Index Astartes: Iron Hands-Engineers of Madness
"My sons many of you may still question why we shall betray the Emperor and stand with Horus in this glorious revolution against the weakness that resides in Terra's halls. While others may do this out of vengeance we do this out of necessity, mankind cannot continue to be ruled by the weak, the feeble, mankind should no must be led by the strong those who fought, bleed and died to make humanity strong and today we seize that chance, today we take what is ours by right the power of control over mankind for we are those who died for the weak and feeble on Terra who profit off our deaths, our struggles and our duty. Today our humiliation ends. DEATH TO THE FALSE EMPEROR! HAIL HORUS!" Ferrus Manus to his legion at the beginning of the Horusian Heresy.
Origins
"When the skies split, and the earth roared that was when he came unto Medusa that was when the horror of Iron came unto our world." A rambling Pysker that of Medusa towards the end of the Great Crusade.
"I am the lord of Iron. Who tamed the ancient technological mysteries of this world? I did! Who broke the Iron Serpent? I did! Yet you trust this man, you trust Benden? Why because Benden is an honourable man." Ferrus Manus to the people of Medusa during the 'upheaval'.
The world that the Tenth Primarch's pod landed on was Medusa. An ancient world covered in mountains and ice with the few humans divided into large clans engaged in constant warfare. The pod landed in the tallest mountain a peak known as Karaashi. His pod punched through the ancient ice and stone until it arrived in the lair of a beast that's age was completely uncomprehend to both the People of Medusa and Humanity at large. He landed in an ancient chamber home to an ancient weapon from the War in Heaven. It took the form of a massive silver serpent with gleaming green eyes formed from the living metal that would later be known as Necrodermis by Imperial Scholars. As the infant Primarch crawled form the ruins of his incubation pod he looked upon the face of a mighty Necrontyr weapon the 'Iron Serpent'. The Serpent would tear himself free of his prison and unleash his wrath on the population of Medusa and as the young Ferrus Manus stared at the destruction it had wrought as it fled he decided to hunt down the beast for the people of Medusa.
As the Iron Serpent tore his way across Medusa unleashing the weaponry that it's forgotten creators had deemed necessary for it to be fitted with. The clans that foolishly rode out to defeat it with the weapons that they had available were obliterated reduced to shattered rubble and steaming bones. As the Iron Serpent rampaged across Medusa there was always a giant that followed it always a bit too late and he always continued on his single-minded quest to find and kill the Iron Serpent. As he roamed, he defeated hundreds of foes and wild beasts until his path could be traced by the lower number of dangerous beasts.
After three long years of the young Primarch hunting the Iron Serpent he would find it at the mouth of an active volcano with streams of molten rock coursing around them and their final battle began. The Iron Serpent unleashed its wrath as the young Primarch charged in to grapple it a close range. The Primarch's strategy at first was to cast it into the lava yet every time it managed to escape before it was cripplingly weakened. As the duel continued forces from the nearby clans gathered to help put it down. The core of the assembled clans' militaries attacked the Iron Serpent and were obliterated being flayed atom by atom until they were just steaming blackened skeletons. As the young Primarch saw this sadism and brutality he knew that he had to end it now. He lunged forward and grabbed the serpent and then pushed into the lava up to his elbows and he held it there for three hours as it slowly and brutally died and when he removed his arms from the lava expecting to find stumps instead up to the elbow his arm were coated in the living metal that the Iron Serpent had been made out of. As he stared at his new arms a lone member of the clans came upon and named him Ferrus Manus a name that in High Gothic translated to 'Iron Hands'.
