Setting:Cloudburst/Septiim

SEPTIIM

System
Galactic Position	Cloudburst Sector, Delving Subsector
System Overlord	System Lord Jonas Neverember
Worlds in the system	Six, three inhabited

The Septiim System is one of the breadbaskets and warehouses of the Imperial Frontier.

There was, at the time of the establishment of the Subsectors that eventually defined the politics of the region, a push to make the Septiim system a Subsector Capital World. This motion did not make it far in the Naxos and Drumnos peerage, since the obvious possibility of a Pasture Gate system putting its own priorities above all others and neglecting the rest of the region was impossible to ignore. More to the point, the systems near Septiim are largely useless beyond bare-bones mining, and cannot support life. It would be a Subsector Capital with no nearby worlds to administrate, whereas Delving is both a bustling economic hub and at the middle of a large cluster of habitable worlds. Thus, the Septiim Economic Zone, over which the system does rule, is awkwardly crammed into a corner of the Delving Subsector, despite having a larger economy and a vastly more numerous military than Delving.

As a whole, the system has a well-deserved reputation as a navigational hazard. The Warp currents leading to the system are weak and thready, while the currents leading away are shockingly fast. While this has obvious benefits for exporting goods and sending the Blue Daggers on missions to other systems, it does make imports time-consuming. The system also has an asteroid belt and many thin belts of comets, which occasionally knock loose and fall towards Septiim itself. Finally, the dual moons of Septiim Tertius make approaching that planet a chore for inexperienced helmsmen.

Also of note is that the system’s culture leads them to discount Servitors from their population totals, thanks to peculiar interpretations of Ecclesiarchal doctrine about the value of human worth. Thus, there is no official record of servitors in the system anywhere, including in the Gargantuan. This is not unique to Septiim, either, and many of the worlds in the Sector with Septiimi colonists share this quirk.

System
World Type, Name	Garden World Septiim Primus
Tropospheric Composition	Nitrogen 72%, Oxygen 25.5%, Argon 1%, Water 1%, Carbon Dioxide 0.05%
Religion	Imperial Cult
Government type	Adeptus Terra
Planetary Governor	Yes
Adept Presence	Adeptus Administratum, Adeptus Ministorum, Adeptus Astra Telepathica (Astropathic Choir on orbital platform Choral Reef), Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus
Climate	Temperate, with small polar ice caps, and global forest
Geography	Small, shallow oceans, large polar ice caps. The entirety of the land mass of the planet is covered in thick forests, with low-quality soil and rapid, thin rivers. Its few oceans are highly saline. There are large deposits of manganese, zinc, and iron in its crust
Gravity	Primus has 1.08 Terran Gravity
Day Length	20 Terran Hours
Economy	Gelt Thrones and Silver Thrones
Principal Exports	Timber, Zinc, Manganese, Petrochemicals, Paper, Soldiers
Principal Imports	Copper, Diamond, Finished Goods, Adamantium, Ceramite Components, Fish, Aircraft/hovercraft Parts
Countries and Continents	No national divisions, eight continents
Military	Septiim Defenders (high quality PDF), Septiim Sharks (medium quality Scions)
Contact with other Systems	Primus has extensive contact with the other worlds in the system, and serves as the focal point for military operations in the Economic Zone and beyond. Most of the adjacent systems to the Zone are beneficiaries of Septiim’s economic output, and some contribute finished goods to its economy
Tithe Grade	Decuma Particular (theoretically, the planet could exempt itself from paying the tithe as an Astartes homeworld, but elects not to)
Population	7,000,000

Septiim Primus

Septiim Primus is a world of trees and cities, with enormous forests of mighty, vertical plants dominating all land. Here and there, fast rivers cut deep canyons and ravines through the clay-heavy soil, making their way to the saline, silt-filled seas. The people of Septiim Primus are of a mixed, ancient Terran stock, with gradually homogenizing features.

The capital city of Anholme is tucked between two mountain ranges in the southern hemisphere, ensuring frequent rainfall. The lack of mutational factors and the Terra-like air make the planet endure a low rate of abhuman and mutantcy births, to the relief of the Arbites. The vast cities on Primus tend to be both dense and heavily populated. As a natural consequence, upswings in crime, disease, or major fires can have immediate and wide impact. Some argue that it’s worth it for the view. Anholme enjoys abundant geothermal and solar power, in addition to the usual plasmic reactor output of the Mechanicus’ power plants. Deep zinc and manganese deposits nearby provide industrial trade, while Promethium and petrochemical wells across the globe allow for manufacturing of abundant fuels for the world, with enough left over for export.

Primus culture has been more affected by the Glasians than any other world’s has, in the system or outside it. Glasians have assaulted the world in fully five invasions so far, and the scars of crashing Glasian ships (or Imperial ships) can be seen from space, as brown marring on the green of its forests. Primus cities each had large train depots, long before the arrival of the Glasians, as they are the most efficient means of transporting goods and people between the distant cities, but now, they are built underground as a matter of course. Cloudburst’s oxygen tunnels and Primus’ new habit of building whole transportation systems underground were the first major examples of subterranean construction in the sector. The sector-wide love of tunnels can be fairly said to stem from those two worlds, though Maskos could also stake a reasonable claim.

Septiim Primus serves as the de facto system capital. The System Overlord has a platform in orbit, which also contains the system’s Astropathic Choir, and maintains an estate on the ground. The Planetary Governor has their own estate in Anholme. The local Ecclesiarchy headquarters in Anholme as well, and practices largely the same system of exultation of the nobility of wealth, and vice versa, as Cloudburst, to a slightly lesser extent. The local Ecclesiarchy, after all, must also deal with the fact that Glasians routinely attack Septiim. In the run-up to the Migrations, preachers turn their sermons to raging against the alien, praising the brave defenders of the system, begging mercy and aid from the God-Emperor, and emphasizing the superiority of the human form over the xeno. The Ecclesiarchy of the Septiim is generally not aware of the inherent Chaos taint of the Glasians, but its senior members are. Often, the clerics of larger Septiim cities will raise Frateris Militia from retired PDF and Guard, but the Inquisition and Administratum discourage that. Instead, any residents of the three Septiim worlds who wish to volunteer temporarily for the defense of their worlds are encouraged to join Planetary Defense Volunteer outfits.

The military, timber, and ore mining fuel Primus’ economy. Larger cities glow at night with the lights of industry, as lumber mills and military factories churn around the clock. Septiim Primus provides nearly all the arms and simple vehicles of the local Guard, while the PDF is instead supplied by Solstice, and the Daggers by their own forges and Solstice’s more advanced manufactorae. Primus does not have a surface navy, though its PDF has extensive riverine and arboreal training. As the policy of the Septiim Economic Zone is to divert all military recruits through basic training on Secundus before being diverted to specific branches and specializations, Primus recruits and conscripts do not get any special training before leaving. Commerce on a world of so few cities, but so many people, is not simple. Although enormous starports, rail yards, and transit hubs for Primus’ subterranean constructions and subways are not so hard to find, the storage space needed for the goods of billions of people is. Warehouse space is ever at a premium in the Primus markets. Combined residence buildings are common throughout Primus, especially in larger cities. These take the form of a store or other building on the ground floor, with a cargo elevator, stairwell, and passenger lift in the back. Below, these conveyances lead down to the underground tunnel networks, while they lead to residences above, usually with a layer of soundproofing between the business and the residences. The government of Primus doesn’t have a rule against citizens cutting the trees of their world down, per se, but the trees are the primary source of food and air filtration for Primus. Being as close to the system’s star as it is, the planet would most likely be uninhabitable if it were not for the water caching and atmospheric regulation effect of the trees. As such, cutting one down when it is not needed is a highly socially objectionable thing to do.

The planet has extensive defenses. Primus sports a huge orbital battle platform, nearly the size of a Xerxes IV anchorage. Several dozen smaller satellites, a dedicated Navy orbital dock, four orbital watch bases with cogitator-controlled sensor packages and synchronized laser batteries, and nineteen civilian docks surround the world. The civilian docks can be commandeered for military purposes if needed. At closer range, the planet enjoys the protection of seven Defense Lasers, as well as forty defensive missile silos, firing a mixture of plasma and conventional warheads. These missiles could be outfitted with other, more exotic payloads, should the need arise.

