Iron Souls

[Consul of Scorpions]

I have to push the limits of acceptable, it's something innate, nothing is fun without testing the limits of my favorites things.

Today's subject is: augmetic-crazy marines.

"The Iron Hands are this" you might say, but what if they had a successor chapter that took it juuust 'a bit' too far?

Like what? I've been thinking about wholesale body replacement; forget strengthened bones and a second heart, these marines strip their candidates of their human flesh and place the genetically altered brain in a metal shell and bolt/weld power armor over the skeleton. Unlike their progenitors, the Iron Hands Chapter, the Iron Souls don't work towards the mechanical form, they achieve it right away, and quite forcibly. There are no arduous trials to become an initiate, a neophyte must only survive the process with his sanity intact to become a space marine. Those that fail are partially scrubbed to remove most traces of insanity and added to the ranks of the Chapter's machine-serfs, the worst cases become full-blown servitors.

++EDIT++

I like soddinnutter's idea of the chapter losing all of their capability to produce geneseed, having to expand their numbers with time-consuming augmetic implants instead of genetic engineering, and hiding their more/less-than-human nature with synth flesh. The Machine-Serfs option is supposed to represent the high(er) failure rate of bionic implatations, necessitating the Chapter's deployment of their less successful initiates in the field

+Special Rules+

Bodies Reforged ++ all Iron Hands models gain the following +1W; Feel No Pain; Independent Characters increase cost by +30 points, other models by +15 points per model

Iron Spark ++ Librarians and Chaplains may not be chosen by an Iron Souls force, Command Squads replace their Apothecaries with a typical Veteran marine; Any Command Squad may be accompanied by a single Techmarine with power armor (he may purchase options normally available to him, but must be the same infantry type as the Command Squad he is part of), this Techmarine lacks the independent character special rule and does not count as an Elites choice on the FOC

Machine-Serfs ++ a group of 1~5 servitors as per the Techmarine entry are a 1~5 Troops Choice and have all of the normal options and rules for such a unit, they do not gain the benefit of ‘Bodies Reforged’. The requirement of 1 Techmarine or Master of the Forge per unit of Servitors still applies. Servitors always take up a FOC Troops choice as they are fielded by the Iron Souls as a supplemental force and in greater numbers than other chapters

Retrofitted Frame ++ any independent characters that are not special characters may select up to 50 points of Augmetic Gifts, Chapter Masters may purchase up to 100 points of Augmetic Gifts

Terrible Warrior ++ an Iron Souls force may not purchase Dreadnoughts of any kind, instead a Captain with a Titanic Frame and up to 40 points of other Augmetic Gifts may be purchased as an Elites choice; a Terrible Warrior does not allow the player to purchase a Command Squad; a Terrible Warrior may also replace his bolt pistol and/or chainsword with a heavy weapon selected from the following…

•Multi-Melta (45pts)

•Heavy Flamer (35pts)

•Heavy Bolter (40pts)

•Autocannon (45pts)

•Plasma Cannon OR Assault Cannon (55pts)

•Lascannon (65pts)

NOTE: If two weapons of the same type are selected, they count as twin-linked, note that infantry and cavalry may only fire one weapon in each shooting phase.

The Nature or the Machine ++ Necrons, Tech Marines, Enginseers, Masters of the Forge, and all Psykers gain Preferred Enemy [iron Souls] for no extra cost

We Shall not Fall ++ 'Blessing of the Omnissiah' may be used with a -3 penalty to restore one wound lost by any model/unit the Techmarine/Master of the Forge is currently attached to, this cannot revive slain models or restore wounds lost from effects like Instant Death.

+Augmetic Gifts+

•Sanctified Armor* ++ 2+ save (20pts)

•Refractor Field* ++ 5+ invulnerable save (15pts)

•Robust Frame* ++ +1 Wound (15pts)

•Baleful Eye/Baleful Gaze ++ Range 12” | Str 4 | AP 6 | Assault 2/4 (5pts for assault 2, 15pts for assault 4)

•Assault Frame* ++ +1 Attack (15pts)

•Reinforced Frame* ++ +0(+1) Toughness, this bonus does not count for determining Instant Death (10pts)

•Aura of the Omnissiah ++ weapons causing instant death instead only cause a single wound (35pts)

•Aquila Frame* ++ model counts as Jump Infantry (20pts)

•Destrier Frame* ++ model counts as Cavalry (15pts)

•Atlas Frame* ++ +1 Strength (10pts)

•Titanic Frame* ++ +1 Strength, +1 Toughness, Relentless, Monstrous Creature** (15pts)

•Slayer Gauntlets ++ +1 Attack, may not use other melee weapons in combination, Rending (10pts)

•Bane ++ melee attacks are Poisoned (4+) (5pts)

•Terrible Countenance ++ enemies in melee with this model suffer –1 to their Leadership, -2 if the enemy only faces models with a ‘Terrible Countenance’ (5pts)

* These Augmetic Gifts may not be used by a model in Terminator Armor.

