The Iron Hands

Structure

The Iron Hands are a body of elite soldiers and operatives, completely autonomous and self-governing, answerable only to the Rilga Diet. The organisation is led by the Iron Marshal, elected from the most veteran individuals in the Iron Hands forces. The Iron Marshal is responsible for overseeing the entirety of the orders functions, and is the representative of the order in the Diet. The current Iron Marshal is Dietrich Roth, an efficient and orderly man with a reputation for imposing strict discipline and protocol in his underlings.

The forces of the Iron Hands are arranged in a manner similar to a military force;

• The Iron Marshal: The commander of the Iron Hands forces and responsible for all decisions relating to their function and organisation.
• Iron Captains: The captains are the senior members of the Iron Hands, having served and proven their ability over many years. Captains usually act as commanding officers for large swathes of territory, with every Iron Hand solider reporting to them.
• Iron Sergeants: Sergeants are fully-initiated operatives of the Iron Hands order, the lowest ranking members to actually possess the signature Suppressor Gauntlet that serves as their principal weapon against hostile magic. Sergeants are often stationed in various large towns and cities across western Kordania and organise their underlings in their regional oversight.
• Iron Soldiers: Iron Soldiers are the most senior of members of the Iron Hands order that do not possess an Suppressor Gauntlet. Only the most tried and tested members of the Iron Soldiery are permitted to undergo the final, excruciating process of having a gauntlet attached to their body. This has lead to nicknames developing for all members who have not undergone the proceedure; unbranded, pink hands, gloveless etc. Still, despite not having undergone this final test, the Iron Soldiers are a cut above the rank-and-file soldier of similar military organisations, the equal of three lesser fighters. The Iron Hands still need foot soldiers to assist and support the Sergeants and Captains in their duties, for even without magic, some foes are still dangerous.
• Recruits: Recruits are the remaining bulk of the orders numbers. They are mostly soldiers-in-training, undergoing all the rigours of physical, mental and spiritual conditioning the Iron Hands demand of their members, for every one of them must be as cold, unbending and unfaltering as the gauntlets they may one day wield.

Culture

The Iron Hands were born to answer the all-important question; how do we defend the people from malignant magics and those who would abuse them?
The Iron Hands are the most elite response to dangerous magic that has ever been developed in Kordania, and every member of the order is drilled from day one of their training to fear and respect the power and danger that magic represents.
Every member of the Iron Hands is indoctrinated with their orders credo. That is, magic is a tool. A useful, miraculous and all-too dangerous tool, that like fire, if it is not watched closely, will rage out of control to consume and destroy. All Iron Hand recruits are also schooled in the history of their nation; of the horrors and atrocities that the archmage Mordred and his cult visited upon the people of the lowlands and the dales. In doing so, every Iron Hand is instilled with the belief that they are the shield that will protect the people from future abuses of magic, and that should they fail or flinch from their duty, all harm that follows will be on their hands.

As a result, Iron Hand members are often viewed as cold, merciless and without compassion for those they hunt. This is for the most part true, for Iron Hands have all signs of emotional weakness beaten out of them, for they must never fall for the pleas and lies of the corrupt mage. They believe completely that theirs is a duty that no one else can perform, so they must not allow themselves to be swayed from it. Iron Hand recruits are taught that every magic user is a potential threat that must be treated with caution and suspicion, for they cannot afford to give them the benefit of the doubt. The lure of power is insidious, and even the most well meaning mage can be corrupted by it. It is to this end that the final initiation ceremony of a new student at the Skeinwynd Institute has an Iron Sergeant and an Iron Soldier in presence, there to remind the new student of the cold and unmoving fate that will await them should they stray.

Public Agenda

The Iron Hands exist for one purpose; to police and enforce the use of magic according to the laws of the Rilga Diet, in both Rilga and beyond. They are elite mage-hunters, trained and equipped to tackles pernicious magic users. Their training involves rigorous mental fortification, to ensure that they do not fall for magical charms and illusions. They are taught how to detect signs of magical use and the influence it has on people who might not themselves be aware.
Should an Iron Hands agent detect the presence of magical wrongdoing, they immediately alert their superiors who then marshal their strength and strike against the accused with cold efficiency and precision. Where they can, they bring the culprit in alive to face trial. If this proves impossible or too dangerous, they do not hesitate to slay them on the spot.

The secondary function of the Iron Hands is to act as messengers of good-will from Rilga to the surrounding nations. The Dales in particular remain understandably hostile towards Rilga and most nobles and rulers would sooner spit than to treat with them. And yet, none would deny the dangers that reneged wizards and magic-users pose to society and the expertise of the Iron Hands as mage-hunters is well known. To this end, it is the practice of the Diet that the Iron Hands station their Sergeants and Soldiers in foreign territories to serve as outside expertise on behalf of Rilga to both help protect their neighbours and to improve foreign attitudes towards Rilga.

Hand And Will In Iron Bound

Symbol

An grey gauntlet grasping a ball of fire

Heraldry
A black gauntlet grasping a ball of fire

Founding Date

924

Type

Government, Law Enforcement

Alternative Names

The Mage Hunters

Training Level

Elite

Leader

Dietrich Roth

Leader Title

Iron Marshal