House Caesarean, known also by the cognomen "The Unbowed" and among its foes as "The Knights of Carrion," is a Renegade 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.
House History[]
The history of House Caesarean is one marked by extremes, from a household that stood as masters of a resplendent world to haphazard tribes of carrion Scions fighting over the scraps of a ruined moon. The fortunes of the Knight house once seemed blessed, for the founders of its ancient lineage discovered the moon of Octavia following a brief lull in the empyreal currents as its ancestors navigated the Segmentum Obscurus.
In Octavia, they found a stellar body rich in minerals and biological life, untouched by the depravations of xenos and sheltered from external threats that inexplicably left the moon's star system untouched. Praising their good fortune, the first Human colonists of Octavia quickly descended upon the world, establishing the House of Caesarean as their protectors.
As centuries passed, the citizens of Octavia erected cities carved from marble and obsidian, oases of civilisation within the teeming jungles across the moon's surface. As the moon prospered so too did House Caesarean, offshoots of the household taking root in each newly-settled city until several hundred Scions stood ready to defend their home. In truth, Octavia faced little external threat, the Warp Storms encompassing the star system preventing all but the most desperate raiders or mindless xenos from preying on the world.
Against such threats, House Caesarean proved superior, and it was as peacekeepers between the nations of Octavia that the Knight household helped shepherd the world through the Age of Strife. Yet it was also the Scions of House Caesarean that were to awaken something lurking in the deepest recess of Octavia's jungles.
Records detailing that which ravaged much of Octavia are fragmentary, at best, and what little survives is riven by hearsay and accusations, the disparate families of Caesarean's bloodline quick to attribute blame to others and paint their own line as unimpeachable. The sole common aspect of each tale speaks of creatures hibernating deep within the jungles of Octavia, locked away in stasis vaults crafted by a civilisation long-departed from the moon.
As the people of Octavia expanded, such vaults were discovered, and the inherent curiosity of humanity led them to explore the ancient structures. In doing so, they awakened that which was imprisoned inside, and House Caesarean faced a threat unlike any it had seen before.
When the Imperium rediscovered Octavia, it found a world divided into tribal nations ruled over by the warring noble families of House Caesarean, the architects of its destruction long gone. Though the Knight house claimed it was whole, its Scions clashed amidst crumbling ruins, fighting over stockpiles of food and armaments. The arrival of the Great Crusade brought such conflicts to an end and began the rejuvenation of Octavia, yet the distrusting nature of the household's Scions never dissipated.
When House Caesarean took its place in the Imperial expeditionary fleets, it did so as tribal units, unified only by their technological panoply and an extensive experience in urban fighting. When the Horus Heresy dawned, the Scions of House Caesarean looked to their leaders for guidance, each band swearing allegiance to the commanders they had served alongside rather than to Emperor or Warmaster. For this Knight house, loyalty was earnt upon the battlefield and survival was the only true motivation.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Battle of Tallarn (010-012.M31) - The House Caesarean is known to have fought in various engagements during the Horus Heresy, including the famed Battle of Tallarn. Perturabo, primarch of the Iron Warriors, launched an all-out planetary invasion of the verdant Imperial staging world of Tallarn, his Legion bolstered by dozens of allied Traitor Imperialis Auxilia regiments, the Traitor Titans of the Legio Krytos and the Knights of House Caesarean. Both the Loyalists and Traitor high commands were taken by surprise by Perturabo's actions and the invasion quickly escalated after he ordered Exterminatus upon the world, scouring its surface of living matter by way of a voracious Life-eater viral barrage. While the population of the world was all but wiped out, many defenders survived thanks to extensive subterranean shelters. The ensuing campaign was fought between vast formations of Imperial Army and Solar Auxilia tanks, the Titans of the Legio Gryphonicus, the Knights of House Megron, the indentured Automata of the household army of the Rogue Trader Sangrea as well as armoured forces of the Iron Hands, Imperial Fists, White Scars and Ultramarines Legions. No infantry can survive in the poisoned wastes, and the war quickly draws in other forces from across the region, including the Titans of the Legio Astorum. The Battle of Tallarn is considered the largest armoured engagement in the known history of Mankind, and while counted as a victory for the Loyalists, millions of warriors and war machines on both sides are left scattered across the lifeless, deadly surface of the planet.
- Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Caesarean took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Caesarean provided Knight support to the Legio Krytos. 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.
House Combat Doctrine[]
House Caesarean had a reputation for their skill in urban warfare, able to stalk the streets and strike before anyone knew they were there. Many of their Seneschals favoured swiftly falling upon their foes in a deadly lightning assault, carving through the opposition before they were aware an enemy had come.
The Cerastus Knight-Acheron, like the Reborn depicted below, is a fearsome sight on the battlefield, a reaper of lives carefully designed not only to destroy but also to inspire terror. Most unusual amongst the Knight households, House Caesarean preferred this pattern of Knight armour for use in urban warfare, as its armament proved highly efficient during urban pacification actions. Few Scions choose to ride into battle in Acheron armour voluntarily, a fact attributed to the anima of the armour often being awash in the inherited memories of past massacres it had perpetrated.
This stigma never took root amongst the ranks of House Caesarean, whose Scions saw the Cerastus Knight-Acheron as playing a vital part in the household's survival during the Age of Strife, making appointment to pilot an Acheron an honoured one. The sole exception to this was during intra-household warfare, where it was considered uncouth and dishonourable to set a fellow Ceasarean Scion ablaze, resulting in Acheron armours often being excluded from such conflicts.
Notable Knights[]
- Unrepentant Relict (Questoris Knight Warden) - Unrepentant Relict, depicted above upon the muster fields of Octavia in 002.M31, was one of the few House Caesarean Knight armours to have survived the constant cycle of urban warfare on its home moon during the Age of Strife. Much of House Caesarean's strength during the Great Crusade derived from armours fashioned in the standard century preceding the arrival of the Imperium or from fresh shipments of Knight armour following Octavia's Imperial Compliance. Due to its ancient nature, the possession of an armour such as Unrepentant Relict brought considerable status within the household, making it a frequently fought-over relic; the Questoris Knight is recorded to have changed hands amongst the tribal families at least 27 times, first as spoils of conquest from intra-household warfare and then through subterfuge and politics during the Great Crusade.
- Reborn (Cerastus Knight-Acheron) - Like all Knight Acherons utilised by House Caesarean, the Reborn specialised in urban warfare, its armament of a Flame Cannon and Reaper Chainfist proving highly efficient during urban pacification actions.
Notable Personnel[]
None listed in current Imperial records.
House Allies[]
Titan Legios[]
- Legio Krytos (No formal bond; reciprocal ties between House Caesarean and the Forge World of Krytos)
Space Marine Legions[]
House Strength[]
The distrustful nature of House Caesarean meant the household proved resistant to attempts to accurately catalogue its numbers and military power. Rough estimation places House Caesarean as a Secundus-class Knight house, capable of fielding anywhere between 150-210 Knight armours.
Such numbers were divided between tribal families, each ruled over by warlords capable of tracing their ancestry back to the household's founders. There were five prominent families in active service at the onset of the Horus Heresy, four of which were deployed alongside either the Legio Krytos or the Iron Warriors Traitor Legion; all four are known to have turned against the Emperor.
A smaller family unit never left Octavia, having assigned itself to watch over the rebirth of the moon. The fate of these Scions has yet to be determined.
House Appearance[]
House Colours[]
The Knights of House Caesarean are painted in a halved yellow and black colour scheme with silver trim.
House Arms[]
The arms of House Caesarean takes the form of an ankh, an ancient Gyptian hieroglyphic on Old Earth that was commonly used in writing and art to represent the word for "life" and, by extension, as a symbol of life itself.
Sources[]
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Rulebook (Specialty Game), pg. 14-17
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), pg. 95
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Traitor Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 38, 44-47
- Tallarn: Ironclad (Novel) by John French
- Games Workshop Online Store - Legio Krytos & House Caesarean Transfer Sheet
- Warhammer Community - Want to Assemble a Bright & Colourful Titan Legion That's Also Terrifying? Legio Krytos Is For You (12 Nov 2021)
- Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titancus Part 2: The Horus Heresy (07 Aug 2018)