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Charon Stars

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"The empyrean's foulness bled out through the pores of space, like a murderous infection beneath the skin of reality. There, one cannot pretend that daemons are not separated from us by a tremulously thin veil. I pray I need never enter that place again."
- Kazandus Lan describing the Charon Stars.
[3][Needs Citation]

The Charon Stars are a group of stars in and around the Hadex Anomaly in the Acheros Salient of the Jericho Reach.[1a][2a][3a] It is a nightmarish region, filled with life tainted by the Warp.[1a][4a]

Description

"Nothing that issues from the corrupt aura of the Charon Stars is harmless."
- Codicier Taelon.
[3][Needs Citation]

The daemon worlds of the Charon Stars are the most common location in the Acheros Salient for overt unpredictable manifestations of the Warp, such as gravity being reversed, seas turning to blood, the sky set ablaze with eldritch energies, or nightmarish hulking daemons tearing into existence and attempting to devour everything in sight.[4b] Near-mindless mutant abominations lived on the worlds on the edge of the Charon Stars, where they were harvested by the forces of Chaos to fight in the Acheros Salient.[5a] The veil between reality and Warp space was thin in the Charon Stars, with the Warp able to bleed through to real space.[3b] Many humans lost their sanity when exposed to the depravity of the Charon Stars.[3c]

Due to the unpredictable movement of the Hadex Anomaly, the Ordo Malleus have not been able to determine how far the contamination of the Charon Stars extends.[1a]

Some star systems, such as Magog, are drawn in and out of the Hadex Anomaly. While in the Anomaly, the stars glow with a sickly red light. When outside the Anomaly they no longer glow red, but are not cleansed of its influence, and may bear the markings of the taint of Chaos for millenia.[1a]

Due to their proximity to the Hadex Anomaly, it is difficult to travel to the Charon Stars unscathed without using the semi-stable Warp Route known as the Drop. As the Anomaly drowns out the light of the Astronomicon, it is challenging for Navigators without experience of travelling near it to pass through the Drop. This warp route is guarded by the Cyclopean Confederation, who claim this Warp Route as their own, and demand tribute to use it.[4c]

The Deathwatch Watch Station Midael was close to the spinward extent of the Charon Stars, cut off from Imperial forces by the spreading baleful influence of the Charon Stars.[5b]

History

Necron star charts at Karlack showed the star systems that would become the Charon Stars at the location later occupied by the Hadex Anomaly.[3a]

When the Jericho Sector's capital Verronus turned to Chaos in 249.M40, its population's worship of Chaos caused the Charon Stars to churn with fell energies.[2a][6]

The Hadex Anomaly appeared in 656.M40, swallowing the Charon Stars and surrounding space.[2a][6]

The Charon Stars became the domain of unnatural dark powers.[5c] They controlled the Chaos cultists of the Cellebos Warzone, including Elak Sarda, leader of the Stigmartus, who was sworn to one of these powers, a nameless daemonic entity.[5a][5d] Their baleful influence over the Cellebos Warzone grew ever more apparent as the Achilus Crusade progressed, and they called on the Traitor Legions to fight with them.[5c][5d] In the Charon Stars they had corrupt priests and commanders, who made sacrificial offerings for them. Rumours claimed that these servants sought to appease the Hadex Anomaly itself, as if it was a living entity that had brought them there on the tides of the Warp.[5d]

The Hell Forge of Samech had a special status among the Charon Stars, which allowed it to acquire almost anything through trade.[3d] The Magi of Samech exiled Magos Phayzarus from their ranks for their own safety, after Phayzarus earned the emnity of the Chaos forces of the Charon Stars by stealing the gene-seed of Chaos Space Marines as well as Imperial.[2b]

The Chaos Sorcerer Dahzak, an exiled member of the Thousand Sons, operated in the worlds of the Charon Stars. After the arrival of the Acheros Crusade, rumors claimed that he spent many years forging an alliance with other Chaos powers in the Charon Stars.[3e] He gleaned dark secrets from the ruins of the Charon Stars, leading him to devise a plan to use the Jericho Reach Warp Gate for his own purposes.[3f]

Yale Ilvaris was born on a small planet in the Charon Stars, in the corona of the Hadex Anomaly.[3g]

After the taking of Khazant by Lord Militant Achilus in 782.M41, its displaced warlords fled into the Charon Stars. Elements of their fleet returned within five years, deploying the first Stigmartus regiments across the Achilus Crusade front, breaking the Imperial hold on several planets, and leading to the creation of the Cellebos Warzone.[1b][4d] The Stigmartus' recruiting worlds were somewhere within the Charon Stars, where time passed much faster. They were set up as breeding and training grounds for their warriors, and contributed up to a third of the total Stigmartus forces.[4a] Elak Sarda led brutal pogroms against tribes of would-be followers of the Stigmartus that routinely sprang up across the Charon Stars.[1c]

During the Achilus Crusade, Deathwatch kill-teams made forays into the Charon Stars to gather vital intelligence.[4e]

Rogue Trader Kazandus Lan travelled to the Charon Stars, where he witnessed the Warp bleeding through into real space, making him wish never to return there.[3b]

Penemue Grigoris disappeared in the Charon Stars soon after Lord Militant Tetrarchus ordered all members of House Grigoris recalled to Carmyn pending an investigation by the Ordo Malleus. As of 817.M41 she was still unaccounted for, and believed to be seeking Kokabiel Grigoris, to try to bring him back from the influence of Chaos.[1d] Kokabiel's ship the Burden of Revelation met the Word Bearers battlebarge Inexorable Ruination deep within the Charon Stars, near the remains of a ship of xenos origin. They disappeared into the Warp after being discovered by the Deathwatch Rapid Strike vessel Final Mercy.[1e]

House Der'cel's highliner Via Infractus was moored at an unknown location within the Charon Stars. It housed a massive program to breed a new generation of Navigators raised by the Cyclopean Congregation.[1f]

A Deathwatch Kill-Team on the way to Imbru was engulfed in a Warp Storm on approaching the Charon Stars, and attacked by Ghulroth, a Herald of Nurgle, and his host of daemons.[7]

Known Systems and Worlds

Outside the Hadex Anomaly

Confirmed

Unconfirmed

Within the Hadex Anomaly

Confirmed

Unconfirmed

Unknown Location

  • Eos, a planet deep within the Charon Stars[2d]

Sources