Iron Hands Successor Concept

[ZEze0707]

First of All
Greetings, this is my second publication in apart of... my introductory post. Exploring the site, I found that there is a section for complete DIY articles (which apparently no one has touched in years) and other places for things like that, but I couldn't really decide which one this would go in, and I saw that this section, the forums of fan fiction, was the most general and open, so I will use it in the meantime to publish my ideas or short stories.

Although this Astartes chapter is not my main creation, nor the only one, it is the one I am currently developing. Therefore, it is the one that I feel I can best show and from which I can best receive feedback because everything is in process and nothing is set in stone yet. The idea for this chapter arose from an inspiration in Wrath of Iron (The Book), Devastation of Baal, Halo Reach and Halo 3 ODST, being doomed to extinction.

What I Want
I have always been a "writer" who loved that his writings can be "perfectly" canon within the universe, in the sense that I like to follow the spectrum of the GW canon as closely as possible, although I am not rigid with that, since at the same time I appreciate the flexibility that it gives us that it is precisely a spectrum (thanks to all the sources contradicting each other) therefore many of my decisions will fit the canon while in others I may decide to take advantage of gray areas. Making up credible excuses in order to fit in what I think is a good concept.

With this specific chapter I have challenged myself to subvert the trope of the iron hands (the cybernetic madmen who had a serious character setback after the death of Ferrus Manus), to explore in some sense the consequences of resisting an addiction or contradicting bodily needs and at the same time to shed light on the concept of how eternal war is a cycle of useless violence created because of the primarchs. The latter is much more something about the Fall of Tyramened, the last campaign of the chapter, but I would also like to keep it in mind in general.

The Crowned Sires

Quote

"Already I see the madness that path leads to, and so I shall excise the silver from my hands. In doing so I shall weaken myself and my sons, but nonetheless it must be done. The hands are strong, and have created great things, but they are not mine."

The Crowned Sires were a Codex-compliant Chapter of Ferrus Manus' lineage, established during the Second Founding in 021.M31. They were forged in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy and the Great Scouring, a conflict that annihilated the atheism of the Imperial Truth and the Emperor's dream forever. Officially recognized as one of the twenty Chapters of the Astartes Praeses, they are nevertheless little-known outside the immediate proximity of the Eye of Terror. Censored by their lineage and forgotten in the records of the Apocrypha of Davio and the Apocrypha of Skaros, their names exist only in the ink of the Mythos Angelica Mortis, the writing of which would mark the beginning of their close relationship with the Ecclesiarchy.

 

Suffering from profound ideological conflicts with their fellow successor brethren, they isolated themselves from the Iron Hands despite the proximity of their homeworlds. The Astartes of the Crowned Sires took a vastly different approach compared to the rest of the surviving Legion regarding the death of their Primarch, Ferrus Manus, on the black sands of Isstvan V. They decided that the only true way to honor their father was to battle the malignant passions of the mind. They opposed the body dysmorphia inherent to their psyche and resisted the superiority complex born from the contempt for external weakness; instead, they despised their own internal weakness in the face of superhuman arrogance.

 

During their operations, they proved to be ironclad defenders of the Eye of Terror's borders, safeguarding the logistical lines of the Adeptus Ministorum in close collaboration with the mortal defenders of the Imperium, such as the Imperial Navy and the Imperial Guard. The chronicles of their campaigns, written from the perspective of mortals, always recall the attitude of the Sires as strangely approachable and understanding, often in an uncomfortable and sometimes terrifying manner, due to what felt like forced attempts to bond with their lesser allies. However, this did not deter the closeness of priests and pilgrims, who viewed Tyramened as a jewel in the military crown of the Astartes Praeses' defensive networks.

 

At the events of the 13th Black Crusade, a massive Traitor fleet assaulted the Feherum System under the direct orders of Abaddon the Despoiler. For three months, the Crowned Sires, alongside mortals drawn from across the galaxy, fought in the defense of the Refuge World against a crushing coalition of Emperor's Children, Night Lords, and Iron Warriors, spearheaded by the Black Legion. It would be the sins and virtues of their mortal allies that ultimately marked the Chapter's extinction, as well as what was managed to be salvaged from the tragedy. The penance of the guilty continues to this day, as petitions are fervently made for the Chapter's reconstruction through the Ultima Founding. Only those who were serving in the Deathwatch during the cataclysm survive as the Chapter's last heirs to this day.

