Avalonus

Avalonus
Governor	Rosella Khassom-Ownevere
Population	Est. 62 Billion
Tithe	Exactis Extremis
Geography	Five primary continents: Continent-spanning conurbation (Bethvyrnesse), semi-tropical mountain ranges/grassy steppes (Dagonesse), stony and sandy deserts(Escanoresse), polar ice continent (Mordessant), Sub-surface oceanic plateau (Drustainland). One moon (Pendragon).
Adeptus Presence	Strong. All major Adepta present.
Military	Medium-Quality PDF: The Illuminated Blades of the Imperial Majesty, The Reflected Blades of the Imperial Glory
Trade	Imports: Food, fuel, religious pilgrims Exports: Weaponry, manpower, Rogue Traders
Location	Segmentum Tempestus Victorum Sector Victorum Sub-Sector Haemus System - IV

The Capital of the Victorum Sector, Avalonus has been the heart for the region since the Dark Age of Technology, when the Falxian Gladocracy ruled this region of space. Sitting at the juncture of several cross-sector warp routes collectively dubbed The Dacian Trunk, it dominates travel and trade throughout the central sub-sectors. Not only did this make it a natural choice for sector capital, it brought a prominence to Avalonus which saw it rival other Segmentum powers in days long past.

Overview

Avalonus is a world of unimaginable wealth, where the treasures of a thousand worlds are 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 drown these stars in a tide of blood and death. Blood 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 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.

Hives

Avalonus can be broadly divided into four main regions. The first, The Great Conurbation, dominates the northern hemisphere. 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, 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.

Gildwynn

The oldest, most expansive hive on Avalonus, Hive Gildwynn is the heart of the Victorum Sector’s administration. Its cyclopean, blade-like towers covers the western half the northenmost continent and spill out over the polluted remnants of the Sea of Tiran to merge with the proletarian sprawl of Hive Jaranoct. The hive competes with Hive Exewain for dominance of the orbital trade, but neither hive alone would be able to cope with the sheer volume of traffic that Avalonus attracts.

Gildwynn can be divided into two regions: 'The Gold' and 'The Steel.' Named for the gold and electrum-clad hive towers (called "blades") clustered around the First Sword, The Gold is the home of greater noble houses, Rogue Trader dynasties, and the high organs of Imperial governance. In contrast, gray-clad towers of The Steel are home to the “pretender” noble houses raised by the true nobles of the upper hive, as well as less successful merchant cartels and prosperous knight orders. Every spire is blazoned the history of its denizens, a practice that began with the First Sword. In either brilliant gold statuary or simple steel engravings, noble families and merchant cartels emblazon their triumphs and trials upon the spires of Gildwynn.

Travel between these upper regions can be done through the graceful roadways built by the skilled architects of the hive, but this is normally left to the liveried servants and other lesser beings who are granted residence in the upper hive. Instead, fleets of private aircraft and skimmers fly in a chaotic tangle of aerial flight paths determined by the Administratum for maximum efficiency and minimal risk.

The middle hive is a warren of tithe-houses, manufactories and shuttleports amidst dense blocks of tenements and blood arenas. Large portions of the maze are pierced by wide arterial transitways which feed the hive’s engines of production. Even here, the practice of blazoning continues; arenas celebrate the greatest honor jousts and bloodiest performances upon their armored domes, merchants brand their seals or logos into the doors of their storefronts, dwellers carve their names into the crumbling brick of their new tenement. The middle hive is also home to the hive’s seaward docks, which open onto the Sea of Tiran.

In the darkness of the underhive, one can find pools of industrial waste, abandoned mining tunnels or excavations, and even, it is whispered, structures dating back to the time of the Gladocracy. These hazards constitute the only way most underhive denizens have of surviving, either by cultivating the mutated life-forms that spring up from these dismal places or scavenging them for anything they can sell to up-hive expeditions.

Notable Locations

• The First Sword serves as the heart of Imperial rule, with Sector Governess Rosella Khassom-Ownevere holding court from within its glass-topped apex. Rising nearly 15 kilometers into the air, it towers over lesser blades. At its peak is the Imperial Curia, where the Lady Victorum meets with representatives of the Imperial Adepta and her vassal worlds. Beneath stained glass renditions of Saint Castor’s victories, the powerbrokers of the Imperium negotiate tithes and plot the course of the sector. Serving them, and influencing them, is the Majordomo of the Imperial Curia and their coterie of gilt-uniformed Esquires. These ostensibly neutral functionaries are a conduit and source of myriad facts and rumors, gleaned in their duties serving the governance of the planet.

