Iron Scorpions

"Change is blasphemy, arrogance is sin"

- Iron Champion Tharkon Stormforge, second brotherhood

The Iron Scorpions are an illustrious chapter of Space Marines. Bearing the gene seed of the primarch Rogal Dorn, and as such are successors chapter of the Imperial Fists, being called into existence during the thirteenth founding. They retain a number of approximately 2000 marines at their disposal.

They are most famed for their iron wills, fearlessness and vigorous dedication to the emperor. The oppose arrogance, self-proclamation and even change as foolish practices, and that any true honour and skill should be proven in deeds alone, not petty words and through new technology that is always prone to malfunction, and on top of that, new technology always risks that of giving birth again to the dark age of technology. This is well-shown by a zero change in doctrine for the past two thousand years.

They are well known to be highly religious servants of the Emperor, believing fully in that their only existence is to protect the frail mankind from all threats - even from itself - and they work upon their every waking hour to prove this a thousand times over. Whilst being untrusting and openly defensive when conversing to their brothers of other Chapters, they treat normal humans with deep compassion and protectiveness, something that can be likened to that of an angel in the eyes of primeval humans.

Despite having a dark past riddled with heresy and betrayal, today they have proved themselves to be some of the finest space marine chapters in the Imperium; wholly respected by all they serve.

M36 - The Founding
The Iron Scorpions were formed during the thirteenth founding in M36, the founding infamously marked ad the dark founding, which as a result the Adeptus Terra does not retain a sample of the Iron Scorpion's gene. After their creation, the chapter appeared to be strongly based over the Codex Astartes, following it fully, and by every word, in the pursuit of the perfect space marine chapter. They became a very famous and trustworthy chapter over the centuries, and rose to a place of honour second only to the other powerful codex chapters such as the Blazing Claws and the Ultramarines.

However, they were never famed for their humility, as the marines had fallen into arrogance. The Iron Scorpions looked down upon the other space marine chapters as only imperfect, seeing only themselves as the true servants of the Emperor. Even the first founding chapters had noticed their disrespectfulness.

M37 - Gradual falll
The marines of the chapter began to take risks, seeing themselves as invincible. They attacked massive chaos and tyranid fleets, numbering even up to tens of thousands, the original number of 1000 marines dropped to a low 580 in only a few decades, and yet they continued, believing in survival of the fittest. Even though they thought they were still a great chapter, the Iron Scorpions fell their high position of honor.

It was when the chapter fell to the number of 400 marines, the Imperium predicted their eventual doom. Only a few of the remaining marines in the chapter saw this future, but unfortunatley most of them being killed after their attempts to rise up against the other marines.

Early M38 - The Volnash Heresy
It was when evidence of portions of the chapter starting to worship Arzal'uth had been revealed, the last "sane" person left in the chapter, Urexus Banesword had rose to the position of Captain of the 1st Company, seeing the error of the chapter's ways, he stood his ground and called for the re-creation of the chapter. Almost half of the chapter realised their wrongdoing, but the other remainder, led by the traitorous Captain of the Second Company Aruxan Volnash, saw them as only weaklings. What followed was a terrible battle in the corridors of Phalanx 87, the mobile space fortress serving as their fortress monastary. Nobody could be trusted, and the war dragged on for a long 91.2 hours.

After the week of warfare in the cramped and winding passages of this ancient ship, the faithful rose victorious. The surviving heretics, the Legion of Eternal Suffering estimated to be about 200 marines, fled the space fortress. Their last recorded position was somewhere between the perdus rift and the spatial anomaly known as Hadex.

They are now the Scorpions arch rivals, both factions harbouring bitter hatred for one another. It will only be a matter of time before they clash again, and the true outcome of the war so many millennia ago will finally be decided.

M39 - Rebirth and Redemption
After then, the chapter started to drift away from full dedication of the Codex, believing it as only the introductory guide to the training of a space marine, and that all chapter must find their own ways to glory.

The captain of the first company, and now Chapter Master, re-invented the ways of the chapter. He changed the ranking system, his new title becoming Iron Warden, and wrote a system of guidelines for every marine to follow, the Thirteen Commandaments of Iron. The chapter also slowly grew to the present number of 2000 marines.

For the next two-thousand years until the present M42, the Iron Scorpions have remained as a strong, efficient and honourable chapter. Highly sought after for their skills in eradication of a whole host of different threats, they are often called upon by many Imperial Organisations and the Inquisition.

Beliefs
The Iron Scorpions are most noted for their unshakeable faith in the emperor, great dicipline and overall fearlessness in the face of utter danger, a personality liked to Iron itself, hard, with immovable stubbornness and unbreakable.

Their way of life, and the root of their widely recognised personalities is centred around a rigorous belief system that is based primarily upon the reason their existence and why they were created by the emperor.

