Jargal, I'm sorry to tell you that there actually is a planet already existing in the lore that works in this way, as physically impossible as that may sound. I don't remember the name currently, although I know it appears in 5th Ed. Necrons as one of the independent Tomb Worlds. To be fair, in a setting where there exist planets with infinitely deep oceans, a Tau World composed of nothing but giant bubbles of liquid water floating in space and another that is nothing but a giant geode (see the Farsight Enclaves and marvel at the stupidity) the world described here seems tame by 40k standards.

SCKoNi, no problem, even without WH40K weirdeness you can construct such a world, my only point was that description , not an idea , contradict itself. If planet somehow works against laws of physics, even WH physics, it is worth mention in the planetary data especially if it is a planet with serious AM presence. And gravitationally bound bubbles of water in spaaaaace don't require 40k physics, btw - have you read "The Integral Trees" by Niven or "Raft" by Baxter?

*yeaaah, the science is a little unlikely, but I had more in mind that the world was sort of filled with internal gravity sticky tape that all the buildings and things are stuck on that exerts some kind of weak field. I just liked the idea that if you got on the wrong side of the ruling government they could switch the gravity off and send you plummeting off the 'surface' of the world

Vigil

Classification : Dead World

Planetary Governor : N/A

Adeptus Presence : N/A

Principal Imports : N/A

Principal Exports : N/A

Military : N/A

Geography : Vigil was once the homeworld of a xenos species who covered the whole world in delicate, elaborate ceramic cities. The xenos of Vigil died off in unknown circumstances and the world-cities have been left to slowly crumble under soft winds and rains. Vigil has an off-white appearance with darker bands, appearing to voidfarers as being akin to a bone-fashioned amulet hanging in space. The air of Vigil is breathable to humans. Vigil is ringed by orbital defensive platforms and beacons warning against entry to the Vigil System, of which Vigil is the sole planet.

History : Vigil had been dead for 5 00 ,000 years when Imperial frontier colonists established a small settlement on the surface. Colonisation was going well, with research teams digging beneath the world to find ever more complex mazes of passageways and burial catacombs containing only dust . Vigil was so-named for its lone orbit around the sun of the system. The colony was not contacted for a full decade before an Imperial supply vessel arrived to find the colony abandoned. A salvation beacon launched from the planet's surface containted a coded message warning against landing on the world and the necessity of summoning support to combat an unknown xenos menace. Storm Wardens of the Space Marines arrived to reconnoitre and were ambushed by what proved to be a huge nest of Slaugth, millions in suspended animation amid the dead belly of Vigil. The Storm Wardens were attacked first on the surface, xenos exploding through the weak and thin walls of the ancient xenos buildings. The Storm Wardens replied with their bolters, tearing huge gouts out of the world city and pulverising entire streets into powder. The Marines descended below, and spearheaded by Devastator Squadrons that demolished the underground storage chambers, terminating the Slaugth infestation at the cost of several of the Space Marines. The world was declared cleared of xenos but was surrounded by several orbital buoys to discourage visitors and prevent further settlers, just in case.

Present : No Slaugth have ever been rediscovered on Slaugth. Agents of the Ordo Xenos stayed for a while to study the debris of the Slaugth machinery but found nothing conclusive, leaving the world wholly abandoned. Vigil's warning beacons warn of dangerous and unpredictable solar activity, keeping merchants and travelers from risking a stop-off in the Vigil System.

Monrass

Classification : Feral World

Planetary Governor : Adept Governor Clodagh Eboracam, Adeptus Administratum

Adeptus Presence : Administratum and Ministorum at Tithing Station Nova-Aleph (Monrass)

Principal Exports : Grain, very occasionally

Principal Imports : Limited rations for station personnel

Military : Various Monrass warriors; Imperial Guard: Monrass regiments

Geography : This lush and verdant backwater world features diverse landscapes, from snowy peninsulas to arid deserts unspoiled by industry or exploitation. Monrass is populated by burgeoning archaic empires that predate the Angevin Crusade and have only in recent centuries mastered iron-smelting and chariot combat. Much of the population of Monrass are settled on the fertile plains and valleys of the middle continents, organised into large agrarian societies supporting a handful of stone and wood cities. Monrass has an almost wholly Terran stock of flora and fauna, with almost no xenos examples of native Monrassian lifeforms. Were it not for the differing landmasses of Monrass, the world could be described as almost perfectly earth-like. The planet’s “governor” is an Administratum satrap, sitting in an high orbital tithing station, who interferes only to occasionally levy troops and foodstuffs for the Imperium’s due, while the only other off-worlders known to the people are a handful of missionaries determined to bring the Emperor’s light to the benighted natives. Tithing Station Nova-Aleph (Monrass) is inhabited by a few hundred personnel who mainly do not interfere with the planet below.

History : Monrass was settled in ancient times by a pre-Imperial colonising mission. It is evident that Monrass has transition through several different cultural phases in its history, as determined by Imperial social historians. Monrass rejoined the Imperium after being contacted by a Rogue Trader; it is deemed to be at too low a rate of development to be exploited.

Present : Monrass is sometimes called on to raise troops for the Imperial Guard. The warriors of Monrass use ancient methods by current standard, slings, javellins, and chariots. The few units of Monrass Imperial Guard have proved fast adapters and have fought well in several campaigns. Monrass has no overall central government, but a patchwork of competing kingdoms towards the equator, as well as hundreds of cultures, many uncontacted, towards the more extreme reaches of the world. Allies on Monrass should be chosen with care amid the competing interests of tributary kingdoms, organised empires, distant tribes, and missionaries.

*yeaaah, the science is a little unlikely, but I had more in mind that the world was sort of filled with internal gravity sticky tape that all the buildings and things are stuck on that exerts some kind of weak field. I just liked the idea that if you got on the wrong side of the ruling government they could switch the gravity off and send you plummeting off the 'surface' of the world

As I have said I don't have anything against the idea, but show me AM magos who would not want to make some complicated and dangerous experiments with such interesting thing for the Quest for Knowledge and Omnissiah glory? With Opus Macharius two steps away they don't need to worry about Imperium.

SCKoNi, no problem, even without WH40K weirdeness you can construct such a world, my only point was that description , not an idea , contradict itself. If planet somehow works against laws of physics, even WH physics, it is worth mention in the planetary data especially if it is a planet with serious AM presence. And gravitationally bound bubbles of water in spaaaaace don't require 40k physics, btw - have you read "The Integral Trees" by Niven or "Raft" by Baxter?

I have not read those, but now that you mention them I will definitely take a look. Thanks for the recommendation friend.

I have not read those, but now that you mention them I will definitely take a look. Thanks for the recommendation friend.

With all pleasure :-) And if you want some really weird planetology writed by chemist and astronomer : Hal Clement: "Mission of Gravity", "Close to Critical", "Star Light" and, well, all his other texts.

Askelphion Secundus

Classification : Pleasure World

Planetary Governor : Marchioness Delphine de Ichabarrian, Hereditary nobility

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Administratum, Ministorum, and Imperial Navy and Guard personnel at Drususport; Adeptus Arbites police the Furlong Zones and keep relaxing troops and crew in order

Principal Exports : Askelphion Secundus exports some fruit, vegetables, and rare plants harvested in the forests; the Askelpion truffle is a rare and expensive find. Truffle Vodka is also made at the Secundus Special Brewery at Drususport, noted for its tart but sweet flavour.

Principal Imports : Askelphion Secundus is a little lacking in natural resources, so metal and worked items need to be imported.

Military : Askelphionite Yeomen (medium quality volunteer PDF)

Geography : The Askelpion System contains two worlds: Askelpion Primarus, a smallish Gas Giant with a dozen satellites towards Askelphion Sol, and Askelpion Secundus, a temperate rocky, watery world further out. Secundus has one moon and a few orbital platforms. The world itself consists of small island landmasses surrounding one large continent of dramatic mountain scenery and serene grassy lowlands. By Terran standards Secundus is very similar, if not more prone ot extremes of hot and cold weather. Huge cliffs and mountains mean that travel can only be conducted in vehicles capable of crossing the great peaks and loose trails. The fields of Secundus are well cultivated by farming cooperatives, independent homesteads, and bucolic villages, surrounding larger market towns and depots. Huge Land Trains carry supplies over the mountains on large scrabbling treads, bringing livestock and grain to the large cities along the banks of the St. Drusus River: Drususport is the capital, at the foot of the Askelphion Falls, containing Imperial facilities and food packaging plants; further along are Harvern, a lumber town; Gander's Break, a depot for building and maintaining Land Trains and canal haulers in large foundries; and Imperial Harbour, a zone given over to Imperial personnel or shore leave and very fast and decadent by Askelphionite standards, as well as a major fishing port. Other licentious zones are found around natural hot springs, desert island resorts, and winter retreats to the far north and south. Huge cruise ships also circulate the world's oceans. Askelpion Secundus does have several xenos wildlife predators, but none larger than a human, with several of the fierce dog-sized ursine-like creatures kept as pack animals by Askelphionite squires for hunting.

History : Askelphion Secundus was being used as an outpost by a coalition of human and xenos raiders when the Imperium entered the system. The Imperials moved into the system in force, but were only 2 weeks into the campaign when the first great counter push by the Adranti had begun, and Drusus's forces were ordered elsewhere. Drusus assigned a single regiment to stay behind on the world, the Ichabarr 793rd Mechanised under Colonel Sicarro, a light scout vehicle regiment from the capital world of the Ixaniad Sector. Over many months the scouts used their bikes, buggys, and light armoured vehicles to harass and sabotage the pirate installations, assassinating pirate leaders, and recruiting local Askelpionites into guerilla cadres. The campaign culminated in the daring infiltration and capture of the world's Orbital Traffic Control Station, directing several pirate vessels to crash into each other or the outer atmosphere by giving them incorrect coordinates. The remainder were shot down with orbital turrets and the pirate forces on the ground were cornered and wiped out. The pirate fleet arrived and bulk and were laying siege to the world when a large Imperial force under Drusus returned. The world was saved, and in gratitude Drusus granted it to the survivors of the Ichabarr 793rd by Right of Settlement, who have remained its lords ever since.

Present : Askelpion Secundus was slowly rebuilt after the return of Imperial power to the region. The Ichabarrians desired nothing more than to settle in the cool forests and warm sunny plains and develop primarily farming communities with a slow pace of life. Drususport is the capital of Askelphion Secundus, a clean, modern city built at the foot of the Falls of Askelpion, a huge waterfalls flowing-over the rock-strewn moorlands. A great shrine to Saint Drusus is built behind the waterfall, reachable only at certain seasons when the water runs flow and the whole population of the city gathers within to celebrate at the altar of relics contained within. Askelphion Secundus is settled principally by native Askelphionites, short, stocky, and tanned, and Ichabarrians, tall, pale, and dark-haired. Many families have inter-married and there are now few villages or communities that contain exclusively either. Drususport is linked to a small space station, around which are based several facilities belonging to the strategic arms of the Imperial Guard and Navy, as well as training facilities and weapons testing ranges. The world is a popular site for training Imperial officers and intelligence analysts, as well as new Ministorum clergy and Administratum officials. Due to its status as a Pleasure World Askelpion Secundus also receives Imperial Guard regiments and Navy crews given a relaxation furlong from the front; special zones the world are set aside exclusively for off-worlders and contain many fast and exciting new towns that have sprung up full of diversions. The people of Askelphion Secundus are highly pious and celebrate a multitude of Saints Days, including some very ancient ones imported from the world of Ichabarr. Marchioness de Ichabarrian rules the world from the PaterGloria Palace on the outskirts of Drususport Region, a large estate containing forests full of game, sunny orchards, and carefully tended gardens. Askelphion Secundus has a classically slow Pleasure World pace of life, and is quietly out of the way of most dangerous phenomena in the Calixis Sector.

Opus Macharius

Classification : Forge World

Planetary Governor : Fabricator Locum Kyren Reglith , Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Presence : Mechanicus Skitarii, Legio Venator Titan Legion

Principal Exports : Heavy armaments, components for Titan field repair

Principal Imports : Raw materials

Military : Skitarii Legions, Legio Venator Titan Legion

Geography : Opus Macharius is a nightworld, a permanently dark freezing desert of glittering black and grey sand dunes reaching large polar caps, with no breathable atmosphere. Huge trailing pipelines cross the entire world's surface, bringing water from the poles as well as promethium from a few active wells. Underground are the facilities of the Adeptus Mechanicus, gigantic carved spaces filled with tightly packed machine shops, foundries, and worker's habitation blocks. The winding tunnels of Opus Macharius's machine cities lead to the Vaults of the God-Emperor, huge natural caverns converted into Titan workshops. Huge cranes and platforms can raise Titans to the surface through the exertion of hundreds of thousands of human and servitor operators. The world of the Vaults is wholly self-contained, with the human toilers above not even aware they sit atop a Titan manufacturing and repair facility, and that the parts and munitions they produce are part of the Mechanicus's endeavour to keep the machine's operative. The surface contains huge open firing ranges and obstacle courses; the workers below feel the steps of the mighty God-Engines, and make-up stories to explain the huge footfalls that shake and vibrate their apartments. The Mountain of the Omnissiah is a great peak about ten times the size of Holy Terra's ancient Mt. Everest, and within its walls contains the hollowed-out sacred Chapel of the Omnissiah, a huge chapel where the Titans can ascend from the depths and stand several abreast to hear the stirring rhetoric of Fabricator Locum Reglith. The world contains a number of orbital platforms and facilities. A fleet of bloated mass cargo conveyors are located in orbit, the only vehicles capable of lifting the God-Machines.

History : The Legio Venator were crucial to the final victory of the Angevin Crusade: the list of conflicts is hallowed and glorious: the Scouring of the Adranti Nebula; the Yu'vath War; the Liberation of the Blood Worlds of the Bale Childer . The world was granted to the Adeptus Mechanicus by order of the Calixian governate, who stipulated the world be renamed Opus Macharius in honour of the great Imperial hero.

Present : Opus Macharius is a silent, cold planet. The only sounds are the great echoing footsteps of the titans or the earth-shattering booms of weapons fire testing. Once a century Opus Macharius actually produces a new titan for addition to the Legio Venator , the cause for great festivals and celebrations in the workers' hab levels. The ruler of Opus Macharius is Fabricator Locum Kyren Reglith, once a former high princeps of the ancient and venorated Imperator- class Emperor Titan T ranquillitas in Igne before its loss in the Margins Crusade in the Quicksilver Bight campaign. Reglith was one of the last survivors of the abandoned Crusade to ever return to the Imperium: he lives on in a vita-tank, shackled to systems that support his torn, broken body. Reglith silently rages against the folly of the Crusade that wiped out so many glorious machines and feels remorse for the loss of his kindred titan. Reglith takes immense pride in sending the Legio Venator to war filled with pious fury and admonishing hatred delivered at his sermons. Opus Macharius is located in a region of wildspace, reported to be home to pirates and Orks. The opportunities for blooding new princeps are often common and from time to time the full Legion has been called out to smite an invasion.

Reglith was one of the last survivors of the abandoned Crusade to ever return to the Imperium

But the Achilus Crusade is going right now in Jericho Reach or am I musunderstood something about DH/DW timelines?

D'oh, I meant the Margins Crusade.

