Pandaemus Subsector
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1
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Travertine's
Dock
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1
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2
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Pandaemus
Offensio
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3
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Malificus
Aestus
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2
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4
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4
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Kordent
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5
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5
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New
Waco
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3
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The Colonial Frontier
Many of the worlds in the Pandaemus
subsector were won with fire and steel between two and five thousand years
past, with some such as Travertine’s Dock colonized during the Old
Crusade. A few are relatively newly colonized,
such as New Waco. What they all share,
however, is a deep and abiding feeling of collectivity, stemming from the fact
that most of these worlds were promised to retired Imperial Guard
regiments. Those martial traditions
still exist today, together with the instilled feelings of propriety that the
original settler’s descendants feel about their worlds.
In Pandaemus, space travel within
the sector is very common, and most citizens are quite aware of the Imperium
and the larger galaxy. The effect is
that this place is one of the wildest zones in the Mardannon sector, teeming
with pirates, rogue traders and other riff-raff of the Imperium and
beyond. The subsector’s Battlefleet is
stretched very thin dealing with these raiders, not to mention overt threats
such as the xenos breeds of Necrons and Orks.
Travertine’s Dock System
- History: During the Old Crusade, this world was
quick to join the fold of the Emperor’s Grace by aiding the Imperials as
they made planetfall. The citizens
were not advanced, but soon came to call their world by the Imperial name
for it – Travertine, after the commander of the original explorator fleet
that discovered it. The hereditary
nobles of the world became Knight Houses renowned all across the sector,
though in recent years there are only a handful that still exist.
- Geography: Travertine is a world covered by nearly
seventy percent water. There are a
few minor continents and three major ones, all are in very good condition
ecologically. The planet itself is
largely temperate and comfortable to humans.
- Inhabitants: Travertine boasts a large and
productive population, and is centered around a type of sprawling city
called a “megaplex” rather than a traditional hive style. Space travel is fairly common, and a
majority of the population has been off-world, at least to a moon or
further in-system.
- History: Mierax is actually the first habitable
world that the Old Crusade found in this system, but was deemed much too
cold to colonize. After the
success at Travertine and the resources available in-system at Roth’s
Mirror, the Mechanicus set about modifying Mierax’s atmosphere to retain
more heat. Around five hundred
years later, the planet retained massive amounts of water and oxygen and
was declared ready for colonization.
- Geography: Mierax is further from its’ sun than
Travertine, and is much colder in climate. The land is very rough, with many
insanely high and jagged mountains and deep, shadowed valleys. Much of the water on this world is
frozen, and semi-liquid gaseous oceans form above the ice in the deepest
recesses and highest peaks of the world, creating a very thick cloud
cover that precipitates mist all the time. There is very little livable land, and
it’s only within a certain altitude band that humans find a relatively
non hostile environment to build standard hives.
- Inhabitants: Hives exist both in the optimal
altitude band, known as the Optimus Band, and in the deep recesses of
what should have been Mierax’s seas.
In the atmosphere and highest peaks, hives also exist, though
those above and below the Optimus Band are sealed air locked against the
semi-liquid clouds, which are pervasive and too clogged with water to
breathe. However, the clouds possess
a large amount of chemical reagents that can be processed and exported
throughout the sector, and remains this world’s livelihood.
- History: The gas-giant of Roth’s Mirror is the
reason the Old Crusade came to what would be called the Travertine’s Dock
system. A huge, silver orb shining
in the night sky, it is laden with unlimited chemical storms and mineral
gases intensely valuable to the Imperium.
It became known to the Old Crusade’s fleets via long range
outrider patrols looking ahead for worlds that might be valuable to the
crusade.
- Geography: Roth’s Mirror is a gas giant ringed by
a large and dense asteroid belt.
Stations have been set up at intervals in geosynchronous orbit
with the planet to monitor the movements of the chemical storms and
harvester fleets that are constantly sweeping the planet’s surface for
various resources.
- Inhabitants: The inhabitants of Roth’s Mirror live
primarily in Belt Stations located at various locales around the
perimeter of the asteroid belt.
These stations have various functions; some are processing plants
for the various harvests brought back from the planet. Some stations are devoted to demolition
of asteroids that stray too far into the inner orbit. Some are simply hab stations where the workers dwell, but they are all highly advanced.
