Name: Nokius
Segmentum: Obscurus
Sector: Ixaniad
Subsector: Scandivus
System: Armora
Population: 220,000
Affiliation: Imperium of Man
Class: Penal Colony (Moon.)
Tithe Grade: Solutio Prima
Primary Language: Low Gothic
Planetary Governor: Smitty "Slickeye" Smithonson
Ecclesiarchy Presence: Fortis
Summary:
Nokius is the headquarters for the Imperial Guard regiment, the Hephaestus Hammerguard.
It's an arid wind blasted place of rocks and industry.
It is ruled by Smitty "Slickeye" Smithonson, who heads a plutocratic regime where his only care is meeting the resource qoutas of Armora V, being engaged in lucrative trade deals.
Geography and biology of Nokius:
Nokius is an arid badlands/desert mesa world with temperatures ranging from 18 Celsius in the warmer months to -20 Celsius in the colder months. Windy, rocky chasms hold many valuable mineral deposits, especially of slag and other vital materials, and many rich veins inhabit the rocky soil underneath. Too dry to grow any reasonable crops or sport any natural life on the surface (at least before the extensive transforming of recent centuries) most of the plant life consists of grasses and lichen. Underground streams do exist, and many forms of fungus find their homes in these damp caverns, many of which locals have come to cook soups out of. Grox and other imported beasts are kept in pens, and a growing population of Vargs brought over to serve the Hammerguard are also kept in kennels, with civilians also bringing in dogs and other domesticated animals (which are much more friendlier then Vargs!) to populate the now growing grass (but still sparse) pastures of their communities.
The wastes of Nokius are remote and desolate, and with few signs of life with the exception of burly miner bands and whatever animals they may have with them.
An unusual feature of the Nokius landscape are the Slabs of Nokius. Strange, rectangular monuments that stand roughly 1 or more stories high, the highest recorded being over 6 stories tall; are found throughout the wastes. Upon the slabs are etchings of serpents eating pellets. No one knows who built them or why, but sources indicate they were made by some sort of human civilization as Mechanicus Magos have indicated upon further observation.
History:
Nokius was originally just a barren moon with a thin atmosphere that had rich mineral deposits. Whilst signs of settlement exist, with strange carvings of slabs with serpents eating pellets, no actual people lived on the moon in the last few millenniums until Armoran mining corporations saw the bounty of it's high mineral deposits; and signed contracts to utilize the throngs of prisoners and convicts from Armora's prisons to man it's workforce there. Installing basic grav plates to stabilize the moon's lower then normal gravity levels, mining operations began to meet the quotas of corporations. When Mraxis arrived on the planet, Smitty was having a perplexing problem of dealing with constant convict revolts and riots, and it was taxing his security forces- and not wanting to refer to the Adeptus Arbite's due to his own illegal dealings on the black market. Mraxis, seeing oppurtunity offered to act as an occasional police force and aid to his governorship if Smitty allowed Mraxis a permit to build an arms manufacturer with the help of Ardoromere, and for resources to be channeled to help keep production up. Smitty agreed eventually after Mraxis saved him from an assassination attempt, and the Hammerguard have been a brutal, but effective police presence ever since.
Society:
Nokius is a plutocratic dictatorship with Smitty "Slickeye" Smithonson in power, who owns most of the mines on Nokius and is in charge with supplying Armora V with valuable mineral output.
Nokius is a rowdy dusty planet with many different miner towns, and is quite lawless save for the Hammerguard and Smitty's paid goons. Mraxis and Smitty have a deal where the Hammerguard often serve as a peacekeeping force to quell riots and revolts, and in return Smitty allows mineral resources to flow to Mraxis's factory plants to keep his regiment supplied.
Railroads also connect the various settlements of Nokius, making travel fairly easy, but these trains are heavily guarded and armed and are only used by authorized passengers.
Black market activity is rife on Nokius, and convict riots are common, providing decent means of training for the Hammerguard. However, the teachings of the ecclesiarchy are not entirely lost on the rather brigand like nature of Nokius, and many pastors and missionaries reside on the moon to try and preach to the convicts, and offer some of the sole forms of comfort and means of confession and counseling the convicts have. The convict society on Nokius therefore lashes out heavily against anyone who dares attack the priests who reside on the planet, as it is one of the few respectable portions of Nokius society.
Notable Public Figures:
-Marshal Mraxis
Marshal Mraxis is the commander of the Hephaestus Hammerguard and effective mayor of Shovelgrad. He leads with a martial attitude and promotes a hard work ethic, one he is not afraid to show by example. He is an overall no nonsense, rugged maverick with a utilitarian philosophy of "Take what I need, when I need it however I can."