Relatively few of the great Mercantile and Noble houses of the Imperium have a presence in Septiim, but there are some. The great Warp-traders and Chartered Captains house of Herrera headquarter here, in fact, and have a vast manor outside the capital, complete with outbuildings and a small private militia garrison. Their freighters often haul the goods of Septiim to other worlds in the Sector and beyond, and bring offworld trinkets and rare metals in for Septiim industry. As the Septiim system is poor in Ceramite ingredients and Adamantium ores, they must be imported for military and civil construction, and are often brought in by Herrera freighters. Naturally enough, the majority goes to the Blue Daggers, for the use of their forges.

The Scholae Progenum that dot the system divert all worthy psykers they can find to the Blue Daggers, for the Daggers are somewhat disadvantaged by the low psyker birthrates of the Cloudburst Sector. Indeed, they have only the number of Librarians most would expect from a Chapter two hundred eighty Marines smaller; the potential recruitment of a Librarian is too rare a chance to pass up. The largest Schola is on Primus itself, sequestered high in the mountains on the planet’s largest continent. The mountain chain is one of the few places in the world that does not have total tree coverage. The Mechanicus flattened several peaks for the purpose of the Schola. As this leaves the place a rather obvious target, the Schola maintains its own small tunnels, leading deep into the heart of the nearby mountains. In the buildings themselves, resembling nothing more than a military base with a few sports fields, thousands of orphans from the Adepta and the Officio Munitorum across the Zone train for their future with the Imperium. Here is the largest Schola in the Subsector, and not coincidentally, a large Imperial Navy officer’s school. The Techpriesthood of Solstice recruits from the most mechanically apt students of the Schola as well, to the irritation of the Ecclesiarchy.

The enormous military forces of Septiim Primus stage from the bases that sit amongst the trees. In a few places, the civilian spaceports themselves doubled in size after military facilities were built adjacent to them.

Decani is an airless rock, with little but a few solar power plants, a tiny long-range vox relay, and a metallurgic factory that exploits the high temperature and low gravity of the moon. There is an emergency dry-dock there for ships of eight or fewer kilometers in length, but no other significant construction. The Mechanicus plans to create sub-surface mines at some point in the future.

System
World Type, Name	Garden Planet Septiim Secundus
Tropospheric Composition	Nitrogen 74%, Oxygen 24%, Argon .5%, Water .8%, Carbon Dioxide 0.7%
Religion	Imperial Cult
Government type	Adeptus Terra
Planetary Governor	No
Adept Presence	Adeptus Administratum, Adeptus Ministorum, Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus, Templar Psychologis
Climate	Climate is temperate, with many low lands split by rivers, equatorial mountain ranges, thick polar ice
Geography	Enormous oceans, fed by long rivers through the low lands of the continents. Thick, wide polar ice caps and slow ocean currents
Gravity	Secundus has .98 Terran Gravity
Day Length	21 Terran Hours
Economy	Gelt Thrones and Silver Thrones
Principal Exports	Blubber, Salt, Concrete Mix, Gravel, Manganese, Copper, Zinc, Tin, Textiles
Principal Imports	Industrial slag, Food, Machine parts
Countries and Continents	Secundus has no country borders, and seven major continents
Military	Septiim Guard (high quality Guard), Septiim Defenders (high quality PDF)
Contact with other Systems	Septiim Secundus is a major military training area, and has routine and frequent contact with other worlds. Most of the adjacent systems to the Zone are beneficiaries of Septiim’s economic output, and some contribute finished goods to its economy.
Tithe Grade	Decuma Particular (theoretically, system could exempt itself from paying the tithe as an Astartes homeworld, but elects not to)
Population	3,000,000

Septiim Secundus

Secundus is a buzzing hive of industry, travel, and military expenditure. Though possessing of a relatively small population for a modernized Garden World, Secundus is the primary military training ground for the system’s various surface fleets, riverine forces, and limited paratroop forces. The planet also hosts the main Navy anchorage for the Zone, the large orbital platform called Waterscale. The supreme commander of local SDF and Navy assets resides here as a matter of course. Elsewhere in the planet’s orbit, Secundus also hosts the local Black Ship and Imperial Tithe infrastructure, though Secundus doesn’t pay the lion’s share of the Tithe.

The planet plays host to the only Adeptus Sororitas convent in the Zone, or indeed in the Subsector, and one of only four in the Sector. A tiny convent, possessing of only 40 Battle Sisters and a few hundred Hospitallers and Famulous Sisters, this small offshoot of the Sacred Rose Majoris is the star and darling of the system Ecclesiarchy, who hold the convent up as an icon of the ideal lifestyle. The Sisters there are objects of veneration for the people of the Septiim system. Their relationship with the Blue Daggers is cordial to their faces and acrimonious behind their backs. Economically, the planet is dependent on its textile production, which flies straight to Thimble. It also collects massive amounts of scrap and slag from other industrial bodies in the system, to harvest for its precious materials, though Solstice surely is going to shut down that industry for itself eventually.

Most cities on Secundus sit on plateaus that jut from the massive equatorial mountain range. The Mechanicus, when tasked with building the planet’s infrastructure, elected to drop massive pre-fabricated cities from orbit, using the barges normally employed for tithe collection. As a result, many of the buildings in these pre-built cities are identical to each other and those in other cities. Not all homes and workplaces are pre-made, of course, and many are the product of organic growth on the continents farther from the equatorial mountains. Secundus’s orbits hold dozens of satellites and platforms, like most Imperial Garden Worlds, and also serve as convenient anchorage slots for the system’s Navy. Waterscale is large enough to handle all routine Navy traffic, but Solstice and Decani handle most general repairs. The planet also enjoys an orbital spire. The orbital spire anchors to Waterscale, which is built into a nickel-silicon asteroid monitor, and houses roughly two thousand crew. Expansion plans for Waterscale include an Aquila shuttle factory, a Defense Laser, and a Mechanicus sensor suite to detect incoming Glasian Cylinders, though that is far in the future.

The planet also plays host to the manufactorae wherein the pre-fabricated military structures used in the Septiim system’s defense are built. These buildings can be dropped from orbit in ablative heat shells, the slam into the ground and begin assembling themselves. The process can be expedited by Servitor construction teams or members of the Adeptus Mechanicus, working onsite with their enginseering tools. These buildings range from simple bundles of computers, antennae, and metal plating to full-service garages and orbital communication dishes, and can be neatly broken down and disassembled after use. The Imperial Guard makes common use of them to create local command posts to repel Glasian landing sites, but their cost of transport prevents them from being common outside the Sector.

Because of the constant threat of pirates and Glasians, the orbital defenses of Secundus have to be robust. The world has fourteen small docks for governmental use, outfitted with some residence suites and cargo storage chambers. They serve as a convenient place to relay psykers and tithe goods to wherever in the system those are being picked up. They also serve as staging areas for government travels between worlds, a long and boring affair in Cloudburst. A much larger cargo well, nearly four kilometers long, accumulates non-perishable goods in lots, and loads them into bulk freighters bound for Thimble directly, dutifully itemized by the Administratum. Defensively, these platforms are of little value. However, three massive laser platforms also orbit the world farther out, along with another, far larger one. The larger one orbits opposite the Waterscale platform, and sports a cruiser-weight torpedo array and two Defense Lasers. The Navy and SDF would both very much like more defenses, and jockeying for precedence has already begun.

System
World Type, Name	Garden Planet Septiim Tertius
Tropospheric Composition	74.5%, Oxygen 24%, Argon .5%, Water .3%, Carbon Dioxide 0.07%
Religion	Imperial Cult
Government type	Adeptus Terra
Planetary Governor	No
Adept Presence	Adeptus Administratum, Adeptus Ministorum, Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus
Climate	Climate is temperate, mostly with cold oceans and heavy annual winds
Geography	Cold, low saline oceans, thick polar ice, heavy rainfalls every standard month, deep polar crater, lengthy peninsular spurs into the main ocean with fine sand and thick salt buildups
Gravity	Tertius has .95 Terran Gravity
Day Length	46 Terran Hours
Economy	Gelt Thrones and Silver Thrones
Principal Exports	Fish, Ores, Seaweed, Sand, Herbs, Grains, Vegetables, Leather, Bedding, Aircraft, Small Spacecraft, Manpower
Principal Imports	Ammunition, Construction Equipment, Machine Parts, Paper
Countries and Continents	Tertius has no country borders, and three major continents
Military	Septiim Defenders (high quality PDF), Adeptus Sororitas
Contact with other Systems	Constant, thanks to Economic Zone tithe payment center
Tithe Grade	Decuma Particular (theoretically, system could exempt itself from paying the tithe as an Astartes homeworld, but elects not to)
Population	4,200,000

