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I have recently delved deep into the Mechanicus lore and I was fascinated by the so called "Thrall Houses" of the Mechanicus described in the book HH: Conquest. The idea behind a "Thrall House" is that its Nobles are somehow indebted or forcefully integrated into the standing army of the local Forge World. For them the "Sydonian Pact" is interpreted in a very harsh way and most of such Houses are little more than willing slaves of the Mechanicus. It is also implied that plenty of such "Thrall Houses" actually fought for the Warmaster during the age of the Heresy and are now Traitors. Enter my House. I am fascinated by the idea of the noble and loyal Imperial Knights subjugated to the control of a rogue or nigh-heretic Forge World. I like how even many loyal Forge Worlds hold the Knight suits as hostages so that the Nobles obey the command of the Fabricator-Lords and how such Houses are callously used and abused by the Mechanicus. The general line that I want to follow is of a Mechanicus aligned Imperial Knight House which due to some sinister event (and here I need ideas, frater) was subjected to the iron rule of the neighbor Forge World. For a century or even a milennia such a pact forced the hand of the House many a time unit they snapped. To the onlooker it would appear that they rebelled to their rightful lords, reneged their oaths of loyalty and grievous of all, they broke their word as Nobles, as exemplars of virtue. This schism led to a civil war between House and Forge World, a civil war which has seen the House home planet ravaged and despoiled by the Red Priesthood, its youth either bound by arcane sciences to their Throne Mechanicum or torn in limb and soul only to be reforged as Skitarii Alphas as a punishment. This was the fate of the house, yet the majority of its elders, or veteran Nobles chose rather to flee and aim for a long coming vengeance than die in futility on the bloody battleground of their home world. Before this Nobles escaped they have sallied forth one last time as Knights of the Mechanicum, raiding the stores of their planet for weapons and slaves, committing themselves to secure a future for their House if not in blood, in iron, by stealing away Sacristans, Tech-Priests and secreting away the Skitarii Maniples loyal only to their bloodline and of their bloodline. The idea is that the House I have in mind is officially a traitor one, despite their heroic rebellion against the iron yoke of the Mechanicus. They are now hunted down, forced to raid in order to survive, but secretly plotting the demise of their former overlords and a vengeance on an Imperium that misunderstood them. The Nobles do remember this events, even as the first generation of scions is already walking, and they do remember well the oppression they had to endure. The character, the mien, of the Nobles is one of grim demeanor, they know that they have fallen from grace, and they embrace this with a bitterness only a noble can bear. They are first and foremost on their quest for vengeance, striking at the Mechanicus when they can, raiding the resources of their former overlords for them, actively preying on stranded Imperial Knights detachments to replenish their ranks, though mostly on the Mechanicus aligned houses. This self-destructive and loathing path has seen them embrace strange allies for they can no longer rely on the Imperium to have any sympathy for them and this only serves to further condemn them in the eyes of the people they sought to defend for generations. In the end this is to be a Renegade Questoris Familia which every day sins more and it is forced to compromise more and more of their honor and oaths just to survive in a hostile galaxy. Strange rites are being observed, strange allies have been seen in the halls of their mother ship and strange phenomena accompanies them when they fight. It is a House driven by vengeance and for which vengeance is no longer the end but the mean to perpetuate more and more horrors on the very people they sought to protect for so long, those very people who "in their minds" have betrayed their House and kin. Yet this is not the end of the story. The scions they have left when they ran away from the bitter guns of the Mechanicus, are alive and well. Their very sons and daughters they have left home are now proper Nobles themselves and harshly indoctrinated by their Mechanicus overseers in a hatred for the heresy of their forefathers. When this two halves of the House clash, rare is the battle so bitter, so hard fought, so vicious. Both sides have their right and doctrine, both sides hate the other on a gut level and both sides of the house display the same prowess, ruthlessness and loyalty to their own cause which has seen their House so great in ancient times. In the end, my intention is to have a plausible background should I wish to play on both sides of the conflict (often against the ever present Space Marines) but still be fluffy by doing it so. I need ideas to flesh this concept though. Names elude me, the timeline too, as well as things as the ecology of their planet, the representation of the "rogue" part of the House, the fleets and the Skitarii covenants aligned to both sides and the placement of this internecine galaxy wide conflict based solely on vengeance for vengeance sake. I don't want my Knight to be tragic figures. They are bastards true and all and they willingly turn a blind eye on their campaigns or quests when they have the chance to vindicate their ancestors. The loyalist side tries to use the Mechanicus to perpetuate the vengeance (only to be used in turn by the Priesthood of Mars), while the renegade part uses whatever allies it can gather, xenos, pirates, rogue traders and even chaos cults and marines, just to enact a vengeance of their own. In the end both sides of the House are lost and have betrayed their honor as Knights of the Imperium time and time again.

