Vasenica sector

The Vasenica Sector is a sector in the Ultima Segmentum, a collaborative effort to make another unified /tg/ sector, in a more serious light than the Tiji Sector. It was a backwater sector of little value which came under assault from a coalition of races under the Tau Empire. A mixture of administrative delay and warp storms led to the sector being isolated from the greater Imperium for a century and dissolving into a complete clusterfuck.

The Vasenica sector is divided between six main power blocks: the Imperium, the Orks of Waaagh! Grimsnag, the human separatist Heraclian Confederacy, the Necron Ra'Thekt Dnasty, the Tau Empire, and a splinter fleet of Tyranids. The vast majority of the sector is contested space, between the major parties and more minor, isolated cults and exclaves.

Sector Background

A century ago the former sector capital Cordesancti fell. It was a hive world that suddenly collapsed due to Hrud infestation in the underhive. This fucked over the sector for two reasons. Firstly, it was the largest provider of manpower and munitions to the sector. Secondly, and more importantly, the occurrence of billions of deaths in so short a space of time kicked off a warpstorm that rendered most of the sector impassable. The Imperium was forced to withdraw from the sector's east, leaving its worlds to fend for themselves.

In the absence of their protection, the Heraclian Confederacy formed, a defensive alliance between abandoned Imperial worlds. It is led by a former Ultramarine, disillusioned with the corruption and weakness of the Imperium. He was himself abandoned during the retreat, forced to sacrifice his brothers in vain for a position imperial commanders had no intention of keeping. He'd been stranded in the sector ever since and united many of the abandoned worlds under his leadership, claiming to be a prophet of the Emperor's true path. The people of these worlds, isolated and afraid, were inclined to listen. A hundred years later and he'd created a relatively stable empire from the alien-infested ruins that the Imperium left behind. But then the reclamation crusade turned up, to demand he hands the planets back over. This pissed him off, and he said no.

So the newly arrived Crusade designates gas giant Phorcys as new sector capital, a staging post for their campaign to restore order to the sector. Probable first targets are the anarchic worlds of the contested region - Schwarz Convictus, a penal world lost to planet-wide riots, and Cordesancti, which though left uninhabitable, has lots of dark age tech treasures poking about in its ruins, which they'll want to get to before orks or pirates, or the sector Mechanicus do.

Factions of the Vasenica Sector

Imperial Loyalists

The Imperials that were less affected by the warp storms, loyal and true, and launching a Crusade to put an end to the degeneracy in the rest of the sector.

Heraclian Confederacy

A group of Imperial worlds isolated by the retreat from the sector and under attack from aliens, they banded together under the leadership of a disillusioned Space Marine, Heraclius, for survival. Although the Imperium has resumed contact, the Confederacy holds little love for those who abandoned their grandfathers so long ago.

Gue'Vesa

Same reasoning as the Confederacy, but they had some powerful aliens to help them, rather than one charismatic Astartes.

Waaagh! Grimsnag

A Waaagh! led by a Weirdboy. Grimsnag wants to rip open a warp rift, potentially dooming the entire sector, that his boyz can rescue the legendary Tuska from the warp - or at least get in on the fun.

He had a Dark Eldar Pain Engine, which increased his powers by a curious brand of S&M, but it was reclaimed by some Craftworlders to attempt to end his plans.

To further his ends (and to liven up the party, Grimsnag brought along his klan, the Flakka Freakz, who enjoy themselves a good looting, especially if it gets them some Hydra flak canons, and really love gearing up as storm boyz for a fight.

Ra'Thekt Dynasty

Necrons slaved to Nyadra'zatha, the Burning One. Pyrominacal oldcrons with the desire of literally burning the whole sector down

Tau Coalition

A bunch of minor Xenos resisting Imperial occupation, helped by the arrival of the Tau Empire, who put them back on the offensive. Really rather helped by the fact that Tau interstellar travel doesn't care about warp storms.

Tyranid Splinter Fleet

The devourer, just showed up here, you know the drill.

