House Kankar

Structure

While High House Kankar may rule all of Estival, the 12 Lower Houses each control an entire Hive, and ideally have a reserve of 35 Knights each for a total of 455 Knights. In practice however, especially after the civil war, each House has around 15-30 Knights, with other knights roaming who once belonged to the fallen cities. These wandering knights have become the subject of debate among the Houses, some have stated a desire to see them distributed amongst their own. However House Kankar has begun to look to the Nomad Tribes for potential new houses. While a nomadic house is unprecedented, many believe that falling from 13 Houses, mirroring the High Lords of Holy Terra, to the current 11 is a bad omen.

The 13 Hives and Houses

Hive Orlains: House Kankar -The Royal House, all other Houses swear loyalty to Kankar, and thus, the Imperium. Led by High King Toyar, this house is undergoing a crisis of succession as multiple princes and princesses seek the now vacant position of Heir to the throne and planet.
Hive Marsail: House Pixes - The most loyal House. They suffered heavy casualties, but Lady Joanne has begun the rebuilding process to the point of inviting members of the lower and under hives (after a heavy vetting process) to speed up rebuilding.
Hive Leion: House Loi - House Loi has a reputation of making some of the bravest warriors in all of Estival. It also has a reputation of losing Knights more than any other Noble House on Estival due to its members often overextending in an attempt to claim as much glory for their House as possible. Led by Lady Nepeta.
Hive Noise: House Skori - Suffered the brunt of the casualties from Bonet’s Coup. They refused to knight and wed “Peasants and Serfs” and thus have a dramatically slower recuperation rate. Lord Noman leads this house.
Hive Renn: House Ares - Originally the house with the lowest prestige due to their frequent ignorance of the code, House Ares found its position skyrocketing after Lord Olufemi led the charge that shattered Bonet’s vanguard and effectively pushed the traitors march to Orlainns.
Hive Niime: House Capcornius - The original Lady of the House, Lady Poa, died during the battle of Luse, and her twin Daughters Kalani and Leilani are currently fighting in honourable duels to determine who inherits the position.
Hive Axen: House Poltar - Lord Ronald of House Poltar has become somewhat infamous for boasting of far more than his house has actually accomplished. This costs them a ton of prestige and honour, however it is somewhat mitigated by the sheer devotion they have to the Emperor himself. Their faith was so strong, that they were the only house to have no knights turn to the Ruinous Powers, greatly increasing their reputation amongst the nobles.
Hive Dagon: House Aquarian, formally House Hydamn - House Hydamn was the first to be wiped out during Bonet’s Coup, thus they were replaced by the Aquarian Family, a nasty Underhive Gang that proved invaluable in removing the Heretical occupation force. While Lady Ophelia has had many people doubting her new House (Especially those of House Skori), and they view the Code as more Guidelines than Rules, the recent successes the newly raised knights have had has been considered satisfactory to House Kankar.
Hive Pariss: House Maryam, formally House Virg - House Virg was one of the most respected houses on Estival, famed for their Service in the Badab War and Crusade against the Orks in the Syncamor System. When Lord Atoc sided with Bonet, it was deemed a most vile of betrayals. The lowly servant girl, Cava Maryam, would arrange for the palace's serfs to prepare a betrayal of their own. She set up a spy network in the palace that would soon reach throughout the entire Hive Complex, ending with the complete Annihilation of House Virg during the Ambush of Kana Pass. For her Loyalty, as well as for knowing a decent amount about the maintenance of Knights from her palace job, Cava and the remaining palace serfs were elevated to noble status, under the banner of House Maryam.
Hive Grenab: House Serpentis, formerly House Ophidius - House Ophidius was the first to Suffer from Bonet’s Coup, with him deeming Grenab a vitally important holding due to the fact much of the planet’s Knight repair and munitions production happen there. Having convinced Lord Satsuna to hold a parade in the Crown Prince's honour, Bonet and his allies quickly ambushed the unprepared nobles, seizing the city and wiping out the entire House. After being liberated at the tail end of the war, Toyar began considering who deserved to be elevated to a Noble House. Wealthy industrialist Sakura Serpentis is considered the leading candidate for nobility, with Toyar giving her his full support, but until the first set of Knights can be delivered to the Serpentis domain of Grenab, she is simply a wealthy governor.
Hive Lily: formerly House Teros - House Teros was the first House to agree to Bonet’s Coup, and most of his remaining Warriors are from said House. The Battle of Lily had left the Hive a molten crag, destroyed by Orbital Bombardment after the Inquisition deemed the hive’s Corruption too severe to manage. Lord Gi is currently leading Bonet’s Marauders right flank.
Hive Whimper: formerly House Chirus - When Lady Margeret was approached by Bonet for the potential Coup against Kankar, she readily agreed. Her House had fallen on great shame for their repeated failures in many campaigns, regulating them to planetary garrison duty. This gave her the opportunity to annihilate those that mocked and shunned her, at the low cost of her faith in a corpse. Whimper was thus destroyed, levelled by intense, concentrated bombardment during the Siege, though truthfully the corruption of Nurgle had claimed the majority of the hive’s population by them. Margaret was later seen leading a splinter of Bonet’s Marauders called the Weeping Scythes of Nurgle.

