Duroverum
| Name | Duroverum |
|---|---|
| |
| Sub-Sector | Primus |
| Type | Hive World |
| Population | 24.2 billion |
| Climate | Polluted |
| Status | Imperial, Sector Capital |
About Duroverum
Designated as the Capitol of the Prosperitas Sector, Duroverum is the seat of Imperial Governance. Though rule of the sector is split between the military leadership of the Office of the Warmaster – it is Duroverum where the Sector Governor reigns. The planet is named for Warmaster Durovera, who launched the Prosperitas Crusade.
Prior to the arrival of the Prosperitas Crusade, the planet was called Legio Venia, and was the seat of the pre-Crusade ‘Regency’ that ruled the sector in the years of long silence between the arrival of Durovera and the end of the Horus Heresy. Duroverum was the initial target of the Prosperitas Crusade, and felt the full brunt of Durovera‘s forces in a planetary invasion that lasted nearly five years of constant fighting to secure the world. Much of the ancient planetary city, believed to date back into the Dark Age of Technology, was reduced to ruins by the invasion, and it is believed many old shrines to the Regencies’ religion are buried down amongst the twisted metal and rubble.
In the years since, the planet has grown, building upon the ancient planetary city, expanding to meet the needs of the of subsector administration, miles upon miles of Administratum buildings, space ports and distribution plants stretch across the planets surface – millennia of urbanization has developed what began as hives into a planet-spanning city, straddling polluted seas that are buried under layer upon layer of city developments and with civilization even pushing into the planetary poles it seems unlikely that the spread of urbanization will halt until all of the planets surface is claimed by the planetary city.
Only in recent years has much of note occurred on Duroverum, in 566.M41, after years of PDF and Arbites forces neglecting the necessary duties of culling the mutant population in the Duroverian Underhive a rogue Psyker escaping from Inquisition custody engineered a mutant uprising. Though local forces believed the mutants to be quickly suppressed the situation escalated to the point that the forces of the Inquisition intervened, ordering orbital bombardment of nearly five hundred square kilometers of the planetary city, the scar of which is still visible today.
The Planetary City
The Planetary City is Duroverum, and Duroverum is the planetary city: so little of the planet remains un-urbanised that the distinction between the two isn’t needed in this modern age of the Imperium.
Rising up from the planet spanning maze of streets, sub-streets and underhive, are the spires of the Duroverian Aristocracy. Ancient gilded structures set in perfect geographic positions across the planetary city, the Spires divide the planet into the ancestral dominions of Duroverum‘s Aristocracy, and act as high-orbital space elevators and docking platforms for visiting ships. Miniature cities in their own right, the Spires may contain upwards of several million people, the majority of which will be servants of the various noble houses that call them home. Most spires are ruled by a single Noble House with various vassal Houses sharing the spire of their Lords – for the most part the ruling houses have been the same for centuries, and it would take a considerable amount of effort to put one entirely out of power.
Asides from the Spires, the most important structure on the planet is the Imperial Capitol Palace, and impressive obsidian structure that, while squatter than the Spires, covers a vastly wider amount of land. Guarded by several legions of Arbites, this blank dark building covers a whole block of city and disappears for many miles beneath it. Serving as the headquarters for the Arbites on Duroverum alongside its duties housing the Subsector Administration and Governor, it is probably the most heavily defended location on the planet, only rivalled perhaps by the Spires of some of the more militant Noble Houses.
In easy shuttle reach of the Palace lies the grim edifice of the Aquila. The soaring, blocks-wide tower is the Sector headquarters of the Officio Praefectus. It holds both the headquarters of the Commissariat and the Sector's largest military prison, built to hold those luckless unfortunates awaiting trial on high crimes - and those too important or too necessary to be quietly disposed of by the Emperor's Mercy.
Beneath the Spires and the Capitol Palace lies the City proper, often divided between the upper city, and the under city. By and large these areas are dominated by the common classes of the Imperium, from the Administratum Overseers and Merchants of the upper city to the workers and scribes who make their homes in the low-rent under city. The city is a maze, layers upon layers of overpasses and bridges, hab blocks, bars and offices going right down to the massive durasteel barriers that marks the border of the underhive.
At the depths of Duroverum lies the Underhive, sprawling over the ruins of the ancient city that the Planetary City was built upon, and the radioactive seas – it is a desperate place, unregulated by the Imperial rulers of the world, subject to pogroms by Arbites and PDF forces who have been increasingly stringent in their duties after the Mutant uprising in 566.m41 – still this strange and alien world beneath is home to more than a few strange faces.
Recent History
Since late 593.M41, the planet has played host to illustrious guests: the Astartes of the Void Hounds have their headquarters here, since they accompanied Lady-Captain Autokrator Hermione Durovera on her triumphant return from Terra to take the helm of the Sector.
In addition to their work supporting the Lady-Captain, they have descended into the dark of the Underhives on more than one occasion to keep order; the might of the Astartes is such that these police actions have been swift, brutal and unchallenged.
The exiled Sisters of the Order of His Sanguine Tears, refugees since Cardinal-Emissarius Grulge's brutal attack on their Conclave at Agrial, have also made a home here since mid 594.