Knights of the Golden Hand

[Bloodspeaker]

Founding - late M.38

Homeworld - Hasir(formerly), Kair Magna(currently) Keratyn sector, Ultima Segmentum

Successor of - Imperial Fists

Primarch - Rogal Dorn

Chapter Master - High King Gregor McKilligan

Allegiance - Imperium of Mankind

Heraldry - Gold (primary) Black (secondary)

 

 

History

 

 

Descendants of the noble line of Rogal Dorn, the Knights of the Golden Hand have served with honor, and were instrumental in re-establishing the Keratyn sector.  The Golden Hands, as they are more colloquially known, proved especially capable at defending fortresses and creating strong points to act as staging grounds for other forces. Many times this chapter was used as the anvil against which the enemies of the Imperium have been crushed. They earned themselves a well deserved reputation for tenacity and are reckoned as one of the best garrison forces in the segmentum.  They were changed forever by a disaster they call the Night of Iron Ghosts.

 

The Golden Hands chapter was named for a relic, believed to be one of the gauntlets of Rogal Dorn himself, found on a undisclosed world on the edge of the Ultima Segmentum. At their beginning the Golden Hands chapter that felt need to prove themselves worthy of such a boon. Since that time the chapter has come to see the gauntlet as proof that they are worthy sons of Dorn and have become extremely proud of their holy relic. This has caused some tension with other Imperial Fists successor chapters. It is known that each Primarch had several suits of armor made for them and the general consensus is that the Golden Hand is a gauntlet from one of Rogal Dorns earlier suits of power armor. While all the successors of Rogal Dorn feel a deep reverence for their gene-father, this chapter is said to sometimes hear a voice that several marines have independently identified as belonging to the long dead primarch.

 

The Night of Iron Ghosts

 

"Lets this coming day of the Brothers Festival be a day of remembrance. Let our fallen brothers live on in your hearts and minds and know that you too shall be remembered. My brothers, let us feast!"

+++Chapter Master Hasek Jakad at the final Brothers Festival, shortly before the Night of Iron Ghosts begun+++

 

This blackest of moments in chapter history occurred in early 148.M40, approximately 1200 years after the chapters founding. The Golden Hands had gathered to celebrate the Brothers Festival. This festival was celebrated during a particular celestial alignment on the chapters homeworld of Hasir and was used by the Golden Hands as a chance to remember their dead, proclaim new champions and forge the bonds of brotherhood anew. Almost every company had sent representatives and the companies not currently in action came in their entirety. Out of an chapter of a thousand marines more than eight hundred attended the Brothers Festival that year. The only company not to send representatives was the 8th company, which was engaged against Orks on the other side of the segmentum.

 

It was the penultimate night of the Brothers Festival. The Chapter Master of the Golden Hands, Hasek Jakad, had just addressed the assembled space marines, declaring that the coming day would be a day dedicated to remembrance of the chapters fallen brothers. A series of explosions shook the chapters fortress. Caught off guard, it was several minutes before the assembled Golden Hands could respond. By then it was too late. Armed and ready to repel enemy forces, the space marines exiting the chapel could only look on in horror as the sands of Hasir disgorged legion upon legion of silvered, metallic skeletons. Everywhere the space marines looked more of these alien monsters were rising from the desert, the eerie green energy discharges of their weapons bringing death everywhere they touched.

 

Many of the space marine present threw themselves upon the enemy, knowing full well that this was the hour of their death. By the time the Golden Hands rallied an effective defense almost half the chapter was dead or critically injured. The Necrons already outnumbers the space marines hundreds to one and still more were emerging from their long buried crypts. Seeing the doom of their chapter elements of the 1st, 4th and 7th companies tried to evacuate as many of the chapters serfs and relics as they could, desperately trying to forestall the total destruction of the Golden Hands. The last thing they heard as they left Hasir behind was a vox message proclaiming that the Hashtep dynasty was reborn. These space marines would later be reformed into a new 1st company. To this day members of the 1st company blacken the faceplates of their helmets as a reminder of the loss of their homeworld.

 

The Reforging

 

Reeling from this near deathblow the Golden Hands who had survived the massacre executed a desperate an unplanned transit into the Warp. They did not know where, when or even if they would emerge. Their hope was to reach another world in the Imperium and secure aid in taking back their homeworld. This plan would go spectacularly awry. After a year trapped in the Warp the chapter exited near an backwater death-world in an unconquered sector of the galaxy. This planet was called Kair Magna. Their battle-barge badly damaged from the long journey in the Warp, the Golden Hands had no choice but to land.

 

Kair Magna would prove to be a turning point for the beleaguered chapter. The clansmen of the planet were initially hostile to their unwelcome, trans-human guests. After a week of hard fighting the space marines and the clans had reached a standstill. The space marines were weary and to few to fight off so many opponents for long, while the clansmen could not hope to match the space marines advanced technology or enhanced physiology. The clansmen made up for their lack of technology with a fighting spirit that was second to none. Out of the whole chapter, only 78 brothers of the Golden Hand had made it to Kair Magna and this was far too few to capitalize on their strengths. While their brother-marines of the 8th company still fought against orks half the segmentum away, the Golden Hand on Kair Magna had no way to contact them.

