Index Astartes: Iron Eagles, Mk. II

[HAL-9001]

Hello again! It seems that I needed more than a few days to get all the revision done, but welcome to Index Astartes: Iron Eagles, Mk. II.

The Iron Eagles were born from several ideas percolating in my head at once: a Wild Mass Guess from TVTropes that the two lost Legions were kicked out because they “weren't grimdark enough,” and then a 4Chan thread about a 40k player looking to cause “neckbeard rage” with his army (getting the answer that he should make an army of Reasonable Marines), and then the Mentor Legion, and then a guess from the Lexicanum article about the two unknown Legions that one of the Primarchs might have been a Blank. Some of the information here is based on stuff from 4chan (i.e. Captain Darren and the Teron I incident, the name “Aprior,” the character Inquisitor Damnos), though I've tried to clean it up and make it fit with the universe (as much as a chapter of “Reasonable Marines” can fit in with a grim, dark future, anyway). The remainder is original. Those interested can read archived discussions of the Reasonable Marines here and here, if you dare.

I hope I've addressed the disbelief-breaking that I'm told afflicted the previous version, especially by explaining exactly why the Iron Eagles got kicked out. Still, I'm not entirely happy with why Nil didn't tell the 101st fleet about the Emperor's verdict (at the moment, the reason is “Nil died before he got to them,” which could probably be stronger). Also, long Index Astartes is long: 6500 words at the moment. IA:IE Mk. III will probably have a smaller Origins section at the very least, but if you have other ideas, go ahead and let me know.

IA:IE Mk. I can be found here, but I'm not sure how relevant it is except as a matter of historical interest, as I've rewritten just about everything at least twice since then.

Without further ado:

[b; background-image:url(http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/hq2.gif); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-position: 8px 2px; padding: 12px 8px 12px 8px; border: 1px solid #DDD; margin-left: 0 auto; text-align: left; color: #fff; text-indent:50px; font-size:130%; width:50%;">Index Astartes: Iron Eagles[/b]

“The Reasonable Marines”

Deep in the Eastern Fringe, the Iron Eagles have been isolated from the Imperium since before the Horus Heresy. Contact has recently been reestablished, and the Iron Eagles have found themselves returning to an unfamiliar galaxy, a grim, dark future in which there is only war. The way they see things, their task is now clear: fix it all. But with the Necrons, Tyranids, and Chaos on the rise, and the Golden Throne beginning to fail, the Iron Eagles are running out of time.

Symbol: Winged Arrow with Flame (usually on azure or ceramite)

During the Age of Strife, several psykers on Terra used their powers to rule over a small fiefdom of enthralled baselines. As the Emperor fought and won the Unification Wars, the psyker-lords saw the writing on the wall, and decided to flee before the Emperor destroyed them. They financed the colony ship Icarus to the barely-habitable world of Manifold, hoping to land there and rule without interference. When they arrived, the colony ship crashed, scattering the colonists and leaving them without technology, having to fend for themselves for generations. By the time of the Primarch Project, the planet had been divided into several city-states led by psyker-lords, and some smaller townships mostly populated by baselines.

The second Primarch's tank landed near the independent township of Icaria, composed of the descendents of the ship's crew, living in the shadow of the crashed Icarus and under the threat of domination from three nearby fiefdoms. When the baby inside the pod was recovered, the town's psykers felt nothing from him, and they used the word “null” to describe him. The word was whispered among the townspeople after the recovery, and eventually found itself changed to “Nil” and used as the boy's name. Nil rose to prominence in the community for his unshakeable level-headedness and honesty, and was frequently approached as a reasonable, neutral arbiter in disputes. He later came to be known as “the incorruptible” for his immunity to the trickery and witchcraft of the psykers who sought to destabilize the township.

He was also known for his mastery of technology. When he wasn't otherwise occupied, he devoted himself to understanding the mechanisms of the Icarus and restoring them to working condition. He repaired the hydroponic garden, allowing the town's farmers to more than double their crops' yield; his reverse-engineering of the ship's sickbay led to improvements at the town's hospital; and he repaired and deployed the ship's weapons systems to protect the town against invaders.

