Orpheus Sector - Principal Worlds of the Orpheus Sector: Amarah Prime (Hive World) - Second planet of the Amarah System, Amarah Prime is a teeming Hive World of old and noble provenance. As the oldest human settlement within the entire Orpheus Sector, having been found in the distant 30th Millennium by the legendary Rogue Trader Lady Arica Orpheus, Amarah had known a first existence as a minor Imperial outpost before being destroyed in the wake of the Horus Heresy. When the Imperium reclaimed the Orpheus Sector during the Dark Marches Crusade, Amarah Prime was naturally chosen as the sector's capital world, a position it has kept over the next four standard millennia. As well as being a Fortress Imperialis in its own right, Amarah also serves as Battlefleet Orpheus' principal fleet anchorage, making it the political and military heart of the Orpheus Sector. Despite the power it harboured, Amarah was devastated in the last major battle of the Orphean War, the famed Battle of Amarah. Like the two other Hive Worlds in this system, Amarah Prime is now reduced to a broken landscape of toppled tower, broken bastions and ravaged hab blocks, the heavy fighting having left the world an ash-shrouded wasteland, partly covered in radioactive fallout and burning skies.Amraphel (Civilised World) - Well on its way to becoming a Hive World of its own, the planet of Amraphel was located at the heart of the Deluvian Sub-sector. Amraphel is largely regarded as the most influential world of the Deluvian Sub-sector, its pious population having toiled for generations to erect one of the architectural wonders of the Orpheus Sector, the Red Cathedral from which most notoriously the remains of the Ork Warboss Badrok Gutgouga were hung in 319.M40. Amraphel was one of the few worlds having been evacuated before the arrival of the front lines to its world and was thus spared the multiple atrocities that happened elsewhere in the sector. After the proclamation of the Orphean Decree, Amraphel was abandoned, like much of the Deluvian Sub-sector and subjected to an Exterminatus by the Imperial Navy.Apollyon (Inquisitorial Fortress World) - Located in the Capitoline Sub-sector, close to the sector's seat of power on Amarah Prime, lies Apollyon, a former Hive World which fell to the dark promises and temptations of the Ruinous Powers in the last centuries of the 39th Millennium. Following its reconquest during the great Orphean War of Faith and thorough purges, the planet was given over to the Inquisition which established a more permanent base. The three great Ordos each established their presence on the planet, acting in concert as the Conclave Orpheus, but in truth it was the Ordo Malleus which reigned supreme, its representative Lord Inquisitor Hiram Ntshona having the ears of the sector's Imperial Governor, Calibron Laan, since the Chemarium Insurrections and the rise of the Beggar-King. Apollyon was the first world that successfully raised the alarm upon being attacked by the Necrons, a lone Inquisitorial ship, burnt black from stem to stern, having managed to escape the doomed system. The planet itself was irremediably shattered when the Necrons used the planet's moon, Elohiem Mortua, as a gigantic projectile to destroy its continents.Ayrith (Feudal World) - Close neighbour to the more populous and advanced world of Drucilla Majoris, Ayrith was one of the very first worlds to fall before the Necrons, the immortal legions of the xenos making short work of the technologically vastly inferior humans.Arcantis (Civilised World) - West of the Amarah System lies the Arcantis Cluster, named such for the Civilised World of Arcantis that dominates it economically and politically. The worlds of the Arcantis Cluster had always been spared by the greater catastrophes of the Orpheus Sector's tumultuous history, which left them ill-prepared for the onslaught the Maynarkh would bring. After the great Battle of Amarah, the front lines quickly progressed to Arcantis, where the Imperium's defenders would first encounter the so called "Walking Dead" the stitched-together and Scarab-controlled remains of the Necrons' former victims.C'syn'ad (Relic World) - C'syn'ad is located at the heart of the Deluvian Sub-sector in the galactic South of the Orpheus Sector. The world itself harbours great ruins of an ancient civilisation and has not been fully colonised by the Imperium. Some scavengers and Explorators seeking valuable archeotech sometimes venture to the surface, but the world's true importance lies in its orbit, for C'syn'ad harbours an immense orbital station which serves as a secondary base for Battlefleet Orpheus against the Ork raiders of the Shattered Deeps. The orbital also harbours the Orpheus Sector's greatest Astropathic Choir, capable of transmitting and receiving messages even from the Segmentum Solar. C'syn'ad was abandoned