Lacusta

Classification : Feral World

Planetary Governor : Grand Master Osk Skaediel, Knights of the Scale Grand Templar

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Ministorum chapel, some Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Administratum orbital station

Principal Exports : Very little, some crop production

Principal Imports : Some items of high technology for Lacusta Station

Military: True Sworn (medium tribal PDF), Bridle Sworn (low quality tribal PDF), Kn ights of the Scale (high quality heavy cavalry PDF): Imperial Guard: Lacustan Windriders

Geography : Lacusta consists of several large rocky continents and hot, stormy oceans. Lacusta's gravity is considerably lower than Holy Terra's, allowing strange developments in plant and animal life. The predominant continent of Lacusta is called Homomsh, a large jungle-covered expanse of steaming swamps, rocky canyons, and areas of vicious quicksand. The jungles of Homomsh breed over-sized insects and reptiles. Southern Homomsh runs into large fields of growing plants, extremely tall edible reeds grown in spawning bogs. The periodic swarms of giant locust-like xenoforms gave this world its name; megaswarms consists of tens of thousands of individuals that can strip a field in minutes or a human in a few minutes more. The reeds of the south are vital for the survival of the jungle dwelling human tribes: great expeditions are organised that incorporate many skills and challenges that embrace the normal risks of disease, accident and devourment, as well as they darkening clouds of insectoid omnivores. Lacusta has other landmasses that are less habitable, hotter towards the equator or colder towards the poles. Hamashaa is the capital of Homomsh and Lacusta, a stone keep cut into the crags of a mountain range that rises from the jungle. It is here that the Knights of the Scale can be found, trainers and riders of the raptor-riding order. Pages are identified and inducted into the order at an early age, and spend their younger years mastering the raptor, a large lizard-like beast dwelling in the central swamps. The Knights are the rulers of Lacusta: they keep the peace between the Hamashaa Federation and the Lacustan League, the other nations around the fringes of the the central continent, patrolling the border lands and hunting bandits. Hamashaa was cut from natural rivulets in the rock and many of these have been turned into tall winding towers through which the wind blows; Windrider Keep is the seat of the Knights of the Scale and this is where the Grand Master dwells. Out in the jungles humans live in fortified wood and stone palisade surrounded villages, at risk from predators and the environment. Lacustan League states are perhaps more 'modern' but are located in cold and wet or hot and arid extremes, and rarely have much to do with Imperial contact. Lacustan's typical grown tall and rangy, requiring minor surgery to adjust themselves to worlds with differing environments. In the deep jungles there are the vine grown remains of xenos ruins, largely empty and uninhabited but for large arachnids and insects.

History : Lacusta was home to a large reptilian species that built large stone pyramids in the deep jungles of Lacusta capable of focusing concentrated energy on ships in orbit. Several Imperial scout ships of General Drusus's fleet were took down this way, some crash landing out to sea and allowing a few survivors to begin settling the margins of the world. The technologically advanced reptilian xenos proved difficult for the Imperium to conquer: it was not until the 4th Conquest of Lacusta that Black Templars were able to unpick the resilient defenders, who fled into space and escaped the wrath of the Imperium. Colonists were transported from overburdened worlds in the Scarus and Ixaniad Sectors, many from Feral Worlds who chose a life in the jungles. Tensions emerged between the Margin Dwellers descended from the first shipwreck survivors, and the peoples of Homomsh as the main continent became known. At some point the world fell out of Imperial contact and all-out war erupted between the Homomshian and Lacustan League forces. The Knights of the Scale evolved from the landed gentry who wished to protect their possessions. When the Imperium returned the 25 Years War had placed the Knights of the Scale as Lacusta's undisputed military masters.

Present : Lacusta is a fairly vibrant, interesting world: there is much here for Imperial biologists to study in terms of animal and plant-life, as there is for Imperial sociologists to study in its human populations. Border Wars are frequent between communities that come into contact with each other. The Knights of the Scale direct all military affairs of Homomsh and will more than likely eventually extend their dominance over the entire planet. The use of certain symbols and icons suggest that the Black Templars had an influence on the founding of the Knights, though this is not clear. Lacustan Windrider regiments are organised on this world, drawing from experienced Knights, members of the Lacustan nobility and the True Sworn warrior bands of the borders. Lacustans ride their reptile charges into battle, requiring both minor surgery for the riders and their charges, to make them suited to different climates and environments, and training in modern military technology and tactics. The Windriders are best suited to combat on hot worlds, which has made them suited to being deployed on the planets the Tau of the Jericho Reach favour colonising. Grandmaster Skaediel joined the Lacustan 1st Windriders fourty years ago on their first campaign on the Achilus Crusade and remains in the Reach still, commanding his troops and harrying Tau supply lines and settlements. The world is ruled in his stead by a Templar Council, lacking in some regards the audacity and far sight of their commander and leaving more and more Homomshian settlements unguarded to League raiders through inactivity.

Archaos

Classification : Hive World

Planetary Governor : ArchHeirophant Otakello Muhrer, Archaosian Collegum Elect

Adeptus Presence : Full Adeptus presence, as well as an Astra Telepathica choir at the Tower of Screeds

Principal Exports : Achaos produces a large range of manufactured items for use across the Calixis Sector, as well as specialising in the production of agrarian and construction implements and vehicles

Principal Imports : Raw materials, particularly metal and fuel

Military : Archaosian Scholars Guard (medium quality PDF); Imperial Guard: Archaosian Hoplites

Geography: Archaos consists mostly of rocky islands a world-encompassing ocean. The oceans of Archaos are tainted with chemicals that make the seas and atmosphere uninhabitable to humans and Terran wildlife. Archaos has five hives located on the islands, tall monolithic slabs sealed against the outside atmosphere and cutting down into the ground. Archaos has a number of orbital stations that handle the impo r t and export of material. Each of the hives is governed and ruled by a different Collegum, the bodies that decide the philosophical doctrine of the hive populace. Each hive orders itself in subtly different ways according to their philosophy: the Collegum Xenorum for instance orientates itself like a standard hive world; whereas the Collegum Subterranea place their underhives near the surface and their nobility in the underground depths. The seas of Archaos are frequently wracked by storms, leaving the Philosophers' Navy to ply the routes between islands as best they can. Hive Xenorum is the current capital of the world, as the capital changes with the election of the Collegum ArchHeirophant. Xenorum focuses on science and space and is unusual in its lack of major heavy industry. The Contemplative Alliance consists of Hive Subterranea and Hive Schola, the first a major industrial producer and the second used for training Disputors. Hive Bannecyr and Hive Rhetorik are minor hives, focused on the specifics of manufacturing and scholary dispute. Alliances and power groups shift slowly on Archaos, with only the fre e-sails of the Philosophers' Navy outside the grip of the Collegums. Archaos has many of the problems most Hive Worlds have with over-population, wildlife, pollution, and warfare. As many Archaosians think nothing of their harsh, uninhabitable world, they are very acquiescent about slowly filling the seas with chemical run-off and toxic waste.

History: The island nations of Archaos were ruled by what could be called Philosopher Kings, rulers at the heads of great conjoined dynasties of warriors and scholars. The kings would wage warfare according to their need to establish niche points of philosophical dispute, sometimes legitimately and other times simply for the purposes of raising. The Imperial fleets of General Drusus arrived and met no resistance: Drusus elevated the most powerful Philosopher King to Planetary Governor and left a Cardinal of the Ministorum to instill the proper religious doctrine. At some time in its later development Archaos was poisoned by the infiltrators of the Empire of Brass, forcing humanity to retreat to underground survival vaults. The close proximity of the rich Archaosian philosophy and the the fervour of the Imperial Creed produced wars of fanaticism in the narrow confines of the vaults. Afterwards Archaos received investment from the worlds of the Golgenna Reach and became a large Hive World, although the tainted atmosphere could never be cleared. Each surviving vault became a Collegum, a powerful clan organisation that married philosophy and religion to produce a syncretic religion unique to the Hive World. The underground of Archaos contains some natural iron and other metals, just enough for the world to become profitable.

Present: Archaos is organised into five hives and hive clans called Collegums. Each Collegum evolved differently in its own environment, with a slight amount of heresy to each. Collegum Xenorum sees the Emperor as an expression of galactic and not simply human will, an embodiment of destiny; Collegum Subterranea argues Holy Terra is the fulcrum of the universe, and it is the destiny of all Subterraneanists to one day make pilgrimage to Terra; Collegum Schola believes in isolation as the only route to enlightenment, and quietly focus on farming sub-hive kelp nurseries; Collegum Bannecyr look to Archaos's ancient history for inspiration and worship that last Philosopher King Bannecyr the Tyrant as an Imperial Saint; Collegum Rhetorik encourage lively dispute involving all possibly relevant facts, and send their agents across the sector for new and intriguing arguments. Each Collegum is in dispute with the other, with temporary alliances appearing and disappearing, for instance the current Contemplative Alliance of Subterranea and Schola. The inhabitants of each hive are experts of their own sect and the arguments and counterarguments of the world's other sects, garnering them the reputation of "philosophers" across the sector, though they are quite ignorant of most galactic affairs. Each hive populace works for the supremacy of their Collegum and its arguments, indeed the Imperial Creed here is known as the Holy Argument. ArchHeirophants are imposed by the Imperium and a largely sham council of Collegum representatives, in order for the Imperium to imposes a little control. The Philosophers' Navy is the only force not bound by philosophy, free-sailors who must stand outside the hives in tracked-subs that haul supplies and personnel between the hives along the ocean floor. Besides the Collegums there are hundreds of minor sects, each allied with the larger Collegum of their hive. Usually only tithe production is used to measure competition, but Wars of Screed are not uncommon. Archaos is naturally highly confusing for outsiders. Archaos contributes Imperial Guard regiments known as 'Hoplites' after the warrior brethren of the ancient Philosopher Kingdoms. Each Hoplite regiment is drawn from a different Collegum, with recruits selected on the basis of skill at philosophical dispute. Archaosian regiments typically do not serve with each other if they are of a differing hive as conflict becomes likely; however conflict is usually in the form of contests of rhetoric and disputation, which for most Imperial Commanders is perfectly acceptable.

Thical

Classification : Hive World

Planetary Governor : Governess Feron Jaakatai-Sils, Hive Oligarchy (Tresgothika)

Adeptus Presence : H eavier than usual Arbites presence, Astra Telepathica choir at Hive Tresgothika

Principal Exports : The usual exports from a Hive World, weapons and heavy machines

Principal Imports : Raw materials to supplement Thical's stores of resources

Military : Thical PDF (medium quality) Lawgivers (medium quality) ; Imperial Guard: Thicalite Lifeguards

Geography: Thical is a a heavy gravity world towards the interior of the Thical System. Almost all of Thical's natural resources, mineral, ore, water, topsoil, atmosphere, have been stripped away to feed this ancient world's voracious industries. The hives of Thical are squat, low-to-the-ground structures, more like pyramids than the usual tower s. Hive Tresgothika is the capital, a steepled structure entirely covered in cl i nging hab units and manufactorums. Tresgothika is home to over 1 7.5 billion people alone; there are seven more hives on Thical. Most of Thical is a churned-up, deserted wasteland, some of it tainted with deadly toxins and industrial waste. The fringes of the Thical badlands are home to impoverished former mining and manufacturing towns, now mainly re-purposed to waste-processing. Strange, mutated fauna and flora are found in the deep country of the Thicalite badlands. Each Thical hives is home to a House of Law, the immense bodies tasked with overseeing and persecuting the world's jumble of complex laws and customs. Thical has several moons and numerous orbital facilities. The Thical Underworld is a partially abandoned underground space of tunnels and vaults now entirely filled with Mutant Towns, who make up the real workforce of Thical.

History: Thical was won at great cost: the world was held by human pirate raiders and suffered several large scale Ork attacks before it was claimed by the Imperium. Thical was exploited and then over-exploited by a huge build-up of industry. Thical is all but used up, with miners and surface harvesters now striking the last veins of minerals and arable fields. Thical's main asset now is to its tens of billions of population: colonists for Frontier Worlds, settlers for warzones, and troops and voidfarers for the Imperial Guard and Navy.

Present : Thical has exi s ted since the mid-point of the Angevin Crusade, and has accrued a huge and confusing backlog of ancient laws and customs. Life on Thical requires an instinctive understanding of thousands of laws to bypass social faux pas, fines, and incarceration. Those who find life on Thical too restricting frequently join the Thicalite Lifeguards in their thousands, along with thousands more indentured workers. The forges of Thical can outfit mechanised, armoured, and artillery regiments, as well as elite units raised from the factions of the House of Law. The House of Law is almost the highest authority on Thical, second only to the Adeptus Arbites, its Lawgivers far outnumbering the enforcers and judges on the world: friction between the House and the Arbites is nearly constant. The 20th-50th regiments of the Thicalite Lifeguard are recruited ex c lusively from the Lawgiver ranks, including the famed 21st Lifeguard (Faction of Iron), 28th Armoured (Faction of Gold), and the 43rd Mechanised (Faction of Opal). Thical is located in an unstable pocket of space, and often Ork and human raiders have been found lurking at the system's fringe. Cardinal Kregory Hauser's Archdiocese of the Drusus Marches is located here, at the Opulent Porte attached to Hive Tresgothika, banded by huge artificial gravity drives that maintain a Terran-normal gravity. Thical is such a productive world because it has a huge mutant population endlessly toiling in underground factories; the gravity and pollution of Thical produce strange mutants, but most still swearing loyalty to the Imperium. Offworlders who visit Thical frequently find themselves thrown into the gaol within hours, sentenced for breaking one of Thical's more obscure bylaws. Prisoners are usually assigned to Penal Battallions sent to the Thical Underworld on pacification missions against Mutant Towns that no longer respond to Imperial control. Underworld campaigns are known for their draining brutality; veterans of the endless Underground War frequently become important figures in the Thicalite Lifeguard, Ministorum, or Lawgivers.

Lo

Classification: Hive World

Planetary Governor: Fydor Falix, 47th Royalist Emperor, hereditary lineage

Adeptus Presence: Less than is normal on a Hive World of Lo's size, worringly few of either the Arbites or Ministorum. An Astra Telepathica choir sits at Lo Minoris, an orbiting Dead World moon that relays messages up from LoHive's sole astropath.

Principal Exports: Processed food, chemicals, coral trinkets

Principal Imports: Repair items

Military: Lo Hive Guard (various low-medium-high quality PDF) Imperial Guard: Lo Abyssals

Geography: Lo is an Ocean World, a misty blue globe covered in 99% water . The ocean floors of Lo are home to several hive cities, conjoined modular structures resting on natural plateaus of solid rock with links to the surface. The hives of Lo are linked by regular submersible shuttles and pressurised depth crawlers. The depths of Lo are completely dark and are locally known as the Abyss. The hives of the abyss are fairly well regulated and controlled, as not too many disasters can be allowed to occur in a sealed environment below the crushing water pressure. Each Loese hive has become very distinct in its culture due to isolation: LoHive is the designated capital, the most culturally Imperial, and home to the court of the Neptunian line. Lo is home to many Loese species of flora and fauna, most of them evolved along completely divergent lines to Terran life; each Lo hive has huge and costly facilities for purifying drinking water and decontaminating captured wildlife, solely to feed the hive populations. The oceanic landscape of Lo is dramatic, from misty, stormy surface waters to deep oceanic trenches, lava-spewing volcanoes, and great subterranean mountain ranges. Legends abound of the Flooded Hives, lost centuries ago, and of xenos civilizations and strange, gigantic beasts clustered around thermal vents. Lo has a moon, Lo Minoris, an airless rock with a few facilities of the Administratum placed upon it. Ascending and descending to the Abyss is a fairly difficult and arduous task, leaving Lo quite isolated.

History: Lo was settled in pre-Imperial times by humans who arrived in a great generation ship that crash-landed in the Lo world ocean. The Loese would later claim they were descendants of colonists from the planet Neptune in the Sol System. The Neptunian Emperors have claimed this lineage ever since and have filled their history with many stories of Neptunian myths and legends. Calixians authorities very much doubt the people of Lo originated from the Sol System, but it is a matter of pride for the Loese that their people were personally known to the Emperor . When the Imperium arrived during the Angevin Crusade they found that the Lo hives had f allen into disrepair and dissolution: some of the hives had seemingly vanished altogether. Records are sealed of what occurred during Drusus's reclamation campaign and what the Imperium encountered in the abyss, but fragmentary records suggest a civilization of abhuman Homo sapiens oceanus , "Pelagers", had become a threat to baseline humans, and were beaten in a short but tough undersea war. Lo was thenceforth repaired sufficiently to become a productive Imperial hive world and settled by humans from the core worlds of the surrounding systems .

Present: Lo is a somewhat integrated Imperial world; its unique situation means that its hives are not as exploited as other above-water Hive Worlds. There are about 12 billion Loese located in eight hive cities, with LoHive pre-eminent as the Neptunian lineage seat. There are a few smaller habitats, refueling stations along submarine routes, drilling rigs, and prospector modules scanning the oceans for signs of useful minerals. The abyss is home to much human wreckage from crashed subs to the gargantuan remains of Ko sto u , a hive module cluster that explosively depressurized in the far past and left is remains strewn over the plain . It is said out beyond the abyssal plain, the coral clusters, and the mountains, are the Lost Hives, or Flooded Hives, completely water-filled environments inhabited by abhumans genetically modified to survive the Loese depths. Few Loese have ever left the plateaus or plains to see beyond the great mountains that ring the Ayssal Plain, and even fewer have returned. Coral forests, monstrous sea beasts, and ancient ruins are just some the stories prospectors bring back of the Outer Abyss.

