Ashimar

Departmento Cartographicae pict-file of Ashimar, homeworld of the Ashimar Nova Guard regiments of the Astra Militarum.

## Planet

### Military Forces

Ashimar Nova Guard
Ashimar Defense Forces

## Location

### System

Ashimar

**Ashimar** is an Imperial civilised world located in the Segmentum Pacificus that is home to the Ashimar Nova Guard regiments of the Astra Militarum. These regiments are known for being courageous and dependable fighters, utilizing combined arms tactics to execute precise, overwhelming attacks against their enemies.

## History

Ashimar is a Civilized World in the Segmentum Pacificus, located within the Paradius Sector. Home to around 8 billion people, its capital city is Artamos. The planet has two large continents, separated by an ocean with numerous islands and smaller continents.

Located in a backwater region of Segmentum Pacificus, Ashimar went unnoticed by the Imperium for millennia. The planet was discovered in 394.M41, at a period when Ashimar was under frequent attack by Dark Eldar and Ork raiders. The war was going poorly for Ashimar until an Imperial fleet, part of the Macharian Crusade, arrived in the area and aided Ashimar in repelling the invaders. Afterwards, Ashimar quickly joined the Imperium and adopted the Imperial Creed as introduced to them by missionaries hailing from the Shrine World of Gielia. The missionaries found Ashimar's predominant local religion surprisingly easy to convert, as they already worshiped a deity they referred to as "the Solar Lord." This led the missionaries to theorize that perhaps at one point in its distant past, the planet had contact with the Imperium, but forgot it over its long millennia of isolation.

Among the Imperial forces were Battle Sisters of the Order of the Eternal Flame as well as several regiments of Cadian Shock Troopers. The Cadians would assist in the training and organization of Ashimar regiments for the Imperial Guard. Ashimar’s guardsmen would come to be known as the Ashimar Nova Guard. The early Nova Guard regiments, fighting under the command of Alanta Kresh, distinguished themselves serving in the Macharian Crusade and helping put down the subsequent Macharian Heresy, during which Ashimar remained loyal to the Imperium rather than align with one of the Lord Solar's generals-turned-warlords. The continued performance of the Ashimar Nova Guard over the subsequent centuries as Guardsmen of exceptional quality brought much attention and prominence to a planet that was otherwise a sparsely-populated backwater, leading Ashimar to be regarded as a world of vital strategic importance in the region.

### The Siege of Ashimar

As Abaddon the Despoiler launched the 13th Black Crusade in 999.M41, Segmentum Pacificus was consumed by the Night of a Thousand Rebellions, a mass of simultaneous Chaos cult uprisings that plunged much of the Segmentum into anarchy. While Ashimar was largely spared from such unrest, much of the Paradius sector was not, including the hive world of Paradius. The Imperial Guard army group tasked with putting down the rebellion, spearheaded by the Ashimar 30th "Show Stoppers" Infantry Regiment, would fall to Chaos, joining with the rebels and becoming the Grand Hellguard.

The Fall of Cadia and the formation of the Great Rift would cause even further disruptions of Imperial authority, as reality tore itself apart, causing mass daemonic incursions on many worlds and even temporarily dimming the Astronomican. Grand Marshal Kaspar Vektaris, the leader of the Hellguard, would take advantage of the situation to ally with three Heretic Astartes warbands - the World Devastators, Tizcan Flame, and Perfect Storms - and launch an all-out assault on Ashimar.

Recalling as many of its regiments home as possible, the Ashimar Nova Guard would defend their homeworld under the leadership of Lady General Ludara Kresh, who took up the rank of "First Marshal of Ashimar" and assumed total control of the planetary government. The Nova Guard was assisted by the Ordinators and Wind Runners Space Marine chapters and Battle Sisters of the Order of the Eternal Flame. Casualties were immense, but the defenders held for nearly a decade before being relieved by the arrival of forces from the Indomitus Crusade. Vektaris was slain, though his Hellguard would live on and retreat back to their holdings on and near Paradius.

