Sons of Medusa

The Sons of Medusa are a Loyalist Successor Chapter of Space Marines drawn from the unforgiving Iron Hands Chapter whose existence was ratified by an Imperial edict of the High Lords of Terra in 011.M37. The Sons of Medusa are a Chapter with a history of ruthless efficiency in the merciless persecution of the Imperium of Man's foes. Like their forebears, they are extreme devotees of the Emperor of Mankind and look with disgust upon those who lack their strength of will. They are a distinguished Chapter whose long roll of battle honours can be traced back to the early 37th Millennium.

The Moirae Schism
The Sons of Medusa are a highly respected Space Marine Chapter with a long history of defending the Imperium from its foes. It has participated in a host of Imperial Crusades and been responsible for the triumphant defence of Mankind's worlds from the heretic and the alien. However, the glories of the Chapter's history mask a darker past for the Sons of Medusa than many would guess at, a secret and turbulent history of heresy and discord. The origins of the Chapter lay in the turbulent times of the Nova Terra Interregnum which took place during the early 35th Millennium. This was a period in human history of division and civil war in which the Imperium became fractured into a number of different warring factions. The Adeptus Mechanicus was also affected during this Interregnum by division and internal warfare brought about by doctrinal differences and competing centres of power. One of the most discordant of these conflicts was the Moirae Schism, a dogmatic battle between the Martian Orthodoxy of the standard Cult Mechanicus and a far more radical creed based upon the prophetic writings of a triad of tech-mystics from the minor Forge World of Moirae. The Moirae Schism was one of the most divisive and widespread doctrinal conflicts to afflict the Adeptus Mechanicus since the Horus Heresy. These heretical writings spread like wildfire through the domains of the Mechanicus even after Moirae was reduced to a cinder by the Fabricator-General of Mars' rectification fleet.

The Moirae tech-creed was based on the prophetic wave calculations of the triad of tech-mystics who believed that they had discerned a series of predictive patterns within the micro-fluctuations of the Astronomican's psychic beacon. They believed that these geometric patterns contained the word of the Omnissiah and God-Emperor from which the skein of future history and humanity's destiny could be read. These radical teachings included veiled references to the future overthrow of the Priesthood of Mars and the fusion of the Cult Mechanicus and the Ecclesiarchy into a unified ecclesiastical hierarchy. Such claims were predictably treated as dark sedition by the Mechanicus authorities on Mars and civil war was quickly sparked between the Orthodox and radical elements of the Mechanicus.

Chapter Schism
The disruptive creed of Moirae quickly gained influence; within the Mechanicus priesthood, a number of Tech Guard regiments and even some Titan Legions causing untold harm, before being transmitted further afield to Space Marine Chapters with close ties to the Adeptus Mechanicus - and in this the Iron Hands were no exception. Championed by the infamous Omnissian mystic, the Iron Father Setol Sollex, a significant percentage of those within the Chapter quickly embraced the Moirae doctrines. As discord soon followed, the Iron Hands were faced with the prospect of a full civil war within the Chapter. This was only averted by the wise counsel of the Iron Hands' Great Clan Council's intervention to propose a settlement. Though deemed straightforward and harsh, their solution to avoid mass bloodshed within their ranks was a simple one - exile from the Iron Hands' homeworld of Medusa for the minority who had embraced the dissident doctrines, and a binding treaty never to raise their hands against their former brothers enacted by both sides.

It is believed that fully a third of the Iron Hands brethren then departed, eventually joined in time by a handful of Space Marines from other Iron Hands Successor Chapters who shared their common beliefs in the Moirae doctrines (although evidence exists that some such as the Red Talons mercilessly destroyed their errant brothers over this matter, rather than suffer the dissidents to live). This exiled faction still saw themselves as wholly a part of the Imperium of Man and still full members of the Iron Hands. Therefore they still sought to perform the God-Emperor's given duties and destroy the enemies of the Imperium.

