Amazonia

 

Amazonia is a feudal world, located in the heart of the Jericho Sector. Or is it? It doesn't appear on any star charts, it's location a well-kept secret known only to Barotta and a few select navigators. It could be anywhere, really. Well, not anywhere, but somewhere close but not necessarily in the sector.

The planet is as verdant as it is rich in minerals, not quite the paradise that Carmyn is, but well within the parameter of the garden world. The planet is ruled by fierce tribes of female warriors who compete with the dangerous fauna (see the Gene-which entry) and each other at every turn. The greatest warriors are invited to dine with the gods in their hallowed halls and often return pregnant. 

From the ranks of these demi-god children rise the finest champions Amazonia has to offer. If they show promise, they will be invited while still in adolescence, not to dine with the gods, but to dwell among them, to wage war in their name, out between the stars.

In addition to the 2nd Legion's recruiting grounds, there are several hidden complexes, located in remote and inaccessible places, where the Gene-witch and others labor for the Legion. The tribes know nothing of these places.

Amazonia has long had three small moons. Recently, a fourth moon, the Dragon Moon, started circling the planet. Since its arrival, the gods have walked in mortal lands on several occasions, and the number of girls putting on the mantle of the star-warriors has increased ten-fold.

Melkior (Fortress/Unclassified World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Cryptic references to a Fortress World named "Melkior" have recently surfaced. According to the source, Melkior was stricken from the Roll of Worlds sometime before the Battle of Hethgard. The reason is not listed, but the planet's supposed location is: it's only a short jump from Hethgard or Eleusis.

Melkior was found to be a relatively pleasant Earth-like world with fairly decent resources. Its poisonous atmosphere is being processed by massive Mechanicus air scrubbers and will be breathable in a few generations. Meanwhile, the population is hosed in a string of domed cities.

Apparently there was some form of a viral outbreak or something in the cities, although it's unclear exactly what it was and who it infected all the cities. On orders of the Inquisition the failsafes on the dome airlocks were overridden and the people inside perished over the span of a single night.

If the domes are closed and the millions of corpses removed, Melkior can be made into a working settlement. 

Credence (Forge World, Canis Salient)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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.

Beseritor (Hive World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

The outlying world of Beseritor was the most unremarkable of place, until sometime in M36 when it was designated as an urban development area. Several Adeptus Mechanics Constructor Cadres arrived and started erecting the foundations and structural supports of several modern hive cities.

As the hives neared completion, the first batches of settlers, skilled workers, and their families, arrived to finish what the Machine God had started. The future looked bright for Beseritor.

Then the dark times came. Jericho was cut off from the larger galaxy, and the downward spiral began. No more settlers arrived, nor the resources necessary to finish what had been started. Beseritor faded from living memory... then faded altogether.

Until a scout ship from the Achilus Crusade made contact. They found the unfinished hives still inhabited, each essentially a city-state, forever waging war against its neighbors. Playing the factions against each other, Compliance was achieved in less than five years.

The ancient hives were found to be well-preserved, even after all those years, and Crusade COmmand ordered the resumption of building. Then Hive Fleet Dagon came sweeping down the Orpheus Salient, and although Beseritor was spared the worst of the Xenos' assault, it was once again forgotten...

Atonement (Frontier World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

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.

Phaegis (Frontier World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Phaegis is a pleasant colony world well beyond the sector proper, pushed up against the rolling warp storms to Trailing of the Reach. Ten million or so people were settled here half a century ago, and according to early reports, they found the world most agreeable.

That was before the terrible truth was revealed: once you've settled on Pahegis, you cannot leave. There is something about the planet that binds you to it. If you leave, you get ill, and then you die. Is it a curse? A disease? Something altogether different? No one knows, despite attempts to find out why.

The planetary population has doubled since first settlement, but for all intents and purposes, it's isolated from the rest of the galaxy.

Scepter (Frontier World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Scepter is a Frontier World in the Orpheus Salient. When the Crusade arrived they found a heavily settled world, badly infested with mutants and completely without any form of law and order. The Adeptus Abrites took it upon themselves to return the planet to the fold without requiring ultimate sanction.

