Planets

"You cannot fathom the mysteries of the Universe, you must simply trust in the righteousness of the Emperor's Command." --Edicts of the Navigator Guild Calixis

The Imperium of Man is home to over 1,000,000 human-settled planets scattered across over 100,000 light years of space in the Milky Way Galaxy. Most of these worlds were settled by humans many centuries before the Great Crusade of the 31st Millennium reunited the human colony planets beneath the rulership of the Emperor of Mankind, though thousands more have been settled in the ten millennia since then by Imperial colonists. The Adeptus Administratum of the Imperium generally classifies all planets in the galaxy according to the following classifications for the purposes of raising tithes of raw materials, manufactured products and Imperial Guard Regiments.

The Imperium encompasses countless worlds. No one has ever been able to map them and no one can truly even say how many there are beyond the figure of 1,000,000 normally cited above. Entire departments of the Adeptus Administratum are devoted to cataloguing the worlds in the Emperor’s domains, a never-ending task, for it is in a state of eternal flux. Furthermore, the Adeptus Terra holds that the whole human race and the entire galaxy are under the Emperor’s rule—the Imperium has a Manifest Destiny to unite Mankind, impose its laws on every human world and destroy all alien forms of intelligent life. The true scope of the Imperium is, therefore, the entire galaxy, though this is far from actuality. The Imperium jealously guards its territory whenever it can but its sheer size means that it cannot react to every circumstance. Many planets live and die alone, with only the truly great threats commanding the attention of the Adeptus Terra. Worlds are frequently lost to aliens, rebellion or disasters, with news of their destruction sometimes taking centuries to reach Terra. The Imperium’s borders undergo constant change, with new worlds discovered, conquered or colonised and old ones lost to xenos invasion, Exterminatus, daemonic incursion or even to the Warp itself.

The galaxy teems with worlds—gas giants, worlds of frozen methane, huge, globular masses of hydrogen that failed to become stars, and many more besides. Some of these are mined or exploited in some way, they may even harbour their own forms of truly bizarre alien life, but it is mostly upon small rocky worlds that Mankind, and its enemies, are found. Within this category of world, however, are many variations and humanity endures all manner of different environments in its quest to survive in a cruel and unwelcoming universe.

Feudal Worlds
Feudal Worlds are planets into which the Imperium has not seen fit to introduce most modern technology, although the advent of certain advanced medical technologies such as basic antiseptic agents is often an exception so as to keep such worlds' labour productivity high in the face of the odd plague or epidemic. Feudal Worlds are defined as those planets of the Imperium that have developed late Iron Age civilisations that are moderately technologically advanced while still remaining pre-industrial, having usually progressed as far as to discover or re-discover rudimentary gunpowder weapons. These planets often possess widespread and advanced farming economies and typically have a population of 10,000,000 to 500,000,000 people. Feudal Worlds are similar culturally and technologically to Terran societies in the Late Middle Ages or Renaissance periods of the Age of Progress. Generally, Feudal Worlds will have little direct political or economic interference from the Imperium and be required to pay only low planetary tithes. Imperial Planetary Governors of Feudal Worlds will generally live on a space station in orbit of the planet to avoid altering the cultural balance, only descending to the surface to deal with heresy, rebellion or rampant mutation. These planets are populated by folk who have lost access to all but the most basic of technologies and maintain Iron Age or early Gunpowder Age societies. Farming, simple labour-intensive machines such as pulleys, windmills and the like are known, but propelled flight, automatic weaponry and powered vehicles are likely to be rare or non-existent. These worlds are often said to be the most politically harmonious of all the planets of the Imperium, because their peoples know their place.

For examples see: Fervious, Sisk.

