The Zulup Subsector is the birthplace of the Zahirah Sector. It is where the fringe conclave established its dominance, the subsector from which the leonicine peoples hailed and where the Void Lions space marine chapter was born. Where the Tyranid Xenos species first entered into the Imperium of man and in the obscured history of the Inquisition.
Knowledge of the Zulup Subsector is reserved only for the Inquisition and high ranking Imperial Authorities of the Sector. It is referred to- almost mythologically- as the heavens, for it its expanse a cataclysmic battle was fought and the fate of humanity sealed thereafter. In its depths exist beings akin to the demons of story, forever hunting for humanity in the dark, repelled and cast down by bronze armored angels bearing a white lion in name and in heraldry.
There are officially, two systems in the Zulup Subsector; Zulup and Perdition. The Zulup System is now a dead system. All of the remaining planets that stand still around the collapsed blue remains of their dead star were scorched of all life when its the stellar body went supernova in the systems distant past.
The Zulup System and Perditions Causeway
The Zulup Solar system was the kingdom of the Leonicines; an abhuman population sanctioned by the Ordo Xenos Fringe Conclave and reincorporated back into the Imperium. The Leonicines were ferocious and fearless combatants, and the designated wardens of Perditions causeway within the subsector. With the help of the Imperium through the Inquisition, the Leonicines expanded from their Jungle Deathworld of Zulup XI and grew to claim the entire system for themselves, scouring it clean of a parasitic xenos species only known then as The Star Plague. This was a feat that only they could do, for they had developed a resistance to it and ability to detect it in others as well as the endurance to combat it. These abilities defined their usefullness to the Imperium and It was for this reason that the population was allowed to grow.
After a pact was made with the Adeptus Mechanicus, a chapter was made from the Leonicines called the Lion Guards. The conditions of this pact were that in exchange for the cursed geneseed that the abhuman peoples could be imbued with to become astartes, the peoples as a whole would be the Guardians of a natural phenomenon called ” Perditions Causeway“.
Just outside of the Zulup System existed the end of a natural phenomenon which carried materials from outside of the South Eastern Halo Stars boundary, back into the Imperium of Man through the Eastern Fringe. The materials included asteroids and other natural space debree, as well as ancient space hulks- conglomerates of ships- of both human and xenos design. This pathway of debris was called Preditions Causeway by the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Leonicines were to be the Wardens of Perditions Causeway and were responsible for both the uncovering of ancient technologies and extermination of xenos life forms aboard these chimeric conglomerates.
The Leonicines held this vigil for over 3,000 years, until the true form of the Star Plague revealed itself, as a fleet of titanic bioships that floated down Perditions Causeway. True to their purpose, the Leonicine forces attacked the fleet, initiating the War for Zulup, a war they would lose. The entire system was destroyed, not by the Star Plague but by an Orbital Bombardments on its own star from the Lion Guards flagship. The fusillade of warheads imbalanced the already unstable star and forced it into supernova.
The destruction was apocalyptic. Though a portion of the Leonicine fleet was able to escape the system, billions of lives were lost in a matter of moments. It was a final desperate strike at the Star Plague bioships that had an insurmountable cost. However, it worked. The fleet that had entered the system was annihilated with it.
The Zulup System is now composed of the remains of scoured, lifeless planets. Considered sacred space to the Void Lions Chapter, no one without proper authority is allowed to enter it.
There are two places of significance in the Zulup system, both of which exist on the outer edge of the system. The first is a space hulk, the remains of a Lion Guard Battle Barge, called The Shield of Zulup. The second is a space station, belonging to the Deathwatch Ghost Shield called The Black Castle. The Shield of Zulup serves as a space bourne training ground for Void Lion recruits and the Black Castle serves as a secondary countermeasure.
The Perdition System exists at the boundary of the Halo Stars on the Imperial side. It is a mechanicus claimed system and serves as the first line of defence against the invading tyranid fleet. The system is composed of massive weapons platforms of design restricted to mechanicus use only, them being the product of STC data uncovered in the systems ancient past.
In the expanse between the two systems is quite literally a hunting ground for the Void Lions chapter and the Deathwatch forces in the subsector. Invading xenos forces that make it past the mechanicus defences are hunted by the Great Pride and Inquisitorial Warfleets. Inquisitorial studies and explorations are also conducted in the expanse, all of which are of a secretive nature.
The untamed fury and brutality of the Eastern Fringe is revealed in the Zulup Subsector, and countless horrors dwell within it triumphantly, far from the light of the Emperors gaze from the Sol system.
Thank you for reading!
The Data-Slates of Inquisitor Vuln 
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