Azuran

Departmento Cartographicae pict-file of Azuran.

**Azuran** is a fully oceanic Adeptus Astartes Homeworld that acts as the namesake for the Azuran Sector and homeworld for the Fortress-Monastary of the Ordinators chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. It was first colonized by the nascent Conclave Ordinatum, a primarily Ordo Malleus conclave of Inquisitors seeking to find a safe and remote location to recreate the extreme success of the Exorcists chapter "Daemonic Possession Therapy" while bringing Imperial rule to a remote part of the relatively sparsely populated Segmentum Pacificus in 980.M37 during the 23rd 'Sentinel' Founding.

## History

Azuran would not be the center of political influence and one of the two mightiest power bases in the remote Azuran Sector (alongside the Forge World of Ferunus) were it not for a group of Radical-Moderate Xanthite Inquisitors under the leadership of Inquisitor Lord Aeskos Naeron in the final decades of M37. Having long admired the efficacy and spiritual purity of the Exorcists chapter, the newly-formed Conclave sought to establish a base for it to recreate a chapter of Adeptus Astartes during the 23rd "Sentinel" founding under the pretense of securing a tattered border of the Imperium. In reality, they sought isolation and privacy. Making various modifications and improvements to the Exorcists' model, though lacking in resources, the Conclave was able to secure Exorcist trainers and equipment from various Segmentum Forge Worlds and prepared a group of 300 newly-gene forged Astartes - christened "Ordinators" by the Inquisitors - to be trained and led by Exorcists officers into the Eye of Terror where they, with the aid of their new Battle Barge and Exorcists escorts, managed to exterminate 6 Daemon Worlds with no instances of corruption, spiritual or physical.

With this success proving the worth of their experiment, the Conclave had a massive conical pyramid built on the ocean floor with state-of-the-art facilities for everything from training to gravitic plating to achieve Terran-norm gravity to hydroponic agriculture. The walls of the entire Fortress-Monastery were covered both inside and out with carefully laid down and highly powerful hexagrammic warding glyphs that would only allow warp entities to be manifested in a single, highly secure room at the base of the structure - now christened Arx Numinex. Underneath this, the Inquisition drilled nearly half a kilometer further and established a massive base of its own, exclusively for the Conclave Ordinatum - made up of the Ordos Malleus, Hereticus, Xenos, Astartes, and Sepulturum.

For nearly 5 millennia has Azuran stood, impregnable despite its frequent summoning of daemons for its "Rites of Purity" to cleanse the souls of its Ordinator inhabitants by forcing them to share a mind with a Neverborn for hours before they are made to exorcise the daemon through sheer willpower or be executed. The chapter has made many enemies, however, and the thought that one day a reckoning might come to their beloved homeworld has sat uneasily in the mind of each Legate of the chapter since its inception.

## Geography

Azuran is an entirely dihydrogen monoxide oceanic world with less than 2% of its surface area accounting for landmass in the form of isolated islands. Massive rainstorms rage across the world seasonally, making the few islands used by the chapter serfdom for agriculture, fishing, and even combat practice by the Ordinator Astartes available for only about half the year.

## Culture

The way of life of the vast majority of those who live on Azuran is dominated overwhelmingly by the tenets of the Cult Ordinatum and the culture of the Ordinators chapter - both tailored to resist all base impulses that feed the Dark Gods. Forebearance and discipline are the principles by which all within Arx Numinex must live. High Gothic is the only language spoken by most inhabitants of Azuran, with only Astartes and some types of serfs (as well as Inquisitorial personnel) allowed to take the time to learn Low Gothic or other human languages. Prayer is mandatory for all, as are spiritual educational classes and physical training sessions. Weapons training is conducted once a month even for non-combat tasked serfs. The day of a Serf without a particularly critical job generally consists of 8-12 hours of work, 4 hours of study and worship, and the remainder spent for sleep and approved forms of recreation. Discipline is strict for the serfs, however. Unwarranted, aggressive violence between serfs result in severe beatings for first offenses and amputations of the striking limb for the second. Physical intimacy between serfs outside of a Pontifex (Chaplain)-officiated marriage is punishable by gelding for the male, branding, and five years of solitary imprisonment for both parties. Discipline is far stricter for the Astartes of Arx Numinex and the Ordinator fleet, though. Violation of the prohibition against physical congress or other forms of intimacy by a Scout-Novitiate or Brother-Initiate result in the commandment of their ritual suicide through the ritual of *autoimpalare*. Alcohol is forbidden to Ordinator Battle-Brothers except for a limited amount allowed on the Feast of the Emperor's Ascension and during the *Armaturaludus* festival of combat and athletic competition for 3 days where chosen combatants and athletes from each company compete for acknowledgement of their dedication to training and conditioning themselves for war. It is prohibited entirely for Scout-Neophytes but allowed for serfs to imbibe up to eight drinks in a week, with the numbers closely monitored at all mealtimes. Despite these harsh restrictions, serfs are generally treated as the "sons and daughters" of the chapter, and true friendships commonly form between serf-equerries and the specific Astartes they are assigned to. The Brother-Initiates of the chapter know that to fail to treat their serfs with compassion whenever possible is to abuse the trust they are obligated to maintain with their sworn wards. The Astartes rely on these relationships to retain a connection to their base humanity, as preached by the chapter cult and the sacrosanct spiritual teachings of the *Litanies of Ordination* each Brother-Initiate must have memorized.

