Ash Wastes (Necromunda)

This article is about the Necromundan desert. For other uses of Ash Wastes, see Ash Wastes (disambiguation).

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Necromunda

Industrial ash forms deserts around the hive cities.^[7]

The Ash Wastes of Necromunda are vast, abrasive deserts formed from millennia of heavy industry, covering everything outside the protective hives.^[1]

Geography

These wastes, composed of metal oxides, powdered plastics, and inorganic chemicals, are highly corrosive, eroding equipment and poisoning life, although some creatures have adapted to survive. The ash is often several miles deep, forming shifting dunes that can bury roads and damage hive structures despite their protective designs.^[1]

While the Ash Wastes are hostile, they also contain hidden treasures such as derelict hive spires, buried convoys, and wrecked vehicles. Pockets of pure oxides and chemicals, formed by natural processes, offer valuable resources for mining and reprocessing. The landscape is surprisingly colourful, with ash in vivid hues like sulphur yellow and cobalt blue, and the creatures and Nomads blend into this environment to survive.^[1]

Climate

The Ash Wastes' most dangerous hazard is the ash storms, which can carry toxic ash from the equator to the poles. These storms can strip an unprotected person to the bone in seconds and are powerful enough to destroy entire hives. Ruined spires are sometimes revealed after storms, only to be buried again. In calmer seasons, liquid pollutants form temporary slick-lakes and blind-rivers, which can dry out, leaving hard crusts over deep dust seas that can be fatal if broken through.^[1]

During hotter weather, the sun can cause noxious vapours to rise, creating poisonous mists and toxic acid rainstorms that fall in sudden squalls, adding to the perilous environment.^[1]

Flora and Fauna

• Arthromite Spinewyrm^[6]
• Arthromite Duneskuttler^[5a]
• Dustback Helamite^[4b]
• Necromundan Giant Rats^[5b]

Inhabitants

• Ash Wastes Nomads^[2c]
• Ironhead Squat Prospectors

Activity

• Merchants Guilds^[2e]
• Clan House gangs^[2f]
• Spyrers^[2f]

Ecoregions

• Great Equatorial Wastes^[3]
• Sump Sea^[4a]
• Dentium Nautica^[4a]
• Irradium Oceanus^[4a]
• Corpus Navios^[4a]
• Poison Sea^[4a]
• Great Spoil^[4a]
• Ash Pole^[3]
• Stormlands^[3]
• Great Scavic Basin^[3]
• Helmawr's Graveyard^[3]

Sources

This article or article section is based on information from a Fanatic Press publication such as Fanatic Magazine or one of its predecessors (e.g. The Citadel Journal, Necromunda Magazine, etc.). These publications regularly featured articles submitted by hobbyists, and as such, their content may or may not be in contradiction to established background lore.

• 1: White Dwarf 130 (UK), pg. 12
• 2: Necromunda Magazine Issue 3:^{Fanatic Press}
  • 2a: pg. 3
  • 2b: pg. 4
  • 2c: pg. 5
  • 2d: pg. 6
  • 2e: pg. 8
  • 2f: pg. 9
• 3: Necromunda Rulebook (2018), pgs. 194-195
• 4: Necromunda: Ash Wastes:
  • 4a: pgs. 14-15
  • 4b: pg. 16
• 5: Necromunda: Book of the Outlands:
  • 5a: pg. 47
  • 5b: pg. 53
• 6: Necromunda: Tribes of the Wastelands^[Help]
• 7: Magic: The Gathering's Universes Beyond Warhammer 40,000
- Ash Barrens