"Self proclamation, hate of normal humans, seeing yourself better than other chapters. These are all sinful practices, and they are not the reasons as to why the Emperor created us. We were birthed solely for war, we are his angels of death, and as such, this is what we will do onto our dying breath! We shall protect humanity in the name of the god emperor!"

- Programs like, or similar to this are a common introductory speech given to neophytes.

They hate all enemies that appose the Imperium above all, so much so that they almost always work alone and unobserved by most of the imperium, only banding with the finest and most pure servants of the emperor, such as the Grey Knights Chapter. Although this behaviour has known to draw suspicion form the Inquisition, more than ten thousand years of unblemished service have kept their honour high.

They also have relations with the Storm Eagles chapter for an unknown reason, but it appears that both the chapter's owe their lives to each other.

The Iron Scorpions believe in humility, fearlessness and utter ruthlessness in battle, which forms the backbone of all beliefs in the chapter. These beliefs are summarized in a litany of thirteen guidelines known as "The Thirteen Commandments of Iron", upon becoming an neophyte, and for the rest of their life, the marines are expected to follow the commandaments fully, by every word. If a marine were ever to break even one of these commandaments, he would be disrespected and untrusted until he has redeemed himself through great bravery and/or deeds. This persuit of perfection is very similair to one of the aspects of their founding chapter, the Imperial Fists, who constantly feel the need to punish themselves for even the smallest inadequacy. Some of them are common throughout all space marine chapters, while others are somewhat unique.

Every Commandment can only be properly followed if the others allow it, in other words, the entire thirteen must be followed as long as they comply with the other commandaments.

This rigourous dedication to the thirteen rites have gradually had an effect upon the marines of the chapter. Even though thier arrogance has been banished, they still disrespect many chapters becuase they violate their own beliefs, especially unorthodox chapters such as the Space Wolves. In contradiction to that, they give chapters that seem to follow their commanaments huge amounts of respect and would even offer to die for them, such as the Ultramarines and the Grey Knights.

Ranking System
 Scout - Recruits start off as scouts where they form part of a squad, usually in squads of 5-10 led by an Iron Scout.

They utilise scouting roles and snipers, and wear scout armour, with the usual "No trim" on their shoulder pads.

 Iron Brother - The Marine has now earned the right to wear full power armour, and have their helmets painted silver, symbolising true worthiness to the chapter. They now group in squads of 10-20 as strike squads led by Iron Guardiun. Sometimes they may take specialized roles if the situation demands it:

Ordnance Brothers- (Devastator) Provide heavy fire support, favouring lascannons

Sky Brother- (Assault Marines)

Veteran roles-  When a marine reaches the first company, there are a lot of roles he may be induced into.

Steel Brother- (Sternguard Veteran) Elite warriors of the Chapter, they are unstoppable bringers of the emperor's wrath, equipped with the finest weapons and adorned with many glistening honours.

Sky Warrior- (Vanguard Veteran) Just as powerful and honourable as the Steel Brothers, but with jump packs.

Iridium Warriors- (Tactical Dreadnought, or better known as, a Terminator) Veterans They go to war encased in the strongest adamantum terminator armour. They are equipped with the deadliest weapons known to the Imperium, including power fists and storm bolters.

Are Known as Mithril Warriors if equipped with Thunder hammers, storm sheilds, or lightning claws.

Iron Guardiuns-(Veteran Sergeant) The strongest of the veterans, these individuals lead them into battle using their great leadership skills and foresight learned in the many years in the ranks.

Steel Guardiun- The Company Champions, Uniform similair to a paladin's except it is covered in carved honours, and wear advanced carapace armour

Iron Champion-(Commanders of other companies) The Highest Steel Brothers leading the companies.

Iron Warden- Chapter Master and captain of first company

Dreadnoughts- Dreadnoughts are known as Adamantine Guardiuns, the most revered brothers who have fallen, returned to the battlefeild once more.

Other special roles-

Librarians- Known as Ironkeepers, and have their entire painted in bright yellow-green, rather than the traditional blue.

Apothrecaries- The apothreacies are known as Iron Preists, their entire arour is painted white except their shoulder pads, backpacks and helmets.

The Chaplains have kept their traditional uniforms and names.

Companies
The Chapter is comprised of 2000 marines, which are broken down into ten compaines, known as "Brotherhoods". Each Brotherhood is comprised of 200 Marines. Every Brotherhood has their own speciality and name, and also each have their own uniform variations, which are worn by the sergeants of each squad. Unlike most chapters, the company colours are all very similair, and sometimes the only definate classification between marines are the company numbers written on their right shoulderpads.

Notable Members
(Excerpt according to Iron Scorpions ref file 879.44 on Phalanx 87 librarus database)

Iron Warden Urexus Banesword
Chapter Master of the Iron Scorpions Chapter, Aged approx. 500 years old. He himself pulled the chapter back from heresy, banished their arrogance, and under his leadership have made the chapter one of the most feared force of astartes in the galaxy. Recruited from non-chapter world Libuth Avtus.

