Index Astartes: Iron Snakes

[BrotherAtrox]

SONS OF ITHAKA

 

So I'm not actually sure this in the right place, but there had been some brief chatter about an IA for the Snakes, and as a huge fan of the chapter I have taken it upon myself to start the discussion! Just for fun, Chapter Song: Rhyme Of The Ancient Mariner - Iron Maiden. Not really sure what to do for homegrown rules? Perhaps allowing 2 special weapons or 2 heavy weapons per tac squad, but certainly not both. Notables = Veterans? Also an apothecary in each squad. Really looking for a lot of input there as I have no experience with homegrown rules.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y275/BVBFanatic/IronSnake2.jpg

Fear not the Snake for his guile, nor his silence,

Fear him for his speed at striking,

The clenching strength of his coils,

The armour of his scales,

And the sharpness of his bite.

Fear the Snake, oh enemies of Man,

For his coils encircle us, And his bright eyes, unblinking,

Watch over us forever.

-From The Lays of Proud Ithaka

 

Origins & History: Not much is known of the Snakes' history. They are a Second Founding chapter of unknown geneseed, and their main task is to protect the Reef Worlds consisting of: Iorgu, Baal Solock, Ithaka, Eidon, and many others. This region is particularly affected by Dark Eldar, who are named Primuls by the people of the Reef Worlds. Orks and Chaos are also frequent enemies.

 

In recent times, under the leadership of Chapter Master Seydon, the Iron Snakes have made their appearances at some rather famous battles, apart from their more minor engagements in the Reef Worlds. The Chapter contributed three companies towards the Sabbat Worlds Crusade, commanded by Brother-Captain Cules. Amongst the battles fought in that Crusade were: the relief of the Imperial Guard on Ambold Eleven, where the Iron Snakes lost only eight marines in a campaign that cost the forces of Chaos twenty-nine thousand casualties, the assault on Pelbury Civitas, the cleansing of the daemon-infested Fornax Aleph, the support of the final extermination of the Zoican horde on Verghast and, of course, the destruction of the mechanised mutant army of Presarius. They also deployed five companies to fight before the Cadian Gate during the 13th Black Crusade.

 

Beliefs: The Iron Snakes are a somewhat ritualistic chapter. They have many official, and some unofficial practices that separate them from their fellow Astartes. Perhaps that of most significant is the Rite of the Sharing of Water. Before and after an engagement the Apothecaries will administer a few drops of the water of the Homeworld's vast oceans to annoint the armor of their squad mates and the squad's banner. Words from the Lays of Proud Ithaka or perhaps the Codex Astartes are also typically spoken. The water is kept in a brass-like tube in the Apothecary's leg compartment.

 

This practice is paired with a much more sombre one: the Rite of Returning. When a marine falls his progenoid glands are removed, and he is cremated. His ashes are kept in an urn until his squad leader can return to Ithaka. There his ashes are deposited into the sea and the Lament of Dyyse is recited; it is considered a very good omen if a wyrm makes an appearance during this ceremony.

 

Of extreme controversy is a rite known as the Trench Offering. A marine takes a small item of significance and dives to the bottom of the sea trench to place it there amongst many other "offerings" given up to the sea this way. The trench is located just of the coast of an isthmus on Ithaka whose location is only known to the Chapter. It is considered favorable luck to be bitten by a snake, especially since Iron Snakes have fully-functioning Betcher's glands.

 

Organization: The Iron Snakes do indeed diverge from the Codex Astartes, although in a unique way. While there is no evidence to suggest that they maintain more than the generally accepted 1,000 Battle Brothers, it is apparent that their method of inducting new blood could possibly skew their numbers. The Iron Snakes refer to new recruits as Petitioners. They are put through multiples test that are as rigorous as any chapter's, including the infamous "Cheese Run" - however Petitioners do not seem to be fielded in battle. The Snakes keep them in a state or perpetual training until they are accepted to fill the role of a fallen brother, at which point they are hand-picked by the leader of the squad. This decision is checked by the Lexicanum and sometimes the Chapter Master himself likely to ensure fair decisions.

