Agrial III
| Name | Agrial III |
|---|---|
| |
| Sub-Sector | Tertius |
| Type | Shrine World |
| Population | 1.1 million |
| Climate | Subtropical |
| Status | Imperial |
“Dull. Dull, dull, dull. I can’t imagine spending your whole miserable life here; frankly I’d rather do something appalling like join the Guard.” – Travel Diary of Lucius di Firro, 579.M41
About Agrial III
An ancient shrine world covered in dusty sepulchres and echoing chapels, Agrial III is a seldom-mentioned backwater planet that contains possibly one of the largest libraries in the entire Segmentum. Centuries ago Agrial was a powerful and populous shrine world with significant influence in the politics of the Prosperitas Sector. Located on a primary trade route through the subsector, countless traders and pilgrims stopped off at Agrial every year, either to refuel and resupply before moving on or to worship at the numerous temples.
It was not just its holy shrines which drew pilgrims, however. Agrial was well known for the vast libraries that each temple-city maintained, together forming one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of knowledge in the Sector.
Collecting information on countless subjects and in endless formats, the libraries of Agrial attracted countless scholars and sages, and even members of the holy Inquisition, all of whom came to study the vast catalogue of information. All were welcome to read freely of the books, tomes, scrolls and hololiths, and to spend as much time doing so as they desired; all that the Scribe-Priests asked was a small donation to the upkeep of the libraries and also a donation of knowledge to the library itself. Each visitor was asked to write down something – whether a short titbit of information or an entire treatise was up to the visitor - and add it to the archives of Agrial.
Trade routes are known to change however, and when they did, they brought about the end of the importance of Agrial. Without the income brought by the traders the shrine world faded into obscurity; the once-thronging streets are now quiet and the holy sepulchres and reliquaries dusty and often neglected. A few pilgrims and knowledge-seekers still visit Agrial, but now the libraries are echoing, cobweb-choked and dark, home to a few ancient custodians and ageing Scribe-priests.
Recent History
Long a seat of power for the Sisters of the Order of His Sanguine Tears, Agrial was the location for a conclave led by Canoness Dinah in mid 594. Before the Conclave, a Holy Writ from Terra waas presented stripping Cardinal Grulge of his title and excommunicating him from the Imperial Faith.
Grulge's revenge was swift, however, and he struck against his foes with a wave of fanatics and Fidelis Templar. Whole libraries burned as forces loyal to the Cardinal-Emissarius descended upon the shrine-world. Priests unwilling to repent of their actions against the Cardinal-Emissarius were taken to the stake, as the army of fanatics rampaged around the planet. Surviving the assault on Agrial, the Order of His Sanguine Tears retreated to Duroverum where the Lady-Captain Autokrator welcomed them with open arms.
Following the execution of the Heresiarch Grulge in 597.M41, Agrial is recovering from the shocking wave of violence that overturned the once sleepy planet. With hundreds of libraries ruined and thousands of books burned, the planet is struggling to shake off the legacy of its brief and bloody time under the rule of the Heresiarch. It is uncertain whether the Sororitas will return to their seat of power on the planet, or where the Fidelis Templar forces left rudderless on the shaken world will be redeployed.