History Youth Very little is known about Rogal Dorn's youth.

It is believed that that he was r aised on the planet of Inwit in the system of the same name by an ice-caste nati ve to the Ice Hives of the world. The patriarch of the clan that raised him beca me as a grandfather to him, and taught him much of tactics. Even after he discov ered he was not blood-related to his 'grandfather' Dorn held his memory in high value; he kept a fur-edged robe that had belonged to the man and slept with it o n his bed every night. Eventually Rogal Dorn became the leader not only of his c aste but of the whole world and then the surrounding region of space, ruling the Inwit Cluster as Emperor of the House of Dorn. But as the history goes, 40 year s after his grandfather's death, the Great Crusade reached the Ice Hives of Inwi t. Dorn greeted the Emperor at the helm of his enormous starship, the Phalanx, t he seventh Primarch to be found.[1] The Emperor welcomed Dorn, and returned the Phalanx to his care, making it the Fortress Monastery of the Imperial Fists[Need s Citation]. Great Crusade Dorn himself was fiercely loyal to the Emperor, and never once sought any favour from him. He exemplified the truth, and could never tell a lie, even if it woul d have aided his cause. Because of this, Dorn's statue stands as one of four on Macragge, next to that of Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines.[2] Dorn commanded his Legion and Expeditionary Fleets with peerless devotion and mi litary genius. It was said that he possessed perhaps the finest military mind of the Primarchs, as ordered and disciplined as Roboute Guilliman's and as courage ous as Lion El'Jonson's, but still inclined to the flashes of zeal and inspirati on which marked the successes of Leman Russ and Jaghatai Khan. Indeed, the Warma ster had said that he esteemed Dorn and the Imperial Fists so highly that he rec koned if the Fists, noted masters of defence, were to hold a fortress against hi m and his Luna Wolves, the resultant conflict would result in a never-ending sta lemate[Needs Citation]. Commonly dressed in armour of burnished copper and gold, Dorn also wore a red ve lvet cloak and unfurled eagle-wing motif. It was heavily present on most parts o f his gear, most notably on a decorative section of his armour that rose above h is shoulders. He had a stern and naturally unsmiling face, topped with an unruly shock of short, bone-white hair.[3a] When the Emperor returned to Terra to build a capital worthy of ruling a million planets, Dorn went as well. Always having excelled in the construction of fortr esses, he was tasked with designing the defences for the Imperial Palace. These would prove to be magnificent, and would be well tested in the following years. Fulgrim once asked if Rogal Dorn thought it could withstand the Iron Warriors le gion, and Dorn's truthful answer infuriated Perturabo to such a degree they woul d almost destroy each other in battle years later.[2] Later, upon reflection, Do rn considered his overly competitive relationship with Perturabo to have demonst rated personal weakness, presumably including the exchange which resulted in Per turabo's outburst.[6] Dorn and the entire Imperial Fists Legion were recalled to Terra to take up guar d stations there near what would be the end of the Great Crusade.[3a] Horus Heresy Before the Imperial Fists could arrive at Terra in full complement, the events o f the Horus Heresy overtook them. Stranded for some considerable time by severe Warp storms, the Imperial Fist fleet eventually discovered the badly damaged Dea th Guard frigate Eisenstein, and so learned of Horus' betrayal. At first unwilli ng to believe it, Rogal Dorn was eventually convinced by several members of the