 

Chapter Master Hasek Jahad met with the Elders of the clans, seeking a way to end the fighting. The Chapter Master learned that the clans were resisting because their traditions demanded it. He had also learned of a tradition called the Trial of Challenge. If an individual could best the Hundred, the best warriors on Kair Magna, then he would be proclaimed as the High King of the Clans. Now seeing a way not just to end the fighting but to bring his chapter back from the brink of extinction, Hasek Jahad declared that he would undertake the Trial of Challenge. A veteran of many wars, Jahad knew he was more than a match for any one mortal, thus he suggested that he fight the Hundred in ten bouts each with ten opponents. The elders agreed.

 

Stripped of his armor and wargear, armed only with a longsword, the chapter master of the Golden Hands stepped into the middle of a ring made of the clans of Kair Magni and brothers of the Golden Hand. Battle was joined. The Hundred were extremely skilled and fought well as a unit, but were no match for Hasek Jahad. Nevertheless as the day wore on he begun to tire, his body covered in hundreds of small wounds. Finally, as night begun to fall, the last of the Hundred stood alone before him. This man was a warrior of superlative skill, managing to hold out against the Chapter Master for over an hour. At one point he even managed to drive the space marine to his knees. As he fell, the warrior put out Hasek Jahad's left eye. Roaring with pain and rage the Chapter Master rose like a canon ball, hammering his head into the warriors chin and knocking him out cold.

 

The first man ever to successfully complete the Trial of Challenge, Hasek Jahad stood victorious before the clansmen and Elders of Kair Magni. As he looked across the assembled clan warhosts, who only the day before had been engaged in a vicious war against his forces, each man his gaze alighted upon knelt and swore fealty to him as the High King. Seeking to preserve as many of the traditions that had produced such excellent warriors as he could, the High King Hasek Jahad ordered that the Elders would be responsible for finding men worthy of recruitment into the Knights of the Golden Hand. Since that time it is still the mortal Elders of Kair Magni who judge if a man may attempt to become a space marine. The Trial of Challenge has remained an important part of the chapters traditions. Whenever a new sergeant is appointed he must prove himself by besting each member of his squad in a ceremonial single combat. Each company captain, called a King, must similarly best the sergeants in his company and each new High King must best the other company captains.

 

Recruitment

 

"No longer are you of the clan MacKilligan or Fordringar or Aldstaf. No, from now on you are in service to a higher calling. From now on your master is the Master of Mankind! He entrusted His son, Rogal Dorn, with the protection of holy Terra itself. Rogal Dorn entrusts his sons with a heavier burden still. It is to us that the defense of the human race ultimately falls. It is from us that the Emperors' wrath flows. I salute you now...Knights of the Golden Hand!"

+++ High King William Brackan, addressing new initiates upon their elevation to the status of space marine.

 

To Be Continued...

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Looks promising thus far. By the way, why is the Chapter named for a "Golden Hand"? Does the Chapter Master wield a "Golden Hand"- a master-crafted power fist and Chapter relic, like the Gauntlets of Ultramar- in battle?

[Warsmith Uveron]

Good Read so far, I feel that the reforging section needs more work, condensing down slightly maybe.

[Frater Cula]

A promising start!  I like the idea of veterans with blackened faceplates in remembrance of the Night of Iron Ghosts.

 

It will be interesting to see if the Night of the Iron Ghosts will affect their combat doctrine or organization- maybe they don't like having their whole chapter together in one place, because of the risk?

 

As far as writing style, consider this reorganization/editing of the first paragraph:

 

"Descendants of the noble line of Rogal Dorn, the Knights of the Golden Hand have served with honor, and were instrumental in re-establishing the Keratyn sector.  The Golden Hands, as they are more colloquially known, proved especially capable at defending fortresses and creating strong points to act as staging grounds for other forces. Many times this chapter was used as the anvil against which the enemies of the Imperium have been crushed. They earned themselves a well deserved reputation for tenacity and are reckoned as one of the best garrison forces in the segmentum.  They were changed forever by a disaster they call the Night of Iron Ghosts."

 

This example changes the paragraph so that it first gives a general orientation for the chapter.  Then, it introduces the Night of Iron Ghosts, which is the next section.  Changes are always more meaningful when the reader can apply them to some baseline concept.

[Bloodspeaker]

@ Bjorn Firewalker - I've added a section explaining the chapters name. Thankyou for making me thinking about it. I really hadn't thought much more than "sounds cool, can use Imperial Fists iconography". Yes, i'm lazy like that. I like the way it turned out though.

 

@Frater Cula - I added your modified version of the first paragraph. You are right, it does make much more sense.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

I like the Trial of Challenge and its importance in the Chapter's history. I must ask if the Space Marine Captains undergo it every time they must select a new Chapter Master, though.

 

I'm also curious about the Chapter's aesthetics. The mention of "clan MacKilligan" made me think of Scots. Are the Knights of the Golden Hand Scottish, with tartan-pattern tabards?