Planets of Warhammer 40,000

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The following is a list of planets in the fictional Warhammer 40,000 universe.

Contents 1 Types of planet 1.1 Agri-worlds 1.2 Civilized worlds 1.3 Death worlds 1.3.1 Death worlds and the Tyranids 1.4 Feral and medieval worlds 1.5 Forge worlds 1.6 Hive worlds 1.7 Cardinal worlds and Shrine worlds 1.8 Dead worlds 2 Specific planets 2.1 Accatran 2.2 Aerius 2.3 Adrantis Five 2.4 Angelis 2.5 Apocalypse 2.6 Armageddon 2.7 Artemis 2.8 Arthas-Moloch 2.9 Baal 2.10 Chaeronia 2.11 Beta Anphelion IV 2.12 Brontissa 2.13 Cadia 2.14 Caliban 2.15 Calth 2.16 Catachan 2.17 Dolumar IV 2.18 Eustis Majorus 2.19 Fenris 2.20 Galt 2.21 Golgotha 2.22 Gudrun 2.23 Holy Terra 2.24 Hubris 2.25 Istvaan III 2.26 Istvaan V 2.27 Kronus 2.28 Lorn V 2.29 Luther McIntyre 2.30 Macragge 2.31 Mars 2.32 Medusa V 2.33 Mordax Prime 2.34 Mordia 2.35 Nostramo 2.36 Praetoria 2.37 Prospero 2.38 Soprano Secundus 2.39 Stalinvast 2.39.1 The Hydra 2.40 Tallarn 2.41 Tanith 2.42 Tartarus 2.43 T'au 2.44 Thracian Primaris 2.45 Tsagualsa 2.46 Ullanor 2.47 Valhalla 2.48 Vivaporius 2.49 Xerxes Quintus 2.50 Yu Kanesh 3 References

[edit] Types of planet

[edit] Agri-worlds

Many planets in the Imperium, such as forge worlds and hive worlds, are completely incapable of sustaining the people who live and work on them. To feed these people, as well as the vast armies of the Imperial Guard, many planets have been completely transformed into giant farms, their entire surface (and even under the oceans) dedicated to growing food to feed the trillions upon trillions of mouths in the Imperium.

[edit] Civilized worlds

A civilized world is a planet whose development has been allowed to run (for some time) "naturally", without any specific purpose to fulfill. These worlds are generally self-sufficient in terms of food-supply and may have varying manufacturing and industrial capabilities. Many may be equivalent to modern-day Earth.

[edit] Death worlds

Death world is a term used by the Imperium to designate a planet with a climate, terrain, and even ecosystem highly dangerous, even hostile, to human life. Nonetheless, many of these worlds have large human settlements, where the people have grown strong and self-reliant. Many of the people of these worlds are inducted into the Imperial Guard, or recruited in the Space Marines, a fact which is often the sole reason for the continued habitation of those worlds. Notable death worlds include Catachan and Fenris.

[edit] Death worlds and the Tyranids

It has been theorized by Imperial biologists that many death worlds are the result of seeding by ancient advance fleets of the Tyranids. Many of the monstrous creatures inhabiting these worlds, such as the Kraken of Fenris and the Catachan Devil have many features in common with Tyranids organisms, and may in fact be descended from them.

[edit] Feral and medieval worlds

These are worlds where the Imperium has not seen fit to introduce modern technology. Feral worlds are apparently defined by the population living in hunter-gatherer societies and having technology equivalent to Earth's Stone Age or Bronze Age societies. Medieval worlds are somewhat more advanced, perhaps having progessed as far as to discover gunpowder, and having more widespread farming. Generally, worlds of either of these classes will have little interference from the Imperium and low planetary tithes.

Governors of Feral and Medieval worlds will generally live on a space station in orbit, and only descend to the surface to deal with heresy and mutation.

Many Space Marine Chapters prefer to recruit from feral worlds, since such environments tend to produce warrior-quality men.

[edit] Forge worlds

A forge world is a term for the numerous worlds that are directly controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus. All have in common that they are completely dedicated to the manufacture of the various machines of the Imperium, the pursuit for and preservation of (ancient) knowledge and the worship of the Machine God. Because of the Adeptus Mechanicus' monopoly on technical knowledge and expertise, the forge worlds are the Imperium's primary source of all kinds of hardware: from farming equipment to war machines such as tanks, fighters, or even Titans. Ancient pacts between the Adeptus Mechanicus and other worlds and institutions of the Imperium oblige the various forge worlds to supply other worlds and the various military arms of the Imperium, such as the Imperial Guard.

The surface of a forge world is normally completely covered in massive factory complexes that stretch across the horizon. Its ecosystem has been completely destroyed. The air is saturated with toxic gases and rivers flow with toxic runoff from factories. In many cases, even seas and oceans have been dried up to make room for more factories. However, the sheer output benefits the Imperium as a whole.

While there are hundreds of forge worlds in the Imperium, one of the best-known is Mars, home of the Adeptus Mechanicus' political and spiritual head, the Fabricator-General of Mars; and the Imperium's first forge world. Other forge worlds include Ryza, known for its advanced plasma technology; Gryphonne IV, home of the Legio Gryphonnicus; Agripinaa, a primary supplier of Cadia; Phaeton, home of the Leman Russ MBT; and Urdesh, major forge world within the Sabbat Worlds.

Forge worlds are mostly independent from the rest of the Imperium and have their own armed forces. Each of these worlds is home to one of the Titan Legions, supported by legions of Skitarii, the Adeptus Mechanicus' cybernetically enhanced soldiers.

