Credence (Forge World, Canis Salient)

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There exists in the annals of the Jericho Reach, stories of a Forge World that were overrun by malevolent machine intelligences. All attempt to pacify it failed, so it was decreed that it would be purged from all Imperial records, lest this blemish upon the honor of the sector become known to the great Imperium. But the name survived: Credence.

Probably just one of many void-myths... to scare your kids with, or put the fear of the God-Emperor into the cog-heads. Recently, a star chart was found in the bazaars of Eleusis, claiming to show the way to Credence. A hundred like it "surface" every year, but none are real. But this one just might be - it bears the seal of Sebastian Thor, one of the Imperium's most renowned characters, and the words "Whoever brings fire and faith to the Soulless shall be bequeathed the Paradise World of Carmyn."

Turns out Credence isn't a myth, but a real place. It was probably founded around M35 by a breakaway Mechanicus cult, It's tech-priests dabbled in non-STC technology, things they had recovered while exploring the Ultima Thule, the distant parts of Ultima Segmentum, beyond the light of the God-Emperor. Their ships moved freely through the Warp without the aid of the Astronomican, using secret and forbidden technologies to interface man, machine, and the Navigators of House Fallast.

Eventually, the Adeptus Mechanicus declared the cult to be outside of acceptable norms and moved to purge it. The cults factory-hive holdfasts on Samech were destroyed, but the cult leaders had prepared for this eventuality. Their ships were scattered far and wide, beyond the reach of the Imperium. Many patrols were sent after the heretics, but no trace was ever found. it was assumed they had fled into the dark and distant corners of the galaxy. All records were purged, and the cult was forgotten.

In reality, the cult's Technomancers had long prepared for this day. Forewarned by an Avatar of the Machine, they had prepared a secret hideout right in the middle of the Jericho Sector, on the world of Credence, a system unreachable using conventional warp drives due to local Immaterium conditions.

They have remained in hiding for millennia, slowly building their base into a Forge World, and assembling skitarii and engines of war, waiting for the day when another Avatar would arrive to awaken the Central Intelligence.

It was a good day when Barotta finally revealed himself. Credence stood strong, but millennia of separation had taken its toll. Without access to outside resources, the system had been plundered of every natural resource, and only draconic recycling measures kept the factories going even at minimum capacity. But now that the greater galaxy is within reach, there is no limit to the wonders that could be forged on Credence.

The leaders of Credence are the Lord High Technomancers (quite the title), who are the key nodes in a planet-spanning computation network of tech-priest and machine intelligences known as the Central Intelligence. The CI is both a single entity and the result of the combined human-machine intelligences networked into it. According to Mars this is tech-heresy of the highest order. As are many of the other technologies of Credence, merging as they do Xenos and STC tech.

Spite (Fortress World)

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Spite was a Fortress World from which Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave marshaled the forces under his command against the Tau. This world was a heavily settled and industrialized but was left in ruins following a Tau counteroffensive that involved a massive uprising of human malcontents (widely believed to have been supported by the Tau). The Tau did not, however, stay to claim the world, but moved on to other targets.

The system was still being fought over by the remnants of Imperial loyalists and Tau-sympathetic rebels when Barotta arrived. The civil war between "Imperials" and "Tau-lovers" has died down, largely thanks to Barotta. An uneasy truce is in effect, but bloodshed could resume at the drop of a feather.

The planet itself is a fairly nice affair, where humans can comfortably walk around without protective gear, and even live off the land. In terms of resources, it's meager fare indeed. With enough settlers, it could become a prosperous world. Some human refugees from Tau-held worlds have arrived over the past few years, but the planet could take many more.

Calisi (Fortress World)

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The cities and garrisons of Calisi were abandoned prior to the Battle of Hethgard. The citizens were moved to other, more defensible locations, while the soldiers and their arms were used to reinforce Hethgard. Only the poor and the useless were left behind. Servants too old to be useful, former soldiers too injured to fight, women and children.

