Editing Vasenica sector (section)

== The planets of the Vasenica Sector ==

=== Imperial region ===

'''Phorcys'''
New sector capital, a gas giant. The orbital docks surrounding its moons house most of the crusading fleet and a host of adepts.

'''Accha'''
Paradise world. A marvel of the Dark Age of Technology where the Mechanicum has a lot of power. One of the key planets of the sector.

'''Agantyre'''
Forge World. Main manufactorum of the sector.

'''Belion'''
Agri-world. Its atmosphere is unbreathable, and it exports rations made from fungal matter.

'''Carelia'''
Civilized world. Home to a cult that praises the superiority of non-augmented humans. At odds with the Mechanicum.

'''Kebrade'''
Mining world. Known for production of high-spec bronzes, and heavy infantry Guard regiments.

'''Krusevac'''
A fortress world. Lynchpin of the Imperial reclamation effort.

'''P-33'''
A newly established Munitorum depot.

'''Siberis'''
Ice penal world, homeworld of the Death Consuls. It is about the size of Terra, and orbits located in the Vasenica sector. It orbits the local star, along with P-33, with a standard revolution lasting for twice as long as the Terran year.
The planet's topography is largely shaped by volcanic activity that took place in the planet's distant past and has led to a formation of rocky hills and low mountains. The gaseous discharge during this volcanic activity led to the formation several exotic examples of flora, chief among which is the 'Fiery Palm tree' that is made famous on the unit patches of the Siberis Auxiliaries.

Siberis was rumored to be first settled during mankind's expansion into the system some 30 millennia ago. Several ruins that are human in origin have been found near the planet's equator and seem to indicate a more moderate temperature.

Siberis is known for the presence of exotic flora and fauna, namely the Fiery Palm Tree, and the Great White Tigers. Apparently introduced by its first human settlers, the tigers adapted to the rapidly freezing planet and took on the role of the apex predator. It is of religious significance to the more rural populations on the planet and worshiped as messengers of the God-Emperor. While this has caused minor points of contention with the Ecclesiarchy and the Chapter in the past, it is now largely seen as a backwater superstition by the hive dwelling planetary nobility.

'''Skeaphus'''
Skeaphus is a feudal world on the edge of Imperial space, near the border of the Tau empire. The planet is almost entirely cleared for farmland, with walled castle-cities spotting the surface, the number of which have grown exponentially in recent years. Once ruled by a monarch, the planets massive peasant population overthrew the king in the "Golden Revolution", citing heavy taxation as their main grievance. The planet is currently known as the "People's Republic of Skeaphus", a dictatorship ruled by a Kain Mortag, the former planetary Cardinal who gained the people's trust after proclaiming the Emperor told him in a vision to rule in both his and "the people's name". In his 280 years of rule, he has never lost an election, but due to his advanced age relies on the "Golden Comity" to enforce his will while he himself lives offworld. The Comity is part secret police, part gang, and is entirely dedicated to hunting down mutants, heretics, and "enemies of the Revolution and His Radiance, Kain Mortag". 

Skeaphus is known throughout the sector and beyond to be the baby boom capital of the Imperium. It's men on average have 8-9 kids throughout their lifetime, not including illegitimate children. This massive, consistently booming population has made Skeaphus a very active recruiting ground for millions upon millions of Guardsmen. Unfortunately, given the planet had, a millennia ago, experienced a famine which almost wiped out the entire population, Skeaphus' populace are also noticeably inbred. However, Skeaphuns are considered extremely loyal soldiers, nearly half of all Skeaphun adults sign up for the Imperial Guard. 

'''Wheshan'''
The cardinal ocean world of Wheshan wasn't always an ocean world. It said that a long time ago, some speculate this was during the Age of Strife, the planet had tall, lush forests, green fields, and clear blue skies. But at some point in history, one of Wheshan's smaller moons came crashing down of unknown reasons. "Luckily" the moon was almost completely made out of ice. So it was only a matter of time before the sea levels started to rise.

As the sea rose at an alarming rate people that could, fled the planet but the ones that where left had only one option, build higher. When the sea has stopped rising, giant hives had been built all around the planet. And much like an anthill, the structures you see on the surface is nothing compared to what is built under the surface of the water.

