Imperial Knights - Age of Braced Gates, M40-M41: The Many Quests of Theodric the Wanderer (853-999.M40)Not Even in Death (854.M40) - A trio of Knights from House Krast join Space Marines from the Ultramarines Chapter to defend the Mining World of Gorvax against a host of Asuryani Ghost Warriors from the Iyanden craftworld. A Knight suit's Throne Mechanicum takes control after its pilot is slain by a xenos sniper, the echoes of spirits long dead guiding the unmanned Knight into battle once more. The Knight carves its way through countless wraithbone constructs before two Wraithknights, the largest and mightiest of the xenos walkers, finally bring it down in an epic duel of giant war machines. Though the Craftworld Aeldari are eventually defeated, victory on Gorvax does not belong to the living.First Contact with Kragh (112.M41) - The Imperium makes first contact with the Knight World of Kragh after a localised Warp storm, which has been raging for over twenty millennia, finally abates. Though much of the planet's surviving technology is revealed to be incredibly archaic, the Knight suits remain in remarkable condition thanks to a long-lost piece of STC technology. Initial attempts to integrate Kragh into the Imperial fold are met with open hostility as the planet's two knightly houses react to the perceived threat with deadly force. Peace is finally brokered by Baron Jakobus, a venerable Knight Seneschal greatly respected by both houses -- but the fragile ceasefire is jeopardised almost immediately as a trio of Tech-adepts attempt to recover the priceless STC archeotech and return it to Mars.Unexpected Silence from Hawkshroud (131.M41) - Facing bloody cult uprisings across the mining worlds of the Taurian Belt, Imperial Fists Captain Lynator calls upon the Knights of House Hawkshroud to lend their aid. To his shock, they fail to answer, one of only three times in recorded history and the first in three standard millennia that such a thing has happened.Sport for Commorragh (154.M41) - A Drukhari raid captures a House Cadmus Knight for bloody sport in the arenas of Commorragh. He bravely duels the creations of the Haemonculi for thirty solar days before eventually being rendered down by three Engines of Pain.Duel of the Crimson Glaives (178.M41) - The Craftworld Aeldari assault the agri-moon of Tarvel III, destroying hab-complexes in the search for ancient artefacts. Three Freeblades band together to defend the beleaguered citizens and become known as the Crimson Glaives. As soon as the last Aeldari raider is driven from the moon, the Knights vanish without trace.Tarsok Incursion (230.M41) - Knights of House Taranis battle a daemonic incursion on the world of Tarsok V, taking the fight to the towering Great Unclean One that leads the daemonic horde. Wading through a tide of Plaguebearers, Seneschal Halver's Knights advance on the corpulent horror while billowing clouds of flies sizzle against their Ion Shields and form drifts about their feet. The daemonic lord drowns one Knight in a tide of bile, and crushes two more beneath its weeping bulk. Yet the Knights' Reaper Chainswords carve through its rancid flesh and with a final, gurgling roar the Great Unclean One is banished. The remaining Daemons fade slowly from view, leaving the planet's surviving defenders to count the cost.Slaughter on the Fireplains (246.M41) - Knights of House Raven crush WAAAGH! Smogbelcha on the Fireplains of Voth amid geysers of geothermal flame, despite suffering heavy losses of their own.War of Six Crowns (249.M41) - In a convoluted War of Honour, the high kings of six different Noble Great Houses fight amongst themselves to establish which might claim the title of Lord of the Sextant Stars. Although warned by the High Lords of Terra to desist from such senseless and internecine madness, the headstrong Knights persist in their ancient traditions despite all the sanctions the Imperium dare apply.Lost Alliance (301.M41)The Demigod of Damaskull Falls (353.M41)Triumph of House Blackskull (559.M41) - The major knightly houses of the planet Scuptium VII are all but destroyed in the initial stages of a vast Greenskin invasion. Only the heroics of the world's least favoured house, Blackskull, prevent their entire sub-continent from being overrun. Eventually the last twelve Knights of the ruined house retake their entire planet.Crushing the Mecha-WAAAGH! (572.M41) - Led by House Raven, five different knightly houses, along with no less than a dozen Freeblades, halt the mechanised hordes of WAAAGH! Gluttok. Across several star systems, the Imperial Knights are able to counter the armoured columns of Battlewagons and looted tanks employed by the wily Gluttok. It is on the factory planet of Blastoom that the Warboss' Stompa Mob is at last brought to final battle. Leading his Exalted Court into the thick of the fighting, Grevan, the Iron Duke, smashes into a wall of Ork walkers and uses his Reaper Chainsword to rip apart Gluttok's Stompa. It is later said that the Stompa's head was taken for display in the Keep Inviolate.Disaster on Nalibraxis II (632.M41) - During the Yoladrian Crusade, detachments from House Cadmus land upon the swamp world of Nalibraxis II. Marching in support of Catachan Jungle Fighters infantry regiments, the Knights are caught in a sorcerous ambush by forces of the Thousand Sons Traitor Legion. With the Catachans dead or devolved into mindless Chaos Spawn, the remaining handful of Knights resolve to fight their way back to their extraction point. Power-armoured automata and scuttling