The Caligari Sector is a vast, ancient and forgotten region of the Imperium on the fringes of the Segmentum Tempestus in the galactic south, filled with shadows that hide hundreds of tainted worlds.
It is a sector plagued by the mysterious "Warpsurges," which are smaller, but highly unpredictable manifestations of the dreaded Warp storms.
Far from the guiding light of the Astronomican and torn apart by the foul empyreal tempests that can twist reality and cut off entire star systems for Terran centuries, the Caligari Sector is a haven for the Heretic, the xenos, the outlaw, and the corruptions of Chaos.
The Caligari Sector is the setting for the action role-playing video game Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor Martyr.
History[]
A map of the Caligari Sector depicting the various sub-sectors.
The Caligari Sector is a vast region located in the fringes of the Segmentum Tempestus on the southern rim of the galaxy. Despite its tremendous size and the countless resources the worlds of the sector have to offer, the territory has been largely ignored by the Imperium at large for many Terran millennia, and even experienced Rogue Traders tend to scoff at travellers supposedly hailing from this area.
The Caligari Sector is separated by great distances from the Segmentum Solar and, compared to more significant Imperial sectors, it could be justly claimed that it is sporadically populated. It is a shattered territory, where thriving star systems alternate with lost regions, quarantine zones and uncharted areas plagued by strange anomalies. However, over the centuries it has gradually become an extremely important area of operation for the Inquisition.
This far from the light of the Astronomican, shadows gather, and dark corners hide ancient secrets and dangerous creatures. In the Caligari Sector, heretical ideas tend to spread freely, not to mention a steady flow of newcomers from the heartlands of the Imperium who bring dubious agendas or questionable dogma with them, hoping to find refuge among the flickering stars of the galactic rim.
In other words, the Caligari Sector is an extremely ripe hunting ground for the Inquisition, and the Caligari Conclave of Inquisitors wields far more power -- and employs a significantly greater number of Acolytes and agents -- than might be expected.
There are ample reasons why this region is so difficult to reach and control. In addition to the distance from Holy Terra, large sections of the Caligari Sector have been frequently cut off from the Imperium by the region's infamous Warpsurges. These have been a clear and present danger since the arrival of the first scouts seeking out new worlds for Mankind. Certain local sects of the Adeptus Mechanicus, and some Navigator families, have dedicated centuries to studying the Caligari Warpsurges, but information on them remains scarce and controversial...or simply classified.
These Warpsurges could be categorised as smaller equivalents of the huge, whirling Warp storms that manifest throughout the galaxy, such as the Maelstrom or the Eye of Terror. Warpsurges are relatively small empyric anomalies, but they appear frequently, sometimes without warning, and they can last for an indeterminable amount of time, rising and abating, and blocking established Warp travel routes. Some surges disappear in solar weeks, but others can linger for decades.
Warpsurges can cut off star systems or, in extreme cases, even large portions of an entire sub-sector. Consequently, there are always a huge number of unreachable systems in the sector, and this is why the Caligari Conclave keeps a close eye on the affected territories.
Some systems suffer only minor inconveniences during these periods of undesirable separation, while other systems spend far too long behind the impenetrable wall of storms, and when contact is reestablished, whole worlds have succumbed to heretical ideology, fallen victim to foul xenos raids, or encountered the forces and servants of Chaos. In extreme cases, there are even worlds that have forgotten that they used to be part of the glorious Imperium of Man. On these worlds, Inquisitors find hive cities on the verge of total annihilation, consumed by their own starving population, shrieking to new, alien gods for redemption. On Shrine Worlds, Imperial statues have been knocked down to erect false marble idols in their place. Inquisitors do their best to pacify these reclaimed territories, but their work is difficult and unforgiving.
The Warpsurges present a clear and present danger in the sector, and Navigators, Imperial fleet commanders and Rogue Traders have learned to cope with these anomalies over the centuries. Recently, however, the Caligari Warpsurges have started to exhibit disturbing signs -- mere impediments suddenly turning into full-blown, unholy ruptures in the Immaterium, distorting space and time locally, and spitting out the Daemonic filth of Chaos into realspace. It is almost as if a colossal tide had torn across the galaxy, destabilising the Warp and everything within it...
Early Years[]
The region of the galaxy that became the Caligari Sector of the Imperium was once ruled by an enigmatic xenos species known as the Fabricatus. Their homeworld -- now designated FLZ-672 -- is a dry and barren planet, located in the Ventus System within the Atroxia Sub-sector. Long ago, this species elaborated the Visceram Prophecy about the coming of the "Alpha Pariah" and its role in the history of the region, although they could not know at the time anything about what kind of species would represent this being and how it would be created. Soon after unveiling the prophecy the Fabricatus vanished. According to the Adeptus Mechanicus this species never settled beyond the Caligari Sector and were still in existence when Humans were still locked in the Stone Age on Old Earth.
It was during the Dark Age of Technology that Humanity first began to colonise the planets in the region of the galaxy that would become the Caligari Sector. It is unknown how technologically advanced the Humans who settled in the Caligari Sector were, though according to the Adeptus Mechanicus tech-priests of the Caligari Forge World of Thule, hereteks spread very quickly across the region in that era.
At that time there an unknown, intelligent alien species also made its home on Torque Prime, and these xenos were likely hostile towards the settlers in the region who had come from Terra and Mars. The ancient Aeldari Empire also had a presence in the region as it had settled and terraformed the paradise world of Lauriach. Following the Cybernetic Revolt among Humanity's intelligent robotic servants the Men of Iron and the growing disruption to Warp travel and communications caused by the Chaos God Slaanesh's gestation in the Warp, came the horrors of the Age of Strife.
Isolated from the rest of the universe, the Human-settled worlds of the region fell into anarchy, bloodshed and chaos. This period finally ended when the Great Crusade united this region under the rule of the Emperor and established Imperial Law across the newborn Caligari Sector in the late 30th Millennium.
Coming of the Martyr[]
The Caligari Sector remained under the control of the Imperium throughout the Horus Heresy and for the next five thousand standard years, much of which passed uneventfully in what was a relative backwater region of the galaxy. Following the Age of Apostasy in the 36th Millennium the sector became a refuge for those who remained loyal to the fallen High Lord of Terra Goge Vandire in the wake of the Reign of Blood, prompting the Inquisition's first interest in the region.
As a sector far from the bright centre of the Human-controlled galaxy, it was a perfect place to hide for those who sought to avoid problems with the orthodox Imperial authorities, such as the crew of the Martyr -- a powerful Inquisitorial battlecruiser and mobile fortress-monastery commanded by Captain Gregor van Wynter, a member of the retinue of the Radical Inquisitor Uther Tiberius.
The Inquisitor had come to the Caligari Sector so that he could experiment on the Martyr with the DNA of psychic Nulls without interference from his Puritan colleagues. Tiberius sought to engineer an army of former Daemonhosts bearing the anti-psyker Pariah Gene with which he hoped to destroy the forces of Chaos that threatened the Imperium once and for all. Tiberius found crucial aid for this project in the form of a clone of the terrifying and amoral Chaos Space Marine Fabius Bile. The former Emperor's Children Chief Apothecary agreed to help the Radical Inquisitor with his project simply out of his own morbid curiosity. However, according to Bile, Tiberius ultimately betrayed him and claimed the Renegade Apothecary's most precious creation as his own -- the being Bile called the "Alpha Pariah."
Thereafter, Tiberius continued his experiments alone using captured Daemons to create his own Daemonhosts while at the same time he discovered and explored the ruins of the ancient Fabricatus species to exploit their technology wherever he discovered their sites across the worlds of the sector. However, the Caligari Sector was soon cut off from the rest of the galaxy by the strange, Warp storm-like "Warpsurges" created by the Ruinous Powers, whose forces invaded the sector's worlds in an attempt to eliminate the threat they faced from Tiberius and his anti-psyker creation.
Thus was born the Warp rift in the sector known as the "Dark Nexus." Yet, despite their best efforts, the forces of Chaos proved unable to track down the Martyr once it fled into the Immaterium to escape their reach, though neither Tiberius nor Gregor van Wynter were aboard when it disappeared. After the Martyr was lost, Tiberius eventually met his death and was buried on an unnamed world in the sector. For his part, Gregor van Wynter founded a Rogue Trader dynasty, which soon made a name for itself as a wealthy and powerful house in the region that often worked closely with the Inquisition.
Era Indomitus[]
By the time of the Era Indomitus in the 41st Millennium, some five thousand standard years after the disappearance of the Martyr, the Caligari Sector's isolation in the Warp had ended, and commerce and astropathic communication with the rest of the Imperium was once again possible.
