Geography: A desert world of arid surfaces, mazes of interconnected canyons, and cave networks, originally carved by rivers flowing towards warm equatorial oceans.
Population: Estimated 500 Million (Feudal clansmen, warriors, thralls, and serfs, dispersed across Bastias).
Tithe Grade: Exactus Decimus (Manpower levies, captured equipment, minor raw mineral tithes).
Government Type: Martial Feudal Governorship (Rule by High Marshals presiding over great fiefdoms called Bastias).
Planetary Governor: High Marshal Volknir X (Inferred).
Adept Presence: Low (Occasional Imperial Guard liaisons for recruitment; minimal Adeptus Administratum presence).
Military: Hrax Bloodknives (Warrior Hosts sworn to High Marshals); Planetary Defence Forces are integrated into the Bastias structure.
Trade: Conscripted manpower (most important Imperial offering), captured equipment and salvaged goods (tithed by warriors), animal hides, and basic mineral resources.
“Honourable spirit, silenced by combat and broken by my hand, may you ascend to the great battlefields of the heavens, and there take many trophies among the Battle Lord’s enemies. You have fought well, brother.”
-Overheard from a member of the Hrax Bloodknives in the aftermath of battle
Hrax is a desert world which emerged from a receding Pandaemonium front a millennium ago, and whose feudal inhabitants dwell among the mazes of interconnected canyons and cave networks inscribed into its arid surface. These great chasms were carved from streams flowing towards the warm equatorial oceans, and the native flora and fauna are almost completely dependent on these waters for survival. Occasionally, these rivers form pools or small lakes that quickly become verdant oases of life; great herds of sparmadons, families of garnun, and packs of deadly vornae gather about their banks. This sprawling labyrinth of winding ravines, overhanging stone arches, and endless interconnected caverns are as difficult to navigate as the densest of hives, and most Hraxian wildlife relies on some form of echolocation to aid in navigation.
This desolate, windswept rock is covered with massive fortress cities, whose occupants live in complex feudal societies under the command of mighty High Marshals. These warlords rule the great fiefdoms called Bastias, which encompass both their colossal fortresses and any surrounding territory. Bastias also house great warrior hosts originally sworn to defend from Ork attacks, but now more frequently from assaults by rival Bastias.
In exchange for service within his armies and a tithe of any looted equipment, a High Marshal accords these warriors various hereditary rights based on the particular feudal clan to which they belong, as well as individual rewards for accomplishments in battle. As in all things, from dress to bestowed honours, the people of Hrax follow the dictates of the ancient ways-especially the legends surrounding the warriors who fell from the sky.
Bastias are constructed with materials salvaged from the rusted debris of massive Astra Militarum troopships that litter the desert landscape. The most powerful Bastias are formed from the shattered wrecks themselves, whose venerable hulls serve as the basis for fortresses of torn bulkheads and cavernous holds. Other canyons and ravines have basins littered with the scars of battle and the decaying ruins of ancient Imperial war machines and tanks. Yet who or what the forces of the Imperium faced remains unclear, as no record of such a campaign exists within the sector’s voluminous military annals. Some believe it to have been Orks, as greenskin remains pollute the world, while others instead point to the horrific damage inflicted on the numerous burnt out hulls as signs of an enemy of even more extreme potency.
The warriors of Hrax are a proud and noble people who value courage and honour above all else. Only through combat and glory in battle can individuals advance within Hraxian society, which means the clansmen must fight continuously to maintain their Bastial rights in a never-ending cycle of death and bloodshed.
In addition to power and glory, the inhabitants of Hrax also fight to honour the great warrior king of heaven referred to in clan lore as the Battle Lord. It is said that long ago, the celestial god-king sent his host down from the sky on columns of flame to deliver the people of Hrax from their enemies in a purifying baptism of blood. These legends also foretold that the Battle Lord’s armies would one day return to Hrax to convey the worthy to fresh conquests across the heavens.
From the time they are first able to wield a knife, the children of Hrax are instructed in the ways of war, in preparation for this glorious return. The training is brutal in the extreme, with only the most senior clan warriors allowed to instruct the new recruits. Many clans also have reputations for viciousness, cunning, or some other skill or trait on the battlefield, and these too must be ingrained in the new recruits, for without them the clan would lose honour, rights, and prestige among the others.
The feudal clansmen of Hrax wield a variety of weapons in combat, and these weapons vary in condition and function, from jealously-guarded relics to blades that have been repaired countless times over the years. These warriors believe that every weapon has a spirit within that yearns for battle, and that this spirit must be maintained if a weapon is to aid them in combat. For this reason, older, proven weapons are highly valuable to these warriors, both as relics of the Battle Lord’s armies and objects of personal value to the fighter and his clan. Many go to great lengths to retrieve weapons that have been damaged in battle, though those which are beyond repair are ceremonially salvaged in order that the spirit within may live on.
The lords of Askellon quickly realised the potential for such skilled fighters, and soon the agents of the Missionarus Galaxia began the diligent and subtle process of indoctrinating the clansmen of Hrax into the Imperial Creed. In a few years, the High Marshals were shown the proper rites of devotion, and those who survived publicly swore new blood oaths to their Battle Lord, who now bore the more worthy title of Emperor. Shortly thereafter, the massive transport ships of the Departmento Munitorum arrived, and before long the first regiments of the Hrax Bloodknives left their world behind to claim glory and honour amidst the innumerable terrors of the Imperium’s countless battlefields.
As Askellon continues to slip further into isolation and anarchy, the warriors of Hrax have had less and less contact with the heralds of the Astra Militarum. Many delegations even routinely insult the proud warriors of Hrax by herding recruits aboard drop ships like cattle, without regard for their rank or ceremonial blood sports and rites of tribute. As a result, relations have deteriorated dramatically in the past century, with many now openly questioning these offworlders’ authority and resisting their attempts at impressment with terrible acts of merciless violence.
Several High Marshals have even forsaken their sacred oaths and publicly ordered their warriors to mar their loyalty scars with deep, vicious incisions. To these clansmen, the continued grovelling of the loyalist clans at the feet of their Imperial masters is unbecoming of true warriors, and only by killing the false god’s servants can they regain the blessings of the true Battle Lord.
Whispers of the old ways, of terrible rituals and offerings of blood in exchange for unholy power have also begun to re-emerge among many clans, and though the Imperium is quick to quash such activities, many believe these tales hold the key to overthrowing their offworld oppressors. Meanwhile, those clans who persevere in their faith continue to view such sorcerous activities with palpable scorn, and attempts to erase such dishonours by both sides have ended in numerous acts of bloodshed and death.
In addition to the growing unrest that threatens to plunge the planet into open revolt, the number of nascent psykers on Hrax has also risen drastically. Imperial installations have trumpeted numerous decrees forbidding the harbouring of such individuals, but there is little evidence that the natives heed this instruction. Those fiefdoms still loyal to the Imperium have by and large upheld these declarations, and most youths who display any psychic talents are quickly discovered and presented to the Emperor’s servants. Among those who honour the old ways, however, this decree has fallen on deaf ears, as gifted individuals are spirited away into the wilderness only to reappear among the heretic raiders as terrible abominations of Warp-spawned corruption. Many among the clans interpret the return of these blasphemous warriors as a sign of the end times and the impending battle between the Emperor’s warriors and those of the gods of the underworld that seek to devour the souls of the slain.