Necromunda Noble Houses

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**Casey's Law**

What do we know about them?

I'm doing some research for some fluff i'm writing and i'm struggling to find information on any of them. All help is appreciated although i'm just looking for the cannon not speculation. I'll keep this post updated with all of the important information that we can collect:

Imperial House: Helmawr(pl. Helmawrs)
Rulers of Necromunda, located in the uppermost part of 'The Spire' in Hive Primus. It is separated from the rest of the Spire (the domain of the other six Noble Houses) by a smaller version of the Wall that divides the Spire from Hive City. House Helmawr use a hereditary system of succession and are known to have reigned over Necromunda since at least three thousand years after the Emperor was installed in the Golden Throne.
Notable Member: Imperial Commander Lord Gerontius Helmawr(Planetary Governor)
Notable Member: [Deceased] Imperial Commander Lord Arius Helmawr(Planetary Governor)
Notable Member: [Deceased] Imperial Commander Lord Marius Helmawr(Planetary Governor)
Notable Member: [Deceased] Imperial Commander Lord Tiberius Helmawr(Planetary Governor)
Notable Member: [Deceased] Imperial Commander Lord Caetrus Helmawr(Planetary Governor)
Associates: House Delaque
Associates: Lady Jena Orechiel AKA Heleana Jerico(Inquisitor and mother to Gerontius' son, Kal Jerico)
Associates: Kal Jerico(Bounty Hunter and estranged son of Gerontius)

Noble House: Greim(pl. Greim)
Notable Member: Scelerus Greim(Spyrer, artist, poet, anarchist)
Associates: Lars Polema(distant cousin and friend to 'Mad' Donna)

Noble House: Ulanti(pl. Ulantis)
The Ulantis have an exclusive Hunting Club, which one solo Orrus hoped to be allowed to join after completing his vow of ten kills (ten times the usual requirement) and returning beyond the Wall.
Notable Member: Patriarch Sylvanus Ulanti
Notable Member: Lady D’onne Astride Ge’Sylvanus Ulanti AKA 'Mad' Donna(outlaw and twelfth daughter of Sylvanus)
Notable Member: Flag-Lieutenant Hito Ulanti(second-in-command of the Lord Solar Macharius)
Notable Member: Meridia Ulanti(Malcadon Spyrer)

Noble House: Ty(pl. Tys)
Notable Member: Lord Ty(given a bed by Gerontius as a birthday present)

Noble House: Ran Lo(pl. Ran Los)
The female Spyrers of Ran Lo all wear dark lacquered braid on their body suits in the customary manner of the warrior women of their house.
Notable Member: Lord Terrak Ran Lo
Notable Member: Takarr Ran Lo(Orrus Spyrer)
Notable Member: Olaana Ran Lo(female Spyrer)
Notable Member: Aadon(seasoned hunter and shuttle pilot)

Noble House: Catallus(occasionally Cattalus)(pl. Catalli)
Once second only to House Helmawr until a Civil War divided the House. The losing faction was exiled to the Ash Wastes where they became the Nomad gangs, and are hunted by the Catallus Spyrers to this day.
Notable Member: Yolanda Catallus AKA Outlands Annie(Bounty Hunter, daughter of Lord Catallus, outlaw, and associate of Kal Jerico)

Noble House: Ko'iron(occasionally Ko'Iron)(pl. Ko’irons)
Ko’iron has a powerful female line, and in contrast to the other Patriarchal Noble Houses is led by a series of Matriarchs descended from the maternal line. Far from the most powerful Noble House, it maintains its position in the Spire from the ownership of several ramshackle Hive City manufactoria districts and a few choice off-world charters.
Notable Member: [Deceased] Matriarch Hredriea(statue outside the Matriarch's Shrine)
Notable Member: Matriarch Princess Gwentria(maternal granddaughter of Hredriea)
Notable Member: Prince Jurod the Humane(elder brother of Gwentria)
Notable Member: Lady Brassis Diene Ko’iron(daughter of Lord Hagen Orlock, current Lady Ko’iron)
Notable Member: Count Marneus Ko’iron(first son of Lord Ko’iron, betrothed to 'Mad' D’onne Ulanti)
Notable Member: Count Julius Ko’iron(brother of Count Marneus and current heir of House Ko’iron)

