Contrition

Contrition is an Imperial Penal Colony and Mining World, located on the fringes of the Ultima Segmentum, that suffered a massive Genestealer Cult uprising before being destroyed by the Hive Fleet known as the Court of the Nephilim King. Prior to its destruction, Contrition was infamous for being a brutal and unruly Penal World, at one point it even held the unfortunate distinction of having the highest Adeptus Arbite mortality rate in the Segmentum.

Ancient Shackles
No one knows when Contrition was founded, for even in the dustiest and earliest of records Contrition seems to be an ancient dumping site for the worst criminals in the Eastern Fringe. Its brutal conditions and high mortality rate among guard and prisoner alike gave Contrition a sinister reputation. For what must have been millennia Contrition housed the degenerate, the deviant, and the traitor until the subtle subversion of the xenos saw it consumed in the maw of the Great Devourer.

A Bloody Rise
The ultimate doom of Contrition first planted root three hundred years before its destruction when a lone Genestealer managed to infiltrate the Prison World through one of the transports returning from the frontline of the First Tyrannic War. As lines of convicts, turned penal legionaries, shuffled onto transports destined for far off battlefields; the Genestealer sneaked into the labyrinthine bowels of the prison complex. It carefully observed the countless petty gangs that proclaimed to rule the prison, even as they were starved and trampled by the guards above. It selected the leader of a particularly violent and vicious gang, known as the Blooded and gifted him with the genestealer’s kiss. So it was that the first of the great cults began to grow in the shadows of Contrition. Behind the facade of the Blooded, the Cult of the Gorewyrm began to spread and gain influence. The existent members of the gang were soon all indoctrinated as brood-brothers and began to breed and produce the first generation of the Gorewyrm. In addition, the Blooded began to rapidly step up recruitment. This was a heavy-handed process. Lesser gangs were either absorbed or destroyed, all new members bowing to the Gorewyrm behind the scenes, or else they were made food. Due to the Blooded’s initiation rites murders began to rise astronomically and soon the Arbite guards became suspicious. Increased patrols and reprisals led to increasing numbers of dead Arbites officers as the militant gang gave no quarter. Armor and weapons looted off of dead guards, and an increased rate of missing supplies from the Arbites and Penal Legion armories soon resulted in the Blooded, and by extension, the Cult of the Gorewyrm, becoming a well equipped fighting force and the premier gun runners on Contrition. As lesser gangs continued to be absorbed and Arbites officers continued to be killed in cold-blood the Gorewrym soon began to infiltrate brood-brothers into the Penal Legions being sent off-world, as a way to spread the bloody teachings of the Gorewyrm beyond Contrition itself.

A Shadowy Contender
The Blooded were quickly shown to be both a rising star and a force to be respected when whispers of a new emerging gang began to surface. Unbeknownst to either the Blooded or to the rest of Contrition another sinister force had infiltrated the gangs of Contrition and was making moves of its own. Seven decades after the arrival of the Gorewyrm, the Cult of the Eldritch Eye began to finally make its presence known. The gang known as the Middle-Men had long held a shadowy and respected reputation on Contrition as information brokers, contraband smugglers, and assassins. Under the control of the Eldritch Eye, their web of “favors” was rapidly beginning to ensnare large parts of Contrition’s prisoner population. Those that accepted deals and favors from the Middle-Men soon found themselves as devoted brood-brothers, fanatically loyal and owing a debt to the cult. Soon they began to ensnare several Arbites, some of whom were suspected to be of high rank, making their contraband and secrets flow smoother. The eyes of the cult began to watch more and more of the vast halls of the prison, and soon gazed close to Blooded territory. The Gorewyrm was furious at the apparent overnight rise of the Middle-Men and took particular offense at the idea of a gang stooping so low as to do anything other than kill an Arbites. The Patriarch of the Gorewyrm, the original genestealer itself, gave the order: kill any Middle-Man on sight. Thus the first major gang war was launched.