[edit] Hive worlds

Hive worlds are worlds that have an extremely high population, which is confined in massive arcologies called "hives", each of which is essentially an individual nation occupying a single massive hive city. Of the species in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, only the humans of the Imperium are known to live on such worlds. The world outside the hives is usually heavily polluted and desolate, and most hivers live their entire lives without ever having seen the outside of the tunnel network of their hive. Hive worlds often possess extensive manufacturing districts. It has been said that the sacrifice of over a million soldiers is worth "one day's hive world production" in weapons and armour.

Perhaps even more valuable is what at first glance seems to be a byproduct of the monolithic city's design. The population of any given world* approximately doubles every 100 years. With each hive housing between 10 - 100 billion people and 5 - 20 hives per planet the sheer number of citizens is staggering. And each of those citizens is a potential soldier for the Emperor's already unmatchably vast armies. Hives manufacture far more than mere steel and silica, they are vast factories for the most useful possible resource: people. It is no accident that hive worlds contribute the vast bulk of the recruits for the Imperial Guard. The often violent gangland lifestyle which most residents are forced to live is also semi-deliberate. Almost every recruit will already know how to handle a gun. Hive worlds also serve to populate newly discovered planets. Imperial citizens are gathered from various hive worlds (willingly or unwillingly) and shipped off to distant colonies. An example of this would be Medusa V.

In common with most other Imperial worlds, hive worlds are often based on a very obvious class system, with a ruling class and a working class, although with populations so tightly packed there develops a lower class that become violent street gangs.

Some extensively developed hive worlds do not even simply consist of various enclosed arcologies surrounded by wasteland, jungle, ice, or plains. These hive worlds are completely urbanized and stacked with hundreds of layers of arcologies, covering the entirety of the planet, effectively being an Ecumenopolis. Holy Terra is an example of this "super hive world" (and may be the only one, even in such a huge galaxy as Warhammer 40,000).

Notable hive worlds include Holy Terra (where the whole planet is one hive), Armageddon, Necromunda and Verghast (from the Gaunt's Ghosts novels).

[edit] Cardinal worlds and Shrine worlds

Cardinal worlds are planets ruled directly by the Ecclesiarchy and are completely dedicated to the worship of the Immortal Emperor according to the tenets of the Cult Imperialis, with sanctuaries potentially covering entire continents. Aside from being a center of the the Ecclesiarchy's power and a destination for countless pilgrims, they also serve as a base of operations for many orders of the Adepta Sororitas. One example is Ophelia IV, whose spiritual significance is second only to that of Holy Terra.

Shrine worlds are worlds that are heavily focused on the worship of one or more Imperial Saints. A shrine world can also be considered to fall into another category, for example Hagia is an agri-world while Herodor is a hive world. They will have a strong relationship with the saint in question, such as being the world of his/her birth or death or the site of a major miracle.

Notable Shrine worlds include: Hagia (birthplace of Saint Sabbat) and Herodor (where Saint Sabbat rested while recovering from battle)

[edit] Dead worlds

Barren worlds that are virtually lifeless, unable to support any native or imported lifeforms. Dead worlds occur naturally, as the extreme conditions in the galaxy make many planets uninhabitable. Others however, have been created in the long history of the Imperium by catastrophic events, including an exterminatus or a successful Tyranid invasion.

Ironically, some planets classified as dead worlds have been settled by various groups specifically for their properties. For example, several Space Marine fortress-monasteries are located on dead worlds because of their harsh conditions, desolation and defensive opportunities.

[edit] Specific planets

[edit] Accatran

This forge world is the homeworld of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Legio Destructor, also known as the Beasts of Steel. The planet is located in the Ultima Segmentum.^[1]

[edit] Aerius

A hive world of great importance to the Imperium, it suffered a devastating plague when the Balestar, a comet appearing every two thousand years, returned. The plague was connected with the enigmatic Black Pyramid, an impenetrable Eldar structure which was built, unknown to the local human population, to restrain a Greater Daemon of Nurgle called Botchulaz.

[edit] Adrantis Five

Adrantis Five was a human, hyper-technical planet which had been separated from the Imperium for over five thousand years. It was conquered by Lord Commander Solar Macharius during the Macharian Crusade in the Segmentum Pacificus.

The planet's population were hyper advanced, and when Macharius arrived he said that they had 'turned to the dark certainties of science, and created many new and wondrous machines.' Even so, Macharius still had to conquer it. He was held at bay for two years until the planet finally succumbed to a redirected comet. 'Of its secrets, nothing now remains' were the last words of Macharius on the subject.

[edit] Angelis

Known to the Orks as "Gorkamorka". This planet is located in the north of the Eastern Fringe.

[edit] Apocalypse

A minor forge world on the outer fringe of space controlled by the Adeptus Mechanicus. This world is infested by Feral Orks in the equatorial jungles, which have become a proving ground of sorts for the local Imperial Guard to train in. The northern and southern regions of the planet are called 'Blue Death'. They are man-made deserts that glow an iridescent blue, created by a nuclear holocaust similar to what occurred on Krieg. Apocalypse produces Leman Russ Crocodile in limited numbers. Because of the native climate and dangerous radioactive wastes the people who live there, military and civilian both adopt NBC suits or large trench coats with gas masks to combat the now native environment. The Space Marines have slight interest in this planet as it offers very little in the way of production other than a small amount of Leman Russ tanks, along with the local Imperial Guard who are divided into Regiments, named for the Four Horsemen of Apocalypse: Death, Famine, War, Pestilence. Each regiment specializes in its own form of war.

