The Great Houses of Necromunda - who are they?

Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you:

No adverts like this in the forums anymore.
Times and dates in your local timezone.
Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance.
Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely.
Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net.

If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

**Netsurfer733**

"The seven Great Houses of Necromunda are House Helmawr, House Catallus, House Ty, House Ulanti, House Greim, House Ran Lo and House Ko'iron."

And then...there was nothing!

An enormous portion of the Spire of Necromunda in Hive Primus, and likely many other hives on Necromunda, belongs to them. The investors, who provide no product or service. And yet they each have their own culture, dynamic, look, etc.

They are hugely important to the lore of Necromunda, and yet...there is virtually NO lore to them whatsoever, so far as I can see!

So I come here to ask - have I missed anything? Why is there next to no lore on these guys? And who among GW's staff has written them, that I might poke them on Twitter for more info? Lol.

But yeah really, if there is any old lore from the old books on them, I might hunt them down. Anyone know anything about this?

**Tygre**

I guess that to the Imperium they are too low to think about, and to the average ganger they are too high to think about. They are the noble great houses, the manufactorums etc, where everything gets done, are owned by the (non-noble) great houses

Its like the Koch brothers or the Sacklers family. In international politics they are not overly important ,just another rich family. To the average wage earner they are also just another rich family, doesn't affect me.

Unless you are dealing with Necromunda high level politics, they would likely not be important except as a name.

**Da Butcha**

Hey, name the most prominent magnates on Catachan, or Valhalla, or Mordia!

We've actually got MORE detail on Necromundan civilian society than virtually any other Imperial world.

But the focus of the games is elsewhere, so you don't get much. The gangers don't directly interact with the Great Houses, and the Great Houses direct the fates of Necromundans from afar. Then, regiments from Necromunda go elsewhere, so you only really hear about the military culture of their IG regiments.

**nareik**

"Brother-ganger you are starting to sound like a comrade. What DO the great houses really do (for us)? We toil yet they have wealth. How is this possible? We must take back what is ours!"

Reading up on Mad Donna might provide a few tit bits.

**Iracundus**

There is relatively little written about them because in the Spire it is more about intrigue and politics rather than the kind of gun blazing bolter porn that Black Library stories are about. There are snippets which may be outdated now, such as from the Space Marine novel by Ian Watson. One of the protagonists' father was like a chief accountant for one of the noble houses in Trazior hive, which in itself was able to allow for the protagonist to live the life of a spoiled noble brat. Later his father was demoted for "accounting irregularities" and effectively banished down from the spire to the main hive city.

So we know the Spire houses are basically parasitic rent seekers profiting off the labor of the manufacturing houses below them. Their income and wealth seems to come from a combination of financial services and import/export trade. What little has been written about them basically has them as stereotypically decadent nobility like in the ancient regime. The Great Houses are allowed to have off-world assets, and apparently offer contracts to the lower houses. The lower houses manufacture stuff to meet the needs of the Great Houses in return for a few crumbs of currency, essential goods for life, and a few off-world luxuries for the leaders of the lower houses. House Helmawr controls the right to ship stuff to or from Necromunda, and extracts a cut from any others that want to do any export/import trade.

The background of Mad Donna basically has more information about life in the Great Houses as that is her background. Instead of the open violence of the Underhive, you get more conspiracies and concealed violence as families and siblings within a family jockey for power. It has been years since I skim read it, but if I remember correctly, D'onne Ulanti witnessed one of her sisters get murdered by another sister in a contrived accident (swept off the spire during a game of dare during a storm). Later she is destined to be married in a loveless arranged marriage to a member of the Ko'Iron house. Quite aside from the prospects of existing in a gilded cage of a marriage, on their first dinner date, he basically attempts to sexually assault her but she kills him.

Now, stories could definitely be written about life in the upper levels of a hive on any hive world, but generally Black Library wants action stories rather than palace intrigue, political, or financial stories.

