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House Malinax was a Traitor Imperial Knight house that repudiated its oaths to the Emperor of Mankind and followed the Warmaster Horus into the service of the Ruinous Powers during the Horus Heresy. The Knight house of Malinax was founded shortly after the rediscovery and incorporation of the Forge World of Xana II, located on the western fringe of the galaxy in the Vicidax Thule Sector within the Segmentum Pacificus.

The newly-created Knight house went on to serve with distinction in some of the Great Crusade's more savage campaigns and alongside the Titans of the Legio Vulturum and the Taghmata Scoria throughout the later days of the Great Crusade.

Ultimately, Xana II would attempt to serve both Loyalist and Traitor alike when the Horus Heresy erupted in the early 31st Millennium. When evidence mounted against the recalcitrant Forge World that there was substantial double-dealing occurring despite Xana II's professed neutrality in the internecine conflict, Rogal Dorn, primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion and Praetorian of Terra, declared Xana II Traitoris Perdita and under sentence of death in 007.M31.

This later led to the desperate covert campaign conducted by the Loyalists known as the Xana Incursion in 009.M31. House Malinax defended one of Xana's major forge-fanes from an assault by Loyalist forces. Forced to choose a side, Xana II ultimately declared for the Traitor cause and followed them into damnation.

With the failure of the Traitors and the death of Horus during the Siege of Terra, it is presumed that House Malinax fled alongside their Dark Mechanicum masters, moving their entire world through unknown means into the Eye of Terror where they still reside upon the Hell-Forge of Xana II, deep within that nightmare realm.

History[]

Origins[]

Malinax Knight-Styrix

House Malinax colour scheme as displayed by the Questoris Knight Styrix Xaulhqui.

The Forge World of Xana II was a potent and storied example of its kind, an Ultima II-grade facility rated as one of the most capable Forge Worlds of the Imperium, and unmatched in its region of the galaxy. It comprised a main planetary sphere, Xana II, with a number of inhabited moons and extensive mobile sub-faculties in the form of void and gas-mining installations scattered throughout the debris belts and turbulent atmosphere of the macro-magnitude gas giant, Xana I, around which the Forge World orbited.

Its position was on the very far tip of the galactic arm of the western fringe, granting it the title on the star charts of the Carta Imperialis as "Occidentem Thule" -- the last great port on the edge of the intergalactic abyss.

Xana II was accidentally rediscovered in 843.M30, when a damaged galleass belonging to the Rogue Trader Casilida DeAniasie, having been flung far off-course after engaging in battle with Fra'al Corsairs, intercepted a trio of hulking automata warships at the edge of the intergalactic void.

Although they might have taken or destroyed her already-damaged void ship with little effort, these vessels instead offered aid and carried with them a message of greeting and an offer of diplomatic exchange between the "Sovereign Forge Domain of Xana" and the Imperium of Man and its Emperor.

The Xanite vessels made good on their intentions by taking the stricken galleass back under tow to the Xana System itself, where it was repaired and resupplied for its journey home with exemplary speed, and the Rogue Trader treated with courtesy and honour. Negotiations between the Imperium and Xana II soon followed upon the Rogue Trader's return.

The Knight house of Malinax was founded shortly after the incorporation of the Forge World of Xana II into the Imperium as part of the re-alignment of native Xanite armed forces to better serve the Great Crusade. This would include the incorporation of the Malin-Qatlu Scion Bloodline, a regressed house which was at that stage without an extant Knight World of its own and with few remaining operable Knights.

This cadre of Scions was provided with fresh Knight armours and bound by blood and oath to the Lords of Xana, and would form thenceforth part of Xana II's new order of battle. Brought back from the edge of extinction, the newly patented House of Malinax would serve with distinction in the savage wars of the Rangdan Xenocides, and detachments would continue to fight alongside the Titans of the Legio Vulturum and the Taghmata Setna and Taghmata Scoria throughout the later Great Crusade.

