Ostia

**Classification: Agri-World
Population: Approximately nine billion
Geography: Varied but temperate; said to be
reminiscent of pre-Imperial Ancient Terra
Planetary Governance: Sortium-Lord Eshgar
Quintillius Lorae
Tithe Grade: Aptus Nihil (no longer capable of paying
Terra’s due)**

A green jewel in the Gilead void, bountiful Ostia is a
planet of vast forests, fields, and oceans. It stands as
a mirror to Terra in her ancient prime, verdant and
abundant. This glorious world is the breadbasket
of Gilead, providing vital foodstuffs and clean water
across the system, the lion’s share of which goes to
feed the massive populations on Gilead Primus. So
vital is this world that it is surrounded by a network
of defensive satellites, orbital batteries, and space
stations known as the Crown of Blades; Ostia bears
enough firepower to dissuade or decimate any attack
fleet. A garrison of two million souls maintain Ostia’s
battle stations.

Weather fronts of all kinds blow across Ostia;
the crops are varied, and many of the biomes are
halcyon places. However, the lives of many Ostians
are dour compared to their environment. Demands
for food have escalated rapidly since the Gilead was
cut off from sources of sustenance beyond the System.
In particular, the noble houses of Gilead Primus and
the refugee hordes of Enoch increase the pressure with
undeniable requests. As a consequence, those who till
the fields in gigantic combi-harvesters reap little of
what they sow.

Ostia is ruled by the ‘Sortium’, a hierarchy of
Administratum officials that oversee everything bigger
than a small town. These bureaucrats are responsible
for the rationing system that leaves the population
hungry. The Sortium rule with a combination of
subjugation and Ecclesiarchal manipulation; Ostians
worship the Emperor as a sun god, and any Imperial
officials are treated with a detached awe by the masses
of mech-plowers and villam harvesters. The populace
would never dare to deny the warriors and wise
messengers of the Lord of Dawn. The Sortium have
used this fervour to their advantage, ensuring crops
are rationed first to themselves, then to the military,
then their demanding superiors on Gilead Primus.

Impious uprisings have thus far been easily
put down, though they are rising in number and
the rebels are showing a marked creativity in using
farm equipment as weaponry. To avoid any loss
of productivity, the Sortium have employed Tech
Adepts of the Cult Mechanicus to create Servitors by
lobotomising captive rebels. The prototype Servo-
Farms have yielded consistent harvests over the past
two years, though the Adepts have repeatedly denied
visitation requests from even the Sortium.

Scattered across Ostia are the shattered ruins
of an ancient empire. Mosses and creepers cling to odd
structures of wraithbone marked with Aeldari runes.
Small collections of ruined buildings form intricate
and elaborate patterns, too few to be the remains
of settlements, but too numerous and precise to be
incidental. The native population avoids these places,
considering them haunted or cursed, and local folklore
is filled with wild tales of these strange ruins that look
like they were grown instead of built. These tales are
often quashed by Ministorum preachers or turned to
the ends of the Imperial Creed, but recently Imperial
Guard regiments have begun patrolling near the most
prominent ruins as shadowy shapes have been seen
flitting amongst them.