 

Before they can make the leap from human to superhuman, they must first slay one of Ithaka's wyrms. The Petitioners take to the sea with lance in hand in an attempt to kill one of these creatures. This process results in many marines displaying trophies of their kills, such as wyrmscale cloaks or wyrm teeth. Although they do not take the form of a combat unit, it can be assumed that in a time of need or under special circumstances Petitioners would be formed into squads to be used in field operations.

 

Another strange trait of the Snakes is their organization of Companies. A squad is not given a number, but instead named after the squad's elder and founder. Each squad will also possess an artifact from that hero, in the case of Damocles - a lightning claw. When one of the Chapter's captains goes to war, any squads deemed fit by their squad leader will put their name in "ballot-box" of sorts to signify they are ready for war. The captain and chapter master then draw as many squads as needed and that will form the "company" for that engagement. 4-6 Squads is the most common amount for engagements in the Reef Worlds. If 50 brothers are needed, 20 squads might cast their names to be chosen for combat, but only 5 will be taken. Squads with a rich history and famous for their skill in battle are referred to as Notables. Currently there are five Notable squads: Skypio, Veii, Parthus, Thebes, and Damocles. Parthus was wholly destroyed at Ganahedrak by the Ork horde, but has likely been reformed. Their Notable status would be more tentative, however.

 

Homeworld:

The Iron Snakes hail from the planet of Ithaka. It is an ocean world, it's surface being roughly 90% water. It's main inhabitants are the sea wyrms. They range from small youths, to 300m long bull-wyrms named Kraretyer. The Iron Snakes Fortress-Monastery is located on Karybdis, a moon of Ithaka.

 

Geneseed: Their geneseed is reported as being pure with no degradations or mutations. They possess all 19 implants, each fully-functioning. It is rumored by some that with the ability of Priad and Khiron to "sense" a Chaos demon indicates that Iron Snakes might be "warp-attuned". There is no other evidence for this, though.

 

Combat Doctrine: The ad hoc organization of the "battle companies" can modify how any Iron Snake force fights. Marines switch out weapons for whatever the tactical role may be. When marching into a close combat situation, the marines will carry combat shields and a lance. When the lance breaks or becomes lodged in an enemy, they switch to either their standard combat knife, or boltgun. In "target rich environments" flamers will be assigned to marines even when an assault weapon is already present in the squad. This is a somewhat necessary divergence as the apparent lack of specialist units would suggest that each squad has to be prepared to fill any role the chapter requires.

 

Battle Cry:

Varies, but generally referring to Ithaka and/or the Emperor.

 

Using An Iron Snakes Army:

Traits - Trust Your Battle Brother, Suffer Not The Alien To Live (Dark Eldar), possibly Purity Above All?

 

Sources: (A bit of confusion here, some of the information not present in Brothers Of The Snake is reported to be in issues 46 of Inferno and 30 of Warhammer monthly. I do not possess either, so some help would be appreciated.)

*Brothers Of The Snake

*Inferno (#46 and others?)

*Insignium Astartes

*Tactica Imperialis

*Space Marine Hobby Compendium

*The Sabbat Worlds Crusade

*Warhammer Monthly #30

Edited December 9, 2007 by BrotherAtrox

[Tyrannicide]

Nicely Written IA BrotherAtrox! It is crisp and to-the-point. I suggest changing the title "Sons of Ithaka" to a darker shade of blue , to ease it up on the eyes. Also I wouldn't call the group of brothers who join together for the reaction forces a "Company". It may still confuse people who haven't read Brothers of the Snake. Overall nice little description on the Iron Snakes.

[BrotherAtrox]

Nicely Written IA BrotherAtrox! It is crisp and to-the-point. I suggest changing the title "Sons of Ithaka" to a darker shade of blue , to ease it up on the eyes. Also I wouldn't call the group of brothers who join together for the reaction forces a "Company". It may still confuse people who haven't read Brothers of the Snake. Overall nice little description on the Iron Snakes.

