Orpheus Sector - Orpheus Resurgent: Despite the untimely death of Saint Marduk, the Orphean War of Faith is still celebrated as a great success, having averted the sector's fall and expunged the Chaotic menace. In the following decades, the Orpheus Sector slowly rebuilt its might, greatly aided by the remaining followers of the martyred Saint. By special dispensation of the Segmentum authorities, many regiments of the Imperial Guard were allowed to settle within the region, either returning fully to civil life or by incorporating the seasoned and battle-hardened regiments within existing or newly created Planetary Defence Forces. This influx of able men, many of whom could boast military experience, greatly strengthened the sector's defences.In honour of the fallen soldiers and Saint Marduk, the minor colony world of Libertha, of which the late Saint had been particularly fond, was elevated to the rank of Shrine World in order to celebrate the Orphean War of Faith's blessed dead. These numbered in the millions, as the sector had lost a fifth of its overall population during the conflict. To further strengthen the sector's defences, the fleet-based Angels Revenant Space Marine Chapter was given stewardship over Libertha, their fortress-monastery built amongst the rows of tombs, mausoleums and Basilica to be erected on the Shrine World.The Inquisition, and in particular the Ordo Malleus, also established a permanent position within the Orpheus Sector, as many millions of refugees and survivors needed to be examined and relocated, or if need be, purged from the population. With typical zeal, the servants of the Inquisition laid a heavy hand on those worlds fallen to corruption or conquest by the forces of the Archenemy. It came as no surprise that the world of Apollyon in the Capitoline Sub-sector, which had seen several daemonic incursions and Warp breaches, was given over to the sole control of the Inquisition.Thanks to these additions to its defences, the Orpheus Sector entered a golden age of expansion and prosperity which lasted for many centuries. Yet, in the wake of the Orphean War of Faith, many raiders sought to prey on the resurgent sector and many conspiracies were unveiled by the diligent hands of the Inquisition. Slowly, as the centuries passed, and enemies like the Orks supplanted the Chaotic threat, the existence of the mysterious foe responsible for the death of Saint Marduk's crusade receded from memory. The "Sleepers of Orpheus," as they had come to be called, slowly faded into myth and dark legend, their baleful power forgotten.During the 40th Millennium, the Orpheus Sector continued to prosper and to weather a myriad of crises. In 319.M40, the southern regions of the Orpheus Sector fell prey to a WAAAGH! led by the Ork Warboss Badrok Gutgouga of the Evil Sunz klan. In a gruesome seven solar month-long campaign, the Orks were finally cornered on the world of Lysmarchus. The armoured regiments of the Imperial Guard drawn from the distant world of Koenig encircled the Orks and systematically annihilated them with the support of the Orpheus Sector's defence forces. As a grand gesture of victory, the Ork Warboss' carcass was taken from the battlefield and publicly hanged from the spire of the Red Cathedral on Amraphel, marking the beginning of celebrations throughout the entire Deluvian Sub-sector.On the wider scale of the Segmentum, and indeed the entire Imperium, the Orpheus Sector is widely recognized for its contribution to the Great Severan War, which ravaged the border regions of the Segmentum Tempestus and the Ultima Segmentum from 580 to 591.M40. In a great muster of armies, commonly referred to as "the Emperor's Due" by the Amaranthine Courts, the Orpheus Sector placed over thirty-nine million men and women under arms and at the disposal of the Imperial Guard. Few of these new regiments ever returned to the Orpheus Sector, but their sacrifice was commemorated on Libertha by the raising of the Basilica Severan. As part of this further militarisation of the sector, the Penitentiary World of Morros Lachrymal, previously a mining facility, was devoted to the training of Penal Legions.Yet the prosperity of the Orpheus Sector had a downside, as other worlds rose to prominence. Amarah Prime's status as the capital world of the entire Dark Marches Region was increasingly contested, mostly on the Hive World of Decapolis, a thriving planet in the sector's galactic west. By the middle of the 40th Millennium, Decapolis' population and economic output had effectively surpassed Amarah Prime's. But due to tradition and practice, Amarah nevertheless remained the sector's capital world, harbouring not only the seat of the Imperial sector governor, but also the headquarters of the sector Administratum and of Battlefleet Orpheus.Using their influence with the Administratum, the Amaranthines imposed increasingly heavier tithes on Decapolis, hoping to hinder the world's growth and retain their ancestral position of power. This led to considerable resentment within the mercantile and military castes of Decapolis, to the point where even Decapolis' ruling council of Decrachs increasingly chafed at Amarah's ever-growing demands. As is often the way in these things, resentment quickly turned to hatred, which soon blossomed into conspiracy. The Decrachs hatched a considerable number of plans to destabilise Amarah's planetary government and supplant it so that sector-wide authority would be transferred to Decapolis. These plans consisted mainly, but not only, in the covert funding and arming of several groups of political dissidents, smuggler rings and heretical groups such as the Cult Celestarii.These groups were intended to conduct a planned campaign of assassination and terrorism. The conspiracy was discovered when the Inquisition's Ordo Hereticus captured several members of a Celestarii cell and put them to the question. Undeniable proof of the Decrach's involvement was provided when a heavy weapon crate in the cult's possession was traced back to a manufactorium on Decapolis.The Decapolis Conspiracy, as it became known, demanded immediate retaliation and harsh punishment. The Inquisition descended swiftly on Decapolis and conducted a series of systematic and thorough purges. The accused were publicly condemned in a series of show-trials that lasted for nearly nine standard years. The entirety of the Decrachs fell prey to these purges, and outright revolt or even civil war was only prevented through the ruthless application of the Inquisition's oppressive methods. But by then the damaged had been done.Identification and death of the primary instigators of the Decapolis Conspiracy failed to better the situation on Amarah itself. The Amaranthine population perpetuated the belief that secretive forces were working to the world's detriment, which lead to several incidents of public unrest. This paranoia also gained purchase in the Amaranthine Court when the Sector Governor imposed even heavier tithes on the seditious world of Decapolis to further weaken Amarah's principal rival.This in turn fuelled resentment on Decapolis. Over the following decades, this climate of tension would spread throughout the entire Orpheus Sector, seizing its worlds in an unshakable grip of discord and distrust. Gradually, the worlds of the sector began to turn in upon themselves. The Orpheus Sector's hard-earned unity was shattered, and later historians marked the Decapolis Conspiracy as the event that brought the sector's golden age to its end.