Daemon Engines surround them, yet the surviving Nobles fight their way to freedom. After the battle, House Cadmus vows revenge upon the forces of the Thousand Sons, determined to expunge this stain upon their honour and spends the next three solar decades exacting it.The Hole in Reality (666.M41)Grim Tide War (742.M41)Shadows Over Icnarus (784.M41) - An ancient evil awakens on the Frontier World of Icnarus, Human settlements vanishing one after another. Panic-stricken, its citizens retreat to the coastal city of Inmoran and a riot erupts around the planet's only spaceport. Rising from the sea, rusted metal warriors march into Inmoran killing all in their path, a blazing god of light at their fore. Just as all seems lost, a lone Imperial Knight appears. In a titanic struggle, the unknown Knight drives the invaders back into the sea and shatters the bindings of their god, sending it screaming into the ether.Battle of Hellstones (991.879.M41)On The Trail of Traitors (883.M41) - Three entire knightly houses join forces with the renowned tank ace, Commander Pask, and his Cadian 423rd Regiment to exterminate a Renegade Titan Legion. All of the Knights at Pask's disposal are deployed in one of the largest armoured conflicts in the Imperium's history. Knight Anthonis, of House Cadmus, wins much honour during the final battle, preventing Pask's Leman Russ Tank from being crushed beneath the mighty tread of the Traitor Warlord-class Titan, Endless Hate, by blasting apart the war engine's descending leg scant moments before impact. Pask survives to lead his force to a great Imperial victory.Reawakening (975.M41) - In the Vidar Sector, the Knight World of Avarris is almost overrun by Necrons from the Sautekh Dynasty. Reawakening from their long slumber deep below the planet's surface, the Necron legions emerge and immediately begin a campaign of mass genocide against the planet's interloping Human population. It is only the skill of the Knights, and the effectiveness of their Ion Shields at repelling the deadly firepower of the advanced Necron weaponry, that brings the massacres to a halt. Though many are slain in the fighting, Avarris' three knightly houses slowly gain the upper hand in the conflict. As the bitter fighting grinds on, embattled household detachments of Imperial Knights gradually begin to drive the Necron forces back to their tomb complexes, and set about destroying them in their lairs.The Dragon Slain (993.M41) - Segmentum Command dispatches a relief force to evacuate Yorvith before it can be overrun by Hive Fleet Kraken. At their head ride a lance of Knights Errant from House Griffith, whose thunderous charge scatters the xenos swarms around Solartis spaceport. As battle rages and refugees flood aboard the evacuation ships, a Trygon erupts from the ground and winds itself around Sir Brannach's Knight. The noble Knight wrestles with the mighty bio-horror amid showers of sparks, before jamming his Thermal Cannon between its jaws and vapourising its skull in a spray of ichor. The evacuation craft take to the skies just solar minutes later, Griffith's Knights limping aboard the last ship moments before its ramp slams shut.Battle of Burning Skies (998.M41) - A tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan falls upon the Agri-world of Eireius, xenos bio-horrors rampaging across its floating jungles and vapour islands. A detachment of House Raven Knights are the first Imperial reinforcements to reach the planet, rallying the beleaguered defenders around the towering Eirebian spire-cities. In the micro-gravity of Eireius the Knights leap hundreds of metres from one spire to the next, their guns hammering Harpies and Hive Crones from the sky. Even the might of the Imperial Knights cannot save the planet, although their bravery buys time for its population to escape into the void.Lone Guardian (Unknown Date.M41) - Sir Yannil of House Derthos swears an oath to stand guard over the beset mining colonies on the moon of Tandosa. Enthroned within Tower of Strength, his Knight Castellan, Yannil sees off repeated attacks by Drukhari pirates. Outraged at the intervention by Yannil and his ironclad behemoth, the leaders of the Drukhari raiding parties send a force of swift gunships and agile fighter craft to eliminate the impediment once and for all. Engaging his airborne tormentors as best he can, Yannil sends a missive to House Derthos for aid, then digs in and vows to hold his ground until he is relieved. It is a solar week later that Knights of House Derthos reach Tandosa. They find Tower of Strength still standing, ravaged by energy blasts and explosives, its pilot clinging to life by a thread. Around him are scattered the wrecks of the Drukhari vessels, eliminated to the last.An Error of Judgment (Unknown Date.M41) - The Genestealer Cult of the Withering Worm attempt to infiltrate the Noble bloodline of House Belligerus. They quickly learn the magnitude of their mistake when the conditioning of the Nobles' Thrones Mechanicum aids them in resisting the Broodmind, though not without great struggle. In a single night of fire and violence, the cult cells are driven into the open and exterminated like vermin by Belligerus' Knights.The Red WAAAGH! (443.998.M41) - Warlord Grukk of the Red WAAAGH! ploughs into the densely populated Sanctus Reach, his green crusade's juggernaut momentum smashing past the Space Marine homeworld of Obstiria to plunder the planets beyond. The Imperium prepares to make a stand upon Alaric Prime, a Knight World of linked archipelagos and crumbling