House: Aranthus(The Lost House)(pl. Aranthus')
Aranthus was one of the fallen Houses which vanished entirely several centuries ago in the aftermath of an unstoppable plague. It left the survivors struggling on, and they rapidly became under resourced and vulnerable to attacks of all kinds which caused a spiralling debt which led Lord Helmawr himself to dissolve all their assets and territories. The remaining, few in number, were variously dispersed to other Hives or absorbed by marriage, sanctuary or serfdom into the other Houses. Though its ancient haunts remain, the House itself entirely vanished. Many since the downfall have claimed lineage from the House, and it has remained fashionable to do so from that time to the present as a badge of uniqueness and distinction. Among Bounty Hunters and members of the Noble Houses the claim is a particularly popular one, and many of them venture to the House's ancient haunts in a pilgrimage like search for fabled remnants of the past.

Necromunda 8th(The Spiders)
A famous Imperial Guard regiment from the Necromunda hive world. They are called the "Spiders" due to the fact that the regiment's soldiers are drawn from Necromunda's Spider Clan. The Spider Clan is a powerful Necromundan gang famed throughout the Necromunda subsector for its ferocity. The Spider Clan is the dominant gang of the lower levels of Hive Palantine. For centuries they have received arms from the Imperial Governor of Necromunda in exchange for keeping rebellious gangs and other anarchic forces under control. Consequently the Spiders are officially regarded as Necromunda's own army or Planetary Defense Force. The PDF in turn forms a base for Imperial Guard regimental foundings. When the Spiders enter the ranks of the Guard, they are organized into platoons formed by a whole gang; officers are prominent individuals within Spider Clan, respected and feared by the gangers. Soldiers often have their face tattooed with an image of the Necromundan Spider, the symbol of the gang.
Notable Member: [Deceased] Colonel Raevan Mortz(Led his regiment to their death at the Battle of Deucalion to ensure the evacuation of The First Army of Warmaster Solon from planet Deucalion)
Associates: Warmaster Solon(Waited until the last moment for The Spiders to return but they didn't)

Zombie Plague(Curse of Unbelief)
The Zombie Plague is one of the many foul contagions spread by the followers of Nurgle, it is a combination of a Chaos infection and a physical malaise. The plague degenerates those it infects, although a portion of the victim's life essence is retained by the body even after physical death has occurred. The disease is a spiritual contagion as much as physical one - afflicting those lacking in utter faith. Plague zombies act like archetypal zombies - mindless, shambling and cannibalistic; they are hard to kill and generally require a traumatic blow to the head to kill them. It has been observed that some Psykers appear to be able to control the actions of the zombie hordes.
On affected worlds, a once-loyal man may survive by pledging new allegiance to the Chaos Gods. This is problematic in the extreme for any Imperial reclamations, because, as well as the zombies themselves, they are forced to fight hordes of cultists who have had plenty of time to take over the planet's defenses.
A new branch of the Inquisition, known as the Ordo Sepulturum, has been formed specifically to investigate and combat th Plague Zombie threat.
There have been numerous noted similarities between the plague and the operation of the Golden Throne. Increased study of the plague by Thorian Inquisitors have led them to believe that its study can help them understand the Emperor of Mankind's life after undeath. However, every attempt at creating a stable "faith virus" has led to mutation in the sample.
One theory among the Thorian Inquisitors is that the plague is an offshoot of the technology used to create the Golden Throne and may have been created by the Dark Mechanicus that reside within the Eye of Terror.
Associates: Karloth Valois(Rogue Psyker and Heretic, known to have been able to exert control over those afflicted with the curse)

So far most of that information has been pulled from the Lexicanum. Do you have any other information to add, have i made any mistakes?

**Grunt13**

I read some short stories about there being a lot of cut throat political intrigue in the spire. I only have a distant memory of the stories, one was centered on a ganger avenging her slaughter gang. In the story a noble trick the ganger into assassinating an anti - spryer advocate, who she believed was orchestrating the hunts; the general spirer opinion on hivers being that they were basically animals. The nobles had access to a lot of luxuries which contrast with the hivers, off world items like wooden furniture and exotic foodstuff. A Caligula level of decadence seemed common or at least that is what was displayed at the party where the assassination took place. In the story a severely wounded and battered ganger passed out in a noble’s apartment - she woke up with her injuries completely treated and old scars removed. The noble told her that when he found her, she was so damaged that her identity was obscured and he believed that the dying woman was left in his apartment was an associate of his placed there by a rival as a message. The noble then duped her into killing his political opponent.

GWS used to have free necromunda material on their site, but it looks like it was removed. One thing that I recall is that the spyrer suits are of tau origin - the tau gave/traded them to the nobles to win favor and possibly spy on them - terminology for the suit names matches the tau lexicon. Not sure if this was outright stated as fact or just implied by by the literature which was an article on the tau.

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Spyrer#.T26LulErzdk

There would be a bit more info on them in the necromunda source book, but the spire basically existed outside the game, which focused on the hive.

**Casey's Law**

Thanks for the reply, dude. That story sounds pretty cool, if you are interested you should read 'Mad' Donna's story, she is one crazy bitch!

I was aware of the class differences and the divide of The Wall but what really interested me about your reply was the Tau influence on Spyrer Hunting Rigs. I think i had seen the vaguest implication of this somewhere but i don't know where i read it.
The Tau part interests me because the story i'm writing already includes them in a very important role. I've got the Outlanders and the old, compiled hardback book as well as the new 'Underhive' rulebook. I don't have the Source Book or the other one yet but i believe they are included in the hardback so i'll have a read through all the Spyrer sections and see what i can dig up.

Thanks again!

Edit 1: Despite the Necromunda Resources being removed from the Games Workshop website i managed to access the Spyrer PDF via Google. Here is the link for anyone else who wants to access it.

Edit 2: I managed to locate the inference that Tau have something to do with the Hunting Rigs. I'd say that this is no longer canon but it's open to speculation. I think i'll make the suit i'm writing about will be of unknown origin.

Tau 1st Codex wrote:More difficult to enforce is when such technology finds its way into the hands of those in positions of authority or are difficult to trace. One example is the hunting rig of the so called 'Spyre Hunter' gangs found in the Necromunda Hive Complexes (CF: Ordo Xenos File 4353/Alien Technology/B). These aristocratic ne'er-do-wells wear armoured battlesuits said to be self sustaining, self repairing and fully capable of recording the wearer's every action. The implications of this last facility are truly horrifying. Does this information return to the Tau? Have these aliens been using these technological abominations to spy on our cities for all these years? It is imperative that these gangs be made to hand over their hunting rigs lest the Tau garner even more information concerning the Imperium.

**Grunt13**

Yep, I remember Mad Donna. I actually fielded her as a special character for a game. I retired her after she brutalized my opponents ganger; death was a gift in his case.

Other things I recall:

The zombie plague hit the spire with the rest of the hive.

In Execution Hour the first mate was a hive noble. He faced persecution from the rest of the upper level crew who viewed him as hive scum despite his being a posh noble. The fact that hivers were pressed ganged to make up the loading crews led the naval crew to treat anyone who came from a hive as subhuman.

I would consider expanding your research scope to include all hive worlds for insight into spire culture. In a Last Chancer book, the chancers had to infiltrate a hive to kill the world governor. Basically the same culture as depicted in my short story with a crazy guy in charge of everyone.

There was a necromunda magazine called Gang War, but I don’t recall them mentioning anything of note on the spyrers.

**Casey's Law**

Thanks for the reply, dude!

Haha, Mad Donna is mental, she yanked both of her fiancé's eyes out. Probably her Dads fault that she lost it though. I wouldn't want to bump into her down a dark alley or anywhere for that matter.

I just had a moment of realisation when i went to read up on the Zombie Plague and realised that it was Papa Nurgle's intervention that caused it. It seems obvious now but i had never linked the two. Silly me!

