The Setting

THE WORLD OF GOLGENNA CAPITALIS

"When the people forget their duty they are no longer human and become something less than beasts. They have no place in the bosom of humanity nor in the heart of the Emperor. Let them die and be forgotten."

- Prime Edicts of the Holy Synod of the Adeptus Ministorum

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Name: Golgenna

Sector: Lazarus

Location: Segmentum Pacificus

Attitude: VH40/HS110

Distance from Terra: 4,600 light years

Primary type: 3M

Orbital bodies: 5: d-class, d-class, Cv-class, M-class, d-class

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Planet: Golgenna Capitalis

Mean Orbital Distance: 132,700,000 km

Mass: 1.03

Orbit: 1.04

Rotation: 1.24

Equa. Diam.: 11,200 km

Gravity: 1.09

Satellites: None natural, extensive orbiting dockyards and ship-building facilities for the Battlefleet Pacificus anchorage  

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Founding: Golgenna was originally settled during the Golden Age, and was rediscovered during the Great Crusade circa 806 M30. 

Notable Features: The significance of Golgenna Capitalis lies in the orbital shipyards and port anchorage that sit above it and throughout the rest of the system. Of vital importance to Battlefleet Pacificus in this sector, the ultimate value of the entire system lies in its ability to supply, refit and build warships. 

A heavily industrialised hiveworld, the northern hemisphere of Golgenna is dominated by the foundries and manufactorums of Magadan Hive, which feed the shipyards in orbit directly via orbital elevators and a constant succession of cargo haulers. The forges are in turn supplied by the mineral wealth of the southern continents and imports from offworld mining operations in the system's asteroid belts. 

Magadan and the extensive mining facilities are supported by the continent-sized reclamation zone of Vorkuta, an urban sprawl dedicated to recyling and reprocessing of water and foodstuffs. 

The majority of the ruling classes reside in orbiting plates or  the shipyards themselves, where they oversee their planetside interests from relative luxury. Here they can also directly monitor the construction and supply of warships for Battlefleet Pacificus, the primary export and Tithe of Golgenna. Many of the Noble Houses have ancient familial links with the Navy. 

Extensive governmental palaces sit in the shadow of the orbital elevators at Magadan, occupied primarily by Administratum personnel. Mechanicus holdings are also numerous amid Magadan, and they are often seen as the defacto rulers by the forge inhabitants.  

Other notable features include the decaying Monastery of St. Elana the Unshaken, which houses a Mission of the Adepta Sororitas present since the Age of Apostasy, and the Aschentor, an ancient Chapter Keep of the Adeptus Astartes. It is thought to have been founded by the Black Templars Chapter, but is believed to be abandoned. 

Notable Historic Events: Until M36 Golgenna was considered a minor hiveworld supplying processed mineral ore to neighbouring worlds. At the end of the Age of Apostasy, the world was used as a staging post for the reclamation and reconstruction of the Imperium in the wake of Sebastian Thor's Reforms. This in turn saw the development of the immense shipyards and anchorage in orbit that have come to define the system.  

The world weathered the Reign of Blood and the subsequent Plague of Unbelief, and was declared sub-sector capital for a short period. The increased influence of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Imperial Navy eventually saw political power moved away to the neighbouring world of Akeris. Golgenna did not relinquish its title however, and is still referred to as Capitalis. 

 

Past Inquisitorial Involvement: See seperate sub-files on [a76h] Slave-trading; [l33k] licensed mutants; [w2ol] Ministorum power blocs ref. Secret War; [m77ld] Slaught xenos-intervention

Recent Investigations: None within the last thirty years.

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GOLGENNA CAPITALIS - Before the Storm

"To most outsiders, Golgenna Capitalis has a reputation as a grimy, roughshod place, a hive world that, while notoriously independent in sector politics, is seen as lacking the significance or sheer size of the likes of Lazarus or Vistula. The truth of the matter is that Golgenna's independence and measure of self-sufficiency is bought at a price, and its bustling façade hides a number of dark secrets. It is suggested that many cults and other “secret parties” test their influence on the helot population before moving on to sector-dominant worlds. Cults and cult activity certainly fester here. 

The ruling classes shun the surface of the world, ignoring the toil of their subjects and concentrating solely on the flow of raw material into Magadan and the finished products flowing out. They watch with detachment, content to let the foundry guilds and the Magistratum Enforcers carve out their personal fiefdoms in the forges and mines below. All the while adepts of the Mechanicus bestride the forges of Magadan, aloof to the billions toiling around them. 

