History of the Prosperitas Sector
Pre-M41
Mid-M25 - Early Human Settlement of the Prosperitas Sector -
Archaeological and archival evidence suggests that humanity first arrived in the Sector in mid-M25. It is presumed these craft were early warp vessels, or perhaps sleeper vessels, travelling on sublight drives - little is known about this early settlement. Scholars have long attempted to study the older native archives of the sector but many of these were destroyed during Regency occupation.
M25-M29 - The Age of Strife -
Warp storms cause massive rifts in real and warp space making space travel nearly impossible and cutting off entire regions. On Terra, civilization regresses as techno-barbarians fight for survival and for dominion of the wasteland that was once a green and wonderful Earth.
M30-M31 - The Great Crusade -
The Emperor unites Holy Terra and sets out across the Galaxy, founding the Imperium in His name. At some stage during this period, fragmentary records point to the unification and official designation of the Prosperitas Sector as a sector of the newborn Imperium. The names and titles of those responsible for its foundation are unavailable due to corruption in Crusade-era data recorders.
M31 - The Horus Heresy -
The Emperor and his nine Primarchs are opposed by the Arch-Heretic, Horus, one of nine Daemons in the service of the Archenemy, Chaos. In the resulting war Terra is besieged and, through a combination of destroyed charts and shifting warp tides, the Prosperitas Sector becomes one of the forgotten, lost regions of the galaxy.
M31-013.M41 - The Regency -
The Imperium specifically destroyed the majority of archives detailing the history of the so-called ‘Regency’, the Archenemy-aligned occupying government that ruled the Sector in the absence of the Emperor’s Light. What is known is that it laboured in the foolish belief that Horus won the Battle of Terra.
For over ten millennia the Sector was ruled by a ‘Regent of the Emperor’, an Archenemy tyrant. There is significant evidence of native resistance during this period, which is why a considerable number of native populations have been spared immediate extermination in the years since reconquest of the Sector has begun.
000 to 100.M41
009.M41 - The arrival of the Durovera Expedition -
A fleet of Imperial ships led by Rogue Trader Jacinta Durovera, in search of a new passage to the Cadia Sector through the minor warp storms surrounding that sector, discovers a stable warp passage from Segmentum Solar into the Prosperitas Sector. There, she discovers a stable Sector occupied by a people who believe she has come as an emissary of the Emperor on Terra.
Affairs are cordial until Durovera’s reception on Legio Venia, when the ‘Emperor's Regent’ rolls out banners displaying the Eye of Horus, deeply heretical to the Imperial delegation. Despite herself, Durovera masters her doubts and remains cordial, and the unsuspecting Regent goes through formalities oblivious of how the Sector has been misled.
Returning to her ships, Durovera takes advantage of the fact that she has the benefit of surprise and launches an immediate bombardment of the Regency's government buildings, before ordering the ground forces accompanying her fleet to launch an all-out attack on the sector capital. After a successful conquest of the capital, the Rogue Trader hunkers down, sends astropathic messages to Terra requesting assistance and prepares to weather the coming counter-attack and siege by the Regency Fleet.
013.M41 - 101.M41 - The Prosperitas Crusade Begins -
Four years after Jacinta Durovera conquered Legio Venia, Imperial forces arrive there to relieve the Rogue Trader. They bring with them heralds of the High Lords of Terra, who proclaim Durovera to be Warmaster of the Prosperitas Crusade. Armed with astro-navigational knowledge she has plundered from Regency data vaults beneath the surface of Legio Venia, Durovera launches a lightning campaign against several major staging worlds for Regency forces, crippling much of the Regency Fleet, and what little nominal leadership survived her attack on the capital.
She is supported by numerous forces including the nomad Titans of Legio Ferraeus, to whom she grants the Forge World that will eventually come to bear their name. In addition, she is supported by local fighters known as the Rising Flame who have fought an armed if nebulous resistance against the Regency for millennia.
In her later years as Warmaster, Durovera became obsessed with hunting down the flagship of the Regency fleet, the ancient Gloriana-class battleship Manifest Destiny. From her flagship, the Nemesis-class fleet carrier Stormchaser, the Warmaster hunts the huge warship down over a series of engagements, damaging it heavily with waves of fighter craft.
