Imperial Knights - Knight Control and the Ritual of Becoming: Suits of Knight armour are similar to Titans, in that they are controlled through neural interface sockets surgically inserted into the Noble pilot's cerebrum and cerebellum.The pilot sits in a control platform called a Throne Mechanicum, where umbilical interface cords are attached to their neural sockets. The Throne Mechanicum is then, in turn, plugged into the suit of Knight armour, allowing the Noble to control its movements as if it were part of their own body and to receive sensory feedback from the suit so that they can see what it sees, and feel what it feels. This interface allows an Imperial Knight to move with a fluid grace that can only be matched by the war machines of the Craftworld Aeldari.Additionally, every Knight possesses manual controls, which include dials and switches, a throttle lever for the right hand, and a fire-control stick for the left. If the Knight makes use of a melee weapon, its control stick lies just ahead and to the right of the throttle. These controls exist mostly for the use of the Knights' Sacristans and are intended to allow these technicians to position the suit in maintenance bays, run simulations or to move it over short distances. The reality is that these manual controls allow for only rudimentary and clumsy movements and as such are far inferior to the use of the Throne Mechanicum.However, if a Noble was ever rendered "thought-dead" -- a term for the termination of the mental connection between the Noble and their Knight's Throne Mechanicum -- they could rely in such an emergency on their manual controls. While their Knight would become slow and stilted, more like an Astra Militarum Sentinel walker than a true fusion of Human consciousness and archeotech, manual control might be enough to save the pilot's life.At the heart of every knightly stronghold is a single massive building known simply as "the Sanctuary." It is here that the suits of Knight armour are stored when not in use and where the Nobles undergo the ancient rituals and procedures that allow them to bond with their Thrones Mechanicum.These Sanctuaries are incredibly ancient structures, built when the original sublight Human colony ships first landed on the Knight Worlds during the Age of Technology. The essential functions of the Sanctuaries also originate from that time, though the changes and modifications made to the equipment over the millennia mean it would be unrecognizable to those that first installed it.It is in the Sanctuary that young Nobles undergo the bonding process that imprints their personality into a Throne Mechanicum, in a procedure known as the Ritual of Becoming. This process takes place in a special room known as the Chamber of Echoes. The imprinting process is a lengthy, sometimes dangerous, business. It has become a rite of passage for young Nobles -- the process of leaving behind their childhood once and for all.When he is old enough, a son of the household who is designated to become a Noble is fitted with the sacred neural sockets and then undertakes a vigil, remaining seated in the Throne Mechanicum that has been assigned to him throughout a long night in the Chamber of Echoes. The nature of this ordeal, and the inherent dangers associated with the neural interfacing process, mean that more than a tenth of all supplicants are either driven mad by the process or suffer fatal aneurysms brought about by neurological feedback.Assuming it is successful, the imprinting process has two important side-effects. Firstly, the imprint tends to exaggerate dominant aspects of the young Noble's personality, especially with regard to the emotions he is feeling during his vigil. If he is scared, the imprint on the Throne Mechanicum will always be of a nervous tendency, making the suit difficult to control in combat. If the Noble is angry with someone, the imprint will always loathe that person, even if the Noble himself has long since forgiven or forgotten them.When a Noble dies, his Throne Mechanicum retains some of his character and personality, and these ghosts whisper to each supplicant through the long vigil in the Chamber of Echoes.However, in addition to imprinting the Noble's personality upon the Throne Mechanicum, the mind-link technology directly affects the personality of the Noble himself. It does this by implanting strong positive associations to notions of fealty, obligation and hierarchy, as well as a deep respect for the Noble's ancestors.Exactly why and how these things are made to happen is something of a mystery, but it seems most likely that the mind-altering feedback routines were intentionally included by the device's original designers to limit the potential of a Noble to go rogue and turn on the people he was meant to protect.Once a Throne Mechanicum has been imprinted, it is stored in the Communion Dome, which lies atop each Sanctuary. This chamber is large and circular, with walls that are lined with all the Thrones Mechanicum of the household's Nobles.When a Noble wishes to interface with his suit of Knight armour, he sits upon his Throne and instigates the Protocols of Joining. Umbilical cords attach themselves to the Noble's neural sockets, and then a section of wall behind the Throne yawns open.The Throne Mechanicum slides backwards, and descends from the Communion Dome through a series of transport tunnels, before finally sliding into the waiting cockpit of the Noble's suit of Knight armour. This final step in the process takes place in a massive hangar known as the Vault Transcendent, which forms the ground floor of the Sanctuary. This huge hall is large enough to hold all of the stronghold's Knights.As soon as Noble, Throne and Knight armour are united, the three become as one, and the Imperial Knight powers up into life. Vast doors open in the outer walls of the Sanctuary, and the Knight strides forth to battle.