Iron Champion Oran Dzorhuus
The dark-skinned champion of the third brotherhood, recruited from the barbaric world of Tyshwa. Since his recruitment into the chapter, his apparently dark and murderous past as a tribal chieftain has been marked as irrelevant, as vigorous psycho-conditioning has hammered out the worst of his primeval instinct.

Xenos
The chapter refuses to make any form of equal term or even temporary agreement with aliens, including races like Eldar who are willing to ceasefire in times of dire need, or the Tau with their so called Greater Good. The Scorpions reject any vox or psychic contact with mere silence, and work only to crush the xenos army in the fastest in most efficient way possible.

As a result, the Tau Empire has officially declared this chapter as incompatible with the greater good, marking them as "a powerful force that must be met with extreme precaution", and that any associated craft and/or squads under their command must be destroyed immediatley without consolidation beforehand. The Eldar on the other hand avoid alliances in the sake of self-gain with this chapter, however knowledge of these marines is only spread through several select craftworlds.

Other Chapters
They are known to be allied with Storm Eagles, Grey Knights, Sons of Thor, and even The Ditch Fighters because of their selflessness and extreme dedication to their duty. They respect the Incinerators Chapter for their admirable selflessness and how that have not faltered despite the demands of their thousand-year crusade against aliens.

Though the chapter has served with the Grey Knights multiple times, only the Chapter Librarians above Epistolary (which perform the scouring) and Urexus Banesword himself are permitted to retain their memories of the events. Every other marine of the chapter are telepathically scoured of any memories of the events, being told immediately after as the cause being an extremely rare gene-seed flaw.

Amongst the many chapters they distrust and even outright ignore, they hold the Blazing Claws, the Solar Legion and Onyx Knights above all others with disposition for various reasons, the Claws for having faith in the Machine Spirit, the Onyx Knights for their "unorthodox motives", and the Solar Legion for their despicable arrogance.

They appear to have a stern annoyance towards the Dark Angels, Space Wolves and their successors, however this is balanced out by their great accomplishments, to the likes of which the Scorpions can only dream of.

Recruitment
Being that they have no homeworld, the Iron Scorpions recruit via different methods than to most chapters. Like the Black Templars, the chapter established recruitment fortresses on most worlds they conquer. They only select a few Neophytes each year from each world, usually the finest warriors available from the planets. Being that there are so few Neophytes for each training centre, each marine are able to receive huge amounts of complex training because of the time saved.

Known recruitment worlds include Llars VI, Llars V, Umbra Prime, Norus, Sevrus, Ak-boor, Taboo X, Taboo Prime, Acma, Voryus, Skadi  and  Tyshwa

Combat doctrine
The only thing the Iron Scorpions haven't fully abandoned from the Codex Astartes,is the tactical information inside. It holds the basis for Imperial cities, giving blueprints for certain buildings and road systems, and also issuing a standard outline for defences; the Codex also gives guidelines for keeping Imperial populations in line, prescribing social structures and PDF recruitment techniques. Other than that, they have built upon the battle methods inside the book, making some of their tactics quite unique, but amazingly effective.

Vehicles
The vehicles utilised by the chapter strictly follow what has been written in the Commandments of Iron. Their weapons allow for a high degree of specialised types of warfare, particularly siege and infiltration tactic.

''Vehicles courtesy of User:Thomaslove92. Thanks!''

Battle Cry
"Hold arrogance and change below us as a mere stepping stones on the past, onwards to our future glory!"

Also known to use the following alternate mottoes:

"We strike with the wrath of Rogal Dorn and the Emperor!"

"Iron willed, striking them down with the strength of Steel!"

"From the shadows we strike! No Mercy!"

Fleet
Being a fleet bound chapter, the entire chapter are based in a large space fleet. Below are listed the most important and commonly seen vessels in the fleet, though usually a massive amount of associated crafts accompany them.
 * The Iron Citadel (Phalanx 87)- Mobile space fortress, rumored to be older than the chapter itself. It is the Fortress-monastary Iron Scorpions. This fortress is also home the the first brotherhood.
 * Dorn's Revenge- Battle barge, flagship of the Iron Scorpions Fleet. It is also the headquarters of 2nd Brotherhood.
 * Rune Lance II- Strike Cruiser, 3rd Brotherhood, the Rune Lance I was destroyed during an encounter with Hive Fleet Kraken.
 * Iron Voyager- Strike Cruiser, 4th Brotherhood.
 * Dark Spire- Strike Cruiser, 5th Brotherhoods.
 * Doomblade- Strike Cruiser, 6th Brotherhood.
 * Storm's shadow- Strike Cruiser, 7th Brotherhood.
 * Grey Phantom- Strike Cruiser, 8th Brotherhood.


