Editing The Atalantos Worlds (section)

===Culture of the Atalantos Worlds===

Once, Atalantos was a name to inspire wonder and joy among the Imperium, a shining beacon of what was possible for humanity and what might someday become standard for the entire Imperium. Such was Arelex's dream. In the modern era however, Atalantos is a shadowed realm whose struggles closely mirror the greater Imperium. Attrition has taken its toll here despite the population's best efforts, and the Imperium's enemies draw ever closer. 

The glories of Atalantos still exist, but without the Primarch's guidance they have become nearly unsustainable. The ancient forges churn powerfully as they did 10,000 years ago and the finished goods remain marvels of technology, but more inefficient manufacturing techniques and the slow decay of time demand ever larger supplies of raw materials to compensate. It is not uncommon for an archaeotech foundry to require two, three or even ten times the material and energy to create the same item as it did in the 30th millennium. 

Most of the Atalantos Worlds are merely enormous mining colonies, fed by an inexhaustible stream of expendable, barely sentient manpower from the seven Remnant Worlds and their associated Hive Cities. These people were mindless savages when the War Scribes discovered them, but through brutal genetic and bionic modification they were raised to the level at which they could use tools. Though useless for warfare, they are almost immune to radiation damage, the heritage of their survival near the Core, and they make ideal slave labor within the endlessly hungry mines. Though life in the mines is brutal, Atalantos at least makes it no harder than necessary. The Sector Administrators care nothing for the workers, but they do not impose punishments without cause for that would reduce efficiency. 

As a whole, the Atalantos Worlds are a meritocracy enforced by the Scribes. Service above and beyond the call of Imperial duty is generally rewarded (so far as time and resources allow) and those skills are adapted for use elsewhere. Particularly exceptional citizens are often called to train the masses in mighty public forums. Few Imperial regions bother to educate even a small fraction of the teeming masses, but in this corner of space it was Arelex's will that this be made so. To the Primarch, a societal class of educated serfs was deemed vital in order to give the people just enough hope for their future to minimize the desire for rebellion. Of course, it goes without saying that poor service is rewarded in typical Imperial style. If a citizen fails to meet Atalantos standards, they are sent to the mines or executed outright so that their food rations can be given to more useful citizens. 

The people are tracked and watched at all times, constantly gaining and losing "credits" based on service. Earn enough, and one can advance up the social ladder. In theory, a truly gifted person could rise from the lowliest gutter scum to become a Planetary Governor. As the Scribes are quick to point out, this has actually happened more than once, something unheard of in the greater Imperium without resorting to open rebellion. There is a tradeoff for such methods, of course. Social unrest is reduced significantly by permitting limited social mobility, but in turn the Imperium gives up some of the iron-fisted control upon which it depends. 

The War Scribes have added a second layer of insurance atop their social engineering to protect stability, more important than any other. A sense of family. Much as their Legion considers itself one of the tightest-knit, where each Marine only feels truly at home amongst those who share his blood heritage, so too do the Atalantos Worlds consider themselves part of a singular unit somewhat separate from the greater Imperium. The principle element forging this mindset was colonization. More than eighty percent of the Atalantos Worlds were uninhabited before Arelex put Imperial boots on their soil. As such, there were few pre-existing cultures and social units to subjugate and eradicate, no genocides or re-education purges to undertake. Virtually every Atlalantan is descended from colonists or explorers who rallied together against the unforgiving environment they found themselves plunged into, whether they wished it or not. 

Imperial Regiments from the Atalantos Worlds are commonly blended with one another after taking heavy losses or if the parent worlds are too few in population to muster an entire regiment on their own. Few worlds boast of "their" regiments for very long. Interplanetary travel is also highly encouraged and subsidized by the Narhadul Shipyard which produces almost half of the Atalantos Worlds' civilian commercial vessels on its own. By keeping the populace mobile, the Atalantos Worlds can drain manpower from overfilled Hive Cities and move them to frontier planets or mining colonies, bleeding away that critical tipping point of humanity which so often leads to terrible food riots. And of course the dockmasters of Narhadul make an absolute fortune selling their ships. For their part, the War Scribes police the spacelanes with relentless fury to fend off pirates and xenos, permitting trade and transport to proceed unhindered. Perhaps the best description of the Atalantos Worlds is therefore a "stable ecosystem" of worlds, one body of people with mostly common heritages sloshing back and forth across the spacelanes. 

Isolation breeds divergence, and the Scribes are quick to crush divergence wherever it begins to rear its ugly head. They are no less intolerant than other Chapters, but perhaps they are more devious. The Atalantos Worlds are clamped firmly in ceramite gauntlets, yet the people believe themselves above the common dregs of the Imperium for they think themselves free. Such was the wisdom of Arelex, who knew that nothing pacifies the masses faster than giving them someone else to look down upon. But the War Scribes may have uncharacteristically failed to look at the broader picture. Like a blind spot in their ceaseless vigilance, they do not seem to realize that the entire Atalantos region itself grows more isolated by the passage of years. Imperial vessels travel to the Core less and less. Trade dwindles and allied Battlefleets communicate ever more infrequently. The High Lords' gaze moves to the Galactic North and East, fixating on the Eye of Terror and the incoming Tyranid onslaught. Little thought is spared for the relatively quiet Atalantos Worlds. 

Indeed, Arelex and his Legion's unparalleled success in bringing stability to a chaotic Galaxy may someday destroy them, should a threat beyond their power to control suddenly emerge...