Feral Worlds
Feral Worlds are defined as planets whose population are composed of nomadic hunter-gatherers or members of early agricultural societies and who possess technology equivalent to Old Earth's Stone Age, Bronze Age or early Iron Age cultures. Feral Worlds are populated by tribal peoples largely living without the assistance of maintained technology or even agriculture in some cases and the population is usually quite low as a result, ranging from 100,000 to 5,000,000 people. This may be due to an ancient failed human colonisation project from the Dark Age of Technology, ingrained religious preferences, cultural choice, harshness of the environment or some other reason. Feral Worlds, like their Feudal counterparts, will have little direct political or economic interference from the Imperium and will pay only the lowest grades of planetary tithes. Feral World populations may be aware of the Imperium's existence in some fashion but are unlikely to know much more than something about a large group of distant people living among the stars. These planets are frequently unsuitable for later Imperial colonisation, either due to the circumstances which drove the natives feral or because the natives themselves actively resist new people settling on their lands. The people of Feral Worlds can range widely in culture, from Grox-hunting Stone Age tribes of ancestor worshipers who only recognize the Emperor of Mankind in the most rudimentary of ways, to wild-eyed, post-apocalyptic road warriors, fighting endlessly amongst the toxic, sand-strewn ruins of their civilisation. The harsh conditions which Feral World populations have adapted to makes them ideal recruitment sources for the Regiments of the Imperial Guard and the Chapters of the Space Marines since they produce more men with experience in war. Occasionally the inhabitants of Feral Worlds have been pressed into the service of the Imperial Guard when their world lay inside a war zone, and the chosen warriors have been given rudimentary training in the operation of laser or stub-weaponry. It is more common, however, for Feral World natives to be selected for the various Adeptus Astartes recruitment programs.

Like all Imperial worlds, Feral Worlds are ruled over by a Planetary Governor, although the nature of Feral Worlds makes this position somewhat different from that of the Governorship of more advanced planets. The Imperial Governor of a Feral World almost always lives apart from the natives, often living in a single city inhabited by outsiders or taking residence in orbit on an Imperial space station, only interfering in the world's affairs to keep psyker and mutant "head counts" down. Religious heresy is also a regular concern on Feral Worlds, especially amongst warrior-cults prone to infiltration by agents of Khorne, the Blood God; constant vigilance and regular belief-modification enacted by agents of the Ecclesiarchy are a necessity. Governors and permanent staff on such worlds are themselves kept under close scrutiny, in an effort to avoid the phenomenon of "going native", especially in situations where the inhabitants' belief systems have been manipulated into casting the Governor as a " Star God". The culture shock associated with interaction with more technologically advanced outsiders is an issue on Feral Worlds. Removing a Feral Worlder from his planet and exposing him to such things as Warp travel can be disconcerting and even result in madness and other permanent pychological disorders. A Feral Worlder within the wider Imperium often retains their superstitious and tribal idiosyncrasies, which may prove to be social hindrances, such as an obsession with the bones of dead comrades or the mixing and regular application of noxious-smelling warpaint. Other habits, such as manic distrust and aversion to psychic "witchcraft" may been seen as useful and sensible in the Imperium. The Imperial tithe grades assigned to Feral Worlds are low, and are given as Solutio Tertius.

For examples see: Dusk, Fedrid, Volonx.

Forge Worlds
Forge World is an Imperial term for the numerous planets that are directly controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus. All have in common that they are completely dedicated to the manufacture of the various machines and devices of the Imperium, the pursuit of and preservation of (ancient) scientific and technical knowledge and the worship of the Machine God. Because of the Adeptus Mechanicus' monopoly on technical knowledge and expertise in Imperial culture, the Forge Worlds are the Imperium's primary source of all kinds of hardware: from farming equipment to war machines such as starships, tanks, aerospace fighters, or even Titans. Ancient pacts between the Adeptus Mechanicus and other worlds and institutions of the Imperium oblige the various Forge Worlds to supply other planets and the various military arms of the Imperium such as the Imperial Guard with the products of their manufactoria.

Much of a Forge World is like an immense factory, with industrial complexes soaring into the sky and mine workings burrowing deep into the planetary crust. Forge Worlds build great numbers of complex technologies, like tanks or spacecraft parts for the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Navy. They are ruled by the Adeptus Mechanicus, whose training and research facilities are located there, along with the grand cathedrals to their deity, the Omnissiah, in which the ruling Archmagi of the Tech-priests enact the grandest, most complex rituals to honor the Machine God. The Adeptus Mechanicus’ fleets, its armies of cybernetically-enhanced Tech-Guard warriors and, most formidably of all, the Titan Legions, are also all based on Forge Worlds. The Forge Worlds are largely autonomous from the rest of the Imperium, as allowed by the terms of the Treaty of Mars that founded the Imperium in the 30th Millennium, and the Adeptus Mechanicus is loath to allow anyone on their surface other than Tech-Priests and the legions of menial, cybernetic Servitors who labour for them.

