Iron Hearts Chapter: Background and Organization 

 

Background

 

(Re)Founding date: 001.M42

 

Motto:

Corde Fideli - Ferrum Aeternum (High Gothic) 

Faithful Hearts - Iron Eternal (Low Gothic) 

 

Chapter Colors: Royal Blue and Gold 

 

Chapter Symbol: White Crux Botany on Royal Blue field 

 

Formation 

 

The Iron Hearts Chapter is an Ultima Founding chapter of the Imperial Fists gene-line. The chapter was established at the outset of the Indomitus Crusade, based on the incorrect assumption that its namesake chapter, the Iron Hearts, had been wiped out in the Mimesis Incident. 

 

The Iron Hearts are largely composed of recruits from Inwit and Necromunda who were enrolled toward the end of the Horus Heresy and kept in stasis as part of the Primaris project. These recruits were trained exclusively together throughout the project. Based on their repeated success as teams in training and the cohesive culture they began to develop, they were formed into an Ultima Founding chapter rather than being committed to the Unnumbered Sons. Given the original Iron Hearts’ close connection with the Adeptus Mechanicus, and their reputation for stoic tenacity in battle, the Primaris project cadre thought the continuation of the lost chapter’s name in the formation of this new chapter to be appropriate. 

 

The Iron Hearts were established with the oversight of a corps of Excoriators cadre, composed of a small band of veterans and led by then-Seventh Company Captain Ezekiah Tiberias. Having recently arrived at Terra around the beginning of the Indomitus Crusade seeking assistance for the Adeptus Praeses in guarding the Eye of Terror following the grievous losses sustained by many of the Praeses chapters, Tiberias and his veterans were selected to lead, train, and develop the newly formed Iron Hearts. Lord Guilliman attached Tiberias, his veterans, and their new charges to Fleet Secundus and ultimately assigned them to Battle Group Novaris. At the surface level, the Iron Hearts’ assignment to Fleet Secundus and direction to the Eye makes perfect sense. The depleted Adeptus Praeses were desperately in need of reinforcements, and an entire new chapter of Primaris marines provided needed immediate relief, along with Primaris geneseed for the Excoriators to begin their own rebuilding. After the Chapter’s reunion with the remnants of its namesake and discovery of their new recruiting world of Ilium, however, many have come to speculate that their assignment relates to the Mimesis Disaster and the Chapter’s close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus. 

 

At the beginning of the Indomitus Crusade, Tiberias’s veterans served as the officers of each Iron Hearts company. The Iron Hearts also frequently fought alongside the Black Templars in the initial stages of the Indomitus Crusade, leading to many Iron Hearts adopting their mentors’ ferocious capacity in close combat and staunch faith in the God-Emperor. 

 

Eventually, over the course of Fleet Secundus’s travels, multiple Iron Hearts commended themselves on the fields of battle and achieved promotion to veteran and officer status. Brother-Captain Cyrus Vakarian, currently the commander of the Second Company, has perhaps stood even above his peers in his displays of tactical and strategic acumen, as well as battlefield prowess. As a Sergeant, he led a small group of Iron Hearts through an extended ground campaign against Necron forces on the death world of Buliea early in the Crusade, salvaging victory from an initial ambush that saw Castellan Ryker Ulbrecht of the Black Templars, the force’s original commander, killed. Captain Vakarian bore Ulbrecht’s relic power sword, Purgator Malus, and used the blade to destroy several plinths the Necrons had been attempting to install. Marshal Heinrich Davost, the Black Templars’ leader in Battle Group Novaris, commended then-Sergeant Vakarian and the survivors and gifted Vakarian with Ulbrecht’s blade in recognition of his deeds. Following this event, Chapter Master Tiberias promoted Sergeant Vakarian and the remaining survivors to chapter veterancy, with now-Veteran Sergeant Vakarian leading a veteran kill team during the remaining course of the crusade. Eventually, Veteran Sergeant Vakarian was promoted to Lieutenant (“Brother-Adjutant,” to the Iron Hearts) and finally to command of the Second Company shortly before Battle Group Novaris reached the Eye. Of the band of Astartes who survived the Buliean campaign alongside Vakarian, most now serve in his company command squad or as veteran sergeants in the Second Company. 

 

Upon reaching the Eye of Terror, the Iron Hearts and Battle Group Novaris relieved Imperial forces around the Agripinaan Sector. Eventually, the Iron Hearts discovered the agri-world of Ilium, and were tasked to cleanse it of infestation by hordes of demonic entities and heretic Astartes of the Death Guard. After cleansing Ilium, Chapter Master Tiberias was provided with orders from the commander of Battle Group Novaris and the attendant Adeptus Custodes to establish Ilium as a recruiting world for the Iron Hearts and, eventually, their chapter homeworld, following its eventual full restoration. 

