"Where is your Emperor now, worthless fools! Beg for your lives! He cannot hear your cries, He cannot protect you! You will know this before death comes to claim you."
- — High Scion Olander Scora, House Gotrith, during the Massacre of Dallanar Beta, 007.M31
House Gotrith, known also by the informal cognomen "The Breaker of Fiends," is a Renegade 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.
House History[]
The House Gotrith colour scheme as displayed by the Cerastus Knight-Acheron Mallium Bella.
It was upon the blasted and battle-scarred Knight World of Dallanar Beta that House Gotrith was to be discovered, locked in bitter conflict amongst the ruined cities of a world that had weathered the Age of Strife only to fall foul of the Greenskins as the Emperor ascended from Terra.
Though their resistance remained staunch and their resolve unyielding, House Gotrith was unable to stem the tide of xenos that fell upon the world. It was only with the coming of the Great Crusade that their world was made free again.
With aid from the Mechanicum Forge Worlds across the Belt of Iron, House Gotrith swelled in strength and number, yet no amount of aid could repair the wound caused by the coming of the Imperium. Even as their majesty grew, the Scions of House Gotrith watched as the populace of their world raised statues to the one they saw as their true protector, He who was the Emperor of Mankind.
In this, House Gotrith became rulers of Dallanar in name only, no longer respected despite solar decades of sacrifice and bloodshed. Thus was the salvation of Dallanar Beta the damnation of House Gotrith.
Seeking glory and respect amongst its peers, House Gotrith scattered amongst the Imperium's expeditionary fleets, aiding the Great Crusade in the hope of forging a new legacy on which to build its name. In time, dozens of worlds told tales of the warriors of Gotrith but spoke only in hushed whispers, lest their words summoned the iron devils who had brought subjugation and death to their people. This fearsome reputation grew out of the brutal campaigns of conquest led by the household, its warriors slaughtering any who dared defy their decree or even associate with one who did.
House Gotrith Acastus Knight Porphyrion Anolciten
Where House Gotrith marched, death followed and only deeds of blood were wrought in their name. It will remain forever unknown if such actions were committed out of a perverse desire to laud their strength over others or out of a need to show the Imperium that House Gotrith was the strongest of all. If the latter was their motivation in that they were denied, for few desired to call such dealers of death friends and the Scions of House Gotrith soon found themselves little more than guards of worlds conquered by those deemed more palatable to the Imperial authorities than the household.
Unwilling to stand by as others chose their fate, the scattered warriors of House Gotrith returned to Dallanar Beta, gathering as one to decide their course. It was then that news reached Dallanar of the Warmaster Horus' betrayal of the Emperor, opening a new road down which the household would walk.
The first to feel their blades were the people of Dallanar itself, House Gotrith turning on those they felt no longer respected their house, daring them to call out to the Emperor for protection. Baptised in the blood of their subjects, House Gotrith departed to the stars, forging a new legacy of conquest as they strove to tear down the Imperium.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Gotrith took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Gotrith provided Knight support to the Legio Mortis. 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.
- Massacre of Dallanar Beta (007.M31) - When the Chaos-corrupted Warmaster Horus openly declared his betrayal of the Emperor, the entirety of House Gotrith's strength was brought to bear against the populace of their homeworld of Dallanar itself. House Gotrith turned on those who no longer respected the household, daring them to call out to the Emperor for protection.
- Cataclysm of Iron (010-013.M31) - The battles of the Cataclysm of Iron took place in the "Belt of Iron," a region of the Segmentum Tempestus and Segmentum Pacificus home to numerous lesser Forge Worlds. Many of these worlds declared for the Dark Mechanicum upon the outbreak of the Schism of Mars. Sporadic fighting between Loyalist and Traitor Mechanicum elements in this region erupted into full-scale war in 010.M31, pitching the Traitor Forge Worlds of Incunabula, Urdesh, Valia-Maximal, and Kalibrax against the Loyalist worlds of Graia, Arl'yeth, and Atar-Median. The worlds of Arachnus and Jerulas Station meanwhile both fell into their own civil wars. In the subsequent devastating fighting, many nearby worlds were swallowed up in the destruction.
