Corusco Cluster

The Corusco Cluster is what is known as a super star cluster, which is essentially a young but very massive open cluster with much greater luminosity and mass than the standard open cluster. They are thought to be the precursor to globular clusters, a relatively common stellar group of older stars tightly bound by gravitational ties which can easily number from 10'000 to millions of stars. The exact number of stars within the Corusco Cluster is unknown, but it is estimated to be roughly around 36'000 Solar Masses, split among somewhere between 9'000 and 12'000 stars.

A significant portion of this mass comes from Sigma-V87, an intermediate-mass black hole estimated at roughly 4'200 Solar Masses. The presence of this black hole keeps the Corusco Cluster much more tightly gravitationally bound than smaller open clusters and is a major brake against planetary escapes. because the Corusco Cluster is relatively young on the stellar scale and black holes of such mass cannot be formed from the supernova of single stars, it is believed that Sigma-V87 was formed through the freak collision of at least two blue supergiants, which resulted in the singularity and collapse of the resultant material.

The Corusco Cluster is divided in roughly six regions. At its core is the Sigma-V87 exclusion zone, where the black hole and its accretion disk lurk. A number of blanets, mostly unexplored, are also present. Around this nucleus is a region called the Belt of Giants, thus named because it contains nearly 200 supergiants of an average 60 solar masses each in a colossal ring-formation around Sigma V-87. These are mostly blue supergiants, but a few red and yellow hypergiants are also present. Finally, the rest of the Cluster outside of the Belt is divided between four quadrants, simply referred to as the Coreward, Spinward, Rimward and Trailward quadrants. These quadrants are all dominated by young stars, mainly blue, white and yellow main sequence stars, with frequent presence of nebulae.

The Cluster is the home of several major Imperial factions. The oldest of them is the Mechanicum Rationalis, a secular counterpart to the Cult Mechanicus. It is also the fief of the Obsidian Wyrms legion, whose Homeworld is located there. The Cluster raises seemingly countless numbers of Fulcrums of Imperial Auxilia, such as the Coruscoan Velites and Coruscoan Equites and is defended by the Silver Armada, a massive naval force consisting of several Imperial Battlefleets.

## Cluster Culture

### Currency

The standardized unit of currency in the Corusco Cluster is the Horizon. They are small rectangular sticks 4cm long, 1.5cm wide, and at least 2mm thick, generally made of gold or silver, though copper is also used on poorer worlds and as pocket change. They are stamped with a denotation in Gothic at the top, and with an artistic rendition of a black hole painted black, at the bottom. The Horizon is not a fiat currency and holds an intrinsic value standard, with intermediary denominations being made of mixed metal alloys.

On technologically advanced worlds that eschew cash transactions, digital cards are preferred. These cards are 10cm long, 4cm wide, and about 4mm thick. They are made of a pure silver shell, with the black-painted black hole and gold-painted accretion disk. Each card is attuned to its owner’s biometric data and payment is generally confirmed via fingerprint or retinal scan.

## Planet Classification

Under the management of the Primarch Elias Dammerung, with advisory input from Sigma Gaevran, the Corusco Cluster has seen a new methodology of planetary classification different from that in widespread use in the Imperium. This is partly due the belief that over-specializing worlds into singular foci makes them extremely dependent on galactic trade and external supply to avoid total collapse, therefore making them highly vulnerable to all sorts of disruptions. Another point of contention is the commonly held Imperial belief that worlds such as Feudal or Feral worlds are simply not worth the effort to uplift or colonize properly.

More importantly than those facts however, the Corusco Cluster was folded into the Imperium early during the Compliance campaign, when humanity was still taking in the full scope of the ravages that the Age of Strife had wrought upon thousands of worlds. While a certain degree of protection and rebuilding had already began during the last millennium of the Age of Strife under the previous Novaean hegemony, the damage was still severe, and countless other worlds outside of the Cluster had no such fortune, faring even worse. Therefore when Elias took over rulership of the Cluster, the singular, driving leitmotif was above all else one of reconstruction.

During the early 8th century of the 30th Millennium, following the Novaean Armistice, the Cluster featured scores of worlds that had been ravaged by battles both old and very recent, and it was no exaggeration to say that it was a shallow reflection of its prosperity from the Golden Age of Technology. Scores of worlds had reverted to Feudal or Feral status, while a few ancient Hive Worlds laid as planet-wide tombs. The more fortunate ones still held a handful intact Hive Cities, while others sprawled as silent wrecks the size of an old Terran nation. To rebuild would be a time-consuming and colossally complex process, but it was also an opportunity to build better, and so with the mind of a Primarch and the sprawling Cogitator banks of the Novaean Vaults, an elaborate plan and methodology was devised.

### Protectorate Worlds

All newly-integrated worlds begin as Protectorate Worlds, though some only remain under this status for a brief period before being reclassified. The broad definition of a Protectorate World is one where there is turmoil and instability which can lead to large-scale consequences if left unattended. This may be due to widespread social or political unrest in the wake of a collapsing government or imperial takeover, or simply due to considerable amount of devastation from previous cycles of warfare significantly interfering with a planet's capacity to produce advanced or even basic goods. For this reason, all Protectorate Worlds are exempt of tithes; they realistically might not be able to provide any, and even if they were, forcing a tithe so could stir further unrest or even rebellion.

In addition to war-torn and recently integrated worlds, all planets falling under the Imperial classification of Feral or Feudal Worlds also fall under Protectorates. These Protectorates enjoy a good degree of autonomy, but it is generally short-lived and only lasts long enough to convince the local population of the benefits of following the Coruscoan model of planetary reform and uplift. Protectorate Worlds are a net resource sink as they receive lesser or greater levels of humanitarian aid from food and basic necessities to medical supplies and terraforming or purification equipment, depending on their population and the degree of devastation – or backwardness – thereof. Once a Protectorate World has acquired appreciable sociopolitical stability and has become capable of being at least partially self-sustaining towards its needs for food, medical supplies and basic necessities, it is ready to be reclassified.

