Frigia

Thought for the day:

Go on, even if you cannot endure. No man ever grieved his own death.

+++

Also known as Phrigia, Vrygia and simply 'the Ice System'; the star Frigia holds three major planets in its embrace, all far flung and bitterly distant from their parent. Nominally loyal to the Golden Throne, two of Frigia's planets – the dim and distant Nifol, and the hostile Veles – are populated thinly by isolationists, survivalists, atheimancists and mystics. The third, Thrymr, supports a larger population. The cultures of each are inward-looking and hostile. In addition to the main planets, the system supports a series of asteroid belts, mining outposts and – thanks to the system's past as a fleet breaking yard – colossal amounts of space debris, which is home to pirates, vagabonds and assorted other unsavouries ranging from greenskins to renegade madmen.

Thrymr

Owing to a swift day cycle and an irregular orbit, the planet is lashed by near-continual hostile ice storms. Life is unsustainable in the polar regions, and much of the planet is uninhabitable owing to the thick, blanketing snows. Where cities exist – and the planet supports nearly forty conurbations, each with a population of fifty million or more – they burrow in great spiral pits dug into the bedrock of the planet, clustering greedily around thermal vents that form great chimneys hundreds of miles across. The chimneys jut into the low atmosphere, giving the planet a spikey, peculiar appearance from orbit and further disrupting weather patterns. These hives are known as Ravines. Chief amongst them are Ravine Golosoc, Ravine Umbrage and Ravine Mordporof. Discomfort, suicide and conflict are endemic amongst the population, though the difficulty of eking out a living has also inspired many mystics, saints, miracle-men and apocalyptic cults. This includes worship of old or forbidden deities. The veneration of the Emperor is given mere lip service by the majority of the population, including the armed forces.

House Veradecthis, current ruling dynasty of the planet, inhabits the Deepspires of Ravine Boreas. Sibley Veradecthis is the current Imperial Governess of the planet, and she has chequered support from the tyrants and governments of the other Ravines. 

The wildlife of Thrymr includes snowdrakes, icebears, icewürm, snowbirds and feathered serpents, all of which are reclusive and rare. The ice-adapted fauna is poisonous without extensive treatment, and unpalatable and bitter when processed.

A quirk in the population sees a comparatively large number of psychically sensitive individuals brought to birth. Those not taken by the Black Ships are press-ganged into the PDF, where they serve life terms. Other than this, most workers are employed by the shipbreaker guilds, who offer little loyalty to anyone, and have long been suspected of attacking isolated Imperial ships in the hope of fresh plunder. Many free trader captains regard the Guilds as little better than pirates.

Veles

A world of little note, this ice-bound planet is the chthonic remnants of a gas giant's core. The atmosphere was largely stripped by punishing solar winds over the course of time, though the little remaining air is breathable, if unpleasant. Like Thrymyr, the population clusters around the equator, where the permanent icesheets are thinnest, and the temperature is survivable.

Veles supports dozens and dozens of moons, few of which have received more than cursory study. Historical raids by xeno-pirates bear evidence of the Eldar and the Ork.

Nifol

Most distant of the three planets, Nifol supports numerous orbital plates, which serve to gather and reflect tiny amounts of light and warmth down to the only settlement of note, the capital Hcotji.

+++

System overview

The system is regarded by those few who have heard of it as a backwater. Physically isolated by its distance from reliable space lanes, and culturally isolated by the hostility of its populace and unpleasant environs, Frigia is little more than a footnote of a system. Nevertheless, it is under attack.

Tendrils of a splinter Hivefleet wormed their way in-system nearly two decades ago, and the panic this generated stirred the interminable struggle between order and entropy in the Ravines of Thrymr. The seditionary groups, rebels and cults that have long simmered in the depths of the Ravines have found increasing support as the great PDF regiments slowly bend against the Tyranid menace. Conscription has bled the city white over thirteen hard Longwinters, and law enforcement in the depths is all but gone. Cults such as the Suicide Apocalypti, the Bloodsworn, the Nailed Children and the Kindred Jottur have become more obvious; and it is clear that some are seeking dire sponsors.

+++

Why rebel any longer against the symmetry of this world when chaos itself can only be a system of disorders? Our fate being to rot with the continents and the stars, we drag on – resigned and sick, and to the end of time – the curiosity of a denouement that is foreseen, frightful, and vain.
Vox-incept transmission, Suicide Apocalypti cell. Quotation attr. Polyphy. 

+++

Sandwiched between the Xenos seeking entry into the warmth of the Ravines, and the cults rising from the depths, the PDF are fighting as stubbornly and grimly as they can. With the Shadow of the Warp stretched over the system like a caul, the Imperial defenders can expect little or no support; and the outcome of the conflict is likely to be one all-too-common in the Imperium: the gradual strangulation of the system as it descends into desperation – and death. 

+++

After a long and hard fought campaign (see 'Notable Conflicts' on the right), Imperial Governess Sibley was eventually left with no choice but to accept the offer of help from the Tau of the Brightsword Protectorate. The Tyranid and Ork invaders were driven off and the cult uprisings crushed, leaving Frigia to begin a new and promising age under the aegis of the Tau.