Index Astartes: Iron Warriors-Guardians of Man
"My sons we have fought with the Imperial Fists more time then I can count now we must fight with the Space Wolves to defend Terra a place we have fortified with the Fists. The Emperor trusts us, my brothers trust us, mankind trusts us so let us fight against the traitors to my father. Fight men for the Emperor for the Imperium." Pertarubo to the Iron Warriors prior to the Terran campaign.
Origins
"We are men of Iron, we are men of war, we are warriors of Olympia and we are Iron Warriors." Perturabo to the Soldiers he commanded.
"You see it to father? You can see the gaping warping tear as well at last someone else can see it." Perturabo to the Emperor on the Eye of Terror.
Perturabo's pod would land on the Civilized World of Olympia in the middle of a field nearby a blacksmiths shop. Where he would be found and taken in by the elderly proprietor, Perturabo would be taught by all of the village's artisans and tradesmen. Perturabo would become the greatest of village's craftsmen. Then the armies of the nearby city of Pangalos would attack and raze the village killing everyone except for Perturabo's adoptive father whom they tortured and left out die, Perturabo would come back to the ashes of his home and find the body of the man who had raised him and cared for him his father's last words would be simple to not dwell on hate and Rage and car for others and understand the others side viewpoint. Following this Perturabo would bury his father and left to the great city of Lochos where he would swear fealty to the tyrant Dammekos as long as he would have the opportunity to lead the host of Lochos Dammekos would grant his request and the Olympian Wars began.
The first target would be the city of Pangalos where he would lead a small army against one of their outlying forts which he would break down the ancient wooden gates and slaughter the entire garrison singlehanded he would then rebuild the gates stronger and more powerful thus when a much larger force from Pangalos attacked the for a few days later commanded by the same man who had sacked Perturabo's village the rebuilt defences would take a heavy toll on the attackers eventually only the commander would survive the attack and was immediately beheaded. Dammekos would grant more men and resources to Perturabo and was given the order to take the city and Perturabo obeyed the city walls would be broken down and he would tear through the city like a ghost of wrath and vengeance the streets that he fought on would be covered in blood and bone as the mighty warhammer he wielded pulverised his enemies. As he raised the flag of Lochos atop the ash covered palace Perturabo would swear an oath that he would unite Olympia and march mankind forward into the future on this world.
He would launch a great series of war to complete this oath and every war that he fought he would quickly conquer a city and commence the integration into the empire that the city of Lochos had formed. Until the last remaining cities would proclaim an act of unity against the armies of Perturabo this would be the last and longest of the Olympian wars the end result was never at question the fall of the first city would be broken and pillaged and slowly one by one the last free cities of Olympia fell. Until at last only one remained the city of Nova Constantinople the Grand Army of Lochos was gathered to crush the last defiance of independence on Olympia. The defenders were outnumbered, weakened and had seen their allies fall one by one over the past through week but they would not go down without a fight for they were the last men of free Olympia. As Perturabo stood triumphant over the fallen corpses of the dead a message arrived from Lochos, Dammekos was on deaths door. Perturabo would rush back to the city that he built an empire for to find the second most important man in his life at the time had been poisoned by a rival noble, Perturabo would lead a purge of the nobles with the purge leading to the decapitation of the upper class of the Lochosian empire. Following this Perturabo would proclaim himself as the Marble King of Olympia with his bodyguard would be named the Iron Warriors.
A scare few days after the coronation of Perturabo the Emperor of Mankind came to Olympia Perturabo would recognise him as his father and knelt to him and was named as Satrap of Olympia and Lord of the fourth legion. He would be taken to Terra and shown his legion he would unimpressed but swore that he would make them the greatest of all legions. While there he would meet the brother whom he would hold the strongest relationship and closest friend Rogal Dorn.
The Great Crusade
"I was the Marble King for marble is a material of construction and art of beauty and carving. You shall be Iron Warriors for Iron is a material of war and bloodshed of slaughter and destruction my guard were the Iron Warriors for that is how the man who raised me lived with Iron and how he fell as a Warrior. We shall march forward into the future into the unity of mankind so my sons Terran or Olympian we are all human and we shall fight those who dare stand against mankind. For the Emperor! For the Imperium! For Olympia!" Perturabo naming the Iron Warriors at Terra.
"Iron Within! Iron Without" Battlecry of the Iron Warriors legion.
During the Great Crusade the Iron Warriors would herald destruction and laying low those who would stand against the Imperium after the destruction they would leave an attachment behind to rebuild the planet as a productive member of the Imperium of Man. They would fight in two major conflicts during the Great Crusade the breaking of the Black Judges and the pacification of Pahlavi, however they would also perform a peaceful tasks alongside the Imperial Fists. Both would show the will of the Iron Warriors and their refusal to give in to those who deified the Emperor and his Imperium.
