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Night Lords

2022-07-07T08:31:40Z

2001:48F8:9021:88F:38FC:8B54:F0F0:841A: /* Gallery */

{{Infobox Traitor Legion
|Name = Night Lords
|Heraldry = [[File:Nightlordslogo.png|250px]]
|Battle Cry = "We have come for you!" or "Ave Dominus Nox!" or “ Criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot, so my disguise must be able to strike terror into their hearts. I must be a creature of the night, black, terrible...”
|Number = VIII
|Primarch = [[Konrad Curze]]
|Original Homeworld = [[Nostramo]]
|Current Homeworld = Unknown
|Champion = Krieg Acerbus (Daemon Prince). Could also be Decimus or Zso Sahaal if you’re not a chaosfag
|Specialty = Stealth, guerrilla warfare, and terror tactics
|Strength = Unknown
|Allegiance = Depends on the warband (at least with regards to the Ruinous Powers. Otherwise, it's mostly to themselves).
|Colours = Midnight Blue, with Brass trim, and living lightning effects across the armor. *Apply blood liberally, or as needed.*
}}
{{Template:Heresy}}
{{topquote|Because the Wolves kill cleanly, and we do not. They also kill quickly, and we have never done that, either. They fight, they win, and they stalk back to their ships with their tails held high. If they were ever ordered to destroy another Legion, they would do it by hurling warrior against warrior, seeking to grind their enemies down with the admirable delusions of the 'noble savage'. If we were ever ordered to assault another Legion, we would virus bomb their recruitment worlds; slaughter their serfs and slaves; poison their gene-seed repositories and spend the next dozen decades watching them die slow, humiliating deaths. Night after night, raid after raid, we'd overwhelm stragglers from their fleets and bleach their skulls to hang from our armour, until none remained. But that isn't the quick execution the Emperor needs, is it? The Wolves go for the throat. We go for the eyes. Then the tongue. Then the hands. Then the feet. Then we skin the crippled remains, and offer it up as an example to any still bearing witness. The Wolves were warriors before they became soldiers. We were murderers first, last, and always!|[[Sevatar|Jago Sevatarion]]}}
{{topquote|BOO!"|Warcry of the night lords when they sneak up on you}}
{{topquote | I wanted to be a hero... and look how that turned out. |Talos Valcoran, evidencing how most Traitor members of the Legiones Astartes feel}}
{{topquote|The best political weapon is the weapon of terror. Cruelty commands respect. Men may hate us but we don't ask for their love. Only for their fear.|Heinrich Himmler}}

The Night Lords [[Space Marine]] Legion consists of some of the more batshit(HA!)-crazy emos, kind of like the Chaos version of the [[Raven Guard]]. [[grimdark|They get off to catching their enemies, skinning them alive and crucifying them, all the while recording it for later.]] Also notable for having a strong vampire motif and playing too much Mortal Kombat; they're scary creatures that live in the dark but scorn the [[Chaos Gods]], much like the [[Vampire Counts]]. Their backstory is surprisingly compelling and deep, but they are nevertheless bitter, brutal, terrifying assholes whose battle cries include "We have come for you!" or "Ave Dominus Nox" (translated as "-Hail the Lord of the Night-").

Think of them as a hybrid of Raven Guard and Blood Angels. Yes, they sneaky beaky, but they also jump assault to rip faces off.

==History==
[[File:Oh shit the batmarines by sonicbrew-d2z88fe.jpg|200px|left|thumb|Masters of Ambush]]
Their Primarch called himself the Night Haunter (his IRL name was [[Konrad Curze]]). When [[Chaos]] abducted the infant [[Primarch]]s, they were scattered across the galaxy. Poor lil Konrad ended up on Nostramo, a world of perpetual darkness. And unlike the other Primarchs who were found by the inhabitants of a planet (highly debatable) and taken care of, Konrad was left all alone to fend for himself, [[Grimdark|in a world that was a dark, lawless land]]. But who's to say it would've been better? So then he grew up, he became like the Batman of the 31st millennium, where he punished the corrupt and the evil. Unlike Batman, he had no compunctions about killing them in the most gruesome manner possible (and occasionally displaying the corpses) to the point the sewers were clogged with bodies. [[Grimdark|Strangely enough, this was actually considered an improvement]]. So yeah, he became such a popular icon that the people of Nostramo basically fixed their shitty society because they feared that the "Night Haunter" would screw their asses to unimaginable levels, thus making him Vlad the Impaler IN SPESS!!! It says something about his world that, even as Vlad the Impaler, he was still clearly quite the good guy.

Curze tried to be a good leader for his people, but there was one thing he was just unable to do: delegate. So when [[God-Emperor of Mankind|Big.E]] came rolling by and took him along for [[Great Crusade|a good scrap all over the galaxy]], it didn't take long for Nostramo to fall back into crime, anarchy and the like. With the scary thing in the night gone kicking ass AnywhereButHere, it suddenly wasn't scary anymore. Insult to injury, Nostramo provided most aspirants for the Night Lords, and soon only those that thrived in such a lawless environment ascended to become Space Marines... with all the complications one could imagine. Despite the psycho-indoctrination, many Night Lords were serial-killers and sociopaths, hiding their bloodlust beneath a thin veneer of loyalty to the Crusade, and this rot slowly but surely spread to the Legion as a whole.

They also have an unhealthy addiction to flying and lightning. They are known for scaring the hell out of civilians for shits and giggles, and also known for being insanely giant fucking nutheads. Wherever the Night Lords strike, they leave corpses and signs of their assault on display and generally make it look like all the Segmentum's worst metal bands had a gig in the exact same area at the exact same time.

Despite being "traitors" they claim not to be terribly fond of the Chaos Gods. It varies between warbands but many make little to no use of daemons (unless they are warp talons because they really fit well with the “flying and lightning” mentioned above), so they're more of a renegade legion than an unclean one. Which makes them less likely to (accidentally) become possessed. It won't matter though, because they are fucking insane anyway, not only because of their combat doctrines, but also because they have been around for a very long time.
Notable exceptions include Krieg Acerbus, a [[Daemon Prince]] currently leading the largest warband of Night Lords, who also happen to be hardcore, full-on '''bat'''shit chaos worshippers. There's also the first claw's Uzas, who's all about blood for the [[Khorne|Blood God]]. In fact, earlier incarnations of the background listed them as a Khornate Legion, and Khorne smiles upon those who murder for the sake of murder, even one's allies, which Night Lords do whenever they can. However, because they're in denial about their religion, they neither get the goodies of the Chaos Gods, nor the technology of the [[Imperium]]. So whenever loyalists show up with assault cannons, stormbolters, cyclone missile launchers, land speeders, drop-pods, and hunter killer missiles they silently cry in the night. Or take it out on them by kicking the shit out of the local chapter of [[Ultramarines|Ultramarines]].

== Tactics ==
Night Lord warbands, for the most part, are somewhat sensible in that they don't just send in their marines to die in droves. So they generally don't titty-rush the nearest Titan for the lulz unless said Titan is REALLY fucking their mojo up. When they do engage in direct combat, they generally prefer complete overwhelming force to ensure minimal losses, maximum carnage, and enough skulls to stick on their pauldrons. So they're pretty much a chaos version of [[Reasonable Marines]]. Including the [[Alpha Legion]] too, obviously (maybe?).

Considering what fluff says about them, it seems likely the Night Lords Legion conquered worlds during the Great Crusade by rarely waging actual war. They probably did it the Night Haunter way. Show up, declare Lex Imperialis, and '''punish''' violation of the Emperor's law by using stealth and terror. They can get anywhere, be anywhere, and they're always watching ''you''. They don't have to fight you as you are just '''''that horribly outmatched'''''. In cases of legitimate military threats, WMDs, phosphex, rad weapons, and other nasty things can be gleefully used.