### Developing Worlds

A Developing World is a former Protectorate World which is decently stable both politically and economically, but has yet to achieve the very strict requirements necessary to become a Haven World. As such, Developing Worlds make up the majority of all planets found within the Corusco Cluster. Developing Worlds can have a wide variety of economic bases, but are always diversified instead of focused on a singular economic sector. They are similar to Civilized Worlds under Imperial classification – which are themselves sometimes referred to as developing worlds – but where Imperial Civilized Worlds achieve their current state through natural progression and non-interference, Coruscoan Developing Worlds are created on purpose, and with great central planning and very little local autonomy.

While basic humanitarian aid is no longer necessary on Developing Worlds, they are rarely completely self-sufficient and must still rely on some degree of imports. At this stage however, they begin paying tithes, which can range anywhere from low to high depending on the planet's ability and self-sufficiency. It is also at this stage that basic necessities shipment are replaced by technological imports. Low technology planets are uplifted and introduced to standard levels of technologies to rapidly increase their efficiency in all sectors and massive education campaigns are organized on Feral and Feudal worlds to rapidly introduce literacy. Off-world specialists are brought to maintain critical infrastructure such as plasma or atomic-based power-grids.

Developing Worlds also see the construction of a number of Warden Citadels to see to their protection from hostile Xenos and serve as recruitment and training centers for raising Fulcrums of the Coruscoan Velites. It is common for sparsely populated Developing Worlds to receive massive migrations of colonists from over-crowded Hive Worlds in or around the Cluster, relocating millions at a time towards a new life away from the claustrophobic, smog and poverty-ridden Hives. Thanks to these migrations and the mass use of prefab buildings, Developing Worlds' population – and therefore production capabilities – can make exponential jumps in just a few years. It is also common for Developing Worlds that formerly saw severe devastation to undergo massive Reclamation campaigns, salvaging the raw materials and machinery from entire destroyed Hive Cities at times for recycling and land clearing.

### Haven Worlds

The Haven World represents the golden standard that each and every planet inside the Cluster is to aspire to, and a model to follow for the Greater Imperium. In order to be classified as a Haven World, a planet must be completely independent in terms of food and energy supply. Mineral resources being finite, complete self-sufficiency on the scope of millennia is impossible, but Haven worlds feature large-scale plastic and metal recycling apparatus. Self-sustaining power is provided by fusion or plasma reactors, sprawling solar arrays beamed via microwave relays, or a combination of both. Food security is provided by giant glass towers housing vertical farms that grow crops specifically tailored by Viradel’s Organicists and created for both high yield efficiency and the ability to break down industrial contaminants into nutrients as well as animal cloning centers which can produce millions of heads of livestock.

The tithes levied from Haven Worlds are extremely high as they have reached the end of their development cycle and are highly productive. These worlds’ industrial output is highly varied and adaptable, with immense factories designed with modular construction and components in mind. Production lines can be retooled in a relatively short time to respond to shortages and emergencies elsewhere in the Imperium. Quality of life is high, with air and water purity undreamed of on Hive or Forge Worlds thanks to advanced filtration and processing technologies, while Gene-tailoring has virtually eradicated hereditary diseases and birth defects, as well as vulnerability to certain pathogens. In addition, local autonomy is much greater since no further interventions are needed,

All Haven Worlds are invariably heavily fortified with scores of Warden Citadels across their surface, often with planetary headquarters beneath whole mountains or oceans and immune to all planetary bombardment short of a planet-cracking exterminatus weapon. All major megalopolis have enormous Void Shields in their Citadels and extensive networks of underground shelters and food stockpiles in cryogenic storage.

### Garden Worlds

Garden Worlds are a specialized type of planets within the Corusco Cluster that break the mold. Very sparsely populated, they are essentially enormous nature preserves that protect the biodiversity of hundreds of worlds across the galaxy in the fashion of planet-wide zoos. They are popular leisure resorts with towering hotels in their small urbanized zones that make use of the entertainment revenues to cover the operating costs. Garden Worlds also keep genetic libraries of the tens of thousands of lifeforms indexed, ensuring species will not go instinct even if their native world were to suffer an Exterminatus event.

### Mechanized Worlds

Officially, the Corusco Sector has no Forge Worlds. This is because all Forge Worlds owe allegiance to Mars. Instead, the worlds held by the Mechanicum Rationalis based in Novaea Cantis are labeled as Mechanized Worlds. They share a number of similarities to Developing and Haven Worlds, especially in terms of working towards self-sufficiency of food and energy and keeping a relatively clean world, but instead of an Imperial Governor, they are overseen by a Curator of the Rationalis, and their priorities and methods are somewhat different.

The population of Mechanized worlds is relatively low by comparison due to the extreme amount of automation found therein. This takes the form of both more conventional forms of automation and robotics, but also drones and mechanical ‘assistants’. The Rationalis’ official statement is that the ‘assistants’ are not sentient and merely respond to simple commands in much the same way as Cybernetica machines do. Said ‘assistants’ are very diligent in upholding this image in front of off-worlders. Humans on such worlds are also invariably heavily augmented with discrete cybernetics, to a degree similar to their Martian counterparts, but much less visible.

One of the main difference between Mechanized Worlds and Developing or Haven Worlds are their commitment to science. Immense research complexes and laboratories are present on every major Mechanized World, where scientists attempt to rekindle with the wonders of the Golden Age of Technology not by looking to the past, but by forging a new path. Another important difference is that Mechanized Worlds are hosts to the massive Grav-Foundries that are necessary to produce the plethora of Coruscoan Compression Alloys and are the main sources of such advanced components as supercritical conductors, high-speed cogitators and warp-based Vortex warheads.