• The Grand Court of the Perilous Round: Located just beneath the Imperial Curia, this is where the Arch-Council of Avalonus meets to discuss matters of planetary import. While not as grand as the Curia, its soaring walls are covered with adamantium shields, each emblazoned with the coat of arms of Avalonus’ greatest noble houses. At the center of the Court are the eleven Seats Superior, where the representatives of the six other hives sit around a round table with the Lord-Generals of the two PDF armies, the Inquisitorial Agent, the Mechanicus Envoy and the Saint’s Voice. At the nominal head of the table is the "Throne Perilous", which only the ruler of Hive Gildwynn or their chosen representative may take.

• Under the Grand Court: There are thousands of chambers and rooms that host emissaries and agents of the nobles, cartels and governments of the Victorum Sector, as well as representatives of the Imperial Adepta and dignitaries from beyond the sector’s borders. This is the heart of the Administratum, which creeps over a dozen square kilometers of records rooms and clerical quarters. Millions of clerks and servitors collate the output and consumption of Avalonus’ manufactories and people, ensuring that the people of Avalonus fulfill the demands of the Imperial Tithe.

• Tower of Sight: This electrum-plated spire, thin and sharp like a needle, it is home to the two dozen astropaths that maintain the Victorum Sector’s links to the greater Imperium. It also hosts the vast support mechanisms of the sector's Adeptus Astra Telepathica, which collects and dispatches psykers to the myriad worlds of the Victorum Sector. Unknown to all but the highest levels of the Imperial adepta, the Tower maintains a battalion of sanctioned battle-psykers within its silvery depths, ready to be deployed against daemonic incursions and rogue psykers. Here the skillful touch of High Choirmaster Ibrahim Thure ensures the various demands of the Imperium do not lightly tug on the psychic weights of hundreds of bound psykers, a duty which brings him in frequent contact and conflict with Rogue Traders, Lord Militants, and Inquisitors alike.

• Iudex Antagonistes: In the midst of the gleaming blades of 'The Gold' sits a squat black fortress built in the shape of the Imperial Aquila. This is the Iudex Antagonistes, the heart of the Adeptus Arbites operations on the planet. Visible from all the higher towers, it is a reminder of Imperial Justice and the cost of failing your Emperor-given duties. Marshal of the Court Lex Fischig is the final arbiter of law and justice within this realm.

• Varranus Spaceport: Sprawling over the great docks of the Sea of Tiran, Varranus is the official spaceport of Avalonus, where any Imperial presence will first land and disembark. As such, it combines both Avalonian traditions and Imperial design, to impress upon guests both the unique character of the capital world and its loyalty to the Imperium. A constant stream of lighters, shuttles, and aerial transports feeds the Conurbation hives from its blast-scarred surface, and carries the products of the great northern continent to the great fleets in orbit.

Inquisitorial Holdings

Though Hive Gildwynn’s towers and hab-blocks are usually packed close together, one stands alone, surrounded by a circle of courtyards made of white Terran marble that rest upon the middle hive. This spire is far larger than the average blade, cylindrical rather than flat and nearly reaching the heights of the First Sword. It is the Court of Last Remembrance, the fortress-palace of the Fidelis Vigil Ex Victorum. Its impressive bulk is carved with images of Inquisitors, Saints and other heroes of the Imperium, each graven statue concealing deadly defences. The Court is the subject of intense rumor and myth among the people of Avalonus. Beyond the usual horror stories that accompany an Inquisitorial fortress, the history of its construction is shrouded in mystery. It is said that it appeared suddenly one night, rising from the black depths of the Sea of Tiran, or falling from the sky on fiery rockets, or being lifted from a massive land-train that stretched twenty kilometers into the continent. The Inquisition has never responded to rumors that, in times of dire need, the entire hive spire could be either sunk into the Sea or lifted back into space.

