Phantine - History: Compared to many of the worlds of the Segmentum Solar that have been colonised since the earliest days of Mankind, Phantine is a fairly young world. The first Imperial colonists to settle on Phantine were famously led by Saint Phidolas, some time after the great Saint Sabbat had liberated the worlds that now form the Sabbat Worlds Sector of the Segmentum Pacificus. But Phantine's humble origins were soon forgotten with the discovery of its tremendously rich deposits of Promethium, which led to the quick industrialisation of the world. Phantine's industries soon specialised in producing petrochemicals, exporting their products to many worlds. It was not long before the first hive cities began to rise from the ground, their spires reaching ever higher into the darkening sky. Yet Phantine's wealth would also cause unforeseen troubles. After fifteen standard centuries of continuous and ruthless exploitation, Phantine's refineries and other industries had rendered the world's troposphere uninhabitable. A five-thousand-metre-thick blanket of aerial pollution and noxious gases covered Phantine's entire surface, a dangerous and toxic sea of clouds named "the Scald." To survive, Phantine's population had to resettle above the cloudline, seeking refuge on the highest mountain chains or the spire tips of the greatest hive cities. There, the Phantines erected new cities, little islands in a sea of toxic fog. This development led to profound changes in Phantine society, which through necessity came to rely almost entirely on aviation for trade and transportation. Formerly dedicated to the production of petrochemicals, Phantine's manufacturers now turned to energy production, erecting great steam mills and central power plants that formed the beating hearts of the new airborne cities.By necessity, to protect them from their corrosive atmosphere, Phantine's cities are sealed off from their environment, thus warranting cycles of artificial rain within their confines. Many larger cities like Cirenholm, Hessenville and Ouranberg also feature great panels of armoured glass. Due to the lack of landmass, Phantine has to import most of its food and materials from the wider Imperium. These are usually conveyed from city to city in great gas-filled aerostats, many-kilometres-long flying behemoths that observers compare to the ancient zeppelins of Old Earth. Many of these aerostats have also been converted for military use and act as flying airbases for Phantine's Planetary Defence Force.While difficult to assail due to their planet's topography, Phantine's cities are by no means fortresses designed to withstand sustained assault. Typically, Phantine cities consist of several interlinked hab-domes where the population lives and a central steam-based power plant for energy production. Landing fields, secondary steam centrals, waste incinerators or refineries are often located on the cities' exteriors, connected to the main hab-domes by great conduits or causeways that are located above the cloudline. The hab-domes themselves also feature great terraces used by the inhabitants to move from place to place within the city. The domes are studded with anti-air defence guns as well as gangways in order to inspect the dome's physical integrity after one of the many acid rain storms that periodically assault all the settlements of Phantine from the tumultuous depths of the Scald. The strange mixture of airborne chemicals frequently causes electromagnetic storms in the depths of the Scald, whose layers are also prone to spontaneous combustion. Such an event lends the Scald an eerie and strange glow that has often been interpreted as a bad omen by the people of Phantine. The upper layer of the Scald frequently erupts into violent storms that can wash away the more precarious cities and force the aerostats to take unexpected detours from their standard routes.