Knights of Kulaebra

Knights of Kulaebra
The Knights of Kulaebra are a space marine chapter that operate from their homeworld and maintain direct control of the Signis Ferrum sub-sector in the Segmentum Obscurus.

Founding
The Knights of Kulaebra are believed to have been founded in the earlier half of the 37th Millennium, either during the Sentinel Founding or prior to it. The chapter itself is located in the corner bordering both the Segmentum Solar and the Segmentum Pacificus, leaving them in an optimal position to respond to marauding Chaos forces that elude the patrols around the Eye of Terror or to intercept xenos pirates who seek to plunder the most prized worlds of the Imperium. While their place in the galaxy is well thought out, the location was selected based on the self-serving bias of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

The history of Kulaebra itself extends before the Age of Strife, where the solar system was a recently colonized system in Mankind's ever expanding dominion.

Kulaebra was lightly colonized and inhabited despite being closer to the sun and possessing a more favorable climate. The planet's mineral reserves were located far deeper than was practical to mine for, and the local wildlife proved to be quite dangerous to both equipment and crews so the decision was made to relocate most of the world's manufacturing and mining capacity to its sister planet, Luperia. The mineral rich world shared a close orbit with Kulaebra so it was naturally a better choice as the orbital refineries and shipyards could be kept on one planet, thus minimizing the amount of administration required while also preserving the majestic mountain views and forests of Kulaebra.

In a bizarre twist of fate this move preserved most of the planet and a fair percentage of its population. When the Age of Strife began the Iron Men rebelled and psykers went rogue. On Luperia this proved disastrous. Cut off from the rest of humanity and many of their own mines and factories in rebellion, the overlords of Luperia were forced to use their powerful arsenal of weapons to destroy the wicked machines and also enacted edicts to cull large portions of the population from corruption inflicted by possessed pyskers. With their primary means of survival destroyed and swathes of the planet devastated, Luperia's population devolved into anarchy with various factions and sects taking power in the relatively unscathed regions of the planet.

In contrast, Kulaebra possessed a relatively smaller population collected in a few cities and spaceports with limited industry. Despite this, the crisis was still devastating with whole cities destroyed and populations displaced. Most of the world's industrial capacity was destroyed with no means to replace most of the technology and equipment because Luperia was the source of many of these resources. Left to fend for themselves, the Kulaebrans devolved into a techno-feudal society, possessing just enough knowledge and technology to maintain some basic infrastructure and produce infantry equipment, but not enough to maintain serious industrial capacity.