), they will still listen to what you want as well and potentially allow room for it. The Imperium does diplomacy too, but merely as a pretense until they can get enough guns there. If they have enough guns already then diplomacy sounds like {{BLAM|'''BLAM!'''}}
* <s>[[Faptau]] and/or [[Schlicktau]] will teach you how to masturbate like a professional.</s> {{BLAM|'''THIS SECTION OF TEXT IS A LIE AGAINST THE GREATER GOOD. ALL INDIVIDUALS INVOLVED WILL BE BROUGHT BACK TO TAU FOR REEDUCATION.'''}}
* You can be friends or allies with other alien races unless they're ones deemed [[Orks|a]] [[Tyranids|lost]] [[Dark Eldar|cause]] by the Greater Good.
* [[Railgun]]s.
* [[Battlesuit]]s.
* Life in the Empire is significantly better for civilians, especially lower-class ones, than in most other civilizations. Hell, they even have free health care - in the Imperium you don't have ANY health care unless you're at least a valued middle class specialist or a soldier.
* <s>You will be allowed to worship who you want, as long as it doesn't conflict with the Greater Good.</s> <s>Retconned as of eighth edition.</s> (Not a retcon) Though worship of your own gods is permitted, the Water caste actively try to get their citizens to devote their energies to the idea of the greater good.
* You will not be blown up in a dickish preemptive orbital strike by [[Commander Or'es'Ka]].
* It advocates what is best for everyone and states that everyone can contribute to it in their own way, which we must agree is a better sell than Imperial zealots screaming that you owe the Emperor your life, so get busy dying for him, and no complaining or we'll make you die for him {{Blam|'''RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!'''}}
* Machines are seen simply as machines, not as holy relics with [[Machine Spirit|souls]] that need to be fawned over with ridiculous rituals, and so a lot of things are automated. You don't have to do a tenth of the awful, soul-sucking menial labour that occurs in every corner of the Imperium. This automatically makes the Tau a thousand times more [[Awesome|practical and sensible]]. Except there is the caveat that the Imperium treats technology and automation the way it does [[Chaos|for a reason]].
*The Farsight Enclaves, who are potentially one of the rare truly good factions in the 40k universe. They continue to practice the Tau's ideals of equality and progress within the Greater Good, but they also push back against the mind control nonsense of the Ethereal Caste. Plus, they're Tau who fight in melee.

==Reasons not to accept the Greater Good==
* You will be a walking target for life for [[HERESY]], and hence [[Blam|BLAMMING]], in the Imperium for even thinking about xenos in a positive light. (Just a reminder: mono-dominants within the Inquisition are not afraid to [[Exterminatus|blow up an entire planet just to kill you]]. If not, there will always be [[Space Marine|some]][[Assassin|one]] waiting for you). This only applies if you choose to remain in Imperium territory; the Tau are expanding their territory so I'm sure they have room for at least one more.
** the t'au are being evaluated by the imperium, to determine whether they are truly hostile or just naive idiots. this doesn't change protocol now but might later.
* You are probably being compelled by pheromones and mind control to be a "good person", which is to say your [[noblebright]] is the result of [[grimdark]].
* You will be horrified at how barbaric and violent the rest of the galaxy is, so make sure you cover your eyes when you're outside the Empire.
* You will be compared to Jehovah's Witnesses because your message is just irritating to anyone who is not already '''ONE OF US…'''
* You will be compared to communists by most people despite the fact that the Tau Empire only resembles communisim. which is to say it perfectly mirrors the sociopolitical ideals of the soviet union, and the PRC in the most dubious of ways.
* Inter-caste breeding is strictly prohibited in the Tau Empire. Their view on Tau getting it on with non-Tau is even worse. So if you meet a stunning Water Caste babe and you're a member of the Air Caste, or a member of a non-Tau race, you're unfortunately gonna have to go all Romeo and Juliet on that shit.
**The problem above is irrelevant but only because if you're Tau, your libido is almost nonexistent, and you don't think of sex as anything more than a method of reproduction. Some, however, may think this is an advantage rather than drawback; Then again, some sources claim Tau like sex as much as humans do but their Caste system and the Ethereal's control restrict it. Which is probably false since breeding a lot is a very big contribution to the Greater Good. Especially when automation and new worlds makes feeding and housing a non-issue...of course [[Slaanesh|the Etherials are the least of your problems]] in this regard.
* You have to accept that you won't be in charge of your own destiny. But then, no one really is in the 40k galaxy…:'(
* Although it may seem all nice and happy, be careful. Big Brother is always watching you... but Tau Big Brother is more polite and less trigger-happy or invasive than [[Inquisition|Imperium Big Brother]]. Which means the subtle alien and daemonic threats Imperium Big Brother protects you against will get through Tau Big Brother and do horrible, horrible things to you and your soul.
* It might be an Eldar conspiracy to convince foolish Mon...Gue'la to die for a mysterious force that isn't Chaos.
* Alternatively, it might be a [[Nagi|brainworm]] conspiracy to use a bunch of blue and pink meat puppets to fight their battles for them.
*Machine spirits actually do exist in 40k, and not having them in your technology could be a problem when Chaos shows up.
* You run a great risked of being OMNOMED by Tyranids, atom raped by Necrons, slaughtered by Orks or all of the above by Dark Eldar.

