Anatomy of a Warhammer 40k Hive City
The Terrifying Hive Cities Of Warhammer 40K | Darktide Lore
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Hive
A Hive is a huge urban accretion, built-up over many thousands of years, and home to countless numbers of people.[7]
Contents
[hide]Overview
Around the entire Imperium over 85% of all planets have at least one hive city cluster.[7]
Hives consist of great housing and factory blocks, forming ranges of man-made mountains. These huge towering urban complexes are known as city hives, or simply as hives, and their individual peaks or towers are called city spires or spires. A close group of hives is known as a hive cluster. There are often several thousand hives on a single Hive world. A Hive consists of many layers; the lowest layers form the underhive. Hives are worlds in themselves, where the populace has never seen the outer world, and concepts such as the ground and sky are completely alien. There are entire regions inside the hive blocked off by collapsed sections, where is found the treasure of the hive, the Archeotech hoards, ancient stores of technology.[1a][1b]
Exotic planetary environments give rise to unusual hives, such as those of Landunder which cling to the floating surface crust and extend downwards into the world's oceans. Even gas giants can host hive cities suspended in their upper atmospheres, like Scitalyss or Vesmir II, which are sometimes known as skyhives. Above the latter the main hives are connected with the gas-enshrouded planet via elevator mineshafts providing a steady flow of raw materials.[4][5][6]
Anatomy of a Hive
The Spire
The upper hive is the region in which the administrators of the hive and various important people live. The homes are better, space is a premium and power is free for all. Life is easy here. The spires are the furthest from the horrors of the lower levels and as such are the best fitted. They are for anyone visiting the planet, giving the best view of the surroundings. Some hive spires pierce through the cloud barriers giving a huge area to watch over.[1b]
The Shell
The outer shell of a hive is punctuated by deep vertical and angled shafts that allow light and air into the hive's core. These shafts are covered by movable, massive shields for protection. The shell houses crucial infrastructure like travel tunnels, gateway fortresses, and garrison blocks, vital for regulating traffic and defending against invasion. Giant defence lasers mounted on the shell target orbiting threats, whether human or alien spacecraft.[3a]
One of the shell's major function is the defense against fierce ash storms, common on Necromunda. These storms can strip away outer layers, including laser defences and essential facilities, threatening the stability of the hive. Regular maintenance by work gangs is necessary to reinforce and repair the shell, preventing ash storms from penetrating deep into the spire's tunnels and infrastructure.[3b]
Heat Sinks
At the core of every spire on Necromunda is a vertical shaft known as the heat sink, extending from the topmost levels to deep below the planet's crust. This vast, hollow plasteel tube, several kilometres wide, harnesses heat from the planet’s core to generate power for the spire. Generator stations along the heat sink convert raw heat into energy, which is distributed to manufactories and hab layers around the core. In the lower levels, the heat sink provides warmth but no direct power.[3b]
Control of power generation systems is a major marker of a powerful clan in Necromunda's inner core, as clans in whose territory these systems fall earn substantial income. Other clans may control territories through which power is transmitted, extracting tolls from factories and power producers. This creates a feudal economy where clans act as producers, suppliers, and consumers. In the upper hab layers, power services are regulated and controlled by the government, specifically by the troops of Lord Helmawr.[3b]
Hab Zones
The majority of a hive’s population on Necromunda belongs to the indentured worker class, living in overcrowded and squalid hab zones. Social standing within the spire is reflected by residential levels: the elite live luxuriously in the uppermost levels, enjoying natural light, fresh air, and real food imported from agri-worlds. Below them are the twilight levels, where conditions are harsher with dim natural light, no fresh air, and heavily recycled food. The lowest levels are the undercity, shrouded in artificial light and characterized by extreme recycling, including air and even people.[3b]
Manufactories
The industrial complexes within the spires of Necromunda produce various goods traded for food to sustain the planet's vast population. These manufactories extend from below the hab zones to the Ash Wastes surface, with their waste solidifying around the hive bases and adding to the planet's layers. As ash levels rise, lower factories are buried but remain operational as long as waste can be pumped to the surface. The manufactory levels are filled with waste pipes, shafts, and drains, expelling toxic substances into the environment.[3c]
Industrial production is controlled by numerous clans, each fitting into a feudal system of supply and demand. Powerful clans, particularly the six Clan Houses, serve as intermediaries for goods and services. This system efficiently regulates industrial activity, with clans forming alliances or engaging in feuds that often result in gang warfare. Workers, who live near the manufactories, are essential resources and may undergo expensive surgical enhancements to improve their utility, making them highly valuable to their employers.[3c]
Ruined Manufactories
As the ash waste surface rises, servicing buried manufactories becomes increasingly difficult. Massive vacuum pumps lift waste above the surface, but this process has limits. When waste disposal becomes impractical, manufactories are shut down and abandoned. Consequently, lower levels become wastelands inhabited by low-life scum, while lower hab zones are converted into new manufactories, and upper habs are extended upwards, perpetually renewing the spires of the hive city.[3c]
Abandoned manufactories, filled with obsolete machinery, can extend as far below ground as the spires stretch above. The lowest parts of these zones often collapse under the hive's weight or are filled in to create foundations for new structures. These derelict areas are infested by scavvies—mutant gangs scavenging for anything usable or tradable.[3c]
Underhive
The Underhive is the most run-down area where most of the rules are created by gangs. It is a difficult place to live where the power has long been turned off. People rule through fear and shun the rich above them in the better apartments.[1b]
The Hive Bottom
At the base of the hive, buildings become structurally dangerous, creating an inhospitable area known as the hive bottom. This zone is filled with decayed and crumbling structures, collapsed domes, and foundation piles, forming a layer of almost solid rubble. Enclosed pockets within the rubble are linked by tunnels formed by leaking liquids, resulting in a vast lake of radioactive waste called the Sump. The hive bottom is uninhabitable for most life forms, except for monstrous mutants that thrive in the darkness and pollution. Occasionally, these creatures make their way into the underhive or lower parts of the city, but their natural habitat remains the hive bottom.[3d]
Outskirts
The outskirts are not as bad to live in as the underhive, but certainly not an easy place to live. Power is nonexistant and running water and constant food supplies are rare. It is certain that people die of starvation here or of some disease spreading through the area.[1b]
Main Parts of any Hive City
The main Sectors of each Hive City are:
- Sectors Imperialis - the main hive levels (the most varied and populated of divisions within a hive city);[7]
- Sectors Periferus - the outskirts beyond a hive's borders;[7]
- Sectors Mechanicus - heavy industrial zones;[7]
- Sectors Spirum - the upper spires;[7]
- Sectors Habculum - vast hab-blocks;[7]
- Sectors Infernus - either the underhive or the underwastes.[7]
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