The surface of a Forge World is normally completely covered in massive factory complexes that stretch across the horizon. Its ecosystem has been completely destroyed. The air is saturated with toxic gases and rivers flow with toxic runoff from the multitude of manufactoria. In many cases, even seas and oceans have been purposefully evaporated to make room for more manufactoria. However, the sheer amunt of industrial output greatly benefits the Imperium as a whole.

While there are hundreds of Forge Worlds in the Imperium, the most important is Mars, home of the Adeptus Mechanicus' political and spiritual head, the Fabricator-General of Mars; and the Imperium's first Forge World. Other Forge Worlds include Ryza, known for its advanced plasma technology; Gryphonne IV, home of the Titan Legio Gryphonnicus; Agripinaa, a primary supplier of military goods to the Fortress World of Cadia; Phaeton, manufacturer of the Leman Russ main battle tank; and Urdesh, the primary Forge World within the Sabbat Worlds Sector. Of all the Forge Worlds only Trebor caters exclusively to the industrial needs of Cadia. One of the most sought-after creations from Trebor is its version of the Vanquisher Cannon, which is the most powerfull of all the Vanquisher Cannon variants. During the Dark Age of Technology, the twin empires of Terra and Mars co-existed, to the mutual benefit of both. Trebor was colonized from survivors of colony expeditions from both Terra and Mars after they were lost during a Warp storm. This forced both colonies to combine thier knowledge and build the most technologically-advanced of all the Forge Worlds. Trebor was only re-discovered by Commissar Yarrick during the Second War for Armageddon in the late 41st Millennium. As a result Trebor has sworn its alligence only to Commissar Yarrick and to Cadia, and its arms and technolopgy made a major difference in the successful defence of Cadia during the 13th Black Crusade.

For examples see: The Lathes, Belcane and Fortis Binary

Hive Worlds
The Imperium’s most populous worlds are its Hive Worlds. The populations of these planets are so great that the people live in huge urban arcologies called hive cities, truly immense, self-contained, many-layered structures that reach high into the sky, each housing billions of individuals. Hive Worlds often provide much-needed industrial labour, their manufactoria producing mountains of war materiel and other goods to meet the Imperial tithe's demands. Most Hive Worlds started out as relatively hospitable places to live but have become severely polluted, the areas outside the hives reduced to ash wastes or radioactive desert by the never-ceasing industry of the great cities. Equally dangerous can be the hives themselves. The crime-ridden, poverty-stricken areas, almost always found in the most polluted and decrepit lower levels of the under-hive, are home to violent gangs, criminals and assorted scum as well as mutants and heretical cults who hide there from the authorities. It has been said that the sacrifice of over a million Imperial soldiers is worth "one day's Hive World production" in weapons and armour.

Perhaps even more valuable is what at first glance seems to be a byproduct of the monolithic hive city's design. The population of any given world approximately doubles every 100 years. With each hive housing between 10 to 100 billion people and 5 to 20 hives per planet, the sheer number of Imperial citizens on a Hive World is staggering. And each of those citizens is a potential soldier for the Emperor's already uncountably vast armies. Hives manufacture far more than mere steel and silica; they are vast factories for the most useful possible resource, people. Almost every recruit into the Imperial Guard from a Hive World will already know how to handle a weapon. Hive Worlds also serve to populate newly discovered planets. Imperial citizens are gathered from various Hive Worlds (willingly or unwillingly) by the Administratum and shipped off to distant colonies first discovered by the Adeptus Mechanicus' Explorator fleets.

In common with most other Imperial worlds, Hive Worlds are often based on a very obvious class system, with a ruling noble class and a bureaucratic middle class, although with populations so tightly packed there always develops a lower working class that often fuels violent street gangs. As can be expected, the upper classes are situated in the affluent upper areas of the hive cities, whilst the middle classes are situated in the middle areas,and the working classes are packed together in the lower areas. The very bottom sections of a hive city, the Underhive, are often areas where the underclasses and criminals are sent to be forgotten about and anarchy rules.