Or just take pieces from their leader's little girl. Bit by bit. Without kidnapping her. From her bedroom. Over and over and ruining any attempt to move her (or take bits even after she's in their most secure location). You see, that is ''far'' more terrifying than kidnapping her and sending pieces back. Especially preceding each taking with "We have come for you".

'''ALTERNATIVELY:'''

They make use of their sneakiness and fuck shit up that way. Striking behind enemy lines, ambushes, sabotaging generators and command centers, etc. Knowing this, one considers them being pretty sensible. In one-on-one combat a Night Lord will do his best to make sure he has the upper hand, and thus resort to cheat tactics by breaking every rule possible and use every dirty trick to avoid being 'on equal footing' with the opponent. Just like [[Dark Eldar|certain slimy BDSM pricks]].

They like unconventional shock-and-awe tactics (read: Terror with a capital T). One of them, Talos, disabled a ship's bridge by doing a fifteen-second-long vox-amplified scream, which, thanks to his three lungs and super-humanly strong vocal chords, blew out every unprotected eardrum in the room and put many of the bridge staff in a coma. Another method was to '''kill a planet's population from fright''' when they broadcasted a horrible snuff movie over the comm waves. More methods include impaling innocents in hard-to-reach areas and spamming the local Internet (or whatever passes for it) with video broadcasts made of extremely scary jumpscares, torture footage and sounds, sort of a superhuman Los Zetas/ISIS/Internet Troll hybrid on crack.

If they can't use fear as a tactic, they will always resort to trying to break morale by sabotaging objectives of strategic import or executing leaders and commanders. And if all else fails, well, they're still freaking Space Marines and can just, y'know, kick the absolute shit out of everyone the old fashioned way.

'''BUT:'''

This isn't to say that their tactics make them unstoppable. Terror-tactics only work well on people who can be scared, meaning that their preferred operations tend not to work well on other [[Space Marines]], [[Eldar]], [[Necrons]], [[Tyranids]], [[Orks]], or any sort of [[Ecclesiarchy|fanatical]] [[Chaos Cults|religious]] [[Genestealer Cult|zealots]], meaning that [[Imperial Guard]] are one of their favorite targets. There are individually stellar warriors at various aspects of warfare among their ranks--close-combat champions who'd acquit themselves well against any Astartes, strategists and tacticians who pull off some incredible victories, but there aren't enough of these standouts and they don't have a legion-wide focus on anything except terror. If anything, their big saving grace is they're competent enough to leg it when a fight isn't winnable.

Especially noteworthy is that the last time they really had to fight face-to-face, mano-a-mano, was right after the Heresy, when the [[Ultramarines|Toilet Marines]] came looking for them on their fortress world of Tsagualsa. The Night Lords got slaughtered. Now, to be fair, by that time it was a while since they replenished their numbers after the Heresy. Additionally, in their stupidity, they chose to "bunker down" instead of using their typical hit-and-run tactics. Not to mention the fact that many warbands were not present, the Legion having started to split up after the death of Konrad and Sevatar. Also, the character recounting this, when challenged by another about "losing to the Ultramarines", points out that it wasn't JUST the Ultramarines chapter, but every successor chapter as well. He comments on [[Howling Griffons]] working side-by-side by [[Novamarines]], while being supported by [[Genesis Chapter]] flanking maneuvers. He comments on how every single chapter involved was running by the same playbook (The [[Codex Astartes]]), in perfect unison, and pretty much without any dissension or rebellion (unlike the Night Lords). The result was that the Night Lords were pinned down, outflanked, bombarded, assaulted (or counter-assaulted), besieged and simply fucked over in every way in a textbook fashion. The Night Lords lost so badly that they fragmented, and were never united as a whole force ever again (although there were signs of a semi-reunification in the period leading up to the [[13th Black Crusade]]). And before you cry some "Wardian bullshit", this was in the Night Lords own book, written by [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden|a pretty cool guy]] (actually it was Games-Workshop's fluff that limited the Night Lords.). Besides, against a legion fighting in co-ordination, it was a given who would win, not bullshit. Notice the Codex Astartes clearly works well...when working with at least a thousand Marines or multiple Chapters together (as opposed to individual companies...something Astartes are largely too stupid to realize, apparently).

Bear in mind that upon returning to this fortress planet, the Night Lords proceeded to get revenge on the Ultramarine Genesis Chapter, defeating them with the time-honored strategy of [[Skaven|blowing up the fucking moon]]. Why fight fair when you have nukes?

[[Huron Blackheart]] worked out the best way to use the Night Lords: as an advance force for performing a crippling first strike on the enemy. When he assaulted the [[Marines Errant|Marines-Errant]] in their home base, he asked for a detachment of Night Lords to find a way to let his main force into the Marines-Errant fortress. So a squad of Night Lords scaled into the [[fortress-monastery]] and drew off the Marines-Errant and their serfs while a squad of Night Lords Raptors went higher up the fortress and destroyed the actual shield generators.
So you offer them something they want, tell them what to fuck up, let them work out the details on their own and do their thing and, as Huron found out, don't expect them to help much in the actual fighting afterward (which to be fair Huron neither expected nor wanted) nor should you [[Blood Ravens|leave any shiny toys for them to elope with]] while you're busy (now that dit piss Huron off! [[butthurt|Royally!]]).

