Vyaniah

Vyaniah is a Hive World that is located in the Badab Sector of the Segmentum Ultima. In 902.M41, just before the outbreak of the internecine conflict known as the Badab War, Vyaniah was still an industrialised colony and was in the early stages of being developed into a minor Hive World. This world became the site for a major battle of the Badab War in 906.M41 between the Badab Sector human Auxilia, known as the Tyrant's Legion, in open warfare for the first time and the Loyalist Space Marine forces from the Red Scorpions, Marines Errant and Novamarines Chapters.

History
Colonial settlements were first established on the temperate world of Vyaniah in late M38, and increased with a large influx of refugees following the massacres of Isin in the Badab Sector in early M40. Vyaniah was officially recognised as an unaffiliated Imperial world by the Segmentum authorities in 107.M41. By 902.M41, the planet had become industrially self-sufficient, exploiting its own mineral and chemical resources to sustain its civilisation and tithing to the Administratum in return for Naval protection and import of goods and services otherwise unavailable. Secondary industry is based around macro-scale harvesting and processing of plentiful lower order sea life into foodstuffs. Historically the system has been protected somewhat by its relative distance from the Maelstrom itself, and benefited from its position as the most developed world on the outer south-western rim of the Maelstrom Zone.

In 906.M41, during the internecine Imperial conflict known as the Badab War (904.M41-912.M41) that raged across the entirety of the Maelstrom Zone, the Loyalist forces under the command of Lord High Commander Verant Ortys, conducted a series of heavy raids on the Vyaniah System, having determined it to be a target against which the greatest pressure could be placed on the Secessionists. Vyaniah was an important world and served as the gatehouse along one of the secondary Warp routes around the rim of the Maelstrom. Furthermore, its defences and garrison was weaker than the heavily reinforced Sagan System. There were further intelligence reports indicating that the Secessionist occupied world was awash in civil unrest which might be stirred up into open revolt by a Loyalist attack.

Strike forces drawn from the Red Scorpions, Marines Errant and Novamarines conducted a three-pronged attack on the Vyaniah system, the first of several such raids carried out in rapid succession. the Loyalists' goal was to damage the planet's production capacity and orbital transhipping platforms. This would effectively weaken the Secessionists' grip on the system. Confronting the reformed and reorganized Badab Sector human Auxilia of the Tyrant's Legion in open warfare for the first time, the Loyalist Space Marines had greatly underestimated them, and as a result their strike groups were largely prevented from achieving many of their goals in the first raid. Data intercepted from the Vyaniah command vox-network however revealed the price of the Tyrant's Legion resistance, with the Loyalists inflicting a greater than 178:1 kill ratio. In 906.M41, the Red Scorpion forces conducted the last of the Vyaniah raids which proved particularly bloody for the Tyrant's Legion. The Red Scorpions invaded the Caelian industrial hive with the specific goal of inflicting mass casualties on the human defenders and picking off their Astral Claws masters when they were found within their ranks. Despite several Loyalist attacks the Secessionists maintained control over the planet, and ultimately, the system.

Departmento Cartographicae Planetary Database
The estimated population of Vyaniah in 902.M41 was 2.5 billion human Imperial citizens.
 * Tithe Grade: Exactus Tertius (Pending Reassessment)


 * Climate/Geography/Biosphere: The climate of Vyaniah is temperate/cold. At the time, the planetary biosphere was undeveloped. Currently there is still an existing geological ice age. All major flora and fauna are specialised and imported from off world. Vyaniah has large saline life-supporting seas, with a single primary equatorial continental mass with slowly receding icecaps. There are several heavily industrialised urban settlements, the largest which, Caelian, is developing into a solar-type dispersed hive structure.


 * Governmental Type: Imperial Commander as hereditary ruler supported by Quorum of Magnates (drawn from leading industrial clan families), independent under the Imperial Segmentum seal.


 * Planetary Governor: Protector Jerix Sarenko, Imperial Commander, thirteenth of his line.


 * Adepta Presence: Minor, Administratum Tithe Assay Officio, Auxiliary-class Astropathic relay tower, small Adeptus Arbites and Ministorum missionary presence.


 * Military: Army of Caelianis Protectorate (standing planetary defence/civil enforcement force, second tier Imperial Guard equivalent), Household Troops of various ruling clans (Militia).