Telstein

Sectatus Imperialis Ky'Telstein
Seal of the Sectatus Imperialis
National Words Salus Imperialis Suprema Est
Sector Capitol	Telstein
Largest City	Hive Uttica
Ethnic group	Human 100%
Languages	High Gothic Low Gothic Countless Local Tongues
Demonym	Imperial Telsteinian
Governing Structure
Emperor Jimmy Space
Dominus Sectatus Kari Sejanus
Cardinalis Sectatus John Smith
Prefectus Primus Sectatus John Smith
Fabricator-General John Smith
Population
Total (Est.)	17 Trillion
Area (Est.)	400 Settled Worlds
Date	Check/Segment/Year/.Millennium

Telstein, officially known as the Sectatus Imperialis Telstein (Telsteinian Imperial Sector) is a former constituent region of the Imperium of Man that stretches over 400 settled worlds throughout an approximately 200ly³ area of space in the Galactic West. Telstein was formerly an Administrative subdivision of a wider galactic empire until an unknown phenomenon resulted in its dimensional translocation during Night of a Thousand Rebellions in 992999.M41 according to the Imperial Calendar. It now finds itself in the 21st Century CE in a reality that is entirely unrecognieable from the one which it departed.

The Capital of the Sector is the planet of Telstein in the eponymous System and Sub-Sector, which is also the personal domain of the Sector Lord, Dominus Sectatus Kari Sejanus. Responsibility for governance of the Sector is split between local Planetary Governors and the remains of the Imperial galactic administration. As a successor to the Imperium of Mankind, Telstein is a highly autocratic state where human life is intrinsically worthless and the concept of inalienable rights is unimagineable. Daily life in the Imperium is typically marked by staggering levels of inequality, corruption, and cruelty. Democratic principles are unheard of, and the Imperial Adeptae only interfere with the privileged upper classes where their behaviour affects the orderly administration of the Sector or conflict with the central tenets of its official faith, the Imperial Cult.

History

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Recent History

The Telstein Sector vanished from all Imperial Record during the Night of a Thousand Rebellions in 992999.M41. Considered to have been destroyed by a chaotic rebellion, those within the Sectatus Imperialis still labour to discover how they have found themselves entirely separated from the Light of the Astronomicon in an alternate universe.

Astrography

Location of the Sectatus in relation to Holy Terra.

The Telstein Sector is a three-dimensional cuboid area of space with sides roughly 200 light years long. Its borders correlate roughly with the Pre-Starshift Telstein Sector insofar as Imperial Adminstration would be concerned - though since the Starshift there have been territorial gains and losses which have resulted in minor but noticeable changes. The Telstein Sector sits to the West of the Milky Way Galaxy. It is positioned on the outer edge of the Perseus Arm, which is to the Galactic South-West of the Orion Spur wherin lies Holy Terra. The Sector was formerly seen as a bulwark against the Northern edge of the Veiled Region. The Telstein Sector sits at a longitude of 237° and at a latitude of 12° above the galactic plane according to the Galactic Coordinate System. It is approximately 18,000ly from Earth.

Whilst the Starshift has entirely removed Telstein Sector from the dimension of reality in which the remainder of the Imperium of Mankind lies, those concerned with its governance still consider Telstein a part of the Segmentum Pacificus, one of the Imperium of Mankind's Segmentae Majoris. The names of the Segmentae are also used commonly to describe the vast reaches of galactic space which they were responsible for administering. Within the Segmentum Pacificus, the Telstein Sector sits between the notable Macharian Sector and Chiros Sector, tending toward the border with the Segmentum Tempestus.

Administrative Divisions

The Telstein Sector consists of around 400 settled worlds with countless settled moons, man-made satellites, minor celestial bodies and void-stations. Whilst populations can rise to sit in the hundreds of billions on the largest of Hive Worlds, the majority of human-controlled planets are sparsely populated and the average population of a planet is in the tens of millions. These worlds of the Sector are principally divided into Sub-Sectors, Systems, Planets, and Inter-Sectors. The various governmental organisations possess their own administrative sub-divisions, but aside from differing terminology their boundaries typically correlate with these standard areas.

Sub-Sectors, also known as 'Clusters' are areas of space approximately ten to twenty Light-years in diameter. Rather than being standard sized divisions that the entire Sector is divided into, they are instead centered on densely populated clusters of stars, important worlds, and convergences of stable warp-currents. Given inter-stellar travel for the Imperium relies heavily on these warp currents it is common for exploration and colonisation to cluster around such convergences, with key worlds forming thereafter. There are seven designated Sub-Sectors within the Telstein Sector. The largest consists of ten systems spread in a three-dimensional wish-bone shape at the point that the Haelian Warp Corridor bifurcates into the Upper Haelian Reach and the Capacitan Spur. The smallest consists of a single System, and was only elevated to the status of a Sub-Sector following the Starshift to recognise the importance of the Adeptus Mechanicus within the Sector's administration. Sub-Sectors are firmly claimed as Imperial Territory, with the borders of even the largest such divisions being something vessels of the Imperial Fleet can comfortably patrol. Despite this however, it would be incorrect to claim that Imperial Hold on territory within a given Sub-Sector is absolute. There are countless worlds visited and deemed unsuitable or irrelevant to Imperial colonisation efforts, and countless more that have yet to be visited by a vessel of the Imperium. Whilst it is exceedingly rare for an interstellar empire to unknowingly co-exist with the Imperium of Man, entire interplanetary civilisations, both alien and long-lost human in origin exist within so-called Settled Space. This is to say nothing of those worlds which hold life but claim no dominion over the stars: either that which has yet to step foot in the void, or small settlements that fail to recognise Imperial Authority.

The strength of Imperial Control weakens considerably outside of such Sub-Sectors, in what is referred to as Intersectional Space. Whether due to conventional distance, capricious warp currents, or even due to a parity opponent of the Imperium, these areas are not as tightly controlled by the Imperium. Naturally the proliferation of Imperial Colonies diminishes quite proportionally to how easy a given area of Inter-Sector is to reach from Settled Space. For this reason, Intersectional Space is often referred to as Wilderness Space. The vast majority of the Telstein Sector is made up of Intersectional Space, and it would be fair to say that more than half of the settled worlds within the Sector sit without of a Sub-Sector.

Below the grade of a Sub-Sector, comes that of a System. As with standard astrographical terminology, a System consists of a Star or system of clustered stellar objects which are orbited by non-stellar objects bound by the gravitational pull of the system's star. A system need not necessarily contain a Planet but it is exceedingly rare for such a locale to become so noteworthy that it is worth designating as a System. All Planets governed by an Imperial Commander will exist within a System, though if the System only holds one Imperial Planet then the difference between the two entities is minimal.

A Planet is defined astrogeologically as a rounded sub-stellar body. This is a wide definition that includes satellites of other sub-stellar bodies. Insofar as Imperial Bureaucracy is concerned, a Planet is a celestial body settled by Humankind and showing both fealty and worship to Him On Earth. Administratively speaking, a Planet will have an Imperial Commander or Planetary Governor appointed. Under the Lex Imperialis this figure holds absolute authority over that world so long as they meet their obligations to the Wider Imperium. The geological mass, environmental conditions, political landscape and population size of any two planets will differ - in some cases so wildly that it is unbelievable that they are part of the same nation. It would be fair to say that due to the erratic and often glacial pace of travel, communication, and bureaucracy within the Imperium of Man, the Telstein Sector holds many Planets it does not yet know it controls. As Rogue Traders, Explorator Fleets, Colonial Crusades and even private corporate efforts expand the borders of the Sector, civilisation can spread across entire systems - and die screaming centuries later - before the Administratum recognises the laying of the first foundation stone.

