Knight Resources

[Tyriks]

I have 2 questions for you guys.  I've been working on my Knight family after getting a second Knight recently, and feeling like I should not just fold them into my AdMech as I originally planned.  

 

First, are there any good insignia creators out there?  I am not good at freehand work so I'd like to make one I could have printed onto transfer paper.  What, if anything, has anyone else used for creating insignias for their houses?

 

Secondly, what books out there go into detail about Knight house hierarchy, politics, traditions, Rituals of Becoming, selection process, stuff like that?  The codex has been fairly vague (never got the 6th ed codex, but 7th and now 8th don't have a ton of meat).  I have a pretty solid foundation but I don't want to get into the nitty gritty without some more material to make sure I'm not way out there.

[Vash113]

 

 

First, are there any good insignia creators out there?  I am not good at freehand work so I'd like to make one I could have printed onto transfer paper.  What, if anything, has anyone else used for creating insignias for their houses?

 

None that I know of. I'd try fantasy heraldry creators or something of the sort. I found a simple one real quick here, I'm sure there are others, they aren't 40k specific.

 

 

 

Secondly, what books out there go into detail about Knight house hierarchy, politics, traditions, Rituals of Becoming, selection process, stuff like that?  The codex has been fairly vague (never got the 6th ed codex, but 7th and now 8th don't have a ton of meat).  I have a pretty solid foundation but I don't want to get into the nitty gritty without some more material to make sure I'm not way out there.

 

Unfortunately the specifics of the Knight Houses are not very well detailed. Kingsblade and Knightsblade and the short story Becoming deals with the knightly houses of Adrastapol, most notably House Draconis and has some details, there is also Knights of the Imperium about House Cadmus and the short story The Devine Adoratrice which deals with House Devine which was featured in the Horus Heresy Book Vengeful Spirit.
 

Ultimately it seems to boil down to every House maintaining their own unique and complex rituals and traditions with only loose similarities between them. Like with Space Marine chapters all Knight Houses will likely feature an Exalted Court that includes some broadly comparable ranks within them, but the specific titles, duties and honors and the specific merits necessary to attain those positions will be unique to each house, for example.

[Battybattybats]

Don't forget the Imperial Knight Companion.

[Tyriks]

 

First, are there any good insignia creators out there? I am not good at freehand work so I'd like to make one I could have printed onto transfer paper. What, if anything, has anyone else used for creating insignias for their houses?

None that I know of. I'd try fantasy heraldry creators or something of the sort. I found a simple one real quick here, I'm sure there are others, they aren't 40k specific.

Secondly, what books out there go into detail about Knight house hierarchy, politics, traditions, Rituals of Becoming, selection process, stuff like that? The codex has been fairly vague (never got the 6th ed codex, but 7th and now 8th don't have a ton of meat). I have a pretty solid foundation but I don't want to get into the nitty gritty without some more material to make sure I'm not way out there.

Unfortunately the specifics of the Knight Houses are not very well detailed. Kingsblade and Knightsblade and the short story Becoming deals with the knightly houses of Adrastapol, most notably House Draconis and has some details, there is also Knights of the Imperium about House Cadmus and the short story The Devine Adoratrice which deals with House Devine which was featured in the Horus Heresy Book Vengeful Spirit.

 

Ultimately it seems to boil down to every House maintaining their own unique and complex rituals and traditions with only loose similarities between them. Like with Space Marine chapters all Knight Houses will likely feature an Exalted Court that includes some broadly comparable ranks within them, but the specific titles, duties and honors and the specific merits necessary to attain those positions will be unique to each house, for example.

I'll give that Creator a try. I found another that looked similar; it worked fine but was really difficult to save/print.

 

Don't forget the Imperial Knight Companion.

Listed at $70 on Amazon... Ouch!

[Vash113]

Don't forget the Imperial Knight Companion.

 

I bought the Companion when it first came out and didn't find it particularly helpful, it adds a lot of fluff to various houses and some particular Knights but doesn't provide a great deal of insight into military structures, alliances, trials and rituals and the other stuff that would fall under the categories of organization and recruitment. It's mostly about the general histories of some Houses and select Knights from those houses. It's not bad if you can get it but I wouldn't necessarily make it a priority.