The Iron Palm Union appears in a number of wuxia stories, and seems to be a fairly big deal in wulin (not on the same level as Shaolin, Mo Dong, or the Beggar's Union, but perhaps just one notch below that level). In the Jin Yong universe, however, the Iron Palm Union appeared only in LOCH, and seemed to go extinct after its Chief, Kau Cheen Yan, retired from wulin to pursue a peaceful life as Buddhist ascetic. The union's signature martial art, the Iron Sand Palm, however, continued to crop up here and there in later stories.

What exactly is the history and pedigree of the Iron Palm Union, however? What do we know about it beyond what was told in LOCH (and in ROCH)?