Valkyria

Valkyria is an Imperial Civilized World and the host of a Schola Progenium. The population of the planet is approximately 25 million and is characterized for being a heavily matriarchal society. It is the home of the Valkyrian Crusaders, prestigious regiments of the Militarum Tempestus that consist entirely of women. Standard regiments of the Astra Militarum are mixed gender in order to meet the requirements of the planets tithe grade.

Valkyria is the fourth planet of its system and is characterized for its varying terrain types. Approximately sixty-five percent of the planet’s surface is covered in water with the remaining forty-five percent consisting of land in the form of continents and islands. The planet’s landmasses possess frozen tundras, temperate plains, rocky mountains, and vast forests. Valkyria was colonized during the Dark Age of Technology and managed to develop its own unique society in the period of the Age of Strife, eventually becoming a part of the greater Imperium during the Great Crusade.

Pre-Imperium
Valkyria has always been known to be a verdant world, very little records survive of when it was initially colonized by humanity and that Valkyria was not its original name; what the planet’s initial name was has been long lost to time. What is known, is that human civilization thrived on the planet and it resulted in the creation of a stable, technologically advanced society that also thrived in equilibrium with the natural flora and fauna.

The isolation brought about by the Age of Strife was not uncommon to the people of Valkyria. Already located on the edge of then-known space, the only evidence of the cataclysmic event was the sudden arrival of daemon incursions onto the planet’s surface. For several decades, the planet’s military managed to fight off the daemons and many of the major cities became enormous fortresses and safe havens for the planet’s populace.

Disaster struck with the arrival of the Bloodthirster Khom’ran of Khorne. Using his daemonkin as cannon fodder, Khom’ran spent time laying waste to the cities of Halsar and Keldunes as his Bloodletters began pushing forces back. Several months passed before defense forces finally managed to halt their advance just outside of the massive city of Asgeirsa with very little to no sighting of Khom’ran between the fall of Keldunes and the defense of Asgeirsa.

When Khom’ran finally took to the field of battle, he broke the defensive line of Asgeirsa. As a sea of bloodletters began to crash against the walls of the city and all hope for the planet’s capital appeared lost, a woman named Valkyria stood atop the walls armed with a powersword and challenged the greater daemon to singular combat for the fate of the planet. Khom’ran attempted to kill Valkyria with psychic energy, smiting her several dozen times before realizing his psychic power had no effect. The daemon’s psychic attacks left Valkyria entirely naked, but she remained defiant with her ice blue star and white hair blowing in the wind.

The dual between Valkyria and Khom’ran is the stuff of legend, but it is definitively the source behind the planet’s name of Valkyria. While tens of thousands of years have passed since that fabled duel, the legacy of legend lives on in the traditions of the now renown Valkyrian Crusader Guard.

Geography
Valkyria possesses six major continents in two landmasses, four continents are connected with the remaining two separated from the greater landmass but connected with each other.