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From Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum
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An artificial planetoid, port maw was discovered by the ''60th Expeditionary Fleet'' in a region of space then known as the [[Coronid Deeps]]. Observing the 500 kilometer wide aperture in the planets surface, giving it the appearance of a vast fanged mouth, the members of the fleet would give it its eponymous name: '''Port Maw.'''
In 001.[[M31]] , in the final years of the [[Great Crusade]], an [[Imperialis Armada]] facility would begin construction at the direct behest of the [[Officio Astra]], as part of a strategic plan to consolidate fleet assets and operational structures in the region following the triumph of the [[Ullanor Crusade]] and the appointment of [[Horus Lupercal]] as [[Warmaster]]. It was intended for Port Maw to become one of the most powerful naval facilities in the entire northern Imperium. The hollow artificial planetoid offered unparalleled defense against assault to developments and facilities inside its core, while construction began on vast trans-orbital dockayrds, battlestations and provender belts in the surrounding star system.{{Fn|3a}} ====War Fleet of the Port Maw Armada===={{WIP}}
===Horus Heresy===
*{{Main|Manachean War}}
The great construction works project surrounding Port Maw was far from complete by the start of Lupercal's war on the Imperium. Nevertheless, Port Maw was already operational in some limited capacity as a naval supply base and muster station, even as the very first drops of blood were being shed at Isstvan. Hundreds of millions of workers as well as planet-side administration and support staff were already firmly established on the habitable planet of Æstellica which Port Maw orbited around.{{Fn|3a}} Most importantly, it alongside the rest of the Coronid deeps could call upon regiments kept to the standards of the [[Solar Auxilia]] pattern, thanks to the high technological and industrial basis of the Manachean Commonwealth allowing for such troops to be supplied and maintained.{{Fn|3b}}
Horus had not left Port Maw outside of his schemes for rebellion. Traitor Agents were already embedded throughout the Coronid Deeps.{{Fn|3b}} By the time of the Istvan III attrocity, Horus had already used his influence as Warmaster to have elements of Port Maw's armada scattered on deep patrols in space, chasing flimsy reports of pirate or xenos activity, or reinforcing distant warzones and conflicts even where they were not called for. By 006.[[M31]], when the fires of rebellion were finally made clear, efforts by Port Maw to recall their fleet were greatly disrupted. The upsurge in by the [[Ruinstorm|warp turbulence ]] so infamously associated with the Horus Heresay would make itself felt, and the their fleets sent chasing after mist and shadows now found the shadowy threats they chased now very much real and very dire. Xenos raiders, piracy, attacks unknown warships and all manner of calamities assaulted their fleets. The [[Rogue Trader]] [[Rom Jhuttlander]], who had served as pathfinder to Horus 63<sup>rd</sup> expeditionary force, would launch raids from the [[Coronid Prohibited Zone]], which Port Maw had been forbidden to enter by ancient decree. Soon the Warmaster's emissaries themselves demanding dark compliance. Many deep range patrols simply did not return.{{Fn|3c}} ====Red Polyphemus====Worse still, an unexpected appearance of the [[Ork]] [[Space Hulk]] ''[[Red Polyphemus]]'' in the region forced an entire battle group from Port Maw to be diverted to deal with the threat. Such a sudden attack by Orks that had seemingly been suppressed in the region for over 30 years seemed to be more than mere coincidence.{{Fn|3c}} Normally the fleet would call upon [[Legionnes Astartes]] support to board and put an end to the space hulk, but deprived of this they were forced to commit to the dangerous task of bombarding and destroying the space hulk, all while Solar Auxilia forces kept counter attacks and invasions of nearby worlds by the Orks at bay. Port Maw's battlegroup finally fragmented the Space Hulk in 007.[[M31]], taking a heavy toll in attrition throughout that time. By then, word had come that the [[Death Guard]] had arrived to mount an attack towards the Manachean Commonwealth itself, and forces from the surrounding region were called to muster at Port Maw.