** Characters with a Titanic Frame may not use normal transports, they may be transported in any vehicle that can hold a Dreadnought, they also take up 9 models of space and may select a Drop Pod as a dedicated transport.

Any Augmetic Gift with the ‘Frame’ descriptor may only be combined with one other ‘Frame-type’ Augmetic Gift on the same model; additionally, characters with any ‘Frame-type’ Augmetic Gift may not purchase terminator armor, a space marine bike, or a jump pack.

[Ezekial Gravestone]

wow thats pretty augment crazy, but that more count to borg and i think somewhere thats like out of the question, i am unsure on that one, but really it sounds cool, but it would make all your marines stats static, be no variation at all

[Consul of Scorpions]

Not necessarily, for instance, neophytes would still have a BS/WS of 3, etc becuase they have to get used to a new body and it's inputs, where a commander or such would have higher stats since they've had more time to adapt to the new body and figure out new ways to exceed human parameters and push the metal to the pedal, as it were (yes, I know I got that bassackwards).

 

I've been thinking of using deamonic gifts and the mark of nurgle to represent some of the Chapter's quirks in a logical way, but using the C:CSM doesn't quite fit.

[soddinnutter]

So why are they Space Marines at all?

 

If they have no Primarch (except in a spiritual sense), No genetically and surgically altered goodness and all the other Space Mariney type things then what you have, although awesome, is just the Cybermen from Dr Who with extra Grimdark.

[Grey Hunter Ydalir]

Like what? I've been thinking about wholesale body replacement; forget strengthened bones and a second heart, these marines strip their candidates of their human flesh and place the genetically altered brain in a metal shell and bolt/weld power armor over the skeleton.

 

Well, the implication is that the Iron Hands do virtually this anyway, to my mind.

 

To pull this off you'd need an incredibly strong driving force behind their desire to mechanize themselves so heavily. The Iron Hands have one of the strongest emotional driving forces behind their hatred of the flesh, despite their cold attitude. What would be yours? What could a successor chapter hope to have in comparison to the tragedy that befell the Iron Hands during the Heresy?

[Ace Debonair]

Like what? I've been thinking about wholesale body replacement; forget strengthened bones and a second heart, these marines strip their candidates of their human flesh and place the genetically altered brain in a metal shell and bolt/weld power armor over the skeleton.

 

Well, the implication is that the Iron Hands do virtually this anyway, to my mind.

 

To pull this off you'd need an incredibly strong driving force behind their desire to mechanize themselves so heavily. The Iron Hands have one of the strongest emotional driving forces behind their hatred of the flesh, despite their cold attitude. What would be yours? What could a successor chapter hope to have in comparison to the tragedy that befell the Iron Hands during the Heresy?

 

Excessive paranoia, perhaps.

The longer you're flesh, the weaker you'll be as a machine?

 

Or when the next Black Crusade rolls around, well... there's some old (inherited) grudges these lads could be all-too-happy to settle. And to make sure they can settle them, they're going as far as they can and as fast as they can with the meching-up. :sweat:

[Consul of Scorpions]

Ah, yes, another link to the Emperor's Children (poor Fulgrim), maybe that'll be the overarching theme for all of my chapters. :lol:

 

I like the excessive paranoia bit, but it's going to take some time to write well, can anyone direct me to some freely available Iron Hands lore?

 

Oh, btw, I took a gander at the 3rd ed C:CSM dex and retooled/renamed some of the Daemonic Gifts that would fit in and worked up some tentative special rules, I'll post the lot of it tomorrow after I've had some sleep.

[Astral Scorpions]

So why are they Space Marines at all?

 

If they have no Primarch (except in a spiritual sense), No genetically and surgically altered goodness and all the other Space Mariney type things then what you have, although awesome, is just the Cybermen from Dr Who with extra Grimdark.

 

And lacking the fatal gold allergy. :lol:

 

I have to agree, a fully roboticized Marine is kind of missing the point. They are supposed to be perfections of humanity, not 'biological existence is imperfect, we have adapted it to better serve us' Borg types.