==Fun Facts==
*It is believed they're linked to [[Scary Marines]].
*They are one of the few Astartes legions who actually think ambushing is a good idea, rather than standing in front of a line of guns and charging it.
*<strike>*NANANANANANANANANANANANANA BATMAN!</strike> <span style='color:blue'>''Enough of this, we will write upon your neckbeard skin an explanation of why we find such jokes awful, but first, we need your fingerbones as styli.''</span>
*Kids check under their beds for the boogie man; the boogie man checks under his bed for Astartes; Astartes check under their beds for their captains; First Company Captains check under their beds for the Night Haunter.
*Konrad Curze ''is'' that thing that goes bump in the night... and he's heading this way.
*The Night Lords know all of the things you're afraid of, and they think they are utter shit-- wait 'til they show you what true horror is...
*The first, most brutal hour of any attack by the Night Lords against is more commonly called "Candyland Hour" for all good children...
*The Night Lords once discovered records of an ancient Terran mythological figure called "Santa Claus". Reading about this fat jolly man, they couldn't help but be both amused and annoyed with his jovial antics. They ''were'' impressed with his ability to get into any habitation block, no matter how well fortified (and assumed warp trickery was at play), his army of slaves in his polar fortress and his almost Orwellian list of "naughty and nice", but couldn't really understand the whole gift giving thing: good children don't get presents, they get the greatest gift of all! They get to live! Bad children... will be made an example of in the style of the Night Haunter and his criminal mob bosses. We'll see who's naughty and nice then.
*The Night Haunter used to keep a record of who was naughty and who was nice... and then severely punished those kids who were naughty (it involved disemboweling). Today, his sons don't keep a record-- they just disembowel whoever might be in the vicinity, naughty or niceness be damned.
*Upon reading about this 'Santa Claus' figure most Night Lords assumed he used some sort of jetbike or skimmer to get around; furthermore upon discovering that bad children get "lumps of coal" for their bad behavior in their stockings, the Night Lords hit upon a great idea: once a year they would deliver coal to all the children on a particular imperial world because "they are bad and thus must be vindicated". Coal themed terrorism was rampant. In what was known as "Ash Thursday" or the Night of 1000 Sorrows, the Night Lords proceeded to unleash a planetwide coal-themed reign of terror upon a hapless imperial world: coal was shoved in their stockings...and in their throats...then ignited; the local Mechanicus weather machine was set ablaze making it rain ash; various coal trucks were detonated raining coal onto hapless Imperial citizens; local water purification centers were destroyed (coal is used for cleaning); and countless Adeptus Mechanicus kidney dialysis machines were smashed. Then they set the weather machine to "snow" and took all the coal back into space so they'd freeze in their habitation blocks and let a note that said "next Sanguinala be a little nicer".
*Nostramo is described as being like Gotham City, if Gotham City had no lights, there was another Gotham City on top of it, and only mob bosses and rich scumbags got to enjoy sunlight and medicine. Also everyone had guns and Batman ate his victims. Oh did we mention the Night Haunter was so bad he made everyone "nice"? Yeah. Curze killed so fucking many criminals that the survivors were too scared to do crime anymore. At least until Curze left the planet.
*They stick bats in their helmets to help them fly.
*They don't get Daemons or other warp dickery, so they always go to sleep with ease without all the voices in their heads (other than their own psychotic subconsciousness).
* [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]] (AKA the newest edition to the Bald Brotherhood of Awesome 40K Writers) has made them fucking GREAT. 10th Company GETS SHIT DONE!
*When the [[Word Bearers]], [[Iron Warriors]], the [[Alpha Legion]], or [[Black Legion]] (the only four legions that really give two shits about [[Chaos Undivided]] and even then the Iron Warriors aren't the biggest fans of it and the Alpha Legion are closet loyalists-- ''or are they really?'') try to recruit them for their next great Black Crusade, the Night Lords usually tell them to piss off and send the messengers back in a box (or several).
*They are also the origin of the Raptor and Warp Talon units, the Chaos version of Assault Marines.
*They're probably lucky that those other legions are typically too busy to deal with probably the least threatening of the Chaos Space Marine Legions.
*They are probably as old as you could normally count, because they don't hang around in the [[Warp]] so much. Sort of. The [[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]] Night Lords book mentions Talos remembering the defeat at Terra as being only a few decades from his perspective due to chilling in the Warp. He does mention his bestie is getting crow's feet though from time outside of the warp. Since every single example of Astartes age never mentions them dying of age (including a lost company of Luna Wolves re-discovered by Abaddon eight thousand years after the Horus Heresy and a Salamander whose armor was fused to his ship ten thousand years ago was found by loyalists still alive), it's safe to say that yes, Astartes are freaking immortal. Stress-related physical aging of features, though, would be totally unsurprising. Even Space Marines can only take so much shit and see so much horror before it gets to them.
*That's not to say that the Night Lords aren't pants-shittingly terrifying. They know what they're good at and they stick to it.
*They've had enough common sense to survive for this long, despite having so many disadvantages compared to the other eight legions.
*Of course, this is relative, because when we talk about "sensible" in the context of Chaos, we mean "will hang you with your own intestines just for the hilarity of it", rather than "completely ignore the enemy army to attack a strategically worthless town to make sacrifices for the Dark Gods." It helps that their attacks are so low-key (except for the bombing a planet once and causing a MASSIVE psychic scream by torturing a bunch of astropaths and sending dozens of planets into psy-communicating-blank) that the Night Lords are not prioritized and actively hunted by the Imperium. Otherwise they'd likely be wiped out in short order (as mentioned above with the [[Ultramarines|guys that have a toilet seat as their insignia]] kicking their asses). DOWN WITH THE BLUE-TRDZ!(Ehem)I mean smurfs...
*Of all the Night Lords Warbands there are only three "Chaos" Lords that still lead based on their vision of The Night Haunter's Legacy:
**First there is Zso Sahaal, the "Talonmaster", former First Captain of the Legion. He was a Terran Legionnaire appointed by the Night Haunter following Sevatar's death. His flight from the rest of the Legion with the Corona Nox, the rightful crown of the Primarch's successor, earned him the title "The Betrayer" to some within the Legion, but he saw Curze's use of fear as focused and controlled in its use.
**Next is Krieg Acerbus, a Daemon Prince of Chaos Undivided, whose name is a combo of Latin and German meaning "violent war" (real subtle GW). Also known as the Axemaster, he leads the largest warband of Night Lords in the galaxy and claims that Curze wished his sons to terrorize the Imperium and devour its fear. He and Sahaal battled for the Corona Nox; Sahaal kept the crown, but [[Imotekh the Stormlord|lost an arm]].
**Lastly, there is Talos Valcoran. Formerly an [[Apothecary]] during the Heresy/Great Crusade, he bore the titles "Prophet of the VIII Legion" and "Soul Hunter". He earned the title of Soul Hunter for pursuing and killing M'Shen, the Callidus assassin that killed the primarch, for vengeance and out of love for his father rather than greed (a difference in ideology that he would come to despise his brethren for to some extent). He was also known for prophetic powers like his gene-father, earning him the title "Prophet of the VIII Legion". Eventually he came to succeed his Company Captain/Warband Leader, Vandred Anrathi in leading the Warband of the Exalted, following the Fall of Vilamus. Under Talos' command, it was renamed to the [[Broken Aquila|Warband of the Broken Aquila]]. He later died on Tsagualsa at the hands of the Phoenix Lord Jain Zar of the Howling Banshees. He succeeded in ''killing'' her (though "kill" is a strong term when it comes to Phoenix Lords) in a spectacular display of determination and vengeance, taking her down with him. Talos believed that the Night Lords were betrayed by the Imperium, and were its truest weapon of terror when called upon before the Emperor betrayed them. Talos' gene-seed would later be inherited by Decimus (who might be the son of Octavia, who was the navigator of the ship and Septimus, another slave and a ''friend'' of Talos in the warband), who in turn assumed command of his Warband and gained his gift of foresight.
*The Night Lords' character can be pretty well summed up with this song --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XncuY4wLaA8
**Or this one --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2wzpfPFBlw
**''Ahem''; https://youtube.com/watch?v=sApYX_R4LRo
**No, you're both wrong! It's ''[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPGyKGuWeA this]'' song. It's proven [http://media.moddb.com/cache/images/groups/1/3/2055/thumb_620x2000/2013-04-21-RegularMarine43.1.png more than effective against Imperial Guard regiments]
**This is the one --> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Dy28ef-_tA
**''cough'' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqds0B_meys
**(You might be forgetting this one —-> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQPWAJWAYNQ
**Maybe this one https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFqjDXy9s5A
**This one's obvious: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSaDPc1Cs5U
**Or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bz1mEMiNPHQ
**Seriously? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VGSxJ-K1vL8
*The Night Lords actually treat their serfs pretty decently for a traitor legion. It's still not particularly pleasant, but it's better than being used as a [[Emperor's Children|sex toy]], a [[Word Bearers|sacrifice]], a [[World Eaters|punching bag]], a [[Death Guard|zombie]], or getting eaten because the last meal was improperly prepared (it does happen on occasion) or being used for target practice for lulz etc.
*They actually gave the idea of the vampire imagery to the Blood Angels.

==Night Lords Character==
The character of the Night Lords is a bit...complicated. On one hand, sure, they are a legion of professional sadists, murderers, and (literal) terrorists that delight in preying upon the weak and defenseless at every opportunity. That's their MO. On the other hand, the Night Lords' actual personalities and motivations are surprisingly deep, varied, and intact, more so than probably any other Traitor Legion (especially after 10,000 years). They run the full gamut between bloodthirsty savages that believe terrorizing and killing are goals in and of themselves, and embittered philosophers that believe their methods once did and should still have purpose. Hell, there can even be the occasional comedian, cracking snide (and sometimes genuinely funny) jokes to his brothers while they carve their way through the screaming masses. With all those wildly differing personalities, the Night Lords are also about as dysfunctional a brotherhood as it gets, even by Traitor standards. They are (tenuously) bound by loyalty to Legion and Primarch, and may fight and die for each other on the battlefield, but off of it they ''all'' hate each other to some extent, and are in constant and heated disagreement as to the precise nature of their Legion and Primarch, and just how they ''should'' be fighting the Long War. Given just how batshit Curze was, they’re also ''all'' both right and wrong at the same time.

The Night Lords also have a bit of a dichotomy in regards to their treatment of slaves, with non-essential personnel being free to hunt for shits and giggles, while higher level officers and artificers are usually valued and protected to the point where they can have casual conversations and banter with the Astartes. The latter is something you don't see even in a good chunk of ''Loyalist'' chapters.

