Current Iron Hands Structure

[Morovir]

Owing to the rather changeable nature of Iron Hands lore, I thought it would be best to actually have a thread that sets out what the lore on the structure of the Iron Hands actually is, as of David Guymer's works. Obvious spoilers for those who have not read any of the recent Iron Hands novels.

 

Clan Companies:

 

Currently, Clans nominally obey the tents of the Codex Astartes, with Clan Avernii being the 'Veteran Company', Clans Garrsak, Raukaan, Kaargul and Haarmek being the 'Battle Companies', Sorrgol and Borrgos being 'Tactical Reserve Companies', Clan Morlaag being the 'Assault Reserve Company', Clan Vurgaan being the 'Devastator Reserve Company' and Clan Dorrvok being the 'Scout Company'.

 

However, despite this structure, the eight central clans are still very much independent. Each of them carries out their own recruitment, with their recruits going into Dorrvok for the duration of their training, and then returning to the company that originally selected them upon their ascension to full battle-brother status, though it is noted that ascendant scouts can be bartered around companies, and so a scout marked for Borrgos may be acquired for resources and recruiting rights by Garrsak. Currently, there is a deficit of lore on ascension to Avernii, though there is an example of a disgraced brother of Avernii being acquired by another company in the same manner as a scout.

 

Also, while nominally 'reserve companies', Sorrgol, Borrgos, Morlaag and Vurgaan are still fully-autonomous, conducting independent operations much like the 'battle companies', rather than individual claves being attached to other clans for support. This does not appear to be the case for Avernii, with only a single clave operating on Thennos, but there is too little information available to be certain.

 

Rather than having a central armoury, each clan has its own Techmarines, and is responsible for maintaining its own vehicle pool.

 

Each clan is led by an Iron Captain, who may be an Iron Father, depending on seniority.

 

Clan Avernii:

 

 

 

 

Clan Garrsak:

 

 

 

 

Clan Raukaan:

 

 

 

 

Clan Kaargul:

 

 

 

 

Clan Haarmek:

 

 

 

 

Clan Sorrgol:

 

 

 

 

Clan Borrgos:

 

 

 

 

Clan Morlaag:

 

 

 

 

Clan Vurgaan:

 

 

 

 

Clan Dorrvok:

 

 

 

 

 

Clan Council and Iron Fathers:

 

There is no Chapter Master of the Iron Hands. Instead, the Iron Hands are run by the Clan Council. The Chapter Master equivalent is the Warleader, who occupies a position similar to a dictator of the Roman Republic.

 

The Clan Council is situated in the Eye of Medusa. Made up of 41 Iron Fathers, it is from this body that the Warleader is elected to head each individual endeavour, though he cedes his power back to the Council afterwards.

 

The 42nd seat is held by the triumvirate of magi known as the Voice of Mars, who technically do not have an individual vote, but instead place proxy votes for each absent Iron Father not already represented, thus giving them a disproportionate degree of influence over the Iron Hands.

 

The Eye of Medusa is a vault beneath the Felgarrthi mountains. It is surrounded by a maze of ironglass depictions of the Iron Hands, with rumours that the skull of Ferrus Manus lies at the centre of the maze, guarded by a Helfather. The council chamber itself is circular, hung with banners of current and past clans. The Iron Father are plugged into 41 podiums that face the centre of the room, where the podium of the Voice of Mars is situated, though upon the election of a Warleader, the Voice will cede the podium to them. Surrounding these are two hemispherical enclosures that non-Iron Fathers spectate from. Debates take place both across the noosphere and in archaic spoken Medusan.

 

The symbol of the Medusan Mechanicus is an Opus Machina with a black MKV faceplate in place of a human skull.

 

In the most recent iteration of the lore, Iron Fathers are fully separated from the Chalpain-Techmarine role they previously held. Now, they are the highest ranking members of the Iron Hands, being those that sit on the Iron Council. Upon being selected for ascension to Iron Father, the Iron Hand is sent to Mars for training as a Techmarine, though his training will be more in depth than that of an ordinary Techmarine, and he will also be given the implants that allow him to communicate in the Eye of Medusa. In this way, each Iron Father could theoretically fulfil the function of a Techmarine. Owing to their status, Iron Fathers habitually are either clad in Terminator armour or reside within a Dreadnought. Each Clan has multiple Iron Fathers.

 

The guardians of the Iron Council are the Helfathers. Clad in unmarked black Terminator plate, and bearing multiple heavy weapons, the Helfathers are figures of awe and dread even to other Iron Hands. They are revealed to be fallen Iron Hands reanimated through usage of the Keys of Hel, the forbidden tools of cybernetic resurrection returned to use after the death of Ferrus Manus. While ostensibly under the control of the Iron Fathers, it is shown that it is truly the Mechanicus that holds their reins.

