- "Perhaps not a jewel in the crown of the Imperium, but certainly a nail in it's coffin."
- —Tech-Priest Corovan Bathis reacting to the first sight of Cairngorn.
- "Once more proof that the Ruinous Powers never rest, never neglect their goal to corrupt, to destroy us."
- —Inquisitor Gorman Di Wolf executes the order Exterminatus
Once providing resources for the Mechanicus' Forge Worlds, Cairngorn's potential was cut off when it fell to a slaaneshi warband.
History[]
Discovered in 650.421.M38, Cairngorn's exceptionally weak start had been hidden by clouds of galactic dust and debris for millennia. The planet was initially put under quarantine, despite large reservoirs of minerals and ores, due to signs of alien occupation in the past. Close after the advent of M39, the quarantine was lifted as no signs of alien life remaining could be found.
Subsequently, the planet was colonized by an expeditionary fleet of the Adeptus Mechanicus overseeing a work-force of nearly 5 million imperial prisoners.
After the basic infrastructure to enable life and work on the planet was established, most of the Mechanicus left the planet, leaving an overseer and a garrison of PDF and warden in one.
Peril In The Darkness []
When the Imperium was thrown into disarray by the Despoiler's most recent Black Crusade, Cairngorn received less and less supplies, which brought the morale of the population to a dangerous low. Rebellion seemed unavoidable, but the prisoner's ambitions were cut short when a raiding party of Dark Eldar emerged over the planet in 018.M42. Slaughtering the inexperienced and under-equipped PDF, they made their way into the caves and abducted thousands of prisoners before they could organize themselves properly.
Eventually retreating deeper into the tunnels, the prisoners picked up the weapons of their former wardens and prepared what seemed to be a last stand. However, after a costly first weeks, the Xenos seemed to suddenly fall into chaos after the prisoners managed to crush a particular large force of them in an artifically created cave-in. Unknown to them, they had eliminated one of the Raiding Party's leaders, which lead to vicious infighting over the succession of his possession.
The relief of the convicts did not last for long and neither did their celebration when an imperial fleet eventually arrived and vanquished the Xenos. The imperial force under command of Colonel Dougal Monroe, Major Vangelija Atanasov and Commissar Frantziska Ibarra had not come to their aid as it first seemed. In fact, they had been entirely unaware of the state of Cairngorn and the presence of the Dark Eldar. They had come to conscribe the prisoners into a regiment to aid in the effort of the Indomnitus Crusade.
The regiment was raised as a penal legion with a focus on supporting roles and sabotage, making use of the prisoners' expertise with explosives and combat in tight surroundings. Such, the 1st Cairngorn Penal Legion was raised.
The Departed Return[]
Events took an unexpected turn for those remaining on Cairngorn in the 055.M42. Now under the command of Major Atanasov, the 1st Cairngorn returned. The confusion of the garrison increased when their calls were not answered and turned into terror when the ships destroyed the small defense force in the orbit, followed by the legion making planetfall. The PDF is slaughtered completely within a single day and the prisoners are introduced to their new masters: The Ecstasy Of Fulmination.
Resistance is swept away in a wave of debauched orgies, slaughter and corruption, turning the convicts either into zealous slaves of Major Atanasov or mindless husks only fit to obey their orders. In the following 15 years, the slaaneshi warband exploited the planet's natural resources and manpower to replenish their dwindled numbers and gear before they left the planet just as sudden as they arrived.
Exterminatus[]
Until the Scouring of Kadukus in 071.M42, the 1st Cairngorn's fall from grace had been concealed from the Imperium. Once their betrayal was known and the regiment had been declared Excommunicae Traitoris, a fleet was dispatched in 075.M42 to investigate the state of Cairngorn. Upon finding nothing but rambling cultists and rampant demons crawling the planet's tunnels and caverns, the responsible Inquisitor declared the world lost and commenced an Exterminatus.
Geography[]
Cairngorn was a mostly dead world even before the Exterminatus, featuring a silicate-rich soil with plenty of ores and minerals buried deep underneath the surface. With little tectonic activity, Cairngorn is covered in huge, flat deserts, polished smooth by strong winds carrying dust across the surface.
The most unique trait of Cairngorn are cylindrical, vertical shafts in diameters varying between 1 and 10 kilometers all across the planet. The exact number estimated to go into the hundreds of thousands, all of them pierce the planet's outer crust. They are presumed to the remains of mining activity from a long gone and forgotten Xenos race. However, there has not been found a single trace to the level of technology or biology of these aliens.
Notable Locations[]
- Phos Alpha: The only space port and logistic centre of Cairngorn, the city of Phos Alpha has been the headquarter of both the imperial and traitor forces during each of their occupation of the planet. It was designed to ward off an attack from the in- rather than the outside, which is taken as the main reason for it falling within a single day.
- Tirothius: Acting as a retreat point for the planet's administration in case of a revolt and the first line of defense in case of an orbital attack, it was thrown out of orbit under the assault of the Ecstasy's fleet. Falling into the planet's atmosphere, what did not burn crashed on the surface. On the present day, only faint debris remain.
Culture[]
Before it's fall, Cairngorn was a planet of the controlled and the controlling. Both sides lived in fear and spite of the other. Aside from mined ore and minerals being collected and food, water and necessities being distributed, there was little to no interaction between them.
This kind of relationship took a twisted turn under the brief reign of Atanasov, where the convicts were robbed of their sanity and pressed into service for the Dark Prince. After the warband's leave, any form of society crumbled, the remaining inhabitants turning on each other.