 

Unknown to the Adeptus Ministorum (but presumably known to the Mechanicus) at the time of the Chapter’s refounding, the original Iron Hearts chapter had not been completely wiped out. Captain Julius Christus and a crusade force composed largely of his Third Company survived the demonic invasion that resulted from the failure of the Mimesis Engine. 

 

The Iron Hearts fortuitously met Captain Christus and his company shortly after the retaking of Ilium. This caused some level of concern among the current chapter’s leadership. Chapter Master Tiberias, especially, raised concerns of the potential taint of heresy due to the original Iron Hearts’ involvement with the Mimesis Engine. The chapter leadership—now consisting of both Excoriators veterans and promoted Primaris officers—debated the issue in secrecy. Captain Christus’s detailed explanations of the Memesis Engine’s use as a training tool helped allay Tiberias’s concerns, as did his explanations of Adeptus Mechanicus involvement in the project. Eventually, with the agreement of the chapter’s senior officers, Chapter Master Tiberias welcomed Captain Christus and his men into the reformed Iron Hearts chapter as the commander of the First Company and a new cohort of First Company veterans. The details of the Mimesis Incident, although not explicitly secret, are generally kept within the confines of the Steel Sworn, the Iron Hearts’ inner circle of veterans.

 

The Iron Hearts began to formally detach from Fleet Secundus after establishing an outpost and recruiting base on Ilium. Not long thereafter, Chapter Master Tiberias ceded his role to First Captain Christus, making him the Iron Hearts’ next Chapter Master. Tiberias and his veterans returned to their homeworld of Eschara with Primaris technology and geneseed, accompanied by a small delegation of Iron Hearts to formally solidify ties between the two chapters and fully induct the Iron Hearts into the Adeptus Praeses. 

 

As the Iron Hearts began to take up this role, they remained a primarily crusading chapter due to Ilium’s lack of a fortress monastery. Several Iron Hearts companies were dispatched to other conflicts and areas of need, such as Brother-Captain Vakarian’s Second Company and Brother-Captain Seidrand’s Fifth Company. The Second Company and elements of the Tenth Company formed Strike Force Accipitus to assist Battle Group Tarsus of Fleet Primus in the Crusade’s efforts to liberate the Charadon Sector. Strike Force Accipitus fought valiantly in the Chromyd System to defend Imperial holdings and relieve Metalican forces there. Whether the Iron Hearts were meant to achieve some more secretive goal assisting Metalica is not known outside the Chapter’s inner circle, although the chapter’s continued close association with the Mechanicus has raised questions about Strike Force Accipitus’s role so far from the Agripinaa Sector and Segmentum Obscurus. 

 

The Iron Hearts did not maintain a traditional First Company at the outset of the Indomitus Crusade. Because of their recent Ultima Founding status, they had no internal veterans at the time. Rather, Excoriators cadre fulfilled the veterans’ role in the Chapter initially, and the Iron Hearts were frequently assigned missions in Battle Group Novaris alongside Black Templars from Marshal Davost’s crusade. As the Chapter proceeded throughout the Indomitus Crusade, rather than form a traditional first company, those units with exceptional combat experience tended to remain with their companies and act as company veterans. Still, all veterans were inducted as “Steel Sworn” by Excoriators veterans and Black Templar Sword Brethren with whom they served to form the Chapter’s future leadership core. This fortuitously allowed Captain Christus’s forces to form a traditional First Company of true veterans without disturbing the Chapter’s overall structure, command, and organization. 

 

Many of Christus’s veterans chose to cross the Rubicon Primaris, although they retained their traditional methods of warfare. Also of great benefit to the Chapter, Captain Christus’s forces brought with them thirty suits of Terminator armor, many of which were functional, if in dire need of repair. While the majority of these precious relics remain in use by the newly formed First Company, some have been repaired and gifted to particularly capable officers and company veterans in the line companies. 

 

Notably, the Chapter’s relief of Ilium did not go without notice among the Steel Sworn. Captain Christus, upon learning of the Chapter’s new recruiting world, informed the inner circle that “Ilium” had been a primary training world the original Iron Hearts had accessed through the Memesis Engine. While the full details of the Memesis Incident remain obscured even to Christus, the Chapter has been able to learn that the training world of Ilium was being accessed when the Chapter’s stronghold was overrun and destroyed by Khornate demons. Curiously, the true world of Ilium–close to the borders of the Eye of Terror–was overrun by Khornate and Nurgle demons when the Iron Hearts began their campaign of liberation. What exact connection their new homeworld has to the Memesis Incident, the Chapter’s inner circle remains unable to determine (or, perhaps, simply does not share with outsiders). 

