vizn3r/warhammer40k-lore huggingface dataset:
House Malinax - Horus Heresy: Provided as they were with both fresh machines and Scions, the newly-patented House Malinax would acquit themselves with much honour during the waning years of the Great Crusade, endearing themselves greatly to the allies they served alongside. Despite such a record, the isolation of its homeworld and the uneasy alliance through which the Forge World of Xana II was incorporated into the Imperium ensured that House Malinax gained a sinister reputation.Often its Sciones were deployed alongside the Titans of the Legio Vulturum, a Titan Legion sworn to the service of Xana II, which only further increased the whispers of questionable allegiances surrounding House Malinax owing to the lack of trust in its homeworld's true loyalty. Ultimately, the doubts surrounding the loyalties of Xana II and, by association, House Malinax, proved well-founded when the Warmaster Horus turned the Forge World to his cause.During the initial years of the Horus Heresy, the Lords of Xana used their isolated nature to play both sides, aiding the Warmaster's forces while negotiating deals with the Imperium in secret.As the Horus Heresy suddenly and bloodily unfolded in the early 31st Millennium, Xana's isolation only increased and it was a situation its ruling synod of magi, known as the Vodian Consistory, did little to attempt to outwardly alleviate, choosing initially neither faction to favour, avowing, at least publicly, that the matter was an "internal matter of the Great Crusade's military" in which they had no direct involvement. As the war went on with no clear avenue of victory in sight, both sides looked to the increasingly bellicose and active Forge World of Xana II with renewed interest.In their years of isolation since the civil war's outbreak, the forges of Xana had not been idle and evidence began to amass that a vast and well-guarded stockpile of munitions and war machines had been built up in the system, and readied as if for shipment to a client, but to what end or to whom remained unclear. Eventually, Primarch Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian of Terra, made an open proclamation declaring the Forge World of Xana II Traitoris Perdita because of its repeated double dealings with the Traitors and under sentence of death.House Malinax would go on to serve at the whims of the Lords of Xana, and willingly follow them into damnation. Though a swift attack by the Imperium caused a delay to the Forge World's efforts to supply the Warmaster's forces, House Malinax was largely unaffected and elements of its forces aided the Warmaster and his allies in a number of key battles across the galaxy.When the Heresy ultimately failed, it is presumed that House Malinax fled the Siege of Terra alongside their Dark Mechanicum masters, and still stands sentinel over the Hell-Forge of Xana II.
House Malinax - Notable House Malinax Personnel: Zholon-Kuthos - Zholon-Kuthos was a darkly renowned Scion of House Malinax, who piloted the infamous Questoris Knight Errant Thonal. As banner-marshal of his force, Zholon-Kuthos commanded numerous actions in the furtherance of the Warmaster's cause, even though the Forge World to which House Malinax was bonded -- Xana II -- was wont to chart an autonomous course dedicated to its own interests. It was while supporting the Traitor Legio Ulicon in the Scouring of Arten's World during the Titandeath campaign, that the Scions of Knight Banner Zholon-Kuthos won their darkest honour, slaying three times their own number of Knights of House Vornherr.
House Malinax - House Strength: As befitting a Knight household founded upon a powerful Forge World such as Xana II, House Malinax was well-supplied, its contingents often having access to a variety of different Knight armours including several rarer classes, such as the Knight Porphyrion and Knight Magaera, being far more prevalent within House Malinax compared to other Knight houses. This ability to draw upon such relic technologies ensured House Malinax played a key role against Loyalist forces during the Horus Heresy, capable of bringing superior firepower against opposing Knight Houses while remaining a credible threat to isolated groups of Titans.By the time of the Heresy, the forges of Xana II had swelled the numbers of House Malinax to an estimated 200 Knight armours, making the household a Secundus-grade Knight house. Ident data extracted from fallen House Malinax Knights during the Horus Heresy show that large quantities of the household's numbers bore signs of recent construction, a fact that speaks for the potency of Xana II's forges.Most worrying for Loyalist forces was the significant number of newly-forged Knight armours of more sophisticated patterns such as the Atrapos, Magaera and Styrix, the quick production of which remains a rare feat and speaks volumes as to the strength of Xana II's industry.
House Malinax - Traitor Legios: Legio VulturumLegio MortisLegio TempestorLegio Ulicon
House Malinax - Traitor Space Marine Legions: Sons of Horus
House Malinax - Loyalist Space Marine Legions: Space Wolves
House Malinax - House Colours: Much of the heraldic panoply of the re-formed House of Malinax was taken from the predatory megafauna that was surprisingly common on the Forge World on which they were based. The distinctive colouration of their primary armour was in fact ritually created from the dense, silicate-rich bone plates harvested from Xana II's gigantic, armoured Regathok Ursids, the augmented skull of which also formed the core icon of Xana II's Taghmata forces.
House Malinax - House Arms: The tripled-tailed scorpion utilised by House Malinax as their house's heraldry pre-dates the pact with Xana II. It owes its origin to the ancient sigil of the Malin-Qatlu, later rendered as "Transfigured by the Omnissiah" as the house's Xanite Sacristans had it, to a purer, more blessed form.The icon of the Malinax clan, the three-tailed scorpion clutching the symbol of Xana II, is a traditional symbol of the relationship between the bonded Knight house and its patron Forge World.