Fortunately, the Tyranids never arrived, and the planet was spared. The system was claimed by Barotta, but the inhabitants couldn't care less. They know how to fend for themselves, and have little use for an overlord who will only take their meager earnings, and abandon them in their hour of need.

The people remaining here either live in shanty towns around the old industrial-military complexes or wander the empty countryside, looking for salvage. The planet could easily house a few hundred million settlers and several armies.

Karlack (Fortress/Dead World)

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Karlack was a human-inhabited world that had retained a semblance of civilization despite 5 millennia alone in the dark. It's peoples initially rejoiced when reunited with the Imperium, but their happiness was soon crushed by the demands of the crusade. The world's population swelled tenfold, its industries multiplied a hundred times, and its fields were farmed beyond exhaustion. At some point, the planet's ecosphere collapsed, and people became resentful, rebellious even. Harsh measures were taken.

Karlack was the principal seat of the Achilus Crusade High Command, home to the single most powerful concentration of the Imperium's military might within the Reach. After Hethgard, no one heard from the system, and none of the patrols sent there returned.

It was eventually revealed that Karlack had turned to Chaos, specifically Khorne. Every ship that had gone there had been seized by cultists, and incorporated into the "Great Star Ark" that would carry the faithful back to their loved ones on Carmyn. It's a given that there would be bloodshed when they arrived to find their promised paradise a cesspool of Saaneshi corruption.

Barotta put an end to this dream, seizing the hulk, and reclaiming the ships that could still be repaired. He then virus-bombed the surface of Karlack, wiping away all life.

Pyrathas (Fortress World)

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Pyrathas: Pyrathas was an Imperial Fortress World found within the Pyrathas Majorus System of the Jericho Reach. The system's primary star is a fierce, blue-white supergiant. This star is orbited by a second brown dwarf in a tidally locked orbit. Inside this brown dwarf's penumbra, Pyrathas also hangs in a tidally locked orbit, shielded from the fury of the supergiant. Its strategic location made it the second-largest (after Karlack) anchorage for the Imperial Navy in the Iron Collar.

The planet is marginally habitable and resource-poor and was ignored by the Imperium until Hive Fleet Dagon seemed like it might devour everything. It was believed that the glare of the system's primary would be enough to deter any Tyranid invasion. Thus, a colony was established on the surface, a place of retreat in case things went south.

A tendril of the Hive was indeed utterly devastated at Pyrathas. But rather than make the Tyranids stay away, it made them evolve. The next, larger tendril returned around the time of the Battle of Hethgard, fully adapted to the harsh stellar radiation.

The two Navy escorts protecting the place were quickly overwhelmed, as were orbital and plane-based defenses. Tyranids landed en mass on the surface, and all seemed lost. Then the God-Emperor interceded, the Tyranid Overmind was destroyed, and the Tyranids at Pyrathas lost cohesion, and the absorption of the planet's resources was halted.

Numerous feral Tyranid creatures continued to roam the planet for years. They were dangerous if provoked, but rarely worked in groups anymore, and could even be scared away with high noise and bright lights. By the 230s they had largely been eliminated by Marine Scouts proving their worth to the chapter.

Alphos (Fortress World)

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Alphos: Alphos was a human-inhabited world that was conquered during the first expansion phase of the Crusade. It was subsequently turned in to part of the Iron Collar, the ring of Fortress World protecting the Well of Night.

Alphos was only lightly defended during the Battle of Hethgard, but still managed to gain the upper hand against the Tyranid splinter fleet sent there. Something about Alphos made it very hostile to the invading Xenoforms, and more Tyranids died to the environment than to the guns of men. The invaders eventually adapted, and from a crashed hive ship a Tyranid synapse creature directed the remaining Xenos against the increasingly weak human garrison. The synapse creature was eventually eliminated by Barotta's new breed of Aurum marines, greatly reducing the Tyranid threat on Alphos. 

The searing hot sulfurous atmosphere makes Alphos a hell-hole, requiring heavy protective garments and breathers if you want to go outside, but it's vast mineral fields are too rich to be left idle, so the workers toil now, as they always have, stripping away one layer of rock to expose the next. The Adeptus Mechanicus did some preliminary terraforming studies, but the results were not promising, and the project was ended. Instead, a large number of Squat abhumans were moved here, as they are better suited to Alphos' harsh environment. 

Rheelas (Mining World)

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Rheelas is a Mining World in the Canis Salient. It was quarantined by Lord Ebongrave alongside Kaggeran and Argoth (it was deemed tainted by the Tau, but too valuable for Exterminatus).

Unable to support its population without food imports, this mining world suffered greatly from the decades-long blockade of the Quarantined Worlds. Most of the mines and refineries fell into disrepair, as workers slowly died off due to starvation. Despite the blockade, a few Rogue Traders traded food and weapons to the world, in return for whatever minerals the warlike miners could provide.

When Barotta arrived to break the quarantine, each mine complex had become an isolated feudal state, warring endlessly with its neighbors over dwindling resources. Rather than use force, Barotta proposed the food for resources program, which the warlords all accepted with a minimum of violent persuasion.

Rheelas has resumed exports to Argoth and is quickly becoming that planet's main supplier of everything from common ores to exotic materials. Old enmities die slow, however, and the local mine-lords are not above engaging in a little internecine strife over particularly rich ore deposits. The world is one of the destinations for humans expelled from the Tau Sept.

Kaggeran (Agri World)

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Kaggeran is an Agri World in the Canis Salient. It was quarantined by Lord Ebongrave alongside Kaggeran and Argoth (it was deemed tainted by the Tau, but too valuable for Exterminatus).

When the quarantine hit, Kaggeran became a world without purpose. Without anyone to export to, Kaggeran's endless fields became desolate and weed-choked, and the massive grox herds dwindled and turned feral. Countless desperate agri-workers flocked to the planet's cities, swelling the endless slums, and providing a massive pool of recruits for the armies of countless petty warlords and kings.

When Barotta arrived to lift the quarantine, he found a world that, despite its agricultural resources, was starving, as its fields lay fallow and its workers had become warriors, fighting over scraps of food and dwindling technological resources. Barotta offered weapons and luxuries for the warlords that could provide him with agricultural produce. And death to those that did not.

Kaggeran is slowly but surely regaining its feet. In a generation or two, it could be back to where it was before Lord Commander Ebongrave consigned it to a slow, wasting death. Much of its exports go to Argoth, but grox meat reaches every part of Barotta's great domain. The world is one of the destinations for humans expelled from the Tau Sept.

Argoth (Hive World)

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At the time of the Achilus Crusade, Argoth was a minor hive world found to be trafficking with the Tau. The Greater Good was worming its way into the hearts and minds of the people - even some of the nobles. When Lord Commander Ebongrave was forced to focus on the Greyhell Front, he declared the system off-limits and deployed a vast array of automated defenses to keep out any Tau infiltrators. 

By the time Barotta arrived, the system had suffered horribly for decades, as the Imperium's blockade had starved the planet of food and resources. Cannibalism was as common as unemployment, several hives had collapsed completely, leaving only a handful in working order. Ironically it turned out that one hive city, where the Tau still held sway, had managed not only to survive but prosper to some degree.

Argoth is now the industrial and technological heart of the Jericho Sector. Its hives are filling up, in no small part by humans expelled from Tau-held worlds, it's industries are gearing up, and in orbit, great battlefleets are being constructed. The Adeptus Mechanicus has a great deal of influence here, with one entire hive given over to the Archmagos of Jericho, Hextrix of the Lathes.

The Tau are gone* from the world now, but curiously, the people of Argoth are among the most united and easily governed citizens of the Jericho Sector. They do not talk openly about the Greater Good, but something they call the Common Cause.

