Lukius is a War World controlled by the Severan Dominate and located in the Periphery Sub-sector of the Calixis Sector. It is currently a front line in the conflict consuming the Spinward Front. Lukius is a star system entirely devoured by war, for it represents the line in the sand across which Severus has vowed the Orks shall not advance. When it comes to the Dominate's war against WAAAGH! Grimtoof, the War World of Lukius is far and away the most vital battleground and the one to which Severus has committed the bulk of his forces. It is probable that the Imperium's Spinward Front High Command are not even aware of the world's fate, for it lies on a trunk of the Calixis-Scarus Warp conduit and is, in effect, currently beyond the reach of the Imperium's conventional forces. The native population of Lukius existed as primitive, tribal savages for many thousands of Terran years, but with the establishment of the Severan Dominate they have been dragged kicking and screaming into the 41st Millennium. Iron Age barbarians used to conducting war with little more than sharp spears have been drafted en masse into the armies of the Dominate, equipped with mass-produced Autoguns and clad in ill-wrought battle dress. Many have suffered a form of combat psychosis as a result of this drastic change, while others have taken to the war with apparent relish. These ramshackle armies go to war against the Orks of WAAAGH! Grimtoof and, from a distance, an observer might have difficulty determining which is which. Certainly, both sides are brutal and bloodthirsty, preferring to establish the victor in the anarchy of melee combat.
But it is not only the natives of Lukius that fight there for the Severan Dominate. Forces drafted from across Severus XIII's realm are shipped to the continent-sized battle zones, sometimes travelling for weeks only to be scythed down within minutes of setting foot on the surface. The Dominate's forces lack the long-established infrastructure of the Departmento Munitorum, and so the armies might go hungry one month and run out of ammunition the next. Entire phalanxes of tanks might grind into action in majestic armoured assaults, only to run out of fuel before the battle is concluded. Some of the more primitive amongst the Dominate’s front line troopers have reached depths of savagery that would see them censured in the ranks of the Imperial Guard, gruesome trophy-taking being the least of their crimes. It is whispered that some of the native Lukians have turned to the eating of the flesh of their enemies when their own supplies have run low, and perhaps found it to their liking. What consequences the vile habit of eating Ork flesh might have remains to be seen, as does what might ensue if and when Imperial forces face these savage warriors.
Sources
- Only War: Core Rulebook (RPG), pp. 346-348
- Only War: Enemies of the Imperium (RPG), pp. 8-31