 

The Iron Hearts have developed many unique traditions over the course of their formation and early years on crusade. Unsurprisingly, they adopted many from the Excoriators and the Black Templars. It is not uncommon for Iron Hearts to revere the Emperor as a god and adhere to elements of the Imperial Creed, or at least to hold the Emperor in higher esteem than many Space Marine chapters do. The chapter also exhibits much of the stubborn and aggressive nature of its mentors, although they do not lack for ability to defend a fortified position, in true Imperial Fist fashion. The Iron Hearts employ the position of a Chapter Marshal, a temporary position given to a company captain or unattached captain who takes overall command of a crusade force. They also refer to their Lieutenants as “Adjutants” or Brother-Adjutant. 

 

Iron Hearts veterans are inducted into the Steel Sworn, an inner circle of sorts that directs the Chapter’s overall orthodoxy, training methods, and promotional decisions. All veterans are members of the Steel Sworn, regardless of whether they are members of the First Company or company veterans. Only members of the Steel Sworn may wear iron trim on their pauldrons, although company veterans tend to continue to wear their company trim. The battle companies wear variations of metal trims. The reserve companies wear no trim, their members having not yet earned full status to the brotherhood of a battle company. 

 

Timeline of Iron Hearts Chapter Relevant Dates

 

999.M41: 13th Black Crusade / Destruction of Cadia / Noctus Aeterna 

001.M42: Indomitus Crusade begins / Iron Hearts founded 

003.M42: Iron Hearts task force suffers grievous losses on the Buliean campaign 

009.M42: Iron Hearts relieve and cleanse Ilium and establish a recruiting outpost 

010.M42: Captain Christus’s survivors establish contact with the new Iron Hearts Chapter

012.M42: Indomitus Crusade first stage concludes

018.M42 (est.): Strike Force Accipitus fights in the Charadon Campaign at Chromyd 

023.M42: Strike Force Accipitus cleanses Tabor of Tyranids in the Fourth Tyrannic War 

 

Organization 

 

Chapter Command: 

Chapter Master: Julius Christus (previously Ezekiah Tiberias) 

Chapter Marshal: vacant 

Master of Sanctity: 

Chief Librarian: 

Chief Apothecary: 

Master of the Forge: 

Honor Guard: 

Color: Iron/Steel or original Black Templars colors 

 

First Company: 

Veteran company 

Color: Iron/Steel 

Captain: ___________ 

Composed of veterans of the original Iron Hearts Chapter and newly promoted Primaris Iron Hearts veterans 

 

Second Company: 

Battle company 

Color: Gold 

Captain: Cyrus Vakarian 

 

Third Company: 

Battle Company 

Color: Bronze

Captain: _______

 

Fourth Company: 

Battle Company 

Color: Copper 

Captain: _______

 

Fifth Company: 

Battle Company

Color: Brass 

Captain: Toreus Siedrand 

 

Sixth Company 

Reserve Battleline Company 

Color: none (standard chapter royal blue) 

Captain: _______

 

Seventh Company 

Reserve Battleline Company 

Color: none (standard chapter royal blue) 

Captain: _______

 

Eighth Company 

Reserve Close Support Company 

Color: none (standard chapter royal blue) 

Captain: _______

 

Ninth Company 

Reserve Fire Support Company 

Color: none (standard chapter royal blue) 

Captain: _______

 

Tenth Company 

Scout Company 

Color: none (standard chapter royal blue) 

Captain: _______

 

Out-of-Universe Thoughts

 

The Iron Hearts originally came from an idea for my own successor chapter that I'd long wanted to build, and finally had the opportunity to begin working on when I got back into 40K at the start of 9th Edition. Thanks to some great insights into classic lore from several posters (especially Kurgan), I was pointed to the old Iron Hearts from the Hell in a Bottle short story. I've attempted to blend my new Ultima Founding chapter with the crazy (and fun, if limited) history of the original Iron Hearts. Hopefully it works. I may decide it doesn't fully work and come back to revise it. I've already retconned some of the Iron Hearts' history once; there are significant changes from the original background post in my Astartes subforum thread that I wanted to implement to try to make the Iron Hearts seem more an organic part of the Indomitus Crusade and modern 40K setting, rather than just a set of common wish-list items for player-created successor chapters. And, as the reader can no doubt see, many positions and stories remain for me to fill in as the Iron Hearts grow and develop.

 

Edited to add: also, much of the background above is meant to reflect actual outcomes of crusade campaigns the Iron Hearts have engaged in out in the real world since I've started this project. My hope is to continue to grow them through actual gameplay and crusade roster development.