### Citadel Worlds

Essentially a mix between Imperial Armory Worlds and Fortress Worlds, the Citadel Worlds are about as rare within the Corusco Cluster as Garden Worlds. Ever since the advent of the Warden Citadel Network, every world within the Corusco Cluster has become fortified to a lesser or greater degree, but dedicated Citadel Worlds are a whole different story. All Citadel Worlds are located on celestial bodies that are utterly hostile to life, making it extremely difficult to attack them. They serve both as strategic reserves and as distribution centers where newly produced wargear intended for both Legionaries and Auxilia are stockpiled before being dispatched to various corners of the galaxy to reinforce the numberless Expeditionary Fleets of the Imperium. In addition, thousands of vehicles, hundreds of thousands of sets of weapons, and millions of tons of ammunition and charge packs are stored, ready for use were the Cluster itself to be attacked.

## Major Worlds and Megastructures

### The Exclusion Zone

* **Typhoon** *[Citadel World] (Death World)* - Typhoon is a blanet, a celestial body that formed and orbits around a black hole rather than a star. As a result, it is hostile to life in many respects and drastically different from the average terrestrial planet. It is an oceanic planet blanketed in a relatively thick atmosphere that is somewhat reminiscent of the outer layers of gas giants, but much shorter, with it and its surface wracked both by constant storms as well as massive amounts of radiation from the black hole’s accretion disk. Yet, it is this radiation, tempered by the thick atmosphere, which allows water and light to be found at the surface, without the presence of a star. Beneath the tempestuous surface, Eternity’s Vigil is an underwater fortress-armory designed to be nearly impossible to find, and then nearly impossible to assault even if it were, resulting in its unbelievable location. Exceedingly few vessels are capable of enduring both void travel as well as the oceanic pressure, creating a first, natural defense barrier for the relatively recently settled world, which is intended to become the major Strategic Reserve of the entire Corusco Sector.

### The Belt of Giants

* **The Ring** *[LosTech Remnant]* - The ancient megastructure known as The Ring was discovered in the minuscule gravitational gap between a triad of blue supergiants. Who built it or how is not known, with even the Novaean archives - one of the only remaining repositories of the battles of the Cybernetic Revolt - having no information whatsoever on it. Many hypotheses exist as to its origins, but the only lead is that it is made of a material to seems similar to that of the LosTech space fortress named the Solace of Wisdom. Though it is now too severely damaged for habitation in most sections, a few have been used as exploration bases. No signs of any living creature has ever been found inside The Ring, be it from its intended original colonist, or those who destroyed it.
* **Sulfuris** *[Citadel World] (Death World)* - The Citadel World of Sulfuris takes its name from the dense amounts of sulfur dioxide suspended in its atmosphere. In addition to being completely unbreatheable, it reacts with water to create acid rains and acid rivers that can eat through even power armor under sustained exposure. It is a scorched world on a lazy, centenary orbit around one of the Belt's many blue supergiants, presumably a wandering planet that was caught by its gravitational field. Sulfuris was turned into a Citadel World early in the Imperial chapter of Coruscoan history due to its mix of relatively easy access in and out of the Belt and highly hostile surface and was the first such world. The majority of the installations are deep underground to avoid damage from the acid rains, and all freighters entering or exiting the world need to be protected with a special acid-resistant coating. During initial construction, vehicles could only be exposed to the elements for up to 6 hours before needing to have their coating refreshed in a safe environment. The above-ground structures make use of a mix of rare material construction and void shields to remain safe from the acid rains.
* **Waypoint V87** *[Protectorate World] (Research World)* - The space station known as Waypoint V87 is a relatively small research station purely civilian in nature and largely dedicated to the observation of stellar phenomena. It is located deep inside the Belt of Giants and to access it requires navigating extreme gravitational currents and areas of intense heat and radiation prone to sudden storms, but it is the only stable and reasonably stable path into the Exclusion Zone around the Sigma-V87 blackhole at the center of the Cluster.