- Battle of Uridoci II (874.010.M31) - During the Cataclysm of Iron, the populace of Uridoci II was reduced to less than a tenth of the number held before the beginning of the conflict, slaughtered in a mass campaign of butchery led by House Gothrith, with the household building monuments of corpses dedicated to the Warmaster Horus and daubed with ritualistic symbols. The few survivors of the world were spared a similar fate by House Moritain, who swore an oath to defend the last outposts of civilisation on the planet, engaging the warriors of House Gothrith amongst the ruined cities of Uridoci II and driving them from the world. The departure of House Gothrith was marked by the emergence of a virulent plague amongst the survivors that left 300,000 dead and forced the complete quarantine of the entire planet, condemning it to a slow death. When it was deemed that the plague had run its course, a sect of Mechanicum Genetors descended to the surface to find a world devoid of Human life, along with an extensive catalogue of names listing every individual whose life was claimed by House Gothrith and the subsequent disease, diligently recorded by the Scions of House Moritain even as they too succumbed to illness.
Notable Knights[]
- Anolciten (Acastus Knight Porphyrion) - One of the few remaining examples within House Gotrith's armoury at the time of the Great Crusade, this Knight armour depicted above went on to serve in the subsequent Horus Heresy. House Gotrith possessed few operational Acastus Knights, with many of its most ancient armours destroyed during the household's long conflict with Greenskin invaders. To preserve those that remained, House Gortrith deployed Acastus Knights solely during prolonged sieges or against armoured companies. When committed, Porphyrions such as Anolciten coordinated with dedicated banners of Cerastus Knights. The Porphyrion Knights would create breaches in the enemy lines which the Cerastus banners would then exploit. At all times, a pair of Cerastus Knights would guard the Acastus to ensure the household did not lose another of its precious relic armours.
- Mallium Bella (Cerastus Knight-Acheron) - Painted in the dull greys of its house, the Mallium Bella was built and armed for city fighting. As the dark deeds of the Warmaster Horus began to mount, and the Cataclysm of Iron dragged on, Knight armours like the Mallium Bella were used more frequently by the Traitors. When suppressing a population few things inspired fear like the Knight-Acheron, the growl of its Reaper Chainfist the tolling of a death bell for its enemies, while the roar of its Flame Cannon became the sound of cities burning and populations being extinguished all across the Belt of Iron.
Notable Personnel[]
None listed in current Imperial records.
House Strength[]
As a Knight household specialised in urban warfare, attrition proved the limiting factor in the growth of House Gotrith's strength, with an estimated 140 Knight armours in operation at the onset of the Horus Heresy, marking it as a Secundus (Minoris)-grade house. Prevalent amongst the demands of war was the household's ability to quickly reinforce their numbers, leading its Scions to favour the more easily producible Questoris Knight patterns, which formed the principal strength of House Gotrith at all times.
The most lauded of Scions were given the right to pilot the scant few Cerastus Knight-Acheron and Knight-Castigators held within the household's vaults. Gotrith Cerastus Knights were integral to the Knight house's success in urban warfare, forming roving banners that sought out heavy areas of resistance, scouring them clean with flame and bolt cannons.
House Gotrith possessed few operational Acastus Knights, with many of its most ancient armours destroyed during the household's long conflict with Ork invaders. To preserve those that remained, House Gortrith deployed Acastus Knights solely during prolonged sieges or against armoured companies.
When committed, Porphyrions coordinated with dedicated banners of Cerastus Knights. The Porphyrion Knights would create breaches in the enemy lines which the Cerastus banners would then exploit. At all times, a pair of Cerastus Knights would guard the Acastus to ensure the household did not lose another of its precious relic armours.
House Allies[]
Traitor Titan Legios[]
House Appearance[]
House Colours[]
The colours of House Gotrith are grey and white.
House Arms[]
The arms of House Gotrith are a black hammer and anvil on a red field.
Sources[]
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Traitor Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 84-87
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), pg. 95
- Adeptus Titanicus - Crucible of Retribution (Specialty Game), pp. 64-65
- Warhammer Community - Crucible of Retribution: The Story (23 Oct 2020)
- Warhammer Community - Crucible of Retribution: Titanic Tactics (22 Oct 2020)
- Warhammer Community - Coming Soon: Crucible of Retribution (29 Sept 2020)
Gallery[]
