Changes: Vostroya

Revision as of 23:15, 2 September 2011

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.

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.

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 almost any flora and fauna and is now habitable only along a broad stretch of its equatorial belt. This region is divided into 7 administrative regions or "managed 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. Vostraya has a single moon, named Turtolsky, which is under the same administration as the planet.

Culture

Vostroyan society is deeply marked by a rigid class system, divided between the "high-born", the wealthy upper class, and the "low-born", the lower class of labourers. The low-born toil endlessly on the production lines of the Vostroyan manufactorums. Most first born sons of the low-born 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. High-born first born sons serve as the officers of the Vostroyan Imperial Guard regiments, and only very rarely does a lowborn reach any rank beyond that of non-commissioned 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 upon which region of the world a man hails from. While some Vostroyan regions accept men not sporting expertly trimmed moustaches, others, like the people of Mushka, consider a man without a moustache to be effeminate and weak.

Vostroyans are a deeply religious people who hold tightly to the orthodoxies of the Imperial Creed. They are particulalry devoted to Saint Nadalya, the Grey Lady, the patron saint of Vostroya in the Imperial Cult. Her sacred text, the Treatis Elatii, is a common sight in the homes of many Vostroyans and is commonly quoted from to provide wisdom in many different situations.

Vostrayan Linguistic Terms

Vostraya has a very distinctive dialect of Low Gothic that is laced with terms that evolved from the Slavic languages of Old Earth, particularly the ancient language known as Russian. This would seem to indicate that Vostraya's original settlers came from this region of Mankind's homeworld or from other colony worlds whose people originated there.

Ossbohk-vyar - A form of native Vostrayan unarmed combat, of which there are 37 "forms" with each successively higher number of form denoting greater mastery of the style
Chevek - A derogatory term for off-worlders and non-Vostroyans that literally means "outsider"
Rahzvod - Rahzvod is a clear and potent alcoholic beverge very similar to vodka; there are many different varieties of Rahzvod on Vostroya linked to the world's different regions; some differ in colour due to the ingredients used
Khek - A Vostroyan swear word that can be used as a noun or as any other part of speech, as in "this khekking smog" when used as an adjective
Ohxolosvennoy (usually shortened to "Ohx") - Ohx is a thick and salty drink analogous to coffee that is made from powdered Grox meat to which preservatives and stimulants have been added; Vostroyan low-born workers depend on their Ohx to get them through double-shifts in the manufactorum
Treatis Elatii - A Vostroyan sacred text written by Saint Nadalya, the Grey Lady, a saint of the Imperial Cult and the patron saint of Vostroya
Ushehk - This is a seven-stringed Vostroyan musical instrument that is played with a bow and is small enough to be held upright, making it similar to a Terran violin or fiddle
Shiny - The slang term used among the troops of the Vostroyan Firstborn regiments of the Imperial Guard for a new recruit, as in "he's a Shiny"
Zadnik - Another derogatory term for a person, place or thing

Sources

White Dwarf 327 (UK), p. 44
Rebel Winter (Novel) by Steve Parker

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 ==Government==
-Vostroya is ruled by the "Techtriarchy", an oligarchy of high-ranking Adeptus Mechanicus [[Tech-priest]]s 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 regions or "managed 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. Vostraya has a single moon, named Turtolsky, which is under the same administration as the planet.
+Vostroya is ruled by the "Techtriarchy", an oligarchy of high-ranking Adeptus Mechanicus [[Tech-priest]]s 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 almost any flora and fauna and is now habitable only along a broad stretch of its equatorial belt. This region is divided into 7 administrative regions or "managed 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. Vostraya has a single moon, named Turtolsky, which is under the same administration as the planet.
 ==Culture==