House Cenwulf History - Version 5.2

House Cenwulf History v5.2

Homeworld: Andlang

Military Patent: Pre-Imperial

Military Grade: Tertius

From the earliest days of the Imperium the nobles of House Cenwulf have upheld their vows of loyalty to the Emperor with blood and iron. Grim and dour of spirit, merciless and unflinching in battle, the nobles of Andlang are fearsome warriors who stride to war within the armored shells of mighty Imperial Knight Titans, dealing death to the enemies of mankind with blazing cannon and roaring blades.

Origins

Like all Imperial Knight Households the nobles of House Cenwulf and their mighty Knight Titans are descended from the first human colonists who landed on inhospitable worlds during the golden age of mankind. In the lost era of mankind's first great expansion across the stars a colony ship of settlers stumbled upon an unusual planet that would come to be known as the Knight World of Andlang.

Situated in the Segmentum Obscurus, roughly between Armageddon and Fenris lays the Vanyr system. The colony ship that first entered the star-system discovered a number of worlds that must have once teemed with life that had been rendered dead and barren in some ancient catastrophe. Only a handful of hardy plant and animal specimens remained on otherwise uninhabitable rocks blasted with radiation, polluted with toxic chemical storms and seas of caustic sludge. Only the foolish or truly desperate would have chosen the Vanyr system as a home, indeed the human colonists nearly passed the system by to seek better prospects elsewhere. Only the discovery of rich mineral deposits by long-range probes motivated the colonists to investigate further. The colonists found the second world of the system to be particularly intriguing for the world was littered with expansive ruins half-buried beneath irradiated sand, sprawling battlefields of broken war-machines and the empty shells of mountain fortresses jutting like grasping skeletal hands above toxic clouds. Whatever alien race had once called the Vanyr system home it had been wiped out in a devastating conflict that left behind little but wasteland and ruin. Despite the terrible conditions of this devastated world the xeno-archaeotech salvage could not be passed up. Determined to make this world their new home the colonists set down their ship in the mountains, as far from the radiation and poisoned air of the lowlands as possible. Engines burnt out in the effort and keel broken against the rocks the ship would never fly again, but it would never need to, the human settlers had made their choice. They named their new home after the vessel that had borne them there: Andlang.

Those early colonists struggled to survive against the hostile environment of their new home. Vicious predators hardened to the extreme conditions preyed upon the settlers even as radiation sickness, chemical burns and viral contagions ravaged the population. Only the precious salvage of the ruins offered the wealth necessary to import food and medicines sufficient to survive. To recover that vital resource the colonists forged their first Knight Titans. These early industrial walkers were the only things capable of mounting the heavy weapons and powerful tools necessary to fight off the predatory beasts, survive the terrible storms and bring back the metal harvest which the people of Andlang would rely on to survive for thousands of years. Over time the warrior-heroes who piloted the knight suits became a ruling class who marched out from mountaintop citadels to scour the lowlands for salvage, cull dangerous beasts and fight off xenos invaders. Alongside the emergence of the noble class the rest of Andlang's society stratified into a feudal, ritualistic existence inspired by the Trans-Nordyc cultures of Terra from which the colonists hailed.

Considered barbaric by the standards of the Golden-age of Mankind the lords of Andlang rejected many of the technological innovations of the age; advanced genetic manipulation, artificial intelligence, warp-powered weapons, the nobles of House Cenwulf would have none of it. So it was that when the Iron Men turned on their masters and waged war against the domains of man House Cenwulf survived for Andlang had no Iron Men. When genetic manipulation ran rampant and hordes of bloodthirsty mutants ravaged whole worlds Andlang endured. When the psykers emerged among the ranks of mankind, devastating worlds with eruptions of uncontrollable powers or drowning systems in nightmare the Vanyr system remained intact. With each disaster contact and trade with the wider galaxy dwindled until Andlang found itself almost completely alone.

Cut-off from the wider galaxy the people of Andlang were forced to fend for themselves. Food and medicine became strictly rationed, weapons and munitions were stockpiled, and soldiers manned the walls day and night, ever watching for any sign of attack. In time enemies did come, pirates and marauders, xenos and degenerate humans threw themselves against the fortress walls and crossed blades with the warriors of the house. Time and again enemies were thrown back but each time House Cenwulf's capacity to endure the next assault decreased. Unable to sufficiently feed or supply its subjects and warriors House Cenwulf had to make a difficult decision, to hold out and hope to survive long enough for the storm to break, or risk everything by going on the offensive. After much debate the nobles of the house almost unanimously decided to attack. What few void-worthy craft remained to the house were mobilized and the bulk of the knights took to the stars, undertaking nearly suicidal blind jumps into the warp to attack their enemies in neighboring systems. Though these raiding operations were costly they ultimately proved immensely successful. Outposts of pirates, mutants and xenos were exterminated, ships were recovered and towed back to Andlang, holds full of captured food, weapons and technology. Besieged enclaves of human survivors were liberated and protected and the domains of House Cenwulf grew to encompass around a dozen inhabited worlds in eight systems. In exchange for military protection these worlds provided a tithe of resources to House Cenwulf, filling the larders and storehouses of Andlang with the wealth of their newly acquired protectorate domain. Though many knights fell during this time the limited industrial and manufacturing capacity of Andlang was enough to forge small numbers of new suits and the ranks of the house remained relatively stable.

The security and stability provided by House Cenwulf drew survivors and refugees to the Vanyr system in shocking numbers. Hundreds of junker ships barely void-worthy struggled into the system, cast out from the brutal tides of the warp. Some of these ships died before making it into the system, others had to be purged for their crews had gone mad, become possessed or carried dire illnesses. Many others however made it into the system largely intact and suddenly House Cenwulf found itself with many thousands of new mouths to feed. At first these arrivals put a dire strain on resources but in time the Sacristans of the house marshaled the arrivals and began to set up settlements and colony outposts elsewhere in the system for them. Most of these settlements were focused on resource extraction, mining precious metals and rare minerals from the asteroids and dead rocks of the system. In exchange for these resources House Cenwulf provided food and security. One colony was established on the fourth planet, a largely barren rock with a barely breathable atmosphere. With the assistance of the Sacristans of the house efforts were made to Terraform the planet and establish agri-complexes there. At first this settlement proved barely worth the effort but in time the crude attempts to stabilize the environment and work the ashen soil began to bear greater fruit. In time the world earned the name Folkvangr and grew into a functioning and productive Agri-World, supplying much of the food for the Vanyr system and other worlds within House Cenwulf's protectorate domain.

Increased trade and traffic through the system grew the orbital infrastructure of Andlang considerably. Accreted over centuries from the welded-together hulks of dead ships a network of void-docks, warehouses and shipyards gathered in orbit to service the needs of trade through the region. The system defense fleet also grew considerably, ultimately numbering dozens of monitor and escort craft and a handful of larger cruisers capable of carrying the strike-forces of the house. Though losses to the tides of the warp were regular the short blind-jumps to reach neighboring systems became relatively reliable and safe, though time-consuming. Often ships would have to sail for weeks to reach the boundaries of their destination system after having translated from the warp thousands of kilometers off-target. Such difficulties were ultimately a small price to pay to maintain the burgeoning fiefdom of House Cenwulf.

Despite the best efforts of House Cenwulf's nobles xenos invasions and pirate raids against their domains remained a constant threat. During this time the most devastating and frequent attacks to the Vanyr system came from Ork pirates whose ramshackle fleets would regularly be washed up in the system by the erratic tides of the warp. The rich material resources of the system and the presence of a formidable enemy to fight made Andlang a promising target for the orks to attack and attack they did regularly and with great enthusiasm. At first the lethal radiation, toxic and corrosive nature of the lowlands of Andlang all but wiped out the greenskin invasions before they could gain much ground. In time however the orks demonstrated their race's considerable capability for adaptation and became increasingly able to overcome the natural hazards of Andlang in their quest to meet the knights of House Cenwulf in battle. Over the centuries of warfare between the nobles of Andlang and the frequent ork invasions the xenos became increasingly wont to deploy heavily cybernetically augmented foot-soldiers supported by vast cadres of walkers of all shapes and sizes from the small clunking forms of Killa Kan's to the mighty Stompas and occasional Gargant. To the horror of House Cenwulf's scions and sacristans the orks began to exhibit a perverse mockery of the culture and traditions of the Imperial Knights themselves. The pilots of the xenos walkers and the mek's who made them began to enjoy an elevated status over their peers and started to display crude personalized heraldry and to deploy and fight in the imitation of the knightly banners and lances of the house. No matter how thoroughly House Cenwulf tried to eradicate this affront to their honor inevitably some small number of greenskins would escape the system to spread their perversion further among their kind. To this day attacks from the orks and their twisted mockery of the knights remains a regular threat to the system.

For many long centuries House Cenwulf continued to grow and prosper even in a time of general chaos and bloodshed throughout the galaxy. The number of knight armors and nobles to pilot them grew slowly while the resources and defenses of the Vanyr system and her neighboring domains swelled. In 873.M30 the sudden arrival of a small fleet of ships at the boundary of the Vanyr system brought pickets and patrols scrambling to intercept. Even as the first elements of the 113^th Expeditionary Fleet entered the system they were faced with a small but heavily armed defense fleet demanding they stand down or turn back. Unknown to the nobles of House Cenwulf the Imperium had arrived and things would never be the same again.

The Great Crusade

After a few tense moments of standoff the small fleet of ships that entered the Vanyr system in 873.M30 announced over the vox that they were the vanguared of the 113^th Expeditionary Fleet of the Emperor of Mankind's Great Crusade to unit the scattered worlds of humanity under a single unified empire. The officers of the defense fleet were shocked at this news and passed word swiftly to their lords back on Andlang. After several days of long-delayed messaging back and forth the picket was ordered to wait for the arrival of the rest of the 113^th Expeditionary Fleet before escorting the representatives of the Emperor to Andlang for a formal welcome. Within the week much of the rest of the fleet had arrived and was taken in system with great formality and fanfare. The city of Jotunheim turned out in mass to greet the new arrivals, watching in awe as massive and powerful gunships in gold, gray and red dropped down from orbit and landed at the sky-docks. A parade conveyed the visitors from the docks through the inner-district to the household keep itself. When the doors of the great hall of Jotunheim's household spire were thrown open and Leman Russ, Primarch of the VI Legiones Astartes strode through the nobles of Andlang were struck with awe. Massive, powerful and charismatic Leman Russ quickly won the nobles to the Emperor's cause and with much feasting and spirited competition Andlang, the Vanyr system and the whole of House Cenwulf's protectorate domains were brought into formal compliance. The similarities in the cultures of the Fenrisians and the people of Andlang were striking and obvious, even their respective languages clearly shared a common root. Various representatives from different factions of the Martian Mechanicum made a number impressive bids attempting to purchase the fealty of House Cenwulf, however the material strength and stability of the house meant that Jarl Skjor Cenwulf was well positioned to reject these offers and chose to swear fealty to the Emperor of Mankind, not the priesthood of Mars. From that day onwards the armor and hulls of House Cenwulf's knights would bear the Aquila of the Imperium.

Despite rejecting the Sidon Protocols of the Mechanicum the High King did strike several pacts of trade and technological exchange with the Mechanicum, and in particular with the Forge World of Lokabrenna whose own cultural roots also shared similarities with those of House Cenwulf. In exchange for new knight armors, advanced training for the Sacristans of the house and access to various technologies the Magos of Lokabrenna were granted the rights to establish a Mechanicum outpost and forge complex on the barren but mineral rich fifth planet of the system. In time this world, dubbed Ydalir, would grow into a proper Forge World Minoris under the aegis of Lokabrenna and would even become home to a garrison of God-Machines of the Legio Sirius. Of particular interest to Jarl Skjor during the negotiation of this arrangement was the technology of the Mechanicum Skitarii. For many centuries the Huscarls of the house had been necessarily few in number, forced to wear bulky and cumbersome environment suits and suffer radiation sickness and other illnesses whenever called upon to fight alongside their knight lieges on the surface of Andlang. With the assistance of the Mechanicum the house could transform their professional troops into cybernetic warriors like the Skitarii, protected and hardened against the hazardous environment of their homeworld and better equipped to fight alongside and assist their knight lords in battle. Though the adepts of the Mechanicum were loath to share their secrets the significant material wealth of the Vanyr system and the archaeotech lore held in the archives of House Cenwulf were sufficient to close the bargain. To this day the Huscarls of House Cenwulf bear many similarities to the Skitarii of the Mechanicus, often replacing upwards of fifty-percent of their bodies with cybernetics, shrouded in rad-resistant storm-coats and armed with esoteric weaponry the professional troops of House Cenwulf prowl the polluted wastes of Andlang, ever-ready to defend their homeworld and their lieges against all threats.

