Subsector Viaticus

Back to the main page
A subsector named for the family that discovered it (and leveraged that discovery into the granting of a Warrant of Trade and official dominion over the systems within), this cluster of seven systems has declined in fortune as its founding Dynasty has. Now a set of worlds struggling to survive is all that remains of its former glory. Now, though, with the return of the flagship Aetherius Aeternus, perhaps a new age of glory lies ahead for this embattled remnant of Imperial might.

System 1

Home of the subsector capital, Exaviar's World, this system is most known for that world's shipyards, which have produced a number of battleships for the Imperial Navy and numerous other ships of lesser classes.

Exaviar's World

Classification: Hive/Forge
Date of Founding: Unknown
Population: Unknown
Resources: Depleted metal deposits, ruined agricultural system
Facilities: Capital-grade shipyard

When Subsector Viaticus, the Viaticus Demense, was settled, Exaviar's World was a beautiful world, well able to support human life with a minimum of adjustment, and was thus selected as the subsector capital. The rich ore deposits beneath, however, led it being used not as an agricultural world but as the setting for a vast shipyard and port. Required by the terms of their Warrant of Trade to develop a shipyard that would be able to deliver a battleship every century to the Imperial Navy, the first Warrant-Holder chose to sacrifice the farmlands to the greater need.
Now, after delivering over half a dozen battleships, Exaviar's world is no longer beautiful to the human eye. The poisonous atmosphere prevents the residents from leaving massive enclosed Hives and Forge Cities, and the beautiful deep-blue seas have become oceans of lifeless sludge. The trees and grasses are long gone - instead, forests of unusable scraps and twisted shards of junk litter the landscape. Encircling a large part of the globe is the massive cannibalistic shipyard that has devoured its mother-world to birth ship after ship of the line.
The decline of House Viaticus has struck this world the hardest - possessing the shipyards, but lacking the flowing income from the rest of the subsector and the efforts of the Dynasty, Exaviar's World is still required to produce its battleship-sized tithe. The lack of any local food production means that the planet requires food from elsewhere, and the closest source, Orgicus, is plagued by pirates and often is not able to fulfill the needs of the hungry.
Just as the decline of the founding family has struck Exaviar's World the hardest, so has it the most to gain from a revived House Viaticus. A strong leader might very well save this world from Administratum penalties, and a family that is able to eliminate the pirates and resource shortages could revive this world's hopes. It is unlikely, however, that the planet will ever truly recover from its frenzy of construction.

Drustilla

Classification: Hive
Date of Founding: Unknown
Population: Unknown
Resources: none
Facilities: none

The larger of Exaviar's World's two moons, Drustilla's only feature is a polluted ruin of a massive hive-city. Depopulated by centuries of disease, famine and mechanical disasters, it is now only home to a large number of twisted mutants; degenerate beings that may have once been human, but are no longer whole in mind or body. Living in semi-cannibalistic savagery in parts of the underhive that can still sustain life (however wretched), they pose a threat to any fool-hardy enough to seek to explore or restore what was once a thriving metropolis.

Silva

Classification: Penal
Date of Founding: Unknown
Population: Unknown
Resources: agricultural (self-sufficiency)
Facilities: Prison complex

The smaller satellite of Exaviar's World, Silva was originally a prison moon - a place for Exaviar's World and Drustilla to deposit the criminal or the inconvenient. Here they labored to create simple goods for the citizens of the system, grew some specialized food-crops and extracting the meager ore deposits on this small celestial body. Soon after the disappearance of the Aetherius Aeternus and the rapid decline of House Viaticus, the prisoners revolted and seized control of the moon. While there is little food production, it is sufficient to keep a small population of feudalistic lords (descendents of the original revolters and the surviving guards) alive, served by the work of servitor-serfs. Exaviar's World has mostly ignored the situation on Silva - attempting an invasion would perhaps be too costly, and for no gain.

System 2

Orgicus

Orgicus is an efficiently-run, bountiful agri-world that has to throw out much of it's yield each year because it cannot get it moved off-world. The chartist captains who ship the food to the other planets in the sector are being preyed on by pirates, and attrition has worn down the fleets. There just aren't enough voidships to move food in the quantities that are needed.

Of all the pirates, the worst are the crew of the Good Omen. Originally a ship in the Viaticus fleet, when Agamemnon XXXIII disappeared the ship and her crew turned pirate. The Good Omen is a very fine craft, and more than a match for anything the subsector can muster. Exaviar's World is pushed to it's limit building it's tithe ships, it doesn't have the capacity to build more transports or warships to deal with the pirates.

System 3

Formica

Formica is an Imperial World that declared independence from the Imperpium of Man almost 50 years ago. It didn't bother to inform the Imperium, and as their tithe is only due every 100 years the Imperium hasn't found out yet. Being from a remote and near-forgotten subsector, the people of Formica don't fully understand what they're doing by 'revolting'.

Formica's primary complaints are the inability of the Imperium to properly police shipping routes for piracy, what they see as excessive tithes, and a desire for freedom of religion.

System 4

Kelevor

Kelevor is a planet with an extremely large quantity of adamantium, to which the Viaticus Dynasty still has hereditary mining rights to. The mining colony had already been built, and the most profitable period of the mining procedure was about to begin when the planet was overrun by a genestealer cult. Nobody knows what's going on down there anymore.

System 5

Rixis

Rixis is a primordial jungle hell out of some genetic nightmare. Rixis is teeming with an overabundance of life, all in direct competition with each other for microscopic niches. It is impossible to ever be truly safe on Rixis, for no matter how much you know about the planet and it's many horrors, it is constantly evolving new ones.

There is evidence of an technologically advanced xenos civilization that once lived on Rixis. A research colony was set up to study one of the more promising ruins, but in the centuries of surviving on Rixis the inhabitants 'went native'. The expression is not further defined in the report.

System 6

Volucris

Volucris is the site of a failed human colony, but is otherwise uninhabited. It is perfectly habitable by humans, although it's cold and has harsh winters.

System 7

New Kaiser

New Kaiser was once a nominally democratic planet, with an elected Planetary Governor and a Senate. When Agamemnon XXXIII disappeared the resulting political ramifications led to a civil war, which utterly devastated the planet. It has since regressed into a near-feudal state, and has been slow in developing further. New Kaiser is self sufficient, and it's now hereditary Planetary Lord is still loyal to the Imperium.