[Consul of Scorpions]

Eh, I thought of it more like 'we cannot serve humanity while remaining inherently human, for the flesh is weak and the soul is fallible'

 

But the main idea was very much to bring about the fear of the Iron Men in the Imperium.

[soddinnutter]

Here is an idea.

 

They could have been a normal chapter with normal flesh and bone. but one day they are afflicted by sterility. No matter what they try the gene-seed will not take root in the flesh of the Aspirants and the acceptable 99.99% failure rate becomes a 100% failure rate. as the chapter dwindled away they came to realise that the only way for their order to survive is to forsake the flesh.

 

A hard choice. Most Astartes revere what little humanity they manage to preserve, the best bits of humanity in their eyes. Humanity is sacred and divine. But they realise that so long as they retain a human soul and a human mind they will not forsake their humanity and fall into techno-damnation.

 

But no Astartes would ask another to do what they can not. It would be a weakness.

 

So all the Brother-Astartes begin, with help from a Brotherhood/Sisterhood of the Mecahicus who are indebted to them, a program of replacement. to remove the flesh piece by piece and replace it with the everlasting machine.

 

Their main concern now is ensuring that no one figures out what they have just done.

 

Maybe the Veterans have gotten to the point where they have replaced bits of their brain, one very small piece at a time, with the relative infallibility of the machine. Eventually the few pieces of grey matter are just going to be redundant and the marine would not even notice or care overly much if they were removed. The Chapter Master for instance could be 100% machine.

 

Just because they are machines does not mean that they have to be clunky. Outside of their armour they could look human, until you realise that they do not eat or sleep or drink or breath. Their humanity is less than skin deep because the skin is plastic.

 

Just an idea.

[Consul of Scorpions]

Ooh, brilliant, I'll take it!

 

They do have synthflesh in the 41st millenium, though, so even better.

 

btw, the rules are finished, posted above. Also, yes, I get carried away with special rules, sue me.

[soddinnutter]

Synthflesh is still organic and alive. As far as I understand it it's more of a universally compatible skin graft and requires flesh to be grafted to. Grafting it onto metal will just make it starve, die, rot and fall off in that order. If you have some sort of specially grown organic support under the skin then it takes away the purity of the mechanic ideal.

 

About recruitment? Maybe they have found that recruiting from the Skitarii Legion, with Mecahnicus permission, provides marines that are better able to remain sane, the transition being considered more 'normal' and even beneficial from their point of view.

 

Do they have a Chapter Master or do they have a Iron Hands style council? Do they have Tech-mariens or do they just outsource that job to Tech-priests loaned to them by a faction within the Mecahnicus? Do they have a Homeworld or are they constantly on the move so as not to give people too much opportunity to find out what they are?

 

It almost goes without saying that they will not have any Librarians but how do the Librarians and other official psykers view them? Are they intrigued by them? fearful of them? do they find their mechanical clarity of thought disturbingly cold or beautifully pure? Does their not wholly organic brain make them easier to read the thoughts of? Harder? No change?

 

How does the chapter view the use of servitors to whom they may feel a certain kinship? Do they hate them? Pity them? Does the sight of something so like themselves eternally enslaved fill them with a terrible resolve? Do they offer to help doomed worlds fend off Orks in exchange for the possession of all their enslaved servitors?

 

Can they recruit from servitor stock?

[Consul of Scorpions]

Synthflesh is still organic and alive. As far as I understand it it's more of a universally compatible skin graft and requires flesh to be grafted to. Grafting it onto metal will just make it starve, die, rot and fall off in that order. If you have some sort of specially grown organic support under the skin then it takes away the purity of the mechanic ideal.

Ah, so plastic skin then, really though, my original idea was that they just remained 'buttoned up' in their armor while in the company of outsiders. Scouts would either still have enough flesh remaining, mostly in the face area, to pass as human; or wear a helmet to hide their gleeming alloyed skull.

 

About recruitment? Maybe they have found that recruiting from the Skitarii Legion, with Mecahnicus permission, provides marines that are better able to remain sane, the transition being considered more 'normal' and even beneficial from their point of view.

I was going to have them recruit from forge worlds as a rule, and the Skitarii Legions aren't a bad idea since the transformation into an Iron Soul can technically take place at any point in a human's lifespan, unlike their biological brethren. Although recruits still have to strike the balance between mentally secure enough to take their new, less sensitive body in stride, so older recruits are also more likely to fail the initiation despite having more experience which is essential to the Chapter; all-in-all, youths are the primary selection pool, though I don't see why a valuable ally wouldn't be given the opportunity of joining the Chapter's ranks.