Psyker-lord Thorn, the closest to Icaria, heard rumors about a man who could construct wonders and was immune to a psyker's power, and decided to take matters into his own hands. He gathered an army and marched on Icaria, delivering an ultimatum: serve, or be destroyed.

Nil refused, and when Thorn invaded, Nil led the Icarian's defense. With Nil's leadership and the restored weapons technology, the Icarians held off Thorn's army, forcing Thorn to retreat and form a siege. The hydroponic gardens would sustain Icaria indefinitely, and the ship's weapons would hold off a much larger force than Thorn had brought with him, but Nil knew that the psyker-lords would throw more and more armies at him until the Icarians or the minions were all dead. He decided that the war would be better ended quickly, by cutting off the head of the army.

Nil chose the best warriors from his makeshift army to accompany him as a “termination force.” Armoring themselves with powered maintenance suits from the Icarus, the termination force fought their way to Lord Thorn's field headquarters, where Nil engaged him in a duel. Nil annihilated Thorn with his power, and without the psyker-lord's control, the army beat a hasty retreat. After the fighting was finished, the Icarians persuaded him to remain their leader, and Nil quickly set to work organizing teams to repair Icaria and prepare for the next assault.

More hot-blooded Icarians wanted to destroy Thornhold, but Nil overruled them; he reasoned that it hadn't been their fault to be controlled by Thorn, and they proved willing to cooperate with Icaria given the chance. As Nil went from fiefdom to fiefdom, he found that the cleanest way to unify the planet was to eliminate his enemies' leadership with his termination force and win over their followers with the technological and societal benefits that came with joining him.

As Nil unified the planet, Nil kept laboring in the Icarus to further improve the quality of life for the Manifolders. He eventually managed to repair the high-powered vox-caster, and called out into the void; the call was received and repeated, and when an Imperial Expedition Fleet paid a visit, they recognized Nil as a Primarch and summoned the Emperor. Nil, sensing the Emperor's power, thought him to be a psyker-lord, and resisted the Emperor's request that he join the Imperium; when the Emperor implied that Manifold would join the Imperium whether Nil liked it or not, Nil engaged him in single combat. The Emperor emerged victorious, but knew from the determination with which Nil fought that he had found a lost son. To prove that he was different from the psyker-lords whom Nil destroyed, he showed Nil what the Imperium was like, and offered Nil a chance to become a part of the effort at the head of the Second Space Marine Legion. Nil readily accepted.

Colors: Azure pauldrons on unpainted ceramite

During the Great Crusade, Nil drew on his experience in unifying Manifold. While some insurrectionists did have to be killed, especially the leadership, the rank-and-file members would often prove willing to cooperate, especially once they had been briefed on the benefits that being part of the Imperium brought with it. Other insurrections were in response to social injustice or as a result of erosion of social mores, and could be stopped permanently by addressing the underlying causes. Nil and the Iron Eagles codified their findings into a three-pronged strategy, the so-called Iron Triangle: careful application of force to suppress immediate violence; diplomacy, social justice, and education to build a stable society; and the study and advancement of science and technology to improve quality of life.

This strategy did not enjoy universal popularity among the Imperium. The Imperial Fists and Emperor's Children in particular felt that negotiation had no place in the Great Crusade, but the Iron Eagles' record spoke for itself: their worlds were consistently better off after being brought into the Imperium than worlds smashed into submission. Most critically, the Luna Wolves were supportive of the Iron Eagles, and so the Primarchs “agreed to disagree” about each others' methods.

The Adeptus Mechanicus would not do so. To advance technology out of their purview and without the holy STC system was heresy, they claimed, and risked angering the Machine Spirits. Nil, on the other hand, argued that the tech-priests' rigid adherence to dogma was doing mankind a disservice by artificially slowing down progress. Some said at the time, only half-jesting, that the only reason that this disagreement stayed civil was that Nil had attached himself to the furthest-out Expedition Fleet: the 101st, deep in the galactic east.