Fleshed out in this thread: [1]

Name: Hive Fleet Capricorn
Progenitor: Hive Fleet Naga
Classification: Hive Fleet
Size: Small
Goal: Rejoin a larger Hive Fleet
Strategic Tendency: The Ground Trembles
Common Biomorphs: Symbiotic Swarms
Allies: Psychic Vampire (Doom of Malan'tai)
Enemies: Eldar
Coloration: Green backs, brown undersides, purple veins

This Hive Fleet is a remnant of Hive Fleet Naga, which devoured a number of Eldar worlds before being shattered. This splinter fleet has incorporated valuable genetic information from those victories, including enhanced genomes derived from the infamous Doom of Malan'tai, and seeks to rejoin a greater Fleet in order to share its adaptations. Because of its relatively weak strength for a Hive Fleet, it often employs large numbers of burrowing bioforms to move undetected beneath the surface and undermine enemy positions. The Fleet has evolved biofroms with potent psychic abilities that make them particularly effective at destroying Eldar opponents. It is currently located in the rimward fringe of the Vasenica sector, carving a path of destruction as it tries to accumulate enough biomass to break through the contested front and join the nearest large Hive Fleet.

Tyranid Hive Fleet: Splinter Fleet Morlock

Progenitor: Hive Fleet Behemoth

Classification: Splinter Fleet

Hive Fleet Size: FUCKHUEG

Goals: Rejoin the fleet (Fleet looking to pair up with their progenitor or a larger fleet)

Strategic Tendencies: Death from Above (Wiiiiings)

Common Biomorphs: Regenerative Abilities

Specialist Creatures: Parasitic Broodfather (Parasite of Mortrex)

Rivals: Ork Klan (Flakka Freakz)

Summary: After the defeat of Behemoth, the tyranids of this splinter fleet took to carefully licking their wounds and husbanding their forces. It attacked weaker worlds within reach, and sent diversionary tendrils to keep Imperial forces busy and away from the main body as it snaked through the Imperium's territories, raining down upon their foes with leathery and chitinous wings. Eventually, the splinter fleet became vast enough to take on a sector fleet. Splinter Fleet Morlock now seeks to engulf Vasenica sector into its ever widening maw, the last morsel before it links up with the larger splinters of the remaining hive fleets. Various probing attacks have been conducted, and after discovering Hive Fleet Capricorn, has focused itself on pushing through the Imperial and Tau worlds towards the larger hive mind.

Hrud Infestation

Hrud showed up under Cordesancti, the sector capital, in such numbers as to bring the hives tumbling down with their entropy fields. They've spread through the local systems.

Kabal of the Indigo Skull

A Dark Eldar kabal under the dominion of Archon Moriq'Escoria. They seek to increase their standing with Asdrubael Vect, and do so by undergoing the standard slaving, smuggling, and skullduggery expected of their type, making extensive use of non-Eldar mercenaries in their efforts.

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 millenia 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 it's 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 having 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 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 planets 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, funnelled 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 were 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 acivity 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 of Man.

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 compund 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 says 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 skycraper, way below the mighty sands of time, they finally found some technology: an ancient tomb. The tomb was activated an 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

ShaMyen is a dead and airless world, no more than a rock. But this planet is important to the Tau, becuase 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 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 it's way to producing prototype plasma rifles that would outrival the current ones when it comes to raw energy output and power. This has been achived by the help of the Brachyura and their energy technology.

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

Skether'Po The planet formerly know 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 fresh water 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 peacetalks 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. There many native crops were planted by the earth caste with help from the locals. But soon the automated harvesters and drones outsorced 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.

Tyranids

Emperor's Garden Emperors garden is a cemetary planet dedicated to long forgotten crusade eons ago. But aincent Imperial records inducate 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 where the names have eroded away by time. Emperors garden isn't a lovley 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 unique fortress world as it has the ability to grow it's troops and PDF in giant vat growth complexes that uses a mystical archeotech device that produces neutrients and food from natural sunlight. But as the Tyrandis 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. Downside being 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 becuase another batch of vat humans will take thier place after a few days. This tactic though is only temporarly 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 bombard 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. It's 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 is 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 demonic 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 originaly named Agreppia-II. And it was a feral death world even before the fall of the sector.

