World Information and NPCs

The Xanthite Faction

"Eradicate Chaos? Hah! One might as well try to eradicate one's own shadow. Do not presume to enforce a simpleton's philosophy upon the Emperor's Inquisition. Bury your head if you must, but my eyes are open yet."
— Excerpt from the sixth trial of Inquisitor Lichtenstein


To the Xanthites, the Warp and its denizens are things to be enslaved rather than denied. To them, Chaos is no less an enemy that must be fought and defeated, but one ultimately that should be tamed, bound to humanity's will and put to use in the Imperium's service. Born from the paradoxical position inherent in the role of the Inquisition, Xanthites believe it is the Inquisitor's sacrosanct freedom to understand and even wield that which is forbidden in order to better combat it.

Xanthism remains perhaps the most insidious and most ominous of all doctrines, and the Xanthite movement itself arguably the most ancient, powerful and above all most dangerous of the Inquisition's Radical factions. Indeed, to some the words "Radical" and "Xanthite" are synonymous. When a Puritan Inquisitor ponders the Xanthite, with their dark lore and darker secrets, they see an enemy a thousand times more dangerous than any twisted mutant, debased Heretic, or crazed witch -- and they are not wrong.

Xanthites by no means advocate the furthering of Chaos and its dark works, but see it as a tool that is already in use by the Imperium, not yet realised to its full potential. Warp travel, Astropaths, Navigators, Space Marine Librarians, Abhumans in the ranks of the Imperial forces; all these bear the mark of Chaos, but nevertheless further the goals of the God-Emperor, himself one of the most powerful psykers to ever have existed.

The Xanthites cite these as example that there is no question as to whether Chaos can serve Humanity, it is just a matter of to what degree. As a result, Inquisitors of this faction often use Daemon Weapons, Chaos-tainted artefacts, psyker-retainers, daemonhosts, and forbidden grimoires in their quest to understand and exploit the boundless power of the Warp. Many have achieved mastery over the psychic discipline they have trained in, and it is unusual to find a Xanthite with no psychic ability whatsoever.

Many other Inquisitors, be they Puritan or Radical, consider the Xanthites to be walking along the edge of a precipice, arrogantly tampering with powers no mortal mind can fully comprehend, and with catastrophic implications should they but slip for a moment. But despite the appalling dangers the Xanthites court, they are nevertheless one of the oldest and most heavily entrenched philosophies of the Inquisition, and their number includes not only some of the most learned and politically influential Inquisitors, but also some of the most personally powerful individuals whose true strengths and mastery of the dark arts are seldom guessed at until they are angered or directly challenged.

It is indeed a courageous or foolhardy Inquisitor that dares challenge a true Xanthite directly and unaided, let alone a cabal of their number operating together in fell purpose. Instead, those that would challenge the Xanthite creed must do so with caution. More often it is the case that several Inquisitors must make common cause to expose a Xanthite that they believe is guilty of crossing the line into outright heresy. They must bring irrefutable proof before a full Conclave of the Inquisition in order to gain justice, and even then the outcome is never certain.


Do you want to know more... https://warhammer40k.fandom.com/wiki/Xanthite

NPCs


Maud Grimm, Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus
- powerful psyker



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Brother Hemant, Priest.
- a drunkard
- has lost his conviction



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L00-4 (Luthor), Enginseer.
- overworked and understaffed



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Des-Ray94, Tech Adept - Chirurgeon


(the stave will have a cog/half skull instead of the aquila and the
administratum symbol on her hood will be a cog symbol. Instead of
books and keys about her belt she has the tools of a medicae)

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Captain Bartholomew
- overweight, slovenly and lazy

Planet: Kul



Type: Hive World
Sub-sector: Cyclopia Sub-sector
Sector: Askellon Sector
Segmentum: Segmentum Obscurus
Temperature / Climate: Barren; highly-polluted and uninhabitable
Geography: Polluted wastes covering planetwide plains of hardened silicate flows
Population: 300 billion
Planetary Governor: Lady Aud Killian
Government Type: The Consortium, a ruling oligarchic council of mercantile nobles
Adept Presence: High, but limited to areas specifically set aside for outsiders and off-world interests
Military: Kul Involute Cadres (PDF), Kul Oathsmen Grenadiers (Astra Militarum regiments)
Economy: Major exporter of silicate derivatives mined from the plains and used in numerous military and voidship applications. Secondary export trade in ration packs and Las Weapons.
Tithe Grade: Exactus Prima

Main places of Habitation
3 main hives; Kul Primus, Javin and Suzzum
Numerous lesser hive cities and manufactorums scattered across the planet

The wastes of Kul
The lands all around each of the three great hives consist of wide areas of desert and acidic seas formed from waste liquid spills. Further afield are dune seas covering glassy plains; the colossal ruins that puncture these areas are often dangerously radioactive. Littering the wastes are slagheaps the size of cities, mined for exotic raw metals and ancient technologies.

Satellites
Kul is served by four major void stations. Kappex Orbital is in geostationary anchor above Kul Primus, and serves as the system's main spaceport. Two others in low orbits are defence stations manned by the planetary defence force. The fourth is in a high, elliptical polar orbit, and is actually a natural body that serves as a large luxury facility

The Consortium of Kul Primus
The ultimate masters of the hive city of Kul Primus, the Consortium, exist at the apex of a rigid hierarchical class system of fealty and servitude. The hive is ruled by the maintenance of unimaginably strict bonds of obedience, enforced by the implementation of a network of oaths that intertwines every single level of its highly stratified society. This complex web links every possible sphere of life, regulating everything from the subtlest of manners to the span of standard years a worker-serf can expect to live.

All hivers carry a special cogwork device that indicates their work area and their oath of servitude. Those above them hold these oaths in their own oath-cogs, micro-embedded as tiny wheels, each an intricate snowflake of brass and wire. The more dominions under an oathholder, the more elaborate the device. Lady Kul's oath-cog, encompassing the entirety of oaths throughout the hive and across the planet, is supremely ancient and dense, a massive snowstorm of whirling cogs that takes standard years to alter for new oaths. It is brought out only for affairs of state, as it is far too heavy for normal wear. Entire cloisters of Mechanicum drones exist purely to maintain its proper functioning, and legend says that should it freeze up, the hive would surely collapse.

The higher up the pyramid of oaths, the more formalised these oath-bonds become, the most ancient and binding of them set out in charters written Terran millennia ago on parchment so old they are stored within impregnable stasis caskets. At the very bottom of the pile, even the lowliest beggar is bound by the oaths of his station, and any deviation from convention is met with righteous indignation, soon followed by brutal retribution. Strangely, even behaviour outsiders might regard as criminal is regulated by the strict codes, for oath-bonds are far more binding than any rule or law could ever be. To be cast outside of the oath is the ultimate punishment for any hive native, and most would prefer death than to be known as Oathless.

Outworlders in Hive Desoleum
Due to the oath system outsiders have little reason to visit Hive Desoleum, and every reason for them to conduct their business through brokers experienced in the myriad subtleties of the oathbinding. The hive has several "stranger's quarters," where off-worlders feel relatively safe to conduct their affairs, and these have grown into highly cosmopolitan and exotic places.