Knights of Laeran

The Knights of Laeran are a Chaos Warband devoted to Slaanesh, derived primarily from the Emperor's Children. They are particularly infamous for their tendency to infiltrate, fortify, and corrupt Imperial pleasure worlds, rather than the raiding and pillaging typical of Slaanesh worshipers. However, having recently claimed the world of Laeran as their own, they have since shifted their focus to defending this world from their arch rivals, the Knights Celestial and House Blackstone, as well as repaying the various debts they took on in order to claim it.

Origins
The original founders of the Knights of Laeran were proud members of the Third Legion, the Emperor's Children, during the Great Crusade. While they served in different capacities in their pre-Heresy days and thus can't really be summed up easily during that period, these founders all had two things in common--they were all present on Laeran at some point during the infamous Cleansing of Laeran, and they all continued to hold their belief in Fulgrim's pre-Heresy ideals of elevating all of humanity to perfection (albeit a warped, Slaaneshi interpretation of it.)

Post-Heresy
Shortly after the Battle of Skalathrax that saw the World Eaters and Emperor's Children Legions shattered, a mysterious, unidentified figure known only as the "Silver Knight of Slaanesh" gathered some of the most mentally stable members of the Emperor's Children and gave them a single directive, ordered by Slaanesh herself: "Restore the lost glory of the Laer." For millennia, this was interpreted as a call to conquer and establish a world in Laeran's image, a self-sustaining Slaanesh-worshiping utopia. They would travel throughout the galaxy seeking out Imperial pleasure worlds to infiltrate, fortify, and corrupt to the worship of Slaanesh. These worlds would inevitably be discovered by the Imperium, however, and the Knights of Laeran would be forced to retreat--albeit with ships filled with new recruits and anything else of value they were able to claim, allowing them to gradually grow in strength.

Rediscovery of Laeran
All of that changed when what was originally a half-hearted attempt to get the Pentagonal Alliance to owe them a favor by sowing discord on the shrine world of Airtha revealed a startling discovery--Airtha was, in fact, the supposedly lost world of Laeran. What was once believed to be a metaphorical calling by their god's greatest champion was suddenly revealed to be a direct, literal order from Slaanesh herself, and one the Knights of Laeran were all too thrilled to obey. Without a second thought, the Knights of Laeran called in every favor they had ever collected, struck every bargain they could, pulled every string they could reach, and poured every resource they had into what became known as the Airtha Crusade, a conflict against the Knights Celestial and House Blackstone that lasted for millennia. With the sudden appearance of the Cicatrix Maledictum, however, Airtha was plunged into the newly formed Great Rift, enveloped in the energies of the Warp, and transformed into a daemon world, rendering it all but impossible for anyone other than servants of the Ruinous Powers to claim it.

Present
Having successfully claimed Laeran, the Knights of Laeran spend the majority of their time reaping the rewards of their efforts, indulging themselves on their dream planet. However, the looming specter of rivals both loyal and heretical coming to claim what is rightfully theirs is ever present, and so they are denied the opportunity to fully lose themselves in order to remain vigilant, ready to fend off any who would claim Laeran. Beyond that, they only venture beyond their planet to either hunt down particularly hated foes or repay the many, many debts they incurred during the Airtha Crusade.

Airtha Crusade
The Knights of Laeran have been in a state of near-constant conflict with the Knights Celestial and House Blackstone for control of what the Imperium of Man calls the Shrine World of Airtha. Stricken from Imperial records in the aftermath of the Horus Heresy, this world was once known as Laeran, and was where Fulgrim first took up the infamous Laer Blade that would eventually lead to his corruption by the Chaos God Slaanesh. While the world has changed hands multiple times throughout the millennia, since the formation of the Cicatrix Maledictum, it has since been plunged into the Rift and become a Daemon World. Currently, Prince Gaius rules this world in Slaanesh's name, using his mastery over the world both to recreate a human version of the lost Laer society and to keep the planet safe from Imperial invaders... for the crusade isn't truly over, and the Knights Celestial and House Blackstone continue to look for ways to reclaim Airtha, despite the new seemingly insurmountable difficulties.