**Rybrook**

Weren't there background stories in the Confrontation excerpts from white dwarf?

I'll have to check when I get home but I'm sure there is also a bit on Gerontus helmawr

**Kcalehc**

Rybrook wrote:
Weren't there background stories in the Confrontation excerpts from white dwarf?

I'll have to check when I get home but I'm sure there is also a bit on Gerontus helmawr

Here's a bit on Lord Helmawr from Confrontation: (paste and copy from poor scans, so some OCR may be bad!)

LORD HELMAWR

The governor and ruler of all Necromunda is Imperial Commander Lord Helmawr. His ancestors are known to have reigned for the past seven thousand years at least, cords of government before that time having long since _disappeared. Even the archives of the
Adeptus Administorum, the bureaucracy of the lt11perium, are remarkably silent on the history of Necromunda during the early days of the lmperium.

Lord Helmawr occupies the very top of the Necromundan feudal hierarchy. The society he -rules over is divided into many factions which continually compete and co-operate with each other,. giving rise to endless changes in the feudal hierarchy. Lord Helmawr is completely unconcerned with the activities of lesser powerbrokers. He deals directly with the most powerful factions, offering them support in return for their loyalty. If a major player in the power game proves weak or treacherous it is a simple matter for Helmawr to withdraw his support. The very rumour that he might be about to do this is often enough to encourage a feudal inferior's enemies to turn against him and destroy him.

The Adeptus Terra leaves Lord Helmawr to govern his domain as he pleases, as it leaves all Imperial Commanders free to administrate their worlds. The Imperial Commander forms a link in the feudal chain which extends throughout the galaxy to the heart of the Adeptus Terra. So long as Helmawr fulfils his feudal obligations to the lmperium his position remains secure.

Helmawr's main obligation to the lmperium is to provide a tithe which takes the form of a percentage of all the goods Necromunda produces. As the entire production capacity of the world is given over to providing manufactured goods for the lmperium the tithe is taken as a straight discount on the revenue earned. So long as Necromunda continues to meet these responsibilities, and so long as its production capacity is sufficiently high, the lmperium remains quite satisfied. Of course, should the Necromundan economy begin to show signs of nagging then Lord Helmawr's position would be very different indeed.
Hive worlds like Necromunda provide the Impcriurn with another useful resource - namely its people. Necromunda produces generations of tough youths with a strong sense of self-reliance. They are highly valued as recruits for the Imperial Guard and even for some of the Space Marine Chapters. Providing recruits in vast numbers is another of Lord Helmawr's feudal obligations. Recruitment brings officials from the lmperiwi1 to Necromunda to inspect and in some cases conduct recruiting drives amongst the fighting gangs. Helmawr himself is obliged to provide troops from his personal guard, usually a whole regiment at a time.

Because the planet supplies so many troops for the Imperial Guard the name of Necromunda is known throughout the galaxy, even by people who know nothing about the planet itself. Over the centuries Necromundan Regiments have fought with distinction in the Imperial Guard and have earned a fearsome reputation on many battlefronts.

Another important obligation is that Lord Helmawr successfully controls the numbers of dangerous psychic mutants. These psykers, or witches, are a mutation which is becoming increasingly common on all worlds in the Imperium. On most worlds they can be dealt with fairly easily, but on a hive world like Necromunda with its vast population the matter is much more difficult.

Psykers are very dangerous indeed - probably more so than even they realise. Although some arc able to control their powers and use them for the benefit of society, the majority are unable to control their powers properly with disastrous results. Some become host to daemonic powers from warpspace, while others attract psychically sensitive aliens or psychic diseases which can then hop into the minds of ordinary people. If psykers were to go unchecked throughout the lmperium human society would soon collapse. Indeed, this is one of the reasons why the Emperor clings so tenaciously to life, as only he understands the true dangers of possession and psychic destruction.

**queen_annes_revenge**

Because we get enough politics and economics in real life, we don't need it in our wargames.