House Catallus
Known as the House of Masks, House Catallus is one of the Noble Houses of Necromunda, beneath the Imperial House Helmawr, but above the six Clan Houses.
Catallus make their speciality as brokers, overseers and facilitators; in essence they are a house of middlemen, but considering the polar, insular, and often violent factionalism of the other houses and guilds, they are necessary for managing the connections that keep the industries of the Hives running.
They are unique amongst the hive nobility in that they are never encountered without their trademark masks (well... There is also House Cawdor) which have likely been manufactured by House Van Saar.
These masks are not explicitly a sign or religious devotion to the Emperor like the masks of the Redemptionists are supposed to signify, but they appear to have a common theme. House Catallus cleaves to a philosophy called the Invisible Truth, where the only way to endure unendurable brutality is to not exist at all. Therefore they believe they cannot be extinguished because they never lived in the first place.
In any case, it adds to the mystery of the House, considering that no-one can ever be certain who they are dealing with, or perform background checks on them, or hold a grudge that requires a vendetta, or even be certain whether it's the same person each time they meet.
Alliance Benefits[edit | edit source]
Having the patronage of House Catallus does not have as many overt or tangible benefits to a gang compared to some other alliances that may be possible, but having them running around behind the scenes can certainly be an advantage depending on how the players behave.
Any time a gang may be declared Outlaw, the faceless masters of House Catallus make the problem go away, whether by bribing officials, removing witnesses, or deleting evidence, so the gang remains "Law Abiding".
They are also quite active in participating in gang activities, especially compared to some other potential allies, and don't need to be coerced to join the battlefield, in fact if the opposing gang has a particularly high-value member, then Catallus actually consider it quite rude if they aren't invited.
Additionally, if anyone allied to House Catallus is captured, the opposing gang leader receives no bounty for trading them in.
The drawbacks to allying with House Catallus can be steep and annoying though. If the Catallus Carnival does participate in a skirmish, for each juve in the gang, there is a 1/6 chance that they will demand that member be turned over for mindfraying.
It is also practically impossible to get rid of the buggers. If an alliance is broken with House Catallus, every new alliance formed by the gang has a 1/6 chance of actually being formed with House Catallus instead, representing how they are the brokers of all the deals, and don't like people turning their backs on them.
Tabletop[edit | edit source]
The agents of Catallus are referred to as a Catallus Carnival, which amounts to two very scary people...
The first is the actual representative themselves, the Masked Killer who are especially deadly artists of murder. They come with the Dodge skill, a choice of master-crafted weapons (long rifle or power sword) and alway count all of their weapons as having the Shock quality, (to-hit rolls of 6 auto-wound) and can reroll flesh wounds in order to get a nastier result. Rip and Tear indeed.
The second is a Mindfrayed, which is a labotomised ganger repurposed into a colourful, gaudy, screaming stalking hound, whose new function is to cause as much of a distraction as possible to flush out the enemy and give the masked killer their opportunity to strike. Though they aren't especially dangerous on their own, if they ever get pinned or broken, then all of their woeful screaming causes everyone within 6" of them to take nerve checks and become pinned or broken as well.
| Playable Factions of Necromunda | |
|---|---|
| Clan Houses: | Cawdor - Delaque - Escher - Goliath - Orlock - Van Saar |
| Noble Houses: | Catallus - Greim - Ko'iron - Ran Lo - Ty - Ulanti - Spyrers |
| Others: | Ash Waste Nomads - Corpse Grinder Cults - Cult of the Redemption Ironhead Squat Prospectors - Palanite Enforcers - Ratskins - Scavvies |