Hive Magadan sinks deep into Golgenna's crust. Heavily industrialized, it is a hellish place of molten metal and volcanic fires, where warship armor is forged and poisonous ash fumes the air. The hive exists purely to serve the Battlefleet Pacificus port anchorage in high orbit. The conditions are so harsh that a native of Necromunda or the Lathes might count themselves fortunate on seeing them. Magadan is controlled by the fractious and pitiless foundry guilds. To them labor and metal are only coins of the realm, and one guild master would think nothing of sabotaging or murdering their rivals, or kidnapping entire work gangs to help meet their production quotas. Life is cheap in Magadan, violence commonplace and death and maiming everyday hazards, but the helots that toil thanklessly there know that it could be worse; they could be exiled to Vorkuta.

Within the Lazarus Sector, and possibly even beyond, Vorkuta has a justified claim to being the most blighted, miserable, hell-sent place one could have the misfortune to be born in. Poisoned by the effluent of its siblings, Vorkuta exists for one purpose only; to supply the other hives and settlements of Golgenna Capitalis with purified water and recycled products from run-off waste and the acidic silt of the mire in which it sits. Rather than towering above or delving into the earth, Vorkuta sprawls for hundreds of square kilometres like a vast cancer of corroded gantries and phosphor-lit domes that have spread over Golgenna's acidic salt-fens. When viewed from above, its filth encrusted domes, corroded platforms and sucking vapour intakes nestle in the fens like the boils and scabs of some chronic disease digging into the planet’s carcass. The sprawl itself is made up of vast moisture-traps, reprocessing plants, waste-biomass recycling reservoirs and the mad clusters of stilt-supported shantytowns that cling to them. The simple truth is without these facilities’ output, famine, pollution and poisoned water would destroy Golgenna Capitalis in a few short years---the toil of millions is needed to keep billions more alive..."

- Great Worlds of Lazar, The Definitive Consideration of the Lazarus Sector

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"A Heretic may see the truth and seek redemption. He may be forgiven his past and will be absolved in death. A Traitor can never be forgiven. A Traitor will never find peace in this world or the next. There is nothing as wretched or as hated in all the world as a Traitor."

- Cardinal Khrysdam, Instructio Absolutio

UPRISING

A slow rot is killing this world, and it was already a blighted place. 

Civil unrest had riven the sprawling cities of the equatorial region and southern hemisphere for what felt like decades. Old rivalries and blood debts, an abused underclass... none now live that remember how it began. 

For years, the ruling classes hid the scale of the turmoil from the wider Imperium. They funnelled private armies into the meat grinder and controlled the propaganda, driving dissidents into greater acts of desperate resistance. Decade-long suppression actions, poisoned water sources, forced sterilisation and brutal culls ruined the southern continents. The Noble Houses sought no resolution or aid, but allowed atrocity after atrocity to continue and pressure to build. 

So long as Magadan produced the Imperial Tithe and Vorkuta maintained it, the nobility could continue their lifestyles and avoid the attentions of Terra. Unrest turned to upheaval. As supply to the forges wavered, reserves and old surplus was stripped to offer up to the Imperium. Veteran forces from the frontlines were withdrawn and served up to the Astra Militarum, impressing with their skill but driving the uproar to continue ever longer as less and less experienced officers fumbled their commands. 

Heading off Adeptus Arbite intervention, the Noble Houses arranged distractions and accidents, covering their tracks while their rule slowly collapsed. Their decadence and self-interest descended into wretched acts of desperation, but when Vorkuta faltered, the true horror of the disease they had hidden became clear. A succession of hastily-installed Governors and Arbite proxies attempted to seize control of the situation, but each fell to assassination, incompetance and sabotage by their fellows - even as their cities burned, the decadent elites could not look beyond their own desires. 

Open war reached the foundries of Magadan, the true face of the "unrest" revealed. Broken by so many years of repression and drawn-out, lingering hatred, factions of dissidents turned from the distant Emperor and embraced the Ruinous Powers. 

The response from the Imperium was as swift as it was brutal. The Battlefleet anchorage could not be threatened. Astra Militarum regiments shattered the rag-tag coalition of warring cults and rebel cells, scattering them into the continent-sized sprawl of Vorkuta or the depths of the southern mines. At Magadan, where the worst of the heretic forces had managed to penetrate the Imperial defences, a strike force of Adeptus Astartes slaughtered their mutant masters.

The Uprising was broken into a thousand shards, each warring with each other as much as the wider Imperium and the Noble Houses. Purges were enacted, driving the population into a greater misery, while the upper echelons scrambled to absolve themselves of any blame and secure as much of the ruined world for themselves as they could. 

It was into this decayed ruin that Lord Inquisitor Vandemar called his Conclave. 