-Priest Jackson Starfield
Jackson Starfield is a priest who is wily and aggressive. In charge of a lot of the training programs in the Hammerguard, Jackson Starfield chews men up and spits them out to be dead hard hammerguard; and he loves using a rhetoric of fire and brimstone to motivate the troops.
-Veteran Sergeant Steve
Steve is a rather fatalistic and reserved man, who keeps largely to himself. A veteran of the Kronoscard Civil War, he was but a mere guardsman during the time. But being a survivor of the original prisoner core from the Slums District Barracks in Kronoscard City, he is a knowledgeable and well known guardsmen within the regiment, who is famous for his long distance sharpshooting skills- something not often seen in the Hammerguard.
-Major Augustus Krass von Brandenburg
Originally a lieutenant in one of the Germanicus Tank Regiments, he was incarcerated by renegade commander Herman Volstrad during the Kronoscard Civil War due to his loyalist allegiance and forced to work in the automotive manufactorum in prison complex in the Slum District Barracks in Kronoscard city. Surviving the war, he is one of Mraxis's right hand men, a rather aged man of calm taciturn ability and rather pragmatic judgement. Born of nobility he doesn't interact with the grunts; rather keeping a cold degree of respect between him and the men.
-Chief Surgeon Barbara Hess
Barbara Hess is a rather young and bright eyed woman for her position, but she is no stranger to conflict. A mere medicae during the Kronoscard Civil War, she was responsible for saving many lives and often was found fighting against the enemy in bitter struggle. She soon later arose to the position of Chief Surgeon/Medicae, her passion for saving her comrades lives and firm resolution to help her fellow man helping her become a popular figure in the regiment.
-Rogue Trader Valter Aspelhund
Valter Aspelhund was once an officer- a major in the Imperial Guard under Savrog's Swedesian Iceburners of the 267th. He soon defected from Savrog during the Kronoscard Civil War, due to Savrog's renegade ambitions. After the war, having obtained his family's rights of trade document became a rogue trader himself. Valter is responsible for supplying a lot of the black market goods and other supplies to the Hammerguard in a pinch, and is a solid ally of Marshal Mraxis and his Hammerguard and one of their greatest friends within the realm of trade.
-Smitty "Slickeye" Smithonson
A rather sly man of crooked posture and thin physicality, Smitty is the wiry governor of Nokius and owns the majority of the mines on the moon. He's a shrewd businessman but he's known to be rather ruthless and underhanded with maintaining his business and covering up any illegal dealings, not hesitating to kill anyone who poses a problem. He finds an ally of necessity with Mraxis, and keeps an eye on Shovelgrad constantly.
Notable Defense Forces:
Nokius sports approximately150,000 guardsmen, who also act as a potential workforce and the fills the role of law enforcement, alongside the priests and commissars. Arbites are not commonly found on Nokius, and any who visit are distrusted by the population of Nokius.
Notable Locations:
Shovelgrad
Shovelgrad is a fortress settlement on Nokius and the HQ of the Hephaestus Hammerguard. Potential recruits are brought here to train, and a sizable workforce resides in Mraxis's arms manufactorum where the famous Tokinep model Shovelrake is produced, as well as bullets and other necessary supplies.
Slag-Town
Slag-Town is one of the biggest mining operations on Nokius, and is where most of the convicts end up who live in a large shanty. There is always a garrison of Hammerguard here, keeping watch with the guidance of priests. That doesn't stop a lot of shady deals from happening in the mines, making Slag Town the heart of the Nokius black market and its rowdy criminal culture.
The Slabs of Nokius
Spread throughout Nokius's arid environment are strange slabs with etched serpents eating pellets. No one knows what they are for or who really made them, other then that they are supposedly human made and very ancient. Any attempts to move them however or daresay destroy them has met with failure on account of them being too hard and heavy to move in a cost efficient manner, and thus have become symbols of Nokius itself- dead hard like its Hammerguard, the slabs of Nokius stand vigilant on its rocky wastes...
The Wastes
The wastes of Nokius is what is the collective term of the arid badlands that make up most of the moon. Uninhabited and rather bleak and hostile, these rocky chasm's and plains are scoured by cruel winds and shifting temperatures. Only burly bands of miners or trekking guardsmen can be found here, with the exception of "Underworld Oasis" as they are called, another collective slang term for guardsman outposts, hideouts or little hamlets that people live near in the underground of Nokius, which is almost always built around an underground stream or source of water. The wastes are hostile and unforgiving, and many people have perished and died lonely deaths in the badlands.