The shrine world of Deemos
Where The Hive World of Zal'Mak might the capital of the Gulf, Deemos is the spiritual capital. Visited by hundreds of pilgrimages every day to allow them to get closer to the God Emperor.
Deemos is named after Saint Castor Deemos, the Arch Cardinal who lead a religious crusade to the planet and defeated a Great General of the Dark Gods.
Geography
Deemos is a huge planet surrounded by several small moons. The planet itself is mainly desert, the polar caps are heavily frozen and provide the main source of water for the planet, the icecaps thaw and turning the melt water into huge rivers that cut through the lands providing the water source for the planet including the large amount shipped from off world. There are also several large oases, which are considered holy sights where priests and Sisters of the Ordo Soroitia travel to collect water to bless the pilgrims and sites with.
The small amount of fertile land next to the rivers are entirely given over to farming lands to generate a small amount of the food stuffs required to feed the population.
There are also several large mountain ranges on the planet that act as natural buffers to the highly dangerous storms that kick up. Most of the major settlements and monasteries are built in the shadows of the mountains to capitalise on the protection they provide.
Ecosystem
The majority of the planet is an arid and dry. The desert plains as well known for highly dangerous gale force sandstorms.
The norther and southern poles are frozen wastelands of ice and snow.
The planet has two wet seasons that last two months apiece, during this time travel is restricted to flying on, transport on the surface with anything other the local riding beasts due to the massive seas of quicksand that form. The threat of sand seas usually last for a month after the wet seasons.
Ecosystem Cycles
The standard year is broken into 14 months.
6 months of dry season
2 months wet season
4 months dry season
2 months wet season
Localized Phenomena
At night the entire skies are filled with Aurorae turning the night sky blue and gold. The priests believe that this is the tears of the God Emperor sending blessing his followers.
History
The history of Deemos is well known throughout the Gulf and Saint Deemos, the hero of the Gulf who purged the heretics from Deemos and defeated the leader of the Daemon forces on the planet.
Saint Deemos, started out as his life as Castor Deemos, a young highly driven religious man who through his steel will and unflinching loyalty to the God Emperor saw him raise quickly in the ranks of the Ecclesiarchy till at 50 years non adjusted he achieved the rank of High Cardinal. Not a man to rest on his laurels he immediately went out help and preaching where he could. During his travels he grew a huge following of the faithful who travelled with him from world to world. He gathered all walks of life to him, from soldiers to doctors. Priests and Sisters of Battle, all came to his sermons its is even rumoured that members of the hallowed Ordos went to see him preach.
During one of his many sermons he was given the God Emperor sent him a mission. The story goes that he fell to his knees and roared his vision, "On the planet of sand and snow, where my tears light the sky the great enemy is. Their general grows in power and his taint will corrupt all the it touches. It must be cut out with fire and blade." He then collapsed on the ground and his Adepta Sororita guards along with the unknown figure took him away. For many long days they were in seclusion and then Castor Deemos emerged. He assembled his forces and spoke, "The God Emperor has came to me, my children. For his is lovely and wishes his empire to remain strong. We have been given the most holy of missions, we must find and cut out this cancer from his holy empire. No enemies will be allowed to stand, gather your weapons my children for now we go to war." These words have been carved in the stone of many of the chapels and cathedrals on the planet.
The planets he had visited answered the calls of the High Cardinal, Imperial Guard Regiments were raised and the Frateris Militia was formed to fight. The muster went well but there was not enough ships to carry the holy warriors of the Imperium. Then their salvation came, ships of a Rogue Trader Dynasty arrived and carried the holy warriors to the stars.
Ten months of warp travel and they arrived at Deemos, then known as *******. The Rogue Trader fleet chased the enemy ships from the system destorying them in holy fire. The armies then swarmed the planet. The invasion was swift, Astartes and Adepta Sororita units opening a beachhead where the remainder of the forces landed and the war began. The forces of the God Emperor attacked throwing themselves at the great enemy, where the lines faltered the High Cardinal was there smashing enemies with his mace and burning his enemies with his Inferno pistol.
The war last for months and reinforcements were needed. The Rogue Traders broke orbit and left to gather more soldiers, but the great enemy struck stealing the ships away in the warp. The battle turned against the forces of the God Emperor and they were forced back to the great mountain range of ******. At the darkest hours then general of the great enemy attacked and the High Cardinal rallied his forces to attack. Thousands of warriors attacked and fought and where cut down and in the fighting. On the highest peak the High Cardinal and his personal guard of sisters and the shadowy man fought. the battle lasted for days it is said.
When the relief ships arrived several months later they found two survivors, the shadowy man and a single sister of battle. She informed them at the High Cardinal had died but in his death his had struck a mortal blow against the enemy. The remainder of her sisters remained behind to guard his body and build a chapel. Now the shadowy agent ordered the High Cardinal saint status and the world was renamed Deemos, converted into a shrineworld and great temples began being built on the surface.
Now the saint is known against the worlds of the Gulf.
Tourism
The planet sees huge traffic of pilgrims and people attending the planet to be blessed and find spiritual guidance.
Every week a there is at least 3 bulk haulers arriving full of pilgrims seeking redemption for their sins. Great masses are held on the day pilgrims arrive to welcome them to the planet where their donations to the God Emperor are taken. The pilgrims are then allowed to travel across planet on their personal pilgrimages to pray and seek their redemption. If the pilgrim provides a large enough donation to the church, they may be deemed worthy enough to visit the Temple of St Deemos, deep in the world's largest mountain range the ******************. Only the most holy sisters and priests are allowed to attend this Chapel for it stands on the site where St Deemos defeated the daemonic general with his chief retainers.
Alternative Name(s)
The shrine,
Type
Planet
Location under
Ruling/Owning Rank
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