It always had a reputation for it's dangerous flora and fauna. A few example of this is the Terror sleeper. The terror sleeper is multi legged xeno that slumbers for decades before it wakes up, hunt or scavnge some prey and then returns to slumber. And for flora the most dangerous example is the Agreppian sunflower that reflected and magnified the rays of the sun into harsh beams of concentraded sunlight. Even though it is dangerous it is harvesed by the hunter and gatheres of the natives for it's use in las-weaponry. Aswell as other more sensetive deviced 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 happend sometime about 30 years after the fall of the sector. Namely due to a minor warpstorm that surrounded that planet and invited various fors of daemons and heretics. The most notible being "The Skullsplitter daemonkin warband" lead by warlord Zurogrim "the bloody". For 70 years the small warband has roamed the planet fighting both the 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 probalby 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 it's 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, and its imperial guard were 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 millenium. 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 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.

Characters of the Vasenica Sector

Lord Militant Eduarto Zachariah Senior officer of the Crusade.

Lord Admiral Johannes Orebus Officer commanding the Crusade Fleet, which has absorbed the hobbling remnants of the original Battlefleet Vasenica.

Heraclius the Liberator Space Marine Sergeant abandoned by the Imperium for a century. Dropped the "Brother-" part of his title and set up the Heraclian confederacy to protect the last bastions of humanity in the area.

Weirdboss Grimsnag Boss Ork round these parts.

Governor-Cardinal "His Radiance" Kain Mortag Governor of Skeaphus and the main representative of the Ecclesiarchy in the Vasenica sector. He is incredibly old by normal human standards, having been alive for almost 400 years, and Governor of Skeaphus for 280. He rules the planet with an iron fist, and demands the populace worship himself as the manifestation of the Emperors will. His cult of personality is extensive, as is the manpower he has at his disposal to distribute throughout the sector. He officially rules from the Cardinal planet of Wheshan as his seat of power due to his advanced age preventing him from living within Skeaphus' heavy gravity. He employs secret police known as "The Golden Comity" to rule Skeaphus when he's gone.

Military Forces in the Vasenica Sector

Imperial Guard Regiments

Native Regiments

Kebrade Heavies Heavy infantry from the Mining world of Kebrade. They wear heavy bronze armour, and are well-versed when fighting the Orks.

Skeaphun Men-at-Arms Mass hordes of peasant infantry from the Feudal world Skeaphus. Well known for their mass infantry charges and utter contempt for casualties. Because of the magnitude of recruits each year, not all Skeaphuns are trained equally however. Indeed, most are simply handed a lasgun and told to learn as they go, charging into battle with little more than a peasants tunic and whatever weapons they have on hand. The ones that survive multiple campaigns obtain invaluable combat experience that helped the Skeaphuns survive against the Tau invasion forces of Skeaphus during the first Tau expansion, culminating in the Tau's humiliating defeat at the Battle of Rainshire Hollow, when a force of Skeaphuns armed with little more than sword and shield decimated a Tau Strike Force after cutting off their Auxiliary support.

Crusading Regiments

Hua Yuan Exterminators A detachment of the Hua Yuan have been attached to the crusade, being from a neighbouring sector.

357th Ouroff Widowers Regiment from the wintry industrial world of Ouroff, known for its explosives production. Soldiers enlist when they lose a loved one in a mill accident, to atone for the perceived sins which they believe to have caused their loved one's death. Primarily engage in close range firefights with liberal application of their home-made produce.

Thorian Rangers Thoria is a civilized world that has been untouched by war in recent memory. During he start of the Vasenican Crusade, Thoria provided many regiments to retake the Vasenica sector for the Glory of the Emperor. The initial campaigns of the crusade were not kind to the Thorians, with many regiments being reduced to ineffective strength or being wiped out entirely by the Tau and Heraclian Confederates. Colonel Merrill Rogers cobbled together the remnants of 3 cut-off Thorian Regiments on the war world Drarth, and fought his way back to Imperial lines utilizing raids and lightning attacks to keep his troops supplied. Sent to regroup on Phorcys, Colonel Rogers built a new regiment around the remaining troops of his grenadier regiment, as an officer cadre, and rebuilt the Thorians as a light infantry force clad in grenadier carapace and carrying hellguns. Rogers utilized the strong Imperial navy presence on Phorcys to train his small force on Valkyrie insertions. Utilizing the reputation built on their escape back to Imperial Lines, the newly designated Thorian Rangers have made a name for themselves as elite drop troops, able to apply weight to offensives with their few numbers in the right place thanks to their heavy armor and weapons.

