Anyway, I'm aware that The Lightning Hall is a little obscure because it's a short story, and most people will have missed it. Still, I'm surprised when I saw a so-called Knight fan on Reddit complain that Graham McNeill hasn't tied up the story thread for House Taranis and was demanding that he revisit it in a Siege of Terra novella or something, much like what he did for The Fury of Magnus. Boy, but I have news for you. I wanted to refresh my memory, so I checked the wikis, and to my complete surprise, they had nothing on The Lightning Hall. So I'll write the spoilers for The Lightning Hall and explain the fate of House Taranis. It's wrapped up, so if you want to see what happens to House Taranis in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, and how they rise again...well, read The Lightning Hall. But if you don't want to, then I'll just post the spoilers for The Lightning Hall here, to save you the trouble. As additional info, I'll let you guys know that The Lightning Hall was first published in December 2020 as part of the Twelve Tales of Christmas. It's no wonder Mechanicum and Knight fans completely missed this one. Well, I guess that's what I'm here for.
Basically, the two sole surviving knights of House Taranis on Mars - Raf Maven who pilots Equitos Bellum and Leopold Cronus who pilots Pax Mortis - wage a guerilla war against the traitors on Mars, taking out Dark Mechanicum outposts and convoys. Raf feels guilt at being unable to fight alongside Lord Commander Verticorda and their fellow scions of House Taranis at the Magma City during that final fight in Mechanicum, but he and Leopold continue to strike at Dark Mechanicum and traitor Martians before falling back, their Knights in disrepair and barely patched up. They had just dropped off Dalia off at the Noctis Labyrinth, and then hunkered down with Caxton Torgau and Zouche Chahaya to wage their gureilla war over a few years, but they received a call from House Taranis, so they go to investigate.
First, they stopped by the Magma City to witness the final defiance of House Taranis at Typhon's Causeway. Koriel Zeth has thoroughly destroyed her own city to deny Kelbor-Hal at the end of Mechanicum, and they couldn't find anything. So they proceed to the Taranis chapter house to track down the source of the coded message, which is a rallying call for all the scions of Taranis. They discover that the chapter house of Taranis has been attacked by Kelbor-Hal's forces and utterly destroyed, but the serfs of House Taranis have put up a fight with gun batteries and turrets, staying loyal to the Emperor slash Omnissiah. Even so, they were unable to resist and were defeated in the end.
By now, they suspect that it might be a trap, but they have no choice but to go further and investigate. Raf, in particular, feels the call from Equitos Bellum, urging him to go to the Lightning Hall. Believing in the machine spirit of his knight suit, they decide to go to the Lightning Hall, only to find that it was still intact. Even though much of the chapter house has been devastated by the enemy, whoever sealed themselves inside the Lightning Hall were able to keep themselves safe from the foes outside. They find a bunch of Sacristan repair walkers and the desecrated hangar, which has been defiled by the Dark Mechanicum. As it turns out, the insane priests have transformed the Sacristan repair walkers and other machines that once belonged to House Taranis into mechanical monstrosities.
Both Raf and Leopold then find themselves attacked by an army of feral servitors, but their Knights are more than a match, and they destroy hordes of them, despite there being thousands of them. Unfortunately, the feral servitors weren't the real threat. As it turned out, there are six woe-machines that are similar to the Kaban machine, and they attack the two Knights. Though Equuitos Bellum destroys a couple of them, the woe machines are powerful, and despite their best efforts, Raf and Leopold find themselves slowly overwhelmed. Even Pax Mortis is eventually brought down, and Raf panics at the prospect of losing his only Taranis brother. He continues fighting fiercely, but then help arrives.
The serfs and men-at-arms and protectors with force staves show up in force, helping the two Knights fight back against the feral servitors and the woe machines. In fact, one of the Sacristans arrive, piloting a demiknight - I assume he's actually piloting what seems to be an Armiger prototype - and helps to destroy one of the woe machines by firing a beam into it (I believe it's the thermal spear), thus saving Leopold and Pax Mortis. Unlike the traditional blue livery of House Taranis, this Armiger or demiknight is painted the red of Mars. It still bore the wheel of Taranis, but with a new black sword overlaying the demi-skull at the center, and lightning bolts around the cog-toothed circumference.
Yeah, that's the logo of House Taranis that we know today, the House Taranis crest in the 41st millennium. And it also explains why they changed their color scheme from blue to red.
The Lightning Hall has been turned into a haven for the survivors of House Taranis, a bastion for them to seek shelter and continue their war against the Dark Mechanicum and Kal-Helbor's traitors. The Mechanicum protectors of Taranis escort Raf and Leopold into the hall, and to their shock, they discover that Lord Commander Caturix is still alive. Even though his Knight, Gladius Fulmen, was destroyed, the sacristan Kol-Sarabyn - the dude piloting the proto Armiger/demiknight - discovered his ruined body in the wreckage of Typhon's Causeway and rescued him. But he is about to succumb to his injuries, so he risked sending a signal to the outer reaches of Mars, which is what reached Raf and Leopold and brought them back to the chapter house of Taranis.
Raf apologizes, blaming himself for not having joined their Taranis brothers in the last defense of Magma City, but Caturix tells him that he did the right thing, and that it was the Omnissiah's will that they weren't present in that last battle, or House Taranis would truly be extinct because the addition of two more Knights wouldn't have changed the outcome of that last glorious charge. Instead, he is glad that Raf and Leopold weren't there, for it means that House Taranis has survived.
"So long as a single Knight lives, Taranis lives," said Caturix.
He then tells Raf to lead Taranis after his death, and advises him to find pockets of survivors all across Mars. Lone warriors, hidden clans, forges still loyal to the Emperor, and machine-clades. He asks Raf to bring them together, to unite all the pockets of resistance under the banner of Taranis and continue to defy the Warmaster and Kelhor-Hal. Give them hope.
Raf and Leopold give the dying Caturix their oaths, and he is happy because it means that Taranis will live. He is glad to have given them purpose before he dies. And Raf promises this to him, as well as to all the people behind him - the serfs and members of House Taranis, and also Leopold.
"Mars will rise."
And thus, The Lightning Hall ends here. I mean, what more do you want? Graham McNeill has tied up this story thread for House Taranis, showing that this is the beginning of their rise. House Taranis has survived, and Raf Maven will lead them to glory once more, taking command of the resistance against Horus Lupercal and Kelbor-Hal, and rebuild House Taranis back to its former prestige. This is the origin of that legend. I think that's a satisfying enough conclusion to wrap up the Mechanicum arc of the Horus Heresy stories. I hope fans of Imperial Knights, especially House Taranis, will enjoy this short story, and I strongly advocate that you purchase it from the Black Library website. It's one of the few rare stories that focus on Knights - and non-Space Marine characters - and I love it.
The Knights of House Taranis will rise once more!
Such an underrated, yet beautiful piece of lore
ReplyDeleteTotally agree!
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