Unfortunately, a new threat to the sector appeared in the form of the Tyranids' Hive Fleet Garmr several solar decades before the birth of the Great Rift. This smaller hive fleet entered the Caligari Sector and launched an assault upon the Garden World of Lauriach. The local sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus proceeded to initiate an Exterminatus action upon Lauriach to end the threat of a further infestation of the sector. Unfortunately, this resulted in the destruction of a large population of Craftworld Aeldari who had taken up residence on Lauriach with the permission of the Caligari Conclave of the Inquisition after their minor Craftworld Tuathal had been infested by the Great Devourer. The Aeldari, of course, saw this as a betrayal by the mon-keigh after they had cut a deal with the Inquisition, and proved unreceptive to the argument that sometimes the different factions of the Imperium worked at cross-purposes. With Tuathal, lost great hostility was engendered between the remaining Craftworld Aeldari in the region and the Imperium.
The birth of the Great Rift also unleashed an unprecedented period of instability across the Caligari Sector, as it did on many regions of the Imperium across the galaxy at this time. Though the sector remained in the Imperium Sanctus and the Astronomican's light continued to shine upon its worlds however dimly, multiple enemy factions began to assault the sector's worlds, including the xenos like the Craftworld Aeldari, their dark Drukhari kin, and the continuing depredations of the remains of Hive Fleet Garmr.
Assaults by the worshippers of Chaos also became increasingly common in the Caligari Sector as a wave of rebellions and uprisings initiated by newly active Chaos Cults began to plague the worlds of the sector. Additionally, at Nereus III, the Chaos Lord Abaddon the Despoiler ordered Heretic Astartes forces comprised of elements drawn from the Black Legion, Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers to launch an assault that was one of many Chaos operations across the galaxy intended to divide and distract Imperial forces while the Despoiler unleashed his ultimately successful 13th Black Crusade upon Cadia.
It was in this unsettled time that the Martyr finally reappeared in the Caligari Sector. Radical Inquisitors operating in the sector like Inquisitor Lord Klosterheim had long sought to find the wayward voidship and its rumoured weapon against Chaos. Klosterheim had been searching for the vessel when he was still an Acolyte in service to his own mentor, and the pair had uncovered artefacts of Uther Tiberius across the sector which eventually pointed them towards where the Martyr had been hidden. However, before they could recover the battlecruiser, Klosterheim's master had deliberately wiped his Acolyte's memory of all they had discovered before his own death, in the hope of ensuring his student could not be successfully interrogated by any Puritans.
But when the Martyr suddenly emerged into realspace in the Caligari Sector, Klosterheim got the chance he thought would always elude him. Assisted by Sergeant Caius Thorn of the Stormwatchers Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes that had long aided the Inquisition in its efforts in the sector, Klosterheim launched an assault upon the battlecruiser, only to lose most of his warband to the servants of Nurgle who now controlled the great ship. It would fall to another Inquisitor to complete the quest for the Martyr and end the threat it represented to all the people of the Caligari Sector.
Culture[]
The Caligari Sector, like most sectors of the Imperium, is home to many different Human cultures spread across its myriad worlds. For instance, on one of them, the population are no more than primitive, pre-industrial tribes, while there are other planets in the sector classified as Feudal Worlds and Civilised Worlds. There are relatively few worlds in this backwater sector which maintain hive cities.
Most of the worlds of the Caligari Sector are under the rule of the Adeptus Administratum, though the Tech-priests of Mars maintain an Adeptus Mechanicus presence as well centred on the Forge World of Thule.
The Imperial Cult is strong in the Caligari Sector as it is everywhere in the Imperium, and the Cult Mechanicus' belief in the Machine God flourishes wherever the tech-priests gather in large numbers, though the Xenarite sect of the Mechanicus is well-established among those present in the sector. This means that the Mechanicus often has better relations with the local intelligent xenos species present in the sector, including the Craftworld Aeldari.
However, the sector is rife with Chaos subversion, particularly by servants of the Chaos God Nurgle, and Chaos Cults operate across its worlds. The Drukhari have also become more active in recent years, raiding the sector's worlds in their ever-present search for more innocent souls who can suffer and die for their pleasure.
The Inquisition maintains a powerful presence in the Caligari Sector because of the growing threats to the Imperium in the region, and its people are used to seeing the Caligari Conclave as the true seat of Imperial authority in the region.
As there is no Imperium-wide system of currency, but only localised currencies used by various worlds, sectors and merchant assaociations, all trade and commerce in the Caligari Sector is made using a currency known as the Caligari credit, or just the "credit" for short.
Notable Sub-sectors[]
Agartha Sub-sector[]
A map of the Agartha Sub-sector of the Caligari Sector
The Agartha Sub-sector is a sub-sector of the Caligari Sector. Agartha is a mostly forgotten corner of the Caligari Sector and is a poorly documented region of decaying worlds, once bustling hive cities, and beautiful but lethal planets.
For a long time, the Holy Ordos of the Inquisition have not considered this region significant and therefore it long lacked a prominent Inquisitorial presence, but this has slowly changed with the upsurge of Drukhari raids and various other anomalies throughout the sub-sector since the opening of the Great Rift.
Atroxia Sub-sector[]
A map of the Atroxia Sub-sector and its various star systems
The Atroxia Sub-sector is a sub-sector of the Caligari Sector. Deep within the darkest reaches of the Caligari Sector lies a vast area tainted by a gigantic Warp-anomaly, bathing entire star systems in sickly hues. This "Dark Nexus" served as a rift into the Immaterium which led the sub-sector to be plagued by constant assaults unleashed by the forces of Chaos, but the rift was eventually closed by the forces of the Imperium, though at great cost in lives. However, ever since, Atroxia has remained a hotbed of Chaos corruption in the Caligari Sector.
Several solar decades ago, a Tyranid hive fleet appeared on the fringes of the sub-sector, heading towards Forge World Thule. The grace of the Emperor and the sacrifice of millions of Astra Militarum soldiers saved the sub-sector, but recent events indicate that the eventual destruction of the hive fleet may have only delayed the inevitable return of the Great Devourer.
Sigil Sub-sector[]
The Sigil Sub-sector is a sub-sector of the Caligari Sector.
Tenebra Sub-sector[]
The Tenebra Sub-sector and its various star systems.
The Tenebra Sub-sector includes some of the oldest worlds in the sector. Some of these planets were colonised by Humans as early as the Dark Age of Technology, while others were claimed by the early Imperium during the Great Crusade of the late 30th Millennium.
As the region is relatively free from the infamous Caligari Warpsurges, the lack of these extremely unpredictable miniature Warp storms allowed a lengthy period of economic growth and progress to ensue during which only a dozen systems were lost to the Warp or cut off from the Imperium.
For a considerable length of time the core Tenebra worlds have remained relatively peaceful and important, far from the great clashes in the galaxy, but the shift in the power structure to other, more vibrant regions in the expanding sector eventually left this sub-sector overlooked and forgotten.
The Tenebra Sub-sector is rich in ancient technology -- such as unique xenos artefacts, carefully guarded by one of the local sects of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
The Tenebra Sub-sector also has its fair share of shadowy corners over which the Inquisition must keep constant vigil. But the Inquisition has only just begun to investigate certain disturbances that could be tied to the sub-sector's uncanny relics.
Triglav Sub-sector[]
A map of the Trigalv Sub-sector and its various star systems
For a long time, the Triglav Sub-sector used to be one of the most important industrial hubs in the Caligari Sector, with entire planets dedicated to the manufacture of industrial products, an impressive list of productive Mining Worlds and several very ancient Hive Worlds founded during the age of the Great Crusade.
The abundance of the infamous Caligari Warpsurges in this sub-sector, however, always made the transportation of the manufactured goods problematic and costly, and some sector governors in the past decided to increase the industrial output of other sub-sectors, leaving the Triglav systems somewhat neglected.
With the recent and inexplicable rise in Warpsurge activity, the entire sub-sector was cut off entirely from the rest of the Imperium for a very long time until just recently and the solar decades of isolation had terrible consequences on the worlds of the sub-sector that lost the protection of the God-Emperor.
Principle Worlds of the Agartha Sub-sector[]
Gwaelod System[]
Augur Complex QJ-72 (Death World)[]
The sun of the Gwaelod System is surrounded by a strange Warp anomaly, which was deemed extremely dangerous by the Adeptus Mechanicus' astro-seers, those tech-priests engaged in the study of the stars. This newly erected augur research station complex on this Death World in the system is monitoring the anomaly every local day and night, searching for any sign of incoming Warpsurges.
The constant exposure to the energies of the Warp causes strange anomalies and blackouts. Service here is considered a test of persistence in service to the Omnissiah, even for the most battle-hardened Tech-priests.
Cravis-09 (Mining World)[]
The atmosphere of this deceptively beautiful Mining World is a cocktail of toxic substances. Spending a few solar months on the surface without advanced air filtering gear means certain death for any unaugmented Human. This fact was an irrelevant nuisance for the Adeptus Mechanicus expedition when they visited the planet and found huge adamantium deposits below the world's vast oceans.
The hastily erected mining colonies are teeming with mind-wiped servitors, while the more valuable personnel remain safely ensconced in the Mechanicus void stations which circle the planet, providing a total population of about 35,000 people.
