Castellum
| Name | Castellum |
|---|---|
| |
| Sub-Sector | Primus |
| Type | Forge Fane of Ferraeus |
| Population | 1.5 billion |
| Climate | Temperate |
| Status | Mechanicum |
See Also:
About Castellum
Until recently Castellum enjoyed the status of being an independent Forge-World but in 593.M41 after years of religious tension between its younger and forward-thinking Priesthood, the Martian-traditionalist Cult of Forge Ferraeus put an end to it's independence in one swift move, petitioning the Techno-Synod of Mars to permit its annexation of its wayward Forge an placing it under its direct control. Though the annexation was bloodless it would be a lie to say that the Forge has not suffered under occupation by Ferraeus, the merciless agents of the Ordo Malagra, the Tech Inquisitors or 'Magisterium' of Ferraeus put an end to nearly 200 years of independent thought and dangerous flirting with 'innovation'.
Castellum was founded in the mid 300s.M41. Its founding Tech-Priests were a breakaway sect of the Adeptus Mechanicus of Ferraeus, the planet’s nearest neighbour and rival. After a substantial history of religious and philosophical differences grew up between the “new blood” and the Ferraeus orthodoxy, a cadre of the younger Mechanicus split away, taking Castellum, previously a wild and unpopulated world notable only for the - supposed pre-Imperial – ruins found in its snow-capped alpine region and their small research colony and seceding from Ferraeus. Two hundred years of religious conflict followed, with the colony managing to secure its independence in 400.m41 - lasting until the annexation where the world cased to be independently recognised and became a Forge Fane of Ferraeus, a colony-world once again under a Ferraean-appointed administration.
Before the annexation some would have called Castellum 'innovative' and 'modernised' by the standards of the Mechanicum, with sleek lines and pocket-sized noospheric devices found everywhere - since the annexation though the Magisterium has declared many devices produced under the previous regime to be Heretek, confiscating and destroying them in their ruthless purge of the 'new' ways of the Priesthood. Those Priest who have adapted to the new Martian regime imposed on their world have taken up the strict interpretation of the Cults belief held by Ferraeus and obediently donned red robes where previously they might have dressed more uniquely. Those that have found themselves unable to adapt have largely been 'reassigned' to the Explorator-fleets that probe the reaches of the sector, an effective exile that ensures they are removed from Mechanicus politics.
With only a few centuries of industrialisation in its history, Castellum is underdeveloped by Forge World standards; the Magoi Biologi of the world have favoured a hybrid approach to infrastructure which maintains large swathes of the planet in a natural, unmodified organic state. They claim this greatly reduces atmospheric reclamation resources and allows the power and promethium which would ordinarily be devoted to maintaining a breathable atmosphere inside the Forge Worlds to be used for higher priority tasks. As a result there are large swathes of Castellum, much of it mountainous, which visibly appear as green and untamed as an average temperate Imperial world. The Annexation has not changed this much, Ferraeus sees the untamed regions of the world as exploitable as farming land to generate the food that the huge population of their forgeworld needs to be sustained by.
The capital, Instance, is a wonder of the Adeptus Mechanicus’ untramelled and pious imagination, with streets laid out in a distinctive interlocking cog-pattern said to be particularly beautiful from high orbit. The centre of the gear-wheel configuration is the Temple of the Sacred Asymptote, where binaric and Gothic prayers to the Omnissiah ring out across the plascrete rooftops day and night. The streets are lit constantly by the blueish glow of arc-welders and harsh artificial lumen, as the laboratories and manufactora sleeplessly attend under the watchful gaze of the Magisterium Tech-Inquisitors who enforce the Machine Cult's holy scriptures on forges that had once produced new wonders and now conform to approved patterns by the Cult.