The Stormchaser is last seen translating to warp without her flagship’s escorts, and no sign is ever seen of her or Jacinta Durovera again; however, the Manifest Destiny is discovered several months later bearing heavy damage and with all onboard dead or evacuated. It is brought under tow back to Legio Venia and remains there undergoing re-sanctification. When Durovera is eventually declared missing in action by Crusade High Command, the vessel is re-christened Iron Lady and Legio Venia is officially renamed Duroverum, in honour of the fallen Warmaster. House Durovera are granted the seat of Sector Governor by right of blood, and one of the Warmaster’s cousins takes the throne.
100-300.M41
101-196.M41 - The Crusade Stalls and the Strife -
Without an obvious heir to the Warmaster, Crusade progress stalls, and the lack of guidance as to how to divide the holdings already taken by the Crusade fragments the alliances formed by Jacinta Durovera in her quest to take the Prosperitas Sector. Terran nobles and their families, who were promised riches and worlds to establish themselves beyond the reach of their parents, war amongst themselves, and military commanders bicker over their rights of control over the Imperial parts of the Prosperitas Sector.
Though the Imperium has a hold over most of Subsector Primus and has broken most of the Regency's greatest armies, local populations are found to be non-compliant - either dogmatically continuing to follow the heretical religion practiced by the Regency or being of Annwfyn or Ruwwad descent and difficult to control. In perhaps the greatest reversal of Jacinta's policies, Imperial commanders decide that the Rising Flame are dangerous and must be snuffed out. The insurgents realize the threat too late and the Imperium is able to deal devastating blows to the rebellion before it can withdraw and hide from persecution; this 'betrayal' turns the focus of the Flame away from the Regency and begins hundreds of years of resistance against the Imperium.
An assembly of Witch Hunters from the Ordo Hereticus arrive in 142.M41, forming the first iteration of the the Prosperitas Conclave of the Inquisition. Witch-pyres burn hot, with entire heretic populations put to the flame. While military leaders squabble amongst themselves, the Inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus make themselves busy, spreading across the sector. Some travel beyond Imperial lines even, bringing their shadow war to non-compliant worlds beyond the Imperium's light.
139.M41 - [Outside Sector] The Gothic War -
The Crusade deadlock is made worse by the invasion of the Gothic Sector by the most hated Despoiler, Warmaster of the Archenemy. Forces originally intended for the Prosperitas Sector are diverted eastward to the Gothic Sector instead, leading to massive supply shortages which will dog the Crusade long into the present era.
197-304.M41 - The Folly of Warmaster Monforte -
Eventually Warmaster Monforte, an unobjectionable if unimpressive leader, is selected from amongst the available candidates.
On the border of what will be designated Subsector Tertius, the remaining forces of the Regency proper gather to mount a major counter-attack against the Imperium. Made aware by spies, Warmaster Monforte throws everything he has against the gathered forces. Because of the difficulty navigating the asteroid field in the system, the fighting is long and harsh, and what is supposed to be a surprise attack drags into a long-term attrition war in the field, with the Imperium eventually winning a pyrrhic victory after ten years of conflict and innumerable losses
Made worse by political friction between House Durovera from the Sector Governor's throne and Warmaster Monforte, the Crusade forces fall into a lull nearly a hundred years long. While this allows for Subsector Primus to be stabilized and fully tamed by the Imperium, the lack of progress frustrates House Durovera and many Imperial commanders, who believe the aging Monforte to be growing incompetent as his age advances - more so than many already did. Unlike his ill-fated predecessor and those who will follow, the Warmaster dies of old age at the end of this century, free of regrets. On his deathbed, he swears that he will never apologise for consolidating the Imperium’s victories and avoiding overstretching his forces.
300-400.M41
304.M41 - The Victories and Fall of Warmaster Ulian -
Warmaster Ulian, the third individual to carry the title of Warmaster and the youngest yet, enjoys unparalleled success opening both the Secundus and Tertius Subsectors to Imperial expansion. Though the Regency is largely defeated, many of the worlds are home to non-Imperial, Archenemy and xeno-worshipping cultures. These enemies reel before his advance. Many of their forces are driven out of Imperial space and into the currently lawless regions. Buoyed by success under Ulian’s leadership, Imperial forces prepare a three-pronged assault on the trailing regions of the Sector that lie close to the malevolent light of the warp storm known as the Eye of Terror.
