House Hawkshroud - Unblemished Honour: The Nobles of Krastellan take this oath-giving to even greater extremes, and before a child is born he will be honour-bound to fulfil the debts of his family. This only intensifies as he grows older and undertakes the Ritual of Becoming. A Noble of House Hawkshroud has little say over where he will go and whom he will aid, his destiny given over to the needs of the house. It is the great irony of Krastellan that the more power a man has the less freedom he enjoys. It is said that over a hundred Terran years before Viscount Tudon was born his life had been mapped out for him, every alliance to be honoured, every war to be fought and every world he would ever set foot upon. Marriage among the Nobles is equally restrictive, the different subservient houses of Hawkshroud compelled to offer up children to each other's future generations, leading to a complex network of familial connections.To record these oaths and debts of honour it is the duty of the Viscount to oversee the Oath Council, a group of Nobles who keep a tally of the house's pacts and promises. Only the Viscount may put an oath to the council and only he may declare one removed. It is of course a never-ending task, as for every pact completed dozens more are added. Little wonder then that Nobles do not complain when they must crusade into the stars to fight the foes of the Imperium -- far better in their minds to be tearing apart enemy war machines with their Reaper Chainswords or pulverising massed formations of infantry with Battle Cannon rounds, than have to oversee the union of their offspring or quibble with other households over ancient promises that have no bearing on their lives.Krastellian society survives and thrives upon its rigid system of oath and honour, though for a young Noble it can be a long and treacherous path to rise to greatness with his honour intact. A wise Noble does not enter into oaths lightly, as to break his word or go back upon a debt is a greater sin than murder among the Krastellian nobility. However, the only true way for a Noble to prove his worth is by taking vows and upholding his honour and the honour of his house, his reputation becoming the currency he uses to advance in standing. Thus to be the greatest of the Hawkshroud Knights a man must be both willing to take up arms against the deadliest of foes or most vile aliens, but equally wise enough to know when giving his word upon an impossible task is the same as breaking it.Nowhere is this more pronounced than when it comes to admittance into the ranks of the Knights of House Hawkshroud. As the oldest and most powerful house on Krastellan, it is a singular honour to serve in the Viscount's detachments. Once a Noble is accepted into the Viscount's service he is permitted to bear the Viscount's winged coat of arms upon his Knight and take the oaths of binding.These oaths give his Knight and house special privileges and rights among his peers, for as long as he serves. Thus to reach the greatest rank within House Hawkshroud a Noble must live a life of sacrifice and honour above even that of his peers. At the turning of each solar year on Krastellan it falls to the Oath Council to judge the worth of each Noble, weighing up their deeds from the past year and the tally of victories against defeats. Family, breeding and wealth are all secondary to the Noble's deeds and reputation, the vows he has honoured and the oaths he has fulfilled either lifting up or casting him down in the critical eyes of the council.