Planetary Classification

All Planets, even those Sub-Stellar Celestial Bodies which are not formally 'accepted' as Planets by dint of not possessing a Planetary Governor, are classified by the Administratum to allow Imperial Authorities to better understand the space they control. Classifications exist on a variety of different scales including those which divide them by their tithing requirement or their function within the wider Imperium. Whilst there are countless planets, the majority of them, which are classed as Gamma-Class Civilised Worlds, many others are highly specialised and could not survive for long if cut off from the wider Imperium. These include Alpha-Class Agri-Worlds given over entirely to farming practices often so monstrous they would be unrecogniseable to a modern farmer, Delta-Tau-Class Death Worlds so inhospitable to human life that daily survival is near-miraculous, Eta-Class Hive Worlds so overpopulated and overpolluted that a single late food conveyor can starve millions, and Phi-class Forge Worlds given over entirely to industry and worship of the Omnissiah.

Government

The government of the Imperial Sector is a highly conservative autocratic system riven with unnecessary competition, inefficienct wastefulness, bureaucratic inertia and - in some cases - open warfare. It is an isolated microcosm of the wider Imperium of Man and exhibits most, if not all, of the failings of that empire's wider administration. Responsibility for governance is split between the Imperial Commanders who are responsible for specific territories, and the local remnants of the three Adeptae Majoris which make up the interplanetary administration.

As a part of the Imperium of Man, in theory the Head of State is Him on Earth, the Master of Mankind, the God Emperor. The God Emperor of Mankind is an immortal psyker personally responsible for the unification of human colonies across the Milky Way through his Great Crusade of the 30th Millennium. Whilst functionally catatonic within a life-sustaining sarcophagus named the Golden Throne, his psychic abilities enabled him to communicate with suitably attuned individuals through premonition and diviniation as well as guiding mankind's spaceships through the immaterium with the light of his psychic power. Aside from that, however, his ability to govern was taken from him when he was struck down by the Archtraitor, Horus Lupercal during the eponymously named Horus Heresy.

In spite of this, the government of the Imperium continued in his name through a council of the executives of the Adeptae Majoris and other important governing bodies known as the High Lords of Terra who meet as a cabinet of the wider Imperial Senate. Even though all contact with the wider Imperium has been categorically severed by the Starshift, the Imperial Sector does not regard itself as a distinct and sovereign entity, and - at least on paper - claims to be merely waiting for contact to resume with the wider Imperium.

Many of these organisations are or were functionally independent from their peers, being beholden only to their own superiors until the highest levels of Imperial Bureaucracy - far higher than that which remains extant in the Sector. Some of the bloodiest conflicts of the Post-Shift years were caused by jurisdictional grievances between Adeptae or through power-grabs initiated as soon as a given Department felt it was without supervision. The political situation within the Sector has now reached its calmest since the Starshift. The heads of all major Adeptae now acknowledge the Dominus Sectatus as a notional first-among-equals who intercede in and arbitrate disputes at the highest levels of the government as well as speaking for them as a collective. In practice however, all of them, many subordinate yet-still-senior officials, and other more obscure officeholders like Imperial Inquisitors claim authority in certain matters from non-existent higher authorities - in some cases from the Emperor himself.

Imperial Commanders

The Imperial Commanders are absolute rulers who govern Imperial planets in the name of the Emperor. The term does not refer to anyone who oversees a settlement or even a world, but specifically those officers personally commissioned by the High Lords of Terra to exercise control of their domain in the Emperor's name. They enjoy an autocratic absolute authority to rule as they see fit so long as they meet their tithe quotas and they effectively suppress heresy, mutation, and disorder, and their relationship with the Imperium is set out by the Lex Imperialis. Imperial Commanders are responsible for the provision government services on their world, though there is no requirement for them to meet the personal or societal needs of their citizens or to maintain any form of quality of life. The form these governments take, their effectiveness, and their organisation all varies depending on the circumstances of their world and the whim of its ruler. Imperial Commanders are hugely privileged individuals who enjoy immense personal power and wealth by virtue of their office, which is frequently an inherited position.

