The Knight Houses of Anaximund
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Three Facts about the Questor Houses
- They pilot giant mechs. while perhaps not as impressive as the Titans of the Adeptus Mechanicus the Knight-frames piloted by these warriors tower over most Imperial vehicles at nearly nine meters tall. Armed with arrays of lethal weapons and coming in various shapes and sizes, Knights are not to be underestimated.
- Their bond to their Knight has a mental effect on their personalities. The bond each Knight-pilot forms with their machine is deep and effects them on a mental level, due to a quirk of the design of Knights the mental link a pilot has seems to alter them to encourage protective behaviours towards others, but also manifests a kind of noble entitlement to rule.
- They are neither Mechanicus nor Imperial but often serve one or the other. Though the Mechanicus lays claim to the method to create and repair Knights, the Knight-Worlds, the worlds where these machines first landed alongside human settlers are not part of the Mechanicus' domain. When one is discovered there is often a rush to secure its loyalties and many end up as independent entities free of any rule other than their own but swearing their machines to aid the Imperium. The Mechanicus is often eager to claim their loyalties too often using their need for repairs to blackmail them into taking oaths of loyalty.
Four Facts about the Houses of Anaximund
- Their loyalty to Naximus Prime is secured by the Sidon protocols. Anaximund is a breadbasket world that feeds the ever-hungry labourers of Naximus Prime as well as supplying its Knights to the defence of its Mechanicus Masters. But this is not entirely by choice, long ago the ancestors of the Houses were forced to sign a series of treaties known to the Mechanicus as the 'Sidon Protocols'. These protocols stripped the Houses of their ability to maintain their own Knight-frames, with all repair and supply provided by Naximan Tech-Priests loyal to Naximus rather than Anaximund.
- They are an ethnically Ruwwad people. Though the societies on Anaximund and its moons are distinctly feudal, they are ethnically drawn from the Ruwwad people, as is their local dialect with its unique titles. Culturally the feudal serfs are divided into various 'tribes' though most of these are not as barbaric as their names suggest with the exception of the 'Techno-Barbarians' that dwell on the Moons of the world.
- They are ancient. It is not known exactly when Anaximund was settled by the Knight-Houses but it is likely to have been over ten thousand years ago, their society has developed around the mighty Knight-frames many of which are so ancient to have been around when colonists first set down upon Anaximund Prime. Their culture has grown in isolation from the Imperium but they still eagerly embrace it.
- They are in a period of massive change. The coming of the Imperium to the Prosperitas Sector and first contact between the Knights of Anaximund and the Prosperitas Crusade has sent shockwaves through Anaximundi society. The adoption (in secret) of the Imperial Cult by several members of the Knight Houses represents a severe threat to their bonds with Naximus Prime as the Houses ever seek more freedom from their Masters.
The Questor Mechanicus
During the early years of humanity’s colonisation of the stars, before the emergence of the Emperor, many worlds were seeded with human life. Accompanying some of these early colonies were an ancient pattern of exosuits, single-pilot walking frames similar to the technology used in the Titans of the Collegia Titanicus. Unlike Titans, these Exoframes were intended for construction and colony support, but over time, they were armed and armoured by their riders in order to protect the colonies as the Age of Strife progressed. Influenced mentally by their bonds with their machines, the riders of these suits came to view themselves as noble defenders and in time on many such worlds this psychological change brought about the emergence of a feudal nobility of suit pilots, the so-called Knights.
The Machine Cult encountered many such worlds in the waning years of the Age of Strife has made it a quest to locate the worlds where these exosuits were seeded, often indoctrinating the riders and their maintenance crews into their religion, creating a dependence on the Machine Cult to maintain their Knight-suits. There are Knight-Worlds that the Imperium found before the Cult where the Knights serve the Imperium, and some Knight-Worlds have come to serve the Imperium of their own volition after breaking from bonded service to the Mechanicus – something of a point of political tension in the troubled times of the 41st Millenium.
When one refers to a Knight, they refer both to the exosuit and the pilot, for they are one and the same – often when a Knight-suit becomes available the closest legitimate ‘heir’ to the Noble Houses that have formed around the pilots that command them will compete in various tests in order to undergo a sacred rite known as the ‘Ritual of Becoming’ where Knight-suit and pilot blend. As with all the arcane technological rites of the age, it is possible to fail in the ritual – the results of doing so are often psychologically and socially devastating, as a rejected scion is no use at all to a Knight House.
The Knights of Anaximund
The satrapy of Anaximund Alpha, the Prosperitas Sector’s sole Knight World, has long been a part of the colonies and dominions of Naximus Prime. For many years, the planet’s ruling House, Qureshi, have been yoked to their Adeptus Mechanicus rulers by the ancient Sidon Protocols that cede all repair and maintenance to the Priesthood of Naximus, but the relationship between the Knights and their Masters is tense.