Huang Jiang Raider/Guerillas The planet of Huang Jiang wasteland deathworld with an inherent ork problem, in that orks landed there at one point in time, guard came and went, but seasonal mini waaaghs keep fucking things up. Central authority has control over PDF deployments, which is more often than not used to defend holdings of nobles, socialites and higher borne people. Meanwhile, commoners and peasants not lucky enough to be living on the fortified Lu Yang plateau have to fend for themselves. This causes a rift and resentment between those wealthy upper crust of society and the working man. Reflecting this, the Huang Jian PDF take expertise in discipline, armored and mechanized warfare as well as urban fighting to push back onslaughts of the green hordes that threaten the businesses and manufactorums that belong to the world and its upper class. The peasants and workers who are outside of the plateau are guerillas, arming what they can and fighting however they can against ork raiders. In the seasonal Green Tide, where the Orks in the surroundings manage to form up into very threatening hordes and attempt to roll over the settlements of Huang Jiang moving Eastward, the PDF often fall back and regroup at designated rally points, blowing dams (which cause numerous floods) and leaving villages and towns to their fates. While the major cities take the brunt of ork aggression, the commoners, forming a militia, will conduct fighting retreats, using hit and run tactics to distract and divert the oncoming orks wherever they can, all the while gathering people and supplies on a long and arduous Long March through many kilometers of mountains, deserts, tundras and jungles to the other side of the Plateau, practically non stop, fighting orks and bandits along the way. It is only there that they will weather out the green storm. Their journey, being performed on a regular basis, transforms these soldiers into very mobile, resourceful, and deadly guerilla fighters. In contrast, their PDF counterparts prefer more mechanized support and technological benefits.

As another note, because they come from rival classes, the PDF and the militia (as well as the commoners and the noblemen) have an ongoing feud, only tempered by the ever present threat of orks gobbling up everything. On their homeworld, they tolerate one another, though the commoners often try to fight for their rights. Out in the greater universe, however, the two groups will let their hatred for one another boil over into bloody conflicts, their resentment a powder keg just waiting to go off. PDF (Raider) and militia (Guerilla) regiments are normally sent off to fight in different theaters with the hopes they never do come to blows. However, due to clerical errors, that's not always the case...

Additionally, the militia units use exotic mounts known as Blue Crowned Raptors, which, while sparingly given out due to how hard it is to train them, are fairly loyal mounts.

Creature: Exotic Mounts for 330th Yin Shan Guerillas

Blue Crowned Raptors

Environment: Swamp - "Swamps and marshes make up much of the coastal terrain."

Habits: Carnivore - "The Creature is a natural carnivore killing prey outright when given the chance."

Reproduction: Allogamy/Autogamy - "Normal reproduction between two species with an egg and sperm."

Main Sense: 6th sense

Creature Conflicts: Faction with the most dealings: Imperial Role that the species play: Trainable - "Often trained to form a bond with their owner, or is suitably broken/enslaved for use."

Locomotion: Winged

Skin/Surface: Feathers - "Feathers make up the creature's surface. Many avian creatures have feathers."

Creature abilities: Razor Sharp Claws Enhanced Senses Vampirism

Space Marine Chapters

Death Consuls

Golden Spectres

Sanguine Shields

Sunken Angels

Thunder Devils

Death Knights

Other Imperial Forces

Clan Cromwell A clan of voidfarers, prominent in the local group's battlefleets.

Battlefleet Vasenica

Battlefleet Vasenica, under the command of Lord-Admiral Johannes Ourebus, consists of the crusade battlegroup and what little remains of the old sector Battlefleet. The flagship is the Grand Cruiser Lucem Supremus, a venerable Avenger-class from the Segmentum reserve fleets.

The Battlefleet is hardly in a good state, being but a small crusade force combined with the battered remnants of a second-priority sector. Its pride comprises a pair of Dominion-class battlecruisers almost fresh from the shipyards of Bakka. The main body of the fleet is a paltry seven cruisers, being only three Tyrant, two Lunar, and two Gothic-class cruisers. In terms of light cruisers, the crusade fleet has contributed three Endeavour and two Endurance-class light cruisers, themselves redirected from a successful front in the Tyrannic Wars. The remaining ships consist of the two ancient Siluria-class light cruisers of Krusevac Force, a patrol based around that planet, and two Mechanicus Defiance-class light cruisers, sailing out of Agantyre, as an unwilling, but necessary gift from the Archmagos of the world.

