The Domains of Askellon

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Sector Locations

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Sector Map

The Processional

Upon which the future and fortunes of the Sector are built. A core of worlds where the majority of population, governance commerce takes place.

• Juno: An Imperial world that is the political seat and capital of the Askellon Sector. It's families have been in power for millennia, and take every chance to remind their lessers of this fact. Despite its opulence, the notable Hive City Vesuna Regis still has beneath it a horrid undercity where powerful rival gangs of mutants and Underhive scum thrive in the lawless depths, constantly waging brutal and ceaseless warfare upon one another. The nobility of Juno are the source of the Juno Sovereign Guard, an Imperial Guard regiment famed across the Sector for their ruthlessness and gaudy uniforms.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion: Juno was spared the worst of the Necontyr Invasion, with many of the sector's militaries falling back to the capital world as a last line of defence. Immediately after the invasion was halted by a band of Imperial Agents, the Praefactor Charlotta Anastasia XX was found dead by her own hand in her sealed chambers within the Pellucid Tower, leaving the sector without a leader. What followed was a vicious intercine war conducted between the Lords of Askellon - powerful nobles and generals vying for control of the sector. After a decade of bloodshed, every belligerent was rounded up in a lightening strike by an advanced military of archeotech armoured serfs led by the newly self-proclaimed Lord of Inquisitors. Tried for crimes against the Imperium, they were shortly put to death in a year-long series of public executions. Bereft of leadership, the Lord of Inquisitors instituted Rear-Admiral Vantchev of the Askellon Navy, a controversial hero of the Necontyr Invasion, as defacto ruler of the sector, until such time the Lord decreed that peace and civility had returned.
• Desoleum: A notorious Hive World, Desoleum's massive hive cities are home to deadly Flesh-cutter gangs. In a hive where oaths are sacrosanct, the harshest penalties in Desoleum are for those who abandon their debts and flee their obligations or worse, attempt to alter their oath-cogs to lessen their service time. The largest and most prosperous hive on the world of Desoleum, Desoleum Primus, is governed by Lady Aud Killian and is home to a collection of powerful trading houses known as the Consortium who oversee all levels of production and enterprise.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion: The great, black spine of Desoleum Primus which had supported the hive for ages turned on the world's inhabitants at the outset of the invasion, silent automaton xenos apparating from within the hive's defences. What followed were a series of brutal close quarters engagements between the massive Desoleum PDF and the xenos invaders. Through nothing more than sheer tenacity and stubbornness, the Imperial defenders forced the invaders back from whence they came. Knowing that the spine may turn on them again, Lady Aud Killian commanded that the hive be abandoned so that the Askellon Navy may destroy it from orbit. The battered and taciturn survivors, hard-bitten and stern from years of conflict, made for the ash-wastes of Desoleum while their home burned in plasma fires. It is estimated that of the original 300 billion inhabitants of Desoleum Prime, less than 7% survived the war and the following exodus. In reward for their undying loyalty, the Lord of Inquisitors declared that those of able-body shall be relocated to the Desoleum moon, the lunar body converted into a Fortress World for the Desoleum Oathsmen. As of M42 their number stands at close to 20 billion, and subsequent expansions into the xenos-occupied worlds Rimward of Askellon are seeing substantial gains.
• Kalto: An agri-world so perfectly suited to its task many suspect technological or divine intervention centuries ago, Kalto supplies most of the food for its sub-sector. The world has a low Imperial presence, and a large Adeptus Mechanicus forge on-world makes diplomacy on the world tense and often violent. All manner of plants grow on Kalto, and rumours persist that xenos breeds are hidden on its verdant surface.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion: Like Desoleum before it Kalto was home to the black spines of the ancient Necrontyr, allowing the xenos easy ingress onto the vital agri-world. Through the combined efforts of the Paellus Forge, the Terminus Watchdogs, and the Burrand Penitent Legion, the Necontyr were halted and their spires destroyed. Kalto would burn, but like every time before it would arise; a phoenix from the ashes. Under the perceptive gaze of the Watchdogs, and the brutal lash of the Penitent Legions, Kalto has consistently achieved tithes beyond measure and shows no sign of slowing progress.
• Enkidu: Enkidu is a world of impossibly dense, dark forests and endless swamps. An incredible array of fearsome beasts, most of them defying all categorisation and no two ever seeming to conform to even the broadest genus, roam its surface. So mindlessly hostile are the things of tooth, claw, and tentacle that dominate the benighted lands that the feral human populace must live high in the enormous, twisting, and distorted trees. Warriors daubed in bright paints defend villages made of wood and the metal debris from earlier efforts to subdue the world. Huts of crudely joined armour plating cling precariously to the sides of oversized trees, linked together with rope bridges upon which warrior-sentinels maintain ceaseless vigil against the ravening abominations below.
• Snope's World: Atop the main hab-city on Snope's World lies the glittering Platinal Palace. Formed of fractalised sheets of iridescent metals, it shines like a beacon above the solemn clouds and polluted swamps that cover much of the rest of the planet. It is said that the palace's surface holds a million million angles, each one unique across its conical form. Within are the hive city's ruling families, each as superficially gleaming and beautiful as their dwelling. Here they plot endlessly against each other.