 

Do they have a Chapter Master or do they have a Iron Hands style council? Do they have Tech-mariens or do they just outsource that job to Tech-priests loaned to them by a faction within the Mecahnicus? Do they have a Homeworld or are they constantly on the move so as not to give people too much opportunity to find out what they are?

The chapter is fleet-bound and they have their own Techmarines. After reading up on the lexicanum, I kind of like the idea of a council made up of Captains and heavily augmented warriors (their equivalent of dreadnoughts), with the mechanics of a Chapter Master representing an especially venerable Captain.

 

It almost goes without saying that they will not have any Librarians but how do the Librarians and other official psykers view them? Are they intrigued by them? fearful of them? do they find their mechanical clarity of thought disturbingly cold or beautifully pure? Does their not wholly organic brain make them easier to read the thoughts of? Harder? No change?

It depends on the Librarian, but an Iron Soul's excessively augmented frame renders him somewhat predictable to psykers.

 

How does the chapter view the use of servitors to whom they may feel a certain kinship? Do they hate them? Pity them? Does the sight of something so like themselves eternally enslaved fill them with a terrible resolve? Do they offer to help doomed worlds fend off Orks in exchange for the possession of all their enslaved servitors?

Pitied and reviled as imperfect, see below.

 

Can they recruit from servitor stock?

No, servitors are those initiates that failed the transformation into an Iron Soul marine to a degree that required a complete mind-scrub.

[Shinzaren]

Maybe the Veterans have gotten to the point where they have replaced bits of their brain, one very small piece at a time, with the relative infallibility of the machine. Eventually the few pieces of grey matter are just going to be redundant and the marine would not even notice or care overly much if they were removed. The Chapter Master for instance could be 100% machine.

 

This is playing with the most dangerous type of fire. Artificial Intelligence is banned and horribly reviled in the Imperium, and only very very very select sects of the AdMech can even attempt to experiment with it. Any non-AdMech that utilizes AI, which your Chapter Master would be at this point, is automatically guilty of the worst techno-heresy, and would be immediately and summarily destroyed.

 

Now. That isn't to say it can't work, it just has to be the most closely guarded secret of the Iron Souls, for it gets out, they are doomed, permanently and completely. Not sorta doomed, really doomed. Do Not Pass Go. Do Not Collect $200. Doomed. The AdMech, the Inquisition, and every agency under the sun would come down on them like a sack of bricks. The AdMech is NOT fond of AI and the techno-heresy that accompanies it.

[Consul of Scorpions]

Yup, exactly, In my opinion, techno-heresy is beyond most people, even the Iron Souls. They might replace every bit of flesh they have with metal and silicon, and even upgrade their mind with the divine machine, but outright replacement of the very last piece, the most essential piece, that makes them part of the human species and stepping into something decreed heresy since the founding of the Imperium is going above and beyond simple pragmatism and survival, it is outright betrayal of the trust emplaced by the High Lords and thus the entirety of the Imperiu and all under its purview.

 

Heck, they're radical enough just because they are no longer true space marines, having to grow false zygotes for tithing or conspiring with the Mechanicus to falsify reports on those nonexistent gene-tithes is another step down the road of radicalism. Replacing their brains completely is, again, going too far with the concept and stepping into territory best left to Canonical Chapters and the works of the Black Library.

[soddinnutter]

The brain is the architecture used to house the intellect. The intellect is not the brain. The Brain may be made of semi-conductive elements and microscopic golden thread but the intellect it cradles is 100% of natural human origin. It was born of a human mother and a human father, it lived upon a world of the Imperium/Mechanicus. It is no more blasphemy than it is to replace a flesh and bone leg with one of plasteel and adamantium. It is, while not human meat, human machine. A progeny of the Omnissiah.

 

And its only heresy if others find out.

 

Its not like other chapters aren't hiding something. Wulfen, Fallen, Black Rage...

 

The Imperial politics is all about not getting your own dirty past dredged up for fear of what else may come to the surface.

[Von Doom]

Wow! I was thinking of starting a more augmented, robo-marine-looking army of Iron Hands. But THIS left me gobsmacked! I love this idea. I may go abit more heretical, such as having half-marine/half-bike or assault marines that are more joined with their jump packs, marines linked with their weapons (arm-bolters), etc.

[Consul of Scorpions]

The brain is the architecture used to house the intellect. The intellect is not the brain. The Brain may be made of semi-conductive elements and microscopic golden thread but the intellect it cradles is 100% of natural human origin. It was born of a human mother and a human father, it lived upon a world of the Imperium/Mechanicus. It is no more blasphemy than it is to replace a flesh and bone leg with one of plasteel and adamantium. It is, while not human meat, human machine. A progeny of the Omnissiah.