 * White Scorpion III- Strike Cruiser, 9th Brotherhood, originally known as the Black scorpion, the Black Scorpion I was horribly wrecked after many crusades, and was rebuilt to form Black scorpion II. This ship was again destroyed beyond repair, and being declared as cursed, the ship was deserted, and a brand new strike cruiser was built, renamed the White scorpion III.

Crusade of Redemption
++ Brotherhoods I and IV sent to quell Necron uprising. Met with considerable resistance from several other Xeno attacks, each present for their own personal measures. -- Sons of Thor Chapter provided aid. Unknown amount. Decisive Space Marine victory++
 * Orks exterminated
 * Eldar defeated
 * Necrons phased out after small losses
 * Tau retreat

Operation Shrike
++ Third Brotherhood currently on active duty. Status unknown


 * Imperial reinforcements


 * Blaze Ravens - Devoted the 8th Company. (Note: Original participate of operation)
 * Azura Tridents - Devoted the 6th Company.
 * Exodus Chapter - Devoted the 1st Company.
 * Blood Talons - Devoted the 2nd Company.
 * Praeterfactors - Devoted the 7th Company

(Additional records are yet to be processed)++

Genetic Traits
The gene-seed of this chapter have mutated, affecting some of the organs implanted during the creation if all space marines. having many major and minor effects.

Major flaws

The lyman's ear implantation has evolved to were the marine can hear subsonic sound waves, mostly caused by distant tremors. This skill adds to their fighting abilites in cramped spaces such as space hulks and hive cities, detecting nearby enemies. Their black carapace organ is also overgrown to the point where their skin seems to be stiff, a condition they call "Steel Skin.", this is also increasing their average weight making them harder to knock down in an assault or from a heavy payload of firepower. Along with the benefits however, comes disatvantages, the extra weight added by their carapaces decrease their average overall speed, and therefore the marines must take much more fitness training to meet the requirements of a capable space marine.

Minor flaws

Along with the genetic conditions such as Steel skin, the entire chapter have yellow eyes, and their hair comes in colours of black, and grey in later life.

Appearance and Heraldry
Unlike most chapters, the Iron scorpions prefer not to adorn themselves in honors, seeing them only as a distraction, and at most, a sign of arrogance. They prefer to stick to the bare minimum of adornations, basically only the imperial eagle on their chest and the skulls scattered around their power armour. They do however use a great deal of symbols and other insignia promoting their success in battle, examples include all kinds of kill markings, from roman numerals, stars and etc.

The colours chosen by the chapter also serve another, rather simple purpose, to make them stand out from others, to prevoke fear so that the enemies can see them from a distance, helpless to end or hide from their advance. One of the most noticable are the diagonal yellow-green stripes painted onto sections of their armour, a tradition that began from large amounts of kill markings painted on armour and weapons.

It is quite often pointed out by observers that when this chapter bands with the Storm Eagles, it seems to be two opposites fighting as one. The eagles being unseesn because of their large use of camoflauge, and the Iron Scorpions being seen from miles away.

Chapter Symbol
The insignia denoting the chapter itself if a stylised image of a scorpion, enclosed within a triangle. The scorpion is a symbol of persistence, though it may not be quick like that of an eagle, it is stubborn, armed with two peircing claws and a deadly tail as a killing blow. The triangle is a symbol of strength, the pyramid and triangle are both geometrically very solid shapes, being highly resistant to warping - this is reflected by the use of the shape in their heraldry

Quotes
Feel free to add your own

By
"Our motives are clear! We follow the Emperor as our divine father and champion. Change: and we risk walking out of the brilliant ray of his light. So I tell you, feel free to change, but you risk a whole host of negative effects. Chaotic corruption, loss of honour, or a malfunction in command. I'd say it's very foolish to think that fixing what isn't broken is a path to success."

- Iron Warden Urexus Banesword

"You revere the machine spirit above the Emperor Himself as if it were a separate god, you approve technology despite it's dark taint echoing the age of technology, and the age of strife it incurred... you're walking the fine line between faithfulness and heresy marine! And I vow to you, continue along this path, and we will never trust you."

- Anonymous Iron Scorpion during the Crusade of Redemption

About
"Their aggressive opposition to change have led them to be very superstitious and judgemental. Foolish as always, I'm counting down the years until they have another heated skirmish with some outcast unorthodox chapter."

- Grand Paladin Ardus Ortocus of the Blazing Claws

"If they weren't such powerful and might I say stubborn fighters, their extremely predictable and unchanging tactics would have spelt their end long ago."

- Eldar Farseer (Unidentified)

"At last... a chapter that aren't pompous, arrogant pricks. Emperor be blessed!"

- Commissar serving under the 51st Ferrax Guard