The Court of Last Remembrance is home to roughly ten thousand agents, clerks and Inquisitorial troopers, in addition to passing bands of Acolytes and Inquisitors. In the bowels of the spire, sealed off from the rest of the middle hive, are banks of cogitators and vast echoing vaults of arms and equipment. Deeper still, descending into the pollution of the Sea of Tiran, are the forbidden vaults, where arch-heretics are questioned and potentially heretical, and certainly dangerous, artifacts are sealed. In the time of Lord Qatasoum, their contents have remained untouched for fear of arousing his ire, and those artifacts recovered have tended to disappear into the fusion fires of nearby stars instead.

The Conclave has been led (some say ruled) by Lord Inquisitor Shandolh Qatasoum for the last thirty-two years. Answerable only to the High Lords of the Inquisition, Lord Qatasoum’s first act upon assuming lordship of the Sector Inquisition was to plunge it into a bloody Inquisition War. This pogrom, which claimed more than a dozen Inquisitors and their retinues, has led to a growing movement of Radical and unaligned Inquisitors to either distance themselves from the High Council or otherwise remove the influence of the Lord Inquisitor.

Culture

Hive Gildwynn’s glittering spires are inhabited by a peculiar class of Imperial noble, one that proudly upholds archaic notions of honor and chivalry within a viper’s nest of intrigue, blood feuds, and secret heresies. This attitude, of respecting a sworn oath, of giving a personal trophy to a chosen champion, of spilling blood in the name of slighted honor contrasts sharply or dovetails neatly, depending on the viewer, with the Avalonian capacity for malicious betrayal, cold-hearted manipulation, and brutal extermination. To an outsider, the combination of nearly blind honor and loyalty and vicious intrigue are hard to reconcile, but these attitudes can be seen through all levels of Avalonian society, and most prevalently amongst the nobles of Hive Gildwynn, who claim direct descent from the first colonists to repopulate this world.

Middle hivers are oath-bound to a noble house or merchant cartel, who are themselves bound themselves to a higher noble house in a complex web of blood and shared history. A similar web governs the relations between the families and merchants of the middle hive, leading to a world in constant tension as citizens attempt to keep the latest updates to the pattern of ancient blood-feuds and friendships in mind. Through these connections, the regions of Hive Gildwynn are split into pocket empires for the greatest of the noble houses of Avalonus, which are expanded either through outright conquest, the raising of a middle hive family to “noble” status, and the claiming of wagers.

Those in the underhive are frequently written off as unproductive and bane on the hive, but any action against them is forestalled by more worldly up-hive nobles. The greatest knights and bodyguards have risen from the denizens of the underhive, and a significant portion of Avalonus’ Imperial Tithe is paid by the presence of conscripted underhivers. The final resource of the underhive are the rare discoveries of archeotech, which fuel a continuous train of Rogue Trader and Mechanicus expeditions into the hive’s depths.

Calivere

Hive Calivere is a far more imposing hive, at least in aspect, than its partners Gildwynn and Jaranoct. Towering above the Conurbation, its heartforges and clustered spires rise like steel mountains. It is one of the centers of arms production on Avalonus, competing with Hive Gergenir’s Mechanicus forges. However, Calivere is outclassed in terms of quality and focuses primarily on the massive production of basic weaponry and ammunition, the products of which are still considered masterworks of their class by lesser worlds in the sector.

The upper reaches of Calivere are nearly untouched by hive smog thanks to advanced atmospheric shields and ancient weather manipulation systems maintained by the Mechanicus. Thanks to these relics, the upper hive is constructed as a series of tiered galleries, open to the brilliant blue sky and shining sun. Hanging gardens, built along the walls of the hive, are quite common, and lend it the appearance of a terraced garden sprouting from a pile of cinders. This privilege is not without its cost; not only does the import of exotic plants and animals from a billion worlds scattered throughout the galaxy give rise to period waves of plague and sickness through the hive,

The beauty of the upper tier stands in stark contrast to the levels of the middle hive, which is forever wreathed in a gray-green haze and where hab blocks are built without windows. Calivere’s thousands of manufactories belch out a continuous stream of polluted smog into the air, causing its outermost layers to be uninhabitable without extensive filtration and protection systems. Contributing to this poison is the presence of a great many crematoria, founded in the wake of the Thorian Reformation and serving nearly 40% of the Conurbation's funereal industry. Middle hivers trudge in near-subterranean conditions to their appointed work places, relying on trapdoors built in their tenement blocks that lead onto the massive transitways that worm through the entire Conurbation.