I've been working on a little Knight Household, who conceptually would be allied to my VII Legion army (if I ever actually went out and bought a Knight, of course. Which might not happen. But if I did...) Anyways, I've been veeery slowly chipping away at writing an article for the House in the style of the Household articles in The Horus Heresy Book 4: Conquest, and since it looks like it'll be a while 'til that's even close to finished, I thought I might share some notes about them. One thing before you look at them: I suspect they're a little bit on the snowflake side, but I'm not altogether sure if they are, and even so I'm not sure if I'd have a problem with that. I do greatly appreciate any and all critique, though, so if that impairs the quality of the concept, please say so. It's always welcome. Onto my notes: House Watchtower Oathbound to the VII Legion. As a consequence they do not bear their own household symbols but the markings of the Imperial Fists. The exception is an icon of the Watchtower, the House’s ancestral home on Terra. It takes a form similar to the rook of chess. Marble armor symbolizing their place as the defenders of the Imperium’s fortresses and bastions. Gold trim symbolizing the Imperium’s rightful governance of all mankind. Iron weapons and chassis representing that at their core, they are still warriors no matter the pomp and circumstance that surround them. The House is not organized in the same way as other Knightly houses, around a familial line, but rather an order based on merit, similar to the Knightly orders of Caliban. Pilgrims come to the base of the Watchtower, aspiring to join the House, and are put through intense trials. Those who survive this are tested for compatibility with the Knight suits. This, obviously, is quite rare, which contributes to the small size of the House. Full title: The Most Venerable and Mighty House of the Watchtower. Words: O’er The Ramparts We Watch. Homeworld: Terra. During the Unification Wars, the Watchtower was a mighty fortification that stood strong throughout the Age of Strife, typical for its time were it not for two things: firstly, its strategic position in the central Asiatics and the primitive exoskeletons worn by its defenders. During the Terran Unification War, the Lords of Watchtower had the foresight to ally themselves early on with the rising warlord who titled himself the Emperor, and rose to great prominence in the Imperial Court, becoming one of the Old One Hundred regiments of the Army. At the Siege of Roma, they campaigned alongside the VII Legion and so began a military relationship that lasted decades, ending at the outset of the Unification of Sol with the Lord of Watchtower swearing the fealty of him and his house to the Legion Master of the VII. When the Treaty of Mars was established, Mechanicum representatives were granted access to the Imperium’s war technologies and recognized the exoskeletons of Hightower as being an application of the same technology that formed the Knights. Arrangements were made, and the men of Hightower were granted Knight armour, and logged by the Officio Militaris College of Arms as being one of the first of the Questoris Familia, those Knightly Houses who prosecuted the great crusade. The Household is not led by a High King as with Terryn and many other, but by a Steward, who serves as leader of the Household in the High King’s absence. The High King is the Legion Master of the Imperial Fists. By the time of the Horus Heresy this position is held by right by the primarch Rogal Dorn. Individual Knight suits do not have their own designations. As beautiful and deadly, and as precious to the household as they are, they are still tools for the Knights who pilot them. Small Household, numbering <100 Knight suits. Full deployment during the Siege of Terra, led by Alastair, Steward of the Watchtower. Sustained massive casualties and was dissolved during alongside the Legion following the Heresy and the Scouring. Thanks for reading!