* The are not completely gone but are still present in Hive Decimus, where they help to keep the wheels of industry and trade going. Their leader is the female Etheral Aun'La Velk'Han Tai'la Mont'yr (which could be translated as the Bloody-handed Human-loving Princess of the Kingdom of the Broken Star-paths), or Lady Tai'la for short.

Atonement (Frontier World)

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Atonement is a broken world, yet it still clings to life. It's an old human colony, predating the Empire by many millennia. It was brought into the Jericho Sector of old and prospered for a time. The Long Night was not kind to it. But the time of the Crusade, only sad remnants of its once great civilization remained. It was decided to start over; the remaining degenerates were to be terminated and new, healthy stock brought in. And so it was that Atonement became a shining example of a colony world.

Fast forward to Hive Fleet Dagon. A massive Tyranid drop was in progress when the Imperial Navy arrived to break the siege of the planet. They managed to drive off the Hive Fleet, but could not stem the invasion. In desperation, the fleet turned all its guns on the most heavily infested areas. They kept at it for days and weeks, unleashing the God-Emperor knows how many Macrotons of ordnance. 

Yet still, the Xenos pushed forward, and so the bombardment continued... and then the planet broke apart. About one-fifth of the planet's total mass became a broken jumble of spinning rocks and red-hot lava. The rest of the planet clings on to life, but it's probably doomed in the long run. On the positive side what few Tyranids survived were easily purged.

Witchwood (Forbidden World)

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Witchwood is a haunted, dangerous world, declared off-limits by the Ordo Xenos. That hasn't prevented enterprising Rogue Traders from visiting the world from time to time. Each time they tell a new, fantastic tale. Of fabulously naked Eldar dancing in starlit forests. Of fearsome yet beautiful angels living among men. Of crystal forests brimming with psychic energy. And more.

Meniscus (Feral World)

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Meniscus is the name of a Feral World in the vicinity of the Cellebos Warzone. The planet is covered in life, from plains of head-high grass to waterfalls thick with microbial life and noisome swamps where new forms of predator and prey evolve daily.

Here, among the hills that rise above a forest of spongy fungal trees, is an obscene nation built on the worship of the Dark Gods, in particular, the so-called "Most Sanctified Host of the Young God." Both Tau and Empire have sent expeditions here, but they have all ended in disaster, as frenzied warriors fueled by dark power and powerful wyrds attack within days of planetfall.

Black Omen (Forbidden World)

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Black Omen is a Forbidden World, has been since time immemorial. The Deathwatch is sworn to protect it at all costs - against any who would venture here. Even the Astartes and the Inquisition must be turned away, or a great doom will befall the sector. That's pretty much what the Deathwatch knows about the place - it must be protected, as all cost. 

Why is not important. It's their sacred duty to protect it, so they do. Lord Commander Ebongrave learned this lesson when he would inspect the system. His flagship was boarded, a great number of armsmen and crew were slain, and a bolter put to the Lord Commander's head.

When he later complained to the Inquisition, they told him he got off easy.

Waystone (Cemetery World)

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The strangely named Waystone system (on the other hand, few outside the Ordo Xenos would have any associations with that term) is a mass grave, pure and simple. 

Initially intended as a place of burial and remembrance for a few million honored dead, the Crusade soon turned into a meat grinder of epic proportions, and there was simply no time or the needed resources for proper burial. Instead, endless mass graves were constructed. To have a name engraved on simple stone is all a Guardsman can hope for these days - and those are the lucky ones. The unlucky ones are too broken to identify - or remain where they fell on the hundred of battlefields of the Achilus Crusade.

Velk'Han Sept (Tau Empire)

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The "Velk'Han Sept" is the Xenos' name for the Tau Empire's settlements around the Black Reef.

Its capital world is Tsua'Malor, located beyond the Reef. The Sept is known to control at least 10 worlds, but there could be more. Some may still have renegade human populations, filthy traitors that have forsaken the God-Emperor in favor of "the Greater Good." Kroots and Vespids are also present in large numbers, and maybe other degenerate races as well.

