This is a historical account of the reclamation of the Kataan System for population and mining purposes.

[External References: Hive Fleet Kraken, Ork Threat, Astronimicon Rating Alpha-Phi]

Discovery

The
Kataan System was first discovered approximately 10 decades ago by
FreeCaptain Archimel Pyryte. Whilst on long distance sublight haulage
of sensitive chemical ores he happened upon an unmarked system. A quick
scan of all 5 planets showed them to be uninhabitable. As per
regulations he reported this finding to the nearest Administratum
official.

The system was officially explored 5 years later
when resources could be freed. Indepth analysis of all five planets
revealed two to be of value for mining operations. However none of the
planets were hospitable to human life.

Terraforming

The
System was designated as a test and development subject for the latest
terraforming technique, Meteorological Acceleration. Rather than adding
anything to the planet that wasn’t previously there, this technique
allows the planets ecosystem to be plunged forward a predetermined time
into it’s evolutionary future. It has been theorised that use on
inhabited worlds could produce disasterous results, the nature fauna
mutating at such a rate death is assured. However on uninhabited
planets this technique can be used to change barren rocks into
inhabitable worlds.

Terraforming began 45years after initial
discovery. The entire system was set off limits during the process,
partially due to fear of the technology falling into unpure hands,
partially because of the severe atmospherical and gravitational storms
involved. There are over 12dozen reports of small ships being destroyed
by security satellites and cruisers during this period. Whether they
stumbled into the system unaware, or whether they were there with
malicious intent was deemed inconsequential.

After half a
decade the gravitational fields settled and the Adepts were able to
sample the atmosphere from orbit. It was found to be breathable and the
process was labelled a complete success.

The Great Storms

Two
days after the first teams of explorers had landed on the planet, The
Great Storms began. Of the thirty five men who landed, only one made it
back off the planet. He gave reports of hail and sleet, rocks the size
of an Ogryns head falling from the sky. Hurricanes and tornados were
rampant, ripping up all the newly created vegetation, engulfing almost
the entire planet in one giant natural disaster.

The storms raged for twenty years, all the time the plant being monitored from orbit. On the 124^th day of the 21^st year, the storms subsided. The planet, though deeply ravaged and torn, was left inhabitable.

Again
explorers set down on the surface, and all the reports they sent back
told of arid, fallow land covering the entire Northern Hemisphere.
However the Southern Hemisphere, though devoid of life, had retained
it’s ability to support life.

Water System

Immediately
an encampment was set up in the centre of the Southern Hemisphere and
teams of geological Adepti began work on setting up a self sustaining
vegetation system. Using genetic strains from the planet soil mutated
plants were cultivated and began growing at an incredible rate.

Large
deposists of water were found under the Southern Pole. It was believed
that the off-spherical shape of the planet, combined with it’s complex
orbit, had pulled all the flood waters from the Great Storms to the
Southern most tip, where they had gathered and seeped into deep
underground caverns.

Within weeks the encampment had been
established as the access point to the sole planetary water supply, and
was marked as the future site of one of the planets larger cities.

The First Arrivals

Once
a water supply was assured and vegetation was established recruitment
for the mining operations on the other two planets of the system began.
It is unclear what methods were used by planetary governors to
influence certain members of their populations to relocate, but it is
rumoured they were offered tithe discounts for each 100 men they
dispatched to Kataan.

The first arrivals set foot on Kataan
IV just as the first city STC was delivered. It was decided that the
first city should be placed in the narrow belt between the desert
wastes and the area already abundant with local flora. Over the next 6
months the outer shell of the city was constructed, providing
protection from the sandstorms that occasionaly swept out of the
desert, and the new emerging life forms in the now fully grown jungle.

As
the final wall section was being placed the new planetary governor,
Diocyes Brast arrived on the planet. As is tradition the most senoir
Administratum representative on the planet was given the privilege of
naming the first city. And so Brast named the city, Katul.

By now a steady stream of immigrants was flowing and the
small shelters were quickly being erected around the inner perimeter of
Katul. Orders were placed for large blocks, capable of house 150,000
people. Over the next two years these arrived one by one until finally
Katul was complete, and almost fully inhabited.

Civil Unrest

As
time passed many of the miners grew dissatisfied, and this turned to
anger. They protested the way in which they were drafted into their
contracts and that the poor working conditions and excessive
commutation were hazardous to their health.

Brast was a pompous self-righteous man and he believed he
could quell the unrest by force. He requested a larger security
contingent from the regional centre, and once they arrived he invoked
curfews on pain of imprisonment and corporal punishment. He believed
that if he could stop the miners gathering he could stop any plotting
before it began.

Within six months the simple unrest and dissatisfaction
turned into small-scale rebellion. The miners, very aware of how the
Imperium treated rebellious workers were very careful in their means.
In the following six months of civil action, not one gun was raised in
anger or any harm inflicted. They simply downed tools, and through a
strict scheme of passive resistance they slowly drove Brast insane.

When his security troops wouldn’t carry out orders to fire
on unarmed, unthreatening civilians, he took matters into his own
hands. Running through the streets of the capital, he killed over 17
men and women before his own security troops shot him dead.

