"Vassals are our loyal hounds, and though dogs they might be, I would not hunt without them."
- — Blood Princeps Nistra, Legio Fureans
House Perdaxia is a Renegade Knight house that repudiated its oath to the Imperium of Man at the beginning of the Horus Heresy.
The history of House Perdaxia has all but been scoured from existence -- not by the agents of the Emperor, but by His enemies. Their Knights march to war with their old heraldry scratched off and covered by the colours of the Traitor Legio Fureans, leaving only speculation as to who they once served.
House Perdaxia used the names of deities from the pre-histories of Terra's Indic regions for its Knights, prefixed with an impenetrable code consisting of numbers, letters and more obscure runic symbols.
House History[]
Following the events of Paramar V, where the Titans of the Legio Fureans spearheaded the invasion of that Imperial planet during the opening days of the Horus Heresy, the Titan Legion was oft seen marching to battle accompanied by Knight armours painted in the orange and black of the Legio Fureans, albeit the two colours often inverted.
Little effort was expended in determining the origin of such a practice, with those few who turned their minds to such instances assuming such sightings were nothing more than elements of House Mordred, itself a vassal household of the Forge World of Incaladion, given special leave to bear the Titan Legion's iconography.
Further analysis, conducted long after Paramar V had fallen, revealed flaws in this conclusion, with perhaps the most damning being the presence of runic script and icons upon the Knights' armour consistent with the language of the tribes of Sasharam, a moon in close proximity to Incaladion. Almost universally, such Knight armours bore the etched name of Perdaxia on their carapace, leading Imperial records to denote the mystery force as House Perdaxia.
The moon itself, though largely devoid of life thanks to much of its surface being rendered uninhabitable by blistering storms of irradiated particulate and the deadly rad-phage beasts that roam the wastes, was largely ignored by the Imperium. What few inhabitable areas existed were home to technologically-deficient tribes, their peoples often abducted by the Legio Fureans to replenish the Titan Legion's ranks.
Attempts by external agents to mount expeditions to the moon, under the auspice of archaeological missions to investigate potential locations for terraforming, were consistently blocked by the Incaladion Mechanicum during the Great Crusade. Given the isolationist nature of that Forge World, such rebukes were to be expected as the moon fell within the borders of Incaladion's holdings.
Later revelations of a Knight household with potential links to the moon suggest a more sinister reason for the moon's isolation, with some Tech-priests proposing that rad-shielded fortresses could easily be shrouded by the moon's rad-storms, offering a clandestine staging ground for a previously unheard-of Knight household.
To this day, only circumstantial evidence ties the mystery Knight household to the moon of Sasharam; the use of the language associated with the stellar body's tribes, evidence of techno-ritualistic behaviour consistent with the practices of the Legio Fureans and the prevalence of bond markings declaring a Knight armour's servitude to Incaladion, all suggest close ties with the Traitor Forge World. Perhaps more worrying is the length of time which House Perdaxia has been in service to the Forge World and vassal to its Titan Legion.
Analysis of fallen House Perdaxia Knights suggests many were Freeblades who flocked to the Warmaster Horus' side during the Horus Heresy, no doubt latching onto a Titan Legion to secure a position within the Traitors' force. Nevertheless, over half of the household's numbers were more ancient in design and construction, hinting that House Perdaxia may have existed before the Forge World joined the Imperium, a theory supported by revelations that House Perdaxia Knights recovered during the Horus Heresy matched records of Knights deployed alongside the Legio Fureans during the Great Crusade, both times resplendent in the Titan Legion's colours.
Such an occurrence would mean the household was purposefully kept secret, perhaps intended as a reserve force should Incaladion be forced to make war upon the Imperium. Regardless of its true origins, House Perdaxia proved steadfastly loyal to the Tiger Eyes, sacrificing dozens of Scions to save a single god-engine, their deadly skill greatly augmenting Incaladion's order of battle.
Notable Campaigns[]
- Invasion of Paramar V (673.006.M31) - Fanatically loyal to the Legio Fureans, House Perdaxia heeded the summons of Archmagos Inar Satarael alongside their Legio when the Traitors invaded Paramar V. During the fighting of the First Battle of Paramar, the Perdaxia Scions sacrificed themselves in their hundreds to defend the Tiger Eyes' Titans, taking dozens of Loyalist Titans down with them.
- Ruin of Maerdan (008.M31) - In the third standard year of the Horus Heresy, the Imperial colony world of Maerdan on the edge of the Segmentum Solar became a savagerly contested frontline between the forces of Loyalist and Traitor. Maerdan's cities became flaming ruins and its once-verdant plains were turned to barren wastes, crushed and scoured by the fury of the battle as the Loyalist Titans of the Legio Gryphonicus, Legio Metalica and Legio Destructor clashed with the Traitors of the Legio Mortis, Legio Argentum and Legio Vulturum, along with several Traitor vassal Knight housholds, including House Perdaxia. The Ruin of Maerdan, as the campaign came to be known, was one of the largest Titan battles of the early Horus Heresy, with more than 200 Titans taking to the field against each other. Heavy losses were incurred by both sides and as the war moved on, it left a shattered world behind, with neither Loyalist nor Traitor able to claim true victory. The flames of hatred between the Legio Gryphonicus and Legio Mortis, once staunch allies, burned bright after Maerdan and their enmity would lead them to seek each other out time and again on the fields of battle in the dark years that followed.
