Anjorn Sector

**This article, Anjorn Sector, was written by ZaneOlric. It may be linked to any page without asking for the author's permission.**

## System

### **Sector Capital**

Knight World Palermo

The **Anjorn System** is an Imperium star system that is located in the Imperium Nihilus. It is the location of Forge World Etna and its moon Knight World Palermo. These two worlds act as defensive locations to launch attacks against local pirates, warbands, and Hive Fleet Sporeosis.

## Worlds

* **Forge World Etna**: a forge world that tried to side with the Warmaster during the Horus Herasy. When it's Titan Legion Enceladus was defeated by House Polypheme, the rebellion was squashed and the loyalist leaning Magos Biologus gained dominant control of the planet. Massive mining systems stretch around the world, acting as tunnels between each each hive city and their various forges.
* **Knight World Palermo**: home of House Polypheme, this tidally locked moon also acts as an agriworld and is responsible for feeding the population of 500 billion on the forge world. It acts as the seat of power for the two planets due to the ancient conflicts that took place during the Horus Heracy. House Polypheme patrols the local sector against various threats from this home worlds
* **Anjorn 3**: third planet from the star Anjorn, it was a rocky planet devoid of important resources or strategic worth. When the Great Crusade reached the system and Forge World Etna began to show signs of resisting, Anjorn 3 was shattered using exterminatus weaponry, a signal that did not go unnoticed by the techpriest who quickly submitted to Imperial rule. The broken remains of the planet still loosely maintain their shape and acts a constant reminder of the Empire of Man's might.

## History

### Discovery and the Age of Strife

In M20 an expedition of human colonist discovered the Anjorn System and its habital planet and moon designated Etna and Palermo, respectively. They were quickly settled, with Etna acting as a hub of civilization and development while Palermo was largely reconcilled to agricultural production. This made all the difference during the rebellion of the Men of Iron. The planet was almost imediately wiped of human life while the moon managed to survive the initial attack and destroy the men of iron that had staged themseles there. Palermo was spared an invasion by humans detonating weapons of mass destruction across Etna, leaving the planet a breathable wasteland.

Before Palermo survivors could reestablish contact, warpstorms caused by the birth of Slaanesh cut them off from the outside world. For thousands of years Palermo survived on its own, slowly devolving into a Knight World. House Polypheme was born and its original nobility rose up to control the planet. It's largely agricultural status meant that it could survive being in isolatoin but did not have the same STC and other higher levels of technology that had been present on Etna.

### Arrival of the Mechanicus and Imperium

The Anjorn Systems isolation would first be interupted by a damaged Mars vessel in M28. The ship had been sent out during lulls in the war storms but been caught by a sudden wave of activity, barely limping its way onto Palermo. The Mechanicus representatives quickly established connections with House Polypheme, recieving aid to repair their ship enough to leave to the planet bellow and establish Forge World Etna. Over the coming millenia, the two worlds would engage in shipping goods back and forth with Palermo providing food for the growing population and Etna repairing knights and offering other goods appealing to the nobility.

Seclusion would be fully shattered for these worlds when the Great Crusade reached them. House Polypheme was quick to swear its allegiance to the Emperor, ecstatic to join the cause of a unified humanity. Etna's tech priests orignially resisted, mobilizing Legio Enceladus to protect important assets. Not wanting a drawn out war the fleet comander ordered Anjorn 3, an uninhabited and unimportant planet in the system, to be shattered with exterminatus weaponry. The Techpriests of Etna were horrified at this threat and had no desire to test if this implied threat against the forge world was a serious one. They complied to the Imperium instantly.

### The Horus Herasy

During early M31 Horus Lupercal, Warmaster of the Imperium, was begining to secretly gather allies across the galaxy. An emissary from the Primarch came to Etna and began to meet with Techpriests. Many of these magos were torn between their hatred of the ancient threat against Etna and the fear of Exterminatus. This changed rapidly when the emissary offered them a piece of dark age technology, a planetary void shield network akin to the one deployed at legendary Cadia. The answer went from divided to nearly universal support of the Warmaster, who became a vision of salvation to the mechanicus of the planet. They were sure that Palermo would join them but would soon be disappointed.