Gonara Breach Incident
Seeking to destroy a common foe, the Knights of Laeran disguised themselves as loyalists and heeded the call by Inquisitor Xandrian when the Gonara system was attacked by the Skaven. Unfortunately, their involvement directly lead to the campaign's failure. When their true identities were discovered, the Drakken Harbingers and Dorn's Crusaders ignored the Skaven and attacked the Knights of Laeran, forcing the Knights Celestial and Sun Serpents to protect them. While the Imperial forces fought amongst themselves, the Knights of Laeran summoned the Children of Madness and the Blood Tamers to assist them, and together they at least managed to destroy the Skaven superweapon, the Screaming Fortress, before the Skaven's ultimate victory in the system.

The Skaventide
The Knights of Laeran once again entered an unholy alliance with the Imperium to fight back the massive Skaven invasion known as the Skaventide. (event still underway, details to come later)

Warband Home World
After the Horus Heresy, the Knights of Laeran were tasked by the so-called "Silver Knight of Slaanesh" to "restore the lost glory of the Laer." Initially they believed this meant creating a new world in Laeran's image, a self-sustaining, functional society devoted to Slaanesh. However, they eventually discovered that the shrine world of Airtha was in fact Laeran, and that the Emperor's Children's destruction of the world during the Great Crusade wasn't as thorough as previously believed. Though the so-called Airtha Crusade lasted for millennia, eventually the Knights of Laeran were able to secure it once it was enveloped by the Cicatrix Maledictum and transformed into a Daemon World. Upon claiming the planet once and for all for Slaanesh, Lord Gaius was granted the gift of Daemonhood and rulership of the world.

Laeran now exists entirely by Prince Gaius's whim, which he has used to shape the planet into the "perfect world" he has sought to create since the days when he served the Emperor. The planet was once entirely oceanic, but Gaius created large islands for the human population, and either expands them or creates more as needed. Mindbogglingly delicious fruit grows from trees that sustain themselves on the pleasure experienced by the planet's inhabitants, housing and facilities spring into existence the moment their ruler desires them to, and all that live there may do whatever they wish... so long as they don't despoil the indulgent harmony of the world and displease their Prince. Daemon Engines perform whatever production work must be done that no inhabitants wish to do, but enough of it can be turned into some sort of art or game that the population still handles most work. It certainly isn't a mass production powerhouse by any stretch of the imagination, but the equipment they do produce are of the finest quality, the absolute pinnacle of both aesthetics and function.

Most males on the world are taken and tested for geneseed compatibility, so the majority of the planet's civilian population is female, though enough geneseed-compatible males are cloned and reintroduced into the population to sustain population growth. This isn't necessarily enough on its own, as the sadomasochistic tendencies of the Slaanesh-worshipping population result in a death rate that nearly rivals worlds controlled by Khorne worshippers, despite a strictly enforced ban on non-consensual murder. To help remedy this, the most genetically desirable women are often gifted with surgical enhancements, through techniques taught to them by Fabius Bile at a steep cost, that convert pain into pleasure and are encouraged to reproduce as much as possible to keep numbers up.

While the human population indulges themselves and produces elaborate equipment for their Astartes masters, the Astartes themselves reside almost entirely in aquatic bases at the bottom of Laeran's vast oceans. Each military base is located directly under an otherwise untouched Airthan floating temple to the Emperor, using these Imperial holy sites as hostages to discourage planetary bombardment. These shrines and temples are also surrounded by massive anti-orbital defense weaponry, with any ammunition the weapons require located directly beneath them, both protecting their ammunition stores from sabotage and allowing them to swiftly destroy these holy sites if needed. The primary stronghold of the Knights of Laeran is located directly beneath the waters that the ancestral fortress and home of House Blackstone float upon. Fort Blackstone is the only portion of the original Airthan constructs that the Slaaneshis are allowed to touch, and only because it serves as a residence for Lady Ursula Blackstone and her vassals.