Founding
Operating as though still a part of their mother-Chapter, the Iron Hands' exiles continued to increase their numbers and strength, commending their gene-seed to higher Imperial authorities among the Adeptus Mechanicus and conducting their duties. They continued to use the iconography and signature equipment of the Iron Hands from which they had been outcast (with some minor variations) having further divided themselves into three new Clan Companies to support their steady increase in numbers. In the early years of the 37th Millennium, matters continued in this vein until the dawning of the Age of Redemption. During this period of the Age of the Imperium the newly resurgent High Lords of Terra re-assembled the disparate strands of anarchy that had ravaged the Emperor's realm and purged what could not be saved. The Moirae exiles of the Iron Hands, now a separate Chapter in all but name, were weighed and judged, their record examined in minute detail as was their gene-seed for unworthiness, Chaotic taint or mutational deviance. The exiles were found to be loyal and untainted. As a result, by a special edict of the High Lords of Terra, the Sons of Medusa were reorganized and ratified as a Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes within the Emperor's grace in 011.M37, despite protests within the Adeptus Mechanicus and the grave misgivings held by numerous other Space Marine Chapters at this violation of the standard practice for Founding a new Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.

Over the following centuries, the Sons of Medusa have earned a reputation for standing against the Emperor's foes, no matter how desperate the odds, winning for themselves the grudging respect, if not the trust, of their fellow Space Marines. Yet their reputation has been long-marred by those that would call the Sons of Medusa battlefield scavengers and carrion crows. During their lean years in exile, the Chapter developed the habit of seeking out and appropriating weapons and technology from the fallen. It is said of the Chapter by their detractors that the desire to take wargear from the dead remains an underlying motive of all their actions, and a principal reason they have never shunned combat against those Space Marine Chapters who have turned Renegade or become subject to censure by the High Lords of Terra.