Ebines (Feral World)[]
Ebines is a desolate Feral World far away from any of the Caligari Sector's primary trade routes. It used to be a densely populated, thriving Imperial Agri-world and mementos of this past are still rusting away under the methane-rich skies. Imperial authority is merely formal here, with the last appointed planetary governor disappearing standard centuries ago. Small, barbaric communities of primitive Humans are hiding in the vast, underground cavern complexes. Local myths tell tales of the fall of their civilisation, ruined by huge, blood-drinking metal beasts that fell from the skies.
Fort of Echoes (Fort Blood) (Star Fort)[]
This silent and dark star fort in the Gwaelod System is a mystery. The gargantuan library of the Adeptus Administratum headquarters in the Caligari Sector lacks any records of this place and the Rogue Traders of the Agartha Sub-sector seem to be uncharacteristically silent about the fortification. Even requests sent to the Inquisitorial archives of the Caligari Conclave come back without any results. The only clue is a cryptic warning from the Stormwatchers Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes about the "Fort of Echoes."
The Fort of Echoes originally served the Stormwatchers, before their brethren who fell to Chaos and became the Khornate Heretic Astartes warband known as the Voidrippers corrupted the star fort, renamed it "Fort Blood" and transformed it into their base in realspace. The Voidrippers did not know, however, that several of their Loyalist Stormwatcher battle-brothers had survived the warband's purge.
In the Era Indomitus the Caligari Conclave of the Inquisition soon discovered the seemingly abandoned Fort Blood and entered the star fort. During the course of their exploration, Sergeant Caius Thorn of the Stormwatchers and the Inquisitor who had recovered him from the battlecruiser Martyr discovered evidence that it had once been used by the Stormwatchers and then proceeded to reactivate the star fort. As its power system came on, this awoke the Voidrippers who had been slumbering in suspended animation. The Chaos Space Marines aboard the star fort in turn warned their brethren who remained in the Warp, before confronting the interlopers.
The first to do so was the Chaos Champion Gladius Feralt and he was surprised to see that Sergeant Thorn remained alive. Feralt revealed that the Voidrippers were all former Stormwatcher Astartes to a disbelieving Thorn. The Chaos Champion told Thorn that the Voidrippers had thought all their remaining Loyalist brothers were dead. The enraged Thorn attacked Feralt while denying his words. The Inquisitor joined Thorn and the Chaos Champion was slain by their hands.
Other Voidrippers emerged to attack the Loyalists, but the two destroyed the Anchor-machines that were keeping the Blood Fort from being dragged into the Warp rift that the Heretic Astartes had opened in its lower levels. While the majority of the Chaos Space Marines aboard Fort Blood escaped before the star fort was consumed by the sudden growth of the Warp rift, Renegades now knew that Loyalist Stormwatchers still lived. This led them to emerge from the Warp and begin a Black Crusade to destroy the remains of their old Chapter once and for all, as a glorious offering to their new patron Chaos God, Khorne.
Twin Hel (Feral Worlds)[]
This strange binary planet is a riddle to even the most revered astro-seers of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The erratic dance of these almost inhabitable planets defies every astronomical model or calculation. Another enigma is the presence of the scattered nomadic Human tribes that somehow manage to survive in the scorched wastelands of these twin Feral Worlds.
There are some unconfirmed rumours about an ancient, ruined xenos city buried beneath the ash. After a few unfortunate expeditions, the Adeptus Mechanicus gave up on these barren planets, and even the most adventurous Rogue Traders evade them.
Ormeus System[]
Boron Primaris (Hive World)[]
Severely overpopulated even by Hive World standards with its 34 billion people, this planet was slowly infiltrated by Drukhari agents who over the course of many standard centuries opened a string of Webway gates that remained dormant for untold Terran millennia.
When the sadistic xenos succeeded, Boron Primaris was swiftly overran in one of the largest Drukhari slave raids in Imperial history, leaving entire hive cities scraped clean of Human life, soon to be taken over by Heretics, Chaos Cultists and underhive scum.
Minos (Star Fort)[]
Minos is an ancient Imperial star fort that survived the Drukhari raids on the Ormeus System unscathed and served as a safe haven for millions of wealthy refugees from less fortunate planets. Now impossibly overpopulated and home to some 48 million desperate refugees, rampant crime, heresy, and recreational massacres were thriving behind its plasteel walls until an Inquisitorial purge restored a semblance of order. However, large sections of the station remain beyond Imperial control.
Ormeus I (Industrial World)[]
The Industrial World of Ormeus I suffered the brunt of the Drukhari raids in the Ormeus System in the Era Indomitus, but with the help of the gun-servitor herds of the local industrial barons, the Ormean Planetary Defence Force managed to destroy most of the Webway gates before the Human population of 3 billion people was heavily depleted.
With the xenos threat eliminated, a civil war has erupted over the redistribution of resources in the wake of the damage done to the world's infrastructure.
Ormeus II (Hive World)[]
Ormeus II is a once bustling Hive World of 11 billion people that used to be regularly "harvested" for slaves by Drukhari raiders, driving billions into slavery until less than a tenth of its original population was left, turning habitat spires and manufactoria belts into ghost cities.
Forced resettlement of the planet is currently underway by the Navis Imperialis, as the world cannot be allowed to lay idle for long without major damage to the Imperium's war machine in the sector.
Sacra Acephal (Cardinal World)[]
Sacra Acephal is a magnificent Cardinal World of the Adeptus Ministorum that is home to 16 billion people where the highest echelons of the ruling Ecclesiarchy clergy were corrupted by the Drukhari by using a fake cult that offered "communion with the Emperor's flesh." The conspiracy was exposed only after hundreds of millions disappeared on false pilgrimages that actually ended in the waiting slave pens of Commorragh.
The resulting rebellion against the Ecclesiarchy has left the planet crippled by civil war and ripe for a full-on xenos invasion by the Drukhari or other hostile species.
Sacred Vault HS-1011[]
Phaera System[]
Astigma Binary (Void Station)[]
Astigma Binary is a void station operated by the Adeptus Mechanicus's Genetors, one of many that monitors and studies the epidemical deformities and mutations of the Human genome discovered on neighbouring planets.
Industrial-scale, pre-mortem dissections point to a malevolent radiation emitted by derelict xenos structures in the system. Some sectors of the station are sealed off due to security breaches and extreme contamination. Approximately 235,000 personnel live and work on the station.
Bahamut (Mining World)[]
Bahamut is a forbidding Mining World littered with xenos ruins and vast Imperial mining complexes that provide the much-needed ore for the development of the system. It is infamous for the psychically reactive, howling winds that drive the menial workers to insanity or self-mutilation.
Adeptus Mechanicus excavation sites are frequently closed down or purged due to Warp anomalies, which may also be driving the winds. Bahamut is home to 424 million people, most of whom are menial workers in the mines.
Phaera IV (Hive World)[]
This full-blown Hive World of 43 billion people started out as a Magos Biologis test site intended to gauge the effects of retrieved xenos archeotech on the Human mind and corpus, which led to frequent mass purges of the population due to rampant mutation and social instability. Some long-term biological consequences of these experiments are treated by releasing undisclosed chemical agents into the troposphere.
Phaera Prime (Industrial World)[]
The Industrial World of Phaera Prime, home to some 12 billion Imperial citizens, is the industrial powerhouse of the Phaera System, built right upon the ruins of an extinct xenos civilisation. Despite its vast manufactoria, production quotas are frequently not met due to inexplicable anomalies and Machine Spirit aberrations that can only be banished through electro-exorcism. Some Adeptus Mechanicus excavations of the xenos ruins have turned whole underhives into quarantine zones.
Port Therion (Void Station)[]
Port Therion serves as the commercial and xeno-archeological hub of the region, its 2 million permanent residents and tens of millions more transients loosely supervised by Rogue Trader dynasties and Adeptus Mechanicus-appointed tech-priest enforcers. Port Therion's authorities tend to turn a blind eye to smuggling and lesser illicit activities as long as Adeptus Mechanicus privileges on any recovered xenos artefacts are respected.
As a result, Port Therion is closely monitored by the Ordo Xenos of the Caligari Conclave for selective purges to ensure this "Cold Trade" in xenotech does not develop into a grave threat to the sector.
Tarantir System[]
Ascalon (Hive World/Space Marine Chapter Homeworld/War World)[]
Ascalon is a bustling, yet strangely isolated Hive World of 77 billion people, with the only operable voidport located at the gigantic Ascalon I hive city, which is protected by a circle of heavily fortified bastions and fortresses. Movement between the hive cities of the world requires special permissions, with the local Astra Militarum and Planetary Defence Force units always being on high alert. Only the highest-ranking military commanders and planetary officials know that this world is also the home of the secretive Stormwatchers Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes, who are close allies to the Caligari Conclave of the Inquisition, essentially serving as its Chamber Militant.