The coming of the Imperium also transformed the wider domains of House Cenwulf. Folkvangr and the other worlds under the aegis of the house gained their own Imperial governors and established offices of various Imperial agencies and bureaucracies including the Arbites, Administratum and Telepathica, they began to provide tithes to the Imperium and raise regiments for the Imperial Army. Millions of soldiers newly raised from the worlds of the Vanyr sector scattered to the stars, joining distant expeditionary fleets and earning glory in battle. House Cenwulf itself committed over seventy knights, the bulk of the existing strength of the house to the 113^th Expeditionary Fleet alone. As new knight armors arrived from the Mechanicum of Lokabrenna yet more nobles would take ship and join the Great Crusade, serving with more than two dozen Expeditionary Fleets, fighting alongside seven different space marine legions and several different Titan Legios and Imperial Knigth households. For the next century House Cenwulf's nobles would earn great glory and renown across scores of battlefields.

Many of those who fought alongside House Cenwulf prized the nobles of Andlang for their discipline and coordination, much appreciating their willingness to forego personal glory to achieve wider battlefield objectives and follow orders thoroughly and precisely. In particular the Iron Warriors and Iron Hands legions both approved of and sought the continued support of House Cenwulf after serving alongside its nobles, however the scions of Andlang did not share this sentiment, viewing the cold and ruthless calculus of both legions with great disapproval. After one particularly disastrous campaign House Cenwulf nearly came into direct conflict with several companies of World Eaters. Only the intervention of the Expeditionary Fleet command and the immediate reassignment of House Cenwulf's forces prevented a brutal civil conflict from occurring. Jarl Skjor Cenwulf would eventually take to the stars himself and led his warriors in glorious campaigns for several decades before receiving unexpected orders from the Warmaster Horus in early 005.M41, ordering the house to return to Andlang and muster in strength for a deployment to another campaign. Though the orders were strange the High King of House Cenwulf had little reason to doubt or suspect the word of the Emperor's favored son and so the orders were followed. Within a matter of months much of House Cenwulf's strength had returned to Andlang, mustering at Jotunheim in preparation for receiving their new orders.

The Horus Heresy 
 

As the unofficial capitol of the Vanyr sector the world of Andlang was used to musters of forces. Jotunheim in particular was one of the few places on the planet where large forces could be gathered without exposure to the toxic lowlands. The convergence of the spur on which Jotunheim was built with the northern and southern expanses of the eastern mountain range provided a stretch of relatively flat plateau several kilometers across. This area had only grown over the years as House Cenwulf expanded and flattened the surrounding area to create an open field for tournaments, musters and demonstrations. Following Warmaster Horus' orders the bulk of House Cenwulf gathered for review before Jotunheim. Nearly two hundred knights, four hundred and sixty armigers, sixty-thousand Skitarii, forty-thousand Thrall militia and hundreds of Ironstrider, Onager and Sentinel walkers made up the forces of House Cenwulf. In addition to these forces five thousand Skitarii, battle-servitors and Cybernetica automata had been committed to the muster by the Mechanicum of Ydalir and a further thirty-thousand freshly raised Imperial Army soldiers from Folkvangr, as well as some eight-thousand from other worlds in the protectorate. In total the better part of a hundred and fifty-thousand soldiers and war-machines gathered in and around Jotunheim in preparation to embark on this new campaign Horus had promised.

Even as the muster was making final preparations for departure a new fleet entered the Vanyr system and began to approach Andlang. The fleet was from the Mechanicum of Sarum and claimed to have been ordered to join the muster by the Warmaster Horus. Sarum promised to commit several maniples of Titans of the Legio Audax plus banners of vassal knights, as well as fifty-thousand Skitarii, Secutarii, Cybernetica and battle-servitors to the muster. High King Skjor, though grown old and tired, nevertheless remained every bit as cunning and cautious as he always had been. Something about the approach vectors of the Sarum fleet and the tone of the Mechanicum communications put the High King on guard, like a wolf sensing the approach of a more dangerous predator Skjor felt that something was amiss. The great gathering of the house was a stirring sight of strength but also an enormous target, gathered for parade outside the fortress of Jotunheim the great bulk of the house could be wiped out by orbital bombardment in moments. Tacitly giving the Sarum fleet permission to approach Skjor began to order lances back into the fortress while putting the hearth-fleet on high alert. The priests of Sarum must have detected the lighting of the hearth-fleet's shields for moments later all pretense was dropped and the Mechanicum fleet opened fire on their erstwhile allies. Had the traitor fleet been in close formation with the unshielded loyalists and had the household forces remained gathered in the open the ensuing destruction would likely have been total, the scions of Andlang and their fleet wiped out in a single brutal strike. Out of position and facing prepared opponents the Sarum fleet failed to achieve the devastating alpha-strike they needed and battle was joined in earnest. Outnumbered and outgunned the hearth fleet kept close formation and retreated to the far side of the planet, covered by anti-orbital weapons from the surface.

Denied a swift victory the traitors were forced to engage in a grueling and lengthy campaign of conquest and suppression that would drag on for four long years. At first, aided by maniples of Battle-Titans of the Legio Audax and several companies of World Eaters the armies of the traitors proved brutally effective, tearing down several fortresses, scattering the warriors of House Cenwulf and savaging the loyalist domains. Folkvangr burned, Ydalir was besieged and many outposts and settlements throughout the system were slaughtered and destroyed. In time through reinforcements to the enemy dried up, whatever wider campaigns were going on denied the enemy fresh troops. The hundreds of thousands of conscripted cultists died at a brutally swift pace, many succumbing to the harsh environments or native predators of the worlds of the Vanyr system even without the help of the guns and blades of House Cenwulf. The Titans and Knights of the Legio Audax were outnumbered by the banners of House Cenwulf and unfamiliar with the conditions. The corrosive rains and toxic fogs of the lowlands played havoc on the systems and senses of the traitors while the warriors of Andlang were in their element. Eventually, and at great cost, the traitors were driven from Andlang, then Folkvangr and finally Ydalir, the last few enemy ships escaping into the warp, hounded all the way by the vengeful survivors of the household Hearth fleet. Though victorious the forces of House Cenwulf were battered and much depleted. Around seventy-five knight armors and a little over a hundred armigers still functioned. Tens of thousands of Huscarls had died in addition to several hundred thousand Thrall militia. The forces of Folkvangr and Ydalir had fared even worse, both worlds savaged almost to ruin by the traitors. The World Eaters in particular had taken great delight carving their way through the agri-communities of Folkvangr, leaving nothing larger than a worm living. Millions had perished and with much of the crops of Folkvangr burned food supplies were dwindling quickly. It would take years for House Cenwulf and its domains to lick their wounds and regain their strength. For the time being House Cenwulf would bar the gates and nurse its wounds, preparing for the next enemy to arrive.

For the next five years though nothing of consequence happened. No further enemies arrived, only the occasional refugee ship fleeing distant massacres. As before House Cenwulf took in those they could and continued to rebuild and repair, watching the stars for signs of danger. Eventually, in 014.M31 ships of the Ultramarines Legion translated into the system, prepared to reconquer the worlds of the sector in the name of the Emperor. Instead they found themselves confronted by the ramshackle fleet of House Cenwulf demanding to know their allegiance and intentions. The Ultramarines quickly realized the enemy was long gone but that House Cenwulf had not learned of what had happened to the Emperor. It was with heavy heart that the envoys of the thirteenth legion relayed the news that Horus had fallen but that the Emperor had been grievously wounded and interned permanently into the life-sustaining mechanisms of the Golden Throne. Horrified the nobles of House Cenwulf, already possessed of a dour and grim demeanor, grew even more horribly withdrawn and fatalistic. To the shock of the Ultramarines the nobles struck the proud aquila's from their armor and repainted them as skeletal birds of death. Though the sons of Guilliman thought this act distasteful they were wise enough not to make a point of it. Instead they welcomed the aid of Andlang's grim warriors and departed the Vanyr system with ships of House Cenwulf in tow, packed with lances of knights and regiments of vengeful soldiers.

Jarl Skjor Cenwulf had died early in the campaign against the Dark Mechanicum invaders but his son Beirand had risen to take command and led the warriors of House Cenwulf in the campaigns of the Scouring for over a century before he finally fell fighting the traitors of the Iron Warriors on a barren and unnamed rock not far from the Cadian Gate. His younger brother Ulrich succeeded him as Jarl and led the surviving knights of House Cenwulf back to their home and focused instead on rebuilding, leaving the remaining campaigns of the scouring to others. Even with fresh knight armors coming out of the forges as quickly as possible the numbers of House Cenwulf's knights has rarely significantly surpassed one hundred in the last ten thousand years, never again has the house achieved the strength it possessed at the height of the Great Crusade.

Organization

House Cenwulf stands out among the ranks of the Imperial aligned knightly houses in the size and organization of it's combat support element. Mechanicus aligned houses commonly deploy alongside integrated support elements of the Adeptus Mechanicus and Skitarii, and even the Adeptus Titanicus. Imperial aligned houses however rarely serve with other military forces ordered into a single integrated chain-of-command. Thus House Cenwulf is unusual in that the house raises and deploys its own support troops and auxiliaries under the sole aegis of the house without recourse to external allied Imperial military divisions. Like all households the core strength of the house are the Knight Titans themselves, some ninety-four functioning armors and nearly two hundred armigers as of 997.M41. In addition to this strength are the ranks of the Huscarls, elite, heavily armed and highly augmented troops similar in form and function to the Skitarii of the Mechanicus, or the Secutarii of the Titanicus, and sharing many technologies with their martian counterparts.

The military strength of House Cenwulf mirrors some of the ancient militant orders of Terra that served as the basis of the culture of many Imperial Knight Houses, though modified through the particular Nordyc influences of Andlang's own warrior society. The Knight Titans of the house are the mounted and armored knight lords, the smaller Armigers serve as the squires to the knights. The ranks of the Thralls are bonded militia, the Huscarls serve as semi-professional men-at-arms, and the Huscarl Lancers act as mounted sergeants or yeomen. In this way the military strength of House Cenwulf incorporates a variety of supporting elements capable of backing up the mobile knights with infantry, outriders and rapid-reaction forces all equipped and deployed to complement the fighting style and capabilities of the nobility.

The Nobility

The greatest military strength of the house are of course it's precious knight suits. Numbering ninety-four functional Knight Titans and twice as many Armigers as of this writing. The strength of House Cenwulf stands around the average for an individual Knight House of the Tertius grade but on the low end for the strength of a Knight World, many of which feature several houses of similar size. This relatively limited number of Knight suits compared to some houses is one of the reasons for House Cenwulf's tradition of employing supplementary household forces that augment and enhance it's fighting strength to something capable of matching the strength-at-arms of of a much larger knight house. While the barbaric appearance and culture of House Cenwulf would suggest an obsession with close combat similar to their allies in the Space Wolves Chapter this could not be further from the truth. In reality the nobles of House Cenwulf favor victory through superior firepower. It is little surprise then that the house deploys a considerable number of Crusader-pattern Questoris Knights supplementing the standard core of Paladin and Errant pattern machines. Likewise relatively few Gallant-pattern knight armors serve the house, a mere five at last count. The rest of the Knight armors of the house are an eclectic mix of patterns and chassis including a single example each of the Atropos, Styrix and Mageara patterns, relics of the Great Crusade one and all, as well as a handful of rare Cerastus and one precious Acastus pattern Knight Titan. The nobles of House Cenwulf pride themselves on the variety and rarity of the house's knight armors and go to great lengths to secure and protect their steeds, even when all-but-destroyed in battle. Several bitter conflicts have emerged as a result of the house salvaging ruined Knights from various battlefields, the former owners, or puritanical Mechanicus elements, objecting to the house's claims of war-geld. Yet if conflict is the price for securing and maintaining the knight armors necessary for the preservation of the house then it is a price the lords of Andlang are happy to pay.

The nobles themselves are organized into four broad ranks. The lowest are the Hirdmen, the non-combat nobles of the house and the lesser nobles who serve in the ranks of the Armigers. Technically this term is a more ancient variant of the Huscarl title used to denote the household troops and has a similar meaning but the more ancient term serves as an honorific for members of the house of noble birth. The primary ranks of the nobles who have survived the Becoming and pilot the Knight Titans of the house are known as Hersir, an honorific similar to Sar, or Sir used in other Imperial Knight Houses. Above the Hersir are the Thanes, the chieftains and commanders of the house who serve in the Exalted Court, or Alpha Lance as it is known in the house. The Thanes serve directly under the Jarl, otherwise known as the High King or Seneschal to the wider Imperium. The number of Hersir in the house is directly linked to the number of combat-worthy Knight armors the house can field and shifts significantly over time. However the number of Thanes is fixed at twelve, one for each of the lesser mountain fortresses of Andlang with the Jarl commanding Jotunheim itself and serving as the thirteenth member of the Alpha Lance.

The ranks of the nobility are largely distributed among the thirteen major fortresses of Andlang though the size of each contingent varies, typically Jotunheim boasts the largest population while Vanaheim maintains a skeleton garrison. As a matter of tradition and ritual the primary Vault Transcendent of House Cenwulf is housed in the central keep of Jotunheim and is large enough to accommodate more than two hundred Knight armors at a time. Each of the twelve lesser fortresses generally houses some three to five scions martial at a time, each of which is expected to maintain a pair of Armiger squires, six to twelve Huscarl Lancers and one to two hundred Huscarl Rangers each, with the Thanes and Jarl usually fielding twice that minimum number of retainers. In situations of extreme threat the lesser fortresses can be abandoned and the strength of the house consolidated in the primary fortress of Jotunheim, making that indomitable mountain keep one of the most formidable defensive installations in the segmentum.

