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I've not seen anything to support that they don't exist. I know it's dangerous and difficult, but say, a sancristan happens upon a small graveyard of these things and manages to get one running and armed. Could he interface with it and what are the consequences for scavenging one?

Ghostfacemiller wrote:
I've not seen anything to support that they don't exist. I know it's dangerous and difficult, but say, a sancristan happens upon a small graveyard of these things and manages to get one running and armed. Could he interface with it and what are the consequences for scavenging one?

Might well work.

Nothing to say that worlds that developed a different culture might not have working Knights as well. Or a remote Forgeworld can make and maintain them as standard parts of their army.

Keeping hold of it depends on his or her support structure, contacts, allies and who he/she/they meet. There are also the mercenary/crusading Knights that wonder about the galaxy.

A Rogue Trader could find such a person useful, as could an Inquisitor, or many others.

Thanks much for the reply

Because of the way the throne mechanicum works, the imprints/souls of the previous nobles will resist, to a degree, the non-noble user.

There is a freeblade character, which I cannot remember her name, is actually a female noble who took her husbands knight after his death - or something similar. The imprints/souls resist against her, because of the self reinforcing tradition of knight worlds. She may be a noble of the correct house, but just being a female is what is wrong. It is only because of her willpower does she override the resistance. Yes in the 41 millenia there still sexist bigots.

If your character gets one working, the throne mechanicum will resist unless they have sufficient willpower or some agreement with the traditionalist hidebound ghosts of it former occupants.

Wouldn't a person who pilot such a machine become a noble no matter his precedent standing?

BTW, Rogue Traders and Inquisitors are nobles according to the Imperium status.

Tygre wrote:
Because of the way the throne mechanicum works, the imprints/souls of the previous nobles will resist, to a degree, the non-noble user.

There is a freeblade character, which I cannot remember her name, is actually a female noble who took her husbands knight after his death - or something similar. The imprints/souls resist against her, because of the self reinforcing tradition of knight worlds. She may be a noble of the correct house, but just being a female is what is wrong. It is only because of her willpower does she override the resistance. Yes in the 41 millenia there still sexist bigots.

If your character gets one working, the throne mechanicum will resist unless they have sufficient willpower or some agreement with the traditionalist hidebound ghosts of it former occupants.

In DoW3 at least, the knight that serves with the Blood Ravens is a woman. And I'm almost certain she was in charge of her own House, though I could be wrong. So if we accept DoW lore as canon, then they at least exist outside of Freeblades.
EDIT: Yep, found it on the DoW website:
"Solaria is one of the Space Marine’s new Super Units. She is also the head of House Varlock, the staunch defenders of the planet Cyprus Ultima. Fierce and stubborn, she can be an invaluable ally in the heat of battle, or a devastating enemy."

Unless there are multiple female Freeblades that I haven't heard about, not unlikely given the number of different Freeblades with names, the Freeblade you're talking about appears in "Knights of the Imperium," a Graham McNeill book, and came into possession of her father's Throne Mechanicus as Hive Fleet Hydra destroyed her world.

While the main character mentions that a woman piloting a knight goes against millennia of tradition, and says that his traditions demand that he punish her for it if he weren't also in debt to her, the Imperium is a pretty big place and such traditions may only apply to the more prominent houses. Deviations can be expected, especially in more isolated regions of the Imperium, where there wouldn't as much contact with traditional houses. Higher chance of "breaking" tradition if others aren't around to point fingers.

In regards to the machine itself, it seems like the issue of imprints of former occupants resisting her isn't as big of a deal as the fact that she wasn't raised to be a knight. Not only was she never trained to pilot one, an obvious obstruction, the aforementioned main character remarks that she should've gone mad from the pain of connecting without having the proper spinal sockets implanted in her body. If anything, while he feels a bit guilty about it, he admires her.

Going back to the topic on hand, if an untrained and unaugmented child of a doomed Household can force a Knight to accept her, I'd imagine that an outsider could potentially become a pilot if he also survives the process, though they would need the resources to repair and maintain it, and if the imprints of previous pilots are indeed an issue, they're probably less likely to accept a stranger than a daughter of their household.

This just made me realise that I wanted a Junker/MadMax style Knight. I never knew how badly I wanted one of these before.

Ghostfacemiller wrote:
I've not seen anything to support that they don't exist. I know it's dangerous and difficult, but say, a sancristan happens upon a small graveyard of these things and manages to get one running and armed. Could he interface with it and what are the consequences for scavenging one?

There is some background on scrappers scattered about in the Admech fluff. Never read of them scrapping a knight or building a new one out of parts but it would sure be possible.
What would be the consequences ? Well scrappers are regarded as outlaw skum by all when they are harmless and practitioners of tekherechy by many when things get serious.
So my guess would be a confiscated knight since they obviously stole it and death or worse when they get caught voiding any warranty seals and can't find a way to wiggle themselves out of the offense.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
There is also the suspicion of origin. There is sort of a taboo on using old machines that could have been on the wrong side of history. But sure a sancristan might just get away with it if he is clever enough to forge the correct documents is protected by his good political standing.

In the size of the 40K universe there are definitely rogue/pirate/renegade Knights going around somewhere. It's an inevitability. Even if you have to gut the whole thing and re-wire it for a new type of control system, so be it. It exists, go for it.

Mudrat wrote:
This just made me realise that I wanted a Junker/MadMax style Knight. I never knew how badly I wanted one of these before.

Thanks all! This is why I was looking for some second opinions, I'm a huge fan of Mad Max and I tried doing something with a noble, roleplaying-wise, but it just wasn't working for me. When I do a model, I make a character to go with it, like a driver for a scrap hotrod and how the two have travelled the wasteland and whatnot. I figured the laws would come after such an individual, or he might go insane from attempting to interface with it. To get around it, can a "reboot" be implemented to wipe the Thrones? He doesn't have the plugs in his spine, so gutting it, as was mentioned (ty for that), and I guess an interface like a Battletech neurohelmet are out, it'll have to be joysticks and foot pedals. Though controlling the ion shield will be fun

PS I apologise for the short answer earlier, Dakka is having issues, or my phone, with me using the voice text so it came out that way. I tried going back and typing it out, but it stays like that. Go figure.

PPS the old Mad Max boardgame got me on this tangent.