Eisenstein survivors, notably Captain Nathaniel Garro and remembrancer Mersadie Oliton, that his brother Horus was staging a full-scale rebellion. Dorn therefor e despatched the bulk of his Legion to the Isstvan III system on a war-footing. He himself returned to Terra with his veteran companies to bring word of the eve nts personally.[4] Dorn was subsequently charged with bolstering the defences of the Imperial Palac e even further, and oversaw the construction himself. He felt he was marring the perfection and beauty of the existing structure in doing this, and regretted it , even though it was necessary.[1] Later, Dorn was charged with the overall comm and of the defenses of the Imperial Palace during the Battle of Terra, personall y commanding the effort from the Sky Fortress. Dorn later joined the Emperor and Sanguinius in the assault on the Vengeful Spirit, Horus' flagship. Helping brin g the bodies of the Emperor and Sanguinius back to Terra, he was among those who received the Emperor's final instructions before being interred on the Golden T hrone.[2][7] Post Heresy After the fall of the Emperor, Dorn was stricken with grief. He felt the Emperor 's near demise to be his fault and led his Legion on a crusade of penitence acro ss the Imperium. He was summoned back to Terra when Roboute Guilliman announced the adoption of his Codex Astartes, turning Legions into Chapters. Dorn was init ially outraged at this proposal, feeling that the Imperium blamed him (and right ly so, he thought) for the fall of his brother marines. But realizing what damag e another internal conflict could do to the fragile peace of the Imperium, Dorn agreed. This was a dark period in Rogal Dorn's life; he had both failed the Empe ror and his legion faltered without the guiding light of the Emperor[Needs Citat ion]. Some controversy exists about the next event in Rogal Dorn's life. What is clear is that the Imperial Fists could not be as easily divided into chapters as, for example the Ultramarines could. The total commitment to the legion was bred int o each marine and many didn't wish to form their own chapters. Dorn found the an swer to this problem in meditation through self-inflicted pain, using a device k nown as the Pain Glove. The pain-induced vision revealed that his legion had to be redeemed in the eyes of the Emperor, and that the way to salvation was throug h pain and self-sacrifice[Needs Citation]. The 'collective pain' needed to cleanse the Chapter was decided by Dorn to be an Iron Warriors' fortress, the Iron Cage. Perturabo had built the massive fortifi cations to mock the Imperial Fists, and Dorn led his most die-hard followers in a siege that would last for several weeks. Followers of the Iron Warriors claim that the Imperial Fists suffered a crushing defeat, and that Dorn and his legion would have been wiped out if Perturabo hadn't prolonged Dorn's suffering so lon g that the Ultramarines managed to intervene[Needs Citation]. Imperial records indicate otherwise. The Imperial Fists had always been masters of siege craft, and even unprepared and at a disadvantage they fought like lions . Dorn stood as a giant in their midst, his mind clear with purpose after years of doubt and guilt. The Iron Warriors would have had to sacrifice their lives an d Primarch to destroy the Imperial Fists, a price they weren't ready to pay. The arrival of the Ultramarines cut the conflict short and the Iron Warriors fled f or the Eye of Terror. The Imperial Fists had suffered staggering losses, but the y had proved their loyalty to the Emperor and cleansed themselves of earlier fai lures[Needs Citation]. What remained of the Legion was divided into three Chapters. The most zealous ma rines formed the Black Templars; the more rational and newly recruited marines t he Crimson Fists and the ones most devoted to their Primarch and Legion remained the Imperial Fists. Rogal Dorn spent the next twenty years rebuilding and refor

ming his chapter according to the standards of the Index Astartes. (There were o ther chapters, like the Soul Drinkers for instance, though it is unclear when th ey came into existence.) [Needs Citation] Rogal Dorn died fighting on board a Chaos ship, after attacking a Black Crusade fleet with a vastly outnumbered force. Seeing the importance of attacking the en emy fleet while they were still preparing he relied on hit-and-run attacks until his reinforcements could arrive. Dorn died on board the Despoiler Class Battles hip Sword of Sacrilege after leading a desperate attack on its bridge. His remai ns were recovered and his engraved skeletal hand is kept in stasis by his chapte r.[2] Dorn's skeleton without his hands is kept within a chapel, and embedded in clear amber contoured to the body form of the Primarch himself. Dorn's skeletal fists are kept within two shrines, the bones intricately engraved with the heraldry o f all the Chapter's previous Masters. Only the Chapter Master has the right to e ngrave his name upon the bones. Each bone corresponds to former commanders. Left hand, the first metacarpal: Lords Bronwin Abermort, Maximus Thane, Kalman Flode nsbog, the first phalanx of the thumb, Ambrosian Spactor, etc.[5] Canon Conflict In the Index Astartes II, Dorn's death is said to have taken place soon after th e disappearance of his brother, Corax.[2] This would put his death not long afte r the Heresy and Great Scouring. However, Dorn is known to have died aboard a De spoiler Class Battleship Chaos ship, the Sword of Sacrilege. The Despoiler class ship wasn't designed until the mid-M36, having originally been a Imperial warsh ip class that fell to Chaos.[8] Whether this is an over-site on the class of war ship, or if Dorn did indeed lead the Imperial Fists for several millennia is unc lear.