The Ragged Worlds
“The Ragged Worlds may not be any safer than Winterscale’s Realm, or any richer, but it’s certainly easier by half to make money here than anywhere else.”
–Cornelius Argyl, semi-retired Rogue Trader
The Ragged Worlds are an isolated cluster of star systems located high up in the galactic plane and spinward of Winterscale’s Realm. This tiny region, once thought to be the total of the Koronus Expanse during the “Mistaken Age,” has been all but abandoned for centuries. Once the true scale of the Expanse was realized with the first warp routes through the Maw and the discovery of Furibundus, Rogue Traders fled the Ragged Worlds in droves. The lure of boundless riches, ancient wonders and vast stretches of empty space to conquer won out, and the Ragged Worlds fell into a quiet obscurity that lasted for centuries.
The region itself is relatively small compared to other charted areas of the Expanse---a few hundred star systems and countless thousands of planets, moons, nebulae and asteroid fields packed tightly into an area only a few dozen light years across. Thanks to this density, and the region’s close proximity to the mass of warp storms that separate the Koronus Expanse from the Calixis Sector, traversing the region is arduous and sometimes deadly. The region is constantly lashed by storms and temporal disruptions, and the warp tides created by so many gravity wells in so small an area are a navigational nightmare to even the most seasoned Navigator. There are a few stable warp routes in and out of the region, but they tend to be small and are under constant threat of collapse thanks to the forces of the Screaming Vortex.
The Ragged Worlds are also short of natural resources and exploitable assets. There are a handful of deposits of valuable ores to be found among its solid planets and asteroid fields, and few, if any, of its gas giants are composed of anything but the basest, most common elements. What civilizations the region possesses are typically so benighted and backwards that they are of little interest to anyone but press gangs or the God-Emperor’s missionaries. The few ancient human and xenos ruins discovered were picked clean long ago, and the death worlds like Burnscour are so dangerous and difficult to exploit that most consider them hardly worth the effort. Despite this stellar poverty, Rogue Traders fought bitterly for centuries for what paltry wealth they could glean from this sparse region, and the blasted wrecks and blackened bones of those unlucky in their endeavors litter the systems of the Ragged Worlds.
Within the past few decades however, residents of the Expanse have once again turned their eyes toward the meagre riches of the Ragged Worlds. The steady influx of traders, pirates, scoundrels, missionaries and the Imperium into the Expanse, along with the endless bloody feuding in Winterscale’s Realm, has driven many Rogue Traders to look elsewhere for their livelihoods. While some have gone rimward toward the Accursed Demesne and the Unbeholden Reaches, many have taken up residence in the formerly abandoned Ragged Worlds. Despite its previous short and violent inhabitation, vast stretches of the region remain uncharted. Here among these quiet and isolated worlds the newly arrived pioneers see decent potential for trade in the undeveloped regions. They also feel that slightly reduced profits expected in so impoverished a region are a small price to pay for the freedom from the constant fighting and clamor found elsewhere. This has led to the slowly-increasing popularity of the Ragged Worlds, and the recent discoveries of some heretofore undiscovered systems containing dead hive worlds and mysterious xenos artefacts has created a small but fervent gold rush mentality.
While there are myriad unremarkable worlds within the region and possibly thousands more to discover, a few worlds have gained notoriety and are recognized as places with great potential. Burnscour is one such place, with its burgeoning beast trade and lethal weather. Others have been found to harbor previously unknown xenos ruins, unexplored ancient human outposts and even vast, planet-scale sepulchers. While none of the worlds can match the unbridled wealth of those found in Winterscale’s Realm, they still generate a small but respectable income stream for those with the right kind of vision and enough strength.
Straying from the Light
Karthom Laui was a pious missionary who fell to temptation. Grounded deep in the Ragged Worlds, he was not seen for another 45 years until his homeship Aurum Veneratus returned, and the landing party was ambushed as their craft was overrun by hordes of fanatical natives now lead by their All-Father Karthom the Beneficent. His mind twisted by the long years of isolation, he remade the Imperial Creed into a glorification of himself and became a god of the savage tribes. Laui was presumed killed in the ensuing series of attacks throughout the system, but rumors of his insane vision persist, and his followers are still sometimes encountered on other undeveloped planets.
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