The newly named Ferrus Manus would travel across Medusa making a name for himself as a wandering warrior. He would slaughter hundreds more wild beasts of Medusa until he had been made an honorary member of each clan on the planet. Four years after the death of the Iron Serpent the upheaval began a brutal period wherein the foundations of Medusan society were torn apart as the Khrave came to Medusa. The Khrave were an ancient race that had spread across the stars during the Age of Strife and fed on mankind. Their landing was on the towering slopes of Karaashi and then their infection spread across the planet wiping out every human force that they found with their Warp-glamour's being coated in blood within hours of landing as the nearby clans launched attacks in memory of the last time that something landed on Karaashi.
The Khrave invasion was brutal and efficient with clan after clan being forced from their ancestral homes with nothing the defenders could do on a majority case basis working against the invaders. Until the battle of Serpent's rest where the defenders were commanded by Ferrus Manus himself. The assault began with a frontal charge with their Warp-glamour's carving their way through the Medusan warriors until Ferrus Manus led a counterattack. At the very beginning of his charge he reached the largest and most powerful of the Khrave and tore it apart within a few seconds his living metal hands proving able to punch straight through the armour and crush the vital organs in the same movement. As the Khrave collapsed his weapons fell to the ground and Ferrus Manus took them up and unleashed them on his enemies with each blade being coated in the Khrave blood. When the Khrave forces routed and fled Ferrus Manus withdrew to study the weapons he had looted he began to hear whispers as he worked on the warp developed weapons and the first claws of the Chaos Gods had sunk into the Tenth Primarch.
Despite the victories that Ferrus Manus managed to secure the Khrave kept on pushing forward routing the clans from their homelands the survivors were slowly divided into two major forces one commanded by Ferrus Manus the other commanded by a native of Medusa called Paul Benden. The two forces had directly opposed views with Ferrus Manus focusing on anything that could aid the war effort rather than the civilian population of Medusa. The most prominent example was the battle of Rothesay wherein the town of Rothesay was under assault and needed only a few hours to completely evacuate the town nearby was a known cache of ancient weapons that Ferrus Manus knew would work against the Khrave. Ferrus Manus knew that if he attacked the Khrave now the townspeople could easily escape and survive but he'd lose the chance to secure the weapons. As his advisors argued over what to do Ferrus Manus ordered his forces to move out. His men assaulted the cache defeated the defences and secured the weapons. While the cache was secured, and more weapons were secured to fight against the Khrave Rothesay burnt her citizens were slaughtered and their deaths were nearly forgotten in the brutal war.
As the war continued the two remaining human forces were pushed back until they both held a small perimeter and thus calls began to rise advocating for the two forces to unify. The calls spread throughout both armies as the disgruntled of the leadership called for an election. Paul Benden declared his support for it and thus Ferrus Manus was brought to the table. The election lasted for three days as those assigned to the perimeters continued to dig in and expand the defences against the Khrave. The election would be defined by the debate between the two leaders wherein Ferrus Manus attacked Benden for his status as a 'honourable man' for saving the civilian population ahead of securing weapons or vital positions. As the votes were tallied it seemed that Paul Benden was going to win and then he was visiting the front lines and killed in an assault propelling Ferrus Manus to the leadership. His reign began with a counterattack directly at the strongest part of the enemy lines and then personally commanding an assault through a weaker flank. As the Khrave prepared to recalibrate and prepare to break the human forces and then Ferrus Manus managed to find and kill the most powerful of the enemy leadership routing the enemy force allowing for them to be encircled and wiped out by the newly raised Medusan armoured forces. As the Khrave fled they where pushed out of any and all defensive positions they attempted to establish as they were outflanked and wiped out. Until at long last the peak of Karaashi was in sight and the Khrave knew that they would die on Medusa. As the Medusan forces stormed the last foxholes and defences the remaining clan leadership declared Ferrus Manus the Gorgon King of Medusa.
As the newly crowned Gorgon King prepared to rebuild his shattered planet the skies parted, and the Emperor came to Medusa with the fleet of the Tenth legion to welcome their father into the Imperium. Ferrus Manus would kneel reluctantly in order for his people to rebuild and thrive the last relic he took from his homeworld was his nickname the Gorgon and the Tenth Legion left Medusa as the Iron Hands and charged into the Great Crusade.