### Coreward Quadrant

* **Novae** *[Mechanized World] (Forge World)* - The Novae System is relatively normal by standards of the Cluster, with its primary world being a largely earth-like planet with a high gravity and a cold climate dominated by boreal forests, taigas and subarctic zones orbiting a standard G5 yellow star. It does however rests within a nebula that creates visual phenomena and sensor interferences. Novae Cantis is an ancient world that served as a stepping stone for early galactic colonization during the Golden Age of Technology and it developed an extensive network of orbital dockyards and facilities rivaling Mars or Jupiter. Its history is deeply tied with Artificial Intelligence, which put it in a difficult position during the Cybernetic Revolt, but Novaeans performed valiantly against the Men of Iron. During the Age of Strife, Novae Cantis had nothing to fear from either Psykers or Xenos and suffered no damage, even managing to slowly start piercing through the veil and re-establish connection wih a score of Worlds within the Cluster before the Warp Storms fully abated. It quickly established itself as Hegemon of the Corusco Cluster, and would go on to wage a devastating campaign against invading Imperial forces, but it was forced to sign an Armistice after the attack on Flux City at the height of the siege of its Throneworld.
* **Prism-α** *[LosTech Remnant]* - Prism-α is not a world, but a massive space station built at the height of the Golden Age of Technology. It is the sole survivor of a network of four Dyson bubbles which were built by Novaeans in the Corusco Cluster and that became major strategic battlefields between humanity and the Men of Iron during the Cybernetic Revolt. Not a sphere per say, the bubble is a sprawling network of individual but enormous solar collection arrays kept in static orbit over the system's large A3 blue-white star via giant solar sails. This energy is beamed out to relay stations and made to converge towards Prism-α where the prodigious energy output can then be dispersed to several worlds within the Cluster using a mobile network of further relay stations. Prism-α itself is a fortified orbital city-state that was heavily reinforced in an effort to stop humanity's most relentless enemy and is therefore equipped with terrifying LosTech weapons capable of turning the very star's energy output into a weapon.
* **Tremor Zero** *[Developing World] (Mining World)* - The system dubbed as Tremor Zero is a rather peculiar one, which is generally theorized to have been created when two or three systems collided with one another very early during the Cluster's turbulent formation. Others, however, believe that it was torn apart by the Men of Iron's giant Mechanivores during the Cybernetic Revolt. At its center lies a trio of stars looking like matrioshka dolls; a red dwarf, a small orange star, and a standard yellow star. Most of the planets that made up the pre-collision systems were destroyed in the event, leaving nearly a dozen of broken, shattered half-worlds and enormously vast asteroid belts wreathed in a nebula. For the longest time, the system was thought to be empty, until a Novaean expedition shortly after the armistice found an habitable planet dominated by redwood and sequoia forests. Tremor Prime quickly established itself as the center of a system-wide mining operation and became a prosperous world known almost as much for its towering forests and high quality woodworks than for its mineral and transformed metal industry.
* **Andelor** *[Developing World] (Industrial World)* - The world of Andelor is nestled in a complex system housing four red dwarves split between one close and one distant binaries. It is a somewhat cold planet with large ice caps and an habitable zone dominated by enormous grassy steppes broken up by hilly and alpine regions. Andelor is sometimes said to be a cursed world, having seen two extinction events, once at the hand of the Men of Iron, then again under unspecified Xenos during the Age of Strife. It was recolonized by Novaeans shortly before the Imperial subjugation campaign and was fortunate to avoid yet another episode of widespread destruction. With a solid and relatively intact industrial base, Andelor became a cornerstone of the reconstruction of the Corusco Cluster, as its enormous factories produced colossal pre-fabricated components making use of bulk raw materials from other mining systems such as Brimstone and Tremor Zero. These modular prefab components allowed to rapidly construct new settlements, factories, acrologies, and even fortresses just about anywhere.
* **Glaith** *[Haven World] (Agri-World)* - Glaith is a temperate world orbiting a F7 yellow-white star that was originally formed early during the Age of Technology. Its largely isolationist nature has allowed it to largely avoid several calamities, including the latest Imperial campaign where it tried to straddle a certain neutrality between Imperials and Novaeans. Due to the absolutist nature of the Imperium, however, this caused the wiping out of the highly stubborn and xenophobic ruling caste - which had ruled for two thousand years using highly advanced and jealously guarded forms of rejuvenat treatment - that refused to surrender their independence. They were replaced by a new generation more open to contact with outsiders and quickly folded into the Imperium. Nowadays, Glaith is a major provider of fruits of all kinds, with a mix of giant orchard forests and monolithic vertical berry farms which are freeze-dried and shipped throughout the Imperium by the kilotons. Despite its agrarian exports, Glaith Prime is a heavily populated world with advanced industry and culture focused inside low-impact Arcologies and surrounded by several partially or fully terraformed moons and colony worlds built on the same model as itself.

### Spinward Quadrant

* **Corusco** *[Haven World] (Agri-World/Industrial World)* - The Corusco system finds its name in the stellar pair of Corusco Magna - a large gas giants that looks as if it's shimmering from its constant ion storms - and Corusco Parva, the giant terrestrial moon of Magna and primary habitable world which seems to reflect light the roaring light of its A8 white star when observed. During the early days of the Golden Age of Technology, Corusco Parva was a fairly standard if well rounded colony providing bulk aquaculture products from its vast oceans, small voidcrafts, and noble gases from its giant. Eventually, its people became utterly dedicated to the pursuit of arts in all its forms and the moon became the cultural and philosophical center of the whole Cluster, overtaking the economic and industrial powerhouse of Novae Cantis in influence for the first time. The Age of Strife was not kind to its people however, and repeated raids forced them to abandon idyllic pacifism and turn their creativity towards arts of war. This culminated in Corusco Parva being faced with a full-scale Daemon Incursion shortly after the end of the Age of Strife. The appearance of the Primarch, Elias Dammerung, as a mysterious Oracle and advisor helped unite the Techno-Barbarian armies and turn the tide, fending off the Daemons just in time for the arrival of the Emperor and the integration of the world in the greater Imperium. As the Homeworld of the Second Legion, Corusco Parva returned to prominence both economically and culturally, being nicknamed the diamond among jewels.
* **The Great Preserve** *([Garden World])* -The Great Preserve was created after the Armistice in a joint effort between Corusco and Novae to preserve biodiversity on the galactic scale. It centers around a large gas giant orbiting a A9 blue-white star and itself the center of a small constellation of moons. These moons’ atmospheres were carefully altered to adjust the surface temperature through a combination of albedo and greenhouse effects. As a result, each moon has a slightly different climate and can support different biome, from arid deserts to near-frozen taigas. Native species of fauna and flora from all across the Cluster has been gathered on these various moons, which are monitored from afar via a network of orbital habitats. They can be visited as a touristic attraction, but impact has to be kept minimal and visitors are tightly checked for any possible biochemical agent that could damage the preserve.
* **Orel** *[Haven World] (Mining World)* - was originally established as a novelty resort world on a large ocean planet orbiting a binary system made up of a G7 yellow star and a M1 red dwarf. It barely managed to make it through the Age of Strife unscathed, narrowly managing to fend off Eldar raids on a handful of occasions, in no small part thanks to the violent storms that often kick up unpredictably across its surface. During its isolation, the people of Orel found out that the oceanic depths were incredibly rich in all sorts of minerals and began to set up a solid abyssal mining expertise. They set up lucrative trade with Novaea Cantis by the late years of the Age of Strife, and as such suffered significant damage during the Imperial Subjugation of the Cluster. Nowadays Orel features an extensive network of both floating and underwater cities and is known as the mint of the entire cluster. With enormous reserves of gold and silver, Orel is the main production center for the standardized currency used across the whole cluster and beyond; the Horizon. It is also a major produce of superconductors.
* **Chorazin** *[Developing World] (Civilized World)* - Chorazin is a very strange system based around a minuscule and dark yet intensely radiating neutron star. Its prime world is a very large, but very low density world with weak gravity that lives in constant near-darkness, yet remains very hot despite it. In this environment rare generas of fungi thrive on the surface, with some qualifying as enormous megafauna. Dangerously venomous species of insects and reptiles have contributed to it being originally classified as a Death World by the Imperium. Worse, during first contact it was discovered that the human population had gone mad, with frenzied death cults and human sacrifices being widespread across the surface. While they were put down, the rare organic compounds found in its exotic fauna were of extreme value, and it was endeavored to colonize the world anew. A very close watch is maintained over Chorazin to ensure any signs of the madness returning will be discovered and dealt with early, but for now it seems that the world is developing innocuously, its economy rising and its people loyal.
* **Sumer** *[Developing World] (Hive World)* - As one of the early Hives established prior to the Age of Strife, Sumer nearly suffered extinction from the total isolation caused by the sudden appearance of Warp Storms. Like on Ziguraet and Babel, securing food to ensure survival became the only priority, and it was grimly realized there could never be enough for everyone. On Sumer however, it was decided by a faction of the ruling caste that a quick, relatively painless death was preferable to slow and drawn out agony. Atomics were used by most Hive Governors against one another, some genuinely believing that they were giving a mercy killing, but most merely looking out for their own survival, resulting in a blasted and irradiated planet initially categorized as a Death World by Imperial chartists. Nonetheless, a small portion - though still large in absolute term - of the population survived the madness, offering to the newfound Imperium a large pool of people that had become unnaturally resilient to radiation and had great experience in lethal environments. Under the management of the new Coruscoan administration, planetary-scale campaigns of decontamination were undertaken to make the planet livable again, and wipe away the scars of the Age of Strife. These efforts were still ongoing by the time of the Inter-Legionary Wars, but would be long over by the 41st millenium. The Sumer system is a microcosm the greater Imperium, wih several colonies providing food and minerals and being themselves Protectorate or lesser Developing Worlds.

