vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
House Minotos - Trivia: House Minotos' tradition of charging the enemy while blasting Imperial arias from their Vox-speakers is a thinly veiled reference to an iconic scene of Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 film Apocalypse Now. It depicted a helicopter assault during the Vietnam War by the 1st US Cavalry Division to the sound of Richard Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.
House Miranor - House Miranor: House MiranorImperial KnightImperiumFreebladeHour of ReckoningNobleThis Knight bore the Icon Incognitus, the stylised "X" that represents anonymity, upon his faceplate to show his hatred for House Miranor. Rumours say that rivals within his own house had killed the Noble's family. Choosing the path of the Freeblade, he cast off the distinctive golden faceplate of Miranor and replaced it with a sable Icon Incognitus.
House Miranor - Notable Campaigns: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Miranor - Notable Knights: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Miranor - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Miranor - House Colours: The colours of House Miranor are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Miranor - House Arms: The arms of House Miranor are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Morbidia - House Morbidia: House Morbidia, also known as the Pact of Morbidia, was originally a house of Imperial Knights of the Questor Mechanicus in service to the Mechanicum of old and later a Chaos Knight house. House Morbidia was of ancient provenance and founded at the very beginning of the Age of Strife on holy Mars itself.House Morbidia started its existence as one of the very first Knight houses in service of the Omnissiah's priesthood and was one of the early rivals of the legendary House Taranis and House Zavora. Yet where these houses were to rise high in the esteem of the Priesthood of Mars, House Morbidia would fall in disgrace; sparking an internecine war that would see it defeated and shackled to the will of the fabricator-general of the ancient Mechanicum.As an independent Imperial Knight house, House Morbidia ceased to exist. In its place, as punishment for its crime, the "Pact of Morbidia" was initiated. The house would serve as a penal detachment forced to act as the fabricator-general's personal enforcers for many Terran centuries before turning to the service of the Warmaster Horus and his Traitor Legions during the Horus Heresy.Whether the Pact of Morbidia survived the galactic civil war is unknown.
House Morbidia - Notable Campaigns: Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Morbidia took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Morbidia provided Knight support to the Legio Mortis. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster, the battle lines had long since been drawn, and fighting had been going on for many Terran years. It was a cauldron of battle that would consume millions of lives before its end and see the demise of entire Titan Legions, earning this campaign the dire moniker of the "Titandeath." The Beta-Garmon Cluster, also known as the gateway to the throneworld of Terra, was the last hurdle that the Warmaster Horus' forces had to overcome before they reached the Imperium's capital world. Heavily fortified by the Loyalists, Beta-Garmon would become one of the greatest and bloodiest battles of the Horus Heresy, as well as one of the longest-lasting.Defence of Ryza (012.M31) - During the Horus Heresy, a great battle took place on the Legio Crucius' home Forge World known as the Defence of Ryza. Forces of the Dark Mechanicum, led by the Traitor Titan Legions and their Chaos Knight allies (including House Morbidia) fought against the Loyalist servants of the Omnissiah. Countless Titans and Knights fell on both sides. Despite achieving several notable victories against the Loyalists, including the destruction of the bastion of the Legio Crucius, the Traitor forces soon faced a new threat. The Hierophant of Ryza ordered the opening of the forge world's war vaults, giving her allies full access to the deadly, and once-forbidden, knowledge held within. When the defenders of Ryza marched out once more, they did so with weapons capable of sundering even a Titan with terrifying ease. Alongside them came a whole new force -- House Sidus, a Knight House previously unknown to the Imperium, consisting nearly exclusively of Mechanicum Knights and kept hidden away beneath Endeavour until such time as they were needed. So assembled the Loyalists went on the offensive, hoping to throw back the Traitors before they too could regroup. It was at Conveyance Terminus Nine-Omega that the two forces were to meet in great numbers, the spaceport hosting the last battle of the invasion as it had the first. The Scions of House Sidus acquitted themselves well, besting the Knights of House Morbidia atop Mount Causcaut and claiming two engine kills during the Loyalist assault upon Conveyance Terminus Nine-Omega. Eventually, the Loyalists were able to drive back the Traitors, only to be bombarded by a Chaos Warfleet from orbit. There was little to celebrate, as the guardians of Ryza tasted pyrrhic victory, and the world never recovered the prominence it had known as a true rival to Mars before the Heresy.