Tragedy strikes as the Eye, always in flux, bursts its borders, with splinters of the storm ripping apart realspace in their wake. One such tendril, known as the Lash of the Eye, surges through Subsector Quartus. Imperial forces flee the storm while many of the Archenemy joyfully meet it, some even driving fleets into the maelstrom . The storm devastates the Crusade forces as it swallows the whole Subsector. In the aftermath Warmaster Ulian is missing, presumed dead, and the Crusade reels and stalls as it loses much of its fighting strength.
331.M41 - The Tenebris Arm -
Even as the Eye wanes, the storm consuming the lost regions does not abate, creating an uncrossable region of space for Imperial forces and a haven for the forces of the Archenemy. The Arm of the Eye is named Tenebris and is declared lost. It is ruled impassable, and many forces are dedicated to worlds like Strayvia on the borders, to act as fortress-worlds to hold back any Archenemy who might emerge from the storm. This loss is devastating to the Ruwwad people, who are native to the region claimed by the Eye ,and scatters their populations amongst the other worlds of the Sector.
349.M41 - Warmaster Fassir -
Nudara Fassir, a Terran-born General, is appointed by the High Lords of Terra to take over the Prosperitas Crusade, after they grow tired of the petty squabbling of the Crusade command and their inability to agree upon a leader. Fassir is a veteran of the Solar Regiments and a talented warrior. She is a conservative commander, but is also a veteran of Terran politics, and does well holding the Crusade together during the long years of doubt that will follow. Once again the Crusade’s progress slows, but she mitigates frustration amongst her commanders by assigning forces to expeditionary fleets, probing the more stable warp-routes in the Rimward Marches of Subsector Secundus. Her reign as Warmaster lasts long into the later years of her life, but ends in tragedy and betrayal.
392-399.M41 - [Outside Sector] The Macharian Crusade -
On Terra, a brilliant Imperial Commander, Macharius, is appointed Lord Solar, and launches a brilliant crusade into Segementum Pacificus. Many commanders of the Prosperitas Sector claim Warmaster Durovera inspired the Imperium to support commanders like Macharius, but the Crusade also hails the waning interests of the High Lords in the Galactic north and further crippling reductions in resources available to the Prosperitas Crusade.
400-500.M41
439.M41 - The Assassination of Warmaster Fassir -
Warmaster Fassir is assassinated in her command quarters on Polarnus Station. Her wife, Majal, is the sole witness to the crime, and gives an account of a skin-changing woman who struck Fassir down. Her testimony is ruled unreliable, as Crusade High Command refuses to accept such a thing would have spared her life. Agents of the Inquisition take Majal away for interrogation, and she is never seen again. Accusations of betrayal and treachery fly freely in the years that follow as squabbling over the position of Warmaster intensifies.
444.M41 - [Outside-Sector] The Armageddon War -
A large Archenemy force launches an assault on Armageddon, a major manufacturing world in Segementum Solar. While the actual account of the war is sealed by Inquisitorial record, the loss of a supply world has serious consequences across the Imperium. It could not come at a worse time for the Prosperitas Sector, where strained tensions are already close to breaking point.
446-484.M41 - The Inheritance War and Censure -
The conflict for the position of Warmaster intensifies into open civil war between three Imperial commanders (whose names are later struck from record). Imperial forces clash with Imperial forces over a period of twenty years. Most of this fighting occurs away from the eyes of others, and many of them are honour battles, but the infighting utterly paralyses the Crusade once again. In some cases, it leads to opportunistic pirate raids and rebel uprisings on planets left poorly defended by the distracted Imperial forces.
Belatedly, the High Lords of Terra deliver a Proclamation of Censure ordering the execution of those commanders involved in the Inheritance War, suspending the Crusade indefinitely, and re-deploying the grand majority of non-native forces from the Crusade to other Sectors in need of reinforcement, reducing its strength to the weakest in its history.