The Tau had extended their influence almost to the Well of Night when the Achilus Crusade was launched. Initially, the forces of the Imperium quickly pushed the Xenos back, until Tau resistance stiffened, and the Greyhell Front stabilized.

After Hethgard, the Tau began a cautious advance, mostly bypassing the worlds of the Greyhell front and other firmly human-controlled worlds. Meeting little resistance, they pushed all the way to the Gate, seized control of it, and moved into the Calixis Sector.

Worlds of the Greyhell Front (Canis Salient)

Ash-choked Ravacene

The Greyhell Front was a belt of worlds where the Astra Militarum and Imperial Navy were struggling to establish footholds closer to T'au space. Unlike earlier encounters with the Tau along the Canis Salient, the Greyhell front became a major warzone.

The Imperium's armies were opposed in this by many auxiliaries, but most of all by Fire Warrior cadres. Chief among the auxiliaries were legions of Kroot. The Kroot's capacity to rapidly evolve according to the genetic material they absorb has led to the development of many new strains of Kroot along the Greyhell Front. 

Human collaborators also appeared in some numbers, leading to a paranoid atmosphere where any squadmate could potentially be an infiltrator sent by the other side. Lord Commander Ebongrave's purges on the Greyhell Front became the stuff of dark legend, and some joked that an Imperial Guardsman was almost as likely to be executed by their own side as to be killed by the xenos.

The Greyhell Front was regarded as a meat grinder by the troops serving there, but Lord Commander Ebongrave was adamant that only by forcing through the front and reaching Tau space could the crusade push on into a direct assault on the Velk'Han Sept. In spite of the thinly stretched nature of Imperial forces in the Canis Salient, Ebongrave refused any suggestion that Imperial forces should withdraw from the Greyhell Front. The Lord Commander was last seen boarding his Battleship, the Murder of Innocents, course set for the Greyhell front for "the final push."

The current status of the Greyhell isn't fully known. No Imperial ships have visited for decades, and the Tau are said to have pulled out of the area.

Notable worlds of the Greyhell Front:

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Baraban (Feral/Xenos World): Barabanis a is huge, verdant world under the control of the T'au Empire's Velk'Han Sept. Its ownership was contested by the Astra Militarum forces of the Achilus Crusade. The pretext for the invasion was "liberation of Baraban's native human population." It is not known if Baraban actually has any human native population, of it Ebongrave's staff made that up to "galvanize the hearts and minds of our noble warriors."

The war on Baraban was a conventional one, with battle lines of trenches and fortifications, attacks and counterattacks, as each side tried to push the other back. The planet's endless temperate forests were home not only to huge Vespid and Kroot armies, but to spectral presences that prey on the sanity of the Imperial Guardsmen fighting there. Apparently the "Ghosts of Baraban" caused similar problems for the Tau, with Vespids becoming homicidal and Kroots devolving into strains useless for battle.

Bekrin (Shrine/Quarnatined World): Bekrin was a Shrine World, the capital planet of the ancient Ecclesiarchy diocese covering much of what is now the Achilus Crusade's Canis Salient in the Jericho Reach. The Tau had little influence on Bekrin, and not for lack of trying. With the coming of the Crusade, Bekrin was incorporated into the Imperium once again, offering a forward base of operations for Ebongrave's warriors.

Unfortunately, a tendril of Hive Fleet Dagon, approached Bekrin. The planet's million-strong clergy evacuated the world to escape the approaching Tyranids, and though the Tyranids were deflected at Oertha, and never reached Bekrin, the planet's shrines and temples remained empty.

The Adeptus Ministorum petitioned Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave to reclaim Bekrin many times. Ebongrave, for reasons unknown, has bluntly refused at every turn, and even proclaimed Bekrin a Quarantined World. No one knows why, though there is no shortage of speculation about what horrible sights might be found among Bekrin's fabled natural beauty and gilded temple-cities.