The reason why this became a cardinal world was mainly due to an old legend that the Emperor himself came to this planet at a point in time. The legend goes that the Emperor used his might and power to split the ocean in order to retrieve an ancient artifact the was on the ocean floor. The legend has spawned many minor Emperor cults who try to split the ocean themselves, but to no avail...yet. 

Cardinal Kain Mortag officially lives on this world, playing a major role in the religious life of the planet's populace. Due to his "eccentricities" however, the Planetary Council of Bishops acts as the planets official ruling body, regulating the Cardinals power on Wheshan to leading sermons on the feast of Sangiunala.

===Heraclian Confederacy===

'''Hoākau'''
Oceanic hive world and capital of the Heraclian Confederacy. It has few protruding landmasses, and so hives take a variety of forms. Some are built on the little dry land, and others on the sea bed. Some are built upon giant rockrete and plasteel legs, and others yet are gargantuan ships, moving under their own propulsion.

At the foundations of the capital hive of Patuatenga, there lies an ancient Necrontyr tomb, which is slowly awakening.

'''Loqar's World'''
A scorched and barren planet with no natural resources, this desert world would be entirely worthless were it not for the voracious swarms of genetically-engineered insects cultivated by its scattered inhabitants. 

The Loqari locust, as it is known, was developed to consume almost anything. It sifts minerals from the sand, devours rubber and plastic, and the planet’s own highly poisonous plant-life. Through these creatures the waste of the sub-sector and the useless resources of the world itself are re-purposed. 

Every year, once the swarms swell to a certain size and the insects have spawned the larvae of the next generation, they are harvested en masse, funneled in their billions into storehouses where they are ground up into a pulpy, gelatinous mass, ready for shipping.

When the Imperium withdrew from the sector the population of Loqar’s World was left utterly helpless, numbering just over two million souls and utterly lacking in defences or industry. Indeed their PDF forces consisted of only a few thousand local enforcers armed with autoguns. 

It was only the coming of Heraclius the Liberator - or the Angel of the Emperor’s Mercy, as he is known on their world - that saved them from the Ork invaders. The people of Loqar’s World are the most devoted of all the Heraclian Confederacy's worlds, for they are the most reliant on it for protection. In turn, valued by the Confederacy as the primary supplier of food to Hoàku.

'''Telos II'''
A civilised ocean world.
Telos II was a peaceful, loyal world until Genestealer activity was discovered half a century ago. Whilst it was quickly crushed by the Home Guard, the planet came under inquisitorial scrutiny. The popular Princess-Regent was deposed for her supposed incompetence in the handling of the crisis and replaced by a military governor.
The new Governor's personal guards were well-known for their petty cruelty and his officials terribly corrupt. Tensions were high, and when the governor declared his intent to use artillery to cull a riot started by a group of dockers, the Home Guard leadership staged a coup, executing the governor and his top men. The old monarchy was restored, and Imperial loyalists fled the main islands to wage a guerilla from the smaller ones, without much success. Knowing very well that the Imperium would return sooner or later, the Princess-Regent has sworn fealty to the Confederation.

=== Waaagh! Grimsnag===

'''Pascal's Haven'''
A jungle death world named for its discoverer, the Rogue Trader Wiktor von Pascal. Its atmosphere cannot shield it from cosmic radiation, and so the surface is deadly to unadapted life. It experiences frequent and manifold natural disasters, such as the destructive acid tides cause by its two moons' alignment, several times each month. This causes a certain toxic chemical compound to cover the ground from deep pockets underground, which will kill or erode anything that hasn't adapted to it.

===Ra'Thekt Dynasty===

'''Ozymandias'''
The tomb world from where the Ra'Thekt rested.

Ancient legends say that, in the Dark Age of Technology, Ozymandias was a major merchant hub and one of the most technologically advanced planets in the galaxy, having major cities with beautiful skyscrapers and Pharaonic buildings. The technology was a mystery even for people at the time. Unknown to them, most of the technology came from the hidden tombs of the Necrons of the Ra'Thekt dynasty, which had inhabited the world millions of years before.