500-600.M41 - Present Era
553.M41 - The Cadian Corridor, and the rise of Warmaster Hroth -
The High Lords repeal their censure after ships from House Majid's fleet discover the Cadian corridor, a warp passage that effectively grants Imperial reinforcements for the Cadian Gate a five-year shortcut on the journey to the Cadian Sector. This heightened strategic importance, in addition to the sector Geosurvey's discovery of rare resources in the Rimward Marches, leads to the High Lords appointing Janus Hroth as Warmaster. Hroth is a Munitorum Administrator with very little tactical aptitude which leads to several very near strategic disasters as he attempts to command Imperial forces like a civil servant.
563-566.M41 - Waagh! Gazbag -
Smashing out of wildspace between the Gothic Sector and the Prosperitas Sector, Waagh! Gazbag crashes into the exposed flank of the Imperium on the Galactic East. The Greenskins, not previously seen in sector, tear through several Imperial worlds in the space of a few years. The tide is turned when Arch-Militant Voss deploys a strategy of funneling the Orks towards Persephon IV where they are bogged down and a stalemate is reached. For his part, Voss is inducted into the ranks of the Inquisition - becoming Inquisitor Voss, and is granted considerable support from Crusade High Command.
566.M41 - A New Warmaster -
With Warmaster Hroth’s failings exposed, he is forced to resign his post in shame, and Warmaster Ilenyós is appointed in his stead. He is exactly what the Crusade needs, being ready to knuckle down to work, and takes the lead on a number of major strategies to return the Crusade to action.
570.M41 - The Unwanted Governor -
Long ignored, and long treated as the lesser rewards of the House, the seat of Sector Governor is taken up by Armelius Durovera after his sister abdicates the position in order to take control of the family's Warrant of Trade so she might lead the House fleet out into the Rimward Marches in search of treasures beyond Imperial battle-lines. Armelius is a vain man, not prepared for the position of Sector Governor, and relies heavily upon his aides. He quickly develops a friction with Crusade High Command, and makes an outright political enemy of the Warmaster. This marks the beginning of a period of upheaval and great loss for the Prosperitas Sector.
577-582.M41 - The Great Losses -
A formerly productive and reliable agri-world supplying crops to feed many Hive-Worlds across Subsector Primus, Strayvia suffers near-total economic collapse through the mid 570s as a great portion of its able-bodied youth are shipped off to newly-founded Guard regiments to defend the Tenebris border. The resulting mutiny among the population springs into a fully-formed insurgency with reported Archenemy links, and the planet is virus-bombed in 577.M41 as part of an Exterminatus by Inquisitorial decree. The remnants of the Strayvian regiments remain committed to Battlegroup Hesperidus, embittered and downtrodden after massive casualties at the front and the loss of their homeworld.
In 582.M41 both Korimesta and Caudica Secundus suffer tragedies;
The Hive World of Korimesta sees several months of panic after the entirety of Hive Secundus is destroyed by an atomic device with the loss of billions of lives. When no further attacks are forthcoming things quieten down, but the planet remains on high alert and those behind the attack are never identified.
A thriving cultural and economic centre, the Hive World of Caudica Secundus sees a resurgence in fanatical religious activity among the miners of its southern continent. This quickly reveals itself to be a facade over an outright heretical uprising. After local authorities fail to contain the growing threat, the planet is interdicted and subjected to Exterminatus by orbital bombardment. Caudican refugees spread across the mining colonies and vessels of the sector, carrying dread tales and fear with them.
580.M41 - Massacre of Blackstation 101 -
A hidden Inquisitorial fortress is hit by an agent of the Archenemy while many of the sector’s Inquisitors are gathered in conclave. The resulting massacre leaves a handful of survivors - a few who were there, and some who were lucky enough not to have been present. Without weight of numbers, the surviving Inquisitors are increasingly dependent on empowering their Agents to act for them, and calling upon the aid of other factions.
583.M41 - The Death of Hroth -
The planet Henlock, a Mechanicus colony in the Rimward reaches of the Sector, comes under attack from Archenemy forces. Imperial forces are caught completely off guard, and to make matters worse, a Titan of the Demi-Legion Custodii Incudatem is captured by the Archenemy. This marks the Imperium’s first encounter with a unified Archenemy force for centuries; these forces bear the insignia of the Regency and are believed to be the remnants of that former power.