Ascalon was chosen as the new, secret homeworld of the Stormwatchers after the Chapter had been nearly destroyed when most of its brethren were seduced into the service of Khorne and became the Heretic Astartes of the Voidrippers warband. Those who refused to be turned to Chaos were killed by their corrupted battle-brothers and when they believed the last of the Loyalists had been hunted down, the Heretics formally established the Voidrippers. The Voidrippers vanished into the Warp, but were unaware that a few Loyalist Stormwatchers had survived the Voidrippers' purge. With the aid of the Inquisitors of the Caligari Conclave, the survivors were able to rebuild the Stormwatchers Chapter and Ascalon was chosen as their new homeworld. To ensure the Voidrippers would not return, the Chapter and the Caligari Conclave worked together to keep the Stormwatchers' existence a secret. In time, only the Chapter's Grand Masters and the Caligari Conclave's upper echelons knew the truth of the Chapter's continued existence and service to the Inquisition. This secrecy extended to Ascalon's people as well and despite the Stormwatchers living there and recruiting aspirants from the world to rebuild their depleted numbers, they remained hidden from its population.
This changed in in the Era Indomitus due to the actions of a low-ranking Inquisitor new to the Caligari Conclave. They were unaware of the connection between the Voidrippers and the Chapter when they entered a seemingly abandoned Stormwatchers star fort in what the Inquisitor knew was a quarantined star system. In reality, the star fort belonged to the Voidrippers and was known to the warband as the "Blood Fort." When the Inquisitor ordered that the star fortress be powered up alongside his Stormwatcher ally Sergeant Caius Thorn, the Voidrippers became aware of their presence and attacked. While the two escaped, the warband recognised Thorn for what he was and now knew that the Loyalist Stormwatchers still existed. The Voidrippers gathered their forces and launched a Black Crusade to finally destroy the remnants of their Chapter, intending it to be a glorious sacrifice to Khorne.
The Voidrippers eventually learned that Ascalon was the Stormwatchers' new homeworld and opened a Warp rift within one of its protective forts. This allowed the warband to launch a sudden invasion of Ascalon, alongside their Goreforged Chaos Cult and their other allies, the Chaos Knight Abraxas and the Khornate Daemons led by the Herald of Khorne known as the "Gore-Drenched One." This large force allowed Voidrippers to overwhelm the Stormwatchers, who were led by their Grand Master Godfrey Magnusson. Magnusson also called upon reinforcements from local Astra Militarum regiments to aid Ascalon until his Chapter's off-world Stormwatchers could return.
However the tide finally turned against the Voidrippers when the contrite Inquisitor who had entered Fort Blood and unwittingly initiated the Chaos invasion arrived with the Freeblade Knight Ambrose Caradoc. Their strength allowed the Stormwatchers to close the captured fort's Warp rift and stopped the Voidrippers from receiving any further reinforcements through the Immaterium. This was a decisive blow to the warband's invasion and resulted in heavy losses, including the death of their leader the Chaos Champion Golgarth. Despite this, though, the remnants of the Voidrippers continued to fight to the death from their captured fortress on Ascalon.
Ascalon Choir Relay Station (Astropathic Relay Station)[]
This ancient and heavily fortified astropathic relay station, home to some 48 million inhabitants, is the home of the only astropathic choir in the Agartha Sub-sector. This is the main hub of communication with the Imperium outside the system and sub-sector and due to its importance, it is guarded by an elite detachment of Stormwatchers Space Marines, led by the Chapter's most experienced Librarian.
There are sinister rumours about a secret laboratory in place on the void station under the supervision of the Inquisition, where unfortunate psykers are forced to commune with the unholy powers of the Warp.
Laparus-Kappa (Industrial World)[]
Laparus-Kappa is a barren, desolate Industrial World of 3 billion people under the control of the Adeptus Administratum devoted wholly to manufacturing weapons and equipment for the Stormwatchers Chapter and the local Astra Militarum regiments. The work in the huge subterranean habs and manufactoria never stops -- mindless servitors, common workers and the tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus work shoulder-to-shoulder to keep the Imperial war machine rolling.
Several standard centuries ago the Adeptus Mechanicus evaluated the option to elevate the planet in status into a fully operational Forge World but abandoned the plan due to logistical problems and increasing Warpsurge activity in the system.
Neron-Y920 Belt (Asteroid Belt)[]
Port Rigava (Void Station)[]
Port Rigava is the main outpost of the Navis Imperialis in the Agartha Sub-sector. Once it was a proud Navis Imperialis station packed with cruisers and battleships, but a daring Drukhari raid crippled a large percentage of the once mighty local Caligari Battlefleet.
According to the estimation of the High Admiralty of the Segmentum Tempestus at the Segmentum Fortress on Bakka, rebuilding the sector's battlefleet will take several solar decades, therefore these days Port Rigava is primarily used by the fleets of Rogue Traders. It is home to 6 million people, the majority of them Navis Imperialis personnel, their contractors and Rogue Trader crews.
Principal Worlds of the Atroxia Sub-sector[]
Draco System[]
The Draco System of the Atroxia Sub-sector
The Draco System is located within the Atroxia Sub-sector. It is a system with a major Adeptus Administratum presence and is described as the heart and nerve centre for the entire sub-sector, with entire cities dedicated simply to running the whole of Atroxia.
Cascada Prime (Hive World)[]
Home to 397 billion people, Cascada Prime is a bustling, toxic and decadent Hive World where Planetary Governor Pirok is busier organising luxurious parties to entertain his lackeys than dedicating resources to fight the infection currently plaguing the underhives of many of the world's hive cities. Some recent events suggest that Chaos has taken notice of the lack of political control and abundance of rebellious intent on this world.
Fort Valentinus (Star Fort)[]
An ancient star fort, all records of Fort Valentinus have been deleted from Imperial archives. In fact, it was one of the secret research sanctums of the Radical Inquisitor Lord Uther Tiberius. After his excommunication from the Inquisition, the place was investigated and used by the Inquisition for long standard centuries. After a fatal Chaos incursion occurred within the star fort as a result of the research being conducted there, it was abandoned on the orders of the Caligari Conclave.
Lauriach (Dead World/Former Aeldari Paradise World)[]
At the same time the Tyranid Hive Fleet Garmr attacked the Caligari Sector many solar decades ago, the Adeptus Mechanicus enacted an Exterminatus upon the world of Lauriach to prevent the hive fleet from consuming its biomass, which inadvertently complicated the relations between the Caligari Conclave and the Craftworld Aeldari present in the region, because this former Paradise World had been given by the Caligari Conclave into the hands of the Asuryani from Craftworld Tuathal to be used as a refuge for the evacuation of their infested craftworld's remaining population to a planet where they could find a new home.
The destruction of Lauriach and its rendering into a Dead World by the Mechanicus created a new conflict in the Caligari Sector because the xenos who now saw the Imperium as untrustworthy foes who had taken advantage of their time of weakness to wipe them out. Having little understanding of the competition and distrust that often exists between various Imperial adepts, they refused to believe that the Inquisition had not had any hand in the destruction of Lauriach.
Mining Station Omega-5 (Void Station)[]
Omega-5 is a group of several orbital mining facilities, originally founded by the Adeptus Mechanicus and populated by legions of enginseers and cybersmiths who controlled the colossal excavators tirelessly tearing apart the planet below to claim a unique mineral.
Now that the operation has been moved to other planets, the mining stations have fallen into disrepair and at any given time will give shelter to pirates, Heretics, and deserters from the Astra Militarum.
Tristam Prime (Cardinal World)[]
Tristam Prime is a Cardinal World of the Adeptus Ministorum that is home to 16 billion people. Tristam Prime has a troubled past. After the factional in-fighting for control of one of the world's temple continents led to a brutal civil war, the agents of the Caligari Conclave discovered evidence of a Chaos plot that had incited the entire conflict.
When Imperial forces intervened, the situation swiftly escalated and several huge cities, which had been burned to cinders during the punitive measures, are still uninhabitable and crawling with Chaos mutants.
Gereon System[]
Gereon Maior (Hive World)[]
The southern hemisphere of the Hive World of Gereon Maior is rich in rare mineral deposits and sprawling Imperial mining complexes dominate the landscape. The north is covered by a cluster of hive cities, with radioactive deserts separating the gigantic centres of civilisation that are home to some 213 billion Imperial citizens.
Sigma-7 Port (Void Station)[]
Septima-8 Station (Void Station)[]
Titus-IV (Hive World)[]
Titus-IV, a Hive World that was home to some 129 billion Imperial citizens, gained some notoriety among the agents of the Caligari Conclave as it necessitated the severest of purges on account of a most trivial mishap. When contaminated food was served at a Feast Gluttonicus of the world's decadent planetary governor, infecting thousands of noblemen with necrofungal spores from a notable Death World, the resulting mob of mutants spent solar days systematically massacring the entire Administratum staff trapped in the upper hive, crippling the administration of the planet for many standard years to come.
Torvald System[]
Adronicus (Mining World)[]
A failed terraforming attempt turned this Mining World into a nightmarish environment barely fit for Human colonisation, but the ground hides priceless strategic minerals, which makes the world a significant asset for the Imperium.
