Editing The Atalantos Worlds (section)

====Peregard IX, the Preserve====
{{Infobox 40k Planet
|name= Peregard IX
|bgcolor=black
|fgcolor=white
|image=
|class= Uninhabited World
|orbdist= .4AU
|gravity= 2.85G
|temp= 98C
|pop= 0 (Surface)
10,000,000 (Moons)
|governor= High Maester Immec Xela IV
|system= Peregard System
|sector= Ullamak
|subsector= Peregard
|segmentum= Ultima Segmentum
}}

Even from distant orbit, travelers can readily discern that Peregard IX is an unusual world. Its surface is suffused with colors of every possible hue, mixing and mingling in wild patterns which trace the outline of long-dormant fault lines and mountain ranges, high above which orbit several modest moons. Once upon a time, Peregard IX was a gas giant, mighty and full. It must surely have dominated the early years of the Peregard system. As many gas giants do, it fell inwards towards its primary and roasted for billions of years under the glare of an uncaring sun, not much farther from the parent star than Mercury is from Sol. As solar energy purged its atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, the pressure steadily dropped, bringing vast quantities of mineral-infused water from the deep mantle to the surface. Titanic storms must have raged across all of Peregard IX for eons untold, endlessly churning and roiling with latent thermal energy. 

Still, Peregard IX's sun shone on unperturbed. More water than ever existed on Terra boiled away into space, and Peregard IX began to dry out. Immense quantities of salt had been dissolved into that hot brine, and century by century it came free once more, leaving vast drifts of every sort of compound imaginable as fields of beautiful crystal structures. Deep within the crushing weight of salt are massive gemstones, and stunning geodes which could hide a Battle Barge. On the surface are ranges of crystals larger than Terra's tallest mountains. Some of Peregard IX's former ocean trenches are filled with layers ten miles deep and a hundred miles wide. Many former shallow basins are nothing more than salt flats which could fit all of Luna comfortably inside their circumference. 

Eventually the atmosphere stabilized, Peregard IX's gravity too strong to permit complete escape. It is mostly oxygen and nitrogen, thanks to so much water being split into hydrogen and oxygen by ultraviolet light. Normally a planet's iron reserves will absorb most free oxygen without biological and hydrological cycles to liberate it. In Peregard IX's case, there was simply far too much oxygen available to be absorbed. With no living matter on the surface, even very high oxygen levels compared to Terran standard do not cause fires, there is no combustible material. For brief periods, men can breathe Peregard IX's air. But only very brief periods. The temperature is very near the boiling point of water, and there are many heavy gases like argon, radon, and bromine which cause respiratory damage. 

The Imperium does not bother to mine Peregard IX at this time, the effort too great and the rewards too sparse. While the salts are very beautiful and do contain some valuable elements, hauling them out of Peregard IX's gravity well is quite difficult. Instead Peregard IX's many moons play host to such Imperial citizens as do dwell here. Long ago this system was a major trading hub and supply depot where hundreds of Imperial vessels could find ample berths around each moon. Unfortunately traders rarely come to the Peregard system in the modern era, for Chaos raiders have taken to stalking these spacelanes in search of prey. In typical Administratum style, they have dubbed Peregard IX an "Imperial Grandeur Preserve" and try their very best to pretend they choose not to mine it, rather than admit they are impotent to do so, not even controlling the planet around which they orbit. A small number of tourists do visit each year to see the planet's natural wonders, but as often as not they are killed by pirates before leaving the system. Unless something is done, Peregard IX will wither and die from starvation or conquest. 

Peregard X is the largest moon, and once it was beautiful and verdant. Only slightly smaller than Terra, this moon caught a decent share of its parent planet's leaking water. For a time there was a lush biosphere perched safely above Peregard IX's endless tumult. Sometime during the Dark Age, a Knight House established itself here, pledging to defend the realm against all comers. Sadly, they could not stave off geology's steady assault, and Peregard X dried out along with its progenitor. Conditions are not so bad as on the salt flats, but greenery is a thing of the past, possible only in deep caves carved out by Knight weapons millennia ago. Here there is still moisture, and life. Unfortunately that also makes them a prime target for hungry raiders, and House Peregard's swords are rarely sheathed. They have put out a call to the other Atalantos Worlds, offering anything they have if only someone with voidgoing vessels will take up station duties here and keep the marauders from making landfall. 

The War Scribes and their Successors have ignored these summons, for their other enemies are greater and more pressing, but they have given aid to Rogue Trader House Windam, led by the adventurous Edric Windam. He is young and rather reckless, eager to prove his strength and not given to considering the risks. Fortunately his late father was a shrewd businessman and former Imperial Navy officer who managed to leave Edric a plentiful inheritance by Trader standards. With five vessels under his command and a single squad of War Scribes on temporary support detail, Edric believes nothing is beyond his grasp, and aims to prove it by freeing the Peregard system himself. 

Time will tell.