Imperial Knights - Notable Knight Worlds: Stryken System - Situated far in the galactic northwest, the Stryken System's principal planet is the smoke-wreathed Forge World of Stryken Primus. The system's industrial heart is protected by a ring of three Knight Worlds in close proximity -- Stryken II, IV and V -- and each is home to several knightly houses. These verdant planets were once Maiden Worlds of the Aeldari. The ancient tribes of Exodites that dwelt there, herding the many different species of giant reptiles and bipedal carnivores, were ruthlessly driven from these worlds by the knightly houses that were established shortly after Mankind's arrival. With the combined might of no less than eleven knightly houses to call upon, including such luminaries as Houses Arokon and Dorath, the Forge World of Stryken Primus has no Titan Legion stationed upon its surface. The planet instead focuses on supplying munitions in enormous quantities for the Imperial forces defending the Cadian Gate. A standing guard of Knights -- the "Order of Iron" -- is always present on the surface of the Forge World to ensure its protection. Drawn from amongst the greatest and most capable Nobles from each house, competition to be accepted into the Order of Iron is fierce, and it is considered a great honour to join their ranks. The head of the order is given the honorific title of "forge warden," and leads the Knights in battle as if they were a ruler of their own knightly house.Alaric Prime - Located in the Sanctus Reach on the edges of the Segmentum Obscurus lies Alaric Prime, an ancient and hidebound world of toiling peasants and haughty Nobles. It is covered mostly in sulphurous seas, viscous chemical tides and currents devoid of all but the hardiest of lifeforms. Dotted across the burning acidic oceans, the planet is made up of islands strung together in hemisphere-spanning chains or standing alone thousands of kilometres from the nearest foreign shore. Unlike many Knight Worlds, Alaric Prime boasts numerous knightly houses, each masters of a different region of the planet. Technology is limited on Alaric Prime as the result of ancient law, and most souls live simple lives of hard labour, scratching at the ground with tools of wood and iron. At the centre of the biggest landmass is Sacred Mountain, a blessed peak that rises from the heart of Alaric Prime's largest island. Beneath the mountain there is rumoured to be a vault of archeotech and lost lore, over which the notable Freeblade known as Gerantius the Forgotten Knight stands guard. Ancient and mysterious, Gerantius has defended the vault, and the world of Alaric Prime, since time immemorial. Whenever the planet is threatened the Forgotten Knight will rise form his tomb, and march upon the enemies of Alaric.Avarris - Just beyond the far eastern reaches of the Ultima Segmentum lies the war-torn Vidar Sector. The barren Knight World of Avarris can be found within this system, founded unwittingly by its first Human settlers on a planet once belonging to the Necron Sautekh Dynasty. Thus, it was a great surprise to the knightly houses established on Avarris when, in 975.M41, legions of reawakened xenos machines emerged from their stasis tomb complexes far beneath the planet's surface to assail them without warning. Fortunately, the Gauss Weaponry of the Necrons, normally so mercilessly efficient at eliminating armoured targets, was somewhat confounded by the Ion Shields of the Knight suits. With no less than three knightly houses present on Avarris, Imperial forces were able to respond to the sudden Necron attack with immediate and brutal effect. War still rages on Avarris, but the Imperial Knights have already made several successful forays into the vast underground tomb fortresses of the Necrons. Indeed, the rulers of the three knightly houses are confident that the xenos threat on Avarris will soon be overcome, and they will be able to lend their aid to the other Imperial forces fighting throughout the sector as part of the defence against the undying machine warriors.Chrysis - House Krast hails from the Knight World of Chrysis, and was the first of its kind to be rediscovered at the outset of the Great Crusade. The proximity of Chrysis to the Sol System saw it quickly fall under the jurisdiction of Mars. However, Krast was the only knightly house on Chrysis to survive the calamitous events of the Horus Heresy, forcing its ruler to rely heavily on the Forge World’s support to recover his losses. Thankfully, Mars was happy to oblige, for it was desperate for resources and Chrysis still had them in abundance.Dragon's End - The volcanic