This all means it’s entirely possible that there are warbands of loyalist Night Lords out there. Crazy thought for a crazy(ier) Legion.

==Notable Members==
*[[Konrad Curze]]: The Night Haunter, primarch of the Night Lords, and batshit crazy mofo. Is what you'd get as the result of a teleporter accident involving Batman, Frank Castle, and Bill the Butcher. He was utterly convinced that his visions of the future were infallible and didn't react well whenever someone suggested or proved otherwise. Spent the Heresy dicking with the Dark Angels and Ultramarines until the Lion captured him a few times and broke his back. Ultimately let himself get shot by a Callidus assassin after the Heresy was over to prove his point about punishing evildoers.
*[[Sevatar]]: AKA Jago Sevatarion, but don't call him that [[Rip and tear|if you like having your skin attached to your body]]. First Captain of the Night Lords during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. He was a snarky asshole who coined the battle cry "Death to the False Emperor!" and was also a psyker whose suppressed powers were slowly killing him. He may or may not be dead.
*Gendor Skraivok: The Painted Count, Captain of the 45th Company. Was secretly undermining Curze in collaboration with his family on Nostramo for the lulz. Became ''de facto'' commander of the Night Lords at the [[Siege of Terra]], up until Raldoron kicked him off the Palace walls and he got sucked into the Warp to be tortured for four millennia by the daemon living in his sword because he was stupid enough to make a deal with it. Is now a daemon prince.
*Fel Zharost: Chief Librarian of the legion during the Great Crusade and a rare Terran-born Night Lord. Got kicked out after attacking Sevatar because he was upset about what the legion had become. Hid out on Terra for a while until Malcador recruited him for the Knights-Errant. He probably became Khyron, one of the first eight [[Grey Knights]].
*Mawdrym Llansahai: Primus Medicae who was so bugfuck crazy and bloodthirsty that even the other Night Lords couldn't stand him. He was busted for performing unsanctioned vivisections and other nasty experiments and forced to paint his gauntlets red, the mark of a condemned man in the VIII Legion. Survived multiple assassination attempts by his own side and continued to be a crazy torturing psycho throughout the Heresy.
*[[Talos (Warhammer 40,000)|Talos Valcoran]]: The Soul Hunter, formerly an Apothecary of the Night Lords' 10th Company. He inherited Papa Konrad's gift of foresight, which was just as good for his mental stability as it was for Curze's. He hunted down and killed M'Shen in the name of revenge, then later cut himself loose from his warband after a few millennia of them just dicking around and torturing people for the lulz and went on a tear through the Imperium, getting shit done in a badass way. Ultimately pulled a mutual kill with [[Jain Zar]].
*Krieg Acerbus: Axemaster and current leader of the largest Night Lords warband in the galaxy. Ascended to daemonhood at some point, making him one of the rare Night Lords who is fully onboard with Chaos. His name translates from German (Krieg) and Latin (Acerbus) to "harsh/severe/violent war", just in case he wasn't enough of an edgelord already.
*Decimus: New leader of Talos' warband after Talos blew himself up to kill Jain Zar. Inherited Talos' gene-seed, along with his gift of foresight and all the cool gear of the dead Night Lords who'd been in the warband.

==Nightly Rituals==
17:00 - The Night Lords awake. It takes them a while to safely get down from their caves.

17:30 - Evening Meal. The Night Lords have a light meal by drinking the blood of captured civilians.

18:00 - Evening Firing Rites. The Night Lords conduct covert firing practice on unsuspecting Imperial citizens or Chaos worshipers. The Night Lords' serfs can't tell the exact period their masters strike as they often see a skinned and maimed body the moment they look away. Unlike traditional legions: kill-shots are considered a demerit and everyone is constantly perfecting their art of making the most efficient and painful wounding shot.

19:00 - Evening Terror Tactics. The Night Lords warm up by terrorizing the planet they will be raiding later in the night. Again the serfs have no idea when or how their masters accomplish this without getting caught.

20:45 - Snack Break. The Night Lords take a fifteen miniute break for milk and cookies. Naturally enough, the contents of the cookies varies, from being made from bone meal and blood to macadamia nut. Skeleton designs drawn on in white icing are personalised, but mandatory.

21:00 - Tactical Indoctrination. The Night Lords finally assemble in the stratagem-ampitheatre and plan out how to maximize the amount of terror they can bring about hapless populace of tonight's world. Serfs are typically commanded out of the room to spare them the nightmares of whatever they hear their masters discuss inside.

01:00 - Nighttime Firing Rites. Now the Night Lords strike. Unlike raids from other legions, there is only a ten percent death rate amongst their targets. Everyone else is helplessly maimed by bolter shots to the knees and elbows.

02:00 - Nighttime Terror Tactics. Here the Night Lords test their true skill as hunters of the dark. Those who manage to survive their opening salvos are sadistically hunted down and maimed slowly.

05:00 - "Decorating". Anyone still alive is dismembered and their still-living corpse nailed to a wall inspire fear. The Night Lords then finish up by activating an enemy distress call so that their friends can appreciate their work.

08:00 - Morning Meal. A feast is prepared by the serfs. This time the Night Lords have given up on their act and sit and munch down on the food.

09:00 - Free Time. The Night Lords occupy their free time by watching and reading an antique and legendary proto-Night Lord who calls himself as 'Batman'. Night Lords are often inspired by this ancient Terran vigilante of justice and terror and often tries their best to mimic him (whilst selectively ignoring the foolish decision to avoid killing his prey). It should also be noted of popular reading is a delightful novel series set in M3 called "The Punisher" written by ancient Terran scribe Garth Ennis. The night lords find Frank Castle's hard boiled murder sprees to be a delightful romp. For comedy, the sons of Curze amuse themselves with laughter when the character "Jigsaw" shows up.

12:00 - Rest Period. The Night Lords go back to their caves, hang upside down with their legs and prepare to sleep.

==Gallery==
<center><gallery>
File:Soul Hunter cover.jpg
File:Throne of Lies cover.jpg
File:Blood Reaver cover.jpg|According to Lexicanum, a depiction of Talos Valcoran, the Soul Hunter.
File:Void Stalker cover.jpg|Definitely not in a Batman pose.
File:Bak3.jpg|I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky...
File:Night Lords Champion by warp zero.jpg|'Sup, Darkclaw?
File:1174923365695wq1vj1.png|Masters of Stealth
File:Feel_that_FEAR.jpg
File:NL 3.jpg|That guardsman will be FINE, he swears.
</gallery></center>

{{Template:Chaos-Official}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Chaos]][[Category:Space Marines]]

Iron Warriors

2022-07-07T08:29:59Z

2001:48F8:9021:88F:38FC:8B54:F0F0:841A: /* Gallery */

{{Infobox Traitor Legion
|Name = Iron Warriors
|Heraldry = [[File:Ironwarriorslogo.png|250px]]
|Battle Cry ="Iron Within, Iron Without!"
|Number = IV
|Primarch = [[Perturabo]]
|Original Homeworld = [[Olympia]]
|Current Homeworld = [[Medrengard]]
|Champion = Possibly [[Honsou]] or [[Shon'tu]] (Don't forget --Falk-- '''THE WARSMITH''')
|Specialty = Artillery, Attrition, breaking enemy defense, [[get shit done|getting shit done]]
|Strength = Legion Strength (Divided by Grand Companies: Typically 500 to 4000 per Grand Company)
|Allegiance = [[Chaos Undivided]]
|Colours = Burnt silver, hazard stripes and black pauldrons with gold trim
}}
{{heresy}}
{{Topquote|SIEGE!!!|The usual response of an Iron Warrior to their [[Imperial Fists|hated rivals]]' "FORTIFY!"}}
{{Topquote|Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.|Mark Twain, having never seen the [[Daemonculaba]]}}
{{Topquote|The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are stronger in the broken places.|Ernest Hemingway}}
{{Topquote|I DEMAND TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.|An Iron Warrior putting their Legion's impetus for turning traitor into simple words, courtesy of [[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Alfabusa]] }}

The '''Iron Warriors''' originated as the fourth of the Emperor's legions of Space Marines, and are today the siege specialists of the Chaos Space Marines.