It was there that Nil and the Iron Eagles encountered the world of Aprior. The Apriori had been on a colony vessel with one of the first experimental Warp drives, and had drastically overshot their destination, ending up in the Eastern Fringe. There, the colony ship had crashed, leaving the colonists alone and isolated against the threats of the Fringe. Nil felt something of a kinship to them, as they reminded him of Manifold, and he noticed that they exemplified the Iron Triangle in their society: their armed forces were extensively trained against all the threats of the Fringe with millennia of experience; their society was an advanced democracy with social policies to prevent decay and fragmentation; and they had developed an advanced industrial base which rivaled some Forge Worlds. Nil decided that they were too valuable to leave their survival to chance, and so he ordered the fleet and attached armed forces to bolster the Apriori's defenses and grow to control the surrounding region of space. In the meantime, he would return to the galaxy and announce his discovery to the other Primarchs, proving himself and his Legion right, once and for all.

Loss

“I failed to protect my Legion from its enemies. The least that I can do is tell my Marines of my failure in person.”

- Primarch Nil, after the Emperor's verdict

He was interrupted by the Nightfall Incident: an Expedition Fleet containing a detachment of Iron Eagles had discovered a vast tomb complex containing unimaginable technologies on the world of Nightfall, built by what would today be recognized as Necrons. The Iron Eagles' exploration of the tomb awakened the ancient constructs, which quickly conquered the planet and made ready to spread further. The Fleet managed to contain the threat with a cyclonic-torpedo bombardment, but the damage had been done: every citizen of Nightfall and over three hundred Iron Eagles died, as there had been no time to evacuate, and more importantly, the Necrons had beamed a signal into space which would, millennia later, awaken other tomb worlds. The Mechanicus now had a reason to demand the Iron Eagles' destruction: clearly, they argued, proper precautions had to be taken in advancing technology, and the Iron Eagles had proven themselves too dangerous to be allowed to continue.

Nil argued that the Iron Eagles at fault had already perished, that the Mechanicus were hardly paragons of experimental caution, and that, in any case, the Imperium could ill afford to lose over 20,000 Marines with the Great Crusade in full swing. The Emperor struck a compromise and decreed that he would allow the Iron Eagle Marines to survive, but destroy the Legion by erasing them from history and turning the Marines and their accomplishments to another Legion. Nil reasoned that Roboute Guilliman was the best choice, as he was neither firmly for the Iron Eagles, like the Salamanders, nor against them, like the Imperial Fists or Iron Hands. Guilliman accepted the former Iron Eagles, and Nil set out to deliver the news to the Expedition Fleets.

The 101st was the last fleet on Nil's journey, but Nil was interrupted again, this time by the Horus Heresy. Vast Warp storms shook the Immaterium, and only the Astronomican, powered by the Emperor's psychic might, held them off so that his fleets could continue unabated. However, the Astronomican's range is limited, and with the added strain of holding off the storms, the range shrunk so that the Warp storms enveloped the Aprior Sector, isolating the worlds from each other and cutting them off from the Imperium entirely. When the Heresy ended, the Warp storms abated, but the turbulence at the edge of the Astronomican remained, making Warp travel in the Halo Zone exceedingly dangerous. Nil managed to work his way through the Warp with the aid of technology that he had reverse-engineered from the records of the Nightfall expedition, and realized that, with some modifications and a vast increase in scale, he could use that technology to calm the Warp and render it safe for travel again. He journeyed from world to world, constructing an array of null-nodes around the perimeter of the Sector. Once the network was complete, he used himself as a psychic “ground” to bleed energy out of the Warp turbulence through the network. The effort cost Nil his life, but his sacrifice calmed the Warp enough to allow intra-sector travel to resume. As Nil hadn't survived to deliver the Emperor's verdict to the 101st fleet, they were now free to expand to the whole sector, per Nil's original orders.

Second Contact

“The only creature I've ever met with a more callous disregard for life than yours was a Dark Eldar Archon, and at least he had the courtesy not to proclaim his devotion to virtue while he murdered billions.”