gaols. When a flotilla of Ork rust-ships make planetfall, the knightly houses of Alaric lead their Cadian allies in a worldwide counterattack. Warlord Grukk's bullish tactics take a heavy toll on the Human defenders before the legendary Freeblade known as Gerantius, the Forgotten Knight, joins the conflict, tipping the war into a new phase of desperate battle. With the aid of the ferocious battle-brothers of the Space Wolves Chapter, Alaric Prime defeats the Greenskin hordes of the Red WAAAGH! The price of victory is steep, however, and a veil of Inquisitorial secrecy is drawn over the dire events that mark the war's culmination.Donatos War (Unknown Date.M41) - The knightly houses of Adrastapol launch a crusade to save the Industrial World of Donatos Primus from Heretic forces. Five Noble houses deploy their lances, led by High King Tolwyn of House Draconis, yet disaster strikes after Houses Chimaeros and Wyvorn -- their Thrones Mechanicum tainted through Chaos witchery -- turn upon their allies in a bloody betrayal. With the high king dead and the knightly forces in disarray, it falls to the young Sire Danial Tan Draconis to rally Houses Draconis, Pegasson and Minotos. Uniting the planet's scattered Imperial forces, the Knights launch a determined fight back, seeking vengeance upon the traitorous Nobles and the Word Bearers both, eventually reclaiming the world for Imperial arms.Fall of Phodiam (Unknown Date.M41) - A tendril of Hive Fleet Leviathan engulfs the Hive World of Phodiam. Due to Warp Storm activity, the Imperial relief force is lost, leaving Phodiam defenceless. Into the breach steps a company of Freeblades calling themselves the "Tarnished Shield," seven exiled warriors led by Ferrum Magnificat. Through selfless sacrifice and heroic effort, the Freeblades hold the Tyranid swarms at bay long enough for over a third of the planet's populace to evacuate successfully.Diamor Campaign (999.M41) - The Diamor System is plunged into anarchy when a combined force of the Black Legion, Crimson Slaughter and Word Bearers launch a concerted attack. Though their invasion is system-wide, the true objective of the Chaos hosts is the Adeptus Mechanicus dig site on the world of Amethal which has discovered an ancient artefact that serves as a prison for daemonic entities. A huge army of Imperial Knights, drawn from House Raven and many of the lesser houses that owe it fealty, fights in the Imperial counter-assault, over one hundred towering war engines facing off against Heretic Astartes and Renegade Titans. Though they suffer heavy casualties, the Nobles of House Raven remain undaunted. Empowered by their wrath, they storm the Chaos lines during the campaign's final battle, and are instrumental in bringing down the enemy's Titans and driving the Black Legion from Amethal for good. In the war's wake, House Raven strengthen their bonds of allegiance with both the Tech-priests of Forge World Metalica and the Blood Angels Chapter.A Blade in the Void (512.999.M41) - A Chaos wolf pack attacks the Imperial heavy transport Penitent Blade while en route to the war zones of Heloeum. When the vessel is boarded, the Nobles of House Krast mount their Knight suits and prepare to repel the Traitor Marines. In the vast vaulted cargo halls of the ship, the Knights crush the Traitors underfoot and blast apart their vanguard of Terminators and Helbrutes. When a fresh wave of Chaos boarders are sent against the Penitent Blade, the Nobles order the cargo hall doors opened, so they might engage the incoming assault boats. Their craft scattered and destroyed, the Traitors retreat into the void.Fall of Agrellan (757.999.M41) - The T'au Empire's Third Sphere Expansion surges through the Damocles Gulf before striking hard and fast upon the Hive World of Agrellan. Though the Imperial forces are hard-pressed to counter the brilliant tactics employed by Commander Shadowsun, the timely arrival of several household detachments of Knights from House Terryn soon stems the tide. Time and again, the Knights sally forth from the hive city of Agrellan Prime, breaking through the xenos lines to take a heavy toll on formations of Broadside Battlesuits and Hammerhead gunships, using their Ion Shields to counter the devastating impacts of the T'au's rail weaponry. Only the mass deployment of prototype XV104 Riptide Battlesuits forces the Knights to cease these attacks, a course of action that ultimately changes the course of the war.13th Black Crusade (995.999.M41) - Warp Storms rage across the galaxy. Houses Krast and Arokon join the Imperial forces rushing to reinforce the Cadian Gate against the Chaos hordes spewing forth from the Eye of Terror. The inbound Knights of House Arokon are feared lost amid the fierce etheric tides of Warp Storm Baphomael. However, news soon filters back to the Imperium that four household detachments of Knights bearing Arokon's colours have been seen taking the fight to the forces of Chaos, shattering two large formations of Iron Warriors siege tanks with righteous fury. All told, a dozen knightly houses rush to reinforce the Cadian Gate, Taranis and Raven foremost amongst them, but even their might is not enough to prevent Cadia's fall to the forces of Abaddon the Despoiler. House astropaths cry out in horror at the omens of impending doom. Bastion fleets are recalled to their parent Knight Worlds, racing for safe anchorage before the storm hits. Everywhere the Nobles see signs of Old Night's return, bracing against the opening of the Great Rift and the appalling carnage that follows...