Knights-Errant

The Knight-Errant are/were a group of Space Marines brought together from various different Legions at the behest of Malcador the Sigillite in order to create a cadre of the best and brightest that the space marines had to offer, and use them to form a new Chapter to combat the threat of daemons and dark magic that the Imperium was not prepared to fight against, due to the erasure of all knowledge of them as part of the Imperial Truth. Members of the Traitor Legions which refused to follow their Primarchs into corruption, made up a surprisingly large part of their number. Having proven themselves truly pure and strong of spirit in the face of absolute corruption and despair, the Knights-Errant offered these legion-less marines, a new purpose, away from the taint of their old Legions.

There is evidence for them being the forerunners of Grey Knights. Despite what we think we know of the original Grey Knights and that eight of the initial recruits would become the first Grand Masters of the new chapters, those that initially joined the first member, Nathaniel Garro, were not necessarily destined to become Grey Knights themselves. Author James Swallow has come out and said as much himself in an interview. In any case, most of these Knights would not survive the Horus Heresy anyway, but it's worth knowing that these guys possessed a very special and believable type of awesome (unlike this guy), and loads of it.

Known Members

Nathaniel Garro

Death Guard Captain of the Eisenstein. The first member. The guy who fled the massacre at Istvaan III and managed to bring word of the Horus Heresy to the Imperium, thanks to his honor-brother, and a very cool guy, Saul Tarvitz of the Emperor's Children. On the way there, he also became the first of the Loyalists to encounter what would later be known as the Plague Marines, as the corpses of his traitorous legion-brothers came back to life as they traveled through the warp.

Given rules as part of the lead-up to HH Book 6 'Retribution', Garro can be a trolltastic addition to an army. He's built up as a challenge character, earning double combat resolution scores and gaining a 3+ invulnerable save. Despite this, he's not a combat monster, as Libertas is only a two-handed blade with AP3, despite having Rending. However, Garro's Death Guard resilience shows through, having Eternal Warrior AND the chance to get back from death the first time he kicks the bucket during battle.

Garviel Loken

Captain of the Luna Wolves 10th Company, who is very much the protagonist of the first trilogy of Horus Heresy novels. He was known for being able to think independently and rationally, as well as being exceptionally humane for an Astartes. A true stoic and a principle person, as well as a bad-ass. Was thought dead after the planet he was on was bombed with virus- and then fire bombs, surviving a 3 month siege by 4 traitor legions and a warlord titan, after being defeated by Abaddon in a duel and after having a building collapse on him, trapping him in the rubble, while the planet was being bombed into dust for a second time, this time with cyclone bombs. But NOPE! When Nathaniel Garro first discovered him, survivor's guilt and distrust had driven him half mad and he was convinced he was the only Loyalist left alive in the Imperium. Calling himself Cerberus, due to an inability to remember his own name, he then forced a reign of terror upon the totally dead, but reanimated population (read: Plague Zombies) of Isstvan III. Was supposedly the final member that Garro would recruit according to Malcador, although other members were inducted after Loken himself.

His major highlights include:

• Being a member of the Mournival: the four advisors of Horus Lupercal, along with Abaddon, Tarik Torggadon, and "Little Horus" Aximand.
• Hilariously making Lucius his bitch in a duel, pointing out beforehand, that the duel would not be about their skill in blades. As he saw Lucius make the first move, he dropped his sword and in one stroke won the duel, by breaking that arrogant prick's nose into smithereens with a single punch, ruining Lucius' "perfect" face and by making the first mark upon it. This trick was later over-exaggeratedly used again, by Saul Tarvitz.
• Fighting Abaddon himself on Isstvan III.
• Making Kharn his side bitch by going toe to toe with him and then impaling the dude on the dozer blades of an advancing spikey land raider. What a fucking savage.
• Killing a Dark Angel on Caliban and quite possibly throwing a lit match on the whole Fallen powder keg. (Err, not quite- Qruze killed the guy and Loken pointed out the powder keg issue).
• Possibly being a founding member of the Grey Knights.
• Giving Horus and an overwhelming majority of his traitor legion a virtual bitch-slap by turning his back on them when he asked to join the rebellion.

Formerly the only member with tabletop rules in Horus Heresy, though that's his pre-Knight status, when he is a Legion Praetor character with Initiative 6 and a Paragon Blade, with the ability to get back from the dead once per game. Strangely he's the only Praetor with Power Armour (Sevatar, Ophion) rather than the standard issue Artificer Armour as the typical attire for Praetors, though he does get an Iron Halo which usually has to be bought for extra dough.

We've yet to see Loken as a Knight Errant, but no doubt Forgeworld will just take his original rules and slap on the option to upgrade to the generic "Knight Errant" rules for a few points in an updated list.

Tylos Rubio

An Ultramarines Librarian who was the first member to be inducted by Garro. He was recruited in the midst of the Battle of Calth. Rubio would essentially become the Garro's second in command for several missions, and got his own job of travelling to Baal to collect all of the wargear of the Blood Angels (to give to the future Grey Knights) when everyone thought Sanguinius had fallen at Signus.

