Turmos was formerly an Imperial Hive World and is currently the capital of the Turmos Apostasy that it is named after. Since its rebellion, the planet has exploded in population and industry, the hive cities themselves exploding to monstrous sizes as mutants ravage the dark ash wastes.
Overview[]
Turmos is the capital of the Turmos Apostasy, a traitorous empire twenty-eight star systems large. Home to a monstrous, if greatly mistreated population and an immense military industrial complex, many come to this world from near and far, though all are outcast from the Imperium, for no sane man would come here willingly.
Reavers, smugglers, renegade guardsmen, and chaos cults have all been known to frequent here, either to stop for supplies or to serve the Apostasy. Rarer, yet ever possible, a band of Chaos Space Marines will arrive, either to raid the planet or to strike some form of dark pact. With the Cicatrix Maledictum, the forces of chaos are safe from the march of the Loyalists. However, that is not to say that any soul that lives here lives in peace. Indeed, the planet is known to be the stage of all sorts of conflicts between various Chaos groups, even small-scale wars have been supposedly recorded in the lower levels. Many a warband has attempted to raid Turmos, seeking their dark patron's favor. Such attempts are often in vain; thanks to the bloated military machine of the Apostasy, the planet is relatively safeguarded from outside threats.
History[]
Pre-Rebellion[]
Turmos was once an Imperial Hive World. Its mighty hive spires, although relatively small, dotted the landscape, with bleak, boney sand deserts in between the cities in a stark contrast between oppressive, cold city life and the wild anarchy of the outside wastes.
Being within the vicinity of the Forge World Waylark VII, the majority of the planet's business was with the Adeptus Mechanicus. In turn, the majority of the foundries were geared to support the Mechanicus, and both the Imperial Cult and the Adeptus Mechanicus fought for religious power, both in the upper spires and in the lower slums.
The planet knew little of war. Every couple hundred years, an Ork army may have attempted to sack the city in their bloodlusted crusades, or some secular revolutionary may have attempted a rebellion. Yet, the Imperium held an iron grip onto this world, and thus peace reigned predominately for the citizens of these Hive Cities. However, as the storms of war turn ever darker against the forces of the Imperium, even this world would feel the coming of Chaos, however far from darkness it may have been.
Heresy Stirs[]
On the dawn of the 13th Black Crusade, several heretic servants traveled all across the galaxy in hopes to weaken Imperial defenses by inciting unrest and rebellion. While many of these would-be revolutionaries quickly fell prey to the ruthless eye of the Inquisition, a fallen priest of the Ministorum, named Palafrax Henn, made it to Turmos in time to bear witness to the greatest political scandal in the last thousand years of the world's history, resulting in the then-governor, Kelirian Vex, being deposed from his throne, condemned to be an irrelevant minor noble until the end of his days. Bitter, and eager a way to regain control of the planet, Palafrax had little trouble in persuading the disgraced noble to listen and trust his words, posing as a sagacious pilgrim.
At first, Palafrax's assistance appeared to be purely pragmatic, and tangible. Akin to a secretary, alliances were made and pirates were hired by Kelirian under Palafrax's advice. Kelirian was already a political mastermind, and with this newcomer the pair were unstoppable. With the assistance of one who has travelled a thousand worlds, Kelirian quickly rose his house's power once more. Yet, the throne had never been so far from his hands-- the replacing Governor had just received the blessing of the Imperial Cult; there would be no usurpation without inciting the Ministorum's righteous wrath.
This apparent setback spurred Kelirian down a darker path. As time went on, Palafrax's advice became more sinister. A master of manipulation, the heretic bloated Kelirian's ego, applying to the noble's narcissism, and lead him to commit acts that had long since been outlawed by even the most anarchic of planetary governments. It was here that the idea of the Dark Gods first took shape in the minds of Kelirian and his followers.
Agents of the Dark Gods[]
At first, Kelirian and his followers were secret in any form of deviation. Though eager to go against the laws of man, they understood full well the dangers of operating in the open, particularly when the Adeptus Mechanicus has an interest in the world's wellbeing. To avoid detection, the majority of Kelirian's lower-class followers were subject to the underhive, where they could operate and recruit undisturbed. Though Palafrax brought the idea of the Dark Gods as a pantheon, the nature of man quickly lead to a tribalistic division in the ranks. Khorne and Nurgle found particular popularity amongst the denizens of the underhive, while Slaanesh and Tzeentch found hosts in the learned and elite class of Kelirian's servants.
This division could not last forever in this state. Kelirian may have not been a preacher, but he was learned enough to understand that eventually his powerbase would tear itself apart, and he would be back to where he started. Thus, he turned his plans towards his end goal, something he would have never considered before hand: violent insurrection.
In this time, his servants' numbers had swelled to the point that he had the largest army of any noble house on Turmos- the majority of it in secret, carving out domains in the underhive where none could challenge him. The group had dubbed itself the Hand of Vex. As time went on, these groups would organize into gangs and patrol around the lawless parts of the Hive, destroying and raiding what they could in the name of rebellion. These incursions would be covered up with Kelirian's political influence, preventing any wide-scale crackdown on this unrest.
Knowing time was limited before Kelirian had to have made a move, he contacted numerous reavers and smugglers to supply and outfit his supporters with real weapons and armor, as well as to provide them combat training. Spending both his house and his personal fortune in equipping his army, he unwisely bet everything on the success of this insurrection. It had to work, or all would be lost.
