Madu

Wax- a substance used in everything from purity seals, candles, waterproofing, lubricants, stabilizers in chemical processes (like paint), polish, resin, and so much more is vital to the empire. On the small but densely populated hive world of Madu the majority of the wax production for all of the Ultima Segmentum is prepared. The world is full of captive bee hives of various varieties that are overseen by Imperial apiarists, known as the Adeptus Apiarus, though much of the grunt workers who live amongst the septillions of bees on the planet’s surface. Members of the Adeptus Ministorum have a pronounced presence on the planet as they oversee the wax used for ritual purposes, such as purity seals, candles, and other needs of the faithful. Much honey is also produced to supplement foodstuffs and to adorn the tables of the Imperial elite. Nothing goes to waste on Madu and the bodies of the bees are collected and crushed down for their calories to create rations for the workers.
==Homo Sapien Anthophila==
Some of the people of Madu are a unique substrain of humanity, abhumans known as “Homo Sapien Anthophila” or “Bee Men” in the colloquial tongue. They are smaller by about 20% than your average human and rail thin with long spindly arms. Their skin has grown thick enough that a bee sting cannot penetrate their hide and their eyelids are semi-translucent, allowing them to keep them closed while working among bees. Not all their population has these traits, about 25% have developed them, and the emergence of these traits only began to show up in the population relatively recently. The population always had a high mutation rate and it seems that a number of the traits, among the lowest castes, proved beneficial to living around constant swarms of bees. Homo Sapien Anthophila are not allowed to work in the sacred wax factories of the Adeptus Ministorum and several purges have recently occurred to thin their numbers.
==Moons==
===Daruga===
One of the moons of the planet, thought originally to have been an asteroid caught in the planet’s gravity. It is large for a moon and if it were any larger it might have pulled Madu out of its orbit. The moon itself has been turned into an industrial facility where wax and other goods produced on the surface are turned into usable products and exported.
===The Blood Hive===
The other moon of Madu is significantly smaller and has a much wider, irregular, orbit around the planet. This small moon is home to the fortress monastery of the Swarm Sentinels.
==Swarm Sentinels==
The world of Madu is a harsh place that produces a number of dangerous individuals in their cutthroat hives. Madu was given to a chapter of the space marines as their exclusive recruiting world and that chapter took on the name the “Swarm Sentinels".
==History==
===Founding===
Madu was reclaimed around the same time as Corinthe, another hive world located close to it. The planet’s original population was a small xenos population known as the Kivanianx who had little more than stone age weapons. They were exterminated far before the Emperor arrived to reclaim them and after some years of service they were given the sacred task by the Emperor’s own decree to produce wax. This was not due to any particular trait the planet possessed but due to a need for wax. They have a tithe that is to be paid exclusively in wax and wax-related products but in exchange they were to have a near monopoly on wax-production in Ultima Segmentum. Other worlds could produce their own wax but heavy restrictions were placed on wax exports in order to allow Madu to hyper-specialize in its production. Bees from all over the Imperium were imported to Madu for the purpose and eventually many strains were developed for specific purposes. Some bees were genetically engineered to produce honey, some to build wax, and others still as horrific murder-bees that were used to guard key locations.
===Recent History===
Madu has been home to several attempted incursions by Hive Fleet Moloch that still threaten the planet from time to time. Because of their attempted influence in the area, authorities are particularly vigilant of Genestealer cults- though it is admittedly impossible to stop them all. Some theorize that their unique abhuman strain, Homo Sapien Anthophila, is somehow linked to genestealer activity and thus efforts to curb their presence have been ramped up.
In recent years some of the deadly murder-bees that have been kept as guards have bred wild and have begun forming dangerous “hunter hives” that assault anyone who dares draw near. Only heavily armored troops wearing, at minimum, carapace armour (or better) have a chance to combat these rat-sized bees with stingers the size of daggers and a bio-engineered paralytic that can kill a man in just 30 heart beats.
They have become such a problem in the underhive and a specialist corp of soldiers known as the “Apiaricus” have been formed to combat them. The Apiaricus are heavily armored, have a large number of Homo Sapien Anthophila among them, and use flamers to combat the infection. The Apiaricus have also been proven quite effective against tyranids and their genestealer cults and thus serve as a paramilitary auxiliary that augment the planet’s meager Adeptus Arbites forces when dealing with such threats.
==Government==
The planetary governorship of Madu is a hereditary matriarchy with a Queen ruling over the entire hive world. A complex caste system exists intentionally reflective of the hive-hierarchy of the bees they tend. They believe it to be simple for the drones who toil and slave away in the honey hives or wax pits to understand- it is reflective of something they know. The Queen of Madu is a sacred figure in the chapter cult of the Swarm Sentinels and is regarded as a living saint by them.
==Adeptus Apiarus==
The Adeptus Apiarus are the Imperial organization responsible for the production of wax and the appraisal of its quality across the Imperium. They are organized under the Adeptus Mechanicus, though many of their number are trained clerks and scribes of the Adeptus Administratum. They are a comparatively small Adeptus and their headquarters is located on Madu. Among their ranks of bureaucrats and Imperial apiarists are elite guards known as Apes Venandi or “Hunting Bees” who guard the facilities with bio-engineered swarms of killer bees that have their hives on the body of the Apes Venandi.
==Famous Maduites==
* Farooq "Frenzy" Bucks: An important Imperial judge and imperial duelist from the Collegio Della Senza Corona. He began life (unbeknownst to most) as the illegitimate son of the Queen and was accepted into the duelist Collegio to hide his heritage. In later life he was appointed as a judge and wrote many influential treaties on law and faith in the Empire.
* Commissar Benson: A renown Commissar from the 3rd Madu Regiment "The Black & Yellow" who is famous for his steely grit and merciless discipline.
==Notes==
*The word “Madu” is Malay for “Honey”.
*The idea for this world was based on a comic that pointed out just how much wax the Imperium must go through. Further research revealed just how vital bee-related products are to civilized society.
Category:Planets
Category:Imperial Planets
Category:Imperium of Man