The Huscarls

The core strength of House Cenwulf's body of household troops are the heavily augmented Huscarl Ranger battalions. Numbering in their thousands these highly-trained soldiers are drawn from the most able and skilled natives of Andlang and are outfitted with the highest quality weapons, armor and bionics the house can afford. The replacement of limbs is practically standard and many Huscarls in time end up replacing fifty percent or more of their body-mass with artificial components, sacrifices deemed necessary to better serve the house. The standard armament of the Huscarl Rangers is the Galvanic Rifle, the considerable range and precision of these deadly weapons considered the most effective armament to supplement and support the capabilities of the Knight Titans of the House. In addition to the Galvanic Rifles the Huscarls have access to most of the weaponry standard to the tech-guard of the Mechanicus acquired through exchanges of material with the Forge World of Lokabrenna. While the Huscarls serve as a professional standing army the culture of Andlang allows for precious little weakness or cowardice and it is expected that every able-bodied native of the system be able and willing to take up arms in the defense of their home. When necessary the house can call upon several million armed Thralls, raised from the ranks of the bonded servant classes, equipped with their standard armored environment suits and armed with a mixture of las and auto weaponry the citizen levies of Andlang and her sister planets number in the tens of millions, a formidable fighting force that has repelled more than a few attacks on the system over the last ten thousand years. Squad command within the ranks of the Huscarls falls to Alphas, a title derived from a rare similarity in the naming conventions of the Mechanicum and the traditions of House Cenwulf which, throughout it's history, granted battlefield leaders the title of Alpha. The designation of Alpha also applies to the commanders of walker squadrons, Knight Lances and Thrall militia formations and the Exalted Court of House Cenwulf even bears the title of Alpha Lance.

In addition to the ranks of the Huscarl Rangers are specialists known as Lancers, Dragoons and Ancients, experts in mechanized warfare drawn from the wider ranks of the household troops. The largest of the Huscarls sub-formations are the Lancers, numbering in their hundreds these are semi-professional soldiers drawn from the ranks of the Thralls and equipped with Armored Sentinel walkers. Each noble of House Cenwulf is required to maintain at least a single company of Lancers as part of the greater military strength of the house, which in terms of vehicle squadrons usually number anywhere from nine to fifteen sentinels strong. Unlike many of the Sentinels used by the Astra Militarum the Sentinels of House Cenwulf always equip a chainblade secondary weapon. Normally such implements are rare outside of the jungle-fighters of Catachan who use them to cut their way through dense jungle. Why the natives of Andlang are so keen to add a chainblade to their machines is unknown though many speculate it is an attempt to imitate the heavy-weapon and reaper chainsword equipment loadout of most questoris class knight armors, the Huscarl Lancers essentially seeking to imitate the fighting styles and equipment of their lieges.

The Dragoons are recruited from the ranks of the augmented Huscarl formations and have the distinction of taking to the field of battle astride priceless and all but irreplaceable Ironstrider war machines. Extremely fleet and agile the Ironstriders allow the house Dragoons to race across even the most broken and treacherous of terrain to close with the enemy and deliver punishing blasts of concentrated electricity from their overcharged tesla lances, or provide deadly-accurate fire support from twin-cognis lascannons or autocannons. While the Sentinels used by the lancers act as escorts and bodyguards for their knight lords the Ironstriders act as swift outriders and counter-attack formations. In total only a few hundred of these ancient, and largely irreplaceable, warmachines reside in the armories of the house, only a handful of which are likely to be deployed with the forces of the house at any given time.

The last major sub-division of the Huscarls are the Ancients. Recruited from Dragoons who have attained at least a century of distinguished service to the house the Ancients are permitted to command the fearsome power of Onager-pattern Dunecrawlers, rare and valuable machines bartered at great expense from the Adeptus Mechanicus in small numbers. On the battlefield squadrons of Onagers serve as deadly fire-support for the knight suits of their lords, the veteran crews providing pin-point heavy weapons fire against high-priority targets that might threaten their lieges. Armed primarily with the incredibly powerful Neutron Laser weapons systems the Onagers of the house are able to lay down barrages of high-intensity laser fire powerful enough to obliterate battle-tanks, or even cripple Titans with enough focused volleys. Fielded almost exclusively in squadrons of two to three machines to maximize the protective effects of the dunecrawler's overlapping emanatus force-fields the Onagers of the house are fearsome and deadly threats on the battlefield that often rival the performance and kill-tallies of the knight lords of the house. In rarer circumstances the Onagers may be equipped for other battlefield roles such as the close-ranged destruction of enemy fortifications using Eradication Beamers or anti-air fire through the deployment of specialized Icarus weapons arrays.

Those lancers who prove themselves particularly talented and those lesser nobles of the house not afforded the right to pilot one of the limited number of knight suits, are given the opportunity to serve in the ranks of the Armigers. Every noble of the house is expected to maintain at least two Armiger piloting apprentices at all times, with the Thanes and Jarl sometimes fielding twice that number. At around two hundred strong the Armigers serve both as a proving ground for promising young nobles and warriors of humble birth who may one day earn the right to marry into the house. This practice provides the house with an influx of fresh genetic material to prevent the bloodlines from becoming too inbred. A mixture of battlefield escorts and apprentices the Armigers fight alongside their liege in battle, protecting the flanks of their Knight lord and responding rapidly to any shift in the lines of battle. Sometimes Armigers may spearhead an attack, their smaller, faster frames allowing them to surge ahead to strike the enemy a crippling blow before withdrawing rapidly to strike again elsewhere, while other times they will be held in reserve, ready to surge forth to plug gaps in the battle-line or respond to emergent threats.

Sacristans

The most significant non-combat assets of the house are the Sacristans, Mechanicus trained tech-priests and engineseers who maintain the various weapons and warmachines of the house, oversee the mining and processing of Vanyr's material wealth as well as all local manufacturing outside of Ydalir. Sacristans maintain the Hearth Ships, repair the Knight suits, restore damaged weapons, manage the agri-complexes of Folkvangr, sort and evaluate all salvage through the system and negotiate all trade deals with Rogue Traders, the Adeptus Mechanicus and even material exchanges with the Space Wolves. The importance of the Sacristans to the survival and military capability of House Cenwulf cannot be overstated, without the Sacristans the Knights would not walk, the ships would not fly, the nobles would not even have anything to eat. Next to the nobles themselves none of the house's servants are held in higher regard or have more privileges than the priests of the Sacristans. For the most part the Sacristans do not take an active role in combat, however their considerable level of cybernetic augmentation and formidable personal arms and armor allow some of the more martial-minded Sacristans to take to the field of battle to conduct emergency repairs, salvage damaged mounts, or provide leadership to the Huscarl forces.

The Thralls

The vast majority of the population of Andlang live as bonded Thralls. Oathed to a life of servitude to the scions of the house the Thralls live lives that are often brutally difficult, dangerous and short. Nevertheless the stoic tenacity of the people of Andlang can perhaps be seen most clearly in the Thralls of House Cenwulf for they are to a fault stubborn, tenacious, proud and heavily armed. It is common practice for nearly every man, woman and child on Andlang to bear a weapon of some kind, be it a knife or an autogun personal armament is a high priority for even the lowly Thralls. House Cenwulf is perfectly happy to take advantage of the warlike an combative nature of the Thralls and deploy hundreds strong formations of Thrall levies as a strategic reserve during campaigns. Thousands of Thralls serve aboard the Hearth Ships or serve in the retainers of their noble lords and when necessary these forces can be put into the field with little additional preparation. The standard work uniform of the Thrall being an armored environment suit and an automatic small arm means that Thralls may be mobilized for combat without great difficulty or logistical complication. For the most part the nobles of House Cenwulf do not rely on the Thralls to undertake any serious fighting but use them as a security force and reserve, digging in and fortifying taken ground to prevent an enemy from flanking and isolating the knightly lances in the field. The Thrall militia is well suited to such tasks, especially when supported by elements from the professional Huscarl soldiery or nobles of the house Thrall forces can be relied on to hold their ground even in intense combat situations and perform roughly equivalent to Astra Militarum light infantry formations.

Often Thrall units will be formed around a senior member who will serve the role of a Sergeant and at least one member of each ten man section will be equipped with some kind of support weapon, most often a grenade launcher. These squads are then commanded by an experienced and combat hardened company officer, who usually holds the social rank of Karl and as such can afford superior personal armaments and protective devices. Sometimes, when the situation is dire and the Thralls must hold the line, or sometimes as a punishment, a scion of the house will debark their armor and take to the field as a foot knight. Armored in heavy carapace plate, protected by a potent conversion field generator and armed with deadly masterwork swords and pistols a House Cenwulf foot knight makes for an inspiring figure on the battlefield as well as an effective and deadly field commander. No proud son or daughter of Andlang would dare turn their backs on the foe in the presence of such a figure.

For the most part light infantry formations are the standard deployment model for Thrall forces fighting alongside House Cenwulf on campaign, however the garrison of Andlang itself does possess a variety of additional weapons and warmachines. Industrial vehicles may be re-purposed into effective armored personnel transports and the up-gunned walkers used by the Thralls in their salvage and mining operations across the surface can easily be put to use on the battlefield. In addition to Goliath trucks and Sentinels the Thrall forces on Andlang are equipped with dedicated battle-tanks and artillery, most of which are of local manufacture and possess legs instead of tracks. The forges of Andlang produce many walker-based systems and the tech-adepts of Ydalir are particularly famed for the production of advanced combat-walkers. Ydalir-pattern Leman Russ and Baneblade tanks all utilize six multi-jointed legs for mobility. Though this typically makes them slightly slower than typical vehicles of their class Ydalir-pattern battle-tanks are better able to negotiate urban terrain and hazardous environments and do not need to rely on dozer blades to clear obstacles. On Andlang such technologies are particularly useful given the rough ground upon which they will likely need to fight and thus the Thrall militia possesses dozens of such tanks housed in militia forts across the major fortresses of Andlang. Though rare it has been known for House Cenwulf to field a small number of such armored units with supporting Thrall elements on campaigns, particularly extended deployments far from wider Imperial support. In such cases squadrons of Ydalir-pattern Leman Russ tanks have proven highly effective weapons, capable of laying down punishing light-artillery barrages in support of the household's primary fighting forces.

On Andlang the vast majority of defensive works and installations are garrisoned by Thralls. Though highly trained and heavily armed the professional troops of the house, the Huscarls, are relatively few in number compared to the wider population. Even the Karl's are significantly outnumbered by the ranks of the Thralls and their relatively higher economic and technical importance relieves the Karls from most military responsibilities though they, like all the natives of Andlang, remain heavily armed and willing to fight in defense of their home. Every year a portion of the Thrall population is called up by lottery to serve in the active militia levies and will spend their term of service assigned to a posting somewhere on the surface or aboard one of the house vessels. This posting may be to a remote communications-outpost atop a distant mountain peak with a garrison of no more than a dozen souls or to the defense stations of Jotunheim's curtain wall where levy barracks houses are home to several thousand Thralls at any given time. In times of war a sizable portion of the population may also be called up to service, giving the house an armed planetary defense force numbering in the millions.

The Fleet

The next most significant support element of the house is it's fleet. The Hearth Ships of House Cenwulf are converted Avenger-class Grand Cruisers, retrofitted thousands of years ago from vessels no longer considered suitable for main-line navy fleets and consigned to reserve and patrol duties. Over time the lords of House Cenwulf acquired five such reserve ships from the Segmentum Obscurus battlefleet at considerable cost, and modified them to serve as the principal transport vessels for household warbands. The considerable short-ranged armaments and shields of the Avenger-class allow the Hearth Ships to smash their way through enemy battle-lines to the high-orbit anchorages necessary for deploying the house's forces. Similarly the sizable launch bays are well-suited to the massive drop-ships needed to deploy the super-heavy Imperial Knight walkers. Even the vast ventral cargo bays of the Avenger-class made it relatively easy for the Sacristans of the house to modify the lower decks of the ship to house and launch the massive drop keeps used for rapid insertion of household forces. Household Thralls and Huscarls serve as the crews of the Hearth ships as well as bonded Astropaths and ten Navigators, one primary and one secondary for each of the capitol ships. Few escort craft are maintained by the house which prefers to rely on the Imperial Navy or other branches of the Imperium's forces to provide support for the slow but powerful Hearth ships. This is because the house fleet is not designed or intended to engage in and win void battles, it's sole purpose is to deliver the ground-forces of the house into an active warzone and withdraw to a safe distance until required for extraction. In the absence of the Hearth Ships defense of the Vanyr system falls to a moderate fleet of defense monitors that relentlessly patrol the system.

