Nightfall
A Death World in the Graiae Subsector of the Eridani Sector. Nightfall orbits the main sequence white star of Keres-2 within the Keres system. It is the only inhabited world in orbit, due in no small part to its own infamy, though two of the other three planets and several moons of the gas giant Ajax have been marked as suitable for colonisation by surveyors.
Planetary Geography
Nightfall has a highly unusual day/night cycle - on the surface it has a relatively ordinary 30 hour rotation, but due a combination of factors including a unique mix of thermospheric gases and its orbital position in the system relative to the massive world of Ajax (and its many planet sized moons) also experiences frequent total planetary eclipses and light-occluding cloud banks that can often last weeks. The longest "night" on record was almost half a year long, though an unconfirmed night lasting several years is an ancient planetary legend - along with a prophecy telling of a second long night that will spell the end of all things.
Extremely dense, heavy forest covers the majority of the planet, with equatorial regions being rainforest, moving into deciduous deep woods outside the tropics and pines and tundra towards the poles - which are icy yet still largely forested until the extreme polar regions which get too cold in winter for anything to survive. Nightfall has 3 main continents separated by ocean, and mountain ranges which are also forested until the bare rock at their peaks. Death World status has been assigned to Nightfall thanks to the nature of its hyper-aggressive and largely predatory fauna and flora - Many different species of plant during the day are carnivorous, to supplement the limited photosynthesis they can get beneath the forest canopy, leading to most animal life being nocturnal - and also evolved to largely be carnivorous. Every attempt to establish a colony from offworld has been met with failure, with those who make planetfall often lasting just days before the planet consumes them. The only people who seem to be able to survive on Nightfall are its indigenous population.
During the extended periods of eclipse, be they caused by stellar bodies or opaque atmospheric gas mixes, the wildlife is constantly active as if it was night - turning the planet into a feeding frenzy for predators on every level of the food chain. It has been said by those few individuals who have been among a clan during an eclipse that the noises, sights and smells of the endless forests in such a time are things they will never be able to forget. To date, no colony attempt has ever survived an eclipse - even the Nightfallers themselves are not infallible, with the time most clans die out being during an eclipse in which they are ambushed by entire packs of monstrous super predators.
Politics and Culture
Political Structure
Nightfall has little in the way of government that the Imperium would understand and it has almost no critical infrastructure as its people are almost all nomadic warriors; slowly and quietly moving between regions to evade the nocturnal predators that constantly stalk them. This is the secret to how they survive - where offworlders attempt to clear a section of forest with fire and heavy machinery, and then build a fortress to hold off the wildlife (inevitably attracting more and more hyper-evolved predators until the defences fail), the locals keep moving and only fight when forced. Knowledge of the forests is passed down through the generations, often by word of mouth and practical experience more than learning by rote. Because of this it is unlikely that any outsider will ever be able to survive on Nightfall, unless they are adopted into a clan.
Nightfallers have a clan based warrior society -most people learning to fight and hunt from a very young age- with family groups frequently numbering into the hundreds or (more rarely) thousands banding together to better survive the night. As far as the Imperium is concerned, this lack of overall government or planetary leader has caused problems with the assignation of a Planetary Governor. In the past outsiders have attempted to claim the title, but the planet has been the grave of them all. In practical terms the leader of the largest clan group has the most power, and so this person is considered Governor by the Imperium - though the Administratum rarely knows who precisely this is. Consequently in all tithe documents and other communications, the Governor of Nightfall is simply referred to as the “Lord of Nightfall”.
Clan Culture and Isolationism
Nightfallers are a deeply spiritual people, said to be in tune with the rhythm of their forest home - and to a degree this is true, for the way they survive is by reading the forest and knowing where and when to travel, hide, hunt or fight. This spirituality sits very uncomfortably with Imperials that manage to get a Nightfaller to talk about it in depth, for it almost sounds like paganism. Because of this the planet is a frequent target for Missionaries, who often attempt to embed themselves into a clan to do their part to twist local beliefs into something more palatable to other Imperials. Whether it is down to the efforts of these faithful few or because Nightfallers have come to understand that their culture sounds threatening to outsiders is unclear, but generally when asked about their faith a Nightfaller will state that the Emperor is in all living things, and that includes the forest and all that lives in it. Those who ask typically do not push further.
Despite the difference in size and strength of groups, there are very few records of wars taking place between clans. The ever present danger inherent to life on Nightfall has caused its people’s culture to become one of cooperation. Any clan that survives for a considerable length of time is worthy of respect, and therefore is seen as sovereign by the others. Disagreements are usually talked out, and in the rare cases where this is not enough the feuding clans either just move apart from each other, or if individuals are involved have them settle things amongst themselves without drawing in the wider clan. This process often takes the form of a duel (or melee if more than two individuals are involved), as all Nightfallers are forced to become warriors from an early age simply to survive to adulthood.