House Malinax - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Rulebook (Specialty Game), pp. 22, 48-49Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), pp. 72, 95Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Shadow & Iron (Specialty Game), pp. 58-59Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Traitor Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 134-137The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 55-70, 71, 76-79, 81The Horus Heresy - Book Seven: Inferno (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 19-25, 63-64, 101, 104-107, 295Mortis (Novel) by John FrenchForge World Acastus Knight AsteriusWarhammer Community - Nip at a Titan’s Ankles and Cover Necromunda in Chemical Spit With Today’s Forge World Pre-orders (26 Nov 2021)Warhammer Community - Dragons, Outcasts, Petite Knights, and a Cave Troll in This Massive Sunday Preview (21 Nov 2021)Warhammer Community - Run Rings Around Towering God-Engines in Adeptus Titanicus With These Cute But Scrappy Knights (15 Nov 2021)Warhammer Community - Not So Silent Knight: The Atrapos Is Here (11 Dec 2020)Warhammer Community - Sunday Preview: Underhive Brains & Underground Games (06 Dec 2020)Warhammer Community - The Cerastus Knight-Atrapos - Hunt Titans in the Horus Heresy (24 Nov 2020)Warhammer Community - Forge World Pre-Orders: Knights to Remember (13 Nov 2020)Warhammer Community - Sunday Preview: Blood on the Pitch (08 Nov 2020)Warhammer Community - Knight Time: Magaera & Styrix (27 Oct 2020)Warhammer Community - Pre-Order Today: Battle for the Fate of Ryza! (25 July 2020)Warhammer Community - Sunday Preview: Fighting for the Forge World (19 July 2020)Warhammer Community - Engine Kill 3: Mastering Cerastus Knights (28 Apr 2020)Warhammer Community - Revealed at GAMA! (10 March 2020)Warhammer Community - Why YOU Need the New Adeptus Titanicus Starter Set (04 Feb 2020)Warhammer Community - Painting on a Titanic(us) Scale (20 Aug 2019)Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titanicus: The Acastus Knight Porphyrion (09 July 2019)Warhammer Community - Coming Soon: Something for Everyone! (07 July 2019)Warhammer Community - Forge World Preview: The Legio Mortis & House Malinax Transfer Sheet (22 Oct 2018)Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titanicus: In Stores Now (18 Aug 2018)Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titanicus Part 3: War on a New Scale (08 Aug 2018)Warhammer Community - Forge World Open Day: Return to Middle-Earth (15 July 2018)Warhammer Community - Warhammer Fest: Live Blog (11 May 2018)Warhammer Community - The Horus Heresy at Blood & Glory Conclusion (09 Nov 2017)
House Mamaragon - House Mamaragon: House Mamaragon is an Imperial Knight house that hailed from the Knight World of Molech. Originating from the northern seas and archipelagos of their homeworld, this Knight household are descended from the explorers, seafarers and corsairs of ancient times. Their Knight Scions were adept at commanding the fleets of Mamaragon in battle and are just at home on the rolling deck of a war barge as they are on dry land. In fact, many of the Scions of Mamaragon still believed in the piratical ways of their forebears and adhered to their more flexible codes of honour and concept of allies.This Knight house was known to be particularly haughty and infected with their sire's insufferable arrogance and reckless overconfidence, often mocking their land-locked cousin-households' hunting trophies through the audacious display of the massive sea-going leviathans and sea beast carcasses that adorned their own Knight armours.House Mamaragon was one of the fortunate few Loyalist Knight houses that avoided being destroyed through the machinations of the Traitors at the Battle of Molech during the Horus Heresy. Though the majority of their Knight household was shattered, a handful of survivors would go on to play an instrumental role in rebuilding both their house and world following the end of the Great Scouring.
House Mamaragon - House History: North of the primary inhabited continent of Molechari on Molech, thousands of islands are scattered across the vast Azure Sea. House Mamaragon claims dominion over these specks of land and all trade that passes between them. Much like their standing among the leaders of Molech, control of this realm is an ancestral right passed down from the days of the high king.In ancient times, the forefathers of House Mamaragon were explorers and seafarers, their ships responsible for reaching the shores of distant continents and charting Molech's vast oceans. Later they would become sea wolves, hunting the trade routes that they had a hand in creating, and targeting the realms of the other Knight households. When House Devine finally united the fragmented houses and claimed Lupercalia as the world's capital city, the Scions of Mamaragon were relegated to wardens of the outer reaches, the far lands and the open seas.The ruling Seneschal of House Mamaragon at the time of the Horus Heresy was Lord Erol Vor Mamaragon. He was known to be monstrously arrogant and possessed a reckless nature, and was a constant annoyance to House Devine and House Donar whenever his retinue of Paladins made landfall.Lord Erol and his Mamaragon Scions also mocked the hunting trophies of the land-bound houses by displaying the carcasses of great, toothy sea beasts on their Knight armours. These massive coiling serpents are bigger than the largest of Molechari's macro-fauna and had to be bested in gruelling deep-sea hunts that made the other houses' forays into the jungles of Kush seem simple by comparison.Despite their irreverent nature, the Scions of Mamaragon were fiercely loyal to Molech, and held the safety of their world above their oaths of obedience to the High House. In the aftermath of the Warmaster Horus' invasion, Mamaragon would be among the first to organise the surviving Loyalist houses of Molech against House Devine, continuing the fight even as the remaining Traitor forces spread out, first across Molechari and then out across the oceans. And, years later, when finally the Traitors' lash was lifted from Molech during the bloody years of the Great Scouring, the handful of surviving Scions of House Mamaragon would be there to meet their liberators, and rebuild the shattered remains of their world.
