Changes: Rynn's World

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Rynn's World is an Imperial Agri-world that is also the homeworld of the Crimson Fists Space Marines Chapter located in the Loki Sector of the Segmentum Tempestus. This world and the Rynnstar System were both named for the Imperial Reclamator Saldano Malverro Rynn, who first led Imperial colonists to the system and reclaimed Rynn's World for Mankind.

It was re-discovered by Rogue Trader Uzieth Pallandaro in 222.M34, as a part of Explorator Fleet Saturnalia. It was granted as the homeworld of the Crimson Fists at the termination of the Vortigern Crusade on 675.M40 by the will of the Emperor.

The planet is sparsely populated, mountainous, and devoted to intensive agriculture, with its principal export being jadeberries, an exotic fruit native to the planet. Rynn's World possesses one major conurbation (New Rynn City) and eight smaller cities plus small farms and agricultural centres (1,468 facilities according to most recent Imperial census).

The Crimson Fists' fortress-monastery Arx Tyrannus is located in the inhospitable Hellblade Mountains located on the southern continental coast. Space Marine neophytes are recruited from the Feral World of Backwater during the annual "Festival of the Bloodied Fist."

Due to its distance from other Imperial worlds and its proximity to Ork-controlled space, it is somewhat isolated from the rest of the Imperium, with the closest neighbouring human planet being Badlanding.

The Crimson Fists' fortress-monastery Arx Tyrannus has stood on Rynn's World for over a thousand Terran years since their great Battle-Barge Rutilus Tyrannus was dismantled to build it after the Crimson Fists were granted Rynn's World as their fief and ceased being a fleet-based Chapter in 740.M40.

Though serving as the Chapter's homeworld, Rynn's World is not owned as a Chapter fief by the Crimson Fists, and has its own Planetary Governor. Before a devastating invasion by Orks, the planet was protected by a formidable missile defence system designed to deter invaders and a relatively skilled Planetary Defence Force called the Rynnsguard.

Unfortunately, Rynn's World is not so far from the Ork Empire of Charadon. As the Ork empire grew, Rynn's World began to present a tempting target to Charadon's ruler, Snagrod the Arch-Arsonist. The planet was finally invaded in 989.M41 by Charadonian Orks under the orders of Snagrod.

In a freak accident, the Crimson Fists' fortress-monastery was destroyed in the initial invasion by one of the Chapter's own defence missiles that went rogue and the Chapter was all but wiped out. Without the protection of the Crimson Fists, the humans of Rynn's World were quickly slain, and their settlements, with the exception of New Rynn City, the planet's capital, were completely overrun. Rynn's World was eventually liberated by the Imperium, although it took years of fighting to reconquer the worlds in Loki Sector under Ork domination.

History

Rynn Map — The continents of Rynn's World in 989.M41.

Though they originated as a fleet-based Chapter, the Crimson Fists have become well-established as defenders of the Loki Sector in Segmentum Tempestus. There are countless Ork empires active in the region, which represent an ever-present threat to the Imperium's interests.

Over time, the Crimson Fists have become particularly adept at combating these savage xenos, though they have also engaged in countless battles against a broad spectrum of opponents across the span of the galaxy. As successors of the Imperial Fists, they proudly maintain that legacy while also holding true to the teachings of the Codex Astartes.

Founding

Following the end of the Horus Heresy, and the subsequent period of retribution, known as the Great Scouring, Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines Legion, penned his Codex Astartes. With its creation, the Primarch demanded that his brothers accept his example by dividing their own legions into 1,000-member Space Marine Chapters. Initially, Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists Legion, opposed the notion. He felt strongly that it was even more crucial for his Space Marines to remain consolidated so that they could continue to work closely together so that they could protect the Imperium from the remnants of the Traitor Legions.

But eventually, Dorn conceded, and so, he divided his Legion. Two of the Chapters formed from the Imperial Fists were the Black Templars, and the Crimson Fists. Dorn selected the Crimson Fists' members from those who were most recently initiated into the Legion, with the exception of its leaders.

