Iron Snakes

The Iron Snakes are a Second Founding Loyalist Space Marine Chapter of unknown origin who may possibly be a Successor Primogenitor Chapter of the Ultramarines, though they are not a Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter. The Iron Snakes take their name from the giant sea serpents called Water Wyrms that inhabit their homeworld of Ithaka's vast oceans. One of the Chapter's most important rites of passage is to hunt and kill one of these leviathans using a type of weapon called a Sea Lance. The Iron Snakes Chapter's primary task is to guard a cluster of Imperial solar systems known as the Reef Stars close to their homeworld of Ithaka, which are infrequently plagued by Orks, and more frequently by the Dark Eldar.

Chapter History
The first days of the Iron Snakes are difficult to definitively determine in Imperial records; reportedly a Second Founding Chapter, their First Founding Space Marine Legion of origin is unknown. Although they pay respect to the Primarch Roboute Guilliman, it is uncertain if they are actually an Ultramarines Successor Chapter, particularly as they are a non-Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter. The current Chapter Master, Seydon, is the eighteenth to bear that title since the foundation of the Iron Snakes.

The first squad-leaders of the Chapter have become immortalised within its ranks, as their names have been retained as the official designation of the squads they first led. Every squad in the Chapter is known by the name of its first sergeant and careful attention is paid to recording the deeds of each squad and the glory they have accumulated. Over the centuries, several squads judged to have accumulated particularly impressive and glorious histories are now referred to as "Notable" squads and are seen as the preeminent units in the entire Chapter, the closest formations that exist to a true Veteran unit. There are five Notable squads within the Iron Snakes, the Skypio, Parthus, Veii, Thebes and Damocles Squads. Skypio Squad is the senior squad of the entire Chapter and is the closest thing to a conventional elite unit the Iron Snakes possess.

Notable Campaigns

 * The Sabbat Worlds Crusade (755-778.M41) - The Chapter also contributed over 300 Space Marines towards the Imperial Guard's on-going Sabbat Worlds Crusade against the Forces of Chaos and fought with considerable distinction in that conflict. Amongst the battles fought in that Crusade were: the relief of the Imperial Guard forces on Ambold XI in 756.M41, where the Iron Snakes lost only 8 Astartes in a campaign that cost the Forces of Chaos 29,000 casualties, the assault on Pelbury Civitas, the cleansing of the daemon-infested world of Fornax Aleph, support for the extermination of the Zoican horde on Verghast, and the destruction of the mechanised mutant army of Presarius.
 * 13th Black Crusade (999.M41) - The Iron Snakes were one of the many Loyalist Space Marine Chapters who participated in the defence of Cadia against Abaddon the Despoiler's 13th Black Crusade.

Chapter Organisation
While the nominal fighting strength of the Chapter (or "phratry" as it is referred to by the Iron Snakes) is kept at the Codex Astartes-approved 1,000 Space Marines, the Iron Snakes do not appear to use the Codex's prescribed company structure, instead basing their organisation around that of the simple 10-man Space Marine squad rather than the 100-man company.

The Phratry Squad
Each squad, named after its first squad leader, is treated as an individual tactical formation held equal in the line of battle with almost all of the other fratery units. Only those squads referred to as the Notables are seen as an elite of the Chapter, and even then the Notables do not properly represent a pool of Veteran Space Marines as in the 1st Companies of most other Chapters. This is due to the way in which the Iron Snakes field their new Initiates. Recruits, referred to as "Petitioners" within the Chapter, do not appear to take to the field as Scout Marines like the Neophytes of most other Chapters; instead they operate as Chapter staff and personal servants for the full Battle-Brothers. When casualties incurred require the elevation of Petitioners to the rank of full Space Marines, the Petitioners try out for the positions by engaging their potential squadmates in single combat competitions. Winners of these competitions, or those judged particularly skillful by the squad sergeant, are chosen to become full Battle-Brothers and phratry-members. Places in the Notables are competed for in the same way as in other squads, which means that the Notables are just as likely to have Petitioners in their ranks as they are to have hardened Veteran Space Marines. Of course, the Petitioners that manage to win a place in a Notable squad are likely to be the best of their generation.

When a squad is completely wiped out, it is reconstituted under the original name, with its new sergeant being promoted from the ranks of the elder and more Veteran Battle-Brothers of the other squads. Each squad-leader is expected to eventually nominate a successor from within his squad, who will be chosen to accompany him to officer-level briefings and take over command in the event of his death. This Astartes will likely remain tied to his squad until his own death, as such "seconds" are not promoted out to command other squads. Each squad will also contain a Standard Bearer, who fixes the squad's colours to a special mounting upon his armour, and a support weapons trooper (with the Plasma Gun and Flamer appearing to be Chapter favourites for the weapons support role in a squad). The Notable squads also appear to customarily include an Apothecary as one of their number, and such specialist Space Marines are a common feature of other Iron Snakes squads as well; the number of field Apothecaries in the Iron Snakes appears likely to be higher than that of a fully Codex Astartes-compliant Chapter.