Knight House Pentastar Time of founding: Unknown (pre M31) Location: Five Star System The Five Star System is a collection of five large solar systems in close proximity to each other orbiting a cluster of five blue stars known as the Anixian cluster. Each of these systems have a Death world and a Forge world, many around the imperium come to see the sight of the star cluster from the commercial fleet. Is is generally the only option to see it clearly and safely as going too close to the cluster causes ships to be pulled in by the super gravity that keeps the solar systems orbiting them. Orginisation: The Pentastar house was originally the coalition of the knight houses of the separate solar systems with each house in control of their home solar system. After extensive interaction with the White Scar legion’s Leviathan Brotherhood the houses formed a sixth house tasked with leading the other houses under the name Pentastar as sub-houses. This house took on the name of the Noyan-Khârn of the brotherhood, Talos Megalo. Despite their unification the Imperium treats the house as six houses. The Knight families act as planetary governors of their solar system in a manner based off of the organisation of the High Lords of Terra before the Horus Heresy with many issues being resolved long before it reaches the Baron. The Death worlds are used as training worlds since the speed the planet recovers from any kind of damage caused to it in a matter of days provides ample challenge and opportunity. Succession Laws and Assignment: Imperial Knights belong to the original family they serve. All members of the house are eligible to be inducted into a knight, reasons for others outside of the house are left to the house head’s discretion but are largely based in meritocracy as an incompetent can lead to issues with the other houses. Typically knights are divided into groups of 50 containing 4 Seneschals, these groups are to function as an independent force and answer only to the head of their house; Forge world or house Megalo Regardless of which sub-house they serve all Knights are part of house Pentastar and don the same house colours. Strengths and Economy:The 5 Forge worlds are capable of creating typical things from ammunitions to personal appliances, however such domestic things are usually the usually the duty of Forge world Kairix. The 4 remaining Forge worlds tend to specialise in other fields, the most important being Forge world Krax which specialises in the construction, repair and salvage of Imperial Knights. Possessing the knowledge to construct almost any knight the Krax is the main reason for the military and economic strength of the system as there is few Knights that a Magos of the world cannot restore. The military strength on the houses is often called upon due to the sheer numbers available. However no house is to have less than 100 Knights stationed within their solar system at any given time. Flaws and Deficiencies: Due to the nature of recruitment knights of the Pentastar houses are generally viewed as blunt and honest to a fault, as such interaction with less warrior-like allies the nobles of the house tend to speak on their behalf. Such an inability to see eye to eye with other commanders tends to lead to the Knights subverting their orders from commanders they don’t have faith in, while these decisions usually save billions of lives or can end up snatching victory from the jaws of certain defeat for a deluded commander their insubordination has led to a mixed reputation within the Imperium at large. While the environment of having 5 houses competing with each other does have it’s benefits political disputes are extremely common, from servants to Knights and the Barons themselves. Generally these are settled by house Megalo acting as the high authority, however despite the diligence of the house issues can spiral out of control causing such discord that it requires an act of force. Historically these have ranged from the High King personally executing perpetrators in the streets during full scale riots to the Barons of every house being arrested to stand trial collectively. The houses also have no access to Paragon Gauntlets and as such have very few Knight Gallants, those they do possess have a pair of reaper chainswords. This variation causes abnormalities with the machine spirit making it bloodthirsty, due to the neural connection between the Knight and pilot this can cause weaker willed pilots to rampage out of control. As such the Knight Gallants are seldom deployed and the pilots spend as little time in them as possible. M31: During the Great Crusade the Knight houses assisted multiple legions, notably the White Scars, Blood Angels, Lunar Wolves and Emperor’s Children. At the outbreak of the Heresy there was mass confusion and eventually civil war between the houses and within them as everyone accused each other rather of joining the Warmaster. House Megalo restored order over the course of a year after assuring the loyalty of the Knights of their own house, once their loyalty became known the war with traitor legions and Knight houses. The Pentastar houses had begun to make their way towards Horus with plans to destroy their once allies and cut off the Heresy at it’s roots, however they had to withdraw once the Fabricator General of Mars declared his allegiance to the Warmaster with 150 Knights continuing towards the Sol system with the mission to return Mars to the imperium. The incident that caused the retreat of the house was the rebellion of the Skitarii legions. The Treachery of Mars incited rebellion within the Forgeworlds the Magos leading the force was the head of the Skitarii legions, without the bulk of the Knight houses the Forgeworlds were hard pressed to defend technology that could completely change the balance of over. All 5 Forgeworlds had originally been built to study objects they had believed to be Eldar webway gates with the intent of using the webway to travel, however these had been revealed to be warp gates. Although these could be used to travel between other warp gates they were connected directly to the warp, leaving the Pentastar forces fighting a 4 front war against the Skitarii, the new traitor Knights and the traitor legions and the daemons spilling out into the material plane. A situation that required every Knight available. M41: The Pentastar houses not only survived the Horus Heresy but recovered and grew. The ancient warp gates guarded continuously, the outer planets of the systems see conflict against all manors of enemies with few making it beyond. The Forgeworlds now work on new neurotech since the discovery that the only son of the High Queen can pilot any Knight with the intent of extending his control to multiple Knights and to find out why this is possible, with the eldest daughter becoming a Magos and the second becoming a Commander of the Planetary Defence Forces the other two daughters will have to come of age before they can see if others possess the gift. The systems are at relative peace and most disputes are over political marriages, as far as the galaxy at large else knows.