Knight House

[Frater Cornelius]

Hey, a quick fluff question for the fine gentlemen (-women) here:

 

Where, in the Imperial structure, does a noble/knight house fall and thus their military leaders fall. I am talking about those affiliated to the Imperium (Freeblades and those close to the AdMech are obvious).

I have heard some comparing them to Rogue Traders, enabling then to do sketchy stuff because it says so in their contract or deed. Others say they only answer to Terrs.

I also heard that Knights and their houses enjoy a high military rank and are able to take control of IG regiments if the situation demands it.

Would that mean that the head or my house or (more likely), the highest ranking commander of my house regiment could take over command on a campaign if no higher ranked officers are present, or at least defy segmentum command without consequences?

Where does one put the commander of a knight house then in military terms.

 

Thanks for input ;)

Edited June 5, 2014 by Immersturm

[Lucien Eilam]

Knights aren't part of the regular Imperial military. They fight alongside Imperial forces because duty and honour demands it, not because anyone orders them to. And equally, they can't pull rank on anyone, because technically they don't have military rank.

 

As the ruling class of a feudal society, they're used to giving orders, so I could see them taking charge in a situation where Imperial forces have lost their senior officers. But their way of war is obviously very different from the Guard or Space Marines, so it's debatable how useful it would be having them in command of a mixed force over a protracted period.

 

I suppose you could in theory have a similar situation to that sometimes seen with Space Marine Commanders, where they can't simply take overall command but Guard officers defer to their greater experience anyway. But again, it would be rare for them to be the best candidate.

 

I don't think there's a single incident of a Knight being in command of a mixed force mentioned anywhere in the new codex.

[WarriorFish]

Knights are quite unique in how they stand in the Imperium, more akin to Marines in their independence I think. Knight Houses don't receive commands and nor do they give them, not to the wider Imperial forces but there's no reason why they wouldn't be involved somehow in the runnings of a campaign. You might get more in depth information if you take this to the AdMech section :)

[Frater Cornelius]

My house, while having access to knights, tend more into the direction of a noble house. They have access to their own regiment, albeit smaller one, with above average troops compared to the regular guardsman. I mean the overall military leader is a tank ace (my Pask) and not a Knight. As opposed to true knight houses the knights are not in charge of the army.

The world, while mostly feudal, boasts some tech and manufacuring capabilities (they mainly get limited access to this systems forge world).

These are already fairly big differences and there are more like their ties to the Ecclesiarchy.

I did not read the fluff all too thoroughly, does one need a deed and thus being a knight house to recieve a knight class titan? Because otherwise I just turn it into a noble house that has a treaty with a FW in their system, food, protection and possibly manpower for tech and manufacturing access.

If that would be case, what standing do noble houses have (this one would be going back to the year M35 give a take a few, meaning fairly old and shrouded in mystery for the most part). Treaties with AdMech and strong ties to Ecclesiarchy are a good thing for them but what about the hierarchy in this case. Technically they are not an official fighting force, so how would this be handled considering the rather impressive power of their house regiment (given the last 17 games that is). This ain't officially a regiment and thus will not be able to be ordered around by IG commanders.

So how would the situation look now.

[jeffersonian000]

Knight Houses are entities equal in status with the Imperium and the Mechanicus. They are not subject to the High Lords of Terra, their participation in wars on behalf of the Imperium is based on treaties rather than loyalties, and the Knight society is sovereign in its own right. Fudamentally, Knight Worlds are a third branch of Humanity that exists alongside the Imperium and the Mechanicus.

 

SJ