|Hellbrooke's 'Last Gasp' Platoon - painted by Colonel Scipio|
We decided to put together a couple of fluff overviews for your good selves.
Here at DYHAF, you can read a little of what I've put together about the world of St. Adelphia's Hope, its history, and the more civilian side of things. Whilst over at the Palladian Guard, you can read the superb military overview that Scipio has put together.
As ever, feedback and comments are welcome and appreciated.
I hope you enjoy, and bonus points for getting all my pretentious in-jokes:-
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Out in the far-flung reaches of the Segmentum Obscurus lies a relatively minor planet known as St. Adelphia's Hope...
A mining and research-world combined, like the expanse of space that the planet inhabits, its surface is cold and barren. Its hostile, rocky polar regions flatten into unforgiving frozen plains toward the equatorial zones. In all regions, icy rock forms the crust of the planet. Beneath is a a layer of water ice, which makes subterranean excavation difficult, but not impossible. Whilst situated in its suns habitable zone, even the terra-formed atmosphere is of insufficient pressure to maintain permanently liquid water. Whilst there are seasonal melts of the surface ice, these are still not enough to support the population. Some water is imported, but predominantly the water ice, both underground and on the surface, is collected and melted for transportation. Where any seasonal melts do occur, the affected areas are turned into a marsh-like mire, until they refreeze shortly after.
St. Adelphia's Hope is ironically named - hope being one thing not found in abundance. The moniker is believed to have been given in honour of a guerilla fighter allied to the Confederation of Light - and martyred during the Age of Apostasy. The exact details, like those of much of the era, are lost to time. However, it is known that the population was all but wiped out during the bloody repressions of the fallen Ecclesiarch, Goge Vandire in the latter part of the Apostasy. Although there are stories told of things even darker than the murderous Ecclesiarch that lurk on St. Adelphia's Hope...
It was not until several centuries later that the planet was eventually resettled, after an expedition by a Rogue Trader from a family of little note - Morton Cheyne-Stokes. This expedition led to the discovery of Calderite, a solid mineral-based fuel, and alongside it, cavernous pockets of the valuable Virium gas – used extensively in biological research and by the Officio Medicae.
Morton Cheyne-Stokes established a petty kingdom for himself - and it was not long before he received his subjects. The population of the planet's single city, Adelphia Majoris, swelled as miners, clerical staff, settlers and fortune-seekers poured in. It became a place where where life was cheap and alcohol cheaper, and as the population increased, the off-duty hours of security personnel decreased. Mining outposts sprawled out from the city like a web, and the landscape became dotted with towering canvas-like gas containers that creak and wheeze as they fill with the mined Virium .
Despite this rapid growth of mining personnel, the planet was still struggling to meet the exacting tithes imposed by the Imperium. In response the new Lord-Governor,Wentworth Cheyne-Stokes, ordered the construction of a prison facility and began to take off-world criminals from other planets in the sector. These penal contingents would be sent down the mines to do the most dangerous work, considered little better than servitors. Sometimes known as “The Cheyne Stokers,” for the penal workforce death was (and is) far more likely to shorten their sentence than a reprieve for good behaviour. They were entrusted, then as now, with going down to newly opened up shafts and caverns to ensure than no explosive or toxic gases are present. Several prisoners are often sent down with flaming torches to burn away any flammable gases, ensuring that working crews are not injured whilst down there – and more importantly, that valuable seams are not lost.
Convicts became the largest import of St. Adelphia's Hope, and over the centuries, the prison population nearly outgrew the civilian population. And so, the prison grew with them. It sprawled outwards and upwards like a second city – so much so that the (more civilised) locals dubbed this degenerate and nefarious metropolis "Adelphia Minoris." The most notable feature of the city is the Kirkbride Tower (or Obelisk) that looms over all below. Built in a crater, it is better defended than a drunk's last bottle of liquor. The Tower holds the (Ψ) Psi-class prisoners - the most mentally unstable criminals - those that would not only rather kill you than look at you, but claim to be Colonel-Commissar Ibram Gaunt and bite off your arm to use as a back-scratcher before doing so. The Obelisk also houses those showing signs of psychic ability, making the Tower a popular destination for the Adeptus Astra Telepathica Black Ships.
As the prison population grew over the years, reserves of Calderite and Virium began to dwindle. But, as Imperial Citizens refused to stop breaking the Emperor's Law, the criminal population expanded at a rate faster than the facilities we able to – even despite the increased number of executions. Attempted penal rebellions occurred on more than one occasion and the situation looked bleak, which is saying a lot on a world such as St. Adelphia's Hope. The answer came in the form a Magos of the Adeptus Mechanicus. In return for being able to establish a research facility on the planet's northern reaches, he would deal with the burgeoning prison population. The Lord-Governor accepted the terms. The administration already had a close relationship with the Adeptus Mechanicus, given the highly technical nature of Virium extraction.
Built over and within the extensive, almost ancient mining tunnels no longer in use, the primary area of research carried out at the facility was related to the creation of Servitors. They produced existing forms and developed new, more experimental patterns. Many a servitor across the breadth of the Imperium today was once a prisoner on St. Adelphia's Hope, mind-scrubbed and shipped to the furthest corners of the galaxy. The facility also specialised in biological and chemical warfare research, and continues to do so today.
In more recent years, newer seams have been found underground, but prisoner deaths have also increased – many of their bodies when found are barely recognisable as human. The mining continues to prosper however, and off-world mining expeditions to nearby asteroids have shown potential....
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Continue the story and read Colonel Scipio's post on the military of St. Adelphia's Hope here