Chapter Homeworld
The Iron Snakes recruit their Neophytes from Ithaka, an Imperial Ocean World (commonly referred to by its people as the Cradle of Snakes) which is largely covered in very deep oceans and home to a variety of sea life, including the great serpentine Water Wyrms. Ithaka does possess significant landmass, including tropical islands and viciously cold polar regions. The Iron Snakes are therefore able to train in a number of environments, although the sea is most precious to them. Ithaka's oceans are home to a variety of sea-life, including the indigenous giant Water Wyrms. A kraretyer, or mature male bull Water Wyrm, is known to grow up to 300 metres in length. The Chapter uses these Wyrms in hunting exercises for its Initiates, and in the ritual punishment of Oethanar. The Water Wyrms are known to cause retyarion (Wyrm-Storm), ferocious squalls that seem to follow the movement of the marine serpents. A retyarion eventually causes seunenae (the folding walls of iron), giant tsunamis that rise out of the deep waters and come crashing into the settled islands while standing kilometres-high.

The Iron Snakes' actual Fortress-Monastery, which they refer to as the Chapter House, is located on Ithaka's fortress moon, Karybdis, and features a great bell as large as a Space Marine Drop Pod. The Chapter House is a mighty bastion with sloped turrets lined with Earthshaker Cannons, massive curtain walls, and hardpoint blisters of Hydra batteries. The Chapter House contains armouries, forges, training halls, a chapel and an Apothecarion. It also contains a main bath pool known as the Hall of the Balneary. The Balneary is fifty metres square and filled with sacred sea-water imported from Ithaka. The Tholos lay beneath the Chapter House, anchored deep in the rocky crust of Karybdis. This was a stockade for Astartes of the Iron Snakes that was seldom used due to the meticulous discipline of the Chapter. Its most common residents were prisoners of war, held pending interrogation under the watchful eyes of the Veteran Astartes who served as the wardens known as Archons.

Chapter Combat Doctrine
When a mission, referred to within the Chapter as an "undertaking," is decided upon, the Iron Snakes' Chapter Master announces how many squads he believes are required to ensure its success. All squad-leaders who wish to volunteer their units for the mission then place their tokens into a kylix (a form of drinking cup whose origins lie in ancient Greece on Terra). The Chapter Master then decides which squads to assign to the undertaking based upon which tokens he finds in the kylix.

While the squad is the principal tactical unit of the Chapter, sometimes even less manpower is deployed. In cases of responding to general aid requests from the worlds of the Reef Stars, it is customary to dispatch only one Battle-Brother from the closest squad to investigate. The Astartes chosen is often either the newest member of the squad, or a member being considered for the role of successor by the squad-leader; a one-person undertaking is seen as a fitting challenge for such Space Marines. Historically, only one warrior usually suffices in cases of general aid requests, though it is no shame for the individual to request the presence of his Phratry-Brothers once apprised of the specific situation.

The Iron Snakes' Tactical Squads are unique in the fact that all such squads have an attached Space Marine Apothecary unlike other Codex Astartes-compliant Chapters who assign only one Apothecary per company.

Wargear
Though the Iron Snakes are able to deploy an acceptable number of vehicles, and also include Dreadnoughts and Librarians amongst their forces, the primacy of the combat squad means that they concentrate on basic infantry tactics in battle. The Chapter's Armoury is able to issue combat shields, Warblades (short Power Swords) and Sea Lances (javelin-type fighting spears commonly referred to as Astartes Power Spears) to all Battle-Brothers, enabling them to close up and use phalanx (shield-wall) tactics. They are particularly skillful with the Sea Lances, as part of a Petitioner's training on their homeworld of Ithaka involves the hunting and slaying of the large, predacious Water Wyrms native to that feral planet. Each Iron Snake is issued with 2 Sea Lances before battle, to be used and disposed of, and phratry Battle-Brothers are issued fresh lances before the next engagement.

The Reef Stars
The Iron Snakes were stationed in the sector of Imperial space known as the Reef Stars and charged with its protection as their primary mission many thousands of years ago. The inhabited worlds of the Reef, while varied in their level of technological development, each were given form of summoning technology for the Iron Snakes that was then ritualised into their society. The Iron Snakes are a myth or legend to some worlds, an awe-inspiring reality to others. Regardless of how they are viewed, the Snakes of Ithaka take their duty to the Reef Stars as seriously as only the Astartes can, and will go to any lengths possible to protect the sector and its citizenry.

