Long before the term came to define an entire successor Chapter, Templar Brethren existed within the Imperial Fists as companies of warriors who bound themselves to a commanding officer through vows more personal and absolute than standard Legion discipline required. These oaths transformed ordinary battlefield loyalty into something closer to religious devotion, each Templar swearing to stand beside his chosen leader through any circumstance and to accept no retreat that leader had not himself sanctioned.
On campaign, Templar Brethren were deployed as a commander's most trusted instrument, the warriors he could commit to the single most dangerous sector of a siege or assault with total confidence that they would neither break nor exceed their orders through recklessness. Their fervor set them apart even within a Legion already known for discipline, a foreshadowing of the crusading zeal that Sigismund and his spiritual heirs would one day carry to its fullest expression.
Order of battle
