Ionius Heraphex

"We are Iron Warriors! We do not answer to the Emperor or to the so called Gods of Chaos and we certainly don't answer to the mewling dog you call Warmaster!" - Warsmith Ionius Heraphex to an emissary of The Despoiler shortly before the latter's death.

Ionius Heraphex is Warsmith of the 63rd Grand Battalion and Basilius of the Steel Halo of Olympia. Among the ranks of the Iron Warriors he is known as the Scourge Lord for his use of nuclear weapons, poison gas, and phosphex weaponry.

Pre-Heresy
Ionius was born sometime in the late 30th Millennium to impoverished parents among the ruins of a Sek-Amerik fortress. He remained with them for a mere six years before he was taken by the apothecaries of the IVth Legion for testing. He was later made an initiate and sent to fight with his new brothers. He first saw combat on Venus during the Mehr Yasht campaign and was awarded accolades for personally destroying several Litho-Gholems.

His service throughout the early years of the Great Crusade was considered exemplary. This combined with the very high mortality rate among the Legion allowed him to take command of 417th Grand Company by the time Perturabo was rediscovered. Following the decimation of the Iron Warriors on their Primarch's command Ionius caught the eye of his gene-father due to his constant requests to be allowed to deep strike with his terminators in order to destroy enemy hospitals, ammo caches, and monuments.

Had Ionius served under any Primarch aside from perhaps the Night Haunter he would have been stripped of rank for suggesting such dishonorable tactics. However Perturabo understood his son's request. After a dozen successful missions in which their besieged enemies surrendered after having their food supplies blown up and their wounded and civilians turned into screaming cinders by phosphex weapons Ionius became known as the Legion's "Moral Officer". Although never deemed worthy to stand among Perturabo's Trident he nevertheless had his father's ear when it came to terror tactics.

Shortly after the discovery of the Primarch Magnus the Red a force of Thousand Sons served beside Ionius' own forces and his latent psykic powers were discovered. He had an inkling of his abilities, but trusted in steel and ceramite over any "magic". Nevertheless he began to hone his abilities under the tutelage of the Thousand Sons with his new powers proving useful in many battles.

As the Great Crusade came to a close Ionius was finally appointed to the highest possible position in the Legion, a Warsmith of a Grand Battalion. His direct superior had been killed by Perturabo after one of his violent mood shifts. Now in command of the 63rd Grand Battalion he controlled more than 3,000 Marines along with their many voidcraft and Imperial Army regiments.

Start of The Horus Heresy
When word of the Istvaan III betrayal reached the ears of the Iron Warriors Ionius was surprised by his father's seeming indifference. Unable to obtain an audience with him he was at last called, along with all other Warsmiths in the fleet, to a command meeting. It was here that Perturabo told his sons that the Iron Warriors would be fighting in support of the Warmaster. The time was at hand for their vengeance against an Imperium that had for so long looked down upon them.

Ionius spoke up almost immediately. He tried in vain to convince his father that his actions would only lead to ruin. He had barely formed the first sentence before the massive mail clad hand of the Lord of Iron smashed into his armored chest and nearly sent him through the adamantine wall behind him.

His body was reduced to a shattered wreck held in place only by his ruined armor. Had he not been able to project a telakine shield moments before the impact he would surely have been killed. The two lieutenants that he had brought with him dragged his body away from the enraged Primarch who quickly calmed and returned to his planning. Any question of disobedience had died with Ionius.

Techmarines and apothecaries immediately set to work on restoring their commander not having known who it was that had broken him. Despite their best efforts however he was still dying. Just as the surgeons were preparing to give up the ethereal form of Ionius' projected conscious appeared and instructed on how to prepare his body within a set of Terminator armor that would allow him to live. With the aid of several Thousand Sons sorcerers his body was placed in his battle armor and sealed.

The ritual restored him to life, but left his body a mutilated wreck that could never leave his life sustaining armor. Further the once uniform Indomitus-pattern Terminator armor had been warped and mutated by the strange magics that now suffused it.

Drop Site Massacre
Much to the surprise of his fellow commanders Ionius reappeared during the betrayal on Istvaan V. If Perturabo thought anything of it is unknown as he continued to treat his son as if nothing had happened. His loyalty to Perturabo went unquestioned and he served admirably. Those who learned his name among the X, XVIII, and XIX Legions came to despise him in particular for his abundant use of Phosphex against them.

His actions during the battle changed the opinions of many in the Legion about him. He had often been looked upon poorly for fighting softer targets, but during the battle he teleported in his bodyguard of Terminators and slew the loyalists in close combat well artillery rained down around him. This penchant for fighting among the gore, fire, and radiation would only grow further as the war continued.