House Polypheme had grown integrated with the Empire of Man throughout the Great Crusade. Their nobles had fought alongside many heroes of mankind during their deployments, with some heroic soldiers saving knights. These honorable individuals would often be exalted to become armiger pilots and have the chance for their family to climb up in the noble courts. This had the effect to make House Polypheme extremely loyal to the empire at large and the idea of rebellion a revolting idea. When rumors of Etna's intent reached the High Queen, they knew what needed to be done.

All nearby Knight pilots were called to return back to Palermo, bringing with them huge numbers of Militarum under the guise of "restocking and rearming". Even at this point House Polypheme hoped no conflict would come between them and their parent planet. However, Palermo was not aware that the ideas of rebellion extended far beyond Etna. When Etna declared for the Warmaster, nearly a quarter of the militarum forces that had accompanied the Knights turned Traitor.

A bloody void war ensued, with Loyalist forces outnumbering the traitors but with Etna's planetary batteries and newly ignited void shield, it seemed like a doomed fight. It was only the sudden disabling of a section of Etna's defenses by disenting Magos Biologus that gave the Loyalists hope. All ground forces were rappidly deployed to the safe landing zone, with the militarum largely focused on fighting traitor skitarii and House Polypheme left to battle Titan Legio Enceladus. Hundreds of knights and dozens of titans would be slain in this war of mechanized deities. It was mostly an even battle until the High Queen landed the killing blow against an Imperator Titan, destroying most of the traitor high commanders with its reactor explosion.

### Post-Heresy

With all forces involved desimated and no ships in good enough shape to survive warp travel, the Anjorn system was entirely removed from any future part of the Horus Herasy. Only a few knights that didn't have enough time to return were capable of contributing. Legio Enceldaus had a maniple of Titans that were deployed side with the Warmaster, however their fate is unknown at this time. This left two planets largely devastated of military forces trying to rebuild while the rest of the Herasy took place.

After the victory of the Loyalists on Terra along with re-established communication, Forge World Etna was heavily penalized for its rebellion. All princepts and moderatii of Legio Enceladus were now required to come from House Polypheme, meaning even candidates found elsewere were adopted and trained by the noble families on Palermo before they could be enducted into the Legio. Furthermore, a tithe was to be paid to House Polypheme's nobility, to be negotiated by each forge of the Etna seperately. Lastly, the Magos Bilogus that had remained loyal against their kindred were given all high ranking positions on Etna, weeding out any established bias against the Imperium.

The system slowly rebuild its forces. House Polypheme greatly flourished under the new order, even outfitting an Astra Millitarum regiment stationed on Etna to act as their enforcers to ensure rappid strikes against any who threatened dissent. The commanding position of the Magos Bilogus slowly shifted the local Adeptus Mechanicus religion to have the Emperor as part of a divine trinity with the Machine Deity and Motive Force. Even Legio Enceladus began to renew its strength with Etna's specialty in Titan and Knight production pushed by House Polypheme desire to rebuild its strength.

### Advent of Hive Fleet Sporeosis

Anjorn forces had finally rebuilt their strength as to rival other major systems when a new horror arrived. A nearby system in the sector sent out a muffled distress call, one that House Polypheme was honor bound to answered. When the fleet arrived they were confronted by Hive Ships with powerful psychic shielding and dense metalic chittin plating. The void battle was slow, causing a radical tactic to be invented. Using modified Valkerie Sky Talons, the weightlessness of space, and using their ion shields to defend themselves, void-sealed knights equipped with magnetizing feet landed on the monsters. They dug into the creatures synapss to weaken the psychic barrier before pushing off of the creature and allowing the Imperial vessels to finish the work.

Upon planet fall, the forces realized the battle was far from over. Chocking clouds of spares and floating organic mines were causing the Survivors to fall back nearly constantly to avoid being overwhelmed. Even the advent of the knights and Astra Millitarum forces seemed to only result in a stale mate as pusing into the jungles of Tyranid folliage proved folly. Only when three titans of Legio Enceladus landed did the fighting shift as they were able to erradicate the armored xenos plants and allow the Knights to contest with the nearly endless swarms of gaunts that poored out to attack the avatars of the omnissiah. The conquered fleet name was simply given by what had stuck with the soldiers: Hive Fleet Sporeosis.

