Fenksworld

To most outsiders, Fenksworld has a reputation as a grimy, roughshod place, a hive world that, while notoriously independent in sector
politics, is seen as lacking the significance or sheer size of the likes of Scintilla or Malfi. The truth of the matter is that Fenksworld’s independence and measure of self-sufficiency is bought at a price, and its bustling façade hides a number of dark secrets. It is suggested that many cults and other “secret parties” test their influence on the Fenksworld population before moving on to sector-dominant worlds. Cults and cult activity certainly fester here. Fenksworld’s most notable feature is its Library of Knowing, one of the sector’s most comprehensive sources of data outside the Prol system. The Library of Knowing’s most significant attribute is that it is run under the ordination of the planetary governor and exists outside general Imperial jurisdiction. The Calixian Conclave has made several (subtle) attempts to close the Fenksworld library down, due to its esoteric contents. The library remains a “family-run” enterprise, overseen by the planetary governor’s family, the mercurial House Vaahkon. Fenksworld is home to a substation depot of the Battlefleet Calixis, who are supplied by Hive Magnagorsk. Fenksworld is home to the Volg Hive, one of the most notorious places in all of Calixis. Upon Fenksworld, a local tradition concerns astragalomancy: the use of dice to divine the future.
Fenksworld was the site of one of Ferran Ghast's many heresies; he sabotaged and destroyed an Imperial Spite-class cruiser, the War Child, in orbital dry-dock over the planet. In a similar situation, rogue psykers, intent on ramming Fenksworld’s orbital docks, commandeered the heavy ore barge Borombarst, causing it to be destroyed by orbital defenses. The subsequent investigation blamed the crime on the Pale Throng’s infiltration of the population of abhuman “subs” used to work the system’s asteroid mines. 
Fenksworld was prophesized to be destroyed by a Warp breach of unprecedented proportions. This prophecy was uncovered by the most skilled savant of Inquisitor Octus Enoch, a man of action and decisive means. The prophecy stated that the doom of Fenksworld would be presaged by the agonized baying of the mighty loxophants kept in the Imperial Commander’s private zoo, but gave no other clues to its nature or cause other than the timing of the breach. With time running out, Octus Enoch resorted to ordering that every loxophant on Fenksworld be slain. Despite the protestations of the beasts’ owners, they were put to death and the Warp breach averted.
Recently, a mysterious pattern of killings on Fenksworld has led Inquisitor Golgol to believe that the enigmatic Murder Room and its warp-spawn are preparing for something cataclysmic. He believes they are working towards the summoning of a terribly powerful servant of the Blood God.
== The Fenksworld Calamity ==
The Fenksworld Calamity lives in infamy as one of the
greatest disasters of the Angevin Crusade. Its consequences
can still be seen in the towering mausoleums on the world
of Orendal’s Tomb, to say nothing of the decades it took to
complete the conquest of the Calyx Expanse. In 359.M41, a
second front of the Angevin Crusade was opened by a fresh
army group gathered from the core worlds of Segmentum
Obscurus. Commanded by High Admiral Vaakkon, the new
front was intended to link up with Lord Militant Angevin’s
forces in the central worlds of the Calyx Expanse and shorten
the crusade by years. Such was the intention, but from the
outset the Vaakkon’s forces were beset by warp storms that
threw battle groups off target, causing a terrible toll in ships
and troops who were lost to the warp. Intelligence on the
strength of enemy forces and hostile worlds also proved
terminally inadequate, as the 100,000 troops lost in an
attempted landing on Woe attested. Despite these setbacks,
Vaakkon’s forces moved forward inch by blood-bought inch,
and it seemed to all on the second front that matters could
get no worse. In fact, they were very wrong. The eventual
misjudgment, although none knew it, was the product of
premeditated design by servants of the Holy Ordos.
The planet of Fenksworld had been established as the
crusade’s primary staging point. The space above the planet
swarmed with loaders, troop transports, and spear-prowed
warships, all gorging on the fuel and supplies fed to them
by the installations that had been towed into the system and
anchored in high orbit. The life blood of the second front
flowed through the docks of Fenksworld, and its loss would
be disastrous---but also nearly impossible, given its defenses.
Impossible, that is, as long as one ignored the possibility of
treachery. The Istvaanian cabal that shadowed the crusade
had so far been most satisfied with how the Admiral Vaakkon
and his forces had risen to the challenges on the second
front, but in Fenksworld they saw an opportunity that could
not be wasted to grant the man either death or glory which
would see the endeavor of the crusade “put back on the
right track.”