Battle of Terra
In the lead up to the Battle of Terra many senior Iron Warriors commanders were slain and the ranks within the Legion began to become somewhat chaotic. During this period of growing instability Ionius began to annex entire Grand Battalions into his own command. Despite heavy losses he was able to keep more than 2,000 Marines under his command and gained a substantial number of warships including the Gloriana-Class Battleship Invicta Ferrum. The ship was an extremely rare prize and several claimants had to be killed before Ionius became its undisputed master.

During the Battle of Terra Ionius keep his forces in reserve as much as possible with Invicta Ferrum serving as a lynch pin for the Traitor forces defensive lines. With the death of Horus many Iron Warriors who had lost their commanders and transports retreated to the open hangers of the Warsmith's fleet.

As the Traitor fleets broke orbit and retreated towards the Eye of Terror Ionius instead ordered his Navigators to turn the fleet galactic east and make all possible speed for the Ghoul Stars.

A New Empire
With more than 4,000 Marines and hundreds of thousands of mortal Imperial Army soldiers under arms along with dozens of warships Ionius sped east, but not before stopping at the Forge World of Casius IX. The Forge was renowned for the creation of all variety of war supplies from tanks to fuel to armor. In the span of less than a solar month the 63rd Grand Battalion looted the whole of the planet. It was not just the supplies that were taken, it's production facilities were loaded onto massive transports and brought with the fleet as they left the system. Casius IX was then destroyed with atomic fire.

Reaching far east beyond the control of the Imperium Ionius declared a new empire; an Olympia reborn. A verdant continental world was found and colonization began immediately. The fifth planet from the star Azax was renamed Arx Olympia Redivivus. The seventh planet became the home of a new Forge World named Aevatas.

The Iron Warriors, ever the builders, put their massive earth movers to work and built in the span of a year gleaming cities and massive fortresses. The forces of the Imperial Army loyal to Ionius settled down and began to live, in part, as civilians.

As the centuries passed the nascent empire grew in size. Dozens of habitable planets and fortress worlds joined the realm of the Warsmith and the 63rd's holdings were reformed into the Steel Ring of Olympia. The population grew as refugees fleeing WAAAGH The Beast swore themselves into the service of the Iron Warriors in exchange for a life under the protective guns of the 63rd's fortresses and warships.

The Steel Halo over time became an oddity among the realms of the galaxy. Self sufficient it had a deeply isolationist stance. Most of its wars were fought by other Chaos warbands who were kept under control by offers of fleet protection in exchange for raw materials with which to feed the Halo's massive industrial base. The Iron Warriors Marines themselves were normally sent into short, but much bloodier engagements. Well their thrall Warbands slaughtered the defenseless and looted unprotected worlds the Iron Warriors fought the toughest of foes. Tau septs, Orkish WAAAGHs and loyalist forces became their most common enemy and the ships of the 63rd became a symbol of impending annihilation.

41st Millennium
Unbeknownst to any aside from Ionius himself the Warsmith has been in contact with his Primarch since the end of the Horus Heresy. At first enraged by his son's insubordination he has since forgiven him likely in exchange for the large numbers of hard to come by pieces of equipment such Cataphractii and Tartaros armor that roll off the assembly lines of Aevatas and are sent to Medrengard by traitorous Rogue Traders.

The fleets and armies of the Steel Halo have mobilized on the command of Perturabo, but what their target is remains heavily debated by the surrounding civilizations.

Character
Ionius Heraphex is a man of mercurial temperament. His brilliant and creative mind stands in stark contrast with his love of attrition warfare and preference for weapons of indiscriminate slaughter. He sees himself as one of the last true Legionaries and views loyalist and traitor alike as thin blooded copies of the true men who died in the Horus Heresy. As such the atheistic culture of the Iron Warriors Legion has survived and even prospered in the Steel Halo where elsewhere it has been consumed by Chaos worship.

His loyalties lay with himself and his Primarch. Although Perturabo has become as reclusive as his former terror officer Ionius remains ready to do his Lord's bidding.

Capabilities
Ionius' psychic powers are extremely potent thanks to ten thousand years of practice. Although his body remains in ruins he has become adapt at projecting himself. He appears to his people in a set of ancient MK. II power armor with his handsome face unhelmed and unmarred. His physical form is protected at all times by his elite Terminator guards who have had their minds bent to the Warsmith's will.

As a commander he is exceptionally skilled. He prefers to end battles before they start by using his powerful fleet to simply exterminatus planets that stand against him. Aside from his well known love for weapons of mass destruction he has become notable his continued use of the Iron Wars strategy of attrition warfare. Aevatas is able to produce most Great Crusade equipment in large numbers and as such the 63rd is nearly always better equipped and supplied than their enemies by a considerable margin. Where a Contemptor Dreadnought or Thunderhawk Gunship may be the only one a loyalist Chapter has the Warsmith is happy to continue the traditions of his Legion and throw the lives of his men and the weapons away in exchange for victory. The near unique access the 63rd has to supplies and manpower makes them one of the few Space Marine forces left who can indiscriminately make use of this tactic.