In spite of the many privileges of their position, the fact that their world's obligations to the Imperium is the personal responsibility of the Imperial Commander means that in times of strife it can be a difficult task. Failure to fulfil their obligations is almost universally met with death or worse, to say nothing of the punishment meted out on the institutions and populations of the world. This is usually the reason given by holders of such offices as why their position, status, and power is a curse rather than a privilege. It is often explained as a charitable act that the burdens of leadership are not shared amongst the citizenry of a planet - of course the myriad opportunities for self-enrichment available to Imperial Commanders is purely coincidental.

The juniormost grade of Imperial Commanders are those who oversee entire worlds, and they are called Planetary Governors. In addition to their role overseeing the administration of their worlds they act as the commander-in-chief of the local military - the Planetary Defence Force. Insofar as imperial authorities are concerned, they are immune from their own laws but remain bound by the Lex Imperialis and Imperial Cult as enforced by the Adeptus Arbites and Adeptus Ministorum on their world.

Planetary Governors can also be appointed as System Lords, Sub-Sector Lords, and Sector Lords by the High Lords of Terra - either as a dynamic reshuffling of the corridors of power, or by dint of being the latest in a lineage granted that honour by the hand of the Emperor himself. While not guaranteed, such positions typically belong to the Governor of the foremost world in a given System, Sub-Sector, or Sector. These more senior Imperial Commanders invariably retain Governorship of their world as a personal fiefdom as well as having a role in managing interplanetary and interstellar affairs. This can include command and control of the flotillas of smaller military voidcraft which make up System Defence Forces, regulating trade, and helping coordinate and arbitrate between the work of the Imperial Adeptae within their area of responsibility.

The foremost Imperial Commander in the Imperial Sector is the Lord of the Telstein Sector, known as the Dominus Sectatus Telstein in High Gothic. Even before the Starshift the office was an immensely powerful one by virtue of the influence it held on affairs within the vast area of space it oversaw. Since the Starshift however, the office has risen in power over the Imperial Adeptae by virtue of necessity. A Sector Lord's authority was always tempered by the fact that the Adeptae of the Imperial state which worked within their area of responsibility ultimately answered to their own leadership at Segmentum-level or beyond. While the Sector Lord could influence them or exercise limited control in the exercise of their duties, ultimate authority rested with the chain of command that stretched up to the High Lords of Terra themselves. However, since the Starshift and the subsequent bloody realignment of power most of the Imperial Adeptae have recognised - through lip-service at least - that the Dominus Sectatus Telstein is the

The Sector Lordship is currently held on a hereditary basis by the head of House Sejanus alongside the Governorship of the planet Kyara. This dual domain is legally referred to as the Ky'Telstein. The current Dominus Sectatus Telstein is Lord Kari Sejanus.

Adeptus Terra

The Adeptus Terra, also known as the Priesthood of Earth or erroneously conflated with its largest constituent body - the Adeptus Administratum, represents the incalculably vast secular administration of the Imperium of Mankind. Broadly speaking, any body or organisation that fulfils its functions across the entire sector - formerly the entire galaxy - is part of the Adeptus Terra if it is not part of the other Adeptae Majoris.

Due to its division into thousands of Adeptae Minoris, Departmentos, Ordos, and Officios, there is no one executive decision-maker for the Adeptus Terra within the Post-Starshift Telstein Sector. Among these divisions there are those who treat themselves as almost entirely independent of the authority of the Dominus Sectatus and their contemporaries like the Adeptus Arbites, however there are also those who are heavily integrated in the wider system of Administatum and Imperial Governors like the Officio Medicae.

The widespread lack of awareness about the workings of the Imperial state mean that few understand the differences between the different Adeptae, and in many cases will struggle to differentiate between bodies of the Adeptus Terra and their Imperial Governor's local equivalents. For example even those superficially inducted into the workings of the Adeptus Terra like Imperial Guard Officers may erroneously conflate planetary enforcers with the Arbitrators of the Adeptus Arbites, and for someone who would rarely leave the surface of their world the difference between two kilometer-long warships - a System Defence Monitor and an Imperial Navy Corvette - is imperceptible. However, despite many of their functions being superficially similar, within the hierarchy of the Sector's society the local organisations are universally outranked by the Adeptae.