House Morbidia - Notable Knights: Ire of Mars (Cerastus Knight-Atrapos) - Owing to grievances wrought against the fabricator-general during the Age of Strife, grievances since stricken from the records of the Mechanicum, House Morbidia were devoid of free will, making war at the whim of Mars during the Great Crusade. The considerable firepower offered by the weapons of a Knight Atrapos such as Ire of Mars proved ideal for penal duties against elements of the ancient Mechanicum that defied Mars. The combat experience House Morbidia gained as the personal enforcers of the fabricator-general proved immensely useful during the Horus Heresy, for they were one of the few households that had previously tested their mettle against members of both the Titan Legions and Questoris Familia before the Warmaster Horus' betrayal.Rage Manifested (Questoris Knight Magaera) - House Morbidia Knights Magaera such as Rage Manifested were frequently used in urban pacification operations. Armed with devastating Lightning Cannons and Hekaton Siege Claws, banners of Knight Magaera would advance behind a screen of Cerastus Knight-Lancers. Upon reaching a fortified area of resistance, the Knights would tear gaping wounds in target structures with their siege claws before obliterating the now exposed defenders with focused beams of electrostatic energy. A favoured tactica of House Morbidia task forces that included Knights Magaera was the careful herding of retreating defenders to a handful of holdfasts, upon which the household would fall in great numbers, slaughtering any survivors in a single, decisive blow.
House Morbidia - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Morbidia - House Strength: The exact strength of House Morbidia remained a closely-kept secret by the fabricator-general of Mars, with estimates placing the household's strength between 170-290 operational Knight armours, rendering the Pact of Morbidia as a Secundus-grade Knight house. Despite this relatively small number, at least compared to other Knight houses drawn from the Red Planet, House Morbidia displayed a considerable number of esoteric Knight armours amongst its ranks.Banners of Questoris Knights Magaera, Styrix and Atrapos daubed in the colours of House Morbidia were a relatively common sight serving alongside the Titans of the house's allied Legio Mortis. More standard Knight armours in service to House Morbidia benefitted as well, regularly being upgraded with the latest innovations to leave the foundries of Mars and, much later, the so-called "blessings" of the Dark Mechanicum.
House Morbidia - House Colours: The colours of House Morbidia are red and gold.
House Morbidia - House Arms: The arms of House Morbidia is a red skeletal hand wrapped in a manacle and a circle of chains pointing downwards on a black background.
House Morbidia - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), pg. 95Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Traitor Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 34-37The Horus Heresy - Book Four: Conquest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 99White Dwarf 30 (February 2019), "Vassal Knight Houses," pg. 130
House Mordred - House Mordred: House Mordred, also called the "Tiger's Claws" in reference to a specific fraternal detachment to its allied Titan Legion, is a Renegade Knight house formerly of the Questor Mechanicus that repudiated its oath of loyalty to the Mechanicum and the Imperium of Man during the Horus Heresy.The Knights of House Mordred were fiercely loyal to the Forge World of Incaladion and the sinister Legio Fureans that served it.  When Incaladion was corrupted by the Dark Mechanicum, House Mordred stuck by the Forge World's rulers and sided with the Warmaster Horus during his rebellion.
House Mordred - House History: Drawn from the same world as the Legio Fureans, House Mordred was founded during the Age of Strife. Loyal to the Forge World's rulers, the house found itself embroiled in the near-constant cycle of battle that wracked Incaladion until it was liberated by the Great Crusade.This millennia of warfare saw the two entities forge an eternal bond of brotherhood that called both into service at the forefront of the Great Crusade. This brotherhood was reaffirmed each time House Mordred and the Tiger Eyes shared the field of battle through ceremonies often deemed crude and primitive to outside observers.In exceptional cases a princeps would accept a banner of Knights as sworn vassals, the Knights swearing oaths in ritualistic trials of blood that superseded any oath they had previously spoken. This seemingly unshakable bond ensured that when the Tiger Eyes declared for the Warmaster Horus in his rebellion against the Emperor, House Mordred followed in their wake.The uncompromising reputation House Mordred held proved indispensable in the opening years of the Horus Heresy, for their Nobles showed no hesitation in turning upon those they once fought alongside.Much of House Mordred's strength remained at the side of the Legio Fureans, their numbers making notable contributions to both the invasion of Paramar V and the subsequent conflict in the Beta-Garmon Cluster.The remaining strength was pledged to the Warmaster as tribute, serving under his will above all others and bringing wanton slaughter to dozens of worlds in his name.
House Mordred - House Combat Doctrine: The warfare practiced by House Mordred was methodical and brutal, for they marched in the shadow of Titans to eradicate anything that dared survive the power of the god-engines. For House Mordred, mercy was an unfathomable concept and none was offered to those within conquered cities, for they cared little for the distinction between the innocent and the guilty.When the house was engaged in theatres of war separate from the Legio Fureans, such behaviour often placed them at odds with commanders more appreciative towards the value of life and many were the requests that House Mordred's savage excesses be reined in.
House Mordred - House Beliefs: Many within House Mordred were ardent believers in the rituals of their homeworld and would often refuse to send their banners into battle without observing the lengthy rites of devotion to House Mordred's feral representation of the Omnissiah.These beliefs could not be called into question and none, friend or foe, were spared these Knights' wrath should they show disrespect to the practices of the household.
