Editing Sand Keepers (section)

==Notable Domains==

===Sarianidi===

This Feral World was pacified in 826.M30 by an expedition led by Darius Cyaxares himself.  The fierce and warlike horsemen of Sarianidi succumbed without a fight, seeing the Sand Keepers as superior beings come to uplift them to the heavens.  When the Astartes announced their intention to only take a small tithe of Sarianidi's youth each year, there was little objection.  These recruits, gathered into the 8th Chapter, take naturally to hit-and-run tactics.

===Simurgh===

Graced by Darius Cyaxares during his youth and reformed under the enlightened rule of the Primarch's disciple, Ashpenaz the Golden, the Hive World Simurgh is the most important of the Sand Keepers' recruiting worlds.  Three of the Sand Keepers' Chapters would draw their strength from the multitudes of Simurgh.

The world is ruled by descendants of Darius Cyaxares' adoptive mother, Bithia.  For centuries, this line has invested the rule of Simurgh in their daughters, naming a "Successor" or ''Califa'' from among the girls of Bithia's blood.

===The Death World Kumul===
{{Infobox 40k Planet
|name= Kumul
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=[[File:Desert planet j1.jpg|200px]]
|class= Death World/Space Marine Chapter Homeworld
|orbdist= 0.94AU ± 0.13AU
|gravity= 1.03G
|temp= Warm and arid
|pop= no civilian population
|governor=
|system= Kumul System
|sector=
|subsector=
|segmentum= Ultima Segmentum
}}
Although they drew their manpower from a wide range of worlds, the Sand Keepers trained all of their neophytes on the Death World Kumul.  If this inhospitable planet was barren of life, its arid heat would still make human life difficult.  But it is plagued by horrific predators, including the feared '''olgoi-khorkhoi''', a gigantic acid-spewing worm-like creature.

The world was the last that Darius Cyaxares visited before he took command of the Legion.  Few were privy to what had drawn the Primarch to this desolate place, but his actions were above question.  For a whole season, Darius lived in the wastes of Kumul, purifying his spirit before undertaking his Father's sacred charge.  This period of solitude and deprivation is echoed in the training of the Neophytes of the Legion.  After passing the Aspirant Trial, every Neophyte is brought to Kumul to be implanted with the gene-seed and trained according to the standards of the Sand Keepers.  Thus, this terrible world is the answer to one of the great riddles of the sons of Darius.  Although they draw men from a wide variety of worlds and allow these warriors to retain something of their homelands' identities, all go through training together on Kumul and must learn to co-operate with their battle brothers, regardless of origin.  Neophytes make this lesson a part of them or perish.


'''Notable places'''

The only man-made sights on Kumul are the works of the Sand Keepers.  Successful aspirants first meet the elegant lines of the '''Khiruhton''' spaceport, which perfectly marries a symbolic gateway form with its function as a landing pad.  Those who survive the march to the squat fortress, '''Inshushinak''' are sometimes awed by the scale of the building, but rarely marvel at its external appearance.  However, the interior is a masterpiece of architecture.  Great halls, carved from the living rock, are carefully lit to produce a daunting atmosphere.  This hallowed place is the heart of the Legion, housing the genetic repositories that ensure the Sand Keepers' survival.  Neophytes struck down with ''The Mark of Darius'' are escorted to the bowels of Inshushinak, never to emerge.  

Farming on Kumul is extraordinarily difficult, but the Sand Keepers impose this onerous task on their recruits in the belief that a dose of humble work gives a finer temper to a warrior's spirit than a purely martial education.  Neophyte companies are seasoned in fortified farming communities on the flanks of the '''Anshan''' range.  Each commune is presided over by a Recruit Captain, usually a veteran of the Sand Keepers' wars, with senior Neophytes appointed Recruit Sergeants and tasked with supervising their juniors.  For all the efforts of these youths, their survival is only possible thanks to the '''Springs of Darius''', Kumul's sole source of freshwater.  It is a matter of some contention whether the Primarch created or merely discovered the springs.

One of the last tasks of the successful neophyte on Kumul is to dig himself a '''Karaan''' (rock dwelling) in the volcanic rock of '''Mount Zohhāk'''.  Here he must endure the passing of a full season, nourishing himself by hunting the great predators of the Death World and learning discipline in solitude.  After the disappearance of Darius Cyaxares, an occasional recruit would report that they had been saved by the intervention of the Old Man of the Desert, but none have verified these tales.  Whether the Neophyte dies or survives to join the Legion, his Karaan is destined to be his memorial.  The Sand Keepers go to great pains to inter their fallen in the graves they have wrought with their own hands.  '''Ashtur''', the empty Karaan of Darius Cyaxares, is a centre of veneration.