House Donar

"If men should remember our house in times to come, let them not say we were cowards, let them not say we fled before the foe, and let them not say we died with our backs to the enemy, for we are sons of Molech, and Molech stands with the Emperor!"

- Lord Balmorn, Baron of House Donar

House Donar, Known as the Preceptor House, was the Imperial Knight house and warden of the Western Marches of the Knight World of Molech since the time of the High Kings.

House Donar fell during the Battle of Molech, while guarding the Preceptor Line of the Western Marches. Using sorcery, the Death Guard were able to push themselves through the jungle of Kush. The Dark Arts anihilited every life form it came in contact within the jungle. This devistation pushed the many beast out of the Kush and into the Preceptor Line, where they were slaughtered by the defeneces of House Donar. Yet most beasts survived and stormed through the Preceptor Line, destroying many assets of House Donar. Those of House Donar who still stood were forced to face the might of the Legio Mortis.

House History
The history of the House records that the first Donar Scions were descended from the Guardian Preceptor, bladesmascer to the High King of Molech. In those lost days, the people of Molechari were plagued by the beasts of Kush, the huge monsters ranging out into the Western Marches to hunt among the scattered human settlements. When the old High King passed, the Preceptor walked into the east to face these beasts. On the edge of the great jungles of Kush, the Preceptor planted his blade in the ground and vowed that as long as his House endured, the lands of Mankind would be defended.

Centuries later, the Scions of House Donar ruled over the Western Marches and the Preceptor Line. An ancient defensive wall erected against the jungle macro-fauna, it ran hundreds of kilometres from the peaks of the Umar Mesas in the south all the way to the storm-lashed Azure Coast in the north. Along its length, watch towers stood sentinel against the deep jungle beyond, while ramparts, each large enough to accommodate a Knight armour, provided firing platforms. It was a matter of pride for House Donar that as long as the wall had stood, the Western Marches lived free of the horrors of the savage mallahgra and other beasts that had once ranged deep into their lands.

Over the years, House Donar became one of the pre-eminent hunting Houses, often competing with House Devine for the venator's glory during Lord Cyprian's beast hunts. These hunts served a dual purpose, both honing the skills of the Scions and thinning the numbers of monsters living close ro the edge of the Kush. Lord Balmorn Donar and his firstborn, Robard Donar, Seneschal and Lord Scion of House Donar respectively were principal among these hunters. They regularly sallied forth from their watch upon the Preceptor Line ro exterminate nests of arcanodons or xenosmilus, dragging the creatures' carcasses back to their fortress as trophies, each kill having honoured the Guardian Preceptor's ancient oath.

Battle of Molech
It had long been held that the jungles of Kush, a formidable narural barrier populated with dangerous beasts, effectively denied an invader ingress from the east. To this end, Tyana Kourion, Lord General of the Grand Army of Molech, had kept her best troops back for the defence of Lupercalia and commined only second line Imperial Army companies to hold the Preceptor Line. Fortunately for the defenders, its protection was not the responsibility of the Imperial Army alone. House Donar, one of the ancient Knightly Houses of Molech, held dominion over the lands bordering the great Kush, and their Household fortress was incorporated into part of the ancient defensive wall. When news came of invaders landing on the eastern shore of Molechari, the Knight armours of Donar massed upon the Preceptor Line. Unbeknownst to the defenders, Mortarion was forging a path through the jungle even as they waited, fell warp magicks turning its once verdant reaches into a sea of death. Driven forth before the destruction of the jungle, tens of thousands of creatures stormed the Preceptor Line, emerging in a frenzied rush to fall upon the defenders.

Ravaged by hordes of beasts driven from the jungles, the already crumbling defences had taken further damage to the point that they represented little more than a line in the sand against the advancing Traitor Titans. Despite having expended large amounts of ordnance on destroying the rampaging packs of azhdarchid, xenosmilus and stone serpents, among other macro-fauna, the Knights of House Donar stood their ground. Even as the jungle fell into blackened ruin before their eyes, devoured by the life-eater virus, Lord Balmorn, Baron of House Donar, bade his Knights to hold the line. That they faced the vanguard Titans of the Legio Mortis did not diminish their courage and when the first Titans were sighted emerging from the miasmic clouds that had once marked the jungle's edge, Lord Balrnorn mustered his Knights and issued the order to charge.

Notable Knights
None listed in current Imperial records.

Notable Personnel

 * Baron Balmorn - Lord Balmorn was the ruler of House Donar. He and his Knights made their very last stand when the Traitor Titans of Legio Mortis advanced upon the Preceptor Line.
 * Sir Robard - Sir Robard was the firstborn of Lord Balmorn. He was also a Seneschal and Lord Scion of House Donar.
 * Sir Davard - Sir Davard was a rising figure in the hierarchy of House Donar. Known for successfully hunting the deadliest of beasts even when the odds were stacked against him, Davard ultimately escaped Molech after its fall and offered his services as a Freeblade. Upon his heraldry, skulls traditionally representing kills instead represented those of his banner that fell on Molech. Though his eventual fate is not recorded, Davard was reported to have moved towards Terra intetnt on slaying the greatest beast of them all -- the Warmaster himself.

Source

 * Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Doom of Molech (Specialty Game), pp. 48-49, 62