The Telepathica

Two dozen soul-bound psykers of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica are kept housed within the forbidding black citadel of the southernmost mountain fortress of Vanaheim. From the earliest days of House Cenwulf the fotress of Vanaheim held the wyrd-tainted, those addled or mystical individuals culled from the population who during Old Night manifested psychic powers. During Old Night the superstitious nobles of House Cenwulf routinely purged the wyrd-touched of the population, removing them to Vanaheim to be contained, purified and executed before they could present a risk to the wider population. Following the coming of the Imperium the dark cells and blood-stained halls of Vanaheim became the dark abode of the bonded psykers seconded to House Cenwulf to ensure it could remain in contact with the wider Imperium. One of the few locations on Andlang given over for the use of another Imperial adeptus the fortress of Vanaheim is forbidden to all but the highest-ranked nobles and sacristans of the house, guarded exclusively by the black-clad vigilators of the Astra Telepathica, replete with it's own imported servants, servitors, scribes, tech-priests and everything else necessary for the provision, protection and potential extermination of the dangerous psykers housed within.

Colors and Iconography

Many Imperial Knight houses choose heraldry that is bold and colorful. The panoply of a knight house proudly and clearly displays the history and identity of the house, the noble pilot and the knight armor itself. Rarely, if ever, are you likely to find an Imperial Knight whose armor has been camouflaged and it's heraldry shrouded. House Cenwulf is certainly very proud in its heraldry and history but the traditional armor colors and markings used by the house are considerably more subdued than would normally be expected. Granite-gray and black are the standard armor colors of House Cenwulf. Typically the edging of armor plates is made of darkened brass. White, red and yellow are used to depict runes and the heraldry of each individual knight on the front-right shoulder-plate of each Knight and Armiger. Apart from a generally subdued pallet of colors House Cenwulf stands out as unusual in a few minor ways, the first is that the Imperial eagle depicted on shin and shoulder plates is styled as a skeleton, not a proud angular eagle. House historians believe this heraldry was first utilized after the Horus Heresy when news of the Emperor's fall had reached the Segmentum Obscurus and that it stylistically represents the death of the Emperor's dreams for mankind. The second is that House Cenwulf Knights typically avoid the use of banners outside of all but the most ceremonial of circumstances, the surface of Andlang is hostile to most fabrics and the regular use of banners would require their replacement after nearly every deployment, something generally considered wasteful and conceited to the nobles of House Cenwulf.

The third and most significant difference is that House Cenwulf utilizes unique wolf-headed Knight Helms across all chassis and platforms instead of the usual bare mechanical skull or the typical plate-armor helms. It is believed that these wolf helmets were gifts from the Space Wolves to honor the alliance between House Cenwulf and the VI Legion. Apart from giving the knights of the house a sinister and lupine appearance the house claims the helms incorporate advanced sensor technology and networked auspex systems. Some houses on less than friendly terms with the scions of Andlang believe these claims are false posturing but such technology would explain House Cenwulf's notably superior accuracy ratings and target-detection speeds in recorded deployments alongside forces from other knight households.

Combat Doctrines

“Victory through superior firepower.”

-House motto.

The predominant combat strategy of House Cenwulf can be defined as victory through superior firepower, an ancient dogma common to a number of the Imperium's military organizations. It should not therefore be a surprise that House Cenwulf heavily favors the firepower of the Crusader and Castellan patterns of Knights and the Armiger Helverin and possesses a disproportionately higher number of these patterns among its arsenal. In battle the lances of House Cenwulf will be flanked by squadrons of Sentinel outriders, a scouting vanguard of Sentinels and Sydonian Dragoons, and reserve fire-support in the form of Ballistarii, Onagers and Huscarl Ranger squads. Compared to the usual blunt hammer of Knight Lances from houses like Taranis or Cadmus the larger and better supported formations of House Cenwulf do not need to rely on other Imperial formations to provide support nearly as much and are better able to react and respond to changing battlefield conditions. It is not uncommon for House Cenwulf Knight Lances to take point and soak-up the majority of the enemy fire while their Huscarl support is almost entirely ignored. Alternately the lighter formations may be used as an expendable vanguard to entangle enemy forces and lure out larger prey for the Knights of the house to engage.

Even in honor duels nobles of House Cenwulf are more likely to bring down their foe with precision firepower than try to engage in close quarters. Many indignant nobles of other houses have requested duels only to find their opponents unwilling to engage in the cut and thrust of reaper chainblades and instead choosing to simply shoot the legs out from under them with highly-accurate barrages of bolts, shells or thermal energy. Any noble who continues to be affronted however is given a simple choice, yield or be destroyed, it is difficult even for Imperial Knight nobles to remain defiant when staring down the barrel of a Thermal Cannon through the armorcrys window of their cockpit hatch. It has long been a tradition for the Knights of House Cenwulf to hang the faceplates of their defeated enemies as trophies from the armor of their own knight suits. Most veteran Scions of the house bear several faceplates hanging from the waist of their knight armor while more veteran nobles may possess half a dozen or more trophies bolted to their chassis.

In addition to its Huscarls it is not uncommon for House Cenwulf to deploy thousands of Thrall militia. Equipped with armored hazardous environment suits, autoguns and grenade launchers these formations act as additional light infantry support, holding ground taken by House Cenwulf and scouring ruins for enemy snipers, sappers or ambushers in the wake of the knights advance. From time to time these elements may even be supplemented by regiments of Imperial Guard conscripted from Folkvangr or one of the other worlds of House Cenwulf's protectorate or elements of Skitarii, Cybernetica or Battle-Servitors from Ydalir. In times of dire need House Cenwulf may even call on the support of God-Machines of the Legio Sirius from their fortress garrison on Ydalir or call on the aid of the Space Wolves Chapter itself. On more than a few occasions battle-forces of House Cenwulf have been accompanied by a Strike Cruiser in the storm-gray of the Sons of Russ. This predilection for deploying auxiliary forces and calling on the aid of allied military factions means that any given deployment of House Cenwulf can vary greatly in size even if the number of knight armors themselves remains constant.

During the recent deployment to Vigilus following the opening of the Great Rift the forces of House Cenwulf and their allies numbered thirty-one knights, sixty-three Armigers, three-thousand five hundred Huscarls, twenty-thousand Thrall militia, four thousand Folkvangr Light Infantry, two thousand Skitarii, Cybernetica and Battle-Servitors, three Warhound-Class Scout Titans and an entire Great Company of Space Wolves. Two Grand Cruisers of the Hearth Fleet, a Mechanicus Cruiser, and an Astartes Battle Cruiser along with over a dozen escort craft made up the fleet elements transporting these forces. While far from the largest forces drawn to Vigilus the armies rallied under the banner of House Cenwulf proved highly effective and highly coordinated throughout the chaotic and brutal campaign.

Political Relations

Like all Imperial Knight Houses the nobles of Andlang are fiercely independent, and stubborn to a fault. That does not mean that House Cenwulf has not formed alliances with other military orders within the wider Imperium over the centuries. The first and foremost ally of the house are the Space Wolves, who first formalized pacts of mutual support and fellowship with the house during the Great Crusade. The similar cultures of Fenris and Andlang led to a fast friendship between the two military orders, a friendship that has endured for thousands of years. It is believed by some that one of the reasons the Space Wolves are still able to field so many Dreadnoughts, far more than even other first founding chapters, is in some part thanks to the technical expertise and archaeotech lore of House Cenwulf.

Only slightly less formidable allies than the Space Wolves are Mechanicus of Lokabrenna and the God-Engines of the Legio Sirius, who formed a close fellowship with House Cenwulf around the same time as the VI Legion. Much like the Space Wolves the nobles of House Cenwulf and the Princeps and Moderati of the Legio Sirius shared markedly similar cultures, languages and traditions. It wasn't long before lances of House Cenwulf Knight Titans saw extended secondment to Legio Sirius Titan Maniples. Before the end of the Great Crusade the vassal Forge World Minoris of Ydalir was granted a garrison of Titans from the Legio Sirius. The Legio established a fortress keep on Ydalir known as the Ironwolf Bastion and has maintained one to two maniples of Titans there ever since. In M36 Ydalir was granted the rights to possess a copy of the Mars-Pattern Warhound Titan construction schematics and begin production of God-Engines for the Legio Titanicus. Since then most of the engines created have gone to the Legio Sirius and many now serve in the Ironwolf Bastion's garrison. It is not uncommon for the Legio Sirius to dispatch a single Warhound Titan squadron with battle-forces of House Cenwulf to support their allies and earn their new Titans and their crews experience in combat alongside reliable and trustworthy allies who will gladly ensure the safety and success of the new Titans.

Less formal friendships exist between House Cenwulf and other Imperial agencies and military orders but the informal nature of these relationships prevents easy categorization or confirmation. It is believed the house has formed bonds with the nobles of House Skandos, Red Wolves and the newly formed Wolfspear chapters, as well as close ties to a number of Astra Militarum regiments from the worlds of Armageddon and Valhalla, friendships which seems to be based on a mutual hatred of the ork xenos. A few ancient records suggest House Cenwulf made overtures of friendship with House Ærthegn during the later days of the Great Crusade but quickly abandoned the attempt after discovering the general lack of honor and piratical practices of the house. It is also known that several members of House Hawkshroud maintain friendships with nobles of House Cenwulf and both forces have fought alongside the Space Wolves in several recent campaigns.

Household Domains

Andlang – Homeworld of House Cenwulf

To call the homeworld of House Cenwulf inhospitable is a gross understatement. Whatever ancient conflict wiped out the former xenos inhabitants left the second planet of the Vanyr system scarred by radioactive blast craters, it's few lakes and oceans transformed into a toxic sludge. Poisonous gasses drift across the lowlands gathering in clouds that pour acid rain on the slopes or gathering in corrosive fogs that can blanket the plains and valleys for weeks at a time. If simply breathing the air does not kill you there are plenty of native predators up to the challenge of finishing the job. The most common beasts hunted and culled by the house are the Rust-Wyrms, vicious pack-hunters that can grow to be some five-feet wide and up to thirty-feet long with diamond-hard fangs and mandibles able to chew through ceramite and enable the creatures to dig vast networks of burrows through the dense rock of the mountains. Crag-spiders infest the countless caves that worm through the high cliffs, with legs up to three-meters long and a venomous bite capable of killing a full-grown grox in moments these arachnids are solitary ambush hunters that prey on small salvage parties as they return from their work laden with recovered salvage. More than a few work crews have dumped their precious loads and fled at the first sign of a spider attack, valuing their lives more than their pay. Those who choose to fight must work to hem the creatures in with volleys of shot and las, driving the spiders into a spot where a good las or plasma cannon shot to the head or torso can put them down. Such kills are celebrated but rare for many who choose to stand and fight never return.

Like countless worlds across the Imperium the deadly ambull has also become a well-entrenched threat to the inhabitants. When or how these creatures made it to Andlang is unknown, however their numbers have never risen to become a serious threat. With fearsome competition against the other native predators the population of ambulls has long remained low and it is rare indeed that the nobles are given cause to track down and burn out a troublesome nest of the creatures.

Perhaps the deadliest and mightiest of the native predators of Andlang are the rock-drakes. The name fails to convey the savage majesty or sheer lethality of these monsters. Easily growing to a size comparable to a Questoris-class knight in size with a wing-span many times wider, equipped with fangs two-feet long and hard enough to crush steel the creatures are formidable opponents even for the knight-scions of House Cenwulf and are a prime target for beast hunts. The rock-drakes take their name from their chameleon-like outer-scales that can shift in color subtly to match the dark browns, grays and reds of the cliffs and mountain-spurs from which they lay in wait for prey to pass by. Should a rock-drake choose to take to the sky in search of food it's underbelly is similarly adapted to the colors of the sky, the lighter-tans and sickly yellows of Andlang's poisoned clouds matched perfectly by the softer leathery underbellies of the drakes. Many hunters falsely believe the rock-drake's claws and fangs to be its deadliest weapons but these pale in comparison to the potency of the creature's spit. The stomach of the rock-drakes is adapted to filter out the poisons of Andlang's water and the spoiled meat of its prey, siphoning these chemicals and contaminants off into a secondary stomach which can then expel its contents as a ball of deadly vomit. Such ejections of bile have been known to eat through the armor of a knight and can render an armored human down into soup in moments.

Legends tell of one particular beast-hunt undertaken centuries before the coming of the Imperium where a lance of young knights chanced upon a feeding rock-drake that was easily twice the size of a Knight. The foolhardy young warriors rushed to engage the beast only to be taken aback when it launched into onto one of the knights, bearing it to the ground in its talons before rising into the air with furious beats of its massive wings. To the shock of the young knights the stricken warrior was lifted into the air and carried off. Hours later the knights found their comrade wedged between the spurs of a cliff some leagues away, his reaper chainsword wet with the creature's blood. The young hunter had survived the fall, if only just, and claimed he managed to strike and wound the legs of the beast enough for it to drop him after which it flew away never to be seen again. To this day there are those who doubt the story but the Vault Transcendent of House Cenwulf still houses an ancient Questoris knight armor damaged beyond repair, bearing exceptionally large claw wounds across it's armor and whose limbs and chassis were crushed after falling from a great height.

