House Taranis
| Colour Scheme | House Info | Symbol | |
|---|---|---|---|
 |
Name: | House Taranis |  |
| Affiliation: | Imperium (Adeptus Mechanicus)[2a] | ||
| Knight World: | Mars | ||
| Colours: | Red (Post-Heresy)[2b][5c] Blue/white (Heresy-era)[13b] | ||
| Motto: | Honour thy Forge, Honour the Primus Ordinus.[10] | ||
House Taranis are a Knight House of the Adeptus Mechanicus, located on Mars.[2a][2b]
Overview
The first Knight House, they trace their lineage back to ancient Mars during the Age of Strife. Having always been on the Red Planet, they have never been forced to survive alone on a frontier and are not nearly as isolationist as other Houses. They also do not utilize the feudal structure seen in other Houses, and their Thrones Mechanicum operate without the mind-altering technology seen across the rest of the Imperium that turned them into feudal overlords. They refuse to share how their Thrones Mechanicum operate, and the reasons why most Thrones Mechanicum bear this technology and why those of House Taranis do not incorporate it are now lost to time. That has not prevented some from suggesting that the first Nobles were already fiercely loyal to the Mechanicum and that they were an integral part of the defenses of Mars.[22b]
With the might of Mars behind them, House Taranis has some of the finest Knight suits in the Imperium including many rarer configurations. While they might not share the feudal lives of other Nobles, they are known to still be strong in faith and fanatical in their desire to protect their pre-eminence of the first and greatest of the knightly houses sworm to the Mechanicum.[22b]
History
The first Knightly House to be established, House Taranis was founded on Mars before the formation of the Imperium. This truly ancient house predates any other by many hundreds of years. As the industries of the red planet developed into a vast metropolis of technological mastery, so too did it evolve to become the first and foremost of the forge worlds, and the Knights of House Taranis were its guardians. The STC technology supplied to many of the Expeditionary Fleets during Mankind’s expansion across the stars included designs for armoured suits of exo-armour based on those first developed to be used by the Knights of Taranis. When the Knight worlds were first rediscovered during the Imperium’s Great Crusade many thousands of years later, it is likely that the Mechanicum used their intimate knowledge of the Knight suits worn by House Taranis to help win the loyalty of those worlds.[2a]
By the start of the Horus Heresy, Taranis fielded some 600 Knight suits, including large numbers of rarer Porphyrion, Atrapos, Magaera, and Styrix Patterns.[13a] House Taranis remained loyal to the Imperium during the Horus Heresy, taking part in the Battle of Mars on the side of the forces of Kane. However, all but Raf Maven and Leopold Cronus, were killed fighting the forces of the Dark Mechanicum. The two later went into hiding for the rest of the civil war.[1d] After the Horus Heresy ended, Maven insisted on adding a sword that bisected the Household crest on their emblem as a way to honour his fallen kinsmen. In the years that followed, he rebuilt House Taranis.[22b]
During the Indomitus Crusade, 3 lances of House Taranis Knights were deployed from the vessel Zar-Quaesitor.[8]
After the Battle of Malak was a force of House Taranis Knights part of Task Force II, Battle Group Ezekis - together with members of the Black Templars, Crimson Guard, and unidentified forces from the Astra Militarum and Adeptus Mechanicus - and was turned, with the rest of Battle Group Ezekis, into agents of the Blood God Khorne by the Murder-Curse.[15]
Other Campaigns
- War of the Beast
- War of Recovery[12]
- Cold Trade Wars[12]
- 13th Black Crusade
- Battle on the killing fields of Umekha[9a]
- Battle of Ontoria XII[9d]
- Defence of Frontis[11]
- In 230.M41, the Knights of House Taranis battled a Daemonic incursion on Tarsok V. Despite heavy losses, they managed to defeat a Great Unclean One and win the day.[2c][5b]
- Indomitus Crusade[12]
- The Charadon Campaign[14]
- Fourth Tyrannic War[16]
- Pariah Crusade[19]
- Sangua Terran War[21]
Heraldry
The Knights of House Taranis are red with halved black-and-white greaves and shoulder plates and silver edging.[2b][5c]
Prior to the Horus Heresy, House Taranis's Knights wore primarily dark blue armour, rather than the red or silver common to those Houses affiliated with Mars.[13b] This changed during the Heresy, however, as most of House Taranis's surviving pilots repainted their Knights red in recognition of the debt they owed to Loyalist Forge Worlds.[13a][13b]
The House's crest, likewise, evolved with time - the symbol always featured the cog of Mars, but the sword that bisects the crest was added after the Horus Heresy. Some attribute this to the legendary Raf Maven, who allegedly insisted on the addition in honour of his fallen housemates.[12]
Holdings
