Alovus System

Alovus System

Kahlen

A dense and ancient Hive World, and seat of the sector Imperium government. When cut off from Warp storms, Kahlen could no longer import the vast amounts of food and water consumed by it's population, and has descended into barbarism and cannibalism. The strongest faction is a Slaanesh cult led into battle by the nigh-invincible Heretic Astartes that rule them, promising a full belly and the delights of Slaanesh to any who join them. Some Imperial authorities remain nominally loyal, but they are scattered and forced to turn a blind eye to cannibalism and looting.

Kahlen has some ancient libraries in one of it's oldest Hive cities (dating back to well before the Heresy), which may be of interest to some parties.

Tovar

Formerly a Heresy-era Forge World, Tovar was lost to a runaway Ork infestation in M37, and subjected to Exterminatus. The particular Virus Bombs used to cleanse Tovar of the extensive Ork fungus reacted in an unusual way with isotopes in the atmosphere, and left a toxic residue on the surface. Imperial records in the library on Kahlen claim that this effect was intentional, to keep the Orks from respawning. In any case, the surface is now deadly to anyone not in a sealed environment like power armor. Some of the forge equipment has been taken or looted over the eons, but much of it remains because the process of cleaning it and rendering it safe for redeployment is so expensive and arduous that the salvage value is marginal.

Ko'Sek

A jungle Death World in a distant twilight orbit around Alovus. Of little economic or industrial value, but it's had a few thousand feral primitive humans living on it for many millenia. A station in orbit around the jungle world houses the planetary governor, who oversees the native population, and intermarries his heridary governorship to the tribal leaders on the ground, and throughout the system, binding the natives of Ko'Sek into a sort of extended tribal clan with the rest of the Kahlen chain. Ko'Sek's governor collects a modest yearly tithe from his world, of 40 suits of carapace armor made from the chitinous hides of the giant Ko'Sek warrior ants, 6 tons of flash-frozen ant meat, and 10 amphorae of Royal Ant Jelly.

If an appropriate representative of the Imperium makes a formal request for the governor to honor his hereditary feudal oath, he could muster a battalion of primitives who would be modelled as three basic squads of Catachan Infantry led by a Straken-substitute and Ministorum Priest. (I have models for this if nobody else does).

Repessen

A marginally habitable prison world that mostly incarcerated criminals from Kahlen and the rest of the chain. They've had the prisoners on 3/4 rations for months now, and were forced to institute full lockdown protocols because it was the only way to stop the slowly starving inmates from hurting and eating each other. Historically Repessen was mostly self-sufficient, and forced the inmates to grow most of the staple grains that they needed to eat. The lockdown makes it easy to keep rebellion in check, but means the inmates aren't in the fields growing food, and worse, the lockdown seems to have accelerated their descent into madness, as many of them now draw horrible symbols on the walls and floors of their cells in blood and feces.

The Warden is scared, and thinking about killing all the inmates, because they'll starve to death anyway if food shipments don't start arriving again soon.

Jupiter Dolichenus

near-to the Prison planet Repessen lies the shrine world Jupiter Dolichenus, seat of the Ecclesiarchy in this sector. The central shrine, the Holy Sanctum of Saint Jubelo, has drawn humble pilgrims for millennia. It is this shrine world that first drew the Black Templars to found a chapter keep nearby.

The Ecclesiarchy maintains the largest standing army in the system, & for this reason has not yet fallen to the Chaos incursion, though it’s resources are strained to the limit as refugees pour in. Distress messages have been sent, but only one was answered: heeding the call for aid, an Inquisitor has arrived on Jupiter Dolichenus. Recognizing the dire state of Imperial forces within the Kahlenite chain, the Inquisitor has in turn sent a high-priority message coded in Astartes battle-cant, to which the Templar crusade fleet, Lucem Ferre, has responded.