Korimesta
| Name | Korimesta |
|---|---|
| |
| Sub-Sector | Primus |
| Type | Penal World |
| Population | 22.2 billion |
| Climate | Polluted |
| Status | Imperial |
“Frankly I have never thought much of the so-called planetary ‘nobility’ of the Spires; I find them small-minded and parochial next to the true Void Aristocracy. The entertainment here, however, can be thoroughly diverting for a young traveller with time and money to spare…” – Travel Diary of Lucius di Firro, 580.M41
About Korimesta
Early records indicate some Human inhabitation prior to M25, however as with all proto-civilisations prior to the Age of Strife, little knowledge has been retained from this time and any ruins that once existed have been built over and subsumed by the all-encompassing Hives which are now present on Korimesta.
Korimesta shows signs of Crusade era unification including typical fading icons of the era presumably after the existing civilisation was brought to bloody compliance.
At some stage the planet was turned over to manufacturing weapons of war. Many of these manufactora still stand in M.41 after the planet's liberation.
By planetary lore at some point during the reign of the Regency, the planet was invaded by long-forgotten Xenos.
The planet was a war world for several centuries, it is possible that there were several invasions and independent wars, but all differentiation of those records have been lost.
Eventually, the planet was liberated and all traces of the xenos were purged from the planet, and it continued as an Industrial planet. Local lore refers to this as the Xenopurge, but no clear records of the event exist.
As time went on, its importance dwindled, as other planets nearby (in galactic terms at least) became colonized. However, by this point, the planet was heavily industrialized, the atmosphere already becoming toxic, trapped within their Hive Cities the planet was a faded shadow of a once-proud world when the Prosperitas Crusade reached it.
Korimesta did not put up much of a fight against the invading Imperium. Many of its leaders were all too quick to bow to their new Masters. Those who resisted were not killed by Imperial guns, but Korimestan knives, in one bloody night the Korimestan political order shed itself of any Regency-loyal or Anti-Imperial Families that stood against surrender and capitulated to the Crusade.
Korimesta sacrificed much to comply with the Imperium, breaking the Labour Guilds and accepting Adeptus Mechanicus overseers to improve the output of their aging Manufactora in the vain hope of regaining a position of glory.
Despite everything, however, the Planet was still a faded reflection of the stories of its golden age that its natives cling to.
The culture inside the great spires of the Hive Cities clung to the remnants of its old glory – the time of the Xenos occupation was romanticized, and strength of arms was seen as a sign of blessing. Blood sports were common, and not just among the lower hive – the nobility of the upper hives took regular ‘hunting trips’ into the lower, hunting mutants, scum and escaped slaves. Pit slave fights were the favorite entertainment of all, and mutated creatures bred from native stock were trained to fight and kill.
Hives on Korimesta are generally built around the remains of mountainous regions, little is left of the rocky outcrops that originally supported these huge structures. Instead glistening spires of crenellated Iron and glass poke out above the pollution layer, where the rich and wealth could enjoy all the fine things of Imperial life, safe from the noxious atmosphere behind their reinforced gas, with their scrubbed and cooled air to breathe. Life was less pleasant as one dropped down the hive, at ground level slums cascaded outwards from the metal spire bases. Air filtration was rough and ready at best, with most lower hivers having some form of respiratory disease and chronically shortened life spans. Here lay the grand manufactora which keep the planet, from economic ruin, many of the lower hive population live as little more than slaves under the harsh eye of the Adeptus Mechanicus overseers brought in by the Ruling Families to overhaul them.
This created considerable conflict with the remnants of the former Labour Guilds many of whom formed insurgent terrorist groups within the Industrial sectors, ostensibly arguing they were trying to assert the rights and free Korimestan labour from the oppression of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Ruling Families who sold the planet to the cruel and corrupt Imperium and turned the common people into slaves.
Hive Primus
The Planetary Capital, Hive Primus, occupies much of the planet's northernmost mountain range. It is a vast sprawl with a long and storied history, it claims to be the rallying point around which the people of Korimesta rallied against the Xenos invaders – it is an ancient structure and the source of much of the architectural evidence of the planet's occupation by Imperial forces during the Great Crusade. It has many spires labeled alphabetically, as ‘Spars’ with Spar A being traditionally the seat of power of the ruling powers of the Hive.
Like most of Korimesta, however, it was a rotting ruin of what it once was when Imperial forces invaded and one of the first projects undertaken by the Administratum was the grand construction of a brand-new spire structure, reaching higher than any of those that came before it – known as the Spar A Urban Construction Project. It took close to four hundred years for the project to be completed before in 587.M41 the new Spar A was completed.
The Newspire, as it is locally called, supplanted the ancestral homes of the Hive’s Families in the newly reclassified Spar B referred to colloquially as Oldspire. This resulted in a mass exodus of all the families wealthy enough to buy estates in the Newspire, leaving Oldspire to Houses too poor to afford estates, many of which had been devastated by the loss of the Southern Continent.
