No full list could ever be compiled because the Imperium of Man consists of over one million inhabited worlds, with many other habitable planets also populated by various intelligent xenos species like the Aeldari, T'au and the Orks.
The Imperium of Man is spread impossibly thin across an estimated two-thirds of the entire Milky Way Galaxy. The volume of space claimed in the name of the Emperor of Mankind contains hundreds of millions of stars, many host to their own planetary systems, and yet there are only an estimated million or so planetary governors occupying the thrones of the Imperium's worlds.
While it is true that some governors rule not just a single planet but an entire star system, and that other worlds have no governor at all, the fact is that the Imperium is stretched so thinly across the void that an interstellar traveller could make his way from one edge to the other, traversing a hundred thousand light years of space, and not once cross paths with another Human being.
Instead of being scattered at random, the worlds of the Imperium are clustered around areas settled during the lost age of Mankind's first great wave of expansion into the galaxy during the Age of Technology.
Worlds once colonised thousands of Terran years ago because of their location or some desirable natural resource have developed into the cores of Imperial sectors, many of which have swollen to include two hundred or more star systems.
These unexplored depths harbour many terrors, from ravening pirates to unknown alien empires, as well as untold riches. These include long-lost Human colonies and worlds strewn with the technological and material wealth of long-extinct xenos species.
Most of these worlds were settled by Humans many millennia before the Great Crusade of the late 30th and early 31st Millennia reunited the Human colony planets of the galaxy beneath the rulership of the Emperor of Mankind, though thousands more have been settled in the ten millennia since by Imperial colonists.
The Adeptus Administratum of the Imperium generally classifies all planets in the galaxy according to several different criteria to produce a standard classification system that makes it simple to assign the proper tithe grade for the amounts of economic resources or recruits for the Astra Militarum that will be drawn from the world for wider Imperial use, if any.
Abheilng is a former Imperial vassal world now controlled by the Dark Mechanicum and wholly dedicated to the Ruinous Powers. It was lost to the Imperium in 995.M41, when elements of the Dark Mechanicum that had long been hidden in the subterranean depths of this volcanic world caused every volcano on the planet to erupt simultaneously, killing millions. The servants of the Dark Gods then unleashed a horde of Daemon Engines to cleanse the planet of any survivors. Those few unfortunate souls who remained after the slaughter were taken as slaves to toil in the hellish forges of their new, dark masters.
Adrantis V was a Human-settled, extremely technologically advanced planet which had been separated from the Imperium of Man for over five thousand standard years. It was conquered by Lord Commander Solar Macharius during the Macharian Crusade in the Segmentum Pacificus. The planet's population was technologically very advanced, and when Macharius arrived he said that they had "turned to the dark centuries of science, and created many new and wondrous machines." Macharius' conquest was held at bay for two Terran years until the planet finally succumbed to the assault of a redirected comet, obliterating its civilisation. "Of its secrets, nothing now remains," were the last words of Macharius on the subject.
Adrastapol is a Knight World of the Imperium of Man whose primary allegiance is to the Imperium itelf rather than the Adeptus Mechanicus. Located in the distant Majestis System, Adrastapol is home to several knightly households of noble descent which are ruled by a supreme leader who bears the title of High King. Throughout its long history, the title has been passed from House to House and currently resides with the House Draconis. Yet the name of Adrastapol also carries its share of misgivings and mistrust, for time and again the Knights of Adrastapol have had to battle their own, as entire Houses fell to the insidious touch of Chaos. This was recently illustrated by the dire events of the Donatos Uprising. In the wake of this campaign, the Ordos of the Holy Inquisition have despatched an envoy to the world to make sure the loyalty of the Knights of Adrastapol remains above all suspicion.
Adrion is an Imperial Industrial World and Chem World whose atmosphere has become so poisoned by industrial pollutants from the world's manufactoria that it eventually mutates anyone who lives on its surface.
Much of the population is composed of former workers in the world's manufactoria, who were cast out and replaced after they could no longer do their jobs due to the rampant mutations that gradually accumulate through exposure to the world's toxic atmosphere. These mutants are then forced to fend for themselves. While some proved able to form successful communities outside the world's cities, they did not survive for long on Adrion's surface.
