Iocanthos

Population: 5 billion (estimated).
Tithe Grade: Exactus Median. 
Geography: Four main continents and extensive island chains. Only the largest continent is populated (mountainous/rocky, dense southern forests. Largely arid climate with frequent dust storms). Very few sources of fresh water. 
Government Type: None/Tribal. 
Planetary Governor: Vervai (“King”) Skull. 
Adept Presence: Very low. Adepta Sororitas (Commandery at the Abbey of the Dawn), Administratum (Port Suffering), Adeptus Arbites (Courthouse at Port Suffering), Ecclesiarchy (Stern Hope.
Military: Massive armies in service of warlords. Large mercenary presence. 
Trade: Iocanthos’s only meaningful export is Ghostfire pollen. The Ghostfire harvest is essential to the existence of the Imperial Guard penal legions in the Segmentum Obscurus.
==Overview==
Iocanthos is a lawless world dominated by warlords and their huge armies, which clash across its jungles, forests and plains. The planet’s importance in the Calixis Sector is defined by the fact that it is one of the few places in the Imperium where the Ghostfire flower can grow. Ghostfire pollen can be refined into the combat drugs used extensively in the penal legions of the Imperial Guard. Although technically classified as an agri-world, this is only due to the Ghostfire crop, as its people and governance would have it be deemed it a feral world otherwise. Iocanthos’s warlords (usually styling themselves “vai” or tribal prince) battle constantly for control of the Ghostfire harvest. The Ghostfire crop cannot be cultivated normally and so once a patch of it is harvested another one must be found.
The warlords’ armies are therefore constantly on the move, travelling in enormous hordes across Iocanthos’s main continent and clashing violently wherever they meet. Iocanthos’s wide plains, dense, dark forests and forbidding mountain passes are studded with old battlefields where burned-out vehicles and age-bleached skeletons abound. Every five years, a taskforce of Administratum officials descends onto Iocanthos to gather the planet’s Ghostfire tithe. The warlords exchange their harvests of Ghostfire pollen with the Administratum in exchange for weapons, vehicles, fuel, clean water and other essentials.
The warlord who hands over the most Ghostfire pollen is considered the planetary governor and claims the lion’s share of support from the Imperium and the title Vervai (literally “prince of princes” or “king”). The title brings with it immense prestige and confirms the warlord’s position as the most dangerous and skilled on Iocanthos. The current planetary governor is “King” Skull, a terrifying warrior at the head of an enormous and supposedly invincible army of madmen and killers. The warlords of Iocanthos are also required to hand over their psykers as well as the Ghostfire harvest, but these are taken from them not by the Administratum but by nameless grey-uniformed men who herd the psykers onto their sleek black ship and take their leave.
The Administratum fully accepts the situation on Iocanthos. The Ghostfire pollen is harvested very efficiently because so many warlords’ armies battle to find every last blossom. Were the Administratum to take over Iocanthos themselves, the planet would first have to be conquered by the Imperial Guard at enormous expense and the Administratum themselves would be hard-pressed to match the vigor with which Iocanthos’s warlords hunt down every Ghostfire flower. They therefore leave the warlords to do the hard work, safe in the knowledge that none of them can rebel against Imperial authority lest their supplies of guns and fuel be cut off.
On Iocanthos, their currency is referred to as soules, as many believe that their money is forever stained by the blood of mercenaries, giving rise to the idea of trading in the souls of fallen warriors. Occasionally, regiments of Imperial Guard are drawn from the native tribes, known as the Ashleen, technologically adept savages whose barbarity and fury often equals or exceeds the most culturally regressed and animalistic “true” feral worlder. Sometimes for sport, bull thornox battle to the death in barter-kraals as the natives watch and place their bets.
==History==
Iocanthos was taken by General (Saint) Drusus’s 2nd Army Group during the first great crusades through the sector. As the
planet lacked any significant technology, Drusus’s forces defeated the indigenous people, known as the Ashleen, in a single week of
bloody fighting. Drusus later remarked in his memoirs that the only memorable aspect of the planet was the vast fields of wild flowers
which resembled “Shimmering fields of rippling explosions, caught at that fleeting moment between beauty and destruction.” As ever, the general was perceptive as the Ghostfire would become central to the world’s future.
Possessing little by way of resources other than its warlike
people, over the years Iocanthos was used
intermittently as a dumping ground for
convicts and undesirables and a mustering
ground for regiments until, centuries later, the Ghostfire flower was discovered to possess
potent psychoactive properties, particularly
when rendered down and concentrated in the
form of a bloodlust-inducing combat drug.