Life is much harsher for the Ordinator Astartes themselves, with a particularly grueling training schedule. Despite this, a tremendous emphasis is placed on the value of learning and study as well as combat skills. Each Ordinator is expected to be a consummate and expert scholar in at least one area of warp-oriented lore and several topics of lore temporal, such as xenos species, languages, history, and other topics. The chapter relies on sub-cults called *Orisons*, to study particular areas of the art and science of fighting the corruption of Chaos. Arx Numinex's Arcanium and Pontifexium are particular sources of constant philosophical debate about how best to isolate, degrade, and destroy the forces of Chaos and the prevailing trends of thought influence how the Ordinators conduct themselves both militarily and politically. The Ordinators believe each human life is sacred, but that two human lives will always be worth more than one. Uniquely among many Astartes, they do not believe their lives have any more inherent value than any unaugmented human - rather that they are blessed with the ability to serve and defend their species. They strive to embody the virtues of humility in spite of tremendous skill, control over their impulses and desires, courage in the face of inconceivable horror, level-headedness in their expression, studious devotion to the collection of knowledge, and compassion tempered by the need to coldly execute their duty for the good of their species whenever possible. These values have become the values of the serfdom, and even the Inquisitors of the Conclave Ordinatum and their Tempestus Scion regiment living underneath Arx Numinex.

## Economy

Income to Arx Numinex is provided from the Adeptus Terra and the Inquisition, as well as by taxes on commerce throughout the sector. Azuran’s sole export is a curry leaf powder farmed by its serf-agriperitii farmer/scientists, known as Conredarius, a crop that is produced far in excess of the chapter’s needs both in hydroponic gardens of the fortress-monastary and in the wild on the islands of Azuran that is harvested by the *Consul-Secunditor*'s adepts and saved for diplomatic gifting. The Forge World of Ferunus and its orbital force, *Chalybeium,* provide for nearly all of the chapter's needs as a matter of religious and political obligation.

## Diet

Meticulous nutritional planning optimized for a state of optimal health and wellbeing is enforced for every human being within Arx Numinex (from Astartes to serf to servitor), and foods not produced domestically are often imported to supplement nutritional deficiencies according to the variety of the fortress’ stores. Highly distilled spirits made from sweet rice is permitted to be produced in low quantities and consumed by the serfs (as well as occasional visitors) but is strictly controlled to avoid drunkenness among the population.

Agriculture is almost entirely managed through the hydroponic agrodecks of the citadel, which are capable of producing enough starches, fruit, and vegetable products for almost the entire population of Arx Numinex, with excesses being used to supply the fleet. Rice and rice flour-based breads form the staple food of the fortress inhabitants, with wheat, potatoes, and corn existing by import. Olives, coconuts, cucumber, ginger, grapes, strawberries, soy beans, oranges, plums, tomatoes, onions, garlic, jalapenos, habaneros, scorpion peppers, and curry trees are all produced in the hydroponic gardens. Sugar and salt are the largest bulk imports. Several islands on the surface are used as supplementary agrifields, tended by servitors, but the yearlong violent hurricane seasons make surface agriculture unreliable.

Seafood is the primary protein source within Arx Numinex, fished daily by chapter serfs - a respected job due to the danger of providing violently stormy nature of Azuran’s global ocean biome. Pork, grox, cattle, and chicken are raised within the agrodecks of Arx Numinex, with large concentrations of wild pigs and grox living within the small chains of tropical islands dotting the surface. Eggs and enriched egg noodles are a common protein source.

## Political Systems

Like every known chapter to exist, a single Chapter Master is the authoritative leader of the chapter who controls all military actions undertaken by the chapter as well as defense of its Fortress-Monastery and gene-seed. Among the Ordinators chapter, this position is known as the "*Legatus*", or "*Legate*" in Low Gothic. Unlike most chapters, the administrative management of the chapter outside of the realm of warfare and defense falls to a council of five, consisting of the heads of each of the Five Households; the Legatus (military) , Aeditor (spiritual), Armourius (technical), Auspexus (arcane), and Miseriauctor (medical). They are referred to as the "Council of Lords", and are tasked with supreme authority to dictate all concerns of the chapter outside the purview of each specialist officer "Lord". When the Legatus is away, the burden of managing the defense of the chapter and speaking for him insofar as rank will allow falls to the Centurio-Praetor, the First Captain, whose title is the "Warden of Azuran". Issues of maintenance and dietary logisitics fall to the chief serf officer, the Consul-Secunditor.