Lo raises Imperial Guard regiments known as the Abyssals: some are toughened hive gangers from underfloor hive levels; others are specialised marine troopers drawn from the coral farmers and submarine crews, trained in the arts of undersea conflict; others are mechanised units, trained to fight using Lo-pattern submersible vehicles. The Abyssals raise almost the entirety of regiments in the Calixis Sector that can be deployed for undersea warfare (the bulk of Abyssals regiments fight as regular infantry above ground: 3 3 of Lo's 100 standing regiments are underwater trained), and often find themselves working alongside the Adeptus Mechanicus and Adeptus Astartes, advising with their specialised knowledge and assisting in assaults . 10 regiments of Lo Abyssals joined with the Deathwatch at Iyan's Deep, a minor planetary body of the Polyphemos System in the Jericho Reach, to repel Tyranid invaders. In recent years the Kasballica bought its way into the local government of Lo, with several of its princes rising to head the Lo hive gangs and organise raider fleets with fellow Kasballica princes.

Laskin

Classification : Hive World

Planetary Governor : Rear-Admiral Yosefina Baldr, Imperial Navy

Adeptus Presence : Imperial Navy, plus all the usual plus an Astra Telepathica choir at Hive Bandaghar .

Principal Exports: Supplies for Imperial Navy ships, plus a handful of ships constructed in the orbital dockyards

Principal Imports : Food, raw materials

Military : Laskin Levies (medium PDF); Imperial Guard: Laskinian regiments

Geography: Laskin has the appearance of being a very Terra-like world, the 3rd planet out from the Laskin sun. Laskin has a variety of environments, from dry deserts to green jungles, cloudy mountains, and crystal clear seas. The Laskin hives are placed in churned up bare plains where mineral and metal resources have been brutally extracted. The hives of Laskin form their own states with their own subsidiary farming collectives, waste processing reservoirs, and mining camps. Laskin has ten hives, supporting a population of 20 billion inhabitants. Hive Bandaghar sits on an isthmus of land between two landmasses and connects to the Melyn Lagoon, a huge spaceport and shipyard. Laskin is surrounded by space stations, docks, defence platforms, and dozens of waiting Imperial Navy ships. Hive Sender has been slowly emptied of its population and demolished due to lingering taint of heretical events years ago.

History: Laskin was a xenos-occupied world that fell to an Imperial assault into the south of the Drusus Marches. The world became known as Port Laskin for Rear-Admiral Laskin, and was the site for a Naval repair station and training base. Following the Adranti Nebula and Hazeroth Abyss campaigns billions of refugees left the devastated subsectors; Port Laskin was nominated as a resettlement site for Adrantian and Hazerothi an refugees, and within a few short years had become a large Hive World known simply as Laskin. The Laskinians still maintained a lot of the world's links with the Imperial Navy, and it became a major recruiting ground for ship's crews and armsbearers.

Present: Laskin is a primary level recruiter for the Imperial Navy, supplying millions of armsbearers and voidfarers to crew and protect Imperial ships. Laskin currently has enough pastures and mineral resources to be reasonably self-sufficient; the Laskinians have many diverse cultures, hailing from many different worlds, but seem to get along reasonably well besides the rare inter-hive skirmish. Laskin raises Imperial Guard regiments, as do all Hive Worlds of its size: the Laskinians have no particular reputation, being regarded as fairly average soldiers. Laskin is more Navy-orientated (it is even governed by an official of the Imperial Navy, though the rank is more or less ceremonial ), so its training of Imperial Guard has lagged behind. Notably the Laskinian 17th under General Pillai have made a name for themselves in the Jericho Reach campaign, winning a world for right of settlement in the Polyphemos System. Hive Sender was struck by an outbreak of heresy that cost thousands of lives when the assassin known as "Seraph" weaved a campaign of bloody destruction. The evil left in Sender was lingering, and the population was evacuated to other hives, with Sender itself slowly being demolished and re-purposed for its materials.

Zel System

Classification : Zel Primus (unclassified), Zel Secundus (Death World), Zel Tertius (Frontier World)

Planetary Governor : Landgrave Evenhuys Merkator-Alexxis, Adeptus Administratum

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Mechanicus observatory beyond Secundus near Zel Sol, Administratum upon Secundus, and a large range upon Tertius

Principal Exports : Ores and minerals from Zel Secundus; food from Tertius (temporarily ceased)

Principal Imports : Building materials

Military : Zel Recuits (medium quality PDF, Secundus), Rifles of Zel (low quality PDF, Tertius)

Geography: Zel Primus : This world is unclassified and has never been visited by the Imperium. Zel Primus is a phantom, hypothetical world: according to readings by the Adeptus Mechanicus of Zel Sol the system should have three planets rather than the apparently two. Zel Primus is the name for a theoretical object somewhere within the system that would explain this odd gravitational anomaly; nothing physical of this world has ever been discovered.

Zel Secundus : Sufficiently described elsewhere.

Zel Tertius : Zel Tertius is a tropical world of large continents covered in long grass, jungles, and swamps. Zel Tertius is known for its very deep and wide river canyons, within which the human settlers have established wall-clinging habitations and laboratories, slowly developing into larger hive complexes built around large hydroelectric dams . Zel Tertius has its share of deadly predators and diseases, but has a very amenable atmosphere and plentiful food supplies.

History : The Zel System's location was uncovered in the wreck of an Adeptus Mechanicus scout ship found abandoned on the fringes of the Rubycon II System, possibly spewed out of the Koronous Maw Passage. Zel Secundus and Tertius proved very good sites to establish colonies, and the mystery of the gravitational fluctuations led to the Adeptus Mechanicus lavishing supplies and wealth on the system in order to uncover the mystery of "Zel Primus". Secundus experienced limited settlement due to its harsh environment, but a colony of several thousand thrived utilising Tertius's mighty rivers to generate hydroelectric electricity.

Present: The Adeptus Mechanicus maintain a large observatory platform near Zel Primus: they do not concern themselves with the doings of the wider system and only care for their stellar investigations. Princess Eiredor of Lanche was the governor of the Zel System, ruling from the Palace of Reeds on Lanche, Zel Tertius, before that world fell out of Imperial contact. Landgrave Merkator-Alexxis of Zel Secundus is a middling, unimaginative functionary appointed from a mid-ranking noble family from Solomon; he has no skill for commanding the fighting needed to recover Tertius. Recently, it has been the site of work by the arch-heretek Sar Resque, whose engineered mutating plagues have spread throughout the Marches. Mutants are upon the world of Zel Tertius, seen in the wildlands where there should only be loyal Imperial settlers of verified genes and purity. Imperial Guard veterans, deployed from the fearful hives, have discovered that communities are deserted, littered with contagious, twisted corpses and burned shrines. Mutants moan in the dark places beyond, tended dutifully by a pair of Transfigured twins. Deep within a cavern laboratorium, wizened biologis adepts and gun-servitors are doing the will of Resque. Zel Recruits from Secundus have been spared to aid the Rifles of Zel, but following the Raid on Lanche and the abduction of the royal household by mutant raiders there is now no option but to request aid from the Imperium. There are presently very few Imperial troops available to liberate Tertius, so second line troops and penal regiments will be very likely deployed.

Tygress System

The Tygress System was home to a mini-xenos empire that resisted Imperial attacks for a whole decade before sufficient forces could be spared from other campaigns to take the Tygressian worlds. The distinctive striped pattern of the outer hulls of Tygressian warships gave the system its name, as it vaguely resembled the patterning of a mythical beast of Terran ancient history. The worlds of Tygress were not especially profitable or amicable to human life, which is why they remain undeveloped. The system is ruled from a heavily populated orbital station called the Gilt Palace, a huge flat discus named for its painstakingly gold-leaf covered exterior, orbiting the 'collapsed' world of Tygress IV. The station was hauled from the distant Ixaniad Sector and contained the whole of House Molinari and their retainers. Tygress has been a relatively quiet corner of the Drusus Marches. Tygress V is a candidate to become a Shrine World pending approval, as it was the site of Drusus's first post-resurrection military engagement. Pratark Tiber Molinari is the Planetary Governor of Tygress IV and of the wider Tygress System, ruling from the dusty and gloomy halls of his ancestral palace .

Tygress I

Classification : Frontier World

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Mechanicus

Principal Exports : Sulphates, phosphates, magnesium, significant exporter to trans-Tygressian industries

Principal Imports : Ration powder, water, tools, mechanical parts, filtration units

Military : Security Brigades (low quality), Tygress PDF (medium quality)

Geography : Tygress I was an uninhabited Dead World, a planet of boiling liquid metal that cooled as it drifted from the Tygressian binary suns. The cooling left many natural caves and crevices, and pockets of rare chemicals and metal ores.

History : The Adeptus Mechanicus helped turn the world into a profitable Mining World by filling the natural caverns with air and sealing them, allowing miners to move in and colonise the enormous, glittering caves. Tygress I gained a reputation as a Death World, saturated with radiation and subject to searing heat from eternally combusting internal chemical fires. The impregnability of the metallic structure of Tygress I meant that expansion was impossible and the airated spaces became overcrowded and contaminated with disease. The average life of an inhabitant of Tygress I dropped to a figure in the low twenties, excluding the Mechanicus techpriests who enthusiastically replaced their flesh with biomechanical components. The cult known as the Living began forming around miners who exceeded the average life expectancy, some said by means of prayers to the dark gods. The rumours of cult activity did not penetrate beyond Tygress I and problems were exacerbated when the Gilt Edge Palace began emptying its penal institutions and transporting the inmates to indentured work on Tygress I. The uprising of the Living, or the Sinners' Plague as it was known in the wider Calixis Sector, began with the slaughter of every Mechanicus personnel rioting miners could find. After the Tygress PDF were massacred without leading their bases, the rebel leaders of the Living directed their followers to commit suicide en masse, promising them resurrection and eternal life. As blood splashed on the rippled metallic cavern walls, the dead did indeed begin to rise, as slavering Plague Zombies of Nurgle. A joint force of Tygress PDF, Maccabian Janissaries, Adepta Sororitas, and Ordo Hereticus arrived to hunt the Living cult leaders, opening the great combi-locks to find the caverns had become vaults of the living dead. An unknown Inquisitor and Battle Sister Canonness were responsible for slaying the Living cult leaders, now enormously bloated and distended plague daemons of Nurgle organically melded to their mining machinery. Tygress I was completely cleansed with an acceptable loss of 50% of forces, with the survivors dispatched on the far Margins Crusade to suppress the true horrific nature of the Sinners' Plague becoming known. The world of Tygress I lied empty and silent for hundreds of years and h as only now being recolonised by Tygressians, all currently dwelling within the refurbished Cavern of Walls mining facility. The Tygressians have begun limited extraction operations, exploring the deep veins of Tygress I's twisting, boiling interior. The problems of mortality have begun to return to Tygress within a generation of resettlement, and strange hazy visions of a welcoming paternal Emperor and marching legions of the dead have been reported by miners who have passed out from heat stroke whilst working deep below ground.

Present: The Cavern of Walls is accessed by a complex series of locks and seals that connects to a very limited space port, irregularly visited by freighters and resupply vessels from Tygress IV. The Cavern itself is a space several miles across with structures, including immense air filtration towers, built on top of a shiny plateau of metals laid over with rockcrete. Hundreds of tunnels and chemical veins stretch off to connect to other, uninhabited caverns, or are filled with the junk and wreckage the new colonists cleared away to build their settlement. The population of Tygress I is currently only a few thousand, a fraction of the millions who once toiled and died here. Tygress I's local PDF are poorly equipped Security Brigades, more for internal repression, and a squad of Tygress PDF, penal troopers sentenced to a slow death on the sadistic planet. A small conclave of Adeptus Mechanicus is based in the Cavern of Walls as well as within the airless exterior superstructure of the great locks.

Tygress II

Classification : Frontier World

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Administratum

Principal Exports : Food, mainly fruits and vegetables

Principal Imports : Raw materials

Military : Tygess PDF (medium quality)

Geography : Tygress II is a world that is mostly barren with very little surface water. The deserts of Tygress II were once fertile plains until soil erosion and drought turned them into vast, hard, rocky slabs, uninhabited by animal or plant life. Tygress II however does possess a coastline along its central continent more supportive of life; it is the Tygressian coastline that exhibits the most remarkable and singular architecture anywhere in the system. The cities of the coast are integrated with local plant and vegetable life, living farm habitats constructed from organic cellulose and set in the low tidal basins of the Jagged Coast. The buildings of Tygress II contain internal farming spaces and are coated in light-absorbing solar panels. Tall hab blocks are sculpted, or grown, rather than constructed in any typical sense. Molinarople is the capital of Tygress II and sits atop a large hydroelectrical tidal dam at the lip of Governor's B a y, looking from afar more like a small copse of trees and tall plants than a city. Deep in the deserts of Tygress II can be found, under the scorching binary suns, the baked remains of xenos citadels that predate the Imperium's arrival. The discovery of mass graves within the curved, smoothstone cities and the fragmentary nature of much of the remains suggests the large nematoidal race that dwelled here were wiped out by the Tygressians along with a once lush jungle bioshpere. A handful of researchers have so far pieced together very little about this extinct, species.

History : Tygress II was once home to a wormlike nematoidal species that built large spiralling cities in what was then lush jungle territory. It has been postulated the movement of extendable mouthparts allowed the herbivorous species to manipulate their environment and build structures, tools, and vehicles (the design and use of which confuses Imperial researchers who have found them). The inhabitants of Tygress II and their world were devastated by Tygressian marauders, and the world without the regurgitation efforts of the nemotoidals began to desertify and decay. Imperial colonists set up a colony along the fringes of the surviving coastal jungles, utilising experimental techniques of construction and power generation from natural sources such as toughened cellulose for building matters and tidal dams for power. It is projected that within two hundred years efforts can begin to replant the bulk of Tygress II's main continent and turn Tygress II into an exemplar Agri World.

Present : Molinarople and its cities are all attended to by members of the Administratum who supervise the export of fruit an d vegetable crops to the wider Tygress System. The deep desert cities of Tygress II are home to a few servitor-assisted survey and exploration teams. Tygress II is truly an uneventful world, mainly focused on utilising its several million inhabitants to grow and harvest produce in their unique environment. Molinarople has an adjoined space port, located far out to sea on Settler's Island, where the architecture is metal and stone and much more standard Imperial. Tithe shipments are frequent, and Tygress II is a significant contributor to Tygressian Imperial Guard regiments.

Tygress III

Classification: Feral World

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Ministorum

Principal Exports : Salt

Principal Imports : Water

Military : Tygressian warbands (medium quality feral PDF)

Geography : Tygress III is a Desert World of exacerbated heat and covered mostly in wide salt desert plains and shallow brackish seas. Tygress III has a whole ecology of flora and fauna adapted to survive the extremely hazardous world, including the huge subterranean Scarroeshell, an enormous mollusc-like creature that supports itself with energy by raising its temperature to create molten salt that is revolved in its ten chemical-producing stomachs. The landing ships of House Molinari have become rusted and tarnished fortress-like structures with great swathes of metal torn from them to fashion crude weapons, and hung with banners of fur and skin from their crenelated observation towers. The early Tygressians built underground water processors that outlasted the original civilisation; most still function but when one eventually fails it means the demise of thousands who depend on its drinkable waters. The sparse landscape of Tygress III is marked by a few colony-towers of salt-fleas, deep quicksalt pits, and a host of undersea lifeforms so hideous and remote nobody has bothered to catalogue them. The great plains are uninhabited bare the occasional overland trade-sleigh and a few isolated monasteries of penitents. The Tygressians breed a type of large water-retaining lizard to pull their sleighs; in a pinch, one of the creature's many exterior water bladders can be burst for a revolting but lifesaving sip of water.

History : When House Molinari dragged the Gilt-Edged Palace from orbit around Ichabarr in far Ixaniad they brought millions of their own house retainers and troops with them. Most settled into orbit around Tygress IV but some were settled on III. The colony initially prospered but failed as the aftermath of the Sinners' Plague disaster collapsed trade, and the world withered. Tygress III gradually degraded to a Feral World state, and the beached landing craft that the colonists arrived in became steel walled tribal camps, the survivors ignorant of the larger technological functions of their dwellings. A patchwork of differing cultures, such as the brooding Hull-Lords, the Hold Keepers, and the Gunhanded, live in mutual conflict across the surface of the world, riding their rusted sleighs and wielding clubs and swords fashioned from sheared-off metal plating.