Horus Heresy[]

AcastusKnightAsterius

An Acastus Knight Asterius of House Malinax

Provided as they were with both fresh machines and Scions, the newly-patented House Malinax would acquit themselves with much honour during the waning years of the Great Crusade, endearing themselves greatly to the allies they served alongside. Despite such a record, the isolation of its homeworld and the uneasy alliance through which the Forge World of Xana II was incorporated into the Imperium ensured that House Malinax gained a sinister reputation.

Often its Sciones were deployed alongside the Titans of the Legio Vulturum, a Titan Legion sworn to the service of Xana II, which only further increased the whispers of questionable allegiances surrounding House Malinax owing to the lack of trust in its homeworld's true loyalty. Ultimately, the doubts surrounding the loyalties of Xana II and, by association, House Malinax, proved well-founded when the Warmaster Horus turned the Forge World to his cause.

During the initial years of the Horus Heresy, the Lords of Xana used their isolated nature to play both sides, aiding the Warmaster's forces while negotiating deals with the Imperium in secret.

As the Horus Heresy suddenly and bloodily unfolded in the early 31st Millennium, Xana's isolation only increased and it was a situation its ruling synod of magi, known as the Vodian Consistory, did little to attempt to outwardly alleviate, choosing initially neither faction to favour, avowing, at least publicly, that the matter was an "internal matter of the Great Crusade's military" in which they had no direct involvement. As the war went on with no clear avenue of victory in sight, both sides looked to the increasingly bellicose and active Forge World of Xana II with renewed interest.

In their years of isolation since the civil war's outbreak, the forges of Xana had not been idle and evidence began to amass that a vast and well-guarded stockpile of munitions and war machines had been built up in the system, and readied as if for shipment to a client, but to what end or to whom remained unclear. Eventually, Primarch Rogal Dorn, the Praetorian of Terra, made an open proclamation declaring the Forge World of Xana II Traitoris Perdita because of its repeated double dealings with the Traitors and under sentence of death.

House Malinax would go on to serve at the whims of the Lords of Xana, and willingly follow them into damnation. Though a swift attack by the Imperium caused a delay to the Forge World's efforts to supply the Warmaster's forces, House Malinax was largely unaffected and elements of its forces aided the Warmaster and his allies in a number of key battles across the galaxy.

When the Heresy ultimately failed, it is presumed that House Malinax fled the Siege of Terra alongside their Dark Mechanicum masters, and still stands sentinel over the Hell-Forge of Xana II.

Notable Campaigns[]

  • Rangdan Xenocides (ca. late 800's.M30) - Following their inclusion in the nascent Imperium of Man, the Xanite forces hurled themselves and broke their greater strength in countless battles against vile xenos on the edge of the Halo Stars, becoming shattered remnants of their former selves, but earned much honour in doing so for their Forge World. More importantly, weapons and arms poured forth from Xana II and were shipped directly to the segmentum-wide battle lines of the war, providing much needed respite and fresh strength to beleaguered Imperial forces, helping to slowly turn the tide of defeat into first stalemate and eventually victory. It was a victory Xana was in no small part bled dry to achieve.
  • Battle of Prospero (734.004.M31) - Upon direct order of the Warmaster Horus, a detachment of House Malinax entering finishing stages of a re-armament cycle on Beta-Garmon were requisitioned to reinforce the Censure Host sent by the Emperor of Mankind to call the Thousand Sons Legion of the Legiones Astartes to task for the suspected actions of their Primarch Magnus the Red in violating the Decrees of Nikaea. Joining the armies of Leman Russ and Constantin Valdor, House Malinax played a minor role in the ensuing campaign, the detachment of eighteen Knights deployed to the southern borders of Prospero's capital city of Tizca, near the independent forge-fane of the Zhao-Arkhad Forge World. Despite the presence of the rare and powerful Acastus Knight Porphyrion amongst their ranks, the Knights of House Malinax were no match for the Titans of the Legio Xestobiax which defended the forge-fane and which had almost entirely annihilated the forces of the Legio Mortis put against them. Instead of facing annihilation, the remaining Knights entered the vast city of Tizca and supported the troops of the Imperial Army in their mop-up operations against the last nests of enemy resistance, especially that of the Prosperine Spireguard, leaving the secretive Ordo Sinister to battle the enemy Titans.
  • Shadow Crusade (007-008.M31)
  • Crusade of Iron (007-009.M31)
    • Raid of Guilders Grave (008.M31) - The raid on the world of Guilders Grave is the first known example of the Xanite Mechanicum forces conducting an aggressive military operation to their own ends, engaging both Traitor and Loyalist auxiliary forces in open battle in order to achieve their aims of looting the Mining World of Guilders Grave of its resources and heavy machinery. The vanguard of the Xanite forces during this attack were several maniples of Mechanicum Knights, at least two of which have been identified as belonging to the sinister House Malinax. This was a force which the defenders of Guilders Grave could not hope to match in firepower or resilience, resulting in a complete massacre of the local forces.
Xana Incursion Defence of Setna