The Great Crusade
"Why do you think that your gods can protect you? Your gods are dead, their churches are shattered, and their memory shall be lost. Your world is dead, your culture is dead why do you still fight against the inevitable wrath and fury of the Imperium." Autek Mor to the last soldier in the last temple of Celeste.
"Kill the weak. Let them be forgotten as shattered remains of a dead culture." Ferrus Manus ordering the execution of all surviving civilians of Celeste.
During the Great Crusade the Iron Hands fought with honour and courage to reunite humanity across the stars. Ferrus Manus would not get on well with the majority of his brothers yet he had a strong friendship with Fulgrim. The legion fought across the stars with their countless victories being declared across the Imperium to show the might of humanities technology and the wrath that could be unleashed by the Emperor's command. The legion would fight with the wrath of a world against the Khrave that they encountered across the galaxy until every Khrave knew to fear the white hand on black. The most important battle that the Iron Hands fought in was the death of Celeste. Despite the wrath and fury that they fought with rot and corruption slowly set in and would be unleashed brutally in the nearing Heresy.
The world of Celeste was an ancient world first colonised by humanity when warp travel was first being introduced. Covered in oceans the world had few patches of land larger than an atoll causing the human population to be heavily concentrated on the larger islands or massive ships that sailed across the endless seas of the world. The world was coated in warp power with ancient shattered Webway gates that all readings said were older than Eldar civilisation. As the warp was so heavy on the planet this caused the Chaos Gods to have spread their tendrils throughout the planet with hundreds of open shrines to them scattered across the planet. When the first Imperial diplomats appeared offering compliance into the Imperium they were executed, and their corpses thrown into the sea. The Iron Hands legion was nearby under the command of Ferrus Manus and he moved to deal with the world with his customary brutality and harshness.
The landings began with a series of orbital strikes in the hearts of the largest cities followed by the Morlocks led by Ferrus Manus himself to crush the opposition. The defenders main force was naval or designed to protect from naval invasions so the large force in the centre of their cities was unfathomable to them with the tanks of the Imperium roaring down the broad parades that dominated most of the city's design. As the defenders attempted to hold off the Imperial forces to allow the civilians to evacuate, they converted every building that they could into a defensive position most notably the largest temple to the chaos gods on the planet. Autek Mor led the force that assaulted the building as he tore through the broken defenders Chaos struck all of the blood spilt and souls freed allowed for them to strike. The last surviving member fell back to the Altar and was possessed by the will of the Gods Autek Mor would tear the mans weapon from his hands alongside one arm and then shattered the man's skull spilling his infected blood across him and the Obliterator Virus had its first victim.
While Autek Mor doomed his legion Ferrus Manus dealt with the fleeing civilians and military personal ordering that all of the great city ships that sailed the saes of Celeste to be obliterated from orbit. While the artillery that had already landed was ordered to fire on the ships used to evacuate the population of the cities. As the population of Celeste died in a macabre punishment to their leadership Ferrus Manus began to order the withdrawal of his forces as the world had fallen and the remaining forces were to large to deal with the isolated resistance scattered in some of the islands across the planet. As the Iron Hands withdrew from the world a virus spread from Astartes to Astartes. Celeste was entered into the records of the Imperium as yet another successful compliance.
The Fall of The Iron Hands
"What must I do to save my sons? What price must I pay? Answer me! Answer me you plagues on reality!" Ferrus Manus at Mephistopheles to the representatives of the Chaos Gods.
"The flesh is weak and will fall as does all. Error. Error. Initiating extermination protocol." Autek Mor upon falling to the 'obliterator' virus.