The newly founded Chapter's first Chapter Master was Alexis Polux, Captain of the 405^th Company and a stalwart Battle-Brother who had won the Primarch's respect countless times. Known as much for his massive physical size and prowess as his leadership and tactical expertise, Polux led the Crimson Fists for the first 800 years of their existence. During this time, he did much to shape their interpretation of the Codex Astartes and their combat doctrines.

ImperialPlanetarySurveyRynn'sWorld — Rynn's World Imperial Planetary Survey before Ork invasion.

For the first nine millennia of their existence, the Crimson Fists Chapter travelled throughout the Imperium as a crusading Chapter. The Battle Barge Rutilus Tyrannus was their home among the stars, though additional strike cruisers supported it. Across these ages, the Crimson Fists built a reputation of loyal service and utter competency against any who would oppose the Imperium.

Much of their activity was focused within the Loki Sector of Segmentum Tempestus, but this was not the only region of the galaxy in which they defended the Imperium. Through their long service, the Crimson Fists have often answered the calls of the Inquisition as well as the Adeptus Administratum. No matter the nature of the foe, these Battle-Brothers remain loyal to the Imperium and its sacred cause.

With the success of the Voltigern Crusade, in 745.M40, the High Lords of Terra rewarded the Crimson Fists by granting them full feudal rights to the feudal Agri-World known as Rynn's World within the Loki Sector. The Crimson Fists soon constructed their fortress-monastery, the Arx Tyrannus, from the remains of the great vessel that had long served as their mobile headquarters while they were a Fleet-based Chapter. Over the course of this crusade, the Chapter blunted countless significant Ork forces within the sector, preventing them from unifying into a single overwhelming threat.

Chapter Homeworld

The proximity of Rynn's World to one of the Crimson Fists' primary recruiting worlds was ideal, and the Chapter constructed their fortress-monastery in the middle of the inhospitable and frigid Hellblade Mountains of the planet's southern continent.

The planet's capital is New Rynn City, home to nearly 16 million of the planet's 200 million people. The next largest city on the world has only 3 million people at most, and the majority of the world's population served as indentured servants working on the tens of thousands of agricultural communes that worked the arable land of three continents.

These communes were owned by the Rynnite noble class and the planetary administration was divided into nine provinces, each of which was controlled by a single noble clan, ultimately reporting to the most powerful noble family, House Cagliestra.

As the Crimson Fists take little direct involvement with the human population of Rynn's World, the Cagliestras had been granted the right by the Chapter to administer the fief in their Chapter Master's place and serve as Rynn's World's Planetary Governors through a hereditary succession.

The Astartes had granted this right to the native Rynnite nobility that had ruled the world in the days before the Crimson Fists had been granted the fief so that they could concentrate all of their energies upon preparing for war and prosecuting campaigns against the Emperor's foes.

As Rynn's World is lightly populated, for the most part it has been given over to intensive agriculture. The planet's primary exports have historically been particularly exotic foods such as "jadeberries," which became renowned delicacies among the Imperial nobility of the sector.

Though Rynn's World is the Crimson Fists' home, it is not a world from which they actively recruit. During their millennia as a crusading Chapter, the Crimson Fists established practices of recruitment on many worlds of the Loki Sector. While a few had significant technological bases, the Chapter has generally recruited preferentially from Feral Worlds.

However, they never sought out those who engaged in savagery for its own sake. Rather, the most appropriate candidates were characterised by a combination of honour, athleticism, and stoicism in the face of overwhelming odds.

Since constructing their fortress-monastery, the Crimson Fists have focused their recruitment to Blackwater, which is relatively close to Rynn's World. While aspirants are sometimes taken from other worlds, this practice has become increasingly uncommon.

Location

Rynn's World is the third planet of the Rynnstar System, a solar system that circles the binary stars Rynnstar and Eloix, in the Loki Sector of the galaxy, to the galactic southeast of Terra in the Segmentum Tempestus near the borders of the Segmentum Ultima. It is circled by two moons, Dantienne and Eloix.