[edit] Armageddon

Main article: Armageddon (Warhammer 40,000)

A hive world that has been repeatedly invaded by the Orks, where the outdoors are nothing but huge wastelands so polluted and hostile they can kill a man in a week. Due to this, all infantry always wear gas masks, trench coats and rebreather units whenever outside. Additionally, this causes its famed Steel Legion regiments to field large numbers of mechanized infantry borne by Chimera IFVs, of which Armageddon is also famed for producing.

True to its name, Armageddon has been the site of three massive wars in the history of the Imperium, The First an invasion by the primarch-turned-daemon Angron of the World Eaters most recently a pair of invasions by the Ork Warlord Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. As a result, the people of Armageddon are a tough lot, and its armies experienced in fighting the Orks.

[edit] Artemis

An Imperial world that was under heavy attack by Chaos, including their own warped Titans. Also the site of a massive Warp/Realspace overlay, which spawned a daemon so huge it was literally several dozen times larger than even an Emperor-class Titan.

[edit] Arthas-Moloch

A Dead World discovered by O'Shovah, where he found the Dawn Blade; the Tau call it an "Artifact World".

[edit] Baal

Baal is the nominal homeworld of the Blood Angels chapter of the Adeptus Astartes. Baal itself is a dry, dusty and largely uninhabitable desert world, but its two moons, Baal Prime and Baal Secundus support notable human settlements and were once "Paradises for mortal men". Little is known about the past circumstances of these two moons, but at some time in the past (probably during the Age of Strife) a cataclysmic conflict arose and led to the widespread use of weapons of mass destruction, destroying the ecosystems of both satellites and contaminating their biospheres with radioactive fallout, chemical pollution and biological agents.

The indigenous peoples of Baal Prime and Baal Secundus suffered greatly and gradually became degenerate, mutated and sickly, the survivors banding together into semi-nomadic tribes. These tribespeople appear to have maintained some technology as mention is made of rad-counters, rad-suits (self-evidently advanced technological equipment to protect from the effects of radiation), vehicular transport and advanced weaponry. Many tribes turned to cannibalism and became even further corrupted by the toxins endemic to their environment, but at least one tribe maintained a noble and enlightened outlook; known as the 'Ones of Pure Blood', often contracted simply to 'The Blood'. It was The Blood who encountered the infant Primarch Sanguinius when he came to rest on Baal Secundus, and they adopted him as one of their own. The tribespeople were astonished at the young Primarch's rate of growth, constitution and strength, and he soon became a hero among them, on at least one occasion defending The Blood against an attack by another, mutant tribe, and killing many of them. It was in this capacity that he was discovered by the Emperor during the Great Crusade. Sanguinius instantly recognised the master of mankind and swore fealty to him, taking command of the Blood Angels legion created from his own genes. The Legion made Baal Secundus its home and base of operations as it has been ever since.

Baal Secundus is the site of the Blood Angels' fortress monastery, about which little is known.^[2]

[edit] Chaeronia

The planet featured in Dark Adeptus (Grey Knights 2) by Ben Counter. It is a former Forge World. It was taken into the warp for over 1000 years, only 100 years in real-time. It is ruled by the Dark Mechanicus, although there are still a few loyal Adeptus Mechanicus Troops. It contained a STC Titan, which is destroyed by the Grey Knights.

[edit] Beta Anphelion IV

Beta Anphelion IV is the second moon of the fourth planet in the Anphelion system. It was the focus for Forge World's fourth major work (Imperial Armour Volume 4: The Anphelion Project) which described the investigation by an Ordo Xenos Inquisitor of a secret project related to the Tyranids in the year 850 of the 41st millennium.

[edit] Brontissa

A planet that was invaded by the Tyranids. Imperius Dictatio had in its past joined the fray and participated in eight straight days of intense fighting. On the ninth, all Imperial forces were pulled out into space, and the planet virus bombed.

[edit] Cadia

Main article: Cadia (Warhammer 40,000)

Cadia is a Fortress world which guards the entrance to the Eye of Terror. Cadia has endured many attacks from Chaos legions and Black Crusades. Cadia is highly militaristic and birth rate and recruitment rate are synonymous.

It was recently attacked by a Blackstone Fortress controlled by the Chaos leader Abaddon the Despoiler. Cadia is also very well known for its elite Cadian Shock Troop Regiments.

[edit] Caliban

Once the homeworld of the Dark Angels chapter, Caliban was destroyed during a heresy on the planet. Now all that remains is an asteroid field and The Rock, the mobile fortress-monastery of the Dark Angels.^[2]

[edit] Calth

As part of Ultramar, an area under the jurisdiction of the Ultramarines, Calth provides recruits for the Ultramarines Chapter. The aspirants compete in a series of contests between hopefuls to determine who is worthy of joining the Space Marines. Calth's inhabitants live in subterranean cities where the deadly light of Calth's blue sun cannot reach them. The caverns of Calth are constructed on such a huge scale, and with such grandeur, that they are as light and airy as any city of Macragge. The world above is devoid of air, the atmosphere stripped away during the Horus Heresy, when the Ultramarines and the traitorous Word Bearers, under the command of Kor Phaeron and Erebus the Dark Apostle, came into conflict.

Although the inhabitants are perfectly capable of living on what is grown in nutrient vats, they prefer to import foodstuffs from Iax. The shipyards of Calth also earn the world a name to look up to, their vessels used by the Ultramarines and the Imperium at large.

The fictional character Uriel Ventris was born upon Calth. The Tyranid "character" Old One Eye was discovered on Calth in icepacks. At least one regiment of the Imperial Guard has been raised on Calth.