Membership of the Adeptus Terra grants one right to the title Adept and something aproximating rights as a result of their station. For this reason, even the lowliest service in the halls of the Adeptus Terra is often seen as a great honour and can bring about a quality of life otherwise unattainable for Imperial Subjects who are employed merely as menials.

Adeptus Ministorum

The Adeptus Ministorum, known informally as the Ecclesiarchy after the title of its highest priest, is the State Church of the Imperium. Largely independent from the Adeptus Terra it is an incredibly powerful organisation in its own right with a significant reach into daily life across the Sector that stretches beyond purely religious affairs.

The Ecclesiarchy preaches a faith known as the Imperial Cult which teaches that the Emperor is a divine figure and that humanity is a chosen people whose destiny is the stars and whose purity of thought and form must be maintained at all costs. It is therefore a major driver of public policy being violently prejudiced against mutation and warpcraft. Whilst disbelief is not inherently contrary to the Lex Imperialis, the Adeptus Ministorum has the authority to investigate and punish perceived deviations from its teachings, and it commands the military power to back that up. Apostasy and Heresy are punished by death at the least, and many other crimes against public morals are tried in Ministorum courts.

Like the Adeptus Terra, before the Starshift, the Adeptus Ministorum hierarchy continued beyond the Sector-level up to the Cardinals Palatine of Holy Terra and the Ecclesiarch himself. Following the Starshift, the Cardinals Astra within the Telstein Sector held a synod and determined that the foremost among them must be elevated to the position of Arch-Cardinal to speak on their behalf. While notionally subordinate to the Dominus Sectatus, the unified nature of the Ministorum's various bodies means that Arch-Cardinal Calleb Eos is powerful enough to act with independence short of civil war.

The Telstein Sector is largely coterminous with the Ministorum's own administrative Ecclesiarchal Arch-Province of Telstein under the Arch-Cardinal while number of the Sub-Sectors are further organised into Ecclesiarchal Provinces under their own Cardinals. The organisation of the Ministorum below this is byzantine and irregular, with various orders of priesthood and monasticism, the most visible of which are the Curacy. These Curates form the majority of the ordained priesthood of the Adeptus Ministorum, and their numbers range from the meanest underhive parish preacher to the most exalted Pontifex Mundi who oversees the religious affairs of a planet-spanning diocese. In some circumstances this Pontifex Mundi may concurrently hold the position of Imperial Commander. While this state of affairs is thoroughly disapproved of by the Adeptus Terra, it is catered for and such planets are officially sanctioned as Cardinal Worlds where local affairs are run by the Ministorum and the Adeptus Terra's influence is rarely felt.

The Ministorum is also formed of a variety of other bodies:

• The Creed Temporal is the bureaucratic, logistical, and administrative arm of the Adeptus Ministorum. It is staffed by countless lay scribes and menials, overseen by the Deaconry - ordained priests who undertake duties as senior administrative officers within the Ministorum.
• The Adepta Sororitas is a collection of all-female monastic orders who dedicate their lives to glorifying the Emperor through carrying out their selected role with a fanatical fervour. These range from the power-armoured Sisters of Battle of the Orders Militant and the beloved healers of the Orders Hospitaller to the window cleaners of the Order Fenestrus and the Orders Famulous that serve as governesses and maajordomos for the nobility.
• The Missionaria Galaxia is the division of the priesthood responsible for spreading the Imperial Cult throughout the galaxy. They accompany exploratory fleets and help establish new shrines on frontier worlds.
• The Schola Progenia are academies run by the Ministorum to educate the orphaned children of the nobility, Imperial Officials and military officers, selected worthies, and commoners adopted on scholarship programmes. Students are taught general topics, strictures of the Imperial Cult, and specific vocational training that leads to them taking up posts in various Imperial organisations.