During the Age of Strife, an unknown event rendered the planet barren. From the giant hives and buildings to a barren, desert planet. The only remains of Ozymandias were old skyscrapers, half-buried in sand.

Thousand of years later, the Rogue Trader Wiktor von Pascal discovered the desert planet, albeit from the skyscrapers, he saw nothing of value on the planet and left the planet to be. However, some years later, the Adeptus Mechanicus took an interest after finding an ancient scroll with mentions of a mighty technological paradise; an Explorator fleet was sent to the planet. At first, the tech-priests found nothing on the dead planet, however, after descending on the tallest skyscraper, way below the mighty sands of time, they finally found some technology: an ancient tomb. The tomb was activated and soon the newly awoken warriors found themselves with the humans. The Skitarii held the line until a small group of Mechanicus evacuated the planet and soon informed the rest of the imperium about the woken terrors.

===Tau Expedition===

'''Brachyura'''
A true canon addition, home to the eponymous Brachyura, a tiny dexterous-limbed crustacean race under Tau dominion. They are unmatched in the delicate assembly of small plasma generators needed to fuel many Tau Earth Caste inventions.

'''Sha'Myen'''

Sha'Myen is a dead and airless world, no more than a rock. But this planet is important to the Tau because a small earth caste research outpost is located on the planet.
The reason why Sha'Myen was chosen as a base of operations for the earth caste was to use the dead world to test new weapons for the Tau Empire without having to worry about harming a planet's biosphere in case anything goes wrong.

The facility is run by the high ranked engineer Mont'da'Nars and is on its way to producing prototype plasma rifles that would outrival the current ones when it comes to raw energy output and power. This has been achieved by the help of the Brachyura and their energy technology.

This has, unfortunately, the Ordo Xenos coven on Voider's mourn gotten an interest in. And unknowingly to the Tau, the Inquisitors have dispatched a small elite strike force to Sha'Myen. Their objective is either to steal the information or to destroy it. With any luck, the small Fire Warrior cadre can repel the elite team that is on-route.

'''Skether'Po'''
The planet formerly known as Zerva-II was a poorly developed world that had been out of touch with the Imperium far longer than the sector had been. The planet itself is a temperate world with many freshwater lakes, rivers and underground springs. This has kept the population to become semi-feudal as a result of the peaceful nature of their planet, meaning that they had no reason to advance without a good reason.

When the Tau made first contact they had recently begun to invent steam-powered engines and were on their way into an industrial revolution. The Tau water caste smoothed out peace talks and negotiations. And it didn't take long before the people of Zerva-II began working for the Tau. And it didn't take long before both the Ethereal caste and the water caste "persuaded" the people into renaming their planet to Skether'po. The new name roughly translates to "Bringer [of] Food" as the Tau Empire has designated this planet into an agri world in order o supply their troops and allies in this sector

In the next few weeks, many dams and water pumping stations were built by the earth caste as they terraformed many of the valleys and great planes on the planet into agricultural areas. Their many native crops were planted by the earth caste with help from the locals. But soon the automated harvesters and drones outsourced the human workers. This led to various strikes by many of the former workers. But after a few days it all calmed down and things returned to 'normal'.

Not much is known to what happened to the striking human workers, but rumour has it that they were transported deep into the Tau Empire for re-education.

'''T'Rask'''
Homeworld of the Creks, not much is known about this planet but it has been confirmed to be mainly wetlands, swamps and bogs, along with an almost never-ending rain that goes on for several years.

====Gue'Vesa Space====

===Tyranids===

'''Emperor's Garden'''
Emperors Garden is a cemetery planet dedicated to long-forgotten crusade eons ago. But ancient Imperial records indicate that it is over 3000 years old.

If you stand on the surface of the planet you would be knee-deep in gravestones that belong to everything from Guardsmen, Space Marines to holy saints whose the names have eroded away by time. Emperor's Garden isn't a lovely place, but it isn't a bad place either. The planet was also a target for pilgrims in the Vasenica sector. But due to the unfortunate event of Tyrandis approaching the sector the planet was one of the first to fall to the xeno swarm.