The fall of the Tenth Legion was a brutal and short one that dammed the entire legion within a few short decades. The obliterator virus was the name given to the flaw within the Iron Hands gene-seed that emerged following the compliance of Celeste and their first contact with the forces of Chaos. The virus took the form of the flesh of the infected slowly being weakened and beginning to fail until the infected flesh had to be replaced with cybernetic limbs until the majority of the infected bodies was robotic and then the second stage of the virus set in wherein the Astartes became blood mad automations that charged into battle with no reservations with the only goal being death and slaughter. As this tore through the Tenth Legion Ferrus Manus and the other senior membership began to hunt down any and all traces of knowledge beyond the legion.
For thirty years this continued with the actions undertaken to keep the secret getting more and more desperate including the execution of loyal Mechanicus and Imperial Army elements that witnessed the flaw in action. As this continued Ferrus Manus came across a world seething in warp energy much like Celeste and thus he assaulted the planet with the full force available to him including those who had fallen to the Obliterator virus. The few defences mounted by the primitive humans were obliterated with overwhelming firepower and their leaders where torn apart by blood mad cyborgs. As Ferrus Manus strode through the ruins of the planets capital he found a temple that against all odds had survived the bombardment he would enter it and was contacted by the Chaos Gods. They offered him the ability to cure his sons of the Obliterator virus and for the Iron Hands to be the legion they were supposed to be in return for an agreement to answer their summons when they called and Ferrus Manus agreed. When he emerged from the temple across the entire legion every single Iron Hand affected by the Obliterator Virus was cured and word reached the tenth Primarch that Horus had been wounded on the planet of Davin.
The Horusian Heresy
"Join me brother Horus has strength Horus has power. Join me please Fulgrim." Last words of Ferrus Manus.
"The true Emperor Horus has officially ordered you to Terra in order to command the sieges there." Maloghurst the Twisted ordering the Iron Hands to Terra.
During the Horusian Heresy the Iron Hands would truly only fight in the battles of Isstvan and the Terran Campaign with the death of their father breaking their sprit and only the direct orders of Horus causing them to leave Medusa and act as the commanders of the many sieges that dominated Terra. Despite their lacklustre combat record in the battles in which they took part they truly performed to a high standard yet when your legion is the first to lose its Primarch and continue on you are seen as a shattered broken husk by yourself and others and that was how the Tenth legion saw themselves.
The fall of their Primarch was a brutal duel with Fulgrim and Mortarion both fighting against Ferrus Manus in order to hold off the hordes of Horus. The duel began with Ferrus Manus striking at Fulgrim with Forgebreaker and the duel began for two more strikes and them Mortarion struck from behind with his Manreaper punching through the Medusan Carapace and dissecting one of his hearts. Fulgrim then struck beheading his brother and friend with a single blow and leaving his corpse on the sands of Isstvan V. The Iron Hands broke when they saw their father fall and charged into the loyalist lines where they were broken with the force of three Primarchs fighting against them.
The Scouring
"I am the true heir of Ferrus Manus." Gabriel Santor following Isstvan.
"Medusa has fallen our world is dead the clans are but ash and memory what unifies us why should me and my men fight for a dead forgotten cause. We are free now and forever more." Autek Mor declaring the Obliterator warband.
During the scouring the Iron Hands routed and fled to Medusa where they attempted to dig in while the chaos corrupted forces slowly broke off their allegiance to the high leadership. When Medusa fell, they fled into the darkness that lay around the edge of the galaxy where they came across an ancient near forgotten forge-world that they conquered with extreme prejudice and renamed Manusia. The Tenth legion nearly fell in this dark time as their leadership was divided and the chaos worshipers were rising in power. Then the most powerful sorcerer in the legion contacted the soul of Ferrus Manus in the heart of the realm of the Chaos Gods and he revealed to him that it was possible to bargain for his soul from the Chaos Gods. When this was revealed the Chaos, worshippers seized control and the modern Iron Hands legion was born.
