Lucin’s Breath

“I will have worlds named for me, one day!”
–Lucin Rufinius, former Commander of Port Wander
Deep within the area of the Koronus Expanse called
Winterscale’s Realm is a frozen world which, were
it not for the resources found upon its surface, no
one would pay any heed. Lucin’s Breath is a planet covered
in methite-rich snow and other types of crystallized gas.
However, there is one resource on this dirty ball of ice that
can be found here in great abundance, and it has Rogue
Traders not only willing to kill for it, but to wage wars. This
resource, pure nephium, is sought out by the tech-priests
of the Adeptus Mechanicus for its unique properties. It is
something that they value highly, and they are willing to
reward those who deliver it handsomely.
Discovered by Sebastian Winterscale in 258.M41, Lucin’s
Breath was named to mock Commander Lucin Rufinius of
Port Wander---an incompetent wretch who was posted there
to ensure he would never wield any real power. Nevertheless,
Rufinius boasted he would become so famous that his name
would adorn worlds across the Expanse. So disgusted by
Rufinius was Sebastian that he felt the name was appropriate
for one so cold and out of touch with the rest of the Imperium.
The world of Lucin’s Breath was once home to a xenos race
who fashioned cities from the rock and frozen gasses using
sophisticated and unknown technology. They were able to bore
into the surface of the world and create warrens and tunnels
that now stand empty, dark and cold as the void itself.
Why the aliens chose to build their cities around the
bubbling and oozing pits of slushy tar-like nephium is a mystery.
There’s no obvious technology left behind, although the severe
cold eventually makes all metals brittle, and any material not
specifically designed to operate within the deep voids eventually
crumbles and becomes totally useless. If this is what happened
to the remains the xenos left behind, none can say.
==Surviving Lucin's Breath==
Lucin’s Breath is an extremely hostile world to human existence. The
planet’s atmosphere is thin to the point of uselessness---although
if someone attempted to breath it their lungs might well freeze
before they suffocated. The following heavy-duty environmental
gear is a must if one wishes to walk on the planet’s surface:
*Some form of rebreather with air canister.
*Survival suit, sealed and heated carapace armor, power armor, or a void suit.
If an individual does not have the rebreather, he suffers
suffocation. If an individual does
not have the proper clothing (but still has warm clothing such
as a cloak or coat), he can survive on the surface for a number
of minutes equal his Toughness Bonus, at which point he must
make a Difficult (–10) Toughness Test or suffer one level of
Fatigue. After another amount of minutes equal to his Toughness Bonus,
he must repeat this test---this continues until the individual either finds shelter
or goes unconscious, at which point he dies in 1d10 minutes. If the individual does not
have any sort of warm clothing, the time becomes a number of Rounds equal to his Toughness Bonus, rather than minutes.
Gear and Supplies
The extreme cold also has an effect on weapons, sapping energy and causing components to warp, degrade, and deform.
Unless specially adapted for cold operations with wire heaters and the like, weapons can suffer these effects from
prolonged cold exposure (at least a day or more). Las weapons reduce their clip size to half normal as the cold drains their
charge packs. Flame weapons jam on a damage roll of 7 or higher, rather than a 9, as feed tubes freeze over. Finally, any
weapon that fires projectiles gains the Unreliable Trait. Plasma and melta weapons are unaffected by the cold.
Melee weapons are also effected by the extreme cold. Chain, Shock, and Power weapons reduce the damage they deal
by 1, as charge packs falter and gears freeze up.
==Xenos Structures==
No one knows for certain what happened to the lost xenos
race that dwelled upon this world. Yet, if the destruction
wrought upon the walls of their cities is any indication, they
may have been on the losing side of a great war. What their
fate was afterwards can only be guessed at.
Scattered across the surface of this frozen world are numerous
clusters of xenos-made structures as what can only be called cities,
formed from the very gas-impregnated ice and snow that covers
this world and anchored deeply into the bedrock. Somehow, the
xenos race that existed long before the coming of man were able
to fashion the ice and snow into a transparent material that is far
stronger than ceramite or any other material found within the
Imperium. No one knows how they were able to achieve this,
yet the cities are (or rather were) breathtaking in their beauty and
design. Beneath these icy cities are warrens of frozen tunnels cut
by mysterious drills into the rock.