To your average Imperial citizen or Chaos cultist, the Iron Warriors are the most inhuman of the Chaos Marines. They aren't [[World Eaters|over the top badass savages]] or [[Death Guard|rotting hulks]], but they're just as terrifying because of their cold pragmatism. Yet this pragmatism hides the true terror of the Iron Warriors: the total abandonment of hope, virtue, and belief in good. They're masters of siege warfare. Instead of [[Black Legion|sheer ferocity]] or [[Word Bearers|divine intervention]], they rely on [[Dakka|firepower.]] Instead of using prisoners for [[Emperor's Children|death necrophilia orgies]], they use them for mine clearance and trench digging. They can build fortifications as elaborate and defensible as the [[Imperial Fists]], if not more, and are the best Legion at storming them. Now that they no longer serve the Emperor, they are inscrutable monsters in grey plate who arrive on your world, kill your protectors, and force you to work against the Imperium you believe in.

Then they discard you once you're no longer useful, and the last thing you'll see is their ugly, jagged fortifications claiming your home. And the only reason they had you live through it was because they wanted to let you know how much they hate you and your ideals in a higher purpose. It's not enough for the Iron Warriors to reject the Imperium and destroy it; they have to drag it through the same mud they had once been made to fight and die in.

They had a vision, once. Before the Heresy, it was a vision of a beautiful and peaceful Imperium, but that dream was shattered by Olympia's destruction. Now they want to build a twisted and oppressive empire of their own. The Iron Warriors still count on their old wargear, and generally are distrustful of the Chaos gods. They have a bitterness, a rage that they suppress with cold logic. The specifics of their goals vary among their number, but they're all hell bent on destroying the Imperium.

They also have a fetish for hazard stripes, which they make liberal use of in their colour scheme. It is as though they wish to say "do not use the side of my bolter as a step" or "touching my pauldron may result in crushed fingers." Then again, [[Chaos|considering who these guys are]], these would actually be good warnings to heed.

GW can't quite seem to figure out what they're supposed to be, so we've taken the liberty of choosing the more in-depth choice for them.

The Iron Warriors are an oddity in that they are very much Chaos Marines but without the symbols and acceptance of clear heretek you wouldn't really notice. Perhaps proof that going balls-deep into Chaos isn't necessary. If so, then it says more about the people who do it than about Chaos and the Iron Warriors would be proof...which would actually be an interesting statement about human nature. Perhaps the Iron Warriors themselves can be viewed as a statement about human nature in both the best and worst before and after the Horus Heresy.

If you like the idea of siege warfare, heavy artillery, bionics, living cannons, and building your own empire, you'll probably like the Iron Warriors.

==Combat Tactics==
[[File:Iwdread.jpg|250px|right|thumb|What do you mean I've shot the wrong spot!?]]
{{Topquote|No son, you let 'em finish, then you smash it.|Kearney Zzyzwicz, ''The Simpsons''}}
A [[Chaos]] [[Space Marines|Legion]] specializing in breaking sieges (as in, taking a fortified location, though logically this should mean that they can do this ''and'' break out of a siege) which is shown in their love of artillery and greater focus on ranged combat, which stands in contrast to the other Chaos Space Marine legions who are [[Rip and tear|far more disposed to melee combat]] (that doesn't mean that Iron Warriors won't punch a few skulls out, though!). Their troops are excellent close-range fighters and close-quarters combatants, and they often make use of special weaponry.

Iron Warriors are also fond of using hordes of human conscripts as cannon fodder, no doubt recruited from conquered worlds and slave populations on [[Medrengard]]. The conscripts are described as wearing red uniforms and bits of black armor, and armed with assorted bolt action rifles, lasguns, and autoguns. The Iron Warriors basically zerg-rush thousands of them at enemy strongholds to play fun games such as "find the minefield", "absorb the gunfire" and "reveal the artillery emplacements". They are one of the few Chaos legions that do take prisoners, but only to send them in the first wave instead of their conscripted slaves, who are considered to be slightly more valuable due to their ability to dig decent trenches and mines. It's Also worth mentioning that they LOVE Instant fortifications and makeshift cover, which allows them to FORTIFY THEIR POSITIONS wherever they launch an attack, along with boxing-in whatever poor enemy position they may lay siege upon.

They also have a lot of [[Obliterators]], which are a bunch of muscle blobs armed to the teeth on top of their heads (being Chaos guys, they have shit like that). Literally. They themselves are a walking arsenal, because they can '''MAKE WEAPONS OUT OF THEIR BODIES!'''

Enough to disgust even the Dark Eldar, the Iron Warriors are also the batshit insane sickfucks behind the [[Daemonculaba]], one of the most disturbing things in the galaxy. They're the only [[Chaos Space Marines]] who don't break down in maniacal laughter constantly, as they see this as a sign of weakness. They're not terribly fond of Daemons (like the [[Word Bearers]] or the [[Black Legion]] are), though they will make use of them (unlike the [[Night Lords]], who don't even like Chaos), and they aren't [[Alpharius|closet loyalists]] like the [[Alpha Legion]].

Basically, the horror of the Iron Warriors is simply that nothing gets in the way of their pragmatism. No matter how horrific or monstrous. And the Warp has plenty of pragmatically available horrific monstrosities of atrocities available in easy reach.

==History==
[[File:IV Legion.jpg|200px|thumb|left|The IVth prior to Perturabo being found. About the only thing [[Perturabo|Perty]] did was slap on some hazard stripes.]]
Back in the old pre-Heresy days, no legion ever got shit on more than them. Things were a tiny bit promising at the start when Emps led them, but when Horus took over they got assigned all the [[Death Korps of Krieg|dirty, exhausting trench and ditch fighting]], and got no respect for it. There is a passage when, whilst shoveling up earthworks in preparation for the Drop Site Massacre, one of the Sons of Horus literally turns to one of the Emperor's Children and asks, "Hey, why aren't the Iron Warriors doing this?" You’d think the situation would get better upon finding Daddy [[Perturabo]]...

Big surprise, it didn't get any better. In fact, it was that at that very moment that things really started to go downhill. When united with his legion for the first time, he looked upon them and saw that they were not [[Ultramarines|all they could be]] and so he decided that they needed a bout of [[Blam|decimation]] to motivate them properly. So he had 10% of his entire legion [[grimdark|sentenced to death]].

This actually worked and changed the character of the legion from "work-horse" legion to "meat grinder" legion; Perturabo's trick taught them that casualties do not matter, only victory does. They became a legion of [[neckbeards|mathematicians]], where battle strategies could be determined using formula based on available weaponry and expected attrition rates. Fortunately for them, Perturabo was expertly skilled with [[Roboute Guilliman|numbers and logistics]] and organised his legion extremely efficiently, therefore his legion was able to absorb such losses due to maintaining very high numbers, second only to the [[Ultramarines|XIIIth Legion]]. In fact they could have possibly overtaken any other legion in numbers if they did not continually suffer such high casualty rates.

This casual attitude towards attrition unfortunately created an atmosphere of paranoia amongst the officer cadre, where the only way to guarantee survival was to get promoted into a position of usefulness and never, ever get into a position where something bad could be made to stick to them. Therefore their officers suffered incredible [[Nerdrage]] whenever things did not go according to plan and [[That Guy|scrambled over each other]] attempting to gain the attention of their superiors.

Also, their reputation suffered amongst the allied Imperial Army auxilia, who gave the Iron Warriors the nickname ''Corpse Grinders'', as units that were assigned to them tended to get used as cannon fodder for softening up the enemy. This tendency eventually led to the [[Administratum|Council of Terra]] to only assign the Iron Warriors support from penal brigades of poor quality expendable troops, causing the reputation of the Legion to spiral further downwards. Oddly enough, the Iron Warriors were notable for having some of the most disciplined auxilia '''during''' the Horus Heresy, due to further freedom in organizing their allied forces.