### Rimward Quadrant

* **Montraux** *[Haven World] (Industrial World)* - Montraux entered the Age of Strife as a Mining World of moderate importance orbiting a twin system with a F4 white star and a K0 yellow companion. It was hospitable enough to sustain life in isolation, but barely so, as the planet is largely made up of enormous mountain chains, with little water and fertile lands. As its people were trying to survive, Montraux suffered multiple deadly possession events in the early days, but it managed to avoid full-scale incursion and began actively hunting Psykers as a result. Likewise, it also managed to limit damages during the Imperial subjugation campaign. Nowadays, Montraux is a prosperous world known for its high-altitude cities spreading wide on the mountainside and generally linked by air transit. It has largely moved on from simple mining to refining and is now a major producer of advanced chemicals, solvents, lubricants and additives, as well as air and water purification equipment.
* **Corteferr** *[Mechanized World] (Forge World)* - Corteferr used to be a fairly standard minor colony prior to the Age of Strife; a somewhat cold planet slightly smaller than Terra orbiting a large B9 blue star. It had relatively balanced production and adequate technology and was able to weather isolation decently, outside of being highly vulnerable to the occasional Xeno raids that did target the planet. During the last millennium of the Age of Strife, Corteferr received an expedition from Novae Cantis and became the latter's vassal, receiving advanced technology and protection in exchange for natural resources and cooperation. This relationship became highly beneficial and Corteferr grew considerably under Novaean hegemony, becoming a sizable hub that was at the center of several smaller mining colonies across its system. It suffered significant damage during the Imperial subjugation campaign of the Corusco Cluster, offering considerable resistance to the Imperial Coalition with its contingent of Battle Automata. After the signing of the armistice, Corteferr was rebuilt and it is now a major producer of microchips, using in just about everything from giant Cogitator banks to tiny vox micro-beads and cybernetic augments.
* **Babel** *[Developing World] (Hive World)* - Babel is one of the Hive Worlds established during the early ages of human colonization alongside Ziguraet and Sumer, and like them it suffered impossible devastation during the isolation wrought by the Age of Strife. It did not have time to descend into global barbarism over food supplies however as a deadly plague swept through the world seemingly overnight. It is still unclear to this day whether the plague was wrought by Chaos cults in the general insanity or was a bio-weapon bombardment by vengeful Xenos, but the end result was the same. All but two Hive Cities - which had sealed themselves shut at the first reports - were turned into tombs of colossal proportions. Inside the sealed Hive Cities, the usual struggle against starvation played out for a century - with the exception of heroic expeditions seeking to bring back food from dead cities - until it was deemed that the cataclysmic plague must have burned itself out. Nowadays, it has become a galactic center of medicine, as the trauma of its people left a profound impact on future generations. Babel works in close cooperation with the Organicists of Viradel to pool together their knowledge towards the eradication of all pathogens and illnesses. It is a producer of medical supplies throughout the whole Imperium, with some of its best doctors and surgeons, which are often called for by name by powerful Imperial Governors for treatment.
* **Teneroth** *[Developing World] (Civilized World)* - The origins of the world known as Teneroth are completely lost to history. Even its original name is suspected to have been lost and replaced by the locals as some sort of event caused society to devolve into a Feudal World with a technological level similar to that of the classical antiquity at some point during the Age of Strife. Teneroth is a somewhat large, warm planet orbiting a small orange K2 star. Most of the climate can be defined as mediteranean or tropical. It lacks any real continents, being instead made up of a hundred of roughly nation-sized islands linked by as many archipelagos and smaller island chains. When the Imperium discovered the world, it was found with a score of low-tech pseudo-empire uneasily co-existing and in a state of war against Feral Ork tribes. It was largely ignored at the time, save for the extermination of the Orks, and was later uplifted after the Armistice. Nowadays, Teneroth is a stable world with a diverse economy known for its unique architectural and cultural style blending ancient aesthetics with cutting edge technology.
* **Sheol** *[Protectorate World] (Forbidden World)* - Officially, Sheol is an uninhabited Death World. This is technically true. The planet is utterly hostile to life with an atmosphere primarily made of methane with sulfur dioxide in lesser quantities and orbiting around a massive B7 blue star that spews out immense radiation, but that alone is not enough to justify its status. On Sheol are formations called the Six Gates, with two found along the magnetic poles and four perfectly equidistant across the equator. The so-called Gates are essentially wounds in the crust, resembling deep bottomless yet eerily glowing ravines that constantly belch out purple smoke. Essentially small, stable Rifts, none knows what caused these wounds in Reality, or what might be lurking inside Sheol's core, down the bottomless chasms. No probe has ever made it past a kilometer or two, and any further attempts have been prohibited by Terra. The Second Legion maintains a small orbital fortress to enforce the world's quarantine status, but it is not entirely devoid of value, as the 'smoke' is regularly harvested as one of the main sources to produce the Legion's infamous Stormbringer Bolts.

