Red Talons
| Red Talons | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Founding | Second Founding | |
| Successors of | Iron Hands | |
| Chapter Master | Smashfucker | |
| Homeworld | Raikan | |
| Strength | Unknown | |
| Specialty | Rip and Tear | |
| Allegiance | Imperium of Man | |
| Colours | Red and Black | |
The Red Talons are a Second Founding successor chapter of the Iron Hands, known for having absolutely zero chill. They have no relation to the Tribe of the same name in Werewolf: The Apocalypse.
Thanks to Forgeworld, Horus Heresy: Massacre has finally shed some light on these guys. Though it's not explicitly stated, anyone with half a brain cell can figure out that they were founded by Iron Father Autek Mor and his Morragul Clan (Mor's flagship was called the Red Talon for God's sakes). The Morragul Clan was noteworthy as being composed of some of the most bloodthirsty and hard-ass marines in the X Legion, so much so that even Ferrus Manus found them to be distasteful. Read: these guys were founded by the marines that even a Primarch known for beating a dragon senseless and drowning it in lava with his bare hands considered a bit too extreme.
To elaborate, Autek Mor was best known for killing several of his own men in duels over "slights" before the Heresy, to the point that Ferrus and the other Iron Fathers used his Clan as a dumping ground for those Legionaries who couldn't control their rage and fight with the self-control that the Iron Hands prized. After the Isstvan V Massacre, he waged a war that was pretty much the opposite of Shadrak Meduson's resistance. For example, he attacked Gethsamaine Colonus and blew up every major city. When the bombs went off, the population were hesitantly celebrating their liberation by the Iron Hands.
He also destroyed the World Eaters' main recruitment centre and muster world, Bodt, by dropping a fucking moon on top of it.
Outside of their founding, not a whole lot has been written about these chaps, but what few tidbits of lore have been written about them keep the trend of a Chapter that is METAL AF (bordering on mental af). During the War of the False Primarch, they, along with some other friendly fellows, wiped out eleven entire chapters that had been declared Excommunicate Traitoris. Yeah... These guys don't play. Also went full gestapo on own their battle-brothers when some of them didn't pick the right side of the Moirae Schism, purging them to the last instead of letting them join the Sons of Medusa like the level-headed Iron Hands successors did.
Also of note is that, if the Codex artwork is to be believed, they are organized along Codex lines, rather than the Clan Council system of the other Iron Hands successors. Also of interest is that they are never mentioned as being particularly tech-obsessed. I suppose this should be taken as a given what with their heritage and all, but still it seems that Rip and Tear seems to be more of their thing than The Flesh is Weak.
tl;dr: Iron Hands successors that look and act like Flesh Tearers.
Campaigns
The Red Talons are notable for their exemplary service both during and after the Horus Heresy. Their deeds are quite impressive for a minor chapter that tends to remain in the sidelines of the fluff.
- Vengeance of the Red Talon - After the Drop Site Massacre, Autek Mor rounds up as many Iron Hands survivors as he can and takes his Battle Barge Red Talon on a punitive campaign that targets the rearguard of the Traitor forces. He travels from system to system, crushing all planets that accepted the Warmaster's Dark Compliance. The most brutal punishments are reserved for those planets that surrendered without a fight, or offered minimal resistance. And although using Exterminatus on billions of people for the crime of not dying to the last for their Emperor seems a little excessive, it ends up proving beneficial in the long run as it sends a message across the galaxy that treachery and/or not taking a side in the conflict won't be tolerated.
- Destruction of Bodt - Autek Mor leads his Iron Hands against the World Eaters recruitment world of Bodt. With the help of some Imperial Fists and the Agathon Solar Auxilia, he orders an attack on the traitor facilities in order to create a distraction for him to raid some secret vault. He leaves the planet as soon as he gets what he wanted, but not before dropping the FUCKING MOON on top of the remaining World Eaters and their allies.
- Time of Rebirth - After the Second Founding, the newly formed Red Talons chapter spends its first campaigns fighting against the opportunistic xenos that were ravaging the Imperium in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, most notably against some alien species that lived in the uninhabitable galactic core.
- War of the Beast - The Red Talons defend a Forge World named Lankast from the Orks.
- The War of the False Primarch - One of a few chapters that got their purging on with the Space Sharks, Flesh Eaters, Charnel Guard and the Death Eagles (Pentarchy of Blood). This war was extremely secretive to the point that the only thing we know about it is that the Pentarchy destroyed eleven other Space Marine chapters deemed heretics.
- Aftermath of the Abyssal Crusade - The Red Talons purge the Argent Hammers and the Fists of Olchis after their return from their 800 year long trip inside the Eye of Terror.
- First Scouring of Coriolanthe - The Chapter attempts to assist the Inquisition and the Grey Knights in the defense of the Pleasure World of Coriolanthe against the Night Lords, but the Imperials are forced to retreat when an unidentified traitor Titan Legion shows up. At the height of the fighting, the Inquisitor and most of his Grey Knight strike force perished, but not before bringing down the two Chaos Warhounds that ambushed them.
- Draxian Incursion - Some Xenos start conquering Imperial space, and so the Space Wolves and Red Talons are sent to engage them. All records of this campaign are expunged by the Ordo Xenos.
- Orask Wars - At the very edge of the Ultima Segmentum, the frontier world of Orask comes under attack by Tyranids. An entire company of the Red Talons assist the Imperial Guard and the titans of the 'Legio Magna' in a brief but bloody battle in which the Imperials emerge victorious albeit at the cost of heavy losses. The Senatorium Ultima of Ultramar honored the Chapter with the gift of a famed relic.