==Cadia==

Conditions

Cadia is a terrestrial fortress world on the edge of the dimensional rift known as the Eye of Terror, home to the traitorous Chaos Legions. Cadia's natural environment is similar to that of Holy Terra before it 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 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 lies within the Cadian Gate, the only stable area of space that leads out of the Eye of Terror. It is here that Abaddon the Despoiler, Warmaster of the Chaos Legions and Chaos Undivided, focuses his Black Crusades.

Population

The population of Cadia in the 41st millennium is not a certain figure . Cadians are naturally tall, fair skinned, with blonde hair and strong blue or purple eyes. All citizens are trained to fight from the day they are born, and even civilian fashions are camouflage patterns. Most children are able to shoot before they learn to walk. All citizens of the planet must serve at least a four year term in the military, and the world's location relative to the Eye of Terror has lead to a heavily militarised population, with close to 75% of the planetary population under arms. The remainder are usually employed in manufacturing industries relating to arms and munitions.

Military

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.

Since Cadia is the capital of a sector that is the target of multiple attacks from both Chaos and alien races, the planet is extremely well-fortified. Massive fortresses known as Kasr's dot the landscape.

The planet has produced many of the Imperium's Imperial Guard regiments, and it, too, like all other Imperial planets, has its own standing army for the permanent defense of the planet. This army is known as the Internal Guard, and about 1 in 4 Cadians recruited for military service find their way into this force, depending on their career outlook and ambitions. Cadia also has its own division of the Ordo Malleus stationed within the system, headed by Inquisitior General Neve (approx 360.M41).

Because of its strategic location in the path of the only stable gateway from the Eye of Terror it is inevitably the first point of attack during Chaos incursions. The Cadian Pylons, mysterious artifacts of unknown origin, are believed to be responsible for this stability and as a result Chaos cannot destroy the planet entirely for fear of negating the Cadian Gate and must attack bodily.

Because of the huge numbers of dead resulting from this constant warfare, a local tradition on Cadia is the Law of Decipherability. According to this rule, a body interred in a cemetary 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 gravesite 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.
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Cadian Shock Troopers

The Cadian star system is sitting on the location of a stable area of space leading into the Eye of Terror, as such; the Cadian system is often the focal point of many Chaos attacks, including the Black Crusades.

Consequently, the planet of Cadia and the surrounding planets and systems have become some of the most militarized worlds in the Imperium. Most of the population is under arms and most Cadian youths learn to shoot before they learn to walk, and, 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." Despite their dedication to battle, they still conscript fighters to help bolster their ranks when battles begin to get big. They are equipped with standard-issue equipment and fought at the frontlines during Abaddon's 13th Black Crusade to fend off the marauding armies of traitors and heretics.

They are led by the formidable Lord Castellan Ursarkar E. Creed. The troops make use of many elite soldiers, as well as the numerous cadet corps known as the Whiteshields. They have been involved in many wars, campaigns and battles throughout the galaxy, but with the coming of Abbadon's 13th Black Crusade, they were forced to fight on their own soil. They were forced, in the early stages of the Black Crusade, to destroy the Volscani Cataphracts at the Battle of Tyrok Fields, on Cadia itself. They were eventually successful at securing the Cadia system, but took an awful toll from the crusade.

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) 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 miniatures were converted from metal to multi-piece plastic, becoming only the second Imperial Guard army to be released with plastic miniatures.

Notable regiments

There are at least 612 active Shock Trooper regiments as of the final years of the 41st millennium, just prior to the Thriteenth Black Crusade.

Cadian 7th, "The Lucky Sevens"

Cadian 8th, "The Lord Castellan's Own"

Cadian 89th, "Xenobane"

Cadian 110th, "Shadow Corps"

Cadian 122nd - Distinguished themselves in the Vogen Campaign (Featured in Codex: Cityfight)

Cadian 152nd

Cadian 412th Infantry - (Featured in the Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War expansion Winter Assault)

References

Footnotes

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.