The battle of Medusa was the last battle the Iron Hands would fight as a legion until the 35th millennium as they would launch their first crusade on their quest to revive their Primarch. The battle began with landings on the mighty Iron Ring around the Tenth Legion's Homeworld by the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors where they would fight through several counter-attacks until a second wave came in allowing for the Loyalist force to strike back throwing back the Iron Hands and launching a series of battles until the last Iron Hand was killed by being thrown out of the command deck into orbit. Then the landings began Medusa was a harsh world with large stretches of the world being converted into massive chaotic factories pumping out endless hordes of Abominable Intelligences and Daemon Engines that were thrown at the Imperial Fists and Iron Warriors in a desperate attempt to hold back the vengeance of the Emperor and the Imperium that they had betrayed. Their efforts were futile with the major factories being targeted from orbit until the leadership of the Iron Hands evacuated with the preserved corpse of their father into the stretches of the Segmentum Obscurus.
The Forty-First Millennium
"In the name of his fallen majesty Horus and his true heir Abaddon I the Morlocks are called forth to battle against the heirs of the murder Fulgrim. Do you answer the summons?" Haarken Worldclaimer calling the Morlocks to war M39.
"March forward my brothers march forward against the heirs of the Third Legion slaughter the sons of Fulgrim and avenge our glorious father. Kill them all!" Ferrus Gladius at the battle of Haparanda M40.
As the Dark Millennium begins the Iron Hands rally to avenge the loss of their father and release their fury against the Imperium that cares for the weak. Yet as the Necrons rise, the Tau strike out, the Eldar move in their mystical plans, the Harlequins dance their way through their enemies, the Drukhari raid from the Dark City, the Orks gather around the banner of Ghazghkull mag uruk thraka and the Tyranids grow in number many in the legion fear that the time of ending has come that the time of the Iron Hand has begun. Despite this fear the Tenth legion gathers under the banner of the White Hand and prepare to march out against the Imperium that they fought to build in the name of Ferrus Manus.
Organization
"I call to order the 40'965th meeting of regent council of the Iron Hands legion in the name of our lord the Gorgon. Do we have any apologies?" Ferrus Mutatio opening a meeting of the regent council M32.
"In the name of Grandfather Nurgle Father is dead my brothers and we must fight and avenge him. Death to the Third legion." Ferrus Desperationis at the battle of Breitenfeld.
Following the death of Ferrus Manus the Iron Hands established an eight strong council to command the legion. Following the defeat at Terra and Medusa the legion fled into the edge of the galaxy where they carved out an empire from an ancient near forgotten forge-world that they renamed Manusia. As the legion finally fell openly to Chaos it was decided to divide the council members in allegiance and thus half of the council was purged, and the leaders of the major cults ascended to the leadership. The current council is divided between four undivided Daemon princes and four Demons princes of the singular Gods. Each member has their name retracted and replaced with a name formed of Ferrus and an honorific to show their allegiance. The members are Ferrus Gladio (Khorne), Ferrus Desperationis (Nurgle), Ferrus Mutatio (Tzeentch), Ferrus Perfectum (Slaanesh), Ferrus Pugnus, Ferrus Goni, Ferrus Ira and Ferrus Vindicta. As they are the regents for Ferrus Manus many believe that their daemon forms show what the Chaos Gods had planned for their Tenth Primarch.