It took months of careful work by covert agents to
introduce just enough terminal stress and potential flaws
into the systems controlling the movement of craft around
the Fenksworld docks, and considerably more effort to get
suicide-programmed tech-priest and assassin Acolytes aboard
the Apocalypse-Class Battleship Tempest’s Child. Then, as the
vast form of Tempest’s Child approached Fenksworld, several
crucial scanning and communication systems were crippled,
the bridge crew massacred, and its engine and reactor output
locked to maximum. As flocks of craft jostled in confusion
around the docks, the stricken warship ploughed into them.
Over fifteen warships, twenty mass conveyors, and countless
other craft were lost in an expanding cascade of destruction.
The Fenksworld life line was cut, and hundreds of thousands
of troops scattered amongst the hostile stars had their support
stripped away.
The Fenksworld Calamity did not destroy the second
front, but cost the lives of millions and extended the crusade
by years, even decades. For the Istvaanians, their actions were
later vindicated when the unbreakable warriors that came out
of the hell of the second front became the keystone of the
battle against the dark forces that were to beset the Crusade
in later years as it pushed ever onwards into the Hazeroth Abyss and the Adrantis Nebula. They would say that such
heroes were bought by fire and calamity in the void above
Fenksworld.
==The Fenksworld Gene Atrocity==
One of the most notorious incidents of techno-heresy in living
memory, known popularly as the Gene Atrocity or the “Blight of
Nova Castalia,” can be firmly laid at the door of the Logician cult
and has set the murderous standard for all of its activities in recent
years. A powerful cabal of Logician cells, deeply rooted in the
underbelly of Fenksworld’s linked trio of hive cities, had created a
network of gene-labs, holding pens, and testing arenas to conduct
a dreadful program of secret human experimentation. The group
sought to extract weapon-worthy chemicals and powerful
augmetic drugs, as well as create chimerical bio-constructs from
the monstrosities found within the depths of Hive Volg.
Unfortunately for the Logicians, matters spiraled quickly out of
control as several test subjects escaped to wreak havoc in the maze
of access tunnels between the hives, attracting the Inquisition’s
direct involvement. It remains unclear whether what happened
next was an intentional act of mass-murder on the Logicians’ part,
or a further uncontrolled experimental disaster, but a powerful
mutagenic virus was unleashed. Many of those that came into
contact with it quickly died, their bodies twisting and boiling
in biological meltdown as the viral agent ran unchecked within
them, but a small percentage were transformed into insane hybrid
things---pale horrors from beneath Volg wrought from the flesh
of men.
Fortunately the virus was a victim in part of its own virulence,
and its immediate and present threat triggered the swift and brutal
action of Inquisitor Srax-Rhame and the Fenksworld government,
which swiftly contained it. Ironically, the relatively affluent Hive
of Nova Castilia suffered the worst from its privations with
around 100,000 casualties, while the sweltering industrial hell of
Magnagorsk suffered barely half that total. As for the nightmarish
Volg itself, the effects were barely registered above the norm for
that dark metropolis’s daily death toll.
==The Fenksworld Pit Thing==
"Terrified cultists loosed the creature upon seeing our rosettes, a desperate attempt to purchase time in which to flee the hammer. It might have worked upon lesser men. The thing’s bubbling roar almost froze us, its rage a near–physical assault on the heart and mind. My vat–psyker’s suspensor transport faltered and dipped—he moaned in anguish within as the beast’s four reddened, hate–filled eyes rolled independently to look at each member of my retinue. It was an abomination to the God-Emperor’s sight, drooling acidic slime and casting forth a loathsome, alchemical reek, seeming sure in its ability to cow human prey."
–From the journals of Inquisitor Felroth Gelt: 164.788.M41
In the depths below the hives of Fenksworld, pale things
writhe. Varying between two and three meters high at the
shoulder, Pit Things are vicious predatory beasts that are
fuelled by hate. The strong chemical reek that surrounds
these creatures is often the first sign of their presence, and
Fenksworld underhivers heed that warning well. Pit Things
are bulky, color-leached carnivores with four stumpy legs.
Pit Things also possess webbed claws and feet, making them
agile swimmers, and they seem to be resistant to the typical
chemical and toxic hazards of industrial hives. Their four
eyes are arranged symmetrically in a vaguely canine skull,
while their mouths are circular, lamprey-like maws studded
with razor-sharp teeth meant to rend and tear. They are
nonsentient and seem singularly unintelligent, perhaps the
only reason why the Pit Thing has not claimed the title of
apex predator on Fenksworld.