In response, Crusade High Command launches the disastrous ‘Operation Righteous Fury’, intent on blunting the so-called Talons of the Way before they can capitalize on their success at Henlock. Crusade forces easily overwhelm the Archenemy's picket fleet, but this turns out to be a trap, as a massive fleet of Archenemy vessels drops out of warp several days later. Most of Crusade High Command - including the Warmaster - and much of the Crusade Fleet are destroyed or captured in the subsequent chaos, with talk of Imperial vessels turning on each other in the midst of the battle.
584-586.M41 - The Rise of Cardinal Grulge -
In the aftermath of Henlock, the disruption of sacred ceremonies on Nivalis caused by heretic Navigators sparks sector-wide unrest and attacks upon the abhumans, especially those of House de Sousa, who are blamed for the chaos. Imperial forces scramble to stop the sector falling into total anarchy as they stave off assaults from rebels, heretics and xenos alike. The arrival of reinforcements from beyond the sector and the pacification of Nivalis by the Battle Sisters of the Order of His Sanguine Tears provides stability at the end of 584.
With this force of Holy Warriors comes a new figure, Cardinal Ignatius Grulge. The charismatic and ruthless Cardinal takes control of the leaderless Ecclesiarchy and sets about disciplining wayward and apostate Priests. His actions provide the sector with further stability, and spiritual guidance.
586-592.M41 - The Rise of Warmaster Durovera II - the Faceless Regents Victory
Detailed in Sector Report I
As far as the wider Prosperitas Sector knows - on Everholt an attempt is made on the life Sector Governor Armelius Durovera. The Governor, once a craven and foppish layabout and entitled child of House Durovera - seems to experience a complete change following this experience, applying himself to becoming a better ruler to his Sector. Thanks to this - and because the role within the Crusade remains absent - Armelius is able, after several years of political manuevering, to position himself Warmaster of the Prosperitas Crusade, gaining the ascent of the High Lords and enough senior Crusade staff to be the first since his ancestor Jacinta, to hold both the titles of Governor and Warmaster under once office.
590.M41 - The coming of the Weeping Eye and the Creeping Death -
Emerging as a new threat, the Weeping Eye and the Creeping Death are largely formed of mortal fodder whipped up from the twisted worlds within the boundaries of Warp Storm Tenebris. Although poorly equipped, these forces are the product of survival within the warp storm, and are not to be underestimated for their raw physical strength and innate skill. Led by sibling warleaders ('Herforingi', in the Black Speech of their people) Greppur Tain and Arnkatla Tain, these forces counter-attack the Imperium at the Strayvian Gateway and Polarnus Nebula salients.
592.M41 - The Year of Strife
Detailed in Sector Report II, Sector Report II.5 Nivalis, Sector Report II.5 Polarnus and partially in Sector Report III.
Alerted to the fact that Armelius Durovera has been replaced by a Changeling Daemon, the Inquisition dispatches Agents to retrieve the true surviving Heir to the family Hermione Durovera a Rogue Trader who has not been seen in civilized space for a number of years. She is found engaged with the locals of the planet Finisterra who are supported by the insurgents of Rising Flame who have declared the world symbolic to their cause. This culminates in a confrontation with the Rising Flame's leader Sharre Ajax who is captured by Inquisition forces after the Flame (who have become more radical under Ajax's leadership) attempt to detonate a nuclear device to destroy the world and the Imperial forces on it. Imperial Forces prepare to conquer the world before they are ordered to leave by mysterious Astartes.
Hermione Durovera returns to Terra immediately after Inquisition Agents inform her of the loss and replacement of her brother. She seeks the aid of the High Lords, but is seemingly rebuked, and leaves Terra in search of other allies to back her claim on the Sector Throne.
On Korimesta the popular Feast of Khan-Hattilik is interrupted by a local rebellion and an uprising of members of a local Warp cult that threatens to topple the local hierarchy. It is stopped by a team of Inquisitorial accolytes who successfully banish a warp entity summoned by the cult.
In the same year both Polarnus Station and Nivalis are attacked by Archenemy warbands from the Weeping Eye and the Creeping Death.
