Ixaniad Sector

The Ixaniad Sector is a sector of the Imperium of Man located within a ragged stellar cluster of the Milky Way Galaxy that also includes the Calixis, Scarus and Askellon Sectors of the Segmentum Obscurus.

The Ixaniad Sector is ruled by several minor Highborn dynasties which lead their home planetary systems. These dynasties have battled each other throughout the millennia for dominance over the sector's politics. Fleeing refugees from these conflicts formed the original Meritech Clans in the border regions between the Ixaniad and Calixis Sectors.

History
An ancient sector added to the dominion of man long ago at the dawn of the Imperium. Incorporated, but never fully developed, this fringe sector lay away from the great reaches of space which held the wealth of planets the Imperium strove for, possessing little in the way of ancient human colonies and developed technology. The main drawing point of the sector were the wealth of resources and abundances as well as the unification with the Forge World Hephaestia. Over time, the sector would develop and grow, becoming a fruitful part of the empire as Hives formed around the plentiful mines, and civilized worlds came about far away from the terrors popping up in the galactic east.

The greatest of these worlds would come to be know as The Great Dynasties. A couple dozen in number and ranging in power and scope, these planetary sub-empires came to dominate the forefront of sector wide politics. Vying for control of the sector dominance, constant low level skirmishes were the norm until the sector was dominated by the Mudulian Dynasty in late M35. The ascendancy came as a baffling surprise, as the Dynasty had seemingly come to gain the backing of the Hephaestian Mechanicum, the reclusive order of tech-priests who supplied each world in the sector. Outrage sparked immediately, mixed with confusion and jealous. This confusion and jealousy led to the eventual and gradual isolation of the various dynasties as the Age of Apostasy raged and warp storms split the sector apart.

These isolated and jealous regimes would fester, and without the guiding light of the Emperor to guide them, many worlds turned to darker powers to finally crush their bitter rivals. As the storms broke, the tense stalemates eventually come to grand conflict in the Ixaniad Dynasty Wars which left the bulk of the sector decimated. With the shadowy power brokers within the Mechanicus censured and diminished, the wars spiraled out of control and left whole systems decimated and planets corrupted to the ruinous powers.

During the Age of Plunder of the Calyx Expanse (Calixis Sector) from the 37th to the 39th Millennia, Rogue Traders frequented that region on the edge of the galaxy, including the future territory of the Ixaniad Sector, and returned with tales of xenos empires, lost human and Imperial worlds, and Warp-worshiping once-men. The warp storms linger from the end of the Age of Apostasy and the light of the Astronomicon is dim. In this time, scores of Rogue Traders and renegade pirates flooded into the already settled Ixaniad sector, having heard the rumors of weakened or rebellious worlds filled with technology, which in truth was Hephaestian derived technology.

After millennia of lawlessness, the Ixaniad Sector was once again brought into Imperial Compliance in the early days of the Angevin Crusade in the 39th Millennium. The sector was easily pacified before the Crusade moved on to the grinding conflicts that characterised its conquest of the Calixis Sector. Since then the sector has been home to several conflicts and spillovers from the bordering Calixis Sector, including the Meritech Wars which threatened the stability and safety of the entire sector.

Within the heart of the Ixaniad Sector, the Phaenonite splinter faction of the Inquisition, declared Excommunicate Traitoris, is growing in influence on the region's Imperial planets and the few Forge Worlds that lie in the sector. The Inquisition's Conclave Ixaniad was purged of its Phaenonite influence in 427.M39. Whole worlds lay corrupted by xenos threats from the Calyx Emenation and the threat of the Draxulites in the lapse of vigilance, a threat that has only grown worse.

In the dawn of the forty-second millennium as the Lightless Century wanes, the sector has darkened. Paranoia and ill dreams have gripped the minds of the populace. The warp boils over as the eye of terror, ever present in the sight of a planets sky, peers into the minds of the peoples. In the century of turmoil, dozens of worlds fell to corruptive influence, rebellion, or vanished outright. The noble rules of the sector, already wracked with misplaced desires and fears amidst the great game, have been affected most of all by these happenings, and the threat of collapse remains ever greater. To this extent, the great powers of the sector have been growing into stabilizing influences; the Hephaestian Mechanicus, the Knights of Steel Space Marines, and the Noble House of Gregario. Imperial authority wanes, and those with ambition might find themselves in a position of great potential.

Notable Sub-sectors

 * Ptolemaic Reach
 * Herakaeli Cluster
 * Ichabarr Sub-sector
 * Crassan Sub-Sector
 * Licenia Subsector
 * The Calyx Emanation
 * The Halo Region

Sectors Powers and Factions
As befitting an Imperial Sector, there are substantial forces committed to its defense and continued operation.

