In the grim darkness of the far future, there is an epic tale of colossal war machines, the Knights, and their noble pilots. This story is not just limited to the battlefield but expands to the societal structure of humanity’s far-flung colonies, the Knight Worlds.
In the early days of colonization, humans had to subjugate not just alien races but also the local wildlife, some of which were far more formidable than any creature on Terra. Forget about scaring off a pack of wolves with a few gunshots, imagine standing up to a dragon! It was for these challenges that humanity created the Knights, enormous walking war machines, the iron fists of human expansion.
The pilots of these mechanical behemoths quickly became celebrated figures, their status hovering somewhere between a celebrity and a war hero. As they fought to secure their colonies, they gained authority, and over generations, formed the first Knight Houses. Those they protected fell into increasingly servile roles, and the Knight Worlds began to adopt a conservative, isolationist stance.
While this isolation and rejection of technological advancements led to ridicule from the more culturally and intellectually superior masses of humanity, it shielded the Knight Worlds from the horrific apocalypse that befell the rest of humanity. In the face of warp storms, demonic invasions, and Gene Wars, the Knight Worlds stood firm. They rejected sentient machines and left their genetics untouched, becoming beacons of hope in a dark era.
Over the millennia, as the long night lingered, the Knights and their people held on, their cultures regressing and technologies lost. Yet, only a few Knight Worlds fell. They maintained their traditions, defended their borders, and waited, waited for a new dawn. And that dawn arrived in the form of the Emperor and his Great Crusade.
In the modern Imperium, the Knight Worlds owe their allegiance to representatives of Imperial Authority. This loyalty, coupled with their exceptional concentration of combat power, led to a competition of sorts between the Administratum and the Cult Mechanicus. As a result, the Knight Worlds have varying allegiances today.
Some swore loyalty to the Emperor and are known as Quor Imperialis, or the Imperial Knights. Others pledged themselves to the Omnia and the Cult Mechanicus, becoming known as Questor Mechanicus. There are also those who lost their kin and their house, the Freeblades. These wandering mercenaries continue to fight for the Imperium, their idiosyncrasies often a result of the poor condition of their machine or their own mental state.
Regardless of their allegiance, all Knights fall under the governance of noble houses, sworn to the High Monarch of their planet. They uphold a feudal system, with serfs laboring to support their Knights, who in turn protect their vassals from the depredations of xenos, mutants, and heretics.
The life of a knight is far from easy, however. From early childhood, the heir of a house destined to pilot a Knight is subjected to rigorous training. To pilot such a machine requires a union of the pilot’s consciousness with the Machine Spirit, an honor reserved only for a noble from a hereditary Knight House. This union is achieved through a mysterious and terrifying ritual known as the Ritual of Becoming.
Stay tuned as we delve deeper into the lives and battles of these noble warriors in our multi-part series on Warhammer 40,000 lore.
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