Rubio is one of the more powerful/reliable psykers on the tabletop of his era (which isn't hard as his primary competition is generic Librarians or special characters with "repressed" abilities). So compared to a Librarian, he's a ML2 psyker who can reroll failed Psychic tests when manifesting Divination powers, meaning he's practically guaranteed to cast. He's also no slouch in combat either, with Init 5 stock and can invest his warp charges into his Force Sword granting +1 Strength for each charge not spent on a power, meaning he can quite happily smack a bitch, although only at AP3 since its still just a sword.

The Nemean Reaver

His real name is unknown, but it is widely suspected (and also confirmed by statements from himself) that he was a Dark Angel. Heavily injured in the Rangdan Xenocides, he is supposed to be a mess of scar tissue and Rage. Was the head of his own Blackshield fleet made up of dispossessed legionaries called the "Dark Brotherhood" until he was approached by Garro for recruitment, a meeting which the Alpha Legion did their best to foul up.

On the tabletop he's probably one of the higher tier challenge characters out there (not counting Primarchs), coming runner up to Sigismund in lethality but is superior in terms of survivability. He's got Toughness 5, Eternal Warrior, Adamantium Will, 2+/4+ saves and rerolls failed saves against Blast or Template weapons. He also has a S+1 AP2 sword which inflicts -1 WS to enemies in a challenge and strikes at initiative. He also causes Fear and is Fearless, meaning he can't be overrun and has a chance of just trolling generic legionaries who are not immune to fear.

There are two versions of him, representing him as the commander of the Dark Brotherhood in a Blackshields army, or can be taken by any Loyalist force if you upgrade to Knight-Errant, making him even deadlier in a challenge with Preferred Enemy (Traitors).

Trivia: Both his name and his armour are allusions to lions, which is no surprise given his supposed heritage. The Nemean Lion was slain as the first of the twelve labours of Heracles, while the pelt of the Cithaeron Lion was worn by Heracles and was said to be impervious, which accounts for the sheer number of benefits granted by his Kithaeron warplate.

Others

• Macer Varren - A World Eaters Captain who was one of a group of loyalist refugees that fled to the Terran Solar system, a cockney-marine and an utter badass. Surprisingly level-headed for someone with the Butcher's Nails jammed into his brain.

• Sevarian (The Wolf) - Not a Space Wolf, though artwork portrays him to look similar to one, but a Luna Wolf. He was a member of the Crusader Host (basically Space Marine Ambassadors to Terra) but was imprisoned on Terra with all bar the Imperial Fists due to suspicion. He broke out of prison and was brought back into the fold by the Samurai (not kidding) Nasagena. He is a latent psyker whose powers were unlocked by Magnus' psychic message that broke the Golden Throne, though Malcador explains it such that Sevarian uses them so instinctually that he does not know he has them, which makes him unique.
  • Sevarian was also an early addition to the Knights-Errant, being recruited by Malcador directly about two years into the Heresy, but was recruited before Rubio since it was Sevarian's psychic abilities which that identified other potential candidates for recruitment, giving Garro a list of twenty names to find.

• Bror Tyrfinger - An actual Space Wolf. His name translates to "Brother Bullfinger" in danish, so that's at least something. Tyrfing is also a name of the sword made by dwarves in the legend of Tyrfing. It was said that due to this it could never rust, dull or miss; but it also carried a curse of having to kill a man each time it was drawn.

• Ares Voitek - Iron Hands Techmarine. Also knows how to whip up alcohol on the fly. Even Dorn gets in on it.

• Fel Zharost - A Night Lords Chief Librarian who, was exiled by Sevatar after the Edict of Nikaea mostly because no-one could be bothered to care about the Librarius except Zharost himself. He somehow fled to Terra and was eventually collected for induction into the Knights-Errant.

• Vardas Ison - A Librarian, assumed Blood Angels.

• Theodor Ruttveld - A Space Wolf, was assigned to watch over Konrad Curze and ensure that the Edict of Nikaea was obeyed. Heavily maimed by Curze and delivered to Terra as a message. It is uncertain if he is to become a Knight-Errant though he he kept alive on the Sigillite's Authority and it is made clear that he it to be kept as whole as possible and not interred in a Dreadnought.

• Kaspian Hecht \ Barthusa Narek: A bit of a mystery; Narek was a member of the Word Bearers who still believed in the divinity of the Emperor and wanted to kill Lorgar to sort out his Legion's problems; however he had no apparent interest in joining the "Loyalist" cause. He was captured on Macragge, and even though he wasn't a traitor, he was interrogated daily and to be executed if he incriminated himself. However he somehow escaped and was implanted with the memories of a separate person: "Kaspian Hecht" who was apparently on his way towards Macragge to recruit someone for the Knights-Errant. How or why this was done is as yet unknown, but Narek eventually sorts his memories out though it's not yet known if he'll remain as one of the Knights Errant.

Deceased Members

As we know several members were inducted into the Knights Errant, but many did not survive, and considering that the number above is greater than eight, we know that several more will perish or find other duties.