They never quite succeeded, but the planet was brought to a semblance of compliance. In the process, it also became one of the most heavily policed planets in the Reach. Despite this, it remained one of the most violent and criminal worlds of the Reach.

Crusade Command used to joke that the planet cost more than it was worth, but that it produced some damn fine Arbitrators.

Nyanthor (Frontier World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Nyanthor is an arid, desolate world in the Orpheus Salient. Barely fit for human habitation, and against the wishes of the Adeptus Mechanicus, it was nevertheless colonized, mostly due to a very large influx of refugees.

About 1000 pyramidal structures of ancient, possibly Xenos design dot the surface of the planet. It's believed more may be hidden in distant regions and beneath the shifting sands of the planet's many deserts. Tech-priests have examined many of the pyramids, and they appear to be made of a strange material somewhere between stone and metal in structure. They appear solid, with no passages or hidden machinery. Who built them and why remains a mystery - there are no other ruins on the planet.

Khyris (Frontier World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Khyris is a frontier world with a long history. It was settled by refugees fleeing the inner worlds of the Jericho Sector before the fall of Verronus, either late M36 or early M37. It was a time of increasing turmoil and hardship, and the conditions on the main hive worlds were going from bad to worse. Violence and starvation went hand in hand, and the Dark Gods were starting to be openly worshipped.

Khyris was a good choice for a colony world, except for its extremely long seasons. Ten years of summer, followed by ten years of winter, half of them utter dark and frozen. The local biosphere was well adapted, but for humans, it's a different story. The refugees opted for building massive stasis chambers where they would slumber while servitors took care of things. Then, as winter waned, they would wake up and resume their lives.

It worked well enough for a time until one winter the servitors turned against their masters. Tearing their overlords from their stasis pods, they ate them all in a twisted parody of a cannibalistic feast that lasted for five years. Only a handful of humans survived, forced into the wilderness, where they had to lead nomadic lives, moving around the globe, always staying ahead of winter.

When the Achilus Crusade made contact, some of the original servitors were still operational, fuelled by the powers of the warp. Forever hungry, these ghoul-servitors roamed Khyris seeking always flesh to sate their hunger and machine parts to keep themselves functioning.

Both ghouls and nomads were declared heretics, and the planet was resettled by refugees from Calixis. Without access to macro-scale stasis chambers, these settlers must endure the long winters locked inside their settlements. According to reports now twenty years old, there are signs that murder and cannibalism are becoming widespread during the cold spells. Let's hope the story doesn't repeat itself. 

Nullholm (Frontier World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Nullholm is a frontier system way off the beaten track. In fact, there is no stable route here at all - instead, navigators must feel their way here, slowly and with great effort. 

The system contains a minor Imperial colony that struggles to get by from day to day. What the colonists cannot make themselves they must do without - even before the end of the Crusade, the system was visited only once or twice per year, usually by Rogue Traders seeking to extort or exploit the locals.

The planet Nullholm has one moon, a dead orb, perfectly spherical, that gives of no radiation of any kind, and registers as being colder than absolute zero. The Adeptus Mechanicus had an exploratory ship here for quite some time, but the moon yielded up no secrets, and the ship was moved elsewhere.

Karbera (Feudal World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Karbera is a Feudal World that's undergoing a rapid industrial revolution. It was cataloged less than 50 years ago due to its obscure location beyond Ossua. It was never fully claimed by the Imperium, but a small orbital station was left there to monitor the situation. In that time two major continent-spanning wars have gripped the world, and the technological progress has been nothing short of astounding. From air balloons to fixed-wing aircraft. From full-rigged sailing ships to ironclad steam-ships. From muzzleloaders to rudimentary breechloading rifles. The death toll has been equally impressive: full 25% of the world's population have died in battle, or of diseases and famine.

Kaziana (Death World)

+++PLANETARY DATAFAX+++

Kaziana is a barely-cataloged Death World just off the Parino-Khazant route. It's a desolate place, with a minimal biosphere. What it does have is heavy gravity, wild weather, volcanoes and earthquakes, and freakish electro-storms. The world is, as far as can be told, fantastically rich in rare elements, but the few expeditions that have managed to land here have been obliterated in hours by freakish acts of nature.