Notable Campaigns

 * The Great Cull (Early 37th Millennium) - The first campaign the newly designated Sons of Medusa Chapter undertook after their recognition by the High Lords of Terra was participation in the Great Cull; the systematic destruction of those organizations with Imperial space upon whom the High Lords' judgment at the end of the Nova Terra Interregnum had not been so kind. With unalloyed zeal and implacable determination, the Sons of Medusa seemed to want to prove themselves to their doubters, outshining even their progenitor Chapter in the harsh and unforgiving manner in which they executed their duties. Even after the Great Cull ended, the Chapter continued to have its three Chapter Fleets tirelessly prosecute the enemies of the Imperium.
 * The Bellrath Crusade (182-453.M38) - In the year 182.M38, a mighty Crusade was launched to liberate and dominate the area of space designated as the Laanah Rifts in the north-western fringes of the Segmentum Pacificus from the hands of Xenos and heretics. This Crusade, one of the largest of its kind in centuries, was conducted by well over 25,000,000 levied Imperial Guard troops with unknown numbers of pilgrims and hangers-on swept up in its wake. The Crusade was further augmented by two Titan Legions, and 8 Space Marine Chapters at various times, with the Sons of Medusa being the most active. The Chapter was heavily engaged during much of the Crusade with an unknown xenos species. Within 50 standard years of its inception the Crusade began to falter, and it was at this time that the Sons of Medusa would win the greatest victory of the Crusade against the the twisted alien race the Imperium named the Hellgrammites. The Chapter circumvented the aliens' attack fleets and conducted a perilous counter-attack, striking at the heart of their domains in the star system codenamed "Wormgyre." Using the arcane science of their Explorator Magos allies from the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Chapter's modified fleet (the spacecraft of the Sons of Medusa made use of modified Warp-Drives that repelled the Ǽtheric fire that shielded Wormgyre), provided them with a measure of defence for a time, and allowed them to catch their complacent enemy unawares. With time running out, the Sons of Medusa gathered the might of the entire Chapter, and plunged headlong into the heart of the Hellgrammite throne-world. The Chapter's attack was as relentless as it was merciless. It was said that the Sons of Medusa killed and killed again, methodically and coldly destroying the vile xenos creatures, firing until they exhausted the Promethium in their Flamers and all of their Bolter shells were spent. Still they continued the merciless slaughter, with combat blade and Chainsword and when even these dulled and failed, with anything they could find to wield or just their bare Power Armoured fists. The onslaught continued until the alien temple-cities were painted with the foul pale ichor that served the Hellgramites for blood and half their world had been smashed to ruin. Only then did the Sons of Medusa withdraw. Having torn the heart from the enemy, both militarily and spiritually, the Hellgrammites' resistance collapsed. In a handful of years they were no more. Within a century, a great swathe of the Laanah Rifts was brought under Imperial dominion, and the Sons of Medusa entered the mythology of the new sector's inhabitants, whispered of in the old tales as "the Emerald Death" that fell from the stars to punish the God-Emperor's foes.
 * The Angevin Crusade (322.M39) - The Sons of Medusa played a part in the Angevin Crusade.
 * The Badab War (907-912.M41) - In direct response to the Legate Inquisitor's request for Space Marine reinforcements after the Secession of the Badab Sector of the Ultima Segmentum had been declared heretical, the first Sons of Medusa Strike Cruisers and attack squadrons arrived in the region in 907.M41. The combined Sons of Medusa force comprised the full strength of the Chapter's Atropos War Clan backed by forces drawn from the Lachesis and Magaera War Clans with a combined estimated strength of between five and six companies as defined by the Codex Astartes, with a fleet of 6 Strike Cruisers, 2 Forge Ships, a Battle Barge and 14 Escort and Attack Vessels of various types. The undisputed master of the Sons of Medusa force was the Iron Thane Vaylund Cal of the Atropos War Clan. Though he deferred to the Magister Millitum of the Badab War, Lord Commander Carab Culln of the Red Scorpions, in strategic deployment and the use of his Chapter, no Astartes from the Sons of Medusa Chapter answered to the orders of any but their own Chapter superiors at the tactical level. Having fought alongside the Sons of Medusa before, Lord Commander Culln wisely deployed their forces where their strengths and tenacity would provide the greatest effect. During the early part of their involvement in the Badab War, the Sons of Medusa were first assigned to scourge the post-atomic wasteland of the world of Cygnax of the Secessionist forces, and later led the assault raids against Decabalus and Eshunna, both outer worlds of the Badab Sector. They later famously conducted the subjugation campaign against the Secessionist world of Galaen. The Chapter's greatest single defeat in the conflict came with the destruction of their Strike Cruiser Warspite which was lost with all hands in battle with the Executioners Chapter near the Grief System in 911.M41. The aftermath of this battle was to result in the Salamanders and Sons of Medusa nearly coming to blows over the Executioners' withdrawal from the war. The last major engagement the Chapter was involved in was to be the hard-fought assault on the orbital fortress of Sentinel-Sigma in preparation for the Loyalists' final attack on the heart of the Secessionist movement, Badab Primaris. In this brutal boarding action the Chapter fought alongside the feared Exorcists Chapter, eventually emerging victorious and taking command of the city-sized star fortress. The conquest of Sentinel-Sigma shattered the defences of the Badab System's so-called "Ring of Steel" and allowed the final assault on Badab itself to begin.

Chapter Organisation
The Sons of Medusa differ somewhat from the prescriptions of the Codex Astartes in command structure, while remaining true to its tenets at the tactical and squad level. The Chapter follows a unique organisation pattern derived in part from their progenitors, the Iron Hands Chapter. The Chapter is divided into three War Clans, each of which is further divided into a Battle Company, a Tactical Company, and a Support Company rather than the usual division into 10 companies of 100 Astartes each. The Battle and Tactical Companies conform roughly to their Codex equivalents, while the Support Company comprises a mixture of Devastator, Assault and Veteran squads. The Chapter also does not maintain a dedicated Scout Company as required by the dictates of the Codex. Instead, each of the War Clans maintains a body of Neophytes and Initiates which it considers to be an auxiliary force. Like all Chapters, the actual strength of the Sons of Medusa can vary greatly based upon current levels of attrition in the ranks and the status of its Scout force. The Scout force in particular can vary in size, as the Chapter is notoriously harsh on its Neophytes, brooking no sign of weakness or failure in them. For those who do not live up to the harsh standards of the Chapter, those that falter or fail in judgment of their masters, the fate of a mindless cybernetic Servitor in the Chapter's forges is the best that can be hoped for.