- Battle of Beta-Garmon, "The Titandeath" (006-013.M31) - House Perdaxia took part in the long and savage Beta-Garmon campaign, which included hundreds of war zones across dozens of worlds. During this conflict, House Perdaxia provided Knight support to the Legio Fureans. 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's 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.
- Scouring of the Ollanz Cluster (012.M31) - As the battle for Beta-Garmon escalated, the unfolding conflict drew increasing numbers of forces into its brutal embrace, but it was not the sole target of the Warmaster's ire. Further afield, smaller detachments sought to conquer star systems deemed important to the Loyalists' war effort with the aim to drain the Imperial forces at Beta-Garmon of supplies and reinforcements. To this end a Traitor force, supported by Titans drawn from Legio Fureans, advanced upon the Ollanz Cluster, intent upon gaining control of the valuable resource worlds within it. Believing the cluster to be devoid of any meaningful resistance, the advancing Traitors were surprised by the sudden appearance of a demi-legio from the Legio Astorum, supported by elements of the Iron Hands Legion. Intending to reinforce Beta-Garmon, the Loyalists had been rearming and refuelling at the Borman System when the Traitors moved upon the Ollanz Cluster. Although outnumbered, the Warp Runners dared not give the invaders unrestricted access to the cluster and moved to oppose their advance. It was upon Borman IV that the turning point of the brief but intense conflict came about. Aware that they were outnumbered and unlikely to triumph in a straight fight, especially against an entrenched enemy, the Loyalists moved to break open their foes' defences with a targeted assault. Marshalling their numbers upon the Yrevendi Desert, the Titans of the Legio Astorum focused their efforts upon a weak point in the Legio Fureans lines. With a Loyalist vanguard luring the Traitors into the Yrevendi Desert thanks to a bold diversionary assault, the Titans of Legio Astorum unleashed their fury upon the Legio Fureans and their vassal Knight houshold, House Perdaxia, hoping to shatter the enemy's strength in a single surprise thrust aimed at devastating the isolated Titan Legion and leaving the overall Traitor strength critically weakened. Such an assault was not without risk, for though the Warp Runners' assault was carefully calculated to ensure the Loyalists outnumbered the pursuing Tiger Eyes, nearly the entire Loyalist strength was committed to this single battle, meaning defeat would effectively hand control of the Ollanz Cluster to the Traitors.
- Imperial Muster at Beta-Garmon (012-013.M31) - For reasons only understood later in the war, the Ruinstorm that had been invoked by Lorgar, primarch of the Word Bearers, several standard years earlier during the Battle of Calth, began to abate across vast swathes of the galaxy. Loyalist high commanders were able to utilise the potent astropathic relay at Beta-Garmon to contact and recall formerly lost or stranded forces from across the war-torn reaches of the northern Imperium. The Imperial Muster at Beta-Garmon rapidly escalated into the largest gathering of Loyalist might since the early years of the war, a concentration of forces so mighty that the Traitors had to respond in kind. The resulting clash of arms would become known as the "Great Slaughter," a theatre of war of such scale that it would encompass the "Titandeath" and the Sea of Fire campaigns, each major campaigns in their own right. By its end, both sides were so badly bled that their only remaining option for ultimate victory was to force a final, decisive confrontation. As history related, the final battle would be fought at the Siege of Terra, but only after the weighty butcher's bill of the Great Slaughter was paid in full.
- Second Battle of Nycron City (403.012.M31) - The war of the Horus Heresy finally came to Beta-Garmon II in full force. Having bled the Loyalists in the outer systems, the Warmaster Horus unleashed his maniples of the Legio Fureans, Legio Mortis and Legio Vulpa as well as the Knights of House Perdaxia into the wastes surrounding Nycron City, while his fleet attacked the planet from above and hundreds of Traitor Army regiments stormed the hive cities themselves. In what would become known as the Second Battle of Nycron, Titans broke through the hundred-kilometre deep defences of the PanCrypta Dust Clans, Solar Auxilia and Nemesis Brigades. Legio Astorum maniples led the Loyalist Titans to make a stand in the shadow of Nycron's gate, but ultimately fell, opening the way for the Traitors to flood into the city. With the city under their control, the Traitors moved swiftly to conquer or destroy the rest of Beta-Garmon II.
