Blaanche

The Blaanche system is a pitiful system ravaged by war, disease and famine but not quite in large enough quantities for the Chaos gods to take notice. It was named after Grimdarkia's most famous son, the mad poet, philosopher, artist and prophet Johanne Blaanche who was tortured and killed by his own people before finally being revered centuries later. To this day, his skull takes a central place within what passes for the central governing structure of the capital of Grymdarkia, an unfortunate structure which is prone to collapse (as with everything else on Grimdarkia) due to the periodic and severe earthquakes which ravage its surface.  The system resides between renegade/chaos territory and Imperial territory and is continually subject to skirmishes, warp breaches and even accidental orbital bombardment.  The warp around Blaanche is 'choppy' which prevents trading for long periods.

Blaanche has two habitable – if barely – planets, Grymdarkia and Apathia.  It also has one unhabitable planet, Golgothia.

Little is known about Apathia beyond accidental data collected from long range scans and no one has any interest in exploring it further. Rumours abound that some information on the population was harvested during the Scribe Wars by the subsector's Primaris Scribe Milton Iones, who was so famously dull that both sides of the conflict claimed he belonged to the opposition, but while occasional assistants and minor scribators have been asked to collate the material, none have managed to do more than shuffle the papers and file for transfer.

Golgothia has a decaying orbit and is destined to eventually break up as it comes closer and closer to its sun.  Golgothia was habitable as late as the 32nd millenium before its orbit became too unstable and its atmosphere was blown away.  The planet is famous for an Imperial Saint who died on the planetwhile it was still habitable.  The Saint died on Golgothia liberating the system from the yoke of Chaos repression and in doing so pushed back the boundaries of the warp, liberating the systems inhabitants and unmaking a demon world.  It is said that the Saint had connections with the Emperor himself!  Nonetheless those were better times and the planet is now nicknamed 'Hopes demise' by the local Grymdarkians.

Grymdarkia has a red giant star which has a 44.6% chance of becoming a supernova sometime within the next century.  The sun gives just enough light from its deep red sun to grow foul tasting fungus crops which can just about sustain human life and even these crops require substantial manual labour to harvest. The absence of natural resources and food (and prolonged periods of no imports or currency to purchase them) mean that the population of one hundred million is constantly at war with itself to hoard what little resources there are.

The Encyclopedia Grimdarkia lists the following short facts about the planet:

1.  On average, Grymdarkian families have ten children.  Two of those are expected to live to retirement age (45 Terran Standard) which means that the population remains stable.

2. Although the sun is so far away that it is always cold, the thin atmosphere means that the average Grymdarkian receives ten lifetimes worth of radiation exposure in his lifetime (this goes up to 100 for manual labourers)

3. Grymdarkian warfare revolves around causing long term pain and temporary disablement – after all, today's opponents are tomorrow's slaves and farm labourers!

4. Grymdarkian physiology has been permenantly damaged by radiation exposure which limits the release of endorphins and serotonin.  This means it takes a lot to make a Grymdarkian not sad*

5. Funerals are the most important (and frequent) celebrations in Grymdarkian culture.  'Baby Shower' attire is strictly black only.

6. The Grymdarkian lottery gives one person the release of death alongside a reward for their family of a lifetime supply of nutritional fungus (fifteen years) and an all-expenses-paid funeral.

7. The half life of a well-built Grymdarkian building is ten years.

8. There are one hundred and fifty different words for skull in Grymdarkian, of which only three refer to the ones inside a person's head.

9. Grymdarkian law states that debts are not annulled by death, which leads to the common situation of descendants working their whole lives to ameliorate their parent's compound interest for their children. In the case of childlessness, the debts are passed to nearby residents, which means whole neighbourhoods will temporarily take to the streets in hooded robes to avoid being taken to be a dying neighbour's friend.

10. Proceeds from graverobbing and undertaking make up the bulk of Grymdarkian internal tax revenue.

11. Grymdarkians have a painful sensitivity to red light.  Blue lights are considered a luxury item (even they are subject to constant power interruption and breakdown).

12. Oxygen is taxed. The local Adeptus Mechanicus shrines allow lung conversion to breathe waste gases, but this condemns the recipient to never leaving the planet.

13. By tradition, the government is headed by the Lunatic; appointed once a year and executed when he creates a sensible law.

*There is no word in the Grymdarkian dialect for 'happy'

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"To be one amongst untold millions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be re-learned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in Grymdarkia there is only war. There is no peace amongst us, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods." – Johanne  Blaanche