Septiim Tertius

The third of the three habitable worlds of the system, Tertius is a land of farms, cities, military bases, and warehouses. The rocky world is a breadbasket and a bank, so they are heard to grumble. The tithe of the Economic Zone is collected here and Secundus, and though the significant majority of the people of Septiim see paying the tithe as a holy and fair responsibility because that is what they are educated to think, the fact that it is a huge drain on Tertius’ economy has not gone unnoticed. Tertius, however, is the world from which most of the Daggers’ recruits come, which is a point of pride for the people here. The planet’s orbital defenses are extensive, as most are in Septiim, and the world’s two moons are critical to the sector’s anti-Glasian protection. On the surface, magnificent fields of golden plants wave and shine in the wind, heavy with grains and vegetables for the markets and tithe-barques. Roadside chapels are a common sight on the planet, which has far more loose and permissive marriage laws than the other Septiim worlds. The possibility of a young couple eloping to Tertius, finding work on the farms doing honest labor in the great fields, and wedding at a roadside chapel is a common one in local fiction. Enormous Defense Lasers protect several cities on the planet proper. The Lasers are not just a sign of the Emperor’s favor, they are payment. The Forge Moon of Solstice orbits Tertius, and often pays for its food and ore with defensive weapons or power plants. Other payments, however, come in the form of buildings. The planet, for instance, has most of the few surface factories in the system able to manufacture aircraft or Navy units. The factories manufacture Sky Talons, Vendettas, and civilian aircraft. Small Marauder Bomber units built on Solstice allow for defense through carpet bombing of anything that dares land on Tertius’ surface. The factories are generally built underground or in depressions, to prevent shockwaves from accidental explosions from traveling across the surface and damaging local homes. Tertius’ capital is a sprawling megapolis of over twenty million souls. The city lies in the shadow of the cluster of tectonic mountains near the planet’s equator, similar to the ones on Secundus, but much taller. Inside, the solid walls of Arbites Precincts loom over gambling and vice districts like weary chaperones. Brothels, gambling halls, tourist traps, auction houses, artisan workshops, and other places of spending and making money leech out along the arterial roadways of the vast Tertius Loger City, the largest single city by population in the system. Though the city has a relatively high crime rate, the imminence of the next Glasian Migration has put both a damper on the fun and an urgent edge to it. The world has mining at its barren, rocky southern pole, but its north pole is a six-mile-thick of block of solid ice, resting in an asteroid crater. Its oceans are cold and not very saline, making it excellent for fishing. The warm equatorial latitudes serve as a paradise resort for Septiim’s wealthy, and there is a huge, formally sanctioned mausoleum in a secluded island chain there. The Navy has a small shipyard in its orbit, but it pales in comparison to the Gargantuan. The shipyard can only manufacture vessels of Viper class, or small freighters.

Aside from the capital, the planet is very much an archetypal Imperial Garden World. The planet has thousands of smaller cities, ranging from small farming villages to enormous metropolises. Each city with more than one thousand residents has a small military facility in it at least, complete with radar and communication arrays, all of them designed to detect incoming Glasians or pirates and allow rapid response to their arrival.

There is another huge city on the planet: Monarch Processional. This is the hub of tithe payments for both the planet and the outer worlds, as a bipartite cargo nexus. Its surface area is a massive, bustling city of trade and shipping, with well over four hundred passenger, cargo, and military train lines. Its space component is a geosynchronous asteroid base with large cargo bays and a logistical office for the Tithe Collections department of the Adeptus Administratum, the Departmento Exacta. This sprawling city and spaceport have long merged into one. It features recruitment centers for many of the Imperial institutions that do not hinge on the lineage of the applicants like the Commissariat does. Among them is the Blue Daggers Chapter, which draws recruits from the port for testing.

The culture of the cities outside the capital can vary widely depending on the local climate. Cities nearer to the poles tend to be quieter and more peaceful, with smaller law enforcement and military activity. Equatorial cities tend to be far more active and have large compounds studded about them. In these compounds, rich Imperial citizens and nobles live, then fly their aircars to nearby restaurants or other entertainment venues to seek an evening’s diversion. Their Thimble aircars soar over the heads of the laboring artisan classes, which work on the street-level factories and shops that process the gigatons of raw resources that flow through the planet’s hands. With relatively few of the great Merchant Houses active in the system, much of the commerce of the Septiim Economic Zone is local. The Blue Daggers publicly have no comment on this, but privately are glad they don’t have to worry about all the extra traffic that more Guilds would represent. Policing an area of space in a sixteen-light-year cube is hard enough as it is.

Judges peer out at the cities from behind the polarized visors of their helms and from the battlements of their huge precinct-fortresses. The Arbites presence in the system sorties from Tertius, and it is from here that the Arbites boarding practice station in the outer system draws its staff and budget.

Above the planet, its defenses sit ready for Glasian assault. Unlike the other Garden worlds of the system, Tertius employs a single, colossal defense platform, with fifty satellites orbiting it, no larger than Lightnings. The platform is a rough cube of metal, four kilometers on a side, and mounts battlecruiser-level weapons on each side. The satellites each sport four aspect-seeking missile launchers, and one larger anti-bomber missile tube, along with one point defense multi-laser. They are too small to stop a Glasian ship by themselves, but that’s the point of having fifty.

Equinox is a chuck of iron and space rock, with no real material value, but its gravity is just high enough to support simple hab structures. With a complement of solar panels augmenting its plasma reactors, this station serves as the hub of the system’s auspexes and sensoria nets. The System Defense Force naval construction plans include a Defense Laser on both poles of Equinox in the future, to help stave off the short-ranged but brutally powerful Glasian Cylinders. There is an asteroid belt between Tertius and Tetranus. The asteroids are manganese, stone, vaporous nitrogen, iron, nickel, zinc, and trace amounts of gold. Gargantuan is here, the headquarters of the Blue Daggers and their Chapter Fortress. It contains a small shipyard of its own, capable of manufacturing the Chapter’s vessels of sub-battlecruiser class. Its enormous plasma reactor is more than capable of powering anything up to a Ramilies with ease, giving it extra power for its void shields and weapons. Though the thick stone and metal ore of the asteroid serve as almost impenetrable armor, the true might of the station is its colossal Triple Nova cannon, which many times superior in power to that of an Ark Mechanicus’ main battery. Its external size is less than that of a Ramilies, and its interior space is significantly less as well, but its serfs and servitors do not require the numbers needed to maintain a larger station. Its dedicated Astropathic temple serves as the communication hub of all military assets in the system, including all local Mechanicus, Navy, SDF, and Astartes vessels. A huge gallery of skilled Tech-adepts and naval ratings maintain the cogitators that control the vox arrays and psy-hubs, while a dedicated team of Scholastica Psykana and Adeptus Astra Telepathica laborers carefully operates the psycrystal web that allows for Astropathic communications. Arbites and other Imperial institutions use the Astropathic temple on Primus instead.

There is increasing concern by the superstitious on Tertius about the blackening of their moon, Solstice. Some even believe it to be a sign of the Emperor’s disapproval of whatever it is that they happen to feel guilty about at the time. In reality, of course, it is nothing more than the vacuum-preserved exhaust of the subterranean factories, mining gear, and power plants of the growing Forge Moon, as well as its massive solar panel arrays. Naturally, however, the Imperial proletarian mindset rarely lets inorganic chemistry get in the way of a superstition. Some particularly exploitative charlatanry has even convinced some Tertius residents that the Glasians are responsible for the darkening, and that the total darkness of the surface will be a sign of the very end of Septiim.

There are extensive mining and refining void platforms in the belt, but none even approaches the scale of the Gargantuan, which started life as a Mechanicus mining site. Some small observation platforms, similar in design to those that defend Armageddon, keep watch for Glasian invaders. They are vastly weaker than those huge structures, but are defended by small, belt-fed close-in weapons. The Arbites anti-pirate taskforce maintains a microgravity boarding training center here. Beside it, the Blue Daggers maintain their memorial. Once, the Daggers were headquartered in the Gleamlock Asteroid Mine, not the Gargantuan. The Glasians destroyed Gleamlock during the second invasions, when the Daggers were just Exigent Task Unit Cloudburst. Now, all that remains of their ad hoc command center is a hollow shell of melted rock and metal, and the tiny memorial plaque the Daggers guard with a volunteer, year-round.

