Editing House Castus

{{/tg/-Heresy-Head}}

[[File:House Castus sigil.jpg|250px|thumb|Sigil of House Castus]]  
'''House Castus''' is a Former [[Knight Houses (Hektor Heresy)|Imperial Knight House]] that worships Khorne. Their sigil is a skull with an axe buried in it and their colors are red and purple. Members of the warband are easily recognized by the patchwork colors of their Knight's armor. This is not due to any lack of parts but their tendency to take trophies from worthy foes. They do not take skulls,preferring instead to tear large swathes of skin from defeated opponents. Some of the older knights can be mistaken as living animals from a distance they are so covered in trophies. It was this habit that led to them falling to Khorne; they fought and defeated a Khornate war band and took many trophies from their defeated foes. These tainted artifacts quickly turned the noble house into something truly monstrous; they massacred their servants and the population of the forge world they were sworn to and set out to ravage the galaxy. They were eventually dealt a crippling defeat by the Imperium causing them to flee to the Eye of Terror. From their new base on the Daemon Forge World of Hekatonkheires, they fight alongside The Beholders of The Void under the command of the Chaos Lord Teutates.

=Important Individuals=

Anatolia Tovarish: The leader of House Castus, she was the first of her house to fall to Khorne due to the influence of her greatest trophy; the skin of a Daemon Prince of Khorne. She worships Khorne as an honorable warrior, while she will engage in wholesale slaughter what she truly lives for are skilled opponents to defeat and add to her trophies. Anatolia is supposedly subordinate to Teutates but in actuality they are more akin to equals, she will follow his orders as he is an excellent strategist, but they both know that if he tried to force her to obey there would be blood. One of the three architects of the Great Revenge

Nerzog Klanski: Once one of the more influential members of House Castus, as the years went by the original members of House Castus began to fall in battle, to replace them the Dark Mechanicus began to grow children from the dna of the original members so that the children could pilot the Knights when their time came. These children, raised on the world of Hekatonkheires were largely separate from the Houses' Culture. They still took trophies, but they focused more on the number of kills and not the quality. The leader of this ever growing faction was Nerzog, to the point that he was planning a coup d'etat against Anatolia. After the Great Revenge, his support all but crumbled leaving him a n outcast.

Ivan:Perhaps the most unusual member of House Castus in that he is not a knight pilot. After House Castus slaughtered their servants and peasants they left one man alive. Ivan was the bard of House Castus and composed many epics about their glory in battle, now he is Anatolia's skjalld spreading fame of her glory across the Eye. His work was instrumental to the Great Revenge.

Teutates: Once a captain in the [[Heralds of Hektor]], after his primarch died and his legion split, he wasted no time in gathering together Marines loyal to him and creating the Beholders of the Void. He has a fondness of using massive hordes of cultists to wear down his opponents and keep them exactly where he wants him. His strategic talent and logistical abilities were crucial in planning the Great Revenge.


=History=

==The Fall==

Once House Castus was an honorable force for good, they defended their planets and people with all their might. Their home world was dominated by large predators resembling  Komodo Dragons. These creatures were extremely vicious with sharp claws and venomous fangs, but their greatest strength was their skin. The skin was capable of resisting assaults from the Knights chain swords, while being considerably lighter then the war-machines own armor. As such when one of the beasts was killed the Knight that slew it would tear off a piece of the beasts skin and have it attached to his machine. Over the centuries this grew into the belief that the strength of the trophies became a part of the knights own, leading to them to actively seek out worthy opponents. When their forge world sent out a call for aid the house jumped at the opportunity for a full fledged war.  Unfortunately for House Castus, and the galaxy as a whole, the foes were not simple raiders; but a Khornate war band. Despite the blessings of their god and their vicious ferocity the war initially did not favor the forces of Chaos. Under their leader, Anatolia Tovarish, the knights outmaneuvered and out fought the Space Marine's and their legions of slaves at every turn. When their victory seemed certain the leader of the war band, a twisted creature known only as The Flayer, unleashed his trump card; a daemon prince of Khorne named Golgotha. The tide rapidly turned against the defenders, everywhere the demon appeared he slaughtered the Mechanicus forces wholesale.

[[File:Castus knight.jpg|250px|thumb|left]]
Eventually only one stronghold of the Machine Cult remained; a massive fortress carved into a mountain chain and defended by an innumerable horde of skitarii. The defenders had all lost hope, the Tech priests even began destroying their treasured secrets determined that the cultists would not defile them. Only one still had hope, Anatolia, she gathered together the remaining fifteen of her knights and explained her plan. She had observed the forces the enemy had arrayed against them and she had noticed something; there were almost no chaos space marines left alive. Even the Flayer had been slain by a knight in a previous battle, his chest piece now rested on that knights back. Anatolia explained that if Golgotha was slain then all they would have to face would be cultists, easily slain cultists. Her loyal soldiers easily pointed out the flaw in her plan; slaying Golgotha would be far easier said then done. She brushed off their concerns, simply telling them that glory awaited them.

The day of the battle Golgotha, his voice screaming threats and insults, charged ahead of his army slaughtering all who stood in his path. He smashed the great gate of the fortress and charged toward its heart. It was here, just outside of the Magos's last sanctuary that House Castus revealed it's plan. The ten greatest fighters of House Castus appeared and challenged him. The battle lasted for hours. In the end the only god-machine left standing was Anatolia's Baron, armed only with a power sword. Golgotha smashed Anatolia to the ground and then turned upon her fallen compatriots, slaughtering two of them while her knight struggled to get up. Then axe dripping
with the blood of her comrades and mocked her, claiming that she stood alone. With speeds beyond the limits of her Knight she chopped his arm off, replying "You blind monster, I have the hundreds of enemies that this machine has triumphed over fighting alongside me. You fight alongside no one." With these final words she chopped of his head and tore a massive swath of the daemons chest. Ending the battle but setting House Castus on the road to damnation.

==The Great Revenge==

{{/tg/-Heresy-Knights}}