Some extensively developed Hive Worlds do not even consist of various enclosed arcologies surrounded by wasteland, jungle, ice, or plains. These Hive Worlds are completely urbanised and stacked with hundreds of layers of arcologies, covering the entirety of the planet, effectively becoming an ecumenopolis. Terra is an example of this type of "Super Hive World".

For examples see: Scintilla, Baraspine, Fenksworld, Malfi, Prol IX, Tranch, Vaxanide, Medusa V, Armageddon, Holy Terra (where the whole planet is one hive), Necromunda and Verghast (from the Gaunt's Ghosts novels).

Cardinal Worlds
Cardinal worlds are Imperial planets ruled directly by the Ecclesiarchy and are completely dedicated to the worship of the Immortal Emperor according to the tenets of the Cult Imperialis, with Imperial sanctuaries potentially covering entire continents. Aside from being a center of the Ecclesiarchy's power and a destination for countless pilgrims of the Imperial Cult, they also serve as a base of operations for many orders of the Adepta Sororitas. One example of an important cardinal world is Ophelia VII, whose spiritual significance to the Imperial Cult is second only to that of Terra.

Shrine Worlds
Shrine Worlds are dominated by the religion of the Imperial Cult and acts of devotion to the God-Emperor of Mankind. It may be that these places saw the birth of a famous Imperial saint or formed the battleground for a particularly important war in the Imperium's history. Often studded with cathedrals, temples and shrines to the Emperor and his saints, these worlds are frequently controlled by the Ecclesiarchy and may form training grounds for members of the Adeptus Ministorum and the Adepta Sororitas. There are also the dark mirrors to these places of Imperial devotion - fallen worlds outside the grace of the Emperor where the heretical cultist inhabitants offer up ceaseless prayers to the Ruinous Powers of Chaos. These places of obscene sacrifices and bloody rites are not suffered continued existence for long by the Imperium. A shrine world can also be considered to belong to another category of world at the same time, as for example Hagia is also classified as an agri-world while Herodor is a hive world. All shrine worlds will have a strong relationship with the Imperial saint connected to the planet in question, such as being the world of his/her birth or death or the site of a major miracle the saint was responsible for performing in the name of the Emperor.

For examples see: Drusus Shrine World, Hagia and Herodor.

Cemetery Worlds
Somewhat akin to Shrine Worlds are the Imperium's Cemetery Worlds, where large areas of the planet's surface have been given over to care for the remains of the dead. Cemetery worlds may mark the site of a massive battle, or they may be covered in gigantic mausoleums, each dedicated to a particular Imperial noble family. In contrast some rare cemetery worlds may be covered in fields of endless, modest burial plots containing the remains of the inhabitants of a nearby hive world.

Pleasure Worlds
Otherwise known as paradise worlds and sometimes as garden worlds, pleasure worlds are the playgrounds of the Imperial nobility. They tend to be of outstanding natural beauty and the population of such worlds are dedicated to pampering the important visitors they receive. Pleasure worlds are often very cultured places, and many have sections of their populace dedicated solely to producing works of art or music. Casino complexes, opulent restaurants and huge ballrooms are often found on such worlds. There is a darker side to pleasure worlds, particularly those who cater to the tastes of the more depraved guests they receive and pleasure worlds often host one or more cults dedicated to Slaanesh, the Prince of Pleasure. Some pleasure worlds contain large developing cities and other major settlements.

For examples see: Reth.

War Worlds
There are a great many worlds in the Imperium that can be classed as war zones. The Imperium is constantly at war and in those wars whole planets can burn. Massive campaigns can envelop dozens of star systems and hundreds of worlds, many of which are utterly devastated by orbital bombardments and artillery in planet-spanning battles that last decades. Long-term war zones are hellish places where death comes quickly. The Imperium can field truly immense armies of millions of men, grinding their way across a devastated planet and reducing cities to rubble. Mercenaries flock to such places, hoping to leave soon after with their ships loaded with pay and loot. Deserters and escaped prisoners form bands of pirates, preying on any starships unable to defend themselves or they roam the war-torn planets in feral packs stealing and killing. The Administratum sends colonists from overcrowded worlds to populate war-torn worlds after the fighting has ended but the bureaucratic wheels of the Imperium grind slowly and a world can lie devastated for centuries before any effort is made to resettle it. These places can be some of the most ghastly in the Imperium, with ravaged environments, cracked planetary crusts, burnt-out cities and plains covered in the bones of the fallen.