Warband Organisation
On the surface, the Knights of Laeran appear to be fairly organized, with Prince Gaius delegating the responsibilities of managing his forces to a council known as the Six Masters, each with distinct specialties and responsibilities. Below that, however, the structure becomes much more flexible, with Gaius allowing his subordinates to conduct their duties as they see fit. While Gaius doesn't allow subordinates to claim the title of Master through backstabbing their superiors, whether or not other positions of power below that permit such practices varies entirely on the whim of the Master leading that particular branch of the warband. The only structure Gaius demands of the Six Masters is that they have a squad of Noise Marine bodyguards protecting them, composed of Marines hand picked by him specifically.

Prince Gaius the Glorious
While the entire warband answers to Gaius, the Daemon Prince delegates most of the specifics to his trusted Six Masters. All Sorcerers within the Warband are outside of this structure, however, and answer only to Gaius himself. The Knights of Laeran have also taken in several of the Fallen, whose lack of Slaanesh corruption requires Gaius to keep them on a short leash. Unlike many warband leaders, Gaius does not keep a personal guard, instead assigning that honor to the bodyguards of whichever of the Six Masters he is leaving on the sidelines in a given conflict. In this way, he ensures that those who protect the Six Masters are loyal to him above those Masters, should any of them get any ideas.

Exalted Champion Augustan, Master of the Exalted
Augustan is a consummate duelist, preferring to fight independently rather than as part of a coherent force, but unlike Lucius the Eternal he knows how to balance this with needs of the warband at large. This makes him perfectly suited to leading those among the Knights of Laeran whose Slaaneshi corruption manifests as egomania and a complete lack of impulse control--in other words, those Prince Gaius deems expendable, and has no qualms about sending into near-suicidal parts of the battlefield. This portion of the warband is technically considered the "highest", though only to play to the vanity of those transferred to it and stifle their objections. In practice they have no more authority than anyone else, however. The composition of Augustan's force therefore fluctuates frequently, though more often than not is will be composed mostly of Cultists, as well as those Noise Marines that forgo most of their trademark sonic weaponry in favor of the cacophony of close combat.

Lord Marius, Master of Tactics
The most mentally stable of the Knights of Laeran, Marius highly prioritizes the success of the mission over personal aggrandizement. While this has caused some to question his devotion to Slaanesh, Marius's corruption simply manifests in a compulsive need to plan and coordinate the perfect strategy, much as Gaius's manifests as needing to create the perfect society. Those who let their ambitions ruin his carefully orchestrated strategies run the risk of being dismembered by him if he can reach them before they are transferred to Augustan's command. While every Master has at least some Noise Marines under their command as personal guards, Marius commands the vast majority of them, along with the warband's Terminators, Chosen, Bikers, Raptors, Havocs, and other non-mechanized elements that are considered "typical" of both loyalist and heretic Astartes forces.

Dark Apostle Faustus, Master of Devotion
Faustus is the most skilled Diabolist of the Knights of Laeran. While he has his Noise Marine bodyguards like the rest of the Six Masters, Faustus rarely uses them as anything more than personal protection. Instead, he focuses on directly channeling the will of the Dark Prince by summoning, binding, and commanding the Neverborn, guiding the Possessed, and wrangling any unfortunate saps who devolve into Chaos Spawn. In particular, he keeps a collection of various Keepers of Secrets bound to him, who in turn have their own Daemon hordes they can summon at a moment's notice. Because of his mastery of daemonology, when a mission calls for infiltration, subtle corruption, or the surprise appearance of a Daemonic force, it will almost always be Faustus's responsibility.

