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Armageddon

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Targetdrone.gif This article is about the planet. For other uses of Armageddon, see Armageddon (disambiguation).
Map Basic Data Planetary Image
Galaxy-Rift-Solar.jpg
Small cross.pngArmageddon
Name: Armageddon Armageddon.jpg
Segmentum: Segmentum Solar[12b]
Sector: Armageddon Sector[6a]
Subsector: Armageddon Subsector[6b]
System: Armageddon System[6a]
Population: Unknown
Affiliation: Imperium[2]
Class: Hive World[2], Industrial World[6a]
Tithe Grade: Exactis Extremis reduced to Solutio Tertius[1a][6c]

Armageddon is a Hive World of the Imperium. It is the fourth planet of the Armageddon System.[2][6c]

Armageddon has been the site of some of the largest wars in the Imperium's history.


History

Secret Origins

Unknown to the greater Imperium at large, Armageddon was in fact originally the world of Ullanor, made famous by the Ullanor Crusade during the time of the Emperor. 1,500 years after the Horus Heresy during the War of the Beast, Ullanor became the capital world of The Beast and was thought destroyed by the Mechanicum. In truth, the Mechanicum simply teleported Ullanor into the Armageddon System.[8]

First War of Armageddon

The First War for Armageddon is perhaps the least known, and probably for good reason. In 444.M41 Cultists worshiping the Chaos god Khorne broke out in rebellion during a Warp storm. Soon, a great Space HulkDevourer of Stars — appeared over the planet, containing none other than Angron, the Daemon Primarch of the World Eaters.[5]

The daemonic legions quickly pushed the defenders back in an orgy of bloodshed, until help arrived in the form of the Space Wolves and the Grey Knights.[5]

With the Wolves bolstering the defences, the Grey Knights teleported to the centre of the Daemonic horde. The Grey Knights eventually banished Angron and his army from the material world, leaving the cultists to be crushed by the Imperial counterattack. Victory was imminent, but one final tragedy was to strike the planet.[5]

In order to preserve the secret of the Daemon Primarch and the Grey Knights, the entire population of Armageddon, as well as all the surviving soldiers, were rounded up, sterilized, and sentenced to work camps for the rest of their lives while a new population was brought to re-settle the planet.[10a] Despite these cautions, several thousand Guardsmen managed to slip through the containment action, forcing the Inquisition to take more drastic measures in order to preserve the secrets of the daemons and the Grey Knights. Many Imperial Guard troopships were destroyed as they departed by Grey Knight Strike Cruisers, and in the Tremayne sector, three entire worlds were put to the sword to ensure the silence of a single company of Storm Troopers who had fought at Helsreach Hive alongside the Grey Knights.[4]

Logan Grimnar, the Great Wolf of the Space Wolves, has never forgiven the Inquisition for carrying out such a betrayal of the men and women who fought for their world.[10b]

Second War for Armageddon

The Second War for Armageddon featured a huge force of Orks in 941.M41 led by the mighty Warboss Ghazghkull Mag Uruk Thraka. The Overlord of the planet, Herman von Strab, was completely unprepared for the attack and his own pride and incompetence only made matters worse. Eventually, the defence of the planet was taken over by Commander Dante of the Blood Angels. The forces involved were the Salamanders, Blood Angels, Ultramarines, Imperial Guard and Squats. During the war an Imperial Commissar named Yarrick, who had been exiled by von Strab to Hades Hive, led a heroic defence of the Hive that eventually distracted Ghazghkull from the planetary battles. This infuriated him enough to send more and more forces against Hades Hive. The battle escalated to such proportions that Ghazghkull considered the fight a matter of personal pride, and took command of the forces assaulting Hades himself. Although the Hive eventually fell, the distraction gave the Imperial forces enough time to mount a counterattack that finally broke the back of the Ork invasion force. Yarrick survived and would clash with Ghazghkull again. Von Strab escaped from his jailers, and the Orks were forced away, humiliated in their defeat. They would have to return to avenge their failures.[Needs Citation]