- Chapter Master Jakob Morridus, shortly before executing Canoness Sarah Azaniel

For millennia, the Iron Eagles and other Apriori armed forces grew through time, expanding to encompass the whole Sector, sheltered by the Warp-turbulence surrounding them. For millennia, only single ships have been able to penetrate the so-called Veil, easily dealt with by the picket forces, with one exception: a task force from the Adepta Sororitas, sent shortly after the end of the Reign of Blood. The task force was horrified at the deviations from Imperial norms, and found the Sector beyond redemption, as they still adhered to the Imperial Truth; since they explicitly denied that the Emperor was a god, the Sisters saw no alternative but to put the Sector to the torch. Their ferocity shocked the Apriori, but the Sisters were too far afield to be reinforced and were dealing with foes who were literally defending their only home. The Sisters were quickly stopped on the world of Dvi-Marion: the Iron Eagles incapacitated the task force's orbital assets, and were thus able to force the trapped Sisters to surrender. The task force was then tried and convicted of crimes against humanity for the brutal tactics that they employed, and were offered a choice: use their expertise to help the Apriori, or be executed. The survivors of the task force were reformed into the Order of Reason's Light, and brought in line with what the Iron Eagles felt was a more reasonable interpretation of the Decree Passive. The isolation of the Aprior Sector meant that the Iron Eagles were able to keep a tight lid on the fate of the task force. The Ecclesiarchy came to believe the task force lost in the Warp, and the Iron Eagles had no reason to let them believe otherwise.

The Inquisition never quite accepted that hypothesized fate, and periodically sent investigators to the Aprior Sector to try and pierce the Veil, but none returned. However, the Warp is being deadened and calmed by the encroaching Tyranids and Necrons. Already, several Inquisitorial teams have successfully penetrated the Veil, and within a few decades, it will be safe enough for large fleets to cross into the Aprior Sector.

Radical Inquisitors, exemplified by Johannes Krieger of the Ordo Hereticus, advocate cautious acceptance of the Aprior Sector. Krieger acknowledges the deviations of the Aprior Sector, but argues that their experience makes them useful to have in the Imperium, and that the Iron Eagles' Warp-resistance and, in extreme cases, Warp-nullifying effect makes them very valuable indeed to the Inquisition. As a Recongregator, he has also suggested to his like-minded colleagues that some “deviations” might be put to good use in the Imperium, such the Apriori societal reforms. On his advice, the Iron Eagles have sent their first four Battle Companies into the Imperium proper to act as a public-relations campaign, to protect worlds they encounter and convince the Imperium that they're better off with the Iron Eagles at their side.

The more Puritanical Inquisitors, led by staunch Monodominant Inquisitor Lord Avius Damnos, claim that no utility can justify the degree of Apriori deviation, and are trying to rouse the Imperium in a Crusade against the Aprior Sector. In case Damnos' voice carries the day, the second four Battle Companies and the majority of the Reserve Companies are deployed throughout the Aprior Sector to defend against an invasion.

For the moment, the Radicals seem to have the upper hand, if only through bureaucratic inertia: the Aprior Sector does not appear to be threatening enough to expend the effort to initiate a Crusade and the costs of eliminating an experienced and firmly-entrenched foe, especially when more immediate threats are all around. The Apriori and Iron Eagles know that this state of affairs is tenuous at best, and so they have ramped up production and research to prepare for a hostile Imperial response. However, they are also aware that they cannot win a war of attrition against the entire galaxy, and so some Apriori and Iron Eagle leaders are drafting contingency plans for visibly bringing themselves into compliance with, for example, the Imperial Creed, with force if need be. It pains them to consider the possibility, but averting a Crusade is also important to the survival of the Imperium; the Necrons, Chaos, the Orks, and the Tyranids are already draining enough, and unlike the Aprior Sector, they cannot be reasoned with.

Homeworld

“It's not exactly the most convenient location, but it's home.”

- Captain Marcus Rallen, Fifth Company

Other Worlds of the Aprior Subsector

Nyx is a white dwarf that went supernova eons ago; its sole remaining world, Thanatos, is a dead, cold lump of rock notable for containing a metal with potent anti-Warp properties. A Necron tomb was discovered in the process of mining; it seems that its presence is related to the existence of the metal, though it is unclear which came first.

