The Scarus Sector lies spinward of Calixis (together with Ixaniad it's Calixis' closest sector neighbor). The old hive world of Sinophia (Calixian Periphery) was once a hub for ships going to and from Scarus, but in the latter half of M41 most trade lanes bypass the world entirely, going directly from the Malfian sub to Tomish in the Antimar sub over in Scarus Sector.Scarus (and to some extent Ixaniad) are bordered to coreward by the Finial Sector with its many subs. Beyond that lies the Eye of Terror.

To rimward lies subsector Vincies, a region more commonly known as 'Lucky Space' - you'll be lucky to make it out alive. This once-vibrant and heavily settled region was wiped out by a series of extremely violent warp storms in aeons past - so violent that they spilled over in realspace, rather than juts disrupt travel and communications. The warp storms have long since abated and withdrawn, but the remnants of these storms still border the entire region to rimward - creating the vast warp barrier that separate the Koronus Expanse from Imperial space.

The Adeptus Terra has a very strong presence in Scarus sector - in some instances so much that planetary governors are little more that figureheads. It is therefore ironic that Scarus Sector is particularly troubled with heresies of all kinds - rebellion, sedition, mutation, xenos attacks - the Scarus Conclave has it's work cut out for it!

Several hundred lightyears to coreward, beyond the troubled regions of Hazeroth and Adrantis, lies Ixaniad Sector (regularily misspelled 'Ixanid Sector'). The most common route between Scintilla and Ixaniad goes by way of Fenksworld in the Josian Reach, but other routes exists - including some that pass through the Hazeroth Abyss (for those brave enough it offers considerable savings in time) or the Markayn Marches (the latter is much used by the Department Munitorum to ship supplies to and from the Solomon world-depot).

Ixaniad is 'Old Country' - it's been part of the Imperium of Man for as long as anyone can remember - some of the world were United during the Great Crusade. There are also several world that have recorded histories well back into the Dark Age. It's also a place ruled by Old Blood and Old Money - mighty nobles houses (even the might House Krin of Calixian fame would rank as a middling power in Ixaniad) control all aspects of life on countless planets. The Adeptus Terra, while numerous, is relatively weak in the face of these Greate Houses. Ixaniad is rife with heresy - most frequently having to do with the corrupt vices of the upper class and forbidden technologies from humanity's dark past.

This is different from Calixis Sector, which is considered barely civilized, and has been part of the Imperium for only two short millennia. To Calixians the word 'Ixaniad' means old, corrupt, and overly gothic-baroque. Ixaniads hardly give any throught at all to Calixis, thinking of it not as a real sector, but a region of wild space.

I'm going to Oslo now, back tomorrow. Then there is May 17th. So post frequency will be down until Wenesday.

Updated list of XP at the end of Chapter 1 (after Maggots/Shades):

HAXTES

Starting: 1200 + 600
Prelude: 450
Shattered Hope: 475
Edge of Darkness: 425
Rejoice: 900
Illumination: 925 + 25 (cry-baby bonus ;-)
Maggots/Twilight/Chapter 1: 925 + 75 (for managing to play with other players ;-)

XP total: 6000

MAXI

Starting: 1200 + 600
Prelude: 325
Shattered Hope: 475
Edge of Darkness: 425
Rejoice: 875
Illumination: 625
Maggots/Twilight/Chapter 1: 600

XP total: 5125

JEBEDIAH

Starting: 1200 + 900
Prelude/Maggots/Twilight/Chapter 1: 450 + 250 (Illumination)

XP total: 2800

PARSIFAL

Starting: 1200 + 300
Prelude/Maggots/Twilight/Chapter 1: 200 + 250 (Illumination)

XP total: 1950

For some reason XP was never handed out for the Illumination adventure - that includes cameo appearances by Jeb and Parisfal.

I think what happened was something like this:

- Matt and Thorsten decided to join and made their characters midway during the Rejoice adventure (the one with the Choir). Then you met them on Ambulon, the walking city, at the end of that adventure. They were part of Globus' team, led by Interrogator Castilas, remember?

- You were all credited for your appearance here; Maxi/Haxtes under the 'Rejoice' entry and Jeb/Pars as 'Prelude play'.

- Then I went to Tromsø in August last year and we did a marathon sitting, completing Illumination (on Iochantos, with the Ghotfire Pollen, the Cathedral, the daemon and all that). We even managed to begin with the Maggots/Twilight dual adventure.

