Cadia (Warhammer 40,000)

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Cadia redirects here. For the Australian gold mine, see Cadia mine

Cadia is a planet within the Warhammer 40,000 fictional universe. The world is home to one of the largest Imperial Guard forces in the Imperium; the Cadian Shock Troopers. It was also one of the primary focus points of Games Workshop's 2003 Worldwide Campaign, Eye of Terror.

Main article: Imperial Guard (Warhammer 40,000)

Contents

[edit] Geography

Cadia is a terrestrial fortress world, located on the edge of the warp overlay known as the Eye of Terror. Cadia's natural environment was similar to that of Holy Terra before the latter became an ecumenopolis, with a large ocean covering more than half of the planet and a gravitational pull of 1.12G. The land mass that does exist is divided between incredibly thick pine forests, wide windswept plains, and vast glaciers. The planet has an average temperature of 20 degrees Celsius, slightly cooler than most, but not to the point that it adversely affects growing conditions.

Cadia was settled sometime during the early 32nd millennium by humans, who quickly became the dominant species. Cadia is the capital world of the Cadian sector, and is the largest exporter of arms and munitions in the sector. Cadia also lies within the Cadian Gate, the only stable and reliable area of space that leads out of the Eye of Terror. As a result, the world is often the focal point of many Chaos attacks, including the Black Crusades.

[edit] Cadian Pylons

The Cadian Pylons are a series of large black monoliths, 750 metres high (250 metres of which is underground) and a quarter kilometre square. At the point of Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn's visit to Cadia in the mid-41st millennium, there are 5,810 pylons spread across the surface of Cadia, with another two thousand either in a state of ruin or buried under the surface. They predate the human colonisation of Cadia, and it is believed by fans that the Pylons were created by the Necrons. (The Necron Pylon model, however, is different from those described by Dan Abnett). Of all the races that have been given an extensive background (e.g. not the Old Ones, Enslavers etc.) only the Necrons have shown the technology of this scale to block back warp energy. This is further reflected in the efforts of the Necrons in the Fall of Medusa V campaign to shield the world from a massive warp storm by building a network of pylons, though in this they were stopped by the combined efforts of many other races, and those which sprouted on the Sentinel Worlds during the 13th Black Crusade, where the Necrons had been highly active.

The Pylons were, as far as Imperial researchers could ascertain, inert until the final years of the 41st millennium. All the Pylons began to resonate with an almost imperceptible vibration, the amplitude of which was discovered to be very similar to that of an Imperial starship's Gellar field. It had long been theorized by the researchers that the Pylons were responsible for creating the large, stable route into the Eye of Terror. The vibration appeared to confirm that theory, as it was assumed that the Pylons were trying to hold back a large warp storm engulfing the region, a theory further reinforced by the very similar use of Necron technology in the Medusa V campaign.

[edit] Population

The population of Cadia in the 41st millennium is not a certain figure, although the Codex: Space Marines (2002) estimates the population at 850 million, while the Codex: Eye of Terror suggests only 250 million, thus leading many to believe that the 13th Black Crusade was the cause of this drop in population. [1]. Although because many Cadians regiments are off-world it could have just been the population on planet. Cadians are naturally tall, fair skinned, with blonde hair and strong blue or purple eyes.

Cadia is a highly militarized society, and much of the world's culture revolves around fighting and the military, due to the world's location as the primary defense against Chaotic incursions. All citizens are trained to fight from the day they are born; learning military doctrine before being able to read and write, and warrior skills as soon as they can walk. They are raised with the ideal that giving their life in the service of the Emperor is the greatest thing a Cadian can aspire to. All teenagers spend time as cadets in the Youth Armies, and close to 75% of the planetary population are under arms. The Imperial Guard codex states that the birth rate and recruitment rate on Cadia are more or less the same. As the saying goes: "Any Cadian who can't field-strip his own lasgun by the age of 10 was born on the wrong planet." It is also the source of the saying "If the ammo ain't live it isn't Cadian practice."

Each city on Cadia is a Kasr, or fortress, designed by military architects. Civilian fashion on Cadia is heavily based on camouflage patterns. The relatively few citizens who are not accepted into the military are employed primarily in the factories, producing weapons and war material for the world's vast armies.