### Infiltration of the Living Cog

The Tech priests that analyzed the remains discovered it was a splinter fleet of Tiamat. Wanting to analyze more of the adaptations to procure a counter to them should additional tendrils of this fleet be found. They took a handful of slain organisms and a foolish soldier decided to haul the remains of a Genestealer on board. Once in space the creature restarted its vital signs and infected the tech priest trying to dissect it. Arriving at Etna the genestealer began to recruit more and more unwilling followers

Etna would have been consumed by the infestion if not for the predominance of the Biologus sub-sect on the planet. The Cult of the Living Cog was identified and an extermination order was initiated. At first this was a traditional war as the cult attempted to break the planets forces, a tendril of Hive Fleet Sporeosis even crashing a hive ship onto the planet to allow bioforms to aid the attack. However, the cult was still too young and the insurgence was defeated.

The cult now fights a shadow war. Using the massive network of mining tunnels on Etna they move in secret, with secret temples and meeting places in the darkness. With few genetic descendants, the cult works hard to convert the populace to their cause, missionaries making many of the armed forces into brood brothers. These non-genetic servants of the hive mind can sneak past the bioscanners of the servitor hunters without issue. Now the cult seeks to slowly rebuild and prepare for a true day of ascention to join with the true divinity.

## Forces of the Anjorn System

### Imperial Alligned Forces

#### Adeptus Mechanicus of Etna

Forge World Etna is the major point of worship for the tech priests of the Mechanicus in the sector. However, it slightly differs from the rest of Mechanicus. They view the Emperor as the Omnissiah, the embodiment of a perfected "Organic Engine". More traditionally is that they believe the Machine God is a seperate being, the entity of a perfect "Metalic Machine". These two are then taught to work together by a third divinity called the Motive Force, the spirit that bestows energy and motion to Mechanical and Flesh based organisms. This emphasis on unifying all three into a true divinity shapes the beliefs and combat doctrines of the sector.

Their priesthood is largely controlled by the sub-cult of the Magos Biolgus, worshipers who believe that the flesh of humanity is as much of a machine as a creation of cogs and wires. As a result, their forces are *slightly* less augmented than normal but instead will have various tubes of chemicals designed to augment their fleshy bodies into higher tiers of possibilities. Adrenalines to help increase the rate of perception, elixers designed to increase muscule response times and other similar concoctions. These effects only last for as long as the chemicals do, meaning that their initial onslaught is one of incredible power but can quickly fall behind in drawn out combat. For those fights they turn to their Titans, Legio Enceladus.

Legio Enceladus is strange in that they are subservient to House Polypheme in addition to the Mechanicus. Every princept and moderatii must first go through a time living with and training by the nobles of House Polypheme, an act meant to garner the pilots loyalty to avoid an act of heresy akin to their siding with Horus ten thousand years ago. As some knight pilots seek to use this ruling to become titan pilots themselves, there are quite a few moderatii per titan than would be standard in other legions. This alongside the mastery of biochemical enhancement means that the legion fights with a preference towards long deployment times. With more moderatii to bear the psychic burden of the titan and medicines keeping their princepts healthy while plugged in for extended times, they can stay in the field without pause for much longer times than others could bear. In addition, they are not fighting as soldiers in an army, but as a family with every single one of them related through adoption or noble bloodline in some way.

#### House Polypheme

Residing on Knight World Palermo, moon to forge world Etna, House Polypheme is one of mixed allignments. Various Noble families within the house will side with either the Mechanicus, who take care of and build thier knight suits, or the Imperium, those who give them indipendance and the ground soldiers that support them in the field. While their ultimate loyalty is to their House, this divide can cause internal conflict amongs the courts and a variety of combat doctrines. They fight more akin to a group of Freeblades, their differences distinguishing each other but ultimately complimenting one another as a whole.

Their politics revolve around the High Court, a group of ten High families and the High King and Queen. As a council they distribute the tithe from Etna amongst the lesser families that compete for their favor. It creates a system where internal rivalries are commen and often creates issues that the High Court must intervene in but ultimately benefit from. In addition, the High Court is responsible for the deployment of Knights across the sector, meaning that many planets deliver gifts and tithes for aid. This has made Palermo the seat of power in the region, even surpassing the influence of the Forge World as so many of those goods are first tithed to Polypheme before being distributed.