Knight World of Dragon's End is named for the reptilian winged drakes that, millennia ago, soared on the thermals and preyed on the vast megasaur herds that grazed in the valleys before they were hunted to extinction. It was the arrival of the planet's first Human settlers, and the foundation of House Griffith soon thereafter, that saw irrevocable changes made to the planet's primordial ecosystem. The colonists brought with them a huge number of Terran horses, and the Nobles that would eventually go on to found House Griffith became adept riders. But as their colony expanded, the Humans sought to claim dominance over the megasaur herds, leading to inevitable confrontation with the dragons that fed upon the giant creatures. Before the first Knight suits were completed, the Nobles took to fighting the dragons on horseback, clad in baroque armour crafted from locally-mined obsidian. Against such terrible creatures, the Nobles were forced to become great warriors in order to overcome them. The mightiest of their number was Nathaniel, who slew three dragons with his dragonbone lance before eventually becoming House Griffith's inaugural ruler. Even though the Knight suits enabled the Nobles to finally overcome the dragons, they never forgot the skills they had mastered. To this day, Griffith's Knights are amongst the very deadliest in battle.Dutonis - The Knight World of Dutonis is an acrid, volcanic world that sits in the galactic northeast of the Segmentum Obscurus. Ever tinged with the bitter taste of sulphur on the wind, it is a world of great material value to the Imperium, for it is ripe with mineral ore and rich veins of adamantium fork throughout the planet's mountainous crust. Despite being bitter rivals, two knightly houses –- Navaros and Borgius –- have long protected Dutonis from those who would seek to claim this priceless metal for themselves. In this task, they have fought against both alien and Traitor alike, for it would be unthinkable should such quantities of this invaluable ore fall into the wrong hands.Kolossi - The Fortress World of Kolossi is the homeworld of the Adeptus Mechanicus-aligned House Raven. This world is ruled by the Iron Duke of Kolossi, Lord Grevan Raven, fourth of his name, where he sits upon the Adamantium Throne of the Keep Inviolate, greatest of the knightly fortresses and capital city of House Raven's homeworld. Thousands of standard years ago Kolossi was a virgin world of verdant plains and forested mountains. However, the early Human settlers built legions of Knights, their industries strip-mining the Koliss continents for materials. In time, the society of Kolossi stratified and House Raven rose to prominence among the settlers. By the time House Raven made its enduring alliance with the Forge World of Metalica, Kolossi had been reduced to open pits, towering slag heaps and smog-wreathed manufactoria lit only by guttering promethium flares from soot-stained chimneys. This degradation of Kolossi has only worsened through the millennia. In addition to House Raven's own mineral needs, Metalica has added their own demands upon Kolossi. Only a handful of cities remain on the planet, islands of steel and smoke amid the deep-core shafts and strip-mine canyons.Krastellan - Located in the northern reaches of the Ultima Segmentum close to the Blood Angels Chapter's homeworld of Baal lies the Knight World of Krastellan. An eerie, haunted place, its desolate moors and black hills stretch in all directions under skies heavy with freezing rain. The Krastellian villages huddle from their perpetual miserable weather in windswept valleys and broken shorelines and their people eek out a life from herding docile heath-cattle or fishing the edges of the foaming, storm-tossed sea. On craggy, rain-slick rocks ancient stone keeps are home to the Nobles of Krastellan, where their households and families live in drafty, dripping rooms by the sputtering light of open fires. While other Knight Worlds embrace a degree of advanced technology, the Nobles of Krastellan see anything more than is required for the continued operation of their Knights as an extravagance and the first step on the road to weakness. This bleak and harsh world is home to House Hawkshroud, a proud and noble Knight House that has cultivated an impeccable reputation for honouring its debts and keeping its word regardless of the personal cost.Molech - The former Knight World of Molech was home to the traitorous House Devine. When the golden age of the Great Crusade was cut short by the supreme act of betrayal known as the Horus Heresy, across the nascent Imperium, Loyalist clashed with Traitor forces. In those dark days, nobody was to be trusted and treachery became all too commonplace. Dispossessed and unable to fight back, the knightly house slowly succumbed to the temptations of Chaos. Over the following solar months, the insidious whisper of Slaanesh -- Dark Prince of Chaos and god of indulgence and excess -- spread through their depleted ranks. Their officers became lethargic, interested only in their sports, using their mighty Knight suits to hunt the towering reptilian beasts that stalked Molech's lush jungles. The seductive grip of Slaanesh grew stronger, as the Prince of Pleasure bent the force of its will to corrupting the Noble Devines. Soon, they met in secret cabals, performing depraved rites and ceremonies within the heart of the Loyalist camp. No act was too shameful or disgusting; the sensations of the moment became their only desire. When Horus launched a massive offensive that climaxed in the Battle of Molech, the Knights of House Devine committed an act of brazen treachery and turned on the troops who remained loyal to the Emperor. The Imperial forces found themselves caught in a trap, with advancing enemy Titans to the front and Chaos Knights attacking their ranks from behind. This treachery allowed the Chaos host to punch through the Imperial defences, leaving them with no line of retreat. They were totally defeated, so brutally that only one in a hundred of the Imperial army survived the campaign.Raisa - Far to the galactic south lies the heavily forested Knight World of Raisa. The native flora of this lush world grows with such virility that only the vast plateaus that pierce the evergreen canopy are free from their touch. From atop the largest of these highland plains rises the towering stronghold of House Cadmus, Golem Keep. This monolithic edifice was named after the mighty native fauna known as "elementals" that once haunted the planet's wildernesses, before they were hunted to extinction by the first Imperial Knights to settle on Raisa many thousands of Terran years ago. Now, the only sentient creatures to stalk the murky, overgrown trails beneath the forest boughs are an unstable strain of barbaric Abhumans. Though the Knights of House Cadmus could effortlessly slaughter the wild tribes descended from their ancient forebears, they choose not to. But it is by no means a misguided sense of loyalty to these pitiable creatures that stays their hand; it is in fact tradition. Instead, the Knights take part in an annual event known as "the Cull" to keep the mutants' numbers in check and provide an opportunity to hone their hunting skills.Rapture - The paradisiacal Knight World of Rapture was once the shining jewel of the Reductus Sector -- but the terrible aftermath of an attack by a tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan left the planet a near-lifeless husk. Rapture is now a Dead World, uninhabitable by Human life anywhere outside of the last surviving hab-dome. Though the fateful Tyranid assault on Rapture was ultimately defeated, the cost to the Imperium was dear. The stalwart survivors of House Aramos, however, refuse to abandon their ruined world, unwilling to sully the memory of their ancestors, who first settled Rapture some fifteen standard millennia ago. From their stronghold of Auric Keep, the Knights of Aramos launch daily sorties beyond the walls of the hab-dome to hunt the persistent Tyranid broods that were able to endure the Imperium's vengeful purge in the wake of the Leviathan's defeat.Voltoris - Out in the Eastern Fringe lies the tranquil world of Voltoris, home to the mighty Knights of House Terryn. Vast green oceans surround tropical islands the size of continents. Bat-winged monstrosities hunt beneath the jungle eaves, and the giant amphibious predators that are similarly commonplace offer the Knights ample opportunity to perfect their hunting skills. But despite the planet's solitary location having spared this idyllic paradise from many of the terrible events that have beset the Imperium over the millennia, the Knights that dwell there are nonetheless amongst the most warlike of their kind. These Knights commonly travel across the galaxy to defend the Imperium in far-flung campaigns, in a bid to find foes worthy of their skills. In more recent centuries, however, the Knights of House Terryn have been forced to fight ever closer to home. The dual threats posed by Hive Fleet Leviathan and the rapidly expanding T'au Empire ensure that Terryn's Knights remain on a constant war footing, lest Voltoris itself be threatened. Unfortunately for their enemies, these warriors relish any excuse for battle.