True...true...but whats else would could we call them? Joint Task Force? :D

[Tyrannicide]

Sure, idk :D Have to work on that one.

[Ignatius]

If they are a second founding chapter it's more than likely that their geneseed would be known, or you would have though, I like Dan Abnet but some times his grasp on the back ground is erksome! Wans't i rumoured that they hail from the Iorn Hands?

 

Nice back ground anyway.

 

I

[BrotherAtrox]

If they are a second founding chapter it's more than likely that their geneseed would be known, or you would have though, I like Dan Abnet but some times his grasp on the back ground is erksome! Wans't i rumoured that they hail from the Iorn Hands?

From what research I've done, general consensus is that (before Abnett wrote the book) the Snakes were reported as having Ultramarine geneseed - big surprise there. However Abnett pretty much owns the chapter now and he's stated on his blog the he and GW haven't decided on who the Progenitor legion will be.

Edited December 10, 2007 by BrotherAtrox

[Outlaw_Torn]

Great source os Iron Snakes fluff here :

http://forum.blacklibrary.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14150

[BrotherAtrox]

Great source os Iron Snakes fluff here :

http://forum.blacklibrary.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14150

 

Yup. That was one of the first links I went to. So uhm...what comes next with this IA thing? I still have no ideas about what do with the Homegrown rules.

Edited December 18, 2007 by BrotherAtrox

[Tantum]

NOTE: Spoilers included...

 

Uhm i have a question...about the water ritual thingy....didnt PRIAD perfom it ??? during the first mission...when he landed and stuf...cause if its true...than the apothecary line will be incorrect...

 

Also...i get the feeling that Iron Snakes are like "super" tactical marines....Meaning that almost the entire chapter consist out of "tac" squads but tooled up to face down anything, anywhere...maybe you can give some rules about that....Like not being able to take devastator squads or limiting etc but being able to take more special weapons...Close combat weapons....and of course allowing every squad to take a apothecary....or forcing them to take one....

 

AND they are very very down to earth / smart / reliant cause PRIAD...as a single marine...cleansed an entire planet of the Dark Ones....i thought there was a rule about not having to take a leadership test when you got like 1 guy left or something...

 

Field them like Navy Seals/ commandos / etc, cause that was the feeling i get when the Iron Snakes kick in and start killing...

And in larger engagements with the "battline/300/spartans" kind a feel

 

Ohw by the way...in the book...there was a captain who said they could field a 100 squads if they need to...and than the libbie said that they would have a 1000 dead heroes....so they got numbers like most chapters do....

 

 

 

P.S Of ALL the chapters that were ever invented...i like the Iron Snakes the most...Cause they ROCK....when you read the book about them...you get the feeling that they ARE space marines.....not unlike some other novels where they just showcase an incredible toughness or special attributes...but when you read about the Iron Snakes, you can see that they are SUPER human but still human in the sense...there is a limit in what they can do about a human body and not make it near invincable...

 

Like the fact that a member MIGHT retire because he suffered a DAMN good beating resulting that he might not be able to fight normal anymore...even thoughthe beating would have killed a normal human at least 3 times over ...

 

Dan Abnett ROCKS !!!

[Leonaides]

SONS OF ITHAKA

 

 

Origins & History: Orks and Chaos are also frequent enemies. - orks weren't frequent enemies, they had to read up on them from Ultramarine battlefield reports, not sure about chaos

 

Beliefs: The Iron Snakes are a somewhat ritualistic chapter. They have many official, and some unofficial practices that separate them from their fellow Astartes. Perhaps that of most significant is the Rite of the Sharing of Water. Before and after an engagement the Apothecaries will administer a few drops of the water of the Homeworld's vast oceans to annoint the armor of their squad mates and the squad's banner. Words from the Lays of Proud Ithaka or perhaps the Codex Astartes are also typically spoken. The water is kept in a brass-like tube in the Apothecary's leg compartment. - Not just the apothecaries, it appears that other marines have such canisters too, though only 1 marine in teh squad does it.Also, note that Priad uses his tears when he's returning in a thunderhawk to Ithaka for the first time in a decade

 

