Cyclops Cluster - Planets of the Cyclops Cluster: Dominica Minor - Dominica Minor was the only inhabitable planet in a solar system compromising several gas-giants and other planets whose alchemical atmospheres could readily be exploited. Dominica Prime was essentially an immense network of gas and alchemical refineries whose output flowed to the Mechanicum worlds of Mezoa and M'Pandex. With its output numbering in the billions of litres, Dominica Prime's wealth grew considerably, becoming the uncontested regional power in the sub-sector at the beginning of the 31st Millennium. While militarily speaking it could not rival such worlds as Mezoa or the Hive Worlds of the neighboring Manachean Commonwealth, Dominica Minor could boast its own substantial defence infrastructure, orbital shipyards and military vessels, which would all be ravaged by the Traitor Death Guard Legion in what was to be known as the "Death on Dominica Minor."Bleak Harbor - Bleak Harbor is a Scavenger-type colonised world that was long ago known as "Auricalla" and whose location was included in ancient navigational datacores dating back to the Dark Age of Technology. In ancient tales and legends, Auricalla was described as a haven of civilisation and progress, an exemplar of Mankind's capabilities and genius and thus became one of many valuable civilisations for the newborn Imperium to contact. Yet when Imperial Explorators reached the planet, they would find only tumbledown ruins and semi-flooded wastelands seeded with the rusting wreckage of continent-spanning macro-machinery and the scattered bones of the dead. The ultimate fate of the lost civilisation of Auricalla remains unclear, it would seem, however, that no outside interference is to blame for Auricalla's fate: no war to topple its sky-scraping pyres, no hateful xenos breed to ravage its cities or epidemic to decimate its population. It would appear that society simply collapsed, regressed and tore itself apart as the result of some cataclysmic climate change that brought first inundations and then famine. No one knows for sure when this cataclysm happened, and it could very well be that Auricalla's demise dates back to centuries before the Imperium was even founded. By the time the Great Crusade reached this world, it had long been stripped of any valuable or technological remains. Nevertheless, the planet was colonised and used as a transit layover and port of last resort which contributed to give it its current name; salvation operations are still conducted in the vast ruins of the once magnificent cities, but Bleak Harbor makes for a dire place to live. Bleak Harbor is almost entirely covered in half-sunken ruins, swamps and rust-wastes. While nominally an independent world with its own Imperial Commander, Bleak Harbour lacks a stable population and those who live there are a desperate breed. Bleak Harbour's Imperial Commander has no notewothy resources to call upon and his world is indeed a dangerous place to live and one where the law is not enforced as it should be. Bleak Harbour's hinterlands and rust-wastes are a notorious haven for petty Hereteks, escaped prisoners and outlaws drawn there from all across the Cyclops Cluster. Bleak Harbour's situation was almost anarchic even before the Horus Heresy broke out, so it came as no great surprise that the world would bow to Horus of its own free will rather than risk further devastation.Dark Haven - Dark Haven is an odd world, an exceptional if strange orb in an otherwise lifeless region of the Cyclops Cluster. The planet has been classified a Death World by Imperial cartographers because of its inherent toxicity to unaltered human life. Covered in vast forests of a fungal nature which absorb every iota of light in whose shadow hulking ambulatory mycolidae and other less well-understood predators lurk, this "dark haven" has nevertheless been colonised by the Lucien Mechanicum which established it as a Knight World. The planet was given over to the stewardship of House Orhlacc, once but a minor Knight House of Lucius that has since grown in power. Due to its untenable strategic position, Dark Haven was evacuated during the Horus Heresy, House Orhlacc seizing voidships that made its relocation to the Agathean Domain possible. Since the end of the Heresy House, Orhlacc has maintained a token force on their new homeworld of Wychval, but it is believed that the bulk of House Orhlacc has since returned to Dark Haven.Endicott (Frontier World)Gethsamaine - In the 41st Millennium, Gethsamaine has become the capital of its own Sub-sector, but at the time of its inception in 942.M30, the world was still counted amongst those of the Cyclops Cluster. Gethsamaine Colonus was founded with expansion in mind, being located at the far edge of the Cluster and ideally suited for colonisation. In the sixty-four standard years before the outbreak of the Horus Heresy, Gethsamaine prospered and had reached the state of a proto-Hive World with much of