Saturn
Either a planet in the Milky Way or a Roman god, similar to Cronus. In the grimdarkness of the 41st Millennium, Saturn is a gas giant in the Sol System located within the Segmentum Solar best identified by its brilliant rings. It is noteworthy for housing the headquarters of the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition.
History[edit]
During the Age of Strife, the rings and the moons served as the home of an advanced independent polity known as the Saturnyne Ordo, with its military arm being known as the Saturnine Fleet. After this period, the miniature empire based at Saturn encountered the fledgling Imperium of Man, which they saw as a brother empire. A treaty was signed with the Emperor that merged the two during the years leading to the Great Crusade. However, portions of the Saturn system were occupied by a rival faction, the so-called Ringers, who fought against and were conquered by the Imperium. Moreover, the Moons of the planet became occupied by cruel Xenos overlords which enslaved their human inhabitants. These moons would not be liberated until the planet fell to the Emperor during the Great Crusade.
During the Horus Heresy period Saturn and its moons were classified as a quarantine zone under the exclusive control of Malcador and his agents. Any unregistered ship approaching Saturn was destroyed. These actions were all all part of Malcador's contingency plans for the fight against Chaos, and shortly before the Siege of Terra Saturn's moon of Titan was teleported into the Webway with Eldar technology in order to safeguard it. During the subsequent Solar War, Saturn was ravaged by the Night Lords who sent ships from Uranus full of dead civilians into its moons and habitation stations in order to sow terror and confusion.
By M32, Saturn had become home to the secretive Ordo Malleus and Grey Knights. The world and its moons were restricted and only a select few were allowed anywhere near its orbit. Unlike the other worlds of the Sol System, it had no orbital colonies and was not heavily developed. Any unidentified vessel nearing Saturn is promptly destroyed by its sophisticated orbital defenses.
Key Locations[edit]
- Mimas: The closest major moon, with its surface suffering from an immense impact scar covering a quarter of the surface. This crater houses the Inquisitorial prison complex which contains the worst criminals hunted down by the Inquisition, who are kept in isolated cells with psychic wards woven into the walls and guarded by gun-Servitors and an Inquisitorial Stormtrooper regiment.
- Enceladus: The next moon, which houses a citadel of the Inquisition and is a vast palace from which Lord Inquisitors of the Ordo Malleus hold court, and also where many of these Lords maintain their personal estates. The primary citadel used by the Inquisition is known as the Encaladus Fortress. In the libraries of the Encaladus Fortress, there are countless volumes of forbidden lore on the subject of Chaos. The Encaladus Fortress also incorporates the Admiralty Spire, where the empire of Saturn's rulers signed their treaty with the Emperor. The Moon is the base of the Sisters of Battle Order known as the Order of the Shattered Glass.
- Tethys (Death World): The site of the hidden archive of the Librarium Daemonicum, access to which is restricted to Lord Inquisitors. Tethys is home to a number of Daemons trapped on its surface. One of the set trials for all aspiring Paladins of the Grey Knights is to survive on its surface without their armour.
- Titan: The largest moon and the home of the Grey Knights Chapter's Fortress-Monastery, which covers a large portion of the surface.
- Deimos — Former moon of Mars which has since been put into Titans orbit; now acting as Titan's moonlet (Yes. That's a term). It serves as a Forge World for the Ordo Malleus.
- Iapetus: The furthermost major moon, home to a Naval Fortress and dock that serves the strike fleets of the Grey Knights, along with the battleships requisitioned from Battlefleet Solar. As it is under Inquisitorial command, it serves as the only reliable means of getting into and out of the rings of Saturn. Iapetus was a stronghold of the Ringers in pre-Imperial times.
- Hyperion: Known for its low gravity, denizens of this moon are tall and have brittle bones outside of their natural home.