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But how did it get there?

The little I have read about Freeblades makes me picture many of them as lone, mysterious wanderers who often show up when needed. But how does a Freeblade Knight get from place to place? Wouldn't it need a space ship to travel and some sort of landing system (thunderhawk ship or something) to get it down on the planet?

Or are all Freeblades pretty much stuck on one planet?

I would think they pay cargo haulers to get between planets, but that probably costs a ton.

Free blades seem like a dumb idea, to be blunt.

Maybe they travel directly through the warp?
Telportation could be an answer as well.


It's not unreasonable to assume that the knight has a space ship, after all they have hired servants that repair their suits, they probably also can afford to buy a space ship to travel.

They travel with lots of handlers, indentured servants, loyal Sacristans, etc. How they travel has never been confirmed, bu it's assumed they hitch a ride with whomever they fought with last, pay a rogue trader, travel with any other Knightly houses from a campaign, or some may even have their own ships, capable of carrying a single Knight.

Picture a Knight, floating in the void, the thumb of it's Thunderstrike Gauntlet extended...

It's possible they work somewhat like mercenaries. If you want the services of Freebooter Arglebargle you agree to pay for his travel.

If I was an Imperial Commander with a Waaagh on my hands and a decent Freeblade was trolling about my sector I'd certainly send someone looking for him/her with a cargo ship and an open checkbook.

My two cents.

Picture a Knight, floating in the void, the thumb of it's Thunderstrike Gauntlet extended...

Brilliant

They have space horses ofc.
How else could they ride off into the sunset?

The imperial knights are actually what remains of the cybertronian race and so they just turn into a rocket ship and fly off....

While some freeblades are more bound to certain planets, the green one comes to mind, I can easily see others having resources similar to a rogue trader. These people where members of the planetary ruling class for the most part before they left their families which implies they were rich. Others are the last remaining members of their families meaning they have ALL the resources that were once available to their families. Transportation shouldn't be an issue for them.

Noc

A Freeblade doesn't just have has Knight. He almost certainly has a transport shuttle containing repair facilities and a retinue of maintenance crew, as well as allowing him to move between orbit and the planet. For warp transport he either gets ride from someone else, either an employer or by paying for it, or he might be wealthy enough to have his own warp capable ship. This is maintained by the substantial fees that a Freeblade can demand for his services.

They use the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

 Jehan-reznor wrote:
They use the hitchhikers guide to the galaxy

Do you know where your towel is?

All Knights, as part of standard equipment, come with an Electronic Thumb.

I just skimmed through my friend's codex when he recently purchased it, but I noticed that some Freeblades are said to be almost mute, how would these communicate with rogue traders to be transported around? Wouldn't their transport ships risk being destroyed in orbital combat?

They have others to manage those things on their behalf. Bonded servants or some sort of electronic transaction system. As for transport, we have many examples of single small ships being able to land while others are fighting.

Freeblades don't make sense in the first place. They are small Titans, there's no reason that the Mechanicus would just let them be privatised and float around doing whatever and putting sacred Omnissiah stuff at unnecessary risk without Mars sanction. I wouldn't worry about how they get around either.

 Deadshot wrote:
Freeblades don't make sense in the first place. They are small Titans, there's no reason that the Mechanicus would just let them be privatised and float around doing whatever and putting sacred Omnissiah stuff at unnecessary risk without Mars sanction. I wouldn't worry about how they get around either.

You obviously aren't familiar with Knights in general.

Knight households are feudal societies which control various planets, and most have since even before Unification. They are independent of the Ad Mech, although many houses are currently aligned with the Ad Mech given the common denominator of Technology, but the vast majority are independent.

 Deadshot wrote:
Freeblades don't make sense in the first place. They are small Titans, there's no reason that the Mechanicus would just let them be privatised and float around doing whatever and putting sacred Omnissiah stuff at unnecessary risk without Mars sanction. I wouldn't worry about how they get around either.

The AdMech don't have much say in the matter, they don't control (all) of the Knightly Houses.
And he Houses themselves seem pretty okay with the practice.

Grey Templar wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:
Freeblades don't make sense in the first place. They are small Titans, there's no reason that the Mechanicus would just let them be privatised and float around doing whatever and putting sacred Omnissiah stuff at unnecessary risk without Mars sanction. I wouldn't worry about how they get around either.

You obviously aren't familiar with Knights in general.

Knight households are feudal societies which control various planets, and most have since even before Unification. They are independent of the Ad Mech, although many houses are currently aligned with the Ad Mech given the common denominator of Technology, but the vast majority are independent.

Animus wrote:

 Deadshot wrote:
Freeblades don't make sense in the first place. They are small Titans, there's no reason that the Mechanicus would just let them be privatised and float around doing whatever and putting sacred Omnissiah stuff at unnecessary risk without Mars sanction. I wouldn't worry about how they get around either.

The AdMech don't have much say in the matter, they don't control (all) of the Knightly Houses.
And he Houses themselves seem pretty okay with the practice.

I mean, that's my point. Members of the Mechanicus regularly risk entire armies for small bits of tech. Techmarines have been noted across the years to risk life and limb to recover parts of Land Raiders and Dreadnoughts. I don't understand how the Mechanicus just lets these groups have their own (mini) titans and is okay with it. With all the resources the Mechanicus holds, the Fabricator-General being a High Lord and all, as well as the dominance, both real and religious, they hold on tech, the AdMech could easily storm the place and take the Knights or threaten the planet with extinction unless they do as told. Why don't they? The ones aligned with the AdMech I understand, as its easier and more logical for the AdMech to give them a little bit of freedom in return for compliance, instead of brutalising them, but the independents and freeblades I just can't get on board with.