The Black Judges were a horrifically mutated group of ancient Humans that had enslaved the Meratra cluster. Within their domains they had proclaimed themselves as the arbiters of human purity and thus through that life and death. Perturabo would request this task as his first duty as a son of the Emperor. The cluster would have no idea what was coming for them the assault would tear through the defensive fleets the outlying planets would fall one by one to overwhelming barrages of artillery, blazing bolters and Land raiders tearing across the countryside. The Black Judges would react to this in the traditional manner of gathering their remaining military strength around the asteroid that they had named the Rock of Judgment and taken as a capital and attacked the Iron Warriors fleet. The battle would be long and brutal with the Rock of Judgment being a focal point of the battle. Until a heavily damaged light cruiser decided to ram the Rock of Judgment. The ship would detonate the warp drive upon contact in a desperate hope to break the defences on the Rock of Judgment they would more than succeed with the vast majority of the western side of the ship was torn into the warp. The gaping hole that was left would be vital to the Iron Warriors as Perturabo would teleport in alongside his personal guard 'The Marble Circle' with the shields down. Perturabo would fight his way to the hollowed-out heart of the Rock of Judgment were Perturabo would tear the Black Judges apart and broke the ancient life support machines. The death of the Black Judge would prove devasting to the morale of their forces fighting for them following the broadcast of the prof of their death the force of the Black Judges officially surrendered to the Iron Warriors Legion.
The pacification of Pahlavi would be brutal and long conflict with the heavily mountainous world refusing to surrender at any cost. The hollowed-out mountains that made up the core of the fortifications on the world would provide an interesting challenge to Perturabo as he had been ordered to leave reparable damage in order for the fortress to be used by the Imperium as research stations for the Adeptus Mechanicus. Perturabo would rise to the task with relish. Most of the fortress fell when Perturabo would capture the air vents and insert poison gas into the ventilation of the fortresses, however the remaining would implement more efficient ventilation that managed to keep the poison gas out. To deal with this Perturabo managed to bail out the majority of the remaining mobile forces within the fortresses these would be wiped out with the speed of the Iron Warriors tanks and mobile forces managed to gain a foothold within the mountains this would lead to a brutal wave of assaults on the footholds with each wave causing often causing hundreds if not thousands of casualties to the native Pahlavians until the order to counter attack was given the assault would shred through the weakened defence lines and managed to take the gate controllers allowing reinforcements to flood in, the demoralised outnumbered and starved defenders would surrender to the Iron Warriors four days later.
The Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists would at first have a minor rivalry on the ability on who had a greater ability to build fortifications and monuments on conquered worlds this however would get out of hand and slowly the rivalry between the two Legions grew and evolved and bitterness began to become entrenched within a certain segment of the Legions beginning to loathe the opposition the Emperor would see this and chose to nip this in the bud with the decision to order the two legions to jointly fortify Terr and the other Legions Homeworlds and as they moved across the galaxy working together to raise walls and expanded defences turning already some of the most well defended places in the galaxy into the definition of a pyrrhic victory if attacked and if victory is clawed from the breaking morale of the attackers.
The Horusian Heresy
"We are the Guardians of Man; we are the shields of Terra. We have raised these walls, we have fought and died for mankind and today we shall defend the heart of mankind we shall defend my father. For the Emperor! Iron Within! Iron Without." Perturabo to his legion prior to the first assault on Terra with the loyalist legions joining in at the end of the speech.
"The defences performed within expected parameters. Did they not brother?" Perturabo to Rogal Dorn on the effects of the jointly developed fortifications of Terra.
For most of the Heresy the Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists would stay on Terra digging in for the eventual assault and expanding the already massive defences in order to bleed out the hosts of the traitors. As the Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists prepared for the assault they would also start to train and recruit from the population of Terra. As the traitor legions slowly drew closer the hearts of the Iron Warriors hardened and prepared to fight and die for the Emperor a ray of hope would come from the planet of Fenris when fully half of the Space Wolves Legion led by Leman Russ himself would arrive only a few weeks before the vanguard of the Horusian fleet.
The Terran campaign would be the most brutal conflict fought by the Iron Warriors with thousands dying each day on both sides, the priorly made forts each fell one by one in brutal lasts stands with no mercy asked for or given the Iron Warriors would often fight to the last bolt shell and then claw the enemy to death with their nails if they had to. One of the most brutal last stands would be the fall of Washton in old Merica wherein a traitor Imperator Titan would be destroyed when a squad of Iron Warriors managed to fight their way to the bridge and managed to detonate the core. Despite all of these attacks against the invaders they still slowly ground towards the Imperial Place.
The Scouring
"We will avenge father we will drag the heads of those traitors back to Olympia and pile them on the tallest mountain. For when we have gathered the heads of those who spat upon their oaths father will return." Warsmith Kroger on how to bring Perturabo back Kroger would later be found to have fallen to Khorne and was killed by one Nathaniel Garro.
"Fight for the living. Fight for the dead. Fight for father. Fight for the Emperor."
During the scouring the Iron Warriors would often lead the charge against the fortified areas that had fallen to the traitors or the few that had been fortified by the traitors as the Iron Warriors marched forward against the traitor's that had risen against the Emperor. They would fight with wrath and anger against those who had slain their Primarch and betrayed their oaths to the Imperium. They would fight into major battles the battle of Mars and the battle of Colchis.