The actions they have fought in the Reef Stars are numerous, as the whole area appears to be under constant threat by Dark Eldar raiding parties. As a result, the Iron Snakes have amassed considerable experience fighting the Dark Eldar, who they (and the people of the Reef Stars) also refer to as "Primuls," a word for these xenos derived from an ancient dialect of High Gothic once spoken in the region. The Iron Snakes also fought a ten-year-long all-out war against a large Ork invasion. The Ork forces, made up of multiple WAAAGH!s, were so large that it was impossible for the Iron Snakes to defeat them by martial means. However, having managed to secure a relic apparently considered sacred by the Orks, the Iron Snakes were able to draw the Ork forces out of the Reef Stars and into unclaimed/xenos territory. The remainder of the Orks were expunged, and the Reef Stars were judged Greenskin-free for over a thousand Terran years.

Reef Stars Worlds

 * Ithaka - Though their fortress-monastery is actually based on Ithaka's moon, Karybdis, the Iron Snakes frequently descend to the surface of the feral world of Ithaka itself, using its many hostile environments in training exercises to sharpen their Battle-Brothers and new recruits alike. Ithaka's dangerous oceans are home to the vast reptilian leviathans called the Water Wyrms whose death serves as an Iron Snake Aspirant's final task before being accepted into the Chapter's ranks as a Petitioner. A krareter, or mature male Water Wyrm, can grow up to three hundred metres in length. The Chapter uses these Wyrms for hunting exercises for its Initiates, and in the oethanar, the Trial by Wyrm which is used by the Chapter and the Ithakan people to determine guilt or innocence in certain cases. These marine serpents can cause retyarion (or Wyrm-storm); ferocious squalls that seem to follow their movements. A retyarion also causes seunenae, the "folding walls of iron," which are giant tidal waves that would rise out in the deep waters and come crashing in kilometres high to wipe away Ithakan settlements on the myriad islands that dot the world's deep seas. The water from Ithaka's oceans is considered sacred by the Iron Snakes, and is carried by the Chapter's Astartes to anoint every planet that they step foot on. This ritual is called the Rite of the Giving of Water. When Iron Snakes return home, what remains of the water they took with them is given back to Ithaka.
 * Baal Solock - A sparsely populated world which has occasionally come under attack from Dark Eldar raiders whom the locals term "Primuls," a word used for those particular xenos that belongs to an ancient dialect of High Gothic.
 * Rosetta - A dry, arid world where promethium fuel is drilled and carried off-world to provision the Imperial Guard. Rosetta was subject to an invasion from a warband of Chaos Space Marines named the Dark Tusks. The Damocles Squad of the Iron Snakes was tasked to retake Rosetta's Excelcius Refinery Nine for the Emperor and reconnect the world's crucial fuel supply to Imperial forces. During this battle, Brother-Sergeant Raphon was killed in action but not before passing off squad leadership and the symbolic Lightning Claw he carried to his successor, Battle-Brother Priad. Following the discovery that the Chaotic forces were on Rosetta to try and bring forth a dark daemonic power of the Warp that had been imprisoned millennia before deep beneath the refinery, now Sergeant Priad decided to go against his previous directive and attempt to destroy the refinery and the evil that was awakening below it. To this end, his squad strapped all their remaining explosives to one of the mining drills and sent it straight down into the earth before evacuating the planet. Not long after the initial explosion beneath the refinery, Rosetta experienced a chain reaction of events that culminated in the death of the world as the Warp energies of the daemon housed beneath its surface were explosively released during that entity's death throes.

Chapter Beliefs
The Iron Snakes are a meticulously disciplined Chapter, though they deviate significantly from the Codex Astartes. The water from Ithaka's oceans is considered sacred by its people, and when Iron Snakes Battle-Brothers are called to go to a distant war they perform one last act before leavetaking, a ceremony known as the Rite of the Claiming of Water. This liefwater is carried in a copper flask by every member of the Chapter, to anoint every planet that they step foot on in a ritual ceremony called the Rite of the Giving of Water. When these Battle-Brothers return to their homeworld, the remaining water in these vials was given back to the oceans of Ithaka in a rite known as the Rite of Returning. The cremated remains of those Iron Snakes Astartes slain in battle were also returned, in ceremonial copper urns known as eusippus. Usually the senior-most Battle-Brother in the deceased's squad performed this last sacred duty. As the Lament of Dysse is intoned, the lid of each eusippus is unscrewed in turn and the grey ash is shaken out. The fallen's remains are sieved away into the wind and returned like the water to the sea. The fallen Astartes' squad leader would carry prepared statements written on a scroll of paper about the valiant dead's life, actions and death, sealed and ready to be placed within the archives of the Chapter House. Often these scrolls would also contain full orders of merit laying out the full details and particulars of an Iron Snakes Space Marine's service with the Chapter as well as all of the commendations and decorations he had earned.