War Clans
In a pattern similar to their forebears, the Sons of Medusa maintain a non-standard "Clan" structure which overlays the more traditional patterns of Space Marine organisation found within the Codex Astartes. Whereas the Iron Hands are formed of 10 "Clan Companies" associated with their homeworld of Medusa's nomadic city-caravans, the Sons of Medusa maintain 3 "War Clans;" the Lachesis, the Mageara, and the Atropos, which were established by the Chapter's founder, Iron Father Setol Sollex, during the Moriae Schism. The doctrine and hierarchy within these War Clans is largely independent of the others, but all owe fealty to the larger Chapter command structure and the Council of Three and Chamber Ferrum. Each of the War Clans' insignias and heraldry varies somewhat from the others, with the Mageara War Clan utilising the "purest" form of the Chapter's emerald and white heraldry, the Atropos incorporating further elements of sable-black in their heraldry and the Lachesis preferring silver-steel. Beyond these visible signs of difference between the War Clans, what dogmatic or strategic variance between them exists, as well as the true interplay and seniority of the officers within the Chapter remains utterly impenetrable to outsiders.

Each of the War Clans is commanded by an officer called an Iron Thane, and each of the three companies within a War Clan is commanded by a Captain, attended in a subordinate role by a dedicated Chaplain as the master of doctrine and discipline. The Iron Thanes act in concert to control the Chapter as its Council of Three, as the Chapter has had no single master since the passing of Setol Sollex millennia ago. The Chapter's Council of Three is further advised by the wisdom of the Ancients, the Chapter's honoured cadre of Venerable Dreadnoughts.

Chamber Ferrum
The Chapter's unusually extensive brotherhood of Techmarines are known as the Chamber Ferrum; the members of the Chamber Ferrum are greater in both number and authority within the Sons of Medusa than the Techmarine forces found within a standard Codex-compliant Chapter. The Chamber Ferrum exists outside the structure of the 3 War Clans, and its purpose is to enforce unity, cementing the Chapter together as a whole. It is the Techmarines of the Chamber Ferrum who maintain supplies of vital war materiel to the Chapter's disparate strike forces. The Chamber Ferrum further manages the disposition of the Chapter's fleet and holds within it the Chapter's Apothecarion and command of its forges and other facilities.

Chapter Wargear
As befits a scion Chapter of the Iron Hands, the level of technology and weaponry used by the Sons of Medusa Chapter is higher than the Imperial average, even among the usually well-equipped Astartes, and their Armoury is particularly extensive and diverse. The Chapter's Forge Ships are known to be able to salvage, repair and produce a wide variety of Adeptus Astartes wargear. This range of technology is thought to include the extremely rare capability to construct new Dreadnought chassis and build some of the rarer Land Raider variants such as the Prometheus.

Chapter Combat Doctrine
Like their forebears among the Iron Hands, the Sons of Medusa have a particular hatred for weakness in any form. This has had a marked effect on their combat doctrine. Like their former Iron Hands brethren, this hatred is extended to the physical body, seeing weakness even in themselves despite their obviously superior, augmented superhuman physiques. It is not unknown for an Astartes of this Chapter to further enhance himself through biomechanical and cybernetic means, including the replacement of otherwise healthy limbs and organic bodyparts with bionics. The Sons of Medusa are ferocious in battle, always advancing forwards in a relentless, automaton-like manner no matter how desperate the odds, throwing themselves violently at the enemy as they are overcome by a bitter, righteous anger at those who would defy the will of the Emperor and Omnissiah.

Chapter Homeworld
In the late 39th Millennium, the Sons of Medusa established a series of fortified asteroid stations in the abandoned mining system of Taelus to serve as a more permanent facility and fortress-monastery for their otherwise fleet-based Chapter, constructing secure Armouries, gene-seed banks and forges deep within the ferrous asteroid masses. The Taelus System is but a single day under Warp from the dead world of Moirae, which the Chapter still reveres as the home of the ancient tech-mystics who led to their exile from the Iron Hands.

