House Draconis - Notable Campaigns: Horus Heresy (Unknown Date.M31) - While the Imperium of Man tore itself asunder in the great interstellar civil war known as the Horus Heresy, Adrastapol had prospered under the aegis of High King Rhoderic Tan Chimaeros. But the taint of Chaos had also taken roots on Adrastapol as both House Hydrax and House Medusos openly declared for the Traitor Warmaster, Horus Lupercal, and waged a war of conquest that took a heavy toll on the remaining Knight houses. House Draconis joined the alliance formed by High King Rhoderic and ultimately vanquished these Renegade Knights.First Ork War (Unknown Date.M41) - At the beginning of the reign of High King Gerraint Tan Chimaeros of House Chimaeros, the Knight World of Adrastapol suffered an all-out invasion by the savage xenos-species of the Orks. Under their terrifying warlord, Skarjaw, this WAAAGH! had grown in power until it was able to threaten even the mightiest Imperial world. Skarjaw's horde was noted to be extremely savage, even by the standards of his own race. Where other WAAAGH!s had been heavily mechanised, aligning Junka Trukks, combat walkers and Battlewagons, and sometimes even towering Stompas or Gargants, Skarjaw's forces trusted in the brute force and innate savagery of its half-domesticated Squiggoths. The arrival of the Orks on Adrastapol took all of its Knight houses by surprise, and before a coordinated counterattack could be launched, Skarjaw's minions had already assaulted several keeps belonging to House Manticos, a fatal blow from which the house never truly recovered. As the Ork advance closed in on the ancestral fortress of House Draconis, the Draconspire, the battle was joined between the host of High King Gerraint and Skarjaw's Orks. Unfortunately for the Imperials, the savagery of Skarjaw and those near to him was such that the brave Knights of House Pegasson were unable to stop them from breaking through their lines. In his eagerness to plunder and devastate this world, Skarjaw attacked the ill-defended Draconspire. With the survival of his house in the balance, Tolwyn Tan Draconis, then mere Gatekeeper to his father, made a fateful decision: he personally led a sortie of the house's youngest and bravest Knights in an attempt to slay the enemy warlord, leaving the safety of their fortress behind. Although hard-fought, the mission was a resounding success. Tolwyn's initiative not only led to the death of Skarjaw and his towering warbeast, but also scattered the leadership of the WAAAGH! which was then readily defeated by High King Gerraint's army. The survivors of this invasion would scatter through Adrastapol's wilderness from where Feral Orks would continue to pose a threat to the population of the Knight World. Under High King Gerraint's orders, the Adrastapolian Knights tirelessly campaigned to rid their homeworld of the taint that had befallen it, a tiresome campaign that lasted over several solar decades.Galhorm Crusade (Unknown Date.M41) -Though this Imperial Crusade is obscure and mostly forgotten, it constitutes an event of great importance in the history of House Draconis, for it was in the wake of this campaign that the mantle of High King would pass on to Tolwyn Tan Draconis -- the first time in Adrastapolian history that a scion of House Draconis would ascend the throne. Yet there was little celebration, for the House's casualties were many. House Chimaeros mourned the death of the Kingsward, Gedric Tan Chimaeros, Gerraint's only son and the loss of the crown from their house. At that time no one could have foreseen that Gerraint's consort, the beautiful and clever Alicia Kar Manticos, would turn the former High King's grief into a burning hate for the Imperium of Man and everything it stood for.Donatos War (Unknown Date.M41) - The Donatos War holds a special place within the chronicles of House Draconis both for the heavy toll it took upon the Adrastapolian Knights and for the glory they gained in bringing this rebellious world back to loyalty to the Emperor. Through the laxity of its rulers, Chaos Cults had taken power on the Industrial World of Donatos Primus, overthrowing the Imperial planetary government in place and killing the local Planetary Governor with the help of Chaos' most dangerous warriors: a warband of Chaos Space Marines. Seeking to further his own goals, the enemy leader -- the Word Bearers Dark Apostle Varakh'Lorr -- led his Word Bearers to fight the remaining Loyalist regiments of the Donatosian Planetary Defence Forces and the incorruptible Adeptus Arbites. While vastly outnumbered, the Loyalists were able to hold some cities and to issue a general call for aid before astrotelepathic communication broke off. The Imperium acted with uncustomary swiftness, despatching a sizeable army of Astra Militarum regiments under the general command of High King Tolwyn Tan Draconis. Hailing from such different worlds as Cadia, Mubraxis and Tanhollis, these regiments of the Imperial Guard would support the gathered might of no less than six Houses of Imperial Knights: the High King's own Household, House Draconis, and its allies from Houses Minotos, Chimaeros, Pegasson, Wyvorn and Manticos. After initial success that left the Imperial forces ready to strike at the very heart of the enemy's strength, the Imperial reconquest of Donatos Primus was put in jeopardy when fully half the contingent of Imperial Knights turned Renegade and followed Viscount Gerraint Tan Chimaeros into secession. Visibly in league with the Word Bearers, the Renegade Knights of Houses Chimaeros, Wyvorn and Manticos turned their guns upon their former allies who only escaped total destruction by the heroic sacrifice and tactical accumen of High King Tolwyn. To oppose Gerraint's claim to the throne, the Loyalist survivors chose Tolwyn's son and designated heir, Danial Tan Draconis, as their new king. Danial was a young Knight many saw as unfit for the task ahead. With barely 50 Knights remaining out of several hundred, the remaining Imperial Knights could not assault their enemies head-on but needed to tread carefully. A limited counterattack turned into another disaster as House Chimaeros succeeded through duplicity and sorcery to lead the remaining survivors into another ambush that proved equally murderous. Left with little more than two dozen Knights, High King Danial finally assumed the true mantle of the High King and lead his Knights in a desperate but ultimately successful second assault on the Valle Electrum which eliminated all the enemy commanders and paved the way for ultimate Imperial victory.Salvation of Dakhera II (Unknown Date.M41) - While still recovering from the losses of the Donatos War, the Knights of Adrastapol sent aid to the beleaguered world of Dakhera II. Led by First Knight Jennika Tan Draconis, five Lances of Draconis Knights as well as four Lances from House Pegasson and a single Lance from House Minotos annihilated the pirates preying on this defenceless world. Second Ork War (Unknown Date.M41) - Five standard years after the ordeals of the Donatos War, Adrastapol was invaded by the numberless hordes of WAAAGH! Killfist. Where before the Knights of Adrastapol had stood united, they were now divided, for the wounds of Donatos had been left to fester and while the relations between House Draconis and House Pegasson remained cordial, House Minotos had become increasingly reclusive and only reluctantly accepted the high king's progressive ideas. With the Minotane portion of the planetary defence network far from complete, the Orks of WAAAGH! Killfist easily gained a foothold on Adrastapol. Swarmed by the greenskins' numbers and defeated on the field of battle, House Minotos was forced to fall back to its mightiest strongholds and fortresses, abandoning the countryside to the xenos. Further to the north, House Draconis had initial success at countering the Orks' orbital landings. Draconis forces succeeded in destroying several Rokz in surgical strikes and annihilated several smaller warbands before they could coalesce into the unstoppable green tide of a characteristic Ork assault. But soon even House Draconis was forced to retreat in face of the enemy's numerical superiority. Those townships that had not heeded the high king's order for evacuation were invariably razed to the ground and their population slaughtered by the bloodthirsty Orks -- and several fortresses suffered the same fate. With House Draconis and House Minotos pinned inside their ancestral keeps and the Orks closing on the territories of House Pegasson, a lone Imperial vessel braved the guns of the Ork armada to deposit a small relief force of Imperial Knights on Adrastapol, a band of Freeblades calling themselves "the Exiles." Their leader was none other than Luk Kar Chimaeros, the famed Knight of Ashes. Making planetfall on the edge of the Pegassine lands, the Exiles were able to establish a short-lived communication with besieged High King Danial who tasked them to gather what forces they could and hurry to the relief of House Minotos. Together they might stand a chance of breaking the siege of the Draconspire which had entered its third day. The communication was abruptly cut short on the high king's end, leaving the Exiles to fear for the worst. As they would later determine, Gogrok Killfist's personal Gargant had unleashed some kind of weapon upon the Draconspire which caused all electric devices to stop functioning, leaving the defenders to fight the Orks with blades, autoguns and antique crossbows. Filled with a great sense of urgency, the Exiles first rallied the Eyrie -- the principal fortress of House Pegasson -- where their small band was strengthened by several lances of Pegassine Knights. Thanks to the impressive numbers of the Pegassine air force the small army was transported by macro-lander to the plains of Minosaal where the forces of House Pegasson and House Minotos crushed the smaller Ork horde besieging the Labyrinth, the mighty fortress of House Minotos. Joined by the surviving Knights of House Minotos, the army quickly pressed north to break the siege of the Draconspire which was entering its last desperate stage, as the survivors of House Draconis had been pressed back to a handful of key locations. As High King Danial Tan Draconis duelled Warlord Killfist in the ruins of his throne room, the relief force launched their attack on the unsuspecting Orks, the din of their battle-horns momentarily outmatching the clamor of combat. Facing a fresh army and destabilized by the news of their warlord's demise, the Ork resistance began to crumble. Seeking to rout the enemy, High King Danial -- still bleeding from the wounds suffered in the battle with Killfist -- led a mounted sortie of House Draconis Knights from the Draconspire, for in the shadow of Killfist's towering Gargant the Orks were beginning to rally. Worse, the Gargant's energy-stealing weapon was being readied to fire again. With pinpoint accuracy, the Marchioness Lauret Tan Pegasson coordinated her house's firepower on the Gargant's weapon arm, annihilating it. With their mightiest weapon destroyed, the Orks finally fled the battlefield, pursued by the vengeful Knights of the gathered Knight houses of Adrastapol. Though the fighting would continue for many solar months to come, the Orks' hold on Adrastapol had been broken.