Dead Worlds
These worlds have minimal, even non-existent, life traces or biospeheres. This results from ecological catastrophe, devastating internecine war, Imperial or alien intervention or due to no known attributable cause. Dead worlds often occur naturally, as the unforgiving conditions of the universe mean the majority of planets are uninhabitable. Some, however, have been created in the long history of the Imperium by catastrophic events, including an Exterminatus order or a successful Tyranid invasion.

Ironically, some planets classified as dead worlds have been settled by various groups specifically for their properties. For example, several Space Marine fortress-monasteries are located on dead worlds because of their harsh conditions, desolation and defensive opportunities.

Tomb Worlds
Tomb Worlds are worlds that have Necron stasis tombs located on them, usually buried deep beneath the surface. Tomb Worlds are often devoid of all life; the only known exceptions to this being the worlds of Lorn V and Kronus, both of which were settled Imperial colonies before the Necrons sleeping beneath their surfaces reawakened. Dead worlds that appear to be naturally occurring are often Tomb Worlds for the Necrons as they scoured those planets of all life tens of millions of years before during the latter stages of their terrible "Red Harvests."

For examples see: Klybo.

Agri-Worlds
Many planets in the Imperium, such as Forge Worlds and Hive Worlds, are completely incapable of sustaining the sheer number of people who live and work on them. To feed these people, as well as the vast armies of the Imperial Guard, many planets have been completely transformed into giant farms. Most of these planets have populations of less than 100 million people and possess only a few major cities. These farming planets, in their own way, are as vital to the Imperium as its hives. These planets are given over entirely to the production of food, which Hive Worlds cannot produce in sufficient quantities to keep their huge populations from starving. Many a world has whole continents given over to livestock or fields of crops. Some Agri-Worlds are covered in oceans teeming with fish and a few are far stranger -- worlds covered in edible fungus, scoured by swarms of nutritious insects or are gas giants whose upper atmospheric layers are home to flocks of edible or egg-producing flying creatures. A few planets are used solely to provide clean, potable water to nearby Hive Worlds. Agri-Worlds are sometimes ruled directly by the Adeptus Administratum rather than by their own local government, to help ensure that their produce is grown and harvested with maximum efficiency.

For examples see: Iocanthus, Dreah, Orbel Quill, Siculi, and Spectoris.

Civilised Worlds
A Civilised World is a planet whose development has been allowed to progress over the millennia "naturally", without any specific purpose to fulfill. These worlds are generally self-sufficient in terms of food-supply and have varying manufacturing, technological and industrial capabilities. Many may be equivalent in culture and population levels to 21st Century Earth.

For example see: Gudrun and Volistad

Death Worlds
Planets which are too dangerous to support widespread human settlement are called Death Worlds. Types vary from world-wide jungles that harbour vicious carnivorous plants and animals to barren rockscapes strewn with volcanoes and wracked by ion storms. These worlds are near-impossible to colonise by Mankind due to their environmental conditions or the nature of their biospheres. Nonetheless, many of these worlds have large human settlements, which are notable for the strength and self-reliance of their people. Many of the people of these worlds are inducted into the Imperial Guard, or recruited by the Space Marines, a fact which is often the sole reason for the continued habitation of those worlds. Some harbour rich mineral, vegetable, animal or gaseous resources that are of such value to the Imperium that a small human settlement will be maintained despite all the dangers.

It has been theorized by the Imperial Magos Biologis of the Adeptus Mechanicus that many Death Worlds are the result of biological seeding by ancient advance Hive Fleets of the Tyranids that entered the Milky Way Galaxy long ago. Many of the monstrous creatures inhabiting these worlds, such as the Kraken of Fenris and the Catachan Devil of the jungle world of Catachan, have many features in common with Tyranid organisms, and may in fact be descended from them. Left behind by the Hive Fleets that seeded these worlds and then moved on, these Tyranid species lost access to the Tyranid Hive Mind and so degenerated into unintelligent yet vicious animal species.