==What is important to remember is this!==
Despite all the jeers about naiveté, subtle mind control and Big Brother watching you, the Tau Empire and its philosophy of the Greater Good is still the nicest option to go with in the 40k universe, especially if you're one of those rare [[neckbeard]]s who actually realizes that grimderp and sadness doesn't always equal coolness and profundity, or who don't think that survival at the cost of your humanity is worth it when there's hope - perhaps futile hope, but hope - for doing so without sacrificing the things we value (love, beauty, compassion, freedom). So what if your leaders control the population like a club of puppet masters? At least you can trust these people not to throw you and your family into a meat grinder suicide war or to crush all the individuality and freedom out of you while saying it is for your own good. Some have said "give it ten thousand more years and the Tau Empire will be just like the Imperium" (don't forget the current Imperium is a lot more backwards and oppressive than the Emperor intended, although the Horus Heresy books reveal the only major difference besides technology is the Imperial Creed than Imperial Truth and the Creed is far more lenient and tolerant, Emps was even more purge-happy than 40K Imperium). But really, will it? The Tau are quite different from humans, so their response will be quite different as well. Until then, the Greater Good remains one of the few doctrines of the 40k universe that makes sense, and despite all the grimdark made of it recently, it is still so [[noblebright]] it can blind [[Night Lords]] a light year away.

At the level of narrative a big thing about The Greater Good is that it's an ideology that many a real world person today would find to some degree or another attractive. Beyond the obvious ability for people to relate to and become more invested in the setting, it also provides a stepping stone and a contrast to the grimdark everywhere else, providing a yardstick to measure against, and get some idea of the sheer scope and scale of the grimdark. Even if there are reasons in universe as to why it's the case the Imperial Creed is going to be a hard sell to pretty much everyone in the modern day to say the least even when we see what it's like in practice and the nastier interpretations there-of. The Greater Good is in general a much more palatable worldview. In Star Trek the philosophy of the Vulcans, which is framed in a positive light, is "Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations" and "The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few". Various real world philosophies also hit the same notes to various degrees. Encouraging altruism, cooperation between different groups, the idea that society should have a place for everyone and striving for an idea of societal harmony and the benefit of all is things that many people can get behind. Of course people can do horrible things in service of noble ideals even as they strive for them, but that does not mean that the ideas in of themselves are fundamentally repugnant.

The problem isn’t the ideals or how they’re exercised in this case. The problem is that entities in the Warp can potentially take advantage of these ideals to horribly fuck over the Tau Empire. That shit (and the fact that literally anything except the Imperial Doctrine is considered heresy for not having been around for 10,000 years) is why these ideals are heresy. Already it's beginning to falter in cases like the Fourth Sphere's growing xenophobia.