as part of the Imperium's retreat from the Orpheus Sector and subjected to Exterminatus.Chemarium I-IV (Industrial Worlds) - The worlds of the Chemarium System belonged to the Deluvian Sub-sector, and were all heavily industrialised worlds whose centuries of polluting activities had ravaged their existing biospheres and damaged the environment so heavily that its citizens lived in great proto-hive cities and only ventured outside wearing rebreather masks and protective gear. Each of the worlds of the Chemarium System boasted its own form of toxicity, from the acidic swamps of Chemarium III, to the ash-shrouded wastes of Chemarium IV. It is believed that the output of these four worlds combined easily matched the industrial output of a fully-fledged Forge World. Shortly before the outburst of the Orphean War, the civilian population of Chemarium III had been corrupted by the vile promises of Chaos and risen against the rule of the Divine Emperor. Amongst the teeming multitude emerged a leader, the so-called "Beggar King," who successfully coordinated uprisings on the other worlds of the Chemarium Systems, laying those cities that did not fell to him to siege. Due to the vagaries of the Warp, sector authorities were unable to ship sufficient men, ammunition and wargear to this new warzone, which warranted the creation of the Chemarium Exclusion Zone, a security cordon and blockade destined to hem the Heretics in the Chemarium System until such time as more regiments could be mobilised. These reserves would then constitute the first wave of Imperial reinforcements to counter the expansion of the Maynarkh. Throughout the campaign that would follow, Chemarium was largely ignored by the Imperials, who resolved to leave the Heretics' extermination to the Necrons. Seemingly abandoned by their Imperial masters, the resisting cities soon turned to the Chaos Gods to deliver them from these invading xenos. The war between these two factions seems to be ongoing.Decapolis (Hive World) - Although it harbours more people and its manufacturing capacities surpass those of Amarah Prime, Decapolis has always stood in the shadow of the sector's capital world. This rivalry ultimately led to the great Decapolis Conspiracy, which tried to wrestle dominion of the Capitoline Sub-sector -- and indeed the entire Orpheus Sector -- from Amarah. This plot, however, prompted the ire of the Emperor's Inquisition, which conducted heavy purges on the world after obtaining proof that Decpolis' ruling council of Decrachs was in league with xenos and Chaos-aligned cults, which it not only funded, but also equipped with weapons. The Inquisition's heavy hand, which condemned the Decrachs to death after extensive show-trials and sent millions of its inhabitants into the penitentiary colonies of Morros, bred considerable resentment within the population, resentment which only grew after the paranoid Governor of Amarah, Calibron Laan, imposed even heavier tithes on their world. Therefore, many believe that the situation on Decapolis was a new crisis in the making interrupted only by the Necrons' invasion. Decapolis was spared the greater devastation of the sector, its population and industrial might having mostly been relocated by the time the front lines reached the once great and powerful Hive World. Like the other major worlds of the sector, Decapolis was scourged by Exterminatus.Drucilla Majoris (Imperial World) - As its name indicates, Drucilla Majoris is the major and dominant world within the Drucillan Sub-sector, located itself in the galactic Southwest of the Orpheus Sector, on the border with the former Leyak Sector. Considered by many a mere frontier realm, Drucilla Majoris harbours many towering and extensive complexes of xenos ruins, which seemingly indicates that in the distant past, Drucilla Majoris was once part of another stellar empire. These ruins are held in high esteem by those seditious elements known to belong to the Cult Celestarii, who are believed to consider Drucilla as some sort of holy ground for their deluded faith. The entire Drucillan Sub-sector was quickly overwhelmed and seized by the Necrons in the opening weeks of the Orphean War.Epirus (Agri-World) - Epirus is the Capitoline Sub-sector's most important provender of food, feeding such populous worlds as Amarah Prime and Ribasu.Gorgon Quintus (Death World) - Located in the extreme East of the Deluvian Sub-sector, close to its border with the Eurydice Sector, Gorgon Quintus is a Death World which also serves as a muster station for the Imperial Guard and other Imperial forces in their delaying effort covering the Imperial retreat from the Orpheus Sector.Harrow Watch (Adeptus Mechanicus World) - Harrow Watch is located to the galactic Northwest of the Orpheus Sector, beyond the pirate-infested region of the Hesod Nebula. It acts as a solitary