Iudex

A system in the Iolan Reaches of the Eridani Sector, Iudex is one of the few Imperial holdings in the region larger than a colony or military base. A binary star system, Iudecian Majoris is the name of the primary main sequence yellow star - the other being a crystalline white dwarf by the name of Iudecian Minoris. Iudex has three inhabited worlds, though only one (Iudex) is permanently settled enough to qualify for the Imperial Tithe, and a further four uninhabited planetoids.

The Iudex system is a key link along a stable warp route between the Saedran and Alyrian subsectors, and Massyleon beyond them. This gives it strategic relevance to both military and commercial interests.

Iudexian Politics and Culture

Political Structure

Iudex is a civilised world in the Iolan Reaches with an elective monarchy style government. The Planetary Governor, known colloquially as the King, rules until death with absolute authority. Elections are held after a King’s death, with the interregnum between rulers being a tense time for the whole planet that always sees an increase in crime rates, wars between rival nation states and even more sinister undesirable activity. As a consequence law enforcement (known on Iudex as the Justiciary) are often swift and brutal in their meting out of justice, leading to a society that is broadly accepting of harsh authoritarianism while also having a more competent, connected and dangerous criminal underworld made up of those able and willing to evade the Justicars.

Iudex is also a world with significant Ecclesiarchal presence, at least by the standards of the Iolan Reaches. Its capital nation state of Gundyr is home to the Basilica Diaphonean, a shrine honouring the Order of the Cyan Storm - an Adepta Sororitas Convent from the neighboring Achernar Sector. The site itself sits twenty miles or so from the outskirts of the principal city of Solum, on an island protruding from the depths of Lake Theydeyd. Connected by bridge, the Basilica Diaphonean is half church, half fortress - stained glass reliefs of martyrs and battles from centuries passed feature next to parapets and guns pointing threateningly at the Bridge of Holy Obedience. Within lies the seat of Iudex’s Ecclesiarch - perhaps the second most powerful figure on the planet. The current Ecclesiarch is Grierat Knossos, a recent appointment following the untimely demise of his now late master. Investigations have revealed a stunning lack of foul play, and given Knossos’ brief time in charge questions remain over the direction he will take, and just how exactly he plans on safeguarding the souls of the people of Iudex.

The current King, Henselt Verm II, is a decrepit old man, his life having been extended well beyond its natural span by the rejuvenat process, and even this is unable to sustain him much longer. As his body decays and dies around him, his mind is also fading. What was once a beacon of stability in the remote Iolan Reaches is now an uncertain place, both at the whims of an increasingly demented leader, and facing the uncertainty of a looming election. Henselt’s medicae are unanimous in their opinion that Iudex has another decade at best before old age overtakes the King, and the lengthy process of choosing a new Planetary Governor begins.

Naturally, the world’s electors (for there are precious few) are already beginning the process of jostling for position. Each of Iudex’s one hundred and thirty three nation states holds a single vote in the hands of their regional Baron, the only other votes being in the hands of the Ecclesiarchy. The Church holds eleven votes, one for each of the fabled sons of the Emperor, and two representing the will of the God Emperor himself. While not usually enough to win an election outright, the Ecclesiarchy’s eleven votes are a powerful block that any prospective King must court - giving the Cult Imperialis considerable influence in the governance of Iudex.

Military Strength

Situated firmly upon the frontier of what could genuinely be considered Imperial space within the Eridani Sector, Iudex is relatively well defended - especially when compared with other Imperial aligned worlds within the Iolan Reaches. Though only the principal planet of Iudex itself has any standing planetary defence forces (which is itself of note in the Reaches), most inhabitants are armed and most population centres have at least some kind of defence from orbital attack. In addition to this the system's Justiciary are almost an army themselves; well armed, equipped and trained and numerous enough across the system to present an obstacle to any would be attacker.

The Imperial Tithe extracted from Iudex is usually in the form of soldiery, with Imperial Guard regiments raised infrequently as required from the best of the PDF and Justiciary. These regiments are normally deployed within the Iolan Reaches in response to more determined pirates, renegades or Xenos presence, and only rarely are sent into the wider Eridani Sector. Consequently there are often veteran reinforcements available to Iudex should more determined attackers than usual make planetfall, if it is able to recall a regiment in its defence. Even just one Imperial Guard regiment is a ponderous force to redeploy however, and requires both the approval of Eridani Sector Command and the petitioning of Battlefleet Eridani to transport them, meaning a lengthy and uncertain process from the point of the decision being made to getting boots on the ground - Such decisions are therefore only made in extremis, when the system itself appears threatened, and even then questions remain over whether the recall is sanctioned by Sector Command, whether or not the reinforcements will arrive in time, and if they will prove equal to the task...

