House Zavora, known also by the cognomen "The Wayward Knights", is a Secundus (Maxis)-grade Loyalist Knight house of the Questor Mechanicus that served the ancient Mechanicum directly.
During the earliest days of the Age of Strife, the fallen House Morbidia began as one of the early rivals of the Houses of Zavora and Taranis for power and favour of the Omnissiah's priesthood on Mars.
During those dark and lost centuries however, House Morbidia erred and for crimes the truth of which has been long-suppressed within the vast and ancient data cores of the Red Planet, was pronounced excommunicate by the fabricator-general and condemned to servitude, allowing Houses Zamora and Taranis to ascend to primacy among the Knight houses of Mars.
House History[]
House Zavora colour scheme as displayed by the Acastus Knight Porphyrion Immortal Numen during the Horus Heresy.
The House of Zavora was not originally intended to stand guard over the sands of Mars. Indeed, the Knight armours that would become the foundation of the household were originally destined for a planet elsewhere in the galaxy during the Dark Age of Technology.
As the colony ships of Humanity spread across the galaxy the means of their survival were often forged upon the Red Planet, sent forth with technological marvels designed to ensure the prosperity of those seeking a new life. Many such expeditions were accompanied by complements of Knight armour devoid of name or legacy.
This was not to occur, for the galaxy was engulfed by Warp Storms and the Red Planet fell into anarchy and war following the onset of the Age of Strife. Against the degenerate hords of the Cy-carnivora, the fledgling Cult Mechanicus raised many tools of war and the Knight armours intended for a distant colony were instead transformed into the House of Zavora, pledged to defend the beleaguered forge-fanes scattered across the oxide deserts of Mars.
Few other details relating to the history of House Zavora have survived the passage of time, save that the household aided in the chastisement of House Morbidia for its heinous actions against the fabricator-general of the ancient Mechanicum.
Great Crusade[]
When the time came for the Mechanicum forces to take their place amongst those of the Great Crusade, 200 Knights of House Zavora departed the surface of Mars, finally ascending to the stars as they had long been destined to do. The long-standing ties the warriors of Zavora held with the Cult Mechanicus had done much to influence the rites and practices of the household. Many of the house's practices lie unrecorded save within the sealed records of the now-destitute fortress constructed upon the plain of Syrtis Major, yet it remains common knowledge that each warrior of House Zavora would exchange a single organ for an augmented cybernetic counterpart come their ascension to the Throne Mechanicum.
Further esoteric augmentation would be borne by more seasoned warriors of the household, with the greatest sign of devotion deemed the permanent entombment of a Scion within their own armour, to bring them closer to the Omnissiah and His greatness. These practices were often viewed as extreme, if not outright deviant, by the more puritan supporters of the Imperial Truth and by many outside the Mechanicum, which consigned House Zavora to solely serve aboard Mechanicum fleets, save for the rarest of circumstances.
Horus Heresy[]
House Zavora colours proudly displayed by the Questoris Knight Errant Veiled Hunter during the Horus Heresy.
Both the eventual fate and true loyalties of House Zavora remain open to much interpretation, for the details of its actions during the Horus Heresy are severely lacking and prone to conflicting statements. That over half of the house's strength, some 200 Knight armours and supporting Sacristans, were present on Mars during this time is well known, as is the fact that none still lived upon the liberation of Mars following the Siege of Terra.
Pict-captures taken within the walls of Zavora's Martian fortress show an edifice torn asunder by war, its halls littered with the broken remains of Knights bearing the livery of House Zavora; analysis of their positioning and fragmented tactical data suggest that the warriors of House Zavora fought amongst themselves, though the reasoning behind such actions remains unknown. Those of Zavora located elsewhere in the galaxy come the Horus Heresy found their loyalty split.
Many held ardent loyalty towards Mars and, upon hearing that the Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal had sworn himself to the Warmaster Horus, turned away from the Imperium. Others refused to believe that the Cult Mechanicus had turned against the Emperor and stood alongside His Loyalists. It was this latter group that was to have the greatest impact on the unfolding conflict, for it turned to Ryza for aid and in doing so found a means to replenish the house's numbers.
House Zavora were instrumental in throwing back the tide of Traitors that sought to conquer the Furnace of Shackled Stars and those that survived that conflict earned countless honours across the Ultima Segmentum in the years to follow.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Schism of Mars (005-006.M31) - During the opening days of the galaxy-wide conflict that would come to be known as the Horus Heresy, Mars too, fell into infighting as Loyalist factions of the Mechanicum fought the Dark Mechanicum faction loyal to the Traitor Fabricator-General Kelbor-Hal in a deadly and bitter civil war. Pict-recordings from this tumultuous ers show that House Zavora fell into opposing factions and fought one another in a conflict that mirrored the larger conflict that would consume the galaxy during the Age of Darkness.