After months of preparation, all Kelirian needed was a rallying cry to organize his rebellion around. That call came in the form of Cadia's annihilation.
While the Cadia's fall was heavily suppressed, Palafrax made certain that Kelirian knew of the immense Imperial fleet, and none could stand in the way of Chaos's indomitable march. The heretic urged Kelirian that now was the time to begin his rebellion. He must gather his followers, bring to them this news, and urge them to strike at rebellion while dismay and fear were in the hearts of the enemy lords, who had also received the news one way or another.
Rebellion []
In the beginning, the war quickly looked to be in Kelirian's favor. Eight of the twenty-four hive cities were taken in short time in a surprise assault. Palace defenders were quickly overrun, and those that did not defect to the cause were swiftly butchered, and many manufactorums were under Vex's control. The remaining loyalists, still reeling from this surprise uprising, cut off the tram routes to the remaining loyalist cities, and sent out desperate pleas for aid as they also tried to recall several of their Imperial guard regiments that were acting in the sector.
While destroying the trams ensured that the only way to attack the Hive Cities would be to traverse the Ash Wastes, the loyalists had also ensured that they were trapped. No evacuation could happen, save for through space, which was too risky. Yet, the champions of the God-Emperor proved that they would be willing to fight until the end to uphold the Imperium.
Although Kelirian was a demagogue like no other on the planet, he was no strategist. His armies were vast, but they were ill-equipped and ill-trained for combat in the ash wastes, having been expecting to fight purely in urban settings. Over time, the tide turned against Kelirian as the few Imperial guard regiments to return, the Turmos Wasteraiders, were second to none in the sector in fighting in these environments. The loyalists were obliterating any Vex forces they came across through superior training and equipment. In addition, Waylark VII was able to quickly answer the Hive World's calls for aid, and sent wargear and Skitarii to fight in the war. It looked like an Imperial victory was inevitable, and all of Kelirian's preparation was for nothing. However, visitors arrived that changed everything.
Arrival of the Word Bearers[]
As the legions of Chaos were pouring across the galaxy like an unstoppable tide, a warband of Word Bearers came across the planet whilst it was bathed in warfare. After identifying the rebels as followers of Chaos like them, Dark Apostle Yafrix approached Kelirian personally, and gave a proposition. For the small price of 500 million of the world's citizens, the Word Bearers would join his side and assure victory for the would-be tyrant.
Naturally, Vex agreed. He had never seen the space marines before, except in this moment, and was awestruck at the sight of the champions of Chaos. The Word Bearers proved their capabilities by launching an assault on Hive City Rewdon, butchering every loyalist defender within its walls in less than a week. The Word Bearers struck out to the rest of the Hive Cities from there, proving to be an unstoppable force. Not even the Mechanicum Skitarii stood a chance against the combined host of veteran destroyers. With that, morale surged once again in Vex's army, and assaults were renewed. The tide of war turned in Kelirian's favor once again.
Conquest[]
With the support of the Word Bearers, and the increasingly fanatical devotion that came from seeing the Dark Gods' powers manifested, rebel forces overpowered and overran the loyalists, who were weary and deprived. As victory became more and more obviously in Kelirian Vex's grasp, numerous former loyalists turned traitor, their will broken. Most notably was the 5th Turmos Wasteraiders, a regiment which was renowned for having the highest heretic killcount in the entire war-- almost with no explanation at all, they had turned into Kelirian's rule, and proved to have an almost equally high record as a heretic warband.
With the last of the loyalists besieged in the last hive, Kelirian had made preparations to convert that final hive into a monument to his glory and genius. Yet, in a final act of defiance, the loyalists overloaded the hive's reactors, causing a catastrophic explosion that annihilated both the entire city, and 47% of the besieging army. His prize had been denied, yet his victory was obvious. At long last, he was once again undisputed lord of Turmos. His plans would not stop here, however; after the Word Bearers had conducted their own raid on the planet to take the slaves promised, Kelirian turned his gaze to the stars. As if a sign of the fortune that was to come, the Cicatrix Maledictum appeared over the night sky, visible to the naked eye.
Climate & Geography[]
The planet was supposedly a temperate world when mankind first found it, with biomes similar to that of Earth. However, events millennia ago that remain a mystery even in the 42nd millennium lead to the planet becoming an irreparable barren world with thick storms of ash and dust, leading to the average denizen having a fair complexion.
The only places where life could thrive were the oases; places that provided both heat and water. These oases proved to be the foundations in which the Hive cities themselves are built upon; as such, only by entering the deepest, darkest ruins of the Underhive would one find any natural life native to the planet.
Save for a single body of water on the Northern hemisphere, the planet's surface has been scarred to feature only rocky mountains and ash deserts. These mountains soar high above the ash wastes and storms, with peaks rivaling that of the Hive City's tallest spires. The mountains remain unclaimed even during the Apostasy's efforts of rapid expansion, and many believe that the last of the loyalists shelter there, praying that the Emperor will save them.
Military[]
Turmos relies on the armies of the Apostasy as the primary military force of the planet. A mixture of former PDF, guardsmen, and reavers comprise a corps of veterans on this planet, who in turn manage the immense slave-armies of militia that provide a semblance of security to key parts of the planet. In the event of an external invasion, travelers and citizens have been known to also raise arms, if purely for self-preservation