Catching the Imperium completely off guard, forces of the Weeping Eye emerge from the borders of the Eye of Terror near the Polarnus Nebula. Although initially safe behind their defences, the Imperial battleline is devastated when the outer defences fail to function, and the automated weapons systems on the station open fire on loyal vessels. The total number of casualties are unknown, but are believed to number in the high millions, causing a serious blow to the morale of the Navy and the Sector population. Many Imperial forces survive, but remain trapped and besieged in the station itself, as the surviving Naval vessels – including the Iron Lady – immediately retreat from the Polarnus Nebula to fallback points.
Creeping Death forces assault the Imperial cordon in the Strayvian Gateway. Although their attack is initially rebuffed, the arrival of unknown black-hulled vessels in support of the Archenemy forces allows for a number of ships to break out of the Gateway and enter Warp. These ships later appear over Nivalis, and deploy landing forces. The Nivalis Astropathic Choir is silenced, and reports from the planet are spotty accounts describing hordes of Archenemy troops, supported by heavily-armoured warriors.
As the year ends the Inquisition watches the false-Warmaster carefully, but rather than use the turmoil to cause further strife, the Daemon rallies the Imperium with a series of orders that are tactically sound.
Cardinal Grulge continues to cement his power throughout this year, and at the year's end begins rallying the faithful to lead a crusade to retake Nivalis from the Archenemy. This is notably close to violating the terms of the Decree Passive, but in desperation many turn a blind eye to his actions, and some even openly aid him.
593.M41 - The Year of Apostasy
Detailed partly in Sector Report III as well as in Sector Report IV, Sector Report V, Sector Report VI and Sector Report VII.
The year opens with riots on the colony-world of Olethros Secunda that owes fealty to both Imperium and the Mechanicus of Forge Naximus Prime. This is a reaction to a resurgence of the Imperial Faith on the planet amongst a local population tired of oppression by the Adeptus Mechanicus. This is believed to be the first emergence of the sect that will become known as the Gearwrights
The Rising Flame emerge once again. striking against the Adeptus Astra Telepathica facility known as The Orphan's Wail on Gaudium. Using an allied xenos, a Shavasti, the huge psi-eruption devastates the planetary city and causes massive mental upset, sparking further violence and a lock-down of the planet. Because of perceived failings by the Black Warden, the psyker responsible for AAT operations, Jacinta Kreel, a non-psyker Warden from the Black Ships, assumes control. Under her leadership, the ever-present repression against Psykers escalates and deepens. Kreel is an ally of Cardinal Grulge and this sparks a rise in the number of Witch Finders and Hunters anointed by the Ecclesiarchy.
Unsurprisingly this has the reverse effect of causing the number of rogue Psykers and Witches encountered by Imperial Forces to spike, as they flee to both the Rising Flame and the Archenemy. This, in turn, becomes a tool for Cardinal Grulge to increase his power. He openly defies the Decree Passive, citing the need for the Ecclesiarchy to have the tools to combat witches and heretics, and formally creates the 'Fidelis Militia', a not-too-distant echo of the Fidelis Templar disbanded by the Decree Passive. This sparks open conflict with moderate Priests, and with the Order of His Sanguine Tears who are bound by duty to enforce the Decree.
Mid 593.M41 - Polarnus Stands
The spark of light in a dark year comes as Polarnus Station is retaken by Grand Admiral Sarina Khan who, with the aid of numerous individuals including Inquisition Agents, is able to retake the station from the forces of the Weeping Eye. The saying 'Polarnus Stands' becomes a popular rallying cry for the warriors of the Prosperitas Crusade.
At the same time, Inquisition Agents retrieve an item of great power to the Changeling Daemon and destroy it. This action causes the Daemon to lose control of its form, and it kill a number of high-ranking officials who witnessed the change in order to conceal its identity. It goes into hiding shortly after this.
In the shadow of this the Inquisition discovers that one of their own, Inquisitor Voss has betrayed them to the forces of the Archenemy and has made a pact with a Daemon. He escapes arrest and remains at large as a major threat to the Inquisition. Similarily, the Arbites Marshall-Protector Drusilla Vox turns on her own. Though she is revealed as a traitor to Inquisition forces, she retains power and influence in the Sector as most do not know of her betrayal.
Late 593.M41 - The Red Saint and Rumblings of Civil War
On the planet Midsummer, Inquisition agents battle to contain a threat of the Blood God, a Daemon known only as the Red Saint. They are not successful in stopping its rise, but are able to save the planet as it flees to pursue its own goals.