The Knights of House Malinax defend the forge-fane of Setna, during the Xana Incursion.

  • Xana Incursion (009.M31) - The Xana Incursion was a desperate covert campaign conducted by a Legiones Astartes Blackshield irregular force as well as a small contingent of Dark Angels against the recalcitrant Forge World of Xana II in 009.M31, during the galactic civil war known as the Horus Heresy. Intelligence had reached Terra that the Renegade Forge World on the western fringe of the Imperium had reached an accord with the Traitor forces to supply the Warmaster's armies with vast output of arms and material. The bargain was to be sealed with the delivery by Xana of a number of newly created powerful Ordinatus class weapons undergoing final field tests. In what was effectively a suicide mission, a handpicked force of Astartes, including many Blackshields -- Space Marines who had chosen to remain loyal despite their parent Legion's treachery -- was despatched under great secrecy to destroy the war machines and drive a wedge between Xana and the Traitors. During the Loyalist assault, the veteran warriors of House Malinax defended the major forge-fane of Setna from the Loyalists' assault, and successfully halted their progress. Two Ordinatus were captured by the Loyalist force and evacuated from the surface of Xana-Tisiphone, to be maintained and utilised by Loyalist tech-magi in later campaigns of the Heresy.
  • Scouring of Arten's World (Unknown Date.M31)
  • Battle of Coloranth VI (Unknown Date.M31)
  • Burning of the Hive City (Unknown Date.M31)
  • Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - The Knight banners of House Malinax, fighting alongside the Legio Tempestus, took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. Even before the greater armies of the Warmaster Horus reached the star cluster, the battle lines had long since been drawn, and fighting had been going on for many Terran years. It was a cauldron of battle that would consume millions of lives before its end and see the demise of entire Titan Legions, earning this campaign the dire moniker of the "Titandeath." The Beta-Garmon Cluster, also known as the gateway to the throneworld of Terra, was the last hurdle that the Warmaster Horus' forces had to overcome before they reached the Imperium's capital world. Heavily fortified by the Loyalists, Beta-Garmon would become one of the greatest and bloodiest battles of the Horus Heresy, as well as one of the longest-lasting.
    • Second Battle of Nycron City (012.M31) - The Second Battle of Nyrcon , so called as it followed Imperial Fists' Primarch Rogal Dorn's retaking of the ciry in 010.M31, saw maniples of Legio Mortis, Legio Fureans and Legio Vulpa Titans , along with supporting Knights from House Perdaxia and House Malinax, march through more than a hundred kilometres of fortifications to breach the walls of the ciry itself. Forced to land beyond the reach of the orbital defensive web of the Anvil star fortress - even as Space Marine Legions launched their own assault against Nyrcon's geo-stationary orbital - the Traitor Titans faced ground resistance from the Pan Crypta Dust Clans, 216th Solar Auxilia "Titan-killer" Regiment and the Garmonite Nemesis Brigades. These lesser enemies, and the kilometres of mines, gun emplacements and trenches proved ineffective against the Titans, even the constant barrages ofNyrcon's great Nemesis cannon barely slowing their advance . Only the presence of Legio Astorum and Legio Defensor Titans, along with Knights of House Vyronii and House Niagma in the shadow of the ciry walls, gave the Traitors pause, though even then it was time bought by the Loyalists at a hefty price, and time that ultimately bore witness to the fall of Nyrcon Ciry to the Warmaster.
  • Siege of Terra (014.M31) - House Malinax was one of several renegade Knight Households that took part in numerous engagements during the dark days of the Horus Heresy, but their most notable action occurred when they took part in the Siege of Terra, the final epic battle of the galaxy-wide civil war. But despite the Traitor Legions' efforts, ultimately Warmaster Horus was laid low by the Emperor Himself and the forces of Chaos were forced to flee into the Eye of Terror.