[edit] Catachan

Catachan is a death world almost entirely covered in dense jungle. Vegetation on Catachan reacts to attempts at colonisation and rapidly grows back whenever it is cleared. This forces the population of the planet to live a semi-nomadic existence, moving on whenever the jungle violently reclaims their land.

It is believed that all of Catachan's native fauna is carnivorous, as is much of the flora. Poisonous creatures are extremely common. The most well known of Catachan's native animals is the infamous Catachan Devil, a voracious predator somewhat similar in appearance to an enormous scorpion. Devils can be up to 40 paces long, but their bulk and lack of speed allow many creatures to simply avoid them. One of the most dangerous animals on the planet is the Catachan Barking Toad, a seemingly innocuous-looking creature which discourages predators by exploding and spraying a highly lethal acidic toxin on anything nearby. The largest of the species, the Greater Catachan Barking Toad, is rumoured to be capable of annihilating everything within a half-kilometer radius upon detonation. The dangers in Catachan's jungles are not limited to the fauna; in many cases the plant life can be just as deadly. The Spiker, for example, is a plant capable of firing extremely sharp spikes into the bodies of its victims, which then emit a mutative chemical which eventually turns the unfortunate recipient into another spiker. The Brain Leaf is an example of the more insidious dangers to be found on Catachan. The brain leaf has long, smooth tendrils, at the end of each of which is a single leaf. The plant can attach these leaves to living creatures, taking control of their nervous systems and using them as protection and, eventually, compost. Insects and diseases are every bit as dangerous as the larger monsters. Blood-wasps are swarming, carnivorous insects that will swarm over a man and eat him down to a skeleton in a matter of hours. Another subtle threat are Heretic-ants, highly venomous ants so named because they attack their victims from the feet - going for your soles (souls, so to speak).

Creatures native to Catachan are often found elsewhere in the Imperium (the brain leaf can also be found on Necromunda, for example). Sometimes they are exported deliberately, as in the case of the Face Eater, and sometimes they are simply unwitting stowaways on board transport vessels.

Catachan only has one export for the greater Imperium: Its people. Catachan is a harsh world, to make an understatement, and living to the age of ten is considered an achievement. Those born on Catachan are, unsurprisingly, of hardy stock, and the regiments of Catachan Jungle Fighters raised from the planet are among the Imperium's best guerrilla fighters. A quote from the downloadable Codex: Catachans perfectly outlines how the world has affected its populace: "We've run into scorpions the size of battle tanks, three men died from Eyerot this week, I've sweat enough to fill a lake, my boots got sucked into a sink-swamp and the trees are so thick in places you can't squeeze between them. Emperor help me, I love this place! It's just like home!" - Captain Rock of the Catachan IIIrd "Green Devils" on Varestus Prime.

[edit] Dolumar IV

Dolumar IV is the planet fought over in the game Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior.^[3]

[edit] Eustis Majorus

Eustis Majorus is a hive world in the Anjellus sub-sector that features in the Ravenor novels by Dan Abnett. Its capital is the hive city of Petropolis, a dirty, polluted and overcrowded city that was in fact designed as a huge "Psychic Resonator" by the infamous heretical architect Theodor Cadizky with precisely nine hundred and ninety-nine temples, the central one of which, called the Old Sacristy, being in the exact centre of the hive, with all of the others, the axial temples, forming lines from the Old Sacristy that give the entire hive an overall mathematical symmetry.^[4]

[edit] Fenris

Fenris is a cold, icy planet that is the homeworld of the Space Wolves. By decree of the Space Wolves, the planet's culture is made almost entirely of scattered tribes similar to Viking Age Scandinavia. The Space Wolves keep a close watch over the people of the world, recruiting fallen warriors from battles much like the Valkyries of Norse mythology. The tallest mountain on the planet is called the Fang, a massive fortress built on the tallest mountain of the only stable continent. The Fang is the home base of the Space Wolves and extends into the surrounding mountain range as well as into orbit. The complex includes huge ground based anti-ship weapons concealed as nearby peaks, docks at the summit for the Space Wolves Battlebarges and Strike Cruisers, numerous shrines along the lower slopes, and huge fusion and geothermal reactors deep underground. Outside of Earth, the Fang is considered one of the most impregnable fortresses in the universe. It has never been conquered, although the Thousand Sons did manage to briefly occupy the outer slopes after luring the bulk of the Space Wolf forces away.^[5]

[edit] Galt

Technically Galt Three in the eponymous system, it has an elliptical orbit about a yellow sun and is characterised by three main continents and dense jungle growth. Their most common export to the Imperium is the bud of the red lotus used in many alchemical products. It houses a pre-Imperial structure known as the Temple of Xikar, home to a sect known as the Brothers of Perpetual Bliss. The Temple and planet were devastated in an Ork raid led by one Ork Warlord, Gurg, who possessed one-third of the Talisman of Lykos, which made him practically invulnerable.

[edit] Golgotha

A Squat homeworld.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Gudrun

Located in the Helican sub-sector of Segmentum Obscurus it is a relatively idyllic world with stately manors controlling vast estates of rolling green hills studded with small villages. For a time it was the home and headquarters of the Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn as detailed in the novel, Malleus, by Dan Abnett.^[6]

[edit] Holy Terra

Holy Terra (sometimes simply written Terra) is generally accepted to be the future incarnation of our Earth.

