9836-18 Grave Core is a gas giant located in a system of the Ghoul Stars of the Ultima Segmentum. Before the Ghoul Stars Crusade, it served as the capital world of the hostile xenos Cythor Fiends' civilisation.
It is unknown by what name the planet was called by the Cythor Fiends. 9836-18 "Grave Core" is the Imperial designation, with the number signifying it was the eighteenth world conquered during the Ghoul Stars Crusade.
History[]
The planet was a mid-sized gas giant which appeared blue from high orbit. Its atmosphere was toxic and extremely cold, unfit for most intelligent species. High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars Chapter noted that the world closely resembled Neptune in the Sol System. 9836-18 Grave Core was later determined to be highly resistant to damage from Imperial Exterminatus-class weaponry, to an unnatural degree.
Grave Core was regarded by the Cythor Fiends as their primary homeworld in the region. The xenos had erected platforms in the world's atmosphere that supported their usual crystal fortress-cities. The Astartes of the Death Spectres Chapter who accompanied the Black Templars in the crusade hinted that they had once also assaulted Grave Core, just as the Black Templars now did, but had also found it deserted by the xenos.
The Black Templars had expected the Cythor Fiends to make their last stand of the Ghoul Stars Crusade there, but the entire species had already apparently fled the planet. Furious, the Black Templars attempted to destroy the world by unleashing an Exterminatus action, but failed even at that as the world seemed to be able to resist any form of damage.
As an alternative, the Black Templars then destroyed the Cythor Fiends' orbital platforms and tried to ignite the world's atmosphere by bombarding it with their armada. This took an unnaturally long time, and the Death Spectres' Captain Naroosh remarked that whatever the Imperials did to the gas giant, it would not matter in the long run, as the Cythor Fiends always returned to reclaim the worlds of their realm.
Sources[]
- The Eternal Crusader (Novella) by Guy Haley, Ch. 1