The world is largely isolated from other human-inhabited planets, but the Crimson Fists' presence has led to the implementation of an extensive planetary defence system.

Furthermore, the Chapter's actions during the Voltigern Crusade in the 40th Millennium significantly mitigated the Ork presence within the sector. There is a considerable Warpspace distance between the Rynnstar System and its nearest human neighbours.

Unfortunately for Rynn's World, it was not far through Warp space from the borders of the Ork Empire of Charadon.

Battle of Rynn's World

In mid-989.M41, the Ork Warlord Snagrod, the Arch-Arsonist of Charadon, united the warring Greenskin factions bordering the Loki Sector and launched the largest WAAAGH! the Peryton 163 Cluster had seen since the Great Crusade, attacking the isolated Imperial Agri-world of Badlanding. The Imperial defenders of Badlanding were utterly unprepared for the invasion, and within days the only major strongpoint of resistance was the capital city of Krugerport, where the remnants of the 18th Mordian, 24th Lammas and 49th Boros Imperial Guard Regiments, commanded by Commissar Alhaus Baldur, put up a bold, but ultimately doomed, defence.

Confident that he had the world in his grasp, Snagrod put out incessant, ranting broadcasts, boasting that his next conquest would be Rynn's World, which lay only a few weeks of Warp travel from Badlanding. Chapter Master Pedro Kantor responded immediately, despatching the 3rd Company under Captain Ashor Drakken to Badlanding to stall the Ork WAAAGH! and determine its strength.

The Battle of Krugerport was a tragic defeat for the Crimson Fists who found WAAAGH! Snagrod to be far larger and more aggressive than any could have predicted. In the resulting defeat, the Crimson Fists suffered a loss of 56 Space Marines out of a detachment of 84; Captain Drakken was among the fallen.

The handful of Space Marines that survived the battle were able to escape to bring valuable intelligence back to Rynn's World. Upon hearing of the size and strength of the Ork war host, Chapter Master Kantor ordered the immediate recall of all Chapter companies fighting away from Rynn's World, mobilised the Planetary Defence Force, known as the Rynnsguard, and prepared for the inevitable invasion.

WAAAGH! Snagrod

RynnsWorldTacticaAeronauticaMap — Strategic map used by the Rynn's World defenders during the Ork siege.

In 989.M41 WAAAGH! Snagrod fell upon Rynn's World, bringing with it a devistation unparalleled by any other Ork invasion since those for the Hive World of Armageddon. While the Imperium's ground forces struggled to defend the planet's cities, the Imperial Navy fought for the skies in an air war that spanned months of bitter conflict and countless warzones.

When the neighbouring system of Badlanding fell to WAAAGH! Snagrod, the Crimson Fists swiftly prepared for invasion, their Strike Cruisers joining with the Rynn's World system fleet, their Battle Companies mustering for war and their Thunderhawk gunship squadrons taking to the skies.

By contrast the Planetary Defence Forces of Rynn's World mobilised slowly, many of the upper echelons of Rynnite society refusing to believe WAAAGH! Snagrod would reach them, and even if it did that the might of the Crimson Fists and their extensive orbital and surface-to-space defence network would be enough to throw the xenos back into the void.

When it came, the Greenskin invasion was shockingly fast and utterly devastating, far swifter than even the Space Marines could have anticipated. A vast Ork armada swept away the planet's orbital defences and warships in a matter of solar hours, with a single damaged Crimson Fists craft escaping into the Warp to summon aid.

On the ground things were even worse. The Arx Tyrannus, along with the greater measure of the Chapter's strength, was obliterated by a catastrophically misfired orbital defence plasma missile. The errant missile scored an impressively accurate, if altogether unintentional, hit on the Fortress-Monastery's main Armoury.

The arsenal, the fortress-monastery of the Crimson Fists, the mountain, and an area half a mile wide were instantly atomized. The Chapter was almost obliterated in the ensuing holocaust.