### After the Siege

Though Ashimar had survived the horrors of the Siege, it emerged changed. The planet's relative innocence and complacence, a result of being so long sheltered from the horrors of the galaxy, had been irreparably shattered. Following a period of reconstruction, Ludara Kresh would step down as First Marshal and restore Ashimar's Planetary Council in order to lead Imperial forces in the Indomitus Crusade. In the years after the Siege, Ashimar has been militarizing substantially, producing more regiments of Ashimar Nova Guard than ever before. The Ashimar Nova Guard are determined to play a larger role in the Imperium's defense, in order to assure that an event like the Siege of Ashimar is never repeated.

## Geography, Habitability, & Infrastructure

Known as one of the most beautiful worlds in the Paradius Sector, Ashimar possesses a temperate climate akin to that of ancient Terra. It is largely free of the pollution and hyper-industrialization that plagues many Imperial worlds, with clear blue skies and rolling green plains dominating much of the planet's landmass. Besides contributing regiments to the Astra Militarum, Ashimar pays its tithe in natural resources and manufactured goods. Its moon, Zelhimir, is the site of large scale mining operations, as well as an astropathic relay station.

Due to its small population, Ashimar has a largely self-sufficient agricultural capacity, with substantial territory turned over to farming and its seas hosting a well-developed fishing industry. While its most densely populated cities, such as Artamos and Centorsa, are home to tens of millions of people within their urban areas, the planet possesses no hive cities, though Artamos may be reclassified as a hive sprawl in the coming centuries as it continues to grow.

Notable landmarks on Ashimar include the Grand Cathedral of the Emperor's Light, the planet's primary temple of the Imperial Cult. The Dausos Mountains, Ashimar's most prominent mountain range, is home to the Shrine of Macharius, a monument built on the site where according to legend the Lord Solar himself made planetfall and negotiated Ashimar's Imperial compliance. A convent of Battle Sisters from the Order of the Eternal Flame stationed on Ashimar provides honor guards to both holy sites.

Also located in the Dausos Mountains is a Schola Progenium facility, the Schola Ashimar, which was established in 455.M41. The Schola's most notable export is the Ashimar Nova Commandos, the elite storm troopers of the Ashimar Nova Guard. Like all Scholas, it also trains personnel for the Commissariat, Administratum and Ecclesiarchy, as well as providing recruits for the Adepta Sororitas.

## Politics & Culture

Ashimar is governed collectively by a **Planetary Council**, consisting of regional governors, known as Consuls, as well as representatives of mega-corporations, the military, and local Imperial adepta. While meritocracy is a stated virtue of Ashimar society, Ashimar's government is de facto an oligarchy, as those with the merit to climb the social ladder stratified it long ago. As such, it is through personal connections and family history that one gains power in all aspects of planetary authority save for the military, as it is through service in either the PDF or Ashimar Nova Guard that one can always prove their worth.

The Planetary Council elects a **High Consul** to chair it. The High Consul serves until death, retirement, or removal by a vote of no confidence, and is recognized as Planetary Governor by the Imperium. During the Siege of Ashimar, Lady General Ludara Kresh of the Ashimar Nova Guard dissolved the council and ruled as First Marshal of Ashimar. The current High Consul of the restored Planetary Council is Viktor Kamoris, a former PDF General and close ally of Kresh.

Ashimar's culture is in many ways exemplary of standard Imperial dogma - faith in the God-Emperor and hatred of the alien, the heretic, and the mutant are all facts of life. Such values were intentionally promoted by the Planetary Council to facilitate Ashimar's integration into the Imperium. Despite this, there are many ways in which the people of Ashimar remain distinct. While they are as devoted to the God-Emperor as any good Imperial citizen, they are largely not fanatical in their beliefs, and are viewed as a calm, collected, and practical people.