Warhammer 40K Loremasters: Medusa – Home of the Iron Hands
Come Loremasters and learn of Medusa IV – a planet as harsh and uncompromising as the Iron Hands who call it home.
Medusa IV is the homeworld of the Iron Hands Space Marine Chapter.
Planetary Overview
Medusa is a harsh realm of perpetual gloom, located extremely close to the Eye of Terror. With a dark and polluted sky, Medusa’s sun rarely shines on the planet’s surface and the world’s geology is highly unstable, with earthquakes and volcanic eruptions constantly creating and destroying mountain ranges and seas. The people of Medusa are hardy and flourish despite the hostile environment. The population is broken up into clans who viciously compete and vie for natural resources and safe ground, as the unpredictable nature of Medusa’s landscape means little can built in one place for long, save a few areas of relative calm which are mostly reserved for the Iron Hands Chapter. As the nomadic clans seek a new settlement, great caterpillar-like mining haulers carry their personal possessions and resources. One of the greatest wonders of Medusa is the ruins of the Telstarax, a colossal planet-circling space station dating back to the Dark Age of Technology. It is believed that the Telstarax was used to plunder Medusa of its resources.
Ferrus Mannus’ Youth on Medusa
As a youth, he discovered an “X” mark on the pod that first brought him to this world and that the chamber was too precise to be a natural formation. Exploring further, he discovered runes and electro-conductive stalagmites all around the chamber. His inspections awakened an imprisoned colossal bio-mechanical worm-like creature, which attacked him and escaped, ignoring his attacks. He followed its path of destruction and swore he would destroy the beast he had unwittingly released. When he reached the surface, he saw other men in the distance but wouldn’t reveal himself to them, instead keeping his recent oath in mind. Over time, Ferrus had gained a significant legend to the Clans of Medusa. The storm giants of the Karaashi Pinacle called him The Cataclysm. Due to his unleashing of the wyrm, he was also known as the Hunter. The phantasmagoria dubbed him The Finality. The mecharachnis and phasewraiths that sought him out had seemed to classify him as the Rehew Netjer or Son of Man. Meanwhile, the Subliminat had called him Flesh.
Years later, Ferrus walked unscathed and fully formed from the mountains where he encountered the roaming clans and tribes of Medusa. Ferrus would not join these tribes, as many of his brothers did. Instead, he sought out physical challenges to make himself stronger and more resilient. These tests ended with his battle against the Great Silver Wyrm Asirnoth, a metallic beast impervious to harm; Ferrus had to drown it in magma to kill it. The melted flesh of the wyrm fused to Ferrus’s flesh, giving him the true metal hands his Legion would take its name from. Ferrus returned to the tribes and lectured them on technology. The clans advanced at a stunning pace and Medusa prospered, but Ferrus took care to leave the inter-clan rivalry and fighting by never taking sides, as he saw the competition between them as healthy and good.
Iron Hands Cultural Impact on Medusa
The bulk of the Chapter is divided into ten Clan Companies. The Clan Companies are based off of the historic Clans of Medusa, which are in a state of constant war with one another as well as the harsh elements of their world. Though Ferrus Manus long ago united Medusa under his rule, the Iron Hands make no effort to end the fighting between the clans. They view the constant warfare as weeding out the weak and shaping strong recruits for the Chapter. Each of the ten current Clan Companies continues to utilize the symbols and traditions associated with their corresponding Clan on Medusa.
Each of the Clan Companies of the Iron Hands is responsible for their own recruitment. These new recruits are taken from the nomadic Clans of Medusa. Only those of great physical and mental strength are recruited and during the recruitment candidates have their weaknesses purged from them.
Recent History
During the 13th Black Crusade of Abaddon the Despoiler, Medusa would come under massive invasion from Chaos forces. The ensuing clash saw the largest tank battle in the Imperium since the Horus Heresy.
Sometime after the formation of the Great Rift, Chaos Space Marine forces from the Death Guard, Cleaved, and Purge raided Medusa. Though the Iron Hands drove off the attack, the damage was great and parts of Medusa have since been quarantined due to infection.
Notable Locales
- Felgarrthi Mountains is a great mountain range that rose high over the basin of the plain. It consists of ten big countenances, each hundreds of metres in height, towering from the stormblasted summit.
- The Eye of Medusa — sacred place deep in this region.
- Karaashi, the great Ice Pinnacle where Ferrus Manus originally crashed onto Medusa, is still present to this day. However it is said to be half the size it once was.
- Oraanus Rocks — a mountain ridge that extended for several hundred kilometers (north to south of the planet) and consists of ultra-hard lumps of diorite — a metamorphic crystal peculiar only to Medusa planet. It is a place of the Trial of Rocks — a test for Neophytes of the Iron Hands.
Notable Lifeforms
- Mountain Yarrk — resembles something between a giant leopard and primate, several meters tall and with a broad shoulders. Its long arms and powerful body covered with black shaggy hair and its head had a mane. Yarrks is very fierce beasts and frequently used by the young Medusan clanmen to compete with for the attention of the Iron Hands recruiting new neophytes.
Learn More of the Iron Hands
Lexicanum
~In time Loremasters we will return to the cradles of each of the Primarchs. All praise the Omnissiah!
