Broken, burned, and cast into the void; the knights of House Peregran still stand.
Their home world destroyed by foul traitors and heretics; the knights took to the stars to wage war against the enemies of the Emperor.
For though their past is gone, their future is yet unwritten.
Ch. 1: The Young Knight
The world burned around him, all he could see was fire, smoke, and death. His vision clouded, he knelt his small body and crawled along the cobblestones in the hallway from his bedroom. He had to find his mother, his father, any of the knights, someone! He stopped as he suddenly heard a new noise above the crackle of flames: Screaming and laughter. Frozen with fear, he knew not what he should do as a large figure entered his vision and began striding towards him. The figure reached out towards him and…
Ser Torwyn Peregran opened his eyes
"Another nightmare" he mused and he arose from his cot, his heart still racing from the memory of fear. They had been increasing in frequency and intensity, a side effect of the ritual of becoming perhaps? He shrugged off the near heretical thoughts and slowly pulled himself out of bed. He had stayed up far too late last evening with the other young knights of his house, toasting and drinking to their future glory. He slowly walked across his cabin and began dressing himself. He glanced around the sparse chamber looking for his boots before spotting them in the corner where he had thrown them last night. As he picked them up, he swore at the scuff marks he had forgotten to buff out. He had meant to do so last night but had decided to put it off for later, such laziness was unbecoming of a knight house scion. He glanced at the timepiece on the wall to see if he might have the time to quickly shine them and swore, it was 15 minutes past the 1st shift wake up, over an hour past when he should have awoken.
"All House personnel report to your duty stations" The loudspeaker screeched as klaxons rang out. Torwyn swore as he quickly donned his scuffed boots and threw on his black formal jacket. He rushed out the door and saw no others emerge from the neighboring cabins. He swore again, everyone else must have awoken on time and was already at the briefing. He rushed down the hallway past a cleaning servitor and several commoners running to the hydroponics wings. No time for nightmares, it was time for war.
Torwyn entered the briefing room and was immediately met with laughs and jeers from the other knights. Everyone was situated around a long wooden table with a hololith in the center.
"You finally decided to show up, how lucky for us that you decided to bless us with your presence" came a condescending voice to his right
Torwyn looked over and saw Ser Rickard smirking at him.
"You should feel blessed Rickard, otherwise we the only thing we would have to laugh at would be your facial hair" said Ser Dannel in his usual irreverent tone.
Laughter broke out amongst the various knights in the room as Rickard's face became bright red and his large well-groomed mustache quivered.
"It is not a shame for a knight to keep himself well groomed in the proper decorum that is expected of him, is that an unclean shirt at a war briefing again young Torwyn?" questioned Rickard
Torwyn scowled at him and heatedly shot back "I doubt the enemies of the emperor care how I dress; I doubt they care about anything after they end at my hand. Although it is always useful to have a pompous fool distracting my foes for me"
Raucous laughter broke out again amongst the knights with one exception who quickly put an end to it.
"That is enough" came a strong voice as High Lord Tardek Peregran arose from his chair at the head of the briefing table.
"I expect all knights of this house to arrive war briefings on time, is that clear Ser Torwyn?" The high lord glowered down at him.
"Yes, my lord" replied Torwyn as respectfully as possible.
"And I expect all knights to show respect to one another to hold their behavior as high as they do their appearance, is that clear Ser Rickard?"
Ser Rickard glanced down, abashed "Yes my lord" He replied with contrition
The high lord sat back down "Now let's begin again for our late comers" he glanced at Torwyn "…and for those not paying attention" he glanced at Rickard.
The hololith in the center of the table glowed green as the planet it showed turned and showed red circles indicating the enemy. The high lord began gesturing to the planet as he began.
"This is Kemara Prime, hive world and currently in open rebellion against our most glorious Emperor" The red shapes started to flicker and the high lord continued "we have been tasked with taking this particular hive, hive Yutan, due to the…manpower on site" The high lord allowed a small grin to grace his scarred face as the knights laughed. They knew what he was actually saying: The Imperial Guard couldn't take it and was now begging for help.
"We shall deploy in force and take back this hive. Ser Ophelia, you and your wardens shall secure the landing zone here" he pointed to an area a few kilometers outside of the city.
"At your command my lord" Ser Ophelia intoned, her augmetic eyes giving away no trace of emotion.
"Ser Roland, you shall go first into battle and lead the vanguard. I want the outer defenses destroyed before I draw a breath of air on this treasonous world" Commanded the high lord.
"It shall be done my lord" Ser Roland said seriously as ever.