Despite the native hazards and deadly predators Andlang is home to a population of around one hundred and seventy million, relatively large for an Imperial Knight world but precious few for a major industrialized world of the Imperium. Some of that number is scattered across dozens of outposts, factorums, depots, refineries and air-docks scattered across the mountain ranges but the majority of the population is concentrated in the thirteen mountaintop fortresses. Located across the eastern and western mountain chains known as the Sköll and the Hati ranges the fortresses are all built on and around the colossal adamantium carcasses of ancient starships, the first and greatest of which was the great colony-ark that bore the name Andlang and that became the foundation of the capitol fortress of Jotunheim. From orbit the original profiles of some of the ships can still be seen in the outline of the defense walls of the inner baileys of each fortress and it is even believed that some of the defense turrets of those fortresses may have been the original weapons of those vessels, still visible despite centuries of later construction. Unlike the haphazard agglomerations of most Imperial cities the fortresses of Andlang were built purely for defense, sight-lines, gun towers, landing pads and transit-ways take precedence over all other concerns. All construction has to be approved of by the senior Sacristans and Huscarl Alphas to ensure nothing impedes the functionality and strength of the defenses. The heart of each fortress is the house spire, the great bastion towers at the heart of the cities that house the warriors and servants of House Cenwulf. At least one lance of Knight Titans, scores of lesser warmachines and several hundred Huscarl infantry garrison each of the thirteen house spires, in addition to the semi-regular formations of Thrall militia who man the bulk of the outermost defenses. Adjacent or nearby each tower are the great sky-docks where the drakkars and void-craft of the house are stored, maintained and launched. Hundreds of vessels of all sizes can be found in these docks with the largest capable of transporting whole lances of Knight Titans and the smallest barely large enough for a single human adult.

While permanent settlements in the lowlands are impossible due to the extreme hazards they do play host to scores of mobile industrial crawlers at any given time. These ramshackle vehicles stalk across the surface of the planet on multiple insectile limbs that allow them to traverse the broken and treacherous terrain. Each crawler houses anywhere from a few dozen to upwards of a thousand workers, crew, engineers, cooks, medicae, vox operators and militia. In claustrophobic hangars built within each crawler are the work vehicles necessary for digging out and recovering the precious salvage each crew desperately seeks. Fully enclosed sentinel-loaders with manipulator claws and lascutters make up the bulk of these industrial machines but they are often backed up by tracked digger and tunneling machines, magnetic cranes and cargo haulers. The work is difficult and dangerous with thousands of salvagers and crewmen injured or killed every year. The dangers do little to curb the enthusiasm of the salvagers with countless new recruits competing for spots on the work-crews every year. The scrap and salvage recovered from the surface of the planet has sustained House Cenwulf and the people of Andlang for thousands of years and will doubtless continue to do so for thousands more. The great ruins and fields of battlefield wreckage seem inexhaustible, each storm season seeming to reveal yet another layer of endless war remains ripe for the picking.

Jotunheim – The Throne of Giants

The largest of the thirteen fortress cities of Andlang the stronghold of Jotunheim lays atop a spur of the eastern Sköll mountain range. This spur, situated roughly in the middle of the range which runs from the northwest to the south-east, projects west out into the broken plains of the equatorial region of the planet. This central location makes Jotunheim the natural capital and primary stronghold of House Cenwulf. The house spire of Jotunheim is home to the High King, or Jarl, and his personal retainers. The largest sky-dock of Andlang is also located within the walls of Jotunheim and serves as the planet's principal starport.

Like all of the thirteen great fortresses of Andlang the original walls of the fortress were formed from the armored hull of an ancient starship deliberately scuttled on the surface. Jotunheim was the first city created in this manner and formed from the wreckage of the colony-ark Andlang, after which the planet itself was named. Over time that original outline has become almost completely obscured by thousands of years of constantly growing fortifications and expansion to accommodate a growing population. Now those original walls form the innermost ring of fortifications around the house spire at the heart of the fortress city. Two further walls encircle the fortress, crowding out across the surrounding ridges and sub-peaks, connected by great spars, bridges and enormous permacrete foundations built into and on-top of the bare rock-face foundations and looking out over man-made plateaus cut from the weathered stone of the mountains that themselves lead into the wide and winding roads that descend into the distant plains and valleys. A notable distinction between the fortifications of Andlang and those typical to most fortresses across the Imperium is that House Cenwulf's fortresses are built to accommodate the Knight Titans of the house. The battlements are wide enough for two knights to pass easily and feature shielded firing platforms that project slightly from the wall and allow a knight to fire on an attacking enemy while remaining largely sheltered from incoming fire. The stretches of wall between each of the gun towers dotting the walls are large enough and include enough firing positions for an entire lance of knights.

Inside the walls of Jotunheim the entire city-fortress is laid out to accommodate the Knights of the house. Every causeway and transit bridge, every stair and walkway is scaled to the great tread of the Knights with smaller sub-stairs and pathways reserved for lighter vehicles and pedestrians. The structures of the city are built to last, shielded from radiation, armored from attack and fitted with environmental seals to protect against the occasional toxic storm that sweeps up the mountain from the lowlands. A second curtain-wall splits the city into two and separates the outer-industrial district from the wealthier commercial inner-district. The outer district is home to the Thralls, the bonded laborer class that makes up the bulk of Andlang's population. Most Thralls live in single room habs and their food and water use are strictly rationed. The majority of Thralls live hard and brutal lives of endless toil that almost invariably result in an early death. Even so the hardy inhabitants of Andlang meet this fate with boundless stoicism and tenacity. High achievement or acts of noteworthy valor can earn a Thrall elevation to the ranks of the Karls, the wealthier artisan and scribe class that occupies the inner-district of the city. The Karl's are granted better habs, larger ration portions, better educations and much better access to medical care and augmentation. The Karl's are permitted to own property, operate businesses, serve as artisans, sculptors, scribes, artists, medicae, overseers and administrators. House Cenwulf typically leaves the governance of the Karls and the Thralls to an elected body of elders who are trusted to oversee the affairs of the common people of Andlang and free the nobles from the burden of administration. These governors maintain a professional body of law enforcers and conduct much of the business and trade with the wider galaxy under the supervision of the Sacristans of House Cenwulf. It is from the Karls that most Sacristans and Huscarls are recruited and it is through such recruitment that Karl's have an opportunity to rise into the ranks of the nobility. Senior Sacristans may earn the right to marry a lesser noble of the house, as may accomplished Armiger pilots recruited from the ranks of the Huscarls. Through merit a Thrall may become a Karl and a Karl may become a Huscarl and a Huscarl may become a Hersir.

The southern edge of the inner-district is home to the principle sky-docks of Jotunheim. Projecting out from the curtain-wall into the open-air the docking spurs and platforms project out over a massive drop of nearly a thousand feet before reaching the descending slopes of the mountains which continue down for several thousand more feet before reaching the valleys. The flanks of the docks feature massive defense batteries and shield generators that remain ever vigilant for any sign of aerial attack, the massive guns capable of tearing the largest attack craft from the sky. Beneath the vigilant gaze of defense batteries hundreds of vessels arrive and depart each day. Some coming from or going to other locations across Andlang and many more coming down from or returning to orbit.

The innermost district of Jotunheim is the household keep, the outer shell of the original colony ark encloses the principal bailey which is itself overlooked by the great spire of the house. Smaller docking facilities accommodate light transport of individual nobles and their armor while armories, workshops, barracks, kitchens and apothecary facilities house the nobles, their servants and their wargear. The central keep itself sits above the principal Vault Transcendent of the house, a massive cavern carved into the rock of the peak that possesses enough storage and maintenance bays for two hundred knights. Many of these bays house the wreckage of ancient knights, returned from distant battlefields and interred with honor. These silent and forbidding sentinels stand watch whenever the knights of the house stride to war, passing judgment on their successors as they marshal for battle.

Even though House Cenwulf effectively rules over a small stellar empire within the greater body of the Imperium, receiving tithes in exchange for military support over a dozen inhabited worlds collectively referred to in Administratum records as the Vanyr sector the world of Andlang has never officially been sanctioned as the sector capitol given that it remains an independently ruled Imperial Knight World, exempt from most bureaucratic oversight or interference. Nevertheless Andlang remains the effective administrative hub of the sector and frequently plays host to off world visitors from the worlds under House Cenwulf's protection and beyond, all coming to pay homage to their protectors, bring missives, request assistance, offer trade or attempt to curry favor. Off worlders are usually housed in the inner-district of the Karls until their business is concluded.

Vanaheim – The Ominous Peak

Situated atop the southernmost peak of the western Hati range the fortress of Vanaheim sits near the southern pole of the planet. Remote and inhospitable, even by Andlang's harsh standards, the freezing temperatures, low-oxygen and isolation of Vanaheim leave the city with the smallest population of the thirteen fortress-cities. Yet this is not what makes Vanaheim uniquely and notably inhospitable, rather that dubious honor belongs to the ominous obsidian spire of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica choir that dominates the center of the fortress. The Vanaheim choir is the Vanyr system's principle means of communication with the wider Imperium and a significant telepathic relay in the sector. The relatively few inhabitants of the city and it's dour household garrison are there purely to protect the telepathica spire and the critical resource and strategic asset the astropathic choir represents. Precious few Thralls call Vanaheim home, most service labor is provided by mind-wiped servitor automata and servo-skulls. Those mortal servants of the house who do reside in Vanaheim are mostly battle-hardened Huscarls there to garrison the outer fortress defenses. Assignment to the Vanaheim garrison is often considered a punishment within House Cenwulf and may be used to censure a noble for a particular failing or act of insubordination. Fortunately assignment to the Vanaheim garrison is only temporary, the entire complement of mortal soldiery rotated out every few years. Even the stern constitution and firm loyalty of House Cenwulf's nobles and soldiers cannot long stand such close proximity with the terrible haunt of the astropaths.

Muspelheim – The Forge Mountain

Situated in the Hati mountain range roughly opposite Jotunheim the city of Muspelheim serves as the largest concentration of forges and foundries on Andlang. Most of the war material produced on the homeworld of House Cenwulf is forged in the mills and workshops of Muspelheim whose fires are never doused. Bonded workers labor in shifts to keep the forges working twenty four hours a day, every day, endlessly. Munitions, weapons, armor plates, refined fuel, vehicle chassis and electronic components all spill from the conveyor belts of Muspelheim in a never-ending tide to feed the hungry armories of House Cenwulf. Some civilian goods are produced as well but even then most of these are destined for the industrial-crawlers working salvage runs on the lower surfaces of Andlang. Components for the crawlers themselves, munitions for their defense weaponry, replacement vehicles, tools and equipment are all shipped by drakkar grav-ships to the distant salvage engines. Muspelheim also serves as home to the largest concentration of Sacristans on Andlang, including the Sacristan Primus Eorlund Ironblood. Unsurprisingly the rarest and most esoteric of the knight armors possessed by House Cenwulf are also stationed in Muspelheim where they can be most effectively repaired and maintained. The nobles who pilot these machines are usually drawn from nobles of the house who have been partially inducted into the rites and lore of the Sacristans before attempting the Ritual of Becoming. The greatest source of pride of Muspelheim is the forging of new knight armors for the house. Limited numbers of new Imperial Knights are forged in the foundries of Muslpelheim by the most senior and experienced of the Sacristans under the direct and exacting supervision of the Sacristan Primus himself. The capability to forge their own knight armors is not unique to House Cenwulf, a number of other houses possess that capability but it is relatively rare, most houses rely entirely on the Mechanicus for new armors. Thus the forges of Muspelheim are a critically important asset to House Cenwulf and one of its greatest resources that the house will go to any length to protect.

Folkvangr – The Breadbasket of Kings

The fourth planet in the Vanyr system, Folkvangr is a minor agri-world capable of producing a variety of different grains for export as well as raising herds of grox for meat, hides, fat and bones. Technically Folkvangr is considered by the Imperium to possess limited sovereignty, ruled by a planetary Governor, possessing its own local Administratum bureau, Ecclesiarchy cathedral, and minor Arbites precinct and subject to the Imperial tithe. However by ancient right the world is claimed as part of the protectorate domains of House Cenwulf and is in reality subject to the rule of House Cenwulf. Given that Imperial Knight worlds, like the homeworlds of Space Marine Chapters, are not subject to the Imperial Tithe, ancient decree dictates that the tithes due from Folkvangr, and the other world of House Cenwulf's protectorate, to the Imperium are the rightful claim of House Cenwulf and not subject to the claim of the wider Imperium. However the production of the worlds under House Cenwulf's protection far exceed the needs of the house, therefore while House Cenwulf takes a portion of the Imperial tithe the majority is contributed to the good of the wider Imperium, including regiments of Astra Militarum and conscripts to serve aboard the warships of the Imperial Navy. The produce from Folkvangr's fields and pastures are shipped far and wide across the segmentum and feed countless billions on dozens of worlds.