System
World Type, Name	Forge Moon Solstice
Tropospheric Composition	Argon 40%, Nitrogen 40%, Krypton 20%
Religion	Cult Mechanicus
Government type	Adeptus Mechanicus
Planetary Governor	Yes (interim)
Adept Presence	Adeptus Astra Telepathica, Adeptus Arbites, Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus
Climate	N?A
Geography	Dead, barren rock
Gravity	Solstice has .5 Terran Gravity on the surface, but artificial gravity plates make the gravity Terran standard within the warrens
Day Length	N/A
Economy	Gelt Thrones and Silver Thrones
Principal Exports	Machines, Astartes Wargear, Military Vehicles, Bombers, Prefabricated Houses
Principal Imports	Industrial Slag, Food, Water, Air, Convicts
Countries and Continents	N/A
Military	Skitarii, Legio Cybernetica Solstice, Vigil-Keepers Marauder fleet
Contact with other Systems	Daily, thanks to its industrial importance
Tithe Grade	Aptus Non (all industrial output goes to adjacent worlds anyway)
Population	2,908,000 (humans), 3,000,000 (servitors, estimated)

Solstice

With the arrival of the Glasians, and the uniformly dire predictions of the Tarot, Septiim’s future looked grim. After the Second Glasian Conclave, the powers of Septiim decided that in order to prevent the vulnerable system from being overrun, new assets would be needed to fight off the xeno scum. However, the Cognomen Forges were already straining at maximum production, and the Naxos industrial base was busy with its various problems. Drumnos Sector Mechanicus representatives came up with a solution: a miniature Forge World. The large and resource-rich moon Solstice was the natural choice for this ambitious project. The Forge Worlds of Syracuse in Drumnos, Fabique in Naxos, and Cognomen in Cloudburst would share responsibility for getting the project off the ground, rather than any one bearing the cost unfairly. Raw labor was not hard to come by in the expanding Cloudburst. Armies of laborers, mostly Servitors, convicts, and those displaced by the Glasians descended on Solstice, clad in void suits and armed with electric diggers and shovels. Cognomen and Maskos provided the great mining machines and tunnelers that would take over once the foundations were dug. Fabique provided the orbiting logistical assets and defenses. Syracuse provided its deadly Robots to guard the site. Manual labor gave way to tunnelers as Cognomen’s gifts arrived. As the snake-like tunneling units dug deep down below, Techpriests and Adepts erected oxygen shields and pressure walls over the huge hole that would someday lead to their future. Artificial gravity plates came next, and oxygen separators. Carbon filters and power plants popped up on tunnel walls like fungi as a whole world appeared inside the rocky moon. For four hundred years, the machines and people of Solstice labored, building habs, factories, temples, great hydroponic and protein recycling chambers, power sources, and places of strictly regulated leisure and retirement. As the underground world grew and grew, far faster than Drimmerzole or even Maskos’ subterranean networks ever had, the Legio Cybernetica Robots from Syracuse settled into their charging and maintenance cradles, to await their defense of the world. The armies of Solstice are a force of shifting power in the Septiim system. Armed with the same collection of eclectic and potent technoarcana as any other force of the Cult Mechanicus, Solstice’s forces are as capable as most Mechanicus forces when it comes to combat. The issue they face is size. Solstice is but a Forge Moon, not a Forge World, and therefore has serious scale problems compared to mighty Cognomen or ancient Mars. Solstice Skitarii are fiercely loyal to Mars, not Solstice, though of course the armies of Solstice would be foolish not to treat their allies well. Solstice is currently far too small to support a Titan legion, though they would dearly like one. Given the logistical demands of the Blue Daggers and the local Arbites and Sororitas, Solstice can divert little of its resources to equipping its own, native forces. These forces mostly take the form of Cult Mechanicus armies, and a small Legio Cybernetica force. It is the Cybernetica in which Solstice takes the most pride, as even Cognomen does not field Robots. Solstice also plays home to large Marauder Bomber factories, well below the surface, and can stage a fleet of these craft in defense of the system if needed.

Solstice is beginning to develop its own cultural identity. The world’s maze of tunnels and steel-walled hab buildings don’t support much non-work activity, but the barren moonscape outside has found its way into some of the hull art of Solstice craft. Its defense fleet, the Basilikon Astra Solstice, consists of six Sword frigates and a Cobra Missile Destroyer; the Solstice leadership plans to make a new shipyard capable of a four-kilometer-long beam as soon as they can get the money together. Leaders of all three of its sponsor Forge Worlds meet regularly in its internal meeting chambers to prioritize the expansions, and eventually elect a leader. If the political contention grows any louder, Mars may send a single Magos to become the new Lord Fabricator, and so all three are presently keeping their dispute quiet. Nobody wants to become the one who complained loudly enough for Mars to feel the need to step in, least of all Lister Beraxos, who has his own reasons for wanting to avoid Martian scrutiny. The Solstice military initially consisted of the security crews from Syracuse, Cognomen, and Fabique, but since then, its Skitarii have formed into their own distinct formation, with their own camouflage and uniform codes. They make heavy use of Rangers, and are far less dependent on scorched-earth weapons than their Cognomen brethren; they also stand more lightly on the general Skitarii disdain for transports for infantry. After all, their homeworld is a barren wasteland with no atmospheric pressure, so there is a need for them to use transports in daily life if they visit the surface. Lacking Titans, they have no Corpus Secutarii, but the Solstice Robotic Legion is a clenched fist of steel and Ceramite, and their attendant Electropriests and Cybernetica Dominus warriors are fanatical in their devotion to the Machine. In fact, this is a source of some derision from Cognomen, which could field a Cybernetica unit but chooses not to. The most popular Cognomen philosophical mindset has little place in it for Robots, even Imperial ones, and views them as being a shade too close to true Abominable Intelligence.

Solstice makes use of convict labor, and sometimes employs bomb collars to keep the convicts in line. Of course, there is no way off the moon that isn’t under the control of the Mechanicus, so this may not always be needed, but it does come up from time to time.

The world has a few small Lagrange stations between itself and Equinox, and between itself and Tertius. They consist of various asteroid redirection facilities, which can collect space rocks and debris, which is then either melted on site or redirected to Solstice proper. This serves to clear the remains of Glasian ships after their assaults on Septiim, at a small scale. Heavier defense stations and small orbital docks allow for limited manufacture and protection over Solstice’s surface, but the subterranean work takes priority, and is far more productive.

The system of Septiim is a precious jewel in the galaxy’s outer fringes. The presence of fully three non-terraformed and shirtsleeves-habitable worlds in one system, with three gravity-anchor gas giants in the outer system, is extraordinarily rare. That humans and Eldar alike would have missed it for colonization beggars belief. Nevertheless, no alien has yet laid claim to the Septiim system, and it has remained a human colony of the Imperium for well over two thousand years of relative stability, despite everything. Referred to colloquially as a Pasture Gate system, both for the tendency of such systems to support immense agriculture and the general need for those systems to hold massive defenses, these systems are treasures beyond price for the Administratum.

Outer Worlds

The three gas giants in the outer system are economic holdings of the Administratum, and serve to pump chemicals and ores into the greater markets of the system. However, given the routine beatings the Septiim system takes from the Glasians, the stations demand heavy protection from the SDF and Navy, and don’t always get it. Septiim Tetranus is a vast gas giant, it is the largest body in the system beside Septiim itself. The cloudy ribbons of a hundred gasses and orbital rings encircle the solid uranium core, believed by astro-Adepts to be a piece of the core of one of the first second-stage stars to have existed in the galaxy. Its many dozens of moons are too small to be of great resource value, but their incredible beauty and magnificent vistas have resulted in some of the larger ones to be bought by nobles and made into shrines or vacation homes. Its atmosphere is mined for rare gasses, including a gaseous form of petrochemical that is identical to the product of the first stage of promethium refinement. Its rings conceal a top-secret Navy sensor platform, and its two poles have large way-stations for gas freighters on their way to the refineries. The world has over eight thousand residents on its stations and its eighty-five moons.

Septiim Pentius is also an economically active region. Large Lagrange stations in this gas giant’s orbit house thousands of pilgrims, who journey here to visit a large shrine on the L1 station. Within the shrine, known as the Home of the Penitent Traveler, is the cryo-preserved body of a member of the bridge crew of the Imperator Somnium, the ship the Emperor had used during the later years of the Great Crusade and the Horus Heresy. Exactly why it is so far from Terra is unknown. The gas giant itself is a nitrogen giant, though its polar clouds include rich and vast clouds of hydrogen and methane, which the orbital platforms mine for fuel. Its moons are much larger than Tetranus’, and there is some minor mining there, for ice and frozen petrochemicals. This world has a hair under thirty-one thousand people on its orbitals and moon bases, and twelve moons.