This new-and-improved attitude still didn't endear them to their brother legions, though, and, eventually it was this complete lack of anything remotely resembling respect from anyone at all that would finally lead to [[Perturabo|their Primarch flipping his lid]]. An excellent lesson in learning how to say "no" when told to do other people's jobs for them. Or to delegate garrison duty to the Imperial Army whose existence was mostly to be used as garrison forces, rather than tying your transhuman supersoldiers up on fucking guard duty.

===Heresy===
As the Iron Warriors ground on, feeding soldiers into meat grinders like Jerma at the Las Vegas slot machines, Olympia became unruly. Eventually, the nobility revolted. Perturabo snapped so hard that he had his Legion assault the world, enslaved the entire population and founded an "Iron Empire" around it to feed his war machine. Then he had a breakdown about what he'd done, which was all the leverage Horus needed to bring him on side for the Traitors. The Iron Warriors duly went to Isstvan V and took part in the [[Drop Site Massacre]].

After that, the next step was Phall, where a large chunk of the Imperial Fists fleet was becalmed. To the Iron Warriors this was everyone's birthday and Christmas thrown together, but even though they nearly destroyed the entire fleet, Alexis Polux spoiled the party somewhat by ordering an attack on the ''Iron Blood''. Perturabo himself came under attack by Imperial Fists Terminators, which only helped to turn his paranoia up to 12. The Iron Warriors' most rational commander was also backhanded into a Dreadnought by the Primarch when it emerged that Sigismund wasn't leading the fleet. Soon after, the IV joined the Emperor's Children on a campaign where Fulgrim tried to use Perturabo's life force to ascend to daemonhood. Things were looking like business as usual.

Where the Legion had its biggest successes, they were mostly on the Loyalist side. At Paramar, Kyr Vhalen's loyalist Grand Company met an Alpha Legion force invading their favourite Forge World. The Alpha Legion told them to get with the program. Kyr Vhalen told them "do one" and while Paramar was taken, the Iron Warriors inflicted serious losses on the tricksy bastards and some lived to fight another day. The old Warsmith Barabas Dantioch humiliated his successor at the Schadenhold, and Auric Saxton killed off Lord Commander Iddinam of the Emperor's Children. Later on in the Heresy, Consul-Praevian [[Nârik Dreygur]] and the remnants of his Grand Battalion switched back to Team Imperium during the Battle of Mezoa after getting sick of the Alpha Legion using them as cannon fodder, thus ensuring a loyalist victory.

As the Heretics drew close to the Sol System, the IV Legion came into its own, crushing fortress after fortress on the world to Terra. Finally the Iron Warriors were having a good time, and it only got better on Terra as they pulled down whole square kilometres of Dorn's works. This lasted right up until Horus told Perturabo to mass everything he had and throw it right at the Mercury Wall in one big concentrated assault. Perty now realized that, for all Horus' flattery and fine words, the Warmaster still expected him to continue with the same kind of wasteful, grinding siege warfare that had caused him and his legion to snap and turn on the Emperor. He immediately threw a bitch fit at the Warmaster about how he was no different from the Emperor, then ordered his legion to down tools and head for the exits. And that was that, at least until . . .

===Iron Cage===
Taking inspiration from their Primarch, they display great facility in setting traps. The most notable of these was the "Iron Cage incident" at the close of the [[Horus Heresy]], where the Iron Warriors built a twenty square kilometer fortress on Sebastus IV with a massive fortified bunker at the center. They leaked information that allowed the [[Imperial Fists]] to track them there and [[Rogal Dorn]] himself promised to bring back Perturabo in "an iron cage". The Fists assaulted the fortress, taking huge casualties in doing so as the Iron Warriors fell back to split their advance and draw them into kill zones. Eventually the Fists expended all their ammunition and resorted to knife-fighting. When the Fists finally broke through to the central bunker, they discovered it empty save for the numerous inward-pointing guns designed to kill anyone who breached it.

The entire purpose of the fortress was just to bait and exhaust the Imperial Fists' forces, turning their own legendary determination into a liability that led to their own deaths and the humiliation of their legion (albeit one that would have required the death of Perturabo to completely wipe them out, if you believe those corpsefuckers' propaganda). [[Just As Planned]]. While the Iron Cage incident was the most notable, the Iron Warriors do plenty of other things like that, but on a smaller scale. Nearly unrivalled dickery including firing fixed position guns into civilian habitation blocks to bait the enemy into counter-attacking, then evacuating through underground trenches and detonating pre-rigged explosives when the opposing forces reach the fixed gun emplacements.

===The War of the Beast===
This little incident that made the Ullanor Crusade look like a skirmish brought out some unusual behavior from the Iron Warriors. First of all, the threat posed by the orks against the galaxy was so great, that the Iron Warriors allied with the Imperial Fists, of all people. If that weren't out of character enough for them, they also found the orks' use of humans as literal cattle [[what|disgusting]]. Maybe the whole Daemonculaba thing was also too disgusting for them since Honsou hadn't been around at the time, maybe even the Iron Warriors have standards when it comes to human experimentation...or maybe the [[C.S. Goto|writer just didn't know jack shit about the Iron Warrior's character]]. It's probably that last one.

Honsou wasn't around at the time and Warsmith Kalkator, the leader of the Grand Company, was a firm anti-Chaos Warsmith - so he would have also been disgusted at the Daemonculaba. It should also be noted Warsmith Kalkator's Grand Company operated away from the other Iron Warriors in the Eye of Terror and kept his own 'mini empire.' Not like he's above doing horrible shit, as he was introduced gunning down his own human forces as they were being overrun by the Orks, which is how the Iron Warriors 'SHOULD' be - stone cold pragmatists.

And it's worth pointing out that the Iron Warriors are still [[Space Marines]], and therefore (super)human. And part of that is generally seeing humanity as a superior species in the galaxy, especially this close to the Heresy, when they still thought and operated closer to their original legion mentality and hadn't fallen totally down the Chaos rabbit hole. Thus, seeing some Xenos, especially Orks of all things, setting themselves above humans chapped their ass mightilly. The Iron Warriors can treat mortal humans like dog shit, but they'll be damned if they'll let some Orks do it. It's the principle of the thing. Heck, Chaos Marines tend to hate aliens as much as Imperials do. Many Chaos Marines don't even see themselves as a threat to humanity but instead view Chaos as humanity's true path to dominance.

Also, he would be the first person to get a Space Marine chapter to turn traitor since the Heresy.

===Post Great Rift===
Perturabo spent millennia studying the defenses of Segmentum Obscurus and establishing a network of techno-Cultist informants so that with the Great Rift, he can have the Iron Warriors beset the Segmentum worlds. While gunning for Dysactis, they ended up going head to head with the Death Guards and lost.....doh!

==The Unbreakable Litany==
The Iron Warriors have the coolest chants in 40k too. They say it to themselves to prepare for the meat grinder.
*'''From Iron, cometh Strength.'''
*'''From Strength, cometh Will.'''
*'''From Will, cometh Faith.'''
*'''From Faith, cometh Honour.'''
*'''From Honour, cometh Iron.'''
*'''This is the Unbreakable Litany.'''
*'''And may it forever be so.'''

==Iron Warriors Today==
[[File:A0e8a4e378bf013aade7393f60d8b20a.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Iron Within... You. 'Cause I shot you with my big ass [[Autocannon]]. (Look at his tiny hands, though. Aww! So widdle an' cute!)]]
They used to be incredibly badass in 3rd edition, with special rules for having more heavy weapon options, including tanks and artillery, and no limits on [[Obliterator]]s. But then 4th edition came around and instead of just toning the insanity down, [[Gav_Thorpe|Gav Thorpe]] (who's basically [[Matt_Ward|Matt Ward's BFF]]) decided that spikey marines should be inferior to loyalists in every way possible.

