House Moritain is a Loyalist Imperial Knight house of the Questor Mechanicus that was most active during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy.
House History[]
Origins[]
House Moritain colour scheme as depicted by the Questoris Knight Dream of Crimson Fields.
Perhaps the most quixotic view of the honoured House of Moritain hails from the extensive records extracted from the now-defunct Remembrancer Order, which invested significant efforts towards the study and description of the household's traditions and mien. Such views, though far from impartial, do much to highlight the Scions' reputation as warriors and scholars of equal repute. Adhered to the dictum that a learned soul is the bedrock of civilisation, a Scion of House Moritain was required to prove themselves on the battlefields of philosophy and academia alongside those of warfare before ascending to the Throne Mechanicum.
This devotion to scholarly pursuits ensured that House Moritain ruled over a world which had long known peace, its history carefully recorded in archives that stretched back for many millennia. Many a Remembrancer of the Great Crusade was quick to note the juxtaposition between the artistic and scholarly nature of House Moritain and the data-driven and cold logic of the Forge World of Graia and its people, who House Moritain were bound to following the rediscovery of the Knight World.
Some spoke of the opposing demeanours as a merging of two aspects to complement one another, although other records attribute the bond more to the proximity of the world combined with the tenacious spirit that both the Knight house and Graia's Legio Astraman Titan Legion possessed.
Within the Questoris Familia, the dual nature of House Moritain's Scions drew much disdain, most notably from those households infamous for their violent dispositions. Some Knight houses proved unkeen to share a battlefield with the Scions of House Moritain, believing its warriors' dalliances in philosophy and the scholarly arts to be a sign of weakness within the lineage of their bloodline. Little evidence exists to support such a view, for the record of conquest and victories held by the household are extensive, its warriors having served dutifully within the expeditionary fleets since the world of Ceamira was bound to the Imperium.
It stands as public record that the central tenet of House Moritain, according to its own writ and word, stated that: "A death in service to the defenceless is greater than a life in service to oneself." Indeed, many are the posthumous honours earned by warriors of Moritain, both those awarded by the household and others who they served alongside, in recognition of the sacrifice made in their efforts to protect others.
Horus Heresy[]
House Moritain Acastus Knight Porphyrion Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled during the Horus Heresy.
The onset of the Horus Heresy did little to change the demeanour of the household, save that its warriors were filled with a fervour to preserve knowledge from the flames spreading across the galaxy. Much of House Moritain's strength was deployed across the Belt of Iron, its warriors taking to the battlefield in great numbers. In the face of such strife, House Moritain was to suffer greatly, for its warriors refused to leave innocent souls defenceless against even the most impossible of odds.
In some ways, the idealistic manner and beliefs House Moritain displayed proved its greatest weakness in a time of treachery and bloodshed, with dozens of its warriors lost to a naive belief that all Traitors still possessed a measure of honour.
By the end of the Horus Heresy, House Moritain was greatly diminished in number yet, to this day, its spirit still stands strong, viewing its losses in that dark time as worthwhile for the lives they bought.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Moritain took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Moritain provided Knight support to the Legio Astraman. 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.
- Cataclysm of Iron (010.M31) - The Scions of House Moritain participated in the conflict remembered as the Cataclysm of Iron. Across border sectors of the Segmentum Tempestus and the Segmentum Pacificus are located numerous lesser Forge Worlds known collectively as the "Belt of Iron". Since the sundering of the Imperium in the Horus Heresy, many declared for the Traitor cause at the engineering of the traitorous fabricator-general of Mars, Kelbor-Hal, while others remained loyal to Terra or sought to remain as aloof as possible from the conflict. Strife and tentative conflict between these once-aligned worlds erupted into full-scale war in 010.M31, pitching the Mars-aligned Forge Worlds of Incunabula, Urdesh, Valia-Maximal and Kalibrax against the forces of the Loyalist worlds of Graia, Arl'yeth and Atar-Median, while Arachnis and Jerulas Station both fell into civil war. The resulting conflict, which later became known as the "Cataclysm of Iron", saw the forge lords, their armies and allied Titan Legions and Knight houses turn on each other in protracted warfare, with scores of Human-inhabited worlds in the region suffering as they became the battlegrounds upon which they fought.
