Avalonus

The Capital of the Victorum Sector, Avalonus has been the heart for the region since the Dark Age of Technology, when the Empire of Blades ruled this region of space. The planet is blessed with the largest planetary population within the sector, as well as easy access to vital warp routes and productive mining and agri-worlds, which has made it a vital lynchpin in the productivity of the sector. Six massive hives dominate the planet’s surface, while a seventh lurks within Avalonus’ planetary ocean. Between them, in those regions of the world that have not been consumed by massive conurbations or destroyed by the industrial runoff of hive manufactories, lie great planet-spanning deserts and vast mountain ranges covered in dense jungles and fed by broad rivers.

Overview

Avalonus is a world of unimaginable wealth, where the treasures of a thousand worlds is gathered by Chartist fleets plying the space-lanes of the Imperium and Rogue Traders plunging into the distant and unconquered frontiers. The patronage of a million nobles pay for the creation of art and soldiers known even to the distant spires of Holy Terra, while ponderous and stately examples of the pinnacle of Mechanicus craft can be seen on every upper hive street. Mineshafts plunge deep beneath the surface of the planet, seeking untapped mineral riches and deposits of ancient war ruins to process into useful commodities which it exports to lesser worlds and distant sectors.

It is also a world of stately anachronism and brutal killings, where oath-bonds and noble knights are as woven into the fabric of Avalonian society as bespoke dueling and gladiatorial arenas. Every citizen, from the lowest underhive scunner to decadent spire noble carries a blade with them to settle matters of honor, swear blood oaths or simply show willing. Wandering sell-blades known as knights are pledged to noble families and guard their claims, taking to arenas to settle matters of dispute. Vying “dukes” and “earls” and other titles of peerage dot the landscape of the hive, bestowed upon the allies of the great ruling families, fighting shadow wars of influence and control from the base of the noble spires to the very depths of the Underhive.

In the shadows of Avalonus, however, lurk secrets vile enough to chill the heart of even an Inquisitor Lord. Slumbering treasures from the Dark Age of Technology are hunted by Mechanicus hereteks seeking secrets that could consume these stars in a tide of blood and death once again. Death cults dedicated to the Skull Throne vie with the pleasure cults of the Prince of Lies, the excess of bloodletting fuelling dark deeds as decadent and dissolute nobles seek ever greater pleasures that the Imperium denies them. The complex weave of noble politics draws the unwelcome attention of the Changer of Ways, while seditionists whisper of a future where Avalonus stands at the heart of a vast human empire and heretical priests speak of the return to an age of aggrandized worship. The age and wealth of Avalonus has long been a breeding ground for conspiracies of a most ancient provenance, and perhaps one day they will boil to the surface in a frenzy of damnation, tearing down the structures of the Imperium and replacing them with once-dead nightmares and long-hidden designs.

Avalonus can be broadly divided into four main regions. The first, the Great Conurbation, spans the northernmost pair of continents and the polluted sea beneath. Born from a melding of Hives Gildwynn, Calivere and Jaranoct, it is the heart of the planetary and sector government. To the south lies the great expanse of water known as the Grail Sea and home to the undersea hive of Aronlot which clings to the seamounts of Avalonus’ planetary ocean. The wet, tropical continent beyond it could be another world, were it not for the looming bulk of Hive Verethkyn. On the other side of the planet lie the twin hives of Gergenir and Exewain, based in the vast expanses of desert that mark the landing zones of Saint Castor’s forces six millennia ago. These hives are mostly independent, ruled by nobles that jealously guard their holdings and influence, but each hive sends a representative to the Arch-Council of Avalonus to negotiate matters of inter-hive importance.