Septiim Septimus, as confusingly named as it is, is the final world in the system. This cold giant is unremarkable in every scientific way, and its atmosphere is a largely inert mix of light noble gasses, methane, nitrogen, and other common gasses. Its moons are small and also unremarkable, its gravity is high enough to be annoying to freighter crews, and its sole point of interest is a vaguely pretty brown streak on its atmosphere, where a comet hit the planet at an odd angle. Its Lagrange points, however, are far more important, as the first one houses a very large void platform, within which the Navy has built a combination dry-dock, hydroponic food growth block, protein recycler, troop garrison, and counter-boarding training center. The soldiers here have the dubious honor of being the first to be attacked when the Glasians assault the system, and postings here during the buildup to the centennial invasions are regarded as something of a punishment. The Mechanicus also maintains a small outpost at another Lagrange point, where a repair station and long-range vox relay have been built around a chunk of cometary ice and nickel, caught by Septimus’ gravity. The Blue Daggers use a small, servitor-maintained void platform here for Terminator deep-space boarding practice and isolation training. The Daggers abandon the station when the time comes to repel the Glasians once more.

Its seven moons and its various stations hold a wildly fluctuating number of people, from sixty to ninety thousand.

Septiim Guard

The Septiim Guard are the Imperial Guard forces of the Septiim system, with three regiments in the system now. Because of their constant challenges, excellent record of success, longstanding ties to the Astartes and Mechanicus, and broad recruitment profile, the Septiim Guard serve as the template for military forces across the Cloudburst Sector. Septiim Guards divide into 10 battalions, each with 5 companies. 1st and 2nd battalion are always heavy infantry, regardless of regimental specialization, 3rd through 6th are always specialized (mechanized infantry, heavy infantry, scout infantry, sharpshooters, artillery, or other roles). 7th and 8th are contingent on a specific mission profile. If fighting within Imperial territory, these battalions consist of support, logistics, medical, recruiters, trainers, liaison personnel, target acquisition specialists, rangefinders, spotters, etc. If fighting outside the Imperium, and therefore outside its logistics network, the 7th and 8th battalions usually consist of a mixture of dedicated support and repair units and field ranger units. The 9th and 10th battalions are the regimental vehicle pool regardless of specialization. Specialized regiments do exist, though they are typically no larger than the generalized regiments. For example, the 9th Artillery Regiment consists exclusively of indirect fire units, flak guns, and vehicles to tow them around, but is still ten thousand heads strong, and therefore rarely all deployed to a single theater unless they represent the sole contributing force of artillery in an Imperial campaign.

The Septiimi military forces rarely employ paratroopers, thanks to their lack of useful training grounds in Septiim itself, and their total reliance on Navy and SDF assets for transport in air and space. Septiimi forces instead, at least for the most part, rely on the use of heavily upgraded ground transports. Equipping bolters on transports and combat vehicles is expected of all unit commanders, with special emphasis placed on pintle and coaxial bolters – these, after all, can be used as rangefinders as well as weapons. Conversely, Septiimi heavy weapon teams avoid the use of bolters whenever possible, both because their vehicles already mount so many, and because it lends their infantry more flexibility. Likewise, Septiimi regiments are enamored with artillery, but are more ambivalent regarding mortars. Rocket artillery and heavy shell artillery are their preferred strength, and commonly attach at least some Basilisks or Earthshakers to all of their regimental-strength ground forces. Less common are heavy guided missile artillery such as Deathstrikes. Septiimi officers view them as being extravagant and superfluous in a world that contains orbital guns, though this can leave them lacking in long-range firepower if orbital support is cut off. Mostly, the Septiim Guard prefers joint strike tactics when possible, for the sake of preventing tactical inflexibility. However, in combat scenarios where forces must be deployed in less than regimental strength, this is not always a viable possibility. As such, Septiimi forces have a significant decline in capability when faced with small-unit breaking tactics by the foe, and prefer to fight in company strength or higher at all times. When this is not possible, by default, the Septiimi Guardsmen fall back on their upgraded equipment and staunch courage to carry them through difficult engagements.

One quirk of the Septiimi recruitment process, which relies near-exclusively on volunteers drawn from the Economic Zone, is that its officer and enlisted populations are historically raised from different population groups. The military draws enlisted men mostly from the working classes and middle classes, while officers draw from the upper classes and the populations of the other systems in the Economic Zone. This is not doctrinal, however, and it is not enforced. Officers who began in the enlisted ranks are usually welcomed into command positions. However, all officers below the rank of Lieutenant Colonel are expected to participate in combat when called upon to do so, regardless of their occupation.

Within the force organization system of the Septiim Imperial Guard, operation at most levels is divided into “Conventional” and “Specialist” groups. Conventional forces include typical artillery spotters and crews, infantry, squad sharpshooters, squad support gunners, tank crewers, military police, and garrison troops. Specialist forces are not part of the conventional squad or fireteam structure, and instead company command groups them or attaches them singly as needed. They consist of heavy weapon teams, dedicated sniper teams, special recon teams, battlefield controllers, special operations troopers (not Stormtroopers, they have their own formations), and heavier anti-tank weapon operators. Since the number of these specialists is static per company, regiments are able to afford some flexibility in their composition. An artillery company, for instance, can rarely make use of battlefield controllers; they may instead employ special recon units, outfitted with the best camouflage and optics the regiment can afford, and equipped with satellite vox gear. An anti-tank company, consisting of tank destroyers and accompanying infantry, may attach a mix of sniper teams and battlefield controllers, to pick off enemy infantry or lay down detcord on a battlefield in advance of the tank destroyers’ arrival.

Septiimi combat doctrine does not emphasize special operations or psychic warfare. As a flexible and well-funded Guard force, however, they are aware of the value of both, and deploy either their own special operations troops or Scholastica Psykana loaners as needed. Most psykers in Septiimi battle groups serve as either advisors to the commanding officers, or local force multipliers. They are issued standard Septiimi battle uniforms and pistols, and conceal their presence amongst the regular troops until they are needed, at which time they reveal themselves in a storm of psychic lightning. The Septiim Guard avoids the use of Rough Riders, especially biological ones, though they may allow the use of armed snowmobiles.

Septiimi armored tactics tend to be reliant on numbers and speed. The possibility of fighting inferior local equipment if fielded against local rebels or traitors is easily accounted for by the quality of their Leman Russ tanks, while heavier Ork and Chaotic equipment can be neutralized by the application of tank hunter squads. The presence of Vindicator, Eradicator, and Executioner variants in Septiimi regiments is helpful in this task, though these are rare variants. Part of the Septiimi doctrine, then, calls for individual tanks to be as capable of holding off dangerous opponents as they can be while Navy or anti-tank support fields. To accomplish this, Septiimi tanks equip their sponsons, pintles, and turrets with as many rapid-fire weapons as they can mount. Multilasers, bolters, stubbers, and autocannons festoon Septiimi armored vehicles. This serves three purposes: first to allow the tank to engage multiple targets concurrently, second to strip enemy tank units of their infantry cover, and third to allow for focused fire against enemy armor that outclasses them in weapon damage per shot. Though this is nearly useless against Titans and other superheavies, it is highly effective against Ork mobz, which tend to have many infantry and slow vehicles. The choice to replace the hull lascannon of the Russ with another heavy bolter means that the Septiimi Armored Spear formations are somewhat less able to engage heavy vehicles in parity. The morale and suppression effect on the enemy of being fired on by three or more bolters per vehicle per formation makes up for it, in the Septiimi tactical mindset. Likewise, frequent use of smoke dischargers allows Septiimi vehicles to close gaps quickly.

Though Septiim is a wealthy system compared to most, it lacks the raw industrial power and money of a Hive system, and therefore can afford only infrequent superheavy vehicles. The largest vehicle frequently attached to Septiim regiments is the Praetor Assault Launcher, while some also have Gorgon Carriers in low numbers. On those occasions that the regiments in question can afford a more combat-oriented superheavy vehicle, they gravitate towards tank-killers, decorated as always with extra rapid-fire weapons. As such, the Baneblade, the Shadowsword, and the absurdly rare Stormhammer are the preferred variants of the Bane-chassis. Septiimi regiments do not field Crassus or Macharius tanks. Malcador tanks are also found in older regiments. Rank systems in armored units are different from Cadian and Terran standards, however. Where Cadian and Terran tank crewers tend to all be non-commissioned officers at least, Septiimi Armored units use the same system of Privates and Corporals that infantry units use, at least at first. After training is over and a tank crew wins a few battles, the entire crew may be promoted to serve as Corporals with a single Sergeant leading them, though this is meritorious and not automatic.

