Empusa
| Empusa | |
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 Deadly Jungles and Fortified Mining Cities | |
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Ultima Segmentum |
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System: |
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Class: |
Death World, Mining World |
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Contents
Geography
A deadly jungle planet colonized only to exploit its rich mineral resources.
Physics
Type Large iron/silicate
Mass 2.50 x 1025 kg
Density 5.75 g/cm3
Composition 33.2% iron, 22.0% silicon, 21.4% magnesium, 20.7% oxygen, 2.6% other metals, trace other elements - mineral resources classed as Beta-plus, including adamantite and jethryk
Gravimetry
Gravity 12.19 m/s2
Escape Velocity 18.11 km/s
Rotation Period 9.03 hours
Axis Tilt 9.21 °
Atmosphere
Type Dense toxic
Pressure 183.52 kPa
Composition 50% nitrogen, 20% argon, 15.5% oxygen, 14.5% carbon dioxide, trace other gases - biochemical hazards very high
Population
110 million in mostly independent, largely subterranean cities.
History
Colonization of the Death World of Empusa was initially ruled out by the pre-Imperial settlers, as the ecology of the planet was dominated by active, predatory, and deadly poisonous flora. This 'screaming jungle' seemed less of a danger when the rich mineral wealth below was surveyed, and several attempts were made to build on the planet, before orbital weaponry was used to burn away a large enough patch of ground to allow miners to dig in. These initial beachheads were expanded out into fortified cities ringed with largely impregnable walls and incendiary fields, and down into the crust following seams of adamantium ores and others valuable minerals.
Most of the cities on Empusa were independent of each other, as travel on the surface required armoured vehicles to avoid the lethal plant life. This self-sufficiency did them little good when the traitor legions took the planet for their own purposes.
Traitor forces on Empusa largely consisted of Mechanicum Magi to oversee the drastically increased production quota, enforcer cadres to ensure those quotas were met, and a garrison of Death Guard, Night Lord, and blackshield troops to crush any hope of resistance. Both Legions found the deadly jungles of Empusa useful in their own way, and made extensive use of them. The former considered them a source of bioweapons, and a latter an convenient and horrifying death to inflict on the friends, families, and casual acquaintances of any potential troublemakers.
The Empusan Front
Simultaneous with the attack on Fuschal proper, a splinter of the Liberation Fleet launched their own attack on Empusa. At the suggestion of the Archmagos Tylas 7-Rheen, these warships approached Empusa from above the system’s ecliptic, using the fierce electromagnetic storms that crowned the planet to mask their approach.
This allowed them to fall without warning on the ships left to guard the planet, and rout them utterly. From there, they could land troops on the deadly mining world. Unlike the waterworld of Fuschal, there was nothing to prevent deployment of heavy armour, or superheavy walkers, and both would prove invaluable in the assault on the traitor-held mining cities. Even subterranean assault vehicles would have their place over the coming days.
That is not to say, however, that Empusa did not present its own unique problems as a theatre of war - the planet had been named after a mythical monster that devoured the unwary, and the native flora of the world was certainly deadly. Infantry, in particular, risked their lives if forced from their transports.
The Screaming Jungle
Infantry, bikes and open-topped vehicles take d6 Poison(4) hits if they move through soft cover, thickets, or swamps. Enclosed vehicles, flyers, and skimmers are immune. Any game played on the surface of Empusa, beyond the city walls, should have as many patches of undergrowth and groves of carnivorous plant growth as possible.
The Mining Cities of Empusa
For obvious reasons, most of the population and industry of the world operated underground, Surface installations - including the spaceports from which the mineral wealth of Empusa was shipped to other systems - were protected from encroachment by sheer walls and incendiary weapons.
These fortifications all count as Impassable terrain, providing 4+ cover from the battlements, and providing the Torrent trait to flamer weapons.
The Loyalist’s targets on Empusa - mining cities, spaceports, and subterranean industrial complexes - included the following sites, all in heavy operation when the Liberation Fleet arrived:
1) Lokis Traum: The most extensive mining city on the planet, chiefly extracting and processing rare earth metals and significant quantities of adamantite. The horizontal shafts were extended in recent decades, and further yet to meet the Warmaster’s demands. At the time of the Liberation, they impinged upon the promethium fields of Ladoqu, and mining in the eastern sector had become far more dangerous. Subsidence and collapse of mining galleries had exposed the underground facilities to promethium seepage, dangerous flora from the surface, and infiltration by Loyalist forces.
2) Rennberg Demeyne: A conglomerate of Shungite-Fullerene mines, that had succeeded in extracting portions of palladium and ruthenium as well. In heavy use for decades, but estimates of the remaining fullerene deposits predicted only five more years of profitable mining. The miners of the Demeyne were amongst the first to openly support the Warmaster’s cause, hoping to better their lives with a change of overall command.