Perhaps because of its influence, a rogue Scion of House Majid unleashes a weapon on the House fleet as it musters around Midsummer. This digital weapon - a carnivore-code - utterly devastates the fleet, killing huge swathes of the House and its retainers. Overnight House Majid, becomes a pallid ghost of what it once was, and this in turn leads to the rise of their former vassals House Volkov, who rule Midsummer, to the status of a Great House. This is due in no small part to the latter's alliance with House Durovera as Hermione Durovera returns to the Prosperitas Sector and, in the absence of the Changeling Daemon, seizes both control of her House, and of Duroverum.
Such a rapid conquest would be a difficult task; however, the Lady-Captain is accompanied by a detachment of Astartes from the Void Hounds Chapter, who enforce her seizure of the world. Her actions, followed by the declaration of her claim to rightful rule as the Lady-Governor of the Prosperitas Sector cause friction with the other Great Houses, with House Vilas-Lobo actively and openly opposing her claim.
Whether by the malign influence of the Daemon, or the actions of years of growing tension between the factions of the Imperium, the factions of the Prosperitas Sector teeter on the edge of civil war.
594.M41 - The Year of Suspicion
Detailed in Sector Report VIII. As well as Gazetteer I, Gazetteer II, Gazetteer III, Gazetteer IV and Gazetteer V
The opening of 594.M41 sees the revelation that the Officio Praefectus, the Commissariat, has been infiltrated extensively by servants of the Archenemy. These individuals, known as Talons, appear to be tied to the traitor Inquisitor Voss, as well as to a mysterious party who has aided the embedding of traitor agents deep into the ranks of the Commissariat. Before the conspirators can be captured, however, a botched Inquisitorial mission causes them to scatter, with only one of the ring-leaders detained by Inquisitorial forces.
Korimesta, which has always waivered in its loyalties to the Imperium, falls victim to civil war, as members of the Rising Flame successfully topple the local aristocracy and install a 'provisional government'. Out of fear that by allowing the rebellion to go unchecked, other worlds will be emboldened to rise against Imperial rule, the Imperial Navy arrives above the world in force. No mercy is given to the rebels as the fleet bombards the planet from orbit, killing many. Of those who are not killed by Naval shells, many die later in mass executions carried out to set an example to the citizens of the Imperium. The world is a ruined wasteland; no longer desiring it, its rulers House Vilas-Lobo cede it to House Globex, who transform the surviving population centres into vast 'rehabilitation camps'.
The Warmaster, the Changeling Daemon, is officially killed in the early months of the year. Though the exact nature of the mission against him is classified, the creature is banished from this plane of reality aboard the void liner St Sanguinius, which suffers an accident at void - an event that cripples the financially weakened House Monforte and provides enough of a favourable environment for both the rival House Vilas-Lobo and House Durovera to begin land-grabs on Monforte assets. This sparks a period know as the Toll Wars as both parties seek to impose levies on each others' trade. The war only ends when Naval vessels commanded by Admiral Ridea Holtz strike at several areas vital to both Houses and force a temporary ceasefire to their conflict. With Hermione Durovera not yet confirmed as Lady-Governor, she is powerless to override the Navy, and the conflict comes to an end.
A glimmer of light emerges for Cardinal Grulge's opponents as the Ecclesiarch themselves, the Terran-based leader of the Ecclesiarchy, declares Grulge defrocked for his violations of the Decree Passive, and demands he be brought to Terra to stand trial for membership of a proscribed religious sect known as the Temple of the Saviour Emperor. Grulge, surrounded by supporters, resists this command from the Holy Leader of the Faith and begins a bloody fight against his opponents to retain his power in the Sector.
Mid 594.M41 - The Unblinking Eye
The nebulae along the border of the Tenebris Storm – the astral terrain that shields the Prosperitas Sector from a clear glimpse of the Eye of Terror – swirl and part for the first time since the Lash of the Eye. This allows the Eye’s baleful gaze to spill out over the sector; waves of madness follow in its wake. Imperial forces move swiftly to enforce curfews on the populace of worlds close to the Eye, to prevent any witnessing but a glimpse of the warp-storm; however, with the damage to the Administratum done by earlier betrayals, warning travels slowly and many worlds have been complacent in running warp-storm drills for decades. The resulting outbreaks of madness and mutation only add to the chaos in the sector, as the Dark Gods see a resurgence after years of waning power.
