Gelidia

Snow/Ice Planet 03 by SchinyMan on Deviantart

Name: Gelidia (Frium III)

Classification: Ice World/ Civilised World

Population: ~14 Billion (Human: Gelidian)

Climate: Consistently below-freezing: Global arctic and sub-arctic biomes.

Military Forces: Astra Militarum: Gelidian Guard, Adeptus Sororitas: Order of the Glacial Sun

Tithe Grade: Exactis Secundus

Affiliation: Imperium of Man

Ruler: Governor Pavel Rodvich

Segmentum: [REDACTED]

Sector: Gannach

Subsector: Atrox

System: Frium

"Upon observing the denizens of Gelidia, one can deduce that they value human life as if it were as abundant as the ice on their Emperor-forsaken planet. I have seen scores of men and women hurl their bodies atop mighty war machines, become pulp under the advance of their own armour, and be reduced to nought but ash under the liberal usage of allied artillery. One could easily compare a Gelidian's grim view on their role in the imperial war machine to the denizens of Krieg or Gelidia's cousin, Valhalla."
- Inquisitor Adolphus Rhode

History

The Founding Children of Gelidia

Once perfectly hospitable, Gelidia was colonised at some point during the (Dark) Age of Technology with educated estimates dating it's colonisation sometime during M20. At this time, Gelidia's climate was temperate and perfectly-habitable. The planet and it's people thrived. Gelidia became a hub of art and culture, as well as establishing frontiers in the name of environmental sciences. The population and infrastructure of Gelidia accelerated to self-sufficiency due to the development of Thermo-Stellar Power. Large Thermo-Stellar arrays were placed in orbit of Frium, Gelidia's sun, each protected and kept in operation by numerous artificial intelligences. 

The Day the Sun Went Cold

Shortly before the distribution of Thermo-Stellar technology to the wider Human interstellar civilisation, humanity was plunged into Old Night (M25). Massive Warp Storms decimated and mutated countless worlds and humanity's artificial intelligences, referred to now as Men of Iron, revolted against their organic masters. It was this that lead to the near collapse of Gelidia when the artificial intelligences that controlled the Thermo-Stellar Arrays around Frium pushed themselves to their absolute limits. In doing so, they destroyed themselves and the people of Gelidia had one less problem to deal with, or so they thought. 

Frium had shrunk and cooled considerably. As a result, numerous planets within the Frium system, including Gelidia, were plunged into arctic conditions. Billions died as crops withered and the ill-adapted people of the once-temperate planet froze to death. Gelidia was plunged into chaos, along with most of humanity's worlds. Much of Gelidian's rich culture was destroyed, alongside much of it's scientific progressions, including the secrets of the very same Thermo-Stellar Energy technology that doomed their world. 

Thawed Souls

Upon the arrival of the Great Crusade in M30, the aristocratic feudal houses that fought for territories of their frozen world were brought under the imperial regime and, to the reluctance of numerous old foes, were unified. Much of the nobility of modern Gelidia can trace it's ancestry to this time and numerous old-feuds still run deep through the chilled veins of Gelidian society. However, much of that is irrelevant to the numerous common men and women of it's populace.

Shortly after the reunification of Gelidia into the Imperium, the planet was rocked by numerous massive daemon invasions. Further, billions died and it was during this time that a collective cultural switch was presumably flicked. Gelidia's population became stoic in the face of such atrocities so as to not entice them with any suffering. Even when Gelidia's wildlife, and even fractions of it's populace, mutated under the intense concentrations of warp energy as a result to such frequent invasions, it's people stood firm. 

The frailty of oligarchic society was shown and new martial doctrines were enacted among Gelidia's government. The planet, while not exactly a fortress world, was reinforced to be as self-sufficient as possible, acting as one unit comprised of billions of collective souls each working towards a greater goal. Time after time, Gelidia has driven back seemingly endless waves of daemon and heretic alike, continuing today into the modern Imperium. 

Geography, Habitability, & Infrastructure

Gelidia's geography consists of two large landmasses separated by thousands of miles of frozen oceans with icy crusts so thick that they may as well be extensions of those landmasses. Gelidia's surface is covered in sprawling cities and various smaller pockets of civilisation. Between these pockets and cities, inhospitable cold. 

Chilling snowstorms and icy tempests dominate the dead landscape. Much of the wild-life has mutated under such dense concentrations of warm energies as a result of the frequent daemonic invasions that plague the world with much of it having developed a taste for the flesh of men. Even in it's warmer seasons, using "warmer" very loosely relative to the planet's usual frigid inversion, when the few lanes of water can be made through the thick frozen ice-sheets of Gelidia's oceans, much of the marine life has suffered similar mutations, frequently praying on supply ships and unfortunate travellers foolish enough to cross the planet's vast frozen oceans. 

Military Forces

Much of Gelidia's surface is dotted with isolated bastions and defensive batteries as well as munitions platforms. The Gelidian Guard, Gelidia's primary planetary army sprawls long-range ordinance throughout the planet's surface allowing overlapping artillery fire to virtually any point of the planet's surface. Gelidia's inhospitable surface has also encouraged it's people to develop a knack for aeronautics, with Gelidian military detachments frequently advancing aircraft to indiscriminately decimate battlefields before, after, and often during, engagements on the ground. 

Multiple Monastery Fortresses of the 'Order of the Glacial Sun Adepta' Sororitas order have been erected or claimed in and around major settlements and cities. 

Locations of Note