Iron Hands - Post-Heresy Era Personnel: Iron Father Kardan Stronos - Kardan Stronos is the de facto current Chapter Master of the Iron Hands Chapter and speaker of the Iron Council. Of all the Iron Fathers to have led the Iron Hands Chapter, none echo the glory of their Primarch Ferrus Manus more than Stronos. Since the loss of their primarch, no single warrior has ever permanently led the Iron Hands. Instead, they are guided by the Council of Iron Fathers who appoint one amongst their number to command, according to the needs of the Chapter. So it is that an Iron Father might lead for the course of a campaign for which his particular skills make him singularly suited, and whilst that war rages, he wields all the power and responsibility of a Chapter Master. Upon the mission's conclusion, he cedes power back to the Iron Council, who then calculate the next Iron Father to lead them. It is testament to Kardan Stronos' skill as both warrior and commander that he has been reappointed as head of the Iron Council for over three hundred consecutive years.Iron Captain Pelles - Lord clan commander of the Vurgaan Clan Company. Pelles was recruited at the same time as Iron Father Gdolkin and sports two service studs denoting over two hundred standard years of service to the Chapter. Where Gdolkin showed an aptitude for machines, Pelles showed an innate understanding for tactics and command, leading to his rise to command of the Vurgaan Clan Company.Iron Captain Klaarc Kalag - Klaarc Kalag is the current iron captain and clan commander of the Raukaan Clan Company, which is officially the Iron Hands' 3rd Company. Kalag took command of the clan company after the death of his predecessor Sind Grolvoch at the hands of the Daemon primarch Fulgrim during the Sabbyst Planetstrike. Unlike the unpredictable and perhaps overly emotional Grolvoch, Kalag sought to be less swayed by emotion.Iron Captain Sind Grovolch - Sind Grolvoch was an iron captain and Iron Father of the Iron Hands who was also a clan commander of the Raukaan Clan-Company as of 997.M41. He was defeated in battle by the Necron Overlord Akanabeth. Afterwards, Akanabeth offered the captured Grolvoch a choice -- swear fealty to the Overlord or be killed by his hand. Grolvoch's fate at the hands of the Necrons is unknown, for he was still leading Clan Raukaan after the formation of the Great Rift in the Era Indomitus. Burning with a desire for vengeance, he launched a reckless assault on Sabbyst against the Daemon Primarch Fulgrim. Grolvoch was killed at sometime in that period in combat with the Daemon Primarch in order to buy time to allow Imperial refugees to escape from an assault by Fulgrim's Emperor's Children.Iron Captain Dozeph Imanol - A former lord clan commander of the Raukaan Clan and successor of Arven Rauth.Iron Captain Arven Rauth - Arven Rauth is the former lord clan commander of the Raukaan Clan. During his training as a neophyte, the Astartes who originally bore the name Arven Rauth was severely wounded by a bolt fired by Iron Hands Sergeant Tartrak. This Rauth was severely wounded in battle against the so-called Prophet Alpha. He later suffered further bodily damage after battling Callivantine Cyber-ghouls and subsequent augmetic enhancement for all his wounds to his left arm, heart and one lung. Later, Rauth was slain by Apothecary Dumaar by a bolt shot to the head. Rauth's fellow neophyte and close friend Khrysaar was subsequently mind-wiped and took on the identity of the deceased Arven Rauth as a hero of the Iron Hands. This Rauth slowly rose through the ranks of the Chapter on the strength of the original Rauth's accomplishments and sacrifices. Rauth eventually took command of the Raukaan Clan after Iron Father Kristos was corrupted during the Gaudinian Heresy. Once set to a purpose, Rauth would not stop until his objective had been achieved. He would neither deviate from his goal nor slacken. This was not a trait unique to him, but a characteristic of the entire Iron Hands Chapter. Rauth led the Raukaan Clan in the Purging of Contqual on the world of Melamar Secundus against the forces of Chaos in 812.M41. Later, the Raukaan Clan would take part in the Battle of Medusa, defending their Chapter homeworld from the 13th Black Crusade in ca. 999.M41.Iron Father Kristos - Kristos was a former clan commander of Clan Raukaan who fell to Chaos corruption during what was known as the Gaudinian Heresy. During his life, most of Kristos' flesh was replaced with augmetics, his body being over 80% cybernetic by the time of his fall to Chaos. Most horrifying about Kristos was that he had no face: His head had neither front nor back, just ten narrow slits for optic lenses placed on the back of his helmet. He also had optic lenses where his ears had once been. He could rotate his shoulders, elbows and knees in 360 degrees of movement, which rendered traditional concepts of orientation obsolete. He had a ruby set into the chest of his power armour. In addition he wore an Ironstone magnetically-clamped around his neck in the form of a silver pendant, which was a potent relic of the Chapter reputedly haunted by ancient and powerful Machine Spirits capable of bolstering the failing strength of the machines around them. Kristos took command of Clan Raukaan after the Skarvus Ambush and led the Clan-Company to victory in the slaughter on Dawnbreak and the Battle for Columnus. The Columnus victory over the Orks proved controversial, as during the battle Kristos deliberately sacrificed Raven Guard allies to secure a win. He insisted that this had allowed him to score a victory and was the most logical course of action, but others on the Iron Council suspected he had been personally motivated to betray his allies. In the ensuing investigation of Kristos' conduct known as the Kristosian Conclave that lasted for two hundred standard years, the Iron Hands became politically divided as the investigation evolved into a discussion of the Chapter's entire philosophy and culture concerning the elimination of weakness. Kristos' allies within the Chapter were named the "Kristosians." After reported sightings of the daemonic entity named the Sapphire King and its Emperor's Children warband in the Gaudinia System, a now-ancient Kristos swiftly led Clan Raukaan on the offensive, ignoring pleas by other Iron Hands commanders for caution. When Kristos landed on Gaudinia Prime, he encountered a vast factory-complex where billions of Imperial citizens had become fused with machines through the power of Chaos. Convinced that this Warp-spawned perversion was actually the ultimate act of perfection and elimination of the flesh, Kristos himself was corrupted by Slaanesh and fused with the unholy organic-machine hybrid. The other Kristosians soon followed his example, and what became known as the Gaudinian Heresy afflicted the Iron Hands. The transformed Kristos mutant was killed following the death of the Sapphire King in 460.M41, and he was replaced as the clan commander of the Raukaan by Arven Rauth.Iron Captain Maarkol Rumann - Rumann was formerly the iron captain and lord clan commander of the Iron Hands' 4th Clan Company, Clan Kaargul. He took part in the Damocles Crusade and he was selected by his peers to represent their interests on the crusade council. Rumann was the most senior Space Marine in the crusade. He also commanded the Strike Cruiser Fist of Light, the largest Space Marine warship in the crusade's fleet. As iron captain of Clan Kaargul, Rumann constantly sought to increase its armoury of war machines. In the aftermath of the Great Rift's creation, he would scour the worlds of the Dark Imperium for long-lost relics. Though these perilous missions cost many lives, they paid off handsomely. By the time Rumann suffered a mortal injury on Kalametha, Clan Kaargul boasted twice as many Whirlwinds, Predators and Hunters as any other two Iron Hands Companies combined. His successor, Iron Captain Brask, has since wielded these weapons with unfaltering precision across a hundred worlds. However Rumann lives on in a Dreadnought chassis and continues to serve within Clan Kaargul.Iron Captain Sien - Captain Sien commanded the small Iron Hands force present during one of the largest armoured battles in Imperial history at the Battle of Thranx in the 36th Millennium.Iron Captain Strake - Strake was the captain of the strike cruiser Ajax since the Grailsword Campaign. Captain Strake lost his legs during a battle with a Tyranid Hive Fleet when the Ajax was crippled and nearly destroyed. Strake survived the combat, but instead of having his legs replaced with augmetics he requested he be fitted to an anti-gravity platform with technology based on that used in Servo-skulls.Venerable Dreadnought Axagoras - The third Iron Hands Dreadnought currently serving on the Clan Council. Axagoras is a legendary figure in the Chapter whose most notable accomplishments include his battles against the Kartha and Sheed xenos of the Durian Sub-sector and his command of the Xerxes Campaign. The tactics Axagoras developed in the Xerxes Campaign are now mandatory study for new Initiates to the Chapter. Axagoras favors a Plasma Cannon weapon mount.Venerable Dreadnought Bannus - Bannus served his Chapter as a Captain of a Clan Company for many centuries, nearly losing his life on the industrial world of Kaladrone, he was saved by the legendary Iron Father Paullian Blantar. Eventually Bannus was interred within an ancient Dreadnought sarcophagus and now serves as one of the most respected figures in the Iron Hands Chapter, a voice of great wisdom on the Great Council and a war leader of supreme skill.Venerable Dreadnought Furnous - Once an Iron Father within the ranks of Clan Raukaan, Brother Furnous was mortally wounded amid the catastrophic demise of the Traitor Titan Angron's Fist. Accorded the Chapter's highest honour, Furnous was reborn as a Dreadnought, and has fought to prove himself worthy of this fate for almost four thousand Terran years since. Furnous' seniority among the Dreadnoughts of Clan Company Raukaan is clear, his wisdom and counsel attended by the company's leaders in all matters of strategy and war. When Raukaan marches to battle, Furnous often forms his Dreadnought brethren around him in an unstoppable spearhead, and bellows canticles of war as he kills, devoting each fallen foe to the Emperor and the Omnissiah alike. The Venerable Dreadnought has taken part in Iron Hands victories on Dawnbreak, Foredecca, Helmgaard, Thenoth's World, and the Nightmare Spire. Some time after the Great Rift's creation, Furnous' sarcophagus was transferred from his previous Dreadnought chassis and he became a Redemptor Dreadnought. He is currently serving in strike force Wrath of Medusa, which has been sent to combat a suspected xenos insurrection across the mining worlds of the Glassic Strait.Venerable Dreadnought Anatolus Gdolkin - Iron Father Anatolus Gdolkin was given command of the Strike Team sent to aid Magos Omega Thule during the 13th Black Crusade. Gdolkin was accompanied on the mission by his blessed Combat Servitors Gibeon XII, Joab XIII, Gigal 674 and Ishmael 192. While critically wounded in combat against the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Iscariot, Gdolkin survived his mission and was interred within a venerable and sacred Dreadnought of the Chapter.Venerable Dreadnought Talumech - A member of the Chapter Council and a revered Dreadnought-Brother of the Chapter, Talumech goes to war armed with a mighty twin-linked Lascannon in addition to the close combat weapon borne on the left arm of all the Chapter's Dreadnoughts.Dreadnought Comech - Dreadnought of the Iron Hands Legion during the Horus Heresy.Dreadnought Radamarr - Radamarr was a Dreadnought of the Clan Dorrvok who was cut in half while hunting a powerful Tyranid creature. A Wolf Priest of the Space Wolves, Jathrac, discovered the bodies of the Iron Hands and began to collect their gene-seed to be returned to their Chapter as a sign of respect for other Astartes. When Jathrac came to collect the Dreadnought's gene-seed, to his shock it told him that he was not worthy. Unsatisifed by this answer, Jathrac opened the Dreadnought's armoured shell, only to discover that it had no cybernetic sarcophagus within its interior. Radmarr's mind had been one with the machine.Master of the Forge Xerill - Xerill is an Iron Father of the Iron Hands Chapter who is currently seconded to the Deathwatch and has served as a Master of the Forge for close to eight Terran decades. He joined a handful of like-minded, inquisitive Deathwatch Space Marines that have been drawn back to the study of nearly-deserted Watch Stations, now known as the Dead Stations, and the ancient traces of knowledge and prophecy they contained. These few members have since dedicated their lives to finally unravelling the enigma of the Jericho Reach known as the Dark Pattern -- a series of mysterious events that continue to unfold, presaged in numerous ancient prophecies foretelling of great strife and darkness are coming to pass in this area of space. Thanks to their interest in the Dead Stations, their peers refer to them as the "Dead Cabal". Xerill was inducted into their ranks fifty standard years ago after he recovered a series of Eldar Spirit Stones. His passion for understanding and unlocking the knowledge contained within xenos artefacts drew the attention of Inquisitor Ramaeus, who had him reassigned to permanent detail on the Dead Stations Vigil. Since that time, Xerill has embraced the Dead Cabal and has dedicated his tenure with the Deathwatch to studying as many xenos artefacts as he can. He is especially fascinated by anything relating to the Necrons and has undertaken many missions based on the slightest inclination that there could be Necron activity involved.Iron Father Paullian Blantar - Paullian Blantar is an Iron Father from the Kaargul Clan Company. This inspirational figure embodied every one of the Chapter's teachings, from the utter certainty that Ferrus Manus would one day return, to the hatred of all that is of the flesh. His knowledge of bionic enhancement is unparalleled, and his refinements of the augmentation process distinctly affected the direction of the Chapter. He led the dramatic counter-attack against the insidious Dark Eldar on the industrial world of Kaladrone, rescuing the badly wounded Warleader Bannus. Blanter personally performed the augmetic surgeries and augmentations that enabled the crippled form of Bannus to survive and go on to lead his company for many centuries to come. In fact, Bannus still leads his Clan Company as an ancient Venerable Dreadnaught and is an integral part of the current Great Council. Of equal legendary status was Blantar's disdain for his own organic body. Blantar constantly flayed his own body of the flesh he was born into, until eventually, towards the end of his extremely long and successful life-span, only his mind remained. This was implanted into the towering frame of a mighty Dreadnought, and some say that in so doing his very soul was ex-loaded into the machine's systems so that not a scrap of biological matter remained. Blantar serves as a permanent member of the Chapter Council, having transcended the limits of his flesh and effectively attained immortality. Should Ferrus Manus ever return, as Chapter dogma asserts he will, it is certain that Paullian Blantar and any others who replicate his feat will be there to greet their Primarch, and to fight at his side in the final battle. To this day Iron Fathers ritually scar their flesh in honour of one of the Chapters most renowned Iron Fathers of all time.Iron Father Gebren - Ever since the dawn of the Great Crusade, the most technically adept members of the Astartes Legions have been sent to Mars to be trained as Adepts in the Cult Mechanicus, and Iron Father Gebren was one of the first and best. Gebren served during the Great Crusade and on through the dark days of the Horus Heresy. Gebren was trained by none other than Fabricator Locum Kane, who would later become the Fabricator General of Mars after the betrayal of Kelbor-Hal during the Schism of Mars.Librarian Madeus - A member of the Clan Council, Madeus has the honour of wearing a suit of modified Terminator Armour.Librarian Melchor - Librarian attached to Iron Father Gdolkin's Strike Team during the 13th Black Crusade. Melchor sacrificed himself to teleport the survivors of the Strike Team to the bridge of the Strike Cruiser Ajax. Melchor had the honour of wearing a suit of revered Terminator Armour.Apothecary Caduceus - Apothecary of the Vurgaan Clan Company and member of Gdolkin's Strike Team during the 13th Black Crusade. Caduceus was one of the few survivors and was also a member of the Strike Team's Command Squad.Veteran Sergeant Miel Erastus - Member of Iron Father Gdolkin's Strike Force during the 13th Black Crusade, one of the few members of the Strike Force to survive the mission and return to Medusa. Sergeant Erastus fought alongside Gdolkin on numerous occasions, including the battle for the Diocletian Gate on the Chaos-contested Hive World of Manastus VII where the sergeant lost his left hand a second time while defending the last operational spaceport.Veteran Brother Avidan - A respected and legendary warrior within the Iron Hands Chapter, Brother Avidan wears one of the Chapter's revered suits of Terminator Armour and holds a seat on the Clan Council.Clan Champion Oros Telemar - Oros Telemar was a Clan Champion of the Iron Hands Chapter. In 237.M38, Clan Garrsak of the Iron Hands was deployed to the Herevok Sector to help put down an insurgency that had gripped more than twenty worlds. Upon their arrival, they discovered that the rebels were, in fact, Chaos-tainted Heretics, aided by Traitor Marines from the Emperor's Children Legion of old. The Iron Hands fell upon their ancient foes with relish, cleansing them from world after world in the name of Ferrus Manus, slain in a bygone age by the Emperor's Children Primarch Fulgrim in an act of fratricide which changed history. Taking a handful of Space Marines with him, Telemar crossed the sector in pursuit of his quarry, eventually chasing him down to an airless asteroid on the outskirts of a long-abandoned planetary system. There, Telemar and his men engaged Lucius the Eternal, the Chaos-corrupted swordsman and Champion of Slaanesh. Eventually, Telemar prevailed, striking the Traitor down and taking his sabre and whip to display as trophies of victory on the Iron Hands homeworld. When he returned to the clan, the war was over, and the Iron Hands departed for Medusa. When their ship arrived in orbit around the Iron Hands homeworld, the vessel was silent, refusing to answer hails or follow recognised approach vectors. Ship's logs revealed much to the Iron Hands' horror that Telemar had begun to change, ritually scarring himself and repainting his armour in wild and sickening colours. Eventually, his will had snapped and he had rampaged through the ship, killing all the crew and passengers with the weapons claimed from the Traitor, before entering a saviour pod and disappearing into the depths of the Immaterium. To this day, none are sure exactly how this happened, though this is well, as to try and explain the methods of Chaos is to invite madness. Later sightings of Lucius in war zones across the Imperium and beyond have only added to this mystery.