Septiim-based regiments most prefer the use of Leman Russ variants that excel at engaging enemy armor with their turret guns, while leaving the sponson and pintle mounts to engage infantry. That said, the Punisher, Conqueror, and Exterminator variants are effective against both infantry and vehicles, and are quite popular, though their cost diminishes their commonality among the regiments. The Conqueror can mount six independent rapid-fire weapons per vehicle, plus a missile launcher, rendering it highly desirable by the quartermasters of the Septiim regiments.

Light armored vehicle and recon vehicle tactics tend to focus on collecting information on the enemy, harassing enemy infantry and tanks, and then rapidly withdrawing. The Septiimi combat style of mass-equipping of bolters, stubbers, autocannons, and multilasers lends itself well to light vehicle tactics, and allows even recon units to put up a solid fight against enemy vehicles in the same weight class. However, their job is to acquire recon and leave at once, rather than trying to engage against superior forces. Recon infantry often disembark from their transports on foot, and are usually equipped with at least one lascannon or anti-tank missile per fireteam, though this is not universal. In addition, it is both common and encouraged by their tactics manual for any group of recon soldiers larger than four troops to carry at least one long-las or hotshot long-las, equipped with both a rangefinder and a target designator beacon for calling airstrikes or artillery. Their mechanized forces follow a similar pattern. Their Chimaeras are traditionally outfitted with single or twin-linked heavy bolters, autocannons, or multilasers on the turret, a hull-mounted rapid-fire weapon of some kind, and whatever other upgrades are at hand – usually a pintle gun. One favored tactic of recon companies is to send camouflaged trucks and Tauroses forward in a widely dispersed formation, looking for points of enemy contact, then send heavily armed Chimaera variants behind them in a second line, and then call the forward line back to the APCs if contact is made.

Infantry tactics for Septiim Guards usually follow the pattern of older, more successful Terran or Cadian formations, with the focus being on small-scale flexibility and massive formations. Creativity in finding solutions to tactical problems is accepted if it is successful, but failed improvisation is punished. Likewise, while a squad or platoon may be able to stray from their base mission if needed to complete a tactical objective, they are not to do so if the unit’s ability to complete larger goals is jeopardized. The highest-ranking person in any given formation carries out command decisions, with the chain of command decided clearly down to the fireteam level. Fireteams that absorb individual survivors from other fireteams may have that survivor breveted to corporal to serve as an advisor or potential replacement for existing corporals.

Given their expertise in garrisoning an entire sector against Glasian invasion, Septiimi regiments often emphasize garrison training for their infantry and vehicle units. This includes the frequent use of smoke, searchlight, dozer blade, and track guard upgrades for their vehicles. Between that factor and the high use of extra weapon upgrades, the average Septiimi vehicle is rather expensive. If Septiim didn’t have multiple Garden worlds and a Forge Moon in it, they would certainly not be able to supply themselves with as many vehicles as they do. Forge Masters from the Septiim system are glad that Septiimi officers don’t have a fixation on more expensive weapons, like meltas or plasma. It is indeed partly because of their largely defensive nature that Septiim Guard make frequent use of stationary weapon platforms; Earthshaker and Manticore variants are perennially popular. Septiim does not generally field penal legions, though it is not without precedent. The small number of Sororitas in the system prevents them from taking an active role in offensives by the Septiim militaries.

Regiments of Septiim Guard are not retired upon depletion. Instead, survivors of a depleted regiment are folded into other regiments, and the number recycled on Septiim. At most, the Septiim zone has supported forty full-strength regiments, with the others partially depleted or awaiting their recycling. Numbers may be retired only if their regiment is deployed as the new PDF of a freshly conquered world, which has only happened a few dozen times in the Cloudburst Circuit and elsewhere. This means that the senior PDF officers and trainers (and their families) of these worlds have ties to Septiim beyond just simple Imperial loyalty, but also bloodlines as well.

Special operations troops are never fielded at Regimental strength, and are rarely raised as anything more than a battalion tacked onto the existing battalion structure. They are outfitted with the very highest quality hotshot weapons and camouflage, and emphasize stealth above all else. They are not Stormtroopers, nor are they Scions, but they do train to infiltrate enemy encampments prior to outright assault by conventional forces. There, they liberate slaves, blow up ammo caches, sabotage vehicles, steal fuel, and assassinate officers. The integration of Septiim Stormtroopers and Scions into the normal Guard is not always without acrimony, but High Command tolerates it thanks to the lack of alternatives. The Septiim Scion contingent is referred to as the Septiim Sharks.

While the Septiim military respects the Adeptus Mechanicus, they do not allow the Mechanicus any discretionary control over their deployments. Mechanicus personnel who accompany Septiimi Guardsmen into the field do so as enginseers, servitor controllers, and repair mechanics at most. Given how many Skitarii are stationed on Solstice, however (and this number never seems static when Guard officers ask), this is rarely a concern. Above the petty emotions of the flesh the Mechanicus may be, but few Cohort Masters will refuse the opportunity to wow and awe Guard regiments on nearby assignments with their superior firepower and discipline.

Generally, the composition of a full-sized Septiim regiment is reflective of the assets needed to overcome the obstacle for which the regiment was raised. As such, regiments that survive their first campaign tend to be specialized in some way, especially if they were raised over-strength or with a focus on a specific equipment type. The ten general categories into which the most common Septiim Guard regiments are organized are as follows:

1. Conservators: Garrison and armored hybrid regiments, with a heavy emphasis on combined-arms tank and infantry disposition. Generally lacking in heavy artillery, but equipped with as much in the way of rapid-fire and flak AA as they can get their hands on. On the offensive, their job is to punch a hole in a city’s defenses, then become impossible to dislodge. Their heavy infantry and light tanks then serve as garrison and ground control forces.
2. Grenadiers: Though this term means ‘elite infantry’ to some planets, the Septiimi use it to refer to specialized heavy infantry, universally equipped with explosives. These infantry are outfitted with as much body armor and personal supplies as they can carry without limiting their offensive capability, and freely mix special and individually portable heavy weapons into their infantry fireteams. These regiments prefer the use of rocket artillery, and mechanized transports to move their forces into the battlezones. Crack sharpshooter teams with anti-vehicular rifles and hotshots flank or precede infantry advances, in order to soften up defenses and pick off potential threats.
3. Defenders: As the name suggests, these regiments focus on holding actions, whether within or without a city’s limits. Sometimes this involves the mechanization of forces with vehicles, but Defenders train in building fights and room clearing, and carry at least three flamers per platoon as a general course of action. Heavy use of anti-air vehicles, such as Hydras, is standard to all Defender Regiments. Super-heavy transports are more common in these regiments. They also serve as the PDF for the worlds of the Zone.
4. Spearman: These expensive and potent regiments focus nigh-exclusively on vehicular combat. Whether that entails tank battles, towed artillery, self-propelled guns, or AA vehicles, the Spearmen are equipped for it. Their forces consist of hundreds of Leman Russes, Manticores, Chimaeras, Salamanders, Basilisks, Hydras, Gorgons, and Tauros variants, often with a dizzying variety of upgrades and equipment. These are the only regiments that can reliably gain a super-heavy combat tank. Occasionally, Spearman regiments even deploy Ragnarok tanks. Infantry are relegated to making flanker and cover formations in these regiments, taking and holding terrain or buildings the tank has cleared, and spotting targets.
5. Cavalry: These regiments serve as the mechanized force of the Septiim Guard. Relying on Chimaera, Taurox, and Gorgon class vehicles, these regiments cross open ground under curtains of smoke from their launchers and artillery. These are the regiments most likely to employ breachers in any large number outside of dedicated siege units. Cavalry regiments generally pair upgraded Salamander vehicles with other Chimaera-chassis vehicles, so their formations aren’t bottlenecked by the speed of their escorts. These regiments also rely heavily on the use of Hunter-Killer missiles, to compensate for their lack of heavy armor. Septiim Guard avoid deploying Rough Riders in general, but if any regimental specialization has Rough Riders, it is this one.
6. Paratrooper: Specializing in airdrops and light infantry tactics, these regiments are raised to rain from above. Their combination of grav-tech, parachutes, and gunships allow them incredible mobility. Lacking their own, organic aircraft, they are reliant on the Navy for the transport and insertions for their troops, but also employ Tauroses and Sentinels for their own use. As Septiim Tertius has several extremely high mountains at its equator (with smaller ones on Septiim Secundus), there are some native opportunities for high-altitude drop training for Septiimi regiments, though they lack the experience and prestige of Elysian and Harakoni Drop Troopers.
7. Artillery: A self-explanatory designation if ever there was one, artillery regiments rely on long-range weapons to level their enemies from far away. Employing the full extent of Imperial Guard indirect weapons, from the classic Earthshaker to the archaic Medusa, from the Manticore MRLS to the Gorgon, there are no indirect fire weapons the Septiimi won’t use in their artillery regiments. In fact, these are the only Septiimi regiments that employ the Deathstrike missile system. They are also, coincidentally, the only Cloudburst regiment ever to be issued the dazzlingly rare Ballista energy artillery weapon, which – at least in the Cloudburst Sector – is manufactured exclusively on the Solstice Forge Moon. Thudd and Bombard weapons make infrequent appearances here, as do simple field guns. The most numerous non-indirect units in these forces are the Salamander, the Sentinel, and the Tauros, which can quickly carry out recon and spotting missions, then fade away, or deliver withering defensive fire if needed.
8. Stormtrooper: Septiimi Stormtrooper regiments are far smaller than their conventional counterparts are. The use of heavy and special weapons folds into squad-level deployment, while vehicles are crewed exclusively by conventional troopers trained in their support. Generally, Septiimi Stormtroopers fold into conventional regiments, despite their differing chains of command. Within larger forces, Stormtroopers are often used to either augment existing Special Operations units, or lead them directly; though officers are rarely stupid enough to field them as basic infantry, they certainly can be.
9. Scion: Technically, the Scions raised in the Septiim Economic Zone’s area are not Septiimi, but belong to the Officio Munitorum proper. In practice, the clusters of inhabitable stars of the Cloudburst Sector are so far apart that there is little reason to stand on this regulation, and so it is not impossible for Scions to field alongside the conventional infantry or even Stormtroopers. As the average Guardsman can’t tell a Stormtrooper from a Scion anyway, this may seem to be of little distinction. However, it is a point of pride for Scions that they are the product of two straight decades of unrelenting training and hard work in the Schola Progenum. They are equipped exclusively with the output of the Solstice Forge Moon; it is the only place for fifty light years to produce the Taurox in sufficient volume for their needs, and they employ all of its variants.
10. Garrison: Rarely, the Imperium calls upon Septiim to tithe up large regiments of standing troops to hold territory that is already under Imperial control. When called upon to do so, the regiments thus raised are equipped and staffed as variable infantry. Light infantry in their fast vehicles, recon infantry with their expensive optics and active camo, medium infantry with their IFVs and APCs, and heavy infantry in their carapace armor all have a place in garrison duty. Garrison regiments are the most lightly armored of all Septiim Guard regiments, and attach few, if any, artillery pieces. Perhaps understandably, these regiments have fewer dedicated Specialists in their ranks, but have disproportionally large Minesweeper teams.