Present : Tygress III has only rarely been visited by the Imperium, and is mainly ruled under the Water Fathers, the local name for the Ministorum missionaries who deliver water from their orbital station of Odo-Templar-Fraternis-3. The Water Fathers are lead by Confessor Narvik, an enthusiastic and fanatical preacher of the Imperial Creed. Feral troopers from the warring bands of Tygress III are often recruited into the Imperial Guard, where they sit uneasily alongside the other diverse inhabitants of the Tygress System. Life on Tygress is focused mainly around the salt pillar temples built around the water processing wells near the ancient landing ships; the Ritual of the Pouring of Water into the Earth's Throat involves the sluicing of gallons of saltwater d own the pit of the water well, where, like magic to the Tygressians, lowered water buckets can pull-up fresh water a few days later. Battles for access to far flung water wells are frequent, and Tygress III ha s a rich history of tales, some descended from the generations-long journey from the Ixaniad Sector, and the many tales of great heroes who slew grotesque molten-salt breathing sea-wyrds, stormed the great keeps of recalcitrant tribes, and discovered long lost water wells . The landing ships of Tygress III are anc ient but could still potentially be made to function, as they sometimes do when a hull-keep gains a reputation for being "haunted", usually when an old subroutine activates or a suspended servitor is periodically reactivated to rampage through the hold before stalking out into into the salt expanse. The life of the Tygressian salt marauders is uniquely haunted by ghosts, demons, and evil spirits, even to a greater extent than most Imperials.

Tygress IV

Classification : Dead World

Adeptus Presence : Court Astropath at the Molinari Citadel, as well as the Adeptus presence similar to an Imperial Hive World

Principal Exports : Tygress IV has many subsidiary modules attached that process potassium and other chemicals from Tygress I for fuel and export, as well as work magnesium into alloy form at Elektron Templar, a large module aligned with the Adeptus Mechanicus

Principal Imports : Food from Tygess II, as well as finished products and weapons from the wider sector

Military : Gilded Paladins (high quality PDF), Tygress Regulars (medium quality PDF), Module Defence Committees (low quality PDF); Imperial Guard: Tygressian regiments

Geography : Tygress IV is known as the "collapsed world": it was once home to the xenos Tygressian species who inhabited this area of space until their world was destroyed in an Exterminatus action. Tygress IV was hit by cyclonic torpedoes that caused the world to implode in on itself, leaving chasms full of roiling magma, and continuous spewing plumes of surface lava. Tygress IV resembles nothing more so than a cooling ember, devoid of all life and any semblance of an atmosphere. Tygress IV is orbited by the Giltedged Palace, an impossibly ancient relic of House Molinari of Ixaniad, towed all the way from Ichabarr along with millions of pious Molinarian family retainers. The Palace is a huge orbital space platform, a flat discus covered in gothic battlements and crackling conductor-spires, all centered around the Molinari Citadel, a needle plunging straight up from the heart of the disc where the Molinari Pratark reigns over his holdings. The Giltedge Palace re c eives its name from the gold-leaf that was painted onto its surface painstakingly centuries ago by unknown crafters. The surface of the disc is covered in stacks of inter-connected modules that serve as habitation spaces, workshops, important technical nodes, storage, and defence. The modules of the Giltedge Palace can be shifted around using the ancient controls known only to the Order of the Masters of Station who dwell at the deep roots of the platform below Molinari Tower, who may only be seen by the eyes of the Molinari Pratark according to ancient custom; all else who serve the Masters must have their eyes plucked from them beforehand. The sacred geometrical calculations of the Order of Masters must be obeyed by all, even the Pratark. The geography of the Palace is everchanging, and new parts, such as the baroque techthedral of the Mechanicus known as the Elektron Hall, have been grafted on with umbilical tubes and crude welding at a later date. The Giltedge Palace's underside has the capacity to act as a ship's dock, and here can be seen the fine pleasure yacht of the Molinari's, the prow wreathed in a sparkiling diamond crust mined many years ago from Tygress I.

History : The Giltedge Palace is a truly ancient construct, dating back to around the time of the Horus Heresy where it is mentioned by name in dispatches from the Segmentum Solar wh e n it was an operative mobile modular battle platform. The Palace found its way to Ichabarr, capital of the Ixaniad Sector, where it was passed to the House Molinari, major players in the inter-noble rivalry that fatally weakens Ixaniad. The Molinarians were enthusiastic converts to the Angevin Crusade, hungry for new lands and to escape Ixaniadine feuds. The Tygress System, at the time thought to be bountiful with easily obtainable resources and settle-able worlds, proved deeply costly for House Molinari. As younger scions headed to the wider sector, the Tygress System fell into dissolution, culminating in the blow of the Sinners' Plague of Tygess I that for a long time but the System and the House under deep suspicion. Only now, many long years later, is Tygress beginning to reform itself, thanks largely to tribute given for Tygress's enthusiasm in raising Imperial Guard regiments for the Margin and Achilus Crusades.

Present : Internally the Giltedged Palace resembles an Imperial Hive habitat, crowded, crime and disease-ridden, grim and unappealing. The purely random nature of the Giltedge Palace's shifting geography means parts can be cut off from the main hub for weeks, months, years at a time; rarely miscalculations are made by the Masters, and two transitioning modules smash into each other, sending their contents hurtling into the stellar waste field that surrounds the station. The Giltedged Palace has an uncountable population, perhaps 5-8 billion, ranging from average chemical refinery workers, to opulent nobles of the central hub, to savage castaways who have lived their whole lives on modules moving spinward at the edge of the station. The Pratark of House Molinari, Tiber Molinari, lives in one of the dusty, gloomy apartments at the summit of the Molinari Citadel. Tiber is a hedonistic seeker of new sensations, bored by his three hundred year rule over his mediocre Tygressian worlds and even more mediocre in his eyes subjects. Tiber has ramped up Imperial Guard tithe rates, emptying whole modules at a time to furnish the Guard with unasked for but greatly received regiments of cannon fodder (coupled with the troops raised on other Tygressian worlds). Tiber delegates the day-to-day running of the station and the wider system to ministers and lackeys, some of whom are making great progress on worlds such as Tygress II in turning the fortunes of the system around. Tiber knows little of this however, and for the past few years has become engrossed in his own masques and balls held in the Molinari Citadel, host to dancers, acrobats, actors, vagabonds, module narco-traffickers, courtesans, the insane, those with terminal illnesses, and strange mutants of the sump decks of the lower planetside region, and the strange, tall lithe party goers, who hide their faces behind burnished golden masks, swathed in fine silk robes, always on the fringes of the great balls, observing, waiting, seemingly smiling though it is impossible to tell. Pratark Molinari has begun a process by which the fall of the Giltedge Palace to the seductive tendrils of Chaos may not only be likely, but inevitable.

Tygress V

Classification : Feral World

Adeptus Ministorum : Adeptus Ministorum at the Drususite Tabernacle

Principal Exports : Edible linn seeds for food and oil production, including the tasty food oil Syckle Oil

Principal Imports : Supplies and comforts for pilgrims and Ministorum clergy

Military : Sect Guardians (medium PDF); Imperial Guard: Tygressian regiments

Geography : Tygress V is a cold, dark world, near the edge of the Tygress System's edge. Tygress V has large inky oceans and snowy valley uplands. A lot of the soil of Tygress V is gravelly and unsuitable for farming, with the native linn seed the only crop that reliably grows. The world is littered with the wreckage of Imperial and Tygressian war machines that were destroyed in the course of an Imperial surprise attack. The ruined tanks, carriers, spent artillery casings, ammo crates, and downed aircraft have become sites of pilgrimage, open air temples ringed by smoking moats of linn seed Syckle Oil, permeating the landscape with smoky pinpoints of flame and the smell of bitter, burning plants. The inhabitants of Tygress V live in animal skin huts in relatively habitable parts of the valley lowlands, where they have grown to speak mutually-unintelligible dialects and hold differing interpretations of Drusianism. The Drususite Tabernacle is part monastery, part spaceport, set into the high mountains of Pilgrim's Mountain; the world can only be reached by climbing to a freezing open plateau from the valleys, and then taking the winding Ghost Steps into the perilous crags and deadly pitfalls to r each the Doors of Drusus. Pilgrims typically set down on a continent on the far, uninhabited side of Tygress V, where they must cross many dimly-lit escarpment trails, cross the stormy Drusus Sea, and then fight through the marauding warbands of the valleys. The tribes of Tygress V are very disorganised, and are usually recruited enmasse with entire villages joining the Imperial Guard when great trooplanders descend from the grey, cloudy skies.

History : After a series of skirmishes on the outer fringes of the Tygress System, the xenos Tygressians massed their ships and forces at the outer world of Tygress V. The Imperial invasion of Tygress had stalled as sufficient forces could not be spared from other fronts, the "phony war" lasting a whole decade. A reinvigorated, more ruthless Drusus took command at the Tygress System fringe and launched a surprise attack on the xenos gathered together on Tygress V. Driven by extreme religious fervour and confidence the Imperials slaughtered the Tygressian armed forces and moved onto the homeworld of Tygress IV, which proved tougher and was condemned to Exterminatus . A regiment of Drusus's army, unknown denizens of a far world of the Segmentum Obscurus, were granted Rights of the Settlement on the world, where they became primtive, fanatical devotees to Drusus and the Imperial Creed.

Present : Tygress V is a focal point of the cult of Drususianism, reportedly the first battle that Saint Drusus fought after his resurrection. The Tygressians here work primarily as farmers, with well-drilled armed forces known as Sect Guardians, who still daub themselves with the ancestral insignia of the Imperial Guard. The Drususite Tabernacle is a high mountaintop monastery w ith monks drawn from the orphaned children of the lower valleys; at the centre of the monastery is the site where Drusus was said to have established his command overwatch post. Thousands brave journeys from across the sector to Tygress V, located on the Drusus Marches end of the Footsteps of Drusus pilgrim trail. Tygressians from here are recruited in great numbers to join the Imperial Guard to journey to the embarkation points at the fringe of the Tygress System.

Endrite

Classification : Feral World

Planetary Governor : Adept-Governor Spiros Palacios, Adeptus Administratum

Adeptus Presence : Gulf Station 27 contains the presence s of several Administratum, Ministorum, and Mechanicus personnel.

Principal Exports : The planet of Endrite does not itself provide anything other than regiments for the Imperial Guard, but the asteroids, rare gas fields, and demi-planets that fill the Endrite System are mined by robotic probes and some Mechanicus techpriests.

Principal Imports : Imports are forbidden to Endrite, so that the conditions of the world is not too dramatically altered.

Military : The Endriteans have a highly developed warrior culture that pits all against all as tribal war-laagers battle for supremacy over fertile soil for cattle raising. Imperial Guard: Endrite "Headhunters."

Geography : Endrite is a barely inhabitable ball of rock, with noxious gas - spewing vents. The winds of Endrite long blew away the topsoil from most of the inhabited continents of the north, leaving stick-like forests and huge dry river beds. The orkaan of Endrite are towering sandstorm-like weather phenomena, carrying thousands of kilograms of irradiated powdered rock and deadly gases, scouring all life where they pass. The southern hemisphere is simply empty bedrock flats and the dregs of a sad polar ocean. The main landmark of northern Endrite is the crashed hulk of an Imperial battlecruiser, sticking vertically out of the wide rocky plain of Utland. Utland Settled Laager is nearby, the world's only permanent township built on the fertile riverbanks owned by the Tribe of Utland. The fierce and sharp wooden buildings contain the hereditary metal worked homes of the Utlander Elder Council, nominally the Imperium's first point of contact on Endrite. Utland Settled Laager has a huge wooden amphitheater nearby where crowds attend games fought between gladiator champions, trained beasts, and prisoners of war. Ultra-Utland is the designation for the rest of the planet, and is inhabited solely by wagon-riding warrior clans following their cattle (a mix of xenos and Terran beasts), and battling for access to good soil and scant water sources. Gulf Station 27 is a small bored-out asteroid that was pulled into orbit by the Adeptus Mechanicus: it is a centre for collecting mined resources from the outer system as well as processing and sorting the Endrite Imperial Guard regiments. Large parts of the world are saturated in low-lying noxious gases that slowly internally rot the insides of those that pass through them.

History : It is believed human survivors of the unknown and unnamed Imperial battlecruiser (Adeptus Mechanics explorers have found it disturbingly without internal clues to its past history) first settled Endrite. Imperial contact was reestablished by the Angevin Crusaders, possibly, so the legend goes, by Drusus himself when his ship was ambushed by Eldar raiders and he had to live for a month among the Endrite tribespeople. Endrite is too much of a barren, poisonous world to ever be useful to the Imperium in a material sense, but it was quickly realised the potential of its feral population. Tough, bloodthirsty regiments that exult in the killing of enemies of the Imperium became this world's primary export. Endrite has a noted capacity to produce strange and morbid cults related to human sacrifice, necro-ritualism, and cannibalism.

Present : The world of Baraspine is lobbying for Endrite to become an Industrial World to be used a a base to harvest and process the mineral ore wealth found in bulk in the asteroid, comet, and demi-planetary objects of the Endrite System. Until then Endrite "Headhunters" Imperial Guard regiments are raised as and when; Endrite regiments are utterly expendable, have no particular finesse; they are simply pointed in the right direction and told to lay waste to their opponents. An Endrite regiment was reputed to have won acclaim and Rights of Settlement to the Death World of Monodryad in the Margins Crusade, but since that Crusade's faltering collapse no more has been heard.

Endrite is a brutal, warm, stuffy, frequently deadly world with no features at all to recommend it to Imperial visitors. The Years of the Muster are the only major times when officials of the Departmento Munitorum, Imperial Guard, and Administratum visit the world to raise new regiments . Adeptus Ministorum bishops have attempted to entrench themselves on Endrite, but have so far failed as none are allowed to preach from the bulk of the crashed battlecruiser, the world's only religious site from which o nly an Endritean war-speaker may legally do so . When Bishop Loqutius of Scintilla attempted to do so his foot had only entered the threshold of the great Arch-wound of the Shattered Skulls Avenue to the Holiest Sanctum when a hundred blowdart arrows of the Avenue Guardians turned him into a bloated unrecognisable wreck of weeping pus that lived for many weeks of unimaginable pain and misery; since the n the Ministorum contents itself that Endrite is sufficiently loyal to go about its own affairs (for now).

Cryptus

Classification : Cemet e ry World

Planetary Governor : Cardinal Ducius Avveroes, Adeptus Ministorum

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Ministorum, Adepta Sororitas

Principal Exports : Cryptus shotgun shells (exclusively to the Holy Ordos), reliquaries

Principal Imports ; Very little

Military : Frateris Militia, Adepta Sororitas

Geography : Cryptus is a small rocky world, consisting of a mix of reduced shallow oceans, dusty desert plains, and a few cultivated areas used for crop growing and settlements. The Cryptus landscape shows evidence of fighting in the distant past, from crashed orbital stations that impacted the world to whole areas churned up by missile attacks and artillery barrages. The Sanctuary of Drusus is the capital of the world, built on a small island off the coast of one of the larger continents, covered in several tiered layers of stone-built hab blocks, temples, and cathedrals. Cryptus is notable for being covered with several thousands temples, monuments, cenotaphs, shrines, and other sites dedicated to Imperial soldiers who fell taking the world. Some like the Templum of The Sacred Lights of the God-Emperor were very large, while others are smaller, perhaps dedicated to particular battles or even individual soldiers. Each shrine is marked with prayer lights and paths, and often there is a family settled nearby to attend to the cleaning and upkeep of the shrine. Cryptus has a small population of a few hundred thousand, spready thinly all over the world, sustaining themselves either by offering board to pilgrims, recieving alms for upkeep of shrines, or some basic subsistance farming. Even the upper atmosphere of Cryptus contains shrines, marking soldiers who died in orbit without ever setting foot on the world. Pilgrims are encouraged to land at the Sanctuary of Drusus's spaceport and them follow the many winding paths through the shrine country.