Another common practise of the Iron Snakes is a ritual punishment used against those Astartes who have committed a terrible crime known as Oethanar -- or Trial by Wyrm. This was the worst fate a man of Ithaka could undergo. The accused was left alone and unarmed on a stilt rock, forced to face the Wyrms as they were summoned. If the accused man was still alive at the end of 6 hours, he was considered guilty of the charges against him. The people of Ithaka believed that the Water Wyrms would not defile themselves by touching a guilty man. If they took the accused, he was one of Ithaka's chosen children and his innocence would be celebrated in funeral songs and grief-rites.

Chapter Colours
The Iron Snakes' Power Armour is painted gunmetal grey with a gold Aquila. Their shoulder plates are trimmed in red as a standard colour scheme but otherwise are painted in the hues of the Chapter's varying company colours according to the prescriptions set down in the Codex Astartes.

Chapter Badge
The Chapter's badge is a coiled blue snake on a white background.

Notable Iron Snakes

 * Seydon - Seydon is the Iron Snakes' current Chapter Master.
 * Petrok - The Iron Snakes Chief Librarian.
 * Phobor - Phobor is a Hero-Captain (Veteran Officer) of the Chapter.
 * Cules - Cules is a Captain of the Chapter and commanded the Iron Snakes forces deployed during the Sabbat Worlds Crusade.
 * Pheus - Pheus is a Captain of the Chapter.
 * Khiron - Khiron was an Apothecary who originally served with Ridates Squad. On the world of Cozan, Ridates Squad came up against a daemon, who haunted them and directed its minions against them. Ridates Squad was caught in a deadly crossfire with the Forces of Chaos in a gully and the entire squad was decimated in less than six minutes. Through sheer chance, only Apothecary Khiron survived when a stray round brought down the rocky wall of the gully, burying him in rubble. As Khiron lay buried and unconscious, the daemon passed over him, believing that he was dead. This encounter left Khiron with knowledge of the vile creature's unforgettable smell. When Khiron finally emerged from the rubble, all he could do was recover the Progenoid Glands from the bodies of his fellow Battle-Brothers. Thebes Squad later overran the daemon's minions, but the creature fled and hid within the wounded body of Brother Krates. Blinded by the daemon's malefic powers, Thebes Squad brought Brother Krates back to their fortress-monastery on Karybdis. But Khiron recognised the daemon's signature smell, and immediately set upon Krates with his Bolter, slaying him. His fellow Battle-Brothers were horrified, thinking Khiron had lost his mind to the taint of Chaos, and jailed him in the Tholos beneath the Chapter House. While incarcerated, Khiron reflected on recent events and quickly realised that he had in fact not killed the daemon, since he had used a Bolter instead of cleansing flame, and that the daemon must have moved on to possess another host body. Unfortunately, his brothers would not listen to his claims. When Damocles Squad returned to Karybdis, Sergeant Priad requested Khiron as a replacement Apothecary for his squad's own deceased Apothecary, Memnes, and was subsequently denied. Priad then went to visit Khiron in the Tholos to investigate the stories of his madness. Khiron warned Priad of the daemon, and informed him that he had asked for the ritual of Oethanar in two sunsets. Later, Priad sensed the peculiar, signature smell of the foul daemon in Captain Skander of Phocis Squad during a combat drill and attacked him. Sergeant Priad eventually killed both the possessed captain and the daemon with a Flamer. Priad then embarked with Damocles Squad to the Primarch's Causeway on Ithaka to rescue Khiron from the Oethanar. They barely managed to reach Khiron before the Wyrms could devour him. Having been vindicated for his actions, Khiron was later reinstated as Damocles Squad's Apothecary.
 * Raphon - Brother-Sergeant, commander of Damocles Squad until the Undertaking on Rosetta. He then ceded his squad command to Sergeant Priad after taking mortal wounds from Dark Tusk Renegade Astartes.
 * Priad - Brother-Sergeant, commander of Damocles Squad
 * Xander - Battle-Brother, chosen as Sergeant Priad's second-in-command of Damocles Squad.
 * Phybos - Phybos was the Duty-Archon within the punishment stockade beneath the Iron Snakes Chapter House known as the Tholos. He was a grizzled Veteran Astartes who had lost both legs and an arm on the world of Kinzia five decades earlier. He was carried by an augmetic carriage.
 * Autolochus - Venerable Chapter Dreadnought
 * Kater Holofurnace - Battle-Brother, attached to the Tanith First and Only, along with two other Astartes from the White Scars and Silver Guard, during the raid on Salvation's Reach.

Chapter Inspiration
The culture, martial organisation and traditions of the Iron Snakes Chapter are based upon the culture of the ancient Greeks, more specifically upon the Greek Age of Heroes as recounted in Homer's great epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey, composed around 800 B.C. In real history, this legendary period coincides with the Greek Bronze Age and the Mycenaean Era of c. 1900 - c.1100 B.C.