House Indra was an Imperial Knight house that hailed from the Knight World of Molech. With its origins among the vast swamplands of the planet's southern steppes, their Knight household was far removed from the machinations of the other Knight houses of Molech. The Indarii, as the swamp people were known, were insular and were said to possess strange pactices. They were dubbed as the "Mad House" by their fellow Nobles.
Despite being a pale shadow of their former glory, the Indarii still practiced many of the traditions lost to the rest of the people of Molech, never forgetting that they were once the carriers of the standard of the high king of their world in ages past.
Tragically, House Indra was one of several Loyalist Knight houses that were destroyed through the vile machinations of the Traitors during the Battle of Molech in the Horus Heresy.
House History[]
House Indra colour scheme proudly displayed by the Cerastus Knight-Castigator Blade of Molech during the Horus Heresy.
House Indra had a strange reputation among its kin of the Questoris Familia on Molech, the other Knight houses often wary of their far-southern neighbours. Hailing from the vast swamplands beyond the Tazkhar Steppes, the Indarii, as the swamp people of Molech are known, were far removed from the plots of the other major Knight houses. This distance, and the odd practices of those who live in the swamps, meant that their peers regarded them somewhat warily, and gave House Indra the rather unflattering moniker of the "Mad House." This name was closer to the truth than the Indarii liked to admit.
The ancient records of the house tell of a time when the 12 original Knight houses of Molech governed the heartlands of the continent of Molechari under the rule of the Knight World's high kings. Before the coming of the Lord of Storms, as the Emperor was known on Molech, these 12 houses each held an office of the high king, one acting as his Oathward, another as his Preceptor, another as his Seneschal, and so forth. The Indarii House was given the honour of carrying the colours of the high king, and holding aloft the ancient royal standard. When the last high king died, and the unity of the houses of Molech fractured, many retreated to the far corners of Molechari to make an empire for themselves.
House Indra sought a home among the southern steppes, though was driven further south by the ascendant bloodlines of House Tazkhar. Ultimately, the High King's Bannermen, as the Indarii were known in that bygone age, carried their lord's colours into the uncharted southern swamps. There they forged a new settlement, defending the locals from the gigantic mire serpents who had for so long ruled the region uncontested.
Though standard centuries passed, and the bloodline of the Indarii was polluted by the fen tribes who ruled the swamps before them, the Knight house never forgot that they once carried the standard of the high king. Many of the traditions lost to the rest of the people of Molechari lived on among the Indarii, such as the Carnival of Killers or the Courts of the Bladedancers.
A pale shadow of their former grandeur, the house held tournaments and festivals under the dripping boughs of their marshy forests. Dancing and duelling both on foot or clad in Knight armour, they honed their skills against the time when the high king would return.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Battle of Molech (009.M31) - Molech was a Knight World ruled over by House Devine ever since the Emperor Himself led an expedition to bring it into the fledgling Imperium and left a significant garrison there. The planet thrived under the rule of Devine, the populace of its capital city of Lupercalia never knowing the true reason why the Emperor had taken it upon Himself to lead the force that claimed it. Unfortunately for the citizens of Molech, the Traitor Horus knew exactly what lay beneath the city that had been named in his honour -- a Warp Gate which, it was said, had allowed the Emperor to convene with the Ruinous Powers themselves. When Loyalist forces became aware of the Traitor fleet's approach, they mustered at Molech. As well as a trio of Titan Legions -- the Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Crucius, and Legio Fortidus -- there were elements of each of the Imperium's fighting forces, including nearly a dozen Knight houses which owed fealty to Devine, including House Indra. The Traitor force was equally impressive, featuring no fewer than four Titan Legions: the Legio Vulpa, Legio Interfector, Legio Vulcanum I, and the infamous Legio Mortis. As the Warmaster unleashed a massive coordinated assault, the planet's defenders were thrown into disarray when the Plasma Reactor of an Imperator-class Titan, Paragon of Terra, was destroyed. Thousands of Loyalists were immolated in a blinding flash as a miniature sun erupted from the Titan's core to leave a smoking crater half a Terran mile wide. In the wake of the catastrophic blast, the spearhead of Traitor Titans marched through the gap in the Imperial lines. At the height of the battle, House Devine revealed its true allegiance to the Warmaster, its treachery unveiled at a pivotal moment, heralding a slaughter from which only a handful of Loyalists escaped. Caught between the treacherous Knights of House Devine and Horus' rampant forces, the shattered remnants of Molech's defenders were slaughtered without mercy. They were totally defeated, so brutally that only one in a hundred of the troops of the Imperial Army survived the campaign. After his passage through the portal into the Realm of Chaos, Horus won the full blessing of the Ruinous Powers as their chosen champion. His drive on Terra seemed unstoppable.