To some, Bekrin is an example of Ebongrave's paranoia, but others insist that there must be something terribly wrong with the planet. In any case, no official word on Bekrin has been forthcoming in more than forty standard years.

Dakinor (Dead World): Dakinor is a gas giant within tin the Canis Salient. It is surrounded by an orbiting shell of mineral-rich planetoids caught in its vast gravity. Classified as a Dead World by the Imperium, the planet itself is uninhabitable like all gas giants, but its asteroids are being fought over by the Astra Militarum and a host of fanatics following a death cult of the Imperial Creed calling itself the "Gilded Torment."

The Torment has absorbed almost the whole population, and has daughter cults on many worlds of the Greyhell Front's warzone, which task their followers with joining the struggle on Dakinor. The Gilded Torment's goal appears to be to cause and suffer violent death in the name of the God-Emperor, who is worshipped in such a debased and vile form that all followers of the Torment have been declared Excommunicate.

Astra Militarum analysts suspect that the T'au have somehow created the Torment, an impression hardly reduced by the Kroot mercenaries appearing in the employ of the death cult. Whatever the Gilded Torment really wants, the fight against the cult is a bitter and hateful one. The Astra Militarum mounts asteroid-hopping operations where each new planetoid is assaulted in lethal thin-atmosphere, low-gravity conditions.

Ravacene (Death World): Ravacene is a volcanic jungle-covered world within the Canis Salient. Ravacene's ecology is based on the volcanoes covering its single, planet-wide continent. The toxic ash spewed by these volcanoes feeds the dense, black-grey jungles covering its plains and valleys. The jungles proved resistant to the most enthusiastic attempts to burn or defoliate them.

The world was heavily contested by the Imperium and the T'au Empire's Kroot forces. For the troops of the Astra Militarum, few assignments were less welcomed than a posting to Ravacene. The ash-choked forests of this world are said to have given the Greyhell Front its name, and the Imperial Guard battling to wipe out the Kroot on this world fight a bleak, horrific battle against the planet and their alien foes alike. Ravacene chewed through Astra Militarum regiments at an appalling rate. Only Death World veteran regiments could expect to last more than a few solar weeks before being withdrawn. It is highly unlikely than any humans are still alive on the surface of Ravacene.

The Astra Militarum's objectives on Ravacene were simple. Ravacene was ideally placed to act as a staging post for a push into T'au space in the Reach, and its several moonlets would make ideal orbital dockyards for the voidships of the Imperial Navy. Before the planet could be used in this way, the Kroot presence on its surface had to be exterminated. The nature of the terrain means that this had to be carried out on the ground by, one Kroot at a time, no matter how many Guardsmen it takes. 

For their part, the Tau simply wished to deny the Imperium use of Ravacene, so they deployed vast numbers of Kroot. These foul Xenos mercenaries evolved during their time on the world to match the ash jungles of Ravacene through the use of their ability to alter their genomes by ingesting other species' DNA. There could still be a considerable number of Kroot on the surface.

Veren (Feral/Xenos World): Veren was a human-inhabited Feral World under the "protection" of the T'au Empire's Velk'Han Sept. For reasons that Imperial forces could never ascertain, the Tau were very interested in keeping the Imperium from conquering Veren. The planet, a world of glassy black mountains and shallow oceans teeming with corals and algal blooms, is of little obvious strategic value.

Stable Warp-routes from the vicinity of Veren end at the Black Reef, so the planet would be of no use for staging an attack on Tsua'Malor. Nevertheless, the expeditionary force sent to scout the world was immediately opposed by Tau Hunter Cadres attacking in force.

Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave was convinced that something important was hidden on Veren. Sending so many Tau to defend it proved its importance in his eyes. His analysts tried persuading him otherwise, that it was a trick of the Tau to draw attention away from other, more important battles. But the Lord Commander would have none of their cowardice. Ebongrave ordered Veren to be captured and held, but the T'au knew the planet very well, and defended it with great skill and determination. Although the Imperum's forces eventually gained the upper hand, the world was never truly conquered.

