Cthonia
Cthonia was the world on which Horus landed after being stolen from the grip of the Emperor.[4]
| Map | Basic Data | Planetary Image | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Name: | Cthonia | 
|
| Segmentum: | Segmentum Solar[4] | ||
| Sector: | Unknown | ||
| Subsector: | Unknown | ||
| System: | Unknown | ||
| Population: | Approx. 2 Billion (before destruction)[4] | ||
| Affiliation: | Imperium/Sons of Horus | ||
| Class: | Destroyed, former Adeptus Astartes Homeworld/Feral World/Mining World[4] | ||
| Tithe Grade: | N/A | ||
History
A den of hive-sprawls and polluted industry, Cthonia existed in one of Earth's closest neighbouring systems. Being within reach even for non-warp spacecraft, Cthonia had been colonised, built upon, tunneled and mined probably since the dawn of space travel. As such, all natural resources had been stripped away and used up millennia before, and the ancient mining technology had long since been rediscovered and removed by the Adeptus Mechanicus of Mars. The planet that remained was largely redundant and abandoned,[1] described as rocky and volcanic,[5b] completely riddled with catacombs, crumbling industrial plants and exhausted mine-workings.[1] The planet was notorious for the vicious gangs and slums.[3] Most of its population fought and died with each other in the labyrinthine tunnels below the Mechanicum-ruled surface. At the planet's heart was a massive volcanic cavern that the gangs used to incinerate their dead.[6]
The first Imperial contact with Cthonia took place in the early Great Crusade, when a Star Hunters pioneer company under Captain Kornelius Dure discovered the world and declared it a "nest of serpents coiling in the dark that we would be better to destroy". However, the planet was revealed as the homeworld of Horus, one of the Emperor's lost Primarch's and the first to be rediscovered.[4] Upon incorporation into the Imperium, the Space Marines of the Luna Wolves Legion were created using the human inhabitants of the violent gangs inhabiting the planet's Hives.[1] Inhabitants of Cthonia had a slightly freckled faces and pale, craggy features.[5a]
During the Horus Heresy, Cthonia was blockaded by the Imperial Fists, who laid siege to the world for several years until the war's end despite attempts by the Sons of Horus under Ashurhaddon to relieve it.[6][9] In course of the siege, parts of the local population sided with the loyalists, and the Imperial Fists even began to recruit from Cthonia's gangs.[8a][8b] The planet was finally destroyed by the Dark Angels at the end of the Heresy in 014.M31.[2][8c] Despite the planet's destruction, loyalist Cthonian Regiments remained in service of the Astra Militarum by M41.[7]
Notable Locations
- Lupercal's Gate - Immense Hive city that before the Age of Strife had been far more heavily populated. Later dubbed Traitor's Gate by the Imperials during the Siege.[9a]
- Terminal Atlas - An immense space elevator cable dating back to the Dark Age of Technology which linked the surface to an immense Orbital Plate above.[9a]
- Titan Yards - Despite its title, few Titans were built here but it was a major construction hub for Leman Russ Tanks.[9a]
- Pharos Obscurus - A ruined relic that had once been a beacon for interstellar trade.[9]
- Tyrant's Den - Subterranean fortress of the Sons of Horus garrison[9b]
- Aanlok Chasm - Large sinkhole leading into Cthonia's underworld.[9b]
- Serpent's Jaws - Large sinkhole leading to Cthonia's underworld.[9b]
- Poison Coast[9a]
- Yedig Expanse[9b]
- Vorhek Mountains[9b]
- Zoeker Spire[9b]
Known Gangs
Related Articles
Sources
 |
- 1: Index Astartes IV, [Needs Citation]
- 2: Codex: Space Marines (3rd Edition), [Needs Citation]
- 3: Warlords of the Dark Millennium: Abaddon the Despoiler (Background Book),[Needs Citation]
- 4: The Horus Heresy Book Eight, pgs. 138-139
- 5: Horus Rising (Novel)
- 6: White Dwarf 470, pg. 105
- 7: Imperial Armour Volume One - Imperial Guard and Imperial Navy, pg. 36
- 8: Cthonia's Reckoning (Anthology)
- 9: Campaigns of the Age of Darkness: The Siege of Cthonia