==Further Imperial Thoughts on the Tau==
Another interesting point regarding Imperial-Tau relations is spelled out in the current Tau codex. If you really want to get to the core of what the Imperium's problem with the Tau Empire is, you have to look to those who actually have the bigger picture of just what the fuck is going on in the galaxy. While your average inquisitor will shoot anything not human without a second thought, the bigwigs at the top of the food chain (specifically in the Mechanicus and the High Lords) are concerned about the Tau for several "good" reasons. Not only does the Empire offer a life of something more than "make bullets for the Emperor until you die and be thankful for it" (which you can imagine sounds pretty good to your average menial laborer), but they actually see a bit of themselves in the Tau. The Tau Empire is very similar to humanity during the Golden Age of Technology in terms of society (though probably with job distinctions rather than social castes and with the ability to change jobs/castes), which if you know [[Age of Strife|how that ended]] the Imperium's problem with the Tau is a bit more understandable.

Its also a matter of the warp and the Horus Heresy. Regardless of how many people in the Imperium know it, a major contributor was the primarchs finding things other than the Emperor or the Imperium to be loyal to, eventually causing a good half of them to turn traitor and put the Emperor on the Throne. Most of what came after was in response to this. The Greater Good is (in theory) separate from the leaders that espouse it. The Imperium, meanwhile, wants you to follow your leaders, regardless of the reasons or outcomes. As the Tau don't really have a presence in the warp, they don't have to worry about heretics and cults (at least for now). One can imagine the clusterfuck that develops when their human ranks are infiltrated by a cult and suddenly a horde of demons show up looking for lunch (having had the cultists for breakfast).

There are also the other races in the T'au empire. The minor aliens of the galaxy are... a mixed lot. The Tau tend to treat these with surprising amounts of courtesy, granting groups like the Kroot incredible independence, not overseeing or administrating their worlds and in numerous cases, such as Farsight, Commander Shadow and Ethereal seekers respecting and honouring the Kroot, whilst finding their practise of cannibalism still distasteful. Member species such as the Nicassar and Nagi are also frequently seen being treated well as advisors and permitted a limited form of input on governmental decisions. Rarely have member species ever been shown to be particularly aggravated or feel oppressed by the Tau. Regardless the fact that the Tau do not kill aliens on sight and simply have the explicit goal of annihilating all other life in the galaxy, makes them an attractive polity for aliens who are otherwise forced to contend with the xenocidal Humans, Orks, Chaos or Tyranid. Which eventually will result in the empire self-destructing, because those same aliens tend to be enslaving or xenocidal towards everyone else, too. Which is why the Imperium wants to wipe them out. Tau mind control helps direct it towards the enemies of the Tau instead of the empire, but that won't last forever. Especially if the Tau run out of "others" to point them at. Or if they grow too numerous such that there aren’t enough Etherals to keep them dosed. Now...how will they feel when they come to their senses and realized their minds were fucked with? Eh heh heh heh.

Regardless, the Imperium is largely willing to work with the Tau since they are the lesser of evils in a lot of sectors. [[Deathwatch]] talks about how most of the leadership of the Achilus Crusade (including the Deathwatch) would rather sign a non-agression pact with the tau against the invading Tyranids. The logic being that a world under the ideology of the Tau can be purged and be brought back to the Imperium, a world being nommed is of no value to anyone. Of course [[Grimdark|The pragmatic option isn't always the available one]] as the head of the Crusade is a paranoid idiot who would rather see the entire sector fall than compromise. The Tau themselves seem split between exploiting this character flaw so they will have strategic control and not having to send millions of troops to fight the Imperium on one front while hordes of giant space locusts arrive from another.

Really, though, the Imperium should take advantage of the Greater Good thing to get the Tau as a cool gun to shoot at other enemies' weakpoints with. Using "Greater Good" in propaganda and diplomacy would pretty easily be turned into getting the Tau to join the Imperium's "Greater Good" so their invasive quality would be made into a tool for Imperial authorities to get everyone to shut up and do what they're told. And maybe it would help a lot with their inefficiency as a side effect. This isn't really any different than an Inquisitor using an alien weapon, just this weapon can talk.

