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Terra

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Planetary Summary

Map Basic Data Planetary Image
Name: Terra
Segmentum: Segmentum Solar
Sector: Solar
Subsector: Sol
System: Sol
Population: Unknown, probably hundreds of billions
Affiliation: Imperium
Class: Hive World
Tithe Grade: Aptus Non


Detailed Information

Terra, homeworld of the human race and of the Emperor, is the most holy and revered place in the Imperium. There is a fear toward Space Marines among the people who live there, due to events dating back to the Horus Heresy, when much of the planet was leveled by the Traitor Legions. It is the main headquarters of many important organizations of the Imperium, and even the barren soil that pilgrims tread upon is considered holy. It is effectively a temple the size of a planet.

Geography

Terra is a hive world, its soil is utterly barren and its atmosphere is a fog of pollution. Massive, labyrinthine edifices of state sprawl across the vast majority of the surface. Its oceans have long ago boiled away. Many mountain ranges have been leveled, perhaps all but the Himalayas, due to the laboratories said to be underneath and the Astronomican that lays within them. Beneath hundreds of layers of urban accretion, catacombs hold older cultures, completely different from the surface ones. A poor civilization lives and dies, without ever seeing the surface. A square meter of land on Terra costs more than a palace on any Hive World; only the most wealthy can even afford to own a small section of land1.

Old Earth

The Age of Old Earth is known as the time from the dawn of mankind to the founding of the Imperium. Cities such as Atlantys and Nova Yourk are cited as being the most legendary and ancient cities of Old Earth. Nations known as Jermani, Merica, Britania and Bania are said to have prospered and wilted during this time.1

Locations

Holy Terra is the heart of the Imperium, and of many of its most important organizations. Most importantly it is the home world and resting place of the Emperor of Mankind. The most important places and organisations based on Terra include:

  • Imperial Palace - One of the largest structures on Terra, the Palace is more like a sprawling hive-city. It covers the better part of the northern hemisphere, is guarded by the Adeptus Custodes, and is the heart of the Administratum, as well as incorporating the "throne room" of the Emperor.
  • Eternity Gate - The largest entry to the Inner Imperial Palace's Sanctum Imperialis. A mile long passage leads to the Eternity Gate, lined with the banners of thousands of the greatest and long-dead Imperial heroes, including Lord Commander Solar Macharius. It constitutes the end of the galactic pilgrimage trail, and is itself the most important pilgrimage site.
  • Sanctum Imperialis - The throne room and heart of the Imperial Palace. It is the massive chamber housing the Golden Throne and the Emperor's body.
  • Adeptus Custodes - The Emperor's Praetorian Legion, a force of elite warriors assigned to protect the Imperial Palace. A select group of three hundred Custodes guard the throne room of the Emperor. The Adeptus Custodes are to Space Marines what Space Marines are to ordinary humans.[citation needed]
  • Adeptus Terra - The Adeptus Terra, known commonly as the Priesthood of Earth, is the government of the Imperium, consisting of many organisations and departments.
  • Administratum - The Administratum is the administrative and bureaucratic division of the Adeptus Terra, consisting of untold billions of clerks, scribes and administrative staff constantly working to manage the Imperium at every level, from assembling war fleets to levying taxes. It is the largest of the departments comprising the Adeptus Terra, and ten billion Administratum adepts work in the Imperial Palace alone.
  • The Forbidden Fortress - Built within the Himalayas at the highest point on Terra is the Chamber of the Astronomican, where ten thousand psykers power the Astronomican beacon with their own life energies. The "psychic light" of the beacon reaches thousands of light years across the warp. The Astronomican is utilized by the mutant psykers known as Navigators to guide interstellar ships through otherwise trackless chaos of the warp. Without it long distance warp travel would be impossible and the Imperium would disintegrate.
  • Office of the Inquisition - The Inquisition's headquarters on Terra, it is a sprawling complex built beneath the south polar ice caps.2
  • Adeptus Astra Telepathica - The Adeptus Astra Telepathica is the organisation responsible for recruiting and training psykers for service to the Imperium. The infamous Black Ships travel throughout the Imperium, gathering psykers and returning with them to Earth, where they are analysed and trained at the Scholastia Psykana for five years before being sent for further training elsewhere. Some become Astropaths, specialist psykers who are trained to send and receive messages over interstellar distances (no other form of fast interstellar communication exists). Others are requisitioned by the Adeptus Astronomica for service in the Astronomican choir. The most powerful, those deemed strong enough to resist daemonic possession, are sent to join Space Marine Chapters as Librarians or to the Inquisition for training as Inquisitors. Those psykers deemed too weak or dangerous to live become sacrifices to the Emperor, their souls are "fed" into the arcane technology of the Golden Throne so that the Emperor may continue to live. Only psykers that have been trained at the Scholastia Psykana are sanctioned by the Imperium.
  • Ecclesiarchal Palace - The headquarters of the Ecclesiarchy, the Ecclesiarchal palace sprawls over almost the entirety of Terra's southern continent. Also home to one of the two major convent-fortresses (the Sanctorum) of the Adepta Sororitas (The Sisterhood)3,4.

Sources

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