Pandaemus Offensio System
- History: The world was once a cultivated
agri-world, a product of the Explorator fleet that set about terraforming
the worlds of this system during the end of the Old Crusade. For almost a thousand years, it was
productive and vital, and the system showed signs of great prosperity. However, almost one hundred years ago a
massive space hulk smashed into this world, carrying innumerable
orkoids. They spread across the
planet, and even built new system ships to carry them across the
system. Ever since, this world has
been struggling to survive against the tide of greenskins.
- Geography: The world is actually quite nice for a
world that was terraformed fairly recently. It consists of several continents that
are covered with various ecologies, and the planet itself is temperate in
climate. The atmosphere is thin,
and at the highest elevations the oxygen levels drop dramatically.
- Inhabitants: The Explorator colonies still exist,
but are in a constant state of warfare with the greenskins from the
Sky-Hulk. They now resemble armed
and guarded plantations, with most of the military resources devoted to
guarding what harvests can be safeguarded in the massive city compounds.
- History: This thick jungle planet is in the last
stages of terraforming, and its ecosystems are just beginning to
blossom. It has been the home of
several large Explorator colonies which dot the landscape in huge agro
domes. It has remained largely
untouched by the greenskin onslaught due to the Mechanicus defense
platforms in orbit, which forbid entry to the planet until it is more
suited to the Emperor’s will.
- Geography: The landscape of Canticum is a
primordial jungle rife with volcanoes and other seismic activity. Vast jungles dot the land and the
planet itself has a large volume of salt water. There are four main continents amid the
vast oceans, and scores of smaller islands and archipelagos.
- Inhabitants: Only the beasts of Canticum are known
to dwell upon the surface. Most
ork craft approaching the planet are simply destroyed by the orbitals,
and the Explorator colony forbids Imperial ships to land on the planet
unless accompanied by the Mechanicus themselves. All sorts of feral predators and
animals exist on the surface, and creatures of vast proportion dwell in
the oceans.
- History: Quaestio Argus shares a similar orbit
around the binary suns of Pandaemus Offensio as Canis Aedilis. A single colony was established here,
and though the planet did not have to be terraformed, existence was hard.
The Explorators here were charged with making the earth productive while
the vast majority of the fleet concentrated on Canis, which was more
suited to the Emperor’s needs of the time. For the next several thousand years,
the Mechanicus here would work to make this a thriving world. However, for the last century orks have
been running rampant over the surface, turning this once peaceful world
into a one of blood and iron.
- Geography: A temperate world with slightly lower
temperatures year round, Quaestio still has large areas of rocky crust
jutting forth from the oceans, forming continents of unworkable
rock. The best areas in the world
have been made into arable land thousands of years ago, and the
Explorators continue their work to this day.
- Inhabitants: Many of the people living on Quaestio
Argus live a feudal existence, ignorant of the Imperium at large and
dependent on the Mechanicus to exist.
The population is allowed to govern itself, and the men of the
world have divided it up into kingdoms.
One of these is appointed High King, until his death. The High King is the liaison with the
Mechanicus also inhabiting the planet.
For the last one hundred years, their technology and contact with
the Imperium has dwindled so much that now most men have to meet the orks
falling from space or emerging from under rocks armed with crude powder
pistols and swords.
Malificus Aestus Subsector
- History: This system’s star is huge and blue,
and the first habitable planet in the system is over three times as far
away from its sun as Earth. Visual
conditions around the star cause the human eye to see it as blue, even though
most of its output is in the ultraviolet range. After the founding of the hives on
Inlustro Veritas, Explorators were sent to assess the planet’s value to
the Emperor and found numerous materials suitable for use in the
Emperor’s armies. They colonized
the planet and have been working here for almost three thousand
years. Since the Explorators
arrived, the world has been riven with wars amongst the Mechanicus
factions stationed there.
- Geography: Most of the planet is flat, with very
little atmosphere. Explorator
Colony Domes dot the surface, with a few large connected and covered
thoroughfares connecting them.
Under the surface, the world is cavernous – to the point where
that’s where everyone lives. The domes
simply connect to the underground factories and hab complexes of the Mechanicus.
