House Vakotba

House Vakotba colour scheme as displayed by a Knight Abominant.

House Vakotba coat of arms.

Devoted to Tzeentch and the search for knowledge with a fervor almost unmatched in the 41st Millenium, the traitorous House Vakotba has been terrorising the Southern Segmentum Ultima since the Horus Heresy. Ever since the psyker Aheque Teghir plotted to bring his father to an early death and hence gain the crown of Sahlik Prime, the once-noble Questor Imperialis House has been on an ever-descending path, one often paved by good intentions; the desire to uncover all knowledge in the universe. Ever since fighting a troope of Harlequins in M34, the House's main goal has been to uncover the true location of the fabled Black Library. Fortunately for the galaxy, they have been unsuccessful.

## History

### Founding

Like many of the Imperium's Knight Houses, House Vakotba was founded during the tumultuous Dark Age of Technology in order to protect the fledgling human colony on the world of Sahlik Prime. A mountainous but temperate world, the people of Sahlik Prime hadn't expected to encounter much resistance, but within a month of their colony ship landing on the world they were onset by Orks. To protect the colony, House Vakotba was founded. They quickly developed a taste for powerful ranged weapons, learning that the best way to defeat the Ork threat was to keep them at a distance, and not allow them to enter close combat. Though the House had a rough start, losing a third of the first wave of Knights they arrived with, they eventually managed to stabilise themselves and create a boundary against the Greenskins.

The culture of Sahlik Prime then entered what would be referred to as its "Golden Age". Along with massive expansion in terms of population and available technology - enabled by a proximity to and close relationship with a nearby forge world - the world's now infamous library began to be constructed. Containing the combined knowledge of every colonist, and constantly being added to, the library became the pride of House Vakotba, and they reinforced it and adopted it as their fortress, naming it Anhei.

Eventually, as the colonist's control over the world expanded, Vakotba was able to extinguish the Ork threat, and Anhei grew ever larger.

### Age of Strife

The Age of Strife was a genuinely dire period of time for House Vakotba. Unable to contact the greater elements of humanity, the expansion of their library was severely limited. Even more significant, their ability to repair their engines of war was massively restricted. As a new infestation of Orks began to spread, and rogue Psykers wreaked havoc on the world, they lost countless Knights that had survived hundreds of years of warfare.

The High King at the time declared that all psykers would be killed at birth, to protect Sahlik Prime. Though this proclamation may have saved the world at the time, its ramifications during the 30th Millenium would be much greater.

Eventually, Vakotba emerged from the Old Night, and it wasn't long until the Great Crusade encountered the world. The High King declared total allegiance to the Emperor, and though their lost Knights were replaced, the lost history never was.

### Horus Heresy and Corruption

To those with a panoptic view of House Vakotba's history, their corruption would seem inevitable. Towards the start of the Great Crusade, Ahequa Teghir was born. Ordinarily, he would have been the heir to the Throne Mechanicum of his father's nigh-mythical Acastus Knight Asterion *"Gaverah"*. However, he was born a powerful psyker. Shortly after his birth he killed not only his mother but several of her maids in accidental psychic attacks. His father managed to keep this a secret for a long time, and Ahequa became a near-permanent feature in Anhei's deepest sections.

However, this secret couldn't be kept for long. When Ahequa's status as a psyker became known. his father's closest advisors urged him to kill the child, referencing back to the law made during the Age of Strife. His father couldn't bring himself to kill his only child though, and instead exiled him into the deep mountains.

Ahequa, barely an adult, almost died within a week. Despite having been trained to fight in a Knight and to be a replacement to his father, his training had not included how to survive in the harsh mountainous environments of Sahlik Prime. While on his deathbed, he began to hallucinate a large, bird-like figure with shimmering purple and blue feathers talking to him. It spoke of limitless power and knowledge, eternal access to Anhei, revenge on those who wronged him. Ahequa, knowing his only other choice would be to die, accepted.

Newly empowered by his unwitting deal with Tzeentch, Ahequa marched back to Anhei. He began to recruit others who had been wronged by his father, slowly generating a following and spreading rumours that his father intended to seal off access to the library to all outside the royal family.

Ahequa's time finally came when the Horus Heresy began in force. Emissaries from the traitors arrived in the Sahlik system, attempting to recruit House Vakotba to their cause. Ahequa, knowing that his father valued his position withing the Imperial hierarchy too much to risk it, put his plan into action. In the space of under a day he enacted a swift coup, spilling almost no blood and giving all he captured a chance to join him. Having captured his father, he publicly beheaded him, to very little opposition. He claimed the Throne of *Gavereh*, and declared his planet for Horus.

Over the course of the Horus Heresy, House Vakotba's corruption to Tzeentch accelerated exponentially. Those who were doubtful about Ahequa's plans were quickly convinced through a cunning system of bribes, threats, and displays of power, hundreds of loyalists falling to the House's guns.

