Gothic Sector
Contents
The Gothic War
The Gothic War was Abaddon's 12th Black Crusade which saw the ravaging of the Gothic Sector and the capture of two Blackstone Fortresses.
In the lead up to the Gothic War during 142.M41, a cataclysmic shockwave passed through the warp and the entire sector was engulfed in a warp storm cutting it off from outside help. Battlefleet Gothic, the Imperial Navy Battlefleet of the Gothic Sector, fought against many Chaos fleets led by individual Warmasters - estimates vary from eight to twenty or more Chaos fleets present, each capable of rivaling an Imperial battlegroup - as well as pirates of the Eldar and the unconfirmed presence of a Craftworld, Ork pirates, and also human pirates. The death toll on both Imperial and Chaos sides ran into the millions; planets were invaded and recaptured and bases attacked all the while the sector was isolated from outside Imperial help.[1c]
In 151.M41, almost ten years later, did the warp storms finally begin to abate allowing reinforcements to arrive. With an alliance between the Imperium and the Eldar, Abaddon's fleet was located and pursued to the Schindlegeist system where the deciding battle of the war took place, seeing Abaddon beaten. It wasn't until 160.M41, almost twenty years after the start of the war, that the sector recovered its planets and trade routes from the threat of remaining Chaos fleets, pirates and Orks.[1c]
Following the resurrection of Roboute Guilliman and the formation of the Great Rift at the end of the 41st Millennium, Dimmamar was one of the worlds which became stranded in the Dark Imperium.[3]
Blackstone Fortresses
The Gothic Sector was the location of the Blackstone Fortresses, ancient abandoned space stations created as weapons against the C'tan which were found and refitted into Imperial naval bases. In the Gothic War Abaddon captured three out of the six still existing. He went on to use them to wipe the atmosphere off an entire planet, and even push a star to super nova and annihilate an entire star system.[1c]
At the ending of the Gothic War, Abaddon managed to remove two of the fortresses into the warp. The third Blackstone Fortress Abaddon had control over was boarded by Imperial forces where they met no resistance nor found any crew. Roughly an hour after the Imperium recaptured the fortress it self-destructed mysteriously along with the four other fortresses under Imperial command.[1c] Abaddon later resurfaced with the two lasting Blackstone Fortresses in his 13th Black Crusade.
Known subsectors and systems/planets
Below is a list of the known subsectors and systems/planets of the Gothic Sector. The systems may contain more than one world but the political power and the bulk of resources will be concentrated on the type of world listed below.[1b]
Bhein Morr Subsector
- Krool — Agri World
- Oechalia — Civilized World
- Fularis (destroyed) — Civilized World — First Blackstone Fortress was located here before the Gothic War. The planet Fularis II was the first demonstration of the power of the Blackstones under Abaddon's control, in which two Blackstones stripped Fularis II of its atmosphere and reduced its surface to a rocky plain[1a]
- Balaam — Agri World
- Kharlos — Mining World
- Bhein Morr — Civilized World
- Elysium — Civilized World
- Mastado — Mining World
- Luxor — Mining World
- Stranivar — Hive World
- Duran — Uninhabited system
Cyclops Cluster
- Denerair — Agri World
- Thanet — Mining World
- CCX-104 — Uninhabited system
- Misere — Mining World
- Mezoa — Forge World
- Moab — Civilized World
- GS/PC02 'Slade' — Penal World
- Lithore — Mining World
- Numitor — Agri World
- Halemnet — Hive World
- Rebo — Civilized World — fourth Blackstone Fortress was located here before the Gothic War
- Platea — Mining World
- M'man — Uninhabited system
- Verstap — Agri World
Gethsemane sub-sector
- Toya-Tama — Mining World
- Lashattau — Mining World
- Gath — Agri World
- Gethsemane — Hive World
- Fier — Mining World — third Blackstone Fortress was located here before the Gothic War
- Cherys — Hive World
- Zpandex — Forge World
- AFR-74 — Uninhabited system
- Erebus — Agri World
- Drakulu — Agri World
- Yama Enda — Agri World
Port Maw Subsector
- TR/0524/GS/PW-L — Uninhabited system
- Acre — Agri World
- Bretz — Civilized World
- Electris — Agri World
- Kueghan — Agri World
- Port Maw — Hive World — The headquarters of Battlefleet Gothic and the largest naval base in the sector
- Marinas — Mining World
- Lethe — Civilized World
- Aeolus — Mining World
- GS/PC04 'Warpurgis' — Penal World
- Ortho — Mining World
- Kiliman IV — Uninhabited system
Quinrox Sound Subsector
- Phroti — Uninhabited system
- Naxos — Mining World
- Thera — Mining World
- Melos — Mining World
- Delos — Mining World
- Corilia — Hive World
- Brigia System[1d][5] (also called Brinaga System)[1a][4]
- Brigia — Civilized World,[1d] densely populated[7]
- Brinaga — Sixth Blackstone Fortress was located here before the Gothic War[1a]
- Eziam — Agri World
- Savaven (destroyed) — Cardinal World of the Ecclesiarchy. In the opening of the Gothic War, Savaven was the first planet destroyed by the Chaos Planet Killer ship[1a]
- Loac — Mining World
Lysades Subsector
- Skagerrak — Mining World
- Sicyon — Mining World
- Tarantis (destroyed) — Mining World — The entire Tarantis system was destroyed during the Gothic Was when Abaddon combined three Blackstones to unleash an energy wave into the system's star, causing it to eventually super nova and resulting in the annihilation of the full system[1c]
- Savour — Civilised World
- Schindlegeist — Civilised World — fifth Blackstone Fortress was located here before the Gothic War. It was also the location of the deciding battle of the Gothic War which saw the defeat of Abaddon's fleet[1a]
- Vindalex — Forge World
- Boetia — Agri World
- Corini — Agri World
- Bladen — Hive World
- Arimaspia — Civilised World
- Coimbra — Agri World
Orar Subsector
- Skargul — Mining World
- GS/PC45 'Helwurld' — Penal World
- 201/23/GS/N.35/4 — Uninhabited system
- Orar — Hive World
- Bligh — Agri World
- Corain — Mining World
- AG106/GS/N — Agri World
- Gile's World — Agri World
- Anvil 206 — Hive World — second Blackstone Fortress was located here before the Gothic War
- D'Gruppa — Mining World
- Lemnos — Mining World
- Picus — Agri World
Unknown Subsector
- Allas Nova — Near the Cyclops Cluster, Quinrox Sound, Bhein Morr, and Lysades[1d]
- Gilead System — On the inner border of the Gothic Sector[6]
- Graildark Nebula — The hiding place of Eldar pirates during in the Gothic War. Even following the War, the Graildark Nebula still contains worlds that await freedom[1c]
- Hammerhead Deeps — Near Orar[1d]
- Lukitar System — Near Brinaga.[4] During the Gothic War, home to an Adeptus Mechanicus facility on a moon orbiting a gas giant where experimental upgrades were made to Imperial ships
- Zambeque — known as the "Gateway to the Gothic Sector"[8]
Trivia
- The Gothic Sector and the Gothic War are the focus of Games Workshop's Battlefleet Gothic game released in 1999.
Related articles
Sources
- 1: Battlefleet Gothic Rulebook
- 1a: pgs. 92–102
- 1b: pgs. 158–159
- 1c: [Needs Citation]
- 1d: inside back cover
- 2: Warhammer 40,000 5th Edition Rulebook, pgs. 116–117
- 3: Warhammer Community
- 4: Black Legion - A Codex: Chaos Space Marines Supplement (6th Edition) (digital edition), pg. 45
- 5: White Dwarf 239 (UK), pg. 40
- 6: Wrath & Glory Core Rulebook, pg. 49
- 7: Dataslate: Cypher - Lord of the Fallen (Background Book)
- 8: Codex: Dark Angels (8th Edition), pg. 21