Iron Hands - Chapter Beliefs: The primarch of the Iron Hands Legion was the first to die by violence as a casualty of the Horus Heresy; a loss made more tragic by the fact that it was the hand of a one-time brother and friend that dealt the blow.Since that dark day on Isstvan V, there have been a great many rumours and legends that have grown up around this fateful death, masked as it is by the anarchy and destruction loosed on the battlefield and by the lies of the enemy, whose murderous counterassault enveloped the primarch and his bodyguard at the end. It is said that the bitter rage that now defines the Iron Hands as a Chapter was born in the fires of betrayal upon Isstvan V during the Drop Site Massacre.The most horrific loss in that battle was that of Ferrus Manus, the Iron Hands' primarch. He disappeared during the massacre following his combat with the Emperor's Children's Primarch Fulgrim, and his body was never found or recovered. Rather than fall into despair, the Iron Hands took refuge in their hate, and they have used that hatred to eliminate any perceived weakness in themselves so that they may remain strong. By removing the dangerous failings of the flesh, the Iron Hands believe that they are eradicating any threats to the eventual dominance of Mankind over the galaxy.The Iron Hands are ultimately defined by their hatred of weakness of any kind, a hatred that extends to their own bodies, for they hold that all organic bodies, even those of a genetically-enhanced, transhuman Space Marine, are ultimately frail and subject to the weaknesses brought on by age and disease. As a result, the Iron Hands are compulsively driven to replace their own biological flesh with cybernetic replacements, a practise that begins as soon as a neophyte is initiated into the Chapter.The initiate's left hand is surgically removed and replaced with a bionic prosthesis in a ritual inspired by the tale of Ferrus Manus' own hands becoming encased in "living metal" after the mythical battle with the great serpent on Medusa whose body was composed of the same material. Some initiates choose to sever their own hands during the ceremony, whilst others plunge it into the searing lava that flows from the volcanoes on Medusa, bearing the pain as their hand is burned away, and transforming it into the first brick in their wall of hate.Iron Hands brethren abhor any trace of weakness, even more so than other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes. They are extremely puritanical in their drive to identify and purge weakness, and they are damning when they perceive it in others around them.They are quick to anger, even if their anger is sometimes expressed in coldly flat, mechanical tones. They are blunt and uncaring of any offence they might give in their criticisms of others, even the staunchest of allies. When confronted with allies who themselves are quick to anger, it is not unheard of for bitter arguments to erupt, and even for blows to be struck.In battle, the Iron Hands are coldly resolute, seemingly unmoved by their own losses. They utilise their anger and their hatred of weakness, identifying their enemy's vulnerabilities and exploiting them ruthlessly. While the Iron Hands seek ultimately to purge and militate against what they perceive as their own weakness, they also seek out the weakness in their foes in order to punish it without mercy.Many Iron Hands battle-brothers scourge their flesh, inflicting pain and scarring on themselves as a constant reminder of the weakness of organic bodies. As more of their bodies are cybernetically augmented, the areas of available flesh are reduced, until those few that are still visible are a mass of scar tissue. Only when even these last few shreds of the Space Marine's biological inheritance is gone is he truly free of physical pain, for though their implants may be sensate, they can never know true hurt.Throughout an Iron Hand's lifetime, he grows ever more angry towards his foes and even more resentful of his own remaining organic flesh. He appears to actually come to hate himself, or at least his biological form, as if he was forcibly garbed in filthy, unclean garments. More of his organs and limbs are replaced with bionic augmetics, each of which is inherently superior to the biological original.To many outsiders, this process can even be considered a form of blasphemy, for many of the organs that have been discarded are those that make an Astartes the genetically-engineered marvel that he is and which are derived from the sacred genomes of the Emperor and His gene-sons the primarchs. However, a Veteran battle-brother of the Iron Hands who has served the Chapter for several Terran centuries is likely to be almost entirely inorganic in nature with every visible swathe of flesh replaced by gleaming metal. Many Iron Hands officers' biological bodies consist of nothing more than the brain and a few remaining major organs like their hearts.It is believed by some Imperial scholars that the oldest Iron Hands, who survive countless battles and the strains of their own self-hate-induced transformation into cybernetic beings, are no more than a Human brain encased within the ceramite shell of their power armour.Because of this unique drive and obsession towards the replacement of their own flesh with the mechanical, many of the Chapter's leaders are entombed within the metallic sarcophagus of a Dreadnought, which is considered a great honour of the Chapter and the primary path to leadership. Some claim that the Chapter's hatred for the flesh is the manifestation of a strange psychological corruption to be found within their gene-seed and certainly the Iron Hands Legion sired only a few Successor Chapters that can be definitively linked back to the heritage of Ferrus Manus.Whatever the cause of this strange affliction, the Iron Hands' determination and effectiveness as defenders of the Imperium cannot be questioned, as so many of the Emperor's foes have learned to their regret over the centuries.