Each city is clustered around a sinkhole where the
bubbling pools of nephium can be found. The wind-smoothed
edges of the cities’ shattered walls are the only hint
of what became of the lost xenos civilization that once thrived
here. It is whispered by those who are indentured to toil and
sweat within these dead buildings that the structures should
be shunned and feared; on certain nights when the planet’s
single pale moon shines down on these places and beneath
the light of certain stars, strange and thin shapes can be seen
within the pearlescent walls---writhing shadows trapped
within for all eternity.
==Shadows in the Night==
For the better part of a century, stories have filtered back to
the seedy taverns, bars, and underworld of the Calixis Sector
that Lucin’s Breath is a cursed world. Workers who manage to
complete their contracts with their patron Rogue Traders and
cartels (and those who spend any appreciable amount of time on
the world) speak about the strange writhing shadows that can
be seen moving within the glassy walls of the crumbling xenos
ruins. The stories say that the shadows appear as wraiths that
undulate and flow with a humanoid appearance. Others state
that the shadows sometimes appear in the form of other, far
stranger shapes that have no human attributes at all. None
of the shadows appear consistently, and only seem
to appear when the planet’s single moon passes
overhead---reflecting the pale white light from
the system’s star.
What these shadows are or why they constantly appear is
totally unknown; most do not investigate the matter as long
as the precious nephium shipments continue uninterrupted.
While they seem to be nothing more than moving patterns in
the icy material of the walls (which some attest to either the
light of the moon or the influence of various mind-altering
chemicals employed by the mining prods), they can be quite
unsettling. Recently, however, rumors have emerged from
Aspyce Chorda’s camp that workers have been going missing.
No one knows what happens to them, and there are no signs
left behind of their passing. Even the various gang-bosses are
at a loss to explain how able-bodied workers simply vanish
from sealed camps without a trace.
==Frozen Treasure==
Nephium is a highly flammable substance that has a number of
useful and unusual properties. While its most common use is as
an additive greatly enhancing promethium, nephium has other
properties that are little understood by the techno-magi of the
Adeptus Mechanicus. For one thing, nephium reacts violently
to organic tissues—to touch unrefined nephium with bare skin
usually results in eventual, painful death.
On Lucin’s Breath, the greenish-black, tar-like nephium is
staggeringly pure. The entire planet is dotted with sinkholes
where the goo seeps to the surface. These sinkholes lead into
the depths of the planet and are thought to be a product of
the world’s unstable mantle. Why nephium is so prevalent on
this world is anyone’s guess, and if there’s any correlation
between the abundance of the semi-solid material and the
shattered cities of the missing xenos civilization, no one has
yet found it.
These days, the nephium is available for the taking by any
who are prepared to risk the lethal cold, toxic environment,
tremors, bandits, and Rogue Traders who have already
staked claims on the world. However, only those with the
resources to protect their claims can truly hold on to them.
Sinkholes are mostly found within the city ruins. Most of
them are now lost beneath tracts of vast Imperial machinery,
thermally shielded habconstructs, and gargantuan storage
tanks. These sites are often surrounded by a miasma of sickly
smog, pollution fumes and wastes produced by the mining
and extraction processes of the cold-wracked machine plants.
The equatorial regions of Lucin’s Breath are scattered with
the frozen ruins of miscellaneous construction machines and
storage tanks that were either abandoned or destroyed during
the Claimant Wars of 785.M41.
The most productive of the nephium mining operations are
those sinkholes that have been capped with the prefabricated
standard template extraction vaults, which are heated by
oversized plasma generators, and have been dropped into
place from orbit by the Rogue Trader Aspyce Chorda. The
various systems and extractors are worked mainly by
captured pirates, renegades, and servants of rival
claimants to the wealth of this world.
==Places of Interest==
Scattered across the surface, and beneath the crust itself, are
numerous sites of interest to intrepid Explorers. The very
environment of Lucin’s Breath is inimical to human life.
The temperatures are so low that an unprotected human will
freeze solid in moments, and the very air condenses and falls
as snow. Amid this frozen hell, small squads of House Troops
fight near-constant shadow wars for the rich sinkholes and
nephium pits, in clear violation of the Nephium Compact.
The Mines
Mining heads are scattered across the surface of Lucin’s Breath,
from pole to pole. The mines are controlled by a number of
different interests, though the majority are under the authority
of Calligos Winterscale or Aspyce Chorda. Each mine head is
different, depending on the resources available to construct it.
However, they all follow the same general pattern. The capping
head itself is usually a vast steel or adamantium dome that encases
the sinkhole and allows the workers to operate machinery at
something approaching a habitable environment. Vast filtration
pumps within the cap slowly siphon the viscous ooze, draw off
impurities, and store the raw nephium in outer stowage tanks.
