“///Catalogue item AX-82: Powerblade with extruded hilt and guard, dimensions 1.933 by .34 meters, weight 36.66 kilograms. An example of pre-Imperial weaponcraft forged by the Empire of Blades. Experimental tests have shown the blade to possess a propensity to ‘sing’ when put to use, like others of its kind. Tests have necessitated the replacement of two (2) archive-servitors and seven (7) menials. Should other recovered artifacts prove to be as well-preserved, I anticipate a marked downturn in the local underhive population.///”
-Extract from inventory catalog of House Leonine Explorator detachment prior to liquidation by [CENSORED].
Located in a distant corner of the Segmentum Tempestus, along the southern edge of the galaxy, the Victorum Sector is a shining beacon of Imperial civilization and the triumph of the God-Emperor in a region widely held to be a dangerous frontier ever at risk of falling to xenos invasion and recidivism. For more than six millennia, it has been the heart of Imperial rule in the southernmost fringes of the Segmentum Tempestus, a vital link to several hundred distant frontiers. Beneath this display of strength, however, lurks the constant threat of ancient heresies, dark machinations and xenos invasions.
The Eldar Empire lays webways throughout this region of space, calling it the Seer's Web.
The Hydera system goes supernova.
The Dark Age of Technology:
The region is colonized by Mankind. It is known by many names, including Camolann, The Dragon's Pearls, and the Manxian Reach.
The Age of Strife:
A faction of human survivors utilizes forbidden nanotechnology and the power of Knight Engines to forge the Empire of Blades. Other survivors wage wars of survival against the expansionist Empire, including the Sea-Lords of Poseidon and the Archons of Babylum.
The Mechanicus of Mars sends several expeditions to see if rumors of a technological empire in the galactic South are true; the only survivors establish the forge world of Nilumanen and its attendant Legio Delendum in the protection of the Cliffs of Roland and begin a shadow war to purge the region of its tech-heresy.
The Great Crusade:
The 117th Expeditionary Fleet fights a decade-long campaign against the Empire of Blades with the assistance of friendly local powers.
Nilumanen becomes an ally of the Crusade forces, though endemic tech-heresy forces it into conflict with more puritanical Martian forces.
In-fighting between the Salamanders, Night Lords, and Death Guard assigned to the fleet weakens their effectiveness, and the Crusade suffers a mortal defeat on the ruined tech-world of Ixlamad.
The Horus Heresy:
The forces of the Imperium leave the region to the Empire of Blades, allowing it to reassert dominance over the region once more.
Survivors of the Battle of Ixlamad defeat the remnants of the Empire of Blades on their world and begin rebuilding. Ixlamad establishes a split government, with power shared between an Imperial Governor and an Adeptus Mechanicus Fabricator. Reclamation efforts begin.
The Scouring:
Saint Rosella Castor rises to power on Babylum. Turning its populace to the faith of the Saviour Emperor, she leads the first successful counter-attack against the Empire of Blades in thousands of years.
An Imperial Crusade then marching into the Segmentum Tempestus exploits her victories to begin reclaiming the region. Several worlds, like Poseidon, are found to have remained loyal to the Imperium in isolation.
Saint Castor eventually assumes command of the Crusade forces and conquers the Sector, bringing it into the fold of the Imperium. She establishes the capital of the newly-reclaimed region on Avalonus, former throneworld of the Empire of Blades.
Survivors of the Empire flee into the Mylas Cloud and Cliffs of Roland, never to be seen again.
The Saint departs, leading the Crusade deeper into the frontiers of Segmentum Tempestus.
Guanyu is founded as the principal forgeworld of the Adeptus Mechanicus in the region. Legio Evincer is founded. Nilumanen is returned to the Mechanicus, but Mars maintains only a distant overlordship to avoid inter-Mechanicus civil war.
Reign of Blood:
The Victorum Sector remains loyal to Goge Vandire for much of the period, though sporadic rebellions break out across the sector. Dark Eldar take advantage of the chaos to begin a fruitful harvest, begining The Starlit Reap.
The Sons of the Dragon chapter forswear their oaths to the sector's rulers and withdraw in isolation to Valotair, disgusted by their excesses.
Emboldened, the Ketzals of Moloch declare open allegiance to the Confederation of Light and begin a civil war the engulfs the rimward and spinward reaches of the sector.
Frateris fleets are destroyed over Valotair and Moloch. Battlefleet Victorum turns against itself rather than obey the orders of the sector's Vandiran rulers, and the war turns to the rebel's favour.
Several years after the defeat of Goge Vandire, with communication with Terra still sporadic, the Seventh Battle of Avalonus sees the Vandiran rulers overthrown.
The Plague of Unbelief:
Victorum's rulers are scarcely overthrown when further rebellions break out across the coreward systems. The heretic Cardinal Bucephalus' influence causes the rebellion of the entire Babylum sub-sector, its Ecclesiarchal rulers unwilling to admit the heresy of their belief and of Goge Vandire.
The Babylum Sub-Sector suffers heavily in the Thorian Purge that follows, leaving Dead and Forbidden worlds in its wake.
Forces of Battlefleet Victorum make their first major excursion beyond the Sector in force, aiding the Imperium in reconquering the rebellious territories of Bucephalus.
Port Fury is established from wrecked Ecclesiarchal fleet in orbit of Moloch. Moloch's rulers are awarded sub-sector governorship.
