Hethgard (Mining/Dead/Fortress World, Orpheus Salient)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Hethgard was a Fortress World with three moons (also heavily fortified) that served as the primary command center for the Achilus Crusade's Orpheus Salient in the Jericho Reach. When the Tyranid menace codenamed "Dagon" was encountered, Hethgard's purpose changed: it was to protect the rimward flank of the Achilus Crusade's advance, and more importantly, to prevent the enemies of Humanity from reaching the Well of Night and the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate within it.

To that end, it was remade as a Fortress World, with every square kilometer of its surface and many hundreds of meters below ground devoted to the protection of its defenders and the repulsion of an invading force. Designed by a coterie of Divisio Tactica siege engineers and Adeptus Mechanicus artisans out of the lathes, Hethgard's fortifications were carefully arranged to allow for the swift and effective detection and destruction of invaders, its structure devised by ancient strategic lore, arcane formulae, and the results of intensive prognostication.

When Librarian Barotta of the Sons of Xandor arrived sometime after 212.M42, Hethgard still remained. There were scant few human survivors to be found, only four were located, but the world had proven true: the Hive Fleet had broken against it, wasting its power, until finally the controlling synapse was destroyed (details unknown).

The freezing, thin air of Hethgard's mountains had preserved the dead as if they have died only recently. Countless million human dead, and endless fields of slaughtered Tyranids. And an enormous amount of war material. Much of it destroyed or damaged, but the sheer scale of the battle fought here meant it was a near limitless pool of scavenge.

Hethgard's pickers still contribute to the Sector, even if their economic importance has waned a bit. A few lesser mines have been reopened, and towns and villages have sprung up to support the growing population.