Chaos Knight Pilots

[Lord Tarkin]

Hey all, a bit of an odd question I suppose, it's in regard to Chaos Knight pilots. Do these guys ever leave their knight? Like, are they capable of leaving the throne mechanicum?

 

I'm working on some fluff for my created warband and I'm planning on this particular fallen noble being a close confidant to a chaos marine lord.

 

As far as Ik, they seem to be...well, stuck in their thrones. Just rambling madmen. So I guess what I'm tryna ask is, have you guys found a...sane (mostly) Chaos pilot capable of leaving his throne and such?

[Gederas]

Per the Chaos Knights codex, it seems to depend on the household and also the Knight type itself.

[Lord_Caerolion]

It’s a big galaxy, and Chaos isn’t exactly known for its cohesiveness and uniformity. It’s one thing to do broad strokes (the World Eaters were all implanted with the Butchers Nails, and fell to Khorne, etc), but another when it pidgeonholes things into very specific portrayals (again with the World Eaters, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re all slavering idiots, every single one. Some resist the Nails, or practice marksmanship, etc).

 

As such, if you want Chaos Knights than can leave their Throne, awesome. GW will (hopefully) never come out and say that every single Chaos Knight is permanently attached to their Thrones, no exceptions.

[Lord Lorne Walkier]

Chaos is a mixed bag.  If a power wanted a poilot who can walk about, then it would be so.  It could also be a matter of how long the knights have walked the path. 

[Sandlemad]

Some can leave, some can't. The Chaos Knight codex is actually one of the better ones for covering the variety of backgrounds and forms of traitor knights. It gives examples of nobles who have been absorbed by their knights, those who have merged physically, and those who are de-facto enthroned chaos spawn, but emphasises that this is not all of them. You could definitely have a noble who can leave his cockpit.

[Phoebus]

I’m not as well-read on the Knights, per se, but consider the variety of ways Chaos Space Marines are afflicted by Chaos and the Warp. Some can remove their power armour, while others cannot. Many bear obvious mutations, but then there are the likes of Cesare, from Lucius: The Faultless Blade, whose mutation is that he doesn’t bear obvious mutations and is without a single blemish.

 

Along the same lines, what you’re talking about may not be an either/or matter, but a transitional one. Much like piloting a Titan is for a Princeps, the Throne Mechanicum is addicting for a noble. The influence of Chaos could very well make this effect even more powerful, so that a noble piloting a Chaos Knight may very well be able to exit it at first... but at some point may not want to... and this may eventually turn into a case of not being able to.

 

And then of course it may come down to what manner of noble we’re talking about. A noble dedicated to Khorne or Nurgle may very well be too maddened or too subsumed to his Knight to be able to exit. The commitments a noble dedicated to Slaanesh or Tzeentch may have to his vices or schemes, respectively, may mean that level of entrapment never happens. The same might be said for a noble not dedicated to any one Ruinous Power in particular, who retains control over his sanity and sense of person/purpose.

[Urauloth]

It's almost certainly more likely among recently fallen houses, and probably uncommon overall, but it's certainly possible. Like the others said, it's going to depend on a lot of things, including the pre-fall nature of the house and the pilot, the manner of their fall to the Ruinous Powers, and what their service to those powers entails.

 

As for the idea you propose, Tarkin, a noble who can leave his throne sounds like a good addition to a chaos champion's court. I say do it, and also make a model of him. ;)

[Kelborn]

=][= Moved to the dedicated subforum. =][=

[Goreshed]

So, as others have said there are tons of ways this could go. I would however point to a few well established bits of fluff.

 

It is quite common for those who have spent a considerable amount of time near/in the warp in some fashion (including the Eye, Maelstrom, warp travel, etc) that the longer they spend within those areas that they start to become one with whatever they are using the most and often.

 

In most cases during the fluff its the Chaos Marines unable to take off their armor. One point being, why would they take their armour off when they have enemies that would love to get them out of that protective shell? And that is the perfect breeding ground for the warp to subtly twist their followers to one extent or another. Another example is the driver of tanks who simply gets absorbed into it.

 

So, is it possible that the Knight Pilot could get out of his throne? Of course. But also remember how much power and such they get off such power at their hands. And that is something that chaos loves to channel hard core. It's a nice bit of writing watching and writing about that bit of transformation.

 

Another example would be the larger titans and star ship captains. Both of which are generally speaking absorbed into their thrones after a time because well...its a fight between humanity and the corrupted nation of the machines they brought into the fold of chaos.