The Conclave Ordinatum exercises its influence sometimes in the shadows, though sometimes directly, through the Pontifexium - the Chaplaincy of the chapter. It edits and approves theological and philosophical tomes, oversees the Rite of Purification (Daemonic Possession Therapy), and conducts "Purity Audits" to ensure corruption can never take hold within the hearts of the Ordinators. Their Tempestus Scion regiment lives and trains within the Black Deeps facility and almost never interacts with the Ordinators directly - its leaders answerable only to their Commissars and Inquisitorial masters.

## Military Defence

### Coronam Ignius

The orbital defense network of Azuran. Though not as prodigiously powerful as the more famous "HOPLON MESH" of the nearby Forge World Ferunus, it is still an extraordinarily powerful defensive array by the standards of most Imperial planets. Huge, circular steel rings form nets filled with fields of void shielding, each junction manned with four massive lance or torpedo turrets manned by trusted Serf Voidsmen of the chapter. The beams of the rings are, in fact, hollow - each many hundreds of feet wide and tall, they carry high-speed munitions trains that can ferry the massive ammunition, power packs, and tremendous number of gunners and Tech-Priests needed to keep each firing junction and the various shield array emitters operational. The Coronam is primarily located over the continental plate on which Arx Numinex is built into, but various other sections of the world's orbit are covered by strategically positions sections of the "*Crown of Fire*" as it is called in Low Gothic. The only truly safe way to invade Azuran's surface would be to bypass the defense lattice network entirely, but even coming into range to do so would expose a ship or fleet to tremendous amounts of devastating firepower. At the center of it all lies Chalybeium - the Adeptus Mechanicus orbital forge manned by the Tech-Priests of Forgeworld Ferunus, dedicated to making the specialized, warded individual equipment of the chapter and home to vast data libraries on the threats the chapter must be prepared for - the station's defenses match the sensitivity of its contents accordingly, bristling with cannons, lances, fusion and vortex missile batteries, and more arcane weapons not even permitted to the rest of the Crown of Fire. The Warden of Azuran works tirelessly to expand the Coronam a little more each decade, with the hope that one day, it shall protect the entire world.

### Arx Numinex

The Fortress-Monastery of the Ordinators itself. It exists as a colossal conical pyramid reaching up from the sea floor of the deep Azuranian ocean, covered in hundreds of towers extending outwards as well as bristling with specially-modified aquatic *Carcharias*-pattern Lascannons and *Tylosaures*-pattern Torpedo Launchers. Giant shaped-charge plasma proximity mines face outwards of the bulkheads at various points of the walls to deter any attempted aquatic breaching or the odd attempt by the occasional megafauna sea creature of Azuran to attempt to bite at its protrusions. Massive hexagrammic wards cover the exterior, as well as interior bulkheads - making it nigh impossible for any Neverborn or other warpspawn to materialize inside its walls except in a specific chamber located at the bottom of the Fortress-Monastery used for the Rite of Purification. Barracks exist to house all 12 Cohorts of the chapter as well as room for another 60 more in newer constructed quarters. No fewer than two Cohorts are left to garrison Arx Numinex at any one time, and it is common for 5-7 to occupy its halls at any given time. Tens of thousands of serfs protected by special carapace armor and armed with shotguns and autocarbines patrol the halls, while covert "Fidelity Regulators" live among the serfs as spies, watching for any hints of corruption or disobedience to the Laws of the Cult Ordinatum. Four massive turbolift towers connect the fortress to the surface, each capped by large hangar capable of transporting aircraft up to the size of several Overlords or Thunderhawk Transporters back down into the Fortress-Monastery as well as allowing for the loading and unloading of cargo.

### The Black Deeps

The Inquisitorial fortress hidden beneath the ocean floor. Its existence is unknown even to most of the serfs of Arx Numinex, and it is said that terrible beings are imprisoned within its cells. Assasins are kept in stasis, a regiment of Tempesus Scions trains daily to serve the needs of the Conclave that inhabits the facility, and a vast library fills its halls - only some of which is shared with Arcanium's of Arx Numinex itself.

### The Heliodoran Towers

Massive defense towers erected by the first Legatus of the Ordinators spread in a square pattern 50km between each other. Each is capped with a rapid-fire cyclical giga-laser destructor cannon array capable of striking down anything smaller than a full voidship in seconds. If their fire is focused, they can be used to destroy an alarming number of atmospheric aerial targets in rapid succession. Each is crewed by hundreds of serfs and tens of Tech-Priests, each prepared for a day that may never come or prove to be the end of Azuran should they fail in their vigil.

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