House Mordred - Notable Knights: Glatisant (Knight Warden) - This Knight Warden depicted above was piloted by Seneschal Agvain during numerous cattles across the Five Hundred Worlds of Ultramar.Proditor Anathema (Cerastus Knight-Castigator) - In the sectors surrounding Paramar V, the name of Proditor Anathema still stands in infamy for the repeated planetary raids it conducted during the Paramar Successions. Of particular note was the extreme manner in which the Knight's Scion responded to any hint of Loyalist support amongst the civilian population. Proditor Anathema would frequently lead raids upon population centres rumoured to harbour resistance cells, or annihilate relief convoys intended for war-torn areas. Such attacks would only abate when new, public oaths of loyalty to the Warmaster Horus were proclaimed by every citizen within an area; pict evidence of these oaths was retained to be used at mock trials should the loyalty of the planet's population ever be brought into question again.
House Mordred - Notable Personnel: Seneschal Agvain - This Scion piloted the notable Knight Warden Glatisant, and willingly followed his household into damnation when they sided with the Warmaster during the Horus Heresy. Agvain was a seasoned veteran by this time, of three solar decades of war, and Glatisant participated in numerous battles across Ultramar. An ardent believer in barbaric rites of his home world, Agavain often refused to send his banner into battle without first performing their lengthy rites of devotion to the Machine God. His extreme devotion saw Agvain rise quickly within the ranks and he was granted the rank of Seneschal when House Mordred descended upon Espandor.
House Mordred - Traitor Titan Legios: Legio FureansLegio Suturvora
House Mordred - House Strength: In strength and deposition of arms, House Mordred was unremarkable, with its number estimated to stand at 170-190 Knight armours at the onset of the Horus Heresy, marking it as a Secundus-grade house. The household's close association with the Forge World of Incaladion ensured it was readily supplied with new armours. Detachments of House Mordred were outfitted to complement the tactics of the Legio Fureans, with two-thirds of the household's strength consisting of Questoris Knight armours that protected the vulnerable flanks and rear of the Tiger Eyes' Warlord Titans.The Horus Heresy forced a change in the makeup of the Legio Fureans, the attrition of war combined with the need for rapid resupply leading the Titan Legion to incorporate increasing numbers of Reaver Titans within their demi-legios. Alongside this, House Mordred underwent changes, deploying an increasing number of Cerastus Knight armours to support the faster elements of the Titan Legion.
House Mordred - House Colours: The colours of House Mordred are black and red with gold trim.
House Mordred - House Arms: The arms of House Mordred is a stylised white serpent wrapped around a great sword pointing downwards.
House Mordred - Trivia: Fittingly, House Mordred was named after Sir Mordred from the Matter of Britain, the legendary tales of King Arthur and his Round Table. Mordred was the traitorous knight and son of Arthur who rebelled against the king's authority and helped to bring about the end of the reign of Camelot.
House Mordred - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Traitor Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 94-97Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), pg. 95Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Shadow and Iron (Specialty Game), pp. 9, 56-57White Dwarf (August 2018), "Parade Ground - The God-Machines March", pg. 106Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titanicus Part 5: Miniatures Showcase
House Moritain - House Moritain: House Moritain is a Loyalist Imperial Knight house of the Questor Mechanicus that was most active during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.
House Moritain - Origins: Perhaps the most quixotic view of the honoured House of Moritain hails from the extensive records extracted from the now-defunct Remembrancer Order, which invested significant efforts towards the study and description of the household's traditions and mien. Such views, though far from impartial, do much to highlight the Scions' reputation as warriors and scholars of equal repute. Adhered to the dictum that a learned soul is the bedrock of civilisation, a Scion of House Moritain was required to prove themselves on the battlefields of philosophy and academia alongside those of warfare before ascending to the Throne Mechanicum.This devotion to scholarly pursuits ensured that House Moritain ruled over a world which had long known peace, its history carefully recorded in archives that stretched back for many millennia. Many a Remembrancer of the Great Crusade was quick to note the juxtaposition between the artistic and scholarly nature of House Moritain and the data-driven and cold logic of the Forge World of Graia and its people, who House Moritain were bound to following the rediscovery of the Knight World.Some spoke of the opposing demeanours as a merging of two aspects to complement one another, although other records attribute the bond more to the proximity of the world combined with the tenacious spirit that both the Knight house and Graia's Legio Astraman Titan Legion possessed.Within the Questoris Familia, the dual nature of House Moritain's Scions drew much disdain, most notably from those households infamous for their violent dispositions. Some Knight houses proved unkeen to share a battlefield with the Scions of House Moritain, believing its warriors' dalliances in philosophy and the scholarly arts to be a sign of weakness within the lineage of their bloodline. Little evidence exists to support such a view, for the record of conquest and victories held by the household are extensive, its warriors having served dutifully within the expeditionary fleets since the world of Ceamira was bound to the Imperium.It stands as public record that the central tenet of House Moritain, according to its own writ and word, stated that: "A death in service to the defenceless is greater than a life in service to oneself." Indeed, many are the posthumous honours earned by warriors of Moritain, both those awarded by the household and others who they served alongside, in recognition of the sacrifice made in their efforts to protect others.