Of extreme controversy is a rite known as the Trench Offering. A marine takes a small item of significance and dives to the bottom of the sea trench to place it there amongst many other "offerings" given up to the sea this way. - Currently 'officially' banned due to the deaths of c. 37 marines and aspirants It is considered favorable luck to be bitten by a snake, especially since Iron Snakes have fully-functioning Betcher's glands. - The gland isn't fully functional, otherwise they would be able to synthesise poison without a snakebite

 

Parthus was wholly destroyed at Ganahedrak by the Ork horde, but has likely been reformed. Their Notable status would be more tentative, however. - Parthus has been reformed

 

Geneseed: Their geneseed is reported as being pure with no degradations or mutations. They possess all 19 implants, each fully-functioning. It is rumored by some that with the ability of Priad and Khiron to "sense" a Chaos demon indicates that Iron Snakes might be "warp-attuned". There is no other evidence for this, though. - Both seemed to have suffered damage to their olfactory centres at the time, so I would suggest ti was more likely that the daemon was somehow influencing the minds of the other marines to disguise the smell, whereas with these two, a physical damage resulted in them not being affected. As it was only those two, and none of the Librarians!, I doubt there is any warp-attuning. Also, see above commetn about the betches gland not functioning properly

 

Just a few things that stood out to me upon reading. Otherwise, a good piece. Congrats...

(edit - cant get the italics right, I'm a fool)

Edited June 6, 2008 by Leonaides

[Brother Karr]

I know they are an Ultramarine Chapter, but they sound more like they would have loyalties or ties to the Salamanders. The wearing of Pelts from great Wyrms (Salamanders) Passing down of Equipment. The rituals, but I don't remember if the salamanders where a stable Geneseed.

 

Plus its kind of a cool Idea to think of them as the Water Side of the Elemental Salamanders.

 

FIRE = Salamanders

WATER = Iron Snakes

EARTH =

WIND =

 

 

I am honestly Interested in them after reading the Fluff, have to get the book and sit down with it a bit more. Loved the Storeis in INFERNO and Monthly a few years back.

[Tantum]

I know they are an Ultramarine Chapter, but they sound more like they would have loyalties or ties to the Salamanders. The wearing of Pelts from great Wyrms (Salamanders) Passing down of Equipment. The rituals, but I don't remember if the salamanders where a stable Geneseed.

 

Plus its kind of a cool Idea to think of them as the Water Side of the Elemental Salamanders.

 

FIRE = Salamanders

WATER = Iron Snakes

EARTH =

WIND =

 

 

I am honestly Interested in them after reading the Fluff, have to get the book and sit down with it a bit more. Loved the Storeis in INFERNO and Monthly a few years back.

 

 

The Salamanders are stable, they are just a tad slower than other marines...but are considerable stronger/ bigger because of where they life...( note this is not represented in the game...)

 

Earth element....how about the Dragon thing chapter....and the storm giants...arent they from the Salamander line too ?

[Brother Karr]

After reading this fluff again I am now thinking I will take the new army of marines I am building and make Iron Snakes out of them. I think it would be cool to do them on Rock Bases with water effects on the base to make them look as if they are standing at the shore line of Ithaka with spears ready to Strike the great wyrms they are hunting.

[somedude210]

I got into the game around march and decided to start by building an IS army after reading the book. I'm curious about what to do for the rules, but there was one that wasn't mentioned that I thought should be mentioned. When I have time i'll find my codex and check it out. I wanna say its something along the lines of not withdrawing or something, but i'm not quite sure.

 

i'm curious how to play these guys in the field though. I think we'd have to make a special rule to add at least one apothocary per engagement (not necessarily one per squad, but at least one for every battle)

[Tyrannicide]

Personally I'd play the Iron Snakes using 'counts as' under the new Chaos Codex. They all have ultra-grit (Bolter, Bolt pistol, close combat weapon) so I think it's very representative of the Iron Snakes featured in Brothers of the Snake. Sure you have some missing units and such, but you could make one heck of an assault-oriented force.