Adeptus Mechanicus

The Adeptus Mechanicus, also known as the Priesthood of Mars, is technically an independent state allied to the Imperium of Man, though its head sat as one of the High Lords. Since the foundation of the Imperium of Man the God-Emperor afforded the Priesthood of Mars rights, privileges, and freedoms unheard of elsewhere in its society. The Adeptus Mechanicus is a technocratic union of planets dedicated to the worship of technology through a religion known as the Cult Mechanicus and, though frequently at loggerheads it bears many similarities with the Adeptus Ministorum. Like the Imperium's State Church, in its current state the Sectatus' secular government could not continue to function without the willing cooperation of the techpriests, and like the Adeptus Ministorum the Priesthood of Mars has its own laws, hierarchy, language, and military.

The Adepts and Magi of the Priesthood of Mars act both as religious leaders and also as practitioners in all manner of technological fields, from chemistry and computational science through to mechanical and cybernetic engineering. Membership of this ruling caste is based on selection following promise shown over years of study and service as an acolyte, and invariably involves cybernetic augmentation and modification of one's body to an inhuman degree. The life of a techpriest can vary hugely depending on their calling and their seniority - from the lowliest Engineseer attached to an Imperial Guard tank squadron through to a Magos Biologis leading a research facility working on the vivisection of aliens through to the Fabricator-Generals of entire worlds.

Like the Cardinal Worlds of the Ministorum, not all Mechanicus shrines are single buildings or complexes located on planets overseen by Imperial Commanders. Some worlds, designated Forge Worlds are given over entirely to the worship of the Machine God and are formally independent of the authority of the Adeptus Terra and Ministorum to the extent that even the rosette of an Inquisitor holds little sway there. Since the Starshift the Mechanicum within the Telstein Sector organised as a single polity under the authority of the Fabricator-General - equivalent to the Planetary Governor and chief Techpriest - of the Sector's foremost Forgeworld. The Fabricator-General of Theurides Primus, Faustius van der Schlan, concurrently holds the post of Sub-Sector Lord for the Theuridian Sub-Sector and is generally regarded as one of the most powerful figures within the Sector because of the influence.

Economy

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Demographics

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Psykers

See Also: Psykers

The Adeptus Astra Telepathica has spent much of the century since the Starshift attempting to compensate for its inability to send Psykers to Earth. In times of great tumult this included mass culling of individuals with psychic potential, as is often standard practice when a world is cut off by warp storms and unable to be reached by a Blackship. However, as the political situation has calmed, three Scholasticae Minoria have been founded within the Sector, two of which remain today. As yet their alumni are generally held to be inferior in technique and control to those who had been trained on Terra itself, but this is considered an acceptable price to pay for continued provision of Psychic capabilities. Unfortunately two of the most important abilities are those which are not able to be replicated by these Scholasticae Minoria - the Navigators and the Astropaths. The former is based purely on genetic inheritance and has been affected greatly by low breeding rates and internecine feuding between those members of Navigator Houses who are active in the Imperial Sector. Regarding the latter, no adequate replacement has been identified for the Soulbinding Ritual carried out on Earth itself, and the proportion of Psykers capable of acting as Astropaths without that ritual is so small that the population cannot currently be sustained.

Culture

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Religion

See Also: Imperial Cult & Cult Mechanicus

According to the Cult Mechanicus, knowledge is the supreme manifestation of divinity and all creatures and technology that embody knowledge are thus holy because of it. The worth of a single man is only the sum of his knowledge - his body is simply an organic machine capable of preserving intellect. It is by this motivation that the followers of the Cult Mechanicus follow the Quest for Knowledge, seeking new technology and information to better themselves. The Machine God, also known as the Deus Mechanicus, is the ultimate object of worship in the Cult Mechanicus. It is the Machine God that gave rise to all technologies and made them manifest through his chosen among mankind. To the Mechanicus, machines represent a higher form of life than those crudely formed from biological evolution. The planned perfection of form and function embodied in a machine are so great, that they could only have arisen from a divine source. Officially, the Cult Mechanicus maintains that the Emperor is the physical manifestation of the Machine God (the Omnissiah) and part of a trinity that also includes the Machine God and the Motive Force, the deity that gives all life and motion its continued existence.