The most important of all is the Day of Foundation, which honours the Second Founding. The Feast of Blades is not the only festival shared by the Imperial Fists and their successors several other sacred days are maintained each century. It is only on very rare occasions that either combatant is mortally wounded. This duel is highly ritualised and fiercely fought, and typically continues until one of the competitors pierces one of his opponent`s two hearts.
By ancient tradition, the festival culminates with a duel between the two strongest competitors, using only swords, for the honour of their respective Chapters. When the sons of Dorn meet, each Chapter selects a Champion, who then compete amongst themselves is feast of strength, endurance and martial skill. This event is usually held every hundred years, though additional feasts have been arranged to celebrate certain great Imperial triumphs or in advance of a particularly large campaign. United by blood and the honour of their mutual Primarch, the Imperial Fists and their successor chapters form a tightly knit brotherhood, one that is strengthened during the Feast of Blades. Together the manifold ranks of the sons of Rogal Dorn have been instrumental in holding together the Imperium through the very bleakest of times. Even those successors who were founded relatively recently – such as the Iron Fists, the Invaders and the Hammers of Dorn – have already amasses a wealth of battle-honours to rival those of the most ancient Chapters, proudly upholding the legacy of their revered Primarch. Many of these Successor Chapters – the Crimson Fists, the Black Templars, the Executioners, the Hammers of Dorn and the Iron Knights foremost amongst them – have long and illustrious histories that are steeped in nearly as much glory and honour as the Imperial Fists themselves.
In the millennia since the Horus Heresy, dozens of Space Marine Chapters have been founded from the gene-seed of the imperial Fists, perhaps more than from any other Legion other than Ultramarines.
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