Warpsmith Octavian, Master of Machines
On the surface Octavian appears to be the least sociable of all the Knights of Laeran, and one would be forgiven for forgetting that he is a Son of Fulgrim. However, only his lieutenant, a Hellwright who has replaced his name with a binary code, is more skilled in dealing with Chaos-tainted Machine Spirits. The only reason said Hellwright does not outrank Octavian is simply because he has no desire to deal with the politics of those who are so tightly bound to their flesh. Octavian, however, is a master of revealing as little of his desires as possible while ensuring the entire warband utterly depends on his war machines, making him unofficially the most influential of the Six Masters, at least in practice. The armory of the Knights of Laeran may not be as extensive as those of an Iron Warriors warband, but what they do have is lovingly cared for with a degree of obsession only found among the servants of Slaanesh. In particular, the Knights of Laeran are known for fielding a large number of Sonic Dreadnaughts, piloted by the former Lords of any Slaaneshi warbands the Knights of Laeran are forced to absorb through force rather than work with diplomatically. They also have a fair number of various Daemon Engines such as Heldrakes, Maulerfiends, and Defilers, and conventional vehicles like Rhinos, Predators, and Land Raiders. In addition to their armor pool, Octavian is also tasked with designing the extensive fortifications the Knights of Laeran put in place when conquering a new world, a skill he has mastered after centuries of studying under various sons of Perturabo before returning to his Emperor's Children brothers.

Prince Remus, Master of Renegades
The only one of the Six Masters not of the Emperor's Children, Remus was actually a son of Guilleman in his mortal life, Captain of the Angels of Calth 2nd Company. When his Company was deployed to destroy a Knights of Laeran cult world, however, most of the Company was captured and persuaded, though various means, to embrace Slaanesh and join the Knights of Laeran. Captain Remus was then tasked with converting any vulnerable Astartes to the worship of the Youngest God, and has been successful enough to ascend to Daemonhood himself--only to be promptly bound and shackled to Gaius's will by Master Faustus.

Lord Atius, Master of Mortals
Lord Atius is somewhat looked down upon by the rest of the Knights of Laeran, but quietly held in the greatest esteem by Prince Gaius himself, for Atius is tasked with managing the unaugmented humans and mutants that serve the Knights of Laeran. It is he that determines who should ascend to the ranks of the Heretic Astartes, who among the females show enough promise to mother the next generation of mortal servants and potential recruits, and whether or not someone has let their devotion to Slaanesh erode their competence and should be "promoted" to Augustan's Exalted. While he is technically in command of his branch of the warband, Atius's talents lie in human psychology rather than battlefield tactics, so he typically delegates his strategic role among the Six Masters to his highest ranking officer, the Questor Hereticus Knight pilot known as Lady Ursula Blackstone.

Warband Combat Doctrine
The Knights of Laeran prefer to engage in diplomacy, infiltration, and corruption of their enemies whenever possible. Once a population center has been sufficiently converted to the worship of Slaanesh, extensive fortifications are put in place and manned by vast numbers of Noise Marines and corrupted PDF forces. When forced onto the offensive, the Knights of Laeran favor overwhelming firepower with large numbers of Noise Marines and Sonic Dreadnaughts, supported by a wide variety of more "traditional" Heretic Astartes such as Possessed, Terminators, and Havocs, all screened by whatever forces Gaius considers annoying and therefore expendable.

Warband Gene-Seed
Roughly 80% of the Knights of Laeran trace their genetic origins to Fulgrim and the Emperor's Children. However, over time they have managed to corrupt individuals derived from virtually all of the Primarchs both loyal and traitor, with the exceptions of Angron, Magnus, and Mortarion. Given their homeworld's proximity to the Realm of Ultramar, this practice has lead to roughly 15% of their Marines descending from Roboute Guilleman and the Ultramarines, with the remaining 5% consisting of everything else except for the World Eaters, Thousand Sons, and Death Guard. Even among this 5%, however, sons of Sanguinius or Leman Russ are exceedingly rare.

Warband Leader
Gaius : Daemon Prince, leader of the warband. Prefers diplomacy whenever possible, and has absolutely no tolerance for any who renege on their word... which, as a member of the Traitor Legions, he acknowledges is somewhat hypocritical.

The Six Masters
Augustan : Master of the Exalted

Marius : Master of Tactics

Faustus : Master of Devotion

Octavian : Master of Machines

Remus : Master of Renegades

Atius : Master of Mortals

Others
Ursula Blackstone : Rightful Heir of House Blackstone (according to her,) an inspiring leader and diplomat whose charisma has been greatly enhanced by Slaanesh. Pilots a Knight armed with two Rapid-Fire Battle Cannons.