Chapter Beliefs
Although the Sons of Medusa were ultimately Founded as a result of the Moirae Schism, it is unknown just how many of the Moirae tech-mystics' teachings they still cleave to more than five millennia later. What is certain is that many factions of the Adeptus Mechanicus still view them with suspicion and their forebears, the Iron Hands, treat them with cold civility at best. In their character, the Sons of Medusa owe much to their forebears, being utterly intolerant of physical or mental weaknesses in others and least of all in themselves. This obsession manifests most notably in a distinct preference for high levels of cybernetic replacement among their Battle-Brothers. Those who have fought alongside the Chapter remark that they possess a frigid manner and seemingly emotionless responses, taking little pleasure in success. Unlike many other Astartes, the Sons of Medusa do not crave glory or expect to prove their worthiness to their Chapter. Failure to the Sons of Medusa is intolerable, and slights against the Chapter's honour, perceived or real, are met with deadly force, while defeats are viewed as things to be rectified and avenged. To an Astartes of the Sons of Medusa, doing otherwise would be to show weakness, and weakness is death.

Notable Sons of Medusa

 * Iron Father Setol Sollex - Setol Sollex was an infamous Omnissian mystic, formerly of the Iron Hands Chapter. During the early 35th Millennium a new heretical doctrine began to spread like wildfire within the ranks of the Adeptus Mechanicus, eventually transmitting further afield to the Space Marine Chapters with close ties to the Cult Mechanicus. Known as the Moirae Schism, this heretical doctrine was the most widespread and bitterly contested within the Mechanicus since the Horus Heresy and the birth of the Dark Mechanicus and its Chaotic tech-heresy. When these radical teachings reached the Iron Hands, there was a great dissension within the ranks of the Chapter. The tenets of the Moirae Schism were championed by Iron Father Sollex amongst the Chapter's Clan Companies. Internecine conflict was only avoided by the last minute intervention of the Iron Hands Great Clan Council. Their proposed settlement - exile for the minority of those within the Chapter who had embraced the dissident doctrine, and a binding treaty never to raise their hands against their former brothers. Fully a third of the Iron Hands brethren departed, to be joined by a handful of Astartes from other Iron Hands Successor Chapters who shared their divergent beliefs. Led by Iron Father Sollex, despite their exile from their parent Chapter, the Moirae exiles continued to seek out and fight the enemies of the Imperium, belieiving themselves to be the true Iron Hands.
 * Vaylund Cal, Iron Thane of the Atropos War Clan, High Artificer of the Sons of Medusa - The undisputed master of the Atropos War Clan of the Sons of Medusa, Vaylund Cal is an Iron Thane, serving in the dual role of his War Clan's master weaponsmith and war leader. He is considered to be a soullessly cold and emotionless figure, made all the more imposing in his hulking black and emerald Power Armour. A fanatic believer in the teachings of the Moirae Sect of the Cult Mechanicus, Cal is renowned for employing Devastator Squads with extremely high levels of deliberate cybernetic augmetics in his clan's forces. Valund Cal's own largely cybernetic body is a testament to his life's work and what little remains of his organic body is shot through with bionic and auto-sanguinary systems that increase his strength and endurance beyond even the superhuman levels of the standard Astartes.

Chapter Colours
The Sons of Medusa were originally depicted in a dark green colour scheme. In their contemporary colour scheme they are depicted with emerald green Power Armour, white helmets and black trim. Sons of Medusa Techmarines, all members of the Chapter's Chamber Ferrum, have red shoulder plates and bear the icon of the Chamber Ferrum on their right shoulder plate. The Desert World Support Squad of the Sons of Medusa use a yellow-brown armour colour scheme with vertical black tiger stripes and are deployed with heavy weapons as a Devastator Squad.

Chapter Badge
The Sons of Medusa's Chapter badge was originally Medusa's head, but was later stylized into a white skull with a black, eight-pointed iron halo surrounding it.

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