Editing Ataulf Sachs (section)

===Lusopolis, the Menagerie City===

Without a scintilla of doubt, Holy Terra is the shining jewel in the crown of Mankind. With palaces that could house petty kingdoms on provincial worlds, forests of dreaming spires that pierce the atmosphere and cyclopean monuments that peer down from the Empyrean like vengeful gods, it exemplifies the greatness of our race like no other place in the Galaxy. Pilgrims that come there from all around the Imperium are more than content to quietly wither away in its shining streets, realising the futility of ordinary life after having witnessed the marvels of the cradle of humanity. So magnificent is this planet that it almost appears absurd that human hands could have wrought a work of such grandeur. And yet, ten thousand years ago, Terra was very different from the Imperial capital we're all used to. It was a place of savagery and cruelty, of desolation and ruin, of anarchy and inquity. Where gilded palaces now stand, there stood enormous slave pens; where elegant cathedrals stretch their spires skyward, foetid petrol swamps were choking with industrial wreckage. Over this husk of a planet, countless petty warlords lorded, most of them little more than glorified gang leaders. However, some of these kingdoms were truly bizarre, such as Lusopolis, the birthplace of Ataulf Sachs. 

Mutations and congenital deformities were hardly uncommon on Terra during the Age of Strife: baleful emanations of the Warp exacerbated by heavy radiation and omnipresent pollution made monstrous births a common occurrence. In most places, such children were considered portents of ill fortune to come and exiled into the ruins, where they joined feral herds of demihumans like themselves. The citizens of other principalities viewed mutant infants as gifts from their primitive gods and groomed them to take on positions of authority when they grow up. However, one of these petty Terran polities was truly unique in that it was populated entirely by beastmen: the Gerontocracy of Lusopolis. Such a peculiar situation was caused chiefly by this citystate's isolation from the nearby human realms. Trapped in a deep valley surrounded by irradiated mountain ridges, the citizens of Lusopolis had no choice but to resort to inbreeding, and over the course of centuries their small gene pool was overwhelmed with mutations. Deformity quickly became the new norm, which only shows how relative the notion of normalcy truly is. 

However, as even healthy women sometimes give birth to deformed children, the beastwomen of Lusopolis sometimes brought perfectly healthy infants into this world. Ironically, these unfortunate souls were considered freaks and disgusting subhumans who had no place in the Gerontocracy. They weren't killed or exiled into the mountains like they would be in a savage society: in spite of its bestial-looking population, Lusopolis was a place of considerable refinement, only slightly seasoned by the heartlessness that is so characteristic of societies cherishing their civility. Instead, the healthy kids were taken away from their parents and taken to the House of Smiles - a prison-like freakshow where the beastmen came to gloat at healthy humans.