{{Fn|3c}} ====Treachery at Port Maw====The artificial planetoid of port maw was normally home to huge swarms of vessels - a score of battleships, dozens of squadrons of cruisers, countless hundreds of escort craft, and thousands of servitor-drone tenders, provision ships, troop transports and orbital lighters. These would soon be joined by reinforcing fleets from the rest of the commonwealth, from warships of the distant [[Agathean Domain]], pirate-killers from the [[Cerada Nebula]], and three huge [[Ark Mechanicus|War Arks]] from [[Forgeworld]] [[Cyclothrate]]. In addition to this, a great wave of refugee ships, from mercantile ships fleeing systems under threat, to ragged survivors of the battles in the [[Cyclops Cluster]], and even a handful of survivors from the void battles at [[Istvaan V]], though the Astartes vessels would not remain long. Many such ships were barely operational, while others had to be scuttled or set to drift lest their perilous state of disrepair pose a threat. Such numbers of vessels would be impossible for the normal human mind to bear, so coordination of the assembling armada was channeled through Port Maw's [[Mechanicum]] Astra Cantrol Panopticon - a powerful broadcast tower ten kilometers high on Port Maw's southern pole. [[Cogitator]]s would calculate ship movement data and automate the control helms of the vast number of ships at port to prevent collisions. Though this automated control could always be overridden manually, anticipating a vulnerability, Port Maw had strengthened the encryption and defenses multiple times throughout the war, each stronger than the last. Deemed impregnable, the leaders of Port Maw could not anticipate the fatal flaw in the system which would be the betrayal of [[Archmagos]]-Astral [[Leit Mercuric]], cyber-Ordinator of Port Maw, who had secretly sworn to Horus, as well as several of her acolytes and officers of the Imperialis Armada, all of whom were corrupted when they had served alongside the [[Word Bearers]] in the past.{{Fn|3d}} When the war finally arrived to Port Maw, the betrayal was put into motion. The Control Panopticon sent powerful signals and data-djinn to all the ships that had been so reliant upon. [[Vox]]-circuits burnt out, auguries were filled with static, [[auspex]] scanners shut down as systems failed as ships were suddenly blinded. Moving ships diverted or suddenly accelerated, crashing into each other, their wreckage flying into the paths of others. The crews of many, unbraced and unprepared for sudden impacts, were hurled against the walls of their vessels into a bloody pulp. Ship bridges were flooded with [[scrap code]]. Over a hundred lesser vessels were overridden entirely, their ships venting their crew into the void, while the [[machine spirit]] programming of larger vessels fought against the attack. At this same time, turncoat ships within the Port Maw fleet were left unaffected and began to fire upon their former allies, sowing terror and confusion, and causing many loyalist ships to surrender to traitor demands.{{Fn|3d}} The Provost-Marshals of Port Maw, having thwarted a mutiny in their own ranks, gathered elite armoured [[Veletari]] troops of the [[905th Lethe Cohort]] "Ash Scorpions" to storm the Control Panopticon, which failed to respond to communications and was now clearly the source of the malevolent signals. Fighting their way past frenzied servitors, servo skulls, giant mechanical spiders, and hulking traitor [[Tech Priest]]s as heavily armoured as [[Terminator]]s, and [[Castellax]] [[Automaton]]s, only a single Veletari soldier managed to survive and make his way to control dias of the panopticon, destroying it even as his helmet was being crushed by steel claws, ending the malignant signals coming from the Panopticon.{{Fn|3d}} With the malignant signal from the Canopticon halted, order began to reassert itself as battle lines were now properly drawn between traitor and loyalist. Grand [[Admiral]] [[Ospheus LaBray]] thwarted a mutiny on Port Maws flagship - the ''[[Triumph of Reason]]'', a large command ship designed to direct an entire Segmentum fleet as needed. He ordered the [[Dictatus Class Battleship]] [[Kurga]] to destroy the now silent Panopticon tower. The Ram-Battleship smashed into the tower with its piercing ram claws and joined by melta-tipped harpoons spearing into the tower, burning its engines and then ripping the panopticon tower into the void.
{{WIP}}
**{{Endn|3c}}: pgs. 37-38
**{{Endn|3d}}: pgs. 40-42
**{{Endn|3e}}: Pg. 47
*{{Endn|4}}: [[Battlefleet Gothic: Invasion]] pg. 10-11
*{{Endn|5}}: [[Battlefleet Gothic: Armada (Video Game)]]