Circa 800.M38:
The Order of the Blazing Spear is founded. Dedicated to Saint Castor and her works, it seeks to further the dominion of Mankind in the segmentum.
Circa 380.M39:
The Siege of the Tenebrous Gate sees the combined forces of the Imperial Guard, Imperial Navy, Legio Evincer, Legio Delendum, and four Knight Houses defeated by a multi-faction Eldar force on the haunted night-world. This defeat leads to the scouring of all life along the worlds of Roland's Breach and ends exploitation of the systems beyond for more than a thousand years.
Circa 500.M40:
Rogue Trader Ellard von Ragsbeck departs the Victorum Sector, enraged by the taunts of wealthier peers from more storied Houses. Rather than join the feeding frenzy stemming from the exploitation of the systems beyond Gros Pajan, he blazes a path through the then-unpassable Mylas Cloud. In time, he will be canonized as Saint Ellard the Indignant, patron saint of the Imperial Navy, Voidfarers, and Finding Things.
738.M41-752.M41:
An Inquisition War begins as Inquisitor Lord Qatasoum begins moving against Radical inquisitors within the Conclave Victorum. The war ends only after the last Excommunicate inquisitor is hurled into the plasma fires of St. Castor's Fury, but the distrust and division fatally weaken the conclave, and knives are sharpened in the dark.
744.M41: Vellagus X vanishes during the so-called Tech-Suppression. Since then, tales circulate of its reappearance throughout The Collar at various times, wailing and forlorn.
760.M41:
Present Day
084760.M41: Orks attack Canus Line in strength not seen in millenia. Multiple Kroozers destroy the fragile void habitats and plasma mines, and the naval squadron defending them.
183760.M41: Sword-class frigate Starflare defeats a Dark Eldar raid on a pilgrim convoy transiting through the Rallixes system. The kabal's archon, Star-Eyes, is slain by a young Lieutenant.
280760.M41: Battlefleet Victorum High Command issues orders to muster a patrol in force of the Mylas Cloud, from which the Orks came. Reserve warships are reactivated, and ships reassigned from other vital duties to meet an unexpected threat. The Starflare is hastily repaired at Port Fury and leads the first convoy of ships to establish a garrison within the Mylas Cloud.
816760.M41: Orks invade the Oxydas system, the chosen location of the Mylas patrol and garrison force.
848760.M41: Starflare convoy enters the Oxydas system.
Worlds of Victorum
Avalonus: Sector Capital. Solar-type Hive World, with a population of 65 billion+. Ruled from the First Blade, a hive tower of unsurpassed height commissioned by the express order of Saint Castor. Its people are famous for their dedication to chivalry.
Poseidon: Capital of the Poseidon Sub-Sector. Oceanic Hive World, and heart of the Poseidon Run warp route. Has extensive naval and submarine habitation, military assets, and resources.
Guanyu: Forge Primaris of the Adeptus Mechanicus in the sector. Renowned for the quality of power and force weapons produced there, as well as the power of its plasma reactors and plasma weaponry.
Babylum: Spiritual heart of the sector. Birthplace and tomb of Saint Rosella Castor, with more than 50 billion pilgrims travelling there annually.
Port Rosella: Sector Headquarters of Battlefleet Victorum. The "Port" refers to the entire system, including dedicated Mechanicus forgemoons and a minor agri-world dedicated wholly to the production of military foodstuffs.
Durandum: Capital of Durandam Sub-Sector. Tradeworld, with towering, void-piercing hives.
Dyastes: Location of Sector naval reserve. Hundreds of outdated interstellar starships drift here, maintained by aging servitors, decrepit tech-priests, and limited supplies produced by Ferrum Tridentus.
Fanelia: Knight World sworn to the Imperium. Its Knights are well-known for their love of dueling and gladiatorial combat.
Geidiheim: Capital of the Geidi Sub-Sector. Highly industrialized hiveworld, famed for the prodigious amount and variety of clothing produced there.
Ixlamad: Imperial/Forgeworld dual government. One of the Mechanicus' Reclamatory Worlds, dedicated to the recovery and rehabilitation of war materiel.
Lorne's Bounty: Most productive Agri-World in the sector.
Minoa: Sub-Sector capital of the Collar of Castor. Wealthy mining world which dominates trade and distribution of agri-world production through the trailing region of the Collar.
Moloch Tetrax and Quintox: Capital of the Moloch Sub-Sector. Twin deathworlds of the Moloch system, with rule split between the High Ketzals of both worlds. Sub-Sector Governor rules from orbital void station.
Nilumanen: Oldest forgeworld in the sector. Remains the subject of rumours which speak to the heresies of xenotech research and innovation. Renowned for the quality of its void shields.
Rennwyck: A world made entirely of glass and silica. Site of major Mechanicus research installation. No known native life-forms.
Sagisu Prime: Sub-Sector capital of the Vajra Marches. Formerly an agri-world, now fiercely overcrowded. Home to the famed Sagisu Legionnaires, the oldest Imperial Guard regiment in the sector.
Shimmerwelt: Major mining world located in the Moloch sub-sector. It's Guard regiments have recently been shamed by accusations of cowardice in the face of the enemy.
Tenebrous Gate: Site of major Imperial defeat by Eldar forces.
Valotair: Chapter world of the Sons of the Dragon chapter. Declared inviolate to all unauthorized traffic after the Reign of Blood.
Military Forces of Victorum
The Sons of the Dragon
Descended from the famed Salamanders chapter, the Sons of the Dragon are experts in siege warfare.
