"It is a place of graves and grinning skulls. Its wealth is its curse on all who seek it, for who could not look upon such wealth and not think to spill his brother's blood to possess it all?"
-Vilius Hope, voidsman
Winterscale's Realm is one of the most explored and exploited regions, and one that has delivered both fabulous riches and early death for the unwary in equal measure. Winterscale's Realm is a region defined by the stars explored and charted by Sebastian Winterscale in the early centuries of the 41st millenium. It is composed of a few coveted worlds sitting like islands amongst the darkness of the unknown. Rogue Traders have traversed the Realm's breadth a hundred times, but even so, its farther reaches and troubled warp regions remain unmapped. Though only a handful of worlds within Wintercsale's Realm have been even partially explored, these have proven to be fat with riches and treasures. It has lured those whose goal is only wealth, and has become a battleground between rivals for its bounty. Gems, precious minerals, exotic death world beasts, xenos artefacts, and many more rarities have poured into select coffers of merchant cartels and noble backers in the Calixis Sector and beyond, thanks in no small part to the Winterscale Realm's tireless explorers.
The Thousand Charts
Winterscale's Realm is named for the Rogue Trader Sebastian Winterscale who first explored and charted many of its stars. Those who venture into Winterscale's Realm do so in the main because of the legendary wealth it is said to harbor, but also because it is one of the most haphazardly charted regions of the Koronus Expanse. There are many Navigator clans who hold many more charts of Winterscale's Realm; most suchrecords agree in part, though some are wildly divergent. The few points of agreement between these charts thus indicate the worlds, stars, and warp routes that are generally agreed to exist, at least insofar as the explorers of the Koronus Expanse are concerned. The other charts are considered to be flights of fantasy, and their navigational data to be nothing more than a vile trap to lure and destroy the foolhardy. Many believe that the reason for the profusion of misleading and contradictory charts of Winterscale's Realm is simply a by-product of several centuries of Rogue Trader activity. But a few whisper in the obscura dens of Port Wander that all such charts are true, and if combined using the correct cipher, they would reveal the true extent of Sebastian Winterscale's exploits and the hidden riches of his realm.
Blood and False Gold
Winterscale's Realm is soaked in the blood of rival claimants to worlds and resources, and every glittering prize carried back into Calixis Sector has to be bought in death and slaughter from those others who would claim it. Any who does not come armed and prepared for battle is a fool who will not see the lights of Port Wander again. The graves of the naive, arrogant, and unlucky litter the stars of Winterscale's Realm and offer mute testament to this untamed cauldron of death and greed.
