Herod

Herod is a mining world in the Achilles Sub-sector, supplying mesa crystals for lasgun production, and a battleground of the 13th Black Crusade. During that campaign the Iron Hands defeated the Shinarii cult on the planet and pursued the Bei’bul Stone into a ritual conducted by the Word Bearers.

Antipas fell and was retaken within a single day. The Iscariot nonetheless completed the cave-rite, passed through a Warp door, and left a sinkhole where the stone had been. Herod is distinct from Holy Terra’s biblical namesake and from Fornax Orbis Majoris, although Anatolus Gdolkin’s wider Araken trail also made use of its crust.

Herod remains notable as the Achilles crystal world that the Iron Hands were able to retake without retaining the artefact. Unofficial summaries keep the Achilles Sub-sector as its parent location and do not merge this entry with the Ghost Stars Crucible or with Fornax Orbis Majoris.