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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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After the [[Horus Heresy]], it was decided (in the [[Codex Astartes]] written by the [[Ultramarines]] [[Primarch]] [[Roboute Guilliman]]) that no single man should ever wield the power of a whole [[legion]] of Space Marines alone, and that each legion was to be split up into thousand-man strong chapters. [[Rogal Dorn]] of the [[Imperial Fists]] legion long opposed this, but decided to yield rather than risk the fragile peace of the post-heresy Imperium. The Imperial Fists legion was divided into four chapters: The marines most devoted to their Primarch were to remain Imperial Fists, the most zealous started the never-ending crusade of the [[Black Templars]] and the younger and more level-headed marines formed the Crimson Fists. The first [[Chapter Master]] of the Crimson Fists was [[Alexis Polux]], a hero of the Heresy. The chapter's name derives from the ceremony conducted at the initiation of new chapter masters in the Imperial Fist legion. The Chapter Master and the Primarch would both cut their palm and share blood in a warrior handshake; strengthening the marine with the blood of the Primarch and forming a symbolic bond between them{{Fn|1}}.
The Crimson Fists spent their first nine millennia as a space-faring [[Crusade Chapter]], based aboard the fortress-monastery [[Rutilus Tyrannus]]{{Fn|6}}, much like the [[Black Templars]]. Their first victory was against a large host of [[Exodite]] [[Eldar]] on [[Scourging of Uralek Prime|Uralek Prime]], followed by the cleansing of [[HR8518]], the home [[system]] of an [[Xenos|alien]] race known as the [[Scythians]]{{Fn|1}}. The Chapter fought in the [[War of the Beast]], where they played a pivotal role in bringing the conflict to an end. Though they did not suffer as greatly as the [[Imperial Fists]] during that desperate campaign, the wound went deep enough that the Crimson Fists ever after nonetheless cultivated a burning desire to purge the entire [[Ork]] threat from the starsrace{{Fn|22d}}. During the war, their [[Chapter Master]], [[Quesadra]], was slain and succeeded by [[Cuarrion]]; once the war had ended, the Chapter contributed a portion of their strength to rebuild the Imperial Fists{{Fn|13}}. The largest Crimson Fists operation in more recent times was the [[Voltigern Crusade]] in late M40, where several [[Ork Empire]]s in the [[Loki Sector]] were attacked and destabilized, later to collapse in civil war. For this, the Crimson Fists were granted fiefdom over [[Rynn's World]], a prosperous [[agri world|agri-world]].{{Fn|1}} The ruins of the ''Rutilus Tyrannus'' were moved to Rynn's World and the Fists built their new [[Fortress-Monastery]] around it{{Fn|22a}}.
Their homeworld was [[Invasion of Rynn's World|invaded]] by [[Orks]] in mid-[[M41]]. The Crimson Fists, led by [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] [[Ashor Drakken|Drakken]] of the [[3rd Company (Crimson Fists)|3rd company]] had earlier tried to sabotage an Ork [[Waaagh]] building on the nearby world [[Badlanding]], but failed. The Orks rallied under [[Ork Warlord|Warlord]] [[Snagrod]], the Arch-arsonist of [[Charadon]], and invaded in response, despite the almost suicidal nature of invading a [[Space Marine Homeworld]]. The odds shifted in the Orks' favour when the Crimson Fists [[fortress-monastery]] was destroyed by a stray missile from its own defence system. Of more than six hundred space marines stationed there, only sixteen (among them [[Chapter Master]] [[Pedro Kantor]] and [[Space Marine Captain|Captain]] [[Alessio Cortez|Cortez]]) escaped the blast{{Fn|10}}. Circumstantial evidence, and coincidences have led some to believe the [[Officio Assassinorum]] may have had a hand in the strange destruction of the fortress-monastery, but no concrete evidence has ever come to light{{Fn|4}}.
