The leaders of the ten united clan companies were arrayed in a circle before Gdolkin, with a space for him to join them. He took each one in in turn.

To his right stood Dozeph Imanol of the Raukaan clan. Although the iron-commander had removed his helmet the top of his head was still a reinforced metallic dome that reflected the light of the glow-globes from its polished surface. It looked like some master artificer had added detailing on the metal cranium, covering it with a labyrinth of folds that made it appear as if the Space Marine's brain had been exposed. Imanol's eyes were also steely, red-lensed augmetics but below them there was little exposed metalwork.

Next to Imanol stood Pelles, clan-commander of Gdolkin's own company, the Vurgaan clan. Pelles was not a handsome man, and his closely trimmed beard and black clan tattoos did nothing to improve his appearance. He sported two solid metal studs that had been hammered into his skull above his left eye, denoting over two hundred years of sanctified service to the Chapter, the same as Gdolkin. In fact, the two of them had risen through the ranks together. But where Gdolkin had demonstrated an affinity with the ancient machine spirits of the Chapter's weaponry and attack vehicles from his early days as an initiate, Pelles's tactical skill and ability to read a battle had marked him out as a commander in the making: a potential that had been fulfilled in the heat of battle on the planet Haissem, fighting the piratical eldar, and later verified by the veterans of the Vurgaan clan and the great clan council itself.

Pelles's armoured suit hid a plethora of manufactured organ and limb replacements; he was revered by the other battle-brothers of the Vurgaan clan for coming so close to the Iron Hands' ideal of the machine. The only other brother who came close to his achievement was Iron-Father Gdolkin himself.

Pelles was tall, even for a Space Marine, standing over two and a half metres in his power armour, but towering over the iron-commander, like some leviathan monster from the legendary trials of Ferrus Manus, was the first of three dreadnought-armoured battle-brothers. The name inscribed on the ornamental scroll-work on the dreadnought's sarcophagus read ‘Talumech'.

Although Gdolkin was himself a bold, confident warrior, he was awed and cowed by the presence of, not one, but three venerable dreadnought brothers. It was rumoured that there were only eight such ancient battle-suits in existence within the entirety of the Iron Hands' Chapter.

The dreadnought's magnificent adamantium body gleamed dully in the reduced lighting of the fortress monastery's council chamber. On the right-hand panel of the dreadnought's adamantium casing was a bas-relief image of a clawed iron gauntlet, the millennia-old insignia of the Iron Hands' order. The image was not unlike the monstrous power fist that the dreadnought bore on the end of its left arm.

Just as the battle-brothers of the Iron Hands had their left hands replaced with bionic replicas on being inducted into the Chapter, so the left arm of every dreadnought was always equipped with a close combat weapon, with a built-in storm bolter. The right arm of each machine was another matter, however. These were outfitted with such armaments as assault cannons, multi-melta attachments, heavy bolters and devastating plasma weaponry. In the case of Dreadnought Talumech, a twin-linked lascannon stood in place of a right arm.