Tributary Worlds

World's outside of the core Processional that nevertheless hold great power within the sector, and are important for her survial.

• Port Aquila: Port Aquila is located in a dense region of asteroids and it is primarily controlled by the Greater Askellon Trade Combine which continually works a stranglehold over commerce across the belt. The Combine's chief rival, the Pale League, operates across the belt as one of the premier smuggling operations in the region. Made up of failed merchants and sometimes even Rogue Traders who saw their fortunes fall from catastrophic expeditions or piratical raids, Port Aquila is a relatively recent formation, but it is growing in power in the sector.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion:
• Vanth: Death world run by the Rogue Trader House Rosh. A swamp world, it nevertheless has a small population who retract the Imperial Tithe from beneath the surface of the planet. These citizens live above the world on sub-orbital station Aincrad.
• Terminus Prime: Terminus Prime is often the first developed system a vessel travelling to Askellon encounters, and is a prosperous centre of trade. On the surface Terminus Prime is a near-idyllic system, however within this system also exists the world from which the system gets it's name. 'Terminus' is a cold world riddled with war and warring noble houses that had its system capital status removed when most of its cities were destroyed.
• Hulee V: Worlds of industry not under the control of the Adeptus Mechanicus are a rare breed indeed, but such have things always been on Hulee V. Rich deposits of adamantium and other precious metals makes the world invaluable to the greater war-effort, and a significant portion of all armaments are fabricated in the giga-forges of Hive Krakex.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion:
• Port Lokhart: The Imperial Navy maintains several facilities in the sector, collectively referred to as the Askellon Station Command. The most important of these is Port Lokhart, strategically located to provide its vessels with ready access to a number of Warp routes leading towards the nearby Scarus Sector, as well as away into the unknown reaches beyond the sector’s trailing borders.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion:
• Aventine: A watery agri-world with cities above and below the waves. The noble classes live above the water in the so called "Sunsides" and in the "Darksides" the workers and lower castes of society live. Massive fleets of boats traverse the waters between cities and the planet provides fish and algae to planets across Askellon.
• Cel: Cel is one of the many agri-worlds that feed Askellon, but it is one of the most renowned for the succulent meat it provides to the wealthy across the sector. Over long millennia, a pyramidal system has come into being that provides much, though not all, of the sector’s needs, with different tiers of agri-worlds in an interstellar food chain and Cel at the top.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion:
• Thaur: The Shrine World/Cemetery World of Thaur is the resting place of billions, overflowing with the remains of the powerful and the saintly. Millions more of the humble and poor strive that their remains also find a place on this holy world, arranging in life that their dead forms be shipped there. It is at the Blessed Charnaven that their untold tonnes of flesh arrive for final rest. The Osseiates of the Charnaven inscribe into each bone a unique prayer before it is used to fortify a basilica or pave one of the kilometre-wide walkways that encircle the world. No bone is unused, and each becomes an eternal offering to the God-Emperor.
• Laran 9k: A Munitorum World where tens of thousands of the Imperial Guard's men, tanks, and support vehicles are regularly prepared for embankment and outfitting.
• Temperance: Once considered a promising agricultural settlement, Temperance had a series of disasters that led to open revolt against the Imperium. The revolt was quashed by the Adeptus Arbites frigate Fist of Justice and resettled. It is ruled by the Twelve, a council of Adeptus Arbites. A muddy planet with near constant rain, the settlers of Temperance spend their lives growing food and herding grox under the iron hand of the Adeptus Arbites.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion:

Low Worlds

Connected to the central worlds by only hazardous warp routes, these worlds make do on their own or in many cases fade into oblivion.

