Naduesh

“We do not know what our ancient ancestors’ purposes truly were. We have only the tools they made to realize those purposes.”
–aphorism dictated by Paracelcus Thule
Naduesh is a human-inhabited world planet of
hot, dry plains and enormous, sprawling megacities
that are now little more than ruins but
which speak of an awesome and now lost
technological achievement. The mega-cities of Naduesh are
maze-like warrens beneath an arching dome supported by
huge pillars and walls set with massive bastions. Every part
of the whole is set with structures that cling like gargoyles
and riddled by vaults and tunnels. The bulk of the planet’s
population follows a tribal existence away from the cyclopean
mega-cities, following herds of herbivores that sustain and
clothe them while viciously warring with each other for
honor and bloody sport. The people of Naduesh have little
understanding of the relics of technology left behind in
these ruins, and seem unable to fully rebuild their society.
The sounds and structure of the Nadueshi culture indicate
a distant root in High Gothic and tie the population and its
ruined mega-cities to a now lost age of Mankind.
The most influential of the human population on
Naduesh dwells in Marajur, an immense enclosure of ruins
thirty kilometers broad and three kilometers from ground
wreckage to crumbling vaults high above. The interior space
of Marajur gapes empty between its support pillars, and the
curved ceiling vaults are set with enormous mosaics. The
entire structure is large enough for its own weather systems,
the haze of distant wall-bastions broken by white clouds and
sudden warm showers. As awe-inspiring as it is Marajur is a
shadow of its former self: its base structures are ruined, its
upper vault braces failing. With each passing year another of
the upper vault structures tumbles down.
Despite its fallen status, Naduesh is used as supply point by
many human renegades and outlaws in search of provender
beyond the reach of would-be hunters, trading weapons
and slaves in return for livestock and fresh recruits from the
planet’s feral warriors. Naduesh is still advanced enough for usury, complex trade arrangements, paper currency, and promissory scrip backed by the word and wealth of noble Maraj families.
==Overview==
“Build a planet? A whole planet? That’s madness! Not even the God-Emperor, blessed be His name, would attempt something so foolish.”
–Rogue Trader Roan Palanthas, on the stories of Naduesh
Naduesh, the lone habitable planet in a small, empty star
system, is a feral world in the Heathen Stars region used
as a victualing and resupply port for passing voidships.
It is an arid world of broad, dusty plains and simmering deserts.
The world’s topography is curiously uniform, and is dominated
not by majestic mountain ranges or vast, rolling seas, but by
man-made edifices. The crumbling remains of ancient hive
cities thousands of kilometers across span the entire planet, and
fully two-thirds of the land lies in the shadow of their shattered
domes. The whole planet is a single landmass punctuated here
and there by deep, broad, freshwater lakes. The flora and fauna
of the planet seem somehow more alive, more vibrant than
that on other worlds. Indeed, the entire place has a vague and
unsettlingly artificial feel to it, as if the planet wasn’t formed
from the primordial mass of the universe but built by some
unseen hand. Everything seems built to please the senses, an
idealized expression of stone or wind or beasts.
Among the ghostly, echoing hives and oddly perfect creatures
dwells a debased race of tall, lanky humans who call themselves
the Nadueshi. A primitive tribal people, they eke out a living
among the bones of their ancestors as nomadic herdsmen.
They live a simple life on the plains, possessing no technology
more advanced than a spear or harness and driving their placid
herbivorous beasts from camp to camp, never staying in one
place too long and rarely, if ever, entering the ruined hives.
While certainly feral, the Nadueshi are not so debased as to lack
language or culture. They frequently trade with the pirates and
Rogue Traders who come to the surface for water and victuals,
and there are wild and varied reports as to the hospitality and
folkways of these curious people. There are a few common
threads spun throughout the wild rumors of cannibalism and
human sacrifice that surround the Nadueshi, however. They
speak a lilting, strangely cadenced language in which some
listeners detect High Gothic words and structures. Their oral
and there is a complacency in their ignorance of these ancestors
that suggests a distinct lack of interest in the subject.