• Iacton Qruze - One of the oldest members of the Luna Wolves and one of the few Legionaries who had been recruited before Horus was found. Referred to as "The Half-Heard" mostly because no-one was paying attention to what the old coot was saying. Got the job of overseeing the prisons on Titan for people who know far too much to be let loose in the Imperium, though is killed by Horus on board the Vengeful Spirit when an attempt at placing teleport beacons for the Space Wolves to deep strike aboard was discovered.
• Tubal Cayne - Iron Warriors member of the Crusader Host like Severian.
• Rama Karayan - Raven Guard
• Altan Nohai - White Scars Apothecary
• Callion Zaven - Emperor's Children Champion.

Grey Knight Grand Masters

We know that there were eight Grand Masters who travelled with Malcador to Titan when it was cast into the warp, unfortunately we don't yet know who they all are yet, and is made more difficult to guess since Grey Knights ritually change their names to mirror their daemonic foes. In Aaron Dembski-Bowden's The Emperor's Gift, all eight are long dead and entombed together in the Chapter's cemetery on Titan.

• 1. Janus - Known to us as the first Supreme Grand Master, though his original name and legion remain unknown.
  • Considering a bunch of circumstantial evidence One candidate to Janus' identity could (stressed "could") be the Twin-Primarch Omegon.
  • Garro is a contender if only because of him being the leader of the Knights-Errant, however author James Swallow put a knock-back on this in White Dwarf December 2012 when he emphatically stated that Garro is "not a Grey Knight... and where his fate lies is much more complicated than that" Though it doesn't actually stop the conspiracy theorists from reading whatever they want into it.
    • The book Garro: Vow of Faith somewhat cements that Garro definitely isn't going to be a Grey Knight when the character tells himself that his ultimate fate does not lie on Titan with Malcador's warriors in grey.
• 5. Epimetheus - A Dark Angels psyker of prodigious strength who survived into the 41st Millennium by being trapped in the Damnation Cache on Pandorax. Epimethius would eventually be captured by Abaddon and given to Fulgrim in a bid to gain the allegiance of the Emperor's Children for the 13th Black Crusade, Epimethius himself was intended to become the Avatar of Slaanesh.
  • His original name is unknown, but one consideration could have been Zahariel who may have joined the Knights-Errant instead of the intended membership of Cypher.
• 8. Khyron - First Grand Master of the Eighth Brotherhood, and with a name close to "bat" in Greek, his tomb on Titan depicts a helmeted warrior leaning casually on a halberd. The tomb's epitaph closes with "If you wish to grow wise, learn why brothers betray brothers.’. As the halberd and casual attitude was the hallmark of the Eighth Legion's First Captain Sevatar, and Jago Sevatarion was last seen in Imperial hands relearning his psychic gift at the end of ADB's The Longest Night, many Night Lords fanboys believe it is Sevatar. Having once betrayed the Emperor but then disillusioned with Chaos and Horus, could he have then betrayed his brothers in the the Eighth to return to the Imperial fold? Only ADB knows, and he hasn't gotten us that far yet. That said, the Night Lords were the 8th legion too..

Abaddon claimed to know of the eight original founders and stated that one was an Ultramarine while another was his "erstwhile brother". Thus it's increasingly likely that Rubio and Loken are two of the first Grand Masters.

Human Members

While not necessarily Knights-Errant, we also know that four humans were recruited by Malcador to form the founding members of the Inquisition.

• Amendera Kendel - Agentia Tercius to Malcador (after Garro himself) and a former Sister of Silence. She is still a Pariah of course, but she gave up her vow to become one of the first members of Malcador's band of merry travellers. She is quite possibly the first "True" Inquisitor, by virtue of her background as a Witch-Hunter and the later development of her character which shows her radically using the authority granted to her by the Sigillite to get shit done: Co-opting Space Marines from the survivors of the Eisenstein into her retinue, and later ordering a battle-barge to enact Exterminatus on a planet turned renegade, despite the fact that no-one other than a Primarch or the Emperor himself had ever ordered such an act before her.
• Yasu Nagasena - the Last Samurai and expert tracker who was tasked with finding the Outcast Dead, then chasing down and killing Sevarian. He was only stopped from doing so by Malcador who wanted them both for his new project
• Hassani Sabbyat - A Stormtrooper who was into the Sigillite's employ to collect an artefact from Egypt, despite being told not to look into the box, he did and was brought before Malcador to explain himself. It turns out that the artefact was the Rosetta Stone and Malcador was part of an order that kept history and learning safe and intact. He also gets shown the doorway to the Emperor's Webway.
• Katanoh Tallery - a scribe who discovered that someone was using galactic scale tax avoidance schemes to fund and build a legion sized force under the Imperium's nose and within their territory. She was aided by Garro in finding who was diverting Imperial equipment in such an underhanded manner. Turns out it was Malcador and he was pissed at Garro for uncovering the Grey Knight fortress on Titan before it was finished, but was convinced to keep Tallery in order to better manage the bookkeeping. It's unlikely she is going to end up being an Inquisitor though. (Although, looking for funny spending would be an excellent way to find heretics... In fact, Eisenhorn uncovers a coven of heretics due to unusual accounting).