its planetary surface given over to sprawling ferrocrete cities and manufactoria, boasting its own planetary defense troops and limited Armada Imperialis docking facilities. Gethsamaine was one of the very first worlds to surrender and submit itself to Dark Compliance after Horus' rebellion began. It also remains famed to the present day for being the location of the devastating "Raid on Gethsamaine" which heralded the beginning of the Age of Darkness, a continuous state of war between Imperial Loyalists and the Traitors that still endures ten thousands years after Horus' death.Goth (Hive World)Grist - Grist was a Mining Colony located to the galactic Southeast of Gethsamaine and whose location at the intersection of two major Warp-routes -- linking Gethsamaine to Mezoa, and Dominica Minor to distant Lascal -- had brought it prosperity. Like other worlds located on the second of these Warp-routes, Grist was invaded and utterly purged of life by the Death Guard on their slow march to Dominica Minor.Gunnar's Rock - Like Jujya, Gunnar's Rock had been an outpost of the Mezoan Mechanicum dedicated to the production of promethium and other chemical substances. Initial fighting before the establishment of the blockade of Mezoa inflicted severe damage to its refineries with few traces in Imperial Archives as to whom actually emerged as victor in this struggle. Loyalist resistance is believed to have been totally eradicated by the passage of the Death Guard Legion en route to Dominica Minor.Jujya - Jujya counted as one of Mezoa's eldest and most established colonies outside of the Mezoa System, the Tech-priests having erected great Promethium and chemical refineries to produce the necessary fuel for their industries. Due to its closeness with its mother Forge, Jujya was considered very well protected until the events of the Horus Heresy would prove otherwise. Jujya remained Mezoa's sole colony to remain in contact with the parent Forge World during the entirety of the Blockade of Mezoa. It is unknown if the world suffered further invasions or attacks after a great deal of its refineries were destroyed or damaged in the initial engagements between the Taghmatas of M'Pandex and Mezoa.Mezoa- Founded first as an outpost of the Lucien Mechanicum in 540.M30 before the Great Crusade took to the stars, Mezoa was recognised as an independent Forge World as soon as 813.M30, a rapid rise to power whose origins undoubtedly lie within the extremely rich planetary crust of their volcanic homeworld. Suffering repeatedly from the baleful attentions of the Mitu Conglomerate during its centuries of isolation, Mezoa became an extraordinarily war-like society, the planet being ringed by autonomous planetary defence batteries, kill-satellites and spatial mine fields that turned it into a nearly impregnable fortress. Brought peacefully into the fold of the Imperium after its rediscovery by the 7th Expeditionary Fleet, Mezoa soon dedicated its industrial might to the production of weapons, ammunition and warship hulls, notoriously becoming tasked with the supply and expansion of the naval base of Port Maw in the neighbouring Manachean Commonwealth. If in terms of pure production capacities Mezoa was outmatched by its ancestral rival of M'Pandex, it has nevertheless always been considered as preeminent among the Forge Worlds of the Cyclops Cluster and indeed the entire Coronid Deeps. While its Taghmata was, numerically-speaking, inferior to that of M'Pandex, Mezoa's forces almost entirely consisted of the advanced Thalaxii template, far superior to the Adsecularis used en masse by M'Pandex. Mezoa's last line of defence was constituted by their world's own volcanic nature, the high temperatures and geological instability rending deployment of Titan-class weaponry suicidal. All these factors would contribute to Mezoa's continued independence from the Traitors' growing shadow empire, even during the dark years of the Horus Heresy when forces loyal to the Traitor Warmaster would seek to conquer it. Several attacks were successfully pushed back, and the Traitors were give no other choice than to cordon off Mezoa and upheld its blockade for the entire duration of the conflict.Moab - Moab is a chill and bleak but life-sustaining world which under other circumstances would likely not have been colonised by the Imperium. In Moab's case, however, two factors intervened to tip the balance in favor of human settlement: first the rarity of life-sustaining worlds within the Cyclops Cluster itself -- which made every such world, however bleak, far more valuable to the Imperium that it should readily be -- and second the planet's own location at the crossing of several stable Warp-routes, which readily made it the proverbial gate to the Cyclops Cluster. In the span of a few standard decades Moab became a populous world, first as a dormitory world for the Great Crusade's armies venturing into the northern reaches of the Ultima Segmentum, then for mining