'''Avak Omega'''
Avak Omega is a unique fortress world as it has the ability to grow its troops and PDF in giant vat growth complexes that use a mystical archeotech device that produces nutrients and food from natural sunlight. But as the Tyranids attacked the defenders became desperate, and with a bit of aid from a small enclave of radical Techpriests they managed to increase the human growth period inside the vats to just a few days instead of years. The downside is that the humans from these vats age at a rapid phase and they die within a few months. But as long as they can pick up a lasgun and rush the defences then it is all fine and dandy because another batch of vat humans will take their place after a few days.
This tactic though is only temporarily due to the fact that the defenders are just giving more biomass to the Tyranids. And if the crusade cannot reach them before the planet is overrun then these irreplaceable vat complexes will be lost forever.

===Contested Space===

'''Kex'''
Though a civilised and developed world, high levels of ambient radiation mean that life has always been comparatively short on Kex. Yet as is said by the planet’s clergy - with half their years their faith burns twice as bright. 

When Cordesancti died and the Imperium abandoned the sector, and in their bewilderment and fear neighbouring worlds turned one by one to the so-called Heraclian Confederation - the people of Kex stayed faithful. They honoured their ancient covenant with the God-Emperor, and swore to protect their world no matter the cost.
The cost has been high indeed. The Orks of Waaagh Grimsnag and the heretics of the Confederacy have both invaded Kex, and the conflict destroyed most of the planet's cities and agriculture. Those who have survived Ork massacres and indiscriminate Confederate bombardment now face starvation in ill-supplied Confederate refugee camps. 
Kex Primus - the world’s major landmass - is predominantly mountainous, however, and so a nightmare for the occupying forces of the Confederacy to control. Kexan guerrilla resistance groups infest the vast mining networks that riddle the mountains, launching continual raids on Confederate depots and making off with arms, ammunition and most importantly rations with which to feed the surviving loyalist population. They hold out in hope that the crusade shall come soon, and liberate them from their unending war.

'''Schwarz Convictus'''
The penal world "Schwarz Convictus" is on one of the harshest planets in the sector. The desert planet has been classified by the Adeptus Administratium as a death world due to it's 10 different weather seasons.

Massive prison complexes are located near the north and south poles of the planet and take up even more space underground.

In the year 899.M41 a planet-wide prison riot broke out and many convicts took over the planet. The Ordo Hereticus has several theories that can link the riots to a chaos origin. But due to other threats in the sector has only lead to the formation of a small Imperial Navy blockade that bombards the planet from time to time and shoots down any ships that try to leave the planet.

'''Voider's Mourn'''
The asteroid base now known as Voider’s Mourn was once a naval listening post, established to monitor the activities of pirates and Tarrelian raiders. Its original inhabitants are long since dead and the station disappeared from Administratum records many decades ago, but it is by no means empty.

The secretive site has become a hub for pirates and smugglers, and even corrupt Munitorum agents, siphoning rations and armaments away from the forces of the crusade to trade with cults and consortiums, in clandestine deals sealed with heretical oaths. 

But this black hive of lawlessness is not at all as it seems, for in truth it harbours a coven of radical Inquisitors, who have operated from its foul warrens for many years. There is a constant influx of underworld figures into Voider’s Mourn, giving the Inquisitors access to a vast and invaluable web of illicit information from across the sector.

Petty smuggling and piracy are beneath their notice, and indeed it must be if they are to preserve their cover. It is work for the likes of planetary authorities to solve such ills. Instead, the inquisitors watch for the dissemination of alien technology and ruinous artefacts, and the exchange of daemonic lore.

Even Ork freebooters are known to make port at the Mourn. From them, the Inquisitors hear word of the Waaagh!-held worlds where the Witch-Chief Grimsnag continues his attempts to tear a new eye of terror across the sector, in his mad quest to save the long lost Warboss Tuska from the Warp. 

These are the true threats to the sector and the Imperium, not mere pirates, and without the Coven of Voider’s Mourn, the sector may already have descended into chaos.

'''Vordyria XI'''
A blasted, dry and rocky world suffocated by a thick oxygen atmosphere. Only at the highest altitudes is its air breathable, and agriculture outside of sealed hydroponics facilities is simply impossible. 

A civilised world before the collapse of the sector, it’s reliance on hydroponics and imported food meant that, when the warpstorms hit and the planet collapsed into anarchy, massive famine ensued. 