Why I Want They Like This
You will see that there are several "complicated" elements, firstly, I did a few tricks to justify their existence, their way of being and try not to break the suspension of disbelief. To get them into the Astartes Praeses was easy, since there are several chapters that are part of the coalition but never mentioned, to justify that no one knows them even being a 2nd founding chapter of the Iron Hands (and apart from one of the FEW successors of them) I used the ideological conflict and censorship of the rest of the lineage. The most difficult thing to justify is that they have not taken the same :cuss:ty path regarding the death of Ferrus Manus as the rest of the lineage, and this is why I need them to be second founding, since I need them to have been in the presence of what the legion was before Ferrus Manus: The Stormwalkers

The chapter will take many elements from the Stormwalkers, such as their combat doctrine based on Combined Arms, Massive Firepower and High-Intensity Warfare but I also want they to take the true teachings of Ferrus Manus once he arrives as primarch, really understanding what he meant when he said that the flesh was weak. They also have to reject the later iron council, which is easy since they recruited a lot of marines exiled by Ferrus Manus and did really :cuss:ty things. 

During this time they would be called Clan Gniev (which comes from the Polish meaning Fury/Wrath) and they would distance themselves from the iron hands by recovering Tyramened, a secondary recruitment world of the legion which after Istvaan V would be captured by the Word Bearers. This world is quite important since it will be the reason they are classified as Astartes Praeses and at the same time it will justify that they are not in absolute :cuss: regarding resources despite being censored by the iron hands... in addition to being the parallel to Reach. If you're curious, the names have Hungarian and Polish roots, as the Reach settlers spoke Hungarian and both countries were European bastions against the Ottoman Empire.

Homeworld: Tyramened

Tyramened was an industrial fortress-world considered beautiful by generals but austere to any remembrancer. Conquered by the X Legion under the command of Ferrus Manus during the Great Crusade, the world was utilized as a secondary recruitment world while the Mechanicum settled on the planet to exploit the rich ceramite mines that stretched thousands of meters underground across its entire surface. Due to these properties, it was considered a vital logistical world in the efforts to force the galaxy to its knees before the plans of the Emperor and humanity itself.

 

After Fulgrim's forces launched a devastating attack on the Legion's fleet, Ferrus Manus took his most veteran warriors and departed for Isstvan V, from which he would never return. The Legion, confused and driven to madness, would launch campaigns of vengeance and attempt a dismal reorganization in the following years. This left Tyramened forgotten, save for its role in desperately squeezing out more suitable recruits, causing a severe drop in morale among the populace, a matter the Astartes never truly cared about. In 007.M31, the Word Bearers launched an assault on Medusa to seize the Keys of Hel; despite their failure, they invaded and captured the Feherum System in the process.

 

During the Bitter War in 010.M31 against Colchis, the homeworld of the Word Bearers, Tyramened endured a campaign of retribution led by Clan Gniev, commanding cohorts of the Imperial Army. The assault was brutal. The Word Bearers employed scorched-earth tactics to prevent their glorious monuments and religious relics from falling into the cold grip of the Iron Hands, ignorant of the attacking Clan's own rejection of the Iron Council. War ravaged the planet for weeks until the enemy yielded, fleeing into deep space, convincing themselves that they were departing solely to defend Colchis. With the heretical presence purged, Clan Gniev took ownership of the planet, claiming it for themselves rather than for the Legion.

 

The original name of the Fortress that watched over Tyramened was forced into oblivion, along with the blasphemies contained within, and was blessed with the name the mortals from the great cities called it: The Hamvakardium. For years, the Gniev would rebuild the planet and defend the vicinity of the Feherum System against the incursions of the Traitor Legions. Under the leadership of the Astartes, the world would once again know greatness, heavily fortifying itself against the constant threat of the Eye of Terror. Hives like Alta Vratislavia, which would later become the Planetary Capital, became vast concentrations of both defensive fortifications and humanist beauty, disguised beneath the mathematical aesthetic that still characterized these Iron Hands.

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Well, it seems that I will soon reach the text limit of the post. I have even more written down, including notes on what would be The Fall of Tyramened. Sorry for writing so much and sorry to the administrator who has to approve this! If there is a better place or way to post this, let me know. Thanks for your reading. I accept feedback, ideas, etc. If I see that there is interest, I will publish the rest of the notes and show some of my friends' suggestions. Sorry if there are grammatical errors