Third War for Armageddon

The Third War for Armageddon occurred fifty years after the Second War. Ghazghkull Thraka returned, leading a second Waaagh! smashing into Armageddon. Commissar Yarrick and many of the heroes who fought for the planet before were called into battle again.[Needs Citation]

Aftermath

Although the 3rd Armageddon War has seen the Imperium retain its holding on the world, fighting still continues on the planet. Ghazghkull has left the planet and continues to plague neighboring Imperial worlds. He is being pursued by Yarrick with a full Black Templars crusade at his back. The Orks have come to regard Armageddon as a kind of Valhalla, where they can always come to find a good fight, and the Imperium must still send more troops to battle to keep the planet in Imperial hands while Ork reinforcements continue to flood in.[3]

The New Danger

After appearing the Great Rift at the end of M41, Armageddon has found itself directly in the path of The Blood Crusade, a vast legion of Khorne's Daemons pouring into realspace. Since that time the planet again was faced with the Daemonic Invasion and on the ash wastes of Armageddon now fighting not two, but three great forces, as Orks, Imperials and Khorne's followers has clashed with each other.[9]


Geography

Armageddon's surface features three main bodies of land: the Fire Wastes surrounding the north pole, the Deadlands around the south pole and one large equatorial landmass. These continents are separated by a world ocean.[6c]

The equatorial landmass supports the majority of the planet's population, including a number of hive cities. It is split into two continents - Armageddon Prime in the west and Armageddon Secundus to the east, which meet in a region dominated by a massive jungle.[6c]

The planet's atmosphere is thick and has been contaminated by thousands of years worth of industrial by-products, along with hydrogen sulphides (produced by volcanic activity) and carbon oxides (produced by decaying organic matter and a lack of plantlife). An average human requires mechanical assistance to breathe, although the thicker atmosphere does counteract the planet's relatively weak magnetic field, protecting Armageddon from cosmic radiation.[2]

Other Planetary Data[2]

  • Orbital Distance: 1.1 AU
  • Gravitation: 0.91G
  • Temperature: 60°С
  • Diameter: 6830 miles
  • Moons: None


Military

Armageddon operates a large standing army, including both a Planetary Defense Force known as the Armageddon Defence Force[1b] and the famed Armageddon Steel Legion of the Imperial Guard, which specialises in mechanised warfare and fighting Orks.[12a] During the Second War for Armageddon, they also operated specialised anti-Ork units known as the Armageddon Ork Hunters. In times of crisis, Armageddon also mobilises militias, such as the Armageddon Ash Waste Militia and the Armageddon Hive Militia.[6]

The planet also sports extensive orbital defences, including layers of orbital mines, spacedocks, weapons platforms and two manned Imperial Space Stations (one located over each pole).[2]

Armageddon patterns

Armageddon is known to produce its own patterns of numerous weapons and vehicles. Armageddon-Pattern Vehicles tend to be environmentally sealed, a necessity for fighting on Armageddon in order to protect both the pilot and machine from the corrosive effects of the planet's ash waste sands.[Needs Citation]

In the course of the ork invasions, some of the manufactories of Armageddon started to produce a variant of the Chimera APC. These new tanks, intended as a stopgap to bolster the Planetary Defence Forces, are designated the APDS-6a 'Defender'. They mount a laser destroyer on a Chimera chassis and have proved reasonably effective.[13]

Amongst the weapons produced on Armageddon are lasguns. Newly-produced lasguns on Armageddon are known to have a flaw whereby the slides often jam.[11]

Trivia

See also

Sources

Related Links

  • http://www.armageddon3.com/ Games Workshop site for the 3rd Armageddon Worldwide Campaign Event Includes free downloads for the Battle of Armageddon game and Chaos Attack Expansion