I've always assumed if your a freeblade you either

A. hitch a ride with a regiment/chapter/etc to the nearest warzone

B. actually have the money to own a warp capable craft that can house your knight, crew, support staff, etc. Its probably rare but not impossible at all.

C. Are given a ride by your "employers" to the zone they want you in.

D. Given a ride by a Rouge Trader

E. Hire a warp capable craft to take you somewhere. I suppose when you own and operate a giant 2-3 story tall walking war machine the captain of a freighter can't say no at cannon point.

A Knight pilot is usually often inducted from the first sons of the nobilities of a Knight House, remember that Knight Worlds are feudal-sch societies, where the first born sons is entitled to nearly all of their families properties. And with the high failure rate and the failed pilots getting scrapped and Empy knows what next, there is little doubt a full Knight is always a pride of his family. So it's safe to say even in disgrace, as long as a Knight pilot has not turned xenophilic or towards Chaos worship, he still commands the favor of his family.
Should a Knight become exiled or otherwise wish to be free from the bonds of House, he would most likely take off with some of his immediate family's wealth, either granted by his family or is already under his possession; in the case of a Knight who is the sole surviving member of his family, he would take inventory of all of his immediate family's wealth and assets.
So should a Freeblade wish to get a ship large enough to house his Knight Armour (remember this is the Imperium we are talking about, the ships are huge), it won't be too difficult for them to do so. And at least one Sacristan would have to follow suit since A. it's kind of their duty and B. the AdMech would definitely want them to keep an eye on the freeblade, afterall, that's the whole point for the AdMech to "train" them.
I just feel really disappointed that GW or whoever wrote the IK codex didn't or couldn't think of an explanation, an excuse, or even a hand-wave for how Freeblades travel. There is such a thing as too much possibilities to consider. There is a fine line between just the right amount of vagueness and dude! Did they just fart butterfly wings out of earholes and launch into space with the explosion from the stomach of a dying rhinoceros?

New knight codex says many freeblades hace Sacristans or devotees attending them. Im sure they run the ship transport too. Others hitch rides or join crusading or local forces to get from world to world. Although it does also say some knights travel alone. No other detail given of how though :(

It's true, though, the idea of "independent Knight Houses" doesn't make a lick of sense.

You've got a Feudal World backed up by a few fancy, high-tech-but-ancient war machines... against a star-spanning Military-Industrial Complex that has, at its beck and call, literally millions of warships, fighting men, tanks and planet-killing firepower.

The concept of "Freeblades" makes no real sense in the setting, It's just a way to sell models.

 Psienesis wrote:
It's true, though, the idea of "independent Knight Houses" doesn't make a lick of sense.

You've got a Feudal World backed up by a few fancy, high-tech-but-ancient war machines... against a star-spanning Military-Industrial Complex that has, at its beck and call, literally millions of warships, fighting men, tanks and planet-killing firepower.

The concept of "Freeblades" makes no real sense in the setting, It's just a way to sell models.

There's no independent Houses, they're all aligned with the Imperium - or Chaos - if they've been discovered. Some will lean closer to the AdMech.
Freeblades are independent of house, they're kind of wandering knights or something a bit more supernatural in some cases.

They just point their canon in the opposite direction to the way they want to go and fire away.

Animus wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
It's true, though, the idea of "independent Knight Houses" doesn't make a lick of sense.

You've got a Feudal World backed up by a few fancy, high-tech-but-ancient war machines... against a star-spanning Military-Industrial Complex that has, at its beck and call, literally millions of warships, fighting men, tanks and planet-killing firepower.

The concept of "Freeblades" makes no real sense in the setting, It's just a way to sell models.

There's no independent Houses, they're all aligned with the Imperium - or Chaos - if they've been discovered. Some will lean closer to the AdMech.
Freeblades are independent of house, they're kind of wandering knights or something a bit more supernatural in some cases.

Still doesn't explain why the AdMech doesn't just take the knights and put in Mechanicus-approved Princeps into Knights instead of lettinf Knights do as they please and putting that extremely valuable and scared technology at risk for no good reason. It'd be a Master of the Forge allowing 6th Compaby guys to just grab TDA, Land Raiders and Thunderhawks and jet off to some random warzone because they felt like it.

@Deadshot Because if the AdMech did force the Mechanicus Knght Houses off their thrones they'd have lost support from their Knight Houses. And the Imperium would have no problem trying to grab those dissenters from the Martians.

The Great Crusade era Knight Worlds were independent (unaffiliated with the Martians) planets with formidable military forces, one of which was found by a Rogue Trader who alerted the Imperial commanders. What followed was a competition between Mars and Terra for winning the Knight Worlds to each side. You don't win over the loyality of a strong military forces by forcefully taking away the things that keeps them in power.

The Imperium did not promise the Martians to retake every world where lost human technologies were found for them, they promised to retake the lost Forge Worlds for them. There is no obligation to give the Knight Worlds over to the Martians and the Imperium won over a number of the Knight Houses for themselves.

The current settings have that both the Imperium and the Mechanicus have separate Knightly House sworn loyalties to either of them. The AdMech is still under oath with the IoM to trade with the Imperial Knights. Hence why the Sacrisans -- they can only control them through more subtle means.