A vast silvery-grey gas giant with an incredible myriad of cloud-dwelling lifeforms, Profundis is classified as an Agri-World. Hunters sailing in heavily modified ships designed to skim the surface regularly trawl the clouds, drawing in immense Cloud-rays and other fauna that swim through the atmosphere of the planet. Crews must be ever-wary though as regular hunting draws dangerous predators, such as enormous Mistwyrms which can swallow all but the mightiest cloud-trawlers whole.
Hunting crews and all those who make a living processing the bounty of Profundis live on one of its two greater moons, Troyes and Mallory. Troyes is host to the Grand Docks, the heart of Profundis’ fishing industry. While some of the docks send surplus stock down to the moon's frozen surface for long-term storage, the vast majority are dedicated to processing the daily hauls and servicing the Chartist vessels that frequent the station. Lines of workers thousands long transport the catch from full holds into waiting processing units that stretch for kilometres out around each dock. Labourers wielding a variety of specialised cutting and scraping tools designed for rendering different species then process the flesh. The Grand Docks have a distinct smell like no other, an acrid sweet stench of some chemical tang mixed with sharp mint; the ichor of the beasts of Profundis. Traders swear the odour lingers for years in any natural materials ever exposed to it. Mallory mostly comprises small farms, and is where the majority of the fisher families used to reside. Now, the humble abodes have stood silent and undisturbed for decades, a monument to the cruelties so frequently visited upon the denizens of this system.
During The Aftermath Wars, a force of Aeldari raiders emerged from the darkness to lay waste to the entire system, killing hundreds of thousands in a series of vicious attacks on the Grand Docks. They soon began regularly assaulting Profundis’ fishing fleets and took prisoners from among the folk of Mallory. For three months, the ruling Karvonan family led a desperate but largely futile resistance against the invaders. The only victory of note came from a desperate attack by the young heir apparent Ahri Karvonan aboard the Heldrake's Heart hunting corvette against the flagship of one particular raid, the Evening's Tribulation. After the initial exchanges and a narrowly-avoided boarding attempt, Karvonan dove towards the outer atmosphere of Profundis in apparent rout. The Heart vanished from sight, along with the hunt-drunk Tribulation and squadrons of sickle-winged fighter craft. When Karvonan emerged again, an hour later, her only pursuers were a pair of ambitous Mistwyrms.
According to the reckless captain, she had managed to tag the enemy raider with a number of sounding lures before baiting them to the preferred hunting depths of the fearsome predators. How much of this story is boastful revisionism has never, and likely will never, be truly known, as the Portal Raids would soon be brought to a close by the ruthless cruelty of the notorious then-Commodore Kybras, and the system has been mercifully spared the attentions of the vile raiders ever since.
Even with the best part of a century of recovery behind them, Profundis still has a lot of healing to do. Profundis’ fleets are a quarter of what they once boasted, and the Grand Docks will need years of repair to become fully operational again. In addition, the empty hab-complexes of Mallory have yet to be re-settled, the previous inhabitants either dragged off by the Xenos or fled to Troyes for protection. Even half-destroyed, the docks have plenty of space for the survivors and their descendants. In that time, the empty colony on Mallory has developed a pall of dread reverance in the minds of the survivors; sailors have always been a superstitous lot, and no-one relishes the idea of trying the patience of whatever restless spirits linger behind those vacant viewing ports.
Powers of Profundis
Profundis is ruled by House Karvonan, a Highborn family whose history stretches back to "long before the coming of the Imperium". The Karvonans supposedly "struck an accord with Saint Valerius that helped to supply his troops not only during the Great Crusade, but also over the long years of the Horus Heresy". Many of their erstwhile peers amongst the venerable Lords of Askellon view this claim with no small amount of caution, since the only mentions of the family in the Lay of Askellios come from the manuscripts brought into the system by Ahri's great-to-the-tenth-power-grandfather, the founder of the contemporary dynasty, some 400 years previously. However dubious her ancestor's provenance, In the last few years, Ahri Karvonan has taken her place as the house Matriarch, and her accomplishments during the events of the Portal Raids have ensured the lifelong devotion of her people. More than this, her service during the Raids and subsequent reconstruction has earnt Karvonan the respect of Lord Sarawak Aventine, and with it, a commission of Lady Admiral of the Aventine Yeomanry System Defence Fleet.