vigil on the Imperium's borders with the outer darkness. Since the sector's creation, Harrow Watch was given over to the total control of the Adeptus Mechanicus, which quickly established it as a heavily-defended observation outpost to survey the exterior borders as well as the prohibited binary star system of Caracol through their powerful telescopes and Augurs. In these duties, the outpost of Harrow Watch would singularly fail, recording and transmitting the destruction of the Caracol System, but failing to discover the approaching Necron invasion forces, or even relay the warnings of the Wayward Son back in 811.M41, a standard century and a half before the Orphean War would lead to the dissolution of the sector. Like most exterior worlds, Harrow Watch was submerged by the Necrons in the very first solar hours of the conflict. The planet's demise was so swift that not even the alarm was raised.Hydroghast (Agri-World, Ocean World) - Located within the Barren Stars, Hydroghast is an exceptional world. It owes its existence to the influence of no less than three suns, which contributed to the creation of a solid planet the size of a more commonplace gas giant. Yet the gravitational forces of the three suns cancel each other out so perfectly that human life was sustainable instead of being immediately crushed by the world's gravity. Hydroghast is an Ocean World whose oceans are hundreds of kilometres deep and whose only landmasses are swamp-riven and fen-covered polar continents where the Imperium has erected several reinforced agri-stations to harness the oceans' resources. These outposts of civilisation are often separated by heavy monsoon rains and storms. Hydroghast's aquacultural output is vital to the Orpheus Sector as it feeds every Hive World of the sector, and its loss early on in the Orphean War was a terrible blow to the Imperial war-effort. How this happened remains a mystery, as Hydroghast was located far from the front lines, but what information could be gathered seems to indicate that the Necrons of the Maynarkh Dynasty rose from the oceans and swamps themselves to attack the Imperial colonists.Khesd (Feudal World) - A Feudal World close to Amarah Prime where the resources of several minor colonies and outposts were gathered before being shipped to Amarah or Myre.Libethra (Shrine World, Adeptus Astartes Homeworld) - Transformed into a Shrine World in the wake of the great Orphean War of Faith and the dramatic events of the Bane of Saint Marduk, Libethra was a world of towering beauty whose vast marble mausoleum complexes harboured the Orpheus Sector's glorious dead. It was on Libethra that the Great Basilica Severan was erected to commemorate the blood shed by the Orphean Regiments of the Imperial Guard in the Great Severan War. As homeworld to the Adeptus Astartes Chapter of the Angels Revenant, the world's second great marvel was the Chapter's fortress-monastery, its skies filled with the ballet of the Chapter's fleet movements, for the Angels Revenant regarded themselves justly as the protectors of the entire Orphean Pilgrimage and indeed the Orpheus Sector. During the Orphean War, contact was soon lost with Libethra, and the Chapter's fate was unknown for many solar months. From what could be assessed, the Angels Revenant made the Necrons fight for every step they took and despite initial successes, were soon forced into the defence of their homeworld. Confronted with such fierce resistance, the Necrons resolved to break through the planet's crust and have its molten core eradicate the Angels Revenant rather than risk the loss of too many of its ground forces.Lysmarchus (Fortress World) - Located in the Deluvian Sub-sector, Lysmarchus was the battlefield on which Warboss Badrok Gutgouga was defeated in 319.M40.Midwinter (Industrial World) - Close neighbour to Amarah Prime and location of Battlefleet Orpheus' principal naval shipyards. The star system had been protected by a Ramilies-class Starfort designated Fortress Tarris which was quickly overwhelmed by Necron forces, its crew powerless against the killing automatons teleporting directly into the bowels of their stronghold.Morros (Penal World) - More commonly called Morros Lachrymal, for it follows the tenets of the Lachrymal Pattern for penitentiary worlds, the world of Morros was initially founded as a simple mining colony and would only be transformed into a prison-colony in the 39th Millennium, following the Black Crusade of Von Mallas. On Morros, these penitents and convicts would toil hard to feed the Orpheus Sector's industrial appetite, and it would only be five hundred standard years later that the penitentiaries of Morros would be converted to the training of Penal Legions, the Imperium needing more fighting men to prosecute the Great Severan War. Later in the 41st Millennium, Morros Lachrymal's population