Unfortunately this surprisingly civilised way of life does not extend to outsiders. Ever since Nightfall was first rediscovered by the Imperium, in an age long since passed, there have been those willing to risk their lives to attempt to exploit the world’s abundant natural resources. Aside from the obvious allure of untapped mountain ranges full of ore on a world fit for human habitation, there is also demand for vicious predators offworld - either dead as trophies or alive as fighting animals (or more worryingly, pets - Owning a live Nightfall Megarachnid or Scythe-Fang is seen as a status symbol on several worlds). None of these ventures have ever been successful long term - the first eclipse that occurs spells doom for them all - but just enough trinkets (and the occasional animal) make it offworld to keep rich collectors and warlords interested, and stories being told of great riches for those bold enough to brave the infamous Death World of Nightfall. Because of this reputation a steady trickle of would be settlers, colonisers and even occasional invaders have attempted to make the planet their home, and for as long as the stories and rumours persist, more will come.
Because of their many failures, offworlders are seen as clumsy, stupid and inept by most Nightfallers. More than one colony attempt has been undone by the locals before the wildlife has even got to them, usually when the patch of forest they are attempting to clear bears some sort of cultural meaning for a particular clan (such as an ancestor grave, or ritual site). This attitude extends beyond those who remain on Nightfall and into their only bulk export - regiments of light infantry for the Imperial Guard.
The Mountain Clans
The only Nightfallers that do not share this nomadic way of life are the clans that live in the various mountain ranges dotted across the continents. Wildlife, while no less deadly, is more sparsely populated in the alpine regions, and as such they have managed to put down roots hidden deep within the mountains. If Nightfall could be said to have permanent towns or cities, they would be these secluded fortresses, though even the clans that live there would not regard them as such. They see themselves more as providers of a vital service to the clans below under the canopy, for their permanent location means they have been able to act as a base of operations for a limited Imperial presence, such as Astrophaths and Ecclesiarchal missions, as well as for industries - which while not enough to make the world fully self sufficient in terms of weaponry or fuel, can manufacture most of what the people of Nightfall need - be it medicines, simple weaponry, clothing, or electronics.
They also produce what little Nightfall has to offer by way of exportable luxury goods. They produce strong liquors from fermented Japeel Fruits and various meat byproducts brought to them by the nomadic clans below - who can and do make alcohol themselves, but to a lesser quality than what the mountain clans are capable of in permanent distilleries. They also produce trinkets and baubles out of ornate hard woods, both for the clans below and for export.
On another world Nightfall would be a two tiered society, with the mountain clans lording their lives of relative luxury over the forest clans below. As it is this is not the case - there is a high degree of cross pollination and movement of people between forest and mountain clans, with the underground strongholds within the mountains forming cultural and industrial centres the forest clans frequently visit for trade and matters of politics. The mountain-dwellers are also dependent on the nomadic forest clans for several aspects of their diet such as most fruits and some meats, which ensures equitable trading between the two peoples.
Imports, Exports and Technology
Given a largely nomadic way of life, Nightfall has little permanent infrastructure of the kind necessary to sustain what the Imperium would consider a normal level of technology. Mass production at scale is a rare thing for them, the mountain clans being the only ones who have successfully hewn out permanent homes. They use these fastnesses as manufacturing hubs, though the mountain clans could never hope to make enough to satisfy the entire world's demand. This means that the technological level on Nightfall is low compared to the rest of the Imperium, and what technology that does exist on the world is invariably portable, utilitarian, and usually still working well beyond the point the Imperium would have replaced it at. Despite this however, military grade weaponry such as sniper and las rifles, flame throwers and even sentinel walkers are relatively commonplace on Nightfall - with most coming into possession of at least a las rifle by the time they can read and write. While they cannot produce weaponry in bulk themselves and have only limited facilities for the refinement of promethium they are both very much required for daily life on Nightfall, and as such equipment and solid fuel are imported in bulk deliveries every several years. Being unable to produce the equipment en masse themselves has not stopped the Nightfallers from modifying their imported equipment and learning to repair it with what spares and limited foundries they have available, which has lead to a scenario in which though weaponry is commonplace, after a certain amount of time on the world no two rifles tend to look alike. Thankfully, agents of the Adeptus Mechanicus give the planet a wide berth, and as such have not been able to document this extremely insulting behaviour.
