Editing House Accolon (section)

===Artur the Uniter===
In the centuries since the Heresy, the Knights of Accolon have become famed for their service to the Emperor during those dark times, and the martyrdom of their King at the very Climax of the Heresy on the soil of Terra Itself. And yet the Knights of Accolon were once a dozen fragmented Households on a world split by war, and it was only through the rise of a single individual who had the wisdom, the martial might and the knowledge to unite all the Knights of that world under her banner that the Household that would play such a part in the great war would come to be.

At the time that the Great Crusade first left the orbit of Sol to conquer the Galaxy, the many households of Cattegirn were at each other’s throats in the long winded series of wars that had split the planet ever since the fall of Old Night. The Planet had been cold, bleak but rich in metals, and many households of Knights had come into being from the goods of the earth. Additionally, the capacity to manufacture small numbers of Knights was maintained, which kept their numbers stable despite the casualties in battle after battle. As the Age of Strife erupted, refugees fleeing the catastrophes besetting countless worlds converged on Cattegirn, seeking a place to stay. Each of the many Households dealt with the crisis as they could, some welcoming the new arrivals with open arms while others sought to bar them. By the time the Age of Strife was in full swing there were several different groups of people living on Cattegirn, each with their own customs and beliefs. And as the populations grew, these came into conflict. The Histories of House Accolon do not name when the wars between these peoples and the Knight Houses that ruled them first began, but by M30 they had been going on for countless centuries. Technology had stagnated and Terra was a mythical homeland across the sea of Stars. Unity was a dead and distant dream harboured by very few Knights, and none could make those dreams a reality. None, that was until the head of a minor Knight Household ruling the Kingdom of Lorges named Artur Eld was born in 889 M29. He was bold and ambitious, and when he became a Knight one of his visions while sitting in the Throne Mechanicum was of all the Knights of Cattegirn bowing before him. With this vision still running through his head he decided that he would unite all of Cattegirn beneath his banner, the Dragon of Lorges. Artur Eld fought hard and won several small victories against neighbouring powers, establishing a power base and a following of loyal Knights, and then made preparations to bring war to all of Cattegirn.

It was at this time that his Knights set off on a quest to gain an advantage against their potential future foes. Cattegirn was rich in Archeotech brought by the refugees fleeing the rise of Old Night, and several of the lost Holdfasts of the Knight Houses were rumoured to have vast stores of technology from the golden age of Mankind’s empire. For over three years the Knights of Lorges searched, and finally deep in the northern wilds they found one of the lost Knight Holdfasts. Several relic Knights were recovered from their long slumbers and many new Knights brought into his Household, along with powerful weapons and upgrades that made his Knights an unstoppable force on the Battlefield. Thus armed, in 945 M29 he set off to end the Wars which ravaged Cattegirn.

Over the course of a dozen battles he vanquished a number of Knight Households, binding them to himself and incorporating their martial strength into his own host. This included the Battle of Guinnion, in which Artur led the storming of the breach and laid low the Knights of Ælfheah and the Battle of Meacredy where Sixty Knights clashed on the banks of a winding brook.

The Twelve Battles he fought led to the union of over half of all Cattegirn under his banner, from the Icebound Ocean to the Rockspine Peaks. He forged dozens of disparate Knight Households into one, which he named the Knights of Accolon after an old myth of Cattegirn about one of the heroes who founded the Colony on the planet. The other Households, fearful at his power soon united and made war against him, and he would spend the rest of his life trying to finish what he has started, and growing ever more fearful that he would die before all Cattegirn was united as one, leaving his heir with the difficult task of concluding his wars. Many feared that without an heir his death would lead to the collapse of his realm and the return to the eternal cycle of wars he was trying to end.
Seeing an opportunity, the powerful leader Wystan of Caercalarund who had grudgingly bent the knee to Eld after the Battle of Meacredy had his beautiful and ambitious daughter Myra try to seduce Artur. She failed, but still bore his child, who she named Medrat. This child would eventually try to undo all of Artur’s works.