Dorothye Blackstone : Younger sister of Ursula, an adrenaline junky obsessed with finding the ultimate challenge. Pilots a Knight armed with two Thermal Cannons.

Leupold Blackstone : Younger brother of Ursula, a megalomaniac obsessed with asserting his superiority over the weak. Pilots a Knight armed with two Avenger Gatling Cannons.

Veneficus : Former Fists of Gorgon Librarian

Flavius : Sorcerer

Theliel : Fallen Lord, coordinates all Fallen in the warband.

Muunokhoi Khan : Former White Scars Captain, who acts as Remus's voice of reason when necessary. Rides a Steed of Slaanesh into battle.

Warband Fleet
Formerly a fleet-based warband before their recent conquest of Laeran, the Knights of Laeran have collected a relatively vast fleet for their warband size. While their best ships date back to the Great Crusade, a large portion of it is made up of recently commandeered Imperial Navy vessels and the occasional Space Marine Strike Cruiser.

Notable Ships

 * Fulgrim's Folly (Desolator-Class Battleship): Flagship of the Knights of Laeran, and formerly their primary seat of power before establishing themselves on Laeran. While the Knights of Laeran deeply revere and respect Fulgrim, they believe he allowed his quest for personal glory in Slaanesh's name distract him from his purpose. This ship's name was meant to be a constant reminder of that, to see Fulgrim as equal parts inspiration and cautionary tale.
 * Eternal Ecstacy (Acheron-Class Heavy Cruiser): One of two ships almost always by the side of Fulgrim's Folly.
 * Ageless Agony (Acheron-Class Heavy Cruiser): One of two ships almost always by the side of Fulgrim's Folly.
 * Shield of Justice (Strike Cruiser): Former Strike Cruiser of the Angels of Calth, now serving as transport for the non-Emperor's Children portion of the Knights of Laeran.
 * Child of Terra (Emperor-class Battleship): A ship often used by the Knights of Laeran when attempting to infiltrate Imperial space.

Relations
Feel free to add your own

Allies

 * Alpha Legion
 * Black Legion
 * Red Corsairs
 * Fallen
 * Children of Madness
 * Nekosuccubi
 * Pentagonal Alliance
 * Finclaire

Feel free to add your own

Enemies

 * Knights Celestial
 * House Blackstone
 * Drakken Harbingers
 * Fists of the Gorgon
 * Finclaire
 * Ashimar Nova Guard
 * Katryna Vreiken
 * Yellow Hands

By the Knights of Laeran
Feel free to add your own "Do not hinder another's pursuit of pleasure while seeking your own, for doing so halves Slaanesh's praise."

- The One Law of Laeran

"Trust is the most precious resource possible amongst the Legions. Those sworn to the Dark Gods are so prone to betrayal, it is by Their will alone that we didn't all kill each other in the first days of the Legion Wars. Not that you would know, Son of Guilliman. You weren't there. You weren't on Skalathrax, where we turned our Kakophoni upon the World Eaters, warriors we had only years prior called 'cousin' and fought beside on Istvaan. You weren't in Cantacle City, weren't forced to watch the man we had bet the entire future of Humanity on killed a second time by his own, most beloved son. You didn't watch everything you had ever worked for, literally sold your soul for, tear itself apart just to experience one more blissful sensation, with no regard for future experiences. I have spent the last 10,000 years building a very specific reputation, Remus. A reputation for keeping my promises, only betraying my allies when absolutely necessary, not letting the quest for momentary indulgence endanger our future capacity to serve Slaanesh... and keeping those who serve me by the same standards. That requires that those who serve me be absolutely, unquestioningly obedient to me. And make no mistake, Remus. You. Serve. Me."

- Prince Gaius

"HERE'S YOUR FRAKING DONUT!""

- Prince Gaius, to Finclaire

About the Knights of Laeran
Feel free to add your own "Well, it made things interesting, I guess. Throne, clearing out that ritual site, I saw some things there I'd never wanted to see and now can never unsee. In just one day, between that and talking to you now, I think I've seen enough heresy to last me a lifetime."

- Trooper Uriah Sakel, Ashimar 43rd Nova Guard