++ The Codex Agares ++

[DeathCatCXLVII]

++  Codex Agares  ++

 

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++ An Encyclopedic Study of the Agares Sector of the Segmentum Ultima ++

 

++ Compiled: 107.M42 ++

 

++ Commissioned by [Redacted] ++

 

++ Compiled by Archivist Erkhart ++

 

 ++ Verified by Explorator Ottmar Wiesner ++

 

 

 

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[DeathCatCXLVII]

++ The Caelus Sanctus Cluster ++

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++ Prime Worlds of the Caelus Sanctus Cluster ++

++ Kalyx ++


Kalyx is a subterranean hive world located on The Saints Path. As the primary seat of Imperial control in the Caelus Sanctus Cluster, Kalyx has long been a prominent world. A trade hub with numerous orbital docks and commercial facilities, Kalyx has prospered greatly from its location at the intersection of a number of stable routes through the cluster. A steady stream of traders, travellers and pilgrims make their way through Kalyx, some simply using as a stopping point on their journey elsewhere, other heading to the planet itself via the orbital tethers so they might ply their trade, sell their wares and visit pilgrimage sites. The five tethers connect the largest orbital stations to Kalyx itself, each built long before the Dark Age of Technology. Running two miles beneath the surface of Kalyx they provide easy access to the cores of the largest hives. Where the tethers pass into the surface, large fortified facilities with checkpoints ensure that nothing untoward enters the hive. Secure market districts attached to these checkpoints allow the traders and artisans with only the finest and most exotic wares to trade directly with the Kalyxian nobility. The Kalyxian nobility control the surface, with sprawling palacial dynastic holds and bio-domes for them to reside in. Built upon the first settlers original colonies, the nobility jealously guard their homes from the masses [and often each other]. The grand bio-domes provide lush greenery for the elite to play in and provide fresh crops and livestock for them to serve at events, items that are a true rarity in the hive proper. Militarily Kalyx’s forces fall into two categories. The Sentinel regiments, elite troops equipped with the best gear the Kalyxian nobility can provide, and the Kalyxian Regulars, regiments made up from the lower hives residents and equipped with far more standardised gear. The Sentinels exclusively guard the nobilities holdings, the checkpoints and the orbital facilities. Well trained in void warfare and fighting in close combat, tithed Sentinel regiments are much sought after for operations involving combat on orbital facilities and asteroid colonies, and their superior training often catches the eye of ++ Redacted/IQ5564 ++. The Regulars are far more numerous, being equipped in a fashion that follows traditional Militarum standards. The Regulars make up ninety two percent of their tithes, being dispatched to numerous war zones throughout the region. Naturally The Regulars, being from a hive world, have a particular affinity for fighting in such environments and foraging amongst the hab domes for supplies while prosecuting their campaign.


++ Völundr ++


The Forge Moons of Völundr provide the majority of the sectors material needs. With facilities split across the six moons of the gas giant Völundr, a continuous stream of industrial activity surrounds the rust hued titan. Like most Mechanicus controlled systems, Völundr is an autonomous world and has dominion over the system and its assets. While lacking in power compared to the more renowned forges such as Ryza, Agripinna and Triplex Phall, the priesthood of Völundr are still a potent political force in the sector, and often the true power behind any endeavor.


++Ceto ++


An oceanic world, Ceto is a bountiful world tempered by the volatile waters that controls life there. The largest cities rise above vast coral forests that pierce the surface so as to nourish themselves with sunlight. Without the protection of these coral forests the ancient cities would not have survived the tempestuous world. Smaller settlements have built up in smaller smaller copses, while temporary villages may be constructed amongst arms of lone coral trees. The primary produce of Ceto are vast yields of nutritious forms of algae and kelp, which provides a substantial amount of the clusters food requirements. The harvesting of the algae and the kelp has a mutualistic effect between the humans and the forests that shelter their settlements. Both the algae and kelp grow at prodigious rates and can easily swamp and starve the coral trees of nutrition if they grow too dense. So the humans of Ceto learned that the best way to protect their homes was to thin these fields and drifts to manageable levels. The fact that the most common forms of kelp and algae were edible and highly nutritious only helped to drive them into an industrial level of aquaculture, supplying their population and eventually worlds beyond their system.


