Iron Hands Clan Company

[raganrkob]

Hello everyone! Very recently I started reading stuff about the Iron Hands and I got hooked, hehe. I'm pretty much a fluff noob but here's my attempt at creating my own Clan Company, right now I'm just throwing away ideas so if you have one yourself feel free to suggest it!

 

Ok first of all the name, I came up with some names and I'm putting it to a vote, it's looks like this so far. Please tell me which one you like the most.

 

Slekstaal: IIIIII

 

Jerensak:

 

Hevnstaal: II

 

Metrutaa: I

 

Hierkaan: IIII

 

Kaamos: I

 

Now some of the ideas I have so far:

 

Beliefs:

 

Before contact with the imperial this nomadic clan had an animistic tradition. They believed that everything had a spirit inside and that one could commune with such spirits by using the right rituals and sacrifices. They needed the favour of the spirits to survive in the harsh environment of Medusa and saw it's changing landscape as the spirits of the earth speaking to them. They view manifesting psykers as individuals chosen by the spirits and were highly valued and respected.

They specially revered elemental spirits as they are the fundamental source of everything else, these elements were: Fire, Water, Earth, Wood and Metal.

All sorts of metal were highly valued given the primitive nature of the clan and they developed a kind of alchemy to work with different metals and "purify" them. This involved both changing the physical substance but also the spirit within.

 

After Ferrus defeated the Great Silver Wyrm many clan members were eager to learn Ferrus' craft. This new art of shaping metal was considered a ritual and religious practice as much as a great resource for the clan, for they feared to loose the favour of the spirits residing inside the elements. That's why nowadays the clan is very wary of "innovation" regarding machines as one cannot change substance without changing the essence also.

 

When the emperor an his forces arrived the clan integrated many principles of the imperial creed into their own beliefs. The Omnissiah becoming the ruler of the lesser elemental spirirts. And the emperor as someone who earned the favour of the spirits and ascended into their realm becoming one of them.

The clan is extremely conservative and orthodox in how they deal with technology, they don't modify or alter existing patterns. They need to be improved not their machines.

 

Clan Commander: Venerable Dreadnought Alastor. Slain by the Keeper of Secrets Zeruel, bender of wills. It was a battle of wits and Alastor beat the daemon by showing a stronger willpower, but was overcome by the raw might of the beast.

 

Enemies: They have a feud with followers of Slaanesh, seeing it's corruption as the worst kind because it exploit the human weaknesses they wish to overcome. They seek to master their feelings, needs and desires, hoping to achieve a machine-like state of perfection where only cold logic applies.

 

 

Highly competitive, anyone can challenge a superior to a duel (not only martial but any kind) the winner keeps the title/rank. Ranks are not awarded in the usual way.

 

Battle tactics:

Pilots share a neural link (don't know if that's the right word but connecting to the machine) to their vehicles, giving them additional control but risking the pilot's sanity/life due to neural feedback and sensory/process overload.

 

They follow Stronos' tenets of battle: Firepower, firepower and more firepower. Rejoicing in the iron symphony created by the voice of their mighty tanks.

 

Organization: Standar Iron Hands except for:

 

- Ranks: Not awarded by deeds but must challenge the person with the rank one wishes to obtain.

 

- Rediscovery unit: There's a special squad consisting of veteran techmarines who contantly explore the "Land of Shadows" searching for the fabled relics of the ancients.

 

 

That's it for now, it's in a very raw stage but the basic ideas are there.

[BassWave]

I have a few questions so that you can flesh this out more.

 

-From what I read, your clan tends to encounter lots of daemon activity, why is that?

-Do they fall under much suspicion from the inquisition?

-Is there a sacred artifact they are searching for in daemon inhabited places, hence all the activity?

-How do other clans interact with yours? I know my clan has radical beliefs on machine enhancement, that would put each of our clans at odds, for example.

[raganrkob]

Very important questions, actually I'm not a 100% sure on all of them yet

 

-From what I read, your clan tends to encounter lots of daemon activity, why is that?

 

Well in part is because from what I've written so far I kinda focused on their feud with slaanesh. Also I figured it would be likely given that they are so close to the Eye of Terror. In a sense they battle their inner enemies in the form of chaos corruption, falling to that is the worst kind of weakness.

 

-Do they fall under much suspicion from the inquisition?

 

I would imagine so, they share the AdMech's fascination with older technologies and their view of perfection is the fusion of human mind/soul with a machine body, and that begins cross the boundary of tolerance to such practices, at least with that part of the imperium. Add to that their multiple encounters with chaos and there's no surprise somebody would think they could be tainted.

This, however, seems to be something the whole chapter experiences so it wouldn't be just this clan company.

 

-Is there a sacred artifact they are searching for in daemon inhabited places, hence all the activity?

 

The part of them actively looking for ancient artefacts came to me while reading this bit of the IH librarium article:The tale tells that Ferrus stalked the silver serpent for days through a hostile and deadly region known as the Land of Shadows, the land of the mysterious ancients. Long since lost, the Land of Shadows was reputed to be a realm of monolithic relics of stone and metal, haunted by the ghosts of the dead.

I didn't have a single artefact/relic in mind (although it could be nice as well) more like them trying to dig out and rediscover all forgotten technologies. The "established fluff" about the Land of Shadows is very vague, but it seems that the things that haunt them could be either Necrons or Chaos. I still haven't decided yet but that's a possibility I'll consider.

 

-How do other clans interact with yours? I know my clan has radical beliefs on machine enhancement, that would put each of our clans at odds, for example.

 

Yeah I saw that when I read about your clan and I personally think it's great! Ferrus liked diversity and competition, hence the different clans and why they act independently. I was thinking that both clans could have a healthy rivalry both trying to achieve the same by different means. Even fighting side by side each would try to prove that their way is the best by attempting to outperform the other.

My clansmen aren't crusaders or missionaries and they have no interest in spreading their views or even explaining them, they respect their brothers in other clans and don't interfere with their affairs hoping that the others would do the same.