Recruitment

Each Minor House recruits their members differently. House Pixes recruits from all the levels of their hive, not just nobleborn, by contrast, House Skori only recruits members from the noble family and House Maryam recruits exclusively from the Underhive. What each House values in a recruit differs as well. While House Ares might value one’s desire for victory, Poltar deems faith and piety as the most crucial elements of a Knight. Not all members of a House become knights either, many are instead given administrative duties managing their hive.

Culture

The 13 Houses have always had conflicts of interest and culture, but all can agree on 3 things:

"That honour and glory define what they shall be

That the Imperium and Emperor is their guide to greater glory

And that Kankar shall lead them where the Emperor guides them."

Prestige is everything to the 13 Houses. Therefore glory and shame are considered the most important things in one’s life. Both the efficiency of the hives they govern, and the success of battle are considered ways to earn glory to the members of the houses, whether they are a member by birth or adoption. The leader of a House, however, must at least be capable of piloting a Questoris Class Knight into battle.

History

The 13 Hives of Estival were always at war, lead by the Remnants of Great Knight Houses as they fought for control of the planet. They waged war on one another for millennia, until a mixture of careful political manoeuvres and rites of conquest allowed House Kankar, under High King Kosar, to unify the planet. Shortly after Unification, a Rogue Trader discovered their world and offered to let them into the Imperium, at which point the 13 Houses were immediately thrown into the Badab War. In the years since, the 13 Houses fought in many different campaigns, some were outstanding successes, such as the routing of the Orks in the Syncamor System, while others were crushing defeats, such as when they fought the Iron Warriors during the Clemex Crusade. The Prestige and Value of the Planetary Houses would rise and fall within their own ranks as a result of these events.
The biggest blow to both the strength and the honour of Kankar would occur shortly before the Great Rift Opened. After visiting a strange cult in the underhive of Lily, the Crown Prince Bonet would take a pilgrimage to a far off Planet. When he returned he immediately began plotting for the glory of the Chaos Gods. Putting a Dark Mechanicum fleet in orbit around the planet, Bonet would begin a 15 year conflict that saw 5 of the Noble Houses destroyed, many independent Knights dead, and 2 Hive Cities levelled by the Imperium to stop the spread of Chaos. Ultimately however, Bonet was defeated and the Imperial Navy was slowly winning the star. So, Bonet used an incredibly rare piece of Archeotech, the Starjumper, to teleport his remaining forces onto the Dark Mechanicus fleet above. Bonet’s force quickly split into several Chaos Knight Houses and rampaged across the sector. In response, the remaining knights swore an oath to find and destroy all the Traitors who escaped to the stars that day. The remnants of House Kankar now scout the sector and annihilate all that they deem suspicious of harbouring the traitors and turn the heads of the fallen knights into trophies to bring to Estival.

By the will of 13 Houses, We strike for the Emperor!

First Contact
M36
Allegiance
Questor Imperiallis
High King
Toyar Kankar
Knight World
Estival
Size Grade
Secundus
Colours
Green and Bronze

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