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PLOT HOOKS AND SCENARIO CONCEPTS

Golgenna is a bleak world, riven with corruption and the embers of a broken uprising. There has been no chance to rebuild and secure the obedience of the population. Many of the most guilty Noble Houses have avoided retribution and drawn even more power to themselves. The authorities are divided; tensions are high and many feel another uprising could flare up if they misstep . Scattered cults of heretics and worse are still loose in the bowels of the cities, while xenos pirates and cruel Rogue Traders watch hungrily from above. 

Into this cauldron the Lord Inquisitor has called a Conclave. He favours subtlety, infiltration and quiet interrogation to root out the corruption in the upper echelons and the heresies of the lower classes. For this purpose he has summoned a number of his favoured colleagues... but alongside them have arrived the hardline Monodominants and bombastic firebrands. 

The situation on Golgenna Capitalis is fraught, and most believe another war is coming - but first it will be fought in the shadows, in the dark forgotten places... 

Corruption in High Places

The decadance of the Noble Houses that lead to the uprising, and in particular the way the civil unrest was hidden from Imperial authorities speaks to a higher level of corruption than can normally be tolerated. The Inquisitor must investigate and purge the upper echelons - but must take care not to destabilise the fragile peace further.

Power Play

As the surviving Noble Houses begin their struggle for power once more, an Inquisitor is caught up in an assassination attempt on a noble he seeks to interrogate. Can the Inquisitor protect them from the brutal assassin? Does he even want to?

I Am The Law

Driven mad by the horrors of the uprising, an Adeptus Arbite Judge leads his men against everyone he perceives as breaking the Pax Imperialis in a bloody series of purges. Following the arrival of so many Ordos agents, he sees a Radical Inquisitor as a justifiable target, authority be damned! 

Relics of a Forgotten Age

Mechanicus Reclaimators scour the depths of Magadan, uncovering an ancient Machine Temple unearthed during the fighting. Ordos forces arrive, believing the vault tainted, or perhaps to steal the secrets for themselves! Can they achieve their goal without inciting schism with the Adeptus Mechanicus?

The Worm That Walks

The Inquisitor has followed leads to Golgenna detailing a xeno plot to further destabilise the war-torn planet and take advantage of the displaced, vulnerable population. He believes a secretive cabal of Chartist Captains are involved in carrying out the whims of these hideous creatures, and must interrogate or infiltrate the shipyards to discover the truth.

Refugee Stowaways

Servants of the Ruinous Powers, scattered after the uprising, are believed to have infiltrated the refugee populations. The Inquisitor must decide whether to utilise subtle methods of infiltration, interrogation and pursuit to discover the wider network of the cults, or if they should just burn down the refugee camps and kill them all.

The Beast

A series of strange killings have been linked across a damaged sector of the foundries. Evidence points to something... unnatural... whether it be a xenos beast, mutant monstrosity or something far worse. Local Magistratum rapidly run out of ideas and turn to the Holy Ordos.

Trust No One

The Inquisitor believes the uprising was caused by a single individual, a powerful psyker with incredible powers of mind-control. Certain descriptions match an old foe, a traitor long-thought dead. They must be tracked down, but can anyone be trusted? 

Stop The Launch! 

The ruling government is corrupt, inefficient, pro-mutant and possibly under alien dominance, and a hardline Inquisitor has decided that it is time to put a permanent end to this affair by launching an orbital missile at the Government buildings, destroying the spineless authorities with one blow. Another Inquisitor believes less drastic measures are necessary, and the resultant loss of government will do more harm than good. He and his companions must fight their way into the orbital platform's control room and stop the launch of the missile.

Visiting the Library

The Radical Inquisitor has recently created or come into possession of a Daemonhost. Wishing to have greater control of the creature, the Inquisitor seeks to an ancient proscribed text, currently held in a well defended location. His warband must acquire the book without drawing undue attention to themselves.

Old Wounds

There is an area spoken of in the ruined city where the barriers between the warp and realspace are thin, allowing communication with and the summoning of daemons. Two Inquisitors arrive, one of them determined to seal this warp breach, the other to exploit the knowledge that could be gained. 

Sanctioned

A group of veteran Astra Militarum soldiers have developed strange tendencies following their battles against the heretic forces. The Inquisitor must tread lightly in his investigations, as they are all well-armed and experienced soldiers, and currently in the service of a rival Inquistor. 

Thy Will Be Done

One of the most powerful cabal leaders from the uprising was said to be a daemonhost with the power to command others with a single word. An Ordo Malleus Inquisitor has sworn to track down and destroy the fiend, but must first overcome a fellow Inquisitor who wishes to capture it and steal its powers. 

It's A Deal

An Ordo Xenos Inquisitor has learnt of a major black market deal in alien weapons using the disturbance of the uprising as cover. They are determined to ambush the parties involved and bring them to justice, but the Rogue Trader organising the deal believes he has every legal right to do business and will stop at nothing to protect his hard won goods.