- I remember handing out a Fate Point to Haxtes, but I can find no mention of any XP, except some garbled notes in the margin of my actual llumination sessions notes. It looks like 400 XP for the adventure, plus 100 XP in bonus for preventing the Crow Father from fully manifesting. Initiative/roleplaying bonuses come in on top of this. It looks like 75 + 50 for Haxtes and 50 + 50 for Maxi. The 125 for Haxtes seems reasonale, but the later sounds a little high, but I don't remember the details so I'm letting it stand.

- Jeb/Pars weren't actually played of course, so I can't hand out full XP in good conscience. Let's say they get half the base + bonus XP, or 250 XP each. OK?

- I think we just rushed on to avoid wasting time on game-mechanics. And when we returned to posting there was various delays and it simply fell through the cracks.

- When Maggots/Twilight got completed everyone got XP for that plus some general character-building XP for Chapter 1. But still no XP for Illumination.

I'll update your totals accordingly.

The child that would eventually become Agent Haxtes Guilliman was born in 973.M41 (i.e. 23 years ago) on the Imperial World of Protasia/Malfian Sub-sector/Calixis Sector/Segmentum Obscurus. Protasia was a prosperous and well-governed world, well able to provide for its 2.5 billion inhabitants while meeting the Imperial Tithe. Alas it would not last, for the people-elected Senate of Protasia decided that they would no longer be considered part of the Malfian Sub-sector, citing rampant corruption and gross negligence of part of the Malfian Adepta. And so it came to pass that they petitioned Terra for the creation of new sub-sector, with Protasia at its heart. Perhaps there was some merit to the petition, for Malfi really is a cesspool of vice and corruption, but if so any justification was wiped away by the heresy that is disobedience. The envoy was arrested and turned over the the Holy Ordos and the petition routinely turned down. Protasia was ordered to surrender and its leaders turn themselves in for processing and public execution. They failed to comply, taking this rebuttal as a sign that the greater Imperium was just as bad as the Malfians...

Haxtes breathed the air of his homeworld for the first time even as the plasma-bombs and kinetic penetrators started falling from orbit. As he was lain at his mother's breast Imperial Landers deposited the first Stormtroopers at key landing sites across his homeworld, preceded by a torrent of suppressive fire from hundred squadrons of fighter-bombers. When sleep came to him it was to a lullaby of a thousand heavy tanks churning across the plains. The Imperium had arrived to wage righteous war on the rebel world, to punish its wayward people and to brink them all back into the Emperor's light.

But victory did not come easily or cheaply. Indeed, victory failed to come at all. The Protasian fleet failed to prevent the Imperial navy from achieving orbital control, but inflicted severe damage on the task force before being forced to retreat. The loss of the battleship Heart of Fury and the heavy damage sustained by six battle-cruisers would force the theater commander to petition Sector headquarters for additional forces, a grave loss of face that eventually drove Admiral Nakemi to suicide and prematurely ended the career of Lord-Marshal Maxim Maximus.

Yet the Navy had accomplished it mission; the gargantuan Guard transports were largely intact and in low orbit, and immediately started to drop sixty Division-equivalents onto the surface, opening up three key theaters and securing key sites planet-wide. Losses to enemy naval assets, orbital defense grids, planetary defense batteries and anti-landing assets were four times higher than expected, averaging out at 20% or 120.000 dead and injured. Despite the stiff resistance the Imperial Guard reached its initial objectives within a fortnight, but then the advance ground to a halt as dwindling troop troop densities made further advances impractical.

Over the next few years the envisioned swift campaign of liberation became one of endless war instead. The Protasian defenders proved both capable, extremely well-equipped, and quite willing to continue the fight. The Protasian Navy would also return time and again to harass the Imperial Navy, even managing to break the blockade on several occasions, and causing havoc throughout the sub-sector by staging raids on other Imperial holdings. Compliance was clearly not something that would be soon in coming.

Battlefleet Calixis was eventually forced to send two full battle-groups to reinforce the Protasian Theater, and finally manged to destroy or drive away remaining enemy naval assets. Two-hundred-forty new divisions were eventually levied over the next decade and shipped piecemeal to the war-zone. Even then compliance was deemed impossible without resorting the a more thorough approach; the entire planet of Protasia was declared a war-zone and the rules of engagement revised accordingly. By 982.M41 eighty percent of the planet's inhabited areas not already seized by Imperial forces were reduced by strategic bombardment in an effort to crush the Protasian will to fight.

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Holding page of stats/rewards etc.

The Minor Arcana of the Imperial Tarot consist of fifty six cards. It comprises four suits, most commonly named Chalices, Batons, Swords and Thrones, although there are a wide variety of different names and suit symbols used in different decks. Learned adepts, for example, tend to use the High Gothic names for the suits – Adeptio, Discordia, Excuteria, and Mandatio.

