Hunkopia

O! Hunkopia! Such crystal seas and azure skies! / I would weep at your beauty if I did not fear / My falling tears would sully your perfection. / Will this do? Can I get paid now?

- Except from the first edition of A Beholders Guide to Hunkopia with poetic foreword by noted scribe Howtopher Buxcraft. Final line was omitted from later reprintings.

 

Hunkopia is a prosperous world nestled in the bosom of the Anton Antecedent sub-sector. This diverse and hospitable planet has cradled human life since the Dark Age of Technology. Like so many worlds in the sector it started life as a mining colony, and has since grown rich and populous from the proximity of the corewards Hyperion trade routes. It's blue seas and numerous climates are roughly analogous to Ancient Terra in scope and diversity. Its two main land masses support a number of (reasonably) sustainable arcologies, plus numerous smaller farming and mining towns spread throughout its picturesque and unpolluted forests. Hunkopia's main export is its vast mineral wealth, which includes extensive deposits of yttrium and neodymium - ideal for the manufacture of high quality lascarbines and hellguns - as well as other rare earth elements. Secondary exports include particularly fine timber from its evergreen highlands, thoroughbred Grox meat, local pattern las-weapons and spreadsheet-savants for the nearby capitaline bureaucracy in the Grovsenor system. Imports and exports are handled by the equitorial orbital docks, a Dark Age relic that rings the equator in geostationary orbit. Although an engineering wonder, this construction is primarily mercantile in purpose so does not incorporate as many defences as comparable structures built elsewhere in the age of the Imperium. Hunkopia contributes five Imperial Guard regiments to the defence of Mankind. They are normally equipped to Cadian standards of weapons and uniforms, although veteran squads in the Hunkopian 1st have been known to wear dress uniform into battle on occasion. Facial hair is considered the norm for the men of Hunkopia, and it is rare to see an adult male without a beard or impressive moustache.

Selene, Hunkopia's principle moon, also used to be a mining colony. However the radiation shielding protecting the colonies on its inhospitable rocky surface fell into disrepair during the chaos of Old Night, and the mining families slowly mutated into a comparatively stable strain of abhuman 'beastmen'. Some mining still take place as the mutant inhabitants are incentivised to offer up minerals as 'tribute' to the 'great metal beasts' that descend from orbit with hungry maws and cavernous bellies, but this process if far from efficient. In times of high Imperial conscription groups of these abhuman will sometimes be rounded up and inducted into the Imperial Guard regiments of Hunkopia.

Archean is a world of steaming rainforests inhabited by carnasaurs, megadons and other examples of reptilian ultra-fauna. Every few centuries, one of the merchant guilds of Hunkopia will have the bright idea to try and exploit these creatures, normally either as a food source or as alternative mounts for the Hunkopian Rough Rider companies. These attempts invariably end in some messy disaster. Archean is home to a few thousand colonist spread across the planet in tiny groups. These are normally people with things to hide, things to flee or things to forget.

Larunda is a lurid green gas giant with many rocky moons. There is little to recommend any of these satellites to colonists so, with the exception of a few remote Helium-3 refineries, they remain uninhabited by humanity. The largest of these moons supports a basic indigenous eco-system that includes a bizarre short, multi-limbed race of creatures that look like ambulatory tree stumps. They are not thought to be sentient. There is a popular Hunkopian rumour that the system governor has an emergency fortified 'bolt-hole' on one of the moons, but there is no evidence to support this.

Rimewold is a snow-bound winter world on the edge of the system. It is also known locally as Froststar - due to the way it shines brightly in the Hunkopian sky - or sometimes Frosthole. Each of its semi-subterranean colony cities is heavily sponsored by one of the great merchant families of Hunkopia. As a result of this dependence the planet is effectively governed from Hunkopia rather than being self-determining. The planet's principle industries are petrochemical extraction, bulk purified water refining for sub-sector export and textiles. The population is too small to sustain any defence forces of its own, but it contributes scouts and hostile environment specialists to the grand Hunkopian regiments. The pine forests of Rimeworld are home to a species of giant Ur-Cavy, grown massive and foul tempered in the long arctic nights.

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+ Hunkopian 1st Regiment during the M37 Scallop Stars Purges   + During the M37 Scallop Stars purges the Hunkopian 1st, 2nd and 4th regiments were assigned to the Grovsenor Front fleet.   Trooper Domnall   + This holo-pic show Trooper Domnall during the fighting on the steppes of Cibernum. The majority of Hunkopian equipment is Cadian-standard, with the notable exception of their las weapons, which tend to be of a local Hunkopian pattern. Hunkopia has extensive yttrium and neodymium mines, allowing for the production of large numbers of high quality las weapons. Although they slightly edge out the Mars pattern lasrifle in terms of effective range and beam energy density, the difference is marginal and there is no statistically significant increase in the Hunkopian regiment's combat effectiveness.   + Trooper Domnall is a veteran fighter, his bronze skin testament to a life of hard fought campaigning under the light of a dozen different stars. Like all adult males in Hunkopian society, he sports impressive facial hair. Only officers have the time and the resources to maintain the elaborately waxed moustaches seen on the streets of  Hunkopia's arcologies, so most line troopers opt for a more rugged and easily maintained beard. Although only a few soldiers from the Hunkopian regiments ever survive long enough to retire to their home world, they keep this proud tradition of personal grooming alive as they campaign through the stars of Antona Australis and beyond.   + "Dey ain't any betta at fightin' than da rest of da runty 'Oomies, but by Gork dey have da best chin-squigs!" - Bogrot, Ork Nob, on the Hunkopian Regiments.     ---   + Selenian 1st Abs regiment during the M37 Scallop Stars Purges   + Selene, the principle satellite of Hunkopia, harbours a stable mutant strain of beastmen. These poor, devolved retches are descended from inhabitants of a mining colony whose radiation shielding fell into disrepair during the Age of Strife. Bands of these beastmen will often be rounded up to serve in the Hunkopian regiments as little better than conscripted cannon fodder. However in times of great military mobilisation, such as the Scallop Star purges, the mutant population will be drafted wholesale to form an independently operating regiment, albeit with Hunkopian “advisors” assisting the war-herders and bray-shamans.     + This pict-cap shows a typical trooper (designation unknown). He is equipped with a standard Cadian-pattern flak jacket and las rifle, since the abhumans are not deemed worthy to carry the more finely wrought Hunkopian pattern. Mutant regiments are often seen as little better than the penal legions and so are never likely to receive the best equipment.     + The Tactica Imperialis lists a number of sanctioned methods for coercing beastmen regiments into battle. The Hunkopians opt for a mixture of carrot and stick; accompanying Ecclesiarchy priests preach that the abhumans must fight in the name of the Emperor to absolve themselves of their ancestors sins, while hard-eyed commissars stand ready to execute any who would flee from battle.   + The abhumans of the Selene 1st can often be seen sporting large numbers of purity seals, awarded by the regiments missionaries and confessors. Their purpose is two-fold; to proudly remind the beastmen of each sin they have absolved through combat and to remind other regiments in the theatre exactly whose side the mutants are on!     + All members of the Selene 1st are issued with large ‘knives’ to supplement their las rifles and to allow them to vent some of their beastial fury on the enemy at close quarters. These ‘knives’ are more akin to swords in size, and closely resemble the infamous knives of Catachan jungle fighters in design, if not in craftsmanship.