Kathaphron Grav Clade YT133 and YT137, Kataphron Destroyers

Magos Linval values Grav weaponry above all else, as it exemplifies his personal principles: use the opponent's might against them. For this reason the fast mayority of the Forge World's Kataphron servitors are of the Destroyer variety, armed with Heavy Grav Cannons.

Brotherhood of Bolts, Corpuscarii Electro-Priests

The fanatics known as the Brotherhood of Bolts are extremists even by the standard of fellow Corpuscarii Electro-Priests. Total disregard for their own well-being, the Brotherhood of Bolts is constantly at the forefront of the Forge World's battles.

Both Magos Linval and Logis Stahlman don't care for the Electro-Priests either way and just let them be, a fact that suits the Corpuscarii quite well.

Maniple Delta Gnux, Kastelan robots

Acting as the personal bodyguards of Logis Stahlman, the Maniple Delta Gnux is infamous among Hephaes' enemies. The orks have come to call them “da Nob Kans”, as they remind them of their own Killer Kans but with a more … regal demeanor.

Among the heretics that have tried to conquer Hephaes, they are known as “Wrath of Steel”. They are equipped with Power Fists and Incendine Combustors and are part of the vanguard of the Cult army.

Chief Datasmith Raymoon Steric

A true servant of the Omnissiah, Chief Datasmith Steric's mastery of the Binary language is thus that few of his colleagues can follow his monologues without pausing to grasph the meaning.

No real ambition of his own, the Chief Datasmith is content with his current task, feeling a deep kinship  to the machines he commands: two Kastelan robots armed with Heavy Phosphor Blasters.

Forge Lord Logis Stahlman, Tech Priest Dominus

Opposed to Magos Linval, Logis Stahlman would see machines win the final victory in the battle for the galaxy. He simply condones the Imperium at large, but doesn't actively support it. Contrary to most of his colleagues, Logis Stahlman prefers to get into the thick of it instead of controlling his forces from the sidelines.

He personally commands the Maniple Delta Gnux, comprising of up to six Kastelan robots. Although as of yet he wasn't successful in granting the Kastelans true autonomy in choosing their battle protocol, he claims to be able to scry their intention and implement the desired battle protocol accordingly.

Forge Lord Magos Torx Linval, Tech Priest Dominus

One of two rivaling Tech Priests on Hephaes, Magos Linval is a loyal ally to the Imperium. Although he left his humanity far behind him, all his actions are guided by the welfare of the Imperium and its Emperor, whom he considers to be the Omnissiah made flesh. Magos Linval is responsible for the Forge World's good relationship with the local Imperial Fists, although there is no formal partnership between Hephaes and the Imperial Fists.

When the Cult Mechanicus joins forces with the Forge World's Skitarii, Magos Linval is usually accompanied by a Skitarii Vanguard squads of the Omicron Theta Vexillation.

Baron Uther Sagramore, Imperial Knight

There is no Knight World in the Audacia Sector, yet the Adeptus Mechanicus faction has access to a small detachment, sent by House Taranis, loyal to the priesthood of Mars. This detachment is permanently assigned to Hephaes, and Baron Uther Sagramore is the commander of this detachment. His non-sanctioned title of “Guardian of the Forge” makes him the inofficial fifth member of Taranis' Exalted Court, but because he's stationed far from Mars, this title is purely honorific, solely bestowed on him to designate him as the leader of the detachment.
Like most Knight Barons, Sagramore leads from the front, fighting more battles for the priesthood of Hephaes than any other Knight under his command, partly because his Knight, the Furious Flame, is always on the Forge World's priority list when it comes to repairs and maintainance.

Stompa Da Gitcrusher

A proper Waaargh! needs Gargants, and this is the Grin Scorcherz first foray into these giant walkers. Build by Big Mek Magshak Nobgrot (who often hitches a ride in its belly), Da Gitcrusher is an unmistakeable sign for a forming Waaargh!

Da Gitcrusher is still pretty much untested and hasn't seen much action. Still, Magshak and Skumsnaga both have high hopes in this titanic war machine, and Da Gitcrusher will surely become a staple of the warband's front line.

Ironclad Dreadnought Tarlow

A former Sergeant of the 3rd Company, Robert Tarlow was killed in action fighting the Orks of the Audacia Sector. The Captain clinged to live, however, and was promptly transferred into a Dreadnought sarcophagus.

Tarlow is usually deployed via Drop Pod, mainly to disable enemy artillery and similar entrenched positions. Thus far he has only suffered minor damage despite frequently being part of the vanguard.

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.

Chaplain Boguslaw Kazik

One of the main proponent of Lysander's rehabilitation after his return, Kazik, the 3rd Company's Chaplain, remained close to the 1st Company's Captain ever since. In the Audacia Sector Kazik usually goes to field in Tactical Dreadnought Armour, because he regularly joins Captain Lysander's squad of Assault Terminators, standing in for the Captain in his absence.

His main duty is judging the potential recruits on Minerva, and he found the imposing size of the Terminator Armour is beneficial for this task too, as this helps him sorting out those recruits that don't bring the necessary composure.

Audacia Sector: Thana

A small system with two planets, Thana is mostly known for the smaller of the two. While Thana Major is a gas giant with 15 moons, it's Thana Minor's former function as a Shrine World for the whole sector that made it a common destination for pilgrims. But as the 11^th Black Crusade swept thru the Audacia Sector and Thana Minor was caught in its path, the planet was considered condemned and ceased its function.