A Hive World of great importance to the Imperium, it suffered a devastating plague when the Balestar, a comet appearing every two thousand Terran years, returned. The plague was connected with the enigmatic Black Pyramid, an impenetrable Aeldari structure which was built, unknown to the local human population, to restrain a Greater Daemon of Nurgle called Botchulaz.
Aexe Cardinal is an Agri-World of the Imperium of Man located in the Sabbat Worlds Sector in the Segmentum Pacificus. The planet was home to a number of different nation-states that varied in culture, though each had a proud heritage of nobility and venerated the Emperor of Mankind with the reverence typical of any loyal Imperial world. Formerly a peaceful world, Aexe-Cardinal was riven by war as part of the Sabbat Worlds Crusade fought between the Imperium and the forces of Chaos.
Agripinaa is an Imperial Hive World where virtually the entire surface of the planet is covered with industrialized infrastructure, piplines, factories, mines, refineries, processing plants, and manufactorum cathedrals. Like most other planets in its sector, this world primarily provides materials for the Cadian front and its industrial heartland is soley engaged in the production of ammunition. Its hives are sealed due to a toxic atmosphere from pollution. Agripinaa is located in the Agripinaa Sector of the Ultima Segmentum near the Eye of Terror and was involved in the fighting of the 13th Black Crusade. Agripinaa did not weather an assault by the Forces of Chaos during that campaign well and much of her industrial heartland was laid ruin.
Alaric Prime is an ancient and hidebound Knight World of toiling peasants and haughty Nobles, located in the Sanctus Reach on the edges of the Segmentum Obscurus. It is covered mostly in sulphurous seas, viscous chemical tides and currents devoid of all but the hardiest of lifeforms. Dotted across the burning acidic oceans, the planet is made up of islands strung together in hemisphere-spanning chains or standing alone thousands of Terran miles from the nearest foreign shore.
Amontep II is an arid, crimson Imperial Forge World similar to Mars that Archmagos Dominus Belisarius Cawl discovered contained deposits of the arcane, anti-psychic material known as blackstone in the wake of the birth of the Great Rift. Cawl ordered one of his chief agents, Magos Dominus Dentrex Ologostion, to determine if the world contained large quantities of blackstone. Ologostion was dispatched with a force of Skitarii and Knights Armiger to locate, sample and secure the largest deposits of blackstone available. The world was in fact also an ancient Necron Tomb World, however, and Ologostion would face off against Necron forces in his attempt to successfully recover a sample of the blackstone.
Anark Zeta is a feral world that is one source of the Abhuman troops known as Ogryn for the Imperial Guard. The world is very cold and has extremely high gravity, hence the development of the Ogryn population. The surface of Anark Zeta is barren with no known cities. The only inhabitants of this frigid world are the large Abhumans know as the Ogryn. The Ogryn live in nomadic hunter-gatherer tribes but when the Imperial Guard needs new Ogryn troops, Guard recruiters come to Anark Zeta to promise the dim-witted Ogryns all that they can eat if they will serve the Imperium as its powerful shock troopers.
Anathrax is a Daemon World within the hellish realms of the Eye of Terror devoted to Nurgle, the Lord of Plague. A lush but pestilent planet, it is covered by giant bulbous fungi made up of puffy-eyed heads that cough and sneeze a grey mucous which corrupts those who touch it. The Iron Drakes Space Marine Chapter was corrupted after entering the Eye of Terror in 321.M37 as part of the Imperial Abyssal Crusade. At some point during their sojourn in the Eye, the Iron Drakes were corrupted by Nurgle on the Daemon World of Anathrax and became the Grey Death, ready and willing to spread their plague across the stars. Another of the Chapters known as The Judged, the Argent Hammers, was also corrupted on Anathrax and renamed themselves the Talons of Anathrax.
Antax is a vitally important Imperial Forge World located in the Vidar Sector in the Eastern Fringe of the Ultima Segmentum. As one of the sector's principal Forge Worlds, the forge-fanes of Antax are packed with archeotech vaults filled with all manner of arcane technology and, of course, thousands of weapons, stockpiles of deadly ordnance and armoured vehicles. Antax is responsible for supplying hundreds of Astra Militarum regiments and a dozen Space Marine Chapters. In 927.M41, Antax fell to the Orks of WAAAGH! Gutstompa. It would be retaken by the Blood Angels 2nd Company that unleashed the fury of their Death Company in the Battle of Antax.
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