House Homeworld[]
Molech has a long history as a Frontier World; its Knight houses protected it from the darkness of Old Night during long standard centuries of isolation. Though it lies within the borders of the Segmentum Solar, that most civilised centre of the galaxy within which Terra rules, its position at the very end of the Elliptical Way makes its planets difficult to reach via routes through the Warp. Molech is close to Terra in terms of size and orbit, sitting as it does within the primary biosphere of its star system.
Similar to Terra, Molech also has a large moon. Though not as influential as Luna, it regulates the tides and seasons on the world below, making the planet more habitable for Humans. In time, as the planet was developed by Humanity, this moon, as well as several of Molech's smaller celestial bodies, would become outposts for orbital defence networks and fuelling stations for void ships contributing to its impressive defences.
Four major continents grace the surface of the planet, divided by clear warm waters at the equator all the way to frozen seas at each pole. The two smallest continents, Estara and Neuropia, remain rugged wilderness realms, home to hunters and remote mining operations. These undeveloped lands lie far to the east and north of Molech, respectively.
Next in size and importance is the southern continent of Arcanius, an industrialised landscape of manufactoria and smoke-shrouded cities. Centred around the vast metropolis of Clockwork City, Arcanius produces the wealth of Molech's manufactured goods and is home to its tinker guilds and tech-slaves. The Knight houses tolerate Arcanius for it is here that many of their Sacristans receive their training in the ways of maintaining their Knight armours.
Molechari is Molech's principal continental landmass, the seat of power of its Knight houses and Titan Legions. Sprawling across the equator of the planet, its thousands of kilometres of landscape comprise the southern steppes of Tazkhar, the high mountain peaks of the Untar Mesas, the jungles of Kush and the huge agri-belts arrayed around the planet's capital city -- Lupercalia. These heartlands of the Knight World were where the Battle of Molech was fought during the Horus Heresy.
Southern Steppes[]
On the far side of the Untar Mesas on the continent of Molechari, the lush greenery of the Western Marches gives way to the desolation of the Tazkhar Steppe. A savage and barren land, it covers thousands of kilometres of southern Molechari like a parched canvas. The peoples of this rugged land are for the most part nomadic, traversing it in long snaking convoys of land crawlers and riding beasts.
Those few settlements that do exist are influenced by the seasons, swelling from ghost towns of a few hundred souls to thousands in those times when convoys converge to feed their beasts and farm the soil. The people of the Tazkhar also have a long history as raiders, and think nothing of attacking each other's caravans beyond the agreed safety of the settlements.
Two of Molech's major Knight houses called the Southern Steppes home -- House Kaushik and House Tazkhar. House Kaushik formerly dwelled on the edges of the great wastes, their agri-arcology clinging to the side of the Untar Mesas. Considered insular by their peers, they maintained numerous Knight armours and claimed both a substantial area of the near-steppe and the Kush jungle as their ancestral hunting ground.
House Indra made its home among the vast swamplands of the Southern Steppes found beyond the Tazkhar Steppe.
Notable Knights[]
- Blade of Molech (Cerastus Knight-Castigator) - This particular Knight suit was piloted by the notable Scion Akana during the Horus Heresy. Unfortunately, it did not survive the Battle of Molech and was wiped out along with the majority of Knight armours of House Indra by the Traitor forces.
Notable Personnel[]
- Scion Akana - Recognised as the foremost Blademaster of House Indra, both on foot and clad in Knight armour, Scion Akana, pilot of the Cerastus Knight-Castigator Blade of Molech, was an arden supporter of House Indra's traditions. Ancient records spoke of House Indra's role as bearers of the high king of Molechari's standard and their fervent belief that one day the high king would return to fight alongside them. The invasion of the Warmaster was seen by many within House Indra as the catalyst for this event. In anticipation, every Knight banner was mustered to repel the invasion. Few returned to their homes after Molech fell to the Traitors, the Blade of Molech not among them, and those that did found the lands they once protected ravaged by the mire serpents House Indra once held back.
House Allies[]
Titan Legions[]
House Appearance[]
House Colours[]
House Indra primarily painted their Knight armours green with symbols and iconography being painted in yellow and trimmed in gold.
House Arms[]
House Indra's arms consisted of a pair of serpents entwined around a banner, both a nod to their past as bearers of the standard of the high king of Molechari as well as the defenders against the mire serpents that ravaged their homeland.
Sources[]
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Doom of Molech (Specialty Game), pp. 7-11, 50-51
- Vengeful Spirit (Novel) by Graham McNeill
- Warhammer Community - Adeptus Titanicus: Frequently Asked Questions and Errata V1.1 (28 Feb 2020)
- Warhammer Community - What is the Battle of Molech? (18 Apr 2019)
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