Scintilla
| Map | Basic Data | Planetary Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Name: | Scintilla | 
|
| Segmentum: | Segmentum Obscurus[1] | ||
| Sector: | Calixis Sector[1] | ||
| Subsector: | Golgenna Reach[Needs Citation] | ||
| System: | Unknown[Needs Citation] | ||
| Population: | 25,000,000,000[Needs Citation] | ||
| Affiliation: | Imperium[1] | ||
| Class: | Hive World[Needs Citation] | ||
| Tithe Grade: | Exactus Extremis[Needs Citation] | ||
Scintilla is the sector capital of the Calixis Sector.[1] Its Imperial Guard Regiments are known as the Scintillan Fusiliers.[Needs Citation]
Contents
Overview
The world is governed by Calixis Sector Governor Marius Hax. It is a thriving Imperial hub that supports the largest planetary population in the territory. It is dominated by two vast hive cities, Hive Sibellus and Hive Tarsus which hold the majority of the planetary population. Despite the dominance of those two hives, the "offspring" communities, Ambulon and Gunmetal City, contribute significantly to the planet's economy as well. Scintilla is a world where the powerful and wealthy compete with ruthless appetite. Magnificence is astonishing on Scintilla, from the wondrous fashions of the hive's nobility to the spectacle of the hives themselves. Landmarks like Lucid Palace and the Cathedral of Illumination, are famous throughout the Calixis Sector.[Needs Citation]
It is also a world of corruption where members of noble houses are deluded by their wealth and status and the corruption and privilege runs deep in the culture of the high-born. Noble houses consider themselves (sometimes correctly) as above or outside Imperial law and can wield immense influence. Their attitude towards the lower-born is callous; it is not unknown for thrill-seeking degenerates from noble houses to prey upon lesser humans as a sport.[Needs Citation]
On the other end of the social spectrum, the underhives are rife with mutants, outlaws and ultra-violent gangs, as well psychotic zealots from the Redemption Cult.[Needs Citation]
The middle hives are trapped between aristo spires and rancid underhives and the hivers live the thankless life of unending toil, where ignorance is a virtue and death a reward for a lifetime of loyal, drone servitude, fulfilling the exorbitant tithes levied on Scintilla by the Administratum. It has been this way since the days of Angevin and some of Scintilla corruption is so deeply ingrained that it is invisible even to those who perpetrate it.[Needs Citation]
Hives Sibellus and Tarsus
The two hives are Scintilla's most important features: immense, multi-leveled cities that house billions of citizens. The hives are largely independent, ruled by the councils drawn from the nobles of the spires. The majority of the inhabitants of the middle hives are the laboring class, without whom the planet's manufactories and trade houses would cease to function. Almost all middle hivers are owned or indentured to nobles from great sector-wide families or Scintilla's own lesser houses. The most neglected, polluted and crime-ridden areas of the hives are underhives, where life is cheap and brutal gangs fight for supremacy before inevitable violent death claims them. As long as the violence doesn't spill into middle hives, the authorities are happy to let the gangs kill each other in the cesspit of the underhive.[Needs Citation]
Scintilla's two great hives have always competed against each other for prestige and influence, but no rational observer could fail to acknowledge Hive Sibellus's dominance. It is larger than Hive Tarsus, referred to as "the Capital" or the "ruling hive" and is the seat of both political and administrative power and the centre of the planet's manufacturing might. Hive Tarsus is a dark, shadowy twin of the Hives Sibellus, referred by Sibellians as the "other place" and is a mercantile hive which controls all off-world trade and commerce. Neither hive could function without each other, a fact celebrated in Scintillan proverbs and myths. However neither great hive could openly admit the importance of "offspring" communities, Ambulon and Gunmetal City, both of which wield considerable influence.[Needs Citation]
Planetary Data
- Galactic Position: 88/23/CS/SW.[Needs Citation]
- Satellites: Two moons (Sothus and Lachesis). Orbital docks geostationary above Hive Tarsus.[Needs Citation]
The moon Lachesis is home to the base of the Tyrantine Cabal. This is the Bastion Serpentis, a bleak fortress of age-polished black stone jutting from the surface of Scintilla's moon. Few people know of its existence, and those who do not are kept away from the moon by dire warnings about geological instability. Lord Inquisitor Zerbe can normally be found at the Bastion.[Needs Citation]
- Mean Surface Temperature: 22°C.[Needs Citation]
- Tropospheric Composition: Nitrogen 72%, Oxygen 25%, Argon 1%, Ozone 1%, Carbon Dioxide 0.5%.[Needs Citation]
- Planetary Governor: Sector Governor Marius Hax.[Needs Citation]
- Religion: The Cult of the Redemption is active on several planets, but its spiritual home in the Calixis Sector is Scintilla.[Needs Citation]
- Climate: Climate temperate with extensive equatorial deserts.[Needs Citation]
- Economy:[Needs Citation]
- Scints, Scolds and Scabs - These are all terms used in the hives of Scintilla, and have become synonyms with the most valuable denominations of the Thrones, based in no small part on that world's excessive levels of wealth.
- Rounds - Used in the depths of Gunmetal City, where actual bullets are sometimes used as currency.[Needs Citation]
- Principle Exports: Scintilla is a major exporter of manufactured goods including ship-drive components and weaponry. It is also an important source of manpower, with a large Planetary Defence Force (PDF) and huge under-hive population, both of which make for excellent Imperial Guard recruit sources in the Scintillan Guard.[Needs Citation]
- Principle Imports: Scintilla cannot support itself and requires massive imports of food from the Calixis Sector's agri-worlds.[Needs Citation]
- Countries and Continents: Three main continents - southern polar cap mountainous/volcanic, equatorial crescent deserts/jungle (Hive Tarsus, Hive Tenebra [extinct]), northern temper-ate landmass (Hive Sibellus, Ambulon, Gunmetal City). The remainder of the planetary surface is covered in ocean (heavily polluted, with severely depleted fish stocks).[Needs Citation]
- Defences: Army of the Scintillan Protectorate (medium/high quality, based at Hive Tarsus).[Needs Citation]
Contact with Other Worlds
As the sector capital, Scintilla has a great deal of contact with other worlds in the Calixis Sector, as well as worlds in other sectors and segmentums. Stable warp routes link Scintilla to Tranch, Settlement 228, Iocanthus, Luggnum, Sepheris Secundus, Malfi, Orbel Quill and Baraspine.[Needs Citation]
See Also
Related Articles
Sources
 |
- 1: Scourge the Heretic (Novel), Map of the Calixis Sector (before Prologue, pgs. 6-7)
Uncited
- Black Industries' Calixis Sector: Scintilla (archival)
- Dark Heresy Rulebook, pg. 290