Romulus and Remus are a binary star with two planets: one gas giant orbiting both, and one very hot, rocky world orbiting only Romulus.

Tarquin is a star similar to Aprior, with a “double planet” orbiting it: two planets in each others' Lagrange points. They are primarily agricultural.

As Primarch Nil was the leader of the Expedition Fleet which unified the Aprior Sector, the Iron Eagles are the de jure rulers of every planet in the Sector. In reality, those worlds are largely self-governing, so long as they meet certain standards of economic viability, self-sufficiency, and protection of the rights of citizens.

Rather than having a single homeworld, the Iron Eagles are based in a cluster of a few stars relatively close together: the Aprior Subsector, itself in the Aprior Sector, deep in the Eastern Fringe. The Aprior System proper has six planets orbiting it. Aprior Primus and Secundus are very close to Aprior and are used for mining and manufacturing; Tertius is in the habitable zone and houses the majority of the subsector's population; and Quartus, Quintius, and Sextus are gas giants, with moons used for manufacturing, military research and training.

Aprior Tertius is similar to Old Earth, although it is larger, with surface gravity almost twice that of Terra. Because it was the first world in the Sector to be colonized, Aprior Tertius is the de facto capital of the Sector and the primary base of the Iron Eagles. It is sometimes called Aprior Regius to set it apart from the other worlds. Regius is largely urbanized and industrialized, although the Regians have instituted environmental and social policies to prevent the pollution and decay normally associated with industrialized, highly populated worlds.

One major feature of Regius is the Iron Eagles' headquarters, the Torch, buried within a mountain range. The Iron Eagles typically avoid ornamentation, but the Torch is the one exception. A granite tower rises a thousand meters above the mountains, with a perpetual light at the top: the Eternal Flame, symbolizing the achievements of humanity through adversity, the illuminating light of reason and understanding, and a beacon of hope for a better future. The names of fallen Iron Eagles are engraved upon the Eternal Flame's tower. Every city on Regius and most worlds in the Aprior Sector have a small replica of the Eternal Flame upon which they engrave the names of residents who have given their lives in the various Apriori Armed Forces.

Before the founding of the Imperium, the Apriori had stood against the threats of the Galactic Fringe on their own, and developed a comprehensive societal strategy for survival; it was this strategy that attracted the Iron Eagles to the Apriori in the first place. Citizens are regularly screened for genetic mutation, starting before birth, and all public education programs include civil defense training to ensure that all Apriori citizens can contribute to their worlds' defensive efforts. The Iron Eagles easily adapted these programs to identify children who are compatible with Iron Eagle gene-seed and have the potential for combat aptitude. When flagged children reach age twelve, their parents are contacted and offered the opportunity to allow their child to be trained; there is no penalty for refusal, but having a child in the Iron Eagles is a high honor, and so most do not refuse.

Beliefs

“As we proceed in our duties, consider the Emperor of Man. Despite his genius and continuing honorable courage, he made a number of avoidable mistakes, even from the foundation of the Imperium. Even with the greatest ability, and noblest goals, mistakes happen. Therefore, let us admit to our own errors, that we may refine our ways.”

- Iron Eagles Invocation

As in many other Space Marine Chapters, the Emperor is not worshiped as a god, but as a man, a hold-over from the Imperial Truth: the Iron Eagles believe that he is powerful, worthy of admiration, and in many ways the best that mankind has to offer, but not perfect. They are scrupulously careful to avoid blind devotion, because doing so would blind them to their own imperfections. A significant part of the Chaplains' sessions with the Space Marines is spent in reflection, to recognize and learn from their failures and improve going forward, and reminding themselves that even the Emperor can make mistakes helps keep them humble.

The Iron Triangle strategy and philosophy developed during the Great Crusade is the other central tenet of the Iron Eagles' beliefs. During the Great Crusade, the Iron Eagles used the three strategies of military strength, societal reform, and technological advancement to bring the Emperor's vision of a unified, powerful Imperium into reality. Now that they have returned from their isolation, they see it as the way to protect and repair the Imperium and restore it to its pre-Heresy glory.