Dark Eldar Kabals

The Kabal of the Indigo Skull The Kabal of the Indigo Skull lies under the command of Archon Moriq'Escoria, conducting itself so as to pay tribute to the Kabal of the Black Heart and its lord, Asdrubael Vect. Their primary objective in this is to ensure their control over Sector-wide trading.

The Indigo Skull hails from the Sec Magera district of Commorragh, a place where non-enslaved, non-eldar mercenaries gather and organize. Due to such a background, it's natural that the kabal employs non-Eldar for a variety of roles within the sector and on behalf of the Kabal. While this may seem similar to the Tau's collectivism, in truth, what the Indigo Skull practices is a mockery. Eldar of the Kabal see all other non-Eldar members as expendable and gullible (which makes them more trustworthy than fellow Eldar). Furthermore, thousands of recruits from various worlds have been sacrificed to the Kabal of the Black Heart as tribute. This is kept secret, as wide spread knowledge would damage the Indigo Skull's standing within the sector.

The kabal has covertly deployed agents into the highest population centers of the sector. These agents are typically heavily modified and disguised wracks or grotesques. They insinuate themselves by upgrading the technology already available within a society and then selling it to increase their influence. This method of infiltration has been so successful that each planet's criminal underworld features at least one heavily armed gang lead by an Indigo Skull Agent. The Kabal possesses a fleet of smuggling vessels too small to challenge any other fleet in direct combat. What the fleet is good for, is rapid deployments and extraction of almost anything on nearly any world within the sector.

The Kabal's military tactics most often use their mercenary allies as disposable bodies, using them as a distraction. In the confusion which they cause, the Kabal's more valuable Eldar assets will conduct long-range sniper or support fire, or swift hit-and-run attacks which often face minimal resistance. In some situations, the Kabal will attempt to arrange a truce or parley between the leaders of the enemy and themselves. Any enemy foolish enough to accept this offer will soon find itself without its command echelons as they are assassinated at soonest opportunity. In this way, they are much the same as any othe kabal of Dark Eldar.

Xenos

Brachyura Tau-allied crustaceans, invaluable to the Earth Caste.

Gul'nak'roth A five-limbed, lamprey-mouthed, red-grey hued, fireproof, race of xenos mercenaries that travel the eastern fringe after their homeworld was lost ot the Imperium in late M39. A moderate sized band has taken up shop in a abandoned space station in the Tau region of space. In exchange that they help the Tau out from time to time.

Their primary weaponry at all scales are known to the imperium as "incinerator beams", which project intense heat over significant distances. Whilst similar to las weapons, these use continuous intense heat to damage the target, rather than the thermal shock of las weapons. The fall of the homeworld was significantly affected by the impotence of incinerator beams against imperial naval void shields, causing the loss of native orbital control in no time at all.

The survivors of the race are the crews of those ships which escaped or were absent from the planetary defence. They travel the spaceways salvaging hulks, such that they can arm their ships with weaponry capable of damaging void shields, and offer their services as mercenaries to any and all that will pay.

Creks The Creks are a race of superstitious amphibians who has an acute sense of smell and a long slender bipedal body. Their homeworld T'rask is very wet and boggy, and it rains almost continuously. A lack of rain is said to be bad luck. Their spaceships use sprinkler systems to simulate the rain. This not only makes them feel lucky, it also keeps their skin moist, making them more comfortable and keeping them healthy. They have a mercantile culture and are ruled by a wealthy monarchy.

As one of the few minor spacefaring races in the Vasenica sector they have devoloped a small mercantile empire around their home system. They have also avoided the Imperium's wrath. The Creks are heavily developed when it comes trading with various other minor xenos races and have besed their entire empire around it. Their main product being spices of various forms that can be used from everything to conservation of food to drugs. Before the Tau entered the sector they usually traded with other xenos that have barley left their own star, and a few humans on the black market. They welcomed the Tau with open arms as they could be used to spread their own influence and power. But the Tau water caste are crafty, and always worked their way around the topic during negotiations.

As of yet the Creks haven't fully integrated themselves into the Tau Empire, but they do aid the Tau by using their transport ships to ship goods to the Gue'vesa and Tau colonies in the sector, and thus leave some breathing room for the Tau fleet.