The planetary Governor ultimately rules as a proxy of House Cenwulf, usually overseen by a senior adviser appointed from the ranks of House Cenwulf's nobility. Usually this adviser is a noble who has passed the Becoming and possesses their own armor as well as Armiger-equipped Hirdmenn squires and a retainer of Huscarls and Thralls. This adviser effectively serves as a garrison of the planet, serving to cull the troublesome native fauna that remains and protect the world from foreign attack. The household maintains a small keep known as Jorrvaskr located in the planetary capitol. Even though House Cenwulf typically maintains a modest garrison over their principal off world fiefdom in the Vanyr system Folkvangr also maintains a sizable planetary defense force that is notable in the number of sentinels it can field thanks to a steady supply of such war-machines from the forges of Andlang and Ydalir.

Ydalir – Forge World Minoris

First established shortly after the rediscovery of the Vanyr system by the Imperium the world of Ydalir was settled by the Magos of the Forge World Lokabrenna and remains a sub-domain of that greater Forge World to this day. Thanks in part to the ancient archaeotech archives of House Cenwulf the forges of Ydalir quickly became famed for the quality and quantity of its walker-based weapons systems. Sentinels march from the factories in their thousands every year, helping supply the Astra Militarum and planetary defense forces across the Segmentum.

The forges of Ydalir are also one of the few sources of newly manufactured Adeptus Astartes Dreadnoughts in the region. Unlike the countless Leman Russ, Chimera or Sentinel platforms that roll from the factory floors of forges and manufactorum across the Imperium the Dreadnoughts of the Space Marines rely on ancient and complex technologies that are difficult to maintain, let alone newly manufacture. To produce new Dreadnoughts requires rare and precious materials, as well as extensive knowledge. The forges of Ydalir produce a few dozen Dreadnoughts every century. These priceless engines of war are then dispatched, under heavy guard, to carefully selected Space Marine chapters active in the region, including the Space Wolves. In the thirty-seventh millennium the Magos of Ydalir acquired the rights and STC-data to produce Mars-Pattern Warhound Titans. The production of new Scout-Class God-Engines has significantly increased the native garrison of the Legio Sirius that has maintained a modest presence on Ydalir since relatively early in the Forge World's existence. The Legio Sirius operate at least three maniples of God-machines from their fortress headquarters known as the Ironwolf Bastion.

Most recently Ydalir has taken on the task of producing the new Redemptor-pattern Dreadnoughts used by Belisarius Cawl's Primaris Space Marines. Almost all of the Dreadnoughts produced so far have gone to supply existing Space Marine chapters, not the newly founded Primaris Chapters of the Indomitus Crusade.

Notable Members of House Cenwulf

Jarl Skjor Cenwulf, the Bloodied Fist

Few records remain of the High Kings of House Cenwulf before the reign of Skjor, in fact relatively little is known of Skjor himself, his rise to power or early deeds are long-lost to history. What accounts do survive depict Skjor, the Bloodied Fist, as a wise, diplomatic and visionary leader who married fearsome brutality in war with artful statesmanship. Certainly Skjor's role in steering House Cenwulf through the most war-torn and dangerous period in the Impeirum's history is testament to his qualities as a leader and an enduring legacy of his deeds. Skjor's death would mark the end of an era for House Cenwulf.

Jarl Beirand Cenwulf, the Vengeful Claw

Eldest son of Jarl Skjor Cenwulf the warrior known as the Vengeful Claw rose to rule the house in the brutal years of the Dark Mechanicum's invasion. The loss of his father and countless other warriors of the house drove Beirand to the brink of madness. Unquenchable anger drove Beirand to reject the Knight Crusader he had previously piloted and adopt a brutal Knight Gallant instead that he customized to feature a pair of Thunderstrike claws instead of the typical gauntlet and chainsword. Brutal and merciless in battle Beirand led countless devastating ambushes and suicidal counter-attacks against the enemy, his sheer savagery and recklessness taking the enemy aback and scattering them before his rage. After the defeat of the Dark Mechanicum the High King withdrew into a deep melancholy and was little seen for the next five years. Only the return of the Imperium and news of the campaigns of the Scouring roused Beirand from his depression and set him once more on the path of rage and bloodshed. Despite his own personal disregard for danger the rest of House Cenwulf's lords and Thanes managed to maintain some semblance of military discipline and prevent their lances from undertaking endless suicidal charges. Ultimately Beirand would fight for over a century in defiance of all expectation before finally falling not far from the Cadian Gate in battle against the traitors of the Iron Warriors. Beirand and his ruined armor were returned to Andlang and interred alongside the remains of his father. To this day no other noble of the house has achieved the number of gross displacement kills Jarl Beirand Cenwulf achieved, but nor have the casualty rates of House Cenwulf's lances ever been as high as they were under his rule either.

Jarl Ulrich Cenwulf, the Raven's Eye

Famed for his wisdom and patience Jarl Ulrich Cenwulf was the younger brother of Beirand the Vengeful Claw. For decades Ulrich watched his brother descend into the madness of vengeance until his ultimate demise. Determined to avoid Beirand's fate Ulrich set about restoring House Cenwulf and its domains to something approaching their former stability and prosperity. Though Ulrich's record of combat is one of the shortest of any ruler of the house following his withdrawal from the Scouring his achievements are widely recognized as having been critical to the long-term survival of the house.

Jarl Thorvald Cenwulf, the Iron Tempest, High King of House Cenwulf

The current High King of House Cenwulf and Jarl of Andlang. Thorvald was formerly the master of the Knight Crusader Lupus Rex, however the coming of the Indomitus Crusade brought a number of newly forged Dominus Knight Castellan armors to Andlang and the High King chose to take one as his new mount. Naming the machine the Canis Alpha or the First Wolf. The venerable Thorvald Cenwulf is respected and feared in equal measure as the Iron Tempest of Andlang, though in physical form Thorvald is a wizened ancient of over five hundred years Terran standard. The aged High King is kept alive only thanks to advanced life-support technologies, frequent juvenant treatments and aggressive bionic augmentation. Of particular note is the armored life-support exoskeleton that grants the elder noble a degree of mobility and protection outside of the cockpit of his knight armor. So equipped Thorvald is an imposing and lethal figure even outside the cockpit of his venerable and deadly Knight Titan.

Thane Sigurd Cenwulf, the Lightning Blade, Heir Apparent of House Cenwulf

The heir to the throne of Jotunheim is no stripling but an ancient and battle-hardened warrior of over two hundred years of age. Raised and groomed for power and command from an early age Sigurd bears the title of Thane as an honorific but does not actually serve in the Alpha Lance of the house and his carapace bears the markings of a High King in imitation of the heraldry of his father. When Sigurd eventually takes the throne he will choose a successor who will then bear the same title and markings as the traditions of the house dictate. For many decades Sigurd piloted an ancient and reliable Knight Paladin, however recently Jarl Thorvald's transition to a newly manufactured Knight Castellan has given Sigurd the opportunity to inherit and command the venerable and powerful Knight Crusader Lupus Rex, a knight armor which itself has served as the traditional mount of many High Kings over thousands of years.

Thane Borvir, Thunderblade, Ancient Kingsward of House Cenwulf

One of High King Skjor's ancient companions and a member of the Alpha Lance. Master of the Dominus Tempestas, a rare and powerful Questoris Knight Mageara suit still in use by the house to this day. Unfortunately the deeds of Borvir have mostly been lost to time but the earliest kill markings and battlefield honors of the Dominus Tempestas indicate a highly accomplished warrior who achieved a sizable number of gross-displacement engine kills, a considerable feat even for a Knight Titan.

Thane Brynjolf, the Savage Rain, Kingsward of House Cenwulf

At over three centuries old Thane Brynjolf is far from the youngest member of the house but a veritable child compared to some of his fellow Thanes and the Jarl himself. Both Brynjolf's father and grand-father served as Kingsward before him. From his youth Brynjolf was raised to serve the same role as his forebears, charged to fight alongside and protect his Jarl even at the cost of his own life. From the Throne Mechanicum of his Knight Warden the Omnes Videntes Thane Brynjolf punishes any foe foolish enough to strike at his lord with thunderous barrages of fire from his gatling cannon, rockets and flamer.

Thane Ulfric, the Crimson Wrath, Master of Judgement of House Cenwulf

Of all the dour and humorless members of House Cenwulf the infamous Thane Ulfric is easily the greatest exemplar of these traits. It came as little surprise when Ulfric was chosen to become the Master of Judgement, charged with punishing treachery, disobedience, cowardice and failure both on and off the battlefield. Ulfric's feared Knight Errant, the Vermiculus Ruinam, is a terrifyingly effective destroyer of machines and fortifications. No defense, no matter how formidable, is proof against Ulfric's deadly melta weaponry, armor piercing rockets and thunderstrike gauntlet. Even Knight Titans walk warily when in Thane Ulfric's company, careful never to draw the attention of his ruinous weaponry and fearsome skill.

Hersir Baldur, the Storm Bringer

One of the youngest warriors in the lances deployed to Vigiulus the young Baldur is a mere thirty years old, a bare child compared to the venerable veterans around him. Nevertheless Baldur has quickly proven a competent and deadly warrior in the throne of his Knight Crusader the Geminae Tempestas, or Twin Tempest. Armed with a Thermal Cannon and Avenger Gatling Cannon the young Baldur possesses the firepower of an entire squadron of battle-tanks and has reaped a fearsome toll from the enemy in every engagement.

Hersir Gulbrand, the Adamant Blade

A stolid veteran of the house the reliable and disciplined Gulbrand pilots the Knight Paladin Ardens Gladius or Ardent Sword. The paladin remains one of the most prolific mainstays of the knightly houses for it's armament is effective against infantry and armor alike, able to fight to great effect at range or in close quarters making the paladin a versatile and reliable platform that makes up the bulk of many knight lances across the galaxy. Hersir Gulbrand is a firm proponent of precision bombardment tactics and relishes in reducing the most hardened enemies to scrap with volleys of accurate battle-cannon shells before moping up any survivors with sweeps of his reaper chainsword.

Hersir Aska, the Ice Banshee

The ranks of House Cenwulf generally hold relatively few lady-knights. Most of the young noblewomen of the house who choose to undertake the Becoming are either among the most naturally skilled or psychotically violent of their number, the Lady Aska is the rare example of a young noblewoman who is both. To the surprise of absolutely no-one who knew her Aska chose to attempt the Ritual of Becoming by bonding with the Throne Mechanicum of one of the few Knights Gallant in the arsenal of the house. Also to the surprise of no-one she succeeded and has since carved out a reputation for brutal and savage violence across many bloody battlefields. Despite her general trend towards recklessness and insubordination Aska is still a daughter of a noble house and follows her orders for the most part, though she does tend to interpret her orders in ways that favor her own methods over more conventional household combat doctrine. Though some elders of the house look on Aska with disapproval her record is exemplary and many believe Aska may be a sign of changing times. With the Great Rift splitting the galaxy in twain the need for more warriors has never been greater and perhaps it is time for House Cenwulf to tap it's largely unexploited female population to swell the ranks. Only time will tell if tradition makes way for necessity.

Hersir Leif Direblade

Leif, known as the Direblade, is one of the best swordsmen in the ranks of House Cenwulf. All scions of the house train in the use of a variety of blades and guns, primarily to engage in duels of honor but also in case a noble loses their armor in battle and must fight their way back to friendly lines on foot. Leif has always excelled in such training and takes great pride in his ability, perhaps too much pride. Of all the nobles of House Cenwulf the young Leif causes the most trouble on deployment, getting into duels with fellow Knightly scions from other houses, officers from the Imperial Navy and Imperial Guard and even the occasional Rogue Trader. So problematic has his dueling become that Jarl Thorvald has increasingly been forced to punish Leif by making him serve on foot. For the last several campaigns Leif's Knight Paladin has largely remained in storage, locked down until its young pilot redeems himself enough to reclaim the armor. Though separation from his Throne Mechanicum is difficult Leif does seem to relish fighting on foot, leading formations of Thralls and Huscarls into battle with his arcane plasma pistol and master-crafted power sword at the ready, protected by a full suit of heavy carapace armor and a conversion field generator the foot-knight is a formidable adversary and has cut down all manner of foes from Ork Warbosses to Chaos Space Marine Lords.

Hirdman Braig Bloodfang

The young but talented Armiger pilot named Braig serves as an apprentice to Thane Ulfric of the Alpha Lance. Braig is believed to be the eldest grandson of Huscarl Alpha Argis, one of the most renowned and accomplished infantry commanders of the house. This is difficult to verify given that personal records on Huscarls and their families are relatively minimal and any children Argis may have had wold have to have been conceived several centuries earlier, before his level of augmentation reached the point where reproduction was no longer possible. For his part Argis refuses to confirm or deny these rumors, or even comment on them or Braig himself in any way. Whatever his family ties Braig has shown himself to be a talented Armiger pilot who may well earn his way into the nobility if he survives a few more decades of service.