[Ajo79]

I'm currently reading up everything I can get my hands on about the Iron Snakes. Also reading "Brothers of the Snake" as well. I've liked the Iron Snakes since I first read about them in the "Tactica Imperialis" book.

 

Iron Snakes are very likely to become my next project.

[turelhim vampire]

The Salamanders are stable, they are just a tad slower than other marines...but are considerable stronger/ bigger because of where they life...( note this is not represented in the game...)

 

The Salamanders are not "slower" than other marines, they are methodical. They will not commit to an action rashly. That does not make them slow. When they commit to fight they fight just as fast as any other space marine chapter, but are much more hardy.

 

Back to the original topic, the best way to tackle the Iron Snakes is probably to wait for the new Codex space marines. You'll never get to take an apothecary per squad, but if any of the special characters grant the force "feel no pain" you could use him and represent the ability with an apothecary model.

 

For squads with Spears and Shields - perhaps the best way to represent the Notables - then Vanguard/Command Squads/Honour Guard would help out with that - rumour has it that at least one of these squads will have an option to take Storm Shields.

 

I'd say just wait for the new Codex. It'll make your job that little easier. Personally I'd love to see Codex: Iron Snakes from GW, but I am not holding my breath.

[BlackKnight1239]

The Salamanders are stable, they are just a tad slower than other marines...but are considerable stronger/ bigger because of where they life...( note this is not represented in the game...)

 

The Salamanders are not "slower" than other marines, they are methodical. They will not commit to an action rashly. That does not make them slow. When they commit to fight they fight just as fast as any other space marine chapter, but are much more hardy.

 

Actually, they are slower than most Marines. Due to the high gravity on Nocture, they do have slower reactions, and have a hard time training fast moving squads, vehicles, etc. This was reflected in the 3rd ed rules.

 

Good job on the IA, btw. The Iron Snakes seem pretty cool. I'll need to pick up the book.

[Octavulg]

If they're a second founding chapter of unknown geneseed, they'd damn well better be Ultramarines. Dammit (yes, I know this is Dan Abnett's fault. Damn him, too).

 

Otherwise, looks damn good.

 

EDIT: Also, damn.

Edited August 15, 2008 by Octavulg

[Primarch Corax]

I hope they are not. No, offence, all you Ultras, but some us get sick of having all our blue armies called "Ultramarines".

[Octavulg]

Which would you prefer?

 

Not-ultramarines, which spits on existing fluff and demonstrates further the inability of BL writers to read the damn fluff?

 

Or Ultramarines, and pointing out to folks that the Marines Malevolent are Ultramarines-descendants, too, and they like to shell civilians.

[Allerka]

I'd say just wait for the new Codex. It'll make your job that little easier. Personally I'd love to see Codex: Iron Snakes from GW, but I am not holding my breath.

No. We're not getting a Codex: Iron Snakes.

 

 

I hope they are not. No, offence, all you Ultras, but some us get sick of having all our blue armies called "Ultramarines".

They are.

[Hrvat]

I would just like to point out that the list of the 2nd founding chapters isn't definite, it is simply that only these ones are know for sure to be 2nd founding. It has been mentioned several times in the background.

[Brother Twomoons]

ok..

 

doesn't it say in the overall fluff that information/history of events, chapters, and foundings are lost due to the many internal battle the imperium had?

 

sorry just that i've read so much in the fluff making it easy for any early founding chapter can have fragmented information of where they come from due to the internal problems terra had with civil-wars, traitors and such..just asking

 

:P if i'm wrong i'm sorry just was wandering while reading old books i have :P

Edited September 11, 2008 by Brother Twomoons

[Sigismund Himself]

doesn't it say in the overall fluff that information/history of events, chapters, and foundings are lost due to the many internal battle the imperium had?

 

sorry just that i've read so much in the fluff making it easy for any early founding chapter can have fragmented information of where they come from due to the internal problems terra had with civil-wars, traitors and such..just asking

The thing is that the chapter themselves should remember, even if no one else did. Nearly all the chapters venerate the Primarch they are descended from so "forgetting" would be hard.