House Moritain - Horus Heresy: The onset of the Horus Heresy did little to change the demeanour of the household, save that its warriors were filled with a fervour to preserve knowledge from the flames spreading across the galaxy. Much of House Moritain's strength was deployed across the Belt of Iron, its warriors taking to the battlefield in great numbers. In the face of such strife, House Moritain was to suffer greatly, for its warriors refused to leave innocent souls defenceless against even the most impossible of odds.In some ways, the idealistic manner and beliefs House Moritain displayed proved its greatest weakness in a time of treachery and bloodshed, with dozens of its warriors lost to a naive belief that all Traitors still possessed a measure of honour.By the end of the Horus Heresy, House Moritain was greatly diminished in number yet, to this day, its spirit still stands strong, viewing its losses in that dark time as worthwhile for the lives they bought.
House Moritain - Notable Campaigns: Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Moritain took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Moritain provided Knight support to the Legio Astraman. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster, the battle lines had long since been drawn, and fighting had been going on for many Terran years. It was a cauldron of battle that would consume millions of lives before its end and see the demise of entire Titan Legions, earning this campaign the dire moniker of the "Titandeath." The Beta-Garmon Cluster, also known as the gateway to the Throneworld of Terra, was the last hurdle that the Warmaster Horus' forces had to overcome before they reached the Imperium's capital world. Heavily fortified by the Loyalists, Beta-Garmon would become one of the greatest and bloodiest battles of the Horus Heresy, as well as one of the longest-lasting.Cataclysm of Iron (010.M31) - The Scions of House Moritain participated in the conflict remembered as the Cataclysm of Iron. Across border sectors of the Segmentum Tempestus and the Segmentum Pacificus are located numerous lesser Forge Worlds known collectively as the "Belt of Iron". Since the sundering of the Imperium in the Horus Heresy, many declared for the Traitor cause at the engineering of the traitorous fabricator-general of Mars, Kelbor-Hal, while others remained loyal to Terra or sought to remain as aloof as possible from the conflict. Strife and tentative conflict between these once-aligned worlds erupted into full-scale war in 010.M31, pitching the Mars-aligned Forge Worlds of Incunabula, Urdesh, Valia-Maximal and Kalibrax against the forces of the Loyalist worlds of Graia, Arl'yeth and Atar-Median, while Arachnis and Jerulas Station both fell into civil war. The resulting conflict, which later became known as the "Cataclysm of Iron", saw the forge lords, their armies and allied Titan Legions and Knight houses turn on each other in protracted warfare, with scores of Human-inhabited worlds in the region suffering as they became the battlegrounds upon which they fought.
House Moritain - Honoured Titles of Moritain: As befitting a brotherhood that placed such emphasis on knowledge and honour, the warriors of House Moritain were known to bear many titles alongside their given name, in a manner not dissimilar in nature to the Emperor's own noble Legio Custodes, with each notable deed performed by a Scion of House Moritain being carefully recorded and catalogued by the household's Sacristans.Documentarist Kyran Padorian of the Remembrancer Order, when given leave to study the annals of House Moritain, noted that many of the titles borne by its warriors held poetic symbology, stating that the most lauded of warriors amongst the house carried enough titles that, when spoken in order, wove a storied tale personal to each individual.During the Great Crusade, the most notable example of such a claim lies with the patriarch of House Moritain himself, who bore no less than 74 titles, including such monikers as: "He whose claws rend all to ash," "The immortal strider of misremembered paths," and "He that conquers gods both conjured and imagined."
House Moritain - Notable Knights: Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled (Acastus Knight Porphyrion) - At the onset of the Horus Heresy, Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled, depicted above during the conflict, was piloted by Scion Sylvarnyus Moritain. This Acastus Knight Prophyrion saw frequent combat during the Horus Heresy while fighting across the Belt of Iron.Dream of Crimson Fields (Questoris Pattern Knight) - The Scions of House Moritain are well-known for their flair in battle and the warrior souls of their commanders. In tiny flowing script, the war banner of Dream of Crimson Fields, depicted above, tells the tale of one of the first Knights of the noble house, who fought a battle alone on the forlorn world of Avardia during the first years of the Great Crusade. So the story goes, the Knight and its valiant pilot turned the green fields of the world red over days of combat, eventually falling to its knees, to lie dead amongst its foes.
House Moritain - Notable Personnel: Scion Sylvarnyus Moritain - Sylvarnyus Moritain piloted the Acastus Knight Porphyrion Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. At the outset of the latter conflict, Sylvarnyus was renowned amongst her household as a composer of six lauded symphonies and 13 villanelles. She remained an oddity within House Moritain for rarely taking a new name. During six solar decades of service in the Great Crusade she acquired only three new names, despite recording dozens of honours significant enough to be awarded a new title. Records indicate this stemmed from Sylvarnyus' belief that each new name should bear the weight of its deeds so future generations could see the depravity of war. Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled saw frequent combat during the Horus Heresy while fighting across the Belt of Iron and, by the time the Warmaster Horus fell at the Siege of Terra, Sylvarnyus bore 17 new names, each a more painful reminder than the last.