Historically as the only Knight World within the sector the Houses have often been called upon by other Forge Worlds within the Sector and even by the Imperial High Command when their firepower was desperately needed. Yet no matter the riches promised or consequences threatened, the former ruler of the world Satrap-Princeps Gul Qureshi only ever answered the call when their Naxmiman patrons allowed it. This has left bad blood within some Imperial Guard and Navy regiments on this frontier who have taken to sarcastically asking under their breath for “The Qureshi Cavalry” when a loss is certain and backup far from sight.
But in recent years since the rise of the new Satrap-Princeps of the Knight Houses, Lalah Qureshi, the grip of the Ouroborus Omnissiah of Naximus on Anaximund has begun to slip with the foundation of more ties with the Imperium. Despite resistance from Naximus, there is an Imperial presence on world and missionaries from the Imperial cult have found willing ears amongst the upper echelons of some Households.
The Naximan Mechanicus have always treated the Houses of Anaximund as servants, and the Houses has rankled at the disrespect they have received; the Machine Cult has done little to improve things, their contempt for the House, who they perceive as backwards, ill-treatment, and the forcible induction of members of the techno-barbarian tribes on the moons of Anaximund into the Tech Guard have all served to drive a wedge between the two powers and it is rumoured that Anaximund seeks to break from the dominance of Naximus.
This is a dangerous path, however as the warp routes that lead to the Knight-World are largely controlled by Naximus, and there is a very serious fear amongst the Houses that should they move too quickly against their Naximan Masters then the Tech-Priest will bring the Titans of the Demi-Legio Custodii Incudatem to enforce their will over the the wayward Houses.
There are two Knight Houses on Anaximund each maintaining several 'banners' of powerful Knight frames noble House Qureshi, that leads the world, and their subjects House Zahak .
House Qureshi
The leaders of Anaximund, House Qureshi are a political family that have held a grip on the world since Mechanicus records first began here thanks to the armoured steeds their Knights ride. Concerned less with blood ties, new members of the ‘family’ are chosen and adopted in from the most promising vassals within the planet’s society, even adopting those born into serfdom or amongst the Barbarians of the Moons who show promise as potential Knight-Scions.
Marching under the banner of a ancient winged Persian lion, the Sea Green, White and Silver of the House is a distinctive sight on the battlefields of the Prosperitas Sector. The House is known to be noble and brash and many consider it to be something of a tragic hero, fighting against the oppression of Naximus Prime.
House Qureshi lays claim to the fertile lands that cover most of Anaximund's surface, these are heavily farmed by the tribal peoples who lay claim to them and live beneath the protection of the ruling House. Unlike their subject-House, Zahak, the Qureshi tend to enjoy being seen by their subjects, with the Knights of the House often roaming the countryside. This has practical reasons as well it keeps tribal competition from disrupting farming, but it also allows the Knights to keep the planets various forms of megafauna from preying on the populations of the tribes.
The house’s leader Satrap-Princeps Lalah Qureshi is believed to be a convert to the Imperial Cult, but as yet she has not formally breached the Sidon Protocols and broken with Naximus Prime in an act of sedition, despite increasing tensions with her Naximan masters. An honourable warrior, she is divided by her belief in honouring the ancient ties she has with her Masters, and her desire to serve the good of humanity by aiding the forces of the Prosperitas Crusade.
In the past half a decade however Lalah has been reported holding meetings with some of the more forward thinking of Naximund’s Magos as well as reportedly sending invites to high profile individuals across the Sector.
With a political divide apparently developing within their patron's Forge World, some of the Knights of Anaximund wonder whether Lalah is preparing to dramatically shake up the nature of the Protocols she is bound under and look for greater independence. Others decry this as dangerous sedition and cannot believe she would be so bold when it is as yet uncertain that any other Mechanicus in the Sector know the secrets of the Knight technology the Houses rely so much upon.
House Zahak
Though House Zahak may rankle at the treatment of the Houses of Anaximund by the Naximus Priesthood it is not so open-minded about the Imperial Faith as House Qureshi - but as a Subject-House it has always been cautious about voicing its concern about the seeming adoption of the Imperial Faith that has spread through the ruling House. Perhaps the most conservative House on Anaximund, House Zahak is very fundamentalist in its belief in the Machine Cult through the lense of the Cult of the Ouroboros Omnissiah.
The House incorporates the serpent heavily into its heraldry taking both from its connection to the great drake of the Ourobrous as well as the serpent-imagery found in the tribes of techno-barbarians of the Moons of Anaximund. Its heraldry remains closest to Mars, with its crimson-hulled machines edged with gunmetal and grey. The serpent remains close to the heart of the House with it keeping keeping snakes in its bastions, to deal with rodent problems.