swelled considerably due to the millions condemned in the wake of the Decapolis Conspiracy, when the Ordo Hereticus sentenced a sizeable portion of that Hive World's population to live out their lives on Morros. The planet's ultimate fate remains unknown, as since 689.M41 all contact with Morros has been lost due to the sudden manifestation of the Warp Storm known as the Howling Vortex.Myre (Forge World) - The Forge World of Myre is the single most important domain of the Adeptus Mechanicus within the former Orpheus Sector. Myre's production lines were at least partly destined to provide the needs of Battlefleet Orpheus, and include a great deal of aircraft such as the Avenger Strike Fighter. By the time of the Orphean War, Myre was a fully-fledged Forge World whose strategic importance was such, that as part of the Orphean Decree, Myre's entire population and infrastructure was relocated in the Jirgath System and countless lives have been spent to prevent the Necrons from interfering in this delicate matter.Pallasite (Frontier World) - Located in the Drucillan Sub-sector, Pallasite is the closest neighbour to the Dead World of Altun and has since then been placed under quarantine. It is widely believed that Pallasite was the first world to be taken by the Necrons' second front.Patara (Feral World) - Located at the other end of the Orphean Pilgrimage, Patara breeds a sturdy stock of humans, which explains why the Angels Revenant have been using this world as their primary recruitment location.Ribasu (Hive World) - Ribasu was once a teeming Hive World, but had entered a steady phase of decline well before the events of the Orphean War. The Necron invasion only hastened the world's ultimate death, but the great hive cities of Ribasu saw many fiercely-fought battles.Selakhar (Frontier World)Saint Marduk’s Bane (Civilised World) - Formerly known by the name of Colkasth, a teeming Hive World that became corrupted by Chaos and would also become the base of operations for the justly feared Death Mongers warband of Chaos Space Marines, the world of Saint Marduk's Bane owes its current name to the tragic destiny that befell Arch-Confessor Marduk of Helvamon, hero of the Orphean War of Faith and saviour of the entire Orpheus Sector. Following its devastation in 921.M39 by an unknown but powerful foe now believed to be the Necrons, the black-cindered, ash-covered world was renamed Saint Marduk's Bane. Due to this close affiliation with the Saint, the world quickly began to attract new colonists and became an established Imperial world in the space of a few centuries. Close to the new fortress-monastery of the Angels Revenant, the world was well-protected, but would fail to defend itself before the Necron onslaught.Thamyris (Abandoned World) - Thamyris is an arid world, covered in shifting sands which contain valuable and rare isotopes which had motivated several mining expeditions to be despatched to this distant world of the Deluvian Sub-sector. Several of these expeditions ended in disaster or failed to return at all, which soon gained Thamyris a privileged place in the sector's darkest legends. By that time, Thamyris was well on its way to becoming an Industrial World, but as expeditions continued to vanish or returned empty-handed, the planet was soon abandoned. No one made the link with the great xenos obelisks and other ruins found in the deserts until the Maynarkh attacked. Suddenly, the distant world became one of strategic importance, and offered the Imperium a target for counterattack. If Thamyris was indeed a Necron Tomb World emerging from slumber, or a link in some other unfathomable plan of the enemy, no one can truly know, but Segmentum authorities have sanctioned the use of Exterminatus-class weaponry.Tlaloc (Dead World) - Cursed Tlaloc is another darkly famed world within the Orpheus Sector. Located in the extreme South of the sector, Tlaloc was due to become an Agri-world, however the first colonisation fleet despatched to this planet was lost in the Warp in 817.M36 and it would be only thirty standard years later that the world would ultimately be colonised, albeit by a much smaller contingent of Imperial colonists. In 889.M38, a patrol of Battlefleet Orpheus received garbled distress signals from the Agri-world of Tlaloc, only to find the world in ruins, its population vanished and every single recording device broken. The landing parties reported that the townships and cities had been turned into an abattoir, every corpse seemingly ripped apart, cut into ribbons or having been flayed. Ordo Xenos-led investigations came to the conclusion that the mutilations and savagery of it were tell-tale signs of Dark Eldar raiders or Eldar Kabalite Corsairs, but it seems evident now that the Necrons were behind the death of Tlaloc. No one has set foot on Tlaloc for over two standard millennia.