I'll do some more reading on that a bit later, thanks!

That Execution Hour story sounds quite interesting. I don't have time to read any novels sadly but i like the idea that the Noble, despite being as rich and posh as the upper level crew, was regarded as inferior because he was a hiver. I may well use that when i come to write the story.

Researching other Hives and Hive Worlds is a really good idea, as you say, a lot of the information is transferable. I'll do some research later on.

I might be able to find a PDF scan of the Gang War Magazines but i cant print them off right now so i probably wouldn't read them. :(

I'll look into the stuff you mentioned and a few things i had in mind like the Necromunda 8th and get back to you.

**Tibbsy**

The story Grunt13 mentioned is one in an anthology called "Status Deadzone" which is full of loads of Necromunda stories.

It's out of print now but I managed to pick up a copy on eBay only a few weeks ago, you may get lucky and find it somewhere. There's quite a bit of info on Spyrers, but most of the stories do take place in the Underhive.

I hope that helps, keep us all updated on what you find, I'd like to know more myself

**Casey's Law**

No time to read a novel but a collection of short stories is more than tempting!

I'll see if i can get a copy and i'll add some stuff to the OP today.

Automatically Appended Next Post:
I've added a few things now.

Found some other cool stuff like Nomad gangs from confrontation: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Confrontation#.T3G9SNnAEVV
I didn't add all of the stuff because i'm probably not going to use it. I could add a 'Suggested Reading' part to the OP if you guys would find it useful?

**Grunt13**

LostSoulCasey'sLaw wrote: I just had a moment of realisation when i went to read up on the Zombie Plague and realised that it was Papa Nurgle's intervention that caused it. It seems obvious now but i had never linked the two. Silly me! I'll do some more reading on that a bit later, thanks!

Glad the info is helpful to you.

One minor note on the Necromunda Plague Zombies; they are diseased living humans like the ones in the 28 Days movies - not “true” zombies created by the Nurgle’s Plague of Unbelief which are the animated dead. The Necrumanda zombie virus doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the warp. In a Chapter Approve a half dozen different types of zombies were introduced with origins ranging from psyker caused, brain parasites, viral, xeno technology, and, of course, warp caused. So not all zombies in 40K are products of the Nurgle or even the warp.

**Casey's Law**

Hmm, that's interesting. The lexicanum has a slightly different point of view. Here is the link. Tell me what you think.

**Grunt13**

LostSoulCasey'sLaw wrote:Hmm, that's interesting. The lexicanum has a slightly different point of view. Here is the link. Tell me what you think.

“The "Curse of Unbelief" is known to be rife in the underhives of the sprawling Hive World Necromunda.5 The Rogue Psyker and Heretic Karloth Valois is known to have been able to exert control over those afflicted with the curse.2”

Sources:
2 - Necromunda: Outlanders Rulebook
5 - White Dwarf 198

Both sources predate the Eye of Terror Campaign by a significant margin of time. It is unlikely that they would have information on the 13th Black Crusade Campaign which took place about 8 years after they were published and more than likely the plague of unbelief wasn’t even conceptualized yet. I think something might be off with the article. Also the zombie plague crisis in necromunda that washed over the hive was an old occurrence in the 40K timeline whereas the plague of unbelief is a very recent event in the 40K timeline as the 13th Black Crusade is still ongoing in present 40K time.

The zombies in necromunda are infected humans - shoot them through the heart and they drop dead; I am 99% sure of this from the necromunda novels and my own use of them in my scavy gang.

**Casey's Law**

Yeh i think you are correct, it looks like it's been put in the wrong place. is there any way to tell them?

**Grunt13**

LostSoulCasey'sLaw wrote:Yeh i think you are correct, it looks like it's been put in the wrong place. is there any way to tell them?

they have a forum:
http://forum.lexicanum.com/index.php

**Casey's Law**

Thanks for the link but i'll let them figure it out themselves rather than signing up to yet another forum.

On with the fluff!

I've collected most of what i need by this point and i've moved on to some Tau research as it will also be playing an important role. I'll probably be back to do more research soon. Thanks for all the help so far!