For examples see: Karrik, Catachan and Fenris.

Mining Worlds
These worlds are rich in one or more of the raw materials required by the Imperium's manufactoria and Forge Worlds. The people of mining worlds are likely to be slaves or penal workers of the Adeptus Arbites who live out their lives mining and transporting massive quantities of metallic ore, rock, minerals, frozen gases or some other useful or precious substance. Mining worlds tend to be rather inhospitable places, and many do not even possess a breathable atmosphere, though a few may support a greater variety of life and support developed cities and even city hives.

For examples see: Sephiris Secundus, Landunder, ND0/K4, Soryth.

Developing Worlds
These worlds are split into geographical areas with widely varying levels of technological advancement and culture. Depending on the prevailing planetary governments, these geographical areas might be nations, other types of states, power blocks or tribal homelands. It may be the case that higher levels of technology and wealth are concentrated around original colonisation sites from the Dark Age of Technology. Other planets might exhibit gross variations in culture due to environment, with areas weak in natural resources being similarly weak in terms of military power, economic muscle and so on. Some planets preserve a great divide due to ancient tribal taboos, religious notions or plain old-fashioned habit. A great many worlds of the Imperium fit into this broad category, but no two are alike in the way they realise these divides.

Quarantined Worlds
The existence of these planets is rarely made obvious but there are many of them throughout the Imperium. Travel to these worlds is forbidden except for the most well-informed and heavily armed expeditions, and even then only with a very good reason. Death worlds, alien empires or planets where the creatures of the Warp have broken through into realspace are all examples of quarantined worlds, as are planets wracked with plague. Some worlds are quarantined because no one can fathom the origins of what has been found there, be it mysterious artifacts or ancient alien cities - it is thought better to live in ignorance of what lies on such worlds than risk it becoming a threat. Other worlds are quarantined because every expeditionary mission there has failed to return. Planets are often quarantined by the pronouncements of Inquisitors, especially if they have uncovered some Warp taint or xenos infestation that cannot be cleansed. Many quarantined worlds possess great resources that would be extremely valuable to the Imperium if they were properly explored and exploited, but there are enough tales of ancient horrors awoken on sinister alien worlds that few adepts would try to defy a planetary quarantine.

Frontier Worlds
These worlds have only recently been discovered by the Imperium through the explorations of Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleets or Rogue Traders and are home to a relatively small number of Imperial colonists. The Administratum may not have even had sufficient time to fully explore the world and set up an Imperial planetary government. Frontier worlds can be a refuge for those who want to escape from the repressive Imperial regime (for a time at least), though they can also be a destination for those who want to escape its justice too, and have a reputation for lawlessness and crime as a result.

Daemon Worlds
A daemon world is a planet twisted and corrupted by the power of Chaos and the Warp from being trapped in a prolonged Warp rift. Entwining the impossibilities of the Warp and the reality of the material universe, daemon worlds are not bound by the laws of physics, but by the whim of daemonic rulers and the emotions of mortals' collective unconsciousness. Daemon worlds are usually ruled by a Daemon Prince, who can shape the world to his liking. Each of these worlds is a bizarre sub-reality ruled by terrible Daemon Princes. The four Chaos Gods continuously compete to possess the daemon worlds. Armies of daemons and their living allies fight huge and bloody battles to determine which of the Chaos Powers will dominate them, adding the world to their realms within the Warp. These battles often last for hundreds of years, so that the entire world becomes little more than a gigantic arena where the opposing forces are pitched against each other. The Chaos Powers do not, of course, appear in person to lead their armies - they are spectators to events, not participants. Their generals are Greater Daemons and favoured Daemon Princes who, because they were once alive as mortals, understand the nature of both the material universe and the immaterial Realm of Chaos. Once a Daemon Prince has conquered a daemon world or brought a world from the physical universe into the Warp, his grateful Patron gives it to him as a gift to rule over as he wishes. When a Daemon Prince takes control of his hard-won world he uses his mighty sorcerous powers to reshape it into a form which pleases him. Because of this, every daemon world is different and all are equally horrific in their own way.