Long ago, during the campaign to bring war-ravaged Iocanthos into the Imperial fold, the blessed Saint Drusus vanquished the cult of a Daemon known as Tsyiak also known as the Crow Father and the Dancer at the Threshold, and destroyed the Daemon’s earthly vessel in the shape of the cult’s leader. Knowledge of this event was completely repressed and even among the natives it has faded into half-remembered myth. The Daemon, however, has not forgotten, and since then it has clawed and scratched at the barriers of reality seeking to revenge itself and to walk Iocanthos once more to work its evils.
==Arbites on Iocanthos==
“We determine the guilty. We decide the punishment.”
—Emblazoned in black stone in front of the Iocanthos Precinct
The war-battered world of Iocanthos hosts a single
Precinct based in the little Adeptus capitol of Port
Suffering, and that Precinct is one of the smallest in
the sector---a dozen Arbitrators to police a world whose
population is made up of roving armies millions or billions
strong. It is a daunting task, one to make even the most
steadfast Arbitor feel overwhelmed. A stint at Iocanthos tends
to quickly show which newcomers are able to rise to the work
and keep their faith focused on their duty. Policing the place
in any conventional manner is laughably out of the question,
and so Iocanthos also quickly reveals Arbites who are able to
adapt to a role that their academies did not prepare them for.
As the largest city and only Adeptus base on a world
of great importance to the sector, on paper Port Suffering
looks like a first-rate assignment. In practice, Arbites from the
surrounding Precincts will put Iocanthos firmly on the list
of “dead taper” stations, a popular Adeptus slang referring to
coming off worst in a drawing of lots. The Port itself is a drab,
stagnant little prefabricated town, its garrison just a single
squad operating out of a “Precinct Fortress” barely bigger
than a barrack-house, with nothing to do, so the stories go,
but endlessly clean the powdery street-dust off their boots
and look forward to whatever excitement they can wring
out of standing guard when the loaders arrive to collect the
Ghostfire crops.
It’s true, Port Suffering is every bit the depressing little
place that the reports suggest, and its garrison every bit as tiny:
a dozen Arbitrators, a single Rhino APC, and a handful of
bonded menials to act as auxiliaries. The stuffy prefabricated
five-floor Courthouse is designed, as are all official Imperial
buildings, to inspire an intimidated deference in those outside
it; for the Arbitrators inside, it inspires the stout hope that
they will never have to try and defend the place against even
a moderately determined aggressor. Going by the book,
the work of the garrison is indeed to monitor the Adeptus
counting house and observe the Ghostfire shipments being
loaded, and not much more. But the work of the Precinct is
anything but dull.
One of the roles of the Arbites is to monitor the planetary
government and keep Imperial Governors mindful of their
responsibilities. Since the governorship of Iocanthos attaches
to whichever roving warlord has the largest load of Ghostfire
to deliver, maintaining the careful policing of more traditional
planets is clearly impossible. The tiny garrison hasn’t the
capacity to divide itself between Port Suffering and one or more
wandering warlords’ courts. Even when it is attempted, as it has
been a few times in the Precinct’s history, the Arbitrators find
themselves either pushed aside from the court and unable to
get near the warlord (for what kind of barbarian general would
make a place at their court for an outsider whose explicit role
is to judge his actions and punish, even kill them, for reasons
they are not obliged to reveal?) or, worse, get too caught up in
the war-horde’s affairs, becoming effectively another courtier
of the general and unable to act impartially.
Instead, the Arbitrators have taken on a broader, more subtle
role, more like that of their Espionist colleagues. Arbitrators
will leave Port Suffering for weeks or months at a time,
shadowing the warlords’ armies, mapping out their Ghostfire
harvesting, and watching and recording the battles they fight.
Each Arbitrator maps out a basic set of routes back and forth
across the continent and will follow them unless they find
something that diverts them away. While travelling they will
check in with village enclaves, hermits, and warband patrols,
exchanging rumors and listening to the tales of traders and
camp followers from the warlords’ entourages. During these
long circuits their role changes from that of a classical Arbitrator
to a combination of scout, spy, ranger, and peacekeeper.
They do none of these jobs in secret. On the contrary,
the Iocanthos Arbitrators have become locally known as,
“Flags” or “Suffering Marshals” riding their circuits with a
brightly colored banner atop a tall flagstaff which can be
planted in the ground, thus making themselves easy to find.
The Suffering Marshals are adapted to tracking a quarry into
new settlements, making contacts quickly by playing the local
underworld against itself. While some roam Iocanthos in
search of their quarry, others are directed to establish known
places of call where people know to look for them. They have
come to command respect from those they encounter on the
road, sometimes through their fighting skill and stubbornness,
sometimes through their willingness to pass petitions and trade
proposals back to Port Suffering, and sometimes through their
growing reputations as fair and impartial judges. In particular,
minor warbands or non-aligned communities will often seek
out a passing flagman or woman to broker a ceasefire or
alliance, or mediate a feud. Arbitrators have been attacked
in their travels, sometimes killed, especially when they have
needed to pursue and sanction a dangerous threat like a fleeing
Imperial criminal, a rogue warband, or a wild psyker. However,
their status among the planet’s natives has brought greater
safety with it, as they are known to be under the protection of
the Emperor and any who raise a hand to them face expulsion
from the trade meets at Port Suffering and a bounty of fresh
water and supplies placed on their heads.