Partially buried airtight walkways connect the caps to
miner habs, workshops, and genatoria facilities. The mines
also have landing pads for tanker shuttles, and—inevitably due
to the Claimant Wars—weapon emplacements and airtight
bunkers. The average mine head may have as few as thirty crew
members, or as many as several hundred, depending on the size
of the sinkhole and the strength of the defenses.
Beyond these similarities, however, every mine head is
different. The mines controlled by Calligos Winterscale are
ancient, sprawling complexes, some centuries old. Over the
years the miners built additional ramshackle constructions
and expansions, until the original mine buildings are all but
indistinguishable from the later construction. Some have even
turned into small communities of rough miners and their families.
By contrast, Chorda’s mines are STC extraction vaults,
dropped from orbit onto promising sinkholes, and are a model
of grim efficiency. However, a visitor will notice they have
no sealed hanger bays, just landing pads for tanker shuttles.
Chorda is in the habit of putting her captured prisoners and
slaves to work at the mine-heads, and they are dropped from
orbit with the vaults. There is no way to leave one of her
mines—new “recruits” and supplies are thrown from the
tanker shuttles, where their only hope is to reach one of the
vault’s airlocks before they freeze. If a mine crew doesn’t
produce, Chorda can shut off the vault’s plasma generator,
condemning them to a slow and very cold death.
Victory Station
Victory Station is an orbital refinery-station/military depot
constructed several centuries ago by the Winterscale dynasty,
and now controlled by Calligos Winterscale. It is an old
station, heavily armoured and battle-scarred from countless
conflicts, in geosynchronous orbit over the nephium fields
controlled by Calligos.
Victory station is a heavily modified Chasm class voidstation,
a ring construction roughly as large as a cruiser. It
has a small population for its size—only 20,000 souls. These
unfortunates maintain the leaky and deteriorating structure,
harvest foodstuffs from the starch-vats and protein pits, and
supply it to Winterscale’s mines on the planet’s surface. In turn,
they receive a steady stream of raw nephium from those mines,
which is refined and stored, waiting for dynasty transports.
Victory is a cheerless place, its population ground down by
the unending work and the constant threat that a leak or refinery
malfunction could ignite the pure nephium and incinerate the
entire station. However, the station does have several ship-berths
capable of void-ship repairs, and the station also sells supplies
at inflated prices. This is enough to entice some ships to visit,
though they must deal with Winterscale or his intermediaries
to obtain a safe-route through the thick minefield that protects
the station. Once aboard, any dealings go through Dom Daruos,
Victory Station’s tight-fisted and overworked chief foreman.
The Skull Pit
The “Skull Pit” (so dubbed by the local miners, indentured
workers and visiting Rogue Traders of Lucin’s Breath) is
all that remains of a once successful nephium extraction
operation run by Aspyce Chorda. The facility itself was once
home to over three hundred indentured slaves, convicts, and
captured raiders who were put to work under the guns of the
infamous Rogue Trader.
Roughly two years ago, in 814.M41, all contact with the site
ceased. It was thought that the severe cold was playing havoc
with the comm arrays, but when the tech-crew dispatched
to investigate arrived, they found the entire facility empty
of workers save for one man, Valsetto Haine, a former raider
commander who was captured and put to work in exchange
for his life. The entire hab was littered with clothing, tools and
other evidence of a routine workday. There were no signs of
a struggle; they had simply vanished. Half-eaten food cooled
on tables; bunks looked recently slept-in. The only thing they
could get from Valsetto, who was completely mad, were the
words “touch the pool... touch the pool...” over and over again.
When investigators checked the nephium sinkhole and its
pool of ooze, they found a horrific scene: polished white skulls
arranged around the perimeter of the sinkhole, all turned away
from the pool with their empty eye sockets staring back at
those who approached. Valsetto was charged with the deaths of
all the occupants of the site and executed for his crimes. What
really happened to the other miners is anyone’s guess, but no
one has tried to reclaim the cursed sinkhole, nor have they
made any attempts to remove the skulls that ring the nephium
pool—skulls that match the exact number of missing workers
assigned to the facility... minus one.
The Wrecks
When the most recent Claimant War began, both Chorda and
Winterscale brought massive military assets to bear against
one another. The site of one of the largest clashes in that
war is now the largest junkyard on the planet. Simply called
“the Wrecks,” this area near the lower equatorial region is
home to hundreds of wrecked and ruined mining vehicles,
troop transports, aircraft, and more. All of them are covered
in centimeters of methane ice and snow, scavenged over and
over in the years that following the great battle.