The reason the Imperium sees fit to export fuel and weaponry (along with other necessities such as missionaries) is because it receives a very good deal in return: It has become a cultural norm among the clans of Nightfall that whenever a shipment arrives, it must be paid for on arrival - and the only currency they have (minus rare luxuries and trinkets) is manpower. Consequently every five years or so when a shipment lands, it sets off again with its hold brimming with men and women of fighting age who will likely never see their home again - They are destined for the Imperial Guard, either to form new regiments or to reinforce those already on campaign in the wider Eridani Sector and beyond. Because this transaction has become ingrained into the culture planetwide the Imperium actually receives far more in tithe material than Nightfall's current grade states it should give; this arrangement suits the scribes of the Adeptus Administratum perfectly.
The Imperial Guard and the Devils of Nightfall
Notorious, whether fairly or not, throughout the Eridani Sector as little more than insular savages with no regard at all for their betters from other worlds, Nightfall Ranger (or "Devil" to some offworlders) Regiments are invariably navigation and reconnaissance specialists with an abundance of scouts, marksmen and veteran warriors - though while this specialism makes them masters of wetwork, skirmishing and operating beyond supply lines, it also means their regiments are ill suited to the gruelling churn of protracted line combat, which their meagre armoured offerings hardly make up for. They usually feature a small complement of light armour and transports, along with a considerable sentinel corps, that are often used in lieu of true armour as tank and monster hunters. One notable regiment is the 31st Nightfall Ranger Regiment, an elite unit that has fought with distinction in several of the sector's more recent wars and has done much to reinforce the dangerous reputation of the "Devils of Nightfall" among friend and foe alike, from Orks gathered around campfires at night to the opulent dinner parties of Imperial High Command.
While their natural disposition is to consider outsiders useless liabilities, the guard is home to many veteran warriors, formations and regiments that are more than capable of impressing them - for in truth all they really respect is competence. Once respect is earned it is generally kept, barring some catastrophe, and they treat those they respect as if they were interacting with one of their own. Whether this goes both ways is hardly guaranteed however - their culture is extremely abrasive towards outsiders until they are accepted "into the clan", and this invariably causes feuds and breeds resentment whenever they are billeted next to outsiders they don't consider to be one of them for too long. In addition, because all Nightfallers truly respect is strength, and respect is earned, they are often a Lord General's worst nightmare. Insubordination, thievery and murders are all crimes that dishonour their regiments at a rate far higher than those from other worlds, and there are even rumours that not every commissar (a figure of supposed absolute authority who is, per the Tactica Imperialis, an outsider) that dies in battle accompanying Nightfallers does so at the hands of the enemy. Such rumours are quickly squashed by the commissariat whenever they arise, lest they spread to the ears of other less wilful guardsmen.
The only times a Nightfall Regiment does not resemble an ill disciplined gang of malcontents are when whoever is in charge is a person they respect, and when they are in the field. Their own officers, for example, have no issues when disciplining their men or issuing difficult orders in the heat of battle, and the few outsiders (be they generals, commissars, priests or others) that have earned their trust find them to be loyal and resourceful beyond their means.
The other thing all Nightfall regiments have in common is the superstitious nature of their troops. Nightfall is (controversially to some) only tangentially connected to the Cult Imperialis by missionaries who do their best to embed themselves in clans, with varying degrees of success. This means that, while ostensibly Imperial, Nightfallers are prone to all sorts of beliefs and eccentricities the Commissariat and Ministorum would love for them to abandon. The most significant (and worrying) trend is for Nightfall regiments to not regard psykers with quite as much revulsion as other units do - While they are still absolutely mistrustful and wary of witches, they have very few qualms about sharing living spaces with them, or even engaging them in conversation (they just won’t typically believe what the “shaman” is telling them). This attitude also extends to sapient "others" such as abhumans and some intelligent xenos species like Kroot, presumably because such individuals are also usually reviled by more honest Imperials.
The reasoning for their ambivalence towards psykers is unclear, due to the somewhat impenetrable nature of Nightfall culture, but the main theory among the scholars of the Ordo Hereticus is problematic to say the least: There has never been a psychic census of Nightfall performed, and due to the Imperium’s inability to get anything more than a few individuals successfully embedded into clan society at a time, Nightfallers have only had their own experiences with witches to inform them over the millennia before basic indoctrination into the Guard. These must have been less catastrophic than on other worlds, even with the psykers of Nightfall being largely undocumented. Psykers on Nightfall then are seen as less dangerous than they should be, and are consequently regarded as mystical witches, shamans and soothsayers as opposed to the dangerous abominations they truly are.