Occiana

Occiana is an Imperial feudal world and Adeptus Astartes Homeworld of the dour and stoic Mourning Wardens Space Marine Chapter.

Background
Occiana is one of the oldest human world in the Segmentum Tempestus but one of the last discovered. It was colonized during the first great expansion of Mankind away from the Throne World. Sadly, even before Old Night, its inhabitants had engulfed their newfound home into a planet-wide civil war. Scientists and philosophers were the first to be killed en masse, with libraries, schools and place of learning being torched to the ground. In two centuries, the Occianian had returned to an early Middle-Age level technology, with some notables exceptions, such as primitive chainsword weapons or night goggles.

During the long centuries before the coming of the Imperium, the civilizations of Occiana grew prosperous, some of them trying to impose their will over the lesser lords, only to be felled when said weaker powers banded together, destroying most of the advancements made in the process. Therefore, the inhabitants came to see the corruption of government as impossible to prevent, and they came to revel in whatever pleasure they could find. Decadence and debasement, such as Fin Amor, poetry and a general pleasure of life ended only with the coming of the Imperium, during M39th.

Occiana was discovered by a Rogue Trader forced out of the Warp by powerful storms. He stumbled upon the forgotten world and spent almost two years spying on it, while his crew repaired his ship. It was only when he was sure that he could flee to safety easily should the locals tried to end his life that he made contact. The natives were stunned by his presence, charisma and "magical powers" (in truth some ancient and esoteric technology) and he managed to convince most of the lords to join the Imperium.

When officials of the Ecclesiarchy learnt of this world, they were horrified by what they saw as blasphemous joy, and great preachers were sent to the almost atheistic world. Saint Corman the Wise, Abdel the Preacher, Saint-Augustinia... those three bastions of virtues came to Occiana and left great blaze of devotions in their wake. Poets, troubadours and others who enjoyed the pleasure of life were burned on great pyres and the outlook of the inhabitants was changed forever.

Despair and grim composure took hold over the inhabitants, who came to see only the inherent failures of Mankind and how its corrupt nature had costed the Emperor's His Holy body. Still, instability only grew, lords seen as complacent for whatever reason suffered massive revolts of their vassals, all pretending to be doing the work of the Emperor. It was because the natives were willing to inflict great suffering on themselves that this world was selected to become the home of a Chapter from the Adeptus Astartes.

Since the 26th Founding, the right to have a son accepted into the Mourning Wardens has driven the Occianans to ever greater height of war, each petty lord hoping to offer his second born the chance to become one of the Emperor's chosen. Such devotion is often rewarded, even if it breeds ever more competition between the Astartes, and that appeasing old feuds is sometimes hard for the Chapter.

Fortress-Monastery
The Mourning Wardens' fortress-monastery isn't situated on Occiania proper, for the Astartes didn't want to be tied down by the petty squabbles of their charges. Instead, they built it on the Death Moon of Montsegu, a small astral body covered in deadly jungle and monstrous creatures, which are widely suspected to be the result of an ancient Tyranid infestation, not unlike the mighty Krakens of Fenris. The fortress share the name of the moon and has been erected into its highest peaks, making use of the natural barrier as a foundation, which was expanded by the technology of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Montsegu is extremely vast, far more than usually required by the Astartes, but the Wardens specifically required it to be so, and servants keep pushing its boundaries. Indeed, the Wardens wanted to hide the core of their home behind layers upon layers of fortifications. Almost 90% of the Fortress is thus a formidable trap, comprised of massives fortifications, vast labyrinths where legions of servitors are waiting, armed to the teeth, passageways easy to collapse used by the Astartes to reach quickly every part of their bastion, and enough automated weapons to arm a small world.

Thousands of servants, comprised of failed aspirants or petty criminals that the Wardens capture on the planets they wage war on, are conditioned weekly to man those defenses in the absence of their masters, and three Companies are always standing by to ensure that the Fortress-Monastery will have its best defenders in case someone would be foolish enough to assault it. Combined with the Chapter's spaceport and at least one Strike Cruiser and a flotilla of inferior vessels, unfit for space travels outside of the system, Montsegu is one of the most formidable fortress ever erected by the Imperium.

Recruitment
Like most Chapters, the rites of recruitment used by the Mourning Wardens are particularly brutal and unforgiving. On Occiana, the Chapter always ensure a constant supply of recruits, instead of organizing planet-wide events. Once per month, in a hundred special enclaves, young kids and teenagers can gather to partake in trials by combat. Those firsts rounds are only fought with wooden weapons, and the battle royales end only when a dozen or so aspirants remain standing. Those who fails at this stage can retry their chance twice, first after six months, and then a year.

The lucky few able to move to the next round are brought in rooms below the arenas, were they are put in pair and given their weapon of choice. Each aspirants are then given a single task : kill their opponent in a duel. Only those able to survive proceed to the next stage, when they are brought to Montsegut. There, they fast and pray for days, only being allowed one cup of water a day, during ten days. Those who collapse are quickly gathered and transformed into servitors.

The Aspirants who were able to endure such a pain then start the grueling process of being trained into shape, forced to endure standardized programs to ensure that their bodies are pure and able to accept the gene-seeds of the Chapter. The most promising recruits are screened to be implanted with Primaris Gene-Seed. At this stage, it may happens that no worthy Aspirants remains from one cycle, but the constant supply of young boys allows the Chapter to never face too much danger to its future.