The Pale Stars,[1a][3b] formally known as Mare Stellum Pallidus, Sea of Pale Stars[3a] or Sea of Pallid Stars,[3b] is an collection of systems located within the Maelstrom Zone in Ultima Segmentum near The Maelstrom.[1a] It is infamous for its "sickly blue-white" stars, its richness in resources, and the alleged ill-fortune of its inhabitants.[3b]
History
Before the coming of the Imperium, the Pale Stars were host to a number of Xenos and "devolved" Human cultures. In M30, the Great Crusade's 771st Expedition Fleet (which included Raven Guard elements) charted the region and massacred the Xenos and human inhabitants of several of its worlds.[3b] Not long after this initial wave of conquest and genocide, the 13th Expedition Fleet of Primarch Angron also passed through the area, causing even more destruction. The Pale Stars' survivors would consequently maintain a deep fear for any Space Marines.[3b] On a few worlds of the Pale Stars, the pre-Imperial cultures were able to persist until at least M31, with Sidaiva, Dissolution, and Optera IV being notable cases.[3a][3b]
By the start of the Horus Heresy, the Pale Stars had not yet been elevated to Sector status. However, the Imperium had begun to set up some administration, centred on Phargos Rex as the main world,[3b] while in the process of purging the region's last Xenos and other resistance holdouts.[3a] Any kind of order was shattered with the Heresy's outbreak, however, as the Pale Stars were ravaged by Loyalists, Traitors, and third-party factions alike. The main loss of this campaign was the Pale Stars' main world, Phargos Rex, which became consumed by a Warp Storm.[3c] During the late stages of the Horus Heresy, Emperor's Children forces fleeing the destruction of their Homeworld of Chemos took up residence in the Pale Stars, forcing the Salamanders to respond.[2]
In the following millennia, the Pale Stars remained a important source of resources for the wider Maelstrom Zone.[1d] However, the region remained sparsely populated, relatively isolated, and constantly beset by corsairs and Xenos.[1b] Many previously Imperial-dominated worlds[3a] of the Pale Stars were lost by M41.[1b] In the Badab War of 901-912.M41, the Pale Stars once more became a major battleground, and suffered terribly as loyalists and secessionists fought over their resources. In a brutal series of raids and conquests by the Minotaurs, circa 20% of the Pale Stars' human population was massacred.[1c] By 907/908.M41, the region was largely under loyalist control, through human and Xenos corsairs had also increased their activity.[1d]
Known Worlds
- Crows World system[1d]
- Crows World - Civilized World (M41);[1b] Raven Guard "fief" (M31)[3a]
- Uzeal - Moon[1d]
- Kyro System
- Larsa system
- Larsa II - Mining World (M41),[1b] Resource World (M31)[3a]
- Larsa V - Death World[3d]
- Optera IV - Feral World (M31/M41)[1b][3a]
- Phargos Rex - "Classified" Forbidden World (M41);[1a][1b] formerly Administratum Seat (M31)[3a]
- Eridayn Cataract - Asteroid Extraction in Trinary Star System[1b][3a]
- Mirdath - Mechanicum Void Forge (M31)[3a]
- Psiom Zeta-1 - Unclaimed (M31)[3a]
- Sidaiva - Xenos World, War World (M31)[3a]
- Dissolution - Xenos World, War World (M31)[3a]
- 771/58 - Imperial colony (M31)[3a]
- 771/50 - Imperial colony (M31)[3a]
- 771/51-6 - Contested void pirate haven (M31)[3a]
- 771/47-9 - Imperial void colony at Gas Giant (M31)[3a]
Sources
- 1: Imperial Armour Volume Nine - The Badab War - Part One:
- 2: White Dwarf 478, pg. 105
- 3: The Horus Heresy Book Six - Retribution: