House Morbidia - House History: House Morbidia originated on Mars, in the distant past when Humanity entered the Age of Strife. In its early years it established itself as one of the early rivals of such famed Knight houses as House Zavora or even the Knights of House Taranis in power and the favour of the Omnissiah's priesthood.At first the house seems to have prospered, growing strong, as did its rivals. However, some time during these dark centuries, House Morbidia erred and committed crimes the truth of which have long been suppressed within the vast and ancient datacores of Mars. The ruling fabricator-general of the Mechanicum condemned their actions and pronounced them Excommunicate Traitoris. Thus began a series of bloody and bitter battles led by Houses Taranis and Zavora, who among others would eventually bring the defiant Scions of House Morbidia to their knees in surrender, their power broken and their house in ruins.As the price for their survival, the house was forced to accede to the crippling demands of servitude imposed by its new overlords, not least of all total submission to the office of the fabricator-general "...until such times as the stars themselves burned cold..."Since then, what remained of House Morbidia has formed a cadre of what could be described as slave-warriors, its Scions condemned to live and die at the will of the fabricator-general of Mars for the dim and forgotten sins of their forebears many generations before.Though such shame would be the death of many a house, the Scions of Morbidia revelled in their new role, gaining infamy for their merciless nature and unrepentant lust for slaughter.Effectively House Morbidia ceased to exist as an Imperial Knight house, but being personally bound to the fabricator-general it was nevertheless equipped with Knight armours of the highest standard, having found a new purpose in the service of their master: the punishment of those who would stray too far from the doctrines of Mars. Morbidia was in fact lavished with attention by their master in a manner akin to the way one might treat a favoured pet.On these occasions, the "Pact of Morbidia" always fought alongside the dreaded Legio Mortis, both forces instilled with the will of the fabricator-general to punish those who had erred, but was never permitted to become powerful again. On rare occasions, the ranks of the Pact were swelled by individual Scions of other oath-bound Knight houses condemned by the Consistorial Courts of Mars to serve as part of the Pact for infractions of dogma and tech-heresy.However these sentences were seldom as severe as the one pronounced in eons past on House Morbidia, most such Knights being sentenced to serve only until their death or for a certain amount of standard years.As the Horus Heresy dawned and the ominous fabricator-general of Mars, Kelbor-Hal, sided with the Traitors, so too did the Pact of Morbidia under his direct control.The Legio Mortis offered House Morbidia their freedom if they would swear an oath to serve the cause of Horus. Embittered by their centuries of enslavement, the Knight house was swift to accept.Most of its number was scattered amongst the Traitors' expeditionary fleets across the galaxy, assigned to Legio Mortis and Legio Magna detachments or dispatched to reinforce independent Dark Mechanicum battlegroups such as the Taghmata Satarael, where they fell upon the servants of the Emperor with gleeful savagery.In this, they gained a measure of independence denied to them for millennia, for many amongst their number were finally freed from the gaze of Mars. Though their servitude remained unbroken, the horrors of war offered brief moments of freedom for the Knights of House Morbidia, allowing them to indulge in their darkest habits. In this manner did the corruption of Chaos take root within their house, slowly moulding them into little more than savage creatures.