Honoured Titles of Moritain[]
As befitting a brotherhood that placed such emphasis on knowledge and honour, the warriors of House Moritain were known to bear many titles alongside their given name, in a manner not dissimilar in nature to the Emperor's own noble Legio Custodes, with each notable deed performed by a Scion of House Moritain being carefully recorded and catalogued by the household's Sacristans.
Documentarist Kyran Padorian of the Remembrancer Order, when given leave to study the annals of House Moritain, noted that many of the titles borne by its warriors held poetic symbology, stating that the most lauded of warriors amongst the house carried enough titles that, when spoken in order, wove a storied tale personal to each individual.
During the Great Crusade, the most notable example of such a claim lies with the patriarch of House Moritain himself, who bore no less than 74 titles, including such monikers as: "He whose claws rend all to ash," "The immortal strider of misremembered paths," and "He that conquers gods both conjured and imagined."
Notable Knights[]
- Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled (Acastus Knight Porphyrion) - At the onset of the Horus Heresy, Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled, depicted above during the conflict, was piloted by Scion Sylvarnyus Moritain. This Acastus Knight Prophyrion saw frequent combat during the Horus Heresy while fighting across the Belt of Iron.
- Dream of Crimson Fields (Questoris Pattern Knight) - The Scions of House Moritain are well-known for their flair in battle and the warrior souls of their commanders. In tiny flowing script, the war banner of Dream of Crimson Fields, depicted above, tells the tale of one of the first Knights of the noble house, who fought a battle alone on the forlorn world of Avardia during the first years of the Great Crusade. So the story goes, the Knight and its valiant pilot turned the green fields of the world red over days of combat, eventually falling to its knees, to lie dead amongst its foes.
Notable Personnel[]
- Scion Sylvarnyus Moritain - Sylvarnyus Moritain piloted the Acastus Knight Porphyrion Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled during the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. At the outset of the latter conflict, Sylvarnyus was renowned amongst her household as a composer of six lauded symphonies and 13 villanelles. She remained an oddity within House Moritain for rarely taking a new name. During six solar decades of service in the Great Crusade she acquired only three new names, despite recording dozens of honours significant enough to be awarded a new title. Records indicate this stemmed from Sylvarnyus' belief that each new name should bear the weight of its deeds so future generations could see the depravity of war. Tormenting Echoes Fated to be Recalled saw frequent combat during the Horus Heresy while fighting across the Belt of Iron and, by the time the Warmaster Horus fell at the Siege of Terra, Sylvarnyus bore 17 new names, each a more painful reminder than the last.
House Allies[]
Allied Titan Legios[]
- Legio Astraman (House Moritain was bound in service to the Forge World of Graia and its Legio Astraman in return for technological aid and replenishment.)
- Legio Ignatum
House Strength[]
The status of House Moritain as a Tertius-grade household stems not from the household's inability to support a substantial number of Knight armours but rather the stringent requirements placed upon prospective Scions. Few are the number of individuals who can bond successfully to a Throne Mechanicum, and fewer still are those with the scholarly talents expected of the Scions of House Moritain.
During the Age of Strife, the slow depreciation of the household's numbers saw a mass campaign of education overtake the world, resulting in the relaxation of rules dictating which bloodlines could serve within the ranks of the household.
Numbers taken two solar decades before the Horus Heresy placed the strength of House Moritain at 125 Knight armours, of which three-fifths were of Cerastus Knight design, including several Knight Atrapos in service to the household's Seneschals.
Evidence suggests that these numbers remained constant until the Warmaster Horus' betrayal, with the lengthy process of House Moritain's Scion recruitment preventing fast growth.
House Appearance[]
House Colours[]
The colours of House Moritain are halved-black and grey with bronze trim. Yellow also features prominently in their heraldry, iconography and the decorations on their Knights' pauldrons, greaves, livery shields and banners.
House Arms[]
The arms of House Moritain is a yellow stag rampant (depicted in profile standing erect with foreward legs raised and hind legs braced wide apart) centred upon a field of black.
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game) Appendix: Knights at Beta-Garmon, pg. 93
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Crucible of Retribution (Specialty Game), pp. 62-63
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Loyalist Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 94-97
- The Horus Heresy - Book Six: Retribution (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 138
- Warhammer Community - Crucible of Retribution: The Story (23 Oct 2021)
- Warhammer Community - Crucible of Retribution - Titan Tactics (22 Oct 2020)
- Warhammer Community - Coming Soon: Crucible of Retribution (29 Sept 2020)