Many locals had a vastly more disparaging name for the Oldspire, the Pauperspire, as many families there truly represent once-proud Families clinging to the pretense of nobility in a rotting tower.
The Devastation of Hive Secundus - 582.M41
In 582.M41, Hive Secundus, the largest hive on the Southern Continent and the second largest Hive on the entire planet, suffered a major attack by unknown forces. It is not entirely known what happened, and although many terrorist groups have laid claim to the attack no evidence to support any claims has ever been substantiated. What is known, is that during the Hive’s night-cycle, a high-yield nuclear weapon was detonated in the underhive.
The initial explosion killed millions, and disrupted the foundations of the Hive causing sections to begin to collapse – as a direct consequence of the explosion and as sections of city collapsed into the underhive, the Hive’s aging generators ignited in a massive chain reaction that killed the entire Hive population in one explosion so bright it could be viewed clearly from space.
Immediately after the devastation, the shockwave flattened several minor arcologies in the surrounding wasteland and irradiated the lesser sibling-hives of Hive Secundus – since 582.M41 the Southern Continent has remained an irradiated Nuclear wasteland, the resultant loss of production has been devastating for the planet, with entire Families ruined or destroyed overnight.
Rebellion and Ultimate Sanctions - 594.M41
As a result of cruel mismanagement and treatment of the world at the hands of its Imperial rulers, House Vilas-Lobo, the rebellious forces of the Rising Flame successfully encouraged the hives of Korimesta to take part in a popular uprising against the Imperium with even the native nobility siding with the rebels. Despite popular support, the dream of freedom was quickly snuffed out by a brutal Imperial reprisal-fleet.
The flagship of Battlefleet Prosperitas, the Iron Lady, was dispatched to the system tasked with making an example out of the rebellious planet. Easily crushing rebellious system defence pickets and orbital defence nets, the Iron Lady settled into orbit above Korimesta launching orbital bombardments and aircraft raids against the Korimestan Populace. In an initial statement of bombardment her Captain made Hive Primus an example, by hammering the vast megacities exterior with missiles, cracking the exterior shell that protected its inhabitants from the toxic Korimestan atmosphere. Toxic gasses flooded into the hive and thousands died; within hours the Hive was all but uninhabitable.
Within weeks, with most of the rebellious government of Korimesta dead or missing, the rebellion all-but collapsed - with nothing to challenge the Imperial fleet in continued its ruthless bombardment with impunity, destroying entire hive sectors before Imperial Guard and barbaric Vilas-Lobo House Guard launched assaults on entrenched Rebels.
Korimesta was left burning with the fires of its doomed rebellion as pict-casts of mass executions and shattered hives were broadcast around the sector with one simple message: Betray your Oaths to the God-Emperor and Die Like These Traitors.
Recent History
In the aftermath of the failed rebellion and near-total devastation of Korimesta the world remains under the watchful eye of Imperial overseers, new Masters have been granted dominion over the world however, as House Vilas-Lobo has seceded control of the world to House Globex. This act is not simply selling control of a world, but its population too - the people of Korimesta have been tried en-mass by the Imperium, and found guilty of sedition: a crime that has been granted the 'lenient' punishment of one thousand years of indentured labour for each citizen, a sentence to be carried out by each individual Korimestan and any subsequent generations of their bloodline, until the sentence is complete.
House Globex rushed to the support of the now-fallen Hive World after Vilas-Lobo was done stripping it. While it is now little more than a Penal World, and its people work in indentured labour camps, the House insists that they can be reformed and their lives given meaning - House Globex has made a name out of speaking against the traditional penal system of the Imperium, and has successfully conducted multiple “Reformation Programs” in what they rebranded as “Reeducation Centres” - former prisons of the Prosperitas Sector now under their management.
The manufactorums of Korimesta have been reopened and repaired, and the populace toils in them endlessly to work off their sentences - where the citizen-inmates are surrounded by constant reminders to 'smile' - as they are ‘loved’ and ‘part of a team’, and, more importantly, are doing their part for the Prosperitas Sector. However, those willingly - and competent enough - to be chosen to enter direct service of the House will have their sentence suspended or commuted. Understandably, the numbers of volunteers keep swelling, and entry-level training courses and workshops are running non-stop. While very few are chosen to proceed to the advanced courses - and the coveted management positions that come with those - even the lesser members become transformed by their experience, and are eager to incentivize their former friends to “aim for the stars” and join in. Happy workers are effective workers, and the success story of Korimestra has led House Globex to start expanding their program to Lubyanka where the House has agreed with House Vilas-Lobo to take over administration of the penal facilities there based on their success on Korimesta.
Because of the devastation of the Hives, however, the toxic atmosphere has forced many Korimestans to endure painful bionic modifications to their respiratory systems - with many having their lower jaws and mouths replaced by rebreather implants - often of low quality and lacking vox capabilities, thus robbing the people of their voices. These cruel implants have led to a new name for the era - 'The Silent Penance', as Korimestans learn to converse via nonverbal communication methods.