Since the moment the first colossal excavator started working, the entire world has been gradually consumed by grey industrial cities home to more than 2 billion people and endless processing plants, belching smoke towards the dirty skies.
Gloranthia (Mining World)[]
After many standard centuries of open-pit mining, nothing resembling natural life remains on the Mining World of Gloranthia. Giant, mobile drills crawl over the earth and vast cities home to some 742 million Imperial citizens suffer perpetual cold rain.
Due to the miserable conditions on the world, most of the Gloranthian cities and other settlements are hotbeds of heretical activity and revolts are almost continuous.
Godric (Agri-world)[]
Godric is a humid Agri-world that is home to 69 million people that is defined by its endless plains, where giant herds of genetically modified cattle graze, providing a constant supply of entirely tasteless but filling meat-paste for the Astra Militarum regiments raised in the Atroxia Sub-sector.
Morgontz (Dead World)[]
Morgontz is a Dead World that is a barren husk of a once lush and verdant planet, now shrouded in drifting clouds of ash. It suffered an Exterminatus Extremis action during the invasion of the Caligari Sector by the Tyranid Hive Fleet Garmr, but no Imperial authorities openly claimed responsibility for the destruction of Morgontz.
Theta Cluster (Void Stations)[]
The Theta Cluster is an asteroid cluster of the Torvald System that housed research sanctums for the Adeptus Mechanicus specialising in the testing of unique artefacts. When a strange xenos item was transported to one of the research stations for routine consecration, it turned out to be a relic of a former Imperial Saint, tainted by the corruption of Chaos.
The purification ritual ended in a catastrophic failure, the fabric of realspace was torn and the asteroids are still infested by entities of Chaos which crossed over from the Warp.
Ventus System[]
Arcadus (Mining World)[]
The northern hemisphere of the Mining World of Arcadus is home to colossal mountain ranges where the Astra Militarum wages a ceaseless war against a barbaric nation ruled by Unsanctioned Psykers praying to the Warp rift known as the "Dark Nexus" present in the Ventus System that paints the sky of their world purple.
These Heretics have also begun to appear in the giant industrial cities of Arcadus, which are home to 92 million people. Such a concentration of unprotected minds is a potential nest for Chaos, so the Ordo Hereticus also operates an orbital star fort here to support its agents' constant forays to the world below.
Dark Nexus (Warp rift)[]
The Dark Nexus is an unstable Warp rift created millennia ago by the will of the Dark Gods who sought to stop the Radical Inquisitor Lord Uther Tiberius and his ally, a clone of Fabius Bile, from creating a powerful new weapon against them -- the "Alpha Pariah."
Ever since, the Dark Nexus has at times erupted with Warp energies that flood the system and the Caligari Sector with Chaos Cultists, Heretic Astartes and even Daemons. Its existence is one of the reasons the Caligari Conclave is so active despite the sector's relative backwardness on the Segmentum Tempestus fronter.
Dvogorov (Quarantined World/Hive World)[]
Dvogorov is now a Quarantined World in the lethal grip of orbital star forts, but it used to be a heavily industrialised Hive World whose manufactoria churned out weapon parts for the Astra Militarum regiments of the Caligari Sector.
The unexpected appearance of Tyranid bioforms in the most populated hive city, however, forced the entire world's industry to grind to a halt; the Genetor Extremis of the sector ordered a quarantine and sent in teams of magi to study the mystery of the Tyranids still active after the annihilation of Hive Fleet Garmr. The results of these studies are classified by the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Ordo Xenos.
FLZ-672 (Fabricatus Xenos World/Feral World)[]
The region of the galaxy that became the Caligari Sector after the Imperial conquest during the Great Crusade was once ruled by an enigmatic intelligent xenos species known as the Fabricatus with their homeworld now designated FLZ-672.
This planet is now a harsh and unforgiving world under the direct control of the Adeptus Mechanicus. It lacks any noteworthy settlements, but the deserts and rocky wastelands hide countless research complexes of the tech-priests. Void travel to the world is highly restricted by the Mechanicus of the Caligari Sector.
The planet is also classified as a Feral World because it is home to approximately 2 million people, most either tech-priests or their menials, though there is a small population of pre-industrial feral Human tribes.
Maw of Madness (Star Fort)[]
The Maw of Madness is a former Imperial star fort that was turned into a laboratory by a clone of the Chaos Lord and former Emperor's Children Chief Apothecary Fabius Bile so that he could work with the Radical Inquisitor Lord Uther Tiberius to create the "Alpha Pariah" many standard millennia ago.
This desolate complex had been abandoned for a long time, until it was discovered by another clone of Fabius Bile who turned the empty halls into torture-labs and research abattoirs.
Ultima Thule System[]
The Ultima Thule System of the Atroxia Sub-sector
The Ultima Thule System of the Atroxia Sub-sector is the primary seat of the Adeptus Mechanicus in the Caligari Sector, including the biggest Forge World of the sector, Thule. Ultima Thule was hit hard solar decades ago by the invasion of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Garmr, which was beaten back by the Skitarii Legions and other military forces of the Caligari Mechanicus. Status: Pacified.
Thule (Forge World)[]
Thule, like all Forge Worlds of the Imperium, is an entire planet dedicated to the service of the Machine God by the Cult Mechanicus, and is the capital of the Adeptus Mechanicus in the Caligari Sector.
Thule is the colossal, wheezing, clanking heart of industry in the Caligari Sector. It is covered in an endless global conurbation of massive manufactoria, volcanic furnaces, and skyscraping chimneys with vast industrial output and toxic gases saturating the atmosphere. Forge World Thule has a Production Grade of I-Secundi.
Kosmas Maior (Death World)[]
The strategic promethium fields and promethium refineries located on the largest continent of Kosmas Maior, a Death World home to 117 million Imperial citizens, were attacked numerous times by the forces of Chaos after the confusion that followed the arrival of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Garmr in the Ultima Thule System solar decades ago.
The Planetary Defence Force has so far managed to defend the key fortifications from the Chaos assaults, which is of import to fleets of the Navis Imperialis operating in the sub-sector.
Kobalt (Quarantined World)[]
Kobalt is a Quarantined World that was once under the jurisdiction of the Tech-priests of Thule. The harsh climate and the huge deserts made it an ideal planet for the Adeptus Mechanicus to test their various engines of war.
During the attack of the Tyranid Hive Fleet Garmr on the Ultima Thule System, the Cult Mechanicus launched their devastating counter-attacks without proper coordination, eventually burning the planet to cinders.
Port Philon (Star Fort)[]
Port Philon is an Imperial star fort with a population of 460,000 people that serves as a bustling orbital dockyard under the jurisdiction of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The giant asteroid it orbits used to be a mining colony.
Heliodor II (Shrine World)[]
Heliodor II is a Shrine World of the Adeptus Ministorum dedicated to Saint Basilus, who sacrificed his own life to protect the priceless treasures of the planet's Grand Archives during the devastating Tyranid invasion of the Ultma Thule System by Hive Fleet Garmr. Within the labyrinthine tunnels of the capital city there is a separate, city-sized section that belongs to the Holy Ordos.
Principal Worlds of the Tenebra Sub-sector[]
Aethon System[]
The Aethon System is located within the Tenebra Sub-sector. The Aethon System is a very old and relatively peaceful system which has been spared the Caligari Warpsurges, making it a safe haven in the sub-sector. However, it is also considered a backwater system with no real significance. Status: Pacified.
Aethon Prime (Hive World)[]
Aethon Prime is a Hive World that is home to 39 billion people. This vast mass of hive cities has an almost unparalleled history that goes back several standard millennia, even including a short period when the world was the seat of power of the entire Caligari Sector.
As one of the oldest worlds in the sector, its past is hazy, but supposedly the first hive city of the planet was founded upon xenos ruins. Deep under the steel caves there is still rumoured to be a whole xenos city, although spreading such tales is considered heresy.
Carnus Maxima (Void Station)[]
Carnus Maxima is a derelict Imperial orbital platform turned into a void station providing cheap pleasures for millions of underfed workers, criminals and Astra Militarum guardsmen. An army of criminals peddles recreational drugs and recycled food.
The station is heavily infiltrated by Heretics and mutants, but Imperial officers still hesitate to shut down the outpost due to its calming effect on the masses of the Aethon System.
Iona V (Agri-world)[]
Iona V is an Ocean World and Agri-world covered by a vast archipelago, where large flotillas harvest the local aquatic species of fauna and deliver the catch to the gigantic processing plants scattered all over the islands. Unconfirmed rumours have been spreading of a mysterious xenos species inhabiting the lightless depths for a very long time now, and the Genetors of the Adeptus Mechanicus maintain several research temples on the planet.
Tartarus IV (Death World)[]
Tartarus IV is a frozen Death World that was first inhabited by a colony of penitents living under the surface for standard centuries. It has grown into a vast network of underground cities, but the original vaults are dying.
