During the Dark Age of Technology, scientific research and weapons development were taken to the borders of human comprehension, and beyond. A direct result of such experiments was the creation of the Standard Template Constructs. One of these constructs was the be the genesis of many of the Imperiumīs current tanks, uncluding the Land Raider, Leman Russ and Rogal Dorn battletanks.
After the anarchy following the Dark Age, thousands of years passed, and the Construct was deemed lost for all eternity.
 

 
It was only at the very birth of the Imperium, that STC templates were beginning te re-emerge.
The Technomagus Arkhan Land was the one retrieving the templates for the reverred Land Raider. Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the noble Imperial Fists, requested various Land Raiders for use during sieges they so often had to undertake. Altough the Land Raiders were potent machines of war, the Space Marines quickly became aware of itīs shortcomings in siege warfare.
Once again, Rogal Dorn contacted Technomagus Arkhan, requesting more specialised equipement. It was then that the Techpriests began developing a specialised siege tank, with the aid of field specialist Rogal Dorn. Thus, the Rogal Dorn Battletank was born.
This incredibly huge and lumbering tank combined various Land Raider templates, but introduced additional weapon systems and a greatly reinforced hull. The tank rivalled the mighty Baneblade in size and destructive capabilities.
Aproximately 50 of these tanks were created, before being shipped to the Imperial Fistsīs Fortress Monastery in a small convoy.
 

 
However, it was not to be so.
The fickle Gods of Chaos insnared the Imperial transports into a violent Warp storm. Almost the entire convoy was destroyed, yet one ship survived, containing a single Rogal Dorn tank. It stranded millions of lightyears of-course. It appeared they had entered the backwater Novoradian system. The system was, at the time, plagued by Ork incursions, and the feeble human colonies were no match for the barbaric alien hordes.
The trained crew of the Imperial ship began organising a capable defence agianst the Orks, together with the planetary Lords and leaders of these lost colonies. The remaining battletank was used to great succes during these campaigns. Contact with the Imperium was restored, and freshly recruited Imperial Guard regiments bolstered the Novoradian ranks.
 

 
Thousands of years later, war still rages around the system. As is always the case with the Orks, they were never fully repelled.
Despite the ever present threat of Ork Whaags, The Novoradian system became a flourishing and heavily militarised region. The Novorad military had become specialised in fighting the barbaric Orks.
In all of their campaings, the ancient Rogal Dorn Battletank has seen glorious sevice on the field of battle. The Imperial Fists never reclaimed their Battletank, and it was only after hundreds of years that the Novorads repainted the tank in their own camouflage scheme, replacing that of the bold Imperial Fists.
 

 
One tale tells of the Rogal Dorn Battletank defending an entire city on itīs own against an Ork uprising. The crew had died of damage suffered within the tank, yet the Machine Spirit kept on going. It fired dozens of shells into the Ork horde, preventing them from setting a single footstep into the defenceless hive. When reinforcements finally arrived, the tank was found among piles of Ork cadavers at least ten foot high. It had held over 10.000 Orks at bay, and was the only Imperial Guard unit left on the battlefield.
 

 
During M39, the Rogal Dorn became part of the Novoradian 13th Regiment Armoury. How this came to be, no one can really tell, though it is rumoured that Inquisitors of the Ordo Xenos had a say in the matter.
It were these Inquisitors who decided that a vehicle of such potency was best used where the fighting was thickest. This was certainly the case around the 13th homeworld of Novoburg, where Ork attacks are commonplace. Thus, the tank was deployed amongst the armoured ranks of the 13th.
 

 
The ancient Rogal Dorn Battletank continues to serve to this day, using itīs specialised siege- and defenensive capabilities to full effect against Eldar, Chaos and, most notably, Ork incursions throughout the Novoradian system.