The underhive of Calivere is divided into scattered regions. Each section of Calivere’s underhive faces unique challenges and factors despite the presence of shared gang-lines and commonality of practices. The life of an underhiver below the Sun’s Reach is very different from that of an underhiver living in The Lake, yet both will likely observe the same rituals and fear the same menaces, perhaps even paying tribute to the same gangs. The fact that the mutated wildlife found across these underhive regions are fairly equivalent point to some shared passage that Imperial authorities are both unaware and uncaring of.

The great arterial transitways that link Calivere to the rest of the Conurbation are viewed as sacred and holy, and desecrators who threaten them with graffiti or damage are hung from their ramparts by coils of steel wire. The maintenance of these transitways are a responsibility left solely to the Guild of Passages, who also maintain the bridges and roads of the upper hive and the Conurbation. It is not uncommon to see the spaces beneath the great arches that hold them up being used as improvised cathedrals by the wandering monks known as friars, their home-spun parables mingling with High Gothic prayers and shared stories of courage, honor and the values of the Saints.

The primary nexus of the Conurbation’s transitways, Calivere is also host to the largest docks of Bethvyrnesse. Opening onto the black, icy waters of the Urodelan Glaciers, the Serjance Docks are an extensive array of oil-slick rustpiles servicing a tremendous subterranean sea that is all that allows access to the promethium reserves beneath the planet's polar ice cap. Unnoticed by the Adminstratum, they are also the beating heart of a network of black market traders, narco-labs, and unlicensed manufactories festering beneath the skin of decrepit refineries and empty storage depots.

Notable Locations

• Serjance Docks:
• Morial Chantry: The Morial Chantry is the most deeply-respected and honored funeral shrine in the hive. The original structure, long-since hidden beneath the serpentine flues and crude human stonemongery of later additions, predated the foundation of the Hive proper by nearly 200 years. In the beginning of Calivere's history, the chantry was but one outpost in the long, final siege of the Falxian Gladocracy, and its master was a renowned Captain of the Salamanders. Their deeds entered sector legend, and their fortress became one of the planet's first shrines, with millions of soldiers and craftsmen making pilgrimage. In time, this developed into a cult community, one that left a permanent mark on Caliveran practice and faith. To this day, the Morial Chantry is the heart of a divergent cult of the Promethean Way, one linked through doctrine and ancient treaties with the Sons of the Dragon.

• Mannusian Munitions Factorum Prime: Within the shadowed canyons of the Calivere's Forge District, several manufactories and guilds distinguish themselves by quality and design rather than prodigious production figures.'Mannusian Munitions is the premier of these, crafting near-forgeworld quality equipment for discerning buyers. Long interchange between its overseers and ambassadors of the shadowed forgeworld of Nilumanen has contributed to Calivere's continuing independence from the forge-fanes of Hive Gergenir.

• Cathedral Mortis Imperium: The "High Hand of the Emperor," as he is known, rules from the smoke-drowned depths of the Mortis Imperium. Once a cathedral of the Saviour Emperor, this ruin was cast down during the Seventh Battle of Avalonus at the end of the Reign of Blood. But its literal collapse into the Underhive did not end its faith, and a shadow church of true heretics has clung to survival behind the masks of the hive's people. This subterranean fane works to undermine, literally and figuratively, the foundations of Calivere's faith by promoting their vengeance-twisted take on the Saviour Emperor's ancient teachings through Calivere's mystery theaters and subtle acts of murder.

• Fort Pronatus: A major Departmento Munitorum supply depot.

Culture

Life in Calivere is even more reliant on an inner-outer lifestyle than in other hives on the capital world. While honor and respect play their part, the deepest-held motivation of the average Caliveran is faith, and the appearance of faith. While in public striving to present a stoic, almost monk-like countenance and attitude towards the vicissitudes of the universe, behind vac-sealed doors the people of Calivere are as human in their vices and follies as any other.

The average hivedweller spends their entire working day behind masks. It would be impossible to move about the hive otherwise, shrouded as it is in the toxic by-products of vast manufactories and funeral crematoria; yet even Calivere's most reclusive nobles go about masked and shrouded, lest the light of the sun and the alien pollens of a million worlds wreak havoc on their spire-weakened immune systems. The least underhive dreg, should they wish to live even one minute longer, breathes air filtered through the boiled scraps of finer rags and shades their eyes with the warped cast-off of some midhive factorum, donated by Imperial charities. So engrained is the habit, so necessary to daily life is the wearing of masks, that even outside their home hive Caliverans are easily identified by their all-encompassing masks.