House Zahak is fairly close to its superiors in House Qureshi culturally, with most of the differences arising from their lands being less fertile. House Zahak claims dominion over the three moons of Anaximund, and the 'Techno-Barbarian' tribes that roam there. Where House Qureshi farms the land, House Zahak 'farms' the savage Techno-barbarian tribes for worthy recruits to join the foot soldiery of the Guard though the Tech-Priests of Naximus Prime have been known to take a tithe of them for their own experiments.
The Houses holdings are the few isolated bastions of technology, surrounded by primitive moonscapes with the House Zahak acting as a distant spiritual authority, and monitoring the tribes for actual threats emerging. Anytime the power balance of the tribes is threatened the dominant tribe are ‘chosen’ and harvested. But for the most part the House lives in small isolated communities, who normally only see the people they govern through the safety of their superior technology.
Maharaja Mahnaz Zahak is the current ruler of the House, a devotee of the Machine Cult she has undergone extensive bionic modifications in her quest to become closer in her communion with the Omnissiah. She is wary of her Princeps-Satrap's recent leanings towards the Imperial Cult, fundamentally afraid that if the cult was introduced to Anaximundi society it would significantly shift the foundations of the ancient civilization of their world. The Maharaja is active in encouraging talent in the House, but her patronage comes with great expectations of those she has favoured to perform exceptionally above their peers.
Rank and Status Amongst Knights of Anaximund
The Satrap-Princeps of Anaximund is the Highest ranking member of the Knight Households, this role has always traditionally been held by head of House Qureshi as the ruling House. The ruler of the world as well as its warleader, the Satrap-Princeps largely delegates rule to various members of their Household who are not in command of Knights to ensure there is continuity of rule when the House marches to war.
After the Satrap-Princeps lie the Raja the baronial rulers of the feudal regions of Anaximund who are both masters of their Knight-frames as well as their lands. Each Raja is responsible for leading a 'banner' of Knights into battle when they go to war as well as tending to the running of their regions, a duty that normally falls to a favoured spouse who demonstrates talent for it.
Beneath the Raja are the Sardar who in low-gothic would be known as Knight Scions, though they are the lowest ranked Knight pilots, each one is still a feudal Lord in their own right controlling a sizable parcel of land within their Raja's territory.
Under the Sardars are the minor nobles, the Bey who pilot the lesser Knight Frames known as 'Armigers' while normally of the Houses, these are often tribal leaders of the feudal subject-tribes of Anaximund and the greatest honour that can be granted to such a being to be one of the vassal-knights assigned to protection and scouting duties.
Though many hold equal status to the Bey, the lowest social tier of the Nobility on Anaximund are those who do not have the honour of riding a Knight, who are instead defined by their contributions as administrators to the everyday running of their world. while their role is no-less vital the martial society of the Houses of Anaximund define those who cannot 'walk' (ride a Knight) as being of a less valourous and important role.
The Techno-Barbarian Tribes of the Moons of Anaximund
One cannot talk about the Houses of Qureshi without talking about their most famous (or infamous in some cases) subjects. It is not known what happened to the civilization of humans that once spread across the moons of Anaximund, but at some point, perhaps during the age of Strife it collapsed into war, reducing the otherwise habitable moons into wastelands dotted with the ruins of some forgotten civilization that once ruled there. But the inhabitants of this civilization did not die out, nor did they (as on some worlds) regress technologically. The Techno-Barbarian civilization that now dominates Anaximunds Moons with its varied Warlords and Tribes still maintains its hold on technological knowledge using various scavenged technologies as from its civilized ancestors.
When House Zahak's ancestors first stepped away from their parent House, they came to the moons of their world to investigate stories of the civilization recorded by their ancestors on the planet below. It is believed by some scholars that once it was Anaximund that served its satellites, but that time is long gone. What House Zahak found on the Moons of Anaximund were warlike tribes in an ever-spiralling cycle of violence - but rather than seek to tame and dominate the moons, the House established bastions to watch over the tribes. Those that prove strongest are 'harvested' to serve as foot troops for the Houses of Anaximund though sometimes they are taken to become Tech Guard for Naximus Prime.
Bedecked in the skins of predatory xenoforms that stalk the ruins of the Moons, and adorned in brutal armour, the savagery of the Techon-Barbarian tribes makes for excellent fighting stock which is prized by the Anaximundi Knight Houses to act as fighting forces to protect their Knight-frames from being swarmed by infantry. Armed with a variety of savage home-grown technology and advanced weaponry secured from Naximus Prime, the savage Techno-Barbarians are ferocious enough to break all but the hardiest foes with a brutal charge.