House Mamaragon - Notable Campaigns: Battle of Molech (009.M31) - Molech was a Knight World ruled over by House Devine ever since the Emperor Himself led an expedition to bring it into the fledgling Imperium during the Great Crusade and left a significant garrison there. The planet thrived under the rule of Devine, the populace of its capital city of Lupercalia never knowing the true reason why the Emperor had taken it upon Himself to lead the force that claimed it. Unfortunately for the citizens of Molech, the Traitor Horus knew exactly what lay beneath the city that had been named in his honour -- a Warp Gate which, it was said, had allowed the Emperor to convene with the Ruinous Powers themselves. When Loyalist forces became aware of the Traitor fleet's approach, they mustered at Molech. As well as a trio of Titan Legions -- the Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Crucius, and Legio Fortidus -- there were elements of each of the Imperium's fighting forces, including nearly a dozen Knight houses which owed fealty to Devine, including House Mamaragon. The Traitor force was equally impressive, featuring no fewer than four Titan Legions: the Legio Vulpa, Legio Interfector, Legio Vulcanum I, and the infamous Legio Mortis. As the Warmaster unleashed a massive coordinated assault, the planet's defenders were thrown into disarray when the Plasma Reactor of an Imperator-class Titan, Paragon of Terra, was destroyed. Thousands of Loyalists were immolated in a blinding flash as a miniature sun erupted from the Titan's core to leave a smoking crater half a Terran mile wide. In the wake of the catastrophic blast, the spearhead of Traitor Titans marched through the gap in the Imperial lines. At the height of the battle, House Devine revealed its true allegiance to the Warmaster, its treachery unveiled at a pivotal moment, heralding a slaughter from which only a handful of Loyalists escaped. Caught between the treacherous Knights of House Devine and Horus' rampant forces, the shattered remnants of Molech's defenders were slaughtered without mercy. They were totally defeated, so brutally that only one in a hundred of the troops of the Imperial Army survived the campaign. After his passage through the portal into the Realm of Chaos, Horus won the full blessing of the Ruinous Powers as their chosen champion. His drive on Terra seemed unstoppable.
House Mamaragon - House Homeworld: Molech has a long history as a Frontier World; its Knight houses protected it from the darkness of Old Night during long standard centuries of isolation. Though it lies within the borders of the Segmentum Solar, that most civilised centre of the galaxy within which Terra rules, its position at the very end of the Elliptical Way makes its planets difficult to reach via routes through the Warp. Molech is close to Terra in terms of size and orbit, sitting as it does within the primary biosphere of its star system.Similar to Terra, Molech also has a large moon. Though not as influential as Luna, it regulates the tides and seasons on the world below, making the planet more habitable for Humans. In time, as the planet was developed by Humanity, this moon, as well as several of Molech's smaller celestial bodies, would become outposts for orbital defence networks and fuelling stations for void ships contributing to its impressive defences.Four major continents grace the surface of the planet, divided by clear warm waters at the equator all the way to frozen seas at each pole. The two smallest continents, Estara and Neuropia, remain rugged wilderness realms, home to hunters and remote mining operations. These undeveloped lands lie far to the east and north of Molech, respectively.Next in size and importance is the southern continent of Arcanius, an industrialised landscape of manufactoria and smoke-shrouded cities. Centred around the vast metropolis of Clockwork City, Arcanius produces the wealth of Molech's manufactured goods and is home to its tinker guilds and tech-slaves. The Knight houses tolerate Arcanius for it is here that many of their Sacristans receive their training in the ways of maintaining their Knight armours.Molechari is Molech's principal continental landmass, the seat of power of its Knight houses and Titan Legions. Sprawling across the equator of the planet, its thousands of kilometres of landscape comprise the southern steppes of Tazkhar, the high mountain peaks of the Untar Mesas, the jungles of Kush and the huge agri-belts arrayed around the planet's capital city -- Lupercalia. These heartlands of the Knight World were where the Battle of Molech was fought during the Horus Heresy.