- Defence of Ryza (012.M31) - During the Horus Heresy, a great battle took place on the Legio Crucius' home Forge World known as the Defence of Ryza. Forces of the Dark Mechanicum, led by the Traitor Titan Legions and their Chaos Knight allies fought against the Loyalist servants of the Omnissiah. Knights of House Zavora, House Sidus and House Taranis, alongside the Titan Legios of the Legio Honorum, Legio Osedax and the Legio Crucius, stood their ground against the Traitors. During this conflict countless Titans and Knights fell on both sides. Eventually, the Loyalists were able to drive back the Traitors, only to be bombarded by a Chaos Warfleet from orbit. There was little to celebrate, as the guardians of Ryza tasted pyrrhic victory, and the world never recovered the prominence it had known as a true rival to Mars before the Heresy.
Notable Knights[]
- Immortal Numen (Acastus Knight Porphyrion) - One amongst many households standing as protectors of Mars, House Zavora remained one of the most ardent adoptees of Mechanicum beliefs and rituals. The Scions of House Zavora were known to bear augmentations that helped establish a deeper bond with their armours. In rarer instances, long-serving Scions, such as Gafrali Bex, commander of the Immortal Numen, pictured above before its departure from Mars during the Great Crusade, participated in elaborate rites that saw them permanently sealed within their armour. Amongst the greater Imperium, many saw such a practice as barbaric, yet to House Zavora it was the greatest honour and the pinnacle of their devotion to the Omnissiah.
- Veiled Hunter (Questoris Knight Errant) - Veiled Hunter was a Questoris Knight Errant that fought in the battles of both the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy. At the time, Veiled Hunter was one of House Zavora's preeminent beast slayers during the Great Crusade. Of particular note are the successful hunting tactics utilised by this Knight Errant in hunting of the bio-colossi of the Gransathian Dominion during a seven-year-long xenocidal campaign against this upstart empire.
Notable Personnel[]
- High Scion Vincent Nayadayus - Vincent Nayadayus was the pilot of the Questoris Knight Errant Veiled Hunter and was considered his house's preeminent beast slayer during the Great Crusade. Of particular note are the articles of war written by Nayadayus' own hand that detail tactics best suited for hunting the bio-colossi of the Gransathian Dominion, penned during the seven-year-long extermination of that xenos empire. This experience saw Nayadayus appointed Seneschal of War for those disparate elements of House Zavora not located on Mars when the time came for the household to fight against the god-engines of the Collegia Titanica. Despite expressing great displeasure at the circumstances of his position, he proved ardently devoted to his task, registering three engine-kills during Mankind's civil war, as well as writing several tactical manifests that were disseminated across Loyalist households.
- Gafrali Bex - Gafrali Bex was the pilot of the Acastus Knight Porphyrion Immortal Numen during the Great Crusade.
House Strength[]
By the time of the Horus Heresy, House Zavora bore the grade of Secundus (Maxis), which indicated it was known to stand at the higher end of that grade. As the house relied upon the forges of Mars to replenish its numbers, the Scions of Zavora were regularly supplied with freshly-forged Knight armours and the latest innovations produced by the manufactoria of the Red Planet.
Before the Death of Innocence, House Zavora were recorded as possessing 383 operational Knight armours, with over 100 others sealed within the vaults of its fortress awaiting Scions possessed of the skill required to pilot them. Over half this number were upon Mars when warfare broke out; logs pulled from dozens of fallen Zavora Knights suggest that the house battled on Mars for nearly two standard years before falling silent.
The remaining strength of Zavora split into two factions, one of which supported the Warmaster Horus and sought to return to Mars and the other which declared loyalty to the Imperium. The former placed themselves within the Warmaster's fleets, and several were recorded as having walked upon the Red Planet when the Warmaster reached the Sol System. The latter faction took temporary lodgings on Ryza, increasing its numbers in preparation for the war to come.
House Appearance[]
House Colours[]
The colours of House Zavora is a halved red and white colour scheme with black hazard markings often displayed on the left armorial of their Knight suits.
House Arms[]
The arms of House Zavora is a large black skull crowned by an Iron Halo, with multiple snakes protruding from the bottom of it. This central symbol is displayed upon a field of white.
Sources[]
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Loyalist Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 108-113, 118-124, 128-137
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: The Defence of Ryza (Specialty Game), pp. 19, 60-61, 78-79
- The Horus Heresy - Book Four: Conquest (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pg. 96-105, 99
- Warhammer Community - The Defence of Ryza: The Story (23 July 2020)
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