House Cawdor

Games Portal Necromunda

A flame-hooded skull in a noose, with crossed torches: the symbol of House Cawdor

House Cawdor (also called the House of Redemption) is one of six Hive City Houses in Necromunda's Hive Primus, known for its rigid adherence to the Cult of the Redemption, though the connection to the Cult's outlawed crusades is one their leaders are careful to minimise. This mysterious House is perhaps the second most populous after House Orlock.^{1a, 2a, 2b, 3a}

Redemption

House Cawdor has dedicated itself entirely to the Redemptionist cause and the Cult has attained the status of an official religion in Cawdor uniquely among the hive's Houses, making Cawdor the stronghold of the Cult and effectively controlled by it. The unforgiving creed of the Cult demands a strict code of conduct; those who break the rules are driven away and become outlaws. The codes of their religion forbid them from showing their faces in public upon pain of death, and so the Cawdor can be recognised by the hooded jackets or heavy, elaborate masks which they wear to conceal their features, which are often quite bizarre or disturbing in design. The path of righteousness is at its purest in House Cawdor, with regular public witch hunts and mass burnings of heretics and mutants, who they are especially quick to turn on, even in the more tolerant Underhive.^{4, 1a, 2b, 2a, 5, 1b}

Pilgrim's Spire

The legend of Pilgrim's Spire is often told in House Cawdor. The dome, situated above Fall Sands, is said to have once constituted the highest pinnacle of Hive Primus in an age long gone, when a rather more devout House than Helmawr ruled, and earned the nickname Pilgrim's Spire as the most revered place of worship in the hive. The Cawdor struggle daily to recreate this vision of the hive topped by an unshakable bastion of faith.^3b

Other Houses

Cawdor attitudes to the other Houses are strongly coloured by their beliefs, seeing others who do not follow the Redemption as worthless, soulless infidels to be re-educated violently or systematically purged, and Cawdor brethren see even Redemptionists from other Houses as little better than sinners. Active Cawdor support of outlawed Redemptionists in other Houses is often supposed, and the relationship between House Cawdor and the others is strained. They are, however, on at least stable terms with House Orlock, with whom their territory borders.^{1a, 2a, 6}

Gang Style

The fiery zealots of House Cawdor are implacable righteous fighters, totally unforgiving, and prefer weapons which allow them to get close enough to their enemy to enjoy taking them down. Their heavy hoods and cowls give them the very grim look of faceless warriors with no understanding of mercy or forgiveness, and they expect none in return.^{7, 2a, 8, 2b}

Notable Cawdor

Spoiler!

This page contains spoilers for:

Outlander (Novel)

• Klovis the Redeemer, one of the most notorious Redemptor priests in the Underhive⁹
• Thane, leader of the only Cawdor gang in the Castle Rock area, and a devout and persistent preacher of the Redemptionist cause.¹⁰
• Thane's Law, an unrelated gang in the Lost Hope area.¹¹
• The Union, an underhive gang that ruled Fall Sands under the control of Redemptionist Grand Master Catafengi's cult, destroyed by Lago^3c
  • Lakatos, gang leader of the Union
  • Morden, Lakatos' trusted advisor, originally second in command of Addec's
  • Rubik, a heavy, armed with an Autocannon
  • Hengar, an older gang member
  • Antal
  • Berzel
  • Durn
  • Hargitay
  • Galamb
  • Karman
  • Todor, an all but lame ganger^3d
  • Mero, an all but blind ganger^3d
  • Lirbus
  • Deveres
  • Erket, an irritating juve, the only survivor and teller of the story of Lago's destruction of the gangs under the control of Catafengi's Helm of the Emperor cult
• Addec's gang, a gang that controlled the greater part of the Ash Bluff and Fulcrum Spike, also under the command of the Helm of the Emperor and destroyed by Lago^3e
  • Addec, an old gang leader
  • Deeran, Addec's son
• Scarlet Skulls, a third gang under the control of Catafengi's cult, with territory on the far side of Fulcrum Spike from Fall Sands, also destroyed by Lago^3e
  • Handomel, gang leader of the Scarlet Skulls, and Lago's first kill
• The Unwashed Brotherhood, a Cawdor gang in the Ironyard area¹²
  • Smelly Bob, leader of the Unwashed Brotherhood, a Nurgle cultist in disguise¹²

Trivia

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

• House Cawdor appears to be named after the real-life Scottish Clan Cawdor, made famous in Shakespeare's play Macbeth, where the eponymous anti-hero becomes Thane (Clan leader) of Cawdor at the start of the play: hence Thane and Thane's Law.
• The concept sketches of Cawdor appear to have been based on the Venators of Necromunda's predecessor Confrontation (and one of the possible gang names in "Venators"), and this influence remains in the hoods and masks (especially the executioner/torturer masks of the heavies), and nooses (such as on the House symbol and around the miniatures' waists).^2b
• The concept sketches also describe House Cawdor as a "Numerous, poor, recycling House" and "Fundamentalist House with oppressive lives".^2b

See Also

• Redemption Cult, the official religion of House Cawdor
• Outlander (Novel), which gives a sense of the day to day working of a Cawdor gang

Sources

• ¹: Necromunda Sourcebook
  • ^1a: p. 13
  • ^1b: p. 20
• ²: White Dwarf 190 (UK)
  • ^2a: p. 3
  • ^2b: p. 8
• ³: Outlander
  • ^3a: p. 207
  • ^3b: pp. 163-164
  • ^3c: p. 12
  • ^3d: p. 217
  • ^3e: p. 34
• ⁴: Outlanders Rulebook, p. 31
• ⁵: White Dwarf 191 (UK), p. 6
• ⁶: "House of Iron", Necromunda Magazine vol 2, 1, pp. 28-29
• ⁷: Nobilite Pax Imperator, Necromunda (Novel Series) (all novels, pp. 5-6)
• ⁸: Necromunda: Underhive (Living Rulebook edition), p. 79
• ⁹: Warhammer Monthly 18, p. 3
• ¹⁰: Necromunda Rulebook, p. 80
• ¹¹: Necromunda Magazine 2, pp. 30-35, inside back cover
• ¹²: White Dwarf 302 (UK), p. 92