House Moritain - Allied Titan Legios: Legio Astraman (House Moritain was bound in service to the Forge World of Graia and its Legio Astraman in return for technological aid and replenishment.)Legio Ignatum
House Moritain - House Strength: The status of House Moritain as a Tertius-grade household stems not from the household's inability to support a substantial number of Knight armours but rather the stringent requirements placed upon prospective Scions. Few are the number of individuals who can bond successfully to a Throne Mechanicum, and fewer still are those with the scholarly talents expected of the Scions of House Moritain.During the Age of Strife, the slow depreciation of the household's numbers saw a mass campaign of education overtake the world, resulting in the relaxation of rules dictating which bloodlines could serve within the ranks of the household.Numbers taken two solar decades before the Horus Heresy placed the strength of House Moritain at 125 Knight armours, of which three-fifths were of Cerastus Knight design, including several Knight Atrapos in service to the household's Seneschals.Evidence suggests that these numbers remained constant until the Warmaster Horus' betrayal, with the lengthy process of House Moritain's Scion recruitment preventing fast growth.
House Moritain - House Colours: The colours of House Moritain are halved-black and grey with bronze trim. Yellow also features prominently in their heraldry, iconography and the decorations on their Knights' pauldrons, greaves, livery shields and banners.
House Moritain - House Arms: The arms of House Moritain is a yellow stag rampant (depicted in profile standing erect with foreward legs raised and hind legs braced wide apart) centred upon a field of black.
House Moritain - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game) Appendix: Knights at Beta-Garmon, pg. 93Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Crucible of Retribution (Specialty Game), pp. 62-63Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Loyalist Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 94-97The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 138Warhammer Community - Crucible of Retribution: The Story (23 Oct 2021)Warhammer Community - Crucible of Retribution - Titan Tactics (22 Oct 2020)Warhammer Community - Coming Soon: Crucible of Retribution (29 Sept 2020)
House Mortan - House Mortan: House Mortan is an Imperial Knight house of the Questor Imperialis that is strongly aligned with the Imperium of Man. The antecedents of House Mortan settled the inhospitable Knight World of Kimdaria, the Black Planet, during the early stages of the Age of Strife.By the time the antecedents of House Mortan had arrived upon Kimdaria, the mysterious nebula known as the Black Pall that surrounded the planet had grown unexpectedly dense.Fell creatures, already accustomed to the world's dim light, roamed the ink-black landscapes, and it was only through the skill and dedication of the colonists' Knights that the beasts were driven back and the first settlements established.Kimdaria was only rediscovered in the late 35th Millennium by the Imperium. Due to the millennia of constant patrols to keep the Death World's forests clear of predatory behemoths, the Knights of House Mortan have come to place great value upon close combat. The House motto is, "In war, show no mercy."
House Mortan - House History: During the early stages of the Age of Strife, Kimdaria, the Black Planet, was not a place any sane human would have chosen to settle, as the world was located within a nebula known as the Black Pall that kept it perpetually darkened.Yet that was where the antecedents of House Mortan had been sent during the Stellar Exodus of Mankind from Terra. Against that world of darkness and fell creatures they strove, the power of their Knights alone holding back the tides of beasts that stalked that nightmare landscape, and they eventually colonised the planet.For millennia after the Great Crusade the Black Pall lingered over Kimdaria and its star system -- not until late M35 did the mysterious black nebula partially dissipate, letting in a few slanting rays of sunshine and also allowing the long-lost planet to be rediscovered by Mankind. What they found was a stern and ritualistically ordered world, a place where only towering walls held off the monster-haunted darkness.From out of heavy gates strode the Knights of House Mortan, for only constant patrols kept the twisted forests clear of hulking, predatory behemoths. In response to the thick cover and eternal twilight, the Knights of House Mortan placed a premium upon close combat -- a tendency that holds to this day.The grim, angst-ridden Nobles expect all battles will eventually come down to murderous work with their roaring Reaper Chainswords and pulsating Thunderstrike Gauntlets; indeed, this is just how the fierce and taciturn warriors want it.
House Mortan - Notable Campaigns: Defence of Hexis Alpha (Unknown Date.M41) - Along with the Knights of House Althalos and House Thalmus, House Mortan came to the aid of the Hive World of Hexis Alpha, when a sudden Warp rift spawned a tide of daemons across its surface. More than 100 billion lives were saved, due to their successful efforts in defending the Hive World from the daemons.Talledus War (Unknown Date.M42) - House Mortan Knights commanded by Sir Dirkwald accompanied the Gladius Strike Force of the Black Templars' Rutherian Crusade in the counterattack upon the Iron Warriors forces assaulting the Fortress World of Ghreddask in the Talledus System. The Knights aided Castellan Dramos in his successful suicidal assault on the Soul Harvester fortress-factory Scarax Krond. This action blunted the Iron Warriors' momentum in seizing control of that vital world.