That doesn't mean that the Ecclesiarchy has given up on the world, however. While the planet has been deemed purged of all forces of Chaos in 347.M39, the taint of Chaos remained, but the Ecclesiarchy has worked tirelessly over the centuries to once again open the Shrine World to the public. As recently as 777.M41 there have been minor demonic incursions, but since then the planet has been deemed clean. Recently clues have been found that point towards the moons of Thana Major as a source for the demons.

The Order of the Pale Lady of the Adepta Sororitas has been stationed on Thana Minor even before the beginning of the cleansing, defending the planet even during the 11^th Black Crusade. This order is named for Saint Ashley, the primary saint for whom Thana Minor was made into a Shrine World, and a venerated saint in all the sector.

Mega-Dread Duffkop

Mega-Dread Duffkop accompanied by some Kill Kans

Skumsnaga's warhorde sports a high amount of Kans and a few Dreads. The de facto leader of this ragtag team of walkers is Mega-Dread Duffkop. While size matters among the Orks, Duffkop is also far more kunning than most, and never showed any fear even when confronting multiple Kans or Dreads at the same time. It's without fail the other dread that backs down. Duffkop is faster than any other walker in the horde (a fact that is regarded highly amongst the Evil Sunz), while at the same time being arguably the toughest, in part thanks to his personal Grot Rigger Fitzig, who shows more mechanical aptitude than most other Gretchin. Duffkop's relation to Big Mek Magshak doesn't hurt either – it was Magshak, not the usual walker-mek Snotgog, who build Duffkop's iron hide. Magshak made sure that Duffkop can hold his own against the other walkers, and is always fixed to a fighting condition in a timely manner, just to spite Snotgog.

The various kans of the warband are in awe of Duffkop. Strangely enough, that doesn't seem to have the same inspiring effect as if they're close to a Deff Dread. If anything, Duffkop's presence seems to make them more prone to panic, as they seem intimidated by the gigantic Mega-Dread. Still, the kans of the Grin Scorcherz flock to Duffkop regardless, but always keep a respectful distance.

Librarian Iwan Czeslaw

Perhaps the oldest Imperial Fists serving today, Czeslaw is close to 700 years old. The experienced Librarian usually wears standard-issue Power Armour to battle, as the modest Czeslaw doesn't want to be treated any different from his more mundane Battle-Brothers.

Czeslaw hails from Minerva, and the Audacia Sector native still feels an especially strong kinship to his old home world. As the Chapters need to bolster the sector defense rises, Czeslaw is more than happy to obligue.  

Warboss Skumsnaga Skarlug, the Bane of Lima, the Red Threat

Warboss Skumsnaga Skarlug and his Nob Mob

Skumsnaga worked his way up from being one of the Evil Sunz Boyz in a Trukk, to owning his own bike, to joining the Nobz in a Battlewagon, to finally dethroning the previous Warboss (by ripping his head off) and making the horde his own. The Nobz Mob he is joining for most of the fights, riding a Battlewagon and led by his trusted second in command Nob Wortkop, are (for the most part) the same Boyz made Nobz he knew since his days in the Trukk.

He has always been fascinated by Ork Teknology, be it Trukks, Bikes, Dreads oder Mek Kannons, but he has an utter disregard for the inner workings of said technology – all that matters to him is that it DOES work. His patience for Big Mek Magshak's explanations on how something is supposed to be used is slim. If some gadget doesn't do what the Warboss wants it to, he's certain that this can only be the fault of the Meks.

A rare close-up of the Warboss

For unknown reasons Skumsnaga seems to be especially picky about which Orks to include in his warband – most other warbosses only care about numbers, but Skumsnaga mostly cares about clan and vehicles. As long as you're an Evil Sunz Ork and either own your own mode of transportation (be it wheeled, tracked or on mechanical legs) or part of a mob in a trukk or battlewagon, you're free to join. As of late, Skumsnaga has allowed certain (motorized) mobs of other clans to tag along, and the Imperial observers monitoring the warband expect the Warboss to fully integrate Orks from other clans anytime soon.

Skumsnaga takes his trusted attack squig Bork with him wherever he goes, although he has a tendency to forget about Bork in the heat of combat and sometimes leaves the squig behind. Most of the time this is because Bork is not able to keep up with the Warboss, more often than not because it was killed. In fact, the gretchins tending for the Warboss keep replacing Bork with new squigs every time the old one died – they fear the day their boss finds out that his favorite creature in the whole universe isn't with him anymore …

Big Mek Snotgog Dakkabad

Big Mek Snotgog Dakkabad, accompanied by
a grot oiler and ammo runt, and flanked by his
trusted Mek Guns

Snotgog is more aggressive than most of Skumsnaga's Meks, who are usually more inclined to tinker with vehicles and weapons than bossing other Orks around. Not Snotgog, who's more interested in putting his various weapon designs to good use than to repair stuff on the field. His favorite weapon by far is the Shokk Attack Gun. Weapons that grow too large for him to carry go right into his sizable and growing Mek Gunz mob.

He's also responsible for many of the kans and dreads of the warband, because he ultimately plans to build a Dread for himself. Thus far, all walkers have either been experimental builds (most if not all the kans, who are much too small for an Ork of Snotgog's stature, belong to this category) or fallen short of his expectations, therefore they've been given to the Boyz or to one of the multitude of Gretchin eager to get their own vehicle.

The fact that the largest dredd of the warband was not built by Snotgog has made his relationship to Big Mek Magshak, the Mek who built said dredd, the Mega-Dread Duffkop, more than a heated rivalry.

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 ...