Those who have explored the abandoned cities report
they are covered by massive, powerfully constructed domes
towering three kilometers high, built of reinforced plascrete
and parchment-thin glass that is harder than diamond. The
shattered domes are supported by rusted buttresses a kilometer
high mounted in armored bulwarks forty meters thick. The
buildings are square-shouldered, unlovely things more suited
to a military base than a soaring metropolis, and indeed they all
have a martial, fortress-like air about them. The few who have
braved the deadly, crumbling underhives report even greater
discoveries---huge arcane arrays of machinery, vast banks of
histories carry no record of their obviously advanced forebears,
slumbering cogitator arrays, underground caverns a kilometer
long that look for all the world like barracks, armories,
marshalling yards and immense gun emplacements mounted
with macrocannons large enough to hull a battleship in high
orbit. Some say the underhives go on forever, that they burrow
straight to the heart of Naduesh, that every meter is packed
with complex machinery, and that Naduesh isn’t even a planet
at all.
==A Safe Haven==
For centuries now pirates, renegades, and Rogue Traders
alike have been stopping here to resupply while crossing the
spinward regions of the Expanse and the Heathen Stars. A
number of favorable factors have made Naduesh a premier
victualing world. The system is relatively isolated and free of
major navigation hazards. The warp surrounding the system
is eerily calm, with unusually stable currents and few reported
storms or lost ships. This makes the planet easy to get to, and
there are numerous sheltered anchorages scattered around the
system in which to hide or effect repairs.
While the great ruins of the Nadueshi’s ancestors are striking
and draw their share of treasure seekers and curious tech-priests,
they are not the only thing the planet has to offer. Indeed it
possesses quite possibly the most precious of commodities for
passing voidships: clean, fresh water. Naduesh’s broad, deep
lakes provide a near endless supply of uncontaminated water, a
fact that has been taken advantage of by generations of voidmen.
Along with the water, there is also much in the way of provender
to be had. Nearly every fruit, nut, or root that grows on Naduesh
is edible, and vast herds of wild herbivorous beasts a million
strong wander the plains and make for excellent eating. Some
voidmen have witnessed this bounty and stated that it’s almost
as if everything about the planet was designed with the comfort
and convenience of men in mind.
There is also a brisk trade here among the native Nadueshi
and the “Sky Men” as they call the visiting voidmen.
Voidships bring slaves, high-tech weapons, ammunition, tools
and trinkets to trade for conscripts, women, foodstuffs and
ancient Nadueshi artefacts. The Nadueshi also produce and
trade ornate metal jewelry, and a small but fervent market
for their tribal finery has sprung up among the neighboring
systems. There is great money-making potential here for
a keen Rogue Trader. The ancient, abandoned hives are
doubtless still full of archeotech artefacts, and most of the
labyrinthine underhives remain uncharted and unexploited.
The native herbivores are hardy and would make an excellent
trade commodity, especially with nearby systems such as
Zayth (which has little ability to raise its own foodstuffs).
There are also millions of heathen souls on Naduesh who
need to be brought into the fold and shown the righteous
light and power of the God-Emperor. These are but a few
of the opportunities to be found on Naduesh, and it would
be an unimaginative Rogue Trader indeed who couldn’t
make at least a small fortune exploiting the planet and
its natural resources.
==Rumors and Lies==
There are as many rumours about Naduesh, its history, and its strange people as
there are voidmen to tell them. Here are just a few of the more common tales
told in shipyards and public houses throughout the Expanse.
*Members of the Magos Biologis have reported that the beasts and plants of Naduesh posses uncommonly pure genetic codes. They seem to exhibit few of the mutations or genetic dead-ends typically brought about by natural selection.
*In the initial survey of Naduesh after its discovery, the survey team leader reported a strange anomaly in the planet’s rotation. It is almost perfectly circular around its star, and it’s axis of rotation seems very close to completely perpendicular with the plane of its solar system.
*A Rogue Trader named Keiran Haan claims to have possibly caught a glimpse of the planet’s history in the Nadueshi capital of Marajur. During a tour of the city, she became separated from her guide and found herself in what she took to be a chapel. Three of the walls were decorated with frescoes of people resembling the Nadueshi performing various tasks. The fourth wall was dominated by huge mural of four humans---one carrying the equipment of a scientist or researcher, another armed and armored as a warrior, the third bearing tools as if a laborer or engineer, and the last wearing finery evocative of a noble or government functionary. They were standing around a large globe that resembled Naduesh itself. Once reunited with her native guide, he could not, or would not, elaborate on the meaning of the murals.