What was once the warbands of the Weeping Eye and the Creeping Death re-emerge from the Eye at Kelper Prime; in the wake of the Eye’s flare, pestilence and rot spread amongst the population and the Imperial defences there lose coordination. A barbarian horde of Eye-tribes overwhelms the defences of the fortress-world – wearied after continuous fighting – forcing the Imperium onto the back foot. Guard units on Kelper, after interminable years of war with Archenemy forces, had formed a tentative alliance-of-convenience with local Rising Flame units; both are crushed by the endless stream of new invaders, and Imperial lines suffer widespread breaches. Vermin, in their thousands, pour from the sewers beneath the cities and before the advancing hordes of the Eye-tribes. Kelper Command screams out for aid over the vox-link to orbit as they are slaughtered, describing a vermin-monster amongst their midst; in the wake of this, only a cooing motherly voice is heard chuckling before the vox-link is severed. Total defeat seems inevitable unless something is done to relieve the beleaguered defences of the world.
The barbarians send a scouting fleet back into the Polarnus Nebula but are robustly rebuked by the forces of Polarnus Station commandant Admiral Chandier, who sends the scouts fleeing with severe losses. The reinforced forces at Polarnus are able to hold off against subsequent probing raids thanks to the hard work of Crusade personnel.
Arbites across the sector struggle to contain a ‘blood madness’ spreading across the population, as uncontrolled rage erupts where they desperately attempt to enforce the curfew and Warp-storm protocols. Maddened citizens assault anything that moves; where their blood falls upon the untouched, the same rage grasps them and this sickness spreads like a frenzied plague. In its wake, the cult of the so-called Red Saint – known as the Red Hand – begins a renewed assault against planets where Ashen cults have taken root. Across the sector whole regions burn as the Red Hand assault Imperial and Ashen alike, leaving nothing to chance in their ‘crusade’ to purge the Ashen forces from the sector. Only the support of several squads of Adepta Sororitas deployed across the sector prevent the madness and the Red Hand from spreading further. Ordo Malleus forces report their first sighting of the ‘Red Saint’: a blood-drenched woman, cased in a contemptuous parody of Sororitas power armour, bearing mutations of the Blood God and directing Red Hand forces.
Late 594.M41 - Faith and Damnation
The Regency, long believed to have been utterly destroyed by the Imperium, strikes back from hidden enclaves at the edges of the Sector. Attacking suddenly with fully-mustered numbers, they invade Olethros Secunda, driving the Imperium from the planet. The noble work of the Gearwrights and of Lady-Captain Khadija Majid, who was anchored at the time, saves millions who are able to evacuate before the onslaught. Thousands martyr themselves, including the Lady-Captain, fighting to the last faithful warrior against the oncoming Regency forces; in the aftermath, the Regency begins to build temples to the Dark Gods upon the planet.
This is not the worst of their forces, however, as massive fleets emerge from the Rimward wilds and begin pushing towards the planets of the Prosperitas Sector, with major confrontations occuring at Helaerus and Lerwick - both vital strategic locations from which to launch attacks towards the more developed and defended coreward worlds.
At Helaerus, the Imperial forces are hard-pressed to fight the invaders until unexpected aid arrives in the form of Astartes from the Lions of Nemea Chapter, giving the Imperial forces the advantage to turn the tide of battle against the Regency.
At Lerwick a Rising Flame rebellion catches the Imperium off-guard even as a Regency fleet arrives in the system. Through mysterious means, the surface and orbital defence grids of the planet have both been compromised. On the ground, the Rising Flame take advantage; however, in orbit, rather than leave the planet vulnerable, the mysterious actors cause the defence platforms to fire at just the right moment to intercept the Regency fleet before it finishes translation from the Warp and raises shields. The fleet is devastated, turning a near-certain Imperial defeat into a bloody protracted battle.
With war raging late into the year, civilization beyond the core worlds teeters on the balance.
595.M41 - Current Date
Detailed in Gazetteer VI.