Heathen Stars

“This is an age for the godless. Better to die a without faith beneath a darkening sun than bend one’s knee to those who would have us call them gods and devour our blinded souls.”
–words of the apostate Lucius Greer

The Heathen Stars are a diffuse region of old stars that burn with a darkening light and whose worlds have been inhabited since times long past. Human societies and communities long separated from the greater body of Humanity dwell in the Heathen Stars. These communities know nothing of the divine light of the God-Emperor, and some strange cultures harbor strange technologies from Mankind’s lost past. It is possible that these scattered human domains are the remains of one or more greater empires that have long since vanished, leaving these fragmentary enclaves like detritus left behind the retreating tide.
Tenuous routes have begun to be established from Winterscale’s Realm to Naduesh and Zayth of the Heathen Stars, but the remainder of these fallen worlds are a matter of mystery and rumor. Rogue Traders have barely touched upon the treasures of the Heathen Stars, and have yet to bring the word of the God-Emperor to the human communities. A billion heathen souls await the coming of missionary zealots and great auto-temples dropped from orbit. Some speak of great treasures upon dead worlds, whilst others lust after the myths from a lost age kept secret by those who dwell in the baleful light of the Heathen Stars.
Cardinal Fortis, overseer of the Ministorum's efforts in the Periphery and The Halo Stars, is naturally very interested in bringing the Ecclesiarchy to this region and has petitioned the Sector Synod for more resources to try and reclaim these wayward planets in the name of the God-Emperor. His efforts are impeded by Cardinal Kregory Hestor of the Drusus Marches, who does not want to relinquish control of the trade that comes through Port Wander. It does not help Fortis that the Rogue Trader Jonquin Saul is actively attempting to make trade between the Heathen Stars and the Drusus Marches; the man himself has many powerful allies within the Drusus Marches Ministorum.

Geography

NOTABLE SYSTEMS

• Aguisa
• Dross
• Naduesh
• Processional of the Damned
• Raakata
• Sabrine
• Vaporious
• Zayth

History

The Heathen Stars are commonly referred to in the Expanse as the “Edge of the Galaxy”. While this title might more accurately be applied to the Rifts of Hecaton or the Unbeholden Reaches, it is certain that this area of space is as far from the concept of Imperial space as one could be used to. In The Foundling Worlds lay the bones of countless failed endeavors, in Winterscale’s Realm sits the burgeoning industry of trade and deceit and in The Ragged Worlds are planets that have their wealth almost tapped out. However, it is in the Heathen Stars that human empires openly worship something other than the God-Emperor, that great technological cities lie unclaimed and the lost tribes of mankind war amongst each other in the name of their false beliefs.