History : Cryptus was held by a human autocracy that violently opposed the arrival of the Imperium. The reclamation of the Cryptus System stalled until Drusus himself took charge, relentlessly outmaneuvering and pressing the defenders. 83,784 soldiers died taking the world, the exact number of deaths marked by an exact number of shrines. After the crushing of the autocracy Drusus decreed every soldier who died should receive some kind of memorial. The Templum of the Sacred Lights of the God-Emperor was the first to built, commemorating the war in general, distinguished by its gleaming glass construction. The shrines constructed ranged from the Tributes to the First, marking the death of a platoon of some of first troops raised from Scintilla, to the Shrine to Pvt. K.R. Gravlack of the Lower Levels, Hive Pisano, Magari, Finial Sector, Slain in the Taking of Iein Farm House, Old Iein Road, Crypt us, 371.M39, a simple brass plaque in an dust plains, oiled and cleaned by a attendant shrine family everyday who dwell in a nearby cave.

Present : The use of biological weapons massively harmed Cryptus's capacity to produce food, meaning that it was more suited to become a fully fledged Cemetery / Shrine World. Resettlement to Cryptus is a hoped for reward for the Imperial faithfull, being given the honour of being granted a shrine for themselves and their family to maintain for a two hundred year lease. Many settlers on Cryptus die, the world being very harsh and resource poor. As a rule food and water are not imported to Cryptus, in order to keep the rigours of pilgrimage for the visiting faithfull. Cardinal Avveroes is elderly and rarely leaves the seclusion of the Sanctuary of Drusus; Avveroes likely successor is Prelate Ranjzak, a veteran of the Maccabian Janissaries who wants to develop Cryptus and begin raising Imperial Guard regiments. The events that destroyed the Templum of The Sacred Light have shifted the balace of power out of the gerontocracy of the Sanctuary and more towards younger innovators like Prelate Ranjzak.

- Ok, that's the Drusus Marches, will try and do these a bit more quickly

Adrantis Subsector

The Adranti Nebula is a huge sprawling cloud of gaseous matter and developing star systems; Adrantis is among the most under-explored and dangerous regions of the Calixis Sector. The subsector is ripped apart by warfare and chaos following the mutant revolt on Tranch; troops raised in the Adrantis Nebula are mainly committed to Tranch and guarding the nebula fringes. There is a certain amount of uncertainty about the political makeup of Adrantis, with Egoyan Cestelle of the Cestelle appointed Subsector Governor as appeasement by Sector Governor Marius Hax following the Cestelle Alliance's rise to prominence in the neighbouring Hazeroth Abyss. Cestelle is frequently absent from the Adrantis Nebula so power tends to fall on the Governor of the world of Baraspine. Settlements in the Adrantis Nebula are almost exclusively along the nebula's outlying regions; sixty-four Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleets have so far not enlightened the Imperium to what precisely is to be found within. Battlefleet Calixis keeps a close watch and patrols the outer nebula areas relentlessly.

There are legends that a human civilisation called the Adranti had once settled the Adrantis Nebula and were vanquished by the forces of the Angevin Crusade. The Adranti were a civilisation that had settled the fringes of the Nebula, at the centre of which sat a colony of the vile xenos known as the Yu'vath. The Adranti were warp sorcerors, humans entirely corrupted by their contact with the chaos, and their reliance on body and spirit altering heretek. The Sorceror Worlds of the Adranti were each unique and strange places, and most if not all were completely cleansed of life by the Imperium. The Adranti relied on human, mutant, and xenos slaves for use in labour or horrific alchemical experimentation. Many of these humans became refugees who were resettled elsewhere in the Calyx Expanse. As the Adranti were vanquished and their worlds expunged, the Yu'vath made themselves known. The hardest and bloodiest fighting of the war erupted in the depths of the Nebula, thousands of ships and regiments battling the bio-constructs, enslaved legions, and allied xenos of the Yu'vath warlocks. The Imperium finally ground down the Yu'vath to their last world in the Nebula, a Warlock World inhaibted by the directing cabal of the xenos. A combined taskforce of the Inquisition eventually vanquished the defenders and drove the Yu'vath out of the Calixis Sector forever. Untold billions died in the seizing of the Nebula, not including millions of chaos-corrupted humans; several dozen completely scoured worlds were left behind them. Several billion civilians were either displaced from the Imprium-held worlds along the fringe or freed from bondage on the worlds of the Adranti and Yu'vath. The Yu'vath would not be completely destroyed until the Imperium took the fight to the Koronus Expanse, but now the Imperium's attentions turned to the Bale Childer of the Hazeroth Abyss, and the final conquest of the so-called Butcher, Corpse, Hell, and Slaughter Worlds that passed into memory and legend. The tainted worlds of the Nebula were declared permanently forbidden to Imperial settlement, the systems ringed by defences and regular patrols.

Omnicron 71-DX

Classification : Forge World

Planetary Governor : Magos Gerund, Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Mechanicus Explorat or Fleet, Skitarii

Principal Exports : Omnicron 71-DX is home to a few factories producing items from Standard Template Constructs, mainly a handful of shipboard technical systems; Omnicron's output is low as Omnicron's primary status is as a research and exploration base.

Principal Imports : Technical components and rare mineral ores, primarily for repairing astronomical equipment

Military : Omnicron Skitarii Legion (small by most standards)

Geography : Omnicron 71-DX is latched like a parasite onto a rogue demi-planet on the fringes of the Akelarre System. Huge black pincer legs dig into the crust of the world, and astronomical monitoring towers and radiographic telescopes rise up from the beetle-like bulk of the research base. The sub-surface of Omnicron 71-DX contains vaults containing artifacts of the Adranti and Yu'vath Wars that have been never been examined since their containment as heretical warp or xenos tainted tech. Omnicron 71-DX is the last inhabited point before jumping into the Adranti Nebula proper, so a well-maintained shipyard facility is present. Omnicron 71-DX collects data on the Nebula at all times, its antennae bristling with incoming and outgoing data and signals traffic. Omnicron 71-DX's manufacturing capacities are small, mainly based in orbital facilities not part of the structure itself.

History : The Ak e larre System was home to an unknown Warlock World that was projecting psyker fields into troop maneuvering routes into the Nebula; the moons of the bloated red gas giant Aklarre had to be cleared and investigated one by one. The Adranti psyker-mage was never found, but the system's proximity to the inner nebula caused it to nominated as a site for a future outpost. A moon of Aklarre was pried off and placed on the fringes of the system, and became a "clearing house" for Adranti and Yu'vath heretek captured during the war .The Omnicron 71-DX station began monitoring activity in the Adranti Nebula as well as siphoning off resources from the ore-rich moons of Aklarre for manufacturing. Omnicron 71-DX mainly builds monitoring and observation systems and equipment for installation into Imperial ships and ground facilities from a few basic STC templates inherited from the order of techpriests who traveled out from a prime Forge World centuries ago . The station frequently disptaches its researchers to hunt down rumours of more advanced STC technology than can aid it in its task of monitoring the mysterious, haunted nebula.

Present : Imperial Navy patrols and Adeptus Mechanicus Explorat or fleets have their last contact with Imperial civilisation at Omnicron 71-DX before they delve into the heart of the Adranti Nebula. The researchers of Omnicron 71-DX steadily monitor stellar activity, energy fluctuations, and galactic phenomena in the deep of the Nebula; regular reports are dispatched to Port Wrath and the Lathes. The proximity of the station to the warp-cursed nebula brings a certain amount of suspicion on the techpriests who dwell there. Recently word came to the rulers of Omnicron 71-DX of an abandoned telescopic array somewhere on a Fortress World within the Jericho Reach, possibly built from STC designs . A significant proportion of the station's techpriests and skitarii set off to join the Achilus Crusde . The Imperial Navy commanders of Port Wrath have filed official complaints to the Lathe Worlds for not keeping tight enough control of their people and weakening a crucial point of the sector. The defences ringing the Adrantis Nebula have been crucially weakened at a time when they perhaps cannot afforded to be.

Volonx

Classification : Feral World

Planetary Governor : Governess-Administrator Miranda Royale, Adeptus Administratum

Adeptus Presence : Orbital Administratum facility

Principal Exports : Volonx exports a little food, mostly grain and native "chew-grass", a mild narcotic

Principal Imports : Volonx imports very little, mainly a few items to support the Administratum station

Military : Volonx Warrior Clans (medium quality feral PDF); Volonx Imperial Guard regiments

Geography : Volonx consists of several continents, most dominated by harsh, rolling steppes and windswept grasslands. The world contain s vast cold deserts home to some unusual breeds of predators, such as the Sand Shark. Herds of grox and over beasts roam the steppes in huge herds, accompanied by horse-mounted warrior shepherds. "The Gardens" are a region of Volonx's northeastern-most continent that were set aside for a grain plantation to begin turning Volonx into an Agri World; the plantation failed due to drought but enough survives to provide staple foods tuffs . Most Volonxians prefer steppe life, engaging in cattle raids and minor warfare. Volonx has an orbital station, Platform-1 Volonx, inhabited by Governess-Administrator Royale and her coterie of Administratum personnel. Volonx itself has no permanent structures, the capital currently being where Warlord Crowe decides to pitch his trade tent.

History : Volonx was settled by Imperial Guard of an unknown regiment of the Ixaniad Sector, in order that the world should be held fast against malfeasance from the Adrantis Nebula. The Ixaniadine Guard hailed from a Feral World, so settled into their pattern of life quickly; it is not known if Volonx was inhabited prior to its colonisation.

Present : The world has raised several dozen Imperial Guard infantry and mounted regiments over the years, many seconded to patrol and battle mutants in the hab-ravines of Tranch. The Volonx 14th Infantry were granted rights of settlement to a region of the Hive World, Outer Moisture-Trap 1923 Habs, in response to uncovering and crushing Pale Throng insurrectionists. Regiments from Volonx have gradually become known across the sector and are now being given the honour of being raised for the Achilus Crusade. Volonx itself is currently leaderless, gradually coalescing under Warlord Crowe, Leader of the Five Great Tribes. Relations between Volonx and the Administratum are "prickly", to say the least. Crowe is wily and beginning to feel he is a bigger man than the Imperium and their dead Emperor. Ultimate victory for Warlord Crowe is many years away, as the grasslands of Volonx are truly vast and expansive. Many of Volonx's lifeforms are unusual and unique, traded for by operatives of the Beast House when they can slip Imperial anti-smuggling patrols.

Grangold

Classification : Dead World

Planetary Governor : N/A

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Astartes

Principal Exports : N/A

Principal Imports : N/A

Military : N/A

Geography : Grangold is a wasteland of acid-storms, a completely dead world. Only a single Shrine to Saint Drusus, guarded by two ancient dreadnoughts of the Iron Hands Chapter stands above the tough, rocky surface of the world.

History : Grangold was one of the lost Warlock Worlds of the Adranti, a planet haunted by a single Adranti Mage and their flesh constructs. Shipping passing near the Grangold System would be thrown dangerously off course by conjured squalls in the warp. The Imperium sent an expeditionary force, aided by the Adeptus Mechanicus to penetrate and survive in the corrosive atmosphere of Grangold. The Mage could control the eddys and currents of the the acid-storms however, and whole regiments of Guard were horrifically "washed away" by torrents of acid-laced hurricane winds. The Iron Hands Chapter of Space Marines were called in by General Drusus, landing on the world and being the first to pinpoint the Mage's Tower on the surface in the swirling tempest. A squad of Iron Hands battled their way inside, defeating acid-composed warp elementals and toughed sinewy homunculi. The y managed to activate a beacon before being overwhelmed, bringing down an orbital barrage on the Tower, leveling it and sending the fragments to drift away in the screaming winds . The Shrine of Drusus and is two guardian dreadnoughts were placed there a little while after.

Present : Grangold is easily the most deadly and unforgiving of the pilgrimage sites in the Calixis Sector. To land on Grangold requires a vessel hardened against the continual driving winds and acidic spray that turns most ships into scrap. A pilgrim must wear layers of clothing proofed against the environment, and wear 'slither boots' to stop their own shoes turn ing in to runny sludge beneath their feet. The site of the Shrine is not adequately marked on any maps, the 'Finding of the Way' being a part of the pilgrimage. Not even a trace remains of those who have failed in their endeavour and fell on the world . Those who reach the Shrine claim Drusus answers their questions when put to him, but how is not certain. It is likewise not known if the two Iron Hands dreadnoughts are still alive, in any sense, or if they ever were. The wider Grangold System is sometimes visited by pirates attacking pilgrim vessels entering the system.

Marioch

Classification : Frontier World

Planetary Governor : Representative-Elect Sylna Navari, Elected council

Adeptus Presence : Some Adeptus Ministorum clergy, some Administratum

Principal Exports : Food, primarily products such as beans, nuts, herbs, root vegetables and others

Principal Imports : Fertiliser and pesticides

Military : Marioch Warrior Societies (medium quality PDF)

Geography : Marioch is a world of three wet continents sat in a bright blue ocean. At the centr al confluence of the three continents sits the city of Marioch (also named), an island city connected to the rich growing lowlands by canals, waterways, and suspended highways. Marioch is a canal city, with splendid buildings of polished golden-yellow rising from the warm mists of Lake Marioch. The regions immediately surrounding central Marioch are all hot wetlands, marked out with large trenches and plots for farming. The exteriors of the Marioch triple landmass all inevitably turn to desert or run into the chilly polar regions. Marioch is warm all year round and subject to some huge b ut predictable cyclonic events.

History : Marioch was a lost human colony world until it was discovered nestled in an outstretched tendril of the Adrantis Nebula. Legends say that the wild frontier world was once plagued by a vast flying serpent, held aloft by great external lungs and scaly wings. As large as an Imperial Cruiser, the beast devoured whole towns in a single gulp and its hide was thick enough to turn even lascannon shot. Drusus eventually killed the creature by leading a platoon of soldiers into its maw while it slept and hacking his way to the creature’s heart to deliver the killing blow. The truth of the Drusus myth was never established, but the city of Marioch does contain a handsome temple dedicated to Saint Drusus, who is (almost heretically) worshipped alongside the Emperor as a mighty war god.

Present : Marioch is a fertile world that produces foods that could be considered "supplemental" to the food produced in bulk on other Agri Worlds. The Representatives Council of Marioch have made overtures to the Cestelle Alliance to help them turn the planet into a productive Agri World; a few of their agents are presently encossed at the Palace of Saints in central Marioch. Marioch is a minor world for adherents to the worship of Saint Drusus; relics of the great Thrice Headed Serpent are sold at most roadsides to off-world pilgrims for a high price, all usually cunning or not so cunning fakes. Marioch has a very small and parochial population, and does not presently contibute troops to the Imperial Guard. The Marioch Warrior Societies are misleading, in fact largely ceremonial armies more used for sporting competitions and great events. Each of Marioch's social castes of farmers, water engineers, warriors, and so on, all operate like guilds, electing heads to sit on a council that promotes the Planetary Governor for a period of one decade. Representative-Elect Navari was previously head of the outback development caste, a hardy terraforming caste from the far deserts. Navari wants the whole world to be as developed as the Confluence region, which is why she is so heavily courting the Cestelle Alliance.

Lehyde Ten

Classification : Frontier World

Planetary Governor : Magos Researcher Ourik Cicardia, Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Mechanicus

Principal Exports : N/A

Principal Imports : A little fuel and some spare parts for the station

Military : Servitors aboard Prospect Ceti Station

Geography : Lehyde Ten is the tenth planet of the Lehyde System, the most inhabitable of what have been identified as an unpromising cluster of Dead, Death, and Gas Giant Worlds. Lehyde Ten has an atmosphere that could be described as pleasant, provided one is prepared for slightly stronger gravity and the heavy build-up of sulphur in the atmosphere. It is possible for humans to survive on Lehyde Ten for a limited time unaided, but not wearing an environmental suit is a guaranteed death sentence. Lehyde Ten is a world of one single supercontinent: much of the world is covered in dazzling yellow, red, and ora g ne moss and bracken; bubbling sulphurous marshlands consists of about 60% of the surface . The landscape is littered with the dug-in, dormant hulks of Imperial land-makers; all failed in their attempts to carve out sites for the installation of atmosphere scrubbers, water purifiers, and raised crew platforms. The world is presently uninhabited except for a station on the world's single moon, Prospect, known as Prospect Ceti Shared Facility and staffed by a lone Mechanicus researcher and several Imperial Navy crew.