The Pit Thing uses its size and strength aggressively in
combat, often charging into battle with furious rage. Those
unfortunate enough to fight the Pit Thing must be as wary
of its acidic drool as its rending claws, as every savage bite
inflicts wounds that burn through armor and flesh alike.
Sump-skiffs cruise the polluted vaults below Fenksworld’s
hives, seeking out Pit Things to capture with gaffs, nets,
hooks, and electro-poles. A handful of men never make it
back from each trip, torn from the skiffs and pulled down
into the burning, toxic sludge. Usually, these hunters lace
a piece of meat with powerful soporifics to use as bait, a
tactic that enhances the odds of each hunt’s success. The
Adeptus Arbites struggle to suppress these heretical hunts.
However, the value of each Pit Thing makes this highly
dangerous occupation extremely lucrative. Thus, every time
the Arbitrators shut down one beast-hunting group, two
more form from the remnants to begin operations.
Once a Pit Thing is captured, it is placed into an iron cage
and delivered to the arenas to provide bloodsport for the hive
populace. The Pale Pits of Volg Hive are the most infamous
for utilizing alien beasts in their gladiatorial matches, but the
sheer savagery and unthinking malice of the Pit Things make
them unique even in these blood–soaked environs. These
terrifying beasts rampage through as many as a dozen men
at a time, painting the sand red with blood only to crush the
final few beneath its rubbery bulk.
There are some indications that link the Pit Things to the
Blight of Nova Castilia, a gene-atrocity committed by the
Logician cult. Tech-heresy on a planetary scale, the Blight
spread like wildfire through the hive population. There are
whispers that during this event, several families simply went
missing, replaced by pallid, raging monstrosities.
==The Bone Flute==
At first glance, this artefact appears to be little more than
a simple flute, such as is found on feudal worlds across the
Sector. Closer inspection shows that it has been carved
from a length of bone, specifically a human femur. Roughly
55 centimeters in length, it has been carefully shaped and
polished. Both ends of the flute are decorated with thin bands
of silver, into which are inscribed various sigils and symbols.
The origins of the Bone Flute are unclear, although
the name Mateus is often associated with its history. If the
stories are true, Mateus, a popular musician from the hives of
Fenksworld, created the flute in an effort to, as he put it, “play
the music of the cosmos.” It’s unknown if he succeeded in his
quest, as Mateus committed suicide soon after crafting the
flute---although some say his death wasn’t by his own hand,
and investigators found his dismembered body scattered
about his squalid quarters. This has resulted in the Bone Flute
developing a reputation as an ‘unlucky’ instrument. Whilst
it is possible to produce haunting and unworldly melodies
with it, sooner or later, the musician using it will come to a
terrible end.
Using the Bone Flute
This requires a character to make two Tests. The first is a
Difficult (–10) Performer (Musician) Test in order to
create a piece of music the warp finds appealing (though
other listeners may have a far different reaction), followed
by a Difficult (–10) Invocation Test. The later Test takes
a Full Action, while the former requires a variable amount of
time (a minute at minimum).
Once both Tests have been passed, the character playing
the Bone Flute can produce an effect similar to the Psychic
Power Weapon Jinx. All mechanical devices within 50 metres
cease to function and will remain so as long as the character
continues to play. Weapons will jam or fail to fire, chain and
power weapons won’t activate, chronos will show impossible
times, auspexes will give back false readings, and data-slates
will display jumbled audio, video, and text.
The character can maintain this effect by making a
Willpower Test each Round. For each Degree of Success, the
character can add an additional Round before he needs to roll
again. For example, if the character makes his Willpower Test,
the effect lasts for another Round; if he makes it by +10, the
effects last for another two Rounds, and so on. However, once
the character stops playing (for any reason), a roll is made on
the Psychic Phenomena Table as the warp makes its displeasure known in having its
music interrupted. The Bone Flute will not be affected by any
adverse effects rolled.
==Important Locations==
•	Volg Hive
•	Hive Magnagorsk
==Power Groups==
•	Cadence Arms and Incunabula - Cadence is based out of Nova Castillia
•	Pale Throng - Have infiltrated the abhuman “subs” used to work the system’s asteroid mines
Category:Hive Worlds
Category:Calixis Sector
Category:Planets
Category:Josian Reach