While not a stronghold in any respect, Iudex has been one of the most stable Imperial systems in the Iolan Reaches for centuries - representing an oasis of relative safety and stability in a lawless region of space. It is a hard enough target that slavers and petty raiders give it a wide berth, but it has never been tested by an invasion in earnest. Though they are very complimentary and grateful for the presence of such a system in the Reaches, Sector Command are quietly aware of the uncomfortable truth: Iudex is a small and lonely world in dangerous space, and its reputation as a haven in the Iolan Reaches is more due to its obscurity than the men and women that stand in its defence.

The Worlds of Iudex

Iudecian Majoris

Iudecian Majoris I: Phantarr

A small rocky planet with a surface largely composed of radioactive heavy metals and no atmosphere to speak of. The world is so heavily irradiated that the cost of extracting its resources outstrips its potential yield a hundred times over.

Iudecian Majoris II: Kant’s Folly

A rocky venusian greenhouse, completely uninhabitable. Kant’s Folly is named for the intrepid Rogue Trader Sucher Kant, who ignored the warnings of Imperial Surveyors and attempted to self fund a colony millennia ago. Suffice to say, nothing of his lamentable effort has survived the corrosive atmosphere and inferno-hurricanes of Iudecian Majoris II.

Iudecian Majoris III: Rakartha

A large oceanic world with a primarily tropical climate (that gets stormier and colder the further towards the poles one sails), Rakartha would be considered a perfect agri world capable of feeding billions if situated in a more populous sub sector. Instead, the resources of its oceans are almost exclusively enjoyed in Iudex - and therefore are to all intents and purposes inexhaustible. Its scattered population live mainly nomadic lives, spent either on the tiny clustered archipelagos that make up Rakartha’s only land masses and permanent settlements, or colossal trawler-ships with nets designed to dredge up anything and everything they can. Rakartha’s population is tiny - a million or so at best, since fishing is the only way of life possible, and it is not entirely uncommon for a trawler to mysteriously vanish beneath the waves from time to time, which has given rise to uncomfortable rumours of horrors in the deep...

Iudecian Majoris IV: Iudex

A civilised rocky planet that sits on the edge of the habitable belt of Iudecian Majoris, Iudex is the only world with a population higher than one billion in the system. Iudex has a primarily temperate climate, though given its distance from Iudecian Majoris even midday feels like dusk and even midsummer carries a chill in the air. This has led to plant life that conserves all the energy it can - typically evergreen, hardy and difficult to eat.

Iudex’s relative isolation to the rest of the Eridani Sector means that it produces few exports, instead focusing on being a self-sufficient world able to feed and house all of its people. There is a steady trickle of ships to and from Iudex, though almost none are of any import - typically passing military vessels and refugees from elsewhere in the Iolan Reaches, with the occasional soon to be disappointed trader.

There is an old smuggler settlement in the hills called Rascal's Refuge that, becoming a popular pirate haven attracted the attention of the Governor and was partly bombed back to the stone age. The ruins continue to be a haunt for criminals though.

Iudecian Majoris V: Sindrian

A gas giant composed of a helium/hydrogen mix with a core of naturally occurring adamantium. While interesting from a scientific point of view, Sindrian is uninhabited. ++++ 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 the grim dark future there is only war. ++++

Iudecian Majoris VI: Jebalt

Beyond the habitable belt of Iudecian Majoris, Jebalt is a bitingly cold world that nevertheless features sites of heavy industrialisation. The vast bulk of the planet’s surface is icy wasteland, but Jebalt does have a few scattered settlements where surveyor ships have identified ores of value beneath the ice. Jebalt exports these metals almost exclusively to Iudex, where they are used in fields from jewellery to arms manufacturing.

Iudecian Minoris

Iudecian Minoris I: Kintaro

The sole planetary body orbiting Iudecian Minoris, Kintaro is an uninhabited dwarf planet of frozen ammonia and methane.