Over the course of the century before the crusade’s arrival, the scattered survivors of the Vordyrian famine lapsed into feral savagery, looting, and cannibalism. Both the Tau and the Heraclian Confederacy regarded the world as a lost cause, and so neither brought it under their protection. 

Left defenceless and isolated, Vordyria IX became nothing more than a plaything for recurrent Dark Eldar raids. The horrific xenos struck with such terrible and inevitable regularity, that soon the Vordyrian survivors lost the will to resist - indeed vain attempts to fight back only seemed to exhilarate the sadistic reavers, driving them to ever greater acts of cruelty. 

Instead, when the raiders came, the Vordyrians would set aside all weapons, strip themselves bare and prostrate themselves before the aliens. There would be no more pointless struggle. No more howling and wailing. They would offer themselves up in tribute, and the aliens would take whom they pleased. 

When crusade forces reached Vordyria IX, they would discover a world of psychotic pain cults which not only served but worshipped their xenos tormentors. The Dark Eldar had granted the cult elders some crude understanding of the purpose behind their torments - of the eternal struggle to slake the desire of She Who Thirsts - and the primitives had come to believe that if their world’s tributes to the xenos ever stopped, then Slaanesh would rise and consume Vordyria. In their eyes, the return of the Imperium brought only doom for all.

'''Bloodward'''
The planet of Bloodward was originally named Agreppia-II. And it was a feral death world even before the fall of the sector.

It always had a reputation for its dangerous flora and fauna. A few examples of this is the terror sleeper: The terror sleeper is a multi-legged xeno that slumbers for decades before it wakes up, hunts or scavenges some prey and then returns to slumber. As for flora, the most dangerous example is the Agreppian sunflower that reflects and magnifies the rays of the sun into harsh beams of concentrated sunlight. Even though it is dangerous it is harvested by the hunter-gatherers of the natives for its use in las-weaponry, as well as for other more sensitive devices that require focusing lenses.
This led to the creation of many minor feral guard regiments, most of whom become stationed on the planet due to the tithe ships not arriving.

But the real tragedy happened some time about 30 years after the fall of the sector. Namely due to a minor Warpstorm that surrounded that planet and invited various forms of daemons and heretics. The most notable being "The Skullsplitter daemonkin warband" lead by warlord Zurogrim "the bloody". For 70 years the small warband has roamed the planet fighting both nature and the natives. But now as the crusade has begun in the sector, the warp storm starts to dissipate. And as for the change of the planets name was probably due to Zurogrim's lust for blood in order to please Khorne

====Hrud Infestation====

'''Cordesancti'''
Ex-capital of the sector.

Cordesancti is a carrion waste of rubble and ash. An entire world entombed in its own ruins. What few remnants of imperial authority survive the planet's great downfall have turned on each other even as they face annihilation from the xenos hordes, that came not from the void, but from the depths of the world itself.
It was not always so. 

Once the hive world of Cordesancti, birthplace of seven saints and a hundred hallowed dynasties, was the undisputed capital of Vasenica. 
It was among the eldest of the Imperium's hive worlds, and the entirety of its surface sprawled with gothic spires of continental scale and immeasurable majesty. Beneath the palaces and cathedrals toiled a vast slave population in excess of a trillion souls. Cordesancti's factorums fuelled a thousand wars across a dozen sectors, while its Imperial Guard was the mightiest of the sector. Every spire bristled with defence lasers, macro-batteries, and missile silos, each stratum shielded by impenetrable fortress-catacombs garrisoned by the sector's finest troops. When war came to Vasenica others quaked in fear, but the Lords of Cordesancti rejoiced at their coming victories.

Pride came before the fall.

So cataclysmic was their fall, that the sector itself has never recovered. For Cordesancti harboured a vast hrud infestation, a xenos swarm that had been multiplying in the forgotten depths of the underhive since the 35th millennium. The most damnable property of that vile parasitic race is the entropic field biologically generated by their alien bodies. When their population finally reached a critical mass, their powers of decay were so strong, that the very foundations of the world-city crumbled.

