Iron Father Ferrios was not on Isstvan V when Ferrus Manus fell—and that absence became a wound he could never purge.
When warbands of the Emperor's Children were discovered on a nameless, rain-soaked world, Ferrios led his Iron Hands there with a single purpose: revenge.
The war was supposed to be swift. It lasted 100 years.
The rain never stopped. It ate into their armor, their weapons, their augmetics. Repairs became impossible. Ferrios made a choice—let it rust. Let the decay become part of them. What mattered was that they could still fight.
Over decades, both sides changed. The Emperor’s Children lost their elegance, becoming feral and cruel. The Iron Hands became something colder—silent, corroded, and relentless. Ferrios himself became barely more than a walking machine, his body fused with rust and damage, driven only by hatred.
After a century of war, Ferrios finally led the last assault, crushing the enemy warband in a brutal, grinding battle. Their leader fell—not to skill or speed, but to Ferrios’ sheer, unbreakable endurance.
When it was over, the storm began to clear for the first time in 100 years.
Ferrios didn’t feel victory—only emptiness.
He hadn’t brought back his primarch. He hadn’t undone Isstvan.
He had only endured long enough to become a rusted relic of his own vengeance.
And that, he realized, was the true legacy of the Iron Hands.