History : The Lehyde System was marked and charted by Angevin's annexation surveys, a great census to mark out borderline habitable worlds in the Calyx Expanse. The rich, loamy soil of Lehyde Ten caused it to top several lists as suitable for conversion to an Agri World. The atmosphere needed minor adjustments however, so a terraforming expedition was launched. This and all other expeditions ( the Calixis authorities have lost count) have failed, ending in disaster with complete loss of crews due to catastrophic mechanical failure, suicide, violent outbreaks, injury, or disappearance. The Prospect Ceti Shared Facility has seen an alarming turnover of crew who have either died or gone inexplicably insane. Magos Researcher Cicardia is himself the third techpriest to be sent to staff the base this year, and the crew are this year's third consignment from Port Wrath.

Present : A new colonising mission has just dispatched from Scintilla and expects to arrive within the year. Tensions seem to be subtly building between personnel on the Prospect base, mainly between Lieutenant Aimee Deryn of the Imperial Navy crew and Magos Researcher Circadia over minor and unexceptional trivialities on the base. If one more colonising mission fails, the Calixian authorities might finally call time on settling this promising but vexatious world. So far the high failure rate has not attracted the attention of the Ordo Inquisitors, though they will surely eventually take notice.

Skorgulian

Classification : Forge World

Planetary Governor : Magos Locum Oryzon Zenyth, Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Mechanicus, some Administratum and Ministorum

Principal Exports : Mined ores, rare metals, chemicals

Principal Imports: Food mainly, water

Military : Skorgulian Defenders (low quality hive PDF); Imperial Guard: Skorgulian Li egeguard ; Adeptus Mechanicus Skitarii

Geography : Skorgulian in a tide-locked world, with half eternally bathed in darkness and half exposed to the burning rays of the Skorgulian System's binary suns. Skorgulian is a rocky, airless world, with very little vegetation and no animal life. The hives of Skorgulian are located on the night side, with Hive Tarquin standing prominent atop a plateau of bare rock. All of Skorgulian's hives have been "colonised" by the Adeptus Mechanicus, and presently look like they are being devoured alive by processing towers, new manufactorums, and conductor coils. The population of Skorgulian once reached 19 billion until the time of the Mechanicus; now it is a little over 1 0 billion with most living deep underground close to mine workings, sporting grotesque cybernetic alterations to better enhance their mining output. Skorgulian's serf workforce are gradually being converted to obedient servitor workers or are being transported to new Mechanicus operations across the sector and beyond. The hives of Skorgulian were more or less typical, Tarquin being famous for its ingenious rig of polished mirrors that reflected light throughout the hive. Most of the hives are now quiet and empty.

History : Skorgulian was a Hive World settled by Imperial Guard who had liberated the world from the nightmarish Adranti. Skorgulian's mineral wealth caused it to be a brief rival to Tranch and Baraspine for dominance of the Adrantis Subsector. Skorgulian's proud and pompous Liegeguard regiments were involved in the Margins Crusade under Commander Gonvequire Taquin; the Skorgulian 1st Li egeguard were composed of House Taquin's own household retainers and enforcers. The Liegeguard fought in the war for Ilmarinen, a legendary Adeptus Mechanicus Forge World thought lost to Chaos and the Dark Mechanicus in the Margins Crusade. The Skorgulianites erroneously launched a devastating surprise assault on the rear of the Skitarii positions, killing thousands and costing the battle and control of the ruined world for at least another three months . The Skorgulianite fleet was quietly isolated and wiped out by a specially tasked Explorator fleet; with the Mechanicus demanding restitution, the panicked lords of Calixis eagerly offered Skorgulian as a fief to head off conflict with the Lathes. The Mechanicus accepted and Skorgulian became a harsh, oppressed Forge World.

Present : The people of Skorgulian still remember their (relative freedom) under the noble houses, and bitterly resent their new lives as serf miners or toilers in Mechanicus manufactorums. Revolts are frequent but always end in disarray: survivors are converted to servitors by their thousands. The re are persistent rumours the population has fallen so dramatically because the Mechanicus has a policy of rendering down captured Skorgulianites for biological components or to be processed into ration supplements. Skorgulian maintains something of its noble houses and military, but these have turned venal and gangsterish as much of their real power has been stripped away. Orleanna Tarquin still commands some respect as heir to the Planetary Governorship, but she has no real title or power. The Liegeguard regiments are now mainly the dregs of a broken society stuffed into fading and patched uniforms for shipment to the unforgi v ing warzones of the Imperium. Skorgulianites posted to Tranch account for the highest punishment rates of any regiment administered by the Commisariat, with many involved in organised crime, racketeering, and arms trading to mutant rebels. Skorgulian over time is destined to become a machine-dominated world, a testament to the wisdom of not crossing the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Soryth

Classification : Mining World

Planetary Governor : Governor Danil us Premmos, Adeptus Administratum

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Administratum

Principal Exports : Mined gas extracts of hydrogen, acetylene, argon, and others

Principal Imports : Repairs and replacement heating components

Military : Soryth Guards Militant (medium quality PDF)

Geography : Soryth is a satellite of a Gas Giant designated SN938-A, one of a dozen orbiting bodies in the Soryth System . Soryth is an Ice World, once a completely water covered world that froze solid . Soryth is an almost featureless landscape, with ice all the way through this coreless world, covered in undulating banks of bluish snow. Soryth has a thin atmosphere, as well as a very cold one, meaning humans can only survive in specialised protected environments. Sorythport is an orbital station that manages the ferrying up of extracted gaseous resources from the world and exports them across the sector. The habitations of Soryth itself are bunker-like underground complexes, carefully maintained and sealed against the outer environment. Mines to deep gas veins extend for miles through the ice. Soryth has no lifeforms higher than the microbial level, but the frozen remains of large algae blossoms and weird undersea lifeforms can be found trapped within the ice shelfs, casting tinted and weird reflections and shadows across the caverns. Soryth has a small population in the hundreds of thousands spread out across a dozen mining stations; miners can only work the underground seams for a brief period before being overtook by cold.

History : Soryth and its system were marked a s completely uninhabited but very promising in by an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator mission. Follow - up studies pinpointed the moons of the Gas Giant SN938-A as highly likely candidates for exploitation . Five colonisation bases were established on Soryth before the habs linked to the orbital Sorythport were firmly established.

Present : Soryth exports a large tithe of mined gas, far belying its status as a small world with a tiny population of several hundred thousand. Soryth is cut-off however, and shipments from the system have become increasing prey to human pirates and xenos raiders. The Administratum has requested regular Navy patrols around Soryth but so far the demands of the Calixis Sector's military commitments mean not a single ship can be spared. Soryth has a small and aging system defence fleet, and recently the Administratum-appointed Planetary Governor has hired a company of rough mercenaries from the Drusus Marches to aid the world. The mercenaries are housed in their ship in dock at Sorythport, and over time may come to threaten the Imperium's control of the world as control across the sector shrinks.

Coseflame

Classification : Feudal World

Planetary Governor : Under-King Tobias VI, Local monarchy

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Ministorum, Arbites, a handful of Mechanicus

Principal Exports : Crystals, rare ores, gunpowder, in limited qualities

Principal Imports : Lighting and mining equipment

Military : Coseflame Feudal Battle-Servants (medium quality feudal PDF); Imperial Guard: Coseflame Imperial Guard regiments

Geography : A small, inhabited planetoid riven with deep chasms and gorges criss-crossing its surface, Coseflame is sometimes known as the “cracked world” due to its appearance from space. Nevertheless, Coseflame supports a burgeoning human population who have developed numerous “chasm-city” states, driven by steam power and black powder, that constantly bicker and fight one another. The city-states of Coseflame are highly distinctive, different chasms being home to different deposits of ores and minerals. The Blackiron Citadel is the prime habitation on Coseflame, a dark spire set in the Aerzentes Chasm and surrounded by high stones walls, interlinking tunnels, and tumbledown shack housing. The chasms of Coseflame are linked by huge underground roadways and by a few overland routes that cross the barren, baked deserts. Coseflame is home to a large array of native fauna and flora, mainly bred from Terran animal stock. The Blackiron Citadel has a long, steep roadway that leads to a blasted expanse on the surface where Imperial spacecraft can land and collect tithes. Settlements on Coseflame swear absolute fealty to their chasm-city vassals; there are only half a dozen free states beyond the control of the feudal overlords.

History : Coseflame was one of the so-called Warlock Worlds, inhabited by an Adranti chaos sorcerer defeated in the Angevin Crusade . The world was granted to an unknown Imperial Guard regiment w hich intermingled with the slave population of the planet. Some of Coseflame's chasm city states have been abandoned over the years, simply falling apart due to unexplained cultural stresses or religion-inspired insurrections. On top of this Coseflame has been rocked by several large scale wars between the feudal realms. Battles were conducted in the deep depths of the mines and tunnels, engaging in brutal hand-to-hand combat and siege engineering . Much technology on Coseflame is steam and black powder based, due to the abundance of underground water sources and sulphates.

Present : The chasm- cities of Coseflame are currently at peace, but there is unrest brewing in the Blackiron Citadel. Groups of religious chanters and incense throwers are starting to gather in the streets and plazas, preaching that a great arrival is coming to the Coseflame System, something that will unbridle a great revelation. The Battle-Servants have taken to dispersing gatherings of fanatics with blunderbuss and half-sword, suffering counterattacks from steam drill wielding miners and bloodied serfs. Adeptus Mechanicus watch stations have observed unusual readings outside the Coseflame System, strange fluctuations in the warp. Agents of the Tyrantine Conclave have hurried to Coseflame in anticipation of whay may possibly be the imminent arrival of the Tyrant Star. Life on Coseflame is very primitive; most residents are serf miners with employ steam and powder-driven tools to mine the deep chasms and shafts. Coseflame has some unqiue steam-powered vehicles. Coseflame raises regiments of conventional Imperial Guard infantry regiments, soldiers who must be retrained in the use of modern las weaponry ; so far Coseflame regiments have won no particular distinctions in the field.

Mortressa

Classification : Death World

Planetary Governor : Jaahn, Head Elder of the Council of Elders

Adeptus Presence : A handful of Imperial Commisars and Departmento Munitorum personnel for training regiments

Principal Exports : N/A

Principal Imports : Equipment for arming and supplying new recruits for the Guard

Military : Various warrior groups; Imperial Guard: Mortressa 1st Sythewind

Geography : Mortressa has several continents surrounded by sea s . Biomes are varied but most consist of forests and jungles inhabited by gigantic saurian predators. The world is slightly more enriched with oxygen than the Terran standard, allowing arthropod species to also grow to a large size. Almost 90% of Mortressa's lifeforms are carnivorous in some fashion, from huge flesh-eating carnosaurs, to small, quick minaraptors, to the megascorpius of the wet jungle floors, to chalice plants that drop their prey through a trap door into a large chamber of digestive juices. Human settlement are exclusively located in tree-trop villages raised from the jungle floor and overhung with poisoned canopies to deter flying saurian hunters. Mortressa is a swelteringly hot planet, with the only cool regions being polar deserts at the extremes.

History : The main human settlement is known as 'Crajlundeng', built from the wreckage of an Imperial shuttle that came down in the jungle thousands of years ago. The wreckage provided all of the humans ' early weapons and some hand-axes fashioned from the sacred metal are still in use today. Humans spread out to several settlements numbering tens of thousands of individuals. Mortressans are in a never-ceasing war against their environment, fending off carnivorous monsters, virulent pests, and tropical storms. When the Imperium discovered Mortressa the benefits of forming an Imperial Guard regiment were obvious. Crajlundeng is home to the quarters of the Imperial officers, the armoury, and the chamber of the council of elders, currently under Jaahn, veteran of the Mortressa 1st and a dozen battles, returned to lead his people and oversee recruitment.

Present : Mortressa exists simply to provide recruits for the Mortressa 1st Sythewind regiment, the best scouting, tracking, and infiltration regiments in the Calixis Sector par excellence. In respect to Mortressa's tiny population recruitment is gradual, with the one regiment maintained and reinforced continuously. The Mortressan iron-tribes are some of the most renowned hunters and beast slayers in the entire sector, as befits their survival against the veritable hordes of carnosaurs and other dangerous predators that populate their world. Ever since the sector’s early days, a Sythewind regiment has been maintained and continuously replenished, rather than re-raised, owing to the world’s relatively small population, with the few surviving veterans given special dispensation to return to their home world once their duty is done. There, they form a respected ruling class of elders who pass their knowledge and wide experience down to the young hunters of their tribe, creating a culture where to be chosen for Imperial service is the highest of honors. Elder Jaahn fought with the Sythewind on several campaigns within the Jericho Reach, costly campaigns that required the almost total re-raising of the regiment. Imperial personnel assigned to Mortressa find it an extremely difficult world to reside on; Crajlundeng and similar sites provide some comfort and respite, but straying from the secret trails between villages means almost certain death. The Imperial mission to Mortressa suffers a high attrition rate, but the quality of units raised here is so high than any price is worth it.

Perinetus

Classification : Forge World

Planetary Governor : Shipmaster Magos Myrus Svetlock, Adeptus Mechanicus

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Mechanicus (Skitarii, Cyber Maniples, Explorator fleets), Ordos Inquisitors

Principal Exports : Ships, components, external and internal systems

Principal Imports : Raw materials

Military : Perinetus Skitarii Legion

Geography: Perinetus is a blue-purple Gas Giant within the Perinetus System: the en tire body of orbiting planetary bodies have been converted to shipyards providing the bulk of new shipping and repairs to the Calixis Sector. Perinetus has around 15 moons, and each is inhabited by some kind of dock or facility; Perinetus is home to dozens more artificial orbital stations. The moons of Perinetus are all vaguely similar, airless rocks of either void-exposed rock or deep frozen ice fields. Millions of servitors and serf workers are housed inside large chambers within hollowed-out asteroids and orbital storage stations. Perinetus is governed by Shipmaster Magos Svetlock from the Panopticon, a large orbital station that centralises and coordinates all actions within the Perinetus micro-system. Svetlock has ruled now for ten centuries, hard-wired into the control and data feed systems.

History : Perinetus was a temporary haven for fleeing Imperial ships after their first encounter with the Yu'vath. The Imperial ships cut off here fought a two month guerilla campaign before the survivors were recontacted and the Yu'vath were driven away. Perinetus became a major staging point for operations into the deep Adrantis Nebula. The Adeptus Mechanicus were heavily involved from the beginning and for their aid in persecuting the Crusade were granted the entire system once hostilities ceased.

Present : Perinetus is the largest and most productive shipyard of the Calixis Sector, outstripping Port Wrath. Perinetus is truly vast and sprawling, covering not just the moons of the Gas Giant Perinetus but several uninhabited worlds, minor planetoids, and asteroids. Perinetus is home to uncountable billions; its darkened, cramped hab quarters provide the bulk of all voidfarers that crew Imperial and Adeptus Mechanicus ships. Perinetus is a constant hive of activity, shuttles and conveyors zipping between stations, servitors and voidsuited technicians swarming over exterior surfaces, behemoth warships looming out from cocoons of struts and gantry supports. Perinetus Far Side is a slightly more isolated region of the system, requiring special clearances in order to gain access. Many of the ships in this orbital graveyard were found drifting or abandoned throughout the sector and require years of cleansing ceremonies and rituals before any repairs or scrap appraisal can begin, to say nothing of physically searching every inch of the ship for concealed threats or traces of the warp. Inquisitors and their agents are permanently on site should a crisis arise. Field Storage 40 is a large sealed hangar facility towards the Perinetus sun, guarded by a cluster of heavily armed warships, all with their turrets turned inwards. Here the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Inquisition store a handful of xenos and warp-tainted vessels, the investigation of which has been sanctioned by the highest authorities. Investigations are mandated to only be brief, a few months, before the vessel is dragged out and set adrift towards the sun to burn up. The secure docks are very high security installations, sometimes empty for years at a time, sometimes containing items such as a fragment of a Kroot warsphere, a partially destroyed Ork Kill Kroozer, or a suspected Chaos battleship. Should the Field Storage 40 facility ever be compromised, it has the capacity to be remotely commanded by Magos Svetlock to turn on thrusters propelling it into the sun to self-destruct. This direct link is a worry for some in the Mechanicus: if messages can be sent down the psychic link, why not have messages sent back, fatally influencing the aged and detached from reality magos.

Tephaine

Classification : Hive World

Planetary Governor : Cardinal Pyris Valcarna, Adrantian Diocese of the Sector Synod

Adeptus Presence : All of the usual, as well as an Astropathic choir at Tephaine Invictor.