Hirdman Grisvar Stormclaw

Unlike most Armiger pilots Grisvar is neither young nor aspiring to any greater station in life. For his entire life Grisvar has served Thane Ulfric and the personality of the dour and violently destructive Thane appears to have rubbed off on his squire. Grisvar lives for nothing more than to cripple the greatest enemy warmachines with the deadly anti-armor weaponry of his Armiger Warglaive. The speed, power and relatively smaller size of the Armiger suits Grisvar perfectly, his record of armor kills rivaling many young Knight Errant pilots.

Hirdman Vorstag Grimskull

One of the youngest sons of a lesser Hersir of the house Hirdmenn Vorstag is desperate to prove himself in the ranks of the Armigers. While Vorstag has several brothers and even a sister serving with the Armigers as well, none of them have performed as well as Vorstag, the reputation and future of his immediate family in the ranks of the house likely depends on his success.

Hirdman Ogmund Sunblade

Ogmund is a promising young Sacristan apprentice plucked from the initiate ranks of the Sacristans. Though a promising acolyte of the forge Ogmund's aptitude tests and neurological examinations indicated his optimal candidacy for the ranks of the Armigers. Should he prove himself as an Armiger pilot Ogmund may one day earn a place in the Throne Mechanicum of one of the precious Muspelheim Knight suits, or may choose to retire from combat and make the journey to Mars for training as Sacristan. Either future will likely see Ogmund not only outlive his brothers and sisters but likely their children, and their children's children as well.

Hirdman Eirikur Firelance

A lesser noble of the house Eirikur is the blood brother of Ingmar and a hardened veteran. The brothers have both served as squires to the High King Thorvald Cenwulf for many decades. Eventually they both hope to earn their own thrones mechanicum but for the time being are content to serve as escorts and bodyguards to the great Jarl himself and take great pride in their duty. For many years the twinned firepower of Helverin Autocannons from Eirikur and Ingmar have supported the deadly firepower of Jarl Thorvald's own Knight Crusader. More recently the brothers have watched in awe as the deadly power of the High King's new Knight Castellan has obliterated even the hardest of enemies with ease. However should an enemy manage to survive the incredible firepower of the Canis Alpha they will be met by the blistering salvos of autocannon shells from Eirikur and Ingmar's Armiger Helverins.

Hirdman Ingmar Razorhail

Brother to Hirdmenn Eirikur and squire to Jarl Thorvald Cenwulf himself the battle-hardened Ingmar is a tenacious and stubborn soul. Though he one day hopes to pilot a knight armor of his own Ingmar takes pride in his current position serving so close to the legendary Jarl of the house. Such a position affords many benefits that promotion and a distant and less glorious deployment would forfeit despite the added power of command of an actual Knight Titan instead of the lighter Armiger machine Ingmar currently pilots.

Sacristan Primus Eorlund Ironblood

Easily the oldest member of the house the exact age of Sacristan Primus Eorlund Ironblood is a mystery even to the lords of his own house. Normally quite fastidious in their lore-keeping the Forgemaster Eorlund has gone through so many transformations over more than thirteen hundred years of service to the house that identifying his exact date of birth or even his original identity before he joined the ranks of the house Sacristans is challenge that none of his house brethren have been able to decisively overcome. Even as Eorlund's origins are lost to the mists of time the mighty cyborg master of machines continues to evolve his physical form, constantly replacing and upgrading his biological and mechanical components. Currently Eorlund takes the form of a monstrous war-construct carried along on numerous reverse joined legs from an extended lower body. From under his voluminous robes dozens of mechadendrites snake about while his hunch-baked upper torso bears no less than eight arms bearing a variety of tools and weaponry including a mighty ceremonial power axe, an archaeotech molecular atomiser and a deadly arc scourge. As impressive as his physical form is Eorlund's reputation as a master of the forge is greater still. There is scarcely a weapon or machine in the entire arsenal of House Cenwulf that has not benefited from the attentions of the Sacristan Primus at one time or another, many having been restored to functionality thanks only to the peerless artifice of Eorlund. It is not uncommon to see Eorlund on the field of battle, the venerable Sacristan Primus determined to attend to his charges regardless of the danger. In truth there are few foes capable of threatening the mighty physical war-form of Eorlund's heavily augmented body which is in some ways even more formidable than the knight suits of the house.

Sacristan Dominus Lokyar Blackfist

Senior apprentice to the Sacristan Primus the veteran field mechanic Sacristan Dominus Lokyar Blackfist is a common sight on the battlefield where he faces down the most dire of threats to attend to his mechanical charges. Over the long centuries of his service Lokyar has lost most of his original physical flesh to injury and augmentation and now resembles a stoop-backed wraith more than a man, his entire lower body given over to multi-jointed metal limbs and mechadendrites while his back is hunched beneath the incredible weight of augmentations, power generators and transformers. One of Lokyar's supplementary bionic arms ends in a fearsome eradication beamer, highly useful for defending himself against nearly any foe, cutting through debris or severing damaged components for ease of replacement during battlefield repairs. Of all the Sacristans of House Cenwulf including the Primus it is Lokyar Blackfist who has the greatest mastery over shielding technology. From the Emanatus Force Fields and Ion Shields to Refractor and Conversion fields there are precious few defensive energy barrier technologies within the Imperium that Lokyar has not mastered. Lokyar's greatest work is his own custom Enhanced Conversion Field Generator, an energy screen projected from within Lokyar's own heavily augmented body that provides defensive protection equivalent to the powerful defensive fields of the astartes Storm Shields.

Sacristan Engineseer Ulfberth the Bear

Personal Sacristan artificer of Jarl Thorvald Cenwulf charged with serving the Lupus Rex. Physically Ulfberth is a large individual sheathed in segmented plates of power armor only partially concealed beneath his storm-grey robes of office. A single chunky servo-arm and relatively plain power axe serve as Ulfberth's tools of the trade and symbols of authority.

Sacristan Engineseer Arnskar Ashenbeard

Arnskar, ironically named Ashenbeard after the black rubber filtration hose that hangs down from his lower jaw, is the personal artificer to Thane Brynjolf. Arnskar's sworn duty is to maintain and serve the Vermiculus Ruinam and ensure it is every-ready to stride to war at a moments notice. Hunched of appearance and sporting a trio of slender servo-arms the venerable Arnskar is nevertheless a rather insectile and strange looking creature who seems to disturb allies of the house with his very presence. Perhaps because of his effect on outsiders Arnskar is rarely seen outside the secure armories of the house and even on the battlefield prefers to shroud himself from the view of others behind his own small army of augmented servo-automata.

Sacristan Engineseer Gunmar Steelcrow

Rigid of both bearing and personality the tall and proud Sacristan Engineseer known as Gunmar Steelcrow is the personal artificer to Thane Ulfric. It is a point of great pride for Gunmar that he serves the Kingsward and his work is at least partly responsible for the protection of the High King. Unusually among the senior field sacristans of the house Gunmar bears a more ornate axe of office and shrouds himself in meticulously clean and well-kept robes from which emerge a number of slender servo-arms and augmentations that do little to take away from Gunmar's regal bearing. When the sacristans of the house are called upon to interact with outsiders the responsibility usually falls to Gunmar who seems to revel in such opportunities to represent the forge-adepts of his house.

Lancer Alpha Brandr the Grim

One of the most senior Huscarls of the house the warrior known as Brandr the Grim is the commander of Jarl Thorvald's personal Talon lances. Expected to stride into the most desperate of battles alongside his knight lord Brandr and his warriors are the most highly trained and experienced Lancers of the house, armed with a mixture of weaponry and expected to fight just as hard as their liege. Alpha Squadron itself typically bears the awesome might of the plasma cannon, the most powerful and dangerous heavy weapon the sentinel is capable of mounting. Despite the risks Brandr views the plasma cannon as the ultimate tool of death available to his Lancers and the only weapon capable of matching the incredible destructive firepower of the house knights.

Lancer Frothar

Lancer Arnskar

Lancer Sub-Alpha Galmar

Sub-Alpha Galmar is the leader of Beta Squadron of Jarl Thorvald's personal Talon Company. Though the house has access to a wide variety of weaponry with which to arm it's sentinels Galmar favors the ubiquitous multi-laser for his squadron, preferring the high rate-of-fire over slower firing but more powerful weaponry.

Lancer Kraldar

Lancer Bolund

Lancer Sub-Alpha Fultheim

Commander of Ceti Squadron of the Jarl's own Talon Company the young firebrand Fultheim prefers to arm his squadron with autocannons, the powerful recoil and roaring shells of these weapons set Fultheim's blood running hot and fill his heart with battle-fury.

Lancer Kjeld

Lancer Hjorunn

Lancer Sub-Alpha Erikur

One of the oldest members of the Jarl's personal Talon Company the experienced Sub-Alpha Erikur favors the versatility of missile launchers, giving his squadron the option to engage a variety of targets efficiently with a single loadout.

Lancer Skuli

Lancer Helvard

Lancer Ancient Fultheim

Like all pilots of the venerable Onager Dunecrawlers in service to the house the Lancer Fultheim is an aged veteran of over two centuries of service to the house. Kept alive through suspension in a life-support amniotic tank hard-wired into the hull of the Onager the former mortal is now more akin to a hybrid of flesh and iron forged in hardship and tempered in the hell of eternal war.

Lancer Gunner Sulvar

Lancer Ancient Haeming

Pilot of the second Onager Dunecralwer in Ancient Fultheim's Squadron. Several decades younger than his commander Haeming nevertheless has nearly two centuries of service to his name and is credited with enough armor kills to make him a tank ace many times over.

Lancer Gunner Olvir

Huscarl Ancient Jorund Tyr Valbrand, the Iron Crow

The oldest and most accomplished warrior in the ranks of House Cenwulf's elite Huscarl infantry formations the Huscarl Ancient Jorund Tyr Valbrand, known as the Iron Crow, is a walking legend. It was centuries ago that Jorund underwent his initial cybernetic augmentation at the hands of the Tech-Adepts of Ydalir to become one of the enhanced Huscarl warriors of the house. With each campaign more of Jorund's old flesh is cut away and replaced with unyielding metal, it has been many years since the Huscarl Ancient passed the point of the Crux Mechanicus, becoming more machine than human and has only been further enhanced since. Outside the ranks of the nobility and the war-adepts of the Sacristans the Iron Crow is one of the few warriors trusted to lead the cohorts of the Huscarls and Thralls into battle unsupervised. Jorund has seen more campaigns than many nobles of the house and can be relied on unquestionably to command his brethren with unparalleled efficiency and competence. Many of Jorund's augmentations focus on command and control, complex suites of auxpex and data-tethers link him to his warriors and allow the immediate transfer of battlefield data and transmission of orders. When personally threatened Jorund relies on the deadly power-talons that make up his right hand and a heavy storm bolter that was gifted to him by a veteran warrior of the Space Wolves. Any foe who manages to weather his storm of shot or swipes from his claws must get past Jorund's heavy carapace armor and powerful conversion field generator to strike a wounding blow and even then the chances of hitting anything vital in Jorund's mostly mechanical frame are slim.

Huscarl Alpha Argis

One of the most senior Huscarls in the house, Argis commands over a hundred of his heavily augmented warrior brothers into battle alongside the mighty warmachines of the house.

Huscarl Sub-Alpha Drennen

Second-in-command to Alpha Argis the veteran officer Drennen is a reliable field commander and veteran of dozens of campaigns across three segmentums of the Imperium.

Huscarl Sub-Alpha Odinkar

Squad leader of one of the Huscarl units under the command of Alpha Argis, Sub-Alpha Odinkar specializes in the deployment of dangerous plasma calivers against the most heavily armored of enemy units.

Huscarl Sub-Alpha Ingjald

Squad leader of one of the Huscarl units under the command of Alpha Argis, Sub-alpha Ingjald and his squad bear a number of devastating Arc weapons to disable or destroy heavy armor units that might threaten the Knight Lords of the house but are not dangerous enough to demand the attention of the knight's own weapons.

Notable Battles

The Invasion of Waaaagh Ironklaw – 538-612.M29

One of the few well known battles from before the coming of the Imperium is the Invasion of Waaagh Ironklaw. The invasion was a conflict that would last nearly a century and saw House Cenwulf come close to annihilation. Thousands of ramshackle ork ships stumbled upon the system, smashed through what little remained of the void-born system defenses and landed millions of greenskins supported by thousands of warmachines. Initially the toxic and heavily irradiated surface of Andlang cost the greenskins countless lives but the orks proved hardy and quick to adapt. The poorly manned and all but abandoned lesser fortresses of the house were quick to fall and the orks used these mountain strongholds as shelters from the worst of the natural hazards. The clumsy and ill-suited tanks and trukks used by the orks were hastily converted into walking warmachines, killa-kans, deff-dreads and stompas by the hundreds in a crude parody of the noble war-engines of House Cenwulf. For decades the ork forces held the upper-hand, pushing the warriors of House Cenwulf ever backwards until only Jotunheim remained, and there they were halted. Hundreds of thousands of orks died trying to breach the walls of the fortress, their dead piled so high that the mounds became unstable and fell down the slopes of the mountain like an avalanche, but of corpses instead of the usual radioactive snow. So high were the ork casualties attacking Jotunheim that the entire campaign shifted in the favor of House Cenwulf. Depleted in warriors and material to an enormous extent the orks could no longer withstand the remaining knight lances of the house and were slowly driven back to their captured strongholds and exterminated.