The suits are sometimes associated with one of the four classical elements (Batons with Fire, Chalices with Blood, Swords with the Void, and Thrones with Earth – although other associations are sometimes made in different decks and by different users) or alternatively the four 'modern' Imperial elements (Immaterium instead of Fire, Quintessence instead of Blood, Aether instead of the Void, and Materium instead of Earth).

Adeptio (Cups): The suit of Adeptio is associated with destiny, emotions and love (primarily taken to mean love for the Divine Emperor and the endless devotion of the Imperium's citizens). It is symbolized either by the old element of Blood, or by the slow tides of Quintessence that dominate the nearer parts of the Immaterium. The suit is often taken to represent the members of the Adeptus Terra and their blessed works, as well as the heroes, prophets and saints of the Imperium (and the sacrifices they have made). The Chalice symbol is also a common sight in all Imperial temples as part of the Holy Communion between the Emperor and his subjects.

Discordia (Batons): The suit of Discordia is strongly associated with change and conflict, but also with energy and growth. It is symbolized either by the ancient element of fire or the raging chaos of the deep Immaterium. Discordia is different from the other minor suits in that the upright meaning of the card is mostly negative, while the reverse meaning of the cards are usually positive. Since cards are more likely to be drawn upright it means that the appearance of Discordia cards in a spread is usually a sign of trouble. The suit is also a representation of the masses, the unguided voices of the many, and the dangers of freedom and free will. The Baton symbol used for the suit is eerily reminiscent of the Adeptus Arbites power maul; symbolizing the need for control to be exerted over the masses and for energy to be harnessed and given direction.

Excuteria (Swords): The suit of Excuteria is associated with ephemeral things like the future and the unknown – and how it can be overcome by persistence and sacrifice. It is represented by the Void, or the Aethry as scholars call it – that airless space that exists between the stars which separates the Terrestrial and the Immaterial. The suit also symbolizes the martial prowess and unflinching leadership of the Imperium; its warriors, scholars, explorers, and Tech-priests – people with the drive and determination to face both enemies and the unknown. The sword brings forth martial images of war and duels, but is equally intended to imply that these classes stand between the Imperium and oblivion.

Mandatio (Throne): The suit of Mandatio is often associated with wealth and material possessions, as wells as procedure, tradition and obedience (often taken to mean that service and loyalty to the Imperium is worth more than all the gold of the galaxy). Symbolized by unyielding earth or alternatively all of the Materium. This suit covers all of mankind – from the High Lords of Terra to the savages that live outside the Imperium – and its manifest destiny to rule the galaxy. The Throne can be taken both as a symbol of the Golden Throne, from which the power of the Adepta flows, or as a symbol of wealth – the Throne is a common name for Imperial currency.

Each suit has 14 cards, made up from ten Common Cards and four Court Cards. The Common Cards being the Ace (1), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The four Court Cards are Novice, Champion, Lord, and Master. One common variation in some decks is the replacement of some of the Court Cards, or even the inclusion of more Court Cards (at the expense of the higher numbered Common Cards). The higher the card, the greater is its significance – generally speaking. The exception is the Ace, which is something of a wild card – it can be of either great or small significance, and can also alter the relative value of the other suit cards.

Decks made in the 41^st Millennium often have the numbered minor arcana cards named and numbered (the Ace of Discordia is named the Harlequin, for example), but older decks often have no titles or numbers on those cards. The numbered minor arcana cards usually have the appropriate number of symbols for the suit depicted, and the court cards usually have the corresponding person depicted holding the symbol of their suit. Such modern decks will also often have a symbolic scene depicted on the numbered Minors, although this was generally not the case before the The Age of Apostasy. Before this, with only the exception of a handful of decks, the numbered cards of the Minors showed merely a geometric arrangement of the appropriate number of suit symbols.

The Major Arcana (plural) of the Imperial Tarot consists of twenty two cards. Each Major Arcanum (singular) depicts a scene, mostly featuring a person or several people, with many symbolic elements. The psychoactive nature of the cards allows them to respond to psychic currents; meaning that the cards do not always depict exactly the same scene every time a card is drawn. Usually there are only slight variations, but sometimes great changes to the basic scene is uncovered, usually indicating that the card in question has a significantly different meaning from what it usually does. The most drastic such variation is the reversal; wherein the Major has the opposite meaning. The reversal is either seen as the original scene inverted (typically) or replaced altogether by an alternate image (only in certain decks).

In most decks, each major arcana card has a number (usually in High Gothic numerals) and a name, though not all decks have both, and some have only a picture. The earliest decks bore unnamed and unnumbered pictures on the Majors, and the order of cards was not standardized.

Nevertheless, in the 41^st Millennium the most common set of names and numbers is as follows: