Steel Confessors - Origins: Despite coming from the gene-seed of the Iron Hands, the Steel Confessors were not created as part of the Second Founding or subsequent large-scale Foundings from the original gene-seed of the Iron Hands and are in fact a relatively new Chapter in the grand scheme of things.With the support that the Iron Hands Chapter provides to the Adeptus Mechanicus, it was only a matter of time until gene-seed was supplied to the Mechanicus that would allow them to build their own Chapter that would be able to provide a rapid reaction force able to best defend important Mechanicus facilities on the rim of the known galaxy.And so were born the Steel Confessors. In the 36th Millennium the Iron Hands sent three clan companies to aid Mechanicus Skitarii forces in the retaking of the Barrus System, an important Mechanicus foundry and testing facility.The system had been captured by the Overlord Barhoth, a charismatic Chaos Renegade capable of calling upon the aid of legions of followers. With the additional assistance of the Dark Mechanicum, he had overrun the system and turned the factories to aiding his war effort, perverting the will of the Omnissiah to his own foul ends.Initial attempts by the forces of the Mechanicus to recapture the system had been repulsed with both heavy losses to the Skitarii and the local Astra Militarum regiments sent to offer assistance.Despairing that their research facility would be lost forever to the Ruinous Powers, the magi of the Mechanicus sent an appeal for aid to the Iron Hands, a Chapter of Astartes that had aided them in the past and shared many of the same ideals.The resulting campaign was harsh with neither side asking nor expecting quarter. The Iron Hands were a godsend for the battered Mechanicus forces, striking the overlord's armies without warning, then redeploying once resistance began to stiffen in order to attack from another direction, whilst the Mechanicus and Astra Militarum forces tied up the reinforcements sent to the area.This saw positive results with a foothold being established on Barrus III, the main foundry within the system. Over the following solar months this was consolidated until 75% of the planet was once again under Imperial control. The three Iron Hands clan companies then began to widen the sphere of their actions to incorporate the other planets within the system.The overlord's minions appeared to be no match for the wrath of the Emperor's chosen warriors and soon planet after planet was regained. After five standard years of constant campaigning, only one planet in the system remained under Barhoth's control.This was Tarvor, a Mechanicus research facility that specialised in the refinement of shielding technologies. As a result the planet was heavily defended and the forces of the Imperium expected dire losses in the planet's recapture.The Iron Hands stepped forward, eager to be at the forefront of the assault, knowing the importance of the planet and that the death of a Traitor was at hand. After a long bombardment a hole was opened in the planet's Void Shield and the Iron Hands launched their Thunderhawks, committing all three clan companies to the assault.However, Barhoth had planned for this and as the Thunderhawks entered the planet's atmosphere, within the shield they came under an unrelenting fire from the planet's defence batteries, all of which had been retargeted on the point where the Iron Hands had entered the planetary shield.Realising that they had been drawn into a trap, Venerable Dreadnought Grixus from the Gravehold clan company, who had been put in overall command of the Iron Hand forces during the campaign by the Iron Council, ordered a retreat, hoping that they would be able to reorganise and strike elsewhere.As the Thunderhawks turned for the hole in the shield, all communications with their starships in orbit where cut and the breach in the shield closed over. This left Grixus with little choice but to order the Iron Hands to make their way towards the surface knowing that they were surely entering a trap. The fire from the planetary defence batteries continued unabated and barely half of the three clan companies survived the planetfall.Grixus organised the surviving Astartes to encircle the world's spaceport, planning to hold out until relief would be able to reach them. In orbit the Iron Hands strike cruisers were not inactive and whilst a concentrated bombardment began alongside the warships of the Imperial Navy, Captain Ullenear of the strike cruiser Omnissiah's Might signalled the Iron Council to inform them of the situation and request additional aid.Unfortunately the closest force that the Iron Hands could dispatch was a solar month away. Knowing that potentially three entire clan companies were facing complete annihilation, the Iron Council also requested additional aid from the Adeptus Mechanicus, reminding them of their ties of loyalty.The Mechanicus responded and sent forces from all the surrounding systems, including elements of the forces on the newly won planets within the Barrus System. A vast armada surrounded Tarvor, all awaiting the destruction of the planet's shield, with over five hundred ships adding their firepower.Under such a colossal weight of fire, rents started to appear in the previously impregnable planetary shield. The Mechanicus commanders wasted no time and deployed over 100,000 Skitarii and 4 Warhound-class Titans through the breaches, all of which headed for the spaceport as communications were re-established with the surviving Iron Hands.The scene around the spaceport as the troops landed was one of complete devastation. The overlord had committed his finest troops to the destruction of the Iron Hands and the weight of numbers along with their loss of manoeuvrability had taken their toll.Of the 300 Space Marines that had been committed to the assault on the planet 126 had died in their Thunderhawks. Of the 174 Astartes that had made it to the spaceport only 11 remained alive, most of them bearing grievous injuries.As the Skitarii secured the spaceport and began to push the Traitors back once more, the planetary shield finally collapsed and the rest of the Mechanicus forces began to deploy.This allowed the surviving Iron Hands time to recoup the precious gene-seed that would allow them to rebuild their companies and to take stock of the tremendous losses to the Chapter they had suffered. All three clan company commanders had died, the last being Grixus mere solar hours before the liberation of the spaceport.In honour of the Mechanicus and the forces that they had committed to relieve the beleaguered clan companies, the Iron Council agreed to provide the Adeptus Mechanicus with a portion of Iron Hands gene-seed, in order that they might be able to build their own Astartes rapid reaction force.In return the Mechanicus sent their most revered artificers to Medusa in order to assist with the rebuilding of the depleted clan companies. The tech-priests also dedicated three entire Forge Worlds to the rearmament of the decimated clan companies.The gene-seed that the Mechanicus received was a sample from each of the clan companies that had fought in the Barrus System and some of the Chapter's greatest heroes. No time was wasted in the use of the gene-seed and the new Space Marine Chapter began to take shape.It was not long before the Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus found out about what had transpired and petitioned for the destruction of this unauthorised Chapter, questioning the motives of the Adeptus Mechanicus, who they perceived as trying to enhance their own military power beyond all bounds.Upon review, the High Lords of Terra allowed the Chapter to continue to exist, as long as they maintained the same primary loyalty to the Emperor over the Mechanicus, and followed all the same strictures and limitations of the other Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes, such as the submission of their gene-seed for purity testing to the Mechanicus facilities on Terra.Feeling that they were being forced to submit to unfair limitations by the High Lords, the Adeptus Mechanicus decided to name the new Chapter the "Steel Confessors."