 

Reclusiam:

 

The Iron Hands do possess Chaplains, referred to as Iron Chaplains. While attached to individual companies, the Reclusiam still maintains its own motor pool. Iron Chaplains are responsible for the spiritual care of the battle-brothers of their clan, as well as blessing their weapons in the same manner as Techmarines from other chapters would do.

 

Librarius:

 

While recruited by the Librarius, each individual Librarian spends the majority of their tenure attached to a specific Clan Company, with the most senior Librarian in each clan referred to as the Chief Librarian. Much like the Reclusiam, the LIbrarius maintains its own motor pool. The Librarius is also known to take psykers from the Black Ships as well as Medusa for their recruitment process.

 

Both the Reclusiam and Librarius lack sway in the politics of the Iron Council.

 

Apothecarion:

 

Very little is known about the Apothecarion, other than that each Clan Company has its own Apothecary, who is responsible for assessing the genetic compatibility of potential recruits, as well as overseeing both the implantation of Astartes organs within recruits and bionics within battle-brothers.

 

It is noted that there is a certain level of overlap between the roles of Techmarine, Chaplain and Apothecary within the Chapter

 

Fleet:

 

The Iron Hands fleet is sizeable, with each clan possessing an ironbarque as its capital ship, as well as battle-barges, strike cruisers, frigates and destroyers. The ironbarques were made for the Iron Hands by the Mechanicus in M33 in return for a 9999-year lease of one of their worlds, and are sizeable, with a battle-barge described as having two-thirds of the tonnage of one of them. In particular Clan Vurgaan is noted as having multiple battle-barges as well as its ironbarque.

 

Thennos, the furthest planet from the star in the Medusa system, was leased to Mars in return for the ironbarques. It will be returned to direct Medusan rule on 062099.M43. The ironbarques will not be returned. Think of it as someone paying rent to live in a house - at the end of the lease, the person vacates the house, but they don't get their money back.

 

This information is far from complete, as there will be things that I have either forgotten or missed. Please let me know if there is anything obviously wrong or missing, and I will address it. As more information becomes available, I will update this. Feel free to make any comments or enquire further.

[Daimyo-Phaeron Lenoch]

You say that the ironbarques were made for the chapter for a lease? Did the Iron Hands loan a world in their star system to the AdMech, and at the conclusion of the lease are the Iron Hands going to be required to turn the ships back over to the Admech?
 

Thank you for putting this together, having not read any of the novels I was not aware of much of this. Could you also expound on the Eye of Medusa?

[Morovir]

Thennos, the furthest planet from the star in the Medusa system, was leased to Mars in return for the ironbarques. It will be returned to direct Medusan rule on 062099.M43. The ironbarques will not be returned. Think of it as someone paying rent to live in a house - at the end of the lease, the person vacates the house, but they don't get their money back.

 

The Eye of Medusa is a vault beneath the Felgarrthi mountains. It is surrounded by a maze of ironglass depictions of the Iron Hands, with rumours that the skull of Ferrus Manus lies at the centre of the maze, guarded by a Helfather. The council chamber itself is circular, hung with banners of current and past clans. The Iron Father are plugged into 41 podiums that face the centre of the room, where the podium of the Voice of Mars is situated, though upon the election of a Warleader, the Voice will cede the podium to them. Surrounding these are two hemispherical enclosures that non-Iron Fathers spectate from. Debates take place both across the noosphere and in archaic spoken Medusan.

 

The symbol of the Medusan Mechanicus is an Opus Machina with a black MKV faceplate in place of a human skull.

 

 

OP updated with the information.

[Lord Nord in Gravis Armour]

Thanks for putting this together. 

[Shinespider]

From page 8 of Imperium Nihilus - Vigilant Defiant:

 

 

Now, they were over-committed and their prey had been able to summon reinforcements. It was an elementary mistake, and the Chapter Master of the Iron Hands, Kardan Stronos, resolved to make the Orks pay dearly for it.

 

It sure would be cool if GW cared enough about that chapter to not constantly make the same elementary mistakes.

[Arkangilos]

Except that he is the defacto chapter master. If he has been granted the authority by the council, even if it's temporary, that's what he is.

 

That's like saying, "he's not a dictator because he was given all that power from the senate for the crisis."

 

He's a dictator, whether for life or for the crisis, but still a dictator.

 

If he's a chapter master by position (war leader), he's a chapter master. Whether it's for the crisis or for life, he's the chapter master.

 

That's the difference between defacto and dejure. Defacto means it's what he really is by matter of fact, dejure is by matter of law. He is, by fact, a temporary chapter master elected into his position until the campaign or crisis is over. By law he is only that while the council maintains that he is.