So, this is going to seem a bit trivial, and certainly a bit only my opinion, but why does Askellon SUCK so hard? What I mean is, Calixis has it's problems, certainly, but it seems a decent enough place, in spots. The Koronus Expanse suffers from a certain amount of freedom, and a lack of Imperial oversight, but it works. So, if Askellon is actually closer to the rest of the Imperium than the boonies-sector of Calixis, and Scarus, or Ixaniad, why does it seem SO lost, and terrible? Their sector leader is a lunatic, only better than Vandire, mentally, on account of she can't bring down too much suffering anyplace else. The head of their Arbites is feeble, and a bit crazy. Everything there already seems lost, addled, or worse, and then the Pandemonium is going to swallow it. What light still shines in the sector, that it's worth saving? I accept that the Imperium doesn't really let anything go, and the Jericho Reach is a fine example of the lengths to which they'll go to plant a flag, and see that it keeps waving, but Calixis seemed to have organizations in place that would help the players, as the Inquisition is strong there; Askellon seems to be lacking this, in my brief paging through the stuff, and I'm not sure how the Inquisitors keep it going, when the agencies they usually depend on to see their word heeded are decrepit, deceitful, or absent, and the proclamation "I'm an Inquisitor!" loses something when you can't make it matter, if you can't blow up the world, and then the Imperium holds you accountable for that.
I might've missed something, certainly, but is there really anything redeeming about Askellon, apart from it's a different region than Calixis? I appreciate that they made it, but it just seems so trashed, lost, and benighted, already, that, while I don't expect the party to really save the sector, in this case it just seems so far beyond impossible, even compared to the rest of the FFG settings.