So what new Imperial Knights lore is in April 2026's issue? Let's dig in and find out!
We begin with what we already know: the Code Chivalric, the set of doctrines that all Knight households and Freeblades cleave to, and how Questor Imperialis households are those who vowed fealty directly to the Emperor of Mankind of Holy Terra. I think what's new and not in the codex is additional information regarding the heraldry, such as the uniformity of the design of household crests - usually, they have a shield in the center of their crest, which is usually halved. On the left, you have the household emblem, and the right half will bear the Imperial aquila.
The rank insignia: the stripes across a Knight's carapace denotes his rank, and you can have different colored stripes or even have stripes that employ pigments only visible to the specialized suites of vid-feeds, multispectral fliters and auspexes integrated into Knight suits, because they consider non-Nobles unworthy of viewing such heraldic conventions.
This is already in the codex, but I was delighted to see some of the Household's lore summarized here. We have House Terryn, and they follow the evolution of their crest, from the horse's head stemming from visions of white stallions by the house's founder, Maximilian Terryn. Cool!
Same thing with Questor Mechanicus households, whose design features a cog instead of a shield. Interesting. We also have a nice repeat of Ulantor and the Red Doom, who is from the codex. Actually, they just copied the whole entry of Ulantor and the Red Doom over from the codex. Huh. Well, whatever.
Now this is what's new. Unlike House Terryn, where the codex actually mentions Maximilian Terryn, Brutus Terryn and Seuitonius Thucidies Terryn, we don't have any mentioned characters for House Taranis in the codex, aside from Ulantor and Archimaxes (who pilots the Knight Castellan, Devastation Unbridled). So this is new! And it's for House Taranis, one of my favorites! I...actually have a small lance of House Taranis Knights (which I just deploy as House Kanda), but yeah, if I were to ever take a Knight House from the codex instead of my homebrewed one, it would be House Taranis.
Anyway, we have Cheops Taranis - the founder of Hosue Taranis - uniting the two largest Knight spearhead formations on Mars by besting his rivals. Chefren Taranis then led a charge against an invading Ork horde in the early 32nd Millennium, and then Ahkenaten Taranis ruled the House in M35, forging a new alliance with the Fabricator General that saw House Taranis gain autonomy rights within the armies of Mars. Cool!
We also have a mention of Freeblades, but it's basically draw whatever heraldry you want. Ha ha.
We also have a much fuller account of the featured Questoris Knight Defender on the box art of the kit. So the Knight Defender, if you've noticed, is named Aereus. Here's the background for her! She is piloted by Baroness Prime Klydia Irosta. She hailed from House Irostus Xo, which was a Questor Mechanicus Household - and you'll notice my use of past tense here because the House was destroyed.
Basically, House Irostus Xo was from the world of Wrath's Fall, and they are loyal to Mars. They have ancient technologies - weapon systems, cogitator arrays, neuroempathic circuitry and other devices guarded in their citadel since before the horrors of Old NIght.
Klydia has access to the house's relic artifacts, but unfortunately, after the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum, Wrath's Fall was overwhelmed by an armada of heretics and mutants. House Irostus Xo couldn't get reinforcements, so the Tech-Magi petitioned the Princeps to safeguard the Knight's most valuable artifacts. After getting the Princeps's permission, the Tech-priests for some reason embedded all the house's technological relics into Kyldia's Knight, Opus Gatekeeper. Yeah, they integrated all the ancient artifacts into Opus Gatekeeper's power relays, plasma core and manifold systems, turning the whispers of her Throne Mechanicum into roars and screams. Ugh.
Before House Irostus Xo's citadel fell, Klydia, Opus Gatekeeper, a company of serf soldiery, her cabals of Sacristans and the most senior Tech-priests escaped aboard a Mechanicus orbital conveyor to Mars. Upon reaching Mars, the Tech-priests found themselves unable to retrieve the Irostus Xo artifacts because strange binharic pathways had threaded through her Throne Mechanicum. New voices emerged, and Klydia renamed her Knight Aereus, and the technohistoritors of Olympus Mon recognized the title as an ancient name of the Machine God in its manifestation as the Divine Disassembler.
Now, Klydia fights as a Freeblade in service to Mars and the Adeptus Mechanicus. Aereus is empowered by the technological relics of House Irostus Xo, and Klydia often accompanies lances of Nobles from other Households to protect holy technologies of their Knights, or leads entire Freeblade companies, often those aligned with the Mechanicus. Apparently, she's going insane because of her obsession with safeguarding technological relics, but hey, whatever.
So that's the background behind Aereus and House Irostus Xo, and her pilot, Kyldia Irosta!
We also have a page on how to establish a Knightly Household, and I'll write a separate article on it, probably using it for my own House Yato. I know I've written a lot of posts covering my own homebrewed Knight House, but it'll be fun to run it through this framework and see what kind of output is produced! Will also make an easy post for my own reference so that I can more conveniently find where I named my characters, etc. I look forward to writing it!
Oh, there's also a bunch of both homebrewed Knights and Knights from exiting canon sources. I think House Gottenheim is a homebrewed Household by Ben, but it has been destroyed. Only Morgana Zosma survives, and she pilots the Questoris Knight Defender, Pavise Maxima, and is a Freeblade.
But what catches my attention is House Zavora! If you're a huge Horus Heresy fan like me, you'll know of House Zavora - and I've actually mentioned them in my past articles, though they're passing sentences without much substance. What happened to House Zavora after the Horus Heresy? Turns out they survived! Woohoo! So House Zavora almost got destroyed during the Horus Heresy, but allied to Loyalist Mechanicum forces, they persevered and survived! Now they have few Knight suits remaining, and one of them is a Knight Errant named Forger! No, he has nothing to do with Loid Forger or the Forger family from Spy X Family.
If you are a fan of Knights, I encourage you to pick up this month's White Dwarf! It's awesome and filled with new lore that's not in the codex! It's also a fun reference for creating your own Knight Household! Which I've already done, but I still find value in this!
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