House Mamaragon - Northern Oceans: Beyond the shores of Molechari stretches the Northern Oceanic Zones, the collective term for the continent's nearby island chains, isolated peninsulas and sea-rigs. Busy shipping lanes criss-cross the region, connecting Molechari to the rest of the planet. The industries of the southern continent of Arcanius flow northwards towards the capital city of Lupercalia and its Knight houses, while raw materials from the smaller continents of Estara and Neuropia feed both of Molech's principal continental land masses. Likewise, food is carried from the agri-belts of the Western Marches out across the oceans to feed the far communities of the planet.Despite their diffuse nature, the Northern Oceanic Zones are well-defended. At the time of the Horus Heresy, Imperial Army fleets plied their waters. The Knight house of Mamaragon considered these regions their domain. Mamaragon's great sea fortress rises up from the ocean depths a hundred kilometres off the coast of Hvitha, guiding vessels with the Light of Dagos, a great lighthouse-like structure whose illumination burns perpetually from the fortress' highest tower.This area was devastated during the Traitors' invasion of Molech, littered with the toxic dust from the debris of the broken battlefields, the remains of its void ships crashing down into the ocean and on the islands, and then from a campaign of heavy bombing. Horus was concerned only with the path between his landing zone and the city of Lupercalia, having no interest in capturing the cities and fortresses of the Northern Oceans.Even so, he did not want his forces outflanked by the armies stationed on Molech's other continents or from its most northern reaches. Starships and atmo~pheric craft both savaged the landscape with their ordnance, filling the sea lanes with wreckage and turning ports into gutted ruins.The Hvitha coastal distribution hub on Aenatep Peninsula, a lynchpin of the intercontinental trade routes, was among the first to be hit. For generations, its sprawling dockyards and towering administration structures had directed Molech's fleets, acting as a last port of call for vessels coming from Ophir or Larsa heading out to the Clockwork City and beyond, or as a first port of call for travellers on their way to Lupercalia.In the span of a few solar hours, this ancient linage was washed away in a storm of flame. Later, Knights and Titans would fight through its flooded and burning streets, as they would across the scarred remains of the once-prosperous region, long after the Warmaster had moved on to new conquests.
House Mamaragon - Notable Knights: Enveloping Tide (Cerastus Knight-Lancer) - This Knight armour, depicted above, was piloted by Scion Yarramanda during the Great Crusade and the opening years of the Horus Heresy. Unfortunately, like many of its fellow Knight armours, it too, fell to the guns of the Traitor Titan Legios during the Battle of Molech.
House Mamaragon - Notable Personnel: Lord Erol Vor Mamaragon - Seneschal of House Mamaragon during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, the leader of this Knight household had a reputation for being monstrously arrogant, possessing a reckless nature and constantly annoying his fellow Nobles from both House Devine and House Donar whenever the opportunity presented itself. He passed on many of these undesirable traits to his offspring and fellow Scions, who often seemed to possess the same insufferable arrogance and reckless overconfidence as their sire.Scion Yarramanda - Pilot of the Cerastus Knight-Lancer Enveloping Tide during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, this Mamaragon Scion was infamous for arrogance even in a household known for its over-developed egos, often hunting the sea beasts of his homeland alone. Striding across the depths, the Enveloping Tide used its increased manoeuvrability to chase down creatures through underwater valleys, often far outpacing any who followed. During the Battle of Molech, Yarramanda attempted to use similar tactics when engaging the Traitor Titan Legions. Separating from the rest of his banner, the Enveloping Tide would dart between ruins in an attempt to surprise any Titan traversing the battlefield. Alone and outmatched, it was Yarramanda's arrogance which proved his downfall, for the beasts of the sea proved poor opponents compared to the might of a Titan.
House Mamaragon - Titan Legios: Legio CruciusLegio FortidusLegio Gryphonicus
House Mamaragon - Space Marine Legions: Blood AngelsUltramarines
House Mamaragon - House Colours: House Mamaragon paint their Knight armourer in a blue-green and light blue colour scheme, evoking the seas and the underwater realm they hunted in and ruled.
House Mamaragon - House Arms: House Mamaragon's arms consisted of a large, black, five-pointed trident with a sea serpent coiled around it.
House Mamaragon - Sources: Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Doom of Molech (Specialty Game), pp. 7-11, 56-57Vengeful Spirit (Novel) by Graham McNeill, Ch. 18
House Manticos - House Manticos: House Manticos was a House of Renegade Knights hailing from the distant Knight World of Adrastapol. While still hiding behind a veneer of loyalty to the Emperor, House Manticos' strength was irreparably shattered when the savage Orks of WAAAGH! Skarjaw descended upon Adrastapol and destroyed most of their keeps. That at least was the tale propagated by the Loyalist Houses in the wake of their victory. In truth, the Ork invasion had uncovered the rot beneath House Manticos' trappings of honour: the taint of Chaos.In secret, some within House Manticos had been worshipping the Ruinous Powers, especially Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways. Upon discovery, the Loyalist Knights purged House Manticos' keeps and blamed the destruction upon the Orks. However, not every member of the House was deemed tainted. In order to survive, these remains of House Manticos entered a close alliance with the most powerful of Adrastapol's knightly households, House Chimaeros. This alliance was later formally sealed by the marriage of the House's ruler, Alicia Kar Manticos, and High King Gerraint Tan Chimaeros.Unknown to the other Houses, the taint had not been eradicated and with one of their priestesses so close to the High King, the dark promises of Chaos slowly began to poison the sovereign's mind before spreading to the entirety of Houses Chimaeros and Wyvorn. The final treachery would occur during the dreadful events surrounding the Donatosian War. Declared reductum hereticum extremis and hunted down by the Loyalist Imperial Knights, House Manticos' strength has now been broken, but some of its members are still being hunted by the merciless Freeblade known as the Knight of Ashes.