The necessity of living in such a confined and stifling environment at all waking hours has forced the evolution of a complex culture of mask etiquette and artistry, one little appreciated and considered entirely obtuse by outsiders. From spire noble to underhive ganger, every Caliveran can recognize a threat, a joke, a promised bribe in the form, colors, and material of any given mask. Discerning whether a given mask speaks true is an art many learn but few master. The only grace preventing complete and total chaos is the interlocking complexity of the various maskmaker guilds found at all levels of society and servicing all manner of needs. These literally incestuous networks of artisan-merchants adhere to strict rules of construction and service for fear of the ultimate of punishments: a public and fatal Unmasking, wherein the very skin of the offender is torn from their skull and displayed publicly over their former workshop. Dark legends say that this practice was brought to Calivere by followers of Saint Castor, nightmarish devotees of order, fear, and the darkness of the hive.

Only at home can Caliverans be free from the imprisonment of their masks, both literal and social. Even in the leakiest underhive shanty, the Caliveran you meet might be vastly different from the one you work with or the one you fight with, and personal intimacy is a prize of great significance to any Caliveran. A husband and wife or a master and trusted servant are bonds that Caliverans prize above all else, not only for the natural instinct for human contact but also for its reflection of the divine relationship between the God-Emperor and Mankind. Thus, to be an intimate to a Caliveran is a position of great responsibility and honor to any non-Caliveran. Inquisitorial acolytes would do well to remember this fact.

Jaranoct

An atypical Solar-type hive, Jaranoct is crowned by the Wurm Mountains, a great mountain range of red sandstone and ancient mineworks that blocked eastward expansion. Instead of leveling it, as was done on other hiveworlds, the ancient hivers mined their way through, building labyrinthine hivewarrens and great transitway tunnels over the ruins of fallen empires. Beyond the mountains, gleaming spires and smoke-belching factories were nourished on the torturously extracted metals and reclaimed scrap found beneath the Wurms. Hive Jaranoct is the third great hive of the Conurbation of Avalonus. Younger than Gildwynn and Calivere, it was regarded as a satellite of the two for much of its history. Only after the Age of Apostasy was it recognized as an independent hive, having played a key role in overthrowing the rule of the Vandiran Loyalists during the Reign of Blood. In the millennia since, Jaranoct has become the beating heart of the Conurbation's manufactories, delving ever deeper for the ores and chemicals that are the lifeblood of the continent-spanning hives.

Such is the public history of Jaranoct, the history celebrated in elaborate, geometrically-precise blazons across its spires. The truth is somewhat different.

Jaranoct was originally a slum of the Conurbation established by displaced laborers and abhumans following the disruption of trade routes caused by the Shuddering Stars Crusade. The slum was merely one of hundreds that infested Avalonus at the time, and should have been left to fester in its own leavings until such time as the Imperium demanded a renewed tithe of labor and guardsmen. Instead, led by the charismatic Magos Jara, the populace began to dig. The area of the slum was one of many barren, undeveloped expanses of the world; a former game preserve for the bloody masters of the Falx Gladocracy, it was hoped that untouched seams of great wealth might be found beneath it. What they discovered instead was the greatest expanse of Falxian ruins since the conquest of Avalonus.

Fueled by the dark riches found within, Jara's nocturnal depths quickly became the wealthiest and fastest-growing hivezone on the planet. Ambitious and power-hungry nobles and trade factors were driven off, co-opted, or destroyed, depending on the whims of slum's masters. Disguised by the legitimate mineral riches unearthed beneath the Wurm Mountains, a steady trickle of Falxian artifacts found their way into the hands of decrepit archmagi on distant forgeworlds, jaded Rogue Traders, and, it is whispered, unseemly and ambitious Inquisitors. The last must have an element of truth, for the trade survived for more than two centuries despite the excommunication and purge of individual traders. Even the aged Archmagos Jara, the most infamous of reclamator moguls, would live to become a permanent presence in the Grand Court of the Perilous Round, much-feted by the high lords of Avalonus.

