Erinnyenmere

In the far corner of Subsector Cambria, there lie the Erinnyen, stars shrouded in myth and mystery. Erstwhile the domain of a pre-imperial realm, much of old might still lies there, waiting. Neither dead nor sleeping, the worlds, and relics of ages past are safeguarded by forces just as old. To the people of Subsector Cambria, the foremost of these ancient forces bears and enigmatic name: This is the domain of the Crimson Queen.

## Astrography

Reaching beyond the western boundaries of Subsector Cambria, the Erinnyenmere reach into the vastness of the spiral gulf and the abyss dividing the subsectors of Gondwana. Much of this further expanse is uncharted territory, known only to the well-versed traders and the inner circle of the Crimson Queen.

To the galactic north and west, it is cut off by the Thetys Rift, though in the days of old it is believed the Erinnyenmere stretched much further north. Elsewhere, to the Galactic East, there lie the borders of the No-Man's-Land and the fortified spatial bulwarks of Trantor Reef.

## Heartland of the Crimson Queen

### The shadow fiefdom's play of light and dark

By the grace of Holy Terra, as it is written on documents preserved from the time of the Great Crusade, the Fiefdom of the Crimson Queen was granted the freedom to persist as a realm of its own, a polity of the Imperium, paying its tithe as one and ruled by the Queen.

It is by this ancient right that the Crimson Queen withheld all rights of stellar cartography from the explorators of the Mechanicus and the chroniclers of the Administratum alike. The routes and systems of the Erinnyenmere she knows alone, and only her voice shall name them and claim them for the humankind. Thus she lay a shroud of shadows around her stars, allowing them to remain as nameless fires in the night to the rest of the Imperium.

In the safety of darkness, the Shadow Fiefdom thrived and the worlds under her own rule grew. To the Imperium, she paid ever greater tithes, strict in accordance with the Imperial Creed. Inquisitors she greeted and led to her worlds, and chroniclers she allowed to acquire data from the populace. But never was the secretive shroud of the Erinnyenmere truly broken. And as such, the mystery of this stellar region remains to the waning days of the 41st Millennium.

### Exclusivity above all

The secretive nature of these systems made them ideal not only for the thriving of the Fiefdom alone. Attracted by the chance to profiteer, the Rogue Trader Clans of Sector Gondwana soon coalesced to a league of likeminded voidfaring nobles. They would become the high houses of the Fiefdom, favored by the Crimson Queen. And they alone, at the price of the life-long fielty of themselves and all their future generations, could acquire the knowledge necessary to make trade in this most exclusive of regions.

## The Aether

The shadowy shroud of the Erinnyenmere, however, is not solely based on information alone. There lies deeper darkness around these stars, one of which it is said the Crimson Queen was the conjurer, and that it abides by her will and her word alone. How much truth is to such rumors, none can surely tell. But it has been known for psychers and navigators to see strangely warped courses when transitioning into the Aether of the Erinnyenmere. Some fleets vanished altogether, others traveled from one point in the region to another with no recollection of the journey at all. Recordings of many such phenomena have been attributed to the actions of the Crimson Queen. Such connections, however, have never been proven.

## Notable Systems

There are exceptions to the darkness and secrecy surrounding the Erinnyenmere. Some systems have been located with certainty, of others, only the name is known. But these few instances were all created by the Queen at will if the legends of her might are truly to be believed.

### Port All

Most famous among the general populace of Sector Gondwana is the voidfarer crucible and rogue trader port All. Carved into a planet corpse of glittering ice, this archipelago of voidward hives and cities, sacred halls and unholy secrets is said to contain vast treasures and secrets, available only to the mightiest of rogue trading dynasties.

Seeking out Port All without the invitation of the Crimson Queen herself has sealed the fate of many overconfident and zealous soldiers of fortune. But to those who are called upon to visit this strange haven of the Erinnyenmere, it is said to be revealed easily and to become a second home to all who make landfall there.

### Pantheon World Mekephau

A strange enigma of the Erinnyenmere is the Pantheon of Mekephau, a holy place even before the coming of the Imperium, and yet not vanquished in the Emperor's name. Fifteen worlds, the green star burning bright, holds fast in its grip, each a temple dedicated to an aspect of the Pantheon. And yet, their worship is not deemed heretical as such, not by the Triumvirate at least, even against the will of the Adeptus Ministorum.

The reason for this might lie in the prophecies provided by the Pantheon worlds. Erstwhile gardens in the image of Holy Terra itself, they now lie in varying states of decay. And yet, the prophets upon them persist and make grand predictions for the future of the Sector – predictions, which more often than not, have been found to be of value even by the mighty of the sector's governance.

The Prophecies of Mekephau are siphoned from the Uncharted Stars on the far side of the Thetys Rift. Legends say, the soothsayers of Mekephau are the only ones knowing how to read those alien zodiacs and how to tell truth from lie when gazing upon the stars of the distant pillar worlds.

### The unknown core worlds

Neither name nor location of the core worlds of the fiefdom is known. Nonetheless, their existence remains undisputed among both the general populace dwelling in Sector Gondwana and the high administrative institutions of the Archmagos of Cambria and the Executor of Trantor. Both maintain motives of their own to seek out these ancient worlds of time before the imperial age. And to both apply different reasons, as to why the Crimson Queen would never reveal her secrets.

As rumors have it, the exact location and nature of the Core Worlds is known only to the Queen herself and instances far higher in the Imperium than the local authorities of a single sector. Perhaps in the deepest archives of the Segmentum Obsucurum, some records of the fiefdom's core-worlds remain. To most souls under Gondwanas suns, however, their advancement and knowledge must remain the subject of jealous imagination.

## History

### Old Domain of the Fiefdom

In the Erinnyenmere once lay the star shining on the day the Crimson Queen was born. During that time, the civilization it harbored was already very old, and its age brought with it the weight of millennia, bearing down the stars and their systems, overwhelming their souls with the knowledge, guilt, and wisdom of ages untold. The fiefdom would have faltered, if not for the eternal youth of the Crimson Queen, through which shone the forceful illumination of the Emperor himself. Only he could reach out through time and restore the glory as it once was.

### Shroud of Shadows and Mystery

And at the same time, the new glory shining was not to last, if not for the shroud of the Aether and Shadows. The Crimson Queen had to humble her people. To see them prosper, she had to abstain from arrogance, for their admiration, she had to accept obscurity to all the rest of the galaxy. Selfless and noble, as a saint to the Emperor, she sealed her pact with the Imperium rising and behind the darkness of the Erinnyenmere, created a realm of true beauty, which could last through ten millennia of war and decay.

### Power reawakened

Then, the end of the 41st millennium brought a new age to the Imperium of Man. Strife and horror tore the galaxy apart, yet at the same time, the strength and glory of old, which had slumbered so long, was reawakened in the hearts of all humanity.

As legends walk among mortals once more, and upon Holy Terra shines the light of a new age coming, so too will the glory of the Fiefdom be Restored and upon worlds long hidden, the Crimson Queen prepares to receive a new crown.

When the Imperium shines with new strength, only then may the true beauty she preserved be revealed. For in this age, her pact with the Imperium will end and both powers, one at the Heart of Gondwana, and one from far stars, will be reborn and reunited in the great ascension of the Emperor's blessed souls.