Asphodel (planet)
| Map | Basic Data | Planetary Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Name: | Asphodel | 
|
| Segmentum: | Segmentum Obscurus[1a] | ||
| Sector: | Screaming Vortex[1a] | ||
| Subsector: | Unknown | ||
| System: | Unknown | ||
| Population: | Unknown | ||
| Affiliation: | Kroot | ||
| Class: | Swamp World | ||
| Tithe Grade: | Unknown | ||
Asphodel is a swamp-covered planet in the Screaming Vortex, inhabited primarily by Kroot. It is a twin world to Berin.[1a]
Overview
Asphodel is a swam-covered world inhabited by a population of stranded Kroot, most of whom have regressed to barbarism. Dense canopies cast the surface in perpetual gloom, which serves to hide various native predators as they hunt. The only break in the planet-covered wetlands is the Lun mountain range, close to the equator.[1a]
Flora and fauna
Nednya trees are the most visible form of plant life on Asphodel, rising from the muck on twisted trunks and covering the sky with their canopies. Other forms of flora include clumps of Tangle Vine, which are often infested with blooms of flesh-rotting fungi, and corrosive burn-moss that hangs in beard-like growths from tree limbs.[1a]
Asphodel's swamps are home to a number of Kroot variants that have entered genetic dead-ends and become simple beasts. Kroot Hounds are lithe, quadrupedal hunters used by sapient Kroot to accompany hunting parties, and can taught various simple commands. Krootox are lumbering four-legged beasts that move in huge herds through the swamps; they are used by their intelligent kin as beasts of burden and in war. Kroot warbands often goad Krootox herds into rampaging towards enemy settlements to wipe out most of their defenders. They may descend from Kroot that fed on a now-extinct Asphodelian beast or else might have arrived with the first colonists to the world. Krootor are amphibious predators with venomous bites, shaped using the genes of aquatic saurian predators, and are considered to be Asphodel's apex predators. Some Kroot tribes use Krootor instead of Kroot Hounds, as they favor these creatures stealth and savagery.[1b]
Native fauna includes venomous Scorchtip frogs and swarms of fat stinging flies. On the Lun mountains, immense moon moths and aether-wurms roost and are tamed by the Kroot to use as flying mounts.[1a]
Society
Asphodel is home to a large number of Kroot tribes, called Septs. Due to being cut off from interstellar Kroot society and being forced to subsist only on savage predators and each other, these have for the most part regressed into a primitive barbaric state. These tribes have lost access to advanced technology, and fight primarily using spears and primitive missile weapons. As a result, they have adopted a fighting style emphasizing close-range combat, stealth, and the first strike. They have also become adept at utilizing the poisonous flora and fauna of their worlds, such as by covering arrowheads and spear tips with Scorchtip frog venom extract or fronds of burn-moss.[1a]
The most savage of the Septs is the Red Moon Sept, whose members have descended wholly into savagery and cannibalism. While most Septs wage war for survival, glory, or spiritual blessings, the Red Moon kill for the sake of killing. They have become steadily more obsessed with bloodletting, ferocity, and violence.[1a]
The primary exception to this state of things are the tribes living along the Lun mountains, which dimly remember their past and are still led by Shapers. These still know how to produce simple firearms such as flintlock rifles, and create primitive black powder from minerals harvested in the mountains and fungi taken from the swamps.[a]
The Conjunction
Periodically, Asphodel draws close enough to Berin that each planet looms large in the other's sky. When this happens, the Orks and Kroot of the two worlds are driven into frenzies as each attempts to invade the other orb. The Shapers believe that life on Asphodel is a spiritual test, and encourage the tribes to battle one another to breed strength and cunning in preparation for the holy time when Berin appears and they must gather to make war upon it.[1a][1c] When the Conjunction comes, the worthy shall ascend into the night to reach the ancestors while the unworthy are scourged by demons in the swamps. To this end, Kroot warriors consume icebloom mushrooms that cause them to secrete a waxy resin to protect themselves from the harsh conditions of the crossing, and tame the great flying beasts of the mountains to ride across the interplanetary gap. As they fly towards Berin, they meet Ork fortresses, propelled rockets and psychic powers, coming the other way to plunder Asphodel.[1c]
Most of the twin invading forces destroy one another when they meet between the worlds, but enough survive to mount full invasions of each other's planets. On Berin, the Kroot briefly seize control of large swaths of land before the Ork tribes, briefly uniting, hunt them down and destroy them. On Asphodel, the opposite occurs as Orks overrun the swamps before being hunted down by the septs that stayed behind.[1b]
