- "Sure, if you like being tortured by insane Chaos Space Marines, gutted in the street by insane pirates, ran over by insane speed cultists or toiling forever in underground factories and never seeing the sun again for the profit of insane tech-monstrosities, then you'll feel right at home on Krypteia. Plus the landscape is nice, if you like nothing but the colour red."
- —Somatophylaxos Hella Ekathi
Krypteia IV is the fourth planet of the Krypteia System, located within the Maelstrom. It is the homeworld and fortress of the Shadow Reavers and Sons of Malady warbands of Chaos Space Marines, as well as the Porphyr Elixis pirates and the Krypteian Techarchy. A desert world, beneath its surface lie hidden forges from where Krypteia IV's hereteks produce weaponry for the forces of Chaos.
History[]
It is unknown when Krypteia IV was first settled. For a thousand years, its belly had been populated by hereteks hidden in underground fortresses. Their riches had brought bands of pirates who slowly colonized the planet, trading spoils for the fruits of the hereteks' machines. The surface had seen a number of different tyrants take control over it, desiring to tax this wealth. For their part, the hereteks, calling themselves the Techarchy, cared not for these petty rulers. As long as the spoils flowed, whosoever thought the red dust bowl above was his was of no concern.
During the waning years of the Qaraskar Sovereignty, one of the many groups that had laid claim to the planet, the planet was besieged by a coalition of Chaos Space Marines consisting of the Shadow Reavers and Sons of Malady warbands. Succesfully seizing the planet, they centralized the disparate bands of pirates into a small raiding kingdom.
As the Red Corsairs vied for control of the Maelstrom, Krypteia IV found itself under constant attack from the many Chaos bands that sought to escape their yoke, culminating with a devastating war that leveled most of Quiesca, its single Hive Continent. There was no escape from the Corsairs however, and in the end the coalition of Shadow Reavers and Sons of Malady was forced to kneel and become vassals of the Tyrant of Badab, paying regular tithes of materiel to the Red Corsairs and aiding their war efforts.
Geography[]
Under its twin suns, the red sands of Krypteia IV stretch far and wide as far as the eye can see. The choked and angry crimson sky of the Maelstrom illuminates the sparse spires of its single hub of life: the massive hive continent of Quiesca, located on the planet’s South pole. Flat, desolate, and barren, Krypteia IV’s deserts surround the massive hive, the stark landscape, featureless on almost all sides, an ever depressing and discouraging sight.
Here and there across the planet colossal chimney stacks dot the desert, polluting the red skies with long columns of toxic smoke. Regularly industrial spills will surface, creating oases of diluted waste. The wretched desert inhabitants fight over these oases, filtering out the water to sustain themselves and the promethium to keep their vehicles going. Without a vehicle, the open desert is assured death.
Most of the desert’s dwellers know not of its secret: beneath the surface vast caverns, tunnels and chasms merge in a planet-wide network known as the Foundation. And each of these caverns and tunnels is home to a dark factory ruled over by uncaring masters. Its denizens, most often slaves mutated beyond reason, many born in the dark caverns and not knowing the caress of the suns’ light, toil endlessly to escape the lashes of their half-machine, half-man masters. The desert’s only other defining feature are its toxic lakes of sulfur and tar. The largest among these is the Tar Pit, a vast ocean of asphalt that flanks Quiesca to its East.
Outside the hive city walls, in the endless salt expanses of the Krypteian Outback roam the Waste Raiders, nomadic speed cults of maniacs and cutthroats. Driving tech-heretical vehicles of ancient design, salvage and junk brought together in new life, the incredibly diverse and ramshackle motorized machines of the Waste Raiders ride forever across the landscape, waging war upon one another, fighting for any emerging oases of water-oil that have surfaced from the black forges below. When the pirate fleets of Krypteia leave their docking bays and landing pads the Waste Raiders follow in tow, giant heavy landers bringing the motorized lunatics atop the pirates’ vessels. When finally they are unleashed upon a planet, they will ride across its width and berth unstoppable, kidnapping slaves and stealing treasure, loot and machine to bring back to their barren homeland.
Quiesca[]
Quiesca, capitol of Krypteia IV
From the very banks of the Tar Pit begin to rise the edifices of Quiesca - a lawless land of anarchy, where violent gangs of Chaos worshipers, mostly of Slaanesh or Nurgle, kill each other in waves of endemic violence for territory and spoils. The law in the Hive is created by the gangs themselves. The smaller ones are usually vassals of larger gangs, and those of even larger, those of entire mafias and cartels, all of which are directly controlled by the affluent few: the pirate captains that bring their bounty to Krypteia IV’s markets.
Highest among these is the Autocrator, a lord picked by the Shadow Reavers and Sons of Malady to serve their interests. The Autocrator acts as planetary governor, and is the grand marshall of Krypteia’s vast and disparate fleets. In truth, the Autocrator’s power is limited, as the fleets and gangs of Krypteia are almost impossible to control.
In the very centre of the continent-city lie the highest spires. Upon these is Lucre Fete, the plaza and marketplace where the pirates of Krypteia’s sizable fleets, together called the Porphyr Elixis, congregate and sell their loot after paying tributes of slaves and treasure to the Chaos Space Marine masters. From Lucre Fete, the treasure trickles down into the dark edifices below. The plaza also serves as gathering place and parliament for the quasi-democratic, but mostly just violent, politics of the pirate fleets.
Flanking Lucre Fete are the taller buildings of the Chrysopalateion to the North, the Silent Court to the East and Maladia to the West, the real seats of power. The Chrysopalateion serves as home to the Autocrator and the archidukes, the most prominent pirate captains of the fleet. In the Silent Court and Maladia sit ever vigilant the real masters of the world, the Shadow Reavers and the Sons of Malady respectively. Thousands of kilometers below lies the Bottomless Gate - the lowest part of the hive, and key entrance to the hereteks' hidden factories. Here no one enters without the Krypteian Techarchy’s consent, the coalition of fallen tech-priests ever paranoid. Driven by the factories’ constant hunger, the hereteks, lead by their Archmagister, make regular forays to the surface where they exchange treasure, raw material and slaves for the bounties of their hidden and sleepless forges.