Prolonged Warpsurges that afflicted the planet created a Chaos phenomenon called "creeping ice" on the northern hemisphere, which devours anything that produces heat. The population of the affected areas live inside armoured vaults, eventually to be cracked open by the ice anomaly.
Balthar System[]
There is little recent information in Imperial records regarding this binary star system that is part of the Tenebra Sub-sector. The Balthar System is a recently reclaimed system which had been cut off from the Imperium for long standard centuries by a particularly vicious Warpsurge. This isolation has led to the slow decay of civilisation in the system, with the population sliding into depravity and heresy. Status: Threatened.
Aphagia Minor (Mining World)[]
A mining moon of the larger world of Aphagia, Aphagia Minor is mostly covered by a large ocean where promethium pumps are still toiling mindlessly in the sluggish, contaminated waters, but there is no one to attend the ancient machines. The Imperial mining settlements were destroyed during the long period of isolation for the Balthar System due to the Warpsurges and Chaos Spawn are running amok amidst the ruins.
Argon Prime (Hive World)[]
Argon Prime is a semitropical Hive World of overbuilt hive cities and also the founding world of an Astra Militarum regiment. After the first solar decades of isolation of the Balthar System wrought by the Warpsurge, the general staff of the Argon Prime regiments declared a state of emergency until events returned to normal.
It was some standard centuries before the isolation was over when the Warpsurge weakened enough to allow transport and communications between the Balthar System and the rest of the sector. During this time, the temporary measure gave way to a full-fledged military dictatorship in the name of the Emperor, which is refusing to acknowledge its heretical ways even now.
Penal Colony Merciless Grace (Penal World)[]
A terraformed prison moon, where the long Terran centuries of isolation of the Balthar System first saw the fall of the Imperial wardens and the rise of the rabble, led by unscreened psykers emerging from the ranks of the prisoners.
Now Merciless Grace is a nightmarish hell-pit of savages, mutation and heresy, where the former prison complex has been torn into zones of warring Chaos tribes fighting for the control of the subterranean vaults and the mines above, all in the name of the mysterious entity known only as the "Withered Child."
Eye of Balthar (Void Station)[]
The Eye of Balthar is a void station and Imperial observation platform orbiting the world of Balthar that is anchored at a safe distance from the unholy protrusion of the Warp into realspace in the Balthar System that is protected by warding runes. It also requires regular and thorough spiritual cleansing for the Tech-priests who remain aboard monitoring the still-extant Warpsurge that once isolated the Balthar System from the rest of the sector for many standard centuries.
These Tech-priests hope to discover new clues to the mystery of what is causing the Caligari Warpsurges. Due to the proximity of the Warp rift, the Inquisition insists on regular visits by its agents to mind-wipe the station's personnel.
Marax (Death World)[]
A grim Death World, where the Terran centuries of isolation of the Balthar System only brought destruction and death. No one knows how it all began, but the Warpsurges brought heretical wars and Daemonic incursions onto the planet, and Imperial rule was crushed in the end. Now Marax is a Chaos-corrupted planet with cities blasted to ruins and pockets of survivors living in the extensive subterranean tunnel systems beneath the old settlements.
Viridian III (Archeotech Void Station)[]
This strange void station in orbit of the world of Viridia is a relic of lost knowledge from the Dark Age of Technology, when heretical science flourished among Humans openly.
It was discovered by an Explorator fleet of the Adeptus Mechanicus and it was only opened to Imperial citizens after several standard centuries of research and purification by the Tech-priests. Some mysterious levels of the station still fall under the sole jurisdiction of the Mechanicus.
Chernobog System[]
There is little information in Imperial records regarding this system which is part of the Tenebra Sub-Sector. Status: Pacified.
Merciful Agony MCXII (Hospital-Fortress Void Station)[]
This hospital-fortress void station employs a legion of trained medicae chirurgeons and med-servitors. It is not an ordinary infirmary, but a facility dedicated to the treatment of Inquisitors and their agents and also a secret biomedical research station.
The fortress is equipped with equipment blessed by the Machine God, and a separate ward deals with Inquisitors who want to undergo some genetic modifications to enhance their combat abilities and are willing to pay the price.
Charkov (Mining World)[]
The southern mining cities of the Mining World of Charkov produce rare minerals. In the north, stalagmite-like monolithic pillars jut out of the crystalline deserts, and it is here that Humankind made its home on Charkov, high up on these crags like birds building haphazard nests.
The region had spawned several Chaos Cults in the past like the Screaming Prophets or The Crawl, so the Caligari Conclave keeps an eye on this planet from its orbital void station, trying to learn what might cause this infrequent plague of heresies from time to time.
Desolation Sigma (Star Fort)[]
An abandoned star fort, undeniably Human in design, but everything has been meticulously removed that could have shed some light on the original inhabitants. The maze of fortified vaults operates autonomously, opening up specific chambers at any given time. Inquisitors with psychic abilities describe the fortress as a huge black heart, beating ever so faintly, sending out unknown psychic signals into the aether.
Kardian II (Death World)[]
This Death World has been under Adeptus Mechanicus quarantine for several standard centuries, due to the discovery of a particularly large number of city-sized machines that once belonged to a now-extinct xenos species. The unfortunate, but unavoidable consequence of this quarantine was the demise of the local Human population, and now only savages roam this graveyard of long-forgotten technologies.
Malcorum Prime (Industrial World/War World)[]
Formerly an Astra Militarum staging world with vast fortresses housing millions of guardsmen, Malcorum Prime is now a war-torn Industrial World that has fallen under the heel of the Archenemy.
Imperial forces have been wiped out by the combined onslaught of a Chaos Cult insurgency and a Chaos invasion fleet that translated into realspace directly over the benighted planet. Without a proper Imperial response, Malcorum Prime is bound to turn into a Daemonic cesspit, which may even lead to the demise of the entire Chernobog System.
Saint Abelard Relay Station (Void Station)[]
One of the big commercial hubs of the sub-sector, this heavily fortified void station has a secluded monastery-pylon, which serves as a very important astropathic relay station, transmitting messages, encrypted manifestos and highly confidential code-psalms to the various star systems in the sub-sector.
Dagnor System[]
The Dagnor System is a densely populated system and the administrative centre of the Tenebra Sub-sector. The bustling hive cities here are teeming with Administratum officials and clans of menials who serve the machine of the Imperial bureaucracy.
The local branch of the Administratum is rumoured to have close ties to various crime syndicates and have a tendency to ignore any serious problems unless they directly affect the production rates of the industrial belts and Hive Worlds of the system and the sub-sector it governs. Due to rampant poverty and corruption the number of suspicious religious sects are rising. Status: Locked.
Dagnor Primaris (Hive World)[]
Dagnor Primaris is an overpopulated Hive World, where vast levels are dedicated to nothing but the dark labyrinths of the Administratum: petitioners sometimes spend solar months on these corridors while waiting for their appointments and submitting hundreds of forms to officials.
In the Upper Hive lives the governor of the Tenebra Sub-sector in his colossal palace of Dagnorian living marble. The gargantuan hive cities are powered by ancient geothermic power plants, which connect straight to the planetary core.
Mundi Pius (Shrine World)[]
Named after a wandering Imperial Saint, this decaying Shrine World of 940 million people is being torn apart by hallucinogen abuse, theological gang wars and Chaos Cultist infiltration. The corruption is so deep that demotion to Hive World status is just a matter of time.
Drug-fuelled dogmatic orgies, pilgrimages for tainted salvation wafers and fake absolution papers are the main sources of its "attraction." Purgation by the Inquisition pending.
Port Ascalon (Void Station)[]
This ancient orbital void station circling the world of Ascalon has plenty of docking facilities, but it has seen better days. The sacred machines keeping the space station alive are prone to breakdowns, even under the constant vigil of the Tech-priests, and an entire sub-level was cut off from the main areas, providing shelter for undesirable elements, so it requires a thorough cleansing from time to time.
Vismar Minoris (Death World)[]
Formerly a bustling Hive World, Vismar Minoris is now just a deserted shell after a necroplague killed off almost the entire Human population. It has become a lifeless wasteland and a Death World, forsaken by the Emperor, visited only by the most daring Rogue Trader dynasties. These foolhardy scavengers gain fat profit on salvaged industrial equipment, unknowingly spreading the now-dormant plague through the system.
Lacaon System[]
This system was once the heart of the separatist Lacaon Empire which sought independence from the Imperium and ultimately fell to Chaos. The most densely populated world in the system, Draquis Alpha, was destroyed by an Exterminatus action ordered by the Caligari Conclave. The remaining worlds in the system remain hotbeds of heresy and sedition. Status: Threatened.
Draquis Alpha (Dead World)[]
This now-barren Dead World used to be the crown jewel of the separatist Lacaon Empire, noted for filling corpses with strong spirits before burial for conservation: drinking this "corpse liquor" used to be a sign of respect for the dead.
