Nocturne

Nocturne is the homeworld of the Salamanders Space Marine Chapter located in the Segmentum Ultima of the Imperium of Man and it is usually classified by the Imperial Administratum as both a Feudal World and a Death World. As a result of the tectonic stresses produced by the gravitational pull of its overlarge satellite Prometheus, there are vast chains of volcanoes scattered across the world's surface and frequent earthquakes, destroying what little the people have built above ground and forcing them to build their habitations in vast subterranean holds. The constant volcanic eruptions have swaddled the world in an ever-present cloak of dust and ash that obscures most sunlight. The Salamanders have built their fortress-monastery on Prometheus, Nocturne's massive moon. The Salamanders have a much closer relationship with their homeworld's people than is common among the Astartes, and they continue to interact quite closely with their own families and clans throughout their lives. As a result, the Salamanders have also developed a remarkable concern for protecting the lives of the Emperor's subjects and will make strenuous efforts to prevent civilian casualties on the battlefield.

Prometheus
Nocturne is part of what is actually a binary planetary system, with its oversized moon Prometheus circling it in an erratic orbit whose shifting gravity causes massive tectonic stress. As mentioned above, the Salamanders' fortress-monastery is based on the moon of Prometheus and is known by the same name. It is little more than a spaceport at which the Chapter's starships may dock and refuel. The monastery is the only construction built there and has a great orbital dock were the Chapter's strike cruisers and battle barges can be maintained, refit and repaired. However, many of the Salamanders live on this moon rather than on Nocturne itself when their duties require them to be away from their home clans.

Characteristics
When not at war, the Salamanders prefer to live among the people of Nocturne and Prometheus, and usually serve as the leaders of a Nocturnean settlement. Once every 15 Terran years (1 Nocturnean year), the two worlds approach so closely that Nocturne is almost torn to pieces by the resulting gravitic stresses. This is called the Time of Trial by the Nocturnean people. Vast tidal waves crash across the seas, thousands of volcanoes explode, their ash and fumes further blotting out the weak haze from the sun of Nocturne while powerful earthquakes constantly ravage the land. All life is sent reeling, towns collapse and people die with heartbreaking regularity. Then, a terrible winter sets in for the next quarter of a year. The young freeze and most, if not all, of the native reptilian livestock dies, unable to withstand the extreme cold as they had the heat.

One of the largest volcanic mountains on Nocturne is named Mount Deathfire. This is where the largest of the massive fire-resistant reptiles called salamanders who are common on Nocturne live, and they are known as the Firedrakes. They are huge, fire-breathing beasts, and one was killed each by the Emperor of Mankind and the Primarch Vulkan during the legendary contests held between the two ten millennia ago when the Emperor rediscovered his son. This world may seem a strange place for humans to live and even thrive, but the Nocturnan people have been moulded both physically and mentally into stronger and more resilient forms by this adversity. The Time of Trial also brings great rewards. Rich veins of gems and strategic metals are revealed, large enough to be mined by the Nocturnan clans to pay for new livestock and food on the Imperium's interplanetary markets.undefined

The Salamanders and other residents of Nocturne live in giant underground Sanctuary Cities, the largest of which is called Hesiod and which tend to be the home of a single one of the Nocturnean people's clans. Each Salamanders Company is usually recruited entirely from one of these clan settlements so that the Battle-Brothers of a company will share their clan as well as Chapter loyalties and will also feel strongly connected to their homeworld's common people. The Salamanders either live on Prometheus or live among the people on Nocturne, where they usually serve as the leaders of the clan settlements that dominate the relatively small Nocturnean population of 15 million people.

Recruitment for the Salamanders starts early on Nocturne, at the ages of 6 or 7 Terran years. Those selected as Aspirants are first apprenticed to a Salamanders Astartes who will be their mentor and guide through the process and then taught the ancient ways of the forge. As their training progresses they are required to perform the same trials as Vulkan did in his competition with the Emperor, culminating in the capture of a great salamander reptile on the slopes of Mount Deathfire. Those Aspirants who survive to complete all of these tasks are taken for biological enhancement and implantation of the Chapter's gene-seed at the Salamanders' fortress-monastery on the moon of Prometheus.

