Return to Atronos Begins!

First round of our new Necromunda campaign, “Return to Atronos!”, kicked off yesterday at our regular FLGS in the city. I am the arbitrator for the campaign, and I have designed it as a sort of Underhells “inspired” campaign, but heavily modified to both match already existing lore and the fact that I just did not want this to feel like a simple re-skinning of Underhells. That being said, I would love to actually play through a true Underhells campaign someday, I just don’t want to arbitrate it hahaha!

Anyway, we are going with a 3-part structure to the campaign, with 3 phases of 3 games each, with a downtime section between each. Here’s a link to the Gdrive with the campaign & house rules packet, as well as the scenarios I develop.

I’m going to wait until we have finished the 1st of the 3 phases before I do a post summarizing that’s happened so far, but here is a little lore write up I did for the players in the campaign to get those who knew Atronos before the fall, and those who have joined since its ruin, acquainted with the setting. Hope you enjoy!

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“‘Aye, sit a spell and listen to what I got to say. They tell ya Atronos is dead in the other hives, but tha’s pure ignorance. Atronos ain’t dead! She’s more alive ‘n ever! Just I’m not sure ya really would wanna share a pint with most of the curren’ residents!” ~Synder Jack, resident drunk of Two Cranes Town.

“Two kinds down in the twists. Those who admit they’ve shit themselves over what they’ve seen…and liars.” ~ Old Magnus

Atronos has seen better days. It has been a long and hard fall from its once vaulted position as the most powerful hive city in the Southern hemisphere, and arguably the second most important hive on Necromunda. Gone are the haughty and commanding lords of the Atronos nobility. The manufactoria that once produced a panoply of weapons and starships lie in ruins. The great spires have collapsed into the hulking corpse of the city, crashing down through hundreds of levels to make a twisted helter-skelter labyrinth of warped metal and stone. The Slag Sea has, with the failure of the massive ancient pumps, flowed into the underhive, creating a half-submerged maritime nightmare.

But, as with anywhere in Necromunda, in death and destruction, there is always opportunity, for those willing to fight for it. Atronos is not unpopulated, though those survivors who have not, or will not, flee the ruined city are but a fraction of the original population. No one knows how many still eke out a living in the carcass of the hive, but hundreds of thousands would be a minimum.

In addition to the survivors of Atronos’ fall, there are many more drawn, as scavengers to a corpse, to the collapsed hive seeking out their own fortunes. House gangers, bounty hunters, scrap-dealers, would be war-chiefs, narco-lords, cold traders, common scum, powerful crime bosses, grasping guilders, cult demagogues, heretics, hereteks, and anything & everyone in between have been drawn to Atronos’ carcass for a multitude of reasons. The competition for resources, and rewards, is to say the least, intense.

Generally, the further into the depths of the ruined hive one goes, the greater the dangers. That is not to say that the settlements clinging to the outer shell are safe, with constant exposure to all the elements of the ash wastes, as well as constant violence as gangs, warbands, clades, congregations, companies, and sundry others fight for control of what most closely passes for “civilization” in the area. Nevertheless, this environment is still much safer, and there have even been a few settlements that have evolved into proper towns, some even with a semblance of an authority enforcing the “law” over the inhabitants.

Descend into the wreck of the hive however, and even this modicum of refinement disappears almost instantly. The interior ruins of Atronos’ are under the sway of their own dizzying variety of bloodthirsty, cruel, and twisted petty lords. Innumerable cults made up of survivors of the fall and augmented with outsiders fight against hordes of neuron-plague zombies. Xenos abominations make their nests in the bowels of the city, competing with the twisted native fauna and mutated flora. Heretics from across the planet have found refuge in the dead hive, pursuing their own agendas. Even the feared Cadre Oublie is rumored to still have a presence in the hive they killed to further their own enigmatic plans.

Atronos is dead, but so is Necromunda; and in death, there is life, for those who know where to find it.

Return to Atronos!

Because no post is complete without doggo pics!



Atronos was the setting for the very first Necromunda campaign I ever arbitrated. I invented it to be a sort of “second city” of Necromunda, away in the Southern hemisphere, off the official maps. It was a rival to Hive Primus, with ancient privileges allowing it to skirt many of the restrictions on off world trade through the Eye of Selene. It also was populated with a host of characters and organizations that I had a lot of fun in developing. From the blatantly obvious self-insert character of Magnus to the Machiavellian Dr. Hartleby and an entire pirate radio network, it was a blast. And then I blew it up.