Pelegius (Unclassified World, Canis Salient)

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Pelegius is an officially unclassified planet located in the Jericho Reach. Located only a short distance behind the Greyhell Front of the Achilus Crusade, Pelegius has been contested by T'au expeditions and Imperial crusaders alike for solar decades. The planet's wealth of natural resources means that both sides regard it as extremely valuable, yet that same worth has resulted in a world which is inimical to Human or T'au life. 

If rumors are to be believed, however, it is not merely mineral resources that has drawn the gaze of Human and T'au alike to Pelegius, and it is not merely the toxin-saturated, irradiated environment that poses a threat to those who seek to claim this bounteous world. Who knows what treasures - and horrors - await beneath the sands of this hellish death world?

Wrath (Fortress World, Canis Salient)

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Wrath is an Imperial Fortress World (yes, there are that many) within the Achilus Crusade's Canis Salient in the Jericho Reach. It acted as both the Achilus Crusade's secondary command center for the salient, as well as the salient's primary source of internal security. While the Fortress World of Spite drives the Canis Salient's forces onwards, Wrath guards the worlds already claimed and watches for treachery, sedition and the scourge of xenophilia.

No word has been received from Wrath in more than two decades, but data still keeps being streamed there by the handful of slaved astropath transmitters. Only specially sanctioned Imperial vessels were allowed to access Wrath; no civilian vessels were allowed in-system upon pain of Excommunication.

Meskaile (Death World, Canis Salient)

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Meskaile is a Death World located within the Jericho Reach. It forms the third in a trio of system to the trailing edge of the Achilus Crusade's Canis Salient that came under attack by vanguard elements of Hive Fleet Dagon.

Unlike the other two worlds of the triangle, Meskaile is not a Dead World. It is instead the polar opposite, a planet teeming with life, and all of it carnivorous, bloodthirsty and entirely inimical to intrusion by any form of outsider.

Iron Collar (Fortress Worlds of the Achilus Crusade)

When the Imperium arrived in the Reach, the first phase of reconquest including establishing a firm hold over the Well of Night (the dark nebula around the Warp Gate). Six (or seven, sources vary) systems were turned into veritable fortresses, collectively known as "the Iron Collar." 

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ORPHEUS SALIENT

Hethgard (Fortress World): Site of Orpheus Salient Command. Former mining world turned into an impregnable fortress. This is where Hive Fleet Dagon was broken. It is now a dead world, being picked clean by Barotta's scavengers. The current "generation" of scavengers are a mix of fortune seekers, refugees, and criminals sentenced to hard labor.

Melkior (Fortress World): Vague references to a seventh Iron Collar world have appeared in some logs and reports. Little beyond the name is known.

ACHEROS SALIENT

Alphos (Fortress World): Former Fortress world. Alphos came under attack by Hive Fleet Dagon, but a large number of Tyranids perished due to harsh conditions. After Hethgard the Xenos continued the fight until wiped out by the Sons. Only Squats are hardy enough to live here without full protection.

Calisi (Fortress World): Former Fortress world. The cities and garrisons of Calisi were abandoned prior to the Battle of Hethgard. Fortunately, the Nids never arrived, and the planet's undesirables were spared.

Karlack (Fortress World): Former Fortress World, headquarters of Crusade Command, and chief anchorage of the Imperial Navy. Became corrupted by Chaos (Khorne). Subjected to Exterminatus (virus bombs) by order of Barotta.

Pyrathas (Fortress World): Former Fortress world. Major naval base. A colony was established here as a safe haven in case the Tyranids broken through the Iron Collar. It was (wrongly) assumed the Tyranid voidships couldn't handle the glare of the system's fierce star.

CANIS SALIENT

Spite (Fortress World): Spite was a Fortress World from which Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave marshaled the forces under his command against the Tau. It was later retaken by the Tau, but abandoned as they moved on to Calixis.