These alliances would come to nought during the Reign of Blood, when Jaranoct's moguls stood at the forefront of the rebellion against the Vandiran loyalists of Avalonus. At the moment where all mankind turned against one another and found itself bound to one fate or the other, Jaranoct's pauper lords and merchant masters alone of the Conurbation would defy the will of Goge Vandire. The dark arts of the Falxians were unleashed once more on Avalonus, unleashing bloody chaos across the world's heartlands. In the aftermath of the Reign of Blood, the untouchable reclamator moguls were found slain, to a man, and the dark ruins pillaged and empty. A sanitized version of Jaranoct's history was promulgated, possibly by the same hand as once protected it, and the hive district was raised to a new, independent status. The influence of the Adeptus Mechanicus fell into steep decline, and the survivors of the hive turned to the reformed faith of the Adeptus Ministorum, eventually turning Jaranoct into one of the firmest bastions of Ecclesiarchal influence on Avalonus.

Notable Locations

• Cathedral of The Wurms: The Wurms are home to what is almost assuredly the second longest cathedral in the Imperium. Carved out of the peaks of the mountain range, the Cathedral of The Wurms rears up to 6 kilometers above sea level and is 18 kilometers long, with more than 700 shrines dedicated to the saints of every major world within the Victorum Sector. A relic of each saint is ensconced in a dedicated shrine, each reflecting the unique culture of the planet or region they originate from, and the Sector Synod has declared visiting the stations of the cathedral a pilgrimage in its own right, spiritually equivalent to worshiping on the worlds of the saints themselves.
• Mat-Ex 2983:

Culture

A far more proletarian hive than its two older neighbors, Jaranoct has always been dominated by tradeguilds rather than noble houses, though it has its fair share of pretenders. This is not to imply that the hive is ruled by its workers; simply that money matters more than blood.

Other Hives

Exewain

Rising from the blasted glass plains of the Argonesse, Hive Exewain has the singular honour to be the first and oldest hive on Avalonus. Raised from the vast landing fields and barrack-fortresses of Saint Castor's armies, Exewain has grown to become a vast, hungry hive that exchanges pieties for Thrones as it struggles to maintain a glory that was old when the Imperium was young.

Built on the ruins of the second-greatest city of the Conurbation, which was scoured by fire and plasma and electromagnets during the Saint's Crusade, Exewain has never been self-productive or sustaining. Aside from plundering war-blasted ruins and harvesting shards of glass fused by the energies of creation, there was nothing left for the hive to sustain itself after the liberation of the planet. This, more than any other reason, is why Exewain was denied the privilege of planetary governorship, and why its nobles are so widely regarded as pretenders by the rest of their world.

In order to survive, the hive's leaders exploited its sacred history, becoming a site of pilgrimage second only to Babylum itself within the Sector. Innumerable relics, shrines, temples, cathedrals, religious orders, and more were collected, created, and put on display for the Imperial masses to see. With the pilgrim traffic came ever-increasing fleets of merchants seeking to fill their empty holds on return flights, and a growing population of Frateris Militia inspired to crusade, needs easily met by the hive's ancient landing fields. By the 34th Millenium, Exewain could claim to have eclipsed nearly all other hives on Avalonus in its fame and wealth, and it was only natural that it became the base of power for Goge Vandire's loyalists.

The Seventh Battle of Avalonus was Exewain's downfall, and though the hive has recovered some of its ancient glory it will never again challenge the triumphant trio of The Great Conurbation for the crown of Avalonus.

• Cathedral of Saint Thor Triumphant: Built over the ruins of the far-more ancient Temple of the Salvator,

Gergenir

This vast hive sprawls out in the desert like a beached cetacean, following the path of ancient ruins long-since picked clean by the scavenging Explorators of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Still dominated by the Machine-God's influence, Hive Gergenir is a bastion of technological lore and arcane science, where human life is little more than fuel for the fires of production. Such a regime is unremarkable when compared to hiveworlds like Necromunda or Armageddon, but here the submission of what would have been a paragon of the Machine-God to secular authorities has added an additional layer of religious complexity and feudal obligation.

The labyrinthine warrens of Hive Gergenir are covered in a stark, bone-white plaster that reflects the rays of the desert sun and reduce the strain on cooling units. Unsuitable for etching or carving, the hive blades of Gergenir feature compact and complex chrome murals along their central axis, reducing the essentials of a given blazon to a single shining band along the height of a blade. The white plaster is also the source of the ubiquitous dust found in Hive Gergenir, created through millennia of weathering by the same powerful winds that drive the hive's numerous windmills and provide it nigh-limitless power. As a result, Gergenirians endure daily dust storms depending on the conditions of the microenvironment about a particular blade or manufactory complex, and eschew the exterior environment in favor of sealed forms of mass transit or a bewildering variety of individual transport vehicles. Due to this, native Gergenirians are universally pale-skinned and pale-haired.