Throne world of the Imperium, Terra is the birthplace of human civilization and has been its home for dozens of millennia. Before the Great Crusade was plagued by so much war and death, The human race went nearly extinct. Classed as a Hive World, trillions of humans seek out a living on Terra, be they scribes or normal civilians, highly influential and highly ranked Adeptus Administratum officials or the sometimes fanatical individuals of the Adeptus Ministorum. Massive Arcologies cover the entire surface of the planet, the Imperial Palace alone covering the better part of a hemisphere. Billions of pilgrims flock to the planet every day, eager for a glimpse of the Imperial palace or one of the untold number of gargantuan Imperial cathedrals. Such is the scale of the Imperium that many of these pilgrims' journeys were started by their ancestors and only generations later will a member of the family complete the pilgrimage. Many will set out hopeful and never come close to their goal.

Terra is the resting place of the Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind, where he has sat on the life-preserving Golden Throne, neither alive nor dead, for ten thousand years. He is guarded by the Adeptus Custodes, powerful warriors created by him to reconquer Terra. These guardians are far superior to any normal Space Marine, and their sole purpose is to watch over the Golden Throne and the Emperor, thereby exempting them from the right of an Inquisitor to commission their services as they can with any other Imperial citizen. A select inner corps of three hundred, known as The Companions, serve as his personal bodyguards. Terra is also home to the Astronomican, a choir of ten thousand specially-trained psykers whose duty it is to project a psychic beacon throughout the imperium, providing a solid reference point for the navigators in space. Hundreds of them die daily, but there is always a fresh supply of recruits. Those psykers considered fit undergo the soul binding, where a portion of the emperor's unlimited power is transferred to the psyker and rendering them capable of projecting messages into deep space to other psykers. These Astropaths are the backbone of interstellar communication for the Imperium. Another noteworthy feature is the home sector of the Navigator's Guild. A special sub-breed of humanity with the "Navigator Gene", they are the only ones capable of piloting a ship in warp space. This has made the guild fantastically wealthy, but they spend much of their wealth concealing the fact that they undergo degenerate mutations as a result of their extensive time in the warp and altered genetics. The Guild owns a massive hive tower that contains separate zones for each guild.

The Moon has also been colonized and is home to immense planetary defense lasers charged with protecting Earth from invasion. These defenses inflicted savage losses on the invading rebel fleets of Warmaster Horus, during the latter stages of the Horus Heresy. The Moon also gives its name to a class of Imperial Cruiser called the Lunar Class.

[edit] Hubris

Hubris was named for the excessive pride of the colonists who founded a society there despite the harsh climate which sees the planet icebound for 11 months of the 29 month Lunar Cycle. This period is known locally as Dormant and the majority of the population enters cryogenic stasis in hibernation tombs to escape the cold. This is followed by Thaw, a period of feasting and activity designed to help overcome the effects of cryosleep and Vital, the normal active time of the planet.

In the novel Xenos, it was on this planet that Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn killed the heretic Murdin Eyclone, who was attempting the bodily resurrection of the infamous Pontius Glaw with the mass murder of cryosleepers. It was this event that started the chain of events that marked Eisenhorn's slide into radicalism.^[7]

[edit] Istvaan III

See the Istvaan III section under Horus Heresy for more details.

Istvaan III was an Imperial world whose inhabitants broke from the Imperium during the Great Crusade. When Warmaster Horus and elements of the Sons of Horus, Emperor's Children, Death Guard and World Eaters Legions reached Istvaan, there were no negotiations; instead, Horus sent an assault force against the planet's vital areas - where the leadership of the planet would most likely be hiding. This, however, was a trap laid by Horus to purge the Legions - which had all but declared their loyalty to Horus in his mad bid to overthrow the Emperor of Mankind - of the elements deemed unsuitable. The Warmaster ordered the planet virus-bombed in order to kill any remaining resistance, and then with the words "Let the galaxy burn", ignited the gasses given off by the decomposition of the multitudes of corpses.

Twelve billion people died that day, and it is said the collective death scream blocked out the beacon of the Astronomican...and thus alerted the Emperor that something was horribly wrong.

[edit] Istvaan V

See the The Drop Site Massacre section under Horus Heresy for more details.

Istvaan V was where the Legions of Warmaster Horus redeployed following the virus-bombing of Istvaan III. Upon learning of the terrible atrocity Horus had committed, the Emperor deployed seven Legions to bring Horus to account for his actions. The Iron Hands, Salamanders and Raven Guard made up the first wave of the attack, but were pushed back by the superior tactics of Horus' maddened followers. The reserves were called in, but the four Legions comprising the reinforcements - the Iron Warriors, the Alpha Legion, the Word Bearers and the Night Lords - had betrayed the Emperor and were prepared to follow Horus. The three loyalist Legions were all but annihilated.

[edit] Kronus

Kronus is the planet fought over in the computer game, Dark Crusade, held mainly by the Tau Empire prior to the game's events. It lies near the Tau Empire somewhere in the Galactic East, boasting diverse conditions and terrain; the population is mostly humans and Tau, with a small number of feral Orks in the fringe regions. The planet's human history runs a fairly long way back, as evidenced by its ancient STC technology. In addition, Kronus has also played host to major fighting during the Horus Heresy, and a few previous Ork Waaagh! attempts. The planet however, hides a dark secret. It used to be a Necron tomb world, which over the span of millions of years, developed into its current life-supporting environment. Awoken by an archaeological team, their appearance was made worse by the rapid arrival of several militaries on the planet when word got out. All in all, the planet was contested by no less than seven distinct forces: The Word Bearers, the Ulthwé Eldar, the Imperial Guard 1st Kronus Liberators, the native Necrons, the Waaagh! of Warlord Gorgutz 'Ead 'Unter, the Blood Ravens, and the Tau Empire. The unique seven-way conflict would be recorded in Imperial history as the Dark Crusade.^[8]