### Trailward Quadrant

* **Viradel** *[Mechanized World] (Research World/Forge World)* - Viradel is a very unique world that defies easy classification. It is, to put it concisely a gas dwarf made of a dense silicate and metal core surrounded by a hydrogen envelope. Despite orbiting frighteningly close to a K2 red giant the size of an entire conventional system, very little light and heat makes it through the shrouded world, which only keeps itself somewhat warm through greenhouse effect. It is home to a minor sub-faction of the Mechanicum Rationalis which is roughly analogue to the Organicists faction of the Martian Mechanicum, which is to say that rather than seek cybernetic enhancements, they focus exclusively on genetic and biological research. During the Imperial subjugation campaign, the Gene-wrights unleashed hordes of chimeric warforms and even Bio-Titans against the Legionnaires of the Terra Warden, only to be impressed enough by their performance to open parlays, the outcome of which was a peaceful settlement.
* **Vastraje** *[Developing World] (Agri-World)* - Originally an idyllic agri-world before the Age of Strife, much of Vastraje was burned to the ground between Xeno raids and mad psykers on rampages, reducing its remaining population to a state of Feral humanity giving the old remnants of civilization a wide berth by the time the Imperium rediscovered it. It is a fairly earth-like planet in size and climate, but it orbits a complex trinary system made up of two red dwarves and a Sol-like yellow star. After its devastating burning, time allowed nature to take its course and the ashes of old fed the new, resulting in a world more fertile than ever. Since its days as a small Protectorate, Vastraje has made a lot of progress, going from a few scattered tens of thousands to thirty millions in a relatively short time. While there is still much room to develop settlements and industry further, the world is known as a galactic center of Spices. Its clean arcologies - pristine, if smaller mirrors of smoke-spewing Hive Cities - keep the industrialized zones' impact minimal whilst the surface is a patchwork of brightly-colored fields growing a dizzying variety of spice-bearing flowers, seeds and peppers exported throughout the Imperium in powdered form.
* **Ziguraet** *[Haven World] (Hive World)* - Named after the ancient Ziggurat of Terran Mesopotamia, Ziguraet was one of the first Hive Worlds created by humanity as it stretched out to colonize the stars. It became an overcrowded world rife with crime and poverty even before the Age of Strife, but the sudden appearance of the galaxy-wide Warp Storm caused a total societal collapse almost overnight as food shipments vanished. The world fell into devastating internal conflict and low barbarism over what little food stockpiles remained and fevered attempts were made to turn former manufactoria or wastelands into vital crop-sustaining apparatus. The total number of dead during this troubled period is unknown, but is estimated in the tens of billions. When the Imperium first came to the Corusco Cluster, Ziguraet was initially categorized as a Dead World, but several millions of survivors were discovered, still ecking out a strange living in the lower levels of the megalopolis' corpse, which were deemed as prime recruitment candidates for the Legiones Astartes due to their inherent survivalist toughness and willpower. Over the course of the Compliance, Ziguraet was painstakingly rebuilt under new, improved designs, and has become the most populous planet of the entire Cluster. It is a planet-wide ecumenopolis tapping into the planet's own mantle for geothermal power. Chief among its feature are the Green Mountains, giant complexes the size of Hive Cities entirely given over to vertical farming and livestock cloning, so that never again may the planet be forced to eat itself alive.
* **Brimstone** *[Developing World] (Mining World)* - Brimstone is an old Mining system centered around a scathing blue star. It is a scorched system filled with blasted deserts and molten worlds torn apart by gravitational forces. The sheer amount of minerals is staggering and the system has been mined since its discovery during the late Golden Age of Technology. For that reason, it has always been highly coveted. Even during the isolation of the Age of Strife, the people of the Brimstone system fended off several Ork incursions that sought to plunder the resources for themselves, while the Imperial subjugation campaign saw heavy fighting between Novaeans and Imperials. Despite all of these conflicts, the prime world of the Brimstone system remains relatively prosperous and oversees a network of smaller colonies. It is a desert world orbiting far and slow, characterized by partially underground cities built underneath large plateaus and highly reflective all-white architecture as well as giant solar arrays and underground farms.
* **Davlion** *[Developing World] (Agri World)* - The world of Davlion was a relatively unremarkable colony that managed to avoid the worst of both the Age of Strife and the Imperial subjugation by sheer luck. It is a lone, relatively small temperate world orbiting a modest orange star in an overcrowded system full of planets and moons that qualify as Death Worlds due to their toxic atmospheres and/or frigid conditions. Generally considered a well-rounded civilized world by Imperial standard, Davlion is held back from becoming a Haven World due to recurring issues with its power grid and inefficient transit system which cause knock-on problems with many aspects of society and are slow to be fixed. Despite being otherwise unremarkable, the world of Davlion is noteworthy for being the hub for a large-scale genetics experiment in conjunction with Viradel scientists, where the plethora of toxic and frozen planets elsewhere in the system are being used as planetary-scale laboratories to create new species of plants and livestock capable of surviving and thriving in those hostile ecosystems.