A small group of nomadic scavengers, called Shrivs by
the locals, crawl over the frozen metal beasts like parasites,
removing anything of value from them and then selling them
back to the respective Rogue Traders or their agents.
The Shrivs and the Wrecks can prove a valuable resource
for a Rogue Trader and his crew, although getting in touch
with them can prove problematic. Neither of the factions that
controls Lucin’s Breath appreciate a third faction living off
their losses, and both occasionally send purge-teams into the
Wrecks to hunt down the nomads. In turn, the Shrivs have
begun relying on representatives who live in Victory Station or
amongst Chorda’s mining encampments. These representatives
remain anonymous, but approach those looking for supplies
or items with an offer to meet their demands. If interested,
they are supplied with a vox-frequency to arrange a meeting
with the Shrivs. Though the items they can provide are not
particularly rare or exotic, the Shrivs know their bargaining
position is weak and do not ask much in return.
The Shrivs can provide items with a rarity of Average
or lower, and all Acquisition Tests made to obtain items
through them gain a +5 bonus due to the Shriv’s
discount. If the GM wishes, he can have the
Shrivs provide rarer items, though in those
cases, the Shrivs might ask more in return.
==The Claimant Wars==
“It’s a cold, icy, dirty little world, and once I rid myself of that troublesome wench Chorda, I’ll wipe it clean of the vermin infesting it and put House Winterscale back in control... where it belongs!”
–Calligos Winterscale, on Lucin’s Breath
Not only is pure nephium a valuable resource, it’s also the key
to gaining the favor of many forge worlds within the nearby
Calixis Sector and elsewhere. The tech-priests of the Adeptus
Mechanicus value nephium not only for its efficacy as a fuel
additive, but also for the other properties it exhibits. From
the time the world was claimed by Sebastian Winterscale,
his Dynasty enjoyed unrivalled control of this world and the
prestigious and lucrative trade that went with it. For centuries,
House Winterscale had been able to hold their claim to Lucin’s
Breath because of the power they possess. Recently, however,
Aspyce Chorda challenged House Winterscale’s claim to this
world by simply invading it. Because Lady Chorda possessed
the resources and power to hold on to the territory she
claimed, there was little House Winterscale could legally do.
Thus, the result of Chorda’s invasion was a series of Claimant
Wars fought for total possession of this world. These wars
have been highly lucrative to Rogue Traders outside of
this conflict, as they have been able to negotiate contracts
transporting and guarding the precious nephium shipments
for both sides of the war.
The most recent of these bloody and vicious battles was
fought between the forces of Calligos Winterscale, the
current head of House Winterscale, and the Rogue
Trader Aspyce Chorda in 785.M41. This was
thought to be the bloodiest Claimant War
fought to date, with countless dead on
both sides and tonnes of machines lost; scattered across the
great equatorial region of the planet.
==Nephium Compact==
As the Claimant War continued and lives and resources were
expended in the process, the flow of nephium was brought
to a virtual stand-still. Eventually, after reaching a stalemate
in the conflict, both sides entered into an unprecedented
settlement: the Nephium Compact.
According to the terms of the Nephium Compact, the world
of Lucin’s Breath is equally divided between the Houses of
Winterscale and Chorda until such time as “honorable writ
and claim can be established” over ownership of the world.
The signing of the compact was so wildly out of character
for both the mercurial Calligos Winterscale and the merciless
Aspyce Chorda that wild rumors circulate on occasion about
how some other force or organization may have been behind
its signing. If this is true, there are those willing to pay to find
out just who this might be, in the effort to undermine both
claims on Lucin’s Breath.
Despite the compact, Lucin’s Breath has not seen peace
since the Claimant War began. Routine raids, sabotage,
and defection of troops from one side to the other are very
commonplace. Servitors are deemed to be too costly to risk
destruction in the cold production habs; instead the workers,
who are slaves in all but name, are hustled into various squads
and suicide-auxiliaries. They are issued armored heat suits
and whenever one of the planet’s ubiquitous methite blizzards
arises they clash with their rivals from the other side. It’s not
uncommon to fi nd remnants of pitched battles, corpses frozen
solid in the ice and snow, bearing unexploded nephium-laced
explosives, mining charges, and other improvised detritus and
weapons of war.
Category:Planets
Category:Koronus Expanse
Category:Winterscale’s Realm
Category:Mining Worlds