S.O.F. Chapter Master Validan

"By his name, there will be no retreat and there will be no surrender"
"Never have we accepted impossible as an outcome"

The sword and shield are made of a rare and highly durable metal only found on one of Fortis' moons. These two relics have seen countless wars, battles and campaigns and have never needed maintaining nor have they fallen into enemy hands.

Chapter Master of the Swords of Fortis Validan IX, once known as the 'Great Knight'. He bore the Sword and Shield of Fortis, these relics are only ever wielded by the chapter master. Each Chapter Master of the Swords of Fortis will keep the name of the very first Master to keep his honour and memory alive. However, the line of Validan ended with him.

When a gigantic chaos warhost attacked Fortis, it was met with the same fire and steel to be expected of the Emperor's finest. The Swords of Fortis fought all the harder to protect their home but with three quarters of the chapter on Fortis and most of the 1st company deployed in support of the other companies, the warhost's number were too many.

Eventually they were forced to call for aid, the only force able to reach them in time was the Draconis Chapter's 4th company. At a heavy loss to the Draconis 4th they were able to help turn the tide and force the traitors back.

Before the end, Validan IX met the warhost's leader, a mighty Daemon Prince, in single combat. For what seemed like an eternity they battled, eventually the Daemon Prince was slain but at a great loss. After the chaos warband was defeated, Fortis had been laid waste and left in ruin, the chapter's numbers severely depleted and the Chapter Master had been dealt a mortal blow, his armour and the Shield of Fortis shattered.

Though he was tended to by the chapter's best Apothacaries, Validan IX was beyond even interment of the sarcophagus of a Dreadnought. In his final hours he was brought before all remaining Swords of Fortis and Draconis Chapter brothers and broadcast across the stars to those off world.

Validan IX thanked them all for their courage and determination and decreed that the rank of Chapter Master end with him. A warrior he had chosen would take up the Sword of Fortis and become the Knight of Fortis, not their leader but a symbol that the chapter would rally behind and look to for inspiration and guidance. This would also be the new name that the chapter would adopt, from then on they became a crusading chapter.

Rebuilding their severely depleted numbers would be an immense undertaking and without a homeworld, an impossible task.
On Draconis, the Chapter Master Vaan knew that to potentially lose an entire Astartes chapter was too great and so offered to the Knights of Fortis a sector of Draconis from where they could rebuild, and eventually find themselves a new home. It was a rare offer but one that the Knights of Fortis humbly accepted.

Now the 1st Company often fight as a single force, travelling the galaxy on many crusades. The rest of the chapter are usually seen fighting alongside their Draconis brothers in small detachments and slowly are growing in number to make the Knights of Fortis a whole chapter once again.

This model is one of my favorites, using the emperor's champion as a base model and new chest armor sculpted to make him more ornate as befits a chapter master.