Notable Knights[]
- UAK-PER-45X1 (Acastus Knight Porphyrion - UAK-PER-45X1 was an Acastus Knight Porphyrion of House Perdaxia that was known to have served within the ranks of the Traitor Knight House Perdaxia during the Horus Heresy. In most witnessed examples, House Perdaxia used the names of deities from the pre-histories of Old Earth's Indic regions, prefixed with an impenetrable code consisting of numbers, letters and more obscure runic symbols to denote its Knight armours. As such, the true etymology and lineage of Knights such as UAK-PER-45X1, depicted above during the First Battle of Paramar, often remains unknown. Like many of its ilk, its armour bore the colours of the Legio Fureans and was seen near-exclusively accompanying that Titan Legion during the Horus Heresy. Many House Perdaxia Scions displayed considerable skill on the battlefield, with UAK-PER-45X1 noted as severely damaging two Legio Gryphonicus god-engines on Paramar V. Regardless of the household's true origins, be it a purposefully concealed Knight house or one hastily formed from amalgamated Freeblades, House Perdaxia displayed vast tactical experience across dozens of battlefields, speaking of a long legacy of combat.
- Svastoyana-Z622 (Questoris Knight Styrix) - Svastoyana-Z622 was one of the few Knights of House Perdaxia that bore a confirmed title. Evidence of its given name came from numerous recordings of the Knight Styrix charging into the heaviest battle, its vox-hailers proclaiming that "Svastoyanna comes, bearing death for all defilers". In common with numerous armours fielded by House Perdaxia, Svastoyanna-Z622 bore inverted Legio Fureans colours. Without knowing if Scions of House Perdaxia viewed constant assignment to the heaviest fighting as a penance or as a reward, it was impossible to determine the standing Savastoyanna-Z622 held within the household.
Notable Personnel[]
None listed in current Imperial records.
House Strength[]
Given the lack of data on House Perdaxia, if indeed it was a formal household, the materiel strength of its forces is all but impossible to assert. By sheer observed numbers, the strength of House Perdaxia appears to have stood at several hundred Knight armours during the early years of the Great Crusade. On Paramar V, scores of Knights now identified as Perdaxia Scions took to the field and, though a significant portion of these were lost in the battle, scores more were seen working in concert with Legio Fureans demi-legios in the solar months that followed.
Short of the dedicated support of a high-grade Forge World, a Knight household would be unable to sustain such numbers. One theory for the significant numbers of House Perdaxia Knights lies in data extracted from Perdaxia Knight armours retrieved from various battlefields during the Horus Heresy.
Such data reveals that while many of the Knights bore production marks consistent with the work of Incaladion forge-wrights, with carbon dating placing some as centuries old, others were identified as either Freeblade Knights or armours once sworn to other households.
Of these, all were scrubbed of their past allegiance, with past household colours wiped clean and replaced with those of Perdaxia. Such revelations suggest that House Perdaxia may have actively accepted traitorous Freeblades and defecting Scions from other Knight households during the Horus Heresy, greatly increasing the house's resilience in the face of brutal attrition.
Legion Allies[]
Titan Legio[]
- Legio Fureans (Perdaxia was an apparent vassal house)
Space Marine Legions[]
House Appearance[]
House Colours[]
In its original iteration, the colours of House Perdaxia were bronze and crimson.
Later in the Horus Heresy after their turn to Chaos, Scions of the house repainted the armour of their Knights in yellow and blue. Later, the colours of House Perdaxia were retconned to orange and black reminiscent of those of the Perdaxia Scions' overlords, the Legio Fureans.
In common with numerous Knight armours fielded by House Perdaxia, many bore inverted Legio Fureans colours, a tradition which several theories exist to explain. The two most prevalent postulate that it stood either as a mark of shame which could only be wiped clean via a glorious death in battle or as one of honour, given to the most devoted and skilled of Scions. Such Knights would often been seen in the heaviest fighting, although it was impossible to discern whether or not that was done as a penance or as a reward.
House Arms[]
The arms of House Perdaxia consists of a large tiger eye with a fiery, dark orange iris centred within a black and white cog symbol called the Opus Machina, centred upon a field of black. This household's symbol is reminiscent of that used by their overlords of the Legio Fureans.
Sources[]
- The Horus Heresy - Book Three: Extermination (Forge World Series) by Alan Bligh, pp. 28, 30
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Rulebook (Specialty Game), "Legio Gryphonicus Heraldry," pp. 93-97
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Titandeath (Specialty Game), "Second Battle of Nycron City: Holding the Line," pp. 72-73, 95
- Adeptus Titanicus - The Horus Heresy: Traitor Legios (Specialty Game), pp. 54-57
- White Dwarf 30 (February 2019), "Vassal Knight Houses" by Andy Hoare, pg. 130
- White Dwarf 452 (March 2020), "The Invasion of Paramar V: Plain of Fire," & "Scouring of the Ollanz Cluster: Breakthrough," pp. 132-135
- Games Workshop Webstore - Adeptus Titanicus: Legio Fureans & House Perdaxia Transfer Sheet
- Warhammer Community - Order Today: Ambots & Legends of the Skaven (02 Mar 2019)
- Warhammer Community - Pre-Order Next Week: Ambots, Titanic Weaponry & Speed Freeks! (24 Feb 2019)