Combat Doctrine

“Any Space Marine Chapter can apply force and destroy a target. The true measure of a Chapter is how it can achieve victory without force.”

- Captain Roland Darren, Third Company

Teron I

Captain Roland Darren of the Iron Eagles Third Company has earned the honorific “Master of the Deal” for his successes in de-escalating or even ending conflicts without bloodshed. The so-called “Non-War of Teron I” is one of his more famous accomplishments. When a Tau strike force claimed to own the Imperial world of Teron I and threatened attack, the local Imperial Guard Regiments were provoked to mobilize, which would in turn invite a more weighty response from the Tau Empire, and could only escalate from there. A long meat-grinder war was in the making, but cooler heads within the Administratum realized that the IG Regiments were needed to fight the Tyranids, and that fighting off the Tau would leave them dangerously under-strength for such a deployment. Fortunately, Darren's Battle Barge was in the vicinity, and the Administratum asked him to defuse the situation.

Rather than preemptively striking at the Tau, as the IG force commander suggested, Darren established a defensive perimeter against a sudden Tau attack, and used some technological trickery to give the appearance of having many more Marines deployed than he actually had on hand. When he engaged the Tau force's commander diplomatically, he was able to convince the Tau that the resources required to take the world by force would be better spent colonizing non-Imperial worlds, playing on the fact that the Tau desired expansion more than bloodshed. With the war averted, the Tau went on their way, and the Iron Eagles had saved another world from a devastating conflict.

In the debriefing session with the Sector leadership, Darren was asked what he would have done had he not convinced the Tau to leave without a fight. For his answer, Darren whistled, and twelve Terminators deactivated cloaking devices, appearing as if from nowhere. After the flustered leadership calmed down, Darren assured them that he was “well prepared for a hostile reception.”

The Iron Eagles gene-seed makes them steadier but not as quick, relative to other Space Marine Chapters, and they use tactics to play to their strengths. Rather than making high-visibility close-quarters assaults, the Iron Eagles use camouflage and more exotic stealth techniques to mask their deployments and strike from long range, usually with heavy mechanization thanks to the Aprior Sector's thriving industrial base. The Iron Eagles amplify this advantage through advanced electronic and psychological warfare, tricking enemies into reacting to forces which aren't really there, or even surrendering in the face of apparently overwhelming opposition. Then, while the enemy is jumping at shadows, the Iron Eagles employ surgically-precise strikes to eliminate enemy leadership or destroy enemy linchpins, the spiritual successors to Nil's termination force.

The most peculiar “combat doctrines” of the Iron Eagles have to do with their preference to avoid or limit combat if it is reasonable to do so; they have found that a nonviolent resolution is preferable to a bloody war, and that, by not exterminating the enemy, prisoners taken can supply information and be used as bargaining chips, or even defect entirely. Iron Eagles may also leave a detachment behind after major combat operations are complete to help build a stable situation, rather than perpetuating needless and wasteful conflict. These practices have earned the Iron Eagles the moniker of “The Reasonable Marines” among Imperial citizens.

Sometimes, this involves cooperating with people which more traditional chapters would have exterminated, which raises many eyebrows within the Imperium, but the Iron Eagles' record speaks for itself: of all of the worlds and systems pacified by the Iron Eagles, not one has become a repeat offender.

Organization

“I cannot count the number of foes that I have conquered because they were too centralized and inflexible. We would do well to avoid their fate.”

- Primarch Nil, Liber Aquilae Ferri

Liber Aquilae Ferri

“The Book of the Iron Eagles” is not actually a book so much as a collection of any and all historical records pertaining to the Iron Eagles: deployment orders, speech transcripts, even inventory manifests, anything to connect the modern Iron Eagles to their forebears. For example, a “chapter” is devoted to their Primarch's thoughts on organization, briefly summarized here. The Liber Aquilae Ferri also hints at some disaster that convinced the Iron Eagles to use this organization scheme instead of what would later become the Codex Astartes. The most accepted explanation is that a decapitating strike caused many Veterans or Neophytes to be lost at once, convincing the Iron Eagles to make themselves less vulnerable by spreading themselves out.