[edit] Lorn V

Lorn V is the planet fought over in the Dawn of War expansion Winter Assault. The planet had already fallen to two separate forces of Orks and Chaos servants of Khorne, who had taken to fighting each other. In the game, the Cadian 412th was sent to the planet on a mission to salvage a Imperator Titan before the Xenos and traitors could find it. In a plot-twist, a force of Necrons were also buried deep underground, bringing the Eldar to the planet in an attempt to keep them from awakening.^[9]

In the novel Dawn of War: Ascension (Goto, 2005), Lorn V is mentioned to have been a former Eldar Exodite world. However, the canonicity of this statement is debatable since other plot elements in the novel conflict those in the game, for example Farseer Taldeer being from the Biel-Tan Craftworld instead of the Ulthwé Craftworld, and the Blood Ravens assisting the Cadian 412th instead of the Ultramarines as seen in the game.^[10] Though it should be noted that the Biel-Tan Eldar and Blood Ravens could still have been an off-screen presence.

[edit] Luther McIntyre

Luther McIntyre is a Deathworld frequently referenced by Games Workshop publications, but rarely explored in detail. Multiple sources vaguely indicate that it is a desert-type deathworld. There is a reference to a planet named 'McIntyre IX' in the Epic 40,000 Battles Book which is also referenced as a desert deathworld, though it is uncertain whether these refer to the same actual location or star system. One lifeform known from this world is the Mica Dragon, whose teeth formed the chainsaw edge of Khârn the Betrayer's axe Gorechild.

[edit] Macragge

Macragge is the homeworld of the Ultramarines and the capital world of the Realm of Ultramar at the Eastern Fringe. In 745.M41, Hivefleet Behemoth was destroyed in the Battle of Macragge at the expense of the Ultramarines 1st Company.

The immense strength of the Vetran 1st company, led by Lucian Ventris, was forced into the fortress of the Ultramarines by the Tyranids. The battle, or 'Last stand of the First Company' took place in the Lower Generatorium of the fortress. The Third Company had made it's way to where the last stand occurred. Bodies of Tyranids were piled everywhere, and in the middle of the room, the final remains of the First Company remained right next to their battle brothers, where they had fought back to back in a determined rage.^[11]

[edit] Mars

Mars is the twin planet of Holy Terra, and one of many long-inhabited worlds near to the Cradle of Humanity. It is the home and power centre of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the ancient and byzantine priesthood of the Machine God, and the heart of their galaxy-spanning monopoly on technology. Mars is peppered with towering hive cities, and there is very little of the planet's surface which remains untouched by the constructions of the Techpriests.

It is hinted that a C'tan, The Void Dragon, may be dwelling under the surface of Mars. A piece of writing in the Necron codex, in which Abaddon the Despoiler is seen seeking information from a daemon, indicates the location of the C'Tan. The daemon hints that the Void Dragon is at Vaul's Moon. Vaul is the Eldar god of the forge. Since Mars is the greatest forgeworld in the galaxy, it can be assumed the Dragon may be there. There is also other pieces of backstory that provide similar evidence. This point is open to debate though and has not been confirmed by Games Workshop. It is also possible the Adeptus Mechanicus worship the ancient C'tan as the Mechanicus worship a figure called the Omnissiah, possibly the Void Dragon.

The planet is home to the Titan legion, the Legio Ignatum. ^[1]

[edit] Medusa V

Main article: Medusa V

Medusa V is a world close to a warp phenomena known as Van Grothe's Rapidity, better known as Hell's Slingshot for the way Imperial ships have used it to drastically increase the speed of their transit through the area. As of late, however, the Rapidity has vastly increased in size and intensity, and will soon envelop the entire system. However, even though the fate of the planet is sealed, it has become a major battlefield, as every major faction of the Eastern Fringe, from the Imperium and Chaos to the Tau and the Necrons, has found a stake in the planet's approaching destruction.

The Imperial forces, Guardsman and Space Marine alike, sent to the planet were victorious in their efforts to evacuate the population of the planet before it fell. Sicarius, captain of the Second Company of Ultramarines fought there to track down a daemon of Nurgle, while members of the Tyranid Veterans were sent to hunt down a Lictor subspecies and prevent them from getting back to the Hive.

[edit] Mordax Prime

A Forge World in the Scarus Sector, suffered increasing attacks from elements of the Night Lords and Black Legion before and during the 13th Crusade culminating in a huge mercenary Ork Invasion lead by the Death Skull Ork Warlord Deversnik Void-Stalker. It was defended unsuccessfully by a combined Imperial Guard, Skitarii and Black Templar force. Adeptus Mechanicus artifacts were looted by Chaos forces under the cover of the Ork invasion, but they were severely hampered by the Ork forces who inevitably turned on their paymasters. The planet fell to the "Green Kroosade", and was quickly renamed Moredakka Prime by the Orks.

[edit] Mordia

Mordia is a Hive World with tidally locked rotation on its axis, leaving one side of the planet locked in eternal night while the other side is cooked by the Mordian sun. Ruled by a totalitarian regime that hordes the planet's meager supplies, Mordia is defended by the elite Iron Guard - a highly disciplined army wearing ornate uniforms. Many of their enemies have underestimated these ranks of colorfully-uniformed troops, only to find out that they were tough and uncompromising soldiers.

The people of Mordia are often of a dour and grim temperament, living as they do in perpetual darkness. The suicide rate on the planet is reportedly now the highest in the Imperium, since the destruction of Nostramo.

[edit] Nostramo

Former homeworld of the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines Legion.