The Battle of Mars would be one of the worst conflicts fought in the Scouring with the forces of three legions against the Dark Mechanicus and Iron Hands that had not managed to escape in time. They would not give in without drawing as much blood as possible against the enemy. The battle would actually end remarkably quickly for a force that was fighting to the death. The Iron Hands would refuse to fight a guerrilla war against the loyalists and would fall back to Olympus Mons and would state that they would never surrender no matter the casualties. The Iron Warriors managed to seize control of the ventilation systems and inserted a new Death Guard developed virus that killed the opposition due to the sheer lethally.
The battle of Colchis would be an unmitigated failure due to overconfidence, inefficiency and sheer bad luck. The assault would begin with a bombard of the planet with the destruction of the mostly abandoned Vharadesh followed by a drop pod assault. They would find a world stripped of industry and the majority of the population of the planet having seemingly vanished into thin air. As the Iron Warriors wiped out the remaining population of the planet the fleet of the Word Bearers legion tore into the system with all guns blazing. The ships in orbit would be forced a way from the planet as the Word Bearers would open fire on their homeworld with cyclonic torpedoes. The Iron Warriors would swear vengeance on the Word Bearers and to this day have a large number of forces on the Ghoul Stars Iron Shields.
The Forty-First Millennium
"Warriors of Iron and Soldiers of Marble you are called together to march forward and fight for the Emperor and the Imperium let the Fourth rise." The protocol of the Iron Unity an act to reform the full Iron Warriors legion.
"We are the guardians of man; we are the shields of the Imperium and we will stand and fight for the Emperor." Iron Lord Honshu on why the Iron Warriors fight.
The Iron Warriors are one of the legions that fight the most as across the galaxy they will attack enemy worlds with blazing gunfire and walls of artillery, their tanks tear through the enemy lines and their terminators will trudge forward as pillars of death and destruction. The Iron Walls are jointly held by the Iron Warriors and the Imperial Fists to fight against the rising darkness while the Thirteenth Black Crusade seems to be coming from the Black Legions dominions within the Eye of Terror, The Ultramarines are gathering for a great plague war and the Zaherialn Crusade is gathering in the Kingdom of New Caliban despite this the Iron Warriors are gathering together preparing to fight for the Imperium and Olympia.
Organization
"If there is still a building standing taller than two meters tall you have not used enough artillery." The official Iron Warriors stance on overkill.
"When the Guns are blazing, and smoke fills the sky and you tear across the newly formed plains in the depths of a Land Eater. That is true happiness." Training sergeant Lakis on the military tactics of the Iron Warriors.
The Iron Warriors training and tactics is heavily focused upon ranged weaponry, mechanised warfare and overwhelming firepower. The opening stages of any battle with the Iron Warriors is the Titans and artillery opening fire, then the tanks and armoured transports tearing forwards filled to the brink with Iron Warriors armed with Volkite pistols, bolters and rift guns. The training is often times focused upon waves of firepower and little if any melee training.
Primarch
"The statue at the Heart of Lochos is strange the face seems to have a vague form of sentience and awareness despite the lifeless stone it is carved from." Goge Vandire on the central statue of Perturabo in the heart of Olympia civilian population.
"My brother had a strange mind one could see a bitterness that lurked just behind the loyal emotionless face, but it never arose, and it never will." The opening line of the Chapter on Perturabo in the Historical work The Primarchs: Heirs of the Emperor by Magnus the Red.
Perturabo's tomb is a mighty work of construction with a statute carved into the side of the greatest mountain in Olympia with the entrance to the tomb itself in the open palm of the Primarch and in the very heart of the mountain there lies a statis chamber bearing the corpse of Perturabo as it is when found on the floors of the Vengeful Spirit. A torn throat and split armour coated in blood and gore and a face of honour and will Perturabo lies there until Olympia burns itself.
Homeworld
"The mighty peaks of Olympia stretch across the horizon dominating the landscape showing the sheer will and determination of mankind as the taming of this land shows our sheer will and honour." Goge Vandire on Olympia.
"Lots of mountain's and couple of deadly animals I've seen worse." Ragnar Blackmane of Olympia.
The world of Olympia is a harsh landscape with mountains that make some of the lesser peaks of Fenris look small by comparison while the few lowlands are the home of great agricultural regions where massive farm estates dominate both the economy and the landscape save for a single continent. The island continent of Soter is a massive forge wherein endless ranks of power armour, weapons, ammunition and titans are constantly produced and deployed to war for the glory of the Imperium alongside the Iron Warriors. The Planet is part of the massive Iron canal that stretches from the Segmentum Solar to Olympia.
Gene-Seed
"The Gene-seed of the Iron Warriors is one of the purest I have founded they are just incredibly paranoid, and I have met members of the twentieth." Azheck Ahriman on the Iron Warriors Gene-Seed.
"I am not paranoid you are paranoid." Iron Warriors sergeant before being tranquilised after not getting enough sleep or food.
The Gene-seed of the Iron Warriors is one of the purest in the Imperium with the largest number of successor legions the only mutation is a rise of suspicion and paranoia. The Iron Warriors have formed six successor Legions the Marble Lords, Sons of Kronos, Titan Brothers, Guns of Olympia, Sons of Perturabo and the Sons of Thebes.