Koronus Expanse
Such secrets lie waiting beneath cold, dead stars. To reach out and take them, to be tested body and soul and found worthy... that is the fate I crave and the path I chose to walk.
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The Koronus Expanse, also known as the Koronus Sector[4], is the name given by Imperial authorities to a dangerous, unexplored region of the Halo Stars beyond the Calixis Sector.[1a]
This region of once Wilderness Space is located to the galactic north-east of the Calixis Sector.[8a] It also borders the Screaming Vortex.[8c]
Overview
The Expanse is accessed via the Koronus Passage, a treacherous but navigable route through the great warp storms that bar the passage to the Halo Stars beyond the way station of Port Wander. As is true of the Calixis Sector itself, the Expanse was untouched by the God-Emperor's Crusade many millennia ago and so it is a realm of fearsome xenos, treasures beyond imagining, heathen worlds of men, and the echoes of the ancient doom.[1a]
History
Age of Apostasy
The Koronus Expanse's history is largely defined by the actions of the Rogue Traders who survived exploring it. However, its written history is full of apocryphal records, and oral history regarding the region often comes from unreliable narrators as well, making a definitive recounting practically impossible.[2a]
The Calixis Sector was first charted during the Age of Apostasy by Solomon Haarlock, though fragmented naval records indicate that it was actually first charted by a prior Explorator fleet belonging to the Adeptus Mechanicus. The method of traversing the field of intense warp storm activity in what is now the Drusus Marches subsector was missing from both sets of data, however, and so the Imperium designated the storm field as the farthest border of the Sector.[2a]
The area would be a subject of mystery for years. Tales of "golden shores" were abound, telling of undreamed riches of long-dead civilisations once sat beyond the warp storms. A number of waystations were established along its length as many attempted to map a safe course through.[8] 73 years after the Imperial Navy constructed the space station Port Wander near the storm field, a Rogue Trader named Purity Lathimon discovered "the Maw", a safe passage through the storms. However, rather than returning to the Expanse, she sold her knowledge on and departed Calixis, never to return. The Koronus Expanse was effectively declared part of the Calixis Sector by the High Lords of Terra.[2b]
The void colony of Footfall is often the first stop through the passage. A lawless void station and den of anarchy and recidivism beyond Imperial Law.[8] Several worlds in the Expanse are colonised, while others were destroyed. The destruction was largely caused by the Inquisitor Kobras Aquairre, who eventually led his fleet into the Rifts of Hecaton and vanished. Aeldari and other, even more mysterious xenos species were discovered in the Expanse.[2c]
For centuries, Rogue Traders have braved great evils and the treacherous warp to venture into the Koronus Expanse, but their efforts have barely begun to uncover its secrets. Footholds have been built close to the few semi-stable warp routes into the area.[1a]
Here, resources-rich worlds are exploited, xenos ruins, trade envoys meet with heathen lords, and colonies are attempted upon sheltered worlds. This effort has been enough to shower wealth and fame upon the fortunate and make corpses of the rest. The gateway to the Expanse is littered with broken vessels and tales of the vanished.[1a]
M41
The Koronus Expanse in the 41st Millennium is a scattered, partly explored region containing a few young colonies and vast natural wealth still barely explored. Rogue Traders vie with one another for known resources, heedless of lives lost in the pursuit of riches, while a tentative attempt at Imperial colonization follows in their wake.[1a]
Drawn by the flow of wealth, pirates and servants of Dark Gods have also slipped into the Expanse, eager to cast destruction upon the works of the God-Emperor's faithful, living by what they wrest from dead hands, while the Expanse itself holds many secrets and native inhabitants no less dangerous. Beyond these human conflicts lie truly dark and dangerous voids, rife with rumoured terrors, undiscovered stars, and worlds of man who have never known the God-Emperor. There are no defined warp-routes, no safe ways through the swirling empyrean. These regions hold the fearsome Ork, the treacherous Aeldari, and strange ruins that lie beneath the light of dying stars.[1a] The marauding Rak'Gol remain a major threat to explorers in the depths of the Koronus Expanse, and appear to have some connection of the Yu'Vath. Although the latter's empire is thought to be long extinct, the Rak'Gol could perhaps be seeking to uncover long lost weapons from the warp-worshiping Yu'Vath ruins.[8b]
Era Indomitus
As with much the rest of the galaxy, the Koronus Expanse was affected by the events of the 13th Black Crusade and the formation of the Great Rift, heralding the Age of the Dark Imperium (aka the Era Indomitus).