++ Macaria ++


The sepulchral world of Macaria is a sombre monument to the liberation of the Caelus Sanctus Cluster from the rule of the Varan, a reptilian xenos species that migrated into the region sometime around M29. It was on Macaria that the 721st expeditionary group, led by the group that would become known as The Ten Saints of Caelus, delivered the final blow against the xenos oppressors. Macaria was the single largest colony of Varan in the territory. As such, eliminating the Varan there would break their hold on the region. Exterminatus wasn’t an option, the world had to be purged and captured as a symbol of mankind supremacy. The 721st’s forces bolstered by militia forces from the worlds they had liberated, and support from the Priesthood of Völundr, set about cleansing Macaria. The purge took seven years of horrific warfare, a war where all sorts of unnatural weapons were brought to bear by both the Varan and the Imperials. While the war raged on the surface, the fleet blockaded Macaria from receiving reinforcements. When the war was over the death toll was immense for the Imperial forces, but total for the Varan. Not a single member of their kind breathed Macaria’s air. However the once verdant world was now an ashen wasteland scarred by the terrible weapons each side used. The remaining Varan scattered into the cluster, pursued by follow up forces, the last of their kind fleeing to the remote frontiers of the sector. Long after, the nascent Ecclesiarchy declared Macaria a shrine world and the expeditionary force leaders as saints. Great cathedrals and churches were thrown up, tombs created to house the few remains of the saints that they had, and great halls to house priests and pilgrims alike. The wealthy and the powerful donated vast sums so they may be buried in prime spots close to the saints, while pilgrims and priests remains begun to fill more modest tombs and ossuaries across the planet. Now the planet is littered with cavernous places of worship, cavernous mausoleums, and plains of paupers graves. But the demand for gravesites never dwindles thanks to the mass of pilgrims that make their way there, and the wealthy still pay a life times worth of coin so they may be as close to the divine as possible. Amongst the living pilgrims, priests and attendants, there are many Imperial cults with subtle interpretations of the Imperial creed, which has on a number of occasions led to violence over disagreements. Thankfully the Charnel Guard, Macaria’s defense force, have become adept at resolving such religious schisms amongst the assorted pilgrim groups.


++ Geryon ++

Geryon, the green titan, a massive gas giant orbiting an even larger star. Almost all the planetary object in the system orbit Geryon. The scope and variety of Geryon’s moons means there is no singularly overriding culture, with each moon being unique and distinct. From lifeless shells to verdant orbs, shifting deserts to frozen plains, Geryon’s moons cover a vast swathe of planetary types. The closest to a unified cultural thread on Geryon’s moons are the ever present and immensely powerful mining guilds, which delve deep into the dead moons and expansive asteroid fields that surround the giant, seeking out raw materials to process and trade. The most powerful guilds hold seats on a ruling council, and from amongst them they elect a governor. The regiments recruited from Geryons moon for the guilds forces and tithed regiments are all equipped with void sealed armour plated mining suits, and much of their armaments and vehicles are derived from mining equipment. What a Geryon Arx Trooper lacks in speed he makes up in survivability thanks to the thick plates of his suit, each one designed to stop a micro-impact from putting a hole through them when operating on asteroid surfaces or ship hulls. The line Arx troopers prefer using solid munitions due to the extra penetrating power they have when void-bound. The most common choices being standard issue Völundr pattern auto-carbine with box magazine, or the Ghast pattern combat shotgun. Many a time has a xenos raiding group been out matched by a stubborn group of Arx troopers making a stand.


++ Skoria ++


Skoria, a mist shrouded feudal world controlled by a council of wealthy ealdormen, each representing one of the major kingdoms. Each kingdom owes fealty to the Emperor and the Imperium as a whole, while retaining nominal control over their territory. The Ecclesiarchy on Skoria not only tend to the spiritual needs of the Skorian masses, but also act as mediators in disputes between kingdoms and noble houses. Each kingdom maintains its own men at arms and vehicles, with each sending off a percentage of new recruits and arms to pay their military tithes each year. The planet itself is mostly covered in oppressive mountain ranges, windswept highlands, and desolate moors. The seas on Skoria supply the local populace well with food, even during the harsh winters. The freehold of Dun Griel acts as neutral ground for the ealdorman to meet and discuss matters of planetary security and settle debts. Dun Griel is also home to a sizable market and the largest spaceport on the planet, easily capable of berthing the mass haulers commonly used by traders to transport their wares planetside. Thanks to this, Dun Griel is a fairly cosmopolitan city with traders and exotic visitors from far off worlds for the more unworldly Skorians to gawk at. And due to the number of visitors Dun Griel is littered with lodgings, drinking establishments and other dens of ill repute. To a Skorian from one of the remote villages, Dun Griel is enough to overstimulate the senses with all it has to offer. In contrast, mingled amongst the licentious and debauched dens are numerous churches, chapels and small shrines for the devoted to visit should they not be able to visit the Cathedral of the Sundered Blade to offer their devotions and renew pledges.


++ The Saints Path ++


The Saints Path follows the route the 721st expeditionary group took when they set about liberating the Caelus Cluster [later the Caelus Sanctus Cluster] from the Varan. The expeditionary fleet travelled through the Ternian Cluster to Pharos as part of the Emperor’s ongoing decree to reintegrate human worlds, and regain what was lost in the Age of Strife. Pharos was a civilised world with a strong military tradition. Yet they were fearful due to whispers of a new threat emanating from the Caelus Cluster. Tales of a brutal species enslaving the human worlds, turning hive worlds into little more than warrens to breed their workforce in. The expedition elected to head into the Caelus Cluster, with pathfinder ships from Pharos leading the way through to the Clusters inner worlds. They pierced through the Gates of Xur into the soft underbelly of the Varan territories. The Gates of Xur is a difficult path to take without guidance due to two supergiant suns emitting huge amounts of energy across numerous wavelengths and powerful gravity fields capable of distorting warp travel. Attempts by the Varan to breach the Gates failed, so they reasoned that there was no safe path through and siphoned ships and troops off elsewhere, leaving an undermanned provincial force to control a large expanse of territory. When the expeditionary fleet breached the Gates of Xur it was a brutal shock to the Varan, like avenging angels they set upon the Varan forces, sweeping them aside with ease, freeing a number of systems that basked in the light from the Gates of Xur. With a foothold in the region, the expeditionary fleet set about freeing the human worlds in the name of the Imperium and shattering the Varan forces. On Kalyx, they freed both the long dispossessed nobility and the people of the hive from enslavement. The Varan having driven the nobility into the underhives only for them to form the core of a resistance movement amongst the teeming mass of slaves. For centuries slave rebellions regularly tore into the Varan, weakening their position and diminishing their resolve to invest more troops and materials to control the unruly populace. When the fleet arrived the occupying forces were poorly coordinated and pressured by another conveniently timed uprising. Assaulted on both sides, the surviving Varen fled after a six month siege. Many of their craft were pursued and destroyed with great fervor. It was from one of these ships that the expedition recovered a nav map detailing all the Varan holdings in the cluster. Using the map they chose to strike at the Varan’s heart, the world that would become known as Macaria. Once the work on Macaria was done, the fleet splintered in order to hunt down the remaining Varan forces in the cluster and liberate further worlds.


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With sainthood being bestowed on the long dead expeditionary leaders in early M32 by the Ecclesiarchy, their path to Macaria became an important pilgrimage route. Each of the saints represent an act of humanities defiance and rightful superiority over the cursed xeno masses, powerful imagery for pilgrims coming from xeno blighted worlds. The Saints Path as it became known, is one of the safest routes in the cluster and the sector at large. To aid navigation through the Gates of Xur, two tethered nav beacons sit in systems either side of the Gates, and only requiring a small number of astropaths to operate each station so as to maintain the thread that guides ships through. With Kalyx and it’s nobility restored the world quickly regained it’s preeminent position of power within the cluster, becoming wealthy via commerce flowing through the repaired orbital docks and facilities. The Priests of Völundr having hid themselves away so as to not draw attention from the Varan, began going out into the cluster and the sector beyond, helping rediscover lost technology and rebuilding the clusters infrastructure. In M33 the Caelus Cluster was renamed as the Caelus Sanctus Cluster, this coincided with a significant rise in prosperity and relative peace in the region. As of M42, Caelus Sanctus is still a thriving hub of Imperial activity, however a simmering unrest has begun to weave its way through the cluster. From the shadows hidden figures pluck at peoples strings and whisper things in their ears, from the lowest gangers and pilgrims, to the highest lords and ladies. A shadow war has begun, one fought with ideology, subtlety, and a steady blade.

[DeathCatCXLVII]

Initiate Raynor of the Black Templars ~ 105.M42

 

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Initiate Droge of the Black Templars ~ 105.M42

 

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[Dosjetka]

I thought I recognised those Black Templars. ;)

 

Welcome to the B&C, DeathCatCXLVII! :tu: Solid start so far, I especially like the star/system maps. What can we expect to see next?

[DeathCatCXLVII]

I thought I recognised those Black Templars.

 

Welcome to the B&C, DeathCatCXLVII! Solid start so far, I especially like the star/system maps. What can we expect to see next?

 

 

Thanks Chaplain Dosjetka

 

More Templars coming up, as I want to round them out to a kill team/combat squad. Also more background and fluff related to the Agares Sector, and bits and pieces featuring some of the other players in the sector.

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The backstory shows good imagination, and is well-written. The Black Templars models are well done.

[Raziel-TX]

Sweet baby Jesus those are some finely painted miniatures. Thanks for sharing and the motivation!

[Lexington]

Very, very nice.

[Spaced Hulk]

Really enjoyed reading the detailed and well thought out background

[noigrim]

Great fluff

[Majkhel]

Some really nice work on Droge's posing! Lovely paintjob too!

And its really nice to see the zealous Templars being given such love :)

[lionofjudah]

Whoa!!! Welcome aboard brother!

Those are some fantastic sons of Dorn you’ve provided... haven’t read the fluff yet but will dive back in shortly,

Looking forward to seeing moar!