The integration of the Commissariat and Scions into the command structure of the Septiim Guard is thorough, and it is rare for any thousand-plus unit of Septiim Guard to have no Commissar at all. Given the defensive nature of most Septiim wars, ascertaining the death of officers and other types whose progeny are eligible for Schola Progenum membership is not difficult; Glasians do not take prisoners. The Commissars and Stormtroopers, Scions and even occasional Space Marine Librarian that these facilities produce are generally attached to regiments that are not raised from the same world from which they hailed, to reduce the likelihood of unrest. Likewise, the Inquisition and Adepta Sororitas (and the larger Adeptus Terra) heartily recruit from the Schola system of the Economic Zone, as do the Arbites, the Imperial Navy, the Ecclesiarchy, and even the Mechanicus. The Zone’s lesser participants also provide the ubiquitous Sabre gun platforms for the Guard and PDF, lightening the logistical demands of the region on Cognomen.

Relations between the Officio Munitorum of Septiim and other branches of the Adeptus are cordial. The enormous mineral and tax wealth of the system, the presence of a Forge Moon, Monastery, and Space Marine Chapter Headquarters in one system, and the iron grip of the Arbites on dissenters ensures that the mechanism of liaison between the military and the other armed Imperial branches is smooth. Combat psykers, advisory psykers, Ministorum priests, Commissars, the occasional Scion advisor, and on the rarest of occasions, a Blue Dagger, will accompany officers of Septiim regiments into the field to provide encouragement, advice, and spiritual shielding from the rigors of facing humanity’s anathemas. The Daggers who sometimes accompany the regiments generally are present solely to assess the defensibility of conquered alien worlds, newly pacified planets, or other potential human colony sites, as they will inevitably be tested against the Glasian menace. That said, the Inquisition is ever vigilant for signs of Tzeentchian manipulation of Septiim officers; more than one Septiim Techpriest or officer has met a brutal death for pocketing Warp-tainted war trophies.

As of M41.999, there are three full-strength regiments of the Septiim Guard assembled in the system. The 109th Defenders have 3rd through 6th battalions consisting of defensive infantry, with lots of sappers, sharpshooters, flamer troops, anti-nonconventional weapons experts, and no breachers. They have a small number of Gorgons. Their principle vehicle is the Chimera, but they are not properly mechanized. They use the Chimaeras as a combination vox-relay, fire-support platform, field hospital, command hub, emergency troop carrier, and sensor net-deployment station. They do have a few Tauroses, which they use as defensive runners and scouts, and employ two platoons of Sentinels. They field a force of thirty Hydras, as well, for fighting enemy aircraft and infantry, and a squad of Bane Wolves, just in case they are attacked by Tyranids – always a risk in the Segmentum Ultima. Finally, they have six Praetor Assault Launchers and two Wyverns.

The 119th Conservators have their 3rd through 6th battalions equipped with formations of tanks and light infantry, scouts, target spotters, and minesweepers, with Special Forces. They field a few Vanquishers and a few Exterminators, but most of their tanks are either baseline Russes, or simple variants, like Conquerors, Demolishers, Annihilators, and a small group of Executioners. They only have four Punishers, but they do employ a large number of Hellhounds, Devil Dogs, and other Chimera-chassis vehicles, like Salamanders and Basilisks, and a fair number of normal Chimeras and Sentinels. They generally do not use Tauroxes, Tauroses, or mortars, but they do field several platoons of Hydras, and they have a support unit consisting exclusively of Centaurs and Trojans. They have no superheavy vehicles, and no Malcadors.

The 129th Grenadiers have six full battalions of heavy infantry, with some Salamander Scouts and upgraded Chimaeras for transports, but most of their vehicle force consists of several hundred basic Chimaeras, Trojans, and other simple transports. They are generally mechanized, and their focus is on anti-infantry units and explosives – Demolishers, Punishers, Exterminators, Devil Dogs, and two Malcadors. The regiment fields no Baneblade variants, though they do have a single Doomhammer. Like all Septiimi forces, they have the tendency to outfit all of their vehicles with as many bolters as they can, be it on pintles, sponsons, or hull mounts. This is to ensure that the principally infantry-based Septiimi forces are never outmatched by enemy infantry forces, and retain the ability to force enemy light vehicles back if needed. This regiment also has a few dedicated special operations platoons, though they are also mechanized.

Two more regiments are under generation on the planet at the time, those being the 135th Artillery Regiment and the 136th Stormtrooper Regiment. Both are bound for the Cloudburst Circuit, to pacify small alien strongholds that Rogue Traders have found there. As an example of the order of battle, a typical Armored Division of Septiimi Guard consists of 3,600 tanks of various models, roughly as many APCs and IFVs, 1,300 various mobile artillery platforms, 300 reconnaissance vehicles, and 40 missile AA platforms. The number of flak and rapid-fire AA units is hugely variable, but averages 60 medium to heavy units per division, with as many heavy weapons squads outfitted with their own missile or laser AA. A smattering of Sabres with quad-stubbers, light autocannons, or proximity-fused flak burster guns are mandatory for nearly all regimental makeups, including the headquarters detachments of the paradrop regiments.

Institution

Most Imperial institutions have at least one outpost in Septiim. The closest allies of the Chapter are the star-sailors, aviators, and seamen of the Imperial Navy, alongside whom the Daggers have shed and spilled blood, slaughtered aliens, crushed pirates, and generally defended the Imperium. As a rule of thumb, the Imperial Guard and various Planetary agencies view the Astartes of the Daggers as somewhere between high nobles and terribly violent angels, though the flag-grade officers of the actual Septiimi Guard and system forces tend to understand them as people, instead of religious figures. The Ecclesiarchy holds them in a measure of mingled respect for their loyalty to the Emperor and His citizens, revulsion for their flesh-twisting augmentations, and awe at their unmatchable combat skill. There are temples and chapels in every major settlement in Septiim, but only one convent, and it has a mere handful of Sacred Rose Battle Sister Sororitas, who respect the Blue Daggers to their faces and glare at their backs.

The Adeptus Mechanicus is much more open to the Daggers, and share some assets and equipment with them for the common good of the Imperium. The Daggers have never hesitated to pay the Mechanicus their tithe, even though as an Astartes Home System, the Septiimi are allowed to exempt themselves from it. The Daggers, however, know how the Imperium is teetering on the brink, and do not want to be responsible, even indirectly, for the loss of a system or world because they did not contribute to the supplies of the Imperium. Because of this generosity, and because of the Daggers’ inherited respect for their equipment (due to their Novamarine heritage), the Adeptus Mechanicus works alongside the Daggers when they are asked to do so. The Daggers are also actively encouraging of the Mechanicus dig on Solstice, and their efforts to turn the gradually hollowing moon into a true Forge Moon. At present, the number of Mechanicus personnel (as opposed to mere laborers) on Solstice is highly classified, but Lord Jonas Neverember’s office lowballs the number in the nine-digit range.

The Inquisition allows the Chapter a degree of discretion and leeway in the direction and guidance of their system, though they do not go so far as to allow the Chapter to administrate the Septiim system directly. The Daggers have a long and mutually beneficial relationship with the Ordo Xenos, and get along about as well with the Ordo Malleus as any Astartes can after their harassment of the Chapters who defied them in the three wars of Armageddon. The Ordo Hereticus has no particular special vision for the Daggers, since few are stupid enough to be openly heretical in a system with an entire Chapter based within. The minor Ordos are generally not interested in the Chapter, either.

The Officio Assassinorum doesn’t greatly concern itself with a backwater Chapter in a backwater sector, even one in an extremely wealthy system like Septiim. Likewise, the great distance between Septiim and most major Warp storms prevent there from being a significant number of psychic births or mutations locally, and so the Adeptus Astra Telepathica pays them little heed. The Adeptus Arbites are given free rein to enforce Imperial law and judgment throughout the Septiim system and all adjacent systems by their administrators and the Daggers, and so their relationship is rather comfortable, if formal.

Likewise, the Imperial Estate and Administratum pay lip service to the Chapter, and in turn are allowed to rule the system as long as they do not abuse their positions to the extent that the defenses of the sector are compromised by bureaucratic nonsense. The Chartist Captains and Rogue Traders of the sector were delighted to learn of the presence of a new Chapter, since there are few more ominous portents for local pirates than an entire Chapter moving into their back yards, and will generally assist the Daggers at-cost if extra evacuation craft are needed. If there are any small-scale alien empires or colonies in proximity to the Septiim system, nobody really cares what they think.

Septiim PDF

The entire Septiim Economic Zone raises regiments collectively, and they are equipped by the Forge and Civilized worlds of the Cloudburst Sector. As much material as possible is manufactured on the Septiim worlds themselves, however, including simple vehicles and artillery. The troops of the Septiimi PDF generally employ lasweapons, mass-built by the Mechanicus, with very heavy body armor when they can get it. The mixture of rural, arboreal, and tropical climates of the Inner Worlds are ideal for amphibious combat training, and the Septiim PDF train with those environments in mind. The PDF generally use the same weapons and vehicles with which the Guard regiments they raise are equipped, both to ensure familiarity, and to ease the logistical demands of the military. Generally, the only equipment the Guard makes for itself that is not derived from Forge World patterns is breaching gear and climbing gear, as well as armor and sometimes helmets.

The PDF troops are organized along the same lines as the Guard. They contribute to the manpower tithes of the Munitorum, when needed. Ostensibly, they, like all PDFs, are under the ‘direction’ of the Commissariat, but there is no dedicated PDF Commissar present in the system most of the time. The PDF forces make use of their own air bases, and they are equipped with ample Marauder bombers from Tertius. Their principle air units are the Avenger, Thunderbolt, and Lightning, with a small number of Aquila shuttles maintained for personnel. Finally, there are a small number of oceanic vessels under local military control, employed for cargo-moving, amphibious combat training, weapons testing, and for use as aircraft carriers. However, as Septiim Primus is nearly all forest, most of its airbases are small and based around the planet’s barren poles, and they make heavy use of long-range aircraft with extra fuel pods and stripped-down weapons.

The three rocky planets in the Septiim system also maintain House Troops for the Imperial Governors, consisting of the best PDF troops who didn’t tithe up to the Imperial Guard. The soldiers in question are outfitted with the best carapace armor the Septiim PDF can afford, and usually carry a mixture of master-crafted lasguns, some hellguns, and some hotshot lasguns. The finest PDF troops may volunteer for Defense Kill Squads, which are 13-soldier Stormtrooper equivalent squads that only operate at full squad strength. These can be sent on counter-insurgent missions or local point-of-contact threat suppression missions, and are nearly as well equipped and capable as Stormtroopers, though they would be quicker to bring this up than real Stormtroopers would. PDF troops can raise directly to the Guard, though this is only done in an actual emergency.

Septiim System Defense Force

The System Defense Force of the Septiim system is one of the most celebrated in the Segmentum, not only because of their flawless success rate, but also because of the sheer speed of their expansion. Literally, every single ship berth that can be spared for ten light years is churning out ships for the Septiim SDF, and they need them all. The SDF here is ultimately responsible to the Navy, but in practice, the Captaincy of their ships are determined by need and skill, and the Navy does not begrudge the SDF a degree of independence in this regard. After all, it’s not like the SDF aren’t under blood oaths to die to the last man, defending Septiim if ever it is overrun. Unlike some other SDFs, the Septiim SDF is also eager to build Warp-capable ships, to allow it to travel to other stars in the Economic Zone if needed.

Strength: Flagship Mars Battlecruiser, two Luna cruisers, four Defender light cruisers, four Endurance light cruisers, one Endeavour light cruiser, seven Falchion frigates, two Firestorm frigates, seventeen Cobra destroyers, three Viper missile destroyers, one courier speedboat, twenty defense monitors, four patrol boats, various fighter groups. The SDF also maintains a force of Valkyries, Vultures, Vendettas, and Sky Talons, manufactured on Tertius.

Local Imperial Navy

The Cloudburst Navy is highly concentrated, compared to the more diffuse Solar and even Ultima navies. Given how far apart clusters of habitable stars in the Cloudburst Sector are (for whatever reason), this is a natural and unavoidable consequence for the Navy to deal with. The Navy here finds itself thus in the unenviable situation of a Cruiser Captain outranking an SDF Battlecruiser Captain, which would normally be the other way around. To compensate for this, and to clear up any ‘misunderstandings’ in the chain of command, the Imperial Navy has stationed a Commodore on the Waterscale space station in orbit over Septiim Secundus, where its flagship (an ancient Luna Cruiser) makes berth. The Navy is also building, as fast as it can, to replenish and expand its forces in the inevitable event that another Glasian Migration occurs. Ultimately, however, the naval force stationed in the Septiim system is bound to the command structure of the Cloudburst Sector, and its assets can be recalled to serve elsewhere in the sector at any time.

Based on the Waterscale Naval Anchorage platform, the Imperial Navy in Septiim coordinates its patrols and local warships with its own Astropath, plus another stationed on all ships over three kilometers in length. In a system that was not routinely assaulted by aliens, that would be excessive. In Septiim, it’s the cost of doing business. The planets’ networks of ships and stations collect sensor data and share it with the SDF and the Daggers, as well as the tiny fleet (barely half a dozen escorts) of Solstice. As the Navy is outgunned by the Daggers and SDF in the system, despite theoretically commanding most of the ships in the system at any time, the Navy provides a command and control function to the combined forces of Septiim. Generally, the naval crews fly in from Coriolis, Nauphry, or Spindle instead of Septiim itself. The ships of the Navy contingent can leave the Zone to fight or patrol elsewhere in the Sector as needed, but rarely do so unless ordered to directly by the Lord Sector Cloudburst or a higher authority. Accordingly, the force allotment of the system is recorded separately from the general fleet composition.

Septiim Contingent: Luna cruiser, three Tyrant cruisers, six Claymore corvettes, four Sword frigates, one Mangonel pursuit cruiser, one Endurance light cruiser, two Cobra Missile destroyers, accordant fighter groups, single Starhawk bomber squad based on salvaged civilian transport.