The world of Nostramo was shielded from its sun by an enormous moon as well as tremendous pollution. As a result, the planet was covered in almost perpetual darkness. Nostramo boasted five major cities, Nostramo Prime through Nostramo Quintus, from which the planet’s vast reserves of naturally occurring adamantium were processed and exported off-world. Society was dominated by a ruling hierarchy and its thugs, and any who protested the status quo were trampled down or killed. Depression was widespread and overpopulation prevented not through war, disease or legislation, but suicide.

The Nostramans were superficially similar to normal humans, save for their lack of irises (the pupil having expanded for better night vision), and albinism, though recessive, was common.

Then the Primarch Konrad Curze arrived. The impact of the infant Primarch's capsule upon Nostramo left a massive tunnel boring almost through to the planet’s core. Curze later adopted the name Night Haunter and decimated the hierarchy’s ranks until he was the sole ruler of the planet. Social equality was enforced through Curze’s horrific acts of retribution, until the Emperor arrived and Curze rejoined his Legion. The arrival of Imperial rule had removed the last shield protecting Nostramo: ignorance. Aware of the existence of other worlds and light, and that these were unreachable, Nostramo descended back into chaos.

After learning of his world's anarchy, Night Haunter arrived with his fleet and concentrated its fire upon the shaft left by his arrival decades earlier. The planet's volatile core did not hold out for long - the planet's unstable tectonics resulted in Nostramo exploding.

[edit] Praetoria

Praetoria is a heavily populated Hive World that lies in a system close to the Imperial naval base at Bakka. The overpopulated Hive-Cities of Praetoria are renowned for their squalor and degradation, and produce some of the toughest gangsters on any of the hive worlds in the Imperium. This vast population work as little more than slave-labour in the huge factory complexes of Praetoria, producing the goods that have made the planet (and its rulers) one of the richest in the Imperium, with a huge fleet of merchant craft that trade all over the Segmentum and beyond.

Imperial Guard regiments raised on Praetoria are renowned for their iron discipline and bravery, even in the face of the most overwhelming odds. The planetary lords of Praetoria hold it is only through fearsome training and draconian punishments for the most minor infringements that the hive-toughened inhabitants of their planet can be made to follow orders and do as they are told. Whatever one's views on the training methods used, they seem to work, producing troops that are as ferocious on the attack as they are determined in defence.

[edit] Prospero

Prospero was the original homeworld of the Thousand Sons Legion of Space Marines and Magnus the Red.

Chosen by settlers for the planets isolated position, although far closer to Terra than many colonies, Prospero had few redeeming qualities - no independent resources, little contact with any outsiders and few sources of nourishment. The only reason for setting a colony there was because it was a very good place to hide, and became such for a large community of psychically talented humans.

During the Great Crusade Prospero had developed into a paradise world. Many of the vast buildings on the planet were massive gold and marble pyramids, although these have only been drawn as such in the CCG game The Horus Heresy. It is depicted as a planet with blue skies and gleaming Egyptianesque architecture. One of the many cities is the capital Tizca, often referred to as the City of Light, where the Thousand Sons held out against the Space Wolves when they were mistakenly declared traitors.

Prospero's 'cleansing' at the hands of the Space Wolves was hastened by the dilapidated state of the planetary defences. As homeworld of a Space Marine Legion, it was standard for the surface of a planet to be dotted by immense defence lasers; sunk into reinforced silos many miles beneath settlements. Orbital fire platforms, automated tracking stations, minefields, as well as a number of the Legion's own starships – All manned continuously and diligently.

The focus of the Thousand Sons, having always been away from the traditional Space Marine role of combat in most forms, led to dangerous weakening of the defence grid. The cavernous subterranean defence lasers were neglected, unmanned and poorly maintained and orbital defences virtually non-existent. As a result, the arrival of the Space Wolves' battle barges went uncontested, their orbit-to-surface ordnance barrages unanswered and their drop-pods unchallenged.

Ironically, whilst the attack was underway, the Thousand Sons focus remained their lore – rushing to save what incalculably precious works they could whilst the righteous, if possibly misplaced retribution of Leman Russ' chapter went unchallenged. Indeed had a defence of Prospero been attempted, more time might have been bought to evacuate the libraries and studies of their ultimately costly work.^[12]

The planet eventually became a blasted ruin, picked clean by millennia of looters and rogue traders, declared 'exterminatus' by the Inquisition.^[13]

[edit] Soprano Secundus

A planet of low technology. The technology is not even black powder level. It is chaos infested. In Ben Counters "Grey Knights" Alaric and his men land there to get knowledge of where to find the Tomb St. Evisser and the place where the Powerful Daemon Ghargatuloth will be born.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Stalinvast

Stalinvast is a hive world covered in coral-like city growths used in the manufacturing of weapons for the Imperium, between which grow vast blue-green jungles filled with teeming life and vicious predators. Stalinvast was subject to a genestealer infestation which was cleared out, at a vast expense of lives, by Inquisitor Harq Obispal. He was given a free reign in this by planetary governor Lord Voronov-Vaux who was suffering from a minor hereditary mutation, thus being in no position to argue with a member of the Inquisition.^[14]

[edit] The Hydra

The millions of deaths on Stalinvast also served as energy to generate the Hydra, a bizarre Chaos manifestation supposedly designed to help mankind in their battle with Chaos. Obispal was unknowingly being watched by the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Jac Draco, who subsequently ordered an exterminatus on Stalinvast, but then rescinded the order upon learning that the Hydra had withdrawn from the world. However the astropath Moma Parsheen sent the message for destruction as vengeance for the suffering she had undergone as a consequence of her profession, and Draco himself was later considered a heretic by his order for the unsanctioned action. The Eldar later used the dead world as the site for an alien ritual due to the calamity which had befallen it.

