Mechanicum-Oathed Knight Houses

"These Knights are vital components of the Taghmata that protect Forge and Fane, yet despite their pride, they are but one tool among many and they will bend to the Omnissiah's will or be broken by it." - Archmagos Draykavac

Well, Archmagos Draykavac can feth off, in my humble opinion. I was about to say Knight Houses will never submit or be broken to his will, but since today is about Oath-bound Vassal Households of the Mechanicum, that's not going to sound convincing.

At the core of every Knight Household are arcane artifacts that are understood only by the most learned adepts of the Mechanicum. Among these are the mind-impulse thrones through which Noble scions pilot their Knight armors, ion shields, esoteric weapons such as the las-impulsors, and other mysterious technologies. As such, Knight Households have strong ties to the Mechanicum. Obviously, few Forge Worlds would be more than happy to welcome Knights. Not only are they a formidable military asset that possess devastating weaponry, Knights are also a potent symbol of the divine machine-spirit.

Unlike more independent Knight Houses, those Households sworn to the service of the Mechanicum possess machines very different from the ancient Questoris types, such as the Paladin, Errant, Warden, Crusader, or the prevalent Cerastus classes like the Lancer, Castigator and Acheron. Instead, they possess exotic Knight armors often bearing strange and terrible weapons not seen upon the battlefield since the Dark Age of Technology. The volkite weaponry of the Styrix, the lightning cannon of the Magaera, and the mysterious graviton singularity weapons mounted upon the Atrapos, for example, are examples of these exotic and barely understood technologies from that lost age, installed upon Knight armors mostly belonging to Households oath-bound to the Mechanicum. Independent Knight Households might possess a few of these rare and exotic types, perhaps as a favor from the Mechanicum, or rewards in return for defense and service, or maybe even priceless artifacts obtained through trade, but the Mechanicum-indentured Knight Houses have far greater and easier access to such uncommon chassis.

Several among these Noble scions may have been inducted into the secret arts of the Mechanicum, while a few others might have received esoteric augmetics. Some might even be eternally sealed within their Knight armor, permanently bonded to their suits.

The Sidon Protocols

There are Knight Houses who somehow maintain contact with at least one Forge World during the Age of Strife, entering a symbiotic relationship with their patron and receiving technological and spiritual guidance from the Magos while serving as a potent shield for the Forge World itself. The most common oath that bind Knight Households to Forge Worlds is the Sidon Protocols, a complex web of obligation and duty. A Knight Household that fails to uphold the protocols might lose any semblance of independence. They do earn the right to wear the symbol of the Opus Machina, though, which means they carry the authority of Mars and the Cult Mechanicus. This also means they are obligated to serve as part of the Taghmata of their patron.

While, like their Imperial counterparts who also take upon the title of Questoris and join the Expeditionary fleets of the Great Crusade, the Mechanicum-aligned Knight Houses bearing the mark of the Opus Machina ultimately owe their allegiance to the Mechanicum and their patron Forge World, not the Emperor. Unsurprisingly, this subtle distinction has led to conflicts within the armies of the Great Crusade, with Imperial Commanders not really trusting Knight Households pledged to the Mechanicum.

The Sidon Protocols also mean that the Forge World can assign an Archmagos Prelate to the home world of the Knight Household. The Archmagos Prelate serves as an advisor and observer within the Household, overseeing the wellbeing of their Knights and training the Sacristans, but sometimes they might wield the true political power behind the Knight Household's master, making him the figurehead. The Prelate also liaises between the scions of the Household and the Forge World's Taghmata, serving a representative for both, depending on who's talking to who. Considering the military power of a Knight Household, it comes as no surprise that such a position comes with prestige and influence, and many priests compete for it.

The Sidon Protocols also stipulate the number and types of armors to be supplied, as well as the conditions and duration of a Household's service under the Taghmata. Scion pilots require the irreplacable machinery of war that can only be manufactured on a Forge World, while the Forge World deems these scions' skills superior to even that of Cybernetica automata. Close relationships between the two often lead to hybrid cultures, with the Knight Households retaining much of their independent nature of their neo-feudal culture, while having their individualistic interpretations of their patron's specific cult of the Omnissiah.