The Hives were torn asunder, spires that had stood since the age of the Emperor crashing down and pulverising the billions below, crushing level after level as the screeching ruins bored their way to the ancient surface
Cordesancti was prepared to face any enemy from without. It was not prepared for the enemy within. It's vast armies lay buried under the ruined wastes that were all that remained of the world, and what survivors remained were easy prey for the hrud, the alien's entropic fields withering away their very bodies. 

Without Cordesancti's million factorums and inexhaustible manpower, the Imperium was forced to abandon the entire sector. So the fall of one world consigned dozens to the mercy of heretics, rebels and alien empires.
Fifty years have passed, and an imperial crusade has returned to retake the sector. Cordesancti still lies in utter ruin, overrun ever since by slavering hordes of hrud. It can never be rebuilt - but it is valuable still, as a vast treasure trove to be looted.

Uncovered by the collapse of the hives are untold technological wonders, relics of elder science from before the coming of the Emperor. The forces of the crusade, the Adeptus Mechanicus, and indeed every world of the sector clamours for these treasures, but they are just as coveted by Ork freebooters, pirates, renegades, and the hrud themselves, who ruthlessly defend their domain of desolation. 
The expatriate noble houses that fled the world half a century ago have long appealed to the governors of the Imperium, calling for expeditions to recover these long-buried secrets. But they have long been shunned and ignored for their perceived responsibility for the sector’s fall. Only now with the coming of the crusade are their words considered with great interest.

'''Koltyr''' 

A small world far from the light of it’s dying sun, Koltyr has always been cold and bleak and lifeless, inhabited solely for the vast mineral wealth under it’s frozen crust. The great majority of its population consists of servitors, who toil in its endless mines without thought or feeling until their cogitators burn out or their circuits die. Even most of Koltyr’s Overseers have converted themselves into servitors, quite willingly, to escape the crushing monotony and loneliness of their lives. 

In fact Koltyr’s entire un-lobotomised population can fit inside the small chapel of the Port Arbus Control Tower, where indeed they spend most of their time praying to the Emperor to be reincarnated somewhere, anywhere else upon their suicide.

Historically used as a dumping ground for the excess population from Cordesancti, before that world’s catastrophic fall, the transport ships brought with them Cordesancti’s virulent hrud infestation. The dark mines of Koltyr proved the perfect habitat for these vile nocturnal xenos, and the fact that the planet was populated almost entirely by automatons meant that they could never be properly rooted out.

When the sector fell and anarchy reigned throughout, the mindless slaves of Koltyr kept on digging, piling up their hauls of ore in vast stockpiles that would never be collected by the tithe-fleets. They kept on digging, even as they were whittled away by the predations of the multiplying hrud, even as the aliens' entropic properties caused the tunnels to cave in and their augmented bodies to rust and decay.

Now the crusade has arrived to reclaim the sector, and on Koltyr there isn’t much to reclaim. Most of the slave-miners are dead, and most of the mines have collapsed in on themselves or become foul warrens for the hrud. But in Port Arbus, the world’s capital, where a few thousand servitors still drone about their long-meaningless duties and fifteen un-lobotomised overseers pray for the Emperor’s mercy, the vast stockpiles of ore and gas harvested over the preceding century still sit.

It is a vast motherlode of resources vital to the Imperial war effort, and should the secessionists of the Heraclian Confederacy, or the damnable Tau-sworn traitor worlds claim it, the crusade may face far stronger foes.


====The Wandering Hollow/Craftworld Kal'eem Vau====
A hodgepodge mess of Orc Rokks, Imperial warships, and an Eldar Craftworld form a large Space Hulk that is currently drifting along the border of Imperial and Tau space, as well as the contested region. This Space Hulk is inhabited by wayward Orks and Tyranids, who prefer to lurk in its dark corners. The Mourning Crows chapter of Space Marines, having declared themselves as renegades, struck out on their own and have allied with the remaining survivors of Craftworld Kal'eem Vau. They now jointly defend the Craftworld and conduct trade necessary to keep the people in the Space Hulk alive. In return for safe harbor and assistance in curing the Chapter of a crippling mutation, the Eldar expect the renegade Astartes to conduct a certain mission for them to help confront a sleeping threat to the sector.