The Askellon Sector is a mass of systems in the benighted depths of the Segmentum Obscurus, between the infernal Eye of Terror and the cold, xenos-haunted Halo Stars. Situated at the end of a ragged stellar cluster near the Calixis, Ixaniad, and Scarus Sectors, it is long past its glorious apex, and few but the mad, the desperate, or the outcast dare travel there. This isolation is worsened by a curse originating before the Emperor of Mankind rose to power and reunited humanity.
As the 41st Millennium closes, Askellon exists as a guttering flame in the void. Once, it was mighty. Its worlds were prosperous, its armies strong, its fleets far-ranging. From its ruling classes rose heroes, saints, and scholars. Yet, these great men invariably fell too early, or at the moment of triumph veered from the path of the righteous. Some fell to madness, others to hubris, sometimes damning entire worlds. Others were lost to ignominy, their names struck from Imperial history.
To compound its woes, the sector is afflicted with an unending Warp storm - the Pandaemonium - that waxes and wanes across the millennia, growing ever more intense. While such discharges from the Immaterium touch every region, most abate; Askellon itself has seen minor storms. The Pandaemonium’s eruptions, however, seem independent, akin to a living creature seeking to devour the sector.
Several major Navigator Clans have withdrawn their holdings, allowing lesser houses to dominate. Many Chartist Captains plying the lonely Warp routes here prefer to avoid Askellon, and some mark the area as anathema or refuse to admit its existence when the storm waxes.
Yet, Askellon has stood since before the Age of Imperium, and its foundations sink deeper than even its rulers know. The oldest worlds are steeped in power, their cities built layer upon layer over countless generations. The ruling classes have held sway since long before the rise of the Adeptus Terra, wearing their authority like a mantle of invulnerability.
From gilded throne rooms atop towering spires, the nobles of Askellon look down upon their realms, certain nothing can cast them down. They nibble delicate morsels while pronouncing declarations that crush millions with futile wars or vainglorious constructions. The situation grows desperate as the raw stuff of the Warp boils the void away. While the masses yet adore the Emperor, preachers grow strident in their declarations that He has abandoned Askellon, turning His face from them, so unbearable are they to look upon.
Many would agree. The astropathic choir-masters of the sector’s lynchpin worlds report that the screaming insanity of the rising Pandaemonium often drowns out mind-songs from other sectors. Navigator Clans dismay that the light of the Astronomican gutters as the storm dilates. Many Rogue Traders still journey through the sector to pillage untamed reaches or explore hidden mysteries, but even the bravest shudder when facing a tendril of the baleful energies.
Ancient legends, long suppressed, hint of terrible events that awakened the Infernal Storm and its role in the damnation of Askellon, but none dare contemplate such myths as truth. Perhaps the preachers are correct and the Emperor has abandoned Askellon to its ruinous destiny, unless heroes once again come forth to stay this terrible fate.
“Gather tears for the sins of ye fathers, o children of Askellon.”
Saint Valerius, Introit to the Apocrypha Askellios
Like the origins of the Imperium, historical truths regarding Askellon have devolved into myth. Even these tales have splintered, with worlds and denominations holding unique beliefs. Most legends, though, hold enough in common that the sector believes them as truth. These cherished beliefs help bind the sector together in unstinting service to the Emperor. Taught on almost every world, they show a history older than the Imperium, that only became more grand once it united with the Emperor’s divine purpose. It is one of uninterrupted loyalty to the Emperor, and none would dare whisper otherwise.
Though the founding of the sector is shrouded in history, most records indicate it occurred before the Imperium rose, when humanity seeded itself across the stars. The epic Lay of Askellios contains this recital, though many hold it as allegory. Its most famous copy, a gilded tome enshrined on Juno, relates of a huge fleet arriving after a perilous journey to a region unmarred by storms. Finding the area peaceful, they decided to build a grand civilisation. Stable Warp routes connected a handful of worlds, and the fleet split to settle them.
For reasons unrecorded, one ship refused this scheme and the others turned on it, refusing to let it hinder the grand vision. Myths state it was filled with sinners and heretics, and though damaged it managed to escape, never seen again. The settled worlds prospered, mastering the space around them into a stable union that weathered the Age of Strife. For generations it remained isolated, until one of the nascent Imperium’s Expeditionary Fleets arrived during the Great Crusade.
Compliance brought the region, now named Askellon, into the Imperium. Some legends consist only of grand ceremonies lasting years, including the unnamed Space Marine Legions accompanying the fleet. They also relate of scattered worlds attempting to resist the Emperor’s Will, swiftly crushed. Of them, no more is spoken and none know their names, though several charred planets perhaps give evidence of their fate. No world living now would admit to such betrayal, content knowing none from those planets still live.
The time of peace was brief, as civil war on a scale undreamt of erupted. Many tales speak of how the sector’s people fought valiantly during the dark times when the Imperium was nearly split asunder during the Great Heresy. Though much of the region faced horrific damage, Askellon survived.
Almost unnoticed in these early days were the first recordings of terrible Warp storms. Twisted legends began that the storms were growing in appetite, only abating after devouring sufficient ships or worlds. Millennia later, Argo Kappellax, then Arch-Magos of Cerix-Magnus, established they were a singular storm, rising and falling unpredictably. Its name, Pandaemonium, soon became commonplace amongst those who ply the sector's Warp routes.
The Infernal Storm continues to ravage the sector, with periods of calm followed by times so tumultuous that interstellar travel becomes nigh impossible. With each generation it appears to grow stronger, though most assume this is a reflection of Askellon’s golden ages rather than true measurements. Some scholars believe the Pandaemonium is once again growing in fury, to a level that reality itself might not withstand.
Since Askellon's founding, its fortunes have waxed and waned. It has risen to heights of power, only to be hurled into the abyss by the hubris of its leaders. Juno, the sector’s pre-eminent world, has been overrun by alien invasion, torn by rebels, and crushed by wars. Askellon’s peoples have been enslaved, butchered, and bombarded. Each time the sector has rebuilt itself atop the ruins, though never so high. In current eras, many look back at past ages as golden periods and see only darkness ahead.
Xenos threats rise, from raiders attacking vessels to entire armies seeking to conquer Imperial worlds. The sector contains the remains of dead alien civilisations, and even their ossified artefacts can cause irreparable harm. There are tales of cults that worship the inhuman, befouling human souls with alien taint. Worse still, there are rumours of the resurrection of races thought dead; only the gullible or fanatical give these credence.
The Pandaemonium adds to the doom. For millennia, Navigators and Chartist Captains have considered the region ill-aspected and cursed. Vessels cast off course, barely surviving or vanishing entirely, grow in number. Already, numerous charts state simply "Access Denied", where before they listed the details of the cursed sector, a warning that entrants might never return.
Though it is a period of seeming calm, it grows in rage and hunger. Its power is limited not only to Warp travel; entire planets have been engulfed or lost behind its storm front, isolated for generations. Doomsayers cry that the storm is drawn towards worlds with the greatest populations of psykers, or might itself be causing the increasing number of mutants. Heretical texts claim it is a manifestation of ancient sins, or the spirit of betrayed souls screaming for vengeance, so deeply entrenched it may never be excised. Though none would openly countenance such beliefs, few Askellians disagree that it holds the sector in a closing vice.
The pervasive sense of doom has led many to turn away from their Emperor to other gods, and heresies grow. They fester in darkness, from gleaming spires to buried ruins, often behind respectable façades. No world is safe from Chaos, and no soul proof against its temptations. Only through faith in the Emperor, and the actions of His servants, can the sector survive these apocalyptic times.