Ixaniad Dynasties
Many worlds throughout the sector are presided over by one of the great dynasties of the sector; ancient houses of enduring power that have persisted for millennia. Holding power over worlds, systems or, several systems each house is headed by a patriarch or matriarch who have risen to the top of politics of each of their homeworlds. With the resources of a world behind them, these power brokers exercise their influence to take more worlds into fealty, with the ultimate goal of taking the position of sector governor. The power of these dynasties waxes and wanes over time as alliances and favors pass and fade as each of the great houses vies for power in sector politics.

Some of the most powerful dynasties of the sector are:
 * House Greggario of Greggario-1
 * Mihnas Dynasty of Lordrium
 * Beliarus Dynasty of Belalcazar
 * House Damacia of Enetho
 * House Dimmadarum of Narhadul
 * The Righteous Protectorate of Alchescar and the Dominions of Alchescar
 * Directorate of the Unified Municiple Blocs and Federated Unions of Crunater and Kidameous

Mechanicum
The quiet power behind the myriad of worlds of the sector and the iron masters of dozens of worlds, research stations, facilities, sub-forges, and more. The suppliers of technology and infrastructure, the mechanicum have nigh total control of many facets of the sector. While not the declared and mighty Calixian Mechanicum who rule over one hundred worlds as an empire within the nearby Calixis Sector, political maneuvering and manufactured scarcity have seen many of the imperial worlds of the sector dedicating some area on their planet to the holdings of the machine cult. While many resent this need to cowtow to this order of half men and gilded haemonculi, it is an unfortunate necessity that to grow the power of ones world, the houses must have the tech to do so, and they who control the tech, control the houses.

The main power of the Adeptus Mechanicus within the Ixaniad sector lies with the following:
 * Hephaestia

The Inquisition
As all sectors around the eye of terror, the presence of the inquisition can be felt upon all worlds. The watchful eye of the throne has fallen upon the sector and judged its people, and found them wanting. As such, the Ixaniad conclave is active throughout the sector, particularly toward the Herakaeli Sub-Sector and Ptolmaic Reach. Throughout the history of the sector the presence has waxed and waned, only coming to full permanent dominance in M39 with the angevin crusade, which saw a star fort be stationed within the sector and the Ordo Xenos Chamber Militant, the Deathwatch, establishing themselves near the Halo Stars. Over the course of the sectors history, invasive elements have managed to worm their way into the conclave, and the ordo xenos inquisitors that dominate the conclave make well to keep the Hereticus from uncovering their sorrid past despite the expulsion of these corrupt elements.

Some of the publicly known main planets and stations under the control of the Inquisition are:
 * Ichabarr (Prison planet for captured dudes, inquisition chills in huge network of space stations and star forts above the world)
 * Watch-Fortress Rannoch
 * Odvellus (Inquisitorial port)

Space marines
The Space Marines hold some sway within the Ixaniad Sector, but diminished compared to other places in the Imperium. While holding nominal supreme power in military engagements, the Marines in the sector have an unusually common lineage of the First Legion, as such are generally withdrawn into their own agendas, caring not for the squabbles of mortal dynasties or lesser concerns of renegades and heretics.

Some of the Marines Chapters within the sector are:
 * Knights of Steel
 * Sable Knights
 * Deathdealers

Imperial Sector Command
Each sector of the Imperium of Man is ruled by a sector governor and its mortal military forces coordinated by the Sector Command. Though mired in the politics of the dynastic struggles of the other worlds, the sector command at least tries to put on the air of impartiality. The Imperial Navy and Guard coordinate here with the rest of the myriad of militant bodies of the sector to form the most efficient fighting force possible. Based out of port echo, the military protects the sector to the best of their abilities. The Capital World of the sector is Lordrium.
 * Port Echo
 * Ixaniad Admirality
 * Ixaniad Militarum

Powers of Chaos
The Ptolmic Reach, most distant from the great military powers of the Ixaniad sector, reels from a devastating attacks which have laid dozens of worlds low to the fell powers of chaos. Uncomfortably close to the sector capital, the Archenemy here has claimed the core worlds of the sector as the Blighted Reaches, where the powers of Nurgle wax strong. Centered on the Daemon World of Fal Falcinas, this fountain of corruption is a currently a mirror of the Garden of Nurgle and presided over by a great council of bloated Great Unclean One's. From this territory, the varied warbands of chaos make war upon each other to claim the planetary 'capital'. Pacts are forged and broken every solar day and varied warbands blaze ravaged paths into the sector.
 * Iron Flesh Warband
 * Vector of the Moldering Core
 * Death Guard Legion
 * Forces of the Dark Mechanicum
 * Black Legion