Alliances

The Expeditionary fleets of the Great Crusade secured many Knight worlds, and the Imperium sought to acquire the loyalty of these rediscovered Households directly to the Emperor. However, a few Knight Households are discovered instead by Mechanicum Explorator vessels or ceded to the control of a Forge World in exchange for industrial output or the service of its assembled Taghmata. The latter are often desperately in need of new armors, and end up making bad bargains. Their dire need for technological expertise and new armors allow the coldly logical Archmagos to seal the Knight Households to their services.

Though the Sidon Protocols are generally seen as an amicable and symbiotic alliance, sometimes they - and other variants of oaths - are used to suppress the independence of the Household. In several of these cases, the scions of these exploited Households are enslaved to the masters of their patron Forge Worlds, becoming little more than Thrall-Houses, deployed as expendable shock assault forces and sometimes deliberately starved of functional armors and powerful weapons to assure they never achieve the strength necessary to break free. Fortunately, this seems exclusive to Traitors, and Loyalists don't have any Thrall-Houses or enslaved Knight scions because it was banned during the Great Crusade.

The Blade of the Omnissiah

Knight Households, their seasoned warriors and their arcane mounts are precious assets to be incorporated into the Forge Worlds' Taghmata, with the Archmagos Prelate representing them.

Mechanicum-oathed Houses bound by the Sidon Protocols are required to assign a cadre of Knights whenever their patron Forge Worlds muster their Taghmata, serving for the duration of a campaign under the authority of the Archmagos leading that Taghmata, but still under the command of their own officers. Within the Mechanicum Taghmata, Knights usually serve as shock assault troops and linebreakers. They may also serve as escorts to the gigantic war machines of the Ordinatus Locum and Ordo Reductor. Well-established Forge Worlds, in particular, can call upon several Knight Houses for assistance.

Knights and Titan Legions

Forge Worlds that maintain Titan Legions assign allied Knight detachments to Titan maniples as skirmishers and scout elements. Knights screen the larger Titans from infantry formations and tanks, and they apply elements of the Legion's heraldry to their own armor. Titans and their Knight escorts have a long, gloried history of battling against the most terrifying and powerful xenos races during the Great Crusade, and I suspect one of those was against the Rangdan. Occasionally, such detachments or even an entire Knight Household will be permanently seconded to the Titan Legion.

The Princeps of the Legio Titanicus honor the sacrifice of brave Knight pilots, greatly respecting their allied Knight Houses, and both sides often retain elements commemorating their friendship in their personal heraldry.

The Knight Questoris

Knight Households that maintain autonomy, through strength of arms or loyalty, retain the right to sanction independent military operations or join the ranks of the Ordo Questoris. The Ordo Questoris is Household forces independently detached into the service of Expeditionary fleets and Great Crusade armies. Usually driven by glory or engaged in their own conquests, these Houses may be loyal to the ideals of unity and the Emperor like their Imperial-aligned kin, as much as they are to their Mechanicum patrons or perhaps even more so. The rewards and reputation earned from such independent martial endeavors allow them to attain even more autonomy from their Mechanicum patrons, which is why many Archmagos are reluctant to grant such rights as part of the Sidon Protocols. They can suck it, though.

Notable Mechanicum-Oathed Houses

House Taranis

House Taranis is the first Knight House, bonded to Mars and often deployed alongside Titans of the Triad Ferrum Morgulus - mostly Legio Ignatum and Legio Tempestus. Uh, the Loyalist elements of Tempestus, I mean. House Taranis has long served the Red Planet and the forge-lords of Mars, and as the first of the Knight Houses, shaped the tenets and traditions upon which all Knight Households are built upon. With Knight armors forged upon Mars during the Dark Age of Technology, they - along with House Zavora - benefit from innovations produced by the manufactoria of the Red Planet.