In less than a solar day the planet was brought to the brink of annihilation, its fate resting in the hands of a small number of surviving Space Marines and the vastly outnumbered Rynnite Planetary Defence Force.

Only 16 Crimson Fists garrisoned in the fortress-monastery survived, including Chapter Master Pedro Kantor and Captain Alessio Cortez. The surviving Crimson Fists stayed in New Rynn City and held out against the Orkish siege of the city.

Reeling from the destruction of the Arx Tyrannus, the people of Rynn's World looked upwards in shock as the skies darkened with Ork landing craft. Planetary Governor Lady Maia Cagliestra, surrounded by panicked generals and nobles, desperately tried to contact the surviving Space Marines, or establish if Pedro Kantor still lived, but to no avail.

With the system fleet broken, the Greenskins began a full-scale planetary landing. Ground-to-orbit defences concentrated their efforts on protecting the planet's single spaceport and nearby New Rynn City.

Macro cannon arrays, turbo-laser towers and missile batteries turned the sky crimson with their fury as they vainly tried to stem the flow of xenos landing craft, but it was like throwing pebbles onto a collapsing dam.

One by one the defensive guns were silenced and all that remained between Imperial soil and Ork boots were scattered squadrons of the Rynnsguard Airwing.

The valiant Rynnsguard Airwing fought a constant tide of Ork air assaults. With support from the Crimson Fists' surviving Thunderhawk gunship squadrons, it fell to the Airwing to defend the skies over New Rynn City, attack the Ork landing zones, and protect the vital shipping lanes between the planet’s scattered islands.

It was to be a long and gruelling campaign filled with countless daring sorties by aces on both sides, and one that raged on even after Imperium reinforcements reached the beleaguered world.

The Siege of New Rynn City was to grind on for eighteen solar months, but the Crimson Fists were able to maintain their defences until an Imperial Navy liberation fleet, including elements from 6 other Space Marine Chapters, finally arrived in 990.M41, 18 solar months after the invasion began. The Imperial reinforcements drove the Orks from the world.

Battle for Traitor's Gorge

One tale of the reclamation of Rynn's World from the Orks of WAAAGH! Snagrod is not so widely told, and known only to the Crimson Fists' Chapter Master Pedro Kantor and his closest Battle-Brothers.

The tale begins a half-year after the completion of the reclamation of Rynn's World from WAAAGH! Snagrod. Although the planet was officially designated by the Imperium as secure once more, Orks are always a difficult species to truly eradicate once they have made planetfall.

Several Greenskin warbands were known to be lurking in the planet's Jaden Mountains, conducting raids that the surviving weary and war-torn populace of Rynn's World could ill-afford to allow to continue.

As the Crimson Fists' few surviving Techmarines salvaged and repaired what little had survived the WAAAGH!'s assault, Chapter Master Kantor dedicated himself to cleansing the Jaden Mountains of the remaining Orks that lurked within their confines.

It was a difficult campaign, for the Orks defended every crag and cavern, and Kantor had neither the men nor the equipment he would have wished for such a task. Nonetheless, the Crimson Fists forged on, slaying Greenskins wherever they could be found.

Under such a threat, it was perhaps only a matter of time before the Orks of the Jaden Mountains united. So it was that when Kantor's force came under attack in Traitor's Gorge, they found themselves assailed not only by the warband that they had been hunting, but by every Ork for leagues around in every direction.

Tg-cover-large — Pedro Kantor, Chapter Master of the Crimson Fists, during the Battle for Traitor's Gorge

Though but two dozen in number, Kantor and his Crimson Fists fought as heroes of legend, taking a grievous toll on an Ork horde that numbered hundreds. With Kantor at the forefront, the Space Marines battled their way clear of the ravine's treacherous confines and sought the high ground. There they planted their feet and fought shoulder to shoulder against the horde, but still the Orks kept coming.

With all the Crimson Fists' Thunderhawk gunships lost in battle or under heavy repair, Kantor knew that both evacuation and reinforcement were impossible, and the Orks showed no sign of giving up the battle. Three of Kantor's Battle-Brothers had been slain in the escape from the ravine, and only the Chapter Master remained unwounded.

In return, the Crimson Fists made Traitor's Gorge run red with the blood of slain Greenskins, and fought from behind barricades of the bulky Orkish dead, but Kantor knew that the odds were stacked against him.

Without warning, the Greenskin tide began to slacken. Seeking the reason, Kantor's keen eye saw ghostly figures on Widow's Spire to the west and Darkridge to the east, high above and behind the encircling Orks. Graceful were these newcomers, darting from cover to cover and paying no heed to the treacherous footing as their longrifles brought precise death to the Ork horde.

Who his fresh allies were Kantor could not immediately tell, for their shimmering forms were as insubstantial as mist in the morning sunlight, but nor did he care. All that mattered was that this intervention gave his Battle-Brothers the chance that they needed to counterattack and turn the battle's tide.

Giving a mighty shout, the Crimson Fists charged over their rampart of dead greenskins and set upon the Orks with new vigour. Caught between the re-doubled rage of the Crimson Fists and fresh attackers on the slopes, the Orks were thrust back. The Greenskins fled down Traitor's Gorge, leaving more than ten score dead and twice as many wounded behind them.

As Kantor's men walked amongst the carnage, ending the lives of those Orks too foolhardy or injured to flee, a robed figure detached itself from the shadows clustered on Widow's Spire and strode swiftly to Kantor's side. Coldly contemptuous of any threat posed by the watchful Space Marines, it cut through the Chapter Master's wary greeting.

"The surviving beasts cower in the shadows below, ensnared in a web of our devising. Pursue them into the darkness and a great victory shall be yours."

"And should I choose not to do so?" Kantor asked, for he could not bring himself to place his trust in the elaborately helmed alien, now revealed as a warrior of the Eldar race, that stood before him.

"Then they will escape and grow ever stronger in the darkness. In fifty years a shadow of their making will arise to envelop this area of space which, unopposed, shall be the doom of your people and mine. Catastrophe will reign, and you shall lament your inaction this day."

"Will you aid us in the gorge as you did here?" Kantor demanded, but the figure shook its head.

"Be not so swift to embrace us as allies. Auspicious fate dictated that we should fight side-by-side this day but, fate is a fickle creature. At our next encounter, it will be my fists that bear the stain of your blood."

And with that, the alien turned and was gone, and the shadows that lurked amongst the scree of Widow's Spire and Darkridge were gone also. Kantor weighed the words and actions he had borne witness to and led his men into Traitor's Gorge. There in the darkness a great victory was indeed his, forever ending the Ork threat in the Jaden Mountains.

Returning to the lowlands, Kantor continued the rebuilding of his Chapter, and in time raised the Crimson Fists out of ruin to once more stand alongside the greatest champions of Mankind. But in all the years of triumph that followed, the robed figure's words would dwell heavily on Kantor until, at the last, they met again...

Aftermath

The Ork invasion of Rynn's World proved costly. All of the planet's major cities were destroyed with the exception of New Rynn City, the capital and seat of the world's government, before the planet was brought back under Imperial control years later. Millions of the Agri-world's people had been killed, most likely a majority of the population.

It would take solar decades for the planet to recover its lost infrastructure and agricultural productivity. Many of the worlds of the Loki Sector captured by WAAAGH! Snagrod, including Badlanding, are lost, remaining in Ork hands to this day. The Imperium estimated that 20 million Ork lives were lost during the battle.

Rhaxor's Invasion

Soon after the birth of the Great Rift, some time early in the 42nd Millennium, Rynn's World was engulfed by daemonic legions spilling forth from the newly formed rift. The daemons were led by the Daemon Prince Rhaxor and the Crimson Fists were forced to battle for their homeworld's survival once more, though they had little chance of success with such depleted ranks.

