House Kaska was an Imperial Knight house that hailed from the Knight World of Molech. Originating on the Kasha Peninsula close to the westernmost point of the continent of Molechari, House Kaska were an insular and proud household. They were looked down upon by some of Molech's other Knight houses, whom considered them barely worthy of their place among Molech's nobility.
Living by a different set of codes than their upstart high-born kin, Kaska Scions had to prove their skills and mettle as warriors. They did not care for pomp and circumstance and had little patience with ceremony and the trappings of the Molechian nobility.
Tragically, House Kaska was one of several Loyalist Knight houses that were destroyed through the vile machinations of the Traitors at the Battle of Molech during the Horus Heresy.
House History[]
House Kaska colour scheme as displayed by the Questoris Knight Errant Peerless Hunter.
At the westernmost point of the continent of Molechari on the world of Molech, the Kasha Peninsula thrusts out into the northern ocean. A temperate wilderness, these heavily forested highlands are ruled over by House Kaska. The Scions of House Kaska were haughty frontiersmen and endured in rain-soaked keeps and overcast provinces, seldom making the trek down into the warmer climes of Molechari's Western Marches. Their halls were islands of civilisation amid forests filled with arboreal xenosmilus and massive gorzular, distant cousins to the mallahgra beasts of Kush.
Houses such as Devine and Donar looked down on the Kashaii, the people of Kasha, considering them drunkards and vagrants, barely worthy of their place among the other Knight households of Molech. The reality was that the bearded lords of Kaska adhered to a different set of codes than their Noble kin. It was not enough for them to just be a skilled Knight armour pilot, or exhibit a bond between Human and machine. A Kashaii Scion must be able to climb the storm-slick peaks of Kasha, wrestle a xenosmilus cub to the ground and drink their weight in Kashaii ale.
The Scions of Kaska also cared little for the trappings of honour or nobility, and accepted the rulership of House Devine only grudgingly, playing the games of the Knight houses only when they were forced to journey to the planetary capital of Lupercalia. To the Kaska, the only honour was victory and the only nobility were those who could prove themselves worthy to lead.
The story of the Kaska, at least as they reckoned it to be, is carved in the rune stones of Caulder Keep, the ancestral home of House Kaska. It recounts the journey of the "Lord of Storms" (the Emperor) and how He came to the Kasha Peninsula years after the fall of the high king of Molech, when the Knight houses were little more than bandit lords ruling over scattered realms.
At that time the wild walker tribes held sway, and thought to slay the Lord of Storms for trespass upon their lands. It was only the intervention of the then-Seneschal of House Kaska who stayed the tribes' hand, though to placate them he bade the Lord of Storms to complete a series of gruelling challenges.
It was upon the recounting of these challenges, each one the Lord of Storms passed without pause or effort, that the tenets of House Kaska were laid, and from then until the early 31st Millennium, they strove to live up to the standards set down by this ancient and mysterious figure.
Though they disdained engaging in the politics of Molech, House Kaska fought alongside the other Knight houses during the Battle of Molech. When their homeworld fell to the forces of the Traitors, House Kaska found itself particularly suited towards engaging in guerrilla warfare owing to their experience navigating the thick forests of their homeland. For many Knight Scions of House Kaska, the occupation of Molech was the perfect crucible to test their skills.
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 during the Great Crusade 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 Kaska. 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.
Kasha Peninsula[]
Beyond the shores of Molechari stretches the Northern Oceanic Zones, the collective term for the continent's nearby island chains, isolated peninsulas and sea-rigs. Busy shipping lanes criss-cross the region, connecting Molechari to the rest of the planet. The industries of Arcanius flow towards Lupercalia and its Knight houses, while raw materials from the smaller continents of Estara and Neuropia feed both of Molech's principal continental land masses. Likewise, food is carried from the agri-belts of the Western Marches out across the oceans to feed the far communities of the planet.
On the westernmost point of Molechari lay the Kasha Peninsula, a large wild spit of land that thrust out into the Northern Ocean. Here, the heavily forested highlands were ruled over by the insular House Kaska, frontiermen who had endured the heavy rains and storm-wracked weather for many Terran millennia. Despite their reputation as low-born and less-civilised than their highborn kin that ruled to the south, the bearded Scions of Kaska were a hearty and formidable people that adhered to a stringent warrior code, valuing skill-at-arms over pomp and circumstance.
Notable Knights[]
- Peerless Hunter (Questoris Knight Errant) - Peerless Hunter was a notable Questoris Knight Errant of House Kaska that defended Molech during the Horus Heresy.
Notable Personnel[]
- Scion Morvam - Pilot of the Questoris Knight Errant, Peerless Hunter, Scion Morvam was famed for hunting xenosmilus without the aid of his Knight suit and was well-respected for these feats.
House Strength[]
The disposition and strength of House Kaska is not listed in current Imperial records.
House Allies[]
Titan Legions[]
House Appearance[]
House Colours[]
House Kaska painted their Knight armours a dull grey with portions that were blue and trimmed in gold.
House Arms[]
House Kaska's arms took the form of a large white skull of a cervidae (elk) that was native to their homeland.
Sources[]
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Doom of Molech (Specialty Game), pp. 52-53
- 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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