Generally three or four members of the garrison are out
on their circuits at one time. They are allowed considerable
latitude in planning their travels and in what leads they pursue
while on the road, although they are answerable for all of it
down to the last detail. The Flags are very well-equipped,
with a small but fully stocked Arbites armory to draw upon,
as well as the resources of Port Suffering to requisition. Their
travelling gear tends to be individual also, shaped by personal
preference, the continent they must pass through, and what
they expect to be doing en route.
One might observe a ranger in Arbitrator uniform returning
from the southwestern badlands driving a rumbling, high-riding
cargo-eight, the hull hung all around with rattling
panniers of supplies and trade goods. She tows a water tanker
behind her and her truck’s cab is full of audio-slates on which
she has been recording her contacts’ observations about
Ghostfire growth over the past season and which warbands
know about what blooms. Meanwhile, another Flag is setting
out through Port Suffering’s opposite gate, heading for the
broken and mountainous country of the Barrelshear Fault,
trudging out on foot, one hand loosely gripping the leashes
of the two giant, rangy pack-dogs that pad behind him
carrying his supplies. He is protected by tight-wound dust
wrappings, the Arbitrator helmet covered by a cloth veil, and
his shrouded shotgun hangs at his back. Behind him walks
a bonded clerk, likewise wrapped up and shaded, leading a
pack-dog of his own. His stub rifle is slung at his shoulder
and the data-slate he will use to record all the ranger’s
conversations with his contacts is at the other hip.
The chief of the little Port Suffering garrison (and
technically, therefore, the Commander of Court for the
system, although he never uses that title without loading it
with irony) is Proctor-Laureate Lestano Dietz. Dietz was one
of the most promising recruits from his Schola Progenium
intake and excelled in his training at the Fortress of the Just,
but on his training postings became keenly interested in the
study of Imperial legal philosophy and tradition. Before
long he ran into the brick wall of Calixian prejudice on such
matters, and found that instead of the plum assignment to
the Praetoral chambers at Solomon he had been shunted
off to lead a squad of bored Arbitrators on Iocanthos on an
indefinite posting.
Although he remains bitter about the politics behind his
assignment here, Dietz has refused to allow it to slow him
down. He has actively encouraged the ranger work that his
Arbitrators take on, formalizing it as an official part of the
garrison’s operating doctrine. He has also begun lobbying the
High Precinct Command for explicit support for the Flags,
including training in Detective techniques and the allocation
of an actual Espionist to deepen the available skill set. He has
also requested, albeit without much optimism, the addition
of a Mortiurge to the garrison, well aware that tough though
the Flags are, his garrison is still at a disadvantage if they have
to deal with an openly defiant warlord. Dietz’s squad, who
initially resented the soft-handed scholar dumped on them
by Command, have warmed to him as they have seen his
belief in them and the work he has put in on their behalf, and
currently morale among the Iocanthos Flags is high.
Ironically, given the post’s reputation among other
Arbites, finishing a stint on Iocanthos can be as problematic
as starting one. Flag work is solitary and freewheeling,
demanding versatility, lateral thinking, and resourcefulness,
and those who excel at it find they chafe at a return to the
regimented life of an Arbitrator at a large garrison. Many
former Iocanthos rangers are now working as Detectives and
Mortiurges, and the Divisio Immoralis counts several among
its agents.
==Important Locations==
*Port Suffering
*The Abbey of the Dawn
*Stern Hope
*The Badlands
==Important Characters==
*King Skull
*Seth the Voice
==Power Groups==
*Red Redemption - The cult has recently gained followers on Iocanthos
*The Menagerie - On occasion, the Pandaemonium Carnival has appeared on Iocanthos
==Unique Equipment==
Iocanthos Blunderbuss
Class: Basic (Primitive)
A common primitive form of the black powder weapon is
the blunderbuss. Essentially a large metal tube equipped with
a primitive firing mechanism, these weapons are favored for
their ease of use and the havoc that they cause more than the
damage they deal. Blunderbusses are also worthy of note for
their seemingly indestructible ability to fire anything placed
into the barrel, and it is unsurprising to know that they are
also called “scrappers” or “pelters” on some worlds, referring
largely to their foraged ammunition.
