D'Shas'Ka 4 - History: Located spinward of the Greyhell Front, D'Shas'Ka 4 is several solar weeks travel from any other world in the Velk'Han Sept, and represents the furthest extent of T'au-dominated territory from the Black Reef and Tsua'Malor.However, in spite of such claims, D'Shas'Ka 4 is not a world entirely under the peaceful rule of the Greater Good. While largely unperturbed by the Imperium, D'Shas'Ka 4 is a world pressured by invasion from another front -- the Chaos-tainted legions of the militaristic Stigmartus Chaos Cult.While clashes between the T'au and Stigmartus forces are not unheard of, they are rare, with the Stigmartus typically content to turn their fury upon other Humans, particularly the Imperium.The Stigmartus do not regard the T'au as particularly significant when compared to their loathing for the Imperium, and tend only to attack T'au worlds when provoked or when some ulterior motive drives their cruelty.The binary system of D'Shas'Ka, referred to by Imperial astrographers as Seraph 131, seems to be of some significance to a faction within the Stigmartus, driving their urge to stain its worlds and stars with the blood of the T'au.The eventual goal of the Stigmartus on D'Shas'Ka's primary world remains unknown, in spite of careful scrutiny by the Inquisition.A significant Kroot presence has been established on D'Shas'Ka 4, primarily because of the sheer density and aggression of the indigenous creatures. These Kroot have thrived on the verdant world, and continue to do so, with a fourth generation of D'Shas'Ka Kroot beginning to appear in the last solar year.The T'au colonists, however, have not been as successful. Earth Caste xenobiologists struggle to catalogue the sheer quantity of species to be found on D'Shas'Ka 4, and rigorously drilled cadres of Fire Warriors are on constant alert to repel attacks from particularly tenacious wildlife or from Stigmartus forces making planetfall, seldom staying in one place for more than a few solar weeks at a time.Particularly troubling to the leaders of the D'Shas'Ka Coalition is that the diversity and viciousness of both the local flora and fauna and the frequency of Stigmartus attacks has been increasing steadily for the last Terran decade, and while the Shapers of the Kroot gladly embrace the fury of the wild as a challenge to be overcome, the T'au are less pleased with this development. Their anxiety has only increased with the first forays of the Imperium to D'Shas'Ka.In place of a warfleet aimed at xenocide and conquest, swift and stealthy courier vessels have represented the overwhelming majority of the Imperial intrusion into the system, with each and every one of them bearing servants of the Inquisition.Each visitation has heralded a series of high-level negotiations, with the adepts of the Inquisition conferring with T'au diplomats for weeks at a time before departing silently.Unknown to the T'au, these missions are the operations of a coven of Ordo Malleus Inquisitors who have been observing and working to counter the actions of the Stigmartus, following a string of omens and prophecies that revolve around the heretical organisation.Seeing a pattern in the Stigmartus attacks on D'Shas'Ka 4, members of this coven have acted to bolster the T'au defence against Chaos-aligned forces and guide their hand to combat such foes without overtly showing their involvement.Following usual T'au tactics, there are few static defences throughout the system; instead, the T'au rely upon scattered drone-controlled sentry stations and a fast-responding defence fleet operating from the orbital station above the fourth planet (which also serves as the primary Air Caste habitat for the T'au colony in the system, the Air Caste being physiologically unsuited for life on a planetary surface).The colonial efforts on D'Shas'Ka 4 are somewhat different from conventional T'au strategy, however. So vital and aggressive is the indigenous life that the T'au have been forced to establish fortified compounds to maintain an effective presence on the surface, using these scattered strong-points as the primary settlements from which to engage in forays into the dense forests.