One tactic universal amongs the house is Void Deployment. Each of their knights is Void-Sealed and equipped with magnetic feet to allow them to walk across the surface of a Ship. Becoming weightless in the void, modified Valkerie Sky Talons will attatch to their back and effectively throw them at the enemy vessel when underneath defensive shielding, allowing knights to assault gun batteries, command bridges, shield projectors or other strategic spots on the ship without hinderance. Most of these are equipped with Icarus Auto cannons and use their Ion shields to deflect fighter craft attempting to remove them from the ship. Upon completion of their objective, they will simply "jump" off and float until a Sky Talon retieves them while Imperial vessels finish the job.

#### Militarum Regiments of Anjorn

While Etna and Palermo pay tithes outside of troops, many nearby planets will send soldiers to Anjorn for training and then deployment. While seperate in terms of power structure, these regiments of the Astra Militarum and Navis Imperialis are deeply connected. Following a pattern similar to the Elysian Drop Troops, their tactics favor rappid deployment into hostile zones to clear out defenses that would interfere with the Knights or Titans that often deploy alongside them.

Astra Militarum forces are trained and stationed for deployment at a variety of outposts and fortresses on Forge World Etna. While mainly for training, many of the forces double as Planetary Defense Forces (PDF) and will respond to activity of Genestealers or any other nearby threat. Often having to strike quickly before the cultists slink into hidding, they rappidly deploy troops and Tauros Venators to hunt them down inside of the variety of mining tunnels under the planet. This also allows House Polypheme to use them as enforcers, all their equipment and weaponry coming from Palermo rerouting tithe and no soldier native to Etna amongst them.

The Imperial Navy has a medium sized port in the Anjorn System in the form of Fortress Satelite Catania. This satelite sits just behind Palermo in Orbit and follows it like a star in the night sky. This port acts a place of trade in and out of the system so it is of no surprise that Palermo made sure that everything for its maitenance and upkeep are amongst their tithe from Etna. The Navy vessels are crewed by Anjorn regiments and follow a doctrine of using large numbers of fighters and borders to weaken enemies before their batteries finish the job.

### Hive Mind Forces Forces

#### Hive Fleet Sporeosis

A splinter of Tiamat, Hive Fleet Sporeosis is a recent arrival to the local systems. Striking from an unknown location, its tendrils will often attack a planet and strip it of resources before vanishing back into the void and delivering its bounty back to its nexus. Rumors abound of a secret planet covered in Tyranid plants and animals, a place where the fleet can take its time harvesting photosynthetic energies to convert their bonty of biomass into more complex forms. Creatures with metal infused carapaces to make them tougher while also equipped with powerful weaponry for their size. It's movements are slow compared to normal tyranid advances, but all the more devastating. In addition, this accumulation of biomass on a planet has created a node from which the Hive's Norn Queen can comunicate with its tendrils remotely, reducing the chances of a disasterous splintering mid attack.

#### Cult of the Living Cog

Spread across Forge World Etna, the cult originally failed its attempt at a coop. However, they have proven virulent in their ability to survive total destruction and fight a shadow war of violence and faith. The genetically corrupted seek to hide amongst the citizenry who are largely ignorant of the danger. They make sure to find work that can grant them means to further the cult but avoid the vairous servitor checkpoints and bioscaners that are set up to catch them. Perhaps their most potent weapons are not guns or vehicles, but instead the unaltered convert.

Many of the oppressed miners and forge workers only need a little push from a "helping hand" to be converted into the cult. Taught that the omnissiah rejected the machine, that the golden thone is a tool of the mechanicus to enslave him to their Machine God and he has called forth the True Flesh into the galaxy as a way to save all. This creates millions of willing who comit acts of terror and sabatoge against Etna to prepare the way for Hive Fleet Sporeosis. These believers can walk through a bioscanner undetected and help transport the truely blessed around mechanicus detection. The truely worthy may become anointed, joining the hivemind through a genestealer kiss from the Patriarch.

## Trivia

Origin of names:

* Polypheme means large, based of the Cyclopes blinded in the Greek Odyssey
* The Cyclopes lived in Sicily, whose capital is Palermo. (Knight World)
* The Roman forge god Vulcan built his forge under Mount Etna on Sicily.  (Forge World)
* Enceladus was a giant that fought the deities of Rome and was defeated by being buried under Mt. Etna (Titan Legion)
* Catania is the city built next to Mt. Etna (Fortress Satellite)

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