Legends told about this conflict suggest that the campaign raged on so long the stockpiles of munitions in Jotunheim were nearly exhausted and the Knights of the house resorted to mounting their few remaining artillery shells on long metal shafts and carrying them in thunderstrike gauntlets, imitating the rather insane tankhammers of the orks. This allowed the nearly ammunition starved knights to deliver a mortal blow to even the largest ork warmachines up close and personal where energy shields wouldn't protect them. The great Road of Bones that leads up from the valleys to the gates of Jotunheim is believed to be named after the thousands of crippled ork warmachines the xenos used to build the crude iron road. In modern times the ramshackle highway has been rebuilt and reinforced with Imperial construction but underneath the permacrete road and adamantium bracing the rusted iron of ruined warmachines can still be seen.

Modern Imperial strategos believe that the hostile environment of Andlang prevented the orks from replenishing their losses. With precious little in the way of fertile ground for the spores of the orks to take root and grow the losses the greenskins took were simply unsustainable. Even so the massive initial force was almost enough to wipe out the house and only the combination of fearsome combat skill and wise tactics allowed the house to survive this terrible time of trial.

Waaagh Ironklaw stands as the first in a long series of ork invasions of Andlang that have persisted for thousands of years. Every few centuries a new onslaught will assail the Vanyr system. Some of these attacks are repelled in space, some have savaged Folkvangr or more recently Ydalir but most have targeted the homeworld of House Cenwulf. In a crude mockery of the proud panoply of the house the Orks have over-time adopted the very fighting styles and structures of the house in their own savage way. Each greenskin invasion is spearheaded by a core of heavily armored walkers largely comprising Stompas, Morkanauts and Gorkanauts, supported by formations of Killa-Kans, Deff-Dreads, and Mega-Dreads. This tendency of the orks to ape the weaponry and technology of their enemies has led to a history of enormous clashes of walkers on the surface of Andlang. Hundreds of human machines facing off against many times their number of xenos engines and very often emerging battered but victorious. The vast hordes of infantry typical of ork invasions are often absent from the more recent invasions of Andlang, the greenskins relying much more heavily on sealed armored walkers and small numbers of heavily augmented infantry known as cyborks, once again mocking the noble augmented warriors of the Huscarls.

The Tournament of Souls – 071.M37

Early in the thirty-eighth millennium the Forge World Minoris Ydalir came under mysterious attack by a deadly and merciless foe. At first the loss of outposts and mining settlements was chalked up to industrial accidents, natural disasters or internal conflict but it was not long before the first major forge settlements were suddenly going dark. Teams of investigators sent to discover what was happening were also lost until one lucky vox report, transmitted just before the sender was brutally killed, reported contact with an unknown but deadly enemy. The Mechanicus was quick to mobilize what forces it had and call upon House Cenwulf for military aid. Supported by lances of Imperial Knights and the God-Engines of the Legio Sirius the forces of the Mechanicus finally began to encounter the enemy and survive. Though the first few engagements saw heavy casualties inflicted on the forces of the Imperium the Knights of House Cenwulf were quick to react to the enemy. Closing ranks and providing a formidable front of armor and shields and overlapping fields of fire the enemy were repelled and their nature determined. The invaders were Eldar from the Craftworld of Iyanden. Swift-footed Wraithknights supported by smaller wraith constructs and swift-moving skimmer tanks and jetbikes. The enemy were fleet and deadly and had been systematically butchering the inhabitants of the planet, seemingly on a mission of extermination.

Though the Eldar Swordwind proved to be fearsome foes and inflicted far greater losses to the Imperium than it sustained it was eventually repulsed, the majority of the Iyanden warriors and constructs slain and the survivors forced to flee, whatever plans they had for Ydalir ended. The crucial juncture came when several squadrons of psychically shielded Onager Dunecrawlers armed with icarus arrays were buried beneath the black sands in a narrow valley and powered down weeks before House Cenwulf intended to move a large force through the area and lure the enemy into attacking. When the eventual ambush struck the convoy the Onagers were remotely re-activated and crawled their way out of the sand to unleash their deadly anti-air weaponry against the swift-moving Eldar vehicles. The resulting counter-ambush saw most of the xenos aircraft and skimmer-transports shot from the sky. This left the majority of the remaining xenos without support and suddenly stripped of their advantage in speed. The slow moving Wraithguard, Wraithlords and their supporting infantry were encircled and crushed. The few remaining Wraithknights who proved fast and fierce enough to break from the ambush were eventually run to ground by swift-footed Cerastus-knights and Armigers and were destroyed to the last. This ambush also saw the death of the Farseer leading the campaign and several Spiritseers providing support and leadership for the wraith-warriors. Denied leadership and the bulk of their forces the remaining enemy units quickly vanished by unknown means. Because of the odd similarity between the forces of the Eldar and the lances of House Cenwulf this conflict was somewhat comically named after the courtly tournaments common to Imperial Knight Houses.

On several occasions after this first conflict forces from Craftworld Iyanden have struck at formations from House Cenwulf entangled in conflicts across the Imperium. Seemingly possessed of no military purpose apart from exacting revenge on the warriors of the house these attacks often inflict considerable casualties before withdrawing but never without sustaining losses of their own. Why the fate-obsessed Eldar would bother repeatedly engaging Imperial forces for little, if any, gain remains a mystery.

The Storm of Blood – 888.M37

One of the less well known but brutal conflicts to be fought on Andlang was a savage invasion by a vast Khornate army during the eight-hundred and eighty eighth year of the thirty-eighth millennium. Having already scoured several nearby systems of nearly all life a massive Khornate army managed to breach the Vanyr system and made straight for Andlang, almost completely bypassing Folkvangr and Ydalir in eagerness to engage a more worthy enemy. Featuring an enormous number of Hellbrutes, Maulerfiends, Forgefiends, Decimator Engines, Defilers, Soul Grinders, Brass Scorpions, Blood Slaughterers, Kytan Daemon Engines and even great Lords of Skulls. A dizzying array of armored walkers formed the core of this warband of slaughter supported by masses of cultists fitted with environment suits and rebreather masks, as though the armies of Khorne had specially prepared to fight the warriors of House Cenwulf on their homeworld. No matter what preparation they had made the forces of Khorne proved to lack the leadership and discipline to make the most of their preparations and assets once they reached the surface.

Despite the formidable masses of armored killing-machines backed by hordes of blood-frenzied cultists the forces of the Khornate army proved relatively easy to bait, ambush and eliminate piecemeal. Fast-moving Cerastus Knights would strike at the greater mass of the chaos army and swiftly withdraw, luring the more mobile elements of the force to chase after them. Before the rest of the enemy army could catch up ambushing units of Knight Crusaders, Onagers with Neutron Lasers and lascannon armed Sentinels and Ironstriders would hit the enemy from the flanks and behind even as the Cerastus lances turned about and struck back to the fore. Time and again these systematic ambushes whittled away the greater strength of the enemy army, bleeding it of it's most deadly machines and capable warriors. When the forces of the Khornate army were sufficiently weakened the bulk of House Cenwulf was assembled into a massive formation numbering scores of Knights and hundreds of lesser machines and struck at the enemy as a single massive spear-thrust. In a three-day long battle of annihilation the forces of Khorne were wiped out to the last man.

It would be several months more before the last of the Khornate invaders were driven from Folkvangr and Ydalir. The enemy on Ydalir had mostly been contained by the armies of the Adeptus Mechanicus but had still managed to inflict some damage while on Folkvangr the loss of life had been considerably greater. Despite the best efforts of the PDF garrison the heavily armed and swift moving chaos warbands had slaughtered many-thousands of civilians before they were finally run down and destroyed.

The Humbling – 113

The campaign known as the Humbling was one of the first major military actions taken by House Cenwulf outside of the Vanry system after the opening of the Great Rift and the sundering of the Imperium. Serving with an outrider element of the Indomitus Crusade several lances of House Cenwulf Knights ventured to the galactic south-east along the edge of the Great Rift, eventually joining forces with Imperial fleets fighting on the borders of the Damocles Gulf against a variety of threats including stranded elements from the Tau Empire. Despite being cut-off from reinforcements and heavily outnumbered the Tau were still fighting on, relying heavily on their advanced weapons and superior mobility. The scions of House Cenwulf had never fought the Tau before but relished the idea of crossing wits and guns with an enemy who so heavily favored armored walkers similar to their own Knight Titans.

Clearly the Tau had fought Imperial Knights before and were quick to deploy teams of Crisis Suits armed with Fusion Blasters, heavy-rail rifle armed Broadsides and even heavier units such as Riptides and Stormsurge units to engage and destroy the Knights of House Cenwulf. For their part the nobles of Andlang were unimpressed with the efforts of the Tau. Onager Dunecrawlers equipped with Icarus Arrays and twin-Icarus Autocannons mounted to the carapaces of many of the deployed Knights made short work of the airborne battlesuits. Streams of rapid-tracking tracers, flak rockets and homing missiles blasted the xenos from the sky to scatter their broken forms on the rocks below. Heavier Stormsurge units found their firepower deflected across overlapping ion shields while Neutron Lasers and Thermal Cannons made short work of their heavy armor. The Tau had arrogantly engaged the warriors of House Cenwulf believing their mobility and advanced weapons would see them victorious but they had clearly not anticipated the sizable support elements typical of House Cenwulf's lances or the sheer weight of anti-air firepower those elements could provide. Outfought and heavily outgunned the Tau forces engaged by House Cenwulf were slaughtered. Before the campaign could continue it's purge the Indomitus Crusade forces were recalled for another push into Imperium Nihilus. Though left unfinished the humbling showed that the technology of the Tau could not make up for a lack in discipline or experience.

The Vigilus Campaign

Following the end of the Indomitus Crusade the nobles of House Cenwulf received word that a stable corridor of space between the Imperium Sanctus and the Imperium Nihilus had been discovered and that it was under serious threat. Jarl Thorvald Cenwulf immediately mobilized all available forces, rallying some thirty Knights and their supporting forces as well as conscripting regiments from Folkvangr and calling for the aid of Ydalir, the Forge World Minoris committing warriors and god-engines to the campaign. En route to Vigilus the fleet of House Cenwulf made contact with a Lost Company of Space Wolves and requested their aid in the campaign to secure Vigilus. The request was granted, adding nearly two hundred Space Marines to the forces under the general leadership of High King Thorvald. Upon arrival the forces gathered to the banner of House Cenwulf committed themselves to battle without hesitation. In a series of brutal battles against genestealer cults, ork speed freak mobs and chaos forces the warriors of House Cenwulf acquitted themselves honorably and with distinction, driving back the enemy in defeat wherever they fought. Despite their best efforts House Cenwulf could ultimately do little to alter the outcome of the war. Though the Imperial forces and the world of Vigilus itself suffered greatly in the conflict the Nachmund Gauntlet was ultimately preserved, if diminished somewhat. With the worst of the fighting over the surviving House Cenwulf units and their allies have withdrawn from the surface, preparing to set out into the Imperium Nihilus yet again in search of new foes.

The Hunt for the Abhorrent

The recent appearance of a previously unknown pattern of Knight armor among the forces of the Questoris Traitoris houses has piqued the curiosity of House Cenwulf's nobles and sacristans. Many among the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Inquisition believe these new Abhorrent-class Knights are simply warped Questoris chassis that have been twisted into new forms by their time spent in the warp. The scions of House Cenwulf disagree with this sentiment. The regularity of form among these Abhorrent-class machines has convinced the nobles of Andlang that the forces of the archenemy have discovered some long-lost Imperial Knight related STC fragment that has enabled the production of these new warmachines. Always keen to recover archaeotech lore related to any walker-based weapons technology the nobles of House Cenwulf have set themselves to the task of either recovering this lost technology or reverse-engineering it from captured enemy machines. Strike forces from House Cenwulf have made raids into the territory of House Herpetrax and to Surtr's Wake, former homeworld of the now fallen House Khymere. These missions have resulted in the capture of priceless machine-lore and a number of examples of Abhorrent-class Knights that the sacristans have already set about re-purposing into functional and pure knight armors for the use of House Cenwulf. Several formerly Abhorrent-class Knights already march among the ranks of House Cenwulf, sanctified by the efforts of the house Sacristans, aided by adepts from Ydalir and warded by the arcane rituals of the Space Wolves various priests, Rune, Wolf and Iron. So far all such restored knights have been armed as Knights Preceptor and given into the care of venerable veterans of the House and fitted with newly constructed Thrones Mechanicum. In battle these provisionally dubbed Indomitus-class Knights have proven keen and agile and earned great renown even in their relatively short service. Despite many setbacks the adepts of House Cenwulf are convinced they will eventually succeed in returning the STC of the digitigrade legged Knights and their distinct Laser Destructors to the arsenal of the Imperium.