The Iron Eagles operate with a highly decentralized and flexible organization. Their non-Command Squads are nominally composed of twenty-four Marines, which is unusually large, but gives the Squads plenty of options for dividing up in battle. Two Tactical Squads, an Assault Squad, a Devastator Squad, and a Command Squad (plus support staff) form a Company of about a hundred Iron Eagles.

The first four Companies are the public face of the Iron Eagles, sent throughout the galaxy to convince the Imperium of the Iron Eagles' worth; the next four are identically organized, and deployed to act as a picket against incoming threats to the sector. The last four Companies are the Chapter's reserves: two Companies composed entirely of Tactical Squads, one of Assault Squads, and one of Devastator Squads. These remain largely in the Aprior System when they aren't being deployed to reinforce.

The Sisters of the Order of Reason's Light are armed and armored like most Sororitas, but refrain from engaging in active combat, per the Iron Eagles' interpretation of the Decree Passive; instead, they serve as support elements in areas too dangerous for unarmored humans but not so dangerous as to require a full Iron Eagle, such as operating vehicles or reinforcing security teams.

The Iron Eagles also take a unique approach to training and seniority: they generally do not separate their Neophytes, Scouts, or Veterans from their main force. Instead of being trained in a specific Scout Company, Iron Eagle Neophytes train with the Reserve Companies on Regius and the moons of Aprior Quintius, with Scouts instead being drawn from Assault Squads when a mission calls for Iron Eagle reconnaissance. Veterans are distributed more or less evenly among the Squads so that all Squads can benefit from their leadership and the Veterans can learn from up-and-coming Marines. For the most part, Veterans will operate separately only when they are in Terminator armor.

Gene-seed

“Our Primarch is dead. All that remains of him is what he wrote, what he made, and our gene-seed. We can lose or forget his writings and creations, but we will always have our gene-seed.”

- Apothecary Jakobus Hamundr

Nil's anti-psychic power left its mark on his Legion's gene-seed. Blanks' abilities are enhanced to the point that they can manipulate the shape and strength of their “null aura” to some degree, while psykers' abilities are severely blunted, if not outright deadened, and all implantees receive some measure of mental resistance to Warp powers.

The Iron Eagles still need psykers for astropathic communication, so Neophytes who happen to be psykers are trained and armored without implants, though this leaves them less capable in combat than their counterparts in other Chapters. The Iron Eagles need Blanks to become full Marines to ensure they have proper psychic warfare units, so the Iron Eagles' recruitment program places special emphasis on identifying Blanks for the Librarius; thanks to this program, their combat-ready Librarius is about the same size as that of any other Chapter.

The abilities conferred by Iron Eagle gene-seed are a result of mutations in the organs that affect the brain. These mutations render the mind of an Iron Eagle less vulnerable to Warp powers than the average Space Marine, as well as stabilizing their emotions, allowing them to keep a cool head under all circumstances. It also seems that the psychic resistance makes the gene-seed itself less vulnerable to further mutation. These traits endear the Iron Eagles to the Inquisition, encouraging them (and thus the other Imperial factions) to turn a blind eye to the Iron Eagles' more deviant practices and beliefs.

This resilience comes at a cost: the Omophagea has been rendered ineffective, training takes up to a decade longer as the Neophytes are less susceptible to hypnotherapy, and an Iron Eagle's reaction time is about 20 percent longer than that of the average Space Marine, putting them at a disadvantage in close combat.

The Iron Eagles do not appear to have any descendents. Records indicate that, when the Word Bearers moved against Ultramar in the Horus Heresy, the former Iron Eagles were all lost in combat. That said, Iron Eagles Chapter Master Zakis Randi has been meeting frequently with Chapter Master Nisk Ran-Thawll of the Mentor Legion, suggesting a connection between the two Chapters; whether this connection is merely an ideological agreement or something more is unknown.

Battle-Cry

The Iron Eagles do not have a “battle-cry” per se, as they do not shout going into battle. Their motto and rallying cry is “Onward And Upward!”