Notable House Malinax Knights[]

  • Itzilnan (Cerastus Knight-Lancer) - The Itzilnan is one of the oldest Knights still in service amongst its House, a fact acknowledged by the lack of Mechanicum-related insignia in Itzilnan’s livery. A veteran of the Great Crusade, where it fought for more than a standard century, the Itzilnan was deployed to Prospero, the homeworld of the Thousand Sons Legion as part of the Imperial Censure Host. Landing well after the Space Wolves as part of the second assault wave, the Itzilnan concentrated its efforts on supporting the Imperial Army's advance through Tizca. In particular, Itzilnan helped the Imperial troops to crush the resistance of the remaining regiments of Prosperine Spireguard which had barricaded themselves into the Airguard's Headquarters. In this single engagement, Itzilnan has been confirmed to have been responsible for more than 100 infantry kills, thus cementing House Malinax's reputation for bloodthrist within the Imperial Army.
  • Matonari (Cerastus Knight-Atrapos) - The Matonari was a rare Cerastus Atrapos subtype, a platform for a particular set of technologically arcane weaponry intended for deployment against hardened targets and heavy armour. It was known for having taken part in the raid on the world of Guilders Grave. Matonari served in the assault as a leading element of an attacking Knight detachment. It is known to have taken part in the sub-engagement raid on the Yellow Atallo sub-orbital transit depot in 008.M31.
  • Thonal (Questoris Knight Errant) - The personal Knight armour of the darkly renowned Scion Zholon-Kuthos, the Knight Errant Thonal depicted below is named for a figure of the underworld drawn from the deathly mythologies of the bloodlines of Makabius.
  • Xaulhqui (Questoris Knight Styrix) - Xaulhqui is known to have taken part in the Defence of the Barbican Gate at forge-fane Setnat during the Xana Incursion. Additional ident-markers in register also indicates that this Knight also participated in such campaigns as the Siege of Arrian Mysteries, the Brycantia Purge and the Tyrian Suppression.
  • Xotlatlici (Acastus Knight Porphyrion) - Piloted by Scion Machtectlan, an illustrious member of one of House Malinax's pre-eminent bloodlines, the Xotlatlici depicted below was one of two rare Acastus Knight Porphyrions deployed to the surface of Prospero during the Battle of Prospero. The Acastus Porphyrion's firepower is such that it can even damage a Titan, which the Xotlatlici indeed managed to achieve whilst it battled the Titans of the Prosperine Vigil of the Legio Xestobiax. An example of one of the rarer patterns of Knight armours to be fielded by House Malinax, Xotlatlici also participated in the Crusade of Iron. Of particular note was the apparent skill Machtectlan held in combating enemy Titans, utilising the heavy firepower Xotlatlici offered in close support of hunting packs of Legio Audax Scout Titans to topple the mightiest of foes. This partnership between Legio and Knight house was to end in betrayal, with target logs extracted from the broken form of Xotlatlici registering Legio Audax Titans as foes in its final moments, an act of betrayal spurred on by an apparent dispute over who claimed the final kill of a enemy Titan.
  • Lokazluk (Knight Errant) - Knight Errant of Knight-Banner Zholon-Kuthos during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.
  • Zhul (Knight Warden) - Knight Warden of Knight-Banner Zholon-Kuthos during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.
  • Kzilus (Knight Paladin) - Knight Paladin of Knight-Banner Zholon-Kuthos during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.
  • Xhokis (Knight Paladin) - Knight Paladin of Knight-Banner Zholon-Kuthos during the Battle of Beta-Garmon.