expeditions and settlers being shipped out to the Cluster's numerous mining colonies. This steady influx of people warranted the extension of Moab's administrative facilities until it not only became an independent world with a native population of several tens of millions of souls, but also the Cyclops Cluster's administrative Sub-capital. As the manpower relocated to Moab were often constituted from populations of recently Compliant or resistant worlds, conditions on Moab were particularly harsh, the population being controlled through force of arms and water rationing. Moab's sole resource of interest was its people, human "livestock" who could be used as manpower by both parties. The world suffered harshly during the Horus Heresy, its anarchic descent into chaos being commonly referred to as the "Sorrow of Moab." Despite this dark chapter in its history, Moab still counts as one of the many worlds in the Imperium's fold in the 41st Millennium.Moravasis (Frontier World)M'Pandex - M'Pandex is the Cyclops Cluster's second Forge World that -- although considerably older than its rival -- has ever stood in the shadow of Mezoa. Founded in the distant past when the Mechanicum launched vast Explorator arks out into space during the Age of Strife, M'Pandex suffered much through its isolation from the wider realms of Mankind, decaying and losing much of its technological knowledge until even its sacred God-Machines, the great Battle-Titans, fell into disuse. Discovered through luck by vessels of the 90th Expeditionary Fleet, M'Pandex joined the Imperium willingly, which heralded the Forge World's rebirth. Through major efforts of the Mechanicum of Mars, M'Pandex was restored, its production capabilities soon to rival those of far greater Forges such as Vannaheim or even mighty Lucius. Eternally indebted to Mars and its Fabricator-General in particular, the ruler of M'Pandex -- the High Ourteka M'andii of the Golden Forge -- would pledge his loyalty and that of his world to Kelbor-Hal and through him to Horus.New Providence - New Providence was an arid world on the Warp-route leading to Taracanis whose surface had been given over to vapour mills and arcologies in which thousands of workers toiled. New Providence's exports almost went entirely to the benefit of the Forge World of Mezoa, which made it a prime target for the Mechanicum Taghmata of M'Pandex. In the ensuing battle, thousands of fleeing workers were butchered by both sides as the inhuman robotic battle-automata sought to confront each other, giving no consideration or quarter to the civilians trapped between their lines. It is unclear if New Providence was conquered in the initial assault of M'Pandex or the following invasion by the Sons of Horus on their way to Taracanis.Rabbasan - Located at the northern border of the Cyclops Cluster, Rabbasan was but a simple Mining Colony when the Death Guard overran it in 006.M31, poisoned its atmosphere and killed its entire population -- barely worth a footnote in the great book of atrocities committed by the XIV Legion during the years of the Horus Heresy.San Pardor (Frontier World)Vargas (Civilised World)Zavarich - Zavarich is one of the few Agri-worlds to be located within the Cyclops Cluster and whose growing importance within the Cluster promised it a rich and bountiful future. Zavarich has always been a Feudal World, even before it was brought bloodlessly into Imperial Compliance by the 611th Expeditionary Fleet in 876.M30. Having rallied to the Imperial fold, Segmentum authorities decided to turn Zavarich into an Agri-world, its production centered on high-yield tharac-wheat with Grox and Macro-krill herds as a secondary complement. In the decades following its Imperial Compliance, Zavarich became increasingly more important for the Cluster's economy, which motivated an influx of colonists and agri-workers being directed to the planet to further increase its productivity. A census conducted just before the outbreak of the Heresy cited Zavarich's population at just under three million souls, with perhaps as much as a quarter of them being non-natives. This caused significant unrest as the colonists often took over management roles, thus supplanting the natives, but more importantly the native population stubbornly adhered to their ancient autochthonic cultic belief systems whereas the colonists were all strong adherents of the Imperial Truth. It is unclear by which means Zavarich's native population was corrupted by Horus' agents; however it quickly became apparent that this was the case when the Ikon entered Zavarich's skies. The arrival of the Sons of Horus' Strike Cruiser seemed to have been the long-awaited signal for the local population to rise up against the Imperial faction and utterly slaughter them. Rumour has it that when the Sons of Horus descended on Zavarich, the locals abased themselves before the towering Astartes as if they were gods, a veneration that goes against every tenet of the Imperial Truth.