House Manticos - House History: Like the other Knight Houses of the Knight World of Adrastapol, the origins of House Manticos are now lost to the dust of ages. It is generally accepted that -- as with most Knight Worlds of the Imperium of Man -- Adrastapol was first colonised during the Age of Technology. However, the only reliable sources confirming this are the memories embedded in the Thrones Mechanicum of the oldest suits of Imperial Knights still in service on Adrastapol. House Manticos was founded at the same time as the other Houses, though it remains unclear which position it held in the complex system of political alliances and rivalries that defined Adrastapol's culture. When eventually the Emperor's Great Crusade reached Adrastapol, House Manticos was formally recognised as an Imperial Knight Household with direct ties to the Imperium of Man rather than to the Adeptus Mechanicus.As was customary in these glorious times when the Emperor and His Primarchs still walked amongst their people, House Manticos contributed troops to the vast armies forging the Imperium, although Imperial archives are curiously void of any reference to their actual contribution to the Great Crusade. This lack of historical sources tends to suggest that the House was not of great import within the gargantuan military hierarchy of the nascent Imperium. If anything, their role seems to have been a secondary one, their glory far outshone by their rivals within House Hydrax and House Medusos. The fact that those two Houses would rebel against the Emperor during the Horus Heresy speaks of a privileged connection to the Traitor Warmaster, Horus Lupercal.
House Manticos - The Roots of Chaos: When the Emperor's most trusted son, the Primarch of the XVI Legion and Warmaster of the Imperium, Horus Lupercal, betrayed his father's trust, he did not do so alone: countless men and women of the Imperial Army, Armada Imperialis, the Legiones Astartes and the Titan Legions followed him into rebellion. On Adrastapol his agents were the Knights of House Hydrax and House Medusos. Led by High King Rhoderic Tan Chimaeros of House Chimaeros, the remaining Knight Houses -- House Draconis, House Minotos, House Wyvorn, House Pegasson and of course House Manticos -- combined their forces to defeat those that would see their homeworld fall to the Traitors. With the destruction of the Renegade Knights, the power balance of Adrastapol was considerably altered. The power vacuum created by the elimination of Houses Hydrax and Medusos created new room for the other Houses to expand -- and new opportunities for the corruption of Chaos to take root.
House Manticos - Broken Remains: It is hard to ascertain what happened to the surviving members of House Manticos in the wake of their defeat on Donatos Primus. While some of them such as Sire Hectour have been confirmed killed in action, it is not impossible that some Renegade Knights still managed to escape Donatos once victory was secured by the Imperium. Alicia Kar Manticos' fate also remains a mystery as no tangible proof of her death was ever discovered. At least one Imperial Knight remains sure that she survived: Luk Kar Chimaeros, now the Freeblade known as the Knight of Ashes, who has vowed to track her down and punish her for the ruination of his House.
House Manticos - Notable House Manticos Knights: Blade Aggressor - Blade Aggressor was the Knight Gallant piloted by Sire Hectour Dar Manticos during the Donatosian War. It is unknown if Blade Aggressor was initially commissioned with House Manticos, before their initial fall from grace or if Sire Hectour was re-issued an existing House Chimaeros Knight after he rallied to High King Gerraint's House. During the Donatosian War, Blade Aggressor fought in most of the great battles of that conflict and was the centrepiece in the devastating ambush at the Adeptus Arbites precinct fortress that narrowly missed slaying the newly-elected High King Danial Tan Draconis. Rejoining his liege, the Knight Gallant led the assault on the principal generatoria bordering the Square of Martyrs in an attempt to crush the resisting Word Bearers Chaos Space Marines that were sheltering there, but was recalled after the Loyalist Adrastapolian Knights entered the fray. With Archduke Dunkan Tan Wyvorn having awakened his House's most powerful war engine and killing indiscriminately every Knight that stood before him, the Traitor Gerraint Kar Adrastapol ordered Sire Hectour and his Lance to kill the mad Archduke before he took a heavy toll on their forces. Outmatched by Dunkan's relic Knight, Blade Aggressor was cut in two by the powerful blasts of the Acastus Knight Porphyrion's Magna Lascannons.
House Manticos - House Appearance: Having lost its independence in the wake of the Ork Wars, the colours and arms of House Manticos had gradually vanished and been supplanted by those of House Chimaeros.
House Manticos - House Colours: The colours of House Manticos have been purged from Imperial records.
House Manticos - House Arms: The arms of House Manticos are absent from Imperial records.
House Medusos - House Medusos: House Medusos was one of the eight Houses of Imperial Knights discovered on the Knight World of Adrastapol. Initially loyal to the Imperium of Mankind, House Medusos chose to renege on its oaths of fealty to the Emperor during the Horus Heresy, openly siding with the Traitor Warmaster Horus Lupercal. Joined in revolt by House Hydrax, the Renegade Knights were destroyed by a great alliance of Adrastapol's remaining Loyalist Knight Houses: House Chimaeros, House Draconis, House Minotos, House Manticos, House Wyvorn and House Pegasson.
House Medusos - Notable Campaigns: All accounts redacted on order of the Inquisition.
House Medusos - Notable Knights: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Medusos - Notable Personnel: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Medusos - House Colours: The colours of House Medusos are not listed in Imperial records and are suspected to have been purged from all known Imperial databases on order of the Inquisition.
House Medusos - House Arms: The arms of House Medusos are not listed in Imperial records, yet if they followed the pattern adopted by the other Knight Houses of Adrastapol, House Medusos' crest bore a variation of the Medusa, a figure of Hellenic mythology from Old Earth itself. Medusa was a mythological women whose hair was composed of snakes whose gaze could turn her enemies to stone.
