Ghoul Stars

"Here be dragons."

– Inscription on the Hunt-Lenox Globe, circa 503.M2

"...Fourth Company reports the asteroid settlements of the Orcades brought into Compliance as per the edict of the Second Crusade, one thousand souls claimed as bondsmen for the Legion that it may grow and prosper. Expect our return to Atargatis within the month for reassignment."

– Transmission of unknown provenance, detected by Imperial craft during routine patrol of the Ghoul Stars, 068.M31

Overview

The Ghoul Stars are a far-flung region of space in Warhammer 40,000, located on the northeast fringes of the galaxy, beyond the Ultima Segmentum. The Stars are so far out, in fact, that the light of the Astronomican barely reaches them, meaning that Warp travel in the region is dangerous at best and suicidal at worst. It is also one of the most fucked up places in the galaxy, even by 40k standards. Before the Age of Strife, the Ghoul Stars were home to many human-populated worlds, but some unknown catastrophe appears to have scoured all these planets of life, leaving behind an unusually large number of Dead Worlds. Many horrendous xenos species inhabit the Ghoul Stars, including creatures with powers that defy even the already bent rules of reality that 40k operates under. The Imperium at large considers the region to be such a dangerous place that it has an entire chapter of Space Marines dedicated solely to guarding the border between them and the rest of the galaxy. The region has produced several major threats to the Imperium over the millennia. Something called the Pale Wasting emerged from the Stars during the Nova Terra Interregnum of the 34th Millennium and destroyed entire sectors and eleven Space Marine chapters before being defeated. The Novamarines participated in this campaign, but their histories make no mention of it. Let that sink in. An Ultramarines SUCCESSOR chapter fought here, and there is no Matt Wardian celebratory slaps on the back for the Novamarines. That's how brutal it was. In 977.M41, a Tyranid splinter fleet, horribly warped by its passage through the Ghoul Stars, attacked the Sentinel World Orask and were only beaten back by a stubborn defense, shored up by a company of Red Talons and a Titan maniple from the Legio Magna. Just before the Third War for Armageddon in 998.M41, the Black Templars declared a crusade against the xenos species known as the Cythor Fiends, and were able to nearly exterminate the xenos entirely. However, when they reached the Fiends' homeworld, they found it completely deserted. Before they could investigate, they were called to Armageddon to help in the battle against Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka.

The Bone Kingdom of Drazak

The Bone Kingdom of Drazak is effectively a Necron leper colony, as it is inhabited entirely by Flayed Ones. They roam the ruins of their world, fighting each other for scraps of meat and bone. Their overlord, Valgûl the Fallen, is somehow immune to the Flayer virus, and is therefore the only sane Necron on Drazak. He spends most of his time sitting on a throne made of broken bones and flayed skin, but every few months he rounds up his batshit-crazy subjects for the "Time of Bounty", which is a fancy way of saying "violently raid nearby planets to acquire more squishy organic bits to fight over."

The Ashen Claws

The renegade Space Marine chapter known as the Ashen Claws originated from a group of Terran Raven Guard who were more or less banished from the XIX Legion after the Battle of Gate 42 during the Great Crusade. Corax wasn't fond of the Terrans in his legion, as they were too ruthless and brutal for his tastes. He therefore volunteered the survivors of Gate 42 to join a crusade fleet that was dispatched into the Ghoul Stars to bring the region into Imperial compliance. These survivors were still out there when the Horus Heresy erupted. While they remained nominally loyal to the Imperium, they eventually deteriorated into a chapter of renegades, attacking loyalists and traitors alike in order to secure their own survival. They are now based on the world of Atargatis Prime, and almost no one except for the Carcharodons knows that they still exist.