Cyrene System

The Cyrene System is a star system in Sub-sector Aurelia, formerly a Blood Ravens recruiting ground, whose world Cyrene was destroyed by Exterminatus. Exterminatus is the Imperial sanction of total planetary destruction. The order against Cyrene was given by Gabriel Angelos, a captain of the Blood Ravens Chapter.

Cyrene, a green world, was loyal to the Imperium, had a large mutant population, and was of use to the Imperial Guard. It served as a source of recruits for the Blood Ravens through the Blood Trials. Angelos halted the Blood Trials and called in the orbital bombardment that destroyed the planet. The charted system contains little else of note.

Campaigns of the Dawn of War period treat Cyrene as a lasting presence in the history of Aurelia: a homeworld that the Blood Ravens destroyed and that remains on the charts as a warning. Later wars in the sub-sector take place in neighbouring systems, and Cyrene stands as the event from which they proceed. The system is significant as the Chapter’s original transgression rather than as a functioning recruiting world. It should not be confused with Cyrene Valantion, the Heresy-era confessor.