A Surplus of Violence
For over a century open war was waged on Contrition. Middle-Men and Blooded stabbed and killed each other on sight. The Arbites soon mobilized a full response and riot shields and shock mauls were added to the carnage. Both gangs continued to grow exponentially until between the two the majority of Contrition was organized into either Middle-Man or Blooded territory. The violence was shocking and was rapidly getting to the point that the Arbites would have to call in outside Imperial help. However, just as it seemed the two gangs would force themselves to be revealed a third cult reared its head. The vast mining tunnels spread throughout Contrition were home to millions of prisoners assigned to hard labor. For countless centuries they had suffered as the lowest rung on the ladder in the internal hierarchy of Contrition. Forever, whipped and worked to death by guards, they were now falling frequent victim to the war between the Blooded and the Middle-Men. Resentment was rising, conditions were ripe, and within the darkest depths of the mines, the Disciples of Divine Emancipation lit the match. Forming a gang called the Picker’s Bloc, the Disciples spread like a virus throughout the mines of Contrition. Soon they had the largest numbers of brood-brothers of any gang on the planet and with the vast herds of the faithful, they finally pushed back against their oppressors.

The Inheritance of the Meek
Declaring their own war, they pushed all other gangs out of the mining districts and established themselves as the largest gang on contrition, if not the most knowledgeable or well equipped. Instantly, the war between the Middle-Men and the Blooded ended as this revolution of the miners forced them to study the changed landscape of the prison. The Disciples in addition to having the largest and most zealous members also quickly became valued as a source of heavy mining equipment, particularly explosives. They also managed to corner the drug market with psychoactive fungi grown themselves in the dampest mining tunnels. This infuriated the Blooded who felt that their own business selling the powerful stimulant frenzon was threatened. Frequent killings and skirmishes erupted between the minions of the Disciples and the Gorewyrm as a result. However, before things could escalate back to the previous levels of violence the Middle-Men soon organized a truce. For the first time clear lines of territory, influence, and business were agreed upon by the Patriarchs of the three cults. Violence between the gangs slowed to a trickle, and after several decades the entire prison population finally fell under the control of the three cults. With relations stabilized and an uneasy method of business established, the cults soon turned their eyes upon overthrowing Imperial control of Contrition.

A Deception Revealed
As the Blooded increased their attacks against Arbites patrols and the Middle-Men gained more control over the higher levels of Arbites command, the Picker’s Bloc brought forth the full flame of their revolution. The zealous masses of the mining cult completely overthrew Imperial control in the mining districts. Production ended and the entire planet was thrown into revolt. Together the three gangs launched a full out assault against the Arbites, pushing them back to their fortified Precinct-Fortresses. Desperate and low on men, High Marshal Kenswick was forced to call for outside aid. A Preceptory of Adepta Sorotitas was immediately dispatched from a nearby convent and the Canoness in charge quickly assumed command over Imperial forces on Contrition. As the Imperial forces fought to bring Contrition back into compliance the full force of the cults were unleashed, revealing once and for all the xenos infestation that had taken control of contrition. Their deception revealed three patriarchs began to question which cult should ultimately be allowed to rule, old resentments quickly rose back to the fore and the gangs turned upon one another, which saw the Gorewyrm kill the patriarch of the Divine Emancipation in a brutal ambush. Soon the fires of a four-way war began to engulf the planet and Canoness Zathura sent a desperate plea for aid to the Ordos Xenos.

The Imperial Response
Soon the call for aid was answered by Inquisitors Karen Mareev and Caleb Cristo of the Ordos Xenos who quickly arrived alongside a detachment of the Deathwatch. Together the forces of the Inquisitors, the Sorotitas, the Deathwatch, and the tattered remnants of the Arbites forces led an assault targeting the leaders of the cults, even as a greater threat loomed in the horizon. After a series of assaults against the major power centers of the cults, the Patriarch, Magus, and Primus of the Cult of the Eldritch Eye were successfully slain by the Deathwatch forces, throwing the Eldritch Eye into disarray. As the Magus lay bleeding, his broken body ruptured by a bolt shell, he spoke to the Watch Captain that the Star God had noticed Contrition and were on their to deliver salvation upon it. The Watch Captain with a sneer crushed the Magus under his boot, yet at the same time ordered long-range scanners to watch for signs of an emergent Hive Fleet.

