"We're not in Kansas anymore"
This will be our inaugural post introducing what our ideas behind lucky space are, and what we hope the open sandbox on the edge of the galaxy we call the Naarmian Sector might become.
What is lucky space?
The galaxy is a big place and in a setting as rich as Warhammer 40k there is untold tales hidden under stones yet unturned, despite the near 40 years of storytelling, codexes, novels - campaigns, retcons and dossiers.
At our core, we are both hobbyists with a penchant for tunnel visioning a good army theme, a deep narrative hook and suffering with the minutiae of perceived perfection. Lucky Space in that sense is a place to make home those ideas at the last stop before oblivion, where we can really make things our own.
Lucky Space, The Rim, The Frontier, The Silent Edge, The Endworlds, The Rimworlds, Outlaw Space. There are a lot of names for this concept.
It is both a fictional setting within the wider 40k setting located on the northwestern galactic rim bordering the Halo Stars, and a place to give life to our hobby ideas, goals and passion.
The concept of space faring civilisation on the 'frontier' is not new; Star Wars has Wild Space, the Outer Rim and the Unknown Regions. Star Trek has the Frontier. Mass Effect has the Terminus Systems. Firefly has the Rim. The very concept of this region of space has been explored by other hobbyists who have inspired us like Apologist's incredible Endworlds. You get the idea..
I'll let my Co-Author give you his take on Lucky Space below:
Paul:
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Lucky Space.
The words stir up a lot of vague notions, half remembered old stories and idea of potential fortune in the unknown.
The 40k universe has always been fascinating to me with these
grandiose stories, larger than life characters, hideous monsters and the rest
of it's over the top grimdark and derpy appeal. It's such a ridiculous place to
explore ideas and concepts, it really has always felt like no matter what I
wanted to do the 40k universe has had a place for me to tell the story.
In the last few years with so much of universe that is slowly becoming linked together and explained in books and media, I almost feel like I've been being told this way of looking at 40k is wrong and that I should stick to the hard facts about what has happened and what will happen according to someone else. With so much of the known 40k universe now feeling almost "Solved" with how much of the detail has been explored.
The idea of a region, of it being an unknown source of stores and half truths, mysteries and possibilities is a breath of fresh air into a hobby that although I definitely love, I often found myself disenchanted with; and so we have the idea of Lucky Space, a quick reference in a book by Dan Abnett as a region of space previously lost to warp storms, shrouded in mystery and possibilities. This region that has barely had contact with the greater imperium for hundreds of years? What would have changed? How has anything survived? Who's left?
It's off the edge of the known maps these days, the data is
old maps and decaying files in the databanks of imperial record. It's recorded as the Halo Stars, but the
locals and rogue traders know it by a different name.
The edge of the known,
The outer dark,
The lost worlds,
Fool's Frontier,
But most commonly?
Lucky space.
Here there be dragons.
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The Naarmian Sector
This is the Naarmian Sector at current - the start of what will be the core structure of our homebrew sector. This map reflects the state of the sector at the onset of m41 - a good thousand years before the fall of Cadia and the opening of the Cicatrix Maledictum.
The name 'Naarmian' is a very on the nose reference to Naarm, the Indigenous Australian name from the Woi-Wurrunng/Boonwurrung language group for the region now known as the City of Melbourne - the place where we live. Doxxing aside, the word Naarm means "Place" which we feel is suitable given our intent for the Sector.
While I didn't included every station, I did fit a fair chunk of what many would call the 'greatest hits' in. Each station reflects a suburb, which in the Naarmian Sector will reflect a system of worlds. Will these systems be influenced by good natured (source needed) stereotyping of Melbourne Suburbs? Maybe. Time will tell as we develop things further.