Well, not entirely, but mostly.

At the end of the campaign, which was absurdly overwrought in terms of lore and development on my part, and was thus a great learning experience in how “less is more” when it comes to arbitration and narrative, I had the shadowy organization I invented known as the Cadre Oublie, a splinter of the definitely not-invented-by-me Cognitae (seriously, go read Dan Abnett’s Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin series if you haven’t), connive to have Necromunda’s own PDF reduce Atronos to ruins.

But “ruined” does not mean “gone completely”. Now, I’m not going to try and elevate my silly Necromunda world building efforts to the level of Tuomas Pirinen, but I’ve always felt that there were definitely Mordheim vibes to how I know envisioned this ruined hive city. I’ve always, in the more than four years since we ran that campaign, wanted to revisit it, to explore what had become of this once shining amalgamation of wealth, power, and privilege.

So, for the last few weeks, I’ve been developing lore and rules for the next campaign for our local gaming group. We are “Returning to Atronos”! I’ve been neglectful of this blog for a while now, and there’s a myriad of reasons. I am a federal employee in the US, and without getting into a political discussion, it has been a very trying time over the last 9 months, even before considering every other way this country has been impacted by the surge of fascism we’re experiencing. One way I have been coping with this is to try and focus more on the hobby, and as such, I want to use this adventure we’re embarking upon with this new campaign to be more diligent in making entries here.

I’m hoping that through lore and rule development, as well as building and painting minis, battle reports, photos of games, and all that associated stuff, I can not only keep myself motivated to keep this blog going, but also help inspire others. Or at least provide a little bit of escapism from the *gestures wildly at everything outside* the world. So, to get things started, here’s a short little story I wrote up for my gaming group as an intro to our Return to Atronos, enjoy!


Thought for the day: An ignorant mind is an innocent mind.
+++++++Sec Auth Code: JAT-B7+++++++
+++++++AUTHORIZED+++++++
+++++++Unlocking Data File Atronos-97228-XTC-B/9+++++++
**Personal correspondence, retrieved through routine monitoring of comm-link station Tybalt’s Will-77W. Correspondence deemed to be of a heretical nature and quarantined.*

Dearest Helmira,

I hope this missive finds you well. I know it has been too long since I last wrote, I beg your indulgence, but my sweet sister, I have been occupied with the most wonderous of opportunities. I have been here in Atronos for less than a month, and already I have identified several promising ventures.

Helmira, you would certainly be shocked to see the state of the place. Personally, I have not gone further down than just below the stratoplane docks of the mid-hive, but I have talked with a great many fellow prospectors and explorers, and have heard many reports about those who dwell deeper in the ruins of this once great hive.

I can relate, both from personal experience as well as discussion with a good many adventurers I have deemed to be of a trustworthy character, that the hive walls and outer levels are the safest and most secure. It is there that one finds a multitude of small communities and outposts. Within these I have encountered an eclectic mix of survivors of Atronos’ downfall, and those who have come to this hive of the damned from elsewhere, seeking their own fortune, or to profit from those dreamers who see opportunity in ruin. Much like me eh? I’ll have to watch out!

Deeper in, that is where I am determined to go however. From several independent sources, I have confirmed that the enigmatic Dr. Hartleby is alive, and he is still conducting his work. Think on it Helmira! If I could make contact with that esteemed genius, not only would this venture bring profit to our house, but we could reverse father’s malady, I am certain the good doctor knows the cure. I have seen enough of his work to confirm his intellect is of the highest grade. If anyone can assist us in restoring father, and our house’s position, it is him.

I am off tomorrow at the break of dawn. I have enlisted with a company of adventurers from Nova Actium who seek their own fortunes in the ruined depths of Atronos. I have not revealed my true purpose to them, nor shall I. I shall simply use them as gentle company until I have found where Dr. Hartleby is, and then take my leave. I imagine by this time next week, I will be able to send a communique with good news.

Be strong my little sister, and give father a kiss for me. I hope mother is well. Tell John to mind his tutor.

Affectionately yours, Saul

++++++Remains discovered in suspected heretical cult worship site 15 standard work cycles later believed to be those of Saul D’Tague Von Meteria++++++