==The God of the Greater Good?==
Recent fluff from Phil Kelly's novels has revealed that a brand-new Warp God has been created from the perceptions and worship of the Greater Good, mostly thanks to the psychic races of the Empire. It's a five-fingered, many-armed god, taking on a vague resemblance to an Ethereal wearing a blank and impassive mask; it seems like a benevolent being but it hungers to spread its arms across the galaxy and reshape everything in its image. This appearance is reminiscent of ''Sahasrabhuja'' from Buddhism. This massive entity saved the Fourth Sphere and blasted a hole from the Warp into reality for them to escape.

The Fourth Sphere T'au are the only guys who know that entity exists (somehow) and it's gaining power the more the T'au Empire expands and assimilates other races, something their commanders are not happy with, seeing it as a corruption of the true Greater Good and a threat to their Empire. In an attempt to stop or kill the god of the Greater Good before it fully forms (even though that's already happened) they secretly engineered the genocide of the T'au allied races who survived the transition to real space, and are murdering every alien they can whenever they're given the opportunity (including Gue'vesa after they trick them into joining the Empire). Eventually Shadowsun and the Ethereal Council disciplined the Fourth Sphere commanders with a ritual punishment before they were returned to the ranks or sent back to the empire for re-assimilation. As of the Psychic Awakening lore, this didn't do jack shit to curb their bloodlust.

The big problem with this new lore, is it's complete horseshit for a number of reasons. The first is that the Tau have a muted warp presence and even if we were to include all of their allied races, they wouldn't even equal a fraction of what the Eldar currently have in the setting, and they had to perform a complex ritual that had the backing of an actual god behind it to form Ynnead, and even then Ynnead doesn't have nearly the power the god of the Greater Good has displayed. Even when the Eldar accidentally created Slaanesh, it took countless trillions of Eldar souls and millennia of hedonism to create it. The second reason is that the Tau don't worship the concept of the greater good; saying they do is like saying people worship the country they live in. The third is that the Tau have been around for a relatively short time which, combined with their relatively small population, has barely been noticed by anything in the Warp, let alone having the power to create a new god in it. It also kind of makes you wonder that if a bunch of humans "believing" in the Greater Good was enough to make it manifest in the Warp - and considering the population of humans in the Tau empire is relatively minuscule, not to mention the fact that the entire Tau population is outnumbered by an average human city on a hive world - then [[God-Emperor of Mankind|that lich on the golden chair]] should've gotten so powered up by the faith of several quadrillion humans that he would've glassed everything that could've posed a threat to the Imperium, both in the Materium and the Warp.

All in all, it's such a stupid idea that the editor should've put it down the second it came up (possibly after slapping the writer), being so hilariously awful people would've laughed it off as bad fanfiction had it not been on Black Library. Likely (and hopefully) it'll be ignored by everything around it, much like anything C.S. Goto writes down.

In fact it's such a stupid idea that the only way this whole story makes any sense at all is if this is a chaos god posing as the god of the greater good. Of the big four, Tzeentch seems like the one most likely to try and pull this kind of stunt off since the Tau are dynamic, seek to upset the galactic order and the greater good is an inherently hopeful philosophy, all things that fit into his portfolio. Combined with the tau being fairly gullible about this kind of thing, and it's not out of the question for him to try this. For what end, who knows? But Tzeentch is all about plans within plans, written on a mobius strip, hidden in a Klein bottle, so it could be for a goal that is a thousand years yet to develop. That said Phil Kelly is not nearly talented enough nor enmeshed enough with the lore to think that far ahead with his writings. Still it's the best explanation we got for what's really going on here.

Unfortunately, this tumor upon lore is only expanding. In Kelly's latest Shadowsun novel, this 'goddess' now has the power to fight against the Death Guard by protecting people from their plagues, becalming Death Guard ships in the warp, and even destroying them along with the minds of its crew. This goddess is described as shaped like a human and tau, while possessing arms from many of the respective races in the Empire. They held weapons, tools of knowledge, and wisps of light. All that's required is the client races of the Tau Empire praying/believing it (or at least its effects) into existence. Black Library and Phil Kelly have chosen to double down on this fucktarded piece of lore, so stow any hopes of this shit going away or getting a satisfactory explanation.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category: Dawn of War]]
[[Category: Xenos]]
[[Category: Tau]]
[[Category: 40k and Fantasy Gods]]