3) The Mannerheim Triangle: South of the original staging site on the Haelthheim plateau, red coal had been mined for over 460 years. In Late M30 large quantities of red mercury were found beneath the established facilities, and extraction and processing of that even more dangerous mineral began. Prior to the Heresy, feuds between workers of the many facilities kept the local Arbites almost constantly busy, but the capitulation of Empusa to the Archtraitor put a company of Night Lords in control of Mannerheim mining sites, and anything that disrupted production became suicidal.
4) The LechMich Quadrant, a volcanic uplift area in Empusa’s Southern Equatorial Zone. The Quadrant largely comprises of a plateau littered with gas and hot water vents, much like the Phlegraean Fields on the throneworld of Terra. The mining of the rare metals tantalum and tungsten, needed for the production of ceramite, is concentrated around the mining complex of A Marché - dubbed by the derogatory ‘AmArsch’ by the inhabitants, for the hazardous conditions and the short lifespan of miners.
Due to the volatile geology, defense of the quadrant proved difficult, as auspex readings are usually troublesome to decipher. Further, defensive measures like booby traps were rarely employed, as they tended to go off prematurely. Both these features played well to the strengths of the assigned Loyalist forces, as at least half the Astartes were drawn from Raven Guard and Salamander survivors of Isstvan.
Empusan Mysterious Terrain
Roll d6 for number of Mysterious Structures on the table
1-2 - No Structures 3-4 - One Mysterious Structure 5 - Two Mysterious Structures 6 - Three Mysterious Structures
Designate terrain features as Mysterious Structures before rerolling for set-up. Roll 2d6 for type of structure, when a unit enters the structure or moves within 2” of it.
2 - Tunnel Entrance - Any unit destroyed earlier in the game may be replaced with an identical unit that emerges from the tunnel. Replaced units arrive during the Reserves phase.
3 - No Way Out - With escape routes cut off, support non-existant, and more Loyalist forces arriving all the time, morale among the traitors began to collapse. Traitor units arriving at this building discover that their escape tunnel has collapsed, expected supply caches missing, and reserves fatally delayed. The unit suffers a -1 Leadership penalty while in the structure, until they pull themselves together and move out again.
4 - Vox Array - An invaluable asset to both sides, as the loyalists coordinate their forces and the traitors try to organise their escape. Units occupying a Vox Array may reroll all Reserves rolls, and the Array becomes a secondary objective for the remainder of the game worth 2VP.
5 - Sapspitters - An unpleasant quasi-fungal species, that sprays a sticky parasitic mucilage at passing animals. The infection is treatable, but the slime gunks up weapons and equipment. All ranged weapons suffer Gets Hot.
6 - Mining Cache - Supplies for the mines. Units entering the building acquire frag grenades and a Breacher charge.
7 - Spore Cloud - A unit approaching or entering this structure trigger a mass spore release by Empusan flora. The spores are not immediately lethal, and units within 2” of the structure are Shrouded for the following turn.
8 - Flamer Emplacement - Equipment used by the Empusans to hold off the indigenous flora. Contains a non-portable flamer with the Torrent trait, and grants the Torrent trait to any flamer weapons in the unit while they occupy the structure.
9 - Charnel House - The area was used by the Night Lords, for reasons best left unsaid. All Loyalists and Traitor Militia suffer -2 to Leadership when within 2” of the structure, unless they are Fearless, and must make a Leadership test to enter the structure.
10 - Empusan Flora - The structure is infested with particularly vicious plant life. Any unit within 2” of the structure takes 2d6 Poison (4) hits each round they remain in or near the structure.
11 - Mole Machine - One of the vehicles used by the miners to access new veins of ore. Currently immobilised, but with repair will prove highly valuable for breaking through the underground defenses. Provides 4+cover and acts as 2VP secondary objective for the rest of the game.
12 - Cave-in - A building seriously damaged by subsidence, deliberately booby-trapped, or concealing unexploded ordnance. When a unit enters the structure, roll a d6 and add the number of troops in the unit, or the AV of the vehicle. Bulky troops count as 2 each. If the total of 15 or more, the unit has caused the entire building to collapse. Units with auspex or omnispex may reroll the d6. All models within or within 2” of the structure take a S6+3 hit, AP3 Ordnance hit. Replace the structure with ruins or a crater, and treat as a Tunnel Entrance.
Campaign Reports
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Date Concluded: {{{Date Concluded}}}
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Sub-Sector: [[{{{Sub-Sector}}}]]
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