As is typical with all Chaos forces though, Vakotba fractured from Horus's greater army. They explored the rest of Imperial space, gathering information and plundering both loyalist and traitorous worlds.

When Horus was slain and the Imperial crackback began, Sahlik Prime was the target of a brutal exterminatus. All but the deepest parts of Anhei were obliterated, millenia of research and records lost to Imperial bombs. House Vakotba, forced to retreat into the Eye of Terror after the battle of Carm V, were helpless to stop it. Ahequa vowed to reclaim whatever was left of his homeworld.

### Recovery of Sahlik Prime

After the aftermath of the Heresy had died down, Ahequa led his corrupted force of Knights into the Imperium once more, in a beeline for their homeworld of Sahlik Prime. This journey was not only for sentimental reasons though. During this attack the House supplemented their dwindling supply, adding several new Knight Engines to their army and awarding them to particularly exemplary members of the House. Additionally, old records that may have survived the destruction of Anhei would serve Ahequa greatly in his quest to appease Tzeentch.

The worlds near the Sahlik system were yet to fully recover from the Heresy, so Vakotba was able to reach their homeworld with relative ease. These series of battles gave birth to the 9 elite members of House Vakotba, known now as the Nine Ancients. Old by human standards even before the attack on Sahlik, these pilots were incredibly elite, and after they retreated Ahequa gave 8 of them the title of Ancient. Together with his own new title of Master of Knowledge, they formed 9, Tzeentch's number. Much to Ahequa's anger, none of the surviving records were of use to him or the Architect of Fate, and the Infernal House abandoned the system, never returning again.

### Search for the Black Library

The next major chapter in the history of House Vakotba was a conflict with a troop of Harlequins in 714.M34. The soul of the long-dead Ahequa, intermingled with the tortured Machine-Spirit of *Gavareh*, had foreseen their presence on the moons of Lairox, if not their significance, and directed his House there. The two factions fought, and despite suffering losses Vakotba was able to subdue them, Ahequa even capturing one. In the ensuing psychic torture and interrogation, Aheque learnt of the secretive Black Library.

Having a new purpose, House Vakotba set out once more into the galaxy, hunting down Eldar wherever they could be found to attempt to divine the location of the Black Library, which they viewed as a second Anhei.

Unfortunately for Ahequa, but fortunately for the galaxy, House Vakotba's search has been as successful as all who have preceded them; that is to say, a complete failure. Though they have fought Harlequins on many occasions, they have been unsuccessful in finding the Black Library, and any and all forays into the Webway have ended in disaster.

### Notable Campaigns

* **21st Millenium, Unknown time** - Purging of Sahlik Prime and Founding on House Vakotba.
* **009.M31** - Ahequa Teghir's coup and the House's corruption by Tzeentch.
* **420.M32** - Attempted recovery of Sahlik Prime.
* **714.M34** - Battle of Lairox.
* **102.M38** - Battle of Unholy Volaehris.

## House Homeworld

Now a dead and barren word, Sahlik Prime was once a thriving mountainous world. After it was cleared of Orks by House Vakotba, it became a near-paradise and haven of knowledge. During the heresy, it descended into ruin, its library overflowing and people starving, and after the heresy it was reduced to ashes by Imperial Exterminatus.

## House Organisation

Like many who serve Chaos, House Vakotba has a fluid structure. Its leader, known as the Master of Knowledge, has total command, being the most favoured of Tzeentch. His 8 underlings, known as the Ancients, are roughly equal and command their own hosts.

## Combat Doctrine

House Vakotba prefers to take it's fight at long range, allowing it to not only punish it's enemies from a distance, but also to easily retreat should a battle have achieved it's objective. Additionally, being servants of Tzeentch many of the House's war engines are imbued with psychic power, which they use to great effect in battle.

## Notable Knights

* **Master of Knowledge Ahequa Teghir** - Using the ancient and corrupted Knight Atrapos Asterion *Gaverah*, Ahequa pursues knowledge voraciously, and is a devoted and fanatical servant of Tzeentch. His spirit, now that his body has rotted away, has mingled with the corrupted Machine-Spirit of *Gaverah*
* **Ancient Dimeh Qu** - Perhaps the strongest of the Ancients, Dimeh's Knight Abominant has been blessed countless times and possesses untold psychic strength. He has proven himself to the Lord of Sorcery many a time, but particularly in his feint on the Space Hulk of Unholy Voleahris.

## House Appearance

### House Colours

Vakotba's parchment-and-obsidian colour scheme used to be a sign of nobility, but ever since it was corrupted by the light blue of Tzeentch, it has become one of fear and deception.

The main body of a Vakotba Knight is divided into obsidian and a parchment colour. It's shoulders and arms are Tzeentch's teal.

### House Heraldry

The heraldry of House Vakotba is a book torn in half by a lightning bolt.

## Relations

### Enemies

* **Servants of the Corpse-Emperor**
* **Servants of Nurgle**
* **Harlequins and Cegorach**