Geography: An agri-world with a negligible axial tilt and stable orbit, granting a near-perpetual growing season ideally suited for agriculture. The planet produces padonus rice and emdur grain, though the land has scattered ancient alien structures and deadly boneweed. The surface contains scorched rock formations, possibly from an ancient cataclysm.
Population: Estimated 10 Billion (A large, bountiful agri-world on a key Warp route must sustain a vast population).
Tithe Grade: Exactus Tertius (A high rating necessary for a vital sector breadbasket).
Government Type: Administratum Oversight (Controlled directly by the Adeptus Administratum, though rivaled by local Planetary Governor).
Planetary Governor: Adept Torintane (Praefect of the Adeptus Administratum, ruling from an orbiting residence-basilica).
Adept Presence: Absolute (Under direct control of the Adeptus Administratum, with substantial Adeptus Mechanicus presence at Forge Paellus).
Military: Vigilance Servitors (Adept Torintane's ruthless forces) and Reaper Bands (local populace tasked with eliminating boneweed).
Trade: Padonus rice, emdur grain, and general agricultural produce (The essential foodstuffs for Askellon).
“They call it the breadbasket. I call it the soft underbelly. If it falls, Askellon starves.”
Decrypted vox-intercept from deep within Vouxis Prime
Located along the Grand Processional, the most stable Warp route in the Askellon Sector, Kalto is a massive agri-world whose bountiful production has earned it the title of breadbasket for the untold billions dwelling within the neighbouring sub-sectors. This extraordinarily high productivity is believed to be due in part to Kalto’s negligible axial tilt. When combined with the planet’s stable orbit relative to its brilliant orange star, this alignment creates a near-perpetual growing season ideally suited for agriculture.
Kalto is particularly renowned for its massive production of padonus rice, a genetically modified crop developed by the Magi Biologis of Core Theta, as well as vast quantities of the hardy local emdur grain. Such advantageous planetary qualities have led many scholars to theorise that Kalto is actually the result of ancient terraforming during the sector’s founding, or the product of nameless techno-sorcery from the Dark Age of Technology. Others interpret the world’s relative Warp route stability and remarkably earth-like gravitational pull as evidence of divine providence. However, some within the Inquisition view the deadly boneweed, prolific xenos relics, and other unexplained events during Kalto’s history as evidence of an as-yet unidentified threat.
The most catastrophic event in Kalto's history occurred scant ages ago, when a merchant vessel arrived to discover the planet's verdant lands and gothic structures inexplicably abandoned. Fields of crops were overgrown and livestock wandered loose, yet the crew found no answers to the mystery save for a few desiccated corpses locked inside a tarnished security spire and a grainy vid-log of spectral figures.
This sudden disappearance of the planet’s inhabitants precipitated an intense famine amongst nearby hive worlds. In the following decades, numerous attempts at appropriation and infighting among political factions made Kalto a byword for bickering and intrigue. The most egregious of these incidents was the founding of Forge Paellus, which occurred when a massive Adeptus Mechanicus cruiser deposited the forge’s pre-fab foundation directly into the hollowed-out heart of the Loradon mountains. It is said that cries of consternation over this act rang out in the highest levels of the Pellucid Tower on Juno, bringing the Rubicon Sub-Sector dangerously close to civil war.
Eventually, after months of fierce politicking, numerous assassination attempts, and intense negotiations, the competing interests finally renounced their claims. Kalto is now firmly under the control of the Adeptus Administratum, though the Adeptus Mechanicus retains a substantial and resentful presence.
Following the cessation of disputes, the Adeptus Administratum took direct control of the planet’s governance to ensure the continued flow of vital crops. They installed one of their own as Praefect, a provision meant to be temporary but which has remained in effect for centuries. Whether this oversight is the result of bureaucratic gridlock or devious design remains uncertain.
