Casydmus

Industrial world of Casydmus from space

**Casydmus** is an Imperial civilised/mining world discovered by the Salamanders Primarch Vulkan during the Great Crusade and remained loyal throughout the Horus Heresy. Though it has come to blows with the Ecclesiarchy during the Age of Apostasy, it has otherwise been a loyal world for ten thousand years and shows no signs of ever changing.

It is best known for producing the Casydman Tempest Guard, iron-willed, disciplined volunteer soldiers who have fought throughout the galaxy since the Great Scouring and the separation of the Imperial Army into the Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy.

## History

Colonised during the Dark Age of Technology, Casydmus has a long record of Human settlement. While like many worlds during the Age of Strife it technologically regressed, it also split into a dozen warring nation-states until only a few centuries prior to its discovery and integration into the Imperium of Man.

### Discovery and Integration

The world of Casydmus was discovered in the midst of a civil war; the theocratic government that ruled Casydmus was facing rising opposition from the people that had sparked an all out attempt at revolution that turned into a bloody and vicious civil war.

The Primarch Vulkan and his Salamanders would land on the planet and aid the rebels in overthrowing the local government, establishing their own secular government in its place headed by the 'High Gerent' who was elected from amongst the aristocratic powers of the world, which controlled its trade and industry. The new government would embrace the secular Imperium of Man and quickly outlawed religion and was proudly atheist. Such measures proved effective on Casydmus and religious observance died to almost nothing within a generation.

### Horus Heresy

The world remained loyal during the Horus Heresy, which proved to have a painful cost; the world was invaded by the traitor Knight House of Qarrokh and a force of traitor Imperial Army regiments. The Siege of Casydmus would last several years until the defeat of Horus above Terra when the forces of Chaos were scattered and driven back into the Eye of Terror. The world would be relieved by the Ultramarines and Imperial Fists and the forces of Casydmus would devote their troops to aiding the Great Scouring.

### Early Imperium (M31-35)

The world would remain loyal to the Imperium and the God-Emperor throughout it's history. It would also remain strictly adherent to the Imperial Truth and reject the countless missionaries that would attempt to spread their faith to the world, at first simply being rejected or arrested and left to rot for disobeying the Emperor's directive to crush superstition and religion. However, as the Imperium grew into an ever more theocratic state this began to alienate Casydmus from the rest of the Imperium and it was finally forced to accept missionaries after the declaration of the Imperial Creed as the state religion of the Imperium and the founding of the Adeptus Ministorum to enforce it.

Regardless, the Ecclesiarchy would have minimal influence on Casydmus for millennia - it was only in M35, during the Age of Apostasy, that Casydmus would finally come under the Ecclesiarchy's wing. That was tenuous however, and even now the Ecclesiarchy does not enjoy the absolute dominance it does on other worlds as priests of a permitted sect born of the Promethean Cult, a legacy of the Primarch Vulkan, competes for the souls of Casydmus' people.

In what is known as the Casydman Heresy, the world would defy the Ecclesiarchy's ever escalating tithes and eventually come to blows over the matter in a month long conflict that resulted in the Salamanders intervening and negotiating a peace between the planetary government and the Ecclesiarchy that allowed the Missionaria Galaxia to preach to the population and collect a reduced tithe in return for greater autonomy form the dictates of the Ecclesiarchy.

### Later Imperium (M36-42)

The defining event for Casydmus was in 600.M38 - the Choir of Blood under the Red Matriarch arrived in orbit of the world and sent an psychic message that drove the astropathic choirs of the world mad or psychotic, sometimes both, but in the end killing them all. The Red Matriarch gloated about her conquests and swore her vengeance against Casydmus. Within the hour the forces of the Choir, under the command of the 'Daughters of War', would storm across the planet. Some of the incursions were repelled, but many - especially on the smaller continent of Varallus - succeeded and within the first month many cities had fallen. Soon the continent of Varallus had to be abandoned and a defensive perimeter was established around the remaining continent of Tempus. This line held for two years until the Battle of Armian, when the CCA and Tempest Guard would lose nearly a million men to the Choir and herald the slow, bloody retreat across Tempus.

For another year and a half the forces of the Choir would drive across the planet until mid way through 603.M38 when Imperial reinforcements would arrive and turn the tide against the Khornate warband, including Cadians, Imperial Knights, and elements of the Salamanders. Over the next half a year the forces of the Choir would be driven back and their fleet would be scattered by Battlefleet Ormanus, and the world relieved.

Once the planet was finally cleansed it was left to recover, not creating an Imperial Guard regiment for one hundred and fifty years. It also fundamentally changed the world's people, leaving them more utilitarian and determined and scarred. The regiments from Casydmus would forever be more grim and serious, though nonetheless compassionate. During this time the possibly heretical Cult of Fire (based off the Promethean Cult from the Salamanders) would spread throughout the populace at an increased rate.

## Geography & Climate

Two large continents dominate Casydmus' surface, consisting of plains and low woodlands, as well as dusty, barren plains. The most striking element of Casdymus' climate is its fierce storms, which are capable of toppling Land Raiders at full strength. The people of Casydmus have adapted to this climate and are adept at constructing buildings able to withstand the harsh storms.

## Government

Casydmus has a single civilian government known as the Gerent Assembly, which is run by a collective of rich and powerful business moguls and landowners with minimal influence from the Ecclesiarchy - that being said the belief in the Emperor's divinity does influence the decision making of the Assembly.

The Gerent Assembly is made up of one hundred and eleven Precepts, which are in charge of a 'prefect' that is centred around the largest local population centre. Generally speaking the presence of the Administratum is no more or less than most worlds, and the Adeptus Arbites have a small presence and mostly work through local agents. The people of Casydmus are well aware of the Imperium and its scale, but are only really aware of the exact goings on of the Casydmus sub-sector and are, in passing, aware of the current affairs of the Ormanus Sector.

The High Gerent - effectively meaning 'supreme governor' - of Casydmus is elected based on a ten-year cycle from amongst the Precepts, and once an individual has become High Gerent they must retire upon the end of their term and cannot be Precept or High Gerent again.

### Military Government

In times of crisis it is possible for the Gerent Assembly to vote to enact a temporary military dictatorship; the most notable instance was during and after the Invasion of Casydmus when Lord-Commandant Supreme Marran Harkuul was given emergency powers and reigned by martial might and the support of the Casydman War Council until his death when several generals restored the Assembly.

## Culture

The ideals of Casydman culture can defined by four core values: honour, self-reliance, self-sacrifice, and compassion. Honour is in your deeds and actions, keeping promises and remaining honest, and maintaining one's faith in the God-Emperor; self-reliance is easy to understand, as the Casydman people believe one should be able to look after one's self should there be a need; self-sacrifice is embraced by the CCA and Tempest Guards particularly as the reason for their service, though is embraced by the population through charity; compassion was inherited from the much venerated Primarch, Vulkan, and Casydmans are reputed for always being willing to give as second chance - but not a third.

Art is also important in Casydman culture. Sculptures are preferred, and they break the mould of Gothic overgrowth with curving, bright buildings made of local materials such as marble, granite, etcetera. Such handiwork is celebrated across the sector, and nobles and other affluent individuals pay high prices for examples of Casydman craftsmanship.