Ferrus Gladio has taken on a form vaguely human with two arms both ending in the Iron Hands that defined the tenth Primarch, his head has taken on the form of a helmet with writhing arms wielding blades acting as hair, when he goes off to war blades and other weapons tear free from his flesh and strike at hie enemies with a vague form of sentience while he strikes out with his fists. Ferrus Desperationis is covered in rot and corruption with only the customary Iron Hands remaining free of rot or rust, his head is little more than a shattered helmet with pus covered eyes shining in the shadows while rotting wings rise behind him. Ferrus Mutatio has been given the form of a nine headed raven with Iron Hands coated in endless eternally changing icons proclaiming the glory of Tzeentch and the Tenth Legion. Ferrus Perfectum has had his legs merge together to form a snake's tail while his six heads have snakes tear themselves free to act as hair before being devoured by the newest snake screaming in eternal ecstasy. Ferrus Pugnus has taken the form of an empty Gorgon pattern terminator armour that has a warp tear filling the entire form of the Daemon prince. Ferrus Goni has been granted a form reminiscent of the Iron Serpent that terrorised Medusa however instead of the green lights that is ubiquitous of Necron technology the warp leaks out corrupting all that he goes near. Ferrus Ira has taken the form of massive swarm of bees that brings the wrath of the Tenth legion with him. Ferrus Vindicta has taken the form of a towering minotaur with four demonic heads at his waist each representing a chaos god.
Each of the regency council members are the leaders of the subdivisions of the Iron Hands named after the clans of Medusa these all represent the allegiance to either a Chaos god or a particular aspect of the legion's tactics. However, there is a another division of the Iron Hands the Morlocks those who are assigned to guard the corpse of their father. They rarely take to the battlefield usually only if there is some information that could be gained towards resurrecting their father the single-minded goal of the entire Tenth legion something that has led to the Mechanicus declaring them heretics and traitors to the Omnissiah.
Primarch
"My brother was harsh his hatred of weakness only truly came from the Kharve invasion of Medusa if not for that he may well have been a kind and caring man much like Fulgrim and without Celeste the Obliterator virus would never have happened." The opening line of the Chapter on Ferrus Manus in the Historical work The Primarchs: Heirs of the Emperor by Magnus the Red.
"And now his watch is ended." The words that are said whenever a Morlock falls in battle.
The corpse of Ferrus Manus has been preserved in the heart of the Morlock's Hive-forge permanently surrounded by the hundred greatest warriors in the legion. His corpse has slowly rooted despite the efforts of the legion leading to the parts of his body that have rotted away being replaced with warp infused metal. The vast majority of the bargains that the Tenth Legion makes with Deamons are made over his broken corpse which has led to his remaining flesh being infused with the power of the warp. Recently it seems that the Iron Hands mighty bargains are beginning to pay off as the corpse has begun to twitch and spasm and many fear that the time of the Iron Hand nears.
Homeworld
"Nothing like a cup of babies blood and a breath of poisoned air in the morning to get you ready for your day." Ferrus Desperationis M40.
"You have succeeded in every trial and know you bear the gene-see of Ferrus Manus know you must undertake the final challenge your armours are at the foot of Serpents prey you must retrieve them and become a true Astarte of the Tenth Legion." The final test of the training required to become a member of the Iron Hands.
Following the loss of Medusa, the Iron Hands legion has rebuilt the world of Manusia into a fortress that defies the imagination with nine massive hive-forges that blacken the skies of the world with smoke from the burning corpses of failed aspirants to the legion. All of the council members have a hive-forge that provide them and their host all the weapons and armour that they need while the ninth hive-forge is the Morlock's domain and hosts both the corpse of Ferrus Manus and the council chambers of the regency council. Every hive-forge is infused with the energy of Chaos and the Warp. The world is surrounded by three orbital rings that are so large that only Mars's five are both larger and have greater production two of the rings act as the Tenth Legions shipyard pumping out warships to be used in the name of the regency council or Abaddon.
Gene-Seed
"Their flesh weakens and needs to be replaced with prosthetics after a while and then they go crazy. I hate Chaos so much." Azheck Ahriman on the Iron Hands Gene-seed.
"The flesh is weak!" Battlecry of those in the legion that have been mostly replaced.
The Iron Hands Gene-seed is lightly mutated for Chaos marines with the ability to implant it into new marines possible if the applicant is lucky, the older marines have developed mutations similar to the Obliterator Virus that ravaged their legion and it is quite common to see Khornate marines punch their enemies to death with their mechanical hands.