House Mortan - Notable House Mortan Knights: Pride of Blackcrag - Knight Warden of Sir Gerrolt, current High King of House Mortan.Black Heart - Knight Errant of Sir Dirkwald.War Strider - Knight Gallant of Sir Ludwig.
House Mortan - Notable House Mortan Personnel: Sir Gerrolt - Sir Gerrolt is the current High King of House Mortan. In House Mortan, high-ranking Knights and their positions within the house are identified by the pattern of yellow bands upon their hull; the lone stripe upon Gerrolt's Knight proclaims him as the High King of Kimdaria. Despite the bold heraldry of his Knight Warden, Pride of Blackcrag and his lofty station, Sir Gerrolt is dour, even by the standards of his house. Perhaps part of the reason can be traced to the Throne Mechanicum Gerrolt bonded with centuries ago -- tragedy and loss haunt this ancient artefact the way fell beasts lurk within the dark forests of Kimdaria. The motto of House Mortan has long been "In war, show no mercy", a grim phrase for a grim warrior people, and whatever dark whispers might fill Sir Gerrolt's mind, such things are forgotten in the savage joys of battle. Whatever dark whispers might fill Sir Gerrolt's mind, they do not seem to hamper his ability to rule over Kimdaria's people and lead House Mortan's Knights in battle, nor diminish the vehemence with which he destroys the enemy. Blasting rockets into the distance, blazing away with his Avenger Gatling Cannon and smiting foes with his Thunderstrike Gauntlet, Gerrolt steers the Pride of Blackcrag into the thick of the fighting, slaughtering all that fall under its shadow.Sir Dirkwald - Sir Dirkwald recently completed his thousandth watch-patrol on Kimdaria, allowing the Noble to serve off-planet. Dirkwald is known to be ferocious yet dour in personality. As a result, Sir Dirkwald was among the House Mortan forces assigned to support the Rutherian Crusade of the Black Templars Chapter of Space Marines. A force of Knights under the command of Dirkwald fought with the Gladius Strike Force led by Castellan Dramos to blunt the assault of the Iron Warriors led by Warpsmith Etrogar upon the Fortress World of Ghreddask during the Talledus War.Sir Ludwig - Sir Ludwig is a long-serving war hero of House Mortan. His Knight Gallant, War Strider, bears a banded weapon, denoting a dozen Titan-class kills.
House Mortan - House Colours: The colours of House Mortan are black, red and yellow.
House Mortan - House Arms: Darksome like the house it represents, the House Mortan crest bears a stylised tusk-boar, one of the fierce creatures of Kimdaria, and a half-Aquila representing its allegiance to the Imperium as one of the Questor Imperialis.
House Mortan - Livery and Honour Markings: Mortan adopted red as the sign of its allegiance to the Imperium, and so carry this shade and the associated Aquila on its Knight suits' minor plates. Like many knightly houses, all members of this family have broadly similar personal heraldry. In House Mortan, the ranks of the Exalted Court are marked in yellow bands; the lone stripe upon Sir Gerrolt's Knight proclaims him as the High King. Alternating bands painted on a Knight's weapon, such as a Reaper Chainsword, denotes the number of Titan-class kills to their credit.
House Mortan - Sources: Codex: Imperial Knights (8th Edition), pp. 32-33Codex: Imperial Knights (7th Edition) (Digital Edition), pp. 46-47Codex: Imperial Knights (6th Edition) (Digital Edition), pg. 44Psychic Awakening - Faith & Fury (8th Edition), pp. 16-17
House Mortimer - House Mortimer: House MortimerImperial Knight HouseQuestor MechanicusAdeptus MechanicusKnight World
House Mortimer - Notable Campaigns: Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Mortimer took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Mortimer provided Knight support to the Legio Astorum. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster, the battle lines had long since been drawn, and fighting had been going on for many Terran years. It was a cauldron of battle that would consume millions of lives before its end and see the demise of entire Titan Legions, earning this campaign the dire moniker of the "Titandeath." The Beta-Garmon Cluster, also known as the gateway to the throneworld of Terra, was the last hurdle that the Warmaster Horus' forces had to overcome before they reached the Imperium's capital world. Heavily fortified by the Loyalists, Beta-Garmon would become one of the greatest and bloodiest battles of the Horus Heresy, as well as one of the longest-lasting.
House Mortimer - Notable Knights: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Mortimer - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Mortimer - House Colours: The colours of House Mortimer are yellow and purple.
House Mortimer - House Arms: The arms of House Mortimer are a purple Tyranid bioform on a field of yellow.
House Mykorphas - House Mykorphas: House MykorphasChaos KnightNurgleFallen NoblesKnights DespoilerMany of their more complex weapons have failed over time as a result of this corruption, so that now the house relies on verdigrised Rapid-Fire Battle Cannons and Avenger Gatling Cannons, and plague-riddled Stormspear Rocket Pods, wherever possible.