## Military

The Corusco Cluster is a dense star cluster filled with dozens of prosperous and industrially significant worlds and home to several different factions within the Imperium, as such, it is defended by a rather broad collection of forces with diverse levels of size, equipment and training and many with their own specialties.

### Imperial Army/Imperial Guard

Nearly all worlds within the Cluster raised its own military forces to defend itself during the Age of Strife, and many of these formations retained much of their origins and customs after the Imperial subjugation of the Cluster, being re-organized and adapted through a number of military and structural reforms. These reorganized Fulcrums and Cohorts would go on to form the tithes of the Excertus Imperialis levied from the area to take part in the Compliance campaigns. Many more would remain within the Cluster to see to its defense, and they would collectively adopt the silver shield of their naval counterparts as their own emblem, becoming known during the Inter-Legionary Wars as ‘The Great Silver Host’.

Each and every world of the Cluster is defended by a large contingent of the Coruscoan Militia, who are analogous to the modern Imperium’s Planetary Defense Forces, but somewhat more standardized. They man sprawling fortifications ranging from simple prefab bunkers and trench lines to the great fortresses known as the Warden Citadels. Though nominally a third-rate formation, the Militia is considered more than sufficient to handle raids and xeno invasions up to a certain level without any external assistance. They are somewhat less effective in policing internally, as asymmetric warfare generally trumps fortifications.

Many second-rate formations are also present, and generally considered Elite Guard forces among the wider Imperium:

* **Coruscoan Velites**: Adapted from the Techno-Barbarian warhosts of Corusco Parva, the Velites serve as the official Auxilia of the Obsidian Wyrms Legion and fight alongside them. They have therefore been raised in large numbers and are very well trained and equipped. They garrison nearly all Warden Citadels built by the Wyrms and serve as the hammer to the Militia’s anvil, that can sally out of fortifications and bring the fight to the enemy. They are specialized in close range combat, urban assaults and Zone Mortalis operations.
* **Coruscoan Equites**: A purely armored formation raised alongside the Velites and from the same source. They serve as the tank force that spearheads the Velites’ assaults and crushes enemy armor. Unlike most armor forces within the Imperium, the Equites rely less on thick, heavy armor, and more on their speed and mobility. As such, the Equites are masters of hit and run and harassment attacks. They hound down slower armored forces and exploit their own lower speed and monility.
* **Andelorian Field Engineers**: A support formation raised from the industrial world of Andelor. Unlike other combat engineers who often specialize in more direct assaults, the Andelor Field Engineers specialize in field construction and are among the fastest when it comes to assembling forward bunkers, armored depots, gun positions and even bridges. They are also effective in mine warfare, demolitions and vehicle recovery.
* **Brimstone Devils**: Generally looked down as undisciplined and uncouth, the Brimstone Devils descend from a rabble of irregulars. They make great use of trickery, deception and other forms of unconventional warfare, but do not shy away from getting close and personal with their foes and are notoriously bloodthirsty, with a marked fondness for mass flamers and Hellhounds. Due to the scorching conditions of the Brimstone system, the Devils wear environmental suits under their flak armor that keep them cool even in scathing hot environments.
* **Montraux Alpiners**: The forces hailing from Montraux are trained in mountain warfare as a necessity due to the world’s over-abundance of mountains and high cities. Climbing and cold weather operations are their bread and butter, and they can often use their climbing skills in urban environments as well to unexpectedly scale buildings or ruins with their grappling lines. Due to the long distances involved in mountain warfares, the Alpiners are often great marksmen as well.
* **Orel Amphibious Corp**: Created on the ocean world of Orel, the Amphibious Corps are capable of operations down to 500m under standard Terran Gravity. Their ability to fight both in and out of water with equal ease allows them to use rivers and waterways to move around completely undetected, scouting or even storming an enemy’s rear positions altogether generally with total surprise.
* **Sumerian Hive Liquidators**: Hailing from the irradiated Hive World of Sumer, the Liquidators were originally small corps of explorers and monster slayers that prowled their devastated homeworld to secure forgotten resources and cull mutated aberrations. They are experts in fighting in tunnel and hive environments as well as specialized in dealing with highly hostile environments laced with deadly radiations or chemicals.
* **Steel Dragoons of Ziguraet**: A mixed formation of armor and mechanized infantry, the Steel Dragoons take advantage of Ziguraet’s enormous industrial capacity to equip large formations with easily produced and maintained wheeled armored vehicles such as the Coruscoan Morningstar tank and Destrier transport. Ziguraet raised large numbers of these Fulcrums and they are almost as common as the official Auxilias
* **Teneroth Beastriders**: Though uplifted in the early Compliance era, the formerly Feudal world of Teneroth maintains a very strong cultural attachment towards cavalry. Seeing an opportunity, the Gene-wrights created for them genetically altered and unnaturally resilient mounts capable of facing the rigors of modern warfare. Nowadays, the Beastriders mount creatures more alike to mythological beasts of their old legends than regular horses, including the winged Teneroth Hippogriff and Salamander.