Adept Torintane The leader of the Kaltan Adeptus Administratum is Adept Torintane, a man who has spent the majority of his two-hundred-year tenure as Praefect submerged within the potent juvenant salts and bio-invigorant fluids of a personalised data-tank. Despite his advanced age, the Adept’s increasingly overwhelmed staff continue to feed him a constant stream of information through a direct neurolink interface. The centuries of confused and contradicting reports have gradually destroyed the elderly man’s sanity.
The puritanical adept is now convinced that every department of his order is rife with heresy and rebellion. He has ordered his ruthless Vigilance Servitors to exterminate anyone found guilty of even the most minor infraction. A term of service within the austere walls of his orbiting residence-basilica is considered a death sentence, and the paper-strewn corridors echo day and night with the sounds of terrified screams and insane laughter.
Governor Von Maunx Torintane’s primary rival is Planetary Governor Naullis Von Maunx, ruler of the infamous Metothine Gate. The Administratum’s refusal to rescind its claim on the Praefecture places him beneath the aged Torintane in authority, a status Von Maunx has attempted to reverse many times. He is a deceitful, dangerous man whose contempt for the Praefect has led him to gradually usurp much of the old man’s influence through bribery, intimidation, and deliberate infusions of contradictory data designed to hasten the erosion of Torintane’s mind.
The natives of Kalto are a hardworking and simple lot, their lives dedicated in equal measure to their faith in the Emperor and their hereditary duty towards the harvest. Such lessons often come at the end of a lash, and many of the more seasoned workers develop a distinct tolerance for pain and privation before their first season is out.
The Kaltan faithful are taught to regard rest as a transgression of faith; to collapse from exhaustion is preferable to failing their sacred burden. The fields are said to be littered with the bodies of those who fell during their labours, their corpses constituting a final offering of flesh to the world that sapped their strength.
As this extreme workload destroys their physical bodies, many workers are eventually modified to supplement their failing physiologies. Limbs are replaced with specialised harvesting implants, and bodies are augmented with water recyclers and thick slabs of vat-grown muscle. Most workers also wear rudimentary wire cages or crude implants over their faces. These serve as constant reminders of their devotion and sacrifice, while practically preventing them from consuming the crops they harvest. The Kaltan Mechanicum recruits heavily from those who proudly display these mechanical improvements.
Though records of Kalto date back to the earliest days of the sector, little is known of its earlier discovery. Dark tales describe beings veiled in shadow and malice that once roamed the forests at night-sadistic warriors who cackled as they dragged the unwary into the spirit world to feast on their souls. Known as the Void Watchers, many believe these malevolent beings are the source of the vile boneweed tendrils, used to inflict excruciating pain on their victims.
In addition to signs of ancient human habitation, xenoarcheological surveys have uncovered scattered ruins across the surface. The most peculiar of these relics are twisted grey pylons that rise from the ground at regular intervals, resembling vines of granite interlaced with intricate veins of brilliant silver. They are highly resilient, slowly regrowing any damaged sections. Radical savants claim the pylons grow and recede over centuries, linked to unfathomable external stimuli.
The Metothine Gate This massive cluster of orbital docks remains locked in geostationary orbit above Kalto. Within these marbled halls, replete in silver and bronze finery, dwells Governor Von Maunx and the Metothine Magnates. Bound by Imperial decree to provide for the sector, these shrewd individuals can sentence millions to starvation with a single word. Competition for a Kaltan trading charter is fierce, and few accords are reached without a heavy cost of blood and treachery.
Forge Paellus Buried beneath the crumbling remains of an abandoned pre-Imperial city, Forge Paellus serves as the mechanical heart of the Adeptus Mechanicus on Kalto. Beyond its colossal gates, the massive Skerab harvesters that trundle across the golden fields are manufactured.
There are rumours of unsavoury practices and research carried out inside these towering walls. The ruling Magos and his attendants have become increasingly lax, decreasing interactions with outsiders and exhibiting a disturbing trend of eliminating their external vox-implants and biological speech organs through gruesome surgical techniques.