Notable House Malinax Personnel[]

  • Zholon-Kuthos - Zholon-Kuthos was a darkly renowned Scion of House Malinax, who piloted the infamous Questoris Knight Errant Thonal. As banner-marshal of his force, Zholon-Kuthos commanded numerous actions in the furtherance of the Warmaster's cause, even though the Forge World to which House Malinax was bonded -- Xana II -- was wont to chart an autonomous course dedicated to its own interests. It was while supporting the Traitor Legio Ulicon in the Scouring of Arten's World during the Titandeath campaign, that the Scions of Knight Banner Zholon-Kuthos won their darkest honour, slaying three times their own number of Knights of House Vornherr.

House Strength[]

As befitting a Knight household founded upon a powerful Forge World such as Xana II, House Malinax was well-supplied, its contingents often having access to a variety of different Knight armours including several rarer classes, such as the Knight Porphyrion and Knight Magaera, being far more prevalent within House Malinax compared to other Knight houses. This ability to draw upon such relic technologies ensured House Malinax played a key role against Loyalist forces during the Horus Heresy, capable of bringing superior firepower against opposing Knight Houses while remaining a credible threat to isolated groups of Titans.

By the time of the Heresy, the forges of Xana II had swelled the numbers of House Malinax to an estimated 200 Knight armours, making the household a Secundus-grade Knight house. Ident data extracted from fallen House Malinax Knights during the Horus Heresy show that large quantities of the household's numbers bore signs of recent construction, a fact that speaks for the potency of Xana II's forges.

Most worrying for Loyalist forces was the significant number of newly-forged Knight armours of more sophisticated patterns such as the Atrapos, Magaera and Styrix, the quick production of which remains a rare feat and speaks volumes as to the strength of Xana II's industry.

House Alliances[]

Traitor Legios[]

Traitor Space Marine Legions[]

Loyalist Space Marine Legions[]

House Appearance[]

Malinax Knight Banner 2

House Malinax honour banner of the Questoris Knight Styrix Xaulhqui, depicting the house's favoured triple-tailed scorpion icon and the simplistic Xana II Forge World icon as a cog with a letter "X" centred within.

House Colours[]

Much of the heraldic panoply of the re-formed House of Malinax was taken from the predatory megafauna that was surprisingly common on the Forge World on which they were based. The distinctive colouration of their primary armour was in fact ritually created from the dense, silicate-rich bone plates harvested from Xana II's gigantic, armoured Regathok Ursids, the augmented skull of which also formed the core icon of Xana II's Taghmata forces.

House Arms[]

The tripled-tailed scorpion utilised by House Malinax as their house's heraldry pre-dates the pact with Xana II. It owes its origin to the ancient sigil of the Malin-Qatlu, later rendered as "Transfigured by the Omnissiah" as the house's Xanite Sacristans had it, to a purer, more blessed form.

The icon of the Malinax clan, the three-tailed scorpion clutching the symbol of Xana II, is a traditional symbol of the relationship between the bonded Knight house and its patron Forge World.

Sources[]

Gallery[]

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