"You shall be accompanied by Sers Daneel, Dolan, Kars, Rickard and Torwyn" Continued the high lord
Torwyn grimaced and inwardly groaned, the last time he had served with Ser Rickard the prancing fool had gone off on his own to directly challenge a Ork gargant and had nearly gotten himself and three other knights killed, including Torwyn. The only reason he wasn't stripped of his steed was due to him landing the killing blow on the gargant and claiming all the glory with it. Thankfully, Ser Roland was a well-known assault commander throughout the house and was unlikely to let Rickard be too much of a glory hound.
The high lord continued "The rest of us shall following standard steel fist formation, we shall breakthrough to the inner hive and allow the guard to follow us once we have broken the heretics backs, it is only proper that we let them share in the glory of victory" he concluded to the chuckles of everyone present.
"You all know your tasks, see to your steeds and prepare for war and glory, for the Emperor!" He exclaimed.
"For the Emperor!" The knights cheered back as the briefing concluded.
As the knights began to file out of the briefing room the high lord gestured to Torwyn "A moment Ser Torwyn" he said quietly. Torwyn stood silently as the room became emptied and both he and the High Lord remained. The silence in the room seemed to stretch forever becoming more tense before the High Lord started with a sigh "Torwyn, I cannot continue to tolerate your behavior. If you wish to be a knight of this house hold you must follow orders, present yourself properly, and show up on time to mission briefings."
Torwyn looked down, shamed "I understand father"
His father got up from his chair and walked over to Torwyn, placing his hands on the young man's shoulders. Torwyn looked up from his feet and into his father's eyes. His father looked old, leading the House Peregran wandering crusade ever since the destruction of their home world 15 years ago had taken its toll on him with grey hair and wrinkles accompanying the battle scars often found on a ruler of a knight house.
"My son, it falls to all of us to perform the duty of protecting the Imperium and it is not a duty we can shirk. I know that the pleasures of youth are neigh irresistible but even more than just the standard duty of a knight is expected from you as my heir" his intoned.
Torwyn started "Father I have gone into battle, met the enemy in honorable combat and came out victorious! Isn't that more important than proper decorum?" As the last words left his lips his father's gaze turned thunderous for a moment before settling into a hard stare.
"Torwyn, we are knights, we seek honor and glory yes, but we are called to a higher purpose than that. We act in proper decorum so that we may show all that we are proud to serve, that we are proud to carry out the emperors will, and that all who see us may follow our example in carrying out our emperor given duties." His father lifted his hands from Torwyn's shoulders and walked back to the hololith.
"Hopefully Ser Roland will be able to teach you that better than I have, you are to meet with him immediately to undergo drills before the mission, I expect to hear from him that you have gone above and beyond in your conduct, dismissed" the high lord finished and turned to the reports at the table.
Torwyn scowled and left the room.
As Torwyn left the briefing room he heard a chuckle to his left "The old man giving you a hard time again?"
He sighed "Like always Danni" He turned and saw his friend and squad mate Ser Dannel grinning at him. "Though I suppose he would have given me less of a hard time had someone not kept me up last night with tall tales and beer, I thought you only slept with the daughter of Raddon Prime not her cousins as well?" Torwyn questioned with a joking smile.
Dannel laughed "Oh the first few times I told the story I had to understate my success; I didn't want you getting jealous" Dannel's grim dimmed a bit "Though I would rather take only the daughter if it meant I wouldn't get paired with Roland again"
Torwyn laughed "You're only upset that he won't let you sneak off later, I'll take Roland any day over Rickard, that pompous idiot"
Dannel rolled his eyes "Ser Rickard? He will be too busy waxing his mustache to be a bother. That will leave the glory to us"
Torwyn and Dannel continued down the hallway laughing until they approached a large intricately carved wooden door. The door featured a large coat of arms depicting a deep blue falcon with emeralds for eyes. Where the house motto should have been was a mess of charred wood, burned off 15 years ago. Over the damage was an adamantine plate with the new words the High lord had chosen: vindicta nostra aeterna "Our vengeance is eternal" Torwyn whispered.
Without further hesitation, he placed his hand on the nearby scanner to confirm his identity. A chime rang from the scanner as the door began to open. Once the door fully opened, Torwyn marched inside followed by Dannel. The only had to walk a short distance before coming to a stop at a guard rail. "Now that sight is always more beautiful than any governor's daughter" said Dannel.
"Without question" Agreed Torwyn with a smile as they gazed out across the colossal chamber at Last Hearth's Vengeance and Eternal flame.
Imperial knights
Their Imperial knights