The Iron Warriors have been one of the more popular legions in fluff over the past few years. While some have put this down to them being 'grittier' or more realistic than the others, the truth is probably more functional than fanciful: The Iron Warriors are for the most part ''not'' gibbering madmen. This might seem a dumb reason but it's actually important. To write a good character they need to make sense to the reader, even when we don't agree with them we need to understand why they want to do what they do. The other legions kinda lack that. Why did you attack that planet? [[Emperor's_Children|'Because it turns me on']] doesn't really make for an interesting character, nor does being [[Word_Bearers|told to by demons]], [[World_Eaters|wanting to kill everything all the time]] just [[Death_Guard|really digging dead stuff]] or [[Black Legion|because Zeke and his drinking buddies told me to]]. So that leaves the Iron Warriors as being just about the only generally sane legion who do things for reasons normal people can understand.

[[Graham McNeill]] wrote a book that was mostly about them. Called 'Storm of Iron', surprisingly, and it featured a boatload of Imperial Fists, Iron Warriors (surprisingly) and a whole load of dickery, including traitorous techpriests, countless rows of geneseed, and a daemon prince. To cap it all off, this is where [[Honsou]] gets his start. Last but not least, countless Imperial Guard and Titans.
(...Tell me again why the Imperials lost? There was a traitor on the inside, and about fifty thousand tons of badass at the gates. Baaaad combination. McNeill then wrote a [[Horus Heresy]] prequel called 'Angel Exterminatus', featuring Fulgrim being an even bigger dick than usual, Iron Hands Professor Farnsworth, and Perturabo actually being sympathetic for once.)

Even Ward seems to think they're cool, as he has Warsmith [[Shon'tu]] one-up both Honsou and Abaddon. How? He Invades Terra! He teams up with Be’lakor (yeah, the same guy from Fantasy battles) and uses Phalanx's warp door (yeah remember that from the Soul Drinkers book) to invade it hoping to take it over and bomb the Emperor's palaces. Even the combined plot armor of the Imperial Fists AND the [[Legion of the Damned]] is still just barely enough to force a stalemate.

John French, on the other hand, doesn't seem to like them much at all. This is a shame since they tend to be his go-to antagonists.

Anyway, here is [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7ghs6p8inY their theme], done by [[HMKids]], which includes in the lyrics quotes from Dawn of War Chaos Space Marines for extra-flavour! They are METAL indeed!

An Iron Warrior named Valicar, serving a priestess of the Dark Mechanicus, became the first fleetmaster of the Black Legion. If not for his actions, Abaddon would have been trapped on the ''Eternal Crusader'' after his duel with Sigismund during the First Battle of Cadia.

The German Death Metal band "Debauchery" also wrote a song and video here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9dqkmPI2JlM], and it is badass.

[[If the Emperor had a Text-to-Speech Device|Bruva Albufasa]] distilled the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists' enmity [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBt1vqff7dE into a few minutes of video], naturally emphasizing the "SIEGE!"-"FORTIFY!" dichotomy

==Iron Warriors Character==
Personality-wise, the Iron Warriors are one of the most… unpleasant Traitor Legions. They are bonded by a mutual brotherhood forged by their hatred of the Imperium, their will to conquer, and their bitter paranoia, yet even then rivalries can surface and lead to some serious backstabbing. Makes you understand just what the appeal of the honest brotherhood of the Black Legion is. They value their hatred and opportunities to express it, and treat most they know as tools to express their hatred and accomplish their goals. To an Iron Warrior, everything boils down to a resource to be used and/or an obstacle to be cleared. War is a mathematical equation that has to be solved for victory. Humans are slaves, expendable soldiers, breeding stock, and ultimately something to be fed (literally) into the Iron Warriors's war apparatus, making their lives a living, nightmarish hell beforehand. Fellow Iron Warriors are expected to carry out their brutal, violent work without question. They carry a powerful sense of brotherhood and an unflinching loyalty to their Legion, forged by a bitter hatred of their enemies and their cruel urge to dominate and enslave. At best, they view fellow Iron Warriors as coworkers or brothers-in-crime, or at worst, as hated rivals. Warsmiths ally and deal with each other to stave off the next battle so they can go to war on more hated targets, but if they smell weakness among their ranks, or a slight directed at one of them, they might decide your soldiers and your fort would be better off under their leadership, no matter the cost to get it. [[Grimdark]].

When the Iron Warriors go to war, everyone is expendable. Eve-ry-one. Back in the days of the Great Crusade they spent Astartes lives like bolter rounds, and human lives like <s>lasbolts</s> autogun bullets, and they haven’t exactly gotten better with time. Their pure, unadulterated contempt for life is such that, in the Siege of Castellax, they refer to their mortal servants simply as “flesh,” and place orders for more like they're fast food (battalions 3-5 were wiped out today. I’ll have four more, to go, and hold the pickles). Speaking of food, when rations started to get low, the Iron Warriors started feeding their people [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soylent_Green the rendered down remains of the dead]. (It's not like the Imperium doesn't do the same on the regular basis, though.)

The Iron Warriors are basically the very epitome of the concept of "bad boss". If you fuck up on the job, do something your way, or show any degree of insubordination, you're done for, end of story. If you do the job right, they keep pushing until every last ounce of usefulness is squeezed out of you (basically stable [[Star Wars|Sith Lords]]). The Night Lords may send the populations of entire worlds to the skinning pits just for shits and giggles (and record it all for future shits and giggles), and the Emperors Children may be impulsive, sociopathic sado-masochists who live and breathe to inflict pain, but even they would break under the brutal regimen of the Iron Warriors, where there is no room for impulsive behavior. There is only [[Adeptus Administratum|ruthless efficiency]]; [[Death Korps of Krieg|grinding, crushing pragmatism]] and nothing else.

