Iax is counted among the loveliest worlds ever brought into the Imperium, the Garden World of Ultramar, its rolling continents given over to endless orchards, terraced vineyards and cultivated groves. Once it was reckoned the fairest planet in the realm, its harvests feeding neighbouring stars and its cities famed for gardens grown across centuries of patient care.
Yet beauty in the grim galaxy is a fragile thing. Iax has known devastation, its bountiful lands scarred by war during the ancient age of treachery and again in later centuries, blooms trampled beneath armoured boots and burned by the fires of battle. Each time, the tireless people of Ultramar have laboured to restore what was lost, coaxing new life from ravaged soil under the protection of the Space Marines.
In the darkening days of the present age, Iax stands renewed yet wary, its fields once more heavy with fruit, its cities glittering beside quiet rivers. But the shadow of the great rift lies long across the eastern stars, and those who tend the gardens do so knowing that paradise is only ever a season away from the flame. For all its serenity, Iax remembers that in the 41st Millennium, even Eden must be defended with blade and bolter.
The atlas continues
