Pandaemus Subsector
1 | Travertine's Dock | ||||||||
1 | 2 | Pandaemus Offensio | |||||||
3 | Malificus Aestus | ||||||||
2 | 4 | 4 | Kordent | ||||||
5 | 5 | New | |||||||
3 | |||||||||
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
- Travertine
- 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.
- Mierax
- 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.
- Roth’s Mirror
- 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
- Canis Aedilis
- 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.
- Concipio Canticum
- 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.
- Quaestio Argus
- 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
- Caelum Subterraneous
- 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.
- Inlustro Veritas
- 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
- Kordent
- 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.
- Lumis
- 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
- New
- 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.