The local Officio Administratum realised the urgency of the
Kataan mining situation. Though even the leanest estimates gave them a
5decade cushion to mine the planets before Veyga collapsed, they did
not want future delays to put this in jeopardy. In what many regard as
a stroke of genius, Governor Jenx was withdrawn from the nearby Pegdra
system and placed in charge of Kataan IV. Jenx was not only an
intelligent man with a great deal of experience, but he was also
compassionate toward his civilians and a reputed swordsman.

With Jenx’ arrival working conditions improved vastly, the
workers returned to their duties and migration rates doubled. Within a
year of his taking the Governor’s seat, five of the current ten cities
were built and inhabited.

Hive Fleet Kraken

A few years
passed with a steady influx of civilians and an increasing export of
mined goods, when Hive Fleet Kraken struck the sector. After many
furious battles and deeds of great courage, the tendril near Kataan was
pushed back, before being destroyed. However as the Tyranids retreated
they placed within close proximity to the Kataan system.

As a cautionary act Imperial Guard troops were dispatched
to sweep every planet in the Fleets fall back corridor. Due to Kataan
IV’s unique status in the system, and vast jungle, two companies of
guardsmen were assigned there.

The first company consisted of desert specialists and
jungle fighters, both more suited to their unique terrain than the
standard guardsmen. The second company was all armoured, dispatched to
give greater mobility over the vast desert.

Captains Prakkarm and Reyjik were charged with the 1st and
2nd companies, respectively, whilst Colonel Jay B. Schneiss oversaw the
entire operation. Also amongst their number was Commissar Yensk,
deputed with ensuring every man fulfilled his duty to the Imperium.

For the next 8 months they scoured the planets surface for
alien threats. Prakkarm leading his men on foot into the Southern
jungles, Reyjik riding his tanks across the Northern deserts. Even
after prolonged and thorough searches there was no sign of the
Tyranids.

When Schneiss was satisfied the planet was clean he
transmitted his findings to the nearest HQ and began preparing his men
for departure, ready to take on their new orders. But they did not
come, and so they waited. Schneiss, not wanting to see his men idle,
set them to searching the planet once again, this time at night, as
reports of nocturnal Tyranids were beginning to come in.

After another two months Yensk left Kataan IV in his
personal cruiser, headed for the local HQ to investigate the delay. As
he left the atmosphere his ship came under heavy fire from short-range
craft. Gaudy, noisy fighters, more suited to strafing runs than space
flight, swooped and dived around his ship, letting off sharp bursts of
projectile and energy fire. Under enormous bombardment Yensk was forced
to return to the surface.

Greenskins

Even as Yensk made
his way to Katul from the site of his emergency landing, the Orks
attacked. For two days and two nights they bombed and strafed the
capital in their flying machines. Flak guns succeeded in taking out a
large number, but still they came. Yensk arrived back inside the city
walls just as the first wave of land faring Orks arrived.

The Orks rode a mass of varied and unique vehicles; each
modified to suit it riders needs. Prakkarm and his company, by sheer
fortune, were inside the capital resting up after two weeks night
scouting. Within minutes of the attack the city had defenders on the
wall.

The battle raged for two whole weeks. The Orks charged and
the defenders repelled, forcing them back. Then they simply upped camp
and left. On the morning of the 16th day of the battle they mounted
their vehicles and headed west from the city. The city had taken heavy
damage to its outer walls, and soldiers had died in the collapsing
rubble, but the gates had held strong and the thousands of civilians
were safe.

Schneiss, getting anxious waiting for the 2nd company,
still on route from the far side of the planet, dispatched a number of
his cavalry, mounted on native reptiles, after the Orks, keen to know
their destination. After 7days without word from his trackers, the 2nd
company arrived.

The Future

Since the
disappearance of the initial scouting party Schneiss has sent out many
more, with varied weaponry and transports. Some have returned, but all
on foot, delirious with heat stroke, they ramble about thousands more
Orks than were involved in the initial confrontation.

Schneiss has since put in a request for additional troops,
and unwilling to separate his companies, he has kept the entire force
at Katul. If the tales of massed Ork ranks are true, then holding the
capital, the source of communications with the rest of the galaxy, is
vital. When the Orks come again, and they will, it is not certain that
the defenders will succeed.

Combine the Orkish troubles with the almost complete halt
to mining operations due to the continued attacks by Ork ships, and the
growing number of rumours of mutated corpses appearing each dawn in the
outlying farms and the situation on Kataan IV is growing ever more
desperate.

The post Historical Account appeared first on BlokeCrafted.

Background

Determined as the least hostile of the Dead System of Kataan, the 4^th planet was reclaimed with a prototypal meteorological acceleration technique.

The plant now hosts the systems entire population, providing residence for the mining operations on Kataan II and V.

Population

The
population of Kataan IV is comprised mostly of the miners and their
families. A small number of administrative and security forces were
issued upon reclamation of the planet. Now supports 2 Imperial Guard
Companys, one infantry, one armoured.

The civilian
population is concentrated mainly in the ten major cities of the
planet, Katul being the largest and the planetary Capital.

