Crowd sourcing a history of a world...

[Kinstryfe]

Hello practices of the narrative arts. A few months ago I started work on creating an Imperial planet for a narrative campaign I was running. I soon ended up with enough players signed up at my local shop so off we went, building the story of a massed Xenos and Chaotic invasion of the randomly named insignificant but important for plot reasons backwater Imperial planet of Gavallon VII. It was a glorious campaign of small battles, with the lives of hundreds of thousands hinging on the outcome of 1000 point battles, each week's results lovingly contributing to the narrative we had created. Kreig death riders deployed via what became known as the Orbital Equine Cannon, then after fighting Necrons decided their blades made better bayonets than their own. A small continent of Blood Angels slowly fell to the black rage and died to a man protecting the planet. Necrons did something (no one seems to know what) with the population of an entire hive, and cults both Khornate and Xenos fought thru the streets of the capital to see whose heresy was better. The Alpha Legion showed up to do alphalegiony things, and Tyranids ate everything in sight. In the end a fun 2v2 battle was had which I evidently designed too perfectly because despite random benefits and hidden victory conditions it was tied at the last dice roll of turn 7, 49vp to each side.

 

Here is where I'm asking for the communities help. My little world of Gavallon VII has been given a beginning and has been given a most recent event but, despite coming up with a set of generalities for the planet, there are about ten thousand years in between. I plan on using the world for continuations to the story (probably soon with kill team), but thought it would be more fun to solicit for ideas which I may never think of myself to build the history of the planet rather than come up with it all myself. A bit like the game Microscope, where people collaboratively build a history. The only rules are basically nothing that's world breaking or which contradicts another person's additions. If anyone has any ideas for additions to the history, I'd love to hear them. I may incorporate everything, but I want to incorporate a lot. Ten millennia is a lot of time to fill. Here's what I've determined so far, and the basic beginning and end of the timeline.

 

Facts about Gavallon VII

-Gavallon VII has an unusual orbit largely held in check by a Mechanicus presence, leading to temperature extremes over the planet.

-Gavallon VII is world In decline. Once supporting heavy industry as forward support for the Crusade, it is now mostly agriculture and idle cities with manufacturing largely relegated to the Mechanicus presence in the system.

-Formerly home to 9 hive cities. 1 was destroyed, 2 are mostly empty with no official population, 2 are still barely functioning. As of recent events, the capital Hive Primus has been devastated and left half destroyed, and Hive Tertius has been left intact but unpopulated.

- The hive cities are built on pre-Imperial ruins of unverified origin.

-Occasional raids by Xenos invaders have plagued the planet.

-Secret cults, both chaotic and xenos, exist in the society. The recent events have brought some of these into the open.

-Minimal Ministorum presence beyond token faith.

- Gavallon maintains the necessary PDF, but most members are serving required citizenship tours rather than pursuing a military career. A great many of the PDF are members, former or current, of the tech gangs that infest the underhives. Many PDF members carry their own weapons and equipment scrounged from the planet’s past conflicts and even use unsanctioned tech pilfered from the ruins under the hives.

- Almost all warriors on Gavallon have some form of bionic enhancement, major or minor, due to the extensive availability of manufacturing equipment available and unused.

-The Gavallon System was colonized during the Great Crusade by a fleet led by Rogal Dorn. The Church of the Emperor's Fists is the predominant religion on the planet, paying homage to The Emperor and his chosen warriors.

- Crusade Designate 112-42-7

 

History of Gavallon VII

 

Pre Great Crusade

The Gavallon system was under the control of a long forgotten Xenos civilization with a small population of enslaved humanity.

 

M30

It was liberated by the 112th crusade fleet led by Rogal Dorn. The surviving human slaves were tested for purity, and those remaining were supplemented with colonists to populate the seventh planet in the system and use the converted manufacturing capabilities of the planet as a forward supply source. Rogal Dorn is honored with a feast day each year and celebrated as the great liberator of humanity.

 

Following the Great Crusade the Gavallon system attracted the attentions of Mechanicus adepts who maintain a presence in the system to this day.

 

M31

As Imperial missionaries arrived to spread the Imperial Cult the populace was largely receptive, having already venerated The Emperor thru his son Rogal Dorn thru feasts and celebrations. While multiple religions publicly operate on Gavallon VII, the Church of The Emperor's Fists is by far the largest.

 

M40

An unidentifiable signal is broadcast from deep under the crust of Gavallon VII, attracting the attentions of eyes both friendly and malicious to the normally quiet planet. Necron forces assail the planet while devotees of Khorne summon their daemonic masters to realspace. Emerging from the shadows the hidden cults of The Four Fisted Emperor emerge from hiding as their masters make planetfall in an effort to strip Gavallon VII of its biomass. Coming to the planet's defense, a regiment of the Krieg Death Corps was diverted from its normal course to the struggling planet, and a contingent of Blood Angels attempted to intervene against the tide of bloodthirster claws and swords. While both reinforcements were later found thru pictures records to have died to a man defending the capital Hive Primus, the planetary capital was spared destruction, being only heavily damaged in the process. It was only later that the nearby Hive Tertius was found completely empty, showing virtually no signs of struggle.

 

Inquisitor Karetnikova arrives in the Gavallon system. Excavation into Hive Primus finds the remains of Astra Militarum and black armored Astartes alongside local PDF but no trace of an enemy save for destruction. Further examination of Astartes armour battle feeds shows that they made their last stand against a contingent of both Necrons and creatures of the warp. No survivors were found except for a lone guardsman clinging to life before xenoforms scuttled from the darkness to feed on the Inquisition kill teams accompanying the Inquisitrix. Barely two of her squads and the newly inducted Krieger surviving the encounter, Inquisitor Karetnikova has submitted a recommendation for Exterminatus; a recommendation that has fallen on deaf ears due to a standing order dating back millennia to protect the planet if at all possible.

 

 

That's the playground so far. A pre Imperial origin and a modern event. What can people come up with to add to the timeline?