Index Questoris: House Watchtower - Work in Progress (Notes)

[Soldier of Dorn]

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!