### Imperial Navy

The void in and around the Corusco Cluster is prowled by the Silver Armada, an enormous formation that was rapidly created in the wake of the Imperial Subjugation of the Cluster from a mix of assigned reserve forces and newly constructed vessels, primarily cruisers and escorts. Due to the Cluster’s density of stars, the Silver Armada is split up between several sectors that are very small in size, but very densely packed in inhabited systems, trade lanes, and dead systems and nebulae where raiders and xenos can hide.

* **Battlefleet Glaith**: Overseeing the Coreward Quadrant with the Glaith, Andelor and Tremor Zero sub-sectors, Battlefleet Glaith is the smallest of the Silver Armada’s fleets, but it remains sizable nonetheless. It shares its sector with Battlefleet Novae Cantis and assists in protecting Prism-Alpha, a mega-scale relic from the Golden Age of Technology. It holds exclusive knowledge of the use of the arcane Solar-class supercharger ships, powered by the megastructure.
* **Battlefleet Corusco**: Overseeing the Spinward Quadrant with the Corusco, Orel and Sumer sub-sectors, Battlefleet Corusco is the most aggressive of all of the Silver Armada’s fleets. It is known to mobilize at the slightest hint of pirate or xeno activity and to fall upon it with extreme prejudice. They work alongside the Astartes of the Obsidian Wyrms the most frequently due to the presence of Corusco Parva itself within their assigned territory.
* **Battlefleet Montraux**: Overseeing the Rimward Quadrant, with the Montraux, Babel and Teneroth sub-sectors, Battlefleet Montraux favors squadrons and captains capable of independent action and initiative. This is due to its territory seeing far more frequent warp storms and more intense piratical and heretical activity, especially around the Sheol Exclusion Zone.
* **Battlefleet Ziguraet**: Overseeing the Trailward Quadrant, with the Ziguraet, Brimstone and Zastraje sub-sectors, Battlefleet Ziguraet controls all traffic to and from Holy Terra, and is especially formal as a result. They deal with more Eldar raiders than any other fleet of the Silver Armada, which lead its admirals to believe they are chasing a Craftworld that has somehow managed to elude them.
* **Battlefleet Sulfuris**: Based in the largely uninhabited Belt of Giants, Battlefleet Sulfuris acts as a strategic reserve that may reinforce any of the four other Battlefleets in times of need. While it began as no different than the other four, it would over time become entirely made up of ancient, pre-Imperial Battleships, Grand Cruisers, and antiquated frigates.
* **Battlefleet Novae Cantis**: The Home Fleet of the Novaeans is primarily assigned to defending the throneworld of the Mechanicum Rationalis, its immediate vicinity and trade lanes, and the Prism-Alpha mega-station. It is ruthlessly efficient and made up entirely of ships making use of technologies largely lost to the Imperium at large, even their Martian brethren.

### Mechanicum

As the former overlords of the Cluster, the Mechanicum Rationalis of Novae IV maintain a formidable presence within the Cluster both in terms of quality and quantity. They make up the world’s premier Aeronautica contingent for atmospheric air support and field a variety of troops that are widely considered first-rate, second only to that of the Legionnaires themselves, and even then not by much. These forces include:

* **Star Rangers Corps**: Often compared to the Martian Skitarii, the Star Rangers are the rank and file of the Novaean soldiery, and its model has spread to other Rationalis worlds. While they are both heavily augmented cybernetic warriors, the Star Rangers maintain an umblemished human outside appearance. They are also far more independent and flexible than their martian counterpart as they retain their own initiative and are not centrally commanded.
* **Pacification Corps**: Officially masquerading as merely a branch of the Legio Cybernetica, the Novaean Pacification Corps are filled with sentient machines highly proscribed in the imperium at large. They are the heavily armed and armored counterpart to the lighter and more nimble Star Rangers and the two often fight side by side. Among them, the Hammerfall and Lancer patterns of the Novaean Battle Automata are the most common.
* **Geneweaver Corps**: Hailing specifically from the world of Viradel, the Geneweavers do not fight directly so much as create artificial bioforms designed as tools of war. Their creations can take a great many shapes, mimicking just about all spheres of the natural order, but more often than not combining traits of many species found in nature to create chimeric bioforms more dangerous than the sum of their parts. A mercifully small amount of these creatures are so enormous as to qualify as macro-forms or ‘bio-titans’.
* **Oblivion Corps**: The Titans employed by the Rationalis were originally designed during the Cybernetic Revolt as a direct counter to many of the horrific weapons deployed by the Men of Iron. Though the Oblivion Corps only maintains a tiny fraction of what they were originally capable of, they remain more than a match for their Martian counterparts and hold true to their name by being employed wherever something needs to be simply ‘erased from history’.

### Adeptus Astartes

Corusco Parva was not an especially important world politically speaking before it was made the siege of the Obsidian Wyrms legion, and in turn the sector capital. With the entire Cluster’s resources and recruitment pool being made available to the Legion however, its numbers quickly grew to be quite high for Astartes. Even at the height of the Compliance campaigns where the bulk of the Legion was deployed to far-flung corners of the galaxy, many small garrisons remained behind to act as the bulwark of defensive planning from within larger Warden Citadels. Individually, these garrisons were small, but wherever they were, they acted as formidable force multipliers to the mortal defenders they augmented. It is estimated that as many as 15’000 Legionnaires may have manned these Citadels.

After the break up of the Legions and the disappearance of the Primarch Elias, the Second lost De Jure authority over the Cluster, but large numbers of the now-independent Cohorts spawned by the Second Fulcrum Compromise as well as a smaller number of ‘Successor Chapters’ formed by the High Lords in the latter millennia still inhabit the Cluster and collectively remain the De Facto greatest local authority, responding to any serious call for assistance with great expediency.