Excellon Subsector

Subsector Capital: Eldritch (civilised world)

The heart of the Lithesh Sector, and the one most touched by the grander events of recent Imperial history. Excellon is a subsector of competing interests, each desiring to harness the sub’s resources to avert whichever of a myriad of potential catastrophes is currently thought to be most pressing.

## Eldritch

Sector capital - civilised world built up recently from the ruins of exterminatus on the orders of Guilliman himself.

## High Khessar

Hive world with main Naval base

Centre of “old power” - still the seat of most of the sector’s great merchant houses, the breeding ground for its generals and admirals, and easily remains in the top three most deadly political arenas of the sector.

## Prassium

Originally one of Ultramar’s 500 (?) worlds - Roman glory gone somewhat to rot.

Civilised world, rife with organised crime. Serves as waypoint between Ultramar and rest of the system, but woefully under-protected given its strategic location. Large cargo docks and modest Navy shipyard, but minimal Guard defences and receives the second-rate warships.

Agri world in same system - Fortis XII, almost idyllic rolling pastures, spoiled only by the deadly Cicada-like swarms that wreak havoc over the crops every 53 years

The monstrous creatures are known to carry off children, however the number of children being taken has increased noticeably over the last few cycles.

## Huangmao

Great mountain citadels surrounded by sprawling and vibrant cities, their culture left to mix and flourish as the commanders marshal their forces for war.

Outside the military system, life plays out remarkably pleasantly - the planet boasts the most exciting art scene in the sector and by Imperial standards the authorities are downright libertarian. This latitude comes at a price - procreation is heavily incentivised and 50% of each day’s worth of births are given over to the PDF for training.

In same system, agri world - livestock world with nightmarish factory farms as far as the eye can see. Livestock and Victual Mass Conveyance Provender voidships dock at the world at least once a month, transporting untold billions of animals to be processed en route and delivered to the hungry mouths of the sector’s hive worlders and soldiers. Insect farms also feature heavily. World is farmpunk.

## Bartok-Primus

### Bartok

Hideous hive world - wretched even by Imperial standards, on the colder end of the habitable zone but unevenly warmed by climate change.

Like the worst Soviet mining/factory cities, only on a planetary scale. No gleaming spires rising above it all - the monolithic hab blocks and manufactorums jut from the dusty wasteland in monotonous rows that stretch past the horizon.

PDF is heavily mechanised, with every recruit able to breakdown a Chimera’s engine block by the time they leave basic training. Soldiers tend to take a pragmatic and sardonic approach to the challenges of life and (frequently) death. Lho stick smoking is almost universal among the Bartok regiments who venture out to die on some other planet as the smoke reminds them of home.

### Primus

Sister world belonging to the middle classes and nobles of the system, and their servants, kept blissfully unaware of the horrors of the neighbouring planet. Highly consumerist and self-absorbed

## Alsanta

Bustling world of metropolises, low rise towns, industry, and commerce. On the fringes of the Excellon sub and relatively rife with organised crime, smuggling, etc. Strong reciprocal political ties to Albion and, in recent decades, Mont St. Praxedes. Along with a dozen other worlds of minor consequence, they are rapidly forming a makeshift alliance, with some citizens calling for recognised independent subsector status.

## Danesgide

Agri-world - fragmented archipelago producing staggering volumes of food from bio-engineered kelp and other oceanic sources

## Wychnell

Fiery nightmare world, having suffered the same fate as Eldritch but without the reconstruction.

## Xustea

Deathworld - black, dead ash wastes; only remains are the fossilised husks of tall reedy plants. Constant strong winds that makes a horrendous keening when it blows through the reeds. The reeds took over the surface aeons ago but the echo of the life that they swept away remains.

The inhabitants live deep underground in endless anastamoses of volcanic caverns and tunnels, close to the core, far away from the sounds of madness blowing above. Evolution has shaped these people to be resistant to psychic phenemona. A self-sufficient, dour people, they mine the rich mineral deposits throughout Xustea’s solidified mantle and generate power with ramshackle nuclear reactors that produce more than the typical quantity of mutants.

The PDF is mostly dedicated to dealing with the ever-present mutant threat rather than resisting outside invaders. Anyone crazy enough to invade Xustea’s tunnel network would find themselves fighting an intractable guerilla campaign on a massive scale.

## Prandium’s Sorrow

System named for the shrine world dedicated to the Ultramarines and the imperial servants who died in the battle of Macragge

Other planets in the system:

* Lindisfarne - beautiful and serene garden world, part of which is dedicated as a hospital world for wounded guardsmen, heavily tied to the ecclesiarchy
* Corinthia - hive planet full of zealots, effectively ruled by the ministorum and burning with righteous fury against the Emperor’s foes

Head of Sector ecclesiarchy - Arch-Cardinal Elect Throt - is almost a prophet, who maintains lots of control over the system. Massively obese man supported by cybernetics on a great wooden throne. Sleeps much of the time but occasionally delivers zealous outbursts. His metabolism is extremely unusual and he’s capable of utilising his stored energy to engage in extended feats of pious activity.