The 'Dust Zone
Formerly known simply as the mountains, the 'Dust Zone is the area on Ophelia VII given to the Adeptus Mechanicus in order to provide the Adepta Sororitas with arms and armor. Although enclosed by it, the Via Imperator is not part of the 'Dust Zone.
History
When Ophelia was brought to compliance the Emperor issued an edict there would be no construction or excavation in the Mountains (in order to prevent the Seraph from being accidentally freed. This edict was followed for several thousand years - initially, it was followed so extremely that no-one even set foot in the Mountains, but after about three centuries the Via Imperator was established as the first extra-Terra pilgrimage route and the shepherd community of the Mountains was established. Even as the rest of Ophelia VII was colonized (if not industrialized) as a shrine-world, the Mountains remained relatively untouched in line with the Emperor's edict. This changed after the Thorian Reforms and the Decree Passive. To supply the newly-formed Adepta Sororitas, the Adeptus Mechanicus needed manfactorums on Ophelia VII. After the Age of Apostasy, the Via Imperator was less popular than it once was and the Emperor's edict was openly challenged as ahistorical or misinterpreted. The Cardinal-Governor of Ophelia VII gave the Mountains to the Mechanicus so they could more-easily supply the Adepta Sororitas - but the Via Imperator itself (the river valley, the route up the central mountain and the peak itself) remained the property of the Ecclesiarch and was, technically speaking, untouched by the rapid industrialization of the Mountains.Geography
Previously an untouched alpine wilderness of stark natural beauty, millennia of building and industry have reduced it to a crowded, polluted ghetto of towering manufactorums with cramped hovels stuffed into whatever space is available. The streets and buildings are covered with a thick layer of metallic-gray dust - a mixture of soot, precipitated-smog and machined-metal swarf. It is this, as well as the shortened version of "industrial" which gives the region its name.
Fauna & Flora
Prior to human colonization, the whole of Ophelia VII (including the Mountains) was inhabited by the Garrison and various lower mammalian xenoforms. The Mountains were colonized as a region of pastoral agriculture when the Via Imperator was established, with various species of sheep and goats being raised there by humans using canids. Some smaller mammalian xenoforms remained, but in the main they were driven out or exterminated.
Various piscine species were found in the River and survived without much interference until the industrialization of the Thorian Reforms, when the pastoral agriculture was destroyed and the River polluted beyond the ability to support normal life.
The 'Dust Zone is now densely inhabited by human workers, servitors, Techpriests of the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Daughters of Verity. The urban environment is infested with various vermin and smaller predatory species, and the Steel River is home to a number of invertebrate scavengers etc. Many of these species have arisen from stabilized mutant populations, and are unique to the 'Dust Zone. One such species (although extant in the Necromundan underhive owing to parallel devolution) are the abhuman Scalies.
Natural Resources
Prior to industrialization the soil of the Mountains was rich and fertile, growing lush grass and other ground cover. After the Thorian Reforms, the natural environment has been polluted and destroyed.
The Mountains are rich in mineral deposits, and since industrialization they have been extensively mined and excavated.
Alternative Name(s)
Formerly known as the Mountains
Type
Mountain Range
Location under
Included Locations
Owning Organization
Contested By
