Vostroya

Vostroya
Type	Hive World/Forge World ("Industrial World")
Orbital Radius	Unknown
Gravity	Unknown
Temperature / Climate	Unknown
Population	Approx. 9.3 Billion
System	Vostroya System
Sector	Unknown
Segmentum	Segmentum Obscurus

Vostroya is an Imperial Industrial World in the Halo Zone of the Segmentum Obscurus, located beyond the Eye of Terror. The planet is considered an "Industrial World" by the Imperium of Man, because it does not quite meet the legally defined requirements to be considered an Adeptus Mechanicus-ruled Forge World, but it is not quite like an independently-governed Imperial Hive World either. Like all Forge Worlds, Vostroya has deep ties with the Adeptus Mechanicus, but because it is not ruled entirely by the Priesthood of Mars, it is not classified as one of their worlds. The origins of this unusual arrangement can be found in the Age of Strife, when Vostroya was the rare independent world that swore allegiance to Mars, rather than be settled by a colony of Tech-priests as was the norm for almost all of the other Forge Worlds. After declaring its allegiance to the Mechanicus, Vostroya quickly developed into a heavily industrialised world with the influx of Mechanicus personnel and technological knowledge. Under Imperial rule, the output of the many Vostroyan manufactorums now provide war materiel for the Emperor of Mankind's massive war machine.

Government

Vostroya is ruled by the "Techtriarchy", an oligarchy of high-ranking Adeptus Mechanicus Tech-priests and other, more traditional, Imperial planetary nobles and officials, who collectively maintain a ruling council for Vostroya. After millennia of industrial production and unregulated pollution, the planet itself is a barren world devoid of any flora and fauna and is now habitable only along a broad stretch of its equatorial belt. This region is divided into 7 administrative zones where all of Vostroya's hive cities are located. As on most heavily industrialised Imperial worlds, the majority of Vostroyan food is imported, as the planet has next to no agricultural facilities because of its devastated environment and ecology.

Culture

Vostroyan society is deeply marked by a rigid class system, divided between the "highborn", the wealthy upper class, and the "lowborn", the lower class of labourers. The lowborn toil endlessly on the production lines of the Vostroyan manufactorums. Most first born sons of the lowborn class consider it a blessing to be drafted into the Imperial Guard as Vostroyan tradition demands, so that they may escape slaving in the manufactorums. Highborn first born sons serve as the officers in the Vostroyan Imperial Guard regiments, and only very rarely does a lowborn reach any rank beyond that of non-commisioned officer.

In Vostroyan culture, almost all men wear a moustache, which symbolises both the attainment of mature adulthood and masculine virility. The importance of the moustache varies depending which region of the world a man hails from, though, while some areas accept men not sporting expertly trimmed moustaches, others consider a man without a moustache to be effeminate and weak.

History

Since it was first incorporated into the Imperium of Man during the Great Crusade, Vostroya's primary purpose has been to produce arms and ammunition for the Imperial military. In the more than 10,000 standard years since that time, life on Vostroya has remained unchanged, puntuated only by the changes of labor shifts during the endless cycle of assembly and manufacturing. During the Horus Heresy Vostroya refused to provide soldiers and supplies to the Emperor of Mankind or to the Warmaster Horus, choosing instead to wait out the conflict and preserve its population for work in the manufactorums. After the conclusion of the Heresy, in its shame at having maintained its neutrality, Vostroya swore that every first born son of the world would be sworn to the Imperium's service forever after. The world founded its own elite regiments of the Imperial Guard to take in this massive influx of recruits, who are known as the Vostroyan Firstborn.

Sources

• White Dwarf 327 (UK)
• Rebel Winter (Novel) by Steve Parker