House Megron - House Megron: House MegronKnight HouseQuestor Imperialis
House Megron - Notable Campaigns: Battle of Tallarn (010-011.M31) - During the Horus Heresy, House Megron took part in the Battle of Tallarn against the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion. Siridar Count Mesucon formed a banner of fifteen Knights and patrolled the southern polar marches of Tallarn in search of enemies.Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Megron took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Megron provided Knight support to the Legio Solaria. 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 Megron - Notable Knights: None listed in current Imperial records.
House Megron - Notable Personnel: Siridar Count Mesucon - Siridar Count Mesucon was a Siridar Count, or Knight Baron, of House Megron who led the House's forces during the Battle of Tallarn.
House Megron - House Colours: The colours of House Megron are silver and white.
House Megron - House Arms: The arms of House Megron are not listed in current Imperial records.
House Minotos - House Minotos: House Minotos is a proud house of Imperial Knights that hails from the Knight World of Adrastapol. Unlike Knight houses of the Questor Mechanicus, House Minotos is aligned with the Imperium of Man directly as a member of the Questor Imperialis, thus escaping the strict requirements of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Sidon Protocols.Immensely proud of its independence and history, House Minotos has always possessed a reputation for great martial skill, and even among the other Knight Houses of Adrastapol it is said that none may match a Minotos Knight in close combat.Despite its fearsome military reputation, House Minotos has always stood in the shadow of the greater Houses such as House Chimaeros and House Draconis, largely as a result of the inhospitable and poorly populated lands House Minotos rules over. Throughout its long and illustrious history, House Minotos has always faithfully served the High King of Adrastapol, although it has never held the title itself.One of the House's hallmarks is custom of waging war to the sound of great Imperial arias which House Minotos Knights will play at full volume through the Vox-speakers of their steeds, sowing fear in the hearts of the enemy and courage in those of their allies. The current ruler of House Minotos is the young Grandmarshal Kurt Tan Minotos, whose father was slain during the infamous Donatos War.Following this lesson in treachery, House Minotos chose to isolate itself from its remaining allies of House Pegasson and House Draconis, an isolation which very nearly sealed the House's fate in the Second Ork War when the Orks of WAAAGH! Killfist overran House Minotos' meager orbital defences and besieged their fortress, the Iron Maze. Had the Knight of Ashes not led a sizable force of House Pegasson Knights and troops to Minotos' rescue, proud House Minotos would likely have gone extinct.Finally seeing the error of his ways, Grandmarshal Kurt pledged his surviving Knights to come to the aid of House Draconis, then beleaguered in their own fortress. In the decisive Siege of the Draconspire, the full wrath of House Minotos fell upon the Orks. The havoc they wreaked upon the Greenskins was enough for the combined might of the Adrastapolian Houses to slay the horde's Warlord and eventually defeat the WAAAGH! that had invaded their homeworld.
House Minotos - House History: As with the other Knight Houses of Adrastapol, the origin of House Minotos is lost to the mists of Imperial history. The only accounts of those long-lost days now reside within the Thrones Mechanicum of the most ancient suits of Knight armour still in service.For most of its long history, House Minotos has enjoyed a reputation for martial excellency, but where the Scions of House Draconis are fierce and those of House Wyvorn were callous, the Knights of House Minotos are both courageous and noble. Together with House Chimaeros, House Draconis, House Manticos and House Pegasson, House Minotos fought and ultimately defeated the Renegade Knights of House Hydrax and House Medusos during the Horus Heresy, thus keeping Adrastapol within the realm of the Emperor.When the Warboss Skarjaw led his Ork WAAAGH! to the Knight World, this ancient alliance of the Knight Houses of Adrastapol was reformed, for even mighty House Minotos could not hope to defeat Skarjaw's savage Greenskins and the towering Squiggoths they brought with them alone. Although House Minotos fought valiantly, the ultimate victory was claimed by House Draconis, whose Knights managed to slay Skarjaw and his personal guard, putting an end to the invasion.Yet the feral descendants of Skarjaw's horde proliferated across Adrastapol, giving way to what was later called the Ork Wars -- conflicts that House Minotos prosecuted with its customary zeal. It is commonly believed that it was during the Ork Wars that House Minotos developed its tradition of charging the foe to the sound of great Imperial arias, each Knight of the House blasting classic masterpieces from its built-in speaker systems to sow fear in the hearts of their enemies. The bombastic Imperial music proved as invigorating for the Nobles of House Minotos as it was debilitating to their enemies.Given its reputation, House Minotos has been at the forefront of every battle and war launched by the Noble scions of Adrastapol, including the Galhorm Crusade in whose wake the crown of the high king passed from House Chimaeros to House Draconis.Attrition levels in this particular campaign proved to be high, but House Minotos still had the numbers and resources to cope. As a firm friendship developed between the new High King Tolwyn Tan Draconis and the ruler of House Minotos, Grandmarshal Gustev Tan Minotos, both Houses became staunch allies.A wise ruler, High King Tolwyn sought the support of the other Houses, elevating House Minotos alongside House Chimaeros and his own House into a central, ruling triumvirate that dominated the alliance formed by Adrastapol's knightly Houses.