- Inhabitants: Originally seen as a barren rock with
little to offer, Explorator colonies have been set up here and dot the
planetoid’s surface, but most of the life is underground. A tech-heresy of great magnitude was
once said to take place here, and now the populace is divided between the
official version of the Omnissiah’s faith and the apostate version that
has been handed down. Militant
groups have repeatedly gained control of Skitarii weapon systems and
brought the world to war.
Currently, the situation is one of extreme wariness and spiritual
tension.
- History: Returned to the Emperor’s Fold almost
three and a half thousand years ago, the people of Inlustro Veritas were
a strong willed and technologically advanced strain of humans. They readily accepted the Emperor,
remembering him from their tales of the Star-God who fought back the
beasts of the Old Night. Since
then, they have worked hard to stand tall as servants of the God-Emperor.
- Geography: Inlustro Veritas is a very dark world,
with little of the sun’s blue light making it to the surface as the
atmosphere is perpetually bathed in dark clouds. The planet itself consists of almost 16
different continents separated by heavy saline oceans, but most of the
surface is dusty white sand.
- Inhabitants: The folk of this world are hard working
hivers who venerate the Immortal Emperor as men should – by letting their
faith drive their work and (less commonly) their play. They are grim and dour by most
standards, but take such pride in their toil that they stand as model
citizens across the galaxy.
Kordent System
- History: Terraformed only a little over two
thousand years ago, most of the arable land had long been plotted out and
marked by the magos biologis for growing biomass food products. Populated mostly by the Magos and their
serf laborers, Kordent is almost idyllic by the standards of the Imperium.
- Geography: Covered with seas and small continents,
the planet Kordent has many different topographical elements. Mountains, deserts, forests…all those
are present on Kordent. The most
inhospitable part of the planet, however, is the southern climate
band. The planet is slightly
closer to its sun than it’s neighbor Lumis, and the axis tilts the
southern hemisphere towards the star.
In the south, burning deserts thwart life. In the north, glaciers crush ever
southwards.
- Inhabitants: The inhabitants of Kordent are a
curious lot. They are very
dependent on their agri-machines for day to day life, and know a great
deal about the planet they live on.
They are aware of the Imperium but do not really care – there are
few visitors to Kordent, mostly from nearby Lumis. However, as one of the pristine
agri-worlds in the sector, large ships can be seen in the sky more often
than not.
- History: Originally established as a base of
operations for the Old Crusade, this fortress world was established
nearly four thousand years past.
Since then, it has grown a strong military tradition and is one of
the most heavily defended worlds in the sector. From this position, most of the
subsector was conquered and consolidated under the power of the Immortal
Emperor.
- Geography: Lumis has little surface water in the
form of oceans, but massive rainfalls on the northern hemisphere that
turn much of the plains to marsh-fen.
There are also huge mountain ranges housing Imperial training
facilities, as well as arctic deserts in the southern hemisphere. All of these features are dominated by
the Imperial military machine.
- Inhabitants: The inhabitants of Lumis are of a proud
warrior tradition deeply steeped in the culture of the Imperial
Guard. There are several types of
Guard formations that the Lumisi train and field in the wars around the
sector, the most famous of which are the Lumisi Geared Regiments, consisting
almost entirely of mechanized infantry.
The Imperial authorities around the subsector also make use of
Interdiction Teams from Lumis, who are trained in handling subversive
populations on Imperial worlds.
Gregoriam System
- History: A backwater even when it was founded,
New Waco has been a place for the dispossessed to flee for over two
thousand years. Protected from
much of the galaxy by Kordent and pretty much out of the way of
everything else, this planet has grown a civilization out of the
burgeoning population of transients and workers.
- Geography: Much of New Waco is wasteland, either
desert or rock barrens. The few
patches of arable land are home to great agri-domes or cities. A few of the cities are truly major,
and span hundreds of miles along the surface of the planet. There are few seas on New Waco, and
most have a high salinity value.
Even the rain has a high level of salt, and there are salt flats
in many areas.
- Inhabitants: The people of New Waco are a tolerant
lot. While there have been many
outbreaks of violence on the planet, no major conflicts have risen here
except perhaps a few Redemptionist purges, which are usually put down by
the Arbites fairly quickly. Many
disparate lots of folks who try to eke out an existence here, but war has
left the place remarkably untouched.