House Mykorphas - House Colours: The colours of House Mykorphas are not recorded in current Imperial records.
House Mykorphas - House Arms: The arms of House Mykorphas are not recorded in current Imperial records.
House Navaros - House Navaros: House Navaros is a Loyalist Imperial Knight House of the Imperium, and hails from the Knight World of Dutonis. This arid, volcanic world sits in the galactic north-east 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.
House Navaros - Notable Campaigns: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Navaros - Notable Knights: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Navaros - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Navaros - House Colours: The colours of House Borgius are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Navaros - House Arms: The arms of House Borgius are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Nero - House Nero: House Nero was a Loyalist Imperial Knight house of the Imperium. It was destroyed in the mid-32nd Millennium during a defence of the Knight World of Vorinth from an Ork WAAAGH!.
House Nero - Notable Campaigns: Defiance on Vorinth (544.M32) - An Ork WAAAGH! of unprecedented scale sweeps into Imperial space. Hundreds of worlds are devastated before the Ork menace is finally defeated. Lying directly in the path of the enormous greenskin armada, the Knight World of Vorinth is one of the first planets to fall. Though they fight bravely, the Knights of Houses Illius and Nero are impossibly outnumbered and die to the last in combat with the all-conquering Orks. With the main greenskin host advancing on Adamant Keep -- the stronghold of House Illius -- the surviving Knights of both houses gather for one last charge. The Orks are totally unprepared for the sudden ferocity of the Knights' counter-attack and suffer heavy losses as the battle cannons of the Knight Paladins blast smoking holes in the Ork lines. The Knights Errant take advantage of the stalling Ork assault to crash into their crude vehicle squadrons and carve them to ruin. Only when a mob of twenty Stompas rampages into the fray are the Knights finally overwhelmed. Twice, the solemn tolling of the Bell of Lost Souls is heard as Terra mourns the passing of the rulers of Houses Illius and Nero.
House Nero - Notable Knights: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Nero - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Nero - House Colours: The colours of House Nero are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Nero - House Arms: The arms of House Nero are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Niagma - House Niagma: House Niagma is a Renegade Knight House formerly of the Questor Mechanicus that repudiated its oath of loyalty to the Mechanicum and the Imperium of Man during the Horus Heresy.
House Niagma - Notable Campaigns: Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Niagma took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Niagma provided Knight support to the Legio Vulpa. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster, the battle lines had long since been drawn, and fighting had been going on for many Terran years. It was a cauldron of battle that would consume millions of lives before its end and see the demise of entire Titan Legions, earning this campaign the dire moniker of the "Titandeath." The Beta-Garmon Cluster, also known as the gateway to the throneworld of Terra, was the last hurdle that the Warmaster Horus' forces had to overcome before they reached the Imperium's capital world. Heavily fortified by the Loyalists, Beta-Garmon would become one of the greatest and bloodiest battles of the Horus Heresy, as well as one of the longest-lasting.
House Niagma - Notable Knights: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Niagma - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Niagma - House Colours: The colours of House Niagma are grey and orange.
House Niagma - House Arms: The arms of House Niagma are not listed in current Imperial records
House Octobus - House Octobus: House OctobusImperial KnightImperium of ManKnight WorldFreebladeBlood Lord
House Octobus - Notable Campaigns: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Octobus - Notable Knights: Blood Lord - Knight Errant of Sir Marcel.
House Octobus - Notable Personnel: Sir Marcel - Freeblade and last surviving noble of House Octobus.
House Octobus - House Colours: The colours of House Octobus are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Octobus - House Arms: The arms of House Octobus are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Octobus - Sources: Warhammer Visions #7, "Parade Ground," pp. 178-179
House Orhlacc - House Orhlacc: House Orhlacc, also known by their cognomen "Knights of the Manticore," is an Imperial Knight house aligned with the Imperium of Man that demonstrated unflinching loyalty to the Emperor during the latter part of the Great Crusade and throughout the Horus Heresy.Although not amongst the most powerful Knight houses, being only of the Secundus-grade, House Orhlacc nevertheless was heavily involved in many major campaigns of the Horus Heresy, especially in the region of the Coronid Reach, where their valiant efforts contributed to the reconquest of the Agri-world of Numinal during the campaign known as the Liberation of Numinal.Although of sinister repute both within the forces of the ancient Mechanicum and those of the wider Imperium -- albeit for very different reasons -- House Orhlacc has always been famed for the technological skills both of its Sacristans and its Knights, which vastly contributed to their strength and ultimate survival through their millennia-long isolation during the Age of Strife.Unified with the Imperium in the late 30th Millennium, through the efforts of Lord Commander Suleiman Grimm of the Dark Angels Space Marine Legion, House Orhlacc became a respected ally, their courage and heroism rewarded by the attribution of a Memento Mori by the hands of the Emperor Himself, for their bold sacrifice during the Rangdha Outbreak.House Orhlacc is one of the few known Knight houses to have willingly abandoned their original homeworld of Dark Haven during the events of the Heresy, relocating itself to the grim world of Wychval.From this tactically-superior location, they continued to fight on throughout the remainder of the Heresy. As a reward for their assistance, Ireton MaSade, the Solar Auxilia commander of the 60th Expeditionary Fleet, would give over legal dominion of Wychval to House Orhlacc.
