Pellucida IX

Mining World | Drusus Marches, Calixis Sector
Classification: Tithe Grade Exactus – Mining World
Planetary Governor: Lord-Governor Alaric de Vorm (House de Vorm)
Sub-Sector: Drusus Marches
Sector: Calixis
Ordo Presence: Adepta Sororitas (Hospitaller)

Overview:

Pellucida IX is a scarred, iron-veined relic of a planet—its surface long since bled dry of mineral wealth, now sustained by the distant yields of its moons and a crumbling asteroid belt. As one of the older Mining Worlds in the Drusus Marches, its once-industrious surface lies broken and weathered, crisscrossed with immense excavation scars slowly succumbing to overgrowth and atmospheric erosion.

Despite the outward desolation, its orbital assets remain productive. Raw ore is delivered to the planet in controlled drops, then refined in the Great Mineral Procession Facility, an immense complex of furnaces, silos, and servitor-operated machines sprawling over 50 square kilometers. Adjacent to it stands a notorious penal colony PC-3150, supplying expendable labor to meet quota demands. Both are watched over by rockrete watch towers and enforcers loyal to House de Vorm.

Historical and Political Notes:

The colony was first founded by Sepedeus von Ulm, and annexed formally into the Imperium by Guthrund von Ulm, his descendant. Control of the world was entrusted to House de Vorm, whose ancestor served as founding overseer of the first extraction city. Since then, the de Vorm line has ruled without interruption, holding the position of planetary governor as a hereditary office, sanctioned by the Guthrund Von Ulm.

Approximately thirty years ago, mining riots swept through the primary extraction zones, triggered by the psychic ravings and flame-born destruction of a rogue psyker later revealed as The Burning Princess. These uprisings were met with fire and fury. The Inquisition intervened, purging one-third of the planet’s stationed garrison due to psychic taint linked to Silas Grimm, a charismatic cult leader and covert psyker sympathizer. His assassination—stabbed in bed by a novitiate of the Orders Hospitaller—is considered a grim but righteous act that marked the resurgence of Imperial control.

Following the purge, the remaining garrison forces redeemed themselves by ruthlessly suppressing all resistance. Since then, Lord-Governor Alaric de Vorm has instituted draconian labor and anti-union laws, effectively crushing the mining guilds that once wielded subversive influence across the orbital colonies.

Geography and Infrastructure:

  • Capital City: Devorma, located on a relatively unspoiled coastal region, carefully distanced from the toxic fogs and runoff of the industrial zones. It houses the planetary bureaucracy, the spire of the Governor’s Palace, and a secure Imperial Spaceport.
  • Hospital of Saint ??: A significant Order Hospitaller Hospital remains active, both as a place of healing and a symbol of ecclesiastical presence—its sisters also serve as moral overseers within the penal colony.
  • The Archipelago Estate: The de Vorm family maintains an ancestral estate over a cluster of islands in the temperate zone, a green retreat far removed from the grime of the mining belts. It includes ceremonial halls, private defense batteries, and relic shrines to Imperial saints.

Current Status:

While the surface of Pellucida IX is functionally mined out, its moons and asteroid belt ensure a continued Imperial tithe flow, though quotas grow harder to meet with each passing century.