First among the Questoris Familia to participate in the Expeditionary fleets after the ratification of the Treaty of Olympus, the scions of House Taranis have battled across hundreds of worlds from the Segmentum Solar to the distant fringes of known space. The loyalties of House Taranis appear to lean toward the Imperium over Mars, and sway toward the Emperor rather than the Fabricator General, which caused Kelbor-Hal much vexation. When Kelbor-Hal revealed his allegiance to the Warmaster, House Taranis instead declared for the Emperor and the Imperium, with many of their number perishing alongside the Loyalist Legio Tempestus during the battle of Magma City.

But many more Knights of House Taranis continue to ply the stars, often seeking new patrons for war material in exchange for the Household's service. Ryza was one such Forge World, allowing a fragment of House Taranis to rebuild their forces. A Primaris (Maxis) Grade Household, House Taranis has a greater strength than any other Household in the Imperium, except for House Raven. Their ties to Mars ensure that they receive rare patterns of Knights, such as the Acastus Knight Porphyrions - possessing even dozens of these exceedingly rare Knights.

Detachments of House Taranis Knights are assigned to Expeditionary fleets, Titan Legions or Forge Worlds, or whoever Mars wants to ally with. Fortunately, the secondment of much of House Taranis's strength ensures the survival of the Household's continued survival beyond the Horus Heresy. Eventually, the traditional midnight blue is replaced by the Martian red of a bonded Mechanicum Household, as House Taranis relies on Mars to rebuild much of their shattered strength during the Scouring.

House Sidus

House Sidus is an extremely mysterious Knight Household founded on Ryza. Though Ryza originally claimed they had no Knight House, the adepts of the Cult Mechanicus were skeptical. Following the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, however, Knights in the livery and iconography of Ryza emerge, identified as formations of House Sidus, which had supposedly been created in the five years after the Isstvan V massacre. Obviously, these are lies, because many of the Household's Knight armors bear signs of decades of use, rather than years. Ryza apparently wishes to keep the existence of their Knight House secret for some reason. Whatever the case, their allegiance to Ryza is indisputable, and House Sidus contributes vastly to the Loyalist war efforts across Segmentum Ultima. They first appeared during the Defense of Ryza when their home Forge World was assaulted by Traitor forces.

House Sidus possess considerable quantities of Knight Styrix, Knight Magaera and Knight Atrapos, but their numbers probably only add up to less than a hundred in total. Despite their lack of numbers when compared to other Questoris Familia, the Knights of House Sidus more than make up for it through their raw power and esoteric technology. They are often deployed in alongside Legio Crucius, supporting the larger Titans and protecting them from other Knights and even capable of claiming engine kills on their own.

It is unknown if House Sidus - and House Zavora, once of Mars - still exist in the 41st Millennium, but it is very likely that they do. Ryza, having recovered after the Traitors' onslaught during the Heresy, has returned to becoming one of the most preeminent Forge Worlds in the Imperium, a rival to Mars, even as it burns in the fires of two simultaneous Orks Waaaghs!. I assume that Knights of House Sidus still march in defense of the Furnace of the Shackled Stars. As for House Zavora, they are no longer present on Mars after the Heresy, but a significant portion of them is rebuilt on Ryza. I assume that they have made Ryza their new home, which seems very likely.

Current Forge Worlds and their allied Knight Houses (Modern 40K)

Mars has House Taranis, also of Mars, and House Krast of Chrysis. House Zavora is gone, apparently, and House Morbidia has either been destroyed or fled to the Eye of Terror alongside Legio Mortis.

Metalica has House Raven of Kolossi (which is now Bel'akor's after the events of Warzone Charadon, so House Raven is basically a fleet-based Knight Household now) and also House Krast of Chrysis.

Graia has ties to the House Moritain of Caemira. Of course, this was during the Horus Heresy, but I assume like Ryza, House Moritain still exists and continues their alliance with Graia.

Lucius is allied to House Terryn of Voltoris and House Orhlacc of Dark Haven. Apparently, they also have ties to House Mortimer and House Hawkwood, and those of you keen-eyed Knight fans who read my Retrospective article on Imperial Knights the other day will remember them from the 1990 White Dwarf #126 article. Heh. I guess they snuck them back in somehow.

Gryphonne IV used to be the masters of House Cadmus of Raisa before they fell.

Stygies VIII used to be the founding Forge World of Legio Vulcanum before they fell to Legio Honorum, and it is possible that they now provide war material for both House Arundel and House Zavora of Mars, who are often allied to Legio Honorum.

Agripinaa has...House Viti, apparently. Unfortunately, House Viti betrayed their oaths to Agripinaa and have turned to Chaos, so...uh, I'm sure they have other allied Knight Houses somewhere.

That brings us to Ryza, and I believe Ryza should still have House Sidus. Whether Defense of Ryza is a retcon or not, I believe the new addition should allow Warhammer 40,000 fans and players to do whatever they like, and in future, House Sidus might be turning up in more lore. That has happened with Imperial Knight lore throughout the last 10 years, with both the Faction and new chassis (such as Armigers and Dominus classes) being retroactively added to the story as if they had been there all along. So...yeah.

Ryza has House Sidus, also of Ryza, and most likely retains several elements of House Zavora, once of Mars. Though, as House Zavora only took temporary lodgings on Ryza, it is possible they have moved to Stygies VIII. I mean, the universe of Warhammer 40,000 is a sandbox, so do whatever you want with the available narrative.

Other notable Forge Worlds such as Atar-Median founded Knight Households such as House Col'Khak on Atar-Planitia.

Mezoa, on the other hand, has ties to House Hermetika (the Grand Order of Hermetika), of Kaldeia, House Vyronii of Damaetus III/II, and House Orhlacc of Dark Haven again (same guys who are allied to Lucius).

Voss Prime (not to be confused with Voss, who is a rival of Graia, whereas Voss Prime is known as the Right Hand of Mars) has ties to House Krast of Chrysis. Again.

It must be emphasized that the term Mechanicum-Oathed Knight Houses or Mechanicus-aligned Knight Houses (High Gothic: Questoris Mechanicus) should not imply a monolithic definition of Knight Houses entirely subservient to their patron Forge Worlds. Just as there are a million worlds in the Imperium, the degrees in which a Mechanicum-Oathed or Mechanicus-aligned Knight Household serves their patron Forge World differ greatly. The strongest among the Knight Houses, such as House Taranis and House Raven, retain varying degrees of independence and autonomy - bound to the Mechanicus through loyalty, but as allies and not servants. The Grand Order of Hermetika, for example, are partners and allies with Mezoa, rather than subordinates. House Vyronii retained a measure of their independence, despite their reliance on Mezoa to repair their damaged Knight suits and furnish them with new Knight armors after their costly clash against Cyclothrathe Taghmata, House Atrax and House Aerthegn. In fact, I believe House Vyronii remains an Imperial-aligned Knight Household as opposed to one oathed to the Mechanicum.

Those Knight Houses - or Thrall-Houses - completely under the control of their patron Forge Worlds tend to end up following the Traitor cause - such as House Atrax under the tyrannical command of Archmagos Draykavac, or the unfortunate House Morbidia leashed by the traitor Fabricator General Kelbor-Hal. This is not to say there are no Loyalist Knight Houses exploited by the Mechanicum (or Adeptus Mechanicus), so...do what you will with your homebrewed Knight House. Point is, some Mechanicum/Mechanicus aligned Knight Houses are more independent and autonomous than others, and it really depends on their size, strength and influence.

I think that's about it. I'm not sure what else to say. Also...is anybody reading these articles? I'm not sure if I should do more of these articles because they consume a lot of time and energy (and honestly, you guys can just read all of this from the official sourcebooks, rulebooks and campaign supplements anyway).