House Orhlacc - Age of Technology: The history of the strange, and some would say sinister, Knight house of Orhlacc, is a well-documented one, at least in its generalities, with highly detailed records surviving with the house's Sacristans and Lexmechanics through the ages.Its Chronicles of Founding speak of Humanity's expansion across the galaxy and the discovery of an isolated, shadowed world teeming with strange but abundant xenos life which had been discovered deep within a mineral-rich, but otherwise barren, region of the void, and in order to exploit and colonise this region for Humanity, it had been selected to become a Knight World.The starting point of its founding ark's journey was recorded as having originated from what is now known as the Forge World of Lucius. First perceived as a paradise abundant with life, Dark Haven, as it became known, was, in truth, something far darker than its first settlers could possible have imagined.Within solar days of the colonising ark's planetfall, a terrible truth had been discovered; the fruits of this benighted world were inimically poisonous to Humankind. The shadowed world was at the very edge of its aged star's habitable zone, and life there had flourished millions of standard years before it ever had on distant Terra.Here the dominant form of that life was akin to fungus-like organisms, but infinitely more varied and complex than that of most worlds, forming a planet-spanning web of life. Its patterns varied from towering pseudo-coral-like structures kilometres high, comprising billions of microscopic creatures, which overshadowed the land and covered the seas, stealing the light, to colossal, ambulatory predators whose venom could sear ceramite and eat through plasteel.All of it was to Humanity virulently and fatally toxic when consumed, even given the most stringent methods available for its processing. Dark Haven was a Death World for Terran life, misjudged as a paradise of life.Undeterred, the Human colonisation went ahead; keeps were built into the few jutting mountain ranges which fought to clear the vast living canopy, attempts were made to clear-cut for settlements and introduce off-world agriculture, supplies were rationed, and additional Magi Biologis (this ancient Mechanicum term is used here for pre-Mechanicum specialists in the life sciences as a term of convenience, shrouded as the truth of such things is by time) brought in to attempt to address the difficulties with the certain hope of an eventual solution to the planet's toxicity.
House Orhlacc - Age of Strife: During Dark Haven's founding solar decades, progress was slow, and life for the settlers a continuous struggle for survival, but one which they held at bay, at least until the coming of the Age of Strife. With exterior contact and the chance of resupply from other Human-settled worlds lost, Dark Haven should have been doomed and as things were, matters rapidly worsened for the dozen Knight households and their retainers who had made it their cause to dominate the strange world.Soon famine was the enemy, as stockpiled supplies dwindled or became mysteriously tainted. As if sensing the Humans' weakness, the planetary ecology itself seemed to turn on them in a violent spurt of aggressive growth unprecedented in its suddenness or speed, and whole settlements were choked and overrun in a matter of solar hours by berserk fungal growth, their inhabitants slain by ravaging predators or consumed from within by parasitic life.
House Orhlacc - Knights of the Manticore: Knightly keeps were only preserved by great trenches and pits filled with volatiles and turned into walls of fire, and the continuous counterattack of the Knights themselves against the forest and the monstrous creatures within it.Soon, as matters worsened, the Knight houses of Dark Haven began to turn on each other for supplies and to assuage their hunger, and it is said that the most unspeakable acts were forced on those who would survive.This age of violence and decay would last for standard centuries and should ultimately have been the death of the Knight colony, regardless of the tenacity and bravery of its Scions, save for the actions of one minor Knight household. This constant cycle of death and destruction was broken by House Orhlacc, aided by an enclave of Magos Biologis stranded upon the planet once the great decay of the Age of Strife had begun. Renowned more for its learning and the skill of its Sacristans rather than its might, House Orhlacc offered sanctuary to the stranded Mechanicum magi when others had sought their death.Within Orhlacc Keep, the magi and their tech-priest acolytes had laboured long, obsessively pursuing a solution to the problem they had been given when they had first been assigned to the world, even as darkness swallowed and separated the Knight houses and the monstrous biosphere closed in.The solution when it at last came was a radical one; rather than adapt the world to Humanity, they adapted Humanity to Dark Haven, and House Orhlacc was their canvass. It would take generations and many tragedies before their work bore fruit, but they were successful, and as the other houses of Dark Haven dwindled and in some cases died out entirely, the Orhlacc waxed strong and slowly multiplied.Soon they fought not simply to survive but to dominate, and many of the other surviving households looked on them as saviours and joined them through alliances of blood, while others who saw them as enemies -- and as something no longer fully Human -- perished. Within a dozen generations, only House Orhlacc and its kin remained as stewards and masters of this shadowed and deadly world.