Maccabian Janissaries - History: A world of vast, dry, salt flats, dust-laden winds, and harsh, chill sun; the fifth planet of the unforgiving Maccabeus System is nevertheless a blessed place. Blessed not because of the resources it is gifted with (which are few), or because of the climate (which is harsh), but because of the faith, for this is the place where a great man fell and was raised up as a saint by the glory of the Emperor.The chronicles of the Angevin Crusade tell that General Drusus, commanding the Trailward Salient of the Crusade, had pushed towards the Halo Stars, hoping to carve out a stable Imperial domain in what had been a fraught and bitter decade of war, when a sudden and vicious resurgence of hostilities in the region around Spectoris, at his rear, caused his advance to shudder to a halt. The order to mass and regroup was given. The planet chosen for this gathering was an uninhabited world in the obscure Maccabeus System, and as Drusus’ forces gathered, the general himself prayed to the God-Emperor for guidance, knowing that a wrong choice could jeopardise the fate of the whole Crusade.Disaster struck, as, employing unholy methods, his enemies discovered Drusus’ location and unleashed a deadly assassin against him. Drusus fell, but even as the killing blow was struck did the power of the Emperor rend apart the assassin and spare the great man. After ten days and nights in shadow did Drusus return, and the light of the Emperor was within him. In the years that followed, Drusus knew not defeat; one by one his enemies fell, and from the ashes of his conquest, the Calixis Sector was born. In the centuries following the Crusade, Drusus was declared a Saint of the Imperial Cult, for his miraculous return and subsequent triumph, and the site of his miracle was declared a Shrine World of the Adeptus Ministorum.To this day, Maccabeus Quintus is a site of pilgrimage for the faithful across the Calixis Sector, and is the heart of the Drusian Cult within the sector’s Ecclesiarchy. The world’s harsh and unforgiving landscape is walked by countless pilgrims every year, many of whom spend the remainder of their lives there, giving themselves to the devotion of the Emperor.Unlike many Shrine Worlds, Maccabeus Quintus has a significant military tradition all its own. Following in the footsteps of their patron, discipline and endurance are regarded as the greatest of virtues, and to defend or expand the Imperium in battle is regarded as the most pious form of worship. With the sheer number of pilgrims arriving on-world each year, a considerable population of the Imperial devout exists on Maccabeus Quintus, which in turn provides an ample and diverse supply of potential candidates to the Maccabian militias, the world's Planetary Defence Force, the finest of which are chosen to join the Maccabian Janissaries. To date, none have refused this honour, for all are driven by faith and the spirit of pilgrimage, and to become a Janissary is to embark upon a pilgrimage of a different sort, carrying the Emperor’s Wrath to dark and distant places. As noted, while it is rare for an Imperial Guardsman ever to return to his homeworld, Janissaries never do so -- they press on to ever more distant warzones and die fighting on countless distant worlds. Even those who are demobilised at campaign’s end will often find themselves on other pilgrim trails in other parts of the Imperium, guarding the faithful from the predations of the Heretic and the alien.