Planet Rhadamanthus

Rhadamanthus
Info
Rhadamanthus is the sixth planet of the Vergilius system, the capital of that system, and was once an important world near the Maelstrom for the Imperium. However due to ever encroaching warp storms, the worlds importance has waned for the last two millennia, and even the arrival seven hundred years ago of the adeptus astartes chapter the Cerulean Consuls could not save it.
With travel sporadic because of the warpstorms, the planets populace beginning to starve due to food imports being lost or destroyed, and the Administratums low priority of the planet, the Consuls found themselves struggling to maintain their grip on the system. Insurrections were constant, and the Consuls assigned job to patrol the entire Purgatorio subsector was taking its toll on the marines. Eventually they found themselves reduced greatly in numbers, unable to recruit and train new astartes as fast as they were losing them to renegades, orks, dark eldar and pirates. But they refused to withdraw or seek aid, believing in their own abilities and their sacred duty.
This is when the 71st Grand company and its ork allies began their methodical attacks (see "The Conquest of Vergilius").
Within a year, the Consuls were no more, and the planet now served chaos. The food shortages were solved when the moons of Minos and Aeacus, using Zacheus' Cabals magicks, were quickly terraformed into agri-moons. Food is now harvested from the moons to feed the Hives of Rhadamanthus.
The world is richly abundant in mineral and promethium resources, especially iron, titanium and some rare metals like plantium, gold, palladium and iridium. This was the sole reason the icebound world was originally settled some five millennia ago, and because of the planets size and harsh climate, only a fraction of these resources have been harvested.

Location
Segmentum: Ultima Segmentum
Sector: Avernus
Subsector: Purgatorio
System: Vergilius
Planet: Rhadamanthus
Orbital Bodies: Two (2), moons Minos and Aeacus (agri-moons)
Class: Glacial, Industrial
Tithe Grade: Aptus Non
Exports: Promethium,  arms and ammunition
Imports: Foodstuffs

Physics
Type: Large iron/silicate body
Radius: 9135.40 km   (1.43 x earth)
Surface Area: 1.05 x 109 km2
Land Area: 5.35 x 108 km2   (3.59 x earth)
Mass: 1.48 x 1025 kg   (2.48 x earth)
Density: 6.48 g/cm3   (1.18 x earth)
Composition: 26.1% oxygen, 23.0% iron, 19.5% silicon, 11.7% titanium, 9.2% calcium, 8.8%  other metals, 1.7% other elements

Gravimetry
Gravity: 11.79 m/s2   (1.21 x earth)
Escape Velocity: 14.68 km/s

Rotation
Period: 31 hours
Axis Tilt: 10.72°
Orbital period: 877 days (1132 Terran days)

Hydrosphere
Water:18 %
Ice: 96 %

Atmosphere
Type: Standard breathable
Pressure: 99.91 kPa   (0.99 x earth)
Composition: 74.4% nitrogen, 22.6% oxygen, trace other gases

Climate
Type: Frozen with peak extreme highs
Low Temp: 178 K/ -95 °C/ -139°F
Avg Temp: 247 K/ -26 °C/ -15°F
High Temp: 357 K/ 84 °C/ 183°F

Biosphere
Chemistry: Carbon
Lifeforms: Microbes

Civilization
Type: Human
Population: 430 million

Special Features: At its closest orbit to its sun, temperatures in the Wastes during the Rhagamanthian "summer" can exceed 60°C/140°F, causing rapid melts and freezes in the day night cycle. When the sun is high during the day, massive thaws occur, but the temperatures then plummet back to below freezing each night. This is a similar but less extreme version of the thaw/freeze cycle that occurs on the planet Fenris.

Structures
Hive Judecca, the capital city  of both Rhadamanthus and the Vergilius system. Oldest Hive on Rhadamanthus and onetime home of the Cerulean Consuls adeptus astartes chapter.
- The Fortress Monastery "Slaughterhorn" forms hive Judeccas spirepeak. Since the destruction of the Consuls, the 71st Grand company has called this once sacred fortress home.
- Borders the northern extent of the Phlegethon Sea
- Largest promethium refineries
Hive Caina, twin to Judecca
- Borders the Cocytus River
- Contains the nothern polar defense systems.
Hive Antenora
- Borders the southern extent of the Phlegethon Sea
- Large mineral processing plant.
Hive Ptolomaea, twin to Antenora
- Borders the Lethe River
- Contains the southern polar defense systems
Hives Carceri and Hive Archimedon - Twin ruined hives located near the Acheron peaks, known as the White Kings by populace. Used to link the northern and southern hives via rail systems. Destroyed in the winter of M37.832 when a tectonic shift of the Great Acholos plate destroyed the thermal powerplants at the base of the hives. 32 million died within three days due to extreme cold.
Port Inari, major starport on Rhadamanthus
- Sits on the Isle of Tenebron at the center of the Phlegethon Sea. The Bolgia rail line links the port, and island, with both Judecca and Antenora. A rail line also runs to the ruined White Kings.
Belphegoroth Mining Facility
- Deep within the Chasms of Dis, this is the main mining facility on Rhadamanthus. Built into the walls of the largest chasm. The Rhadamanthus penal complxe is also housed here, with most of the penal troops providing the workforces for the vast underground mines.
Malebranche Manufactorum Complex
- While the Hives produce personal arms and ammunition, the Complex produces vehicles of war. Used to connect to the White Kings, which then sent the materials to Port Inari. The rail now links with the more distant Antenora which took over the duties of the smaller ruined Hives. The vast plumes of smog that come from the complex blanket the surrounding snow and peaks, the hot soot and ash causing a constant dark fog to cling to the area, causing the populace to refer to this area as The Mists.

Geographic Features
Phlegethon Sea
- Only sea on Rhadamanthus, sits on the equator and is never full frozen over.
- Bordered by the Acheron Peaks to the east and the Malebolge Wastes to the west.
Cocytus  River
- Runs from Leviathan Lake to Phlegethon Sea, connects Judecca and Caina Hives
Lethe River
- Runs from Stygian Lake to Phlegethon Sea, connects Anentora and Ptolomaea Hives
Leviathan and Stygian Lakes
- Northern and southern polar lakes, thawed by  geothermal vents.
Acheron Peaks
- Largest mountain range on Rhadamanthus, stretches from pole to pole, sits upon the Great Acholos tectonic plate, the most massive of the plates.
- Effectively splits the world in half as there are almost no passages through the mile or more high range upon its entire length.
Malebolge Wastes
- A huge, vast and barren tract of Rhadamanthus that stretches from the Phlegethon Sea all around to the Acheron Peaks. The Wastes are crisscrossed with massive crevasses and dunes of ice and snow which freeze and thaw constantly in the days and nights. The wastes are deadly and constantly shifting, making for a hazardous environment. Only the vast mineral resources underneath the ice make it worthwhile to mine here (or indeed on the planet at all).
- The Chasms of Dis are a set of colossal rifts in the ice and rock, some of which stretch several miles deep. They are one of the few unchanging elements of the Wastes.
Aligheri Promethium Fields
- Sitting between the Hives of Judecca and Caina, the fields are a massive network of derricks and rigs that dig deep into the underground stores of iced and liquid promethium that are especially rich in the north of Rhadamanthus.
Malecoda Expanse
- In the shadow of the acheron peaks lies the expanse, the only section of the planet not locked under the ice. Here more mining is done and the massive Malebranche Manufactorum Complex sits with rail lines connecting it to Hive Judecca.