Castobel - History: Castobel is ancient, with some historical evidence to suggest that it predates the Imperium, having been colonised by Humanity at some point during the Dark Age of Technology. In the days of the Great Crusade, Castobel joined the Imperium after a brief and bloody war eliminated its original ruling caste, which was swiftly replaced by a Planetary Governor installed by crusade forces.When the Imperium first claimed Castobel in the 30th Millennium, it was already a prosperous Hive World, with four colossal cities emerging from the lifeless ash wastelands of a world dedicated to industry. Under Imperial rule it grew further, with several of the smaller wasteland settlements developing together into two additional hives by the middle of the 33rd Millennium, and gaining stewardship of Battlefleet Jericho's primary dockyard a few centuries later.When the Jericho Sector collapsed into the anarchy of the "Age of Shadows," Castobel endeavoured to remain aloof from the disarray, remaining staunchly loyal to the God-Emperor in spite of the sector's collapse. Using what remained of the sector's fleets, including loyal remnants of Battlefleet Jericho, Castobel's Imperial Commander worked tirelessly to maintain the Emperor's law on several nearby worlds.Still, the isolation took its toll on Castobel and its colonies, and the world could not remain as it once was. After centuries separated from the Imperium, the hive cities on Castobel had become virtually independent city-states, unified only by their common faith in the Emperor.That faith was fought for more fiercely than almost any other facet of life on Castobel. Separated from the higher authorities of the Adeptus Ministorum, the ruling families of the six cities found common ground in the need to maintain the religious structure that had for so long defined Castobellan life.The result was an organisation known as the "Aquilan Pluracy," which took the place of the old Castobel Diocese as the highest religious authority on the planet, maintaining the temples and ensuring the populace remained appropriately reverent towards the Emperor.This state of affairs remained largely unchanged for several Terran millennia in spite of raids by aliens, Renegades and Heretics, until 789.M41, when Battlegroup Santos arrived at the edge of the system to be greeted by vessels that had once belonged to Battlefleet Jericho. Upon discovery of their kinship, a message was sent to Lord General Mikal Curas immediately, informing him that Castobel was loyal to the Imperium and wished to return to the fold.A hundred days of celebration followed, and at the end of that time, the Astra Militarum regiment called the 1st Castobel Reborn was raised and sent forth to serve the Imperium, while Lord Commander Ortana Lokk of Hive Tyralos was selected to rule as Imperial Commander and Lord Castellan of Castobel.By the end of that year, a further hundred regiments had been raised, with more on the way in every passing year. In the years since, over two thousand regiments of Castobel Reborn have been mustered and distributed across the Jericho Reach, alongside vast quantities of materiel.That all changed, as so much in the Orpheus Salient did, when the Shadow in the Warp descended upon the Jericho Reach. Castobel came under assault in the early months of 817.M41, after more than four standard years of mounting interference within the Warp.Once again isolated from the wider Imperium, Castobel's forces -- its planetary defence force and the three hundred Astra Militarum regiments mustered since 812.M41 but left stranded by increasingly difficult Warp travel -- immediately set about bolstering their homeworld's defences and preparing for the arrival of a monstrous aggressor.The Tyranid onslaught was swift and terrible, and they managed to overrun Hive Trimalov within six solar weeks of the first bioforms making planetfall. Billions died, torn apart and devoured by mindless, slavering beasts and towering, malevolent monsters.As the Tyranids destroyed Hive Trimalov and began to spread outwards to the other hives, Lord Castellan Lokk withdrew with his advisors to contemplate how best to defend against this enemy. When he returned after three solar days, he was grim and humourless, but stated that he knew what must be done.While this occurred, the Tyranids had begun to move on Hive Tyralos, the second-most densely populated of Castobel's hive cities. Hundreds of thousands of troops -- both soldiers and civilians bearing simple weapons as ragtag militias -- stood in defence of Hive Tyralos as the evacuation began, selling their lives dearly to allow as many people to flee as possible.Then the order came through: withdraw into the city, lure the Tyranids in. An hour later, the skies burned with crimson light as Hive Tyralos died in atomic fire, the incandescent fury of its ancient reactors and generators unleashed to obliterate the swarm.Both sides now exist in an unsteady stalemate. Castobel's defensive forces are depleted, weary and demoralised, and epidemics of Tyranid-spawned maladies rage through the populace.The Tyranids are similarly depleted in number and having been denied the biomass of Hive Tyralos -- both their own and that of its populace -- they cannot swiftly replenish their numbers nor easily muster the power for another assault. The war has settled into a routine of probing raids and attempted infiltrations of the remaining cities, with the defenders fearful of the skulking, hissing monsters that lurk outside their walls.Yet hope, of a sort, remains. With the Tyranids starved of biomass and the reinforcements it would provide, the swarm is at its most vulnerable. If Castobel's defenders can deny the Tyranids long enough, the Tyranids might be crushed utterly, leaving the bio-ships in orbit starving. This hope is a distant one, but one that many are clinging to.