Planetary Background
Volistad was first colonized by the Imperium in [M35.979]. However, history of Volistad at this point is unknown. Warp Storms isolated the planet while still in its sociological infancy, left to develop on its own for the next 3,500 years.
When Volistad was re-discovered by the Imperium in [M39.437], it was in a state of planetary civil war; feudal, war driven economies, led by four major families (House Ochinka, House Petchenka, House Silenko, and House Volga), had brought the planet to its knees. The in-fighting had become so fierce that, due mainly to nuclear proliferation, the eco-system was near collapse – most of the surface had been overtaken by the oceans, swollen by melted polar caps.
The Imperium put a stop to all of this.
With technologically advanced troops, the Departmentus Reclamata set to work crushing the in-fighting and introducing the world to the ways of the Imperium. The strongest family, House Petchenka, was placed in position as the Official Imperial Family. The eco-system was restored to a workable state and technology was brought up to Imperial standard.
For the past 2,560 standard Terran years, Volistad has been a planet strongly loyal to the Imperium. Two main elements place Volistad at the premium to the Emperor – the Astropaths and the Titans. Nestled in the central region of Tollcharin, lies the Adeptus Astra Telepathica monastery. The Astronomicon is a navagational reference point, essential for safe and sucessful traversing of the perilous realms of nearby warp space. The Astropaths' role on Volistad are to provide a stabilising influence upon this temperamental warp site, allowing the Astronomicon to perform its function, permitting relatively safe warp navigation to continue through this vital corridor of the segmentium. Should the distortions become too great to stabilise, or should any ships find themselves in jeopardy within the warp, the Volistad Astropaths can provide what is effectively a psychic lighthouse.
The Astropaths have had to cease their “work,” however, since the Orks arrived for fear that the Ork "Weirdboyz" might discover them and their purpose. Should the Astropaths be destroyed, the Orks could cut off the whole sector from Imperial navigation and entire regions of space would be at their mercy. It would certainly extinguish any hope of long range reinforcements arriving in time to save Volistad.
Secondly, an archaeological team discovered ancient Titans still in stasis on Volistad in M41.928. The Titans were placed on Volistad during the initial terraforming mission, and had remained undisturbed for the better part of 7,000 years. The decision on what to do with these massive war machines was still pending within the Imperial Senate when the Ork incursion began.
House Petchenka
The entire ruling arm of House Petchenka was tragically wiped out when their island retreat of Mosvanyus off the Ribashka peninsula was destroyed as a result of the Orks original landing. When the Ork space hulk hit, it activated a spur of the Kopolov Fold fault and triggered massive seismic and volcanic activity. A massive tidal wave took the Imperial family unaware and destroyed the island and its inhabitants. The only surviving of the ruling branch of the family was Uri Olikov Petchenka, 5th Overlord and nephew of late Overlord Primus.
As fate would have it, Uri survived by being the weakest Petchenka, bedridden for several years. He futher refused to accompany the royal party due to “personal” reasons involving his servant, Mikael Kolostoy.
Topography and Climate
Volistad is broken up into two main areas – the Paulis Ocean, occupying the western hemisphere, and the land masses of Doscoya, Kopolov, Langtona and Welkonnena, occupying the eastern hemisphere.
The Kopolov Fold, an inactive tectonic fault line and mountain range slices diagonally through Doscoya, dividing it into major Northern and Southern reaches. The Northern Reaches mainly consist of hot ashy wastes intermixed with sparse rolling plains, rocky valleys and scrubby farmland. The partly terraformed Southern Reaches are a bit more hospitable with occasional fertile farmlands, river valleys and alpine mountains, but it is not without its share of strip mined areas, factory cities and ashy plains as well.
Borodni, the main city state, is located in a basin of the largest section of the Kopolov mountains along its northern face and is on the border of the Borod ash plains. Borodni's main function is that of a space port. It is well equipped to provide shelter and support for abundant numbers of large space craft. It is an important way station for the Pargathus Warp points and the only port large enough to handle the necessary volume of craft that would make up an effective main reinforcement in the battle for Volistad.
The main city of Volistad is the Polvanya Hellspire, located on Volistad's Kopolov steppes. Polvanya's original main spire was toppled when a large meteorite struck a nearby mountain, causing a massive section of that mountain to fragment and impact with the main spire. The huge structure toppled like a megalithic tree, its five mile length falling point down, piercing the hive below, causing the death of hundreds and thousands including all of the noble houses. The whole area of the hive was rendered uninhabitable due to the structural damage and massive chemical and radioactive debris from numerous industrial sites destroyed. A new spire has since been built and a new political infrastructure formed. Also, a manner of religious cult has risen from the event, the Volikstad Order. They tend to inhabit the more accessible ruins of the damaged hive sections and control all forms of commerce that could be gained from its ancient holocaust. It is said that their order also includes things that are less than human. These mutations are said to inhabit and guard the deeper and more central areas of the damaged hive body, as if it were a holy shrine.
Volistad's eco-history has rendered its weather most unusual. Constantly shifting global jet streams, an after effect of the melted polar ice, cause dramatic and sometimes violent pressure shifts that have all but eliminated safe transport across the planet's larger oceans. Travel is restricted between land masses to where the oceans are shallow, where the ionic disturbances are at a minimum. These thermal anomalies, however, cause a moderately temperate equilibrium for Volistad's climate, with no great temperature extremes from one area to the next.
The Ork Incursion
The Ork Incursion began when Warboss Skroll made a controlled crash landing of his space hulk into the Ribashka peninsula in the north east corner of Doscoya.
The hulk now sits in a deep crater, with some of its damaged gothic spires still standing. Other surfaces have been built upon by the Orks for the purposes of their war efforts and personal aesthetics. Conveyors and tracks run up the slopes of the scarred crater to the rim where an ever growing settlement forms with factory buildings, workshops, gantries and crane arms overhanging the edge like a titanic spider lying on its back.
The Orks currently have outposts of varying strengths, spread out over vast areas of Doscoya. The futher from their base the Orks get, the less potent their forces are, but their own reinforcements trickle in with alarming regularity as the Waaagh!'s notoriety spreads.
There has been one stroke of luck in the Imperium's favour. Two Ork Mobz from different clans had set out for the south western corner of the continent in order to secure the region, the small space port there, and any riches for themselves. A Badmoon Stomper mob under Warboss Urkthrall Kraka and a Bloodaxe armoured division under Groznok Kull set out in an unofficial race for the region. Unfortunately for the Orks, they came within shooting distance of each other. The result was disastrous for them. Both detachments were effectively destroyed. The result of which was that the south western peninsula was left poorly defended by the Orks and was an ideal location for the Imperials to establish an initial foothold for retaking Volistad.