Knight Houses (Hektor Heresy)
This page details people, events, and organisations from the /tg/ Heresy, a fan re-working of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe.
Imperial Knights are the inheritors of an ancient warrior tradition. They fight in heavily armed combat walkers nine to twelve metres tall.
Knight Households are feudal organisations of these warriors, dominated by the ideals of fealty, honour, and duty. Many are associated with Forge Worlds and owe their fealty to the Adeptus Mechanicus, though there are others sworn directly to the Golden Throne of Terra - or to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos.
Imperial Knights
House Accolon
‘As he stood upon the battlefield, axe-blade raised high,
Behind the aegis of his shield roared defiance to the sky.
Tell thy brothers, near and far, of the blood and fire of war,
That on this day did Byrhtnoth’s fate, by the shield bore.’
(Laid of Dux Byrhtnoth ‘The Shieldbearer’, Knight of Accolon.)
The Knights of House Accolon have a long and hallowed history among the ranks of the Knight Households of the Imperium. They fought in the Siege of the Throneworld, and their King and Liege Lord entered the halls of Legend for her part in the Siege, being granted the eternal title 'The Sabre of Terra', by the hand of the Emperor's Praetorian and becoming a saint in the Imperial Cult. Loyalty is everything to the Lords of Accolon: loyalty to each other, to their liege lords, to their house, to their ancestors, to the memory of their King and the Throne of Terra she died to defend. That loyalty has endured everything a cruel galaxy can throw at it, and it merely grows stronger the more adversity threatens.
The Cold Heaths of Cattegirn
Cattegirn is an old world, trapped in a time well before man left Terra. The planet is far from its blue star, and much of it is bound up in great ice caps. The habitable lands between the northern ice cap and the equatorial sea are covered in great windswept moors and mighty forests. Life is hard and short, which suits the lords of Accolon. They refused any improvements to the lives they life from the Mechanicum, for the ways of the past preserved them through old night and were the ways their King once fought to defend, and make them a formidable foe to face.
The vast areas of uninhabited forests, heaths and fells are home to many creatures, from the great Wyrms that prey on the shaggy Elkens the people of Cattegirn farm, to the mighty Corvens of the icy seas, all of which provide many foes for the Knights to kill.
The people of Cattegirn are known as the Seaxe, named after the long daggers they use. Their culture is harsh, based on the blood feud and punishment by ordeal. Some feuds have lasted centuries, being passed down generation by generation. The plunder from this is the glue of loyalty, and loyalty means everything to the Seaxe.
Many separate petty kingdoms exist on Cattegirn, jostling for land and wealth. The once-true Kingdom of all Cattegirn fell apart after the Heresy when the King died, and the surviving Dux of Accolon left things the way they were. This endless conflict keeps the nobles of Accolon sharp and skilled for when they must leave Cattegirn to ride beyond the stars. All of these wars and conflicts are fight in the ancient matter of pre-industrial Terra, with sword, axe and round shield.
The community of Cattegirn is a rural one, where primarily all classes of society live on the land. At the top of the social system are the royal houses of each of the Kingdoms. Very few of the Kings are also Knights, though many of their sons are, and they are mindful of the call from the Great Hall of Accolon. Below the kings are the eoldermen, the ruling nobility who provide most of the Knights. All Knights are sworn to their House before any King or Lord, and when the muster to war comes, all other pursuits are abandoned. It is known for entire wars to suddenly cease as nobles from across the kingdoms leave Cattegirn to ride in the stars.
Livery Of House Accolon
The overcast, rain-sodden skies of Cattegirn only rarely clear to reveal the deep blue colour that the Knights have taken as their own. This blue is trimmed with silver, the colour of the rare sunlight that reaches the surface and white, the colour of the breeze-pushed clouds.
Each individual Knight of Accolon will add personal marking to his Knight, including campaign markings, army badges, Space Marine Chapter symbols and other such emblems as a sign of the many battles that Knight has fought and the loyalty shown to the allies that a Knight has fought alongside. The more markings a Knight has, the greater their standing is and the more they are respected.
The Dux Bellorum of the Household, in addition to his own heraldry bears the markings of the hallowed once and future king of Cattegirn, Arturia Eld, to show that he is the chosen castellan who will guide the Household in her absence until her return at the end times.
House Kazak
House Goda
The planet of Goda in the Calenth Sector is home to hundreds of clans, but only the most powerful of them possess Knights. The seven great clans collectively form House Goda, a host of vicious combatants equipped with close-range weapons and marked by scars from ancient battles. The Knights of Goda are well-known for their independence, pragmatism, and violent fighting style, although also for their isolationism and constant in-fighting.
House Goda is notable for having eight knightly fortresses, situates across six continents, each occupied by a different great clan (except the Bakatsu Clan, which possesses two fortresses on opposite sides of a canyon). Following the Hektor Heresy, these knightly fortresses evolved into fortress-cities, centers of government and industry where the bulk of the planet's Adepts (Arbitrators, Sisters, techpriests, etc) are located.
Chaos Knights
House Castus
KHORNE KNIGHTS RULE!