Principal Exports : Finished goods and materials

Principal Imports : Food, mainly from the Tephaine System's Agri Worlds

Military : Hive Guards Units (low quality PDF) Tephaine Grenadiers (medium quality PDF); Imperial Guard: Tephaine Imperial Guard regiments

Geography : Tephaine is an extremely barren desert world with very little natural vegetation or water. Tephaine's atmosphere is hot and the deep deserts are highly inhospitable. The hives of Tephaine are built partially below ground like the nests of termites, served by complex ventilation and irrigation systems. The surface of Tephaine contains the ruins of a Xenos civilisation that died out in the distant past, consisting of low, decorated, slab-like buildings containing nothing but dust and broken pottery. Some desert dwelling human nomads make their camps in these xenos ruins, rumoured to connect by deep shafts to mythical wondorous cities deep below the surface. Tephaine's hives are winding, cramped spaces cut into the rock, housing billions who mine the depths for ore or work on assembly lines producing goods. The hives are well-known for their underground cathedrals and their overall high level of devotion to the Imperial Creed. Tephaine Invictor is the largest hive, a structure that extends to the deepest depths and whose roots touch a newly discovered underground ocean of frozen ice, something impossible for a world such as Tephaine. This impossible bounty is presently restricted, being exmained by members of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Each of Tephaine's hives has an attached spaceport, a large dry plain where cargo shuttles can land, covered by huge shaded verandas and prayer banners.

History : The Tephaine System was once home to a race of xenos that died out thousands of years before the Imperium discovered the world. The world was settled with pioneers but contact was lost: over the centuries the Tephaineans adopted a feudal lifestyle, developing the early below ground hive complexes and becoming desert nomads. A more through survey of territories along the Trailing edge of the Adrantis Nebula reconnected it to the Imperium. Strife on Tranch caused millions to flee that world: some came and settled on Tephaine, in part as a missionary effort. Millions of Ministorum and Tranch noble houses settled the world, importing their indentured serfs to accelerate the development of the world. The Tephaine System became a minor force within the Adrantis Subsector, although all the Tranch exiles hope that one day their homeworld will be more fully pacified.

Present : A high influx of Ministorum clergy has made Tephaine an extremely pious planet. It is the seat of power of Cardinal Pyris Valcarna of the Adrantian Diocese of the Sector Synod. Though not born of Tephaine, he took office there due to the current strife on his homeworld of Tranch. On Tephaine, the links between Ministorum and the nobility are almost indistinguishable, with siblings sharing the power of both church and state between them. The Tephainean year is broke up by many religious festivals, some native to the world, others imported from Tranch, others general Imperial Saints' days. The deserts of Tephaine are home to some small tribes who are branded heretical by the Tephainean overlords for practising divergent worship of the Imperial Creed; they make good training for the world's standing army PDF Grenadier forces. Many of the Tephaine Imperial Guard regiments are raised to serve a tour of duty on Tranch, attempting to hold or liberate noble house holdings that have fallen into mutant or rebel hands. Recently Bishop-Amaneunsis Odo led the Tephaine 5th "Emperor's Scribes" regiment to victory retaking a whole segment of the Hive-annex Basho District from mutant rebels, and moved his whole noble house back to that world. Many on Tephaine now want to fully organise and follow the example, were it not for the fact that all Tephaine Imperial Guard regiments are now receiving mandatory redeployment orders to the Achilus Crusade, something the overlords of Tephaine cannot ignore but bitterly resent nonetheless.

Tephaine Minor

Classification : Agri World

Planetary Governor : Squire Yorg M annerheim, Baronial oligarchy

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Administratum, Adeptus Ministorum, some Adeptus Arbites

Principal Exports : Food: bread, fruit and vegetables, grain, meat

Principal Imports : Building resources

Military : Baron's Men (medium quality feudal PDF)

Geography : Tephaine Minor is a large world with slightly heavier than Terran gravity. Most of Tephaine consists of grim, rocky land masses permanently cast in gloom by the world's distance from the Tephaine System's sun. Tehphaine Minor is a feudal-organised Agri World. Baronial castles are huge edifices constructed painstakingly over hundreds of years, built for each of the survivors of the Imperial Guard regiment that settled this world. Thousands of castles can be found on this world, some stubby and careworn and full of drafts and old ghosts, others towering keeps atop mountain fastnesses filled with treasure and riches. Castle Mannheim is the world's capital, a huge walled citadel encircling several dozen villages and Imperial Creed shrines. The citadel has a large attached spaceport. The wider planet consists of "the Commons", huge communal farming districts that grow everything from wheat to hogs. The granaries of Tephaine Minor are particularly lucrative, drawing their supply from the rich grain fields of the Vann River. A lot of the world's natural landscape has been artificially altered, turned into flat level fields, fish ponds, vegetable pads, or ranches, as needs be.

History : Tephaine Minor was previously a medieval Feudal World, a poor cousin to the more prominent Tephaine. The world was inhabited by a minor human empire that resisted the Imperium. Drusus deployed a single regiment to deal with the world, rough Feudal Worlders from a world in the Ixaniad Sector. The feudal worlders defeated the recalcitrant humans and won the world by right of settlement. The Guardsmen became feudal landlords governing estates of thousands of peasant serf farmers. Centuries later Tephaine was settled by millions of refugees and exiles from Tranch, creating a bustling Hive World that required huge quantities of food to support. The barons of Tephaine Minor were generously bribed to become the Tephaine System's primary food suppliers.

Present : The barons of Tephaine Minor have condensed over the years. The dream that each Guardsmen could be his own overlord collapsed into bitter fighting resulting in only a handful of prominent noble families and several hundred lesser houses. Squire Mannheim led House Mannheim to victory be courting the Cestelle Alliance into providing weapons and war machinery to his cause in exchange for the entrance of the world into the Alliance. It was pressure from the Cestelle Alliance that gave Tephaine Minor "an easy ride" when being converted into an Agri World. Tephaine Minor is a highly productive Agri World but in all other ways is extremely culturally stagnant. Off-worlders are distrusted as dangerous aliens; Tephaine Minor is notable for being almost bereft of involvement from the Adeptus Mechanicus. Councillor Imriyam Fossen is a representative of the Cestelle Alliance: it is said at the Slendid Court her word carries more weight than the rulers of Tephaine itself. There is a certain amount of tension brewing as the world is pushed harder to meet tithes, between the off-world descended families and the native Tephaineans, yet to spill over into violence but already marked by sporadic strikes and general discontent.

Siculi

Classification : Agri World

Planetary Governor : Governor Saymar Venditiun, Adeptus Administratum

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Administratum station in orbit that recieves regular automated shipments of food from the surface

Principal Exports : Protoalgia packed into iced containers

Principal Imports : Some raw materials

Military : Siculian PDF

Geography : Siculi is a world of one singular landmass, much it just below water level and forming thousands of natural swamps, marshes, and lakes. The islands of Siculi are all extremely divergent , having their own specific ecosystems of flora and fauna. Port Siculi is the capital, a city and spaceport raised upon metal stilts above the swamps, largely inhabited by Administratum personnel. The 'islands' are inhabited by insular cultists who follow a rendering of the Emperor as a fertility god, something not entirely encouraged by the Administratum. Great growing pools of protoalgia are attached to the islands, shallow growing areas kept pest free but continuously flooded. The climate of Siculi is perpetually warm and humid.

History : Siculi was a world entirely controlled by a foul chaos-worshipping fertility cult. The cult was suppressed and wiped out, but some of its traditions survived and were incorporated into worship of the Imperial Creed. The population of Siculi numbers several million, all entirely dedicated to harvesting the rich protoalgia found near their island villages. Siculi is a damp, hot, uninteresting world, almost entirely uncontacted by the Imperium at large.

Present : The cultists of Siculi dutifully provide their food tithe on time and, supply carts brimming with rich globs of protoalgia; the dockers at Port Siculi load the shipment up and it is dispatched to the hives of Tephaine. It is something of a concern that so little is known about the Siculian harvesting cults, and that the Administratum authorities have no desire to investigate further. A party of representatives from the Cestelle Alliance recently landed on this world and journeyed out to one of the larger island communities; none were ever seen again. Port Siculi has the feel of a fortress under siege.

Hazeroth Subsector

The Hazeroth Abyss is a cloud of stellar debris that was once the home territory of the nightmarish xenoforms known as the Bale Childer. The Yu'vath also had established worlds here, as did many minor xenos empires, human civilisations, and worlds given over to the perils of the warp. The Hazeroth Subsector was the last parcel of Calyx space to be conquered and incorporated. All records of actions within the Abyss are sealed: many millions died in the course of the liberation of the region, entire worlds were lost. What is known is that Drusus himself led the final stages of the campaign to the heart of the xenos realm, the Bale Childer Hell Stars, and there forver vanquished the Yu'vath and Bale Chiler from the Calyx Expanse. Today the subsector is a relatively isolated region of the sector, its main point of interest being the world of Regulus where the Cestelle Alliance is based.

Regulus

Classification : Agri World

Planetary Governor : Ninian Cestelle, Regulus and Cestelle Alliance Castellan

Adeptus Presence : some Adeptus Ministorum, a handful of Administratum and Arbites

Principal Exports : Food, mainly grain, animal products, rice

Principal Imports : Technology and building materials

Military : Cestelle Home Guard (high quality PDF)

Geography : Regulus is a temperate world much like ancient Holy Terra, consisting of several different landmasses and environments. Much of Regulus has been rigorously terraformed and organised into large farming conurbations, spread-out hive cities neatly incorporated into farming blocks of tiered arable fields, animal paddocks, and floors of sunken rice trenches. Regulus is a clean, well-organised, productive world, and the gleaming white and silver buildings designed by native Regulusian architects reflect this. Regulus is served by a whole network of space ports and platforms handling the export of huge quantities of food, and the import of stone and metal to extend the size of the world's farming habitations.

History : Regulus was a brutal Feudal World, rediscovered and settled by troops loyal to the Angevin Crusade. The Imperial Missionaries passed on their rites and rituals to the Regulusians, creating a culture of raucous and sometimes violent festivals and celebrations. Regulus was earmarked to be developed into an Agri World, and an orbital Administratum station was established in orbit. A rogue meteor strike sent the station and all aboard it plummeting into the atmosphere, killing all aboard and plunging Regulus into a mini ice age as the wreckage tainted the atmosphere. The Regulusians survived and developed an extremely hard-working, self sufficient culture, far out-producing the Administratim in terms of food production. By the time contact with the Imperium was re-established, it was clear that the alliance of indigenous peoples was running the agri-world more efficiently than the Administratum, and the natives of Regulus were left to their own devices as long as their tithe of food was met. From this string of events was born the Cestelle Alliance, the unified people of Regulus, who sent members to other, less promising worlds and transformed them over the following decades into fertile agri-worlds in their own rights, passing on enormous tithes to Sector Governor Hax’s government. Slowly, almost without the other Great Houses knowing, the Cestelle Alliance amassed the wealth and power to make them the equal of the other sector houses.

Present : Wealth has flowed to Regulus in huge amounts, completely refreshing and revitalising the world with off-world treasure. The Cestelle Alliance now controls many agri-worlds in the Calixis Sector. It has not escaped the notice of Lord Sector Hax that the Alliance, if it wished, could cut off food supplies to the sector’s most populated worlds and create a crisis of famine to hold the sector to ransom. To keep the Alliance firmly on the Imperial side, Hax has appointed Egoyan Cestelle as the governor of the Adrantis Nebula and continues to permit the Alliance rights to its agri-worlds. The members of the Alliance must walk a curious tightrope between maintaining the traditions of their home worlds and kingdoms, and acting like fully recognized nobles of the Calixis Sector. The traditions of Regulus include facial tattooing (with the higher-ranking nobles sporting extraordinarily intricate scrollwork), incinerating the house’s dead on funeral pyres and praying to the Emperor in the raucous manner first taught to the people of Regulus by Imperial missionaries. Many of these activities have been smoothly incorporated into the modernising ethos of Regulus, but some have been stamped out. Each district of the agri-cities still adheres to a differing tribal or cultural grouping, producing a dizzying array of practices, rituals, and even languages between the hab blocks. The Administration District of Regulus is the capital of the world, a cluster of tall towers rising serene and glittering from the low multi-storied farming blocks and silo ducts. Ninian Cestelle is of House Cestelle and holds the world instead to his brother Egoyan, elevated to Subsector Governor of the neighbouring Adranti Nebula.

Gunpoint

Classification : Hive World

Planetary Governor : Governor-Resplendent Isaac Rauf, local oligarchy

Adeptus Presence : All of the usual, plus Astropathic Choir at Petitioner's Tower

Principal Exports : Munitions

Principal Imports : Food, raw materials

Military : Gunpoint Fusiliers (medium PDF), Imperial Guard: Gunpoint Duelists

Geography: The environment of Gunpoint was ruined over the course of thousands of years by economic exploitation and pollution. Much of the once verdant world is now ashy deserts and barren plains of bare rock. Large parts of Gunpoint are layered over with sheets of metal platforms and reach upwards into towering hive complexes and industrial clusters. The main hive of Gunpoint is called Breech, and consists of hundreds of tightly piled-up manufactorums producing munitions and weaponry. The skies of Gunpoint are permanently turned a roiling black and charcoal from years of pollution; only the hardiest of plants and animals now line on this world, in addition to over 21 billion humans. Gunpoint is orbited by a dozen orbital platforms and stations, one of these being the Governor's Retreat where the oligarch rulers of Gunpoint dwell.

History : Gunpoint was settled in the early days of the Calyx Expanse by a joint settler expedition from the Finial and Ixaniad Sectors. The world then went by an unknown name and developed into a prosperous Frontier World. The Deed War began when the Rogue Trader Admiral-Resplendent Khawja Rauf arrived and declared that he had previously discovered the world and laid claim to it. The settlers disputed the trader's claim and a war that spanned the whole system began and did not abate for nearly thirty years; the Imperium intervened on the side of the Rogue Trader and levelled some of the rebellious hives. The world was settled at "Gunpoint", and this became the world's new name.

Present : Gunpoint has become a byword for 'failure' due to the ineptitude of the local Adeptus Ministorum. The nepotism of House Landsholt gradually caused several worlds to drift away and seek aid from other sources, in Gunpoint's case from the Adeptus Mechanicus, already quite settled on the Hive World. Gunpoint has signed several treaties with Idumea that have brought prosperity to the world and have caused Magos Ameneun-Eta to become a favoured confidant of the rulers of House Rauf. Cybenetic enhancements are becoming ever more commonplace among hive factory workers. 'Failure' became linked with Gunpoint when Ministorum loyalists launched the Aquilla Bay invasion, an attempted coup using gang troopers from Clove who tried to cease the planetside Aquilla Bay spaceport. The abortive coup was quashed by a detachment of Skitarii and the flamboyantly-attired Gunpoint Fusilier PDF. It was common knowledge the attack was orchestrated by the Ministorum, but a certain embarrassed silence has pervaded all sides. Gunpoint is a prodigious provider of troopers for the Imperial Guard, supplying the flamboyantly uniformed, colourful aristocrats of the Gunpoint Duelists. Gunpoint is also noted for its Steel Cavalry regiments, armoured units that pride themselves on an honourbound and chivalrous interpretation of tank warfare.

Percipre

Classification : Agri World

Planetary Governor : Consul Gaius Martayne, Cestelle Alliance

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Administratum, Adeptus Ministorum, and Adeptus Arbites, all in relatively low quantities as Percipre Conurbation

Principal Exports : Fruits and vegetables

Principal Imports : Water, light filtration, equipment

Military : Percipre Monitors (medium quality PDF)

Geography : Percipre is a hufe planet, completely barren and airless. Large parts are featureless dusty off-white deserts, with blue-tinted polar ice caps. Percipre is home to several thousand greenhouse complexes that completely cover the level, rocky plateaus common on the world. Percipre receives a lot of light from the system's sun, but is otherwise a cold, inhospitable world. The agritech and hydro farms are huge facilities encompassing miles of land beneath filmy layers of heat and moisture trapping gauze that allows the penetration of sunlight. Percipre Conurbation is based at the North Pole, a medium-sized town of underground facilities, mining stations, and a spaceport. Pipelines transport water from the ice caps to the farms of the south, and Cestelle Alliance vessels bring in the chemicals necessary to create breathable air and effective fertilisers. The greenhouses of Percipre are geodesic in their construction, using mostly light and organic materials. Servitors mainly work the farms, and a huge array of underground packing stations and subway tunnels connect the farming collectives. Percipre has a number of orbital stations, mainly housing Imperial personnel.

