With a blue supergiant at its centre, eighteen planets and twenty three dwarf planets, the Colossus system is aptly named. The largest system by far in the Al-Gheri sub-sector, the Colossus system is home to seven inhabited planets plus countless orbital facilities. Hundreds of billions of souls call the system home, and it is a bulwark against the darker forces of the Prastian Straits.
Planets in the Colossus system[]
The system's inhabited planets are Colossus III, IV, V, VI, VII, IX and XII.
Colossus III is an arid, civilised world. Its population is largely nomadic, existing at a subsistence level. Permanent facilities are to be found, mostly run by off-world corporations. Mining and agriculture are important industries. Promethium is found in the southern deserts, and here tribes of refiners fight from the seats of bikes, buggies and trucks for the possession of drill sites.
Colossus IV is home to the Saint's Range, a series of mountain peaks carven into cathedrals and shrines in honour of Saint Sebastian Thor. The Temple of Thor Incarnate is one of the finest examples of Novo-Gothique architecture in the Carthax Sector, and draws millions of pilgrims to it every year.
The hives of Colossus V are responsible for a huge output of war materiel, from bayonets to basilisks and conscripts to commissars. The Imperial war machine marches from Colossus V to the heart of the war for Illythia.
Colossus VI is an ice world, with deep oceans below its frozen crust. These oxygen rich seas are home to tens of thousands of krill, mollusc and fish farms that struggle to feed the hives of the system. Rumour has it that the oceans have almost been emptied of life.
Colossus VII's icy surface is home to numerous species of megaderms and carnolines and the death world is considered a fantastic hunting retreat for the wealthy. The planet is also home to a number of hardy Ogryns tribes that eke out a Stone Age existence on the world.
Colossus IX is dark and barren world with a thin atmosphere and very little water. Hardly the place to expect a human population in the region of sixty billion. Littering IX's surface are sealed hives, home to enormous chemical facilities, refining the world's hydrocarbon and gaseous resources. The hives of IX are some of the most polluted in the sector, and mutation is rampant within its populace. Were it not for the wealth of useful chemicals produced on the world the place would surely have been purged long ago.
The surface of Colossus XII bristles with defence lasers and macro cannons, and its orbit is ringed with docks and torpedo platforms. XII is the system's fortress; a naval base and barracks for millions of guardsmen. From here naval patrol groups traverse the Prastian Straits in search of pirate vessels from Maalachai and further afield as part of Battlefleet Carthax.
History of the Colossus system[]
- 015.M31: System designated {78-BM-1} discovered by Rogue Trader Mechod Varteg. Named Colossus after he remarks at its great size.
- 038.M31: Feral human populations have been discovered on III, IV, V, and abhumans on VII. Indoctrination and rebuilding begins.
- 412.M31: War materiel production on V achieves acceptable levels.
- 603.M31: First Colossal Regiment founded.
- 216.M32: Agents of the Great Enemy repulsed from IV and V.
- 501.M32: Colonisation of IX begins.
- 768.M32: First Famine War of V.
- 109.M33: Daughter of Colossus, the first warship from the yards above V is launched.
- 713.M33: The Colossal Sect established as system's dominant religious order.
- 897.M34: Warp route through Prastian Straits to Rielsprit system discovered.
- 899.M34: Second Famine War of V.
- 034.M35: Commercial fisheries first established on VI.
- 186.M35: Prastian Knot established in orbit of XII.
- 321.M35: IX declared hive world and tithe status upgraded to exacta extremis.
- 427.M35: Third Famine War of V.
- 569.M35: Megafarms established on III. Skirmishes with natives reported.
- 278.M36: Members of Colossal Sect persecuted for protesting Goge Vandire's rule as Ecclesiarch. War of The Divided Church envelops system for five centuries.
- 712.M36: Lord Inquisitor Mendelstein establishes Ordo Hereticus outpost, later the Inquisitorial Fortress Mendelstein's Keep, in hive Gleor, Colossus V.
- 997.M36: Monks of the Colossal Sect begin work on the Saint's Range.
- 014.M37: Colossus XII designated as a fortress world and garrisoned.
- 088.M37: Fourth Famine War of V.
- 092.M37: First Famine War of IX.
- 201.M38: Temple of Thor Incarnate and the sculptures of the Saint's Range completed.
- 399.M38: Patrol Group Falchion permanently stationed at Prastian Knot.
- 776.M39: The Avenger, a warship laid down above V, is lost with all hands due to a supposed reactor failure while in the warp.
- 034.M40: Second Famine War of IX.
- 567.M40: Worshippers of Voor'Acht executed in hive Oppenheimer on IX.
- 572.M40: Cult of Voor'Acht found across V. Heretics purged.
- 701.M40: Schest infiltrators routed from III and VII.
- 712.M40: Patrol Group Falchion bolstered with light cruiser Belle Tigris in response to Schest threat.
- 212.M41: Inquisitor Bernardi Nas proclaims hive Sil on V a 'nest of heretics'. Sil Massacre leaves 2.3 million dead in three weeks.
- 945.M41: Prastian Reaper, the 13th warship built in orbit of V is launched.
- 999.M41: Horusian Mikael Van Helser escapes agents of Inquisitor Tomashek Goddard on IX (cross ref. Voor'Acht).
- 001.M42: Patrol Group Falchion fires on Schest vessel in deep space around jump point 7 in Colossus system.
- 003.M42: Beta level psyker found by Adeptus Astra Telepathica in hive Serretus on V.
- 009.M42: Monks of Colossal Sect report visions of apocalypse to befall IX.