House Minotos - A Lesson in Treachery: More perhaps than other Houses, the Nobles of House Minotos were enthusiastic when news reached Adrastapol that the Imperium had ordered High King Tolwyn to launch the reconquest of the rebellious world of Donatos Primus, thus sparking what would quickly become known as the Donatos War.Having secured a bridgehead and forced the enemy back to its central stronghold, it seemed that the Imperium would soon achieve victory. Unfortunately, during that fateful first attack on the Valle Electrum, House Minotos and its allies were betrayed by House Chimaeros and House Wyvorn, which were secretly in league with the dark powers of Chaos.Severely diminished, House Minotos was barely able to disengage from the battle they had so eagerly sought, losing many scions and their mechanical steeds to the enemy's guns, a retreat that was further saddened by the death of High King Tolwyn Tan Draconis and the disappearance of Marchioness Lauret Tan Pegasson.As sole survivor of the ruling elite of Adrastapol, Grandmarshal Gustev Tan Minotos honoured Asrastapol's ancestral traditions and recognised the claim of Tolwyn's son, Danial Tan Draconis, to the title of High King. Knowing full well that unity was required more than ever, Grandmarshal Gustev took it upon himself to reassure the other military leaders of the Imperial war effort by renewing House Minotos' oath of fealty to the Imperium.The gallant Grandmarshal was slain during another cowardly ambush unleashed by House Chimaeros, even if the ultimate survivors of House Minotos followed High King Danial to ultimate victory. In the wake of the Donatos Uprising and the terrible casualties suffered on that world, the rule of House Minotos fell to Gustev's son, Kurt Tan Minotos, who had yet to pass his Ritual of Becoming.
House Minotos - A Bright New Future: While House Minotos is still recovering from the losses suffered in the Second Ork War, the House has been fully accepted back into the fold of the Adrastapolian Knight Houses. After embracing High King Danial's new vision for Adrastapol, Grandmarshal Kurt Tan Minotos has pledged the mineral wealth of the Minothane lands to the reconstruction of Adrastapol and the improvement of its defences. Although the ultimate survivors of WAAAGH! Killfist still need to be hunted down, House Minotos' gaze is already fixed on its future.While rumour has it that High King Danial and much of House Draconis are already preparing to join the Knight of Ashes on his hunt for the Traitor Alicia Kar Manticos -- a venture that is on the cusp of becoming a full-fledged Imperial Crusade -- House Minotos' position on this matter remains unclear.
House Minotos - House Minotos Territories: The lands of House Minotos are a harsh swathe of the southern region of Adrastapol's primary inhabited continent. At their heart lie the mineral-rich Kulrikh Peaks. At their base, House Minotos established its first and principal fortress, the Iron Maze. A fair distance away stands the city of Minosaal, the largest urban settlement in Minotos lands. Reasonably fertile plains called the Ironfields surround both city and fortress.The recurrence of the term "Iron" in names and titles also indicates the main source of House Minotos' wealth -- the mining of ferric ores. Much of House Minotos' lands are rocky plains with the more fertile areas given over to agriplexes. Even here, rich veins of various minerals are harvested in large crater-mines, an activity that explains the muscular stock of House Minotos' serf class as well as the spirit of self-reliance so common within House Minotos.Whereas the lands of the other Knight Houses have changed greatly since the ascension of High King Danial Tan Draconis, the Grandmarshals of House Minotos have always abhorred change and take great pride in their ancestral ways and millennia-old traditions.For instance, House Minotos Knights are the only Adrastapolian Nobles still to wear antique suits of armour in lieu of the un-armoured bodygloves favoured by other Houses. The Knights' strength and resilience are perhaps best illustrated by House Minotos' traditional and ceremonial drink, Kulrikh sourwine, a highly acid and sour vintage one must drink without flinching.
House Minotos - The Iron Maze: The Iron Maze is the ancestral home of House Minotos, a vast fortress that shared many similarities with the now-razed Chimaerkeep. Its redoubts and firing lanes are spread out over a large area to form a defence in depth, hence the fortress' common nickname -- "the Labyrinth."The Iron Maze's complex design aims to confuse and disorientate enemies, luring them deeper inside the maze where concealed killing zones will allow the Maze's defenders to catch their opponents in multiple crossfires. The Iron Maze is the largest military structure on Adrastapol and covers more than thirty Terran square miles.Located at the foot of the Kulrikh Peaks, the rear of the Iron Maze is protected by sheer cliffs which make it impossible to outflank, forcing the enemy into the narrow passages leading directly into the defenders' guns. Before the Second Ork War, no enemy had succeeded in breaching the labyrinthine complex of bastions, sub-fortresses and keeps that form the Iron Maze. Even the Orks only conquered the central portion of the fortress while the more heavily defended flanks continued to hold out against the enemy until the House Pegasson relief force arrived.
House Minotos - Notable House Minotos Knights: Gustev’s Revenge - Gustev’s Revenge is the heavily customised Knight Gallant piloted by Grandmarshal Kurt Tan Minotos, the current ruler of House Minotos. The Knight's name is a clear reference to Kurt's father and his ignominious death on Donatos Primus. Gustev’s Revenge’s brutal design epitomizes House Minotos' mastery of close quarters combat. Its main weapon arm features a Knight-sized replica of the Minothane Warhammer commonly worn by House Minotos' Nobles, while its other arm is equipped with a massive shield of pure Adamantium. Kurt's steed also benefits from limited capacities at range through the deployment of carapace-mounted Twin-linked Melta Cannons like the ones found on the Imperial Devil Dog.Merciless - Badly damaged in the ambush struck at the Adeptus Arbites precinct fortress, the Merciless had to be abandoned, the meagre resources of the remaining Loyalists not enough to ensure that Merciless would walk again. It is unclear if Merciless’s wreck was salvaged after the end of the hostilities on Donatos.Song of Strength - Little is known of Song of Strength except that it used to be piloted by Sire Federich Dar Minotos. Like so many of its kin, Song of Strength was lost in the final Loyalist offensive during the Donatos Uprising.Thunderclap - One of the many Knight Gallants in service to House Minotos, Thunderclap used to be the Knight armour piloted by Sire Jeremial Dar Minotos, one of the House's most fearsome warriors. Surviving the initial Traitor onslaught on Donatos Primus, Thunderclap was lost in an artfully laid-trap by the Renegades of House Chimaeros. Standing too close to Thunderhymn, Thunderclap was immediately attacked by the giant Chaos Spawn the once noble Knight had been transformed into, the beast's many tentacles and other strange appendages preventing Thunderclap from fleeing the wave of debris that destroyed the Adeptus Arbites precinct fortress where a portion of House Chimaeros' strength had been cornered by the Loyalist Knights of Adrastapol. Unfortunately for House Minotos, Thunderclap’s Throne Mechanicum could not be retrieved.Thunderhymn - Thunderhymn was an ancient and revered Knight Crusader that served as the personal steed of Grandmarshal Gustev Tan Minotos until it was lost during the fateful Donatos Uprising. For such a sacred item of the Cult Mechanicus, Thunderhymn suffered a fate worse than mere death, its entire mass -- including its pilot -- being transformed into a hideous Chaos Spawn of never before seen proportions by the baleful spell of the Tzeentchian witch, Alicia Kar Manticos.
House Minotos - House Strength: Before the disastrous turn of events during the Donatos Uprising, House Minotos was commonly considered the strongest of all the Knight Houses of Adrastapol, the individual might of its scions and Nobles even compensating for the greater numbers of Houses Draconis and Chimaeros. Conservative estimates indicate that House Minotos' ranks originally included approximately 100 suits of Knight armour, though many of these were lost during the conflict on Donatos Primus, leaving less than a dozen Knights to return to their homeworld.Like the other Houses, the vast majority of House Minotos' Knights are of the Paladin pattern, with only a few of the other patterns of Knight suits still in use. Of the Paladin's many variants, the Knight Crusader and the Knight Gallant were the most common, the latter being particularly valued as its capabilities allowed the scions of House Minotos to make the best use of their expertise in melee combat.
House Minotos - House Appearance: In stark contrast to the other Nobles of Adrastapol, House Minotos has consciously preserved its ancestral traditions. Unlike more progressive Houses such as House Pegasson, House Minotos vehemently refuses to allow its female Nobles to ride into battle piloting a Knight suit. In a crowd of Adrastapolian Nobles, the scions of House Minotos will always stand out, as their baroque traditions demand that their Knights incorporate elements of plate armour, making them appear very much like giant knights from Terra's ancient medieval period. The male Nobles of the House's higher ranks also favour wearing great, waxed moustaches.More than any other Knight House of their world, House Minotos values individual physical strength, even when not sitting on their Knight's Throne Mechanicum. As a result, a Knight from House Minotos will be notably more muscular and physically fit than the scion of another House. The physical prowess and fitness of Minotos Nobles surpasses that seen among the infantry Guardsmen of most Astra Militarum regiments as they frequently engage in different forms of ritualistic combat. As fierce as their reputation is on the battlefield, the scions of this House have an equally fierce reputation for debauchery in the dining halls and banquets that usually follow an Imperial victory. Once sufficiently inebriated, a Minotos Knight will boast for solar hours about the many victories he has won. This boorish behaviour has sometimes led other Knight Houses to frown upon House Minotos and their lack of decorum and self-control.
House Minotos - House Colours: The colours of House Minotos are orange and brass, with black usually worn as a complement.
House Minotos - House Arms: The arms of House Minotos display the great bull-head of the minotos, or minotaur in the ancient languages of Old Earth.
House Minotos - Signature Weapon: Where all of the other Nobles of Adrastapol favour the sword, House Minotos prefers the brutal efficiency of the warhammer. The great Minothane warhammer is a ponderous, heavy weapon which requires great strength to wield, hence the focus on physical strength within House Minotos' ranks. While its detractors often argue that it takes little skill to master, the Nobles of House Minotos have elevated the use of a warhammer to an effective and utterly deadly art that focuses as much on the defence of the hammer's wielder as it does upon smashing through an enemy's guard with sheer, brute force. The skill required to effectively wield the Minotosian warhammer is the opposite, for example, of the great dexterity and concentration used by the swordsmen skilled with the elegant Pegassia rapier. Sturdier than the signature weapons of the other Houses of Adrastapol, a Knight of House Minotos can wait for his enemy to become tired and make a mistake, trusting that his warhammer can end the fight or break his enemy's weapon with but a single, well-timed strike.