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SCRIBE IDENT: Scriptorum Helot Zangrene
CLASSIFICATION: NONE
It has been one hundred and thirty two years since the arrival of the Primaris gene-seed to our chapter from the messengers of the blessed Lord Guilliman, and one hundred twenty eight since the invasion of the accursed servants of the dark gods. I am blessed to have never seen the traitors who dared despoil our world with my own eyes, yet the echoes of their vile work still linger. The successful defensive campaign is now known to those within the chapter as the Trial of Resolve, and is believed to be the sign that the chapter was worthy to recieve the Primaris gene-seed.
When the Great Rift opened and the minions of the Dark Gods issued forth, the forge world of Velarus, whose forges are said to have never gone dark in ten thousand years, was assaulted by the behest of the Despoiler. Charged with the defense of the sacred manufactorus above all other vows, the Adeptus Astartes of the Granite Fists met the servants of the Great Enemy in battle. Millions of lives were spent to hold the planet, but none so precious as those given by the Granite Fists. Nearly two thirds of the entire chapter were rendered combat ineffective by the campaign's conclusion, with more than half of the survivors being counted among the reinforcing fleets responsible for ending the naval confrontation above the planet. The gifts of Cawl were still being deciphered when the planet fell under siege. Faced with a critical reduction in fighting strength, chapter master Attorum had no choice but to enact the Rubicon Primaris en masse on those whose injuries would have otherwise relegated them away from the front lines. Of the two hundred and eighty six brethren who undertook the journey, one hundred and eighteen did not survive. A further fifty seven were entombed within Dreadnought sarcophagi, their slumber haunted by battles of which many do not yet know resolution.
In total, five hundred and forty six Granite Fists were consigned to the Emperor during the Trial of Resolve. The standing force of the chapter numbered a scant two hundred and eighty nine warriors on the day the Trial was declared complete.
With great foresight, Attorum sent more than a score of the Velarus survivors to Mars even before the Rubicon Primaris surgeries had completed. Though the chapter has always had a substantial contingent of dreadnoughts, the heartbreaking influx of bretheren reduced to a semi-existence during the Trial risked overwhelming the chapter's Techmarine contingent. They returned from their time with the servants of the Machine God with greater understanding of the war machines bestowed upon the chapter by Cawl, and began bending the machine spirits of the planet's manufactorums to their large-scale production.
Likewise were the ranks of the Apothecarium strengthened, though by hardship rather than by choice. So numerous were the concurrent Rubicon Primaris surgeries that the chapter had no choice but to conscript healthy survivors to assist in the delicate procedures. The knowledge gained in saving so many of their brethren was immediately put to use in reinforcement of the chapter. Over the last century the chapter's strength has been renewed by the abundance of the Primaris gene-seed and aggressive recruitment from the surrounding systems. Those worlds nearest Velarus know that should the Granite Fists have failed in their duty, their worlds would surely be plundered and ravaged by opportunistic traitors and xenos, and have given their finest recruits over to the chapter's apothecarium.
Over the subsequent decades the chapter's might has been restored. The Primaris brethren now account for the majority of the chapter, led by the survivors of the Trial who have crossed the Rubicon Primaris. Though the surgery could never be called routine, the wisdom of the Apothecarium has grown and many of the Firstborn have volunarity crossed in the time since the Trial. The forges of Velarus now roar and howl in their labors to replicate the works of the Arch-Magus, their surplus given over to chapters in nearby systems or to passing Adeptus Astartes fleets.
With the chapter's strength finally rising above the essential level necessary to defend their charge, a handful of crusade fleets have been dispatched to reinforce the systems surrounding Velarus, lest the Great Enemy gain a foothold from which to strike at the Granite Fists again.
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