Because of the huge numbers of dead resulting from the constant warfare against Chaos and other alien threats, burial ground is a premium. A local tradition on Cadia is the Law of Decipherability. According to this rule, a body interred in a cemetery stays there until the carvings on their headstone can no longer be read, at which point it is assumed that anyone who would wish to visit the grave is long gone. Then the body is exhumed, reburied in a mass grave elsewhere, and a new body may be interred in the same plot.

The Cadians is also more resistant towards the temptations of Chaos as compared to their fellow humans. Doctrines such the Armour of Contempt, education used to teach Cadians about the attempts used by chaos to seduce them to become cultists and being near the eye of terror gives them a much greater (and needed) resistance needed to combat Chaos corruption the best a human could achieve by.

[edit] Military

Main article: Weapons of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
Main article: Vehicles of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
Main article: Equipment of the Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)

Cadia is the home of the Imperial Guard Cadian Shock Trooper regiments, famous throughout the galaxy for constantly proving themselves in the arena of battle. Their leader is the Lord Castellan, the position currently held by Ursarkar E. Creed, hero of the Battle for Cadia.

Hundreds of regiments of Cadian Shock Troopers serve throughout the Imperium, but they are not the only forces from Cadia. For every nine soldiers serving elsewhere, a tenth is automatically recruited into the Interior Guard; Cadia's standing Planetary Defence Force regardless of ability or merit, with the result that Cadian planetary defence forces have some of the best Cadian troopers. A number of Ordo Malleus Inquisitors are seconded to the Interior Guard, to protect against the ever-present influence of Chaos.

All teenagers on Cadia are recruited into the Youth Armies, also known as the Whiteshields. The Youth Armies are constantly training, staging mock battles between regional commands when they are not studying tactics or learning to handle weapons. From here, the young Cadians are recruited into the Shock Troopers, the Interior Guard, or the elite Kasrkin regiments. It is not uncommon for the Youth Armies to be sent into battle in support of their older brethren.

The Kasrkin (with their name, in Cadian, meaning "Kin of the Fortress") are the elite soldiers of Cadia, equivalent to stormtroopers in other Imperial worlds. Members of the Kasrkin are selected during their time as Whiteshields, and upon their acceptance into the military, are provided with advanced equipment and trained to an equal or greater standard to Imperial Storm Troopers. Some Kasrkin have been so well trained and have so much experience that it is rumored that they can defeat a normal Space Marine in armed combat in spite of the fact that Space Marines are two feet taller, better equiped, wear Power Armour, have cybernetic and Bionic implants, have redundant organs, and trained by Space Marines with centuries of experience.

[edit] Miniatures

The Cadian Shock Troopers' source of inspiration could be an amalgamation of ideas drawn from different present day armies, most notably the armies of nations like the United States (US Army), Russia (Russian Ground Forces), Britain (British Army) and Germany (Bundeswehr/German Army). Due to their reputation and sheer number of regiments, they are considered the "standard" look for the Imperial Guard.

In 2003, the Cadian infantry miniatures were converted from metal to multi-piece plastic, becoming only the second Imperial Guard army to be released with plastic miniatures (the first being the Catachan). Metal miniatures were retained for the officers, some specialists, and the Kasrkin. The plastic miniatures were designed and sculpted by Brian Nelson. The metal officers and specialists were sculpted by Mark Harrison, while the metal Kasrkin were sculpted by Juan Diaz. Kasrkins are also the "new" stormtrooper model for Inquisitorial and other IG armies.

[edit] Notable regiments

There are at least 612 active Shock Trooper regiments on Cadia just prior to the Thirteenth Black Crusade at the end of the 41st Millennium, although indications of more regiments exist and these are most likely employed on Colonial, Explorator or Offworld duties. Some of these regiments include:

  • Cadian 7th: "The Lucky Sevens"
  • Cadian 8th: "The Lord Castellan's Own", led personally by Ursarkar E. Creed during the Thirteenth Black Crusade
  • Cadian 39th: "Xenobane"
  • Cadian 110th: "Shadow Corps"
  • Cadian 122nd: distinguished themselves in the Vogen Campaign, and featured in Codex: Cityfight (Chambers, 2001)
  • Cadian 412th: featured in the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War expansion Winter Assault
  • Cadian 417th: "Hellbringers"
  • Cadian 320th: "IEF"

[edit] References

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^  Codex: Chaos Space Marines (2002) gives Cadia's population as 850 million, while Codex: Eye of Terror (2003) gives the significantly smaller figure of 250 million. It is unknown if either figure includes those serving in the Shock Trooper regiments or the Military Population.
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