The influence of the Adeptus Mechanicus remains strong on the hive, though it is a far cry from the rigid order and technological supremacy of a true forgeworld. The sprawling manufactories of other hives are here concentrated into monolithic forge-fanes, each walled off from the outside world and dominated by Mechanicus factotums serving the Great Houses of Gergenir. Within, imported hive workers labor under a strict timekeeping regime that follows them throughout their life in the Imperial hive. All aspects of daily life are regulated by the production demands of the factory districts, from when trans-tubes run to when cafeterias start serving food. As a result, every adult Gergenirian carriers a watch, clock, or other timekeeping device with them at all times, and a child's first gift is a timepiece.

• The Saint's Procession: This transitway precisely bisects Hive Gergenir, splitting it into a north- and south-hive culture that shapes all relations within the hive. Built upon the ancient route of Saint Castor's first march from the landing fields of Exewain, it is both a vital economic artery and the primary means for pilgrims to reach Hive Exewain. At its eastern terminus lies the great port of Dagon's Landing, where pilgrims alight and depart in vaster numbers than anywhere else on the planet. Partly this is due to the high cost of flying to Exewain directly, but Dagon's Landing also affords a wonderful opportunity for travelers to access the rest of Avalonus. The Saint's Procession is also the primary parade ground of Avalonus proper; it is only fitting that triumphant warriors honor the holy Saint by walking in her footsteps, and despite the jealousy of the nobility of Gildwynn, the tradition has never been challenged.

Verethkyn

The sole hive and heart of Imperial culture on the sweltering, tropical continent of Dagonesse, Hive Verethkyn is a small, grease-covered hive of great importance. The vast tree plantations which dominate Dagonesse's lowlands and the great rail mulchers which traverse them are responsible for the production of more than 40% of Avalonus' multi-fuel supplies. Without the constant stream of Verethkyn's low-quality fuel, life on Avalonus would grind to a halt within a few days. It is for this reason that Verethkyn has more guns per square kilometer than any other hive on the planet, for such wealth raises a never-ending stream of would-be magnates from the hard-drinking, hard fighting workforce. Such money as they make is quickly spent on weapons, armor, and gifts to expand the influence of their screeching rail-rigs and supply contracts with distant hivelords.

Established by Avalonus' first planetary governor and Sector Overlord, and ruled by his descendants, Verethkyn is commonly considered the spiritual heart of the Illuminated Blades of Imperial Majesty, one of two active PDF forces on the planet. The remit of the Illuminated Blades covers the landmasses of Avalonus, from frigid and forbidden Mordessant in the south to the tiny, rocky Icecrown Isles in the frozen north.

Verethkyn proper is a macroscale hive blade dominating a great river valley at the northernmost point of Dagonesse. Satellite spires, linked by rail and based around the harvesting and refining of non-native, rapid-growth trees for the production of multi-fuel dot the interior of the continent. Moistened by the oil vapors which constantly drift through its air, Verethkyn shimmers with all the colors of the spectrum as the tropical sun strikes its chrome buildings and pipelines.

• Fort Dagon: Named for a famed Ogryn bodyguard of Saint Castor, Fort Dagon is the primary training ground of the Illuminated Blades.

Aronlot

This vast subsurface hive is built upon a cluster of seamounts, former mountains of a sunken continent dubbed Drustainland. For centuries, Aronlot has been dying a slow death as the hive's population has shrunk and its out-lying spires have grown empty and derelict. Though it continues to produce and ship vast quantities of power cells thanks to an abundance of geothermal power, diminishing mining and sea trade has forced its populace to seek their fortunes elsewhere.