 

And its only heresy if others find out.

 

Its not like other chapters aren't hiding something. Wulfen, Fallen, Black Rage...

 

The Imperial politics is all about not getting your own dirty past dredged up for fear of what else may come to the surface.

 

I'm hesitant in following your modernist views on cyborgization; this IS the 41st millenium where the mechanics and engineers ascribed animist philosophies to machines after all, I doubt they'd see replacing the human form entirely with machines, even if the human data was translated over to the new form. There are only two cases of complete removal of flesh in the novels I've read: Grey Knights novel where a tech priest is killed while interfacing with a cogitator stack, his 'ghost' jumps around through several machines and it's regarded as something of a miracle granted by the Omnissiah, and I will point out that the divorce of the flesh was not intentional. The second case is in the Eisenhorn series where a heretic by the name of Pontius Glaw has his essence transfered into a psychic artefact (I hesitate to suppose it was entirely mechanical since Glaw was able to manifest psychic powers), he and his choice of existence are constantly regarded as beyond redemption.

 

So you can see where I would say that deliberate divorcement from human flesh in its entirety is crossing the lines within Imperial dogma. Besides, to achieve marine-type mental prowess you only need to upgrade the mind, not replace the medium entirely.

[soddinnutter]

Stage 1.

The skeleton of the Aspirant is replaced with a plasteel and adamantium framework. Muscle fiber and tendons are surgically cut to ease the replacement of the bones by the much larger Astartes Pattern prosthetics.

Stage 2.

The heart is replaced with a more efficient mechanical device. The blood is now siphoned around the body in a continuous loop. There is no more heart beat. A small micro-fission reactor similar to that used in power-weapons is also placed in the body below the diaphragm. This reactor becomes the true heart of the aspirant as they become less and more than human.

Stage 3.

The Lungs are replaced with a device for continually absorbing the oxygen out of the air in a steady stream. There is also an inbuilt ability to store oxygen for later consumption. This ability is essential for protracted missions in bad atmosphere or hard vacuum. With the Heart and Lungs now removed the aspirant can enjoy the Silence of the Omnissiah.

Stage 4.

The eyes are replaced by bionic improvements. A wider range of visual spectrum becomes available to the aspirant, as does low light vision and a better ability to focus on distant objects. The parts of the brain used in the interpretation of data from these organs are also replaced. The aspirant is now free to see the universe closer to how the Omnissiah intended.

Stage 5.

The ears are replaced by auditory receivers with a far greater range of detection than anything organic could be expected to. The portions of the brain responsible for dealing with sound are also replaced to better interpret the data input. The aspirant can now hear the hymns how they were meant to be heard.

stage 6.

Much of nervous system of the aspirant is enhanced or outright replaced by fiber-optic micro-wire. The aspirant’s reaction time is slightly enhanced, but they are still bound by the limitations of the feeble flesh.

Stage 7.

Over the next year the marines muscles are gradually replaced by fiber-muscle almost identical to that used in the construction of Power Armour. Their strength is increased many, many times over and their bodies can now take full advantage of the enhanced in-organic nerves. The movements of the aspirant tend to become erratic for many weeks after this point as they try to figure out how much effort they need to move a limb without flailing like a retard or how much force they need to pick up a glass with out obtaining a hand full of ground glass fragments.

Stage 8.

The Pain receptors of the brain are removed and replaced by something almost identical but more under the aspirants conscious control. This is a prelude to having the skin stripped off and replaced by a hard wearing polymer/carbon-fiber mixture. The replacement skin is much more resistant to damage.

Stage 9.

Data-transfer ports are punched into the aspirants body and a re linked to the artificial nerves. These allow direct communion with the machine spirit of the Power Armour. Over time the Armour stops being armour and becomes a detachable part of themselves.

Stage 10.

A masterfully tailored plastic 'overcoat' is presented to the new Marine. It is form-fitting and the same colour as their original skin. They are to wear it on all ceremonial occasions and whenever they have to deal with outsiders. The ceremony in which they receive their Overcoat is the also the ceremony they take their vows. they are now and forever will be blessed by the Soul of the Everlasting Iron.

[Consul of Scorpions]

Epic; words falter at expressing my approval; this is no longer just my project. Nice picture too. :(

 

Though since I'd originally focused on special rules and basic ideas, does anyone else think this should be moved into the Homegrown Rules section?