Requim
As an increasing number of Imperial forces, including the fleet of the Star Wardens chapter,  poured into the system to help curb the massive forces of the cults, primarily the Gorewyrm and Divine Emancipation, the Imperial sensors proved correct the worst fears of the Imperials. A splinter of the Court of the Nephilim King would soon arrive at Contrition. As the Imperials under the command of the Deathwatch organized a massive response to the incoming hive fleet, the Imperial forces on the ground under the command of the Inquisitors continued to wage war against the endless waves of hybrid cultists. Soon, the Court of the Nephilim King arrived and the battle for Contrition entered a new desperate stage. The yawning maw of Hive Ships hungered for Contrition, and the Imperial fleet rose to meet it. Countless Mycetic spores were shot down but thousands more got past the Imperial Blockade, out of which rose gigantic and horrible Tyranid Bioforms that ravaged the surface of the prison world. The Cult of the Gorewyrm, launched a furious counter-attack against the Inquisition led Imperial forces which had been very successful in beating back the writhing mobs of the Disciples of Divine Emancipation. The Gorewyrm himself, the original genestealer to infect contrition, led an assault against the Inquisitorial retinues. In the ensuing carnage the Gorewyrm was slain by the combined efforts of Canoness Zathura, and Inquisitors Caleb Cristo and Karen Mareev. Although this victory would come at the cost of the Canoness’s life and the loss of both of Cristo’s legs. Alongside this victory on the ground the Deathwatch and the Star Wardens successfully managed to destroy the splinter fleet through a series of boarding attacks on the major hive ships. However, this was to be a false victory. Contrition itself was deemed too far corrupted with the Tyranid menace, and after a general evacuation of all Imperial forces, it was subjected to the fires of exterminatus by Inquisitor Mareev. Although Contrition was reduced to a pile of cinders the legends of its cults remain, rumors of bloodthirsty corruption have arisen in warzones where Contrition penal legionaries were sent, and rumors persist that some evacuated Arbite officials were not quite as they seemed.

The Surface
Contrition is a barren and harsh world, fitting with both its role as a prison and for its sinister reputation. What little of the exterior that is visible is barren desert consisting of volcanic sands and lethally sharp outcroppings of obsidian rock. The huge natural volcanoes that once spewed lava have now been converted to huge geothermal energy factories where prisoners labor amidst lethal steam and molten rock under the eyes of unfeeling mechanicus overseers. Save for these volcanic work camps, the entire outer surface of the planet serves mustering grounds for the Penal Legions, food vats, vast warehouses where incoming supplies are stored and mined minerals are kept until they can be processed and disseminated, the fortified precinct-fortresses of the Arbites, and endless tunnels leading to the lower levels of the planet. From here the Arbites control all with unflinching resolve and merciless duty. From their precincts on the exterior patrols are sent down to the lower levels to police the billions of prisoners residing below.

Maximum Security Wards
Directly below the surface lies the maximum security wards. Here is the most violent prisoners are sent to fight and kill amongst themselves. It is from these psychotic inmates that the press-gangers recruit the majority of the Penal Legionaries sent to die in the name of the Emperor, across distant warzones. The maximum security wards consist of countless cellblocks whose barred doors have long ceased to ever be locked, and wide open blood-drenched plazas that more often than not serve as brutal killing grounds, where life is short and the corpses of the weak made food.

Population Wards
Below the maximum security wards lies the main population wards. These cellblocks, hallways, and plazas have been converted into its own city complete with a myriad of societies and cultures. Common areas, food courts, shanty towns, and merchant stalls are flooded with throngs of people during the brief breaks between long and backbreaking shifts between various work camps and mining programs. Here the vast bulk of Contrition’s prison population is located, and tensions remain somewhat high between those forced to work the dangerous shifts in the mines and between those who work the relatively more desirable shifts in either the energy or food production plants.

Mining Tunnels
Extending even farther down are the endless mining tunnels riddling the lowest levels of Contrition’s crust. Some of these tunnels and pipes extend even to the planets molten core, siphoning energy to the various energy planets on the surface far above. Here the majority of the population labors in the dark, cramped, and deadly tunnels. Here most will die so that the rare minerals clogging Contrition’s mass may be extracted and used for the benefit of the wider Imperium. These tunnels extend for countless miles and many are either closed, collapsed, or uncharted on any map.