Five great hive-docks, named for ancient starships, crown the seamounts and thousands of lesser, submersible towers either rise from the seafloor or sink through the placid waves of the sheltered sea between them. This interior sea, known as the Firepool, is the heart of Aronlot's economy and produces untold trillions of power cells, plasma containers, promethium by-products, and other sundry goods made with the subterranean resources of Avalonus. In ancient times, the hive-docks were also the heart of an extensive aquaculture industry, one that has withered as the pollution of millennia of industry has taken hold. This failure illustrates a key aspect of the Aronloti personality: invariably short-sighted, or more charitably, rationally self-interested, they are also stubborn and headstrong. When something works for them, they'll keep doing it until it stops being useful, then scramble in creative and open-minded ways to find the next thing that works. Thus have the people of Aronlot staved off, avoided, and turned aside the disintegration of their hive for millennia.

Much of Aronlot remains habitable and well-maintained, thanks to ancient and long-standing contracts with the Adepta and Rogue Traders of the Imperium, and there is no single underhive where the poor and mutated may be driven. The middle hive is a blur of well-off merchants, poor preachers, scurrying mutants, and doughty knights, all quietly disdainful of one another. Rather than a powder keg of resentments, however, the martial and chivalrous culture of avalonus (and the quiet desperation of the populace) keeps the hive quiescent. The city's arenas are constantly expanding, and gladiators and champions of Aronlot are famed throughout Avalonus, even those of less-than pure human descent.

• Port Fanel: Named for the overlords of the Knight World of Fanelia, who were crucial to the defeat of the Gladocracy's own undersea war-engines, this vast complex is the home port of the Reflected Blades of the Imperial Glory, the small but well-equipped naval and air component of Avalonus' PDF. With the decline of Aronlot, more of the hive's economy and politics is shaped by the needs of the Reflected Blades.

Culture

The practice of blazoning is all-present among the populace, visible on all manner of clothing, weapons, and other goods. The quality and history of an emblazoned object determines its value and prestige amongst the up-hive nobles, and some truly masterful schools of craftsmen have remained in vogue for several thousand years.

To safeguard these valuables and worthies, the hive relies upon the services of the Knights of Avalon. Essentially, these part-time soldiers serve as the planetary Enforcers, riding mighty beasts descended from the Terran horse in suits of gleaming silver armor and wielding sword-like metal clubs known as iron whips. The Knights exemplify the Avalonian concepts of chivalry and honor, and are much praised for their pursuit of all crimes committed against the wealthy and powerful of the upper hive.

Middle hive life is a poor reflection of the lives of the up-hive nobles. The unreachable beauty of the upper hive is reflected by a tendency towards garish colors, large and bold experiences, and the poor imitation of the complex emblazoning that is so important to Avalonian society. Life in the cramped and twisting warrens of the middle hive is shaped by the economic processes that drive Hive Gildwynn’s economy. The transport of raw material from the hive spaceport, the industrial production of the great manufactories of The Steel, and the feeding of the popular arenas that provide entertainment and release for the masses have shaped the middle hive’s construction and people.

When two noble houses clash, subjects are expected to offer their services to their noble rulers, often bringing their own ancestral weaponry to bear. Oftentimes, middle-hive families that bear bad blood have found themselves fighting alongside each other as household troops of the same nobles thanks to the obscurity and denseness of Avalonian politics; on these occasions, it is not unknown for sudden thaws between rivals and the rapid shifting of middle hive territories as a result of shared sufferings and victories.

Here, the power of the Knights of Avalon weakens as one descends the hive. The knights become fewer in number and pursue only the most heinous of crimes, such as murder or oath-breaking, and their equipment is both rougher and tougher than that issued to their up-hive brothers. The most important function of the Knights in the middle hive is maintenance of social order, most especially through the control of the knight orders and mercenary troops based in the middle hive. These organizations are the easiest path for ambitious hivers to rise in hive society, and through their arena victories and proxy wars, they can be sure of capturing the attention of the rich and powerful. The lives of middle hivers caught in the crossfire and bloodshed is a small price to pay for a well-trained body of elite armed forces, ready to be paid to the Imperium or used in the frequent civil wars; however, any damage to the hive’s infrastructure or disruption of the hive’s business will be met by the force of the Knights of Avalon.

The wretched dwellers of the underhive have no such protection. For them, life is a poisonous struggle for existence. Industrial run-off is the only source of fresh water, and the mutated plants and animals that live within the ancient and decayed layers of the hive remain toxic even after extensive primitive processing. Vicious gangs rule large segments of twisted ruins in a parody of the spire nobles, extracting tithes of food and water from their frightened “subjects,” and press them into service for brutal gang wars. The most powerful of the gangs are borne of large extended families, tied by blood and loyal only to those that share it.