Audacia Sector: Demophon

Encircled by three warp storms at the same time which formed in a matter of days in 646.M41, travel to and from Demophon is at some times highly dangerous and at others literally impossible. In addition, the planet is not at its recorded place, but rather appears in different systems at seemingly random times, not unlike a Space Hulk. This is the reason Demophon is not recorded on the sector map.

The status of this world is uncertain. While rumors exist that the former Imperial World has turned into a Daemon World, all accounts of this are highly suspect. The Adeptus Mechanicus of Hephaes has been chasing after Demophon for years, but has thus far been unsuccessful in examining the mysterious world, as it's impossible to get reasonably close by warp travel thanks to the three warp storms around Demophon.

The few reliable sightings over the centuries tell of no obvious signs of change to the world; from afar Demophon looks like an ordinary world.

As of 996.M41, Demophon seems to have returned to the Audacia Sector for good – but it's not the same planet that vanished in 646.M41 … it's a much older version of the planet! For some reason and in some non-explicable way the planet has returned to the early days of the 31th Millenium, more precisely: back to the latter days of the Horus Heresy. A large contingent of the Death Guard was tasked with storming the original recruitment planet of the Imperial Fists in this sector, to cut off any potential reinforcements for the besieged forces on Terra. The Imperial Fist's fortress on Demophon was only minimally staffed, as most forces have been ordered back to Terra to defend humanity's home world already, and the Death Guard was about to wipe the Imperial Fists from this planet. A sudden Exterminatus-like event seemingly eradicated all life from the world in an instant, and the world was left unpopulated for millenia. The state of the world seems to have returned just prior to this event, leaving both Imperial Fists and Death Guards to continue their fight. 

As of yet it's uncertain what this sizable force of Death Guards, ripped from the 31th Millenium, will do in the 41th Millenium ...

Hephaes

While Hephaes is classified as a Dwarf Planet, it nevertheless sports nearly Terra-like gravity, thanks to its massive lead core. Why this barren world has an atmosphere nobody knows, and the initial Explorator fleet tasked with solving this mystery in M34 soon grew to a full-fledged Forge World, albeit a minor one under the direct control of Mars.

As long as the Adeptus Mechanicus has controlled Hephaes, the Orks of the sector have remained a constant nuisance. Recently the threat has grown more dire, and the various Chaos incursions in the sector also showed an interest in gaining Hephaes abundand metallic ressources and production facilities.

Hive Fleet Leviathan has ignored Hephaes thus far, as the Tyranids have attacked more plentiful bounty, because the planet lacks biomass. The local AdMech command is nevertheless preparing for an all-out Tyranid attack, because the Hive Mind won't ignore Hephaes strategic importance forever.

To combat the various threats, the Skitarii and Cult Mechanicus forces have been bolstered by Imperial Knights of House Taranis.

Audacia Sector: Lima Prime and Secundus

Lima Prime

The most heavily populated planet in the sector, the Hive World of Lima Prime is also the sector capital. As far as Hive Worlds go, Lima Prime would make a good archetype: an overpopulated, heavily polluted planet featuring massive hive cities with vast stretches of wasteland between them. The only acceptable living conditions can be found in the upper echelons of the hives, where the planet's ruling class make their home.

Lima Prime is plagued by the usual troubles of Hive Worlds: the hives support large criminal networks, coupled with an abundance of cults of various sorts. The local Arbites have their hands full suppressing these cults, which thus far they don't sport much influence on the populace.

Lima Secundus

The second planet of the Lima system is a dead world with an atomsphere, a rather unusual combination. While life could exist on Lima Secundus, it simply doesn't, for unknown reasons. Most of the world is covered by sand, giant stretches of deserts only interrupted by mountains and rock formations.

Why the Orks came to Lima Secundus, nobody knows for certain. The most likely theory involves a crashed Space Hulk populated with greenskins, but thus far no crashsite was found (but keep in mind that all observations have to be done from a safe distance), nor was there any Imperial witness to said crash. As the dominant Ork clan on the planet is the Evil Sunz, it's speculated that the hulk was completely dismantled and transformed into vehicles of all sizes.

As far as the Imperial scholars know, the Orks fought a great many skirmishes and battles until the Evil Sunz warband named Grin Skorchers emerged victorious, beating all other clans and warbands to the brink of extinction.

In 988.M41 the Planetary Defense Force of Lima Prime launched an preemtive strike against the Orks of Lima Secundus, but this attack was a catastrophic failure, only rallying the Orks under the banner of the Grin Skorchers that much quicker and heavily depleting the PDF.

Audacia Sector: Minerva

Minerva, a small but dense planet, is classified as a Feudal World. The ruling class is well aware of the Imperium, but for the general population of 1.5 million humans everything beyond their own planet is just a myth.

Most of the population works in agriculture, but Minerva also sports large groups of knights. These knights are tasked with protection in general and keeping the large reptilian beasts and the Feral Ork population of the planet in check.

There are no oceans on Minevera, and preciously few lakes and rivers, as most of the planet's water is to be found underground, yet close enough to the surface that the planets dense forestation can be sustained.

Above all Minerva's main point of interest is the fact that it is one of the recruiting planets for the Imperial Fists Chapter of Space Marines. The lords of the knightly orders are rather proud of the fact that their best knights are taken into the ranks of this famous Chapter.

Recently, the Orks on Minerva have become even more of a threat than usual. Whether this is in any way connected to the forming Waaargh! in the Audacia Sector is pure speculation.

Audacia Sector: Introduction

The Audacia Sector is located in the Ultima Segmentum, bordering the Segmentum Solar and close to the Segmentum Obscuris.

There are approximately 80 known systems in this sector (but less than a quarter has any sizable habitations), with an unknown number of yet to be discovered systems.

The most prominent worlds are:

• Lima Prime, a Hive World and the sector capital, besieged by a growing Ork Waaaargh.
• Lima Secundus, a Dead World, the focal point for the Ork migration
• Minerva, a Feudal World that also functions as one of the recruitment world for the Imperial Fists. Infested with Feral Orks.
• Thana Minor, an abandoned Shrine World
• Urstov III, a Hive World on the brink of rebellion.
• Hephaes, a minor Forge World.
• Akal, a Dead World and former site of a major battles, wiped clean of all signs of life via Exterminatus.
• Deimos, a moderately settled Agri-World riddled with ancient ruins.
• Fayein Jul, an infamous Death World full of deadly predators.

As part of the Imperial Fists fleet prepares their bi-annual visit to Minerva, the Audacia Sector stands on the brink of war – the threat of the Orks is well known and ever growing, but there are other, darker forces at work ...