Xana II

"...Xana is a gift simply too perfect to be trusted; it is either our greatest good fortune in these times of war, or it is a serpent lying in wait to slay us. My mind perceives the former, but my soul warns the latter."

- Anonymous report by an Imperial military attaché from the Court of Terra, on the nature of Xana II, 846.M30

Xana II was a powerful and isolated Forge World, whose capable forges and faculties were unmatched in its region of the galaxy. This Primaris-grade Forge World was located in the Vicidax Thule Sector which lay on the very edge of the western galactic reach of the Segmentum Pacificus. Accidentally discovered by a Rogue Trader during the early years of the Great Crusade, the Imperium forged an uneasy alliance, promising Xana II that they would maintain their sovereignty as part of the greater Imperium, maintaining their own secrets and affairs away from the prying eyes of Mars, so long as they obeyed the restrictions of technological development imposed on Mars itself by the Emperor. Xana, in return, would arm the military forces of the Great Crusade, as well as serving as a port for its ships.

When the Horus Heresy erupted, Xana II refused to chose sides. They had done little to evidence loyalty or opposition to either Traitor or Loyalist cause. As suspicions dawned that Xana was on no side in the conflict other than its own and was perhaps no longer content to merely sit aside from the conflict until a clear victor emerged. As the war went on with no clear avenue of victory in sight, both sides now looked to the increasingly bellicose and active Forge World of Xana with renewed interest. In their years of isolation since the war's outbreak, the forges of Xana had not been idle and evidence began to amass that a vast and well-guarded stockpile of munitions and war machines had been built up in the system, and readied as if for shipment to a client, but to what end or to whom remained unclear. Eventually, Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion and Praetorian of Terra, made an open proclamation declaring the Forge World of Xana Traitoris Perdita and under sentence of death. At the same time, covert entreaties were made via intermediaries of Malcador the Sigillite for the remission of this sentence in return for absolute allegiance and the deliverance of stockpiles of war material immediately to the Loyalists build-up in the Segmentum Solar. The Warmaster, however, was to offer a more subtle and honey bargain.

When the Heresy failed during the final epic conclusion, during the Siege of Terra, through unknown means, the Xanithe Mechanicum somehow were able to flee the wrath of the Loyalists, and move their entire world into the hellish realms of the Eye of Terror. Fully corrupted by the Ruinous Power, Xana II became one of the first Hell-Forges, wholly given over to Daemon Engines and infernal industries, where mills grind flesh and suffering to make the insane visions of its nightmarish masters real. Countless millions are enslaved to toil endlessly in a world-spanning network of labyrinthine forges, churning out an infinite supply of weapons and armaments for the Traitor Legions' Long War. The masters of Xana II, said to be half-daemon machines themselves, have long since left the shreds of their humanity behind and are beholden to no one, be they mortal or Chaos God. They are willing to sell or barter their unholy inventions and arms to the highest bidder, be they warlord, demagogue, Chaos Sorcerer or Daemon Prince without favour, and their coin of exchange is always the same: raw materials and the flesh of new slaves to feed Xana's endless hunger.

History
"The blade of suspicion is keener yet than that of hate, for it slays friends as readily as foes. It sunders kin and rends apart those who in sane course of action would be allies as easily as those whom nature itself decrees as deadly foes. So savage a weapon it is that they who master it need fear none, save of course themselves."

- The Book of the Hydra