[edit] Tallarn

Tallarn was a paradise world during the Great Crusade. During the Horus Heresy, elements of the Iron Warriors Legion virus-bombed the surface of the verdant world, leaving only a desert of high winds and biting sand. The Imperial Guard hailing from Tallarn are among the greatest harsh-environment fighters in the Imperium, and are distinctive in their desert gear and goggles to protect the eyes during sandstorms. Tallarn is also the site of the ancient Eldar relic The Cursus, which was initially fought over by the Tallarns & Eldar until a marauding tide of daemons emerged from it, and the two joined forces to crush their mutual enemy.

[edit] Tanith

Main article: Tanith (Warhammer 40,000)

[edit] Tartarus

Tartarus was the planet fought over in the computer game Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War. It was classified a Civilized World that had frequent problems with raids by Orks. During a terrible invasion, the Blood Ravens's 3rd Company, led by Brother-Captain Gabriel Angelos, were called in to assist. But the situation turned out to be more than just a simple Ork incursion. Hundreds of years prior to the start of the game, the Eldar battled a powerful Daemon of Khorne on the planet, sealing it inside a stone known as the Maledictum. Chaos Space Marines of the Alpha Legion had also come to the planet, seeking to gain power by releasing it. The Blood Ravens battled the Orks, Eldar from the Craftworld of Biel-Tan, and the Alpha Legion, and were victorious, although they failed to prevent the release of the Daemon. The Blood Ravens evacuated the planet as the Warp Storm engulfed it, Angelos swearing to track down and destroy the Daemon. It's highly likely that the planet is close to the Eye of Terror, as Gabriel Angelos, Captain of the 3rd company of the Blood Ravens said that: " Tartarus has endured several Black Crusades led by the Terrible Chaos Champions."^[15]

[edit] T'au

See the History section under Tau (Warhammer 40,000) for more details.

T'au is the homeworld of an alien race known as the Tau. It was discovered and categorised by the Adeptus Mechanicus' Explorator vessel Land's Vision a few thousand years before the emergence of the Tau as a space-faring race. Before the Imperium could cleanse the planet of the then-primitive Tau population, a freak warp storm occurred and effectively sealed the planet and the surrounding region off. In the few thousand years since, the Tau underwent very rapid technological evolution, emerging as a technologically advanced race as the warp storm dissipated.^[16]

[edit] Thracian Primaris

For a time the capital of the Helican subsector in Segmentum Obscurus, Thracian Primaris is a hive world. Its decline followed an atrocity orchestrated by renegade Inquisitor Quixos in 337.M41 and its position of dominance was overtaken by Eustis Majoris.^[6][4]

[edit] Tsagualsa

Tsagualsa is a planet on the Eastern Fringe, notable for being the base of the Night Lord's Primarch Night Haunter and his operations in the Horus Heresy and also the location of his death at the hands of the Callidus assassin M'Shen.

[edit] Ullanor

During the Great Crusade Ullanor was overrun by Orks. Supported by the White Scars and Ultramarines, The Emperor, Horus and the Luna Wolves attacked the planet striking directly at the Ork warlord. Once the Orks were defeated the Adeptus Mechanicus levelled a huge area to create a parade ground sufficiently large to stage a Triumph for the massed Imperial forces. It was at this triumph that the Emperor promoted Horus to the rank of Warmaster and announced his intention to return to Earth.^[17]

[edit] Valhalla

Possibly named after the Vikings' heaven, Valhalla, like Tallarn, was once a verdant and beautiful world. However, sometime after its discovery by the Imperium, it was hit by a comet. The catastrophic effects of the impact sent the planet into an ice age which, ten thousand years later, is still in place, with temperatures that freeze blood solid and winds that could shear flesh from bones. Valhallan Imperial Guard units are adept at surviving in these conditions.

Valhalla was assaulted by an Ork Waaagh! sometime in the 32nd millennium, where the greenskin horde very nearly took over the planetary food supply; if that had fallen, Valhalla would be doomed. But the tenacity of the defenders destroyed the Waaagh! and saved themselves from annihilation.

[edit] Vivaporius

A bridgehead planet that was under threat by the Tyranids, but eventually saved. The plantlife and terrain features in some areas were so large that they posed maneuvering and orientation problems to even the Titans. The Tyranids were not there to strip the planet bare of resources as they usually did, but rather to seize control of lured Eldar and Imperial Titans, having found a way to forcibly overtake the mental links. All in all, Imperial casualties included at least three million Guardsmen, two squads of Ultramarines, and two Titan crews.

[edit] Xerxes Quintus

Xerxes Quintus is the fifth planet of a harsh white sun. It had lost contact with the Imperium thousands of years before and had no knowledge of the origins of human settlement there or of the God Emperor of Mankind. It was an agricultural world harbouring a large percentage of mutants and psykers. This generated a tradition of neighbours raising each other's children so that their parents would not have to condemn their own offspring if they proved to be tainted. The language is a highly bastardized version of High Gothic punctuated by oaths. Of religious beliefs they are heretical, holding no saviour figure but rather a reviling of the God of Change, which is how they saw the actions of Chaos in causing mutation.

It is most notable as the birthplace of Inquisitor Jaq Draco, whose parents were adepts of genetics given a life assignment to helping reabsorb Xerxes Quintus into the Imperium. The planet had been recontacted by the Imperium approximately a century before Jaq's birth and plans were being made to utilise it as an agricultural export world, which would in turn allow exploitation of the mineral wealth of its sister world Quartus.^[18][19][20]

[edit] Yu Kanesh

Yu Kanesh is the planet being attacked by the Tau in the beginning of the game Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior.^[3]

[edit] References