Welcome

Sector Maledicta lies far to the galactic east, at the outer reach of Ultima Segmentum. Two stable warp corridors - Maxima Quarta and Maxima Sextus - emanate from the ominous Sphera Tenebris, and facilitate travel back into the galaxy at large. Imperial control is nominal at best, this far from the Emperor's Light, this deep in the Dark Imperium, and this close to the galactic edge.

In the dying days of the forty-first millennium, the Sector Maledicta was beset by then-emergent Necron raiders. Early strikes on Janneria Prime were simple awakenings, attempts to transition off-planet and relocate to St. Wulfruna's Haven. 

Unbeknownst to the Imperium, the shrine world had been a battleground of the War in Heaven. Before the first humans looked up at the night sky with dreams of conquest, ancient aeldar fought the Charnovokh dynasty to retreat, leaving behind them an entity - or artefact - that drukhari legends name the Mourning Sun.

Aeons later, Phaerekh Tekeshi returned to reclaim what had been lost, and found the Hawk Lords waiting. The Mourning Sun was reclaimed, and stars trembled and went dark, and Tekeshi's crownworld was no more.

That was then, and this is now. It is the first century of the forty-second millennium, and the tomb-prison of Tekeshi has been disturbed...

Dropping out of character for a moment: welcome to Sector Maledicta! This here page will introduce you to the warzones and warlords involved - that is to say, the four idiots whose collections and gameplay constitute the history of the Sector, and the locations where that history is made.

It works like this: each of the four players in our little collective has a sub-sector that's under their control, and any game they host takes place in that sub-sector. In the grand scheme of things, war is eternal, but we have a lot of creative space within the overall detente - so individual worlds can absolutely change hands, be blown up, and generally form the consequences that fuel the Narrative Forge.

Great Wolf Benjie: Sub-Sector Glevum

Benjie is our Oldhammer stan and Grimdark Future enthusiast. He and I met in 2017 doing early stages testing for a fifth edition WFB event, realised we were pretty similar kinds of messed up really, and stayed friends. Doesn't play the contemporary game much, but down to clown under fourth edition rules. None of his armies, to the best of my knowledge, are purple.

Strengths: will give any game a fair hearing and a fair go, chief Dawn of War agitator, generous with the bits box.
Weaknesses: hobby butterfly, army trade addict.
Armies: Space Wolves, Ultramarines, Orks, Eldar...

The only secure redoubt of Imperial influence in the sub-sector. Glevum itself is an agri-world, and its neighbour Aquae Sulis IV a water world, linchpins of human civilisation across the Sector Maledicta as a whole. 

 

The fortress moon of Avon, lying under the rule of Governor Lestroude, is the primary staging post for an exploratory crusade by the Space Wolves, who claim to be avenging wrongs dealt to them by the Necrons during the previous millennium's conflicts.

Legend holds that Glevum was once the Maiden World Caerlow, and that the Eldar may one day return to stake their claim on their ancient dominions... 

Shas'o Dr. Shiny: Sub-Sector Janneria

The good Doktor is my longest serving friend, my twenty-five-to-life sentence: I am the albatross and he the Ancient Mariner. Back in the day he played a beautiful Aeldari Eldar army and complained about it constantly, so I bullied him into trading up to the Tau he's been plugging away on ever since. They are purple.

Strengths: considered, meticulous painting and world building.
Weaknesses: geographic isolation, budget chiefly composed of mothballs.
Armies: Da'Ieldi Sept T'au 

Janneria Prime is an ocean world, sentinel classification: a grey-area colony established for strategic and logistic merit. Natural resources are kelps, crustaceans, “bastard eels” and refinable carbon, producing a modest tithe in soylens veridians and fuel base.

Planetary and sub-sector governance rests with Lady Astor de Gomme. Her Ladyship has permitted the establishment of an enclave by Tau from the Da’Ieldi sept - after all, someone has to keep order, and the Imperium withdrew the protection of the 29th Scions Regiment decades ago.

Site of the first Necron incursion in the Sector Maledicta: conclusive engagements with Space Wolves and Tau forces took place before the opening of the Great Rift.

 

Force Commander Garbutt: Sub-Sector Wulfruna

Garbutt had lived a hams-free life for nine years, dissolving his Dark Eldar and Tau collections and retaining a mere Battle Company's worth of Space Marines, who are luridly purple. Then I innocently offered him halvesies on a Recruit Edition box, because I wanted to see how his Dropfleet Commander colours looked on a Space Marine. And then I got him a Combat Patrol for Christmas. Now the sickness is within him again, and our old rivalry resumed.

Strengths: Gets Shit Done, hyperfocusing on hobby and storytelling.
Weaknesses: still not entirely sure how he got here, convinced it's my fault though.
Armies: The Sworn (Primaris Astartes), Hawk Lords (Firstborn Astartes)

 

Centred on the shrine world of St. Wulfruna's Haven, named for the rogue trader whose fleet set out from the Black Planet and made the first planetfall in Maledicta during the Great Crusade. Terratelemetric divination suggests the system may have been a battlefield during the mythical "War in Heaven" - engagements between corrupt Aeldari and Necrons have become imprinted on the psychic field around the Lich's Gate region. 

 

Since the opening of the Great Rift, this sub-sector has been contested for the Imperium by a penitent crusade under Captain Talassar Kaine. Formerly of the Hawk Lords, Kaine and his company are sworn to hunt the Necron for a hundred years, atoning for the sins of deceit that almost compromised their Chapter's honour.

Overlord Von: Firestorm Nebula

That's me! I live Well Rurally and don't get to play as much 40K as I'd like, so I decided to bring three of my best game-adjacent pals together and see what happened. I am the designated heel of any narrative I'm in, and have a thing for a) undead abominations against all that is good and pure and b) the colour purple.

Strengths: forever GM energy, most likely to arrange/organise/chronicle, speed painter extraordinaire
Weaknesses: dislikes painting, tilt-prone
Armies: Kavadah Dynasty (Necrons), Hand of Vengeance (Chaos Space Marines)

 

Lying across the Maxima Quartus warp conduit, this region of compromised space has long formed the outer border of the Sector, barring passage beyond into the Thramas quarantine zone. Some unknown phenomenon has accelerated the heat death of perhaps one fifth of the nebula's stars, which now burn red and bloated - hence the name.

 

A stilled slice of space within the Firestorm, Eign's Gate houses a single rogue planet, and that houses the tomb of Phaerekh Tekeshi, and the dolmen gate through which agents of the Triarchate now strive to recover her. 

Within the Firestorm also drifts the space hulk Kaiserion, rumoured to house a coalition of Traitor Legionaries currently licking their wounds and scheming their next move...