Editing Knight Houses (Hektor Heresy) (section)

==House Kazak==

{{Infobox 30k Knights
|Title = The Suzerian Mechanicum House of Kazak
|Image = [[File:Kazak_Paladin.jpg|250px|]]
|Grade = Secundus
|Patent = Sidon Protocols sworn with the [[Kyuw]] Mechanicum in early M29, Pre-Imperial
|Domain = Nyeper III, [[Rosskar]]
|Cognomen = 
|Allies = Oathbound to the [[Silver Cataphracts|XXIII Legion]], Sworn Warriors of Forgeworld Kyuw

|Loyalty = Fidelitas Constantus
|bgcolor = #000080
|fgcolor = #C32148
}}

Proud warriors whose actions burned bright, as if to spite the cold world they hailed from, the Knights of Kazak were one of the most unusual Knight Households ever to wear the Opus Machina. Relocated from their original homeworld to that of their sworn Legion, the Knights of Kazak would be at the forefront of the war which would all but destroy both them and their new domain.

Kazak were unusual in many ways, staring with their original homeworld. Nyeper was a world dominated by large stretches of freezing plains, only broken up by the occasional glacier or hut. It was a cold, empty world where no mega-Xenos-fauna challenged the Knights, nor did invaders from beyond the stars threaten their skies in the early centuries. The Knights of this house were without challenge or rival upon Nyeper, which created stagnation for centuries. The warrior’s spirit that all Knight Households shared, while remaining strong, was blunted due to the endless inactivity and tensions slowly grew within the Household between different noble families jostling over power and status. Had not the Mechanicum come when they did, it is theorized that fratricidal bloodshed would have consumed the House.

However things changed when the recently founded Forgeworld of [[Kyuw]], which had been standing for barely a few hundred years stumbled upon Nyepar and swiftly moved to bind the Knights to their Forge, a process that was never entirely successful. Kyuw was militarily too weak at the time to force the Knights to their knees and the Sidon Protocols sworn by the Household overall favoured the Knights much to the distaste of the Kyuw Mechanicum, though they could take comfort in how the Knights swiftly adopted the beliefs of the Mechanicum and soon became highly zealous in their veneration of the Machine God of [[Mars (Hektor Heresy)|Mars]].

The union of Nyepar and Kyuw coincided with a massive upsurge in violence at a time when the Warpstorms in the region temporarily dissipated and various Xeno Foes including Eldar, Ork and other beings that took advantage of the lull to move, hunt and war with each other. And the new Forgeworld with its client Knight Household was a tempting target. For a short time the Knights found War aplenty, defending the slowly growing domains of Kyuw from xenos raiders, human pirates and other forces and then bringing war to the strongholds of those foes, extinguishing them one by one. The Household grew thanks to Kyuw’s manufactorums and became more powerful than it had ever been in the past and covered itself in glory the likes of which had been denied to them in the past, but as Kyuw’s own Titan legion was founded it swiftly took over those roles and the Knights of Kazak were relegated to a reserve force. This act only angered the Knights of Kazak further. Their martial pride and honour demanded constant challenge and change, which Kyuw had given but too little of. But they could not stand against the Titans of Kyuw and both their Nobles and their Sacristans were fully fledged members of the Martian Cult who would not brook any challenging of the new order. So the Knights chafed, but did not raise protest. The Machine God would provide.

When the Imperium came upon Kyuw and it willingly joined with Mars, so Nyepar was also brought into the fold. It was now that the benefits of the Sidon Protocols became clear. The Knights of Kazak had won for themselves many concessions in the past, most notably the right to field Ordo Questoris forces, which many swiftly did, joining the hundreds of other Knight Households fighting for the Emperor in the stars.

It was during this time that several Knight Households found themselves fighting alongside the XXIII Legion, at this time still without their Primarch and they were present when Rosskar was found and brought into the Imperial fold. It is reported that the Primarch Alexandri was highly impressed by the Knights of Kazak and requested that they remain a part of his forces. Furthermore he extended an invitation for the Knights to establish a Holdfast on his Homeworld. Alexandri also met with the representatives of Kyuw who were travelling with their bonded Knights, and contracted them to help grow the foundries on Rosskar to arm and fuel his Legion, establishing a vassal domain of Kyuw upon Rosskar Itself beneath the Urachen Mountains. In exchange Kyuw would become the main supply forge for the Legion and would gain the protection of Alexandri and his Legion.

Upon landing on The Regent's homeworld, the Knights of Kazak found themselves taken with it. To them it was filled with all that which their world lacked, mighty beasts to challenge, the promise of war and glory beyond the stars, and yet though more habitable it was the same basic climate and weather as Nyeper. The link with the Legion also further weakened the bond between the Knights of Kazak and the Kyuw Mechanicum, though that bond was never fully severed by either side and the badge of the Kyuw Mechanicum was still worn proudly by the Knights of Kazak alongside their new emblem, the ancient Rosskan symbol for 'Great Hunter' bestowed upon them by Primarch Alexandri augmented with the Cog of Mars.

The Holdfast of the Knights of Kazak on Rosskar soon grew until it rivalled the stronghold on Nyeper, and then surpassed it. By the time of the Heresy, Nyeper was only sparsely garrisoned with the bulk of Kazak’s strength either deployed on Rosskar or else spread among the dozens of Questoris forces and Kyuw Taghmatas fighting across the Imperium. It was those deployed on Rosskar who would soon face the full might of the Traitor forces as Hektor’s baleful gaze fell upon the homeworld of the Silver Cataphracts and the Knights of Kazak faced their greatest challenge.

===Matériel Strength===
The Knights of Kazak were never poor on Knight Armours, and at the time of their incorporation into the Imperium could boast nearly two hundred fully equipped Knights thanks to the output of Kyuw along with plentiful retainer troops of the Household. By the time of the Heresy that number would swell to near on three hundred. Of those over half were attached to various Silver Cataphract forces including the Primarch’s own Expeditionary Fleet. A further quarter were supporting various Mechanicum Taghmata forces from their sworn Forgeworld of Kyuw, leaving just over seventy Knights on both Rosskar and Nyepar to face the coming storm.

House Kazak universally favoured Knights specialised in close quarters combat like the Knight Lancer and the Knight Errant, both of which were optimised for rapid assaults, getting involved in and out of combat quickly, efficiently, and swiftly. Other knights were present, but rarer. Kazak, as a Mechanicum Household had stockpiles of the Maegaera and Stryx, used by veteran linebreaker Knights to follow up the Lancers and Errants and complete the destruction of the foe.