• Burrard II: Second planet of the Burrard system, it was a civilised world before in M41.810 a civil war known as the "Summer Uprising" began. After 5 years of civil war Imperial forces landed in M41.815 and have been fighting a battle against the secessionists ever since.
  • Post-Necontyr Invasion:
• Plutarch VI: Plutarch VII was the site of the Battle of Plutarch, a great clash between the original inhabitants of the Askellon Expanse and the Imperial. Hundreds of ships were destroyed, and the atmosphere was irreversibly damaged. Several millennia later after the sector had been founded Plutarch VII still bears the scars of that great battle. Despite the semi-poisonous air and the lack of food some still pick out a living on Plutarch VII, scavenging from the ruined ships and growing what food they can in the irradiated soil.

Other Worlds

The sector is vast and despite thousands of years of Imperial presence, still largely untamed.

• XKG-530: A desert world of little interest to almost anyone. With no atmosphere or natural life beyond void-worms the planets only point of interest is a small space station in orbit above it.
• Ossuar: Ossuar is a Shrine World located in the Pollom System. A gargantuan mausoleum covers much of its main continent, where several of the blessed saints who helped establish the sector are laid to rest in archeotech stasis chambers. Flocks of attendants work constantly to maintain the chronically entombed state, the idea of the saints becoming exposed to time too horrible to contemplate.
• Gregorn: A Feral World, Gregorn is a world of violence, where the primitive human natives fight each other while struggling to survive against tectonic upheavals and predatory megafauna.
• Rund: Another notable Feral World of the sector, Rund has only recently been visited by the Missionary Galaxia, who have begun spreading the Imperial Creed of the Emperor's holy words in a concentrated effort to rekindle the belief of those humans long separated from the True Faith.
• Novabella: A relatively unsophisticated Agri-world, Novabella is an isolated but loyal provider for a significant portion of the local sub-sector's foodstuffs. This world has become an Adeptus Ministorum bastion devoted to tending crops and faith alike. From its start, it had been designated to support the Imperial war machine through food, not men, given the relatively low population.
• Echonis Augury: This ancient void station originally served as a major Adeptus Mechanicus research site. Echonis Augury drifts along the sector's rim and away from regular void traffic. Hundreds of Tech-priests and Servitors worked here to info-scour the surrounding parsecs in a secretive quest. Several centuries ago, a supply vessel arrived to find the station empty and barren. Since then it has become a popular trading post for Rogue Traders and common Imperial merchants alike. Hundreds live on it, with extended generations working to maintain and expand the site, all with occasional concerns over the fate of the previous occupants.

Adeptus Mechanicus Worlds:
The Adeptus Mechanicus forces within the Sector are centred on nearly every producing planet, but they hold a few systems of their own in an iron grip.

• Selvanus Binary: The trailing side of the Cyclopian Sub-Sector is a vast expanse of open space. On its inner edge sits the forge world of Selvanus Binary, known throughout Askellon for its high quality of products. One of the smallest of four planets in a dual-star system, it is the only one capable of handling life forms. Even so, the forges have irrevocably altered the planet to suit their needs, by covering the surface in all manner of refineries and manufacturing centres. It is now a strongly polluted planet, toxic to any human without protective gear or heavy augmentations, and very inhospitable—all as per the Omnissiah’s wishes.
• Rhodin IV: A notable Forge World, the Cult of the Machine God has occupied this world for several thousand standard years, ever since it was awarded to the Adeptus Mechanicus for its aid in repelling a nearby Ork uprising. Rich in Promethium and other useful ores, this once verdant world has since become layered with plasteel and pollutants. Factories many kilometres tall churn out a wide variety of armaments and munitions. Deep mines weave through the planet's crust, so invasive that networks of cyclopean support beams are needed to buttress the immense weight of the manufactoria that cover the surface.
• Core-Theta: An extreme Forge World, the Magos Biologis of this world continuously work on the edge of tech-heresy; in many cases, concerning the limits of the organic and not the technological. Their primary focus is the constant experimentation upon the rigours of the flesh and the limits of life.
• Cerix-Magnus: Cerix Magnus is perhaps the greatest of the many Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds within the sector, and is strict in following only the most sanctified of technology patterns. The Tech-priests of the Regimen Affirmator work there to ensure no forge strays from the correct dictates of the Omnissiah, and that all proper obsequiences are made.

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Sector Timeline

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Date Unknown	Sector Founding:	The Sector is discovered and founded by a group of human pilgrim ships, the circumstances under which this occurred are mired in mystery and legend. Many years later they are brought under the yoke of the Imperium during the Great Crusade.
M30 Approximate	The Pandemonium is Born:	After thousands of years of peace the sector is thrown into chaos when a massive warp storm erupts across the sector. The 'Pandemonium' as it would come to be known would wax and wane for thousands of years to come and is still present in the modern era.

The Time of Ending

M41.710	The Twelve Prophets:	Also known as 'the Askellion Incursion', this event refers to the appearance of dozens of Space Hulks simultaneously in the Sector. The 'Twelve' refers to the twelve that appeared above occupied planets, while many more have been reported in abandoned or isolated systems. The Hulks caused damage across the Sector before a year after their arrival they all re-entered the Warp.
Date Unknown	The Vaxian Atrocity:	An event as censored and hidden as any within the history of Askellon, this Atrocity started as a civil war between Inquisitors and ended in the attempted secession of Askellon from the rest of the Imperium. It's final act was the burning of the world of Vax and the slaying of then Sector Lord Romonav.
M41.731	The Portal Raids:	A series of raids by Piratical Eldar lead to a concentrated raid on the planet on Aventine. Commodore Kybras of the Imperial Navy halts the raid through systematic orbital bombardment of Aventine's capital city.
M41.732	The Cyclopia Bush Wars:	A heavy Ork presence appears in the Sector, and forces sapped from earlier engagements they are allowed to taint entire systems in the Cyclopian sub-sector.
M41.750	A new Sector Governor arises:	Praefectrix Charlotta Anastasia XX ascends to the throne of Sector Governess of the Askellon region. She has long held and deep political ties on Juno, and is feared and adored by her subjects in equal amounts.
M41.808	The Inquisition Returns:	After decades in secrecy within the sector the Inquisition makes a return to Askellon, many Inquisitors from neighbouring sectors bringing their own personal forms of the Emperor's Justice.
M41.810	Burrard's Summer Uprising:	The planet of Burrard II falls from within, it's population fracturing after its Governor declares it seperate from the Imperium. It would take five vicious years of war before the Imperium intervened.
M41.814	Summer of Fire:	On Kalto, the breadbasket of the Rubicon Sub-sector and many other systems, fierce uprisings from the dispossessed and downtrodden workers cause delays in the production of the all-too-important edmur grain and padonus rice.
M41.815	The 'Killing Smile' Spreads	In Desoleum a virus known as the 'Killing Smile' spreads. Although its source is destroyed by an Inquisitorial Cell the threat of it's spread does irreversible damage to Desoleum's commercial interests. Lady Aud Killian declares a period of martial law which shall not end until every infected is put to the torch. Desoleum increases its recruitment of Involute Cadre soldiers ten-fold and enters the Underhive in force. In the first 4 months alone more than 1 billion mutants dead and alive are stacked in pyres on the outskirts of Desoleum.
M41.816	Burrard's Redemption:	After almost seven years of war the secessionists on Burrard are brought to heel. It's new Governor Fethrop declares the planet part of the Imperium once again before conscripting most of its surviving population into the newly formed 'Burrard Penitent Legion' of Imperial Guardsmen.
M41.816	Kalto Falters:	A common rebellion on Kalto halts grain production to the entire sector. The heretical group known as the 'Harvestmen' are revealed by the Inquisition to be Xenos influenced, and with the help of the Deathwatch the rebellion is decimated.
M41.817	Order Restored:	Through a joint effort of Arbites, Ministorum, and Militarum forces, Kalto is brought into the fold once more. A full army of Terminus Prime 'Watchdogs' and the Dictator-Class Cruiser Herald of Retribution are permanently stationed on the surface and in the void respectively, leaving the once peaceful Kalto with the largest standing military in the Rubicon Sub-sector.
M41.817	Cast out the Mutant:	The Desoleum Involute Cadre now account for a full 3% of the world's population, with that number only growing every day. More than 20 billion mutants and other heretics have been excised from the bowels of Desoleum Primus, and the soldiers now turn their attention to those living outside the hive walls in a continent scouring campaign against those who refuse to bask in the Emperor's Light.
M41.817	Cast out the Traitor:	A full year after the Redemption of Burrard the final secessionist is crucified on the Road of Sacrifices. Burrard now turns its attention to the war-system of Myros Kappa, embroiled in bloody battle with the detestable greenskins.
M41.818	Cast out the Heretic:	All contact is lost with the world of Hulee V for over an entire stellar year. Officially the world is embroiled in an unexpected warp-storm. The lack of war-resources reaching the spinward front force the Imperials to retreat from Myros-Kappa, leaving the valuable planet to the Greenskins for the time being. Unofficially Hulee V was the site of an attempted incursion orchestrated by a powerful Lord of Chaos supported by a coven of witches, wyrds and traitor guard.
M41.818	Tactical Retreat:	The myriad of regiments involved in the war on Myros-Kappa withdraw to the agri-system of Cel, regrouping and preparing for orders from high-command. Almost overnight the Cel-system is made host to tens of millions of soldiers.
M41.819	A Coward's End:	Rear-Admiral MacRae of Port Lokhart is brought up on charges of ineffective command and corruption of the highest degree and sentenced to exile. His replacement, Rear-Admiral Vantchev, is a decorated hero of the Spinward front and considered a consummate tactician with few peers.
M41.819	Of Mud & Dust & Madness:	The world of Temperance is thrown into chaos and disorder after the assassination of the Arch-Bishop at the hands of the Legion of Twelve. Millions of ferocious acolytes hurl themselves at the city of Bastion with no care for the casualties suffered, possessed by an inhuman and unwavering zeal.
M41.819	A New Horizon:	After the attempt on Rogue Trader Kagome’s life resulted in the death of over 400 chartist captains and other merchants, a power vacuum in Port Aquila rapidly manifests. Stocks go spoiled and shipment dates are missed, sapping the money and power of the Combine with each passing cycle. The Rogue Trader Houses; Kagome, Surena, and Rosh ensure the Combine is hampered and delayed at every turn, speeding the decline of the once-powerful trading magnate.
M41.819	Secrets Unearthed:	The once-powerful Navigator Clan of Ursa is brought low by 100 years of economic stagnation. Unofficially, the entire contents of their vast research laboratory was picked clean by agents of the Inquisition, unearthing the incredible secrets of the Pandemonium.
M41.819-823	A Tumultuous Time:	Known only to a select few, the year of 819 in the 41st millenium was filled with chaos the like of which Askellon had rarely seen. The year drew to a close with the assassination of the Lord Inquisitor of the sector, Witch-Hunter Sprion Hark, by a rogue Inquisitor on the run from justice. The sudden death of the face of the Inquisition resulted in a swell of heretical behaviour from all corners, plunging the sector into a new era of uncertainty. Arbite and PDF forces are bolstered by funds from the Adeptus Administratum to combat these newly unearthed threats, with many civilised worlds turning into miniature warzones the like of Necromunda.
M41.823	The Surge:	Across the sector reports build of a monumental warp storm brewing within the Pandemonium. The Navigators of the sector dub this storm The Surge, heralding it as the largest and most damaging warp-event in Askellon's recorded history, a full third of the sector's Astropaths expiring in the earliest months of 823 due to the tumultuous roil of unfettered warp-energy. Once-stable warp-routes are severed, and even the shortest of void journeys are fraught with danger. One by one the choirs of Askellon fall silent, rendering the sector nothing more than a clutch of disparate worlds completely cut-off from the Imperium. Soothsayers and doom-heralds preach on the streets of hives; the faithful lock themselves within their gilded chapels; mutants, recidivists and worse still leech up from the underworld to gnaw on the sector's foundations; the guard turn insular, violently striking out at any who show deviance - truly it is the Time of Endings.
M41.823	Homecoming:	After untold millennia of slumber, the spartan tombs of silent warriors awoke across the worlds of Askellon. Silvered automatons bearing death's grim visage laid waste to system after system, millions upon millions of Askellon faithful falling like wheat to the reaper's scythe. Valiant bravery was in no short supply, and the annals of history run thick with heroes of that time. Years into the conflict and Askellon was on her last legs; over 90% of the defence fleet was destroyed, with Rogue Traders fortifying themselves in typically insular fashion, and the armies of men and women slaughtered like cattle. The final hammer blow was yet to come, as seemingly from nowhere sprung a cyclopean ship bearing uncountable Necrontyr horrors, poised above the capital world of Juno. Unknown to almost all, a handful of devout agents were locked in mortal combat with the Necrontyr lord, finally slaying the King of Cowards and bringing an end to the invasion.
M42.101	A Call to Arms:	Under the watchful gaze of the Lord of Inquisitors, Askellon grew with renewed purpose over the three centuries - a time of unbridled prosperity and fortune for all who call the God Emperor their liege and idol. Meanwhile in the Segmentum Solar, a Primarch of the Astartes once thought dead had arisen, and called to his side all the forces of the Imperium to once and for all push back the darkness and reclaim the galaxy for mankind. Heeding the call, the Lord of Inquisitors took his mighty warship and made for the galactic center, instructing his subordinates to watch over his fiefdom in his absence. Emboldened by his departure, all manner of criminals, heretics, xenos and zealots drew themselves from the dark underbelly where they had lain for centuries, intent on bringing destruction and death to the jewel of the galactic west…

M42.101 Current Date