The arrival of the Primarch Roboute Guilliman's Indomitus Crusade managed to break the siege and also integrated the Primaris Space Marines into the Crimson Fists. The Chapter found all the losses it had suffered at the hands of the Orks made up by the addition of the Primaris Astartes to their ranks.

Geography

Rynn Map Sorocco — The central region of the continent of Sorocco, primary site of the Ork invasion

Rynn's World possesses three continents: Calliona, Magalan, and Sorocco. Each continent is administratively divided up into several different provinces, each of which is in turn administered from a provincial capital city. The majority of the fighting during the Battle of Rynn's World ocurred on the largest and most heavily populated of the continents, Sorocco. Only the planetary capital of New Rynn City survived the Ork assault intact.

Calliona

Casserva Province - Capital: Verisseport
Deoz Province - Capital: Blackreef City
Ijua Province - Capital: Redonda
Minessa Province - Capital: Orostino

Magalan

Dorado Province - Capital: Santoris
Macarro Province - Capital: Port Calina
Telenna Province - Capital: Ventura City

Sorocco

East Sariba Province - Capital: Nycario
Hellestro Province - Capital: Caltara (The Arx Tyrannus, fortress-monastery of the Crimson Fists, was also located in this province)
Inpharis Province - Capital: Sagarro
Rynnland Province - Planetary Capital: New Rynn City
West Sariba Province - Capital: Davaris

Sources

Aeronautica Imperialis: Rynn's World Air War Campaign Book (Specialty Game), pp. 32-34, 40-41, 49
Codicium Imperialis, "The Battle for Rynn's City"
Codex Adeptus Astartes - Space Marines (8th Edition), pg. 20
Deathwatch: Honour the Chapter (RPG), pp. 58-65
Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader
White Dwarf 338 (UK), "Battle for Rynn's World"
White Dwarf 314 (UK), "Fists of Dorn," pg. 130
White Dwarf 288 (UK), "Index Astartes: Bloodied Fist. The Crimson Fists Space Marine Chapter," by Andy Hoare
White Dwarf 236 (UK) "Bloodied Fist, The Rynn's World Incident", pp. 57-62
White Dwarf 235 (UK), "First Blood," by Jervis Johnson, Nick Davis, Adrian Wood & Simon Shuker, pp. 98-116
White Dwarf 94 (UK), "Skirmish on Rynn's World: The Battle of Jadeberry Hill"
White Dwarf 29 (January 2019), "Index Astartes: Crimson Fists", pp. 102-103
Rynn's World (Novel) by Steve Parker (maps on pp. 272-273)
Legacy of Dorn (Novel) by Mike Lee

@@ Line 18: / Line 18: @@
 '''Rynn's World''' is an Imperial [[Agri-world]] that is also the homeworld of the [[Crimson Fists]] [[Space Marines]] [[Chapter]] located in the [[Loki Sector]] of the [[Segmentum Tempestus]]. This world and the Rynnstar System were both named for the Imperial Reclamator Saldano Malverro Rynn, who first led Imperial colonists to the system and reclaimed Rynn's World for [[Mankind]].
-It was re-discovered by [[Rogue Trader]] Uzieth Pallandaro in 222.M34, as a part of [[Explorator]] Fleet Saturnalia. It was granted as the home world of the Crimson Fists at the termination of the Vortigern Crusade on 675.M40 by the will of the Emperor.
+It was re-discovered by [[Rogue Trader]] Uzieth Pallandaro in 222.M34, as a part of [[Explorator]] Fleet Saturnalia. It was granted as the homeworld of the Crimson Fists at the termination of the Vortigern Crusade on 675.M40 by the will of the Emperor.
 The planet is sparsely populated, mountainous, and devoted to intensive agriculture, with its principal export being jadeberries, an exotic fruit native to the planet. Rynn's World possesses one major conurbation (New Rynn City) and eight smaller cities plus small farms and agricultural centres (1,468 facilities according to most recent Imperial census).