==Notable Members==
*[[Perturabo]]: Primarch of the Iron Warriors, Lord of Iron, the Hammer of Olympia, and Galaxy's Saltiest Man. Had a crippling martyr complex and rage issues to match Angron's. Was incredibly loyal to the Emperor at first, even when he got pigeonholed into siege work instead of engineering and diplomacy like he'd have preferred, but ultimately the relentless grind of the Crusade got to him and he snapped when he found out his home planet had rebelled. Joined Horus on principle, but ultimately bailed at the Siege of Terra after deciding that his brother wasn't treating him any better than their dad had and went to go do his own thing. Is now a daemon prince of Chaos Undivided, even though he spent all of the Heresy hating Chaos.
*Kydomor Forrix: A member of the Trident, Pert's advisory council, and one of the few Iron Warriors who had his shit together. In addition to being a competent leader and colleague, he was also surprisingly human for an Iron Warrior. He had a sentimental attachment to Olympia even if it wasn't his native homeworld (even discussing with [[Ahriman]] of all people how its mountains inspired philosophical thoughts of his place in the universe), and deeply regretted Perturabo's massacre of the planet for its rebellion, though as a good soldier first and foremost, he still carried out his orders. Became increasingly disillusioned with Perturabo and Horus and ultimately burned out on the traitor cause after the Heresy was over, continuing to fight for Chaos only because he didn't have another option. Died on Hydra Cordatus in M41 when a Warhound Titan shot him to bits.
*Barban Falk: First ''a'' warsmith, now ''the'' Warsmith. Served alongside Forrix and Kroeger during the Crusade and Heresy and decided that Chaos was pretty neat. Ultimately discarded his name to become The Warsmith and ultimately ascended to daemonhood after [[Blood Ravens|stealing a ton of Imperial Fists gene-seed]] from Hydra Cordatus in M41.
*Kroeger: A belligerent trooper promoted to Warsmith and the Trident after his superior, Harkor, was dismissed and disgraced by Perturabo for [[What|a wasteful meat grinder frontal assault]]. Pert brought him to the Big Boy's Table because he thought Kroeger would be an outside thinker since they were kind of [[Battle of Phall|stuck in a rut]], and his [[Angry Marines|smooth-brained full-monke tactics]] would be just the thing to shake off their rust (heh). That being said, despite his brutal nature and tactics looking like they'd be right at home with the [[World Eaters]] except [[Lheorvine Ukris|with more GUN]], Kroeger was actually sharper than he seemed, which made sense given that he's an Astartes with enhanced intelligence. He led the assault on Lion's Gate Spaceport (granted, because [[Derp|Perturabo thought Dorn was expecting a 4D-chess strategy and wouldn't expect DUMB tactics]]) against his opposite number (and fellow smarter-than-he-looks-fighty-guy-in-stoic-Legion character) [[Fafnir Rann]], and had the [[Imperial Guard|ADAMANTIUM BALLS]] to challenge his own Primarch in the Iron Warriors' simulation of the Siege of Terra. His temper ultimately got the better of him as he devolved into a full-on Khornate Berzerker and got killed by a mortal slave powered by the daemon in his armor.
*Berossus: Warsmith who got punched into a Dreadnought (as in he was crippled enough that they had to stick him in one) just because he was the one who told Perturabo that Sigismund wasn't in charge of the fleet they were fighting at Phall. Ultimately got killed by Honsou ten millennia later.
*[[Barabas Dantioch]]: [[Meme|I think Warsmith is a pretty cool guy. Eh kills traitors and doesn't afraid of anything]]. A veteran warsmith and hardcore loyalist who got exiled to nowhere after following bad orders that got his grand company mangled by [[Hrud]], even though he'd pointed out why those orders were bad. He built himself a kino fortress, then [[Awesome|drowned it in lava rather than let the traitors have it]]. Went on to help FORTIFY Imperium Secundus and learned how to operate the Pharos while forming an unlikely bromance with [[Alexis Polux]] of the Imperial Fists. Ultimately died by overloading the Pharos to wipe out an attacking Night Lords strike force, causing a warp flare that caught the attention of the [[Tyranid|hive fleets]]. Whoops.
*[[Nârik Dreygur]]: Consul-Praevian, also known as the Gravewalker. Fought for the traitors at first during the Heresy, then ultimately flipped them the bird after being shit on one too many times and rejoined the loyalists, serving with Cassian Dracos of the Salamanders.
*Kyr Vhalen: Loyalist warsmith who told the Alpha Legion to get fucked at Paramar V and lived to tell about it. Also known as "Shatterblade" for one battle where he spent [[Awesome|nine hours killing xenos with one of their swords lodged in his chest]].
*Volk: Random Iron Warrior who's only important because he became the very first [[Obliterators|Obliterator]] when a daemon possessed him not long before the Siege of Terra.
*[[Honsou]]: Warsmith with chimeric gene-seed and a sick fuck rivalling Fabulous Bill himself. Was responsible for the [[Daemonculaba]], which is really all you need to know about how messed up this guy is. Has a [[Ferrus Manus|necrodermis arm]] and a vendetta against [[Uriel Ventris]] because Uriel keeps fucking up his plans.
* [[Shon'tu]]: Crazy-ass warsmith who thought he was the reincarnation of a legendary warlord from the Dark Age of Technology. Had a hate-boner for Imperial Fists in general and Darnath Lysander in particular, and once stuffed a Space Hulk full of Tyranids and launched it at Terra. Kept escaping Lysander's wrath while yelling "I'll get you next time, Fist! NEXT TIIIIIME!" until he was unceremoniously killed to death by some random IF Terminators when trying to hijack the ''Phalanx'' right before the Great Rift opened.

==Daily Routines==
*'''04:00 - Morning Reveille:''' The Iron Warriors emerge from their artillery batteries and fortifications.
*'''04:20 - Morning Maintenance Rituals:''' The Iron Warriors ensure their instruments of war are in tip-top shape. A slave is turned into a servitor for every warhead that fails to detonate.
*'''05:00 - Morning Prayers:''' The Iron Warriors begin to pray to all four Chaos Gods. Their prayers are shorter than those of the Word Bearers and Black Legion as they view Chaos only as a weapon they can use, thus each prayer to each God lasts only 30 minutes.
*'''07:00 - Morning Firing Rites:''' The Iron Warriors test fire their artillery and siege weaponry at captured civilians and fortifications. Any Iron Warrior who [[FAIL|manages to miss a stationary target]] is also used as a target.
*'''10:00 - Close Combat Practice:''' The Iron Warriors descend in a cage for close-quarters combat practice. Servitors are used, as normal people are too squishy and die too quickly.
*'''12:00 - Tactical Indoctrination:''' The Iron Warriors gather to discuss which fortifications to destroy or which monument of [[Rogal Dorn]] to defile, along with directing their laborers and human auxiliary forces.
*'''13:00 - Afternoon Wargames:''' The Iron Warriors set up [[Miniatures|miniature pieces representing their forces on an open table with complex rules and dice to test each others' grasp of strategy. Known as BattleMace 5,000,000]] [[Perturabo]] sometimes joins in on the 'fun'. An ancient Terran snack known as 'The Doritos' are brought by the truckload and are complemented by an equally ancient Terran beverage known as 'Mountain Dew'. Those who consume 'The Doritos' are not allowed to touch field operation manuals until they ritually cleanse and scrape their fingers. Anyone failing to do so will find their hands in their next meal. Of course, none of this is fun. [[Rules Lawyer]]s, [[Munchkin]]s, [[Powergamer]]s: every single stick-to-the-book archetype you can think of is exercised here, and they won't have it any other way.
*'''14:00 - First Evening Meal:''' A feast is prepared by the legion serfs. Due to long hours without eating, some Iron Warriors may have already begun to eat bits off their slaves.
*'''15:00 - Evening Firing Rites:''' The Iron Warriors practice their artillery marksmanship on moving targets. Aerial targets are also available for those looking to impress their superiors. Any found using airburst or guided ordinance will find themselves and their arsenal fed to the nearest [[Obliterator]].
*'''18:00 - Battle Practice:''' The Iron Warriors descend into the labyrinthine trench lines. [[Powergamer|Heavy weapon ambushes and kill zones are the most popular tactics in the narrow trenches]].
*'''20:00 - Second Evening Meal:''' Another feast is prepared by legion slaves. Those slaves who have parts of their bodies eaten by hungry Iron Warriors are gifted bionic implants to make them useful again.
*'''21:00 - Evening Wargames:''' A game of [[Exterminatus|Galactic Cyclonic War]] is set up, where the only winning move is not to play. Any Iron Warriors foolish enough to play will be assigned to minesweeper duty. The remaining Warriors continue their earlier wargames.
*'''22:00 - Bitching about the Imperial Fists and the sons of Dorn:''' A period is held for the Iron Warriors to bitch and moan about the [[Imperial Fists]] and why they can't wait to tear down Rogal Dorn's statue on Terra. Sometimes [[Perturabo]] joins in the bitching.
*'''23:00 - Evening Maintenance Rituals:''' Many Iron Warriors continue bitching about the [[Imperial Fists]] and the sons of Dorn during this time, infusing their equipment with their contempt.
*'''00:00 - Rest Period:''' The Iron Warriors retire to their artillery and siege vehicles.

==Gallery==
<gallery>
File:Internet warriors.jpg|thumb|doomer sieging intensifies
File:Iron warrior squat.png|thumb|OI BLYAT
File:Iron warrior.png|Warsmith Dantioch
File:Iron warrior shoot.gif
File:Iron shoot.jpg
File:Iron cage.jpg|thumb|Good Times
File:Iron within iron without.jpg|thumb|Cannon go boom
File:Iron warrior pic.jpg
File:Iron warriors iron within iron without by t cezar dcpgpad-fullview.jpg
File:IRON.jpg
File:Rivalry.jpg|It's like this CONSTANTLY
</gallery>
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[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category:Chaos]]
[[Category:Space Marines]]