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Revision as of 21:44, 28 July 2017
Astaramis is an Imperial Hive World that is the third planet of the Konor System in the Realm of Ultramar. The world came under sustained attack by the Forces of Chaos in service to the Plague God Nurgle during the Plague Wars of the early 42nd Millennium.
History
Astaramis is a well-ordered and heavily defended Hive World, the largest centre of population in the Konor System and a potent symbol of Imperial dominance. Having gathered significant momentum with their early victories on the outskirts of the Konor System during the Plague Wars, the armies of Chaos spread out across the region like poison seeping into the blood stream of the Imperium.
A vast segment of the Chaos armada descended upon Astaramis, the most populous planet in the system. With its teeming cities arranged in vast concentric rings, the well-governed and prosperous Hive World exemplified the grand dream that is Ultramar. However, even Astaramis' formidable orbital defence platforms and veteran garrison were not enough to hold back the oncoming tide. The Chaos armada launched waves of Magmatic Torpedoes, and Macrocannons obliterated planetary fortifications and engulfed entire regiments of defenders in searing firestorms. Heretic Astartes and their allies slammed to earth in blistering Drop Pod assaults, blasting apart anything that moved even as they marched implacably onwards towards targets of strategic value.
During the Great Crusade, the Ultramarines Primarch Roboute Guilliman made landfall upon Astaramis. In the long standard centuries since, the population of Astaramis has come to regard him as a saint, raising vast statues and temples in his name. Hearts emboldened by the revelation that Guilliman has risen from his millennia-long slumber to defend Humanity once more following the Ultramar Campaign of 999.M41, they fight on bravely in the face of an unceasing onslaught. From the shrines of Saviour's Landing to the vast and imposing Quintus Gate, the streets echo with the unceasing chatter of las-fire and the dull thud of Bolters and high-explosive rounds.
Yet for all the tenaciousness and devotion shown by the people of Astaramis, they cannot stand alone. With every passing solar hour, the invaders pushed further inward, taking hab-block after hab-block. Xenos forces were also spotted planetside, exploiting the confusion of battle in order to kill, loot or pursue their unknowable ends. Imperial forces were forced back as far as the hive's innermost spires, and the outer districts were little more than a rubble-strewn wasteland. Without reinforcements, Chaos will have gutted the Imperium's greatest source of manpower in the Konor System, and destroyed a potent symbol of Imperial faith.
Geography
The Hive World of Astaramis and its moon, displaying the location of Praxima Skyport (centre)
The Hive World of Astaramis and its moon, displaying the Quintus Gate (centre) and Saviour's Landing (near southern polar region)
The world of Astaramis possessed several areas of ultimate strategic import for any force seeking to maintain or seize control over the planet during the Plague Wars. These included:
- Praxima Skyport - When the Chaos forces first launched their assault upon Astaramis, they destroyed all but one of the planet's major transit hubs in a series of orbital strikes. Only the enormous Praxima Skyport still stands, protected by a bristling array of Icarus Lascannons and a formidable Void Shield. Under intense bombardment by Traitor artillery, this vital strategic location was defended with desperate bravery by an outnumbered force of Ultramarines and planetary auxilia. The walls of the rugged octagonal redoubt have been breached many times, and torrents of blood have been spilled within its cavernous docking halls and cramped utility tunnels. If Praxima were to fall, Chaos will have denied the Imperial forces a vital staging post, and severely hampered their ability to land fresh reinforcements on the planet.
- The Quintus Gate - This towering fortified gateway leads to the inner towers of Hive Hallentia, the largest hive city on Astaramis and the only haven to remain unbreached by Chaos forces during the Plague Wars. Ahead of the gate runs the central thoroughfare, the arterial route into the city. This broad avenue is choked by the rusted carcasses of wrecked main battle tanks and war engines, smouldering alongside the blasted ruins of civilian convoys that were overrun before they could reach the safety of the Quintus Gate. Within this maze of shattered smoking metal and charred corpses, vicious and prolonged fighting rages. If the gate falls, Chaos forces will spill into Hallentia unopposed, and the streets will run red with the blood of loyal Imperial citizens.
- Saviour's Landing - This sprawling temple district was built upon the hallowed soil where the blessed Roboute Guilliman first made landfall on Astaramis during the Great Crusade over 10,000 standard years ago. Saviour's Landing was once a maze of white marble walkways, golden shrines and pristine galleries of wondrous statuary depicting the sainted Primarch's many legendary triumphs. During the Plague Wars it became almost unrecognisable, ravaged by the fires of war. Contesting armies fought a multi-level running battle amidst the wreckage of its former grandeur, battling hall by hall, stairway by soaring stairway for the right to control or despoil this potent symbol of Imperial faith.
Fate of Konor Summer Campaign
The Konor System on the eve of the great Chaos invasion of the Plague Wars in the early 42nd Millennium
The Konor System was the location for the 2017 worldwide Fate of Konor Summer Campaign, conducted by Games Workshop to herald the arrival of the 8th Edition of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop war game. Each week, players at officially-recognised locations around the world, such as various game and hobby stores, would play a series of campaigns set on each world of the Konor System, representing either the Imperial defenders or the attackers of Chaos. Each battle's outcome was then logged with Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 website. The collective outcome of all those battles determined which force ultimately won canonical control of each planet in the system during the Plague Wars.