*Rumors in Footfall’s taverns say that every so often, a vessel approaching Naduesh is challenged by vox-hails in an unknown language. If the ship responds, they sometimes hear a brief squeal of code, then nothing but static. This is dismissed as impossible by those who have visited the planet---the natives are too primitive for vox technology.
*The Nadueshi have a legend that speaks of an unnamed horror attacking their ancestors from the stars, only to be swallowed by a god that dwells deep within the planet and speaks through the very stones themselves.
*Some claim that the entire planet was constructed as a trap and laid in the system for some unknown stellar foe. If so, has the trap has been sprung---perhaps its prey is held deep within the planet---or is it still armed and waiting?
==Using Naduesh==
Naduesh provides Explorers with a location to rest and
provision during their adventures amongst the Expanse, and
the Heathen Stars in particular. The world is habitable and has
a native human population, which means a Rogue Trader could
use it to reprovision his ship’s food stocks, or restore his crew’s
Morale. In particular, the inhabitants of Naduesh have domesticated a beast similar
to the Mukaali of Tallarn that can be used either as a beast
of burden or a food source. On occasion, enterprising Rogue
Traders have traded these animals across the Heathen Stars.
Naduesh can also be used to replenish Crew Population if
the Explorers are willing to recruit from amongst the tribes.
Of course, the Nadueshi are a feral people, unused to living
amongst the stars and unfamiliar with even the most basic
Imperial technologies, so most would only be good as low-decks
crew. In general, obtaining crew means an Acquisition
Test with a Scarce modifier, and a successful test will only restore 12 points of
Crew Population on vessels smaller than a light cruiser, and 6
on ships of light cruiser size and larger.
In addition, there are several potential endeavours possible
on Naduesh, as suggested above. Each of these would likely
be lesser Endeavours, except for converting the inhabitants to
worship the God-Emperor. This would be a Greater Endeavour,
if a Rogue Trader could convince the Ministorum of its value.
==Unique Equipment==
Force Weapons
Tech-Priest Explorator teams sifting through the archeotech
ruins of Naduesh have unearthed numerous caches of
dazzling and disturbing devices, including many whose
nature and purpose is still a mystery. Given the number
of possibly valuable items still to be comprehended it is
understandable that the finely made but otherwise ordinary-looking
swords, axes, and melee weapons were simply put
aside. It was not until visiting adept-psykers of the Ordo
Xenos realized the true measure of these weapons that
intensive searches began for more. Further studies seem to
indicate these are ancient devices, possibly stemming from
the Dark Age of Technology, but the foul taint of xenos
construction cannot be ruled out. It was impossible to keep
the discovery secret for long, and these weapons have become
a highly-valuable commodity throughout the Expanse, and
some raiders attack any vessel that carries them, simply to
steal them away. For many a psyker-warrior, possessing a
Naduesh blade is the mark of true power in both body and
mind. For those wishing a more subtle visage, a simple rod
or staff can channel their power to devastating effect, as
well as focus their abilities to greater levels.
Naduesh Force Axe
Favored by the more robust and physical psykers, Force
Axes offer tremendous sheer power but little in the way of
finesse or subtlety. For those that use them, these weapons
aptly indicate their mode of attack, and often their lifestyle
as well.
Melee, 1d10+3(+SB), R, PEN 3, Force, Unbalanced, WT 8kg, Near Unique
Naduesh Force Staff
Longer-length force weapons typically take the form of a staff,
and they can be used as a weapon in regular combat. Some
are fashioned to appear as a simple walking staff, only giving
away their real function as psychic powers are channeled
through them. Force Staffs also act as a Psy-Focus.
Melee, 1dd10, I, PEN 2, Force, WT 2kg, Near Unique
Naduesh Force Sword
On the surface, force swords look just like any regular sword,
albeit of unusual coloration. It is only upon closer inspection
that the tiny but elaborate runes appear, giving away their
arcane nature. Most psykers are not skilled fighters, but for
those who are, a force sword is the perfect weapon as it allows
them to fully use both their psychic as well as martial abilities.
Melee, 1d10+1, R, PEN 2, Balanced, Force, WT 5kg, Near Unique
Category:Frontier Worlds
Category:Koronus Expanse
Category:Planets
Category:Heathen Stars