House von Valancius
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The following paragraphs contain spoilers for: | Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Video Game) |
The Von Valancius heir of Rogue Trader dynasty House von Valancius would arrive to the region around the same time as the eruption of the Cicatrix Maledictum across the galaxy.[7b]
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The heir's actions should they occur, may have drastic, perhaps even galaxy wide outcomes for the Koronus Expanse, based on the potential choices, decisions, and personality of the heir.[7b] A non-exhaustive examples include:
- Destroying a hostile C'tan Shard threat and ultimately conquering the expanse and turning it into a proper sector, as is the intended end result of many rogue trader efforts
- Attempting to establish a separate, independent empire, ultimately leading to a punitive campaign from the Imperium and the destruction of House von Valancius.
- Enslaving a hostile C'tan Shard and/or befriending and merging with the C'tan shard Nomos and:
- remaining loyal to the Imperium, even with a subjugated C'tan, seemingly with the blessing of the Inquisition via a letter
- creating a dimensional rift, separating an independent empire from the Imperium more soundly than the Great Rift itself, allowing the region to live in true independence and isolation from the rest of the galaxy
- dedicating the sector to Chaos as a chaos worshipper, and ascending to the status of Daemon Prince
External Link: The Fextralife Rogue Trader Wiki - An unofficial fan-based gaming community wiki dedicated to providing video game guides. Various game endings and how to achieve them can be found here.
A small sample of various outcomes for the sector:
Galactic Landscape
Corewards of the Koronus Expanse lies the Calixis Sector which is accessible by the Koronus Passage, often using The Stations of Passage as real space way stations between Warp jumps.[3]
Warp Routes
The warp space of the Koronus Expanse is treacherous and unknown in the main, and partially explored regions of the Expanse are islands of Imperial activity amidst a vastness of danger and mystery. Navigating is a far cry from traversing the established warp routes of the Calixis Sector.[1a]
Most of the Koronus Expanse is known to the Imperium only through legend, revelation, and hearsay. The Rogue Trader who ventures into this unknown risks his very soul upon the talent of his Navigator, and on quality of what little information he has gleaned from those gone before.[1a]
Regions
Accursed Demesne
Accursed Demesne is an area on the Rimward side of the Koronus Expanse.[1b]
The Cauldron
The Cauldron is an area on the coreward side of the Koronus Expanse bordering the Koronus Passage.[1b]
Cinerus Maleficum
Cinerus Maleficum is an area in the center of the Koronus Expanse.[1b]
Foundling Worlds
The Founding Worlds is an area in the Trailing side of the Koronus Expanse bordering the Great Warp Storms of the Koronus Passage.[1b]
Heathen Stars
The Heathen Stars is an area in the spinward side of the Koronus Expanse.[1b]
Ragged Worlds
The Ragged Worlds is an area in the spinward side of the Koronus Expanse bordering the Great Warp Storms of the Koronus Passage.[1b]
Rifts of Hecaton
The Rifts of Hecaton is an area bordering the rimward edge of the Koronus Expanse.[1b]
Unbeholden Reaches
The Unbeholden Reaches is an area in the Trailing side of the Koronus Expanse.[1b]
Winterscale's Realm
Winterscale's Realm is an area of the Koronus Expanse, that is ruled over by the Rogue Trader House, Winterscale.[2c][8] It is located on the coreward side of the Expanse, bordering the great Warp Storms of the Koronus Passage.[1b]
Unknown Regions
Beyond the partly explored regions of the Koronus Expanse, past deeps beset by pirates and dread xenos, lie many worlds and strange phenomena which exists as the stuff of dark legend. Some of these uncharted stars were visited by a single Rogue Trader whose tales are doubted and dismissed by rivals as outright lies, while others are known only from dubious and apocryphal sources such as Thulean data-vaults recovered from Dolorium's voids in 741.M41, or the infamous prophetic visions of the Seven Witches of Footfall.[1a]
Other fragments of contradictory lore relating to these dark zones are culled from even more untrustworthy sources, such as the muted Astropathic whispers overheard on the warp's twisted eddies, the falsehoods of the deceitful Eldar, or the ancient myths of heathen worlds given over to darkness for millennia uncounted.[1a]
Such areas are only labelled only as "Here be monsters" on ancient charts, where only the foolhardy or insane would venture to seek their destiny.[1a]
Images
Stylized Map of the Koronus Expanse[5]
Trivia
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- The Koronus Expanse is the primary setting for the Rogue Trader Role-Playing Game[1a] and Rogue Trader Video Game[6]
Sources
- 1: Rogue Trader Rulebook:
- 2: Rogue Trader: Epoch Koronus:
- 3: Rogue Trader: Citadel of Skulls, pg. 7
- 4: Rogue Trader: Battlefleet Koronus, pg. 90
- 5: Rogue Trader Stylized Map (saved archive page, dated January 2020)
- 6: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader Website (Last accessed on September 20 2022)
- 7: Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader (Video Game):
- 8: Black Crusade Core Rulebook:
