Editing Sigismund (section)

===Early Life and the Great Crusade===
Sigismund was born in the slums of Terra during the Unification Wars and orphaned at an early age. He joined up with a crew of other orphans, helping to steal food and supplies for them. He and his friend Thera ultimately ran afoul of a rival orphan gang, the Corpse Kings, who came to their hideout with the intention of wiping them all out. Thera was killed fighting the Corpse Kings, and Sigismund grabbed her weapon and prepared to make a last stand. He defeated several of the Corpse Kings but was about to be overwhelmed when the Legiones Astartes came calling for new recruits. Hilariously enough, he was originally picked up by the [[Night Lords|VIII Legion]], but the genetic testing revealed that he was more compatible with the [[Imperial Fists|VII]], [[World Eaters|XII]], [[Black Legion|XVI]], and [[Raven Guard|XIX]] Legions, in that order. No wonder he liked hanging out with the World Eaters.

After his induction into the Imperial Fists, he fought alongside the Night Lords in his first action as a Space Marine, which made him relieved that he hadn't wound up in that legion. He was later selected to join the [[Templar Brethren]], becoming one of the youngest Astartes ever inducted into that elite brotherhood, after training with the weapon master Appius. During his training, Appius asked Sigismund what his reason for fighting was. Sigismund thought back to the friends he'd left behind on Terra, and answered that his purpose in fighting was to protect those who could not protect themselves. While he was a lieutenant, Rogal Dorn made him his personal champion after the end of a joint campaign between the Imperial Fists and the Iron Hands. Dorn and Ferrus Manus had disagreed about the proper way to conduct the campaign, and decided to settle their argument with a duel between their chosen sons. Sigismund kicked the shit out of the Iron Hands champion and was ready to kill him if needed, until Ferrus finally ordered his champion to yield before doing his best Perturabo impression and storming out to go polish his hands. Sigismund later became First Captain after a grueling ritual in which he fought and defeated 200(!) other Templars one after the other, with number 200 being Appius, now interred within a Contemptor Dreadnought. He became known for his skill and hotheadedness - and his unparalleled asskickery. Much like Ahmed Ibn Fadlan in the movie "13th Warrior", Sigismund later went on to spend a great deal of time with the [[World Eaters]], more than he did with his own legion (even being duelling buddies with [[Kharn]], proof that the latter was always a swell guy), and began to take on their ways. For example, he took to using heavy, dense black chains to shackle his weapon to his arm so that he could never drop it. Yep, that's right, the [[Black Templars]] got this tradition from a Traitor Legion! Siggy wisely took that little detail with him right to the grave, lest the Templars suffer a crisis of faith regarding their aesthetic. As it turned out, the reason Sigismund went to live with them was to see if there was anything worthwhile in the way the World Eaters were doing things and as a possible way to forge closer bonds between them and the VII Legion, in the hopes of tempering the XII's rage and butchery.

Interestingly, Sigismund always vaguely resented having been made into a Space Marine, probably because he'd been forced to abandon his friends on Terra, and once admitted to the remembrancer Solomon Voss that if he'd known as a child what he would become when the Night Lords took him away, he'd have refused the chance. He was also a pessimist at heart, believing that there would be nothing but war in humanity's future even if the Imperium successfully pacified the galaxy, because conflict was an inescapable part of human nature. Unfortunately, he was proven extremely right.