A particular example, the Iocanthos blunderbuss has a
notoriously short range but a very wide spray from its conelike
bore. Anything unlucky enough to be standing in front
of one when its fired is likely to badly lacerated with metal
scrap, lead shot and burning embers.
Basic, 10m, S/–/–, 1d10+1, I, PEN 0, Clip 1, RLD 5 Full, Inaccurate, Primitive, Scatter, Unreliable, WT 4kg, Cost 35, Rare
Bastard Sword
Class: Melee (Primitive)
The bastard sword, or hand-and-a-half, finds the most
use among the Harrowguard, an elite core of Iocanthos
warriors in the employ of Warlord Vervai Skull. So called
because the blade falls between the more traditional
longsword and the far larger two-handed sword, having
a long blade and heavy weight prevents all but the
best trained warriors from wielding it one-handed. To
accommodate all users, these weapons feature a longer grip
to provide flexibility, giving the wielder the option to use
it one or two-handed.
Melee, 1d10+1(+SB), R, PEN 1, Primitive, WT 5kg, Cost 50, Average
Somna
An unusual and powerful drug to say the least, somna
is a synthesized extract taken from the pollen of the
Nephyis Orchid of Iocanthos. In its refined form, it is
capable of producing a powerful coma-like effect in the
subject, shutting down the metabolism and life processes,
almost to the verge of death, and plunging the mind into
a bottomless oblivion beyond the deepest sleep. The
subject of somna appears to all but the most probing
medical examination to be dead and can survive in this
state for days or weeks without food or water and with
almost no air. Aside from its medical uses, somna has
been put to numerous nefarious purposes in the past from
kidnapping, feigning death to evade capture and even as a
particularly cruel murder weapon (with the victim waking
up to find themselves buried alive.) In recent years, the
more vicious narco-gangs of the Sibillan underhive have
also used heavily adulterated somna to create “spiral
black”, a highly potent and extremely dangerous variant
of obscura.
Safely using somna, (the exact dosage must be calculated
for each subject), requires a successful Difficult (–10)
Medicae Test. A failed Test leads to unpredictable results,
such that a failure by four degrees or more results in
death. A successful Test places the subject into a deathlike
trance for a period of time between one to ten days. The subject can be roused before this predetermined time
by applying a stimm directly to the heart, but this is
risky, and the subject must succeed on a Toughness Test
or die from cardiac arrest.
Cost 500, Scarce
The Spear of Countless Eyes
The Spear of Countless Eyes is a tall spear of hammered bronze
whose dark wooden haft is carved with lidded eyes that open
and close to reveal rolling yellow irises and black slit pupils.
It was created by the warp corrupted hunter tribes who dwelt
on Iocanthos long before the Imperium claimed it. The Spear
of Countless Eyes is said to make a hunter able to see with
unnatural clarity and be able to feel all that passes around him
as if it were the touch of wind on his skin. Though the old
dark ways have long been burnt from Iocanthos, such relics as
the Spear of Countless Eyes endure to as a memory of a dark
past that may return once again.
Special Rules
The Spear of Countless Eyes contains a Warp Predator (WP
26) with the Hungering and Instinct of the Beast (see below)
attributes.
Instinct of the Beast: The wielder of The Spear
of Countless Eyes gains the Heightened Senses (Sight)
talent, in addition to the Dark Sight and Unnatural
Senses (15m) Traits.
Melee, Thrown, 10m, 1d10+2, R, PEN 2, The Beast Within, Lethality Uncanny Resilience, Hungering, Instinct of the Beast, WT 2kg
Tyche’s Kiss
(Slow/-30/Paralytic)
This poison’s effects last for days rather than hours and victim
will appear dead unless examined medically. Ground from the
seed pods of a strange blood-red orchid reputedly to have
first been hybridised from the Ghostfire flowers of Iocanthos,
its ability to “fake” death has been used to cheat justice and
as a particularly sinister tool of murder; with victims coming
round to find themselves buried alive.
Cost 450ea, Rare
==Native Creatures==
Shale Crows
"The local carrion eater, vile things more feathered reptile than bird if you get close to them, sharp-beaked too. Local myth has all sorts of unpleasant legends surrounding them. Hardly surprising really. They’re not just scavengers either---they’ll attack wounded and weak creatures, including men. No eyes in the damn things, no eyes at all."
— Aristarchus the Seer
Dustdogs
Usually ridden by the natives as mounts, each beast is a lean, long-tailed biped three times the size of a man, and growls and barks as it lopes along.
Corrupted Hexalid
This predatory beast is covered in
suppurating old wounds, half-rotten and with its eyes
already gone---seemingly pecked out by crows.
Category:Feral Worlds
Category:Agri-Worlds
Category:Planets
Category:Golgenna Reach
Category:Calixis Sector