Manachean Commonwealth - History: The Manachea System which lies at the heart of the Commonwealth and which has given its name to the surrounding sub-sector was likely founded during Mankind's first golden age of conquest known as the Dark Age of Technology. The three worlds of Manachea survived the horrors of Old Night relatively intact, its technology still advanced and its disciplined population numbering in the hundreds of millions. However, somewhere during the Age of Strife, the system also fell prey to the Mitu Conglomerate, a xenos empire of great strength which ruled over much of the Coronid Deeps. The Mitu were a cabal of several psychically empowered pseudo-actinaric xenos species believed to have evolved from a common stock. Technologically advanced and Warp-capable, their pocket empire soon grew to subjugate other worlds from whom they periodically demanded a culling of the population and a tribute of flesh to provide them, it was believed, with the basic components to construct their technologies. Although enjoying a semblance of freedom and self-governance, which made their rule less harsh than the brutal slavery maintained by Orks or the Eldar, the Mitu controlled the Manachea System entirely, tracking down and rooting out nascent psykers and forbidding any attempts at space flight. It is unclear for how many standard decades or even centuries the worlds of the future Manachean Commonwealth suffered under that regime, but the overlordship of this vile breed of xenos was brought to an end by the armies of the Great Crusade. The war the Imperium would fight to end the Mitu Conglomerate would be protracted and bloody. Essentially fought as a series of brutal close-quarters boarding engagements in the void interspersed with sudden and world-shattering planetary assaults on both sides, this campaign would mobilise no less than several Expeditionary Fleets and three Legions of the Legiones Astartes –- amongst them the Imperial Fists of the Primarch Rogal Dorn –- and hundreds of Cohorts of Solar Auxilia. Most of the worlds of the Conglomerate would eventually be purged by Exterminatus, but for the human-populated Manachea System the Imperium would fight hard.For the masses who had lived so long under the oppression of inhuman intelligences and the constant threat of being harvested or culled, Imperial Compliance was taken up with open arms. Due to its long-standing ties and common history, the three inhabited worlds of the Manachea System were established as a commonwealth under the authority of a single Imperial Commander. The seat of power and governance would be on Manachea Vysidae, at Hive Illium where the noble patricians of House Becket would act as the Lord Protectors of the Manachean Commonwealth. Here, from the Palace of Light as it would soon be called, the vast wealth and manpower of the Commonwealth would labour for the Imperium of Mankind. Quickly becoming a powerhouse of military and industrial activity, Manachea prospered, serving as a lynchpin of commerce and trade for the entire region. This prominence caused the Commonwealth to become the regional capital of the entire sub-sector, which even adopted its name. At the dawn of the 31st Millennium, Manachea was a shining beacon of Imperial civilisation in the northern stellar reaches of the Imperium, a powerful, autonomous pocket-empire that was utterly loyal to its liberators from the Great Crusade and concentrated much of the military might of the Imperium in this region of space.