The recent heretical upsurges and the consequent Chaos incursion engulfed the entire planet so fast that the Inquisition had no choice but to order an Exterminatus. Whole continents have been burnt to cinders and even if there might be still some remnants of Human civilisation, for the time being the world has been declared dead.
Entropy Omega (Star Fort)[]
This Adeptus Mechanicus star fort was found deserted after long isolation and it was only recently repopulated by a contingent of Tech-priests. However, its maze of tunnels hasn't been properly explored, purged and blessed by holy oils and tech-chants yet.
The star fort is under Cult Mechanicus supervision in theory, but after some disturbing accidents the Inquisition considers the place unholy ground, which has led to squabbles between the two Imperial organisations over jurisdiction.
Lacaon Majoris (Feudal World)[]
A Chaos warfleet has arrived in orbit of this Feudal World. Navis Imperialis voidships have responded by establishing a strong defensive formation, but not before a large Chaos force succeeded in boarding the key orbital defence star fort. The first stage of this invasion revolves around the control of this critical asset that is protecting the planet from a full ground assault.
Lacaon VI (Feudal World)[]
This unenlightened Feudal World surrendered to the Imperial forces when the archaic Lacaon Empire armada was annihilated in the Synon region. After prolonged exposure to the local population, several Astra Militarum regiments sided with the priest-king of the planet, who turned out to be a puppet of the Ruinous Powers taking root in the system. The traitorous act was met with massive orbital bombardment and the conflict shows no signs of abating at present.
Lacaon IX (Feral World)[]
A now-Feral World whose mines are already depleted. Local Warpsurges awakened a huge number of psykers during the planet's isolation, making Daemonic influence endemic among the barbarians, who have short lifespans. Rebels have attempted to turn the possessed against the Astra Militarum. Some Ordo Malleus factions have blocked the total purge of Lacaon IX for undisclosed reasons.
War Zone Synon[]
This is a debris-filled zone of the Lacaon System, where a combined armada of chemical-rocket-powered gun barges and explosive-laden siege boats suffered a crushing defeat against vastly technologically superior Imperial battleships.
Now the wreckfield is inhabited by Heretics and void nomads selling salvaged materials to scrap merchants. There are reports of whole colonies of these folk disappearing when Warpsurges sweep over the area.
Nereus System[]
A war-torn system in the Tenebra Sub-sector, Nereus was once a thriving hub of agricultural activity, well protected from severe Warpsurges. It fed the rest of the sub-sector with crops of grain and the meat of bovine creatures raised from amongst its carefully maintained herds.
The birth of the Great Rift unleashed an unprecedented period of instability across the Caligari Sector, as it did on many regions of the Imperium across the galaxy at this time. Though the sector remained in the Imperium Sanctus and the Astronomican's light continued to shine upon its worlds however dimly, multiple enemy factions began to assault the sector's worlds, including the xenos like the Craftworld Aeldari, their dark Drukhari kin, and the continuing depredations of the remains of Hive Fleet Garmr.
Assaults by the worshippers of Chaos also became increasingly common in the Caligari Sector as a wave of rebellions and uprisings initiated by newly active Chaos Cults began to plague the worlds of the sector. Additionally, at Nereus III, the Chaos Lord Abaddon the Despoiler ordered Heretic Astartes forces comprised of elements drawn from the Black Legion, Alpha Legion and the Word Bearers to launch an assault that was one of many Chaos operations across the galaxy intended to divide and distract Imperial forces while the Despoiler unleashed his ultimately successful 13th Black Crusade upon Cadia.
While this expedition was ultimately defeated by the local Imperial forces, the Nereus System is now a troubled region that has fallen prey to periodic raids by marauding Human and Drukhari corsairs, and is marked by repeated Chaos eruptions on many of its worlds. Status: Threatened.
Unholy Cathedral (Death World)[]
Although all mentions of this nightmarish moon and Death World were erased from the Imperial archives, a group of corrupted Ecclesiarchy priests managed to find its celestial location. When they began an excavation to unearth a ruined Imperial cathedral, they awakened a Chaos artefact. The results were catastrophic: the cathedral is a tainted place now, teeming with blasphemous and Daemonic creatures.
Citadel Tempestus (Star Fort)[]
This orbital star fort plays a key role in keeping the occasional intrusion of Chaos forces into the sub-sector under control. It is a bustling nexus of Imperial military activity with a significant presence of all the Inquisitorial ordos and serves as the primary headquarters of the Caligari Conclave of the Inquistion.
Mining Station 121 (Void Station)[]
Dragged into the Immaterium by a sudden Warpsurge, this mining station has been turned into a Daemon-infested nightmare, acting as an unstable gateway between reality and the Realm of Chaos.
Nereus II (Agri-world)[]
An Agri-world where strictly enforced bio-quarantine and millions of mind-scrubbed menials limited the spread of heretical filth to the more populated areas, turning the cities into wretched mazes of death.
Nereus II is most famous across the sector for a local insect analogue species which burrows into flesh and a gene-crafted crop with high nutritional value that causes irreversible mental degradation.
Nereus III (Feudal World)[]
A Feudal World ruled by feudal lords who worship a barbaric aspect of the God-Emperor, this world provided bovine meat and military conscripts for Mankind. Since Imperial reinforcements arrived, the heretical nobility has been forced into hiding.
The local Administratum turns a blind eye to illicit trade and criminal activities as long as anyone accused of witchcraft is thrown onto the cleansing pyres. Nereus III is infamous for its slave fighting pits.
Nereus IV (Death World)[]
This Death World used to be the largest breeder of livestock in the sub-sector, where the extreme overpopulation of the grazing beasts led to high methane concentrations in the air. When the atmosphere was set alight by a mutant cult, the firestorms devastated the planet.
Most of the surviving population dwells underground, selling the bones and ashes from the surface to other planets as fertiliser. Subterranean warfare with the Chaos Cults and mutants resulted in heavy Imperial losses.
Rengris System[]
The Rengris System of the Tenebra Sub-sector was cut off from the rest of the Caligari Sector by a sudden -- and particularly vicious -- Warpsurge more than five standard years ago. Before that time, it was a major hub of commerce in the sub-sector and the local base of operations for one of the sector's most reputable merchant organisations, House Mosinda.
Rengris VII (Mining World/Industrial World)[]
Rengris VII, an Industrial World and a Mining World, was a planet of builders. A heavily industrialised world, trade with the rest of the sector soon burgeoned, which made the planet rich as long as it lasted. It was to this place in the sector's economic balance that Rengris VII's planetary governor sought to return once the Warpsurge that isolated the Rengris System five Terran years ago abated.
Rengris had the raw materials to produce anything, and the capabilities to do so. The Imperium's automated heavy metal mining platforms had long since eroded the world's hills, emitting poisonous particles into the air, and then scouring the land for the metal after it settled.
The planetary nobility and other members of the planetary elite lived in platform cities high in the mountains, or on great, city-like dirigibles suspended in the lower atmosphere, while the masses of the world toiled in hardship on the toxic surface to recover ever more raw materials to feed the Imperial war machine.
Principal Worlds of the Triglav Sub-sector[]
Aureus System[]
The Aureus System is located in the Triglav Sub-sector. Even before solar decades of isolation claimed it due to the region's Warpsurges, the Aureus System had an infamous reputation as a region with a long history of disasters that affected the local worlds. These events slowly led to the rise of doomsday sects, despite the efforts of the priests of the Adeptus Ministorum to prevent such heresy.
At the same time, the surveyor expeditions of the Adeptus Mechanicus measured strange anomalies in the radiance of the local sun, but these results were later dismissed as "unconvincing speculation." The Caligari Conclave tends to keep an eye on these planets in case the unfortunate events that have defined their past escalate into something more threatening to the sector as a whole.
Basilica Aureus (Star Fort)[]
The Basilica Aureus is a majestic orbital cathedral and void station of the Ecclesiarchy that serves as the seat of the cardinal appointed to over see the Imperial Cult's faithful in the Triglav Sub-sector. This vast and lavishly decorated maze is a city in the sky, teeming with Imperial citizens, with separate levels for cloisters, scriptoriums and archives, not to mention the chambers reserved for the cardinal himself -- all with a splendid view of the planet Aureus below.
Taranus Belt[]
This orbital rust belt, the remnant of an ancient void battle between the Navis Imperialis and a Chaos warfleet, is now teeming with void nomads and pirates. The floating, colossal derelicts hide countless heretical covens and they have been marked by the Inquisition as locations with an extremely high potential for Daemonic incursion.
Aureus Relay Station (Void Station)[]
This heavily fortified astropathic relay void station used to be the main astropathic conduit to the rest of the Caligari Sector, gathering and transmitting the most important messages and encrypted code-psalms from the Triglav Sub-sector to the other sub-sectors.
Fort Cael (Star Fort)[]
An ancient star fort, now abandoned, although the reasons for the sudden closure are still classified. Rogue Traders operating in the region claim that a long time ago corrupted Ecclesiarchy priests awakened a Chaos artefact stored deep in the bowels of the fort, unleashing a dreadful catastrophe. But that could just be a rumour.