History : Percipre was a Frontier World granted to an unknown Imperial Guard regiment for settlement: the colonists were housed in sealed hab-bunkers with basic agricultural facilities. Percipre stagnated into a world where colonists simply worked for their own survival and abandoned all hopes of terraforming. When the Cestelle Alliance came into existence, Percipre was identified as a potential member, with Cestelle evalutators finding much to admire in the hardy people and the unrealised potential. The Alliance made Percipre one of their first victories: they Alliance pumped materials and advisors into the world, developing brand new technologies to enable further agricultural exploitation. The soil of Percipre was treated, and huge greenhouse tents were thrown up between canyon walls and over craters to create huge garden nurseries. By the time the Cestelle Alliance was fully established, Percipre was a success story, turning a completely unlikely world into a breadbasket.

Present : The people of Percipre currently number several thousand: they are immensely proud of their contributions to the Cestelle Alliance and their taming of the harsh world. The Adeptus Mechanicus are currently trying to gain influence on this world; some say they resent the success the Cestelle Alliance had with developing the planet. The peoples of the Percipre Conurbation are somewhat 'un-Imperial' in their manner: they have little regard for the Imperial Creed, and resent the presence of Imperial officials such as the Arbites. Long years of isolation and neglect have bred a separatist attitude in the population, something not aided by the 'insider-outsider' status of most Cestelle Alliance worlds. Consul Martayne hails from Lokus Medea on Regulus, and is a rising administrator of great skill with phenomenal insight into Calixian politics; sector intelligence and Cestelle insiders suspect Martayne is destined for a prominent leader position within the organisation.

St. Astrid's Fall

Classification : Frontier World

Planetary Governor : Governor Nael Corswain, by appointment of the Nominations Council

Adeptus Presence : Minimal, some Ministorum clergy

Principal Exports : Natural gas

Principal Imports : Food and building materials

Military : Marine Guard (medium quality PDF)

Geography : St. Astrid's Fall is a watery world, a planet mostly consisting of enless banks of silt and sand forming huge barriers around lagoons and a large network of rivers. The world has little natural fauna and flora. Humanity survives on St. Astrid's Fall through huge pockets of natural gas lying just below the surface: these power thousands of boats that carry the population along the waterways in search of the shallow dwelling night coral. The night coral acts as a sponge for various elements in the water and ground and absorbs them into its body, making it a useful source of food and supplemental power. The night coral is so-called because it is well-hidden beneath a layer of filmy sand, and can only be seen at night when its natural luminescence gives it away to scanners. The gas pockets of St. Astrid's Fall are found in the rock pools, large open bodies of water that are surrounded by rock overgrown with fungas, plants, and certain coral species. These rock pools are the only stable points to drill from: many hundreds of animals live in these pools, most of them competitive and highly predatory. Molluscs, crustaceans, fish, bird, and insectoids dwell here: gas mining platforms are built like fortresses with gun turrets and defences. Human settlements are invariably small, dingy, ramshackle settlements with maybe tens of people, used mainly for servicing the large dredgers and transport ships that ply the narrow sandy paths. Most ships are small and compact, but the central waterways have been carved out over the years and can now contain very large vessels with hundreds of crew. St. Astrid's Fall has an Adeptus Administratum station in orbit that handles the shipment of gas.

History : St. Astrid's Fall was so named because the world (really a moon of the red Gas Giant Sekmet) was discovered on St Astrid's Feast Day, an important day in the calendar of the crew of the Battlefleet Finial ship that arrived here. The world was surveyed and an abundance of natural gas resources were identified. St. Astrid's Fall was settled by colonists from far Scintilla who spent their first hundred years simply attempting to build lasting structures, unsuccesfully as all collapsed in the watery sand. The people of St. Astrid's Fall became good designers of ships and skilled navigators, travelling the narrow waterways and developing a sixth sense for gauging the water depth.

Present : St. Astrid's Fall is a prodigious exporter of gas mined from the hazardous rock pools. The people of St. Astrid's Fall are also highly capable navigators and builders and many find their way into the Imperial Navy or the Adeptus Mechanicus. St. Astrid's Fall is quiet and out of the way. It is suspected by the Inquisition that St. Astrid's Fall may have become the refuge of dozens of cults, renegades, and outlaws from across the sector, lying loat as boatmen, shipswrights, gas miners, or depot tenders. Unusual patterns of ship activity on the far side of Sekmet has been observed. The world is presently under close monitoring.

Cloister

Classification : Frontier World

Planetary Governor : Brother Beggar, Prelate of the Beggars City

Adeptus Presence : N/A

Principal Exports : Slaves

Principal Imports : Food, water

Military : Vagabond Warriors (medium quality PDF)

Geography : Cloister is a cold, barren world on the fringes of its solar system. Cloister has long dark days and longer, darker nights. Most of the world is covered in rough, wild tundra, and temperatures are usually so cold that people left exposed to the environment die very rapidly. Cloister possesses a huge bastion carved from rock, a turreted, many towered castle occupying a whole region of plateau in the foothills of the World's Ceiling mountain range. The basion is known as the Beggars City for the thousands of mendicant fraters who dwell there. The interior courtyards and marshalling fields of the bastion have gradually been filled with tottering buildings and shacks built from wattle and dried mud from mountain streams. The city is smoky and densly packed with rubbish, buildings, and humans begging on the streets. Black Knight's Keep is the core of the city, a tall, imposing fortress-within-a-fortress where the Beggars Prelates dwell, including the secretive Brother Beggar. Cloister has no spaceports and no orbital objects of any kind.

History : Cloister was allegedly a Yu'vath Hell World at one point in its history, until the world was scoured of life by the Black Templars. The Space Marines left a bastion behind, although this has only been indicated by certain symbols carved into Cloister''s interior walls. The Mendicant Brothers of the Imperium Divine settled on this world following their expulsion from Fenksworld. The Mendicant Brothers preferred to live by begging and accepting charity; the bastion became Beggars City, a settlement known for its high rate of povery and developing of complex culture of guilds of beggars practicing ceremonial begging rites. The Beggars City has a dark side: the world is commanded by Brother Beggar, a Frater Prelate who hides behind a mask in the secluded keephold of Black Knight's Keep. Brother Beggar collects tithes from the begging guilds that rely upon one another, and handles deals with off-worlders who infrequently visit the world. Life on Cloister is negotiated through complex social interactions based around gift exchange, with most of the actual work focusing on travelling to mountain streams to catch fish and harvest the few hardy plants that grow on this world.

Present : Cloister is a popular world for slave traders to visit. The population are undernourished and enfeebled but are completely without defences. The Vagabond Warriors are very poorly organised and drilled troops, incapable of standing up to assaults of hardened slaver companies. Brother Beggar seems to have some sort of compact with the raiders: the world's entire population is never taken, and raids tend to focus on tiny outlying farm communities. In exchange the Mendicant Brothers are building up a small arsenal of modern weaponry for their own use in exchange. There is now talk among some Beggars Guilds that Brother Beggar is no longer what he seems, and is some sort of imposter who is plundering the world for his own benefit. Nobody has seen the Brother Prelate for many years; some even whisper that an emmisarry of the Dark Powers has the Brother's ear. This poor world is only growing poorer as time goes on, and possibly may become a world subject to the powers of Chaos once the plans of the Mendicants become clear.

Purgatory of Soubirous

Classification : Mining World

Planetary Governor : Head Haulier Torreg Witte, Head of the Miner's Council

Adeptus Presence : Adeptus Ministorum personnel at the shrines in the mines; mainly Adeptus Administratum at Heshel's Head Station

Principal Exports : Salt, promethium, rare rocks and minerals

Principal Imports : Food, resources

Military : Haulier Guards Squads (medium quality PDF)

Geography : Soub ir ous was a Frontier World settled by pilgrims and settlers from the core worlds of the Ixaniad Sector following the conclusion of the Angevin Crusade. Soub ir ous was a warm, tropical world, poor in resources and food as the planet's ecology was extremely specialised. A chance discovery of tantalum in the Soub ir ous jungles attracted prospectors, and soon major mining concerns followed. The world became known as Purgatory following the import of millions of penal colonists from Scintilla, Malfi, Clove, and Merov. The remaining population were forced underground at gunpoint, establishing settlements in the caverns underground. The surface of Purgatory of Soub ir ous is covered mainly in jungles that have almost completely overgrown the metal strutted buildings of the early colonists. Mine settlements are known as "Heads" and are located around the rims of large sinkholes, rifts in the earth, and pit heads. The Heads are surrounded by barbed wire and defences to keep their populations within. Heshel's Head is the current capital, a town encircling Tertius Mine, where the mining consortia and the Miner's Council officers are located.

History : The Soub ir ous System was marked for investigation by the Adeptus Mechanicus for further exploration and exploitation. Soub ir ous was uninhabited but possessed native fauna and flora that was inedible to humans. Colony ships from the Ixaniad Sector dumped millions of colonists, many who quickly died of starvation. A chance discovery of tantalum quickly turned the world into a booming Mining World, high in mortality but very profitable, attracting miners and mining companies. The Amaranthine Syndicate became great owners of shares in Soub ir ous's mines. The Revolt of the Glorious 11th was led by miners from Clove, organising a planet-wide strike for pay, food, and rights that led to open warfare between company shock troops and miner guerillas. The crushing of the 11th Movement caused the directors of Soubi r ous to clear the surface of the world, moving the whole population below ground and burning or razing much of the surface settlements. The mining companies and corporations own the supply lines for food to the starving masses of this world, constricting further rebellions. Religion has recently become very popular on Purgatory of Soubi r ous, leading to the rise of the Four Eagle Shrines.

Present : Upon the mining world of Soubirous, there are four rocks scattered throughout the endless mine tunnels that are naturally formed in the shape of the Imperium’s double-headed eagle. The mine has since been converted into a shrine, the stones wreathed in a blue-white eternal flame. While Soubirous is not a common destination, pilgrims who undertake the hazardous journey to each of the burning eagles may be allowed access to a small Templum deep within the planet’s crust. Within the Templum, a well of ever-burning promethium is said to be blessed by the Emperor. Numerous prophets have spoken of hearing the Emperor’s voice ringing out within the caverns. If they approach it, they may place a single lasgun charge close to the well overnight, which recharges it. The people of Soubirous are kept in line by their religion, and are forbidden from ever returning to their ancestral surface homes, which have mostly rotted back into the jungle. The complete control of food means that Soubirous is only a few moments away from devastating famine.

Dalthus

Classification : Mining World

Planetary Governor : Crown-Soveregin Markus II the Pious, Local monarchy

Adeptus Presence : Ministorum and Arbites, some Mechanicus

Principal Exports : Uranium and other radioactive metals are the world's only contribution

Principal Imports : Minimal, mainly heavy machinery for industry and processing

Military : Dalthusian Reserves (medium quality PDF); Imperial Guard: Dalthus Scab Dogs

Geography : Dalthus is a small, Terra-like world with several large rocky continents covered in forests, fields, mountains, deserts, and small states containing pre-hive cities and towns. Dalthus has several Adeptus Administratum stations. Dalthus Aleph is the name for the world's capital, located in the Dalthus Crown Region, the planet's most prominent state. The badlands of Dalthus are home to large organised mining collectives that work pits and fields known to contain uranium and other radioactive ores. Dalthus is relatively lightly exploited, known for its laxity in tithe payments. One day soon Dalthus is likely to gain the full ire of the Imperium and be more vigorously exploited by the Calixis authorities.

History : Dalthus was established by human frontier settlers from the Scarus Sector who settled the extremely habitable world. The discovery of radioactive ores in abundance both explained the fairly low lifespan of Dalthusians and allowed Dalthus to command economic terms with the Imperium. Dalthus was briefly home to a xenos-worshipping cult that set itself up in a uranium mine, requiring the sanction of the Ordo Inquisitors.

Present : The recent incident with the Rogue Trader Lady Sun Lee and the failure to meet tithes has caused penaltie to be levied against the world of Dalthus. One of Dalthus's main states has been seized directly by the Adpetus Administratum and is now run to maximum efficiency by Arbites. The seizure of Dalthus Terminus has led to feelings of bitter resentment in the populace and has caused the Crown-Sovereign to become bitterly resented. Most of Dalthus's population live a pre-Imperial civilised lifestyle, with only a fraction of the population and the land used for radi oactive mining. Dalthus raises Imperial Guard regiments, known colloquially as "Scab Dogs", troops drawn from tough, hardened radiation miners. The Scab Dogs are typically deployed to hazardous environments polluted with chemicals, toxicity, or radiation.

Hesiod's Wake

Classification : Agri World

Planetary Governor : Governor Demitrius Thule, Adeptus Administratum

Adeptus Presence : Meagre Ministorum and Administratum

Principal Exports : Hesiod's Wake's main export is resin and other animal products from the pseudo-apoidea hives; honey and cellulose are also exported in bulk

Principal Imports : Hesiod's Wake is distant from the Imperium and far out of the way, meaning it receives only a small amount of imports, mainly specialised pesticides

Military : Hesiod's Wake PDF (low quality)

Geography : Hesiod's Wake is a temperate Terra-like world with large rolling meadows and woodlands. Hesiod's Wake has an easygoing climate and experiences few disturbances. A species of xenos pseudo-apoidea have grown especially adapted to this world; it is believed the first colonists interbred Terran honey bees with local wildlife. The huge tiered beehives of Hesiod's Wake dominate the landscape for miles around, small hillocks of resin and wax filled with hundreds of billions of buzzing bodies. Human agarian settlements are found at a safe distance, curtained by enorm o us screens of gauze scented with repellants. Journey's Close is the capital of Hesiod's Wake, a pre-hive city with a spaceport situated at the extreme range of any bee colony so as not to disturb their life patterns. Underground rail cars are the main means of transport on this world. The "bees" of Hesiod's Wake are on average about the same size as a Terran Asian giant hornet of the distant past, split into many specific casts. Bees are not hostile unless their territory is enroached upon: one sting can kill but usually doesn't; the larger soldier bees however attack in huge swarms and can even force their way into a fortified agrarian roller through sheer weight of attack. Through careful cultivation of pheromones and general familiarity between the settlements, deaths among farmers are now fairly rare.

History : It is believed Hesiod was an unknown Imperial Frateris who attempted a pilgrimage from far Scarus to the Trailing Calyx, and died in the attempt on the world that became known as Hesiod's Wake. In truth nobody knows why the world is so-named, but it has not stopped six seperate tombs of "St." Hesiod being discovered on the world and turned into pilgrimage sites. Hesiod's Wake's genetically modified and crossbred wildlife suggests involvement from the Adeptus Mechanicus in its history. Hesiod's Wake is located at the terminus of a long trailing warp route from Clove and has yet to be contacted by the Cestelle Alliance. At one time Hesiod's Wake's output of processed insect matter and secretions could single handedly keep Clove supplied with food, but a certain malaise has set upon the world.

Present : The agri-world of Hesiod’s Wake is ruled by Governor Thule, a dutiful man who works diligently to ensure his planet meets its tithe quotas, which feed, for the most part, the hive world of Clove. He is, however, a man with a tendency to lose himself in the detail and minutiae of operational activities rather than delegating and directing. As such, he is viewed as an eager but weak leader, with little oversight or authority over his subordinates. Worst of the bunch is Lord Provost Arcule Yamatov, effectively Thule’s second in command. The other local masters of agriculture and trade on Hesiod’s Wake would love to see Yamatov fall from power, but most are corrupt to some extent and many are in the Lord Provost’s pocket. The planet’s out-of-the-way location has allowed it to avoid close external scrutiny up to now; however, it is surely just a matter of time until the Administratum notices the meagre tithes or Governor Thule realizes the truth.

Hesiod's Wake's PDF forces are a gentleman's militia raised from the eager squires of the agrarian colonies, and are no real match for any serious military opposition. The forces building on Hesiod's Wake are pushing for the world to further diversify and increase their strategic importance to the world of Clove. Governor Thule is fond of the bees however.

Can I just say this man, you are a freaking Saint. This entire thread is nothing but win and I applaud you for it.

Emperor bless you Sir!