Meteorological Status

The
terraforming techniques required to reclaim the dead barren world were
so severe that the planet suffers from a somewhat unstable weather
system. Known daily hazards include tremendous sand storms, extreme
temperatures which fall to well below zero after suns-set, and regional
gravitational shifts varying throughout the year.

The last
recorded precipitation on Kataan IV was over three decades ago. The
terraforming cycle took over ten years, ending only five decades
previously. For twenty years after the completion of the cycle the
planet was ravaged by terrible storms, hurricanes, and tornados. At the
end of this time the weather shifted over a period of one month to it’s
current situation.

Geographical Status

There
are no oceans on Kataan IV. The planet is covered by 60% desert and 40%
jungle. The planetary orbit is such that the Northern Hemisphere is
closer to the larger sun, Alpha, all year round. This has caused it to
stay an arid, desolate desert. The Southern Hemisphere, however
receives the majority of it’s light and heat from the smaller, and
cooler Veyga. This has, combined with the large deposits of water under
the Southern pole, has resulted in a lucious, but deadly, hemisphere
spanning jungle.

The violent contrast of terrain meet in a
strip only 100kms wide in which crops will grow (with sufficient
artificial irrigation), and the weather is relatively moderate. It is
along this belt that 9 of the 10 cities are located. The tenth city,
Peruvia, is set deep in the Southern Hemisphere’s Jungle, positioned to
provide a water supply for the rest of the planet.

Urbanisation Status

Urbanisation
on Kataan IV has reach peak profficiency. The limited amounts of
sustainable crops and purifiable water have restricted population
expansion. Families have been restricted from having offspring. Those
who procreate, by choice or otherwise, are summarily exiled from the
planet.

The ten cities all fit the STC for planets of this
class. They are surrounded by 20 metre high, 5 metre thick plasteel
walls. Small residential dwellings are built three high around the
inner permiter, whilst the large taller blocks form an inner ring
around the adminstration building.

The administration
building houses not only the security division and administrative
workers, but presently the emergency barracks are overflowing with the
honourary Planetary Defence Force.

Military Status

Initially
Kataan IV was assigned security forces at the rate of .02 squads per
capita. However the recent events regarding the Tyranid Hive Fleet [see attached historical account for full details] have meant that 2 Imperial Guard Companies currently reside.

Once
unthreatened, Kataan IV has become the target of repeated assaults by
Orkish raiders. It is believed these greenskins may even have had the
audacity to establish a beachhead in the Northern Hemispherical Desert.
These reports are as yet unsubstantiated.

Kataan System Summary

The Kataan System is composed of five planets orbiting on a complex helical path around the twin suns, Alpha and Veyga.

The Planets

All five planets were originally classed delta (Death World), however due to enormous mining potential in the system, the 4^th planet was subjected to a five decade reclamation plan.

The 2^nd
planet is completely covered in a mildly acidic liquid. The floor of
this planet spanning ocean is riddled with undersea mining operations
to remove the natural flora that is the source of the acidity. The
plants are fitted with a self defence mechanism which sprays a strong
acid into the local vicinity. Over time this has made the entire ocean
toxic to all other forms of life. The plants are gathered to provide a
powerful toxicant and chemical base for the surrounding systems.

The 5^th
planets’ orbital path takes it between the twin suns three times each
planetary month. The intense gravitational forces and extreme heat
scours the surface of all matter. The planet is a barren rock,
compressed to 80% of it’s size upon discovery three centuries ago. It
is predicted within another half millennium the planet will
disintegrate from the incredible pressures. However under the
plasteel-like surface valuable ore carrying rocks were discovered,
calling for mining operations. The miners work to a strict schedule,
leaving the planet just days before it’s intrastar movment, and
arriving again 8 days after. Scientists estimate that every year of
mining reduces the planets life by one decade. However this is deemed
inconsequential as the planet is unable to support life.

The Stars

The
larger star, Alpha, has been classed alpha-phi by The Astronomican, and
as such all warp travel through the system is done so under the
strictest of controls. The huge gravitational effects combat the
formation of warp fields, and as such sublight ships are used to ferry
travellers and product to the depature station currently on a wide
orbit of the system.

The smaller star, Veyga, has been
classed gamma-delta, and is currently thought to be in it’s final
stages of decay. Current estimates, however, predict all product of
worth will be removed from the system long before the sun collapses. It
is also predicted this collapse will cause the Super Nova of Alpha,
which may disturb warp travel in the sector for up to two years. This
is just postulation at present, and cannot be substantiated until
measurements can be made of Veygas final core temperatures.

The Departure Station

The
Departure Station is a huge wide orbiting space station, designed as a
way point between sublight and warp travel to and from the Kataan
System.

It can simultaneously dock up to twelve Warp
Cruisers, and over one hundred Sublight Frigates. It has a crew
compliment of 1242, approximately half that number being fully trained
by a representative of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

At present it has zero fire power, but if the rumours of an Ork Stronghold on the 4^th planet are confirmed, this will be upgraded to carry System Orbitary Batteries.

The post Planetary Data File appeared first on BlokeCrafted.