Tyres Kappa (Dead World)[]
A long-vacated, deserted ruin of a Fortress World that is now a Dead World still home to some 17 million people. The barely operational orbital docks are still manned as a base for the Navis Imperialis.
The severely polluted surface harbours a high-security prison complex, Astra Militarum barracks and uninhabited and unused astropathic listening stations. Following some undisclosed experiments, some sections of the planet were sealed off and classified as "Tainted".
Clamoris System[]
Another casualty of the vicious Caligari Warpsurges, the Clamoris System in the Trigav Sub-sector has been cut off from the rest of the Imperium for generations. The system used to be the hub of administration in the sub-sector, but the prolonged isolation was enough to reveal signs of deterioration, heresy and moral rot, which demands thorough Inquisitorial attention from now on. Status: Threatened.
Belgorsk III (Hive World)[]
As the former bureaucratic hub and primary Hive World of the sub-sector, the biggest hive city of Belgorsk III also contains the archives -- whole cities of registries, filing chambers and data vaults -- all sentenced to oblivion when the sub-sector lost its significance thousands of Terran years ago. Servitors and mindless scribe-drones still toil away in the abandoned vaults, but who knows what else might lurk in the depths among the millions of tomes and scrolls.
Clamoris Prime (Hive World)[]
This Hive World is home to three sprawling hive cities on three continents with spires that would make even the most magnificent Imperial palaces look shabby. The wealth of the powerful noble houses residing in these spectacular upper echelons comes from the immense stream of merchandise flowing through this world: they control the trading districts where merchants deal in everything imaginable, ranging from the commonplace to the exotic.
But the toll of the isolation of the Clamoris System has been heavy on the noble houses, and the sparks of dissent among them might just be the beginning of something more serious.
Clamoris Tertius (Hive World)[]
Cut off from the sector's trade routes and thus the necessary resources for generations, the monumental steel hive cities of this Hive World have already begun their inevitable descent into heresy, barbarism and decadence in the lower sections of the hives. No one can be sure just yet how much the ruling aristocracy has been affected by the unholy temptations and other threats.
Just Fortress[]
This is the Rogue Trader starship of Lord-Captain Nathanael Grexus, a former associate of House van Wynter. He is a daring man of adventure who fell in with the wrong crowd, but his valuable assistance to the Inquisition earned him a pardon from the Holy Ordos. He has a way of obtaining even the most exclusive rarities and archeotech, but his methods are a closely-guarded secret.
Torque Secundus (Hive World)[]
This once-bustling Hive World of manufactoria is now a dangerous planet under the poisonous sky, where half of the continents are littered with the ruins of colossal manufactoria and the other half is home to overpopulated hive cities.
Since the beginning of the system's isolation, this world has become a hotbed of rebellious dissent against the Imperium and it is constantly teetering on the brink of a larger conflict, surely orchestrated by the Ruinous Powers. Such aggression could escalate the clashes between its hive cities into a full-scale planetary civil war.
Righteous Fortitude[]
Valorous Heart[]
Malcorum System[]
Bethar Maior (Hive World)[]
This extremely important Hive World is responsible for the majority of the industrial output in the entire sub-sector. The clanking, soot-stained heart of the region has been active for thousands of Terran years and the Adeptus Mechanicus exerts total de facto political control over the planet.
Obviously the Inquisition keeps constant vigil over the billions toiling away at the enormous furnaces or in the cavernous quarries. The local sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus contemplated turning the planet into a true Forge World, but due to the ancient xenos ruins present on the world it was deemed unworthy of such an honour.
Taranus Asteroid Belt[]
An unmapped asteroid belt teeming with miners, void nomads and pirates. This lawless region hides countless mining colonies, abandoned shafts and Adeptus Mechanicus xenotech research stations. The precious ore extracted here is a prime commodity in the system and there are certain Imperial factions waging a covert war to exert control over these resources. In the past Rogue Traders hunting for alien relics here have suffered daemonic intrusions.
Tormund's Despair (Void Station)[]
A strange relic of ages gone by, Tormun's Despair is a void station littered with strange obsidian outcroppings in certain halls, evidently the sites of blasphemous rites from the dawn of time, although the exact nature of these rites is still unclear.
The base is now a functioning Imperial voidport. The Adeptus Mechanicus initiated research into the station's lower tunnels, but after a still classified disaster they eventually declared the sub-levels unsafe.
Egilis (Hive World)[]
Egillis is a Departmento Munitorium-administered Hive World, and a major producer of weaponry and ammunition. A planet-sized abomination of industrial complexes, where hive cities rise above the soot-stained plains of belching, shrieking factories like colossal anthills, swarming with mutants and Heretics.
Myrkon[]
Ranieli Hold (Star Fort)[]
The Ranieli Clan is one of the most influential and ancient Navigator houses in the Caligari Sector. Their history goes back to the Great Crusade and their Sacred Archives is a vast collection of tomes on long-forgotten trading routes, sanctioned Warp-Folios and useful knowledge. Their family members are often employed by the Caligari Conclave and due to these powerful connections they are often considered above the laws of the sector.
Rotwang System[]
Mundi Polonius (Shrine World)[]
This peaceful, mostly aquatic world used to be a Shrine World before the isolation of the sector, but during the dark century it was cut off by the Warpsurges from the rest of the galaxy it succumbed to depravity and questionable morals. The cities of its vast archipelagos are teeming with refugees from other worlds in the system.
Palace of the Eternal Dawn (Void Station)[]
The sub-sector governor's orbital palace, bristling with gargoyles, spires and deadly defensive weapon systems, is the administrative centre in the sub-sector. As an Imperial institution of utmost importance, it will require the undivided attention of the Inquisition in case something unnatural strikes root in the fertile soil of the militant souls.
Prison Delta-722 (Penal World)[]
Penitents used to toil in this Penal World's quarries in the sick rays of the local star, like worms squirming under the contemptuous visage of the God-Emperor watching them suffer for their sins. The colossal maze of barracks has become cesspits of insanity, heresy and Daemon-worshipping Chaos Cults since the beginning of the sector's isolation.
Rotwang (Mundo Colmena) (Hive World)[]
A Hive World of 61 billion people with a strong Astra Militarum presence, who are quelling the continual unrest with brutally enforced martial law. Grinding all organic and industrial waste into a barely edible biomass has solved the food shortages plaguing similar planets, but the resulting mutations and diseases are crippling the population and fuelling the constant sedition.
Corrupt Astra Militarum generals and officials are extorting a "protection tithe" from the miners on one of the world's moons, Mundo Colmena, to keep the manufactoria running.
Torque System[]
Agbal Cluster (Asteroids)[]
This drifting cluster of asteroids forms a loose group of mining colonies and Astra Militarum training outposts. The largest asteroid has a network of abandoned underground research stations from the Dark Age of Technology. When Adeptus Mechanicus probes entered the lightless tunnels, they found strange, alien symbols on the walls.
Grimnor (Mining World)[]
Below the surface of this Mining World there are uncountable kilometres of maze-like caverns where vast drills try to reach valuable mineral deposits. On the surface, monstrous refineries belch smoke into the sky and cover the vast, industrialised refining cities in perpetual, cold haze. It is an overpopulated but eerily subdued world, where tension and heresy grows slowly and silently below the surface.
Rusalka III (Agri-world)[]
Botched terraforming led to some unexpected consequences here on this Agri-world, and the perpetual storms, freezing rain and cruel winds turned the whole planet into the most desolate world of the sub-sector. The terrain still produces extremely resilient mushrooms and lichen, providing subsistence to the desperate population of the rain-soaked giant cities where the processing plants work tirelessly.
Torque Prime (Hive World)[]
Torque Prime was once the homeworld of a xenos species annihilated by an Imperial Crusade, but is now a slowly decaying Hive World with crime-infested hive cities. The Adeptus Arbites forces present on the world are in a constant struggle with the underfed menials revolting against food rationing, driving the desperate masses into the arms of heretical cults and cannibalistic gangs.
At the same time, a militant fleet run by the planetary governor steals resources from miner colonies and rival worlds in the sub-sector, prompting the increasing concern of the Ordo Hereticus.
Videos[]
Sources[]
- Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor Martyr (Video Game)
- Warhammer 40000: Inquisitor Prophecy (Video Game)
- The Caligari Archivum: Levels of Corruption by Áron Németh
- The Caligari Archivum: Above and Beyond by Áron Németh
- Black Library - The Caligari Archivum: Above and Beyond by Áron Németh
- Warhammer Community: Inquisitor – Martyr Part 1: A Warhammer 40,000 Action RPG
- Warhammer Community: Inquisitor – Martyr Part 2: Enemies of the Inquisition
- Warhammer Community: Inquisitor – Martyr Part 3: Factions of the Caligari Sector
- Warhammer Community: Inquisitor – Martyr Part 4: Mysteries of the Caligari Sector