During the Great Crusade, Taranis's primary fastness on Mars was on Arsia Mons, on the other side of the mountain from the Magma City.[1a]
In the modern Imperium, in addition to their main fortress temple (no longer on Arsia Mons[17]), House Taranis has control over a number of armoured keeps on Mars. Among them is Hydraulach Point, currently ruled by Sir Archimaxes, which maintains watch against the feral battle-servitors that infest the southern Mare Erythraeum.[9c]
House Elements
Armoury
Known Knight Suits
Dominus Pattern
- Devastation Unbridled — Castellan.[9c]
- Olympus Resurgent — Valiant.[11]
- Scion of Chryse — Castellan.[11]
- Salutatia — Castellan.[20]
Cerastus Pattern
Questoris Pattern
- Ares Lictor — Paladin.[1b]
- Blade of Mars[5c][9b]
- Crimson Destroyer — Warden.[11]
- Equitos Bellum[1c]
- Fortis Metallum — Preceptor.[1c]
- Iron God — Warden.[9a]
- Mors Iram — Styrix.[13c]
- Omnissiah's Fury — Paladin.[5c]
- Pax Mortis[1c]
- Red Might — Crusader.[5c]
- Retributor — Gallant.[9a]
- Scarlet Doom — Paladin.[3]
- Spirit of Voltaire — Crusader.[11]
Armiger Pattern
Known Sacristan Orders
Known Knights
High Monarchs
- Taymon Verticorda — One of the House's two Lord Commanders during the Horus Heresy.[1c] Pilot of Ares Lictor.[1b]
- Caturix — One of the House's two Lord Commanders during the Horus Heresy.[1c]
Exalted Court
- Vosant - Baroness Prime and current Mistress of Lore[22a]
Barons
- Cavanix — Pilot of the Crimson Destroyer. Led the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Dasorakis Gau-Taranis.[9e]
- Griegor — Pilot of the Iron God.[9a]
- Roosev Maven Taranis — Pilot of Iurgium[20]
- Solon Rhadamanthine — Pilot of a Knight Crusader.[7]
Seneschals
Other Knights
- Allacer Maven Taranis — Pilot of Contegeris and younger brother to Scion Magnus Baron Roosev Maven Taranis.[20]
- Agamon — Knight during the Horus Heresy
- Eskandor — Knight during the Horus Heresy[23]
- Sir Archimaxes — Pilot of Devastation Unbridled.[9c]
- Leopold Cronus — Knight during the Horus Heresy, pilot of Pax Mortis
- Sir Darkarrus — Pilot of Scarlet Doom.[3]
- Sir Doldurun — Pilot of Foebreaker[20]
- Drantar — Pilot of Red Might.[5c]
- Gentran — Knight during the Horus Heresy
- Govatek — Pilot of Olympus Resurgent. Among the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Raf Maven — Knight during the Horus Heresy, pilot of Equitos Bellum
- Tovekh Mau — Pilot of the Scion of Chryse. Among the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Lady Melandra — Pilot of Retributor.[9a]
- Razelon — Pilot of the Spirit of Voltaire. Among the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Soberan — Pilot of Omnissiah's Fury.[5c]
- Stator — Knight during the Horus Heresy, pilot of Fortis Metallum
- Sir Thassor — Pilot of the Red Jackal.[9b]
- Lord Therberax — Pilot of a Knight Errant.[6]
- Ulantor — Noble
- Vagoran[18]
- Valek — Pilot of Red Warrior during the War of the Beast
- Sir Xantek — Pilot of Blade of Mars.[5c][9b] Terribly wounded by a Chaos Titan. He has survived the Ritual of Becoming twice and embodies his house's ability to rise again from darkness.[9b]
- Sir Waldemar — Pilot of Salutatia[20]
- Yelsic - Knight during the Horus Heresy
Bondsmen
- Bondswoman Jocasta — Knight Warglaive Argyre. Among the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Bondsman Fovin — Knight Warglaive Aram. Among the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Bondsman Hastaelock — Knight Helverin Lyot. Among the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Bondsman Fargrim — Knight Helverin Zunil. Among the Knights sent to aid the world Frontis.[11]
- Bondsman Fazil — Armiger Knight Eyrine Hunter.[22a]
Images
Scarlet Doom, the Knight of Sir Darkarrus
Taranis Knight
See also
Sources
- 1: Mechanicum (Novel):
- 2: Codex: Imperial Knights (6th Edition):
- 3: Warhammer: Visions 8, pgs. 170–171
Warhammer: Visions - 4: White Dwarf 36 (2014), pg. 22
- 5: Codex: Imperial Knights (7th Edition):
- 6: White Dwarf 127 (2016) — Regiments of Renown
- 7: White Dwarf September 2016 — The Ultimate Guide to Imperial Knights
- 8: Codex: Space Marines (8th Edition), pg. 20
- 9: Codex: Imperial Knights (8th Edition):
- 10: Codex: Adeptus Mechanicus (8th Edition), pg. 57
- 11: White Dwarf July 2018 — Battle Report: A Gauntlet Thrown Down
- 12: Codex: Imperial Knights (9th Edition), pgs. 24-25 — House Taranis
- 13: Adeptus Titanicus: Loyalist Legios:
- 14: War Zone Charadon - Act I: The Book of Rust, pgs. 40-41
- 15: White Dwarf 487, pg. 100 — The Red Angel
- 16: Leviathan (Box) Rulebook, pgs. 247-253
- 17: Codex: Skitarii (7th Edition), pgs. 14-15 — The Red Planet
- 18: Imperial Knight Companion, pg. 89
- 19: Crusade: Pariah Nexus pgs. 21-26
- 20: Genefather (Novel), Chapter 14
- 21: Crusade: Nachmund Gauntlet, pgs. 16-17
- 22: Codex: Imperial Knights (10th Edition)
- 23: The Horus Heresy: Legions - Crusade Expansion: Knight Houses - Card Description
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