It should be noted that the people of Nocturne have been slightly mutated by their constant exposure to the high levels of radioactivity present on their world due to the radioactive rare earth elements often uncovered by the extreme volcanism. They have developed deep ebony skins and the irises of their eyes now glow red in the darkness because they developed over many generations the ability to see in the infared levels of the electromagnetic spectrum to deal with the constant volcanic pollution that blocks out their world's sunlight. These same physical characteristics are also present in every Salamanders Space Marine. The Imperium's Ecclesiarchy does not consider these mutations heretical as the Salamanders and the Nocturneans themselves have always been among the most staunchly loyal to the Emperor of the Space Marine Chapters and the Promethean Cult prevalent on the world is an accepted variant of the Imperial Cult.

Promethean Cult
The Salamanders and the people of Nocturne are deeply influenced by a set of religious and cultural beliefs collectively called the Promethean Cult, which is a variation of the standard Imperial Cult that has been officially recognised by the Ecclesiarchy as a non-heretical faith. The Promethean Cult calls on its followers to emulate the deeds and be true to the teachings of the Primarch Vulkan as well as providing service to and worship of his father, the Emperor of Mankind. Prometheans believe deeply in the virtues of self-reliance and self-sacrifice for others, long defining cultural values of the Nocturnean people, who have struggled to survive the harsh environment of their volcanic and earthquake-wracked homeworld. They hold a firm belief in isolationism, the tenet that only through spiritual meditaion and exploration performed alone and in isolation from others can a person gain a true understanding of both themselves and how they can best honour the legacy of Vulkan and serve the will of the Emperor. Prometheans make use of fire in many of their rituals and ceremonies and believe that they must be cleansed by the pain of fire before every major undertaking or initiative. The hammer, sometimes called Vulkan's Sigil, the forge and the anvil are also important symbols for Prometheans due to the importance of smithing in Nocturnean culture. Promethean believers also hold sacred the words of the ancient ritual book known as the Canticle of Immolation, which is often read by Salamanders Chaplains during the Chapter's various ceremonies. For the Salamanders Space Marines, Promethean beliefs manifest themselves most readily in the form of honour-scarring. Before and after every battle they engage in, a Salamander Astartes will have a symbolic scar burned into his body and another after the completion of combat, if he survives. Veteran Salamanders who have served the Chapter for hundreds of years and thousands of battles will have their entire body covered in honour-scars, including their ebon-skinned faces, which only receive the honour-scars after all the other skin on their body has already been so marked. As the Promethean Cult openly calls on its adherents to venerate the Primarchs and follow the Emperor loyally, it is not considered heretical by the Ecclesiarchy and instead has received official sanction as one of the accepted variants of the Imperium's state religion.

Hesiod
One of the seven Nocturnean Sanctuary Cities that house most of the planet's people deep below ground where they are safe from the terrible earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that so often devastate the world's surface. Hesiod's people are relatively wealthy and they harbour deep prejudices against those Nocturnean clans that choose to live nomadic lives outside the Sanctuaries, especially the nomads of the continent of Ignea.

Mount Deathfire
A volcano in the Pyre Desert that is home to the massive salamander reptiles called Fire Drakes that were part of the legendary contest between Vulkan and the Emperor 10,000 standard years ago and is still the location for the last trial faced by the young Aspirants who wish to join the Salamanders Chapter.

Cindara Plateau
The plateau on Mount Deathfire where Aspirants are inducted into the Salamanders as Neophytes after completing their trials.

Ignea
This Nocturnean continent's people provide comparatively few recruits for the Salamanders, as they do not live in the large subterranean Sanctuary Cities but are instead nomadic clans that take refuge for only short times in the various cave systems of the continent, preferring the freedom of constant motion to a more settled existence. As such, they are generally economically much poorer than the settled clans that live in the Sanctuary Cities and they are viewed with disdain and prejudice by the people of those settlements. It is this prejudice and their lower socioeconomic status that usually prevents the nomadic clans' youth from successfully completing the trials required to become a Salamanders Neophyte.